GIGI Headed Back to Broadway in New Adaptation- Page 2

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 3/27/13 at 4:54pm

I knew some had been cut, but had no idea so much. Any info on the cut scenes (I assume they were filmed and not just in the script?)

The original short novel is certainly a bit darker and--for its time scandalous, I hope they are not trying to make this version closer to Colette though, as I don't think it would work with the score.

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 3/27/13 at 4:55pm

^precisely; Gigi is about a young woman who doesn't want to be a kept woman, then submits to fulfilling that role from a combination of family pressure and her genuine feelings for the man who longs to be her lover; only to prove to everyone that by assuming the role of the perfect courtesan to which she has been cultivated she has become that which she is not - that which completely bores him.

Which leads him to accept that he really loves her just the way she is, someone who is completely unsuitable as demimondaine. He takes her as the woman she really is. And she takes him on those terms.

This being then, he takes her in marriage. This is family values 101 through a belle epoque lens.

Most excitingly, long before that we see her giving a gutsy, emotional, sophisticated and non sugar coated argument about how horrible her life will become should she follow the primrose path laid out for her.

The alternative, the path she ultimately finds, is quite conventionally wholesome (well, at least in the happily ever after posited for them). So much so that this was a mainstream oscar winning popular hit in, what? 1958. And, more impressively, a damn good movie.






Updated On: 3/27/13 at 04:55 PM

[best12bars]

Posted: 3/27/13 at 5:01pm

Yay! I agree, Henrik. And I'm so glad to hear you love it, too, Addy!

I think the problem is the subject matter turns people off initially and frustrates them so much that they can't see it's not about "being a whore" and conforming to what is expected of you, but about being true to yourself (both Gigi and Gaston), despite what society says you should do, and follow your heart.

[best12bars]

Posted: 3/27/13 at 5:10pm

Eric, as far as what was cut ... a lot! I've heard Minnelli talk about it, Lerner and Lowe, too. It was ponderous. I'm sure there are others who know more about the details here. They scrapped many songs, overhauled the dialogue, and tightened and condensed the story (which ultimately won Best Adapted Screenplay).

The problem was they were trying for a light comedy, and it weighed 3,000 pounds. Everything came out overdone, vulgar, and unfunny. So "Gigi" (the movie) went on a diet and eventually clocked in at just under 2 hours. I'm pretty sure "Thank Heaven For Little Girls" and Chevalier's opening narrative were added later in the process. They set the tone for the era, the elegant style, the expectations, and light witty (but biting) tone for much of the film.

Updated On: 3/27/13 at 05:10 PM

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 3/27/13 at 5:11pm

Can a new Paint Your Wagon be far behind?

The film already tried that. I actually prefer the original stage version.

[best12bars]

Posted: 3/27/13 at 5:12pm

I think Paint Your Wagon and Book of Mormon ought to play in rep.

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 3/27/13 at 5:24pm

There is a revised Paint Your Wagon--I think it got mediocre reviews. David Rambo (apparently a writer for CSI) did the new book http://www.playbill.com/news/article/107681-New-Broadway-Aimed-Paint-Your-Wagon-Will-Premiere-in-Salt-Lake-City

ANd yet won't they refuse Encores to do Love Life?

Thanks Besty! Did any of the cut songs end up in the stage show or were those new? It's probably lucky we got the film right before Hollywood started thinking every movie musical had to be of epic length.

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 3/27/13 at 5:46pm

They should do it in rep with SINGIN' IN THE RAIN and MEET ME IN ST LOUIS!

[best12bars]

Posted: 3/27/13 at 5:51pm

Eric, I know part of a cut song from My Fair Lady ended up in the movie Gigi, but I'm not sure if anything cut from Gigi ended up in another Lerner and Lowe project. There weren't too many after that, sadly.

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 3/27/13 at 6:45pm

I adore GIGI. It's a staple of my home video library. I've owned it on Betamax, VHS, Laserdisc, DVD and now blu ray disc...I love it THAT MUCH.

[lovesclassics]

Posted: 3/27/13 at 7:02pm

best12bars, I always enjoy reading your posts. You have such great knowledge and insights. Thank you.

After reading the news release and ensuing comments, the "chick lit" adaptation sounds like it could be called "Pretty Woman: the Musical."

Similar themes, no?

[South Fl Marc]

Posted: 3/27/13 at 7:51pm

Change Gigi into a boy and do you think it would be billed as a love story? A 16 year old boy, pimped out to a man in his 30's to be his sex toy. A man who acted as a brother up to the time puberty hit.
It's a beautiful love story if it's a girl and a man. Change it and I don't think anyone would agree.

But then imagine the lyrics:
"Thank Heavens for little boys. For little boys get BIGGER every day."

Updated On: 3/27/13 at 07:51 PM

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 3/27/13 at 8:47pm

South Fl, the thing is, as people have stated here quite well, Gigi has a specific context. That makes things pretty different--if you set Gigi now, to use but one example, people would have much more overall issue with it, as well.

I dunno if there could be a gay equivalent that wouldn't get controversy--you could do a teenaged boy and an older man in a culture like Ancient Greece who then decide to rebuke society of the time and live together as adults instead of marrying, but that would be a different show anyway. (And a different issue.)

[all that jazz]

Posted: 3/27/13 at 8:53pm

Eric, That's an amazing idea for a musical! I'd rather see that than a watered down Gigi.

[Playbilly]

Posted: 3/27/13 at 9:00pm

Call it "Georgi"?

[all that jazz]

Posted: 3/27/13 at 9:10pm

^ Excellent, let's make it a jukebox. Now all we need is a star and we have ourselves a show!

Updated On: 3/27/13 at 09:10 PM

[degrassifan]

Posted: 3/27/13 at 9:16pm

This is awesome news! I was JUST thinking about a month ago that Gigi should be revive, with a new adaptation. The film is beautiful, with catchy songs and exquisite dialogue.

I could tell scenes had been cut, but I didn't know it was originally FOUR hours!! In the scene where Aunt Alicia gives Gigi jewlery lessons, there is a quick cut in the middle of the scene, and you can tell some dialogue was cut (which always surprises me that it won Best Film Editing).

I don't think it will be hard to market Gigi.

[best12bars]

Posted: 3/27/13 at 9:58pm

Googling around, IMDb.com says they only cut a half hour out of the film, and Wikipedia doesn't even mentioned it at all, but it was Minnelli I saw in in a vintage interview (around 1970-ish) where he said it ran close to four hours originally. Maybe he was exaggerating, who knows? He also was the one who said they considered shelving it after the first screening. It was that bad. IMDb.com mentions that they were so far over budget, MGM refused to put up another dime to do all the reshooting, so Lerner and Lowe offered to pay for it themselves (and get a percentage of the profits for doing it), but finally MGM paid the bill.

A fascinating journey for a movie that ended up so successful, both critically and financially.

[WhizzerMarvin]

Posted: 3/27/13 at 11:00pm

Of course we haven't even discussed which version of the score will be coming to Broadway. Is this a revival of the Broadway show Gigi or will the new adaptation use the score from the movie?

I remember the first time I heard the OBCR and thought WTF is this "The Earth and Other Minor Things" song?! Where is "Parisians?" Where is "Say A Prayer For Me Tonight?"

They added the following songs, cutting a good chunk of the movie soundtrack to do so:
The Earth and Other Minor Things
Paris Is Paris Again
The Contract
In This Wide, Wide World

I wonder if this new adaptation will restore the missing songs from the film, and if so will they combine them with the Broadway score or simply replace the Broadway material?

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 3/27/13 at 11:12pm

I assumed they would consider using some of the Broadway music--but that's a good point. I don't mind what I remember of the new Broadway songs (which isn't much,) but I didn't think any of the cut songs were so overtly cinematic that they couldn't be used (unless Lerner was trying to distance it from the film--like the addition of the apparently uninspired Onna White ballet.)

I *assume* it will be based more on the film, with little thought about the 70s version, but who knows.

Besty--interesting. Maybe Minnelli was remembering elements that were never filmed?

Maybe this new production will cause the film to finally come out on Blu-Ray--I wonder if any of the footage that *was* cut is out there... Of course nothing (that I remember) made the various That's Entertainment films as bonuses, but perhaps they just didn't suit that project.

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 3/27/13 at 11:16pm

The producers will have a special discount for every oxygen tank. An even bigger cut if you are actually undead.

[best12bars]

Posted: 3/28/13 at 6:28am

Eric, the movie is already out on Blu-ray. It came out in 2009 (same day as An American in Paris). It looks great in HD, too.


Amazon link

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 3/28/13 at 8:07am

GIGI was released on blu-ray 4 years ago on March 31, 2009.

[SeanMartin]

Posted: 3/28/13 at 8:28am

I dunno, Eric. Context or not, the whole idea of building a show in which a 16 year old marries a 30-plus year old (and let's face it, if they were to be true to Collette's novella, he'd be much older) isnt exactly giving marketing a lot to work with. They're really gonna have to gloss over that plot point.

But something tells me, based on the PR statement, that they wont so much gloss over it as ignore it completely by making Gigi older, the male lead (sorry, forgetting his name) younger, and making it less about her being trained to be a whore than a rebellious girl being trained to be a "good wife". Sort of like KISS ME COLLETTE, with songs like "Brush Up Your Dumas".

[After Eight]

Posted: 3/28/13 at 10:09am

"They added the following songs, cutting a good chunk of the movie soundtrack to do so:
The Earth and Other Minor Things
Paris Is Paris Again
The Contract
In This Wide, Wide World"

They also added another song, I Never Want to Go Home Again, whch was not on the cast album. A shame, really, for it's a lovely song, and the best of all the new ones.

I remember how disappointed I was not to find it on the album, and I still am to this day.