Slashdot Mirror
The Princess Bride Musical
adamy writes "Maybe a good thing, maybe a bad thing. William Goldman has started collaborating on a musical version of the time-honored classic. Guess the only thing left to do now is go through the pockets and look for loose change."
I'm not sure
.. but what about the ROUSes?
My name is Indigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die.
October fools?
That being said, there are even more questionable musical adaptations out there.
Working in a DevOps shop is like playing in a band made up entirely of keytarists.
You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.
Can anyone explain what the connection is between the "Princess Bride," and something a typical Slashdot reader would be interested in?
Yes. That would be "The Princess Bride". Next?
Why can't people come up with NEW ideas? Geeze, we have remakes of Psycho, the Fog, etc, etc. Nothing new. Nada. Oh, except maybe Serenity........
It's either on the beat or off the beat, it's that easy.
I moderate therefore I rule!
--
I thought it was going to be weird with the entire script sung, but it was actually really interesting and the ways in which the tempo of the songs could be used to increase dramatic tension or emphasize humor was very cool.
Hopefully this interpretation of the Princess Bride does justice to the movie which did justice to the book.
Jesus saved me from my past. He can save you as well.
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=04/07/26/123227 &tid=133&tid=199
Slashdot has an HOF. They should also have an HOS.
No kidding. I was already opening my wallet to pay for a subscription because I couldn't wait to see what the next story would be. Phew! That was a close one.
My name is Anonymous Coward.
You killed my post.
Prepare to die.
/me promptly files under "Things to ignore"
Anybody want a peanut gallery perspective on this? It's inconceivable that this would be a bad thing. I trwoo luv the film, and I have a feeling, that if done in the right type of way, it could be done brilliantly. Like Spamalot and the Producers, it's smart to choose a film that has massive repeat value, material that has that 'i could see this a million times' quality. Other possible film to stage adaptations, in this vein, now that I think of it : Clue. Goonies. Lost Boys. Bad stage adaptations of films? I don't think they exist. So quotable. However, if they screw up, they should prepare to die. Why are you smiling?
Slashdot changes name to Sissydot
I guess someone disagrees with you. /me wants mod points
I don't remember seeing this much complaining when slashdot posted article about Spamalot. Maybe I just have a bad memory though.
I remember when legal used to mean lawful, now it means some kind of loophole. - Leo Kessler
Is it safe?
There are no karma whores, only moderation johns
How can /. cover this, and never ONCE mention that there's a musical version of the Silence of the Lambs now in production? Entitled "Silence!" it's now playing in New York at the Lucille Lortel Theatre.
I suggest you run, not walk, to the BO and buy tickets!
Best Buy can have you arrested
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot!
As long as they make a backup copy, I'm fine with it.
princess bride == girly.
monty python == nerdy fun(being not so fresh).
world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
News for Nerds
Funny this comes up. My attention was draw to this earlier this evening. Talk about adaptations... :>
Read the book again and look for screaming eels.
'nuf said.
You can't be serious!?
You mean, inconceivable!
Sigs are for Terrorists.
Because I am not left handed either.
Girly? Come on, it's got sword fights, wrestling, fights to the death, revenge, true lo-...Oh crap!
Heroscape, it's like legos combined with anachronistic wargames.
Stuff that Matters
Looks like they get part one of their slogan, but they haven't got part 2.
Yeah, so there's a fairy-tale love story in there. There's also fencing, fighting, torture, revenge, giants, monsters, chases, escapes and miracles. Oh, yeah, and the whole thing's a satire.
But you're not the first one to think it was a kissing book.
Monty Python, Evil Dead, The Princess Bride, the A-Team, The Bush Administration...
It is a good date dvd / play, and slashdotters need (from all accounts) all the help they can get on that front.
"And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the World" 1 John 4:14
From http://imdb.com/title/tt0093779/quotes :
[Vizzini has just cut the rope The Dread Pirate Roberts is climbing up]
Vizzini: HE DIDN'T FALL? INCONCEIVABLE.
Inigo Montoya: You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.
Heroscape, it's like legos combined with anachronistic wargames.
Any truly learned man would know that this William Goldman character is plagurizing the work of the real literary genius, S. Morgenstern.
Slashdotters take note.
Heroscape, it's like legos combined with anachronistic wargames.
"Nerds!"
"I do not think that means what you think it means."
Nerd, as a stereotypical or archetypal designation, refers to people of above-average intelligence whose interests (often in science and mathematics) are not shared by mainstream society. -From Wikipedia
Imagine if you would, for just a moment, that there is more to life than linux, sco, microsoft, google, nintendo, sony, etc. Imagine too, that someone out there, might be interested in this.
However, slashdot does need a "Culture" section for these kinds of articles(ie, Serenity, the Raiders of the Lost Ark remake, Spamalot, etc...)
He wasn't going to say, "true love" he was trying to say, "to blaithe." And as we all know, to blaithe means to bluff.
Poker is very popular among geeks right now and thus learning more about bluffing will also interest them. Obvious connection here guys, stop bitching.
My name is Inigo Montoya. You kill -9 my parent process. Prepare to vi.
The reason I found this news article was because I was looking to see if anyone was making a musical version of it because I have been writing one. Honestly. I have the vast majority of the Lyrics written, and a bunch of songs. That being said, I am still thrilled. I really want to see this.
By the way, if you guys are going to qutoe the movie, you have to come up with some of the better, more obscure quotes:
It's not my fault being the biggest and the Strongest. I don't even exercize.
Get some rest, if you haven't got your health, you haven't go anything.
I have no Gate Key
Fezzik, tear his arms off.
Oh, you mean this gate key?
(You have to listen close for this one)
I am waiting for Vizzini
You really are a meany.
Fezzik its you!
That's true.
Open Source Identity Management: FreeIPA.org
"Stuff that Matters" - to Nerds.
Probably because the headline of /. is "News for Nerds. Stuff that matters". Monty Python was and still is a cult classic. This on the other hand.....
The only reason I clicked on this one was to answer my question; "Are they for real?"
But where will they find ROUS'S? (Rodent of unusual sizes)
or else!
It must be an evil plot!
Perhaps if you explain your position you might gain more attention (and mod points).
I played D&D and read fantasy fiction long before computers were common and I was considered a nerd for that. Has that changed? Why doesn't anybody tell me these things?
I dream of a better world... one in which chickens can cross roads without their motives being questioned.
Pleeeaaase, get out and see this when it opens. I'm on the other side of the planet, and it's up to those of you in the US to get the box office up so it's commercially viable to take it on the road! I'm more than prepared to grovel & otherwise debase myself for a chance to see TPB done in another format.
No FFS not Overrated , Use redundant , it is perfectly fitting . Whilst you're at it mod this and the parent flamebait
you forgot to mention apple in a list of normal things for slashdot to be about.
This is surely the death of apple.
I'm really not sure why everyone is complaining about this story. Perhaps they are not aware that I am, in fact, left handed?
gadgetophile.com
Well, I've no a priori objection to being subjugated by a princess!
This is News for Nerds, News for Dorks would be highlighting the film adaptation of DOOM or some type of other silliness. You are mistaking this site as a news for geeks, which would mean only technical news stories.
So to review:
Dorks: Care about crap as if it were good.
Geeks: Care about goods, passing on the creative shit.
Nerds: care about the good shit, even if it makes them look like crap.
Clear that up for you?
You can't be. There's nothing to do with ipods in the article.
1) Clever Sig 2) ????? 3) Profit!
Maybe the play is open source?
Erm, wouldn't the story of a pretty girl who rewards with her devotion the poor and unlucky but hard-working and cleverly inventive young lad with a taste for ironic word-play be of significant interest to your generic young male geek?
Or have their mating habits changed?
Inconceivable!!
You're right. It's part of a project to help Slashdot posters actually get laid. I think, once people get laid, they realize there are better things in life than posting to Slashdot.
Back to "The Princess Bride", I loved the book, which I read in 1983. I saw it as an action novel at the time. When the movie came out in 1987, William Goldman explained that the whole thing about "Princess Bride" being an abridgement of a longer book was just a joke he did. He did this because he wanted a way of quickly going from scene to scene in the story without having filler between the scenes. The name "Princess Bride" cames from when he asked his two daughters what kind of story they wanted--one girl said "A story about princesses" and the other girl said "A story about brides". I actually didn't see the movie until a year ago. Now I own the DVD; one of the few DVDs I own. Who knows? I might even get laid one of these days.
Great story (magic, violence, sex), with excellent music, lights, costume, sets ... (and perhaps, most importantly for /. readers, full frontal... :^)
Yes, it is billed an "opera", but the music's cool and the libretto is in english and quite comprehensible!
cheers- raga
Just get into a plane, and go and see it. That way you do not have to wait and see if it will become a success.
My wife's sketchblog Blob[p]: Gastrono-me
Inconceivable!
Let the commencement BEGINULATE!
The Princess Bride as musical?!? INCONCEIVABLE!
SIG: TAKE OFF EVERY 'CAPTAIN'!!
Killed by pirates is good.
AccountKiller
Not the kissing again!
AccountKiller
... lightning bolt, lightning bolt, lightning bolt...
It's only a rumor, folks.
The project was described as a fairy tale with swordfighting. Many movies fit that description, and it wasn't even mentioned as an adaptation of a movie. Duh!
"We mustn't be caught by surprise by our own advancing technology" -- Aldous Huxley
Ah, but does he see himself that way? Or does he see himself as a swashbuckling daredevil with a heart of gold and a silver tongue (or at least silver keyboard)?
Merciful God, even my own mother was a bride! How far has this evil conspiracy spread?
Hear that? He's not completely dead!
Not completely dead?
No.
*Inflates Slightly Dead Man - Dead Man Says the word Love*
Hah! He Said to Bluff! So you must have been play cards and he lost!
You feel sleepy. Close your eyes. The opinions stated above are yours. You cannot imagine why you ever felt otherwise.
It's really rather good. To move the plot along, Goldman uses the conceit that this is the abridged version of a Florinian classic novel. So, where in the movie, the kid would ask the grandfather to skip "the kissy bits", the novel has an abridger's note explaining how he skipped several pages of tedious Florinian satire to get to a decent section.
Well, I used to work on one of those Indigo thingies - does that count too?
AT&ROFLMAO
It's no more anti-male than Indiana Jones is anti-history. If you grew your entire opinion about the subject from one movie, you might end up a little warped. For those of us capable of appreciating a movie that contains certain departures from everyday life (which make it more *interesting* than everyday life), it's thoroughly enjoyable to watch.
The worst thing about the movie is its title. It could've just as well been called The Swordsman's Accomplices, or Adventures of the Dread Pirate Roberts. In that way, it's sort of like the Cowboy Junkies, whose music has nothing to do with cowboys or junkies, or even junk. If you can get past the name, there's treasure to be had.
slashdot core -> science -> geology -> quicksand -> lightning sand -> princess bride.
:)
Or possibly
slashdot -> technology -> dvd -> use of dvds -> specific use of dvd's -> princess bride on DVD.
See, there is some relevance, but it's almost practically elipson.
Of course the real diagram for me is as follows
slashdot core -> science -> geology -> quicksand -> lightning sand -> princess bride -> sydney -> my dismal failure at finding a girlfriend -> slashdot
GENERATION 26: The first time you see this, copy it into your sig on any forum and add 1 to the generation.
It sems to me that one route to greater understanding in this situation is a giant off-topic thread about nerd, geek, and hacker movies.
I was introduced to The Princess Bride, along with Monty Python and the Evil Dead series and Noises Off and several others, in high school. Whoever decided to place me in the drama teacher's homeroom did me quite a favor; those kids were some of the most interesting people I could've ever hoped to know.
Getting "in" jokes is a big part of belonging to a community. It's easy, reading this thread, to tell who's seen the movie, and who's judging it by its name alone. In the spirit of openness, and off-topicness, I'd like to suggest a big off-topic thread where Slashdotters suggest movies and books that you really should see or read, even if they're not four-star classics, because they'll help explain some common references and in-jokes of our culture.
To my high-school list above, I'd like to add:
Let the off-topicness commence!
Yeah but you were right handed before the internet came online.
So, Creative Commons? Not GPL or BSD? http://creativecommons.org/
...I'm on the brute squad m
slashdot core -> science -> geology -> quicksand -> lightning sand -> princess bride -> Mandy Patinkin (Inigo Montoya) -> Mandy Patinkin was in Pinero(2001) with Benjamin Bratt -> Benjamin Bratt was in The Woodsman(2004) with..............Kevin Bacon!!!
That is, without doubt, the geekiest post I've seen in a long time! Well done that man. Nerdy on almost every level.
It's hardly a chick flick. Who gives a rat's ass about Buttercup anyway? She was Westley's motivation, sure, but Inigo was my favorite character. Revenge is cooler than romance any day. Especially for a movie I first saw when I was 12 or something.
If you're so convinced it's "a kissing book", I suppose you felt no swell of outrage when Inigo Montoya related the story of his father's death? No grin when Westley revealed that he was not left-handed either? No, you weren't paying attention, because there was a girl in the beginning of the story. While the rest of us were waiting for Vizzini to keel over from the poison, or laughing at Miracle Max's antics, you were terrified of getting cooties from the girl who hadn't even been on screen for the last dozen scenes or so.
When Inigo delivered the line he'd waited his lifetime to say, and he finally had Count Rugen cornered, and the rest of us teetered on the edges of our seats waiting for the denouement, and we bit our lips and took deep breaths and tasted the sweetness of revenge as he declared "I want my father back, you son of a bitch", we cheered and sighed and thanked the universe that sometimes things do work out in the end, but you were wisely avoiding all of that, content to ignore the movie because paying attention might mean you were enjoying a "chick flick".
Dear parent poster, I regret to inform you that you're tragically misinformed about what "chick flick" means. In a chick flick, all the male characters, save for maybe one, are abusive, neglectful, or ignorant. Tune into Oxygen sometime and you'll see plenty of them. The general point of such movies is to reassure the audience that you can only be a decent human being if you have a uterus. Female characters in such movies are universally noble, smart, and caring, though somehow they always end up being the victims of male characters, whose motives are always shallow and whose actions are always vicious. If Slashdot ever posts about one of those, please let us know. But until then, don't try to assert that the Princess Bride falls into that category, because I assure you, it does not.
Get your facts straight before bashing a movie revered by the overwhelming majority of Slashdotters, not to mention the general population. For starters, try watching it.
Chick Flick?
Are you kidding? Fencing. Fighting. Torture. Revenge. Giants. Monsters. Chases. Escapes. True love. Miracles.
You beat me to it. I was getting ready to post that as a reply!
After all, the movie has already produced this infomercial
Actually, it was "to blaive"
Having both read the book (including the extras) and memorized the movie (I can do practically do it as a monologue), I dare say that while I continue to find the movie exceptional, I found the book trite and unpleasant.
In fact, it reminded me of the idiots here on slashdot who think they have more insight than they do.
That is all I have to say on the matter.
In the not too distant future, next Sunday A.D.
I don't get it.
Great .. Cary Elwes A Man in Tights ... Again ..
Yes, as long as I can avoid reading the entire long chapter on some princess (IIRC) packing up all of her clothes, coming to court Humperdinck or whatever, and then unpacking them. It was supposed to be some kind of commentary, but, you know, it's packing.
I admit it, the first time I read Les Mis, I skipped the 40 pages on the battle of Waterloo.
Well, actually, he only *abridged* the book. The original, unabridged story was by Morgenstern. Didn't you read the forward? ;)
Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from a rigged demo
--Andy Finkel (J. Klass?)
This is how it tried to happen. http://somethingpositive.net/sp07302004.shtml
Sorry about the writing. Robot fingers, you know? Cliff Steele in DOOM PATROL #23
...for a movie to jump the shark. Or, in this case, the screaming eels.
Can anyone explain what the connection is between the "Princess Bride," and something a typical Slashdot reader would be interested in?
/.ers clustered around you, they are the cultists. They take no survivors.
You may have heard The Princess Bride being called a "cult classic"? Well, this horde of
And if that's not enough to scare you, their assets also include a holocaust cloak and a wheelbarrow.
"We reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals." --The American President (20.1.2009)
-Eric
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
you're right, i used my own personal abridged version because i care so much about it that i'd bother would correcting even the tinyest mistake i saw on slashdot. oh look a flying mongoose...
You feel sleepy. Close your eyes. The opinions stated above are yours. You cannot imagine why you ever felt otherwise.
the computer game...
-- it's ridiculous how many people misspell ridiculous... (damn, damn, damn...)
http://dictionary.reference.com/search?r=2&q=incon ceivable
No, the title is part of it. Just like the kid in the story doesn't want to be read the book since it sounds so girly.
Oxford English Cat and Girl
If you want a vision of the future, imagine a youtube comments section scrolling - forever.
It's 7AM, I just woke up to find this. First thought through my head on reading the headline:
:)
*queue G&S's Modern Major General*
"I'm seeing something absolutely inconcievable...."
Looking forward to it
I'm surely it'll be only mostly gay.
When you die, on your deathbed, you will receive total consciousness. So I got that goin' for me, which is nice.
Those girls that collect everything and anything princess related.. and that watch the Princess Bride on every rainy Sunday they can think of. *shudder*
~jennifer.k~
Basically, a group of teenagers did a shot-for-shot remake. Pretty impressive, I've heard, but of course it can't be elgally distributed, so I've never seen it.
This sig has absolutely no significance and serves only to take up screen space and waste the time of the reader.
And then there's those George Lucas movies we all used to love. But we don't love them any more because the new ones were too campy.
Secession is the right of all sentient beings.
I'm waiting for 'The Princess Bride on Ice'!!!!
Mrs. White is always played by a male. The ending is not set. There are four possible endings which involve different dialogue based on who killed Mr. Body. An audience member picks a card and ostensibly is the only person who knows what the ending will be. In actuality, of course, the cast member who has him pick has a method for knowing which card was picked. *wry grin* Had one exciting night, though, where the cast member doing this forgot which card it was by the time he got backstage. I can't remember exactly how they handled that. A subtle look-over-the-shoulder by the usher IIRC.
This sig has absolutely no significance and serves only to take up screen space and waste the time of the reader.
So the conversation turned to "favorite movies." I mentioned that The Princss Bride was mine. She was amazed and admitted it was hers, as well. I then revealed that I had read and enjoyed the book and she confessed to the same. I then took it even farther by pointing out that I sent in a letter to the publisher asking to receive the "missing" Reunion Scene, which I did receive a few weeks later. She did the same thing! So what was mild interest at first on her part, was now in her mind a situation with a flashing "Hey This Might Be Fate" light attached.
Two months later I quit my job and moved to Charlottesville, VA where she was attending law school. Four months after that, we were engaged. We just had our seventh wedding anniversary and have been together almost nine years now.
I guess I was her Man In Black. :-)
(And it is nicer than an M.L.T.)
blakespot
-- Heisenberg may have slept here.
iPod Hacks.com
That's the first time I've ever seen that on Slashdot. :)
Anyway, in the spirit of the poster below who mentioned some of his favorite quotes from the Princess Bride that are a little more obscure, here is my favorite.
Grandpa: It was ten days to the wedding. The King still lived, but Buttercup's nightmares were growing steadily worse.
The Grandson: See didn't I tell you she'd never marry that rotten Humperdinck.
Grandpa: Yes you're very smart. Shut up.
We may experience some slight turbulence and then...explode. -Capt. Mal Reynolds
Wonder if it's going to go down the same road as Karate Kid the Musical. Do I think it'll work? It would take a miracle...
Not only does God definitely play dice, but He sometimes confuses us by throwing them where they can't be seen. -Hawking
And he was "mostly dead" If he was all dead he couldn't help him.
Humperdinck! Humperdinck! Humperdinck!
I'm not a witch! I'm your wife!
This is wrong, realy realy wrong. You might think the matrix sequels were wrong but thats just peanuts to this.
Yes.
//Information does not want to be free; it wants to breed.
The name of the Book actually came from Goldman's two daughters. He told them he was going to write a book, and asked them what he should write about. One said, "A Princess", and the other, "A Bride."
So, yes, the name is quite girly, but Wesley, he's a true man's man. Learns to fence at the level of "Master" in under 5 years, made himself immune to one of the most deadly poisons, can save the fair maiden from lightning sand, battle ROUS's, withstand vast amounts of torture (in the book), Speak multiple languages, climb a sheer rock face, fight hand-to-hand with a giant, and then storms a castle an hour or so after being dead from having the life sucked out of him.
Also, Goldman wrote Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, and has made millions upon millions of dollars for something that takes a lot less time and physical effort than most of us do for mere peanuts.
So I'm sorry, any so-called "nerd" who doesn't know about this movie needs to have his credentials verified. We might have to take away his pocket protector and taped-up glasses. (Also, I see a lot of LOTR posts on here, along with Star Wars and other movies generally enjoyed by all nerds. Anyone who would actually take the time to complain about this post might want to check that they're on the right site. maybe they were looking for http://ivegotsandinmyvag.com/)
Finally, to get in a couple of quotes:
(from the movie, these may not be 100% exact, but they're close enough for government work.)
"You mock my pain!"
"Life is pain madam, anyone who tells you differently is selling something."
"Be careful, people in masks cannot be trusted."
"Why are you wearing a mask? Were you burned by acid or something?"
"They're quite comfortable, I think everybody will be wearing them in the future."
"You seem a decent fellow, I hate to kill you."
"You seem a decent fellow, I hate to die."
"There's a shortage of perfect breasts in the world. It'd be a pity to damage yours."
"I'm just going to have to get myself a new giant."
"It's probably just a local fisherman, out for a pleasure cruise at night, through eel-infested waters."
Just because you're paranoid, it doesn't mean that they're not out to get you.
I am serious, and don't call me Shirley!
TPB is prehaps the greatest movie that can be watched over and over again. It is an action, adventure, comedy, fairy tale with a love story tied in. Not only is it all of those things but it makes all of them work and work well. So, it is no suprise this appeals to a wide variety of ppl. In fact when I meet ppl that don't like The Princess Bride I usually try to avoid them due to obvious deficiency in their mental capacity.
I think you are confused. The Oxygen channel is for lesbians. The Lifetime channel is for chick flicks.
Hello. My name is Ingo Molnar. You rejected my patch. Prepare to die.
Why me?? WHY damn it!!!. This just means more of "My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die" whenever people meet me for the first time...and learn my last name. :-(
-+-=-+-=-+-=-+-=-+-=-+ *** http://www.mountainfort.com *** +-=-+-=-+-=-+-=-+-=-+-
(to the tune of Bohemian Rhapsody)
...to me
It's inconceivable.
You don't know what that means.
Scaling a mountain
Disrespectful to gravity
Say your goodbyes
The ropes gone but still there's me.
I'm just a pirate. I need no sympathy.
Because I'm ambidexterious
You are two I guess.
Any cup that you choose doesn't really matter... to me.
Mama,killed the Sicillian
Put some poison in both cups
That loud bastard bottomed up,
Mama,the chase has just begun
But Buttercup has thrown me down a cliff
Mama ooo,
Didn't mean to make you cry-
But now we've gotta run through the fireswamp.
Look a big, giant rat.
(cut foward in the song)
She's a cute princess everybody loves her.
She's just a poor girl from a poor family. Spare her her life with this man Humperdink.
let me go. I'll kill myself. Stab myself to death.-
Bismillah! no-,we will not let you go-let me go-
Bismillah! we will not let you go-let me go
Bismillah! we will not let you go-let me go
Will not let you go-let me go
Will not let you go let me go
No,no,no,no,no,no,no-
Mama mia,mama mia,mama mia let me go-
But Humperdink has a dagger set aside for you... for you.... for you...
___
It's the end of my comment as I know it and I feel fine.
But it's not "True Love". It's "to blave" which really means "to bluff". So it's really about gambling.
Google it if you don't belive me. It played a year ago off Broadway and the review I saw spoke well of it. Wished I saw it but I didn't know about it till it was over and wouldn't have been able to make the trip even if I knew.
...I *must* know!"
"Get used to disappointment."
"'kay."
The problem with Slashdot is that it's got Rodents Of Unusual Size. Not so much a Fire Swamp as a web of six-fingered flaming trolls.
--
make install -not war
Damn! I always assumed Spock, or Data or some other Star Trek character said "You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means!" I'm handing in my Geek card. I am unworthy.
The problem with this isn't Goldman (obviously). Nor is it the idea, which is solid musical theatre territory for a lot of reasons.
The problem is the composer, Adam Guettel. He won a Tony Award this year for his score to The Light in the Piazza, but is--and will forever be--better known for being the grandson of Richard Rodgers, of Rodgers & Hammerstein and Rodgers & Hart fame. Piazza had/has snob appeal in a way that generally only Sondheim musicals these days do, which means it's generally hard to get a fair reading on its quality from anyone. It's one of those "important" shows that "important" people see and even more "important" people like.
Or at least they're supposed to. Because that didn't happen in this case. The show won six Tonys, but it hasn't exactly taken New York by storm.
Because, for all his talents as a musician (which are considerable, though I don't believe any sensible person can consider them equal, or even close to equal, to his grandfather's), Piazza is very cold and distant. It's about love, specifically the romance between a young developmentally disabled girl and an Italian boy who speaks almost no English, but examines the subject in a lot of theoretical and intellectual ways that--for most people--don't really strike the heart. Richard Rodgers could do that without thinking, and his compositions resonate today and will probably long after we're all gone. They're universal, they're simple, they're true. Guettel's music is none of these things. His greatest claim to theatrical fame is Floyd Collins, semi-based on the story of a prospector who gets trapped in a cave and dies.
What does all of this have to do with The Princess Bride? Nothing. And that's precisely the point. Guettel is currently the "hot" thing, but he's not right for this. He can't write swashbuckling. He can barely write unbridled romanticism without resorting to tricks (nonsense syllables instead of lyrics or havng characters sing in Italian when they should be singing in English). He writes very heavy, he doesn't write light, he doesn't write fun. And what is The Princess Bride if not fun? It needs irreverence, it needs a devil-may-care quality about it that would make it (I would guess) more the purview of someone like David Yazbeck (The Full Monty, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels) or Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty (Once on This Island, Ragtime).
It's unlikely to get any of what it needs with Guettel writing the songs for it. So, everyone, don't get your hopes up too much--Goldman knows what he's doing, so his end of the bargain will no doubt be held up. But Guettel, as notorious for being a slow writer as he is someone who can't connect to his characters on the simplest, most heartfelt level, can't be expected to do the same. If we ever see this--which is a big if at this point; lots of shows have a way of getting announced and then vanishing--I have a feeling it will have a rocky road to success, if it even finds success at all.
--Matthew
"If the lights of Broadway blind me, I won't mind..."
Bravo, my anonymous bretheren. Bravo.
Some of them think they're alone because they're picky...
Have fun storming the castle!
C.S. Lewis once remarked that originality is overrated.
And I think he has a point. It's not that it's a bad thing, it's just that as a literary standard it's rather unobtainable, at least in the superficial way it's used as a tool of literary odium. From there it becomes the kind of brain dead dogma that can dismiss a project like this sight unseen.
If this is the true standard, Puccini was an unoriginal hack because La Boheme had been published as a (not very good) novel first. Shakespeare plagiarized a lot of his best stuff from Christopher Marlowe and Plutarch. The most relevant example of course is Mozart, who set Beaumarchais' stage play, Le Mariage de Figaro to music. What a crime against art! And while you're at it, you can get Oscar Hammerstein for lifting "Carousel" from Farenc Molnar.
Or course, Picasso once said, "Mediocre artists borrow, great artists steal." So maybe there's no such thing.
Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
with anything that might result in me hearing or seeing anything having to do with The Princess Bride can't possibly be a good thing.
Er... stage it at all. If you poke around the web enough, you find the authors of the website admitting to having written the manuscript themselves. Their "documentary" was a joke, with the more obvious bits being the famous actors from Lovecraft-based movies being interviewed.
But that said, I've had no luck getting the local community theaters to do it. Something to do with legal threats by the owners of Fiddler on the Roof. *wry grin* As parody, it's protected under fair use, but who can afford the legal battle? Besides which, it's got questionable content (sex, occultism, violence) paired off with a musical which many actors view as a true classic to be cherished. Lastly, after having read the libretto, I'm not sure how technically feasible it is. There are some pretty extreme set changes and the last scene requires a 2-story tall Cthulhu who can appear suddenly, pick up an actor, and smash the majority of the buildings on the set. I can think of a few theater dodges, but it would be pretty darn dodgy. Still, one of these days I'll convince someone...
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I thought it was, "Murdered by pirates is good."
Decay! Decay! Decay! -Helium
Lestat is preparing to open on Broadway. I'm seriously considering a whirlwhind trip to see it. If Elton can do Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt... why not let someone do something with The Princess Bride? Personally, I hated the movie. :P
Jho
Sorry man... the Internet pooped on me.
It would be a shame to replace Mark Knopfler's wonderful score with stupid show tunes.
Tcl my Pico! There are 10 kinds of people in the world: Those who understand binary, and those who don't.
For those three of you who don't know the Princess Bride, and its genesis, back to front, the Wikipedia explains all. S. Morgenstern was an invention of Goldman.
Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from a rigged demo
--Andy Finkel (J. Klass?)
The Princess Bride Musical Overture
(to the tune of Modern Major General)
You're all about to see something completely inconceivable.
It's True Love. Fighting. Giants. Torture. But it's all believable.
She gets kidnapped. He gets killed. And yet it all ends up okay.
We hope there's something to enjoy and that you try to stay awake!
(We hope there's something to enjoy and that you try to stay awake!)
(We hope there's something to enjoy and that you try to stay awake!)
(We hope there's something to enjoy and that you try to stay awake!)
Vizzini carries off the Princess so that he can start a war.
With Fezzik and a swordsman he will voyage to a distant shore.
The Man in Black will chase them to return his True Love back okay.
We're very very sorry, but we're told this is a Kissing Play!
(We're very very sorry, but we're told this is a Kissing Play!)
(We're very very sorry, but we're told this is a Kissing Play!)
(We're very very sorry, but we're told this is a Kissing Play!)
Chick Flick?
Are you kidding? Fencing. Fighting. Torture. Revenge. Giants. Monsters. Chases. Escapes. True love. Miracles.
Miracles? But he was only half dead! It's only a half miracle!
No doubt the soundtrack is based on all of Aerosmith's hit singles and has the audience (primarily made up of fat 40 year olds with greying hair) dancing in the aisles.
Many many people have quoted from the Princess Bride (movie) here. How many will
be able to quote from Serenity after an equal length of time?
And remember, this is for posterity so be honest... How do you feel
PS: The Princess Bride - ostensibly be S Morgenstern - is an interesting case of
the movie being better than the book in my opinion. Although the book was cool too,
I fear the forthcoming musical. Of course there could be an even worse possibility:
A movie remake (Hollywood flavour of the month). I can see it now: the Rock as Fezzick,
Antonio Banderas as Inigo Montoya, Kirsten Dunst as Buttercup and Carey Ewles as The
Masked Man.
The closest us nerds can mod "mushy" is "interesting". Take note fellow lonely slashdotters... if you're interested in a bit or romance - we could start a new topic on useful interests and handy hints for the romantic nerd in you. Perhaps we'll all learn how to procreate and the little-slashbots will take over the world!
Like all pain, suffering is a signal that something isn't right
Are you kidding? Fencing. Fighting. Torture. Revenge. Giants. Monsters. Chases. Escapes. True love. Miracles.
Bye bye boys! Have fun storming the castle!
Think it'll work?
It would take a miracle.
Bye bye!
There is no sanctuary. There is no sanctuary. SHUT UP! There is no shut up. There is no shut up.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2 005/10/13/entertainment/e174541D44.DTL&feed=rss.ne ws
Kerrigan & Harding Musical Opera!!!
A slow death for a wonderful movie, which not only did I enjoy as a kid, but I now allow my children to enjoy the same. I have a hard time believing that the musical could live up to the movie, but I guess it's a wait and see situation. I hope they don't ruin a treasured memory from my childhood.
LORD OF THE FLIES not a bad novel but and OK novel. It might well be much better as a musical, especially if it's sort of Wagnerian.:>|
Ah, much apologies then. Personally, I was good and well fooled for a long time after seeing the documentary. I recognized that the interviews were fake (I recognized the names) but it was a long while until I saw the quote from one of the webmasters about creating the lyrics for Shoggoth on the Roof. *gallic shrug* Eh, and I've never found that post again, so it could be there really is authenticity. It wouldn't be the first great work of literature written when the author was not quite in touch with reality. Large amounts of Coleridge and Poe were written in a drugged haze, supposedly. And I have a hard time believing Katamari Damacy wasn't written with plenty of psychedelic drugs, or by someone who's a bit unhunged. If nothing else, I wanted to believe that the play was real, perhaps even that the 8 mm footage they had was real, and they added the fake interviews to pad things out and make the 8 mm footage seem more exciting.
Is it still beastiality if the creature is only part mole, crow and ant, but partially decomposed human being? (Am thinking of where the daughters summon a Byakhee because they can't find a suitable boy).
Still, if you ever persuade a theatre to let you stage it and you need a Lavinia Whately, however... :)
Huh... I always kind of perceived that scene as being less a romantic liason and more of a "summoning dark forces because we're bored" thing. ^_^ Underscored by the "Asenath was here" scrawled in the tomb that Harley Warren found, of course... "It's horrible! It's terrible!" "What? What is it?" "There's nothing here but a bunch of old beer cans and a scrawl across the wall, 'Asenath was here'!"
*wry grin* I'll keep that in mind. Thing is, with the circles I usually track mud into, it would likely be community theater, which means no one gets paid; it's all for the love of the art and whatever padding it can be used as in one's acting résumé.
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Och... and just get anonymous musicians to play without pay, anonymous set-builders to build without a budget, choreographers, costumes... *wry grin* While community theater is frequently a non-profit matter, there's still significant costs. It varies from theater to theater, but we've got two community theaters here in Newark. One, Licking County Players, operates as a non-profit. Actors, directors, choreographers, and techs work without pay. Musicians and set-builders get paid, although it's a fairly small amount. Their pay and the money for costumes and sets is budgeted by the board of directors and comes from ticket revenues. Still, it might very well be worthwhile... *shrug* I've thought about trying to do a movie version too, as it would simplify some of the stage directions (cuts allow us to transition from the cult church to Old Man Marsh's bog to the graveyard to the ocean as dictated in the script, the bit with Cthulhu at the end could be mocked up with digital effects) but then there goes a lot of theater versimilitude which keeps us from having to build realistic sets. ^_^ Plus also, recording the voices is easier to do with community theater as it's all one big soundstage. It's very tempting, but I don't have the resources or the drive to stage it all myself. I'm really not the directorial kind; I'm just an engineer who plays an actor on stage.
That said, as said before, I have taken some stabs at trying to figure out how to choreograph and stage the scenes, as well as finding music (Licensed musicals don't allow you to keep the music books so finding the proper orchestral accompaniment will be interesting). I've found MIDI files of the main Fiddler on the Roof songs, so theoretically I take those files and enter them into one of those scorewriter programs like MusicMaster or Lilypad so as to get my own music for the musicians. The theater has cheap rates for renting costumes to members of the theater. *wry grin* The stage is kind of in constant use for some rehearsal or performance, though, especially given we'd have to build sets. Given the usual budgets cited for the shows, I think I could finance it out of my own pocket, particularly if I can get another person or two to go in for it. (Set construction costs average around $300-500, sound effects and music are generally free from the royalty-free collections we have, costumes are cheap as aforementionned. Really, most of the costs for theaters are royalties. Last year, we paid over $5000 to perform Seussical. We sold out every night, so we made that back and then some, but it was scary going into a show knowing you had to sell out 6 of the 9 performances if you wanted to just recoup royalty costs)
^_^ This is sounding scarily realizable.
This sig has absolutely no significance and serves only to take up screen space and waste the time of the reader.
The Princess Bride Musical Overture
:-) I'm sure it will never happen again. And I'd like to thank rhymezone.com.
(to the tune of Modern Major General)
First Verse
You're all about to see something completely inconceivable.
It's True Love. Fighting. Giants. Torture. But it's all believable.
She gets kidnapped. He gets killed. And yet it all ends up okay.
We hope there's something to enjoy and that you try to stay awake!
Vizzini carries off the Princess so that he can start a war.
With Fezzik and a swordsman he will voyage to a distant shore.
The Man in Black will chase them to return his True Love back okay.
We're very very sorry, but we're told this is a Kissing Play!
(We're very very sorry, but we're told this is a Kissing Play!)
(We're very very sorry, but we're told this is a Kissing Play!)
(We're very very sorry, but we're told this is a Kissing Play!)
We hope that as the play continues we'll avoid the rocks ahead
If we don't, we know it is a certainty we'll all be dead
Lasting through this play tonight--we're hoping that's achievable
'cause you will all see something that's completely inconceivable.
(Lasting through this play tonight--we're hoping that's achievable)
('cause you will all see something that's completely inconceivable.)
Second Verse
You're all about to see something completely inconceivable.
We don't know what that word means, but it does rhyme with believable.
To gain a lot of knowledge that might someday help humanity
You'll learn just how to scramble up Cliffs oddly named Insanity!
You must never, ever, start a land war in the Asian clime
Or go against a Sicil'an when death is clearly on the line
It's good to daily build up an immunity to iocaine
And always wait an hour before swimming to avoid a pain!
(And always wait an hour before swimming to avoid a pain!)
(And always wait an hour before swimming to avoid a pain!)
(And always wait an hour before swimming to avoid a pain!)
Don't ever doubt the being of the Rodents of Unus'al Size
And if you killed Inigo's father you must now prepare to die
He will surely get revenge, we claim it's guaranteeable!
'cause what you are about to see is something inconceivable!
(He will surely get revenge, we claim it's guaranteeable)
('cause what you'll witness is something completely inconceivable.)
Sorry, but this was stuck in my head, and someone encouraged me.