Info on Flaherty/Ahrens' "Rocky" starts to seep out

[tazber]

Posted: 11/22/11 at 8:22am

The world premiere will be performed in German (but will subsequently travel the globe in English).

Many of the franchise's famous songs will be included such as Eye of the Tiger, Gonna Fly Now, and (horrors!) Take You Back, which was Sly's doo-wop number.



Link

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 11/22/11 at 11:44am

The first Ahrens and Flaherty show I have no interest in seeing.

[newintown]

Posted: 11/22/11 at 12:14pm

Agreed - this sounds unbearably painful. Who'd have thought Lynn and Steve would go so vulgar?

[best12bars]

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

I hope they're being paid really, really well for this. It sounds horrendous. The latest entry from the "ice show" canon of musicals.

[tazber]

Posted: 11/22/11 at 12:50pm

I'm truly disappointed by this. I am a huge fan of Flaherty/Ahrens.

I was willing to go with their decision to musicalize this property, despite reservations.

But I figured that if anyone could turn the movie into a musical that might work it would be them. But to read that those songs from the movie are included, well my heart sank.

Nothing against those songs, and perhaps with another creative team they might actually work.

But Flaherty/Ahrens; scores create are so intricately woven into the fabric of their shows that I fear these movie songs will:
a) clash with the tone of their score and
b) stop the show cold

Still curious, and still going to check it out but my expectations are officially lowered.

[darquegk]

Posted: 11/22/11 at 12:57pm

Ahrens and Flaherty have a huge and diverse stylistic range. I'm hoping they write the score AROUND the "Rocky Music" style, and not write an unconnected score then plug those songs and styles in.

[Gaveston2]

Posted: 11/22/11 at 1:44pm

I'm kind of shocked, actually.

[jdtp12]

Posted: 11/22/11 at 3:40pm

Anyone watched this yet?


Workshop Video

[best12bars]

Posted: 11/22/11 at 3:51pm

That was jaw-droppingly bad.

Holy. Crap.

[bestfreakinshoes]

Posted: 11/22/11 at 4:13pm

I'd rather see this than Spiderman, to be perfectly honest.

[philly03]

Posted: 11/22/11 at 4:18pm

Holy cow... Bring back WONDERLAND already!!!!!!

"My nose ain't broken, it still looks nice
Don't need no stiches, don't need no ice"

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 11/22/11 at 5:14pm

I LOVE Ahrens/Flaherty, even their work that I consider subpar (Seussical, parts of My Favorite Year), and they're certainly more versatile than some people I know who seem to only know ragtime would think, but... What a mess. And I think trying to have their style somehow mix with epic cheese numbers like Eye of the Tiger gives me far less hope than if they just somehow controlled the whole score.

[best12bars]

Posted: 11/22/11 at 5:45pm

It reminds me of the musical spoofs that Mel Brooks or Carol Burnett used to do.

Or that Elephant Man musical in The Tall Guy.

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 11/22/11 at 6:32pm

""My nose ain't broken, it still looks nice
Don't need no stiches, don't need no ice,
The rest of my body gonna need advice..."

I get that Ahrens is trying to write simple lyrics that would make sense for Rocky to sing (from the clip it sounded like he sings this to his turtles?), but they're gonna have a tough time not getting laughter from those lines...

[Gaveston2]

Posted: 11/22/11 at 8:57pm

Above I wrote "I'm kind of shocked, actually."

Well, I've seen the video and I officially retract the "kind of".

And, no, the boxing does not look real (not even to me and I'm no fan of the sport).

I guess I knew from history that even the best writers can talk themselves into the worst projects, but damn!

[little_sally]

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

I feel like this is something that would show up on The Simpsons.

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 11/23/11 at 12:18am

I just realized Alex Timbers is directing this (but not writing the book...) Is he aware it's not meant to be a spoof?

[jv92]

Posted: 11/23/11 at 10:25pm

At least they're doing something with Susan Stroman that sounds like it's of more worth than this.

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 11/24/11 at 3:46am

What's the Stroman project?

[jv92]

Posted: 11/24/11 at 11:40am

I have no idea what it's called, but I think it was workshopped at LCT earlier this year.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 11/24/11 at 12:53pm

This may make Taymor's Spiderman look like My Fair Lady

[SporkGoddess]

Posted: 11/24/11 at 1:20pm

Why, Ahrens and Flaherty, why? ;_;

[Boredathome]

Posted: 11/24/11 at 10:34pm

Wow, I actually think this has a ton of potential, and I'm not a big Ahrens/Flaherty fan.

Some people just like to bitch and moan no matter what. And it's always the same people. It's kinda sad.

[Donthatecongratulate]

Posted: 11/25/11 at 1:01am

Das Poop!

Should this be a musical? NEIN!!

To quote Alex Timbers, "this is the worst idea in history."

That video was embarrassing BUUUUUT, if theyve got the budget to shoot a video of that quality for a workshop, there's money behind this and it will see a stateside run. I think Europeans might like it. I think New Yorkers are gonna ****e on it.

[best12bars]

Posted: 11/25/11 at 6:10am

I don't think it's a bad idea to attempt a musical adaptation of Rocky. I think THIS approach that we see here is terrible. The minute they say they want to add in the cheesy, dated soundtrack songs from the "franchise," they lose me instantly. That shows the desperation in the name recognition. This is another "ice show" adaptation, as I said before. "Let's try to do Rocky on stage by throwing a few songs into it and making it as much like the movies as possible." Instant fail.

At the heart of Rocky (yes, it has one) is a wonderful, small story between Rocky and Adrian, and Rocky and his trainer. That's where the drama and "magic" to the piece can be found. But adding a bunch of generic chorus boys in sweats singing a completely square, "Up With People" arrangement of "Eye of the Tiger" immediately throws the whole thing into parody.

It's not a bad idea to adapt Rocky, although it's a challenging one. But it's a horrible idea to adapt it this way and hope for anything other than laughs.