Okay, I admit it. I am a sucker for musicals. South Pacific, 1958 is the perfect summer flick. Here's one of my all time favorite songs from the movie. Believe it or not, this fabulous voice does not belong to the dreamy Rossano Brazzi. It's that of the opera star Giorgio Tozzi, who was for many years a leading bass with the Metropolitan Opera, seen playing lead roles in nearly every major opera house worldwide. Tozzi's fabulous voice is the reason I love listening to this particular rendition of the song. The combination of Brazzi and Tozzi makes one incredibly delicious man.
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After dubbing in the singing parts for Brazzi in South Pacific, Tozzi spent many years playing the role of de Becque himself in various revivals and road tours of the show, including one at Lincoln Center in the late 1960s. In 1980, Tozzi earned a Tony award nomination for best leading actor in a musical for his work as Tony in The Most Happy Fella. Tozzi worked extensively as an educator in professorships at Juilliard, Brigham Young University, and Indiana University. In 2006, he retired as Distinguished Professor of Voice at Indiana University's Jacobs School of Music in Bloomington, Indiana. I had the good fortune to meet the charming Mr. Tozzi when my daughter was an undergraduate vocal student at the Jacobs School in 2001.In addition to South Pacific, here's a few other of my favorite seasonal flicks guaranteed to get you through these dawg days of summer:
Much Ado About Nothing, Lawrence of Arabia, Out of Africa, My House in Umbria, Cinema Paradiso, Light in the Piazza, Summertime, Burnt by the Sun, Swimming Pool, A Room with a View, and The Bridges of Madison County.
What a great list of summer flicks. I never get tired of watching "South Pacific"...in fact I recently saw a revivalof the show in San Francisco.
ReplyDeleteAnd, wow, I never knew Rossano Brazzi didn't do his own singing. An interesting tidbit...
Out of Africa is my favorite movie.
ReplyDeleteI just watched Lawrence of Arabia recently.
ReplyDeleteJudging by your list, you're quite a romantic, Willow!
Mr. C, you guessed right. I am the first to admit, I am, indeed, a hopeless romantic. Sigh.
ReplyDeletehi willow, lawrence has been one of my heroes for as long as i can remember. out of africa - well i remember when it first came out. i read all the books connected to the story. ate it up!! south pacific - luscious, lovely, needs no garnishing except perhaps a bottomless martini. a room with a view. well that talks to so much of what i love and especially to my displaced in the colonies englishness. cool list willow. cool you. steven
ReplyDeleteam a lover of musicals from way back. wonderful voice. thanks for the movie list. have seen most of them and find i dont watch movies as much in the summer.
ReplyDeleteMusicals take time.
ReplyDeleteLove Tozzi's passionate voice.....and Brazzi's handsome face... What a wonderful opportunity for your daughter....
ReplyDeleteLove most of the movies you listed...I guess I shouldn't have been surprised to see you had "Burnt by the Sun" on there....one of my favourites...
and you know I just saw "Lawrence"....and adored it!
I just finished watching an old PBS series (now on DVD) "Fortunes of War". It's based on two books I love.."The Balkan Trilogy" and "the Levant Trilogy by Olivia Manning. It was nearly as good as the books - something one can rarely say.
Hugs from "Still-Cold-And-Foggy" San Francisco,
♥ Robin ♥
Back when I was growing up, going to the movies was a rare treat. My parents took us to see several things and one of those was South Pacific.
ReplyDeleteSOUTH PACIFIC! I have payed the show many times, and it probably is my all-time favorite musical..."Once you have found her, never let her go...once you have found her...ne--vah--let----her-----GOOOooooooo!"
ReplyDeleteSOME ENCHANTED EVENING...Oh Willow, mentioning this tonight, you have brought tears to me eyes. Really!
PEACE...and LOVE
(of course--*I* am not a "romantic....."--grin, grin!)
A Room with a View is one of my all time favorites. That music!
ReplyDeleteI'm looking up 'Swimming Pool" and "Burnt by the Sun" on Netflix...I need some new picks.
ReplyDeleteOut of Africa...sigh.
ReplyDeleteWhat do you think about the Mario Lanza's "Younger than Springtime" and Enzo Pinza singing in "South Pacific" on Broadway?
ReplyDeleteLovely, lovely....memories are flooding back. I skipped school to go out of town with friends to see it.......worth it to say the least!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the movie list - included are a couple I've not seen so have put them in my Netflix queue.
Of course my all time fave has to be Out of Africa!
I didn't know that Tozzi did the voice-over. That changes everything. Many years ago I spent several holidays on the secret island of Formentera; I believe some of the scenes were shot there. A true classic.
ReplyDeleteThe other day was so beautiful it made 'Oh what a beautiful morning, oh what a beautiful day...' come to mind and it started me thinking of my parent's love of the shows - I grew up with their records including South Pacific.
ReplyDeleteYes, the voice of a male angel!
ReplyDeleteAside; I loved your tt brown piece. -J
Great taste, Willow. Lawrence of Arabia is one of my all-time favourites. Everything else on your list gets a big 'thumbs up' too!
ReplyDeleteHow interesting. I always wondered if the singing voices had been dubbed in South Pacific, they were in so many musicals weren't they.
ReplyDeleteMagical, that song, thank you for bringing it out of your stash of treasures! So lucky you actually met Mr. Tozzi.
ReplyDeleteI actually watched "The Bridges of Madison County" last night! I came on late in the evening on TV and I could not resist staying up until well after midnight.
Oh Yes! One of my favourites too.there is something life-affirming about it.
ReplyDeletehave A Fine weekend ,Willow.
Willow,
ReplyDeleteBroadway musicals have been at the top of my list of favorites for as long as I can remember and "Some Enchanted Evening" is in the top 5 of my favorite songs to sing.
Swimming Pool and Bridges of Madison County are also favorites of mine to watch.
rel
I think I've just been swept off my feet. Ahhh.
ReplyDeleteLoved the movie. We watched "South Pacific" just after we returned from our honeymoon in the South Pacific. The scenes in the movie are exactly like the ones we saw while here...amazing scenes. I was just thinking of that song "Wash that man right out of my hair" while I was in the shower the other day : )
ReplyDeleteWow, haven't thought about South Pacific in a few years. I have done the Wash That Man Right Out Of My Hair a few times in my life. Literally.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much. That is a favorite of mine I love to sing along. Mitzi was darling too..
ReplyDeleteHave a great Sunday. yvonne
I love musicals, too. Just now I am really enjoying introducing so many of them to my daughter. Oh, we are having fun.
ReplyDeleteDear Willow, I must confess that I am not a devotee of musicals, much preferring Opera which can be enjoyed in Budapest for a fraction of the cost of a Covent Garden ticket.
ReplyDeleteFrom your summer film list, I share your fondness of 'Swimming Pool' and 'A Room with a View' to which I would add 'Howard's End' and Ingmar Bergman's 'Wild Strawberries' which I should rank as an all time favourite.
Wonderful post, Willow. Fascinating and a delight to read, the video clip was great.
ReplyDeleteI like some musicals, "Much Ado About Nothing" is a brilliant one, one of my favourites. I'll be sure to look up some of the others in your recommendation list and, of course, "South Pacific" :)
That clip captures the romance of the Pacific, and reminds me of my years in South East Asia, "back in the day" as we always say. Looking back, those days were magical. Memories often are.......
ReplyDeleteRick
Oh, I love that, too. Great list of summer flicks, Willow--some of my all-time favorites as well.
ReplyDeleteIf you have the good fortune to get to NYC, do go see South Pacific. It's flawless -- pure delight!
ReplyDeleteLoved listening again, Willow! Always hard to believe it wasn't Rossano singing! I'm going to check up on a couple of your films that aren't familiar.
ReplyDeleteOh, South Pacific!
ReplyDeleteIf a man don't understand you,
If you fly on separate beams,
Waste no time, make a change,
Ride that man right off your range.
Rub him out of the roll call
And drum him out of your dreams.
I'm gonna wash that man right outa my hair,
And send him on his way.
Your list gives me a whole new way of looking at August! Love these films!
Willow -- Your flick posts keep me abreast of good movies to watch on my new Netflex subscription. Thanks -- barbara
ReplyDeleteThis is one of my mother's favorite movies. I'm not much of one for musicals (except Brigadoon, of course) but I had to comment on the links found at the bottom of this post.
ReplyDeleteI saw "The Bridges of Madison County", and while the link points to the movie with Clint Eastwood, I just had to ask if you'd ever read the book.
I cried for four hours straight - the first hour was while I read the book, and the other three were just combined therapy and recuperation, I guess.
Hey Willow -
ReplyDeleteI wanted to find out more about your handsome regular commenter, Steve, so I clicked on his picture.
A page came up that said "profile not available".
I could have told you that from his picture. He's turned just a bit too far back towards the camera...
8-)
Ah dear Willow - Cinema Paradiso, my favourite movie of all time, big sigh. Giorgio Tozzi should be renamed Gorgeous Tozzi!! If only I'd known he was in Bloomington when I was last there. I can just see the newspaper headlines now 'Crazy Aussie chick stalks local UI celebrity!'
ReplyDeleteMillie ^_^
I was so in love with Brazzi when I was about 12... and I think I was about 40 something when I discovered it wasn't his voice in South Pacific!
ReplyDeleteWillow, I love your list here. A Room With a View is one of my favs.
ReplyDeleteI really adore Cinema Paridisio. Alos from the same era...Babette's Feast! And Bridge's of Madison County...such a great romance!
ReplyDeleteThe author was a speaker here at AU once after the book was out for a while. He was a professor of economics...amazing.
I remember The Three Tenors doing a medley of popular songs in one of their televised concerts (when there were still the three of them) and this song was in the medley. It was a great rendition. Alas, I'm a sucker for some of the musicals too. (Should I admit this? I like Oklahoma and Carousel)
ReplyDeletei love operas and music and singing - unfortunately the video you posted is not available in my land - they're quite restrictive in germany at the moment...anyway - i enjoyed reading your post..
ReplyDeletei always learn something here.
ReplyDeletejust added "South Pacific" to my re-watch list. it has been a while...
Glad that you have fun watching movies.
ReplyDeletethat's a real treat from blogging.
Crikies! Looks like Anon is off his meds!
ReplyDeleteCharming and informative, Willow,..still get chills from Some Enchanted Evening..also Much Ado...is one of my favs..what a team, Branagh and Thompson! But not to stay hitched!!
I LOVE South Pacific. It is so psychedelic the way the colors change whenever they sing. Fantastic music, too.
ReplyDeleteHave you seen the new South Pacific? It's also really great, in a very different way.
As for musicals, who DOESN'T love them??
I grew up surrounded by music and could spend hours immersed in those movie musicals! Then and now .....
ReplyDeletegreat list of movies willow...i am particularly fond of out of africa as well....
ReplyDeleteI love musicals too but my wife..not so much. I burst into song myself on occasion.
ReplyDeleteIts always fun spending times with the inlaws.Great stuff you got there with the poem
ReplyDeleteDear Willow: Lovely backstory on the actor Rossano Brazzi in South Pacific being overdubbed by Rossano Brazzi(who is quite handsome why would he not play the role? Too busy perhaps). Who'd ever want to wash that man "right outta my hair" would be nuts! What a hunk! Tozzi+Brazzi = yummly definitely has a smooth voice in the operatic tradition. Is he(The Great Giorgio Tozzi) a Mezzo or operatic Tenor?
ReplyDelete