A Time for Singing- Page 2

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 10/26/14 at 2:09pm

God will reward you my son.

[mjohnson2]

Posted: 10/26/14 at 2:16pm

[Wilmingtom]

Posted: 10/26/14 at 3:03pm

I saw a production some years ago that Freedman directed at the North Carolina School of the Arts, where he was dean of the Drama School. He had revised it to make Huw the narrator, which of course made more sense. The production was beautiful and wholehearted, very emotional and immacuately staged. The choral music is indeed glorious. This is one that deserves a second chance.

[goldenboy]

Posted: 10/27/14 at 2:21pm

There is a good musical in there somewhere. You just need a shovel and a scissor to find it.


They have to trim the music (get rid of the clinkers); Keep the gorgeous chorale music and singable hummable numbers;edit the book and somehow get us to care about these mining people.

Needs a totally new book. Have more dialogue and less songs. Plot points need not be so abrupt. They flooded the mine and the father and sons died? WTF? Who did this and why? This seemed to come out of nowhere. Why was the Shani Wallis character in love with the priest? Why did the priest spurn her? Why did she marry the richest man in town and why don't we see them falling in love or like?

A scissor and a shovel are needed here.

That being said, this is definitely worth seeing for most of the music, the stellar cast and the chorale numbers.

[Scripps2]

Posted: 10/27/14 at 5:06pm

I purchased the bk release of the score earlier this year after hearing good reports of the score many years ago. I was astonished by the opening number, which sounds so authentically Welsh that it could have come from an eisteddfod rather than a Broadway musical. And how curious to hear so many beautiful and familiar places mentioned.

With regard to flooded mines, I should imagine it was flooded by nature rather than a deliberate act of man. This still happens - several men were drowned in a Welsh mine in the last two or three years.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 10/27/14 at 5:25pm

The reason it sounds so authentically Welsh is that John Morris, the composer, is Welsh. He and Gerald Freedman write the musical on spec, a labor of love, even though it was well known that Richard Llewellyn, the author of the novel it was based on, had turned down many producers and playwrights who had come to him to obtain the stage rights.

Finally, Llewellyn was passing through New York, on a layover at Kennedy (then Idlewild) Airport. John Morris and Gerald Freedman picked him up at the airport, drove him to Morris's apartment, played the score for him, and at the end, Llewellyn gave them the rights.

In the story, the mine is flooded by union organizers, angry at the father and the son for breaking the strike and going back to work in the mine.

[goldenboy]

Posted: 10/27/14 at 6:44pm

Thanks for clarifying that Pal Joey because I found it confusing.

It was also confusing that after they announced them dead.. the two actors playing the "dearly departed" came on stage to sing the finale which left me scratching my head thinking did they die or didn't they?

It was a time for confusion.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 10/27/14 at 11:45pm

They were wearing different knit caps and had different names in the program. You were supposed to understand they were different people.

[WhizzerMarvin]

Posted: 10/31/14 at 10:20am

I saw A Time For Singing this week and agree about the book needing a rewrite and there being some minor confusions with the cast doubling, but I thought it was one of the best sung MUFTIs in a long while- those harmonies in the choral numbers!- and what a score. Definitely ahead of its time and vastly underappreciated today.

The OBCR is lovely, but sadly truncated; for years I had a scratchy copy of a transfer from the LP, so the Kritzerland release was a welcome remastered edition to my CD library.

This needs an Encores or studio recording with all the cuts and dance music restored. I have been walking the streets singing the title song (with a little backup help from Tessie O'Shea!) since Wednesday. How can one not fall under the spell of "Let Me Love You" or "When He Looks At Me," not to mention the stirring "How Green Was My Valley." With how little this show is performed it would be a big mistake to miss this opportunity to hear the score, especially when it is being sung in such glorious fashion.

Re: the title, I know it was common practice to change the title back then, but How Green Was My Valley is a vastly superior title to A Time For Singing. It's more poetic, evocative and conveys the longing for and remembrance of the past that is so important to the piece.

The MUFTIs are two for two this cycle. Let's hope Saturday Night can keep the streak going.

Updated On: 10/31/14 at 10:20 AM

[PalJoey]

Posted: 10/31/14 at 11:27am

Whizzer--I assume you've seen this YouTube of Shani Wallis singing "Let ME Love You" on Ed Sullivan?

[WhizzerMarvin]

Posted: 10/31/14 at 12:02pm

Yeah, I've seen it, but it certainly does the soul good to watch it again! Thanks!

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 10/31/14 at 12:05pm

How about Encores?