Your mom has seriously good taste. I've been trying to find a copy of Fosse on DVD for a while now, but I haven't been too lucky as of yet. But yes, his choreography is spifftacular. I wish I was a better dancer so I could actually do some of it.

Can you Fosse fans pick out the young Mr. Fosse in the movie version of Kiss Me Kate? *grin*

I saw the show Fosse in Sacramento with my friends. It was a wonderful show.

What does everyone here think of Tim Burton doing Sweeny Todd with Jonny Depp as Sweeny? http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0408236/

I'm usually all for getting behind Tim Burton films and I'd love to see a movie version of the musical, however... Can Jonny Depp even sing? I also may have to bring down my expectations because I love the version with Angela Landsbury. I have a VHS copy of the American Playhouse presentation of it.

Also, any of you Andrew Lloyd Weber fans heard the music from Whistle Down the Wind? It was the show he was working on after Sunset Blvd, but I never heard if it made it to Broadway or if it was sctrictly a London production. I've the cast album at the store on occasion but I'm never sure if I want to commit to picking it up.

Oh no...that sounds awful. *winces* Now I'm just going to be afraid of the movie until I can actually see it. Sweeny Todd is the most operatic Sondhiam score I have ever heard and so far the entire cast can't sing. WTF??? Well Helena Bonham Cater can sing, she sang a bit in Corpse Bride but still, it takes a lot of gumption to sing "Worst Pies in London".

Does anyone know what Mr. Sondhiem thinks of all this? Is he at least working with people on the movie. I mean he's a very particualr guy when it comes to the sining of his music.

Ah well...could be worse.... could be worse.

Me too.

Ever see the making of the Original Broadway Cast album for Company? I have it on DVD, actually I have a few nifty Sondheim things on dvd thanks to a wonderful Sondheim box set I bought a few years back. It has Sunday in the Park with George, Into the Woods, Passion, Sweeny Todd In Concert (with Patty Lepone), Sondheim a Musical Celibration at Carnige Hall, and The Making of Follies in Concert.

*sigh*

I love this thread. I never get to geek out about musicals anymore. This is great.

Anyone ever see Pacific Overtures (Sondheim)? I saw a local production of it and it was pretty good. It intrigued me because at the very beginning it doesn't strike as the normal Sondheim fair, and then he slips something recognizable back in there.

What I would love to see is Company. Nearly every song in that show is great.

I would be content to do Ladies Who Lunch, or Another Hundred People. And while an attempt at Getting Married Today would be amusing I'm not sure I have the skill to pull it off correctly or understandably.

I have Putting It Together. It's an interesting show they way all the different songs from various Sondheim Musicals were put together.

I was thinking late last night as I was laying in bed that I know way too much about musicals both stage and movies. Although I'm sure I'm not the only one who can watch White Chirstmas and pic out the actor who plays Bernardo from West Side Story in the "Love You Done Me Wrong" number sung by Rosemary Clooney.

Anyone have any opions about Rogers and Hammerstein musicals? They aren't my favorite I must say. I can never get through Carousel, but then I suppose I may just be lacking in the ability to appreciate the genious of it. My favorite Rogers and Hammerstein musical was actually written for television not stage intiaially and that's Cinderella. My favorite tv version of it being the one in the 60's with Lesley Ann Warren. I appreciate the Julie Andrews, but I just don't by her as Cinderella (a nanny: yes, a nun: okay, a crossdressing performer in Paris: no problem).

I can't remember if anyone mentioned this before, but it's Edward Scissorhands the musical: http://www.edwardscissorhands.co.uk/mk2/index.html It was in San Francisco but I missed it. If it shows up anywhere near any of you and you brave it let me know what you all think.

I suppose I have problems with Mame because I've only ever seen the Lucille Ball version and because I'm terrible attached to the non-musical movie Auntie Mame with Rosalind Russell. Ah well... I do like some of the numbers and Bea Authur is fantastic.

My friend was telling me that I while back there was a Superman musical. He's going to look for the cd he had of it. Apparently there was a POW! Bam! song. I find this horribly intriguing.

I dunno...it's odd what ends up making a really good musical. Some things you would never suspect to be good and they are, and some things you would think would turn out okay are just horrid horrid things.

Emiemipoemi wrote:

Hahaha if you want an odd musical check out Bat Boy: the Musical. My theater won a bunch of regional awards with that one. (I got to play GOSPEL ORGAN! ) It's REALLY funny and the music is quite good. Or Hedwig and the Angry Inch. BEAUTIFUL rock songs in that. Or I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change.

Hedwig really does have beautiful songs. I was super super into it in the eighth grade, I remember I refused to do my homework unless I'd watched Hedwig first. (This went on for months, once a day, every day. Of course, now I can't watch it anymore because I've seen it way too many times. But I still love the songs.)

Emiemipoemi wrote:

R&H I'm only so-so with. I think some of their music is beautiful, especially when it gets late in their career and everything starts to get really chromatic but I'm too much of a Sondheim fan, I guess. I like musicals that are dark, complex, lush, creepy, contemporary, etc etc. So I'm turned off by really really traditional musicals. Like Oklahoma. Or Cats. Actually, I have a serious problem with Webber. But let's not go into that right now.

I've noticed that a lot of people have a problem with Webber and almost EVERYONE seems to be turned off by Cats. I don't get it. Webber doesn't really interest me, but I love Cats. I think it's partially a childhood thing, (I used to watch it when I was seven with whiskers drawn on my face, hoping and praying I'd turn into a cat one day ) but also I really, really, really love T. S. Eliot, so...
Anyway, it is so pretty! I guess it's practically plotless, but I'm into whimsey enough that I hardly care. Regardless, I'm pretty curious about what it is with Cats that a lot of people don't like. A friend of mine called it "musical theatre for people who don't know anything about musical theatre", but I think that was just her being elitist bitch-y?

A friend of mine called it "musical theatre for people who don't know anything about musical theatre", but I think that was just her being elitist bitch-y?

At the risk of seeming elitist () I think the thing that turned me off from Cats is the fact that I don't like Webber in general. When I was young I loved Cats and Phantom of the Opera, and then as I grew older I was like "He's just using the same melodies and chords over and over!" But that is I suppose a personal taste. I know many people who love Cats and I can watch it and enjoy once in a while, but it's not something I'd put on my iPod and listen to again and again. (I save Sunday in the Park With George for that! )

So yeah, I guess that's not a good reason but that's how I feel about Cats. D:

Alithea wrote:

I suppose I have problems with Mame because I've only ever seen the Lucille Ball version and because I'm terrible attached to the non-musical movie Auntie Mame with Rosalind Russell. Ah well... I do like some of the numbers and Bea Authur is fantastic.

I can understand that.  I've only ever seen bits of the non-musical, and the musical was the first thing I ever saw all the way through, so I'm attached to it.  Plus, I *adore* the song "Bosom Buddies" -- not least for the line "I'll always be Alice Toklas if you'll be Gertrude Stein!"

I saw it live in the early 1990s with Juliet Prowse as Mame -- it was a *very* different production from the film.  Lucille Ball (and Angela Lansbury, for that matter) was a song-and-dance gal, but Juliet Prowse was more of a dance-and-dance gal, which made for more choreography.  I'd love to see another revival of it. 

I'd probably even arrange a trip to NYC for that.   (The only time we've done the NYC trip thus far was to see Lily Tomlin in "The Search For Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe".  We get a lot of fun stage stuff in Boston.  We're considering the trip, though, for "Avenue Q".)

Avenue Q was possibly the funniest thing I've ever seen in my life.

I LOVE THE FROGS. It's so odd and wonderful AND it's got Nathan Lane!!

And the world weeps... what the hell?

http://www.shnsf.com/shows/show.asp?key … subkey=513

seriously...what the hell!?

Someone tell the world to stop making musicals out of movies. Seriously, it was cute at first but now it's just getting annoying?

*heavy sigh* Maybe I'll change my mind when I'm at home and can listen to the song demos.

Last edited by Alithea (01-18-2007 05:02:28 PM)

I know it's awful isn't it. I mean...oh it's just depressing.

Did you see the musical episode of Scrubs? It aired tonight and was actually quite amusing. I liked they way they made the spidsode into a musical, although I think the Buffy musical still wins for the best explination of why everyone was singing. AnywayI pretty I sure I saw Karen Ziemba () in the episode as a doctor, but she didn't get any songs or have a dance number...which seems a little wrong to me.

So does anyone have that on role they would give their left foot to play on stage?

I only have a few, which I know probably sounds surprising given how big a theater geek I am.  These are the big four.

The Narrator (Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat): Aside from being the only female character in the show not in the chorus, with something to sing (aside from "Come and Lie with me love") I have um... unresolved issues with the show. When I was in high school I auditioned for this show and I got thrown in the chorus. Now I went to an all girls Catholic High School so we got guys to be in our show from outside, and because we were all girls were it was possible to do so the rest of the songs in the show were given to girls to play. So I could have been one of the brothers but no...chorus. I'm bitter because I had one of those marvelous auditions that come along very rarely. In other words I was perfect. Normally I wouldn't tout my own wonderfulness but everyone I was auditioning with (including the one who got the part) told me I was wonderful so imagine my great disappointment when I was thrown in the chorus and a senior (only because she was a senior) was given the part. To add insult to injury here the musical director lowered range of the Narrator's part because she couldn't hit all the notes. *pouts* So I was stuck singing "banana, banana" instead of everything else. There are moment s in life that are dream killers and as far as singing and performing on stage went, this moment killed my ambition, crushed a dream. I want this role so I can just prove that I can do it.

Pilate (Jesus Christ Super Star): On a similar note as above a church was doing a concert version of Jesus Christ Super Star a few years back and after some persuasion I managed to convince the director to cast me as Pilate. Unfortunately the production was canceled do to a lack in cast. Ah well.... It happens. It's too bad I would have been a great Pilate, in a smart business suit and acting snide (well at first any way).

The Baker's Wife (Into the Woods): I have no idea why no one understands this. A few of my friends are always surprised when I say I'd rather be The Baker's Wife than The Witch, but I love her songs. And because I identify with her reaction to Cinderella's Prince: "This is ridiculous. What am I doing here? I'm in the wrong story." Realistically speaking, though, I know that if I ever auditioned for a production of Into the Woods I'd probably end up cast as Little Red Riding Hood, or Jack's Mother, because directors are like that.

Martha (The Secret Garden): I can't sing high enough to be Lily (I can sing some of it though). I'm right in that weird range were I can't always go too too low, or all the way up to where the soprano is at. If I practice more I can hit more high notes though. When I was freshmen in high school I auditioned for Anything Goes and the song I chose to audition with was Hold On. And I was terrible; thankfully I was good enough to get into the chorus. I was really nervous though, and the grace of the gods the director had also heard me sing in drama class. Sheesh, I say...anyway. She has two great songs in the show and it's an interesting part.