Musical Movie Review: Joseph and the Technicolor Dream Coat

This is the first Andrew Lloyd Webber, Tim Rice musical to be presented publicly.  It was first presented as a 15-minute pop production, but has since been extended.  This is one of my favorite musicals.  Listening to Donnie Osmond sing "Close Every Door to Me" is enough to entertain anyone.  It is funny how Andrew Lloyd Webber puts so many different types of music into this, and makes a satirical play on all of them.  This includes French Cantina, Country, hippy go-go with a guru, rock and roll.  In addition to Osmond as Joseph, Maria Friedman portrays the narrator, Richard Attenborough as Jacob, Joan Collins as Mrs. Potiphar, Robert Torti as Pharaoh.
This presentation sets itself up as telling the story to school children, who also make the children's chorus.  The eleven brothers of Joseph do a very good job.  

Musical Review: ****Song and Dance (Andrew Lloyd Webber)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3JsFS1Ei3UU
Song and Dance, Andrew Lloyd Webber,Live at the Palace Theater, 1984.
This is a very enjoyable musical although different. I didn't care for the glipses of the audience and preparations.  It was just filler.  But the actual musical was superb.   It is an Andrew Lloyd Webber musical. I was made aware of it by hearing a Bernadette Peters rendition of "Unexpected Song."  This song is the highlight of the show.  In this version Sarah Brightman portrays the lead part.  The first act is pretty much a one woman show recited the tragedies of her love life.  Some of the songs I had heard before from Webber anthologies.  For example, "Wipe that Smile off your Face" and "Tell Me on a Sunday Please."  This songs are terrific as well.  But both are delivered after relationships go bad.  "Unexpected Song" is delivered when a relationship is going well.  It is a classic love song.  I also enjoyed the letters home  Brightman portrays and English young woman, who is in the United States, New York and Hollywood.  Her take of Hollywood was also fantastic.
The second act is the dance, ballet to be specific.  I am not a fan of ballet, as it puts me to sleep, but this dance has something more.  It has gymnastics and tap dancing.  However the theme again is the hazards of love.  There are five guys and four women.  Our lead dancer, Wayne Sleep goes through all the women, but in the end is left with no one.  The last ten minutes of the production combine dance and singing as Brightman returns to the stage. This resolves the problem of partnerships.  All the dancers sing with her, and she dances with them.

Music Review: ****Sunset Boulevard

One of the most beautiful things I have ever heard is Glen Close singing "With One Look."  At times I have found myself playing this track over and over.  This one song is beautiful:

With one look I can break your heart.
With one look I play every part
I can make your sad heart sing
With one look you'll know all you need to know.

With one smile I'm the girl next door
Or the love you've hungered for
When I speak it's with my soul
I can play any role...

It is just beautiful, and sticks with you.  Andrew Lloyd Webber with Don Black and Christopher Hampton have hit a cord that resonates over time.

With this one song this CD is worth it.  The rest is just ancillary.

Musical Movie Review: ****^ Love Never Dies (2012)

I watched this through Netflix DVD.  It is a 2012 production.
Love Never Dies is the continuation of Phantom of the Opera.  It is an Andrew Lloyd Webber production.
There are a couple of songs that stand out, and summarize the musical.  The Phantom fled Paris to Coney Island in New York.  Ten years later he gets Christine Daae to follow.  She brings her husband and ten year old son.  In the second song, "Love Never Dies" is the hint of the ending.

Look With Your Heart by Love Never Dies Cast
[Christine]
Love's a curious thing, it often comes disguised
Look at love the wrong way, it goes unrecognized

So look with your heart, and not with your eyes
The heart understands, the heart never lies
Believe what it feels, and trust what it shows
Look with your heart, the heart always knows
Love is not always beautiful, not at the start

So open your arms, and close your eyes tight
Look with your heart, and when it finds love, your heart will be right

Learn from someone who knows, make sure you don't forget
Love you misunderstand is love that you'll regret

[Gustave]
Mother?
Look with your heart, and not with your eyes
The heart can't be fooled

[Christine]
The heart is too wise

[Gustave]
Forget what you think

[Christine]
Ignore what you hear

[Christine and Gustave]
Look with your heart, it always sees clear

[Gustave]
Love is not always beautiful, not at the start

[Christine]
But open your arms, and close your eyes tight
Look with your heart, and when it finds love, your heart will be right

Love Never Dies by Love Never Dies Cast
Christine:
Who knows when love begins, who knows what makes it start
One day it's simply there, a life inside your heart
It slips into your thoughts, it infiltrates your soul
It takes you by surprise, then seizes full control
Try to deny it and try to protest
But love won't let you go, once you've been possessed

Love never dies, love never falters
Once it has spoken, love is yours
Love never fails, love never alters
Hearts may get broken, love endures
Hearts may get broken, love endures

And soon as you submit, surrender flesh and bone
That love takes on a life much bigger than your own
It uses you at whim, and drives you to despair
And forces you to feel more joy than you can bear
Love gives you pleasure and love brings you pain
And yet, when both are gone, love will still remain

Once it has spoken, love is yours
Love never dies, love never alters
Hearts may get broken, love endures
Hearts may get broken...

Love never dies, love will continue
Love keeps on beating, when you're gone
Love never dies, once it is in you
Life may be fleeting, love lives on
Life may be fleeting
Love lives on

Music Reviews: **Classic Andrew Lloyd Webber

The Classic Andrew Lloud Webber CD was released in 2004 and has various artists singing with the Orlando Pops Orchestra.  It is a two CD set and is an anthology of several Webber musicals.

The Classics is an operatic style, darker in nature.  I found it difficult to listen to some of the music on the this CD.  The soprano parts, instead of being entertaining, were painful to listen to, and sounded very much like a cat screeching.  The low-lights were the section from The Phantom, Memory from Cats and Another suitcase from Evita.  Some of these are my favorite songs, but not in this rendition.  I think the treble tones, which seem sharp at times, triggered my tinnitus.

One of my favorite songs is “Love Changes Everything.”  Love has changed everything for me.  However even this number was difficult to follow with the operatic style of the male singer.  Even so, the lyrics are very meaningful:

Love Changes Everything

Love, love changes everything Hands and faces, earth and sky Love, love changes everything How you live and how you die Love, love can make the summer fly Or a night seem like a lifetime Yes love, love changes everything Now I tremble at your name Nothing in the world will ever be the same
Love, love changes everything
Days are longer, words mean more
Pain is deeper than before
Love will turn your world around
And that world will last forever
Yes love, love changes everything
Brings you glory, brings you shame
Nothing in the world will ever be the same
Off into the world we go
Planning futures, shaping years
Love (comes in) and suddenly all our wisdom disappears
Love makes fools of everyone
All the rules we made are broken
Yes love, love changes everyone
Live or perish in its flame
Love will never never let you be the same

Love, love changes everything

Nothing in the world will ever be the same.

In conclusion I would suggest a pass on this anthology of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s work by the Orlando Pops Orchestra.  I know there are other anthologies out there which are much better than this one.

Music Review: ***^The Phantom of the Opera, Highlights From

Charity"s high school choir "Phantom"

Music Reviews: The Phantom of the Opera, Highlights From

This CD offer a very light and enjoyable version of this production.   The Phantom, in "Highlights", is Michael Heath and Christine is sung by Kira Bronte.  This was released in 1996. The Highlights has a light air to it, and is very enjoyable to listen to.  Kira Bronte performs as well as any Christine I have heard, and her light music is pleasing to listen to. She has a light youthful air which is very pleasing. 

  Even the super high notes of “Phantom of the Opera” are enjoyable.  Her other songs are also pleasing, "Think of Me" and "Angel of Music". I enjoy “Masquerade” as my daughter sang in and helped choreograph this for her senior year choir at Cupertino High School.  She also sang the solo for "Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again".

In conclusion I would strongly recommend the “Highlights” CD.

*****The Phantom of the Opera (2011)

I prefer this to the movie version. 

The Phantom of the Opera at the Royal Albert Hall also available on instant Netflix is the 25 year anniversary of the Andrew Lloyd Webber classic.  It is a filmed musical version of the musical, not a movie based on the musical.  It includes the entire show, with a bit extra at the end.  The love triangle of the Phantom (Ramin Karimloo), Christine (Sierra Boggess) and Raoul (Hadley Fraser) is classic.  In this presentation Christine is as close to perfection as you can get.  The Phantom and Raoul are a bit less than perfect.  I thought the Phantom had a tendency to go sharp, and this presentation is based on the music.  The most gruesome part is the tenor hanging from the rafters.  The falling chandelier was not very well done.  Just pyrotechnics and no falling.

Music Reviews: ****^The Best of Andrew Lloyd Webber

This is an anthology of the music created by Andrew Lloyd Webber.  It has many different artists.  The song I like the best on this CD is Donny Osmond singing "Close Every Door." Donny singing with the children's choir is just perfection.  This album also offers excerpts from "Phantom of the Opera."  It has Sarah Brightman singing "Piu Jesu." A couple other highlights are Michael Ball singing "Love Changes Everything" and Mandy Patikin and Patty Lupone singing "High Flying Adored."  Mandy Patikin is exquisite in this rendition.  I am also partial to this as this is the cast I saw in New York.  Another perfect song is Glen Close singing "With one Look."  There are a couple songs that I don't enjoy.  One is "Jesus Christ Superstar"  Combining Christ and rock music doesn't work for me.