While listening to the soundtrack I found that I really quite liked pretty much all of the music in this musical. Not much in particular stood out to me, but some songs I like slightly more than others which means those are the ones I will be talking about. I like the group numbers a lot and that's why I was disappointed with the ending. I was sad that they didn't end with a high energy group number or SOMETHING! It is touching that they end with Will singing to his son the same song as the beginning but I feel like they could end with more power.
Anyways, now that I got that out of the way, my favourite song from the soundtrack would have to be "Out there on the road". That might seem like an odd choice, but I love the feel of the song. The banjo at the beginning and slow almost western feel is a great set for the groove of the slightly more up tempo rest of the song. What really makes it good though, is the trumpets that come in at the pick up part witch I absolutely love! It just has a fun feel that escalates throughout the song. There is a bit of speech but that's ok. Then, when the chorus comes in at the end with "I can see America dependable and true" that's the climax of the song and it's just so good. I like the beginning and the end the best, the middle is still good but the beginning and end are the most important parts of the song so it becomes my favourite.
On stage I feel like this number would start in the cave with Carl. Edward would do some dancing around Karl to start it off, and then he would lead him out of the cave and start down the "road" which would be Karl and Edward walking on the spot (would require practice) and the big screen with a video of passing houses in the background. Then you could have people dancing across the stage at the same pace as the video (so it would look like Karl and Edward were passing them). The people would be dressed up as is described in the song like when Edward says "action and adventure" you could have two people doing some martial arts (or something that looks like it) and before that you could have all sorts of different people like a princess or a motorcyclist, or a person with a large fake alligator, sort of like looking at all the options that you could be in an exaggerated way. Then, when the music stops and Edward says the bit about what's your name, they would stop the video and then when he goes up on "there" they start walking again but they come into Ashton, and this time the people crossing the stage are just your townsfolk from Ashton, but when the townsfolk sing "That's him right there" they come out of the wings with fake torches and pitchforks and the video stops. Then when Edward starts singing again they just stay there for a bit, until Jenny Hill comes through the crowd and sings to Edward and when the song picks up Karl and Edward would do a round of dance; then the ensemble would join in with some cool turns and jumps, and maybe there could be a couple in the middle doing some turns and dips too. For the third round everyone would do less difficult unison choreography until the mayor comes out and gives Edward the key to the city. Everyone crouches while Edward sings his bit, and then when the chorus sings "like you" then rise and stand really tall. Then, for "I can see America" there would be a moment of stillness and crisp hand actions on the "I" and "dependable" then they would continue with the actions until "on the road" the final bit where you would do some dosido-ing switching partners and then doing a turn and ending in position.
Other songs that are pretty much tied with this one are: The Witch, Showdown, Time Stops, What's Next, and How it Ends.
Now for my least favourite, it was really hard to choose a least favourite one because all of the songs are very well done, but I decided on Fight the Dragons which isn't actually a bad song at all. The only thing is, I feel like Edward Bloom has too many songs, so that's why I chose this one. It also doesn't really leave a lasting impression (at least to me) either. Edward has so much more time to shine than Will, Sandra and the supporting characters, (which only makes sense) because the story is all about him, but I feel like he could give up a song or two and have the chorus sing a bit more. The audience at this time has already heard Edward sing 5 songs by now so it becomes less interesting. That is the opposite of what you want because it's an important time; when Edward sings this song about how he wants to teach his son to seize life.
I don't really know how to make this song more engaging, because it's not the song in itself that's boring. You can't really make it high caliber because it's just not that kind of song, but I say give him a sword, make the lights blue and dreamy and make sure he is singing to his son then, bam good scene.
Now, context wise, "Out there on the Road" is about Edward going to talk to the Giant that the town wants to slay, but Edward thinks he can convince him to go somewhere new, and he does. Throughout the song, he ends up saving the giant who is actually really smart, and brings him to the Calloway Circus, but that's in the next scene. This is the real beginning of how Edward met Sandra, but this story is told to Josephine when she asks about Edward's history.
The "Fight the Dragons" scene, is a hard transition to the past from the "Red White and True" scene. It is sung by Edward to young Will when he was little.
Now that concludes my posts for this summer see you all back at school!
