I Blame Rob Marshall

[rosscoe(au)]

Posted: 8/11/13 at 11:36pm

I finally walked out of a show half way thru it today. Back in the mid 80's the musical Nine opened in Australia and I saw the show at least 30 times ( followed it around the country )

Doma theatre company in LA are presenting the show at the moment and as soon as I heard I booked a ticket. Sadly my beloved Nine was no where to be seen. What I got was, well the awful Rob Marshall movie on stage!

No Germans at the spa, instead a rehash of the movie. I suffered thru Ghost and Charlie chocolate factory. But it was this that made me walk out.

I am now afraid we may never see the original script ever again and for that I blame Rob No talent Marshall

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 8/11/13 at 11:47pm

The movie was a Bomb, right?

Who would want to copy it?

[chrisampm2]

Posted: 8/11/13 at 11:50pm

You're already blaming someone for something which has very little evidence, or likelihood, of happening? I wouldn't worry yourself over that.
Doma is akin to a showcase Off-Off-Broadway. I wouldn't look to them for signs of how a maligned flop musical will forever banish the Tony-winning original from our stages or for any other theater apocalypse you can imagine.
But I'm sorry you had to withstand the awfulness for as long as you did. I heard their Full Monty was good.

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 8/12/13 at 12:01am

As far as the deletion of "Germans at the Spa" you could point the finger at David Leveaux and Roundabout since they cut if for the 2003 revival.

There will always be unimaginative directors who will try to make a show look like its film version. This is nothing new and hardly signifies the direction that every future production will take.

[jv92]

Posted: 8/12/13 at 12:06am

How many productions of CABARET will no longer use Hal Prince's staging as a template, instead opting for Sam Mendes' version? I think Mendes' version was great, and had a chilling ending, but he missed the point of the Emcee. (And a few other things.)

It's a matter of what's recent, and what's available. Tommy Tune's NINE is superior to ANYTHING, but people don't know it as well as the other versions.

[Patti LuPone FANatic]

Posted: 8/12/13 at 6:19am

Rosscoe... welcome back. It's been AGES since we've seen you here.

[tazber]

Posted: 8/12/13 at 6:23am

Was it just Germans at the Spa that was cut? Because, as AEA AGMA SM said, that was cut awhile ago.

If it was also the the other two thirds of the score that the movie cut then I would have walked out too.

[ullabelt]

Posted: 8/12/13 at 6:40am

It really interests me that you are sad to lose THE GERMANS AT THE SPA...

Do you like it as a song or is it more that you are used to it as part of the piece?

Personally, I can't bare it.

I agree with what was sad about the Mendes revival becoming the new template but I wouldn't say they missed the point of the Emcee. Rather they went in another direction.

Can you imagine when CHICAGO becomes available...? Although in that case I prefer the movie anyway.

[best12bars]

Posted: 8/12/13 at 7:06am

I never cared for The Germans at the Spa until I read the lyrics. I think they're pretty hilarious, but in context in the show, I can never understand them. It's a combination of the melody fighting them, the key being very high for most of it, and the accents the actors use. It "throws away" the number. But I do like it (at least on paper).

Did they cut Be On Your Own and replace it with that overwrought strip tease from the film? I hated that the most in the movie.

And the biggest sin: cutting "The Bells of St. Sebastian." But with Guido already so emotionally heavy and guilt-ridden (as played by Daniel Day-Lewis), they didn't need a "more serious" moment in the story.

And having the characters and chorus all look like they stepped out of a Victoria's Secret catalogue ... you know, to sell tickets to straight boys who just flock to see musicals like "Nine."

Ugh.

But believe it or not, I still liked much of the movie. That does NOT mean I would want to see it emulated on stage in any way, shape, or teddy-covered form.

[tazber]

Posted: 8/12/13 at 8:08am

My biggest problem with the film is the fact that they cut so many wonderful songs. I could do without Germans at the Spa, but

Only With You
Nine
Bells of St Sebastian
Grand Canal
Simple
Be On Your Own
Getting Tall

are all missed.



I've seen the movie a few times and it gets slightly better over time. I get that Marhsall was going for something more in line with the original 8 1/2, but it just came off as overwrought and pointless.

And then of course there was the awful singing.

I do like the Overture delle Donne. And Fergie steals the show with Be Italian.

The Kate Hudson number was a good idea in terms of establishing the "chic" influence of foreign films (and by extension Guido) in the 60s, but what a terrible song.

And replacing Be On Your Own with Take it All....just tragic.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 8/12/13 at 8:17am

I blame the Bossa Nova.

[dramamama611]

Posted: 8/12/13 at 8:19am

Ullabelt -- Chicago has been available for years. It's done all over the country.


I don't think it should be suprising that Menier's Cabaret is more often the model for production -- fewer people will have been familiar with the original, and even if you are, the more recent version is fresher in your mind.

I know directors that copy what they see on Broadway to a "t", others that re-imagine and develop a truly unique vision and everything in-between.

Blame the director of THAT production, not Marshall.

[Roscoe]

Posted: 8/12/13 at 8:46am

Of course, Tommy Tune's original production of NINE looked a lot like the movie, too. Of course, the movie was Fellini's 8 1/2...

That unfortunate Leveaux revival, well. I had the bad luck to see it when it didn't have the mitigating factor of Antonio Banderas. I got stuck with poor old John Stamos, who tried, bless his heart, he really did, but he just couldn't overcome the idiocy of that production, all that water all over the place...

Tune at least got the idea that the show is ultimately positive and life-affirming, joyful and comic despite the darker elements, and that's something that managed to escape the idiotic Rob Marshall and the idiotic David Leveaux.

Updated On: 8/12/13 at 08:46 AM

[best12bars]

Posted: 8/12/13 at 9:16am

Well, the good news with "Into the Woods" is that, even though was was pared down a bit to fit a 2-hour film (I know that freaks some people out to cut even one semicolon!), they did NOT put everyone in a silk teddy on a bedroom set or have the whole thing take place in the Baker's mind.

It's pretty dang faithful to the Broadway show. Of course, we haven't seen the sets or costumes or special effects yet, so maybe that will influence future productions ... if they have a budget.

Who knows?

I'm sure future productions of Chicago will likely emulate either the current revival or the movie, but not the original Fosse production.

I'm just glad A Chorus Line doesn't want to add Let Me Dance For You or Surprise, Surprise. God.

[Roscoe]

Posted: 8/12/13 at 9:33am

Who knows, indeed. I shudder to think how Marshall and Lapine will handle the final moments, all those dead people standing around singing. I suspect that those who revile Burton's SWEENEY TODD for cutting the choral music will have much to complain about with Marshall's horror.

[tazber]

Posted: 8/12/13 at 1:22pm

Tune at least got the idea that the show is ultimately positive and life-affirming, joyful and comic despite the darker elements, and that's something that managed to escape the idiotic Rob Marshall and the idiotic David Leveaux.

Perfectly stated Roscoe.

[dannyboy]

Posted: 8/12/13 at 1:53pm

I saw the original NINE and it was stunning. Tommy Tune where are you? Maybe 54 will appear next season. Broadway needs you. The movie NINE....awful....shades of Chorus Line, the movie...sad,sad,sad......

[sondheimboy2]

Posted: 8/12/13 at 3:05pm

I finally caught up with the film version of "Nine" on LOGO. Far, far, far too heavy a treatment. The only numbers I liked were the Kate Hudson and the striptease numbers. And then only because I didn't have a much, much, much better version to compare them to! (LOGO cut "Follies Bergere'")

And having Carla trying to commit suicide? It was like she was being punished for being fun.

[tazber]

Posted: 8/12/13 at 3:32pm

You are so lucky they cut Follies Bergere on LOGO.

I wept for poor Dame Dench.

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 8/12/13 at 3:37pm

Wait, what? LOGO cut "Follies Bergeres"? That's hilarious. That's how irrelevant of a number it is in the movie. I will never understand how they changed the number, which makes complete sense in the show as both a plot-driven number and a spectacle number, to the trivial little thing that it is in the film. Whose idea was it to say "okay, you know this one number that's supposed to set the fact Guido is working in a musical, and that establishes Guido's dilemma of making art that's entertaining? Let's do away with all of its plot-related purposes and make it about a British costume designer sharing her experiences about how she once worked in Paris..."?
Besty, I'm with you. I think the NINE film doesn't work, but I also think it's filled with so much potential. There are genuinely thrilling moments, and I actually loved both Penelope Cruz and Marion Cotillard, was very happy when Cruz got an Oscar nomination. She understood the tone of the movie, of course then she gets stuck with that awful suicide storyline that has nothing to do with her performance in the rest of the film. Daniel Day-Lewis is possibly the least musical actor I've seen on screen, NINE is a star driven show, just like you wouldn't make GYPSY unless you have a specific actress to build the project around, you shouldn't make NINE if you don't have the perfect Guido, they should have waited for Bardem instead of shoehorn poor Day-Lewis into this, turns out he can't do everything.

[OperaBwayLover]

Posted: 8/12/13 at 4:30pm

I tried watching Nine, the film version. I made it past "Be Italian," but that was it. I've only listened to the Original Australian recording (which is quite good) and found the events/singing of the film boring in comparison. I did like what I saw of Fergie and Penelope Cruz, though.

And to stay on topic with the original post, I absolutely HATE when theatre companies copy the movie versions! It seems incredibly lazy and just sets most theatre companies up for failure due to comparison. What works onscreen does not always work onstage.

[ullabelt]

Posted: 8/12/13 at 5:27pm

dramaman - I didn't realise it was available in the states

But FOLLIES B as a book number....

[ComingUpRoses2]

Posted: 8/12/13 at 11:33pm

Ugh! The film version really was terrible. Day-Lewis and script were mostly to blame. Cruz and Cotillard were wonderful. Dench had no reason to be in the film at all. Hudson's number was fun, but worthless. Fergie stole the show.

I do have one question - why was "Unusual Way" lowered for Kidman? From what I've heard of her voice in other films, she actually would have sounded better in the original key. She has kind of a higher pitched singing voice, not a belty voice.

[Someone in a Tree2]

Posted: 8/13/13 at 12:28am

Not to threadjack too much, but I saw the original Tommy Tune NINE as well as David Leveaux's revival with Antonio Banderas, and I'm in complete disagreement with Roscoe and others who found the revival idiotic. I thought the original was well performed but pathetically unvisual-- all those monotonous boxes covered in 6"squares from one end of the stage to the other-- where was the movement, where was the history, where was the spooky deterioration of a Venetian spa sinking into the ocean.

All of that came through in the Leveaux revival-- the mold, the frescoes of lost beauty, the rotating spiral stairs with those gorgeous women draped on it, and those cascades of water that seemed a perfect match for Venice itself as well as Guido's sense of drowning in indecision. I loved the surrealism and I loved the ludicrousness of Chita Rivera lifting her petticoats as the aqua alta tides rose higher. For me it was a perfect match of staging and material. Sorry it was such a failure for others on here.

[devonian.t]

Posted: 8/13/13 at 4:27am

I'm with you Someone.

And don't forget the incredible performances by Jane Krakowski and Mary Stuart Masterson.