Thoughts on Jerome Robbins' Broadway- Page 2

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 5/30/12 at 7:59pm

Out of context bits and pieces of musicals in a vacuum, recreated in their original form but in isolation from the framework that gave them meaning and depth, in a "and then I staged" format, left me cold. Excised bits of musicals worked fine on Ed Sullivan, but Ed Sullivan was not a full length musical revue, it was a variety show, and there was and still is a sense of energy seeing those scenes from actual productions then on Broadway, as there sometimes is on the Tonys. Sullivan was a genial personality presenting great entertainment on the tube; Alexander, a fine performer, was here a nonentity.

I understand the show brought a great deal of pleasure to many people; I'm just giving my opinion, of course.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 5/30/12 at 8:10pm

It was sheer stage magic, the kind very few contemporary choreographers are capable of, even at their best moments.

[Gaveston2]

Posted: 5/30/12 at 8:22pm

I'm afraid I agree with henrikegerman. I was very glad to see the recreations, but as a whole, I found it an odd piece. (Case in point: I agree that Shapiro sang "Mr. Monotony" very well, but what was it doing in the show?)

By the time a too-young Jason Alexander stepped in to play Tevye, I thought I was watching a high school revue. The best high school revue ever, without question. But still kind of high schoolish.

As a museum piece, the show was clearly a 10. But as an evening's entertainment, I found it less than satisfying.

(And FWIW, I can't imagine that a Prince retrospective won't be much, much worse. I don't know what they can be thinking!)

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 5/30/12 at 9:50pm

As I understand it, Mr Monotony had been put in and removed from more than one show before, and it's always mentioned as a Robbins highlight so they wanted to let audiences see it--from one of Robbins biographies they make it sound like he was really attached to the number and frustrated it had been cut. Your critique makes sense, but I still wish it had been professionally filmed where it may play better on DVD as random classic numbers in their wonderful (close to) original staging.

The Prince show makes zero sense to me, even if I would rate his best work up there with Fosse, Bennett and Robbins (I wonder if there's ever been any thought to a Bennett revue?). As others have said, Prince's brilliance was rarely in actual musical numbers so much as the bigger picture, and he wasn't even too involved in the big musical production numbers his shows have had, and this production sounds like it'll have brand new Stroman choreography anyway--are they going to have book scenes? I suppose it's a different animal than Jerome Robbins' Broadway or even Fosse though and we'll have to see...

(And I wish the Ed Sullivan Show rights people would get themselves into shape and release more of their musical numbers on DVDs--maybe made to order ones? I have the one paltry DVD, and I have about 6 video tapes full of numbers a kind person on here made me, but...)

[PalJoey]

Posted: 5/31/12 at 12:27am

It was in the show for two reasons: (1) Mr. Robbins just loved that number and (2) he knew that a show with one big ballet after another needed variation. He was always aware of the dynamics of an individual number and the dynamics of an entire evening.

So Debbie's smoldering solo gave the show a single-spotlight focus, as well as an earthy sexiness that was unlike the other numbers.

People are shocked, because they think he stood for art for art's sake, but Jerry Robbins was always a showman. He learned showmanship from Mr. Abbott, and he valued it as much as he valued the artistic integrity he learned from ballet choreographers, especially Mr. Balanchine.

Remember that Jerry Robbins was the one who took the boys out of the dance that Peter Gennaro created for the "America" number in West Side Story. He wanted to make it more of a display of virtuosity for Chita Rivera, but he also thought that a show that featured the deaths of so many of the main characters could use a "girly" number to keep the "tired businessmen" interested. And he was only half-joking when he said that.

The song had been cut from the MGM film Easter Parade, and the cut footage of Judy Garland performing it can still be seen. The first time Robbins choreographed it was in Irving Berlin's Miss Liberty, for for Allyn Ann McLerie, who had starred with Ray Bolger in Where's Charley and had been a guest artist for Robbins at his Ballet Theatre.

That version wasn't a solo: McLerie performed it with two of Robbins's favorite male dancers, Tommy Rall and Bill Bradley, both of whom were very virile, very sexual creatures. Robbins staged it so that both of them were seducing Allyn Ann.

The show opened in Philadelphia and the song stopped the show. Kitty Carlisle Hart described it as the only song in the show to receive "thunderous applause." But Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein came to see the show, and afterward they told Berlin and director Moss Hart that the song had to be cut, because the sudden sexiness was "bad for the girl's character."

So Moss Hart had to tell Jerome Robbins that the number was cut. He took the news better than anyone thought, because despite his temper, he always had tremendous respect for people he thought knew things he didn't.

Removing the number didn't save the show. It got terrible reviews, the worst reviews Irving Berlin ever received. Allyn Ann McLerie's husband, actor George Gaynes, called it "proof that five geniuses can make a turkey."

Four years later, Irving Berlin put it into a score again. This time it was Call Me Madam. This time, Robbins staged it as a solo. And again it was cut, this time by George Abbott.

So it made perfect sense to put "Mr. Monotony" into JR Broadway. This time, there was no one around to cut it!

Updated On: 5/31/12 at 12:27 AM

[Gaveston2]

Posted: 5/31/12 at 3:36pm

Thank you very much for the history, joey. I did understand the need for a solo number for variety, but I knew nothing of why that particular number was picked.

I wonder where Berlin planned to insert the song into CALL ME MADAM. As Berlin scores go, that one is pretty well integrated into the book. Yes, songs such as "The Washington Square Dance", "The Ocarina" and, especially, "They Like Ike" are based on thin premises, but they do have something to do with the plot. But "Mr. Monotony"? Any idea?

***

P.S. to Eric: I agree. I'd buy a DVD in a New York minute!

Updated On: 5/31/12 at 03:36 PM

[PalJoey]

Posted: 5/31/12 at 4:08pm

All I know about the placement in Call Me Madam is that after it was cut, Berlin wrote "Something to Dance About," but I don't know if it was supposed to open the second act or who was supposed to have sung it.

Also (supposedly), they cut it at the request of Ethel Merman. But it doesn't make sense that Princess Maria would have sung it (!), so it probably was put in the show as a Merman number, and at a certain point she said "Fer chrissakes, Irving, you gotta write me a better second-act opener that THAT!"

It would make sense that Robbins staged "Mr. Monotony" as a solo if Merman were the one singing it.

Updated On: 5/31/12 at 04:08 PM

[Gaveston2]

Posted: 5/31/12 at 4:38pm

Indeed. Thanks, joey. "Something to Dance About" doesn't have much motivation, but since Merman wasn't playing a nightclub owner or singing evangelist, as she so often did, it's hard to imagine the justification for "Mr. Monotony". But of course I only know the show in its finished form.

[HorseTears]

Posted: 5/31/12 at 8:26pm

Anyone [ahem] feel like uploading the Charleston number from J.R.'s Broadway to an alternative video streaming site like DailyMotion or Vimeo? Man, I would kill to see that number again.

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 6/1/12 at 1:21am

I wish I had saved it--I echo the sentiment. Absolutely amazing...

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 6/1/12 at 1:26am

I always got the sense that Billion Dollar Baby was meant as a follow up to On the Town, hoping to get some of its success. It had nearly all the same key players--Comden and Green on book and lyrics, Jerome Robbins on choreography, Abbott directing, and Oliver Smith designing. In Bernstein's biography from Secrest it says he was turned down writing the score due to some issues he had with one of his mentors who said he needed to focus more on "serious" music, and so they turned to Morton Gould, a similar "serious" composer. But the score, and much less sympathetic characters seemed to be the main reason it was not much of a hit (I've grown to really like the score, but it's no Bernstein)... But everyone seemed to agree about The Charlestan as a number--brilliant staging.

[After Eight]

Posted: 6/1/12 at 6:48am

"So it made perfect sense to put "Mr. Monotony" into JR Broadway. This time, there was no one around to cut it! "

There should have been. When all is said and done, it's a bad song.

Too bad there was no one around to tell him to cut the whole show.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 6/1/12 at 7:12am

Too bad there no around to tell you--

Oh, never mind.

[After Eight]

Posted: 6/1/12 at 7:18am

^

You're around, no?

And I'd say you've done a pretty good job of it.

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 6/1/12 at 11:56am

Anyone [ahem] feel like uploading the Charleston number from J.R.'s Broadway to an alternative video streaming site like DailyMotion or Vimeo? Man, I would kill to see that number again.

Unitl further notice... for your viewing pleasure, here is the entire "Charleston" number performed by the original 1989 Broadway cast of JEROME ROBBINS' BROADWAY:

LINK: https://vimeo.com/43257543

You're welcome, America!

[Jon]

Posted: 6/1/12 at 1:20pm

The Mr. Monotony clip only shows Debbie Sahpiro singing. There was an entire dance going on at the other side of the stage - a sexy pas de deux.

These small numbers, such as Jason Alexander & Faith Prince's "I Still Get Jealous" and "You Gotta Have a Gimmick" were neccesary to give the ensemble a rest.

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 6/1/12 at 1:48pm

The Mr. Monotony clip only shows Debbie Sahpiro singing. There was an entire dance going on at the other side of the stage - a sexy pas de deux.

The dance sequence of "Mr. Monotony" occurs in the 2nd part of the section after she ends the song and leaves the stage. Debbie Shapiro's solo spot was just that -- her alone on the dark stage. No dancers. Just Ms. Shapiro doing her thing.

[Gaveston2]

Posted: 6/1/12 at 5:00pm

I've got bad news, guys: the Mayans were right and the Apocalypse is upon us!

The sign: After Eight and I are agreeing about a show and a song. (Well, sort of agreeing: I wouldn't call "Mr. Monotony" a "bad song." I just don't think it was worth the rescue.)

I think Miss Shapiro sings it beautifully, but to me, "Mr. Monotony" is the poor man's "Johnny One Note". It's okay, but Rodgers & Hart had already done it better.

And frankly, Irving Berlin's obvious fondness for the imperfect rhyme of "got any" and "monotony" seems odd for a lyricist of his stature. (Before someone asks, "monotony" may rhyme with "got a knee" (depending on how the former is pronounced) or "got-o-nee", but it doesn't actually rhyme with "got eh-nee".)

Updated On: 6/1/12 at 05:00 PM

[PalJoey]

Posted: 6/1/12 at 10:11pm

Ehhh, nertz to that. Go find a rhyme for "orange."

[morosco]

Posted: 6/1/12 at 11:04pm

During Charleston what are the lines that the flappers speak at 3 minutes in? I could never understand what they say.

[sabrelady]

Posted: 6/2/12 at 1:10am

Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezey-

Door Hinge

( BTW I am a HUGE Jerome Robbin's Broadway fan- I get what people are saying but as a dance fan MORE please MORE!! was all I felt!)

[Smaxie]

Posted: 6/2/12 at 8:24am

Second flapper I've never understood either - it sounds like "Don't be a ...." and I've never understood the last word. The first flapper is saying "Mind your own beeswax" and the third flapper is saying "So's your Aunt Tillie" - 1920s putdowns.

[jayinchelsea]

Posted: 6/2/12 at 10:28am

Watching this number is absolutely thrilling! Wish the whole show had been made available on video commercially.

[Jon]

Posted: 6/2/12 at 11:11am

My mind must be playing tricks on me - I swear i remember a part of the Charleston where a couple of bootleggers enter carrying crates of booze into the speakeasy.

[jv92]

Posted: 6/2/12 at 11:19am

After Eight,

Do you like anything intelligent and theatrically surprising and exciting, or just LA CAGE AUX FOLLES, which even thirty years ago was still as exciting as Wonder Bread?