Kennedy Center's PAL JOEY Cancelled

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 1/5/12 at 5:52pm

Shame. I was interested in going down to see this.

https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Kennedy-Center-Cancels-New-PAL-JOEY-Production-Scheduled-for-2012-20120105

[SeanMartin]

Posted: 1/5/12 at 6:40pm

Damn. I wanted to see this too. This is one of those really "smart" shows that needs more airing.

[matineeidol2013]

Posted: 1/5/12 at 6:47pm

Ahhh damn! I was really looking forward to this.

What are everyones thoughts on reasons for the cancellation?

Updated On: 1/5/12 at 06:47 PM

[ReggieonBway]

Posted: 1/5/12 at 7:36pm

Well that sucks. I was planning on going out for it.

[buddy 11432]

Posted: 1/5/12 at 7:54pm

I was looking forward to "Pal Joey" more than last summer's "Follies." Would like to know the reason(s).

[PalJoey]

Posted: 1/5/12 at 8:10pm

Oh, well. There goes another chance to get it right.

[SondheimFan5]

Posted: 1/5/12 at 8:55pm

Perhaps it's just too much to put on a brand new production of a show while "Follies" is casting, rehearsing, opening, and running out on the West Coast. I imagine the Kennedy Center will be supervising that production.

Or...maybe...they had a star lined up and then that star fell through?

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 1/5/12 at 8:58pm

Is Pal Joey turning into one of those great, classic shows that people never seem to be able to make work in their revivals? (OK I admit, at the top of my head I can't think of other examples though I feel like their are many--On the Town might be one).

[SeanMartin]

Posted: 1/5/12 at 9:04pm

Lorenz Hart's work is very much "of a certain period", and I imagine it's tough, if not impossible now, to recapture the sheer crystalline wit of his lyrics. We're all a little too jaded, I think.

[random person 112]

Posted: 1/5/12 at 9:08pm

I imagine star is most likely i know they really wanted either Audra or Christine Baranski for Vera and without a star in a show that would probably be very expensive for them to mount...

[SondheimFan5]

Posted: 1/5/12 at 10:05pm

The book has never been "good" persay...Which is why Terrence McNally was doing a new book for the production.

Would have been great to see a great big KC production of this show, and a great orchestra playing the score. It really is a great score.

[darquegk]

Posted: 1/5/12 at 10:29pm

The other problem is that the best song in the show, "Zip!" is a song built entirely around cultural references that were entirely "of the moment," like the countless songs in Gilbert and Sullivan that most productions update.

However, Pal Joey is so distinctly of its time that you can't simply update the lyric and have it fly, so the song depends on the performance much more than the recognizable wit of the lyrics now.

[SeanMartin]

Posted: 1/5/12 at 10:39pm

>> The book has never been "good" persay

I will profoundly disagree with that. It's a very good script: but it requires actors of a different style.

[emilyfaye48]

Posted: 1/5/12 at 10:59pm

bummer!

side note I like the photo BWW decided to use for this "article"