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Antheil
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« Reply #15 on: 22:56:29, 23-05-2008 » |
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OMIGOD, I ain't ever seen a musical in my life!
Can we vote on favourite Pet Shop Boys? Only joking!
It would be for me, Father it's a Sin
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Reality, sa molesworth 2, is so sordid it makes me shudder
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Descombes
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« Reply #16 on: 23:20:03, 23-05-2008 » |
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I have certainly voted for Show Boat. I would also agree that the 1989/90 Opera North/RSC joint production was stunning; I saw it at Stratford in 1990. I have just found the programme; inside it, I have a newspaper review by Edward Seckerson from the Sunday Correspondent. Now that was a paper (short-lived, sadly) which took music and the arts seriously!
It was also around that time that the superb complete recording on EMI was first issued.
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IgnorantRockFan
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« Reply #17 on: 23:21:17, 23-05-2008 » |
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I guess Singing in the Rain (all-time favourite) is ineligible because it wasn't written as a Broadway musical and it re-used songs from several other sources rather than being conceived as a single musical work. And you've already ruled out my #2 choice: West Side Story. Curses! Most of my other preferred picks aren't on the list either: Brigadoon, An American in Paris and On the Town should all be eligible choices. (I know you excluded Bernstein but much of his music for On the Town was dropped for the movie and replaced by songs from a studio writer, and that's the version I would vote for!) So sticking to your list... hmmm... my favourite films are Kiss Me Kate and My Fair Lady, but that's largely for non-musical reasons. Picking purely for the music, I've voted Carousel (but I think you're wrong about it being superior to Oklahoma). I'm a closet musical fan... don't tell my rock-fan buddies  |
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« Last Edit: 23:22:50, 23-05-2008 by IgnorantRockFan »
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Allegro, ma non tanto
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thompson1780
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« Reply #18 on: 23:31:00, 23-05-2008 » |
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Of those on the poll at the moment, I've played weeks of Annie, Showboat, Carousel, My Fair Lady, and Kiss Me Kate, only missing out Guys and Dolls, although I think Annie was in the revival rather than the 46 version. I've also scraped away at Oklahoma for a while.
Carousel is good but you get a bit sick of never walking alone, although Mr Snow makes up for that.
My Fair Lady always gives me a teary moment when I grow accustomed to her face, but seems just conventional.
Annie is no great shakes. Kate has too much brushing up of Shakespeare. Showboat was quite interesting, and pretty good musically, but I think Carousel may just have the edge.
Oklahoma - well I just keep thinking Surrey, and that's enough to put me off.
Other than those, having just done Crazy for You, I wonder what Girl Crazy was like?
Tommo
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Made by Thompson & son, at the Violin & c. the West end of St. Paul's Churchyard, LONDON
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Stanley Stewart
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« Reply #19 on: 00:13:02, 24-05-2008 » |
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Will the birds make a racket in the churchyard trees, mart? 
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Don Basilio
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« Reply #20 on: 09:43:14, 24-05-2008 » |
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I've voted Carousel (but I think you're wrong about it being superior to Oklahoma)
I don't think it is. As I said I don't know Carousel, but I got the impression musicians preferred it, as is the case with martle I saw a London revival of Oklahoma ten years ago, with Maureen Lipman as Aunt Ella. I remember vividly a programme note pointing out that for Americans one of the ground breaking things about the work was its title: Oklahoma does not have very sophisticated connotations in the States. The programme went on to say that it was reminiscent of an old pre-war British theatrical story. One theatrical type asks another "How's Goodnight Vienna playing in Streatham?" Answer "'Bout as well as Goodnight Streatham would play in Vienna." When I mentioned this to my mother, she told me the first film she ever saw at the cinema was Goodnight Vienna, possibly with Jack Buchanan and Evelyn Laye. |
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To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven.
A time to weep, and a time to laugh: a time to mourn, and a time to dance
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richard barrett
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« Reply #21 on: 09:54:33, 24-05-2008 » |
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I don't know Carousel, but I got the impression musicians preferred it, as is the case with martle
I just voted for Carousel too, before reading your post, Don B. Maybe that makes me a musician too! On the other hand my knowledge of the repertoire is severely restricted. |
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George Garnett
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« Reply #22 on: 10:24:00, 24-05-2008 » |
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I confirmed my status as a non-musician by voting for Showboat.  Part of the reason was that Showboat (1927) maybe gets a few points for opening up the whole genre and making the others possible? |
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« Last Edit: 11:26:18, 24-05-2008 by George Garnett »
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Morticia
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« Reply #23 on: 10:25:08, 24-05-2008 » |
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I voted for Carousel but then what do I know? I'm not a musician  |
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Milly Jones
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« Reply #24 on: 10:48:36, 24-05-2008 » |
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I voted for Showboat because it was the first musical I ever saw and my grandfather took me to see it. We went to the matinee performance and he fell asleep so I decided not to wake him and watch it round again. There were frantic scenes when we finally arrived home - very late. (My paternal grandfather was a character and a half! I was always singing songs I heard on the radio as a very small child and being an extrovert used to burst into song when were out if the mood took me. He soon discovered that lots of people would say "ah how cute" and give me money. He was a compulsive gambler and I didn't realise till many years later that when he took me out and told me to sing on the bus or in other crowded places, that he was effectively taking me busking. ) |
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We pass this way but once. This is not a rehearsal!
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Don Basilio
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« Reply #25 on: 10:51:26, 24-05-2008 » |
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I don't have any recordings of Bill. I'm saying four of the songs were popular in that many many recordings were made by dance bands, jazz bands and solo recording artistes in the 1920s-1930s. The four are Ol' Man River, Why Do I Love You?, Make Believe, and Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man.
John
I'd forgotten Why Do I Love You? Bill is lovely. He's just my Bill, an ordinary guy, you'd see him in the street and never notice him... Cain't Help Lovin' is wonderful: it can bring a lump to my throat, and it works as a slow solo and as syncopated chorus and dance number as the coda. Why Do I Love You? Bill and Cain't Help Lovin' are all expressions of love fully aware that the object of affection is less than ideal, mortal, guilty but to me the entirely beautiful. |
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To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven.
A time to weep, and a time to laugh: a time to mourn, and a time to dance
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John W
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« Reply #26 on: 12:01:46, 24-05-2008 » |
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Cain't Help Lovin'
I should point out, Don, that C'aint is not the pronunciation on the early recordings I have. Just dug out the earliest couple on 78s to be sure. I have the HMV by Helen Morgan who appeared as Julie LaVerne in the original cast of Show Boat. I also have the US Columbia record sung by 'Aunt Jemima' who was (on this record) Tess Gardelle who played Queenie in the original cast. They were both white singers. I don't have any recordings of Can't Help Lovin Dat Man by black singers. Amusingly, though it was common in the 1920s for anyone to sing any popular song, I have the song sung by male singers, e.g. Eddie Gross-Bart and Maurice Elwin. John W |
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BobbyZ
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« Reply #27 on: 12:12:05, 24-05-2008 » |
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Haven't checked the voting but judging from the posts, nobody seems to rate Guys and Dolls. Which happens to be the only musical I have ever seen live, the Bob Hoskins / Julie Covington staging at the National Theatre. Maybe it's a musical for those who don't really like musicals ?
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Dreams, schemes and themes
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martle
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« Reply #28 on: 12:17:10, 24-05-2008 » |
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I like it, BZ. In fact I like all those shows; but the poll question is about 'musical interest' specifically. Would anyone vote differently if it was about best show all-round? (I don't think I would.)
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Green. Always green.
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IgnorantRockFan
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« Reply #29 on: 12:26:14, 24-05-2008 » |
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I like it, BZ. In fact I like all those shows; but the poll question is about 'musical interest' specifically. Would anyone vote differently if it was about best show all-round? (I don't think I would.)
I would! (With the proviso that I haven't seen any of them on a professional stage, so I'm basing it mainly on film versions.) As a satisfying story, and for the performance of the cast, I would vote for the film version of My Fair Lady. But, one or two numbers aside, it doesn't interest me musically as much as others in the poll. |
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Allegro, ma non tanto
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Poll
