FADE OUT/FADE IN

Not really. It's okay. Entertaining, but not earthshaking. I finally broke down and bought it for Carol Burnett's sake.

I like it. Jack Cassidy is hilarious in "My Fortune Is My Face".

Of course you know, Jule Styne ripped off the melody from "Call Me Savage" and used it in "Witches Brew" from HALLELUJAH, BABY!

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Styne knew how to write a show tune, and FO/FI is but example.

The Comden & Green lyrics are witty and sly.

Whenever I hear this score I can't help but feel lighthearted and giddy.

Updated On: 9/23/05 at 06:23 AM

There are certain Broadway scores that have been such a joy to listen to throughout my life and for me FO/FI is certainly one of them. First off, no one wrote show music with the emphasis on brass better than Jule Styne. To have Comden and Green write the book after having had such success lampooning Hollywood in "Singin' In The Rain" was definitely a plus yet I always had a problem with the story line. The movie mogul having a mental block remembering numbers thus choosing Burnett in an audition line instead of Tina Louise to star in his next musical film always struck me as rather contrived and not very original. I mean how could a man who has the ability to run a successful movie studio be such a baboon? For me the show's backstage history was much more interesting than the show itself. Burnett's legal problems and equity charges as well as closing down the production and then reopening it again with revisions and a good number of cast replacements had great drama. What I found most interesting though was Burnett being followed by Betty Hutton who wasn't able to keep the show running for more than a week. There was absolutely no interest in seeing Hutton make a return to the musical stage after being absent for decades. It seems being a major star at Paramount Studios in the forties meant nothing as far as Broadway box office in the late fifties and early sixties (Dorothy Lamour replacing Abbe Lane in "Oh Captain!" also had little effect on the show's success with the production also closing in less than a week). I guess the reason these shows are never revived nor seen in stock is because they weren't very good to begin with. Even with Burnett later reopening the show there seemed to be little audience interest. The fact that Broadway now had Channing in "Hello Dolly!" and Streisand in "Funny Girl" didn't help either yet I never understood why Burnett wasn't a sellout. She certainly was a star on the rise. Ah! how fickle Broadway can be.

Carol never really had whiplash. She was photographed playing softball shortly after she had her "accident". The show was dreadful and she just wanted a way out of it.

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What about "The Usher From The Mezzanine"?

Despite the book problems, and the star problems, the score is fun, fun, fun.

Sometimes a person just needs a feel good score...

and that's FO/FI.