David Yazbeck as a songwriter

[goldenboy]

Posted: 11/5/10 at 2:06pm

As a Broadway Musical lover, I have always been confused about the compositions of David Yazbeck.

Of the songs and performances that were posted on here from Wome on the Verge--- the songs seem repetitive, unmusical, unmemorable and just oddly constructed.
They couldn't be saved by the likes of Lupone, Scott, Bernati or Stokes Mitchell--some of Broadways Finest!

I thought his scores for Full Monty; and Dirty Rotten were lackluster and oddly constructed.


There are much better composers out there! Undiscovered ones. I've heard them. I know there are. Producers please find them!



I can't imagine there ever being a David Yazbeck Review
of his songs as there have been for Kander and Ebb, R and H,
Bock and Harnick, Coleman and Leigh, Cole Porter, Noel Coward
and others.

Who would want to sit through it?

Thoughts?







Read more: https://forum.broadwayworld.com/readmessage.php?page=4&thread=1024029&boardid=1#ixzz14QquwJTy

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 11/5/10 at 2:15pm

I think he's definitely talented, but his scores have maybe one or two really good songs and then a lot of filler.

[newintown]

Posted: 11/5/10 at 2:30pm

To put it bluntly, I find him to be a bit of a musical poser, pretending to be a hip writer of jazz, funk, and pop, but turning out really elementary and repetitive stuff, like a garage band.

And the cheap vulgarity of his lyrics just turns me off; they're the badly rhyming equivalent of fart jokes.

What I find puzzling is that, after one show that barely paid off and one big failure, why LCT wanted to put so much money behind him.

But I suppose the same question could be asked about Jason Robert Brown and Michael Jon LaChiusa - two other songwriters who seem to be developmentally arrested (to me), but who continue to get development funds.

[bwayphreak234]

Posted: 11/5/10 at 2:34pm

I actually really like David Yazbek. Even though some of music is slightly lacking, his shows are fun and upbeat. He is by no means an awful composer. His shows are usually interesting and enjoyable in my opinion.

[Ourtime992]

Posted: 11/5/10 at 2:55pm

I really loved the scores for The Full Monty and Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. There are a lot of fun moments in them, and even some moments of real artistry. I think "Breeze Off the River" is incredibly touching, if simple and sentimental, while the opening lines of "Nothing Is Too Wonderful to be True" are fantastic ("look at the way the moon behaves/look at the way she paints a silver ribbon on the waves").

In fact, I liked those scores so much that I bought some of his solo albums. I didn't find them quite as interesting.

I haven't heard Women on the Verge yet, so I can't comment on it.

He's a unique voice with a particular sense of humor that was very well-suited to his first project and stretched a little by his second. It seems this most recent venture just pushed him too far from his area of strength. I understand not wanting to be pigeon-holed, but he previously did a nice job writing some great songs for rough-around-the-edges male characters. Zany, society, Spanish women seems a bit of a leap.

I wish him the best. I've enjoyed his previous offerings and think he has some more great ones in him too.

[dramarama3]

Posted: 11/5/10 at 4:48pm

I think Dirty Rotten Scoundrels is fantastic - absolutely wonderful score - but The Full Monty is kind of...terrible. What he does do with each of his scores however is create a kind of aesthetic, and he really sticks to it. To me - each score (DRS, Monty, Verge) is completely different.
I think Verge's score is pretty 'out there'. I think some of the ballads especially are really quite remarkable - complex and very mature. The problem is they get swamped by a poor book and are intertwined with contrived upbeat Yazbek standards (Lovesick, Time Stood Still)

[sondheimboy2]

Posted: 11/5/10 at 6:36pm

I thought that his next show after "Scoundrels" was supposed to be about martial arts actor Bruce Lee, where did "Women" come from? I hadn't heard anything about it before the official announcement of the show.

[ljay889]

Posted: 11/5/10 at 6:37pm

LOVE him.

[uncageg]

Posted: 11/5/10 at 7:28pm

I enjoyed the music for "The Full Monty" when I saw it but didn't buy it. When I saw "..Scoundrels" on Broadway they were giving out the OBCR at the door. I enjoyed the music when I was at the show but found it to be like cotton candy. It was good while I was listening to it live but sort of went away when I left the theater. (Same with "..Monty"). I listened to it while still in NYC once and put it away for a long time. Now 5 years later it is in rotation on my Zune playlist and I am really enjoying it. It is really a fun score. I am tempted to pick up "The Full Monty" to see if the same thing happens.

[Holbee]

Posted: 11/5/10 at 8:12pm

Wow. I think he's one of our best new composers. He always finds an appropriate melodic through line for each show and his lyrics are always full of specifics. For a show for which he was basically doing on the job training, "The Full Monty" has some amazingly moving material. Very original material. "Big Ass Rock" is full of humor and sometimes, when I'm in the right mood, when Malcolm sings "I've got friends!", I can tear up. (there's a great Carly Simon joke in there too). The hymn at the funeral is one of the most gorgeous things I've heard onstage in the last ten years. Yes. There are some bad, obvious songs ("Jeanette's Showbiz Number") but mostly its a commendable, and at times wonderful score. "Dirty" is a more complete score, probably a better score, but a score I don't actually like as much as "Monty". Though I completely recognize the immense talent behind the compositions. After only seeing it once, I can report I really got off on the original Latin rhythms that course through "Women", but right now I have to say I only really loved two songs. "Model Behavior" and "Invisible". But...those are two fabulous numbers. And I'm looking forward to liking some of the others on second hearing. I would have to say he's my favorite new composer of the last ten years and with three shows produced (with he doing all the songwriting), he now deservedly has had more Broadway exposure than any of the new crop.
Updated On: 11/5/10 at 08:12 PM

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 11/5/10 at 10:54pm

I consider him the Rodney Dangerfield of composers.His scores for Monty & DRS got passed over at Tony time.With Monty, only The Producers steamroller kept him from getting the Tony.I look forward to hearing his Verge score naysayers notwithstanding.

[AndAllThatJazz22]

Posted: 11/6/10 at 12:14pm

David Yazbeck is a victim of the mediocre syndrome. I feel that he has written many great songs (particularly some of his work in DRS), but the majority of his music is very plain and average. Sometimes I hear his music and I know it's there. It's as if I'm not even listening to it.

Updated On: 11/6/10 at 12:14 PM

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 11/6/10 at 2:10pm

Everyone has differing opinions & I disagree with yours but everyone is entitled to theirs - does not make it right or wrong.

[Eleah]

Posted: 11/7/10 at 3:34am

I think he's a highly intelligent writer who is wonderful at writing comedic musicals. Women on the verge should have been taken on the road beforehand, and many of its problems would have been gone....However yazbek's other works are absolutely delightful and hilarious and charming.