Musicals : The Greatest Show!

[jo]

Lol - they couldn't help it -- borrow the name of one of the most covered titles in musicals ( movie musicals, that is) --

www.broadwayworld.com/article/BBC-Radio-2-and-BBC-Ones-MUSICALS-THE-GREATEST-SHOW-Airs-Tonight-Featuring-Ramin-Karimloo-Michael-Ball-Lea-Salonga-and-More-20210131

BBC Radio 2 and BBC One's MUSICALS: THE GREATEST SHOW Airs Tonight, Featuring Ramin Karimloo, Michael Ball, Lea Salonga, and More!


It will be broadcast from 7pm - 9pm on Sunday 31 January on BBC Radio 2 and BBC Sounds.


by BWW News Desk Jan. 31, 2021


BBC Radio 2 and BBC One's MUSICALS: THE GREATEST SHOW Airs Tonight, Featuring Ramin Karimloo, Michael Ball, Lea Salonga, and More!

BBC Radio 2 and BBC One's Musicals: The Greatest Show airs tonight, January 31.


This final event forms the centrepiece of Radio 2 Celebrates Musicals, three days of programmes featuring the music of stage and screen for people to enjoy from the comfort of their own homes, including playing just songs from musical theatre and film across a whole day, and further programming on BBC Four and BBC iPlayer.


With venues currently unable to open to the public, Musicals: The Greatest Show is a celebration of the nation's favourite songs and performers from the world of musical theatre.


Hosted on radio and television by multi-award winning performer Sheridan Smith, it puts the songs, the shows, and the stars, back on stage at the world famous London Palladium. It will be broadcast from 7pm - 9pm on Sunday 31 January on BBC Radio 2 and BBC Sounds, and as a 75-minute show in February on BBC One and BBC iPlayer. It will be available on BBC iPlayer for a year after broadcast.



Highlights include:

Amanda Holden and Sheridan Smith perform I Know Him So Well, from Chess. The song, originally performed by Elaine Paige and Barbara Dickson, reached Number 1 in the UK Pop Charts in 1985 remains the best-selling song by a female duo

Nicole Scherzinger with Never Enough from The Greatest Showman - with her performance recorded in Los Angeles

Exclusively for Radio 2, Josh Groban sings The Impossible Dream from Man Of La Mancha - with his vocal performance recorded in Los Angeles

Exclusively for Radio 2, Elaine Paige with Sunset Boulevard's As If We Never Said Goodbye. Elaine made her Broadway debut in Sunset Boulevard in 1996


Gavin Spokes, from the West End production of Hamilton, performs You'll Be Back

Michael Ball performs You Can't Stop The Beat from Hairspray

Sheridan Smith performs Don't Rain On My Parade from Funny Girl



An exclusive first performance by Ivano Turco of Only You, Lonely You from Cinderella (which is due to open in London in 2021).

The cast of SIX The Musical performing SIX

Ramin Karimloo sings The Music Of The Night from The Phantom Of The Opera

The three West End lead actors of MAMMA MIA! perform Dancing Queen

Aisha Jawando of the West End production of TINA, The Tina Turner Musical performs The Best


Lea Salonga performs I Dreamed A Dream from Les Misérables - with her performance recorded in Manila

Layton Williams of Everybody's Talking About Jamie performs The Wall In My Head

Sam Tutty sings You Will Be Found from Dear Evan Hansen, alongside members of the West End cast

Nicole Raquel Dennis of Dreamgirls with And I Am Telling You

Kerry Ellis sings Defying Gravity from Wicked

Exclusively for Radio 2, Christine Allado and Alexia Khadime perform the Oscar-winning song When You Believe from The Prince Of Egypt

Jac Yarrow, with the public, performing Any Dream Will Do from Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat

[jo]

I wonder if they asked Hugh to be part of it ?

*After all, he was a true West Ender ( for a year) in Oklahoma! and was nominated for an Olivier award.

*And they borrowed the title of his RIAA platinum record of the song "The Greatest Show"


Jo

[jo]

[jo]

I don't have access to the repeat of the actual live performance... but on BBC Radio, the whole concert of musical theatre songs are available to listen to!

www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m000rxbw

I have not had the chance to listen to it in full ( yet) -- but I caught the last song of this 2-hour long concert of musical theatre songs. No, it did not end it with THE GREATEST SHOW ( that came from a movie musical), as some hoped, but with Michael Ball singing Edna's finale song in Hairspray - "You Can't Stop the Beat".

Singers include Michael, Lea Salonga, Ramin Karimloo and many other West End musical theatre stars.

Jo

[jo]

[jo]

Most of us are Broadway fans, but did you know that many favorite musicals today originated from London/West End?

*Les Miserables
*Phantom of the Opera
*Mamma Mia!
*Sunset Boulevard
*My Fair Lady
*Miss Saigon
*Stage adaptation of Billy Elliot
*Most ALWebber musicals

*The Royal National Theatre revival of OKLAHOMA!, starring an unknown Hugh Jackman

Jo

[mamaleh]

Interestingly, PYGMALION, the Shaw play upon which MY FAIR LADY is based, premiered in Germany. Its next production opened in New York, and shortly thereafter came the well-known production in London starring the estimable Mrs. Patrick Campbell. But MY FAIR LADY premiered in New York (1956), with the London production following two years later. And although changes likely occurred, the original production of LES MIZ was launched in 1980 in Paris. Of course, the most vaunted production occurred five years later in London. All the others were definitely Brit-produced musicals. And aren't we glad the Royal National Theatre hired that unknown lanky Aussie for a revival of that quintessentially American musical?

Ellen

[jo]

Wasn't Julie Andrews the Eliza in the original version of MY FAIR LADY? Was that on Broadway - I had always assumed that happened in London She also opened on Broadway in another British-based show called CAMELOT.

Yes, the French musical version of LES MISERABLES opened in Paris in 1980. But unlike the RSC/Mackintosh production which opened in London in 1985, it only presented a tableaux to accompany each song. The full staging was conceived by Trevor Nunn and his creative team. Also, they changed quite a few songs - the original melody of On My Own called La Misere was not Eponine's song at all, but sung by Fantine who was more prominently featured in the musical. The role of Valjean was written for a baritone and actually sang by a baritone. Bring Him Home was composed for Colm Wilkinson to sing in London. Empty Chairs at Empty Tables was also a new song introduced in London by the original Marius Michael Ball. The English adaptation became the main adaptation of Hugo's novel, so much so that they translated it to French and transferred it to Paris later on ( I actually saw that French version at Theatre Mogador in Paris). So, even the French know it now more from the Mackintosh production.

The Oklahoma! revival in London was welcomed because Trevor Nunn looked deeper into the play by Rodgers and Hammerstein and gave the show a more realistic feel, seeking out the darker side in addition to the more well-known lighthearted theme in the movie production ( I don't think anyone here ever saw the original stage production in the late 40's ). Hugh shared that when they first started rehearsals, they were made to say the song lyrics as dialog! Hmm - exclaiming "Oh What A Beautiful Morning!" sounds great, spoken aloud

It is notable that many musicals originating on Broadway started as literary work from the UK/Europe.

*Sweeney Todd is a story happening in London, with British characters
*My Fair Lady or Pygmalion was originated by George Bernard Shaw, British
*Passion ( also by Sondheim) came from an Italian tale
*Chitty Chitty Bang Bang is also based on British characters even if we all got introduced to it via the beloved movie with Dick Van Dyke. The stage adaptation which eventually followed premiered in London ( with Michael Ball) and transferred to Broadway later on ( with Raul Esparza). I saw both stagings

Rodgers and Hammerstein wrote their musicals with characters in stories some based in America and elsewhere( Sound of Music South Pacific/King and Not sure where Cinderella lived although it is supposed to be a French tale). Their stories based in America were Oklahoma!/Carousel/Flower Drum Song/State Fair.

Sondheim wrote stories in different locales, too ( Based in European characters or settings were Sweeney Todd/A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum/ Passion) but wrote many based in America ( lyrics for WestSideStory&Gypsy/Assassins/Follies/Company/etc)

Lerner and Lowe wrote Camelot ( a story based in England - King Arthur/Guinevere), MY Fair Lady ( also based in England), and On a Clear Day ( an American story).

Some other musicals were stories from other lands (Man of La Mancha was about Don Quixote from Spain while Happy Time was about a man returning to his hometown in Canada). Cabaret was a wartime-based story in Germany.

Andrew Lloyd Webber took inspiration from many sources ( Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor & Jesus Christ Superstar came from the Bible...Phantom is a story from Paris...Aspects of Love were Brit characters in the south of France...Evita is from Argentina...Sunset Blvd was an adaptation of a story on Hollywood by Billy Wilder...Love Never Dies is a sequel to Phantom...another Americanized story was Whistle Down the Wind but original written by a British author and focusing on British characters...The Beautiful Game is based in Ireland during the sectarian violence days ( his saddest musical ever)...School of Rock was adapted from an American film. Cats was a backyard story of felines going to the Jellicle Ball.

Many new composers for Broadway have of course written contemporary musicals based in America (A Chorus Line/Annie/ Rent/AvenueQ/LegallyBlonde/WillRogers/JerseyBoys/ Chicago/Hamilton/Book of Mormon/ Dear Evan Hansen/Hairspray etc) but some also succeeded in another setting ( Light in the Piazza, Nine which was adapted from the Fellini movie "8 1/2", Moulin Rouge, etc),

One musical came from down under -- The Boy from Oz


Then the stage adaptations of Disney movies -- Beauty and the Beast/Little Mermaid/etc.


And of course -- the period piece Americana musical by Meredith Willson called THE MUSIC MAN


I guess national boundaries are not issues in musicals. Music is, after all, universal.


JO

[mamaleh]

Yes, Julie Andrews first played Eliza on Broadway, then re-created that role for the subsequent London production. At some point Sally Anne Howes replaced Andrews in New York.

Ellen