Flawed Musicals You'd Like To See Revised — Page 2

Gaveston, it's been a while since i've seen Applause, which I've only seen in the tv production, but as I recall, the book doesn't come close to matching the brilliance of All About Eve and retains little of the famous wit of the screenplay, With due respect to the usually dependable Comden and Green, their work here was flat as an lp.

The show reset - at the time updated - to the early 70s loses the golden age Broadway glamor of All About Eve, replacing it with the ugliness everyone is now complaining about in the ON A CLEAR A DAY revival. . I'd keep Birdie as a role for a great comedienne like Thelma Ritter and dump the conceit of the gay sidekick (Lee Roy Reams' Duane which must have seemed revolutionary at the time to the creators, but was probably just as hoary and dull then as it is now - although genuinely ballsy in not keeping him in the closet), and beef up Addison and Karen to their status as meaty characters (and star vehicles for Saunders and Holm). Instead of some of the strongest, smartest, funniest supporting characters ever written we got a silly gay dresser, a dull show biz meany and, quite literally, "just a playwright's wife." Add to that the Age of Aquarius setting and Bonnie Franklin as a girl singer completely absent from the original (the latter again shades of ON A CLEAR DAY's supposed misfires again, but to my mind even less effective in APPLAUSE - although it can well be argued that Bonnie's numbers woke up the original musical, they shouldn't, the drama and joy of All About Eve should have been more than enough to keep APPLAUSE going without resorting to such a detour). And while the score runs the gamut from very fine (Welcome to the Theater, One Halloween, and especially But Alive) to blase (Hurry Home, When We're Together Again), it is one of the best things about the show, but certainly needs work. APPLAUSE was a great success - once! - for one reason. It proved a captivating and perhaps unreplicable star vehicle for a beloved movie legend with certifiable stage chops.

In other words, I'd change almost everything.

In general, All About Eve was ripe for musicalization and Applause is certainly a very flawed show and one of the worst tony award winning best musicals ever. Bacall, and only Bacall, made it a huge hit.

Updated On: 12/16/11 at 08:54 AM

If we're going to write a new score for Applause, just promise me we'll keep the orchestration for electric trumpet (the thing that sounds like a kazoo on steroids in the Overture). I like to think that choice of instrumentation was Philip J. Lang's commentary on Lauren Bacall's singing voice.

I'm mentioned twice in this article :)

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henrik re APPLAUSE: I think you summed it up rather well.

I suspect we'd all be happier with a completely new adaptation. The original seemed to exist only to allow the not very musical Bacall a chance to do a musical. (And it did that very well.) That was more than enough for me when I was 17, but nowadays I'm much more aware that there's no reason for Bonnie to be in the show; everyone's attempts to match the wit of the original fall short ("Actors are children/Playing hide and ego seek" anyone?); and I don't really root for a woman to give up her career to be a good wife.

But Lee Roy Reams was delightful onstage in the original--yes, perhaps partly because of the novelty. And Penny Fuller should have become a star.

Updated On: 12/16/11 at 04:25 PM

Gaveston, that truly is a horrible lyric! (is "ego seek" even a phrase outside of that context?, when I was a kid listening to the recording I assumed it was one word: egosique) Reams, a real pro, surely did everything he could have and I couldn't agree with you more about Fuller.

So perhaps it isn't a revision that's required. Rather an entirely new musical just might be worthy of consideration.

Finally, I had wondered if I had remembered correctly that the show actually has Margo give up her career. If it did - wow, what a very odd choice for, what was it, 1970? The movie never went there, and I doubt Davis would have ever stood for it if it had tried (not that I can imagine Mankiewicz ever toying with the notion).

Updated On: 12/16/11 at 05:09 PM

Via Galactica for sure.

If you want to spend a couple of hours on something utterly bizarre, APPLAUSE with Bacall is on YouTube.

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"If you want to spend a couple of hours on something utterly bizarre, APPLAUSE with Bacall is on YouTube."

Thanks for the tip, Sean. Before I invest two hours, would you like to give me a hint of why you found it bizarre?

The Baker's Wife and Sunset Boulevard

They try desperately to keep it looking like a stage play *and* a TV production at the same time — and the scene in the gay bar is downright off the chain. The overall art direction is really bad 1970s. It's overall just... bizarre. And I happen to enjoy the show.

It's sorta like the Hallmark version of THE FANTASTICKS you can see on Google video. That level of weirdness.

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I've always been crazy about the score for LOVE LIFE.

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"I'd love to see someone write a new book for Barnum. Maybe even incorporate the two cut songs that are bonus tracks on the OBC remaster."

For what reason? Barnum accomplishes exactly what it sets out to do and does it very well. In fact, the show never gets its due as a concept musical for the very simple reason that it's entertaining and not serious, pretentious or dour. And if the creative team thought the two songs didn't belong in the show, then it should be good enough for you, too. You didn't write it, leave it alone.

Goldenboy, nothing against Lea, but at almost 26, and looking every inch a young woman, she's over a decade too old for Henry Sweet Henry. It's not so much that she couldn't pull it off, but the charm of that story relies on the naivete and pluck of those kids who are just barely out of childhood.