Webber Wants Sarah Brightman for Upcoming Phantom Follow-Up- Page 3

[Scarywarhol]

Posted: 5/27/07 at 1:15pm

I have to say, I kind of like the idea of the adventures of Old Christine. This will probably be awful, but I'll definitely see it.

[somethingwicked]

Posted: 5/27/07 at 1:46pm

Brightman is indeed an international star (though she's certainly not my cup of tea.)

I bet he hasn't even written a note for this show yet.

Isn't that song "The Heart Is Slow To Learn" that Webber debuted a year or two ago planned for this show?

[musical_devotee]

Posted: 5/27/07 at 1:50pm

Re Sarah and her good looks, I think it's surgery, especially when you look at some old pictures of her.

Still, never mind, it's the result that counts.

[whiskedaway]

Posted: 5/27/07 at 2:47pm

"Second of all, I'm wondering if this is Lloyd Webber's attempt to lure her back... in more ways than one."

Isn't The Phantom of Manhattan about the Phantom writing some big opera to try to get Christine to come back and sing for him? Coincidence? lol

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 5/27/07 at 2:52pm

A Rake + A Chalkboard = Sarah Brightman

Posted: 5/27/07 at 8:55pm

"Isn't that song "The Heart Is Slow To Learn" that Webber debuted a year or two ago planned for this show? "

That would be VERY shameless of Webber to re-use it--even more than his usual re-using--considering it was the big pop single from Beautiful Game (video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7gKW7oRnoE )

I've never cared for Sarah's very thin voice (which is why I much prefer the Toronto Phantom recording)--my fave songs of hers are the disco classics I Lost My Heart to a Starship Trooper and its sequel Adventures of the Love Crusader (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLEZmhkVVkA)

[The Boy From Ohio]

Posted: 5/27/07 at 9:12pm

chernjam-(who, boy from ohio - I never cared much for)

I never said I never cared much for (her). I said I didn't like her. That was me being nice. I can't stand her shrill voice, honestly. It seem's I am not alone in my opinion. Quote me correctly!

Updated On: 5/27/07 at 09:12 PM

[muscle23ftl]

Posted: 5/27/07 at 9:32pm

[jv92]

Posted: 5/27/07 at 9:36pm

"Yeah one or possibly two melodies per show. I'm really glad you have an outlet for your anger about..whatever it is your being so bitter about. This is probably the safest way to diffuse it."

He does though! Listen very closely to Phantom. Every song is the same. It's not even theme and variation! Sondheim does that in Passion and brilliantly. Every song sounds different, but actually they're all based on the same theme. Lloyd Webber proves that he is an unskilled, idiotic composer by not doing this at all. He just repeats his crap 25 times.

[KQuill]

Posted: 5/27/07 at 9:45pm

Yes, he has less themes than say Sondheim, so he repeats them more...i'll give you that. But I hope you don't literally mean one or two...there are at least 12 different themes in Phantom that I am thinking off the top of my head right now. If you want me to name each one i'd be more than glad to, just say the word.

And I'd reccommend punching a pillow or squeezing a rubber ball...

[jv92]

Posted: 5/27/07 at 11:53pm

It's three tops. Anyone wanna help me here?

Posted: 5/28/07 at 12:07am

I think parts of Phantom musically are lazy but I dunno--ALW is alwasy criticized for repeating his themes when some of the best regarded operas are at least as guilty

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 5/28/07 at 12:22am

The problem with Webber is not that he repeats his themes. There are recurring musical motifs in some of the best shows (PASSION, CAROLINE OR CHANGE, FUNNY GIRL, INTO THE WOODS, KISS OF THE SPIDERWOMAN, SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE, et al). My problem is how inefficiently he uses them and how transparent he can be at times in terms of trying to get a tune stuck in your head or having a hit song in a show (see "Memory").
I think Brightman has a winning voice but her acting skills left much to be desired of. I doubt Christine will be any more three-dimensional than she is in the first PHANTOM so I doubt it would really make any difference, she would sell tickets, sing the score beautifully, and make me roll my eyes when the show becomes a success.

[KQuill]

Posted: 5/28/07 at 12:46am

OK you give me no choice, here we go..

-Prologue music/I remember
-POTO theme
-Think of Me
-Angel of Music
-Don Juan triumphant theme (precedes MOTN and PONR)
-Music of the Night
-Notes
-Prima Donna
-All I Ask of You
-Masquerade
-Point of No Return

That's not counting the ballet and opera music that im not sure if he composed or not..probly not but.

Unless your argument is that all those themes are too alike...im not sure where you get the number 2...

[rockfenris2005]

Posted: 5/28/07 at 3:16am

I don't see a problem with using "The Heart Is Slow To Learn" in "The Phantom Of Manhattan". That was what it was originally composed for then ALW got "cold feet". He only recycled the chorus theme for "Our Kind Of Love" which was a weak song anyway. It never lived up to its potential, IMO.

Besides, I don't see the reuse as THAT explicit. I mean, "On This Night Of A Thousand Stars" turns up as the title theme to "Starlight Express", "Variations 8" ("Variations") becomes the overture/cascading theme to "Starlight Express" as well. You can hear all sorts of influences from "Cats" in "Requiem" and other works. "The Odessa File" is NOT an obscure movie and THAT has the main theme from "Sunset Boulevard". Everything in "The Likes Of Us" has been, musically, reused in most of ALW's other projects. Yet he staged a performance of the show in 2005, easily available on CD.

Besides, the man has had "less shame" in the past ("Rosemary" from Frank Loesser-->"Jesus Christ Superstar", Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto-->"I Don't Know How To Love Him", Ravel's "Bolero"-->"Memory" etc.) It's not that big of a deal

I hope he uses "The Heart Is Slow To Learn"
a) because it's a much more moving piece than "Our Kind Of Love"
b) I think it's better than anything from "The Phantom Of The Opera"
c) I think it's one of the best tunes he composed EVER

Updated On: 5/28/07 at 03:16 AM

Posted: 5/28/07 at 8:26am

I guess my biase is I always found The HEart overated among Webber fans--so I don't really care if he used it again or not. That said I think the fact that it was premiered on such a hugely televised concert AND that Our Kind of Love was a pop single, makes the comparison much more obvious than the other examples you brought up (plus I disagree--the similarities between the two songs is so close--that even a very casual listener would notice)

[jv92]

Posted: 5/28/07 at 10:47am

The Music of the Night and All I Ask of You are musically almost identical. Lyrically, they're almost identical on terms of pure stupidity.

[DARTH]

Posted: 5/28/07 at 11:39am

I really thought I could stay out of this discussion, but the thread has become too delicious.

I was an investor, although a small one, in the Broadway production of "Phantom". Obviously, from a financial standpoint, I am thrilled with the success of the show. One can argue all day about the relative merits of the show, but what cannot be challenged is the eight hundred million dollars in box office the New York production has generated.

However.... there are SO MANY great back stories with this show, and I think some of you are either forgetting them or just aren't aware.

After Phantom's triumphant debut in London, when the show was being readied for New York, the producers here were keen to have Michael Crawford to reprise his role of Phantom, but had very little interest in Sarah. Actors' Equity similarly agreed quickly to let Michael appear on Broadway, but initially rejected Sarah.

Of course, Andrew threw one of his famous fits, to the point where he made strong implications that if Sarah was not allowed to perform on Broadway, then he was not at all sure that he would allow Phantom to come to Broadway. Things were very tense for some time before a compromise was struck- Sarah would be given permission to perform as Christine for six months; after that the role would have to be played by an American actress.

That compromise was somewhat begrudgingly accepted, and the show opened in New York. But there was still some animosity on all sides. While Micahel was nominated and won the Tony for Best Actor in a Musical, Sarah was not even nominated. Andrew was nominated for the music from the show, but the Tony went to Stephen Sondheim for "Into The Woods". And when Phantom won Best Musical, Andrew's short acceptance speech concluded with him raising the Tony Award and saying, "For Sarah".

And while the show was indeed originally written with Sarah in mind, including "The Music of the Night", which was originally meant to be sung by Christine, almost no critic of which I'm aware- theatre or music- has ever named Sarah as the definitive Christine. As one who has been associated with this show for over twenty years now, Sarah may clearly be Andrew's favorite, but VERY few on the "inside" would share his assessment.

[muscle23ftl]

Posted: 5/28/07 at 11:47am

Thanks for sharing that story, but I gotta tell you, Sarah wound up "making it" by herself with a thrilling recording career.

[KQuill]

Posted: 5/28/07 at 12:07pm

I know i'm just being a loser who saw "Behind the Mask"...but according to Cameron, Music of the Night was a song he'd already written called Married Man for Aspects of Love (which was written about Sarah). They realized that the Phantom didn't have a song of his own so they threw it into the middle of the first act and Stilgoe called it Music of the Night.

I am super impressed that you were an investor and everything but...maybe you should get some of your stories straight before we take your "backers" word for it.

And jv92...c'mon man. You are making my point. Why are MOTN and AIAOY the same? Because they are in the same key? The melodies aren't the same...the chord progressions aren't the same...how exactly are they "identical"?

[ElFantasma14]

Posted: 5/28/07 at 12:14pm

Sarah Brightman will always be the definitive Chrstine for me, since I grew up listening to her on the OLC. However, has anyone seen the footage of her and Michael in "Point of No Return" on the Behind the Mask thingy? Her eyes are about to pop out! It's soo weird! I seriously think she's half woman half bug. That being said, her acting is limited to
a. concerned, eyes bugging out and
b. frightened, eyes bugging out.

[DARTH]

Posted: 5/28/07 at 12:33pm

KQuill- understand and appreciate your passion, but you should also not think seeing "Behind The Mask" substitutes for actually being behind the scenes. I've read your other postings, so I know you do understand who produced and released "Behind The Mask". Do you really think that's a candid "warts and all" chronology, or a documentary meant to enlghten and further interest patrons about a phenomenally successful show? As in most entertainment, and that's exactly what "Behind The Mask" is meant to be, there are many factual elements, some of which are given "spin" to rewrite history a little more kindly than the reality. As I said in my first posting, there are MANY back stories to this show, as I think there are in every production. But you will not have read about these in a book or seen these on television; you would have had to live them in real time.

[rockfenris2005]

Posted: 5/28/07 at 12:40pm

It's true. "Aspects Of Love" was originally done as a cabaret at the Sydmonton Festival, 1983. It starred Marti Webb ("Tell Me On A Sunday") and Sarah Brightman w/ lyrics and direction from Trevor Nunn (it was Tim Rice who discovered the book but he declined from involvement.)

Sarah's centrepiece song was "Married Man" which she later recorded with the London Philharmonic. She performed it live, at least, two/three times before the release of the song was cancelled. Why? Because Andrew Lloyd Webber was going through a divorce and would later marry Sarah Brightman. Releasing "Married Man" would have been a bit too ironic, I think. So the tune was "banked" and reused as "Music Of The Night" for "Phantom"

Actually, when ALW abandoned "Aspects Of Love" in its first form, a lot of the score went into "Phantom". Songs like "It's A Miracle" formed the basis of "Angel Of Music" and "Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again". Not only would that have been heartbreaking to Trevor but he also "lost out" on directing "Phantom". When "Aspects" was finally done, albeit with a LOT of the "Cricket" score, it didn't really take off. So Trevor lost either way, IMO.

It's interesting.

P.S. Eric, although "The Beautiful Game" was a moving, powerful show (I thought) it's not as remembered as, say, "Sunset Boulevard" and the others. It's probably the least know ALW show besides "Jeeves". I think he could get away with reusing the tune.

Updated On: 5/28/07 at 12:40 PM

[chernjam]

Posted: 5/28/07 at 1:08pm

Darth - thanks for sharing some of your insights and experiences -- now if we can get one of the investors from Sunset Blvd to post some backstories!

I do remember the whole Sarah infighting about them bringing her over - and wasn't one of the conditions was that an american had to premiere in ALW's next production (hence Ann Crumb starring in Aspects on both sides of the atlantic in a role that ALW also had written with Sarah in mind... imho - Crumb is the definitive Rose and Sarah's takes on the Aspects songs always disappointed me)

Jim

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 5/28/07 at 1:23pm

How about Phantom of the Metropolitan Opera with Bubbles playing the Phantom ?