安德魯•勞埃德•韋伯：邁克爾•傑克遜想出演《歌劇魅影》

 27 Jun 2009
中文來源：mjjcn.com 翻譯： shell88

 

 

source:http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/michael-jackson/5664341/Andrew-Lloyd-Webber-Michael-Jackson-wanted-to-appear-in-Phantom-of-the-Opera.html

第一個通知我邁克爾傑克遜去世的是我17歲的兒子。我其他人一樣感覺很糟糕。伴隨著悲傷而來的是失望，因為我將再也見不到他。


我第一次預見邁克爾是在1988年的紐約，他來看剛上演的《歌劇魅影》。很明顯他對這出戲很感興趣。他看了好幾次並經常來後臺，經常不帶那些後來經常跟隨著他的隨從。

這故事打動了他，我想他與那個孤獨、受折磨的音樂家有共鳴。他發現這個故事很吸引人：一個創作音樂的人，一個姑娘是他的繆斯。他愛戲中的幻想。

邁克爾對在電影版本飾演魅影很感興趣。我們談過很多，但那時該劇剛剛上演，我覺得拍成電影還太早了。我感覺他對魅影感興趣是因為他對親自演戲劇感興趣。

他是個戲劇動物。我記得他對我說他看了《貓》，並開心戲中的舞蹈又回來了。
他談了很多戲劇，上一次他在倫敦時去看了《奧利弗》。當然，他本身是一個偉大的演出家，不過他覺得整個音樂劇的編排格外非凡。

這星期在新聞中看到《顫慄者》的片段使我想起他是多麼非凡的舞者。通過音樂影像和演唱會，他真的將舞蹈和舞臺藝術帶入了流行音樂世界。在他之前沒有人真的做到這麼多。他所做的領先於時代。

我看過好幾次他的演唱會。《顫慄者》可能是我看到最好的舞臺演出。從我的音樂戲劇角度，我能看到他將一種全新版本的舞蹈帶到舞臺。他作了大量創新，而後你現在能在音樂劇中也看到這些。

才音樂上說，邁克爾和前人完全不同。他很聰明地利用了流行音樂的誘惑力，並以創新方式來使用它，用戲劇的方法來發展它。這種影響力如今隨處可見。我記得聽到Justin Timberlake的專輯時聽到了邁克爾的影響。

年輕人仍繼續被他的音樂吸引，因為他的許多歌曲是經典。在流行音樂的歷史中，《顫慄者》可能比Sergeant Pepper（譯者注：是指披頭士的一張著名專輯）更突出，裏面有更多的熱門單曲。它可與歷史上那些偉大的專輯並列。

同樣，我絕對會把他尊為有史以來最偉大的演出家之一。我看過大多數頂尖搖滾藝人的表演-我看過好幾次貓王-但邁克爾的音樂會，他的演出是無與倫比的。很少有搖滾歌手能達到那種品質。

每個人都期待著看到他重回倫敦時的表演。據我所聽說，他打算打破我們過去所見的搖滾舞臺的界限，走得更遠。
債務、官司、他所遭遇的麻煩，這些都很悲傷。但你也許已經可以說，他的音樂超越了一切，沒有什麼可與他相比。最終，音樂將永生。

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譯者：按韋伯的說法，邁克爾•傑克遜對音樂劇的發展也有影響。安德魯•勞埃德•韋伯是世界著名的音樂劇作曲家，他的作品中我最喜歡的就是《歌劇魅影》，是根據法國作家卡斯頓•勒胡的小說改編的。劇中的魅影Eric才華橫溢、神秘、孤獨、執著、不被世人理解，這些和邁克爾有相似之處，但兩人的個性和處事方法絕然不同。想像一下邁克爾飾演的魅影，或許會是史上最溫柔的魅影？他沒有去演音樂劇太可惜了。

邁，你就是我心中最天才、最溫柔、最美麗的魅影

 

Michael Jackson was interested in starring in a film version of the Phantom stage musical, says Lord Lloyd Webber

Gerard Butler, right, played the lead part in Joel Schumacher's 2004 film adaptation Photo: THE KOBAL COLLECTION
 27 Jun 2009

 

The first person to call me to say Michael Jackson had died was my 17-year-old son. I had an awful feeling that one should almost have seen it coming. After the sadness came the disappointment that I was never going to see him again.

I first met Michael when he came to see Phantom of the Opera in New York when we'd just opened in 1988. He was clearly interested in the piece. He saw it several times and used to come backstage, often without the entourage that followed him around in later life.
The story got to him. I think he had a connection with the lonely, tortured musician. He found the idea of somebody working through music and having a girl as a muse very intriguing – and he loved that there was illusion in the show.

Michael became interested in playing The Phantom himself, in a movie version of the show. We talked about it a lot, but we'd only just opened and, at the time, I felt that it was too early for it to become a film. I felt his interest in Phantom was because he was interested in doing something theatrical himself.

He was a highly theatrical animal. I remember him saying to me that he'd seen Cats and how happy he was that dance was making a comeback in the theatre. He certainly talked about theatre a lot, and when he was last in London , he went to see Oliver!. Of course, he was a great showman himself, but he found the whole stagecraft of musicals extraordinary.
Seeing clips of Thriller on the news this week reminded me what an extraordinary dancer he was. He really brought dance and staging into the pop world, through his videos and concerts. Nobody before him had really done anything much like that. He was ahead of his time with all that he did.

I saw him a couple of times in concert. Thriller was probably the best stage event I've ever seen. From my musical-theatre perspective, I could see that he was bringing a completely new vision about dance to the stage. A tremendous amount of what he was doing then you see in musicals now.

Musically, Michael was also different to anyone before him. He was clever at taking pop hooks and using them in original ways, developing them theatrically. It's an influence that is now everywhere today. I remember listening to a Justin Timberlake album and hearing Michael's influence.

Young people still keep coming to his music because so many of his songs are classics. In the history of pop, Thriller will possibly stand out more than Sergeant Pepper because there were even more stand-alone hits on it. It's right up there with the all-time great albums.
Similarly, I would absolutely put him up there with the all-time greatest performers. I've seen most of the top rock acts – I saw Elvis several times – but with Michael's concerts, his showmanship was consummate. Very few rock singers have such quality.
Everybody was so looking forward to seeing what he would do when he came back to London . From what I was hearing, he was going to push the boundaries of what we'd seen in a rock arena much, much further.

The debts, all the court cases, and the trouble he got himself into, it was all so sad. But you can probably say already that his music has transcended all of that. Nothing sticks to him. In the end, the music will always survive.