Haines His Way

Congratulations to all the new deities!

I'm back from my meeting. Did not vomit on anyone or even on the floor.
DR Ben - I wasn't interviewing for the job - I have the job. I was just feeling nauseated.  I'm fine now.

Shakalaka, maities!
Pirate Panni

I saw Wind and The Lion also in the theatre and thought it one of the most stirring things I had seen in a long time.  It came at a time when there was a dearth of smart  period adventure films being made.  But, man, that score!  Oddly enough, after a long drought of adventure movies, besides Wind & The Lion,  The Man Who Would Be King also appeared that year.

I saw a production of MACK & MABEL in London in the mid-nineties.  I went to it because it had gotten good reviews and I had always heard the musical had deserved a second chance. Not from what I saw, it didn't...the book just didn't jell. It starred Howard McGillin and Caroline O'Connor, although the night I saw it, someone named Mark Adams played Mack.  This was 1996, after it had been running awhile and moved from the Haymarket to the Picadilly, which may've accounted for why the production seemed a little tired and ragged.  But even immaculately performed, I still couldn't see the book quite holding together.  It wasn't excruciatingly terrible, mind you; but it was certainly in the lower fourth of all the shows I've seen in London.

I saw a production of MACK & MABEL in London in the mid-nineties.  I went to it because it had gotten good reviews and I had always heard the musical had deserved a second chance. Not from what I saw, it didn't...the book just didn't jell. It starred Howard McGillin and Caroline O'Connor, although the night I saw it, someone named Mark Adams played Mack.  This was 1996, after it had been running awhile and moved from the Haymarket to the Picadilly, which may've accounted for why the production seemed a little tired and ragged.  But even immaculately performed, I still couldn't see the book quite holding together.  It wasn't excruciatingly terrible, mind you; but it was certainly in the lower fourth of all the shows I've seen in London.

This production had a CD released.  Here's the amazon.com listing.  I like it a lot...but then I like Howard McGillin...a lot!

DR George: Could you post some of the songs on your list.  I love those songs too. And I didn't know what there name was.

I wonder where the name "quodlibet" came from?

I don't remember where the word came from.  According to an online dictionary, the word means:

1.  a. A theological or philosophical issue presented for formal argument or disputation.
      b. The disputation itself.
2.  A usually humorous musical medley.

Anyway, I think I've posted this before, but here's the song list of my first CD:

1. One Step – George Lee Andrews, Loni Ackerman & Margery Cohen
2. It's a Lovely Day Today (reprise) & I Wonder Why & You're Just In Love – Lewis Cleale & Tyne Daly
3. The Goldfarb Variations – Cheryl Barnes, David Ogden Stiers, Annie McGreevey, Robert LuPone & Anita Morris
4. Who Could Be Blue & Little White House – Craig Lucas & Suzanne Henry
5. Dirty Old Men & A Nice Young Man – Cast of SOME LIKE IT HOT
6. Two Fairy Tales – Suzanne Henry & Craig Lucas
7. Two's Company – Cheryl Barnes & Annie McGreevey
8. Hey, Tom Sawyer – Cast of THE ADVENTURES OF TOM SAWYER
9. Who Is He & Never Put It In Writing & I Talk, You Talk – Leilani Jones & Timothy Nolen & Stubby Kaye
10. Wet – Karen Ziemba & Daniel McDonald
11. Toys – Drew Carey with Children & Parents
12. An Old Fashioned Wedding – Tom Wopat & Bernadette Peters
13. Just Because It's Magic – Julia Louis-Dreyfus & Drew Carey
14. Rain on the Roof & Ah, Paris! & Broadway Baby – Natalie Mosco and Donald Saddler & Liliane Montevecchi & Kaye Ballard
15. Skid Row (Downtown) – Lee Wilkof, Ellen Greene & Cast
16. Penniless Bums – Tommy Steele, Billy Boyle & Cast
17. A Thought Occurs (reprise) & Think About Tomorrow – Adrian Zmed, Eddie Korbich & Courtenay Collins
18. Trio – Adrian Zmed, Courtenay Collins & Eddie Korbich
19. Wait Until You're Married – Liz Larsen & Sal Viviano
20. You're Gonna Love Tomorrow & Love Will See Us Through – Howard McGillin and Daisy Prince & Jim Walton and Liz Callaway
21. In the Gloaming – Megan Mullally

DRGeorge, are you including any of Sir Arthur Sullivan's numbers from the operettas in your collection?  He liked using the form in choral numbers in PATIENCE, RUDDIGORE, YEOMAN OF THE GUARD.  I don't know how you'd consider the great "In a contemplative fashion" from THE GONDOLIERS.

DRGeorge, are you including any of Sir Arthur Sullivan's numbers from the operettas in your collection?  He liked using the form in choral numbers in PATIENCE, RUDDIGORE, YEOMAN OF THE GUARD.  I don't know how you'd consider the great "In a contemplative fashion" from THE GONDOLIERS.

I probably would...if I were a great fan of G&S and were knowledgeable about their works.  I don't really know much of their works at all (at least not individual numbers), so I haven't included any in my CDs.  I mainly have used songs from musicals and some pop things.  I have a Barry Manilow song waiting to be put on my latest.  And I don't limit it to the strictest sense of the word.  I do have some songs that go back and forth ("Two Fairy Tales" by Sondheim, for one example), as opposed to two or more songs exclusively at the same time.

So essentially, I put in songs that I know and like.

Well, neither "Two Fairytales" nor "Baby, it's cold outside" are quodlibets, but Loesser's "Inchworm" is, with its two tunes.  The only pop song from the 60s I can think of is Doris Day's "Everybody loves a Lover."  I'm sure there are others but I'm not feeling that bright at the moment.

What the hell did I do?  I thought I had DRGeorge in quotes!

DR Danise's post brought tears to my eyes.

DR Elmore and DR Jane, sounds like you guys made her day that much brighter.  Sometimes such simple things can end up meaning so much!

Mine too Jennifer.  You are right how simple things can mean so much, yet I blush for the credit I get for a little phone call that was my pleasure to make.

This is interesting. Do we need Bruce to fix the short screen?

I think that it'll be fixed when we get to page 6, but I think if Elmore can modify his posts (probably just the first one) and take out any "quote" brackets, that might fix it.  Just a guess, of course.

Jane - Yes, my meeting was fine. I can never eat properly during meetings because it's about meeting not eating (that would make a good song!).

I feel so.....so.......slim!

Boo!  Put it back the way it was, Dear Bruce.  I don't feel so slim any more.

I hate Times Square.  I've been known to shout at people.  "Hey, it's called a sideWALK, not a sideSTAND"

Yes, Danise, that was Noel you heard shouting.

A question:  How does a quodlibet (in the musical theatre context) vary from a duet (or larger ensemble) in opera in which each of the lines is a different melody?  (One example might be the Miserere from Il Trovatore.)  Or can the term be used in opera, too?

By the way (BTW in internet lingo), I've never heard the term "quodlibet" until today.

Jay, I would assume that the term is for both operas and musicals.  It's the same thing, the difference is just how extensive the composer makes it...two individual songs or a great big ensemble.

The idea for my CD compilations was initially to put together musical theater songs that were made up of (usually) two (or sometimes more) specific song-lines, such as "Old Fashioned Wedding," "You're Gonna Love Tomorrow/Love Will See Us Through," "Wet" from Steel Pier and the Andrew Lloyd Webber trio arranged for My Favorite Broadway: The Leading Ladies...things like that.

I know that many operas have a LOT of ensemble pieces like this, and as time went on, I included musical theater examples of ensembles (like the opening number of Brownstone), but I am not terribly interested in big, gigantic ensemble pieces in languages that I don't understand.  Two-part songs from musicals were the best examples.