On A Clear Day You Can See Forever at Irish Rep- Page 2

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 6/21/18 at 12:10am

Ladies & Gentlemen, here is a glimpse of the original 1965 Broadway cast of ON A CLEAR DAY YOU CAN SEE FOREVER featuring Barbara Harris and John Cullum:

https://youtu.be/yyw-HEAUr40

Enjoy!

[Emmaloucbway]

Posted: 6/21/18 at 12:51am

WhizzerMarvin said: "About 2:15 with intermission"

 

Great, thanks!! :) Got tickets for later in the week, very curious to see it!

[Sally Durant Plummer]

Posted: 6/21/18 at 12:55am

Whizzer - those songs are cut in the published score, so I think this is the version that is currently licensed. Which is annoying

[WhizzerMarvin]

Posted: 6/21/18 at 5:44am

Well, creative teams must be given lots of wiggle room, because When I’m Being Born Again was in the last revival and the beginning of Hurry, It’s Lovely Up Here (Talk to flowers right here/you haven’t got a thing to fear) which was cut in the Harry revival is now reinstated. Not to mention, there were a bunch of added songs for Mueller in the jazz club.

When they did the show at Encores, Tosy and Cosh and Don’t Tamper With My Sister WERE performed (as well as When I’m Being Born Again and the rest of the score!).

I don’t know what the licensed book looks like, but it sure as hell isn’t the Harry revival and this is a brand new adaptation, so the message seems to be: we realize this is a troubled show, so as long as you inform us first, do whatever you want to the score/book/show.

[newintown]

Posted: 6/21/18 at 8:03am

"When I'm Being Born Again" is still in the published score (albeit as "When I Come Around Again," as a pointless ensemble song for Marks' students). It was also in the draft script for this production that was floating around earlier this year. I doubt that much is lost by cutting it.

Having read that, my take on why Warren was cut was to make a nod to girl power and #meetoo and empowerment ideas currently in strong vogue. Cutting Warren makes Daisy come to Mark because of something she wants for herself, not something a man demands from her. She wants to quit smoking to get a high powered job herself, not to help her fiance get one. Reading that, it seemed less interesting, but I guess someone thought it made Daisy more independent or something.

[StageStruckLad]

Posted: 6/21/18 at 9:58am

Saw it last night and it looks like they are still making changes. Act 2 opens with a song that I wasn't familiar with: "Who is There Among Us Who Knows." It was performed by Mark's students reading about his notorious unnamed patient. I thought it added nothing to the plot and was a strange act opener.

The main reasons to see this production are the lovely (unamplified, I think) singing and Josh Clayton's nice reduced orchestrations for five players, including a harpist. John Cudia does an especially nice job singing "She Wasn't You." Stephen Bogardus flung himself around onstage a bit more than I thought was necessary during "Come Back To Me," but he and Melissa Errico sounded great.

The book has been "adapted" by director Charlotte Moore, and it's still a mess. I think that eliminating Warren's role as Daisy's boyfriend was a mistake, and it really lessens the impact of "Wait Till We're Sixty-Five." Why are Daisy's three friends suddenly extolling the virtues of financial prudence? Got me.

Mark now only makes a few dismissive comments about what a loser Daisy is, which seem to come out of nowhere because Melissa Errico is not playing her that way. I never really felt that Errico found a way to connect with the role of Daisy (her accent seems to wander in and out throughout the evening), but I thought she did a nice job as Melinda.

And no flower growing in the pot that Daisy holds during "Hurry, It's Lovely Up Here"? That seems like a simple bit of stagecraft that Irish Rep could have handled.

Updated On: 6/21/18 at 09:58 AM

[newintown]

Posted: 6/21/18 at 10:01am

"Who Is There Among Us Who Knows" was, I believe, written for the film, for the added character of Tad, Daisy's step-brother, played (and sung) by Jack Nicholson. The song was cut, but here's a recording:

Jack sings "Who Is There Among Us"

[jayinchelsea]

Posted: 6/21/18 at 1:08pm

Back in 1993, under our Opening Doors Productions banner, we did a 3-week revival of ON A CLEAR DAY with the brilliant Jennifer Prescott as Daisy/Melinda and Jim Madden as Mark, at the Clurman on Theatre Row, as a benefit for BroadwayCares/EquityFightsAIDS. After I received the  material, it became clear to me that there were more than one version of the show floating around. Composer Burton Lane reached out to me, knowing we were producing the show, invited the creative team to his home, and offered us any and all of the trunk songs he had written. He also said we could make any changes to the libretto that we wanted, as Lerner had passed and he was now in charge of the show. 

We sold out every performance of the three-week run, Burton was there for the opening and closing nights, and at the closing he came up on stage to the roaring approval of the audience. He was thrilled and happy with the response, and very grateful to us for doing the show.Yes, the book is something of a mess, but that score is one of the best scores of the latter part of 20th century musical theatre.

[Ado Annie D'Ysquith]

Posted: 6/21/18 at 1:19pm

What a knockout story, jayinchelsea! You sound like someone who definitely knows what they're doing. Do you still run a production company- because if you are, I'd love to participate!

[Cesare2]

Posted: 6/21/18 at 2:53pm

Left at intermission.  Had liked the Encores production a lot, even the silly "When I'm Being Born Again."  Skipped the Connick revisal because it sounded so wrongheaded:  this show was always meant as a star vehicle for a singing actress with great comic timing.  And what great songs, even the minor ones.

While I've enjoyed the leads in the Irish Rep production in other shows, they are simply too old for their roles here.  And were it not for the hat, I would have had a hard time figuring out when Melissa Errico was playing Daisy and when she was playing Melinda.

Didn't care for the re-writing and dropping of songs.  If anything, the re-writing accentuated problems with the show, particularly the icky #metoo factor.  Dr. Bruckner's using Daisy to get to Melinda would cost him his professional license, if not time in the slammer.

Updated On: 6/21/18 at 02:53 PM

[Prisoner of 7th Ave]

Posted: 6/22/18 at 10:04am

That is special.  Also kind of tragic.  For whatever reason, Barbara Harris walked away, unlike Julie and Rosemary, who kept coming back to the stage until it wasn't feasible.  BH might've made a dynamite Mme. Armfeldt.  But then, with that talent, the possibilities are endless.  

[Flowerlovestage5]

Posted: 6/23/18 at 11:12am

Selling: 1 ticket for Friday 7/6 - 8pm  Orchestra, D3

I now have to go out of town earlier that day and did want to catch this show as I love the score.

I paid $70 plus service charge but asking $60 as they now have a discount out.

If interested, message me. 

[justoldbill]

Posted: 6/24/18 at 11:42am

Did anyone see the National Company in the Sixties with Van Johnson and Linda Lavin?  She was very Streisand-ish,  years before the movie.  The production was pleasant but not very good to my critical high-school eyes.

[wolfwriter]

Posted: 6/24/18 at 2:07pm

We saw this last night and enjoyed it. Beautiful score stripped down made me appreciate it far more than the Harry Connick revival.

It's a cute show with a dumb story and great music, like so many other musicals I've seen. Audience seemed to like it. I've noticed that some comments criticized this production on what it isn't, not what it is (ie. what songs were cut etc.). My only exposure to this was the Connick revival, so I don't know it very well.

Would I see this again? No. Would I pay full price? No. On the cheap, though, I can think of far worse ways to spend an evening. 

[VintageSnarker]

Posted: 6/26/18 at 11:54pm

I will probably have more to say at another time but I found this very enjoyable. I'm not sure at the thinking behind such a long first act. There are plenty of places where they could cut things off. I know the OBC album and the movie soundtrack but not the original or revival book so maybe I'm more forgiving because I don't know what was changed. I can see where you would mine the human story but I disagree with Whizzer. They seem to have decided that given the problematic book, they would play it as more of a silly musical comedy. I think combined with the sense of a period piece, it works.

I'm curious if the John Cudia character was a more effective romantic rival in previous productions. Here, you're just waiting for Daisy to "remember" everything about their relationship and realize she doesn't actually love him. It's also very much played for laughs.

Some light misogyny but I get the sense that more of it was cut? I agree that Mark's negative feelings about Daisy came out of nowhere and him convincing her that he cared about her and not Melinda at the end was a little sloppy in spite of how Bogardus tried to sell it. I had no issue with her wanting to get a job. If I hadn't read here that it was a change, I wouldn't have thought anything of it. It's not hammered home as a message or anything.

For $24, I certainly can't complain. And with a discount code I might even see it again. The score is great and the live musicians were one of the best small ensembles I've heard in an off-Broadway theater. I don't know why but they sounded much better than the one for Beast in the Jungle. And oh my God, the guy switching between all the woodwinds was impressive.

[RippedMan]

Posted: 8/18/18 at 11:25pm

I was there tonight and totally agree! The band sounded fantastic and the sound design overall was fantastic. 

Florrie Bagel sings the Act 2 opener and she BROUGHT it. Just gorgeous, gorgeous vocals. I wish she was more of a name because I think she'd kick ass at a Funny Girl. I saw her in Jerry Springer and thought she was incredible in that too. For me, though that song was the highlight of the show. It showcased the talented ensemble and was fun to watch. 

Also thought Ben Davis was worth the price of my ticket. Just gorgeous, and a terrific actor, and gorgeous voice. His "Come Back To Me" was a highlight as well. 

Errico, I don't know. I haven't seen her live before and I'm not sure I quite understand the hype? She just didn't feel like she was playing a real person. Ben Davis felt so grounded and everyone else around him felt so over-the-top and cartoony. I'd much prefer a more grounded, honest version of the show instead of playing everything very zainy and crazy. Errico's acting just left a lot to be desire. It seemed she was playing to a roadhouse and not the intimate Irish Rep. She was in great voice, but not sure what that hairstyle was suppose to be. 

I've only ever seen the Conneck version of the show, and throughout the evening was trying to piece together parts of that story, and now I wish I could go back and see it again knowing what it was suppose to be. It's def a weird story, but also kind of interesting and romantic and something we'd never see today. 

I'd recommend it. 

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 8/20/18 at 11:15am

I'd never seen the show before but just did this weekend. What a weird and somewhat creepy show. I was VERY happy to see Ben Davis again, though, since I hadn't since Violet. Basically agree with RippedMan here!

[VintageSnarker]

Posted: 8/26/18 at 12:07am

It's really a shame it's not selling better during the extension. It's like an Encores show but in a more intimate space. Having seen Stephen Bogardus and Ben Davis there were things I preferred about each performance. In general Bogardus was the stronger actor because he gave more of a character actor performance and was more believable as a therapist and somehow smoothed over a lot of the messiness that the new book isn't able to fix in act 2. With Ben Davis, those songs soar and I REALLY wish they would make a cast album. He plays it as more of a traditional leading man and the sloppiness of the Mark/Daisy/Melinda love story really shows. The Edward character was even funnier the second time.

But I had a fabulous time on both occasions. I say see it while you can as I don't see this getting revived again any time soon.