#27
Posted: 12/18/04 at 7:01pm
Thanks for that. Best laugh of the day.
"Smart! And into all those exotic mystiques -- The Kama Sutra and Chinese techniques. I hear she knows more than seventy-five. Call me tomorrow if you're still alive!"
#28
Posted: 12/18/04 at 7:30pm
To go back to an earlier statement on this thread, there's a difference, in my opinion, between a composer having a certain style and all his/her scores sounding alike. Sondheim may have a certain style, but you can't take a song from Company and stick it into Sunday in the Park With George.
#29
Posted: 12/18/04 at 7:52pm
Or a song from Sweeney into Pacific Overtures...
I would actually challenge someone to find a song of Sondheim's that could be put into a different musical. His songs only really work in the context of the show they were written for. And while his songs are distinctly Sondheim, they are each written in a vastly different style.
I would actually challenge someone to find a song of Sondheim's that could be put into a different musical. His songs only really work in the context of the show they were written for. And while his songs are distinctly Sondheim, they are each written in a vastly different style.
#30
Posted: 12/18/04 at 7:56pm
If you can tell the composer of a musical without knowing who wrote it before listening, then, in a way, their music is all the same. Herman's music is easy to tell. His musicals sound the same as do Webber's and Sondheim's. They all have one particular style that they will never be able to escape. This is why I Love Ahrens & Flaherty - not one of their musicals or songs sound like another.
"Do you know what pledge time is, Andrew"? said the PBS Executive.
"Yes", Lloyd Webber replied. "My 50th birthday special must be one program that gets done a lot."
"No", mused the man from PBS heedlessy. "Not so much. Our Stephen Sondheim Carnegie Hall concert. That's a big one."
Spoons, forks and knives seemed suddenly to suspend their motion in horror, all around the table.
#31
Posted: 12/18/04 at 8:52pm
So Justice, are you saying that Sweeney Todd sounds like Sunday in the Park with George? That Assassins sounds like A Funny...Forum? THat Pacific Overtures sounds like A Little Night Music?
I DO NOT think that Sondheim songs sound the same...not at all. I think you can easily tell that they are Sondheim, mainly because he is unparalleled in this business, and no one can write a score the way he can. Each of his scores, and dare I say songs, has its own unique style, and draws from different styles of music. Sweeney Todd is the bold, Romantic Operetta, Pacific Overtures draws from traditional Japanese music, Into The Woods has a distinct "fairytale" quality. While one can easily tell that the musicals are Sondheim, it is not because they sound the same.
That said, I love the way Ahrens and Flaherty write, and think their scores are just wonderful!
I DO NOT think that Sondheim songs sound the same...not at all. I think you can easily tell that they are Sondheim, mainly because he is unparalleled in this business, and no one can write a score the way he can. Each of his scores, and dare I say songs, has its own unique style, and draws from different styles of music. Sweeney Todd is the bold, Romantic Operetta, Pacific Overtures draws from traditional Japanese music, Into The Woods has a distinct "fairytale" quality. While one can easily tell that the musicals are Sondheim, it is not because they sound the same.
That said, I love the way Ahrens and Flaherty write, and think their scores are just wonderful!
#32
Posted: 12/18/04 at 9:37pm
Even in musicals that have similar musical vocabularies, like A Little Night Music and Sweeney Todd, which are both rather classical, you can't switch the songs around. If anything is a mark of Sondheim, it's extremely sophisticated lyrics.
#33
Posted: 12/18/04 at 11:33pm
I agree with the comment about Herman's scores sounding very similar, but I can't agree with the comment about no melody. "Song on the Sand," The Best of Times" and the title number have been in my head ever since I saw the show regionally almost three years ago.
Eeeeeeyyyyyyyyaaaaaaaannnnnddddd aaaaaaaiiiiiiiiyyyyyyaaaaaammmmmmmm teeeeeeeelllllliiiiiinnngg yyyyooooooouuuuuuuwwwaaaahh...
#34
Posted: 12/18/04 at 11:36pm
And can I just say that it's ironic that this post is entitled "stupidy 101."
Eeeeeeyyyyyyyyaaaaaaaannnnnddddd aaaaaaaiiiiiiiiyyyyyyaaaaaammmmmmmm teeeeeeeelllllliiiiiinnngg yyyyooooooouuuuuuuwwwaaaahh...
#35
Posted: 12/19/04 at 12:46am
And can I just say that you should read the whole thread so you don't ironically point out previously pointed out ironies?
#36
Posted: 12/19/04 at 1:14am
And can I just say that you're rude? Just tell me. Don't be rude about it.
Eeeeeeyyyyyyyyaaaaaaaannnnnddddd aaaaaaaiiiiiiiiyyyyyyaaaaaammmmmmmm teeeeeeeelllllliiiiiinnngg yyyyooooooouuuuuuuwwwaaaahh...
#37
Posted: 12/19/04 at 11:11am
ok so back to the other topic. I think the composer whose song sound most alike is Elton John. Not his old stuff but his new stuff like Aida. Everything sounds like Can You Feel The Love Tonight to me. But I think every composer has a style. And that's fine I think!
What is it about Lucy?? I know she's a bitch, and yet I want to be her...
Updated On: 12/19/04 at 11:11 AM
#38
Posted: 12/19/04 at 11:14am
i'm just glad the cwtb's stuff doesn't have that painful similarity to it of sondheim's dreck. it's a fresh new voice full of vibrant tones remniscent of life itself screaming and wailing into existence. that's hot.
r.i.p. marco, my guardian angel.
...global warming can manifest itself as heat, cool, precipitation, storms, drought, wind, or any other phenomenon, much like a shapeshifter. -- jim geraghty
pray to st. jude
i'm a sonic reducer
he was the gimmicky sort
fenchurch=mejusthavingfun=magwildwood=mmousefan=bkcollector=bradmajors=somethingtotalkabout: the fenchurch mpd collective
...global warming can manifest itself as heat, cool, precipitation, storms, drought, wind, or any other phenomenon, much like a shapeshifter. -- jim geraghty
pray to st. jude
i'm a sonic reducer
he was the gimmicky sort
fenchurch=mejusthavingfun=magwildwood=mmousefan=bkcollector=bradmajors=somethingtotalkabout: the fenchurch mpd collective
#40
Posted: 12/21/04 at 7:36am
Did someone just call the work of Sondheim "dreck"?
Oy
Oy
BroadwayWorld TV
Ticket Central