Okay, tell the truth...who likes musicals?

[Byrdman]

Originally posted by Steve LeBlanc:

Yep...I love musicals...you guys have named a lot of my favorites...

 

Jesus Christ Superstar

West Side Story

Showboat

That's Entertainment

Ziggy Stardust

Tommy

Little Shop of Horrors

Godspell

The King and I, etc. etc. etc.

Hey, what about G&S?

 

Who could not like songs with words like:

 

(sung to a tune reminiscent of Rule Britannia)

 

In spite of all temptations

to belong to other nations

He remains a hinglishman

 

or:

 

Taken from a county gaol

by a set of curious chances

tum-te-tum-te-tum-te-tum

on my own re-cog-ny-zances

 

(Or the way a court of Japanese Gentlemen suddenly break into a sea shanty in the middle of another song)

 

(Or the poor excuse (in song) for getting the ladies chorus on stage in HMS Pinafore)

 

Its hilarious.

 

And its not just Gilbert who gets to make jokes. I love the song that goes:

 

(Policemen: sneaking around)

"With cat like tred" (Whack! (fffz chord from orchestra))

[Steve LeBlanc]

Yeah, I'm not a fan really, I haven't seen too many but every Gilbert and Sullivan musical I have seen or read had me laughing my ass off

[eric]

Musicals are awesome. I attribute my jump into playing rock keyboards and getting into the band scene to early experiences in high school musicals.

 

In tenth grade (c. 1984) I was a pretty geeky pianist and the coolest thing I could do was play Take Five or Linus and Lucy. Other than that, I did all classical. Then I happened to see a signup list for Godspell and decided to check it out. I ended up playing Fender Rhodes and Hammond organ for Godspell and life was never the same again. That musical jumpstarted me into being a "band guy" and this was a time when keyboard players were pretty rare.

 

Shortly thereafter, I got a Roland Juno 106 and JX8P and became somewhat of a fixture amongst all subsequent musicals (Pippin, Grease, Little Shop, Big River, others) and various garage bands. No longer was I the geeky classical guy.

 

If it had not been for the Godspell experience, I may have dropped out of the music scene altoghether.

 

Regards,

Eric

[tenthplanet]

I, for the most part don't like the broadway style ones, but not for the reason you might think. I don't like them as theater. The ones that are any good are the ones that stand up musically alone. Just a collection of songs won't work; it has to stand up as a total musical piece. A lot of contempoary stuff flunks. Where as most Gilbert & Sullivan doesn't.

There are exceptions of course. There is West Side Story which stands up as a total work, The King and I, Fiddler On The Roof.

And there is the dreck...A Chorus Line, Company, and dare I say it"Rent." I think what makes the difference is the music, all of the music.

 

Michael

[Gulliver]

Jesus (Superstar), I feel so lonely... I don't like musicals at all!

[sudeep]

how bizarre i was just thinking about posting this samw topic last week...and look how many responses there are!!!

 

meeee too...i lurve musicals...god i even love sound of music...though i can never listen to Favourite things anymore after hearing Coltranes version (especially mccoy tyners piano).

 

RENT is one of my favs. Les Miz of course is up there...heck I even liked Cats!!!

 

Chorus Line rocks (or should i say Jazz's)...

 

anyone seen Urinetown? apparently its causing a big buzz around b'way.

[sudeep]

Originally posted by joegerardi:

I do, I do.

 

Sweeney Todd is probably my favorite. Then almost any Sondheim with strong leanings towards "Night Music," "Company," and "Pacific Overtures."

My Fair Lady, but that could just be because I'm still in love with Audrey Hepburn...

The Music Man.

1776. I love the fact that the dialogue is taken from the actual letters of the characters.

Shenandoah was a great musical. John Cullum was fabulous.

 

And I abhor Superstar. Probably because after 200 performances playing keyboards in it, God knows how many rehearals, and a gazillion women auditioning for it with "I Don't Know How To Love Him," if I never hear another note from that show it will be too soon.

could someone PLEASE explain to me why Sondheim is regarded as such a genius? Ive seen Sweeny Todd and heard the music from A little night music and it just hasnt grabbed me. Am i listening to wrong stuff?

 

and what was it like playing in a musical ?were you on broadway? Man that would be such an experience!

[Magpel]

Mr. pencil, I'm respectfully with you on Sondheim, and esp. with you on Weber (I don't think much more of Rice either), but I must insist that the OLD disney films, say up through the end of the Wolfgang Reitherman era(Robin Hood, Jungle Book), were pretty fine musicals in every respect. "The complete marketing and merchandising solution" has always been in effect, but there was something about the beauty of Snow White's hand drawn animation that extends to the music and the overall vibe. Roger Miller's charming little ditties for Robin hood might have been thevery end of that tradition. And the Shermans were good writers.

 

Believe me, it took me a lot to suspend my general distate for the Disney machine and admit that I like this stuff, esp. with some pinko friends on hand ready to make me pay (have a kid, lose your soul)! But, there were some really great facist poets and misanthropist artists too. In this case, I think the vision was greater than the visionary.

 

Originally posted by graypencil:

Like:

 

Most of Sondheim.. I.e.: Sweeney Todd, A little Night Music, Company, Sunday in the etc. , Passion ..

 

also like Cy Colemans music, but not necessarily all the shows ..

 

..and" Rent " ..

 

I absolutely ABHOR everything by A.L. Webber ..all of it! every single trite over blown note he's ever written!

 

and the Disney stuff aren't musicals .. they're product.

 

[Magpel]

BTW, all of my friends, even the pinkos, love kids, and all have noted definite improvements in my soul since I had one.

[Llarion]

It seems easy to disregard some of the recent Disney fare; lumping it into the "product" bin. That is perhaps true in certain cases (Pocahontas leaps to mind, as do all the direct-to-video clunkers), but most of the major feature animation releases since The Little Mermaid have had several gems. Now I'll grant that most of them aren't great end-to-end like the Reithmann era stuff, but it's hard to just dismiss the entire modern genre simply because it's marketed well. Examples include "God Help The Outcasts" from Hunchback, most of The Lion King, all of Toy Story (though none are production numbers in the traditional sense), "When She Loved Me" from TS2, "Gaston" and the title track from Beauty & the Beast, "Never Had A Friend Like Me" from Aladdin...

 

There's a lot of goodness there, dontcha think?

[Magpel]

Yer preaching to the converted here, Phil...

 

Actually, you and I have come across a personal Disney rift in the past--you prefer the newer stuff, I warm to the older, and we both cross the line frequently enough. "When She Loves Me" is one of my favorites, but I'm rather a Randy newman fanatic to begin with.

[marino]

I had written a long response to this great thread, but guess what... The software didn't let me post it. It said "Sorry, we're doing maintenance right now... Push your back button."

 

Anyway, here's the short version: In my twenties, I used to earn my living by playing piano in theatre shows, and a few of them were musicals. That's how it all started! A great school.

I even wrote a couple: Rather small, avant-garde productions. BTW they were performed in Europe, Canada and South America (no USA, sorry).

 

First time I went to New York, I went straight to watch A Chorus Line and Little Shop of Horrors. I bought the albums for all the ones I wasn't able to see in person.

 

Favorite musicals:

 

West Side Story - fantastic

An American in Paris

Phantom of the Opera

The Rocky Horror Show

Tommy

Little Shop of Horrors

and many others - I even liked "Starlight Express!" but "Cats" didn't get my attention, and I slept for the whole second part of "Evita" (really!). I also can't stand "My Fair Lady", with its sugary sentimentalism - okay, most musicals have it, but too much is too much!

 

There's an old Vincent Minnelli movie called "The Bandwagon", starring a rather aging Fred Astaire, that is really something IMO.

And recently I watched Jesus Christ Superstar (the movie) again after a long time, and I found it great in every respect. There's currently a production of it that's touring Italy, with Carl Anderson himself playing Judas. In fact, there has been some kind of musicals craze in my country in the past 15 years or so.

 

Carlo

[Magpel]

March of the Falsettos has some very interesting songs in it.

[henryrobinett]

Add me. I love musicals, although I haven't seen one in a while. Camelot, Mame, Into The Woods, West Side Story. I never made the transition to the rock'n roll musicals like Super Star or the Wiz. Or the other modern ones like "Rent", "Cats" or "The Phantom of the Opera". Just don't get around much any more. Got you kids so I gotta do it.

 

I was fortunate to play in some high school, post high school productions, as well as local productions of musicals early on. What a great experience! You know "Bye, Bye Birdie", "Flower Drum Song", "The Mikado", and some other thing I can't recall. A lot of fun.

[Llarion]

Originally posted by Magpel:

Yer preaching to the converted here, Phil...

 

Actually, you and I have come across a personal Disney rift in the past--you prefer the newer stuff, I warm to the older, and we both cross the line frequently enough. "When She Loves Me" is one of my favorites, but I'm rather a Randy newman fanatic to begin with.

Oh, I'm plenty warm on the older stuff too, I guess I get so excited about the new because I'm so glad in general about the resurgence of the genre. Long live Disney, Pixar, Dreamworks, and Fox animation studios!!!

[fantasticsound]

Hello, to those who don't know me, I'm a guitar player and sound engineer. I comp a bit on keys, but I'm no piano player. I've spent a year posting on other MP forums, but this is the first time I've ventured into the keyboard corner.

 

I love musicals. Like many of you, I grew up with them. This was courtesy of my mother. She and my grandmother both play piano and sing. Even if I didn't watch a musical in a while, I was sure to hear songs from musicals at the piano.

 

In addition, I performed in Children's Theater and community theater when I was younger. I have wonderful memories of doing the shows, Hans Christian Anderson and Tom Sawyer.

 

Most of my fav's have been mentioned, but, here they are anyway, in no particular order;

 

• Sound of Music
  
• The Music Man
  
• The Jungle Book (The Disney animated film)
  
• Tommy (I saw the final performance of the 1st national tour. It was amazing, and the cast was in tears during the final songs.)
  
• The Blues Brothers
  
• Peter Pan
  
• The Wizard of Oz
  
• Chitty Chitty, Bang Bang
  
• Mary Poppins
  
• Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory
  
• and.. The Nightmare Before Christmas
  

My daughter was entranced with Sound of Music and Nightmare Before Christmas since she was 1 year old. At 3, she sings lots of songs from musicals.

Danny Elfman was brilliant in Nightmare. The music and lyrics are perfect to accompany Tim Burton's animated visuals. Elfman has an incredible sense of both consanance and cacaphony incorporated into his best compositions. Listen for What's This, Jack's Lament, and This Is Halloween. (I couldn't seem to find the soundtrack, so I copied the entire movie sound into my computer, edited start points, and burned a CD for a gift to my wife. The entire movie fits, barely, on one 80 min. CD. We listen to the entire movie in the car, rather frequently.)

 

The Bare Neccesities, I Wanna Be Like You and That's What Friends Are For from Jungle Book are standouts in a show chock full of excellent songs.

 

I guess this explains part of why I'm so sappy!

[soapbox]

(Off-topic...)

 

Neil, was it my link that brought you here?

 

Either way, welcome to The Keyboard Corner, and thanks for stopping by!

 

(BTW, that's the first time I've seen anyone use the "list feature." Very cool!)

[alphajerk]

South Park is about the only musical [oh wait, Nightmare Before Christmas... in acid] that i voluntarily watch more than once and enjoy.

 

i have seen about every musical mentioned as part of my "cultural" upbringing. i just dont get into them. i can see why people do however... some are interesting. phantom i enjoyed more for the stage special fx rather than it being any sort of story or for the music. just not my bag for the most part... i would rather be doing something else than sitting through a couple hour show stuck in your seat.

[fantasticsound]

Originally posted by soapbox:

(Off-topic...)

 

Neil, was it my link that brought you here?

 

Either way, welcome to The Keyboard Corner, and thanks for stopping by!

 

(BTW, that's the first time I've seen anyone use the "list feature." Very cool!)

Actually, I hadn't seen the link, Soapbox! I hate to admit it, but Craig's, GM's, and the Guitar forum have been kinda ho-hum this past week. I was lookin' for something new.. and I found it. Great Thread.

 

As for the list feature, I've been meaning to email Rob Kudyba. I'm not sure why it's putting the first line in normal font, then bolding everthing else. Oh well.

 

Thanks for the welcome!

[sudeep]

thanks joegerardi...that was interesting reading...i have the soundtrack for sweeny todd...i think i might listen to it again looking for the bits you mentioned.

 

I guess i must be a little bit uncool (or unmusical) but i really like ALW (except for the fact that he loves the key of Dflat)...

 

living on the other side of world in Sydney where we are lucky to have 2 musicals running at any time...to me Broadway just seems SOOOO GLAMOROUS!!!!WHen i came there...to walk up and down broadway and to look to your left and right and see so many theatres and so many shows...and feel the buzz in the air...it was quite a high!!!