I know it is a bit late but I only learned about this two days ago and as nobody had posted anything before I thought I should take the time on the slight chance there might be some people here interested in NON-Disney work of Alan Menken 
Anyone still remembering the stage-musical "A Christmas Carol" that Alan Menken wrote together with Lynn Ahrens (of "Ragtime"-fame)? The one with this wonderful song "A Place Called Home"?? The one playing each Christmas season since 1993 at the Madison Square Guarden??
Well ... Hallmark did produce a tv-version of the stage musical last year and aired it in the UK on the Hallmark Channel and on NBC in the US during the last Christmas!!
You can find details about this including a trailer at http://www.hallmarkent.com/property.php?pr...hristmasCarolMu
The movie-musical features among others Kelsey Grammer as Ebenezer Scrooge, Jason Alexander as Marley?s Ghost, Jennifer Love Hewitt as Emily, Jesse L. Martin as the Ghost of Christmas Present, JANE KRAKOWSKI as the Ghost of Christmas Past, Geraldine Chaplin as the Ghost of Christmas Future, and Edward Gower as Bob Cratchit.
I have seen only the first half of it (and no, I don't have it recorded as it has not yet aired in Germany) and based on this I must say: it is a decent production. Good family entertainment but nothing outstanding. At some points it shows that it was made with limited budget, e.g. parts of the city set from Dinotopia are reused and the cast of extras is not really huge (especially one of them tends to pop up all the time). BUT the cast can really sing and dance very well. It generates a nice Christmas atmosphere even so I could not fend of the thoughts how much better and bigger the production could have been in some scenes.
The leads (again based on the first half only) very all performing well and could sing rather good (no question for JANE KRAKOWSKI well known as the secretary from Ally McBeal but originally a Broadway musical-actress). Really enjoable ... with one exception: Scrooge. For some strange reason he tries a kind of "talk-singin" totally ruining his songs.
Now what to do if you missed the tv-movie. You could hope for a re-run or a DVD-release this year for Christmas (most Hallmark-movies are usually released on DVD) or ... you could just hop over to amazon ... at http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00...isneyparisth-20 the soundtrack recording of the movie is available with complete track listing and snippets of all songs.
More details on the soundtrack which includes the lyrics of all included songs as soon as I have found time to actually listen to it ... which might be some time off I fear.
So much already based on watching the first half of the movie: the music is largly unchanged even so some parts in some cases complete songs are missing. The recording features a large orchestra and works rather well. Voices are good as said before. There are some subtle changes in the lyrics here and there ... and one major change: the lyrics of the big opening song "Jolly Good Time" have been completely rewritten. It is now your basic normal Christmas carol missing its original edge. Unfortunately the new lyrics feel forced at some points.
Hope this was of interest to you!
Yours
Dirk
Anyone still remembering the stage-musical "A Christmas Carol" that Alan Menken wrote together with Lynn Ahrens (of "Ragtime"-fame)? The one with this wonderful song "A Place Called Home"?? The one playing each Christmas season since 1993 at the Madison Square Guarden??
Well ... Hallmark did produce a tv-version of the stage musical last year and aired it in the UK on the Hallmark Channel and on NBC in the US during the last Christmas!!
You can find details about this including a trailer at http://www.hallmarkent.com/property.php?pr...hristmasCarolMu
The movie-musical features among others Kelsey Grammer as Ebenezer Scrooge, Jason Alexander as Marley?s Ghost, Jennifer Love Hewitt as Emily, Jesse L. Martin as the Ghost of Christmas Present, JANE KRAKOWSKI as the Ghost of Christmas Past, Geraldine Chaplin as the Ghost of Christmas Future, and Edward Gower as Bob Cratchit.
I have seen only the first half of it (and no, I don't have it recorded as it has not yet aired in Germany) and based on this I must say: it is a decent production. Good family entertainment but nothing outstanding. At some points it shows that it was made with limited budget, e.g. parts of the city set from Dinotopia are reused and the cast of extras is not really huge (especially one of them tends to pop up all the time). BUT the cast can really sing and dance very well. It generates a nice Christmas atmosphere even so I could not fend of the thoughts how much better and bigger the production could have been in some scenes.
The leads (again based on the first half only) very all performing well and could sing rather good (no question for JANE KRAKOWSKI well known as the secretary from Ally McBeal but originally a Broadway musical-actress). Really enjoable ... with one exception: Scrooge. For some strange reason he tries a kind of "talk-singin" totally ruining his songs.
Now what to do if you missed the tv-movie. You could hope for a re-run or a DVD-release this year for Christmas (most Hallmark-movies are usually released on DVD) or ... you could just hop over to amazon ... at http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00...isneyparisth-20 the soundtrack recording of the movie is available with complete track listing and snippets of all songs.
More details on the soundtrack which includes the lyrics of all included songs as soon as I have found time to actually listen to it ... which might be some time off I fear.
So much already based on watching the first half of the movie: the music is largly unchanged even so some parts in some cases complete songs are missing. The recording features a large orchestra and works rather well. Voices are good as said before. There are some subtle changes in the lyrics here and there ... and one major change: the lyrics of the big opening song "Jolly Good Time" have been completely rewritten. It is now your basic normal Christmas carol missing its original edge. Unfortunately the new lyrics feel forced at some points.
Hope this was of interest to you!
Yours
Dirk
