GOLDEN BOY

[willrogers2008]

Posted: 1/14/09 at 11:05am

Any news or rumours about a Broadway revival of GOLDEN BOYS (as stated at BroadwayStars.com homepage) ?

[willrogers2008]

Posted: 1/14/09 at 11:06am

I mean GOLDEN BOY,right ?
THANKS

[MamasDoin'Fine]

Posted: 1/14/09 at 11:08am

'Golden BOY' it is

[willrogers2008]

Posted: 1/14/09 at 11:12am

Thanks for the CD cover.But the 2009 GOLDEN BOY.Any news?

[frontrowcentre2]

Posted: 1/14/09 at 11:15am

A good candidate for Encores because of its score - easily Charles Strouse's best. But the book was always a problem, given it's source, and the attempt to update it to make it more relevant to 1964 audiences have rendered it unrevivable. But if you don't know this score, get the CD. It is a score you will fall in love with.

[nobodyhome]

Posted: 1/14/09 at 11:24am

Encores did it in 2002, with Alfonso Ribeiro, Norm Lewis and Anastasia Barzee.

http://theater2.nytimes.com/mem/theater/treview.html?res=9E0CE3DF163BF930A15750C0A9649C8B63&fta=y

[frontrowcentre2]

Posted: 1/14/09 at 11:48am

Thanks for the link. I had forgotten that Encores did the show 7 years ago. The review underscores my comments..fantastic score but a book littered with 1930-s style melodramatic dialogue.

"While the City Sleeps" is a classy song that deserves to be better known. (When I heard they were doing SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS as a musical I had that song in my head as a perfect sound for the show. Of course SSOS didn't sound anything like that...maybe that was its problem.)

[TheActr97J]

Posted: 1/14/09 at 1:00pm

From what I understood, the idea was to bring it to Broadway with Usher in the lead. I don't know if that is still happening, because times is hard after all.

[Gypsy9]

Posted: 1/14/09 at 3:02pm

I take exception to Ben Brantley's referring to Sammy Davis, Jr. as a "period piece" with great flashiness in his review of the Encores! production of GOLDEN BOY several years ago. Davis had a long career as a nightclub singer and recording artist. If you listen to any of his many CD's you will hear a singer who gets to the heart of his songs, no matter what the historical period. He is always on pitch and his diction is clear as a bell. In short, he was one hell of a singer.

I saw Sammy Davis, Jr. in GOLDEN BOY and was impressed with his work. I agree with the comments of Brantley and frontrowcentre about the score being terrific. I think I'll play the CD now.

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 1/14/09 at 4:12pm

Here! Here! GYPSY9, One of my favorite scores, I only wish I could play my original vinyl because the two rerecordings Davis did were not as good as the originals IMHO.

[narddog]

Posted: 1/14/09 at 4:15pm

I hope it happens. There will be no genocide and racism towards Jews in that show like there is in Shrek the Musical and on this website by the moderators.
Updated On: 1/14/09 at 04:15 PM

[LollyNYC]

Posted: 1/14/09 at 4:16pm

The genocide and Jew hatred in Shrek is disgusting! Broadway World is pro-Nazi.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 1/14/09 at 6:02pm

I remember seeing this & really enjoyed the score & the show. Davis was great in it. After this, Paula Wayne sort of vanished from the theater.

This should definitely be revived. Beware that a number of years ago they reissued the Cast Album on a CD on a label called Razor. Some of them were alternate versions of songs & not as good as on the original cast album.

Updated On: 1/14/09 at 06:02 PM

[Marie Christine2]

Posted: 1/14/09 at 8:50pm

Paula Wayne was in Golden Boy. Paula Kelly was in the Sweet Charity film.

[A Director]

Posted: 1/14/09 at 9:01pm

Has anyone consider this might be a revival of the PLAY Golden Boy?

[frontrowcentre2]

Posted: 1/15/09 at 2:59am

Beware that a number of years ago they reissued the Cast Album on a CD on a label called Razor. Some of them were alternate versions of songs & not as good as on the original cast album.

There is a story behind this.

Davis had been out of the show with laryngitis during the out-of-town try-outs and his voice sounded raspy on the original recording. Later, he arranged to come back and re-record his solos (they could not afford to bring everyone back) but his performances had become much more mannered and stylized. Capitol re-released the album (using the SAME catalogue number but a different cover art) and that same version was reissued in the late 1970s. Apparently when the changes were made, the original session tapes were destroyed.

There have been 4 CD editions of GOLDEN BOY - Bay Cities, Broadway Angel, Razor & Tie, and now DRG. All 4 use the altered takes.

The changed tracks are as follows:

NIGHT SONG
STICK AROUND
I WANNA BE WITH YOU
CAN'T YOU SEE IT

Also the original album ended with the finale from the show (dialogue about Joe having been killed in car crash leading into a reprise of "Gimme Some.") For the revised album that track was dropped and replaced by "The Fight" - a mostly percussion track with a few bars play by the orchestra that underscores Joe's final fight.

Sometime I will have to transfer these tracks from my Lp copy as I consider them superior to the remakes.

Updated On: 1/16/09 at 02:59 AM