Casting regional All Shook Up

[newsieboy23]

Posted: 4/11/08 at 3:22pm

Though I saw the Broadway production of All Shook Up, I've yet to read the Theatrical Rights production that regional groups can license (Is it the tour script?!).

As far as casting, are Lorianne and her mother able to be cast as white actresses, or is their race part of the plot somehow?

What other challenges are there in producing this show regionally? My concerns are obviously the motorcycle and the number of scene changes/locations through both acts. Am I forgetting anything?

Thanks in advance.

Posted: 4/11/08 at 4:27pm

Are you forgetting the fact that it sucks?

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 4/11/08 at 4:38pm

??? Did you even SEE the show?

For what its worth -- ALL SHOOK UP did not suck and worked its charm on me as well as others. Cheyenne Jackson and company gave the show some magic and made it work.

Suck? It did not.

[landryjames]

Posted: 4/11/08 at 4:48pm

The show did not suck by any stretch and remains one of the better Jukebox musicals to hit Broadway over the past many years. The race of Sylvia and Lorraine is very important to the show as I recall as Lorraine falls is love with the son of the white mayor who is fundamentally against it (and there is a surprise at the end as to the paternity of the son).
Updated On: 4/11/08 at 04:48 PM

[TRW]

Posted: 4/11/08 at 5:05pm

The TRW Script is the tour version.

With regard to casting, below is an author note from Joe DiPietro.

“All Shook Up” deals with a small town in the 1950’s that recognizes the unjustness of segregation after a leather-jacketed stranger motorcycles into town. In keeping with this spirit, “All Shook Up” was performed on Broadway with an interracial cast, featuring both African-American and white performers.



However, to remove any specific casting issues your theatre group may have, it is acceptable to perform an alternate version of “All Shook Up” in which the town is divided not along racial lines, but along class lines. Of course, all efforts should be made to integrate your cast as fully as possible. But since “All Shook Up” is ultimately about the power and magic of music, this alternate version equally captures the spirit of the show.



N.B. The author has provided options to permit ASU to be performed either by an ethnically diverse or ethnically heterogeneous cast.

[Neverandy]

Posted: 4/11/08 at 8:27pm

There is an Addendum to the licensed script that has about 15 line changes to facilitate a "Lily White" version of All Shook Up. They aren't really that bad, but to me it would seem the show would lose a lot, by not telling that part of the story.

[theatre2]

Posted: 4/11/08 at 8:40pm

the show did great that' s why it got a cast cd made of it. and good vibrations should have had one made too.

[Eris0303]

Posted: 4/11/08 at 8:43pm

I saw a production of All Shook Up that was produced by Musical Theatre West just last month in California.

They opened with "Jailhouse Rock" instead of "Love Me Tender" and they used an inter-racial cast. I think it's important to leave the racial parts as they are since it was a big issue of the time in which the show is set. Personally, I think making a "Lily White" version is a huge step backwards in many ways.

[nasty_khakis]

Posted: 4/11/08 at 8:50pm

i just assistant directed this show at a high school. yes, it's the tour script with a few songs being switched around and the dance arrangements a bit different than what was on broadway. we had an all white cast and there are optional lines. instead, the story is about "mixing of the upper and lower classes" aka a mayor's son and a girl raised in a honkytonk. class issues were very major in the 1950s, much like in the movie "crybaby." the show is tongue in cheek and a lot of fun. especially if you keep in "matilda's confession."

[Flaunt It]

Posted: 4/11/08 at 9:01pm

I got some really great reviews out in CA

By Les Spindle
Librettist Joe DiPietro's exuberant jukebox musical shoehorns the songs of Elvis Presley into a narrative that's part camp, part romantic farce. The loopy tale of mismatched lovers in a 1955 Midwest burg incorporates classics that range from sweet romantic ballads such as "Love Me Tender" to the rollicking "Devil in Disguise" and the hip-swiveling title song. Starting with a gender-bending plot device reminiscent of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, DiPietro stirred in a dash of Footloose, then seasoned the brew with humorous flashes from sundry vintage shows such as The Music Man and Bye Bye Birdie. In director Steven Glaudini's effervescent regional premiere for Musical Theatre West, this 2005 Broadway show feels like an underrated gem, driven by sidesplitting tongue-in-cheek humor, those evergreen chart-toppers, and a tinge of genuine heart.

Glaudini fills the blue suede shoes of the archetypal characters with spirited triple-threat performers. Fast-rising Derek Keeling is marvelous as Chad, a rebellious roustabout who breezes into town on his motorcycle with trusty guitar in tow. His black leather jacket, skin-tight pants, hyperactive hips, and lady-killing sex appeal raise the ire of conservative and controlling Mayor Matilda (the hilarious Cynthia Ferrer), while stirring up the libido of love-starved tomboy Natalie (the exquisite Bets Malone). Unrequited love between several characters makes for amusing complications, leading to a predictable but satisfying conclusion. Malone has a field day with her cross-dress escapades, playing the slapstick mix-ups to the hilt. Fleet-footed Danny Calvert is a charming second banana, playing Natalie's good pal Dennis, who secretly pines to be her boyfriend. Other supporting roles are sublimely portrayed: belter extraordinaire Gwen Stewart as a lonely bar proprietor, Sylvia; Barry Pearl as the widower who's the apple of her eye; Sabrina N. Sloan as Sylvia's defiant teenage daughter, Lorraine; Tristan Rumery as the military-academy cadet involved with Lorraine in a forbidden interracial romance; Tracy Lore as the town's sexy new museum curator; and John Massey as a milquetoast sheriff with a surprise up his sleeve.

This fun-house ride of a show is buoyed by choreographer Lee Martino's toe-tapping numbers that brim with style and sharp wit, Michael Borth's rousing music direction, and spectacular design elements. Elvis aficionados and others seeking madcap musical mirth should shake, rattle, and roll their way to the Carpenter Center, post haste.

***********************

LA TIMES
THEATER REVIEW
'All Shook Up'
The jukebox musical based on Elvis Presley songs has more glitz than substance.

By F. Kathleen Foley, Special to The Times

Musical Theatre West has scored a coup in securing the first U.S. regional rights to "All Shook Up," the Broadway musical, book by Joe DiPietro, that cobbles the songs of Elvis Presley into theatrical form. Whether the end product justifies the means is another matter.

DiPietro's story -- what little there is of it -- is loosely based on Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night." Set in the pivotal rock year 1955, "All Shook Up" gyrates around the pelvis-thrusting Chad (Derek Keeling), an Elvis-like roustabout who travels the country "spreading . . . lovin'." Of course, Chad's arrival in a drab small town frees its repressed inhabitants from the bounds of middle-class morality. The town works some unexpected magic on Chad as well.

A sort of rock 'n' roll Johnny Appleseed, Chad has so much music in him that he repairs broken-down jukeboxes with his mere touch. That's DiPietro's ironic nod to the fact that he has constructed one of the flimsiest jukebox musicals in memory.

By definition, a jukebox musical recycles the songs of an existing musical artist or group into a musical narrative, à la "Mamma Mia!" or "Jersey Boys," more durable examples of the genre. With "Shook," one senses the producers were more interested in a reliable cash machine than artistic expression. And indeed, in the current production at the Carpenter Center in Long Beach, you put your nickel in and get your full quotient of entertainment. But the show's innate appeal cannot wholly dispel the whiff of cynicism behind its manufactured diversion.

But a gig's a gig, and director Steven Glaudini, choreographer Lee Martino and musical director Michael Borth set out to wrest the maximum quotient of style from the general trumpery. Supported by a talented cast, which blazes through this paper-thin vehicle like arsonists in an origami factory, they largely succeed.

And, when it comes to these performers, what's not to like? Keeling, a finalist in NBC's reality series "Grease: You're the One That I Want," is that rarity seldom seen since the days of Cary Grant -- namely, a hunky guy who can play comedy. A terrific singer who captures Elvis' sound without parody, Keeling is well balanced by delightful Bets Malone as Natalie, a tomboy who dons men's attire to get close to the elusive Chad.

Gwen Stewart regularly raises the rafters with her gospel-styled vocals, rubber-faced Barry Pearl gets a bumper crop of belly laughs, and comically vampish Tracy Lore seems ready to pose on the nearest subway grating.

Other standouts include Danny Calvert, Sabrina N. Sloan, Tristan Rumer, Cynthia Ferrer and John Massey, all integral to the fun. Studies in forced perspective, David Rockwell's original Broadway sets are stunning, the 50-carat jewel box surrounding this glitzy bagatelle.

***********************

Show Pics and LA Stage Scene Review
http://www.lastagescene.com/allshookup.html
LA Stage Scene

If there were more justice in the world of Broadway theater, All Shook Up
would now be in its third year of playing there to standing ovations. It has a
clever and very funny book by Joe DiPietro. Ken Robertson and Sergio Trujillo
came up with a bunch of sensational dances. It featured a truly star-making
performance by Cheyenne Jackson and an equally stellar supporting cast.
Most notable of all, it was built around two dozen songs made famous by Elvis
Presley, in other words, some of the most recognizable, hummable hits ever on
a Broadway stage.

Sadly, All Shook Up was the victim of prejudice, the very sin it so slyly preaches
against. Broadway critics (and the Tonys) had it out for so-called "jukebox"
musicals (shows built around the oeuvre of a particular composer or artist, a la
Mamma Mia) and decided to make an example of All Shook Up. No matter
that its book could just as easily have worked with original songs. No matter
that Elvis's songs were particularly appropriate for a Broadway musical. (After
all, there were so many of them to pick from, and they represented some of
the finest work of large group of composers.) No matter the enthusiastic
reaction of audiences who LOVED this show. The critics were in a bad mood,
the Tony committee snubbed Elvis, the producers didn't know how to
overcome this one-two punch, and Broadway audiences paid the price.

But wait, there's a happy ending after all! Precisely because All Shook Up
didn't get the Broadway run it deserved, regional theaters haven't had to
wait (as they still are for Mamma Mia) for the rights to stage this show, and
Musical Theatre West audiences are the lucky winners here.

Steven Glaudini has staged All Shook Up with the same inspiration and flair
that he brought to The Pajama Game, The Pirates of Penzance, and The Full
Monty. Lee Martino's dances are every bit the equal of the Broadway
originals, and maybe even better. A cast of some of our finest local talent
make the dozen lead roles completely their own, backed up by sixteen
magnificent triple-threat singer/dancer/actors.

In a word, All Shook Up is a Hit with a capital H!

Joe DiPietro's book borrows inventively from Shakespeare, yet centers itself
around a character Elvis himself might have played in one of his 1960s movies.
Chad (the Elvis role) is even referred to more than once as a Roustabout, the
title of an Elvis flick in case you didn't know.

Leather-jacketed Chad arrives on his motorcycle one day in "a small, you-
never-heard-of-it town somewhere in the Midwest" in 1955, and the dull, go-
nowhere lives of its citizens are never the same again. Tomboy Natalie falls
head-over-heels for Chad and decides to disguise herself as a guy named
"Ed", the better to get closer to him (Chad not seeming to know that Natalie
is alive). This sets off a chain of unrequited loves that Shakespeare would have
been proud to create. Chad falls for the new woman in town, the sexy/brainy
museum proprietress Miss Sandra, as does Natalie's father Jim, who is loved
from afar by Sylvia. Miss Sandra only has eyes for "Ed." Meanwhile, geeky
Dennis pines after Natalie, who started the whole thing when she got it into
her head to dress in male drag. Only Dean and Lorraine have the good
fortune of falling in love with each other, but Lorraine (Sylvia's daughter) is
black and theirs is a forbidden love, especially since Dean's mother is the bossy
mayor, who along with her closed-mouth sidekick Sheriff Earl, patrols the town
enforcing the "Mamie Eisenhower Public Decency Act" (no singing, no
dancing, no touching, no kissing, and certainly no interracial love). Gay love
would also be forbidden if anybody in the town knew that such a thing
existed, a conundrum for the previously 100% heterosexual Chad when he finds
himself attracted to "Ed." Got that?

All Shook Up opens with "Jailhouse Rock" (moved up from Act 2 for the
National Tour in a savvy decision to start the show with a bang), our hero
Chad swiveling his hips with backup provided by jail-uniformed fellow inmates
and a bevy of black-and-white striped mini-dress wearing prisonerettes doing
Vegas-ready high kicks). Chad has spent the night in jail, you see, for exciting
the town's women. "And we don't like our women excited," the guard
informs him upon his release.

The scene then switches to Sylvia's honky-tonk, where its drab denizens living
drab lives sing about a night in "Heartbreak Hotel," which as you may recall is
"down on a street called Loneliness." Chad's unexpected arrival causes
women to faint in his presence and have to be dragged away (a running
gag). Soon the citizens aren't looking (or feeling) so drab anymore and when
Mayor Matilda catches them (gasp!) dancing, she exclaims in horror, "Well, it
looks like there's been a whole lot of shaking going on!" And there has been
indeed.

Grease-monkey Natalie, whose philosophy heretofore has been "Why wear a
dress when you can use it to clean an engine," now dons feminine garb to pull
Chad's attention away from Miss Sandra, but to no avail. Chad only has eyes
for Miss S., telling her with a seductive growl, "Everything you say makes me
sweat." When Natalie transforms herself into "Ed" in order to become the
Roustabout's sidekick, Miss Sandra finds that there is indeed a reason (named
"Ed") to stick around town. Who said the course of love ever ran smooth?

DiPietro's book is chock packed with laughs, some straight out of the Elvis
songbook, as when Chad tells Dennis, "What I'm searching for is the highest
form of love—Burning Love!" Other lines are just plain laugh-out-loud funny.
Miss Sandra tells "Ed", "Quote Shakespeare and you can peel me like a
banana." When Mayor Matilda tells Chad to leave town, or else, he replies, "A
man doesn't leave when he's threatened. He hides." There's also this bit of
wisdom: "Like my daddy used to say, 'In the right light with the right liquor,
anyone could fall for anyone.'" Remember that the next time you feel
desperate for love.

DiPietro also deserves credit for having created a clever and cohesive book
around a bunch of prewritten songs, and making them fit his plot as well as his
plot fits them. Chad tells Natalie, who dreams of getting on her motorbike and
seeing the world, to "Follow That Dream." When Lorraine reveals to Dean that
she's never been kissed, he tells her in a song, "It's Now Or Never." When "Ed"
gets tired of all talk, no action from Chad, "he" sings out "A Little Less
Conversation." And when Mayor Matilda tries to alert her fellow citizens to the
danger Chad poses to their white bread community, she warns them musically
that he's the "Devil In Disguise."

Of course, all of this excellence would mean nothing without the right
performers to make it come alive, something which the Broadway cast had in
spades, but which was somewhat lacking in the National Tour. MTW's
production remedies that with 12 powerhouse stars.

Derek Keeling has Chad's swagger and sex-appeal down pat, is handsome as
all get out, and can sing, dance, and act up a storm. Notice the comic chops
he displays when a confused Chad waxes poetic about "Ed." Natalie is a role
Bets Malone was born to play, with her mix of tomboy/girlishness and gloriously
unique soprano, and Malone is endearing as can be in scenes like the one
where Natalie does her best (and still fails) to be sexy.

Barry Pearl brings comedic flair, a fine voice, and decades of musical theater
experience to the role of Jim, and as Sylvia, Gwen Stewart is not only sassy, she
brings her exquisitely silken tones to the shiver-producing "It's Always Me."

Another reason to cheer—Altar Boyz and Zanna Don't's LA Drama Critics'
Circle Best Actor nominee Danny Calvert is back in L.A., channeling his inner
nerd (and a bit of Pee Wee Herman) as lovestruck Dennis, and singing the
bejesus out of "It Hurts Me" as only he can. Sabrina N. Sloan and newcomer
Tristan Rumery are charmers as interracial love pioneers Lorraine and Dean,
and both have charisma and talent to spare as well as bright futures in
musical theater.

Cynthia Ferrer proved in MTG's Blood Brothers that she can do (and sing)
"dramatic" as well as anyone around, but here she returns to her comic roots
as uptight Mayor Matilda. No one does quirky better than Ferrer! Her sidekick
in sin-prevention is John Massey, almost unrecognizable under his sheriff's hat
and mustache, and drolly wordless until an eleventh hour delight of a surprise.

Finally, in a performance that is a revelation, Tracy Lore reinvents herself as
sultry sex siren Miss Sandra. In a Double Indemnity blonde wig and low-cut
dresses which bring out the Va-Voom within, she is scarcely recognizable as the
same actress who played the very proper wife Vicki in The Full Monty. Lore is
excellent no matter what role she plays. Here she is downright sensational,
singing up a storm with the seductive "Let Yourself Go" and delivering lines like
"Throw me to the ground and start me like a Chevy" in a way that even Mae
West would envy. Award voters, take note and score high!

The terrific ensemble is comprised of Jennifer Bishop, Brian Conway, Laura D'
Andre, Robert Laos, Allison Little, Morgan Matatoshi, Katherine McLaughlin, Jill
Morrison, Melissa Emile Paris, Jeffrey Parsons, Leigh Scheffler, Daniel Smith,
Rocklin Thomas, Kyle Vaughn, Charlie Williams, and Kaci Wilson. A+ to all!

Finally, and pivotal to the success of All Shook Up, are the here uncredited
vocal arrangements of Broadway whiz kid Stephen Oremus. Grievously
overlooked by the Tonys, Oremus created some of the most glorious harmonies
you will ever hear on a musical theater stage, making each Elvis hit sound
brand new. The final minute of the Act 1 closer, "Can't Help Falling In Love," is
quite possibly the most sublimely beautiful 60 seconds of song I have ever
heard. All right, I may be exaggerating, but no wonder the lights go down on
Act 1 to cheers usually heard at the final curtain.

Musical director Michael Borth and the MTW orchestra bring the Elvis songs
beautifully to life. Jean-Yves Tessier's lighting and Julie Ferrin's sound design
contribute to the magic of All Shook Up, as do costume designer David C.
Wollard's original Broadway creations. Only original Broadway designer David
Rockwell's much scaled down National Tour sets, used here, do not come up
to the usual MTW standards. (In one scene, the Carpenter Center's stage is
bare but for a lone Greek pillared museum façade stage left.)

But with everything else going for it, All Shook Up is a triumph for Musical
Theatre West, for Executive Director/Producer Paul Garman, and for Steven
Glaudini, director extraordinaire. Get your tickets for All Shook Up now. With
the rave reviews and word-of-mouth this show is likely to inspire, and its three
week run ending all too soon on March 9, many performances are sure to sell
out. Trust me on this one. Order now.

[Eris0303]

Posted: 4/11/08 at 9:08pm

Flaunt It, I never got to see the show on Broadway but I truly enjoyed the MTW production. I wish I'd had time to have seen it more than once. I cannot remember the last time I had so much fun at a show. The cast was great and I had a blast.

[dramamama611]

Posted: 4/11/08 at 9:30pm

I belong to the side that says: Major Suckage. One of the worst professioanal shows I've ever seen . I left at intermission and STILL mourn the time that I will never get back from Act I.

And it didn't do very well at all...it played less than 250 performances including previews! (Approximately 6 months.)

[Flaunt It]

Posted: 4/11/08 at 10:05pm

I had a great time at in on Broadway.. but I guess I was able to get the stick out of my ass before I saw it. It is for people who are fans of those old silly rebel Elvis type films. It was critically killed and snubbed for Tonys to prove a point.

In my 40 years on earth I have seen a lot worse last a LOT longer.
Updated On: 4/11/08 at 10:05 PM

[jbdc]

Posted: 4/11/08 at 10:09pm

The lisenced version is much improved from the Broadway version. No plot changes, but much better structurally, and the songs are much more integrated into the plot.

[dramamama611]

Posted: 4/11/08 at 10:16pm

What point?


And I WANTED to like it. I had been at a workshop earlier in the day with the creative team that got me really excited to see it.

It just didn't work for me...with or without a stick.

Edited for stupidity and poor word choice!

Updated On: 4/11/08 at 10:16 PM

[jbdc]

Posted: 4/11/08 at 10:18pm

The composer of all the Elvis songs did a workshop in 2005?

[Eris0303]

Posted: 4/11/08 at 10:24pm

"The lisenced version is much improved from the Broadway version. No plot changes, but much better structurally, and the songs are much more integrated into the plot."

Very minor spoilers ahead:

As I mentioned - I've never seen the Broadway version but I do have the OBCR. I felt the song structure of the liscenced version was so much better. The Broadway version opens with "Love Me Tender" which is a wonderful song but not the best one to open a show such as this. "Jailhouse Rock" is a much better way to not only open the show but to introduce the character of Chad. In the original "Jailhouse Rock" came in the second act as a daydream of Mayor Hyde's. But now it opens the show and Chad actually has been in jail for "exciting the town's women". It's so much more effective IMO. I loved the bit where the warden gives him all of the notes he's received from women during his weekend in jail. In the original Chad didn't appear until "Roustabout", I believe. Introducing him immediately is better.

Also, because they took away Mayor Hyde's daydream number they moved "Devil in Disguise" to the second act in the exact spot "Jailhouse Rock" once resided. It was changed from her admonishing Dean about Chad to a "daydream" about her getting Chad out of her town.

And "Love Me Tender" works so much better later in the first act. It went from being a song about Natalie daydreaming about getting out of town and finding someone to love to a quirky "duet".

Updated On: 4/11/08 at 10:24 PM

[Flaunt It]

Posted: 4/11/08 at 10:45pm

When I saw ALL SHOOK UP at Goodspeed, pre-Broadway, it did not have Jailhouse Rock at all.

[jbdc]

Posted: 4/12/08 at 7:42am

The show changed a lot from Goodspeed to Broadway--new lead, new choreographer (and a third added in previews), new songs, new structural refinements. I thought Alix Korey (the Mayor) sang Jailhouse Rock at Goodspeed, but I might be mistaken.

And then it got a complete overhaul for the tour.