The Official Musical Theatre Thread II

[Pink Ranger]

So in a nutshell:

Christine is a lying skank
Raoul is an abusive drunk
Meg is a murderous prostitute
Madame Giry is a pimp

And people thought Highlander 2 was bad.

[Marx]

...but the score was pretty amazing.

[DACrowe]

Originally Posted by Pink Ranger

I draw the conclusion from the part of the book of the show that goes like this, after Phantom kills Ubaldo and grabs Christine and flees underground:


CHRISTINE: Have you gorged yourself at last, in your lust for blood? Am I now to be prey, to your lust for flesh?

PHANTOM: That fate which condemns me, to wallow in blood. Has also denied me, the joys of the flesh.


Basically I've interpreted this scene as Christine fearing the Phantom will rape her, but the Phantom telling her that his physical and mental deformity make him incapable of sex.

Originally Posted by Majik1387

Ah, I always took it as no matter what he tries, no one would love him enough to give themselves(flesh) to him.

Gotta' agree with Majik. I always to that to mean that Christine said, "If you've satisfied your blood lust, are you know going to force yourself on me?" And his reply meant that he has never been with a woman because of "this face" which poisons "their love," also is why no woman could ever love him. She then rather coldly retorts the true deformity that causes him to be unloved is in his soul.

I do think it hints that the Phantom is much older than Christine in the show (being a genius architect and designer in Persia) and that he would die soon at the end. Though that's from the book, which LND threw out the window.

Originally Posted by theShape

This show implies that Raul essentially was not that "great guy" he was always perceived to be, and he failed to live up to his expectations. He did not do what he promised in "All I Ask of You". Meanwhile, Christine lived on to have doubts about the decision she made and was suspicious of who might be the true father of her son.

I got that. I just thought it was a stupid characterization of both Raoul and Christine done entirely like some bad fanfiction to satiate the desire of letting Christine get back together with the Phantom. The entire sequel feels like a contrived attempt done by changing characters drastically from the original book and production solely so they can have the Christine choose the Phantom (which undermines the entire ending of the book/original play).

As far as how she and the Phantom got it onnn, i believe its been stated that the "one night" for them was the night the Phantom first brought her down to his lair (during the song "POTO").

I only listened to the OLCR once, but I recall that she remembers going to see him "beneath a moonless sky" (I always assumed the Opera House's roof) the night before her wedding (presumably shortly after the end of POTO).

Meg was also clearly not as stable and level-headed as Christine was during her encounters with the Phantom. It was cool to see the Phantom having his same seductive effect on another girl, but with drastically different results. She didn't mean to kill Christine, but the Phantom instead.

But that ending...ugh. It's the kind of melodramatic kitsch I expect from a soap opera.

Just the entire story and characterizations in it left me underwhelmed. Just my opinion.

[cabel]

Watching the Phatom 25th dvd. It's nice to finally be able to watch the show in some form.

[Pink Ranger]

Originally Posted by DACrowe

Gotta' agree with Majik. I always to that to mean that Christine said, "If you've satisfied your blood lust, are you know going to force yourself on me?" And his reply meant that he has never been with a woman because of "this face" which poisons "their love," also is why no woman could ever love him. She then rather coldly retorts the true deformity that causes him to be unloved is in his soul.

I don't want to take this thread too far off track, but if you accept the premise that Christine is expressing fear that the Phantom will force himself upon her, if we are in agreement on that interpretation, then your interpretation of the Phantom's answer doesn't make a lot of sense to me.

It's like this:

CHRISTINE: If you've satisfied your blood lust, are you now going to force yourself on me?

PHANTOM: No. Because no woman has ever loved me, I'm not capable of rape.

CHRISTINE: Um, thanks?

[Majik1387]

No, it's because he loves her too much to rape her.

[DACrowe]

Exactly. It's, "I've never been able to satisfy my lust for flesh and I'm not going to do that to you right now" because he loves her. Also, he is afraid of intimacy in some ways. Notice how in the show (i.e. not the sexed-up movie) he spends the entire "Music of the Night" attempting to touch her, but he can't bring himself to even just place his hand on her hip or shoulder. He has a fear of intimacy that coupled with his love for Christine means he would not do that to her.

[tzarinna]

Memphis is playing in my theater. I saw the first 30 minutes and I wasn't impressed. I might try and work it another night to watch it all.

Also, I'm going to see a small production of Spring Awakening this coming Friday. I'm so effin excited! It's been getting great reviews and has been recommended for a Helen Hayes award.

[JP]

Memphis is not very good... It was just a very poor year in musicals overall, why it won the Tony.

[Dark Phantom]

I just saw a matinee performance of the recent Tony award-winner for Best Musical this year, "Once" a new musical.

It was sadly dissapointing and I blame it all on the understudy for the lead girl who performed for my viewing. She was horribly miscast, had no stage presence or chemistry with the leading man. The main guy by the way is fantastic. He totally deserved his win for best actor in a new musical. I felt so bad because he was trying so hard to connect with the understudy, but she was just a black hole sucking out all the energy.

Besides that, the music is beautiful. However, too many songs are ballads with no upbeat songs in between to make the ballads more significant. The plot just drags with no real sense of urgency. It's really sad because you watch it and think, "i see how this could be better".

The huge gimmick for the show is the actors are also the accompanying orchestra. Yes, they are massively talented. They dance, sing and play their instruments on stage to perfection. Yet, with an underdeveloped plot and wasted supporting characters, it's hardly a compensation for entertainment.

[danoyse]

I'm seeing Once in July. I loved the movie, so I'm looking forward to it. It looks great.

Then I'm seeing Peter and the Starcatcher that night, so it should be a fun day.

I'm also seeing Newsies again that week. Can't wait for that.

And I'm seeing Jesus Christ Superstar next week, which is apparently also closing next week as well.

[JP]

I think Christian Borle will have already left Starcatcher when you see it, which is a shame. He's phenomenal.

[danoyse]

I know! But I'm seeing it with a friend who won't be in town until the end of July, so we couldn't get there sooner. (I could, but do I need to see it twice?)

I loved Christian Borle in Spamalot.

[JP]

It's a pretty amazing show. You may want to!

[Pink Ranger]

In related news, Shona White's debut album, I'll Bring You A Song, is now out on iTunes, and after purchasing it, I recommend it for everyone else here as well. Shona's not well know outside of the UK, but she's a West End belter who's played the lead in Wicked, Chess and other shows.

Her vocal style lies somewhere between Elaine Paige and Shirley Bassey. Basically, if you like the old-style brassiness and melodrama of Broadway's yesteryear, but with a modern sensibility, then buy this album. The highlights include As Long As You're Mine (Wicked), Please Don't Make Me Love You (Dracula) and Nobody's Side (Chess). Plus a rendition of To Sir With Love that would make Lulu herself proud.

Admittedly, I have a personal bias here. After seeing her in Chess, I hunted around to see if she had any solo albums. A few months ago I sent a casual inquiry to her website on when this album was going to be on iTunes, which I assumed would be funneled to a manager or webmaster or something. Then, less than a day later I get a personal response from Shona herself! I am a fan for life after that.

[danoyse]

Last week I saw the revival of Jesus Christ Superstar...which then closed a few days later.

This show is practically embedded in my DNA. Not because I'm particularly religious or anything, but because my parents saw the original 1971 production twice, and to this day, if someone mentions Ben Vereen in their presence they will immediately launch into gushing praise about how good he was as Judas. They did this as recently as last weekend.

I thought this was isolated to my parents...until I saw the 2000 revival of JCS and saw a woman virtually assualting an usher while telling him how good Ben Vereen had been as Judas. And her daughter had the same glazed over look that me and my sister have whenever this happens to us, so I know now that we're not alone.

Anyway, the new, now-closed version was surprsingly good. Much better than the 2000 revival, which was awful. I actually do quite like this show, even though I've never seen Ben Vereen as Judas.

The music in that show is awesome, and after seeing Josh Young as Judas, they totally should have had him perform "Heaven on Their Minds" instead of "Superstar" at the Tonys this year. Holy hell, he was incredible. And I liked that this production did a fair share of modern-day references, but didn't get carried away like I've seen in other productions where they've had the apostles running around in biker gear or silly stuff like that.

But I enjoyed finally seeing a halfway decent version of JCS on Broadway, finally.

[Pink Ranger]

JCS is probably Webber's best musical all-around.

[Majik1387]

I don't like JCS at all.

[danoyse]

Originally Posted by Pink Ranger

JCS is probably Webber's best musical all-around.

I think so too. The part where Judas starts singing "I Don't Know How to Love Him" right before he commits suicide, and they way the music for "Superstar" starts right after the scene with Pilate are two of my all-time favorite moments from a musical.

[Marx]

...I still need to see Book of Mormon.

[Angel_Faerie]

I'm seeing it tomorrow!

[danoyse]

Have fun! It's hilarious!

My parents just saw it, they loved it.

[Angel_Faerie]

I'm ridiculously excited! This is my first time seeing a show on Broadway (a lifelong dream), and my first time in New York. My mom and I are here visiting family

[JP]

Have a BLAST!!! Couldn't pick a better show.

[danoyse]

Originally Posted by Angel_Faerie

I'm ridiculously excited! This is my first time seeing a show on Broadway (a lifelong dream), and my first time in New York. My mom and I are here visiting family

So how did you like it? Did you see any other shows? I work right near the NY Mormon headquarters (or whatever it's called), and I actually saw a few members in 'uniform', and could not get this out of my head:

VIDEO-CLick to Watch!:

I just got tickets for Harvey, which I can't wait to see. Love Jim Parsons on Big Bang Theory, and I loved the Jimmy Stewart movie.

I also have to admit that my inner 8-year-old is totally excited that Annie is coming back this fall. I loved the movie as a kid, but never got the chance to see the original show, so I'm excited to finally see it.