musical
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Swing! (1999)
Description here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swing! I’m mildly offended that this received nominations for Best Musical. I know this is slightly like arguing for subgenres and classification, because that works so well when you’re trying to find what you’re looking for, and I also suppose that if you were real good at keeping a straight face, you could… Continue reading
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Tarzan – The Musical (2006)
Here at Gil Hates Musicals, we (er, I) are… am… anyway, GHM rarely shies away from controversy. But usually that’s because it’s fun annoying people by saying “Your favourite old / venerated musical is, in fact, horrible tacky outdated crap”. On the occasions where I boost a show, either it doesn’t come as a surprise,… Continue reading
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Tell Me On A Sunday (1977)
Wow, this was disappointing, and it’s all in the execution, because this – read the extremely interesting backstory here on Wikipedia – is a very good concept for a show. There’s a great story to be told about a transatlantic relocation, of moving to a new world, and finding how that new world treats you,… Continue reading
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Thoroughly Modern Millie (2000)
This is a strange show. Based on a 1967 movie telling a pastiche 20s story and featuring period songs, it was turned into a stage musical in 2000 (with original music by Jeanine Tesori, who later brought you the “Shrek!” musical). It features some pretty good Ira Gershwin-style comedy lyrics, one complete steal from Gilbert… Continue reading
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The 3 Musketeers (2010)
(its official title appears to use the digit… not sure I like that) Sometimes you just cringe, don’t you? You hear of an adaptation from one form to another of something you like, and you think “Oh god, please, no”, or sometimes you advance straight to “Just don’t fuck it up”, or you can’t stand… Continue reading
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The Threepenny Opera (1928)
Laurie Anderson has a song called “Difficult Listening Hour”. That phrase kept surfacing in my mind like a bad (three)penny while I was listening to this. This show dates from 1928 and was written by Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill, lifting the plot from an 18th century English show called “The Beggar’s Opera”. It’s about… Continue reading
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Titanic (1997)
In which yet again Maury Yeston proves that he can write moderately good music but doesn’t know what to do with it… oops, spoilers. And on the subject of spoilers: IT SINKS, so don’t get your hopes up: the only drama in this show is whether the actor playing the helmsman will announce “Fuck me,… Continue reading
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Tom Waits’ Alice (2002)
So you might not know who Tom Waits is: suffice to say he has a voice that makes professional singers wince, but he’s managed to sing with it for forty years without apparent problems, and he has a somewhat eclectic musical output. He’s worked on movie soundtracks and in theatre, most prominently with Robert Wilson… Continue reading
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Urinetown (2001)
This musical was apparently inspired by the author’s encounter with a pay-toilet in Europe. (There are also, you may wish to know before you travel, pay-turnstiles at London train station toilets.) How to describe “Urinetown”? It somewhat reminds me of “Evil Dead – The Musical” and also of “The Threepenny Opera”. At the start a… Continue reading
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Waiting For The Moon (2005)
You know, the longer I do this GHM thing, the more Frank Wildhorn comes across as the closest thing America has to Andrew Lloyd Webber. As with ALW he works with a range of lyricists and apparently prefers to constrain them with his melodies (“dancing in chains” as his lyricist here put it). The problem… Continue reading