14 March 2008

From This Day On



On this date in 1947, the Lerner and Lowe musical, Brigadoon opened on Broadway. For anyone who has seen a stage production, the movie just doesn't quite live up to those images. If all you have ever seen is the movie version with Cyd Charisse and Gene Kelly, you should know that you have missed more than half of the songs from the original show. Whether this was for matters of time or the fact that two dancers rather than two singers were cast in the lead, I don't know.

Missing from the motion picture are:

My Mother's Wedding Day
Come To Me Bend To Me
There But For You Go I
From This Day On

All of the videos on You Tube were incredibly bad and I wanted you to hear good versions, so here is the link to the original cast album from Rhapsody.

From This Day On is my favorite of the missing songs even though it is one of the shortest, because it is the one that brings Tommy back to Brigadoon and pulls the town back out of time so that he can return to Fiona. It is a love song for everyone who has left some of their heart behind and there is no way to get back to where they left it.

You and the world we knew will glow, till my life is through;
For you're part of me from this day on.
And someday if I should love, it's you I'll be dreaming of,
For you're all I'll see from this day on.
These hurried hours were all the life we could share.
Still, I will go with not a tear, just a prayer
That when we are far apart, you'll find something from your heart
Has gone! Gone with me from this day on.

If you ever get to see a production of the original musical. Don't miss it.

3 comments:

Corey said...

I'm leaving the C-List , at least for a little while. Oh , and I'm not an Obama supporter. So , that theory doesn't apply.

Travis Cody said...

This is one of my absolute favorite movie musicals. I could watch Cyd and Gene dance forever.

I had no idea there was so much music missing though. The movie really is wonderful.

Two of my favorite Van Johnson performances are from Brigadoon, and then from the war movie Battleground.

Linda said...

I actually had the chance to see this one at a community theater production and they did a decent job with it. Having never seen the movie, I never knew that there was anything missing!

That it most definitely a beautiful song and very, very true.