Mondo Musicals

[filkertom]

Interesting idea for a site -- an idea I've vaguely considered for a long while now, but this fine fellow has gone and done it, and started out with an in-depth look at Little Shop Of Horrors. We've exchanged e-mail, and I'm probably going to write up Metropolis, Moby Dick, Weird Romance, and Flowers For Algernon for him over the next few weeks. When I can. Copious Free Time, y'know. ;)

Any fun or weird musicals you want to make sure we know about? Feel free to provide links.

Comments

[drzarron.livejournal.com]

"Reefer Madness"

It is brilliant beyond belief.

[pandoradeloeste.livejournal.com]

Ooh, you stole mine. ::tear:: I haven't seen it live, but the movie is hilarious - "Little Shop" meets drug PSA. Plus, Kristen Bell in bondage gear. Rawr.

[shockwave77598.livejournal.com]

I've long said that Batman deserved lampooning.

(sung to phantom of the opera)
I am a millionaire, of Gotham fame.
If you should give a care, Bruce Wayne's my name.
Oh but I've secrets here, down in my lair.
The Batman is my secret alter life, whose fate I share.

Was orphaned as a boy; my parents dead.
Cried diamond tears for them as the killer fled.
But I shall pay him back, him and his kind.
The Batman's gonna kick some crooked ass, and tweak your mind.

Where did I get this thing, this suit I wear?
Amazon has no sales on rubber wear.
Why did I choose this path? This misery?
Cuz Batman is more entertaining LARP than RPG.

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

You did know that Jim Steinman worked on that (http://www.freewebs.com/batman_themusical/home.htm), right?

[shockwave77598.livejournal.com]

Whoa! Cool! And here I thought I was being inventive... Pity they didn't actually do it.

[lukeski.livejournal.com]

Reefer Madness
Cannibal: The Musical
And oh, how I wish Brian Wild's "Sex Kittens From Mars" was a movie. Alas, it had a six week run at Broom Street Theatre in Madison, WI and I doubt it will ever get performed again.

[the-dark-snack.livejournal.com]

Oh god, I've seen so many of them.

Pollen: The Musical (in which one of the character's is compost)
Little Women: The Musical
Cathouse: The Musical
The Great Americal Trailer Park Musical (very good!)
Midlife Crisis: The Musical
Batboy (also, good)
Urinetown (it's a privilige to pee)
Chess (a personal favorite)
Altar Boyz (better than you'd expect)

There are at least a dozen or so more but I'm trying to block many of them out.

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

Chess is one of the greatest musicals I can think of, right up there with Sweeney Todd. Batboy, on the other hand.... |-P

[shadowriderhope.livejournal.com]

Bat Boy! I love Bat Boy! :) OK, it's not on par with Sweeney Todd, but it's definitely a good 'un.

Also Assassins (one of my faves - Sondheim at his most bizarre), Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, The Full Monty for mondo.

And just plain good:

Into the Woods, Miss Saigon, Jesus Christ Superstar, A Chorus Line, Rent, Victor/Victoria, Cabaret, Chicago, Sweet Charity, Gypsy....

[the-dark-snack.livejournal.com]

Realize that I only listed the musicals that I've seen that would be considered less mainstream. As for the whole list of what I've seen, it's very long. My SO works for a newspaper here in Indy and we do theater reviews quite regularly. Since we've been here we've seen close to 300 shows.

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention Jaws: The Musical.

[cadhla.livejournal.com]

Well, one, you should really look at Evil Dead and the bizarre evolution of Jekyll and Hyde.

And two, as a fan of stage and screen versions of the 'shop -- I've been in the show eight times, and seen the movie well over four hundred times -- I love both endings. Very much.

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

I've seen a couple of clips from ED:TM, and it seems potentially fun. Jekyll/Hyde... aiee.

And I would love to play Audrey 2.

[cadhla.livejournal.com]

I've played Crystal (twice), Ronette (four times), Chiffon, and Audrey II (twice). The only part I'm really 'eligible' for that I haven't done is Audrey I!

[wookiee71.livejournal.com]

1776 is one of my favorites.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0068156/

[markbernstein.livejournal.com]

Nothing particularly "Mondo" that hasn't already been mentioned comes to mind (the owner of the site already mentioned Avenue Q), but I wanted to note that PBS has filmed the latest revival of Sondheim's Company, and will be showing it on most stations at 9 tonight. I already have the DVR set.

[jcw-da-dmg.livejournal.com]

My brother & I once set out to do Song of the Blob. The monster had a tap dance number. It was to take place on a college campus & use a lot of Tom Lehrer songs. The monster was to be destroyed by peanut butter.

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

Heh. Tomfoolery would certainly count, I think, even though it's more of a musical revue than anything with a plot....

[jcw-da-dmg.livejournal.com]

Well, we were not very wise to ways of the world or copyrights when we came up with the idea.

[pandoradeloeste.livejournal.com]

You probably already know about this one since you're working on "Reanimator", but there's Shoggoth on the Roof (http://www.cthulhulives.org/shoggoth/) - hilarious spoof of "Fiddler" by way of HP Lovecraft. At the end Cthulhu eats the theater Audrey II-style. The stage production was supposed to be cursed for a long time, until some brave Swedes recently broke the curse at a Lovecraft convention and did three shows without anyone dying or going insane. My school's gaming society was flirting with the idea of putting this on - I actually emailed Sean Branney a few times to make sure we had his blessing - but we were defeated by lack of funding and a decent venue that Cthulhu could eat.

[dan-ad-nauseam.livejournal.com]

Along similar lines was the Avenue Jew spoof.

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

Which, if you haven't seen it, is now available with subtitles (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vpa61yYEJ_8).

[pandoradeloeste.livejournal.com]

And it's on Youtube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKW7iL3r0_w) again! (It got taken down as a copyright violation of some kind over the summer.)

[nuveena.livejournal.com]

Good Lord, I once auditioned for the "Flowers for Algernon" musical.. it was... it was weird.

"His name is Charlie Gordon,
He's friendly and sweet.
As open and outgoing
As anyone you'd meet."

I'd like to point out that I can't remember where I put my car in large parking lots, but I remember those lyrics.

Fortunately, the director didn't get enough people, so we did "The Mad Show" instead.

Here's one I bet you haven't heard of: "Doonesbury, The Musical." It's HELLISHLY hard to find... I had the guy at the record shop convert my LP to mp3s...

"GODDAMN IT! That does it. I'm changing pharmacologists."

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

Bwaha. Got the tape around here somewhere, got the script. And I've seen a production at U-M. Nothing in the world like someone breakdancing like Roland Hedley. I think I'd be perfect to play either Mark or Duke....

Re: "GODDAMN IT! That does it. I'm changing pharmacologists."

[nuveena.livejournal.com]

You've seen it? OMG, I am jealous....

[nuveena.livejournal.com]

Wow!

Ok... let me think... well, how about "The Mad Show?"

"It's a world world world world mad!
And we've frampless to camber to bredge!"
For we won't give drist
into anyone's stranch,
And we won't repandress so take your loofer scan and proofle it..."

(I can't believe I sang that 20 years ago..)

Or "Nudist Colony of the Dead?"

[samildanach.livejournal.com]

*jaw drops*

I was in the pit orchestra for my high school's productions of Moby Dick and Metropolis, did some of the special effects (Futura's transformation) for Metropolis, and was on the crew for Weird Romance (our one-act excerpt, the first story).

I had never expected to see them mentioned together outside of that context.

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

Hee. There were some really wild, and quite good, British musicals around the end of the 80s. My three faves are Metropolis, Moby Dick, and the staging of the movie version of The Wizard of Oz.

[katster.livejournal.com]

Assassins. *nod*

Any play about the killers and would-be killers of presidents would be interesting, but Sondheim somehow pulls it off.

-kat

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

Assassins is one of the great fantasy musicals of our time. I do not mock it by calling it thus: the central scene is a fantasy, where the assassins of the past join together to make themselves relevant anew by making sure Oswald kills Kennedy. It's a fantastic show.

[tomreedtoon.livejournal.com]

Well, a lot of my favorites were mentioned, but here's one you may not know: "The 1940's Radio Hour." Here's a listing of its performance by some community theater...

http://www.mcleancommunityplayers.org/MCP/Show.cfm?ShowID=157

I saw this show when I was a season ticketholder at the local Broadway series. I think it was a last-minute booking to replace a Broadway roadshow that had troubles. It was still interesting to me as a TV person, a fan of radio drama and a lover of World War II homefront history.

It touched on a few elements that were uncomfortable - there's one black singer who grudgingly puts up with racist attitudes, and the feeling of doom about the oncoming war. That makes the sheer delight of music and character comedy work. Much as Grant Baciocco may have a passion for Radioland Murders, this is closer to the real thing.

Sorority Girls Slumber Party Massacre: The Musical

[rubbed-raw-2005.livejournal.com]

Sorority Girls
Slumber Party Massacre:
The Musical
Book, Music, and Lyrics
by Angus Kohm

You'll See: Innocent young girls, cruel sorority sisters, foolish fraternity freaks, and one sadistic, insane killer stalking them all. Sound familiar? It is. But this time they sing and dance too...

http://www.anguskohm.com/Sorority/Play.html