Over the past weekend Mary Poppins was on, yes once
again. It’s an easy film to watch but
once again the whole premise of musicals struck me –there you are in the middle
of a scene and suddenly a character starts to sing, backed by a full orchestra
and backing singers – all in a children’s bedroom!
We accept these scenes; West Side Story, The Sound of Music,
all the classic Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals, the list goes on. Fame is one musical that works for me, the
setting being ideal for a musical. Irene
Cara is simply stunning in the film, for me one of the best musical
performances in a film – she won an Oscar.
Is Footloose classed as a musical? Interesting.
It has transferred fairly successfully to the stage, as has numerous
other films with music – Mamma Mia (which I’m sorry but I so dislike), Billy
Elliot and recently the Dave Stewart produced Ghost, and for some reason, U2’s
Spiderman show, which has been plagued with many problems.
The cost of staging a musical is high, very high. For someone like myself who has bemoaned the
cost of staging one of my own ‘two-hander’ plays, (plays with only two
characters), to the point of cancelling the play in the end because it simply
would not be anywhere near financially viable, the cost of producing and
staging a musical is beyond imagination.
Possibly the two main theatre producers in the UK, and
indeed the world, are Andrew Lloyd Webber and Cameron Mackintosh, who
coincidentally used to lived quite close to each other, and us when we lived
on the Hampshire/Berkshire border.
From our bedroom you could see Watership Down, which Webber
owns, or owned at that time. I’ve never
met Webber but have met Cameron a couple of times, mainly in the Carpenter
Arms, a pub he used to own I think in HIghclere, by the castle they use for
Downton Abbey. It was there I met the
late producer Simon Channing Williams, who was so encouraging about my writing. Simon produced Mike Leigh’s brilliant films
and was also the producer for the Richard E Grant vehicle, When Jack met Sarah,
a romcom.
Another Jack met Diane, as in the great John Mellencamp song
Jack and Diane. Mellencamp is not that
well known in the UK, but most people will know this song. In the States he has somewhat perhaps been
overshadowed by Bruce Springsteen.
Mellencamp started out as Johnny Cougar, signed to Rod
Stewart’s label Riva. He had a couple of
hits but then started to use his real name, Mellencamp. As he matured as a writer and artist he has
in many ways become the voice of the Heartland, rural America. His songs are so ‘American’ they are probably
the reason he has not enjoyed much recognition out of the States.
A few years ago he starred in and directed a surprisingly
strong movie, Falling from Grace, written by Larry McMurty – check it out if
you get the chance. He is also a
driving force with Willie Nelson, Neil Young and Dave Matthews behind Farm Aid.
His latest venture though interests me greatly; a musical he
has written with novelist Stephen King!
An odd pairing at first glance, but then it really makes sense.
STEPHEN KING, JOHN MELLENCAMP AND T BONE BURNETT
Of course better known for his horror books – Carrie, the
Shining, Misery, Pet Cemetery, Salem’s Lot etc., my favourite King books or
stories are the human drama ones – Stand By Me being the outstanding one.
King also collaborated with Michael Jackson on the short
film Ghosts.
The Ghost Brothers of Darkland County is
the name of the musical they have created together. It promises to be a must see.
It is based on a true story; Mellencamp
bought a cabin in his home state of Indiana only to find that fifty years ago
by the cabin two brothers had fought over a local girl, and one of the brothers
had killed the other.
He loved the story and wanting to write
a ghost story, well why not go to the best ghost writer in the business, which
is what he did. Both Mellencamp and King
are Tennessee Williams’ fans, hence a couple of nods in the script to the great
writer.
It has taken many years to come together,
twelve in fact and the musical opens tonight, April 11, for previews at the
Alliance Theater in Atlanta. The show
features a stripped down, four piece band, all playing roots instruments, and
the music director is T Bone Burnett.
I hope it is a huge success for them and
transfers to film shortly.
Here is a link to Jack and Diane - http://youtu.be/h04CH9YZcpI
and I had to add this, a link to Irene Cara, singing Out Here on my Own, from Fame - http://youtu.be/i4mkRwkQRoQ
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