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What was Most Played Song of the 20th Century? Three New York Experiences

14th Jan 2015
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Beautiful the Carole King Musical lived up to its name in New York and will soon hit London along with the unexpected answer to this question.

For those who can’t wait until opening night in March, the answer is in the Comments below.

Carole King is one of those iconic music stars whose songs are generally more famous than she is.

In New York, actress Jessie Mueller gave an incredible performance, demonstrating a voice that you would have sworn Belong to Miss King herself. While she isn’t coming to London, the musical should still be a major hit over here as well.

It tells the incredible story of a young woman who sold her first hit at 16 before getting pregnant and married in that order a year later.

Her new husband Gerry Goffin was also the other half of one of the most successful song writing teams of the last century - she wrote the music and he the lyrics.

They were not the only stars in the stable of impresario Don Kirshner. He put them into competition with the less well-known but equally potent pairing of Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil.

For those who only vaguely remember the names, the songs will tell it all.

Mann and Weil were responsible for You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling, Walking in the Rain and We Gotta Get Out Of This Place.

Goffin and King more than matched them with It Might As Well Rain until September, Up on the Roof, Take Good Care of My Baby, The Locomotion and (You Make Me Feel) a Natural Woman plus much more.

Inevitably, since this is a jukebox musical the major attraction is the music but Carole King also enjoyed a complicated life despite achieving stardom at such a tender age. This means that the story contains enough thrills and spills to keep audiences on the edges of their seats.

Readers who prefer more rarefied culture would have loved Renee Fleming and Kelli O’Hara in Lehar’s The Merry Widow at the Metropolitan Opera House.

Since this is operetta, the story is light-hearted but very funny, set in a kind of Ruritanian state where the money has run out and only the widow of the title can save the day.

Miss Fleming not only does that but sang like a dream. While that is to be expected Kelli O’Hara, hitherto known only for her work in Broadway musicals and on screen made a stunning debut. She not only proved her ability to sing with the very best but showed acting and dancing skills that one does not expect from operatic divas.

Director Susan Stroman is also known as a choreographer and musical specialist but stepped up to the plate to deliver a stylish and frequently beautiful experience.

For those that can’t get to New York in time, there is every chance that this new production will appear in British cinemas before too long and the DVD might well be in production as we speak.

On the art front, special exhibitions catch the eye but the permanent collections in New York are as good as any in the world. Whether your tastes are ancient or modern, there is something to appeal to everybody between the Met (Museum not opera house), MOMA, the Guggenheim, the Frick and the Whitney, which is about to open in new premises.

The Brooklyn Museum is also worth a try, with an exhibit on shoes that will have pleased lovers of Kinky Boots, another musical that is surely set to visit London before too long, and anyone who is excited by scarily high heels.

While van Gogh’s Starry Night at MOMA probably still takes the biscuit, the Renoirs and Canova sculptures at the Met are truly beautiful as well.

This may sound like an advert for the New York Tourist Board but if you choose to visit this exciting city some time soon, you will not be disappointed.

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Philip Fisher
By Philip Fisher
14th Jan 2015 07:54

That Song

The answer to the question is not something by the Beatles or even Irving Berlin.

According to the programme for Beautiful The Carole King Musical, Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil win the day with You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling

Did anyone get that right?

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By User deleted
14th Jan 2015 08:50
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By Exector
16th Jan 2015 15:33

Radio 3 Live from the Met

Just for info You can catch that production of the  Merry Widow from the NY Metropolitan Opera (Andrew Davis conducting) this Saturday night (17/01) @18:00 on Radio 3 in the Live from the Met series:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04y9nn4

 

very much looking forward to it & rather more affordable than flying to NY & buyiing a Met ticket!

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By Exector
16th Jan 2015 15:50

Sad but True

But the Met website itself does at least have pics of the productions, linked to the live broadcast sessions.

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