'The Life' was a great show written about not so popular subject matter. Asking an audience to find compassion for a bunch of prostitutes trying to find their way out of the 'business', and away from Pimps was risky to say the least. But I think they pulled it off pretty well. The score is great and the cast was phenomenal. Chuck Cooper was BAD ASS! He gave me the creeps everytime he walked on the stage, not to mention when he opened his mouth to sing.
Love the show, wish it was done more often regionally. But honestly without a world class cast AND director, this show doesn't have a chance in hell of being successful.
Well, honestly, it wasn't given a "world class" staging on Broadway either...
The show has been done regionally a few times and is available for licensing through Tams-Witmark. It's just not a very good show for most community theatre/summer stock audiences.
Was also done in Germany.
there is a demo cd of the first german cast floating around and video.
My fav show
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"The Life" is one of those albums I listened to once, but that was basically because of the lyrics. They aren't all that great. My favorite part of the score is the overture.
But, did Cy Coleman ever write a completely poor score for a show?
I haven't "Welcome to the Club", but I have a demo of "Home Again, Home Again" (Lyrics by Barbara Fried, closed out of town in the late '70's) and it is delightful
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/18/03
As is often the case, I must dissent.
The Life is one of the few shows that I can become truly incensed about. A friend summed it up best when she described The Life as "a fantasy by three old white guys". I found the show to be dishonest. The anthem was about it being 'my body' when the reality is that their bodies belonged to just about everybody BUT themselves.
Yes, even whores can say no, but it is tough to do that when you're alone in a car on 12th Avenue.
Prostitution is an honest though not very glamourous way to make a living. However working the streets like these women did is the lowest, most dangerous form. If these pimps were so concerned about their girls, why didn't they open a house or at least try to get the girls work in one instead of out on the West Side Highway?
The men in The Life deserved to be pushed into the river wearing cement shoes, and the women needed some victim-intervention. Women (and men) who emotionally devalue sex often have abuse issues. A friend worked in a house in the 70s and said that was the one thing all the girls had in common.
No matter how catchy the music is, I still think of The Life as a black mark on Cy Coleman's (et al) record.
PS - Chuck Cooper was good, but he won the Tony because the producers of Chicago messed up which category Joel Grey was submitted. Joel would have won Featured in a walk, but was listed as Lead and didn't even get nominated.
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/31/69
"If these pimps were so concerned about their girls, why didn't they open a house or at least try to get the girls work in one instead of out on the West Side Highway? "
Umm I don't knwo the show too well but I thought the pimps weren't good characters in the piece...
i do agree that the whole "it's my body" "You go girl! and sell it to whoever you want" simplistic message is a bit much, but...
Broadway Star Joined: 12/25/04
The Life is a great score. Love My Body and the ending duet is amazing as is Someday Is For Suckers.
it was so much fun!
The opening number wasn't over before I thought the show was dated. Not sure why I had that reaction but I did.
Still, I couldn't complain with all that eye candy bumpin' and grindin'.
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/31/69
Well it was written in the mid 70s...
"He's No Good" and "I'm Leaving You" are stunning songs. Pamela Isaacs was brilliant.
As someone who never felt and still doesn't feel particularly nostalgic about the old Time Sqaure, (Yeah, it's become one huge theme park, but I'd rather see stores selling toys and CDs than porno joints.) I found The Life to be completely uncalled for in 1997. The Theatre District, by that time, was in wonderful shape. We didn't need a memento of what it was like 8 to 10 years earlier. Had the show opened a few years, later I would have probably been less offended by it. And honestly, with the exception of a few songs, it's not that great of a show.
I thought Steel Pier's book was a confusing bore, but I loved the score. If anything should have won score that year, it was Steel Pier. Titanic had some lovely Yeston songs, but they lacked the thrill of Nine's songs and even the songs he wrote for Grand Hotel. (I must admit, the choral work on Titanic was stunning.)
Broadway Star Joined: 12/25/04
He's No Good and I'm Leaving You were definitely some of the best songs on this score.
My favorite part of the score is the overture.
This MUST be a joke...because there is no Overture to THE LIFE.
Just the opening number "Check it Out" and that is not an overture.
Cast albums are NOT "soundtracks."
Live theatre does not use a "soundtrack." If it did, it wouldn't be live theatre!
I host a weekly one-hour radio program featuring cast album selections as well as songs by cabaret, jazz and theatre artists. The program, FRONT ROW CENTRE is heard Sundays 9 to 10 am and also Saturdays from 8 to 9 am (eastern times) on www.proudfm.com
I just had to add, that I saw this show with a friend when it was on Broadway, and all I really remember...is that it seemed dreadfully long, and dull. Lillias was great, but my friend and I were just wishing it would end.
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