BABES IN ARMS: Does it have potential for a successful revival nowadays?
BABES IN ARMS: Does it have potential for a successful revival nowadays?
#1BABES IN ARMS: Does it have potential for a successful revival nowadays?
Posted: 9/19/16 at 7:13pm
Listening to the Encores! recording from 1999, and am surprised this show seems to just have fallen off the radar for a potential revival. SO many of the songs have become musical theatre standards. I never see it done by many regional companies in the last 15 years or so. Actually, many of the Lorenz and Hart collaborations seem to have fallen by the wayside. Granted, I'm only familiar with Oppenheimer's cleaned up version, since my high school did it way back in the 90s. I never saw the "unsanitized" version restored by CCM, so I'm not sure how viable it is, if it has become dated, or if the book just isn't that great.
Does this have potential for a successful revival nowadays? It seems like a waste, considering the gems the score is full of.
#2BABES IN ARMS: Does it have potential for a successful revival nowadays?
Posted: 9/19/16 at 9:32pm
I wish it would. I've seen it twice at a now-defunct regional theatre, which I guess is sort of a rarity given what you said about it falling off the radar. (They did the version that Encores did.) It's a pretty joyous show that could definitely use a revival!
#3BABES IN ARMS: Does it have potential for a successful revival nowadays?
Posted: 9/19/16 at 9:38pm
I don't know which version ENCORES did. I would assume they did the late 50s/early 60s "let's put on a show" rewrite, which owes more to the Rooney/Garland film than to the original.
UCLA did the original while I was teaching there and did it well. I thought it was the sort of thing a university should be doing, but the original book is full of references a modern audience would find arcane.
It definitely requires a "revisal" of some sort, but I agree the score is worth it particularly when augmented by other great Rodgers and Hart songs.
#4BABES IN ARMS: Does it have potential for a successful revival nowadays?
Posted: 9/20/16 at 12:00am
I got a surprise. When I looked for reviews of the Kathleen Marshall Encores production, I expected to see the usual glowing compliments of the famous hit songs alongside the derogation of the plot, which even in its time was considered thinner than Scott's toilet paper. Instead I see a review that starts as follows:
What is that exotic, pleasure-making activity taking place at City Center this weekend? It is officially described as a musical, but surely that's not the right word for this suave, silly and zephyrlike concoction that makes you want to dance all the way down Seventh Avenue. Anyone who has spent time on Broadway this season knows that musicals just aren't this much fun.
Yes, in a review that stands alongside Honeymoon in Vegas as one of his strongest is our own Ben Brantley. Let him explain the history of the different versions:
http://partners.nytimes.com/library/theater/021399babes-theater-review.html
Since Brantley wrote so highly of it, you would think that it should be revivable, but apparently one big problem is that it hits on some political issues that would offend some people. Encores did a little work on the book and lyrics.
Of the five hit songs, the one that has been almost forgotten is "Johnny One Note." That's a shame, since it is a unique and comic song with which the right vocalist can really shine. I remember a Judy Garland version in one of her MGM films that I always enjoyed. Ah, it was from the Rodgers and Hart biopic of course.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCtNkGxOwNo
"Revisal" What a great word.
#5BABES IN ARMS: Does it have potential for a successful revival nowadays?
Posted: 9/20/16 at 4:52pm
I don't know why everyone keeps regurgitating the same hits into "jukebox" shows for Gershwin pr Porter or these fellas, when I think people would be a lot more interested in seeing these hit-heavy scores in their original context. Would love a chance to see this show back on Broadway.
#6BABES IN ARMS: Does it have potential for a successful revival nowadays?
Posted: 9/20/16 at 6:41pm
Thanks for all your insights! I loved that Brantley review, and it just redoubled my desire to see this thing revived. It seems like it would be incredibly enjoyable. If the book needs its edges refined, I think a revisal like the 1987 Anything Goes might make it more viable, with or without additional interpolated numbers.
KnewItWhenIWasInFron
Leading Actor Joined: 6/23/14
#7BABES IN ARMS: Does it have potential for a successful revival nowadays?
Posted: 9/20/16 at 7:07pm
The revised one that the Guthrie did in 1992 or thereabouts, with Kristen Chenoweth, Erin Dilly and Kevin Cahoon, had lots of charming moments but the book was a big, fat mess. It was intended for Broadway but never got anywhere near it.
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