ALW up to his usual tricks?
ALW up to his usual tricks?
Jon
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/20/04
#0ALW up to his usual tricks?
Posted: 7/12/05 at 2:25pm
I just heard a song from "Holly and Ivy" from THE WOMAN IN WHITE on BWW radio. It sounds an awful lot like "The Wedding Song" from THREEPENNY OPERA.
Has Andrew Lloyd Webber had an original musical idea in the past 25 years?
#1re: ALW up to his usual tricks?
Posted: 7/12/05 at 2:30pm
If it sounds familiar, it's because THE HOLLY AND THE IVY is a traditional English Carol integrated into the wedding sequence of the story...
I guess Kurt Weill didn't have an original idea for "The Wedding Song."
Updated On: 7/12/05 at 02:30 PM
Sally
Broadway Star Joined: 5/12/03
#2re: ALW up to his usual tricks?
Posted: 7/12/05 at 2:48pmThank you, Michael Bennett. ALW "critics" are up to their usual tricks.
jczelyph
Broadway Star Joined: 10/21/04
#3re: ALW up to his usual tricks?
Posted: 7/12/05 at 4:15pmGood call, Monsieur Bennett.
"Jane, I've been dealt a blow - I've been dealt a blow, Jane."
grizzabella
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/11/05
#4re: ALW up to his usual tricks?
Posted: 7/12/05 at 9:10pmJeeze, I have GOT to get this recording. The Holly & The Ivy is my all time favorite Christmas carol...
"And the postman sighed as he scratched his head, you really rather thought she ought to be dead..."
#5re: ALW up to his usual tricks?
Posted: 7/12/05 at 9:20pmYou do need to get it!!! It's a great cast recording, and its most, if not all, of opening night's performance. It's very complete, with dialogue so the story is easy to follow and the cd design is great and format is really nice.
"You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view - until you climb into his skin and walk around in it."
To Kill A Mockingbird
To Kill A Mockingbird
jo
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/15/03
#7re: ALW up to his usual tricks?
Posted: 7/12/05 at 11:14pm
In addition to the cast recording of the musical, I have recently gotten a copy of the CD PHANTASIA ( available on Amazon.co.uk) released by the Really Useful Group. Of the 60-minute disc, there is a 25-minute portion allocated to the WOMAN IN WHITE ( the first 35 minutes is a full orchestral version of highlights from PHANTOM, with Julian Lloyd Webber on a cello and Sarah Chang on a violin).
The WOMAN IN WHITE is exquisite - it is a full orchestral version of some of the songs and melodic passages from the musical. This instrumental treatment accentuates the lushness, romanticism, and throbbing and haunting quality of the music from this show.
If there is a song which completely surprises in the musical, it must be LAMASTIDE!
Updated On: 7/12/05 at 11:14 PM
#8re: ALW up to his usual tricks?
Posted: 7/13/05 at 5:31am
"The Holly & The Ivy is my all time favorite Christmas carol..."
Not after hearing it in the Woman in White - it has to be the scariest version of the songs I've ever heard! It's in 5/4 time, practically atonal and is accompanied by crashing church organ chords.
Incidently, does anyone else really like 'If I could only dream this world away'? It's a beautiful song, but seems to get ignored by WIW lovers and haters alike....
#9re: ALW up to his usual tricks?
Posted: 7/13/05 at 6:51am
"Incidently, does anyone else really like 'If I could only dream this world away'? It's a beautiful song, but seems to get ignored by WIW lovers and haters alike.... "
I do. It is a beautiful song, especially as sung by Jill Paice. She has a lovely voice.
As far as "Holly and the Ivy," I think the version in the play is a reflection of Laura's feelings about the wedding -- she really didn't want to go through with it because of her feelings for Walter, and, I suspect, general unease, but her devotion to her father's dying wish gave her no choice.
Lome2
Stand-by Joined: 1/23/05
#10re: ALW up to his usual tricks?
Posted: 7/13/05 at 11:19am'If I Could Only Dream this World Away' is a beautiful song... really sad and moving... one of my favorite songs from the musical. "Ever More Without You" is also a great song.
FranklinShepard-Inc.
Broadway Legend Joined: 8/25/04
#11re: ALW up to his usual tricks?
Posted: 7/13/05 at 11:27amactually there IS a carol called "the holly and the ivy", unfortunately is the title the only thing the alw song and this carol have in common. it goes melodically and in terms of lyrics in a totally different way.
#12re: ALW up to his usual tricks?
Posted: 7/13/05 at 11:30am
Franklin, It's the same song musically, it's just played in minors instead of majors.
Updated On: 7/13/05 at 11:30 AM
#13re: ALW up to his usual tricks?
Posted: 7/13/05 at 11:32amI think that the Holly and the Ivy has always had loads of verses over the years and the 'official' one merely picks the nicest - I remember singing it at school, and though it shared some of the same verses (the WIW version starts the same) it also had a darker edge.
#14re: ALW up to his usual tricks?
Posted: 7/13/05 at 11:33am
Lome I agree with you about Evermore Without You. I Believe My Heart is also a favorite. I also love You Can Get Away with Anything, but that's not a love song 
.
#15re: ALW up to his usual tricks?
Posted: 7/13/05 at 11:36am
There are lots of different versions of "The Holly and the Ivy." It's a traditional folk song. But here is one version of it:
The holly and the ivy,
When they are both full grown
Of all the trees that are in the wood
The holly bears the crown
O the rising of the sun
And the running of the deer
The playing of the merry organ
Sweet singing of the choir
The holly bears a blossom
As white as lily flower
And Mary bore sweet Jesus Christ
To be our sweet Saviour
O the rising of the sun
And the running of the deer
The playing of the merry organ
Sweet singing of the choir
The holly bears a berry
As red as any blood
And Mary bore sweet Jesus Christ
To do poor sinners good
O the rising of the sun
And the running of the deer
The playing of the merry organ
Sweet singing of the choir
The holly bears a prickle
As sharp as any thorn;
And Mary bore sweet Jesus Christ
On Christmas Day in the morn.
O the rising of the sun
And the running of the deer
The playing of the merry organ
Sweet singing of the choir
The holly bears a bark
As bitter as any gall;
And Mary bore sweet Jesus Christ
For to redeem us all.
O the rising of the sun
And the running of the deer
The playing of the merry organ
Sweet singing of the choir
The holly and the ivy
Now both are full well grown,
Of all the trees that are in the wood,
The holly bears the crown.
O the rising of the sun
And the running of the deer
The playing of the merry organ
Sweet singing of the choir
FranklinShepard-Inc.
Broadway Legend Joined: 8/25/04
#16re: ALW up to his usual tricks?
Posted: 7/13/05 at 12:33pm
Okay 
MichaelBennett, fair enough, I may only know a different version of it which goes musically in a very contrasting way even if set in minor. Sorry.
Updated On: 7/13/05 at 12:33 PM
#17re: ALW up to his usual tricks?
Posted: 7/13/05 at 12:35pmThe only usual tricks that I am aware ALW pulls all the time is stealing music...from himself. Don't get wrong....I'm a big fan. I was listening to The Craic from Beautiful Game this morning on the way to work and it reminds me so much of the show Starlight Express...not sure why. Did anyone notice the musical phrase in Woman in White he pulled from Requiem?
#18re: ALW up to his usual tricks?
Posted: 7/13/05 at 12:35pm
The only usual tricks that I am aware ALW pulls all the time is stealing music...from himself. Don't get wrong....I'm a big fan. I was listening to The Craic from Beautiful Game this morning on the way to work and it reminds me so much of the show Starlight Express...not sure why. Did anyone notice the musical phrase in Woman in White he pulled from Requiem?
DRATS --- double post
Updated On: 7/13/05 at 12:35 PM
#19re: ALW up to his usual tricks?
Posted: 7/13/05 at 12:38pmALW does that but so, to a degree, do all composers, even Stephen Sondheim. I was at a round table discussion where they displayed that "Look on the Bright Side" from Assassins and "Comedy Tonight" are basically the same chord progressions.
Sally
Broadway Star Joined: 5/12/03
#21The Holly and the Ivy
Posted: 7/13/05 at 8:51pm
The version in the show uses the first, third, and fifth verses that Michael Bennett posted, minus the last three lines, "And the running of the deer," etc.(---looking at the booklet accompanying the double CDs)
As has been pointed out, the song doesn't sound much like its traditional version because it has been deliberately recast in a minor key and foreshadows the disaster that this marriage will be. Listening to that music as the wedding occurs, an audience would have to be deaf to think that anything good will come from the marriage of Laura and Glyde.
I like "Evermore Without You" and, really, all of the songs, including the dissonant sounding, rhythmically interesting "Lost Souls"? I don't know enough about music to know just what is going on in that song, but it certainly isn't little 4/4 ballad.
Anyone else like this song too?
#22The Holly and the Ivy
Posted: 7/14/05 at 4:59pm
Sally, Lost Souls is in 7/8 time, in the key of C. It is an interesting song, not really one of my favorites, but I like it.
I bought the song selections at the theatre when I saw the show on Saturday.
Sally
Broadway Star Joined: 5/12/03
#23The Holly and the Ivy
Posted: 7/15/05 at 2:49amI thought that LOST SOULS changed tempo---sure it is 7/8 all the way through? I don't have the music to look at.
#24The Holly and the Ivy
Posted: 7/15/05 at 6:26amkec - I was at the show on Saturday as well! Keep meaning to buy the vocal selections but haven't got round to it yet - are the arrangements any good?
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