Jump to content
Male HQ

Great Songs from Broadway Musicals


InBangkok

Recommended Posts

4 hours ago, InBangkok said:

I will keep listening to this for years. For me it works far better than the original cast album.

Well, the original cast album (Double LP or CD) was a concept album, rather than the usual Original Cast Recordings that West End/Broadway musicals tend to have.

 

I remember how One Night In Bangkok hit the charts. Hardly anyone knew what the song was about.

I do like the Original production of Chess at the Prince Edward Theatre, especially the opening act, with The Story of Chess, and the pieces dancing across the board...

Слава Україні!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

I have almost been dreading Spielberg's reworking of West Side Story. The original movie is now very much out of date and deserves reworking. But I thought Spielberg was bringing the story into the 2000s. It seems he is keeping it in the mid-1950s. I do like the drama in that short trailer, as I do the full symphony orchestra. So I now have a much more open mind. I wonder if there is any chance of it being released on iMax.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 minutes ago, InBangkok said:

I have almost been dreading Spielberg's reworking of West Side Story. The original movie is now very much out of date and deserves reworking. But I thought Spielberg was bringing the story into the 2000s. It seems he is keeping it in the mid-1950s. I do like the drama in that short trailer, as I do the full symphony orchestra. So I now have a much more open mind. I wonder if there is any chance of it being released on iMax.

The backdrop of the storyline simply doesn't work these days of age.

Unless between a dem and a rep.

Or his own religion and that other one.

And then, it will still be a question of which the male lead professes.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It is funny, in the classic version, the aerial shot of the neighbourhood which was in the opening, is now where Lincoln Center stands. Parts of the Spielberg version was shot on the Upper West Side, and Paterson, NJ where the neighbourhood is still passable for the 1950s. I wonder if they will update it to make it more Spanglish like what they did on the Broadway revival a few years ago. 

Love. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Stephen Sondheim, a giant of Broadway, will not be writing any more musicals. For ten years he has been working on a project provisionally titled Bunuel and based on two of the movie director's films "The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie" and "The Exterminating Angel". The Spanish/Mexican movie director Luis Bunuel was active between around 1920 and the 1970s. At first he was known as a surrealist but went on to work in various genres. Although he never won an Oscar, his films won several other awards. In 2012 the magazine Sight and Sound's Critics Poll named 7 Bunuel films in its list of top 250 movies of all time. One of the main theatres at the Palais des Festivals et des Congres where the Cannes Film Festival is held is named after him: Salle Bunuel.

 

Sondheim has decided that at the age of 91 he's never going to finish it. Will there ever be another like him?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 4/26/2021 at 11:08 PM, InBangkok said:

I have almost been dreading Spielberg's reworking of West Side Story. The original movie is now very much out of date and deserves reworking. But I thought Spielberg was bringing the story into the 2000s. It seems he is keeping it in the mid-1950s. I do like the drama in that short trailer, as I do the full symphony orchestra. So I now have a much more open mind. I wonder if there is any chance of it being released on iMax.

 

I also like West Side Story very much. And its music by Leonard Bernstein.  I don't see why the original 1961 movie needs reworking because of being out of date.   A 1961 movie about a 1950 story should be more authentic than a 2021 one.  Should Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet also deserve rework?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 hours ago, Steve5380 said:

 

I also like West Side Story very much. And its music by Leonard Bernstein.  I don't see why the original 1961 movie needs reworking because of being out of date.   A 1961 movie about a 1950 story should be more authentic than a 2021 one.  Should Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet also deserve rework?

An inane comment! You expect Romeo and Juliet always to be performed as it was in Shakespeare's day? In a theatre identical the the Curtain Theatre where is received its premiere?  Because that is what your comment implies .And what is West Side Story other than a total rework of Shakespeare's play with massive amounts of dialogue cut??

 

Spielberg is merely changing the direction of West Side Story - not the story line. Every single production of every play presented in a theatre over 400 or so years since Shakespeare's day has changed the direction, often going as far as lo change the entire period of the original  setting. Bringing classics up to date is common practice. Cinema has many examples.

Edited by InBangkok
Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 hours ago, InBangkok said:

An inane comment! You expect Romeo and Juliet always to be performed as it was in Shakespeare's day? In a theatre identical the the Curtain Theatre where is received its premiere?  Because that is what your comment implies .And what is West Side Story other than a total rework of Shakespeare's play with massive amounts of dialogue cut??

 

Spielberg is merely changing the direction of West Side Story - not the story line. Every single production of every play presented in a theatre over 400 or so years since Shakespeare's day has changed the direction, often going as far as lo change the entire period of the original  setting. Bringing classics up to date is common practice. Cinema has many examples.

 

I didn't want to be unpolite and write that your opinion "The original movie is now very much out of date and deserves reworking." is inane and not well thought.  What came to mind are the curators at the Louvre finding that da Vinci's Mona Lisa is now very much out of date and deserves repainting.  A movie is not like a Broadway musical or a theater performance or a musical concert that is 'live' and is recreated every time you see it.  I know that this is what you like, as opposed to permanently recorded art,  but when we possess a painting, or a movie, or a recording we like,  we want it to be INVARIANT and so recreate the same sensation it originally did.  

 

But I have nothing against Spielberg making a new movie with the theme of West Side Story.  I only criticize the idea that the old movie is "out of date".   The Great Sphinx in Egypt is also "out of date".

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 minutes ago, Steve5380 said:

What came to mind are the curators at the Louvre finding that da Vinci's Mona Lisa is now very much out of date and deserves repainting.

And let me use our favourite word - nonsense! There is absolutely zero comparison.

Edited by InBangkok
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think that reworking/updating WSS is not necessary a bad thing as it exposes a new generation to this classic. 

 

A little trivia I just found out about this Spielberg's version. They won't be reproducing Jerome Robbin's original choreography. Justin Peck (formerly NYC Ballet) did the choreography in this new version. So I think it will be pretty interesting. 

Love. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

22 minutes ago, doncoin said:

I think that reworking/updating WSS is not necessary a bad thing as it exposes a new generation to this classic. 

 

A little trivia I just found out about this Spielberg's version. They won't be reproducing Jerome Robbin's original choreography. Justin Peck (formerly NYC Ballet) did the choreography in this new version. So I think it will be pretty interesting. 

 

I like very much the dancing in the old movie.  I have become interested in ballet and dancing.  So I welcome the new movie, since Justin Peck is first class, and so is Spielberg.   This is the positive in the new movie,  not that the old is "out of date".  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 minutes ago, Steve5380 said:

 

I like very much the dancing in the old movie.  I have become interested in ballet and dancing.  So I welcome the new movie, since Justin Peck is first class, and so is Spielberg.   This is the positive in the new movie,  not that the old is "out of date".  

 

 

Yeah. Peck is part of the current generation of choreographers  with Christopher Wheeldan's whose works I enjoy. 

Love. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

33 minutes ago, doncoin said:

I think that reworking/updating WSS is not necessary a bad thing as it exposes a new generation to this classic. 

 

A little trivia I just found out about this Spielberg's version. They won't be reproducing Jerome Robbin's original choreography. Justin Peck (formerly NYC Ballet) did the choreography in this new version. So I think it will be pretty interesting. 

Totally agree on both points. The original movie version was of a time for its time. For some it will always retain its special charm. For millennials and younger generations it is out of date. For octogenarians they are probably happy with the original.

 

Also, for those interested in musicals' history, the director of the 1961 movie, Robert Wise, took many liberties by changing the original Broadway script. Tony Kushner who has written the script for Spielberg stated in 2017 that the new movie's musical numbers and story line will remain more faithful to the Broadway original.

 

7 minutes ago, Steve5380 said:

I like very much the dancing in the old movie.  I have become interested in ballet and dancing.  So I welcome the new movie, since Justin Peck is first class, and so is Spielberg.   This is the positive in the new movie,  not that the old is "out of date".  

 

While on this subject, Jane Eyre is a classic English novel. No one would dare to touch Jane Austen's original. But between 1985 and 2011 there have been no less than 5 different film versions. For the same author's Pride and Prejudice, which version would you now show younger viewers? The 1940 version with Laurence Olivier and Greer Garson, or the 2005 version with Matthew Macfadyen and Keira Knightly? Times change and people change.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

17 minutes ago, InBangkok said:

While on this subject, Jane Eyre is a classic English novel. No one would dare to touch Jane Austen's original. But between 1985 and 2011 there have been no less than 5 different film versions. For the same author's Pride and Prejudice, which version would you now show younger viewers? The 1940 version with Laurence Olivier and Greer Garson, or the 2005 version with Matthew Macfadyen and Keira Knightly? Times change and people change.

 

Yes. I saw a ballet version of Jane Eyre like 2 years ago by the ABT. It was interesting subject to approach. 

Edited by doncoin

Love. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 minutes ago, InBangkok said:

Totally agree on both points. The original movie version was of a time for its time. For some it will always retain its special charm. For millennials and younger generations it is out of date. For octogenarians they are probably happy with the original.

 

Also, for those interested in musicals' history, the director of the 1961 movie, Robert Wise, took many liberties by changing the original Broadway script. Tony Kushner who has written the script for Spielberg stated in 2017 that the new movie's musical numbers and story line will remain more faithful to the Broadway original.

 

 

While on this subject, Jane Eyre is a classic English novel. No one would dare to touch Jane Austen's original. But between 1985 and 2011 there have been no less than 5 different film versions. For the same author's Pride and Prejudice, which version would you now show younger viewers? The 1940 version with Laurence Olivier and Greer Garson, or the 2005 version with Matthew Macfadyen and Keira Knightly? Times change and people change.

 

It seems that I have touched a sensitive spot... :lol:

 

Oh... there have been many more films about Jane Eyre than five!

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adaptations_of_Jane_Eyre

 

EIGHT silent films starting in 1910 already!  Why should anyone find any of these "out of date"?  Times change constantly!

 

And in our beloved classical music,  who would have the nerve to find the rare old interpretations by Dinu Lipatti  "out of date",  with hundreds of newer interpretations coming out consistently?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 minutes ago, Steve5380 said:

EIGHT silent films starting in 1910 already!  Why should anyone find any of these "out of date"?  Times change constantly!

You really do ask some ridiculous questions! You may not find any of the movie versions of Jane Eyre "out of date". But bear in mind your age. And then consider those born in the last 20 - 40 years or so. Would they find movies of Jayne Eyre made in the 1910s or 1940s out of date? Of course they would. As for comparison with classical music interpretations, that is yet another of your attempts merely to deflect your initial wrong comments by comparing like with totally unlike!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 minutes ago, InBangkok said:

You really do ask some ridiculous questions! You may not find any of the movie versions of Jane Eyre "out of date". But bear in mind your age. And then consider those born in the last 20 - 40 years or so. Would they find movies of Jayne Eyre made in the 1910s or 1940s out of date? Of course they would. As for comparison with classical music interpretations, that is yet another of your attempts merely to deflect your initial wrong comments by comparing like with totally unlike!

 

LOL!  We have arrived at a point where the valuable coins are nearly gone and the only card left to play is... age!

 

I understand that you are not the youngest wildflower here, and I wish you very much that as you mature and come closer to my age you realize that age does not make any difference in likenesses, except in those whose brain have decayed with time.  My preferences have changed very little since I was a young man.  My late aunt Liesel was very much in the now at 90+  y.o,  following the news and the newness in science and art  (but not much in modern music).  I follow her example and her optimism.   And when I discover a new newness,  like the advances in mechanical watches,  I can jump right to the forefront,  because I have the knowledge, and follow the latest innovations with enthusiasm.   And this does not diminish my appreciation for the early technologies that made silent movies and recording on vax cylinders and mechanical calculators possible.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 hours ago, InBangkok said:

And I could not be more thrilled that i am far more adventurous in so many aspects of this amazing life.

 

Shifting preferences are a sign of a life full of frivolities and lack of solid principles.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

56 minutes ago, Steve5380 said:

 

Shifting preferences are a sign of a life full of frivolities and lack of solid principles.

Just because you are stuck in your eyrie in Houston and cannot continue your sole hobby of sex tourism in Asia, you totally fail to understand how much everyone gains from regular travel and regular exposure to histories and cultures of different places, to say nothing of the joy of attending concerts, museums, exhibitions and the whole rich panoply of life. Your response is just so typical - nonsense!

 

You might consider getting back on topic - something you also regularly suggest to other users who stray. The thread is about Great Songs from Broadway musicals. But then you haven't been to a Broadway musical so I suspect it's quite difficult for you to post here.

Edited by InBangkok
Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, InBangkok said:

 

You might consider getting back on topic.

 

 

You are the one totally out of topic spreading nonsense and stupidities about my personal life.  I remember how angry you did became when I made a few minor observations about your life.  Don't you know how to reciprocate discretion?

 

I am perfectly on topic defending the great 1961 movie about the Broadway musical West Side Story against claims that it is "out of date". 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 hours ago, Steve5380 said:

You are the one totally out of topic spreading nonsense and stupidities about my personal life.  I remember how angry you did became when I made a few minor observations about your life.

Of course I remember. I did not spread any stupidities about your personal life. You forget that your life on this Board is an open book. Why? Because you tell everyone about it. We know about your age, your birthday, what you have for breakfast, lunch and dinner, your two grand pianos, your trekking to the store 4 days a week, your walks around your garden, your health regime, your history of sex tourism to Singapore and other parts of Asia . . . These facts are all on this Board because you wrote them!! These are nonsense and stupidities? I think not and can post precisely what you have written if you wish.

 

Your minor observations about my life were lies! You continued to spread lies n the basis that you thought you remembered something I had said. Only you have made a mistake and would not apologise. You only offered to apologise when i said I was planning to leave the Board and you begged me to stay on. Once again, do you want me to post your old posts? I think not for they will show your lies to be what they were.

 

As for Great Songs from Broadway Movies, you are perfectly entitled to defend your view that the 1961 WSS movie is not out of date. I respect that. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

17 minutes ago, InBangkok said:

 

As for Great Songs from Broadway Movies, you are perfectly entitled to defend your view that the 1961 WSS movie is not out of date. I respect that. 

 

 

All right.  That was the issue that lead you to an unnecessary diatribe about my person and my life.  Why not leave it at that?  The 1961 West Side Story is not "out of date"  because movies don't have expiration dates like a milk bottle.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 minutes ago, Steve5380 said:

That was the issue that lead you to an unnecessary diatribe about my person and my life.  Why not leave it at that?

It was no diatribe. It was a series of facts that you have posted in this forum, oftentimes more than once. Do you dispute any of these facts?

 

As for old movies, yes, some people do enjoy them and will watch them. But that is no reason whatever for criticising  attempts to update older movies. I will bet that vastly more people will be drawn to that magical Broadway show as a result of Spielberg's new adaptation than have seen the Robert Wise version. But I can not know. Only time will tell. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

12 minutes ago, InBangkok said:

It was no diatribe. It was a series of facts that you have posted in this forum, oftentimes more than once. Do you dispute any of these facts?

 

 

What you call "a series of facts" were completely out of topic here.  And you posted such diatribe because you could not resist making it.  So let's leave it behind, and stay on topic.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

17 minutes ago, Steve5380 said:

 

What you call "a series of facts" were completely out of topic here.  And you posted such diatribe because you could not resist making it.  So let's leave it behind, and stay on topic.  

For someone who has posted almost nothiing in this thread over its 5 pages part from the comment that you like the old movie version of WSS, that really is a bit rich!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

11 hours ago, Steve5380 said:

I am not planning to travel to New York,  but I wish the best enjoyment for those who do.

You don't have to visit New York. Plenty of excellent national tour productions visit Houston. You can go to see good shows in your local theatre, just as you could go to concerts and operas if you had any desire to do so. In the case of the latter two, you clearly don't.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 5/6/2021 at 10:11 PM, InBangkok said:

You don't have to visit New York. Plenty of excellent national tour productions visit Houston. You can go to see good shows in your local theatre, just as you could go to concerts and operas if you had any desire to do so. In the case of the latter two, you clearly don't.

 

I have plans to resume attendance to the concert and opera scene in Houston after the pandemic.  Also I will investigate the possibility to enroll in the Moores School of Music of my alma mater, the University of Houston.  Maybe a Masters in Music in piano performance?   Will see. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 hours ago, Steve5380 said:

 

I have plans to resume attendance to the concert and opera scene in Houston after the pandemic.  Also I will investigate the possibility to enroll in the Moores School of Music of my alma mater, the University of Houston.  Maybe a Masters in Music in piano performance?   Will see. 

Let me congratulate you. After a quarter of a century of not attending live performances, you will start attending again. I am sure you will find the experience enjoyable. Although I often attend performances on my own, may I suggest having another knowledgable friend accompanying you will make it even more enjoyable for you.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 hours ago, InBangkok said:

Let me congratulate you. After a quarter of a century of not attending live performances, you will start attending again. I am sure you will find the experience enjoyable. Although I often attend performances on my own, may I suggest having another knowledgable friend accompanying you will make it even more enjoyable for you.

 

Thank you.  Maybe my sister when she comes here would be interested, and she is knowledgeable.  To find a gay friend who is interested in classical music is not easy,  and I am not ready to start another relationship.  But going by myself is not a bad option,  I am a good company to myself, ha ha,  and this has an advantage when it comes to find a good seat in the hall.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 months later...
  • 2 weeks later...

thru my sharing...
i hope this will blow ur mind...

                                                           

once i had this "AH HA MOMENT" my life changed:
                                       
we all know that the Lyricist & Composer are the same for these 2 musicals: Les Miserables( LM )  & Miss Saigon ( MS ).
                                                      
What are the similarities?
What did the creative team re-use from one musical to the next?
                                      
years ago, my friend asked me to listen to the introduction song from MS called, "THE HEAT IS ON IN SAIGON".
                                                                                                                                                        
i was hooked, i was amazed... how is it possible thru the use of music... to transport audiences to a sleezy nightclub where horny men all wanna hookup...
                         
in the scene where Fantine is desperate for money, thus she sells her body & hair & the song is called, "LOVELY LADIES",
                                     
don't u realise its the same? one features Asian Women whereas the other features White Women & both have the same goal... to attract me into their bed for cash...
                                                
if i could go one step further...
Fantine doesn't want to do this but she doesn't have a choice...
Gigi & Kim don't want to do this but they don't have a choice...
                       
so was this an "AH HA MOMENT" for u?
                                    

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Oh wow this is my newfound favourite thread on BW. I will spend some time coming back and read all your posts, I only skimmed some of them, but you guys know your musicals 🤘🏼
 

I have been lucky enough to watch shows like “Matilda” in London when I did my master degree in 2015 and “Chicago”, “Dear Evan Hansen” and “Mean Girls” in New York City all in 2019 when my company sent me for trainings. 
 

I am 32 yo and grew up in a small village in Sumatera, so my first exposure to broadway was when I illegally downloading Glee from torrents, and they did cover a lot of legendary musicals. And that interest of mine continues till today.

 

For my sharing, I find myself keep coming back to watch Adam Driver’s rendition of “Being Alive” from the musical comedy “Company”. I read that Adam Driver prior to his career in acting, he was in the army, so this song cover from him feels very deep and meaningful 

 


 

Other than excited about Dear Evan Hansen and West Side Story movie coming soon, has anyone check out comedy musical “Schmigadoon” on Apple TV+? I find it very well produced eventhough I understand that with so many streaming services now, its hard to justify the monthly subscription fee 😁

 

 

Edited by Geeky2020
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 4/27/2021 at 8:03 AM, doncoin said:

Coming soon...

 

One of my all time favorites. 

 

 

thx for sharing... this reminds me of the current movie "IN THE HEIGHTS"... do u think so? 
               

Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 hours ago, Geeky2020 said:

For my sharing, I find myself keep coming back to watch Adam Driver’s rendition of “Being Alive” from the musical comedy “Company”. I read that Adam Driver prior to his career in acting, he was in the army, so this song cover from him feels very deep and meaningful 

"Being Alive" is a great song from a truly great musical with many great songs, some of which have already been featured on thie forum. Being euch older than you, I was fortunate to see the original London production which featured Larry Kart who was to die of AIDS andethe fabulous Elaine Stritch. Her singing of "Ladies Who Lunch" is still in my view the definitive version of that song. Do try and get to know some of the other musicals by Stephen Sondheim. He has rarely been a major box office success but his musicals are wonderful.

 

Interestingly, you refer to musical comedy. I hadn't heard that phrase for quite a few years. You are of course correct for that is the name given to musicals during the 1920 and 30s. After the horrors of World War 1 followed in 1929 by the Great Depression, audiences wanted lighthearted theatrical experiences teat lifted them up. So musicals with fairly light storylines (with a few exceptions like Jerome Kern's "Show Boat"), good tunes and lots of dancing became known as musical comedy.

 

The change came with the advent of the writing partnership of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II. Both had worked before in other partnerships, but it was only when they came together for their first show "Oklahoma" that audiences were to witness a different form of musical. It was more dramatic, more about ordinary people and ordinary situations. The duo went on to create some of Broadway's greatest hits including "The King and I", "Carousel", "South Pacific" and "The Sound of Music". From that point on many musicals involved more dramatic plots and the art form became known as musical theatre. The list of wonderful musicals since then includes "West Side Story" (can't wait for the Spielberg movie), "Carousel", "Fiddler on the Roof", "My Fair Lady", "A Chorus Line" and many dozens of others.

 

Then came Andrew Lloyd Webber and his various musicals, some monster successes like "Evita" and "Phantom of the Opera". Perhaps surprising to most, he has written about 20  musicale since "Phantom" and all have been virtual flops (certainly financial flops). And since "Phantom" first appeared in 1986, a new breed of musicals appeared geared especially to social issues like AIDS. Now big corporations like Disney have become involved in creating blockbuster musicals - without corporate cash "The Lion King" could never have been produced e while many smaller less ambitious productions have also become popular. 

 

The cost of mounting a big scale musical nowadays is so high that even Lloyd Webber admits a production like "Phantom" has become much too expensive end too greae a risk. It is not unusual for maee musicals to end up with big losses. The record is held by the monster production "Spiderman: Turn Off the Dark". When it closed in 2014 it had lost around US$60 millions.

 

Here's another version of "Being Alive" putting the song into context as his friends all are trying to persuade Bobby of the benefits of marriage - and he can't see them.

 

 

Edited by InBangkok
Link to comment
Share on other sites

22 minutes ago, InBangkok said:

"Being Alive" is a great song from a truly great musical with many great songs, some of which have already been featured on thie forum. Being euch older than you, I was fortunate to see the original London production which featured Larry Kart who was to die of AIDS andethe fabulous Elaine Stritch. Her singing of "Ladies Who Lunch" is still in my view the definitive version of that song. Do try and get to know some of the other musicals by Stephen Sondheim. He has rarely been a major box office success but his musicals are wonderful.

 

Interestingly, you refer to musical comedy. I hadn't heard that phrase for quite a few years. You are of course correct for that is the name given to musicals during the 1920 and 30s. After the horrors of World War 1 followed in 1929 by the Great Depression, audiences wanted lighthearted theatrical experiences teat lifted them up. So musicals with fairly light storylines (with a few exceptions like Jerome Kern's "Show Boat"), good tunes and lots of dancing became known as musical comedy.

 

The change came with the advent of the writing partnership of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II. Both had worked before in other partnerships, but it was only when they came together for their first show "Oklahoma" that audiences were to witness a different form of musical. It was more dramatic, more about ordinary people and ordinary situations. The duo went on to create some of Broadway's greatest hits including "The King and I", "Carousel", "South Pacific" and "The Sound of Music". From that point on many musicals involved more dramatic plots and the art form became known as musical theatre. The list of wonderful musicals since then includes "West Side Story" (can't wait for the Spielberg movie), "Carousel", "Fiddler on the Roof", "My Fair Lady", "A Chorus Line" and many dozens of others.

 

Then came Andrew Lloyd Webber and his various musicals, some monster successes like "Evita" and "Phantom of the Opera". Perhaps surprising to most, he has written about 20  musicale since "Phantom" and all have been virtual flops (certainly financial flops). And since "Phantom" first appeared in 1986, a new breed of musicals appeared geared especially to social issues like AIDS. Now big corporations like Disney have become involved in creating blockbuster musicals - without corporate cash "The Lion King" could never have been produced e while many smaller less ambitious productions have also become popular. 

 

The cost of mounting a big scale musical nowadays is so high that even Lloyd Webber admits a production like "Phantom" has become much too expensive end too greae a risk. It is not unusual for maee musicals to end up with big losses. The record is held by the monster production "Spiderman: Turn Off the Dark". When it closed in 2014 it had lost around US$60 millions.

 

Here's another version of "Being Alive" putting the song into context as his friends all are trying to persuade Bobby of the benefits of marriage - and he can't see them.

 

 

thx for sharing! Miss Elaine Stritch,
Elaine Paige,
Patti Lupone,
Carol Channing,
Ethel Merman,
Pat Suzuki,
Lea Salonga,
these performers are musical-theatre-Legends... if only Singapore produced one... 
                                                                                                                                                                           

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Today is the start of a new month,
I wish everyone ( who is reading ) a refreshing time as it will be 5 months to the end of 2021.
                                                     
one of the happiest moments in my life was ( ending sec 4 &) Beginning a diploma in Ngee Ann Polytechnic in the 2000s, not becoz of the diploma but i spent alot of time in the Library & one day i found a VHS Video Tape & out of curiousity borrowed it, "FLOWER DRUM SONG" by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II. 
                                               
i won't tell u what happened after viewing it, but it def CHANGED MY LIFE, for the better.

     

Years later, when it was adapted to the Broadway Stage & David Henry Hwang was in charge of this Revival Production,
                                               
I loved it even more when Lea Salonga was announced to play the title/titular role of "Mei Li".
                                                       
In Conclusion,
How would i define the "Flower Drum Song"? 
tbh, anything that Gene Kelly touches is bound to be Musical-Theatre-Gold, & its an honour to see the best of Musical-Theatre come together for a production like "CRAZY RICH ASIANS" & this made this musical so ahead of its time, BRAVO!!!
                                                                                                                                                                                      
                                                      

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I personally like the Broadway revival of Company with Raul Esparza back in the mid 2000s. I saw it twice and it was an interesting concept in which the cast doubles up as the orchestra as well. 

 

 

and of course there was the recent London production of Company with a female Bobby and updated with a gay couple etc. amongst the friends, and starring Patti LuPone. It was supposed to open last March of Broadway but COVID happened. 

 

 

Edited by doncoin

Love. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

17 hours ago, 30yochinese said:

thx for sharing... this reminds me of the current movie "IN THE HEIGHTS"... do u think so? 
               

 

It is slightly different. West Side Story focuses on Puerto Rican culture whereas In the Heights is more of Dominican Republic. Granted they are islands in the Caribbean not too far from each other, so there are many similarities. 

 

Also WSS has race as an issue, and the difference was highlighted in the plot whereas ITH is more of class issues. The common thing on both shows is they highlight the diversity of the neighbourhoods in NYC with WSS focused around Hells Kitchen and around what is Lincoln Center now (West 50s to 60s) and ITH further up North in Washington Heights area. 

 

 

Love. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I just discovered this 2013 Paris production of Sunday in the Park with George and thought the ending of Act 1 with Sunday was just marvelous. Many productions tend to have a much smaller stage, but this stage is huge with a turn table to rotate the sets and cast.

 

 

Love. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 8/1/2021 at 11:16 AM, 30yochinese said:

one day i found a VHS Video Tape & out of curiousity borrowed it, "FLOWER DRUM SONG" by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II.

 

9 hours ago, doncoin said:

Also WSS has race as an issue

I always wondered why Flower Drum Song failed when Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals seemed to have hit on the formula for success. Then they had two flops in a row. The next they decided to base on a novel by a Chinese-American author. But this does not have such good tunes as their two earlier hits. The only one I know is "I Enjoy Being A Girl". Then I realised that the relatively negative reaction was in large part a result of racism. Richard Rodgers was adamant that the mostly Chinese characters be played by Chinese or Chinese-American actors. The problem was that there were very few at that time and they were not known to the majority of audiences. After reasonable runs in New York and London, the film version was pretty much a disaster. Many Asian-Americans found the movie offensive.

 

Perhaps interestingly, public perceptions had changed by the time Cameron Mackintosh was casting his Asian musical Miss Saigon roughly 30 years later. He did not restrict his search for Asian actors to the UK. He mounted what became a worldwide search. The key role of Kim presented the biggest problem. After the first trip around the world, they had failed to find anyone for the role. One of Mackintosh's associates was certain there had to be someone in The Philippines. Whereas the initial auditions there had heard relatively few singers, this executive spent two weeks in Manila, gave interviews to every newspaper, radio and tv station and put flyers around all the pubs and clubs. The end result was that hundreds more came to the next set of auditions there. It was then that Mackintosh discovered Lea Salonga and her understudy Monique Wilson.

Edited by InBangkok
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I often think many of the classic movie musicals are untouchable, (the Rodgers and Hammerstein ones and WSS) in terms of cinematography, costumes, casting, choreography. Even If the plot lines and characterisations are a bit archaic for today’s politically-correct racially-accurate gender-fluid feminist tastes (Getting Juanita Hall to play everything from a Chinese auntie to a Tonkinese woman and of course Yul Brynner as a Siamese king - I love racial fluidity in acting when it isn’t an unkind caricature), I really doubt any modern reworkings of any of them can do even half the justice to the originals. I find most Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals work much better as movies than onstage (but that might again be due to the level of perfection of those movies) Saying that most theatre shows have their merits even if they aren’t immediately entertaining or have hit songs. It’s a bit like reading Proust and expecting the plot to be advanced by action sequences and being disappointed when there are none for six hundred pages. Many musicals take a certain maturity to show their value to one - I started listening to musical CDs when I was about 10 and my favourites and dislikes have changed dramatically over the years. (Jesus Christ Superstar being one of those because of the brilliant psychological portrayals deceptively foregrounded by what may seem to be a conventional biblical story, it took me adulthood to genuinely appreciate) 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I also agree that many movie musicals are virtually untouchable. Naturally movies have vastly larger budgets than stage productions and in the hands of a good visionary director, can certainly withstand the test of time. Time also plays a part in one's enjoyment. We talked here about Company. I really enjoyed it when I attended the performance in London. But after I had purchased the cast album, I learned so much more about the music and quite a bit more about the subtleties of the texts. I wished I could then have seen it again. Sadly I have never been in any city where a revival has taken place.

 

Very occasionally I think an updated stage version of an old musical can be better than the movie version. I can think of three. the first two originating at London's National Theatre and which then went on to Broadway. Nicholas Hyntner's superb 1993 production of Carousel  was quite magical and very moving. Similarly, I was overwhelmed by Richard Eyre's 1982 production of Guys and Dolls even though I saw a revival in 1997. Obviously very different from the movie and it is always difficult to erase memories of the great cast in the movie - Frank Sinatra, Marlon Brando, Stubby Kaye and Jean Simmons. But the fluidity of the direction and an extremely good cast created their own special performance. 

 

Even earlier I saw the 1987 revival of Cole Porter's Anything Goes on Broadway starring Patti Lupone which was totally exhilarating. That production then crossed the Atlantic when Elaine Paige took Lupone's role in London. There had been a 1936 movie version which I have not seen. Sadly, the movie made in 1956 was drastically rewritten and quite a number of the original songs were scrapped. The new ones were written by a totally different pairing. So in this case I felt the stage production was a big improvement on the movie - one of the few!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

20 hours ago, doncoin said:

 

Speaking of Anything Goes, they just reopened the show in London with Sutton Forster. Almost 10 years after she did the show on Broadway. 

I have never seen Sutton Foster on stage and so can only judge her performances from clips like those in the earlier posts. In my view, she has the voice but her acting is somewhat more wooden than both Patti Lupone and Elaine Paige. Have you seen her?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

hi lovely people, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Award_for_Best_Actress_in_a_Musical:

 

have i watched any TONY AWARD WINNER( ACTRESS) live on stage? Only one, Miss Lea Salonga, once in the Philippines & once in Singapore. 

 

how about Tony Award Winner(Actor)?

 

only one, Terence Mann, 2000 in Disney's BATB.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...