I tried to listen to a copy of Brooklyn, The Muscial. Dreck of the worst kind. I can't even finish it.
CD: Best of Andrea True Connection
Did she actually have another song beside "More, More, More?"
I attended a rather frustrating performing arts college fair at Juilliard last night. Lots of pretty and poised teenage girls fighting their way to all the desirable tables (NYU, Carnegie Mellon, Purchase, etc.), leaving the poor "regect" schools (Adelphi, for example) quite empty. I spoke to a few admissions and theatre department people from certain schools and I seem to be just where I should be in both the decision/application process and in my experience and training, but I wish that I had spoken to some of the kids there to figure out where I stand in comparisn to them. Oh well.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BOARD!
....shlepp (sp?)....
I've been enjoying the score of "Greenwillow" lately, but I haven't a clew as to what it's about. Would someone care to enlighten me?
I knew the good Mr. de Shields a bit when we were both studying at the University of Wisconsin in the 60s and 70s. André was connected with an amateur theatre company run by director Stuart (Space Truckers and numerous H. P. Lovecraft films) Gordon. In fact, he played Tiger Lily in Gordon's production of Peter Pan that received national attention due to its nude scene.
. It's based on a novel by B J Chute, about a rural town, somewhere in the world, sometime in the last 200 years, called Greenwillow. It's a very whmsical book about a town called Greenwillow,
Indiana State Department of Redundancy Department, may I help you?
DRWFOrr, you are the first person I've met connected with that legendary PETER PAN! It was all the buzz in college theatres in 1969, 1970? I am honored. I can't wait to ask Andre about it. No wonder he was ready for THE FULL MONTY!
DR WEL, great lyric! ;D :o :-*
Actually, André didn't do the nude scene. He did, however, play Hud in the Chicago company of Hair, so I guess that served as his Full Monty prep.
DRELMORE perhaps you should watch a movie starring Miss Doris Day....she is always good for a mood alteration.
Doris was rumored to play Sally in the aborted film of FOLLIES. She would have been fantastic.
I also think GREENWILLOW's score is one of the greats: magical from beginning to end. Like so many cast albums from bomb shows, you hear it and wonder how it could ever have been a flop.
Ques esta "fattered"?
Can anyone tell me what "siztprobe" means in terms of theatre.
Remember what the Duchess of Windsor always said....
Can anyone tell me what "siztprobe" means in terms of theatre.
Jennifer: Sitzprobe is the first orchestra rehearsal for a musical, where the band goes through the entire score for the first time.
In writing my book, I asked specifically if I should use that term and was told "no" by well-known conductor Don Pippin, who said that term was never used back in 1969, when such things were simply called the orchestra read-through. So, when did sitzprobe come into fashion in terms of musical theater.
.
Sitzprobe had me all agog!
Well she may have said THAT as well DRELMORE - but she also said that one could never be "too rich or too thin."
Are you sure that wasn't said by, no pun intended, Slim Keith? For some reason, I associate her with that phrase
(As for Mrs. Simpson, I believe she was also known for saying...nay, shrieking..."I said 'Do you wanna date?,' not 'Abdicate!'")
Are you sure that wasn't said by, no pun intended, Slim Keith? For some reason, I associate her with that phrase
(As for Mrs. Simpson, I believe she was also known for saying...nay, shrieking..."I said 'Do you wanna date?,' not 'Abdicate!'")
Jennifer: Sitzprobe is the first orchestra rehearsal for a musical, where the band goes through the entire score for the first time.
In writing my book, I asked specifically if I should use that term and was told "no" by well-known conductor Don Pippin, who said that term was never used back in 1969, when such things were simply called the orchestra read-through. So, when did sitzprobe come into fashion in terms of musical theater.
Thanks DR Elmore and BK.
I have no idea how often this term is used now. The first time I heard it was yesterday when someone told me their musical was having one today. Only problem is I DIDN'T KNOW WHAT THE HECK IT MEANT. :)
I was wondering what all of you theatre buffs in group think of this news that Dreamworks is planning a Broadway musical adaptation of Shrek? They've brought the Avenue Q director on board quite early in the game...okay fine. Yet it sounds like a big BAD idea to me. Are Hollywood execs really so desperate to get their hands in the honeypot of theatre??
DRStuart, re the Duchess becoming the Queen: we currently have the anus horribilis as our leader.
Still we have "Eureka - The Musical" here in Melbourne. The colonies attempt at a "Les Mis".
Thanks DR Elmore and BK.
I have no idea how often this term is used now. The first time I heard it was yesterday when someone told me their musical was having one today. Only problem is I DIDN'T KNOW WHAT THE HECK IT MEANT.
DRJennifer, maybe they didn't know the meaning either.
Then this week he decides that Stacy talks too much and didn't sell her idea. She had a great idea (taking polaroids of the dogs dressed up in outfits). Wes (the leader) was too pig-headed to listen. And it's her fault???
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ALL ON THIS WONDERFUL BOARD! :D
There aren't that many shows that kids can be taken to see. Plus they all love Shrek.
Re: last night's Apprentice.
Is anyone else slightly annoyed with Trump's firings this season? He is all over the place.
Who cares who Trump is firing? Speaking of cartoons! It's a TV show! Not real life! Nothing could have less importance!
Who cares who Trump is firing? Speaking of cartoons! It's a TV show! Not real life! Nothing could have less importance!
François, you are quite right! Disney's Beauty and the Beast is much, much, much (that's three muches) better than Disney's The Lion King. B&TB was written by people who came from the theater. They knew (and still know) what makes good theater.
Just listen to Menken's score for to the German production of The Hunchback of Notre Dame. In my humble opinion (IMHO in Internet lingo) the score is wonderful...and I don't even understand any of what they're singing (since it's in German).
TOD:
Sorry to be so unoriginal.
CD Player (Car) -- SCROOGE, THE MUSICAL
CD Player (Home) -- SCROOGE, THE MUSICAL
CD Player (computer) -- SCROOGE, THE MUSICAL
Beauty and the Beast is an interesting case, because obviously Mr. Menken and Mr. Ashman are theatrical and it is structured like a musical to begin with. So, all they had to do was add three or four new numbers and make it a full-length score. Where the show fails for me is in its mechanics - all the computers and the singers in some room somewhere and the hideous sound design where it seems you never hear a real sound coming from anyone - if they'd just let the material speak it really would have been better. That's where the Disney effect has been most harmful. Obviously, they got Julie Taymor, a not uninteresting director, to do the Lion King, but, aside from some of her clever visuals, she simply didn't have the smarts to know how to make it a moving or cohesive evening of theater. I don't even like the cartoon, but the fact is the cartoon did not start off as a musical - same with Shrek. Aida is something I couldn't even force myself to see after hearing that horrendous score.
What sections of New Jersey might be described as Sopranosland, that is, the places where you might find the Mob? What sort of music underscores the HBO show? What sort of music do actual Mafia people listen to nowadays? I hope it's not rap - I heard that stuff can lead to violent behavior. ::)
The Clinton Street Theater in Portland is showing Russ Meyer's film VIXEN this weekend (and all next week). I might go and see it, haven't decided for sure. Other then BEYOND THE VALLEY OF THE DOLLS I have never seen a Russ Meyer movie.
First:
HAPPY BIRTHDAY HHW AND THANKS TO ALL WHO MAKE H.H.W. WORTH COMING TO!!
Second, Panni, according to the on-line dictionary of my library's catalog, it's "schlep" or/also "shlep"
NOUN: 1. An arduous journey; 2. A clumsy or stupid person.
VERB: schlepped, schlep.ping, schleps; also shlepped, shlep.ping, shleps
TRANSITIVE VERB: To carry clumsily or with difficulty; lug.
INTRANSITIVE VERB: To move slowly or laboriously: schlepped all around town looking for wallpaper.
ORIGIN: Yiddish shleppen to drag < Middle Low German slepen
VARIATIONS: schlepper (noun)
Welcome to DRSanJoseGirl!
I like The Little Mermaid - even though "Part of Your World" sounds to me just like "Somewhere that's Green" from Little Shop....but oh well.
And I liked AIDA, too, but there you are. The choreography was horrible, but the performers were good and of course the story has always been a stunner!
I thought the quote was accurate DRSTUART thanks for checking. After I read your post, I do remember that Slim Hawks said it as well....she must have been copying DOW. Hmmmmmmmmmm.......so since Edward VIII had no children....if he had not abdicated, who would have become ruler when he passed away? Elizabeth's father was already dead....so she may have ended up Queen of England anyway.
And....I think someone answered this before....BUT if something happens to Charles before he becomes King - does the crown go to William or does it go to Charles' brother, Andrew?
Of course I know it is several steps removed from me....but in case of a direct hit somewhere over there, I am ready to step up to the throne.
I think it would have been a better show to have musicalized Couteau's Beauty & the Beast. But it's just the whole trend...Aren't they now thinking of adapting the TARZAN cartoon to the stage?Disney's also working on a stage adaptation of "The Little Mermaid."
When will it all end? How about producing an original musical by new young composers that was actually written for the stage instead just adapting the franchise library.That's the idea! They have a built in audience. They do it that way so that neither the audience nor creators have to think of something original.
Is this the London cast or the soundtrack?
Beauty and the Beast is an interesting case, because obviously Mr. Menken and Mr. Ashman are theatrical and it is structured like a musical to begin with. So, all they had to do was add three or four new numbers and make it a full-length score. Where the show fails for me is in its mechanics - all the computers and the singers in some room somewhere and the hideous sound design where it seems you never hear a real sound coming from anyone - if they'd just let the material speak it really would have been better. That's where the Disney effect has been most harmful.I totally agree with you on Beauty, BK. I saw the Broadway production, but I haven't seen The Lion King at all...only pictures. I probably should have specified that I feel that the score to B&TB is better than TLK.
Obviously, they got Julie Taymor, a not uninteresting director, to do the Lion King, but, aside from some of her clever visuals, she simply didn't have the smarts to know how to make it a moving or cohesive evening of theater.I don't know about this. As I said, I haven't seen the show but I don't like the Broadway score...well, any of the newer songs that Elton John wrote for the stage. But I've always wondered if Julie Taymor wasn't allowed (by Disney) to make many changes in the story or the score...if she was told to make do with whatever Elton John gave her. Is that a possibility?
Another problem I had with B & B onstage. Disney was just not willing to dispense with things that made no sense anymore. It's one thing to have someone turned into a tea-cup, that is actually the size of a tea-cup or a candelbra the size of one. But when you got a tea-cup the size of bathtub onstage it just looks stupid and makes no sense. At least LION KING (which I've resisted seeing, despite what looks like spectacular and imaginative scenic and costume design) doesn't seem to insist on keeping everything looking like the cartoon. It adapts to the demands of the media it's in.
I think it would have been a better show to have musicalized Couteau's Beauty & the Beast. But it's just the whole trend...Aren't they now thinking of adapting the TARZAN cartoon to the stage? When will it all end? How about producing an original musical by new young composers that was actually written for the stage instead just adapting the franchise library.
Disney's also working on a stage adaptation of "The Little Mermaid."That's the idea! They have a built in audience. They do it that way so that neither the audience nor creators have to think of something original.
I don't recall whether I've already discussed my feelings about the Disney musicals on here, so I'll try to be brief just in case I have.
I guess I am in the minority (so what else is new?), but I still say that any show that gets children to see Broadway theater or any live theater is a plus, not a minus. I agree that when I was a teenager, the shows I would have wanted to see would not have been cartoons, but real musical theater. However, with ticket prices topping out at over $100.00, I doubt very many children have a say in if they see a Broadway show, let alone what the show might be.
And I liked AIDA, too, but there you are. The choreography was horrible, but the performers were good and of course the story has always been a stunner!
DRTCB, I'd fight you on a lot of this if I didn't care for you so much. I want children to go to theatre, I want them to perform theatre, but I'm still appalled that a parent would bring a child to New York and take them to a children's musical, especially a second-rate one, at exorbitant ticket prices. Take them to something smart, witty, intellectual, frivolous, but don't lower your taste and standards to see a good cartoon turned into a second-rate musical.
Also, pace Dear Friend, but I loved RENT and expected to hate it. I think it's a n interesting adaptation of LA BOHEME that works in almost every way that Disney's AIDA did not. And much as I love La Boheme, there are sections of Larsen's score that move me to tears as much as Puccini's.
Michael, I hope you saw the Writer's Block review - and that when you're up to it you'll create a new little section on bk.com
I particularly LOVE the kitchen...and I am thinking that is a vintage stove, am I correct?