Looking ahead - 09-10 musicals- Page 2

[mzk2004]

Posted: 5/22/09 at 9:51am

I predict that Addams will have a strong advance based on the cast...but the reviews (unless they change the material) will not be kind and audience are not going to love the show. The score is fairly dull and the story is mind-numbingly dull.

Plus because it is not related to the TV show there is no reference of the famous theme song -which is what the average audience member will expect to hear.

I expect this to ultimately be a miss...sadly.

[boyfromoz2]

Posted: 5/22/09 at 11:15am

So to recap...

New Musicals:
Memphis
Fela!
Everyday Rapture
Spider-Man, Turn Off the Dark
The Addams Family
Catch Me If You Can
Sister Act: The Musical
Houdini
Pure Country (tentative)

Revivals:
Bye Bye Birdie
Finian's Rainbow
Ragtime
The Sound of Music (RUG production from London/Toronto)
A Little Night Music (Menier production from London)
La Cage aux Folles (Menier production from London)
Sunset Boulevard (Windmill production from London)

Looks like a pretty good year for revivals - there will be much competition between the four London transfers (if all eventuate). Not so much for new musicals - 3 screen to stage shows, 1 cartoon to stage show, 2 biographical shows and 1 original.

EDITED: Addams Family changed, added Houdini + Everyday Rapture + Pure Country, and removed Love Never Dies (it will end up in New York August/September 2010 so its in the 2010-2011 season)



Updated On: 5/22/09 at 11:15 AM

[Smaxie]

Posted: 5/22/09 at 11:24am

From what I can tell, Addams Family appears to have an original plot and is not being based on the two films or the TV show. So, it shouldn't really be categorized as a screen to stage musical.

[tazber]

Posted: 5/22/09 at 11:31am

It's still based on the original illustrations though.

[JudasIscariot]

Posted: 5/22/09 at 1:49pm

What about Houdini? Isn't that planned to open next season?

[cbing736]

Posted: 5/22/09 at 2:25pm

I believe Houdini is planned for the 2010-11 season. I could be wrong, but that's what I'm remembering.

Pure Country is also a possibility, since they've finally announced some cast. Though it was a possibility last season too, so who knows when it will actually debut.

[degrassifan]

Posted: 5/22/09 at 2:35pm

If The Sound of Music does come to Broadway, I hope it's the London version, not the Toronto version.

[RippedMan]

Posted: 5/22/09 at 2:51pm

When did we hear about Everyday Rapture? I hope they beef up the show a little bit for Broadway then.

[Pianolin717]

Posted: 5/22/09 at 3:35pm

We haven't heard the "official announcement" yet... notice how they keep deleting it? expect an announcement today is what I've heard

[Tag]

Posted: 5/22/09 at 3:40pm

The London and Toronto versions of The Sound of Music are virtually carbon copies of each other.

[degrassifan]

Posted: 5/22/09 at 3:58pm

"The London and Toronto versions of The Sound of Music are virtually carbon copies of each other."

The majority of it are the same (sets, costumes, etc). The only difference is that in the London version "My Favorite Things" is used in both the scene with Maria and the Mother Abbess and in the bedroom during the thunderstorm, and "The Lonely Goatherd" is in a completely new scene with Maria and the children. In the Toronto version, "My Favorite Things" is only used in the scene with Maria and the Mother Abbess while "The Lonely Goatherd" is used in the thunderstorm scene.

[boyfromoz2]

Posted: 5/22/09 at 4:08pm

So Toronto has returned all the songs (except for snoozefest "An Ordinary Couple) to their original 1959 places?

Why would that be? The '98 revival changed the order so maybe it has to do with the Canadian rights. Hopefully when the show gets to New York, they'll revert to the London song order - far superior IMO.

[EnWashingtonHeights]

Posted: 5/22/09 at 4:11pm

Ace is trying to get a theater

[dg22894]

Posted: 5/22/09 at 4:13pm

TITLE OF SHOW COMING BACK?

[degrassifan]

Posted: 5/22/09 at 4:42pm

"So Toronto has returned all the songs (except for snoozefest "An Ordinary Couple) to their original 1959 places?"

Yeah, and they added "I Have Confidence" to the score.

I have no idea why they did that. According to someone that worked in the Toronto production, they debated back and forth whether to have "Goatherd" sung in the bedroom or in the Garden with Maria and the kids like in the London version. They rehearsed and tried it both ways, but in the end they placed the song in the bedroom.

[Smaxie]

Posted: 5/22/09 at 4:44pm

>It's still based on the original illustrations though.<

Yes - I didn't go so far as to call it an original musical. But it isn't a musical version of the movies or TV show, in the style of the other recent screen to stage transfers.

[Tag]

Posted: 5/22/09 at 4:55pm

Goatherd in Toronto was only rehearsed for the bedroom scene and never for the garden as in the London version. Parts of the show were redesigned to accommodate the change well before rehearsals even started. The decision for the change was made very early on by the creative team.

[boyfromoz2]

Posted: 5/22/09 at 10:35pm

"Parts of the show were redesigned"?? The scenic pieces used during the London Goatherd scene were all used elsewhere in the show so nothing need be redesigned.

Interestingly, on the UK tour of the production, the song placements will be the exact same as at the Palladium. Hopefully the NY production will use the London song order.

[Tag]

Posted: 5/23/09 at 1:00am

Toronto scenic changes: There is a new interior corridors scene with the dialogue that used to take place in the garden before the party scene. The mountain is shaped differently. The mountains upstage are different. Pieces of the cemetery were cut and others added. The end of Act 1 and the finale have different looks (no upstage backdrops besides the cyc). No bench or rectangle hedge that are were in the London Goatherd scene. Picture added of the von Trapp mother in the interior of the house. And a couple other smaller things.

[laura is broadway]

Posted: 5/24/09 at 4:30pm

Weren't there talks of a Merrily We Roll Along Revival?

[perfectliar]

Posted: 5/24/09 at 5:00pm

La Cage aux Folles (Menier production from London)

There was a La Cage revival 3 years ago that flopped. Why on earth would there be another?

[JOak]

Posted: 5/24/09 at 5:46pm

Because the London production is amazing!

[BroadwayBoy2]

Posted: 5/24/09 at 6:35pm

We have been very luck with this past decade of Sondheim revivals.

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 5/24/09 at 6:35pm

I thought MERRILY was scrapped, though I never really learned why.

[BroadwayBoy2]

Posted: 5/24/09 at 6:41pm

Thats a shame, I love Merrily and wish I could see a production of it.