Profile for frontrowcentre2

In addttion to the issues of sound already mentioned, there is the concern of shaping the recorded performance to communicate for the ear alone what is conveyed on stage visually.  Goddard Lieberson at Columbia records was a master at this.  He would adjust tempos to create more aural excitement or expand on an emotional moment.

 

He also knew how to judiciously edit a song to make it a single stand-alone number for the record. A live recording does not allow for

Now I rather liked URINETOWN, and THE BANDS VISIT and PASSION.  I did not like SUNSET BLVD. The performance I atttended in Toronto starred Diahann Carroll who appeared bored and uninterested in giving any kind of star performance.

The classic film is still a favorite, but Lloyd Webber used too much of the film dialogue as recitative and brought nothing new or innovative to the stage adaptation. According to an article in SHOW MUSIC magazine he chose to recycle a number of trunk so

The operetta elements of SHOW BOAT put off younger audiences who do not understand the genre, although they seem to respond to ALW's PHANTOM OF THE OPERA. 

When the revival of SHOW BOAT opened in Toronto, one of the school board trustees in North York was extremely vocal about her opposition to it. She refused to attend  the show and instead galvanized her supporters to try to barricade the theater opening night. They failed. Their numbers were too small to make any kind

qolbinau said: "The song works fine in context - it's a kind of momentary detour while people take their seats and get ready for the show to start. To actually put a showcase on it at the Tony Awards was always incredibly misguided. </i>

Not really..the score of DOLLY is so well known even minor songs like "Elegance" and "It Only  takes a Moment"  would have seemed old hat. Here was a chance for a song that only a few people kno

Every year back to 1990 I recorded the Tony Broadcast on VHS and later transferred the tapes to record able DVD's.  Last year for some reason when I went to record the CBS broadcast of the 2106 Tonys my recorder kept shutting down giving an error message that the program could not be recorded! (Now many movies on TCM also do that.) No problem I had the whole Tony show saved on my PVR. Then last fall our cable company had an outage and all recorded programs were lost across the provin

SUNDAY is very nearly the best original musical I have ever see. What was surprising to me at the time was the number of Broadway critics who despised it. Frank Rick at the NY Times gave it a glowing and thoughtful review.  Other critics either missed the point or did not have the patience to examine it.  But the video of the original Broadway production is there to verify what magical production the original was. Also, guests on my radio program are asked to select and play 5 of th

For me the score is one of the most beautiful of all Sondheim's.... more openly emotional and I would love just another lush chamber opera of this type from him. I LOVED it when I first saw it, and very much enjoy the Broadway cast album, though I regret all the trims made to fit it on once CD. PS Classics got it right with a 2 CD edition of the off Broadway revival and First Night did a more sensible compression to one disc for the original London Production. The PBS TV version is a wond

Some movie adaptations are faithful to the point of not so much preserving the stage show but embalming it. Many Warner film versions of Broadway musicals and plays go to this extreme..The BAD SEED, & MY FAIR LADY are examples...both enjoyable as transcriptions of what was seen on stage. CAMELOT, FINIAN'S RAINBOW & HELLO DOLLY  are bloated and cannot justify their lengths.

Some film versions make alterations, cuts and the resulting film is better than or at least as go

Saw both.  Sam AMERICAN IDIOT the week before the Tony awards (I was seeing all the nominees.) I am not a fan of Green Day or that5 genre of music in particular. The story of a bunch of drug-addicted youths and their anger at the disappointments of their lives was uninviting. Also the music was too much of the same thing...that style of music is really only good for expressing anger.  There was some imaginative staging and enough scenes  of one character on stage in his underwe

He is currently Broadway's hottest composer with a fan base that would be the envy of many rock stars.  So far he has done two shows in the Rap/Hip-Hop style (I must confess I do not understand the distinction between the two,) I greatly admire his dedication to craft, obsessively rewriting every quatrain to make it as close to perfection as possible.

That said, I wonder if he could write Jazz, or traditional-style musical comedy styles  or even something operatic or in a

FLAHOOLEY is  gem. See my review on AMAZON.com. Yma Sumac's songs can be skipped over as they are not in English and have nothing to

My introduction to the score (