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My Favourite Musical

Up until last week my favourite musical was Barnum which starred Michael Crawford at the time. Now it's Phantom Of The Opera, I saw it last week in London and it was totally enthralling. It even made me cry!!
Silly old B....
 
Al Banner said:
Went to see 'Barnam' with Michael Crawford in London the week Al and I were married, throughly enjoyed it. It was different as all the action and change of scenes of the musical was done as we watched - the part of 76 Trombones was excellent [I thought] as all the cleaning lights of the theatre came on and all the trombonists were amongst the audiance. So very colourful. Miriam.
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I thought 76 trombones was in "The Music Man" not Barnum.
 
Hello Guibert53. It has been a long time since I saw Barnum - now you have me wondering about the Trombones. Miriam.
 
I used to love the 1950's-60's TV re-runs of the Eddy Cantor musical-spectaculars of the 1930's; masses of glitz and glamour produced during the 'Depression' years to cheer people up ... perhaps they should start showing them again!
 
Rocky Horror Picture Show has got to be one of the greatest cult musicals of modern times https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FrNTiheGj2Y

I see it is playing the Alexandra Theatre this week - Don't dream it, Be It.....

Here is a guide for any virgin wanting to participate (more at https://www.timewarp.org.uk/1virgins.htm )

Dress
Suits, these are worn only by people who thought they were booking for 'Phantom of the Opera' or 'Chicago' but dialled the wrong number.
Do not wear anything that may be damaged by the following; water, rice and occasional naked flames.
Sandals, anoraks or anything remotely connected with the acquisition of British Rail rolling stock serial numbers are not on.
Jubilee Clips for an excuse if your partner catches you sneaking out the house like that.

Props to take & use:
Rice, to be thrown during the two wedding scenes. - (not for the stage show!)
Water pistols, to simulate the rain of the storm. - (not for the stage show!)
Confetti, may also be used during the wedding scenes. - (not for the stage show!)
Toast, thrown during the dinner scene. - (not for the stage show!)
Rubber gloves, to be snapped in time with frank 'n' furter during the creation scene. -
Torch, used during the song 'there's a light'. Lighters are banned for safety reasons. -
Party Poppers, Hat, Blower. used during the Dinner/Happy Birthday scene in the play. -
Newspaper, worn over the head during the rain scene. -
Playing cards, thrown during the line 'cards for sorrow, cards for pain' -
 
Back in 2001 one the children bought Enid a CD for Christmas, it was Bryn Terfel singing " The Best of the Musicals ",there are some beautiful songs on it, Some Enchanted Evening,I have Dreamed(King+I) If ever I would leave You(Camelot) Youll Never Walk Alone
Carousel) How to Handle a Woman(Camelot) and many others, it certainly worth a listen, theres some good advice for men on the last one!!
Bernard ps I have made it 1,000 posts
 
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i dont think anyone has mentioned joseph and his technicolour dreamcoat - a great, fun musical
 
I said before that South Pacific is my favourite, closely followed by Oklahoma - the latter from seeing it numerous times when our local company staged it at the assembly rooms in Tamworth and I was on first aid duty with St John Ambulance for 5 of its 7 night run, then re-awakened by a colleague who performed in it at the Crescent a few years ago and who serenaded us whilst practising!!!.
Then I thought but what about West Side Story....
 
I think we have seen a "Golden Age" in Musicals since the end of the war, there are so many of them not yet mentioned, some years ago Enid bought me "The Encyclopedia of Stage and Film Musicals" The Times review of it, and I quote!A Work of Almost Frightening Completeness" Keep em coming, Bernard
 
sistersue61 said:
... but what about West Side Story....
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Oh yes, Sue! :)

West Side Story for me is the musical par excellence. Sadly, I've only ever seen the movie, but it is one of my all-time favourites.

The 1957 Broadway musical comprised: script by Arthur Laurents (with a big nod in the direction of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet); music by Leonard Bernstein; lyrics by Stephen Sondheim (his Broadway début); direction and choreography by Jerome Robbins.

The 1961 movie was directed by Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins. Pictured below is a Japanese movie poster. And here is a movie extract, including the song (and dance) "America". (Excuse the superfluous subtitles.)

[West Side Story is now touring Australia (but sadly not coming to Tasmania :cry:).]
 
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Carmen Jones, Pearl Bailey singing 'Beat out that rhythm on a drum' still blows my mind every time I hear it , what a voice!
 
guilbert53 said:
... Julie Andrews then went on to star in ... Sound of Music ...
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It might be foolhardy of me to admit that I am not a great fan of Rodgers and Hammerstein's last collaboration The Sound of Music (Broadway 1959; movie 1965). The movie has made more than one billion US dollars (2010 value). A certain anonymous Welsh lady is alleged to have seen it some 960 times! The British Government considered it to be suitable post nuclear war music:
The soundtrack album was included in the stockpile of records held in 20 underground radio stations of Great Britain's Wartime Broadcasting Service, designed to provide public information and morale-boosting broadcasts for 100 days after a nuclear attack. [Wikipedia.]​
I saw the movie once, enjoyed the scenery, and have never been able to get the songs out of my head! Here's the movie trailer (just for the scenery! ;)).
 
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I have always liked the music of the film "Pal Joey" and the lovely songs "I Could Write a Book", "Bewitched Bothered and Bewildered", "I Didn't Know What Time It Was", "There's a Small Hotel", "My Funny Valentine", " The Lady Is a Tramp", and the super cast of Frank Sinatra, Rita Hayworth and Kim Novak.
 
This is a lovely, cosy thread!
We all seem to have the same favourites but there was a fantastically funny version of The Pirates of Penzanze by the Australian Opera (exact name forgotton) which I think deserves a mention. There are two versions with more or less the same cast and I stumbled over it on Sky a couple of years ago and it reduced my wife and I to tears of laughter.
Ted
 
"A Pirate King" from the Australian Opera's production of Pirates of Penzance. I saw some of these G & S operettas recently on TV and loved them!

Frank Sinatra in the trailer to Pal Joey (1957). This movie is definitely on my "to see" list.
 
the silver fox said:
There was a fantastically funny version of The Pirates of Penzanze by the Australian Opera (exact name forgotton) which I think deserves a mention. There are two versions with more or less the same cast and I stumbled over it on Sky a couple of years ago and it reduced my wife and I to tears of laughter. Ted
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This "funny" version of Pirates of Penzance was on Sky Arts just a few weeks ago (Sky Arts ran a series of Gilbert and Sullivan operettas recently). I recorded it on my Sky box and still have it there.

It was NOT by Australian Opera (I am sure they would not want to be linked to it) but was made by the Australian Broadcasting Company and featured an old Australian rock star called Jon English.

It is done in what I may describe "pantomime stlye" (similar to our Christmas pantomimes) with lots of jokes between cast and audience and is very funny.

Here is the rather rousing finale where they reprise all the songs (8 minutes long and quite amazing, do give it a look if you can)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tcnBuxHdD4

And here is the rousing song "With a cat like tread" (you can sense the pantomime style in this clip). Four encores !!!.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4Wj2yMuTIU

And here is one of the most famous songs from this operetta, a patter song "I am the very model of a modern major general".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjh0hBHIe48&feature=related
 
Can I say that I like EVERYONE of these mentioned? They are all my favourites, but Desert Island time would have to be...South Pacific....or Seven Brides...or there again it might be the Mikado...oh I don't know. Lovely thread Bernard. Thanks.
 
Here is the rather rousing finale where they reprise all the songs (8 minutes long and quite amazing, do give it a look if you can)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tcnBuxHdD4

And here is the rousing song "With a cat like tread" (you can sense the pantomime style in this clip). Four encores !!!.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4Wj2yMuTIU

And here is one of the most famous songs from this operetta, a patter song "I am the very model of a modren major general".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjh0hBHIe48&feature=related[/QUOTE]

guilbert53 said:
This "funny" version of Pirates of Penzance was on Sky Arts just a few weeks ago (Sky Arts ran a series of Gilbert and Sullivan operettas recently). I recorded it on my Sky box and still have it there.

It was NOT by Australian Opera (I am sure they would not want to be linked to it) but was made by the Australian Broadcasting Company and featured an old Australian rock star called Jon English.

It is done in what I may describe "pantomime stlye" (similar to our Christmas pantomimes) with lots of jokes between cast and audience and is very funny.


Tremendous fun Guilbert, you have made my day! Cheers.
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Thanks, guilbert53, for those video clips from a most energetic and theatrical version of Pirates of Penzance. It's good to see the old rocker Jon English still rocking (and fighting fit!) after all those years. Like me, he's a "ten pound Pom" born in the year 1949 (but there the resemblance ends!).

The Australian Opera might indeed "turn their noses up" at Jon English and Company, but I bet they envied that marvellous audience reaction!

[By the way, "Modern Major General" must be one of the very few songs containing the word "hypotenuse"! ;)]
 
I saw John English in Pirates of Penzance a few years ago in Adelaide it was fantastic. My favourite musical of all time is Les Miserables then Phantom of the opera.
 
Being somewhat older than most members,(not bragging) I can recall our own West End musicals before and just after
the War. Before the invasion of the Amercan musicals lead by Richard Rodgers, some lovely music came from Noel
Coward, his "Ill See you Again" from Bitter Sweet still lingers on, and of course Ivor Novello, I actully saw one of his
shows when stationed in London, "Kings Rhapsody". A couple of weeks ago I was lying in bed one Sunday evening
as you do, listening to David (Hello There) Jacobs, and he played Frank Sinatra singing "We ll Gather Lilacs In The
Spring Again" composed of course by Ivor, recorded with the Robert Fanon Och; in 1962 in London, one of his best
Its lovely to be able to think back to all the beautiful music I have heard in my eighty years, Bernard
 
Its lovely to be able to think back to all the beautiful music I have heard in my eighty years, Bernard[/QUOTE]

Hi Bernard,

I do agree. Todays music makes me shudder and I usually cannot make out the words. When I do they are more often than not obscene. At least the musicals give us songs which we can hum or whistle or even sing. And what are these boy bands and girl bands? In my day a band was a group of men, or women remember Ivy Dawson, who had instruments and played music to which you could dance or sometimes march. How I remember marching around the parade ground at HMS Glendower (Butlins Phwelli) to "Hearts of Oak"

Old Boy
 
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