Last night was the first concert honoring the music of Disney, now it is our turn to discuss the works. From film to stage, from theme parks to theme songs, we’re going to explore the musical best at our beautiful Passamaquoddy music hall in a way only a Passamaquodian can do using only text and without the benefit of a computer sound card.  As it can be assumed from the past several posts, we’ll first take a look at the music in DICK TRACY.

What?  Aw, c’mon kid… we just ate.

THE SONGS

Although it is not a musical by definition, the film does have a few performance numbers that not only confirm the era, but are also prominent in the story structure as many of the elements are explored through montage.  To fulfill this task, director Warren Beatty turned to his collaborator on REDS, Stephen Sondheim.  The songs are deceptively simple and seem to channel the Gershwin brothers.  Three of the songs are nicely performed by Madonna as her character Breathless Mahoney.  They are BACK IN BUSINESS, MORE and the Academy Award Winning SOONER OR LATER. In an additional song, my personal favorite WHAT CAN YOU LOSE she is joined in duet with Mandy Patinkin.  There is also a source music piece, LIVE ALONE AND LIKE IT that was recorded by Mel Torme.

Sondheim is an American musical treasure albeit quite a controversial one.  Outside of politics it is difficult to find a more polarizing figure, a distinction shared with his opposite, Great Britain’s Andrew Lloyd Webber.  A love of one often results in a passionate hatred of the other…  Then there is us in the purple states.  We see value in both.  Still Sondheim’s work is legendary from lyrics on WEST SIDE STORY to INTO THE WOODS and his magnum opus SWEENEY TODD.  If you’ve read this far I’ll share the weirdest thing about Sondheim, his name is coincidentally an anagram for “hedonism”.  There go the red states…

Dick Tracy is musically more than just the Sondheim songs, it also has a powerful musical score composed by Danny Elfman, but that’s for another discussion…

If you want to hear more from the Passamaquoddy Music Hall, search for Music Hall in the right menu search engine.