Great Songs from Broadway Musicals

[sgmaven]

No llores por mí Argentina...

[Mssg-exchange]

3 hours ago, sgmaven said:

Did any of you catch Miss Saigon? I watched the opening cast in London, which was the WestEnd debut for Lea Songla!

I watched Miss Saigon in London (summer of 1997). 

Some female audience left with teary eyes 😢

 

[sgmaven]

2 minutes ago, Mssg-exchange said:

I watched Miss Saigon in London (summer of 1997). 

Some female audience left with teary eyes 😢

I don't know, I found it rather predictable... The scene of her suicide... I was already expecting it... So, no, it didn't do much for me. Les Misérables for me, any time!

[amicablyalan]

5 hours ago, sgmaven said:

Michael Crawford, the quintessential Phantom...

 

And he was the second couple in Hello Dolly! The movie...

[amicablyalan]

 

 

Michael Crawford in Hello Dolly 1960s... 

 

[InBangkok]

10 hours ago, sgmaven said:

Did any of you catch Miss Saigon? I watched the opening cast in London, which was the WestEnd debut for Lea Songla!

 

I missed it in London and New York. A few years ago its producer Cameron Mackintosh licensed it for a few local language productions around the world. One was Bangkok. The Mackintosh office in Sydney supervised everything even though the local production company was a Thai one. Roger Maltby who had worked on both the music and lyrics with Boublil and Schoenberg for London and Broadway attended the Bangkok opening night and lavishly praised the production in a speech from the stage afterwards. I loved the show, enjoying it more than I did Les Miserables. In Bangkok the Thai actor playing Chris was drop dead gorgeous! Before then I was at two Lea Salonga shows in Bangkok. Great singer who can 'sell' a song as well as almost anyone.

 

7 hours ago, sgmaven said:

A lesser-known gem from the musical Chess...

 

As I mentioned earlier, I think "Chess" has some of the best Broadway music ever written and Tommy Kornberg sings The Anthem better than anyone. Here is another more rock-style song 'Pity the Child' wonderfully sung by Murray Head. Incidentally, does anyone recall that Head was involved in the first ever mouth-on-mouth gay kiss in movies? In John Schlesinger's 1971  "Sunday Bloody Sunday" he played a bisexual artist who has an affair with an elder gay doctor played by Peter Finch. It shocked many audiences of that time.

 

 

Edited October 4, 2020 by InBangkok

[sgmaven]

No video for this, just music, from the original concept album for Chess, the musical. Very interesting interplay of the voices... Not easy to get it right though...

[InBangkok]

I’m cheating slightly with this contribution. I remember decades ago being on a Garuda DC10 flying from Denpasar to Hong Kong via Jakarta. The movie being shown was “Victor/Victoria” with Julie Andrews and directed by her husband Blake Edwards with music by Henry Mancini. I loved every minute of it, once even falling off my seat with laughter.

 

Made in 1982, the movie is set in Paris during the 1930s. Andrews plays an out of work English soprano. Desperate, she attempts to get a job singing in a cabaret bar but the owner is not impressed. One who is is a gay character played by the superb actor Robert Preston who is a singer at the club (Preston played the lead in the movie musical “The Music Man”). The opening scene of the movie shows Preston in bed with his younger gay lover who is about to walk out on him. Through a series of misadventures, he agrees to put Andrews up for the night in his apartment. There he gets the idea of persuading her to put on an act and become a Polish male playing the role of a female impersonator. He/she becomes a huge hit. Problems arise when a Chicago mobster comes to the Club and does not believe she is a man. He and Andrews then fall in love. And that leads to some of the funniest scenes in the movie.

 

The movie was a huge hit, especially with gay men as a result of more than one strong gay element. It can hardly be called a Broadway musical as it did not premiere on Broadway and there is an insufficient number of songs. But Edwards decided to reinvent it as a Broadway show 13 years later. This proved a mistake as it was just impossible to recreate the atmosphere of the movie, the more so as Robert Preston did not want to take part. During the 20 month run, Julie Andrews had to come out of the show when she experienced vocal problems. It was discovered that she had two non-cancerous nodules on her vocal chords, Although it was not essential that these be removed, Edwards felt she should have surgery. That resulted in permanent damage resulting in the loss of the singing voice of one of the truly great Broadway singer/actresses. She won a $20 million lawsuit against the surgeons but never sang again.

 

I did not see the stage show. But the movie remains one of my favourites. Here is Julie Andrews as 'Victor' singing a lovely Henry Mancini ballad with the female voice.

 

 

 

Edited October 4, 2020 by InBangkok

[InBangkok]

8 hours ago, sgmaven said:

I don't know, I found it rather predictable... The scene of her suicide... I was already expecting it... So, no, it didn't do much for me. Les Misérables for me, any time!

 

Wasn't the suicide expected by almost everyone? The show was billed as a virtual update on Puccini's opera Madama Butterfly which also ends with Butterfly committing suicide.

 

But your comment was typical of many audience members. Liked the show but not as good as Les Miz. Don't know why i felt the opposite. 

[poet]

13 hours ago, amicablyalan said:

 

My fave from Les Miserables, since Lea Salonga was mentioned...

 

Never really liked Lea’s version, technically she is good but I find too forceful and angry all the time, quite monotonous. To me Linzi’s interpretation appropriately matches the lyric’s meaning, softness and hardness of the emotions more so, that self-deception, loss and despondency at the point of realisation and finally the climax.

 

 

[Maturechnman]

 

 

Songs from Aspects of Love

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aspects_of_Love

[InBangkok]

It’s not unusual for musicals to encapsulate specific social/historical times, no more so in my view Galt MacDermot’s “Hair”. 

 

Almost no decade saw more social changes than the 1960s. It was the decade dominated by the Vietnam War which eventually saw America turning in on itself with massive anti-war demonstrations and the burning of flags and draft cards. It was the era of sexual liberation, Woodstock, hippies, the Stonewall riots, the increased use of recreational drugs like LSD, flower power, the emergence of new forms of popular music led by The Beatles and The Rolling Stones, of London’s Carnaby Street as a new fashion centre of the world, of long hair, of people dropping out of society, embracing alternative cultures and generally challenging accepted societal rules. “Hair” captured all this

 

No doubt the public attention directed at the show was stimulated by the fact that there is a dimly lit scene when the entire cast emerge naked from under a sheet spread across the stage. The show opened on Broadway in early 1968 where it ran for 4 years. London’s West End was more of a problem because at that time everything shown in a theatre had to be licensed by the Lord Chamberlain’s Office. However there was a bill before parliament to abolish censorship. This was duly passed on September 26.  “Hair” opened on September 27 and ran for almost 5 years. I saw it from the back of one of the balconies and could not see any of the nudity!!!

 

Here are two of the songs from this iconic musical – ‘Aquarius’ and ‘Let the Sunshine in’.

 

 

Edited October 5, 2020 by InBangkok

[30yochinese]

20 hours ago, poet said:

 

Never really liked Lea’s version, technically she is good but I find too forceful and angry all the time, quite monotonous. To me Linzi’s interpretation appropriately matches the lyric’s meaning, softness and hardness of the emotions more so, that self-deception, loss and despondency at the point of realisation and finally the climax.

 

 

This role started off with performances by Caucasians. Later Lea Salonga stole the stage when Cameron cast her as Eponnie & since then Asians have dominanted this role but in the recent Broadway casts it has gone to Afro-American-Actors. Such diversity in the casting of this character...🤔

[InBangkok]

1 hour ago, 30yochinese said:

This role started off with performances by Caucasians. Later Lea Salonga stole the stage when Cameron cast her as Eponnie & since then Asians have dominanted this role but in the recent Broadway casts it has gone to Afro-American-Actors. Such diversity in the casting of this character...🤔

 

Casting can often be a matter of availability and cash - and sometimes politics. When "Miss Saigon" transferred to Broadway Cameron Mackintosh cast Lea Salonga and Jonathan Price from the London production. The American Actors Union said it would not permit Price to take part since he was a British Caucasian performing an Asian-American role. Mackintosh threatened to kill the production. Agreement was reached because the Union realised that a lot of American jobs would be lost. I think after Price left the cast, efforts were made to find Asian-Americans for the role.

 

For Asian touring, both Mackintosh and Lloyd Webber initially sent out casts from Australia and once from Canada (the original "Phantom of the Opera" tour around 1995). In more recent years, many productions have come from South Africa - because the weekly running costs are much cheaper!

[poet]

Waiting for Phantom Of Beijing Opera.

[yhtang]

On 10/4/2020 at 10:24 AM, InBangkok said:

I’m cheating slightly with this contribution. I remember decades ago being on a Garuda DC10 flying from Denpasar to Hong Kong via Jakarta. The movie being shown was “Victor/Victoria” with Julie Andrews and directed by her husband Blake Edwards with music by Henry Mancini. I loved every minute of it, once even falling off my seat with laughter.

 

Made in 1982, the movie is set in Paris during the 1930s. Andrews plays an out of work English soprano. Desperate, she attempts to get a job singing in a cabaret bar but the owner is not impressed. One who is is a gay character played by the superb actor Robert Preston who is a singer at the club (Preston played the lead in the movie musical “The Music Man”). The opening scene of the movie shows Preston in bed with his younger gay lover who is about to walk out on him. Through a series of misadventures, he agrees to put Andrews up for the night in his apartment. There he gets the idea of persuading her to put on an act and become a Polish male playing the role of a female impersonator. He/she becomes a huge hit. Problems arise when a Chicago mobster comes to the Club and does not believe she is a man. He and Andrews then fall in love. And that leads to some of the funniest scenes in the movie.

 

The movie was a huge hit, especially with gay men as a result of more than one strong gay element. It can hardly be called a Broadway musical as it did not premiere on Broadway and there is an insufficient number of songs. But Edwards decided to reinvent it as a Broadway show 13 years later. This proved a mistake as it was just impossible to recreate the atmosphere of the movie, the more so as Robert Preston did not want to take part. During the 20 month run, Julie Andrews had to come out of the show when she experienced vocal problems. It was discovered that she had two non-cancerous nodules on her vocal chords, Although it was not essential that these be removed, Edwards felt she should have surgery. That resulted in permanent damage resulting in the loss of the singing voice of one of the truly great Broadway singer/actresses. She won a $20 million lawsuit against the surgeons but never sang again.

 

I did not see the stage show. But the movie remains one of my favourites. Here is Julie Andrews as 'Victor' singing a lovely Henry Mancini ballad with the female voice.

 

 

 

 

I have watched Victor/Victoria a few times as I have the DVD.  

I liked the story, the songs, the singing and the performance.  I found the ending rather hard to accept, but overall, I enjoyed the film.

[yhtang]

8 hours ago, InBangkok said:

 

Casting can often be a matter of availability and cash - and sometimes politics. When "Miss Saigon" transferred to Broadway Cameron Mackintosh cast Lea Salonga and Jonathan Price from the London production. The American Actors Union said it would not permit Price to take part since he was a British Caucasian performing an Asian-American role. Mackintosh threatened to kill the production. Agreement was reached because the Union realised that a lot of American jobs would be lost. I think after Price left the cast, efforts were made to find Asian-Americans for the role.

 

 

I seem to recall when Lea Salonga was cast in Miss Saigon, there was a bit of controversy.  Some critics commented that it was wrong to cast a Filipino as a Vietnamese.  The complaints died down soon after though. 

[InBangkok]

1 hour ago, yhtang said:

 

I seem to recall when Lea Salonga was cast in Miss Saigon, there was a bit of controversy.  Some critics commented that it was wrong to cast a Filipino as a Vietnamese.  The complaints died down soon after though. 

 

I din't know where the producers would have found a Vietnamese able to sing the role of Kim for 7 or 8 shows a week. I do know that auditions were held all over America including Hawaii. They had hoped they could find a Vietnamese singer who had emigrated as a result of the war. But they came up with no one. They also auditioned in London and several cities in Asia with Manila as the last stop. Even there the first casting auditions turned up no-one. It was only when they decided to return for a second set of auditions a few weeks later that they found their two Kims - Lea Salonga and Monique Wilson. I think I am right that at the age of just 17 Salonga's voice could not tackle 8 shows a week and so Wilson took over for 1 or 2 performances.

 

Frankly I'd be surprised if 3 decades ago more than a handful in both London and New York would be able to tell the difference between two Asian nationalities! Even for the 2014/2017 West End and Broadway revivals the role was given to a half Filipina/half Mexican actress.

[amicablyalan]

 

Hope to see this ... 

[InBangkok]

8 hours ago, amicablyalan said:

Hope to see this ... 

 

Me too!

 

I see it is scheduled to open in Sydney in March next year. If it does, it is likely to run for extended seasons in Sydney and Melbourne before shorter seasons in the other main cities. I suspect there is no chance of it touring anywhere in Asia - apart perhaps from Japan - until 2024 at the earliest. Let's hope we can travel long before then and catch it in London or New York. 

[InBangkok]

From the 2010s I am going to turn the clock back to the 1930s. One of America’s greatest composers is probably best known for two works – Rhapsody in Blue and the operetta “Porgy and Bess”. But he also composed 15 musicals, many of which became classics. Today I suspect most younger guys who love musicals probably know George Gershwin through the 1992 “Crazy For You”, a revised version of his 1930 musical “Girl Crazy”. The New York Times reviewer called it “riotously entertaining”. The show ran for 4 years on Broadway and nearly 3 years in London.

 

This is one of the show’s many well-known numbers. 

 

 

 

[MikeC]

.

Edited October 28, 2023 by MikeC

[Maturechnman]

 

 

Another Gershwin's song, from Oh, Kay!

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oh,_Kay!

Edited October 7, 2020 by Maturechnman

[InBangkok]

1 hour ago, Maturechnman said:

Another Gershwin's song, from Oh, Kay!

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oh,_Kay!

 

Such a great song! But I find Kiri Te Kanawa, despite her lovely voice, does not deliver the song with the panache of a true Broadway artist. She was a glorious singer in opera, but I feel she suffers like her fellow opera stars Placido Domingo and Jose Carreras when it comes to singing songs from musicals. It's almost as though they cannot vary the voice enough, scale it back or even shade it to match the words. I suppose when you are used to belting out opera arias and ensembles over a 90 piece orchestra it needs a slightly different technique to sing just to a microphone. I feel they could have taken valuable lessons from artists like Barbra Streisand and Frank Sinatra in the art of selling a song in a studio. 

 

Interesting that @MikeC's first  musical was "Miss Saigon". Mine was a few decades earlier when as a young child my parents took me to see a show called "Blitz". Set in the London blitz during World War 2, neither the music or lyrics did much for me. But the scenery and lighting were utterly incredible. It was technically the most advanced show London had ever seen with whole streets being raised to reveal underground stations underneath. It had big production numbers involving a large cast. The only one I can recall now was "Who's this geezer Hitler? Who does he think he is?" Hardly very inspiring.

 

We went to see it only because it had been written by the English musicals composer, Lionel Bart, and had been unable to get into his big hit show then still running, "Oliver!". This went on to become a favourite musical of many around the world. But like Lloyd Webber after "Phantom", thereafter Bart wrote little that captured the public's imagination. One musical died on Broadway after just one performance. Unlike later creators and producers, he put his own money into shows. By 1972 he was bankrupt. Depression and alcoholism ensued.

 

To stay alive financially he sold the rights to "Oliver!" One half found their way into the hands of the producer, Cameron Mackintosh, described in 1990 by the New York Times as "the most successful, influential and powerful theatrical producer in the world." From his start in the business aged 18 as a stagehand at London's Theatre Royal in Dury Lane, he is now estimated to be worth more than US$1.5 billion! 

 

Mackintosh had been fascinated by "Oliver!" as a young boy and determined that as soon as he could obtain financing, he would put on a new production. In fact he presented three productions in 1977, 1994 and 2009. To help Lionel Bart, he had fresh material written for the latter two and gave Bart a share of the profits. Before then a successful movie had been made which won six Oscars including Best Picture. Ron Moody who played Fagin was well known in Britain but not on Broadway or in movies. He was nominated for an Oscar. He shines in this number.

 

 

Edited October 6, 2020 by InBangkok

[sgmaven]

43 minutes ago, InBangkok said:

But I find Kiri Te Kanawa, despite her lovely voice, does not deliver the song with the panache of a true Broadway artist. She was a glorious singer in opera, but I feel she suffers like her fellow opera stars Placido Domingo and Jose Carreras when it comes to singing songs from musicals. It's almost as though they cannot vary the voice enough, scale it back or even shade it to match the words.

I think it is the years of training to sing without a mike (amplification), having to project their voices, even in the quieter passages. For the musical singer, they know that they can almost whisper their words, if needed, and the sound man will balance everything in the mix.

 

Used to enjoy sitting in the front row sometimes, more to observe what is happening in the orchestral pit...

[poet]

2 hours ago, InBangkok said:

We went to see it only because it had been written by the English musicals composer, Lionel Bart, and had been unable to get into his big hit show then still running, "Oliver!". This went on to become a favourite musical of many around the world. But like Lloyd Webber after "Phantom", thereafter Bart wrote little that captured the public's imagination. One musical died on Broadway after just one performance. Unlike later creators and producers, he put his own money into shows. By 1972 he was bankrupt. Depression and alcoholism ensued.

 

To stay alive financially he sold the rights to "Oliver!" One half found their way into the hands of the producer, Cameron Mackintosh, described in 1990 by the New York Times as "the most successful, influential and powerful theatrical producer in the world." From his start in the business aged 18 as a stagehand at London's Theatre Royal in Dury Lane, he is now estimated to be worth more than US$1.5 billion! 

 

Mackintosh had been fascinated by "Oliver!" as a young boy and determined that as soon as he could obtain financing, he would put on a new production. In fact he presented three productions in 1977, 1994 and 2009. To help Lionel Bart, he had fresh material written for the latter two and gave Bart a share of the profits. Before then a successful movie had been made which won six Oscars including Best Picture. Ron Moody who played Fagin was well known in Britain but not on Broadway or in movies. He was nominated for an Oscar. He shines in this number.

 

 

 

 

[InBangkok]

Back to Sondheim for a moment. A show most people know is "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street" if only because of Tim Burton's 2007 film. The show is based on a Victorian melodrama about a barber who works above a pie shop in London's East End. As he shaves his customers, he slits their throats, presses a pedal on the barber chair and the body falls to the basement where it is burned in a large boiler. When the pie shop owner Mrs. Lovett finds out, she is at first horrified. But then the realises that business for her pies is bad. She has been using cat meat but one cat only makes 6 pies. She comes up with the idea that using parts of the dead bodies could be served up as meat in many more of her pies. 

 

Won over Sweeney and Mrs. Lovett sing a duet about the future content of each pie. The music is less important here than the words and sentences packed full of puns. "Have a Little Priest" was a show-stopper on Broadway. This clip is part of an 80th Birthday Sondheim tribute with the duet made into a trio. Patti Lupone's Cockney accent may not be as genuine as Angela Lansbury's in the 1979 original Broadway production, but she delivers the song extremely well.

 

Incidentally the Judge in the movie was played by the late Alan Rickman, the wonderful British actor with arguably the most expressive deep voice on the world stage, different from Richard Burton but as distinctive and a worthy successor. 

 

 

Edited October 7, 2020 by InBangkok

[InBangkok]

I'm a little surprised that 'Memory' from "CATS" has not yet been posted. It is undoubtedly a great song, Yet it almost never appeared in the musical. Lloyd Webber had written the music much earlier for an aborted musical about the classical opera composer Puccini. He was worried that it sounded too much like Puccini and too different from the other songs in the show. His father told him it "sounded like a million dollars." His father was wrong. It helped generate worldwide ticket sales of almost US$3 billion and counting! Not bad for a show that one critic described as "just a set, some great costumes and one decent song!"

 

"CATS" was a massive gamble on Lloyd Webber's part. He even had to mortgage his home to complete the financing. Very wisely he brought in as producer of the show Cameron Mackintosh. Given Lloyd Webber's 20 something flops after he broke off that relationship with Mackintosh after "Phantom of the Opera", there can be little doubt that Mackintosh was largely responsible for bringing Lloyd Webber's ideas so successfully to life. Nowhere can that suggestion be more obvious than Lloyd Webber's own company's failures in choosing the production teams for his filmed musicals, almost all of which have more or less been near financial and sometimes artistic failures. None has been worse than Tim Hooper's recent disastrous movie of "CATS". Far, far better in my view is the video made of the stage production some years earlier at London's Adelphi Theatre.

 

'Memory' is too well known! This is the opening Jellicle Ball number highlighting the singing/dancing abilities required of the performers in all productions around the world.

 

 

[Maturechnman]

 

 

There you go - the quintessential Memory from Cats.

[InBangkok]

16 minutes ago, Maturechnman said:

There you go - the quintessential Memory from Cats.

 

Sung by probably one of the best interpreters of the song. But we need to remember that Grizabella is an old cat (not necessary to show this in a concert version without the costume and make up). The words are also vital to the whole show - a remembrance of things past and a desperate plea - "Touch Me" at 3'12" is the real key to the song - to be singled out to be taken to the heavy side layer where she can be reborn. Unfortunately the concert version does not include the short section sung in the show by the young cat Sillabub who is sympathetic to Grizabella and indeed reminds her of her youth.

 

From one classic to another. Picking out great numbers from the catalogue of Rodgers and Hammerstein shows is far from easy. They wrote so many. “South Pacific” was not always a favourite of mine until I saw an excellent Australian production in the early 1990s. I also have a small connection with the film. Around the same time I had taken a vacation on the beautiful Hawaiian Island of Kauaii. Several movies have been shot here, including Raiders of the Lost Ark and Jurassic World, the latter making use of its splendid mini-Grand Canyon. Descending into the canyon in a helicopter was an amazing experience. One day, I hired a car and drove to spend the day on the beach on the North Shore where much of the 1958 “South Pacific” movie was filmed. A glorious setting.

 

 

 

[Maturechnman]

 

Sigh No More Ladies, a nice song from Kenneth Branagh's 1993 film adaptation of Shakespeare's Much Ado about Nothing.

 

Not really a Broadway musical (sorry), but could have been one.. 

 

Sung by David Snell

Written by: Patrick Doyle 

Lyrics by Shakespeare:

 

Sigh no more, ladies, sigh no more.
Men were deceivers ever,
One foot in sea, and one on shore,
To one thing constant never.
Then sigh not so, but let them go,
And be you blithe and bonny,
Converting all your sounds of woe
Into hey nonny, nonny.

 

Sing no more ditties, sing no more
Of dumps so dull and heavy.
The fraud of men was ever so
Since summer first was leafy.
Then sigh not so, but let them go,
And be you blithe and bonny,
Converting all your sounds of woe
Into hey, nonny, nonny.

 

[sgmaven]

One of the songs that have always stuck in my mind from South Pacific...🤪

[Maturechnman]

 

 

Songs from Me and My Girl 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Me_and_My_Girl

[sgmaven]

 

Mamma Mia, during the Lockdown in UK...

[sgmaven]

 

A different Cell Block Tango from Chicago!

[sgmaven]

 

 

Taylor Trensch and Telly Leung sing "Who Will Love Me As I Am?" from the musical, Side Show, about conjoined twins, Daisy and Violet Hilton. A different interpretation of the song...

[InBangkok]

3 hours ago, sgmaven said:

Taylor Trensch and Telly Leung sing "Who Will Love Me As I Am?" from the musical, Side Show, about conjoined twins, Daisy and Violet Hilton. A different interpretation of the song...

 

I had never heard of the musical or the two performers! But it's a good song and the two boys are very attractive singers - and to look at!

 

I see that the original production and a revival did not enjoy much success. Unlike one musical review a friend took me to see which ran for 12 years in smaller off-Broadway theatres. "Naked Boys Singing!" was just that. A group of 8 guys who stripped naked and then sang a variety of songs. If anyone is interested there are some clips with non-frontal nudity on youtube. But don't expect anything titillating!

[sgmaven]

39 minutes ago, InBangkok said:

I had never heard of the musical or the two performers! But it's a good song and the two boys are very attractive singers - and to look at!

Telly Leung starred as Aladdin in the production in Broadway from 2017-2019, while Taylor Trensch starred as Barnaby Tucker in Hello, Dolly! on Broadway from 2017-2018.

[InBangkok]

One of the great 1960s classics is “Fiddler on the Roof” which opened in 1964. It was hugely popular on Broadway where it was the first musical ever to notch up 3,000 performances. It was not nearly as successful in the UK. One reason put forward is that London had a much smaller Jewish population. But it is important to realise that the musical in no way degrades those of the Jewish faith; indeed it celebrates it, even among the miseries of Tsarist Russia. Many of us may agree with the religious elements but there are lots of situations in other musicals we may not agree with. Did anyone mention “Jesus Christ Superstar”? LOL

 

This is unlike Rodgers and Hammerstein’s 1958  “Flower Drum Song” which has been increasingly deemed to be offensive to Asians. That was one of the duo’s least successful shows and has rarely been reproduced.

 

Perhaps “Fiddler’s” best-known song is ‘If I were a rich man’. I prefer, though, the opening number ‘Tradition’.

 

 

 

[30yochinese]

i am not here to brag but i studied Musical Theatre in a local drama school here so technically i am the-Subject-matter-expert on all things performing arts for the stage... but i don't wanna contribute or comment coz BROADWAY is evolving... the influx of fresh material makes my current knowledge-bank redundant

 

...when RENT came out it was never seen before...

 

...when Avenue Q came out nobody believed it would win a Tony...

        

                   

The list goes on & on & on... so technically i am not an expert coz everytime there is a new show...  old shows become redundant...pls don't argue with me...i am not here to fight...just wanna express my views

 

Finally any of u want a 1to1 chat on anything Broadway or West End pls msg me. I like to get to know u more... Thx!!!

[InBangkok]

2 hours ago, 30yochinese said:

i am not here to brag but i studied Musical Theatre in a local drama school here so technically i am the-Subject-matter-expert on all things performing arts for the stage... but i don't wanna contribute or comment coz BROADWAY is evolving... the influx of fresh material makes my current knowledge-bank redundant

 

I think it's great to have someone who contributes and knows the greater detail of Broadway Theatre. I'm certainly not up to date as there are so many of the more modern musicals I know little about. Much as I love musicals and have seen many since the family outing to "Blitz" decades ago, I did once walk out of one. A year after "Wicked" opened on Broadway I had a trip to New York. Since "Wicked" had received rave reviews, I went online and purchased a top price ticket. I always love entering any theatre. There is always a sense of expectation that is really the start of one's enjoyment.

 

Almost from curtain up, there was nothing I liked about "Wicked" - not the songs, the scenery, the book. As the first Act progressed, I thought why did I buy a ticket without doing  bit more research? I had not realised it was related to "The Wizard of Oz", a show and movie I have never enjoyed! So at the interval, I just got up and left!

 

I know what you mean by old shows becoming redundant but I am not sure that is entirely accurate (sorry, I am arguing already!) If you just look at the number of revivals in both London and New York, some producers do have a desire to revive some classic shows, sometimes altering them quite significantly. I read that "Company" is about to be revived but with the lead character a girl rather than a boy. Loving that show, I cannot see how it will work! Also if you think of new productions like "Anything Goes" on Broadway and London, Cameron Macintosh's revivals of "My Fair Lady" and "Oliver", the National Theatre's "Guys and Dolls" and the Australian productions of both "South Pacific" and "The King and I" which both found their way to London for more than reasonable seasons, I think there are a few shows that will always remain fresh  but as long as they have good productions.

[wilfgene]

8 minutes ago, InBangkok said:

 

I think it's great to have someone who contributes and knows the greater detail of Broadway Theatre. I'm certainly not up to date as there are so many of the more modern musicals I know little about. Much as I love musicals and have seen many since the family outing to "Blitz" decades ago, I did once walk out of one. A year after "Wicked" opened on Broadway I had a trip to New York. Since "Wicked" had received rave reviews, I went online and purchased a top price ticket. I always love entering any theatre. There is always a sense of expectation that is really the start of one's enjoyment.

 

Almost from curtain up, there was nothing I liked about "Wicked" - not the songs, the scenery, the book. As the first Act progressed, I thought why did I buy a ticket without doing  bit more research? I had not realised it was related to "The Wizard of Oz", a show and movie I have never enjoyed! So at the interval, I just got up and left!

 

I know what you mean by old shows becoming redundant but I am not sure that is entirely accurate (sorry, I am arguing already!) If you just look at the number of revivals in both London and New York, some producers do have a desire to revive some classic shows, sometimes altering them quite significantly. I read that "Company" is about to be revived but with the lead character a girl rather than a boy. Loving that show, I cannot see how it will work! Also if you think of new productions like "Anything Goes" on Broadway and London, Cameron Macintosh's revivals of "My Fair Lady" and "Oliver", the National Theatre's "Guys and Dolls" and the Australian productions of both "South Pacific" and "The King and I" which both found their way to London for more than reasonable seasons, I think there are a few shows that will always remain fresh  but as long as they have good productions.

I assume they are called 'Classic'.

[InBangkok]

One musicals composer not yet discussed is Jerome Kern. Most of his shows have all but died but one remains a perennial classic. I saw “Show Boat” in the mid-1990s in a hugely lavish and at that time by far the most expensive Broadway production.

 

This particular Hal Prince-directed production featured in one of Broadway’s biggest scandals.  Its producer was a company based in Toronto named Livent. This had been formed in 1989 after its huge success with the Canadian production of “Phantom of the Opera”. Livent very quickly expanded with other musicals and bought up theatres in Toronto, Vancouver, Chicago and New York.

 

Tickets for “Showboat” were the most expensive ever seen on Broadway. Critical reception was very good and the show played to full houses for more than 2 years. Once “Showboat” then went on a long US tour, Livent followed it on Broadway with an equally lavish production of “Ragtime”. By then the company had become the largest producer of live theatre in North America. Although "Showboat" played up the racial stereotyping common at the time of its creation in 1927, this did not affect the box office. What did was the fact that the show was just too big and far too expensive. The large cast required 500 different costumes - an enormous number for any stage musical. 

 

While these two flagship US productions were losing money, Livent’s other shows were hemorrhaging cash at a fast rate. Soon its CEO was forced to resign. The new cast for the national tour of “Showboat” was badly compared to the Broadway cast and the tour was cancelled less than half way through. Other economies were made in a desperate attempt to get Livent’s finances back into the black. None worked.

 

It turned out that the CEO had been fiddling the books, reporting profits when there were only losses and moving cash between productions to fool the auditors. Livent collapsed in 1998. Its CEO was eventually jailed for 5 years for accounting and personal fraud.

 

‘Ol’ Man River’ is the show’s best-known song, but I like this one just as much.

 

 

 

[wilfgene]

1 hour ago, InBangkok said:

One musicals composer not yet discussed is Jerome Kern. Most of his shows have all but died but one remains a perennial classic. I saw “Show Boat” in the mid-1990s in a hugely lavish and at that time by far the most expensive Broadway production.

 

This particular Hal Prince-directed production featured in one of Broadway’s biggest scandals.  Its producer was a company based in Toronto named Livent. This had been formed in 1989 after its huge success with the Canadian production of “Phantom of the Opera”. Livent very quickly expanded with other musicals and bought up theatres in Toronto, Vancouver, Chicago and New York.

 

Tickets for “Showboat” were the most expensive ever seen on Broadway. Critical reception was very good and the show played to full houses for more than 2 years. Once “Showboat” then went on a long US tour, Livent followed it on Broadway with an equally lavish production of “Ragtime”. By then the company had become the largest producer of live theatre in North America. Although "Showboat" played up the racial stereotyping common at the time of its creation in 1927, this did not affect the box office. What did was the fact that the show was just too big and far too expensive. The large cast required 500 different costumes - an enormous number for any stage musical. 

 

While these two flagship US productions were losing money, Livent’s other shows were hemorrhaging cash at a fast rate. Soon its CEO was forced to resign. The new cast for the national tour of “Showboat” was badly compared to the Broadway cast and the tour was cancelled less than half way through. Other economies were made in a desperate attempt to get Livent’s finances back into the black. None worked.

 

It turned out that the CEO had been fiddling the books, reporting profits when there were only losses and moving cash between productions to fool the auditors. Livent collapsed in 1998. Its CEO was eventually jailed for 5 years for accounting and personal fraud.

 

‘Ol’ Man River’ is the show’s best-known song, but I like this one just as much.

 

 

 

Is there any woman, including here who can compare to Ava Gardner?

[InBangkok]

35 minutes ago, wilfgene said:

Is there any woman, including here who can compare to Ava Gardner?

 

Beautiful woman and great actress. The trouble was that she was not really known as a singer! Her voice was dubbed in the 1951 movie by Annette Warren. She only sang two numbers on the MGM soundtrack.of the movie including 'Can't help lovin' dat man'. Both women are said to have modelled their performance on the great Lena Horne's voice. Horne auditioned for the movie but lost out to Ava Gardner. An example of Hollywood's racism at the time, perhaps?

 

 

[wilfgene]

4 hours ago, InBangkok said:

 

Beautiful woman and great actress. The trouble was that she was not really known as a singer! Her voice was dubbed in the 1951 movie by Annette Warren. She only sang two numbers on the MGM soundtrack.of the movie including 'Can't help lovin' dat man'. Both women are said to have modelled their performance on the great Lena Horne's voice. Horne auditioned for the movie but lost out to Ava Gardner. An example of Hollywood's racism at the time, perhaps?

 

 

The deepest impression on me was her character ordered to leave town in the name of protecting the folks.  I somehow keep linking it to the bitching here.  Probably after her appearance in 'THE SNOW of KILIMANJARO'.

[poet]

Watch it again...

 

 

[InBangkok]

26 minutes ago, poet said:

Watch it again...

 

I was touched at the very start of that vdo with the pleas for donations for various charities related to covid19. Theatres in general and all those whose crafts go into making the stage performances we have all witnessed over the years are suffering massively during the pandemic. It reminds me of the AIDS pandemic from the mid-1980s. For the next decade Broadway especially saw so many deaths, from great directors like Michael Bennett ("A Choris Line", "Dreamgirls") to lead actors in musicals like Larry Kert ("West Side Story, "Company") to the humblest chorus member, dancer and stage carpenter. Death may not occur for most today but being out of work for a year or more will impose tremendous hardship.

 

I had not seen "Phantom's" 25th anniversary performance before. Watching the start, I could not believe that Cameron Mackintosh would have allocated what will undoubtedly have been a huge budget for a celebration that ran for only 3 performances. Then I realised that one was transmitted 'live' or by delayed relay to theatres worldwide. Add in the movie and DVD sales and it must have made a nice profit. I certainly find this production vastly superior to the Hollywoodmovie made some years earlier.

 

I saw the stage show three times - in London, Melbourne and Sapporo. I have to admit that it is not in my top ten list of shows. I find the first 20 minutes or so tedious. Clearly that is just me because several million have loved it. On the other hand Hal Prince's direction, Maria Bjornson's wonderful scenery and costumes, and the rest of the show make it a more than worthwhile evening at the theatre.

 

i have one amusing story. Up in Sapporo, I happened to be there for meetings when "Phantom" opened in a new theatre that had been built in the middle of the railway station specially for the production. As with most Japanese shows, a considerable array of merchandise was available for sale. The T-shirts and sweat shirts had the show's 3 logos on the front - the Phantom mask, the rose and the shards of the mirror. On the back, though, was something very original. Again as is common in Japan, the manufacturers had included a sentence in English. Clearly someone had thought this up in Japanese and then had it translated into approximate English that happened to include a dreadful pun. It read: "SHE CHASED HIM AROUND THE OPERA HOUSE AND FINALLY CAUGHT HIM BY THE ORGAN"! I believe Lloyd Webber went ballistic when word of this got back to London. He ordered the entire stock to be immediately destroyed!

[doncoin]

I saw this production back with Raul Esparza. It was an interesting production of Company as the cast also doubles as the orchestra- making more than the typical triple threat (Sing, Dance and Act. They also play an instrument). Raul Esparza was brilliantly cast. A couple years later, there was more star studded production with Neil Patrick Harris that I saw, with Patti Lupone, but I still much prefer this version. 

 

 

 

Prior to the pandemic, a new modern version with the lead role of Bobby is changed to a woman after a successful production run in London, was supposed to open on Broadway. I was looking forward to watching it. Of all of Sondheim's works. I think this has to be my favourite. 

 

One of my favorite songs from this show is I'm Not Getting Married Today. It is definitely very challenging to sing and perform this song. 

 

 

Edited October 11, 2020 by doncoin

[InBangkok]

2 hours ago, doncoin said:

Of all of Sondheim's works. I think this has to be my favourite. 

 

I agree. I adore "Follies" but it is such difficult show to cast because it requires two casts - the reunion in a crumbing theatre of a dozen or so 60/70 year old actors who had appeared in the Ziegfeld Follies during the 2 World Wars and their young alter egos. But the original Hal Prince directed "Company" was such a revelation for me. Over the years I find myself playing the original London cast album more than almost any other show. Just love it.