Bits of Havoc
Or, things I would have posted here earlier but didn't get around.
One thing I neglected to mention in the last entry: The new songs Stephen Sondheim wrote for the movie version of A Little Night Music? Apparently just a reworked version of the third song on the Night Music soundtrack (and also the bonus track on the CD copy I have) and the intro music from the original with lyrics added. Seriously. One of the greatest songwriters within the last half-century of musical theatre added lyrics to his own overture. Seriously! He just didn't put any effort into it, which is a darn shame. You didn't hear anyone adding lyrics to the freaking intro to Gypsy: "Gypsy Rose Lee...She's gonna be-come - a strip-perrr...and-her-momma's-gonna-exploit...HER! Gonnamakeherfamous gonnamakerfamous gonnamakeherfamous...Gypsy Rose Lee, she grew up screwed on the road, her sister was pret-t-ier than her! How could she just go, nobody would know, how they did the show, but there is a story behind all of this, wheee! It's so swell, it's so great..."
Although, I think Roddenberry tried it with the theme from "Star Trek" ("Star flights...") and Bill Murray did have that nifty take-off with Nick the Lounge Singer doing the intro to Star Wars ("Star Wars, wonderful Star Wars, give me those Star Wars, don't let them eeeend!"). I'm paraphrasing here, but, Sondheim, man! I thought you were better than that.
One thing I received in the mail yesterday was a back issue of The Sondheim Review. I don't know why, but I was at the bookstore the other day, and saw this.
There is an entire magazine about this guy.
Although it can get pretty elitist at some (most) points, it's an interesting addition to the Rose Havoc Archives. We have an interview with the guy who played Tulsa in the Bernadette Peters revival of Gypsy. We don't really learn much about him, except that he started out in musicals but decided he wanted to be a serious dramatic actor instead, and suddenly ended up in strange Edward Albee plays with nude scenes and lots of cursing. Then he got the call to do Gypsy and has subsequently returned to his jazz-handing ways. There is also a nice featured article about Gypsy choreographer Jerry Mitchell, who reveals that "All I Need Is the Girl" was actually a cut scene from Jerome Robbins' Broadway.
And also? Nothing much, unless you really care about Wise Guys.
Although, there is an interview with the guy who played Henrik in the Broadway revival of A Little Night Music, and who, incidentally, played Tulsa in our local production of Gypsy, like, fifteen years ago. That might have been the first real live musical I ever saw. The first professional one, anyway. My mother has stories about me getting kicked out of the local dinner theater for singing along with Fiddler on the Roof on the stage.
I rewatched the Rent movie again, and, yes, it still is crap. But it's enjoyable crap. I have no doubt in my mind, years from now, this movie will be regarded as a camp classic. Granted, nobody does anything right with movie musicals these days - but, based on the Oompa-Loompa scenes in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, I am still holding out hope for Sweeney Todd. Chris Columbus was the wrong guy to direct this; Rosario Dawson shouldn't try to top Daphne Rubin-Vega, and she doesn't; everything from the dialogue interludes to Adam Pascal's hair is horribly misconceived. It's like a train wreck. A horrible, horrible train wreck. Or A Little Night Music. You just can't look away.
The last time I saw Rent live on stage, I don't know. The energy just wasn't there anymore. It wasn't like when I was twelve and had heard the CD soundtrack millions of times at summer camp that actually seeing it, in my Sunday Best from the third row, was a completely mind-blowing experience. It was more like ten years later, when my friends and I were tired and sleepy from a long day's work, and, standing in the SRO area near the lobbies, gift shops, and back exits, kept falling asleep on the carpets. The staging, the storytelling devices, even soundtrack on its own still has staying power, but the non-Equity touring company and "American Idol" stupidity machine have sort of tainted the momentum it used to have. Methinks the theatre wags have already begun to realize that emperor Michael Greif has no clothes (Grey Gardens? For real? Mr. Marmalade? Come on.).
Here is a partial listing of things this movie does wrong.
The dialogue. I feel sorry for the kids who see this movie, because this might be their only exposure to Rent ever. They are going to wonder why most of the spoken sentences in this movie rhyme. It's not unintentional. The words from the script are sort of copied word-for-word, but, hello? The entire live show is sung-through. That's why it's a rock opera. Oops.
I mean, you didn't see freaking Uncle Ernie speaking about how he's going to fiddle, fiddle, fiddle about with Tommy.
There are constant excuses. Like setting the movie in 1985, when it's being made in 2005, based on a musical written and set in 1995. And showing Joanne and Maureen getting engaged for no apparent reason other than to 1. somehow make an extremely dunderheaded comment on the nature of gay marriage during a Republican presidency and 2. somehow make a little contextual sense out of "Take Me Or Leave Me," like when Elizabeth Taylor does a bunch of things that are all leading up to this moment where all the characters finally have a suitable excuse to start singing "A Weekend in the Country."
The song just doesn't have any meaning anymore. The new girl is not Fredi Walker. And it's kind of creepy hearing her sing with someone who's clearly done this before. When I was twelve, I wanted to be Idina Menzel. Now, I'm slowly beginning to realize that she is only capable of singing out of her nose. She has no falsetto, and she even strains on the low notes. I'd rewatch that chapter on the DVD again with the commentary right now while I'm typing this, but the roommate is watching "Laguna Beach" on DVR and every time these fuckers talk about their "stories," I keep flashing back to Clay Collins on The Days of the Week: "It's nice to know my music turns on pretty girls like you."
Or "I'll Cover You"? This is a perfect example of how reticent they must have been to even so much as show two guys holding hands in a PG-13 movie, let alone sing a romantic duet together. Also, the way "Santa Fe" is done in the movie is different, but it's kind of cool in the show, too, when only about fifteen people in the whole cast are playing various people in tent city.
And, Columbus? Nice move on having Randy Graff show up and not sing a word. Idiots.
One thing I neglected to mention in the last entry: The new songs Stephen Sondheim wrote for the movie version of A Little Night Music? Apparently just a reworked version of the third song on the Night Music soundtrack (and also the bonus track on the CD copy I have) and the intro music from the original with lyrics added. Seriously. One of the greatest songwriters within the last half-century of musical theatre added lyrics to his own overture. Seriously! He just didn't put any effort into it, which is a darn shame. You didn't hear anyone adding lyrics to the freaking intro to Gypsy: "Gypsy Rose Lee...She's gonna be-come - a strip-perrr...and-her-momma's-gonna-exploit...HER! Gonnamakeherfamous gonnamakerfamous gonnamakeherfamous...Gypsy Rose Lee, she grew up screwed on the road, her sister was pret-t-ier than her! How could she just go, nobody would know, how they did the show, but there is a story behind all of this, wheee! It's so swell, it's so great..."
Although, I think Roddenberry tried it with the theme from "Star Trek" ("Star flights...") and Bill Murray did have that nifty take-off with Nick the Lounge Singer doing the intro to Star Wars ("Star Wars, wonderful Star Wars, give me those Star Wars, don't let them eeeend!"). I'm paraphrasing here, but, Sondheim, man! I thought you were better than that.
One thing I received in the mail yesterday was a back issue of The Sondheim Review. I don't know why, but I was at the bookstore the other day, and saw this.
There is an entire magazine about this guy.
Although it can get pretty elitist at some (most) points, it's an interesting addition to the Rose Havoc Archives. We have an interview with the guy who played Tulsa in the Bernadette Peters revival of Gypsy. We don't really learn much about him, except that he started out in musicals but decided he wanted to be a serious dramatic actor instead, and suddenly ended up in strange Edward Albee plays with nude scenes and lots of cursing. Then he got the call to do Gypsy and has subsequently returned to his jazz-handing ways. There is also a nice featured article about Gypsy choreographer Jerry Mitchell, who reveals that "All I Need Is the Girl" was actually a cut scene from Jerome Robbins' Broadway.
And also? Nothing much, unless you really care about Wise Guys.
Although, there is an interview with the guy who played Henrik in the Broadway revival of A Little Night Music, and who, incidentally, played Tulsa in our local production of Gypsy, like, fifteen years ago. That might have been the first real live musical I ever saw. The first professional one, anyway. My mother has stories about me getting kicked out of the local dinner theater for singing along with Fiddler on the Roof on the stage.
I rewatched the Rent movie again, and, yes, it still is crap. But it's enjoyable crap. I have no doubt in my mind, years from now, this movie will be regarded as a camp classic. Granted, nobody does anything right with movie musicals these days - but, based on the Oompa-Loompa scenes in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, I am still holding out hope for Sweeney Todd. Chris Columbus was the wrong guy to direct this; Rosario Dawson shouldn't try to top Daphne Rubin-Vega, and she doesn't; everything from the dialogue interludes to Adam Pascal's hair is horribly misconceived. It's like a train wreck. A horrible, horrible train wreck. Or A Little Night Music. You just can't look away.
The last time I saw Rent live on stage, I don't know. The energy just wasn't there anymore. It wasn't like when I was twelve and had heard the CD soundtrack millions of times at summer camp that actually seeing it, in my Sunday Best from the third row, was a completely mind-blowing experience. It was more like ten years later, when my friends and I were tired and sleepy from a long day's work, and, standing in the SRO area near the lobbies, gift shops, and back exits, kept falling asleep on the carpets. The staging, the storytelling devices, even soundtrack on its own still has staying power, but the non-Equity touring company and "American Idol" stupidity machine have sort of tainted the momentum it used to have. Methinks the theatre wags have already begun to realize that emperor Michael Greif has no clothes (Grey Gardens? For real? Mr. Marmalade? Come on.).
Here is a partial listing of things this movie does wrong.
The dialogue. I feel sorry for the kids who see this movie, because this might be their only exposure to Rent ever. They are going to wonder why most of the spoken sentences in this movie rhyme. It's not unintentional. The words from the script are sort of copied word-for-word, but, hello? The entire live show is sung-through. That's why it's a rock opera. Oops.
I mean, you didn't see freaking Uncle Ernie speaking about how he's going to fiddle, fiddle, fiddle about with Tommy.
There are constant excuses. Like setting the movie in 1985, when it's being made in 2005, based on a musical written and set in 1995. And showing Joanne and Maureen getting engaged for no apparent reason other than to 1. somehow make an extremely dunderheaded comment on the nature of gay marriage during a Republican presidency and 2. somehow make a little contextual sense out of "Take Me Or Leave Me," like when Elizabeth Taylor does a bunch of things that are all leading up to this moment where all the characters finally have a suitable excuse to start singing "A Weekend in the Country."
The song just doesn't have any meaning anymore. The new girl is not Fredi Walker. And it's kind of creepy hearing her sing with someone who's clearly done this before. When I was twelve, I wanted to be Idina Menzel. Now, I'm slowly beginning to realize that she is only capable of singing out of her nose. She has no falsetto, and she even strains on the low notes. I'd rewatch that chapter on the DVD again with the commentary right now while I'm typing this, but the roommate is watching "Laguna Beach" on DVR and every time these fuckers talk about their "stories," I keep flashing back to Clay Collins on The Days of the Week: "It's nice to know my music turns on pretty girls like you."
Or "I'll Cover You"? This is a perfect example of how reticent they must have been to even so much as show two guys holding hands in a PG-13 movie, let alone sing a romantic duet together. Also, the way "Santa Fe" is done in the movie is different, but it's kind of cool in the show, too, when only about fifteen people in the whole cast are playing various people in tent city.
And, Columbus? Nice move on having Randy Graff show up and not sing a word. Idiots.
posted by Gypsy at 11:28 PM
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