Bounce

This past February there was a workshop of the revised version but no further word on that.

I saw the show near the end of its run in Chicago. Though Richard Kind and Howard McGillan were both good, the show really needs two dynamite star players. (Nathan Lane and Victor Garber did one o the workshops when it was called WISE GUYS.) Jane Powell largely wasted and her voice a mere wisp of what it once was. As always, Michelle Pawk was great.

The audience (the day I saw it) was filled with vultures who even before the Overture began, had already decided to hate it and tell all their friends how horrible it was. It was NOT horrible, but it was not ready for Broadway either.

Act One suffered from over length and a lack of focus. It also contained a glaring error that neither Sondheim nor Weidman seems to want to correct: They keep referring to the Gold Rush in the Yukon but keep saying it is in Alaska. No. The Yukon Territory is in Canada and the gold rush was never in Alaska. After that strange episode things started to improve. "Addison's Trip around the World" was inventive and brilliantly staged. So was Willy and Nellie's wedding where the Alter folded down to make a large bed around upon which most of the New York Sequence was played. The biggest problem for me was that much of Act One was staged cartoon style with overblown characters. Then in a sudden departure at the end of the Act things got more serious.

Unfortunately a lot of people left at intermission, because Act Two was much much better. It was tighter, more focussed, and had Gavin Creel as Addie's lover. Creel got one of the best songs in the show "Talent" and later in Act Two came the fantastic "Boca Raton" sequence: The whole Florida land boom and bust covered in one five minute number. If the rest of the show had been at the level of this, the New York sequence and Addison’s trip the show would have been perfect. After all this, though, the ending seemed a little flat and uninspired.

So overall the show was problematic yet filled with potential and as the cast album reveals, the score has many memorable moments. The logo on the CD box should sum up what the show needs to try and establish...how one brother's success impacts on the other as they bounce back and forth. It is a great premise but that isn't what the musical shows us.

What is sad is that Sondheim has spent 12 years on this show. At this point I wish they would set it aside and work on something new, then maybe come back to this one later. But at 76 how much more does he want to do? He seems to be kept busy advising on revivals.

In Toronto a few years ago (5 to be exact) he mentioned he was at work on two shows..One a biography (That became BOUNCE) and the other an original. He also expressed the desire to write one more "big romantic piece...not like PASSION but more in the style of SWEENEY TODD."

We can only hope...

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After Bounce closed out of town a benefit performance with the cast of the closed production was announced for New York City and tickets were sold. The performance was cancelled. Does anyone know why?

"they didn't want to show the work in its then-current state."

That doesn't really answer the question. The powers that be knew what state the work was in when they allowed the concert to be adverstised and tickets sold. No answer would be better than one that is fabricated

Frontrowcentre2's review is pretty close to the mark. It has some good music, but the narrative is unfocused and the tone of the show is uneven. Act 1 seems very long. There were some cartoony moments, but I thought the show suffered in its more serious passages. There was literally no growth or character arc for the two main characters. I thought, perhaps, that Addie (the Richard Kind character) may break that mold, but no dice. They end up exactly the same as when they started, having learned little or nothing. Kind and Howard McGillin are fine, but I agree that more dynamic leads may have helped. Michelle Pawk is exceptional in what could have been a throwaway part. Gavin Creel and Jane Powell are both strong as well. I agree that Powell is underused, but I thought her voice was quite robust when I saw it. I can easily see why it closed prior to Broadway - there were just too many elements that did not effectively gel, but it was by no means a bad viewing experience.

I am glad they DIDN'T take the imperfect show to Broadway where it surely would have flopped. (I wish other producers would know when to pull the pug or send a show back for more workshopping.)

But yes, the score is treasurable and I am glad Nonesuch recorded it.

Whats scarey is that I just realized it was 3 years ago that I went to Chicago to see it! Where did those 3 years go?

I have a few extra playbills if anyone wants one.

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For a moment I thought they made a musical out of that wretched Gwynneth Paltrow/Ben Affleck movie. I was like, WTF?

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StageManager2 - THANKS!!!!!!!!!! That made my day!!!! I always knew about Nathan in it but never actually heard or saw it! Thanks!

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OK, apdarcey, I would have thought that Sondheim knew the shape the show was in before the producers even thought about doing it in concert form as a benefit. Quite frankly, I think he should have stopped fiddling with it when it was still called Wise Guys, as the recording of that verion makes the show seem like a good one.

I went to a Sondheim Q&A in London 3rd week in May and Sondheim said the reworked version of Bounce is about 4 weeks away from completion. He said this was his last try before he lets it go. So it should be ready right about now.

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