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

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 12/16/11 at 8:54am

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

[jetts7]

Posted: 12/16/11 at 10:07am

I loved Wonderland so I hope they rewrite it and bring it back. They just need to keep the Mad Hatter's song in the first act!

[hyperbole_and_a_half]

Posted: 12/16/11 at 11:58am

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.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 12/16/11 at 12:39pm

GOLDILOCKS! What a fantastic score.

I'll always be in the camp that Tanz der Vampire could have worked and even been a hit on Broadway. After seeing it in Berlin, I think the choreography and the finale needed some tweaking here and there, but the design and the original tone and direction works so well. The show is a gothic thriller will some dashes of humor. Broadway tried to upend the thing and turn it into something that it wasn't. The new book tried to shoehorn in the camp to the point of being laboriously unfunny while the casting of Crawford and design changes added insult to injury. Opening shortly after 9/11 didn't do it any favors, but I don't think it made much difference.

[Mattbrain]

Posted: 12/16/11 at 12:58pm

I'm mentioned twice in this article :)

[NDR]

Posted: 12/16/11 at 1:49pm

The Pirate Queen - I know a lot of people despised the show, but the show had some amazing music in it and the overall concept was good. A major overhaul could produce something amazing.

[Gaveston2]

Posted: 12/16/11 at 4:25pm

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

[Brave Sir Robin2]

Posted: 12/16/11 at 4:48pm

The Little Mermaid. Some of the changes from the film were pretty weak and the designs were a mess. However, I adored the score.

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 12/16/11 at 5:09pm

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

[Gaveston2]

Posted: 12/16/11 at 6:51pm

Henrik, no, to my knowledge there is no such phrase as "ego seek." Adams is trying to invent a pun where none exists.

And to make matters worse in the song, the line is preceded by filler just to make the rhyme. To wit:

"Now you've entered the asylum.
This profession's unique!
Actors are children
Play hide and ego seek."

So while I agree with you that "Welcome to the Theater" is better than many of the songs in the show, it isn't by much. I took a class with Lee Adams in college and he is a lovely human being. Minor talent, however, IMO.

I don't have a copy of the libretto, but IIRC Margo has no speech where she explicitly announces she has retired from acting. As in the film, she is staying with her current show rather than moving on to Buzz's new show.

Much is made, however, of the lack of roles for women her age and it's clear by the end that Eve has stolen Margo's part in Buzz's new play. But no problem: Margo realizes there's "Something Greater" than her work: she has a loving boyfriend who wants to marry her. (Bill has realized who Eve really is and has rushed back to Margo's side. Why she forgives him for having taken Eve's side, I don't know, but it's late in the evening and time to wrap up the story.)

So it's pretty much the old choosing husband over career, even if no literal announcement is made. (Frankly, I rather thought that was true of the film, too, though having a song to sing about it only makes the point more obvious.)

***

I totally agree that moving the plot to the 1970s does the story no favor. As you point out, it only places the narrative in a time when the Golden Age of Broadway was past, when true "stage stars" were few to none, and even name actors were supporting themselves largely with film and TV in California.

WHICH GIVES ME AN IDEA: if we're going to re-adapt it, why not set it entirely in Hollywood. Frankly, it's a sight more believable to me that a total newcomer could worm her way into a starring role in a film, where inspired camera work can sometimes compensate for lack of acting experience.

Updated On: 12/16/11 at 06:51 PM

[chewy5000]

Posted: 12/16/11 at 7:47pm

Via Galactica for sure.

[JohnPopa]

Posted: 12/16/11 at 9:18pm

BLONDEL. I know there were revisions done in 2005 but I'd love to see it fully realized -- difficult, of course, because the composer Stephen Oliver passed away.

[SeanMartin]

Posted: 12/16/11 at 10:16pm

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

[AKarp2013]

Posted: 12/16/11 at 10:17pm

NDR - I totally agree with you! I loved THE PIRATE QUEEN. Sure it had it's problems but most of its problems was in the show's book. The score and lyrics are absolutely beautiful. The cast recording is my all time favorite recording of a show! Perhaps if they did a production with just the songs on the cast recording and a new script, I'm sure it would be wonderful! Oh and they'd need to use the same sets, costumes and Stephanie J. Block must return!!!

[Gaveston2]

Posted: 12/17/11 at 4:33pm

"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?

[jamiekennywicked]

Posted: 12/17/11 at 4:42pm

Women On The Verge
I'd also like to see 9 to 5 given another chance

[actionjaxson91]

Posted: 12/17/11 at 4:58pm

The Baker's Wife and Sunset Boulevard

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 12/17/11 at 5:20pm

Gaveston, moving it to Hollywood one would certainly have to change the title, lose Backstage Babble (no big loss perhaps) and make it Welcome to The Big Screen. I can think of one benefit only in keeping it in the 70s. That way teenage Margo can remain Queen of the 40s flicks on the late late show in the rather droll Who's That Girl? number. Of course, if it's a whole new ballgame of a show, it could be reset anywhere, as they tried with "Showgirls."

[SeanMartin]

Posted: 12/17/11 at 9:32pm

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.

[staunchcharacter]

Posted: 12/17/11 at 10:21pm

I'll put in a third vote for DEAR WORLD. I have a sick obsession with that score, even if it is flawed.

[Jackson Upperco]

Posted: 12/17/11 at 11:08pm

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

[goldenboy]

Posted: 12/18/11 at 1:33am

Henry Sweet Henry. And dare I say it?
We can go shopping for young girls on American Idol and even Leah Michelle can have a part.

I love that score. Except the silly hippy number opening Act Two.

[TheEnchantedHunter]

Posted: 12/18/11 at 2:54am

"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.

[gvendo2005]

Posted: 12/18/11 at 6:38am

^ So which one are you? Cy and Michael are dead, so that leaves... Mark?

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 12/18/11 at 10:54am

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.