How did The Life (or anything else) lose out to Titanic?
How did The Life (or anything else) lose out to Titanic?
#1How did The Life (or anything else) lose out to Titanic?
Posted: 6/5/08 at 10:18amHey, forget all those other comparisons of losses and wins. That unprepared mess called Titanic beating The Life simply amazed me. I happened to see both those shows the week of the Tony's that year. I was stunned.
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/31/69
#2re: How did The Life (or anything else) lose out to Titanic?
Posted: 6/5/08 at 10:22amTwo words: Cubby Bernstein.
#2re: How did The Life (or anything else) lose out to Titanic?
Posted: 6/5/08 at 10:23am
I saw both shows... I actually enjoyed THE LIFE more! Cy Coleman score was spectacular and memorable, though Maury Yeston's score was fantastic too~ very old fashioned. Personally it was hard for me to pick between the two-when it comes to score...but definitely THE LIFE was my choice for BEST MUSICAL that year!
That year was a good year for New Musicals! Score-wise! Yeston for Titanic, Kander & Ebb for Steel Pier (the show was so-so) and Coleman for THE LIFE.
also Juan Darien is the same year! great show!
J*
joe5
Broadway Star Joined: 5/17/06
#3re: How did The Life (or anything else) lose out to Titanic?
Posted: 6/5/08 at 10:26amPolitics, The best show doesn't always win the Tony.
Borstalboy
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/9/04
#4re: How did The Life (or anything else) lose out to Titanic?
Posted: 6/5/08 at 10:29amTHE LIFE was a brilliant score set to an inane book.
"Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they've been given than to explore the power they have to change it. Impossible is not a fact. It's an opinion. Impossible is not a declaration. It's a dare. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing.”
~ Muhammad Ali
#5re: How did The Life (or anything else) lose out to Titanic?
Posted: 6/5/08 at 10:30am
I had an opposite experience.
I went into THE LIFE expecting to love it. I thought, except for the fabulous Lilias White and Chuck Cooper, that it was dull. Too long. Story line didn't grab me. A couple of good songs, but there were some clinkers. Not what I expected from Mr. Coleman. Lots of bad notes from the performers, too. Needless to say, it left me disappointed.
I went into TITANIC thinking it was going to stink and that the set was going to break down. I ended up thoroughly enjoying myself. I was very entertained and the multiple storylines held my interest. Great performances, too. The set was very impressive. I really like Yeston's score. No problems whatsoever on the night I saw it.
To this day, I avoid THE LIFE CD, and often return to the TITANIC OBC recording.
I think the Tony voters made the right choice.
Just my personal take...
Itty Bitty Geisha?
Toyland?
Gypsy Pasadoble?
Just a few popular favorites...
#6re: How did The Life (or anything else) lose out to Titanic?
Posted: 6/5/08 at 10:38am
joe5 said it perfectly! yes.. its also a popularity contest.
There were years that I lost my faith to the Tony voters like:
Grey Gardens losing over Spring Awakening
The Light in the Piazza losing over Spamalot
and probably this year....
Passing Strange might lose to In the Heights. Dont get me wrong ITH was an entertaining piece, but Passing Strange is a more superior show...its almost an ART by itself!
at least in 2004- Avenue Q won over the much hype Wicked~ which I personally think that is preachy show & pretentious but really no substance whatsoever!
J*
Updated On: 6/5/08 at 10:38 AM
philly03
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/20/07
#7re: How did The Life (or anything else) lose out to Titanic?
Posted: 6/5/08 at 10:45amWhy didn't Jekyll & HYDE get nominated when it was the longest running show of the new musicals that year (not that they'd know that? though?) Oh well.
#8re: How did The Life (or anything else) lose out to Titanic?
Posted: 6/5/08 at 10:48am
Just because it runs a long time doesn't mean it's good! Think CATS and PHANTOM.
JEKYLL & HYDE, for me personally, was one of the worst Broadway shows I've ever seen.
And don't even get me started on Hasselhoff.
Itty Bitty Geisha?
Toyland?
Gypsy Pasadoble?
Just a few popular favorites...
#9re: How did The Life (or anything else) lose out to Titanic?
Posted: 6/5/08 at 11:04am
First and foremost I have seen all the shows in 1996-97 season. Personally I find Jekyll & Hyde to be the weakest of all the musicals that opened that year. Not counting the abysmal score~that one would use in a Beauty Peageant..ex.. "This is the Moment" or something that a bride and her father will dance at her wedding.
The real question is as to Why did Scarlett Pimpernell got nominated (by default) in the same leagues of far more superior shows like SIDE SHOW, RAGTIME & THE LION KING!
J*
Updated On: 6/5/08 at 11:04 AM
WOSQ
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/18/03
#10re: How did The Life (or anything else) lose out to Titanic?
Posted: 6/5/08 at 11:25am
The Titanic season was a rotten year. Each musical nominee had serious faults. Titanic was probably the most commercial of the four.
While Titanic lacked in character development (The writers decided to make the ship the lead in the show.), The Life had an odious subject matter that was really a fantasy by three old white men. The Life attempted to romanticize street prostitution and pimping, and you know what? That isn't a romantic topic at all and offended many people, not the least was me who thought that it ought to close before the critics saw it. The Life is one of the few shows I have truly hated. A good cast and some nice music could not redeem this bad-taste farce.
Steel Pier was a muddy story with some magical realism thrown in that was written because they couldn't get the rights to "They Shoot Horses, Don't They?" There seemed to be several borrowings from that story.
Juan Darien was actually artistically the best of this lot, but was just not commercial and was long-closed.
Titanic did a politically smart thing and announced a tour right after the nominations so all those road producers saw a possible "Best Musical Winner" in their theatre and marked an X.
"If my life weren't funny, it would just be true. And that would be unacceptable."
--Carrie Fisher
SporkGoddess
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/27/05
#11re: How did The Life (or anything else) lose out to Titanic?
Posted: 6/5/08 at 11:37am
I wouldn't say The Life romanticized prostitution. I in no way whatsoever would want to lead Queen's life.
Anyway, The Life had its problems. Of course, so did Titanic. Both had great scores though, IMO.
Edit: Ack, can you tell I just read The Wild Party libretto? Haha.
Jimmy, what are you doing here in the middle of the night? It's almost 9 PM!
Updated On: 6/5/08 at 11:37 AM
#12re: How did The Life (or anything else) lose out to Titanic?
Posted: 6/5/08 at 11:49am
I love all of Cy Coleman's work but I thought that The Life was the one show he really couldn't connect with. It felt - and feels on the odd occasion I listen to it - as if he never really found the right "sound" for that material.
Titanic, for all its book problems, works better for me because Yeston DID find the right approach. I thought that, in a bad year, it did deserve its Tony.
Faced with these Loreleis, what man can moralize!
The Other One
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/1/08
#13re: How did The Life (or anything else) lose out to Titanic?
Posted: 6/5/08 at 11:58am
Arguably the best score of the decade, and certainly the best-sung by a huge and wonderful cast.
No problem with that win at all.
#14re: How did The Life (or anything else) lose out to Titanic?
Posted: 6/5/08 at 12:08pmoh GOD don't even get me started on this!!!
"For me, THEATRE is an anticipation, an artistic rush, an emotional banquet, a jubilant appreciation, and an exit hopeful of clearer thought and better worlds."
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#15re: How did The Life (or anything else) lose out to Titanic?
Posted: 6/5/08 at 12:59pmTitanic is one of my all-time favorite scores, and I thought it was leaps and bounds better than The Life.
A little swash, a bit of buckle - you'll love it more than bread.
#16re: How did The Life (or anything else) lose out to Titanic?
Posted: 6/5/08 at 2:08pm
While Titanic lacked in character development (The writers decided to make the ship the lead in the show.)
Hence the title, unlike the film for which the ship was merely a backdrop for a ridiculous fictional love story that grew more ludicrous by the second. The musical was about the ship, the broad range of passengers (all based on real people), and their intertwined fates. It was never meant to be a character-driven show.
I can completely understand people's misgivings regarding the show's design, but I thought it was gorgeous, moving and engaging. Not to mention the fact that it featured one of Broadway's most beautiful scores in decades.
"What can you expect from a bunch of seitan worshippers?" - Reginald Tresilian
BWNUT
Featured Actor Joined: 9/26/07
#17re: How did The Life (or anything else) lose out to Titanic?
Posted: 6/5/08 at 2:12pmLost all faith and stopped watching the Tonys religiously when Miss Saigon lost to Will Rogers Follies.
#18re: How did The Life (or anything else) lose out to Titanic?
Posted: 6/5/08 at 2:21pm
Titanic was wonderful from beginning to the end (I cried during "Still")and the only thing I had a problem with was the ridiculous set design for the closing of Act I.
The Life had 2 great performances (although one showed too much boobs, and it wasnt Lillias!) and a decent score, def. not Coleman's best! If I had to hear Isaacs sing "Oh Daddy..." one more time! Some of the dialogue was just embarrassing, imo.
Seriously, tho...why did I have to watch Chuck Cooper's man boobs?
And the year of Will Rogers, I agree...it was the worst of the four nominees, though I'd put Secret Garden and Once on this Island above Miss Saigon.
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#19re: How did The Life (or anything else) lose out to Titanic?
Posted: 6/5/08 at 2:24pm'The Life' was amazing. We were promised it over here in London the year after it closed but it fell thru due to contract probs!
A young actress with Noel coward after a dreadful opening night performance said to him 'Well, i knew my lines backwards this morning!''
Noels fast reply was ''Yes dear, and thats exactly how you said them tonight'!'
#20re: How did The Life (or anything else) lose out to Titanic?
Posted: 6/5/08 at 2:26pm
Lost all faith and stopped watching the Tonys religiously when Miss Saigon lost to Will Rogers Follies.
I felt smilarly from watching the Tony broadcast until I actually saw Will Rogers Follies. Then I totally got it. It was a tight race, but Will Rogers Follies was a brilliant show that edged out Miss Saigon in creativity. I really wasn't expecting much from Will Rogers Follies, but when I saw it, I was blown away by its brilliance, humor and ingenuity.
"What can you expect from a bunch of seitan worshippers?" - Reginald Tresilian
#21re: How did The Life (or anything else) lose out to Titanic?
Posted: 6/5/08 at 2:31pm
and the only thing I had a problem with was the ridiculous set design for the closing of Act I.
I actually loved that scene! I'll never forget hearing the simultaneous gasp from the audience and the thunderous applause that followed when that set was revealed. I have since seen it on video and in 2-D, it doesn't have the same effect. In person, it gave me goosebumps.
"What can you expect from a bunch of seitan worshippers?" - Reginald Tresilian
#22re: How did The Life (or anything else) lose out to Titanic?
Posted: 6/5/08 at 2:33pmA ping pong ball and a 20ft piece of string!!!!
A young actress with Noel coward after a dreadful opening night performance said to him 'Well, i knew my lines backwards this morning!''
Noels fast reply was ''Yes dear, and thats exactly how you said them tonight'!'
TooDarnHot
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/7/08
#23re: How did The Life (or anything else) lose out to Titanic?
Posted: 6/5/08 at 2:35pmthe set was fantastic
Gothampc
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/20/03
#24re: How did The Life (or anything else) lose out to Titanic?
Posted: 6/5/08 at 2:44pm
The Life was a very dark, depressing show. Prostitution, drugs, NYC during the 80s. The story wasn't good. You didn't really feel for any of the characters. Plus they tried to style the show in "late 70s porn", which made it look cheap.
It did give us some good talent though. Pamela Isaacs had a beautiful belt soprano. Lillias White was great as second banana.
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