LOG IN / REGISTER



Threaded Order Chronological Order

re: Aida wasn’t nominated for best musical
Last Edit: Chazwaza 03:57 pm EST 02/14/20
Posted by: Chazwaza 03:52 pm EST 02/14/20
In reply to: Aida wasn’t nominated for best musical - dramedy 03:27 pm EST 02/14/20

I'm sure you'll not be shocked that I'm going to argue about act two. I agree "People Like Us" was the best of the show and of the season, but act two (i assume you mean the part two after midnight, i.e from "After Midnight Dies" and on, as there was no intermission) has other incredible developments and pay offs and songs, like:

When the Golden Boy Went Down
More
Love Ain't Nothin
How Many Women in the World
When It Ends (wowza!)
This Is What It Is

and that ending!

But either way that isn't even the second half, the majority of the show happens before midnight, and from the opening notes through the entire party section (which ends with "People Like Us") is absolutely thrilling to me - live in the theater and on the album. And I'd say the tone and action in the show and score deflates exactly the right way, the way the party does after it climaxes. I think it's written this way on purpose, and brilliantly. But I'm clearly a bigger fan of the show and of the post-party-climax songs than you.
reply to this message


re: Aida wasn’t nominated for best musical
Posted by: EvFoDr 05:23 pm EST 02/14/20
In reply to: re: Aida wasn’t nominated for best musical - Chazwaza 03:52 pm EST 02/14/20

I also must lovingly remind you both that The Wild Party on Broadway did not have an act two. The show was performed without an intermission. :-) I understand you probably mean "later in the show", or something to the effect. I believe it was George C. Wolfe who said "parties don't have intermissions", and so the show didn't.

I remember having excellent seats third row center. Early in the show Toni Collette threw a powder puff into the audience and I caught it! I still have it too. LOL. And People Like Us WAS thrilling, especially being so close. They came all the way downstage and a sort of fire escape railing rose up through the stage floor, which they leaned on during the song. I think another reason the song is so potent is that it lands as a big complete number amid a lot of snippets and partial songs that come before it (this is probably on purpose), and the fire escape setting is a refreshing visual change from the same party set we'd seen all night up until then.

Having seen Contact, Swing, and The Wild Party (my tix to The Dead were refunded when it shuttered), I would have hands down given Best Musical to Contact. I don't want to get into the whole debate, but they did the best they could to categorize a show that didn't fit the traditional definition of a musical. I thought Contact was the most satisfying and fully realized experience of all of them. I didn't think much of Aida at all. I don't have strong feelings about Headley vs. Collette. I thought they both served their shows well but neither inspired a passionate feeling about who should win the Tony.
reply to this message


contact was “a dance play” off broadway
Posted by: dramedy 07:27 pm EST 02/14/20
In reply to: re: Aida wasn’t nominated for best musical - EvFoDr 05:23 pm EST 02/14/20

And a musical on broadway. I do think it is a dance play without orch and singing. Even lady day at Emerson grill was a play with singer and small band!
reply to this message | reply to first message


re: Aida wasn’t nominated for best musical
Posted by: Chazwaza 05:28 pm EST 02/14/20
In reply to: re: Aida wasn’t nominated for best musical - EvFoDr 05:23 pm EST 02/14/20

I must lovingly, in turn, point out that I noted the lack of intermission in my first paragraph, and then went on to define the divisions of the show's sections in the last paragraph. :)

And I agree with Wolfe, and don't think this show should ever be done with an intermission.
reply to this message | reply to first message


Privacy Policy


Time to render: 0.012328 seconds.