reviews
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Singin’ In The Rain (1983)
Hmmm. A prime example of how casual shoppers (or in my case, completist library browsers) can end up with a sub-par product: it turns out that VPL and therefore now I have the 1984 London cast recording of this show, which is short (13 tracks including the overture) and which for no obvious reason includes… Continue reading
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Some Like It Hot / Sugar (1972)
So yeah, this was turned into a musical in 1972 but its name was changed to “Sugar”. And now I’ve listened to the 1992 West End revival, where they changed the name back. Did I tell you I don’t like Tommy Steele? He’s in… this too. The songs are by Jule Styne and Bob Merrill.… Continue reading
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Songs For A New World (1995)
You ought to know Jason Robert Brown’s name by now; his major shows include this, “Parade”, “The Last 5 Years”, and “13”, and he’s also banged out a very good solo album, “Wearing Someone Else’s Clothes”. He’s been called the new Sondheim, and certainly Sarah grimaces in pretty much the same way when someone shows… Continue reading
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Songs From An Unmade Bed (2005)
This show is short – I like that – and a revue – I usually like that – and features one singer singing eighteen songs with lyrics by one guy, Mark Campbell, and music by eighteen different composers – which is interesting. The result is eighteen vignettes of single gay life in New York –… Continue reading
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The Sound Of Music (1959)
1949 autobiography, 1956 Austrian movie, 1959 musical, 1965 musical movie, endless revivals since then, and right now, a 40th Anniversary two-CD soundtrack edition with bonus versions of all the songs. Argh. The plot: an Austrian governess is dispatched from the convent where she was confusing all the nuns to take care of the seven children… Continue reading
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South Pacific (1949)
The perils of movie soundtracks… My head has just been compressed to the approximate size of a walnut by the singing voice of Giorgio Tozzi, the Met opera star who sang for the character of Emile. If you’ve never heard an opera star singing “Some Enchanted Evening”, with full dynamic range and directly into both… Continue reading
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Spring Awakening (2006)
Hmmmm. (And avid readers will know what “Hmmmm” encodes 😉 This is based on an 1891 German play which was banned for a century because it was basically about teenagers coming of age and doing a whole bunch of cumming in the process. What could make it interesting, and presumably made it very popular –… Continue reading
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Starlight Express (1984)
I honestly didn’t expect this to be a show featuring plainly gay trains. My sister often remarks, “Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, said the trucks.” I’m not sure she’s ever seen this, but it could easily be a (short) review. The strangest thing about this show is the complete clash of tone between the… Continue reading
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Summer Of ’42 (2001)
I really ought not to have liked this show, for the following reasons: And yet. I think that this is actually a very sweet and in-its-way-hypnotic show. My emotion warning sensor went off fairly early on, registering the slow pace and slice-of-life approach as the calm – the very, very long calm – before the… Continue reading
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Sunday in the Park with George (1984)
Blimey. OK, GHM attempts to step up to the plate for this one… This is Sondheim’s 1984 collaboration with James Lapine. The first act is about Georges Seurat in 1884 painting “A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte” – i.e. this – http://www.fabulousmasterpieces.co.uk/userimages/seurat.JPG. The second act is set in 1984 and shows… Continue reading