Firstly, please note, I was not in the film, I am not related to anyone in the film, I've never met anyone who was in the film, I didn't work on the film in any way and I wasn't there when they filmed it.
I just made this page... and I hope you like it.
Thanks.
------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------
The History Boys is a British film released in October 2006. It was adapted by Alan Bennett from his play of the same name, which won the 2005 Olivier Award for Best New Play and the 2006 Tony Award for Best Play. It was directed by Nicholas Hytner, who directed the original production of The History Boys at the Royal National Theatre in London, and features the original cast of the play.
------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------
There are two kinds of music in 'The History Boys': Hector's music and the boys' music. Hector's enthusiasms are the bedrock of his teaching; and just as the history boys know by heart the poetry he's taught them, so they are able to sing the songs of Hector's youth. These are the songs that Posner and Scripps perform for the class, and it is Hector's favourite number - 'Bye Bye Blackbird' - that is sung at his memorial service.
The film's soundtrack, meanwhile, is made up of the kind of music that appealed to clued-up sixth-formers in 1983, and it has been chosen to cut against the nostalgia of Hector's classroom. When 'The History Boys' was on stage at the National Theatre, our musical choices were less specific to 1983 and to what the tastes of our boys might have been. There was a lot of mainstream pop - Dire Straits, Duran Duran, Madness, Adam Ant. It evoked the period pretty efficiently, but we began to think that our guys probably thought themselves a cut above that kind of stuff. The tracks on this album are what we think they would have actually been listening to.
My own favourite track marries the old and the new. Rufus Wainwright comes to the National Theatre often, and loved 'The History Boys' on stage. His re-interpretations of the great American standards are legendary; and he seems to embody not just the folk tradition into which he was born, but also the musical history of Broadway. He eagerly agreed to cover 'Bewitched' for us, and we end the movie with it. His wonderfully individual take on Rogers and Hart suggests that when he turns his attention to writing for the theatre, as he surely will, the American musical will have a new and vibrant champion.
Nicholas Hytner, Director
Hector teaches the boys to sing old fashion popular songs: George Formby's 'When I'm Cleaning Windows'; Gracie Fields' 'Wish Me Luck (As You Wave Me Goodbye)'. They're not quite music hall but are hits from the films of the '30s and '40s, which Hector adores and they always bring a smile to his face as does Edith Piaf. They also fit in with his notion that to know the lyrics or the words of anything by heart is an education in itself.
'Bewitched', which Posner sings to Dakin, is in the film because it was one of the choices Nicholas Hytner made on the BBC Radio 3 programme 'Private Passions'. This was several years before the play was written, but hearing it I thought how touching it would be sung by a boy with an unbroken voice and this was the germ of 'The History Boys'. We couldn't quite manage an unbroken voice, but Posner's rendition is the next best thing and Lorenz Hart's words (which I would love to have written) help to make the scene.
Alan Bennett, Writer
