Smile the musical. Does any OBC recording exist?- Page 2

[morosco]

Posted: 1/11/06 at 7:59pm

It's interesting that everyone I know that saw SMILE really enjoyed the show. It's interesting that we haven't heard much about it since it closed.

[darkmist115]

Posted: 1/11/06 at 10:17pm

>>>It's interesting that we haven't heard much about it since it closed.

agreed.

[Flahooley]

Posted: 3/3/06 at 7:42pm

I just saw the 60 minutes segment on SMILE. Surprise! Cheri Oteri from SNL was in it.

[best12bars]

Posted: 3/3/06 at 8:15pm

Cheri Oteri??? Don't think so, unless her rezzie is wrong and her name was different then.

Maybe you mean THIS "Smile."


IMDb.com link

[BrianWilsonFan]

Posted: 3/3/06 at 8:40pm

Smile, a bit of an obsession with me at the moment. I've read that this show closed through back stage politics as much as anything and that there was a vitriolic split between Ashman and Hamlisch that resulted in the plug being pulled.

When i tried to get the tape through Samuel French Inc., they wouldn't supply it to the UK on the expressed wishes of the authors apparently under no circumstances is this musical to be seen here.

I've recently heard an audience recording and the show was doing very well listening to that audiences reaction, they were loving it especially Dick Patterson's bits of schtick. Curiouser and curiouser...

[FutureElphaba]

Posted: 3/4/06 at 12:53pm

We actually tried to do this show in my MT class last year.. it had the potential of doing well except no one wanted to do anything so we had to cut half the songs and do it in class as oppose to having an audience lol!

[Flahooley]

Posted: 3/6/06 at 2:33pm

I'm pretty good with faces and that girl looked a hell of a lot like Cheri Oteri. The footage was of the early workshop, so is possible that she didn't do the actualy broadway produciton. Does anyone know if that was her?

[BroadwayDoc]

Posted: 3/6/06 at 2:41pm

No, Cheri Oteri was never in the workshops or productions of Smile.

[Flahooley]

Posted: 3/6/06 at 2:45pm

Thanks, I'll take your word for it.

[PitPro2004]

Posted: 3/6/06 at 8:23pm

**and a pre-nose job Jodi Benson was the perfect "Doria". **

LOLOL!! THAT was too funny! But so true!

I did a tour of Europe with Jodi and at one point, the company was going thru customs. One of the male ensemble members was teasing her after she got her passport stamped, because her pre-nose job passport photo was in it and she looked nothing like it! He kept trying to get the officers to deny her entry onto the plane because he kept telling them it was a different person and kept pointing out her nose!! We were all dying of laughter!

I know she's currently the voice of Barbie and a few commercial things, plus she had a little boy a few years back. Wonder what else she's up to...

[Flahooley]

Posted: 3/6/06 at 8:42pm

LOL!!! Very cute story!

[BroadwayDoc]

Posted: 3/7/06 at 7:09pm

Jodi does a lot of concerts. Most recently she performed with Debbie Gravitte and Christiane Noll as the "Broadway Divas". I expect will see some more of her shortly when the 2 DVD set of The Little Mermaid surfaces.


Also, she now has a daughter now too as well. Updated On: 3/7/06 at 07:09 PM

[BVR24]

Posted: 2/4/07 at 12:58pm

It was Tia Riebling, who does (or at least DID) look an awful lot like Cheri Oteri.

I, too, am going through a huge "Smile" obsession. Just saw the 70's film and I thought it was truly incredible. Seems to have paved the way for suburban exposes like 'American Beauty' and 'Desperate Housewives.' If it had been made today, it would have been an Oscar contender. (At least Jerry Belson's scipt was nominated for a WGA award.)

I have to agree that I think the Broadway score is much more exciting than the revised one. I think, having gone through a similar experience, that writers who receive bad reviews tend to go to an extreme trying to "fix" their material for subsequent productions and often times end up throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

I'd like to think that 'Smile' was just way ahead of it's time. It's probably too much to ever hope for a revival, but someone (hint, hint Ghostlight) should do a studio recording of this gem.

[sondhead]

Posted: 2/4/07 at 3:01pm

"The problem with Smile wasn't the score, it was the book - they never got the tone right. The film walks that line perfectly, but the show tried to be other things. "

Bingo. Howard Ashman was easily one of the best book-writers of our time (it's a shame his work was cut so short) but clearly Smile is a great example of why no one should EVER direct a piece they're also writing. The separation from the material is pretty necessary for the best end product.

Though there are some things missed from the score in the revised version, most who are familiar with both versions would tell you the revised version is the better show. The Broadway version would have been great out of town. It just never found its "swing" until the revision.

The book of the revised version is pretty brilliant, and the structuring that helped the show become so much better is what also made some score changes necessary. I've never understood why Brenda DiCarlo isn't one of the most sought-after roles in musical theatre. She has some truly fantastic scene work in the 2nd act as her world crashes down around her, and, while she has no major songs, her section of "Shine" is pretty thrilling. The ending is also spectacularly written. Always evokes tears in me.

It's a shame we'll probably never see a revival of this because of Hamlisch. I wish someone could convince him to allow for a studio recording, but if Bruce Kimmel can't then I'm pretty sure no one can.

[sondhead]

Posted: 2/4/07 at 3:03pm

Incidentally, the recording of Smile that is often referred to as the unreleased cast album is the demo of the revised version. No Original Broadway Cast recording was ever made and unreleased.

The demo is a nice document though.

Posted: 2/4/07 at 4:46pm

In addition to the composer demo and a full-length live recording of SMILE, I have a recording which is purportedly the unreleased original cast recording, which contains the following tracks:

1. Typical High School Senior
2. The Very Best Years of Our Lives
3. Dear Mom #1
4. Disneyland
5. Shine
6. Dear Mom #2 / Bob's Song
7. Nerves
8. Young and American
9. Until Tomorrow Night
10. Dear Mom #3 / Dressing Room Scene
11. Smile
12. In Our Hands
13. There Goes the Girl
14. Finale

:)

Updated On: 2/4/07 at 04:46 PM

[sondhead]

Posted: 2/4/07 at 6:06pm

I don't know what your composer demo is, but that song listing is that of the Revised Version demo made for Samuel French.

[sidneybruhl]

Posted: 2/4/07 at 6:50pm

The only song I've ever heard from the score is "Disneyland" but I love it. If the other songs are as good as that one, I'd love to hear the entire score.

[Julian2]

Posted: 2/4/07 at 9:44pm

So how many recordings are there? I just got my hands on a 15 track one, and I'm trying to find out which tracks are titled what.

[sondhead]

Posted: 2/4/07 at 11:04pm

There are several private recordings and one studio demo that was made of the revised version of the show for Samuel French. That's what your 15-track recording is. It should correspond to the track listing above except for an additional track at the beginning which is just a short public service announcement that opens the show.

[tazber]

Posted: 2/12/07 at 7:44am

Bebe,
The four songs that were recorded on the Varese label were all available in a Marvin Hamlisch song book. That version of the book is now out of print, but the version that replaced it still has Disneyland and I think one other one. Check Colony.

Posted: 3/15/07 at 7:12pm

"I remember when I worked in the musical dept of Sam French, we would get calls all the time of people trying to buy the recording...I actually thought I remembered them saying that Howard Ashman did more than the two boys on the recording, I could be wrong...Anyway, Samuel French also had a great demo of Howard Ashman & Alan Menken's GOD BLESS YOU, MR. ROSEWATER where the two of them did all the characters...Howard Ashman was so brillant on it! Priceless! "

I *love* ashman on those demos. Mr Rosewater is a show that really deserves a recording

[folkyboy]

Posted: 2/19/08 at 3:44pm

i just put in "Smile" after singing a line from "Nerves" to my co-worker. i know she's so pleased hahahaha

but now i'm all "Smile" focused today. such a lost gem

[husk_charmer]

Posted: 2/19/08 at 3:56pm

Wait...so does SF sell copies of the demo??

[mmousefan]

Posted: 2/19/08 at 3:58pm

Gosh, I thought I was the only one who loved this show so much. It got back to me after hearing some about it (I was a big fan of the film) after I heard "In Our Hands" on UNSUNG or whichever collection. All these revisions and extra songs sound so interesting. I read the Sam French libretto once and now I really want to get it produced somewhere....