"It's A Bird...It's A Plane...It's Superman!" Thoughts

[Actor2]

Posted: 8/5/08 at 9:53pm

There's not much information about this show out there, but it seems really interesting. What do you all think of the show?

[fanadu1996]

Posted: 8/5/08 at 10:38pm

love this show!
we did a rough workshop version in college.

maybe a revival is needed!

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 8/5/08 at 10:47pm

It precluded ANNIE, GOREY STORIES. THE ADAM'S FAMILY and SPIDERMAN as a Cartoon Musical.
Correct me if I missed any.

The Broadway Version was great, just to see Jack Cassidy.
Listen to the OBCR, it's so much fun.
It's got Possibilities.

[allofmylife]

Posted: 8/5/08 at 10:48pm

Saw the original. It makes Adam West as Batman look non-camp.

There is a terrible flaw in the book. There are twin villains, both with their own agenda and Superman is pretty blah. But then there are also two leading ladies (which may work in Oklahoma but doesn't work here) and the second one sings "You've Got Possibilities."

They had Jack Cassidy playing Max and he stole the show from Big Blue.

So you have a show where the second bananas have the best lines and hit songs. Problems....

BUT, at one point, they did have a set that looked EXACTLY like a page out of a comic book and that was, for 1966, pretty cool.

The souvenir program was a comic book. I traded mine away for Fantastic Four Number One.

Cut to 2001. I sold the Fantastic Four for many thousands of dollars along with the rest of my comic book collection (Thanks Golden Apple).

That one comic book was worth morth than my hundreds of Broadway programs.

There is no God, but there is a Suuuuuuuperman (wacka, wacka,wacka,wacka)

[puppet]

Posted: 8/6/08 at 12:15am

SUPERMAN was a really fun show. Superman was not blah as suggested, He was the staunch, upright super hero you would expect. The two leading ladies were great, one was the roamantic lead - great performance from Patricia Marand, the other was the comic lead - Linda Lavin. The plot was typical comic book story, not at all subtle. It was simply a really fun show.
Unfortunately Jack Cassidy was beyond camp, it outragelously over acted to the point of being painful to listen to. It was toned down for the album, but in the theater was not fun.
It is a very UNDER rated show. Good score well sung.

[allofmylife]

Posted: 8/6/08 at 4:35am

Puppet, we agree on all that you said. What I meant about Holiday was how do you compete with a scene-stealer like Jack Cassidy when you have to play the Man of Steel? It was the same problem I had with the first Chris Reeve (god, I miss him) movie. Gene Hackman chewed him off the screen.

[allofmylife]

Posted: 8/6/08 at 4:37am

The script and score (like absolutely every other show that has ever played Broadway) is downloadable somewhere on the web. I am not saying this is good, or legal, but it is what it is.

[FrontRowCenter2]

Posted: 8/6/08 at 7:20am

LOVED this show - one of the OBCR that I listen to frequently!

[Scarywarhol]

Posted: 8/6/08 at 7:41am

I LOVE the cast album, though even listening to the songs there are obvious problems. I still think it must've been really fun and it's probably the show I haven't ever seen I most wish I could.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 8/6/08 at 7:54am

I really loved this show. It was flat out fun. The guy who played Superman, Bob Holliday, now sells homes in the Poconos I think. He attends Superman conventions all the time.

[allofmylife]

Posted: 8/6/08 at 10:55am

No no, Superman sells homes in the Poconos. Don't reveal his secret....

[Ed_Mottershead]

Posted: 8/6/08 at 11:36am

I saw the original in 1966. At the time it struck me as an "all right" sort of show. Bob Holiday was just bland and an anticipated Broadway career never really took off after that (he had done a part in the original Fiorello also). I'm surprised that no one has mentioned Michael O'Sullivan. His duet with Cassidy (You've Got What I Need) really stopped the show. Yes, Cassidy was camp beyond all belief, but it came as a relief after the blandness of the superhero and Lois Lane. But the show had a disjointed quality that left many dissatisfied. I can't remember the name of the NYT reviewer at the time (it wasn't Barnes -- Taubman, maybe?) but he said words to the effect that it was the best musical of the season (which also included Man of La Mancha, Mame, I Do! I Do! and On a Clear Day You Can See Forever -- AFTER they'd all opened). Whoever the reviewer was, he didn't last long and neither did Superman. The show is pleasant enough but would not merit a full-scaled revival (unless, of course, Cheyenne was doing it in those tights -- then all other considerations go down the drain).

Updated On: 8/6/08 at 11:36 AM

[Jon]

Posted: 8/6/08 at 2:23pm

There are clips on YouTube from a terrible TV version that only ran once.

[Scripps2]

Posted: 8/6/08 at 2:28pm

I recall reading somewhere (possibly in Martin Gottfried's book on Broadway musicals but I don't have it to hand to check) that Hal Prince found Charles Strouse to be facile and consequently the show was not as good as Prince felt it should be.

Having said that, I personally love Charles Strouse's scores though those clips on YouTube don't do the show any favours.

[ggersten]

Posted: 8/6/08 at 2:35pm

We saw a staging at Chicago's Drury Lane Theatre (the one in the suburbs - not downtown) and it was ok. The music is still mostly good - but the book is...barely passable. They changed the bad guys from chinese acrobats to Soviet acrobats (the Television show made the bad guys mobsters), because, well the original is pretty bad about the Chinese acrobats - more along the lines of the discarded parent song from Annie with all the ethnic groupings. The show has its moments - but it is disjointed. It still can be fun.

[Actor2]

Posted: 8/6/08 at 2:45pm

Thanks for all the responses! Don't you think to make a show like this work and be fun it has to be over the top and campy? And, although I know how bad it was, the 20 second clip I saw from the made for TV version on that site made me laugh out loud.

[Not Barker, Todd.]

Posted: 8/6/08 at 2:51pm

Love the OBCR, would love a revival.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 8/6/08 at 3:19pm

Do not judge the show on the TV version which is atrocious.

As far as Jackson is concerned, besides Superman he would be great in Lil Abner. These shows need to be revived before the 100 th revival of Guys & Dolls or Man Of La Mancha etc.

[jewishboy]

Posted: 8/6/08 at 3:46pm

"You've Got Possibilities" is perhaps ne of my favorite showtunes. I really couldn't comment on the rest of the show, but MY GOD, that song is terrif!

[Scripps2]

Posted: 8/6/08 at 4:05pm

I like the Jason Graae version of "You've Got Possibilities".

Infact I like just about everything on that Jason Graae recording of Charles Strouse songs.

[allofmylife]

Posted: 8/6/08 at 4:57pm

There were just too many leads. You have Superman/Clark Kent, the O'Sulliven chgaracter, there's Lois and the bad girl played by Linda Lavin and Max (basically bad) played by Jack Cassidy AND the evil scientist.

There are just too many leads and no focus.

And I swear they made the bad guys Chinese so they could use the line "Help! I'm being held prisoner... (deleted to keep the suspence, what little there is.)"

[mallardo]

Posted: 8/6/08 at 8:07pm

You guys have whetted my appetite. This is one of those OBCRs that I own but rarely play. I'm going to give it another listen.

[cfmiller]

Posted: 8/6/08 at 9:39pm

Same here Mallardo. Going to dust off the my vinyl copy and give it another whirl.

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 8/6/08 at 10:21pm

Lois Lane has a great song, ALL I EVER WANTED.
Cheyenne as Superman
Benanti as Lois Lane
Kritzer as Sydney (Lavin)
Siebert or Kudish as Max (Cassidy)
and Alan Cuming as the Mad Scientist
Hey kids, let's put on a reading
Directed by Casey Nickolaw

[Scarywarhol]

Posted: 8/6/08 at 10:25pm

I have to note that as a Superman fan, from the soundtrack it's clear that Lois, who has always been sort independent and sarcastic, was turned into someone who's big dream in life was to get married. And it seems odd that they would come up with TWO new and rather uninteresting villains instead of drawing on the decades of existing super-badies, including humans like, of course, Lex Luthor. Small complaints.