Vanities

Vanities is based on the play of the same name which was a substantial off-Broadway hit in the 1970s. This is the play that pushed a little known young character actress named Kathy Bates to a brighter spotlight. I can't remember if she originated her role, but she did play it a while during the 4+ year run.

It has a cast of three women (no men, no chorus) who we first meet as high school senior cheerleaders in a Texas town (Think that they all say "haskell" instead of 'high school'.) At this point in their lives, the three are almost interchangeable.

About 5 years later the three have gone to college together and are getting ready to graduate. They have begun to think differently. Change is in the air.

After another 5 years or so there is a reunion in New York. They have gone on very different routes to get to this day.

Years pass and they meet and reconcile back in their hometown.

The script is very dated with specific 60s-70s references. It is also tight enough that the addition of songs does not reveal these characters further. Vanities does not cry out to be a musical. It is not a "bad" show per se, but so much is unnecessary in the musical.

Find the original script to the play and read it. (It is full of 3 women acting scenes.) You will find out that the last sequence, the one where they meet back in their hometown, does not exist in the play and was written to bring these women into the sort-of present day.

The play is much funnier than the musical because the songs slow the scene-arcs down.

On the other hand I am a firm believer in seeing everything. Said the great Moss Hart, "Nobody learns anything from a hit."

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Is it going on tour?

yeah, it's local. they had an audition announcement somewhere.

Vanities is a co-production between 5th Avenue and ACT Theatre. It is not a tour. It is the musical and the creators will be here to work on the show.

It is going to be at ACT and will be the start of a year collaboration between the 2 companies. This will allow the 5th to produce more intimate musicals that wouldn't work in the 5th gigantic space.

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Next to Normal, however, is the Broadway tour and is really exciting, since appearantly the musical sort of got its start in a workshop over here at the Village Theater. It also looks like a great show.

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So wait- what does AWA do, exactly? is it like you have a theatre and you book them to come to your theatre? Just making sure. I can't wait until the rights to this come out- it seems like a really nice little musical to do on a small budget

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Plotwise, not much 'happens', rendering a synopsis difficult. So much of Vanities is character and time/place. That's why I suggest finding the script to the play. Try abebooks.com for a used copy. It shouldn't cost much, and the shipping will probably be higher than the cost of the book.

The added fourth and last scene of the musical takes a bit of the bite out of scene three of the play. In the play there is no reconciliation. There is no agreed future meeting. The musical brings the three women back together years later, older and wiser, and that seemed a bit false.

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I'm a big fan of the play, so I was very excited to see it musicalized. Sadly, it was just "Ok" although the cast was heartfelt. I believe I saw it on its closing performance. I was in the camp that I really disliked the "happy ending" I think it's more believable without it.

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