azza29 Posted November 5, 2013 Share Posted November 5, 2013 ^Still waiting for it to come down here too. Australia doesn't really have a 'touring circuit', so most shows end up playing 3+ months at a time in the major cities. At the moment we seem to be getting a lot of re-runs of old favourites - Lion King, Wicked, Rocky Horror, Grease, Les Mis - rather than anything new. Can't complain too much though - King Kong was both original and quite spectacular, especially the big gorilla puppet/animatronic! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nrthwnd Posted November 6, 2013 Share Posted November 6, 2013 ^ I remember hearing "talk" about taking this production of King Kong to Broadway. Anything you hear further about a transfer? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
azza29 Posted November 6, 2013 Share Posted November 6, 2013 ^I haven't heard anything further, it's got a few more months to run before they move out to make room for Wicked. I read that the plan was to use the Melbourne season as an out-of-town tryout and then go straight to Broadway. When I saw it shortly after opening the staging/puppetry was equal to or better than anything I've seen in New York, but some songs and dialogue needed work (especially the Ann/Jack romance - Disney princesses don't even fall in love that fast!). Should go check it out again to see what's improved/changed, although to be honest the King Kong animatronic is worth the price of admission alone! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nrthwnd Posted November 6, 2013 Share Posted November 6, 2013 ^ I am always interested in different and unique musicals, including ones not always in New York or London. King Kong sounds neat enough to me, even though i wouldn't get the full enjoyment of Kong Himself 'live' onstage. Is there a cast cd out for the show? Or one coming up soon? If one comes out, I would happy and able to pay you back (in one of four-six currencies!) on the Scandi Tour, for a copy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
azza29 Posted November 6, 2013 Share Posted November 6, 2013 ^They haven't produced one yet but I'll keep an eye out. They have put some content on Youtube though: this clip contains 'Full Moon Lullaby', which I found quite memorable (this is from the media event, so the staging etc is quite different from the actual show): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96CiYOy5M2g This video has a sample of various tracks: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-agwxdEY6o And if you skip to about 1:20 in the following, there's some good shots of the gorilla: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HVGsR_1TzRQ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robbalvey Posted November 7, 2013 Share Posted November 7, 2013 After watching the bootleg like 100 times and listening to the cast recording over and over, finally seeing this! And in all cities.... Orlandoooooo! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
azza29 Posted November 7, 2013 Share Posted November 7, 2013 ^Enjoy - I thought the cast recording was great, but in person is even better! Such a brilliant show! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyber.Fiber Posted November 7, 2013 Share Posted November 7, 2013 Saw Evil Dead The Musical tonight and was pleasantly surprised! Thought it was a fantastic show! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chemical_echo Posted November 28, 2013 Share Posted November 28, 2013 Saw Aladdin today and was pretty impressed. The fourth wall was broken right away and there was quite a bit of talking to the audience. Abu was replaced by Aladdin's three friends that also act as narrators and Jafar was played by the actor that voiced him in the movie. Wasn't a fan of some of the new songs (especially Jasmine's intro song), but Friend Like Me and Part of Your World were easily the highlights of the play. My only complaint was the ending; Jafar was literally defeated in under two minutes (I wish to trap the princess, evil laugh, I wish to be sultan, evil laugh, I wish to be a genie, defeated). Also a little disappointed I wasn't able to get a program because it hasn't hit broadway yet, so I'll have to see if someone nice on a broadway board can send one to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
azza29 Posted November 28, 2013 Share Posted November 28, 2013 ^They sang Part of Your World? From The Little Mermaid? That's different. Aladdin has always seemed to me to fall at the 'pantomime' end of musical theatre, but perhaps that's because I've seen the show at DCA a few times now. Would be good if they can make the Broadway production work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robbalvey Posted November 28, 2013 Share Posted November 28, 2013 So I finally just saw Wicked. I know, I know, it's been around ten years and I'm only just now seeing it. Here's the thing, I really just don't like Wizard of Oz, but KidTuns really wanted to see it, and I figured we'd give it a shot. It was her first time seeing any shows on Broadway, and we chose Newsies and Wicked to introduce her to musical theater! Wicked wasn't a bad show. But it was a bad show for me. Seriously, I'm honestly a little annoyed at all the people who kept trying to tell us "this show has nothing to do with the Wizard of Oz movie" when we would say one of the reasons why didn't want to see it was because we hated the movie. It had everything to do with the movie. I mean, it had 3 witches, a wizard, a tin man, lion, scarecrow, flying monkeys, yellow brick road, emerald city, tornados, flying houses, munchkins, Dorothy, and jeweled shoes. It's exactly Wizard of Oz!!! On top of it, the show was totally unoriginal. The first half was Legally Blonde meets Clueless and the second half was just stupid Wizard of Oz. The show draaaaaaagged on forever. That first act felt like it could have easily been 45 minutes shorter. And I wanted to strangle the Glinda character. OMG, she was annoying as hell. The music and songs probably are appreciated more by people who like the movie and books. Some of the songs were good, a couple really decent (although some were totally un-memorable), and the talent they had in the version we saw was excellent, but I just couldn't get into the music at all. From a technical level, the show "looked" great. It was big, impressive, had lots of pretty lights. It was like the "B&M Wingrider of Musicals." Impressive to the masses, but little substance for the seasoned rider. When it comes down to it, I just don't like Wizard of Oz and I could not connect with this show at all. I mean, I think I actually liked the Oz Great & Powerful movie a bit better, and I didn't like that either! Just had to rant about it... On a positive note, we did get to do a really awesome backstage tour of Wicked and KidTums LOVED that, even though she said she liked Newsies much better than Wicked! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
azza29 Posted November 28, 2013 Share Posted November 28, 2013 ^I think I liked the show a little more than you Robb, but agree that it definitely doesn't live up to the hype. I'm not sure why someone would tell you it had nothing to do with the Wizard of Oz - it's exactly the same story from a different perspective! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robbalvey Posted November 29, 2013 Share Posted November 29, 2013 (edited) ^I think I liked the show a little more than you Robb, but agree that it definitely doesn't live up to the hype. I'm not sure why someone would tell you it had nothing to do with the Wizard of Oz - it's exactly the same story from a different perspective! I can think of at least five people where the conversation went something like this: Them: Have you seen Wicked? Me: I have no desire to, I hate Wizard of Oz Them: oh, it's totally different from the movie Me: But it has witches and annoying midgets and crap, right? Them: Yeah, but it's soooooo different you can't even compare the two. Bullshit! That's like me telling someone that hates Lord of the Rings that they should go see The Hobbit because it's totally different! (I also hate Lord of the Rings, BTW!) Edit: But I LOOOOVE our word filters! lol Edited November 29, 2013 by robbalvey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nrthwnd Posted November 29, 2013 Share Posted November 29, 2013 (I also hate Lord of the ringy dingy ding-a-ling dings, BTW!) Then I'm sure you'd just run to the musical staging of The Lord of The Rings, too! From the Toronto production, before it went to London. (And I think those are fighting....orcs?) And if you can't see the show, there's the two-disc cd London recording of it, hee hee. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robbalvey Posted November 29, 2013 Share Posted November 29, 2013 ^ lol. No thanks. I'd actually rather see Wicked again! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jray21 Posted November 30, 2013 Share Posted November 30, 2013 ^^The Lord of the Rings Musical!? That sounds terrible! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nrthwnd Posted November 30, 2013 Share Posted November 30, 2013 ^ It's actually got a couple of nice songs for the hobbits and Frodo, but everything else sounds movie screen epic... w/o the screen, LOL. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chemical_echo Posted December 1, 2013 Share Posted December 1, 2013 ^They sang Part of Your World? From The Little Mermaid? That's different. Aladdin has always seemed to me to fall at the 'pantomime' end of musical theatre, but perhaps that's because I've seen the show at DCA a few times now. Would be good if they can make the Broadway production work. Must have been tired when I wrote that; meant A Whole New World. No comment on Part of Your World. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robbalvey Posted December 6, 2013 Share Posted December 6, 2013 Why NBC, WHY!??!! Why are you subjecting us to something as awful as Sound of Music?!?! Did we not watch enough Jay Leno for you??? I swear we will watch more! ANYTHING. BUT. THIS!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nrthwnd Posted December 6, 2013 Share Posted December 6, 2013 ^ I feel your pain. Of all the musicals in the friggin world, this one....live. That said, we are still taping it because I want to see and hear the Broadway vets who are in it - Laura Benanti (TONY for Gypsy), Christian Borle (TONY for Peter & The Starcatcher), Audra MacDonald (Five TONYs!). And see how they handle a live television thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robbalvey Posted December 6, 2013 Share Posted December 6, 2013 ^ You could put Carrie Underwood. Naked. Fisting a Jackhammer Jesus and I still wouldn't watch it!!! ok, I confess. I'd actually watch that! lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nrthwnd Posted December 6, 2013 Share Posted December 6, 2013 ^ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rollercoaster Rider Posted December 6, 2013 Share Posted December 6, 2013 ^ You could put Carrie Underwood. Naked. Fisting a Jackhammer Jesus and I still wouldn't watch it!!! ok, I confess. I'd actually watch that! lol Then why are you upset about it? It's not like the movie is forever scrapped now. Did the 2007 Grease TV Show ruin the movie Grease? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robbalvey Posted December 8, 2013 Share Posted December 8, 2013 (edited) ^ You could put Carrie Underwood. Naked. Fisting a Jackhammer Jesus and I still wouldn't watch it!!! ok, I confess. I'd actually watch that! lol Then why are you upset about it? It' It was a joke. In case you haven't noticed, I do that sometime. --Robb "Calm down, dude." Alvey Edited December 8, 2013 by robbalvey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bert425 Posted December 8, 2013 Share Posted December 8, 2013 Why NBC, WHY!??!! Why are you subjecting us to something as awful as Sound of Music?!?! Did we not watch enough Jay Leno for you??? I swear we will watch more! ANYTHING. BUT. THIS!!! it wasn't even a GOOD trainwreck! I only made it to "Do Re Me" before giving up and changing the channel. (I think the levels being off -- you could barely hear the singing over the loud music - -hurt them. But the show was a huge ratings hit regardless) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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