A little Oscars Fun

In the spirit of the Oscars, we decided to collect a few of our favourite opening numbers over the last few years, starting of course with the last one. 

Another favourite is Neil Patrick Harris presenting in 2010. The dancers are so over the top, you have to love it. They make up up for the...um...not all there vocals. 

In 2009 Hugh Jackman took the reigns. Look out for the Les Mis pair making a very early debut.



Musical numbers are always the best.

Little Green Cars The John Wayne

Pretty sure love is in the air. This song by Little Green Cars is mesmerizing. www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJEVkuNsEi0

Liza Minnelli

Liza Minnelli is such a legendary singer and actress. Here we found inspiration in her humour as Sally Bowles in Cabaret. Performing with her is another fantastic actor and singer, Joel Grey, as the Emcee. This 1972 film, based on the Broadway musical Cabaret, won three Academy Awards in 1973 including best actress (Minnelli), best supporting actor (Grey) and best director ( Bob Fosse). We think their interpretation of their characters is brilliant. Hope you do too!

That Moon Song

What a beautiful creation by Gregory Alan Isakov. We stumbled upon this song listening to Jango (www.jango.com in case you don't know it). It brings to mind starry nights or deep forests. Cliche? Whatever, you'll like it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_AKDeBakCw

Laura Marling Rambling Man

A friend of ours suggested we cover this song, Rambling Man by Laura Marling, for our show. What a brilliant suggestion, and this song and artist inspired so many other ideas.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1YXKWOTGskY 

A little Disney

We've been having a ball writing new material for our show 8 March in Dorpstreet Theater. Our latest song called Stories was inspired by Disney power ballads from a few years back. This is one of our favourites from Hercules.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_bEWXs_FX4

Settle Down

Love this song. So do 21 Million other people on YouTube but whatever, let's jump on the bandwagon. For those who don't know Kimbra, she's the girl in Gotye's Somebody That I Used to Know. We much prefer her solo work. This song is so much fun.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHV04eSGzAA

Let us know if you agree!

Woordfees Program Launched YAY

Finally, you can start buying tickets for Woordfees. Our show is 8 March at Dorpstreet Theatre, starting at 20:30 but remember to come early if you want to wine and dine. The venue has limited space so book early. http://www.woordfees.co.za/produksies_2013/

I Can't Make You Love Me

Bon Iver is really an inspiring act and although we think all their songs are brilliant, this one is pretty epic. It is a cover of Bonnie Raitt's 1991 song, I Can't Make You Love Me. Adele also had a crack at it, but we think Bon Iver got it just right. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8MJio3s2wFI

Les Miserables

In the spirit of Les Miserables going to cinemas this week, we wanted to pop this in. Serious goosebumps. Lea Salonga sings On My Own with a powerful finish and Ruthie Henshall delivers a raw, emotional I Dreamed a Dream (despite the slight distortion). This is one of the most beautiful musicals!

Tony Awards 2012 Opening

This is simply brilliant. The opening number of the Tony Awards 2012 starts out with the opening act from The Book of Mormon and Barney from How I Met Your Mother takes the audience through a fun montage inspired by Broadway.

The Book of Mormon

A Stiletto traveled to New York last December and I was lucky enough to watch The Book of Mormon. Halfway through my mouth was hanging open and I was pretty sure they were faking it. But no, they were actually just that good. This is one of my favourite pieces. Have a look at www.bookofmormonbroadway.com for more information.

Radio Active by Imagine Dragons

Loving this song at the moment, especially when you're driving to work in the morning. It is a total treffer on the radio so you probably know it. If you don't, hope you enjoy!

Fireworks in Reverse by Julian Tay

We found this video on Pinterest (once again spending way too much time on that site) and it really is mesmerizing. Sort-of like staring into flames. A very clever, and quite pretty, idea from Julian Tay. He has a range of inspiring pieces like this one. Have a look at www.juliantay.com.

A History Lesson

This is one from the archives, but really important since this is where it all started. Thanks to the awesome peeps at A Blind Spot Productions, the video was one of their first projects too and we feel they did an amazing job. Have a look at some of their new work at vimeo.com/ablindspot.

This is us...

It being a new year and all we have decided to kick ourselves off the metaphorical couch and make a return to society. For those having a look-see for the first time, The Orange Stilettos is a music group that experiments with jazz, blues, classical and (dare I say it?) pop along with any other style that tickles our earlobes. But (and this might sound a little cheesy around the edges) music is after all inspired by life, so let us call this a blog about the life behind the music. A behind the scenes peek, if you will. We will gather anything we find beautiful, fun and interesting and hopefully you will like what we like.

As for news, currently we are preparing for our gig 8 March in Dorpstraat Theatre (dorpstraat.co.za) as part of Woordfees. We will keep you posted on ticket sales. For now though, keep the date wide open. We are basically writing a brand new set and revamping some old material. We have had one band camp, spent a fair amount of time discovering GarageBand and we're really excited about what we've come up with.

That's it for now. x