2/2/24 O&A NYC SHALL WE DANCE FRIDAY: It Don’t Mean a Thing! Phyllis Hyman, Hinton Battle and Gregg Burge.

On March 1 1981, Sophisticated Ladies debuted on Broadway. The show run for 767 performances  and garnered two Tony Awards for Willi Kim for Best Costume and Hinton Battle for Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical. It Don’t Mean a Thing! featuring the sultry Phyllis Hyman, Hinton Battle and Gregg Burge.  Continue reading

11/20/23 O&A NYC THEATRE- REVIEW: Hadestown- Sometimes True Love Can Be Hell.

By Walter Rutledge

Recently I had the extreme pleasure to see the Broadway smash hit Hadestown at the Walter Kerr Theater. The 2019 eight-time Tony Award winning musical is still wowing audiences with Anais Mitchell’s incredible lyric music score and touching book featuring dual love stories. Before we talk about Hadestown lets first have a Greek mythology tutorial. Continue reading

11/30/21 O&A NYC HOLLYWOOD MONDAY: Harlem On Parade (1944)| Louis Armstrong and Dorothy Dandridge

Harlem On Parade is a musical number from the 1944 American musical romance film Atlantic City. The supporting cast features Louis Armstrong, Buck & Bubbles and Dorothy Dandridge who recreated Vaudeville acts. The film was reissued in 1950 under the title Atlantic City Honeymoon. Continue reading

12/4/23 O&A NYC HOLLYWOOD MONDAY: March Of The Wooden Soldiers- Laurel & Hardy

Babes in Toyland is a Laurel and Hardy musical film released on March 10, 1934. The film is also known by its alternate titles Laurel and Hardy in Toyland, Revenge Is Sweet (the 1948 European reissue title), March of the Wooden Soldiers and Wooden Soldiers (in the United States). Continue reading

7/26/21 O&A NYC HOLLYWOOD MONDAY: Maya Angelou in Calypso Heat Wave (1957) 

Calypso Heat Wave (1957)  stars Merry Anders, Meg Myles and, as herself, Maya Angelou.
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11/25/21 O&A NYC THANKSGIVING THROWBACK: March of the Wooden Soldiers- Laurel & Hardy

Babes in Toyland is a Laurel and Hardy musical film released on March 10, 1934. The film is also known by its alternate titles Laurel and Hardy in Toyland, Revenge Is Sweet (the 1948 European reissue title), March of the Wooden Soldiers and Wooden Soldiers (in the United States). Continue reading

11/23/20 O&A NYC HOLLYWOOD MONDAY: Cindy (1978)- Cinderella In Harlem

Cindy is a 1978 American musical television film that features an entirely African-American cast. Directed by William A. Graham, the film is an urbanized retelling of Cinderella. Continue reading

8/31/20 O&A NYC HOLLYWOOD MONDAY: Pie Pie Blackbird (1932) | Eubie Blake Nina Mae McKinney Nicholas Brothers

Pie Pie Blackbird, like a lot of classic shorts from the time is nothing more than an excuse to spotlight some great music from the period. Continue reading

8/8/20 O&A NYC SATURDAY MORNING CONCERT: Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953)

Lorelei Lee ( Marilyn Monroe) and Dorothy Shaw (Jane Russell) are just Two Little Girls from Little Rock, lounge singers on a transatlantic cruise, working their way to Paris, and enjoying the company of any eligible men they might meet along the way.  Continue reading

(Repost) 4/27/20 O&A NYC HOLLYWOOD MONDAY: The King and I

Hollywood Mondays

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The King and I is a 1956 musical film made by 20th Century Fox. The movie was directed by Walter Lang and produced by Charles Brackett and Darryl F. Zanuck. The screenplay by Ernest Lehman is based on the Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II musical The King and I. The musical starred Yul Brynner and Deborah Kerr. It was Brynner who pressed for Kerr to play the role. Marni Nixon provided Kerr’s singing for the film.  Continue reading