ALW vs. Sondheim- Page 3
ALW vs. Sondheim
#50re: ALW vs. Sondheim
Posted: 6/13/05 at 2:16amSondheim. As someone else said, there are a few ALW shows that just totally grate on my nerves, and Sondheim doesn't do that to me at all.
Not today, Geraldine.
#51re: ALW vs. Sondheim
Posted: 6/13/05 at 5:42amThey have both written some pretty amazing things, and they have both written utter CRAP. You just can't say one's a genius, and the other isn't. I prefer ALW though. Sondheim is good, but he's a little overrated in my opinion.
"Curse you, Lady Glyde!"
#52re: ALW vs. Sondheim
Posted: 6/13/05 at 5:59amSondheim, without a doubt
~And let us try, before we die, to make some sense of life~
#53re: ALW vs. Sondheim
Posted: 6/13/05 at 9:11amI like Andrew Lloyd Webber alot better. Sondheim is ok, but alot of his music is kind of boring to me, I guess. I like ALW, because his music is pretty. He has done all different styles (opera, pop, rock, country, etc) and everything is just great! I'm ready for a new Webber/Rice show!
"Needless to say the crew is well acquainted with my ass and that's ok because they are the coolest guys ever."
- Idina Menzel
#54re: ALW vs. Sondheim
Posted: 6/13/05 at 9:12amBut then again, Sondheim has written alot of legendary shows. It's almost a tie for me, with Andrew in the lead!
"Needless to say the crew is well acquainted with my ass and that's ok because they are the coolest guys ever."
- Idina Menzel
november
Featured Actor Joined: 5/17/05
ashley0139
Broadway Legend Joined: 1/3/05
#56re: ALW vs. Sondheim
Posted: 6/13/05 at 12:29pmTo0 whoever mentioned Frank Wildhorn- I don't agree. I actually don't like Frank Wildhorn at all. Most of his music bores me. But that's just me.
"This table, he is over one hundred years old. If I could, I would take an old gramophone needle and run it along the surface of the wood. To hear the music of the voices. All that was said." - Doug Wright, I Am My Own Wife
#57re: ALW vs. Sondheim
Posted: 6/13/05 at 12:31pm
ALW! I like both men's writting...however, I find Sonheim's unsatisfying at times. What I mean is... there is so much frustration written into his songs (for character's sake) that I feel there is not much 'resolve' at the end of the song.
ALW, on the other hand, writes melodies that stick with you that i find beautiful...and out of context, they still make sense.
Both these guys are incredible ... I wonder how a musical collaberated by both these men would sound.
#58re: ALW vs. Sondheim
Posted: 6/13/05 at 12:53pmThe only thing of Lloyd Webber's that I ever liked from beginning to end was Superstar - because it was written with Tim Rice. Otherwise I wouldn't give you a dime for any of his work. Sondheim, on the other hand, is a God. I love everything he's written.
"I don't really get the ending,all i can go with is when after several months,Judith saw Pat sang,and later she kissed him on the toilet,after that the story back to where Pat went down from the stage after he'd sung,and he went to the italian lady.I just don't get it,what Judith exatcly meant when he kissed Pat that she had seen,and did Pat end up together with The Italian Lady?Please help me,thank u very much!"
Quote from someone on IMDB in reference to a movie he/she didn't understand. Such grammar!
bwayfan215
Stand-by Joined: 1/26/05
Lome2
Stand-by Joined: 1/23/05
#60re: ALW vs. Sondheim
Posted: 6/13/05 at 1:01pmSweeney Todd makes me want to go with Sondheim, but because of PotO, Superstar, Evita, WiW, TBG and Aspects I have to go with ALW...
#61re: ALW vs. Sondheim
Posted: 6/13/05 at 1:20pm
Sondheim - no question about it.
My guess is 100 years from now most of Sondheims works will still be performed, while a good deal of ALW's works (Cats, Starlight Express) will be just note in theatre history books, with people wondering how they got produced to begin with.
#62re: ALW vs. Sondheim
Posted: 6/13/05 at 1:55pm
Right....I agree that Sondheim's sound is timeless...where as much of Webber's music could identified as period specific as to when it was written accept for a few (Aspects, POTO, WIW, Sunset). Still, gotta love Webber!
Updated On: 6/13/05 at 01:55 PM
#63re: ALW vs. Sondheim
Posted: 6/13/05 at 3:07pm
"Both these guys are incredible ... I wonder how a musical collaberated by both these men would sound."
There was an April Fool's article on I think playbill.com about this I think last year, it was hysterical. Though it was too bad it wasn't true, I've often wondered the same thing!
Plum
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/4/04
#64re: ALW vs. Sondheim
Posted: 6/13/05 at 3:10pm
Well, they did play the "Dueling Pianos" duet in that Cameron Macintosh tribute, but I think I heard that Sondheim put together the whole thing, which wouldn't suprise me a bit.
And I must compliment your use of Merrily, devonian. Very nice. :)
DefyGravity23
Stand-by Joined: 3/28/05
#65re: ALW vs. Sondheim
Posted: 6/13/05 at 3:23pm
I'm going to be murdered for this.
Sondheims stories are wonderful and very clever, but I have a problem with most of his music. His lyrics get too wordy a lot of the time, and his melodies are just blah. The songs have a lot of emotion and thought which I like, but couldn't there be at least a couple of songs that are slightly memorable? Why must everything seem so monotone? Maybe it's just me, but I just watched Sunday in the Park with George, and while I loved the plot, I cannot hum a single note from any of the songs right now. Nothing was memorable enough. I know that may not be the point of Sondheim's music, but what about Sweeney? There's definetely some humable stuff in that, AND the music is still Sondheim-ish enough (yeah I'm making up words now). I think besides Sweeney (which was his greatest moment) his best songs are the ones he didn't write the music to, like Gypsy and West Side Story.
I know, I'm probably one of the only ones on this board that thinks this, but overall, I like Sondheim's ideas/stories, and ALW's music. I have yet to find a ALW musical that I didn't enjoy at least half the songs. I still appreciate Sondheim of course...it's just my opinion. It's probably because I grew up with musicals like Cats, Joseph, Phantom, etc.
#66re: ALW vs. Sondheim
Posted: 6/13/05 at 3:28pmSo a song has to be Humable to be good? I don't think so. And as for Sondheim being "too wordy" - his songs really appeal to a more intellectual crowd. I like shows that challenge me and make me think - as do all Sondheim shows. ALW is just pop crap to me - ridiculous lyrics (with the exception of Superstar and Evita) and banal melodies.
"I don't really get the ending,all i can go with is when after several months,Judith saw Pat sang,and later she kissed him on the toilet,after that the story back to where Pat went down from the stage after he'd sung,and he went to the italian lady.I just don't get it,what Judith exatcly meant when he kissed Pat that she had seen,and did Pat end up together with The Italian Lady?Please help me,thank u very much!"
Quote from someone on IMDB in reference to a movie he/she didn't understand. Such grammar!
#67re: ALW vs. Sondheim
Posted: 6/13/05 at 3:40pmwell it seems most people are prefering Sondheim, does anyone have an opinion of why the 2 longest running shows on broadway were ALW if Sondheim is much more popular?
#68re: ALW vs. Sondheim
Posted: 6/13/05 at 4:12pmTHAT is something I'll never figure out - I walked out of Phantom and absolutely despised Cats...
"I don't really get the ending,all i can go with is when after several months,Judith saw Pat sang,and later she kissed him on the toilet,after that the story back to where Pat went down from the stage after he'd sung,and he went to the italian lady.I just don't get it,what Judith exatcly meant when he kissed Pat that she had seen,and did Pat end up together with The Italian Lady?Please help me,thank u very much!"
Quote from someone on IMDB in reference to a movie he/she didn't understand. Such grammar!
GovernorSlaton
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/14/04
#69re: ALW vs. Sondheim
Posted: 6/13/05 at 4:26pm
"You just can't say one's a genius, and the other isn't."
Um...why not? That doesn't make any sense.
#70re: ALW vs. Sondheim
Posted: 6/13/05 at 4:39pmright - no sense at all - One IS a genius and the other...Oy vey...
"I don't really get the ending,all i can go with is when after several months,Judith saw Pat sang,and later she kissed him on the toilet,after that the story back to where Pat went down from the stage after he'd sung,and he went to the italian lady.I just don't get it,what Judith exatcly meant when he kissed Pat that she had seen,and did Pat end up together with The Italian Lady?Please help me,thank u very much!"
Quote from someone on IMDB in reference to a movie he/she didn't understand. Such grammar!
Plum
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/4/04
#71re: ALW vs. Sondheim
Posted: 6/13/05 at 4:43pm
People can say it, and you can disagree with them. That's what discussion is for.
And "hummable" is an incredibly subjective term. I find "Everybody Loves Louis" and "We Do Not Belong Together"/"Move On," for instance, to be pretty easily hummable. And anyone who thinks Sondheim can't write earworms wasn't watching as the people sitting next to me in "Pacific Overtures" found they couldn't get "Someone in a Tree" out of their heads.
Call Sondheim's music overly complex, atonal, whatever, and I'll disagree with you. But "it's not hummable" is such an overused and meaningless argument I can't take it seriously at all.
GovernorSlaton
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/14/04
#72re: ALW vs. Sondheim
Posted: 6/13/05 at 4:45pm
Or A Weekend in the Country...
"Bum BUM bum, bum bum BUM bum, bum bum BUM bum, bum bum BUM bum bum bum.."
#73re: ALW vs. Sondheim
Posted: 6/13/05 at 4:46pmGovernor - you're cracking me up - and thank you - now I have THAT tune stuck in my head!LOL...
"I don't really get the ending,all i can go with is when after several months,Judith saw Pat sang,and later she kissed him on the toilet,after that the story back to where Pat went down from the stage after he'd sung,and he went to the italian lady.I just don't get it,what Judith exatcly meant when he kissed Pat that she had seen,and did Pat end up together with The Italian Lady?Please help me,thank u very much!"
Quote from someone on IMDB in reference to a movie he/she didn't understand. Such grammar!
Plum
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/4/04
#74re: ALW vs. Sondheim
Posted: 6/13/05 at 4:48pmAll too often, I also find that "hummability" isn't due to any quality of the melodic theme itself but to how many times it's repeated. I actually don't hate the score of Sunset Boulevard, but it's a case in point. Hear the same few notes 5,734 times and you'll walk out of the theatre humming them.
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