DavesMusicDatabase.com is devoted to ranking, rating, and reviewing music of all genres and eras. The DMDB blog serves up album and song reviews, best-of lists, music history snapshots, and music-related essays.
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 | Laurence Olivier Award:Best New Musical: 1976-2020 |
The Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Musical was established in 1976. It is presented annually by the Society of London Theatre in recognition of British productions. The awards were originally known as the Society of West End Theatre Awards, but renamed in honor of actor Laurence Olivier in 1984. Check out other album of the year awards here.
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First posted 12/24/2021. |
 | Cheek to CheekFred Astaire with Leo Reisman’s Orchestra |
Writer(s): Irving Berlin (see lyrics here) First Charted: August 3, 1935 Peak: 111 US, 15 HP, 14 GA, 18 SM, 2 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): -- US, -- UK, -- world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 4.81 video, 10.93 streaming |
Awards:Click on award for more details. 
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Awards (Ella & Louis version):Click on award for more details. 
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About the Song:Many of the era’s top songwriters worked with Astaire, smitten by “his debonair touch with a song” TM and dance numbers, usually with Ginger Rogers, which rank “among the most powerful expressions of courtship, love and loss in screen history.” TM Over the years, composer Irving Berlin crafted thirteen songs which landed in Astaire movies – all of which peaked at #15 or higher. “Cheek to Cheek,” which Berlin wrote in a day, was one of three to hit #1. TM It wasn’t just any #1, though; it “became one of Berlin’s greatest commercial successes,” TY1 spending more weeks atop the pop charts than any other song from 1935. CPM Berlin used Astaire’s “frail-but-convincing tenor” TM to his advantage writing lines like “And my heart beats so that I can hardly speak” to accompany a melody which jumped up to a note Astaire could barely sing. TM The dance sequence for the song became he and Ginger Rogers’ “most famous romantic duet,” but it was not without problems. SB When Astaire sang and danced to it in the 1935 film Top Hat, Rogers wore a gown covered with ostrich feathers which, to Astaire’s horror, shed with every dance movement.” SB He later said, “It was like a chicken attacked by a coyote, I never saw so many feathers in my life.” SB Despite Astaire’s reaction, Rogers was determined to wear the dress. Seamstresses were able to largely resolve the problem in time for another shoot the next day, but some hard feelings lingered. Astaire and Hermes Pan, the film’s choreographer, “serenaded Rogers with a parody of the song: ‘Feathers – I hate feathers/ And I hate them so that I can hardly speak/ And I never find the happiness I seek/ With those chicken feathers dancing/ Cheek to Cheek.’” SB Astaire later gave Rogers a small gold feather for her charm bracelet as well as a note saying, “Dear Feathers, I love ya! Fred.” SB “Cheek to Cheek” garnered an Academy Award nomination for best song. Peggy Lee, Tony Bennett, and Doris Day recorded the song as well. MM It also became a jazz standard being recorded by notables such as Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong. Resources:
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First posted 7/30/2014; last updated 3/20/2023. |
