BOUNCE not coming to broadway!!!:(

[~*The Broadway Baby*~]

Posted: 11/18/03 at 11:07am

I just read on Playbill that Stephan Sondhiems new musical BOUNCE is NOT coming to broadway!!!!! As a huge fan of Sondheim, I am absolutely frazzled about it. I was looking so looking forward to seeing it on Broadway. what a disappointment...

[MasterLcZ]

Posted: 11/18/03 at 11:12am

Wait.

I have it on good authority that there will be a concert version of BOUNCE in NYC with the original cast sometime in the future. Exactly WHEN, I do not know!!

Updated On: 11/18/03 at 11:12 AM

[SueleenGay]

Posted: 11/18/03 at 11:38am

Well, we cannot say we are surprised. I am sorry they did not do more work on the book between Chicago and D.C. And I gotta wonder when SS claims the show on that stage is exactly the show he envisioned.

Well, there is always GROUNDHOG’S DAY.

[sparky310]

Posted: 11/18/03 at 11:41am

NOOOOOOOO..they must bring it..how awful..i was so looking forward to it...what a dissappointment..they will have to do fifty concerts to make everyone even remotely happy.

[SueleenGay]

Posted: 11/18/03 at 11:48am

I would not be surprised to see this show re-vamped and done off-broadway in the next couple of years. There is too much intrest in NYC not to have it produced in the city at some point. Also, I wonder if for some reason they realized they made a huge mistake casting Howard McGillin and Jane Powell and could not replace them with out some huge Equity/contractual outrage. Just a thought.

[sparky310]

Posted: 11/18/03 at 11:49am

although i believe in many of the "philosophies" in equity...sometimes it gets in the way of the art.

[SueleenGay]

Posted: 11/18/03 at 11:51am

Oh, Sparky, you speak volumes.

[MusicMan]

Posted: 11/18/03 at 12:02pm

"Ah, sir, times is hard, times is hard...."

[JohnPopa]

Posted: 11/18/03 at 1:00pm

Don't you think if there were interest in NY that it would be being produced? Nothing I've read has implied the show even comes close to working and Sondheim hasn't run in NY in twenty years.

[WOSQ]

Posted: 11/18/03 at 1:16pm

Having seen the show last Saturday, the biggest problem is not the cast. They make do with what they have and what they have is disappointing and flat. The show felt as if it were in its first tryout week instead of its last.

There could be all sorts of finger pointing by everybody at everybody else, but there is a basic question: what do these people have to sing about? Why should we, the audience, want to spend 2:40 with these people?

The material would make a good Jim Carrey-Nathan Lane 100 minute comedy. As it is, what we have is an episodic tale that builds not at all toward an ending.

The book is solidly unfunny as is the direction,and the score is undistinguished at first hearing. Perhaps the disc will reveal some massive subtleties, but in the theatre, it lacks flair. Were the book to be rewritten, which it would need a complete overhaul, then songs would not fit and many of them would require rewriting.

The show isn't bad, per se, but it sure as hell isn't any good either. There is no THERE there. Its time to leave it alone and move on to something else.

[MisterRussell]

Posted: 11/18/03 at 1:44pm

The last two new Kander & Ebb scores didn't make it to Broadway. Two of the last four Sondheim scores never made it to the general public (SINGING OUT LOUD and now BOUNCE).

This does not bode well.

[SueleenGay]

Posted: 11/18/03 at 2:31pm

Oh, JohnPopa, it would be opening on Broadway if Hugh Jackman were starring in it. No it is not the best, by far, of SS's works,but I have a feeling it will have a long life on campus/community stages if not in NYC.

[MusicMan]

Posted: 11/18/03 at 3:00pm

Maybe Bounce could play in rep with Stomp, Swing, Honk and
Thwak.

[JohnPopa]

Posted: 11/18/03 at 3:20pm

Well, it doesn't have Hugh Jackman so that's pretty moot.

It would also probably open if producers thought it was worth the risk.

[SueleenGay]

Posted: 11/18/03 at 3:29pm

My point was that according to my "sources", since I have not seen it first hand, That THE BOY FROM OZ is pretty shakey as a musical, and it came to B'way. Do you think it would have opened with say, Jm J Bullock playing Peter?

[CJR]

Posted: 11/18/03 at 3:33pm

All I can say is thank the good lord in heaven... what a flawed show

[JohnPopa]

Posted: 11/18/03 at 3:35pm

It came because it had a (probably) bankable star attached to it, thus making it worth the risk. As 'Bounce' does not have that sort of star, nor have out of town notices given much weight to the material becoming a draw, the show isn't coming. Plenty of shows get up-and-running without stars and many shows with lesser pedigreed writers than 'Bounce.'

[Unknown User]

Posted: 11/18/03 at 5:39pm

BOUNCE not coming to Broadway...there is a GOD!

Although, now we will have to hear forever how the score was "misunderstood" and too "sophisticated" for the mere "no nothing" theatergoer who might just want to be entertained for his 100 bucks instead of listening to an endless parade of diatonic scales....

Or people will pretend that its’ their favorite score of all time and constantly complain that it should be mounted (like they did for "Follies" for 25 years only to see it fail...AGAIN!)!

Just too “intelligent” to appeal to a regular audience….

The Sondheim lovers love to makes excuses when he bombs, don’t they!

[DottieD'Luscia]

Posted: 11/18/03 at 5:48pm

Good riddance. If it can't be fixed, then everyone is much better off.

[Theatreboy33]

Posted: 11/18/03 at 5:48pm

I dont get all this talk about "there must be a concert version of this!" The music was the worst part! I completely respect Sondheim, but his name alone couldnt get this piece of irrepairable trash to Bway.

[Tesse]

Posted: 11/18/03 at 5:49pm

Noooo, the music isn't at all too sophisticated or intelligent. It's pleasant, simple, and enjoyable-- qualities which have fallen out of favour with Broadway audiences of late.

The biggest problem was the book, really. Clunky, clunky, clunky. Oh, I can't believe the man who wrote ASSASSINS wrote this mess...

~Tesse
My review of BOUNCE

[broadwayguy2]

Posted: 11/18/03 at 5:50pm

I see two rasons to be disappointed --

Gavin Creel
Michelle Pawk

Guess we have to find another show to bring them back to NYC,, someone find something good.. quick!

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 11/18/03 at 6:16pm

I guess they figured most Sondheim shows never repay investors so closing it before Broadway cuts down losses.We will have the score perserved so all is well . As far as Prince's direction, maybe he has run out of gas & needs to think about retirement or maybe no one else would have helped

Updated On: 11/18/03 at 06:16 PM

[BrdwyThtr]

Posted: 11/18/03 at 6:25pm

At least we'll have a cast album to remember the show by.

[ChristineDaae]

Posted: 11/18/03 at 7:07pm

Ahhhh this stinks! I wanted to see this show so bad!!