Miss Saigon

You certainly did not forget the tremendous success of 'Les Miserables' and now we have
another thrilling musical by the duo Boublil and Schonberg, a modern version of 'Madame
Butterfly'. The plot tells the sentimental story of a G.I. Chris who falls in love with a beautiful
native girl Kim during the Vietnam War. When he realizes that she is pregnant he has to go back
home in the States where his wife is waiting for him. In order to allow the father to educate the
child, the young woman commits suicide. With his usual orchestration skill, Johan de Meij made
a fine symphonic portrait, containing some of the most beautiful songs of the musical. You can
hear successively: 'Overture - Saigon, April 1975', 'The Movie in my Mind', 'The Morning of the
Dragon', 'Please' and 'I Still Believe'.
Discovery Fantasy
A Discovery Fantasy (1993) is based on the theme song of the television series "Searching For
Music". This program, which was seen between 1986 and 1988 on Dutch television, was co-
produced by Jan De Haan, the composer of Discovery Fantasy. It took the audience to a specific
place or region, in order to get acquainted with the most diverse forms of music making. They
know when writing "A Discovery Fantasy", I had this successful television mind. The theme tune
is followed by three unrelated parts - a bolero, a rondo and a romantic interlude - and as with
television work, ends with the recognizable tune.

Elisabeth
The world premiere of the musical Elisabeth took place in Vienna on September 3, 1992. From
the great acclaim with which the musical was received, it became clear that the life of the
Empress of Austria still appeals to the imagination. Although Elisabeths life (1837-1898) as an
Empress has a fairy-tale-like beginning, it takes a gloomy turn. In this production, Luigi Lucheni,
the man who finally takes her life, tells her story. Death plays a major role throughout
Elisabeths life. In the musical, an equally mysterious and attractive man portrays the
phenomenon of death, seducing her to the realm of death time after time. Johan de Meij has
built up his reputation as an arranger with successful arrangements of hit musicals such as The
Phantom of the Opera, Cats, Annie, Chess and Miss Saigon.

In this arrangement of Elisabeth, he makes use of the following songs:
- Prolog (Prologue)
- Boote in der Nacht (Ships in the Night)
- Die frhliche Apokalypse (The Cheerful Apocalypse)
- Nur kein Genieren (Dont Get Embarrassed)
- Mayerlinger Walzer (Mayerling Waltz)
- Finale: Ich Gehr nur Mir (I Only Belong to Me).


Blues Factory
This imaginative new work from Jacob De Haan portrays the rich history of the textile industry
through music. The decline of the industry is expressed in the opening slow movement with an
authentic 12 bar blues. The second movement uses a jazzy rock style blues to show the
optimism and solidarity of the mill workers and the final movement uses a strong vocal-style
blues to look forward with optimism to the future.

The Blues Brothers Revue
You simply can't top the Blues Brothers for high-energy musical entertainment. In this medley of
their best-known tunes, Jay Bocook provides an exciting arrangement perfect for any pops or
lighter program. Comprised of the up-tempo soulful hits: I Can't Turn You Loose; Soul Man; Soul
Finger and Everybody Needs Somebody To Love, this is one song that everyone will enjoy.

The Phantom Of The Opera
The Phantom of the Opera is a musical with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyrics
by Charles Hart. Based on the French novel Le Fantme de l'Opra by Gaston Leroux, its central
plot revolves around a beautiful soprano, Christine Daa, who becomes the obsession of a
mysterious, disfigured musical genius.
The musical opened in London's West End in 1986, and on Broadway in 1988. It is the longest
running show in Broadway history by a wide margin, and celebrated its 10,000th Broadway
performance on 11 February 2012, the first production ever to do so.
With total estimated worldwide gross receipts of over $5.6 billion (the highest in history) and
total Broadway gross of US$845 million which has only been surpassed by The Lion
King, Phantom is the most financially successful entertainment event to date. By 2011 it had
been seen by over 130 million people in 145 cities in 27 countries, and continues to play in both
London and New York.

This version which has been skillfully arranged by none other than Johan De Meij, who has
artfully combined a number of classic songs from the famous musical such as "Angel of Music",
"The Music of The Night", "Notes", "Think of Me", "All I Ask of You", "Overture" and "Wishing
You Were Somehow Here Again".

Utopia
Utopia is the name of a book written by the English author Thomas More and was published in
1516. The title is a word thought up by More himself, after the Greek language, meaning
"Nowhere land". Utopia pictured an ideal state on an island far from the inhabited world. This
idea was the basis of the composition. Utopia exists of a combination of styles that breathe the
atmosphere of film music. However, Utopia does not give off an American feel. The slow and
stirring middle part for example is closer to the European romanticism: the chord signals in the
brass section remind of Wagner's music.