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GUNS N' ROSES Classics Turned Into Show Tunes For Canadian Musical

April 15, 2003

A trio of wiseacre chicks from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada have rendered GUNS N' ROSES classics into show tunes for a new musical called "Paradise City", according to the Edmonton Sun.

"Sweet Child of Mine" is now a '30s swing number with a little soft shoe, "Reckless Life" is given the Michael Jackson treatment, "Welcome to the Jungle" is funkified, "Paradise City" is transformed into a gospel hootenanny, and "You Could Be Mine" is spindled into a jazzy torch song complete with the singer in the sequined red dress.

Musical director Dana Wylie is quick to point out that what seems like a hilarious idea over beer doesn't necessarily translate to a full-length musical. "Once you come to putting a show together, you realize the novelty of hearing 'You Could Be Mine' as a lounge number will only last for about five minutes, and in the end you have to make the arrangements good and you have to make the play work dramatically."

The plot is a modernized version of a classic Mob film set in the '30s. Think "Chicago" set at the Whiskey a Go-Go. A wide-eyed farm boy comes to seek his fortune in Paradise City, is smitten by a woman with a troubled past, falls into the clutches of the sinister Mob boss and in the end lets everybody see "a little glimmer of light in Paradise City," Wylie says. Cue gospel choir: "Take me down to the Paradise City, where the grass is green and the girls are pretty, oh, oh, take me ho-oh-oh-home. Hallelujah!"

"Paradise City" plays at Varscona Theater through April 20.

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