Great Obscure Musicals That Nobody Seems To Know- Page 2

[Mr. Nowack]

Posted: 12/10/15 at 1:58pm

 

 

Love the HENRY score too. I believe there were several production numbers, including the above "Poor Little Person" and maybe the act finale?

Updated On: 12/10/15 at 01:58 PM

Posted: 12/10/15 at 2:11pm

The Pet Shop Boys' "Closer to Heaven."  Great music, not so great show.

 

 

[wonkit]

Posted: 12/10/15 at 2:58pm

I would love to see "Carnival" but I imagine it is difficult to produce: there is that very fine line between the lame puppeteer liking very young girls and Lili being either very young or mentally deficient in not making the connections between the puppets and real life. Charming but awkward. I suppose if it were heavily dressed in fantasy, perhaps, but then the pathos is lost.

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 12/10/15 at 3:03pm

BroadwaySFGuy--I was one of the (few, it should be stated) defenders of Tales of the City when it ran.  Yeah, it was incredibly flawed in the way it tried to squeeze elements of the first two books (I saw a preview so it could have been improved but people laughed for examples when Norman-the creepy child molestor, who maybe should have been cut even if he is a major figure in the first book, fell off the cliff--though it did lead into Mary Ann's great song "Paper Faces", and other plot points were literally wrapped up in one easily missed line of dialogue--I went with a good friend who really enjoyed it and could mostly follow it, not knowing the books or series, but the conclusion of key story points completely eluded him), but the performances, especially Judy Kaye and Betsy Wolfe were all spot on and I thought the Jake Shears score was pretty great and definitely deserves a repeat hearing.  I have a slightly better live recording and the demo (which only has about half the same songs) and actually play them quite a bit...  I was hoping at least some sort of studio recording would be made given Shears' cult following--there were talks of trying it in England (where Tales of the City is a HUGE hit--the tv series of course largely being funded there) but I've not heard anything in years.

 

Deena, I LOVE Closer than Heaven.  Yeah, I always love the PSBoys anyway, and they have always mentioned how much they love musicals from R&H to Sondheim, but the score IMHO does show how they can meld their style and still write for characters.  Unfortunately, you're right--only recently after a decade of loving the cast album did I find a live recording so I could hear Jonathan Harvey's book.  I think he's an overrated playwright anyway (Beautiful Thing is a sweet show but it gets away with a lot because it's sweet) but the book really is pretty awful--aside from the fact that the story is all based on cliches anyway, which I knew, it is riddled with horrible "camp gay" one liners.  He's disowned the musical, claiming writing it was one of his worst experiences ever (which goes against what he writes in, I believe, the liner notes about the wonderful weeks he spent out of town with Neil and Chris working on the piece,) so maybe someone could re-write it or...something.  I mean cliche stories have worked on stage before--but Harvey's actual dialogue is just lazy.  I've always hoped the Boys would try another musical.  It didn't help that the original production was very budget but, worse, a pretty ugly staging (I've heard some of the recent London fringe revivals have been improvements here.)

Given the first review on here, I'll have to give My Life with Albertine another listen.  I was excited by the prospect of a Proust musical (even if that sounds impossible--they do go the Great Comet of 1812 route and just use one episode of his novel,) but nothing of the score grabbed me, but I think I gave my CD only two listens.

I would mention some of LaChiusa's shows here, but I think he is well enough known on this board to not really be obscure--and seems to be in a nice place where his scores now always get recorded (I wish Lovers and Friends and a few of his unrecorded shows would get a recording.)

I have no idea how it played off-Broadway, but I picked up the cast album for February House because the subject matter interested me, and *love* it.  Not sure how much of an afterlife it's had.

Updated On: 12/10/15 at 03:03 PM

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 12/10/15 at 4:17pm

I saw the original production of Closer to Heaven and hated it.  A couple of good songs, but terrible book, staging and choreography.  I listened to My Life With Albertine all the way through only once (it took numerous attempts to get all the way through it) and sold the CD.  I found Minister's Wife and Adding Machine only marginally better.  Perhaps they are less dull on stage?

 

Some that I enjoy:
Goldilocks
How Now, Dow Jones
Two Gentlemen of Verona
The Human Comedy
Hello Again
The Wild Party (LaChiusa)
New Girl in Town
Jane Eyre
Eating Raoul
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
Do Re Mi
Redhead
Plain and Fancy
Juno
Moby Dick
Metropolis

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 12/10/15 at 7:24pm

illiniparkie said: "I also enjoyed a musical that ran forever in Chicago called "Do Black Patent Leather Shoes Really Reflect Up?".  While I remember nothing about the music, it was a fun look at a group of kids growing up together at a Catholic school and was based on a popular book.

 

"

I had a couple of friends in the Broadway production. I liked it, but it tended to get lost in a Broadway theater. Might have run a long time off-Broadway.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 12/10/15 at 7:51pm

Mrs R tried valiantly trying to get thru Albertine. She could not take it anymore. She tried reading Proust and had the same reaction.

 

[Julie Yard]

Posted: 12/10/15 at 8:10pm

A Fine and Private Place was done by the York theater a few years ago (maybe more) and just had some lovely, lovely music. I don't remember if they had the CD for sale or I got it online but I had to have it.

And yea for Adding Machine... I saw that at Minetta Lane. I just looked at the Times review and have no memory of the scene they picture, but I loved that show. 

 

[CoolDogeGuy]

Posted: 2/9/18 at 1:41am

Some of my favorites include Is There Life After High School?, Chaplin, and I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change.

[newintown]

Posted: 2/9/18 at 9:17am

"Some of my favorites include Is There Life After High School?, Chaplin, and I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change."

Calling those three shows "obscure" makes me feel quite old. Heck, the last one was a huge (inexplicable) hit and ran for 12 years!

[faceleg]

Posted: 2/9/18 at 11:07am

Michael Kras said: "A Minister's Wife and Adding Machine are two favourites of mine. Joshua Schmidt is a genius composer that more people should know.One of my favourite musicals is Spoon River, which left me a weeping mess when I first saw it in Toronto. I've sinceseen it four times.If you're not from New York, chances are you may not have heard of Dave Malloy's Ghost Quartet. Viscerally affecting, and that SCORE.Calvin Berger is a hilarious, heartfelt piece of musical theatre for young audiences. Barry Wyner wrote a melodic pop score with clever lyrics.Come From Away is a musical about a small town in Newfoundland during the 9/11 attacks. I saw it in early workshops here in Toronto a few years ago and it is moving through a very successful path. It's currently running at Seattle Rep.Jeremy Schonfeld's Drift is a song cycle about divorce and what it takes to move on. As a child of divorce, much of this show resonates. And the rock score is strong.The Theory of Relativity is another great song cycle by Neil Bartram and Brian Hill (same composing team behind Story of my Life). There are some pleasing melodies and emotional storylines."

I've gotten to see both The Adding Machine (regional production) and Ghost Quartet in Dallas (original cast). Sometimes we do get good things in Dallas lol