Posted: 7/3/19 at 10:41am
Strong enough to pick up on as a minor subplot that drives part of the second act, but small enough that you could cut it [and "Rock and Roll Dreams..."], and reassign many details of that subplot to another character in a way that would honestly resolve their arc better than it's handled now, and you wouldn't miss all that much.
Indeed, in looking at various drafts of this show's script, it seems like their biggest problems have centered around two things:
* Plot vs. score (the biggest battle, to hear a creative tell it, was between the push for more songs and having enough book to tell the story Steinman wanted to tell, because desired running length couldn't accommodate both options), and...
* Having too many songs for the same spots in the show and not being willing to let go of them, even if that means putting a square peg in a round hole. (Example of the latter: a song called "Bad for Good" works in more or less the same spot that the show's title song occupies, as it was written for basically the same scene in another version decades ago, but once "Bat" was picked, until the show left rehearsals in Manchester, where it was cut before previews [I think], "Bad for Good" occupied what I'd argue was a rather unfitting position late in Act II for pretty much that reason.)
I honestly think it could work pretty well as the first musical mini-series (for Netflix or similar platform) if they wanted to stick to maybe two, three songs per episode and use elements of all previous drafts in world-building. As it stands, it's a mish-mash, and after 50 years of hype, you'd think Steinman's fans would have wanted more, but I think they're just excited there was a result period.
Broadway Legend
joined: 5/1/05
Blocked: After Eight, suestorm, david_fick, emlodik, lovebwy, Dave28282, joevitus, BorisTomashevsky, Seb28
Updated On: 7/3/19 at 10:41 AM