tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8307678312217390020.post3763278157714042427..comments2022-11-05T06:07:26.338-07:00Comments on Last Seat on the Right: How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (1967, Swift)Michał Oleszczykhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11521760881710382872noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8307678312217390020.post-26434637472823707782010-08-16T19:08:23.333-07:002010-08-16T19:08:23.333-07:00The irony you mention was largely lost on me -- bu...The irony you mention was largely lost on me -- but then again, I blame the fact that I only saw the movie version and prior to that I wasn't acquainted with the show at all (save for some Tony Awards clips). The movie seemed to me a hack job on many levels -- it was rather unimaginatevely put together and I might have projected some of my impatience with it onto the sung material, too.Michał Oleszczykhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11521760881710382872noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8307678312217390020.post-34580225266118769132010-08-16T14:16:15.585-07:002010-08-16T14:16:15.585-07:00Michal, I grew up with the original cast album of ...Michal, I grew up with the original cast album of "How To Succeed," saw the movie when it was new-ish (GAWD, I'm old!) on a double-bill with the Mankiewicz "Honey Pot," and then later saw the La Jolla Playhouse production with Matthew Broderick before it went on to New York.<br /><br />What this is leading up to is ... "I don't think that the "Brotherhood of Man" number is as simple as all that. (Or at least I hope it's not.) I think that it is, at least by implication, about a "brotherhood" [sic] of mutual shafting. "Keep giving each brother all you can," they sing. And do notice that Finch keeps talking of punishments and making dim evaluations when nobody else is doing this. <br /><br />On top of this, the number functions as a parody/pastiche/etc. of the old-fashioned Big Revivalist Number (cf. "Blow, Gabriel Blow" in ANYTHING GOES or Arlen's "Get Happy" or the Vincent Youmans "Great Day"). It's not sentimental, the number, but it's a sort of jokey evocation of that evangelical style.MrsHenryWindleValehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03923952886742200595noreply@blogger.com