GREY GARDENS for Best Musical 2007- Page 5

[VIETgrlTerifa]

Posted: 5/12/07 at 6:30pm

I was very skeptical of this show when I first heard about it. I absolutely adored the documentary and did not feel it needed to be musicalized.

You know how I was won over? The SCORE. No other score has touched me in nearly the same way since Caroline, or Change back in 2004.

[jv92]

Posted: 5/12/07 at 6:46pm

"That is probably the most ignorant thing I've ever read."

Gee thanks. That's my opinion. I thought he shouldn't have won. I prefered Harold Wheeler's work that year.

[bob8rich]

Posted: 5/12/07 at 7:26pm

No other score has touched me in nearly the same way since Caroline, or Change back in 2004.

Caroline or Change is probably the only score I've ever heard that I found more bland and boring than Grey Gardens. That was way beyond awful.

[scooter38432]

Posted: 5/12/07 at 7:43pm

"Caroline or Change is probably the only score I've ever heard that I found more bland and boring than Grey Gardens. That was way beyond awful."

Oh no he did not!

[wonderfulwizard11]

Posted: 5/12/07 at 7:49pm

Oh wow, bob. You aren't gonna be popular here. Dissing GG and Caroline?

[bob8rich]

Posted: 5/12/07 at 7:53pm

I'm sorry if my opinions make me unpopular - but I can't make myself like something I hated. And Caroline or Change is without doubt the most painfully awful experience I have ever had in a theatre in over 30 years as an avid musical theatre fan. I know each person has different ideas of what they like. I just did not like Grey Gardens and found Caroline or Change to be pretentious in the extreme and painfully untuneful.

[BSoBW2]

Posted: 5/12/07 at 7:54pm

Sorry to be you.

[scooter38432]

Posted: 5/12/07 at 7:56pm

bob,

I can understand not liking Caroline on one hearing. However, listen to the opening sequence with Caroline, the Washing Machine, the Radio and the Dryer again. (It's the first 7 or 8 tracks.) Do yourself a favor. It's brilliant writing.

[bob8rich]

Posted: 5/12/07 at 8:05pm

I'm sorry I could not force myself to sit through that score again. I did not just "not like it" - I hated it with a vengeance. In fact, it is the only score I have ever felt that away about as I have pretty eclectic tastes in music - ranging from opera through to rock. I know some people claim that Sondheim is unmelodic - but I find his music to be quite stunning melodically. But I could find nothing in any way pleasurable in the COC score - and the text I just found pretentious - no subtlety at all. I did not find GG painful to listen to - just totally forgettable.

I've tried listening to both scores since seeing the shows - I just can't stick listening to them. Sorry again if that upsets people - I just can't help my taste, I guess. LOL

Updated On: 5/12/07 at 08:05 PM

[jv92]

Posted: 5/12/07 at 8:14pm

I wasn't all that impressed with Caroline when I first saw it. Yeah, I liked it and yeah Tonya Pinkins was extraordinary, but I still think that The Light in the Piazza is bound to join Grey Gardens as the two masterpieces of the decade more than Caroline.

[bob8rich]

Posted: 5/12/07 at 8:17pm

Light In The Piazza - now that I loved. I agree it's a masterpiece. I play the score all the time and never tire of it. Can't see how GG comes even close though.

[Testing1232]

Posted: 5/12/07 at 9:37pm

<< Caroline or Change is probably the only score I've ever heard that I found more bland and boring than Grey Gardens. That was way beyond awful.
>>

WHAT !!!!!!???????????????


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[HeyMrMusic]

Posted: 5/12/07 at 10:14pm

Wow, I really feel like I'm missing out on something. I wish I could have seen what some have called a masterpiece, but watching Grey Gardens, I really didn't see that at all. I didn't hear the score as brilliant either. Yes, I would compare some parts of it to Sondheim (especially "Jerry Likes My Corn," my favorite song in the show), but not many other musical moments really stick out to me. Is it safe to say that this show is not for everyone? Because when my friend and I saw it (we are both theatre people), we weren't swept by it at all. We did agree that Christine Ebersole and Mary Louise Wilson were brilliant (and Matt Cavenaugh was hot), but that's pretty much where our good comments ended. Was I watching the same show? Or am I just missing something? (Several other friends of mine who saw the show had the same opinions as I do.) I really wanted to like it, and I usually enjoy theatre for theatre people, but I just couldn't vote for this if I were a voter.

~Steven

[VIETgrlTerifa]

Posted: 5/12/07 at 11:07pm

bon8rich, I used to think Caroline wasn't subtle and spoon-fed it's audience (like when Caroline shouts "I can't hardly read") during "Lot's Wife". Don't get me wrong, I did feel it clearly had a great score with rich music (with great melodies), but I didn't get how brilliant it was and how much of it flew over my head until I actually listened to it about a year or two later (and I grew up some).

I think it's an incredibly American story about struggles most of the working-class can relate to. I think stories like Caroline need to be told more often because most people are like Caroline who have struggles with their dreams and life not being what they thought it would be. Bitterness, resentment, and anger but also acceptance and getting through life and trying to kill the part of you that makes you hateful. I felt it was incredibly moving, and I was glad to see a show with so much thought given to ordinary people (not just show people or middle to upper-class WASPs) and showed them battling their struggle in a realistic way.

[loverly]

Posted: 5/12/07 at 11:07pm

LOVE Grey Gardens. It deserves the Tony. Period.

[FOAnatic]

Posted: 5/13/07 at 10:27am

:Prays:

:Hopes:

:Wishes:

[lwoods]

Posted: 5/13/07 at 10:33am

i liked legally blonde much much better

[FOAnatic]

Posted: 5/13/07 at 10:34am

Oh Jesus.

[lwoods]

Posted: 5/13/07 at 10:37am

grey gardens was boring. legally blonde had life and heart

[lwoods]

Posted: 5/13/07 at 10:37am

grey gardens was boring. legally blonde had life and heart

[FOAnatic]

Posted: 5/13/07 at 10:39am

Aww. Look at the ten year old try to sound intelligent.

So cute.

[lwoods]

Posted: 5/13/07 at 10:41am

im not ten

[FOAnatic]

Posted: 5/13/07 at 10:45am

GREY GARDENS is a beautifully moving story. Sad, truthful and powerful.

The score is brilliant.

The story is emotionally thrilling. It has evoked emotions in me that I haven't felt in the theatre in quite a long time.

And the performances given by the two leading ladies are such that the cast of LEGALLY BLONDE couldn't hope to even come close to matching.

If you can't realize that, then you're far too immature.

Updated On: 5/13/07 at 10:45 AM

[jv92]

Posted: 5/13/07 at 10:52am

lwoods...

GO AWAY! Legally Blonde was a piece of S-H-I-T. It had an awful score, tacky design, a bland cast and surprisingly annoying direction and choreography by a choreographer who I've admired a great deal in the past. The folks that decice the Tony nominations most likely won't give it a spot in the Best Musical category. Good for them! It doesn't deserve it.

[springo]

Posted: 5/13/07 at 12:09pm

Grey Gardens is a very moving play with excellent music and lyrics. It deserves to win several Tonys, however, the Tony awards is most likely driven by politics, and I will not be surprised if there is an upset.