A few questions on "Steel Pier"

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.

I see I see.

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

Anybody seen/have the music?

Steel Pier Vocal Selections

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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!

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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.

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

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).

"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.

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

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

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.

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

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.