There is a decent show in there somewhere?- Page 3

[g.d.e.l.g.i.]

Posted: 7/15/20 at 2:32pm

As well as any Steinman project does. If recycling music is anything to go by, the man is certainly keeping the planet green; only a handful of songs (in both the European and American versions combined) are specific to the project musically speaking, the rest all having begun elsewhere going back to 1969.

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 7/15/20 at 2:55pm

Dance of the Vampires if less overproduced and didn't take itself quite so seriously.,, MAYBE
Merrily if it didn't have a beginning quite so sour and bitter..,. yes, of course it has to be sour and bitter but not quite that sour and sloppy drunk bitter... or if it has to be that sour and sloppy drunk bitter, than it at least needs to be funnier.. MAYBE
The Grand Tour if it had a lighter comic touch and a different kind of score (more Bock/Harnick than Herman) and more of that score.. MAYBE.



 

[g.d.e.l.g.i.]

Posted: 7/15/20 at 3:24pm

henrikegerman said: "Dance of the Vampires if less overproduced and didn't take itself quite so seriously.,, MAYBE"

(gestures in the vague direction of the European version... except for the overproduced part, admittedly)

[bwayphreak234]

Posted: 7/17/20 at 6:44am

Bandstand - I know for a fact there was a better show in there, because I saw that better show at PaperMill Playhouse before the Broadway transfer. The production at PaperMill had a lot more heart and emotional impact. I also liked the design more. The ending moment was also so much more effective.

Jagged Little Pill - If they had focused in on just one or two social issues instead of every social issue on the spectrum, the show could have and would have been much more powerful.

Shuffle Along - There was simply too much going on. It was like they were throwing spaghetti at the wall to see what stuck. It was a messy show, but I will admit that the cast was sensational.

 

[BroadwayNYC2]

Posted: 7/17/20 at 11:13am

The Wiz: Great score, such promise in concept, but that book has some major structure and pacing issues

[broadwaybabywannabe2]

Posted: 7/17/20 at 3:12pm

hork said: "Chess, obviously."

i agree 100%!!

[joevitus]

Posted: 7/17/20 at 6:49pm

BroadwayNYC2 said: "The Wiz: Great score, such promise in concept, but that book has some major structure and pacing issues"

Which book? The book Harvey Fierstein wrote for the Live version was much worse than the original.

[g.d.e.l.g.i.]

Posted: 7/19/20 at 11:13am

And while the original wasn't brilliant, people weren't exactly coming for the book. They were coming to see themselves represented on stage in a classic American story and to hear a great score. (One reviewer of a subsequent revival, I think at the Beacon in '93, talked about how the original S.R.O. section for The Wiz on Broadway turned into a mini-disco every night, people up and moving to the beat.)

[jesse benet]

Posted: 7/19/20 at 11:29am

BroadwayNYC2 said: "The Wiz: Great score, such promise in concept, but that book has some major structure and pacing issues"

Absolutely agree (well, to a point). The fantastic music and opportunities for shining vocal performances and creative set dressing is all there, but there's little precedent for what a competent, revamped book would look like. Between the flop movie (which, to its defense, had incredible orchestrations and some *inspired* creative changes) and The Wiz Live, the story itself has never shined, and the original Wizard of Oz is pretty bland storytelling (Wicked just relies on its two leading ladies and a classic underdog story). The Wiz movie had a promising premise even if Diana was WAY too old: Dorothy as a young woman afraid of her own world, so she has to learn courage, heart, yaddda yadda in Oz to grow up. I feel like a revamped musical production that focuses on Dorothy growing up could resonate more but eh... the score will always rock. 

[broadwayboy223]

Posted: 7/19/20 at 11:55am

bwayphreak234 said: "Bandstand - I know for a fact there was a better show in there, because I saw that better show at PaperMill Playhouse before the Broadway transfer. The production at PaperMill had a lot more heart and emotional impact. I also liked the design more. The ending moment was also so much more effective.

Jagged Little Pill -If they had focused in on just one or two social issues instead of every social issue on the spectrum, the show could have and would have been much more powerful.

Shuffle Along - There was simply too much going on. It was like they were throwing spaghetti at the wall to see what stuck. It was a messy show, but I will admit that the cast was sensational.

"

I’d be curious to hear about Bandstand at Papermill. How was it different/better?

[rattleNwoolypenguin]

Posted: 7/19/20 at 6:01pm

Oh wow I so agree about The Wiz.

Such great music with bad scripts over and over and over.

Here’s a thought, can a person of color write the book for once?

Harvey Fierstein’s book for the live show was SO cringey and stereotypy.

[rattleNwoolypenguin]

Posted: 7/19/20 at 6:01pm

Oh wow I so agree about The Wiz.

Such great music with bad scripts over and over and over.

Here’s a thought, can a person of color write the book for once?

Harvey Fierstein’s book for the live show was SO cringey and stereotypy.

[BroadwayNYC2]

Posted: 7/19/20 at 9:34pm

My main thing with the Wiz is once it is taken out of the 70s, it loses its allegory. Any modern update has failed to capture the essence of the modern black experience and that is where the original shined. And I feel the show works better without an intermission, there’s no logical ACT I cut, especially when they don’t introduce Eviline until Act 2

Updated On: 7/19/20 at 09:34 PM

[joevitus]

Posted: 7/22/20 at 2:21pm

BroadwayNYC2 said: "My main thing with the Wiz is once it is taken out of the 70s, it loses its allegory. Any modern update has failed to capture the essence of the modern black experience and that is where the original shined. And I feel the show works better without an intermission, there’s no logical ACT I cut, especially when they don’t introduce Eviline until Act 2"

Don't agree about a singe act, but totally agree that it is a very 70's-centric work. It is invested in the pride and freedom of a people at a specific time in history. Would love to see a faithful recreation of the original production. I generally say this about shows (I'm a purist--or one could say stuck in the past, lol).

Love the info from g.d.e.l.g.i about standing room becoming a mini-disco.

[Hot Pants]

Posted: 7/22/20 at 4:51pm

Grease has a score filled with catchy and enjoyable music, but the book is a mess. The live version is a step in the right direction, although the story itself is still definitely flawed.

[joevitus]

Posted: 7/22/20 at 5:52pm

Hot Pants said: "Grease has a score filled with catchy and enjoyable music, but the book is a mess. The live version is a step in the right direction, although the story itself is still definitely flawed."

The script used on Broadway originally is pretty much perfect, can't speak to the revivals. People nowadays misunderstand the ending completely, but I blame them, not the show.

[tomwsjr]

Posted: 7/22/20 at 6:26pm

There’s an outstanding show in the musical Grind

[g.d.e.l.g.i.]

Posted: 7/22/20 at 8:49pm

joevitus said: "Love the info from g.d.e.l.g.i about standing room becoming a mini-disco."

And I even found the quote to back it up! First paragraph of Jan Stuart's review of the 1993 revival for Newsday:

"When The Wiz blew into the Majestic Theater back in 1975, lucky were the theatergoers who got stuck back in the standing room. Here, at last, was a musical with a sound that dared you to keep still. As a former Wiz standee, I can happily report that we took the dare: The minute 'Ease on Down the Road' kicked in, the rear orchestra landing was as jumping as Studio 54."

[joevitus]

Posted: 7/22/20 at 9:12pm

I love it!

[Phantom of London]

Posted: 7/29/20 at 8:40pm

An awesome pertinent example is The Color Purple, I enjoyed the original version, but many didn’t including the New York Times, however the show was re-conceived at the Menier Chocolate Factory and went on to win the Tony, so there was a decent show in there somewhere, the New York Times gave this production a Critic’s Pick to pick.

You could also argue the same case for La Cage Aux Follies, not as watertight as the the above, as I imagine the original would’ve been brilliant and groundbreaking, but a later revival wasn’t as good. This was also done by the Menier Chocolate Factory.

A show I am not wild about, but the current revival of Chicago, would trump the original. 

[joevitus]

Posted: 7/29/20 at 9:51pm

You might wanna delete that last line and repost it in the Unpopular Theater Opinions thread.

[Phantom of London]

Posted: 7/31/20 at 1:30pm

Ha

No not a fan of Chicago, the original production didn’t run that long 2 (years,) it had a stellar cast. The revival  has run forever.

Another show that got planned when it opened was Stephen Sondheim’s Merrily We Roll Along with Frank Rich slating it, however the Menier Chocolate Factory did a revival a few years back, which Ben Brantley loved.

[BroadwayNYC2]

Posted: 7/31/20 at 4:22pm

Chicago really didn’t change though, the revival just spoke differently at a different time. We were at the beginning of a new phase of the anti-hero, the OJ trial, the fame tied to notoriety.

[aliceripleyofficial]

Posted: 7/31/20 at 5:09pm

American Psycho!