LESTAT-"we really want it to sound like an ELTON JOHN SCORE"

[musicalkid]

Posted: 3/24/06 at 9:53pm

Broadway.com's Lestat-videos featured Musical director Brad Haak.
and he said- that after SF, they wanted to transform the score to sound more distinctively ELTON JOHNISH- insted of the (i assume) classier, less poppish, feel it was meant to have.
I FIND THAT LAME!
The first thing that made Elton john a respectable, or at least recognised, musical theatre writer in my eyes was that i heard he had interesting dramatic-musical decisions in lestat, and didn't just throw in his really-easy-to-identify elton john POP SONGS he has...one of them was to not make LESTAT another "DANCE OF THE VAMPIRES", but a classier, musically sweeping musical score...
(hope you got that last ranting paragraph)

and now they go and make it VH1 again?!
AIDA 2: the nethereworld trip ?!

me no like...

[Roninjoey]

Posted: 3/24/06 at 10:08pm

It makes sense. An Elton John score is more bankable than a generic musical theater score, which is probably about as much as Elton can muster judging other songs he's written in a musical theater vein.

Updated On: 3/24/06 at 10:08 PM

[EponineThenardier]

Posted: 3/24/06 at 10:11pm

Hmmm. We'll see how it goes.

For me the 3 things that kept me loving the show in SF were the sets/visual aspect, the cast & the music.

The lyrics were a tad cheesy, but the score was BEAUTIFUL.

Somehow I think it'll turn out fine.

[musicalkid]

Posted: 3/24/06 at 10:13pm

I
DON'T
LIKE
"BANKABLE"!

i want a good cast recording to listen to.
i want an entrancing show...
not "Elton John: as sung by good-hearted vampires"

i'm sure alot of you will agree with me. "bankable" should be the prize you get for pulling off a good musical....IMO
(and, please spare me "you're naive"- i probabely am.

[EponineThenardier]

Posted: 3/24/06 at 10:17pm

Well if it makes you feel any better, the clips that I heard on this last video blog sounded exactly like the orestrations that they had in SF. It didn't sound any different to me.

"To Kill Your Kind" was always one of the most Eltony songs of the show (along with "Welcome to the New World"). During "Kill" the ensemble also had added percussion by stamping their feet while dancing and all that.

"Sail Me Away" was the sweeping melodic song that they were practicing, and it sounded the same to me.

But honestly none of the show really sounded like it was Elton John, and it still didn't in that clip.
Updated On: 3/24/06 at 10:17 PM

[Roninjoey]

Posted: 3/24/06 at 11:30pm

I think "Sail Me Away" is quintissential Elton John. I also think it was one of the better songs I heard from Lestat but apparently it stops the show dead and it is completely out of character for Lestat to be singing it at that point in the story. Doesn't make much sense to me if this is true, even if the song is pretty.

Musicalkid, while I'm sure you don't closely follow every post made by every person on the board, I'm the last person on here to be applauding production teams for taking the commercial, bankable route. Particularly the composer, who is supposed to be the artist in question. I've always been pretty vocal about my utter disdain for Elton John writing musicals.

I'm just saying, the producers of Lestat are not looking to create an artistic triumph, they're looking to create a mindless hit. That's why they hired Elton John in the first place. They're not exactly working with the greatest source material anyway. While I think Interview with the Vampire with someone else plying notes to the staff would have been wonderful, what we've got coming is a commercial venture that may or may not do well. I'm leaning towards may not, what with it opening at the same time as Tarzan, which will steal all the thunder Lestat may have had.

Broadway needs its commercial ventures, for sure. Just a fact of life. It would get pretty tepid if every single new work that came out was genius, wouldn't it? Then genius would stop being genius, and special would stop being special.

[Yero]

Posted: 3/24/06 at 11:33pm

I think it'll be interesting... I mean, Elton John really isn't a bad composer. Aida is great.. at least in my opinion.
Plus I really liked what I heard of "Welcome To The New World", (or the little I heard) from one of the Broadway.com video.

[EponineThenardier]

Posted: 3/24/06 at 11:37pm

I LOVE the score. And I'll keep saying it cause none of you know where I live.

Sail Me Away was out in the middle of no-where in the show, but that was the case with just about everything, and that's why the show didn't work.

They are really pressing the fact that everything is going to fit together and flow better. Which is good, the show desperately needed that.

[Roninjoey]

Posted: 3/24/06 at 11:56pm

Oh opinions. How crazy that how everyone has one.

[EponineThenardier]

Posted: 3/24/06 at 11:59pm

Especially on anonymous message boards. Why would anyone post their opinions here.


I want to hear from Drew Sarich on the video blogs, he's got one hell of a sexy voice.

[jimnysf]

Posted: 3/25/06 at 12:02am

The score was trashed in all of the reviews in SF, except for "I Want More" which woke up the sleepy audience the night I saw the show. The rest of the show was awful. I hope whoever decides to see this in NY is at least getting a discounted ticket. We had to pay full price for this junk in SF.

[EponineThenardier]

Posted: 3/25/06 at 12:09am

There we go. Another person who hated the show. I was wondering where you all went.

[Jazzysuite82]

Posted: 3/25/06 at 12:46am

I'm sorry from what I've heard of he clips and the song Hugh sang, it definately sounds like Elton John. I mean honestly I think the musical director is talking about changing the orchestrations. It was dressed up all pretty but it was still the same 3 chord progression that he uses on every song. Now people will just recognize it more.

[Roninjoey]

Posted: 3/25/06 at 12:53am

I think he was pretty pissed that they tricked out AIDA musical theater style. Maybe now he's going to get his Elton John concert only 8 times a week.

[Renthead#1]

Posted: 3/25/06 at 12:59am

Yeah they did say on broadway.com that it sounds just like elton john.

[EponineThenardier]

Posted: 3/25/06 at 1:06am

:) Oh, hello Renthead#1, welcome to the boards.

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 3/25/06 at 1:25am

just to throw this out there --- i was looking for tickets to see Lestat next wednesday at 2 and it said it was sold out on Broadway.com. interesting.

[ruprecht]

Posted: 3/25/06 at 2:43am

I think the music sounds pretty beautiful on that video.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 3/25/06 at 2:50am

Judging from the performances I saw in SF, I thought that the book was worse off than the score. I actually loved the music. And now with the supposed changes to the book, etc. I hope that we're all in for a real treat! :)

~Rosalynn

[EponineThenardier]

Posted: 3/25/06 at 2:54am

broadwaybaby81, I agree with you completely. :)

The cast really takes what they have and make magic. I have a feeling Drew Sarich (took over Armand, after Noseworthy left) is gonna hit it big here on Broadway. He's got a killer voice (my favorite of the voices in the show) and has been in a lot of stuff in Europe. He is amazing, I think he's gonna blow everyone away. Updated On: 3/25/06 at 02:54 AM

[Shawk]

Posted: 3/25/06 at 3:12am

I'm just confused as to how they are going to achieve this "Elton John" sound without vastly changing most of the orchestrations/songs. Most of Act I in SF didn't sound very "Eltony," and I really don't think they have had the time to change every single song in Act I.

It'll be interesting to see what happens. Given a fighting chance, this cast is quite talented and will probably be able to pull it off, but...

[tophertilson]

Posted: 3/25/06 at 6:49am

It doesn't sound like they're changing the songs, per se. Just the orchestrations. The wisdom of this decision is questionable, but the feasibility is certainly there.

I wish them well. I just happen to think the very idea of an Anne Rice vampire musical is a bad one to begin with. It's hopeless material for dramatization. All journey, no destination.

TT

[Becky2]

Posted: 3/25/06 at 7:36am

I was really surprised to hear that they wanted it to sound like Elton John as well.
I think it was in Opera News Magazine where Hugh Panaro said this quote, "The Lestat score is surprisingly legit, even though it's written by Elton John." That one kept me giggling for days. You gotta' love brutal honesty.

[VonTussleGirl]

Posted: 3/25/06 at 10:57am

Even another AIDA-ish score would be better than what the show had going in SF.

[aspiringactress]

Posted: 3/25/06 at 11:30am

I'm really hoping the show does well. From what I've heard of the music it sounds amazing, and from what I've seen of the costumes and set, they look great. It's a fabulous cast as well.