Caroline, Or Change: It's Official!

[BrdwyThtr]

Posted: 1/15/04 at 5:44pm

Caroline, Or Change will begin previews April 13th at the Eugene O'Neill with an opening of May 2nd.
News

[JakeB]

Posted: 1/15/04 at 5:50pm

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. That's like RIGHT after I'm planning my trip. BAH!

[tkts]

Posted: 1/15/04 at 5:55pm

Sorry Wicked. And the Tony Award for best musical goes too...

[gherbert]

Posted: 1/15/04 at 5:59pm

YES! YES! I'm so excited. No I will actually get to see the show! This made my day.

[Auggie27]

Posted: 1/15/04 at 6:03pm

I said it here before: Watch for it to be a serious Pulitzer contender as well. It has the critical elements: American culture/social issues, ambitious aspirations. And it's been penned by the reigning intellectual voice in the theater whose on a roll with the further ascendency of the revisited ANGELS.

I don't believe its move cancels out other shows for the Tony. Remember, LA CAGE handily beat SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE (winner of the Pultizer that year). Tony voters are multi-generational, and a complex, highly fickle assortment.

But Tonya Pinkens I DO believe poses the greatest threat, to The Superwoman, and both Giggling Ad-Libtches.

Updated On: 1/15/04 at 06:03 PM

[bestofbroadway]

Posted: 1/15/04 at 6:11pm

Tony Award? I think not. Even if it's a million times better than Wicked it will never win the Tony. Look at the history of who has been given the Tony. It never goes to the best show, it goes to the most marketable one.

[JoizeyActor]

Posted: 1/15/04 at 6:15pm

Can someone tell me what "Caroline, Or Change" is about?

[magruder]

Posted: 1/15/04 at 6:34pm

Sunday didn't have the Pulitzer in hand yet when it lost the Tony for Best Musical. It won the Pulitzer the following spring.
(It hadn't opened in time for Pulitzer consideration for 1984).

[gherbert]

Posted: 1/15/04 at 6:36pm

Caroline, or Change is about the social issues of Louisiana in 1963. The story cneters around Caroline (Tonya Pinkins), a maid for the Gellman family. The mother of this family has recently passed away and there is an upheavel in the home with the changes that become of this. The father, who plays the clarinet to deal with his depression, has married his wife's liberal Northerner best friend (Veanne Cox) as tradition dictates. The son, Noah (Harrison Chad), who idolizes Caroline, has a cold relationship woth his new step-mother. Noah's habit of leaving change in his pockets annoys Rose, so she devises a little game to stop it. Any money that Caroline finds in his pockets is hers to keep. Caroline struggles with this. A divorcee with four children, she needs the money, but doesn't know whether it is right to take it or not. This is surrounding by the change of events in history including the civil rights movement and the assassination of John F. Kennedy (a major part of another spring musical, Assassins).

[MasterLcZ]

Posted: 1/15/04 at 6:43pm

Confidential to Tonya: Do not accept ANY gift packages from the Gershwin Theater.

[Princess MimiChica]

Posted: 1/15/04 at 6:49pm

I never heard of Tonya before, what else has she been in?
Is she really that good that she's REAL competition for Idina and Kristin!?! i hope not =)

Caroline is a musical, right? what kind of songs are in it?

[StateOfJade]

Posted: 1/15/04 at 6:56pm

Caroline is a musical, right? what kind of songs are in it?

We already established that. Is it. And the story sounds interesting...is the music decent as well?

[JoizeyActor]

Posted: 1/15/04 at 6:57pm

Sounds interesting. Thanks for the explanation. I'd like to see a more serious musical this year.

[gherbert]

Posted: 1/15/04 at 7:05pm

Jeannine Tesori (Thoroughly Modern Mille, Violet) wrote the music and the lyric and book are by Tony Kushner (Angels in America).

Tonya Pinkins is a Tony winner for Jelly's Last Jam in which she played Sweet Anita. She has numerous Broadway, off-Broadway, and prestigious credits. Her most recent Broadway appearance was as Kate in the Broadway version of The Wild Party.

For more info I believe she has a page in the Who's Who section of this site.

Haven't seen the show, but yes, Tonya Pinkins seems to be a very strong contender. By the way, the race thus far is not just between Kristin and Idina, as incredible as are, but Donna Murphy is still in there, too! This years race for Actress in a Musical should be the most exciting in years.

[BrdwyThtr]

Posted: 1/15/04 at 7:07pm

I think it's exciting! Now no one knows what this year's Tonys will be like.

[JoizeyActor]

Posted: 1/15/04 at 7:08pm

I do. I know all.

[ChrisLovesShows]

Posted: 1/15/04 at 7:10pm

Be prepared: The score is not AT ALL like the traditional show tunes that Jeannine Tesori wrote for Millie. The show is sung through and the music is relentlessly somber. I think "folk opera" might be a apt description.

[Auggie27]

Posted: 1/15/04 at 7:24pm

Magruder: Thanks for correcting the SUNDAY timetable. I hadn't remembered that. But I do remember Jerry Herman winning as composer, and saying "the hummable song is back!" or some such, which caused wags to conjure up a fight between Jerry and Steve. Neither functions on that level, but it made good copy.

I do think we might see a spring with that sort of divide, in the spirit of Herman vs. Sondheim or Lloyd Weber vs. anybody. You know, art vs. commerce, as such debates are infamously labelled.

But Tesori is an interesting case, having won for MILLIE, a show some people thought was a pandering tourist trap. Now, she'll be back in the Ar-teest position.

[gherbert]

Posted: 1/15/04 at 7:28pm

I'm not sure I understand your post. Jeannine Tesori lost the Tony for best score to the boys of Urinetown. But the SHOW won, although that's a different thing entirely.

[tpdc]

Posted: 1/15/04 at 7:34pm

I think CAROLINE is a VERY long shot for best musical. If the revised BOMBAY DREAMS is as good as some people are hinting, it could walk off with the Tony. And WICKED and AVENUE Q are strong candiates as well. WICKED is a full out, original Broadway musical hit which will mean a lot to Tony voters. Critics and audiences love AVENUE Q. CAROLINE has mixed critics and audiences who love it or hate it.

[Auggie27]

Posted: 1/15/04 at 7:42pm

gherbert: Yeah, you're right; I know she lost to the URINETOWN music. It's more about her participation in the two shows, MILLIE about as mainstream as you can get, coming from a name value film; CAROLINE, the high-fallutin' hard-sell artistic transfer of the season, light years away from MILLIE's ambitions (and target audience). Tesori's association with two such disparate projects with disparate sensibilities/goals I believe makes her fairly unique.

Updated On: 1/15/04 at 07:42 PM

[gherbert]

Posted: 1/15/04 at 8:35pm

I agree with you totally, Auggie27. Tesori seems to have a wonderful range as demonstrated in her major projects to date: Violet, Thoroughly Modern Mille, and Caroline, or Change.

Posted: 1/15/04 at 9:36pm

No doubt many of you will jump up and down.

Anyone can write a sung-through musical. Recitative is the easiest type of musical form to write--lyrically and musically.

Yes, Namo et. al, I know I haven't seen CAROLINE and I'm not commenting on it, just the mis-guided claims of genius for something that takes no talent to create.

Bulldog

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 1/15/04 at 9:47pm

Please let us know which sung-through musicals you have written. If we've heard of any, those of us who HAVE seen Caroline will let you know how we think it/they compares/compare to Caroline, Or Change. If you haven't written any, please whip one up and maybe stream it online. Since it's so easy, I mean. I'm sure Rob would be pleased to stream it from this site. And try not to make it a sung-through version of one of your quizzes. Name that Tune would not a particularly good musical make.

And, yes, Tonya is that good.

(Auggie, "Giggling Ad-Libtches" is sheer, bloody genius!)

Posted: 1/15/04 at 9:53pm

Me? Write a sung through musical? Now way. I'm not trying to pretend to be a composer of "significance."

I'm told they're already lining up in Iowa to buy tickets for CAROLINE. Broadway, look out--here comes CAROLINE, The Musical!

Bulldog

Updated On: 1/15/04 at 09:53 PM