Julian Ovenden sings FINDING NEVERLAND

[JaglinSays]

Posted: 3/8/15 at 2:19pm

The song is ravishing and he hits it out of the park.






https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9xOhJUgkOvU


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9xOhJUgkOvU Updated On: 3/8/15 at 02:19 PM

[Back Row]

Posted: 3/8/15 at 2:49pm

How much control does the original producer maintain over the material after he fires the creative team? Can we expect this link to be "disappeared" by Weinstein?

[Emma MK]

Posted: 3/8/15 at 2:50pm

Oh my! That is gorgeous!! I could listen to that over and over!

[LimelightMike]

Posted: 3/8/15 at 2:53pm

Am I the only one who's still a leeeeettle miffed that he's not playing Barrie? His voice is friggin' exceptional. Love his work.

[Emma MK]

Posted: 3/8/15 at 3:00pm

Id kill to see him as Barrie! Just saw him a few weeks ago in My Night with Reg in London and he was fab!
Updated On: 3/8/15 at 03:00 PM

[tazber]

Posted: 3/8/15 at 3:03pm

I love it! What a beautiful song.


This is a Frankel/Korie song, right?

[LeTigre]

Posted: 3/8/15 at 3:34pm

Damn, this is amazing. Unilke the songs from the rehearsal footage, which are so awful.
What gives? Why isn't this one in the show? Hell, why isn't Ovenden in the
show? He sings so much better than Morrison or Jordan!

[Back Row]

Posted: 3/8/15 at 4:08pm

I seem to recall a Weinstein interview in which he expressed a desire to have a score that was "more accessible". The way I interpreted that was that he wanted pop songs that little kids could sing along to and that pop artists could cover for radio play. Not exactly the way to create an enduring work of art, but it might be the way for him to make a lot of money. Time will tell. I get the feeling that anything significantly less than Wicked-like commercial success would be an extreme disappointment for Weinstein.

[lala3]

Posted: 3/8/15 at 5:56pm

It's not actually just Weinstein. The composers themselves have stated that they considered themselves "pop" composers and wanted to stick with that approach.Obviously Weinstein sought them out because he wanted it to be more modern and audience approachable. Weinstein is a commercial film producer, but he also does care about art in my opinion.
The creative team of Finding Neverland has said that they consider and want the songs to be deliberately anachronistic to the period of the story. The creative team consider the style of songs to be a bridge between pop and Broadway. It may not be what people want to hear of a Broadway show. But it is the creative choice and direction of the show from the get go.
Personally I loathed this version. I'd much rather hear Morrison and Jordan sing this.

[LeTigre]

Posted: 3/8/15 at 6:09pm

This is the rehearsal clip I saw. Possibly the worst thing ever. Maybe
Weinstein is actually tone-deaf?



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4P7ME19ySo

[Mattbrain]

Posted: 3/8/15 at 6:13pm

"Possibly the worst thing ever. "

Maybe to you. I, for one, enjoyed the score when I saw the show in Boston.

[broadwayboy223]

Posted: 3/8/15 at 6:30pm

So who did the original score for this show? I LOVE that song. I'm assuming the orignal composers were fired?

[Mattbrain]

Posted: 3/8/15 at 6:39pm

Scott Frankel and Michael Korie, best known on this side of the pond for Grey Gardens and Far From Heaven.

I don't know what the heck happened with them. I seem to recall Barlow was only supposed to write "additional songs" for the show. Guess Weinstein really wanted a song in the show they could play on the radio. And long story short, Barlow's score won.

I really am of two minds on this show, on the one hand, what I saw in Cambridge I found so damned enjoyable but on the other hand....Weinstein gon' Weinstein as someone posted here a while back.

Updated On: 3/8/15 at 06:39 PM

[broadwayboy223]

Posted: 3/8/15 at 7:41pm

I'd love to hear the rest of the original score. Anyone know where to hear it? Or find sheet music?

[LeTigre]

Posted: 3/9/15 at 11:40am

The new score sounds like warmed over Supertramp mixed the Beatles. And somehow, I don't think we're going to be hearing those songs on the radio.

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 3/9/15 at 11:48am

Hey, Mr./Ms. Producers: revive HIGH SPIRITS for Ovenden!

with Michelle Dockery as Ruth, Scarlett Johansson as Elvira, and Harriet Harris or Shirley Henderson as Arcati!







Updated On: 3/9/15 at 11:48 AM

[Eurotrash]

Posted: 3/9/15 at 12:04pm

Hit songs in a modern musical? What an appalling suggestion.

Julian though, is a legend.

[mamaleh]

Posted: 3/9/15 at 12:12pm

That is indeed an exquisite performance. I so wish he would return to the NY stage. I remember being bowled over by his magnificent voice in DEATH TAKES A HOLIDAY before he developed vocal issues and had to leave the show. Morrison and Jordan are meh in comparison.

[JaglinSays]

Posted: 3/9/15 at 12:52pm

He clearly doesn't have any vocal issues, if that excerpt is any indication.
And isn't he something of a name over in your parts, owing to Downton Abbey?
Is Weinstein clueless about anything other than movies?

[tazber]

Posted: 3/9/15 at 12:54pm

It would seem so.

Updated On: 3/9/15 at 12:54 PM

[algy]

Posted: 3/9/15 at 3:47pm

I saw this in Leicester when it premiered with Ovenden and this score - and my major problem with the show was that the music was forgetable. I've gone back to my theatre book with my review (for my own benefit) from the time and this my first paragraph:

"This needs work. The staging is great, nice projections, a couple of big set pieces (that don't get used enough) and the cast give it their all. Julian Ovenden's beautiful voice is wasted on the forgetable songs. None of them stuck in my head (the closest was four lost boys, and that was only two lines).

I know it's two years down the line, but I can't remember a single song - even listening to that Julian Ovenden clip I can't tell you how that number was staged or where it fitted in to the story because it just all blurred into one forgettable song.

I'm not saying what Barlow has done is a masterpiece, but my experience - and I don't think that I was alone - was that the original score was part of the problem with a show that I really wanted to like.

[philly03]

Posted: 3/9/15 at 3:57pm

I like that Weinstein chose a "pop composer" to write the score as I see that as an essential part of making theatre more "accessible" to an audience today (and survive). You know Irving Berlin and Cole Porter were "pop" (as in popular) composers back in the days when they were writing? "Theatre music" has gotten too pretentious. Eager to hear this concept album.

[HamBiggar]

Posted: 3/9/15 at 7:09pm

Nothing wrong with pop music. But the songs I heard in the Boston production
were crap-tastic in every way.

[Mattbrain]

Posted: 3/9/15 at 7:28pm

^ In your opinion.

[Back Row]

Posted: 3/9/15 at 9:25pm

"Is Weinstein clueless about anything other than movies?"

He just about admitted as much in his Hollywood Reporter interview (although you might add television to his realm of expertise). He made the point in the interview that the A.R.T. Finding Neverland experience had allowed him to discover this whole new reservoir of talent in Broadway actors, one that he didn't know about before. He mentioned Jeremy Jordan and Michael McGrath by name, implying that a Tony nominated leading man and a highly respected Tony winning character actor were new discoveries for him.