The only song I missed in CHICAGO was "My Own Best Friend". The omission of that number, particularly given Condon's quite brilliant conceit for it in the original shooting script, was a major mistake. I was not so sad to see the rest of the score go. The music for "Me And My Baby" underscoring the doctor scene was enough of that to keep me happy (ala "Pineapple" or "Married" on the Victrola in CABARET) and I've always found the Mary Sunshine material weak and filler. I would have been interested to see them actually film the "Ten Percent" number, though, as was originally planned. "Class" is a part of the film, as far as I'm concerned, since it is on the DVD.
As I pointed out in my review of the NINE soundtrack and previous cast recordings of the show, I had already come to terms with the cuts and additions Marshall had made to the score before I saw the film. The problem is that the only material that remotely worked in the film was the new material, and even that really didn't work in the grand scheme of things. While I do think "Take It All" is as good and as effective a song as "Be On Your Own" is on stage (and I do not think that song would work on film) the staging and way the song ends is just mind-blowingly bad. Again, "Cinema Italiano" is the only song I felt worked for Marshall's imposed "vision" of NINE as it exists on film. And the vastly rewritten and re-arranged "Unusual Way", at least with some toning down of the back-and-forth editing, is generally effective and along with "CI" the only moment of potential what-could-have-been greatness in the whole film. The rest goes from bad to worse to I don't even know what.
P
Updated On: 1/2/10 at 06:25 PM