Profile for GavestonPS

Jarethan said: "I literally just thought of something. As I recall, most of those big production numbers had neither M or M in them. They were just big numbers, filled with background players. I think the inability to identify with anyone up there was an issue also. Maybe I will regret saying that, but I guess I feel that M&M is probably unsalvageable."Another post points out that Mack does sing some of those production numbers, but he sings a chorus and then exits to make way for the dance e...

Someone in a Tree2 said: "Gaveston, thanks for the nod of approval, sir.I would probably agree with you that BRIDGES remains one of my two favorite Bway scores of at least the last ten years. Wanna hear my other favorite? The gorgeous but perpetually slant-rhymed HADESTOWN.See how open-minded I can be in the face of sheer brilliance?"And I own all three recordings of HADESTOWN! If I hadn't met you in RL I might think you were some ghostie I had created long ago and forgotten! (This is a joke....

wiggum2 said: "random question, which of the Normas sang the line "I'm sick to dead of that old filling station shirt, stained with yesterday's dessert in The Ladys paying? It seems most of the videos I have found on YT have the linesShut up, I'm richNow some platinum blonde bitchI own so many apartmentsI've forgotten which is whichthanks"Damn! What a terrible lyric for that character!To what "apartments" does she refer? Real estate investments? Who cares?Other homes in NY, London and Paris? ...

HogansHero said: ""those impeccable rhymes maintained the high standard of the best Broadway showtunes of the period"and they also helped maintain his record of flops because not many people were interested in those perfect rhymes of his. Sorry but iin the commercial world of Broadway in which he tried to play, it's about resonance not rhyme."Hogan, without arguing your point, I think you've picked the wrong example. To me--and I acknowledge that this is partly subjective--BRIDGES sacrifices ...

Someone in a Tree2 said: "With something as personal as rhyming, context is everything, isn't it?Jason Robert Brown's absolutely perfect rhymesfor his small-town 1960's characters inBRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY don't make those plain people any less colloquial and salt of the earth than if their rhyminghad been imperfect. The tunesmight be country-inflected, but those impeccablerhymes maintained the high standard of the best Broadway showtunes of the period.And when he wanted to create an unpoli...

Sutton Ross said: "Absolutely agree, Dolly. People know NOTHING about what happened. Anything could have happened, a fall, a medical event, anything. Disgusting that people keep judging and keep just going after her for choices they have NO IDEA she even made.Despicable. Keep it to yourself and stay out of this thread."She made a choice to take a toddler out on a boat by herself. She got into the water with that child without her life vest. Those are the two choices that are being criticized ...

Dolly80 said: "...None of us know what happened to Naya, so for anyone to even dare say she was negligent or did something wrong , is absolutely disgusting...."Oh, get over yourself and your "disgust". You don't know these people.It is a FACT that it was a poor decision to take a toddler out on a large expanse of water by herself; if was also unwise--if true as reported--to go swimming without her life jacket. This is proven because the unfortunate child spent hours by himself, alone on a str...

Wow, Mike, you took great notes! I'm going to keep a copy, if you don't mind.Yeah, I assumed Mueller (my guy) and Pattison were probably just using the word "tension" in different senses of the word. What I didn't mention was that I had written the prologue of an opera in perfectly rhymed couplets, which got to be more than a bit much after a while. The scene was much better when I re-wrote it in (unrhymed) free verse, and the composer was happier, too.Thanks!

joevitus said: "Ron Field, but I know that was an unconscious error. You know who Ron Field is."Yes, of course, I do. Thanks, pal.Ron Link was a big name in Los Angeles theater and also died much too young. I've lived in SoCal since 1985.I'll fix it and give you credit.

ljay889 said: "Man, I don't enjoy the cheesy staging/choreography of the titlenumber. The Mendesand Elliotproductions did/doa much better job with the number. Sondheim has told Elliot that her staging of the number is actually how he always envisionedit."It might have been more helpful if he had told previous directors as well. (j/k)

Thanks for the update on the Twitter wars, Tag. I have no emotional attachment to Miss Michele one way or another, but I agree with you: I don't see how she can win. Deactivating her account probably made a lot of sense.

Jarethan said: "...Just not sure re M&M. The basic story is such a downer. They would have to only focus on part of the story, but songs would no longer work; give it a Pulp Fictuon telling (out of order, the dead guys are happy at the end of the movie because it is not the end of the story. I am betting it will never work...."We probably had this conversation years ago, but that's basically what Ron Field [thanks to joevictus for correcting my senior moment on the director's name]--choreogra...

GavestonPS said: "A friend of a friend films Broadway shows for B-rolls and commercials and, yes, he DOES shoot the entire show so that he can review it for likely clips. I know this for a fact because I have seen the filmed shows. They are not ... suitable for broadcast, but are filmed with hand-held recorders often blocked by the head of the patron in front. (Some of the worst YouTube videos come from such a source.)Once the photographer has chosen clips and gotten them approved by the prod...

^^^^^ I wasn't in the room where it happened, JB, but knowing their other work, I suspect Fornes and Carmines were making an asset out of a liability. (Carmines did some interesting work with Gertrude Stein's texts, unrhymed of course because that's the way Stein wrote, even when she intended her words to be sung.)Paul Gordon is a current example of work where the characters sometimes sing in the prose of the source novel, sometimes sing in unrhymed verse, sometimes in rhymed verse. And, damn...

To continue Hogan's train of thought, to some (particularly those who grew up on pop music and slant rhymes) perfect rhyming can make all the characters sound like they are at one of Cole Porter's cocktail parties.(On the other hand, the "hillbilly" characters of L'IL ABNER all sing in perfect rhymes by the master, Johnny Mercer. As do the "underworld" characters of GUYS AND DOLLS, with Frank Loesser's lyrics. So the impact of rhyming in comedies seems to be different than in "representationa...

Sutton Ross said: "You can question it all you want, GavestonIt really doesn't matter anymore, sadly. It's always very weird to me when people judge someone for the way they've died and are still judging them in death. A person is dead, regardless of the reason. It's a loss felt by all who loved them, and that should be the focus. I could go on about that but that is a whole other subject for a whole different day. Take care of yourself, friend."I'm glad you and I aren't going to start a pers...

poisonivy2 said: "This actually sounds like a pretty classic suicide to me. But I could be wrong. Really tragic. Her poor son."Of all the possible scenarios, this seems the least likely to me. Obviously, she was sufficiently in her right mind and involved as a parent to put her son in a life jacket. That the same woman would leave her child alone in such an expanse of water for who-knows-how-many-hours just doesn't strike me as possible. Four-year-olds slip off clothing pretty quickly. Unless...

ErikJ972 said: "I know I always come to the BWWfor boat safety tips."Point taken, but we've been discussing all sorts of things while most of us are confined at home.

With respect, my friend, you don't know that either. I still question the wisdom of taking a toddler out on a lake with only one adult supervising. I further question the wisdom of taking the toddler for a swim (as has been reported), leaving no one on the boat, particularly if the supervising adult wasn't wearing a life jacket.Now a lot of concerned and caring parents might do either of those things. I readily admit that. But I question the wisdom nonetheless.

This thread reminds me of how we can't discuss gun control after a mass shooting because "it's disrespectful to the victims"; but then nobody is interested in the subject when there has NOT been a mass shooting.I'll have to consult the Oracle at Delphi for the exact moment when we can use this tragedy as a reason to discuss water safety.Obviously, Miss Rivera cared enough about her child to make sure HE was in a life jacket. At worst, she made an unfortunate error in judgment; nobody is accus...