the grass harp...- Page 2

[philcrosby]

Posted: 1/11/07 at 11:38am

I had thought Celeste Holm was the original Babylove. Either way, neither she or Stritch could sing the "Miracle Show" like Karen Morrow.

[nmartin]

Posted: 1/11/07 at 12:17pm

Celeste Holm was connected with this as was her husband, I believe. The thing about Stritch had to do with it first being done in, I think, Rhode Island. Only two people from that production ended up on Broadway as I remember it. If someone knows the full story, please reply. With the exception of Colin's and Ritz's songs, I love the score.

[Gypsy9]

Posted: 1/11/07 at 4:05pm

From Ken Mandelbaum's "Not Since Carrie": The musical version of THE GRASS HARP was first produced by the Trinity Square Repertory Co. in Providence, Rhode Island in 1966. The music is by Claibe Richardson, lyrics by Kenward Elmslie who also wrote the book. The cast included Barbara Baxley, Carol Bruce, Elaine Stritch, David Doyle and Carol Brice. When the show was optioned for Broadway, producer Kermit Bloomgarden wanted Mary Martin to play Dolly, but she wanted to play Babylove. When his option lapsed, other producers hired Barbara Cook, Ruth Ford, Carol Brice and Celeste Holm as Babylove, with the production playing a new theatre at the Univ. of Michigan. Holm could not handle her 15 minute song cycle and was replaced by Karen Morrow, "who had voice to spare". The show played the Martin Beck for 7 performances in 1971. The recording of the show assured future productions in stock and at the York Theatre Company in NYC. "It contains a ravishing score, one of the great ones as long as it is musicalizing Dolly, Catherine and Babylove. Several of the lyrics come directly out of Truman Capote's novel...But the richness of the score was partially the problem with the show: THE GRASS HARP was an overmusicalized musical...with the action in between the songs rushed through, exposing the thinness of the plot..."

I bought the CD from Jim Harrell on Ebay and enjoy it very much.

[nmartin]

Posted: 1/11/07 at 4:39pm

Thanks, Gypsy9. I'm surprised I remembered as much of that as I did. The opening number and the Babylove song cycle are just great.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 1/11/07 at 6:47pm

Great score

A shame the team never did another show

[elmore3003]

Posted: 1/11/07 at 7:03pm

Kenward Elmslie is a lovely gentleman and poet, but he has problems with narrative, from the pieces I've seen. He's done wonderful opera librettos based on great plays such as THE SEA GULL for Thomas Pasatieri. Claibe Richardson, the composer, was a difficult handful as well. I worked with him on THE NIGHT OF THE HUNTER. Elmslie and Richardson also wrote a wonderful score for their strange Lola Montez bio LOLA.

Capote's novella is set in the 1930s, and Dolly is probably based on the same aunt who inspired Sook in A CHRISTMAS MEMORY. THE GRASS HARP is a lyrical and moving work ending after Dolly's death, which the musical omits for a more upbeat ending. His play version - which is what the musical should have been based on - a comedy with serious moments and an upbeat ending. After its Broadway failure which featured Mildred Natwick as Dolly, it had a successful run Off-Broadway.

The film with Piper Laurie is quite faithful to the book with a good cast icluding Mary Steenburgen in the Karen Morrow role, Edward Furlong and Sean Patrick Flannery - the musical combines the two young men Riley and Collin into one person - and very lovely.
Updated On: 1/11/07 at 07:03 PM

[jasonf]

Posted: 1/11/07 at 7:37pm

I love the score - Marry With Me is one of my favorite songs!

[nobodyhome]

Posted: 1/11/07 at 8:59pm

I agree with those who've said great score, lousy book. I do think that the source material had potential. I like the movie.

Unfortunately, though the book's writing could be improved, a big part of the problem is that the story is too slight, having been so simplified from the source material. And it wouldn't be possible to rewrite it to something closer to the source material as it would really require new songs.

The Musicals in Mufti version a few years ago was noticeably underrehearsed when I saw it. It lasted more than two hours, without intermission, which seemed endless since the whole thing was a mess. I was always under the impression that the show was pretty short, from having read the script, but it didn't play that way, at least not at Mufti.

One reason why Stritch wasn't in the Broadway version was that it was five years after she had been in the Trinity Square production. By that time of the Broadway production, she was touring in Company.

It's hard to imagine how Barbara Baxley, great actress though she was, handled Dolly's music in the Trinity Square production. I guess it was significantly different by the time of the Broadway production.

Doing some research on the show a while ago, I saw that Muriel Smith had been announced for the Michigan production, but I don't know if she was in it. In any case, by the time it got to Broadway, Carol Brice was in it.

If you like The Grass Harp, I highly recommend getting the Lola recording. Some problematic lyrics (along with some good ones) but some really gorgeous music.