Michael Bennett and Jimmy Webb's Scandal! (With Swoozie Kurtz)- Page 3

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 3/28/09 at 12:42pm

Okay, my hat's off to anybody who can quote light cues.

[uncageg]

Posted: 1/13/10 at 12:54am

I just finished "The Season" last week (finally!) and am reading the Mandelbaum book now (again, finally!). If you haven't read either, especially the Mandelbaum book, you must if you have any interest in Bennett. I wasn't crazy about "The Season" but after reading it and then starting Mandelbaum's book, I am glad I read "The Season" first.

One thing that I wanted to know from reading in the book is the exact address of the Nickolaus Exercise Center where the tapes were done with the dancers. The book says it was on East 23rd but I peeked into the "On the Line" book on Amazon and it said it was on 3rd in the East 30's. I would love to know exactly where it was and if it is still there as I stay in that area when I visit NYC. Would love to just see it.

[Pgenre]

Posted: 1/13/10 at 1:03am

No, Kevin Kelly's ONE SINGULAR SENSATION is the ultimate source. It's filthy. And truly insightful. If you have not read it seek it out. Seriously.

P

[uncageg]

Posted: 1/13/10 at 1:17am

Will definetly read it. From what I read about it, the Mandelbaum book goes more into the shows, which I like. Looks like the Kelly book is more "gossipy". Did some digging around on it and not reading really good things. One review said it had a lot of inaccuracies. The Times review was not good either. I think I will wait on that one!

Updated On: 1/13/10 at 01:17 AM

[sondheimboy2]

Posted: 1/13/10 at 1:36am

uncageg, how could you not like "The Season"?

It remains the best book on Broadway. Even though it is forty years old and a lot of things have changed, so much hasn't changed that it is still relevant.

[uncageg]

Posted: 1/13/10 at 1:59am

Actually, I wasn't crazy about the way it was written. Sorry, I should have made that clear. I enjoyed it most when he would quote people or tell stories about events and people he met. The information was wonderful. Some things went on that I didn't know about. I found the stories about the Theatre Party ladies (I thnk that's what they were called) to be very interesting. But other parts annoyed me a bit. Especially that chapter where he prints the dialogue from a play and then tells you where it really came from. I actually read it one chapter at a time for a few reasons. The way it was written, to take time to process the information (sort of) and for some reason either the text size or font was wreaking havok with my eyes. (At least that's the excuse I am giving for the vision problem!) (:

Posted: 1/13/10 at 6:39am

The Kelly book makes an interesting "second read" to the Mandelbaum, but yeah it has horrific inacuracies which make me doubt a lot of the gossip.

[devonian.t]

Posted: 1/13/10 at 10:42am

That was a great article from The Times. I would love to see Robin Wagner's set designs!

[PalJoey]

Posted: 8/5/10 at 11:36pm

Bump for Borstal

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 11/15/15 at 9:18pm

Wow--I started this thread nearly 10 years back (when oddly it says I have no screen name), and am still fascinated by any tidbit about Scandal I can find.

Anyway when looking for Hello Again, I found this:  http://www.lct.org/explore/magazine/hello-again-carousel/

It's from a 1994 Lincoln Center theatre magazine.  Click on the cover in the middle with the B&W picture and you can scroll through the pages, it's near the back.  A several page interview conducted by John Guare (!) with Treva Silverman who instigated the project (she was a screenwriter, Bennett was eager to work with) about the entire project.  VERY oddly she never mentions Jimmy Webb's involvement at all, but still a fascinating read that fills out some details.  Man I wish there was at least a bootleg of the infamous workshops of this.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 11/15/15 at 10:18pm

 

Yeah. That last paragraph on page 27 is what it was like: Michael doing coke, Michael getting hepatitis, Michael not doing coke, Treva saying oh-by-the-way-Michael-hired-me-to-write-additional-dialogue-for-Dreamgirls...

 

He WHAT?

 

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 11/15/15 at 10:26pm

First I'd heard of that, too...

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 11/15/15 at 10:43pm

Thank you, Eric! I haven't looked at back issues of NTR since I moved a hundred miles from a large, university library. I really enjoyed reading that interview.

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 11/17/15 at 12:14pm

I have had fun looking through their back issues. 

 

Thirty sty years have passed-surely now would be the time to do something with this?  I can't see any production but maybe a concert with cast members giving their memories -- Swoozie talks about it fondly in her book. Granted the Bennett fantasy production numbers is what everyone praises but maybe Bob Avian could help restate aspects of them. Make it a charity event...  Ok I know I am dreaming

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 11/17/15 at 9:17pm

sondheimboy2 said: "uncageg, how could you not like "The Season"?

It remains the best book on Broadway. Even though it is forty years old and a lot of things have changed, so much hasn't changed that it is still relevant."

 

Amen!