Favorite songs from failed shows — Page 5

September Song, from KNICKERBOCKER HOLIDAY.

There are a couple really wonderful songs in 70, Girls, 70 but "You And I, Love" knocks me out every time. It's just so sweetly melancholic. "Home" is fun, too. On the Kander and Ebb route, "Happy Birthday" from Zorba the Greek perfectly pays off the entire show, as slim as it is. It's entirely electrifying, how she slips into this telling fantasy that crashes over her and then dissipates, leaving her with nothing as she dies. It's crushing and sad and devastating and theatrically overwhelming.

Also, "Look What Happened To Mabel" from Mack & Mabel has one of the most joyful, mellifluous melodies ever written and the lyric tricks are superb.

And talk about lost numbers, "Honey", cut in previews from Merrily We Roll Along, is a great representation of confused young love and has a gorgeous little melody. If it had been kept in it may well have been the heart of the show.

After Eight, do you read your own posts?

There is a difference between thinking a show doesn't work (something I have said of MERRILY many times) and loving that same show's score (which is what I said above).

But, no, I don't believe you are a theater lover, no matter how often you attend. Your insistence that all shows conform to conventions established over a half-century ago is the very opposite of "love".

You "love" the theater like an abusive husband "loves" his wife.

^Totally agree with Gaveston. I think that's why the OP changed the thread title to Favorite Songs from FAILED Shows.

I'd suggest Favorite Songs from Forgotten Shows. In either case, we wouldn't be caught talking again about which shows made it into the black and which didn't, which would obviate the need for After Eight's lectures and everyone else's clutching of pearls.

I too am more curious about hidden gems from Allegro than Anyone Can Whistle or She Loves Me.

^ Cute :)

After Eight, I don't know why you bother. NOBODY believes you actually prefer HER FIRST ROMAN to FOLLIES, at least not for any sane reason.

Please note I didn't start this argument. I said nothing to posters who responded to the thread topic by using the traditional recouped/failed to recoup definition of hit/flop.

I was quite straightforward as to the distinction *I* was making between shows that flop and disappear v. those that become eventual classics by surviving the test of time. In response, you called me a liar. It was to that unnecessary and scurrilous attack I objected.

I'm bored now, however, and will no longer play your game.

Updated On: 5/8/13 at 07:33 PM

Charley,

Glad to see you're a fan of 70, Girls, 70, my favorite Kander and Ebb score (and show). I would also recommend my favorite song in the show, the ebullient "Hit It Lorraine." When Lorraine herself "hit it," and started tickling those ivories full speed ahead, a wave of euphoria flooded the theatre. I was just listening to it yesterday, and felt the same giddy joy that I did when I first heard it.