litlover12

. . . you spend your evening hanging around a Broadway message board, panting for reports from the first Broadway preview performance of the new My Fair Lady revival.

(Reports during intermission were EXCELLENT! I'm so excited!)

I haven't seen anyone doing this on LJ yet, but it's all the rage on Facebook. I did one, but then I slightly rethought my choices, so I'm redoing it here! The idea is simple: Describe yourself in three fictional characters.

I choose . . .
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I saw My Fair Lady on the big screen last night. I love that we have so many options to do that sort of thing now. I've now seen five of my top 10 movies at the movie theater, which is quite something considering that nine of them were made before I was born!

You see so much more detail on the big screen, especially in a movie as gloriously detailed as MFL. I've seen it literally dozens of times and I was still catching new things. (Did you know that Higgins's slippers are monogrammed?) It helped that there was a really cool, in-depth trailer from 1964 that ran right before it, with lots of footage of costume designing and fitting and other behind-the-scenes stuff. I paid a lot more attention to all the costumes than ever before! It was incredible to think of all the work that went into even the extras' outfits, just to get the general look right!

Also, I was inspired to make this (sorry for the bad image quality, it was the best I could find):
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Telegraph film critic David Gritten recently offered his list, which I found via movie_greats. He had one or two good choices on there, and a lot of terrible ones, and omitted a few essential ones. So I'm setting this right by making my own list. (Not that he'll ever see it, but I'll feel better.)

I'm trying to be as objective as possible, so some of my favorites (like The Court Jester) got left out, in favor of some that are, objectively speaking, greater musical achievements (like West Side Story). The top three do happen to be my top three favorite musical films, though.

1. Singin’ in the Rain


2. My Fair Lady


3. The Sound of Music


4. An American in Paris


5. Les Misérables


6. Gigi


7. Top Hat


8. The Band Wagon


9. 1776


10. West Side Story

Anyone else want to try their hand at a top 10 film musicals list?

Remember that top 20 movies list I made once? Remember how I said I might revise it someday? The day has come! There's one movie that's new and that just had to be added, and one old one that, after a couple more viewings, I realized had earned a spot. And so, from last to first . . .

20. An Affair to Remember (1957)
19. The Court Jester (1955)
18. The Sword in the Stone (1963)
17. The Princess Bride (1987)
16. Charade (1963)
15. Les Misérables (2012)
14. The Odd Couple (1968)
13. All about Eve (1950)
12. The Lion in Winter (1968)
11. It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
10. The King's Speech (2010)
9. 1776 (1972)
8. Rear Window (1954)
7. The Sound of Music (1965)
6. The Philadelphia Story (1940)
5. Casablanca (1942)
4. Notorious (1946)
3. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
2. My Fair Lady (1964)
1. Singin' in the Rain (1952)

(I still love Shadowlands and The Thin Man, though!)

And it's in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

Let me explain. I just went up to Hershey to spend a couple of days with my godchildren and their mom. While there, I picked up a hotel brochure that announced that "the largest used book collection between New York City and Chicago" was just minutes away, in Harrisburg, at the Midtown Scholar used bookstore.

o.O

Look at this place. I mean, LOOK AT IT. I'm always saying that I want to live in Henry Higgins's house from My Fair Lady -- this is the closest thing that I've ever seen in real life. It has the staircases and balconies and nooks and crannies, and books all over them, as far as the eye can see.

It absolutely killed me to be so close and not get to go. There was no opportunity at all; my godchildren are still little enough that they're all about pools and playgrounds, not used bookstores. But I will get there someday. Oh yesss, preciousssss, I will.

I'm reading a really interesting new book about the creation of My Fair Lady. The author states that Alan Jay Lerner's first choice for Eliza was . . . Mary Martin.

The mind reels.

rachkmc did this at her blog, and asked me to do it too. Since it's her birthday, how can I say no? (She just called hers "Rachel's Favorite Romances," but she stuck to literature and literary adaptations. I'm going to follow her lead in that, or I could never narrow it down to ten. But I'm counting plays as literature. Also, I stole one or two of the pictures off her blog. Thanks, Rachel!)


( Image-heavy post ahead! )

1. Comment -- intelligently or in a nonsensical fashion, requesting to play. General comments are welcome too!
2. I will give you a letter.
3. Post the names of five fictional characters whose names begin with that letter, and your thoughts on each. The characters can be from books, movies, or TV shows.

2theriver2pray gave me the letter E.

( Enter here . . . )