| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| damalc |
Posted - 01/19/2008 : 01:28:18
i saw the stage musical last weekend and had a better time than i expected. people keep asking me if it was a good production, but i don't really know what makes a musical good or bad, or how that version of PotA compared with the last one that was in town. bottom line, i dug it. now my uncle is pissed at me, because he hates stuff like that and my going makes him look like a heel.
as unfamiliar as i am with staged musicals, i do have a couple of rules i would like to have added to the books.
1. if your child is young enough to drink from a sippy cup, DON'T BRING HIM TO A BROADWAY PRODUCTION, ESPECIALLY A SCARY ONE! there was a kid, about 4 years old, i guess, two seats from me. as soon as the lights went off, i knew i was in trouble. "i can't see anything!" "is it almost over!" "i don't wanna watch this part."
i was able to tune it out after a while, but that was a headache.
2. to the guy behind me, i'm really glad you enjoy the play and the music, but nobody came to the theater to hear you sing with the performers. at one point, i told my date, "if he so much as hums another song, i'm saying something." and he didn't. perhaps somebody beat me telling him, or he recognized the body language of me and others near him, but he quit.
well, since i enjoyed the play so much, i thought i'd check out some more versions of PotA. good ol' Wikipedia.
there are dozens of incarnations of that story. i was amazed.
i checked out "Dario Argento's The Phantom Of The Opera," and "The Phantom Lover" from my favorite video store.
"Lover" is a Hong Kong version by the director of "Fearless" and "The Bride with White Hair." it was very good, about equal parts "Romeo and Juliet" and "PotA."
Argento's version was kind of bizarre and starred Asia Argento. Surprise. it's been reviewed poorly, but i give it 3/5 fwiffs.
i think Argento must be one of the most brilliant, or laziest moviemakers ever. the general look of the film, and some effects look exactly like the classic "Suspiria." i guess, if it works keep it up.
one part was utterly ridiculous and looked like a rip-off of the scene with the cleaners from "Labyrinth."
and it always weirds me a little bit, knowing that Dario's directing his daughter in sex scenes.
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| 4 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| randall |
Posted - 01/19/2008 : 21:49:28
quote:
Originally posted by BaftaBabe
I suspect what you're responding to is the core of the story which is so intriguing and moving whatever treatment it's given.
Have you seen Phantom of the Paradise? That's also based on the story but modernized to the rock era - well 1974. The [mostly] excellent music is by Paul Williams, who also stars - and is surprisingly convincing. It was directed by Brian de Palma, and I think isn't given the attention it deserves. Even though I'm not all that fond of Jessica Harper - or wimpette as I like to think of her 
I remember that one fondly too, but I was quite underwhelmed by the music. With one or two exceptions, I felt the songs were "sanitized pop," a Williams trademark at the time -- in other words, wimpy. He wasn't nearly as hip as the story suggested [though he made a cuddly Evil One], and since de Palma has pretty good music cred, I wonder if Williams wasn't forced on him as a bankable guy, the Utes' Bacharach.
Disclaimer: I was a pop music critic at the time [so perhaps sniffier than others might have been about the music] and saw PHANTOM just before release on a trip to LA, in the Fox screening room, sitting right next to Charles Champlin. The movie finally caught my attention, but for the first :05, all I could think was, "Chuck Champlin is sitting right next to me!!!" |
| ChocolateLady |
Posted - 01/19/2008 : 13:03:52
While I think that Lloyd-Webber went down hill quickly after Evita, this is a pretty good stage musical, and I enjoyed it when we saw it in London years ago.
The movie version, however, was disgusting in that they casted poor singers in the main roles, albeit Minnie Driver's character isn't supposed to be a good singer. |
| GHcool |
Posted - 01/19/2008 : 09:59:25
I'm still a fan of the Lon Cheney version. |
| BaftaBaby |
Posted - 01/19/2008 : 08:47:13
I suspect what you're responding to is the core of the story which is so intriguing and moving whatever treatment it's given.
Have you seen Phantom of the Paradise? That's also based on the story but modernized to the rock era - well 1974. The [mostly] excellent music is by Paul Williams, who also stars - and is surprisingly convincing. It was directed by Brian de Palma, and I think isn't given the attention it deserves. Even though I'm not all that fond of Jessica Harper - or wimpette as I like to think of her
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