Boyle's Olympic Opening to Broadway

[JoeKv99]

Danny Boyle needs to re-stage his opening ceremony for Broadway! It had everything- music, dance, drumming, special effects, a love story and good triumphing over evil! It would run for ever!

I want to see that scene with a giant Voldemort vanquished by 40 Mary Poppins on stage every night. Spiderman would look like a wimp.

[Jordan Catalano]

It can play at 2nd Stage when DOGFIGHT closes!!

[Wynbish]

Can Meredith Viera play a narrator?

[JoeKv99]

Who would you cast as Frankie and June? I am thinking Elijah Kelly and Jennifer Garner- but she might be too old.

[JoeKv99]

I think we totally have to have per-recorded voice overs by Meredith and Matt! In fact, the act one finale is "Is it Cute or Creepy?" a huge musical number built around Matt Lauer repeating that question over and over.

[Brian07663NJ]

With exception of the Queen's Entrance...I thought the opening was incredibly boring.

[JoeKv99]

The Agrarian Utopia BORING? Milk maids? Sheep herders? And then- THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION? Right before your very eyes- BORING??? I pity you.

Surely you had to be screaming at your TV When Cruella DeVille and Voldemort were stalking those sick children?

[Wynbish]

And how victorious was it when a multitude of Mary's saved the day

[Gothampc]

"With exception of the Queen's Entrance...I thought the opening was incredibly boring"

Even with the Queen's entrace, I thought it was boring.

And that Mr. Bean stuff was horribly unfunny.

[Jordan Catalano]

I usually would rather insert barbed wire into my penis than agree with Goth, but yes. Mr. Bean has never been funny.

[JoeKv99]

Well, obviously, Mr Bean WOULD NOT be in our Broadway Show. I was thinking of Norbert Butz to play that part.

[Gothampc]

I saw Boyle in an interview, and he said that he didn't feel the need to top the previous Olympics show. From that statement, I didn't realize that he wasn't even going to attempt an interesting show.

[DEClarke]

It definitely disappointed... I was underwhelmed.

[Gothampc]

Just a question: why did Paul McCartney sing "Hey Jude"? That song is more associated with John Lennon and, to me, it seemed an odd choice considering all the songs in the Beatles catalog. I would think "Imagine" would be more appropriate for the Olympics.

[JoeKv99]

Hey Jude is associated with John Lennon? On what planet?

The song's original title was "Hey Jules," and it was intended to comfort Julian Lennon from the stress of his parents' divorce. McCartney said, "I started with the idea 'Hey Jules,' which was Julian, don't make it bad, take a sad song and make it better. Hey, try and deal with this terrible thing. I knew it was not going to be easy for him. I always feel sorry for kids in divorces ... I had the idea [for the song] by the time I got there. I changed it to 'Jude' because I thought that sounded a bit better."[7] Julian Lennon discovered the song had been written for him almost twenty years later. He remembered being closer to McCartney than to his father: "Paul and I used to hang about quite a bit—more than Dad and I did. We had a great friendship going and there seems to be far more pictures of me and Paul playing together at that age than there are pictures of me and my dad."[9]
Hey, Jude

[Gothampc]

"Hey Jude is associated with John Lennon? On what planet?"

On the planet that it was Lennon's kid the song was written about.

[JoeKv99]

By Paul McCartney. I don't think John Lennon ever sang the song in public. Likewise, Imagine was by John Lennon- not even the Beatles.


Never mind. It's like arguing with Emily Litella.

[dramamama611]

(Since most people know it was written FOR Julian, I think it's fair that more are likely to associate Lennon with it -- regardless of who actually penned it.)


But the Imagine suggested replacement was silly.

[Brian07663NJ]

JoeKv99...now that (Emily Litella) I'll agree with! What's wrong with violins during the opening of the Olympics! Children need to see violins on televison!

[Gothampc]

"But the Imagine suggested replacement was silly."

Which goes back to my original question: what does Hey Jude have to do with the Olympics?

[JoeKv99]

Who knows? Why not sing Silly Love Songs? OR since Goth seems determined to make Paul mcCartney cover a song he has no connection to- why not have him sing "Bohemian Rhapsody"?

[darquegk]

As a longtime Beatles fan, I would say that regardless of the well-known connection to Lennon's son, "Hey Jude" is FAR more associated with Paul than John. I would even go as far as to say that "Hey Jude" is Paul's signature song, and the song most commonly associated with him as a Beatle and as a solo performer.

[NotAnotherSN]

"Hey Jude" is both a universally known song and an excellent representation of England's biggest hit band ever. And Paul McCartney sung it because he wrote it and sang it on the record... John Lennon has very little to do with the song, so I'm not sure who associates that song with him.

[Bob30]

It's interesting looking at your comments on the ceremony, as this is the Broadway board i would assume those who found it boring would find it so as they are american.

It was a terribly British affair i must admit, so many nods to our history and everyday life made it a very good representation of our country.

Although i did wonder how other countries would receive it as many parts would not of been funny or impressive to those with no experience of English culture, which i suppose for a global event wasn't the best way to open the games but it was pretty to look at i suppose

[chewy5000]

It lacked coherence.

[Brian07663NJ]

Bob30..."a terribly British affair" is fine but all good writers, directors should know their audience - and for this instance the audience was more than British. The show was specifically to show the world who Great Britain is and this opening portrayed Great Britain as...well...dull which we all know is far from the truth. I think it is possible to show Great Britain without being slow, uninteresting and monotonous. IMO the show lagged along. Days later this is what I remember. I saw green pastures, grass, farm building, people...they pulled up the sod and carried it off. Next I saw guys in top hats and was told it was the Industrial Revolution. I saw iron being forged and the ring being cast which then was raised to be a part of the 5 Olympic rings...remember that was cool. I was mildly amused by the JM Barrie segment, the history about children's literature, the characters coming to life. The music and dancing segment lost me and the rest went down hill from there. The show was far from visually impressive. The only WOW moment was the Queen's entrance. Was glad it was over and they moved on. At the end I specifically remember questioning the choice of "Hey Jude"...Not being a giant Beatles fan it didn't matter but yes "Imagine" did come forward as an alternative. A very good friend of mine grew up in London. She is in her 60s. She was far from impressed as well.