Whistle Down The Wind??

[Tim Barstow]

Posted: 2/7/15 at 10:06pm

Am I the only one who thinks this musical deserves a second chance?? It has an amazing score, a compelling story, and great characters.

[After Eight]

Posted: 2/7/15 at 10:08pm

^

I found it to be one of ALW's best scores and shows.

[TimesSquareRegular]

Posted: 2/7/15 at 10:15pm

I saw the London production and loved it!

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 2/8/15 at 12:00am

I enjoy the score. The accents on the original cast album are difficult to listen to but other than that it's a great album. I prefer the revisions Bill Kenwright made to the show for the West End revival and successful UK tours. There was a US tour of his production but it closed early if I remember correctly. The authors seem to have never really settled on a definitive version of the show with Kenwright's production doing well in the UK but failing in the US. The current licensed version is apparently closer to the original West End production without all (or any?) of Kenwright's revisions so the success the show had in the UK seems not of consequence.

[Wilmingtom]

Posted: 2/8/15 at 1:30am

The original version, by Russell Labey and Richard Taylor, was presented by the National Youth Music Theatre of Great Britain in 1993. When they fell on hard times, ALW donated to keep the organization going, then later pulled his sponsorship and wrote his own version of the musical, which opened in 1996. R&H licenses both versions.

[Wilmingtom]

Posted: 2/8/15 at 1:30am

The original version, by Russell Labey and Richard Taylor, was presented by the National Youth Music Theatre of Great Britain in 1993. When they fell on hard times, ALW donated to keep the organization going, then later pulled his sponsorship and wrote his own version of the musical, which opened in 1996. R&H licenses both versions.

[jo]

Posted: 2/8/15 at 1:40am

I saw the musical in London, with Glenn Carter as THE MAN, if I am not mistaken. Good storyline ( Isn't this based on a Hayley Mills movie?) and engaging musical score!

But the album that I like to listen to was released by RUG with famous individual musical voices ( Michael Ball, Tom Jones, Elaine Paige, BoyZone, Bonnie Tyler, etc).

Here's a list of the songs and the singers --

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Songs-Andrew-Webber-Steinmans-Whistle/dp/B0000241XU/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1423377236&sr=8-3&keywords=whistle+down+the+wind

[Wilmingtom]

Posted: 2/8/15 at 1:50am

Hayley's mother, Mary Hayley Bell, wrote the novel on which the musical is based and Hayley and her father, Sir John Mills, starred along with Alan Bates in the fantstic movie, directed by Bryan Forbes.

[jo]

Posted: 2/8/15 at 2:51am

The score was really lovely -

*Unsettled Scores/The Soliloquy is very beautiful!
*And When Children Rule the World is actually a song for Christmas.
*Vaults of Heaven is another rousing song.


Too bad the musical was never one of ALW's commercial hits.

I have rechecked - it was really Glenn Carter who performed in the staging that I saw. Ironic that The Man in this production was mistaken for Jesus Christ ( or was he?) by the children. Glenn eventually portrayed Jesus Christ in the filmed version of Jesus Christ Superstar released by RUG.

[jo]

Posted: 2/8/15 at 2:51am

double post.

Updated On: 2/8/15 at 02:51 AM

[g.d.e.l.g.i.]

Posted: 2/8/15 at 6:02am

The authors seem to have never really settled on a definitive version of the show with Kenwright's production doing well in the UK but failing in the US. The current licensed version is apparently closer to the original West End production without all (or any?) of Kenwright's revisions so the success the show had in the UK seems not of consequence.

Why say one thing, and then contradict it with the very next sentence? They did settle on a definitive version. They threw out Kenwright's changes in the licensed version. As that's what's licensed, I'd say that's pretty bloody definitive. :P (Although, frankly, there are a few things I'd add back into the piece that are on the cast recording and not in the final licensed version. They aren't massive material alterations, like Kenwright's clunky family-friendly material married to the dramatic score Steinman and Lloyd Webber fashioned, just a few little things that smooth out the cracks.)

I'm with Hal Prince, director of the 1996 D.C. tryout, on this one: "...the kids' roles were good and largely avoided sentimentality. And the title song was as beautiful as anything Andrew had ever written. I was taken with the potential for a kind of John Steinbeck, William Inge piece, a show about rural Americana in the past. I thought it had validity. I also never imagined that it could be a critical success, and that doesn't always matter. The original reviews of The Sound of Music, another musical about children, were terrible, and besides, no one really remembers what the original reviews of a hit show are. I knew that Whistle Down the Wind would likely be labeled as 'sentimental,' as The Sound of Music had been, and correctly so, but I also felt it had a potentially irresistible quality. Going in, I felt it had all the ingredients to become a popular success, and I still think it would have been infernally popular."

Were I to give it a second chance, I'd think I'd use some of the original Washington orchestrations in place of the licensed London ones for particular songs. Washington's orchestrations were of a more folky/Cajun feel, which contrast to the outright rock that the London production ended up with (the only hint of the Washington orchestrations were in the occasional use of an harmonica and an electric violin [the latter Washington never utilized] - and the harmonica in the London production was a synth part). I think using the more rock-orientated orchestrations in the Amos/Candy numbers, as well as those of The Man, would contrast with the more naive Swallow et al., whose numbers should be more folky (although as Swallow progresses through the plot her numbers become more influenced by the rock). I especially love the original Washington orchestration of "Cold" as sung in the bar - it sounds more like something that would have been played in such a dive at the time.

Updated On: 2/8/15 at 06:02 AM

[Phantom of London]

Posted: 2/8/15 at 9:06am

Was this all set to go with the marquee up at the Martin Beck theatre (Al Hirschfeld)? It was originally planned to open on Broadway before the West End?

Unsettled scores is one of the best songs ever written for musical theatre. I urge people to listen, who have not heard this song.

[smallvillefan16]

Posted: 2/8/15 at 9:51am

I've always loved the score of this. I've never seen a production, but I think the show should get a second chance.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 2/8/15 at 10:07am

I saw it in London. I've never liked it. The story is rather static and the music isn't that great. I think the original premise is interesting, but ALW's execution of it wasn't good. And some of that music is just ALW at his dreckiest.

[davp]

Posted: 2/8/15 at 10:25am

It really is a shame that this show couldn't become more than it was. It's one of the few 2-disk ALW cast recordings that I can listen to in its entirity without feeling the need to skip over any of the songs. I thought the score was extremelu well written, with so many beautiful, wonderful melodies. I would love to see this show get a 2nd chance.

Updated On: 2/8/15 at 10:25 AM

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 2/8/15 at 2:43pm

I saw the original London production and enjoyed it. The staging was pretty incredible. But I thought the weakest link was the uneven score. Some really lovely and exciting (Vaults of Heaven, Whistle Down the Wind, When Children Rule the World, No Matter What, A Kiss is a Terrible Thing to Waste) peppered with the clumsy (I Never Get What I Pray For, Wrestle With the Devil, Off Ramp Exit to Paradise), the dull (If Only and the 2nd exit extended reprises), the irrelevant (Cold, Annie/Charlie Christmas) and the most awkward and silly patchwork power ballad I've heard from Lloyd Webber (Unsettled Scores/Nature of the Beast). The sudden shift between unrelated melodies and the banal/ridiculous lyrics frankensteined together made this possibly the worst Lloyd Webber ballad I can think of. I do think there is a lovely melodic phrase buried in the Mulligan Stew of the song, but LORDY! Sitting through it in the theatre waiting for it to end was torture. And then he had to reprise it in the second act. Oof! "GLORIOUSLY BIG PARADE!" certainly made me snicker, but it was "And all my prayers are loaded in THIS GUUUUUUUUNN!!" that made me laugh out loud.

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 2/8/15 at 3:07pm

I went to the London production a year into its run with Glenn Carter and Laura Michelle Kelly. I admit I went only knowing about the disastrous Hal Prince production and thought it would be fun to see a production I could tell people "I saw that" about (I also was clueless that it had run already so long.)

I loved it--as did my mom who saw it with me. Gale Edwards staging was a gem--basically a two level set that moved up and down like Sunset Blvd but on a much smaller scale--so it truly felt like an intimate spectacle, especially given the Aldwych Theatre.

I think the score is one of ALW's strongest post Aspects of Love. The Steinman collaboration suits him (I still find it hard to think that Tire Tracks--a tune taken from Song and Dance--is not a Steinman melody.)

I think very little of Kenwright and I can only imagine that people who saw his production--which I know toured the US--saw a bad production. That said, I do admit that I find the accents on the cast album sometimes hard to listen to. It didn't bug me live (maybe they had been toned down by then.)

[vassey]

Posted: 2/8/15 at 3:14pm

The set of the OLC hospitalised many cast members.... I believe it has now acquired a legendary reputation, and is a textbook example of health and safety.
Updated On: 2/8/15 at 03:14 PM

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 2/8/15 at 3:40pm

I never saw it. How did the set work? Why was it so dangerous?

[#1CarrieFan]

Posted: 2/8/15 at 3:41pm

We saw WDTW three times during its pre (pre-pre) Broadway (supposed) run, at the time I believe is was to go into the Martin-Beck. Visited the show at the beginning, middle, and end of it's DC run at the National. While I have few memories of any overwhelming tune, the story was compelling but we predicted there was no way in Hades it would open in NYC. Someone mentioned previously a "US tour" of this show. Is this possible? I have NO memory of this ever, ever happening...

[Fantod]

Posted: 2/8/15 at 3:49pm

There was a national tour

[Joviedamian]

Posted: 2/8/15 at 3:59pm

WDTW has some beautiful music. The tour was to come to San Francisco but it never made it out west!

https://www.broadwayworld.com/los-angeles/article/Whistle-Down-the-Wind-Tour-Closes-217-Cancels-SF-LA-Engagements-20080131

[baal]

Posted: 2/8/15 at 4:16pm

"I think the score is one of ALW's strongest post Aspects of Love. The Steinman collaboration suits him (I still find it hard to think that Tire Tracks--a tune taken from Song and Dance--is not a Steinman melody.) "

Agree completely. I think they really did some great stuff together. ALW had originally asked Steinman to write the lyrics for Phantom, but Steinman was working on the Secret Dreams and Forbidden Fires album with Bonnie Tyler (which ended up being a dud sales wise, despite having some great songs on it.)

Steinman recorded "Tire Tracks and Broken Hearts" with Bonnie Tyler for the "concept album" released before the London production, and I still can't believe that Jim didn't compose the melody.

And the Meat Loaf recording of A Kiss is A Terrible Thing To Waste is just incredible.

Updated On: 2/8/15 at 04:16 PM

[broadwayguy2]

Posted: 2/8/15 at 4:17pm

The US tour was an unkind form of low budget torture.
The US tour cast was quite good though. Updated On: 2/8/15 at 04:17 PM

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 2/8/15 at 7:37pm

I don't know who wrote what, but I'm a huge Steinman fan and WHISTLE is one of the few ALW scores I don't find utterly annoying.