h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Hello MuseSusan, I saw your name (repository of random showtunes...) and thought I'd say hi, as I too have a disturbingly large repository of showtunes in what I call my brain. I love Rodgers and Hammerstein and have a growing affection for Rodgers' earlier work with Lorenz Hart too. Other favourites are Kander & Ebb (I've written a h2g2 article on them), Cy Coleman and the newer team of Dempsey & Rowe. And let's not forget Porter, Kern, Sondheim, Herman, Bernstein...

Less keen on ALW, to be honest, although Superstar and Evita are masterpieces. Have you seen/heard The Beautiful Game? One of his better efforts, I feel.

Anyway, that's a bit of a long 'hi' isn't it?

David B, the Singing Librarian

Woohoo! Another showtunes fan! (My evil plot to take over the world with showtunes is working, ha ha ha!) Rodgers and Hammerstein are the greatest! (And Rodgers and Hart's songs are cool too, though I haven't seen any of the musicals they did together.) I love Oklahoma! I've slowly gotten into Sondheim (it took me a long time to realize that his songs don't stand on their own, with some exceptions, so I had to actually see the musicals to appreciate his work.) I especially love Sunday in the Park with George, because I'm into art myself, and I never appreciated that painting until I saw the show.

I enjoyed Chicago the movie, so I guess I like Kander & Ebb, though I don't really know much about them. I would like to see Cabaret, though, next time it's onstage somewhere where I can go see it.

Let's see…Cole Porter is great, Leonard Bernstein is amazing, and I love Jerry Herman's music even though I haven't yet seen any of his musicals. (I refuse to watch the movies until after I've seen them onstage, just because.) I've only just gotten interested in Herman after reading his autobiography.
As for ALW, well, I love some of his shows, and don't love others. Phantom is awsome, Joseph is so much fun, Evita and Superstar are absolutely priceless, and (sorry to say this to you) I worship Cats. Yes, I know, people criticize it for having a pretty weak story (which is true), but I think the point of it is not the story but the idea of this tribe or family of cats, who are just like people only not. I've heard a few songs from Beautiful Game and I'd love to see it, especially if other musical people recommend it, but since it never came to the US (correct me if I'm wrong there), I wasn't able to. I'm kind of torn with the rest of ALW's shows, because I love a lot of the songs, but the shows as a whole…I am not fond of Aspects of Love or Tell Me on a Sunday because I find them a bit depressing, though there are some good songs in each.

Anyway, some of my favorites: Oklahoma!, Cats, Sunday in the Park with George, Phantom, The Music Man, Fiddler on the Roof, Guys and Dolls, A Chorus Line, West Side Story, and lots more.

I'm embarrassed to admit it, but I've never heard of Dempsey & Rowe (I haven't paid as much attention to composers/lyricists beyond the late 70's, with a few exceptions, as I do to the ones from the 40's and 50's). What did they write?

Oh, yes, one more thing: as a singing librarian, any relation to Marian the Librarian from The Music Man?

So there's a longer-than-your-"hi" response, and now I have to run before I'm late to class.

As far as I know, I'm no relation to the famous Marian, nor the nice man who is sung about in 'A Trip to the Library' from 'She Loves Me'.

I rarely get to see shows on the stage (there are times when I do more performing than watching theatre) due to the cost - librarians aren't exactly the most affluent members of society. So it's always exciting when I do go! I plan to go up to London and see Les Miserables some time during the Spring, which should be exciting.

Dempsey & Rowe have only written three shows as far as I know.
The first was Zombie Prom, an off-Broadway show about a zombie kid who isn't allowed to go to his high-school prom. A silly show in the Grease/Little Shop of Horrors vein.
The second was The Fix, a satire on American politics which was performed in London, but not New York. It was extremely well-written and very mature. John Barrowman starred as the inept politician.
The third, and most successful was Witches of Eastwick, which ran for a couple of years in the West End. It was really good fun, with one of the strongest scores of recent years (in my opinion) and some great effects (the flying sequence made everyone in the audience, including me, very excited!).
Despite them having had more stuff performed in the UK than the US, they are an American duo.

Some of my favourites definitely coincide with yours, though as you know, I'm not too keen on Cats (bleugh). My favourite Sondheims are A Funny Thing..., Sweeney Todd and A Little Night Music. I'd love to see Into the Woods at some point as well. Other favourites of mine: She Loves Me (by the Fiddler on the Roof folks), Cabaret (simply the best show I've seen, and the best I've been in as well) and Kiss Me, Kate (Cole Porter's very best show, I think). And shows I've never seen, but would love to: Lady in the Dark, Brigadoon and so many more!

Hope class was fun.

David, the Singing (and slightly bored) Librarian

Yes, high on my list of musicals to see if I ever get the chance are She Loves Me (I love Fiddler), Cabaret, and Kiss Me Kate.

Yes, I have heard of Witches of Eastwick (I KNEW I'd at least have heard of their show, even if I didn't know of the writers--my pride is saved!) If it's that good, I should add it to my list, too.

I think half of the reason I love musical theater is that it seems to be one musical genre that forces its writers to create real quality stuff. I mean, I can appreciate almost any kind of music (except rap) as long as it shows intelligence and true care by the writer, but most pop music seems to ride on its ability to be loud and to have fancy graphics and/or practically naked women. Theater, on the other hand, has a smaller and very different set of listeners who expect quality; and in addition the songs are there to tell the story. Then of course there's the fact that theater is just THEATER.

My college theater department is considering doing a musical next year, for the first time in probably decades, and I have a sneaking suspicion that they're going to do Sweeny Todd, which would be awesome! Of course, that would mean I would have to try out and then I would have even less of a life outside the theater than I have now, with just a small role in Tartuffe (not that I'm unhappy).
By the way, I can't believe I forgot to mention Forum! That has to be the most hilarious musical I've ever seen!
I highly recommend watching the DVD of Sunday in the Park with George; I know it's nowhere near as good as seeing it onstage, but it's the most wonderful musical and it's worth watching. I don't know how you are on art, but I promise you you'll come out of it appreciating art even more than you did before you watched it.

Okay, so, as the Dewey Demon, under what number would I find, oh, let's say, the history of the toaster? Basket-weaving techniques? Wombats?

-Susan (random showtune spouter and also mathematician/engineer-in-training)

Those are mightily obscure topics! Toasters would live somewhere around 641.5 (cooking), Basket Weaving would be in 746, where all the textile arts live, and 599 is the designation for mammals. Marsupials would be somewhere near the beginning, so maybe 599.1 or 599.2.

I'm not sure if the Sunday... DVD is available in the UK, but I'll have a word with the nice people in the public library and see if they can track down a copy for me to borrow some time.

What are you studying? Anything thrilling?

David

Wow, I'm impressed! Okay, you've convinced me that you're the Dewey Demon (although I didn't bother to check the numbers; you sound so sure of yourself that I'll assume you're right).

What am I studying? Well, I'm an engineering major (probably computer engineering, but I'm not sure yet (only a freshman)), but I will also be minoring in math and visual arts. Classes I'm taking right now are Logic and Set Theory, which is tough but really exciting (most of my classmates would disagree about the exciting part); History of the Scientific Revolution, which is also a lot of fun; a freshman writing course, and Intro to Stage Design, where on the first day of class we got to play with toy building blocks. We get some really strange assignments in that class--currently we have to find a 1960's roadside-type diner and take pictures, sketches, and measurements in order to reproduce it as a model set for a play. We've also been helping to build the set for the theater's upcoming production of Tartuffe, which is a hilarious Moliére comedy about religious hypocrisy (I also have a small part in the play). So, yes, lots of thrilling studies this term. What about you? What are you studying now? Any good literature recommendations?

At present I'm trying to put together my research proposal for my MA dissertation, which will be on the topic of the relationship between the theatre and Henry Fielding's novels (Tom Jones, Joseph Andrews, Jonathan Wild & Amelia).

When I did my first degree (that phrase always sounds so pretentious!) I did Greek Theatre, Naturalist Theatre, Farce, Shakespeare, American Drama, Tragedy, LAnguage Acquisition, Spoken English, Written English, Intro. to World Languages and a random module on international Science Fictions. Plus half of my first year was practical work on the nuts and bolts of theatre - sound, lighting, set construction and so on. The SF module was one of my favourites - I think most people enjoy the random classes more than the ones for their main subject.

I'm not familiar with Tartuffe (shame on me), but I hope it goes well. The funniest things I've ever seen in the theatre are a production of Twelfth Night, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum and a Feydeau farce called 13 Rue de L'Amour. I'd love to see Noises Off live, as well, since the film made me almost die of laughter, particularly the run-through where we see what's going on backstage.

Books I adore, and would recommend to anyone include Peter Beagle's 'A Fine and Private Place', Russel Hoban's 'Riddley Walker', Umberto Eco's 'Name of the Rose', Italo Calvino's 'If On a Winter's Night a Traveller', Philip Pullman's 'Northern Lights' and Jasper Fforde's 'The Eyre Affair'. Nothing like a bit of eclecticism.

David

I just read The Eyre Affair and Lost in a Good Book a few weeks ago, and now I need to get the third one. I also read A Fine & Private Place, which was great, and the trilogy by Philip Pullman is very high on my list of books to read.

That SF module sounds fun--I love sf/fantasy and I believe some of the best of that genre don't get the respect they deserve from the stuffy literary types who seem to decide what counts as Good Literature.

The sf module was fascinating, particularly as I concentrated my work on the texts that were off the beaten track, so while some people were content to hand in an essay on "The Day of the Triffids", I wrote about Olaf Stapledon, Soviet sf, Stanislav Lem and the unbelievably bizarre Borges. I think that helped me achieve a high grade, because the tutors were probably pleased to see someone actually write about the more obscure texts they'd set.


I borrowed the Broadway CD of Hairspray from someone this week, and it's wonderful! Bouncy, tuneful, feelgood, and with a ridiculously catchy finale: You Can't Stop the Beat. As catchy as The Rhythm of Life and such like. Greatly to be recommended.

David

I will be going to NYC in a week (my college is about a three-hour bus ride away) and I was hoping to be able to see Hairspray on Broadway--I'm dying to see it! Unfortunately, the people I was going to see it with now can't go, and I don't want to go all by myself. Fortunately, it's coming to Los Angeles (where I live when I'm not at college) in the summer, so I'm happy!
I heard "You Can't Stop the Beat" when I watched the Tonys last year, and I was hooked--I'm a sucker for that kind of fun show.

Did you get to see any shows in NYC? Were they good?

I was wondering if you'd like to take a look at a guide entry I'm in the process of writing on musicals based on Shakespeare and tell me what you think:

A1325567

Obviously, it's very much in progress, particularly the West Side Story bit.

David

Hey, nice to hear from you! I've been so busy with Tartuffe (opening night tomorrow!) that I've barely had time to be online.

Yes, I got to see a show in NYC: Aida. It was amazing. And of course, I acted like a horrible tourist and took pictures of all the theater entrances for Phantom, Rent, etc. (The best one was when I took a picture of the Forbidden Broadway sign on 42nd St. from the bus.) Then after the show was over I made the group I was with wait while I played the theater groupie outside the Aida stage door to get the autograph of Mickey Dolenz (of Monkees fame), who was in it. But the show was wonderful, especially the sets and colors.

As for your article, I think it's wonderful! I can see you've read your Musical Stages (in the Boys from Syracuse section), and it's great that you speak from personal experience seeing the shows. I'll definitely take a look when you continue the WSS section.
I also like the part about other musicals based on plays, like Liliom and Green Grow the Lilacs. By the way, you could add Carmen Jones to the musicals based on operas, though it still has the same music, is still pretty much an opera, and isn't so well-known.
I was thinking: either you could add a section about musicals based on classic books, or (since there are many, including very famous ones) you or I could write a whole article about them. That would be fun, especially since I have most of the necessary reference books right in front of me. (Actually, come to think of it, so do you! )

Good luck on the article--
Susan

I hate to say this, but I've never read Musical Stages! The only musical-related biography I've read is one on Sondheim, and I can't even remember what it's called... I do intend to track down "Thou Swell, Thou Witty" on Lorenz Hart, though.

I wonder where I got the information from. Maybe liner notes in a CD?

Musicals based on Dickens (Oliver!, Smike, about 800 versions of Great Expectations, Pickwick, Scrooge and The Mystery of Edwin Drood come to mind) would make an interesting entry. Or how about "Musicals with Exlamation Marks in the Title" - Oliver!, Hello, Dolly!, Oklahoma!, Snoopy!!! and so on? Or is that a little silly?

Glad you enjoyed 'Aida', it hasn't made it over to the UK just yet. And break a leg in Tartuffe.

David - waiting for a copy of 'Not Since Carrie' to arrive in the post

Well, you sure did a good job with your information! Seriously, it sounds well-researched and accurate; just needs expanding. (And all your information on The Boys from Syracuse matches the information in Musical Stages perfectly, but I'm probably the only one who would know that--because of my obsession with Rodgers and Hammerstein.) Incidentally, my local library has Thou Swell, Thou Witty.

Between the two of us, we could do a whole series of articles about various musicals--
• based on Dickens
• exclamation points
• based on real people
• rock operas
• before 1940
• between 1940 and 1970 (or wherever the logical division would be)
• after 1970 (and comparison of styles in each section)
• various composers/lyricists
And the list goes on. If I ever have the time…