Could ANYONE CAN WHISTLE ever be revived?- Page 2

[givesmevoice]

Posted: 10/30/08 at 2:03pm

I think Anyone Can Whistle would work wonderfully at Encores, and I would love to see the Ravinia cast reprise their roles, but I do have a fondness for ray's all-star cast.

[nobodyhome]

Posted: 10/30/08 at 3:07pm

ray-andallthatjazz86, I didn't see the Matrix production. I don't live in Los Angeles and I didn't feel the need to go out and see it.

Here are links to a couple of reviews and reports:

http://www.talkinbroadway.com/regional/la/la90.html

http://www.curtainup.com/anyonecanwhistle.html

http://www.sondheim.org/php/news.php?id=856

I agree with Phyllis Rogers Stone about "There's Always a Woman." It's just about my least favorite Sondheim song.

[Theatreboy49]

Posted: 10/30/08 at 4:11pm

Audra singing there wont be trumpets is one of the most beautiful things I have ever heard. When i went to her duets concert with Patti Lupone it was the highlight of Audra's songs (Patti's was Meadowlark).

[frontrowcentre2]

Posted: 10/31/08 at 12:49am

I think "There's Always a Woman" is used in concert versions to replace the ballet (which would require more choreography and staging space.) It was never included in the version MTI sends out.

Back around 1976 the script was re-published and I picked up a copy. It was then I understood why the show did not work. But I agree it's a score full of enending delight.

[dididda]

Posted: 10/31/08 at 12:30pm

one of my fave flops.

I love me and my town, and A parade in town is simply a gem.
musically, i think the show works well enough.
i'd love to see a concert version done!

[Bwayidiot]

Posted: 11/1/08 at 12:08am

I have a copy of the hard cover script and it is extremely confusing to read. Have to keep going back and forth to really try (unsuccessfully) to understand it. For a revival it would have to have a totally new book. Even for Encores, they would have to have a synopsis in the program. This was done for Les Miz and it was not really needed. It would be for Whistle.

[nobodyhome]

Posted: 11/1/08 at 1:06am

"I think 'There's Always a Woman' is used in concert versions to replace the ballet (which would require more choreography and staging space.) It was never included in the version MTI sends out."

I don't know about other concert performances, but at least in the Carnegie Hall one, more of the "Cookie Chase" ballet was included than you would realize from listening to the commercially issued recording. Everything (including sections cut on the LP releases of the OBCR) was included up till the "Lock 'em up" quartet. Unfortunately, most of the rest was cut, which was especially disappointing because Herbert Ross directed and recreated (or at least approximated) at least some of his Tony-nominated choreography (the one aspect of the original production that all the critics raved about).

I wonder if he ran out of the time to do the rest — the concert was very underrehearsed — and that's why the rest of the "Cookie Chase" ballet music wasn't played.

Of course, the "Release" ballet wasn't done at all. In fact, it's very odd but what's in the published score is not what was played in the original production. What was in the original production was much longer and also had lots of bits of dialogue during it, never included in the published script or score.