Dreaming - or am I awake?

Tonight, after a long day of brunch and Q 2 Q at Walterdale, I went to The Dream King (ELOPE). Hmmmm. I am still thinking about it. It is a new, unfinished musical written by Randy Mueller. It was performed in concert (for the most part) and narrated by Colin McLean. Those are the facts. There was some wonderful music, but... but... but... I don't know. It is hard to comment. Without a book it is tough to say if it would work. The music was well written and beautiful and some had tension and movement, but... but... but... There was no conflict pushing the story. The first act was a recitation of the "facts". It was almost entirely exposition and the whole first act could have been done in one song. Cut to the chase. Ludwig II was so removed from other people all the conflict happened when he was out of the room so you really didn't care about him. He built castles and people were upset about the money and forced him to give up the crown and then he killed himself. That's basically it. But.... but... I never really felt he wanted the crown and I never really cared about the castles, and oh yeah, he liked Wagner. So what? I think the music could work if Randy strayed from the historical facts and made it more compelling. Was Ludwig gay? That's a more interesting conflict. Was he truly mad or just spoiled? I don't know? Right now, I don't care... That's a problem.

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