Please If There Was Ever A Time To Revive Li'l Abner Do It Now

[Steve C.]

Posted: 3/18/17 at 5:44pm

I've seen the movie a few times, but recently got a hold of the OBC album and I can't believe how great this show is. Sure it would have to be updated but if not now, when? The orchestrations, the songs sound like new. These Goddard Lieberson recordings from the 50's and 60's are truly theater treasures.

Can you imagine Alec Baldwin singing "What's Good For General Bullmoose?" or "The Country's In The Very Best Of Hands" being staged in the current political climate? I can't imagine seeing Edie Adams, Tina Louise and Julie Newmar, Charlotte Rae, onstage, (and they did use Peter Palmer for the movie).

I looked and Encores did it in 1998 with Burke Moses, Katie Finneran and Lea DeLaria. Kathleen Marshall did choreography. I wish there was video of these classics so us young'uns could see them. At least, the recordings are superb. From horns to timpani to strings, they must have had a 40 piece orchestra for every show back then. Check them out, just google Lieberson and enjoy.

[bk]

Posted: 3/18/17 at 6:35pm

I did my production here in LA a couple of years ago - it was amazing - fixed it up good, ran exactly two hours instead of the bloated 2:45 it usually runs and the audiences ate it up like candy - huge laughs from minute one to the end.  I refuse to tell anyone what I did to make that happen, but the heirs of the writers heard about it and we're chatting.  

[Dollypop]

Posted: 3/18/17 at 6:44pm

It's funny that you should mention this today. I'm working on a special project for my church and my choreographer danced in the original production. We were at her studio today and she has big blow-ups of pictures from the show on the walls. 

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 3/18/17 at 6:47pm

Without getting into specifics, bk, did you find you had to do a lot of updating to the book?

I'm curious because LI'L ABNER is one of my all time favorite shows, but I'm concerned about all the jokes about the Cold War and open-air nuclear testing. (I am old enough to remember such things, of course, so the jokes play fine to me.)

And to the OP: yes, "The Country's in the Very Best of Hands" is still quite relevant. Sad, isn't it?

[DooWahDiddy]

Posted: 3/18/17 at 11:34pm

That was the first musical I ever did.  It was 7th grade; I was 13.  I played the inventor that created the hot girl that froze everybody in their tracks.  Stupefyin' Jones?  That was the girl's name; what was my name?  I still remember my one line: [Lamenting the way things used to be] "That beautiful intersection of Sheepdip Drive and Hogfat Boulevard...".  Times were simpler then. 

By the way, I assume there IS a video of it, at the Lincoln Center Library of Performing Arts in NYC.  I mean, they have everything else.  If you ever find yourself in the city, check it out!

[bk]

Posted: 3/19/17 at 3:30am

GavestonPS said: "Without getting into specifics, bk, did you find you had to do a lot of updating to the book?

I'm curious because LI'L ABNER is one of my all time favorite shows, but I'm concerned about all the jokes about the Cold War and open-air nuclear testing. (I am old enough to remember such things, of course, so the jokes play fine to me.)

And to the OP: yes, "The Country's in the Very Best of Hands" is still quite relevant. Sad, isn't it?

 

"

I updated not a single thing.  I did a lot of things, however and they all worked and the authors would, I think, be very happy with every single one.  The show always ran too long - the movie is much shorter - I refused to let our production run longer than two hours - I was maniacal about it.  I also did something really fun with the band. :)

[MarkBearSF]

Posted: 3/19/17 at 8:53am

Sorry to put on my PC shaming hat here, but I must point out that friends from Appalachia consider "Hillbilly" a hateful slur. I still remember the deep hurt in his sweet face after innocently asking a coworker from the hills of Kentucky if he was a hillbilly, years ago. Also, the incessant quips an artist friend from West Virginia had to fend off when he spent a year at Oxford on a scholarship by those jokingly expressing surprise he wore shoes and could actually converse intelligently. 

Yes, it's a musical, based upon a satirical cartoon full of outrageous characters that are not meant to be taken seriously, but they're still based upon hillbilly stereotypes of lazy, ignorant people. Some of whom sleep with hogs. 

You may only see the satire and the political humor, but good people from large swaths of the country will be offended. And we know the folly of telling someone from a different community that they shouldn't feel insulted.

Updated On: 3/19/17 at 08:53 AM

[ddenoff2]

Posted: 3/19/17 at 10:56am

BK!  Would love to talk with you about this! My stepmom Sharon Shore was a Dogpatch Girl in the original (She's on the LIFE magazine cover on the right) and was lifelong friends with both Michael Kidd and Johnny Mercer. So it's always been close to my family's hearts.

Updated On: 3/19/17 at 10:56 AM