THE BAND WAGON

'''The Band Wagon''' is a musical comedy film, released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1953 which tells the story of an aging musical star who wants to star in a Broadway play that will restart his career. But the play's director wants to make it a pretentious retelling of ''Faust'', and brings in a prima ballerina who clashes with the show's star. It stars Fred Astaire, Cyd Charisse, Oscar Levant, Nanette Fabray and Jack Buchanan.
The film was written by Comden and Green and Alan Jay Lerner (uncredited), directed by Vincente Minnelli, and produced by Arthur Freed. The music was written by Arthur Schwartz and Howard Dietz. It was nominated for Academy Awards for Best Costume Design, Color, Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture and Best Writing, Story and Screenplay (for Comden and Green).
The film popularized the song "That's Entertainment!", which became a standard. Other numbers in the film include "Dancing in the Dark", "I Guess I'll Have to Change My Plan," "Shine on Your Shoes," and "Triplets," which features Astaire, Fabray and Buchanan dancing on their knees, dressed in baby clothes. The film's most elaborate number is the "Girl Hunt Ballet," a spoof of Mickey Spillane hard-boiled detective novels, featuring Astaire and Charisse.
Charisse's singing was dubbed by India Adams.
One musical number shot for the film but dropped before release was a seductive dance routine featuring Charisse performing "Two-Faced Woman" (with vocal, as noted above, by India Adams). Adams' recording of the song was reused for the film ''Torch Song'' for a musical number featuring Joan Crawford. The retrospective ''That's Entertainment! III'' released the Charisse version to the public for the first time. This footage was not, however, included with the later DVD release of ''The Band Wagon'' itself.
Many critics rank ''The Band Wagon'' (along with ''Singin' in the Rain'') as the finest of the MGM musicals. The film has been selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry. The song "Dancing in the Dark" is considered part of the Great American Songbook.
In 2006 this film ranked #17 on the American Film Institute's list of best musicals.

Contents

Musical Numbers

External links

Musical Numbers

''in chronological order''

★ By Myself performed by Fred Astaire

★ Shine on your Shoes by Fred Astaire and Leroy Daniels

★ That's Entertainment! by Fred Astaire, Nanette Fabray, Oscar Levant and Jack Buchanan

★ Dancing in the Dark performed by Fred Astaire and Cyd Charisse

★ I Love Louisa performed by Fred Astaire, Oscar Levant and Nanette Fabray

★ New Sun in the Sky by India Adams performed by Cyd Charisse

★ I Guess I'll Have to Change My Plan by Fred Astaire and Jack Buchanan

★ Triplets by Fred Astaire, Jack Buchanan and Nanette Fabray

★ Louisiana Hayride by Nanette Fabray and chorus

★ Girl Hunt ballet performed by Fred Astaire and Cyd Charisse

External links

★

★ Newsweek discussion transcript about The Band Wagon