Браво, Влад! Я так рада, что вы оценили музыку по достоинству! (кстати, вы не у Тома на мейлинге кусочки из спектакля прослушали?
Я вот в данный момент Gift for Living Well качаю
) Так и распирает поделиться с кем-нибудь впечатлениями!!!! Но вот незадача - народ-то пока ждет выхода Original Cast..
Я согласна на 100 % с тем, что все эти песни нельзя полноценно воспринимать вне контекста мюзикла ( а еще лучше - УВИДЕТЬ этот мюзикл!) ..... они сплавляются там в единое, гармоничное целое, перетекая одна в другую..(может быть поэтому и решили все-таки выпустить двойной альбом, да не студийный, а "живой!")
И еще. Здесь, мне думается Уэббер сумел достичь в наибольшей степени того эффекта (не знаю, как это назовут настоящие театралы), когда музыка - не просто фон спектакля или же набор отдельных хитовых песен, вложенные в уста героев в определенные ситуации...нет, музыка - это главный драматический инструмент спектакля, полностью раскрывающая и его замысел и характеры персонажей. Вобщем, это действительно новое слово в развитии жанра (что бы там не говорили некоторые критики о старомодности этого мюзикла). Напротив, по-моему он настолько новаторский, что многие просто не врубились :D
Обязательно напишите свои мысли об отдельных фрагментах. Как вам All for Loura "живьем"? Я лично едва не рыдала.... А что вытворяет Майкл со своим голосом в You can Get away...!!!
Не могу удержаться и привожу здесь последнюю по времени и очень позитивную статью о мюзикле (обратили ли вы внимание, что чем больше времени проходит после премьеры тем лучше становяться обзоры? Как вы думаете, почему?)
Graphic tale
Michael Portillo
Monday 18th October 2004
Theatre - Lloyd Webber's latest takes technology to new heights. By Michael Portillo
The Woman in White
Palace Theatre, London W1
Watching The Woman in White gave me a headache, but it was worth it. The backdrop is a curved screen, reminiscent of that 1960s phenomenon Cinerama, on to which computer graphics are projected. The impact is more like an Imax. The images change at dizzying speed. We career over open fields as though riding in a helicop-ter. We are standing at the front door of a house, but suddenly we zoom up its facade to a top-floor window, and then, like Peter Pan, we fly into the bedroom within. As actors run on the spot, staircases move down the screen, making it appear that they are climbing to an upper storey. Staying in the same place on the stage, they can journey throughout the virtual world created by the designer, William Dudley.
The show gets off to a cracking start. Andrew Lloyd Webber transposes the opening scene of Wilkie Collins's melodrama to a railway cutting. It is there that the ghostly figure of Anne Catherick first appears, frightened and speaking of a ghastly secret that holds the key to her revenge. With wonderfully concise writing, spine-tingling music and the graphics working their wonders, we are drawn instantly into a world of terror and unspeakable evil.
Dudley is the genius who gave us that memorable train crash in David Hare's The Permanent Way. From the first moment of The Woman in White, we anticipate trouble on the tracks, and Dudley's rendering of a Victorian train hurtling towards us from a tunnel does not disappoint. Using graphics, there is no limit to the scenes that can be conjured up. Dudley offers us flowing waterfalls, the grime and murk of Dickensian London and the gruesome interior of a lunatic asylum. A revolving stage helps the director, Trevor Nunn, to maintain a slick pace throughout, with almost instantaneous scene changes.
I suppose that sustaining all the tension of the opening scene throughout the show would not make for a jolly evening or a very good musical, and so Lloyd Webber has written a work in three moods. Following the phantasmagorical goings-on at the trackside, we move, a little disappointingly, to a long romantic interlude as our two-dimensional male hero (played by Martin Crewes) sets aflutter the hearts of not one, but two beautiful young ladies in the house where he has gone to teach painting. The third mood is the high comedy supplied by Michael Crawford, almost unrecognisable as the corpulent Count Fosco.
Crawford makes the most of delightful songs written for his endearing villain role, "A Gift for Living Well" and "You Can Get Away with Anything". His poise and timing are masterful, and he judges the buffoonery perfectly, without ever going over the top. His attempted seduction of Marian Halcombe (played by Maria Friedman) is hilarious, and he handles the pathos of its failure beautifully. His duet performance with an unco-operative white rat is a highlight of the evening.
Outside the big numbers, Lloyd Webber's music provides a simple and unadorned medium for the all-important dialogue. The plot has many twists and the audience needs to hear every word. With the exception of the finale, the performers maintained very clear diction throughout. Thank goodness for that, because David Zippel's lyrics are stylish and witty, and very well worth hearing. The tune that we are meant to be humming as we emerge from the show is called "I Believe My Heart", and given that it follows Lloyd Webber's well-tested formula for ensnaring our emotions, it will surely be a big hit.
Anne Catherick and Laura Fairlie are supposed to be almost indistinguishable from each other - indeed, maybe they are the same person. Without giving too much plot away, I hope, Angela Christian and Jill Paice in the two roles are made to look extraordinarily alike. Christian produces a puzzling accent, indicating that she is from a lower social order, and has a tendency to screech at the climactic moment of her songs. Paice produces the sweetest singing of the evening, and must have the tiniest waist on the West End stage. Her wedding outfit is just one example of costumes that make the audience sigh for a lost age of elegance.
Friedman has the largest part and interacts with all the other characters. Her travels in search of the truth carry the plot, which is combined with a journey of self-discovery. It is she who must make the transition from selfish bitch to self-sacrificing heroine, and she accomplishes it with charm and humour. Along the way, she exposes the slavery in which many women in Victorian England lived - married for their wealth and then abused without mercy and with no possibility of escape. Her motto is "We won't be powerless against these men". Maybe that will prove more catchy than "I Believe My Heart".
Lloyd Webber's new production is another celebration of the wonders of modern stagecraft and a tribute to theatrical professionalism. Wilkie Collins has provided another opportunity for him to cook up his familiar musical recipe. He won't be too worried that, at the curtain call, it was my head rather than my heart that was thumping.