The “Favourite Beast” Poll

Posted on April 9, 2009 by David Fick
Beauty and the Beast Cover

BEAUTY AND THE BEAST

A simple Beauty and the Beast-related poll. Who is your favourite Beast? Some of the actors who have portrayed this character include Robby Benson (on film), Terrence Mann, James Barbour, Steve Blanchard, Chuck Wagner, Alasdair Harvey, John Barrowman and Michael Cormick. Pick the one you like best and tell us why….

I love Robby Benson’s portrayal in the film and find him pretty much pitch perfect, but of the Beasts I’ve become acquainted with in performances, recordings and videos of the stage production, I’d choose Michael Cormick, who can be heard on the Australian Cast Recording. I’m not particularly fond of the recording as a whole, but there is something about Comick’s performance that vocally represents the image I have of the Beast in my mind more so than the others.

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Crazy Concepts for Classic Shows: BEAUTY AND THE BEAST II

Posted on April 9, 2009 by David Fick
Beauty and the Beast Cover

BEAUTY AND THE BEAST

Here’s another “crazy concept” for Beauty and the Beast – one that perhaps is not not necessarily ‘crazy’, but just unconventional. This one is from Musicals Dot Net, posted by a user known as “Jake”:

Do you guys think it’s less effective to have a different actor play the Beast and the Prince? I think if at all possible, the same guys needs to play the Prince and the Beast. What do you guys think?

I would say one might run into trouble unless a perfect match in terms of physicality and particularly voice was found. The audience would still have to believe that the Prince was the Beast and since the appearance is so different, the only way to get that is through the voice and through Belle’s reaction. (In the film, it’s wonderfully done using his eyes – a seed which was planted in a fantastic dramatic moment when Belle went into the West Wing. But that’s too subtle an effect to achieve on stage.) If a double has to be used, the place to do it would be in the final sequences is in the fight with Gaston, allowing the Prince to be played by the same actor as the Beast. I think that’s the most effective choice.

The other place where a double could/would be used is during the “Prologue” and there again, it would require a physical match between the Prince at the start and the Prince at the end.

So I agree with Jake on this one. The same actor should play both the Beast and the Prince.

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Crazy Concepts for Classic Shows: BEAUTY AND THE BEAST

Posted on April 7, 2009 by David Fick
Beauty and the Beast Cover

BEAUTY AND THE BEAST

Every now and again one comes across a “crazy concept” that is used to bring new life into a classic show. Such concepts are not necessarily ‘crazy’; they are merely unconventional. I stumbled across this one on Musicals Dot Net, posted by a user known as “broadwayfreak67”:

My school is doing Beauty and the Beast this coming school year, and I have an idea of how to put Cogsworth, Lumiere, and all of the other characters that were from the castle (not the Beast) into “Belle”: have Lumiere, for example, with a candle (the old looking ones with the handles) and the duster with a broom or something.

In other words, it would make use of the technique used by The Wizard of Oz whereby, for example, the actors playing the three farmhands double as the Scarecrow, Tin Man and Cowardly Lion. The difference between the two shows is that the double casting in The Wizard of Oz has some resonance beyond coincidence – there is a strong connection between the characters in Kansas and Oz – while, in Beauty and the Beast, one would have to skirt around this pitfall of making Belle’s experiences in the castle appear to be a dream or an alternate world conceptually based on her life in the village, an idea that could confuse the audience if it was too prominent a part of the action. As such, I think it would be essential that it is clear that the village characters are neither the enchanted objects nor their human counterparts.

The other thing that occurs to me is that, in the high school context mentioned in the quote above – or in any other production where one might be trying to include larger numbers in the cast for whatever reason), six spots on stage that should belong to the chorus would be taken up by people who already have lead roles.

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BEAUTY AND THE BEAST: a “Change” for Better or Worse?

Posted on April 7, 2009 by David Fick
Beauty and the Beast Cover

BEAUTY AND THE BEAST

One of the most common discussions around the score of Beauty and the Beast focuses on “A Change in Me”, the song that was added to the score in 1998 for Toni Braxton when she played the role of Belle. Here’s my take on the song.

In context, it’s all right – not great, but it works for the moment. The melody is lovely and lilting and the song flows out of the action of the book far better than some of the other songs created for the stage show, but the lyrics are too general. There’s nothing particularly character or situation specific in the song: countless characters in the musical theatre or Disney canons could sing about how they ‘never thought (they’d) leave behind (their) childhood dreams’. Other lyrics just don’t add up: ‘dark despair’ is pompous in tone and more suited to the Beast than to Belle, and when Belle sings ‘my perfect world out there had disappeared for good’, this is just incongruent with the narrative, because her world was obviously imperfect to begin with, hence her dissatisfaction with her ‘provincial life’ at the top of the show.

Out of context, when placed in the jukebox show On the Record, the song is simply disappointing. The barer arrangement exposes the weakness of the lyrics and by the end Ashley Brown has belted any charm the song had into oblivion.

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EVERY LITTLE STEP Interviews

Posted on April 6, 2009 by David Fick

EVERY LITTLE STEP Poster

Playbill has run a great article about this documentary, with some general information and interviews with the filmmakers, Charlotte d’Amboise, Jason Tam and Kay Cole. A couple of choice quotations from d’Amboise and Tam :

Charlotte d’Amboise:Playing Cassie is the hardest thing I’ve done. You have to dance like it’s the last time you’re ever going to dance…. I never ever felt happy with my performance. Well, maybe six times I danced great, sang great, acted great. Usually, one part was missing. Cassie’s fantastic, but it’s not fun. It’s gut-wrenching, and hard in a long run. It wore on me, in a way that surprised me.

Jason Tam: First of all, I wanted to get ‘off book’ completely. It’s hard to find the truth of emotional life and circumstance if I’m tied to what I have to say next. I didn’t want Paul to be a sob story. Paul hasn’t felt sorry for himself for a second. If he did, he wouldn’t be who he is. He disappoints his parents. Even though his father says, ‘Take care of my son,’ in his heart, Paul hears his mother say, ‘Oh, my God!’ In truth, I think it’s his own voice, as well. He has a sort of love-hate relationship with being a dancer and his sexuality. Then I tried to focus on telling the story and getting the job. That’s what he’s there for. The emotional stuff is boiling underneath, whether or not he likes it.

Every Little Step looks like a great piece of work, a testament to one of the greatest musicals ever created. I can’t wait to see it!

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Newsflash: ET -an Extra-Terrestrial Musical?

Posted on April 1, 2009 by David Fick
Pictured left to right: Steven Spielberg, ET and Julie Andrews

Following the success of Shrek, Dreamworks Theatricals has announced a musical adaptation of the classic Steven Spielberg film ET: the Extra-Terrestrial. Speaking on behalf of Dreamworks, Spielberg said:

Looking back at the films we’ve made over the years, ET seems a natural choice. It reached such a wide audience back then and we hope to introduce the property to new audiences in a new way today. A workshop is being planned for fall 2009, with Shrek team Jeanine Tesori and David Lindsay-Abaire providing music and lyrics….

As for the cast, there have been no announcements, but Spielberg said that a genuine Broadway star was being sought to bring ET to life.

“We’d see a puppet on stage, but we’ve been talking with Julie Andrews about providing us with a voice for this iconic character. The character lends itself to a limited vocal range and Julie loves the film – so we think it’d be a match made up there in the stars.”

Thoughts, anyone?

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“Top 10 Musicals: 2000 – 2009” Poll Results

Posted on March 22, 2009 by David Fick

These are the results of a poll that was held earlier this year. I’ve decided to list the Top 20 based on everybody’s Top 10 votes.

THE FINAL TALLY:

  1. Avenue Q (4)
  2. The Light in the Piazza (4)
  3. Grey Gardens (4)
  4. The Last Five Years (4)
  5. Urinetown (4)
  6. Wicked (4)
  7. The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (4)
  8. In the Heights (6)
  9. Hairspray (5)
  10. Spring Awakening (5)
  11. Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (5)
  12. The Wild Party (Lippa) (5)
  13. The Drowsy Chaperone (5)
  14. The Producers (5)
  15. [title of show] (5)
  16. Spamalot (5)
  17. The Wild Party (LaChiusa) (3)
  18. Thoroughly Modern Millie (5)
  19. Caroline, or Change (4)
  20. Billy Elliot (3)

The number in brackets is a mean score, basically telling us the average spot it held across the people who named it on their Top 10 lists. This reveals things about the tally to us, for example, LaChiusa’s The Wild Party and Billy Elliot were generally ranked higher up on people’s lists than any of the other shows in the Top 20, but their lower aggregate score means that fewer people voted for the show. This could obviously implies any number of things about any particular show, possibly about how widely known the show is or how highly regarded it is by its fans or how widely it appeals to popular tastes.

The Rest of the List (in order):

Aida, Wise Guys/Bounce/Road Show, The Full Monty, A Man of No Importance, Sweet Smell of Success, Legally Blonde, Bernarda Alba, Seussical, Jersey Boys, Xanadu, Curtains, Bare, Young Frankenstein, Next to Normal, My Life with Albertine, Little Fish, The Wedding Singer, I Love You Because, Amour, 13, Closer to Heaven, The Color Purple, Forward (?), Jane Eyre, Keating! (?), Piece (?), See What I Wanna See, Thou Shalt Not, The Pirate Queen, Little Women, High School Musical, Movin’ Out (?) and Passing Strange.

Question marks indicate shows whose presence on this list can be questioned for some reason or other. Two musicals that were definitely excluded were Enchanted, which is a film and as such did not count for the purposes of this poll and Mamma Mia!, which first appeared in the 1990s.

Thanks to all for participating. It was great fun to see everyone’s choices. So – what are the surprises in the list for everyone? With which places do you agree with or disagree?

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More GUYS AND DOLLS Photographs

Posted on February 28, 2009 by David Fick

Playbill has up a second gallery of photographs from the new revival of Guys and Dolls. Here are three to enjoy; there are many more in the gallery if you follow the link provided above.

GUYS AND DOLLS 4

GUYS AND DOLLS 5

GUYS AND DOLLS 6

Go have a peek. Although the buzz surrounding the production is awful, the pictures look great.

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NEWSFLASH: A New DAMN YANKEES Movie?

Posted on February 27, 2009 by David Fick

DAMN YANKEES

Above: Tab Hunter and Gwen Verdon in the first firm version of DAMN YANKEES

Playbill reports the following about a film remake of Damn Yankees:

The classic Richard Adler and Jerry Ross musical Damn Yankees is heading back to the silver screen…. The cast will be headed by film stars Jim Carrey as the Devil and Jake Gyllenhaal as Joe Boyd. The role of Lola has yet to be cast. The film will attempt to inject a contemporary feel into the 1950s musical, according to the trade paper.

The film would be produced by Craig Zadan and Neil Meron, who are the team behind the film adaptations of Chicago and Hairspray. The first movie that was based on the musical was by no means a classic, so a remake of Damn Yankees is a welcome idea. Let’s hope it comes to fruition.

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GUYS AND DOLLS Production Photos

Posted on February 19, 2009 by David Fick

Playbill has up a gallery of photographs from the new Broadway revival of Guys and Dolls. Here are just a few to whet your appetite; enjoy for the complete gallery by following the link above.

GUYS AND DOLLS 1

GUYS AND DOLLS 2

GUYS AND DOLLS 3

Enjoy!

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