PLATINUM with Alexis Smith

[sondheimfan2]

Posted: 5/14/11 at 6:54pm

Watching PalJoey's links for FOLLIES got me searching for other Alexis Smith/Dorothy Collins performances. I came across this from a show I don't know.

Can anyone shed some light on PLATINUM? Somehow I never heard of this one.

Platinum Updated On: 5/14/11 at 06:54 PM

[peerrjb]

Posted: 5/14/11 at 7:00pm

Um.... Check out "Platinum" (musical) on Wikipedia. The entry is longer than the show's run.

And Um...Um... The performer in PLATINUM is ALEXIS SMITH (who snatched the Tony AWAY from Dorothy Collins in FOLLIES)...not Ms. Collins.

[sondheimfan2]

Posted: 5/14/11 at 7:10pm

Thanks, Peer - I have been viewing clips of both Dorothy and Alexia all day. Sorry for the error.

Will check our wikipedia, but I was more interested in what BWW people had to say about the show.

[egghumor]

Posted: 5/14/11 at 7:26pm

PLATNUM certainly had its handful of fans, but I was definitely not one of them! The show opened at the Mark Hellinger in 1978 (I think). The silly “plot” concerned a fading Hollywood star named Lila Holliday (Alexis Smith) and her attempts to become relevant again by making a rock/pop record. The whole insane affair took place in a recording studio – that housed a hot tub! (I'm NOT kidding!). The star is seduced (or seduces?) a studly rocker and thus incenses his girl, a young rock chick, played by Chita Rivera's daughter, Lisa Mordente. The show was tacky, idiotic, but quite memorable – complete with a chorus of three backup singers who commented on the action. Because it was about crossing out of musical theater into the rock/pop world, there were lots of blaring guitars on stage, along with the rest of the band. The song represented on the clip provided was probably the best of the lot. Naturally the critics blasted it, and rightfully so. It closed after about 50 performances (including previews) never to be heard from again.

PLATINUM had started out as a smaller musical in Buffalo at the Arena Stage called SUNSET which was bloated up for Broadway. After the quick flop that was PLATINUM, someone had the crazy idea to mount SUNSET a year or so later Off-Broadway. That one starred the fabulous Tammy Grimes, but that show was actually worse than PLATINUM; different characters, plot, etc. I remember one scene had Miss Grimes coming on stage and pointing a gun at everyone. It closed opening night.

Except for sheer godawful flop appeal of PLATINUM and the smaller and even more bizarre SUNSET, you didn't miss anything.

Updated On: 5/14/11 at 07:26 PM

[TimesSquareRegular]

Posted: 5/14/11 at 7:33pm

I saw this in during its Washington try-out, and again when it reached NY. It's still all a blur.

The most memorable thing about PLATINUM? Those fabulous leather pants worn by Alexis.

[egghumor]

Posted: 5/14/11 at 7:34pm

I just saw from reading the Wikipedia entry that last year a production of PLATINUM played the New York Fringe Festival, which is exactly where it belongs. It plays like a Charles Busch send-up of old Hollywood and the music biz – complete with every tired cliché you can imagine. I would loved to have seen the Fringe take on it!

Plus, meaning aside, isn't PLATINUM an ugly word for a musical?

[egghumor]

Posted: 5/14/11 at 9:14pm

Yes! Yes! Yes! Those brown leather slacks! Folks, doesn't that alone tell you something about the "logic" of this show? When most people record, they show up at the studio wearing very comfortable clothes, not Broadway show costumes, right? Everything about the enterprise known as PLATINUM was wrongheaded.

[sondheimfan2]

Posted: 5/15/11 at 6:58pm

Thanks for the posts! Very interesting.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 5/15/11 at 8:10pm

Do a search here--there are several old threads

[sondheimfan2]

Posted: 5/15/11 at 11:42pm

^ will do. Thanks!

[once a month]

Posted: 5/16/11 at 8:18am

What a dog! Although I managed to save the Playbill.