Andrew Lloyd Webber announces his next musical The Illusionist

[bigbelterbaby]

Posted: 10/28/24 at 10:47am

Directed by Jaime Lloyd, Lyrics by Bruno Major book by Chris Terrio, inspired by the 2006 film of the same name and short story by Steven Millhauser. 
 

https://deadline.com/2024/10/andrew-lloyd-webber-new-musical-the-illusionist-jamie-lloyd-director-1236159690/

[Dylan Smith4]

Posted: 10/28/24 at 10:57am

It seems that Jamie Lloyd is his new collaborator after Lawrence Connor and Trevor Nunn. 

[Kad]

Posted: 10/28/24 at 11:01am

Chris Terrio is an odd choice for bookwriter. He has an Oscar for writing Argo, but since then he's only got some really bad franchise films to his name (Batman v Superman, Rise of Skywalker, Justice League).

[fashionguru_23]

Posted: 10/28/24 at 11:14am

Fine. I'll say it...

I gues Andrew couldn't get the rights to "The Prestige"

[Alex Kulak2]

Posted: 10/28/24 at 11:20am

Kad said: "Chris Terrio is an odd choice for bookwriter. He has an Oscar for writing Argo, but since then he's only got some really bad franchise films to his name (Batman v Superman, Rise of Skywalker, Justice League)."

Not going to argue with you on the quality, but those three films collectively grossed almost $2.5 billion. That's a pretty nice number to have on a resume.

[aces25]

Posted: 10/28/24 at 11:32am

Who's the lyricist?

[Call_me_jorge]

Posted: 10/28/24 at 11:41am

fashionguru_23 said: "Fine. I'll say it...

I gues Andrew couldn't get the rights to "The Prestige""

Exactly my thoughts, but also thank god he didn’t. I always thought Bowie should have written a musical adaptation of The Prestige.

[chrishuyen]

Posted: 10/28/24 at 11:46am

It says Bruno Major is attached so I assume he's doing lyrics?  

Interesting that ALW is going back to a more operatic style, I'm personally partial to his rock scores.

[ggersten]

Posted: 10/28/24 at 11:57am

fashionguru_23 said: "Fine. I'll say it...

I gues Andrew couldn't get the rights to "The Prestige""

The Illusionist is a better film to adapt to the stage. It is, at its heart, a love story. And it has fewer visual effects. The Prestige is a film more about hate and revenge and cruelty and has more difficult visual effects for a stage production. 

 

[jkcohen626]

Posted: 10/28/24 at 12:54pm

Ugh, not Chris Terrio. Anyone but Chris Terrio. The epitome of failing up. He wrote one good movie and then followed it up with such illustrious films as Batman vs. Superman, Justice League, and Rise of Skywalker. 

I am very happy to be in ALW's Jaime Lloyd era. I'll take him over another bland Lawrence Connor production any day of the week. I do think Lloyd is at a bit of an inflection point where he has to make sure this distinct style he's developed is a style and not a cliche. Even going back a few years, you can easily tell that production photos from shows like The Seagull, Betrayal, and Evita are from different shows despite still containing many of his hallmarks. Production photos for Sunset and Romeo and Juliet look IDENTICAL and The Effect really is not that far off (just missing the screen). He can use his minimalism and monochrome. But, he needs to be careful of doing too much copy and paste from show to show. 

[someoneinatree2]

Posted: 10/28/24 at 1:00pm

Excited to see Bruno Major's name in the theatre world. He has an elegant knack for songwriting and traditional pop-standard form (and is an excellent producer in the music industry), though I don't know how much hand in the musical structure he'll have with credit solely as a lyricist. Lyrically he's usually in a "quietly profound" kind of wheelhouse, which makes me wonder how he'll recalibrate for something with a more dramatic, operatic scale. 

Hope this opens some doors for him in the industry, because I'd love to see a full Bruno Major score onstage someday.

 

Updated On: 10/28/24 at 01:00 PM

[OhHiii]

Posted: 10/28/24 at 1:02pm

jkcohen626 said: "Ugh, not Chris Terrio. Anyone but Chris Terrio. The epitome of failing up. He wrote one good movie and then followed it up with such illustrious films as Batman vs. Superman, Justice League, and Rise of Skywalker."

I have no comment on the quality of this work, but to say he isn't talented because huge franchise films weren't works of prose and poetry is a bit wild. A (fat) paycheck is a (fat) paycheck.

[Lot666]

Posted: 10/28/24 at 4:02pm

This news both concerns and delights me.

I'm concerned (if not exactly surprised) that ALW has chosen Jamie Lloyd to direct this. It's one thing to have Lloyd "reimagine" an existing (and, IMHO, classic) property as a revival for the kids, but it's entirely another for Lloyd to give that sort of treatment to an all-new period piece as described in the article (of course, we don't know that Lloyd is going to do it this way, but does anyone think he won't?). I'm excited to see his Sunset Blvd in November, but the idea of The Illusionist in this style does not appeal to me. Based on the manner in which ALW describes it, I think this material would be best-served by the Prince/Bjornson Phantom approach, the prospect of which is thrilling to me.

I'm delighted to hear that:

• "It will have an 'operatic' score."

• "The musical is not going to be a straight rehash of the film. 'We are not hugely based on the movie...I think what we’ve done is taken the idea of it and developed it into another area completely.'” (ALW and Richard Stilgoe took this approach with Phantom, versus the original Leroux novel.)

• “'I Only Came to Say Goodbye,' a sweeping love song with a haunting melody...'just in case everybody thought that I’d gone back irrevocably to rock and roll, I have tried to do something a little bit more in my older mold.'”

• "'Always Everything to Me'...took me back to an early evening meeting with Lloyd Webber nearly four decades ago when he sat at his grand piano and played me 'Music of the Night'...I felt the same emotional jolt"

• "Having Harrison as producer is 'fantastic' says Lloyd Webber 'because I can just be a creator again.'”

Take my money, but please do this right. Updated On: 10/28/24 at 04:02 PM

[Bwaygurl2]

Posted: 10/28/24 at 4:24pm

Lot666 said: "This news both concerns and delights me.

I'm concerned (if not exactly surprised) that ALW has chosen Jamie Lloyd to direct this. It's one thing to have Lloyd "reimagine" an existing (and, IMHO, classic) property as a revival for the kids, but it's entirely another for Lloyd to give that sort of treatment to an all-new period piece as described in the article (of course, we don't know that Lloyd is going to do it this way, but does anyone think he won't?). I'm excited to see his Sunset Blvd in November, but the idea of The Illusionist in this style does not appeal to me. Based on the manner in which ALW describes it, I think this material would be best-served by the Prince/Bjornson Phantom approach, the prospect of which is thrilling to me.

I'm delighted to hear that:

• "It will have an 'operatic' score."

 

• "The musical is not going to be a straight rehash of the film. 'We are not hugely based on the movie...I think what we’ve done is taken the idea of it and developed it into another area completely.'” (ALW and Richard Stilgoe took this approach with Phantom, versus the original Leroux novel.)

 

 

• “'I Only Came to Say Goodbye,' a sweeping love song with a haunting melody...'just in case everybody thought that I’d gone back irrevocably to rock and roll, I have tried to do something a little bit more in my older mold.'”

 

 

• "'Always Everything to Me'...took me back to an early evening meeting with Lloyd Webber nearly four decades ago when he sat at his grand piano and played me 'Music of the Night'...I felt the same emotional jolt"

 

 

• "Having Harrison as producer is 'fantastic' says Lloyd Webber 'because I can just be a creator again.'”

 

Take my money, but please do this right. "

 

My thoughts pretty much exactly. But this is the most exciting news I've heard from ALW in years. Seems like ideal material for him, with it's Old World mileu and atmosphere of romance and doom (he sees Vienna 1900 as a soon to vanish civilization [WWI]). 

[VintageSnarker]

Posted: 10/28/24 at 6:19pm

Kad said: "Chris Terrio is an odd choice for bookwriter. He has an Oscar for writing Argo, but since then he's only got some really bad franchise films to his name (Batman v Superman, Rise of Skywalker, Justice League)."

Maybe they're going for the elusive straight male demographic?