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

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.

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.

hork said: "Chess, obviously."

i agree 100%!!

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.)

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?

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 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.

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."

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.

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.

American Psycho!