Great Story, Wrong Composer

[michellek45]

Posted: 4/22/12 at 10:16pm

Have you ever watched a musical and thought, "Woah, this would be great if so-and-so composed it instead"? That's what this thread is for. For example, I loved the book version of Wicked, but I think Schwartz was the wrong composer to convey the crazy darkness of the story. If I were in charge, I would have picked Michael John LaChiusa to do the music. I love the music and story for Caroline, or Change, but some of those lyrics were really questionable. I'd like to see maybe Adam Guettel or Peter Udell try their hands at it.

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 4/22/12 at 10:28pm

I wouldn't just say the composer is wrong, though. Using your example of Wicked, a "dark" score would be totally at odds with the work that Winnie Holzman did on the book.

Now not having been around for the writing process I can't say who took it in which direction first, but my guess would be that if the powers that be had decided that they wanted the show to go in a darker direction then they would have needed a whole new creative team, not just swapping out Schwartz for another composer.

[michellek45]

Posted: 4/22/12 at 10:38pm

I'm aware of the discrepancy that would have existed, but if they did go in that darker direction, even if they hired a different book writer, Schwartz wouldn't have been able to pull it off, is what I meant.

[Pippin]

Posted: 4/22/12 at 11:06pm

While I love Jerry Herman, I don't he was the right match for "Dear World"

Also - Road show shouldn't have been a Stephen Sondheim musical

I would have loved for these two composers to have switched projects. I would be really interesting to hear what they would have offered.

[Midnight Radio]

Posted: 4/22/12 at 11:09pm

The Addams Family

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 4/22/12 at 11:10pm

As has been said before:
SUNSET BOULEVARD = SONDHEIM

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 4/22/12 at 11:15pm

I think Huncback shows that Schwartz has the potential to go "darker." Though he's only credited with lyrics, I'm sure Menken didn't write the entire score with out any input from his lyricist. I'm not saying he was perfect for Wicked, but I think he delivered a score that was fitting in tone and style to the direction the book was taking and has/had the potential to turn in something darker if that's where they had wanted to go.

Of course it is all just a big game of "what if'" where there are no right answers, just endless (hopefully civil) speculation and back and forth.

I'm curious to hear what type of score Sondheim would have turned out had he gone through with adapting Sunset Boulevard like he (according to the Perry coffee table book on the Lloyd Webber musical) supposedly toyed with at one point.

[ChenoKahn]

Posted: 4/22/12 at 11:17pm

The Addams Family didn't just have the wrong composer.

[HBP]

Posted: 4/22/12 at 11:19pm

WOMEN ON THE VERGE... could have done with a different composer. david yazbek is so close to being great, but he needs someone to tell him to stop writing songs that are entirely metaphorical and don't move the plot forward. maybe stephen sondheim can mentor him.

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 4/22/12 at 11:37pm

Sondheim may have thought SB too much of a popular title.
He usually went with more obscure works to adapt (SMILES OF A SUMMER NIGHT, PASSION). But SUNSET may have been the big commercial success (not that he needs it) that alluded him.

[quizking101]

Posted: 4/22/12 at 11:45pm

Ghost would have been spit-spot if the score wasn't so god-awful ....but who could write an adequate score for a story like Ghost?

[frontrowcentre2]

Posted: 4/22/12 at 11:49pm

I felt after seeing THE ADDAMS FAMILY that Andrew Lippa was the wrong composer for that musical. Marc Shaiman would have caught the kooky world of the Addams better.

[jv92]

Posted: 4/22/12 at 11:59pm

Jerry Herman was wrong for DEAR WORLD, but some of the songs are still quite good, in their Herman-y way.

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 4/23/12 at 12:07am

"I felt after seeing THE ADDAMS FAMILY that Andrew Lippa was the wrong composer for that musical. Marc Shaiman would have caught the kooky world of the Addams better."

Much as everyone rails against screen to stage adaptations, I still wish that they had adapted the first movie, with Shaiman writing the score and expanding on the work he did for the film. Fester's farewell party, featuring the Mamushka would have made a wonderful Act II opener. And, in this alternate world, Andrea Martin would have killed as Dr. Pinderschloss.

[ClapYo'Hands]

Posted: 4/23/12 at 2:17am

I think Jekyll and Hyde would have been a great Lloyd Webber or Claude-Michel Schonberg show.

[After Eight]

Posted: 4/23/12 at 5:08am

I love Jerry Herman's score for Dear World. It's melodic and quite charming. Songs like "Garbage" and "The Tea Party" are very much in th spirit of the piece. I loved the show as well. Probably the show for which he was not suited was The Grand Tour. He has said as much in his autobiography.

As did Oscar Hammerstein regarding Pipe Dream. The recent Encores production bore that out.

Harry Warren probably wasn't the best composer for Shangri-La, and Sondheim's washed out music was not what A Funny Thing needed.

[greensgreens]

Posted: 4/23/12 at 8:15am

Yes, yes, yes - a million times YES to the idea of Shaiman expanding and adapting some of his score to create an Addams Family musical based on the story from the first film. His themes and waltzes for that score are breathtaking in any context.

However, I would much rather see Addams Family Values on a stage, given its camp values and I think appeal to a larger demographic. It has similar themes to the musical's plotline, although I can't imagine how they would pull off the role of Pubert. Then again, they did have Basil Twist on the payroll and if anyone could make that come to life, it would be him...

[jayinchelsea]

Posted: 4/23/12 at 8:26am

Sorry, After Eight, but don't agree with you about FORUM, although even Sondheim feels his work was not appropriate. What makes the song score work is that very off-center style: low baudy humor in the book matched with a score that is often very elegant (although it certainly has its share of comic, vaudeville-type songs). Sondheim had just the right touch for FORUM, and even though the Tony Committee chose to bypass him (in favor of such scores as the inferior, long-forgotten BRAVO GIOVANNI), FORUM in both its book and score remains one of the glories of American musical comedy.

[After Eight]

Posted: 4/23/12 at 8:35am

Jay,

Obviously, we disagree about Forum's score, but I feel the Tony Committee got it right. Bravo Giovanni's score is better, as were those of all the other nominees.

[Gaveston2]

Posted: 4/23/12 at 4:50pm

Sondheim may have thought SB too much of a popular title.

Somewhere--I think it's in a discussion of opera in one of his recent collections of lyrics--Sondheim says he considered SB but discussed it with Billy Wilder at a party. The latter insisted the story needed to be an opera; Sondheim agreed and set the project aside because he has no interest in writing opera.

As for FORUM, jay, some people simply lose their minds on the subject of Stephen Sondheim (often pro, but sometimes con).

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 4/23/12 at 5:07pm

That Sondheim story about SB being an opera has been repeated in a few sources. I see the point.

Pipe Dream should have been a Frank Loesser musical as once planned, it seems like it would have been perfect for him.

After Eight, what's the best song from Bravo Giovanni? I would be curious to compare. I'm not sure that Forum should have won best score, but it's a charming score that deserved to be nominated--the songs perfectly serve their function of offering a respite from the madcap action.

[After Eight]

Posted: 4/23/12 at 5:22pm

"the songs perfectly serve their function of offering a respite from the madcap action."

Any songs could do that. It's not just a question of function, it's a question of quality. The songs have to be more than mediocre, and well suited to the material. Forum's songs are neither.

[Theatrical Landladies]

Posted: 4/23/12 at 6:00pm

I would love to have seen SB written as a vehicle for Angela Lansbury as intended by Sondheim and, I think, Lloyd Webber. It needed her star power and commitment to the role to make it an historic piece of musical theatre by either composer!

[Dollypop]

Posted: 4/23/12 at 6:05pm

I loved the score for LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA but I felt it was constantly interrupting the book. Throughout the show I felt Jerry Herman could have done a good job on creating a score that worked better with the libretto.

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 4/23/12 at 7:29pm

Dolly, I can't tell, is that a joke?

After8, obviously it's a matter of taste, but to call the score "washed up", when it didn't sound like much on Broadway at the time is pretty odd.