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Post by orchestrator on Nov 27, 2018 14:22:26 GMT
Is G major higher or lower than D major? Higher or lower than C major? One of those rare and amazing moments where the username definitely doesn’t match the comment! In answer to your question, I believe octaves are really important when thinking about this as, for example, you might have G major after F major when you are talking about the same octave (so G major is higher) but then you could have F major an octave higher and G major an octave lower, leaving F major almost two octaves higher than the G major. So I think it depends on what octave you are talking about too. Which was my point. Here’s a bit of fun. Yes, both sonically and graphically it’s rather “in your face”:
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Post by orchestrator on Nov 26, 2018 21:42:22 GMT
Yeah, but she's singing at a higher pitch than any male Bobby therefore it's a higher not a lower key. It's all relative. Pitch and key are not equivalent. Is G major higher or lower than D major? Higher or lower than C major?
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Post by orchestrator on Oct 14, 2018 14:49:02 GMT
I love that Serial Shusher posted the video of the rather noisy lift!
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Company
Oct 13, 2018 20:33:26 GMT
sf likes this
Post by orchestrator on Oct 13, 2018 20:33:26 GMT
Bobbie fades into the background for me and I just didn't care about her at all. To be fair, to a greater or lesser extent that has been a problem with every single iteration of this particular show since the beginning (the single exception from the various productions I've seen: Daniel Evans in a revival at the Crucible a few years ago, but that was a much darker interpretation of the show and the role than this one is. Evans's Bobby was more or less on the verge of a breakdown, and the thought of being alone with his own thoughts almost gave him a panic attack). Certainly it was a recurring complaint in the reviews for the original Broadway production. Bobby - or Bobbie - is less colourfully drawn than the characters in the various vignettes; he/she has two or three great songs ('Marry Me a Little', originally written for the 'Being Alive' slot, was shoehorned into the end of the first act in a script revision in the mid-1990s and doesn't sit very well there, although I thought Rosalie Craig made more sense of it than Adrian Lester did; Evans is the only person I've seen make it work completely), but the funniest, most memorable material goes to the various supporting characters, and nearly all of it is a knockout in this production. Craig was perfectly good, I thought, and it worked for her, and she sang very well indeed - but the role was conceived as the show's normative core, and the supporting characters are almost all comic caricatures because the show began as a series of sketches about married couples and George Furth invented Bobby as a device to link the sketches together. These days 'Happily Ever After', the song 'Being Alive' replaced - and which replaced 'Marry Me a Little' when the show was being written - might be less off-putting than it was in 1970. It's certainly a stronger, angrier statement than 'Being Alive'; there's more room for interpretation in it, though, and you with different acting choices it could be taken as either pro-marriage or very, very anti, and they wanted a more affirmative ending. In 1970, 'Being Alive' was probably the correct choice - or at least, the correct choice for a commercial production on Broadway (it was never a sold-out Big Hit but it ran twenty months or so and turned a small profit); now, maybe, you could get away with a song with more of an edge to it, although maybe 'Happily Ever After' is still a step too far: All good points, sf. Marry Me A Little is a great song and I love it. But not in Company. Sondheim started writing it for the show but stopped mid-song as he realised that there would be no show if Bobby was capable of such a mature understanding of marriage. That he changed his mind in the mid-'90s says more about Sam Mendes than it does about Bobby. Happily Ever After was sacked by the Producers and/or Hal Prince, I think. It is really dark, but fits really well with (my preferred dark interpretation of) Sorry/Grateful, Getting Married Today, Ladies Who Lunch. They’re all one big scream of existential angst.
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Post by orchestrator on Oct 5, 2018 20:52:08 GMT
Can you quote some examples of what Brexit voters are routinely called on this forum? I guess to be “routine” it would have to be once a day or once a week for some quite extensive period of time.
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Post by orchestrator on Oct 5, 2018 17:53:55 GMT
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Post by orchestrator on Aug 31, 2018 21:49:37 GMT
Oh I see you are trying to be clever, by trying to belittle me and suggest I went on Google, by your link.
That is 100% ingenious and wish I thought of using Google, my life may have just been a bit more fulfilled. I can see that university education was absolutely well spent and imagine you went to one of the sh*tty ones.
As replies go, I’d put that in the top 76%. You certainly sound fulfilled, even if your tenses are a little confused. Andy Nyman is a great actor, having trained at GSMD and acted in a lot of movies.
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Post by orchestrator on Aug 21, 2018 21:19:43 GMT
But it wouldn't be as nice as a summer in Ohio With a gay midget named Karl, playing Tevye and Porgy.
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Post by orchestrator on Jun 17, 2018 19:45:29 GMT
And who can forget Grantham’s West End appearance in Rick’s Bar?
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Post by orchestrator on Jan 5, 2018 13:52:39 GMT
It wouldn't do Cam Mac any harm to start a charitable foundation of his own (does he have one anyway?) and use it for Ham-Education events. But it is a fab piece for teaching- genuinely fresh, new and dare I say 'down with the kids' compared to a lot of the 'educational' options theatre offers. I’d completely understand if it was not possible but a UK charitable foundation for Hamilton Education co-promoted by Cameron and Prince William or Harry (heirs to George III) would be amazing!
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Post by orchestrator on Dec 1, 2017 16:41:32 GMT
So an additional 40 seats @ £90 less VAT and overheads per show? Let’s say £2600 per night. So if you’re sitting in the stalls and your knees are uncomfortably positioned against the back of the seat in front you can console yourself with the thought that your squashed knees are making CamMac an extra £20000 per week.
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Post by orchestrator on Sept 27, 2017 20:11:22 GMT
Before I click the link, is it the story of Miss Pracatan? No, although that would be a great show! It’s the story of Margaret Thatcher from pre-conception to Prime Minister in about 10 short songs, all fond tributes to ideas from famous musicals. At least 10 performers give their interpretation of the great leader.
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Post by orchestrator on Sept 25, 2017 8:33:55 GMT
Thought this curiosity from 30 years ago might be of interest.
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Post by orchestrator on Sept 9, 2017 14:27:52 GMT
What has been said about “buttons” above is correct. The audience need only a very delicate short bass note from the double bass or piano to know that that is a cue to applaud. Directors like to mess around with buttons; taking them out where the composer clearly wrote them and, more rarely, putting them in. No one would dream of applauding a song in the cinema so movies tend to rush on to the next camera angle. Theatre directors often get confused and think they’re directing a movie, hence the confusion!
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Post by orchestrator on Sept 5, 2017 16:24:10 GMT
Or maybe it was the way too many same-y songs. OK, I’ll bite. Which other Follies song sounds like (WOFSSL) One More Kiss? WOFSSL Buddy’s Blues WOFSSL Beautiful Girls WOFSSL Broadway Baby [I’m on a roll now] WOFSSL Lucy And Jessie [OK maybe this sounds a little like Who’s That Woman? (Mirror, Mirror)] WOFSSL In Buddy’s Eyes WOFSSL Ah Paree! There’s more. If you mean they sound “samey” because they all use Western scales and harmony and are for the most part in standard time signatures then, yep, you’ve got Sondheim banged to rights.
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Post by orchestrator on Aug 31, 2017 20:26:09 GMT
This may be the UK professional premier - but it's simply not true to say that it's "never before seen in the UK" - the Royal Academy of Music musical theatre course did it as one of their end of year shows in 2014 (with choreography by Drew McOnie) and there may have been amateur productions around the UK. It was done at RADA about 10 years ago.
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Post by orchestrator on Aug 28, 2017 19:25:13 GMT
Can't see it transferring to the west end as Sondheim is a bit of a niche market and would struggle to fill a theatre long enough to turn a profit. I would think that most people who want to see it will do so during its NT run. Sweeney Todd which is by far the most well known Sondheim struggled towards the end at the Adelphi even with dame Staunton and Ball. Merrily and Night Music were the same even though Merrily had more 5 star reviews than any other musical at the time. Merrily had a band of 9, I think, and ALNM even fewer. Follies couldn’t transfer to the West End with a smaller band than it has now which is c.20.
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Post by orchestrator on Aug 24, 2017 21:27:38 GMT
Yep, he's stated this a number of times. ("Then someone's mother, then you're camp. Then you career from career to career to career." Christina ("someone" lol)... Dunaway (absolutely)... Actress... Pepsi Cola...) Too many careers :-)
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Post by orchestrator on Aug 24, 2017 14:26:40 GMT
The use of minor characters as 'turns' is something that people will struggle with if they don't know how the golden age revues were constructed - on, song, off - which Sondheim parodies (alongside the way that styles would vary remarkably, one minute operetta, next minute brash jazz age belting). All you need to know about them is in that song. Well said! The switching of styles reminds me of Kurt Weill. I was thinking about how Sondheim must have seen at least some of the Kurt Weill Broadway shows first time round and was wondering how much of an influence they were.
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Post by orchestrator on Aug 24, 2017 9:56:28 GMT
Many of theatre dedicates are obsessed with SS (including myself), but there's a reason he's only had modest commercial success as compared with his prolific critical success. I don’t know if it’s possible to measure critical success objectively and certainly ALW and Boubil and Schoenberg have had greater commercial success but I would guess that SS’s commercial success puts him in the top 5 of living Musical Theatre writers.
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Post by orchestrator on Aug 22, 2017 16:26:14 GMT
That Michael Bennett lost the argument over an interval speaks volumes! That Theatre Owner and Producer Cameron Mackintosh (I imagine) won in 1987 doesn’t surprise me—with the possible exception of Ah But Underneath the changes made for London are all for the worse, and I can only imagine that CM was the instigator of them all.
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Post by orchestrator on Aug 21, 2017 22:56:01 GMT
Not wanting to clang but I was vaguely connected with a private event involving the royal family a few years ago and it was established that no royal ever needs the loo. Seriously. A full 3-course dinner followed by a 70-minute cabaret isn’t a problem for any of them.
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Post by orchestrator on Jul 25, 2017 20:34:30 GMT
Only in a game of scrabble, dear... You may scoff but Quodlibet was absolutely the word being used (not by me) on the precursor to this forum when The Producers was new.
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Post by orchestrator on Jul 18, 2017 19:14:57 GMT
I think my absolute favorite is "Kiss Me/Ladies in Their Sensitivities" from Sweeney Todd. It's rapturous, suspenseful, and features one of the cleverest uses of counterpoint I can think of: Johanna: Even as it does not matter that I still don't know your name... Anthony: Anthony! Judge: Todd... Beadle: Todd. Johanna: Anthony... Judge: Todd, eh?Is anyone else bothered at all by the story of the Beadle and the Judge at the start of the Quartet? The Beadle has persuaded the Judge to go to this fancy new barber in town very carefully not saying his name, the judge ends the dialogue with “Take me to him” and off they go (despite the trip making the Beadle late for his daughter’s birthday). Anthony and Johanna resume their naive barely-listening dialogue and then the Beadle kicks off the counterpoint duet with “The name is Tooooooooooooooood”. And as soon as he starts “Todd” the Judge joins in with “Todd” even though the Beadle hasn’t finished the name. I know. I should get out more.
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Post by orchestrator on Jul 17, 2017 20:54:10 GMT
When Adelaide and Sarah meet before Marry The Man Today they sing a delicious counterpoint of Adelaide’s Lament and I’ve Never Been In Love Before.
Now/Later/Soon from A Little Night Music.
The Five Admirals from Pacific Overtures.
Rain On The Roof/Ah Paris/Broadway Baby kind of get mashed together in Follies.
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Post by orchestrator on Jul 12, 2017 23:31:07 GMT
How about some product placement for cash like they have on the TV? Suggestions? 🎶 You're gonna love To-ble-rone 🎶 Hats off, here they come those: Uber-filled girls.
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Post by orchestrator on Jul 3, 2017 21:18:52 GMT
To be honest, old Stevie's best work is how he's managed to string out a load of shows like the list above from just one tune. Oh I jest of course Sondfans. To be fair to him, it's two tunes. Sort these into your two tunes by typing A or B before each title, there’s a good chap, Ryan. Hey, Old Friend — same same same up down down same same Sunday — up down up down up up down down down down up Children & Art — up down up down up up down up Pretty Lady — same same down down down up same same up up up down Last Midnight — up down down down down up down down (too much sherry, maybe that last down is an up) Everybody Has The Right — up up up down up up up down up up Green Finch — down down down down up down down up down down down up same same up Broadway Baby — up down down up up up down down up down up same same I Remember — same up up down down same up up down Comedy Tonight — up down up up down up down down down Send In The Clowns — up up same down up up same up up down up up same same same up down up Everybody Says Don’t — same same same same up down same same same same up Cheers x
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Post by orchestrator on Jul 1, 2017 11:11:58 GMT
Interesting diversion from real life :-)
I voted for Assassins because it is such an audacious political subject and is musically and lyrically so strong; also the book contains moments of genius. My second choice would be SITPWG because it moves me (as a whole piece, not just act 1). Third place for Follies. Can’t believe that means I’m relegating Sweeney, ALNM, ITW, Merrily, WSS and Gypsy to “also-rans”. If there were any doubts about Sondheim’s place in the Pantheon (the best!) a quick read through this list should dispel them.
No votes yet for Passion.
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Post by orchestrator on May 31, 2017 23:30:35 GMT
Plenty of non-singing parts in musicals, just as there are in opera/operetta. Considering the ad actually says what role it is for I'm pretty confident it's a singing role. Unless the director is going in a different direction for this production. I know that and you know that but people that don’t know the show might not. Saves awkward misunderstandings later, so what’s the problem?
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Post by orchestrator on May 31, 2017 14:22:44 GMT
The National has put out an open call to find someone to play Young Stella. Looks like 8th January will be the final performance. Love the bit that says "must be able to sing. " No s**t!! It's a musical! Plenty of non-singing parts in musicals, just as there are in opera/operetta.
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