musical
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Walmartopia (2005)
This is a 2005 NY Fringe show which managed a brief off-Broadway run. It sounds exactly like it, too; it’s got that “in the absence of anything intelligent, let’s be funny” vibe which characterises much Fringe material. (That’s not to say Fringe material is intrinsically bad; it just often happens to be not-very-good…) The plot Continue reading
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We Will Rock You (2002)
Today marks the end of my patience for jukebox musicals. It would be cheaper to buy the appropriate Queen Greatest Hits package than to go see this show. Also, you’ll hear a better and more committed and authentic vocalist, better guitars, and a bigger choir (of sorts). Also, you’ll be spared a stupid sub-pantomime story. Continue reading
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West Side Story (1957)
Anyone who knows me will know that I’m hopelessly biased in favour of this show. Ooooh, there are so many good things about it. But let me open with an anecdote, which some of you have heard before. When I was a kid there was a British TV show called “Record Breakers” hosted by the Continue reading
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When Pigs Fly (1996)
This 1996 revue might be difficult to fully review for this reason: apparently it was very heavy on the costumes. Its conceiver and costume designer, Howard Crabtree, died shortly after the show was finished, which is rough luck (Jonathan Larsen would sympathise) and may explain why it doesn’t seem to have a large online presence; Continue reading
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Whistle Down The Wind (1996)
In which Andrew Lloyd Webber is afflicted with envy that he didn’t get to write “Footloose”. So he decides what would be awesome would be to take a 1948 novel / 1961 movie set in the North of England about kids believing that a runaway criminal is Jesus Christ, and move it to the Okie Continue reading
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Wicked (2003)
Stephen Schwartz has written a bunch of musicals including “Godspell” and “Children Of Eden”, and the music for Disney movies including “Hunchback”, but, I dunno, it may just be me, but he’s always come across as a little boring. Not as boring as Maury Yeston, and not as incompetent as Frank Wildhorn, but somewhat of Continue reading
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The Wild Party (2000)
“The Wild Party” is a long poem from 1928 by Joseph Moncure March, scandalous at the time. It was filmed in 1975 (badly, it seems) and then, slightly randomly, it was adapted as a musical twice in the same year (1999), once by Michael John Lachiusa and once, the version we have here, by Andrew Continue reading
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Good News (1927)
It’s a very special edition of Gil Hates Musicals today. At the request of Scott Ashton Swan of Applause! Musicals, I’m taking a look at this year’s Applause! season. So I should knock out a quick two-way introduction for GHM avids wondering whether I’ve taken the money, and for Applause! readers wondering why they should Continue reading
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Lists and Recommendations
I originally listened to 260 musicals in 2009/2010. Here are some lists and recommendations: Twenty shows which I think are just great, although some are unlikely to be performed anytime soon, so you might as well listen to the score and use your imagination: 1776AmourBombay DreamsBright Lights, Big CityThe CapemanCurtainsDirty Rotten ScoundrelsIn The HeightsJane EyreKristinaLittle Continue reading
Gil Hates Everything 