Adam Guettel at 54 Below

[CarlosAlberto]

**Swoon**...so who here is going?

[Ourtime992]

Some of the material he's been working on sounds really promising. Oh, what I wouldn't give if he would just finish something! Anything. I love his work and it's a shame that all we have of it are 2 completed shows and a song cycle.

If anyone knows of any other work out there (recordings from small engagements, etc.) that they wouldn't mind sharing, please pm me.

[indytallguy]

This story on Playbill certainly makes me want to go and some performances are on Goldstar.
Story and Songlist

[newintown]

That sweet, silly old queen, Stephen Holden once again demonstrates that his greatest wish would be to crawl between Guettel's legs and take up permanent residence. This piece is a delightful pot-full of worshipful hyperbole.

Don't get me wrong - I adore the score to Light in the Piazza, and found the music beautiful in the otherwise dramatically inert Floyd Collins. But to say that Guettel's Town Hall concert from 14 years ago was "legendary," to claim that America awaits Guettel's next notes with bated breath like they did for Sondheim, Bernstein, and Wagner (!)... well, come on, Stephen.

The terribly-wealthy, amazingly-neurotic, almost-50-year old enfant terrible has produced two musicals and a song cycle in the same amount of time Sondheim wrote 8 full Broadway scores (plus lyrics to 3 more, incidental music to several plays, a TV musical, and scripts for a tv series), and Bernstein had created 5 Broadway musicals (plus 1 opera, 2 ballets, 1 film score, 2 symphonies, and a bushel of other full-length concert pieces).

The lad has a tiny-yet-lovely oeuvre, but hardly enough to warrant quite this much obsequiousness (I think).


Holden genuflects

[Owen22]

New. Are you this awful in person? Or is it just your online persona that is almost, well, evil?

[finebydesign]

Is he "terribly-wealthy"? I've heard quite the opposite.

[newintown]

Owen, are you always a total teat-licking Sunday School teacher? Or is it just your online persona?

[jv92]

newintown is entitled to his opinion, and I respect it. I wish Adam would/could come out with a new score every 2-3 years, but his work is just so good, I really don't care. He's the savior of the American Musical Theater, as far as I'm concerned.

[newintown]

Well, honestly boys, if you read for meaning, you'll see that I like Guettel's work, too; anything negative expressed was in reaction to Holden's hyperbole, not to Guettel's talent, ability, or works.

[vf]

New, if you think Guettel's work is lovely you sure have a funny way of showing it. Yikes. And it seems to me that a lot of people would be waiting with bated breath for something original and worthwhile to be put on a Broadway stage besides the 12th revival of a classic or worse a revival of something awful.

Here's another review from New York Daily News
Cabaret review: Adam Guettel, 54 Below Tony-winning composer-lyricist of 'Light in the Piazza' shares rich range of songs

[vf]

Another review from New York Observer
An Original Classic: Adam Guettel’s Musical Lines Run Deep, But For This Songwriter, It’s All About Carving It Out On His Own

[vf]

Playbill also has a review and song list
Adam Guettel Introduces New Songs From His New Musicals at 54 Below; We've Got the List

[newintown]

"New, if you think Guettel's work is lovely you sure have a funny way of showing it."

Really? Really and truly? Something like "I adore the score to Light in the Piazza, and found the music beautiful in the otherwise dramatically inert Floyd Collins" (the book of which was not by Guettel) is not a positive comment?

Maybe anything less than a writhing orgasm is just seen as a nasty slam by some...

[JoeKv99]

He's written two shows. They are both painful to watch with a couple of good songs. Newintown is a mean jerk but he was much nicer to Adam than he deserves.

[newintown]

Well, that's the sweetest thing you've ever said about me, Joe. You getting soft?

[JoeKv99]

Seriously I only looked in on this thread because I saw you were posting and I thought to myself "OH Christ. Guettel sucks so bad and is SO pretentious that Newintown must be wetting himself over how much he loves him."

[newintown]

Aaaaaand zing.