musicals, musicals, and more musicals!
Jul. 24th, 2008 07:20 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
newmoonstarStill on my musical theater kick, I've been reading the books and lyrics for several musicals. I now really wish the library had the original cast recording for Baker Street because I read it and it was so cute, and the Sherlock Holmes freak in me is really curious to hear Holmes and Watson and Moriarty singing! I'll probably have to hunt it down at a store somewhere.
Also read On A Clear Day You Can See Forever and my suspicion was right, the original Broadway production was SO much better than the movie, which they changed a lot. They ruined everything that made the original so charming. But I suppose once they'd cast Barbra Streisand and Yves Montand the damage was already done! I cringe when I hear Montand destroy "Melinda", he makes a gorgeous love song sound like a bad cabaret act. I'd dearly love it if they'd make another movie version of On A Clear Day that stuck to the original, but I can't imagine where they'd ever find actor/singers as good as Barbara Harris and John Cullum were. ♥
Also watched a DVD of Sunday in the Park With George, which was good. This is probably my favorite of Sondheim's musicals, though I've never been a big fan of his; I tend to find his stuff a bit on the cold and cerebral side. I truly admire it, but I never quite get all the way to loving it.
Listening to the original Broadway cast recording of Brigadoon, I'm now utterly disillusioned; Andrew Lloyd Webber totally ripped off the melody for "Music of the Night" from "Come to Me, Bend to Me". The most beautiful melody he ever wrote was actually written by Frederick Loewe! My eternal love for PotO is now cruelly tarnished. At least, in consolation, "Music of the Night" is still the prettier song, I think.
Anyway, I have a new item to add to my life's to-do list: write the book and lyrics for a musical. I don't know why it never occurred to me before. Somebody has to write these things, and I'm a writer, and I love musical theater with every fiber of my being, so why not? Granted, I don't currently know any composers, nor am I involved with theater people in any way, but who knows what may happen in the future? There are a couple of stories I've wanted to tell for a while, but felt I couldn't do justice to as novels; maybe a musical would be the way to go. That's a fun possibility for the future. :)
Also read On A Clear Day You Can See Forever and my suspicion was right, the original Broadway production was SO much better than the movie, which they changed a lot. They ruined everything that made the original so charming. But I suppose once they'd cast Barbra Streisand and Yves Montand the damage was already done! I cringe when I hear Montand destroy "Melinda", he makes a gorgeous love song sound like a bad cabaret act. I'd dearly love it if they'd make another movie version of On A Clear Day that stuck to the original, but I can't imagine where they'd ever find actor/singers as good as Barbara Harris and John Cullum were. ♥
Also watched a DVD of Sunday in the Park With George, which was good. This is probably my favorite of Sondheim's musicals, though I've never been a big fan of his; I tend to find his stuff a bit on the cold and cerebral side. I truly admire it, but I never quite get all the way to loving it.
Listening to the original Broadway cast recording of Brigadoon, I'm now utterly disillusioned; Andrew Lloyd Webber totally ripped off the melody for "Music of the Night" from "Come to Me, Bend to Me". The most beautiful melody he ever wrote was actually written by Frederick Loewe! My eternal love for PotO is now cruelly tarnished. At least, in consolation, "Music of the Night" is still the prettier song, I think.
Anyway, I have a new item to add to my life's to-do list: write the book and lyrics for a musical. I don't know why it never occurred to me before. Somebody has to write these things, and I'm a writer, and I love musical theater with every fiber of my being, so why not? Granted, I don't currently know any composers, nor am I involved with theater people in any way, but who knows what may happen in the future? There are a couple of stories I've wanted to tell for a while, but felt I couldn't do justice to as novels; maybe a musical would be the way to go. That's a fun possibility for the future. :)
