Susan Stroman's HAPPINESS

[willrogers2008]

Posted: 2/16/13 at 1:12pm

Any information about this Stroman show? It will be very helpful.
Thanks in advance.

[emilyfaye48]

Posted: 2/16/13 at 2:47pm

What kind of information? I saw the show and I really liked it.

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 2/16/13 at 3:26pm

I was not a fan. At all.

Neither were the critics, generally speaking. Not sure what kind of info you're looking for, but you can find a bunch of stuff if you google.

[AC126748]

Posted: 2/16/13 at 3:50pm

Here's the plot. Spoilers for people who care about that thing, although since this show has been closed nearly four years and didn't yield a cast recording, it's really beside the point:

A disparate group of New Yorkers find themselves on a stalled subway train. A conductor (Hunter Foster) appears and informs them all that they have died, and that they must now choose one moment--the happiest moment in their lives--in which to spend eternity. One by one, each person stands and sings a song recounting said moment. After each song, the subway doors open and that person walks off into eternity. One person (Jenny Powers) tries to pass a fake moment off as real, but it doesn't work, and it is revealed that her whole life was an elaborate fantasy that she'd convinced herself was real. The conductor tells her that if she doesn't choose a moment, she will end up with the same fate as him: sheparding other, happier people into their perfect afterlives. Finally, she chooses a moment and the doors open. The musical (which was a 90 minute one act) ends with Foster preparing to welcome the next crowd of "passengers" onto the train.

The show itself was a crushing bore full of dull songs you forgot the moment you left the theatre. Lots of talent wasted on weak material. The Jenny Powers storyline was the best and most well-developed, but it was a long ninety minutes.

[goldenboy]

Posted: 2/17/13 at 7:50pm

I have to agree with AC. I love Susan Stroman but this was a total miss.

[PennybankBill]

Posted: 2/17/13 at 7:59pm

Damn, I was expecting this to be an adaptation of Todd Solondz's film.

[mikem]

Posted: 2/17/13 at 8:03pm

I liked the show a lot more than most people did, but it became a little repetitive with the successive stories. I wonder if Hands on a Hardbody will have the same issue.

I'm also not sure I would call it "Susan Stroman's Happiness" rather than "Scott Frankel, Michael Korie, and John Weidman's Happiness." I don't think of Stroman having placed a particularly distinctive stamp on the show.

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 2/17/13 at 9:11pm

WOW, I actually forgot it was 90 minutes. It definitely felt way, way longer.

[mikem]

Posted: 2/17/13 at 10:52pm

I don't remember it being 90 minutes. The NY Times review says it was 1 hr, 50 minutes, which sounds about right. I actually think it would have been better as a shorter show. I think they should have axed the Joanna Gleason character completely, but they couldn't do that because the character was being played by Joanna Gleason. But the character was both an unpleasant person and had a kind of silly story.

[goldenboy]

Posted: 2/20/13 at 2:05am

Todd Solonz;s film Happiness was Terrific. Susan Stroman's Happiness had nothing to do with the Solonz film.

[rosscoe(au)]

Posted: 2/20/13 at 3:06am

Todd Solonz's Happiness was one very disturbing brilliant film, what an amazing night of theatre ( musical or otherwise ) that would be.