FLASHDANCE The Musical

You knew it had to happen (especially after KIA's commercials starring Mark Kelly made Michael Sembello's "Maniac" popular all over again... LOL)

FLASHDANCE the movie is now FLASHDANCE the stage musical and about to tour the UK. Giorgio Moroder, composer of the main theme song, has reworked the tunes for the production. “Maniac”, “Manhunt”, “Gloria”, “I Love Rock and Roll” and the Academy Award winning title track “Flashdance – What a Feeling” are all part of the show.

Here's the info from the THEATRE ROYAL (UK), which will be premiering it from Jul 19th to Aug 2nd:

"The first ever tour of the World Premiere production of FLASHDANCE is set to take Plymouth by storm!

Set in Pittsburgh, USA, FLASHDANCE tells the story of 18 year old Alex, a welder by day and ‘flashdancer’ by night, whose dream is to obtain a place at the prestigious Shipley Dance Academy.

The show features an iconic score including the smash hit "Maniac", along with “Manhunt”, "Gloria", “I Love Rock & Roll” and the Academy Award winning title track "Flashdance - What a Feeling".

Full of pulsating raw energy and breathtaking choreography by Arlene Phillips (Grease, Strictly Come Dancing, Starlight Express, Saturday Night Fever) FLASHDANCE is an unmistakably unique musical about holding onto your dreams and love against all the odds. It promises to be the musical event of the year – so take your passion and make it happen!"

(Funny how the official Theatre Royal site tells you more about the crew than the cast. Hmmm...)

Captain Jack Harkness Sings!

I was looking up some stuff on the TORCHWOOD episode I was watching when I ran across a website where Captain Jack Harkness sings! (Okay, okay, so it's really John Barrowman's official site, close enough...)

Not quite sure if he would end up to be another William Shatner speaking to music and calling it singing, or if John Barrowman really has the chops, I decided to listen to his 'sampler', kind of wincing while I waited for the first to begin, no knowing what I'd hear. He's 'covered' very well known pop songs as part of his album JOHN BARROWMAN ANOTHER SIDE which added to my expectations, since the originals have been played many times over the radio and over the years and I've developed a partiality to the people who did them first. Here are the songs he decided to use to showcase his singing:

ALL OUT OF LOVE
YOU'RE SO VAIN
SHE'S ALWAYS A WOMAN
TIME AFTER TIME
WEEKEND IN NEW ENGLAND
EVERY LITTLE THING SHE DOES IS MAGIC
IF YOU LEAVE ME NOW
YOUR SONG
PLEASE REMEMBER ME
HEAVEN
BEING ALIVE
FEELING GOOD
ALL BY MYSELF

The first one, ALL OUT OF LOVE, was a nice surprise. Although JB's no AIR SUPPLY, he did a pretty good job of it. However, it had a bit of the sound of an actor singing, if you know what I mean (lack of follow through on some notes, a bit of weakness in places, not quite going out of tune, but not quite hitting all the notes, and so on.) However, wanting to give him the benefit of the doubt, I listened to the next few and was very happy with how he covered the rest of the music, like he was starting to hit his stride as the album progressed, getting into 'singer' mode and keeping there, not trying to be the original artists, but the flavors of the first ones are definitely there in each rendition.

According to his site, this isn't his first album, but it is his first mainstream release. (He's done more stage musical singing from what I can tell rather than record.) Since I hadn't heard of him until seeing him in DOCTOR WHO, that doesn't surprise me. However, I've become a big fan since, so will be happy to keep an eye out for all his works now, including his music.

One funny/sad side note: whoever decided to stage his video for ALL OUT OF LOVE felt the need to back him with a huge all-female-in-low-cut-short-black-dresses string section. Guess they decided a gay guy couldn't do love songs for a mainstream audience without offsetting him with someone for the straight guys to ogle... Also, I noticed his rendition on the video is a bit stronger than on the album. (Maybe he had more rehearsal time for the video version before recording it...)

Click Here to See a Making Of Video for ALL OUT OF LOVE:

I'd love to see what he could do with some original material... Something that has no previous expectations attached.