Billy Joel and The Beatles
There were two shows this week at Ball State. Thursday at Emens Auditorium was the musical "Movin' Out," based entirely on Billy Joel songs. Friday night, at Pruis, was a showing of "Across the Universe," a musical based entirely on music by The Beatles. I went to both with the same group of friends, and had a pretty good time.
I expected Very Good Things from the Billy Joel musical. Unfortunately, it did not deliver. Instead of writing the songs into the actors' lines, the Billy Joel music is used as a sort of narrative. The audience then has to infer the plot from the lyrics and the dancers on stage. I think this is just a miserable way to tell a story. The music was well-done, though (with the notable exception of "We Didn't Start the Fire," they wrecked that one) and the dancing was also very good. The connection between them was weak, though, which made the overall effect something like watching live music videos. I can watch music videos on YouTube and skip making a trip to Emens. A friend made the comment that he would rather them just do a Billy Joel cover concert. I'd have to agree with him. However, some of the other people I went with (one of them a dancer) very much liked the performance. I guess enjoying this sort of thing is hit-or-miss.
I was a bit hesitant to go to "Across the Universe." I watched "Help!" a few weeks ago. It is another movie centered around Beatles' songs, but actually stars The Beatles. It's also terribly British and really weird. "Across the Universe" was nothing like it, and that's a good thing. Unlike the Billy Joel show, songs in "Across the Universe" were delivered by the actors and pertained to the plot. A lot of songs that weren't performed were subtly alluded to in the dialogue and directing. The best instance of this was probably the scene when the character Maxwell was banging on something with a silver hammer. They did a ton of songs from throughout the Beatles' career, so I heard a lot of songs I liked and a lot I didn't really care for. My favorite scene was "I Want You/She's So Heavy" though it is far from my favorite Beatles song. I'll not spoil it; check out the DVD. I plan to use some Best Buy Christmas gift card money to buy it. (Edit: here is the youtube video of that scene.)