Stephen Ward The Musical

[emmie]

is to close, i am baffled why anyone would think it a good subject matter for a musical. The man committed suicide after all. The case of a public figure Profumo caught up in a sex scandal, his family must have been upset that the subject matter isn't allowed to die down.

[Buenchico]

>>>his family must have been upset that the subject matter isn't allowed to die down

Not so, apparently:
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/family-profumo-affair-pimp-stephen-2948053

[emmie]

Ward was undoubtedly the fall guy, but a musical isn't going to clear his name, its just that a musical, hardly taking the matter to the high court with documentation and evidence of his innocence or supposed involvement, i was surprised when the show opened i must say, and not overly surprised that it's closed.

[sandyRoe]

I take it that none of the songs from the show will live long after the final curtain?

[andy-hughes]

I did seriously wonder about the subject matter for this project.

To have been alive when this scandal hit the papers, you would need to be in your fifties now, and in your sixties and seventies to have any memory of it.

That means that for the bast majority of London theatre goers, this is a story of which they know nothing - a long-forgotten political scandal that hardly sets the world alight in terms of its dramatic or musical setting.

Perhaps Lord Lloyd-Webber is suffering the malaise of so many rich and infulential creative types, there is no-one around honest enough to have a word in his ear when his ideas of popular culture go AWOL - hopefully temporarily.

Maybe next time, someone will take his lordship on one side and have a quiet word - something along the lines of 'This is a crap idea, and it won't sell in a month of Sundays Andy, leave it and move on ...'.

[Oleanda]

What is more shocking to me is that they have made a musical out of the murders of five prostitutes in Ipswich, which happened less than 10 years ago.

[emmie]

i have no idea of the theatregoers who would see this, but perhaps its because of the name Lloyd Webber that they might, i don't wish him or the cast ill but i really don't think this should have been staged.

[emmie]

oleanda that's vile

[boxtops]

I don't want to see it, no interest at all.

[Canary42]

I can't see how something that only we wrinklies can remember is a reason for a show bombing - after all The Sound of Music covers an event some twenty years earlier and that's hardly been a failure.

[emmie]

this chap committed suicide, it was a massive scandal, though i have enjoyed some of Lloyd Webbers musicals i had no intention of seeing this, the one i didn't like at all, was one of the most successful The Phantom of the Opera.

[emmie]

i don't think it's the timeline, but can you really see a show about a young man hounded by the establishment, who as most people in the know agree was made a scapegoat by the establishment, who eventually killed himself being a popular story, for light entertainment. Whilst the Sound of Music, is a rather touching though somewhat untrue account of the Von Trapp family.
Its the music in that film and show that make it stand out.
Can you remember off the top of your head many of ALW's big hits...

[Canary42]

Oh I agree with you emmie regarding the (un)suitability of the topic - my earlier post was refuting the point being made by andy-hughes.

[jomifl]

I think it was an exercise in vanity ie. "I'm so clever I ca make a musical out of anything", what next 'Auschwitz the musical'?

[emmie]

i must say i was really surprised when i heard that it was going to be made into a musical. I reckon that Profumo and Ward should now be left to rest in peace. This story has been raked over so often

[emmie]

little grainy to start, but this was hilarious. Media URL: http://www.tcm.com/mediaroom/video/223896/Producers-The-Movie-Clip-Springtime-for-Hitler.html
Description:

[emmie]

see if that works. Not a subject generally for levity, but it is still deliciously anarchic. Media URL: http://www.tcm.com/mediaroom/video/223896/Producers-The-Movie-Clip-Springtime-for-Hitler.html
Description:

[emmie]

sorry, won't do it. apologies, i put it into you tube perhaps that was wrong.

[Canary42]

http://www.tcm.com/mediaroom/video/223896/Producers-The-Movie-Clip-Springtime-for-Hitler.html

Tasteless and insulting to the millions of victims.

[andy-hughes]

Canary42 - "I can't see how something that only we wrinklies can remember is a reason for a show bombing - after all The Sound of Music covers an event some twenty years earlier and that's hardly been a failure."

I didn't wish to suggest that the timeline was the only reason for the failure of this project.

The main reason for its downfall lies fairly and sqaurely in its subject matter - political scandal, media outrage, and the tragic death of the title character.

That's a heck of a leap from the uplifting story of a family of children and a governess outwitting the nazis - it's not hard to see why one would last and one would not.

[andy-hughes]

Canary42 - I think you may be missing the reason for the success of the project.

The satire is not the rise of Hitler, nor is it intended to poke fun at victims of Nazi attrocities.

The satire is aimed entirely at the Hollywoof money machine - the notion that backers will back anything - even the most tasteless tawdry pap ever written. The premise was that the musical was so aweful that it would fail, and the satire rests on the notion that it was widly succesful.

I don't think for one moment that Mel Brooks - a Jew - would find it entertaining to mock Holocaust victims - which is why he didn't do it.