No happy Frogs...- Page 2

[TulitaPepsi]

Posted: 7/16/04 at 10:45am

ANOTHER Brava!

For robbieJ!

[SamIAm]

Posted: 7/16/04 at 10:49am

I think these boards just need to get some semblance of reality when it comes to things like 'cast fatigue' and the normal process shows go through. You may have heard this from a principle but in fact, I'm sure even LANE is tired and bitching right now...so it is what it is. Hopefully, all of this work will pay off with a great show.

So far, they are headed in the right direction.

[Plum]

Posted: 7/16/04 at 11:02am

"I don't really sleep. If I seem a bit like a raving lunatic, that's why. Literally, I'm hearing things at night, lines and songs and why can't I fix that joke? And then, in rehearsal, it's hard to concentrate on the acting when you're hearing your own words come back at you. I'm thinking, 'Oh, this scene is too long now,' and 'How am I gonna fix that?' -- and then it's my turn to talk and I don't know where we are."

That was Nathan Lane being interviewed in the New York Times back on June 27th. Admittedly, he's got one of the heaviest loads to bear in this production, but everyone involved is probably under tremendous stress right now.

[broadwayguy2]

Posted: 7/16/04 at 11:21am

all I have to say about the Frogs is ......... TYLER HANES. i would gladly sit through The Frogs for Tyler.

[Le Prince Rebel]

Posted: 7/16/04 at 11:30am

I saw it Tuesday, and I don't understand all the negativity. It's a funny, thought-provoking show with a poignant message at the end. I don't think that it attacks Bush as much as it challenges the choice of going to war. I felt that the piece's points would be relevant at any time our nation would be at war. And heck, don't we always challenge the intelligence of our leaders? That Aristophanes wrote something in which we can still find relevancy is amazing. And no one around me left at intermission. The older couple sitting next to me even commented to me how much they enjoyed it too. I've seen better; I've seen worse, but I'm glad I went to see it, and I would recommend it to people who like to see thought provoking material presented in a light-hearted manner -- my humble opinion as someone who has seen the show

[SamIAm]

Posted: 7/16/04 at 11:36am

and I think the workload and schedule they are carrying shows in the improvements they've made to the show. I won't have any problem with some people just not GETTING this show and saying it's not for them anymore than I have a problem with the fact that Bombay Dreams is not for ME

I just want people to give the show a chance to OPEN and let them finish their work. There is stress involved in ANY opening let alone an original piece and Sondheim is famous for writing up until the opening curtain.

[MisterRussell]

Posted: 7/16/04 at 3:35pm

You know, I must admit up front that I haven't seen THE FROGS, nor am i likely to, inasmuch as I live on the opposite coast. That being said, I have listened to the CD of the previous version of the show (don't start on me) and thought it was very good, and a great candidate for revision, addition and revival.
How good this version is, I simply cannot say with any authority.

On the other hand, I just heard the CD of BOUNCE...

Now, I am a big Sondheim fan, and find at least something in every show to like, if not love. Based on my listening of BOUNCE (again, don't start in on me, CD's are all I have), I'd saythat the worst production of THE FROGS beats BOUNCE every time.

The feeling that I left BOUNCE with was that Sondheim, while still the best and most talented writer we have, is facing his own mortality (none of us are getting any younger) and trying to clean up his own personal storeroom of show ideas. BOUNCE didn't realy strike me as being "about" anything, except the Mizners of course, and yet was deserving of a full production.

I found the performances very good (Richard Kind, while no Nathan Lane, was perfectly good) and many of the songs very fine. I particularly liked the title tune, the only one in the show that contained an "idea."

But back to THE FROGS.

I hope this new version is recorded; I'd love to compare it to the Nonesuch recording. I only hope that nobody is seriously considering and/or suggesting to Steve an expanded version of EVENING PRIMROSE. Some things are best left alone.

[kittykat2428]

Posted: 7/16/04 at 7:08pm

Alittle off topic but....anyone ever been to the Vivan Beaumont theatre where Frogs is ? I am going to see it on July 30th and have seats in the front mezzanine-center-rowB. I hope they are good...they sounded like great seats but I know the theatre is a little different..

[iflitifloat]

Posted: 7/16/04 at 7:11pm

They are wonderful seats.

[Le Prince Rebel]

Posted: 7/16/04 at 11:41pm

That's exactly where I sat -- marvelous seats; you're lucky to have them! Enjoy!

[rockfenris2005]

Posted: 7/17/04 at 12:01am

The only reason why I'm saying he's finished is:

1) Frogs doesn't seem to be going well
2) Bounce bounced right out of Broadway
3) Assassins and Passion were not as successful as Sunday in the Park and Into the Woods...
4) He should write something new, and not revise something he composed over 30 years ago

Other than that, when he was in his prime (including Merrily, which I think is really interesting) he was the finest, the PINNACLE of Broadway itself (if you don't count Ray Errol Fox - who is probably better)

[magruder]

Posted: 7/17/04 at 7:06am

I like Sondheim...I'm not a rabid fan like some, but I just feel like I have to respond to your post, point by point.

1) More people seem to be liking The Frogs than not. I don't think there is any clear indication that it is not going well, and by the accounts on All That Chat this morning, the addition of Roger Bart and his chemistry with Nathan Lane, has also made a difference.

2) Bounce never did make it to Broadway. I can't say it's my favorite Sondheim score, but there are some nice items in it, and it's not to be wholeheartedly dismissed. And considering in his nearly 50 year career, it's Sondheim's only road closer, it's not such a black mark on his name. Certainly, his outright flops, Anyone Can Whistle and Merrily We Roll Along, keep coming back again and again. I can't imagine we've seen the last of Bounce either.

3) Assassins won five Tony Awards, and considerable critical acclaim, a coup of sorts, since the show was so roundly dismissed in its first New York incarnation. Passion won four Tony Awards and was also hailed by critics, though it sharply divided audiences into "love it" "hate it" camps. Neither could have been expected to have had long runs, given that the material for both shows is often so dark and uncompromising, but faulting them for having shorter runs than Sunday or Into the Woods is beside the point. They couldn't have been expected to run longer than those other shows. Even Sunday in the Park with George is more accessible for a general audience than Assassins or Passion.

4) The Frogs has never had a mainstream Broadway production. What's so wrong about him revisiting it and writing six new songs for it? At the age of 74, and with 16 Broadway shows to his credit, is the man not allowed to slow down a little?

To call him "finished" is an argument that the young should be eaten.

[CaTheatreGirl]

Posted: 7/17/04 at 8:53am

Bravo, Magruder. You raise some mighty fine points!

Posted: 7/17/04 at 9:30am

Well said Magruder.

What's the phrase? The arrogance of youth?

[SamIAm]

Posted: 7/17/04 at 12:27pm

Sondheim was asked, nay begged, to jump back into the Frogs by Stroman and Lane...not his idea to revive it. It is doing well and has sold lots of tickets and isn't even open yet so we don't know what the reviews will be.

As for SITPWG, Sondheim didn't get rave reviews for this when it first opened...his shows tend to grow on people. He is not washed up but rather is a very complex, talented man whose work many people love and many people don't love...he has said in an interview that he is working on a new concept so we may see a new show from him within the next year or so...here's hoping.

[Mr. Tuttle]

Posted: 7/17/04 at 3:16pm

G:

Please tell us of your credible sources for blasting this show?

Please tell me when Sondheim "stormed" out of a show?

For your (lack of) information, he has not.

Do you really need attention? And the only way to get this is by printing lies.

Get a life. And quick.

[TulitaPepsi]

Posted: 7/17/04 at 3:31pm

I'm seeing it for the third time in September...but frankly, I can't wait that long to see Roger. I'm going to try my luck in the cancellation line next week. I really want to see how it has been shaping up...and to hear the haunting "Ariadne" again.

Posted: 7/17/04 at 10:24pm

It better stay alive and get extended through the Christmas season cuze thats when ill be up there and i just hope hope hope that it stays alive and gets extended! (i've been lucky with Assassins...)

[DareQuilty]

Posted: 7/17/04 at 10:39pm

I wish it the best, and previews always meant they were allowed to work on the show to me!

[MusicMan]

Posted: 7/18/04 at 12:17am

It just would be nice for Stevie baby to go out on a cloud of glory like Verdi with Othello and Falstaff, instead of second-rate duds like Passion, Assassins or Bounce. But judging from the economic climate, lack of suitable material for musical treatment in this emotionally-minimalist age and a severe drought of talented librettists, it seems unlikely.

Posted: 7/18/04 at 12:22am

I know an excellent librettist. No, it's not me.

[Sumofallthings]

Posted: 7/18/04 at 12:23am

Stephen Sondheim has never had a box office hit. Into The Woods came the closest. By this I am excluding the shows where he did only lyrics (Gypsy, West Side Story). But Sondheim has never had a major box office smash. However the majority of his music is legendary. Sondheim is different because he touches different chords in the lives of many people. Instead of appealing to everybody and going for the broad generalizatons of life, he looks deeper and doesn't necessarily always bring out the best in somebody.

[Plum]

Posted: 7/18/04 at 12:28am

I would say A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum and A Little Night Music were hits. They certainly made back their investments.

[MusicMan]

Posted: 7/18/04 at 12:45am

When artists like Verdi or Spielberg or Mark Twain appeal to a large mass audience, it's hardly because of "broad generalizations" but because they evoke through their subject matter and their materials the human condition and a universal sense of life beyond itself. That is the essence by which works of art truly move us. And, except for a show like A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC (a success, by the way), the Sondheim experiments have lacked that transcendent quality that would grant them access to a larger audience.

[SamIAm]

Posted: 7/18/04 at 2:03pm

Who says he's done. He is working on a new project that he says he recently was inspired to do and about which we yet know nothing, and he has the Frogs going on now for which he's written new music