Smile the musical. Does any OBC recording exist?- Page 3

[tazber]

Posted: 2/12/07 at 7:44am

Bebe,
The four songs that were recorded on the Varese label were all available in a Marvin Hamlisch song book. That version of the book is now out of print, but the version that replaced it still has Disneyland and I think one other one. Check Colony.

Posted: 3/15/07 at 7:12pm

"I remember when I worked in the musical dept of Sam French, we would get calls all the time of people trying to buy the recording...I actually thought I remembered them saying that Howard Ashman did more than the two boys on the recording, I could be wrong...Anyway, Samuel French also had a great demo of Howard Ashman & Alan Menken's GOD BLESS YOU, MR. ROSEWATER where the two of them did all the characters...Howard Ashman was so brillant on it! Priceless! "

I *love* ashman on those demos. Mr Rosewater is a show that really deserves a recording

[folkyboy]

Posted: 2/19/08 at 3:44pm

i just put in "Smile" after singing a line from "Nerves" to my co-worker. i know she's so pleased hahahaha

but now i'm all "Smile" focused today. such a lost gem

[husk_charmer]

Posted: 2/19/08 at 3:56pm

Wait...so does SF sell copies of the demo??

[mmousefan]

Posted: 2/19/08 at 3:58pm

Gosh, I thought I was the only one who loved this show so much. It got back to me after hearing some about it (I was a big fan of the film) after I heard "In Our Hands" on UNSUNG or whichever collection. All these revisions and extra songs sound so interesting. I read the Sam French libretto once and now I really want to get it produced somewhere....

[acrocksyo]

Posted: 2/19/08 at 4:28pm

With some major reworking of the book this show could be brought back. The songs are amazing, and the concept is fun. Bring back Smile!

[folkyboy]

Posted: 2/19/08 at 4:30pm

i agree. i say the same thing about "Carrie" though. i'm sure they'll both come back in years when someone runs out of "Sound of Music" revivals

[acrocksyo]

Posted: 2/19/08 at 4:38pm

Carrie was inspired! But should run off-broadway. Smile with the success of Disney shows now could be mounted and billed "From the Lyricist of The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast" come on investors, take a chance! I know you're out there, I saw The Times They Are A-Changin

[mmousefan]

Posted: 2/22/08 at 5:28pm

that this topic got 3 pages already makes me [title of thread]....

[Josh Freilich]

Posted: 2/22/08 at 5:37pm

I would like for there to be a full recording of it with full orchestra instead of all those DX7s and pianos and stuff.

[rosscoe(au)]

Posted: 2/22/08 at 9:23pm

I love "my own little corner", have got some wonderful stuff from that site. Sadly it has not been updated in awhile.

The opening number from Smile is a joy to behold, would love to have seen the staging for it.

[sondhead]

Posted: 2/23/08 at 12:01am

Having just recently done a concert reading of the licensed version, I think it's pretty damn great the way it is. I've also seen the Lincoln Center archive of the Broadway production and enjoyed it a lot, but I think the licensed version is a better work.

Also, having done a lot of research on it, it's interesting to see that the licensed version is actually quite close to what Ashman had originally written. He was under a lot of pressure from Producers to change things. Apparently they were all enamored with Jodi Benson and wanted her to be the star when Ashman had really intended to have a lot more material with the adults. As a result, the Broadway version reduces Brenda and Big Bob's characters by quite a bit.

The major bits of "new" material in the licensed version were Robin's new letters and the revised Orientation Scene (Very Best Week of Your Lives).

After sitting with both versions, the only thing I really really missed from the Broadway version were some short little scenes between Valerie and Shawn in which Valerie has figured out what Shawn did and we see a little existential crisis going on. Teeny teeny little scenes, but nice. Robin's Broadway letters are such pretty songs, but I like the more nonchalant licensed ones.

In a perfect world, we'll see a cast recording with the Broadway orientation and Robin's Broadway letters as bonus tracks.

I keep expecting Encores to announce it one of these years. It's definitely ripe for at the VERY LEAST a major regional production. When we did it, the audience ate it up--LOOOOved it. I think it's ready.

[sondheimboy2]

Posted: 2/23/08 at 12:57am

I never got to see it, though I have read the Samuel French script and have a copy of the recording, which I got from someone who knew Tia Riebling's mother. (The story I heard was that it was the recording made was a souvenir for the cast members.)

Something of interest is an album of Carolyn Leigh songs called "Witchcraft" recorded by Sara Zahn. She sings a few of the songs written for the version of "Smile" that she and Marvin were working on before her death.

When Howard Ashman joined the project, they threw out all of that material except for the music to the title song.

[MCfan2]

Posted: 2/23/08 at 7:43am

I LOVE the songs from this on the "Unsung Musicals" album. It was especially cool for me because I had seen Harry Groener and Jodi Benson in "Crazy for You" (my first Broadway show) not that long before I bought the album, if I remember correctly. It was so great hearing them "together" again -- well, "together" in a sort of a kind of a way.

I choreographed a tap number to Groener's "Smile" for my dance group in college one year. I'm not the best choreographer ever -- and I think some of the dancers who weren't as big Broadway fanatics as I was were wondering why we couldn't just tap to some pop song or other -- but I had a lot of fun doing it!
Updated On: 2/23/08 at 07:43 AM

[bk]

Posted: 2/23/08 at 11:59pm

As I've said before, I tried to do a complete Smile - Mr. Hamlisch wasn't interested, and it was all I could do to get the songs that we DID do.

The year Unsung Musicals came out, we did a benefit concert in NY for BC/EFA at the Danny Kaye Playhouse at Hunter College - completely sold out. Harry did Smile as the opening number with a bunch of the Will Rogers Follies girls - amazing. We'd actually begun prepping Unsung II and we debuted some of those songs that night, too - Jodi wasn't available, so Michelle Nicastro did Disneyland and took the roof off the theater. It was a pretty great evening.

[tgrabon]

Posted: 2/25/08 at 3:10pm

Marvin Hamlisch was in Chicago for a cabaret performance at Davenport's in Sept. 2007. I approached him before the show and mentioned that I loved the few songs from Smile that I heard on the Lost In Boston collection. I then told him that a complete recording of Smile should be released. He grinned. That was it. Not a yes or a no just a very polite grin. I don't think it's going to happen.

[MCfan2]

Posted: 2/25/08 at 3:38pm

"The year Unsung Musicals came out, we did a benefit concert in NY for BC/EFA at the Danny Kaye Playhouse at Hunter College - completely sold out. Harry did Smile as the opening number with a bunch of the Will Rogers Follies girls - amazing."

Oh, fun! I would have loved to see that.

[Betsy3]

Posted: 5/2/08 at 7:23pm

She was NOT.

from mom of one of the stars.
Where did you get that idea?

[Betsy3]

Posted: 5/2/08 at 7:31pm

absolutely not her.
It was Tia Riebling

[Betsy3]

Posted: 5/2/08 at 7:33pm

HELLO!
She is Ariel.

[WithoutATrace]

Posted: 11/18/09 at 7:14pm

I just wanted to bump this thread to add my appreciation for SMILE. The score is so wonderful and I really think Encores! should revive this show - it's a perfect candidate for Encores!

The opening number "Typical High School Senior," is fantastic, and of course, "Disneyland" is a stunning showstopper. Maybe Sierra Boggess can play Doria before she gets too old. Maybe Jodi Benson can play one of the older characters? (she is certainly due to come back to the stage)

[mywonderwa11]

Posted: 11/18/09 at 8:10pm

I have access to the recording if anyone wants it. Just PM me.

[KirbyCat]

Posted: 11/18/09 at 8:22pm

Just outta curiosity, it IS the synth recording for Sam French? If so, I have it, but it is still such a wonderful score. Is it true it only ran for something like a month and a half?

[WithoutATrace]

Posted: 11/18/09 at 8:24pm

48 performances. November 24, 1986 - January 3, 1987.

[KirbyCat]

Posted: 11/18/09 at 8:33pm

So sad. What a poor, original musical. I bet that if it opened today, it wouldn't even last 2 weeks.