 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Wow! Thanks, Thomas!!! I'm sure that's going to please John.
I already have everything on the CD except 3, including the song by Kiri. Have seen the CD at Amazon for just 50 cents plus $3.99 shipping. But the rarities don't seem to be downloadable anywhere.
I would later buy this at Amazon.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Thomas:
There was a time when I would automatically buy every new ALW show, sort of like Pavlov's dogs! But I've bought too many over the past decade that I've played once and never again, so I'm going to hold back on this one. Maybe it's destined to be one of those recordings we see at Amazon for little more than shipping. Or maybe it'll sell out and become one of those hard to find sets that are sold at inflated prices. But I'm delighted to hear that you've been enjoying it.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
Posted: |
Jan 10, 2014 - 2:21 PM
|
|
|
|
By: |
Bob DiMucci
(Member)
|
Let me tell you, in a big movie theatre with great audio, [JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR] was a marvel! I went back a few times, each time taking others who were similarly thrilled by it. So you can imagine how depressed I was by the initial VHS release! Yuck! I later bought it on VHS/Hi-Fi Stereo, then DVD, and now the Blu-ray, which is the best I've heard and seen it since the big theatre, and on my very large HD screen and with surround sound audio it looks and sounds great. But you still can't beat it in the theatre with great sound. It was tremendous and nothing like watching it at home!!! And I've never had a problem with the singing on it.
To the best of my recollection, JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR was the first film that I ever saw theatrically in stereo. I agree that it was an ear-opening experience. Ted Neeley has made a career out of playing Jesus in various stage versions of the show, but Carl Anderson as Judas is the heart of the film. I skipped the VHS versions of the film, but purchased the laserdisc, which I still have. I'll have to look into the Blu-ray. I also have the soundtrack CD set on regular rotation.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Bob: Never heard of it, but the name of Eugene Roche caught my eye. Remember him as the twin (or lookalike) of the priest in the hilarious "Foul Play" with Goldie Hahn, Chevy Chase, and Dudley Moore? Here's what they say about him in IMDb:
Eugene Roche (9/1928-7/2004): Adept at both comedy and drama, character player Eugene Roche (sometimes billed as Gene Roche) had an extensive four-decade career. Born in Depression-era Boston the son of a Navy man, the moon-faced, intent-looking Roche started on radio at age 15 displaying his knack for character voices, both men and women. He enlisted in the U.S. Army following high school, then studied at Emerson College. Searching for work in summer stock and variety shows, he appeared in productions of "Pal Joey" with Bob Fosse and "Point of No Return" with Henry Fonda. Newly married at this time, he found classical stage parts to play in early 50s San Francisco, then headed for New York and began appearing in dramatic TV shows and commercials.
He made his Broadway debut with "Blood, Sweat and Stanley Poole" starring Darren McGavin and went on to do "The White House" with Helen Hayes and "Mother Courage" with Anne Bancroft. Comedy became his forte on TV with showy recurring roles on Soap (1977), Night Court (1984), and Perfect Strangers (1986), while choice support parts came his way on film, including The Late Show (1977) and Foul Play (1978) -- some roles cantankerous, some lovable, some menacing. The father of nine children, three of his male offspring have opted for entertainment careers: Eamonn Roche and Brogan Roche are actors, and Sean Roche is an Emmy award-winning writer and producer.
- IMDb Mini Biography By: Gary Brumburgh / gr-home@pacbell.net
He had 9 children. Nice that a show he was in is still being heard. And he has a very long line of credits at IMDb.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Thanks, Thomas. I think I'll start a watch list -- otherwise I'll forget! And glad I made you laugh!
I'm back at FSM today after giving myself a 36 hour break!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Thomas:
I thought that it was a very worthy follow-up to the same team's "Stop The World I Want To Get Off" and bought it immediately on reel-to-reel and then LP and didn't hesitate to buy it when it was released on CD. I suspect that "Roar," staged with wit, would work today more than 50 years after it was first produced. And just loved the great Cyril Ritchard!!!
Look at these songs from "Roar":
A Wonderful Day Like Today
This Dream
Look At That Face
The Joker
Who Can I Turn To (When Nobody Needs Me)
Feeling Good
And "Stop The World":
Gonna Build A Mountain
Once In A Lifetime
What Kind Of Fool Am I?
Anthony Newley and Leslie Bricusse created some amazing songs in those 2 wonderful shows! And at the time the great Anthony Newley was on so many of the late night shows as well as prime time varieties singing some of the biggest hits from those shows with such authority. He's been long gone, but his (and Bricusse's) great music will never be gone.
|
|
|
|
|
|
dp
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Yeah, so amusing that I just might die laughing.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Thomas: Re: A recent comment on the ‘Downton Abbey’ thread about Julian Ovenden led me to listen to this again. He starred in the Original London Cast along with Alex Hanson and Ruthie Henshall a few years ago. I’ve never seen the show, but I like this recording with some good songs by Michel Legrand and lyrics by Alain Boublil. As far as I’m aware, this is Legrand’s only attempt at a musical, but that may be wrong.
You're referring to stage musicals, but Legrand did write, for film,"Yentl," and before that, "The Umbrellas of Cherbourg" as well as "The Young Girls of Rochefort." I remember that there was a stage version of "Umbrellas" (which I never saw).
Follow-up. Here's a review of a London stage version of "The Umbrellas of Cherbourg" from The Guardian, 22 March 2011, by Michael Billington:
"Charmingly attenuated" was how the New Yorker's Pauline Kael described the original 1964 Jacques Demy movie. Suspiciously thin would be my verdict on this stage version adapted and directed by Emma Rice for Kneehigh. The Michel Legrand score still offers its fitful pleasures, and the bittersweet ending is retained; but it seems an oddly gratuitous translation of a highly successful film into theatrical terms.
Rice is faithful to the story: Genevieve, a naive teenager, falling for Guy, a Cherbourg garagiste; and then, when he is drafted into the Algerian war, being ardently wooed by a rich jeweller. But, one has to ask, what exactly is gained by the stage transfer?
Rice heightens aspects such as the jealous pangs felt by Genevieve's mum, who has her own eyes on the jeweller's assets. Lest we miss the fact this is an essentially French story, Rice has also imported a roguish compere in the shape of a cabaret diva called Meow Meow, and adds a chorus of matelots in striped vests. I suppose we should consider ourselves lucky she stopped short of an itinerant onion seller.
What is lost are the very things that made the film so original. One is the way in which the fluid camera movement matched the seamless recitative of the Legrand score: take that away, and you are left with a show that, with the exception of I Will Wait for You, seems strangely lacking in musical or dramatic highlights. The other missing ingredient is the candy-coloured artifice of the film, in which even the wallpaper matched the characters' costumes.
Watching the stage version is like seeing a Technicolor film rendered in black and white: Lez Brotherston's set, with its partitioned steel structures, seems determined to evoke the reality of Cherbourg, whereas the point of the story is that it is a romantic fairytale.
The performances themselves are fine. Carly Bawden conveys Genevieve's innocence, Andrew Durand shows Guy plausibly embittered by both the war and his lover's desertion, and Joanna Riding as Genevieve's mum has the right flighty desperation. Nigel Lilley's musical direction is tireless. And there are one or two striking images, such as that of a lovelorn Guy marooned in the midst of the Algerian conflict. But when you recall how ingeniously Kneehigh interwove film and live action in Brief Encounter, this seems a strangely prosaic attempt to capture the elusive poetry of the Demy original. (End of review.)
I have this vague memory of the show being done in America with lyrics by the great Jerry Bock. Or am I confusing that with something else? [Edit: I was later corrected: The lyrics were by Bock's frequent partner Sheldon Harnick, whom I KNEW was the lyricist, but my fingers went on auto-pilot and typed Jerry Bock!!!!]
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Thomas: Re: A recent comment on the ‘Downton Abbey’ thread about Julian Ovenden led me to listen to this again. He starred in the Original London Cast along with Alex Hanson and Ruthie Henshall a few years ago. I’ve never seen the show, but I like this recording with some good songs by Michel Legrand and lyrics by Alain Boublil. As far as I’m aware, this is Legrand’s only attempt at a musical, but that may be wrong.
You're referring to stage musicals, but Legrand did write, for film,"Yentl," and before that, "The Umbrellas of Cherbourg" as well as "The Young Girls of Rochefort." I remember that there was a stage version of "Umbrellas" (which I never saw).
Follow-up. Here's a review of a London stage version of "The Umbrellas of Cherbourg" from The Guardian, 22 March 2011, by Michael Billington:
"Charmingly attenuated" was how the New Yorker's Pauline Kael described the original 1964 Jacques Demy movie. Suspiciously thin would be my verdict on this stage version adapted and directed by Emma Rice for Kneehigh. The Michel Legrand score still offers its fitful pleasures, and the bittersweet ending is retained; but it seems an oddly gratuitous translation of a highly successful film into theatrical terms.
Rice is faithful to the story: Genevieve, a naive teenager, falling for Guy, a Cherbourg garagiste; and then, when he is drafted into the Algerian war, being ardently wooed by a rich jeweller. But, one has to ask, what exactly is gained by the stage transfer?
Rice heightens aspects such as the jealous pangs felt by Genevieve's mum, who has her own eyes on the jeweller's assets. Lest we miss the fact this is an essentially French story, Rice has also imported a roguish compere in the shape of a cabaret diva called Meow Meow, and adds a chorus of matelots in striped vests. I suppose we should consider ourselves lucky she stopped short of an itinerant onion seller.
What is lost are the very things that made the film so original. One is the way in which the fluid camera movement matched the seamless recitative of the Legrand score: take that away, and you are left with a show that, with the exception of I Will Wait for You, seems strangely lacking in musical or dramatic highlights. The other missing ingredient is the candy-coloured artifice of the film, in which even the wallpaper matched the characters' costumes.
Watching the stage version is like seeing a Technicolor film rendered in black and white: Lez Brotherston's set, with its partitioned steel structures, seems determined to evoke the reality of Cherbourg, whereas the point of the story is that it is a romantic fairytale.
The performances themselves are fine. Carly Bawden conveys Genevieve's innocence, Andrew Durand shows Guy plausibly embittered by both the war and his lover's desertion, and Joanna Riding as Genevieve's mum has the right flighty desperation. Nigel Lilley's musical direction is tireless. And there are one or two striking images, such as that of a lovelorn Guy marooned in the midst of the Algerian conflict. But when you recall how ingeniously Kneehigh interwove film and live action in Brief Encounter, this seems a strangely prosaic attempt to capture the elusive poetry of the Demy original. (End of review.)
I have this vague memory of the show being done in America with lyrics by the great Jerry Bock. Or am I confusing that with something else?
Jerry Bock is a composer, not lyricist. The American Umbrellas stage version had lyrics by Bock's former partner Sheldon Harnick. It premiered at the Public in NY and played the Ahmanson in LA.
You say "Legrand did write for film" - he began as a film composer and the majority of his work is as a film composer and most here know that. Umbrellas was well into his film composing career - prior to that he'd written many songs for French films as well as their scores. Unless you meant something else that I'm not getting.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
