Hardbody to Close BUT- Page 3

[darquegk]

Posted: 4/11/13 at 9:36am

It's more than just the name of the documentary.

"Hands on a hardbody contests" are a thing. They're done at county fairs and such all over the nation. Much like the Northeastern beanbag sport "corn hole," the name is supposed to produce a sudden grimace or giggle, then a realization that it is not what it sounds like.

[DEClarke]

Posted: 4/11/13 at 9:46am

The only other modification to the truck was that there is a block placed in the trunk with handles for the cast to hold while moving the truck, which is meant to look like a cover.

But it HAS to have a cover on the bed of the truck. That's what makes it a hardbody. Don't forget that aspect either.

Also... I'm pretty sure, without modifications, you could dance on the bed cover of a hardbody. Windshield... maybe. That is hard glass afterall. Hood cover... that would most likely need reinforcement.

Title = it's suggestive and factual. I think it works.

[newintown]

Posted: 4/11/13 at 10:05am

"How often does that happen," clydebarrow?

Depends on the time frame in question. When writing a musical was about creating a new entity based upon an existing source, it almost always happened.

When creating a musical changed to something more akin to taking a source and adding some songs and trying to cash in on as much familiarity with the original as possible, it stopped happening almost completely.

I have no doubt that many people today feel it was just plain stupid not to have shows titled:
Green Grow The Lilacs, the Musical
Anna and the King of Siam, the Musical
The Matchmaker, the Musical
Tevye and His Daughters, the Musical
I Am A Camera, the Musical
Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats, the Musical
Pygmalion, the Musical
Les Romanesques, the Musical
The Story of the Trapp Family Singers, the Musical
Don Quixote, the Musical
The Apartment, the Musical
The Idyll of Miss Sarah Brown, the Musical
The Year the Yankees Lost the Pennant, the Musical
Seven and a Half Cents, the Musical
All About Eve, the Musical

Or even find fault with the ones that were kinda close, like:
Auntie Mame, the Musical (why cut the "Auntie?")
Tales of the South Pacific, the Musical ("It's gonna confuse people, who won't be sure if it's based on the book...")

Etc., etc., etc...

[Yero my Hero]

Posted: 4/11/13 at 10:20am

I remember reading this in Peter Filichia's blog a couple years ago:

"Take a look at the 44 Best Musical Tony winners that have been adapted from other sources. Start in 1949, when Kiss Me, Kate won the first Best Musical prize.

Now let’s split those 62 years in half. In the first 31 years, 19 of the 23 adaptations that won – or 82.6% -- had brand-new titles. Only Kismet, How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying, Two Gentlemen of Verona and Sweeney Todd retained their sources’ original titles.

But in the next 31 years, only seven of the 21 winning adaptations – or 35% -- had titles that differed from their sources: Nine, Cats, Big River, Crazy for You, Passion, Rent and Monty Python’s Spamalot.

See a trend? At one time, stressing that a Broadway musical was something new was important; these days, stressing that a Broadway musical is something familiar is more important."

http://kritzerland.com/filichia1205.htm

[ClydeBarrow]

Posted: 4/11/13 at 11:45am

What does ONCE mean? That's not very jazzy. Who's ever even heard of it? Guess they should have changed the title of that. Maybe GUY MEETS GIRL.

[newintown]

Posted: 4/11/13 at 11:52am

Swing and a miss.

[ClydeBarrow]

Posted: 4/11/13 at 11:55am

[eperkins]

Posted: 4/11/13 at 12:01pm

bdn223, I REALLY doubt that truck was only slightly modified for the show. I have never seen a truck as rigid as that one - both the hood and the top. And I can tell you, because of safety glass, you cannot dance on the windshield like they did. A close friend of mine who is a choreographer staged many trade show car reveals. He had people dancing on cars, and there was a lot of give. One number he did had a person slide down the windshield - it shattered. The auto execs liked the number so much that they had extra windshields so they could replace it before every performance (there were 3 or 4 performances only).

I wonder is anyone here actually knows what was done to that truck. Casters - sure. Windshield, definitely. Bed support, yes. What else?

[NewYorkTheater]

Posted: 4/11/13 at 2:45pm

The Wall Street Journal said the truck "is a real truck," a 2001 Nissan, "propped up on casters and hydraulic lifts." I do remember reading somewhere that they took out the engine, but it's not in the WSJ article.

[eperkins]

Posted: 4/11/13 at 3:44pm

I'm probably the only one who is really interested in what they had to do to that truck to make it work for them on stage. I'm sure it started life as a real truck.

[Yero my Hero]

Posted: 4/11/13 at 3:52pm

No, while I was watching, I was wondering that too. I find the ingenuity behind stagecraft fascinating.

[NewYorkTheater]

Posted: 4/13/13 at 11:43am

"Ghostlight Records will release an original Broadway cast recording in June 2013. "