Gil Hates Everything

OK, so as you can see from the above, this was written by Langston Hughes (an actual poet, it’s based on his own work) with music by David Martin. It had a brief but successful run in New York in 1957 but flopped in London, and was revived in the “off-West End” in 2003. I suspect I have the revival soundtrack.

I can’t confirm or deny the plot summary from the songs, so let’s keep it brief for today: this sounds absolutely great. The songs are upbeat and engaging and sound very contemporary – I’m inclined to think this is down to the composition as opposed to the arrangement, although I can’t be sure. There’s a lot to like here. You’d need a good set of pipes and absolutely no fear to tackle some of these songs, mind you. “He’s A Great Big Bundle Of Joy”, “John Henry”, “I Want Someone To Come Home To”, and “Hunter And The Hunted” stood out, but I didn’t detest any part of this. A refreshing change from the last few shows I’ve listened to. If you absolutely detest gospel music or black voices (which you are perfectly entitled to do, and it’s not like I listen to it all the time) then this won’t be for you, and there’s nothing particularly cutting-edge here. But it benefits from the general perception of this music as timeless, it’s funny (particularly with some of the interjections: one singer shows off with a little cadenza, and the harmony singers observe “She got it!”… “She’s trained, too”) and it doesn’t screw up by erroneously trying to push its boundaries when there’s so much territory already encompassed within them and ready to be mined for material.

So, the soundtrack is recommended… as I say, I can’t really tell you much about the actual show, other than that a wowzer running time of two hours and forty minutes means either we’re missing a lot of music or else there’s a lot of script.

So Random Panda awards the “Simply Heavenly” soundtrack an entirely respectable eight out of ten pieces of bamboo as a listening experience, and would definitely consider going to see it.

(originally posted 2009)