Round 1 No One Mourns The Wicked beats Road To Hell (very competitive match though, very strong R1 matchup) Circle of Life beats 9 to 5 Ex-Wives beats 30/90 Good Morning Baltimore CLEARS Hello All That Jazz beats Jellicle Songs For Jellicle Cats Opening Up CLEARS Oh What A Beautiful Morning (I respect Oklahoma as a musical but I do not vibe with it at all) Into The Woods beats I Hope I Get It Ballad of Sweeney Todd beats Beautiful (another unfortunate matchup) Omigod You Guys beats Company Welcome To The Rock beats 42 Balloons Prologue (had never heard it previously and definitely beats some other Round 1 participants - very sad matchup) Hard Work beats Heaven On Your Mind (never seen JCS though so maybe it'd change if I saw it in person though, but Fame nostalgia wins out) Belle beats Magic To Do Little Shop of Horrors CLEARS Miracle Alexander Hamilton beats Tower of Babble (not familiar with this but tbh I don't think it'd have a chance) Wilkommen beats When You're An Addams In The Heights beats Look Down (weakest matchup of the round for me, not huge on either) Round 2 No One Mourns The Wicked beats Circle of Life Good Morning Baltimore beats Ex-Wives All That Jazz beats Opening Up Into The Woods beats Ballad of Sweeney Todd (this is a finale-worthy matchup, two incredible openers here) Welcome To The Rock beats Omigod You Guys (another top-tier matchup, both set their scenes of the musical so well) Belle beats Hard Work Little Shop Of Horrors beats Alexander Hamilton Wilkommen CLEARS In The Heights Round 3 Good Morning Baltimore beats No One Mourns The Wicked (Baltimore is such a great song, it's a close battle but I think it sets up Hairspray so much better while Wicked takes a bit longer to shine) Into The Woods beats All That Jazz Welcome To The Rock beats Belle Wilkommen beats Little Shop of Horrors Semi Finals Into The Woods beats Good Morning Baltimore Welcome To The Rock beats Wilkommen Finale 1st. Into The Woods 2nd. Welcome To The Rock 3rd. Good Morning Baltimore 4th. Wilkommen Honourable Mentions from tough matches - Ballad of Sweeney Todd, Omigod You Guys
I love All That Jazz, and musically it’s amazing, but I think that Welcome to the Rock is a much stronger opening number. After watching/listening to Welcome to the Rock I don’t think there is anyone who wouldn’t want to watch the rest of the musical, because it just pulls you in so well while also leaving enough questions unanswered that watching the rest of the show is just obligatory.
Missing from your list....Ragtime opening , Tradition from Fiddler on the Roof, The travelling salemen singing to the beat of a train in The Music Man and the Times Sq ballet/opening for Guys & Dolls
Playing along at home Round 1: 'Road to Hell' Beats 'No One Mourns the Wicked' 'Circle of Life' Beats '9 to 5' '30/90' Beats 'Ex-Wives' 'Good Morning Baltimore' Beats 'Hello' 'All that Jazz' Beats 'Jellicle Songs for Jellicle Cats' (Fuck Cats) 'Opening Up' Beats 'Oh What a Beautiful Morning' 'Into the Woods' Beats 'God I hope I Get it' 'Ballad of Sweeney Todd' Beats 'Beautiful' (Heathers is my favourite musical, but come on) 'Oh My God You Guys' Beats 'Company' 'Welcome to the Rock' Beats 'Prologue' 'Hard Work' Beats 'Heaven on their Minds' (Nostalgia is strong with this one) 'Belle' Beats 'Magic to Do' 'Prologue (Little Shop of Horrors)' Beats 'Miracle' 'Alexander Hamilton' Beats 'Tower of Babel' 'When You're an Addams' Beats 'Willkommen' 'In the Heights' Beats 'Look Down' Round 2: 'Circle of Life' Beats 'Road to Hell' '30/90' Beats 'Good Morning Baltimore' 'All That Jazz' Beats 'Opening Up' 'Ballad of Sweeney Todd' Beats 'Into the Woods' 'Oh My God you Guys' Beats 'Welcome to the Rock' 'Belle' Beats 'Hard Work' 'Alexander Hamilton' Beats 'Prologue (Little Shop of Horrors)' (Wanted this to go further) 'In the Heights Beats 'When You're an Addams' Round 3: 'Circle of Life' Beats '30/90' 'Ballad of Sweeney Todd' Beats 'All That Jazz' 'Oh My God you Guys' Beats 'Belle' 'Alexander Hamilton' Beats 'In the Heights' Round 4: 'Ballad of Sweeney Todd' Beats 'Circle of Life' 'Alexander Hamilton Beats 'Oh My God you Guys' Final Round: 'Ballad of Sweeney Todd' Beats 'Alexander Hamilton' (My 2nd and 3rd favourite musicals respectively) The Winner: 'Ballad of Sweeney Todd'
Sequel please! Big call on Sweeney Todd .. My winner would be Hamilton - aside from it being amazing, the opening number also introduces the plot brilliantly. Loved the shout out to 42 Balloons 🎈
Heres my choices Round 1 No One Mourns The Wicked Circle of Life Ex wives Good morning baltimore All that jazz Oh what a beautiful morning God I hope I get it Ballad of Sweeney Todd Oh My God You Guys Welcome to the Rock Heaven on their minds Belle Little shop of horrors Alexander Hamilton Wilkomen Look Down Round 2 Circle of life Good morning baltimore All that jazz Ballad of Sweeney todd Welcome to the rock Heaven on their minds Alexander hamilton Wilkomen Round 3 Circle of life All that jazz Heaven on their minds Alexander Hamilton Round 4 Circle of life Heaven on their minds Winner Heaven on their minds One of my favourite musical theatre songs: the riff, the vocals, the lyrics, the journey. It manages to introduce where we are in the story while also being introspective which is rare for an opening number. Love it! All the choices in the bracket were great though!
Round 1 1 Hadestown - that trombone intro gets me everytime 2 Lion King 3 Six 4 Hairspray - though Hello is super strong 5 Chicago 6 Waitress 7 Into the woods - both are iconic though 8 Sweeney Todd 9 Legally Blond 10 Come from away 11 J. C. Superstar 12 Beauty and the Beast 13 Little Shop 14 Hamilton 15 Cabaret 16 In the Heights- this was the hardest for me Round 2 Hadestown Hairspray Chicago Into the woods Come from away J.C.Superstar Hamilton In the heights Round 3 Hadestown Into the woods Gah! Come from away Heights Round 4 Hadestown Come from away Final - Hadestown - not what I thought would happen These are so hard but so fun. Avenue Q, Gentlemans guide, Guys n Dolls, Music Man, Fiddler on the roof and Fun Home are my humble submissions for consideration if you do a part 2.
I feel like I am one of the few people with truly mixed feelings on La La Land. Its a technically brilliant film, with a great score, and an interesting story in theory. My main issue lies with Sebastian. A white man who is trying to save jazz and tells a black man he is wrong about his own thoughts on Jazz. Like, there is a lot of issues with Sebastian, but the white savior attitude he has towards jazz, a style of music that was founded on black performers and their performances is honestly infuriating. And the fact that he says true jazz is dying which is just not true. Styles of music evolve and change with the times and there is nothing wrong with that. The movie wants us to side with him, but it doesn’t take into account that what John Legends character is right. I gave on record saying that a majority of the issues with Sebastian could have been avoided had they just cast a black man as the lead. It would still have some issues, but what he is saying would have more credence and authenticity. The stage musical does have a chance to fix that mistake but even odds if they will take that chance.
This is such a promising concept for a musical. It works really well. In regards to Watari, keep in mind that I haven’t seen the show since early high school and I am 25 now, but I do seem to remember that even in the anime he doesn’t really get a lot of attention pass the loss of his Football game. He is mostly just there for supporting the main characters. But it has been over a decade since I watched the anime so I be not remembering something. All I know is that it is hard to adapt a 24 episode anime into a two hour musical.
So I decided to play along and Beautiful is my winner. I love that number and I am not surprised. But I was surprised to see it against Oh my God. Apparently I really love the way Lawrence O'Keffee introduces the characters. Elle's introduction is sooo good. But Heathers being introduced (in the UK production with the wall opening) that is just musical theatre gold. Most iconic entrance ever. That is why it took my top spot! All That Jazz is an amazing opening number as well and a great choice for a winner! Road to Hell 9 to 5 Ex wives Good Morning Baltimore All that Jazz Opening up Into the Woods Beautiful Oh my God Welcome to the Rock - (Don't remember either) Magic to Do Little Shop of Horrors Alexander Hamilton Wilkomen In the Heights Road To Hell Ex Wives All that Jazz Beautiful Oh my God Magic to Do Alexander Hamilton Wilkomen Ex Wives Beautiful Oh My God Wilkomen Beautiful Oh My God Beautiful
I think you missed out Mulan. Reflection would definitely fit the bill of an i wabt song and arguably be a man could be argued as a corporate i want song
My pick has to go to Bells of Notre Dame in Hunchback. Makes me cry every time I listen to it because it’s beautiful to the point of genius. Makes and Schwartz really killed it with that one
I always feel like it is harder to decide the song rounds instead of characters as you end up picking one type of song but all openings have to be so good and impactful to draw people into the story. I can just imagine how difficult it would be choosing a finale song or act 1 finale as all they are often the most fundamental to the story
Completely agree on those top two. As a brass player, Chicago is so fun to play. I might have given it to Welcome to the Rock, but that’s maybe Come From Away bias showing. Thought Hello! might get further.
Yet to see Hadestown but I understand your points Circle of life in awesome Again not seen dolly but I know the song from mainstream Yes ballad of sweeney Todd is epic
Ooh 😯 My initial thoughts: Hoping Six’s ex wives is on this list! It’s such a great start to the show. Then the energy of no way is the perfect start. I was literally dancing and singing to this song today so I might be biased 😅. All that jazz is awesome - Chicago is one of my favourite musicals Possible unpopular opinion but Wicked’s opening number is good but sometimes the sound on the ensemble is not as clear so it loses some points I don’t know tick tick boom
I was so upset about bonnie and clyde being cancelled, have been waiting to see it since 2016 and was only 8 days away from seeing it when it was pulled 😢💔
Totally agree with you that we need more rock musicals. Not that there's anything wrong with pop...sicals (sorry I had to. It's almost summer 😂) but we need to break up the monotony a little. Your space background reminded me of a recent new rock musical I saw in Berkeley, California called Galileo. (And if that gets Raúl Esparza back on Broadway I'm gonna weep)
I don't think we call them popsicles here which is sad. That's an Americanism I actually kinda like. Then again, we'd call it an ice lolly which is kinda cute too 😂 Weird that's the point from your comment I've decided to focus on but hey 😂
Because Act 2 is the second film. We won't see footage from that for a good while. Because of that fact, this trailer walks us through the plot of the entire first film.
just searched the six fandom wiki, and it is possible to have a full cast of trans/nonbinary queens! Aragon: Willow Dougherty or Shannen Aylce Quan Boleyn: Baylie Carson, Maddison Bulleyment, or Hazel Karooma-Brooker Seymour: Claudia Kariuki Cleves: Fia Houston-Hamilton or Oliver Wickham Howard: Alicia Corrales Parr: Aja Simone Baitey please let me know if i’m missing anyone!!
After the news recap with like fifty tour announcements in one week where every tour had an opening night on my birthday, this is now a tradition for this series.
I've just remembered to check and to point it out in case you hadn't noticed, but you've now reached one year of doing Weekly News Recaps, as of last week! Congratulations! They are amazing videos which I really enjoy, and I can't wait for a whole more year of them!
I saw the North American tour (which has the same direction, set, and costumes as the UK tour) but do not have an overly religious background and only knew a couple of song. Because of my background I found it difficult to understand what was going on and who was who. So my biggest critique of this version of JCSS is that if you don’t know the story beforehand you’re going to have a hard time following what’s going on stage.
On the structure thing - I’ve always interpreted Act 1 (and I could be totally wrong here!) as a rundown of Judas’ grievances: Mary, the ointment, Jesus’ behaviour towards the priests, his own disciples, the moneylenders and finally the crowds who trust him (that ‘Heal Yourselves!’ moment). So rather than telling a coherent story of Jesus’ movements in Jerusalem, they are there to illustrate why Judas’ doubts (Heaven on their Minds) turn to ultimate betrayal by the end of Act 1. I saw the production at the Barbican in 2019 and at the Birmingham Hippodrome - I do remember the Barbican having more space, but the sound quality was terrible (far too loud to the point the words were lost; it had not been fine-tuned for indoors!). I have mixed feelings about the hand held mics in the production - sometimes the tech equipment really works as your review points out - other times I felt it got in the way of interactions between characters. My only other negatives: the fact that Jesus sits up at the end and the curtain falls as he and Judas regard each other - I thought this muddied the waters on the resurrection issue - which most productions leave completely unaddressed, leaving audiences to decide. I also missed the larger orchestra as featured on the cast recordings - though in an average sized theatre we were never going to get that (staged concert soon, please!). However, these are minor complaints - it truly is a great musical IMO - and there were some very talented performers in this cast. I can’t get my head around the fact it’s over 50 years old now! It certainly doesn’t sound it.
I do agree with that first point. As I say in the video, this production doesn't have Judas present for enough of these events to get that interpretation across, furthering my general issue with the pace in that first act. Honestly, I expect we'll get a JCS staged concert one day. Let's hope we don't need to wait a decade for the 60th anniversary for it to happen lol.
I was actually fortunate enough to go see the show twice, Once in Liverpool in October while Julian Clary was still Herod, and once in Bradford in December without him and when I tell you it felt like watching two completely different productions. I mean I basically just talk at anyone who lets me about how disappointed with the whole production I was when I first saw it, but for me it's a lot of little things. For me a big little thing though was during Everything's alright when Mary starts off really close and intimate with Jesus, then just backs up to her microphone as the ensemble come over, and I felt that relationship between them suffered slightly because of it, and with the gold used for the 39 lashings, like you say it's a great visual, it's just I also noticed at Liverpool, I'm not sure if it's a tour-wide decision, but they'd also given him the blood and the bruising on his back as well? And it just felt a little bit like they weren't quite sure which direction to take it in. And with Judas' last song, the way he goes into an almost falsetto during the I don't know how to love him section, felt a little bit like he was mocking Mary, so much that there was a laugh at that moment in both showings i went to. Like I say other than that it's a stunning production, love the way it's lit and the choreography like you say really well done, it's just like I say those little things that stopped me from enjoying it completely, but maybe I'm in the wrong and just didn't get it 🤷 which is also possible. But that's basically where I stand with it, a couple little negatives that held me back from throughly enjoying it but the positives definitely outweigh the negatives. And most of those I think we're because when I went to see it they were still pushing it as the 50th anniversary tour, so my expectations were admittedly far too high, but still thoroughly enjoyed the production. Apart from Julian's Herod but I'd literally be here all day if I were to go into depth about him hehe
Great review Ellie, thanks. I have been waiting for this video as we are seeing the show in Canterbury in a few weeks and we are really looking forward to it. I too am partial to a bit of ALW back catalogue; can't deny the man knows how to write a tune!
