Paul Chihara's score for SHOGUN THE MUSICAL
#0Paul Chihara's score for SHOGUN THE MUSICAL
Posted: 5/24/05 at 7:24pmI know this is a long shot but does anyone have the TheatreWeek magazine where Paul Chihara referred to his score for SHOGUN as the finest (or greatest) score since SHOW BOAT?
#1re: Paul Chihara's score for SHOGUN THE MUSICAL
Posted: 5/24/05 at 7:27pmgod i wish i could find a recording of Shogun...
romanov
Stand-by Joined: 5/6/05
#2re: Paul Chihara's score for SHOGUN THE MUSICAL
Posted: 5/24/05 at 7:29pmI could have sworn I had it but I can't find it. Did he say Show Boat? I thought he compared it to Porgy and Bess. I did find the copies about Legs Diamond and Annie 2.
#3re: Paul Chihara's score for SHOGUN THE MUSICAL
Posted: 5/24/05 at 7:32pmI think you're right romanov. Finest score since Porgy and Bess. Glad you remember it too. I would love to find the exact quote.
#4re: Paul Chihara's score for SHOGUN THE MUSICAL
Posted: 5/24/05 at 7:33pmYou can't help remembering a show that has a song about a dildo. It's a masterpiece. That and Bring Back Birdie. LOL.
#5re: Paul Chihara's score for SHOGUN THE MUSICAL
Posted: 5/24/05 at 8:04pmSHOGUN had one of the most beautiful effects I've ever seen onstage - horses running through the snow - glorious
#6re: Paul Chihara's score for SHOGUN THE MUSICAL
Posted: 5/25/05 at 10:10amI've heard the score and it's pretty forgettable, though I would have loved to seen the production just for the visual effects. I've heard from several that it was visually stunning.
Unknown User
Joined: 12/31/69
#7re: Paul Chihara's score for SHOGUN THE MUSICAL
Posted: 5/25/05 at 1:05pmA lot of it was visually stunning. But there was one of the worst choreographed pieces of crap in it- Some dumb song about butterflies. It was like something Wayne Cilento would have done. I don't remember who the Shogun choreographer was.
#8re: Paul Chihara's score for SHOGUN THE MUSICAL
Posted: 5/25/05 at 1:25pm
http://ibdb.com/production.asp?ID=4624
Must have been a great time for struggling Japanese actors.
Unknown User
Joined: 12/31/69
#9re: Paul Chihara's score for SHOGUN THE MUSICAL
Posted: 5/25/05 at 2:12pmthat was it... Fireflies...so laughable! Michael Smuin did the choreography. I wonder what happened to him???
#10re: Paul Chihara's score for SHOGUN THE MUSICAL
Posted: 5/25/05 at 2:21pm
It's the greatest score ever....
...to feature a song about a dildo.
#11re: Paul Chihara's score for SHOGUN THE MUSICAL
Posted: 5/25/05 at 3:00pmWhat a terrible show, but the costumes and June Angela were terrific. Oh, yeah, and Frances Ruivar as the Shogun was great. I think he led the troops thru that snowstorm and it was stunning!
"In Oz, the verb is douchifizzation." PRS
#12re: Paul Chihara's score for SHOGUN THE MUSICAL
Posted: 5/25/05 at 3:19pmDoes this show have a cast recording? (legal or otherwise) What was the name of the dildo song? I LOVE flops, but had never heard of this one until today.
#13re: Paul Chihara's score for SHOGUN THE MUSICAL
Posted: 5/25/05 at 3:25pmdont know of any recording, but there is probably a bootleg out there somewhere.
"In Oz, the verb is douchifizzation." PRS
#14re: Paul Chihara's score for SHOGUN THE MUSICAL
Posted: 5/25/05 at 4:04pm

"Shogun, The Phallic Symbol"
#15re: Paul Chihara's score for SHOGUN THE MUSICAL
Posted: 5/25/05 at 4:14pm
I do have that playbill somewhere...and recall that there were many notes, a synopsis, a dictionary, etc so that you could follow the plot...it didnt work
"In Oz, the verb is douchifizzation." PRS
WOSQ
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/18/03
#16re: Paul Chihara's score for SHOGUN THE MUSICAL
Posted: 5/25/05 at 4:16pm
I remember precious little about this stinker except that it was an over-produced stinker. The sort-of eleven o'clock number had costumes that blocked the dancer legs! They could have been step-dancing under there for all we knew. They made the actors all look like the Infant of Prague.
This is also the show where during a critics' preview the leading man got conked on the head by a pipe and knocked out, and the show was called. The poor critics had to go back and sit through three fourths of this bomb again. For once everyone felt bad for them.
#17re: Paul Chihara's score for SHOGUN THE MUSICAL
Posted: 5/25/05 at 4:19pmWOSQ, I forgot about that conk on the head...it was Philip Casnoff. He was pretty bad, I thought, and the vocals were way too high for him...he screamed for 3 hours.
"In Oz, the verb is douchifizzation." PRS
#18re: Paul Chihara's score for SHOGUN THE MUSICAL
Posted: 5/25/05 at 4:26pm
I have only heard SHOGUN and there is one nice duet "Born to Be Together" but a lot of its pretty forgetable.
I didn't see it, but a friend did and says what he remembers more then anything else was the leading actress's Long Red Manicured Nails. In Japan, mind you....
#19re: Paul Chihara's score for SHOGUN THE MUSICAL
Posted: 5/25/05 at 6:57pmWow! I freaked out when I saw this thread! Paul Chihara was my music theory professor at UCLA these past few years. I sang "One Candle" from Shogun for a master class with him. The song was actually really pretty. I think he played some of the rest of the score for our class at some point, but I don't remember. He's a very sweet and generous man. We all called him our music theory Yoda! (He's a short, endearingly wrinkled Asian man and looks like Yoda.)
Unknown User
Joined: 12/31/69
#20re: Paul Chihara's score for SHOGUN THE MUSICAL
Posted: 5/25/05 at 7:01pmPhilip Casnoff was awful, as he was in Chess- basically screaming every song The score was way to high for him.
tpdc
Broadway Star Joined: 5/30/03
#21re: Paul Chihara's score for SHOGUN THE MUSICAL
Posted: 5/25/05 at 7:24pmWhen you had the dancing waves during the shipwreck at the beginning of the show, you knew it was going to be a classic. Other than the nice production design and Frances' performance, the only thing of note was the impressive horses in the snow scene.
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