McKechnie's "Tick Tock" — Page 3

I kinda think it was a cop-out but workable way to complete the Instrument "concept"
as in , We get Patti to play Lovett but she can't really play anything
and we need an actress, Walsh who can't either.
So we will play that up.
Yes, they made that work but c'mon, it's a stretch.
I am all for finding new meaning to great works of Art
SWEENY and COMPANY are certainly that.
Sometimes it works, but not always.

Updated On: 3/13/07 at 01:23 AM

Eric, I had seen the CAMP choreography for Turkey first and then seeing that recently posted video a sum total of about 5 times, it was strikingly similar.

The only difference I noticed was in some of the spotlight dancing McKechnie had because obviously some teenage blonde isn't going to be able to match anything close to hers. However, most of the girls as a trio and the company itself manage to come off having extremely alike dancing. Example, the "wishes come truuuuuueeee" line where the lean back and then snap forward was the same. There were many more that I just can't recall.

Sadly, the best evidence for staging the number may have to come from Camp.

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Mistakes often cause brilliance, though. Maybe Walsh couldn't play an instrument, and by making her play something so simple, so absentmided, it added to her character.
I doubt they did the same with Bobby though, if that's your next point CPD

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Nope. I think that Bobby finally sits down and sings and plays the piano is the most brilliant use of actors playing instruments in this production.
But i wish they would had carried that thru and let him do it alone instead of the the others coming in.
It would have pointed out how he was not part of the group.

Updated On: 3/13/07 at 01:39 AM

I think that's an issue that you should take up with the show's book/score more so than this production, though. It's written into the score that Bobby's friends encourage him throughout the song, and the logical extension of that would be for them to prod him along with their instruments as well as their words. He's not "joining the crowd" in this particular instance -- his friends are helping him to realize that he's been missing, and that's that he needs to decide for himself what he wants.

Sex
TICK TOCK
this production lacks it
back to topic..

Yes, yay sex.

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All of my life--yeah Turkey Lurkey seems to be ogne already--I thought that evil site was ok with Tony clips as they were filmed for tv for promotion of the show and aren't audience bootlegs--most have lasted on that site for ages no prob. If anyone knows of another way to see it please let me know--as I said it's no joke that I've been trying to see it for over a decade--since I read Mendelbaum's book on Bennett and his musicals which mentioned it in the section on what was on tv.

Sweetestsiren--I'm a huge Chess fan too (it's perhaps my fave British megamusical score)and agree with everything you said about it being a missed opportunity without Bennett. I know he intended the production very much as a pageant with the personal story playign against this background (sorta in the way some of the most famous grand operas do). I still need to learn more about the London production---I knwo ti played several years but only recently found out, for instance, that The Story of CHess was moved to the start of the show--not the end like on the concept album (I always assumed it wasn't move till New York).

I'm not even sure if the name of the Jimmy Webb musical was Scandals but it was somethign close--that book by Mendelbaum I mention has a lot of info and is a good read--I know someone on here told me that Webb has recorded one of the songs from it since then which is meant to be gorgeous (Webb's one of my fave pop composers of the 60s/70s--up there with Bacharach and I'm always surprised that the closest he got to a musical was the songs for The Last Unicorn--I believe after Scandals, as I'll call it till I know better, he did another score that never made it past workshop)

bk--that makes perfect sense of course that the elctricity of Tick Tock was missing in a nostalgic concert revival of COmpany--stiull as a dance fan it's great for me to see the basic steps for the first time.

My Ed Sullivan Broadway tapes are all from master copies (complete with timecode stamps which is a bit annoying) but Turkey Lurkey is missing--still which performance had the replacements? I was a bit annoyed that Broadway's Lost Treasures used Basketball as their clip from Promises Promises over Turkey Lurkey--oh well one of these days I'll track it down...

(C it's good to know the Camp choreography was similar anyway--I sorta suspected it was though I don't think Benett gets credit)

So one more mini tangent re Bennett and Sondheim--that site we don't mention also has a full performance by the London Follies cast of Who's that Woman. I know often this number is recreated from its original Bennett choreography--ie Papermill where it was the only reconstructed number--the London Follies was choreographed by Bennett's old assistant Bob Avain--anyone watching it who might know--is it basically the Bennett original?

E

Updated On: 3/13/07 at 02:58 AM

Now I just hope sometime we can see Bennett's infamous original "very busy/difficult" Drive a Person Crazy choreography recreated--I have the original three girls singing it on That's Singing but apparantly it's not very much of the original choreography.

doodle, you love to cry at weddings too, don't you?

Donna stands out from the crowd as a dancer, no matter what she does. It's that extra communication. Again, you could argue that there are better chorus dancers, with higher kicks, sharper turns, etc.

That's never been what it's about, for me. It's the ability to express yourself and communicate emotion through a series of movements. It's how she stands, how she pops the head, extends her arm, tilts her wrists, leaps, and turns. Different than almost all other dancers you see. It's something "extra." It's what makes her unique. It's what made her a star. It's what made her "Cassie." That's why in the scene where Zach asks her NOT to dance like that... like everyone else around her... was so heartbreaking. He was asking her to remove what was special about her as an artist. "Become everyone else."

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If any of you ever get the chance to see that Tony Awards clip of "Turkey Lurkey" you are in for a treat. Donna McKechnie does some amazing things in that number that left me in awe. Jaw dropping to say the least.
It was easy to see why this number stopped that show night after night after night. How that woman didn't snap her neck in the middle of all of it is beyond me. She's a force of nature.

Yes doodle! Baayork Lee and I believe Margo Sappington completed the trio along with Donna. Some amazing choreography by Bennett. Bennett was such a master at what he did and he was at the height of his powers when he did that show!

Thanks Angel--

Bar, I agree with you that DOnna has that extra ability that just carries--with Tick Tock I suspect that when she did it during the actual run her movements were a bit sharper to the music--but it doesn't matter, you still get what the point of the dance is wonderfully. Being a big ballet fan I remember my mom, when I was growing up, was obssessed with Margot Fonteyn and one of the things she told me about seeing her live, at quite an old age for a ballerina was how technically her legwork, etc wasn't all that amazing (and honestly it never was) but she put so much musicality, emotion and heart into it that it didn't matter

(Having seen Charlotte D'Amboise, and being blown away by her, in Chicago back in 99 on tour--I suspect that Charlotte, who was perfect for the colder role of Roxie, is missing some of this when doing DOnna's numbers in Chorus Line--but I admit I can't fairly say that not even seeing any illegal footage of her dancing in it)

It's interesting with Bennett's choreography for PP and COmpany (and, maybe less so, Chorus Line and Follies--at least who's that Woman) to see how his choreography contrasts with the other big choreographer at the time, Fosse. It's certainly more dated and I think comes off as looking less technically demanding than most modern chorus dancing (which is probably true--the training of choruses and what they can do has come a long way) but it's also so right for the show and character.