I think it might be really nice to see ALW push himself to move away from bombastic, melodramatic material, and I'll be curious to see what he comes up with.
What I don't understand is why he's going with a director whose only experience is remounting big spectacle shows. And, in the case of the current Les Mis, sometimes very poorly.
What I don't understand is why he's going with a director whose only experience is remounting big spectacle shows. And, in the case of the current Les Mis, sometimes very poorly.
Agreed. Laurence Connor's directing for the current Les Miserables is a huge part of the problem with that misguided production. At least Anna Louizos is designing the set. She always does beautiful work.
"There’s nothing quite like the power and the passion of Broadway music. "
"What I don't understand is why he's going with a director whose only experience is remounting big spectacle shows. And, in the case of the current Les Mis, sometimes very poorly."
Uh, Laurence Connor's work on the new Les Miz was actually well-received by critics, as well as his work on the new Miss Saigon in London.
Plus, Andrew apparently loves him from having worked on the newer production of The Phantom of the Opera & the concert tour of Jesus Christ Superstar.
Why in the hell didn't they just make this jukebox musical and use a real catalogue? Half of the movie is Jack Black. The other half is their use of the classic rock catalogue. Without it, this flounders. Just an opinion coming from a huge longtime fan of the film.
I completely agree with Princeton Returns. I honestly don't understand why he is writing this. Yes he has written a rock/pop score with Jesus Christ Superstar, but he has never written a commedic score, and School of Rock has to be both.
In all honesty I think Jack Black would have written a great score for the show, but in the realm of Broadway composers I think this would be a score for either a pop artist turned composer (Elton John or Cyndi Lauper) or Frank Whildhorn or Robert Lopez.
Who knows? They could be doing that ala Wizard of Oz and include some from the classic rock catalogue for when the kids play the music in the band, but include some new ALW music as character-driven songs.
He is at least going to be working with lyricist Glenn Slater (Disney's Home On the Range, Sister Act, The Little Mermaid (Broadway), Love Never Dies, Disney's Tangled, Leap of Faith, ABC's Galavant).
You say that him working with Slater as if it's a light in the end of the tunnel. Remember, Webber and Slater worked together previously on a little show called Love Never Dies, and we all know how well that went.
"They could be doing that ala Wizard of Oz and include some from the classic rock catalogue for when the kids play the music in the band"
You mean ALW's truly terrible supplementary songs for the Wizard of Oz that were absolutely buried by the classic existing score?
No one is even going to care about whatever late-career mediocrity ALW dashes off for this ill-advised venture, because there will most likely be well-known and beloved classic rock songs that will cast a large shadow.
And I really can't imagine a stodgier team for this. What, was Terrence McNally busy?
"...everyone finally shut up, and the audience could enjoy the beginning of the Anatevka Pogram in peace."
"You say that him working with Slater as if it's a light in the end of the tunnel. Remember, Webber and Slater worked together previously on a little show called Love Never Dies, and we all know how well that went."
I am aware of that, but Slater is more used to lighter stuff, so we'll see.
I agree With Jeffrey. I don't like ALW, but I think he has potential to write a decent score. All of his scores are infused with pop/rock elements, though I've found that some of his fans are reluctant to admit that about his more "operatic" scores. And as has already been pointed out, ALW doesn't write his own lyrics, so remarking on whether any of his scores have been comedic is entirely irrelevant. Also, I'm just thanking the theatre gods that it's not gonna be a jukebox musical