New layers for upcoming B'Way revivals - NY Times article

[uncageg]

Posted: 9/15/11 at 10:05am

I didn't know they were adding "You Must Love Me" to the "Evita" Revival.

Good article:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/18/theater/new-layers-for-broadway-bound-musical-revivals.html?ref=theater

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 9/15/11 at 10:22am

It was added for the '06 revival in London and I'm happy they're keeping it. I think it really does add something that was needed for her character at that point in the show.

[backwoodsbarbie]

Posted: 9/15/11 at 10:26am

I bet Patti has a comment about that!

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 9/15/11 at 10:33am

Patti said "dkjfdkj dk nmn cmxvbyaey euu b vdaopiuy hjxcn"

[uncageg]

Posted: 9/15/11 at 10:34am

Ok, Jordan now that you mentioned it, I think I do remember reading that it was in that production. So it only makes sense that it will be in the B'Way production. I can take or leave the song.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 9/15/11 at 10:38am

I'm ok with that change, however when they finally bring DREAMGIRLS back to Broadway they had BETTER return it to it's original state because cutting that entire section of music just to put "Listen" in is totally UNACCEPTABLE.

[uncageg]

Posted: 9/15/11 at 10:42am

I am actualy not crazy about adding songs from the movie versions to revivals. If I want to hear the song(s) from the movie, I will watch the movie. JMO

[backwoodsbarbie]

Posted: 9/15/11 at 10:43am

Jordan--funny, that's the same thing Patti said to me when she learned she wasn't cast in the Kennedy Center's production of Follies.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

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

I'm ok with that change, however when they finally bring DREAMGIRLS back to Broadway they had BETTER return it to it's original state because cutting that entire section of music just to put "Listen" in is totally UNACCEPTABLE.

God, the inclusion of "Listen" was just torturous. One of the many misguided steps in that production.

I have no opinion on On a Clear Day until Stephen Sondheim writes to the NYT about it. Then I'll become a screeching harpy to defend whatever he says.

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 9/15/11 at 11:23am

"Diane Paulus.....and her collaborators declined to be interviewed for this article."
Duh.

[Calvin]

Posted: 9/15/11 at 11:24am

I keep reading this title as "new lawyers for..."

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 9/15/11 at 11:26am

I have no opinion on On a Clear Day until Stephen Sondheim writes to the NYT about it. Then I'll become a screeching harpy to defend whatever he says.

I'm glad someone said it.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 9/15/11 at 11:28am

Oh, leave Grandma alone!

[Miranda3]

Posted: 9/15/11 at 12:05pm

Calvin, I kept reading it as "lawyers" too. I thought they were preparing to get litigious if Sondheim goes on the attack.

[Mildred Plotka]

Posted: 9/15/11 at 12:21pm

I think there's a big difference between tweaking Porgy and Bess to suit your vision and reconstructing On a Clear Day (great score, but not exactly a classic) to make it crackle for a new audience.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 9/15/11 at 12:41pm

What's the difference? I'm not being snarky.

[uncageg]

Posted: 9/15/11 at 12:59pm

Phyllis, I don't see much of a difference either. For me, a change is a change. It kind of bothers me when revivals come up of shows I never got to see and they decide to make changes to it "to make it better, etc." I know I won't see exact sets but I would like the original arrangements, book, etc. Just wishful thinking.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 9/15/11 at 1:17pm

And Porgy's been in flux for 70+ years. The changes to A.R.T.'s incarnation don't seem nearly as drastic as these changes to Clear Day.

People say that Sondheim was just taking on the way the women were talking about their revisions, so I'd think that those in agreement would feel the same about the comments of the Clear Day team, who have turned a woman's role into a gay man (which "breathes new life" into it), and infer that without their contributions, it doesn't "crackle"?

I'm fine with the changes to both, for what it's worth. I just fail to see how the brouhaha over Porgy wasn't stemming more from Sondheim than the creative team. No one seemed to give two sh*ts until his letter was published.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 9/15/11 at 1:24pm

Because you can't buy publicity like that for your show. It was probably the best thing that could have happened to it.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 9/15/11 at 1:30pm

The article fails to note that in the newly interpolated "You Must Love Me" scene in "Evita," Eva will be singing as she is lobotomized.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 9/15/11 at 1:36pm

Where do we go from here? This isn't where we intend to be. We had it all, you believed in me I chicken pot pie hot ice cream cone.

Certainties disappear. What do we do for a dream baby sleep make a potty. How can we keep all dirty clothes wash and fold one dollar a pound.

[bwayfan7000]

Posted: 9/15/11 at 1:49pm

"'...revivals succeed best when artists take the essence of the original work, add to it subtly or stage it inventively, and make the show live anew without betraying the original,' citing Lincoln Center Theater’s recent revival of “South Pacific” and Roundabout Theater Company’s “Cabaret” as examples."

Wait, what? Am I missing something about his Cabaret example? Wasn't that revival heavily revised with the interpolation of all those songs from the film and the excision of some from the original?

[Gypsy9]

Posted: 9/15/11 at 1:52pm

The difference between PORGY AND BESS and ON A CLEAR DAY rests in the tremendous importance of the music for P&B. Making major changes in the orchestrations, as has been pointed out by one of the posters on another thread who has seen the Cambridge production, is potentially disastrous, substituting accordion and reeds for strings, for example. P&B, as an opera or at least a folk opera, has need for a symphonic approach even if it wants to be a Broadway musical. Slanting the orchestrations away from this will result in a tinny sounding show. Such changes will cause me to skip this production, because orchestrations of all shows are very important to me and greatly affect my enjoyment of any production.

The changes in the music for ON A CLEAR DAY YOU CAN SEE FOREVER are apparently going to be restricted to the addition of songs from the film ROYAL WEDDING( a delightful musical). Potential new orchestrations will presumably be in the Broadway style. The major changes will be in the book and consequently in the roster of actors in the production. Since the original book was problematic, this does not seem to be bothering people.

[givesmevoice]

Posted: 9/15/11 at 1:53pm

And of course the revival of South Pacific wasn't betraying the original: it reinstated material that had been cut from the original production.

[SonofRobbieJ]

Posted: 9/15/11 at 2:05pm

But it still doesn't represent the original production. We can argue that 'My Girl Back Home' enhances the piece (I know I certainly would). And there are people who had a major problem with the Honey Bun reprise at the end of the show (I thought it was haunting and just about perfect). But it doesn't change the fact that these were relatively large changes.

Cabaret was changed in even more profound ways. I'll argue forever that these were terrific changes (it's still the greatest production of a musical I've ever seen), but we cannot argue that the changes weren't drastic.

As for Porgy and Bess over On a Clear Day..., I understand your personal issue with it, Gypsy9, but the changes to Clear Day are far more extensive than those in Porgy and Bess. It is a complete overhaul. And I think that's great. I also am pleased that people are addressing the difficulties of Porgy and Bess. Let's face it, from the demands of casting to the demands of staging with a full orchestra, it's a very, very difficult show to produce. There are also a good many people who have a problem with how the black characters are presented (not without justification).

We've had three Broadway productions of Sweeney Todd whose arrangements have ranged from Broadway pit, to 2 synths to the cast playing an incredibly reduced version of the score. That's not even counting the full Philharmonic treatment that score has received. Each of those productions have brought out something different in the piece. Why can't Porgy and Bess be afforded that same exploration?