Ryan's Reviews

The sounds of an old movie playing in a cinema somewhere in Buenos Aires, romantic music underneath on the soundtrack, two actors and one of them the future First Lady of Argentina, and then the movie grinds to an abrupt halt. A ruckus breaks out in the crowd, before the announcement is made that the First Lady of Argentina has entered immortality on 26 July 1952. The scene becomes the streets of the Argentinian capitol thronged with masses, mourning the loss of their beloved Evita. The movie version, after a flashback with Eva as a young girl trying to attend her father's funeral, leads to an outburst of symphonic music and choral sounds that is one of the most powerful, heartrending musical moments I've ever heard. A solemn reminder of why I've been a fan of the music of Andrew Lloyd Webber all of these years. This, ladies and gentlemen, is the review for Andrew's fourth musical: "Evita" with lyrics from Tim Rice and direction in its original premiere from H...

Looking at the discography section of the Jesus Christ Superstar Zone website, there are a whopping forty "Superstar" related albums released by 1975. Let's list them: the Original Concept Recording (1970), 101 Strings (1971), First All American Cast (1971), Henry Mancini & His Orchestra (1971), Kingsway Youth Opera Company (1971), National Rock Opera Company (1971), Nick Ingham (1971), Original Broadway Cast (1971), Percy Faith Orchestra (1971), Pickwick (1971), Sweet Peace (1971), The Living Strings and Living Voices (1971), Alan Caddy Orchestra (1971), Canadian Rock Theatre (1972), First Australian Cast (1972), Ivan Jullien Big Band (1972), Lena-Maria & Sweet Wine (1972), Music For Pleasure (1972), Original Australian Cast (1972), Original Brazilian Cast (1972), Original Danish Cast (1972), Original French Cast (1972), Original London Cast (1972), Original Swedish Cast (1972), Peter Steffen Choir (1972), Roy Meriwether Trio (1972), Studio 70 Orchestra and Choru...

Andrew Lloyd Webber: composer of some of the most successful musicals of the twentieth century, including "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor® Dreamcoat", "Jesus Christ Superstar", "Evita", "Cats", "The Phantom of the Opera", and more. Tim Rice: lyricist of some of the most successful musicals of the twentieth century: "Joseph", "Superstar", "Evita", "Aladdin", "The Lion King", and more. Their work has been performed by millions of people all around the world for fifty years and counting. On 27 October 1970 they released the original studio recording of their musical "Jesus Christ Superstar" on MCA-UK Records, but let's go back a bit. To the time Tim and Andrew had recorded the 35 minute version of their "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor® Dreamcoat" released by the Norrie Paramor Organization and Decca Records. Now, if I'm not mangling my history here, Tim a...

I just want to get this out of the way first, OK? Joseph's coat: "It was red and yellow and green and brown and scarlet and black and ochre and peach and ruby and olive and violet and fawn and lilac and gold and chocolate and mauve and cream and crimson and silver and rose and azure and lemon and russet and grey and purple and white and pink and orange and blue!" The story of the musical "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor® Dreamcoat" begins one Friday afternoon 1 March 1968 at the Colet Court School in London. When the nineteen year old composer Andrew Lloyd Webber assembled onstage with his lyricist Tim Rice and conductor Alan Doggett leading the school choir, nobody knew then the history that was about to be made. But how could they? At the time, what students, teachers and parents witnessed in that assembly was just a fun, entertaining, jolly afternoon of music and narrative. This was the original fifteen minute version of "Joseph", commissioned by...

Earlier I had written a post about "The Musicals of Andrew Lloyd Webber" but now I'm going to go deeper, exploring all of the musicals individually, from 1965's "The Likes of Us" (Wait, what? Bear with me) right up to the present day "Cinderella". Or "Bad Cinderella" as it's being called for its 2023 Broadway opening at the Imperial Theatre. Who is Andrew Lloyd Webber? In case you didn't know: he was born Andrew Lloyd Webber on 22 March 1948 in Kensington, London to composer and teacher William Lloyd Webber and music teacher Jean Lloyd Webber. His younger brother is also a famed musician, the cellist Julian Lloyd Webber who also played on Andrew's 1978 LP "Variations". He has composed: The Likes of Us (1965, unproduced in any form until 2005), Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor® Dreamcoat (1968, extended in 1973), Come Back Richard Your Country Needs You (produced only once in 1969), Jesus Christ Superstar (1970, pro...

By the end of the last millennium, Bette Midler had recorded nine studio albums: The Divine Miss M (1972), Bette Midler (1973), Songs for the New Depression (1976), Broken Blossom (1977), Thighs and Whispers (1979), No Frills (1983), Some People’s Lives (1990), Bette of Roses (1995) and Bathhouse Betty (1998), three live recordings: Live at Last (1977), Divine Madness (1980) and Mud Will Be Flung Tonight! (1985), and four soundtrack albums: The Rose (1979), Beaches (1988), For the Boys (1991) and Gypsy (1993). Some of her movie credits included: The Rose (1979), Jinxed! (1982), Down and Out in Beverly Hills (1986), Ruthless People (1986), Outrageous Fortune (1987), Big Business (1987), Disney’s Oliver and Company (1988), Beaches (1998), Stella (1990), Scenes from a Mall (1990), For the Boys (1991), Hocus Pocus (1993), The First Wives Club (1996), That Old Feeling (1997), Disney’s Fantasia 2000 (1999) and Drowning Mona (1999). In 1977, Bette had performed in her own TV special "Ol...

15 September 1998 saw the release of the ninth studio album from artist Bette Midler. "Bathhouse Betty" was not only her debut on Warner Brothers Records, sister to her previous label Atlantic Records, but the title itself was a callback to her days performing at the Continental Baths at the Ansonia Hotel in New York. The gay bathhouses, this was the place where the persona of the Divine Miss M was truly born, and has flourished for generations since. Through all of Bette's offerings over the years, from the sparkling debut of "The Divine Miss M" and its successor "Bette Midler", through "Songs for the New Depression", "Broken Blossom" and "Thighs and Whispers", live compilations "Live at Last", "Divine Madness" and "Diva Las Vegas", through "The Rose" and its accompanying soundtrack LP, "No Frills" and "Some People's Lives", even a comedy album entitled ...

One of the great things about Bette Midler is the eclecticism of her music. From soulful, piano based moments like "Superstar" and "Am I Blue", to the pop ballads "The Rose", "Wind beneath my Wings" and "From a Distance", the outrageous, breathless comedy of her live albums, to the explosive rock of "The Rose" soundtrack, versus her 1979 disco offering "Thighs and Whispers", and from writers as diverse as Mick Jagger and Keith Richards to Cole Porter of American musical fame. Oh and not to mention her performance as Rose in the legendary "Gypsy" by Jule Styne, Stephen Sondheim and Arthur Laurents. It's all there, all through the back catalogue of albums. Today's album, "Bette of Roses" released in 1995 on Atlantic Records, is no different. Aunty Wiki explains in the composition section that it "marked a change in musical direction as it exclusive included contemporary material compose...

If you were to ask me the name of one of the greatest musicals of all time, I would answer: "Gypsy" featuring music by Jule Styne, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, book by Arthur Laurents based on the memoirs of American burlesque entertainer Gypsy Rose Lee, the entire production directed and choreographed by Jerome Robbins and produced by David Merrick. Following an out of town tryout in Philadelphia April 1959, the legendary original production at the Broadway Theatre, New York on 21 May 1959, transferring to the Imperial Theatre 15 August 1960, before closing with a combined 207 performances and two previews on 25 March 1961. That cast included Ethel Merman as Rose, Jack Klugman as Herbie and Sandra Church as Louise. Set and lighting design were handled by Jo Mielziner, with costumes from Raoul Pène Du Bois. Sid Ramin and Robert Ginzler provided the orchestrations for Jule Styne’s classic score. Thank you Aunty Wikipedia for helping in my refresher! A major revival premiered on...

The butterfly in the top left hand corner, the screaming merry face of the Divine Miss M, and the big bold letters announcing the title: this is "Experience the Divine: Greatest Hits" from Bette Midler. This and 1998's "Bathhouse Betty" became the first two Bette albums I ever owned and listened to. This year, that would have been twenty-five years ago. There were two different versions of "Experience the Divine", the first one released in 1993 following Bette's most recent studio album "Some People's Lives" and the soundtrack of "For the Boys" (both of these have been reviewed in my previous posts). This is the one with the lime green background on the cover and the multi-coloured polka dots splashed about the place. This is the version I can still remember seeing in a promo poster at the local Kmart back in 1993. The second is the updated version from 1996, following Bette's then most recent album "Bette of Roses...