Whistle Down The Wind

[RadioMaster]

Came back yesterday from my visit in London where I saw Jims and Andrew Lloyd Webbers Whistle Down The Wind at the Palace Theatre in the West End.

I just wanna talk about it.
Anybody else seen it?

In my opinion that was the GREATEST show I´ve ever seen!!:D:D:D
http://media.mlxxfc.net/WDTWklein.jpg
(sorry for the bad quality, my girlfriend made a better one, but I cant find it at the moment)

[AndrewG]

I didn't think it was fantastic. It was certainly worth seeing though.
It was good, with good music and some great lyrics by Steinman and also the story was quite well told via the songs. But musicals such as "Jesus Christ Superstar" "Evita" and "Chicago" in my opinion come closer to "the greatest show I ever saw". The greatest would have to be Meat Loaf or Bruce Springsteen live. Nothing can top that for me.

I think though Steinman and Webber did the best they could with the story. It would just not be my favourite story to make a musical out of I suppose. But maybe I should see it again. It's been quite a few years I suppose.

By the way should this not be in off topic. Meat had little to do with the musical. He just sang two of the songs on the compilation album.

[RadioMaster]

I thought of off topic too, but it is related to Meat, even if just a little bit, but still too much for off topic.

It´s intersting that Jim uses some of his old lyrics like he does often. For example Take a chane on a promise and roll the dice and of course we´ll never be as young as we are right now.

Somehow it sounded to me like the very beginning of the second part sounded a little bit like The Storm, but somehow that´s not possible because Jim wrote "just" the lyrics.
I liked that Tyre Tracks and Broken Hearts was an own song with extended lyrics and melody, partial very different to Meat´s version.

Anyhow, i´ve just ordered the cast CD because IMO it´s great.

Andrew you should read more carefully:
I said that it was the best show I´ve ever seen, and (unfortunately) I´ve never been to a real good concert, like Meat´s, but all in all none of them (which I´ve seen) would top WDTW.

[stewbeef]

radiomaster, have not seen the whole musical, but have seen snipets of it on andrews royal albert hall celerbrations,which was as good as it gets.what a babe.

[needmoremeat]

I've seen it twice at my local theatre, the Sunderland Empire, and really enjoyed it! It was just the thrill of having Jim's marvellous lyrics being sung in our lovely, underrated theatre, and seeing his name on the posters advertising it when i passed the place on the bus to school every morning.
I like the "Cold" and "No Matter What" scenes, especially the latter when it's the contrast between the innocent children and the vengeful adults.
By the way, thakn you for posting that picture, Radiomaster! A few weeks ago i wondered if Jim's name would be in lights on the West End alongside (or under) ALW's for the show!:D If we're in the area in a few weeks time i'll have to get that photo!:mrgreen:

[tukayaway]

It´s intersting that Jim uses some of his old lyrics like he does often. For example Take a chane on a promise and roll the dice and of course we´ll never be as young as we are right now.


Not forgetting:
Tyre tracks and broken hearts,
It's all we're leaving behind.

[RadioMaster]

By the way, thakn you for posting that picture, Radiomaster! A few weeks ago i wondered if Jim's name would be in lights on the West End alongside (or under) ALW's for the show!:D If we're in the area in a few weeks time i'll have to get that photo!:mrgreen:

You´re welcome!:))
I´ve got one more in a better quality, but I didn´t post it up to now because the Whistle Down The Wind isnt on the pic, when I wanted to take that one my camera crashed:-(
I took that photo because it was important for me as a Jim fan to be remembered of that sight:))
I was surprised too! We came the street along and there was Jim´s name in big letters!:D
So, if you want it: Here it is

http://media.mlxxfc.net/IMAG0211.JPG

[needmoremeat]

Excellent! Can't wait to see the front of that theatre in three weeks! We're not seeing the show again, though, I just want that photo!
The second time the show came to my local theatre, they sent a letter to us informing us it was coming back, and there was no mention of ALW anywhere on that bit paper, it was all "Jim Steinman...Jim Steinman...Jim Steinman"! It gave me a laugh!:lol:

[Pudding]

It's a great show, I saw it in London when it first came out.

I believe it's one of Webber's most successful touring productions, so why it doesn't do more touring I have no idea. I would love to see it go oversea's

Pud :twisted:

[RadioMaster]

I was surprised that it was just a stopgap:shock:
The last musical had ended in April and the next one, some Monty Python thing, can start first in August, so they had to find somehting to fill the gap.

[Pudding]

Hopefully they'll do another national tour.

Pud :twisted:

[The Flying Mouse]

I would love to see it go oversea's



:twisted: So would I :mrgreen:

Sorry, couldn't resist that one :lmao:

Truth is, the songs i've heard from it, I like 8) .

[mszee]

And I hope they never do it in America...unless they will somehow decide NOT to murder it...

[rockfenris2005]

LOL by casting Michael Crawford in the lead, perhaps? Or turfing half of the songs and getting Desmond Child to write the rest? :P

[mszee]

LOL by casting Michael Crawford in the lead, perhaps? Or turfing half of the songs and getting Desmond Child to write the rest? :P

I've listened to some of the musical you're refering to on YourTube yesterday...to me it sounded like female lead was even more off the charts than Michael Crawford...

[rockfenris2005]

She sounded like a strangled cat

[mszee]

She sounded like a strangled cat

The last note she hit hurt my eardrums...still getting over it...

[needmoremeat]

Just found out today i won't be seeing Jim's name in lights on the West End: I go to London on Aug 17th, the show finishes Aug 12th!:evil: :(

[Diane]

I saw Whistle Down The Wind 3 times in its first UK incarnation at the Aldwych Theatre, twice with the original cast and then with new leads. I thoroughly enjoyed the show and thought it worked extremely well being reset in the American Bible Belt instead of the north of England. It somehow made the story more believable.

A local amateur theatre company recently staged their version. I was set to go and see it until I found out that they were using the songs which so obviously fit America's deep south but had moved the story back to the north of England. This seemed almost sacrilegious to me. I couldn't fathom at all how it could work and I just couldn't drag myself along to support it. Not surprisingly it didn't get glowing reviews.

By the way Radiomaster, the Monty Python thing you're referring to is Spamalot which has been one of the biggest award winning shows on Broadway. It starred Tim Curry (Rocky Horror Show) and he's reprising the role for the West End. I love Monty Python and would dearly love to see that show.

Diane

[needmoremeat]

I'd have loved to see the Monty Python thing if David Hyde Pierce ("Frasier's" Niles Crane) had come to London with it, he was in it in America.

[RadioMaster]

I´m not such a big Monty Python fan, somehow I think that sense of humour can only be understood by Britains...

[Bohemian]

Britons. There's only one Britain, thank christ.

I love Monty Python. I doubt I'd like Spamalot.

I wish Whistle or Tanz would come to Australia (yeah I know there's exactly 0 chance of Dance getting reworked any time soon, much less for Australia) but Whistle would be cool.

I saw We Will Rock You When it was here. It was seriously groovy. The fact that Freddie is dead strikes me as so unfair...

[mszee]

I liked Spamelot...until I didn't like it anymore...I think they've crossed some barriers there...and I am a fan of Monty Python...

[MeatGrl1]

Heard so much about this musical.. Am interested to see it out of curiosity!

[RadioMaster]

Yesterday the original cast recording was in the mail, and I´m shocked:

That´s not the musical I have seen!
They have changed many parts.
For example:
On the cd is a song called Annie Christmas
It´s when The kids want "Jesus" to tell them a story and hetells the story of "Annie Christmas with her neckless she is oh so tough and reckless"
On stage he had sung a completely different story, it was kind of a bible story, but instead of the bible figures he used old actors and celebrities, cant really remember the text.
:confused:

[Pudding]

There's the original cast album and there's a concept album with the likes of Tom Jones and Bonnie tyler on it. Also, the stage show as it is now, is slightly different to the original stage show back in '97 or whenever it was.

Pud :twisted:

[Bohemian]

Yesterday the original cast recording was in the mail, and I´m shocked:

That´s not the musical I have seen!
They have changed many parts.
For example:
On the cd is a song called Annie Christmas
It´s when The kids want "Jesus" to tell them a story and hetells the story of "Annie Christmas with her neckless she is oh so tough and reckless"
On stage he had sung a completely different story, it was kind of a bible story, but instead of the bible figures he used old actors and celebrities, cant really remember the text.
:confused:


I'm not that knowledgable on these musicals or the working of musicals in generall, but I've read a few times now that Annie Christmas, and the other "christmas" song later on, were replaced by 'The Tribe' and a reprise thereof respectively, with lyrics written by Don Black.