Another glorious rediscovery on disc by Encores. It reminds me of the excellent recording of PIPE DREAM a few years back. Cannot wait until my CD arrives so I can read the essays in the booklet.
I too am enjoying this new recording. "What's goin' on here?" has long been a favourite of mine; it's great to get another excellent version of it, along with some other gems.
To put some images to the music, here are some throwback links to highlights videos of the 2015 Encores production:
The language consists mainly of “hells” and “damns.” A few vulgar expressions are used (“bull****,” “You boys betting or pissing in the wind?”, “chicken****&rdquo. “Jesus!” is also used as an exclamation.
The “f” word is used when a character declares that the wagon train is in the middle of “West Bumf-k nowhere.” A version of it is used again when the Irishman, William, receives upsetting news from home and cries out, “Feck, feck!” He cries this again when he loses while gambling.
Scariness/Violence:
A boy, Craig, is left an orphan when his father dies as a result of the hardships of following the trail to California.
Wesley, a slave owned by a wealthy family in Charleston, asks to accompany Jake (who is his half brother) out west. Jake’s brother hits Wesley for his impertinence and threatens to sell him; Jake decides to take Wesley with him.
At one point, Jake hits Craig, who is working for him in Jake’s saloon.
One character, a Mormon with two wives, bullies and mistreats them, especially the second wife, Cayla; he is seen twisting her arm, hitting her in the face, and accusing her of acting “like a whore.”
A fight breaks out between Armando and Jake over payment for mining equipment; Jake pulls a knife, but the newly-arrived trapper Ben forces Jake to drop it and pay what he owes.
Armando explains to Ben that his family were wealthy ranchers in California before looters and prospectors overran their property and killed everyone but him.
Ben punches his friend Armando when he learns that his Mexican friend is in love with Ben’s daughter Jennifer.
In the second act, the gold is no longer plentiful and many of the characters find themselves in hopeless debt as a result of gambling in Jake’s Palace. The world of the town beginning to collapse: fights break out among the desperate gamblers, some miners are robbed by hooded men, one of the Chinese prospectors is shot, and a trapper is caught in one of his own traps.
Sexual References:
The founders of No Name City (all men) express their frustration with the dullness of their lives: “Lord, we’d dig straight down to Hades / To kiss the lips of scarlet ladies!”
Cayla’s husband is persuaded by the miners to sell her and she agrees (“Any of these men would be a better husband than you!&rdquo. Ben objects, saying, “You can’t sell a woman!” Jake bids on Cayla, thinking of using her to start a new business, and Craig is appalled (“You’re gonna make her the town prostitute? Does that seem right?&rdquo. Ben, who marries Cayla, places the highest bid.
The lyrics of the song “In Between,” sung by Ben and Cayla on their wedding night, contain some innuendo: “You’re a beauty who needs lovin’ / And to rise to that, I’m game / But the past might weigh me down / And that would be a shame.” Ben is nervous, but Cayla invites him to unbutton her dress; she removes his shirt, and they kiss. The lights go down.
Later Jake opens a new business featuring gambling and girls: “Jake’s Girls” dress scantily (for 187, dance suggestively, and occasionally disappear upstairs with customers. The miners sing of their arrival: “There’s a coach comin’ in, hurry, hurry, did you hear/With a cargo of joy from Paree/In a week, maybe less, we’ll have sins to confess/Venial sins, mortal sins, no, all three!”
Nudity:
One scene contains partial male nudity.
Drugs/Alcohol:
Characters are frequently seen drinking alcohol (whiskey, bourbon, champagne), sometimes to excess, as well as using chewing tobacco.
Important Issues:
Paint Your Wagon addresses the status of women in this frontier community (Cayla observes that “Out here, either you’re married or a painted lady.&rdquo It also shows the conflicts resulting from racial prejudice (some racial slurs are heard; and Jake’s saloon is segregated) as people from different backgrounds (wives, Mormons, dance hall girls, Southern slaveholders, slaves, free people of color, Chinese, Irish and Greek immigrants, Mexicans, trappers, businessmen) succumb to gold fever. "
I'm actually curious to know which character is getting naked and why and how they're justifying it in Paint Your Wagon or if it's just a random bit inserted during a scenery shift like Bartlett Sher did with his South Pacific revival with the naked sailors running off prior to the scene at the baths.
theaterdrew said: "To the question about what is new in this recording, there's a nice essay by Peter Filichia on the Sony Masterworks site about it."
What am I missing? I don't see anything about new orchestrations, just a description of the Overture and other songs which he only says were previously unrecorded.
Can't say I love the sound of the new book based on these reviews, although in fairness I don't know the original book and haven't seen the film as points of comparison.
Interestingly, while Googling for these I found a review of a separate 2004-2005 revisal in LA, with a (then) new book by David Rambo. According to this reviewer at least, that one wasn't a success either. https://www.talkinbroadway.com/page/regional/la/la165.html