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Friday, November 04, 2022
‘The Broadway Show’: Cameron Crowe talks about becoming a lyricist with the musical version of ‘Almost Famous’
Broadway News: Music journalist Cameron Crowe became an Academy Award winner for his “Almost Famous” screenplay. Now, with the musical adaptation of the 2000 film open on Broadway, he’s adding musical book writer and, most notably, lyricist to his resume.
2 comments:
Jackson Underwood
said...
I have nothing against jukebox musicals, but to be honest, they don’t interest me. Granted, I’ve never seen a jukebox musical of an artist that I listened to before seeing the musical. I just think the plots are always messy because the playwright is trying to formulate a story around existing songs. For example, Mamma Mia is notorious for its plot holes and messy and hard to understand plot. I appreciate that Cameron Crowe took the time to make Almost Famous into more than a jukebox musical or nostalgia bait. Music is such a central part of musicals, but it only works when it works symbiotically with the story, and that was what Crowe strove to do with Almost Famous. Writing lyrics is not easy, and it doesn’t come easy even to experienced playwrights, so I'm impressed with Crowe’s perseverance and determination. I wish the show an amazing run and the recognition is deserves!
Almost famous is before my time. I’ve never seen it but it does pop up on my Netflix catalog a lot and I have been enticed by the cover to watch it several times. Now that it is turning into what seems to be a hit musical, I may actually hit play next time it pops up. This creative team seems very well suited for this challenge. I first learned about Kitt when he was working on Jagged Little Pill. That is a more traditional jukebox musical, but it did have some orchestration elements and there was definitely some departures from the original songs to make them Broadway ready. I bet they are going to turn this into a must watch musical.
2 comments:
I have nothing against jukebox musicals, but to be honest, they don’t interest me. Granted, I’ve never seen a jukebox musical of an artist that I listened to before seeing the musical. I just think the plots are always messy because the playwright is trying to formulate a story around existing songs. For example, Mamma Mia is notorious for its plot holes and messy and hard to understand plot. I appreciate that Cameron Crowe took the time to make Almost Famous into more than a jukebox musical or nostalgia bait. Music is such a central part of musicals, but it only works when it works symbiotically with the story, and that was what Crowe strove to do with Almost Famous. Writing lyrics is not easy, and it doesn’t come easy even to experienced playwrights, so I'm impressed with Crowe’s perseverance and determination. I wish the show an amazing run and the recognition is deserves!
Almost famous is before my time. I’ve never seen it but it does pop up on my Netflix catalog a lot and I have been enticed by the cover to watch it several times. Now that it is turning into what seems to be a hit musical, I may actually hit play next time it pops up. This creative team seems very well suited for this challenge. I first learned about Kitt when he was working on Jagged Little Pill. That is a more traditional jukebox musical, but it did have some orchestration elements and there was definitely some departures from the original songs to make them Broadway ready. I bet they are going to turn this into a must watch musical.
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