Ever After and Tale of Two Cities

[thinton]

Posted: 3/24/08 at 6:36pm

Does anyone know about the current statuses of Ever After and/or Tale of Two Cities? The last I heard, they will both be getting pre-Broadway runs this fall and will open in New York in Spring 2009. Is this still true? I'd love to know anything you can tell me, especially about Ever After.

[popular_elphie]

Posted: 3/24/08 at 6:49pm

EVER AFTER's trying out in San Fran this winter, I believe, and heading to Broadway in Spring '09.

[BustopherPhantom]

Posted: 3/24/08 at 7:02pm

A TALE OF TWO CITIES is doing another out-of-town tryout before coming to Broadway in early 2009.

But I wouldn't count on it: people were talking about it coming to Broadway back when THE COLOR PURPLE first opened.

[winston89]

Posted: 3/24/08 at 8:10pm

A Tail of Two Cites just announced that it would take the Herschfield this fall. There is a thread about it.

[broadwaybelter]

Posted: 3/24/08 at 8:40pm

Yes, ever after is intending (as rumored) to land in San Francisco in December. There was also a possible out-of-town try out for A Tale of Two Cities, in either, Chicago or San Francisco.

[degrassifan]

Posted: 3/24/08 at 8:50pm

Ever After is going out-of-town in San Franciso, and headed to Broadway in Spring 2009. I, for one, can't wait because I've been waiting for this production since it was announced back in July 2005 that it'll make a B-way debut in summer 2007. I don't know that much about Broadway, but I didn't know it takes this long to mount a show.

[joniray]

Posted: 3/24/08 at 11:03pm

I'm really looking forward to Ever After. I've heard wonderful things about a recent workshop.

[degrassifan]

Posted: 3/25/08 at 12:12am

Yeah, everyone who has heard some kind of music from the production always says something good about it. I'm really curious what the songs are like, and what they've musicalized from the movie, and what changes would be made with the transition from screen to stage.

[BrianS]

Posted: 3/25/08 at 1:46am

I didn't like the movie of "Ever After" and thought it did well because of Drew Barrymore's drawing in teenage girls. The score for this version is more intimate/almost folk style. I don't get it, but then I'm not a 14 year old girl and I've only paid to see Wicked twice so I'm probably not the target demographic.

[Not Barker, Todd.]

Posted: 3/25/08 at 1:48am

Folk sounds like a really good style for such a show.

[popular_elphie]

Posted: 3/25/08 at 2:13am

I love the songs for EVER AFTER. It's not only folk, but a lot of different styles. I've only heard it with a piano played and it still sounds gorgeous.

[degrassifan]

Posted: 3/25/08 at 2:36am

Really BrianS? You didn't like the movie? Personally, I think it's the best adaption of the Cinderella story (this and the animated Disney version).

BrianS and popular elphie, since you guys have heard the songs, what are they like (other than it's folkish)? Basically, what were the stories told in the songs, plotwise? thanks.

[thinton]

Posted: 3/25/08 at 2:00pm

Wow. It's crazy that right after I posted this, they announced that Tale of Two Cities will open in September. I'm also really interested in learning more about the music for Ever After. Could those of you who have heard the music tell the rest of us what the songs are about and at what points in the plot they are sung? What other shows does the music most remind you of? Ever After is one of my favorite movies, so I'm excited to find out all I can.

[lesmis]

Posted: 3/25/08 at 2:13pm

Any idea who will be in the cast of Ever After?

[Eris0303]

Posted: 3/25/08 at 2:17pm

The first time I saw Ever After I truly hated it but now it's one of my favorites. It had to grow on me I guess.

Last I heard Jenny Powers had taken part in the most recent Ever After reading. As Marguerite I believe.

And IMO the best Cinderella film adaptation is Slipper and the Rose *s*

[Brave Sir Robin2]

Posted: 3/25/08 at 2:42pm

This season is really starting to heat up:

9 TO 5
SHREK
BILLY ELLIOT
TALES OF THE CITY
EVER AFTER
A TALE OF TWO CITIES
MINSKY'S

[broadwaybelter]

Posted: 3/25/08 at 3:06pm

You mean next season. The 2007-2008 theatre season ends in June; the 2008-2009 season will then begin.

[degrassifan]

Posted: 3/25/08 at 3:44pm

"The Slipper and the Rose" is very good. The visuals and costumes are very appealing. You also get to see more of the Prince and his struggles to find a bride. Then you also see more of what happens after the slipper fits, with the royal family sending Cinderella into exile because the Prince has to marry someone of royal blood.

Rodgers and Hammerstein's version is also good, and so is the book "Ella Enchanted," which is kind of like "Ever After." Updated On: 3/25/08 at 03:44 PM

[thinton]

Posted: 3/27/08 at 4:43pm

degrassifan, what happened to the song information you posted? Was it incorrect? Is there anyone else who knows anything about Ever After?

[Brave Sir Robin2]

Posted: 3/27/08 at 5:02pm

When I sid "THIS" season, I meant "this season in particular." Sorry for the misunderstanding.

Oh, winston.

A TALE of Two Cites just announced that it would take the Hirschfield this fall. There is a thread about it.

[puppetman2]

Posted: 3/27/08 at 5:30pm

"Slipper and the Rose" is also a musical with a very nice score. But is has the magical godmother etc. and "Ever After" doesn't really rely on "magic".

[degrassifan]

Posted: 3/27/08 at 7:54pm

"Slipper and the Rose" really does have a nice score. I just wish it was well-known.
The magic in "Ever After" comes within the main character, and basically having the courage to make her dreams come true, despite her dysfunctional relationship with her stepmother, and the fact she has to fight the social constraints of 16th Century France.

I really do hope that this production keeps the fact that the story is being told to the Brothers Grimm by Danielle's great-great granddaughter, but I kind of have a feeling the musical might begin with Auguste bringing home his new wife and her daughters.

Oh, and thinton, the information is correct, but I don't even know why I deleted it, but here goes:

From reliable sources, some songs that are included in the production (for now) are:

1. The opening song- from what I've heard, this is a very good song, and it's like "Belle" from "Beauty and the Beast." Everyone in the household asking where their little Danielle is, and how wonderful she is, and how she is the apple of her father's eye, and how she had better get back soon because her father is coming home soon with her new mother and her two new sisters. She enters, and then her father comes home and introduces her to her new family. It's a little awkward and quiet.

2. That night, Danielle's father puts her to bed, and sings her a beautiful lullaby. He of course is leaving the next day to attend to some business, and he sings her a song of how, even though she can't always see him, he will always be with her, that his love is always with her. He even sings, "Ever after, ever after, love goes on."

3. There is a bit of a musical interlude for the next day, and they do the whole, "Wait! He always waves at the gate!" But of course, he then falls off his horse, Danielle runs to him along with everyone else, and he once again sings that line "ever after, love goes on" as he dies.

4. Time passes, and the next thing we here is like a reprise of the beginning song, the house is busy and wondering where Danielle is, except now it's the stepmother and the two stepsisters wondering where that rotten girl is and when she will get in and do her chores.

5. "Who Needs Love"- Danielle sings a very charming and funny tune at the beginning about not needing love because she has too many chores...and because it's just something else to lose (like her father). Basically her "I Want" song.

6. "Right Before Your Eyes"- About Prince Henry's struggle to be the king everyone expects him to be.

7. "After All"- It is the wicked Stepmother's song. One of the sources told me: "REALLY REMARKABLE. It was about what a mother will do for her child, and it was rich and moving. I was really surprised that the songwriters had chosen to give this villainess such a beautiful song, but the lyrics and passion of the song showed where she was coming from and why she was doing what she doing to advance her daughter's future and consequently why she was seeking to ruin Danielle's future. Absolutely brilliant."

8. A song where Danielle evades giving Henry her name by singing that she's visiting "her cousin."

9. There's a song about all the amazing things that Leonardo Da Vinci has invented.

10. When Henry takes Danielle to the library in the monastery, she sings a song about how and why it means so much to her (i.e. because it reminds her of being with her father.)

11. There are classic romantic songs between Prince Henry and Danielle

12. Apparently, Piere le Pieu has his own song, and he seems to be a suitor to Danielle, but not in a good way.

That's all I know. I'm sure there are plenty more. I hear the score is very beautiful.