What if a different composer did your favorite/least favorite show...?

[ScubaSteve]

Posted: 10/2/05 at 6:02pm

Okay, wierd thought crossed my mind earlier today, so I was thinking about these few things:

1. Name a show that you may or may not like, but that you'd like to see a different composer doing the lyrics. i.e.: Adam Guettel doing Yeston's "Titanic" or Jonathon Larson doing "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat", which are my picks.

2. Name your favorite show, and who you think would have done the worst job with composing. For me, the show is "Parade", and I'd have to say William Finn. I love "A New Brain" and what I've heard of "Falsettos", but the story and his style just clash something fierce.

Respond with your picks to these two ideas.

[jasonf]

Posted: 10/2/05 at 7:05pm

I actually think that William Finn would probably be able to pull off the Parade story, though it would be VERY different.

There's a game like this talked about in Bruce Kimmel's novel "Writer's Block" where they actually would take the melody from a song from one show and rewrite it for another (ie Rewrite the bench scene from Carousel as "Barcelona" from Company)

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 10/2/05 at 7:07pm

Guettel doing Titanic could be very interesting....

I'd love to see Sondheim write In My Life....he could make it really dark.

[Caroline-Q-or-TBoo]

Posted: 10/2/05 at 7:13pm

Sondheim= A Chorus Line
Jerry Herman= Pacific Overtures
Adam Guettel= Hello Dolly

[little_sally]

Posted: 10/2/05 at 7:20pm

I was listening to Piazza (one of my favorite shows) a few weeks ago and thought about what it would sound like if Yeston (one of my favorite composers) had written it.

I, like everyone else, would've loved to hear Sondheim's take on Wicked.

[GYPSY1527]

Posted: 10/2/05 at 7:24pm

Ohh I could actually see that! I envision it having a simliar style to Into the Woods. I can see how there could be a repetition in lyrics/song. He would make it darker undoubtly.

[jasonf]

Posted: 10/2/05 at 7:51pm

Um - Yeston doing Piazza -- wouldn't it just sound like Nine?

How about Frank Loesser writing Hair if you want something different!

"I've never done this drug before
Now all at once I'm high
I'm floating off the floor

I've never done this drug before
I thought the air was safe
I thought I'd smoke some more

But this high, is all too strange and strong
I'll smoke another bong
I can't resist the lure.

So please forgive the hazy mood I'm in
I've really never been
This high before."

[best12bars]

Posted: 10/2/05 at 9:17pm

When I was living in New York in the mid-'80s, there were auditions posted for Stephen Sondheim's upcoming musical "Sunset Boulevard" starring Angela Lansbury.

No, that isn't a joke. The notices for Principle and Chorus calls stayed up on the Equity bulletin board for a couple of months before they came down and nothing happened.

Then later on, the Webber "Sunset" was announced. I thought the show was only so-so. I left the theatre humming the sets.

I always wondered what it would have been like if Sondheim had actually written it.

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 10/2/05 at 9:24pm

You shouldn't have to wonder what it would have been like - it would have been brilliant, of course


I tried to think of a show that I think has potential, but was in the complete wrong hands...so my choice is Sondheim writing AMOUR.

[best12bars]

Posted: 10/2/05 at 9:30pm

But I agree with the others who've already chimed in on "Wicked." I'm a huge fan of the current production, and I'm amazed at the skillful adaptation from the original source material... but I can't help wondering what Sondheim would have done with it.

It might have been his "Sweeney Todd" for this new century. I know it would have been a lot darker and scarier than the current show. Just the way he loves to dive into a character's mind. And mix in the political themes, etc. Wow.

Just wow.

[ZONEACE]

Posted: 10/2/05 at 9:34pm

how bout Sondheim doing every show ever written?

[best12bars]

Posted: 10/2/05 at 9:36pm

Yeah, his "Oklahoma!" would be wild.

[best12bars]

Posted: 10/2/05 at 9:38pm

...How about Jerry Herman's "Hair?"

[ScubaSteve]

Posted: 10/2/05 at 9:38pm

Just thought of another one.

Sondheim doing "Thrill Me: The Leopold and Loeb Story"

Have this cast recording, really don't like it that much, but the idea is decent. Mr. Sondheim would have a field day with it.

[BroadwayGirl107]

Posted: 10/2/05 at 9:41pm

1. I definitely would have loved to see Sondheim do Wicked.

2. I can't pick a favorite show:
Stephen Schwartz doing West Side Story or Sweeney Todd

Rodgers and Hammerstein doing Rent

[My Fair Lady]

Posted: 10/2/05 at 9:48pm

I'd love to see Yeston do Piazza or Guettel do Nine or Titanic. And I agree with Sondheim doing Wicked. Also, Rogers and Hammerstein doing Kiss Me Kate.