Bored by Webber shows

[AJ1985]

Posted: 6/23/06 at 6:44pm

Saw Cats years ago once and that was enough.

Phantom of the Opera was the most boring show I have seen.

Saw Evita last year when it played downtown. This is supposed to be his best show? Ewwwww.

[frontrowcentre2]

Posted: 6/23/06 at 6:53pm

EVITA is a great show but not so much because of the writing but because of Hal Prince's staging of the original. Without that, the show is in trouble.

Of all the ALW shows it is the one most through-composed where the score develops and repeats key motifs. The lyrics by Tim Rice are better than average despite a few clunky lines.

Now if you REALLY want to be bored try to watch ASPECTS OF LOVE all the way through. Some beautiful melodies but the story and characters fail to generate any kind of theatrical excitement. What a waste.

[muscle23ftl]

Posted: 6/23/06 at 7:26pm

Phantom was also directed and staged by Prince.

[FoscasBohemianDream]

Posted: 6/23/06 at 7:49pm

Phantom was directed by Prince and just like with Evita, the staging is what keeps it from being as mediocre as the score. I agree Evita is probably the best Lloyd Webber show though without the proper direction and the proper actress playing Evita, it simply crumbles.

[hermionejuliet]

Posted: 6/23/06 at 8:25pm

I'm not a big Webber fan. I go back and forth on Phantom. IMO, it depends on the chemistry and talent on stage. I've never seen Evita or Cats, but I have absolutely no desire to see Cats. Joseph is unique and fun, and although the last touring version I saw of that was hideous. Starlight Express is one of the most painful nights of the theatre I've ever experienced.

[Becky2]

Posted: 6/23/06 at 9:05pm

I've never understood the appeal of "Cats." I like ALW, but I agree, some of his shows are quite boring.

[DG]

Posted: 6/23/06 at 9:08pm

Is NO ONE going to comment on the obviousness of this as a response to the 'boring Sondheim' thread?

[Fiction Writer]

Posted: 6/23/06 at 9:37pm

I don't think this is the first time we've had a discussion about ALW and his "boring" shows.

If you think it's boring, fine, but don't start a new thread about it!

And for the record, I don't think Sondheim has ever written a boring show. However, I don't think I've seen enought ALW to compare it with.

[Caroline-Q-or-TBoo]

Posted: 6/23/06 at 10:37pm

JCS rates as my favorite Andrew Lloyd show. Though that isn't saying much, really

[spiderdj82]

Posted: 6/23/06 at 10:49pm

Alright, DG I'll say it.

This is a response to my "boring Sondheim Shows" thread.

I admit, some of his shows are boring (like every other Composer) but many are amazing! No matter what you say about him, he can come up with the greatest melodies ever.

[spiderdj82]

Posted: 6/23/06 at 10:52pm

Also, I would like to add that many of the complaints of Webber is really should not be directed towards him. A lot of people complain about the actual shows itself, so should the blame be completely Webbers, or being split between the lyricist, director, actors, etc.

I would also like to add that Tim Rice and Webber need to get back together.

[StageGuy99]

Posted: 6/23/06 at 11:08pm

One show in particular that I enjoyed because it was so different from his other stuff was Beautiful Game.... played in the West End for a short time I think... I enjoyed it, not sure what the critics thought though.

[spiderdj82]

Posted: 6/23/06 at 11:17pm

I love 90% of the music from THE BEAUTIFUL GAME. "Our Kind of Love" is one of the prettiest/sad songs written for the theatre.

[StageManager2]

Posted: 6/23/06 at 11:18pm

DG, I thought the same thing just from the title. What do you know? This thread was started by AJ1985, who praised Sondheim in the other thread. Hmmmmmm.

Updated On: 6/23/06 at 11:18 PM

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 6/24/06 at 2:38am

I love how people are so scared to say what they want. Everyone is like "oh, I really like this show, but I agree it's not that great and blah blah." If you like a show, be proud of it. I like Jesus Christ Superstar and Sunset Blvd. I'm not sure how either show could put you to sleep unless you took a hit of Benedryl before entering the theater. Evita is pretty good, but when I saw it, I wasn't too familiar with the story, so I was confused through most of it, and I hate the ending. I have yet to see CATS, but I'll see the tour when it comes around this season.

[gertiecummings]

Posted: 6/24/06 at 3:08am

I wouldn't call them masterpieces, but I love Evita and JCS. Eva is one of my dream roles.

I only got through about ten minutes if CATS though before I shut it off.

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 6/24/06 at 3:13am

"I wouldn't call them masterpieces, but I love Evita and JCS. Eva is one of my dream roles."

See, that's what I don't get. Why say you like something and then totally discredit it within the same sentence. Don't be ashamed that you like ALW. I don't think anyone would say that about Sondheim. I just don't get why people are afraid to admit it. Obviously people like him, he's making bajillions (yeah, I said it) off of his shows.

[muscle23ftl]

Posted: 6/24/06 at 3:28am

I love ALW, I hated Cats and Phantom is just an ok show, but the man is a genious. Evita, Joseph, Sunset Blvd., Bombay Dreams(he did pretty much everything if you have watched the DVD Salaam Bombay), The Woman in White, etc. He deserves to be one of the most or maybe, the most influential man in the musical theatre industry.

[FoscasBohemianDream]

Posted: 6/24/06 at 3:58am

How does he deserve to be the most influential man in musical theater industry? He wrote two major hits, yes, for that I admire him because someone who can make a hit out of a show as shallow and pointless as Cats has to have some sort of ingenuity. However, he has done NOTHING to advance the kind of musical theater that songwriters like Richard Rodgers, Oscar Hammerstein II, Lorenz Harts, Jerome Kern, and Frank Loesser so well introduced (shows with wit, cynicism, intelligent yet entertaining without underestimating the audience intellect), the kind of shows that Stephen Sondheim, Leonard Bernstein, John Kander, Fred Ebb, and Maury Yeston later deconstructed and perfectioned, and the musical theater that new songwriters like Adam Guettel, Lynn Ahrens, Stephen Flaherty, William Finn, and Michael John LaChiusa keep changing and perfectioning. Sorry if this post seems like a laundry list of songwriters, but I cannot stand it when someone calls Lloyd Webber a man who deserves to be influential or a "genius." If he were a genius then he'd have known Bombay Dreams needed A LOT of work before even getting a workshop let alone a Broadway staging, if he were such a great composer he'd have done justice to the mysterious and suspenseful Gothic novel Woman in White instead of making a 2-hour long bore, and he would also have cared about providing Norma Desmond with new layers of character and he'd have done a much better job at depicting her madness instead of turning one of the best American films into a rather bland show with twenty reprises and a big set to wow the audience.

[rockfenris2005]

Posted: 6/24/06 at 8:06am

The Beautiful Game:

IMO, a hideous waste. The only good song was "Our Kind of Love" which was, ironically, recycled from the Phantom 2 song. He should have just kept on with that... pulled a Meat Loaf / Jim Steinman "Bat Out Of Hell 2" on the theatre-world

[Sant]

Posted: 6/24/06 at 8:37am

"He wrote two major hits"

FOSCAS, you might want to re-phrase that one.
So to you a show is not a major hit unless it plays on Broadway for at least 10 years or so? In that case A LOT of shows are NOT major hits, though they're making a lot of money, playing to sold-out houses night after night etc simply because they have only been around, say, like 5 years.

In those terms, he's had "two major hits" - ON BROADWAY!

You should remember:

STARLIGHT EXPRESS played in London for about 15 years
EVITA ran in London for 8 years (and 4 on Broadway)
JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR ran in London for 8 years
ASPECTS OF LOVE ran in London for 6 years.

So I would definitely say he's had more than just "two major hits".

[west end artist1]

Posted: 6/24/06 at 9:14am

i was lucky enough years ago to get my first break on the west end in the beautifull game and thought it was an amazing show and quite hard hitting.I am not a fan of webber at all i think all his shows are very poor and just overblown rock operas but the was something about the BG.We got some really good reviews if i remember right but it just struggled to get an audience(i think a lot of people was put of by the football(they so missed the point hehe)
The staging was so simple and the music was great i had a great time in that.

Phantom,cats,starlight,aspects etc are all awfull

though bombay dreams was good fun

[freeadmission]

Posted: 6/24/06 at 9:16am

Wait, you mean "football" as in what we Americans call "soccer"? There was actually a musical about soccer?

I totally need to see this.

[Color and Light]

Posted: 6/24/06 at 9:28am

Rockfenris, I'm neutral as far as Lloyd Webber goes. I've thoroughly enjoyed some of his shows and absolutely hated others. But I can only hope that he never touches the idea of composing for a Phantom sequel again. If I recall correctly, wasn't it supposed to be based on Fredrick Forsyth's Phantom of Manhatten? That book was one of the biggest pieces of crap I've ever read, and would absolutely tank as a musical.

[anotherhundredpeople]

Posted: 6/24/06 at 11:48am

I am definitely not a big fan of Webber. His scores scream mediocrity. Hal Prince is truly why his shows have been successful. ALW couldn't write a smooth transition if it killed him. I was listening to Sunset Boulevard, which sounds like a combination of Cats, Phantom and a little Evita. Oh dear.