Barnum has a pro shot?!

The London production had none of the charm or wonder that the Broadway production had.  I can't get through the pro shot. Jim Dale was hypnotic and Michael Crawford is his usual hammy self, - vulgar and uninteresting. Also Broadway had the quiet beauty of Glen Close, not to mention the wonderful Terri White.

Updated On: 2/11/24 at 07:18 PM

It says 1986 on IMDb as the release date, but I’m pretty sure I saw it on PBS years before that. Crawford started doing that production in 1981. 

dramamama611 said: "On Amazon Prime.

From the London Production, 1987, starring Michael Crawford.



I have to admit, my memory of having seen this on Broadway was MUCH better than what I just experienced, but time and memory are strange bedfellows."

I thought that Barnum was mediocre when it originally opened, so your memories may have gotten over time. Jim Dale, coming off his star-making performance in Scapino, was the reason to see it, although there were some good songs and at least one good production number.  I seem to remember that it had a very small cast…am I remembering correctly?  I know GC was in it, but don’t remember anything about her performance.

I've owned the DVD of this for many years. I watched it only once.

The strike may have benefited folks in the industry (and I don't necessarily begrudge them that) but it's been horrible for consumers. Even though the strike's been settled, content on streaming services and OTA TV remains poor.

Where rentals used to be between $3 and $5 before the strike, now Amazon wants $20. They've also implemented commercials into their content. Hulu isn't quite as bad, but they also still lack new content.

Fortunately Amazon isn't charging for "Barnum", but it does demonstrate how low they're scraping the barrel to post any content that might not have been previously viewed.

jpbran said: "The $20 rentals have been around for a while — long before the strikes — and are the same across Amazon, iTunes, etc.They’re movies that are still in the theater and all drop to $5-ish after a while (generally when theatrical window ends.)."

No, it started because of COVID.  Pre-COVID, you did not have movies playing in theatres and on streaming at the same time.  That started with COVID.  I THINK Disney was the first to do it with Mulan.

I"m more amazed that there are three filmed versions of Stop the World - I Want to Get Off.

I tried to watch the 1966 B/W version - I really tried. Did not know of the later two (Sammy Davis, jr. 1978 TV version and and a 1996 TV version) until I looked up the show on Wikipedia.