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Anyone think SCV would/should do Phantom of the Opera for the musical&


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I know my daughter would love it. Don't forget, it's probably "new" to a majority of the people in the stands that weren't even born in 1988.

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EDIT: TITLE CUT OFF: ...for the musical's 30th Anniversary

For me, I'm torn at yes and no. I love the artistic direction they went with this year but man, being able to see Phantom of the Opera in drum corps form in person would be simply amazing. I also would hope that they put more hornline meat into it.

1. I'm rarely a fan of "retread" shows. I'd MUCH prefer corps do something different, explore new musical & visual themes/ideas, etc. rather than try to live up to high standards of past glory. "Phantom" 89, in particular, was the Highest Scoring DCI Championship show at the time, and the score held for another decade+ before Cavaliers 2002 topped it. The expectations would be through the roof.

2. Most corps have shown in the modern era that re-doing past shows doesn't often work out as good/better than the first time. For example, Cadets won DCI with WSS in 84, were 2nd with WSS in 94, and 3rd with WSS a few years back for their anniversary (don't remember the year). Heck, SCV had similar with "Scheherazade, placing 2nd in 04 with the program and then 4th in 14. All of those shows were awesome, but did't live up to the previous successes as shows before. Phantom had a bit more luck in 2008 w/Spartacus, but that show was a VERY different show than their previous iterations. "Phantom of the Opera" has very little room for different interpretations and could easily be somewhat of a letdown.

3. I personally am not a fan of Phantom of the Opera so take that as you will

That being said, SCV has shown over the last several seasons that they CAN make older shows exciting and enjoyable. I wasn't looking forward to Les Mis at all, and SCV did a great show with that program and I really liked it. Scheherazade didn't impress me musically nearly as much in 2014 as it did in 2004, but I did enjoy their visual presentation last year. I personally would give SCV the benefit of the doubt if they chose to do "Phantom of the Opera," though I would not be overwhelmingly looking forward to the show.

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Cadets have done this a few times, sort of. There's just too much music to fit into one show though... Fiddler on the Roof, Send in the Clowns, Young Person's Guide, Appalachian Spring, Pictures at an Exhibition, Phantom... and that's only through '89!

and GR's favorite show, I thought, was 1991 "Miss Saigon" (though I could be wrong: either 91 or 87 I think).

Also, SCV kind of tried to do something similar in 1992 and it really didn't go over well with the judges. Conversely BD was successful fairly recently with a similar 'Celebrating 50 years of the organization" type of show, so it's possible SCV could pull it off, even if some of the references were more subtle, easter egg 'quotes' rather than full production numbers.

The REAL trick, IMO, is to have a strong coherent visual theme to go with the mish-mash (potentially) of musical pieces. That is partially why BD succeeded with their '07 production

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With the tough competition of the Blue Devils, Carolina Crown, Bluecoats, and Cadets these days SCV needs to head down the new/innovative approach like they did this year.

Previous 3 years...

2014: Rehashed Scheherazade from 10 years prior and while good wasn't anything new.

2013: Played Les Miserables -- Boston has played twice '88 & '11 and Cadets in '89. Blockbuster Les Mis movie came out in '12. Again, nothing new here.

2012: Played Mars & Jupiter from "The Planets" (Cavaliers '95 classic) and Phantom of the Opera's Music of the Night (SCV '88)

A Phantom of the Opera show would land them 6-7 place in this DCI era.

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Being an "Old Era" Red Team alum I would pass on the idea as well...I would speculate if POTO had won in '88, Gail (founder & former director, for the younger DCP'ers reading this) would not have been inclined to repeat it. That said, '89 was a fabululous way to "bookend" GR's achievements. In addition to the observations posted above SCV's attempt to revisit Russia (and RCM) in 2005 fell flat (Brass placed 11th at Semis, a far cry from the Ott in '87); unfortunately some years just cast too long a shadow to warrant a try at repeating a production.

Just some thoughts from the gallery's cheap seats.

edited due to spelling.

Edited by TRacer
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With the tough competition of the Blue Devils, Carolina Crown, Bluecoats, and Cadets these days SCV needs to head down the new/innovative approach like they did this year.

Previous 3 years...

2014: Rehashed Scheherazade from 10 years prior and while good wasn't anything new.

2013: Played Les Miserables -- Boston has played twice '88 & '11 and Cadets in '89. Blockbuster Les Mis movie came out in '12. Again, nothing new here.

2012: Played Mars & Jupiter from "The Planets" (Cavaliers '95 classic) and Phantom of the Opera's Music of the Night (SCV '88)

A Phantom of the Opera show would land them 6-7 place in this DCI era.

Yeah, I tend to agree with this. I had forgotten about 2012, and while it's easy to remember Cavaliers' iconic production in 1995, there are a PLETHORA of corps who had done music from 'The Planets:' 123 instances of Junior corps alone, according to corpsreps (several of those are multiple Holst pieces in one show). SCV placed 7th playing "Jupiter" in 1980, so they did better in 2012 with their 5th place finish (an exception to my argument above).

I always think SCV should design whiel adhering to the definition of "Vanguard" that the organization has always liked to hype is

a position at the forefront of new developments or ideas.
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Ok, how about Fiddler then?

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Modern GE importance might well better call for "Gypsy."

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Ok, how about Fiddler then?

No, that's another idea that should stay in the past, as Fiddler (which GR loved) in '92 was his "retirement sendoff" show. Unfortunately, he passed away 10 months later. :flower::sad:

Edited by TRacer
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