SUGAR w/ Robert Morse & Tony Roberts--my latest re-obsession

[soubrette]

Posted: 9/2/08 at 9:26pm

Hi there,
Anyone out there share my love for the musical SUGAR? I remember buying the album when I was young and listening to it over and over. I kind of re-discovered it on CD recently and am still bowled over by the score and especially the arrangements. The music is so brassy and fun, and yet the show doesn't seem to be remembered in a fond light. Personally I love the lyrics but read somewhere how corny they were. Well, there's no accounting for my taste :)...
I never saw the re-vamped version with Tony Curtis (!) as the lecherous millionaire and I haven't heard the Tommy Steele London revival.
Would anyone care to share some thoughts on this musical? I'm just curious to hear if anyone else has this same obsession or has any recollections of the original production.
Thanks!

[Jon]

Posted: 9/2/08 at 10:20pm

Morse & Roberts did one of their numbers at the "Broadway Leading Ladies" concert about 10 years ago. Unfortunately, it was not included in the PBS broadcast or the DVD.

[Smaxie]

Posted: 9/2/08 at 10:37pm

You mean this?

The Beauty That Drives Men Mad

Updated On: 9/2/08 at 10:37 PM

[WickedBoy2]

Posted: 9/2/08 at 11:39pm

It is on the DVD, it opens the show.

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 9/3/08 at 12:15am

Si... here is the back cover of the DVD:

[WhizzerMarvin]

Posted: 9/3/08 at 12:25am

My only exposure to the show is through the cast recording, but I must say I love it. It just has that wonderful big and brassy old Broadway sound.

More often than not, I catch myself walking down the street singing "Hey, Why Not!" or "Penniless Bums." "The Beauty that Drives Men Mad" and "We Could Be Close" are also frequent listens on my ipod.

I believe the show has been tinkered with a few times since it closed but never found legs again. Too bad. This would be a good choice for Encores.

[eatlasagna]

Posted: 9/3/08 at 1:11am

we did this show when i was a junior in high school... 1995! i quite liked doing the show and found the sounds kinda catchy... like SUN ON MY FACE, BEAUTY THAT DRIVES A MAN MAD... and the title song... i hope they try to revive this show... i'm upset that i missed the tony roberts tour when it came to san diego a while back...

[walkedthroughmany]

Posted: 9/3/08 at 4:33am

Jule Styne doesn't disappoint for a second. I love "Sun On My Face," "Penniless Bums," "Hey, Why Not?" and "When You Meet A Man In Chicago."

[WickedBoy2]

Posted: 9/3/08 at 8:44am

It flopped majorly in London's West End under the title "Some Like It Hot!' with an equally horrendous Cast Recording.
'Sugar' sounds perfect!

[Smaxie]

Posted: 9/3/08 at 8:57am

That said... I do enjoy that title song for "Some Like It Hot". Anything that ends with the cast yelling "Some like it H-O-T, YEAH!" is ok in my book.

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 9/3/08 at 9:22am

i'm upset that i missed the tony roberts tour when it came to san diego a while back...

You mean Tony Curtis, who played Joe/Josephine in the original 1959 Billy Wilder film SOME LIKE IT HOT and played Osgood Fielding III in the 2002-2003 US Nat'l tour.

Tony Curtis in the original SOME LIKE IT HOT film:






Tony Curtis in the 2002-2003 US Nat'l Tour of SOME LIKE IT HOT (aka SUGAR):

[Scripps2]

Posted: 9/3/08 at 12:34pm

I like the score on the OBC but the London production was a wasted effort. They may as well have changed the title to The Tommy Steele Show because it was all about Tommy Steele playing to his fans and had precious little to do with the book, music and lyrics.

Like Wickedboy2 says, it flopped big time and unfortunately it deserved to.

[myshikobit]

Posted: 9/3/08 at 1:15pm

Haha, my friend just told me he found this on Wikipedia, bought the OBCR and immediately decided he wanted to do it. I love it... we might =).

[twogaab2]

Posted: 9/3/08 at 2:01pm

Saw the OBC in New York on my first trip and was very disappointed with it the musical (this was the same week I had seen-Grease(OBC)-Man of La Mancha (LC revival), and Two Gentlemen of Verona (OBC). So perhaps it was just the least of the four.

However, I saw it revised in Houston with Morse and Kert, several of of the revisions were changed back from the changes made by Champion in rehearsals without the OK of the creative team. (Please correct me on this if you have any other information). I thought that this version played much, much better.

Also, my opinion of the OBC may have been colored by the fact that Morse was having an off night and seemed to have been "phoning it in".

Just my opinion, I may be wrong.

[choitoy]

Posted: 9/3/08 at 5:10pm

Never saw the actual show, but a local theatre company did do a kidstage summerstock production, and the only cast album to buy at the time was the London Tommy Steele version, which we played, but didn't leave much of an impression (the teens in the summerstock production actually did a much better job of pulling everything off).

I was finally able to track down the original Broadway cast album for fairly cheap (seeing that it is OOP now), but I haven't gotten to it yet. I should break it open since the majority of you say it's leagues better than the London version.

[JayG]

Posted: 9/3/08 at 5:48pm

Saw the original production three times. It was hilarious, brilliantly performed by Morse, wonderfully scored by Styne and dazzlingly directed and choreographed by Champion. The critics were after it for some reason - maybe making a musical of the classic film was blasphemy. Who knows? But the book was almost exclusively the screenplay and the Peter Stone additions were hilarious and solid. It received truly fine reviews from many of the critics at the time. The NYTimes was the grouch. Yet, its audiences seemed to love it. Really, that original production at the Majestic Theater was a wonderfully entertaining night in the theater.
I don't think its cast album is very good (it seems like a slipshod production). However, it betters the Tommy Steele version, which is horrendous!