I saw Paint Your Wagon. Trust me, the only person in that movie who really SANG was Harve Presnell, who got a walk-on to sing the gorgeous song "They Called the Wind Mariah." Jean Seberg, Lee Marvin, and Clint Eastwood merely carried a tune. If that. That was from that awful period where producers seemed to feel that a big star was needed to carry a musical, so they couldn't allow an obscure theater performer (with a Real Voice) take the spotlight. Another example: Man of La Mancha, one of the most charming musicals ever on stage, made into a turgid, overblown movie starring--wait for it--Peter O'Toole and Sophia Loren. Too bad they couldn't rely on dubbing, the way they used to in some of the old MGM musicals, where phenomenal but non-singing dancers Cyd Charisse and Eleanor Powell were routinely dubbed, and Marni Nixon dubbed part or all of Deborah Kerr's performance in The King and I and Audrey Hepburn's in My Fair Lady.
Thank goodness for 1776, which I watch faithfully every year around July 4. It was a unique production in that I think they used just about everyone from the original cast, who were mostly little-known stage stalwarts including the magnificent John Cullum as Edward Rutledge, William Daniels as John Adams, and Virginia Vestoff as Abigail Adams. I think the only new insert was Blythe Danner as Martha Jeferson.
Thank goodness for 1776, which I watch faithfully every year around July 4. It was a unique production in that I think they used just about everyone from the original cast, who were mostly little-known stage stalwarts including the magnificent John Cullum as Edward Rutledge, William Daniels as John Adams, and Virginia Vestoff as Abigail Adams. I think the only new insert was Blythe Danner as Martha Jeferson.
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