beyond fred, ginger & gene

Few television remakes of musicals already made for the big screen are worthwhile. The rare exception is Gene Saks' 1995 TV version of
“Bye Bye Birdie,” which is superior to the dismal '63 film because it goes back to its source - Michael Stewart's libretto for the 1960 stage musical.

In fact, it uses Stewart's script; there was no adaptation.

Best of all, there is no Ann-Margret in it.

Instead, the spotlight is back on the lead female character, Rosie, played tartily by the perfectly cast Vanessa Williams.

Every number in this "Birdie" is memorable - the score is intact! plus a few added numbers! no deleted songs! - but the showstopper remains Williams' "Shriner's Ballet," choreographed by Ann Reinking who makes it fresh and new while occasionally paying tribute to Gower Champion's staging of the number for the Broadway original.

The number: “Shriner’s Ballet”

The Composer: Charles Strouse

The choreographer: Ann Reinking

The dancer: Vanessa Williams

The cinematographer: Glen MacPherson

The editor: Eric Albertson

The production designer: Charles C. Bennett

beyond fred, ginger & gene

George Sidney, a hit-or-miss filmmaker, outdid himself with his sterling 1953 adaptation of Cole Porter's "Kiss Me, Kate.” A film of many musical highlights, "Kate" offered up one in particular that deserves to be called classic - the twirling, spinning "From This Moment On" number.

Sublime.

The number: “From This Moment On”

The composer: Cole Porter

The singers: Tommy Rall, Bobby Van and Bob Fosse

The choreographers: Hermès Pan, with Bob Fosse (uncredited)

The dancers: Ann Miller, Carol Haney, Jeanne Coyne, Fosse, Rall and Van

The cinematographer: Charles Rosher

The film editor: Ralph E. Winters

The production designers: Cedric Gibbons and Urie McCleary

beyond fred, ginger & gene

Granted, this is an eclectic pick. I'm talking about the school-dance number in James Foley's 1984 answer to "Rebel with a Cause."

Namely, "Reckless."

Shot in shadows, stars Aidan Quinn and Daryl Hannah move in a blur, but we get the point. These brooding kids are using dance to express the hot, push/pull tensions of their sexual arousal. Like "Pulp Fiction," the film lists no choreographer among its credits and my search for the person responsible came up empty. My hunch is that it was improvised by Quinn and Hannah - or, as Quentin Tarantino did, Foley staged it himself.

We'll never know.

The number: “Never Say Never”

The composer: Romeo Void

The singer: Void

The choreographer: None credited

The dancers: Aidan Quinn and Daryl Hannah

The cinematographer: Michael Ballhaus

The film editor: Albert Magnoli

The production designer: Jeffrey Townsend

beyond fred, ginger & gene

John Huston's 1982 film version of "Annie" is as wildly underrated - by critics - as Rob Marshall's dull 1999 TV version is overrated.

Largely by the same critics.

Huston did some clever maneuvering in bringing "Annie" to the screen, ably abetted by scenarist Carol Sobieski: He brought Punjab (played by Geoffrey Holder) back into the story; he directed star Albert Finney (as Daddy Warbucks) to affect Huston's own vocal intonations (it's a terrific voice impersonation); he famously told Carol Burnett to play Miss Hannigan "soused"; he hired the perfect kid - Aileen Quinn - to play Little Orphan Annie, and he had the composers Charles Strouse and Martin Charnin write a fluid new number for Ann Reinking's Grace Farrell.

It's called "We Got Annie" and it's gorgeous.

The number: “We Got Annie!”

The composers: Charles Strouse and Martin Charnin

The singers: Ann Reinking, Lu Leonard and company

The choreographer: Arlene Phillips

The dancers: Reinking, Geoffrey Holder, Roger Minami and company

The cinematographer: Richard Moore

The editor: Michael A. Stevenson

The production designer: Dale Hennesy

beyond fred, ginger & gene

Ever creative, Danny Boyle elected to end his 2008 wonder, "Slumdog Millionaire," a raw, unstintinly realistic slice of life, with a rousing and quite unexpected production number danced by what seems like hundreds of performers, led by the film's two attractive young stars.

The result: One exited the theater thoroughly exhilarated. (One negative: Boyle received well-deserved criticism when he omitted the film's choreographer, Longinus Fernandes, from the end credits.)

The number: "Jai Ho"

The composers: A. R. Rahman and Gulzar

The singers: Gulzar, Sukhwinder Singh, Mahalakshmi Iyer, Vijay Prakash and Tanvi Shah

The choreographer: Longinus Fernandes

The dancers: Dev Patel, Frieda Pinto and company.

The cinematographer: Anthony Dod Mantle

The film editors: Chris Dickens

The production designer: Mark Digby