The next Andrew Lloyd Webber musical is...- Page 3

[Caleb]

Posted: 8/26/06 at 1:10am

I hope that Andrew Lloyd Webber really does approach this like an opera. Really, the difference now between musicals and opera is that musicals are done commercially to turn a profit, and operas are not done for profit. I hope this liberates Lloyd Webber from feeling like he has to write a big 'hit song' for the score. This should be the score that he writes only for himself and the needs of the story. It's well known that he loves Russian composers, especially Prokofiev. Hopefully he can incorporate a lot of that into his score and really write to his maximum, without trying to make it a hit. Make it artistically satisfying, and people will still watch it.

[camp_actor]

Posted: 8/26/06 at 6:06am

ThankstoPhantom - bold, as opposed to what? Evita? Cats (a concept musical about dancing cats)?

[camp_actor]

Posted: 8/26/06 at 6:08am

Caleb - let's just hope that he doesn't incorporate TOO MUCH Prokofiev into the score, shall we?

[spiderdj82]

Posted: 8/26/06 at 8:44am

hardy-har!

Repeating a theme in a show is one thing, using it in another show is diffrent.

As I stated earlier almost EVERY composer does it. And again, I will use my Rodgers and Hammerstein example again. In the song "A Cock-Eyed Optimist" from SOUTH PACIFIC, you can hear exact same chords et al. as "Might as Well Be Spring" in STATE FAIR. I agree that he reuses different themes throughout his musical reptiore, but if you go and listen to other composer's shows . . . GASP . . . they do too.

[JasonM12480]

Posted: 8/26/06 at 9:01am

Regardless of whether people want to admit it or not, some folks cannot help finding one composer or person to "pick on", and destroy, nit-pick at, and bad mouth. Leave the poor man alone, and let him do his creative thing. We cannot ignore that he IS a dominating force in musical theater from the past 30 years. If you don't like Cats, you don't like Cats. Go listen/watch something else. Same thing with Phantom. But that's no reason to lash out at his new idea for a show. It's a lot more interesting than picking a terrible movie - oh, let's try....I dunno...."Gigli", and throwing it on stage with some bad song and dance and lots of hot 20 year olds. All of his shows have at least had that feeling of "What an interesting idea/story for a musical", and no one can deny that. I think/hope people should give him a chance to see what he does with this. Let us also pray he picks the right lyricist and book writer, too.

[spiderdj82]

Posted: 8/26/06 at 9:16am

**Standing ovation**

[camp_actor]

Posted: 8/26/06 at 1:07pm

Leave the poor man alone

You do realise that he is one of the richest people on the planet, right? And one of the most successful, and loved. Hardly poor in any sense. I doubt he's destroyed by a few comments on a random theatre website... "NOOO! They think I'm rubbish! Where's my razor?"

[spiderdj82]

Posted: 8/26/06 at 1:46pm

Ugh, nevermind!

[gvendo2005]

Posted: 8/26/06 at 8:20pm

Why is it that everyone who posted about the plot left out the huge sub-plot (the Master's novel, and Woland's story, and part of what the people in the nuthouse talk about) about the last seven days of Christ's life from the POV of Pontius Pilate?

Considering how bad off ALW has been from melodies lately, I see Tim Rice getting a big royalty check if he tries to write JCS into the show.

[ThankstoPhantom]

Posted: 8/26/06 at 8:40pm

Bolder because his new projetcs appeal to very limited audiences.

[TomMonster]

Posted: 8/26/06 at 8:58pm

Crap.

[camp_actor]

Posted: 8/27/06 at 9:35am

But you can't really judge how much something is going to appeal to an audience until it has been created and seen. As I said before - a concept musical about dancing cats probably didn't seem like a crowd-pleaser at first. Nor the story about Argentinian politics and a political figure who wasn't particularly liked.

I don't see how Woman In White (a hugely popular novel in its time and still appreciated as a benchmark of its genre) is any more daring than that. Nor the Master and Margherita - which has been produced as a play numerous times successfully and features plenty of intrigue, magic and things that could be made to be very spectacular for a modern audience.

[OtherDaryl]

Posted: 8/27/06 at 10:34am

Well, it wasn't ALW, but Lookinglass Theatre in Chicago did a fairly acclaimed version of this some years back (featuring David Schwimmer pre-FRIENDS) that made me run from the theatre screaming after the First Act.

[GClef2]

Posted: 8/27/06 at 11:53am

I loved this book, but hopefully he learned his lesson about pixilated screens...

[leefowler]

Posted: 8/27/06 at 1:25pm

I enjoyed ALW in my day, but after Woman In White (which I know a lot of you like...) I feel like he's totally written out, and so reliant on formula that there's almost nothing there except... the formula:

Write simple melody based on a handful of chords around the tonic.
Repeat above with different words
Add a perfunctory bridge
Play simple melody up a minor third as a climax. Repeat as needed.

I wouldn't get my heart set on any more big hits from ALW.

[ThankstoPhantom]

Posted: 8/27/06 at 6:57pm

You make a good point Camp. And I may be swaying in opinion now.

[bwayondabrain]

Posted: 8/27/06 at 7:01pm

im sort of unsure
i would really like to see a good ALW musical, but lately i have not been pleased with his work
hopefully this will change my perspective...

[Adam Chris]

Posted: 11/2/06 at 11:33pm

Has anyone heard any more about this project? Has a lyricist been announced?

[Julian2]

Posted: 11/3/06 at 1:29am

A cat and Jesus Christ are elements in a novel that the composer of Cats and Jesus Christ Superstar wants to musicalize.

Yes, and do we know anyone who definitly isn't doing it? i.e., "______ is doing _______ so he wouldn't have time until ______"?

Updated On: 11/3/06 at 01:29 AM

[Julian2]

Posted: 11/3/06 at 1:40am

http://www.andrewlloydwebber.co.uk/sections/bbc/videodiary/maria_diary01-aug2006/index.php?section=bbc

He knows as much as we do as of Sep. 1, however, he said following Maria he was going to make it his #1 project. So with Sound of Music now in preveiws, we should hear at least some more buzz around New Years.

[Magical_Ms._Mistoffeles_72]

Posted: 11/3/06 at 2:33am

YES!

[Urban]

Posted: 11/3/06 at 2:43am

Makes 'Carrie' sound sane.

[christine_c]

Posted: 11/3/06 at 3:25am

I have that book. I haven't read it yet, but now I guess I have to.

Huh.

[devonian.t]

Posted: 11/3/06 at 4:58am

With The Beautiful Game I think ALW announced that he wanted to explore new areas with his musicals. Part of the problem is his choice of collaborators, however.

David Zippel can write some witty stuff, but his style did not sit comfortably with Gothic Victoriana. Ben Elton is great at fart gags (and that's about all), and wasn't the ideal choice as a collaborator on a musical dealing with the Irish troubles.

ALW needs someone with the vision and strength to bring the best out of him, as Tim Rice used to. But how do you argue with a lord who owns most of the West End?

[Calvin]

Posted: 11/3/06 at 9:02am

When I was in Houston last weekend, I caught the TUTS production of West Side Story, and during the long pre-show announcements, they mentioned that they are working with ALW to debut something new for their next season. I wonder if this is it.