"The Season" thoughts- Page 2
"The Season" thoughts
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/17/03
The Season#25
Posted: 12/14/15 at 2:36pm
Gorme's part was new & was never any part of the source material. Robinson was a cantankerous old jewish grandfather & Gorme was a fashion maven NY type - totally different. Eleanor Parker's role was totally cut as well. The dynamic of the story was totally changed when this happened.2 roles cut and 1 substituted. Is it any wonder it flopped?The reviews were brutal. Steve & Edie kept it running on their name and it had a big advance. It also had a really long preview period.
Marks did 2 Broadway scores. Bajour ran 6 months & Golden a little over a year. Bajour was the more tuneful of the 2.
The Season#26
Posted: 12/14/15 at 2:36pm
I believe his part was eliminated, changing the married couple that it made sense to have a right to the boy to a single woman which made the entire idea nonsensical; who would take a boy from his father to give to some random single woman??
The Season#27
Posted: 12/14/15 at 2:45pm
Ok, thanks for the clarification Mr. Roxy and Mr. Nowack.
Is "A Hole In The Head" the film where Frank Sinatra sang "High Hopes" to the little boy?
The Season#28
Posted: 12/14/15 at 2:45pm
The Season#29
Posted: 12/14/15 at 2:45pm
The Season#30
Posted: 12/14/15 at 2:45pm
The Season#31
Posted: 12/14/15 at 2:45pm
The Season#32
Posted: 12/14/15 at 2:45pm
The Season#33
Posted: 12/14/15 at 2:45pm
The Season#34
Posted: 12/14/15 at 2:45pm
The Season#35
Posted: 12/14/15 at 2:45pm
The Season#36
Posted: 12/14/15 at 2:45pm
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/17/03
The Season#37
Posted: 12/14/15 at 2:46pm
Just thought about it some more. In addition to the 2 parts I mentioned above that were cut, they also cut the role of Thelma Ritter played & that was the grandmother. It made more sense to give the kid to the grandparents than the Gorme character.
The Season#38
Posted: 12/14/15 at 2:46pm
Sorry for the multiple posts. My iPad Pro just went berserk.
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/17/03
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/5/09
The Season#40
Posted: 12/14/15 at 2:49pm
"Marks did 2 Broadway scores."
Three. He also wrote the score for the revue, Broadway Follies, which ran one performance. The show was quite bad, and had no memorable songs, as I recall.
But you know what? Compared to what we see today, it would probably seem a winner.
The Season#41
Posted: 12/14/15 at 2:53pm
I've just looked into purchasing this book. Luckily it is still in print - - - and as luck would have it, "Mata Hari" is one of the shows that is covered, so I am very much looking forward to reading this on my flight to Rome in the next week.
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/17/03
The Season#42
Posted: 12/14/15 at 2:59pm
I just checked Amazon. The CD is out of print and unavailable.
The Season#43
Posted: 12/14/15 at 3:14pm
From what I can tell that CD is not a recording of the Original Broadway Cast but of a 1996 "revival" staged at St. Peter's Church in 1996.
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/17/03
The Season#44
Posted: 12/14/15 at 3:20pm
I knew that. The original Broadway cast album was to be done by RCA who did many Merrick shows. It was cancelled when the show folded out of townn
The Season#45
Posted: 12/14/15 at 4:45pm
Tom5 said: "Obama was opposed to gay marriage until a few years ago. Things change. I assume Goldman has changed since the 60s as well. (Like Obama, Hillary, etc.) It's a great book."
There is no comparison between Obama not thinking gay marriage was viable politically and William Goldman's abject bigotry. I don't know why you think he has changed (Simon hasn't) but I also don't see the relevance of that. The fact is, what he was saying was vile and unacceptable when he said it, and that's what requires denunciation. For many years, anti-semitism was given the same sort of treatment. Would you defend Father Coughlin too? Bigots have to be called out. That does not mean they cannot produce valuable things but they don't get a free ride. Not from me anyway.
The Season#46
Posted: 12/14/15 at 5:08pm
I'm basing my opinion on a book II haven't read for decades, but I remember it was a great one. By the way. Winston Churchill's views on race were to the right of Cruz. And FDR no great shakes either. I'll bet if you looked at yourself 20-30 years ago (or more) you would disown yourself and burn all your family albums. Probably everyone on this board as well.
The Season#47
Posted: 12/14/15 at 5:36pm
Tom5 said: "I'm basing my opinion on a book II haven't read for decades, but I remember it was a great one. By the way. Winston Churchill's views on race were to the right of Cruz. And FDR no great shakes either. I'll bet if you looked at yourself 20-30 years ago (or more) you would disown yourself and burn all your family albums. Probably everyone on this board as well."
In case you haven't noticed, there is a lot of re-evaluation of "heroes" going on right now. As to my family albums, yes, I would burn them, mostly because of what was going on on top of my head, but not what was going on inside it.
The Season#48
Posted: 12/14/15 at 9:39pm
I have reread THE SEASON every year or so since I first encountered it in the early 1970s and even though it covers a season before I even visited New York. In fact, with the exception of the brilliant BUTCH CASSIDY..., I prefer Goldman's nonfiction to any other genre he writes.
I don't remember even blinking at his views on "homosexuality" when I first read the book a few years after it was published. I stumble over the word "progressive", but it is true that Goldman's views were generally liberal for 1968. Also his vocabulary: homosexual rather than "pervert", "degenerate" and the like. His suggestion that gays be allowed to write gay characters was not an idle proposal: although things were changing with THE STAIRCASE, THE BOYS IN THE BAND, etc., the subject had been generally unmentionable for several decades. (See how TEA AND SYMPATHY danced around the notion in the 1950s.)
What hasn't been noted is that Goldman's homophobia is rooted in his period sexism. The women in the Albee play are "obviously" drag stand-ins for homosexuals because they are promiscuous! In Goldman's world, real women apparently don't like sex. He mostly misses the point that the prostitution of the wives in the play is their move to take control of their sexuality, finances and personal power. To Goldman, such female characters are just another example of how homosexuals (i.e., ersatz transexuals) are writing themselves in female guise. Allowing homosexuals to write about homosexuals will presumably save American Womanhood from such libel.
But this was indeed the "liberal" position among heterosexuals pre-Stonewall. Even Tennessee Williams himself proclaimed, "I AM Blanche DuBois" in one interview, despite subsequent research that shows the character was closely modeled on his sister, Rose.
The Season#49
Posted: 12/14/15 at 9:49pm
BTW and FWIW, until 7 years ago, I worked at a theater (The Fabulous Palm Springs Follies) that relied heavily on group business. Although audiences remained strong, the group business tapered off sharply during my tenure there. Research from a number of sources showed that Baby Boomers are far less interested in group travel and activities than their grandparents (who were buying group tix in 196
.
So not only did the methods of "Ice" (1960s theater term for corruption) change when Broadway went from hard tix to computer printouts, but the entire chapter on group business may soon become irrelevant.
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