Search And Destroy: Musicals

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This is fantastic - almost 30 replies in about an hour! Especially since I asked the qn out of genuine interest - I always wander into the theatre/soundtracks section in Tower and then never know what to do.

Search: I'm with Mark on "Don't Cry For Me Argentina". Also whoever mentioned "Send In The Clowns", though opinion seems to be against Sondheim here (I wouldn't know). After that my ignorance really is boundless because I've only really been exposed to the rubbish ones and hoofing school productions of Joseph.

Destroy: My visit to "Les Miserables" was one of the most numb-arsed experiences of my life.

― Tom, Friday, 4 May 2001 00:00 (12 years ago) Permalink

Re: Alex James gay credentials. He was the subject of an hilariously psychotic fantasy sequence in one of Denis Cooper's novels, which I can't remember the name of right now (not 'Frisk', but a later one in the series). Re: my question. I was being a bit flippant with the money-making motive. I'm just interested in the idea of modern musicals written by people coming out of, you know, pop. I think they could be brilliant. I'd go and see the PSB and Merritt ones, anyway. A friend in Glasgow was going to do a musical version of the Breakfast Club, featuring Stuart Murdoch. That would have been a hoot, too.

― stevie t, Friday, 4 May 2001 00:00 (12 years ago) Permalink

ohmigod, now I'm imagining 'The Breakfast Club' cast with members of the Glasgow indie scene. It's a horrible thought.

― Nick, Friday, 4 May 2001 00:00 (12 years ago) Permalink

I believe Stephen Pastel's name was also pencilled in.

― Madchen, Friday, 4 May 2001 00:00 (12 years ago) Permalink

I always wander into the theatre/soundtracks section in Tower and then never know what to do.

And now I'm imagining Tom wandering aimlessly around the racks, looking confused, holding up CDs and muttering "Ketchup.... Catsup.... Ketchup....Catsup" until the staff lead him away into a van.

― Nick, Friday, 4 May 2001 00:00 (12 years ago) Permalink

Put him in charge of organising the magazine section, more like.

― mark s, Friday, 4 May 2001 00:00 (12 years ago) Permalink

Search: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, especially the Oompa Loompa songs. Destroy: The Sound of Music, all of it, except for the "Lonely Goatheard." I mean really, I must have seen that movie at least 40 times when I was little thanks to my mom.

― Emily, Friday, 4 May 2001 00:00 (12 years ago) Permalink

search 'Oliver' - Lionel Bart is just a total genius, Does anyone know the 1960 cast recording? (I am sadly only familiar with the film soundtrack).

Also search Kurt Weill’s broadway shows (anyone who can do a detailed search and destroy on these would have my thanks); the mighty Gilbert and Sullivan (the only 'musicals' I would like to stage)

If you are in Spain look for Zarazuela's (the best operettas in Europe).

― Guy, Friday, 4 May 2001 00:00 (12 years ago) Permalink

Emily is SO right - the Oompa Loompa songs are fabulous!

― Guy, Friday, 4 May 2001 00:00 (12 years ago) Permalink

Is the 1960 cast of Oliver the one with Steve Marriott playing the Artful Dodger? Or is that a bit too late?

― Madchen, Friday, 4 May 2001 00:00 (12 years ago) Permalink

Search: "The Music Man." Does anyone else agree that the "Doesn't Know The Territory" piece is proto-rap? I'll tell you think, I LOVED that song when I was about ten, and it had the EXACT SAME EFFECT on me as UTFO's "Roxanne, Roxanne." Both were all about that cool rhythmic way of talking that sounded so neat. I bought the soundtrack album a couple of years ago and was somewhat dissapointed by how awkward the cast was with the rapping w/ the song. Couldn't stay on the beat. But then, they never had Kool Moe Dee to show them how it was done.

Search: The Sound Of Music. What beautiful songs that one has, and the story was a perfect reflection of the childhood fantasy of the caring mother who plays with the kids, sings, is pretty, etc. Any kid can relate to that so easily.

Adieu, adieu, to you and you and you...

Wait! Forgot the destroy. Count me in with the anti-Lloyd Webber group. His songs just aren't catchy.

― Mark, Friday, 4 May 2001 00:00 (12 years ago) Permalink

This question has been answered with dazzling resourcefulness and thoroughness.

I can only echo those who adore West Side Story. Guys and Dolls, Grease too. Wizard of Oz? I don't know the Porter / R&H / etc oeuvres a fraction as well as I want to. It is surprisingly hard to get hold of this stuff at good prices. Search: good Cole Porter collections (ie not cut-rate instrumentals by the Belfast Brickle Bridge Brass Band).

Destroy is really hard here. I'm interested in what Stevie T says re Sondheim - you must lend me that CD some time. He was very good on Walk On By (BBC), I thought. But the songs - not up to scratch?

Lots of people have panned Lloyd Webber. I don't like the idea of L- W, and I'm sure lots of his stuff is bad. But I liked Cats and Starlight Express as a child, and would never choose to destroy them.

I think that Stevie is pointing us somewhere interesting. I think that he is saying: what is it about the musical that periodically, or even continually, fascinates us? What kind of contribution, exactly, has the musical made to pop history? What kind of specificity does the 'show song' have that makes songwriters want to undertake it at some point?

As I myself intend to with PAPERCUTS!, opening in Covent Garden, May 2004.

Book (flights to Paris) now to avoid disappointment.

― the pinefox, Friday, 4 May 2001 00:00 (12 years ago) Permalink

Dear god, this is what happens when you live out here *and* you can't get to the page until an hour and a half into work -- everyone else has beat me to several million punches. ;-)

Background: can't sing (trust me), but I did grow up with a couple of musical soundtracks around the house, saw a few here and there on cable, ended up doing lighting for a high school production of _Oliver!_ and acting as Mayor Shinn in another HS production of _The Music Man_. Techie and actor, best of both worlds. ;-)

Search -- the two mentioned above, for sentimental reasons in part, sure. I actually have that production of _The Music Man_ on videotape. Heh heh heh. My all-time fave movie musical, hands down, is _Gigi_. Saw it when I was eleven, been a fan ever since. With time has come a further realization about how dodgy a lot of it is, of course! But there's too much in it to love for me to reject it. Meanwhile, stepping against the ALW tide a bit, my parents got the New York recording of _Evita_ with Mandy Patinkin as Che and Patti LuPone as Evita herself when I was ten or so, and I played that one to death, so again, nostalgia fix but a nice one.

Destroy: hoo baby. I think most of the fatted cows were up for slaughter already. I've actually seen _Les Miserables_, and I have to say I did like the "Master of the House" song, but I could probably ditch the rest without a care nowadays. That was the last musical I've seen, actually -- back in 1989! _Rent_, meanwhile...the ONLY reason anyone cared was because the guy who wrote it died and they could feel all sentimental about it. Gah!

CANNOT WAIT FOR: _White Trash Wins Lotto_, by Andy Prieboy. If all the promise I've heard about this one comes true, then it will be a happy, *happy* world. He's been working on it for about seven or so years, has done live performances of it with a small group, has yet to be staged. Prieboy has gone on record as saying that he's well aware how Broadway can be undervalued in modern pop perceptions, but that Broadway itself is its own worst enemy, and has a tendency to regard being cutting edge as sounding like Pat Benatar, so it sounds like he's coming in with the right attitude. Subject matter? It's the story of Guns 'n' Roses. Seriously. The hopefully-will-one-day-be-updated URL is http://www.andyprieboy.com/.

― Ned Raggett, Friday, 4 May 2001 00:00 (12 years ago) Permalink

Pinefox, you're on the money with Guys and Dolls - I completely forgot that one, but it's great. The lyrics to Adelaide's lament are particularly brilliant:

http://members.tripod.com/Point202/GuysandDolls/lament.html

(should be read with New Yoik accent)

― Madchen, Friday, 4 May 2001 00:00 (12 years ago) Permalink

Speaking of musicals one can't wait for, am I the only one psyched to see Bat Boy: The Musical?

― Ally, Friday, 4 May 2001 00:00 (12 years ago) Permalink

Search: "Assassins": Sondheim, a fantastic concept about all the assassins, attempted or successful, of American presidents, getting together, explaining why they did it, and singing songs together. And then they convince Lee Harvey Oswald to shoot JFK rather than himself. Woo-hoo!

"City of Angels": by two guys I haven't heard about since, all big- band jazzish and torch songy, parallel black and white world private- eye movie/writer writing private-eye movie color world storylines. Confusing in description, but much fun.

"Little Shop Of Horrors": can't believe this hasn't been mentioned yet. Rice and Menken, big man-eating plant and wimpy nebbish, based on a Roger Corman classique, and the movie version is a pitch perfect and has Steve Martin, Bill Murray, John Candy, and Rick "really pretty brilliant until I started making those family-Disney-shrinking pics" Moranis, who has an impressive set of pipes. Also features: Gina from "Martin," as in the "Gina! You so crazy!" Gina. If someone has mentioned this, I'm sorry to go on about it more.

Destroy: Dinner theaters. Do y'all have dinner theaters on the Isles? So ... unfortunate. *Shudder*

― BrianR, Friday, 4 May 2001 00:00 (12 years ago) Permalink

Search: Cole Motherfucking Porter (Kiss Me Kate for sure), George Goddamn Gershwin ("Oh, Kay" and "Strike Up The Band" are his two best musicals, although Porgy would be if it weren't an opera and not a musical), Bernstein ("West Side Story" and "Candide"), Guys & Dolls, Annie Get Your Gun (Yes! Yes! Yes! The best by Berlin), Man of La Mancha, South Pacific.

― Sterling Clover, Friday, 4 May 2001 00:00 (12 years ago) Permalink

guys and dolls!!!

― maura, Friday, 4 May 2001 00:00 (12 years ago) Permalink

Search! Everyone Says I Love You (really), anything with Gene Kelly in it (Singin' In The Rain... I mean is there more JOY in any one sequence?), West Side Story (Natalie Wood! Dead!), The Simpsons (they count, right?), surely anything by Brecht will win you points in the snooty professor set, South Park was a good call, Gentleman Prefer Blondes, The Beatles' movies, sans Yellow Submarine (which is only good if you want to get FUCKED UP). It's a true challenge to light a scene as evenly as the old musicals of the 40's and 50's, so they get my props. A Chorus Line. Heh. Dance Ten, Looks 3. The musical episode of Dre Carey was pretty good too.

I like Phantom and Les Mis.

Destroy: Everything else by ALW. Cats... Cats... the horror. There was a joke on SNL at one point long ago when Dennis Miller was still on that went something like...

"For the 4,760th time the broadway musical 'Cats' was performed on stage, eclipsing the old mark of A Chorus Line. And for the 4,760th time, a man killed his wife."

Tommy. I mean, the movie and stage vers. And the studio album, actually. The live versions ROCK LIKE HELL tho...

Sorry. I went a little tangential there.

― JM, Friday, 4 May 2001 00:00 (12 years ago) Permalink

Oh yes, how could I forget? Singin' In The Rain, and An American In Paris (certainly that) and for sure Chorus Line, which was the first musical I really got into, and is great on every song.

― Sterling Clover, Saturday, 5 May 2001 00:00 (12 years ago) Permalink

I find all musicals cheesy. The pinnacle of cheese of course being "Grease" and the audacious early 80's pop interpretation of "Pirates of Penzance" in "The Pirate Movie".

Annihilate - "Grease 2".

― Kim with Passion and Bonus, Saturday, 5 May 2001 00:00 (12 years ago) Permalink

Just thought I'd also mention how weird it seems that no one has mentioned Jesus Christ Superstar. Anyhoo...

― Kim, Saturday, 5 May 2001 00:00 (12 years ago) Permalink

I have bad memories of _Jesus Christ Superstar_. Ted Neeley, I ask you.

― Ned Raggett, Saturday, 5 May 2001 00:00 (12 years ago) Permalink

search: "Don't Cry For Me, Argentina".

destroy: almost everything else by Lloyd Webber.

― Robin Carmody, Saturday, 5 May 2001 00:00 (12 years ago) Permalink

Yes, Brecht was a good call, Mod. I'd forgotten about him. (But how?)

― the pinefox, Monday, 7 May 2001 00:00 (12 years ago) Permalink

Remember the movie version of JCS, with the tanks and helicopters in the middle of the pre-Christian era desert? I think it was during the two hour period I spent as a youth sitting in my church basement that I decided to become a confirmed atheist.

― Dave M., Monday, 7 May 2001 00:00 (12 years ago) Permalink

south pacific, guys + dolls, west side story - i enjoyed watching these but wouldn't buy a soundtrack - Im fond of JCS the filum

all Troma iz shite

― grdrcr, Monday, 7 May 2001 00:00 (12 years ago) Permalink

I was watching this "new concept" version of Jesus Christ Superstar on PBS when I was in Arizona, yo. It was the most fucked up shit I ever saw. Jesus was a bad actor and Judas wore red leather motorcycle gear, and the singing angel backup all dressed like the angels in the Victoria's Secret ads, ie garter belts and push up bras and big ludicrious wings. But these angels also wore S&M masks. And Jesus's followers all wore indie kid clothes. And Pilate and Co. wore this cross between Gladiator-style armor and Nazi uniforms. I wasn't sure if it was the most frightening musical I ever saw, or the coolest.

― Ally, Monday, 7 May 2001 00:00 (12 years ago) Permalink

Was Jesus a Bad Actor as part of the Concept, or just incidentally?

― mark s, Monday, 7 May 2001 00:00 (12 years ago) Permalink

Oh, and "I Don't Know How to Love Him" is another great ALW song:

"I don't know how to love him/how to touch, how to move him/he's just a man, JUST a man/and I've had so many men before, in oh so many ways/ he's just one more"

I loved to sing along to that (singer = Miriam D'Abo?), aged 11.

― mark s, Monday, 7 May 2001 00:00 (12 years ago) Permalink

hey, i saw the end of that pbs version sometime around easter and for the first five minutes or so i thought it was a satire of all the other networks' unintentionally campy jesus tv movies, but slowly came to realise that is was more like a pbs market executive's filming some stoned teenager's idea of 'jesus christ, superstar'. there was this awesome rock song about our lord & saviour too, 'jeeeeeeeeesuss.... something something.' well, i forget, but it was weird. i was actually hoping that pbs would have the balls to do a clever parody of the commercialisation of religion during this giant fury of it, but sadly they were just poking their own lame foray into that market. i bet the pbs of the eighties wouldn't have done that.

― ethan, Monday, 7 May 2001 00:00 (12 years ago) Permalink

I have to believe Jesus As Bad Actor was part of the concept because I can't believe anyone would abide by the acting otherwise. I mean, honestly.

COMPLETELY TANGENTIALLY, does anyone else remember the movie Mary Mother of God or something to that effect? It was about the Virgin Mary and it was on CBS or NBC a few years ago. The reason I bring this up is because it starred Christian Bale as Jesus, just prior to it being announced he'd play Patrick Bateman. For the longest time no one would believe me that this was true, so I'm just curious if I'm the only one who actually remembers it. I mean, I looked it up online one day just to prove myself right, and sure 'nuff, there was Christian Bale, smiling in a beatific way from the poster. It rocked. If the Catholic church would use Christian Bale as their propaganda instead of the Jesus they usually use, I'd so be in church right now. "Oooh, Jesus, save meeeee"

Ahem. Sorry. Anyhow, Jesus Christ Superstar is a terrible musical and should be destroyed with the rest of Sir Webber's collection, but that PBS version was fantastic and I think me and Ethan saw the same one because I also saw this version just before Easter.

― Ally, Monday, 7 May 2001 00:00 (12 years ago) Permalink

Ahh, so you did decide.

― Dave M., Tuesday, 8 May 2001 00:00 (12 years ago) Permalink

Jesus Christ Superstar is a great bombastic track in itself, but the rest of it ('cept I Don't Know How To Love Him) is seven shades of pants. Religion = rubbish in musicals (Godspell - agh!)

My Musical obsession is pretty much reserved for Rogers & Hammerstein. C'Mon South Pacific anyone. Happy Talk, Wash That Man Right out Of My Hair. Sound OF Music - especially Goatherd (never gets a reprise unlike the rest of the tracks, which makes the film a bit too long). The appearance of Singalong-A-Sound Of Music in London has been a rejuvenating thing for the whole idea of musicals. It reintroduces the idea of them actually being a whole shedload of fun.

Oaklahoma is top mad skills too, not to mention Pal Joey (not R&H but Sinatra's finest Musical moment). And I'm off to see Kiss Me Kate tonight at the NFT in the origianl 3-D. Unfortunately I don't have stereoscopic vision, but the gaudy nonsensical idea of a musical filmed in 3-D will keep me going.

Oh, and Candide is a very funny piece of musical theatre. "All's for the best" is in my top ten tracks of all time.

Destroy: Les Mis, without compunction. Especially since it has managed to destroy the book in popular culture terms. Oh and Notre Dame de Paris, especially "I've Got A Hunch About You". It might as well have been the Planet Of The Apes musical on The Simpsons (worth inclusion for "You'll Never Make A Monkey Out Of Me").

― Pete, Tuesday, 8 May 2001 00:00 (12 years ago) Permalink

Search: "Gypsy". For Ethel Merman, basically. Her character has a nervous breakdown in the last song, "Rose's Turn", it's really incredible! Very punk. I say search anything Ethel Merman's in. Also, I love "JC Superstar" , there are quite a few happening tunes, such as "Blood Money", "What's the Buzz?" and "Damned for all Time". That's the original version, of course, with the guy who sang "Smoke on the Water" as Jesus. Ted Neeley sounds like David Clayton Thomas from Blood Sweat & Tears. That's not my Jesus, baby! As for song-oriented movie soundtracks, I love the swinging London fairy tale "Smashing Time" w/ Lynn Redgrave and Rita Tushingham, as well as "Starstruck" the Australian new wave film. And the "Beyond the Valley of the Dolls" soundtrack.

Destroy: "Godspell". And yeah, the rest of Andrew Lloyd Webber's stuff has got to go. I do remember dancing wildly to the Disco Evita version of "High Flying Adored", though, when I was a dizzy madcap teen. I didn't know where the song came from, I just thought it had a cool, queeny chorus.

― Arthur, Thursday, 10 May 2001 00:00 (12 years ago) Permalink

Re: The Breakfast Club as a musical. Hopefully it should still go ahead at some point, although it may just be a straight play now rather than a musical, I can't remember. Murdoch was very keen on it though, that I do remember. I don't recall Pastel being mentioned though. At least I hope not. I have been mistaken for gay, however I know virtually nothing about musicals. Can you explain, Nick?

― Ally C, Friday, 11 May 2001 00:00 (12 years ago) Permalink

Nonetheless, Cookie, there's a part waiting for you in !PAPERCUTS!.

― the pinefox, Monday, 21 May 2001 00:00 (11 years ago) Permalink

You're getting your logic in a twist, Ally C. All zerbras are mammals, but not all mammals are zebras.

― Nick, Monday, 21 May 2001 00:00 (11 years ago) Permalink

Some zebras are zerbras. Not a lot of people know that.

― the pinefox, Wednesday, 23 May 2001 00:00 (11 years ago) Permalink

shut up

― Nick, Wednesday, 23 May 2001 00:00 (11 years ago) Permalink

Search: Cabaret, Umbrellas of Cherbourg, Hedwig and the angry inch, Seeny Todd, Music Man , Mame Destroy: Andrew Lloyd Webber, Everyone says i love you, grease , Xanadau , How to succed in buisness without really trying

― anthony, Wednesday, 23 May 2001 00:00 (11 years ago) Permalink

Allow me to add my Half A Sixpence's worth...

If you have even the vaguest interest in the art of writing songs that use the English language to its fullest, you have to investigate Sondheim, the lyricist's lyricist. Simple as that.

DESTROY: Ticket prices. Thirty quid plus for a decent seat? Not exactly music for the masses, is it? Cheaper to get the original cast CD to pore over repeatedly in the comfort of your own cave.

SEARCH: Sunday In The Park With George (truly beautiful), Assassins (truly tap dancing Lee Harvey Oswald plus love song to Charles Manson), Follies (includes "Losing My Mind" as covered by Pet Shop Boys/Liza Minnelli, Company, A Little Night Music (includes "Send In The Clowns"), West Side Story (Sondheim & Bernstein). Also any Sondheim revue CDs that mop up his best songs, eg Side By Side By Sondheim.

AVOID (until you've developed a taste for him): Sweeney Todd, Into The Woods, Pacific Overtures, Merrily We Roll Along.

NON-SONDHEIM:

SEARCH: Cabaret - wonderful film, peerless tunes, essential soundtrack. Barbra Striesand's "Broadway Album". Man Of La Mancha. Pirates Of Penzance & The Mikado... light operas being the forerunners of the musical. That 80s pop film of "Pirates" with Angela Lansbury, Kevin Kline, and Linda Rondstadt is a riot. Also: any musical by Cole Porter, especially High Society, and anything by Rogers and Hart, especially Pal Joey.

DESTROY: "Billy the Kid and the Green Baize Vampire" - early 80s film musical featuring a singing Phil Daniels, Dracula, and, um, snooker. I'm sure it looked good at the planning stage.

Have you heard Liza Minnelli's 70s version of "Dancing In The Moonlight"? As in the Toploader song. You should.

Regarding a musical of The Breakfast Club, I would like to point out that I have Molly Ringwald's dance moves down to a "t", and am available at very short notice for understudy duties.

I have to go, I'm late for the "half"...

― Dickon Edwards, Thursday, 24 May 2001 00:00 (11 years ago) Permalink

I knew it was a band called King Harvest (who I really should have put in the "worst band name" thread an eternity ago), but *Liza Minnelli*?

Phew, Dickon. This is quite a concept to swallow. But intriguing.

― Robin Carmody, Thursday, 24 May 2001 00:00 (11 years ago) Permalink

On behalf of my mom (who for some reason keeps calling me and emailing me things she wants me to tell "the online people", as if the idiot can't do it herself):

The Terror of Tiny Town is quite possibly the best musical of all time. Click on the link and you can watch the film - ALL OF IT. Including the Marlene Dietrich whore midget. Apparently, this is the film she is watching right now on television; Arizona, you know?

― Ally, Thursday, 7 June 2001 00:00 (11 years ago) Permalink

2 months pass...

Search: The Phantom of The Opera, Carousel, The Producers, Kiss Me Kate, I love most musicals

DESTROY: HOW TO SUCCEED IN BUSINESS WITHOUT REALLY TRYING - I just finished an excruitiatingly long month run of that show and I now despise it with everything that I have. If I had to sing "A Secretary is Not a Toy", cha-cha to "Coffee Break", or listen to the ever-so-annoying song "Old Ivy" again I think I would have died.

― Rachael, Tuesday, 14 August 2001 00:00 (11 years ago) Permalink

4 months pass...

Search:High society, The Threepenny Opera, My Fair Lady Destroy: South Pacific. With extreme prejudice. I painted the scenery for my pyscho-slut ex girlfriend's school stage production (she was the art teacher, not a pupil)in a desperate attempt to salvage our relationship, and badly rendered palm trees are forever linked in my mind to the sure and certain knowledge that I am being cuckolded. Grrrr. Incidentally, my mother first hooked up with the man that would be my father because she thought he looked like Robert Morse, the male lead from 'How to Succeed in Business...' so I have laways had a certain affection for that show.

― gavin, Friday, 4 January 2002 01:00 (11 years ago) Permalink

I think "Badly rendered palm trees are forever linked in my mind to the sure and certain knowledge that I am being cuckolded" could be the best opening line to a novel.... EVAH!

― Edna Welthorpe, Mrs, Friday, 4 January 2002 01:00 (11 years ago) Permalink

Search: the Gospel at Colonus. And hold onto it once you've found it. The VHS is nearly impossible to come by and is simply phenomenal. Destroy: oh, I dunno - South Pacific?

― John Darnielle, Friday, 4 January 2002 01:00 (11 years ago) Permalink

I'll agree with those people who said that South Pacific should be destroyed. I thought the proper version of it done by professional actors/singers was bad enough but in 1995-ish I was unlucky enough to be in the audience for a truly horrednous youth theatre production of it. It was just so limp and weak and tedious GOD the BOREDOM!

Me and my mum were there - we watched the first half, and then at the interval when we came out for drinks I decided I couldn't bring myself to go back in, and just walked out of the theatre. My mum ran after me, and then when she was outside she seemed to realise it was best if we slip away. So we walked out of the place, back to the car park, into our car, and drove all the way back home without saying a word to each other.

― Chris Lyons, Friday, 4 January 2002 01:00 (11 years ago) Permalink

Probably I already said West Side Story upthread. Impossible, in fact, that I didn't. (Hey, this prose is turning into Alan Bennett.)

I'll say it again just to stir up controversy and encourage youths to fight in playgrounds.

― the pinefox, Saturday, 5 January 2002 01:00 (11 years ago) Permalink

Personally I really enjoyed "Topsy-Turvy," the Mike Leigh movie about Gilbert & Sullivan and "The Mikado." and search: Marianne & Ferdinand randomly singing goofy songs in "Pierrot le fou." too much fun.

Isn't "Jesus Christ Superstar" supposed to be ridiculous? I mean.. er.. I had this notion it wasn't meant to be taken seriously, is that not the case?

― daria gray, Saturday, 5 January 2002 01:00 (11 years ago) Permalink

Search: The musicals I grew up with, my parents really loved them and listened to them all the time - they seem so familliar: The Music Man, The Wiz, Grease, All that Jazz, Cabaret, and Chicago. (my parents let me observe Fosse stuff even though it was racy! I never even noticed the sexual content until I was older) My sister and I especially loved The Wiz!!! We acted out the parts for our parents - She was the eating trash cans and the Lion (singing the song "Mean old Lion" in her pajamas ) and I was Dorothy and the Scarecrow (gotta love Michael Jackson)

Destroy: Please gey rid of Cats, Les Mis. and Miss Saigon! In college in London all my friends would sing those deppressing songs - I wanted to slit my wrists!

― Chrissy, Thursday, 10 January 2002 01:00 (11 years ago) Permalink

all musicals are insipid crap. sorry.

― g, Thursday, 10 January 2002 01:00 (11 years ago) Permalink

maddie's evita is gorgeous, as is dancer in the dark.

― geoff, Thursday, 10 January 2002 01:00 (11 years ago) Permalink

4 months pass...

What Jimmy said, search Everyone Says I Love You.

― Josh, Sunday, 19 May 2002 00:00 (11 years ago) Permalink

"The Nightmare Before Christmas" is a great film, with suitably brilliant music.

― Nick, Sunday, 19 May 2002 00:00 (11 years ago) Permalink

my high school english and chorus teachers wrote their own musical once. it was called "tianenman" or, more precisely, "tianenman!" and it was about exactly what you think it's about. the execution was some sort of ungodly hybrid of les mis and miss saigon (except instead of a helicopter, there was a tank which was really a golf cart covered in cardboard). and the lyrics!:"sometimes the masses won't get off their asses"; "this man will teach you how// to heed the words of mao". in the performance i saw, not all the exploding pellets from an action scene had fully burst and actors kept on stepping on the leftovers for the rest of the show.

so yeah, search that: it's classic!

― dave k, Sunday, 19 May 2002 00:00 (11 years ago) Permalink

1 year passes...

White Christmas is better than I used to imagine.

But how does it match up against Holiday Inn?

― the snowfox, Wednesday, 24 December 2003 17:01 (9 years ago) Permalink

3 years pass...

You people hate Sondheim?

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEYEROOOOOOOOLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

― roxymuzak, Friday, 23 November 2007 10:22 (5 years ago) Permalink

http://youtube.com/watch?v=2qNJupQTW8I
http://youtube.com/watch?v=0kHYzt9UbB0&feature=related

― poortheatre, Friday, 23 November 2007 12:25 (5 years ago) Permalink

I recently saw "Spamalot" in London and that one is to be searched for certain. If not necessarily mainly for the music, that is.....

― Geir Hongro, Friday, 23 November 2007 12:31 (5 years ago) Permalink

What, a non-musical post?

Yeah, I saw Spamalot in January. It was alright I suppose.

― Mark G, Friday, 23 November 2007 12:32 (5 years ago) Permalink

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0055572/

― the pinefox, Friday, 23 November 2007 18:55 (5 years ago) Permalink

Thank you for posting that Elaine Stritch thing, poortheatre! That's incredible!

― roxymuzak, Friday, 23 November 2007 21:23 (5 years ago) Permalink

I will comment only on Broadway musicals, not movie musicals.

Search: Sweeney Todd--Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Assassins, Company, Spring Awakening, A Chorus Line, Into the Woods (sorry I'm throwing so much Sondheim in here), Jesus Christ Superstar, Evita, Ragtime, Kiss Me Kate, Chicago....too many to list

Destroy: Wedding Singer (one of the worst musicals I ever saw--broadway, not movie), Pajama Game, Babes in Arms, ehh...

― Bo Jackson Overdrive, Sunday, 25 November 2007 14:36 (5 years ago) Permalink

2 years pass...

People are too serious when commenting on musicals. Why does everyone hate Andrew Lloyd Webber so much? By the way, I despise "Grease".

― Lawn Cheney (u s steel), Thursday, 21 January 2010 11:41 (3 years ago) Permalink

I love "Jesus Christ Superstar" and that is Andrew Lloyd Webber! But I think the hatred probably comes from getting "Phantom of the Opera" songs stuck in your head all the time as a teenager because it was the only musical anyone knew and people liked singing it WAY too much. He really writes earworms.

― Maria, Thursday, 21 January 2010 14:34 (3 years ago) Permalink

4 months pass...

Just saw the London production of 'Hair' (with the Broadway cast) - http://hairthemusical.co.uk.

Really liked it - especially the good singing voices - and the real surprise was that the plot kind of made sense this time. I saw the Old Vic production back in 1993 and they made a bit of a mess of it.

Also thanks England team - cheapest seats upgraded to really good ones at no extra charge last night.

Will probably go again before this production ends.

― Bob Six, Saturday, 19 June 2010 12:20 (2 years ago) Permalink

5 months pass...

Generally I'm not into musicals but there are a couple that I love to death.

― ˙❤‿❤˙˙❤‿❤˙ (ENBB), Wednesday, 8 December 2010 20:07 (2 years ago) Permalink

oh man I just teared watching this one - ilu Jerry!

― ˙❤‿❤˙˙❤‿❤˙ (ENBB), Wednesday, 8 December 2010 20:09 (2 years ago) Permalink

3 weeks pass...

saw Bernadette & Elaine in A Little Night Music tonight, worth at least $50 of the $70 I paid.

― kind of shrill and very self-righteous (Dr Morbius), Friday, 31 December 2010 08:52 (2 years ago) Permalink

Search: Cabaret
Destroy: Any musicals involving children, especially orphans/urchins.

― thirdalternative, Friday, 31 December 2010 18:20 (2 years ago) Permalink

love this thread, as my daughter needs to watch a half-dozen musicals for forth-grade (dvd's count). she's devoured some children's fare, and now actually wants to watch les miserables (we'll see how that goes; it's a dark, intense work for a near 10-year old).

― Daniel, Esq., Friday, 31 December 2010 18:22 (2 years ago) Permalink

1 year passes...

are there any "musicals" centered around really weird abstract non-anthemic non-singsong music?

― crüt, Sunday, 6 May 2012 08:58 (1 year ago) Permalink

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