It's curious.
All along I'd've said that that an artist's work is theirs, and theirs alone. If they want to change it, muck around with it - they're allowed to. Dedicated fans might get upset at a change in direction, but it's the artist's call. Makes sense. It's their 'job' after all.
In 1999 those of us who were musical theatre fans - especially those who like 'decent' music - were excited by Andrew Lloyd Webber's next project. It was expected to be his 'rockiest' production since Jesus Christ Superstar. The subject didn't surprise me. He and Tim Rice had tackled unexpected and 'difficult' subjects before. Who in their right mind would think that musicals about the Messiah (or, rather, one of his most troublesome followers), an ancient Jewish hero and the wife of a South American president would make entertaining theatre?
But, they were.
Writing a score for a musical set around football in Belfast in the early seventies fitted right in with those subjects. The 'book' of
The Beautiful Game was written by Ben Elton. It was witty and 'earthy' in places. Some of the more earthier comments were toned down after the previews.
The show opened in 2000 and was a modest hit - certainly among some critics and fans. One problem - a major one - was foot and mouth. That hit Britain and Ireland that year and affected many events. It probably stopped a lot of American tourists from visiting the UK. 'Mercans are good patrons of London's theatres. All this affected TBG. It closed on Saturday night, the 1st of September 2001, less than a year after it opened. That was a memorable night, for other musical and sporting reasons*.
I seem to have strayed slightly off the point of this thread...
Back in 1998, or thereabouts, ALW had planned a sequel to The Phantom Of The Opera. He debuted one song at his 50th birthday gig at the Royal Albert Hall. For whatever reason, he shelved that idea. He didn't ditch the music though - some of it emerged in TBG.
A few years after TBG closed he returned to the idea of the sequel. He
removed one song from TBG and 'put it back' into the new show. TBG was retitled The Boys In The Photograph.
That annoyed me!
I, and many others had paid our hard-earned money to see the original production - and he goes and bins it!
That's what it looked like. What ALW did was remove a terrific song AND change the name of the show. Outrageous!
Actually, the show was his and he could do with it what he pleased.
Back to the story...
Jeff abandoned the big production values in 1981. In 86 he moved on from ELO. Briefly, in 2001 after he got sole rights to the ELO name, he ZOOMed back with a new ELO album. This time, doing most of it himself. His house was his studio... he could play most instruments... and, I think he prefers producing and editing music. ZOOM was effectively the Electric Lynne Orchestra. Honestly, if he had the technology back in the seventies, I think ELO would've been a one-man-band even then.
These days, Jeff's enjoying what he does, mucking about in his own way. Even though I lament the passing of the real orchestra, it's his music, and he'll do it his way.
Darn it!
* The same night as U2 performed a memorable gig in front of home fans at Slane Castle... the same night as England beat Germany 5-1 in a World Cup qualifier. But, the most important event that night was Jason McAteer scoring
the goal against Holland that sent Ireland to the World Cup the following year.