OBCRs and otherwise

[ceebeegee]

I've been listening to a lot of music lately on my new iPod, including a lot of new (to me) music that I had but had never really played on my computer. Man, the score to Hairspray is terrific! Why didn't I know about this earlier? I love "Good Morning, Baltimore," "You Can't Stop the Beat," "Without Love," "I Can Hear the Bells"...all great songs. I would love to choreograph "You Can't Stop the Beat"--I want to take over the stage just listening to it!

I love the original Hairspray movie--and Susan Mitchell and I've actually worked with LA Powers (Penny Pingleton). When we did Shenandoah back in Virginia, LA was my understudy for Jenny for about three weeks, until she wised about about how crappy that theater was and quit!

I looked up Hairspray's Wikipedia entry and followed the link to the website for Legally Blonde, the Musical. (Laura Bell Bundy played was the original stage Amber and she's Elle in LB.) The website has a couple of songs from the show and one of them is adorable--it's called "Omigod, You Guys."

I also listened to Rex, a musical about Henry VIII, which Michael burned for me (thank you, Michael!). It concentrates (as far as I can tell) on Anne Boleyn and onwards, with a few appearances by Henry's 3 children. Richard Rodgers wrote the music and Sheldon Harmick the lyrics--it's okay, there are some good songs, but it certainly does sentimentalize Henry! He was basically a monster toward the end of his life (most likely due to the progress of syphilis) and doesn't really deserve this kind of musical :/

Comments

[dry-2olives.livejournal.com]

That was the problem they discovered in previews. They realized they should have written a musical about Anne Boleyn instead, because they couldn't figure out a way to make Henry the least bit sympathetic. (Casting Nicole Williamson in the role didn't help.) There was a famous incident where, during the final bows of the 2nd performance one Saturday, a chorus member quietly said "Well, that's a wrap" in earshot of Williamson who thought he said, "Well, that was crap." The last thing the audience saw as the curtain went down was a furious Williamson slapping the guy. I met Sheldon Harnick at an event last year and told him Rex was my first Broadway musical. His immediate response was "We fixed it up a little when we did it at the York." Still, "Away From You" is the last gorgeous Richard Rodgers ballad. (Except Harnick MUST rewrite the last line someday.)

[neoscribe.livejournal.com]

Sorry about the irony. We still friends?