And by that I mean....look at me I'm doing what I said I would!
I just went through all the chapters involving female lyricists (mostly, only a couple of composers) in Stanley Green's The World of Musical Comedy. I really like the format of the book because it takes a blow by blow of composing teams and individuals in a somewhat chronological fashion. But the most important thing to note here is that this is the fourth edition and it was published in 1980...so the most current writer he covers is Carol Hall....not exactly a up to date source but sort of super in other ways.
I got some basic background on Dorothy Fields, Betty Comden, and Carolyn Leigh as sort of the big three women contributing in the golden era. I'm most intrigued by Betty Comden mostly because she had such an expansive career and she spent it all with Adolf Green, they are the great Broadway lyric writing team as far as scope and time. Partly because they had so many composing collaboartors with such great success and partly because they were just around for all of it, they seem to exude "Broadway" and she did it all with him in a professional relationship.
The cool thing about dated books is you get a slice of what the up and coming thing was...then...which is often not really what up and came. (On a side note I was also really happy that 2 pages got devoted to Sherman Edwards because the only thing he wrote for the theatre was 1776 but I just think the anomoli of it is such a great thing....back to women). Gretchen Cryer and Nancy Ford get a couple of pages, notably as the first female lyricsist/composer team. Their great contribution to the art was a little semi-autobiographical piece called I'm Getting My Act Together and Taking It on the Road (1978) in which Cryer orginated the lead role onstage. I saw a reading of the show once, you can tell it was written by women...remind me to come back to that someday....
Carole Bayer Sager gets a nod in the Marvin Hamlish section. Did you know he and Neil Simon were actually working on adapting one of Simon's plays but because Hamlish kept going on about his woman troubles with Sager they dumped the other project and wrote They're Playing Our Song? I didn't know that. I'm glad I do now. They're Playing Our Song has a very dear place in my heart because when I was a freshman in high school and other people were listening to ...umm whatever it was that people were listening to in 1999...I definitley had They're Playing Our Song on repeat in my CD player...which means I probably still know all the lyrics...which means I know more about Carole Bayer Sager than I should.
So the big discovery of the evening for me was Elizabeth Swados, who Green admits in 1980 hadn't had a box office smash yet, but appeared to be an up and coming force. If you could see the picture I'm looking at of her though you'll understand why I'm not entirley surprised she wasn't the next Sondheim. She's got the long hair hippy look...sitting cross legged playing the guitar with striped socks and clogs and a knit sweater. At first I was like...who is this chick writing adaptations of Greek stories...but then she was off with Peter Brook and I was like oh maybe she's got some deep thing going on...then I turn the page. She wrote Runaways! Not a show I'm terribly familiar with but at least I've heard of it...and she did it at the Public so she interviewed lots of kids and had street kids in the show and all that jazz. Go Elizabeth Swados! The show of hers that needs a comeback now would appear to be Dispatches, a piece on the vets from the Vietnam War...sounds like the aftermath of Hair...I would be really interested in finding this piece if anybody knows anything about it. Doesn't look like there's a recording. Sad Panda.
Then we get a little piece on Carol Hall who has been my hero ever since I looked at the title page of Whorehouse and saw that she wrote music and lyrics...and I mean this is some good music and lyrics. That show is just as warm and wholesome as a show about whores can be and that takes care and talent. I admire that show incredibly...and the songs rock. I can't help but think about Dolly Parton in connection to Hall right now. I just heard Parton on NPR talking about how much fun she had working on 9 to 5 and how she's ready to write more musicals but they aren't gonna be adaptations...she's gonna come up with her own ideas.....ummmmmmmm..... that could be the greatest thing that happens to musical theatre in the next few years...we'll see.
Ok that's all for now...I think I might read a chapter from Mordden's cheerful book on the conclusion of musical theatre, The Happiest Corpse I've Ever Seen. There's a whole chapter on new composers and I was glancing through it going...oh yeah after the 80's there are some pretty cool women that come on the scene. Yay!
Pins.
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Let's get down to bussiness...
to defeat....the Huns!
Just kidding. Anyone else still wondering why Donny Osmond sang that song while B.D. Wong was voicing the character....?
Anyway it is time for business. Now that I am a graduate student and actually attempting to put together something that might someday serve as a thesis I have decided it is time to start developing a "voice." After how many years of voice lessons and now I'm starting over getting an entirely new kind of voice...crazy. This blog is just sitting here and I do a very poor job of updating it...and I always say I'm going to and then I don't. The worst is one I come home from a really great piece of theater and I'm like "oh I should write about this in my blog" and then I don't. Well that's about to change and I mean it this time!
Here's the new plan for under utilized brilliantly named blog: I have decided, for the time being that musical theater is my greatest joy in life (besides those people in my life that I love). Therefore my thesis shall be about musical theatre. So far my deduction skills seem reasonable. The next tentative step of my thesis was to narror down that topic slightly. Only slightly mind you I still have a huge topic in mind. At present I wish to examine the role of female composers, lyricists and book writers and how their gender has affected their art and the characters they create. See I told you it was still broad. Ok here comes the plan with the blog part. I am starting to accumulate a pile of books creating a sort of library nesting ground around my desk. As I go through each book looking for clues for my thesis I will come back in here to write about them and disscuss. Doesn't that sound like fun?! It doesn't have to sound like fun to you but you're looking at the girl who is giddy about graduate research...I know it's not everyone's cup of tea but it sure is mine...in fact it's like a pumpkin spiced lattee with no points...mmmmmmm wouldn't that be wonderful?
Ok so that's the plan. Here I go. Wish me luck.
Pins.
Just kidding. Anyone else still wondering why Donny Osmond sang that song while B.D. Wong was voicing the character....?
Anyway it is time for business. Now that I am a graduate student and actually attempting to put together something that might someday serve as a thesis I have decided it is time to start developing a "voice." After how many years of voice lessons and now I'm starting over getting an entirely new kind of voice...crazy. This blog is just sitting here and I do a very poor job of updating it...and I always say I'm going to and then I don't. The worst is one I come home from a really great piece of theater and I'm like "oh I should write about this in my blog" and then I don't. Well that's about to change and I mean it this time!
Here's the new plan for under utilized brilliantly named blog: I have decided, for the time being that musical theater is my greatest joy in life (besides those people in my life that I love). Therefore my thesis shall be about musical theatre. So far my deduction skills seem reasonable. The next tentative step of my thesis was to narror down that topic slightly. Only slightly mind you I still have a huge topic in mind. At present I wish to examine the role of female composers, lyricists and book writers and how their gender has affected their art and the characters they create. See I told you it was still broad. Ok here comes the plan with the blog part. I am starting to accumulate a pile of books creating a sort of library nesting ground around my desk. As I go through each book looking for clues for my thesis I will come back in here to write about them and disscuss. Doesn't that sound like fun?! It doesn't have to sound like fun to you but you're looking at the girl who is giddy about graduate research...I know it's not everyone's cup of tea but it sure is mine...in fact it's like a pumpkin spiced lattee with no points...mmmmmmm wouldn't that be wonderful?
Ok so that's the plan. Here I go. Wish me luck.
Pins.
Friday, May 30, 2008
Good for Marie
So... I just cried watching Daniel Evans sing a clip from "Finishing the Hat"...ummm wow. And then I read the article about him in the The New York Times, which made me love him a little more. He's studying philosophy? And he's from Wales? Does it get much sexier than that?...suddenly this theater season seems a little more interesting.
That and Lena keeps going on about In the Heights so I checked out their opening night video on Broadway.com and that looks incredibly awesome as well. Especially intriguing to me is Pricilla Lopez who is most definitely a hero of mine...I think I've heard her sing "Nothing" a thousand times.
So between those shows, and the promising looking South Pacific revival and the brilliant performance I am sure Patti Lupone is giving this seasons set of musical offers doesn't seem so bad. This is of course coming from one who has seen none of these shows. Living on the West coast is difficult in that regard. I mean...I'm leaving my somewhat stressful job so that I can pursue my dreams right? Most notably the dream of devoting my life to the art form that I love...aka friggin musical theatre. It seems odd to be so far removed from where all the action is but I made that decision long ago.
San Francisco has been home to more and more pre-Broadway tryouts...granted it's not the most original work that's heading to New York it's still new work...and we've had a quite a few in the last few years.
One new musical I am very much looking forward to is Sacagawea. I can safely say the composing team is one of my favorites. Craig Bohmler and Mary Bracken Phillips capture the environment of the piece with authentic musical sounds and quick clever lyrics. Bohmler's music is rich with the flavors or wherever the show takes place, his orchestrations are full and, I say this with the greatest respect, old fashion. You can appreciate each instruments part in telling the story in a way that a small band musical will never allow. Each voice is heard intelligently and brought together in soaring melodies that fill my soul with light.
Sacagawea gets it's first full staging this summer in Martinez at my place of business, and for me will be the highlight of the summer craziness that is my life.
I think if I was determined enough I would write a musical. I think someday I will. Right now I feel like I have so much more to learn about the form. Some might laugh since I know more than a lot of people but I truly think that I wouldn't want to write something until I was motivated and knew it was going to be the best thing I could possibly create. Now maybe I'll never write it if I keep thinking that way...what do I know about anyway? Musical theatre? Like the world needs another musical about musicals. (Although I have to say, having just seen it, I think Musical of Musicals the Musical was definitely a great advancement to that genre) One day I'll do it. Just so it's out of my system if nothing else. But I think other people will make better musicals. I think people with other stories to tell besides mine will make better musicals. My story has been told (but I'll still make a bundle on my memoirs)
C'est la vie.
Life in the theatre will continue. I'm anxious to see where it goes. I may not have the energy to be part of its movement.
Pins Abigail
That and Lena keeps going on about In the Heights so I checked out their opening night video on Broadway.com and that looks incredibly awesome as well. Especially intriguing to me is Pricilla Lopez who is most definitely a hero of mine...I think I've heard her sing "Nothing" a thousand times.
So between those shows, and the promising looking South Pacific revival and the brilliant performance I am sure Patti Lupone is giving this seasons set of musical offers doesn't seem so bad. This is of course coming from one who has seen none of these shows. Living on the West coast is difficult in that regard. I mean...I'm leaving my somewhat stressful job so that I can pursue my dreams right? Most notably the dream of devoting my life to the art form that I love...aka friggin musical theatre. It seems odd to be so far removed from where all the action is but I made that decision long ago.
San Francisco has been home to more and more pre-Broadway tryouts...granted it's not the most original work that's heading to New York it's still new work...and we've had a quite a few in the last few years.
One new musical I am very much looking forward to is Sacagawea. I can safely say the composing team is one of my favorites. Craig Bohmler and Mary Bracken Phillips capture the environment of the piece with authentic musical sounds and quick clever lyrics. Bohmler's music is rich with the flavors or wherever the show takes place, his orchestrations are full and, I say this with the greatest respect, old fashion. You can appreciate each instruments part in telling the story in a way that a small band musical will never allow. Each voice is heard intelligently and brought together in soaring melodies that fill my soul with light.
Sacagawea gets it's first full staging this summer in Martinez at my place of business, and for me will be the highlight of the summer craziness that is my life.
I think if I was determined enough I would write a musical. I think someday I will. Right now I feel like I have so much more to learn about the form. Some might laugh since I know more than a lot of people but I truly think that I wouldn't want to write something until I was motivated and knew it was going to be the best thing I could possibly create. Now maybe I'll never write it if I keep thinking that way...what do I know about anyway? Musical theatre? Like the world needs another musical about musicals. (Although I have to say, having just seen it, I think Musical of Musicals the Musical was definitely a great advancement to that genre) One day I'll do it. Just so it's out of my system if nothing else. But I think other people will make better musicals. I think people with other stories to tell besides mine will make better musicals. My story has been told (but I'll still make a bundle on my memoirs)
C'est la vie.
Life in the theatre will continue. I'm anxious to see where it goes. I may not have the energy to be part of its movement.
Pins Abigail
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Like a seed dropped by a skybird....?
Steven Swartz.
This will be brief I promise. I just want to give everyone some food for thought. Without going into my own moral qualms with the man and his music: here is an unbiased observation about bird lyrics in his shows.
Examples:
Wicked- Like a seed dropped by a skybird (umm what is a skybird?)
Pippin- Eagles belong where they can fly
Children of Eden- Have you ever watched the eagle fly toward the sun
Baker's Wife- Fly away Meadowlark
Pocahontas- Or let the eagle tell you where it's been
The heron and the otter are my friends
That's just a sampling I'm sure. I'd love to know more if you got them.
Pins.
This will be brief I promise. I just want to give everyone some food for thought. Without going into my own moral qualms with the man and his music: here is an unbiased observation about bird lyrics in his shows.
Examples:
Wicked- Like a seed dropped by a skybird (umm what is a skybird?)
Pippin- Eagles belong where they can fly
Children of Eden- Have you ever watched the eagle fly toward the sun
Baker's Wife- Fly away Meadowlark
Pocahontas- Or let the eagle tell you where it's been
The heron and the otter are my friends
That's just a sampling I'm sure. I'd love to know more if you got them.
Pins.
Sunday, April 13, 2008
Ah Yes, I remember it well...
Oops, so it's been a while. I'm going to assume that nobody feels awkward about that but me since this is a fairly selfish blog to begin with. Now if you want an informative, mouth watering blog try http://godthatsgoodblog.blogspot.com/ because Lena is a genius and she puts pictures in her blog.
Anyway, I am hoping that writing slowly enters my life again as I am hoping to go back to school in the fall...to write about theatre. We'll see how that goes. While we wait for that though...show of hands for who loves Gigi? Every time I watch it I love it more. Maybe because it is so similar in form to My Fair Lady, or maybe because being raised to be a kept woman is just a really intriguing idea that is far to shunned upon now to catch anyones eye. I know there's a little part of me that wants to be Gigi, except when she sings "Say a Prayer for Me Tonight" which was originally written for Eliza to sing but aren't we glad it didn't end up there. I love that she sings the whole song to the cat but other than that...not a song with a lot going for it. While "The Night they Invented Champagne" has the most infectious melody and I cannot help polkaing up and down the stairs in my apartment. I think it might even be safe to say that it makes me downright giddy! As does Maurice Chevalier... who deserves a whole paragraph....
So here we are. I certainly thought I was content with Leslie Howard being my 30s heartthrob but ou la la! I netflixed Love Me Tonight. It's a 1934 movie musical with songs by Rodgers and Hart. I had read about a sequence in Rodgers' autobiography that he was quite proud of, that sounded very fun, where the melody to "Isn't it Romantic" is passed along starting with Maurice Chevalier, a humble tailor, and then from one character to another in Paris, all the way to the countryside where it reaches Jeanette McDonald as the Princess. Maurice Chevalier is nothing sort of charming. And although he looks like a player in his chic little suits he is perfectly adorable and sincere. The French accent doesn't hurt either. He sings a perfectly adorable number called "Mimi" which is now stuck in my head forever (props to RR) and the only problem is I keep singing the melody and inserting Gigi in for Mimi...coincidence...yeah I guess so but still kinda funny. While I had never really fully understood the stereotype around dashing Frenchmen it is clear that what I was missing was seeing young Chevalier. Mmmmmmmmm.
Et maintenant, bon soir and sweet dreams about charming Frenchmen...:)
Pins.
Anyway, I am hoping that writing slowly enters my life again as I am hoping to go back to school in the fall...to write about theatre. We'll see how that goes. While we wait for that though...show of hands for who loves Gigi? Every time I watch it I love it more. Maybe because it is so similar in form to My Fair Lady, or maybe because being raised to be a kept woman is just a really intriguing idea that is far to shunned upon now to catch anyones eye. I know there's a little part of me that wants to be Gigi, except when she sings "Say a Prayer for Me Tonight" which was originally written for Eliza to sing but aren't we glad it didn't end up there. I love that she sings the whole song to the cat but other than that...not a song with a lot going for it. While "The Night they Invented Champagne" has the most infectious melody and I cannot help polkaing up and down the stairs in my apartment. I think it might even be safe to say that it makes me downright giddy! As does Maurice Chevalier... who deserves a whole paragraph....
So here we are. I certainly thought I was content with Leslie Howard being my 30s heartthrob but ou la la! I netflixed Love Me Tonight. It's a 1934 movie musical with songs by Rodgers and Hart. I had read about a sequence in Rodgers' autobiography that he was quite proud of, that sounded very fun, where the melody to "Isn't it Romantic" is passed along starting with Maurice Chevalier, a humble tailor, and then from one character to another in Paris, all the way to the countryside where it reaches Jeanette McDonald as the Princess. Maurice Chevalier is nothing sort of charming. And although he looks like a player in his chic little suits he is perfectly adorable and sincere. The French accent doesn't hurt either. He sings a perfectly adorable number called "Mimi" which is now stuck in my head forever (props to RR) and the only problem is I keep singing the melody and inserting Gigi in for Mimi...coincidence...yeah I guess so but still kinda funny. While I had never really fully understood the stereotype around dashing Frenchmen it is clear that what I was missing was seeing young Chevalier. Mmmmmmmmm.
Et maintenant, bon soir and sweet dreams about charming Frenchmen...:)
Pins.
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
It Gives you something to think about...something to drink about!
William Finn says on the Infinite Joy recording something to the extent of "a well made song gives me infinite joy" I think that's pretty spot on. I was listening (well I am now as well) to playbill radio last night and they played "With a Little bit of Luck." Which besides being an awesome song is clever witty crisp and perfectly fitted for the character. If you haven't read On the Street Where I Live and you're reading this blog, stop reading this blog and go find a copy of Alan Jay Lerner's autobiographical account of working on My Fair Lady, Gigi, and Camelot. He was a crazy little man who married like 5 times and was obsessed with ESP (On a clear dayyyyyyyyy) anyway it's an amazing book. And if you're still reading this which means you haven't stopped to find the book then you wont mind if I give away one of the highlight stories. So the song Gigi is nominated for best song for the Oscars. There's Alan Jay Lerner sitting in the audience and whoever they got to sing the song starts to sing and blanks on all the words. He sang, "Gigi lalala dododo lalala dodododo lalalala" For a whole verse!
Speaking of amazing forgetful moments I have three words "Leslie Ugums June" I think that's probably all you have to type into YouTube to see Leslie make one of the biggest flubs taped live.
What I really started to think about today was why I like musicals. Lots of people like lots of things. Why do I like musicals? So many people hate or have no feeling toward them at all. But what is the underlying core that makes it so appealing. Here are some of my ideas:
1) Passion. I'm sort of an emotional person and music is a very emotional experience. It takes a moment in time, a feeling, or any shared experience and extends it to it's most passionate expression.
2) History. I love the history. Maybe for the reasons above or maybe for others but there have been passionate enough to create this art form and they've been doing it for over a century. This is sort of circular, I love history when it's musicalized and I love musical history. It seems there have always been very driven gifted people who have been able to advance the musical to really reach people.
3) Storytelling. Musical Theatre is one of many forms of storytelling, but it is unique in that it songs are infectious. They convey passion but they also can be passed and taught through their lyrics. Kids learn the alphabet by singing. Sometimes we learn other things from songs, I can't help but think that there were songs that got us through times of strife that did so because in their original form they helped characters. They tell a story of people and coping and musical can heal the soul.
Anyway, that's all just musings. Nothing too important. But "To Life" just came on playbill radio and nothing could have made me happier....does that make sense?
Pins.
Speaking of amazing forgetful moments I have three words "Leslie Ugums June" I think that's probably all you have to type into YouTube to see Leslie make one of the biggest flubs taped live.
What I really started to think about today was why I like musicals. Lots of people like lots of things. Why do I like musicals? So many people hate or have no feeling toward them at all. But what is the underlying core that makes it so appealing. Here are some of my ideas:
1) Passion. I'm sort of an emotional person and music is a very emotional experience. It takes a moment in time, a feeling, or any shared experience and extends it to it's most passionate expression.
2) History. I love the history. Maybe for the reasons above or maybe for others but there have been passionate enough to create this art form and they've been doing it for over a century. This is sort of circular, I love history when it's musicalized and I love musical history. It seems there have always been very driven gifted people who have been able to advance the musical to really reach people.
3) Storytelling. Musical Theatre is one of many forms of storytelling, but it is unique in that it songs are infectious. They convey passion but they also can be passed and taught through their lyrics. Kids learn the alphabet by singing. Sometimes we learn other things from songs, I can't help but think that there were songs that got us through times of strife that did so because in their original form they helped characters. They tell a story of people and coping and musical can heal the soul.
Anyway, that's all just musings. Nothing too important. But "To Life" just came on playbill radio and nothing could have made me happier....does that make sense?
Pins.
Tuesday, October 2, 2007
To Sodomy it's Between God and Me To S&M
Today my boss asked me to look up Rent Jr and order a perusal copy. I would have looked at him quizzically but found the question so completely foreign that I decided it would be embarrassing to show him my "what the fuck are you talking about" face. However one does exist, and I wasn't entirely surprised to find this out. My first incline was to look up the license on MTI, because they have made a bundle on these junior and school editions. Sure enough they've got rent but no word on a junior or school edition. Search the web and low and behold the first page to pop up is a yahoo questions page where someone asks about the existence of such things. Apparently it does exist and there are a few high schools that will be premiering it this fall.
I'm still not entirely shocked because about two months ago I got an email announcing the impending Avenue Q Jr. edition. Thrilling but also concerning.
While the well informed high school students on the yahoo page assured us that there are no major songs cut (besides "Contact" thank god) and just small lyric changes and versus have been made to original script. I'm inclined to believe all this because I have to say that MTI's school edition of Les Mis is really well done. No major plot points cut, not even much recitative, just a verse here and there that made the original show too long anyway. It is careful and graceful in it's cuts and we all appreciate it. But Les Mis is not Rent, and Rent is no Avenue Q. And we are faced with a question.
While highly popular, can these school and junior editions of popular shows hold the interest of the kids, maintain their creative integrity, and please parents. It seems to me Rent maybe has more of a chance than Avenue Q. Rent, oddly enough, I believe with a couple of lyric changes and a little less sex onstage that would be a great thing to get the kids of today performing, so their parents can learn something....and maybe that holds true of Rent too. But Rent has become dated (Christopher Columbus seems to think it's even older that it really is) and it's about older people. And we all hope any 19 year olds in the show aren't crack whores in real life. Rent and Avenue Q are entirely different kettles of fish than Les Mis. Les Mis is tried and true and spans the generations, young and old have been so obsessed that even the premature revival is still running in New York. Rent, while ever popular is not a young and old pleaser...it's just a young please, and even those young aren't so young anymore. Spring Awakening is this generations Rent. The baby boomer generation didn't grow up with it, there is no love for it the way their is for Les Mis which they loved in the theatre and will cry when they see their kids perform it. I'm very interested to see how it all turns out. It could be really really good, for the whole theatre community, or it could push us back years...a little like High School Musical....
Avenue Q are so intense in their drama and their stressful lives that , I feel, is a whole other story. Avenue Q is satire for one....which sadly enough high schoolers can't quite get a grips of. My greatest joy was doing Once Upon A Mattress in high school, and my greatest sorrow was that nobody understood how funny it was. High schoolers eat up angsty pieces like Spring Awakening and Rent. While I know Avenue Q is popular amongst almost any young person that hears it, performing it is an entirely separate matter. 1) Puppets 2) Sex 3) Almost every song title. Having also read opinions on the matter of Avenue Q Jr. it seems that the puppets are a large concern. Yes professional puppeteers were originally cast, but all the people I know who have gotten fairly far in the callback process for the show have not been puppeteers, they aren't searching for that they willing to teach. So my opinion is that high schoolers given the challenge of puppetry would rise to the occasion, I can even see them building their own puppets with great effectiveness....it's the major themes of the show that I think will make it more difficult. There is the matter of the satire, but also the shear subject matter wouldn't get past the most lenient school district. I can't imagine how, "The Internet is For Porn," "You Can Be As Loud As the Hell You Want When You're Making Love," and "Special" will retain any of their original intent and become clean enough for a high school stage.
So those are my main concerns. I don't think they are of much validity seeing as I have not read a perusal, nor can one as I discovered this morning. But believe me, should I get a copy of either of those scripts in my hot little hand, I will tell all!
As a matter of high school shows in general I happened to be at my Alma Marta yesterday when my band teacher asked for suggestions for musicals. It's a small school, with a small black box space and only a small band, no full orchestra. While I went through all my suggestions (many of which I could tell they had never heard of) I felt somewhat heartened that I knew better than they what would serve the school (I'm such a snob). But then I found out today that the show everyone most wants to do is Into the Woods. So I just finished a summer of Into the Woods, and while I originally thought the Junior version was a disgrace for simply cutting the second half of the show.....after seeing the whole thing 10 times....I no longer think just doing act 1 is such a bad idea. Did you know Into the Woods is 3 hours long?! I don't know I had ever really realized that.....it's loooooooooooong, especially when you add "Our Little World" which is a really weird song. Yeah, Act 1 isn't so bad on it's own. Act 2 has some strange messages like, "sleep with another man and you'll get crushed by a giant" and I don't know if I ever really agreed with that, it scared me as a child. So Into the Woods for a high school, with little budget, 2 interested boys, and not orchestra....does that sound right to you? We'll see. They tried to tell me that Urinetown had so much difficult music that it was practically a operetta and that the book was fluff.....ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm WHAT? The music is accessible and fun and full of different styles and vocal types. The book is hysterical, witty and very intelligent. And the band is written to be small.....could they pick a better show, probably not. Will they listen to me, probably not. I'll just have to take that job someday and do something that will really showcase high school students. Maybe it will be Rent. Who knows.
Pins.
I'm still not entirely shocked because about two months ago I got an email announcing the impending Avenue Q Jr. edition. Thrilling but also concerning.
While the well informed high school students on the yahoo page assured us that there are no major songs cut (besides "Contact" thank god) and just small lyric changes and versus have been made to original script. I'm inclined to believe all this because I have to say that MTI's school edition of Les Mis is really well done. No major plot points cut, not even much recitative, just a verse here and there that made the original show too long anyway. It is careful and graceful in it's cuts and we all appreciate it. But Les Mis is not Rent, and Rent is no Avenue Q. And we are faced with a question.
While highly popular, can these school and junior editions of popular shows hold the interest of the kids, maintain their creative integrity, and please parents. It seems to me Rent maybe has more of a chance than Avenue Q. Rent, oddly enough, I believe with a couple of lyric changes and a little less sex onstage that would be a great thing to get the kids of today performing, so their parents can learn something....and maybe that holds true of Rent too. But Rent has become dated (Christopher Columbus seems to think it's even older that it really is) and it's about older people. And we all hope any 19 year olds in the show aren't crack whores in real life. Rent and Avenue Q are entirely different kettles of fish than Les Mis. Les Mis is tried and true and spans the generations, young and old have been so obsessed that even the premature revival is still running in New York. Rent, while ever popular is not a young and old pleaser...it's just a young please, and even those young aren't so young anymore. Spring Awakening is this generations Rent. The baby boomer generation didn't grow up with it, there is no love for it the way their is for Les Mis which they loved in the theatre and will cry when they see their kids perform it. I'm very interested to see how it all turns out. It could be really really good, for the whole theatre community, or it could push us back years...a little like High School Musical....
Avenue Q are so intense in their drama and their stressful lives that , I feel, is a whole other story. Avenue Q is satire for one....which sadly enough high schoolers can't quite get a grips of. My greatest joy was doing Once Upon A Mattress in high school, and my greatest sorrow was that nobody understood how funny it was. High schoolers eat up angsty pieces like Spring Awakening and Rent. While I know Avenue Q is popular amongst almost any young person that hears it, performing it is an entirely separate matter. 1) Puppets 2) Sex 3) Almost every song title. Having also read opinions on the matter of Avenue Q Jr. it seems that the puppets are a large concern. Yes professional puppeteers were originally cast, but all the people I know who have gotten fairly far in the callback process for the show have not been puppeteers, they aren't searching for that they willing to teach. So my opinion is that high schoolers given the challenge of puppetry would rise to the occasion, I can even see them building their own puppets with great effectiveness....it's the major themes of the show that I think will make it more difficult. There is the matter of the satire, but also the shear subject matter wouldn't get past the most lenient school district. I can't imagine how, "The Internet is For Porn," "You Can Be As Loud As the Hell You Want When You're Making Love," and "Special" will retain any of their original intent and become clean enough for a high school stage.
So those are my main concerns. I don't think they are of much validity seeing as I have not read a perusal, nor can one as I discovered this morning. But believe me, should I get a copy of either of those scripts in my hot little hand, I will tell all!
As a matter of high school shows in general I happened to be at my Alma Marta yesterday when my band teacher asked for suggestions for musicals. It's a small school, with a small black box space and only a small band, no full orchestra. While I went through all my suggestions (many of which I could tell they had never heard of) I felt somewhat heartened that I knew better than they what would serve the school (I'm such a snob). But then I found out today that the show everyone most wants to do is Into the Woods. So I just finished a summer of Into the Woods, and while I originally thought the Junior version was a disgrace for simply cutting the second half of the show.....after seeing the whole thing 10 times....I no longer think just doing act 1 is such a bad idea. Did you know Into the Woods is 3 hours long?! I don't know I had ever really realized that.....it's loooooooooooong, especially when you add "Our Little World" which is a really weird song. Yeah, Act 1 isn't so bad on it's own. Act 2 has some strange messages like, "sleep with another man and you'll get crushed by a giant" and I don't know if I ever really agreed with that, it scared me as a child. So Into the Woods for a high school, with little budget, 2 interested boys, and not orchestra....does that sound right to you? We'll see. They tried to tell me that Urinetown had so much difficult music that it was practically a operetta and that the book was fluff.....ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm WHAT? The music is accessible and fun and full of different styles and vocal types. The book is hysterical, witty and very intelligent. And the band is written to be small.....could they pick a better show, probably not. Will they listen to me, probably not. I'll just have to take that job someday and do something that will really showcase high school students. Maybe it will be Rent. Who knows.
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