Archive for Musicals.Net Musicals.Net |
| solo_saxophone |
Song and Dance/Variations?Hey everyone,So it's not really a technical musical, but it's by ALW, so... Anyway, is anyone else as into his "Variations" as much as I am? I love them - for those who don't know, they were written in the late seventies (1978 or so, I believe?) using Paganini's Caprice in A minor for violin as the source material. Originally, they were scored for rock combo and cello, and they were re-scored and rearranged for full orchestra as part of the "Song and Dance" show in the early eighties. I love the music - it's fresh and innovative, even now, and some of the rock riffs are pretty cool. Granted, it's also quite derivative - I hear echoes of "Heaven on Their Minds", "Close Every Door", "Rainbow High" and "Unexpected Song" throughout, for example - but that's to be expected. Is anyone else into this music, too? Speaking of which, what are everyone's thoughts on Song and Dance as well? I love the mid-80s feel to the music, and I think that Bernadette Peters is wonderful. Am I out to lunch on this stuff? Cheers, Joseph |
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| Dvarg |
Re: Song and Dance/Variations?
What is a technical musical? I think S&D is a very shallow musical, but I enjoy it nevertheless. It is great fluff because it is a great show off of ALW's abilities to write hummable tunes, and has a more coherent concept than shows like Cats and StEx. |
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| Jordan |
I'm not a fan of Peters or Van-Outen versions of Tell Me On A Sunday but quite like the arrangements and lyrics on the Brightman version and the OLC with Marti Webb is in my opinion the definitive.
I do enjoy the Variations part but no longer have the original Variations music, only the live versions from the Brightman and Webb live performances. |
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| jcstar |
I have a vinyl recording of S&D. It's good, not great... but good.
"Variations 1-4" is awesome. Love the cello lead. Andy. |
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| Mara |
I think some of it's great, I think some of it sucks. Unexpected Song has grown on me a lot - I used to hate it. Some of the Variations are great - in particular at the moment I love Variation 5 (Varied). I have just bought the Marti Webb version and I'm still trying to decide whether I like it better than Bernadette | ||||
| Dvarg |
It's horrible! Has there ever been so pointless additions to a musicals as the ones for this production? Both that Speed Dating song and especially the aeroplane song are so totally without any merit what so ever. I almost like Somewhere, Something, Something (except for it's inane fade out). But it's stupid that it's opening is identitcal with the oipening of one of the best original songs which therefore had to be cut. |
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| jcstar |
S&D favourites
Variations 1-4 Tell Me On A Sunday Take That Look Off Your Face (great powerhouse type song!) Let Me Finish Andy. |
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| Jordan |
Amusingly, when Marti Webb returned to the show, she cut huge chunks of the new stuff, reintroduced an interval and also reintroduced some of the original songs that had been taken out. 
It takes a pro to know the skills in that show and Marti knows. |
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| Dvarg |
That must have been a weird revival. |
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| Jordan |
Not at all. Whether deliberately or not, she showed Denise Van Outen up as extremely untalented. I wrote a review of DVO: English girl runs to USA to forget her man troubles, finds many men there through various sources (speed dating, pick ups in supermarkets etc) and has no success with any of them. I guess the biggest surprise of the evening is that Denise Van Outen can sing. The biggest non surprise though is that she cannot act! She moved from forced gesture to forced gesture in a manner that suggested amateur dramatics to me. The trouble with Tell Me On A Sunday is that it was originally written as a one woman show for Marti Webb ( http://www.cmmol.net/marti_webb.htm ) that lasted 50 minutes. It was originally presented in the theatre as Song & Dance with the second act a dance piece starring Wayne Sleep. Here it has been stretched into 90 minutes with no interval and that's a good 20 minutes too long for a solo show. There isn't enough in this show to hold the attention for the duration. Indeed there are at least 3 musical interlude 'fillers' during the show including a cloyingly sentimental piece where we watch a video of her as a child that her mother has sent her. Let's be honest, the CD of the show is 65 minutes and includes ALL the songs. Lyrics have been expanded and changed to fit the 'Essex Girl' persona of Denise and there are 5 totally new numbers. The trouble is, the show is devoid of warmth but that could be due to Denise's lack of acting ability. A nice change in the lyrics is changing 'I'm Very You (You're Very Me)' into a song sung by the character to the 9 year old daughter of the married man that she meets. The last song 'Somewhere, Someplace, Sometime' is an almost total lift of a tune from Starlight Express which grates on me. I haven't seen By Jeeves, The Beautiful Game or a couple of other Lloyd Webber shows but I'm willing to bet that some of the other 4 'new songs' probably sound like something from another of his shows. The theatre was mostly empty in the Upper Circle which makes me rather surprised that the season has been so extended to early next year. I'm guessing that many people will see this show once and then not bother returning. I'm certainly in no hurry to re-book when there are so many other brilliant shows out there which I'd happily see (and have seen) more than once. On the positive side, we waited outside the stage door to get the programme signed by Denise for my ex's birthday and she was lovely and spent time talking to people even though there were probably 40-odd waiting. http://www.tellmeonasunday.com/ A disappointing 4/10. I can't find the review I wrote with Marti in it. I'm a bit gutted by that. 
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| Dvarg |
I think I meant that having both van Outen and Webb in the same revival as well as rearranging the show in every sort of directions must have made a weird result. The main problem of the show, I thing, is that it has no real focus except ALW's ability to write tunes. Which is nice taken for what it is (the show is one of my favourite ALW musicals) but just dumb if one pretends otherwise. |
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| Jordan |
Fair enough. It's honest to say that some of the new material didn't quite fit Marti like it fitted DVO. Marti is no Essex slapper so a suspension of belief was definitely required at times. | ||||
| Dvarg |
Did the aeroplane song and the blind dating song fit anybody? They're more inane addition songs than the ones for the "new" StEx. They are beyond pointless. |
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| Jordan |
Very fair point. Those songs were kept when Marti returned to the role which made them even more odd! |