My Favorite Holiday Songs

Last night I went to see the Boston Gay Men's Chorus, they put on an excellent show!  Seeing the chorus finally put me in the holiday spirit, and made me think about my favorite holiday songs.  There are of course different versions of different songs, and everyone has their own favorites. Here are my favorite holiday seasons with the specific artist.

"Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas"-Judy Garland-her brassy voice makes this song soulful.  This song gives me hope that even in the most difficult times things can better.

Wham-"Last Christmas"-While this song is one of the sadder Christmas songs, it has always been one of my favorite songs.  Even though this is one of the sadder songs it still has remained one of the most popular Christmas songs for those thinking loving the wrong person.

Mariah Carey-"All I Want for Christmas is You"-This is one of the best Christmas songs ever!  This song makes me happy, and was an instant classic.  This also reminds me of one of my favorite Christmas movies, Love Actually.

Eartha Kitt-Santa Baby- Classic and sexy (even though she is singing about Santa), this is one of my favorite Christmas songs, and Eartha Kitt's voice is just wonderful!

Chris Colfer and Darren Criss-"Baby It's Cold Outside"-Althought this song sounds a bit like date rape (which I am not condoning) I always thought this song was cute when I was younger, and the Glee version between Kurt and Blaine helps to keep up this allusion.

Andy Williams "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year"- The holiday season would not be complete without Andy Williams (for me) and this is my favorite song of his.  

Bing Cosby "White Christmas" Finally Bing Cosby's White Christmas which is such a beautiful version of this song.  Hearing this song just puts me in the mood.

West Side Story Celebrates 50 Years!

Today on lunch I watched last nights Glee, I have more or less given up on the show, but I watched the episode for two reasons: the Kurt and Blaine first time story, and because they were performing West Side Story for their school musical.  The only reason I would ever continue to watch Glee is because of Naya Rivera who plays Santana her Anita was brilliant, and she is a great singe.  Watching this episode reminded that theaters across the country would be honoring West Side Story's 50th anniversary tonight.

West Side Story is the story of two people Tony and Maria who fall in love. This modern telling of Romeo and Juliet describes not only their love but the story of the Sharks and Jets whose fighting aims to prevent their true love.This memorable movie musical is so heartfelt, raw, and emotional.  The dancing and singing is done so beautifully, and throughout the film I felt Tony and Maria's eternal struggle to find happiness was beautiful.

Rita Moreno who plays Anita gives one of the best performances I have ever seen in a movie musical.  Anita who plays Riff's (Maria's brother) girlfriend is one of the best roles, and she shines especially in the musical number "America."  Some of the other amazing numbers in this film are "Cool", "I feel Pretty" and of course the unessential "Tonight, Tonight."

West Side Story was nominated for nominated for 11 Academy Awards and won 10.  The film won Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor-George Chikiris, and Best Supporting Actress-Rita Moreno.  This was the first film to have two Best Director winners, Jerome Robbins and Tim Wise.

The singing for Maria was not done by the actress who played her in the film, Natalie Wood.  The person who actually did the singing was Marni Nixon, and Wood's singing was dubbed.  Many people talk about Wood's voice, but few people ever talk about Ton'y voice being dubbed also.  The person who actually sang for Tony was Jimmy Bryant.

Even with dubbing this films charm is undeniable.  I love the romance, and the dancing gang members.  I always want to be a Shark, and would dance around to this music.  This film is a timeless classic, it was one of the films that inspired my love of musicals.  Happy Anniversary!