Rediscovering a show

[melissa errico fan]

Posted: 6/25/05 at 9:59pm

When I was eleven, I saw Dreamgirls on Broadway with the original cast. At the time, I considered it to be the greatest theatrical experience I had ever had. From the very first scene, I had chills. My jaw dropped when Jennifer Holliday opened her mouth and delivered her glorious numbers. The show was shocking, moving, spellbinding, and galvanizing. I ended up seeing it five times.

Then, I don't know what happened. For the longest time, whenever I listened to Dreamgirls, I could only hear the flaws. I would think to myself as I listened, "It's a bit clunky there. I don't like his voice in that part of that song." It got to the point where I didn't listen to the score for a very long period of time.

In the past month, though, I have totally rediscovered everything that moved me so about Dreamgirls. I've been listening to it several times a day (it's on in the background as I type). When Ms. Holliday begins to sing "I Am Changing", I can feel tears welling up. Everything about it seems so close to perfect. I have fallen back in love.

Has this ever happened to any of you with a particular show?

[broadwaystar2b]

Posted: 6/25/05 at 10:06pm

I'm going through it with Urinetown right now
I was OBSESSED with this show like there was no tomorrow ("for there was no tomorrow")
The last time I listened to it previously was the night it closed on Broadway, but after recently being cast in a local production, I've gone back to the cast recording and have fallen in love with it all over again. I still think Urinetown's lyrics are some of the wittiest ever written for a Broadway show and now performing in it I have discovered how fantastic the harmonies are for setting up the songs' moods.
It's like rediscovering an old friend, you can pick up exactly where you've left off

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 6/25/05 at 10:10pm

Just wanted to note that, more so than most shows, Dreamgirls has a very hard time completely translating with its full impact on record (either the OBC or the Concert recording). Some numbers do clunk a bit when just listening to them, and there's an awful lot of shorthand to tie up the loose ends in the book in Act II.

But when actually seeing the show with the totality of the original Bennett staging, it's one of the most electric, passionate, human, raw, real, powerful theatrical creations of the last several decades.

I never fell out of love with the show (even after intellectually recognizing certain shortcomings in the construction) and it remains one of the ONLY shows to be able to give me chills and bring me to the verge of tears, even after the thousandth time (literally) listening to it.

Updated On: 6/25/05 at 10:10 PM

[broadwaystar2b]

Posted: 6/25/05 at 10:13pm

I still think it's a crying shame that more than a mere 45 minutes of the OBC wasn't recorded for the OBCR
I do agree with you wholeheartedly though Margo, the Dreamgirls CD has been in my house longer than I have and I can still cry listening to "And I Am Telling You" for the thousandth time

[melissa errico fan]

Posted: 6/25/05 at 10:16pm

I totally agree, Margo. To fully appreciate it, it must be seen live. I have my fond memories of seeing Holliday, as well as other excellent Effies (Julia McGirt, Roz Ryan, Lillias White...).

[Dollypop]

Posted: 6/25/05 at 11:23pm

As I prepare for the interviews I do here for BWW, I often take out my black vinyl recordings of shows that I loved in earlier years. Such was the case as I was preparing to sit down with Kurt Peterson.
I hadn't listened to the OBCR of DEAR WORLD in ages, yet Kurt played a supporting role in that show and it was important that I refresh my memory about the score.

Once again I fell in love with Jerry Herman's music! Yeah, it's a little uneven, but those melodies and the truly effective lyrics. Has anyone stopped to realize what a brilliant lyricist Jerry Herman is? Listen to "I Don't Want To Know" or "And I Was Beautiful". Good Heavens, the words could stand as poems!

I was set to do a story on Robert Goulet for BWW, but the premature closing of LA CAGE put the kabosh on that one. Yet I had started my preparation and pulled out THE HAPPY TIME and was captivated by the score all over again. I hardly remember the story, but I found myself recalling lyrics as though I had last heard the recording only yesterday. What a terrific score--and Goulet's vocalizing is top notch!

BTW: I loved these scores so much that I recently bought the recordings on CD.

[Bret]

Posted: 6/26/05 at 6:01pm

Just yesterday, I rediscovered Parade. I saw the tour as a 12 year old here in Dallas, and thought it was absoultely brilliant! I bought the CD and listened to it frequently for about 6 months after I saw the show. After that, I didn't really listen to it. Yesterday, I pulled out the CD, and I'm loving it! The music is just amazing, and I'm really happy I got to see the show(looking back on its history...)

[Greekmusicalfan]

Posted: 6/26/05 at 6:25pm

That happened to me with Les Mis recently. I had fallen in love when I saw it twice, years ago, but I had somehow forgotten about it the last few years ! Seing it again in London recently brought back all my loving memories of it !

[jo]

Posted: 6/26/05 at 6:34pm

If there was a show that I have rediscovered with such happy results, it has to be OKLAHOMA! for me.

I grew up with the Gordon McRae/Shirley Jones movie, based on the musical which was supposed to have been the landmark show of American musical theatre. I wasn't overly impressed and thought it was too light-hearted. Later on, I had seen movie versions of other Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals, and I thought OKLAHOMA! couldn't hold a candle to CAROUSEL or SOUTH PACIFIC, or later on to the movie version of THE SOUND OF MUSIC. I thought OKLAHOMA! was a simple love story set in the prairies, sung well but not excitingly, and had no dramatic moments to it at all.

Then I saw the RNT version in London in 1999. Initially, I resisted the appeal of the show which I saw onstage - because I remembered the OKLAHOMA! I knew wasn't like that at all. On the surface, the music, the dancing, and the dialogue were the same, but somehow everything seemed different...Eventually, I had a chance to see a DVD of that famous revival and realized what made this version more appealing to me. It was an OKLAHOMA! that told a real story ( with a strong dramatic accent)...a show where the characters seemed more like real life...songs that aroused emotions...and a Laurey and Curly who could actually dance... and of course, a Curly who dominated the stage with his stage presence and his musical theatre voice.

Not living in the USA, I had never seen any regional or community or even school productions of this landmark musical - and so these were the only two versions I have ever seen. But it was enough for me to appreciate that it was indeed true that OKLAHOMA!, originally staged more than 50 years, is the landmark musical that revolutionized this American art form!


Updated On: 6/26/05 at 06:34 PM