#1
Posted: 7/31/09 at 12:44am
SISTER ACT possesses one of the strongest scores I have heard in years. This is the best R&B score since DREAMGIRLS. Menken has TRULY outdone himself and I have never heard such exciting, ebulliant, effervescent music from his pen. This show truly does LITTLE SHOP one better in not only every dramatic way, but also in Menken's almost uncanny adeptness at pastiche for this period.
This is the best score Menken has written, and that is saying a lot. Slater seems to have gotten THE BEST from not only Menken, but ALW with whom he wrote the forthcoming LOVE NEVER DIES. I'm sure neither Menken or ALW would think they would create their true masterpiece scores nearly 30 years after their first, most notable, successes. "Long Black Dress" has some of the best lyrics this side of Porter. Really, I mean it.
There are moments in this show that seem to be EVERYTHING FWC is trying to be - that is: fun, witty, entertaining, emotional and exciting with a little pathos and familiarity sprinkled in from the film as a way "in" for the audience. And who would think a show about showgirls and nuns would be more empowering to women than one about women who get back at their philandering husbands and open an abused womens' clinic? No, I haven't heard the complete FWC score - and I don't want or need to (at least not for the RIGHT reasons, lol). What's out there is enough. For me.
Menken, faced with the IMPOSSIBLE challenge of improving upon Marc Shaiman's absolutely inimitably impressive, memorable and spine-tingling arrangements of the material in the film, somehow invents his own way of making the same impression on the heart and ear (and brain!). He really does. This Act One finale is truly up there with the best of them. And speaking of HAIRSPRAY, I have NOT heard a better crafted, more fun or more melodic score since then. If both this and CATCH ME IF YOU CAN make it to New York this season, Marc and Scott may actually have some competition!
This show is a big fat hit and it deserves ANY success it gets if only because this music and these lyrics are ON FIRE. Number after number, hit after hit. I'm not even being hyperbolic... really. Listen for yourself. It's the most consistently enjoyable and entertaining score for me since HAIRSPRAY or THE WITCHES OF EASTWICK.
Whatever problems this show may have had on its way to Broadway are nowhere to be found on this album. With the exception of a few of the male performers, the cast performs adequately to wonderfully. The males also get some of the best material, or almost equally AMAZING material to the ladies... and Norm Lewis needs to play the lead male role on Broadway to finally win his Tony. He could win with "Lady In the Long Black Dress" alone at his disposal.
"The Life I Led" - Celia Keenan Bolger NEEDS to play this role and sing this magnificent song (with the original high-note ending). "Part of Your World" has nothing on this song. Disney is probably LIVID they didn't get this song! I see now why Beyonce has recorded it (as well as 2 other songs and WANTS the role, but 't'ain't hers... not even close). It's...
...Patina Miller's. Patina Miller. 4 letters: S-T-A-R. Beyonce who?
"Take Me To Heaven"? I'm there.
P
This is the best score Menken has written, and that is saying a lot. Slater seems to have gotten THE BEST from not only Menken, but ALW with whom he wrote the forthcoming LOVE NEVER DIES. I'm sure neither Menken or ALW would think they would create their true masterpiece scores nearly 30 years after their first, most notable, successes. "Long Black Dress" has some of the best lyrics this side of Porter. Really, I mean it.
There are moments in this show that seem to be EVERYTHING FWC is trying to be - that is: fun, witty, entertaining, emotional and exciting with a little pathos and familiarity sprinkled in from the film as a way "in" for the audience. And who would think a show about showgirls and nuns would be more empowering to women than one about women who get back at their philandering husbands and open an abused womens' clinic? No, I haven't heard the complete FWC score - and I don't want or need to (at least not for the RIGHT reasons, lol). What's out there is enough. For me.
Menken, faced with the IMPOSSIBLE challenge of improving upon Marc Shaiman's absolutely inimitably impressive, memorable and spine-tingling arrangements of the material in the film, somehow invents his own way of making the same impression on the heart and ear (and brain!). He really does. This Act One finale is truly up there with the best of them. And speaking of HAIRSPRAY, I have NOT heard a better crafted, more fun or more melodic score since then. If both this and CATCH ME IF YOU CAN make it to New York this season, Marc and Scott may actually have some competition!
This show is a big fat hit and it deserves ANY success it gets if only because this music and these lyrics are ON FIRE. Number after number, hit after hit. I'm not even being hyperbolic... really. Listen for yourself. It's the most consistently enjoyable and entertaining score for me since HAIRSPRAY or THE WITCHES OF EASTWICK.
Whatever problems this show may have had on its way to Broadway are nowhere to be found on this album. With the exception of a few of the male performers, the cast performs adequately to wonderfully. The males also get some of the best material, or almost equally AMAZING material to the ladies... and Norm Lewis needs to play the lead male role on Broadway to finally win his Tony. He could win with "Lady In the Long Black Dress" alone at his disposal.
"The Life I Led" - Celia Keenan Bolger NEEDS to play this role and sing this magnificent song (with the original high-note ending). "Part of Your World" has nothing on this song. Disney is probably LIVID they didn't get this song! I see now why Beyonce has recorded it (as well as 2 other songs and WANTS the role, but 't'ain't hers... not even close). It's...
...Patina Miller's. Patina Miller. 4 letters: S-T-A-R. Beyonce who?
"Take Me To Heaven"? I'm there.
P
Updated On: 7/31/09 at 12:44 AM
