Musicals

Post by **Lorelei** » Tue Dec 28, 2004 9:04 pm

I guess I have a soft spot for it since I was involved in our high school production of it. Same with Grease.

Post by **dennisrwood** » Tue Dec 28, 2004 10:01 pm

Cheval : while i love (and own the dvd) of the movie version of Hair. i find the cast album so much better. more songs and superior versions.

anyone like Hedwig and the Angry Inch?

Post by **danlo** » Wed Dec 29, 2004 12:13 am

...no but my older sister has and she loved it. Cats and The Rocky Horror Picture show are very cool too...

Post by **LaurieAnn** » Wed Dec 29, 2004 6:47 am

"Les Misérables" and "JC Superstar" - absolutely the best.

"The Sound of Music" (movie soundtrack), "Camelot" (Broadway Original Cast album) and "My Fair Lady" (Broadway Original Cast album) - nobody does Maria, Guinevere or Eliza better than Julie Andrews.

"Evita" is great, too, but only with Patti LuPone.

Post by **dlbpharmd** » Wed Dec 29, 2004 1:27 pm

"Evita" is great, too, but only with Patti LuPone.

Is there some video or DVD version out with LuPone? All I've seen is the Madonna version, which I have to say I thoroughly enjoy.

JC Superstar - ah, I try to keep an open mind, but I just can't enjoy it, although I do like 1-2 of the songs, like the title theme and Gethsamane.

Post by **Cheval** » Thu Dec 30, 2004 12:14 am

I forgot about CATS. Good soundtrack.

Post by **Alynna Lis Eachann** » Thu Dec 30, 2004 1:59 am

Fiddler on the Roof is one of my absolute favorites, along with Children of Eden. Then there's Bye Bye, Birdie and Chicago. Let's not forget Into the Woods, either.

I fell in love with Children of Eden when I did tech work for it, but just to prove that working a show doesn't automatically make you love it, I worked set crew on Sound of Music in high school, and I could easily give the story and many of the songs a miss. Between scene changes, we watched Rocky Horror, which was so much more entertaining.

Post by **The Dreaming** » Fri Jan 28, 2005 2:25 am

Man, I kind of think that Le Miz is overrated. Yes, the music is good, but a musical is not defined only by the music. It is a story that uses music as a tool to express itself.

While JC Superstar is a good musical, I despise Andrew Loyd Weber. He is a complete hack who does nothing but steal from his betters, and got rich off of it.

My favorite musical is definately Sondheim's "Into the Woods". It's funny, poigniant, dark, and the music is powerful. Everything I like. I also very much like Chicago and Sweeney Tod.

As far as the Classic American musical goes, I would have to say that Carousel is absolutely amazing. The story touches on issues that no one these days would dare to express. The music is spectacular, and redemption stories just do me in.

Post by **onewyteduck** » Fri Jan 28, 2005 2:31 am

The Dreaming wrote:As far as the Classic American musical goes, I would have to say that Carousel is absolutely amazing. The story touches on issues that no one these days would dare to express. The music is spectacular, and redemption stories just do me in.

Somewhat in keeping......I heard on the news, oh, within the last month about a high school that was forced to cancel their plans to put on West Side Story. They were told it was "racist". Kind of sad.......it points out the folly of rascism so beautifully!

Post by **The Dreaming** » Fri Jan 28, 2005 2:36 am

Oh boo that. Everyone thse days wants to see musicals that are nothing but fluff and glitter (CATS! What a sh**tty musical) and nothing that has any real deapth to it. It's a shame really. And I am SO SICK of Grease I could puke.

Post by **ChoChiyo** » Fri Jan 28, 2005 2:48 am

OOoh....musicals! I like DAMN YANKEES!, West Side Story, Godspell (*sniff* One of my FAVORITES!), Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, Carousel, Pirates of Penzance, Big River, Yankee Doodle Dandy....and probably a million more!

I love musicals.

I didn't care for Chicago though--too bleak.

Post by **matrixman** » Fri Jan 28, 2005 8:32 am

ChoChiyo wrote:
I didn't care for Chicago though--too bleak.

Chicago...bleak

My brain is unable to process that. Is there a different version I'm not aware of? Chicago was a fantastic and vibrant piece of work--and I'm not even a regular fan of musicals. I can understand something like West Side Story being called bleak, but not something as happy-go-lucky and assertive as Chicago.

Catherine Zeta-Jones, Rene Zellwegger & Queen Latifah=

Post by **dlbpharmd** » Sat Jan 29, 2005 8:29 am

Man, I kind of think that Le Miz is overrated. Yes, the music is good, but a musical is not defined only by the music. It is a story that uses music as a tool to express itself.

I don't understand what you're saying here, especially when you go on to say:

redemption stories just do me in.

What can be a greater redemption story than that of Valjean?

While JC Superstar is a good musical, I despise Andrew Loyd Weber. He is a complete hack who does nothing but steal from his betters, and got rich off of it.

That's your opinion and you're entitled to it. I see ALW as anything but a hack.

Post by **danlo** » Sat Jan 29, 2005 8:12 pm

I, actually, liked Bob Fosse's All That Jazz better than Chicago. And as far as a comparison of "dance legs" are concerned it's hard to chose Catherine Zeta Jones over Ann Reinkling

But, since Ann's a trained dancer, I'll go with her...

Post by **The Dreaming** » Sun Jan 30, 2005 2:14 am

Let me put it to you this way dlbpharmd, if I hadn't had someone next to me who knew the story by heart, I would have been completely lost. It is not a musical where you tend to get swept up in the words, like Sondheim does, it's more about the music.

It may have just been the production I saw, but it was almost impossible for me to hear and comprehend what was being said in the music (pretty as it was). However, in all art I dislike anything that obsfucates the story.

True, I was a little strong with my Andrew loyd Weber criticism, but I guess that comes from knowing a whole lot of people involved in theater. (My Grandfather was a broadway producer, and I did a lot of theater in high school, as well as being a theater major here.)

I have seen the absolute travesty that is Cats, and you just pick these opinions up around certain people.

I will also never forget the first time I heard the "Phantom" theme and said, "hey wait a minute, isn't that the base line to echoes (Pink Floyd: Meddle. Look into it if you don't believe me)?"

Post by **dlbpharmd** » Sun Jan 30, 2005 12:03 pm

I have seen the absolute travesty that is Cats

Why is Cats so bad?

Post by **Worm of Despite** » Sun Jan 30, 2005 4:23 pm

The Dreaming wrote:I will also never forget the first time I heard the "Phantom" theme and said, "hey wait a minute, isn't that the base line to echoes (Pink Floyd: Meddle. Look into it if you don't believe me)?"

Yes, yes, yes! Someone else hears it! I'm not just crazy!

Post by **The Dreaming** » Wed Feb 02, 2005 6:20 am

I was actually listening to Pink Floyd backstage at a show once, and my friend who, let's just say is REALLY into musical theater and Opera (and whatever stereotype you may have, I am sure he falls under it.), noticed this. We aren't crazy Foul, ALW really does steal from many wide and diverse places. This seems to be a pretty well known thing on the inside.

Post by **lucimay** » Fri Jun 09, 2006 5:11 am

Fist and Faith wrote:
dlbpharmd wrote:I also liked Joseph, Funny Girl, Evita, the Sound of Music, etc, but could not tolerate South Pacific.
Are you mad?? Where else is the most absolute of all Truths expressed as perfectly as
There is nothing you can name
That is anything like a dame.

man! i didn't know this thread was here!!! WOOOOO HOOOOO!!

lets turn it into yet ANOTHER lyric thread!!! YAY!!

south pacific is probably my favorite...especially the studio version of the soundtrack with sarah vaughn, mandy patinkin, placido domingo, and kiri te kanawa

but i love tons of them

also sondheim...i love sondheim

sunday in the park with george and a little night music!

no wait...my ALL TIME FAVORITE is Rogers and Hammerstein's Cinderella!!
(the old tv version with celeste holm and lesley anne warren!!

Matrixman wrote:
ChoChiyo wrote:
I didn't care for Chicago though--too bleak.
Chicago...bleak My brain is unable to process that. Is there a different version I'm not aware of? Chicago was a fantastic and vibrant piece of work--and I'm not even a regular fan of musicals. I can understand something like West Side Story being called bleak, but not something as happy-go-lucky and assertive as Chicago.

Catherine Zeta-Jones, Rene Zellwegger & Queen Latifah=

Right ON!! can you say legs for days?!!!!! i agree one hundred and fifty million percent. VIBRANT. exactly!!! catherine and renee can DO some bob fosse!! yeah. not bleak Cho...just dark and edgy!!! but seriously vibrant!

Post by **matrixman** » Sat Jun 10, 2006 7:36 am

Lucimay wrote:man! i didn't know this thread was here!!! WOOOOO HOOOOO!!

lets turn it into yet ANOTHER lyric thread!!! YAY!!

Noooooooooooooooooo... (heh)

also sondheim...i love sondheim

sunday in the park with george

Very glad you mentioned this one, Lucimay. I hold Sunday In The Park With George in the highest esteem: the music affected me profoundly in a way that no musical before or since has. Alas, I never saw the original 1984 show w/ Mandy Patinkin and Bernadette Peters, but only heard the cast recording of it. Still, it was magical, even with the visual element missing.

I just Googled and I see that a 1986 video production with the original cast is available on DVD:

The Amazon Editorial Review wrote:Recorded before a live audience, Sunday is especially entertaining on video, as the staging elements bring out the full humor and inventiveness of the show, and it is astonishing to see the disparate characters form themselves into the elements of the familiar painting. So many great musicals are banished to the memories of those who attended live or--even worse--immortalized as inferior movies. Sunday in the Park with George is an absolute must-see for anyone interested in musical theatre, and a must-own for anyone with a passion for it. The DVD includes an audio track with commentary by Sondheim, Lapine, Patinkin, and Peters.

I must acquire this DVD somehow!

I thought the idea behind this musical was ingenious: follow the trials and tribulations of Georges Seurat as he creates his grand painting, and then have the characters in the painting come to life. Art and life intermingle to form a poignant drama.

The Amazon Editorial Review wrote:Stephen Sondheim's brilliant score is remarkable for its combination of vivid colors (listen to his dots of sound that represent Seurat's pointillistic style of painting), character pieces, and sheer beauty. The cast is terrific, and the show, aced out of most of the 1984 Tony Awards by La Cage aux Folles, won the Pulitzer Prize for drama.

A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grand Jatte by Georges Seurat is one of the great paintings of the world, and in "Sunday in the Park with George," book writer James Lapine and composer/lyricist Stephen Sondheim bring a story based on the work brilliantly to life. While the painting depicts people gathered on an island in the Seine, the musical goes beyond simply describing their lives. It is an exploration of art, of love, of commitment. Seurat connected dots to create images; Lapine and Sondheim use connection as the heart of all our relationships.

Amen to that.

And bah humbug to La Cage aux Folles!

This from Wikipedia:

"Sunday" enjoyed a healthy box office, though the show would ultimately lose money. It was, however, considered a brilliant artistic achievement for Mr. Sondheim and, although "Sunday" was nominated for multiple Tony Awards, it won only two design awards. The big winner of the night was Jerry Herman's La Cage aux Folles, and in his acceptance speech, Herman announced that the "simple, hummable tune" was still alive on Broadway, an obvious swipe at Sondheim's pointillistic score for "Sunday".

Mr. Herman, you can keep your "simple" tunes. I'll take Sondheim and "Sunday" over you any day, thank you very much.

Kevin's Watch

Kevin's Watch

Musicals