A few questions on "Steel Pier"

[inlovewithjerryherman]

Posted: 11/10/05 at 4:54pm

1. Is it any good, as a show? I don't think it did well in its original run, why so?

2. I downloaded a few songs from the show ("Everybody's Girl", "Running in Place", "Willing to Ride", and "First You Dream"). Is the rest of the album worth a purchase?

3. Is there anywhere i can get sheet music for "Running in Place"? f anyone had it and was willing to share, that'd be awesome.

Anyway, let me know.

[sidwich]

Posted: 11/10/05 at 5:02pm

1. It had a lot of problems. The book was problematic, it didn't really capture the seedy desperation of the Great Depression well at all, the story was pretty off the wall, it wasn't Kander and Ebb's best score overall... yeah, it had problems. The marketing campaign (happy!music!dance!) was completely at odds with what the musical actually was (generally, pretty dark).

2. Personally, I think "Second Chance" is one of Kander & Ebb's better songs, and maybe the best piece in the score. I think Brent Barrett recorded it for his album. Karen Ziemba and Kristin Chenoweth are always worth listening to.

3. Dunno.

[Jon]

Posted: 11/10/05 at 5:55pm

Great score, great choreography, LOUSY book and direction.

It pobably would have done better if the revival of CHICAGO hadn't opened the same year. The new, second-rate Kander & Ebb had to compete with the old, first-rate Kander & Ebb.

I truly believe Ziemba deserved the Tony over Bebe Neuwirth, but the Tony voters seemed determined to give CHICAGO every possible award.

They might as well have named the show "NOT AS GOOD AS CHICAGO".

[inlovewithjerryherman]

Posted: 11/10/05 at 5:58pm

I see I see.

Hm I'll download Second Chance then. Didn't know Kristen was in it.

Anybody seen/have the music?

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 11/10/05 at 6:00pm

Thought the show & score were quite good

[CaroleeFan]

Posted: 11/10/05 at 6:00pm

Steel Pier Vocal Selections

[Cheno'sBiggestfan]

Posted: 11/10/05 at 6:03pm

yes inlovewithjerryherman she was in it. and you spell her name kristin not kristen.....sorry little thing that bothers me!

[frontrowcentre2]

Posted: 1/12/06 at 3:46am

I believe it was her Broadway debut. He big bit on the CD is a parody of those operatic "wedding songs" which she over sings but it comes across on the CD as irritating. (It did in the show too, just not as much.)

I saw the show the just after the 1997 Tony awards and it was by far better than THE LIFE and JEKYLL & HYDE. Still the book (which wasn't as terrible as some here have said) had two major problems: 1.) It wasted too much time on minor characters that never developed into anything 2.) It was a reworking of the standard "ghost" story but too many people didn't understand that soon enough (the curtain went up on a plane crash and him lying dead on the beach. Somehow people assumed he was napping!)

There is anther gem in the score: "The Last Girl" ...sung by the pilot watching the girl of his dreams dancing with someone else. Yet in truth, she really is the last girl he'll ever love: after all the guy is dead. The melody is similar to those 1930 ballads sung by Al Bowlly. Kander and Ebb at their best.

One other memory: At the end of "Wet" Daniel McDonald jumped of the dock into the water, wearing white boxers. When he re-emerges he was indeed wet and the boxers were practically transparent!

[Jon]

Posted: 1/12/06 at 6:32am

To be technical, Chenoweth's Broadway debut was in Bill Irwin's adaptation of Moliere's SCAPIN at Roundabout the previous season.

I always felt that the song "Wet" should have had the longer title: "Let's figure out a way to get Karen Ziemba and Daniel McDonald in their undies, soaking wet!"

[jasobres]

Posted: 1/12/06 at 7:37am

No, actually, that was Cheno's off-Broadway debut. This was her Broadway debut and I believe that she was a brunette back then. She dyed her hair blonde after Charlie Brown.

Updated On: 1/12/06 at 07:37 AM

[SonofMammaMiaSam]

Posted: 1/12/06 at 9:17am

Cheno is and always has been a blonde. She has NEVER been a brunette.
Updated On: 1/12/06 at 09:17 AM

[WithoutATrace]

Posted: 1/12/06 at 9:22am

unfortunately, the "Steel Pier" vocal selections book does not include Running In Place (which I happen to think is the best song in the show).

[children&art]

Posted: 1/12/06 at 9:46am

Steel Pier is great, although I've never seen it onstage but the CD is permanently in my changer and is downloaded into my iPod.

I came across this CD in 1997 when it, along with Chicago, were on Bway. I was in college, had fallen in love with K&E via Chicago and was ravenous to get my hands on all their stuff.

I found Steel Pier in Tower Records, picked it up and didnt think much about it, hadnt heard anything about it, until I popped it the CD player on the way home.

The music and its evocation of 30's dance marathons is near perfect. Although the sentiment echoed in the title song is close to that of "Cabaret" (life's a party, why dont you come to the Steel Pier - no one's ever gloomy or glum at the Steel Pier) it still remains a gem of mine.

[jasobres]

Posted: 1/12/06 at 10:03am

"Cheno is and always has been a blonde. She has NEVER been a brunette."

If you look at pictures of A New Brain on the Internet, you'll see that she definitely had darker hair then.

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 1/12/06 at 10:31am

I didn't think it was a "great" show
Great cast. YES
Ziemba mis cast but worked her butt off
Stro's best Bway work before someone said
"You should direct" (who told her that anyway?)

[BwayBaby18]

Posted: 1/12/06 at 10:38am

Off topic i know but Kristin was a dirty blonde during Scapin

[children&art]

Posted: 1/12/06 at 10:48am

the worst part of the CD has got to be Cheno's wedding number, skip it - she is at her most irritatingly grating.

[BwayBaby18]

Posted: 1/12/06 at 10:49am

Children and Art lets not turn this thread into another Kristin bash please.... :)

[Rathnait62]

Posted: 1/12/06 at 10:56am

Kristin's wedding number was the bright light of the show. She blew everyone away. No one who was there will ever forget her Broadway debut.

[children&art]

Posted: 1/12/06 at 11:10am

whoa, whoa, whoa - me bash cheno? are you serious???? i would never attack someone smaller (much, much, MUCH smaller) than myself. nor would i bash someone who could put me in an epileptic coma with her damn chirpy chirp voice.

but back to steel pier - GREAT music, great energy, wonky story and book. Debra Monk & Karen Ziemba rock it out.

[Jon]

Posted: 1/12/06 at 11:35am

Curtain - how could KZ have been miscast, considering that Kander, Ebb, and Thompson wrote the show with her specifically in mind?

Chenoweth was a blond in Steel Pier, a blonde in New Brain, and a blonde in Scapin.

[DirtyRottenGirl]

Posted: 1/12/06 at 12:04pm

Another song that I like that has been mentioned was "A Powerful Thing"

[children&art]

Posted: 1/12/06 at 12:10pm

even the dance music and incidentals are good!

[joeybiltmore1]

Posted: 1/12/06 at 12:28pm

I actually think that the supporting characters deserved MORE attention. There were some very interesting types there and I think it widened the "Depression has affected us all" scope of the piece.
Ziemba was exquisite, and the show featured some of Stroman's best choreography. Also, the lighting design was perhaps the finest I've ever seen in a musical. BUT the book and direction were a mess and the score didn't have many songs that really landed - at least in the theatre.
As for Chenoweth - yes she was delightful, but the show ground to a halt for her well-performed but gratuitous number. It's as if halfway through rehearsals they realized what a talent she was and threw in a number for her.

[Rathnait62]

Posted: 1/12/06 at 12:37pm

I skipped over Curtain's post, thanks for addressing that, Jon.

It is pretty tough to be miscast in a role - in a SHOW - that's written for you.