Caroline or Change in London- Page 2

[Roninjoey]

Posted: 2/20/06 at 1:51am

I feel the need to point out that ALWRules gave us as apparent fact that "ALW is a better composer" than Stephen Sondheim. Yes, we are talking about the Andrew Lloyd Webber who comes up with five melodies for each show and reuses them countless times with no dramatic basis, is infamous for and has been sued for blatantly lifting/modeling songs after/being heavily influenced by Puccini, among others. Sondheim, like anybody, has lifted or been heavily influenced, but he is usually a little more subtle about it, and he hasn't been sued for it to my knowledge. Andrew Lloyd Webber, the guy who often reuses songs from old flops, wrote a show about the little engine that could, and may not have heard of dissonance until he wrote The Woman in White.

Sorry, I just don't see Webber making that many best of lists, whereas Sondheim, well, the documentation stands for itself. Go ahead and love him, I like him too, but he's not the sun and moon of composition. Catchy does not equal good. It just equals you heard that line of music a lot of times as the evening progressed.

I couldn't say because I'm not British but I believe that it took a few years for Sondheim musicals to catch on in England, just as it did in America. I will be bold and assume British people are quite aware of the American civil rights movement, even if they weren't in AP World History.

The trappings of a theatrical piece don't necessarily mean it only has relevance to one group of people. It's art. It's universal.

[Link Larkin Wanabe]

Posted: 2/20/06 at 2:54am

I am excited for this, and I pray it finds an audience in Britain. I also hope that they bring in a British Set Designer to work their magic on it (Mark Thompson maybe?). I just feel like from all the pictures I have seen of the production, it just didn't capture the essence of the work. While not "bad" by any means...i just felt it could be a lot...better.

And for the record I am a huge fan of this show, and I happen to be Canadian. I don't know much about American history...but got all the references in this show.

Akiva

[respeck]

Posted: 2/20/06 at 3:10am

Akiva, I don't think the pictures really show the set well. It moved quickly and had huge black panels that would come down and really bring an amazing force to the show (especial at the end of the first scene, when she steps out of the basement) and the colors were so rich. It was very deep in the sense that everything seemed real.

But I would really like to see it redesigned, just to see what could be done with it.
Updated On: 2/20/06 at 03:10 AM

[Link Larkin Wanabe]

Posted: 2/20/06 at 3:18am

respeck,

It's true. while I have seen pictures of every scene, they don't convey the movement. Either way I would like to see another design team approachj it from sheer interest. I had a few ideas, like the Luisianna swamp encroaching on the basement and the claustrophobia that basement creates. I would also love ot see the basement become a jazz club and the appliances actually interact more with Caroline in her fantasies.

Akiva

[ceeejaye]

Posted: 2/20/06 at 5:06am

hi
Caroline or Change is coming to Wash, DC in May with local Julia Nixon, who played Effie in Dreamgirls for several months when Jennifer Holiday went to the LA Dreamgirls.

Also, playing Emmie the daughther is one of the girls who played one of the urchins in the recent revival of Little Shop of Horrrors on Broadway.


Updated On: 2/20/06 at 05:06 AM

[leeinlondon]

Posted: 2/20/06 at 5:16am

"Also, The Wizard of Oz is very much an American Phenomenon"

Rubbish.. it is shown very often here in England and I don't know many people that have not seen it multiple times.