Michael Riedel: "This Is The Next Musical Tyne Daly Needs To Do"

Saw the original with Lansbury. It would be a tough sell on Broadway due to the subject matter. Agreed the score is fine but doubt it would succeed any more than the original. 

Why is anyone hunting musicals for Tyne Daly?  She should go back to her strengths which is drama and leave the musicals for those who can sing.

"Well, he can only write about so many shows coming next season that are going to be bigger than Hamilton..."

 Was JUST going to write this! 

Daly did not do too badly with Gypsy. She surprised a lot of people with her performance

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"It might be ... interesting to see the Countess Aurelia played as a truck driver with no vibrato."

 That was just plain rude.

I saw Betty Buckley do it in London and it was sublime. Sublime. Can't imagine Tyne in the role. 

Yes. In other words, he's delusional. He should be so lucky as to get a first class mounting of MACK AND MABEL or DEAR WORLD from Encores!. (Also, perhaps he'd get a commercial Broadway run out of a successful Encores! production.) Both shows are mixed bags-- one was attached to the wrong songwriter and the wrong director, and the other was attached to the wrong everyone except for Angela Lansbury... 

Don't get me wrong, there are lovely things in both. DEAR WORLD has some gorgeous ballads and that daffy tea party sequence. But then there are the putrid up tempos, including the awful title song that even Hallmark would be embarrassed to put on on a greeting card. MACK AND MABEL, too, has some really good stuff, particularly when it comes to the female lead. But at the end of the day, I think it should have been a Kander and Ebb/Hal Prince collaboration, not a Gower Champion extravaganza. 

I'm still holding out for a revival of my favorite, and the best Jerry Herman show-- MAME. It just need to have the right lady at the helm, and there's no one "bankable" enough nowadays who can do it. Donna Murphy, Beth Leavel...I'd love it. But it would run six weeks. 

"The awful title song that even Hallmark would be embarrassed to put on on a greeting card. ". If you are going to paraphrase /steal the snarky remark a critic made in 1969, at least  give the critic credit. They get so little credit for anything. 

Mack and Mabel was in very strong, capable, talented hands. The show - which everyone loves to lambast for its book and direction - was damn fine. I woukdn't want to see it without Herman's score or Champion's staging. Kinder, Ebb, and Prince had enough problems musicalizing Zorba

I always liked the title song. I understand why it's awful, but I like it just the same. 

And I've read the script to Mack and Mabel in its revised version, and I find it to be very good. The Herman optimistic music combined with the extremely depressing story gives the show a unique sarcastic tone. Very tongue-in-cheek. If Kander and Ebb had written the show, I think you might have ended up with another The Rink, which is a great show but is such a downer that nobody enjoys themselves while watching it.

And Dear World should be done at the Belasco by Lincoln Center for a limited engagement with Bernadette Peters. I think that would be great.

Updated On: 6/23/15 at 09:35 PM

JayG, who am I stealing from? I remember a bunch of critics saying something similar, and they're all right. I agree. It's a dumb lyric. Just dumb. However, Fantod I think the reason why you like the song is because it actually is a good tune. It's an ear worm. If it had a less putrid lyric... (Apparently, Herman envisioned a small child singing it-- lyric and all, which would have made more sense, but he never spoke up.) 

Kander, Ebb and Prince (and Joe Stein) actually had no problem musicalizing ZORBA, which is among one of K&E's most characterful scores, and though a dark work, certainly consistent in tone. With MACK AND MABEL, there's an inconsistency. It never can really work, despite the delightful "Look What Happened to Mabel" and the gorgeous "Time Heals Everything"-- two first rate songs. 

Where is Rex, anyways????? I hope he's ok!