You’ll like this if you enjoy: Billy Elliot, other works by Willy Russell such as Educating Rita and Shirley Valentine.
Click here to listen to the Blood Brothers cast recording.
Death Takes A Holiday is a secret favourite of mine. The story is more well known than you may initially think – the source material is a 1924 Italian play called La Morte in Vacanza, which received an English adaptation for Broadway in 1929. A movie of the same name was produced in 1934, which was remade in 1998 as Meet Joe Black with Brad Pitt. And after all that, it received a musical adaptation in 1997. We follow Death (yes, the Death), who wants to try and understand human emotion. To do this, he takes the form of a young and handsome man, falls in love, and learns just what sacrifice means. The show’s music and lyrics were penned by Maury Yeston (Titanic, Nine), and its book written by Peter Stone (1776, Titanic), with Thomas Meehan (Annie, The Producers, Hairspray) taking over after Stone’s passing. With a creative team like that, it’s a real wonder why this show has disappeared into the archives. It opened off-Broadway in 2011 for a limited run, receiving mixed reviews. I wish I could have seen that production – it had set design by Derek McLane and costumes by Catherine Zuber, who both recently won Tony Awards for their work on Moulin Rouge. More than anything, the music is beautiful. Please just take an hour to sit and listen to the recording.
Standout track/s: How Will I Know; Why Do All Men?; Something Happened
You’ll like this if you enjoy: Maury Yeston has a really distinct style of composing, so I can’t quite pinpoint similar shows (except for other work he’s written). I would recommend Titanic specifically, as it was a past collaboration between Yeston and Stone.
Click here to listen to the Death Takes A Holiday cast recording.
Hello Again is a super interesting show, with music, lyrics, and book all by Michael John LaChiusa. It is very closely based on a play named La Ronde, written. by Arthur Schnitzler in 1897, and focuses on the love affairs of ten different characters across ten different decades in the 20th century. The show is not in chronological order, which allows him to really explore different musical styles of the decades, as well as modifying the plot to include more contemporary issues. And in true LaChuisa style, the music is bonkers. He really has a truly distinctive and complex way of writing that cannot be compared to anything. Hello Again was adapted into a film in 2017, and it is fantastic (but I’m biased), with a cast including Audra McDonald, Jenna Ushkowitz, Cheyenne Jackson, Rumer Willis, and Martha Plimpton. It’s a great way to experience the show, especially since it is rarely staged.
Standout track/s: Hello Again; Listen to the Music; Silent Movie
You’ll like this if you enjoy: Similar to Yeston, LaChiusa really has his own unique style of composition. Have a listen to some of his other shows – Marie Christine, The Wild Party, Bernarda Alba, and Giant.
Click here to listen to the Hello Again motion picture soundtrack.