Black Dahlia Reading

Is this the thing with that song "What Price Fame, What Price Glory"?

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Chrysanthemum, yes the show included the song "What Price Fame?"

Ray, the cast list was as follows (Characters on Left, Actors on Right):

Sheldon Sherman - Christopher Totten
Maggie Anderson - Emily Skinner
Mrs. Short/Mrs. Whimberly/Nurse Ryan - Diane Findlay
Robinette/Paper Boy - Angela Howell
Chief Martino - Jonathan Kline
Detective Jenkins - Merwin Foard
Elizabeth Short (The Dahlia) - Catherine Walker
Confession Johnnie 3 - James Donegan
Deborah English/Robinette - Danielle Grabianowski
Jack Zalinka - Aaron Lazar
Virginia Black/Robinette - Stacey Harris
Confession Johnnie 1- Martin Van Treuren
Confession Johnnie 2/Van Daniels - Danny Bernardy
Detective Greene - Frank DeSpigno


On the piano was Natalie Tenenbaum



Here was the song list:

ACT 1
Prologue
A Man's World
That Dahlia Dame
I Live My Life Through the Movies
Look At Me Daddy
Secrets
All She Wanted
What Kind of Man?
What Kind of Man? (Reprise)
Enigma
The Midnight Duet

ACT 2
Ego
What Price Fame?
What Price Fame? (Reprise)
Look At Me Daddy (Reprise)
Daddy's Girl
Breakfast of Champions
Them
Over

Thanks for the cast list :) Sorry to hear it wasn't that great.

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I was there -- and I stayed for the entire thing. Mostly because I'm a huge fan of Emily Skinner and was so happy to see her on that stage.

The whole thing was... interesting. Some of the songs I thought were alright - but, that might just be because Emily was singing them (for me, anyway). The story wasn't very strong.

I did laugh when Emily said "she was preggers!!" -- um, was that a term in the 1940's? lol.

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I was one of the many who left at intermission. I was surprised at how dull the story and the songs were. Many of the lyrics were laughable without intending to be. The actors tried hard but I did not feel anyone came across well due to the material they were given. I can not believe this was brought back by the York.

Actually it's not a tacky idea for a musical at all. There have been far stranger things written about.

I was there and I stayed for the whole thing. Interesting is def the word. The funny thing is that they cut 3 songs before the reading started. Some of the songs were superfluous. I remember a club song with the Robinettes (an Andrew Sisters type group) followed by another club song (this time a torch song from on of the Robinettes). I certainly wouldn't say none of the songs are salvagable. That's an extreme. What Price Fame was nice and I liked the song she sang about discovering she had photographic talent.

My main issue with it was the story...well the score as well. I think it could be an interesting story if the murder had ever been solved. Watch any crime drama or even mystery in general. They have something in common. 9 times out of 10 it's solved. There's a reason for that. Audiences like some sort of resolution. If they don't solve it, you're usually left with an emotional impact that's acts as a resolution. This story had neither. I left at the end of the evening thinking "why was this story told?" I invested 3 hours to find out that the case was closed as they were getting close? Ok...well what did that tell me or reveal to me? I couldn't really find a satisfying answer.

Jazzy ~ I think it's because it's a true story and it IS an unsolved crime that there was no resolution. If they created one, they'd be setting themselves up for potential lawsuits from whoever they named unless they went totally against the evidence and just made up someone.

And yeah...even screwing up her line at the end, Emily is awesome. :)

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I don't know... I know there are major issues with this piece, but they did say at the end that there is no resolution. I'm not sure there has to be some big meaning to everything...some things just are. And for some things there are no resolutions. I don't know...different strokes I guess.

But you're right...not everything needs to be musicalized. :)

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