Something A Little Different; City of Angels
This is a stage musical - yes, yes, I know, but hold on …
I’ve been lucky enough to play this score for performance twice, both for amateur productions, but, it has to be said, both very high quality amateur productions. The first time was at Questors Theatre in Ealing. We had one of the largest bands that I’d played in for an amateur show; about seventeen players or thereabouts. Most of the blowers were from the RAF band who were relatively local, bolstered by a couple of lads from the Scots Guards band and topped off by sundry ne’er-do-wells known to myself and, doubtless, the local constabulary, on keys, bass and guitar. I remember the band call, in the upstairs cafe at Questors, got pretty crowded, having attracted the attention of people who were working elsewhere in the theatre on unrelated projects. In performance, we were visible on stage, as part of the action. We became known - affectionately - as the Muppet Band, as a large number of us used to sit back at the end of “Double Talk” nodding sagely at the quality of writing. If you’re not familiar with the Muppet Band, aka The Electric Mayhem Orchestra, have a look on YouTube.
The second time I played it was with a much smaller ensemble - about 9 players, I think, in a smaller venue (Hampton Hill Theatre), but it still worked.
This remains the only album that I have downloaded or bought for “work” that I play for entertainment. IMHO, Cy Coleman’s score captures the L.A. of the late 40s in the same way as Bernstein’s “West Side Story” captures the New York of the late 50s.
The basic premise of the show is the relationship between the writer and his creation and a double plot runs throughout. The libretto is a kind of tongue-in-cheek nod to the books of Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett, utilising that sort of studied laconic street wit of the Private Detective and the larger than life characters that inhabited the city in that era.
It had a brief run in the West End before lock-down and was the last show we saw before everything closed. Anyway, grab a Margarita and your favourite squeeze, take a load off and kick back …
YouTube : https://youtu.be/weDpfvdqb-s
Spotify : https://open.spotify.com/album/5wMQwqYhIXHYNaTe8Ye4Oq?si=5GZ0IjMbQNmZ4wWu3rXDAw
Discogs : https://www.discogs.com/Cy-Coleman-David-Zippel-City-of-Angels-Original-London-Cast-Recording/release/11655178
I’ve been lucky enough to play this score for performance twice, both for amateur productions, but, it has to be said, both very high quality amateur productions. The first time was at Questors Theatre in Ealing. We had one of the largest bands that I’d played in for an amateur show; about seventeen players or thereabouts. Most of the blowers were from the RAF band who were relatively local, bolstered by a couple of lads from the Scots Guards band and topped off by sundry ne’er-do-wells known to myself and, doubtless, the local constabulary, on keys, bass and guitar. I remember the band call, in the upstairs cafe at Questors, got pretty crowded, having attracted the attention of people who were working elsewhere in the theatre on unrelated projects. In performance, we were visible on stage, as part of the action. We became known - affectionately - as the Muppet Band, as a large number of us used to sit back at the end of “Double Talk” nodding sagely at the quality of writing. If you’re not familiar with the Muppet Band, aka The Electric Mayhem Orchestra, have a look on YouTube.
The second time I played it was with a much smaller ensemble - about 9 players, I think, in a smaller venue (Hampton Hill Theatre), but it still worked.
This remains the only album that I have downloaded or bought for “work” that I play for entertainment. IMHO, Cy Coleman’s score captures the L.A. of the late 40s in the same way as Bernstein’s “West Side Story” captures the New York of the late 50s.
The basic premise of the show is the relationship between the writer and his creation and a double plot runs throughout. The libretto is a kind of tongue-in-cheek nod to the books of Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett, utilising that sort of studied laconic street wit of the Private Detective and the larger than life characters that inhabited the city in that era.
It had a brief run in the West End before lock-down and was the last show we saw before everything closed. Anyway, grab a Margarita and your favourite squeeze, take a load off and kick back …
YouTube : https://youtu.be/weDpfvdqb-s
Spotify : https://open.spotify.com/album/5wMQwqYhIXHYNaTe8Ye4Oq?si=5GZ0IjMbQNmZ4wWu3rXDAw
Discogs : https://www.discogs.com/Cy-Coleman-David-Zippel-City-of-Angels-Original-London-Cast-Recording/release/11655178
