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| YASSSSSSS. | |
| Posted by: GrumpyMorningBoy 08:35 pm EDT 08/26/19 | |
| In reply to: re: On PASTICHE: is anyone trying to write a new 'Golden Age' musical these days? Would we pay to see one? - Chromolume 08:08 pm EDT 08/26/19 | |
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| That's what I was saying out loud the whole time I was reading your response. SO TRUE. I'll go a bit further. It's not just that the lyrics are overwritten, but more often than not, they're redundant. I hear lyricists filling out the melody with extra words that complete a cliche or restate what's already been said. And they're usually dramatically inert, too. I'm not saying that it guarantees we're stuck in bad theater. (I always credit directors like Des McAnuff who figured out how to stage visual plot lines within TOMMY so it really didn't matter that they were saying the same thing over and over again.) But getting into the gems of the Golden Age, those writers really knew when a moment merited a more writerly approach. I look at something like "Adelaide's Lament," which -- to my ear -- is probably just about the greatest musical theatre lyric ever. Although that song goes on for multiple verses and choruses, it never overstays its welcome, for multiple reasons. One, the lyrics are just so amusing that you want to sink into your chair and just stay there for a while, but two, Adelaide needs that entire song to complete the scene; it's active. She's in the process of figuring things out, and she needs that whole song to put it all together in her mind. To your points, I sooo agree. And I love "Haled's Song About Love" from A BAND'S VISIT. And, in reference to one of my replies below, that little chromatic step in the melody is a blissfull ear-surprise. I trust you know the one I'm referring to. It's really nice. - GMB |
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| Posted before... | |
| Posted by: Quicheo 04:23 pm EDT 08/27/19 | |
| In reply to: YASSSSSSS. - GrumpyMorningBoy 08:35 pm EDT 08/26/19 | |
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| ...but worth a repeat as it is particularly apropos. | |
| Link | A Contemporary Musical Theatre Song |
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| re: YASSSSSSS. | |
| Posted by: JohnPopa 08:41 pm EDT 08/26/19 | |
| In reply to: YASSSSSSS. - GrumpyMorningBoy 08:35 pm EDT 08/26/19 | |
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| Coincidentally, I was listening to "Guys and Dolls" over the weekend and had a similar though listening to "My Time of Day," - I doubt a modern lyricist could lay off and write something that simple. Same with a composer really. Everyone's working way too hard inside songs these days (in the sense that things are trying so hard to be clever and intricate and dazzling.) | |
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| re: YASSSSSSS. | |
| Posted by: Chromolume 08:46 pm EDT 08/26/19 | |
| In reply to: re: YASSSSSSS. - JohnPopa 08:41 pm EDT 08/26/19 | |
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| And of course musically speaking, "My Time of Day" is actually quite complex - but it flows so well from one idea to the next that you almost don't realize it. | |
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| re: YASSSSSSS. | |
| Posted by: JohnPopa 08:57 pm EDT 08/26/19 | |
| In reply to: re: YASSSSSSS. - Chromolume 08:46 pm EDT 08/26/19 | |
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| Right, simple probably wasn't the right word. I think these days composers and lyrics see density as the best expression of complexity. (But I'll leave the nuts and bolts of that conversation to you musical types.) |
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| re: YASSSSSSS. | |
| Posted by: GrumpyMorningBoy 08:51 pm EDT 08/26/19 | |
| In reply to: re: YASSSSSSS. - Chromolume 08:46 pm EDT 08/26/19 | |
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| Having sat in on auditions once for GUYS & DOLLS, I can say that those tricky intervals in "My Time of Day" have caused many a potential Sky to fall! But Loesser was a genius, and he knew when to match complexity in the music to simplicity in the lyric. And the other way around. And I couldn't agree more about "Michael In The Bathroom." - GMB |
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| re: YASSSSSSS. | |
| Posted by: Chromolume 08:40 pm EDT 08/26/19 | |
| In reply to: YASSSSSSS. - GrumpyMorningBoy 08:35 pm EDT 08/26/19 | |
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| I'll go a bit further. It's not just that the lyrics are overwritten, but more often than not, they're redundant. I hear lyricists filling out the melody with extra words that complete a cliche or restate what's already been said. Yes. And, four words in response to that - Michael. In. The. Bathroom. (That could have so easily been a 32-bar-ish cute little moment, but that as it is really overstays its welcome in spades. Redundant, tedious, and ultimately a one-joke song that tries way too hard to be more than that.) |
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