PRINCE OF BROADWAY Previews- Page 8

[RippedMan]

Posted: 9/3/17 at 2:54am

I think it's just a hard sell. I mean the previous shows of this idea were all director/choreographers. He's not one of them. So what are we to appreciate from his musical numbers? One would think most of the work was the choreographer? So what makes that staging so important? That's the information I want to know. 

[WhizzerMarvin]

Posted: 9/12/17 at 10:59pm

I finally got to see this tonight, and well, as usual I have lots of thoughts, ha.

I believe a show titled Prince of Broadway (not Prince of Grand Street, as I've kept mistakenly referring to it for months!) should be first and foremost a tribute to Hal Prince. On that count, this revue is a complete failure. Prince is neither a composer nor a choreographer; he is a genius director and producer. Unfortunately, the best way to show that off is not have someone sit on a bench and sing "Will He Like Me?" This isn't a Bock & Harnick tribute. It's a Prince tribute. So after watching someone sing "Tonight At Eight" and "Will He Like Me?" what exactly did we learn about Prince's direction of She Loves Me? What about how he produced the show? (God forbid if you were unfamiliar with the show- then you really probably did tune out for that eight minutes of runtime.) 

Now I'm not trying to compare Sam Gold to Hal Prince at all, but imagine if 40 years from now we have Sam Gold's Broadway. During the Fun Home section they wheel out a bed and some young woman sings "Changing My Major To Joan" and then a little girl comes out and sings "Ring of Keys." How is that a tribute to Gold? Tesori and Kron, sure- but not Gold. The brilliance of his Fun Home staging was how he kept everything moving so fluidly; the way memories appeared and disappeared again into the floorboards; Beth Malone's ever-present artist, drawing, remembering, mis-remembering. A revue format just wouldn't do it justice, at least one without a very large budget to recreate the effects. 

In the Follies section they could have talked about how Prince changed the order of Broadway Baby and Ah, Paris or in Show Boat how he took Why Do I Love You? away from Magnolia and Gaylord and gave it to Parthy. I know they couldn't include material from every show he directed and/or produced, but to not talk about his 1974 revival of Candide is unforgivable. That production may have single-handedly saved Candide from flop obscurity, and Prince's environmental staging and commissioning of completely new book by Hugh Wheeler reinvented the show. You could write a whole damn play about his work on Candide and here it's not even mentioned. (Grind is also regrettably not brought up.)

Since we've all seen Phantom and heard those songs umpteen times, why not have a section talking about set design and how he conceived the chandelier falling? Why didn't they perform some book scenes and show how he influenced book changes? Or even how he collaborated with composers/lyricists? (I kept waiting for some anecdote where he said, "Out of town we just couldn't get the top of the show to work. We went through three opening numbers until we got it right, and this is it: ________________."

Why didn't they choose numbers that showed off his staging? Stuff like "She's a Nut" when 20th Century. Come on! That must be one of his tour de force comedy stagings. What doesn't work so well is seeing "Heart" or "A New Argentina" with four frickin' people. 

I didn't learn a single thing about Prince I didn't already know. I didn't get an inside to look into how he works, creates, directs, picks properties, collaborates- nothing. 

With all that said, it's not like there isn't talent on stage. Tony Yazbeck is a gem and deserves all the praise he's been getting; "The Right Girl" was the highlight of the show for me. I enjoyed the Show Boat section too, as well as West Side Story. Brandon Uranowitz made for a good Emcee after only seeing Alan Cumming play that part for the past few decades. I'd like to see what he could do with it in a full production. Emily Skinner looks like a million bucks and can still belt it out. The songs were mostly well-sung, even when the song choice was a bit baffling. 

I wasn't in pain or anything, but I just didn't understand how this parade of songs did anything other than honor the composers/lyricists who wrote them.

 

[BroadwayConcierge]

Posted: 9/12/17 at 11:20pm

Woohoo! I've been waiting to hear your thoughts on this one, Whizzer! Perfectly put, as usual. It doesn't put you "in pain," but the whole evening is just inexplicable. 

[Ado Annie D'Ysquith]

Posted: 9/13/17 at 4:35pm

Whizzer, were you able to make it to 54 Sings Sugar?

[WhizzerMarvin]

Posted: 9/13/17 at 4:50pm

Unfortunately I was not able to make it to Sugar at 54 Below :/ 

I really wanted to, but I just wanted able to get back into the swing of things soon enough after having been away for a little while. I hope it went well! 

[green waver]

Posted: 9/13/17 at 10:39pm

WhizzerMarvin said: "I finally got to see this tonight, and well, as usual I have lots of thoughts, ha.

I believe a show titled Prince of Broadway (not Prince of Grand Street, as I've kept mistakenly referring to it for months!) should be first and foremost a tribute to Hal Prince. On that count, this revue is a complete failure. Prince is neither a composer nor a choreographer; he is a genius directorand producer. Unfortunately, the best way to show that off is not have someone sit on a bench and sing "Will He Like Me?" This isn't a Bock & Harnick tribute. It's a Prince tribute. So after watching someone sing "Tonight At Eight" and "Will He Like Me?" what exactly did we learn about Prince's direction of She Loves Me? What about how he produced the show? (God forbid if you were unfamiliar with the show- then you really probably did tune out for that eight minutes of runtime.)

Now I'm not trying to compare Sam Gold to Hal Prince at all, but imagine if 40 years from now we have Sam Gold's Broadway. During the Fun Home section they wheel out a bed and some young woman sings "Changing My Major To Joan" and then a little girl comes out and sings "Ring of Keys." How is that a tribute to Gold? Tesori and Kron, sure- but not Gold. The brilliance of his Fun Home staging was how he kept everything moving so fluidly; the way memories appeared and disappeared again into the floorboards; Beth Malone's ever-present artist, drawing, remembering, mis-remembering. A revue format just wouldn't do it justice, at least one without a very large budget to recreate the effects.

In the Follies section they could have talked about how Prince changed the order of Broadway Baby and Ah, Paris or in Show Boat how he took Why Do I Love You? away from Magnolia and Gaylord and gave it to Parthy. I know they couldn't include material from every show he directed and/or produced, but to not talk about his 1974 revival of Candide is unforgivable. That production may have single-handedly saved Candide from flop obscurity, and Prince's environmental staging and commissioning of completely new book by Hugh Wheeler reinvented the show. You could write a whole damn play about his work on Candide and here it's not even mentioned. (Grind is also regrettablynot brought up.)

Since we've all seen Phantom and heard those songs umpteen times, why not have a section talking about set design and how he conceived the chandelier falling? Why didn't they perform some book scenes and show how he influenced book changes? Or even how he collaborated with composers/lyricists? (I kept waiting for some anecdote where he said, "Out of town we just couldn't get the top of the show to work. We went through three opening numbers until we got it right, and this is it: ________________."

Why didn't they choose numbers that showed off his staging? Stuff like "She's a Nut" when 20th Century. Come on! That must be one of his tour de force comedy stagings. What doesn't work so well is seeing "Heart" or "A New Argentina" with four frickin' people.

I didn't learn a single thing about Prince I didn't already know. I didn't get an inside to look into how he works, creates, directs, picks properties, collaborates- nothing.

With all that said, it's not like there isn't talent on stage. Tony Yazbeck is a gem and deserves all the praise he's been getting;"The Right Girl" was the highlight of the show for me. I enjoyed the Show Boat section too, as well as West Side Story. Brandon Uranowitz made for a good Emcee after only seeing Alan Cumming play that part for the past few decades. I'd like to see what he could do with it in a full production. Emily Skinner looks like a million bucks and can still belt it out. The songs were mostly well-sung, even when the song choice was a bit baffling.

I wasn't in pain or anything, but I just didn't understand how this parade of songs did anything other than honor the composers/lyricists who wrote them.
          I have to respectfully disagree with your criteria for disliking the show. It seems as though you have some very specific expectations built in  when you saw it-you want a deeper appreciation and understanding of how Prince Hal works, and only wanted inclusion of moments he created. This is my attitude-these were his shows; his name is on them. Any great number from any of these shows is appropriate. To pigeonhole one moment as strictly a Bock-Harnick moment is very nitpicky. I, for one, couldn't have enjoyed it more. Don't get me wrong- a more pedantic look at his directorial choices is interesting as a sidebar, but it doesn't enhance its theatricality.
 

 

[WhizzerMarvin]

Posted: 9/14/17 at 12:07pm

Hi green waver, 

I guess I just think they could have chosen better songs that showed off both Prince's contributions as well as showcasing the musicals themselves. Why did they chose "Will He Like Me?" or say "Dear Friend"? Did Prince have a special connection to the song? Did he request another ballad for Amelia be written? Did he play with the placement of the song in previews? Etc. 

As an example, in the Follies section why couldn't they have had Karen come out and start singing "Can That Boy Foxtrot." She wouldn't even have to sing the whole song- just a verse or so- and then Prince's voice could come over the speaker mentioning how the song wasn't working, it was too much of a one joke song, etc and then have her segue into "I'm Still Here" and bring down the house. We still honor and celebrate Follies, but also get to see how Prince worked on the show. 

Also for some of the shows he produced, but didn't direct, like WSS and Fiddler, I actually don't think of those as "Hal Prince Shows." Right or wrong, if you asked me to list the top 10 names I associate with WSS, Prince probably wouldn't be on the list, and yet they gave two numbers of the evening over that show. I'm not saying they shouldn't include it, but why not have some more dialogue about Prince's role as a producer. Did he bump heads with Arthur? What did he learn as a young man watching these creative teams put these massive hits together? Did he have to restrain himself from adding too much creative input? For the shows that he later directed and produced, did he find it spread him a little thin, or did the complete creative control outweigh the burdens of wearing both hats? 

Comparing this to other revues, I think when you walk out of Ain't Misbehavin' you really feel like you've experienced the joys of Fats Waller, the composer. Jerome Robbins' Broadway really makes you appreciate the genius of the man as a director and especially as a choreographer. I don't think Prince of Broadway is able to do the same for Hal Prince. It just doesn't show him of enough, the way other revues show off their subjects. One of my friends texted me after the show and said, "All this shows is that Prince worked with good composers and lyricists," and I have to agree. 

I even admitted I got pleasure from hearing "Tonight" sung so well, but given Prince and Stroman's involvement and how long this revue has been gestating, I guess I had very high expectations and they weren't met. 

[green waver]

Posted: 9/14/17 at 1:10pm

         Whizzer Marvin-First of all, thanks for listening to my comments and responding without getting hostile and defensive. Too much of that on these boards lately! My point is simply this- I can only respond to the show they chose to do, not the show they didn't do. Personally, I would've loved to see "A Little Priest", "A Weekend in the Country","Cool", "Our Time" and a dozen others, but that's just me. And yes, Stroman had a lot of straight ahead, minimally directed songs, from Ol Man River to The ladies Who Lunch. But who doesn't want to hear those expertly performed? For all we know, Prince himself may have vetoed a more behind the scenes,"making of __" approach out of modesty, or concern over losing a broader audience. Maybe someday we will find out.

 

[EthelMae]

Posted: 9/14/17 at 1:41pm

Unfortunately, I think this show had a built-in problem. How do you show and honor a director/producer? There's nothing tangible to show. No songs, dances, etc. Fosse had his dances to show, Jerome Robbins had his dances as well and Ain't Misbehavin' had the songs. Whizzer's suggestions are interesting and would have fleshed out the narrative but when you have songs of WSS and the popularity of Phantom, it's hard to leave those out. Has there ever been a show tribute to a director/producer? I can't think of any.

[poisonivy2]

Posted: 9/14/17 at 1:54pm

I think another issue is that this kind of review just isn't going to get performers with the kind of talent that Mr. Prince required in all his productions. Tony Yazbeck is wonderful as was Brandon Uranowitz and a few others but when I heard Michael Xavier's slender voice in Sunset Blvd and saw how many things he was going to be singing in Prince of Broadway I knew there'd be a problem.

This might have worked better as a one-off concert which required less of a commitment and might have attracted bigger stars. 

[Miles2Go2]

Posted: 9/14/17 at 2:21pm

I haven't seen it and won't be seeing it when I'm in NYC in November (already have a full theatre schedule - 6 shows in 5 days). I wish the show no ill will. It's providing lots of people a steady income as long as it continues to run. But given its dismal box performance, I wonder how long it can run? I suppose out of respect to Mr. Prince, it will run a respectable time. He's a producer on this show too, correct? I also suppose it's weekly nut runs lower than other shows. I'm interested in hearing from those who know these things and have seen the show. It sounds like they didn't spend an exorbitant amount on set design or costuming? Only 8 cast members, correct? Not sure how royalties run for all those established sings, many of them Broadway masterpieces. Also, how big is this theatre? If it's huge...more $$$. I've never seen a show there. A review of the theatre's Wikipedia page shows it has mostly housed straight plays which makes me think it's not a huge theatre. 

[raddersons]

Posted: 9/14/17 at 2:23pm

Whizzer, you really nailed it. Hal Prince loved group songs that weren't necessarily dances, and those are the kinds of things that would have showcased his work while also capturing the spirit of the show. With no ensemble, those songs were absent. Where were those kooky group numbers from She Loves Me? Rainbow High from Evita? Where was The Blob from Merrily? (Now You Know could have also worked to show this as well, but with no ensemble it fell flat.). They would have been much better with three/four "stars" and an ensemble, than ten "stars".

[JBC3]

Posted: 9/14/17 at 2:31pm

I agree with what Whizzer said and feel that showing/honoring the contributions of Prince is more suited to a documentary-style movie than a stage production.

[WhizzerMarvin]

Posted: 9/14/17 at 3:06pm

I think if you are going to make a Prince tribute work it needs to be big and definitely NOT cheap. The small cast size spelled doom from the start. Someone correct me, but I think Jerome Robbins' Broadway had 62 members in the cast? This at least needed 35-40. A number like "A New Argentina" is a perfect choice to honor Prince, but not with four people. I know his '74 Candide had platforms all over the theater so the actors could come out into the audience. How awesome would it have been to have a cast of 40 fill the theater and sing "Make Our Garden Grow?" 

Maybe it's because of Chapin's book, but the phrase I most associate with Prince is "Everything Was Possible." The man's creativity knows no end and any revue/production/film that deals with his work should capture that spirit. If everything is possible, why was his revue presented in the most straightforward-high-school-production-on-a-cruise-ship way imaginable? Maybe you can do John Doyle's Broadway with 10 people and a piano player, but not Hal Prince. 

raddersons, I completely agree with you about the group numbers that weren't choreography heavy. Given how much Prince loves Follies, with a big cast they could even have recreated "Uptown/Downtown" transitioning to "The Story of Lucy and Jessie." How freaking awesome would that have been to see an exact set/costume/dance recreation of both original Phyllis numbers? It could also show how Prince worked with both his composer/lyricist and choreographer to perfect Phyllis' Follies number. 

A film would still probably be the best medium to showcase all this, but with some creativity I think they could have shown off a lot more of what Prince specifically did to make these shows special. Maybe this would make the show appeal to even more of a niche audience than it already does, but to quote the show, so what? It's running at a non-profit theater for a limited run, and you'd think anyone who buys a ticket to a revue honoring a director would be up for learning how he (or she) works. 

[Ado Annie D'Ysquith]

Posted: 9/14/17 at 4:20pm

JOHN DOYLE'S BROADWAY! I literally lol'd.

Also Whizzer, we performed Sugar to a full house, which was really great. Apparently there was a last minute ticket influx that sold out the place! And aside from a somewhat bizarre review in TheaterPizzazz, the audience really had fun. :)