THE ROAR OF THE GREASEPAINT-THE SMELL OF THE CROWD

[CastAlbumFan]

Posted: 8/13/05 at 4:16pm

Just got the Original Cast CD of this show. Excellent score for a show that ran only 231 performances. Includes great songs such as "A Wonderful Day Like Today", "The Joker", "Feeling Good", "Nothing Can Stop Me Now", "Sweet Beginning" and its most famous song "Who Can I turn To (When Nobody Needs Me)". The CD is still in print, so I strongly suggest that you snap it up while you can. An excellent show for Encores! to do.

Updated On: 8/13/05 at 04:16 PM

[lovinlovett]

Posted: 8/13/05 at 5:40pm

How ironic! I just ordered this CD today!

We had the record when I was a kid (I'm dating myself here) and I sort of grew up listening to it.

Yes, it is a wonderful score, my personal favorite being "Look At That Face", ha ha! But there are so many great tunes from that recording.

I'm glad to know someone else out there loves it!

[magruder]

Posted: 8/13/05 at 5:48pm

I played in the pit for a production of Greasepaint - some very tricky stuff in that score. The show is a bit of a clunker, but I agree that the score is very good indeed.

[wildcat]

Posted: 8/13/05 at 9:50pm

ROAR OF THE GREASEPAINT is my avatar!

I did the show in '75 and it was a very happy experience. I still sing "It Isn't Enough" almost every day as I walk into town. Great warm-up and great philosophy!

[gymman]

Posted: 8/13/05 at 10:01pm

I actually saw this show! I had a thing for Anthony Newley, and, no, I don't know why. The book is incredibly pretentious, but I agree about the score. Also got to see Cyril Ritchard, who was a wonderful old queen (I mean this fondly).

[PalJoey]

Posted: 8/13/05 at 10:35pm

My parents loved Anthony Newley. We had this record too. From memory, not Google:

===

There's always a funnyman
In the crowd,
But he's only funny by mistake.
Yet everyone laughs at him,
Just the same,
The don't see his lonely heart break.

They don't care as long as
There is a jester!
Just a fool!
As foolish as he can be.
There's always a joker--
That's the rule!
But fate deals a hand and I see:
The joker is me.
The joker is me!
THE JOKER IS ME!

[wildcat]

Posted: 8/13/05 at 11:21pm

It isn't enough to hope
It isn't enough to dream
It isn't enough to plot and plan and scheme
It isn't enough to stand here
Saying that life is grand here
Waiting for something good to turn up
It isn't enough to sit here
Having a purple fit here
Worried to death the world will burn up!

It isn't enough to hope
It isn't enough to dream
I've got a better answer
I've got a better scheme

Why not wish upon a wishbone?
Pick a four leaf clover?
Rub a rabbit's foot and
Throw a horse shoe over
Your lucky shoulder

You'll find before you're very much older
A bit of luck will come your way
Now, isn't that enough to make your day?

[CastAlbumFan]

Posted: 8/13/05 at 11:57pm

I agree "Look at That Face" and "It Isn't Enough" are great, as well as "My First Love Song".

Funny, but it seems as if Newley sounded younger in this recording than in STOP THE WORLD-I WANT TO GET OFF, which he did three years earlier.

Updated On: 8/13/05 at 11:57 PM

[roquat]

Posted: 8/14/05 at 12:02am

Very good score.

UNBELIEVABLY AWFUL BOOK. Empty-headed lollipops-and-balloons allegory about "life", '60's-style. I did it in college; the cast outnumbered the audience every night--it was embarrassing. Watching an actual production is like being slowly poisoned.

[phantom_tenor]

Posted: 8/14/05 at 2:32am

i was just singing "Who Can I Turn To?" 2 mins ago. Frickin' brilliant song.

[hushpuppy]

Posted: 8/14/05 at 10:09am

On her 1973 album "Ethel's Ridin' High", the Merm sings 'Nothin' Can Stop Me Now' and "What Kind of Fool Am I? (from 'Stop the World...'). Hmmm. Maybe ol' Eth had a thing for Anthony Newley too.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 8/14/05 at 10:34am

I love those Ethel recordings--she hits such great high notes at the end of "What Kind fo Fool Am I?"

[Marquise]

Posted: 8/14/05 at 10:52am

Joan Collins had a "thing" for Newley too! LOL!
Which is better? "Greasepaint" or "Stop the World I Want to Get Off"?

[magruder]

Posted: 8/14/05 at 10:59am

Anyone ever heard the hilarious, naughty nickname that Joan Collins earned around the time of Roar of the Greasepaint...?

"The British Open"

[Marquise]

Posted: 8/14/05 at 11:02am

LMAO. That's not nice.

[gymman]

Posted: 8/14/05 at 11:20am

The thing about both "Stop the World" and "Greasepaint" is that the scores are really quite fine, but the books are god-awful. I saw "Stop the World" again when Newley toured with it right before he died, and it was unbearable torture. Listening to the recording, however, is wonderful.
Updated On: 8/14/05 at 11:20 AM

[Jon]

Posted: 8/14/05 at 12:21pm

A few GREASEPAINT observations:

"Encores" woulDn't do it because the authors are British, and Encores is supposed to celebrate American musicals.


Did you ever notice how much "The Joker" - especially the accompaniment/orchestration - resembles the theme from GOLDFINGER - which Newley and Briccusse also wrote?

Did you ever notice how the chorus of "Off to the Races" from DROOD sounds ripped off from "It Isn't Enough"?

Compare:
OFF TO THE RACES
OFF TO THE RACES
OFF TO THE RACE WE GO....

with
IT ISN'T ENOUGH TO STAND HERE
SAYING THAT LIFE IS GRAND HERE
WAITING FOR SOMETHING GOOD TO TURN UP

[wildcat]

Posted: 8/14/05 at 12:29pm

Well, for God's sake don't tell Michael John La Chuisa, he'll write another article...

[Dollypop]

Posted: 8/14/05 at 12:49pm

I have to agree that both STOP THE WORLD and GREASEPAINT have dreadful books. The scores of both are quite good, but what seemed like innovative stories in the 60's seem absolutely horrible today.

[roquat]

Posted: 8/17/05 at 4:54pm

If I had to choose, "Stop the World" is a much better show. The book is dated, but more "universal" than "Greasepaint", which just seems from another planet.

[Sheri]

Posted: 8/18/05 at 3:24am

Musical Theatre Guild in LA is doing this as a concert reading this season and I'd been curious about the score.

[WOSQ]

Posted: 8/18/05 at 9:50am

Roar of the Greasepaint without Newley closed on the road before it was to play the West End. Merrick got ahold of it, persuaded Newley-Bicusse to rewrite a bit and mounted it with Newley, Ritchard, et al in the US.

It did a 3 month pre-Broadway tour (Wilm, Boston, Phila, DC at least) and came in already paid off.

Newley left after about 5 months and was replaced by Orson Bean. Business fell off and the show closed.

Ritchard was an old queen. Even when he was young. The late Joyce Jillson (My First Love Song) later achieved renown as the astologer for the NY Daily News. The late Gilbert Price (Feeling Good) had one of THOSE huge voices that just made audiences go crazy.

That's a very funny line about Joan Collins being called The British Open.

--What's the difference between Joan Collins and the Titanic?
--Only fifteen hundred men went down on the Titanic.