Mission Musicals 365

In case you’re wondering how to make sure I don’t like a musical, I’ll tell you.  Make all the songs sound the same.  Write each song similarly.  Arrange them all just alike.

Gets old doesn’t it?

My roommate was in the room when I was listening to this album.  I made the comment that so far all the songs sounded the same.  She asked incredulously, “That wasn’t all the same song?”  My reply, “No, that was the first four songs.”  True story.

This album started out okay.  The first song, “My Best Three Friends,” had a decent, up-tempo beat and good lyrics.

Three tracks later, I was bored.  The performers’ voices aren’t very distinct, and the plot is just blah.  The lyrics never get really good, and the tunes aren’t very catchy.

To make things worse, Glory Days take a heavy-handed tone toward the end as the guys argue and whine in songs like “Other Human Beings.”  I don’t know any guys as dramatic or emotionally aware as the characters seem to be in this musical.

I did like the “truffle shuffle” Goonies reference at the beginning of “Good Old Glory Type Days,” but when a childhood movie reference is the best thing an album has going for it, it’s easy to see why the show bombed on the Great White Way.

Today, I listened to the soundtrack from the 1989 musical based upon the 1944 movie, Meet Me in St. Louis.  The film starred Judy Garland.  The only cast member of the musical that I recognized was George Hearn.

Mostly, the musical uses the songs from the film, such as classics like the title song, “The Boy Next Door,” “The Trolley Song,” and “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.”  Those songs hold their own even without the incomparable Judy Garland singing them.  “Under the Bamboo Tree” is also from the film and is a cute addition here just as in the movie.  “You are for Loving” is done as a duet here.  You may remember reading about it previously in this blog when I covered Best Foot Forward.  In that show, Liza Minnelli (daughter of Judy Garland, for those of you who live under rocks) performs that number.  It’s almost like a six degrees of Kevin Bacon kind of connection.

Other than the familiar tunes, there weren’t any numbers that particularly blew me away.  “A Touch of the Irish” delivers advice on catching a man.  It reminds me a little of something Marian’s mom might have sung her in The Music Man.  “A Day in New York” made me want to go there, as most things about musicals do.

This album also has plenty of cheesy songs.  “Banjos” is probably the most egregiously cheesy, followed closely by “Paging Mr. Sousa,” which again could have fit somewhere in The Music Man.

In all, it seems the writers wanted to cover every bit of Americana possible in one show, and in the process, things just get muddled and boring.  The movie isn’t that great either, except for Judy Garland’s performance.  The musical doesn’t have anything anywhere near her equal to help it along.

So, I’m back again and amazed to still have 101 followers.  I’ve found yet another cheap resource for albums, and I need something like this blog right now, so I’m hoping to have a few regular posts for you for a while.

Tonight, I listened to Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, because I love the title.

It ran on Broadway for a few months last fall, and has managed to get a few Tony nominations, including ones for Patti LuPone and Laura Benanti.  Sherie Rene Scott earned a Drama Desk Nomination (as did the aforementioned divas) but alas did not get a Tony nom.

The rest of the cast included Brian Stokes Mitchell (pause for a minute to think of his hotness and the sound of his voice), Justin Guarini (from American Idol), and Mary Beth Peil (Jen’s grandma from Dawson’s Creek and a former Tony nominee).

The music and lyrics were by David Yazbek, who also wrote the funny Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.  The music is fun and catchy and definitely has the Latin feel of the story’s setting.  The lyrics are really clever.  ”Lie to Me” and “Lovesick” are two of the early songs on the album and have some of the best lyrics.  There are poignant moments as well, such as in “Mother’s Day.”

The plot is fast-paced and complicated, but even with that and the title, I was pleasantly surprised to find the level of insanity in a few of the songs such as “On the Verge” and “Tangled.”  Those were some of my favorites on the album.  The funniest song was “Model Behavior.”  It certainly gave Laura Benanti an opportunity to show her comedy chops as her character leaves frantic message after message on her friend’s answering machine.  Hilarious.

With a cast this great and songs this funny and catchy, who cares if the plot’s a colossal mess?  I’d have paid money to see this show if I’d have been anywhere near New York when it was running.

Meredith Willson wrote the music and lyrics for The Unsinkable Molly Brown.  The story is based upon the life of Molly Brown, one of the survivors of theTitanic.  Tammy Grimes, who was once married to Christopher Plummer, played the title role in this original Broadway cast recording.  Her voice is husky and fits the part well.  Harve Presnell’s voice is also surprisingly good.

My favorite songs were “I’ll Never Say No” and “Bon Jour.”

The cadences of some of the songs are similar to those in The Music Man, which Willson also wrote.  It’s a romp of a musical with catchy tunes, but it doesn’t reach out and grab you like The Music Man does.  The lyrics are clever enough, and Willson crams plenty of them into the songs.  Here, as in his more famous work, the singers often must sing at the rapid-fire rate of actors in a 1930s screwball comedy.  There’s plenty of mushy tunes too, and the love story isn’t too shabby.

Yet, overall, the musical lacks the greatness of the Titanic, The Music Man, or even the real-life Molly Brown herself.

Today, I listened to the original cast recording of The Witches of Eastwick.  My favorite songs were “Make Him Mine” and “Look at Me.”  The former has funny lyrics that describe the perfect man as seen by three different women; the latter is the prettiest song on the album and contains the moral of the story.

The musical is based upon the movie, so I won’t dwell on the plot.  The music is catchy, but many of the songs are too lengthy and over-the-top, especially the songs sung to Darryl by each of the three women.  Many of the tunes have a parade-like vibe that make the musical seem a little old-school.

While there’s plenty of humor in the show, they break out the “Wheel of Morality” (as Animaniacs fans would call it) and smack you with a girl-power finish.  I wouldn’t say it’s quite “magical” or “devilishly good.”  But, it’s of ordinary quality, which should be a compliment if the moral of this musical is true.

I want to say “Thanks” to all of you who have continued to follow me in my absence and “Welcome” to all of you who have somehow begun following in that time.

It seems like FOREVER since I’ve done this, and I don’t really remember what all I used to put in these posts, but I’ve decided to get back into this.

While previous entries were almost always written and posted on the same day I listened to the album, I actually listened to this one weeks ago.  I was trying then to get back into this, but I never got around to writing the post.  I listened to the album again a few days ago and took some notes, but failed again to post anything about it.  I’m writing it now in hopes that it will be another step forward and will give me the momentum I need to get going again (and I don’t mean just in this project).

Now, with all of that fully disclosed, here ya go:

Josh Strickland (Tarzan) has an interesting voice.  I’ve yet to dislike anything Schuler Hensley has done, and his Kerchak is really good.  I didn’t care for Jane’s voice at all, but maybe it was just that it sounded so strange contrasting with the rest of the cast.

The melodies are catchy, and the lyrics—though not very deep—work fine.  Phil Collins should do more musicals, I think.  I’d like to see what he could do with a better story.

My favorite songs were “Two Worlds,” “You’ll Be in My Heart,” “Who Better Than Me,” and “Strangers Like Me.”

Of course, some will say this show is an example of all that’s wrong with modern Broadway:  Disney-produced, movie-based, high-flying theatrics (yes, they mean you, Spider-Man).  But, take those factors away, and I think it stands on it’s own as at least a musical of average quality.

Next Entry:  The Witches of Eastwick