Aspects of Love

so...

what are people's opinions of aspects of love? i never really liked it, but the more i make myself listen to it, the more i like it!!!

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I didn't like it very much after a few listenings and put it away for a while. I was also not a fan of the book at all. Couldn't believe that anyone would have decided to musicalize it.

However, when I saw it, I enjoyed the performances very much and subsequently began to have a better appreciation for the recording. Though, I do think that was mostly due to it reminding me of the performances that I saw, not the work itself.

...sorry double post...

Updated On: 9/16/03 at 10:46 AM

I have never seen the play, but I have listened over and over again to the London cast recording and I love it.

After watching the performance on the Tonys that year I thought the show should have been sponsored by Campho Penique and billed as "Aspects of Love: The Cold Sore Musical."

Love, it changes everything.

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I would like the show more if it weren't so damn repetitive. It ran for 3 years right? Not bad.

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I saw it on Broadway and enjoyed it. I think the songs are nice: "A Memory of A Happy Moment" "The Mermaid Song", etc..

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Defnitely my favourite Andrew Lloyd Webber musical and musical score! I like the semi-operatic structure, the achingly romantic songs, and even the use of recitatives is very evocative. And because of the theme and the way he composed the music around it, it reminds me a lot of Stephen Sondheim.

Its most well known song is Love Changes Everything. And there are other memorable ones -- the gorgeous duet Seeing is Believing, Anything But Lonely, The First Man You Remember, The Mermaid Song, Other Pleasures, Chanson D'Enfance, Hand Me the Wine and the Dice, Journey of a Lifetime, A Memory of a Happy Moment, There is More to Love, etc... One of my favourite musical passages is a recitative between Alex and Jenny set to the music of Love Changes Everything simply called Track # 23!

The theme of intertwining loves and their complicated relationships was a little too bold for the stage at the time the book was musicalized. I have read the book by David Garnett -he belonged to the Bohemian group of writers in England called the Bloomsbury Group in mid-century ( most well known was his sister in law Virginia Woolf - the subject of the movie THE HOURS) and it is not surprising that the theme is unconventional. The musical is very faithful to this novella.

The cast in London ( which recorded the album) was perfect -- the same four lead stars on Broadway ( Michael Ball, Ann Crumb, Kevin Colson and Kathleen Rowe McAllen) and Diana Morrison who is perfect as Jenny. Michael has a magnificent voice - singing or emoting. Not bad to look at either... Ann Crumb was also very suited to the role of the French actress - a sultry personality with a very good voice.

If you had seen the show on stage, then you must recall the attractive sets ( especially the eye-popping scene of the Pyrenees Mountain in southern France) and the rather European feel to the musical.

It is a score which grows on you - the more you listen to it, the more the enchantment grows. It's a CD which is always near my record-player as I find the music very evocative, poignant, and very romantic. Do give it a try!

Jo

Updated On: 9/16/03 at 08:21 PM

Michael Ball drives me crazy these days, but he was fine in this role.

As for the show itself, as others have said -- the concept was fine, execution lacking. The leitmotifs were interesting and purposeful, but there were far too few of them.

It's a nice relief to have "Falling" in act 2 because it's the first original tune you've heard after an hour and a half! (Or more, at that point.)

I saw this show during a week in August 1990 when I saw EVERYTHING playing on Bdwy. We only went to it, however, as it was playing on a Monday, when a lot of other things we wanted to see were closed.

I remember walking in and saying to my friend "Well, this looks full of angst!"

Cut to the chase .... we loved it.

At the intermission we turned to each other and said at the same time "This is great!"....

And WOW! Michael Ball live!!! Not for looks (only), but for SOUND. That man -- when he sings the last note of LOVE CHANGES EVERYTHING -- it goes right through you like an arrow -- I was shocked back into my seat. On the recording it doesn't come off the same, unfortunately, which would lead some people to misjudge the show -- as also, other songs don't play as well on the recording.

My friend who I was with had just lost her father in June, so she found the song of the father "The first man you remember" and the moments between father and daughter particularly moving. I loved the actor/actress stuff at the beginning when Alex was visiting Rose at the theatre and then after for a drink. And my favorite song is actually that recording that skips! I can only remember some of the words ... "Parlez vous francais? Je suis sad." .... I loved that song!

We left the theatre and ran right out to a store and bought the CD!

Here it is 13 years later and we both still consider it a favorite show.

Incidentally, we saw Ann Crumb's understudy -- so it's not the performers particularly (exception: M. Ball), but the show. I do like sung-though, don't mind if they're talking about the laundry -- after all, the most famous aria in Delibes' Lakme has two sopranos dueting singing about nothing and it's extremely well loved!

I'd love to do a production of it, someday.

I saw Aspects of Love on Broadway many years ago. Michael Ball and John Cullum were in it.

I've never heard the recording, but I do remember thinking that the music itself was good. I enjoyed the first act, but after intermission the audience was noticeably smaller than it was at the beginning.

I found the second act extremely boring. The show probably should have closed many months before it did. But word was that ALW kept it open longer so that it wouldn't be counted an official "flop"

I had really forgotten about this show. I'll bet the recording is good.

But whose idea was it to make a musical about an obscure Harlequin romance novel?

I have on thing to say: MICHAEL BALL. That was enough to prompt me to buy the London Cast Recording. *sigh* Now, I agree, it's not the most incredible work ever written, but how I adore Mister Ball and his voice, (and that irresitible smile).

My favourite musical altogether. It was just magic but you needed to see it at least a couple of times to pick up all the nuances.

The original four, Ann Crumb, Michael Ball, Kevin Colson and Kathleen Rowe McAllen were the best, nobody else could match them even Sarah Brightman who was not the ideal Rose.

By the way was John Cullum in it and what role? Keven Colson and Michael Ball left at the same time - I don't remember seeing John Cullum during Michael's time with Aspects on Broadway.