Everything That Dies, Some Day Comes Back

I had two reasons to watch this run-of-the-mill musical from the 1950s.  It was the first musical where Bob Fosse did the choreography, and one of the lead roles is played by Carol Haney. Carol Who, I hear you ask. Well, I first became aware of her because of a one-minute (yes, literally one minute) dance routine she and Fosse performed (uncredited) in the middle of the 'From This Moment On' number towards the end of the film version of 'Kiss Me, Kate'.  It's an electric minute, trust me. Back in 2008 when I was going through a low period in my life I was perusing (as one does) 'The Rough Guide to Film Musicals' which mentioned this routine and identified the female dancer as Carol Haney (who of course I had never heard of). This enabled me to use the internet to do some research into her life, which for a short while I became rather obsessed about. The high point of her career came after 'Kiss Me Kate' when she won a Tony for her performances in the...

This film musical features songs by Cole Porter and has a plot that revolves around a stage musical called 'Kiss Me, Kate' (based on 'The Taming of the Shrew') that features songs by Cole Porter, who briefly appears as a character - it's all a bit meta for 1953.   The main characters are performers Fred Graham and Lilli Vanessa, who used to be married and who have a tempestuous relationship that creates  off-stage fireworks to mirror those on-stage. Further comic mayhem is provided by some gangsters who are owed money. The original stage musical won the first ever Tony, and was Cole Porter’s first integrated musical i.e. one in which the songs relate directly to the surrounding story.  The story itself is entertaining tosh and the sparkling songs are done full justice by Howard Keel and Kathryn Grayson as Fred and Lilli. Most of the dancing in the film features Ann Miller. She turns up in many musicals of this era (such as ‘On The Town’ for example) and unfortunatel...