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Post by intoanewlife on Jun 17, 2020 19:10:23 GMT
Can we have a break of all Sondheim revivals for at least a decade Forever would be even better...
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Post by 141920grm on Jun 19, 2020 8:51:03 GMT
Thought someone would've mentioned it already, but I've never heard Alfie Boe *not* sing like he's got something in his mouth, which particularly shows when the tempo is fast and there are a lot of lyrics to get through (e.g. Valjean's Soliloquy).
Ironically, considering his disregard for the opera world, I find his vocals much more agreeable listening to his takes on slower-paced, grandiose operatic arias.
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4,158 posts
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Post by HereForTheatre on Jul 2, 2020 9:33:09 GMT
I really like Waitress but some of the songs are not that easy on the ear, especially in the show itself because some of the most awkward songs are also some of the songs with the most energetic choreography. I'm talking about When he see's me and both of Ogi's songs. Melodically I really don't think they sit well and to make matters worse, the actors are all over the shop dancing about in all those songs and it honestly can be a bit painful, even if the actors can actually sing, which as we know with Waitress, isn't always a given. I do like Sara's music and there are some beautiful songs in Waitress but some of that score feels really awkward to my ears.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 2, 2020 10:14:44 GMT
To all musicals post 2005: It is ok to use more than 4 chords in a song.
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Post by kimu on Jul 25, 2020 14:54:20 GMT
Am I late to the party?
Petula Clark's With One Look was fab. It showed Norma's vulnerability, like there really was a human behind her facade.
Hamilton. Godawful. It felt like the concert version of itself.
Funny Girl. The story is boring, and I doubt any actress could make Fanny Brice come across as interesting.
Cats the movie. Sort of loved it, to be honest. It's just a fun two hours with music and dance.
Victor/Victoria. I want to see a male play the lead. A man playing a woman playing a man playing a woman! It would have more layers than puff pastry. Oh, this is more of an idea than anything else. Someone, please take it and make something out of it!
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450 posts
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Post by pianowithsam on Jul 25, 2020 17:20:40 GMT
To all musicals post 2005: It is ok to use more than 4 chords in a song. Dave Malloy: "Hold my beer"
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Post by westendboy on May 31, 2021 15:22:02 GMT
Late to the party, but oh well;
Hugh Jackman as Valjean seems to get a free pass compared to Russell Crowe as Javert, but Jackman was only a little better than him. He honestly should've been cast as Javert instead and get someone with the singing chops for Valjean.
Disney's film adaptation of 'Into the Woods' is one of the worst stage to screen adaptions EVER! A complete bastardization of Sondheim and Lapine's masterpiece.
I'm gonna get a lot of raised eyebrows here, but 'Love Never Dies' isn't THAT bad. Don't get me wrong, it has a LOT of problems, especially in terms of story, characters and some lyrics. But in terms of music casts who have performed it (specifically the London and Australian casts), there is stuff to like! 'Till I Hear You Sing' for example is wonderful!
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6,231 posts
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Post by danb on May 31, 2021 15:42:32 GMT
{br]I'm gonna get a lot of raised eyebrows here, but 'Love Never Dies' isn't THAT bad. Don't get me wrong, it has a LOT of problems, especially in terms of story, characters and some lyrics. But in terms of music casts who have performed it (specifically the London and Australian casts), there is stuff to like! 'Till I Hear You Sing' for example is wonderful! [/quote]
I concur. There is lots to like and some of the melodies are his very best. I just find Sierra Bogie very screetchy and difficult to enjoy. She could have bitten the dust five minutes in for me.
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4,799 posts
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Post by The Matthew on May 31, 2021 15:46:21 GMT
I'm gonna get a lot of raised eyebrows here, but 'Love Never Dies' isn't THAT bad. Don't get me wrong, it has a LOT of problems, especially in terms of story, characters and some lyrics. I agree. There's the obvious problem that an insane murderer is treated as the most eligible of bachelors by every young woman who meets him, but apart from that it's an OK show with some great musical numbers.
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5,208 posts
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Post by mrbarnaby on May 31, 2021 16:00:26 GMT
Alfie Boe cannot act his way out of a paper bag
Hamilton isn’t actually that good. Act 1 is brilliant, Act 2 is a snooze fest. And then it just ends.
Sheridan Smith is mediocre and shouldn’t have been cast in Funny Girl.
The recent Company was a mess but everyone was too scared to criticise it because of the gender swap.
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18,700 posts
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Post by BurlyBeaR on May 31, 2021 17:01:03 GMT
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Post by inthenose on May 31, 2021 17:03:24 GMT
Alfie Boe cannot act his way out of a paper bag Hamilton isn’t actually that good. Act 1 is brilliant, Act 2 is a snooze fest. And then it just ends. Sheridan Smith is mediocre and shouldn’t have been cast in Funny Girl. The recent Company was a mess but everyone was too scared to criticise it because of the gender swap. Mr B, you're a bit of a stalwart of this place and you get an enormous amount of respect and leeway. So I ask with caution and respect - as there may be things everyone else here knows and I don't - which give you more credibility. I'm curious about what you *do* like? Mods, this isn't an attack, just responding to points made. Previously I've asked for a little more background about why you feel the way you feel, specifically referring to Zeta-Jones as a "disaster" in A Little Night Music on Broadway. Assuming you saw the production, naturally, I asked you why it was a disaster. Sadly, I didn't receive a reply on that. I am not a huge fan of Hamilton, for example, but clearly people do think it's "that good". I assume you didn't like it much, for reasons I'm sure you've stated elsewhere. Which is fine. I don't go looking for and posting in the Hamilton thread.
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18,700 posts
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Post by BurlyBeaR on May 31, 2021 17:03:24 GMT
Victor/Victoria. I want to see a male play the lead. A man playing a woman playing a man playing a woman! It would have more layers than puff pastry. Oh, this is more of an idea than anything else. Someone, please take it and make something out of it! Been saying this for ages.
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18,700 posts
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Post by BurlyBeaR on May 31, 2021 17:07:34 GMT
Alfie Boe cannot act his way out of a paper bag Hamilton isn’t actually that good. Act 1 is brilliant, Act 2 is a snooze fest. And then it just ends. Sheridan Smith is mediocre and shouldn’t have been cast in Funny Girl. The recent Company was a mess but everyone was too scared to criticise it because of the gender swap. Mr B, you're a bit of a stalwart of this place and you get an enormous amount of respect and leeway. No leeway is given from the moderators, same rules apply to everyone - to people inside the industry or otherwise. If people think rules have been broken, don’t engage with it, report it.
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Post by inthenose on May 31, 2021 17:11:07 GMT
Mr B, you're a bit of a stalwart of this place and you get an enormous amount of respect and leeway. No leeway is given from the moderators, same rules apply to everyone - to people inside the industry or otherwise. If people think rules have been broken, report it. No no Burly, sorry my fault. I wasn't clear. I meant leeway in terms of strength of opinions of taste. Like statements of "XYZ is bad/good" without being asked appropriately as to why he feels that way. He has broken no rules and is an interesting member of our community to read and respond to.
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3,920 posts
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Post by Dawnstar on May 31, 2021 17:23:06 GMT
I'm gonna get a lot of raised eyebrows here, but 'Love Never Dies' isn't THAT bad. Don't get me wrong, it has a LOT of problems, especially in terms of story, characters and some lyrics. I agree. There's the obvious problem that an insane murderer is treated as the most eligible of bachelors by every young woman who meets him, but apart from that it's an OK show with some great musical numbers. It absolutely baffles me that we are supposed to find it plausible that a young woman engaged to a rich, handsome Viscount who she had known since childhood suddenly decides just before her wedding to go & have sex with a psychopathic, deformed, multiple murderer & stalker! I remember the one time I saw the show live sitting there simultaneously hating the plot & what had been done to the characters while getting goosebumps from some of the music. If only the lovely music had been used for a better plot.
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4,567 posts
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Post by Someone in a tree on May 31, 2021 18:35:24 GMT
While on Love never dies, that cringe moment at the start when the boy talks about how he can't swim. Oh I wonder how that one will pan(dle) out?
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2,786 posts
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Post by couldileaveyou on May 31, 2021 18:40:05 GMT
I agree. There's the obvious problem that an insane murderer is treated as the most eligible of bachelors by every young woman who meets him, but apart from that it's an OK show with some great musical numbers. It absolutely baffles me that we are supposed to find it plausible that a young woman engaged to a rich, handsome Viscount who she had known since childhood suddenly decides just before her wedding to go & have sex with a psychopathic, deformed, multiple murderer & stalker! I remember the one time I saw the show live sitting there simultaneously hating the plot & what had been done to the characters while getting goosebumps from some of the music. If only the lovely music had been used for a better plot. Poor Piangi was still warm and yet she chose to ride the Phantom's gondola smh
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Post by inthenose on May 31, 2021 19:09:37 GMT
It absolutely baffles me that we are supposed to find it plausible that a young woman engaged to a rich, handsome Viscount who she had known since childhood suddenly decides just before her wedding to go & have sex with a psychopathic, deformed, multiple murderer & stalker! I remember the one time I saw the show live sitting there simultaneously hating the plot & what had been done to the characters while getting goosebumps from some of the music. If only the lovely music had been used for a better plot. Poor Piangi was still warm and yet she chose to ride the Phantom's gondola smh Lots of people admire the Phantom's gondola and want a ride!
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418 posts
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Post by carmella1 on May 31, 2021 19:14:41 GMT
I always found the premise of Paint Never Dries as stupid. As you said above.
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18,700 posts
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Post by BurlyBeaR on May 31, 2021 20:16:16 GMT
I enjoyed my experience of LND (the Australian DVD). Sorry to be so backward!
We could spend hours, nay, days picking apart the implausible plot points of many musicals. I find the vitriol directed at this show puzzling.
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Post by inthenose on May 31, 2021 21:42:44 GMT
I enjoyed my experience of LND (the Australian DVD). Sorry to be so backward! We could spend hours, nay, days picking apart the implausible plot points of many musicals. I find the vitriol directed at this show puzzling. As one of those purists I hated it, natch 🤣
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5,208 posts
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Post by mrbarnaby on May 31, 2021 22:11:37 GMT
Alfie Boe cannot act his way out of a paper bag Hamilton isn’t actually that good. Act 1 is brilliant, Act 2 is a snooze fest. And then it just ends. Sheridan Smith is mediocre and shouldn’t have been cast in Funny Girl. The recent Company was a mess but everyone was too scared to criticise it because of the gender swap. Mr B, you're a bit of a stalwart of this place and you get an enormous amount of respect and leeway. So I ask with caution and respect - as there may be things everyone else here knows and I don't - which give you more credibility. I'm curious about what you *do* like? Mods, this isn't an attack, just responding to points made. Previously I've asked for a little more background about why you feel the way you feel, specifically referring to Zeta-Jones as a "disaster" in A Little Night Music on Broadway. Assuming you saw the production, naturally, I asked you why it was a disaster. Sadly, I didn't receive a reply on that. I am not a huge fan of Hamilton, for example, but clearly people do think it's "that good". I assume you didn't like it much, for reasons I'm sure you've stated elsewhere. Which is fine. I don't go looking for and posting in the Hamilton thread. I’m baffled by this response. I don’t think I’ve said anything outrageous here? I didn’t like Catherine Zeta Jones in that show as I felt she acted it very crassly, with none of the subtlety that Judi Dench brought to it. Just watch her Tony performance to see how she ruined Send in the Clowns. I don’t hate Hamilton at all, but I don’t think it’s the second coming that everyone says it is. Also I say Alfie Boe can’t act... because he CANNOT ACT. Not sure what else I can say there.
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Post by FairyGodmother on Jun 1, 2021 1:03:38 GMT
Some of you have missed the point of Six. The songs are take offs of pop singers (Anne Boleyn = Avril Levigne, Jane Seymour = Adele etc) who were popular in the 2000s and there's very little staging because it wasn't written as a West End musical. It was a clever student musical theatre society show, designed for a venue where the stage might be needed by somebody else straight after you've finished, and a blackout might be achieved by somebody flicking the light switch off... (Whether it should have become a West End musical is a different argument.)
Gilbert and Sullivan is more lyrically clever than Hamilton, and LMM was out of his depth singing-wise in the filmed version (he wasn't bad, but everyone else was better!).
There was no need for a new song for Ellen in Miss Saigon.
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1,439 posts
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Post by steve10086 on Jun 1, 2021 4:40:50 GMT
If you write a musical about a “misfit” it will be popular despite having crap songs:
Billy Elliot Everybody’s Talking About Jamie Kinky Boots etc
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6,231 posts
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Post by danb on Jun 1, 2021 4:53:31 GMT
THERE WAS NO NEED FOR A NEW SONG FOR ELLEN IN ‘MISS SAIGON’!
‘Her or Me’ was one of the stand out moments so quite why they felt the need to scrap it and replace it with the inferior ‘Maybe’ is beyond me.
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353 posts
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Post by thebroadwayboy on Jun 1, 2021 5:47:25 GMT
I loved Hamilton Fun Home was better than Hamilton Aladdin deserved an Olivier nod for best musical #sorrynotsorry Can we stop pretending Australian Theatre is any good Lucy Durack is the worst actress ever Michael Mayer is one of the best directors ever I refused to watch Kinky Boots when it won the Tony Mary Poppins was actually a good musical Wicked is sh*t
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353 posts
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Post by thebroadwayboy on Jun 1, 2021 5:49:17 GMT
Hugh Jackman was actually good in Les Mis
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4,799 posts
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Post by The Matthew on Jun 1, 2021 6:08:34 GMT
I enjoyed my experience of LND (the Australian DVD). Sorry to be so backward! We could spend hours, nay, days picking apart the implausible plot points of many musicals. I find the vitriol directed at this show puzzling. I think a lot of the vitriol was created by overly enthusiastic fans whose complaints came down to "I wanted the story to continue but only if it matched the fan fic I wrote".
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