Irving Berlin's HOLIDAY INN Heading to Broadway Next? — Page 2
#27
Posted: 8/12/15 at 12:26am
I think it's safe to assume blackface is not in this production?
But, have these shows been all that successful? I mean, the ones you've noted were exactly successes in their latest outings. Why keep the trend alive? I think it would do well like Oct-January, but that's about it. Even with Nice Work, it wasn't exactly a hit.
#28
Posted: 8/12/15 at 12:52am
"But, have these shows been all that successful? I mean, the ones you've noted were exactly successes in their latest outings. Why keep the trend alive? I think it would do well like Oct-January, but that's about it. Even with Nice Work, it wasn't exactly a hit."
An American in Paris has been pulling in very impressive numbers since it opened. Crazy for You was a huge hit and still pulls in fairly impressive numbers from licensing and the same can be said for 42nd Street. White Christmas has done very well out on the road (I don't remember if either of its Broadway mountings recouped) and pulls in a decent amount from licensing, and its popularity is not limited to just the holiday season, as it shows up in a number of summer seasons. And while Singin' in the Rain and Meet Me in St. Louis may have flopped on Broadway, they have also proven to be fairly popular titles amongst the summer theatre crowds. I would also be willing to bet that Nice Work is going to see a similar life in licensing as well.
#29
Posted: 8/12/15 at 11:30am
There was definitely no blackface and no racist undertones that I detected when I saw it at the Muny this summer. I had pretty low expectations going in and was really pleasantly surprised. Even my husband, who is not a musical fan and pretty hard to please, liked it. I don't see it being wildly successful but it could work with a limited run.
#30
Posted: 8/12/15 at 11:32am
I hope this pulls through to Broadway at some point if only because it is one of the few shows that will get my mom into a theater. Otherwise, as the dude on Seinfeld might say, "No ticket for you."
I highly, highly doubt that they would employ blackface in a modern production, lest they lose like at least 75% of their potential audience...that'd be not only racially insensitive but financially stupid.
https://newplayexchange.org/users/99643/amanda-delalla
#31
Posted: 8/14/15 at 10:09am
"It's considered one of the seminal movie musicals, and also the third most notable Judy Garland movie."
If remembered for nothing else, Meet Me in St. Louis is the film in which Judy Garland introduced "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas." After a slow start, around the 80s it became a top ten Christmas song on every singer's Christmas album. In 2007 ASCAP ranked it as the third most performed Christmas song in the previous five years.
In the 50s, gas stations distributed records containing a sampler of popular Christmas songs, like the Boston Pop's "Sleigh Ride." I was just a kid and my mother would play the record a lot. I knew nothing of Judy Garland or Meet Me in St. Louis, but I was entranced by "Merry Little Christmas" because of the achingly heartfelt performance by Garland. In the film Garland sings this to her young sister Margaret O'Brien, and it is a sad occasion because Papa is going to uproot the family from its happy home in St. Louis and move to big, bad New York.
Probably the song didn't become a wildly popular Christmas song until the lyrics were changed to make it more generic, and less specific to the film (although hard line old-timers like Mel Torme stuck to the original lyrics). Original composer Hugh Martin made the changes, which included "Until then we'll have to muddle through somehow" becoming "Hang a shining star upon the highest bough."
The original lyrics for the film version were rejected by Garland and director Vincente Minnelli as too downbeat even for the situation in the film. Martin didn't want to change the lyrics and Garland threatened not to include the song in the film if the changes were not made. It was pointed out to Martin that it was to his extreme financial advantage that Garland sing this song in what was sure to be a hit film. Martin changed the lyrics, Garland sang the song, and the result was countless millions in royalties.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKG5X0QMSWA
#32
Posted: 8/14/15 at 12:48pm
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang can go on that list of failed movie-musical-with-famous-composers-to-stage flops.
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