Profile for Peter2

MUSIC CUE

(KATHY sings: "SAD WAS THE DAY"

(All men remove hats)

KATHY
My man was a special kind of man
With a special kind of masculine appeal.
I had not a dreamy sort of lad,
He was down to earth, predictable and real.

OTHERS
(Poor man—gone
Poor Billy Carey)

KATHY
I married a robust man and as a young bride
Cooked his meals, scrubbed his floors,
Sewed the buttons on his draw'rs,
Nursed him when he got ossified,
Sad was the day that he lay down and died.

OT'HERS
(What a tragic day
Just lay down and passed away.)

KATHY
My, he was a jealous man, I never once lied.
He’s come home, nod and say,
“Where the hell were you all day?”
Me, with all those clothes washed and dried.
Sad was the day that he lay down and died.

OTHERS
(What a mournful day,
He lay down and there he lay.)

KATHY
Twelve years we were wedded for,
He tried not to sin.
I know where he headed for,
I hope he got in.
Faith, he was a thrifty man, he had me hog-tied.
How I scraped, scrimped and saved,
And how stingy he behaved.
Him with all that cash put aside,
Sad was the day that he lay down to stay
Down, scooted away, down and died.

OTHERS
Oh, why did he die? Why did he die?
Why did he die, did he die?

(ESME serves drink to KATHY)

God rest ol’ 0l’ Billy's soul.

KATHY
Sure, he was a stalwart man,
Walked with a big stride
Large mustache, hairy chest,
Not too clean but neatly dressed
Nearly bald but so dignified.
Sad was the day that he lay down and died.

OTHERS
(Just lay down that day,
Paid the debt we all must pay)

KATHY
We had an old handmade bed,
It wasn't too wide
He’d turn in, tired and cross,
Cough and snore and roll and toss
Oh, those nights I sat bleary eyed.
Sad was the day that he lay down and died.

OTHERS
(What a solemn day,
No last words he had to say.)

KATHY
I never made any friends,
‘Twas all for his sake
Now I've a great many friends
I met at his wake.
I withered in widow's weeds,
Lord knows that I cried.
Then a friend winked at me,
"Black is not your shade,” said he.
Now I know what need was denied.
Sad was the day that he lay down to stay
Down, threw his toupee down and died.

OTHERS
(Poor Kathy Carey,
She should remarry)

KATHY
Ah, men!

OTHERS
A-men.

(All heads drop)

I'd like to see Encores! get back to putting on shows as they were originally made.

ASOOS04 said: "Whatever “rewrites” they did were not clear and did not work because of…ummm, how shall I put this…nonexistent direction?”

My reaction too: no direction. Still, go if you can. The performers are engaging, the orchestra sounds great, the dancing is energizing, the audience is overflowing with love and eager to have fun, tickets can be had cheaply—and it’s THE RETURN OF ENCORES!

Watching on CBS. So far it’s a string of pop rock golden oldies, like a PBS fundraiser. 

Anybody else remember John Slattery in “The Lisbon Traviata”?

VintageSnarker said: "YES! MORE CUTS!"

I know, right? And let's chop out the old-fashioned language in Romeo and Juliet, too.

Sfcp said: "Finally, there is no way that gang members in the present would use words like “buddy boy” and “daddy-o”. Anachronisms really bug me and thus was no exception."

Gang members in the 1950s didn’t say those things either. As Sondheim has written, it’s not a street gang, it’s a musical theater gang. No way to fix it.

 

Dolly80 said: "Does it sound good musically? Good singing ?"

I too would like to hear more about the musical side of things (especially since the 2009 revival was sunk, for me, by insufficient attention to putting the score across with care and strength).

According to the West Side Rag, they weren't filming in Harlem last night but on West 107th between Broadway and Amsterdam. At least one of the photos in the Daily Mail article is clearly in front of 210 West 107th. (For non-New Yorker's, that the Upper West Side, bordering on Morningside Heights, but it's definitely not Harlem.)

https://www.westsiderag.com/2019/07/24/spielberg-filming-west-side-story-remake-on-the-uws

joevitus said: "Also, for me,Sondheim's revised lyrics are simply superior to those originally used on Broadway."

Tiny clarification that actually supports your point (which I agree with): The lyrics in the movie are the ones Sondheim wrote originally, before Robbins decided it had to be a number for the women only. Sondheim himself says the new lyrics weren’t as good, partly because he resented Robbins’s asking him to redo them. 

I can see both sides of it, but personally, I think it's nice to wait until you're at the bar next door having drinks to start in with the heavy criticism. There might be that person next to you who spent their life's savings to come to New York and see one Broadway show before they die, and even if in their heart they knew it wasn't any good, they don't want to hear it said aloud. Why not wait a couple minutes until you're out of the crowd?

Sutton Foster is wonderful, but she’s a belter, and even the Think Method won’t turn her into the soprano The Music Man requires. 

rattleNwoolypenguin said: "Every moment of Gypsy is in theatres, hotels, restaurants. All of these can be shown and replicated on a stage. The medium of film adds nothing to this story. "

I agree. It's a great piece for live theater, and it gets revived all the time because of that. We really don't need a movie. I'd get more excited if some of the great names floated here came and did a Broadway production.

These discussions are good to have, but always make me worry that musicals as a genre are becoming defined in the popular imagination as children's entertainment; also, that for most people "family friendly" means only the most anodyne theater possible. I'm sure I'm not the only one here who's parents took me to lots of "grownup" theater when I was a kid, and it didn't ruin me or bore me (usually).

The lyrics just killed me. So stupid and hilarious. 

Meow, meow, meow.

Meow, meow, meow.

We’re not dogs. We’re cats.

Meowww.

Meowww.

Meowww.

Meowww.