Great Score, Shame About The Book- Page 5

[myshikobit]

Posted: 6/24/08 at 6:14pm

I'll look into "House of Flowers". Sounds interesting. Here's a good one: "Thou Shalt Not". I loovee "The Other Hours".

[Scarywarhol]

Posted: 6/24/08 at 6:26pm

I really don't understand how Passing Strange keeps getting mentioned for worst book. It truly is one of the few pieces of art that has ever changed the way I look at my life.

My votes would go to the obvious Wicked and In the Heights. Don't kill me, but I actually think that South Pacific easily falls into this category, as well. The score to Applause is much better than the book, too...

[Mattbrain]

Posted: 7/15/08 at 8:50pm

Bump.

[goldenstate5]

Posted: 7/15/08 at 9:53pm

My Favorite Year is a definite candidate. Cute and catchy Ahrens/Flaherty score, but man what a weak book. The most appalling thing about it is that it thinks it is much funnier than it actually is.

And Wicked. Just for the idiotic Wizard of Oz references in Act Two that people, for reasons unknown, actually laugh at. Then again, only tourists go to see Wicked, so that might explain it...

[Amalia Balash]

Posted: 7/16/08 at 5:11am

I have to agree with Light in the Piazza. I don't think I've ever been more disappointed with a musical. I'd remembered loving the movie, but the show just didn't work for me.

Merrily We Roll Along always feels to me like it's one fix away from working, but then I see the next version and I'm still disappointed. Still love the original cast recording, though.

[Mattbrain]

Posted: 8/4/08 at 11:37am

Bump.

[oohshizz146]

Posted: 8/4/08 at 11:44am

Steel Pier

[jennamajig]

Posted: 8/4/08 at 3:28pm

High Fidelity. I really love a lot of the songs (especially the opener) but the book needs work. What worked in the movie didn't translate to stage (and who know if it could) and I blame the book.
Of course, I saw it in Boston in its pre-Broadway tryout. I had plans to see what changes they made when it moved to NYC, but it closed before I had a chance. Some much potential, I thought.

[dburns08]

Posted: 8/4/08 at 4:01pm

I agree with:

"In The Heights" and
"Bklyn."

[dalefully]

Posted: 8/4/08 at 9:10pm

Taboo

[sweetestsiren]

Posted: 8/4/08 at 9:26pm

Merrily We Roll Along might win this thread. The score is great, and the basic concept isn't bad, but there's never been a book that even remotely works.

Chess is up there as well, although attempts to fix the book only seem to make it worse.

I disagree about Company and In the Heights. One or two of Company's vignettes might be on the weaker side, but on the whole I think it holds up quite well, with some scenes being exceptional (Paul and Amy's wedding breakfast, the scene that frames "Ladies Who Lunch"). And In the Heights' book may not be as fantastic as the score is (IMO), but it didn't strike me as particularly weak when I saw the show, either. Updated On: 8/4/08 at 09:26 PM

[Mattbrain]

Posted: 9/8/08 at 3:07pm

Bump

[Schmerg_The_Impaler]

Posted: 9/8/08 at 3:15pm

Not to jump on the bandwagon, but I have to say Wicked. I actually really like the soundtrack, no matter what people say (it's catchy, it's cute, I quite like some of the orchestrations, nice voices), but when I saw the show, um, on Google Video (... what, I'm cheap!), I was really surprised by how irritating the script that tied together the songs was.

Now, I've never read the novel that Wicked is based on, so I don't know if this is just trying to be faithful to the source, but I hate all of those little made-up words that all of the characters seem to use ('surreptitially' rather than 'surreptitiously' comes to mind. As does 'hideocus'.). And the whole Animals thing was simply strange and confusing. I didn't think that any of the repartee was funny, and I felt like there was so little dialogue, they may has well have eliminated it altogether and gone in an all-sung direction like "Evita" or "Les Miserables."

[Mattbrain]

Posted: 9/8/08 at 3:19pm

Could people possibly specify what's wrong with the book of In The Heights? I saw the show and I didn't really see any flaws in particular (and I've thought long and hard about it and I can't see any flaws in particular)

[Ed_Mottershead]

Posted: 9/8/08 at 3:20pm

Rags. IMO, Schwartz's best score by a long shot. The almost-original-cast (no Teresa Stratas) album is one of my favorites. I also have a tape of a live performance (with Stratas) and it's a revelation what Stratas did with that music. But the book is a mess. They tried to clean it up in a pared-down version in the late '80's-early '90's done at Jewish Rep, but it was hopeless -- too many strands in one story to capture the audience. BUT, WHAT A SCORE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[SporkGoddess]

Posted: 9/8/08 at 7:13pm

Mattbrain: There are holes all over, really. Just thinking about any of the plot in depth hurts my head.

Amalia Balash: Really? You liked the LitP movie but disliked the musical? The musical has a crazy storyline, but I thought they executed it loads better than the movie did.

[SirNotAppearing]

Posted: 9/8/08 at 7:18pm

South Pacific has beautiful music, but the book can veer into crap territory.

[lvpblues]

Posted: 9/8/08 at 7:47pm

1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. A glorious, sophisticated score of near-operatic quality marred by an unsatisfactory concept and a woefully weak libretto.

[Mattbrain]

Posted: 9/10/08 at 7:27am

Bump.

Sorry. I just love this discussion so much.

[Fan123]

Posted: 9/10/08 at 10:38am

Cabaret. It's still a great show, but the book is weak IMO.

[blondebaby589]

Posted: 9/10/08 at 12:33pm

Mack and Mabel
Little Women
Footloose

and I've gotta agree with SporkGoddess on Parade

[musicaltheater1]

Posted: 9/14/08 at 4:19pm

I just read a review on Marguerite's CD from PBOL (http://www.playbill.com/news/article/121243.html). With the exception for the lyrics, the score received good reviews. Has anybody here seen the musical? Please share your reviews on Legrand's score. I'm thinking of purchasing the cast album.

PBOL...
"The music, as heard on the cast album, sounds wonderful. Legrand is known for his rich and lushly emotional style, which is apparent on the cast album from First Night Records."

"Where Marguerite falls off, on the CD anyway, is in the lyrics: bald and artless, with quite a few clichés and clinkers."

"I love acting. It is so much more real than life." Oscar Wilde
"After silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music." Aldous Huxley

[bwayfan9]

Posted: 9/14/08 at 4:23pm

Aida for sure

[Mattbrain]

Posted: 11/26/08 at 10:07am

Bump.

And I'm adding The Life to my picks.

[blondebaby589]

Posted: 11/26/08 at 10:15am

I have to add to my list and agree with Kiss Me Kate. Amazing music, horrible book.