WHAT IF RODGERS AND HART HAD WRITTEN WICKED
WHAT IF RODGERS AND HART HAD WRITTEN WICKED
onceadancer2
Leading Actor Joined: 5/22/03
#0WHAT IF RODGERS AND HART HAD WRITTEN WICKED
Posted: 5/5/04 at 12:02pm
I received two messages from people who asked what would a Rodgers and Hart WICKED look like. Since I've never seen WICKED and only have read about it on the board and in on-line newspapers, I can't say that I am being truthful in my assessment. But, to quote the Gershwins, who cares?
I'll put the year back to 1940 when Lahr, Bolger and Haley were all appearing on Broadway. Why not go to the source and have Judy Garland play the happy one, or whatever the character's name is. To offset Garland's warmth and buoyancy, they would hire Vera Zorina to play the green one. This would only be a talking/dancing role. It would also mean a large corps de ballet. Zorina would get an extended Daliesque ballet sequence in the first act. To play the headmistress, who else but Vivienne Segal, who would get not only the best lines but also a blockbuster comic song and a duet with Garland. To play the wizard they would hire Charles Winninger and to play the boyfriend they would hire a pre-Pal Joey Gene Kelly or perhaps Charles Walters. To give Garland a rest every now and then they would call in Carol Bruce or Nancy Walker for a song. And to really make this top-notch entertainment, they would hire a specialty act such as Desi Arnaz, Helen Dowdy, the DeMarcos, the Nicholas Brothers or Paul Draper. And who else besides Jo Mielziner to design the beautiful stage curtain criss-crossed with some very suble lighting which would have the audience cheering as the overture played.
The big problem would be the big ACT II number. Well, since they tried the Roxy Nusic Hall, the catering hall on Long Island and the servants quarters on Fifth Avenue, how about a big number set in Coney Island. True, it doesn't make much sense, but so what! We could have Garland and Segal dancing on the boardwalk, Kelly tapping on the parachute jump, the corps simulating a drive on the roller coaster and, to top it off, Zorina rising from the ocean as a sea nymph!!!!
The audience wouldn't know what to do with itself. Plus, with a show that featured Garand, Segal and Zorina, you'd have every gay male on the east coast in attendance!!! (Don't kid yourselves, we were savvy back the also!)
Keep dreaming!
Miriam
Every movement has a meaning--but what the hell does it mean!
Leading Actor Joined: 12/31/69
#1re: WHAT IF RODGERS AND HART HAD WRITTEN WICKED
Posted: 5/5/04 at 12:18pm
Rodgers and Hart wrote some of the greatest songs ever written in the HISTORY of Music...
not just Broadway music
...not just Popular Music
....but MUSIC. PERIOD!
What they wrote manages to be sophisticated yet Accessible with a Capital A....
You don't need to understand a chromatic scale or own a rhyming dicionary to understand the simple brilliance of "My Funny Valentine".
Updated On: 5/5/04 at 12:18 PM
MasterLcZ
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/12/03
#2re: WHAT IF RODGERS AND HART HAD WRITTEN WICKED
Posted: 5/5/04 at 1:26pm
Miriam, You gotta find a part in there for Wynn Murray!
One of the sassy Munchkinettes?
"Christ, Bette Davis?!?!"
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/31/69
#3re: WHAT IF RODGERS AND HART HAD WRITTEN WICKED
Posted: 5/5/04 at 9:47pm
Miriam, you have more vision than the majority of today's Broadway producers!
And, better casting sense, too!!
Jose' aka Broadway Bulldog
#4re: WHAT IF RODGERS AND HART HAD WRITTEN WICKED
Posted: 5/7/04 at 6:49am
I completely agree, voiceanth...
If Rodgers & Hart had written WICKED, the score would certainly be more memorable, and they wouldn't have had Elphaba screaming so much. Granted, she's the Wicked Witch of the West, but the song structures would far outshine Stephen Schwartz's version.
Itty Bitty Geisha?
Toyland?
Gypsy Pasadoble?
Just a few popular favorites...
#5re: WHAT IF RODGERS AND HART HAD WRITTEN WICKED
Posted: 5/7/04 at 9:01amAMEN!!!
"I don't really get the ending,all i can go with is when after several months,Judith saw Pat sang,and later she kissed him on the toilet,after that the story back to where Pat went down from the stage after he'd sung,and he went to the italian lady.I just don't get it,what Judith exatcly meant when he kissed Pat that she had seen,and did Pat end up together with The Italian Lady?Please help me,thank u very much!"
Quote from someone on IMDB in reference to a movie he/she didn't understand. Such grammar!
#6re: WHAT IF RODGERS AND HART HAD WRITTEN WICKED
Posted: 5/7/04 at 9:15amThe lyrics wouldn't have any false rhymes.
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