Posted: 8/1/16 at 6:26pm
Wow Mr Roxy that sounds crazy. Did you get a chance to see How To Steal An Election. It played Off Broadway and starred then unknowns Clifton Davis and Carole Demas. I got a hold of the cast recording recently and it intrigued me.
Posted: 8/1/16 at 7:07pm
Missed it but I did see Metro.Another was Warp. It also played the Ambassador. It was to be a 3 part show based on a comic book. It played in Chicago first. It was subtitled "My Battlefield My Body". It lasted a week and never found out how it ended. I also saw the absolutely horrendous Andy Warhol's Man In The Moon. The production values cost about 37 cents.I have the CD of the score which I have never even listened to. Big star was Monique Van Voorhen and a midget dressed as a t.v. set.
Posted: 8/1/16 at 7:12pm
Wow Roxy you really go way back. Musicals aside....did you get to see the original Broadway production of "Cactus Flower" with Lauren Bacall, Barry Nelson and Brenda Vaccaro?
I am curious because I love the movie.
Posted: 8/1/16 at 7:20pm
Saw Vaccaro in How Now Dow Jones and Nelson in The Act. Missed Cactus. Never wanted to see every show.
Updated On: 8/1/16 at 07:20 PM
Posted: 8/1/16 at 10:00pm
AHLiebross said: "GavestonPS says, "I recall CARMELINA having some book problems late in Act II, but, Lord, what a score!"
Gaveston, is that the one that starred opera singer Cesare Siepi and adapted the 1960's comedy film "Buona Sera Mrs. Campbell" into a musical? If so, I absolutely agree that this was an underappreciated gem. As some of the younger readers may not know, BSMC was the basis for "Mamma Mia."
Audrey (who saw "Carmelina," if I'm remembering the name correctly, in previews at the Kennedy Center as an adult before many of the folks on this board were born)
"
Yes, that's the one, though the main star was Georgia Brown in the title role. "I'm a Woman" was her 11 o'clock number, IIRC. I believe it was Burton Lane's last score. He's always been a favorite of mine
Paul Sorvino replaced Siepi on the "OBCR" (available via iTunes), which was recreated a year after the show closed. He is or was a wonderful, trained singer, who is as good in CARMELINA as he is in the American BAKER'S WIFE. Too bad we lost him to TV. One can well imagine him in something akin to MOST HAPPY FELLA.
Posted: 8/1/16 at 10:11pm
Someone in a Tree2 said: "...
AIN'T MISBEHAVIN'....
"
I agree with the rest of your choices, Someone, but AIN'T MISBEHAVIN' ran for over 1600 performances, almost 4 years! For a musical revue with a cast of 5, that is a smash hit! I must have seen it 10 or 12 times myself.
Posted: 8/1/16 at 10:17pm
Sally Durant Plummer said: "...Gaveston, I must disagree with you re: Far From Heaven. While the cast recording is mervoulous, I find too many songs to just be dissonant jazzy filler, especially compared to Grey Gardens - where every song (excepting "Goin' Places" is fantastic. But Far From Heaven has server all standouts and Kelli is phenomenal.
"
I guess I don't mind "dissonant jazzy filler" when it is sung by O'Hara and Pasquale. I do see your point, however: GREY GARDENS has more in the way of traditional song structures. FAR FROM HEAVEN often seems through-composed; it might be better compared to Bernstein's TROUBLE IN TAHITI/A QUIET PLACE than GG. But that's fine with me. I like jazz operas.
I should admit I only know HEAVEN from the recording which, like PASSION IMO, could be staged just as recorded.
Posted: 8/1/16 at 10:22pm
gypsy101 said: "pretty sure Company and ITW didn't recoup...I thought Forum was his only show to do that?
"
Per Prince's autobiography, CONTRADICTIONS, COMPANY made a tiny profit. The Prince/Sondheim show that actually made money was A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC--per Prince, making money and keeping their investors was why they did the show.
Posted: 8/1/16 at 10:28pm
CarlosAlberto said: "Wow Roxy you really go way back. Musicals aside....did you get to see the original Broadway production of "Cactus Flower" with Lauren Bacall, Barry Nelson and Brenda Vaccaro?
I am curious because I love the movie.
"
Poster AfterEight has mentioned loving CACTUS FLOWER several times.
Posted: 8/1/16 at 10:33pm
No. With all I saw, there were many shows I did not see for one reason or another.
Posted: 8/2/16 at 6:19am
"You would not believe the dogs I have seen. One gem was a "comedy" with Robert Preston with the title, I kid you not, "Never Live Over Pretzel Factory" "
Mr. Roxy,
Dennis O'Keefe starred in Never Live Over a Pretzel Factory. A young Martin Sheen was in it as well. I loved it!
Robert Preston starred in Nobody Loves an Albatross.
Posted: 8/2/16 at 6:37am
You are right A8. I actually did see both but got the titles confused. Thanks for the heads up.
Posted: 8/2/16 at 7:33am
To the original poster: What is your answer to your own question? I might be inclined to give you my answer if you actually started this with your own opinion!
Posted: 8/2/16 at 9:23am
Mr Roxy said: "You would not believe the dogs I have seen. One gem was a "comedy" with Robert Preston with the title, I kid you not, "Never Live Over Pretzel Factory"
Another was"We Interrupt This Program" In that gem, actors played terrorists taking over the theater and holding the audience hostage. The audience members were screaming for a release from the unrelenting badness perpetrated at the Ambassador.
Response to a couple of points:
-- For most of these, I am thinking the only viable option is something like Roundabout. I think Hallelujah would need a new script, absolutely, but the score, the opportunity for some great choreography and show-stoppers is high.
-- I probably agree re D of the Day. I loved it, but the opening number creaked, as did anything that had Brenda Forbes. The score was good enough to warrant a redo, maybe via Encores.
-- I actually saw We Interrupt This Program from the second or third row on the aisle (must have had steeply discounted preview tickets) and, from that close, I can't tell you how uncomfortable I was. Still junk, but I was never bored.
-- I can't reference junk without mentioning The Leaf People, at the Booth, Dr. Jazz, Copperfield and Jimmy. If anyone ever revives them, I am checking out. (Also a really bad play).
-- Remembering Carmelina, I thought that there were some fine songs (I still remember 'One More Walk Around the Garden', even though I have never heard it again), but it was slow going. The direction was static and the script didn't have enough comedy. Thank God they remade it 20 years later as Mamma Mia.
-- I also saw Cactus Flower and really enjoyed it. I remember Brenda Vaccaro stealing the show, although Lauren Bacall was terrific, particularly in a second act dance after she had bloomed. She was definitely better than Ingrid Bergman, a much better actress, because comedy seemed more natural to her.
Posted: 8/2/16 at 2:54pm
Paul Sorvino had the lead in THE MOST HAPPY FELLA the last time City Opera did it. I thought he was terrible. But then I think he is also terrible on the CARMELINA recording. It's a shame Siepi didn't do the cast recording. As one would expect, his singing was more than fine. His acting . . . To be fair, his role (one of the few changes from the movie) was underwritten and probably unplayable. His role didn't make all that much sense. (Neither, for that matter, did Carmelina's living celibate -- "like a nun" -- for 17 years.)
Regarding WE INTERRUPT THIS PROGRAM -- isn't this the show audience members walked out of, even while they were supposedly being held "hostage"?
Posted: 8/2/16 at 3:00pm
I think it was. The terrorists were really believable - not.The only actor who survived was Holland Taylor. The rest of the cast was never heard from again. One character was, I kid you not, called Gunga Din
Updated On: 8/2/16 at 03:00 PM
Posted: 8/2/16 at 6:59pm
"Regarding WE INTERRUPT THIS PROGRAM -- isn't this the show audience members walked out of, even while they were supposedly being held "hostage"?"
Yes. I saw it as it happened. Quite a sight, really. Quite a play, too!
Posted: 8/2/16 at 10:03pm
JMPlayer6 said: "To the original poster: What is your answer to your own question? I might be inclined to give you my answer if you actually started this with your own opinion!
"
Realistically, I would like to see Taboo, Caroline, or Change or Mack and Mabel.
Out of sheer curiousity and for laughs, I would love to see Bring Back Birdie.
Posted: 8/3/16 at 2:34am
I'd love to see Smile. The concept seems intrgueing, and I'm quite fond of the song "Disneyland". I second Bring Back Birdie. If only to hear "Well I'm Not" live and in person. Fade Out, Fade In could be fun as well. Get on this Encores!
Posted: 8/3/16 at 2:54am
http://www.playbill.com/article/lachiusas-wild-party-will-return-to-new-york-city
Sometimes there's God so quickly!
Updated On: 8/3/16 at 02:54 AM
Posted: 8/3/16 at 8:23am
I am not one who lives to see flops revived, but two shows I have thought about in terms of revival potential are Ben Franklin In Paris and The Me Nobody Knows.
Nathan Lane would make a great Ben Franklin, the show has a likable legit score and, in the age of Hamilton, US history might be welcome on Broadway at this time. I know nothing else about the show other than that it starred Robert Preston and Susan Watson.
The Me Nobody Knows was a liked show that didn't run for very long on Broadway. Based on poems which told the stories of disaffected ghetto teens, it has some strong songs and the issues it deals with are still facing us. Broadway might or might not be the place for it, but it's the sort of show that would be more welcome now than it was then.
I would also like a chance to see High Spirits, although I don't know if you could call that show a flop.
Posted: 8/3/16 at 12:35pm
The Other One said:
The Me Nobody Knows was a liked show that didn't run for very long on Broadway. Based on poems which told the stories of disaffected ghetto teens, it has some strong songs and the issues it deals with are still facing us. Broadway might or might not be the place for it, but it's the sort of show that would be more welcome now than it was then.
Wow! Thanks for mentioning The Me Nobody Knows, a show very near and dear to my heart. I was introduced to it at a very young age, I was about 6 and one of my teachers played the cast album, all I knew at that time was that I could relate to it as a young Puerto Rican boy growing up in the inner city. The kids in that show represented me and my peers.
I re-visited the cast recording in my early teens and it still rang true, I then read the book of poems and essays the show was based upon. It's a touchstone of my youth and I still own a copy of the original book and the cast recording.
I would love Encores! or even Encores Off Center to do it.
Updated On: 8/3/16 at 12:35 PM
Posted: 8/3/16 at 12:37pm
Victor/ Victoria, but staged in a more intimate theatre, with a set design more like the movie, and a smaller cast.
