Week of Musicals Wrap-Up and Giveaway Winners

And so we come to the end of the Week of Musicals. It's flown by for me! I hope you all enjoyed it as much as I did, and that you had a wonderful Thanksgiving as well! Lots of good food...and good company...and an all-around good time! Did you get all the posts? Just in case you missed some...here's a list. Or click here to read all the ones especially related to the Week of Muscals.
 

Day 1, November 19:

·         Bourne and Tributary

·         My Favorite Musicals

·         The Giveaway

Day 2, November 20:

·         Judy Garland biography

·         Judy Garland spotlight

·         Starflower

·         Guest post by Miss Elizabeth: Top Favorite DanceNumbers

Day 3, November 21:

·         Gene Kelly biography

·         Big Green Tractor

·         Great Classic Musicals

Day 4, November 22:

·         Julie Andrews biography

·         Guest post by Miss Dashwood: Behind the Scenes…

·         Music Tag

·         Julie Andrews Spotlight

Day 5, November 23:

·         Audrey Hepburn biography

·         Time is Love

·         Audrey Hepburn Spotlight

There! It's been a busy and fun week. Thank you SO much for my wonderful guest-posters! Readers, those are posts you do not want to miss. I enjoyed them both a lot!

Now, on to the giveaway winners! The winner of Starflower from the author is Rosie! And the winner of a book of her choice, from the giveaway specifically for this week, is Karis! Congratulation, ladies!

 Everyone who entered, thank you! Keep your eyes open for upcoming events...there's one coming (all about Christmas music) December 10-14, along with special posts on each of the first four Sundays in December. That's the great thing about Thanksgiving being over...now Christmas is coming! Bring on that Christmas music! :)

Note: excuse the weird spacing. All this formatting stuff is frightfully confusing, and at the moment...well, between Blogger freezing every few words, having way too many internet tabs open, and copying things in from Word...it's kind of a mess. Please excuse it!

Spotlight: Audrey Hepburn

Spotlight: Audrey Hepburn

 

Audrey starred in numerous movies, as can be seen from today's biographical post.

 

 



A Week of Musicals: Audrey Hepburn

I can't believe we're onto our last featured musical star already! But we are, and here she is. :)

 

Audrey Hepburn was born Audrey Kathleen Ruston on May 4, 1929, in Belgium. She grew up during World War II, becoming proficient at ballet. She danced to raise money for the Dutch resistance. Her family wasn't rich -- they and the people around them had to resort to grinding tulip bulbs into flour during a large food shortage in 1944. In 1945, Audrey moved to Amsterdam and took more ballet.

In 1951, she starred in Gigi on Broadway, a show that ran 219 times. And then...Audrey received her first starring role in a movie in 1953. The movie: Roman Holiday. She was billed with Gregory Peck.

Roman Holiday was a huge success, and in 1954, she was Sabrina with Humphrey Bogart, among others. Also in 1954, she married Mel Ferrer. In 1956, Audrey was in War and Peace (see picture below), and in Love in the Afternoon with Gary Cooper. She was definitely becoming a big name in the movies.

It was in 1960/1961 that she starred in her possibly best known movie, Breakfast at Tiffany's. I have yet to see it. She started work on it just three months after her son was born.

In 1964, Audrey starred in the one film I have seen by her: My Fair Lady.

Like so many other actors, her personal life was not very happy. After 14 years of marriage, she divorced Mel Ferrer and eventually married Andrea Dotti. Their son, Luca, was born in 1970. She didn't act much after that. Audrey died on January 20, 1993.

Spotlight: Julie Andrews

In honor of Julie Andrews Day in this Week of Musicals, may I present a Spotlight on (you guessed it...) Julie Andrews!

Julie Andrews

 

Music Tag

Look what I found, friends! A fun tag, and it even has to do with music. So we're using it! Here are the rules, then let's go...and of course, feel free to steal it for your own blog.

1. Put your iTunes, Windows Media Player, etc. on shuffle. (I'm using my Mp3 player)

2. For each question, press the next button to get your answer.

3. Write down the song name and (if applicable) the movie it came from, no matter how silly it sounds.

4. Tag some friends. Your choice how many.

Here we go!

 

If someone says "Are you okay?" you say... Gira Con Me Questa Notte by Josh Groban. Ummm. Yeah. It was a long day? (Oh, I looked up the translation on GoogleTranslation – it means Spin with Me Tonight.)

What would best describe your personality? Throw the Coins from Sense and Sensibility 1995. Okay. Sure. I like throwing some things. And it’s a very cheerful piece of music, which fits me.

How would you describe yourself? Ave Maria by Il Divo. Huh. Not quite so great…

What do you like in a guy/girl? La Pastorella dell’ Alpi (son bella pastorella) by Charlotte Church. Yay for GoogleTranslation! Apparently that all means The Shepherdess of Alps (I am beautiful shepherdess). Well…I wouldn’t mind marrying a farmer/shepherd, I suppose.

How do you feel today? Backwoods Boy by Josh Turner. Actually, it’s more Backwoods Girl for me, but…definitely countryish.

What is your life's purpose? White Christmas by Celtic Woman. Wow. What a purpose!

What's Your Motto? Find Me a Baby by Josh Turner. Way to make me sound desperate for a spouse! Or a child, maybe! Though Josh Turner meant a spouse…

What do your friends think of you? Laurel and Hardy theme. Ooooo, that is fitting. Anyone familiar with Laurel and Hardy? Google them. Comedians, 1930s/40s. Hilarious. They're on the left.

What do your parents think of you? General Lavine-eccentric by Claude Debussy. I take it my parents find me eccentric?

What do you think about very often? Mr. Elton from Emma 2009. NOOOO! My Mp3 player (LaMera) is plotting against me! Mr. Elton is not my primary thought, contrary to LaMera’s belief.

What is 2 + 2? Mi Morena by Josh Groban. Not so sure about that…

What do you think of your best friend? Treebeard from Two Towers 2002. I don’t actually consider my friends to be trees, or even to look like them.

What do you think of the person you like? O Mio Babbino Caro by Katherine Jenkins. Translated as “O my dear papa.” I do like my dad, it’s true!

What is your life story? When You Believe by Celtic Woman. Hmmm…believing is good. I think?

What do you want to be when you grow up? The Lord Bern from Voyage of the Dawn Treader 2010. LaMera is making things up again. I mean, Lord Bern was okay, but he had a very hard life, and I’d rather not be him…

What do you think when you see the person you like? This Time for Sure from How to Train Your Dragon. Well!

What will you do at your wedding? Santa Clause is Coming by Michael Buble. Do I get to be Santa?

What will they play at your funeral? The Interrupted Serenade by Claude Debussy. How fitting. My life WILL be rudely interrupted, after all.

What is your hobby/interest? May It Be by Enya. Hmmm…she sang that for Fellowship of the Ring, so maybe LaMera is saying…I like Lord of the Rings? YES!

What is your biggest fear? Isengard Unleashed from Two Towers 2002. Yeah, that was scary all right.

What is your biggest secret? I Wouldn’t Be a Man by Josh Turner. I’ll have to think on that for a while…

What do you want right now? Stars and Midnight Blue by Enya. I love both of those, so yes!

What do you think of your friends? Dear Lord and Father of Mankind by Katherine Jenkins. Huh. Not sure about that.

What's the worst thing that could happen? Be My Love by Katherine Jenkins. Since I’m not sure who exactly that’s talking about, it may or may not be bad.

What is the one thing you regret? Last Time by Moonlight by Enya. I can’t recall anything moonlight-related that I regret?

What makes you laugh? O Come, O Come, Emmanuel by Francesca Battistelli. I bought that song just for some special song reviews (coming next month!). And it doesn’t really make me laugh a lot…

What makes you cry? The 1^st Sword from Voyage of the Dawn Treader 2010. Only the end of that movie makes me cry.

Will you ever get married? Fairytale by Enya. I will have a fairytale wedding!

What scares you the most? The Gardiners from Pride and Prejudice 1995. Oh yeah. THEY are scary. Or not.

Does anyone like you? Deeper Than My Love by Josh Turner. Apparently, yes.

If you could go back in time, what would you change? Evacuating London from Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe 2005. Take out World War I!

What will you name this post? I Will Pray for You by Katherine Jenkins. If you read this whole thing, you probably do need some prayer by now. No, I’m not actually naming my post that.

 

That was fun! I hereby tag anyone who wants to do it! Have fun yourself!!

A Week of Musicals: Julie Andrews

Welcome to the fourth day of our Week of Musicals! Today's featured person...Julie Andrews. A wonderful actor!

Guess what? Like so many other actors, Julie wasn't born under the name she's known for, at least not entirely...she was born on October 1, 1935 as Julie Wells, in Walton-on-Thames in Surrey England. Honestly, who wouldn't want to be born in a town with that name?!? Around 1945, she started singing in company with her parents.

In 1954, she debuted here in the US -- she was almost 19. She acted in several plays over the years, and one of her first movies was in 1957, Cinderella. 

She also played in Camelot with Richard Burton in 1960, and was almost cast for My Fair Lady the movie, but it was decided that she wasn't famous enough, and Audrey Hepburn won out. In 1963, she finally started in on the roles that we know her for, starting with Mary Poppins. She won several awards in that role.

 Then, in 1965, she starred in her best known film (IMHO), Sound of Music.

Later in life, Julie starred as Nanny in Eloise...

...and as Queen Clarisse in Princess Diaries, as well as being a voice in Enchanted and Despicable Me. 

She was married to Tony Walton for 18 years, and Blake Edwards for 31. She had five children total: Jennifer, Geoffrey, Emma, Amelia, and Joanna.

Great Classic Musicals

Sound of Music

 

 

Naturally, I couldn’t write about great musicals without mentioning this classic! It was one of the first movies that my family bought when we got a DVD playing computer…I can clearly remember the first time we watched it. I was younger then, of course...by six or seven years. Over the years, I’ve enjoyed watching it again and again – growing up with the kids, always keeping track of which one I’m closest to in age. Julie Andrews’ beautiful voice is just that: beautiful; and her songs are unforgettable. Definitely a really classic movie.

Singing in the Rain

This is another of the cornerstones of the musical world, and I was delighted to finally get to watch it last year! Despite having only seen it once, and that a while back, we are still singing the songs. My favorite? Good Morning. And All I Do is Dream of You. And Singin’ in the Rain. While Brigadoon remains my favorite Gene Kelly film, this one is also good, and I recommend it!

Mary Poppins

Like the others in this particular post, Mary Poppins is a musical that pretty much everyone is familiar with, and that pretty much everyone has seen multiple times. Really, my only problem with it would be that it really doesn’t follow the original books! I know we all remember the songs that Julie Andrews immortalized in here though… Just a Spoonful of Sugar, Let’s Go Fly a Kite, Feed the Birds, etc. Dick van Dyke stars as Bert. Fun and fantastical – one that each child is sure to enjoy!