Profile for Shalfoard

BTW, IIRC the periodic explosions actually occurred. The tunnel were being excavated for the PATH.train.

Here's what the original production with Rosaline Russell looked like:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EsxzyqJX5wY

I was in the rear orchestra for the Sunday matinee and couldn't see Baldwin on the tightrope.I had listened to the BBC radio broadcast of the recent Opera North production and REALLY liked it; it worked for me. I was looking forward to seeing the Encores production. No reason to beat a dead horse. IMHO, the Encores production was truly TERRIBLE. Vincentelli in the NYT was spot on, actually too kind to the production. Weill and Lerner deserved better. I'm glad it's the Opera North production t...

theatergoer3 said: " Click Here To Toggle Spoiler ContentThe ending sequence is similar to the ending and moodof Pippin, especially the recent revival.A menacing MC, the chorus trying to goad the protagonist into the darker option.Fosse's original production -- I didn't see the revival --- also began with a magic act, including the levitation of a woman. Fosse reportedly had seen LOVE LIFE and Lenya had tried to interest him in doing a revival.The original production of LOVE LIFE used a real ...

EricMontreal22 said:A question maybe someone here can answer. The City Centre press for this (interviews and other blurbs) likes to name drop how it was a big influence on Kander and Ebb, Hal Prince and Stephen Sondheim, among others. There's no doubt that its format anticipates some of their later work (I'd say the "each song is a pastiche of a different vaudeville style" actually most foreshadows Chicago, and Fosse's concept for the original production.) But over the years I don't remember ...

The recent Opera North production broadcast on BBC radio got very good reviews. But Encores made changes to the show that may not have been for the better. That's why it's not going to be recorded. The plot of LOVE LIFE is similar to that of FOLLIES, including an ambiguous ending.

I saw the original off-Broadway (all seats $20!) before it transferred to the Henry Miller's Theatre. No desire to revisit it. I'd rather see the shows it tries to parody. My guess is Encores has only programmed it because someone wants to revive it on Broadway: small cast, minimal set, tiny orchestra.

On Saturday February 8, BBC Radio 3 will air Opera North's recent production of Kurt Weill and Alan Jay Lerner's LOVE LIFE. A good way to acquaint yourself with this show, which has never had a cast recording. The Opera North production received excellent notices.

The Goodman's MARTIN GUERRE was not the one written by Schonberg and Boubil.Two musicals mentioned that I would never want to see again: BIG and THE GRAND TOUR. While each had a good tune or two, their original productions, for me, were excruciatingly bad. After it died on Broadway, BIG was extensively re-written for licensing. The interminable GRAND TOUR has an unbelievably stupid ending, totally different from its source material. Even Jerry Herman admitted GRAND TOUR was a mistake.

Some post-1980 musicals not mentioned but worth reviving: Galt MacDermot's THE HUMAN COMEDY (Jack Viertel always talked about Encores doing this), Larry Grossman's GRIND, Legrand's AMOUR (yes, it's French, but so was the not-so-good IRMA LA DOUCE), and Hamlisch and Ashman's SMILE. I saw the original productions of the first three, caught the fourth at Mel Miller's Musicals Tonight, and liked them very much.

I was surprised that the musical didn't explore in any way that not only did Lempicka have a relationship with a woman, but that the woman was also black, as was Lempicka's second husband. It seems like these would have been significan plot poins, certainly during the main time period of the story.

The John McGlinn SHOW BOAT on EMI, the Rob Berman ROBERTA on New World, the John Mauceri THE CRADLE WILL ROCK on Bridge, the John DeMain PORGY & BESS on RCA, the JAY ONE TOUCH OF VENUS.

Dollypop said: "Obviously that theater was designed at a time when peaudiences.ople had different physical shaped and were much, much slimmer. The seats really have to be replaced to accommodate today's audiences. I doubt that the seats now in the Nederlander were installed when the theater opened more than 100 years ago. The seats now in the theater are narrower so more can be crammed in a row. Were it not for premium and dynamic pricing, seating would probably be even tighter.BTW, as you pr...

Kad said: "It’s not so uncommon for some lyrics to be rewritten, but it’s usually not so seamless (see: the revised “Shipoopi” in The Music Man, Amanda Green’s new lyrics in On the Twentieth Century). I think generally people are reluctant to change the lyrics in better known shows because… well, audiences often know the original lyrics."The dreadful revisal of GIGI re-wrote some of Lerner's lyrics. The new lyrics for 'The Night They Invented Champagne" were particularly bad. But then everyth...

"The Once and Future King" is only one book, unlike the Chronicles of Narnia or the Lord of the Rings. It was published in 1958 and became a bestseller. It retells the King Arthur myth for a post-WWII audience. It is made up of four parts or books, the first being the Sword in the Stone. The Sword in the Stone, in a slightly different form, had been published in 1938 as a children's book. "The Book of Merlyn" was published after T.H. White's death. It was originally supposed to be the final p...

Back in 1980, Frank Rich was much kinder to CAMELOT: tinyurl.com/mrxvez24

Auggie27 said: "By contemporary standards, the show seems almost under-composed. Arthur has no decisive 11 o’clock spot - he doesn’t get Henry’s “Accustomed to her Face” - and the show loses interest in the singing and dancing citizens until “Guinevere.” IMHO, Arthur's reprise of "Camelot" is as powerful as "I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face." Read in Lerner's memoir how the audience reacted to it during the Chicago tour stop in November 1963.Of course, I haven't seen this revival. I did see ...

But i do disagree with the criticism of the removal of all the magic nonsense. Updating the book to be squarely in favor of justice, reason, fairness, science-- it strengthens the parable. It makes the ending pack a punch. It makes everyone more human. Exactly. Just like WICKED.CAMELOT is (or,apparently now, was )about Arthur's attempt to lead England out of the superstitions, ignorance, and barbarity of the Middle Ages. Hence the magician Merlyn, the nymph Nimue, Morgan le Fay, etc.

JAS said: "MCfan2 said: "If the cast album is anything to go by (there's a bit of speaking on it as well as singing), Andrews didn't use a French accent. I don't think her character was meant to be French -- she came from another kingdom, but I don't think it was ever specified which one."Guinevere was from Wales, I believe."She sings to St. Genevieve, her namesake, in "The Simple Joys of Maidenhood," but she's definitely not French. She's British, probably Welsh. Why would Julie Andrews be h...

Shucked is this season's Tootsie.