Broadway and Beyond

[Oxynia]

Patti Lupone is a goddess. She and Michael Cerveris were fantastic in Sweeney Todd.

Speaking of actors who are also in the musicians' union, I was blown away by Cabaret (the 1997 revival) in large part because of Alan Cumming's phenonemal portrayal of the Emcee but also because all of the backing singers also had to be dancers and know how to play a musical instrument. They doubled as the orchestra. Now that's talent!

[starskin]

I was shocked when the picked Madonna to play Evita because in my mind no one could sing the role with the same amount of passion and force that Patti Lupone sang it with. Madonna's voice is fine, it's just very weak and pop-oriented. Eva Peron was a powerhouse and a force of nature, and needed a voice that would portray that. Madonna got the look right, but her performance left a lot to be desired. And damn did I miss Mandy Patinkin in the role of Che. I did, however, really like Johnathan Price as Peron. But then, I just like Johnathan Price.

I have friends that saw the latest Sweeney Todd, and even my non musical theatre friend was blown away! And I think she may have a crush on Michael Cerveris now. Hee.


My favorite shows that I have seen are Sunset Boulevard with Petula Clark in the lead and a production of RENT that I saw a few years ago. We made my younger brother wear shiny silver pants to 'fit in' better! He's such a sport.

[Deleted]

Light in the Piazza is absoutely wonderful. I recomend it so deeply.

Also the soundtrack to see what I wanna see. Exotic, layered and beautiful.

[Deleted]

Yeah! A broadway thread!

I had the cassette of Patti & Mandy in Evita. And while I can honestly say that I can see how extremely talented Patti is, there's some quality to her voice that I don't like. I can appreciate her talent but I just can't listen to her on a soundtrack over and over again. That being said, she seems like an awesome person and I loved how smiley she was at the Tony's this past year. She's going to be coming to Chicago for a concert version of Gypsy this summer and I hope to see that.

Lately, my theatre fascination has been The Last Five Years. I've been listening to that the most. I still need to get The Light in the Piazza.

I need to make a trip to the library to check out some broadway soundtrack CDs for my ipod. There are so many old ones that I love but I need to get more of the newer ones.

[maxell1313]

In celebration of the Fourth of July, it's time to pop in my CD of "1776"!

"For God's sake, John, sit down!"
"Someone ought to oooooooooooooopen up a window!"
"We piddle, twiddle, and resolve, not one damned thing do we solve!"

Then I think I'll listen to "Ragtime" even if it has nothing to do with the holiday.

[venusdiva429]

I have a story about someone in the new Sweeny Todd. His initals are B.E., and he's in the supporting cast. We were supposed to go to the prom together- he had been coming to my school for voice lessons for a while, and all the girls were gaga over him (I went to an all-girls' school), but him and I had a mutual vocal admiration society. Well, we started to like each other, a lot, and were looking forward to prom- a lot...until my music teacher, who was a meglomaniacal bastard (and still is!) told his parents that he was going to be going to prom with the whacky Black pagan chick. Well, everything got killed off right quick, and my future of romantic bitterness was born Said music teacher wanted B.E. to date another student...a red-haired little moppet that was learning conducting under him that B didn't care a whit about.

Of course, because Fate loves a joke, I've run into B several times. Once was at a karaoke place in the city...he was there with his girlfriend, and I was there with my SCA friends (yep, I'm an ex-SCAdian). We were going to sing, "All I Ask Of You" together- but his girlfriend got a bit miffed and pulled him out the door. Could be that we were making googly eyes at each other. I don't know.

So, yeah, OT...

I've always wanted to hear "Kiss of the Vampire". I heard that it was godawful, and that there's a song in there dedicated to, ahem, garlic. Was I hearing correctly?

[iceblink]

You mean "Dance of the Vampires?" Yep. The big opening number is about garlic!

This show flopped so badly on Broadway but was a big hit in Austria and Germany. It's based on the Roman Polanksi movie "The Fearless Vampire Killers" which is very silly and the show in German was also rather tongue-in-cheek, but with a fantastic score (by Jim Steinman, and it's a little weird at first to hear a couple of his hits recycled into the musical's songs, but it works nicely overall) and a really elaborate production. It unfortunately didn't translate well to English, and the casting of Michael Crawford as the lead was a terrible idea since he's made entirely of ham and cheese.
The score in German is worth hearing if you like Steinman and don't mind that it's in German.

[Deleted]

I saw it Off-Broadway at Playwrights Horizons, but in October, Grey Gardens opens on Broadway. It's wonderful and Christine Ebersole ... just WOW. I normally loathe Broadway musicals, but enjoyed this one very much.

[Deleted]

Speaking of vampires and musicals . . . has anyone heard any of the Interview with the Vampire musical? Lestat? I heard it was bad but then people say Cats is bad and I will occasionally listen to Mungojerie & Rumpleteazer and tap my foot so who am I to judge?

[maxell1313]

Lestat closed in late May just before the Tony Awards. The cast album was recorded though, and should be coming out sometime this month.

I'm planning on getting it as I'd listen to Carolee Carmello sing the phone book any day of the week.