State Fair/Meet Me In St. Louis/Flower Drum Song

[theatreguy12]

Posted: 4/14/20 at 11:07am

After reading the thread on "Worst Musicals," it got me thinking of some of the shows that I've seen that didn't have a very long run.  

But while they may have not had a very long run, I didn't find them bad either. Far from it actually.  And the three I've brought up all have something in common.   They are all classic musicals, whether they started on Broadway or had a film presence first. 

For those who saw all three, what was your take on these three shows?  Of the three, which did you think was best?

None of them did particularly well nor had a very long run.  The exception being the original production of FDS which ran 600 performances.

For me, I enjoyed them all.   State Fair was the Broadway return of a R&H musical which was exciting.  And it had solid Broadway talent in McKechnie, McArdle and Wise.  And very well-known music.  

While Broadway was turning more edgy, I still felt there was nothing wrong with having a family friendly musical such as these on the boards.  But most disagreed obviously.

Meet Me In St. Louis was one that I also enjoyed quite a bit.  Was it, like State Fair, the best I have ever seen?  Not by a long shot.  But it was still highly entertaining....and some great music, and performances. And funny to look in my Playbill again and see Rachel Bay Jones as a cast member.

Flower Drum Song?  Still one of my favorite movie musicals.  Fun and witty.  And some great songs!  For me, it's up there with Sound of Music as a R&H fave.  With the revival, I do remember it getting panned largely because of the book.  For those who saw it with Lea Salonga and Jose Llana, do you agree that this was the big problem, and do you think it would have done better staying closer to the original?  And if your answer is "better, but it wouldn't have lasted long anyway," why?

I'm just a sucker for old, classical musicals. I don't always have to be moved as I was in musicals like Next to Normal, Fun Home, or Dear Evan Hansen  

And while SF, FDS, and MMiSL were necessarily pieces of art, they all had clean, entertaining stories.  With some great music.  And great performances.

Updated On: 4/14/20 at 11:07 AM

[JBroadway]

Posted: 4/14/20 at 11:23am

Funny that you bring up State Fair and Flower Drum Song, as there was a thread just last week about Rodgers and Hammerstein, and some of their lesser-known works, including those. Check out the conversation here: 

https://forum.broadwayworld.com/readmessage.php?thread=1122046#

[Scarlet Leigh]

Posted: 4/14/20 at 3:36pm

theatreguy12 said: "Flower Drum Song? Still one of my favorite movie musicals. Fun and witty. And some great songs! For me, it's up there with Sound of Music as a R&H fave. With the revival,I do remember it getting panned largely because of the book. For those who saw it with Lea Salonga and Jose Llana, do you agree that this was the big problem, and do you think it would have done better staying closer to the original? And if your answer is "better, but it wouldn't have lasted long anyway," why?."

 

This is the only thing that I can speak to first hand here but OH do I have thoughts about this one. 

I was very excited to see this revival because like you, I knew and enjoyed the movie a lot having discovered it for the first time around that time. There was a point when it seemed to ALWAYS be playing on TCM (or whatever the classic movie channel was back then) But the revival was FAR from "Fun and witty." What a disappointment it was! That new book. Oi! Really the only thing that transferred over was every ones names and that there was a nightclub location in there. BUT other then that, it was a totally different story using the same songs and the same title. And while yes the new book removed the most problematic elements that did not age well, it was also a far FAR less interesting plot that was totally striped of the fun elements in the original and the show was just plain BORING.

Major characters were totally gone while others while they had the same name were not the same character at all. Some of the more notable changes... 1.) Mei Li's father is gone now making her a woman that immigrates to America completely alone and has no one to look out for her 2.) the aunt character is not a sassy business woman in show biz... cus I guess 3.) But the REAL loss here was the club owner, Sammy Fong. A HUGE role in the plot of the original production so without him, you entirely loose the sort of screwball love triangle going on of Sammy, Ta, Mei Li, and Linda. Which was really the ENTIRETY of the original show. And as if insult to injury on the loss of Sammy as a character, at one point a character takes on "Sammy Fong" as a fake stage name which seems like they were trying to drop an Easter egg but it was just makes you groan. 


Okay so they cut the character key to the love triangle, but we still need a old world vs new world conflict. Ta's father now owns a traditional Chinese Opera while Ta wants to turn it into a night club and is allowed to do so once a week. GET IT!? Old man with old views vs young man with new views. And I bet you'll NEVER see how in the end they SWAP POVS coming. Only of course you see it coming.


OH let's also make sure to toss in a stereotypical gay best friend for Linda because she now has nothing to really do in the plot because you removed her boyfriend but still has to be there to sing the best known song in the musical. So because you removed a number of didn't age well issues of the original book so clearly you need to replace with another won't age well elements. WHY NOT! OH! AND! So no Sammy? Still need SOME kind of lovers tension to remove fun screwball love story for another other man with a super serious and totally disillusioned view on America wants to take Mei Li back to China. 

And, and I say this with so much love and respect for the woman, Lea Salonga was totally used by this production for her name. This was not "Flower Drum Song". This was "LEA SALONGA IN Flower Drum Song." She was the only reason to see the show and they didn't let you forget who she was because the horrible direction placed her pretty much down center stage at ALL times so you would not forget she was there. She's somewhere else on the stage but she has a song coming up? MOVE HER DOWN CENTER! I will not forget that one moment where she was singing in a group song and was off to the side. Everyone was singing right from where they were but when her lines came up, she moved down center, sang her bit, and then crossed back to where she was. Why?!

Overall not the worst revival I have ever seen but by far the most misguided one.

[Dollypop]

Posted: 4/14/20 at 4:59pm

I'm another one who loved STATE FAIR. I loved the music and enjoyed the hokey story.

I had a long conversation with John Davidson about it and he wasn't happy with the show at all. He felt he was miscast and unconvincing as a hog owner. Although he was age appropriate for the role, the actress playing his wife was significantly older and it made their scenes together awkward.

In our conversation, I sensed there was plenty of backstage tension with this show but I have to say I enjoyed every minute of it.

[theatreguy12]

Posted: 4/14/20 at 5:56pm

JBroadway said: "Funny that you bring up State Fair and Flower Drum Song, as there was a thread just last week about Rodgers and Hammerstein, and some of their lesser-known works, including those. Check out the conversation here:

https://forum.broadwayworld.com/readmessage.php?thread=1122046#"

 

Thank, JB.  I'll take a look.  I missed that thread somehow. 

 

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 4/14/20 at 5:58pm

Dollypop said: "I'm another one who loved STATE FAIR. I loved the music and enjoyed the hokey story.

I had a long conversation with John Davidson about it and he wasn't happy with the show at all. He felt he was miscast and unconvincing as a hog owner. Although he was age appropriate for the role, the actress playing his wife was significantly older and it made their scenes together awkward.

In our conversation, I sensed there was plenty of backstage tension with this show but I have to say I enjoyed every minute of it."

Hi Dollypop - I believe Kathryn Grant (Bing Crosby's widow) played Davidson's wife in this...and yes she was way older...she could have been his mom...also Donna McKechnie was all wrong for the role originated by Vivian Blaine in the original film...she way too old for the actor playing the son in the production...even Andrea McArdle was a bit long in the tooth to be playing "Margie"....the whole thing was misguided and miscast...

[theatreguy12]

Posted: 4/14/20 at 6:25pm

And thanks, Scarlet and Dolly.

I'm starting to recall now the story with your synopsis, Scarlet. I'm thinking I was probably just so excited at the time about seeing an actual revival of FDS that I was blocking out the reality of how SO off from the original story it was.  

In retrospect, even though I was glad to have seen it at the Mark Taper (didn't see it at the Virginia), I certainly don't remember walking out of the theater totally satiated by what I had seen either.  Otherwise, I guess, I wouldn't have forgotten so much of the story, of which you have very clearly reminded me of. Thanks for the synopsis.....and yeah, that really was misguided.  Now that I hear it again.

So how do you think it would have done had it stuck closer to its original story format, with some of the dated aspects tweaked?  I know its original run did 600 performances.  Which is respectable.  But not nearly the hit some of their others were.  I wonder if it would have had a respectable life on Broadway.  Or just an okay life.  Or none at all either.  I think the original, and the movie, were full of such wit.  And great songs.  And room for some great talent and performances.  I don't see why it couldn't have lasted for at least a little while.

But then again, it might have been too dated, even so.  And I certainly know that whenever I talk to my friends who are Broadway fans, even they know very little about it.  They can tell you any, and everything about South Pacific, Sound of Music and Oklahoma....but mention FDS and it's like, 'I've heard of it, but never saw the movie, or listened to the OBCR.'  They don't know any songs from it either.

I think it's a treasure in its own right.   

As for SF, It's too bad, Dolly, that it didn't have a more lengthy or positive run either.  Because even though it was far removed from any sort of deep musical....corny even comes to mind....no pun intended....I still found it really enjoyable.  Sometimes corny and innocent are a good thing.  And there are some good songs in it.
I agree though, Carlos.  I found the casting somewhat odd too.   Big Broadway names, but age-wise they just didn't fit.   And I remember thinking that when I saw it too.

I remember being excited to see MMiSL also.  Though it was going to be hard for me to see anyone but Judy Garland sing its biggest songs.   I was able to handle it though.   I thought the young lady who played Esther did a good job with the role, and I really liked it.  Even though it too strayed from the original movie.

Of those three, my favorite was probably Meet Me in St. Louis. Followed by State Fair.  And then Flower Drum Song (in its most recent incarnation).   Had FDS stuck closer to its original story, I have no doubt the order would have been Flower Drum Song, Meet Me in St. Louis and then State Fair.   

 

Updated On: 4/14/20 at 06:25 PM

[Dollypop]

Posted: 4/14/20 at 8:44pm

I thought ST LOIUS was dreadful. It pretty much re-created the film on stage: sets, costumes and dialogue. Why not just show the film?

[jagman1062]

Posted: 4/14/20 at 9:18pm

Meet Me in St. Louis and State Fair were both movie musicals before they became stage musicals.  I often find that productions based on films fare less well than the film versions.  Also, both shows were were of a certain time, so they had an old-time feel to them.  I was excited to see ... St. Louis because I had gone to HS with Donna Kane (Judy Garland role) and her sister, Deirdre, and their mom was one of my teachers.  Although I enjoyed seeing Donna, there was nothing new or interesting about the show.  

State Fair was pleasant because the music was enjoyable, but the show itself was "hokey."  Several characters were miscast.  The poster who said that John Davidson believed he was miscast maybe led to Davidson giving an underwhelming performance that may also been affected by the backstage drama mentioned.  Kathryn Cosby was equally underwhelming and I sometimes got the impression that she wandered onto a Broadway stage from a sound stage and didn't understand the difference.  As nice as it was to see Donna McKechnie for the first time in 20 years since A Chorus Line, she could have been the son's grandmother, so the romantic interest was creepy instead of intriguing.  The entire production seemed like it was taken directly from summer stock. 

I really didn't know much about Flower Drum Song going into the theater except that it is one of the lesser-known works from the R&H canon.  I found the story uninteresting and I didn't feel vested in any of the characters.  During the scene with the dancing Chinese Take-Out Cartons, I, as a non-Asian, was offended, so I couldn't imagine what people who identify as Asian thought!  The word that comes to mind when I think of that revival of Flower Drum Song: Cheesy.  

If I had to rank by favorite with the caveat that Flower Drum Song is waaaaaay below on the list:

1. State Fair (only because of the music)

2. Meet Me In St. Louis

3. Flower Drum Song

Updated On: 4/16/20 at 09:18 PM

[Dollypop]

Posted: 4/14/20 at 9:47pm

The only good thing about MEET ME IN ST LOUIS was that Margaret O'Brian wasn't in it. That little girl always made me nervous.

Someone told me she's about 103 years old and living in CA, where she's still making people nervous.

Updated On: 4/14/20 at 09:47 PM

[BeNice]

Posted: 4/14/20 at 11:11pm

I will always have a soft spot for Meet Me in St Louis as it was my first Broadway show and I thought it was just magical. Of course, I was very young at the time and so was Tootie.

[theatreguy12]

Posted: 4/14/20 at 11:35pm

I wouldn't judge Flower Drum Song by the revival.   As another poster mentioned, that was not Flower Drum Song.  See the movie for a way better feel for what the musical is really about.

Re: Meet Me in St. Louis.  It was very similar to the movie indeed.  Which is why I liked it.  I always found the movie to be a real classic, and far from dreadful.  Seeing it recreated on stage was a lot of fun.

[OlBlueEyes]

Posted: 4/15/20 at 11:22am

Well, over on the other thread you convinced me to watch Flower Drum Song. One of the reasons I had never seen it was because I thought the only song I knew was “I Enjoy Being a Girl” but I know and like “A Hundred Million Miracles” and “Love Look Away.”
 

State Fair the 1945 film I watched once. It had two good songs and no story that I could find. “It Might as Well be Spring” deserves some comments. Looking it up on YouTube I found a hundred different recordings. More than that. Maybe 150. Take that Sondheim. Only “Send in the Clowns,” an admitted absolute classic, could approach that number.

I was looking on YouTube for a clip where I think on Ed Sullivan Rodgers at the piano was demonstrating how the melody jumped up and down to “I’m as jumpy as a puppet on a string.” I didn’t find that but I found Michael Feinstein showing that Rodgers had written two different melodies to those lyrics. The first melody was smooth and not jumpy over those lyrics. I think he was a little proud of that melody trick.
 

I didn’t and wouldn’t see a stage version of “St. Louis.” Much like Gigi, it is a classic with the best of connections in Judy Garland, director Vincent Minnelli, the MGM musical machine (and Margaret O’Brian).

I saw the original theater version and it was just so very small. How do you replace Leslie Caron with some soap opera star. You don’t. Similarly, how do you replace still young Judy Garland singing “The Boy Next Door” and the still popular and covered “Trolley Song?”

When I was still a kid, gas stations handed out free vinyl records with an assortment of Christmas songs by various artists. I was too young to know anything of the artist or the film, but this one track was so unlike the rest. A girl singing a Christmas song with heartfelt emotion, but a sad, plaintive song. “Until then we’ll have to muddle through somehow.” That was my introduction to Judy Garland and I watched the song grow from a fringe Christmas song to a top ten if not greater.
 

Many probably don’t know of the song’s origin and have never heard the finest recording of it. I hated having the lyrics changed but I guess it had to happen. But put this on stage? Never.

(Sorry. Once again I have started pecking away at this little keyboard and have rambled for too long.)