Has anyone mentioned KEPT? The Studio 54 musical from 2002. Book by Stephen Chbosky and Bill Russell. Music by Henry Krieger. Lyrics by Russell. Starred Christiane Noll and Will Swenson. We raced to Mountainview south of San Francisco to catch the next show by the composer of Dreamgirls. Ah me. Oh, the title? That referred to the status of Will Swenson's gigolo character-- he was... KEEEEPPPPPPPPT! (Yep, that was the title tune.)
The two I saw: PRETTYBELLE with Angela Lansbury (closed in Boston, saw it the same weekend I saw the tryout of FOLLIES in 1971) MISS MOFFAT with Bette Davis (closed in Philadelphia, 1974)
CHarles, I remember hearing about Kept but had completely frogotten. But didn't Will Swenson play a young doctor and Noll was the Camille figure who was kept by an older man (played by a soap star I'm blanking on...) I followed reviews when it came out and thought that was the crux of its modern take on Camille.
^ I could be misremembering the plot to some extent (it was one of the worse nights of musical theater I've ever endured), but my recollection is that both main characters were in some way kept for sexual favors by others as the night wore on. When I think of the title tune, it's Will Swenson's voice I hear in my head bellowing KEEEPPPT over and over, so assume his role as gigolo longing for true love was what stayed with me here.
jayinchelsea, I'd really appreciate it if you'd share your memories of MISS MOFFITT and PRETTYBELLE. I was surprised how much I loved the PRETTYBELLE cast recording when I obtained it back in 1999. Was it as bad on stage as people said? I realize the material and tone was quite challenging for audiences, but was it staged and designed well? And what can be said about MISS MOFFITT? Supposedly Bette Davis wanted the show closed, but I remember in a 60 MINUTES interview some years later, she said th at Albert Hague's score was quite good. Really? Details please!
Chaplin never made it on Broadway?! That's weird, since I saw it...
According to the Internets: "The musical premiered on Broadway at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre on August 21, 2012 in previews and officially on September 10, 2012. The musical closed on January 6, 2013, after 24 previews and 136 performances."
Updated On: 10/31/14 at 04:03 PM
Copacabana -- it was horrid. Horrid Horrid Horrid.
"Whenever I get gloomy with the state of the world, I think about the arrivals gate at Heathrow Airport. General opinion's starting to make out that we live in a world of hatred and greed, but I don't see that. It seems to me that love is everywhere. Often it's not particularly dignified or newsworthy, but it's always there - fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, husbands and wives, boyfriends, girlfriends, old friends. When the planes hit the Twin Towers, as far as I know none of the phone calls from the people on board were messages of hate or revenge - they were all messages of love. If you look for it, I've got a sneaky feeling you'll find that love actually is all around."
By Ryan Scott Oliver, has had some regional productions: weird take on the Peter Pan story set in the 30's, Peter and "the feather boys" are male whores, and magic dust is cocaine. A few good songs though.