Any News on Sister Act?- Page 2

[somethingwicked]

Posted: 8/11/07 at 2:24pm

I saw the show during it's run at The Alliance in Atlanta and thoroughly enjoyed it.

It surely wasn't without flaws, but I found it to be a fun and entertaining production.

With some re-tooling and the right star in the lead (it would fall perfectly into all of Queen Latifah's strengths,) I see it as a big commercial success.

[[e-mail]]

Posted: 8/11/07 at 5:47pm

I agree that Menken is incredibly talented, and is a musical genius. He and Steven Flaherty are the only two current songwriters (i.e. are still actively writing much new literature for the stage) that still are clinging to the "classical structure" of Musical Theatre and provide the ability to really provide the deep emotions that Theatre pieces are supposed to evoke.

I'll take their "blah" music (which I freely admit both have written) over any of the music from Legally Blonde, Spring Awakening, Avenue Q, Wicked, Lion King, and countless other shows.

When I look at Menken's best scores I would say Little Shop, King David, Hunchback of Notre Dame, Beauty & The Beast, and Little Mermaid. The others are good, but these are consistently excellent. In response to an earlier post, if there is any problem with A Christmas Carol, I would say the music is too drudged in style, not that it was written in just a "general style"


Menken did benefit from such a genius collaborator as Ashman, however saying that Ashman is the only reason he succeeded I think is a bit of overkill. That's like saying Rodgers would have failed without Hart, or Lloyd-Webber would have failed without Rice. Menken has had brilliant collaborations with other people besides Ashman.

I wish a recording of this score would have been released. Many parts of the story changes have bothered me, and as much as I love Alan Menken, I wish they original tunes would have been included, and I also wish the show was set in the 90s. I can't imagine seeing Sister Act without "hail holy queen" or the rendition of "my god".

[sondhead]

Posted: 8/11/07 at 6:47pm

I'd say Menken is usually at his best if he has collaborating with an incredible talent and when he's writing for period. He's definitely written a LOT of "blah" music. He's not all bad though.

I also wouldn't say he and Flaherty are the only good MT composers out there though. Sondheim is still writing and Guettel gave us a pretty traditional if operatic score for Piazza.

You should also check out O'Keefe and Benjamin's scores to "The Mice" and "Sarah Plain and Tall." They're both excellent and it's a shame their current Broadway representation is such piss-poor work on their part.