There Ain't Any Justice Dept.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 3/1/15 at 4:42pm

Stephen Schwartz wrote 2 musicals - one made it and one did not .

Wicked succeeded and is a mega hit

The Baker's Wife flopped and closed out of town

Problem is Baker's Wife has a far superior score.

Mull and discuss

Updated On: 3/1/15 at 04:42 PM

[Sorry-Grateful]

Posted: 3/1/15 at 4:44pm

Stephen Schwartz wrote a whole lot more than two musicals.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 3/1/15 at 4:46pm

No kidding

I was,simply comparing 2 of those he wrote that went on to 2 separate fates.

[Play Esq.]

Posted: 3/1/15 at 5:04pm

The construction of your first sentence is 1) grammatically incorrect and 2) misleading. Sorry-Greatful was right to comment accordingly. I won't even get into the typos you made within a very short post.

Mull and discuss.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 3/1/15 at 5:05pm

Speaking of Godspell, that's the first musical I fell in love with all on my own as a kid.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 3/1/15 at 5:10pm

It must be hard on you with your head so far up in the clouds.

Why don't you go out and play in the snow?

Was that grammatically teacher?

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 3/1/15 at 5:10pm

It must be hard on you with your head so far up in the clouds.

Why don't you go out and play in the snow?

Was that grammatically teacher?

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 3/1/15 at 5:13pm

"Was that grammatically teacher?"

Oh, dear. Bless your heart.

[Mr. Nowack]

Posted: 3/1/15 at 5:49pm

What about PIPPIN, one of his greatest hits successful in both its original and circus revival incarnations?

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 3/1/15 at 6:01pm

I think that's in the There Ain't Not Any Justice Dept. down the hall.

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 3/1/15 at 6:03pm

And GODSPELL and THE MAGIC SHOW. I'm not sure about R&H, but at the time (mid-70s) it was claimed that Schwartz was the first composer to have three monster hits running on Broadway simultaneously.

As for THE BAKER'S WIFE and WICKED, both scores have gems and rocks. Thankfully, EricMontreal insisted I get the American recording of WIFE, which eliminates the latter. But if one listens to the OLC, one hears numerous songs about "Gossip" which never go anywhere and a musical orgy dedicated to "Bread".

WICKED, in my view, has some of Schwartz' best songs ("Loathing", "Defying Gravity"), but the score seems to lose steam in the second act. The problem may lie in the book: I've never cared enough to go and see it.

But as for Mr. Roxy's question, which seems to be "Why wasn't THE BAKER'S WIFE a bigger hit?", I can't speak to the infamous tryout problems; I haven't read about them all. In general, I'd say the show (and, yes, I have seen this one) has too little plot to sustain the gorgeous songs. There is no discernible subplot and the leading lady simply (SPOILER) runs off with a cute guy, changes her mind and comes home. Pretty thin stuff for 2+ hours of nearly operatic singing.

[Play Esq.]

Posted: 3/1/15 at 7:59pm

Thank you, Roxy. You certainly made my day with both of your posts.

[Jay Lerner-Z]

Posted: 3/1/15 at 8:20pm

WICKED, in my view, has some of Schwartz' best songs ("Loathing"

I think you mean "What Is This Feeling?", but I'm surprised you think that's one of his best.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 3/1/15 at 8:27pm

Glad to oblige Play.

[Elfuhbuh]

Posted: 3/1/15 at 8:40pm

I'd actually argue that "No One Mourns the Wicked" is Wicked's best number, but eh.

[Jay Lerner-Z]

Posted: 3/1/15 at 8:47pm

I just listened to "What Is This Feeling?" again for the first time in ages, and actually Gaveston, you could be right!

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 3/1/15 at 9:19pm

"WICKED, in my view, has some of Schwartz' best songs ("Loathing", "Defying Gravity"), but the score seems to lose steam in the second act. "

If you are only going by the cast recording keep in mind that there is a large section of Act 2 that was left off of the recording to avoid "spoilers." Not that it would necessarily change your mind about it, but it does obviously make a big difference to the movement and pacing of the second act.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 3/1/15 at 9:21pm

I may be biased as we did not think it deserved the hype it got.

[Elfuhbuh]

Posted: 3/1/15 at 9:22pm

^ From what I recall, only one song was left off the cast recording, and that wasn't really one of the show's most memorable tunes anyways.

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 3/1/15 at 9:31pm

I admit it's been a long time since I've seen the show (about 11 years now), so my memory may be hazy, but I recall the Witch of the East sequence in Act 2 (the stuff that I am referring to that was left off of the recording) to be fairly lengthy. Again, though, I'm going off of 11 year old memories. And of course it does provide a better through line than what you get from the cast recording going directly from "No Good Deed" into "March of the Witch Hunters."

[Mr. Nowack]

Posted: 3/1/15 at 9:49pm

"Wicked Witch Of The East" is a very odd sequence. If you count it from beginning to end it's quite lengthy but the actual song portions are sporadic. A verse here and there amidst dialogue and almost recitative like portions.

It also ties in significantly to earlier portions of the show, musically and plot-wise, and plays a crucial role in the development of the second act arc.

I actually really love it but it seems few others do. It could easily have fit on the CD if they cut out a bit of the dialogue and I've never got the whole "spoilers" thing. Seems like a cop out cause they didn't want to just slap the entire scene with the dialogue on CD but couldn't be bothered to adapt the integrated scene as many other cast albums have.

Updated On: 3/1/15 at 09:49 PM

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 3/1/15 at 9:57pm

I kind of understand the "spoilers" bit, since the sequence was a pretty big departure from the book. In the book Boq becomes the wealthy Munchkin from Baum's book that took Dorothy in for a night during her journey to the Emerald City, and though Elphaba briefly wonders if the Scarecrow is Fiyero coming back to her in disguise it's pretty quickly shown that he isn't when removes all of his stuffing to protect Dorothy from one of the Witch's attacks (the bees).

Now whether the spoilers were their main reason, or not wanting to go through the trouble of editing that sequence down, I guess we'll never know. I'm kind of surprised when they did the special release of the recording for the fifth anniversary that they didn't stick it in amongst the bonus tracks.

[RippedMan]

Posted: 3/2/15 at 1:09am

I think Baker's Wife is one of those shows that will get a new book in like 20 years and be a hit. It's got such a great idea. This whole like Suburban love affair thing. And the music is great. I've never seen it, but might checkout the Gallery Player's production just to get some background.

[TheGingerBreadMan]

Posted: 3/2/15 at 7:11pm

I'm not sure what confuses me more - the title of this thread or the original post.

It's been about 2 years since I last saw Wicked, but I don't recall Wicked Witch of the East being something that would be hard to adapt into something more fitting for a cast recording. The major spoiler involved would of course be Boq turning into the Tin Man, which IIRC happens during the song (or perhaps the dialogue in between verses) but other than that, there really wouldn't be any reason to leave it off the recording.

[bwayphreak234]

Posted: 3/2/15 at 7:23pm

Wicked Witch of the East is my favorite song from the show. I am bummed it was left off the recording.