Thoughts on "The Life"? — Page 2

I saw The Life the night after the Tony Awards. As I recall The Life was pretty much the favorite to win Best Musical, and Titanic winning was a real surprise. Liza Minelli was in the audience that night and after the show, she climbed up on stage, her accompaniest rolled out a piano and they gave about a 40 minute show with the whole cast around her. I never understood what her connection was with the show, other than being a huge supporter of Sam Harris. But when we arrived at Joe Allen's 40 minutes late, the hostess said, "what a night you've had". Word was already out about the Liza appearance.

The show itself? A couple of really great numbers -- I still remember "Use what you got to get what you want". And yes, Lillias did indeed stop the show with her big number.

I saw The Life in July, 1997, along with Titanic; Rent; Chicago; Les Miserables; The Phantom of the Opera; A Funny Thing Happened On the Way to the Forum; Cats; and Miss Saigon. My first trip to NYC and I was in a theatre-lovers Disneyland, hehe.

I knew very little about The Life when I saw it, and I must say I'm with member "Temms" on this one--my sister and I really enjoyed it and were actually very surprised it was as engaging as it was. We didn't enjoy it the same way we enjoyed other musicals. It was more like a Maury Povich "Who's yer daddy??" paternity test talk show episode set to music. It didn't move us deeply or have anything really important to say, but it more than just lightly entertained and turned out some stellar performances.

For some reason, the scene that really stands out in my mind is right at the top of the show when Pamela's character is released from prison and she sings about how it's a great day to be out of jail, set against a seedy-looking brick wall bathed in a warm, amber light. I just remember thinking it was a strikingly effective image and stage picture.

Anyone remember the scene when Lilias and Pamela board an elevator and a clever use of lighting and projection creates an effect in which it appears they are ascending? It was incredibly simple, but the unexpected special effect in a show that wasn't about special effects caused "Oooohs" and "Ahhhs" from the audience. The audience reaction to that was funny and awkward at the same time!

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Updated On: 5/28/11 at 02:54 AM

to the best of my knowledge, Pam Isaacs has been appearing on the soap One Life to Live. After The Life, she was Off-Broadway and won an Obie, and also appeared as Muzzie in the National Tour of Millie.

ggersten, yes, that's it! Thanks for finding that, I had no idea it was recorded. And how did I forget that Cy Coleman was part of the festivities as well?

Oh, and I still have my t-shirt like Liza puts on at the end. On the back is a big red platform shoe with "You're not in Kansas any more". Love it.

Updated On: 5/28/11 at 10:27 PM

I love a lot of the score, my main problem is with tone, the show doesn't seem to know what it wants to be.

As a regular One Life to Live watcher since about 1992, I have to say, while IMDB says Pamela Isaacs role as a Dr Josie has been recurring since 2000 or so, I swear I can't remember EVER seeing her.