<p>Okay, we’re sort of hijacking the other thread with our musical theater obsession. So let this be the official thread for musicals discussion/ lyrics.</p>
<p>Anyways, do you guys like Godspell? It was my high school musical last year, and it was an amazing experience…</p>
<p>Does Moulin Rouge count? I didn't get to see all of the Sound of Music. I watched Hello, Dolly and The Producers.</p>
<p>Blah, I am lacking in the Musical savvy, are those things I listed even musicals!?</p>
<p>i heart moulin rouge with sixteen giant hearts!
phantom of the opera (on braodway and the movie) was fantasmic and les miserables was also amazing. </p>
<p>i wish that more people loved musicals so they would be more popular and thus more abundant and i could see one whenever i wanted !</p>
<p>Spikedsoymilk, good effort! Yes! Those are musicals. Well, the old movie version of the Producers is not a musical - though it's wonderful, nonetheless. They are, however, making a new film version, based on the broadway musical. So exciting - especially since Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick are starring!</p>
<p>Oboe, I complete understand your frusturation - and share it wholeheartedly. I have, however, noticed a positive trend. The movie musical is making a comeback! If you look at history, in times of war or turmoil, art seems to thrive. We need it all the more. As I despair at the world around us, I often look to theater for fresh perspective and renewed hope. You CANNOT come out of a musical as depressed about the world around you as you came in - even the sad ones, like Les Mis, where I cry for three hours afterwards. Our world may be crumbling, but it looks like the musical's about to make a big comeback! </p>
<p>And isn't it encouraging that all these people who were just freaking out with stress about colleges can be so excited about discussing musicals? It's a good sign.</p>
<p>I share your your frustration and your hope. Movie musicals are back and are being received by the general public really well. Current Broadway shows tend to be contemporary-themed, so they attract new devotees, but, at the same time, shows like The Produces and Hairspray (in addition to revivals, of course) have something evocative of Classic Broadway. At my school, the play kids are the cool kids. People are realizing that showtunes are really catchy, and that there is nothing better than breaking out into song when your emotions are on overdrive. So all these things seem to point to a bright future for musicals. </p>
<p>And on decisions...
What did Louis say to Clark
When everything looked bleak?
What did Sir Edmund say to Tenzing
As they struggled toward Everest peak?
What did Washington say to his troops
As they crossed the Delaware?
I'm sure you're well aware....</p>
<p>What'd they say?</p>
<p>WE CAN DO IT!!</p>
<p>Did anyone see Avenue Q? I got to a few weeks ago (for free, no less) and it was hilarious. I didn't like it as much as the classic musicals, but it was fresh and funny, and innovative ideas like muppet sex are always good. </p>
<p>I love Show Boat. And West Side (of course), and My Fair Lady, and Sweeney Todd (this might actually be my favorite), and Fiddler. Oliver! is good too. And Brigadoon. So many awesome musicals...</p>
<p>I haven't seen Avenue Q, but I just got the sheet music and "Everyone's a Little Bit Racist" is runnin through my head as we speak. I agree, it's not Show Boat (which I, too, adore) - but it's something different. I wouldn't even put them in the same category. It's like Picasso and Monet - you don't think of them as the same medium at all.</p>
<p>I just sang Can't Help Lovin Dat Man for an audition. And Make Believe and Almost Like Being in Love are two of my very favorite songs. </p>
<p>Do you sing, Rabo? If (G-d willing) we all get in to Brown, we should start a show tunes a cappella group. I also heard that it's not impossible for freshman to get into musicals there, either...</p>
<p>What do you guys know about musical theater at the colleges you applied to? Since it's rarely a major, it's sometimes a little hard to scope out... but it really does depend on the specific group of students that's there. Prospects are looking pretty going for Brown, if she is wise!</p>
<p>I do sing! My sn on the old CC was actually AsianAlto. I would love to do some kind of a cappella, but I doubt I'm good enough to get into one at Brown. I'm in a group right now, but it's not very serious or very good. But who knows. I'll probably at least try to get into some kind of singing/musical thing. I like singing much more than acting, so there's always a downside of musical theatre, unless I'm in the ensemble, which is generally a lot of fun anyway, and less stress than leads.</p>
<p>oooh, a showtunes group! But hell, we don't even need to preform, we could just have a club and talk about shows and sing whenever we feel like it... and OH YOU SAW AVENUE Q AUGH I AM SO JEALOUS and HOW DID YOU GET IN FREE??????????? I kind of want to see it when I go to new york during thanksgiving break this fall (Wicked is already planned!!!) but that's another $100 which i would be willing to spend but I don't think my friend would... </p>
<p>Hmmm, maybe I'm in the minority, but I like newer musicals better than the classics. They really are quite different, so I admire people like Sondheim who can write things like Assassins AND West Side Story AND Sweeney Todd. (Assassins is def. my favorite of the three though :))</p>
<p>one word....RENT</p>
<p>Sondheim - I saw his "puttin it together" on HBo about a year ago and laughed my butt off. Now this is a take off of the musicals... but it still has to do with music. I saw this opera in nyc the other week and laughed so hard! It was incredible. I'm sure there are plenty of you who have read Voltaire's "Candide" and well, this was "Candide," the opera. Lenny Bernstein wrote the score for it in the 50s, I believe, and I had such a great time watching it. I live in pretty close proximity to the city, and would LOVE to catch a show every weekend but gosh.... it sure does empty out your pockets quickly. So far I've seen one show (wonderful Town) and one opera (Candide)..... I've gotta start seeing more!!! Lol here's some interesting lyrics from one of the songs (this song was not in nyc version). </p>
<p>OH OH!! I'll make this a game!!! WHAT is Pangloss suffering from/talking about in this song???</p>
<p>PANGLOSS
Oh my darling Paquette,
She is haunting me yet
With a dear souvenir
I shall never forget.
'Twas a gift that she got
From a seafaring Scot,
He received he believed in Shalott!
In Shalott from his dame
Who was certain it came
With a kiss from a Swiss
(She'd forgotten his name),
But he told her that he
Had been given it free
By a sweet little cheat in Paree.
Then a man from Japan,
Then a Moor from Iran,
Though the Moor isn't sure
How the whole thing began;
But the gift we can see
Had a long pedigree
When at last it was passed on to me!
Well, the Moor in the end
Spent a night with a friend
And the dear souvenir
Just continued the trend
To a young English lord
Who was stung, they record,
By a wasp in a hospital ward!
Well, the wasp on the wing
Had occasion to sting
A Milano soprano
Who brought home the thing
To her young paramour,
Who was rendered impure,
And forsook her to look for the cure.
Thus he happened to pass
Through Westphalia, alas,
Where he met with Paquette,
And she drank from his glass.
I was pleased as could be
When it came back to me;
Makes us all just a small family!</p>
<p>LOL, that song made my day. I was like, "is he allowed to sing about that??"</p>
<p>Fiddler is my all-time favorite musical, and holds the distinction of being the only one my boyfriend can stomach.</p>
<p>Also a fan of the completely awful Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. I love lumberjacks doing ballet.</p>
<p>Ha, when I saw Candide, it was rife with sexual inuendo. Not my favorite, but still entertaining.</p>
<p>I got to see Ave. Q for free because I went to a MUN conference, and a school there was going and had an extra ticket, so I jumped in and asked if I could have it.</p>
<p>Candide definitely had a lot of sexual innuendo, but it seemed toned down a bit (hence that song was not in the opera). Sure changed my mind about opera though.... there was no fat lady with horns singing at the top of her lungs (although there was a lady missing a buttcheek....)</p>
<p>I thought this was interesting. Stephan Sondheim defined the difference between a musical and an opera as being as simple as a musical is meant to be performed in a music hall, and an opera is meant to be performed in an opera house.</p>
<p>hey, I thought of a fun game--one that I've already played on and off with funkyspoon, lol--we should post lyrics, and if someone knows what it's from, they can say what it is and then post their own! Ok, I'll start:</p>
<p>* Don't you know me, Kansas City? I'm the new Berlin Wall! Try and tear me down! *</p>
<p>(Please know this, people...:))</p>
<p>Rabo--I was taught that operas had no spoken dialogue, and musicals did. Am I wrong or is Stephen Sondheim just being clever?</p>
<p>That might be technically true, but rent is not considered an opera by most. I only know because my dad wrote a book on broadway musicals, and while doing research, he wrote a letter to sondheim asking the difference between a musical and opera, and he hung up sondheim's reply in his office.</p>
<p>Your dad wrote a book on Broadway musicals? And your dad's corresponded with Sondheim?!! That's sooooo cool! And what's the name of the book, btw? Would you recommend it to the musically obsessed?</p>
<p>Bananas - Hedwig and the Angry Itch!!</p>
<p>My turn:
Though a lady may be dripping with glamour
As often as not she will stumble and stammer
When suddenly confronted with romance.
And she's likely to fall on her face
When she's finally face to face
With a pair of pants.</p>
<p>It's called, "The Broadway Musical." I'm not sure how good it is for recreational reading. I've actually never read it. I know it's used as a text for some courses.</p>