Thoughts on "The Life"?

Saw it, and except for Lillias, didn't like it.
The original show looked very cheap.

I saw it the week after the 1997 Tony Awards and it deserved the awards for Lilias White and Chuck Cooper. Sam Harris was great as Jojo, the neighbourhood wheeler-dealer. Cy coleman's score was not consistently good enough to rank among his best, but as with any of his scores it was not without interest. The duet "My Friend" at the end was espcially touching. I have to confess I don't listen to the cast album all that much. Audiences were put off by the strong language and one scene in particular where Cooper (as te meanest pimp in town) brutally beats his woman for her disloyalty. I predicted then that THE LIFE would not play well in regional and commuity theatres and so far it hasn't had much of an afterlife. I had a better time at both TITANIC and STEEL PIER (the other 2 big new musicals that season.)

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The show is really tacky - an old fat white men's fantasy about hookers and people of color. The moral seemed to be "although it has its hardships, prostitution ain't such a bad job for a hot chick, and you form strong lasting friendships."

Sadly, I agree with newintown especially and most of the other negative responses to THE LIFE. It was one of those shows that begged the question: Why?
I also thought Pamela Isaacs did the best she could with a terrible role.
I remember there was a studio recording of the score that preceded the Broadway production by a year or so. Liza Minnelli appears on that one! I can't remember who else.

Updated On: 5/26/11 at 10:28 AM

Some good performers and a few good songs, but I really didn't like the show. It tried to be gritty and cute simultaneously, but didn't succeed at either. I remember it being described as the dark sequel to Sweet Charity, but at least Sweet Charity had a singular tone and stuck with it. The Life was just a mess and tried to force you to care about an entire cast of unlikeable characters. The Hooker's Ball was just...ugh. Embarrassing.

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The Life had a decent score, I thought Pamela Isaacs and Lillias White were incredible..and Sam Harris deserved the Tony over Chuck Cooper , who I love but I thought he was stiff and really dull in this, but the subject was like a candy coated version of TImes Sq back in the day..didnt love it but had its moments...when the hookers sang it was fun

I loved The Life. I didn't know too much about it going in. Saw it Tony week and bought it on the half off. When the character was sick In Act 2 with an unknown disease, you knew it was Aids. For someone who had many friends pass away from Aids, the timing of seeing the show in 1997 made me cry like a baby in the theatre. I cannot speak for the quality of the show, score, chorography. But the performances were outstanding and to me, extremely touching. I had the pleasure of telling Lillias White at the Tony afterparty how her performance moved me. It made me start to cry in front of her. I felt a little embarrassed. But she was so kind to me.

I have good memories of that show because it's where I first saw and heard Lillias White. I loved her voice and performance.

Frankly, I loved the show and the music and the singing and would see it again in a heartbeat. I did think the musical should have focused on the cross trajectories of the hooker on the downhill (White) versus the hooker on the rise as the most fascinating focus of the show and analogous to other situations in life, but I found the show very rewarding to attend.

I met both Lillias White and Mary Wilson at the recording party for the cast CD somewhat by chance another evening at a downtown club that is best described as a "scene." Someone had given me an invitation. I had just landed a champagne and Mary appeared suddenly and was soif and in need of a table; I shared my table and gave her the champagne. Lillias came and found us later, just a delight. Those ladies were kind and took the trouble to both learn this stranger's name and use it and to include me in conversation, very warm and gracious. Mary Wilson had to be in her fifties but time wears exceptionally well with her; she looked a young beauty of 30. Mary was very modest and did not reveal her name until we said goodbye.

wasnt bad , wasnt great. I made many friends with that show. Liza performed one night w/ sam after the curtain call (as business was slowing down she wanted to help anyway she could-sam was a friend of hers) The party for the release of the cast album was downtown at a club called Life, if I remember correctly it was on Bleecker St. It is now long closed. When Lillias was out business suffered, and when Sam lost the Tony, he had a slight "fit"(alledgedly) and missed many performances.The late Mark Anthony Taylor was in the ensemble , I believe it was his Broadway debut

I think there already is a thread (or two) about leaving midway through a show. It consists of people talking about leaving (usually at intermission, but some during the actual performance). The rest is people losing their **** at the thought of someone being so wasteful and rude as to not stay through the entire show.

Sorry, I know I paid, but my if I stay through a ****ty show, I'm wasting my time in addition to my money.

yes nomdeplume that is the place .party was on the lower level and it WAS packed. took forever to get to the bar. and i cant believe i forgot about james-both he and mark were sweethearts, and very talented gentlemen.

I don't disagree that as a work of drama, it's a little stupid. But I loved the show. From the first moment of the play where we're informed that Big Chi Chi eventually dies by getting hit by a garbage truck, to the end with Lilias surrendering to the cops with her hands in the air as she staggers toward them, I loved it. I have never loved such a badly written show so much. And not in the laugh-at-it way; something about it made me have a wonderful time despite the absurdity. It was just so alive, silly as it was. Coming after "Titanic" and "Steel Pier" and "Jekyll and Hyde", it was such a breath of fresh, fun, nonpretentious air. And Cy Coleman is always a pro, no matter the project.

So I will never defend its merits as a quality show, but I will absolutely say that I thoroughly enjoyed the evening I spent in the theatre watching the ridiculousness.