Ray Davies - 80 Days

Our World (Empire Song)
Just Passing Through
Conspiracy
is here : watch?v=h69w2dzMvEw

Ray Davies - 80 Days [no label 1CD] demos for 80 Days stage play composed and written by Ray Davis and performed in San Diego at La Jolla Playhouse in 1988.
Performed from August 23 to October 9, 1988, at Mandell Weiss Theatre, San Diego

Received awards for "Best Musical" (San Diego Theatre Critics Circle) and production, direction, acting (Brooks Almy and Timothy Landfield), scenery and costumes (Drama-Logue)

80 Days - A New Musical (1988)
Ray Davies and his alter ego Jules Verne vs. Broadway and mediocrity
by Thomas Bartoldus
"When you're doing ›Around the World‹ and entering the world of Jules Verne, there's no choice but to be big and spectacular." Broadway director and dramaturge Des McAnuff does not have any doubts about the extraordinary nature of a musical, which critics called one of the most lavish and expensive stage productions the West Coast has ever seen. Six years of intensive preparation had preceded the world premiere of ›80 Days. A New Musical‹ on August 23, 1988, at the Mandell Weiss Theatre in San Diego. Together with playwright Snoo Wilson (script) and English songwriter Ray Davies (music and lyrics), Tony-Award winner McAnuff created during this period a musical of 2 ½ hours length. Modern stage design with movable intermediate stages, along with extravagant properties and lavish costumes, formed a kaleidoscopic framework for not less than 40 changes of scenery and 400 changes of costumes. 173 Commedia-dell'Arte-style masks gave the 24 actors the opportunity to perform up to 200 characters of different origin. The baroque equipment supported a story full of allusions which follows the plot of Verne's novel on the outside, but is on the inside only 'inspired' by its literary model and the biography of the author who as a literary figure takes the role of the French servant Passepartout.

The content: The writer Verne is in the midst of a creative and social crisis: he has to provide nourishment for his family, and publishers force him to deliver a new best-seller within 80 days. In order to overcome his writer's block, Verne decides to travel around the world in 80 days as a servant to the English gentleman Phileas Fogg - a journey which takes place only in his fantasy. Being creator and creature of his literary imagination at the same time, Verne tries, against the opposition of the fictitious cast, to present the events following the bet in London's Reform Club in an attractive manner. In the meantime, he is constantly being persecuted by a gigantic typewriter, which serves as a reminder of the peremptory deadline and the expectations of his publishers. Verne's concept is considerably shaken not only by Fogg's emotional coldness and his arrogance, but also by an uninvited travelling companion, namely the Victorian matron Mrs Fix, the mother of the detective, as well as by the haughty Indian princess Aouda, who refuses to play the part of the damsel in distress and the paramour. Along the way from London via Paris, Suez, Bombay, Calcutta, Yokohama to San Francisco by ship, train, elephant, and - against Verne's will - by aerostat, the travellers encounter not only characters from earlier novels (e.g. Captain Nemo), but also historical characters such as Queen Victoria, prime minister Gladstone, and the American journalist and feminist Nellie Bly. Having reached the end of the journey and the novel, Fogg, Aouda and her child finally come together in a marriage blessed by Queen Victoria, whereas Verne has to face new literary challenges.

The way time is presented - not to say over-represented - as a central theme in "80 Days" hints at the apocalyptic dimension of this piece of world theatre with an imperialistic tone: Verne, Fogg, Fix, Mrs Fix, and Aouda together form a miniature portrait of the Empire, whose time finally has come. The end of the musical, which differs from its source, is an ironic swansong for the Victorian Age, trying hard to suggest that ethnic prejudices have been overcome: having received Queen Victoria's blessing, the freshly-married couple walks into the sunset, although not alone. They are accompanied by Aouda's child, symbolizing the next generation. At the end of the Empire, where the sun goes never down ("Empire Song"), there waits the agony of the 20th century.

ENJOY

Don`t miss the rest of this gem it`s here : watch?v=h69w2dzMvEw

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Ray Davis
• 80 Days

[Mavarla]

Egregious that the last cut was snipped so abruptly....

[SoMadAboutIT1]

@Leifsounds my converter f**ked up and cut 01 Let It Be Written watch?v=S0wkFrYFGhk&feature=yo­­­utu.be

cheers

[Leifsounds]

Great...Ray is born a real show man. very talentet...I never heard this

[tschiibii]

what can I say?  *GREAT, GREAT, GREAT* !!!!

[krankiekat]

RAY DAVIES CAN WRITE A BROADWAY MUSICAL & GREAT ROCK AND ROLL SONG IN HIS SLEEP...GOD SAVE RAY DAVIES HE'S NOT LIKE EVERYBODY ELSE!

[kewrock]

These are some REALLY catchy tunes. This bunch of songs are as good as any Kinks albums. They really should be released. He does sound funny singing the female's leads though.

[davidwatts67]

You gotta download LADIES OF NIGHT my friend, awesome song, I love this whole album......why wouldnt ray release it is beyond me ...I stand corrected..my goodness you got the whole thing here, awesome........thx

[davidwatts67]

You gotta download LADIES OF NIGHT my friend, awesome song, I love this whole album......why wouldnt ray release it is beyond me

[davlinful]

Truly wonderful. in my view Rays finest work EVER and not another Kink in sight.

Dave

Shangrila