"SMILE" the Musical — Page 2

"SMILE!" Music by Marvin Hamlisch with Book & Lyrics by Howard Ashman

Connelly Theater

220 East 4th Street, NY, NY 10009 (at Ave. A)

Show runs May 17-25 at 7pm (No show Mon, May 20).

May 18/19 & May 25/26 – 1 or 2p

$35 ticket

917-830-KIDZ (5439)

https://www.kidztheater.org

Kidz Theater is composed of teen performers 13-18 working on their craft who come from Broadway, Hollywood, West End, LaGuardia, PPAS High School... (Ben Platt was a member of KT before "Dear Evan Hansen".

Smile, which features music by Marvin Hamlisch and book and lyrics by Howard Ashman, is "a satirical portrait that follows the intrigue and exploits onstage and behind-the-scenes as Santa Rosa, California plays host to the Young American Miss Pageant."

Songs from the Hamlisch-Ashman score include “Disneyland," "Smile," "In Our Hands," "Very Best Week of Your Lives" and "Dear Mom."

Smile is rarely performed. It opened Nov. 24, 1986, at Broadway’s Lunt-Fontanne Theatre and closed after 48 performances. Marvin Hamlisch was so devastated, the show was never performed again until after his passing.

From the NYTimes review in 1986:

The endearing passion to be found in ''Smile,'' has little to do with beauty pageants, nubile teen-age girls, corrupted American values or any other subject that the show keeps claiming to be about. What clearly drives Howard Ashman, the author of the book and lyrics, and Marvin Hamlisch, the composer, is their deep affection for the lighthearted musical comedies of their youth - during the form's last, pre-rock-and-roll gasp of the late 1950's and early 1960's. In ''Smile,''....there are many worse reasons to put on a show than sheer love of the musical's happier past.

I wonder if Smile is in consideration for Encores! at some point.

As a tremendous admirer of the film it's based on, I was so disappointed. In fairness, it must have been a very daunting job of adaptation. But Ashman's idea was to make Big Bob (Jeff McCarthy, in the part played in the movie by Bruce Dern) a developing protagonist with a crisis of conscience, which turned the whole thing into an Ibsen play. The show got very earnest, sentimental, and flat. It also looked under-budgeted, skimpy. It was a respectable score, though I didn't like the big ballad "Disneyland" worth a damn. It felt like, not merely a missed opportunity for a real ballad, but product placement for the author's patrons. Hamlisch's music, as usual, was just facile.

The original lyricist Carolyn Leigh ought to have had just the right saucy cynicism and gimlet approach. And indeed, I heard that her lyrics were terrific (maybe we'll read them, if we ever get a Complete Lyrics of). The scuttlebut was that she had a baleful influence on the book (I'm not sure if she was writing that too), but since I don't like Ashman's concept either, I don't know. Michael O'Gorman was indeed excellent in the part played onscreen by Michael Kidd.

It was far from the worst show I ever saw... professional in its way, but a bit pale and second rate, and as others have said, "soft." That was deliberate. and the decision to turn a brutal satire into an earnest problem play (where the only untoward thing is the ramp) just didn't work for me. In Ashman's book, the ramp is like the tannery waste in the water, in An Enemy of the People, the Moment That Tries a Man's Soul. Here's what Hamlisch said:

''The original movie was both satiric and very, very cynical,'' Mr. Hamlisch said. ''The first two versions of the show also pounded you over the head nastily. That cynicism, which might have been interesting in a 70's film, seemed very out of touch with the 80's. It had the feel of Easterners looking down at something in California. From a musical standpoint, I wanted to take an almost opposite point of view and present the pageant from the inside looking out, allowing a few chuckles here and there.''

Now, we all know the aesthetic of Hamlisch's music, his deep embeddedness in both the good and the bad of the California scene, and his embarrassing love of his own celebrity persona. He did NOT believe in being behind any scenes, like some composers, he believed in being on camera whether there were cameras or not.

For example, I was having a conversation on the way out of The Last Five Years, telling a friend that the last time I'd seen him was at Bed, Bath and Beyond, and Hamlisch loudly injected himself into our conversation: "Oh yeah, everybody goes to Bed, Bath and Beyond!" How could anybody that clumsily exhibitionistic see anything worth satirizing about teenaged beauty pageants?

Updated On: 6/23/19 at 11:14 AM

Been listening to the demo album this week, and it's been consistently revealing gems. Hoping to watch the original film this weekend - it reminds me a bit of the semi-lost Altman flop, HEALTH (which would also make a great musical!).

The score has some major stumbling blocks. Bob's Song is pretty atrocious, the gospel song and the spoken word segment about the library in Young and American are also pretty bad, and the point being made in "Smile" is far too vague. There are some pretty middling lyrics scattered about elsewhere, and unless something REALLY interesting is happening in the text that's not in the songs (if anyone has the libretto I'd love to read it), the show kind of fizzles out musically in act two.

The rest of it is really pretty special, though. Disneyland is maybe a little bit subtle, but I do like the eerie idea of Doria embedding herself in the pageant lifestyle as an escape from the tougher realities of her actual life. This pays off at the end when she feels like she's made a bond with Robin, only to discover she's gone back to her mother - the loving family Doria can't have - leaving Doria to go, alone, to another pageant across the country. It's pleasantly brutal and still holds up as a reflection of American values.

edit: the Maria plot also feels upsettingly still-relevant. I love the idea that she's doing the exact same thing as the other girls and playing up her culture. The other girls are just as much a comical stereotype of A Typical High-School Senior, but the problem with that stereotype is that it's also unabashedly an American ideal. Maria making a mockery of her own culture as a grab for the crown throws the crassness of the American beauty industry into a harsh relief. It and Disneyland help to add texture, because otherwise the show wouldn't get any deeper than the "thrust with the pelvis" joke in Shine (or wouldn't have the potential to - the snippets of dialogue fall pretty flat).

Updated On: 7/5/19 at 10:33 AM

I haven't, and I'm very curious to! I kind of assumed the dialogue took over in act two, but it does feel like there needs to be something a little spiky before the finale (perhaps this is accomplished via contrast between book scene and song). One thing I love is how many of the songs are high-energy - too much of a good thing can be killer, but it really works here and all the vamps are fun.

I found the Martha Swope page for the Broadway production, and it has 40 color photos! Here's a link. Very colorful.