Customer Reviews

3hree

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Stumbling upon the incredible BATBOY, I discovered this other gem with the only other Laurence O'Keefe musical on disc. Expecting to fall in love with O'Keefe's "The Mice", I found that the brilliance of composer Robert Lindsey Nassif about the story of a man who flies in a lawnchair. With catchy tunes by famous pilots - Amelia Aerhart, Charles Lindbergh - this show is jampacked with gorgeous ballads, funny and catchy upbeat sontgs and that extra bit of love to touch the heart.

It's worth it. Get it.

All 3 show segments of this cd are equally fabulous. Beautiful melodies and clever lyrics and stories make this cd a joy to listen to. The cast is wonderful in their character interpretations and all have beautiful voices. I would have loved to see this live. Besides, what other show has a singing Amelia Earhart in it?

Having been one of the handful of Los Angeles theatre-goers to be absolutely entranced by "3hree" during its recent Ahmanson Theatre run, I am thrilled by the recording. The near-extinct genre of musical charm show here gets a triple-volt boost, with the desired objective of creating three self-contained miniature musicals totally achieved. "The Mice" is post-Dennis Potter wry tragicomedy, with toe-tapping tunes and jivey harmonics; "Lavender Girl," though predictable in premise, is drenchingly romantic, a mini-Jazz Age demi-opera; and "Flight of the Lawnchair Man" is pure pop culture kitsch done to a high turn. All three compositional teams represent the best that up-and-coming musical theatre have to offer, and the cast could simply not be bettered. I haven't stopped playing it since I got it, and I hope it makes it to Broadway in the fall, because it is original, catchy, and oh so well-done. Highly recommended.

... even though I enjoyed the entire recording. The last piece, "Flight of The Lawnchair Man," is an exceptionally smart blend of whacky theatrics (a production number with Charles Lindbergh and a chorus of high-kicking airplanes, anyone?) and simple beauty (the recurring theme of following your dreams regardless of what others think). It's the brightest, most-inventive work for theater I've heard since Adam Guettel's "Myths & Hymns" song cycle several years ago.

Here is the future of American musical theater in one CD jewel case. The dark humor of "The Mice," where an exterminator and his girlfriend fill a Minnesota town with vermin in order to make room for their illicit affair. The bittersweet longing of "Lavendar Girl," where a girl's desire to be accepted lives long past her physical body. And "Lawnchair Man" with its goofy sense of humor and touching heart of gold.

It's one of those great times when the right material is brought to life by the right creative minds and put in the hands of the right cast of characters (many of whom do double and triple duty to show of their versatility). It's a must-have for musical theater lovers.

I bought this CD out of curiosity, and am very impressed with it. I rarely post reviews, but since the creators of these pieces have chosen such a difficult path to follow, the more encouragment the better. It is also the case that my own evaluation is a bit different than the others who have posted here.

In my opinion, it is the first of the pieces, `The Mice', that is the most impressive. I did not realize this on first hearing, since it is melodically the least accesible. But on better acquaintance, there is some really impressive dramatic music here, such that, as it came round on my car cd again, I unexpectedly found myself on the verge of tears. The action actually wanders into Aida/Radames and Liebestod country, not what normally occurs in American theatre. While there is obviously no comparison musically (let's do be serious), hearing these grand opera sentiments expressed in flat middle western accents is touching and poignant. The lyrics are far and away the best on the album (and the others are by no means bad) in that they eschew `mere' cleverness for truly effective characterization.

The album is poignant in another way, in that the performances are superb. `Mice' is actually a first class small radio drama as produced. I had to check the credits to realize that John Scherer, the hen-pecked exterminator of the Mice, also plays the Miles Gloriosus character in the Lawnchair act. Knowing the obstacles performers of this quality are going to have to face in an MTV world is exasperating to me.

Finally, this is ideal high school theatre stuff (assuming the music is instrumentally performable, which is something I wouldn't know. I do know it's singable.) At that level, you wouldn't multicast, which gives more than 10 featured roles. And the fact that the music is all but unknown actually would add considerable interest to the production. Beats the hell out of one more `Carousel'. I have had a copy sent to the drama teacher at my daughter's high school. (They did `The Wiz' this April. Whoopee.)

Good luck to all concerned. Nicely done.

Absolutely the most wonderful show music written since the Sondheim dryspell. Each contain dramatic line, beautiful tunes, outstanding performances and are complex and rich enough to enjoy on multiple hearings. Unlike other reviewers, I simply cannot pick a favorite show. Each piece stands on its own and one longs for more music from each composer. It is unfortunate that the 3 one act structure begs for comparision. It is unfair. I say resist the tempatation lest you miss the joy in each.

I thought Adam Guettel, Jason Robert Brown and Jeanine Tesori were to be the lone saviors of the musical theatre .. Nope .. Watch each of these composers closely .. here is the future. Bravo..

I can't stop listening to it! It's so fun trying to decide which of the three shows I like the most. I have decided that my favorite is THE MICE. The lyrics are so right & i throughly enjoy the music too. LAVENDER GIRL has the prettiest song in it "Real enough to change my mind" which is preceded by the unfortunate Jessica Molasky ballad who bugs me, but never the less, certainly doesn't ruin the show. THE FIGHT OF THE LAWN CHAIR MAN is probablly the one that i listen to the least. It is obviously the most charming of the three but the music isn't as provocative. I bought this CD the same day as I bought the PRODUCERS CD. Can you guess which one I listen to more?

After seeing this fantastic show at the over sold Prince Theatre in Philadelphia I couldn't wait to get the CD. There are so many great songs and performances in this low tech show, that I hope many will not overlook this great CD. The show is in three acts. The first which is the only one Amazon offers samples is only an apetizer...The second 2 thirds are the meal.

Ok So this is three one acts put into one show. The First "Mice" is ok. Pretty cute idea. The second, I can't remember the name of it, is probably the weakest, just not much substance. But the final one, "The Flight of the Lawnchair man" is really nice and is worth the 10 bucks alone. The Lyrics are quite clever in all the acts, but the music is definitly story telling, no amazing ballads here. My favorite song would have to be "Tiny."

The Mice

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My favorite of the three, this is a story about an affair between an exterminator and the neglected wife of a tailor. The songs are particularly hilarious when dealing with the townfolks, and the music is incredibly bouncy, especially considering the (very dark) subject matter. Valerie Wright's (Virga) delivery in "That's All I Need" is wonderfully light, and John Scherer (Allan) is hilariously accommodating in "Mice!" These are some of the most clever lyrics you will hear, and the rhymes are wonderful. (I'm sorry, but rhyming "cyanide" and "pesticide" with "blushing bride" is just incredibly funny to me.) If you like the music from The Wild Party (LaChuisa), and Thoroughly Modern Millie, you'll probably like this piece as well.

Lavender Girl

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I can't say much about the plot of this one without giving everything away. It's essentially about a very brief love affair. The music is adequate. The only piece that really gets stuck in my head is "We've Got Time." It's a wonderful homage to the '20s ballroom style, with lots of syncopation, swing, and harmonies. Again, we're in Thoroughly Modern Millie territory here. However, the rest of the act just doesn't stand up next to this particular number. Granted, the performances are great, but there just isn't enough material left in the plot to make one care, and it's just one ballad after another. I feel like adding just one more up-tempo song in here might have made this more complete.

Flight of the Lawnchair Man

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I didn't realize until Mythbusters happened to do an episode about it, but apparently "Flight of the Lawnchair Man" is based on the true story of Larry Walters (a.k.a. Lawnchair Larry). Searching for him on Wikipedia will turn up the details of this "true urban legend." Despite this being "grounded" in reality, it's an awfully silly plot. The music is incredibly inconsistent, almost like the writer had a bunch of different musical themes lying around and decided to stick them together. We've got everything from Italian tarantella to Broadway-style kick-line. There are some truly awful lyrics in this one (particularly in "Genius" and "To Tame the Sky") such as:

"Once I tried to fly a sofa/Once I tried to fly a school"

and

"I'm the background/I'm like underwear"

Still, this absurdist (but apparently mostly true!) story (about a man who straps 400 helium-filled balloons to a lawn chair) is somehow transcendent, almost like a Shel Silverstein story. Fans of Joss Whedon's Firefly will probably identify with the sentiment of "The Air Is Free." If you liked Maury Yeston's Nine, and you happen to really enjoy numbers like "Hello Please" from Pacific Overtures, you'll probably like this show too. Everyone in the cast gets to shine with some sort of hilarity, and "Never Finish Before You Are Finished" steals the show, and makes up for the terrible lyrics in "Genius." Some sample great lyrics:

"I could have given up and landed inland, in Finland, and had a Finnish finish and been done"

and

"Better to last to the last and be last"

The puns just keep on flying. Get it? Flying? *groan*