Angela Lansbury - Alternative/Punk Superstar

As I was programming the studio cast recording of Angela Lansbury's 1971 road closer Prettybelle on my iPod - (Shut up! You think I can't hear you scream 'FAG!' through the internet?) - I was delighted to find that for the 'Genre' setting, the iTunes database selected "Alternative & Punk". Now, I know Prettybelle is a wild show, but it's delighting me no end to have Angela Lansbury listed as an Alternative/Punk artist on my iPod. I'm keeping it that way. Well, I thought she was pretty slammin' in Sweeney and the '83 Mame revival.

Anyway, since we're on the subject...any other fans of Prettybelle? Anyone actually see it?

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Updated On: 1/13/06 at 09:26 PM

Don't be ashamed of putting a rare angela recording on your Ipod....she is amazing. I cried when I met her.

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I love this thread--I would have been just as amused by this as you. Love Angela Lansbury, though she's not what one would typically associate with punk.

I know that "You Never Looked Better" never actually made it onstage. It was written to go into the show in New York, but of course, the show shut in Boston. Also found out that Jule Styne wrote the lyrics for the male chorus that open the song ("Poor Leroy's gone to heaven...").

Meanwhile, if Lansbury is Alternative/Punk, I can't wait to see how iTunes classifies Karen Morrow. Probably 'Speed Metal' or 'Reggaeton'.

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Updated On: 1/14/06 at 07:30 AM

Lol, I noticed the same thing Smaxie. I love me some Prettybelle.

Also Alternative/Punk according to itunes:

Merrily We Roll Along
On Your Toes
Seesaw

Also, they claim Kander and Ebb wrote Applause. Who knew?

This is my shock factor. Angela Lansbury... as in 'Murder She Wrote' Angela Lansbury... was in a musical?

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Is this the show with the song "When I'm Drunk I'm Beautiful?" It if is, where the hell do you get the recording?

Yes, that's from Prettybelle.

The cd is long out of print. Amazon's marketplace has it for 30 bucks, which is a pretty good deal. Usually it's about 50 bucks.
Prettybelle

Yes, she is one of the biggest theatre legends of all time. Couldn't you tell she did some sort of work on Broadway from "Bedknobs and Broomsticks?"

Could someone give a brief synopsis of the "Prettybelle" storyline, please? Thanks!

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OOTI2004, Prettybelle is about an institutionalized Southern widow with bipolar disorder, multiple personalities and a drinking problem who learned after her small-town sheriff husband's death that he was a racist murderer who used his badge and his gun to terrorize the Mexican and black populations in their town. Her response? To make amends by having sex with as many of the town's Mexican and black males as she can, what she calls "therapeutic rape", as BobbyBubby said above. Prettybelle tried out in Boston at the same time Sondheim's Follies was on the road there; I can't imagine a worse place for Prettybelle to try out!

Pengwendolyn, you should RUN, not walk, to get the dvd of SWEENEY TODD with Lansbury and George Hearn. Then you'll get an idea as to why she's idolized in the theater community!

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Updated On: 1/14/06 at 03:04 PM

I L-0-V-E PRETTYBELLE.

Angela Lansbury is so adventureous when it come to selecting musical theatre roles. Neve played it safe.

PRETTYBELLE is offensive, odd, energetic, tuneful, entertaining and NEVER NEVER dull.

If you get a chance, read the original novel. It is just as crazy.

I'm gonna put Prettybelle on when I get home. I haven't listened to it in a long time. I forgot how much I love it.