PAL JOEY Broadway Revival Planned/City Center Production

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 10/4/21 at 9:06am

EXCITING!!!

There’s a lot of changes here which I’m sure is gonna piss a lot of people off, but it sounds interesting to me. 

Updated On: 6/9/23 at 09:06 AM

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 10/4/21 at 9:08am

Let’s start dream casting. :)

[bway0]

Posted: 10/4/21 at 9:14am

Not familiar but I did Google and found a short summary. Sounds… interesting. I’m excited to learn more about it!

[CityLights3]

Posted: 10/4/21 at 9:26am

Not Christian Hoff.
Not Edward Villella.

Why not just do an evening with Rodgers and Hart instead of trying to make this creaky old thing something that it’s not? This will be the 6th Broadway production of Pal Joey and the last two productions had to replace their Joey’s during previews. So whoever they cast, don’t get too excited.

Updated On: 10/4/21 at 09:26 AM

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 10/4/21 at 9:34am

Well if it’s a “creaky old thing” then you should be excited for the revisions that hopefully will make not “creaky”.

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 10/4/21 at 9:47am

I was one of the few who enjoyed Richard Greenberg’s adaptation at the Roundabout some years ago. If nothing else I liked the work he did with the scene where Joey first meets Linda. I’ll be curious to see what this creative team has planned. I think Pal Joey has one of the best scores of the golden age musicals and that article lists quite a few songs they’re planning on adding to the score. I’m not sure how necessary that is but we’ll see how it turns out. I assume some of them will be for Linda but I’ve always thought “My Funny Valentine” would be a nice addition for her character and that song isn’t listed.

[QueenAlice]

Posted: 10/4/21 at 9:51am

I've always thought the film version of PAL JOEY with Sinatra and Rita Hayworth, while very different from the stage production works really well. It sounds like this revival is interpolating some of the songs the film version included. 

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 10/4/21 at 9:59am

I'm there for anything Savion Glover does, but PAL JOEY seems like the white whale of Broadway...everyone tries to take a stab, rarely succeeding. The added songs could make the evening feel like an overstuffed vehicle for musical numbers.

Worth noting that the lead creative team is all male, and the book adapter, co-director, and lead producer are white men.

This had a series of readings about 5 years ago with Marin Mazzie as Vera. Anyone see those?

[theatreguy]

Posted: 10/4/21 at 10:06am

In Audra McDonald’s pre-Tony Awards interview with the New York Times she said she would be back on Broadway in the 2022-23 season. Seems like a good bet she could be playing Vera.

[BwayLB]

Posted: 10/4/21 at 10:16am

Got me on Savion Glover since I grew up with Happy Feet

[Bettyboy72]

Posted: 10/4/21 at 10:19am

This makes me so happy. I love Pal Joey and I LOVED the Roundabout Revival. I saw it 4 times. I may be in the minority, but I loved Risch as Joey. Plimpton was robbed of a Tony. She was sublime perfection. Stockard Channing broke my heart. I found it all so good. 

I am excited for the rewrites by LaGravenese. I think he is a sharp and sophisticated writer. 

I think this would be an excellent vehicle for Jake Gyllenhaal and would really help to get butts in the seats. I think a re-team with Annaleigh as Linda would be marvelous. I'd love to see Veanne Cox as Vera. No question. 

[JBroadway]

Posted: 10/4/21 at 10:27am

I rolled my eyes until I saw Savion Glover's name. Now I'm totally excited and on-board! 

The list of potential Veras is endless - where to begin? 

With Savion involved, do we think it might be a Black cast? (I know not every Black director needs to be directing a Black cast – but this show seems like a good candidate for some non-traditional casting) 

I’d love to see Viola Davis as Vera (assuming she can sing it). Maybe Ephraim Sykes as Joey? 

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 10/4/21 at 10:28am

The Twitter scuttlebutt from people who claim to be in the know is that this will have a white Vera and the rest of the cast will be Black.

So is it going to be a White Savior story now?

[sinister teashop]

Posted: 10/4/21 at 11:41am

Jordan Catalano said: "EXCITING!!!

There’s a lot of changes here which I’m sure is gonna piss a lot of people off, but it sounds interesting to me."

I doubt if the changes are going to piss anyone off. The original book has been adapted so many times that the one revival I've never seen was one with the original book. I'm actually curious about the book as John O'Hara has experienced a revival of interest in the past ten years. 

[Sutton Ross]

Posted: 10/4/21 at 12:06pm

I know nothing about this show but with Savion involved, I'm there.

[pmensky]

Posted: 10/4/21 at 12:24pm

There was a similar attempt at a revisal about 8 years ago at Arkansas Repertory Theatre. Ted Chapin at R&H gave permission for a rewrite of the script which was done by Patrick Pacheco, Peter Schneider (The Lion King) directed. Joey was Clifton Oliver (The Lion King) and Linda was Stephanie Jean Umoh (Ragtime). Songs were also cut from the original score and other Rodgers and Hart songs were added to fill it out. 
 

 

[jv92]

Posted: 10/4/21 at 1:03pm

CityLights3 said: "Not Christian Hoff.
Not Edward Villella.

Why not just do an evening with Rodgers and Hart instead of trying to make this creaky old thing something that it’s not? This will be the 6th Broadway production of Pal Joey and the last two productions had to replace their Joey’s during previews. So whoever they cast, don’t get too excited."

I’m down did that. Maybe even a bio musical. The period of the late 30s/early 40s was a productive one for Rodgers and Hart, but a tumultuous one. Larry Hart’s story is terribly sad, but Pal Joey itself is not a happy piece. And at least Hart contributed something of worth to society.
 

I love the Rodgers and Hart songbook, but the shows are antiquated. Pal Joey might have two really interesting leads, but even rewritten, I think the lily has been gilded far too much. 
 

But Savion should make it interesting… 

[VintageSnarker]

Posted: 10/4/21 at 3:49pm

QueenAlice said: "I've always thought the film version of PAL JOEY with Sinatra and Rita Hayworth, while very different from the stage production works really well. It sounds like this revival is interpolating some of the songs the film version included."

Yeah, making Linda "an aspiring singer" points in that direction as well. I've listened to the 1952 album, the Patti Lupone album, and I watched the movie in quarantine. I don't have big issues with it as long as Joey remains a jerk and they don't try so hard to clumsily redeem him like the movie did.

[TotallyEffed]

Posted: 10/4/21 at 4:28pm

Gosh, I’d love to see Cate Blanchett.

[Ke3]

Posted: 10/4/21 at 5:26pm

Vanessa Williams is my first choice for Vera. I wonder if it will be a Hollywood name or a Broadway name.

[Dolly80]

Posted: 10/4/21 at 6:43pm

My guess is that there will be a black Vera and Pal Joey.

Audra McDonald would sure be luxury casting here. But I agree that’s it’s a really flawed musical and will need a LOT of work.

[Someone in a Tree2]

Posted: 10/4/21 at 6:48pm

Love the black south-side of Chicago angle. Really sounds problematic to keep Vera white in that case.

With Linda as a great chanteuse, I guess that means all the jokes about her being a mouse will be cut from the book. My heart sinks when creators can't trust a show to operate like a classic musical (anyone can sing or dance at any time), and need to put a girl in front of a microphone in a club to let her sing. We'll see...

Best news is Savion Glover. His choreography for SHUFFLE ALONG has been the best dancing on Bway in a decade.

 

[OlBlueEyes]

Posted: 10/5/21 at 3:57am

Worth noting that the lead creative team is all male, and the book adapter, co-director, and lead producer are white men.

That increases the chance that they will make hash of the book and casting to show that they are not really white men. Just accidents of birth.

They made a B+ film out of C material by casting Sinatra, Rita Hayworth and Kim Novak and interpolating the right Rodgers and Hart songs into the right places. This show has offbeat characters and a wealth of R&H songs going for it. If well cast and if they don't turn the book inside out it has some things going for it.

Not familiar with "I Could Write a Book?" Have I reached an age where everyone hasn't seen When Harry Met Sally and doesn't recognize the Harry Connick, Jr. cover of that song that accompanied the ending?

 

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 10/5/21 at 7:51am

Ah, a musical about a man-slut. LOVE IT! Count me in!

[joevitus]

Posted: 10/5/21 at 10:26am

The book was never great, and in fact even the one included in Penguin's Pal Joey paperback (O'Hara's stories plus the script for the musical) is that of the 1952 revival, not the original. I personally would rather they present the show that made a hit and history, but tinkering with the script does not surprise or bug me. The producers are surely not interested in mounting a museum piece, but something that will actually work for an audience of today. I can't really blame them for that, or say that presenting the original (or the 1952 edition, or another previous revival) will satisfy contemporary audiences.

What does bug me is such a radical re-invention of the characters and the addition of more songs. It makes no sense for Linda to be a singer--it makes the character an entirely different kind of person, and throws off the relation of the two female leads and what they represent to Joey (one's taking advantage of him, one's being took, one's clever and brassy, the other is naive and demure). I always get the feeling the re-writes to this show aren't about "improving" but softening what was considered a very tough-minded piece (as Rodgers put it once, all the characters were awful people, except for Linda, who was just plain stupid).

Adding more songs is odd, too. It makes sense to stock up on hits for Anything Goes because it is thought of as being wall-to-wall hits, though in fact only four songs out of the original show became standards and the rest of the score is kinda mediocre (but pleasant). Every number in Pal Joey is already a winner, and if you don't cut any, that means you are going to have a very long evening to fit in all the rest. Yet the material isn't going to be improved by a longer running time.

Oh well, hopefully the performers and the orchestrations will be good. We might get a good cast recording out of it.

Updated On: 10/5/21 at 10:26 AM