Metropolis by Joe Brooks

IT might sound all right. But it was tedious in the extreme to sit through in the theatre. Interesting staging and set but just didn't work.

Updated On: 3/29/06 at 12:30 AM

It really was one of those, "Wow, I can't believe how much talent and effort went into this monstrosity" kind of experiences. Stunning and awful all that the same time. I'd say it was the English CARRIE, but then I never saw WHICH WITCH or THE HUNTING OF THE SNARK or FIELDS OF AMBROSIA (where everyone knows ya).

TT

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https://www.broadwayworld.com/viewcolumn.cfm?colid=6197

"Brooks also composed the music and co-wrote the lyrics for Metropolis: The Musical, which was staged at London’s Picadilly Theatre, and is now being readied for a New York premiere next spring to be directed by Richard Foreman.

BWW search is so easy.

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"Brooks' "You Light Up My Life" is the most successful single record in the history of recorded music, selling more than seven million copies and staying at number one in the county for more than three months; total record sales of albums and singles of the song exceed 15 million. It received the Academy Award for Best Song, as well as winning the Grammy, Golden Globe, American Music, and People’s Choice awards."

Wow. What went wrong?

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If people disliked the repetition of power ballads in RAGTIME, then METROPOLIS would seem to be unbearable.

I love it, of course!

I love the music, but I really hope they don't do this here b/c I can't imagine it would be well received. I never saw it, but it seems cumbersome to stage.
Fave song- "The Sun".

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And the ELITIST'S DANCE is SECRETS from IN MY LIFE.

I also enjoy THE SUN.

YOU ARE THE LIGHT is so corny in so many ways, but fits so well.

Updated On: 2/13/07 at 08:37 AM

I saw it London. Fiasco.

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I saw it in London and thought the set was pretty amazing. I was 16 though...

The set was by none other than Ralph (CARRIE) Koltai. 'Nuff said. IT WAS ABSURD!

A Good Nightmare Comes So Rarely,
P genre

Thinking about it after listening to the entire thing...
You're right; it IS a mess. And the '80s synth-orchestrations do NOT help things...

A little too much power ballads in this, you're right. And "Nothing Really Matters" needs the pop stripped out of it. That way it sounds like CARRIE. Sounds better as a kind of baroque-ish gavotte, so that matches the elitists' nonchalance.

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Yep, I saw this, and Carrie it wasn't- it was just dull.

The set was massive- even the house curtain seemed like a massive iron wall with the title engraved on it. The trouble was it was one of those designs that painted itself into a corner- after the initial setting with masses of tubes and valves of a giant boiler room, the amount of stage space was limited.

The choreography was very dated- which was a problem for a futuristic story!

The performers were committed, but they had to deliver a heavily and repeatedly re-written script which sounded like plotting by numbers. As a result, there were glimmers of loveliness, but overall, the whole thing felt like it wasn't ready for public viewing.

However, it was a masterpiece compared to Which witch at the same theatre!