PalJoey on Pal Joey- Page 2

[best12bars]

Posted: 11/26/08 at 1:35pm

"PalJoey on Pal Joey"



How vivid.

[Ed_Mottershead]

Posted: 11/26/08 at 2:51pm

Judging from some pictures taken of him in On the Town (not the Encores! version), he has the look for the part and the pictures indicate that he's got the movements. Really can't wait until this Saturday!

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 11/26/08 at 3:13pm

So, has anyone posted a song list yet?

[jv92]

Posted: 11/26/08 at 3:15pm

PalJoey, I love you, but I disagree. I'm glad you enjoyed it though.

[ljay889]

Posted: 11/26/08 at 3:16pm

Act 1
Chicago ....................................... Joey Evans

You Mustn't Kick It Around ....................................... Joey Evans, Gladys Bumps and Girls

I Could Write A Book ....................................... Joey Evans and Linda English

Chicago (Reprise) ....................................... Girls

That Terrific Rainbow ....................................... Gladys Bumps and Girls

What Is A Man? ....................................... Vera Simpson and Vera Simpson

Are You My Love? ....................................... Joey Evans and Linda English

Happy Hunting Horn ....................................... Joey Evans and Girls

Happy Hunting Horn (Continued) ....................................... Joey Evans and Girls

Bewitched, Bothered, Bewildered ....................................... Vera Simpson

Bewitched, Bothered, Bewildered (Reprise) ....................................... Vera Simpson

Pal Joey (What Do I Care For A Dame?) ....................................... Joey Evans

Chez Joey ....................................... Joey Evans and Company

Act 2
The Flower Garden of My Heart ....................................... Ludlow Lowell, Gladys Bumps and Girls

In Our Little Den (of Iniquity) ....................................... Joey Evans and Vera Simpson

Zip ....................................... Gladys Bumps

Plant You Now, Dig You Later ....................................... Girls

Do It The Hard Way ....................................... Joey Evans and Linda English

Zip (Reprise) ....................................... Valerie

I Still Believe In You ....................................... Linda English

Bewitched, Bothered, Bewildered (Reprise) ....................................... Vera Simpson and Vera Simpson

Take Him ....................................... Linda English and Vera Simpson

I'm Talkin' to My Pal ....................................... Joey Evans

I Still Believe In You (Reprise) ....................................... Linda English

I Could Write A Book (Reprise) ....................................... Joey Evans

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 11/26/08 at 4:43pm

Thank You.

[NYadgal]

Posted: 11/30/08 at 8:59pm

I had to search a bit for this - but so glad I read it!

This is the review I've been waiting for. Thanks, PalJoey.

(and, throwing my love and adoration for you into the ring, also! )

[Ed_Mottershead]

Posted: 11/30/08 at 9:57pm

I've already posted this on another Joey board, but I feel strongly enough that I'm going to re-post it here:

SPOILERS

I was at yesterday's matinee and was horrified at what Richard Greenberg has done to the book. Whatever wit was in the show to start with has disappeared without a trace. New, unnecessary characters and subtexts have been inserted, large hunks of what worked have been deleted, and the whole thing is one unmitigated mess. Congratulations, Roundabout, once again you've taken a classic musical and destroyed it. For example, Happy Hunting Horn, one of the original's dance highlights (check out Harold Lang during the '52 revival which aired on the Ed Sullivan show) has been reduced to a dirge -- the chorines appears in mourning veils at the start of the number and it was downhill from there. "Choreography" has been reduced to arm-swinging and uncordinated, meaningless gestures. Kelly, Fosse, Lang et.al. must be turning in their graves!!!! Gladys is now an ex-girlfriend of Joey's who had to have an abortion as a result of one of their indiscretions; Lowell is now a not-very-closeted gay who has a penchant for chorus boys; the sets were, to put it mildly, minimal. Two dreary songs that were written but dropped have been reinstated (Abbot, Rodgers and Hart knew what they were doing when they dropped them) -- the list goes on and on. No number registered with the audience and there were no repeated bows at the end. And, as for the casting:

Matthew Risch could be a good Joey, but this production defeats him. He dances well (as far as could be told from Daniele's vile choreography), is a Joey "type," sings well enough (though not spectacularly) and shows some spot-on acting in the 2nd Act. Stockard Channing cannot sing, period. Her acting is fine, when given half a chance, and she brings some flair to the part. Poor Martha Plimpton is up against insurmountable odds with some very unfunny dialogue.

I LOVE the show Pal Joey (as written) -- it's always been a favorite and it grieves me no end that this monstrosity should be some people's first and (most likely) only exposure to the piece. But Roundabout should be run out of town for allowing this to happen.

You may have guessed, I didn't like it.

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 11/30/08 at 10:33pm

Actually, I don't believe the two included trunk songs were written for Pal Joey. From what I could gather "I Still Believe in You" is from an unrecorded show called Simple Simon. I haven't been able to find anything on "Are You My Love?", but it could also very well be a cut song from another show and not necessarily cut from Pal Joey.

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 11/30/08 at 10:44pm

Ed, respect your view and disagree and agree with some points.
I think Greenburg tried to make a stronger plot with the Joey/ Linda/Vera plot. I agree the gay sub plot is dumb and distracting.
I think Stockard is a great actress and she attacked this role as any she has done and is very alluring, but
There are Other "Seasoned" Actresses out there who could sing the sh*t out of this, but they obviously didn't want to do it.
I liked Risch's voice a lot, It's kinda uncommon that a Male lead is called on to sing such a difficult score in so many styles.
It's a friggin' Richard Roger's Musical.
So Matt is like 25 or 26 and Stockard is 60?
Very Interesting.
Every show should have so much Drama.
I also didn't get the HAPPY HUNTING HORN number.
I do think the show could use more underscoring, I know the book is very different but there are lots of melodies and themes to choose from as scenes change.
I noticed some silent breaks in Act 1.
Re-constructuring a troubled classic is a hard Job.

[Ed_Mottershead]

Posted: 11/30/08 at 10:47pm

CATS,NY

You're absolutely correct. I guess in my furore, I had assumed that they had been cut from PJ. Mia culpa. But they're still lousy songs, no matter where they came from.

I'm just so ANGRY that their inclusion has helped RUIN this show!!!

[PalJoey]

Posted: 11/30/08 at 11:27pm

I LOVE the show Pal Joey (as written)

You're wrong about that. As written, the musical is a mess. It doesn't work; it's never worked, like Merrily and Follies, it's one of those musicals that was flawed in the conception and flawed in the writing.

Pal Joey succeeds or fails on the likability of the man playing the unlikable title role, aided to whatever degree by the talents of the actresses who sing "Bewitched" and "Zip."

I admire what Greenberg attempted to do, although I agree with you that the gay subplot sticks out like a sore thumb, made worse by the clodden-foot direction of Joe Mantello.

As I wrote, I loved what they did with Happy Hunting Horn, and I love what Matthew Risch does with it ascending those stairs.

But this is not a musical people are going to agree on. And the Roundabout, Greenberg, Mantello and Danielle must have known that when they started out.

And for the record, Matthew is 27, born in 1981, and Stockard is 64, born in 1944.