dementia13 Posted October 26, 2003 Share Posted October 26, 2003 I thought a musical based on the works of H.P.Lovecraft was the dumbest/craziest thing I'd seen, until I saw this. And, no, if I said what it is, you wouldn't believe me. You just have to look for yourselves. All I can say is, why? Why? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marino Posted October 26, 2003 Share Posted October 26, 2003 Ulp. I thought the recent musical about Mother Teresa was the ultimate in bad taste... I love Lovecraft's writings, but maybe some kind of abstract electronic music would fit better than a musical as a language for his works. Anyway, my favorite Lovecraft story is 'The Dunwich Horror'. There's also a very short story with a musical subject: 'The Music of Erich Zann'. About the Silence of the Lambs, I can only echo your words... Why? And look at those song titles! I didn't take the time to listen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shniggens Posted October 26, 2003 Share Posted October 26, 2003 Track 2 sounds sooooo romantic. If they perform it live, I would stay away from the Hors D' Ouvers at intermission. Amateur Hack Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dementia13 Posted October 26, 2003 Author Share Posted October 26, 2003 I read "Dunwich Horror" as a kid, and I probably shouldn't have. That story terrified me. "The Lurking Fear" is pretty good, too, as are many others. But what's at least funny about the musical, if you listen to some of the clips they have up on the site, it's all set to tunes from "Fiddler on the Roof". The "Silence" thing is all original. I played my wife the "Put the Lotion in the Basket" song and made her scream. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Zeger Posted October 26, 2003 Share Posted October 26, 2003 Isn't "Springtime for Hitler" the worst idea ever for musical? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marino Posted October 26, 2003 Share Posted October 26, 2003 Originally posted by dementia13: I read "Dunwich Horror" as a kid, and I probably shouldn't have. That story terrified me. "The Lurking Fear" is pretty good, too, as are many others. Try "The Call of Cthulhu" or "The Colour Out of Space" for a really horrifying experience! But what's at least funny about the musical, if you listen to some of the clips they have up on the site, it's all set to tunes from "Fiddler on the Roof". Now, THAT's even stranger. "Fiddler on the Roof" and Lovecraft..? I don't know if I want to know. The "Silence" thing is all original. I played my wife the "Put the Lotion in the Basket" song and made her scream. Ok, I definitely *don't* want to hear that one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dementia13 Posted October 26, 2003 Author Share Posted October 26, 2003 "The Colour out of Space", that's another great one. They've tried filming these and can't do them any justice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Byrdman Posted October 26, 2003 Share Posted October 26, 2003 Originally posted by dementia13: I thought a musical based on the works of H.P.Lovecraft was the dumbest/craziest thing I'd seen, until I saw this. And, no, if I said what it is, you wouldn't believe me. You just have to look for yourselves. All I can say is, why? Why?Nah. Dumbest plot for an opera has to be that from Il Trovatore. Its Verde so the music is fine (think Anvil Chorus for popular hits from) but the plot is really stupid and there is absolutely no character development to carry it through. BTW, this is the Opera the Marx Brothers sliced and diced in Night at the Opera. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ELP71 Posted October 26, 2003 Share Posted October 26, 2003 The "Silence of the Lambs" thing is clear satire. Here's a tip...listen to it because it's absolutely hilarious. Weasels ripped my flesh. Rzzzzzzz. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobT Posted October 26, 2003 Share Posted October 26, 2003 Satire is one thing. But I think this may be the dumbest idea Silliest Idea for a musical yet... RobT Famous Musical Quotes: "I would rather play Chiquita Banana and have my swimming pool than play Bach and starve" - Xavier Cugat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marino Posted October 26, 2003 Share Posted October 26, 2003 Hey, Starlight Express is a classic! It has some good music. About Il Trovatore, it's not musical, rather legit opera... I'm not an opera fan myself, but here in Italy you have people discussing the slightest details of new representations... There's a whole tradition dating more than a century ago. The music itself is strong, but as you said, the plot is not... Among Verdi's operas, check "Falstaff" - it's really something else. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephen Fortner Posted October 27, 2003 Share Posted October 27, 2003 Well, I have to confess I hung out with the game geeks and sci-fi fans in high school, and once some friends and I actually penned some lyrics inspried by Lovecraft, although the idea was Weird Al-type parody songs, to wit... "Just take that Necronomicon off the shelf I sit and read it all by myself Today's black magic's really kind of a bore I like that old time arcane lore." There were more, but all I can remember is that we also had a "Cthulhu" song to the tune of "Sussudio." Really getting into my geekanerd roots now, but if anyone remembers the underground comic "Those Annoying Post Bros" by Matt Howarth, one of the characters was a guitar player named Savage Henry, who was in a band with Cthulhu. Stephen Fortner Principal, Fortner Media Former Editor in Chief, Keyboard Magazine Digital Piano Consultant, Piano Buyer Magazine Industry affiliations: Antares, Arturia, Giles Communications, MS Media, Polyverse Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Byrdman Posted October 27, 2003 Share Posted October 27, 2003 Originally posted by marino: Hey, Starlight Express is a classic! It has some good music. About Il Trovatore, it's not musical, rather legit opera... "legit opera". Now there's a damning expression. Its all musical theatre of one form or another and we shouldn't balkanize it. I think a lot of people think only of the music and foprget about the theatre, but the composers in general did not - Verdi, for example, was very concerned with the theatricality of his work. He was very much a man of the theatre. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marino Posted October 28, 2003 Share Posted October 28, 2003 Originally posted by Byrdman: Originally posted by marino: Hey, Starlight Express is a classic! It has some good music. About Il Trovatore, it's not musical, rather legit opera... "legit opera". Now there's a damning expression. Its all musical theatre of one form or another and we shouldn't balkanize it. I think a lot of people think only of the music and foprget about the theatre, but the composers in general did not - Verdi, for example, was very concerned with the theatricality of his work. He was very much a man of the theatre.'Balkanize?!' Um, let's keep it cool, please... I had no intention to state a superiority of opera over musical, or anything else. 'Legit' was an half tongue-in-cheek term to state a distinction of genre, not quality (I think it's a widely used term!). That said, opera is usually more of an organic composition than a musical, where you usually find a collections of songs, and much less instrumental music. But of course, you find horrible, very bad-taste opera (I can't stand most Massenet, for example) and very noble, deep musical ("Jesus Christ Superstar" is one IMO). I repeat, I'm NOT a fan of the opera. I was exposed to a few in my early days here in Italy, and my latest composition teacher made me analyze and appreciate some Verdi, who I used to hate. I absolutely love Mozart's musical theatre - here's someone who could concile an absolute sense of the stage show with profound and complex music, and integrating the two perfectly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Entropiastrife Posted October 28, 2003 Share Posted October 28, 2003 wow that sounds really cool! http://www.myspace.com/jaredsloan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Byrdman Posted October 28, 2003 Share Posted October 28, 2003 Originally posted by Dr.FleshLust: wow that sounds really cool!Mozart's operas are really cool. Mind you in the silliness stakes the plot to "Cosi Fan Tutti" (sp?) places highly. But its intentional nonsense. There's two wonderful theatrical parts in it - the "villain" whose name I cannot think of (Don something) and the maid servant, who basically gets to assume various disguises and steal the show from the romantic leads. I have to say I am an opera fan (for the most part), but I like a variety of opera from Mozart through G&S and on to the Orlando Gough and Carol Churchill's opera "Lives of the Great Poisoners", not just the traditional ones. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dementia13 Posted October 29, 2003 Author Share Posted October 29, 2003 What's silly about this to me is not the plot, but the very concept of casting these tales of terror as musicals. I'm talking about musical theater, which is a very different tradition than opera, and tends toward frivolous lightheartedness. What's heavier than "Silence of the Lambs", or the otherworldly terror of Lovecraft? These aren't "Sweeney Todd", they're subjects better suited to Black Sabbath and Metallica. Satire is one thing, but even as a joke, doing these as musicals is closer to missing the boat completely. You could fit "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" in that shoe more easily. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marino Posted October 29, 2003 Share Posted October 29, 2003 Originally posted by Byrdman: Mozart's operas are really cool. Mind you in the silliness stakes the plot to "Cosi Fan Tutti" (sp?) places highly. But its intentional nonsense. You couldn't choose a better example. I think "Così fan tutte" (also "The School of Lovers") has one of the most perfect integrations of music and plot. If you just tell the story to someone, it sounds impossibily silly; but with the music, it makes a lot of sense. There are no real characters; the whole thing express the triumph of dissimulation, and the music has the right sarcasm and 'distance'. There's two wonderful theatrical parts in it - the "villain" whose name I cannot think of (Don something) and the maid servant, who basically gets to assume various disguises and steal the show from the romantic leads. That's Don Alfonso - a kind of symbolic figure, rather than simply a partecipant in the story. He moves the wires for all the others! I have to say I am an opera fan (for the most part), but I like a variety of opera from Mozart through G&S and on to the Orlando Gough and Carol Churchill's opera "Lives of the Great Poisoners", not just the traditional ones. My favorite Mozart operas are still "Don Giovanni" and "The Magic Flute", but there are such masterpieces in modern musical theatre... I see Britten, Strawinsky, Hindemith, Bartok, Berg as wonderful experimenters of an art of complex music and meaningful theatre, which got a bit lost after WW2, in favor of more entertainment or simplification. That's only my opinion of course. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SolipsismX Posted October 29, 2003 Share Posted October 29, 2003 Phew, I thought you were going to tell us they made Rent 2. The funniest idea I've heard for a musical (which was an april fools joke on a david lynch news site I go to) was Eraserhead: the musical motion picture by Baz La-whatever. The best song title was "Don't Go Erasering My Head." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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