"Applause"

[joeyjoe]

Posted: 8/8/04 at 11:18am

redhot and i were listening to the OBC of this show, and i was wondering if anybody thinks this show is revivable... or is it too dated now... certainly the All About Eve storyline can be relevant but is the actual show revivable?

[Rathnait62]

Posted: 8/8/04 at 11:30am

Who would you cast, Joey?

[magruder]

Posted: 8/8/04 at 11:58am

I'm not sure that Applause is revivable. The score is just not good enough. It's fun, in a guilty pleasure way, but even in its day, the score was considered rather second rate.

[adp22]

Posted: 8/8/04 at 1:06pm

I was in a production of Applause in my high school 4 years ago. It was a pretty bad show and I do not think it is reviveable. My mom saw it on broadway though and liked it. So maybe it was just our high school production that was bad. I even wrote a letter to lauren bacall inviting her to come see it, and of course she never wrote back. Oh well. She wouldn't have liked our production anyway. If they do revive it, they will have to make a lot of changes.

[Auggie27]

Posted: 8/8/04 at 1:14pm

The score is pretty forgettable, which is too bad, because Strouse can write memorable stuff (RAGS). The songs written for Margo were designed for Bacall, so when real singers do them, they sound -- well, just bizarre. The first bus and truck of the show starred Patricce Munsel -- an opera/operetta singer! When she sang meatball numbers like "Hurry Back" and opted to end in a coloratura flourish, it was beyond strange. There was a revival a few years ago with Stephanie Powers, which moved the title song to the first spot (good idea, I think), and let Margo sing it to start the show. But it tanked anyway. You need a bigger-than-life presence who can move well, deliver bitchy dialogue, and sort of ... throw away the songs. The musical sort of defangs Eve, wrapping her up too early, and requires that Margo end up opting to stay home and make a lasagna for her man. Not exactly empowering for a powerful woman.

Also: fans of the classic EVE -- the musical doesn't have Addison de Witt, one of the most memorable characters in the film, but adds a hoary cliche, the queeny hairdresser. He serves no dramatic purpose, other than to get Margo into a gay bar wherein she dances on a juke box (!) in a fringe skirt and big white stewardess shoes. How hip. Oh the 70s -- not exactly a decade worth revisiting.

Updated On: 8/8/04 at 01:14 PM

[Mr. Tuttle]

Posted: 8/8/04 at 2:07pm

Not a great show at all. Run the other direction if you are ever asked to see it. Watching paint dry is much more enjoyable.

"Not Since Carrie" gives it one of those lost classics reviews and I have no idea what Ken M. was smoking at the time. The music is plain out bad....how many times do you hear "Applause" numbers performed? The book is a muddle of the movie and a new take. Sure, it was a Bacalll vehicle, but it should still be able to be performed with others in the lead. And it features one of the worst numbers ever written.."(It's Gonna Be) a Bumpy Night"..where the chorus is suppose to sound like an S.O.S. morse code. Horrid.

How this won the Best Musical Tony is another question we will never answer.

[Jon]

Posted: 8/8/04 at 3:47pm

There was a tour about five years ago with Stefanie Powers as Margo. It got terrible reviews and did lousy business. That pretty much killed any talk of a Broadway revival.

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 8/8/04 at 4:33pm

A bad show. It was only a hit originally because of Bacall and is frankly little more than a flashy star vehicle with a couple of decent songs. Without a major overhaul of the book, it would seem very dated now as well. I can't imagine it'll ever be revived for Broadway.

[CurtainUp]

Posted: 8/8/04 at 5:59pm

My HS is doing this show in the fall, my teacher tries (I think) to pick obscure shows. It's really incredibly corny, but fun. Campy fun.

PS: If I can hardly sing should I go for Margo? lol

Updated On: 8/8/04 at 05:59 PM

[MusicMan]

Posted: 8/8/04 at 9:08pm

The book CLOSE-UP ON ALL ABOUT EVE relates some interesting tidbits of the musical adaptation for the stage. If memory serves, Comden and Green had some restrictions limiting them in how much of the ALL ABOUT EVE screenplay they could incorporate into the play. Which is why the "based on" credit also includes the "short story by Mary Orr." Memorable logo, though. Updated On: 8/8/04 at 09:08 PM

Posted: 8/8/04 at 10:25pm

I saw the bus and truck tour when it played my university in the early 70s. Patrice Munsel and little Pia Zadora.

Very strange.

[kjklo]

Posted: 8/8/04 at 10:53pm

"Applause" is my favorite "bad" show, because it was the very first show I saw on Broadway (as opposed to tours or stock). I was 14 and on my first trip to New York. I was thrilled by it, and became obsessed with the cast album and with Lauren Bacall. It helped that I loved her old movies and that my parents doted on her (still do). Auggie, your description of the dancing on the jukebox scene is hilariously perfect. But for me at the time, the whole showbiz/gay subtext was secretly exciting and liberating. I can still listen to the cast album with pleasure, but only because of the personal memories it brings back. I definitely don't think the show is successfully revivable.

[Stagebear]

Posted: 8/8/04 at 11:07pm

Wow, kjklo, what a coincidence. "Applause" was also MY first Broadway musical on MY first trip to NYC and I was also 14!

Anyway, I have to agree with the majority here. The score is very '70's, most assuredly a star vehicle. But I still have a warm, fuzzy spot for it.

My nightmare "Applause" was seeing Eva Gabor in a bus and truck tour later in the '70's. Imagine..."Welcome to the theatah, dahling" AND she had a broken leg. They wheeled her down the aisle (it was in the round) and sort of dumped her onstage. I don't think we stayed for the second act.

SB

[kjklo]

Posted: 8/8/04 at 11:12pm

Oh no, Lisa Douglas as Margo! "Shudder" I don't remember ever hearing about that tour. Thanks for mentioning it, Stagebear.