I've always been sucked in by the Russian. He's not sympathetic perhaps, but there are elements of artistic drives that I (or perhaps more accurately a younger me) can recognise.

I hear you.  Still, in order for an audience to "enter" the show, they have to sympathize with someone.  Certainly, you can't sympathize with the American, the protagonist, arrogant bastard that he is, and the women are no better -- although I believe we feel for the Russian's wife -- but not enough to carry a show.  Some great tunes, I'll grant you, but not much of a show.

I HAVE looked at your web site, although not enough to do more than just offer an opinion, not a critique.  I like your stuff.  I want to offer you a deeper criticism, so hang tight babe.

Okay, since I'm doing all the bitching, here's some lyrics from AESOP that I wrote this summer, to give you all a chance to get even -- lol.  This is the fable of the Jackdaw and the Peacock (a jackdaw is a small crow).  This song is an uptempo counrty two-step, the kind of thing you'd hear on Garrison Keillor's show.

                                            FEMALE ANIMALS
EV'RYONE'S IN LOVE WITH THE PEACOCK
EV'RYONE'S IN LOVE WITH THAT BIRD
A FULLY BLOOMING MALE

                                                JACKDAW
AND BABY HE'S GOT TAIL!

                                           FEMALE ANIMALS
AS HALE AND HOT AND HUNKY AS YOU'VE HEARD!

YES, EV'RYONE'S IN LOVE WITH THE PEACOCK
WHETHER THEY BE FEATHERED OF FURRED
HE GIVES HIS REAR A TWIST
AND NO ONE CAN RESIST
THAT HYPNOTIC TAIL HAS GOT OUR VISION BLURRED!

   (Jackdaw puts on fake peacock tail and struts, trying to attract attention.)

DON'T LOOK NOW, BUT CHECK OUT THAT SILLY JACKDAW
LOOK HOW FAR SHE'LL GO JUST TO CATCH HIS EYE
NO SURPRISE THAT HER LAME DISGUISE HAS ONE FLAW

                                                PEACOCK
JACKDAW... NOTHING THAT YOU WEAR CHANGES WHAT'S INSIDE!

                                         FEMALE ANIMALS
IF YOU FALL IN LOVE WITH A PEACOCK
THEN YOU VALUE LOOKS OVER WEALTH
NO OWL OR TURTLEDOVE
NO, NONE OF THE ABOVE
CAUSE THE PEACOCK'S ONLY LOVE.... IS HIMSELF!
(THE PEACOCK LOVES HIMSELF!)

That was really cute, well done Tom!

Welcome back Juan

I like most musicals and have no real preference, the only thing I absolutely can't stand is the conversation song. Two characters are having a conversation, it isn't very interesting, and because it's a song it is also somewhat repetitive. The music doesn't flow very well, the conversation is strained and most of the time I just feel the songwriters are showing off their skills instead of serving the play.

I'm sure it's been done well but every time I see it in a show I just cringe.

And I don't know who did the music but Singing in the Rain is by far my favorite musical with three of my favorite songs from any musical (Singin' in the rain, Good Morning, Make 'em Laugh), the only song I didn't like was the one Gene sings in a weird Parisian street scene, not a memorable or catchy song and I feel it brings the movie to a standstill for five minutes for no good reason.

Not-traditional musicals are awesome too (movies that are created around and about music but the music isn't there to advance the plot, it's what the plot is about). La Bamba, Dirty Dancing, but my all time favorite (and all time favorite movie) is The Five Heartbeats.

Oh, and I like the songs Phantom of the Opera and Music of the Night and since the show isn't all that good I don't mind that the show stops for those two numbers. Perhaps better as pop songs though.

Chess? Is that the one with the eighties hit? I think it went; One night in bangkok make the whole world tremble... or some such.

One night in bangkok...

Steve, yes, that's from CHESS.  One of the unique things about "Bangkok" was that song was written and released before the rest of the show was written.  The proceeds from that song were used to finance the production of the show.  Kind of fascinating, isn't it?  Unfortunately, that song was completely out of character for the rest of the show and sticks out like a sore thumb during the First Act.

PHANTOM -- another Andrew Lloyed Webber travesty -- was from the era of the Over-Produced Musical, where the set was more important than the plot.  Although I liked LES MIS -- especially the scaled-down road tour -- it suffered from the same extravegances. (sp?)

Tom:

Love the lyrics -- the interplay is fantastic.  I love it.  You have a gift my friend!

Wha-Keem:

Not sure how I could help you "hear" the melody. I don't have it recorded and don't have the means (or time) to record it now.  The guitar chord progression was fairly simple straight ahead rock music (the best kind!): A5, E5, F#, D5 is the verse; B minor, A, Asus, A is the chorus and the bridge was F#Minor, Emajor (really E5) and D, then repeated E back to the verse for the third verse.  Does that make any sense?  I wrote the number when I was 20-21.  At that point I liked it when my guitar could sound like a machine gun, repetitive strumming, a lot of power chords and the like.  In the verse, I always like playing the Root note and the 5th note rather than adding the minor third* for a "heavier" sound and so that the chorus was "brighter" when I played the full chords.

If I were playing in bands now I might try the number in an open tuning.  I think Open G would probably work well (always works well for my Avatar!)

*I would, and do, play around with it though.  I played it a few times playing the root and the minor 3rd without the 5th.  I abandonded this form because I found it harder to sing and play at the same time.  The Minor 3rd chord was formed, for those scoring at home, A, C#, A.  Played on a guitar the form of the chord was: the A note on the 5th fret of the low E string, the C# on the 4th fret of the A string and the A on the 7th fret of the D string.  Gave the number an interesting bounce.  Confused yet?