It's A Wonderful Life - McCartney

[yankeefan7]

Posted: 7/17/19 at 10:01pm

What does everybody think of making "It's A Wonderful Life" a stage musical with Paul McCartney writing the score? He has written classical music and music for a ballet but stage musical is something entirely different. Should be interesting.

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 7/18/19 at 2:27am

I thought Sheldon Harnick already wrote one. I'd like to hear that score.

[darquegk]

Posted: 7/18/19 at 7:28am

Harnick wrote one with Joe Raposo. It didn’t really work; McCartney’s may not be better but it’s going to at least not be any worse.

[Roscoe]

Posted: 7/18/19 at 8:57am

Strikes me as a very bad idea -- we'll see if it ever actually happens.  As with Sondheim's Bunuel musicals, just because it's announced doesn't mean we'll see it.

[yankeefan7]

Posted: 7/18/19 at 9:02am

" Strikes me as a very bad idea -- we'll see if it ever actually happens.  As with Sondheim's Bunuel musicals, just because it's announced doesn't mean we'll see it. "

Why do you think it is a bad idea? Do you think the movie can't be made into a good stage show or do you think McCartney will not be able to write a decent musical score? Maybe both ?

[Roscoe]

Posted: 7/18/19 at 9:14am

I just can't imagine a musical version of this material working very well.  At all.  And it would require a far more experienced musical theater composer than Paul McCartney to make it work.  Now if it was Dave Malloy, that'd be me setting up camp outside the box office.  

The questions begin -- will it be set in the U.S.?  Will it be the same post-war period?  And how will they shoe-horn in the inevitable gay subplot, probably with Bert and Ernie the cop and cab driver?   

Of course, I could be very wrong.  I remember thinking, "a musical version of THE PRODUCERS? they're kidding, right?"  

 

Updated On: 7/18/19 at 09:14 AM

[BwayLB]

Posted: 7/18/19 at 10:32am

I was picturing more of a modern take with music by Lin Manual Miranda, Pasek & Paul or Kitt & Yorkey. But I’m cool with this

[yankeefan7]

Posted: 7/18/19 at 11:22am

"Of course, I could be very wrong.  I remember thinking, "a musical version of THE PRODUCERS? they're kidding, right?"  "

Understood, my reaction was the same when I heard they were making a musical of "Rocky".

 

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

Posted: 7/18/19 at 2:58pm

Given the creative team involved, particularly Bill Kenwright, I think this is an attempt at coming up with something new to present to the provincial British "family market" now that he's worked Joseph, Blood Brothers, and Whistle Down the Wind to death, and possibly will get some coin on the amateur circuit like the aforementioned Harnick/Raposo adaptation. If it comes to the West End or Broadway, it will be solely on the strength of McCartney's name, as I don't think this would be a commercially successful venture either place.

However, I do applaud Paul's finally writing a musical, as he's long spoken about writing one, having seen West Side Story and Oklahoma! on tour as a kid and been bitten by the bug. Any voracious readers of Beatles bios will recall that he and John once attempted to write a piece called Pilchard, ostensibly about the Second Coming, where Jesus returned as a scrub in a Liverpool slum, with the dramatic conceit that the Christ figure himself never appeared onstage but was referred to by the other characters [i.e. "He's upstairs praying"]. (They got as far as two pages and one song before they got bored with the idea, if anyone's curious.)

Paul's always played with the notion of being more than just a pop star (with three classical albums, four avant-garde electronic albums, a ballet score, and books of both collected poetry/lyrics and artwork to his credit), and I'm glad to see him exploring impulses in this vein.

Updated On: 7/18/19 at 02:58 PM

[yankeefan7]

Posted: 7/21/19 at 12:19pm

"If it comes to the West End or Broadway, it will be solely on the strength of McCartney's name, as I don't think this would be a commercially successful venture either place."

As much as I like McCartney I agree, if it is decent it will be like Sting with "The Last Ship" and maybe run a few months.

[yankeefan7]

Posted: 7/21/19 at 12:23pm

"Paul's always played with the notion of being more than just a pop star (with three classical albums, four avant-garde electronic albums, a ballet score, and books of both collected poetry/lyrics and artwork to his credit), and I'm glad to see him exploring impulses in this vein."

Sadly 95% of the world thinks all he has done musically is with the Beatles and a few might know about Wings. He really has done some wonderful and different things the last 20 years and I am one of the ones who love  his "Fireman" albums. His last album "Egypt Station" did debut at #1 in the US which was nice to see. Really excited that he is attempting this and hope it comes out well. 

Updated On: 7/21/19 at 12:23 PM

[Alex Kulak2]

Posted: 7/21/19 at 2:11pm

I'm interested to see how this goes. It always surprised me that musicals with the Beatles' catalogue (Across the Universe, Sgt. Pepper) didn't do better. One of the best aspects of his songwriting is how easy it is to imagine stories and characters in them. He'll probably be a natural fit for outright musical songs.

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 7/21/19 at 2:33pm

If this does make it to the stage it would likely only ever be for a few months out of the year during the holiday season. They have to know a project like that is unlikely to return the investment straight away. The real money will come from licensing.

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

Posted: 7/21/19 at 11:00pm

Alex Kulak2 said: "It always surprised me that musicals with the Beatles' catalogue (Across the Universe, Sgt. Pepper) didn't do better. One of the best aspects of his songwriting is how easy it is to imagine stories and characters in them."

I bolded that sentence for a reason; therein lies the rub. People imagined stories and characters easily in those songs, but Across the Universe and Sgt. Pepper didn't reflect what they saw in their heads. [Though I would add the former wasn't helped by being essentially "Hair meets Beatlemania meets Forrest Gump."]

Updated On: 7/21/19 at 11:00 PM

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 7/22/19 at 12:16am

How can Paul write anything, he's been dead since 1966

[David10086]

Posted: 7/22/19 at 12:27am

This may work better as a big ALW  musical  (like 'JCS'; 'Phantom' or 'Sunset'. 

Then again, maybe not. 

[yankeefan7]

Posted: 7/22/19 at 8:52am

"I bolded that sentence for a reason; therein lies the rub. People imagined stories and characters easily in those songs, but Across the Universe and Sgt. Pepper didn't reflect what they saw in their heads. [Though I would add the former wasn't helped by being essentially "Hair meets Beatlemania meets Forrest Gump."]"

Just curious if you have seen the movie "Yesterday".

[yankeefan7]

Posted: 7/22/19 at 8:53am

"If this does make it to the stage it would likely only ever be for a few months out of the year during the holiday season. They have to know a project like that is unlikely to return the investment straight away. The real money will come from licensing."

Good point, it would probably only run Nov-Jan like you said.

Updated On: 7/22/19 at 08:53 AM