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Post by Deleted on Jan 22, 2017 15:54:31 GMT
Well I'm enjoying this immensely. Great to see some footage of old Broadway and the West End with clips of performers, audiences, marquees and posters of yesteryear with a scattering of names some of us might remember! Loving the interchange between student and star performers delivering the selection of songs. And fascinated to hear such indepth anaysis of some of the music that we've grown to take for granted. Makes a change to have someone intelligent presenting these types of programmes. And he's a bit of a maestro on that piano too!
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Post by johartuk on Jan 22, 2017 16:43:32 GMT
Just caught up with ep 2. I enjoyed that - fascinating stuff.
I can't help thinking that 'A Chorus Line' was the inspiration for today's TV talent shows, with auditionees being encouraged to share their life stories with the voting public.
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Post by anthony40 on Jan 22, 2017 22:28:47 GMT
Yeah, just watched the first episode on the i-player. It's pretty good. Most enjoyable.
It's all set up for Episode 2.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 23, 2017 10:36:54 GMT
Thoroughly enjoying this. It's good to see someone treating serious musical theatre as just that and not as a form of escapism. After realising that MT was a serious art form perhaps that's why jukebox musicals came to be. I like the depth that Neil Brand is going to to explain the subtexts and underlying meanings of the music. It seems immaterial to me as to which songs he disects, it serves to show me that there is a whole world of musical theatre song out there to be re-listened to and analysed. Not that I didn't have an inkling that there was more to this than met the eye when i first stumbled across the likes of Sondheim and Co. Looking forward to the last episode to see how he feels that MT has evolved since then.
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Post by viserys on Jan 23, 2017 12:22:07 GMT
I quite enjoy it, too, though I wish there'd be more episodes to cover more ground. I can't help thinking that musical theatre has moved beyond the three "eras" that are usually covered in this kind of documentary
1) The "Golden Age" when musicals moved from revue-style to proper stories (via Show Boat and Oklahoma as the usually cited milestones),
2) Musicals getting political (West Side Story, Cabaret, Hair, etc.) and
3) the "Blockbuster / Rock Opera era" from JCS and Evita onwards.
Personally I think that era ended in the mid-90s and was replaced by the "jukebox era" of Mamma mia, WWRY. I'd like to see a fourth episode covering the period from the mid-90's (from Rent and Mamma mia onwards) to today (ending on Hamilton as another example how musical theatre keeps redefining itself).
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Post by richey on Jan 27, 2017 22:31:50 GMT
Bit disappointed with the final episode though I can't quite think why. They crammed an awful lot in, and spent a surprisingly long time on Rocky Horror. No mention of the jukebox musicals. Some of it came came across as promotion for current/upcoming shows
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Post by Deleted on Jan 27, 2017 23:40:38 GMT
Anthony Rapp said something and i had to go back and replay it, as i thought he made a mistake.
I never knew Jonathan Larson was hetrosexual!!!
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Post by d'James on Jan 28, 2017 0:10:29 GMT
Forgot there was another programme to do with musicals on at 2330. Will watch it on catch-up. Don't think it was anything as in-depth as this though.
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Post by richey on Jan 28, 2017 8:57:40 GMT
Anthony Rapp said something and i had to go back and replay it, as i thought he made a mistake. I never knew Jonathan Larson was hetrosexual!!! Me too!! |
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Post by freckles on Jan 28, 2017 9:32:27 GMT
Really enjoyed it but needed more; the Ave Q section would have led perfectly into a bit about Mormon, and then Hamilton. Thought Matilda, Once and Chicago were notable "modern" omissions. And Jukebox should have been touched on, especially Mamma Mia.
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Post by theatremadness on Jan 28, 2017 9:43:19 GMT
Forgot there was another programme to do with musicals on at 2330. Will watch it on catch-up. Don't think it was anything as in-depth as this though. Oh I really wouldn't bother with that if you haven't already! I caught the last half hour - it was basically archive live performances one after the other with just on-screen writing informing you of the (very tenuous) link the song had to a musical. For example: Muse doing Feeling Good, Jay Z doing Hard Knock Life, Erasure doing Take A Chance On Me (ABBA....not Little Women) and Gwen Stefani doing If I Was A Rich Girl. |
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Post by BurlyBeaR on Jan 28, 2017 9:48:27 GMT
BOM might not have featured but they didn't half push it in the product placement. In virtually every one of the many shots of the west end their marquee was shown.
Third episode was better but I still got bored with him plonking away on the piano and 'explaining' things to us. Also describing the lyrics of Touch-a-touch me as "pure filth"? I don't think so. It was all very old fogey-ish and smug.
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Post by anthony40 on Jan 28, 2017 10:20:40 GMT
Anthony Rapp said something and i had to go back and replay it, as i thought he made a mistake. I never knew Jonathan Larson was hetrosexual!!! Yep. He was. In fact the storyline in Rent where Maureen left Mark for Joanne is something that actually happened to him. So in real life, he was Mark and is (then) actual girlfriend left him for another woman. |
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Post by viserys on Jan 28, 2017 15:56:29 GMT
Really enjoyed it but needed more; the Ave Q section would have led perfectly into a bit about Mormon, and then Hamilton. Thought Matilda, Once and Chicago were notable "modern" omissions. And Jukebox should have been touched on, especially Mamma Mia. I felt pretty much the same. Actually they could have moved from the 80s blockbusters to Disney and jukebox musicals, then spent a fourth episode with more in-depth exploration of modern pop culture shows like Rent, Avenue Q, Mormon and finally Hamilton. When he commented on "Touch-a-touch-me" as pure filth perhaps he was referring to the time when the RHS came out first and people were still more used to sugary musical theatre classics. These days of course there's nothing people haven't heard on the radio/TV a million times before. |
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Post by kathryn on Jan 28, 2017 21:00:02 GMT
Yes, it needed another episode to bring it up to date. I can understand why musically the jukebox musicals aren't that interesting, but as a format they are significant in the modern development of musical theatre.
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Post by theatre-turtle on Jan 29, 2017 1:19:52 GMT
I loved the whole series. I almost shed a tear during the Show Boat performance as well. What a wonderful score.
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Post by profquatermass on Jan 29, 2017 14:58:43 GMT
It wasn't called the Story of Musicals. It was the Sound of Musicals. If it had been a straightfoward history then jukebox musicals would have had their place. But it was about songs written for musicals so I don't see what Mamma Mia would have added to the themes of the show
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Post by alison on Jan 29, 2017 15:31:55 GMT
It wasn't called the Story of Musicals. It was the Sound of Musicals. If it had been a straightfoward history then jukebox musicals would have had their place. But it was about songs written for musicals so I don't see what Mamma Mia would have added to the themes of the show I don't know, it would have been interesting to have a segment on taking a song that's been written as a standalone pop song and making it "fit" into a musical story. Obviously some shows make more changes than others, and a lot of the songs are just performed as is, but there are some examples out there of clever reworkings. One of my favourites is the use of Cum On Feel the Noize in Rock of Ages - with a few minor lyric changes it becomes a full out musical number that furthers the story. Equally there are examples of songs that have been reworked musically for a more musical theatre feel. A random observation ... for most of the song performances, they've clearly got in people who have played those roles recently. So how did we end up with Siobhan Dillon doing Evita (not that I'm complaining, I like her very much)? |
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Post by mrbarnaby on Jan 29, 2017 16:31:54 GMT
Jeez her rendition was bad. She's never had the greatest voice but I couldn't deal with that performance. Enjoyed second part as much as the first. Thought Ms R's "Clowns" appropriately dishevelled, myself. |
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Post by Deleted on Jan 29, 2017 16:34:05 GMT
Really enjoyed the series but like others I think it could have benefitted from a fourth installment. I personally liked his disection of songs and certainly remember people's reaction to Touch-atouch-atouchme and the whole risquéness of the Rocky Horror lyrics. Of course nowadays with graphic lyrics from Book of Mormon and the like nobody would even flinch at such naivety. Times is 'ard.
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Post by johartuk on Jan 29, 2017 16:40:40 GMT
Just caught up with it. I agree that it could have done with a fourth ep. A good watch, though.
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Post by crabtree on Jan 29, 2017 16:48:20 GMT
yep, I enjoyed this, but of course it could have been a longer series, a decade an episode perhaps. I enjoyed some of the students singing, but I hate to admit I cringed all the way through Ms Ruffelle's Send in the Clowns. Oh ghastly!
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Post by HereForTheatre on Jan 29, 2017 16:53:50 GMT
Yes i can't think why there wasn't a fourth episode. Not necessarily about jukebox musicals because that doesn't fir the programme but there seems something a bit wrong if one the newest musicals they got to was Avenue Q. They didn't even really get to Wicked, other than a few mentions through the show.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 29, 2017 17:07:22 GMT
Why would they mention Wicked in any great detail. It's hardly a ground breaking show.
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Post by theatre-turtle on Jan 29, 2017 17:18:29 GMT
They also failed to mention Bend It Like Beckham. Swings and roundabouts..
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