STAGE TUBE: First Look at LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE!
STAGE TUBE: First Look at LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE!
#2STAGE TUBE: First Look at LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE!
Posted: 2/3/11 at 6:23pmCertainly sounds like a William Finn score!
PiraguaGuy2
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/10/08
#2STAGE TUBE: First Look at LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE!
Posted: 2/3/11 at 8:20pm
Exactly, ljay. It sounds like warmed-over Spelling Bee. Oof.
When they started singing "it's the Little Miss Sunshine pageant" in that chipper, peppy way all I could hear was "aaaat the 25th Annual..."
Formerly SirNotAppearing - Joined 3/08
bwayfan7000
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/28/09
#3STAGE TUBE: First Look at LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE!
Posted: 2/3/11 at 10:48pmTo be fair, we have only heard about 30 seconds worth of stuff there. But I do agree, it sounds like Spelling Bee, which, in my book, isn't such a bad thing since I adore that score.
"Art, in itself, is an attempt to bring order out of chaos."-Stephen Sondheim
Actor2
Featured Actor Joined: 1/12/08
#4STAGE TUBE: First Look at LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE!
Posted: 2/3/11 at 11:30pmI just get all giddy when I see Hunter Foster and Jennifer Laura Thompson together again. =)
#5STAGE TUBE: First Look at LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE!
Posted: 2/3/11 at 11:39pmThat version of the VW bus looks too spacious for me. Not as funny as that soda can of a bus from the film.
My avatar = A screencap from Avatar, arguably the greatest animated show of all
#6STAGE TUBE: First Look at LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE!
Posted: 2/4/11 at 1:22am
maybe not the best way to lead with the show - with no slight to the san diego union tribune, that entire piece looks like the local newscast circa 1980 talking about community theater
#7STAGE TUBE: First Look at LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE!
Posted: 2/4/11 at 1:31amDid I hear him correctly, when he said he would allot himself 30 minutes to right each song? Isn't that a very short amount of time to write a song and think up good non-cheesy/obvious lyrics?
WestwardHoHo
Chorus Member Joined: 8/2/10
#8STAGE TUBE: First Look at LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE!
Posted: 2/4/11 at 1:45amThat video clip indicates a big, steaming dung pile of a show lurketh there.
#9STAGE TUBE: First Look at LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE!
Posted: 2/4/11 at 2:17am
I love William Finn, A New Brain is one of my all time favorite musicals, but from what I hear, this isn't his best. But of course, there wasn't enough to tell. The bus looks like a convertible school bus...kinda throws me off a bit....
I want this to be awesome, though. And it may very well be. Can't wait to see and hear more!
jacobp
Featured Actor Joined: 12/6/05
#10STAGE TUBE: First Look at LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE!
Posted: 2/4/11 at 3:11amHe meant he would sit down to write a song and if something substantial didn't come to him initially he would start over. He doesn't want the score to sound complex it should be simple. Does that explanation make sense?
dramarama3
Stand-by Joined: 2/13/09
#11STAGE TUBE: First Look at LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE!
Posted: 2/4/11 at 6:02am
" Isn't that a very short amount of time to write a song and think up good non-cheesy/obvious lyrics?"
Cheesy and obvious is what Will Finn does. It never really gets tiresome mind you, at least not to me anyway.
Formerly 'dramarama2'
#12STAGE TUBE: First Look at LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE!
Posted: 2/4/11 at 7:54am
Cheesy and obvious are probably the last two words I would use to describe his work.
Cheesy and obvious to me is more akin to Andrew Lippa, Don Black, or Mathew Sklar (not a criticism btw, just making a distinction).
The best word I could choose to describe William Finn would be idiosyncratic. He has a tendency to eschew formal rhyming structure in favor of creating nuance of character and expressing honest (if occasionally quirky) detail and emotion.
Falsettos, Elegies, Romance In Hard Times, A New Brain are all deeply human and personal works. I literally tear up everytime time I listen to March/Falsetoland straight through and share those character's journey's.
The short clip here definitely sounds like Finn musically, but I think every composer has their own style, or voice if you will. So that's exactly what I expected. I don't think anyone can truly evaluate his score lyrically until it is heard in total.
Having said all that I am beyond excited to see/hear/experience this show and spend some time with characters that I hope Finn will bestow his unmatched artistic empathy upon.
....but the world goes 'round
Updated On: 2/4/11 at 07:54 AM
#13STAGE TUBE: First Look at LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE!
Posted: 2/4/11 at 10:38amI totally agree, Taz. There are very few Finn songs that can be really appreciated out of the context of their show. His style is very unique. None of his songs can be lifted out of a show and moved to another- which is, in my opinion, Make Me a Song didn't quite work, despite it being full of good songs.
"...everyone finally shut up, and the audience could enjoy the beginning of the Anatevka Pogram in peace."
#14STAGE TUBE: First Look at LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE!
Posted: 2/4/11 at 10:53amI like Finn, especially the MARCH/FALSETTOLAND that Taz pointed out. Having said that, I think the clips look terrible, and the songs and the dialogue (at least out of context, maybe once the show is all up and running it'll be different) sound very cliched and hardly ring true. Not to mention the fact that Huster Fonter's acting is hardly the best.
"Some people can thrive and bloom living life in a living room, that's perfect for some people of one hundred and five. But I at least gotta try, when I think of all the sights that I gotta see, all the places I gotta play, all the things that I gotta be at"
iluvtheatertrash
Broadway Legend Joined: 11/9/04
#15STAGE TUBE: First Look at LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE!
Posted: 2/4/11 at 10:55am
Finn is one of my favorite composers and this looks absolutely wonderful. I was afraid it wouldn't "work" but I actually think this looks fantastic. Looking forward to seeing it.
And the score snippets sound like classic Finn.
"I know now that theatre saved my life." - Susan Stroman
#16STAGE TUBE: First Look at LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE!
Posted: 2/4/11 at 1:43pmI'm looking forward to it. I'm a Bill Finn fan and I think this will prove to be a good choice of material for him.
#17STAGE TUBE: First Look at LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE!
Posted: 2/4/11 at 1:57pmGreat to see a little bit of this. I have tickets for Feb 20 at La Jolla and am really looking forward to it. I am a big fan of both Finn and Lapine and it has a good cast, so I am sure there will be much to enjoy. Not crazy about the look of the bus, but we'll see.
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