Jonathan Pearson

Hey friends!

I'm so sorry it's been so long since I've updated my website! We finished our season in December, and I've been a lazy bum! My grandma came up to Branson for Christmas, spent some time in Dallas, then I went up to St. Louis for New Year's with my cousins! For the past two weeks I've been in Kansas City visiting my dad and my friends from college! I finally had a chance to catch up on some wonderful movies. I saw The Artist, Joyful Noise, and The Iron Lady.  Loved all of them! I highly recommend them to everyone! 

I had to show you this clip of Dolly Parton singing her song "From Here to the Moon and Back" from Joyful Noise. She stopped by David Letterman last week and did a beautiful job! She had a string section accompany her, and it really made me tear up!

I finished my first play, Single & Thirty, about my best friend, Jennifer. It's just a short one act play, but it's pretty crazy! You never know--you might see it on the stage before you know it! In the meantime, I hope to get off the couch and be a little more productive! I've been watching Law & Order: SVU marathons on USA. The show has been on since 1999, but I've never watched it! I'm hooked--especially the theme song! It's so deliciously early '90s...

Have a great weekend! I'll catch up with you soon! 

Alfred Hitchcock is a film legend! There aren’t many more accolades anyone could give him! He’s simply a genius when it comes to filming dark movies without being too gory and gross! You also can’t forget the melodrama—remember, I like melodrama! In part two of my series on film noir, I’ve chosen Stage Fright (1950) starring Marlene Dietrich, Jane Wyman and Michael Wilding (Elizabeth Taylor’s second husband!).

Jane Wyman plays Eve Gill, a Royal Academy drama student who’s in love with Jonathan Cooper, played by Richard Todd. The problem is, Cooper is in love with the fabulous stage chanteuse Charlotte Inwood, played by Marlene Dietrich. That’s where the mystery begins…

Cooper runs into Eve and tells her about the tragedy that’s just taken place. Cue the flashback…

Cooper was at his apartment when Charlotte comes over to tell him that she killed her husband so she could be with Cooper forever! Charlotte, in a blood stained dress, is panicked and wants Cooper to run back to her house and fetch her a fresh dress. Problem is, the police don’t know her husband is dead and he takes a big risk going back to her house. When he arrives, he fetches a new dress, but the maid discovers him and calls the police. Now he must hide and Eve is his only hope! Off they go to Eve’s father’s house by the sea. Eve decides to keep Cooper with her dad. She heads back into London to figure out what to do next.

Off she goes to the scene of the crime to find out what she can (where Hitchcock makes his cameo). She doesn't find out anything there and calls her father to find out how Cooper is doing.

While she's on the phone, she notices the detective going into a local pub. She follows the detective into the pub, and using her acting talents, hatches a plan to go undercover as the maid’s cousin to find out all she can about Charlotte Inwood. 

The more she uncovers from the detective, Ordinary Smith (Michael Wilding), the more she falls in love with him. She finds herself in a quandary when Cooper returns from her’s father’s house. She must shield him from Smith who considers Cooper the prime suspect.

Eve creates a clever rouse to get Charlotte to spill the beans about the murder. She sets up a microphone in the dressing room that will project their conversation across the entire theatre.

Trouble is, it isn’t the confession she wants to hear. The police bring Cooper to the theatre, but he gets away from the police and hides in the basement with Eve. And if you want to find out the surprise ending, you’re going to have to rent the movie! 

Next post features another Hitchcock film starring Grace Kelly and Cary Grant! Stay blessed!

Of all my favorite movie genres, Film Noir happens to be my favorite--with Comedy not far behind. Something about the melodramatic acting (accompanied by the melodramatic musical score) makes for a wonderful evening! Some people like horror films, I enjoy melodrama! For the first part of our series, I chose a rare, dramatic (more psychotic) role played by Marilyn Monroe in Don't Bother To Knock (1952) with Richard Widmark and Anne Bancroft! I reviewed another film with Monroe and Clark Gable last week, but that was a tame dramatic role compared to the mentally unstable performance in this film!

Monroe plays Nell Forbes, a young girl from out West who comes to live with her Uncle Eddie. He works as the elevator operator at the McKinley Hotel in New York City. Noticing some guests needed a babysitter for the evening, Eddie recommends his niece for the job. However, no one knows the trouble she’s about to bring to this family…

In the lobby downstairs, Widmark plays Jed Towers, a crass man who comes to the hotel to talk to his girlfriend, Lyn Lesley, the hotel lounge singer played by Bancroft.

She sent him a “Dear John” letter, but he wants her back. After some quarreling, he leaves and goes upstairs to his room.

Nell puts the young girl she’s babysitting to sleep and starts to go through her mother’s things. She puts on the strange women’s négligée, her diamonds and perfume. She starts pretending she’s a very wealthy woman.

Across the courtyard, Jed notices Nell. Seeing his hopes with Lyn dashed, he decides he might have a fling with this young blonde. He dials the operator for her room. She hesitantly answers, but agrees to let him come over. They chat for awhile until the little girl interrupts them. Needing some fresh air, Nell opens the window and the little girl goes to look at the courtyard below. For an instant, Nell contemplates pushing the girl out the window until a guest across the courtyard screams and the girl gets down from the window. A few minutes later, her Uncle Eddie comes and interrupts her little tête-à-tête and tells her to take off the other woman’s clothes and jewelry. 

Suddenly, Nell starts to unravel. She believes Jed is her dead fiancé and falls madly in love with him. Meanwhile, little girl comes in again and interrupts them and Nell won’t have any more of it. She bashes her uncle on the head. While Jed is tending to him, she takes the little girl into the other room and ties her up. The other guests hear the noise and come up to investigate. Jed sneaks out not noticing that the little girl is tied up on the bed. He runs downstairs to talk to Lyn, who’s still performing in the downstairs lounge. 

Meanwhile, Nell gets the guests to leave. The mother worries about her little girl and comes to check on her. Discovering her little girl tied up, she fights with Nell, who gets roughed up in the process.

Nell runs downstairs and grabs a razor from the hotel gift shop. The police surround her until Jed and Lyn come to the rescue. They discover Nell was just released from the mental hospital where she was recovering after the death of her fiancé.

The police take her away to the local mental hospital and Jed and Lyn reconcile their differences--happy to be sane—and live happily ever after... Definitely a must-see! Marilyn Monroe gives a tour-de-force performance! Stay tuned for tomorrow's review of Alfred Hitchcock's Stage Fright (1950) in part two of our classic film noir series!

Since my show schedule has been light this week, I decided to see what movies were playing on TCM this week. I've already watched Fire Over England (1937) with Vivien Leigh and Sir Laurence Olivier, as well as the epic musical, Fiddler on the Roof (1971). As the week goes on I will probably blog about each of those two! But for now I wanted to share you this classic from 1961, The Misfits, starring Clark Gable, Marilyn Monroe and Montgomery Clift. 

Directed by John Huston, this classic is about Roslyn (Monroe) who goes to Reno to divorce her husband and meets Isabelle (Thelma Ritter) and Guido (Eli Wallach), who introduces her to Gay (Gable). They go out for a drink and then go back to Guido's house for the night. They all develop a friendship but Guido and Gay both fall in love with Roslyn. 

Roslyn is beautiful. Throughout all the men who've left her and hurt her, she still maintains her innocence and truthfulness. This movie was Monroe's last and knowing what we know about her life now, you can see how this character really represented her--her hopes, dreams, childlike charm, gentle sexiness.

Roslyn and Gay fall in love. They start a life together. Farming and living a quiet life in the Nevada countryside. One day the gang decides to go into town for the rodeo. There they meet Perce (Clift).

Perce and Roslyn develop a friendship after Perce gets injured at the rodeo. He joins the gang for a night of drinks where Gay invites Perce to join them to go up to the mountains and round up some Mustang horses to sell for feed.

Roslyn doesn't realize what's going to happen to the horses when they're caught. She thinks they'll be sold for cowboys to ride. Gay tells her times have changed and they need the horses to make dog feed. Once she realizes they'll be killed, she convinces Perce to cut loose all the horses. But Gay takes off after the horses on foot and a battle begins between him and a stallion. He eventually tames the stallion. Everyone thinks he's going to kill it, but he lets it go. He tells them he doesn't want anyone telling him what to do--he makes his own decisions on his own time. 

They say their goodbyes to everyone and drive off into the night, using the north star as their only light home. It was both Marilyn Monroe and Clark Gable's final film. Gable died of a heart attack 12 days after they completed filming; Monroe dying a year later while filming,    Something's Got To Give, which IMDB lists as her final film, even though it was never completed. Truly a great film! It's not available streaming on Netflix, but you might catch a replay on TCM!

The cast and crew on the set of The Misfits.

Hello, friends! Christmas season has arrived in Branson! All the Christmas shows have opened and the tourists have flocked to town! I have been busy at work! The Christmas show opened Tuesday night, and the audience really loved it! I did three shows yesterday, I have two today and three tomorrow! I haven't had time to update my blog and I apologize! Some days I'm not even sure of the date! My puppy has certainly missed me. He's snuggled next to me on the couch and soaking up some one-on-one time before I have to go to work. 

I posted this video of Queen Latifah singing "Hard Times" from her 2004, The Dana Owens Album. I think it's appropriate considering how much work I've been doing! I love her music! I'm going to buy more of her albums to add to my collection. You should check out her music! She also has a new movie with Dolly Parton, called Joyful Noise, coming out next year!

I hope everyone has a terrific Friday and a great weekend! Get out and do something fun! I will talk to you all on Monday!

I just finished Della Reese's biography, "Angels Along The Way: My Life With Help From Above." It's a few years old, but I found it at Half Price Books and couldn't resist. I remember her from Touched By An Angel back in the day. It's funny because when I was a kid, I thought the show was stupid. As I've gotten older, there are times when that show has really spoken to me--or I should say, God used it to speak to me--and has helped me get through a certain rough patch in my life. Music does the same thing for me. In fact, after finishing her biography last night, I woke up this morning singing this song. I first heard her sing it on Touched By An Angel but couldn't find a good clip of it. Here is the audio from it (above). It's one of those songs you need to sing from your spirit. That's why I love to listen to her sing because she's not singing to show off, but singing from what's deep inside. I try to do this every time I sing, even if I have to force myself when I'm tired, etc. 

In other musings, I have finished the documentary about Jerome Robbins. I included a preview clip below:

It's not as extensive as the biography, but does a good job putting names with faces and showing clips of the productions descirbed in the book. It also briefly touches on his relationships, which the book did a better job of documenting. Yes, his work is important, but I think they should have talked more about his love relationships because that was the hardest thing he dealt with. All in all, still a worthwhile documentary.

We are now in the middle of Day 4 of 8. Everything is coming together splendidly. It is going to be a great show! I'm very excited we have such a great cast and crew! I hope you all have a chance to see it. And, if you happen to be in the Ozarks, enjoy the beautiful trees! I can't remember the last time we had such a beautiful fall. The trees should peak this weekend, and I can't wait to see them! Have a great day everyone!

Well, truth be told, I really don't celebrate Halloween. The only thing I like to do is buy heavily discounted candy on November 1st and occasionally dress up for a costume party. Let's face it, after walking door to door as a kid dressed with a sheet over my head (we were 'po), going to one party with my friends is about all the energy I have! Since my co-workers and I are working on our Christmas show, we won't have enough time to actually have a party on the 31st so we always have it early each year. This year I went as the 80s! I put the outfit together out of clothes from my closet. The only thing I had to buy was the wig and borrow the hat. I'd say that was easy squeazy! This picture is of me and my friend, Emerson, who is our drummer in the show! His girlfriend's mom made him a Civil War outfit from scratch! Very impressive!

In other news, my website is offically up and running! I will make minor adjustments over time (as I learn how to add code, et al), but this is the basic premise! I just added a MUSIC page so you can hear songs from my demo until my brand new album comes out next year! I hope you enjoy exploring my site! I will try and post new blog entries daily! In the meantime, bookmark this page! You can also add me on Facebook and MySpace! By adding me, you help me get the word out!

We finished our regular season show yesterday, and for the next eight days I'm in rehearsals for our Christmas show which opens November 1! We've been rehearsing this show since July 5 so I guarantee if you come November 1, the show will be just as good as the last show on December 11! You could say we've had five months of previews!

Here we are performing "Little Drummer Boy." What is Brandt looking at?

I'll be in the dance studio all day! If you're in Branson, come see my show! Hope you guys have a fabulous Monday! Enjoy video of the cast of my favorite new musical, Sister Act, performing "Fabulous, Baby!" on the Wendy Williams Show today! They'll also be performing TONIGHT on Dancing With The Stars so make sure you set your DVR's!

Hey there! Hope y'all are having a great weekend! Can I just say how much I love Valerie Harper? I was watching her appearance yesterday on The Rosie Show! She is so bright and happy--definitely a light for the world! I would love to have dinner with her some time. Do you ever see people on TV and think, I'd love to have dinner with them? I have a list of people I'd love to meet and she's definitely on it! I posted this video clip from the show. She's talking about how she adopted her daughter! So great!

In other news, getting ready to move to a new house, and it is such a chore! I really hate moving! The good news is I don't have too much to move so it shouldn't be that bad. I say that and I haven't started packing yet! Give me a few hours and I'll realize how much stuff is hidden around this apartment! 

I read this article on BroadwayWorld.com about Mitzi Gaynor doing her show in Las Vegas this weekend. I have to tell you this funny story. When I was in New York this summer, I spent an afternoon at the Music Library over at Lincoln Center. I was in the CD section and there was this little boy named Sam with his nanny looking for musical soundtracks. Sam couldn't have been more than 5-years-old. He was looking for all the soundtracks to South Pacific that were ever recorded. I asked him if he had seen the production at Lincoln Center last year. He said yes, but Kelly O'Hara wasn't his favorite Nellie Forbush. I asked him who his favorite was, and he said, "Mitzi Gaynor." I about fell over from laughter. Here was this little kid with such knowledge about musical theatre! It was definitely a mini-me moment!

Mitzi! Twirl those chandeliers!                             Barry Sweet/Zumapress.com

One more week of shows and then we will be getting ready for the Christmas show! I hope all of you get a chance to see it! Only six weeks from November 1-December 11!

Here's our cast performing "Swinging Home For Christmas" with Shoji Tabuchi last year!