BOUNCE Casting Rumors- Page 2

[BustopherPhantom]

Posted: 7/15/08 at 11:42am

I don't think the score will ever rival Sondheim's best unless it was almost completely overhauled (and that ain't happening).

That said, I still love it, save for a few awful numbers like WHAT'S YOUR RUSH? and THE BEST THING THAT EVER COULD HAPPEN TO ME and YOU.

Come to think of it, if he just re-wrote most of the ballads, I'd be completely happy.

Updated On: 7/15/08 at 11:42 AM

[Scripps2]

Posted: 7/15/08 at 2:31pm

And I thought The Best Thing That Could Ever Happen was the best thing in it. Having said that I'd agree that the score isn't up there with Sondheim's best.

I don't understand what attracted him to the idea in the first place. The show doesn't seem to have anything to say, unless as I've seen posted elsethreadwhere, it's absurdist comedy and has to be seen to be appreciated.

[frontrowcentre2]

Posted: 7/15/08 at 6:07pm

That was my feeling after seeing it in Chicago. It was not awful or painful to sit through, at all. I have seen shows far worse. (The Andrew Lloyd Webber SUNSET BLVD for starters.) I did find that BOUCE had a first act that was way too long and took a while to get going.) But unlike every most of his other shows, I didn't get why this particular story was being told. I waited in vain for the point to come in the finale (after the brilliantly staged "Boca Raton" sequence and the stunning "Get Out of My Life" number) but it ended with a reprise of the title song. Nothing more.

I have heard and read that the original WISE GUYS was in fact stronger and Sondheim has said they are returning to much of that original material.

[BustopherPhantom]

Posted: 7/15/08 at 6:15pm

It's going to be darker?

Oh thank God! Hopefully they'll change that awful ending: Wilson Mizner has no business being let off the hook at the end, after all the **** he puts Addison through.

[heathurrr]

Posted: 7/15/08 at 6:19pm

I got really, really excited when I read Michael Cerveris and Alexander Gemignani... and then was suprised to read that the majority of the rest of the thread didn't share my feelings.
Gemignani doing Sondheim is wonderful, IMO!

(I'm trying ever so hard to have the cash just for a weekend trip to NY so I can catch this in the fall!)

[jv92]

Posted: 7/15/08 at 10:03pm

I like the score an awful lot. I've never seen or heard the first workshop, so I have no idea what it was like, but the album from the Hal Prince verison is very good. Still, I'm sure there's much to change. I like the casting. Personally, I think Christine Ebersole should play the mother (She's about Faith Prince's age) because I want her and Sondheim to work together, but alas, that's a dream.

[jewishboy]

Posted: 7/15/08 at 10:23pm

I would prefer almost anyone other then Prince.
Updated On: 7/15/08 at 10:23 PM

[BlueRoses321]

Posted: 7/16/08 at 5:15pm

I read the new script. It's much tighter than the original, and takes place in one act. Nellie's character is gone.

[uncageg]

Posted: 7/16/08 at 5:42pm

BobbyBubby, I think Bernadette will still be on tour. I know she is here in Mid September. And I can't wait to see her!

[BustopherPhantom]

Posted: 7/16/08 at 6:00pm

I read the new script. It's much tighter than the original, and takes place in one act. Nellie's character is gone.

Yes, but is it better, in your opinion?

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 7/16/08 at 7:01pm

I really enjoyed most of the music. I can't seem to get into "Merrily We Roll Along," but I found this to very accessible, and a great listen. I'm so excited to see this production in the fall.

[BroadwayBaby6]

Posted: 7/17/08 at 8:13pm

Interesting to note that Faith Prince was initially supposed to play Nellie in the Chicago and DC productions of Bounce but dropped out due to being cast in a (short-lived) TV show.

While the book and direction may be an improvement over the catastrophe seen in Chicago and DC (I was horrified after seeing it in Chicago), the score is quite middling. It's not a bad score, but it's a disappointment from a composer who has so many masterpieces to his credit.

[ljay889]

Posted: 7/17/08 at 8:16pm

That's weird. She's going from Nellie to Mama.

[whatever2]

Posted: 7/17/08 at 10:50pm

> That was my feeling after seeing it in Chicago. It was not awful or painful to sit through, at all.

respectfully, i couldnt disagree more -- i went with friends, and all four of us thought it was pure torture.

and the sunset boulevard comparison is actually even more off-base; say what you want about ALW's music (no fan here), but at least SB distracted us with some glamorous sets. the production values at the goodman bounce could not have been more amateurish ... it was basically paint on canvas. ive seen high school shows try harder.

sorry, it was just excruciating for everyone i know who saw it.

[frontrowcentre2]

Posted: 7/18/08 at 12:55am

Well of course everyone is entitled to their own opinion.

For me SUNSET was pure torture because a glorious film was given a terrible stage adaptation. The performers I saw were not even putting any enthusiasm into the piece. Before seeing the show I had heard the cast album and knew that there was a lot of very dull recitative that Webber at the time favoured. (HE used it a lot in ASPECTS OF LOVE, one of the most mind-numbingly boring musicals I have ever seen.) The score for SUNSET was a mis-mash of musical styles (mainly because it was mainly recycled trunk material) and when all was said and done, there seemed to be no reason for this story to be made into a musical, let alone a bad musical.

BOUNCE in Chicago had its problems too, but at least I found the story and characters interesting and much of the score quite good on first listen. Later, hearing the CD, I appreciated it even more.

For example, I like how "The Game" became a recurring motif. And as mentioned "Addison's trip around the World", the New York Sequence, and the Boca Raton sequence were not only musically as good as anything Sondheim had done before the staging by Prince had the crackle of excitement he brought to such scenes as the Montages in SHOW BOAT and "Rainbow Tour" in EVITA.

If all of BOUNCE had been at this level I doubt we'd be having this discussion. It wasn't. But it held promise. What it lacked (for me) was a point of view. But I'd be quite willing to give the revised version another look.

[whatever2]

Posted: 7/18/08 at 10:14am

sorry ... i actually didn't intend to take this off on a Sunset tangent. i just thought it was interesting that you chose that particular play to contrast Bounce with -- as i've said, i think the sets in the goodman's Bounce truly were facile, whereas the sets in Sunset were (if nothing else) intricate.

it's also interesting that you mention giving it another chance -- i am a 3-play subscriber to the Public, and i really cant decide whether i think Bounce is worth it. the book made a pair of marginally interesting historical figures bland, and the music was uneven even for sondheim.

gee -- that sounds like a decision, huh?

[Revolutionary]

Posted: 7/19/08 at 7:05pm

Heathurr, no worries. I'm totally excited with you. Ok, about Cerveris, not so much (one trick pony).... but definitely Gemignani. I'm so glad that he's in something new every season. Go Alex!

And getting way ahead of myself, I think I'd die of happiness if he went from straight from Bounce to Merrily....

[BlueRoses321]

Posted: 7/20/08 at 10:48pm

I saw the show in DC and enjoyed it enough... Plenty of problems, but I appreciated it. I think now, it is better indeed. Of course, things on paper are different than on stage.

[BroadwayBoy2]

Posted: 7/31/08 at 7:47pm

when do tickets go on sale?