demagogue on 19/12/2016 at 08:42
More like Einstein on the Beach
[video=youtube;TJ2H1Ipr9FA]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJ2H1Ipr9FA[/video]
henke on 20/12/2016 at 06:18
Quote Posted by Sulphur
And here I thought this thread was inspired by henke having seen La La Land. You haven't seen it, henke?
Haven't seen it, it looks good though! :)
froghawk on 20/12/2016 at 17:48
Quote Posted by demagogue
If it's really out music, they'll probably call it avant garde or experimental opera.
Well opera and musicals are 2 distinct formats. There's plenty of avant-garde opera out there, and I love that stuff. Absolutely can't stand the harmonic language of musicals, though, and every time someone has shown me so-called 'weird underground' musicals it's still featured the same trite harmony (that, to me, has become so cliched that it has entirely lost expressive potential).
So yeah, you could call Weill proto-musicals, but Glass is firmly in the opera category since the music is continuous.
I was thinking more the Musical theater equivalent of this sort of opera:
[video=youtube;uS5-A61Ow4s]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uS5-A61Ow4s[/video]
henke on 9/1/2017 at 17:09
Update! I still haven't seen La La Land!
It opens here later this month, I'll go see it when it gets here, but I did give the album a spin on Spotify. It's good! The track that really jumps out at you is "City of Stars", and looking it up on YT just now I saw this short clip from the movie, which totally sold me on it.
[video=youtube;cZAw8qxn0ZE]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZAw8qxn0ZE[/video]
Magical! :)
Sulphur on 10/1/2017 at 14:20
I'm not saying anything about it* except it's a wonderful goddamn treat, and I'm not the biggest fan of musicals. :)
*well, anything more than I already have
henke on 15/1/2017 at 17:30
WICKED IS VERY GOOD! Perhaps great even, need to listen to it a few more times.
Also recently heard/seen:
The Lion King musical - Pretty good, a lot more songs than in the movie, but the best songs were all in the movie.
Once - Watched this yesterday. Liked the movie, though the songs weren't really that great. Good, not great.
Idlewild - The Outkast movie! Not great. Pretty dull, though it does have a handful of good scenes, and a couple good tunes.
Thirith on 17/1/2017 at 21:22
I was lucky to see Glen Hansard live early last year; Markéta Irglová did a set beforehand, and the two did some tunes together, including "Falling Slowly". I love the songs in the context of the film, but as songs I'd agree that they work better live on stage. In the film, though, they serve as more than just songs, so I really couldn't say I prefered the live version or the one in Once.
Sulphur on 18/1/2017 at 07:40
That's wonderful! And it's true, the songs are woven into the fabric of the film and it's not really fair to judge one version or the other as objectively better. I'm coming at it from the position where, every now and then when I'm in the mood, I prefer to put the most immediate version of the songs on as brief emotional vignettes while proceeding to mess up dinner and order take-out instead.
Fingernail on 19/1/2017 at 20:26
Saw Once live on stage a couple of years ago, starring Ronan Keating (formerly of Boyzone fame).
It was pretty good, they had all the instruments played live on stage by the actors so it was like a cross between a show and a gig (minimal staging too, it was made to look like a pub), it worked well given the source material. Ronan wasn't the best actor, but he's got a good voice and carried the songs (and guitar playing!) well. In fact it was all acoustic (except for the voices which where mic'ed up subtly) - quite an adjustment given the previous musical show I'd seen was Phantom of the Opera which was LOUD.
Saw La La Land earlier in the week. Great! Unexpectedly moving at the end. Not the absolute strongest voices, but there's actually more dancing than singing, and it worked. As Sulphur says, a treat!
I've quite enjoyed Into the Woods (filmed version of a Sondheim musical). It's overlong, but has some great numbers.