tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4357001616333664522.post6057867075535787423..comments2024-03-28T14:27:19.894-07:00Comments on Burning Wood: Todd On Monday : Up Against ItUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4357001616333664522.post-85752603513683190432014-03-06T15:06:18.444-08:002014-03-06T15:06:18.444-08:00I saw that production and was so taken with it, I ...I saw that production and was so taken with it, I went back at least once. I didn't understand the reception it got. I could quibble about the staging and some of the voices weren't strong enough to really pull it off, but I thought the score was remarkable. I can't understand why it's not been done elsewhere. This is coming from someone who isn't a Rundgrenite. 85% of his music I don't understand. 15% of it is the best stuff I've ever heard.hugoidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01420540618861085168noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4357001616333664522.post-22309140639626950062010-05-11T18:37:53.376-07:002010-05-11T18:37:53.376-07:00NO official recording.NO official recording.Sal Nunziatohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09221629293545204260noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4357001616333664522.post-52940330702953556062010-05-11T17:57:46.527-07:002010-05-11T17:57:46.527-07:00I'd heard a couple of things here and there bu...I'd heard a couple of things here and there but never all the songs They're not bad but then I'm not a theater critic.<br /> I think you said these are demos. Was there ever an official recording?cmealhahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03201121023050701074noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4357001616333664522.post-71885762316424326082010-05-10T11:06:14.400-07:002010-05-10T11:06:14.400-07:00I've always respected "Up Against It.&quo...I've always respected "Up Against It." Knowing of Rundgren's love for Broadway, Gilbert & Sullivan, and pop music, it seems to gush all of that with passion. Todd used to be the king of gushing passion.Sal Nunziatohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09221629293545204260noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4357001616333664522.post-34725937268368217192010-05-10T08:41:48.074-07:002010-05-10T08:41:48.074-07:00gussow really had a hissy fit on this one. my gues...gussow really had a hissy fit on this one. my guess is that given his "oscar wilde for our times" line, he felt that the production betrayed the author's intent.<br /><br />but geez, he falls all over himself hating on the score, and all that proves is that he was too pissed off to really listen. yes, it's a pastiche of G&S, Weill, and bernstein/sondheim—as todd writes plainly enough in the liner notes. thing is, it's really *good* pastiche, very sophisticated musically. in "we understand each other," a song about two people definitely not on the same page, todd gets the point across by having them sing the same lines but just slightly unsynched, maybe a sixteenth note apart. it was so hard to sing that it was dropped from the production. <br /><br />and saying the lyrics are witless is just perverse. hate it or love it, show a tiny shred of objectivity and grant that the lyrics are what we expect from todd at his best: inventive wordplay; complex emotions expressed clearly and poetically; one ("in the end") that gets close enough to the inside workings of a despot to be unpleasant listening; and a fair amount of downright silliness.<br /><br />the money line in the liner notes is todd saying that the composers above were his influences not only here, but also in his so-called pop music. that's very revealing and helpful to those of us who want to understand his sensibility and presentation.<br /><br />hell, if he had been born 20 years earlier he might have *been* sondheim. and then we wouldn't be talking about this, would we?misospecialhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06746740239194445506noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4357001616333664522.post-50080383588676188542010-05-10T05:55:11.980-07:002010-05-10T05:55:11.980-07:00I always wondered whether or not that show was as ...I always wondered whether or not that show was as bad as the Times review.<br /><br />Thanks for posting the songs, thoough...still absorbing them.The Phantom Creepnoreply@blogger.com