Could ANYONE CAN WHISTLE ever be revived?

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Could ANYONE CAN WHISTLE ever be revived?

Posted: 10/30/08 at 12:30am

I know most say no, it could never work. But what about a Roundabout revival? Is the book really that bad that it can't be fixed? I think the score is fantastic. Some really great Sondheim songs. I am sure Encores! will do it one of these days. But I can't help but think of how a Roundabout revival would be. I am sure Laurents could revise his book.

I would LOVE to see Patti and Audra reprise their roles.

But is the book so bad and confusing that a revival could never happen?

re: Could ANYONE CAN WHISTLE ever be revived?

Posted: 10/30/08 at 12:35am

I am sure Laurents could revise his book.

He can't even rewrite the Jets dialogue, What makes you think he could rewrite Anyone Can Whistle?

re: Could ANYONE CAN WHISTLE ever be revived?

Posted: 10/30/08 at 12:38am

I don't know. I am asking. I am not familiar with the book. All I know is that the story is confusing. But the score is pretty great.

re: Could ANYONE CAN WHISTLE ever be revived?

Posted: 10/30/08 at 12:40am

The whole concept of the show - that the crazies are more 'sane' than the sane ones - is awfully dated.

"Simple" (one of my favorite songs of any musical) would have to be overhauled: most of its satire ("You can't judge a book by its cover / No, you can't judge a book by its cover / You can't judge a book / By how literate it look / No, you can't judge a book by its cubber") is, as Sondheim put it, "child's play" today.

(really, most of the reason I love the song is because of how hilariously ridiculous most of it is)

("The opposite of left is right / The opposite of right is wrong / So anyone who's left / Is wrong! / Right?")

Really, a lot would have to be re-done. And I just don't see that happening. As of now, it's a show much more suited to heavily edited concerts.

"Y'know, I think Bertolt Brecht was rolling in his grave."
-Nellie McKay on the 2006 Broadway production of The Threepenny Opera, in which she played Polly Peachum

Updated On: 10/30/08 at 12:40 AM

re: Could ANYONE CAN WHISTLE ever be revived?

Posted: 10/30/08 at 1:00am

I just saw Sondheim talk about this last Friday in Boston.

He said it doesn't work because it's slightly pretentious and talks down to the audience.

re: Could ANYONE CAN WHISTLE ever be revived?

Posted: 10/30/08 at 1:18am

We just had a semi-staged concert of this show in Toronto last January. Sondheim's comments are quite right but an even bigger problem is that while the characters are interesting we are never drawn into theor stories or situations. It does not warrant a full-sacel revival but a 5- night Concert run at Encores would probably work.

Cast albums are NOT "soundtracks."
Live theatre does not use a "soundtrack." If it did, it wouldn't be live theatre!

I host a weekly one-hour radio program featuring cast album selections as well as songs by cabaret, jazz and theatre artists. The program, FRONT ROW CENTRE is heard Sundays 9 to 10 am and also Saturdays from 8 to 9 am (eastern times) on www.proudfm.com

re: Could ANYONE CAN WHISTLE ever be revived?

Posted: 10/30/08 at 1:21am

I think the score has some of Sondheim's most underrated songs. Thought the title song is pretty well known.

re: Could ANYONE CAN WHISTLE ever be revived?

Posted: 10/30/08 at 1:28am

Ljay, have you ever read the actual script? It has an awful book, that would have to be completely thrown out. The show just wouldn't work unless it was featured in an Encores! presentation, Roundabout should produce works that are really worth reviving (ie A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC, KISS OF THE SPIDERWOMAN, ANGELS IN AMERICA), not this.
As I have said in numerous threads, the score is quite good (most of it anyways), and it would be wonderful if Encores! got MAJOR star power to bring this show to life for a weekend: Meryl Streep, Jane Krakowski, and Neal Patrick Harris would make a wonderful trio.

"Some people can thrive and bloom living life in a living room, that's perfect for some people of one hundred and five. But I at least gotta try, when I think of all the sights that I gotta see, all the places I gotta play, all the things that I gotta be at"

re: Could ANYONE CAN WHISTLE ever be revived?

Posted: 10/30/08 at 2:17am

I said I am not familiar with the book, I have not read it. I just think most of the score is great. It contains three really wonderful but underrated Sondheim songs:

Me and My Town
See What It Gets You
There's Always A Woman (though I believe this was cut from the original).

There Won't Be Trumpets and others are also wonderful but aren't as underrated as those three.

Updated On: 10/30/08 at 02:17 AM

#10

re: Could ANYONE CAN WHISTLE ever be revived?

Posted: 10/30/08 at 2:31am

"There Won't Be Trumpets" and "There's Always a Woman" were only included in the concert version, they were written for the show but cut before the show opened.
There is a huge monologue right before the time Hapgood comes into the act delivered by Nurse Apple, it's all about how someone is going to come save them, basically the same as "There Won't Be Trumpets" which is why the song was cut.
I think the score is terrific, there's "Me and My Town," "I Got You to Lean On," "Come Wiz Me," "Everybody Says Don't," and one of the most romantic songs ever written for the stage, "With So Little to Be Sure Of."

#11

re: Could ANYONE CAN WHISTLE ever be revived?

Posted: 10/30/08 at 2:35am

Ray, That is wonderful casting!!

"Meryl Streep, Jane Krakowski, and Neal Patrick Harris would make a wonderful trio. "

Well I didn't want to get into it, but he's a Satanist. Every full moon he sacrifices 4 puppies to the Dark Lord and smears their blood on his paino. This should help you understand the score for Wicked a little bit more. Tazber's: Reply to Is Stephen Schwartz a Practicing Christian

#12

re: Could ANYONE CAN WHISTLE ever be revived?

Posted: 10/30/08 at 2:41am

Yeah, I don't think this will be revived anytime soon, as I don't think Sondheim or Laurents would want a revival on Broadway. It is perfect for Encores! however. And although your cast is starry, Ray, I would rather see Debbie Gravitte, Laura Benanti and Steven Pasquale as the trio. Also, I just want to add that "With So Little To Be Sure Of" is one of my favorite Sondheim songs ever written (check out the version with Victoria Mallory and George Hearn!).

Updated On: 11/19/08 at 02:41 AM

#13

re: Could ANYONE CAN WHISTLE ever be revived?

Posted: 10/30/08 at 2:41am

It seems "There's Wont Be Trumpets" is a permanent part of the show now, according to MTI. Unfortunately it looks like the wonderful "There's Always A Woman" isn't, though the Carnegie Hall and Ravinia concert productions used it.

Updated On: 10/30/08 at 02:41 AM

#14

re: Could ANYONE CAN WHISTLE ever be revived?

Posted: 10/30/08 at 3:01am

Jewishboy, that's a wonderful cast too, but I prefer mine (Meryl would do wonders with a role like Cora)

Though yours is a lot more likely, of course. "Wish So Little to Be Sure Of" is not only one of my favorite Sondheim songs, but one of my favorite songs ever written, the beauty of it is overwhelming. I have checked out the beautiful version with the fantastic Victoria Mallory singing Apple's part, but my favorite will always be the Bernadette Peters/Scott Bakula touching, romantic, thrilling rendition from the Carnegie Hall concert.
It's nice to see that "There Won't Be Trumpets" is part of the show, it is a great song, and "There's Always a Woman" should be there too. I love that song.

#15

re: Could ANYONE CAN WHISTLE ever be revived?

Posted: 10/30/08 at 3:05am

"There won't Be Trumpets" was always licensed as part of the show. It's in the published score and the published script, both of which came out not long after the Broadway production.

And, of course, it was even recorded, though it was left off the LP issues of the recording, but more for reasons of time than anything else.

A revised version of the show, not revised by Laurents, was presented in Los Angeles a few years ago with the approval of the authors. I think it still used most of the original dialogue.

I've seen several productions of the show, and I think the book will never work.

#16

re: Could ANYONE CAN WHISTLE ever be revived?

Posted: 10/30/08 at 3:14am

While Meryl would be fab, I think "Me and My Town" might be a challenge for her. Also, I would like to see a Fay with a higher register than Krakowski (not that Remick did) and a Hapgood with a lower register than Harris. But, that's just my taste. Also, there is this rare (I think) recording of Sondheim songs in which Debbie Gravitte sings "Me and My Town" and does wonders with it. I was very impressed!

#17

re: Could ANYONE CAN WHISTLE ever be revived?

Posted: 10/30/08 at 3:21am

Jewishboy, I was actually going to ask you if you had listened to Gravitte's "Me and My Town." I do enjoy it. I do think that Meryl would be a comic genius during the number.
Krakowski would definitely be closer to Lee Remick, I feel Benanti would be closer to Peters. I've just dreamed of listening to the former singing Apple's songs for a while; I think she would have a blast singing "Come Wiz Me" and would be beautiful during "With So Little to Be Sure Of." Not to mention that her recorded rendition of "Anyone Can Whistle" is incredibly touching.
Nobodyhome, did you see the LA production?

#18

re: Could ANYONE CAN WHISTLE ever be revived?

Posted: 10/30/08 at 7:49am

I worked on a production in England that worked really well- played up the surreal but also made the characters likeable rogues and wackos- softened it, maybe, but avoided the "talking down" problem. The audiences loved it- especially the beautiful ending.

#19

re: Could ANYONE CAN WHISTLE ever be revived?

Posted: 10/30/08 at 9:50am

I've only seen one full scale production of it, and I enjoyed it immensely, but I don't know that I'm the barometer of taste, as I also enjoy the books of Merrily and Follies.

And yes, "There Won't Be Trumpets" is always included. "There's Always a Woman," while clever in spots, has an ugly misogynistic undertone to it, so I'm glad that you never see it in actual productions.

Plus, if you're not willing to go with the spirt of the satire, a lot of "Simple" comes off as racist. I knew a woman in the production I saw who had a lot of trouble getting past that.

#20

re: Could ANYONE CAN WHISTLE ever be revived?

Posted: 10/30/08 at 9:56am

Encores already did this back in 1995, right?

With Madeline Kahn, Scott Bakula and Bernadette Peters. (Marin Mazzie had a small role.)

It was recorded and released on CD too.

"Jaws is the Citizen Kane of movies."

blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22

#21

re: Could ANYONE CAN WHISTLE ever be revived?

Posted: 10/30/08 at 10:15am

^ That wasn't Encores. That was a Carnegie Hall benefit concert.

#22

re: Could ANYONE CAN WHISTLE ever be revived?

Posted: 10/30/08 at 10:21am

It was a benefit for Gay Men's Health Crisis.

#23

re: Could ANYONE CAN WHISTLE ever be revived?

Posted: 10/30/08 at 12:28pm

"See What It Gets You" always sounds like Sondheim self-plagiarizing the "All your life and what does it get you?" section of Rose's Turn.

#24

re: Could ANYONE CAN WHISTLE ever be revived?

Posted: 10/30/08 at 1:06pm

And that concert was pretty god-awful and miscast across the board.

#25

re: Could ANYONE CAN WHISTLE ever be revived?

Posted: 10/30/08 at 1:26pm

I'll never forget when I took my history of the musical theater course and we got to Carousel - my professor who I enormously respected, said "When the Children are Asleep" was his second favorite duet of all time, and he'd tell us his favorite when we got to it. I couldn't resist and went to ask him what his favorite was: "With So Little To Be Sure Of." Such a beautiful song with gorgeous lyrics:

"Thanks for everything we did
Everything that's past
Everything that's over too fast
None of it was wasted,
All of it will last,
Everything that's here and now and us together."

So beautiful...

Hi, Shirley Temple Pudding.

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