Jarethan said: "green waver said: "Wow, Jarethan, you certainly dumped on a number of successful, if not landmark shows. I agree with some of your opinions, and yes, expert staging can conceal a multitude of flaws. But only a couple of your shows have what I would call a "terrible" score. Not all scores are West Side Story or Guys and Dolls or Carousel. Hell, even Chorus LIne's score, when removed from its brilliant musical staging, is barely above average."
I don't disagree with you re A Chorus Line. The score is not as good as the direction / choreography, and the book. I always felt that Marvin Hamlisch was lucky to be associated with it. That said, it is an enjoyable score.
I am curious as to thoseshows with which you disagree with me. For what it is worth, the ones I debated are Annie and BOM, but I finally concluded that IMO the scores are the weakest part of the show. So, thinking about it, you are right...not all are terrible, per the title; probably best stated as 'the score is definitely not as good as the show, which would be considerably better with an improved score, and some of the scores ARE awful, again IMO.
Definitely awful to me are still more than a few: Grand Hotel, Big River, Billy Elliott (one or two really good songs, a huge amount of filler), Grease (original production minus the terrifically entertainingmovie songs), with Whorehouse on the cusp. Myissue with Whorehouse is probably that there is not a single song that stands out, whereas most shows, even bad ones, have at least one or two songs that the authors can be proud of."
We're really not that far apart-it's a matter of degree. Grand Hotel-don't know it in great detail, but it seems average to me. The problem I have with assessing Annie and Damn Yankees is their total familiarity to my ears. After all these years, I could hum or sing the whole damn show! And I'm on record, on another board as saying that Applegate's solo is one of the unfunniest comedy numbers ever written. Don't really know Big River. I would prefer to call Billy Elliot and TPOS forgettable scores-one or two solid songs, perhaps. That leaves Grease, where we differ greatly. While I would hardly call it great musical theater, I much prefer the original stage score to the movie. The songs are cute, generally funny, and MUCH are authentic pastiches of its era. The movie songs are generic 70s pop, and I've always attributed its success to Travoltamania. Feel free to argue.
there was a big splashy musical called Timbuktu starring Eartha Kitt and Gilbert Price and Melba Moore. This show was Horrible but the score was GREAT.... I wish this show had a cast recording. Shuffle Along sucked....but songs we're good. Same for The Tap Dance Kid...great show.. forgettable song's....
