How does "Applause" end???
How does "Applause" end???
#1How does "Applause" end???
Posted: 6/10/08 at 7:45pm
I saw a community theater production a few years ago, which I loved, and I just purchased the published book of the musical on Amazon to read for enjoyment/attempt to improve upon it, but it is very different from what I remember. Can some of you who saw the recent City Center revival/know the original produciton enlighten me?
1. Live, as Eve's opening Tony speech faded, Margo said, "She really does think it's all about Eve" (which made me excited), but in the book Margo says, "I'm not dead yet!" ???
2. There's a song in the book that Buzz and Karen sing at the beginning of Act II called "Inner Thoughts" which I don't remember at all from seeing it live and is not on the cast recording. ???
3. Most Importantly: The live version I saw ended at the Tony Awards, coming full circle as the original movie did. Buzz and Karen had reconciled though he had cheated on her with Eve, and he announced plans to write a new play for Margo called "All About Margo" - that ending was SO corny! BUT, the book I have ends backstage months earlier with Margo and Bill singing "Something Greater", then the curtain falls. This seems so abrupt and does not address the fact that the whole play is a flashback in Margo's mind beginning after Eve wins the Tony. Both endings pale in comparison to the fan who begins to stalk Eve at the end of "All About Eve" as she did with Margo, proving what goes around comes around, but which of the two musical endings was used at Encores! and in the original 1970 production? I'm very curious!
4. In general, why would the published script be so dramatically different from the live version that I saw (unless the director made changes) as well as the cast recording???
Thanks so much in advance for helping with my inquiry! 
P.S: I also ordered the straight play from Amazon called "The Wisdom of Eve". Mary Orr is credited as the author because she wrote the original story that the film was based on. Reading the character list, the names are a bit different (i.e. Karen Roberts and Margo Crane), but I'm hoping it will be closer to the movie "All About Eve" than "Applause" is. Has anyone read/seen it? What should I expect before I begin reading?
You look absolutely terrific, honestly.
Updated On: 6/10/08 at 07:45 PM
#2re: How does 'Applause' end???
Posted: 6/10/08 at 7:55pm
I saw the Encores! concert.
During Eve's speech, Margo says "God, Eve, I'm not dead yet."
"Inner Thoughts," a song performed by Margo, Karen, and Buzz was in, and it happens during the scene when they go out of town and Margo misses the show.
It ends backstage, with Margo and the Michael Park character (can't remember his character's name) singing "Something Greater." It does not go back to the Tony Awards ceremony which I also think is a huge mistake, it makes no sense to start the show that way and kind of forget all about it.
"Some people can thrive and bloom living life in a living room, that's perfect for some people of one hundred and five. But I at least gotta try, when I think of all the sights that I gotta see, all the places I gotta play, all the things that I gotta be at"
#2re: How does 'Applause' end???
Posted: 6/10/08 at 10:23pm
I too was at Encores! Eve's fan does show up at the curtain call, but not nearly as effective as in the film.
I read an interview with Charles Strouse in which he discussed writing two different endings for the show--one in which Margo goes back to the stage, and one in which she gives it up for love, so to speak. '70s audiences preferred the latter, while more recent audiences have preferred the former. That may explain some of the discrepancies you mention.
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