Music from the stage

[Mendalla]

Started watching Rent tonight. Been meaning to forever, but watched the beginning just to see if it grabbed me. Of course it did. The opening song, which I know and love even never having seen the show, is amazing.

Anyone else out there into musicals and have favorite songs from them to post?

 

[Delightful Life]

LOVE rent

the musical that got me hooked, i think, on musicals is Jesus Christ, Superstar

I love pretty much all the songs in there, from the anthems, through the ridiculous carny songs, to the tender love poems and loss...uplifting, saddening, transcending like all good music and literature and art can do...

i've even used bits from the play many different times in my role-playing/LARPing experiences...good ideas deserve to be copied/stolen ;3

 

[Mendalla]

Of course, I can't talk about musicals without a song or two from my all time favorite: Les Miserables. Forget the novel and just look at how much power and beauty is packed into the score of this show. It's as close to opera as a stage musical ever has, or ever will, get.

The pain of unrequited love in "On my own" (Samantha Barks from the movie):

A powerful prayer, "Bring Him Home" (Josh Groban, who has never played Jean Valjean but probably should someday):

And the finale to Act One, bringing all the themes, stories, and characters together in one powerful climax "One More Day" (10th anniversary concert, featuring many of the original London stage cast)

 

[Mendalla]

the musical that got me hooked, i think, on musicals is Jesus Christ, Superstar

Beat me to it . Lloyd-Webber's first and arguably his best (and I say that as a fan of many of his shows). Best part about it? It could be done with a handful of singers and a rock band. No need for the elaborate stage effects and orchestrations of later shows like Starlight Express and Phantom of the Opera.

 

[Pinga]

I too loved Jesus Christ Superstar. Had the album, and sang along to all of it.

 

[Delightful Life]

its like going home again, here

another musical from my childhood
(as a bf used to say, 'they wanted kids to be gay')
H n R Puff n Stuff with its lost boy and his magic flute trying to find his way home from the marvelous technicolour world of talking trees & animals and all that wonderful stuff -- I wish stuff like this could still sell on tv in this overly moral age (damn you political correct warriors!)

 

[Kimmio Laughterlove]

its like going home again, here

another musical from my childhood
(as a bf used to say, 'they wanted kids to be gay')
H n R Puff n Stuff with its lost boy and his magic flute trying to find his way home from the marvelous technicolour world of talking trees & animals and all that wonderful stuff -- I wish stuff like this could still sell on tv in this overly moral age (damn you political correct warriors!)

loved H n Puff n Stuff
Here's a musical I loved, that I remember from my childhood.

 

[Kimmio Laughterlove]

And in creepy but satirical Tim Burton style...Johnny Depp in Sweeny Todd. He sounds a bit like Bowie.

 

[Kimmio Laughterlove]

️ Gilbert and Sullivan's operetta, Pirates of Penzance : "Modern Major General". It makes me laugh. This was the best version I could find.

 

[Luce NDs]

Would Phantom of the Opera be a good metaphor of the spirit of song ... and thus the demons out there isolated ... Dan's? An AUM'r in the mind?

 

[Mendalla]

️ Gilbert and Sullivan's operetta, Pirates of Penzance : "Modern Major General". It makes me laugh. This was the best version I could find.

I grew up with G&S. Dad was a fan and then my high school's librarian, who was my first real employer, was heavily involved with the K-W G&S Society, even directing some of their productions IIRC. I went to two or three G&S productions during those years and caught a bit of the Stratford Pirates when it was recorded for CBC and broadcast. Haven't seen any live G&S in a while but still listen to the music occasionally.

Of course, stage musicals as we know them did not yet exist in their day and, arguably, operettas like theirs and those of Franz Lehar influenced the development of the stage musical heavily.

And another great deflation of a pompous Victorian world (right up there with Major-General):

 

[Kimmio Laughterlove]

I think of operettas as old fashioned musicals, and opera as an even more elite old fashioned musical. G & Sis in English...so for me it is easier to understand what's going on, unless I know the story. I have been to a few operas and operettas in recent years, only because I did a brief gig working in box office sales a few years ago. Otherwise, it is out of my league to go to, I'm afraid.

My high school had a well respected musical theatre program. They did HMS Pinafore, Wizard of Oz...and I am trying to remember others, but can't at the moment.

 

[Waterfall]

Beat me to it . Lloyd-Webber's first and arguably his best (and I say that as a fan of many of his shows). Best part about it? It could be done with a handful of singers and a rock band. No need for the elaborate stage effects and orchestrations of later shows like Starlight Express and Phantom of the Opera.

Oh my Goodness, Ted Neely's performance.....WOW!!!! I have goosebumps...again.....what a magnificent absolutely amazing portrayal of a vulnerability that also demonstrates a strength that is seemingly beyond most of us.

 

[Luce NDs]

Did the Phantom come out of the bowels of the temple, or was that just a cathedral ?

With Kathy drawling words in a slur as she was drunk on hormones? You can sometimes hear such intoxicated mumbling in the night ...

 

[monasksit]

Godspell, saw it before I saw Jesus Christ Superstar. Wish I had been able to see the New York revival a few years ago.

 

[Luce NDs]

God's Pell ... learning to spell things before the English spin on redaction of old tongues to suit the realms of King Henry, Eliza Beth and James ?

 

[Jaebius]

Best musical I ever saw was "Anne of Green Gables" in PEI when I was a kid. Worst musical I ever saw was "Rent" - the film version. Maybe it's better on stage.

 

[Luce NDs]

Phantom of the Opera ... the singing of a sad song about an ugly background personality with a warm heart? Presumptions of such knowledge have gotten out of hand and thus slippery, or weasel lie ... ermine Osis in white?

 

[Jaebius]

Phantom of the Opera ... the singing of a sad song about an ugly background personality with a warm heart? Presumptions of such knowledge have gotten out of hand and thus slippery, or weasel lie ... ermine Osis in white?

I preferred the phantom of The Muppet How.

 

[Luce NDs]

How?

Wouldn't that include a Ide-AL of Logos ... or a God of Sophistication and logic about all things?

This is beyond the mortal case ... especially when stuck on a point, thorn, or prick 've thought! Should one be plastic and floe a' bote ID?