5 on Friday - Set 75 / I'm blogging at The Popculturedivas

Today I'm also over at The Popculturedivas, reshuffling my Bucket List after crossing off seeing American Ballet Theatre at Lincoln Centre, several weeks ago in New York City.







And now - onto the musical part of our program, wherein Travis at Trav's Thoughts invites everyone to lay down a short set of music that takes their fancies for his 5 on Friday meme.


















If you are in a relationship, what would your love story sound like, if it was a Broadway musical?

If you're not currently in a relationship, would your romantic past or longing to meet someone have a soundtrack?

Brad and I celebrated our 19th wedding anniversary last Monday, and together we came up with these show tunes plus our first-dance song to tell the story of our romance.

1 - If I Loved You - Shirley Jones and Gordon MacRae



2 - Some Enchanted Evening - Reba McEntire and Brian Stokes Mitchell



3 - Tonight - Marni Nixon and Jimmy Bryant (the singing voices for Natalie Wood and Beymer)



4 - S'Wonderful - Audrey Hepburn and Fred Astaire



5 - Pretty World - Sergio Mendes and Brasil 66










This is our anniversary tradition - kooky photo booth shots.

The 2011 edition

'The Gay Divorcee'

Brad and I found a special surprise for Gram while we were in Toronto. We brought her back the DVD of 'The Gay Divorcee', which she got yesterday for her birthday.







Gram loved dancing when she was more mobile, and is regularly glued to the TV when 'Dancing With the Stars' comes on. So I kept my eye out for a dancing DVD while we were in the Land Of Whatever One's Heart Desires (Toronto). No laughing from the peanut gallery!

1934's 'The Gay Divorcee' fit the bill splendidly. Here's a review from IMDB:

"Fred and Ginger, two perfect partners, two of the best dancers in history. In 1933 the pair had proven themselves as second leads in "Flying Down to Rio", stealing the show with "The Carioca". Ginger had "42nd Street" to her name, while Fred had the famous screen test analysis of 'Can't sing. Can't act. Can dance a little.'

'The Gay Divorcee' is the establishing musical of Astaire and Rogers. A top wealth of talent was assembled for the movie, with Erik Rhodes absolutely side splitting as the Italian hired correspondent Tonetti, wielding the fabulous line, "Your wife is safe with Tonetti, he prefers spaghetti!". Alice Brady plays Rogers' Aunt Hortense, but Edward Everett Horton is another stand out performer as the lawyer. He was definitely one of the best supporting comedians of the 1930s and 40s, in other Astaire and Rogers musicals, and movies like "Lost Horizon", "Holiday", "Here Comes Mr Jordan" and "Arsenic and Old Lace". (Julia's note: you'll recognize his voice as the Narrator of Fractured Fairytales from 'Rocky and Bullwinkle')

"Only one song was retained for the filmed version of Broadway's 'The Gay Divorce'. Astaire performs a great rendition of the immortal Cole Porter song 'Night and Day' (Julia's note: one of my favorite songs EVER). 'The Continental', the Best Song of 1934 is thrown into the mix, too. The stylish period of courtship, set decoration and costumes evoke great memories of eras gone by." - by 'Minty-5' from Sydney, Australia


We absolutely loved the movie. Full of repartee and innuendo, and once the dancing got started - SWOON.

View trailer