This thread reminded immediately of a review I read decades ago in Time Magazine. A critic had gone back to re-review the original How to Succeed a year or so into its run. I've never forgotten the first line: "Long runs in musicals can be like long runs in stockings."
Out of curiosity, I googled to to see whether the review is online. To my surprise it is but behind a paywall. Here is the preview:
"Long runs in musicals can be like long runs in stockings. Things get shabby. Dancing becomes listless. There is something a little threadbare about the beat, the book, the cast, the chorus. Even the tickets seem faded.
"Actors start playing the match trick—lighting a match and holding it until it burns their fingers, thus distracting the audience's attention from another actor. The geometries of their love affairs become hopelessly complicated, and morale is chewed up by cliques, gossip, and fierce little jealousies. Meanwhile, the washed and eager faces out front are sitting on upholstery that may be wearing out, but..."
I'm not willing to pay the fee but I remember the gist of the rest of the review. The critic thought the show was in even better shape than when it opened, when it had won every major award, including the Pulitzer. He thought everything was sharper, tighter, and meaner. I specifically remember his commenting that "The Brotherhood of Man" had completely changed its tone and that before it had seemed to embrace your mother "but now it kicks her down the stairs."
I saw the first How to Succeed in the form of its first national tour. The two New York revivals were embarrassing in the way that they missed the brilliantly mean fun of the original, not to mention the perfection of the sets, costumes and the choreography of Hugh Lambert, supervised by Bob Fosse, who was credited with "Musical Staging."
I also saw the original first national tour of My Fair Lady. Back then, first national tours were complete recreations of what was seen on Broadway, with perhaps minor adjustments to the sets to accommodate touring. Those were the days.
Updated On: 6/8/17 at 04:43 AM
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