henke on 27/1/2017 at 19:26
La La Land finally opened in our cinemas tonight, just came back from seeing it. Gotta admit it wasn't doing much for me for the first half or so. Great musical numbers but the story wasn't gripping me. But from around the scene where he signs up with the band and everything sorta starts going to hell with the relationship, it was fantastic until the end. Overall, yeah, pretty damn good! That Ryan Gosling! Between this and Nice Guys I will award him the coveted HENKE'S CHOICE: ACTOR OF THE YEAR 2016 AWARD.
henke on 17/4/2017 at 09:07
Dug into a new pile of musicals over the past week. Fun Home, based on an autobiographical novel by Alison Bechdel(yes, that Bechdel) was really good, but also a bit too depressing for repeat-listens. Newsies didn't really grab me, and I'm also learning that Webber's stuff is not my bag. 1776, recommended by SlyFoxx earlier in this thread, I had listened to previously as well, but I've given it a couple more spins. Very good! It's very much focused on John Adams, and it was fun listening to it before and after having seen the HBO series about him and noticing how they each tell the same story in different ways.
Lastly, Legally Blonde kept popping up in "musicals you must listen to" lists. I haven't seen the movie it's based on, but I gave it a spin. Mostly it's quite ho-hum, but it does have a couple stand-out numbers. One is "Whipped into shape" which is kind of a chick-flick version of "Eye of the Tiger", the other is the song where Elle sets out on her mission to GET HER MAN BACK! It's called "What you want", it's a very catchy and funny song that packs a lot of storytelling.
[video=youtube;Dp6Y9vxu8-o]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dp6Y9vxu8-o[/video]
Thinking Robot on 17/4/2017 at 10:06
Does Sweeney Todd count, too?
[video=youtube;8PNz5rd7yhM]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8PNz5rd7yhM[/video]
Tim Burton and Johnny Depp also made a wonderful movie. :sly:
jkcerda on 18/4/2017 at 17:28
saw hair spray with the wife at the theater, it was ok.
henke on 1/6/2017 at 17:21
A few years back Lin-Manuel Miranda wrote this mini-musical for This American Life, based on a story they'd covered about a highschool student who falls in love with an undercover police officer. It's wonderful, funny and heartbreaking. Give it a listen. :)
[video=youtube;GE0iaSRoUUQ]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GE0iaSRoUUQ[/video]
Also (
https://open.spotify.com/album/5RGnJGlUaM6ef8CWq1NRyO) available on Spotify!
sharonbn on 27/6/2017 at 11:31
If you're into West-end-musical-type-of-music (You know, melodramatic big orchestra) then this is my recommendation:
Hooverphonic Presents Jackie Cane
[video=youtube;Ybu0k3KmcFc]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ybu0k3KmcFc[/video]
Like all (good) classic rock operas (Tommy being my favorite) The album is a concept album with a narrative. and like all (good) classic rock operas, it is a greek tragedy:
"In Jackie Cane, Hooverphonic draw from the theatrics of 1960s film scores to illustrate their unique rendition of a classic tragedy: the rise and fall of a would-be starlet. Jackie wants to be a famous singer and she leaves behind her twin sister and the ramshackle part of town she grew up in to peruse her dream. Jackie's twin feels betrayed and abandoned by her other half. Jackie becomes a huge success, but the fame takes its toll. She spirals into substance abuse and returns to her sister, with whom she hopes to find comfort. Jackie's sister never wants them to be separated again. To ensure this, she serves Jackie a poisoned meal and kills herself. It's been suggested that the album's narrative is from Jackie's perspective as she reminisces in her dying moments."
(from (
https://consequenceofsound.net/2009/06/audio-archaeology-hooverphonic-presents-jackie-cane-2002/) Audio Archaeology: Hooverphonic Presents Jackie Cane)
From the music perspective, the band took the classic musical style and added a coat of electronics and trip hop that makes for a uniqe and quite amusing listening (at least in my eyes and ears)
henke on 27/6/2017 at 16:59
Thanks for the recommendation, adding it to the pile of stuff I gotta listen to eventually.
henke on 2/7/2017 at 08:24
I listened to the Jackie Cane album. I like it musically, but I wouldn't have known it was a musical or concept album if you hadn't said so, as I'm not really picking up on a narrative.
Anyway,
I was just listening to NPR and they did a story on something you lot might be interest in, (
http://www.npr.org/2017/07/01/534904413/how-fiddler-on-the-roof-and-writing-its-sequel-helped-an-actress-find-closure) a sequel to
Fiddler on the Roof! It's a novel, not a musical, written by writer/actress Alexandra Silber who's played both Hodel and Tzeitel in productions of Fiddler. The story follows Hodel after she's left Anatevka.
Here's the scene where Hodel leaves, if you need your memories refreshed and your hearts broken.
[video=youtube;0JNTNU7etW8]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JNTNU7etW8[/video]
Thirith on 2/7/2017 at 08:35
Have you seen Jesus Christ Superstar, also by Norman Jewison (which was autocorrected to "Jewishness", weirdly enough)? It's definitely more dated, but it still does a lot that I really like, and its got some of Andrew Lloyd Webber's best tunes. It's also conditioned me into thinking that Judas is actually the real lead of the Jesus story.
henke on 2/7/2017 at 09:08
I've listened a bit to it, was so-so on it, but I really should watch the movie as well.