RIEDEL: Elton pleasantly surprised by Lestat- Page 2
RIEDEL: Elton pleasantly surprised by Lestat
jimnysf
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/10/05
#25re: RIEDEL: Elton pleasantly surprised by Lestat
Posted: 2/3/06 at 2:32pm
"I dunno, I saw tons of vampire-clad patrons at the theatre when I saw it.".
That reminds me of the time I saw "Mamma Mia" on the first night of it's pre-Broadway US premiere in SF, where I saw several men dressed as the male and female members of ABBA.
"I've lost everything! Luis, Marty, my baby with Chris, Chris himself, James. All I ever wanted was love." --Sheridan Crane "Passions"
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"Housework is like bad sex. Every time I do it, I swear I'll never do it again til the next time company comes."--"Lulu"
from "Can't Stop The Music"
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"When the right doors didn't open for him, he went through the wrong ones" - "Sweet Bird of Youth"
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"Passions" is uncancelled! See NBC.com for more info.
#26re: RIEDEL: Elton pleasantly surprised by Lestat
Posted: 2/3/06 at 2:34pm
Heh. But Les Miz was "art" when it first came out. And it's not an awful score by any means. Actually, they might have written more appropriate sounding music.
Can't say I was ever dreaming about a musical of Lestat in the first place, so I never gave much thought to who would write it.
Ehh, who cares. If it comes and they manage to retool it into something that audiences enjoy, que sera, sera.
yr ronin,
joey
joey
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/31/69
#27re: RIEDEL: Elton pleasantly surprised by Lestat
Posted: 2/3/06 at 2:36pm
I don't know when I'll be in NYC, but if it happens to be there, I'm sure I'll see it. I think it'd be interesting to see the changes and finally get an original cast album.
We all knew it was going to happen sometime. Now we just have to wait for WB to shell out more of its horrible movies on stage.
#28re: RIEDEL: Elton pleasantly surprised by Lestat
Posted: 2/3/06 at 2:46pm
Margo is absolutely right. Elton's absence has hurt the show in a bunch of ways.
I'll just restate the obvious...
BSoBW3
Broadway Legend Joined: 1/21/06
#29re: RIEDEL: Elton pleasantly surprised by Lestat
Posted: 2/3/06 at 2:49pm
He is too ego driven for this.
He laughed when the critics called it bland. Dude, wake up. It IS bland.
Maybe they need someone different to do the orchestrations. I mean, some bland scores can be pepped up and made interesting with the right orchestrations...
The smallest stream is a valent river. It will drown me if it can.
thisdude
Chorus Member Joined: 7/14/05
#30re: RIEDEL: Elton pleasantly surprised by Lestat
Posted: 2/3/06 at 2:57pmI agree. If Elton thinks he only needs to change 1 or 2 songs, there is no hope for this show. Also, with the marketing, all that fans of Rice's work have to see is "Lestat" and their interest is peaked, especially since she is no longer writing such books.
#31re: RIEDEL: Elton pleasantly surprised by Lestat
Posted: 2/3/06 at 3:02pmI don't think the orchestration is the problem (well, except maybe the inclusion of tambourines). Most of Act I seems to be the same 4 notes over and over again, and there's nothing that Bernie Taupin's lyrics (which are sometimes clunky) or the orchestra can do about that. I don't think a new arrangement of what's there currently is going to help all that much.
'"Contrairiwise," continued Tweedledee, "if it was so, it might be; and if it were so, it would be; but as it isn't, it ain't. That's logic."'
~Lewis Carroll
#32re: RIEDEL: Elton pleasantly surprised by Lestat
Posted: 2/3/06 at 3:10pm
The ONLY song I recall enjoying from Act One is "Crimson Kiss". Shawk is right about the rest sounding like the same four notes. Act Two is better song wise, with songs like "Sail Me Away" and "I Want More" (for a bit of humor in the show), but I didn't enjoy the Act Two opening number, "Welcome to the New World". THAT is the song they were pushing, as well. It was the exit music in SF.
edit: And if the claim is true about Elton writing the music for this show in only 11 days...then 9 weeks should be PLENTY of time to re-vamp it! I hope...
"My dreams, watching me said, one to the other...this life has let us down."
Updated On: 2/3/06 at 03:10 PM
#33re: RIEDEL: Elton pleasantly surprised by Lestat
Posted: 2/3/06 at 3:11pm
I liked the score (the majority of it anyway). I also happen to like POTO, Les Miz and J&H, so there you go.
I dunno about the lyrics, theres something wrong with using the word "moist" in a serious song. There's something just not right.
thisdude
Chorus Member Joined: 7/14/05
#34re: RIEDEL: Elton pleasantly surprised by Lestat
Posted: 2/3/06 at 3:20pmI think the musical style doesn't fit the show. The show seems dark. The music is light, except maybe "Kill Your Kind." I think it's okay to start out light when they are human and then show a descencion in the music as Lestat descends into darkness. As it is now, he starts out killing a pack of wolves and sings this happy song surrounded by bloody snow and wolf carcasses. It makes no sense.
#35re: RIEDEL: Elton pleasantly surprised by Lestat
Posted: 2/3/06 at 3:20pmThat's a good point!
"My dreams, watching me said, one to the other...this life has let us down."
thisdude
Chorus Member Joined: 7/14/05
#36re: RIEDEL: Elton pleasantly surprised by Lestat
Posted: 2/3/06 at 3:21pmI also love Nicolas and hope that Roderick Hill's part doesn't get cut too much.
#37re: RIEDEL: Elton pleasantly surprised by Lestat
Posted: 2/3/06 at 3:42pmI didn't really see the point of Nicholas. That could be due to unclear story issues, though. He and Armand seem extraneous, IMO.
"My dreams, watching me said, one to the other...this life has let us down."
BSoBW3
Broadway Legend Joined: 1/21/06
#38re: RIEDEL: Elton pleasantly surprised by Lestat
Posted: 2/3/06 at 3:49pm
Shawk - I agree.
I meant that, based on Aida and Lestat, maybe someone could work a little magic. Excuse me. A lot of magic.
The smallest stream is a valent river. It will drown me if it can.
#39re: RIEDEL: Elton pleasantly surprised by Lestat
Posted: 2/3/06 at 3:49pm
There are way too many story threads in Act I and most of them aren't really justified. I could see it if they made Armand more of a... sort of Javert-type. If they want him to be a foil for Lestat, though, they have to give him motivations that make sense other then spitting, lathering evil, because I have to believe that even vampire villians don't do things purely for the sake of being randomly evil. (It's totally not Drew Sarich's fault, I rush to add; he can't help the way his character is written.)
I could see Nicholas having a point in establishing how Lestat's bad choices drive people away, but as it stands now, he's just one more confusion in the muddle of Act I.
'"Contrairiwise," continued Tweedledee, "if it was so, it might be; and if it were so, it would be; but as it isn't, it ain't. That's logic."'
~Lewis Carroll
#40re: RIEDEL: Elton pleasantly surprised by Lestat
Posted: 2/3/06 at 3:49pm
I know their beefing up Armand's part quite a bit, to make him have more of a confrontation between himself and Lestat. I think Nicolas is going to be put in the middle to make their realtionship more heated.
I do think Armand should have a solo (a big one), rather than solo parts in the chorus numbers. It would help the character.
#41re: RIEDEL: Elton pleasantly surprised by Lestat
Posted: 2/3/06 at 3:53pm
Interesting. I noticed even through the SF run that they seemed to be trying to make Armand more... attracted to Lestat? As if he wanted Lestat to join him, but sort of despised him all the same. If they can actually pull that off, I think that could work, but it wasn't really there yet.
A song where we actually got a glimpse of what his motivations are would be helpful, I agree.
'"Contrairiwise," continued Tweedledee, "if it was so, it might be; and if it were so, it would be; but as it isn't, it ain't. That's logic."'
~Lewis Carroll
#42re: RIEDEL: Elton pleasantly surprised by Lestat
Posted: 2/3/06 at 3:55pmI enjoy how public the creative team is being about the show's process. Isn't one the main points of having an out of town tryout to fix major problems? I feel Lestat's San Fran run is really going to help out the production. Their taking the reviews to heart and making it a better show.
Variations on a Theme blog: http://panekattack.blogspot.com/
BSoBW3
Broadway Legend Joined: 1/21/06
#43re: RIEDEL: Elton pleasantly surprised by Lestat
Posted: 2/3/06 at 4:00pmYeah, Welcome to the New World is like a hippie song, I swear.
The smallest stream is a valent river. It will drown me if it can.
#44re: RIEDEL: Elton pleasantly surprised by Lestat
Posted: 2/3/06 at 4:08pm
I had to resist the urge to wave a lighter. 
I think a lot of it was the contrast to all the songs in Act I and then suddenly there were tambourines and drums and what the hell?
'"Contrairiwise," continued Tweedledee, "if it was so, it might be; and if it were so, it would be; but as it isn't, it ain't. That's logic."'
~Lewis Carroll
BSoBW3
Broadway Legend Joined: 1/21/06
#45re: RIEDEL: Elton pleasantly surprised by Lestat
Posted: 2/3/06 at 4:09pm
Hahaha yes!
Embrace It, as well. It's like - is this even the same show from Act 1?
Like Elton decided to do a tribute to John Lennon in the middle of the show...
...Or even Meatloaf.
At least Dracula had the same tone throughout. Good or bad.
The smallest stream is a valent river. It will drown me if it can.
Updated On: 2/3/06 at 04:09 PM
#46re: RIEDEL: Elton pleasantly surprised by Lestat
Posted: 2/3/06 at 4:09pmagreed.
"My dreams, watching me said, one to the other...this life has let us down."
#47re: RIEDEL: Elton pleasantly surprised by Lestat
Posted: 2/3/06 at 4:17pm
I suspect that Act I is going to get more John Lennon-y, if anything, since at least the top of Act II is more on its way to functioning. We shall see. 
'"Contrairiwise," continued Tweedledee, "if it was so, it might be; and if it were so, it would be; but as it isn't, it ain't. That's logic."'
~Lewis Carroll
BSoBW3
Broadway Legend Joined: 1/21/06
#48re: RIEDEL: Elton pleasantly surprised by Lestat
Posted: 2/3/06 at 4:18pmHeh. Yeah. I think I prefer the tone of Act 1, though. It just needs some life. Just because the show's about the (un)dead, doesn't mean the music has to sound dead.
The smallest stream is a valent river. It will drown me if it can.
#49re: RIEDEL: Elton pleasantly surprised by Lestat
Posted: 2/3/06 at 4:30pm
"There's nothing heeeerreeee, nothing heeeerreeeee for youuuuuuu, these cold gray walls will have their waaaaaaaay....."
I'm curious to see what they will do to try to synch the two acts. It's just so odd because Act II is, well, Elton John-y, while Act I is something you wouldn't expect from him, but unfortuantely right now is kind of uninteresting and a mess.
'"Contrairiwise," continued Tweedledee, "if it was so, it might be; and if it were so, it would be; but as it isn't, it ain't. That's logic."'
~Lewis Carroll
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