| “Warriors”- concept album. My thoughts. | |
| Posted by: theaterisok 06:14 pm EDT 10/20/24 | |
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| The long awaited next project from Lin-Manuel is here. There are no surprises. It is exactly what you would expect as the next piece from the brilliance of “Hamilton.” The craft here remains breathtaking. The album has been given about as perfect a production as anything in the music biz. Better than Beyonce or Swift! Each performer is astonishing, though it helps to have such powerful material to work with. The five star reviews are pouring in from all corners of the world, nobody willing to say anything negative, probably for fear they would miss the next crowning achievement. For me, all of this is a lot of Sturm und Drang for nothing. Where the collaborators really miss the boat is this is all style over substance. And Miranda commits the cardinal sin of musical theater… there are no melodies! There are motifs, for sure. Occasionally, there are hints of full songs, but they never materialize. Even the 11:00 number, a ballad, doesn’t reach the melodic heights it promises at the beginning. I can understand what attracted them to this property. Its roots are in “Peter and the Wolf.” You’ll find nods to “Oh Brother Where Art Thou” and other modern retelling of myth. The musical possibilities on such a road trip are endless. The sounds of this mythical New York are incredible. But the theatrical satisfaction is totally missing. Previous concept albums like “Evita” or even “Chess” gave us such stunning theatricality we could not wait to see the staging. There is absolutely nothing here that begs to be staged, much of it we’ve already seen is endless documentaries about rough times in NYC. I know Miranda has been driven to write this piece and he has done a great job transferring the movie to music. But theater…? No. |
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| Next: | re: “Warriors”- concept album. My thoughts. - ryhog 07:29 pm EDT 10/20/24 |
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