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Flashback Friday: Before Clint Eastwood Talked to Chairs, He Talked to Trees in Paint Your Wagon

See one of the legendary Western stars in a rare musical-theater role.

Before New York City Center Encores! brought Lerner and Loewe’s rarely seen 1951 musical play Paint Your Wagon back into the public consciousness, the world knew it (a little) from the 1969 film version. While the two couldn't be more different in terms of plot, characters, and music, the movie is much better known as a vehicle for a pair of Western vets, Clint Eastwood and Lee Marvin. Eastwood played Pardner, a character invented for the big screen by screenwriter Paddy Chayefsky, and got to sing one of the show's more famous numbers, "I Talk to the Trees" (and this was long before he started talking to inanimate objects made out of wood from said trees). Take a look:

Click here for tickets to see the Encores! production of Paint Your Wagon.

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Paint Your Wagon

Closed: March 22, 2015