ALW'S 4 LOST YEARS
ALW'S 4 LOST YEARS
#1ALW'S 4 LOST YEARS
Posted: 6/7/16 at 4:09pm
Didnt see this on another thread - so I thought I'd post it here:
www.independent.co.uk/news/people/andrew-lloyd-webber-on-his-hits-misses-and-four-missing-years-a7068156.html
Love when ALW has an opportunity to reflect on his previous works, but the maddening thing about this is how the articles give so few details. It's like the reporter tells you just what they talked about without giving you the rest of it. Like why did he think The Woman in White didn't work.... or Stephen Ward... Would he revisit them? What about some of his lesser known works - like Aspects of Love...
Found it interesting that he feels LND is "finished" now. I thought they were seriously considering changing the ending to that. Hope that if it does play the US Sierra and Ramin will return to it - although I don't know how they feel about touring (even if it does eventually make it to Broadway)
#2ALW'S 4 LOST YEARS
Posted: 6/7/16 at 4:14pm
he should be more worried about the 30 years of bad writing that preceded those four years.
"Contentment, it seems, simply happens. It appears accompanied by no bravos and no tears."
#3ALW'S 4 LOST YEARS
Posted: 6/7/16 at 4:17pm
never understood the hater-ade... You hate ALW - fine. But 30 years of bad writing? Well for most of those 30 years he's had a theater or two packed on Broadway, London and who knows how many other places around the world enjoying that "bad writing".
#4ALW'S 4 LOST YEARS
Posted: 6/7/16 at 4:21pm
If I remember correctly he said in a previous interview that The Woman in White didn't "work" because it was about a secret and audiences today with internet and social media don't know what a secret is anymore.
#5ALW'S 4 LOST YEARS
Posted: 6/7/16 at 4:24pm
it's not up to me to determine why audiences around the world have enjoyed his mediocre and derivative work.
"Contentment, it seems, simply happens. It appears accompanied by no bravos and no tears."
jo
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/15/03
#6ALW'S 4 LOST YEARS
Posted: 6/7/16 at 5:18pm
CATSNYrevival said: "If I remember correctly he said in a previous interview that The Woman in White didn't "work" because it was about a secret and audiences today with internet and social media don't know what a secret is anymore.
"
I did like THE WOMAN IN WHITE, which I had seen staged on both the West End and Broadway. It was a period piece with a romantic vibe and a dark mood usually associated with stories from the past. The musical score was varied and lovely. Too bad the show was plagued by illness from the main cast but who can forget Michael Ball's villainous role as Fosco and Maria Friedman's winning performance as the sister?
#7ALW'S 4 LOST YEARS
Posted: 6/7/16 at 5:48pm
Jo - I agree with you about Woman in White - saw it twice on broadway and really love the music from it (Trying not to notice being my favorite... All for Laura another one that's under appreciated) I think the staging of it really left people divided, even though they had improved it from London. Funny how projections were considered controversial at the time and now are used more regularly
jo
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/15/03
#8ALW'S 4 LOST YEARS
Posted: 6/7/16 at 6:56pm
chernjam said: "Jo - I agree with you about Woman in White - saw it twice on broadway and really love the music from it (Trying not to notice being my favorite... All for Laura another one that's under appreciated) I think the staging of it really left people divided, even though they had improved it from London. Funny how projections were considered controversial at the time and now are used more regularly
"
Also, I Believe My Heart, Evermore Without You, If I Could Only Dream This World Away, even Lammastide...and what about Fosco's hilarious number (You Can Get Away with Anything)?
There were two things that this production revolutionized --
*the use of projections for backdrops (Hey, even Les Mis followed suit!)...that ongoing train looked so realistic that I almost ducked - LOL!
*in London, the theatre was renovated and among the new facilities were recording and related equipment to capture the singing/orchestral music, instead of using a recording studio.
I did try to read the book on which it was based...but I think I did not finish it because it was a bit long, but the musical seemed to have captured the mysterious air of the literary source.
I hope ALWebber changes his mind about the supposed non-success of THE WOMAN IN WHITE. The musical score is one of his most gorgeous!
#9ALW'S 4 LOST YEARS
Posted: 6/7/16 at 7:10pm
I liked The Woman in White as well and I wish he wouldn't bad mouth his own shows just because they weren't as successful as he would have liked. The staging was a bit controversial at the time I suppose. Personally I don't take issue with projections but I don't think a more traditional staging would have been any more successful. It's mostly just that audiences aren't looking for that type of show right now.
#10ALW'S 4 LOST YEARS
Posted: 6/7/16 at 7:21pm
Gypsy101, by "derivative" work, do you mean that ALW has taken classical themes that aren't currently under copyright (although he may have goofed with the theme from Puccini's "The Girl of the Golden West"
and written variations on them? If so, that's a perfectly respectable thing to do in classical music. People who say he "stole" from Puccini are misusing the word -- it's only stealing when you're supposed to pay. If it's in the public domain, it's fair game. Also, all "jukebox musicals" are derivative, but they're extremely popular. Why zing ALW for writing his own music based on classical themes?
One thing I've noticed about ALW that, IMO, makes him one of the greats is that his shows usually sound different from each other. I am familiar with a lot of ALW's music, but I can't always identify his compositions as his if I haven't heard them before. This makes him quite different from other musical composers. For example, without knowing who had written "Miss Saigon," I listened to the album and knew immediately that it was by Boublil & Schoenberg (sorry, I never remember which one is the composer) because it sounded so much like "Les Miz."
While ALW uses the same themes in a single show, e.g. "All I Ask of You" and "The Music of the Night" are variations on each other, that is common in the musical world, and does not diminish his creativity.
Audrey
Audrey, the Phantom Phanatic, who nonetheless would rather be Jean Valjean, who knew how to make lemonade out of lemons.
ebontoyan
Broadway Star Joined: 9/22/14
#11ALW'S 4 LOST YEARS
Posted: 6/7/16 at 7:51pm
I didn't realize the Woman in White is an ALW musical. I saw it in the early 2000s (?) and while I thought the show was sad and depressing, I had liked it at that time!
#12ALW'S 4 LOST YEARS
Posted: 6/7/16 at 8:12pm
Stephen Ward was so so bad.
Namo i love u but we get it already....you don't like Madonna
#13ALW'S 4 LOST YEARS
Posted: 6/7/16 at 8:29pm
I enjoyed THE WOMAN IN WHITE in London - especially the score, but I thought it was hampered by a script that actually was too literal an adaptation of the novel. Webber is partly correct if he says the reason it didn't work was because of the secret at the heart of the story -- but it wasn't that audiences today aren't interested in dramatic secrets - its that the secret in the story doesn't have a satisfying payoff to contemporary audiences. But I think the tone and basic story of the novel are indeed appealing.
The original productions was also hampered by one of the first 'all projection design' scenic concepts; that it resembled a video game, was completely at odds with the Victorian time period depicted.
I would actually love to see a reworked version of it.
“I knew who I was this morning, but I've changed a few times since then.”
Updated On: 6/7/16 at 08:29 PM
jo
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/15/03
#15ALW'S 4 LOST YEARS
Posted: 6/7/16 at 10:38pm
One of the most unusual changes he made was to transform an original song intended for racing trains ( Starlight Express) to become the theme for Aspects of Love. It became one of his most popular anthems, Love Changes Everything.
#16ALW'S 4 LOST YEARS
Posted: 6/7/16 at 10:42pm
I've always been a little off-put by Webber's borrowing from his other works. I get it when its an unused trunk song, but taking for example, "English Girls" from SONG AND DANCE which was a long completed musical and recycling it as "Tire Tracks and Broken Dreams" for WHISTLE DOWN THE WIND seemed just lazy.
“I knew who I was this morning, but I've changed a few times since then.”
#17ALW'S 4 LOST YEARS
Posted: 6/7/16 at 10:44pm
PThespian said: "AH: Pay no attention to gypsy. He's not really a very positive person. Very rarely does he contribute anything other than his negative attitude. People are who they are, however, and he has as much right to be here and spew his venom as anyone else."
Don't sugarcoat is PT, tell us how you really feel.
I'm a very positive person, I just happen to be highly critical of musical theater because I love it so much. My distaste for Andrew Lloyd Webber doesn't make me a terrible person (I admit I like some of his early work, mostly Evita). I apologize if my negative attitude has upset you.
"Contentment, it seems, simply happens. It appears accompanied by no bravos and no tears."
#19ALW'S 4 LOST YEARS
Posted: 6/7/16 at 11:24pmDid Webber actually write Variation 7? I thought the whole Variations album was adapted material orchestrated as a classical/rock album. Am I misunderstanding?
#20ALW'S 4 LOST YEARS
Posted: 6/8/16 at 12:02am
PThespian said: "Although I should warn you. ALW stops by the theater quite a bit. I may have to share your comments with him, and he is a very vindicative person. :)"
Please don't tell him, he'll kill my whole family
"Contentment, it seems, simply happens. It appears accompanied by no bravos and no tears."
#22ALW'S 4 LOST YEARS
Posted: 6/8/16 at 12:18am
The original productions was also hampered by one of the first 'all projection design' scenic concepts; that it resembled a video game, was completely at odds with the Victorian time period depicted.
I would actually love to see a reworked version of it
"
I agree on both parts! When I saw the show, the projects just seemed totally out of place. To me, it bordered on feeling very silly. I think period pieces sometimes need very concrete scenic design and set usage to reinforce the era. You want to actually see the wallpaper on the walls. I will say that projection effects and technology have come a very long way since their infancy in this show.
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