It's even better on the recording because people aren't clapping over her singing.
"Not now Mr Lewis. Have they had the Vienna youth mask? My exclusive Vienna youth mask".
"I am proof that time isn't keeping score, behind the red door".
We have not had better diva worship in a long time.
I wonder if I can use the Arden hand cream in the theatre as lube while I listen to the cast recording.
"You can't overrate Bernadette Peters. She is such a genius. There's a moment in "Too Many Mornings" and Bernadette doing 'I wore green the last time' - It's a voice that is just already given up - it is so sorrowful. Tragic. You can see from that moment the show is going to be headed into such dark territory and it hinges on this tiny throwaway moment of the voice." - Ben Brantley (2022)
"Bernadette's whole, stunning performance [as Rose in Gypsy] galvanized the actors capable of letting loose with her. Bernadette's Rose did take its rightful place, but too late, and unseen by too many who should have seen it" Arthur Laurents (2009)
"Sondheim's own favorite star performances? [Bernadette] Peters in ''Sunday in the Park,'' Lansbury in ''Sweeney Todd'' and ''obviously, Ethel was thrilling in 'Gypsy.'' Nytimes, 2000
It never ceases to amaze me how little people on this board know about music and lyrics. There's really only one person who knows anything about songwriting, and he doesn't post on here!
The astonishing costumes and the score filled with real theater songs are as good as Broadway gets. Frankel finds hundreds of inventive ways to use period pastiche, in this case ranging from operetta giddiness to Bernstein angst, to express the vitality of the women’s ambition and explore the undercurrents of their despair. Naturally, he writes to the gifts of his leading ladies, giving LuPone plenty of red meat and sharp angles and Ebersole a series of long-line arias that keep shifting keys as if unable to find a place to rest. The singing that results is almost too rich to be believed. And what a pleasure it is to be hit by the fusillade of classic (and accurate) Broadway rhyming with which Korie loads his lyrics. These are not just the fun, uptempo kind but the kind that bite with insight. In a sad, contemplative duet called “If I’d Been a Man,” he nails the eternal dilemma of the businesswoman in a nifty couplet: “A man can be an absent parent. / Stray the way a woman daren’t.” War Paint is studded with such irreducible observations.
JaglinSays said: "It never ceases to amaze me how little people on this board know about music and lyrics. There's really only one person who knows anything about songwriting, and he doesn't post on here!
The astonishing costumes and the score filled with real theater songs are as good as Broadway gets. Frankel finds hundreds of inventive ways to use period pastiche, in this case ranging from operetta giddiness to Bernstein angst, to express the vitality of the women’s ambition and explore the undercurrents of their despair. Naturally, he writes to the gifts of his leading ladies, giving LuPone plenty of red meat and sharp angles and Ebersole a series of long-line arias that keep shifting keys as if unable to find a place to rest. The singing that results is almost too rich to be believed. And what a pleasure it is to be hit by the fusillade of classic (and accurate) Broadway rhyming with which Korie loads his lyrics. These are not just the fun, uptempo kind but the kind that bite with insight. In a sad, contemplative duet called “If I’d Been a Man,” he nails the eternal dilemma of the businesswoman in a nifty couplet: “A man can be an absent parent. / Stray the way a woman daren’t.” War Paint is studded with such irreducible observations.
--Jesse Green
Every once and a while a bizarre and completely uncalled for comment is posted. This is an example of one of those comments. I could have posted such an in depth analysis of the score if I were getting paid Green's salary, as could probably a lot of people on these boards. We just don't have the time nor reason to. It doesn't mean that we don't know anything about music or lyrics. What an odd thing to post on here.
I admittedly listened to "Face to Face" on repeat all day yesterday, and miffed at some of the lyric changes from the beginning of the run, including -
1. The original opening line: Strange how suddenly worlds can crumble / Change forever the way things were
2. Christine's: Obsolescence comes at such a frightful pace*
3. The campy: Life experience a facial can't erase
There are a few others, but think the new lyrics for those are comparable
*Does anyone know what Christine says instead of this line? Sounds like "Make an XXX and hold the fort in place"?
AAAND does anyone know how I can rip an MP3 from a YouTube video so I can snag the original version from one of their press performances earlier in the run? :) :) :)
I've just finished my first listen. I was focused on catching the lyrics when I saw it in Chicago. A few more listens and I'll be able to focus on the melodies and orchestrations.
Cons: I miss "A Woman's Face" and hate the chicken noises in "Dinosaurs." The leads get three ballady duets. They are lovely but I miss a brassy Bosom Buddies / Little Me / There's Always a Woman face off.
Pros: I prefer "Necessity is the Mother of Invention" to the old title song.
They did well combining two prior songs into "My Secret Weapon."
"Best Face Forward" and "Inside the Jar" aren't showstoppers but hearing the chorus women respond to the products is important. In Chicago it felt like the leads were making their products in a vacuum.
I like the arguments and information in "No Thank You." All four principals make compelling arguments for the purpose of makeup.
Now that I can make out the lyrics to Patti's "Now You Know" I realize it's a key turning point for her character. It explains her kindness in the final scene that allows the two women to bond.
I'm thrilled the kept some dialogue on the tracks for "Fire and Ice" and "Beauty in the World." They kept my two favorite lines from the show:
Click Here To Toggle Spoiler Content
"You put the fire with the ice. What do you have? A puddle."
Another thought. The twin 11'00 numbers, Pink and Forever Beautiful, are delightful on their own but weren't set up properly in the Chicago libretto.
Pink is provoked by Arden's board of directors. Forever Beautiful by the loss of Rubenstein's portraits. Neither the board nor the portraits had been mentioned earlier in the show. I wanted a little more set up for those songs to pay off.
The documentary tells of a robbery in which Rubenstein was beaten by thieves in her bedroom. I was worried this would happen at the end of "Forever Beautiful" and was bracing myself to watch Patti beaten by chorus boys. It looks funny typing it out but I'm glad it didn't happen.
ljay889 said: "DINOSAURS received an enthusiastic response from the audience both times I've seen the show. I don't think it's THAT bad, it's a short song anyway."
Same! The song isn't great but the audience loved it in context.
"Oh look at the time, three more intelligent plays just closed and THE ADDAMS FAMILY made another million dollars" -Jackie Hoffman, Broadway.com Audience Awards
I don't recall her getting beaten, but rather that when Mrs. Rubinstein was sleeping, she awoke to find burglars in her room and when they threatened her, she screamed so loud that they fled her home. I may be mistaken though.
It never ceases to amaze me how little people on this board know about music and lyrics. There's really only one person who knows anything about songwriting, and he doesn't post on here!
If he doesn't post on here, then it isn't you, either.
The astonishing costumes and the score filled with real theater songs are as good as Broadway gets.
What do you consider "real theater songs"? Which theater songs do you consider imaginary? I always find it helpful to understand the bias of the critic when reading his reviews, especially when he automatically attributes a difference of opinion to lack of education or knowledge.
"What can you expect from a bunch of seitan worshippers?" - Reginald Tresilian
MrsSallyAdams said: "I've just finished my first listen. I was focused on catching the lyrics when I saw it in Chicago. A few more listens and I'll be able to focus on the melodies and orchestrations.
Cons: I miss "A Woman's Face" and hate the chicken noises in "Dinosaurs." The leads get three ballady duets. They are lovely but I miss a brassy Bosom Buddies / Little Me / There's Always a Woman face off.
Pros: I prefer "Necessity is the Mother of Invention" to the old title song.
They did well combining two prior songs into "My Secret Weapon."
"Best Face Forward" and "Inside the Jar" aren't showstoppers but hearing the chorus women respond to the products is important. In Chicago it felt like the leads were making their products in a vacuum.
I like the arguments and information in "No Thank You." All four principals make compelling arguments for the purpose of makeup.
Now that I can make out the lyrics to Patti's "Now You Know" I realize it's a key turning point for her character. It explains her kindness in the final scene that allows the two women to bond.
I'm thrilled the kept some dialogue on the tracks for "Fire and Ice" and "Beauty in the World." They kept my two favorite lines from the show:
Click Here To Toggle Spoiler Content
"You put the fire with the ice. What do you have? A puddle."
"She's as cheap as a paper plate!"
"
Very interesting post - thanks. Didn't realise they had made so many changes from Chicago to New York. And it sounds like it is, for the most part, for the better.
"You can't overrate Bernadette Peters. She is such a genius. There's a moment in "Too Many Mornings" and Bernadette doing 'I wore green the last time' - It's a voice that is just already given up - it is so sorrowful. Tragic. You can see from that moment the show is going to be headed into such dark territory and it hinges on this tiny throwaway moment of the voice." - Ben Brantley (2022)
"Bernadette's whole, stunning performance [as Rose in Gypsy] galvanized the actors capable of letting loose with her. Bernadette's Rose did take its rightful place, but too late, and unseen by too many who should have seen it" Arthur Laurents (2009)
"Sondheim's own favorite star performances? [Bernadette] Peters in ''Sunday in the Park,'' Lansbury in ''Sweeney Todd'' and ''obviously, Ethel was thrilling in 'Gypsy.'' Nytimes, 2000
"You can't overrate Bernadette Peters. She is such a genius. There's a moment in "Too Many Mornings" and Bernadette doing 'I wore green the last time' - It's a voice that is just already given up - it is so sorrowful. Tragic. You can see from that moment the show is going to be headed into such dark territory and it hinges on this tiny throwaway moment of the voice." - Ben Brantley (2022)
"Bernadette's whole, stunning performance [as Rose in Gypsy] galvanized the actors capable of letting loose with her. Bernadette's Rose did take its rightful place, but too late, and unseen by too many who should have seen it" Arthur Laurents (2009)
"Sondheim's own favorite star performances? [Bernadette] Peters in ''Sunday in the Park,'' Lansbury in ''Sweeney Todd'' and ''obviously, Ethel was thrilling in 'Gypsy.'' Nytimes, 2000
I wasn't hugely taken by the score in the theater, but enjoy the show as a whole because of its leading ladies. But having re-listened to it, I really enjoy it. It's got some great complex melodies and interesting rhymes. Too bad it wasn't nominated as I do think there's a place for it. And I can see this show being great fodder for regional theaters. All those aging local divas.
I agree with every word of that, RippedMan. It truly is a shame the score wasn't nominated. Even Green and Brantley were surprised by the snub in their initial nomination day thoughts. Nominating the hokey Come From Away (somewhat pleasant but forgettable) score over it is something that I think will be questioned for years to come.
ljay889 said: "I agree with every word of that, RippedMan. It truly is a shame the score wasn't nominated. Even Green and Brantley were surprised by the snub in their initial nomination day thoughts. Nominating the hokey Come From Away (somewhat pleasant but forgettable) score over it is something that I think will be questioned for years to come.
"Agree...been listening to GHD, CFA and War Paint... War Paint's score overall is better imo over CFA!
"Anything you do, let it it come from you--then it will be new."
Sunday in the Park with George
I doubt anyone thinks otherwise but it seems a bit hypocritical and illustrates how silly A Director's post was asking me to prove how I could do better than CFA in order to criticise it when he comes on here complaining about War Paint.
Maybe with all of this Midler controversy LuPone has a better shot at the Tony :p. Her vocal performance towards the end of "Now You Know" is superhuman.
"You can't overrate Bernadette Peters. She is such a genius. There's a moment in "Too Many Mornings" and Bernadette doing 'I wore green the last time' - It's a voice that is just already given up - it is so sorrowful. Tragic. You can see from that moment the show is going to be headed into such dark territory and it hinges on this tiny throwaway moment of the voice." - Ben Brantley (2022)
"Bernadette's whole, stunning performance [as Rose in Gypsy] galvanized the actors capable of letting loose with her. Bernadette's Rose did take its rightful place, but too late, and unseen by too many who should have seen it" Arthur Laurents (2009)
"Sondheim's own favorite star performances? [Bernadette] Peters in ''Sunday in the Park,'' Lansbury in ''Sweeney Todd'' and ''obviously, Ethel was thrilling in 'Gypsy.'' Nytimes, 2000
Pink That flush of ardor in a man's embrace My would be baby with a rosy face And rabbits from the test Who perished for a nursery converted to a guest room Dressed in Pink
Are there footnotes to explain what in the hell Elizabeth is talking about, "rabbits from the test?" Does Michael Korie assume people know what the rabbit test was?
A Director said: "Pink That flush of ardor in a man's embrace My would be baby with a rosy face And rabbits from the test Who perished for a nursery converted to a guest room Dressed in Pink
Are there footnotes to explain what in the hell Elizabeth is talking about, "rabbits from the test?" Does Michael Korie assume people know what the rabbit test was?
"
Back before urination pregnancy tests were invented, doctors would take a urine sample from a supposedly-pregnant woman. Her urine would be sent to a lab with rabbits. A rabbit would be injected, and if the ovaries of the rabbit secreted a certain hormone, then it the woman was pregnant.
The rabbits would die regardless if the woman was pregnant or not. Per wikipedia: "This led to the phrase "the rabbit died" being used as a euphemism for a positive pregnancy test." This is known as a "Rabbit Test" or "Friedman Test" if you'd like to further research it.
Per your second question, I'm young (under 25), and I know what this is. I only know about this because my grandmother told me when I was little, and I couldn't believe it. It's one of those one-off things that people either know or don't know about, and it is rather antiquated. I imagine this is what a floppy disc reference will be in 10 years from now, haha.