Imagine this: somewhere between life and death, you find yourself in a post-apocalyptic dive where lost souls drink Blue House Brew to flush away their previous life experiences and prepare them for rebirth. This is the setting for Caren Tackett’s new musical, Born Blue, will receive a reading tonight at Touch New York City.
Directed by Anthony Rapp, the cast includes Adam Halpin as Master Jefferson, Nicolette Hart as Suspicious Wife, Justin Johnson as Luther, Andy Señor as Leonard, Tiffani Barbour as Ophelia, Ashley Betton as Jude, Danielle Lee Greaves as Mother, Molly Hager as Miss Black, James Moye as Judge Sewall, Joe Shane as Talon, Richard E. Waits as Father and Miranda Zickler as Catori. The ensemble features Tracy McDowell, Brandan Uranowitz, John Watson, King Aswad, Judah Frank, Nate Gray, Happy McPartlin and Jahmila Adderley. Tackett herself will perform the role of Infinity Blue, the front-woman of Creatrix, the god of the world being created in this show.
Tackett wrote the show while performing as a swing in RENT and deals not only with the cycles of fear and prejudice regarding sex, race, sexual orientation and organized religion in the show, but also with her own life experience as told in the ‘metaphor and myth’ she has created for Born Blue. The reincarnation-themed concept for the show sounds pretty out there, but I’m intrigued enough by it to want to know more.
Proceeds from the event will benefit the New York City based not-for-profit organisation, Friends In Deed.
Broadway’s new Sondheim revue, Sondheim on Sondheim, has opened to a mixed set of reviews. Some performances are praised (Barbara Cook, Vanessa Williams, other slated (Tom Wopat); many critics lament the reduced arrangements of the songs that Roundabout pimped as one of the main attractions of the production; and most critics agree that the high point of this production is the video footage around which the production is built. While I’m still not particularly enamoured by the idea of another Sondheim revue with a bunch of people interpreting songs in a context that is framed in some way by some kind of contextual commentary, it seems that the execution of the idea has been achieved fairly successfully, thanks in no small part to the inclusion of the video footage featuring Sondheim himself. This remains the major drawcard of the production for me and I would hope to see that material released in some way, preferably on a DVD that could accompany the inevitable cast recording of this show. What follows is a roundup of what the critics are saying about the show:
To purchase the Original Cast Recording of THE SCOTTSBORO BOYS, click on the image above.
The original cast recording of John Kander and Fred Ebb’s newest musical, The Scottsboro Boys, was recorded today for Jay Records. With a book by David Thompson, the show deals with the infamous Scottsboro case from the 1930s, in which a group of innocent African-American teenagers were falsely accused of a terrible crime and ultimately provoked a national outrage that sparked the American Civil Rights movement. Noted in its recent Off-Broadway run for its deconstruction of minstrel show traditions, the show is hopefully headed to Broadway next season. It’s a good thing too: this is the kind of musical that is sorely needed to lend some long-lost artistic credibility to the Great White Way.
With opening night here, the time has come when the set list of songs for Sondheim on Sondheim is finally frozen and any and all rumours about what will be replaced or reallocated can be put to rest. Here is what you will see if you go down to Studio 54 to catch the show:
“Invocation/Forget War”, an unused song from “Forum“
“Love Is in the Air”, an unused song from “Forum“
“Comedy Tonight” from A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum
“Take Me to the World” from Evening Primrose
“Talent” from Road Show
“When I Get Famous” from Climb High
“Something’s Coming” from West Side Story
“So Many People” from Saturday Night
“You Could Drive a Person Crazy” from Company
“The Wedding Is Off”, an unused song from Company
“Do I Hear a Waltz?” from Do I Hear a Waltz?
“Franklin Shepard, Inc.” from Merrily We Roll Along
“Now You Know” from Merrily We Roll Along
“Do I Hear a Waltz?” from Do I Hear a Waltz?
“Good Thing Going” from Merrily We Roll Along
“Waiting for the Girls Upstairs” from Follies
“Epiphany” from Sweeney Todd
“The Best Thing That Ever Has Happened” from Road Show
“Happiness” from Passion
“Fosca’s Entrance (I Read)” from Passion
“Is This What You Call Love?” from Passion
“Loving You” from Passion
“Ever After”/”A Weekend in the Country”/”Sunday” from Into the Woods/A Little Night Music/”Sunday in the Park with George
“God”, a new song written for the production
“Losing My Mind”/”Not a Day Goes By” from Follies/Merrily
We Roll Along
“Opening Doors” from Merrily We Roll Along
“Multitudes of Amys”, an unused song from Company
“Happily Ever After”, an unused song from Company
“Being Alive” from Company
“Ah, But Underneath” from Follies (1987)
“In Buddy’s Eyes” from Follies
“Something Just Broke” from Assassins
“The Gun Song” from Assassins
“Smile, Girls”, an unused song from Gypsy
“Finishing the Hat” from Sunday in the Park with George
“Beautiful” from Sunday in the Park with George
“Children Will Listen” from Into the Woods
“Send in the Clowns” from A Little Night Music
“Company”/”Old Friends” from Company/Merrily We Roll Along
“Anyone Can Whistle” from Anyone Can Whistle
“I’ll Meet You at the Donut” from By George and “Like Everybody Else”, an unused song from West Side Story are also heard, along with snippets of other songs.
Looking over this list, there are two notable omissions: Pacific Overtures and Dick Tracy. The latter was used in both versions of Putting It Together, so perhaps that was the reasoning behind it, but it still seems odd not to have Sondheim’s “Best Song” Academy Award represented in a show like this. The lack of anything from Pacific Overtures, which features a major and seminal Sondheim song in “Someone in a Tree”, is unforgivable.
To purchase the DVD of the original LEAP OF FAITH film, click on the image above.
Leap of Faith, the new musical by Alan Menken, Glenn Slater and Janus Cercone, will have its world premiere in Los Angeles later this year. Directed by Rob Ashford (who directed Broadway’s Promises, Promises and is already set for a revival of How to Succeed in Business Without Really trying in 2011), the show will open on 26 September at the Ahmanson Theatre after a three week preview period.
The show deals with the antics of part-time reverend and full-time con artist, the Reverend Jonas Nightengale, who stops in a small Kansas town with his traveling ministry to stage a revival that is bent on separating the townspeople from their money. While he is opposed by the town’s sheriff, it is a pretty waitress and her son, whose love for Nightengale forces this cynic of cynics to take a real leap of faith. Cercone, who penned the screenplay for the film upon which the musical is based, has written the book in collaboration with Slater.
Hopes for a new score from Menken are high as always, but let’s hope that Slater manages to do a better job that he has done on Love Never Dies. Ashford’s prolificacy is, as always, astounding.
Sondheim on Sondheim opens tonight. To mark that event, let’s take a look at a few clips from the show:
My reactions:
Opening Montage: The show looks like what it is: a revue. The video screens look impressive, as if they offer the most interesting part of the production, which is fairly likely, I think. The costumes look like a bit of a mishmash. The band sounds small and tinny, so I’m not holding out much hope for the “brand new orchestrations” of the great songs that appear in this show. It certainly doesn’t make me want to rush out and buy a cast recording of the show, should one materialise from this production. Vanessa Williams looks stunning. Tom Wopat looks haggard. Leslie Kritzer and Norm Lewis look engaging. Barbara Cook looks like Barbara Cook.
“Losing My Mind”/”Not a Day Goes By”: Usually I’m a sucker for these contrapuntal duets, but this one doesn’t appeal much to me. It seems like a brilliant idea on paper: two great songs, thematically linked, delivered by two divas. Unfortunately, in practice, there are moments when it sounds simply awful. Williams sounds in better voice here than she did in Into the Woods, or is it that this more contemporary material suits her better? When Cook started singing, the number stopped working for me. I just don’t think this is a successful marriage of the two songs, even if someone who sounds like Seth Rudetksy (“Brava!”) does.
“Ah, but Underneath”: Williams really does sound better here than in Into the Woods and the material does suit her better. Now can somebody call in a better choreographer please? Dan Knechtges may have the strip right, but the rest of the musical staging in this song could look so much better.
“You Could Drive a Person Crazy”: Some will call it cute. Some of it is – the final moment works – but it’s a bit tacky too. The concept might have worked better in Putting it Together with a brilliant comedienne like Carol Burnett opposite George Hearn, but this brilliant song deserves better than how it is treated here.
“Send in the Clowns”: Barbara Cook sounds great in this clip. Vocally, the interpretation is wonderful. However, watching this makes you realise to an extent why her career had its most successful and sustained impact in concerts, on the cabaret circuit and on record. She just doesn’t seem to manage to translate it all into her face and body in a way that makes you feel like you’re watching a definitive acting experience. But while she may not be Judi Dench or Glynis Johns or even Angela Lansbury, she’s still one of the best at interpreting a number, even if that’s quite the same thing as acting it.
“Old Friends”: The ensemble sounds great. There is wonderful vocal energy here and what’s happening on the video screens is really moving. A good juxtaposition, I think.
“In Buddy’s Eyes”: This song is one of Barbara Cook’s calling cards. The voice has certainly aged, but its still agile, warm and emotive. And what she does, works. This is a great example of a performer singing a song in the way she needs to sing it now, at this time, in this moment. I’d even say that I might prefer her interpretation of this song now in comparison to her rendition on the so-called “complete” Follies recording.
“Sunday”: Another lovely performance from the ensemble. Vocally, it’s very powerful and while the new arrangement here is much more elaborate than in some of the other songs in this compilation, it’s doesn’t quite hit you in the gut in the way that the song’s orchestration in the show does. It’s a pity. as a part of this show, this song represents a truly awesome and iconic Sondheim moment.
“Epiphany”: It’s interesting to see how the video works here. The concept is brilliant and Sondheim is fascinating. However, it’s a disappointment that the number ends up being sung by a man in a generic suit – how wonderful it would be to segue into a reproduction of the original staging here. The number also seems too big for Wopat: he can’t seem to make it his own, but that challenge goes part and parcel with the revue format. After all, if the character is stripped away and you’re left only with yourself, what do you actually do with a song like this? The best you can, I guess. Still, it’s disappointing.
Above: James Gardiner and Sam Ludwig in [title of show]
Signature Theatre’s production of [title of show] has been running since 6 April and we are able to take a look at the via the production company’s YouTube channel.
A witty musical written by two struggling writers about two struggling writers writing a witty new musical, the show originally starred librettist Hunter Bell and composer-lyricist Jeff Bowen in its Broadway run. Of course, what’s interesting about this run is seeing how well the show works without them, whether [title of show] works without its writers in the cast or whether their presence was part and parcel of the meta-theatricality of the show.
Directed by Matthew Gardiner, the Signature cast features Erin Driscoll, James Gardiner, Sam Ludwig and Jenna Sokolowski. The run continues until 27 June.
Here’s an interview with Vanessa Williams from Good Morning, America, in which she discusses her involvement in the new musical revue, Sondheim on Sondheim, and on Ugly Betty, which is in the midst of playing its final season.
We get a brief mention of the new song, “God”, and it is pretty amusing when there is a clip of the cast singing “Old Friends” and Williams says that ‘as you can see’ the show includes songs from ‘Company’. (The song actually comes from Merrily We Roll Along.) Williams also mentions Sondheim’s attendance at rehearsals and chats about her love of performing on Broadway.
To purchase the 2010 Broadway Revival Cast Recording of LA CAGE AUX FOLLES, click on the image above.
The new Broadway revival of La Cage aux Folles, the second we’ve seen in the past decade, officially opens tonight on Broadway at the Longacre Theatre.
With a book by Harvey Fierstein and music by Jerry Herman, the show tells the tale of romantically partnered Georges and Albin, the suave owner of a glitzy drag club on the French Riviera and its high-strung star performer, whose lives are disrupted when Georges’ son announces his engagement to the daughter of a conservative right-wing politician who’s coming to dinner.
Kelsey Grammer and Douglas Hodge lead the cast of this revival as as Georges and Albin respectively, with Fred Applegate as Edouard Dindon/M. Renaud, Veanne Cox as Mme. Dindon/Mme. Renaud, Chris Hoch as Francis, Elena Shaddow as Anne, A.J. Shively as Jean-Michel, Christine Andreas as Jacqueline, Robin de Jesús as Jacob, Heather Lindell as Colette, Cheryl Stern as Babette, Bill Nolte as Tabarro and David Nathan Perlow as Etienne. The Cagelles include Nick Adams as Angelique, Sean A. Carmon as Phaedra, Nicholas Cunningham as Hanna, Sean Patrick Doyle as Chantal, Logan Keslar as Bitelle and Terry Lavell as Mercedes. Also in the cast is Dale Hensley as a waiter, while Christophe Caballero, Todd Lattimore and Caitlin Mundth are the swings.
Direction for the show is by Terry Johnson with choreography by Lynne Page. This particular production was seen in the London last year to great acclaim. The official website for the show is available here.
Sondheim on Sondheim is the Roundabout Theatre’s new musical revue that aims to give the audience “an intimate portrait of the famed composer in his own words… and music”, using exclusive interview footage to gain an inside look at Sondheim’s personal life and artistic process. Here are the first official production photographs, taken by Richard Termine.
Conceived and directed by James Lapine, the production features Barbara Cook, Vanessa Williams, Tom Wopat, Leslie Kritzer, Norm Lewis, Euan Morton, Erin Mackey and Matthew Scott.
As followers of this blog might know, I haven’t been a punter of this show, despite being a fan of Sondheim’s work. I’m still not enamored by the idea of it all. Roundabout’s marketing of the show, first as an original musical – it’s not, it’s a revue and as such doesn’t deserve a nod in the “Best Musical” category or in any of the acting categories, for that matter – and now as an evening that is unique in its intent when it’s basically an updated Side by Side by Sondheim from a slightly different perspective with a bigger technical budget, hasn’t help to win me over either. The most intriguing part of the whole thing is the video material featuring the Sondheim interviews. I wouldn’t mind seeing those interviews ported onto DVD, but let’s lose the revue performances and replace them with archival performances from the actual shows or, when that kind of material isn’t available, with filmed reproductions of the songs as they were originally seen in their original productions. As they were meant to be seen.
Musical Cyberspace 
SONDHEIM ON SONDHEIM Song List
With opening night here, the time has come when the set list of songs for Sondheim on Sondheim is finally frozen and any and all rumours about what will be replaced or reallocated can be put to rest. Here is what you will see if you go down to Studio 54 to catch the show:
“I’ll Meet You at the Donut” from By George and “Like Everybody Else”, an unused song from West Side Story are also heard, along with snippets of other songs.
Looking over this list, there are two notable omissions: Pacific Overtures and Dick Tracy. The latter was used in both versions of Putting It Together, so perhaps that was the reasoning behind it, but it still seems odd not to have Sondheim’s “Best Song” Academy Award represented in a show like this. The lack of anything from Pacific Overtures, which features a major and seminal Sondheim song in “Someone in a Tree”, is unforgivable.