Streetcar the Musical?

[Thenardier]

Posted: 4/3/05 at 4:00pm

Do you think it could work?

Obviously it would have to be great to match the original - which may be impossible.

Updated On: 4/3/05 at 04:00 PM

[Matt_G]

Posted: 4/3/05 at 4:02pm

It was already done as an opera a few years ago.

[Thenardier]

Posted: 4/3/05 at 4:02pm

oh yeah?

What about as a musical?

[Matt_G]

Posted: 4/3/05 at 4:03pm

I'm sure it would work. Write a letter to Wildhorn and ask him to whip one up for you.

[GovernorSlaton]

Posted: 4/3/05 at 4:04pm

The Simpsons did a fantastically hilarious version of Streetcar as a musical. It was called "Oh Streetcar!" Give me a minute, I'll type up the lyrics...

[Thenardier]

Posted: 4/3/05 at 4:06pm

yes, gov - A Streetcar named Marge was the name of the episode - it was hilarious.

MATT: "I'm sure it would work. Write a letter to Wildhorn and ask him to whip one up for you."

Well, no, I would want it to be a good show...

[Matt_G]

Posted: 4/3/05 at 4:07pm

Oh, well you didn't say that before...

[Thenardier]

Posted: 4/3/05 at 4:07pm

"Obviously it would have to be great to match the original - which may be impossible. "

[GovernorSlaton]

Posted: 4/3/05 at 4:12pm

Opening:

Long before the Super Dome
Where the Saints of football play
Lived a city that the damned call home
Hear their hellish rondelet...

New Orleans!
Home of pirates, drunks, and whore
New Orleans!
Tacky, overpriced souvenir stores
If you want to go to hell you should take the trip
To the Sodom and Gomorrah on the Mississipp'
New Orleans!
Stinking, rotten, vomiting vile
New Orleans!
Putrid, brackish, maggoty, foul
New Orleans!
Crummy, lousy, rancid, and rank
New Orleans!

Blanche's First Solo (Marge):

I though my life would be a Mardis Gras
A never ending party - Ha!
I'm a faded southern dame without a dime...

Newpaper Boy Solo (Apu):

I am just a simple paperboy
No romance do I seek
I just wanted 40 cents for my deliveries last week
Will this bewitching floozie
Seduce this humble newsie
Oh, what's a paperboy to dooooooo?

Stella! (Ned):

Stella!
Stella!
Can'tcha hear me yella?
You're puttin' me through hella!
Stella!
Stella!

Kindness of Strangers:

Blanche (Marge): Whoever you are, I have always depended on the kindness of strangers.

Chorus: You can always depend on the kindness of strangers
To buck up your spirits
Or shield you from dangers!

Blanche! Now here's a tip from Blanche you won't regret...

Chorus: A stranger's just a friend you haven't met!
You haven't met!
STREETCAR!

[GypsyRoseLee]

Posted: 4/3/05 at 4:53pm

Before I became as well versed in the brilliant works of Tennessee Williams as I am today, I took this episode as the truth and thought it really was a musical.

[riv]

Posted: 4/3/05 at 5:02pm

Andre Previn wrote the opera.

I seem to recall reading an interview with him once and he was asked why he did it. He said he always loved the play but there was always something missing from it--music. What an idiot!!

I understand that one of the exercises Lehman Engel used to give his musical theater students was to write an opening number for Streetcar.

[FabalaCohen]

Posted: 4/3/05 at 5:09pm

I must say, the Oh! Streetcar episode ranks among my faves.

"Oh, cool! She can fly!"
"I think that's supposed to symbolize her descent into madness."

It MIGHT work though. I watched a bit of the opera and liked it.

[ChrisLovesShows]

Posted: 4/3/05 at 5:14pm

I almost choked I laughed so hard the first time I saw "Oh, Streetcar!" John Lovitz was hilarious as the director. And who knew Ned had such a hot bod!

[MatureDignity]

Posted: 4/3/05 at 5:48pm

That Simpsons ep was so funny... poking fun at Grease! by yelling "Streetcar!" at the end.

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 4/3/05 at 5:59pm

Why is it that THESE lyrics don't get deleted, but as soon as I type out a song, it's gets edited for copyright? Boo!

[joniray]

Posted: 4/3/05 at 6:17pm

riv said "I understand that one of the exercises Lehman Engel used to give his musical theater students was to write an opening number for Streetcar."

Well sort of. It's actually an assignment to write Blanche a song for the end of Act One, Scene Three (right after the "Stella!" moment). Its still part of the workshop. Every composer or lyricist that has gone through the workshop has a Blanche song in their trunk. There must be many hundreds of these songs by now.

[BlueWizard]

Posted: 4/3/05 at 7:30pm

Why is it that THESE lyrics don't get deleted, but as soon as I type out a song, it's gets edited for copyright? Boo!

I don't think the lyrics to OH STREETCAR! are copyrighted -- at least not in that capacity. They're part of the larger script of that Simpsons episode.

[Thenardier]

Posted: 4/3/05 at 7:32pm

The episode was called "A Street Car Named Marge"

[Timmerbo]

Posted: 4/4/05 at 6:06am

Bs - We know the episode was called 'A Streetcar Named Marge'. The name of the musical Marge did in said episode was 'Oh Streetcar!', obviously.

[iluvtheatertrash]

Posted: 4/4/05 at 7:30am

Worked beautifully as an opera by Previn staring Renee Flemming as Blanche. Don't think it would work with music AND dialogue. Either all dialogue or all sung, I think.

[Jon]

Posted: 4/4/05 at 7:35am

Mmmmmm - Renee Fleming......

[iluvtheatertrash]

Posted: 4/4/05 at 7:36am

There's a dvd and audio recording. It's delicious. My voice teacher and director of INTO THE WOODS here at Albright College played the collector.

[WOSQ]

Posted: 4/4/05 at 10:08am

There are certain plays that the addition of music either as a musical play, musical comedy or opera, adds nothing. Streetcar as an opera had no imperative to be musicalized. The words already 'sing'. There is no reason for any musical version to be done.

This is the fundamental problem with any musical version of Cyrano, for instance.

Auntie Mame (which star Roz Russell called 'a revue without music') is a better piece than Mame ever could be for the same reason, and Mame isn't a bad show. Auntie Mame is just better.

A basic question that the writers of any musical need to ask is "Will the addition of a musical score tell this story better?"

Look at Dracula. Better yet, don't.