ALW'S 4 LOST YEARS

he should be more worried about the 30 years of bad writing that preceded those four years.

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.

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.

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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?

Updated On: 6/7/16 at 05:18 PM

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

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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!

Updated On: 6/7/16 at 06:56 PM

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

Stephen Ward was so so bad.

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.

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.

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

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

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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.