As far as I can tell, "Spooky Mormon Hell Dream" is less a reference to any particular musical as to the Alice Cooper concerts/musical spectaculars of the Seventies, complete with the people dancing in skeleton costumes and the unexpected top-hats-and-canes kickline segment.
Bonus points because Alice Cooper himself has a background in Mormonism!
Swing Joined: 6/27/11
I think ALL AMERICAN PROPHET is a pretty obvious Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat reference. Even tho Price references Donnie Osmond because he is a mormon I think it may also be pretty clearly setting up that he is homaging ALW/that show.
Swing Joined: 6/27/11
i double posted, oops sorry! Updated On: 6/28/11 at 12:15 AM
Right after "maple glaze..." in the beginning of Spooky Mormon Hell Dream (these 3 notes) is TOTALLY Doctor Who.
I noticed 1st time I heard it.
In parts of the All American Prophet I hear the phantom of the opera!
Thanks twin. It is Making Things Up.
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/19/06
Spooky Mormon Hell Dream ALWAYS makes me think Hanna-Barbera, particularly Scooby-Doo
The final song and reprise "Tomorrow is A Latter Day" strikes me as a nod to "You Can't Stop the Beat" from "Hairspray".
Swing Joined: 2/15/07
To me Hasa Diga Eebowai sounds like a typical song from ONCE ON THIS ISLAND. And Sal Tlay Ka Siti sounds A LOT like Solla Sollew from SEUSSICAL.
Understudy Joined: 3/14/09
This is what I love about this show. It truly is structured as a real Golden Age musical.I think that the opening "Hello" is a parody of "Fugue for Tinhorns" from "Guys and Dolls".
Stand-by Joined: 12/27/08
Watching the Tonys, I laughed when I heard "...A warlord who shoots people in the face. What's so scary about that?" Omigod, it's Maria Von Trapp!
I've read Hello was in part inspired by The Telephone Song from Bye Bye Birdy.
Stand-by Joined: 12/27/08
"I Believe" was a little like "Everything's Coming Up Roses." Self-deluding characters have had a rude awakening, but instead of rethinking their commitment to the failures in Act 1 that brought them here, they sing songs enthusiastically affirming their commitments. There's hope and sadness in both songs.
Nice point, Raker.
Why has no one mentioned the multiple references to Wicked?
They definitely did. Probably in another thread, PJ.
There was even an argument about whether or not You and Me (But Mostly Me) is a nod to The Wizard and I (... but mostly I) or Defying Gravity.
Maybe they all blew a gasket over it.
Broadway Star Joined: 9/15/04
I'd argue that many of the Wicked/Mormon similarities might be attributed to the same orchestrator (Stephen Oremus)
Don't forget A Chorus Line, during I Am Africa!
i*heart*fame, you make a agood point, but I'm pretty sure that the "references" are intentional, as some of the motifs/melodies seem to come directly from Wicked, and that's not the orchestrator's job.
Swing Joined: 8/12/11
A few bars at the beginning of "Baptize Me" are nearly identical to the beginning of "Lamest Place in the World" from 13.
Broadway Legend Joined: 8/14/07
W.D Brohn Orchestrated Wicked! not steven oremus his Orchestrations for " You and Me" are a Rip off from brohns work.
Broadway Star Joined: 12/16/06
Going off the original cast recording:
Two By Two = Little Shop of Horrors (starting at 3:44)
You and Me (But Mostly Me) = Defying Gravity (underscoring starting at :30), and the final "Me" is a nod to the end of The Wizard and I
All American Prophet = The Music Man (Rock Island/Trouble) (starting at 2:54)
Sal Tlay Ka Siti = a nod to Disney in general
Man Up (featured in the Entr'acte) = underscore to "I Hope I Get It" from A Chorus Line
Just my 2 cents
I think Man Up is very much like a song from Billy Elliot! Both are sort of angry...and both feature the character at the top of a staircase that gets pulled out and turns around! So there.
They're both from musicals, and sung by characters singing with emotion!
Most of the shows and songs that are referenced lyrically, musically or thematically (chief among them, The Sound of Music, The King & I, The Music Man, Wicked, The Lion King, Annie, Sunday in the Park With George, Menken and Ashman princess songs) have been discussed and acknowledged by the authors in print. I think some of the rest of you are just hearing things...
I was going to say. A lot of these seem a little far fetched...
Either the score is completely derivative, they meant to infuse all these references, or you guys are reading into it too much.
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