The Beautiful Game

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.

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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!

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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.

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

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

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

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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).

"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.

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.

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.

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

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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.