La Cage Aux Folles - Original Production — Page 3

I think part of Rodgers died when Hammerstein died. While the two were not close friends (by any means), their incredible professional relationship is undeniable and unmatchable.

It was like losing "the love of your life" professionally.

After that, nobody else could compare. Not even Sondheim.

I'm not denying Rodgers wasn't cold or even cruel later in life. But he and Hammerstein knew how to work together like few ever have. And once you've had the best in a relationship like that, everything and everyone else is a disappointment.

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Rodgers was pretty damned cruel before Oscar died. He cheated Larry Hart's surviving relatives out of money. He wasn't a model father or husband. And he wasn't particularly receptive to Hammerstein's innovative work-- pushing him to do subpar stuff like ME AND JULIET and FLOWER DRUM SONG in order to make a buck and "save the partnership." (This was a result of Hammerstein's book and lyrics getting better reviews than Rodgers' music on KING AND I-- not that music was panned or anything.)

Updated On: 7/27/13 at 04:34 PM

I wish I could see it again now. I think I would appreciate it even more than I did in my early 20s.

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Yay!

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Morosco, bless you for posting those!

I'll tell you, the thing the revivals seemed to fail the most at for me was letting the Cagelles be gorgeous, truly gorgeous. Arthur and Jerry had decided early on to let the original Cagelles be a combination of boys AND girls. The lyrics even specifically allude to that fact. And the mystique of that crossover of genders was all the more sexy back in 1983. But every later revival seemed determined to cast boys who were men, five-oclock shadow and all, and with that, they sacrificed the allure of catching straight guys in the audience lusting after the "wrong" gender. Big mistake to chuck the pretty in favor of the funny.

I get sad when I hear all these "downsized" shows are merely concept or vision.

I understand how fast everyone wants to break even today and make some $$$, but it's without question at the audiences' expense.

A Little Night Music, Sweeney Todd, La Cage

Bargain productions, even if they were good.

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The trouble is, you only see and hear what you want to.

The joke- just to explain what you overlook- is that the producer misquotes 'Some Enchanted Evening'- it is a joke at the expense of ignorant producers who want memorable tunes, but can't actually remember them correctly.

Thank you. We're talking about six notes, which After Eight admits are "off-key".

So how is anyone to know "Some Enchanted Evening" was being parodied?

I once did a Q&A for the Sondheim Society here in the UK and suggested to them that the reverse narrative of 'Merrily' was an obstacle to spontaneous emotional response....

Thank you, thank you, thank you. I've been saying the same for years, usually to the same response. (And, yes, I love the score.)

"When ugliness, meanness, and coldness replace beauty, joy, and warmth..."


Many of us find beauty, joy and warmth in Sondheim's work, and "ugliness, meanness and coldness" in your relentless mis-characterization of his work.


De gustibus, non est disputandum.

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Surely those qualities only damage the shows they are to be found in: the sardonic alienation of 'Company' has no effect on the lush romantic material in 'She Loves Me'. I suspect that it is the general increase in cynicism in society that has made shows like 'Chicago' more popular in recent times, not Sondheim's influence, which extends hardly at all outside the theatre district.

After all in 2001 '42nd Street' still beat 'Follies' as best revival, (I know it wasn't a well-received production, but if Sondheim were so omnipotent would that have mattered?)

I accept that there are some people who talk as if Sondheim was the second coming, but then some over-enthusiastic fans treat 'Wicked' as if it were the greatest work of art ever created...

In terms of beauty, though, as a student I saw the National Theatre production of 'Sunday in the Park with George' and, unfamiliar as I was with the show, found myself totally choked and tearful at the overwhelming spiritual beauty of the music and theme that the creative act is the defining quality of the human soul.

To have a form that can embrace 'Sunday' AND 'La Cage' shows how rich, not impoverished, modern musical theatre is.

Mr. Deedle,

You've got it backwards. It's the Sondheim brigade who is dismissive of anyone who refuses to bow and scrape before him (and them), and who - sin of sins --actually prefers music you can hum!

All That Jazz,

No, I haven't seen it. In fact, I can't think of anything I would rather less see than that, (unless it was his 75th birthday concert, his 76th birthday concert, his 80th birthday and three days concert, his 80th birthday and three months, two days, and fifty minutes concert, etc.)

In fact, I can't figure out how one can keep up with, or keep track of, all the concerts he receives. There's at least one a minute!