Flotsam Time
EAR, dear! How the conventions of musical comedy do date. As Blossom Time staggered along its predictable way, laden with all the flotsam of oldstyle musical plays, with its dreadfully unfunny comedy, its mixture of Student Prince sentiment and stagey Viennese gaiety, and its incongruous words to Schubert’s music, "arranged by G. H. Clutsam," I couldn’t help wishing that a Sandy Wilson had done this genre over, too. All Selwyn Toogood’s hearty mugging couldn’t make anything of the intendedly uproarious Wimpassinger, nor could vigorous playing in the other parts disguise the banality of the plot and the fatuousness of the presentation of Schubert’s character. Still, taking it for what it was-a relic of less sophisticated times in musical comedy-the NZBS production was diverting enough. Using the technique perfected by the films of having one person to sing, another to act, paid off well, and I enjoyed especially the singing of Robin Gordon and Daphne Ellwood, even if the arrangements caused a wince or two. Perhaps
I might have responded more warmly to Blossom Time had the Auckland weather been more springy and less wintry on Saturday night. And yet I think it would take more than a balmy spring evening to make me like that alleged "comedy."
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/NZLIST19560928.2.35.5
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 35, Issue 895, 28 September 1956, Page 19
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209Flotsam Time New Zealand Listener, Volume 35, Issue 895, 28 September 1956, Page 19
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Copyright in the work University Entrance by Janet Frame (credited as J.F., 22 March 1946, page 18), is owned by the Janet Frame Literary Trust. The National Library has been granted permission to digitise this article and make it available online as part of this digitised version of the New Zealand Listener. You can search, browse, and print this article for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from the Janet Frame Literary Trust for any other use.
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