Sondheim vs. Porgy & Bess - YIKES! — Page 11

I did some research last night and discovered this (not sure if it is 100% accurate, and if anyone has more information please feel free to add it.

ALL musicals by the Gershwin brothers are currently licensed as "THE GERSHWINS' [insert title here]".

The same is true for all Rodgers and Hammerstein shows (the recent revival was "Rodgers and Hammerstein's South Pacific, look at the playbill) and Irving Berlin shows (Irving Berlin's White Christmas).

While I agree with Sondheim that it is sad that Heyward's work is not taken into account with the billing, I do not fault the producers if the liscencing agreement is the reason this production has "The Gershwins'..." in the title."

And let's not forget that Sondheim's musicals are almost always now credited to him alone, I know the Company screenings were all billed as "Stephen Sondheim's Company". He HAS spoken out against this a number of times, but the fact remains.

Oh yes, I got this in the mail. The part where the orchestrator says, "Why is she singing so high? She'll wake the baby"?..nice little statement there.

---

If George Gershwin were alive today, I feel quite sure that he would say to that orchestrator, "Bitch, leave the song in the same goddamn key! The baby's F*CKing USED to it."

---

So, basically, this thing has been in constant state of revisal since its inception. What's the big deal?

I didn't take away that nobody working on the show understands it, but maybe that's just me.

What these idiots don't seem to understand is that "God made me to be lonely" is poetry.

Audiences for millennia have understood poetry to be metaphorical and to say one thing and suggest another.

These stupid idiots don't understand that Porgy doesn't NEED to say "I'm crippled from from birth."

It's BETTER and MORE BEAUTIFUL for him to say "God made me to be lonely."

Paulus should know better.

---

Updated On: 8/13/11 at 06:26 PM

Maybe they've changed the lyric to "There's a boat that's leaving soon for Rehab."

---

I'm beginning to think the out-of-school comments from the collaborators are going to be more entertaining than their show.

I don't think I'd have such an allergic reaction to what they're doing if they hadn't given such an asinine reason for doing it.

I'm glad they didn't get their hands on West Side Story ... or we'd have the William Warfield/Bea Arthur version of "Tonight," to ensure the lovers didn't disturb their neighbors while singing on the fire escape.

And you can be sure Eliza Doolittle wouldn't have "danced all night" in that key. She would have woken up the entire Higgins household staff. Just not acceptable!

Then, of course, there's their brilliantly realistic staging of the "Soliloquy" in Carousel, where Billy Bigelow is handcuffed and hauled away for disturbing the peace at the end of Act I.

---

Updated On: 8/14/11 at 06:02 AM

I wonder if all the houses in Catfish Row will be made out of real catfish ... you know, all in a row.

And Porgy? That's just not a realistic name. We'll call him "Porky" and put Norm Lewis in a fat suit. Aren't most crippled people fat anyway? It's more realistic.

Porky & Bess

---

Updated On: 2/20/18 at 03:34 PM

Updated On: 2/20/18 at 03:57 PM

Updated On: 2/20/18 at 04:14 PM

You're seriously comparing "Carrie" to "Porgy and Bess" as equal works?

LOL

---