over-rated — Page 3

voiceanth...

I'm certainly aware that PHANTOM is not an opera.

There are segments in the show where Christine is required to sing opera, and KC did it flawlessly.

We talked, and she has an impressive opera repertoire.

Don't assume she can't do it just because you've never heard her do it. Her education was in classical voice.

I think the benefit of the doubt is in order.

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Well, call him overrated if you want, but I'm just surprised to see that same old tripe about Sondheim not being able to write melody. Didn't that go out around 1972?

I submit the following:

"This is Nice"
"What More Do I Need?"
"Comedy Tonight"
"Lovely"
"There Won't Be Trumpets"
"Anyone Can Whistle"
"With So Little to Be Sure Of"
"I Remember"
"Take Me to the World"
"Side by Side"
"Being Alive"
"Too Many Mornings"
"Losing My Mind"
"All Things Bright and Beautiful"
"Send in the Clowns"
"The Sun Won't Set"
"A Weekend in the Country"
"Pretty Lady"
"Poems"
"My Friends"
"Johanna"
"Not While I'm Around"
"Old Friends"
"Not a Day Goes By"
"Like it Was"
"Our Time"
"Finishing the Hat"
"Move On"
"No One is Alone"
"Children Will Listen"
"Unworthy of Your Love"
"Happiness"
"Loving You"

Great songs, with reaching, sweeping melodies, and no, you don't need a degree in music or an understanding of chord clusters to appreciate them. Just an ear.

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Funny how the Sondheim snobs react whenever anyone so much as whispers that just maybe he's just like any other composer. Has good days and bad days. Strong scores and weak ones. Great songs and groaners. And no, the old 'tripe' about Sondheim having a problem with melody hasn't 'gone out since 1972'. Some of us still think he still has a real problem - a reluctance, even - to create wonderful melodies on a grand scale. I'm hardly an advocate of ALW or Wildhorn (I think his pop-shlock operas are swill), but for me Sondheim musicals have largely become the musical equivalent of All-Bran and Cod-liver oil: "You need to listen to this because it's GOOD for you!" And while some of the songs on magruder's list are truly magnificent and haunting, I find not a few to be melodically consitipated and monotonous. As Sammy Cahn would say: "Put 'em in a box, tie 'em with a ribbon and dump 'em in the deep blue sea!"

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Hey MasterLcZ: You're not alone. Sondheim's work tends to leave me cold. I think 'Sweeney's great and I like the score to 'Assassins' but the rest of it I find to be dull and am hard-pressed to sit through most of his shows without looking at my watch. No, I am not a cretin and yes, I understand a lot of the subtleties he's doing in his score compositions. Which makes it interesting fodder for term papers, sure, but I don't think it necessarily makes for compelling theater. Others, of course, may react differently but I agree Sondheim's over-rated.

To me, most Sondheim shows turn into a bunch of middle-aged characters nit-picking one another. And that wears on me quickly.

You misunderstand. Despite my little Anyone Can Whistle homage to the left, I am no Sondheim snob. And I love Arlen, Berlin, Rodgers, Styne, Herman, Rome, Porter et al. I like Sondheim's work, but I'm not militant about it. But you wrote: "And there aint a lot of melody in Sondheim. There just isn't." I think the list I posted proves there's plenty of melody in Sondheim. As far as dumping some of those songs in the Deep Blue Sea, as Sammy Cahn would suggest, well ... only if Cahn's score to Skyscraper is tossed in first.

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DUANE READE said: I got the best one here:

JULIA MURNEY

She's never even been on Broadway and her "Wild Party" performance was beyond forgettable. Yes, she can sing, but she does not deserve the praise and attention that you all constantly give her. I wonder if she will EVER get to Broadway..."

So you mean you think Julia sucks? I don't get it. I think she's amazing, granted she hasn't been ON broadway, lol, but she would make an excellent Fanny in Funny Girl when the do the remake. And wasn't she in Dance of the Vampires for a while or did she drop that??

no, unfortunately I havent SEEN her in anything as I dont live in NYC.

Ofcourse heard her in Wild Party and she rocks the house. My friend also somehow had a live recording of Wild Party and Julia sounds exactly the same!

She was also in Class Act, wasn't that on broadway?

As for Funny Girl, ok Fanny suppposed to be young, so I made a mistake. But I DO like Julia.

When Judy Garland was taping the show with Barbra...the story goes:

Judy showed up to every rehersal (never the Judy norm) and watched the WHOLE show being taped, even the parts that did'nt require her(a rarity)...she never left the set for a moment when that termagent was tearing the paint of the walls with that talent...

(will there ever be a "Bewitched" sung like that again..NO!)

Judy knew........

Believe me, Judy would have left, popped open a bottle (booze or other) and hoisted a few upon hearing Audra's version...

Ooops! I forgot

Jason Alexander. Definitely overrated.

(Is any one keepting track of the votes? Might be an interesting analysis for the producers, lol. )


Yours for a better Broadway!

Can't believe he wasn't mentioned!:) Colm Wilkinson! I mean the guy IS Jean Valjean, no doubt about it, and he was fantastic in that particular role, but other than that, his voice is overrated. I just don't understand how he's called a tenor, when really he is a high baritone with a good falsetto. I'll say his voice is unique and that I do truly enjoy him in Les Miz, but his Phantom was just overly exagerated in the falsetto department. Just my .02 cents-
Any thoughts..??

John Michael LaChuisa

We can't forget him, no matter that his musicals are easily so.

Yours for a better Broadway!

I think ALW is also over-rated to the point where he thinks he's the god of musical theatre. I like some of his stuff but, there certainly is better out there. But the others I thought were over rated have all been mentioned here,like Mandy Patinkin and Ethel Merman, and a couple I don't agree with, like Michael Crawford but I know I'm in a minority here but that's okay, but this is great fun!