The Beautiful Game

[ALWrules]

Posted: 1/31/06 at 10:25pm

Yeah, I know I'm obsessed with ALW shows, go figure... Anyway, is there any one else out there who likes this show as much as me? I think it is one of his more unique and different scores, and is also very serious and provoking. Any fans?

[Theatre_Queen_101]

Posted: 1/31/06 at 10:41pm

I actually am not farmiliar with The Beautiful Game, but i second the love for ALW musicals. I think he is amazing, maybe because my first 3 musical soundtracks were all his, haha, but i seriously love him! Random thing, he was a question on jeopardy today and I started screaming and going balistic. haha.

[ALWrules]

Posted: 1/31/06 at 10:52pm

What was the question?

[bare_nakedlady]

Posted: 1/31/06 at 10:55pm

I LOVE this show. It truly is one of his more moving works. I had the good fortune of being able to see it, yet its score still haunts me (in a good way). I loved that it wasn't anything flashy or commercial. There is a wonderful heart about this piece that I think some of his other works lack. Fantastic. I would recommend this to anyone!

[misto625]

Posted: 1/31/06 at 11:04pm

I happen to love the recording of it also, the songs, the dialects, everything. It's a very sad and moving musical. I love seeing the ALW Masterpiece DVD where part of it is performed. In some ways I am glad it didn't come to Broadway because I don't think it would have lasted long given ALW's current track record.

[ALWrules]

Posted: 1/31/06 at 11:05pm

No, it wouldn't have done well on Bway at all. What I think is interesting about it is that it is one of his more critically acclaimed shows, but didn't do that well in London, running for a year.

[bare_nakedlady]

Posted: 1/31/06 at 11:12pm

I think its tough to see a piece about events that are happening in your own backyard, that you deal with everyday in the papers, on tv etc. I think that is one reason why it closed in London. When you go out for the night you don't want to be hit with something you are bombarded with everyday.

I know Broadway doesn't have a lot of soccer fans, but I think it is moving in the same way that CABARET is and yet we love that. I like to think of it as another CHESS (the london version before Trevor Nunn "Americanized" it) The show isn't about soccer at all but about current events and mankind as a whole. In my opinion they should have tried it out... but then of course, I'm not fronting the $$$

[ALWrules]

Posted: 1/31/06 at 11:15pm

A lot of really deep and controversial theater doesn't do that well; just look at Sondheim.

[jo]

Posted: 2/1/06 at 4:55am

The saddest, saddest musical I have ever seen!

It dealt with the issue of sectarian violence in Northern Ireland and how the lives of young men, once happy soccer teammates, were affected by this civil strife.

The score was very haunting and I was choking when GOD'S OWN COUNTRY was sung( it dealt with the plight of immigrants, the hopelessness felt as they were to leave their homeland) as well as in the last few scenes in the show. I saw the show in London and I thought ALWebber had written a musical score which reflected the whole range of emotions that the show's players experienced. Rousing, funny, haunting, poignant, and utterly sad!


Updated On: 2/1/06 at 04:55 AM

[rockfenris2005]

Posted: 2/1/06 at 4:59am

Can you believe that "Our Kind of Love" was originally a song intended for a sequel to The Phantom of the Opera :P

[spiderdj82]

Posted: 2/1/06 at 6:52am

Yeah. It was going to be called "The Heart is Slow to Learn." THANK GOD, that was changed. I love most of the music (some of it is childish and annoying) but it is a great score overall. So many memorable, heartbreaking songs. I wish I could have seen it.

[Justin D]

Posted: 2/1/06 at 8:21am

I dont know, Im a hude ALW fan, but i just cant seem to like this one, musically.

[ALWrules]

Posted: 2/1/06 at 10:23am

Thank god there wasn't a Phantom sequel! Could you imagine what that we be like?

" The Phantom of the Opera's still there..."

[Lome2]

Posted: 2/1/06 at 10:37am

I also love the show. It had many moving numbers, such as the finale for the first act (Let of Love in Peace), God's Own Country, If this is what we're fighting for, and the finale (photo sequence).

[PottstownTeacher]

Posted: 2/1/06 at 11:01am

I, too, love the score for this show. I didn't see the show ... well, let's put it this way, I didn't see it on stage ... but it looked good on my TV. (ahem ...) I can see where others have said it would not have wide-spread appeal. It's not exactly an "upper". The book also tends to not be as accessible as the music. Whatever happened to that Canadian production that was supposed to happen in Fall 2005 which, if successful, was going to transfer to NYC? I would still like to see this on the stage. I think it needs to be performed. (And not just on my TV set.)

[Sant]

Posted: 2/1/06 at 11:04am

"It was going to be called "The Heart is Slow to Learn." THANK GOD, that was changed."

I think "The Heart Is Slow To Learn" was SOOO much better than "Our Kind Of Love". For some reason OKOL just seemed to lack... something. I thought it was just a 'blah' version of THISTL.

As for the show, I liked it. Not the best show on earth, not even the best ALW show, but I'm glad I got the chance to see it. It had some very lovely numbers, "God's Own Country" being a personal favorite, and a good story.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 2/1/06 at 12:44pm

I saw this show when it played in London. One problem with it is that it is so dark. There are few light moments in the show.

[mrkringas]

Posted: 2/1/06 at 1:17pm

Of course its dark! It tries to cover both sides of the troubles in Northern Ireland. Wonderful show that deserved a longer run. There are some numbers that are certainly "childish" but overall the tone is dark. I thought Ben Elton used football as a metaphor for the political conflict. Also by doing the whole internment camp scene you can identify with John and his decision to join the IRA. An innocent man who just happened to be Catholic and in the wrong place and the wrong time. But by then showing him abandoning his family to fight a war ("such a stupid sacrifice") amongst his own community you do see the human cost. Plus its all summed up with "If This is What We Are Fighting For" and the Catholic wife he leaves behind damning both sides for their lust for vengeance.

A lot of the themes of terrorism vs imperialism are certainly relevant in the current climate.

Oh and Hannah Waddingham who sings "Our Kind of Love" on the OLC will be playing The Lady of the Lake in the London production of Spamalot.

[spiderdj82]

Posted: 2/1/06 at 1:24pm

"I thought the lyrics in "The Heart is Slow to Learn" was HORRIBLE!!!!!

[lovinlife]

Posted: 2/1/06 at 1:26pm

West Side Story did not initially fair well, due to the realism of the piece at that time. My father personally told me he did not like it because he left more depressed than happy. I think personally, this is the beauty of live theatre and no one does it in a more artistic and classy way as stage actors. I am now definitely going to buy the Cast Recording of The Beautiful Game. It's always weighed out to buy or not to buy it. I just did not have any clue what it was about etc. This has provoked my interest.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 2/1/06 at 1:30pm

But in darker pieces, there are lighter moments.

Take the above mentioned West Side Story. It has the comic number "Gee Officer Krupke" to lighten things up a bit.

Sweeney Todd is a dark piece, but has Mrs. Lovett's comic moments such as "A Little Priest".

I think Beautiful Game needs a few lighter moments so that the audience isn't bombarded with two hours of terrorism.

[lovinlife]

Posted: 2/1/06 at 1:33pm

Well, of course. I didn't even take that into account. I gues I'll check the recording out and then make my review.

[chernjam]

Posted: 2/1/06 at 1:37pm

It seemed a strange coincidence that it closed in London a week before September 11th.

I always hoped it would come here, financially it couldn't be that expensive to stage. ALW's name alone would make it open with some sort of advance, and critically I think it would go over very well here.

It's strange in a post-9/11 NY that The Beautiful Game didn't make it here. I also thought in post 9/11 Whistle Down The Wind might be appealing to people (themes of faith, redemption)

[mrkringas]

Posted: 2/1/06 at 1:40pm

But its not two hours of terrorism. (and anyway one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter...but thats a whole thread in itself for another place! )

The first Act builds from the football match to the moment where at the end of the Act this chubby comic relief character gets beaten to death my some Protestant boys. Meanwhile you have the two lovers from different sides etc. And all this is after plenty of comedy and the gradual relationship of the two leads Mary and John.

Its only really in the second Act (after the marriage and first night sex!) that the show turns really dark. After that point its a downhill journey. Plus the show does end with the image of hope. Seeing a new generation of boys (including Mary and John's son) getting ready to play the beautiful game. Its clear that Mary wants a better world and as we know from the current situation in Northern Ireland, the younger generation did grow up to become a tad tolerant and demanded a more open and peaceful solution. However this musical is a historical piece set in the 70s and there is no way you can avoid the sheer horror of what was going on.

Finally as regards "Krupke" and "Little Priest"... well the former is biting social commentary of the failure of the capitalism/American dream whilst the latter is something similar but more about the ravages of capitalism in Victoria Britain. However the songs are presented in such a way to ellicit humour but be in no illusion that they are not "dark" in any way.

[bare_nakedlady]

Posted: 2/1/06 at 2:28pm

chernjam - I agree that Whistle Down the Wind would be an excellent show nowadays...

until this moment, I thought I was alone in that.