"Cats" on Bdway again

[brooklynjerry]

Saw a preview last week. Loved it !! Great dancing and wonderful music. Go and enjoy and get a great seat !

[jjkrkwood]

Saw a preview last week. Loved it !! Great dancing and wonderful music. Go and enjoy and get a great seat !

 

 

Leona Lewis got a scathing review. And as they stay it stays true to the original, if you saw it the first time around with Betty Buckley, nothing will top that .

[brooklynjerry]

Leona was great, but Betty was the best !!!!

[bostonman]

The orchestra is HALF the size of the original. (13 players, down from the original 25.) That's more ok for a small regional production, perhaps (and would be typical for a touring production), but it's a terrible shame to see a show (yet again) downsized like that on Broadway. As a musician, I can't support that.

 

Often, the LAST consideration in a musical is the music itself. Why is that? And why would Lloyd Webber have agreed to such a radical thinning out of his score for a Broadway venue?

 

And as they stay it stays true to the original, if you saw it the first time around with Betty Buckley, nothing will top that.

 

Just a reminder that Buckley was not the first - the role was created (in London) by the fantastic Elaine Paige.

[N13]

When I saw the original production in London it was a smaller and much more personal show. Thought it was one of the best things I had ever seen. Then they blew it up out of all proportion when it came to New York. The show was a good spectacle but it lacked the brilliance and genius of the original. Don't think I can take another overblown version.

[dcguy20]

I saw the original several times, and the revival a couple of weeks ago. Although I enjoyed the revival, the set of the original enveloped the theatre, whereas, that doesn't happen in the present version. Although I saw Betty Buckley shortly after she won the Tony award for her performance, my favorite Grizzabella would have to be, Laurie Beechman. I, too, am disappointed the reduced the size of the orchestra for the revival.

[Despardo]

To each his own. I can't abide CATS. I would rather sit though any one of Stephen Sondheim's flops that any of Andrew Lloyd Weber's hits.

[bostonman]

I would rather sit though any one of Stephen Sondheim's flops that any of Andrew Lloyd Webber's hits.

 

As a devoted Sondheim fan, I do have to say that I really also enjoy the shows Webber wrote with Tim Rice - especially Jesus Christ Superstar and Evita. (Joseph is a fun trifle, but it suffers from having been blown up out of proportion over the years, to make it a longer evening, which was an awful idea.) I can't say I really hate any of Webber's shows after that (though I don't tend to seek them out either) - they do all have something to offer - but his choice of lyricists over the years has often been disappointing.

 

Though I would also say that Sondheim's shows, even his flops, have an amazing amount to offer - always.

[+ nycman]

Cats...."now and forever".....unfortunately.

[Despardo]

Cats...."now and forever".....unfortunately.

The only memorable song in Cats has the same melody as Ravel's Bolero. Really!

[bostonman]

The only memorable song in Cats has the same melody as Ravel's Bolero. Really!

 

Let's not exaggerate, though. The similarity is only in the first phrase, and even then the melodies are not identical, only with just a similar contour and similar intervals. But yes, the resemblance in that first phrase is hard to miss.

 

Webber always gets accused of plagiarizing everything. And yes, a few times he has (twice, for sure, in the score of Phantom of The Opera). But people tend to exaggerate his thefts - there's more theft from Michelle Obama's words in melania trump's convention speech than there is of Ravel in "Memory."

[Despardo]

Let's not exaggerate, though. The similarity is only in the first phrase, and even then the melodies are not identical, only with just a similar contour and similar intervals. But yes, the resemblance in that first phrase is hard to miss.

 

Webber always gets accused of plagiarizing everything. And yes, a few times he has (twice, for sure, in the score of Phantom of The Opera). But people tend to exaggerate his thefts - there's more theft from Michelle Obama's words in melania trump's convention speech than there is of Ravel in "Memory."

I just don't think that ALW is much of a composer. He also doesn't know how to set lyrics. His shows rely on visual spectacle which is admittedly very well done (I do appreciate theatrical production) and does tend to mask the woeful lack of musical/dramatic substance in the work itself. Compare any of his shows to say, Oklahoma!--a classic and seminal work. Every single song (with one exception) in Oklahoma! was a huge hit, and the only song that wasn't (Lonely Room) served a valid dramatic purpose. (For the record, I don't think much of Ravel's bolero either--pretty boring, but Ravel also wrote much better stuff.)

[bostonman]

I just don't think that ALW is much of a composer. He also doesn't know how to set lyrics. His shows rely on visual spectacle which is admittedly very well done (I do appreciate theatrical production) and does tend to mask the woeful lack of musical/dramatic substance in the work itself. Compare any of his shows to say, Oklahoma!--a classic and seminal work. Every single song (with one exception) in Oklahoma! was a huge hit, and the only song that wasn't (Lonely Room) served a valid dramatic purpose. (For the record, I don't think much of Ravel's bolero either--pretty boring, but Ravel also wrote much better stuff.)

 

I think Webber is ok with lyric settings when he has good lyrics to work with, lol. Which essentially means Tim Rice, who himself could be uneven (I personally think the lyric to "Any Dream Will Do" from Joseph is pure quasi-poetic meaningless gobbledygook, though Webber's tune is quite memorable lol). I do think that Webber's settings of Eliot's poems are generally as fun and offbeat and capricious as the poems themselves are. "Memory," adapted from another Eliot source, is a little more treacly (partly also because the whole dramatic subplot of Grizabella's story seems like it's almost a different musical than the rest of the show). I tend to think that, very much like Jason Robert Brown's writing, Webber is at his best when he's having fun, instead of trying to be deadly serious. That's not to say that there aren't honestly effective dramatic moments in, say, Superstar, Evita, and Phantom. But Phantom does get too ponderous/pretentious for itself at times, much like many a "serious" song in Jason Robert Brown's The Last Five Years or Songs For A New World (which I affectionately like to call Songs For A Cruel World lol).

 

Oklahoma did have "Lonely Room" (which I think is an amazing song), but also "It's A Scandal, It's An Outrage" (which many people have never heard of even today, lol) - and I'm really not sure that some of the songs, like "The Farmer And The Cowman" or "Many A New Day" or "Pore Jud Is Daid" were really ever "hits" in the big sense - though they did of course become known outside of the show. And of course it almost didn't have the song "Oklahoma" at all, until it was written during the Boston tryout, when the show was still titled Away We Go. (At which point it did have another ballad for Curly and Laurie, called "Boys And Girls Like You And Me," which has also evaded ever really being a "hit" even though it was later put into the stage versions of Cinderella and State Fair.)

 

Not even every song in The Sound Of Music could be considered a hit - the 3 songs that were cut/replaced in the film are still quite obscure for most people, but are essential to the stage show, IMO - "How Can Love Survive," "No Way To Stop It" and "An Ordinary Couple."

[Nvr2Thick]

http://www.troll.me/images/darth-vader/i-laughed-i-cried-it-was-better-than-cats-thumb.jpg

[Despardo]

I think Webber is ok with lyric settings when he has good lyrics to work with, lol. Which essentially means Tim Rice, who himself could be uneven (I personally think the lyric to "Any Dream Will Do" from Joseph is pure quasi-poetic meaningless gobbledygook, though Webber's tune is quite memorable lol). I do think that Webber's settings of Eliot's poems are generally as fun and offbeat and capricious as the poems themselves are. "Memory," adapted from another Eliot source, is a little more treacly (partly also because the whole dramatic subplot of Grizabella's story seems like it's almost a different musical than the rest of the show). I tend to think that, very much like Jason Robert Brown's writing, Webber is at his best when he's having fun, instead of trying to be deadly serious. That's not to say that there aren't honestly effective dramatic moments in, say, Superstar, Evita, and Phantom. But Phantom does get too ponderous/pretentious for itself at times, much like many a "serious" song in Jason Robert Brown's The Last Five Years or Songs For A New World (which I affectionately like to call Songs For A Cruel World lol).

 

Oklahoma did have "Lonely Room" (which I think is an amazing song), but also "It's A Scandal, It's An Outrage" (which many people have never heard of even today, lol) - and I'm really not sure that some of the songs, like "The Farmer And The Cowman" or "Many A New Day" or "Pore Jud Is Daid" were really ever "hits" in the big sense - though they did of course become known outside of the show. And of course it almost didn't have the song "Oklahoma" at all, until it was written during the Boston tryout, when the show was still titled Away We Go. (At which point it did have another ballad for Curly and Laurie, called "Boys And Girls Like You And Me," which has also evaded ever really being a "hit" even though it was later put into the stage versions of Cinderella and State Fair.)

 

Not even every song in The Sound Of Music could be considered a hit - the 3 songs that were cut/replaced in the film are still quite obscure for most people, but are essential to the stage show, IMO - "How Can Love Survive," "No Way To Stop It" and "An Ordinary Couple."

Those three songs from Sound of Music cut from the movie are among the best in the original show. I remember one review of S of M that said, "Any show about children and nuns can't be all good." My personal tastes run more to things like Pal Joey.

 

I once saw on PBS a modest Andrew Lloyd Weber show based on P.G. Wodehouse's Berty Wooster and Jeeves. I was surprised how much I liked the music--it was quite clever.

[bostonman]

Those three songs from Sound of Music cut from the movie are among the best in the original show. I remember one review of S of M that said, "Any show about children and nuns can't be all good." My personal tastes run more to things like Pal Joey.

 

I once saw on PBS a modest Andrew Lloyd Weber show based on P.G. Wodehouse's Berty Wooster and Jeeves. I was surprised how much I liked the music--it was quite clever.

 

I don't know By Jeeves completely, but I'd agree, based on what I have heard, that it is fun.

 

And I agree on the 3 Sound of Music songs. The first 2 are essential in defining Elsa, particularly "No Way To Stop It" which is really the breaking point for Elsa and the Captain, though wonderfully couched in a ironic playfulness (almost more a Rodgers and Hart approach than a Rodgers and Hammerstein one, IMO). And though it's said that even Mary Martin wasn't fond of "An Ordinary Couple," I think it's the perfect song for the moment - so much better than that odd useless dreary discourse on the petty difference between "youth" and "childhood" that Rodgers wrote himself for the film. Much as the other two songs say something about Elsa (wealth, position, willingness to compromise in light of the Nazis), the 3rd song defines Maria's feelings (the desire for a "regular" life and family). There's also a wonderful intro verse that was written for the song but cut (but recorded on a crossover recording of the score), though its melody can be heard in the underscoring between the 2 refrains.

[Despardo]

I don't know By Jeeves completely, but I'd agree, based on what I have heard, that it is fun.

 

And I agree on the 3 Sound of Music songs. The first 2 are essential in defining Elsa, particularly "No Way To Stop It" which is really the breaking point for Elsa and the Captain, though wonderfully couched in a ironic playfulness (almost more a Rodgers and Hart approach than a Rodgers and Hammerstein one, IMO). And though it's said that even Mary Martin wasn't fond of "An Ordinary Couple," I think it's the perfect song for the moment - so much better than that odd useless dreary discourse on the petty difference between "youth" and "childhood" that Rodgers wrote himself for the film. Much as the other two songs say something about Elsa (wealth, position, willingness to compromise in light of the Nazis), the 3rd song defines Maria's feelings (the desire for a "regular" life and family). There's also a wonderful intro verse that was written for the song but cut (but recorded on a crossover recording of the score), though its melody can be heard in the underscoring between the 2 refrains.

Thanks for the title By Jeeves which I had forgotten. Damn, you really know your shit! And I thought I was pretty good.

[bostonman]

Damn, you really know your shit! And I thought I was pretty good

 

I do this for a living, lol. (I'm a musical director/coach/etc, but also love the history/legacy aspect of musical theatre.)

[+ WilliamM]

And though it's said that even Mary Martin wasn't fond of "An Ordinary Couple," I think it's the perfect song for the moment - so much better than that odd useless dreary discourse on the petty difference between "youth" and "childhood" that Rodgers wrote himself for the film

 

I saw Mary in "The Sound of Music" on Broadway and agree with everything you wrote about "An Ordinary Couple." In the new Martin bio, "Some Enchanted Evenings," Theodore Bikel is quoted as saying nice things about Mary Martin. Other people are quoted differently: Mary Martin was too busy and concerned about the shows to be close with her cast members, with the possible exceptions of Robert Preston and Yul Brynner.

 

She made up for it later in her life.

[actor61]

To each his own. I can't abide CATS. I would rather sit though any one of Stephen Sondheim's flops that any of Andrew Lloyd Weber's hits.

I'm with you and I was in one of the road companies of "Cats" many years ago. Dreadful, horrible show but audiences eat it up. I saved as much money as I could as fast as I could and got the hell out as soon as I could!

[actor61]

I don't know By Jeeves completely, but I'd agree, based on what I have heard, that it is fun.

 

And I agree on the 3 Sound of Music songs. The first 2 are essential in defining Elsa, particularly "No Way To Stop It" which is really the breaking point for Elsa and the Captain, though wonderfully couched in a ironic playfulness (almost more a Rodgers and Hart approach than a Rodgers and Hammerstein one, IMO). And though it's said that even Mary Martin wasn't fond of "An Ordinary Couple," I think it's the perfect song for the moment - so much better than that odd useless dreary discourse on the petty difference between "youth" and "childhood" that Rodgers wrote himself for the film. Much as the other two songs say something about Elsa (wealth, position, willingness to compromise in light of the Nazis), the 3rd song defines Maria's feelings (the desire for a "regular" life and family). There's also a wonderful intro verse that was written for the song but cut (but recorded on a crossover recording of the score), though its melody can be heard in the underscoring between the 2 refrains.

"No Way to Stop It" is a great song but its cynicism just didn't work for the film version. Laura Benanti and Christian Borle do a fabulous job with it in the dreaded Carrie Underwood production. I use the song sometimes for auditions and it always get a strong reaction. "An Ordinary Couple" is not a good song but it is sung with such warmth and lyricism by Martin and Bikel in the original that it works. "Something Good", its replacement in the movie, is even worse. You can see a smirk playing around Plummer's lips as he lip synchs it; he just KNOWS it's a piece of shit!

[+ sam.fitzpatrick]

Not even every song in The Sound Of Music could be considered a hit - the 3 songs that were cut/replaced in the film are still quite obscure for most people, but are essential to the stage show, IMO - "How Can Love Survive," "No Way To Stop It" and "An Ordinary Couple."

 

The current touring production is wonderful and includes "How Can Love Survive" and "No Way To Stop It," but unfortunately uses "Something Good" which is sung beautifully, but it isn't the same.

[+ WilliamM]

An Ordinary Couple" is not a good song but it is sung with such warmth and lyricism by Martin and Bikel in the original that it works.

 

I agree. Perhaps at some point, we should remind people that TSOM was perhaps inevitable. But, Martin and her husband, Richard Halliday, were the first Americans to obtain the rights to Maria von Trapp's story (it had been a German film). Rodgers and Hammerstein agreed to join the project after they completed work on "Flower Drum Song."