board77

TM, what else would it mean?

Minnie Driver was the best part of Phantom.

Quote:

Thankfully the song is on the OCR.

Oh, good!

Quote:

I definitely prefer Emmy's Christine!).

Now that I find suprising.

Quote:

And I also think Gerard does a pretty good job. If you just listen to his voice alone, it's not up to stage Phantoms, but it just works in the movie.

I thought Gerard was good, especially considering that it was his first major singing role. However, my qualm was that he was just good. That movie had SO much potential that was not reached, in my opinion. It did work in the movie, but against the stage Phantoms . . .

Speaking of Phantom, just bought tickets to Phantom! Pinky and I are taking a friend for his birthday. Telecharge is EVIL!!! Evil I say!


editted for random codeness.

I think makeing musicals into movies is tricky buisness!! I myself was not on the whole, a fan of Phatom the movie. I am hoping Rent will be better. I think it will be. For one thing it had Idina Menzel which makes it fabulous!! It also has most of the original cast, so talant should not be an issue like it was in phantom (although I was fond of minne driver and Emmy rossum) I think the biggest problem is the loss of the magic. The demyistification of the phantom was just wrong!! The secret door in the end the veiws of him throughout All I ask of You. It was just bad. Its impossible to capture musicals perfectly on camera because live theater is a beautiful thing, but musical movies can be good they can be really good phantom just wasn't one of them. Sorry for the nonsensical ramblings I am sooo sleepy I pulled an all-nighter so the coherent sentences thing is not working for me right now...

First of all LoR and Cem you'd already confused the hell out of my by switching faces I just didn't say anything earlier, and it has finally caught up with me. Excellent joke btw, but I am easily confused so...

Iavas (and Phantom movie fans) I'll see it, the previews gave me goose bumps because I love the play so much I was just disapointed by the clips I heard from the soundtrack.

(Busted by Iavas , I was just thinking how I pestered you to reply in the HT thread and here I'm taking my sweet time, will get back to you ASAP )

Cem, I've only seen a handful of plays in intimate settings, one at the Playmill and a few at a local church many years ago. I enjoy them as much as the large productions. If a play/muscial is good it isn't going to matter how big the stage is .

Mossy seeing a show on Broadway is one my long term goals on my "list of things I NEED to do before I die". And you (and Pinky!) better believe I'll be calling when I finally make it out there.

TM, I wasn't exactly thrilled to have my face spammed all over b77, but I figured if LoR could do it then I could also.

The joke is just a taste of what happens when a YIM, SNL & a dead b77 all happen on the same night!

You'd love our local theater. It has a round stage so you are never more than 10 rows from the front. I was actually feeling a little too close during Joseph as the guys came around flirting in the aisles... I have "please don't pick on me, please don't pick on me!" syndrome!

I agree, though, that the size of the stage & audience has very little to do with the quality of performance. I have had my socks knocked off by high school musicals & plays. When I was a senior the theater classes did "Arsenic & Old Lace" and it was better than the movie, even though I adore the movie!

I don't know anything about RENT, but I love the song in the trailer... anyone care to dish out a synopsis? The rating is decent so I'd like to see it in theaters.

MaidenOfTheShieldarm wrote:

Minnie Driver was the best part of Phantom.

I completely agree.

RENT Synopsis:

Well, have you seen La Boheme?

No really, it is actually loosely based on La Boheme. I'll give you a very, very basic introduction because I believe it's the sort of show/movie that you're best experiencing first hand.

Basically, a group of friends who are all penniless artists of one kind or another (a film-maker, a guitarist/songwriter, a dancer, singer etc) are living in a squat. The owner of the building wants to turn it into a home for Cyber-arts. There are a couple of love affairs happening including one between Angel, a streetwise transvestite and Collins, the only working member of the group. Also we have a love triangle between Roger, the songwriter who has Aids, Mimi, the exotic dancer, and Benny, the owner of the building. Then you have the lesbian couple and the ex-husband of one of them. That's about all I can tell you without starting to ruin plotlines. It really is a great show with some powerful music.

I've had a listen to the Movie Soundtrack and the non-broadway leads perform admirably, particularly Rosario Dawson as Mimi. Of course, Collin's "Cover Me" is still the most powerful piece in the show.

Thanks!

I trust your analysis of the soundtrack.... sounds promising!

I don't know much of La Boheme. I had the "new" recording of Baz Luhrman's production. I gave it to my sister. Wasn't too impressed.

I have just fallen in love with the song on the RENT trailer... I didn't even see the trailer the first time. Had my nose in work, but my ears sure perked up. I made sure to find out what movie that was!

The song is called "Seasons of Love", it is quite impressive, not only that but Stevie Wonder covered it on the Broadway soundtrack too.

umm hi can i join

newsies is awesome

TheMary wrote:

Mossy seeing a show on Broadway is one my long term goals on my "list of things I NEED to do before I die".

An admirable goal. Do ring me when you come. I'm *always* up for a show (and hanging out with b77ers of course ).

I'm very excited to see Rent the Movie (heh). The show is on my list of things to see, but I'm afraid it might be a while. Plus, I love Idina Menzel. She's got an incredible voice, and I look forward to seeing her in it. The music was never something that I was particularly thrilled by, but I expect I'll appreciate it a lot more after seeing in it context. Seasons of Love, though . . . Brilliant song. And I like the voicemail bits.

Quote:

umm hi can i join

Of course. However, I suggest you get your "." key and "Shift" key fixed.

Someone said "Mamma Mia" isn't a musical? Then I have to wonder if that someone has ever seen it.

It is MOST definitely a musical, it is NOT an "ABBA tribute band" at all. The songs are by ABBA, all right, but they are so much the story that it's nearly an opera.

Wonderful fun, even if you're not an ABBA fan.

That's why I love Mama Mia so much vison it's soooooooo fun and I love the story line!!

Jude wrote:

I've decided I'm going to try my hardest to see Wicked when it comes to Toronto next year. Somehow I got false information that the tickets went for $200, but on checking again I see that they're between around $70 - $100. Maybe that other price was for a dinner-hotel-ticket deal or something.

My wife and I watched Wicked here at the Canon Theatre this year (the first time around!) and I tell you it's worth driving all the way to Toronto for that.

I skimmed through the thread so I hope I'm not butting in on an ongoing conversation. Anyways, I just watched Les Miserables for the nth time, man, it's my fave musical. I like Mama Mia and Wicked as well.

We're watching "Movin' Out" by Billy Joel and I'm so excited! Anybody seen this show?

My wife is dragging me to "Hello Dolly" this friday and "Cabaret" in February. She might be dragging me to "The Boyfriend" directed by Julie Andrews. I don't know if I'm going to like it. My wife has season tickets to musicals and she is going to be upset if I don't go with her. Man, she took me to Evita and I actually slept through the play, woke up when they started chanting "Evita! "Evita", my wife was furious when she learned I slept. At least I wasn't at the lobby using my cellphone like my best friend. His wife put him in the doghouse. I didn't like Evita.

List of Musicals I have seen

Les Miserables
Wicked
Mama Mia
Cats
Phantom of the Opera
Evita
My Fair Lady
Grease
Rent
The Lion King
Chicago
The Ratpack
Miss Saigon
Annie
Oliver

Already have tickets to:
LOTR the Musical
Movin' Out!
Hello Dolly!
Cabaret
The Boyfriend

I know it's sad, but my wife drags me to these shows. [/b]

Hey Lurker, I saw Evita on stage last year, it was okay nothing to write home about.

Movin' Out tickets go on sale soon so I'm thrilled about that, I love Billy Joel!!!

Has anyone seen All Shook Up? It's similar to Mama Mis except with Elvis songs and a different story line (I know you're probably thrilled Alatar!) and it was really dang good. I'm not an Elvis fan so I was kind of worried I wouldn't like the show but it was terrific.

I have to be honest and say that I will never, ever see Mamma Mia unless I am given free tickets and don't have anything else to do. I am so much more interested in original work.

Rent I have never seen or listened to, much the same as I knew very little about Chicago before the film of that came out. I'm interested to see it, but worried it will suffer in comparison to La Boheme, which I have about 4 different versions of on DVD or video!

I just spoke to my brother, and it's quite likely that I'll be taking the kids to see Wicked in Toronto next year!

I'm already excited...

Mamma Mia definitely counts as a musical, but like Iavas, I don't really care to see it. Musicals based on the songs of a group or singer just aren't my thing. I'd rather see something original and hear the songs on their own. I was subjected to "We Will Rock You" in London. Worst show I've ever seen. Queen's music was butchered and the quasi-psuedo-Sci- Fi plotline was beyond horrid. [/rant] They may be good shows (Mammia Mia, Movin' Out, etc), just not my taste.

Jude, yay! That's exciting.

TheMary, actually it was not Les Mis that we played on stage but a musicals our director wrote with the songs each 12 of us wanted to sing as a soloist.
The story took place in a Counselling center; people locked there, either by their job, their problems. And the songs were as followed

Act1
- Comedy Tonight, from Something funny happened on the way to the forum, which our director had modified to fit our story (group)
- On my own, by my humble ( I was terrified to sing first)
- If you could see her, Cabaret
- Al Donza, Man of La Mancha
- La Monture, Hunchback of Notre Dame
- Cool, West Side Story (all guys)
- Aquarius, Hair (group)
- I dreamed a dream, Les Mis

Act2
- When you're good to mama, Chicago (all girls except in my sig pic, one of the guys wanted to dance with us ))
- Déchiré (Torn), Hunchback of Notre Dame
- Jamais Vivre sans toi, Les Parapluies de Cherbourg
- The Music and the Mirror
- The Origin of Love, Hedwig and the Angry Inch
- Mein Herr, Cabaret
- Seasons of Love, Rent, which you're wearing both as a title and Avatar (group)

Iavas, I agree Emmy's Christine is wonderful and I definitely liked her best even though I'm a huge Sarah's fan. There's something purer in her voice, that's very technical and yet that sounds natural... the notes seem - for some reason - easier to get out.. it's hard for me to explain.
And I definitely loved Gerry Butler as the phantom, there's something enthralling in his voice that I didn't hear in the stage Phantom. Maybe because his voice is more like broken somehow. Still I can listen and again to PoO, movie version and not be bored at all.

And Minnie Driver as La Carlotta is just THE one in the movie. She gives it its humours, and a lot of colour. She's great

While Mamma Mia may have the songs integrated it's a forced marriage. The songs weren't written for the moment, the story line was manipulated to shoehorn in existing songs. Now this isn't exactly a new phenomenon. "Crazy for You" is essentally a "Greatest Hits of Gerswin" show and "Singin' in the Rain" was created in a similar manner using existing songs that the studio had rights to. I guess I'm a snob when it comes to musicals. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed Buddy, Smokey Joes Cafe, Five Guys Named Mo and any of the sections I've seen from Mamma Mia, Our House, We Will Rock You and others. I just don't think they should be considered to be in the same class of entertainment as Sweeney Todd or Les Miserables. To me, they're not "real" musicals. They're "Musicals for Dummies" if you'll pardon the phrase. No insult intended, I just mean that they're aimed at the lowest common denominator, and that's pretty damn low. Of course, some would say that Sondheim is "Opera for Dummies" so I guess it a case of "horses for courses".

Iavas, I don't think the La Boheme references will bother you. Rent is not a remake of La Boheme, it's just inspired by La Boheme. Think of it as the Movie and the Book of LotR Both great but in different ways.