not logged in
| re: The ULTIMATE Steinman "what-if" IMO is... | |
Posted by:  |
rockfenris2005 11:43 am UTC 07/31/07 |
| In reply to: | re: The ULTIMATE Steinman "what-if" IMO is... - Pudding 08:39 pm UTC 07/30/07 |
> No it isn't more complicated at all. Whistle Down The Wind > is a really great classic British film, very well known > there, Phantom Of The Opera was relatively unknown. I have it backward? Or you have it backward? "Phantom of the Opera" is one of the Universal greats, up there with "Frankenstein" Boris Karloff and "Dracula" Bela Lugosi. Lon Chaney's portrayal is legendary, "the man of a thousand faces". Without that movie, "Phantom" would have been totally lost and there'd (probably) never been a Lloyd Webber musical. The remake also did well, with Claude Rains of "The Invisible Man", Susannah Foster who could hit a miraculous high C and Norman Eddy. I don't think a lot of people would know of him NOW but he was certainly known THEN. Even the Hammer Horror version and "Phantom of the Paradise" were well known before ALW's version. I've always had the impression that Phantom was some kind of cultural icon even BEFORE the ALW musical. Whereas "Whistle" came across as just some obscure British movie, although Hayley Mills and Alan Bates are highly regarded. > > The problem they had with WDTW was moving location from > North England to the American South I don't think it would have worked the other way, although there's another version of the musical which is apparently more faithful. > > I still go by my original statement would Phantom be > what it is today had Jim written the lyrics? And for > you to say it would IS naive with no facts to support it. 1) We don't know what it would have been like 2) I'm not really saying it is, I just wouldn't be surprised if it was. ALW was on top of the world. If you want the facts, there you go. He'd come off "Cats", "Song & Dance" and "Starlight Express", all BIG BIG hits in the 80s, not to mention the "Requiem" and then the 70s work "Evita", JCS and "Joseph" all playing in the West End or on Broadway. Webber was still in his prime. It was when he went against everyone's expectations (which, seems to me, has always been his hallmark) that he began to suffer; "Aspects Of Love" did OK in London but tanked on Bway, "Joseph" did beautifully at the Palladium but then tanked on Broadway, "Sunset Boulevard" was a disaster, "By Jeeves" was middle-of-the-road and "Whistle" just had waay too many pre-production troubles. But they were all minor hits as opposed to "The Beautiful Game" and "Woman In White" which have performed the worst since "Jeeves" | |
| reply | | |
| Previous: | re: The ULTIMATE Steinman "what-if" IMO is... - Pudding 08:39 pm UTC 07/30/07 |
| Next: | re: What if Meat had never lost his voice? - Bright_Eyes 02:42 am UTC 07/30/07 |
| Thread: | |