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Post by andypandy on Oct 19, 2022 14:37:20 GMT
Any thoughts or gossip regarding Andrew Lloyd Webbers NEXT musical?
I heard a musical romance set in Botswana between the real-life African prince Seretse Khama and the English woman Ruth Williams. The film "A United Kingdom" was based on the same story.
A musical on refugees? I hear he mentioned this during his Cinderella run?
Master and Margarita (ALW went to Moscow many moons ago to research the story and locations)
Any others you have heard of?
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Post by mrbarnaby on Oct 19, 2022 17:54:08 GMT
I never want him to write another musical again.
Cinderella was heinous and he is so far from being current, it’s a bit embarrassing when he tries.
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Post by ceebee on Oct 19, 2022 18:04:07 GMT
I never want him to write another musical again. Cinderella was heinous and he is so far from being current, it’s a bit embarrassing when he tries. Harsh - the sea-witch song was the best bit about that show. |
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Post by Jon on Oct 19, 2022 18:30:58 GMT
I think ALW needs a producer who can stand up to him. When he's composing and producer, it's a lethal combination and not in a good way.
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Post by Being Alive on Oct 19, 2022 20:02:09 GMT
Another vote for 'no more ALW' thanks
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Post by scarpia on Oct 19, 2022 20:21:45 GMT
I understand he's doing a sequel to Sunset Blvd called 'I'm ready for my mugshot'.
It is set 'roughly' 10 years later in 1980. Norma, now in her 30s (accept it because if you don't then you're a malicious blogger) is in prison in Soho, London (no-one knows why London but you just have to accept it) and gets a fan letter from her 'biggest fan'. She is excited about meeting her visitor and demands the prison wardens pull out the stops for her visitor, thinking it is Cecil B DeMille. It turns out the prison warden is Max. There is no explanation for this. In fact, it is Joe Gillis, who (it turns out) did not die after all but in fact has discovered that he is actually Norma's biological son. Disgusted with the Oedipal implications of this, he intends to purge himself of the ordeal by devastating Norma's mental health further by revealing that she is a mother. Max finds out his plans in advance and contacts Artie to try to stop him. Artie arrives just after Joe does and we have a 'will he? won't he' segment à la Jeremy Kyle, shortly before Artie shoots Joe after having discovered he is the cause of Betty having broken off his engagement with him.
Laurence Connor will direct. Lyricist unknown as yet. It is aiming for a summer 2024 premiere in the West End and then will open in 30 countries simultaneously afterwards and will be the best thing ALW has ever done until the first preview.
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Post by danb on Oct 19, 2022 21:08:31 GMT
This sounds bloody brilliant! Take my money…now!
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Post by Jon on Oct 19, 2022 21:09:11 GMT
I understand he's doing a sequel to Sunset Blvd called 'I'm ready for my mugshot'. It is set 'roughly' 10 years later in 1980. Norma, now in her 30s (accept it because if you don't then you're a malicious blogger) is in prison in Soho, London (no-one knows why London but you just have to accept it) and gets a fan letter from her 'biggest fan'. She is excited about meeting her visitor and demands the prison wardens pull out the stops for her visitor, thinking it is Cecil B DeMille. It turns out the prison warden is Max. There is no explanation for this. In fact, it is Joe Gillis, who (it turns out) did not die after all but in fact has discovered that he is actually Norma's biological son. Disgusted with the Oedipal implications of this, he intends to purge himself of the ordeal by devastating Norma's mental health further by revealing that she is a mother. Max finds out his plans in advance and contacts Artie to try to stop him. Artie arrives just after Joe does and we have a 'will he? won't he' segment à la Jeremy Kyle, shortly before Artie shoots Joe after having discovered he is the cause of Betty having broken off his engagement with him. Laurence Connor will direct. Lyricist unknown as yet. It is aiming for a summer 2024 premiere in the West End and then will open in 30 countries simultaneously afterwards and will be the best thing ALW has ever done until the first preview. There is no chance in hell that Paramount would ever let ALW do a Sunset sequel when they are reluctant to commission a film adaptation of the musical. |
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Post by singingbird on Oct 19, 2022 21:34:14 GMT
This sounds bloody brilliant! Take my money…now! If ALW doesn't write this, I will! But, in all seriousness, I'd love him to stop trying to write big West End/Broadway shows and instead do a few quicker, more low-key left-field projects. Things like Tell Me, Variations and the Requiem. Maybe something for TV. Or artier things with smaller theatres. But that'll never happen now. |
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Post by katykate on Oct 19, 2022 22:09:06 GMT
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Post by danb on May 11, 2023 5:41:25 GMT
It is sad that ‘Bad Cinderella’ is closing so soon after ‘Phantom’ on Broadway. However, it isn’t a surprise is it? Time to retire to one of his homes and just write the odd rousing jingoistic anthem. He has a fantastic body of work which is eminently revivable. Best we judge him on that. I’m still surprised he found the money for BC on Broadway given its failure over here.
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Post by viserys on May 11, 2023 5:47:18 GMT
he found the money for BC on Broadway Apparently he found a superrich investor/producer with more money than sense who "just wanted to have a show on Broadway". There was that article in the NY Post recently that ALW wanted to close BC and she wanted to keep going with a new marketing team. But clearly reality hit her over the head now. I'd like to think ALW has one more great show in him, but he should focus on stories and characters in his ballpark and not try to be "down with the kids" which Cinderella clearly was an attempt to be. And dear Gods, crawl back to Tim Rice on your knees if you must, but find a good lyricist again. Cindy had wonderful melodies but the awful lyrics ruined the songs for me. |
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Post by newyorkcityboy on May 11, 2023 7:46:49 GMT
By my reckoning he’s had 11 hits and 5 misses. (Though not all his hits made money, and not all the misses were bad.) That’s quite good going, but maybe it’s time to step back. Re-evaluate. Stop trying to be so ‘current’ and embrace an older audience. Try the heritage/nostalgia route. (Downton Abbey:The Musical?!)
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Post by viserys on May 11, 2023 8:03:55 GMT
try the heritage/nostalgia route. (Downton Abbey:The Musical?!) Well, "By Jeeves" comes pretty close to that  And frankly, I don't think it's that bad of a show, it's good fun with some wonderful melodies like "Half a moment". I'd quite like to see one of the smaller London theatres like Charing X or the Menier tackle it - it may ride well on the current wave of interest for that kind of thing, both on TV and with shows like the whole "...goes wrong" series. What are your hits and misses? I count 9 hits and 7 misses. Joseph Jesus Christ Superstar Evita Tell me on a Sunday/Song and Dance Cats Starlight Express Phantom of the Opera Sunset Boulevard School of Rock Misses By Jeeves Whistle Down the Wind The Beautiful Game Woman in White Stephen Ward Love Never Dies (Bad) Cinderella Of course that's from a commercial POV. I love the music of Whistle Down The Wind and would love to see it restaged. Already said that I think By Jeeves is quite enjoyable. Beautiful Game was pretty daring at its time when the NI conflict was still so fresh on everyone's mind and isn't a bad show either (and gave us Hannah Waddingham). The only true misses for me were Stephen Ward, Love Never Dies and now Cinderella, all of which suffered from excrutiatingly bad books. I would love to see the score of Love Never Dies being recycled for a FRESH story that has nothing to do with Phantom. |
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Post by theatrefan62 on May 11, 2023 8:30:53 GMT
If say whistle and sunset are a bit of a grey area. Sunset (much as I love it) lost a lot of money and received mixed reviews and seems to struggle without a star in the role. Whistle flopped initially but the kenwright tours did well.
Personally I think he should retire gracefully now unless he can get a strong creative and producing team around him that can and will say no to him when needed.
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Post by og on May 11, 2023 8:41:14 GMT
try the heritage/nostalgia route. (Downton Abbey:The Musical?!) Well, "By Jeeves" comes pretty close to that And frankly, I don't think it's that bad of a show, it's good fun with some wonderful melodies like "Half a moment". I'd quite like to see one of the smaller London theatres like Charing X or the Menier tackle it - it may ride well on the current wave of interest for that kind of thing, both on TV and with shows like the whole "...goes wrong" series. What are your hits and misses? I count 9 hits and 7 misses. Joseph Jesus Christ Superstar Evita Tell me on a Sunday/Song and Dance Cats Starlight Express Phantom of the Opera Sunset Boulevard School of Rock Misses By Jeeves Whistle Down the Wind The Beautiful Game Woman in White Stephen Ward Love Never Dies (Bad) Cinderella Of course that's from a commercial POV. I love the music of Whistle Down The Wind and would love to see it restaged. Already said that I think By Jeeves is quite enjoyable. Beautiful Game was pretty daring at its time when the NI conflict was still so fresh on everyone's mind and isn't a bad show either (and gave us Hannah Waddingham). The only true misses for me were Stephen Ward, Love Never Dies and now Cinderella, all of which suffered from excrutiatingly bad books. I would love to see the score of Love Never Dies being recycled for a FRESH story that has nothing to do with Phantom. Half the score was recycled from other material prior haha |
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Post by newyorkcityboy on May 11, 2023 8:44:28 GMT
Ok. I miscounted by one! I have 10 hits (Joseph/Jesus/EVITA/Cats/S&D/Starlight/Phantom/Aspects/Sunset/School) and 7 misses (Cinders/Stephen/LND/Woman/Whistle/Jeeves/Beautiful Game. (With Likes of Us never produced.)
Our lists are pretty much identical apart from the fact that you missed off Aspects! Which I definitely class as a hit although at the time it was seen as a flop, just because it didn’t hit the heights of his previous work.
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Post by Mark on May 11, 2023 9:02:00 GMT
I wouldn't count Whistle as a "miss". The original West End production ran for 2.5 years, has gone on to have a limited revival and successful tour, and regional productions. The re-done By Jeeves was a success, with a 12 week limited West End transfer extending an additional 4 months.
Even some of the others, Beautiful Game - 11 Months, Love Never Dies - 18 Months, The Woman in White - 19 Months. These are not "short" runs in the same way some other shows have gone.
The only real miss for me both critically and length of run is Stephen Ward, which was just bad, and ran 4 months.
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Post by viserys on May 11, 2023 9:08:13 GMT
True, I forgot Aspects of Love, lol - while I compiled the list in my head I was thinking "would I classify it as a hit or miss?" and then forgot to finish that thought. Yes, I'd rank it among his hits, because it had healthy runs and several productions worldwide.
And I guess you're right, Mark, if we judged ALW by other composers' standards, most of those other shows were "hits" too - but I remember that in those days, basically anything with the name ALW on it would generate a rush for tickets just because of who he was and how famous he still was.
I mean, I was and am among those - I always bought tickets as soon as a new show opened booking, full price and all (even for Stephen Ward, ugh).
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Post by barrowside on May 11, 2023 9:08:17 GMT
I'd like another small scale romance. What about Moonstruck? John Patrick Shanley could write the book and ALW would have licence to reference La Bohème in the music.
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Post by Seriously on May 11, 2023 9:47:43 GMT
Well Mr Barnaby has already told us it'll be Starlight Express.
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Post by anita on May 11, 2023 9:54:44 GMT
"Whistle Down the Wind" & "The Woman in White" are my favourites.
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Post by newyorkcityboy on May 11, 2023 10:54:45 GMT
The contested ones are interesting. I’m not saying they didn’t work - or that I didn’t like them - but they all, for one reason or another, left a funny taste in the mouth. At least for the general public.
Take Whistle, for example. The first of his shows that didn’t really take off. Not for want of marketing - it had a No 1 Single! But British audiences were a little bemused that the quant Northern film of their childhood was now an epic drama set in the Deep South. What once was charming was now overblown. With some really phony accents.
The Beautiful Game was too political/controversial. Although I liked the intimate tone.
Woman in White had a complex story and no real ‘hook’ for the audience, beyond Michael Crawford in a fat suit. And you couldn’t even ‘whistle the set’ (to coin a phrase) as there was no set to speak of. Only projections, which were mostly underwhelming. So what buzz there was quickly died. (The revival was glorious, but no one went to see it. So that was the end of that.)
Love Never Dies has a wonderful score but the story left the public cold - and was opposed by (some) so-called Phantom fans, the shows main target audience. (Once again the revival (in Australia) was a much better version of the show.)
The less said about Stephen Ward the better. And Cinders’ many faults have been well documented.
You’re right, these shows would be hits for other people, but they all - either artistically or financially - failed to set the world alight, like his other works have done.
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Post by magnificentdonkey on May 11, 2023 11:26:28 GMT
As for me, the scores of his I care about most of all are:
The Phantom, Aspects, Sunset Boulevard, The Woman in White, Love Never Dies. Jesus and Stephen Ward are quite nice, too, as are Evita and Whistle (in its way). Joseph and Cats are OK. I like to give his Variations, Tell Me on a Sunday and Cinderella a listen once in a while. And I find myself completely indifferent when it comes to the scores of The Likes of Us, Jeeves/By Jeeves, Starlight Express, Requiem, The Beautiful Game and School of Rock.
But all in all ALW has always been, and remains to this day, my favorite composer, at least as far as musical theatre is concerned.
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Post by danb on May 11, 2023 12:02:47 GMT
There are certainly many classic moments and wonderful tunes hidden within his failures, some of them so achingly brilliant that I struggle to fathom how the surrounding shows could be gotten so wrong. Love Never Dies in particular has at least 3 absolutely tremendous songs, likewise Cinderella (plus #Justice for Vanquishing of the Sea Witch). As others have said, he just needs a strong dramaturg to shape his flights of fancy more sharply, rather than bland ‘yes men’ like Connor who just churn out the most obvious and least creative version possible.
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Post by Peter on May 11, 2023 16:02:33 GMT
Im fairly sure that the original London production of Whistle Down the Wind made it into the black before it closed (though was certainly not a money making blockbuster, and doesn’t account for the original American production, which would have been capitalised separately).
I love By Jeeves - it does exactly what it says on the tin and does it well, though a lot of that is thanks to Ayckbourn’s (revised) book. It’s also a rare ALW show that I would have expect to be popular with amateur companies (and make money through post-original run licensing), but I don’t see it done that much?
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Post by Jon on May 11, 2023 18:58:01 GMT
I think for ALW to have another successful show, he needs to take a backseat. Focus on the music and have producers who are willing to say no or veto him.
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Post by showtoones on May 11, 2023 19:10:38 GMT
I think for ALW to have another successful show, he needs to take a backseat. Focus on the music and have producers who are willing to say no or veto him. And not have Lawrence O'Connor direct it. |
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Post by danb on May 11, 2023 19:29:29 GMT
I think for ALW to have another successful show, he needs to take a backseat. Focus on the music and have producers who are willing to say no or veto him. And not have Lawrence O'Connor direct it. ‘Direct’ is a bit strong isn’t it? ‘Stage’ perhaps? Block? Arrange on the stage? ‘Organise’ seems the most apt description. Fine for an arena tour of ‘JCS’ and the required broad strokes; not so great for anything requiring actual performances or depth. |
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Post by Jon on May 11, 2023 19:55:33 GMT
Laurence Connor is either cheap, a pushover or both. Why else would he be hired by ALW, Cameron Mackintosh and Tim Rice?
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And frankly, I don't think it's that bad of a show, it's good fun with some wonderful melodies like "Half a moment". I'd quite like to see one of the smaller London theatres like Charing X or the Menier tackle it - it may ride well on the current wave of interest for that kind of thing, both on TV and with shows like the whole "...goes wrong" series. 
