Martin Guerre??

[adampascalgal]

Posted: 10/9/04 at 6:25pm

I am just listening to Martin Guerre after a REALLY long time, and I forgot how much I enjoyed this show!!! I was lucky enough to see the touring company, and I really loved it, but then it just sort of disappeared. Does anyone happen to know what happened with this show? Why did it never open on Broadway, that is I am assuming it never opened, please correct me if I am wrong?

[Sant]

Posted: 10/9/04 at 9:11pm

I've been wondering the same thing! I saw the show in London and I thought it was really good! I thought it was so much better than Miss Saigon.

I've never seen this 'final' version, when I saw the show it was reworked from the original version, and then they rewrote it again for the touring production (after it closed in the West End) which includes songs that were not in the original show.

[adampascalgal]

Posted: 10/9/04 at 9:52pm

*bump*

Sant - That is really interesting I did not know that they rewrote it again for the touring production? But then again going into see the show I really did no much about it, but after I saw it I really liked it, I don't know if I like it more than Miss Saigon, but still its a great show. I really wish I could find out what happened to it?

[jo]

Posted: 10/9/04 at 10:15pm

I also saw the show at the West End ( with Iain Glen ) and was sorry to know that it didn't transfer to Broadway. The theme may be on the dark side, but it makes for a very dramatic story and there are some very good songs in it.

[BlueWizard]

Posted: 10/9/04 at 10:17pm

Yeah, Martin Guerre went through several difficult rewriting periods. I think there have been 5 versions:

1 - Premiered on the London West End to bad reviews.

2 - Temporarily closed for rewrites (the 1996 cast recording was done during the rewrites, so it incorporates both versions). Premiered again to stunning reviews, and won the Olivier Award for Best Musical. But the negative hype from the first version killed the ticket sales before the renewed, good word got around. (There might have been a third rewrite too, with minor changes to tweak the show.) Martin Guerre ended up closing early on the West End.

4 - The UK Tour production. It featured a completely new rewrite: the plot, characters and score were all completely reworked. The production itself was also completely new: much more minimalist and pared-down (one big criticism of the original West End production was that it was too big and collapsed under its own weight). Toured the UK to moderate success. There was a 1999 cast recording made (if you compare the two cast recordings, they are very different.)

5 - The US tour. Based on the 1999 UK tour, but with moderate changes.

This US Tour had every intention of opening on Broadway. However, that theatre season was unusual because all the theatres on Broadway were completely booked up. Many hopeful productions couldn't get into the city, including Martin Guerre. Coupled with the mixed reviews and the fact that he had already lost fortunes to this show, Cameron Mackintosh decided to just finish the tour and close the show.

A sad ending, really (supposedly it drove a stake into the relationship between Boublil and Schonberg, which is really tragic, because the two produce beautiful work). From what I hear, the best version was the second rewrite, which won the Olivier award. Martin Guerre was a flawed work, but there was much promise in the material that never truly reached its full potential.

Updated On: 10/9/04 at 10:17 PM

[eatlasagna]

Posted: 10/9/04 at 10:42pm

i have both the original london cast recording and the UK tour cast recording... and actually.. the original london recording does not have the changes from the 2nd rewrite as someone mentioned...

i saw the US Tour here at the Ahmanson Theatre in LA right before it was to go to Broadway... the playbill stated that no suitable theater was ready for the show... but whatever... i personally thought the US tour version was OK... i know from audience reaction and the ushers talking that not many people had a good response to the show... when i saw it, quite a few people walked out at intermission... it was amazing how empty the theater was... even before intermission.... i felt that Act I was quite a mess... it was boring and tedious... the character development was awkward and the use of flashbacks to tell the beginning of Act I felt odd... namely because they were flashing back to seven years when they were supposed to be children but the adult actors still played the role... the Act I finale was boring and unsuspenseful... essentially Act I was plagued with a HORRIBLE script... now Act II i felt was damn near perfection... that's what Act I should have been... it was just so clean and tight... i think it was mostly because the suspense and drama came in the form of the trial of "Martin Guerre" which took up half of Act II and then the last half was the confrontation of all the characters... it was excellent.. but a tad long but whatever...

in comparing the newer version and the original version... i truly missed the orchestrations of the original which were lively and vibrant... it was a rather large orchestra... the new version had only like 15 members and sounded more folksy which they did on purpose... but i really didn't care for it... but either way... all the melodies are there but the lyrics are completely new and the songs were shifted around... if you hear the original and the new version, you can obviously tell that they just really changed the lyrics only and the story...

Martin Guerre was a good musical... not better than Miss Saigon, though and certainly not better than Les Mis, although i felt that's what they were trying to evoke... i just think what the show needed was a GOOD book... that's what truly made it suffer...

[EponineThenardier]

Posted: 10/9/04 at 11:11pm

I wish that I could have seen it. I love Martin Guerre. I hope it comes to Broadway eventually. I surprised that some of the songs haven't become majorly popular, despite the show not doing well. "Live With Somebody You Love" for instance, that is one of the greatest songs ever written

[Pip]

Posted: 10/9/04 at 11:15pm

I really like Martin Guerre, too....both recorded versions. I remember reading a synopsis of the plot before I heard the first one and I though...You've got to be kidding...but I liked it and I think the second version did a good job of tightening up what was a really long and convoluted plot

[BlueWizard]

Posted: 10/9/04 at 11:28pm

I actually like the plot of the first version better (what IS with the flashback sequence in the second version??). But I think the prolonged court scene is dull on CD. Of course, it could be thrilling onstage, I dunno.

[Pip]

Posted: 10/9/04 at 11:31pm

I've never seen it...wish I could. I liked the plot of the first one, too, but I'm kind of weird about tricky plots. I thought the second was probably more "sellable" and I could see why they did what they did. I still listen to both, though.

[adampascalgal]

Posted: 10/9/04 at 11:45pm

Blue - Can I just say again sooooo glad that you are back??? Thank you for clearing up with so much detail what happened with the show, it is all making sense to me now!!!

[lna]

Posted: 10/10/04 at 12:53am

I am curious -- has anyone seen the movie? The show (which I never had the opportunity to see) was based on a French movie, the Return of Martin Guerre (based on a book about a historical event by Natalie Davis).

The movie Sommersby with Richard Gere and Jodie Foster was also loosely based on the same story.

I don't know how many changes they made in the show to try to make it work for the stage.

[eatlasagna]

Posted: 10/10/04 at 1:35am

BlueWizard-

To answer your question about the flashback sequence... in the original version of the show, it begins with Martin Guerre's uncle arranging his marriage to Betrande and then moves to him leaving because he didn't like the marriage and then skips a few years to him on the battlefield with his friend Arnaud du Thil...

in the later revised tour version, the musical begins with Martin Guerre and Arnaud du Thil as already established friends and then Martin Guerre reveals to Arnaud that he is married and then tells him the story through a flashback sequence to seven years prior to the war...

if i recall... the current version was less about Arnaud taking the place of Martin Guerre but rather the emphasis was placed on the ramifications that take place because Betrande WANTS Arnaud to take Martin's place... it was a lie that they wanted... see, it gets really complicated a little... but oh well... still a great piece of theater that needed a lot of work still..

[jo]

Posted: 10/10/04 at 9:00am

" "Live With Somebody You Love" for instance, that is one of the greatest songs ever written "

There is a recorded version of the song by Michael Ball and Marie Zamora ( Alain Boublil's wife) and it is very beautiful!