Great Score, Shame About The Book- Page 3

[antonijan]

Posted: 6/18/08 at 7:45am

Was it the same on tour?

If you ask me it's a snoozer!

[mallardo]

Posted: 6/18/08 at 8:07am

Obviously the Piazza book wasn't changed for the tour. It's a great libretto. Ditto, Parade. The book was improved in London but it was always good.

As for Gone With The Wind, the book worked pretty well until they got into the second act where it sprawled out of control. The score was just mundane.

For a show with the good-score/bad-book syndrome see Marguerite, now playing in London. Michel Legrand's music is gorgeous, as the world will learn if they ever get around to an OCR. The book kills the show.

[JohnPopa]

Posted: 6/18/08 at 9:26am

The Secret Garden.

Yes, I realize it won the Tony for Best Book but the book is banal and expositional and kills the momentum built up by the otherwise wonderful score. The book scenes are devoid of direction and energy and grind the show to a halt, particularly the simplistic comedy of the scenes with Martha and Dickon.

[Jon]

Posted: 6/18/08 at 10:34am

Secret Garden could have been a great show with about 15 minutes cut out.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 6/18/08 at 11:30am

Follies
The Baker's Wife

Since when does The Frogs have a great score? The book, though substantially better in the revival than the original, was practically the only thing it had going for it.

[flahooley2]

Posted: 6/18/08 at 11:32am

There were not Bush jokes every five seconds. There were 2 Bush jokes in the first act. Obviously two too many for you. You must be a Republican or a humorless teenage girl.

[luceecool]

Posted: 6/18/08 at 12:02pm

I agree on Marguerite, its like someone took Moulin Rouge (which is based on the same Dumas story) and took all the subplots and anything deep, meaningful or interesting out.

[SporkGoddess]

Posted: 6/18/08 at 12:17pm

Eh, I still think that Parade's book is weak compared to the score. Maybe it's because the score is so great. But, to each their own.

LitP has a fantastic book. See the movie and you'll see what a disaster the show could have been.

[luke-h***]

Posted: 6/18/08 at 12:22pm

Bat Boy

I think the story
is good, but written
badly. I think the
music is good, but the
lyrics to almost all
of teh songs are quite
bad as well. Good Score,
Bad Lyrics, Bad Book,
Good Story.

[perfectliar]

Posted: 6/18/08 at 12:32pm

Parade? Really?

The reason it was so black and white was because that's how the real-life case was. There were massive amounts of evidence that would have cleared Leo's name, but it was disregarded because he was Jewish. Doing it any other way would have detracted from the fact that the writers were hammering that point home... that this man was wrongfully accused, wrongfully imprisoned, and wronfully murdered. It's a tragedy at heart.

And luke-h***... you obviously missed the point of Bat Boy.

[SporkGoddess]

Posted: 6/18/08 at 12:53pm

No, it wasn't black and white. There were Jewish people on the jury. There was racism on both sides--many people believed that Frank couldn't be guilty just because he was white. There was a hurried and therefore botched police investigation due to outside pressure--this is why they did not notice the evidence in the elevator shaft--and a poorly done autopsy (it was done after the body was enbalmed). There were numerous recantations and confusion about whether Frank was really in his office at the time of the murder--Monteen Stover said that he was gone when she came in, for instance. In fact, claims of anti-Semitism only alienated the southerners and hurt Frank, because people felt "Oh, just because he's Jewish, we shouldn't punish him for a murder?" Parade doesn't even touch upon the most important testimonies or even importance evidence like the murder notes, instead focusing on the character witnesses and testimonies about Frank's supposedly deviant behavior.

It also overemphasizes Leo's "Jewishness" and Lucille's "Southerness." Lucille used Yiddish words, for instance, and Leo was born in Texas. During the day of the Memorial Day Parade, he had planned to go to a baseball game--he wasn't against celebrating it like in the musical.

Though Frank was most likely innocent, it wasn't as black and white as "Oh, he's Jewish, he had to have killed her."

Updated On: 6/18/08 at 12:53 PM

[Jon]

Posted: 6/18/08 at 1:32pm

In case you didn't know, PARADE book writer Alfred Uhry has a connection to the case. His granmother - the inspiration for the title character in DRIVING MISS DAISY, was a close friend of Lucille Frank in her later years.

[StephenSondheimWHOO]

Posted: 6/18/08 at 1:50pm

Most Sondheim/Lapine shows, I think James Lapine writes the worst books, it's like he has no idea what people actually sound like.

[logan0215]

Posted: 6/18/08 at 2:34pm

My ONLY problem with PIAZZA, and it's a biggie, is Fabrizio's mother's address to the audience "I know I don't speak English, but I have to tell you what's going on" -- followed by her song in English.

SHAMEFUL.

Way to destroy what up to that moment was a stunning, near perfect musical.

Are you for ****ing real? That's probably one of the most brilliant moments in the show / musical. The tension of the second act opener had to be broken and Patti's delivery was so spot-on.

Ridiculous.

[Weez]

Posted: 6/18/08 at 2:41pm

I'm fine with Signora Nacarelli breaking the fourth wall like that. It's in the middle of a highly dramatic theatrical song, so works well in that context, and works much better than most of Margaret's little asides. Some of Margaret's monologues are fine, but the little asides just don't sit right with me somehow.

Other than those, I think the book's fine. :3

Updated On: 6/18/08 at 02:41 PM

[logan0215]

Posted: 6/18/08 at 2:46pm

I love Margaret's asides...

Maybe it only came off well when Victoria did it, but some of the lines were a pisser.

"You have NO idea what it does to me to see her happy like this..."

Some of them were awkward but I think it was actually the underscoring during them that caused that.

[doodlenyc]

Posted: 6/18/08 at 3:01pm

The story of Piazza stinks...that was the only problem I had with it.
Retarded girl pawned off as younger than she is in a foreign country? Creepy!
Glorious score, wonderful performances, amazing design... lousy book.

[SporkGoddess]

Posted: 6/18/08 at 3:35pm

LitP does have a bad story, I will admit there. But the book does a good job with it, considering.

Jon: I am aware of that, and I am not saying that they did not know the real story. I understand that they had to make cuts and add things to make the story more entertaining and fit the musical format. I just feel that some of these decisions weren't the best, and the book suffered because of it.

Updated On: 6/18/08 at 03:35 PM

[millie_dillmount]

Posted: 6/18/08 at 3:46pm

I actually liked the Little Mermaid's score (although not a "great" score, but I thought the book was mediocre and didn't like the changes they made...like eliminating Vanessa.

[americanboy99]

Posted: 6/18/08 at 3:50pm

Am I the only one captivated by PIAZZA's highly intricate study of love, which to me is the real story? The seasons of love, as describe in "Octet." Love passes through different phases- different seasons- which, as is spectacularly presented in book, score and direction, is exemplified in the 4 relationships (Clara/Fabrizio, the Naccarellis, Margaret/Tom, Franca/Guiseppe.) That's what I get from that show, and WOW- it hits me in the perfect spot.

But I do agree about that moment in "Auitami." It would help if what she is saying in English was actually very important. Although it does set up her relationship with her husband (suspicion etc.-- a "season" of love), it just seems irrelevant at the moment.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 6/18/08 at 3:53pm

Retarded girl pawned off as younger than she is in a foreign country? Creepy!

The story is set in the 50s, so the attitudes of the characters and their situations really made sense. Even though the daughter wasn't born that way, any type of disability or retardation was viewed as something shameful and/or freakish. It seemed as if it was the only way the mother could offer her daughter a semblence of a normal life in an unforgiving society. And the mother's overprotectiveness of her daughter was fed by her crumbling relationship with her own husband. She was desperately clinging on to the only family she had left. Had the story been set in a more modern decade, then I could understand the derision, but as it was presented, I never found it creepy. Sad and pitiful at times, but not creepy.

[landryjames2]

Posted: 6/18/08 at 3:58pm

I wonder if all the people who keep proclaiming in this thread and especially other recent Funny Girl threads that Funny Girl's book is so horrid have actually ever seen it, or just read it (or heard that it was bad).

It's not that bad. Perfectly acceptable. The book is no Gypsy or West Side Story and might be on the high end of mediocre, but it is by no means bad.

I saw a community theater production of it, and really enjoyed it. The Fanny was great (considering it was community and Babs wasn't available!)

The Little Mermaid does have a great score--at least the songs from in the movie. The book is atrocious.

[americanboy99]

Posted: 6/18/08 at 4:02pm

I wouldn't compare GYPSY and WEST SIDE STORY. GYPSY's book is flawless. WEST SIDE STORY, while a near-perfect musical, does suffer from some pretty dumb writing, especially between Maria and Tony. However, the musical is brilliant and is hardly even affected.

Just saying.

[SporkGoddess]

Posted: 6/18/08 at 4:11pm

Interestingly enough, Clara is only mildly retarded, since she has the mental age of 10 years old.

[bwayboi4life42]

Posted: 6/18/08 at 4:15pm

The book to Funny Girl is dull and doesn't flow well. The changes that were made for the movie were huge improvements.