Live Event Blog

With 50 million records sold on her resume I guess no one should be surprised that Nigerian-English recording artist Sade is # 1 on the Billboard 200. Her new release, Soldier of Love, combines a modern R&B sound with a mystical world music feel. The release is her sixth album and first in ten years since 2000’s Lovers Rock (now triple platinum). Sade, along with her band mates Stuart Matthewman, Andrew Hale, and Paul Spencer Denman, has won fans all over the world for her enchanting sound that continues to push the modern genres of music. The title track from Solider of Love is backed by a Timberland-like hip hop beat with electric guitars, tribal drums, and beautifully arranged backing vocals. Look for a lot more from Sade in 2010.

Simba, Mufasa, Timon, and Pumbaa have been entertaining audiences long after Disney’s 1994 The Lion King became the highest grossing traditionally animated film of all time. In 1997 a musical version of The Lion King hit Broadway and was a instant success. The music of Elton John, Tim Rice, Hans Zimmer, and South African composer Lebo M sounds remarkable in person as elaborate animal puppet costumes garner ooh and aahs from the crowd. The ground-breaking actor-controlled costumes of giraffes, zebras, lions, and long beaked birds whisks audiences away to wilds of Africa with a chorus and beating drums setting the mood from the opening scene. The show is currently running ongoing productions on Broadway, Las Vegas, and London along with a US touring show. In 2010 a production of the musical will open in Madrid and Singapore as The Lion King has been staged in Tokyo, Melbourne, Mexico City, and more cities around the world. I’ve seen the musical twice myself and loved it both times. The story and music of The Lion King will be celebrated for years to come.

All around the theater world, there are problems getting the necessary funding to get the job done. Grant money has dried up for the moment and shows just don’t have much in the way of resources. So many of them are turning creative to get the job done in a way that’s still interesting and respectable. The article I’m looking at has a picture of a show whose set is made out of shredded office paper. It’s a a great time for creativity, but it’s hard for shows that had plans all set to make sets and have casts a certain way. This is especially true in theaters in New Jersey, where there is essentially a spending freeze going on that will prevent much of anything from happening during the next several months at least. Hopefully things will get better again but who knows!

When the musical Show Boat first appeared in 1927, it quickly became a favorite of musical theater fans. In some ways it set the standard for many subsequent Broadway productions, in terms of its style and the kinds of numbers that it puts onstage. In the intervening time, we have seen a sea change on Broadway, in large part starting in the late 50s and early 60s. We found shows like West Side Story that address bigger issues of ethnic conflict and such. Show Boat was never a musical that talked about the big problems of the world. It was a more nostalgic look, even for people at the time it first appeared. This disconnect has made it harder to have this musical touch people. It is a pleasant show with beautiful music. But it’s not hard-hitting the way modern audiences might be looking for. You’ll enjoy it, because they do a good job with the production though, great singers and actors.

There is a new production of Young Frankenstein being put on. Now, the last time that we heard from this story, it was on Broadway with a reportedly subpar musical score that distracted from the actual plot. It was generally regarded as less entertaining than expected. Then again, people who are fans of the movie probably enjoyed the show and could probably recite most of it by heart. They probably even neighed with the horses! The new production does away with much of the singing and dancing, I have heard, and it tightens up the show a good deal. The people I’ve talked to also say that the show has some new lines. They stumbled across the new lines because they were mouthing the words along with the actors. But the small additions bring the show a few surprises instead of just putting the movie onstage. It’s a good plan and I’m looking forward to seeing this show myself.

Jude Law’s Hamlet has come to Elsinore Castle finally, after a rather long run in London. The idea was originally to bring in young people to the shows with Law’s dapper looks, and this has worked well. Hamlet is a great part to play and Law is one of the best actors around to play it. This means that his continuing performances are still great ones. He really connects with the character and people are really excited to hear him play it live. His Hamlet is a real strong character, with a lot of energy, and it’s almost a nervous style of energy. It is always very interesting to see him in action in this part. Don’t be intimidated that the King of Denmark (the real one) is in the audience. You will really feel the tragedy but also relate to a character that has great difficulty with himself and his own demons.

Bonnie Tyler tunes are some of the most famous in the world. There are a lot of different pieces that people will remember when you hum it. But perhaps her most important is “Total Eclipse of the Heart”, which was her main number one chart topper. It was very popular in the US, UK, France and in other places. But did you know she’s still singing and performing in public? She releases retrospectives, compilations and has coordinated with other singers and musicians frequently over the last few years. Jim Steinman will be collaborating with Tyler during her next album, which will give it a little bit of an extra flair and a different flavor.

Rob Thomas, the former lead singer of Matchbox Twenty, has been one of the most successful musicians in the pop-rock scene over the last couple decades. I have been reading this week about the fact that Rob Thomas concert tickets are on sale. My response was: “he’s still touring??” I hadn’t known that at all! Then again, it shouldn’t surprise me. He’s obviously not old and he was very successful in his time in the band. In fact, he earned 3 Grammy Awards for helping write a hit song for Carlos Santana that his triple platinum in 1999. He’s going to release his second solo album sometime later this year, called “Cradle Song”. This follows up on his first solo album that hit #1 on the Billboard charts, which is a big accomplishment indeed! It seems to me everyone should see Rob Thomas performing solo this year!

In the West End, there are lots of different kinds of musicals to see. But unlike in the older days, when the shows would be epic and the music beautiful, the style now seems to be more into the overdone, wacky style of musicals. Rather than a beautiful Christine singing “Think of Me”, they’ll get a chorus line of girls singing and a big song line. It’s almost like we’ve gone back 80 years, but with a decidedly edgier side. But anyway, it’s a fun kind of show to see and you’d enjoy it. The British scene was never known to be one of the best in the world in terms of musical theater. There may be some more British shows coming to Broadway in the next few years, since Billy Elliott was able to practically sweep the Tonys this year. It will be fun for the next few years to see what happens next!

One of the new playwrights on the New York scene is Zakiyya Alexander, the author of “10 Things to Do Before I Die”. According to this reviewer, the show isn’t all that great, because the characters just like to talk about themselves and it’s not completely consistent with the difficulties that they are having in their lives. They are completely different characters, with opposite problems. And yet they can somehow blame these problems on their father. The men in the play aren’t made to be particularly sympathetic. At the same time, other reviewers rather like this skewing of the normal lines of narrative and characterization. Characters that claim that their problems are one thing but are actually something else. It’s more about what people do and what they say they do and whether those can jive in any way.