Topic: AZOOLAPALLOL (Read 24646 times)

François de Paris · « **Reply #150 on:** October 22, 2004, 06:59:21 PM »

Quote from: Charles Pogue on October 22, 2004, 06:05:05 PM

Another problem I had with B & B onstage. Disney was just not willing to dispense with things that made no sense anymore. It's one thing to have someone turned into a tea-cup, that is actually the size of a tea-cup or a candelbra the size of one. But when you got a tea-cup the size of bathtub onstage it just looks stupid and makes no sense. At least LION KING (which I've resisted seeing, despite what looks like spectacular and imaginative scenic and costume design) doesn't seem to insist on keeping everything looking like the cartoon. It adapts to the demands of the media it's in.

I think it would have been a better show to have musicalized Couteau's Beauty & the Beast. But it's just the whole trend...Aren't they now thinking of adapting the TARZAN cartoon to the stage? When will it all end? How about producing an original musical by new young composers that was actually written for the stage instead just adapting the franchise library.

Suspension of belief, Mr Pogue!

That's what the theater (and movies) is all about!

That trend won't end because it's all about money and those shows bring buckets of dough!

You gave the answer in some previous post!
Bankers rule the world!

François de Paris · « **Reply #151 on:** October 22, 2004, 07:00:27 PM »

We're In The Money!
Dance!

Is that 42nd Street yet?
Shut up and DANCE!
New page!

François de Paris · « **Reply #152 on:** October 22, 2004, 07:05:28 PM »

Quote from: George on October 22, 2004, 06:11:46 PM

Disney's also working on a stage adaptation of "The Little Mermaid."That's the idea! They have a built in audience. They do it that way so that neither the audience nor creators have to think of something original.

Well, it's more than that!
With those stories, they are in conquered territory and know they'll have an audience and that they won't lose money! Etc, etc, etc.....

I guess Aïda was trying to be some "new" work!

TCB · « **Reply #153 on:** October 22, 2004, 07:22:48 PM »

Michael Shayne -- Great to see you back. I hope you are feeling better.

td · « **Reply #154 on:** October 22, 2004, 07:26:23 PM »

Michael Shayne! how're you feeling? Tell all. . .

Jenny · « **Reply #155 on:** October 22, 2004, 07:38:45 PM »

I don't recall whether I've already discussed my feelings about the Disney musicals on here, so I'll try to be brief just in case I have.

The first Broadway musical I ever saw was "Beauty And The Beast" when I was five or six years old, and I hated it. A few months later, I saw the revival of "Show Boat" which gave birth to my lifelong love of musical theatre. Out of all my friends whose first musicals had a significant effect on their lives (and who saw these productions as very young children), very few say that one of the Disney shows caused them to fall for musical theatre. Most were introduced to musical theatre by "Show Boat", "Les Miserables", "Once Upon a Mattress", and other musicals that were not written to entertain an elementary school audience.

I have not revisited "Beauty and the Beast" since that initial experience so I can't really judge the stage production, but "Beauty and the Beast" was (and still is) my favorite Disney movie, but the stage production didn't even entertain my six year old self.

"The Lion King", while problematic at points, is actually a very exciting evening of theatre. While, quite honestly, most of it is terrible, the few good moments are so beautiful that, for me at least, they overpower the dreck. "The Circle of Life" is both visually stunning and vocally exciting (though probably entirely prerecorded), as are much of the cross overs, transitions, and dance numbers written for the stage incarnation. The music written in Zulu by other composers besides Elton John (I can't find their names anywhere, unfortunately), though rarely heard, is incredibly exciting. Also, Taymor's direction is incredibly exciting visually even though she tends to hire entirely incompetent actors with no sense of how to work with masks or portray animals. Elton John's new songs are terrible and many of the pop style songs from the movie don't jive with the general feel of the Broadway production. I recognize that most of my comments are negative, but seeing "The Lion King" is truly a positive, and exciting, and enlightening experience just for those few beautiful moments.

Jenny · « **Reply #156 on:** October 22, 2004, 07:39:29 PM »

Quote from: Jenny on October 22, 2004, 07:38:45 PM

I don't recall whether I've already discussed my feelings about the Disney musicals on here, so I'll try to be brief just in case I have.

I guess I failed in my endeavor to keep it short... $:-\$

bk · « **Reply #157 on:** October 22, 2004, 07:41:05 PM »

The latest Hollywood cannibalization will be The Bad News Bears. That needs a remake like I need a high colonic.

DearReaderLaura · « **Reply #158 on:** October 22, 2004, 07:43:29 PM »

I am back from the funeral.

Re kids at the theater: DR Sandra saw a professional tour of Sound of Music at age 4. She saw Phantom of the Opera in LA at the age of 6. Recently I have been taking my friend's 9-year-old son -- he has seen Music Man, Forever Plaid, Joseph ...Dreamcoat. We'll see Guys and Dolls in the spring.

Welcome to DR SanJoseGirl!!

And continued good vibes to Michael Shayne ~~~~~

elmore3003 · « **Reply #159 on:** October 22, 2004, 07:46:33 PM »

Quote from: TCB on October 22, 2004, 06:30:12 PM

I guess I am in the minority (so what else is new?), but I still say that any show that gets children to see Broadway theater or any live theater is a plus, not a minus. I agree that when I was a teenager, the shows I would have wanted to see would not have been cartoons, but real musical theater. However, with ticket prices topping out at over $100.00, I doubt very many children have a say in if they see a Broadway show, let alone what the show might be.

DRTCB, I'd fight you on a lot of this if I didn't care for you so much. I want children to go to theatre, I want them to perform theatre, but I'm still appalled that a parent would bring a child to New York and take them to a children's musical, especially a second-rate one, at exorbitant ticket prices. Take them to something smart, witty, intellectual, frivolous, but don't lower your taste and standards to see a good cartoon turned into a second-rate musical.

Also, pace Dear Friend, but I loved RENT and expected to hate it. I think it's a n interesting adaptation of LA BOHEME that works in almost every way that Disney's AIDA did not. And much as I love La Boheme, there are sections of Larsen's score that move me to tears as much as Puccini's.

elmore3003 · « **Reply #160 on:** October 22, 2004, 07:54:25 PM »

And I wanted to mention I just finished the 6th hour of the A&E/BBC dramatization of VANITY FAIR, which caught the scope of Thackeray's epic novel quite nicely with some truly grotesque and comic characters as well as some really slimy evil ones (the Marquis of Steyne is scary, really scary). Interesting cast, not so glamorously attractive as the cast of the new "modern woman" Becky Sharp/Reese Witherspoon adaptation, but they seem right for folk of 1811-1820 or so. I enjoyed it immensely, though it won't pull me back regularly the way the same production team's PRIDE AND PREJUDICE with Jennifer Ehle and Colin Firth does. The Becky Sharp here is quite the demented, angry poor girl clawing and lying her way up the ladder as her rich friend Amelia's fortunes descend. One reservation: the score stinks.

Jennifer · « **Reply #161 on:** October 22, 2004, 08:00:24 PM »

Quote from: JRand54 on October 22, 2004, 05:51:28 PM

And I liked AIDA, too, but there you are. The choreography was horrible, but the performers were good and of course the story has always been a stunner!

Now I actually like Disney on Broadway and really enjoyed both BATB and The Lion King. But I almost died laughing at Aida. The choreography at a few points was so odd that my sister and I could barely stop from bursting out with laughter.

Btw, I get what DRs Elmore and Charles Pogue are saying. But I like all types of theatre. I love shows like Mamma Mia, and can accept them for what they are.

I think it's fine to take kids to see Oliver, or Peter Pan or Sound of Music. But I also look forward to having Mary Poppins and Chitty. And Shrek.

Michael · « **Reply #162 on:** October 22, 2004, 08:02:28 PM »

Almost caught up with all the postings.

Magazine Subscribed: Entertainment Weekly, Instict.

Miss: Show Music (Have Volume 1 Number 1 onwards when it was just a newsletter) & Theater Week/In Theater

Recently stopped subscribing to Sondheim Quarterly. I think they have exhusted all they can write about SS and his shows.

Les Uns and Les Autres great film! It played continously in Montreal for almost five years except for 2 weeks in the summer when the cinema was taken over for the film festival.

Belated birthday wishes and anniversary wishes to all those that I missed.

Best vibes to all that need them.

elmore3003 · « **Reply #163 on:** October 22, 2004, 08:06:43 PM »

DRMichaelShayne, it's good to see you here. GOOD VIBES TO YOU!!!!

TCB · « **Reply #164 on:** October 22, 2004, 08:09:31 PM »

Quote from: elmore3003 on October 22, 2004, 07:46:33 PM

DRTCB, I'd fight you on a lot of this if I didn't care for you so much. I want children to go to theatre, I want them to perform theatre, but I'm still appalled that a parent would bring a child to New York and take them to a children's musical, especially a second-rate one, at exorbitant ticket prices. Take them to something smart, witty, intellectual, frivolous, but don't lower your taste and standards to see a good cartoon turned into a second-rate musical.

Also, pace Dear Friend, but I loved RENT and expected to hate it. I think it's a n interesting adaptation of LA BOHEME that works in almost every way that Disney's AIDA did not. And much as I love La Boheme, there are sections of Larsen's score that move me to tears as much as Puccini's.

The only thing about RENT that brought me to tears was the fact that I had spent over $100.00 (before the top prices averaged that) to sit in the third row of a theater to watch a show that I thought was worse than horrible.

I will take BEAUTY AND THE BEAST over RENT any day. But, that's what makes horse racing!

Michael · « **Reply #165 on:** October 22, 2004, 08:13:15 PM »

Well updating me:

I am still in a lot of pain. The doctors could not find anything with all the alphabests. MRI, CATSCAN, LP, X-RAYS, and other tests done while I was on morphine and don't even remember.

The neurologist told me to take excederin tension headache pills and not the ones the hospital gave me as they have barbituates in them. Also suggested take prozac which is good for pain as well as it seems for depression.

Since none of this seems to really help I have decided to take the alternative route and trying chiropratic medicine. We'll see how that works,

bk · « **Reply #166 on:** October 22, 2004, 08:17:32 PM »

Michael, I hope you saw the Writer's Block review - and that when you're up to it you'll create a new little section on bk.com

Michael · « **Reply #167 on:** October 22, 2004, 08:21:47 PM »

Quote from: bk on October 22, 2004, 08:17:32 PM

Michael, I hope you saw the Writer's Block review - and that when you're up to it you'll create a new little section on bk.com

I plan to take it easy this weekend. So I just might do it. I did start to read Richard valley's review, but as with Matt Hough it felt I was gettint too much info so I didn;t read the whole thing.

But can you please tell me again what day it was on so I can access it quickly?

Michael · « **Reply #168 on:** October 22, 2004, 08:24:34 PM »

Some catch up questions.

Why is the standard framing of a film (like seven brides for seven brothers called "flat" Widescreen doesn;t bulge out so it is flat as well.

Les Uns et Les Autre also has either a five hour version or six hour version (don't remember which) which was edited as one hour episodes as a mini series. I remember seeing that on tv in Montreal.

Has anyone in the LA area see JASON GRAAE in Grand Hotel?

Michael · « **Reply #169 on:** October 22, 2004, 08:26:14 PM »

RE: Disney stage adaptations: The German stage version of Hunchback has Quasimodo and Esmerelda dieing at the end as they do in the book and I believe all the other film versions

Michael · « **Reply #170 on:** October 22, 2004, 08:30:13 PM »

I got the DVD of the PBS Broadway series. A lot of great bonuses especially a fifteen minute sequence of the creation of Someone In a Tree. (A brief bit is shown on tv and credited as rehersal footage which it wasn't) It was also nice to see a brief clip of Japanese TV video of Pacific Overtures.

They also showed the segments of the two songs from A Chorus Line that were done on the Tony Award shows. So there is hope that they will be show in there entirity in Volume Three of Broadway's Lost Treasures???

Michael · « **Reply #171 on:** October 22, 2004, 08:31:47 PM »

Well time to go to bed. I guess more postings for me tomorrow.

Panni · « **Reply #172 on:** October 22, 2004, 08:33:04 PM »

I've been out most of the day. Will catch up on the posts in a minute. First want to post pics of my new home environment (moving in Nov.).
The living room...

Panni · « **Reply #173 on:** October 22, 2004, 08:35:17 PM »

Kitchen looking into eat-in area...

Michael · « **Reply #174 on:** October 22, 2004, 08:35:19 PM »

One more bit of blind gossip that I have read elsewhere.

Could it be that the onstage double of that closeted (and tweezed) actor has a double life of his own? So say numerous sources who have “procured” this man’s services by the hour, night, or weekend. He’s far more interested in Steve than Eve (regardless of what he tells you), and despite his proclaimed versatility, if you give him a task, he’ll happily get to the bottom of it. He’s handsome enough, but it’s his physique that’s particularly impressive – hardly earned by sweatin’ to the oldies.

Panni · « **Reply #175 on:** October 22, 2004, 08:36:59 PM »

The lovely street...

Panni · « **Reply #176 on:** October 22, 2004, 08:39:30 PM »

Handy-dandy built-in shelf in LR for my robots and other treasures...

Matt H. · « **Reply #177 on:** October 22, 2004, 08:39:52 PM »

To be honest, I found BEAUTY AND THE BEAST much more palatable on stage than I did THE LION KING which I found horrifyingly extended from a 90 minute cartoon to a three hour extravaganza. Those elaborate creature depictions are fascinating for the first 10 minutes, but then you've got the rest o0f the show to endure.

BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, for me, has an interesting score and a magic that I think would thrill kids unacquainted with theater. I loved it.

Matt H. · « **Reply #178 on:** October 22, 2004, 08:43:58 PM »

I have never understood the wild popularity of SHREK. They're pleasant diversions, but for me hardly more than that.

Panni · « **Reply #179 on:** October 22, 2004, 08:44:14 PM »

Last one... Little built in "vanity area" in the master bedroom. I can now spend hours staring at my beauteous self in the mirror...

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Author Topic: AZOOLAPALLOL (Read 24646 times)

François de Paris

François de Paris

François de Paris