Carnival at Kennedy Center

[spellbee]

Posted: 10/23/06 at 2:25pm

Any casting news (or rumors) for Kennedy Center Carnival?

[AC126748]

Posted: 10/23/06 at 3:47pm

Jim Stanek is Paul.

[All_For_Laura]

Posted: 10/23/06 at 5:12pm

Cannot wait! I'll be there!

[spellbee]

Posted: 10/23/06 at 5:18pm

Really??? How did you hear that? And how about Marco, Lily and the other female character (can't think of name)?

[All_For_Laura]

Posted: 10/23/06 at 6:16pm

Jim Stanek is the only one who has been announced. There are articles on most of the bway sites.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 10/23/06 at 6:30pm

This is a show that cries out for a Broadway revival

[All_For_Laura]

Posted: 10/23/06 at 6:42pm

Totally. The papermill production last season starring Elena Shaddow was Amazing!

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 10/23/06 at 6:53pm

Instead of reviving shows like this, they are reviving Grease for the umpteenth time

[Gypsy9]

Posted: 10/23/06 at 7:30pm

Is there a chance that the production that will be playing The Kennedy Center will come to Broadway?
I saw the OBC in 1961 at the Imperial with Jerry Orbach as Paul, Anna Maria Alberghetti as Lili, and Kaye Ballard as Rosalie. It was a fabulous show, from the moment you walked into the theatre with the curtain up and the stage dark and empty. Ever so slowly the lights started coming up and the traveling circus started setting up as they would in the early morning. Then the overture began which led right into the opening number, "Direct from Vienna". The cast sang and acted wonderfully under Gower Champion's brilliant direction and choreography.
NYC needs a first rate revival of CARNIVAL. It has been 45 years! Buy the digitally remastered CD and hear for yourself.I gaurantee you will be enchanted.

Updated On: 10/23/06 at 07:30 PM

[All_For_Laura]

Posted: 10/23/06 at 8:42pm

I love the music and I think a classic like this has a rightful place back on broadway.

[bubba7753]

Posted: 10/24/06 at 3:29pm

What are the dates for this production?

[spellbee]

Posted: 10/28/06 at 6:39pm

feb 17 - mar 11.

any more casting news?

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 10/28/06 at 6:53pm

I don't think you can really compare a revival of GREASE to a revival of CARNIVAL: there is no comparison, particularly in regards to marketability.

CARNIVAL remains a very tricky show to direct because of the subject matter, particularly in this day and age and I think the consensus is that no major regional theatre production of late (including the Paper Mill production) has found a completely viable way of telling the story in a way that appeals to modern audiences.

I'm sure if the Kennedy Center production is extraordinary, there will be talk of a Broadway transfer: they better get Anne Hathaway though, because nobody is going to go see CARNIVAL on without some name recognition...

[Gypsy9]

Posted: 10/28/06 at 7:29pm

"CARNIVAL remains a very tricky show to direct because of its subject matter, particularly in this day and age..."

Michael Bennett, please elaborate, especially with regard to your feeling the need for the production to appeal to modern audiences, with the assumed need for changes in the book.

The show that I saw in 1961 would seem to have timeless, universal appeal, both with the joyous carnival atmosphere and the drama of Paul and Lili. Granted, it would be hard to replicate Gower Champion's brilliant staging.

Updated On: 10/28/06 at 07:29 PM

[JohnBoy2]

Posted: 10/28/06 at 8:25pm

I saw CARNIVAL in 1961, as well, and it remains one of the best shows I ever saw on Broadway. Its opening number remains THE best opening to any musical I ever saw on Broadway. I will certainly be seeing The Kennedy Center production. GREASE, I'll be skipping.

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 10/28/06 at 8:37pm

Gypsy9 - the issue is the character of Lili and her relationship with Paul which borders on a sort of sadomasochistic control: Because of the way she thinks and acts,if Lili is cast as a mature grown up woman, she comes across as somewhat mentally challenged: but, if she is cast very young, making her child like qualities more believable, than there is something almost pedophilic about his affection towards her.

Either scenario makes modern audiences uncomfortable. I'm afraid the times have very much changed since 1961, and modern audiences are much more sensitive and aware of "unconventional relationships" in whatever form they take.

Frankly, I think you'd have the same problem trying to stage GIGI on Broadway in this day and age. For all the story's charm and score, there is just something off putting to today's world in the story of a Grandmother and Aunt raising a teenage girl to be a courtesan.

The other side of the equation is that CARNIVAL for all its visual splendor is not really what I would call a first rate piece of musical theatre writing. Critics recognized that even at the time and I think it, again, makes mounting a major revival of it even more difficult in this day and age where it is increasingly difficult to generate "real" stage magic without an incredibly gifted director at the helm.

Maybe Tommy Tune or Julie Taymor could make CARNIVAL really work today, but I fear the show really is just a creation best left, at least in terms of Broadway, to 1961.
Updated On: 10/28/06 at 08:37 PM

[Gypsy9]

Posted: 10/28/06 at 8:58pm

Michael Bennett, I never looked at the relationship between Paul and Lili in the ways that you bring up. I never saw Paul as being that much older than Lili, although I certainly saw him as a control freak. I found him sympathetic because he only spoke his true feelings through his puppets. He was obviously a person with a tremendous amount of anger inside that Lili was finally able to break apart. But aside from that relationship, the production was magical and I think Tommy Tune could pull it off. Or, what about Kathleen Marshall(sp?)or Susan Stroman?

Updated On: 10/28/06 at 08:58 PM

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 10/28/06 at 9:06pm

Casting a very young Paul would help, but even reading over your description sounds like an episode of Dr. Phil. The subject matter of CARNIVAL when you put it under the microscope of 21st century pop psychology is just...really creepy. That is the challange. I certainly wouldn't put it up in a non-not-for-profit setting, but perhaps the Roundabout would be interested.

I don't think Kathleen Marshall would be a great choice. She's just not really that much of a visionary.

[Doogie]

Posted: 10/28/06 at 11:31pm

I've thought about this...I think a big part of the reason the show doesn't work is that it is very bipolar. On one hand, you have the lighthearted puppet fare, and then you have darker matters (limping man who wants to dance again, the way lili is treated, or abused, by Paul, Marco, Schlegel, etc., and then the fact that Paul and Lilli fall in love), of the 3 different productions I have seen, each one sways a bit too heavily in either direction. Though I will say that Paper mill production was brilliantly cast.

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 10/29/06 at 12:34am

If Paul and Lily are good actors and the passion is done well, the show works.
Darker subjuects than Older/Younger relationships are being explored on Broadway right now, so it might be time for a good revival of this show.
The score is magnificent.
Kathleen Marshall would be the last person I would want involved with this show.
If Tommy Tune could bring the brillance of his staging of his great musicals with the directing chops he brought to CLOUD NINE, we might have it.

[KChenowethfan]

Posted: 10/29/06 at 10:29am

I haven't heard any casting rumors but I bought a ticket. I am not all that familiar with the show. I am glad the Kennedy Center is including this in a season that also boasts things like POTO.

[Gypsy9]

Posted: 10/29/06 at 11:36am

I am not one who watches talk shows and don't even know who Dr. Phil is. I described the way that Paul and Lili interact the way that book writer Michael Stewart described them--it was based on the 1953 screenplay LILI by Helen Deutsch which had been adapted from the 1950 story "The Man Who Hated People" by Paul Gallico. The title of the story says it all. I am certainly not one to subscibe to 21st century pop psychology. I just decribed the plot the way it was written in 1961. Dark subject matter can certainly be dealt with in revivals of musicals--take the 1993 London production of CAROUSEL which played at Lincoln Center, or the recent revival of SWEENEY TODD or even the current CHICAGO as examples, or the new production THE COLOR PURPLE for that matter. NYC theatregoers can handle CARNIVAL with the proper direction and will be rewarded for their experience.

[spellbee]

Posted: 11/2/06 at 3:00pm

bump

[WOSQ]

Posted: 11/2/06 at 3:08pm

Nostalgia time:

Carnival was the third professional show I saw after My Fair Lady and The Music Man. Like those, I was taken to see the road tour in Wilmington, Delaware. I was about 12.

Susan Watson, Ed Ames and Joanne Worley were the leads.

[Gypsy9]

Posted: 11/2/06 at 8:07pm

I can see Susan Watson playing Lili. I saw her in the OBC of BYE BYE BIRDIE in 1960 and the OBC of BEN FRANKLIN IN PARIS starring Robert Preston in 1964. She was the delightful ingenue
in both shows with a voice almost as good as Anna Maria Alberghetti's.