Should Harold Rome’s DESTRY RIDES AGAIN be presented by Encores or revived on Broadway?

[dayao]

Posted: 10/4/08 at 8:15pm

Harold Rome’s musical, DESTRY RIDES AGAIN, ran for nearly 500 performances in 1959 and features, in addition to Rome’s rousing and melodic score, spectacular Tony Award winning choreography by Michael Kidd (many who saw the show have said that the “Every Once in A While” Cowboy Ballet was even more thrilling than Kidd’s barn raising dance for “Seven Brides for Seven Brothers”), but this great show has never been revived on Broadway. A scaled down truncated version was staged and recorded in London in 1982 and the 1959 Broadway Cast Album with Andy Griffith and the incomparable Dolores Gray was re-released on CD in 2001. Based on a story by Max Brand, which was also the basis for the classic 1939 film, which starred James Stewart and Marlene Dietrich, DESTRY RIDES AGAIN seems to be just the kind of material ripe for presentation at Encores. Many have commented on the noticeably virile male chorus in the recent South Pacific revival. “Destry Rides Again” also calls for a stage full of masculine dancing and singing cowboys. The show is a period piece and Leonard Gershe’s book is still witty and not the least bit dated or politically incorrect. The Harold Rome songs, while not standards are, with the possible exception of Sondheim, better than almost any new score on Broadway in the last 20 years and wouldn’t it be great to see those wonderful Michael Kidd dances recreated?

Should “Destry” be revived and if so, who among today’s performers would you like to see in the Andy Griffith (Destry) and Dolores Gray (Frenchy) roles?

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 10/4/08 at 8:22pm

Revived

[Paul W. Thompson]

Posted: 10/4/08 at 9:46pm

Neil Patrick Harris and Sherie Renee Scott.

[Jon]

Posted: 10/4/08 at 10:09pm

If we're doing Harold Rome, I'd rather see FANNY at Encores.

Or... PINS AND NEEDLES.

[dramamama611]

Posted: 10/4/08 at 10:11pm

There's a reason it has never been revived. It's is not good. It should stay on a shelf.

[dayao]

Posted: 10/4/08 at 10:36pm

It is a lot better written and has an enormously better score than some of the junk produced on Broadway these days, for instance The Lion King and Xanadu, speaking of things that should have never gotten off the shelf at all.

Updated On: 10/4/08 at 10:36 PM

[monestere]

Posted: 10/4/08 at 11:06pm

I saw the 1982 British staging of Destry with Alfred Molina and I have to agree that the book and score are excellent, but the biggest problem in mounting a new production on Broadway is that we have no one today with the charisma of an Andy Griffith or any younger female stars who can sing even close to the caliber of a Dolores Gray. Not even a normally good but miscast actor like Molina could pull it off in the production I saw. I have to say though that I would also rather see Fanny than Destry although both should be revived.

[Ed_Mottershead]

Posted: 10/4/08 at 11:08pm

Only Encores!, even though they won't be able to showcase the fabulous dancing. It's a nice score that should have a hearing now and then. A full-scaled Broadway revival would probably lose money.

[Bwayidiot]

Posted: 10/5/08 at 12:52am

This was a great, funny show in the original production. Whe whip dance alone was worth the price of admission, but the whole cast was wonderful. If properly cast it should be revived.
Play the OBC recording all the time.