Musicals

[Skater Bubbles]

Ok so I have noticed that many of you know a lot about musicals so I was wondering if you could give me some suggetions. See the other day my mom was watching singing in the rain and I walked in and watched it with her and I liked it and I told her it was the first musical that I can think of that I have seen. She was like "no way" so now we have started this thing where we watch musicals together. So we have been renting some so she can catch me up. So far I have seen: Siging in the rain, seven brides for seven brothers, sound of music, my fair lady, fiddler on the roof, brigadoon, and an american in paris. What are some other good musicals that I should see? Keeping in mind that I like the comedys better than the dramas. Any suggestions?

[rockinsmiles]

hey maybe i should start watching some too! i havent really watched any either.

[camper]

well rent isn't out yet but go see it in the theaters starting wednesday. and a little note about brigadoon...my age group did that as our play at camp when we were 11 years old...it was the WORST play ever in the history of our camp. we didn't understand it, things fell on stage...it was crazy.

[ocean]

Sound Of Music is good.

[Indigo]

I love A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum!

[who_stole_my_loofa]

There are a few from the past few years.. Chicago, Phantom of the Opera and kind of a stretch but Moulin Rouge.

[campnerd99]

Grease!! Not so much Grease 2, but the first one is awesome.

[Fallen]

There's Evita with Madonna and Antionio Bandaris (sp?) that wasn't too bad.

I suggest trying to catch a Broadway musical in person. There's several theaters here in Arizona that as good ones like Gammage and The Broadway Palms.

[camper]

i saw RENT...see it i thought it was incredible.

[Skater Bubbles]

Oh ok... let's talk about Rent. I saw it and I dunno I guess maybe becuase I didn't see it on Broadway or anything, but I didn't like it. I guess it just wasn't what I was expecting. And I was surprised it wasn't "R" it was really Risque and kinda Raunchy. Before seeing it in the theater I loved the music and downloaded the Soundtrack from Itunes, but after seeing the movie I don't enjoy listening to the music anymore.

[camper]

haha yeah my parents both liked it but they didn't think it was amazing and they hadn't seen it on broadway either...you gotta know what you're getting. after seeing it on broadway, it made the story easier to follow in the movie and just appreciate the music.

[who_stole_my_loofa]

I have like a slight bone to pick with the movie. I didn't love it but I didn't hate it either. I didn't like that they changed the order of songs and left some out but I think the acting/singing was very enjoyable. Sarah Silverman as Alexi Darling could not have been better. I think the movie definitely did the play justice, but I think they also could have done a better job.

Loofa

[camper]

yeah...but you also have to think about when you turn a musical into a movie that you have to keep it a little shorter i guess...and add a little more talking and a little less music, even if it is a musical. my dad, who had never seen the play, said that one of the things he didn't like the most was that there wasn't enough speaking and he had to think about what was happening.

the one thing i didn't like was how they turned the answering machine messages into just talking...i love them on the broadway soundtrack..."that was a very loud beep...i don't even know if this is working mark, mark are you there are you screening your calls it's mom..." hahaha.

[Fallen]

They normally do change the plays when they are done as movies. They did the same things with The Phantom of the Opera or actually added elements from the book that wasn't in the play. They are never exactly the same in the big screen and the screenplay

[Flukie]

"We wanted to call and say we love you and we'll miss you tomorrow. Cindy and the kids are here, send their love. Oh! I hope you like the hot plate. Just don't leave it on, dear, when you laeve the house, oh and Mark! We're sorry to hear that Maureen dumped you, I say c'est la view. So let her be a lesbiaaaaaan. There are other fishies in the sea! Love, Mom!"

On of my favorite parts as well.

While I do like the musical better, I thought that the movie did do fairly good justice to the musical. I think Larson would have been happy.

[collissimon]

Hey,

It doesnt come out here for a while yet, but I saw Rent on Broadway a couple of years ago, and thought it was pretty darned cool: does Chris Columbus make it all cheesy, or does he keep some of the edge to it?

[camper]

collissimon- it's ALMOST the exact same...all of you movie critics note the ALMOST haha. it's a little shorter, they cut a few songs but all of the "important" ones are in there, 6 of the 8 original cast members are in it. it definitely still has the edge, or so i thought.

[Flukie]

I thought so too, camper. I actually was pleased with the final product. It definitely isn't the live show, but it relates to it and tells the story well.

[collissimon]

That's good, I'll go see it then!

I know it's not a musical, but has anyone seen Narnia? I've seen it, and thought it was quite good!

[speedy]

thats one thing i'm looking forward to when i get home to the states is seeing rent. my best friend and i from high school went and saw rent on broadway the day after prom instead of going to the shore like everyone else and it was such a great day! so ever since i saw ads for it i've been excited to see it!

i saw narnia saturday night and i liked it... i hated the book when i read it (10 years ago) but after seeing the move i'm gonna try to read the whole chronicles over winter break..
the little girl totally made narnia! all the witty remarks!

[collissimon]

I can't wait to see it, but I have to wait till February!

I really enjoyed Narnia, and am waiting for King Kong: it looks good!

[EchoLaker]

Ok so I have noticed that many of you know a lot about musicals so I was wondering if you could give me some suggetions. See the other day my mom was watching singing in the rain and I walked in and watched it with her and I liked it and I told her it was the first musical that I can think of that I have seen. She was like "no way" so now we have started this thing where we watch musicals together. So we have been renting some so she can catch me up. So far I have seen: Siging in the rain, seven brides for seven brothers, sound of music, my fair lady, fiddler on the roof, brigadoon, and an american in paris. What are some other good musicals that I should see? Keeping in mind that I like the comedys better than the dramas. Any suggestions?


HAIRSPRAY.

Fantastic musical. Saw in on Broadway after camp - it was one of the musicals that our camp did during the season, and was our Morry's Camp Benefit Show.

It''s a fantastically fun musical thats funny, and will have you dancing in the aisles !

[camper]

i loved hairspray as well...and one of the coolest parts was the sets and how they were all the brightest colors ever!

[ArtisticEric]

Musicals what can I say I love them. the thing about the adaption into movie is that certain staging and other thing that are great on stage live would feel flat or weird on film. On that note i love phantomand the movie did a great job of keeping the feeling of the show ... i enjoyed the rent dvd and am seeing it the last weeked of april went it comes to delaware(i actually won 4 3rd row center orchestra seets:) ) so i haven't seen it in a theater but its probaly better live like most shows... the original music man with robert preston is good and i enjoyed it on broadway , I wish Aida was a movie because when saw it adam paschal was perfoming and he is really awesome in person and so were heather headley, and sherie renie scott..... but it seems like you've already covered the classic musical on film... i love "You can't stop the Beat " from Hairspray (i haven't gotten to nyc to see it yet) its so fast an high energy, I danced an sang to it in high school for Rythmn Singers(small group from our chorus) and it was so crazy ... fun but a little crazy.. lets just say lots of hip rolls :eek: :D

[Campy Measius]

I tend to like the corny funny ones :P And I tend to like the really old ones more than the newer ones. Except for Greese... Oh and I LOVE the Wizard of Oz (especially to dark side of the moon... it's soooo neat!!)
Ones with Bing Crosby, like White Christmas (I think that's the name), or Judy Garland, or Shirly Temple (Little Orphan Annie is another of my fave's). Umm The Easter Parade is one I liked.
I'm actually suprised I haven't watched that or the sound of music yet this year! lol

[ArtisticEric]

I can't belive that I forgot White Christmas(Vera Ellen, Rosemary Clooney, Danny Kaye and Bing Crosby) my Christmas vacation is never complete if i don't watch it and Its a Wonderful Life at least once

[c3divers]

How about Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream coat, Jesus Christ Superstar, Paint your wagon, Hair, Oklahoma, South Pacific, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Mary Poppins I will think of more later - I am a HUGE fan of musicals and my daughter is starting to like them also.

[ArtisticEric]

the new version of Jesus Christ Superstar is way better than the old one, i think hugh jackman was in the vesion of oklahoma i saw on pbs one day and all i can say about Paint your wagon is that Clint Eastwood Signing= Priceless I'm such a nut that before every musical or play in high school i would find out all i could about it just for fun:D

[dramaqueen22]

To get the true feel of a musical, you have to see it on stage. Even if a movie is good, it is still a little weird to see people just break out into song. The energy and feeling of something on stage is amazing! I just saw Hairspray in October on tour and was blown away. Some of my other favorites onstage are Wicked, The Producers, My Fair Lady, Fiddler on the Roof, Phantom...and basically all of them

My sister has seen Rent onstage and loved it, but she hated the movie. I think its kind of a melodramatic story that just plays out better on stage. It's easier to accept things that aren't very realistic on stage more than screen. But that's just my opinion :)

You can probably tell I'm a big theater nerd...

[ArtisticEric]

Its so true though my junoir year of highschool of high we did Carousel and i watched the movie and thought that that it had a posibility to be really cheesey but it wasn't a problem on stage ,the problem was that old videos tend to feel dated in the way they were filmed and on stage old shows feel more modern because they are looked at with a fresh eye towards set design and staging
-my 2 cents worth-which seems to all over the place today:)

[runrachrunn]

Hair has come back to Toronto, and I'm seriously thinking about buying a ticket to see it, LOL... I haven't gone to see anything in about a year - the last one i saw was wicked.

At the day camp I used to work at, we used to put on a musical every two weeks (so we did 3 a summer). Last summer we did aladdin, fiddler and grease.

on a completely differnt note, has anyone ever seen (or done) Alice in Wonderland? My mom's school did that as their production this year, and it was just weird!

[Melk]

ohhh musicals... how much I love them.

[runrachrunn]

Hair has come back to Toronto, and I'm seriously thinking about buying a ticket to see it, LOL... I haven't gone to see anything in about a year - the last one i saw was wicked.




This is a total lie, I realised! I actually saw the Queen's University production of Urinetown (my best friend choreographed it). It was awesome

[collissimon]

Cool!

I really wanted to see Spamalot last summer on Broadway, but it was all booked up, and has now moved to the West End <sulk>

I just saw Jesus Christ Superstar on TV and it was pretty cool.

[Sparkes]

I saw Mama Mia when I was in TO, and I will be going to see the Lord of the Rings once they get it on stage. I will see Spamalot!

Each age group at my camp does a musical during the summer. The lower campers don't do a musical per say, they just do skits and sing, but all the rest of the campers do legitimate musicals. My age group did Mary Poppins. They put it off in a week - learn words, songs, choregraphy, paint scenary - everything in a week!

[runrachrunn]

Lord of the Rings has been on stage for over a month now, in Toronto.

It's nearly 4 hours long (with two intermissions!)

[Melk]

I saw Mama Mia when I was in TO

So did I! But I didnt enjoy it much.

[collissimon]

Sparkes, that's ace! We do a Unit Play, which we work on for about 2 weeks beforehand, and everyone has a speaking part and dance or two to be in, but there's no way we could get everything done in a week!

We do a staff play as well, and last years one was an adapted Mamma Mia: one of the UL's was leaving after 13 years at camp, so they wrote it for him... it was pretty fun!

[ArtisticEric]

I don't know what i'll do this summer but thats sounds like fun last summer learned the finale dance for joseph and the ect,ect. and ran out in to the aisles and dance when the finale started. It was so fun!

[Sparkes]

Simon I wish we did a staff play! That would be awesome. It'd be so much fun. Though, we do a staff song on the last night, and that was pretty disasterous. We took Brian Adam's Summer of 69 and changed the lyrics to fit what happened during the summer. One run through and up on stage was not enough!

[collissimon]

It is really good fun, esp for the kids. Last year two of the Directors got 'married' in it, and the guy was supposed to give the girl a peck on the cheek, but gave her a full on with tongues snoggeroonie, which the kids loved!

[ArtisticEric]

I bet that was pretty funny, one of the coolest things was on one of the female unit leaders birthday. Her boyfriend who was the tech guy for the theater had the kitchen staff bring out a big cake that said "Will you marry me?" she said yes of course and claping and chearing ensued... she had no clue and was so supprised by the cake she didn't notice the message right away.

[KiwiCRB]

Awww that's so cute!

[Kerrbear]

- Wicked (I'm still DYING to see it)
- Rent was AMAZING (you can really appreciate it even more after watching the special features DVD about the making of, I wish I could see it on Broadway but because of the many language laws in Quebec not too many come out to Montreal and with school and camp I find it hard to get away)
- Phantom of the Opera
- Singing in the Rain
- Lord of the Dance (AMAZING, my mom's trying to get me tickets to see it again)
- Mary Poppins
- Sound of Music
- South Pacific (I haven't seen it in YEARS but my aunt loved these old movies)
- The King and I (it's on my list of movies to watch)
- My Fair Lady (once again, haven't seen it in forever but loved it when I was little)
- Oklahoma's always been on my "to see" list...
- The Lion King on Broadway is incredible

- The Three Penny Opera was horrible, well the one I saw at least so I wouldn't waste my money with it again.
- My best friend went to see The Producers on broadway in new york and wanted to walk out, so I haven't heard too great reviews about that one.

Oh, and any of those old movies that are in Technicolour are usually DEFINETALY worth it!!!

I'd just like to make a response to someone who thought Rent was Riske and at times Raunchy, that's real life. This stuff happens everyday, it wasn't too much exagerated for the stage. Life is a mess, but the message of the play is to bring hope. It shows the harsh reality some people live by. Yes, it's shocking at times, but when you watch it with an open mind and maturity you get a lot from it. It's not your typical musical that goes to broadway but that's what makes it special. :)

[Sparkes]

My campers did Mary Poppins and its actually a rather boring musical to watch slash take part in. My suggestion would be to have older campers act in it, or leave it off the musical list. Now, as the same time, the counsellors like was the director had, well issues really, and didn't make it fun for the campers (so they dreaded going) so that may have had something to do with it.

[collissimon]

I think you've hit on the key point there Sparkes! It's not so much what you do, but how enthusiastic you are about it.

Last summer, we did something called 'Westerly Ways', which was something my UL had done with a different group of kids during the year. We editted it to a larger group, and added more songs etc, and to be honest it was our enthusiasm for the project that made it work, not the quality of the material itself.

Having said that, I think Wallace and Gromit would make an ACE play!

[campgirl17]

My absolute favorite, that I don't think anyone has mentioned yet, is Guys and Dolls. The Sound of Music is a close second. Also, Anything Goes, Once Upon a Mattress, My Fair Lady and Oklahoma (kind of) are great. I tend to love what I consider the "golden age" of musicals (in the 50's and 60's).

[collissimon]

I 'really' want to go see Spamalot, but not sure if it's still in New York when I go...

[roxy]

I love musicals!
My favourite at this moment is Wicked.

My Roommate worked at Camp Manitou and they put on spamalot and wicked and few others last year. They have clips on their website (http://www.manitoucamp.com)

[campmom]

Another really good one is Auntie Mame, or Mame, not sure which one was the musical.