Webber's Best Score?- Page 2

[Plannietink08]

Posted: 6/24/13 at 10:08am

Yes, clearly I meant dubstep. And yes, it was. But thanks for your contribution.

[CJ N2N]

Posted: 6/24/13 at 10:09am

I haven't listened to all his scores but out of the ones I have, I'll jump on the Evita and Jesus Christ Superstar wagon. Phantom was my favorite for a while (it got me into theater in the first place) and I still think it's very beautiful (the refrain in the overture and title song gives me chills every time, even if it is stolen from Pink Floyd) just not as wonderful as those two. They're both two amazing musical theater scores with a rock twist. Both Che and Judas are two of my ultimate dream roles.

[Plannietink08]

Posted: 6/24/13 at 10:13am

CJ N2N: Phantom was always my favourite ALW show but I saw the UK Tour in Manchester, loved it then went to see it again in Edinburgh with the Alternate Christine and a new Phantom and I hated it ... it was slow, boring and the Phantom didn't have the WOW factor. Since then I've no interest in watching it again.

[ClapYo'Hands]

Posted: 6/24/13 at 10:23am

Plannietink08 sorry if I came across as arsey - I didn't mean to be, I just really hate that new arrangement!

Also, I'm surprised you didn't like Olivia Brereton, I thought she was a much better Christine than Katie Hall. And although nobody will ever match John Owen-Jones, I do love Earl Carpenter's Phantom.

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 6/24/13 at 10:46am

Jesus Christ Superstar

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 6/24/13 at 10:53am

Evita
Jesus Christ Superstar
Aspects of Love
Sunset Boulevard

[Plannietink08]

Posted: 6/24/13 at 11:00am

It's fine. I did think you were being arsey but that's the problem with text - you can't tell.
Noooo, I really disliked them both. Olivia was sweet but I didn't see the transformation that Christine has to have especially during Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again and then again when they're in the Phantom's Lair. Katie Hall, who I dislike as a person was okay but not a great actress.
I do think because I saw John Owen-Jones first, everyone else will suffer in comparison - there was times when that man sung that I thought I needed to change my underwear, he was THAT amazing when I saw him.

[StageManager2]

Posted: 6/24/13 at 11:16am

It begins and ends with Evita.

Updated On: 6/24/13 at 11:16 AM

[Gothampc]

Posted: 6/24/13 at 11:19am

I want to chime in with the much overlooked Aspects of Love.

Love Changes Everything
Seeing is Believing
A Memory of A Happy Moment
Mermaid Song
First Man You Remember
Anything But Lonely

All very beautiful songs.

And it's thrilling at the end of Act 1, when you have Alex finding out that he has lost his love, and hits that final tenor note (is it a high B?) on "Nothing in the world will ever be the same."

[g.d.e.l.g.i.]

Posted: 6/24/13 at 11:44am

^ It would be better if the recitative was a conventional book instead. Maybe then it wouldn't feel like such a slog to get through.

[sanda]

Posted: 6/24/13 at 11:46am

Jesus Christ Superstar

[muscle23ftl]

Posted: 6/24/13 at 11:57am

Aspects of Love or The Beautiful Game (out of the ones I'm familiar with)

Cats is terrible!!! How can anyone say that was a good score?
I think you guys are just naming his most successful and well known musicals and the question was about his best scores. If you don't know all his musicals you should just state "out of the ones I know, I prefer..." like I did.

[g.d.e.l.g.i.]

Posted: 6/24/13 at 12:04pm

I'd also like to add that, though the book is treacly family nonsense (and nowhere is that more evident than in the Bill Kenwright touring version), I have a soft spot for the score to Whistle Down the Wind -- a little country/folk, a little gospel, a little blues, a lot of rock and roll. Or maybe I just take perverse pleasure from what teaming up Andrew Lloyd Webber and Jim Steinman produced.

[bpr515]

Posted: 6/24/13 at 12:13pm

Alex goes up to a high A at the end of Act I and a B-flat at the end of Act II.

There's also "Falling", an acapella quartet for the 4 leads in Act II that I love.

Choosing a favorite is tough as I tend to be cyclical with shows. The scores I come back to the most (to sing and to listen to) are Evita, Phantom, and JCS.

Sunset and Aspects are sort of 2nd tier scores for me. I like them and will listen to them for stretches, but they don't have the staying power of the 3 above.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 6/24/13 at 12:13pm

"Whistle Down the Wind -- a little country/folk, a little gospel, a little blues"

A lot of forgettable songs.

[Marianne2]

Posted: 6/24/13 at 12:18pm

Evita for me. Then I guess I would go with Cats. I've seen Phantom and liked it, but not as much. I admit I don't know his other shows well or at all.

[ClapYo'Hands]

Posted: 6/24/13 at 12:32pm

"I do think because I saw John Owen-Jones first, everyone else will suffer in comparison - there was times when that man sung that I thought I needed to change my underwear, he was THAT amazing when I saw him."

Yep!

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 6/24/13 at 12:39pm

Cats is terrible!!! How can anyone say that was a good score?

If they aren't you, I imagine it can be very easy for them to say if that is how they feel.

I think you guys are just naming his most successful and well known musicals and the question was about his best scores.

Or they are just stating their opinions, which could be wildly different than yours. I'm familiar with all of Webber's scores, but I don't expect everyone else to share my opinion because...they are not me. See how that works?

[broadway guy]

Posted: 6/24/13 at 12:46pm

http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2013/03/deal-with-it-cat11.jpeg Updated On: 6/24/13 at 12:46 PM

[JudyDenmark]

Posted: 6/24/13 at 12:47pm

Superstar, hands down.

I also don't think Cats is terrible - there are some great moments! I've always loved the meter in Skimbleshanks in particular. And Jellicle Songs brings me right back to being 6 and being mesmerized by a Broadway show for the first time.

[emeraldmist]

Posted: 6/24/13 at 1:32pm

1. Jesus Christ Superstar
2. Love Never Dies
3. Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat
4. Evita (as long as I never have to hear Ms. Roger sing it again)
5. Phantom - I can't believe I am rating this so far down the list!

Updated On: 6/24/13 at 01:32 PM

[g.d.e.l.g.i.]

Posted: 6/24/13 at 3:31pm

A lot of forgettable songs.

Much like anything in Aspects except "Love Changes Everything"?

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 6/24/13 at 3:45pm

I actually like many of the songs in Whistle Down the Wind, but I didn't feel the show or the score really came together. I heard the score for the first time when I saw the show in London and immediately, Unsettled Scores seemed like a patchwork quilt of melodies lazily stitched together bedazzled with a laundry list for lyrics. Vaults of Heaven was a stirring opening and Cold was quite rousing, though pointless and seemingly out of place.

Funnily enough, my father (who is not musically trained in the least) always commented that the title song sounds like an Asian melody whilst knowing nothing about the pentatonic scale.

[g.d.e.l.g.i.]

Posted: 6/24/13 at 4:11pm

That might be partly Steinman's fault; his lyrics, while usually pretty good, do tend to meander. If Webber was writing melody to lyric in some cases, he might have been going where the words took him.

[ErinDillyFan]

Posted: 6/24/13 at 4:12pm

1. JCS
2. Evita
3. POTO
4. By Jeeves
5. Cats