The Last Ship previews — Page 3

Hmm...I guess I have a different definition of dreary than some other people.

For example, I review movies for a blog, and when I call a film "dreary", I usually refer to the film having no life whatsoever, where it seems like the actors can hardly keep their enthusiasm up for the production, or look like they know they're trapped in a turkey. There's just a vibe that sucks all the joy out of the story. Yet, some here are referring to this as being dreary, yet praise the performances, sets, and some of the songs.

I'm sure this is a problematic show, and I'm not disagreeing with anyone. I knew this from Chicago, but I am interested in seeing it, as I have enjoyed the songs that I have heard from the cast, and some friends saw it in Chicago and enjoyed it. I'm keeping an open mind.

I guess in this show's case, dreary means that there's not just a lot of fun to the show? It's well-performed and executed, but could have used more life? Is there any humor to the show?

"I mean Anything Goes used hits..."

I'm still weeping tears of laughter and joy from this. Are you serious?

I'm not an expert on 30s musicals, but things did seem to be more fluid then with interpolating other songs, and I believe Cole Porter specifically often endorsed the practice with his shows.

Composers have added trunk songs to shows, even in some cases recycled melodies, but to take hits from a catalog and put them in a new book show is not often done in the current era.

American Idiot was jukebox musical/musical derived from two Green Day concept albums if we want to give them that much of a benefit of the doubt. It's not like Green Day wrote an original score for a show then popped a few of their old hits in the mix. All of the songs came from preexisting sources.

Rocky had Eye of the Tiger, but that wasn't written by the Ahrens and Flaherty. It wasn't like they suddenly had Rocky and Adrian singing Wheels of a Dream or something, ha. (And, IMO Eye of the Tiger ultimately ended up overwhelming all the original songs that Ahrens and Flaherty did write for the show.)

I guess it's all how it's presented to the ticket buying public. When I purchased my ticket I was under the impression that this wasn't a Sting jukebox musical nor a Police jukebox musical. It had original music composed specifically for these characters. To find out that's not the case feels a little like "cheating" or having the wool pulled over my eyes.

The last time I can think of a pop composer interpolating a pop hit into a book show was when Total Eclipse of the Heart was added to Dance of the Vampires, and we all know how that show turned out!!

Edit re: dreary

By dreary I mean the setting and characters are bleak and depressing. The color palette is dull and depressing. Everyone is downtrodden and life sucks. Sure, Fred Applegate provides some humor, but he's one of the few given a line for laughs.

In Billy Elliot the world around Billy was dreary, but he found an escape from that world in ballet and Mrs. Wilkinson. While the cops and miners were going at each other in Solidarity, he was able to pirouette through it all and find some joy and happiness in life, eventually removing himself from the situation completely.

The Last Ship is Billy Elliot without the dancing boy. Just Greg Jbara and Santino sitting around waiting for the strike to be over, getting drunk with other out of work miners as the situation worsens. Not so much fun.

Not that a musical has to be all tap dancing and choruses of Do Re Mi, but it's all about finding balance.

Floyd Collins, as a counterexample, could have been dreary given the situation, but instead it is filled with beautiful music, smart and appropriate lyrics and moments of sheer exuberance (like The Riddle) so we don't become are mired in the horrible spot that Floyd actually is in.

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Updated On: 9/30/14 at 01:36 PM

Yes, I meant Rocky (the musical) had Eye of the Tiger interpolated into it.

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Well, that is a great thing about art- different things appeal to and excite each of us!

BTW, It was mentioned earlier that The Last Ship takes place in Ireland, but the setting is in Wallsend, England.

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Wallsend England. Whizzer's right.

They say it at the top of the show. People might be confused by the Geordie accents?

They mention Wallsend several times throughout the show, and it's also listed in the Playbill. I'm not an accent expert, but I felt like everyone was at least on the same page with their accents so nothing was distracting. Everyone was easy to understand as well.

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I saw this in Chicago. I guess the "Dirgical" applies. But, does every musical have to be upbeat, bright and happy? Les Miserables and Phantom have done pretty well. This story fits in with other stories that covered this time: Brassed Off, The Full Monty, & Billy Elliot. The folky, sea shanty flavor to the music fits the theme of the show. There aren't many shows with different styles of music very often on broadway. Fela! was the last one I can think of with music that is out of the mainstream. I really enjoy the music and listen to the concept recording often.

I don't know what changes were made to the plot on broadway. But, there seems to be general confusion about a centeral plot point. The priest, who is dying, in attempt to keep the community together embezzles from the church building fund to buy the raw material for one last ship that they will sail around the world then sell to replenish the building fund. He won't be around to face the consequences, and he reasons that it was their money that was in the building fund in the first place and will eventually be repaid. They are building a large steel motor sailing vessel. It is made clear in the opening song that they built everything from private sailboats to supertankers.

If you like different types of music in your musicals checkout:
Maria Severa, Wanderlust, The Ghost Bothers of Darkland County.

With its mention earlier in this thread, now I want a revival or at least an Encores production of Floyd Collins. Loved that show at the Goodman.

What's the run time on this?

I agree in general about interpolation. If it works, great. My question is about how songs already known to the audience in a pop/top 40 context serve a show wherein an entirely new world is created, with (unknown) songs that elucidate its characters, milieu, uniqueness. If "When We Dance" conjures up, say, a hot date in Manhattan (or Dubuque) in 1997, does it pulls us out of the moment to hear these very site-specific characters employing it to express themselves. That's my only question, and it is a question, not (yet) a quibble.

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