milly

I'd choose the cast one too, but the concept album has Gary on it, so for that reason only, I chose this one. I'm soooo weak when it comes to Gary :P

I imagine they'll keep it simpler and cleaner on the cast album. I was used to Stronger being sung by a male voice - just like WYFDTTG -, but I'm glad it's not the disaster I was expecting. I have no idea why all the changes - Jessie J, Emeli Sande - but it's probably the reason for the album's delay. It's hard to believe the producers opted to let go Jessie J and ES; it was probably their choice not to get involved in this project, although I don't understand why, since Jessie J's career isn't doing so well at the moment and any promo would have helped her. She tweeted this earlier: Jessie J@JessieJ I had the absolute joy of watching Finding Neverland on Broadway tonight. I was not only blown away by the cast and the show and the music. Kelsey Grammer was amazing and my insanely talented friend Laura Michelle Kelly who played my sister 16 years ago in Whistle down the wind. So amazing to see her! And hear her sing like an angel once again. She blew me away. Go and seeeee it if you can. https://instagram.com/p/2IA1yBw0UR/ I'm curious about JLo's version of ATM. She's not exactly famous for her vocals, while Laura Michelle Kelly has a very beautiful, crystalline voice, so one has to wonder if the cover won't go downhill. I'd be happy to be proven wrong, because I love all the songs I've heard and I want this album to do well.

You can listen here to Kiesza's version of Stronger. Surprisingly, I like it. http://www.pmstudio.com/music/music.html?page=20150501-1700

I'm really not happy that Ellie gets to sing WYFDTTG. Her voice is very weak and limited and not suited at all for the song. :no: I have no idea who Zendaya, Kiezsa and Nick Jonas are and, tbh, I can't be bothered to google them now. I just hope they have good voices and won't mess up the songs. If you want to hear some of the songs sung by the cast, go here: http://mockingjaytay13.tumblr.com/

Looks like III sold around 1000 copies last week. Am I deluded hoping for 3k this week? III at 35 in the midweeks! :cheer:

It's already 34 and 62 on iTunes and 47 on Amazon. If it stays that way at least until Friday, it should be safe for top 40 on Sunday. I really love everything I've seen (bar the choreography on Flaws), but I still feel like Higher than Higher should have been on the set list. I do, however, have to admit I get the feeling that it's a bit too much sometimes. It's probably the best TT tour to date, but I think I prefer the simplicity and class of Gary's solo tour over the extravaganza of this tour. I miss a highlight moment like Lie to Me, where Gary's voice shines and displays its range. PS: I haven't said this before, but I apologize for my spelling/grammar mistakes. I write quite a lot and I felt it was time to say it. I hope you guys understand my rants :)

I think we might see a return of III to the top 40 this weekend :cheer:

No surprise there, no nomination for FN at the Tonys. Even without the bad reviews, the musical would have never got a nomination, simply because they wouldn't have allowed Harvey Weinstein to steal their awards. It's their loss at the end of the day. FN is the nd most sold musical on Broadway, yet they're gonna award some shows that are probably gonna close in short time due to very poor sales. I guess those shows need some consolation prizes, at the end of the day :P

I don't think it's a particular journalist. Anyone on The Telegraph, The Guardian, The Times or The Independent won't ever say a good word about anything involving Gary. Spreading hate is all there is on their agenda.

The Telegraph, as usual, doesn't like anything :D I would have been more surprised if it did. From what I've seen, this tour looks better than The Circus, which was their best tour to date.

It seems Portrait, Flaws and I Like It are also on the setlist. Really pleased about this. I just wish Freeze were on it as well. https://www.facebook.com/153269664735844/ph...e=1&theater

:cheer: I'm so happy the boys have decided to release Higher than Higher. I really love that song. http://www.music-news.com/ShowNews.asp?nItemID=89004 It's already been played on the radio today, after a TT interview: https://www.mixcloud.com/michellethornton22...tm_content=html

Yay for III climbing the charts again :) No 77 this week (65 based on sales only) :cheer: These Days also climbs from 99 to 95 (71 on the sales chart, from 91 last week) :dance:

You mentioned The Sound of Music as a true musical. When it first appeared, it was heavily criticized, just like FN. And, as much as I love TSOM, I find the FN score much more inspired.

I haven't heard the songs in Cabaret, but I can definitely say that the FN songs are more than just lightweight pop. When Your Feet DTTG is actually pretty dark and heavy, so is All That Matters; other songs, like Hook, are fun and witty, which can't be achieved through a lack of substance. But I don't expect you to admit they're meaningful and substantial. Your sarcasm tells me you're having fun belittling the score. If that's your opinion, fine. I and many others (amongst which Helen Mirren and many theatre goers, actors, producers, etc) take pleasure in this superficial music. It certainly is more enjoyable than 3/4 of what I heard at the Tonys last year.

Kath, still not bored of trashing everything Gary does? Your posts are very amusing :D

For a crap show (as critics say), it sure gets nominated for awards: http://thebroadwayblog.com/2015/04/21/1230...ard-nominations

III is back in top 100 and These Days spends one more week as well in the charts :cheer: But streaming continues to be their enemy. III would have been 81 without streaming. I hope this won't affect any future albums' chart position.

If Harvey disposes of Gary just because of some pretentious critics, then he's a fool. He hired Gary because he liked his offering and the audiences love it as well. Harvey may not be in it for the money, but I'm sure he's in it for the success and impressive sales equal success at this point. It's true that we have to wait and see if the show maintains its current success, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed it will. The show already has 7 awards, a Tony would be amazing, but I don't think it's a necessity. To be fair, though, the score was not the main weakness of the musical, according to the reviews. This is just an invention of the press. Most of the reviews were mainly bothered by the anachronisms in the play. I don't agree, however, that Gary should take some time off. Regardless of the "critics" - who, imo, are by no means highly intelligent beings -, the solo album did really well and it's still my favorite album, so far, and III isn't a failure either. Gary and the boys have to keep on making music and keeping fans satisfied. After all, it's fans who matter, not journalists.

This is not really about the musical doing well or not - I'm sure it will be successful and deservedly so. For me, this is about the press humiliating Gary once again just for the fun of it. Even the new article in Daily Fail about the impressive sales was turned into an article about how this musical is a failure and how the whole blame lies with Gary. There are some decent articles as well, emphasising the fact that the critics might have it in for Harvey, which would explain the discrepancies between the reviews during previews and the "official" reviews, but who's gonna read and care about those articles when the big tabloids only take the information they want and then distort it as they please, only to feed their hateful readers? I just don't get this pleasure of hitting a man time and time again, creating the image of a worthless human being, never mind artist. I'm not so sure Gary doesn't care about reviews. Of course audiences' reaction is more important, but it must have hurt him reading all those negative remarks. If he didn't care about reviews, he wouldn't be posting the positive ones. I still remember him saying, during a 90s interview, that he used to cry himself to sleep whenever they got a bad review. Even last year, there was an article about how he got very depressed about some of the negative reviews for his solo album. He's just a human being, after all, I doubt that bad words just fly over his head.

I'm glad you stated this already, in a calm manner, because I'm so pissed right now I could swear (and I never swear). I've just read the DM article and I'm fuming. When did this all become Gary's fault? Now he's responsible for the whole show?!! That article is so distorted and full of lies I wouldn't know where to begin. The reviews haven't been great, but, aside from very few, none of the reviews said the score was awful. And the idiots commenting on the DM get on my nerves as well. I don't get why the press relishes so much in Gary's misfortune and why he is always targeted in a negative way. I can think of lots of "less talented" (so I don't say something worse) "artists" who get continuous praise, no matter what they do. And I really really don't understand why the UK doesn't support its internationally successful artists. You'd think they'd be proud of Gary for making it onto the Broadway. Anyway, my feelings remain the same towards the critics: musical snobs, prejudiced towards pop and with a beef with Harvey. The score is absolutely beautiful and so touching. All those people in the audience loving it, they can't all be stupid and deaf and only the critics the ones holding the supreme truth.

Glad to see Eliot finding the bright side of things: eliot kennedy ‏@NYCSteelerfan Well, the critics hate @NeverlandBway which probably means we have a true hit and will run for years. Brilliant. I just hope people won't let themselves influenced by the reviews.

Nice review: http://www.showbiz411.com/2015/04/15/broad..._source=dlvr.it "Gary Barlow wrote the music in a sort of Beatle-y, Elton John lite motif, with plenty of catchy songs like “When Your Feet Don’t Touch the Ground,” “Better,” “Circus of Your Mind,” and “Believe.”" My main problem with the reviews is that they don't seem to grasp the concept that a musical is not a documentary and it doesn't have to be truthful to the real story. I don't know why it's so difficult for these "critics" to understand that a musical is a work of FICTION. Well, I'm not sure they really don't understand, but they don't want to understand because then they'd be forced to admit that FN is good. And I'm also annoyed that these critics are so prejudiced against pop. I've read a review saying that the score was to be expected to be sup-par after hearing what These Days sounded like. To me, that sounds like the music had been judged even long before being heard, on the mere basis that it was pop and not the conventional theatre music. "I was not actually surprised by how badly written the show is; I suspected from listening to chirpy Take That hits like “These Days” that the songs would be inapt, and I half-expected the tired “fairy” jokes and self-referential winks. " http://www.vulture.com/2015/04/theater-rev...-neverland.html To be honest, after reading several reviews, all the critics sound like snobs.

The review in The Guardian is atrocious, but I can't say I'm surprised. For a paper who never said a good word about Gary, it certainly lived up to the expectations. I'm not so fussed about "critical" reviews. Of course, I'd want them to be fair and positive, but considering the UK press has it in for Gary and the US one has it in for Harvey Weinstein, fairness seems like a far away target. Besides, FN has already won enough awards to prove that it's a quality show, which counts more than some reviews and proves that Tony awards are not so far fetched under these circumstances. I just hope that people reading the reviews don't let themselves influenced by what they read and wait to make up their own minds.

Lots of awards for Finding Neverland. I'm so proud of Gary right now. https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?stor...351248908231579