They're Playing Our Song

[folkyboy]

Posted: 8/21/06 at 5:37pm

I would love to see a revival of They're Playing Our Song done with an all black cast. The songs on it are so full of soul and heart I think it could come across REALLY well.

Of course I'd love to see a revival of the show period... Why hasn't anyone ever tried to do this again?

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 8/21/06 at 5:44pm

I always wondered why there were only 9 original songs in the score

I always wanted more

[Gothampc]

Posted: 8/21/06 at 5:45pm

The material is very dated. Plus it's become a staple for dinner theaters and community theaters working on a small budget.

Updated On: 8/21/06 at 05:45 PM

[morosco]

Posted: 8/21/06 at 5:51pm

I loved the original production on Broadway. The score would need to be tweaked a bit since it has that 70's disco sound. Small cast. Relatively inexpensive to produce unless it stars Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick. (Seriously, how about Matthew Broderick and Sarah Jessica Parker?)

[ILUVTOMG]

Posted: 8/21/06 at 6:40pm

one of my favorite shows - robert klein and lucie arnaz were perfection and it was fun to see debbie shapiro (Gravitte) and donna murphy workin in the chorus. More of a play with music than a musical...does seem a bit dated now. there was a rumor of a revival with rachel york a few years back but it never happened. would be fun to cast it with idina menzel and taye diggs but i'm dreaming :)

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 8/21/06 at 6:44pm

That is a great idea - cast wise

Posted: 8/21/06 at 6:47pm

I adore this show too! Did it in Dinner Theater for a year and never tired of it.

[alterego]

Posted: 8/21/06 at 8:29pm

The physical production of the original (Douglas W Schmidt) was fabulous. The revolve, the sliders and projections. The set was the third star (after the Sonia and Vernon). Every production I've seen without the original set seems somewhat lacking.

The material really isn't that dated. There are a few references - The Bee Gees, Dracula, Pippin, Le Club which would need to be updated, and the orchestrations could be tweeked a little but that's about it. I too appeared in it for a year and never really tired of it.

There was talk back in 1991 of a revival to star Robert Downey Jnr that never got off the ground. Updated On: 8/22/06 at 08:29 PM

[Buscee]

Posted: 8/24/06 at 7:36pm

There was mention that Lucie Arnaz and Robert Klein did a reading of it for Neil Simon last year to see if there age has any effect on the show. All Neil said was he wanted to fix the Breakup scene. So its quite possible a short revival with the original cast may happen! That would make me very happy.

Posted: 8/24/06 at 8:38pm

I loved that show! I saw it numerous times. Lucie Arnaz was wonderful as Sonia. One of my absolute favorite performances.

[jasonf]

Posted: 8/24/06 at 8:57pm

The score may be cheesy and "outdated" but I love it - especially Fallin and Just for Tonight.

[jimnysf]

Posted: 8/24/06 at 9:38pm

"The score would need to be tweaked a bit since it has that 70's disco sound"

Something wrong with Disco? I don't think so. Leave the score as it was written. Disco Rules.

I, too, saw the original and I loved Lucie! I also saw it again with a couple of people from "Soap" in the leads and I still loved it.

[morosco]

Posted: 8/24/06 at 10:06pm

"Something wrong with Disco? I don't think so. Leave the score as it was written. Disco Rules."

Haha. Actually I love the score as it's written. I like that sound. And that huge orchestra. I'm just not sure everyone else would. Maybe I'm assuming wrong.

[musicaltheater1]

Posted: 8/24/06 at 10:18pm

I'd like to see an updated version of the play. I was fortunate to see a revival featuring Lea Salonga and Andrew Pang. Salonga's "Fallin", "If He Really Knew Me" and "I Still Believe In Love" were just truly endearing and sung flawlessly from the heart. I bought the original CD so I can listen to the songs again.

[jasonf]

Posted: 8/25/06 at 12:44am

Salonga sang Fallin? That's for Vernon...

[Incognito]

Posted: 8/25/06 at 6:29am

I saw this in London after Martin Shaw had taken over from Tom Conte. Gemma Craven was out that night, but still a wonderful show.

Whatever happened to Gemma Craven? She went from being the darling of the West End to nothing.

[Buscee]

Posted: 8/25/06 at 6:47am

HaHa I saw it with "Soap" Stars too TED WASS and DIANA CANOVA!!

I also saw it with Lucie Arnaz, and then again with Stockard Channing!

[alterego]

Posted: 8/25/06 at 9:00am

I heard a story that when Tom Conti was doing the show in London he changed a few lines in the final scene which infuriated Neil Simon to the point where he didn't give the production his approval. I bet he still took his royalties though!

[allofmylife]

Posted: 8/25/06 at 11:47am

The set produced gasps every time the curtain rose. Arnaz and Klein were perfect. PERFECT. (I just noted how sad it is that Arnaz seems so forgotten, she was so good). The show only has nine songs because that was all that was needed. Sometimes less is more. And the book had huge laughs and great pathos. It was a great night in the theatre.

[ILUVTOMG]

Posted: 8/25/06 at 12:04pm

Lucie Arnaz has really not been forgotten.. i think not working on bway has really been her choice - she's devoted herself to her family - our loss is their gain. but i can think of a lot of roles that would have been perfect for her. maybe she could have even saved THE GOODBYE GIRL? well, we'll never know. speaking of changes, i saw a production at the westbury music fair with susan anton (!) and dick latessa (!!!!) and the very last few lines were changed. having seen the bway production maybe 30x i almost jumped out of my seat. instead of the whole ingrid bergman 'i'm so lucky' line which was perfect, the phone rang and it was leon, sonia's phantom lover. very odd and ended the show on a funny rather than sentimental note. give me sentiment any time. and i'd rather see matthew broderick and nathan lane play sonia and vernon rather than MB and SJP. oh, but page six says that will never happen.
Updated On: 8/25/06 at 12:04 PM

[DottieD'Luscia]

Posted: 8/25/06 at 3:28pm

allofmylife, what was it about that set that drew such a response from the audience. I'm sorry I never saw this, but I do have the cast album.

[morosco]

Posted: 8/25/06 at 3:37pm

"what was it about that set that drew such a response from the audience"

The set was amazing! So stylish and fast moving. The main feature was a huge turntable. When the turntable spun scenery would also be flying in and out and pieces would move on and off from the wings. On top of all that going on there were multiple slide projectors mounted on the balcony rail (the enclosures that kept them from being too noisy are still installed I think). The projections would change images very quickly thus creating moving images. When all this happened at once it was just an orgy of movement onstage that would desolve the action from locale to locale. It was all very well choreographed and the audiences loved it.

[musicaltheater1]

Posted: 8/25/06 at 3:44pm

jasonf, you're right...."Fallin" is for Vernon. Salonga recorded "Fallin" in one of her albums.

[jasonf]

Posted: 8/25/06 at 4:27pm

Ahh - that makes sense. Now I need to track that down... :)

[DezBryner]

Posted: 8/25/06 at 5:19pm

Looks like there's a production going on in Sydney that Variety didn't really rave about.
They're Playing Our Song Review