It's time for this month's Know the Score! In honor of Stephen Sondheim's and Andrew Lloyd Webber's mutual birthday Friday, we're taking a look at what's great--and not-so-great--about these two very different but very influential music theater composers.
And when you're done watching that, check out my crossover with internet superhero DJSoundbite, as we tackle the mephitic mess that is High School Musical!
Showing posts with label andrew lloyd webber. Show all posts
Showing posts with label andrew lloyd webber. Show all posts
Monday, March 18, 2013
Friday, May 18, 2012
Super-Sized Random Crap
One of the best things about the Internet is that it allows you to dig up those random bits of media that would otherwise have you thinking “Was that real, or the product of some strange dream I had as a kid?” Over on the That Guy With the Glasses community blogs, JMShearer has posted an article on my personal favorite bit of weird nostalgia, Kidd Video. If you're not a child of the 80s and/or have never seen this series, go look it up on YouTube because it is some of the strangest WTF-ery you will ever witness. (Sadly, complications involving the rights for the music videos featured in the show mean the series will never see the light of DVD.) A couple years ago, I did a YouTube Caption of one of the weirder episodes. I'm thinking I may have to do another one.
The musicalization of mid-grade 90s movies continues with the announcement that Anything Goes and Nice Work If You Can Get It director Kathleen Marshall will stage an adaptation of the Drew Barrymore Cinderella-riff Ever After. I have a lingering fondness for the film, so I'm a bit more curious about this idea than I have been for other movies-turned-musicals lately. If they can write a decent score for it (which is a pretty big “if” given the recent track record for this sort of thing) it could be very good. Though thanks to the original trailer, the movie is inextricably linked with “Mummer's Dance” in my mind.
On the inverse of the movie-musical adaptation coin, a film version of Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty's farce Lucky Stiff has been announced, with Christopher Ashley directing and Jason Alexander playing a major role. I'm a bit (pleasantly) surprised by this news, as I didn't think this was a musical popular enough to catch Hollywood's attention. I don't know if it can adapt well to film—it's a very broad and frequently silly show (though in a good way), and will almost certainly invite comparisons to Weekend at Bernie's--but I would like to see them try. Maybe if they succeed, we can see a big-screen version of Ragtime...
As mentioned last week, Andrew Lloyd Webber and Gary Barlow have released their Diamond Jubilee tribute “Sing” today. The press release identifies the pair as “two of the UK's greatest living songwriters,” although the sub-”We Are the World” anthem they've produced would appear to contest that claim. Anyway, here's the video if you're curious, or if you just want to see African tribal children droning “Just sing” for what feels like ten minutes.
And just because it's so darn fun, here's the cast of Anything Goes lip synching to a One Direction song.
The musicalization of mid-grade 90s movies continues with the announcement that Anything Goes and Nice Work If You Can Get It director Kathleen Marshall will stage an adaptation of the Drew Barrymore Cinderella-riff Ever After. I have a lingering fondness for the film, so I'm a bit more curious about this idea than I have been for other movies-turned-musicals lately. If they can write a decent score for it (which is a pretty big “if” given the recent track record for this sort of thing) it could be very good. Though thanks to the original trailer, the movie is inextricably linked with “Mummer's Dance” in my mind.
On the inverse of the movie-musical adaptation coin, a film version of Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty's farce Lucky Stiff has been announced, with Christopher Ashley directing and Jason Alexander playing a major role. I'm a bit (pleasantly) surprised by this news, as I didn't think this was a musical popular enough to catch Hollywood's attention. I don't know if it can adapt well to film—it's a very broad and frequently silly show (though in a good way), and will almost certainly invite comparisons to Weekend at Bernie's--but I would like to see them try. Maybe if they succeed, we can see a big-screen version of Ragtime...
As mentioned last week, Andrew Lloyd Webber and Gary Barlow have released their Diamond Jubilee tribute “Sing” today. The press release identifies the pair as “two of the UK's greatest living songwriters,” although the sub-”We Are the World” anthem they've produced would appear to contest that claim. Anyway, here's the video if you're curious, or if you just want to see African tribal children droning “Just sing” for what feels like ten minutes.
And just because it's so darn fun, here's the cast of Anything Goes lip synching to a One Direction song.
Friday, May 11, 2012
All New Crunchier Random Crap
Say what you will about High School Musical (because believe me, I do), it is nice to see at least some of its stars shaking the Disney dust off their feet and proving they can grace more worthy projects. Zac Efron was surprisingly enjoyable in Hairspray (although we're still waiting to see if that was a fluke) and now Corbin Bleu is racking up some decent Broadway credits, having starred in In the Heights and now taking on the role of Jesus in Circle in the Square's Godspell. Now if he could just get a name that doesn't sound like an entree at a wedding reception.
On the other hand, why do so many Broadway luminaries make such awful choices when they try to cross over to screen media? (Have you checked out Kristen Chenoweth's IMDb page? I rest my case.) Sutton Foster looks poised to be the latest casualty, with her new show Bunheads premiering on ABC Family next month. Apparently Foster will play a Vegas showgirl who marries a mama's boy and ends up working at her new in-law's dance studio, where she will Make a Difference in the lives of its stereotype-embodying students. The acting of the young girls looks particularly dire:
Speaking of not-too-promising prospects, Andrew Lloyd Webber's Really Useful Group has come up with possibly the only thing that could persuade me to subscribe to their mailing list, even temporarily: offering a free copy of sheet music for “Sing,” the song Lloyd Webber and Gary Barlow have written for Queen Elizabeth's Diamond Jubilee. I'm curious, but not hopeful—Lloyd Webber hasn't written a decent score in nearly two decades, and his non-music theater songs have always been middling at best (“Amigos Para Siempre” anyone?). Nevertheless, I will just have to hammer the thing out on the old Yamaha and see what I think. Watch this space.
On the other hand, why do so many Broadway luminaries make such awful choices when they try to cross over to screen media? (Have you checked out Kristen Chenoweth's IMDb page? I rest my case.) Sutton Foster looks poised to be the latest casualty, with her new show Bunheads premiering on ABC Family next month. Apparently Foster will play a Vegas showgirl who marries a mama's boy and ends up working at her new in-law's dance studio, where she will Make a Difference in the lives of its stereotype-embodying students. The acting of the young girls looks particularly dire:
Speaking of not-too-promising prospects, Andrew Lloyd Webber's Really Useful Group has come up with possibly the only thing that could persuade me to subscribe to their mailing list, even temporarily: offering a free copy of sheet music for “Sing,” the song Lloyd Webber and Gary Barlow have written for Queen Elizabeth's Diamond Jubilee. I'm curious, but not hopeful—Lloyd Webber hasn't written a decent score in nearly two decades, and his non-music theater songs have always been middling at best (“Amigos Para Siempre” anyone?). Nevertheless, I will just have to hammer the thing out on the old Yamaha and see what I think. Watch this space.
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