Jesus Christ as ALW's best

[Isabella2]

Posted: 4/6/06 at 12:26am

It's strange because I don't usually enjoy Andrew Loyd Weber much, but I find Jesus Christ Superstar to be a great musical piece, better than anything else he's ever written. Does anyone else feel this way? Why is it that his earliest piece turne dout to be the best?

[knows_too_much]

Posted: 4/6/06 at 12:28am

I agree.

[pab]

Posted: 4/6/06 at 12:31am

JCS is one of his best. I would also have to include Evita on a very short list of good ALW scores.

[PerforMeg]

Posted: 4/6/06 at 12:52am

JCS is definitely my favorite of the ALW musicals. I do also love Evita. I do enjoy select songs of his from certain shows,but in terms of shows as a whole those are the only ones that aren't full of problems.

[Rentaholic2]

Posted: 4/6/06 at 2:23am

I really enjoy Phantom, Cats, and Evita, but have always thought JCS his very best and my personal favorite. Couldn't agree with you more.

[Isabella2]

Posted: 4/6/06 at 3:03pm

I'm pretty sure it was his first musical. i just think it funny that his first musical is by far the best. That doesn't usually happen does it?
Updated On: 4/6/06 at 03:03 PM

[MagicToDo82]

Posted: 4/6/06 at 3:04pm

Amen!

...and my favorite song from JCS is "This Jesus Must Die." Which kinda sucks - you can't exactly go running around singing THAT at piano bars and karaoke.

[Calvin]

Posted: 4/6/06 at 3:08pm

Ha! I played Annas once (in the South, mind you), and the other priests and I would remark how tough it was to get applause after that song.

[keatonbynumbers]

Posted: 4/6/06 at 3:10pm

I can pretty much take ALW or leave him... but I think EVITA and JCS are not only his two best scores, but two of my favorite musicals (ever). They're both so superior to everything else he's written, it's kind of weird. In my head, I've divorced the Andrew Lloyd Webber, Composer of EVITA and JCS from the Andrew Lloyd Webber, Composer of That Other Stuff. And it's weird when I have to reconcile them.

[mortgageguy79]

Posted: 4/6/06 at 3:13pm

JCS and Evita are (to me) his finest and most complete works. I think the stories are so clear and done (for the most part) with very little spectacle (i.e. chandeliers flying from the rooftop)

[GypsyRoseLee]

Posted: 4/6/06 at 5:53pm

JCS and Evita also have considerably more solid bases that Cats and POTO. I found The Phantom of the Opera(the book) to be overly dramatic and trite. Cats is based on a whole bunch of poems, rather than a story, and is mostly dependant on crazy costumes and make-up anyway. Wheather you are religious or not, the story of Jesus Christ is an interesting one, and any show based on history IMO has more depth. Same goes for Evita.

[Kringas]

Posted: 4/6/06 at 5:54pm

Doesn't Joseph pre-date JCS?

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 4/6/06 at 6:14pm

Like Sunset & Phantom better

[RuprechtJr.]

Posted: 4/6/06 at 9:55pm

Joseph was written first, JCS was produced and mounted first.

[lesmisforever]

Posted: 4/6/06 at 9:56pm

I am not really an ALW fan but I love JCS.

Posted: 4/6/06 at 10:01pm

...and my favorite song from JCS is "This Jesus Must Die." Which kinda sucks - you can't exactly go running around singing THAT at piano bars and karaoke.

Ha! That mental image is hilarious.

I haven't really been able to get into any of ALW's works other than JCS, which I adore. I'm hesitant to label it his "best" work as it's all so subjective, but it's certainly my favorite (from what I've heard of ALW).

My favorite song is "Heaven on Their Minds." Cliche, I know, but ever since I saw Becky Gulsvig (now of Hairspray) sing it in a local production, I've been hooked on it. I do agree that "This Jesus Must Die" is a great song that makes good use of alternating tempos.

[Timmerbo]

Posted: 4/7/06 at 12:06am

I'm singing Gethsemane at karaoke next week.

I'll let you know how it goes.

[Princeton78]

Posted: 4/7/06 at 12:20am

I would assume that most theatre fans and critcs would consider JCS, Evita, Phantom and possibly Cats as his best scores.

[knows_too_much]

Posted: 4/7/06 at 1:11am

ALW is absolutely one of the most talented composers of our life time, thats proven by:

JCS, witch he composed and orchestrated before he was 20

EVITA, witch is one of his smartest, and most complex scores

CATS, witch was a great successful experiment to write a show based around a series of short poems

POTO, witch is the most financially successful piece of entertainment ever created

Requiem, witch puts him in a group of very few B-way composers who have tackled classical Catholic masses(the only other one I can think of is Leonard Bernstein)



The problem I find with ALW is that it seems with each success he had, he became cockier and cockier. The work became less edgy and interesting, and became more about ALW score, by the time you get to Aspects.., and Sunset... you have 15 min musical interludes that are serve no purpose other than to have more ALW music. I feel like he went from creating shows that were edgy and original, to creating vehicles for his own music.

[sanda]

Posted: 4/7/06 at 1:16am

I absolutely agree. It's my most favorite work of ALW.

And I still don't get the goodness of Evita. To me it is a very gloomy, boring show. Not one character is likable.

[Isabella2]

Posted: 4/12/06 at 11:13pm

knowstomuch, just because Cats and POTO were sucessful doesn't mean that they were good. I agree with you on everything else though.

I think i would have to go back and watch evita in rder to say something aboutit. I loved when I was smaller Updated On: 9/6/06 at 11:13 PM

[spiderdj82]

Posted: 4/12/06 at 11:19pm

JCS is my favorite of his musicals. Also check out "Whistle Down the Wind" and "A Beautful Game" for those that think he went soft. Especially "A Beautiful Game."

But, I am a fan of his so what do I know, right?

[kaboodles041]

Posted: 4/12/06 at 11:21pm

Did anyone like Joseph? I was bored to tears by that show. I don't know which one I don't like more, Cats or Joseph.

[Sparklesss]

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

I like the "can we start again" song that seems to only be on the London cd and in the play...

Posted: 4/12/06 at 11:23pm

It's also in the movie.

Unfortunately (in my opinion).