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Post by crabtree on Jul 26, 2016 21:10:05 GMT
Has this musical ever been revived since Brian Blessed got blown to pieces every night, and twice on Saturdays? It was spectacular, and had some great scenes and songs, especially the gorgeous duet 'If it's only love', but somehow it didn't work. Epic but flawed, but I rather loved it.
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Post by westendwendy on Jul 26, 2016 22:19:43 GMT
I'm sure if 20 of us put in 1000 pounds we could stage it at the new Union Theatre!
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Post by Deleted on Jul 26, 2016 22:30:28 GMT
It will be far easier if 1000 of us put £20 in! I'd happily donate  The show has certainly never been done in the UK since that first production. It does have some good songs in it, my favourite being The Sun. It had a set design that we will never see the likes of again. It was a very rocky road getting the production to the stage apparently. I'm sure some people on here have some to tell.... |
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Post by groupbooker on Jul 26, 2016 23:11:25 GMT
Great show and some great songs as you are saying. Excellent cast Brian Blessed giving a master class on shouting! Graham Bickley, Judy Kuhn, Paul Keown, Jonathan Adams, Stifyn Parri, Opened in 1989. I took 3 groups to see it during the run and back in the days when we had some really fantastic sets. Last time I saw it was the last day and they were videoing it - oh to have a copy!!
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Post by crabtree on Jul 27, 2016 7:45:50 GMT
around the same time, didn't the Piccadilly also house the equally shortlived and equally spectacular Mutiny?
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Post by schuttep on Jul 27, 2016 9:33:55 GMT
Judy Kuhn's voice blew me away. Plus It's Only Love/Bring on the Night and One of Those Nights are amazing songs.
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Post by groupbooker on Jul 27, 2016 12:56:51 GMT
That was I think Judy Kuhn's debut in the West End. Lots of great shows around that time, usually with great sets as well. I saw Mutiny, very clever set of the Bounty which came up from under the stage, down from the tower and formed the whole ship. IF my mind remembers it correctly the side of the Bounty could slide down to reveal the inside of the ship. Probably took most of the budget and why they couldn't get Sinitta any bra!! Also saw King around that time as well but not a long runner.
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Post by musicallady on Jul 27, 2016 15:38:43 GMT
I loved this show.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 27, 2016 16:17:30 GMT
If you're talking about shows at the Piccadilly around that time, you can't not mention Which Witch. A lot of singing/wailing, chanting and witches and devils flying on broomsticks. It was terrible.
There is a video of Metropolis out there, but Judy kuhn's understudy was on instead of her, or she might have left by then.
101.1111 101.11 on the dial!
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Post by Deleted on Jul 27, 2016 16:26:46 GMT
OMG - I loved this when I was a teenager - I saw it four times and I still have the vinyl LP with Brian Blessed's great big autograph on it! Now tempted to buy a record player just so I can listen to it again. I so so wish it would be revived...
Mutiny was the first musical I saw. Not so desperate to see that one again.
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Post by primitivewallflower on Jul 27, 2016 16:35:35 GMT
Never heard of this musical but I'm a huge fan of the silent film. Would love to see it and it would be interesting for the creators to revisit now that the film has been completely reassembled with the original score.
Are there any good sites with production shots or audio clips?
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Post by Deleted on Jul 27, 2016 17:09:23 GMT
If you're talking about shows at the Piccadilly around that time, you can't not mention Which Witch. A lot of singing/wailing, chanting and witches and devils flying on broomsticks. It was terrible. When those devils launched themselves off the upper circle to shag on stage... Now that bit I dont remember...but it was a very busy show. It another of those cd's that i have only ever listened to once. This is the opening from Metropolis. The big set reveal is at 2.15. It's still amazing. |
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Post by crabtree on Jul 27, 2016 18:10:03 GMT
And did Leonardo go into the Piccadilly as well or was it the Dominion, home to the legendary Bernadette - oh my, Bernadette has had a vision of a....a.....lightbulb?
Mutiny, yep, the side of the ship slid down and it rocked all over the place, and was a superb of stagecraft. Unfortunately, Tahiti got the short straw of the budget and was an empty stage with a sparsely painted cloth and a few bare breasts. Not a great score - a lot of singing about Breadfruit, and Friends till the End.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 27, 2016 22:10:45 GMT
Leonardo went into the Novello. The first and probably last ever musical to be funded by bird sh!t. One of the few flops in the 90's that I missed.
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Post by mrbarnaby on Jul 27, 2016 22:20:55 GMT
Yes yes yes Judy Kuhn's voice blew me away. Plus It's Only Love/Bring on the Night and One of Those Nights are amazing songs. |
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Post by johartuk on Jul 27, 2016 22:26:04 GMT
I youtubed It's Only Love - lovely song! It's stuck in my head now!
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Post by groupbooker on Jul 27, 2016 23:09:53 GMT
Yes Monkey, your right about the storm and the Bounty - was impressive back then. Am I right in thinking the set for Metropolis was by Ultz or a single name like that? I'm sure the London cast is still on sale on Amazon. As for King, there was a giant tree one side of the stage and the boughs went over the proscenium arch. Also they kept flying in at an angle flats with actors on, as well as the road that split for the KKK. How could 2 opera singers agree to be signed up for that??
Which Which was another goody of the times! Act one ended (I think)with the witches coven. The stage split open to reveal a giant devil, as you said witches flew from the boxes, dress circle and up from the stage - very impressive. Starred Graham Bickley. Also in the cast were Gay Soper, Stig Rossen, Issy Van Randwyck. They imported a rock star from Norway to play the executioner and then lots of Scandinavians came over to see the show. Also don't forget Moby Dick, which was just a good laugh nothing serious but was panned by the critics - touch of St Trinians at a gallop!!
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Post by crabtree on Jul 28, 2016 5:18:00 GMT
Moby Dick....again, the Piccadilly? All those umbrellas, and the worst score ever.
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Post by stagedoorrecords on Jul 28, 2016 7:01:17 GMT
Some other forgotten musicals at the Piccadilly include 'Robin Prince of Sherwood' (1993), 'I' and the subsequent 'Y' (1983) and 'La Cava' which moved to the Piccadilly from the Victoria Palace. Would be interesting to see which theatre comes out tops in playing host to London's flops, surely the Piccadilly and Shaftesbury must be on a level pegging!
If anyone is interested in a taster of these infamous musicals - the 'Lost West End' album series features tracks from many of the shows mentioned in this thread like 'Bernadette', 'Leonardo', 'Which Witch' and 'Mutiny!'.
The new volume is out tomorrow with songs from 'Murderous Instincts' (did anyone see this during its 12 performance run at the Savoy?!), 'Money To Burn' which only managed 3 performances at the Leicester Square Theatre, the 1988 Winston Churchill musical 'Winnie' (Victoria Palace) and 'Drake's Dream' the 1977 Shaftebsury Theatre flop musical about Sir Francis Drake.
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Post by viserys on Jul 28, 2016 7:26:27 GMT
I missed most (all) those flops of the 90s as I was still young and poor and couldn't travel to London as often as I do now and as I was young and foolish I also made the mistake to rather return to something "safe" I had seen before instead of giving something new a chance.
I would love to see more of those shows revived - especially Mutiny! since I adore everything to do with the Age of Sail (Hornblower - the Musical anyone?) and made it as far as Tahiti a few years ago to take a look around. I envy you for having seen it! I have an old vinyl album of Mutiny! with a black and gold cover, which I think was an early studio recording? Got the regular cast recording (blue cover with the two leads in all their 80s hairstyle glory) only much much later when it was re-released on CD.
I'd also love to see Metropolis revived as the movie - especially for a movie its age - is still a great and relevant piece.
There was a DVD (or VHS back then!) of Which Witch available back then which I had a copy of. While I'm not sure how bad it may have been live on stage, I thought the show wasn't even that bad as many made it out to be. Although I'm not sure how I'd judge it now.
Ah well, maybe 20 years from now a new generation of forum members may be talking in this way about the recent string of flops like Beckham, Dagenham, Henderson, Stephen Ward and so on...
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Post by mrbarnaby on Jul 28, 2016 8:20:17 GMT
I miss the days when flop musicals were jaw droppingly bad.. Like The man in the iron mask, Far Pavilions, Fields of Ambrosia etc. These days, bad musicals are just boring and depressing. At least back in the day you could laugh in disbelief at what you were watching
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Post by mrbarnaby on Jul 28, 2016 8:21:38 GMT
I saw murderous instincts.. It was baaadddd!! Some other forgotten musicals at the Piccadilly include 'Robin Prince of Sherwood' (1993), 'I' and the subsequent 'Y' (1983) and 'La Cava' which moved to the Piccadilly from the Victoria Palace. Would be interesting to see which theatre comes out tops in playing host to London's flops, surely the Piccadilly and Shaftesbury must be on a level pegging! If anyone is interested in a taster of these infamous musicals - the 'Lost West End' album series features tracks from many of the shows mentioned in this thread like 'Bernadette', 'Leonardo', 'Which Witch' and 'Mutiny!'. The new volume is out tomorrow with songs from 'Murderous Instincts' (did anyone see this during its 12 performance run at the Savoy?!), 'Money To Burn' which only managed 3 performances at the Leicester Square Theatre, the 1988 Winston Churchill musical 'Winnie' (Victoria Palace) and 'Drake's Dream' the 1977 Shaftebsury Theatre flop musical about Sir Francis Drake. |
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Post by stagedoorrecords on Jul 28, 2016 8:57:02 GMT
Haha! Did you really not enjoy 'The Far Pavilions'? I always thought it was one of those musicals that deserved to be far better received than it was. The same applies for 'Napoleon' and 'Lautrec', both really epic and beautifully designed shows.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 28, 2016 9:06:30 GMT
Here's a bit from it
You can see the whole of act 1 but it ain't the London production
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Post by Peter on Jul 30, 2016 11:59:57 GMT
Here's a bit from it You can see the whole of act 1 but it ain't the London production You mean this show got mounted twice?! Not sure what the rights situation is with Metropolis and it may or not be considered to be tainted by the composer's legal proceedings a few years back... Didn't the Piccadilly have to be reinforced because of the sheer weight of the set? |
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