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This double feature of all-black musicals includes:HI DE HO (1947) - The legendary Cab Calloway stars in this musical about a band leader caught between two women and under pressure to take his band to a gangster-run establishment.THE DUKE IS TOPS (1938) - Riding on the updraft of her successes in Cabin in the Sky and Stormy Weather, a very young Lena Horne makes her feature film debut in this all-black production as a singing sensation whose manager--in an unusual plot twist for the era--sacrifices his ambition for her sake. See individual titles for details.DVD Features:Region 0Keep CaseInteractive Features: Scene Access Interactive Menus
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Commemorating the 50th anniversary of its reopening after the second World War, the Vienna State Opera puts on a transcendent concert for the ages, featuring the likes of Placido Domingo, Johan Botha, Deborah Polaski, Michael Schade, and Agnes Baltsa performing pieces from masterpieces like AIDA, FIDELIO, and DON GIOVANNI.
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Those who thought that smoke machines and cobwebbed candelabras were the stuff of Halloween parties and dance clubs need to think again. In Joel Schumacher`s film adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber`s Broadway musical THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, these moody set devices--and countless others--make every scene an atmospheric vision of souped-up 19th-century Gothic bliss. Christine Daee (a luminescent Emmy Rossum) is a tortured young star who is haunted by the voice of the phantom (Gerard Butler--who also played the lead in DRACULA 2000), a musician who hides in the shadows to hide a facial disfigurement, yet sings to her obsessively. Dwelling in the dark, damp chambers beneath the Paris opera house, the phantom lords over the cast and management with artistic autocracy--he writes the shows, casts them, and threatens all who disobey his plans with dramatically violent outbursts. But when his young student Christine falls for the rich and dapper Raoul (Patrick Wilson), the phantom descends into madness. Webber`s memorable songs are performed with aplomb by Rossum, whose background includes singing with the Metropolitan Opera, and Wilson and Butler provide ample accompaniment. One of the treats of the proceedings is Minnie Driver`s deeply exaggerated portrayal of the jealous diva, giving this PHANTOM a very appropriate dose of comic relief.
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Astaire and Rogers engage in romantic antics aboard a luxury ocean liner while dancing their way through such Gershwin tunes as Let's Call the Whole Thing Off, They All Laughed, They Can't Take that Away From Me and many others. Academy Award Nominations: Best Song (They Can't Take That Away From Me).
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Superb pianist and vocalist Dr. Ethel Caffie-Austin teaches gospel piano to novices and intermediate players, starting with the melody and progressing to the mighty bass lines and transcendent chords. Caffie-Austin demonstrates her techniques with such thrilling standards as
Show Me the Way,
Jesus Is On the Mainline,
Study War No More,
Can`t Nobody Do Me Like Jesus,
Standing in the Need of Prayer,
What A Friend We Have in Jesus,
and
Angels Keep Watching Over Me.
Copyright (C) Muze Inc. 2005.
For personal use only.
All rights reserved.