Musicals

[Bogey]

How about Fiddler on the Roof. Isaac Stern at the violin, Topal as Tevye, and I think John Williams did the musical adaption with some great voices and choral work. Excellent cinematography and  directing by Norman Jewison.

I thought it was Jerry Goldsmith?

I know John Williams won an Oscar for his 1971 Adaptation of a Score for Fiddler on the Roof, however, I did not know Goldsmith had a hand in this music.

[Bogey]

How about Fiddler on the Roof. Isaac Stern at the violin, Topal as Tevye, and I think John Williams did the musical adaption with some great voices and choral work. Excellent cinematography and  directing by Norman Jewison.

I thought it was Jerry Goldsmith?

I know John Williams won an Oscar for his 1971 Adaptation of a Score for Fiddler on the Roof, however, I did not know Goldsmith had a hand in this music.

[knight66]

A number of musicals seem to me to have suffered because they are bloated in their film versions. The King and I....I am not sure I have ever managed to get right through it in one sitting, I recall coming out of a revere at the end of a ballet sequence and wondering whether it was daylight outside. Fiddler on the Roof becomes interminable. Camelot, such great music and again tedious. My Fair Lady, just plain boring. South Pacific, snail pace at points, but as with the others, the music itself comes off well. I miss the snap of the stage versions. Opening these ones out for film meant adding significant bum-numming time and the performances by the leads often feel ponderous.

There are lots that do not get bogged down, West Side Story being one of them.

Mike

[SonicMan46]

A number of musicals seem to me to have suffered because they are bloated in their film versions.

Agree w/ Mike on the point above - I love Rodgers & Hammerstein music, but the only 'film' version of their musicals that I own is the Sound of Music (mainly because I like Julie!  ) - just do not like the overdone productions of the others; OTOH, after renting from Netflix (and then buying), we've enjoyed the two productions below of Oklahoma (w/ Hugh Jackman; a London full stage production) & South Pacific (done at Carnegie Hall; not a full production) - 

CLICK on the images for comments from the Amazonians (overall ratings 4+*/5* w/ a few detractors)!

 

[Bogey]

Taking the kiddos this afternoon to see this show before its starts its run on Broadway.  Should be fun. 


For opera fans, here is a little about the venue:
http://www.eventticketscenter.com/Event.aspx?EventID=4312&gclid=CObO_t_BtI4CFREDWAodi2dZww

[bhodges]

For opera fans, here is a little about the venue:
http://www.eventticketscenter.com/Event.aspx?EventID=4312&gclid=CObO_t_BtI4CFREDWAodi2dZww

That's a cool-looking photo of the Caulkins interior! 

--Bruce

[jochanaan]

I know John Williams won an Oscar for his 1971 Adaptation of a Score for Fiddler on the Roof, however, I did not know Goldsmith had a hand in this music.

I was wrong.  The Internet Movie Database lists Jerry Brock as the composer and Alexander Courage (he of the original Star Trek theme) as one of the orchestrators.  John Williams was the conductor, music adapter, and the other orchestrator.

Off-topic comment: I think John Williams is underrated as a conductor.  I have fond memories of his time at the Boston Pops, and several years ago I caught a Fourth of July broadcast from Washington in which he directed his own Olympic Fanfare, and another conductor directed a John Williams suite.  The orchestra played rather better for Mr. Williams.

[knight66]

I was wrong.  The Internet Movie Database lists Jerry Brock as the composer and Alexander Courage (he of the original Star Trek theme) as one of the orchestrators.  John Williams was the conductor, music adapter, and the other orchestrator.

That's Jerry Bock, I assumed it was me who had misremembered, so I checked.

Mike

[Lethevich]

Bernstein even to the end of his life was disappointed he didn't write the Great American Opera.

This may be a dumb question, but didn't Americans already consider Porgy and Bess to be that kind of work?

[dtwilbanks]

Anything by Rogers and Hart will do me fine.  Listen to Dawn Upshaw on her Rogers and Hart disc.  It is really terrific stuff.  Real Sunday morning music.

I love Rogers and Hart.

[Hector]

Musicals = Satan. That is all.

At the expense of extending this dire thread further, for once we agree!

[zamyrabyrd]

This may be a dumb question, but didn't Americans already consider Porgy and Bess to be that kind of work?

Nothing is a dumb question (except comments like "dire thread"). Porgy and Bess was considered an opera other than Gershwin himself only after the fact. It had to wait more than 40 years for its acceptance on the opera stage in 1976 in Houston. The Met finally staged it in 1985.

Rumor has it that the shadow of Gershwin was never far from Bernstein, like Beethoven's was for Brahms. But really, each pair of composers had their own special gifts. Too bad Gershwin died so young just at the apex of his career. He may have succeeded in changing the educated public's taste for American home-grown works a little earlier and not have had to wait 50 years for the Met to finally recognize him as a legit composer.

ZB

[brpaulandrew]

"Off-topic comment: I think John Williams is underrated as a conductor.  I have fond memories of his time at the Boston Pops, and several years ago I caught a Fourth of July broadcast from Washington in which he directed his own Olympic Fanfare, and another conductor directed a John Williams suite.  The orchestra played rather better for Mr. Williams.



Williams was Bostom Pops conductor for years. Everyone seemed to like him except the orchestra. The "if we have to play another one of his tunes" faction seemed pretty strong.

However, he does conduct his movie scores. How about Memoirs of a Geisha?

Sorry to be continue to be off-topic here.

Do we have a movie score thread going on here somewhere?

Br. Paul Andrew

[knight66]

Don't worry too much, you could start a thread if you canot find one to revive.

Mike

[Solitary Wanderer]

I used to love musicals and watched dozens of them; all the classics. I had alot of the soundtracks on LP too 'cause I was learning them to perform at the time.

Carousel was one of my faves.

I kept a list of all the movies I saw which I must dig out.

Our local theatre company used to put on excellent productions of these which we enjoyed attending. The last one we went to, a couple of years ago, was Fame and it was pretty dire.

I'm not really interested in musicals these days but can still apreciate their charm.

We had the American production of Porgy & Bess here last year but I decided not to attend thinking it was a musical. Only later did I discover that its an opera and now I wish I'd gone!

[Anne]

I used to love musicals and watched dozens of them; all the classics. I had alot of the soundtracks on LP too 'cause I was learning them to perform at the time.

Carousel was one of my faves.

I kept a list of all the movies I saw which I must dig out.

Our local theatre company used to put on excellent productions of these which we enjoyed attending. The last one we went to, a couple of years ago, was Fame and it was pretty dire.

I'm not really interested in musicals these days but can still apreciate their charm.

We had the American production of Porgy & Bess here last year but I decided not to attend thinking it was a musical. Only later did I discover that its an opera and now I wish I'd gone!

I don't know if it still exists, but there used to be a VHS tape of Porgy and Bess.  I think Willard White sang in it.

[Tsaraslondon]

I don't know if it still exists, but there used to be a VHS tape of Porgy and Bess.  I think Willard White sang in it.

It's a film of the Glyndebourne Production and still seems to be available from Amazon both in the USA and UK.

[zamyrabyrd]

An impressive crossover-- Eileen Farrell in the music of Porgy and Bess' composer:
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=4p40R1TtLJo&feature=related

Anyone going to see Carousel in London the second week of January?
http://www.whatsonstage.com/index.php?pg=206&action=details&show=L210084745&title=Carousel

ZB

[SonicMan46]

Well tomorrow (i.e. Saturday), we'll be doing an overnight to Charlotte (about 90 mins. from Winston-Salem) to see The Drowsy Chaperone at the Blumenthal Performing Arts Center - national troupe so should be well done - received a lot of 2006 Tonys; pre-theater dinner planned @ McCormick & Schmick's Seafood Restaurant - looking forward to some oysters - hmmm! 

 

[Guido]

I usually cannot stand musicals, finding the vast majority to be tacky, schlocky, mawkish and musically worthless. And playing cello in most theatre orchestras is about as depressing as it gets... when they actually write vibrato in your part at certain points (as they do in Les Miserables for instance) you just wonder what kind of monkey is writing this trash.

There are three major exceptions for me - Bernstein's West Side Story and Candide and Weill's Threepenny opera. Are there any that are as musically good as these three masterpieces?