Musical Cyberspace

Double Take December: THE COLOR PURPLE

Posted on December 7, 2011 by David Fick

The OBCR of THE COLOR PURPLE.

It’s Double Take December at Musical Cyberspace! Every musical pretty much has something one likes and something one doesn’t in it. This month I’ll be listing one of each for a range of musicals, a different one each day.

The Color Purple

Something I Like: I love the three gossips, Doris, Darlene, and Jarene, and my favourite of their links is “A Tree Named Sofia”. They are hysterical. And there are parts of Brenda Russell, Allee Willis and Stephen Bray’s score that I really enjoy: the cute “Huckleberry Pie” song; the ambitious expository song, “Mysterious Ways”; the moving little snippet of music and lyrics, “Somebody Gonna Love You”; the Celie-Shug duet, “What About Love?”; and the catchy “Push Da Button” are just some of these.

Something I Don’t Like: For some reason, the musical version of The Color Purple doesn’t move me in the same way that either the book or the film do. There’s just something missing. Marsha Norman’s book seems to hold things together well enough, so I suspect the problem is in the score. There’s some great music in this show, but so much of it seems to be composed around the key moments in the narrative, rather than hitting all of the moments square on.

Feel free to share your “double take” on The Color Purple in the comment box!

Posted in Fun Stuff | Tagged Allee Willis, Brenda Russell, Marsha Norman, Stephen Bray, The Color Purple | Leave a comment

Double Take December: RAGTIME

Posted on December 6, 2011 by David Fick

To purchase the Original Broadway Cast Recording of RAGTIME, click on the image above.

Ragtime

Something I Like: I love Ragtime. The show has a fantastic score by Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty and Terrence McNally manages to juggle its multiple narratives mostly successfully. That said, I think what I would like to highlight today is how much I adored all aspects of the original staging. In particular, I’d like to praise the phenomenal things that Graciela Daniele did with the musical staging and choreography of that production. If that production hadn’t basically paying for all of Livent’s costs, then it might have been the success it deserved to be. Even with all those extra expenses, the show kept its head above water for 2 years and was not the failure that the marketing team for the recent revival made it out to be in an attempt to advance their own cause.

Something I Don’t Like: I don’t have many specific quibbles with Ragtime that spring to mind. I’d have to sit with the show again and have a more thorough look. If I was pressed to name one thing in particular, it would be that it is sometimes easy to lose track of Mother’s Younger Brother’s journey, particularly because of how dominant the Coalhouse/Sarah narrative becomes. Thus, I do wish that the character featured just a little more in the score, which is where I think the fault lies.

Feel free to share your “double take” on Ragtime in the comment box!

Posted in Lynn Ahrens, Stephen Flaherty, Terence McNally | Tagged Lynn Ahrens, Ragtime, Stephen Flaherty, Terrence McNally | 1 Comment

Double Take December: ROCK OF AGES

Posted on December 5, 2011 by David Fick

The cast album cover of ROCK OF AGES

Rock of Ages

Something I Like: Look, I’m just going to say it straight out. I have very little affection for Rock of Ages, so finding something I like about it is tough. In fact, Liza Minnelli’s interaction with the cast at the Tony Awards ceremony during their performance on that show is really the thing I like best about this show. OK, all right, I also like some of the songs that were used in the show and I suppose that Chris D’Arienzo’s book is at least a step ahead of We Will Rock You. And to be fair, it has moments where you can get lost in the funny wildness of the show.

Something I Don’t Like: It’s just not my cup of tea. Although they try to get all meta-theatrical about it, the show is just another jukebox musical in a sea of jukebox musicals. Funny wildness is all very well, but what else does this show really have to offer? Of course, none of this means that I won’t see the film the day its released. I’ll be there like a bear, ready to see whether the constant breaking of the fourth wall, that is a trademark feature of the show, has been dealt with successfully in the adaptation.

Feel free to share your “double take” on Rock of Ages in the comment box!

Posted in Fun Stuff | Tagged Chris D'Arienzo, Rock of Ages | Leave a comment

Double Take December: EVITA

Posted on December 4, 2011 by David Fick

To purchase the Original Broadway Cast Recording of EVITA, click on the image above.

Evita

Something I Like: I love how the show treats Eva Peron as, in Tim Rice’s words, “a fabulous bitch”. Duality is huge part of who she was. Even today, her reputation is obscured by the conflicting perspectives held of her by different groups of people. Add a rocking score – albeit one with some odd uses of motif – to that and you’ve got a winner of a show, one of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s best. Oh – and, from a performer’s perspective, it’s a great show in which to be in the ensemble. There is so much to do!

Something I Don’t Like: I’ve never much liked the “Montage” at the end of the show. I’ve always wondered whether it’s a satisfying choice dramatically. It certainly can be staged effectively as as a kind of coup de théâtre, as it was conceived in Hal Prince’s original production, and be theatrically satisfying – but that’s a slightly different thing. The film dispensed with it and – despite a number of other major flaws – did not feel incomplete without it. To me, the piece is merely a shortcut between Eva’s collapse and the “Lament”.

Feel free to share your “double take” on Evita in the comment box!

Posted in Andrew Lloyd Webber, Tim Rice | Tagged Andrew Lloyd Webber, Evita, Tim Rice | 1 Comment

Double Take December: BAT BOY

Posted on December 3, 2011 by David Fick

To purchase the Original Off-Broadway Cast Recording of BAT BOY, click on the image above.

Bat Boy

Something I Like: It’s so quirky, immediately infectious and just an interesting show all around – plus, what unusual source material! The show seems as if it will just be a poppy B-movie inspired romp, but it actually has some really moving moments. Shows that are more than they first appear to be are simply marvelous.

Something I Don’t Like: I guess my biggest problem is that the score taken on the whole is rather relentless. It just never really lets up for a second. I wish there was just one moment where it settled down and let things breathe. It made me think of what Little Shop of Horrors might be like without “Somewhere That’s Green”.

Feel free to share your “double take” on Bat Boy in the comment box!

Posted in Brian Flemming, Keythe Farley, Laurence O' Keefe | Tagged Bat Boy, Brian Flemming, Keythe Farley, Laurence O'Keefe | Leave a comment

Double Take December: CAROUSEL

Posted on December 2, 2011 by David Fick

To purchase the 1994 Broadway Cast Recording of CAROUSEL, click on the image above.

Carousel

Something I Like: With only one exception, the Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II’s score is brilliant. “The Carousel Waltz” is a brilliant piece of musical dramatisation and the ‘Bench Scene’ is a perfect piece of musical theatre storytelling. Agnes De Mille’s stunningly beautiful pas de deux for Louise and the carnival boy in Act II is simply phenomenal, one of the high points in all musical theatre dance.

Something I Don’t Like: There is a great deal about Jigger’s throughline that isn’t fully realised, both musically and dramatically. As such, I’m not particularly enamoured with “Blow High, Blow Low” or scenes like the one with Carrie, which are broadly comic and undermine the character. Jud was far better handled by the pair in their Oklahoma! and highlighting the more menacing parts of Jigger would only have only highlighted the tragic ambiguities in Billy even further.

Feel free to share your “double take” on Carousel in the comment box!

Posted in Oscar Hammerstein II, Richard Rodgers | Tagged Carousel, Oklahoma!, Oscar Hammerstein II, Richard Rodgers | Leave a comment

Double Take December: NINE

Posted on December 1, 2011 by David Fick

To purchase the Original Broadway Cast Recording of NINE, click on the image above.

Nine

Something I Like: Nine has a score that I really grew to love. Unfortunately, I was introduced to the show via the 1992 London cast recording, which is just abysmal in comparison with either the original or revival Broadway recordings of the show, so it took some time. But now I am a dedicated fan of what Maury Yeston achieved here. Oh – a special shout out must go to the new single version of “An Unusual Way” by Griffith Frank that was released on the film soundtrack. It’s amazing and great to hear a man singing this most beautiful of songs.

Something I Don’t Like: Well, it’s clear from what I said above that I don’t like the 1992 London cast recording. I was also incredibly disappointed by the film: a great cast was poorly served by Rob Marshall’s direction and the changes to the score. The new songs simply aren’t as good as anything in the score of the stage show.

Feel free to share your “double take” on Nine in the comment box! I’d love to hear what you think about the show!

Posted in Arthur Kopit, Maury Yeston | Tagged Arthur Kopit, Maury Yeston, Nine | 2 Comments

NEWSFLASH: MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG at Encores!

Posted on November 18, 2011 by David Fick

To purchase the Original Broadway Cast Recording of MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG, click on the image above.

I think most musical theatre fans know that Merrily We Roll Along will be receiving an Encores! production in February 2012. Directed by James LaPine, the show will star Colin Donnell as Frank, Celia Keenan-Bolger as Mary, Lin-Manuel Miranda as Charley, Elizabeth Stanley as Gussie and Betsy Wolfe as Beth.

What is different to other Encores! runs is that this will not be a production of the original version of the show, but of the 1985 revised version of the show, as Stephen Sondheim confirmed on Playbill today:

Under Lapine’s direction, George (Furth) and I revised it, particularly the first half of the first act, in 1985, when Lapine did it at La Jolla [Playhouse], and this is essentially that version. I’m meeting Lapine tonight and it’s one of the things we’re going to talk about: which aspects of which version we’re going to use. It’ll essentially be the 1985 [script and score], which has additional songs, things like that. George and I got it the way we wanted to, finally, in the 1990s when we did it in Leicester, England, and that’s the version that’s been done since. It was the version that was done down at the Kennedy Center in 2002, and that’s based on the Lapine version.

The article mentions the idea of a Broadway transfer in passing and I wonder what would happen then, if the 1990s version of the show is meant to be the “official” version. Will they make the changes to what gets done at Encores!? At any rate, it is nice to see this show get another high profile outing that could lead to a Broadway revival.

Thoughts?

Posted in George Furth, Stephen Sondheim | Tagged Betsy Wolfe, Celia Keenan-Bolger, Colin Donnell, Elizabeth Stanley, Encores!, George Furth, James Lapine, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Merrily We Roll Along, Stephen Sondheim | 5 Comments

NEWSFLASH: LEAP OF FAITH for Broadway in 2012

Posted on November 16, 2011 by David Fick

To purchase the DVD of the original LEAP OF FAITH film, click on the image above.

The New York Times is reporting that Broadway could see a production of the new Alan Menken-Glenn Slater-Janus Cercone musical, Leap of Faith, in fall 2012.

I’ve never seen the film, so I have no idea whether it might make a good musical or not, but the show had a run in September/October last year with Raúl Esparza and Brooke Shields in the starring roles, and directed and choreographed by Rob Ashford. I didn’t really follow the show or look into it much at the time, although I did watch the short video of one of the numbers, “Step into the Light”, that was been released. That song sounds like Menken is in top form to me. I find it far better than any of the songs first released to promote Sister Act – of which I am not the biggest fan – and am hoping it means good things for Leap of Faith on the whole. I hope Slater has upped his game a a bit. I wasn’t overly impressed with some of his work on Sister Act, Love Never Dies was disappointing and his lyrics for The Little Mermaid were similarly uneven.

I know from some stuff I read at the time that the LA show had a mixed reception, but Menken tweeted the other day that the show’s problem’s had been fixed in the recent reading that took place. The article above says that there has been extensive rewriting. Although it seems that Esparza would appear in the show on Broadway, Shields is no longer attached to the project and the role was play by Jessica Phillips in the reading. No word on whether Ashford will be at the helm. So let’s see what happens, shall we?

Posted in Alan Menken, Glenn Slater, Janus Cercone | Tagged Alan Menken, Brooke Shields, Glenn Slater, Janus Cercone, Jessica Phillips, Leap of Faith, Love Never Dies, Raúl Esparza, Rob Ashford, Sister Act, The Little Mermaid | Leave a comment

Character Discussion: Scar, Villains and Patrick Page

Posted on October 30, 2011 by David Fick

Patrick Page did an interview with BroadwayWorld that deals mostly with his transformation into the Grinch in How the Grinch Stole Christmas, but in which he also mentions his work for Disney Theatricals in Beauty and the Beast as Lumiere and The Lion King.

Page discusses some of the key differences between Scar and Mufasa, stating not only that the former is smarter than the latter, but that he has a better sense of humour too. This was naturally a conscious effort on the parts of the writers and animators of the film to differentiate between the characters. The librettists of the stage show (Roger Allers and Irene Mecchi) built on what was already there and – of course – the principle is neither unique to the the stage show nor to The Lion King in any of its forms, as indicated by Page in the video, where he says:

Patrick Page wrote:
And then I did Lion King, and Lion King you don’t see any of the heaviness in the costume – it’s all underneath, because the mechanical mask that sits above Scar’s head is run by motors which are quite large actually and are on the hips and those add about 30 pounds to the costume and then there’s a thing that goes down your arm and a switch that operates the thing on the inside. So I loved the mask and the things I was able to do with it, but it was a very, very heavy costume and again I did that show for about 5 years, also at the New Amsterdam, at the Minskoff and on tour. So that was a lot of heavy costumes….

I do like playing villains. I like playing other parts too. The great thing about a villain is that they’re usually the smartest person in the show and they are usually the funniest. So that of course is true of Scar. You know, Scar is, I think, in many ways… smarter than Mufasa. Mufasa is much more virtuous, kinder, more loyal – all those great qualities you need in a leader, but Scar has an intelligence than just no one else in the play has – and a sense of humour. Mufasa, bless his heart, he doesn’t have a funny bone in his body. He doesn’t have one laugh line in the show. So… it’s that sense of irony that makes villains so rewarding to play as opposed to heroes. Heroes very rarely have any sense of the ironic.

Of course, in The Lion King there is a complexity at play which is grounded in the the Shakespearean influences on both the film and the stage show, which makes itself clear in the conception of the character of Scar. While the influence of Hamlet on the film is clear, Scar is a kind of Richard III and this certainly adds something unique to him within the general context of Disney villains (although he is not my favourite Disney villain overall).

Posted in Disney Theatrical Productions, Irene Mecchi, Roger Allers | Tagged Beauty and the Beast, Disney Theatricals, Hamlet, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Irene Mecchi, Patrick Page, Richard III, Roger Allers, The Lion King | Leave a comment