Showing posts with label musical. Show all posts
Showing posts with label musical. Show all posts

December 3 – Happily-Ever-Aftering in Camelot!

Posted on December 3, 2018



The date: December 3, 1960.
The place: The Majestic Theatre, Broadway, New York City
The event: The Broadway opening of the musical Camelot

After having drastically loooooonnnnnngggg shows in Toronto and Boston (the premiere in Toronto ran almost four-and-a-half hours!), Camelot opened on Broadway with a talented cast but mixed reviews. 



Still, it was popular: the musical ran on Broadway for 873 performances, won four Tony Awards, became a hit album for 60 weeks, and inspired many revivals and foreign productions and a movie!
This depiction of Camelot is by
Tobias Roetsch
Camelot is the name of a place of legend - the home and castle of King Arthur and Queen Guinevere. King Arthur was said to have lived in early Britain - a time of knights and ladies and quests for the Holy Grail. "They" say that Arthur built a Round Table where his knights, including his loyal friend Sir Lancelot, would meet and talk with him. "They" say that Arthur had a magical sword called Excalibur - a sword he pulled from a stone as a young boy, proving his worth to be king. "They" even say that the young Arthur was taught by a wizard named Merlin.
The Sword in the Stone isn't the only legend about
Excalibur - there is also a legend about the sword and
 the Lady of the Lake.

 All of that sounds like myths, right? And although there may be some real guy at the bottom of all the fabulous stories, or maybe not, for sure most of the tale of King Arthur and Camelot is fiction. 

 Nothing wrong with fiction!


Remember I mentioned that the original cast of Camelot released a popular album? Well, not only did many folks in the United States listen to their Camelot LPs over and over again, even President Kennedy loved listening to the album. According to his wife, Kennedy had some favorite lines:
Don't let it be forgot
That once there was a spot
For one brief, shining moment
That was known as Camelot.
The thing is, President Kennedy's administration was cut short by an assassin, and looking back, many people felt that having the relatively young and charismatic president for such a little time was a sort of "brief, shining moment." And so now the idea of Camelot - the idea of a fantastic place, a place of romance and chivalry, a place that is hard to achieve and harder yet to hold onto - is associated with the Kennedy Administration.

 Check out some Camelot videos, such as these here and here. 

 Like the legends of King Arthur and his Round Table, the images on the Pinterest page "All Things Camelot" are equal parts mysterious and alluring.

What did King Arthur and Queen Guinevere look like?
Well, since they probably never existed:
Any way you like!









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February 8 – Opera Day

Posted on February 8, 2015
Most opera houses are...um...a bit on the fancy side.

Do you enjoy the opera?

I was wondering if, indeed, I had ever even experienced opera (let alone enjoyed it). For sure, I have seen and heard and enjoyed a lot of musicals, including Jesus Christ, Superstar, The Lion King, Oklahoma!, and Phantom of the Opera (which has the word “opera” right there in the name!).

This musical is sometimes
called a rock opera.
But what is the difference between operas and musicals? And what about folk opera, jazz opera, rock opera, and pop-art opera?

Both operas and musicals have stories, characters, costumes and sets, and most importantly music.

In operas, there tends to be continuous singing, but in most (not all) musicals, there are dialogues that are spoken separate from the songs that are sung. However, some musicals have an awful lot of dialogue that is sung, not spoken (Jesus Christ, Superstar is an example), and some are sung straight through (Les Miserables is an example). If a musical fudges this spoken-sung line, it is often called a popular opera or rock opera or other, similar name.

Operas tend to be more difficult to understand and more serious. (However, I ask you, what could be more serious than Les Miserables?)

Musicals tend to have more dancing.

According to one fellow, if there is a successful movie adaptation of the piece, it's a musical. 

Hmm...easy to understand,
spoken dialogue separate from songs,
often light-hearted,
and a popular movie was made from it...

Definitely a musical!

I get the impression that there really isn't a hard-and-fast rule of what makes something a musical rather than an opera. Defining opera is a bit like defining art; some people might say, if you have to ask, you won't get it, anyway.

Here are some short and funny answers from some British folks:
What is the difference between opera and musical theatre?

  • About 50 pounds ($76) per ticket. – John Peniket
  • Snobbery. – Art Butler
  • When someone starts singing after being stabbed, it's an opera. – Michael Whooley
  • Ears. – Steven Thomson


Here is a website dedicated to helping kids learn about opera. 

Here is a short “children's opera.” 

Here is a video of a then-seven-year-old girl singing a song from Phantom of the Opera. (Hey, it has the word “opera” right there in the title!) 

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November 16 – Anniversary of the premiere of “The Sound of Music”

The movie version starred Julie Andrews.
Posted November 16, 2013

The hills are alive...

And Broadway was alive...
...with The Sound of Music.




On this date in 1959, this beloved musical premiered on Broadway. For the first time audiences were entranced by the exciting story of the von Trapp family: A nun working as a governess falls in love with the children's widowed father, and he with her; after they are married, the family of nine flees the Nazis.

The original Broadway show starred Mary Martin.
For the first time, audiences were delighted by the Rodgers and Hammerstein songs “Edelweiss,” “My Favorite Things,” “Climb Every Mountain,” and “Do-Re-Mi.” Oh, and “The Sound of Music,” of course!

For the first time, audiences fell in love with this musical—but not for the last. Not by a long shot. The 1965 movie starring Julie Andrews won five Academy Awards—including Best Picture—and became the highest-grossing film of all time. (Its record has since been supplanted. With figures adjusted for inflation, it's now #5.)
 
These are the real von Trapp kids. Their life was a little different than it was portrayed in the show and movie, and their names were changed, too. Rupert was shown as Friedrich, Agathe became Liesl, Maria became Louisa, Werner was portrayed as Kurt, Hedwig was changed to Brigitta, Johanna became Marta, and Martina was changed to Gretl. 

Celebrate The Sound of Music!

Soon there will be yet another version of the musical, as NBC airs “Sound of Music Live!” on Thursday, December 5! 

Check out “The Making of The Sound of Music” for interesting stories about the movie.  To give you a tantalizing taste of what you can learn: the movie's co-star Christopher Plummer once called the movie “The Sound of Mucus”; some now-famous actors were considered for the roles of the von Trapp kids; and the movie-family cast still feels surprisingly close, 45 years later!

Here is a “sing-along activity kit” for The Sound of Music. 

Learn some of the songs from the show. Here is “Do-Re-Mi.”  And here is a bit of “My Favorite Things.” 


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