Poor Jenny, bright as a penny...

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 12/16/13 at 11:48pm

Her equal would be hard to find
Deserved a bed of roses, but history discloses...

that she would make up her mind

[PalJoey]

Posted: 12/17/13 at 12:03am

Julie's version is undeniably definitive.

HOWEVER...
Lynn Redgrave: 'The Saga of Jenny'

[VeraCharles3]

Posted: 12/17/13 at 4:39am

Carlos - I love this song.

I have always wondered if this is the way Gertrude Lawrence would have performed the song on stage, originally?

I love the movie Star! Think it's a great film.

I am in work but shall look at Lynn Regrave's version later - thanks PJ

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 12/17/13 at 8:45am

I discovered STAR! a few years ago. I love the musical numbers and Julie was breathtakingly beautiful in it.

I have a mild obsession with this particular number.

Julie is bouncy (literally), brassy and fun in it!

[Gothampc]

Posted: 12/17/13 at 8:52am

These ladies give fine renditions if they were singing on Britain's Got Talent. If you want to hear the definitive version, listen to Georgia Brown sing it.

Unlike these other ladies who sound like they learned singing from Miss Porter's Finishing School, Georiga Brown has that earthy, raw Music Hall sound.

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 12/17/13 at 12:17pm

Stuff it Goth. The mere fact that you compare Andrews voice to a Britain's Got Talent contestant is proof enough that you just lack taste.

I'm sure Georgia Brown does a great rendition but you didn't have to go trash everyone else in the process to let us know you like it.

Tacky.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 12/17/13 at 12:20pm

Sorry that I toppled one of your sacred cows Carlos. Julie does have a nice voice and I have several of her cds. However, she over-enunciates many words and early in her career got into the lazy habit of speaking notes rather than singing them.

[Reginald Tresilian]

Posted: 12/17/13 at 12:23pm

I love Georgia Brown! But why should the editor of a fashion magazine have an earthy, raw musical hall sound?

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 12/17/13 at 1:25pm

@ Goth. Please, I ain't losing sleep over it. It's not that serious. Just wanted to let you know that you could use a little more tact and class when discussing a subject.

I would respect your opinion more if you didn't have to stoop to such unnecessary b.s. in trying to make your point.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 12/17/13 at 1:31pm

@Carlos, should I do a search on some of the snarky comments you've posted?

[newintown]

Posted: 12/17/13 at 1:33pm

I utterly adore Julie's version of this number, and I particularly like to imagine all the calamities that would happen if anyone tried to do it 8 times a week: exploded dwarfs! Pulled teeth! Broken bones! Nodes!

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 12/17/13 at 1:42pm

@Carlos, should I do a search on some of the snarky comments you've posted?

Seems like you have nothing better to do with your time...go right the fvck ahead. < And you can start with that one!

[Playbilly]

Posted: 12/17/13 at 1:44pm

I LOVE, LOVE LOVE this number. I wish the version was on iTunes. Searching for it for years. Thanks for reminding me Carlos.

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 12/17/13 at 1:50pm

You're welcome PlayBilly.

I want to get STAR! on DVD but I've been reading that the aspect ratio is all wrong on the disc and to add insult to injury they completely omitted the Overture/Entr'Acte/Finale segments that were originally included on the Laserdisc version of the film.



Updated On: 12/17/13 at 01:50 PM

[Playbilly]

Posted: 12/17/13 at 2:06pm

When Twentieth Century Fox tried to "save" the movie by cutting and releasing it as "Those Were The Happy Times", a lot of the original material went deep into the salt mines of Kansas. We're lucky to have the complete film in any version.

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 12/17/13 at 2:37pm

^ Yes, I read about the history of the film and what happened to it during it's original release. Interesting stuff.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 12/17/13 at 2:50pm

Gertrude Lawrence hardly had an "earthy, raw Music Hall sound" herself anyway.

Carlos--I have Star on laserdisc.

[JohnBoy2]

Posted: 12/17/13 at 3:29pm

I saw STAR!, multiple times during its road show engagement at The Boyd in Philadelphia. Loved it then, love it now. I don't remember the DVD being the wrong aspect ratio or the Overture,etc. missing. What IS wrong with it, is the color. It's completely wrong. We need a properly rendered Blu-ray. I haven't seen it in a while, but when I have watched, it was the DVD I made from my laserdisc. Of course, now, that would just be this tiny low-def oblong in the middle of my high-def television. I've always been obsessed with Julie's rendition of "Someday I'll Find You." However, for me, all her songs are definitive in this film.

Updated On: 12/17/13 at 03:29 PM

[doodlenyc]

Posted: 12/17/13 at 3:50pm

I LOVE Star, especially her Jenny and The Physician:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZH_AsTieaE

[PalJoey]

Posted: 12/17/13 at 5:01pm

Christine Ebersole hits a high note at the end that rivals Julie's.


Christine Ebersole Sings 'The Saga of Jenny'

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 12/17/13 at 8:28pm

Someone asked if that would be how Gertrude would have performed it-which it definitely isn't (Redgrave's probably is more realistic and closer--I had no idea there was a second and third of that Musical Theatre special--I have the first one.)

I love all the versions posted--I admit I have a soft spot for Rise's on the 1960s cast album, the first I heard, and while it's probably viewed by some as too refined, I also have a huge soft spot for Dawn Upshaw's take on the Sondheim, Blitzstein and Weill album. Of course youtube doesn't seem to have it... So here she is singing My Ship. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6mj60w-z7M

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 12/17/13 at 9:33pm

Christine Ebersole totally rocked it!

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 12/17/13 at 9:36pm

The Lynn Redgrave video was an interesting take made even more because Richard Crenna (Julie Andrews' co-star in STAR!) was in it.

[SNAFU]

Posted: 12/17/13 at 9:42pm

Couldn't watch Christine Ebersole's video all the way through. That gown, it looked like Jenny bright as a Penny was being visted by Aunty Flow.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 12/17/13 at 9:52pm

Start at 2:20