Napoleon The Musical ?

Just wondering if anyone on here saw Napoleon The Musical?

I've given the two cast recordings a listen, a lot of the lyrics sound dumb while trying to sound smart, but the music isn't so bad. I actually really like that "Friend You Were to Me" song!

But what exactly was it? Was it really the American-Broadway Anastasia Barzee who "starred" (or I assume? I have no idea of the story, other than it is the French Napoleon Bonabarte we're talking about)?? Lastly, anyone remember how long it ran? All I can seem to find out is it opened in 2000!

I saw it near the end of previews and can't really remember very much about it. The music was passable in an over-the-top popera kind of way (helped by Jonathan Tunick's orchestrations which were fantastic as always) but, as you say, the lyrics were terrible. It was directed by Francesca Zambello - the staging was stunning (I seem to remember they had a hydrolic stage?) and it looked fantastic with lots of drapes and stuff, but as a show it just kind of lumbered along and you never really gave a toss what happened. It did star American-Broadway Anastasia Barzee along with Paul Baker and Uwe Kroger alternating in the title role (I saw the former and he seemed a little lost) and a wonderfully over the top performance from David Burt as Talleyrand. Apparently a complete 'soundboard' recording was made near the end of the run and was intended for release, but it never happened.

Of all the many flop musicals to open in 2000 (The Beautiful Game, Witches of Eastwick, La Cava, Napoleon, Lautrec, Notre Dame de Paris) this was one of the most boring (IMO, naturally!).

There are production images on Francesca Zambello's website, below.
http://www.francescazambello.com/gallery/napoleon.html

Thanks for the info/link. It really .. still doesn't seem interesting at all though. I will say that there are some beautiful melodies, but they are just .. conquered by the lyrics. Like "On the First Night," .. the lyrics make it a wannabe "Too Much in Love to Care" / "All I Ask of You" song, but it fails because the characters aren't too goofs in love and the lyrics aren't sophisticated enough for All I Ask of You...!

How did Barzee even land that role? At that point, had she done something I'm unfamiliar with besides Jekyll & HYDE and Miss Saigon!?? Was Uwe Kroger a name at that point either?

Updated On: 7/31/09 at 04:25 PM

I agree about 'Lautrec' - it looked fab, some of the cast were the dead spitting image of subjects of the artist (I studied art history). The show as a whole, though, was painful but I got comped so can't really complain.

I like the artwork for the London production better!

I have to say that I like the short-little OLCR (or promo maybe?), or well the first four tracks. The new orchestrations sound much better, and Barzee is much better sounding in whichever role she is playing than the person on the Toronto one!