Liza in The Act — Page 2
#27
Posted: 5/20/16 at 10:59am
I thought it was a pretty crummy show. The Grass Is Always Greener was very funny (K and E always wrote great comic songs) and I remember I'm One of the Girls... as being catchy. I don't think it should be at Encores until Drat! the Cat!, Darling Of the Day, Baby, Purlie, Over Here, The Grand Tour, to name a few, get a shot.
#28
Posted: 5/20/16 at 11:12am
When I suggested encores do it I had no idea what the show was about, and that's one of the major reasons I love this board, the wealth of knowledge is outstanding.
Well I didn't want to get into it, but he's a Satanist.
Every full moon he sacrifices 4 puppies to the Dark Lord and smears their blood on his paino.
This should help you understand the score for Wicked a little bit more.
Tazber's: Reply to
Is Stephen Schwartz a Practicing Christian
#29
Posted: 5/20/16 at 12:08pm
Saw it on a Saturday matinee - and though I was younger even I realized it must have been a rough Friday night. That being said, the show (even to me with little comparison) was underwhelming. It was an excuse to get Liza on stage - it was the Liza show. The book is razor thin, the songs are good to very good, but are better in concert than in the guise of a musical.
The fact tat Liza won a Tony for this still amazes me. This show *maybe* should have received a nom for costumes.
#30
Posted: 5/20/16 at 2:51pm
WhizzerMarvin said: "The cast album is indeed cheaply produced. The insert is crap and the sound isn't great. I have to turn my speakers all the way up to hear it at a normal level.
The Act did play The Majestic and ran for 233 performances (October 77-July 7
. I don't think it flopped because of bad word of mouth, but rather because Liza began missing performances like crazy. If she had been able to take care of herself it may very well have turned a profit.
As much as I love the OBCR I also have a live audio from early in the run and Liza's voice is positively electrifying. The audience goes crazy after The Money Tree and it never fails to give me goosebumps.
"
Are you willing to share your live audio? I'd love it!
#31
Posted: 5/20/16 at 3:47pm
The show had a very weak book. People went to see it solely for Liza, who was at the top of her game then. While CITY LIGHTS is the best remembered song from the score, the experience of seeing Liza perform THE MONEY TREE was absolutely electrifying.
If Liza had taken better care of herself, the show would've run a lot longer. It's probably hard for some of the younger people here to realize just how big a star she was in those days. She was the biggest thing on Broadway at the time...the first show to command a $25 ticket price (which made front page banner headlines in Variety).
#32
Posted: 5/20/16 at 4:28pm
WhizzerMarvin said: "I went through a period where I was OBSESSED with the OBCR. I still listen to it from time to time and enjoy the score a lot. There's nothing quite like Liza belting out The Money Tree. City Lights, Arthur in the Afternoon, Bobo's, Shine It On and There When I Need Him are other choice tracks. The recording has a gratuitously bombastic quality to it, which only makes me love it even more.
The Act was nominated for 6 Tonys including Best Score, Actor (Barry Nelson), Actress (Liza won), Costumes, Lighting and Choreography. It's weird knowing that Nelson was nominated for Actor in Musical and he doesn't make a peep on the OBCR as far as I can tell. Has anyone else ever been nominated for a performance in a musical without singing a note? (Of course the cast recording might not be a complete representation of the score, but Nelson isn't listed as having a song in the Playbill either.)
"
It must have been a really bad year if the show and Barry Nelson were nominated. As I said in my post, every once in a while he would walk on stage, have a heated conversation with her, and leave. His scenes were so static, they seemed like periodic commercials for some drama.
#33
Posted: 5/20/16 at 4:36pm
Wasn't THE ACT one of the first shows to charge a then unheard of top ticket price of $25.00?
#34
Posted: 5/20/16 at 6:39pm
Somehow Gower Champion managed to salvage this musical from an unmitigated out of town disaster. Maybe because he dumped a lot of the book and essentially made it a one woman show
Aside from one or two decent songs, it has a terrible score. No actress could pull this show off today. But that is not the only reason Encores would never do it. It is pretty bad and bottom drawer Kander and Ebb.
#35
Posted: 5/20/16 at 8:09pm
In a day when good musicals are waiting to find a decent theater, it's hard to imagine just how beleaguered Broadway was from the mid-1970s to the mid-1980s. It was hard to find a show to take visiting family to see in an era when CATS and OH, CALCUTTA! dominated the boards. There was A CHORUS LINE and ANNIE and not much else.
Yes, Minnelli worked very hard, but there was simply nothing going on in THE ACT. It wasn't the score's fault; Kander and Ebb were left to write revue numbers in the absence of action and conflict.
I spent much of the show reading my PLAYBILL. I was just that bored.
(Yes, "City Lights" and "Arthur in the Afternoon" were highlights.)
#36
Posted: 5/20/16 at 8:47pm
I saw "The Act" in Chicago, the first stop of its pre-Broadway tryout. Actually, I think I saw the very first performance. It was then called "Shine It On," which was the first number. It was originally titled "In Person." That was the name of the show on my ticket. I think one of the reasons they changed the name was that if one saw Liza Minnelli "In Person," they would think it was just a Liza Minnelli concert. The show was much more ambitious. This was a concept musical. The numbers reflected on or commented on the scenes/flashbacks interspersed between them.
Unfortunately, the story being commented upon was not all that interesting, even if some of it seemed (uncomfortably) to mirror persons or events in Liza's own life. George Furth's book was plain bad, lots of joke book jokes. Barry Nelson played Liza's much older husband, and Mark Goddard (from TV's "Lost in Space" -- although that credit did not appear in bis bio) played Liza's other love interest. Another actor played a Fred Ebb type. (That actor was replaced by the time the show opened on Broadway.) None of these men were in the musical numbers. Only Liza and her gypsies (which included Stan Lebowsky's wife and John Kander's husband) were in the musical numbers. The gypsies had one number without Liza -- "Little Do They Know" -- which is sorta what the show was about.
I think Samuel French licenses a rewritten version of "The Act." I can just see a shoestring community theater was its local diva during this show. What a shudder fest.
Bottom line, a terrible show, but Liza was great in it. I would not want to see Encores do it. There are a lot of other better shows out there.
#37
Posted: 5/21/16 at 2:22pm
The show is referenced in the Madeleine Kahn bio, as Kahn tried to use it as evidence that she was being asked to perform un-doable herculean feats doing "20th Century" 8 times a week when Liza was only required to hit "The Act" 7. Since Minnelli eventually began missing many, the argument has irony.
"I'm a comedian, but in my spare time, things bother me." Garry Shandling
#38
Posted: 5/21/16 at 2:29pm
I attended a actors fund performance of this . I think I was 12. Liza was loose and having a blast. I don't remeber anything about the show. I remember there being a lot of men in the audience.
HUSSY POWER!
------ HUSSY POWER!
#39
Posted: 5/21/16 at 6:21pm
I have a friend who was an assistant on the SF leg of the tour and according to his stories about Liza, the show should have been titled "A Bump And A Puff In The Wings". He said she sweated like crazy. The Tony performance is pure Liza- she was a great entertainer.
#40
Posted: 5/21/16 at 6:58pm
Minnelli COULD be great, no doubt about it. But she could also be cold and robotic, pure energy with no nuance and no heart. I had seen her the year before THE ACT in concert in South Florida. I had a seat in the front row and she played several important moments ("And when I go, I'm going like Elsie"
directly to me.
And there was no there there. Just a lot of very manic arm waving.
At the time, I too blamed "too much pills and liquor". But I didn't and don't know the lady personally.
#41
Posted: 5/21/16 at 8:49pm
The reason why those costumes are always heavily sequined is because she sweats like crazy. Sequins seem to cover that.
"Long live God!" (GODSPELL)
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