Cats- Growltiger's Song / Puccini riffs??

[Adam Chris]

Posted: 5/26/06 at 1:38am

Tonight I was watching Live from Lincoln Center Center 30th on PBS. Placido Domingo sang "Ch'ella mi creda" from La Fanciulla del West by Puccini and I couldn't help but to think it sounded awfully like the song Growltiger sings on the ship to Grittlebone. ( I can't believe I actually remember the names of these cats.) Does anyone know if ALW modeled that melody after this Puccini song?

Also, in the show it was my favorite moment and they did not include it on the Cats DVD.

Adam

[StageManager2]

Posted: 5/26/06 at 2:24am

ALW has often been accused of stealing from Puccini, mostly by detractors and Sondheim-philes. "Memory" is another song which many call Puccini-esque. Personally, I think he's been "inspired" by Puccini. Adam, I hear you. I like the Growltiger duet and I was miffed that they cut it from the DVD.

[Mr. Tuttle]

Posted: 5/26/06 at 2:37am

ALW is an original and would never steal from Puccini.

Hell..what musicals did that hack Puccini ever write?

[rockfenris2005]

Posted: 5/26/06 at 3:40am

I always thought Puccini possessed Lloyd Webber when he wrote "The Heart is Slow to Learn"...

Composers working from beyond the grave... it has happened...

[JBSinger]

Posted: 5/26/06 at 8:55am

I was watching that segment and my ear caught the same thing. Though I am not overly familiar with Fancuilla, others have told me that big sections of Phantom sound just like it.
Listen to the humming chorus from Madama Butterfly. You'll hear "Bring Him Home" (Les Miz) and bits of "New Ways to Dream" (Sunset Blvd.).

[Barihunk]

Posted: 5/26/06 at 10:15am

You are correct JBSinger... a phrase from "Music of the Night" - "Turn your face away from the garish light of day, Turn your thoughts away from cold unfeeling light" is almost note for note the same as a snippet of a love theme found in Act II of "Fanciulla del West". There is belief among some that the Puccini estate sued Lloyd Weber for plagarism and won - but that is just urban legend.

[rmposey]

Posted: 5/26/06 at 10:26am

Hee hee! I was performing Un Bel Di from Madame Butterfly for a jury a few years ago and one of my professors jokingly advised me not to get confused and start singing Memory. I nearly ruined my jury by giggling after imagining the faculty's faces if I did such a thing.

[WOSQ]

Posted: 5/26/06 at 11:13am

The Girl of the Golden West is a direct steal. I've seen two productions at City Opera, and the motif is right there for all to hear. It may even be the same key.

I have always thought Un Bel Di was used as a definite idea (to coin a phrase)for Love Is a Many Splendored Thing, the Oscar- winning song from the 50s.

Of course, if you write a solid melody and then hit the audience over the head with it, it will sound like Puccini. A bus-and-truck Puccini maybe, but still Puccini.

Come To Me, Bend To Me is used in Phantom as an homage to Alan Jay Lerner who was the original bookwriter/lyricist and died before real work began. The Lerner-Loewe estates knew this.

[Jon]

Posted: 5/26/06 at 11:26am

"Masquerade" is very similar to a melody from Turandot.

By the way - to whomever mentioned "Bring Him Home" - ALW did not write Les Miz.

[Adam Chris]

Posted: 5/26/06 at 3:59pm

I think the person he borrows tunes from the most is... himself.

He took a tune from his original show in Joseph and placed it in JCS.
He took two tunes from The Likes of Us and put it in By Jeeves and Woman/White.
He took a snip of Half a Moment (By Jeeves) and placed into As If We Never Said Goodbye (Sunset).
He took English Girls from Song and Dance and reembalmed it into Tire Tracks and Broken Hearts (Whistle/Wind).
He even took a small snip from Requiem and placed it into Woman in White.
Not to mention he took a part of the Beautiful Game Overture and put it into the Phantom movie for the Journey to the Graveyard sequence.
I'm sure there are other examples.

I guess he just inspires himself.

Adam