tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17999907.post8448571288736485830..comments2024-01-24T08:24:14.555-05:00Comments on My Favorite Intermissions: The Professor and Mary AnnMaury D'annatohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14136129943169313348noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17999907.post-27436885391601024912009-06-03T22:48:48.099-05:002009-06-03T22:48:48.099-05:00"Billy Elliot" on YouTube:
"The St..."Billy Elliot" on YouTube:<br /><br />"The Stars Look Down" <br />http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFYhZ3njn34<br /><br />"Shine" <br />http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2YjqBU8OWY&feature=relate<br /><br />(enjoy the buildup at 4:40 - through the "Smoke Mr. Braithwaite" and the bassline at 5:02...)<br /><br />"He Could Be A Star"<br /><br />And don't forget about the amazing chord progressions veering from B, A, G, f#, d, C, Bb, all in the 4 bars it takes to sing "I couldn't take it anymore son/it was tearing me apart/We're lost; we're finished man, we're through". The rootlessness, the longing for something secure and stable - this song is so powerful. Indeed, it it not until the miners (the community) comes together that the song seems more anchored and have more direction forward. It is the ultimate merging of the personal and the political. <br /><br />"He Could Be A Star"<br />http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7B4V6bEvec&feature=related<br /><br />JoeAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17999907.post-3953768689409182892009-06-03T21:53:52.222-05:002009-06-03T21:53:52.222-05:00I still haven't seen the NYC Billy Elliot, but...I still haven't seen the NYC Billy Elliot, but I loved the London version, and I don't think it's much different here. I did have a very hard time understanding the accents, and it has taken many listenings of the CD (while working out at the gym) to understand most of what is sung. <br /><br />I thought the score was quite memorable. (Of course, I am so gay that I play the vocal selections on the piano only slightly less than I played Les Miz in the 80s and Rent in the 90s.) <br /><br />I found the mingling of personal and the political to be cleverly done right from the outset. In "The Stars Look Down" the miners sing about living a "proud and honest life". Later in the song, Billy's opening lines to the same melody, "take me up and hold me gently" speak of the longing for acceptance, which he soon receives from the mother-substitute Mrs. Wilkinson and from his memories of his dead mother, but which he longs to receive from his father, brother, and ultimately the community.)<br /><br />It is one of the gayest musicals (if that isn't already redundant) that I have ever seen - its connection of personal freedom with political freedom is audacious.<br /><br />There are many superb musical-lyrical-dramatics moments (although I agree that the closet full of dancing dresses is over the top, as well as the wired flying in the finale). <br /><br />One side Elton John note - I particularly love the song "Shine", which has some very clever lyrics and asides ("It doesn't matter if you're 'special needs,'/maimed or lame, or born in Leeds" and "I don't care if your mother has got cerebral palsy, Keely, you have to bring your shoes: go home and get them.") And near the end of the song, the "Crocodile Rock" Elton John breaks out with a walking bass line that makes one want to head back to the 70s and wear bright-colored polyester. <br /><br />JoeAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com