Great Songs in Weak Scores- Page 2
Great Songs in Weak Scores
#25re: Great Songs in Weak Scores
Posted: 5/22/05 at 2:55pm
It's a "guilty pleasure" for me, magruder. Carolyn Leigh penned some VERY witty lyrics, and I am partial to "Walk Away", "Shakesphere Lied", and "They Don't Make 'em Like That Anymore".
As for the Tony Roberts songs...EUUUUCHHH!
Praying Decca Broadway will put "Don't Bother Me, I Can't Cope" on CD!
Updated On: 5/22/05 at 02:55 PM
magruder
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/15/03
#26re: Great Songs in Weak Scores
Posted: 5/22/05 at 3:15pmNot to mention the delightful insanity of "He's Here". Tony Roberts is an acquired taste, I suppose, but I really like "Gawk, Tousle and Shucks," "Touch and Go," and of course, "Step to the Rear".
"Gif me the cobra jool!"
Bwaybaby109
Broadway Star Joined: 6/28/03
#27re: Great Songs in Weak Scores
Posted: 5/22/05 at 3:45pm
Yay GirlforTartaglia! Great minds think alike! 
"Have a child for warmth and a baker for bread and a prince for... whatever!"
Sant
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/12/04
#28re: Great Songs in Weak Scores
Posted: 5/22/05 at 3:48pm
Only In New York - THOROUGHLY MODERN MILLIE
Crazy - STARLIGHT EXPRESS
Plum
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/4/04
#29re: Great Songs in Weak Scores
Posted: 5/22/05 at 4:04pm
"Another Suitcase in Another Hall" - Evita
And in a less extreme example, "Day by Day," from Godspell. That's not really a bad score, just a mediocre one.
Oh, and this will probably get me a few flames, but "The Impossible Dream," from Man of La Mancha, a distinctly mediocre score.
Updated On: 5/22/05 at 04:04 PM
#30re: Great Songs in Weak Scores
Posted: 5/22/05 at 4:11pmDivas lament from spamalot.
"I never had theatre producers run after me. Some people want to make more Broadway shows out of movies. But Elliot and I aren't going to do Batman: The Musical." - Julie Taymor 1999
Mr Roxy
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/17/03
#31re: Great Songs in Weak Scores
Posted: 5/22/05 at 6:48pm
How Now was enjoyable. Not great but enjoyable
Loved the score from I Had A Ball
When I Get My Name In Lights - Legs Diamond
A Married Man - Baker Street
It's So Simple - Baker Street
Horn of Plenty - Little Women
Two of A Kind - Gone With The Wind
Poster Emeritus
#32re: Great Songs in Weak Scores
Posted: 5/22/05 at 9:09pmthe gods love nubia- aida
"At the opening night party, they had clowns on stilts, jugglers, a chocolate fountain, popcorn, hot dogs. [My son] looked at me like I had been holding back. Like, 'This is what you do?' I had to tell him, 'No, no, darling. Opening nights don't usually look like this.' It's usually a dark bar with a bottle of vodka." ?Chitty Chitty Bang Bang's Jan Maxwell
plus i proudly share the title of the shortest member over the age of 10 with wickedrentq!
#33re: Great Songs in Weak Scores
Posted: 5/23/05 at 11:04pm
"Oh, and this will probably get me a few flames, but "The Impossible Dream," from Man of La Mancha, a distinctly mediocre score."
There are maybe one or two others (To each his Dulcinea, Aldonza, Dulcinea) but it is not as strong a score as the show's ongoing fame would suggest.
But... how does GYSPY qualify as a weak score?? Ok, some of the vaudeville numbers are intentionally awful but that's the point. The rest is pure gold. The lyrics zip along at a great pace and the tunes are all totally appropraite for the book. There is NOT ONE WEAK LINK in this score. It's fine if the writer doesn't like it, but to say it is weak shows a lack of familiarity with what Broadway is all about. (Maybe the writer spends too much time watching WICKED and PHANTOM over and over?)
Cast albums are NOT "soundtracks."
Live theatre does not use a "soundtrack." If it did, it wouldn't be live theatre!
I host a weekly one-hour radio program featuring cast album selections as well as songs by cabaret, jazz and theatre artists. The program, FRONT ROW CENTRE is heard Sundays 9 to 10 am and also Saturdays from 8 to 9 am (eastern times) on www.proudfm.com
#34re: Great Songs in Weak Scores
Posted: 5/23/05 at 11:27pmalthough i dont agree with it, mydreams is entitled to her opinion. and i have to say that the little lamb comment made me laugh.
Be the change you wish to see in the world.
#35re: Great Songs in Weak Scores
Posted: 5/24/05 at 12:23am
To beat a dead horse, Gypsy is easily in the top 5 scores of all time.
I can't listen to My Favorite Year straight through anymore, but I frequently pop it in for "Twenty Million People" and "Larger Than Life."
"Wanting" and "Children of the Wind" almost redeem Rags for me, but not quite enough to get listened to very often.
"The Devil You Know" is the only thing I ever listen to from Side Show.
#36re: Great Songs in Weak Scores
Posted: 5/24/05 at 1:06am
"Before The Summer Ends" from Dracula the Musical. As a whole, the score was pretty lackluster and undeveloped, several of the songs were quite wonderful. "BTSE" is an amazing example of how a shorter ballad can be so effective when it's well written. I have to be honest, I think it was the only song in the show that Don Black didn't try to write in five minutes. Wildhorn's music had such potential, but the lyrics throughout the show were crap! I really think that Doug Besterman's orchestrations, even though most of it was canned, were gorgeous!
Bye!
Phantom05
------- "We Drink Your Blood And Then We Eat Your Soul, Nothings Gonna Stop Us Let The Bad Times Roll"
-------"Past The Point Of No Return, No Backward Glances, Abandon Thought And Let The Dream Begin"
#37re: Great Songs in Weak Scores
Posted: 5/24/05 at 1:35am
I am still in disbelief that someone mentioned anything from GYPSY.
The Impossible Dream, MAN OF LA MANCHA
Try to Remember, THE FANTASTICKS
Mama, A Rainbow, MINNIE'S BOYS
"If you are going to do something, do it well. And leave something witchy."
-Charlie Manson
#38re: Great Songs in Weak Scores
Posted: 5/24/05 at 2:18am
"Fifty Percent" from Ballroom...
To continue to "beat a dead horse," Gypsy is a wonderful, wonderful show with a great score--not to mention also classic and timeless.
Not today, Geraldine.
#39re: Great Songs in Weak Scores
Posted: 5/24/05 at 2:21am
Yeah, my mouth is still on the floor about the whole Gypsy thing!
Phantom05
------- "We Drink Your Blood And Then We Eat Your Soul, Nothings Gonna Stop Us Let The Bad Times Roll"
-------"Past The Point Of No Return, No Backward Glances, Abandon Thought And Let The Dream Begin"
Urban
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/27/05
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/31/69
#42re: Great Songs in Weak Scores
Posted: 5/24/05 at 10:37am
A Man Worth Fightin' For - Bring Back Birdie
And Eve Was Weak - Carrie
The First Lady of the Land - Mr. President
The Life of the Party - The Happy Time
The Man Nobody Could Love - Legs Diamond
Chief Cook and Bottle Washer - The Rink
Stop Time - Big
Orbachs, Bloomingdales, Best and Saks - Coco
Men - Lorelei
Running in Place - Steel Pier
There are no good songs in Thou Shalt Not and Nick & Nora.
cathyhyatt
Broadway Star Joined: 10/20/04
#43re: Great Songs in Weak Scores
Posted: 5/24/05 at 1:25pm
astonishing-little women
only song I really liked in the show..
"You won't fight without layers of armor
Suit on up and come brace my sword
You look back when the pieces are missing
Hollowed out hope that no time can restore."
#44re: Great Songs in Weak Scores
Posted: 5/24/05 at 4:09pm
Geez, let up on the person who has a different opinion about Gypsy!
Anyway:
Aida - My Strongest Suit
Triumph of Love - Have A Little Faith, Henchmen are Forgotten, and Mr. Right
Jane Eyre - Sirens, In The Light of the Virgin Morning, The Proposal
Hairspray - Mama, I'm A Big Girl Now
The Scarlet Pimpernel - Prayer, Falcon in the Dive
Jekyll and Hyde - In His Eyes
...I think this is mostly a list of guilty pleasures, but hey.
Merrily we roll along, roll along...
Updated On: 5/24/05 at 04:09 PM
hypertruffle
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/22/05
#45re: Great Songs in Weak Scores
Posted: 5/24/05 at 4:20pmWithoutaTrace-Since you've mentioned Carrie, is there any recordings available from the show?
"The cynicism you refer to, I acquired the day I discovered I was different from little boys!~All About Eve
#46re: Great Songs in Weak Scores
Posted: 5/24/05 at 4:24pm
not any recordings that are legal. i had to do some serious research to get a hold of that one.
Updated On: 5/24/05 at 04:24 PM
hypertruffle
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/22/05
#47re: Great Songs in Weak Scores
Posted: 5/24/05 at 4:25pmah....Have you actually seen the show *curiousity of the experience rises*
"The cynicism you refer to, I acquired the day I discovered I was different from little boys!~All About Eve
#48re: Great Songs in Weak Scores
Posted: 5/24/05 at 4:30pmi really like once upon a time from Brooklyn... thats just my opinion and i think its the best song from the brooklyn score, all though theres not too much competition
#49re: Great Songs in Weak Scores
Posted: 5/24/05 at 4:32pmi was only 6 when the show came out in 1988 so I did not see the show live. i have seen the bootleg of act 1 though. the show has great appeal to me because it was a huge flop. some of the music is good, but according to those who saw it, the show flopped because of the staging and the costumes.
