Old Classic Musicals (film or otherwise) with New Books

[Musical Master]

Posted: 5/16/13 at 7:07pm

I have noticed a bit of a trend quite recently that when a show that performed on stage before (or in musical films or television), they reach Broadway or Off-Broadway or Revived, they have revised books by certain writers for "today's audience".

Examples: (correct me if I'm missing any)

Carrie
Cinderella
On A Clear Day
Flower Drum Song

What do all of you think of this trend? Is it good or is it bad?

Updated On: 5/16/13 at 07:07 PM

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 5/16/13 at 7:15pm

It depends on the book. I've seen BABES IN ARMS with revised book at a dinner theater in New Jersey and with the original book by the music department at UCLA. Though the latter was by far the better production, I longed for the brevity and integration of the revisal.

Certainly, pre-OKLAHOMA! musical comedies tend to rely on highly topical humor that may have little to do with the plot or characters, or even make sense to modern viewers. Such books are almost always better revised.

But for my money, they could have stopped "revising" ANYTHING GOES in the early 1960s. The revisals since have added little, IMO.

Updated On: 5/16/13 at 07:15 PM

[all that jazz]

Posted: 5/16/13 at 7:20pm

There's also Cabaret which has a different book and a different set of songs.

[lachri5]

Posted: 5/17/13 at 4:20am

Working comes to mind

[dramamama611]

Posted: 5/17/13 at 5:05am

I suppose it depends on the result. IS the show (to most folks) actually improved upon?

SOME shows NEED revisions (Carrie & Bare). That doesn't mean what ended up on stage was actually better. (I can't speak to Carrie, but Bare was a disaster to most.)

[best12bars]

Posted: 5/17/13 at 8:33am

I think it's interesting that many "creative folks" find the songs perfectly okay, but they have to tinker with the spoken word.

They were written at the same time, with the same sensibilities, to be a seamless cohesive unit. So "visionaries" come along and mess with just one aspect of the writing.

I understand fixing a few things, but when they do a massive rewrite of the book and leave the score (mostly) alone, it always feels disconnected.

And more often than not, it's because the creatives involved don't know how to direct the older material, and the actors involved don't know how to perform it well enough.

[Mattbrain]

Posted: 5/17/13 at 10:57am

dramamama, even though the popular consensus round these parts is that Carrie went from being so bad it was good to just being bad, I personally really enjoyed the new version of Carrie.

But yes, the revision of Bare was a disaster.

[HeyMrMusic]

Posted: 5/17/13 at 11:34am

Annie Get Your Gun and You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown came to Broadway as revivals with revised scripts (I bet Kristin Chenoweth is very grateful for that).

The celebrated Show Boat revival also featured an altered script.

[jnb9872]

Posted: 5/17/13 at 12:29pm

The Frogs and Merrily We Roll Along have been heavily revised, too, though the revival of the latter has not yet made it to Broadway.

[allofmylife]

Posted: 5/17/13 at 1:19pm

Me and My Girl was re-written, wonderfully, I believe, by Stephen Fry.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 5/17/13 at 1:50pm

Crazy For You
Nice Work If You Can Get It

But for my money, they could have stopped "revising" ANYTHING GOES in the early 1960s.

The 60s version is my least favorite, actually. The only change in the score I enjoyed is Heaven Hop, but it's completely irrelevant.

Speaking of Cole Porter (and the Heaven Hop), whatever happened to the Medicine Show Theatre's revisal of Paris?

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 5/17/13 at 2:48pm

It's good when it works and it's not when it doesn't. And it's not a new trend. Reworking plays and (later) librettos (as well as scores) of operas and musicals has been happening since Thespis stepped out of the chorus.



Updated On: 5/17/13 at 02:48 PM

[HeyMrMusic]

Posted: 5/17/13 at 2:55pm

One Man, Two Guv'nors tried to be petitioned as a Revival of a Play, so the team behind that production thought it was a revisal ("new book," if you will) rather than a new play.

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 5/17/13 at 3:31pm

The 94 revival of Damn Yankees had a pretty heavily revised script, and while the score remained in tact, there were some heavy alterations to the arrangements, and a character reassignment for "Two Lost Souls." I personally felt the show worked much better in this version, but I will admit I've only seen high school and college productions of the original script to compare it to. I especially loved the '94 arrangements for "Six Months Out of Every Year," Lola's new entrance and the scene leading up to "A Little Brains, a Little Talent," the new dance break for "Whatever Lola Wants" and the new courtroom/hearing scene.

[Someone in a Tree2]

Posted: 5/17/13 at 4:43pm

Didn't the KISS ME KATE revival have a new (or revised) book? I gotta say the original libretto set up great characters and plot, but wow, was the original dialogue hard to wade through.

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 5/17/13 at 6:05pm

Seems like we've identified three categories of revisals:

1. The original show failed and the revisal is an attempt to make a hit out of a flop. (See BARE and CARRIE)

2. The original material is strong enough to inspire more than one different vision of the work and the book is adjusted accordingly. (CABARET, SHOW BOAT and, recently, PORGY AND BESS)

3. Most commonly, a pre-OKLAHOMA! show contains out-of-date references and humor and needs updating to appeal to a modern audience.

Each of these categories seems to involve very different motivations and different strategies.

***

best12, I think we know the old songs, however dated, thanks to OBC albums and pop versions. Nobody knows what a "cunning cottage" is, but we're used to the line in Hart's lyric and expect it when it approaches. The same is rarely true of a show's book.

***

I agree, Matt, that "Heavenly Hop" has no real justification. But which song in ANYTHING GOES does? Even the title song seems thrown in at random (but I think it makes more sense in the early 60s version.)

[Musical Master]

Posted: 5/17/13 at 7:24pm

Gaveston, I guess that Cinderella and Flower Drum Song can be #2, while On A Clear Day can be in #1.

If any of you have read what I posted about Flower Drum Song's new book, may already know that I DESPISE and HATE it with a passion. To me that's like revising The King and I to be set in modern day Thiland where Anna Leonowens is a crazy feminist, or Carousel in Detroit, or better yet, The Sound of Music where Maria is in Africa. That is how bad David Henry Hawng's book was.

Oh and I forgot about the upcoming Gigi where there WILL be a new book, I just pray that they don't screw this up.

[dramamama611]

Posted: 5/17/13 at 8:17pm

Sorry, but isn't the song entitled: HEAVEN Hop? I can just hear the lyrics in my head: Hop, Hop, the heaven Hop.

Am I mistaken?

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 5/17/13 at 9:10pm

Yes, of course, dmama. You are correct: "Heaven Hop." My bad and thanks for the correction.

***

That sounds right to me, Musical Master. Of course, like all such schemes, it is partially arbitrary; but it did seem to me that we were discussing three very different types of "revisals".

[Musical Master]

Posted: 5/17/13 at 9:28pm

^That was the intended purpose to talk about all three.

Well I can thank heaven that I live in a world where The King and I, Carousel, Oklahoma!, The Sound of Music, and South Pacific sure don't need no revision from anybody.

[trentsketch]

Posted: 5/17/13 at 10:19pm

Someone in a Tree2, yes, the Kiss Me Kate revival had a revised book. The score had new vocal arrangements and orchestrations, as well. They're both good versions. It depends on the actors you have. The original vocal arrangements have a lot more a cappella moments, specifically in Tom, Dick, or Harry.

[darquegk]

Posted: 5/17/13 at 11:57pm

A fourth type of revisal: the original production was so strictly tailored to the skills of a unique performer that, in order to salvage the good and workable material in the rest of the show, the book or score must then be retooled again in order to work for a different performer.

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 5/18/13 at 6:59am

Sounds promising, darquek. Examples?

[best12bars]

Posted: 5/18/13 at 9:16am

best12, I think we know the old songs, however dated, thanks to OBC albums and pop versions. Nobody knows what a "cunning cottage" is, but we're used to the line in Hart's lyric and expect it when it approaches. The same is rarely true of a show's book.

That's a good point, Gav.

The songs are familiar because of the many recordings. Plus tampering with dated lyrics or melodies is taboo, unless you're the composer or lyricist.

But tampering with a book is perfectly okay ... as long as the author is dead.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 5/18/13 at 10:43am

Nobody knows what a "cunning cottage" is, but we're used to the line in Hart's lyric and expect it when it approaches.

I'm not sure if Ira Gershwin would be flattered or insulted that you credited his "cunning cottage" reference in the lyric of "I've Got a Crush on You" to Lorenz Hart.

But I'm sure he'd be startled to hear that nobody knows what "cunning" means. Or is it "cottage" that nobody knows?