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  • Film & TV Moderators: ghostfreak

Favorite Musicals

FestiveCheez said:
Camelot was first produced in 1960, and I believe it was written by Lerner & Lowe, the team responsible for My Fair Lady, among other shows. I've read that it was because of JFK's affinity for that show that his administration became known as "Camelot." So anyone who says theatre isn't socially relevant...you be wrong. :o

(Am I annoying anybody yet? :))
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HAHAH my dear cheese...i KNEW you would love this thread ;)
CAMELOT is one of those musicals that left me thoroughly satisfied after i'd seen it..it was just SO entertaining! =D
Has anybody else seen Ahrens' and Flaherty's Once on This Island? I absolutely LOVE this musical to bits! and i quote :

Based on the novel My Love, My Love by Rosa Guy, the show is a twist on the traditional "Little Mermaid" tale, and tells the story of Ti Moune, a poor peasant girl who falls in love with Daniel, an upper class boy whose life she saves after a car crash. Central to the story are four gods that the peasants believe rule their lives. The gods of Love , (Erzulie) Earth (Asaka), Water (Agwe) , and Death (Papa Ge) cause the lives of the young lovers to intersect, and send Ti Moune on the fateful journey that tests the strength of her love.

Set in the French Antilles, Once On This Island boasts a score that is immediately and continually reflective of this locale. There are rousing, upbeat numbers like "Mama Will Provide," and "Some Say," as well as poignant ballads like "The Human Heart"and "Forever Yours". While some of the numbers stand on their own, there can be no mistaking a song from "Once On This Island" with a song from any other show, because Ahrens and Flaherty never betray the story's Caribbbean roots.

* " Once On This Island" has the integrity of genuine fairy tales in that it doesn't lead to a saccharine ending, but to a catharsis, transcendent acceptance of the dust-to- dust continuity of life and death" ( Frank Rich, New York Times, 1990)

* " Mr. Flaherty immersed himself in Caribbean rythms and reshaped them through his prolific knack for melody...The result is a score that gets the body jumping and the feet tapping. Miss Ahrens has shown she can be as cerebral as needs be, but here she isn't going as much for the head as for the soul...Instead of cleverness, she injects an emotional and elegant peasant poetry that is captivating" ( Hap Erstein, Washington Times, 1992)
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I would see this over and over again if I could :D
 
^...that doesn't include the word "town" in its title. ;)

At the moment I'm listening to the cast recording of a neurotic little European revue called Jacques Brel Is Alive And Well And Living in Paris. You can't go wrong with a show that includes the lyrics "The middle class are just like pigs; the fatter they get the less they regret." :)

Addendum: I just thought of two shows that should have made the list in my original post: The Full Monty and Urinetown. Both shows are fun and have great scores. Check 'em out if they ever come your way. :D
 
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i just can't enjoy musicals :( i don't know why.

the only one that has ever truly grabbed my attention was the lion king; but then again, i can clearly see Artaud's influence in the subversion of traditional notions of theatrical space, what with the log-drummers in the crowd & the birds invading the space above the audience and all.

i'm not sure whether it's because generally i find the music to be disappointing, or because i've had a bad experience with Mr Webber's tactlessness, or what ;)

i think i just don't identify with the songwriting style most suited to musicals, or rather the styles practiced in most mainstream productions. i guess i prefer my 'alternative' vocals to be gritty, powerful, dark, different, or definitive - like maynard james keenan, or layne, or matt bellamy. and if i'm listening to non-alternative vocal music, it's either african / eastern or opera. and whilst i have heard amazing, fantastic voices in musicals, i still prefer the actual song construction, and style, and technical execution of an operatic work... i heard a cracking soprano in les miserables a few years back; two days later i was lucky enough to see Angela Gheorghiu performing selected pieces from Massenet, Bizet etc. - and at the end of the show she sang a piece from My Fair Lady... and it really blew me away. the vocal style is different, naturally, but without any mics, in a huge hall - the definition, the clarity, the perfect embellishment, the creative flair, the soul, the power - it was just incredible.

perhaps it's some kind of cultural snobbishness that makes me perceive musicals as the bastard spawn of opera & theatre. perhaps it's a personal quirk that comes from having grown up with classical and studied theatre, but i struggle to enjoy musicals. it's not for lack of trying, honestly it's not... although i must admit now, after maybe 20 disappointing experiences, i'm far less likely to shell out on going to a musical than some other performance.

this is actually a bit sad, really... because i'm sort of cutting myself off from a perfectly valid musical range. and i know it, which makes it worse... but i suppose there's no point in paying for something i'm not going to enjoy when i could see three small gigs for the same price -
amateur productions aside, if they could maybe make tickets a bit fucking cheaper then it would be easier to experiment...
 
Seuss, you like what you like. There's no sense in trying to enjoy something that just doesn't catch your ear. I've tried to enjoy electronica and I just don't get it. I has a lot to do with predisposition.

Does the Producers count as a musical? I've seen parts and thought it was hilarious!
 
^^(response to Finder) Are you talking about the film? There is a stage production of The Producers now, which is a complete throwback to the 1940s and 50s musical comedy (except 1940s musical comedy wouldn't deal with Nazis, but that's another story).

amateur productions aside, if they could maybe make tickets a bit fucking cheaper then it would be easier to experiment...
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Yeah...it's a huge problem in professional theatre right now, thanks to Disney and all the other corporate producers who are putting on these megaproductions with monolithic budgets.

perhaps it's some kind of cultural snobbishness that makes me perceive musicals as the bastard spawn of opera & theatre.
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That's pretty much what they are...with a dash of minstrel show thrown in for good measure. =D
 
Originally posted by FestiveCheez
^^(response to Finder) Are you talking about the film? There is a stage production of The Producers now, which is a complete throwback to the 1940s and 50s musical comedy (except 1940s musical comedy wouldn't deal with Nazis, but that's another story).


The Mel Brooks stage production.
 
Seuss: it's all about suspension of reality... which is what Lion King *didn't* allow you to do, because it's artifice was so obvious. Perhaps that's why you liked it?

Regardless, it's hard to analyse why one does or doesn't like a certain thing. You just feel it. It either "gets" you, or it doesn't. :)
 
the only musical i can watch is Paint Your Wagon starring Lee Marvin and Clint Eastwood.
 
living in new york has its advantages... these are my favorites:

les miserables

miss saigon

rocky horror show

rent
 
Forgot to mention M.Butterfly
by David Henry Hwang....

The drama glamourama season play (now playing here again!=D) and i quote...

This powerful romance goes to the heart of what glamour really is: mystery, charm, and excitement. It's China in the 60's and French diplomat Rene Gallimard goes gaga for a bewitching and beautiful Chinese Opera singer. A strange but true love dizzily wanders through cold war spy intrigues, an unforgettable plot twist and all the glamour of desire.

I love this one =D
 
did anyone mention Riverdance? I took my mum to see that afew years back for her birthday. I thought it was gonna be this hokey thing about guys clickin and clackin around in greasy t-shirts, but it turned out to be quite wonderful. I think I was on some 2C-T-2 and 4-AcO-DIPT that day too. I am pretty sure I was the bounciest person in my seat in the whole place...
 
I advantageously moved this over to f&t as well but now that I think about it they're not just talking about cinematic portrayals of the musicals. So I think they're distinctly different. Could you throw this back NEMD's way mods?

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