CARRIE was such a flop that it even has a book about flops named for it!
BroadwayWorld is reporting that one of the legendary flops of musical theatre, Carrie, will most likely return to Broadway soon – following another workshop, which itself follows several readings over the past year or so. Some of the key information from the article, which can be read in full by following this link, is as follows:
I believe they are going to try (bring the show back to Broadway)…. I know that they’ve spent a lot of time rewriting. Dean [Pitchford, the lyricist] has been in a lot over the summer. They’ve rewritten the entire second act. They’ve put a lot of work into it!
Maybe this will finally be a Carrie that lovers of musical theatre can embrace for the right reasons!
Today will see Lillias White give her last two performances as Funmilayo Anikulapo-Kuti, the mother of the titular character in the hit Broadway musical, Fela! White has been with the show since its Broadway opening on 19 October 2009 and performed the role to critical acclaim, earning herself a Tony nomination along the way.
Grammy Award winner Patti LaBelle, who performed in the show twice last week, will officially take over performances of the role on 14 September. LaBelle will stay with the show through its closing on 2 January 2011.
Fela! tells the story of the extravagant, decadent and rebellious Afrobeat legend Fela Anikulapo Kuti. Using his pioneering music, which blends jazz, funk and African rhythm and harmonies, the show is an exciting blend of traditional musical theatre with contemporary Pan African performance styles. See it before it closes!
To purchase the DVD of the original LEAP OF FAITH film, click on the image above.
Previews for the world premiere run of the Alan Menken-Glenn Slater-Janus Cercone musical, Leap of Faith, start tonight. With opening officially set for the 3rd of October, the show is playing at the Center Theatre Group’s Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles.
Telling the tale of a part-time reverend and full-time con artist, Jonas Nightengale (played by Raúl Esparza), whose traveling ministry breaks down in a small Kansas town, the show deals with what happens when Nightengale, along with his sister-sidekick (played by Kendra Kassebaum), quickly pitches a tent and invites the locals to a revival to line his pocket with what he needs. The local sheriff, Will Braverman (played by Jarrod Emick) is determined to stop Jonas from separating the townspeople from their money, but Jonas’ real challenge arises when he meets a pretty waitress (played by Brooke Shields) and her son (played by Nicholas Barasch), whose love forces an ultimate cynic to take a real leap of faith. Other principal roles are taken by Kecia Lewis-Evans and Leslie Odom, Jr.
The ensemble comprises Brad Anderson, Bradley Benjamin, Tom Berklund, Christopher Bones, Krystal Joy Brown, Ta’Rea Campbell, Eric L. Christian, Michelle Duffy, Harvey Evans, Ashley Blair Fitzgerald, Jennie Ford, Bob Gaynor, Angela Grovey, Shannon Lewis, Michael X. Martin, Maurice Murphy, Anise E. Ritchie, Darcie Roberts, Bryce Ryness, Ariel Shepley, C.E. Smith, Alex Michael Stoll, Dennis Stowe, Katherine Tokarz, Brandon Wardell, Karl Warden, Natalie Willes and Charlie Williams.
Based on the Paramount Pictures film of the same name, the production is directed and choreographed by Rob Ashford. Although there have been whispers of a Broadway production to follow this one, no official announcement to that effect has been made. In the meantime, here is a preview of the show, which makes things sound like Menken is in top form:
Here’s a video of Ethel Merman singing Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart’s “Ten Cents a Dance” from Simple Simon. I pity the tough guy who would try to ‘tear her gown’. She looks like she’d deck him and do some serious damage in the process!
What are your Top 10 Movie Musicals – right now at this exact point in time. These are mine – off the top of my head and places in alphabetical order. The links will take you to Amazon.com should you wish to take my recommendations to heart and build up your movie musical collection!
Sometimes “crazy concepts” – ideas that attempt to breathe new life in to classic musicals – make it all the way into production. Although some of these concepts are not necessarily “crazy”, but merely unconventional, here are a couple done for Stephen Sondheim musicals that certainly fall into the “crazy” category. These come courtesy of a poster at Musicals Dot Net, known as “Annie”:
I went to the Stephen Sondheim conversation with Frank Rich at Lincoln Center in January… and they spoke/laughed briefly about some crazy productions of his shows that have been done…:
Sondheim: I heard about some university on the west coast doing Company and having Bobby commit suicide at the end.
Rich: So much for “Being Alive”.
Sondheim: *laughs for ages*
One wishes so that proper transcripts of these discussions with Frank Rich were readily available. The closest thing I could find for this particular session was in the “Showtime!” blog at BroadwayWorld, which has it as follows:
Michael Dale wrote:
“Then there was a production of Company where Bobby shot himself at the end.” (Rich’s response: “He shot himself after ‘Being Alive’?”)
The anecdote is a lovely one and, of course, one wonders what the director thought was illuminated in the show itself by his/her concept, particularly with such a glaring inconsistency at the end of the show. I guess it was meant to be ironic…
Annie wrote:
Sondheim… also heard about a production of Merrily We Roll Along that they did backwards.
And, rightfully so, he was completely offended by it:
Stephen Sondheim wrote:
Hofstra College once played Merrily backwards. We didn’t find out until it was over or else we would have been there with the sheriff and shotguns.
What a bizarre choice, especially for a college, where one would assume that unconventionally styled (musical) theatre has a place even if it does not have one anywhere else!
Here’s another of those “crazy concepts” proposing to bring new life to a classic show. Such concepts are not necessarily ‘crazy’; they are merely unconventional: you can decide which this is and I’ve offered my opinion on the matter too. I stumbled across it on Musicals Dot Net, posted by a user known as “Brother Marvin Hinten, S.”, who read about it on BroadwayWorld in a production that was apparently seen by a user on that forum:
(A) really minimalist production of The Phantom of the Opera with the emphasis on the score and not on overblown production values (very basic costumes, not many special effects or set pieces, tiny cast).
What a wonderful way to expose the show for what it is: a feast of poor character development, inconsistently crafted lyrics and a book that aims for breadth rather than depth as the show rolls along to its mysterious open ending. If anything, it is Harold Prince’s production that makes the show as palatable as it is. It certainly isn’t the inherent quality of the material itself. I wonder where this production was seen. One assumes it was not produced legally – unless its been available for “unofficial” productions The Phantom of the Opera for longer than I know. I thought it had only recently been made available to colleges and schools for performance.
Following my 2010 redux blog on “Genres of Musical Theatre“, I received a message from Hans Anders Elgvang, a regular visitor of this site, asking: ‘What are, in your opinion, the differences between the form categories musical comedy and musical play?’ This is my response.
The basic intention behind musical comedy is entertainment (Anything Goes, Crazy For You), while that of a musical play is enlightenment (South Pacific, West Side Story).
In terms of the book, musical comedies tend to present situations that are broader in their construction (Girl Crazy, Babes in Arms), while musical plays tend to be more subtle and detailed in their construction (The King and I, My Fair Lady). This applies to narrative as well as character (compare Annie and Frank in Annie Get Your Gun with Julie and Billy in Carousel). In musical comedies, improbabilities are overlooked (Nina changes her whole system of beliefs based on a piece of clothing in Silk Stockings), while in musical plays they are inexcusable (it is not a piece of clothing that shifts Mother’s ideology in Ragtime). Comedy in musical comedies is maximal, but musical plays use comedy within the limits of character: compare the one-liners given to Kate in Girl Crazy with the portrayal of Ado Annie in Oklahoma!
Although by no means a hard and fast rule today as it was in the past, musical comedies tend to be feature more contemporary settings (Anything Goes, Silk Stockings), while musical plays tend more frequently to be set in the past (Carousel, Oklahoma!): this characteristic of the difference between the two forms was particularly clear during the “golden age” of musical theatre and the delineation has been broken down dramatically in the past 40 years. Even so, when the past is depicted in musical comedy, it is often through the lens of contemporary sensibilities.
In terms of music and lyrics, the dramatic integration of numbers in musical comedies becomes flimsier the further one retreats into musical theatre history, with musical comedies from the mid-1940s onwards reflecting to some extent the sense of integration demanded by the musical play, where the dramatic integration of the numbers is always first and foremost. Musical comedies tend to have lighter content than musical plays, which tend towards more emotional content. A number in a musical comedy may move around from show to show, but this method of integrating material into musical plays is debatable depending on the example.
In terms of dance, musical comedy gives us “hoofing” (Anything Goes), while musical plays give us “choreography” (West Side Story). The difference is that the former involves a language devised for pure entertainment, while the latter involves a language that extends the action of the musical on a larger scale.
When modern versions of the musical comedy surface, making it difficult to distinguish between the two because of how musical comedy has had to change in reaction to the appearance of the musical play, one should return to the fundamental principle that separates the two: a musical comedy primarily entertains and a musical play primarily enlightens.
After giving my 1992 Concert Cast Recording of Nine another spin, I find myself wondering yet again whether there will ever be a Guido as effective as Raul Julia. Take this album for instance: closer to complete than any other commercially available recording, a huge symphonic orchestra and a cast that reads like a who’s who of British musical theatre talent.
One of the worst parts, unfortunately, is having to suffer through Jonathan Pryce as Guido, something that reminded me why this is my least favourite recording of Nine and why I hardly ever listen to it.
Often, when cast recordings are released, there are snips here and there, usually of underscoring or dance music. Rarely does a number fundamental to the score get left out of recordings completely, but that’s exactly what happens to “The Small House of Uncle Thomas” almost every single time the show is recorded. I thought I’d try out the MP3 search on Amazon to try and find out how many different recorded versions of the number there are. Here goes!
The length of the track on the the London Revival album does not seem to be readily available. The only other recording on which the number seems to be available is a rare Japanese cast recording from 1996, which is available here.
So there are a few versions of this pivotal number from The King and I available. Anyone got a favourite?
Musical Cyberspace 
Musical Comedy vs. Musical Play
Following my 2010 redux blog on “Genres of Musical Theatre“, I received a message from Hans Anders Elgvang, a regular visitor of this site, asking: ‘What are, in your opinion, the differences between the form categories musical comedy and musical play?’ This is my response.
The basic intention behind musical comedy is entertainment (Anything Goes, Crazy For You), while that of a musical play is enlightenment (South Pacific, West Side Story).
In terms of the book, musical comedies tend to present situations that are broader in their construction (Girl Crazy, Babes in Arms), while musical plays tend to be more subtle and detailed in their construction (The King and I, My Fair Lady). This applies to narrative as well as character (compare Annie and Frank in Annie Get Your Gun with Julie and Billy in Carousel). In musical comedies, improbabilities are overlooked (Nina changes her whole system of beliefs based on a piece of clothing in Silk Stockings), while in musical plays they are inexcusable (it is not a piece of clothing that shifts Mother’s ideology in Ragtime). Comedy in musical comedies is maximal, but musical plays use comedy within the limits of character: compare the one-liners given to Kate in Girl Crazy with the portrayal of Ado Annie in Oklahoma!
Although by no means a hard and fast rule today as it was in the past, musical comedies tend to be feature more contemporary settings (Anything Goes, Silk Stockings), while musical plays tend more frequently to be set in the past (Carousel, Oklahoma!): this characteristic of the difference between the two forms was particularly clear during the “golden age” of musical theatre and the delineation has been broken down dramatically in the past 40 years. Even so, when the past is depicted in musical comedy, it is often through the lens of contemporary sensibilities.
In terms of music and lyrics, the dramatic integration of numbers in musical comedies becomes flimsier the further one retreats into musical theatre history, with musical comedies from the mid-1940s onwards reflecting to some extent the sense of integration demanded by the musical play, where the dramatic integration of the numbers is always first and foremost. Musical comedies tend to have lighter content than musical plays, which tend towards more emotional content. A number in a musical comedy may move around from show to show, but this method of integrating material into musical plays is debatable depending on the example.
In terms of dance, musical comedy gives us “hoofing” (Anything Goes), while musical plays give us “choreography” (West Side Story). The difference is that the former involves a language devised for pure entertainment, while the latter involves a language that extends the action of the musical on a larger scale.
When modern versions of the musical comedy surface, making it difficult to distinguish between the two because of how musical comedy has had to change in reaction to the appearance of the musical play, one should return to the fundamental principle that separates the two: a musical comedy primarily entertains and a musical play primarily enlightens.