GOODBYE TO NEW YORK, THE CITY THAT NEVER SLEEPS

Today, The Grangers & The Grandma have said goodbye to New York City.

 

They have spent some unforgettable and amazing months in the city that never sleeps, and they are sure that they are going to return very soon, because they already have got A Heart in New York.

Thanks to New York City and the New Yorkers for these fantastic weeks together!

New York, New York is a 1977 American musical drama film directed by Martin Scorsese and written by Mardik Martin and Earl Mac Rauch based on a story by Rauch. It is a musical tribute, featuring new songs by John Kander and Fred Ebb as well as jazz standards, to Scorsese's home town of New York City, and stars Robert De Niro and Liza Minnelli as a pair of musicians and lovers.

The story is about a jazz saxophonist (De Niro) and a pop singer (Minnelli) who fall madly in love and marry; however, the saxophonist's outrageously volatile personality places a continual strain on their relationship, and after they have a baby, their marriage crumbles, even as their careers develop on separate paths. The film marked the final screen appearance of actor Jack Haley.

More information: The New York Times

The regrets of yesterday 

and the fear of tomorrow can kill you.

Liza Minnelli

Theme from New York, New York or New York, New York is the theme song from the Martin Scorsese film New York, New York (1977), composed by John Kander, with lyrics by Fred Ebb. 

It was written for and performed in the film by Liza Minnelli. It remains one of the best-known songs about New York City.

Composer John Kander and Lyricist Fred Ebb stated on the A&E Biography episode about Liza Minnelli, that they attribute the song's success to actor Robert De Niro, who rejected their original theme for the film because he thought it was too weak. The song did not become a popular hit until it was picked up in concert by Frank Sinatra during his performances at Radio City Music Hall in October 1978.

In 1979, Theme from New York, New York was recorded by Frank Sinatra for his album Trilogy: Past Present Future (1980), and became closely associated with him as one of his signature songs. Don Costa received a Grammy nomination for the energetic orchestration.

Sinatra occasionally performed the song live with Minnelli as a duet. 

Sinatra recorded it a second time for his 1993 album Duets, with Tony Bennett.

More information: Frank Sinatra

Start spreading the news,
I'm leaving today
I want to be a part of it
New York, New York

These vagabond shoes are longing to stray
And step a round of heart of it
New York, New York

I want to wake up in that city, that doesn't sleep
To find I'm king of the hill
Top of the heap
My little town blues,
Are melting away
I'll make a brand new start of it
In old New York
If I can make it there,
I'll make it anywhere
It's up to you
New York, New York
New York, New York

I wanna wake up, in the city that doesn't sleep,
To find I'm king of the hill, head of the list
Cream of the crop at the top of the heap
My little town blues are melting away
I'll make a brand new start of it, in old New York
If I can make it there, I'd make it anywhere
Come on, come through New York, New York

More information: Song Facts

 There's no place like New York.
It's the most exciting city in the world now.
That's the way it is. That's it.

Robert De Niro

'CHICAGO' & THE LONGEST-RUNNING MUSICAL REVIVAL

Today, The Grandma has enjoyed one of the greatest musicals ever showed in Broadway, Chicago.

Chicago is a 1975 American musical with music by John Kander, lyrics by Fred Ebb, and book by Ebb and Bob Fosse. 

Set in Chicago in the jazz age, the musical is based on a 1926 play of the same title by reporter Maurine Dallas Watkins, about actual criminals and the crimes on which she reported. The story is a satire on corruption in the administration of criminal justice and the concept of the celebrity criminal.

The original Broadway production opened in 1975 at the 46th Street Theatre and ran for 936 performances, until 1977. Bob Fosse directed and choreographed the original production, and his style is strongly identified with the show. 

It debuted in the West End in 1979, where it ran for 600 performances. Chicago was revived on Broadway in 1996, and a year later in the West End.

The 1996 Broadway production holds the record as the longest-running musical revival and the longest-running American musical in Broadway history. It is the second longest-running show ever to run on Broadway, behind only The Phantom of the Opera. Chicago surpassed Cats on November 23, 2014, when it played its 7,486th performance.

The West End revival became the longest-running American musical in West End history. Chicago has been staged in numerous productions around the world, and has toured extensively in the United States and United Kingdom. The 2002 film adaptation of the musical won the Academy Award for Best Picture.

The musical Chicago is based on a play of the same name by reporter and playwright Maurine Dallas Watkins, who was assigned to cover the 1924 trials of accused murderers Beulah Annan and Belva Gaertner for the Chicago Tribune.

In the early 1920s, Chicago's press and public became riveted by the subject of homicides committed by women. Several high-profile cases arose, which generally involved women killing their lovers or husbands. These cases were tried against a backdrop of changing views of women in the jazz age, and a long string of acquittals by Cook County juries of female murderers (juries at the time were all male, and convicted murderers generally faced death by hanging).

A lore arose that, in Chicago, feminine or attractive women could not be convicted. The Chicago Tribune generally favored the prosecution's case, while still presenting the details of these women's lives. Its rivals at the Hearst papers were more pro-defendant, and employed what were derisively called sob-sisters -women reporters who focused on the plight, attractiveness, redemption, or grace of the female defendants. Regardless of stance, the press covered several of these women as celebrities.

Watkins' sensational columns documenting these trials proved so popular that she wrote a play based on them.

More information: Chicago The Musical

Come on babe, why don't we paint the town?
And all that jazz
I'm gonna rouge my knees and roll my stockings down
And all that jazz
Start the car, I know a whoopee spot
Where the gin is cold but the piano's hot
It's just a noisy hall, where there's a nightly brawl
And all that jazz

John Kander & Fred Ebb

NEW YORK, NEW YORK. SINATRA, MINNELLI & LADY GAGA

Today, The Newtons & The Grandma has visited Radio City Music Hall where some old Grandma's friends have been singing some different versions about New York, New York, one of the best-known songs about New York City.

Before arriving to the Radio City Music Hall, the family has been studying some English grammar. They have chosen To Have Got and some State Verbs.

More information: To Have Got & State Verbs

New York, New York is a 1977 American musical drama film directed by Martin Scorsese and written by Mardik Martin and Earl Mac Rauch based on a story by Rauch. It is a musical tribute, featuring new songs by John Kander and Fred Ebb as well as jazz standards, to Scorsese's home town of New York City, and stars Robert De Niro and Liza Minnelli as a pair of musicians and lovers.

The story is about a jazz saxophonist (De Niro) and a pop singer (Minnelli) who fall madly in love and marry; however, the saxophonist's outrageously volatile personality places a continual strain on their relationship, and after they have a baby, their marriage crumbles, even as their careers develop on separate paths. The film marked the final screen appearance of actor Jack Haley.

More information: The New York Times

The regrets of yesterday 

and the fear of tomorrow can kill you.

 Liza Minnelli

Theme from New York, New York or New York, New York is the theme song from the Martin Scorsese film New York, New York (1977), composed by John Kander, with lyrics by Fred Ebb. 

It was written for and performed in the film by Liza Minnelli. It remains one of the best-known songs about New York City.

Composer John Kander and Lyricist Fred Ebb stated on the A&E Biography episode about Liza Minnelli, that they attribute the song's success to actor Robert De Niro, who rejected their original theme for the film because he thought it was too weak. The song did not become a popular hit until it was picked up in concert by Frank Sinatra during his performances at Radio City Music Hall in October 1978.

In 1979, Theme from New York, New York was recorded by Frank Sinatra for his album Trilogy: Past Present Future (1980), and became closely associated with him as one of his signature songs. Don Costa received a Grammy nomination for the energetic orchestration.

Sinatra occasionally performed the song live with Minnelli as a duet. 

Sinatra recorded it a second time for his 1993 album Duets, with Tony Bennett.

More information: Frank Sinatra

Start spreading the news,
I'm leaving today
I want to be a part of it
New York, New York

These vagabond shoes are longing to stray
And step a round of heart of it
New York, New York

I want to wake up in that city, that doesn't sleep
To find I'm king of the hill
Top of the heap
My little town blues,
Are melting away
I'll make a brand new start of it
In old New York
If I can make it there,
I'll make it anywhere
It's up to you
New York, New York
New York, New York

I wanna wake up, in the city that doesn't sleep,
To find I'm king of the hill, head of the list
Cream of the crop at the top of the heap
My little town blues are melting away
I'll make a brand new start of it, in old New York
If I can make it there, I'd make it anywhere
Come on, come through New York, New York

More information: Song Facts

 There's no place like New York.
It's the most exciting city in the world now.
That's the way it is. That's it.

Robert De Niro