Product Description

In homage to the heyday of American comedy, George S. Kaufman and Ring Lardner's satire takes on 1929's Tin Pan Alley. Its main characters are a gullible lyricist and a composer who claims as his big hit a ditty called "Paprika... the Spice of My Life." Look for composer Stephen Sondheim as a wisecracking pianist in his acting debut! With Susan Sarandon, Estelle Parsons, Jack Cassidy, Lee Meredith, and Burt Shevelove.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #95112 in DVD
• Released on: 2002-04-16
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Color, DVD, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 88 minutes

Amazon.com
June Moon (1974) is a lesser-known entry in the Broadway Theater Archive series of televised performances, but there's plenty of reason to celebrate its inclusion. A hit when first staged in 1929, this comedy revels in the Jazz Age notion that New York City was the capital of nightlife sophistication. It balances George S. Kaufman's embrace of beautiful dreamers with Ring Lardner's darker angle on Tin Pan Alley and the occupational hazards of a boyishly naive songwriter (Tom Fitzsimmons) on a fast track to success. Susan Sarandon, appearing here shortly before she costarred in The Rocky Horror Picture Show, plays the jaded vixen who lures the rookie tunesmith under false pretenses, and TV great Jack Cassidy (who died in a house fire two years later) is terrific as the veteran composer who helps the kid while his own career is slumping. Playing another struggling songwriter is none other than Broadway composer Stephen Sondheim (!), paying scruffy homage to the composers who inspired him. --Jeff Shannon

Customer Reviews

Country boy seeks success in Tin Pan Alley in 1929.
There's a good reason that this is one of the lesser known entries in the Broadway Theater Archives. It is so dated that even with a stellar cast, including Jack Cassidy, Estelle Parsons, Susan Sarandon, and Stephen Sondheim, it fails to engage the viewer except as a period piece, a curiosity which illustrates what constituted "humor" and "theatrical excitement" in 1929, when it was first produced. Showcasing the frantic drive for a hit by Tin Pan Alley composers and lyricists, this show might have been considered amusing and even creative in 1929, but by 1974, when this production was filmed (and certainly by the present day), styles had changed, and audiences had become more sophisticated.

Despite its cast and well-filmed scenes, the show features characters who are so stereotyped, and a plot that is so trite, that the production fails to connect with the audience--every aspect of plot and character is obvious from the beginning. A sweet, naive young man (Tom Fitzsimmons), who wants to be a lyricist, takes the train from Schenectady to New York City, befriending a wide-eyed and innocent young woman (Lee Meredith) on the train. He meets a composer (Jack Cassidy) whose career is on a downslope, the composer's bored wife (Estelle Parsons), and her voracious and flamboyant sister (Susan Sarandon). As the young man begins to become successful, he, not surprisingly, finds Eileen (Sarandon) far more exciting than his sweet girlfriend from the train (Meredith), though Eileen, not surprisingly, is taking him for every penny she can get her hands on.

Though it would be possible to play this show broadly as a spoof or as a satire, this production, directed by Burt Shevelove and Kirk Browning, plays it straight. Written by George S. Kaufman and Ring Lardner, for whom this show was his only Broadway success, the production's brightest spot is the appearance of a very young Stephen Sondheim in a minor role as a wise-cracking pianist. The Broadway Theater Archives has preserved for posterity a spectacular assortment of important plays from the sixties and seventies, all starring well known actors. This production is not one of its best selections. Mary Whipple

Just to see Sondheim acting
"June Moon" is not much of a play. Accually, I can hardly understand why would somebody want it in his archive. It's not among Susan Sarandon's best moment (no fault of her) nor Kassidy has something special to say. It's actually a not bad performance of an easy to forget play. Well, why then do I rate it with 3 stars instead of proper 1? The answer is simple: Stephen Sondheim. The only reason somebody would pay any attention to this play, is just to see Mr. Broadway Musical to act (not bad at all!) and play the piano. I thing that only Sondheim maniacs should care about this dvd.
But be careful: "June Moon" is no musical and there are no Sondheim songs. That's why I've written that this dvd would interest Sondheim's maniacs instead of Sondheims funs. There 's a diffrence between admiration and psychosis.
I've seen the play in TV, but I wouldn't bother purchasing it. As a matter of fact I hardly would go to the theatre to watch it. But if someday it would be transmitten again, I surely would watch it again gladly. Just for the unusual actor who plays the part of the pianist. Just to see Stephen Sondheim acting.

Wonderful Show
Too long but a wonderful production. Lovely performances.
Stephen Sondheim steals the show but Austin Pendleton gives him a run for his money.
Once you've heard "Hello, Tokyo" and "June Moon" you won't be able to get them out of our head.