Profile for EricMontreal22

bjh2114 said: "toetapper2 said: "Jasmin would be batter fit for Hallelujah Baby? Also she's not latin enough so that would disqualify her from Spider Woman."

Ah yes... Vanessa Williams... famously Latin enough..."

I mean the original production (over 30 years ago) in London and Broadway/tour also cast Bebe Neuwirth (who sold no tickets in London which caused the production to close earlier than expected soon after the main cast--including much of the chorus boys--moved to Broadway) and Carol Lawrence--the Italian heritage star who I guess had made her name originating Maria in WSS  ?format=auto&width=600 I have to assume that for this Encores they will cast actors with a latinx background.  Although the well received current UK tour is getting raves for  Anna-Jane Casey's Aurora (I assume a well known slightly older UK performer who I don't know.)  But the UK still often casts these things differently than is now expected in NY.
(Funny Vanessa Williams would go on to play Chita's role in the TV Bye Bye Birdie, even still singing Spanish Rose.)
 

It's definitely overproduced, but it was a Ross Hunter production so... (The only other two musicals from him that I can think of are Thoroughly Modern Millie, a film I have a lot of affections for, and... Lost Horizon.  At any rate, both overproduced of course.)  And I do think it somehow emphasizes stereotypes that aren't in the original stage book.  (There was that book that came out 15 or so years back about Flower Drum Song, Flower Drum Songs: The Story of Two Musicals by David Lewis that discussed both versions and the author's attitude was the film itself has hurt the original musical as people because of this...  However, if I remember, that book also was filled with factual errors and not particularly well written, so I don't know how much stock we can take in his opinions.)  I do remember a podcast episode with a performer who was in the Hwang FDS where he talked about how much the movie meant to him growing up--finally a big movie musical, the kind he loved, but with people like "him" and especially the young boys dancing since he was the only Asian (and guy) in his dance classes--with choreography by Fred Astaire choreographer Hermes Pan, no less.

John Adams, I'm sure you've seen it, but the extended Ed Sullivan performance from FDS is charming (and shows some of Carol Haney's stage choreography.)  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkYQaNHl2K8

There were more than just tweaks made to Hallelujah Baby in 2004--it was a much bigger revision than, say, the one Laurents and Sondheim had done to Do I Hear a Waltz a few years earlier (which WAS the version that Encores based their production on in that case.)  Would Amanda Green need to get a credit for the revised version?

Also, after a quick glance through the video -- wow this is badly filmed.

Scarywarhol said: "I'm so thrilled about Kiss. I was kind of worried the film was gonna kill the show for the foreseeable future, now I get to actually move on instead."

The current small UK tour of Kiss is getting good press (although I did find one positive review odd--they had a problem with the song My First Woman because it implied underage "sexual coercion..."  Have we come to this??)

 

Well I was just going to reply to John Adams' longer reply to my earlier post, where I will kinda get to that ;)  Although, wasn't Love Look Away a radio hit for... someone?  Certainly my mom grew up not knowing the show, cast album, or movie (in Edmonton, Alberta) but the song had made a big impression on her from the radio and I remember when I was a teen she was happy when I found out what it was from, but of course that would have probably been the early 1960s (the website secondhandsongs, lists a fair number of recordings:)

I do stand by my statement that I get why Ted Chapin and all (I think Mary Rodgers was keen on the idea) decided for a new book.  They were always looking for new ways to present (some might say exploit) the R&H legacy, and this also meant in the 1990 finally allowing for productions that tried to dig deeper into the classics (which led to the Hytner Carousel, the Nunn Oklahoma, the Renshaw King and I.)  As well as allowing various revised Allegro's (Chapin said when I spoke to him that there were of course no assumptions it would ever find mainstream success but he also felt it was important to get a complete recording out there.)  And out of the lesser R&H shows that weren't being done, FDS seemed the one that they could revitalize the best.  So, despite not exactly loving the new book, I think it makes sense to try it when you have a show that simply hasn;'t even been licensed in years (and of course they did--or maybe still do--allow you the option of what to license.)

I do think it's a good score overall though.  I think one thing about FDS is it was R&H trying to do a musical more in the manner of what was happening on Broadway in the 1950s (something they also tried with Me and Juliet and Pipe Dream to varying degrees--and not much success.)  Despite West Side Story and My Fair Lady, that was when there were a lot of smaller hits (and some big hits) with musical comedies in a contemporary urban setting (Wonderful Town, Pajama Game, Damn Yankees, Bells are Ringing, etc.)  But, what people now go to for R&Hammerstein, and maybe always have done, have been the more epic stories and a style that owes something more to operetta (even South Pacific in a way, the only one of their big hits to have a basically contemporary setting.)

John Adams said: " EricMontreal22 said: "With Flower Drum Song, Hammerstein's goal overall seemed to be to show that Chinese-Americans largely "are just like every American" and deal with the same desires and issues. "

I agree - and maybe (?) a somewhat noble intention coming a decade after what the US did to Japanese Americans re: the internment camps. "

Oh, I think for the time it was a noble intention, actually.  I guess from a modern perspective many might not think it was, but in the 1950s?  

Satire might have been the wrong word for how I said I Enjoy Being a Girl should be performed, but it's definitely performed with a wink (not all that far removed from How Lovely to be a Woman from Birdie--another song that gets some flack from modern audiences who seem to think it's written completely straightforward.)

" It is not impossible to improve the show's book based on the original source material. It's just easier (and lazier) to disrespectfully scrap it entirely in favor of potentially making more money. "

I mean this obviously was one of the goals--to get people to license a property that was simply no longer being licensed.  But, for all the book's faults, Hwang has made it clear that he did do his book with a lot of genuine affection for the original show.  As for if a show with a new book is still even the same show I... don't know.  I guess it's all relative (but certainly I don't think the recent attempts at a new Pal Joey seem like the same show--although in that case it also used MANY songs not from the original production.)

" Casting may be the area where compromise might be most palatable. Is it better to provide opportunity to as many as are qualified? Has the talent landscape changed since Pacific Overtures? (I do understand the union's prerequisite that actors be American.) "

Oh, surely it has.  I've never heard of any major Pacific Overtures production (not that there are many, but there have been enough) have had trouble with casting.  Or, for that matter, revivals of King and I.






 https://secondhandsongs.com/work/114557/versions 



 

DottieD'Luscia said: "Personally I liked its placement better in the first act (OBC). It's very anti-climatic in its present form. I've never liked Svetlana singing it. I forgot that it was in act 2 of the 1st national tour (which is probably my favorite production out of all the iterations of Chess that I've seen)."

I don't think I've encountered anyone who would disagree with this.

TBFL said: "
Though the show has it's faults 'A Kiss Is A Terrible Thing To Waste' is 11.5mins of overwrought Jim Steinman and i love it. Easily the best number in the show, even if Swallow suddenly thinks she's a bad girl just because she's on the back of a motorbike.... 

Ha fully agreed there.

"

 

Thanks G for all that great info (I agree with you about what Steinman may have contributed to musically as well--and yes "those good girls never know what they're missing" music and lyrics is pure Steinman.  (Re the Kenwright changes--I find it hysterically typical that Steinman was like "well I won't do that" and they had Don Black come in for the lyrics...)  

g.d.e.l.g.i. said: "For better or worse, pmensky is right; there is

John Adams said: "EricMontreal22 said: "its disappointing that all we seem to have footage wise of the Edwards production is the 15 minute electronic press packet with a few clips and lots of talking heads."

I found this a couple of days ago. I like how it shows use of the multi-layered set I'd forgotten about until you jogged my memory. I also came to recall the use of live snakes in the revival scenes.