THE LIFE - did anyone see it?

So a couple of days ago I watched the Tony Award performance of THE LIFE on Youtube, and I downloaded the cast recording and think it's great but it's proving a little difficult to find further information on the show. Did anyone on here see the show when it was on Broadway/what did you think of it? The subject matter seems fascinating and I'd love to find out more about the show so if anyone has better luck finding information about it let me know. :)

I remember it as an interesting evening - entertaining in its way but somewhat of a downer. There was one spectacularly staged moment when all the hookers were being booked, standing on a moving treadmill while going through the booking process. (Stolen by THOROUGHLY MODERN MILLIE a few years later). And PRS is right - Lillias White was very good. She brought the house down with "The Oldest Profession."

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I like quite a few songs in the score. The show has a whole .... eh.

"My Body" was a really fun number.

I saw it. Cy Coleman's music was, as always, excellent. Lilias did well, but the vocal fireworks were stolen from her by Sharon Wilkins. Sam Harris was implausible as a straight hustler (is there really such a thing?), but was appropriately greasy.

The whole thing had a tackiness to it; it seemed as if a group of gross old white men got together and said, "Hookers! Let's write a show about hookers - we'll make sure that they have troubles, but they really kind of enjoy their life and make good friendships!" With tacky songs like "People Magazine" (in which an up and coming hooker-turned-porn-actress imagines that she'll become an A-list celebrity doing porn), and "The Hooker's Ball" (self-explanatory), it just seemed seedy (but not intentionally so).

And of course, there's the celebrated anthem "My Body," with that classic lyric "my body is my business, my business is my business, and nobody's business but my own," a sentiment that ignores the psychic damage inflicted by a life of prostitution.

The show was like that awful number in Best Little Whorehouse Goes Public in which the gross men of the chorus humped the beautiful girls in glass boxes on wheels.

I liked it. I remember loving the score (still do-HUGE Cy Coleman fan) and being really touched at the end when they go their individual ways (My Friend).

The only character I remember more than Lilias is the white girl who sings "People Magazine" with Sam Harris.

Oh, and the end of Act I with Hookers Ball. That was....unique.

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Some good songs, but an awful show. I was really surprised at the number of people who thought it deserved the Tony for Best Musical. I do think the authors did make an attempt to try and address some issues prostitutes face (profiling, disease, physical abuse and drugs to name a few), but it was constantly undercut by odd moments of cuteness and frivolity (the aforementioned People Magazine and Hooker's Ball definitely come to mind). Hooker's Ball was just plain stupid, but People Magazine was downright creepy with its decidedly light touch. It reminded me of that offending lyric in I Love a Cop from Fiorello (likes me/strikes me line), but as if an entire song were fashioned around that sentiment without a hint of irony.

It's interesting to note that when it premiered, The Life was addressed by many as the pseudo-sequel to Sweet Charity. Given the criticisms that had been discussed regarding Sweet Charity's frivolous portrayal of taxi dancers (the idea that they are thinly veiled prostitutes is a whole other kettle of fish), I felt like The Life was something of an attempt at contrition, but it always seemed to retreat to the safety of Sweet Charity when things got "too real".

Like others, I thought My Body was a catchy tune and looked rather fun on the Tonys. But in the back of my mind, I kept thinking it was more of a pro-choice anthem because...prostitution is illegal in New York. If it was intended to be a political statement that prostitution should be legalized, it wasn't made clearly. I think I would feel the same way about a "This is my pot and I can sell it to anyone I want" song. I know that is a poor comparison, but the song never set quite well with me. Like the show itself, I got mixed signals.

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Updated On: 6/8/10 at 07:17 PM

I saw it and loved it. Particularly the score. Lilias White was fantastic and deserved the Tony award for that show in my opinion. I will never forget her singing The Oldest Profession. She sounded incredible.

Though, if I recall correctly, she was inexplicably missing from Act 2.

I remember reading an interview with her back then and I think it was felt she was such a joyful presence on stage in act one and that she'd seem out of place in Act Two. I'm not explaining it very well.

I saw it and pretty much liked the score. That was during the period when the big push was on to clean up 42nd Street. Its book was its biggest enemy, but while everyone seems to be touting Lillas White as the best thing in the show (and I definitely liked her performance), Chuck Cooper deserved just as many accolades. I'm surprised that no one has mentioned the pre-opening CD, Music from The Life: it had some top-notch people in it: Lou Rawls, Jennifer Holliday, Jack Jones, Lesley Gore, Liza Minnelli, Cy Colman and, in his last recording appearance, George Burns (singing, sort of, Easy Money -- but it's practically worth the price of the whole disk). I believe it came out about a year before the show opened and guess it's probably out of print by now (I may be wrong on that). IMO, it was, for all its flaws, the best musical in which the contenders were Titanic; Jekyll and Hyde; Steel Pier (a BIG disappointment at the time); and Juan Darien (wha??). I saw all of them (except Juan Darien) and believe me, that was an AWFUL year for new musicals.

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I had a great time. The score is fantastic and the seediness was the point. The cast was spectacular. It just wasn't high concept. Nothing brilliant in its structure, dialogue, or design. Pamela Isaacs was great and has deserved a higher profile career. Pulpy fun. It needed a cool, edgy Fosse vision not a Michael Blakemore professional polish. Still, much fun and, except for Sweet Charity similarities, unusual.

The Hookers Ball is real. They didn't make that up. Now the song, on the other hand...

I remember being blown away by Pamela Isaacs. Anybody know what she's up to these days?

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I have fond memories of THE LIFE. I really enjoyed the show, music and terrific performances.