ON A CLEAR DAY----

[GEORGE CONSTANT]

Posted: 12/1/11 at 5:41pm

So Sad,

Glorious music- reworked and made into NOT GLORIOUS MUSIC.Harry Connick is not a Broadway stage performer- wooden ( I almost got splinters ). Just stands there and Croons.Great voice BUT not for Broadway and not Clear Day.
And- what did they do to When I'm 65 ?- seemed like out of a bad production of HAIR.
Too many extra songs included that did not fit into the story and just made the show LONGER than it should have be.
Have the creators of the show ever SEEN this version they have created ?
I think NOT ! Would they pay the high $$$$$$$ to see it ?

Very Sad- if it's not BROKEN- don'T fix it !!!!!!!

[MadonnaMusical]

Posted: 12/2/11 at 2:55am

eek... apparently the creators haven't seen it, cause rumor has it that director Michael Mayer has been skipping performances....

[PalJoey]

Posted: 12/2/11 at 9:50am

That rumor is wrong.

[sorano916]

Posted: 12/2/11 at 10:49am

Michael has been doing double-duty with "On a Clear Day" and the tour production of "American Idiot."

[uncageg]

Posted: 12/2/11 at 11:27am

I am looking forward to the reviews for this show. I wasn't sure I wanted to see it but I know someone in the show and want to see her. However, everyone I talked to very much enjoyed the show even with the changes. From what I am hearing, it is making me want to see it and I am not a big Connick fan.

[newintown]

Posted: 12/2/11 at 11:41am

Hey, Joey, what else can you tell us about Mayer (since you know where he is for evenings and matinees, you must have some more info). What does he do when he first awakes? What kind of soap is in his shower? What kind of toilet tissue does he prefer? Is he a wadder or a folder? Is he regular? How does he prefer to get to the theatre - subway, cab, or have the producers hired a Stritch-esque limo for him to use?

We're all breathless with anticipation for the answers.

[BirdOnWing]

Posted: 12/2/11 at 2:07pm

Absolutely LOVE Harry Connick Jr.

Seeing it next week with my favorite ladies!!!

[Gaveston2]

Posted: 12/2/11 at 2:44pm

I've read in various places here that the Doctor's students sing both "When I'm Being Born Again" and "Wait Till You're 65".

Have they changed the psychiatrist into a choir director?

[quizking101]

Posted: 12/2/11 at 3:13pm

I hate t be the one that asks, but how is the stage door given that Connick is the draw here?

[uncageg]

Posted: 12/2/11 at 3:33pm

quiz, I happened by the stage door one evening last week just before he came out. It was raining and there were maybe 30 people there waiting. My friend called me from the stage door the other night and he was able to get his autograph and it didn't sound really crazy. The night I was there Connick jumped into a car. The other night my friend said he just walked down the street. No car.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 12/2/11 at 4:54pm

The doctor is nowhere near the "Wait Till You're 65." Warren leads the "kids on the rooftop" into singing that, sort of as a way to convince Davey to move in with him.

The doctor leads the students in "When I'm Being Born Again" as part of the controversial class he's teaching in Alternative Therapies. I'm not sure if the students in the class are supposed to be the same kids as the kids on the rooftop.

Newintown--you're so funny when you go all scatological.

[dwperkins]

Posted: 12/2/11 at 8:55pm

I absolutely adore this score and the original lush orchestrations as well as Barbara Harris's genius performance. Take all that away way and what have you got? The mis guided revival currently on Broadway. I read the Times Piece last Sunday and knew about the tinkering with the book but they even destroyed the songs because they changed the meters, styles and orchestrations so that the gorgeous score is now vulgar.

[Miranda3]

Posted: 12/2/11 at 9:02pm

In the original, Warren (then, the wonderful William Daniels) sang "Wait Till We're Sixty-five" with the rooftop friends. The doc was not in the number. Always thought the purpose of that number in the original was to ID Warren as being focused on finances and concrete existence (projected, but only in terms of actuary tables and lifespan predictions, into the future) vs Daisy, who was in tune with the ephemeral but felt she had to hide it.

[dwperkins]

Posted: 12/2/11 at 9:05pm

yes they have taken all of the magic out of the show and the result is a leaden flat production. You can't believe how badly they have rearranged the score.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 12/2/11 at 9:25pm

Having seen this & Bonnie & Clyde, see the latter.

[newintown]

Posted: 12/2/11 at 11:33pm

dwperkins hits it right on the nose.

So Mitchell, you don't know where Mayer is all the time? So it's possible he's missing performances?

[TimesSquared]

Posted: 12/3/11 at 3:15pm

Miranda, you're absolutely right.

In the original version, Warren was an annoying drip (comically so, when played well—I'm sure Daniels was hilarious), and "Wait Till We're Sixty-five" showed what was most important to him: future financial security, right down to a guaranteed burial plot (not what the 20-or-30-something Daisy is looking forward to). Warren kind of bullies the unpractical Daisy, who hasn't found the inner strength to realize it yet.

In the new version, the song is meant to be sweet and romantic, more like the Beatles' "When I'm Sixty-four" (an "I want to grow old with you" song), sung by a Warren who's warm, supportive, and hopelessly smitten with Davey.

The problem (among many others), is that the lyrics to "Wait Till We're Sixty-five" have not changed—they're still about financial security and not romantic in any traditional sense.

This is true of many of the songs in the new version. The original lyrics don't match up with the new characters, situations and intentions.

[Gaveston2]

Posted: 12/3/11 at 6:55pm

Thanks for the clarification, paljoey and TimesSquared.

And, yes, Miranda, you and TimesSquared are right: "Wait Till You're 64" was supposed to identify Warren as a Man in the Grey Flannel Suit, cog in the Establishment, type, so concerned with security that he wasn't able to fully live. (IIRC, He was also a contrast to Miranda's beau in the past, who was financially reckless.)

Updated On: 12/3/11 at 06:55 PM