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Broadway Show Tunes New
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Subject: RE: Broadway Show Tunes New From: Bill Hahn//\\ Date: 16 Aug 00 - 07:14 PM I am ceretainly happy that I started this thread. What wonderful thoughts, both positive and negative. Catspaw 49 shows, I believe,that (as G & S say) "..things are seldom what they seem". Catspaw 49 liked what really are good musicals---and disliked the hokum foisted on the public in, as I said, the "Disneyfication" of Broadway. Musicals, like drama, can be meaningful and talk to us in allegories or other forms in verse and prose. West Side Story is a case in point. I have to say I am sorry I never saw the original stage version---but I did enjoy the film knowing full well that it probably could not compare to the drama on a stage. Shows like Kiss Me Kate, Oklahoma, 42 St are pure fun with great music. Others such as Fiddler, Carousel (the new version), Showboat(new version)speak to the human condition in wonderful musical terms. So, in answer to the question by Sheila--probably because we have, as said earlier, become Disneyfied and TVfied with hype and short attention spans. As to Gilbert & Sullivan. Start a new thread whenever the mood hits anyone and we can reminisce about the classic performers from the D'Oyle Carte. Do go see Topsy Turvy. Bill H
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Subject: RE: Broadway Show Tunes New From: GUEST,Sheila Date: 16 Aug 00 - 12:39 PM Some of my favorites with unforgettable songs: Fiddler on the Roof, My Fair Lady, Camelot, Brigadoon, Guys and Dolls, Wonderful Town, Most Happy Fella, and the above mentioned Kiss me Kate and Music Man. Why can't they write like that anymore? |
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Subject: RE: Broadway Show Tunes New From: GUEST,Roger the skiffler Date: 16 Aug 00 - 11:27 AM "Return to the Forbidden Planet":Shakespeare's lost sci-fi rock 'n'roll masterpiece. One of the best of the modern musicals IMNSHO (but then I knew all the tunes and both the plots already!). Also love all the daft early ones like "Forty Second Street": "You're going to go out a youngster and come back a star! RtS |
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Subject: RE: Broadway Show Tunes New From: SINSULL Date: 16 Aug 00 - 11:21 AM And to Spaw: In my early childhood, I had the unfortunate experience of seeing a hog slaughtered. You are right. Pavarotti in recent days sounds exactly like that. I apologize to all for my nasty mood. The theft of Seeger's banjo just hit me and I am angry. And I just remembered a short lived musical based on the "Forbidden Planet" (based on Shakespeare) with a robot on in-line skates and 50s rock. I loved it. Anyone remember the title? |
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Subject: RE: Broadway Show Tunes New From: Mary in Kentucky Date: 16 Aug 00 - 11:21 AM Oh...wound my soul! The title of JM's autobiography is The World is My Home. I loved it. Seems that his life was as exciting as many of his stories. Mary |
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Subject: RE: Broadway Show Tunes New From: SINSULL Date: 16 Aug 00 - 11:13 AM I can't stand Michener either. I may need to find a new home. Sinsull |
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Subject: RE: Broadway Show Tunes New From: Mary in Kentucky Date: 16 Aug 00 - 10:13 AM There's more! [ Opera is ] a form of art which is inherrently romantic, passionate, absurd and illogical. ...And yet much of the mindset that has enabled me to enjoy a creative life was acquired through my intensive study of opera.--James Michener |
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Subject: RE: Broadway Show Tunes New From: Mary in Kentucky Date: 16 Aug 00 - 10:09 AM Firecat--love it! How 'bout I Have a Little List (Of Folks Who Won't Be Missed). I always think of that one when the flamers hit Mudcat! It's tradition whenever the Mikado is performed, to insert specific words (people) to fit that town/audience. It can be hilarious if you can hear all the words. And Spaw...
I have never met a person
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Subject: RE: Broadway Show Tunes New From: Shanti Date: 16 Aug 00 - 10:07 AM Here's another vote for KISS ME KATE! Saw it in previews and thought it was so much fun! An old fashioned Broadway musical. And how can it miss with a score by Cole Porter? The star, Brian Stokes Mitchell was also wonderful in RAGTIME! Speaking of CATS (and a lot of you have mentioned it)...I think it depends on where you see it. Can't imagine it being as effective on the road as in the Wintergarden in NY...the whole theatre was redone to incorporate it. And if you're looking for plot, that's NOT the show to see. Based on a book of poems, how much plot could it have? I happen to like T.S.Eliot's poetry, so I liked the show as well. I have come to be terribly unimpressed by Sir Andrew's music of late, however. It all sounds alike. There's a satirical review of B-way shows called FORBIDDEN BROADWAY, that's been running for about 20 years, I think...(it's updated every two or three years, to include new Broadway shows). In FB Vol 2 they really let Andrew Lloyd Weber have it. And one song even refers to the "borrowing" he's been accused of. I've forgotten the beginning of the line, but it ends with, "Puccini is awfully pissed." Another good line about ALW is "Your scores pour forth a veil of melody. Just like a nightingale on LSD."
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Subject: RE: Broadway Show Tunes New From: celticblues5 Date: 16 Aug 00 - 10:06 AM Sinsull - Once again - I LOVE musicals! I can just appreciate the humorous aspects of the overall setup as well as the thing itself. |
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Subject: RE: Broadway Show Tunes New From: catspaw49 Date: 16 Aug 00 - 09:51 AM Hey Meebo........You ever been around when they castrate hogs? Lot cheaper than an opera ticket. Spaw |
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Subject: RE: Broadway Show Tunes New From: GUEST,Mbo_at_ECU Date: 16 Aug 00 - 09:42 AM Hey, I love opera too! Must be my Italian heritage, though I was certainly not raised on it. I discovered it myself. My favorite is Puccini (of course!). You must hear "Sogno di Doretta" from Il Rondine. So gorgeous! |
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Subject: RE: Broadway Show Tunes New From: SINSULL Date: 16 Aug 00 - 09:39 AM Banjo Johnny I must be the ultimate Cretin - I hate James Bond movies too. My idea of escapism is Godzilla (50s version) or even Jurassic Park (if you turn off the speaking parts). But I do love opera. It instantly relaxes me. I am glad I wasn't the only one who thought that the street gangs in West Side Story looked like a silly bunch of sissies. Oh, I love ballet too. Just can not stand musicals. |
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Subject: RE: Broadway Show Tunes New From: P05139 Date: 16 Aug 00 - 08:17 AM Mary, I was the one who mentioned the Mikado. What do you think of the lines when one of them is awaiting sentence? "To sit in solemn silence in a dull,dark dock, Awaiting the sensation of a short, sharp shock, From a cheap and chippy chopper on a big, black, block!" The performers had better not be "refreshed" when saying that! :-) |
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Subject: RE: Broadway Show Tunes New From: GUEST, Banjo Johnny Date: 16 Aug 00 - 12:19 AM Try to understand: Musicals are PURE ESCAPISM .. they are not supposed to be "real life". Like James Bond movies. You have to free your mind to adopt the Willing Suspension of Disbelief, before you can understand or appreciate (or enjoy) a musical. From there on, it depends on whether the music and lyrics are any good. Many of them are rubbish, of course. But you will also find some really good songs and terrific dancing. == Johnny |
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Subject: RE: Broadway Show Tunes New From: Mickey191 Date: 15 Aug 00 - 11:45 PM Saw West Side Story with Carol Lawrence & Larry Kert shortly after it opened. I was treating my new sister-in- law to her first play. May I call her a "hick" & a "cretin" because when the singing started she commenced laughing. I was mortified." They don't have this stuff down home."I still managed to enjoy most of it-but went back again ALONE. One of the greats. The movie was awful.If anyone is interested, the marriage didn't last long. The moral, Never try to teach a pig to sing.It won"t work, and it annoys the pig. |
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Subject: RE: Broadway Show Tunes New From: celticblues5 Date: 15 Aug 00 - 11:28 PM aw, now, catspaw, where else can one see singing & dancing juvenile delinquents? :-) |
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Subject: RE: Broadway Show Tunes New From: catspaw49 Date: 15 Aug 00 - 11:17 PM Gawd I hate musicals. I really don't know why, but 98% of them bore me to tears and the 2% that I like have no rhyme of reason to my liking them. Their is the occasional tune that I enjoy here and there, but in most cases the show leaves me flat. Must be that big dose of "hick" blood or something. I quit going to live performances years ago and it was "Cats" that killed me. I'm such a clod that I was cracking jokes and embarassing the group I was with when I saw "Phantom." ALW just doesn't do anything for me at all.....except give me the urge to make fun of what I find to be VERY contrived tunes and lyrics. "Cats" also needed to be euthanized.......just hideous stuff. In the 2% category, and for totally unknown and unexplainable reasons, I love "Music Man." I also loved "Sweeney Todd" which had "contrived" lyrics, but I had a tape of the B-Way production with Lansbury and Hearn and I wore the thing out. Then, to be completely off the wall, I love the filmed version of the musical, "Little Shop of Horrors." Ellen Greene just wires me up....something between the accent and the incredible control she has just winds my watch. Like I say, I'm a real cretin. Spaw |
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Subject: RE: Broadway Show Tunes New From: Mary in Kentucky Date: 15 Aug 00 - 10:19 PM Was anyone else disappointed in Cats? I had heard the music before I saw the show, and I loved it, but was sorely disappointed in the show. Speaking of The Mikado, (someone did in the other thread), my friend Janice and I decided that it's very important when seeing Gilbert and Sullivan to get a good seat down front in order to hear all the words. Also, we attend all the lunch and listens and preperformance talks, and we've learned many tidbits that otherwise would have missed. ie. the Shakespearean reference to shreds and patches (correct words?) in The Mikado. Also, has anyone else noticed how easy it is to jog or treadmill to broadway or operatic tunes? Mary |
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Subject: Broadway Show Tunes New From: Bill Hahn//\\ Date: 15 Aug 00 - 07:54 PM The Broadway thread was getting a bit long, so we start anew. So hard to pick a favorite since so much before Lloyd Weberization and Disneyfication of Bway Musicals was so good. However, to feel old----West Side Story this week celebrates the 43 anniversary of its opening. Arthur Laurents --the writer of the book-- gave a wonderful interview on NPR on how it came to be produced, what he thought of the film (NG) and how and why certain songs were put in. Perhaps it is archived on the NPR web page for anyone interested in checking on it. When the expression "...they don't make them like that anymore" is used it certainly has to apply to the Bway musicals of yore. Interesting aside. I stood, a while back, on the TKTS line in NYC and got tickets to Kiss Me Kate (all kinds of Tonys and just great) and I worried that everyone would scoop them up---those ahead of me. You know the NY expression---Fageddaboudit. All the tourists, and whoever else in the line, grabbed up the Cats/Phantom(a bore through and through---chandelier included),Jekyll/Hyde, and anything that might seem like a trip to Disneyland. Lucky me !! Trips are different today than in days past---a bit obscure, but my attempt at humour. Bill H |
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