Tom Eyen & Henry Krieger's Dangerous Music: question and video

[EricMontreal22]

Tom Eyen & Henry Krieger's Dangerous Music: question and video#1

Posted: 4/26/12 at 6:25am

Now I admit I'm not a huge Krieger fan really, though I do like Dreamgirls, and some of Side Show, and a tiny bit of Tap Dance Kid (which is one of those minor 80s hits that seems completely forgotten).

Anyway, I had never heard of this musical before--it played at Burt Reynolds' Florida Theatre and never moved on despite quite the cast. It sounds like they were going for something similar to Dreamgirls--I came across a clip on an actor's youtube channel (it fades out to show some cheesy commercial he was in) completely by chance. Can anyone tell me more? The plot sounds SOOO over the top that I'm now even more curious...

Ken Mandelbaum had this hysterical write up:
Krieger's next one was a doozy, Dangerous Music, seen only at the Burt Reynolds Jupiter Theatre in Florida in late 1988. With book, lyrics, and direction by Eyen, choreography by Wayne Cilento, and two-thirds of the Dreamgirls design team (Robin Wagner and Tharon Musser, who were joined by William Ivey Long), Dangerous Music probably ranks as the most overwrought pop opera ever staged. Set in Detroit and Los Angeles in the '70s and '80s, the show was an incredibly intense stew that commented on the decline of the automobile industry, changing race relationships in the U.S., changing styles of pop music, drugs, prison, the end of the American dream---you name it, it was there. As Diane Dubrowsky, Laurie Beechman got the vocal workout of her life, playing an innocent teen who is raped in a shoe store by high-school hero Shaun Cassidy, becomes a druggie, is imprisoned, and ultimately becomes a pop star. Donna Murphy, who must be about the same age as Beechman, played her mother (as well as one of Diane's cellmates), and Jodi Benson sang a variety of roles in addition to understudying Beechman. With the name "Diane" sung by the various characters approximately 10,000 times during the show, Dangerous Music sounds something like Side Show's "Tunnel of Love" sequence expanded to 2-plus hours. Dangerous Music is pitched at such an hysterical level that it's almost impossible to listen to all of the official tape recorded through the theatre's sound system at a single sitting. It's never boring, and (like Side Show) has many parallels to Dreamgirls, but it's ultimately incoherent and impossible to swallow.

Here's a press release http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/1988-10-16/features/8803010023_1_tom-eyen-rock-music-dangerous-music

Did it have any afterlife at all? And here's the brief video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXFjrg4qsDw&list=UUS-08gmefFHtp3d8KBnUdZg&index=42&feature=plcp

[tazber]

Tom Eyen & Henry Krieger's Dangerous Music: question and video#2

Posted: 4/26/12 at 8:17am

Thanks for posting that, Eric!

I actually like Krieger a lot. Tap Dance Kid is cheesy as hell but it's one of my favorite OBCRs.

I also love the score to Lucky Duck. It has some real gems in it.

I've heard of Dangerous Music but never even realized there was a production mounted.

Hopefully someone will have some info

....but the world goes 'round

[henrikegerman]

Tom Eyen & Henry Krieger's Dangerous Music: question and video#2

Posted: 4/26/12 at 9:22am

Wow, what a clip - those guys did really "step to the BAD side" after DREAM GIRLS. But they overshot the runway. This is HORRIBLE.

[twinbelters]

Tom Eyen & Henry Krieger's Dangerous Music: question and video#3

Posted: 4/26/12 at 1:41pm

Where did Mandelbaum write that? I remember reading about this and being fascinated.

With Irma you gotta do something!

[EricMontreal22]

Tom Eyen & Henry Krieger's Dangerous Music: question and video#4

Posted: 4/26/12 at 4:51pm

Sorry, I should have provided the full link. It was a playbill online article about Krieger from when Side Show came out. I just randomly found it on Google

http://www.playbill.com/features/article/65577-Ken-Mandelbaums-MUSICALS-ON-DISC-Henry-Krieger-and-Side-Show

Tazber, I admit for a long time I kinda dismissed Krieger's work, so I probably should give some of it another listen (I've never heard of Lucky Duck (or Fat Pig, mentioned in that article).

[Eyen]

Tom Eyen & Henry Krieger's Dangerous Music: question and video#5

Posted: 5/20/12 at 4:43pm

Thanks so much for posting the article about this show!

I saw "Dangerous Music" at the Jupiter Theater in November 1988 with my family, including my uncle, Tom Eyen. I would describe it as a musical rock opera, similar in style and theme to Dreamgirls in that it depicted the rise of a singing star, this time a female rock star. Besides the same writing collaboration, it also shared the same set and lighting designers as Dreamgirls.

Tom compared the main character to Madonna, who has a strong connection to her family, especially her brother, and she came from 1980's Michigan. The biggest thrill for me at the time was that famous teen idol Shaun Cassidy starred in it and I got to meet him after the show.

I read with some sadness of the description of my uncle at the time as being older and gaunt compared to Henry Krieger. I have photos of us together then and I didn't recall him looking so bad. He was only 48, coincidentally the same age I am now, but he secretly had AIDS and died 3 years later.

I have a video of some of the songs being performed at a memorial for Tom in 1991, of which, one called "Home" I believe is probably the best. It's a duet between the rock star girl and her brother. Maybe I just liked it best because it reminded me of "Family" from Dreamgirls, which has become my family's theme song of sorts for any occasion.

I do remember meeting the cast after the show and the vibe was that the older Florida dinner theater audience didn't appreciate the rock music. I think the general idea was that it was an attempt to cash in on the success of Dreamgirls with something similar, but it just didn't work.

After Tom's death, his estate unsuccessfully tried to promote a production of the musical Tom wrote with Alan Menken, "Kicks: The Showgirl Musical", but I never heard of any plans for Dangerous Music being done again. The review below mentions the lack of a showstopper song, which is critical to a musical's success, and Tom's story being overly passionate to the point of being unbelievable.






Dangerous Music review Updated On: 5/20/12 at 04:43 PM

[Fotcprez]

Tom Eyen & Henry Krieger's Dangerous Music: question and video#6

Posted: 8/8/12 at 2:07pm

I attended this show as Shaun's Fan Club President (24 years later, the club is still in operation).

To me, the highlight and show stopper was Shaun's song "Obsession." Diane has a nightmare, flashing back to when she was Date-raped by the High School star, played by Shaun. He enters her dream, saying that he's her obsession, and he'll always be in her thoughts and dreams.

From there, she returns to her home town, ready to destroy him, only to learn that he never became the "hero," and was selling shoes at a small store she bought out and is selling.