I know, right? My jaw dropped when I first heard some of the Shrek music, and not in a good way. I can only hope that she and Kushner collaborate again someday, because she wrote some amazing stuff the last time.
She did, and I'd be loathe to imply that that was somehow Kushner's doing, which wouldn't be fair to her talents (though certainly certain collaborations do bring out the best in people). But she probably is, out of the modern musical theatre composers I like best, the one i find the least consistent. Of course Shrek would be written with a vastly different purpose and audience than Caroline, but with other composers I've had no problem enjoying their work for children/family shows along with their more complex work.
Of course Shrek would be written with a vastly different purpose and audience than Caroline, but with other composers I've had no problem enjoying their work for children/family shows along with their more complex work.
Ahrens and Flaherty are a good example of that. Though the show itself bombed, most of the original Seussical score is wonderful. I think there are maybe two songs in Shrek I enjoy at all. Did anyone listen to her work for Twelfth Night? I really didn't care for the music. But I do think Violet is tied with Caroline for her best work. It's a shame Violet never saw its way to a Broadway production.
"What can you expect from a bunch of seitan worshippers?" - Reginald Tresilian
Violet deserves more exposure (is the cast album even still in print)? I admit I got it back when simply because Sondheim said it was one of his favorite things he had seen recently on some random interview. I'm not really a fan of the country-ish/bluegrass music that it's written in, but it won me over. It's pretty great (I've heard the play itself has some issues, but can't comment on that).
And yes, I was actually think of Ahrens/Flaherty when I said that. I mean the little I've heard of Tesori's work for the Disney DVD projects (hardly a prestige job) are really--not great, but for the most part Ahren/sFlaherty (not to mention Menken, etc) seem to put as much effort when scoring an animated family film as a stage show.
I've always been curious about her Twelth Night score and every so often think about trying to track it down--but maybe I won't now.
Did anyone else see The Studio Theater's production of this with Julia Nixon in DC? I never got to see the show on Broadway, but after seeing Studio's production I really regretted never making the effort do so.
"The price of love is loss, but still we pay; We love anyway."
I recall that, at the time, Riedel went after this show with a sledgehammer. On Theatre Talk, he regularly made fun of the singing washing machine. And he never let up until the show closed.
