JLFM wrote:Stewball wrote:I'm going to see Big Eyes, and then will check out ITW. The story's beginning to sound like it might be good, but what did you think of the music? They apparently don't even have a catchy tune to trot our for the previews or whatever, much less a showstopper like Frozen had. American Sniper looks to be the best thing left coming up, and maybe A Most Violent Year.
I loved the music. I admit that I can't remember the melodies to most of the songs, but they were all pretty entertaining, and the highlights (the 15 minute opening) are incredible. A lot of people have been in love with the "Agony" number, but I was underwhelmed by it, personally.
It turned out to be exactly what I expected, a pretty good story except for the music. The singers are very talented and the lyrics were excellent and even clever at times, but the notes were just scattered around, off and on, bringing "sing song" down to a new low as an epithet. I was both embarrassed and bored when the music started, with the number "Agony", being what should be used as the title for the CD album--if they have the gall to produce it. The reason there weren't any memorable melodies is because there weren't any worth remembering, making this just another nail in the coffin for musicals.
Rob Marshall saying Stephen Sondheim is the "greatest living composer" may not be far off the mark, given the fact that he has one foot in the grave, and the shambles that the music industry is in, especially with the lack of song-writing talent. In fact, the only notable musical Sondheim ever was ever involved in was West Side Story in 1957, but he only did the lyrics with Leonard Bernstein writing the music.
The was produced for Broadway in 1987 and is exemplary of the Broadway boiler-plate that's stifled the place for the last 35 years, with Andrew Lloyd Webber's Phantom of the Opera being the only momentary exception.
Oh yeah, another thing. The "be careful what you wish for" theme needs to be cleaned up. Wishing for things and wanting more isn't wrong, it's the way we go about getting them that sometimes leads us to surrender to temptation. It's a distinction a collectivist companies like Disney isn't likely to want to make.