I'm not a huge fan of Stephen Schwartz, but 'With You' is a gorgeous song.
Call the understudy / I can't go on tonight / I'm drinking with my buddy / I'm getting good and tight / Before they raise the curtain I'll be higher than a kite / So call the understudy
I can't go on tonight
Hey, any guy who could write the score to "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" is a god in my book. Not capitalized God, like in the title of the thread, but one of those demigods.
"The techniques of weaving bamboo in strips vary with each basket, which may include such materials as old bamboo arrow shafts, driftwood, cloud-pattern bamboo (named for its intermittent mottling), and smoke bamboo (taken from the rafters of old country cottages exposed to smoke for more than 100 years)."
But, I will confess- from the time I first head the line as a 70s teen I thought he was referring to joints rolled in Big bamboo papers.
I want to apologize for some offensive messages posted on this board under my name. The night 0f 12-15-08 I did not have internet access, and someone had used my name to post something offensive. My avatar was also changed. I dont' know what else was posted, or if anyone recieved bad PMs, but I want to apologize for that. I've changed my password, and even though I was not the one posting these messages it still needed to be corrected.
Hit and miss for me. I hate Godspell as a show, but I love some of the music. And thinking about Hunchback sung live, with a big orchestra, gives me chills!
Actually, that's not remotely a fact. It's your opinion.
As for Schwartz, like many, I find him to be hit or miss. I do find myself wondering how the person who writes his great songs and strong lyrics is the same guy who writes his dud songs and banal lyrics. Far more than most other composers, I find him incredibly and frustratingly inconsistent, not just from show to show but from song to song inside his shows. Updated On: 12/7/08 at 12:19 AM
I find him to be a bit hit or miss also. I love Wicked and "For Good" actually brought me to tears when I saw the OBC. I would have to say that outside of Wicked my favorite songs are "All Good Gifts", "By My Side", "On The Willows", "Magic to Do", "The Spark of Creation" and "Lost in the Wilderness". I can remember getting the Godspell album and playing those 3 songs constantly! I must say that I really should listen to Pippin again. I do not own it and have only heard it about 3 or 4 times. I have seen it on video twice.
Pippin, "Meadowlark" and some of his work on Enchanted make me looooove him.
Wicked, which I do love in my inner fangirl soul, is such a hacky hot mess that's a bona fide crowd pleaser. I love "No Good Deed," I enjoy the end of "Defying Gravity" and I am one of the people who likes the "bridges" line.
Even Godspell - a show I adored in my youth that I finally got out of my system when I played The Lord - has its place in my heart.
He is just wildly inconsistent. And when he's bad, he's cringeworthy.
And it's nice to see everyone being civil while discussing this...if this was posted three years ago, it would have ended...well...let's just say interestingly?
Ain't nothin' "miss" about Adam Guettel. Apart from the fact I miss him and wish he were composing many more shows. Some of his stuff can be very difficult, but it's all wonderful.
I too, also feel that he's very inconsistent between his scores. I love his Godspell and Pippin scores and I like his lyrics for Hunchback and Enchanted.
Wicked, IMO, is one of his weaker scores. Some of his lyrics are laughable for all the wrong reasons. I felt that the only memorable numbers were What Is This Feeling?, Popular, Defying Gravity (which is remembered more for the flying effect than the song itself),and For Good.
"You drank a charm to kill John Proctor's wife! You drank a charm to kill Goody Proctor!" - Betty Parris to Abigail Williams in Arthur Miller's The Crucible