Musicals on wars — Page 2

#26

re: Musicals on wars

Posted: 2/27/07 at 9:33am

Actually, Les mis doesn't take place during THE French Revolution, just a student insurrrection.

I think that's a battle, not a war. Even a riot if you want to look at it this way.

The French Revolution took place earlier, I believe.

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#27

re: Musicals on wars

Posted: 2/27/07 at 9:49am

Okay, how many more people are going to say the exact same thing about Les Mis?

Do any of you read the threads before posting?

#28

re: Musicals on wars

Posted: 2/27/07 at 9:59am

Well, actually, Les Mis concerns a student revolution completely unrelated to the French Revolution. :)

I don't think it's been mentioned, but Pippin's kinda about war... well, in the first act.

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Updated On: 2/27/07 at 09:59 AM

#29

re: Musicals on wars

Posted: 2/27/07 at 10:06am

Julian's list is good. War as a political backdrop is used often.

I don't think anyone mentioned Napolean or A Tale of Two Cities.

BTW- I recently saw the movie of "Oh! What A Lovely War". It's a very unusual movie. The songs are all war songs popular at the time. There isn't an original score per se. Anyone wlse see this new dvd transfer?

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#30

re: Musicals on wars

Posted: 2/27/07 at 10:23am

Cabaret is set in 1930 or thereabouts - the onset of Nazism but certainly not in wartime. Recent productions have redated the ending to include concentration camps but that's not in the show as written.

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#31

re: Musicals on wars

Posted: 2/27/07 at 10:35am

"Masada"

version 1: takes place during Roman occupation, and Hebrew resistance.

version 2: (I haven't yet heard that one, but know that it's) set in Warsaw Ghetto (WW2), where a jewish theater group puts on a show about the ancient Masada (Set in roman occupation of Israel)

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#32

re: Musicals on wars

Posted: 2/27/07 at 10:48am

"Sorry to be the nitpicker, but 'Les Mis' had nothing to do with the French Revolution but was set around a minor student uprising about 40 odd years after the French Revolution. "

OOPS! I stand corrected by about 8 different posters. I knew they were French, there was a lot of gun fire, and they were in period costumes. I guess to me that = French Revolution. You think I'd know this since I've seen it 3 times. Thanks for the clarification folks.

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"If you've got something to say, say it, and think well of yourself while you're learning to say it better." - David Mamet

#33

re: Musicals on wars

Posted: 2/27/07 at 11:20am

So have Boublil & Schoenberg done any shows that weren't about wars?

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#34

re: Musicals on wars

Posted: 2/27/07 at 11:21am

NO

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"If you've got something to say, say it, and think well of yourself while you're learning to say it better." - David Mamet

#35

re: Musicals on wars

Posted: 2/27/07 at 1:10pm

The only ways Les Mis relates to the French Revolution are A) Jean Valjean was arrested in the 1790's, during the French Revolution and B) The Napoleonic Wars play a huge role in the story. I can't stand when people say LM is about the French Revolution. Les Mis, if about any war, is about the 1832 student rebellions in Paris.

How come's no one said Miss Saigon? Vietnam War, people!

Btw, Kiss of the Spiderwoman, while not officially stated, is most definitely about the Argentine Dirty War, or at least the events leading up to it.

Evita has WWII and the events leading up to it in it (specifically Mussolini,) as well as many coups.

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Updated On: 2/27/07 at 01:10 PM

#36

re: Musicals on wars

Posted: 2/27/07 at 1:12pm

Schonberg has written a gorgeous ballet about Wuthering Heights, and that's not set in a war.

then again, it's hardly a musical, too.

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Bring Disney's "Der Glockner Von Notre Dame" To Broadway!
http://musicalkid.multiply.com/

#37

re: Musicals on wars

Posted: 2/27/07 at 1:39pm

The Good War by David H. Bell and Craig Carnelia, based on the WWII book by Studs Terkel.

#38

re: Musicals on wars

Posted: 2/27/07 at 2:04pm

Peron is compared to Mussolini by the Italian press during Evita's Rainbow Tour - it's a one-liner from Che. Mussolini is long dead by then. WWII makes no appearance.

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Faced with these Loreleis, what man can moralize!

#39

re: Musicals on wars

Posted: 2/27/07 at 2:31pm

While never directly mentioned, WWII is a big part of Evita; Perón was a Nazi sympathizer and Argentina remained neutral during WWII because the GOU couldn't decide to join the Axis or the Allies. And let's not forget hiding the Nazis, even though the musical never mentions that.

Perón was a disciple of Mussolini, as well (though some argue that his stint in Italy did not influence his politics.)

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Jimmy, what are you doing here in the middle of the night? It's almost 9 PM!

#40

re: Musicals on wars

Posted: 2/27/07 at 3:23pm

We're talking about Evita the musical, not Eva Peron the historical figure. The musical mentions none of the things you bring up, as you admit. They play no part in the story.

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Faced with these Loreleis, what man can moralize!

#41

re: Musicals on wars

Posted: 2/27/07 at 3:27pm

Would Chess count?

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#42

re: Musicals on wars

Posted: 2/27/07 at 3:37pm

Chess is certainly the Cold War.

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Faced with these Loreleis, what man can moralize!

#43

re: Musicals on wars

Posted: 2/27/07 at 3:44pm

What about- The Human Comedy?

#44

re: Musicals on wars

Posted: 2/27/07 at 4:40pm

I did 'Oh! What A Lovely War!' when I was in school, and Sir John Mills came to see it. He gave us a standing o, which was nice. :3

All right people, nothing to see here, keep moving...

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#45

re: Musicals on wars

Posted: 11/29/08 at 12:13am

Over There? I believe it starred the Andrews Sisters and featured John Travolta.

The show is "Over Here", about a sister act that got rejected for USO tours and spent the war entertaining troups in the US.

Civil War:
There have been at least 2 show about "Gone with the Wind", both on the london stage
Eagle Song
Civil War

WWI:
Oh, What a lovely war? (already mentioned)
Mata Hari

Hundred Years War:
The legend of Joan of Arc (there have been at least 4 others about her)
Goodtime Charley

Cyrano deals with some french war.

And who could forget the "butter side uppers/butter side downers" war in Seussical!

Updated On: 11/29/08 at 12:13 AM

#46

re: Musicals on wars

Posted: 11/29/08 at 1:52am

There's the Butter Battle in Seussical!

#47

re: Musicals on wars

Posted: 11/29/08 at 1:55am

and now we can finally add A Tale of Two Cities :)

#48

re: Musicals on wars

Posted: 11/29/08 at 3:19am

Some that I think haven't yet been mentioned that deal with war to a greater or lesser degree:

Strike Up the Band
Blood Red Roses
Bloomer Girl
Call Me Mister
Maggie Flynn
The Golden Apple
Home, Sweet Homer
The Happiest Girl in the World
The Desert Song
By Jupiter
The Conquering Hero
Joan

Fiorello! deals in passing with America's entry into World War I. 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue has a sequence dealing with War of 1812. And Pippin has its war sequence. And then there's Movin' Out. And perhaps Juno.

I don't know that I'd count Privates on Parade as a musical. I think of it more as a play with music. But Peter Nichols's Poppy (never produced in the U.S.) would certainly count.

#49

re: Musicals on wars

Posted: 11/29/08 at 4:54pm

>>and now we can finally add A Tale of Two Cities :) <<

I don't think that was a show/musical :)

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I once heard someone describe her (Ruthie Henshall) singing as sounding as though she's trying to swallow a whole meatball slightly larger than her windpipe. (The same person compared Michael Ball's singing to sounding as though he's sitting on a washing machine on spin cycle and Colm Wilkinson's to a man with a paralyzed lip trying to eat cottage cheese.) --- Schmerg_The_Impaler

#50

re: Musicals on wars

Posted: 11/29/08 at 10:52pm

Well Seussical had a fake war