Am I the only one who'd pay to see Disney's

Yes, you are.


The composer of Princess and the Frog...

"Or any new songs from Randy Newman. He's been writing the same one, over and over, since 1978."

I love "Short People." The problem is, every song he wrote after that had the same harmonic structure as "Short People." And sort of the same tune too.

Updated On: 8/4/12 at 10:55 PM

There was a (very) brief period where I thought he was writing terrific stuff. He wrote three first-frate film scores:

Ragtime
The Natural
Avalon

But dang if he didn't keep going back to "Short People." Hey, it worked once, so why not 346 more times?

There's one exception to that for me ... the sad song he wrote for Toy Story 2 is a gem.

But everything else sounds like "variations on a short theme."

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Updated On: 8/4/12 at 10:59 PM

Yes, the score to the RAGTIME movie (pre-musical, FYI) is very good. After that, all of his movie scores had that sort of wide-open-spaces, faux-Aaron Copland sound, followed by "Short People"...I mean "You Got a Friend in Me."

When I left the movie theater, I said to my movie-going companion, "This needed the Alan Menken touch."

"There's one exception to that for me ... the sad song he wrote for Toy Story 2 is a gem."

I know she's only credited with performing it, but I can't help but feel Sarah McLachlan contributed a touch more than just vocals to that song.

I love "Dig a little Deeper" and "Almost There" it's a very cute film and I love Musker and Clement films, but I feel Tangled has a higher fan base and was the stronger film, but if anyone's going to play charlotte it's going to be Jen Cody.

"When She Loved Me" is a BEAUTIFUL song. That means it couldn't have been written by Randy Newman. It's unpossible.

I loved the (minor) work he did for Monk. I enjoyed the theme song he wrote, although I didn't see the need for a new one. And "When I'm Gone" was a beautiful ending for the series.

Patti LuPone IS Pete's Dragon

Here's what I'd pay to see on Broadway - a by-God adult musical done by adults for adults. That's what I'd pay to see on Broadway - I am so mightily tired of Disney and all the other movie corporate crap that passes for Broadway these days. I know the tweens and teens think it's all about them, but they'll come along for the ride if something great comes along, and the rest of us who long for well-done, intelligent (not to mean dramatic or heavy, but anything that's not some Disney movie or Bring it On) can sit back and enjoy something heady for a change.

Once?
Grey Gardens?
next to normal?
The Scottsboro Boys?

Alan was originally on board to do The Princess and the Frog - but they wanted Newman, it'd seem.

The score for PATF is quite lovely - with some great orchestral writing, but the songs are typical painting-by-numbers Newman - all done like music videos and not moving anything forward. As FAMILY GUY says best - he's there "singing about what he sees".

Family shows will usually be the big hits in any commercial market because it's not limiting anyone from seeing it. It does require talent and theatrical skill to look at the awful Disney Mary Poppins film and work out how to make it work on stage visually, cathartically and musically and that's what Cameron, Julian F, Richard Eyre, Matthew Bourne, George and Ants did do successfully - with very little input from Disney - thank God!

Whilst I'd LOVE to see the German production of Hunchback in an English speaking theatre, Disney would never, ever do it in the US. The movie wasn't commercial enough, the subject matter way too dark and creepy for today's American family audiences.

TANGLED would be fun on stage - but would be hugely challenging... not that that's ever stopped Disney before; as I've said - the art of adapting something from one medium to another is what makes theatre so exciting for some.

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