La Cage Aux Folles - Original Production- Page 3

[frontrowcentre2]

Posted: 7/27/13 at 2:38pm

RE: "Not tune you can hum" segnment.

I never took that as a swipe at Rodgers specifically. I took it as a knock to George Abbott (Remember Abbott not wanting to use a particular song to open FORUM because he wantede a sog audiences could hum. That is how "Love is in the air" ended up as the opening number out of town.) I don't think Sondheim has ever openly criticized Richard Rodgers as a composer - he even cites CAROUSEL as one of his favorite scores. He has described his difficult working relationship with Rodgers on DO I HEAR A WALTZ? (where the entire cast described Rodgers as Godzilla) and at the time Sondheim called Rodgers a man of "infinite talent and limited soul." From other reports from people who worked with Rodgers that appears to be an accurate assessment of the man.

[best12bars]

Posted: 7/27/13 at 2:50pm

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.

[devonian.t]

Posted: 7/27/13 at 3:36pm

Someone in a Tree 2- oops of course! How silly of me! But we're talking what 25 years ago :)

I have the London programme and souvenir brochure, so tomorrow I will scan in some photos of the West End cast. There are great shots. I especially loved the beautiful twinkling lights on the St Tropez bay.

Incidentally, Emma Thompson's mum, Phyllida, played Jacqueline at the Palladium and was SASSY!

[jv92]

Posted: 7/27/13 at 4:34pm

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

[morosco]

Posted: 7/27/13 at 4:46pm

I especially loved the beautiful twinkling lights on the St Tropez bay.

Me too. I remember an audible gasp from the audience when that appeared. It was beautiful.

[best12bars]

Posted: 7/27/13 at 4:55pm

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

[morosco]

Posted: 7/27/13 at 4:57pm

The late Theoni V. Aldredge.

[best12bars]

Posted: 7/27/13 at 5:02pm

Yay!

[all that jazz]

Posted: 7/27/13 at 5:07pm

Those costumes are stunning! Thanks for posting.

Judging from the clips I've seen, the recent revival pales in comparison, at least in terms of production values. I also thought the new coreography was terrible.

The Best of Times and I Am What I Am, are two of my favorite songs. The latter holds a very special place in my heart, but I found Hearn's interpretation to be rather lackluster as well.

[Someone in a Tree2]

Posted: 7/27/13 at 5:18pm

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.

[devonian.t]

Posted: 7/27/13 at 5:19pm

The Menier revival was like an up-market student production at the Edinburgh Fringe. You just can't compare it to the original show.

[best12bars]

Posted: 7/27/13 at 5:26pm

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.

[rosscoe(au)]

Posted: 7/27/13 at 8:15pm

That was one of the selling points in the Australian production, that it was hard to tell who was Male or Female in the chorus. I saw the show back in 85 when it opened at Her Maj in Sydney. Saw the afternoon show and than saw Cats later that evening.

I really do think its time that started filming all shows for release at sometime, I am guessing we will never see a production on that scale ever again.

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 7/27/13 at 8:15pm

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?

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 7/27/13 at 8:22pm

And Gav---I saw Falsettos in Los Angeles at the Dolittle with the full original NY cast. I didn't care for it. I didn't hate it, but I didn't like it much either.

best12, the FALSETTO plays work much better when they are performed as one-handers. When I first saw MARCH OF THE FALSETTOS (in NYC), I ran into Michael Rupert greeting friends after the show: he could barely talk.

It was truly the fiercest one hour of musical theater I'd ever seen (including either act of SWEENEY).

When they put two acts together to make FALSETTOS (which I saw in LA), everybody had to save him- or herself for the second act and MARCH suffered by comparison.

I still loved the evening, mind you, but it's not the same as when performed one act at a time.



Updated On: 7/28/13 at 08:22 PM

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 7/27/13 at 8:26pm

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.)

[After Eight]

Posted: 7/27/13 at 9:53pm

"In what way do you think Sondheim's shows have damaged musical theatre?"

In every conceivable way. When ugliness, meanness, and coldness replace beauty, joy, and warmth, the damage is incalculable. And when the self-appointed arbitors of taste cheer the change, then you know everything has gone completely to hell.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 7/27/13 at 10:12pm

"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.

[After Eight]

Posted: 7/27/13 at 10:14pm

"I was silently praying SUNDAY would sweep the top awards."

Loyalty personified.

[devonian.t]

Posted: 7/27/13 at 10:22pm

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.

[BeadleDeedle]

Posted: 7/27/13 at 10:39pm

After Eight, why are you so dismissive and insulting to those who enjoy Sondheim's work? Its, like, mean.

[After Eight]

Posted: 7/27/13 at 10:47pm

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]

Posted: 7/27/13 at 10:53pm

After Eight, have you seen the Sondheim 80th Birthday Celebration? I can understand that you don't appreciate his shows, but there's now way someone can get through that concert without liking at least one song, much less hating the composer. I hadn't seen Sunday in the Park yet the first time I watched the concert, and "Sunday" still gave me chills, and had me in tears by the time the final notes rolled by.


In case you haven't seen it... Updated On: 7/27/13 at 10:53 PM

[After Eight]

Posted: 7/27/13 at 11:07pm

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!

[BeadleDeedle]

Posted: 7/27/13 at 11:08pm

Well Mr. Eight, I would say that Sondheim fans who act in such a way are just dicks in general. I love his work along with that of R&H, B&H, Herman and many many others. He's just a different lens to enjoy theater and art through.