SONGS FROM AN UNMADE BED - closing night

[MasterLcZ]

Posted: 6/20/05 at 8:49am

I haven't had much luck with gay-themed musicals and plays. In my experience, they increasingly rely on clichéd characters and situations (a few years ago during the opening scenes of a very well-recieved one-man show, my theater companion turned to me and whispered "So, when is he gonna take his clothes off?" - within three minutes the performer in question stripped down to his Calvins). Often, I would look at back at the supposed 'everygay man' as depicted on stage and think "I don't know that person." But the positive reviews for Lyricist Mark Campbells SONGS FROM AN UNMADE BED seemed encoraging and I took a chance.

As magnificently performed by Michael Winther and gorgeously staged and lit by David Schweizer and Brian H. Scott respectively, SONGS FROM AN UNMADE BED elicited the same response in me that THE LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA did with so many of us here (I'm bemused to note that both musicals featured exceptionally creative lighting, a song about Florence and ravishing vocalaise as an expression of unfettered passion: here, Peter Foley's "To Sing"). It was so refreshing to see an unabashedly romantic, adult, and intimate musical (music by eighteen talented young composers) that steered clear of cliché, and offered naked emotion unapologetically while leavening it with dashes of sly, cheeky humour. And though a number of the songs were cheerfully celebratory of sex, they were never smutty. I connected so closely to the show (I swear, Mark Campbell & I must have dated the same guys) that I gorged on it during its closing week, seeing it seven times in all (a decision fuelled also by the initial uncertanty that it would be recorded - but I'm happy to have learned that it's 99% sure it will be).

Among the notable attendees the last week were Paul Rudnick, Charles Busch, Adam Guettel, Jack O'Brian, Ricky Ian Gordon and most of the contributing composers: Debra Barsha ("He Never Did That Before"), Kim D. Sherman ("Florence"), Steven Lutvak ("Exit Right" - a song sure to be a cabaret classic) and Chris Miller ("Perfect, Finite", which should rightfully become a jazz standard). I'm sorry not to have met Steve Marzullo (he probably could not get away from his conducting of MAMMA MIA! - his "The Night You Decided To Stay" is one of the most meltingly romantic theater songs I have heard in years.

But every time I attended, the auditorium was roughly half-full. The mostly enthusiastic reviews were not followed up with advertising or promotion. I never saw a flyer, ad or poster advertising the show anywhere.
And I wondered whether some people might have been turned off by the gentle exploration of uncomfortable realities of curdled or furtive relationships in a few of the songs (one friend I attended the show with told me that he found many of the shows songs "uncomfortably intimate").

In what seems like a sick practical joke, The New York Theatre Workshop closed the show a week early, right before Pride Week, when theoretically many out-of-town visitors attending the Parade and other events could have discovered this lovely and tender musical. Three of four of my friends (and a few posters here and elsewhere) expressed a desire to see the show but could have only attended THIS week. Too late.

I'm very sorry to see SONGS FROM AN UNMADE BED close (I don't have hopes that it will transfer, alas). I hope that it will have a second life on tour.

[melissa errico fan]

Posted: 6/20/05 at 11:05am

Bumping this because I know how much this show means to LcZ, and it would be a shame to see it fade without a single reply. I never got to see it, unfortuantely; I'm hoping it gets recorded.

[SamIAm]

Posted: 6/20/05 at 12:09pm

I have heard some good things about this show which was, unfortunately, not highly promoted and suffered from relatively poor attendance. Still, I am happy to hear that it will be recorded.

So...hopefully the rest of us can hear the music. And if these guys are worth their salt, they will be back!!!

[MasterLcZ]

Posted: 6/20/05 at 1:48pm

The last minute cancellation of the final week threw many people off - More than a few friends I spoke to had planned to come THIS week.

I think I overplayed my hand with my friend Richard, though. After telling him how deeply the score resonated with me, he said "Sweetheart, I've LIVED through Barry, Murth, Bill #1, Bill #2, Bob AND Fred with you. I don't need to see a MUSICAL about them!"