at least webber had the sense not to mess with a classic...and chris hampton's book is very respectful to the film...one of the great films of all time. hampton's lyrics are far superior to most of ALW's collaborators as well. he captures the characters feelings and moods,even when webber's generic melodies may creep in.

"To my people in the dark,
Still out there in the dark."



Hampton should stick to writing plays. Les Liaisons was brilliant.

^ How so?

I agree that they aren't really very bad, but they are very generic, the attempts at jokes are very lame and there are quite a few instances of stress put on awkward syllables (which I assume is due to the tunes being composed first, then lyrics were added?).

right..whenever a tune is written first you get that problem..when the comoser is seperate from the lyricist. webber's problem has always been writing music before the lyrics.

Not necessarily, of course. I believe some of both the WSS tunes and the Gypsy tunes were written before the lyrics, but they don't really suffer from that problem... It just takes a skilled lyricist and/or one who cares.

The best songwriting teams are the ones who really bounce musical and lyrical ideas back and forth in a collaborative manner..... like Scott Frankel and Michael Korie.

I really wonder what Applause is like, as All About Eve seems comparable to the movie Sunset Boulevard.

you do realize that that particular line is a line from the film right?

"..All my wonderful people in the dark..still out there in the dark".



but you are right..Liaisons is brilliant, I starred in a production a few years back...great ..great stuff.

All ABout Eve is a brilliant film... but nothing like Sunset Blvd however.

Applause is very dissapointing in comparison to Al lAbout Eve..they cut the films best character, Addison DeWitt, updated it from 1950 to 1970 and really just ruined the essence of the story.

What is the music and lyrics like?

IMO not alot of memorable songs... Lauren Bacall's 'Welcome to the Theatre" is my favorite from the score..but the score really never takes off as a whole..the songs are by Adams and Lee who wrote "Bye Bye Birdie" and "Superman" 2 far stronger scores..