Forgotten Musicals: "Romance/Romance" — Page 2

For those within driving distance of Palm Springs, Coachella Valley Rep is doing ROMANCE/ROMANCE as part of next season's (2017-1 subscription series.

I think the first act is an excellent one-act musical (and there aren't many aside from the Marvin Plays). The second act struck me as a let down because its climax takes place offstage, but even in Act II the songs aren't bad.

greensgreens said: "I attended the short-lived London revival in 97. I LIVE for Linzi Hateley, but even she could not save this show. It was so terrible that I honestly don't remember anything about it, except this odd vaudeville number where Linzi and one of the guys were singing about old age. Then again, the highlight of that London trip for me was Starlight Express, so my opinion probably isn't worth much. LOL

Two things:

1. I saw it (with the original cast in NYC) and couldn't believe what a disappointment it was. I just felt it was an ordeal to sit through, certainly not expected since it got reviews talking about how charming it was and how great Allison Fraser was. To be honest, she made no impression on me whatsoever, although I remember thinking that Scott Bacula was very good.

2. I also saw Starlight Express in London and loved it. I feared that it was going to be another CATS, which I hated, but I just loved the approach to the production. I never saw the NYC production (because I saw it in London 3 times, and I could just not see it working on a conventional stage, which the reviews certainly said was a contributing factor to its failure (although I seem to recall it running for almost two years at the Uris / Gershwin.

No accounting for taste.

Over the years a few people have asked me if I ever found a copy of the TV version that aired. The answer is YES, on VHS long ago. I digitized it. Its watchable quality, sharing a link here for anyone who wants to download and watch it! Enjoy!

https://www.amazon.com/clouddrive/share/GW8NCQ50oLVxjQzhgtIv6LuVmr46pyEi3Eca9GIvUho

Well, I agree the story is weak and some of the songs really good. It ran 474 performances. Lack luster by today's standards but not bad. It's two one-acts, which rarely works to make an evening. (Song and Dance, or A Day in Hollywood/A Night in Ukraine anyone? There are always exceptions. But maybe unwarranted. Song ran 474 performance opening in 1985 and Hollywood/Ukraine ran 588 performances opening in 1980. I must add both theaters for these two shows had more seats to sell than the Hayes.) But the original production had two things going for it. It was in the Helen Hayes, the right theater for a show of it's small charms. And it had Scott Bakula and Allison Fraser leading the cast. I had never seen Bakula before this and fell in deep infatuation with him.

Updated On: 9/10/20 at 03:17 PM

God, I hope they do a movie remake or at least a proper OBC/full show recording. I can't find the recordings on youtube