RIEDEL: Elton pleasantly surprised by Lestat- Page 2

[jimnysf]

Posted: 2/3/06 at 2:32pm

"I dunno, I saw tons of vampire-clad patrons at the theatre when I saw it.".

That reminds me of the time I saw "Mamma Mia" on the first night of it's pre-Broadway US premiere in SF, where I saw several men dressed as the male and female members of ABBA.

[Roninjoey]

Posted: 2/3/06 at 2:34pm

Heh. But Les Miz was "art" when it first came out. And it's not an awful score by any means. Actually, they might have written more appropriate sounding music.

Can't say I was ever dreaming about a musical of Lestat in the first place, so I never gave much thought to who would write it.

Ehh, who cares. If it comes and they manage to retool it into something that audiences enjoy, que sera, sera.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 2/3/06 at 2:36pm

I don't know when I'll be in NYC, but if it happens to be there, I'm sure I'll see it. I think it'd be interesting to see the changes and finally get an original cast album.

We all knew it was going to happen sometime. Now we just have to wait for WB to shell out more of its horrible movies on stage.

[EponineThenardier]

Posted: 2/3/06 at 2:46pm

Margo is absolutely right. Elton's absence has hurt the show in a bunch of ways.

I'll just restate the obvious...

[BSoBW3]

Posted: 2/3/06 at 2:49pm

He is too ego driven for this.

He laughed when the critics called it bland. Dude, wake up. It IS bland.

Maybe they need someone different to do the orchestrations. I mean, some bland scores can be pepped up and made interesting with the right orchestrations...

[thisdude]

Posted: 2/3/06 at 2:57pm

I agree. If Elton thinks he only needs to change 1 or 2 songs, there is no hope for this show. Also, with the marketing, all that fans of Rice's work have to see is "Lestat" and their interest is peaked, especially since she is no longer writing such books.

[Shawk]

Posted: 2/3/06 at 3:02pm

I don't think the orchestration is the problem (well, except maybe the inclusion of tambourines). Most of Act I seems to be the same 4 notes over and over again, and there's nothing that Bernie Taupin's lyrics (which are sometimes clunky) or the orchestra can do about that. I don't think a new arrangement of what's there currently is going to help all that much.

[justme2]

Posted: 2/3/06 at 3:10pm

The ONLY song I recall enjoying from Act One is "Crimson Kiss". Shawk is right about the rest sounding like the same four notes. Act Two is better song wise, with songs like "Sail Me Away" and "I Want More" (for a bit of humor in the show), but I didn't enjoy the Act Two opening number, "Welcome to the New World". THAT is the song they were pushing, as well. It was the exit music in SF.

edit: And if the claim is true about Elton writing the music for this show in only 11 days...then 9 weeks should be PLENTY of time to re-vamp it! I hope...

Updated On: 2/3/06 at 03:10 PM

[EponineThenardier]

Posted: 2/3/06 at 3:11pm

I liked the score (the majority of it anyway). I also happen to like POTO, Les Miz and J&H, so there you go.

I dunno about the lyrics, theres something wrong with using the word "moist" in a serious song. There's something just not right.

[thisdude]

Posted: 2/3/06 at 3:20pm

I think the musical style doesn't fit the show. The show seems dark. The music is light, except maybe "Kill Your Kind." I think it's okay to start out light when they are human and then show a descencion in the music as Lestat descends into darkness. As it is now, he starts out killing a pack of wolves and sings this happy song surrounded by bloody snow and wolf carcasses. It makes no sense.

[justme2]

Posted: 2/3/06 at 3:20pm

That's a good point!

[thisdude]

Posted: 2/3/06 at 3:21pm

I also love Nicolas and hope that Roderick Hill's part doesn't get cut too much.

[justme2]

Posted: 2/3/06 at 3:42pm

I didn't really see the point of Nicholas. That could be due to unclear story issues, though. He and Armand seem extraneous, IMO.

[BSoBW3]

Posted: 2/3/06 at 3:49pm

Shawk - I agree.

I meant that, based on Aida and Lestat, maybe someone could work a little magic. Excuse me. A lot of magic.

[Shawk]

Posted: 2/3/06 at 3:49pm

There are way too many story threads in Act I and most of them aren't really justified. I could see it if they made Armand more of a... sort of Javert-type. If they want him to be a foil for Lestat, though, they have to give him motivations that make sense other then spitting, lathering evil, because I have to believe that even vampire villians don't do things purely for the sake of being randomly evil. (It's totally not Drew Sarich's fault, I rush to add; he can't help the way his character is written.)

I could see Nicholas having a point in establishing how Lestat's bad choices drive people away, but as it stands now, he's just one more confusion in the muddle of Act I.

[EponineThenardier]

Posted: 2/3/06 at 3:49pm

I know their beefing up Armand's part quite a bit, to make him have more of a confrontation between himself and Lestat. I think Nicolas is going to be put in the middle to make their realtionship more heated.

I do think Armand should have a solo (a big one), rather than solo parts in the chorus numbers. It would help the character.

[Shawk]

Posted: 2/3/06 at 3:53pm

Interesting. I noticed even through the SF run that they seemed to be trying to make Armand more... attracted to Lestat? As if he wanted Lestat to join him, but sort of despised him all the same. If they can actually pull that off, I think that could work, but it wasn't really there yet.

A song where we actually got a glimpse of what his motivations are would be helpful, I agree.

[BreakingTheCircle07]

Posted: 2/3/06 at 3:55pm

I enjoy how public the creative team is being about the show's process. Isn't one the main points of having an out of town tryout to fix major problems? I feel Lestat's San Fran run is really going to help out the production. Their taking the reviews to heart and making it a better show.

[BSoBW3]

Posted: 2/3/06 at 4:00pm

Yeah, Welcome to the New World is like a hippie song, I swear.

[Shawk]

Posted: 2/3/06 at 4:08pm

I had to resist the urge to wave a lighter.

I think a lot of it was the contrast to all the songs in Act I and then suddenly there were tambourines and drums and what the hell?

[BSoBW3]

Posted: 2/3/06 at 4:09pm

Hahaha yes!

Embrace It, as well. It's like - is this even the same show from Act 1?

Like Elton decided to do a tribute to John Lennon in the middle of the show...

...Or even Meatloaf.


At least Dracula had the same tone throughout. Good or bad.

Updated On: 2/3/06 at 04:09 PM

[justme2]

Posted: 2/3/06 at 4:09pm

agreed.

[Shawk]

Posted: 2/3/06 at 4:17pm

I suspect that Act I is going to get more John Lennon-y, if anything, since at least the top of Act II is more on its way to functioning. We shall see.

[BSoBW3]

Posted: 2/3/06 at 4:18pm

Heh. Yeah. I think I prefer the tone of Act 1, though. It just needs some life. Just because the show's about the (un)dead, doesn't mean the music has to sound dead.

[Shawk]

Posted: 2/3/06 at 4:30pm

"There's nothing heeeerreeee, nothing heeeerreeeee for youuuuuuu, these cold gray walls will have their waaaaaaaay....."

I'm curious to see what they will do to try to synch the two acts. It's just so odd because Act II is, well, Elton John-y, while Act I is something you wouldn't expect from him, but unfortuantely right now is kind of uninteresting and a mess.