What Kander and Ebb show should be revived?

IMHO, Kiss of the Spiderwoman & I'd love to see Scottsboro Boys make a triumphant return (After it wins it's Tonys...) Ican dream, can't I?

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One vote for Zorba! Didn't love the Anthony Quinn revival but the score is great, and a great part for an aging latin spitfire (hello, Chita!)

One anti-vote for Steel Pier (sorry to be blunt, dear fan). The show made NO sense the first time around, and the score alone doesn't put it in the top tier of the Kander and Ebb catalogue for me.

And by all means, one vote for The Scottsboro Boys! It was gone way too soon.

Charles, doesn't offend me if you don't like a show you don't like a show and yea Scottsboro was gone way too soon.

Instead of a revival, I would love to see THE VISIT with Chita Rivera open on Broadway. The score is haunting and beautiful, and Chita's performance was stunning at The Goodman in Chicago.

I'd really like to see Scottsboro Boys back on Broadway. I don't want a "revival" of this show in the sense that a new creative team will try to re-interpret the material. Instead, I just want that old production back. Well, are revivals still revivals if it's pretty much exactly like the original production? I think so.


EDIT: I'm also on the "Revive Cabaret" train. Someone do it (well)!

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Updated On: 6/3/11 at 07:24 PM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rkEOmxQYxE8

I wouldn't mind seeing Chita back on Broadway one bit. Any of their shows that could be a vehicle for her, I would enjoy.

Just in terms of score alone, I LOVE Zorba (but actually prefer the original film). I've always wanted to see a strong production of 70 Girls 70, but not necessarily on Broadway (people ain't gonna pay Bdwy prices for that one). I think Kiss of the Spiderwoman is their masterwork, and so I'd like to see that one revived. I'm also in agreement with those who would like to see a production of The Rink led by LuPone and Benanti.

We need to see The Visit & Skin Of Our Teeth first

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Agree wholeheartedly with The Rink! Saw the OBC 4 times-- but you'd have to revive it in Peter Larkin's original and staggeringly beautiful set, please God! Frankly Lupone is perfect casting in my book although Benanti as a wallflower isn't a great fit for me.

And Yes, please for The Visit. How have some of you heard the score already? Please share.

Lastly, much as I love Banderas in anything onstage, isn't he WAY too young for a Zorba who's supposed to be an old and feeble grandpapa? Wacky casting, no? (This is personal-- got a hug I'll never forget from Antonio back in '91-- a story for another time...)

I was the one who suggested a revival of The Rink. I still think it could be great.

I'd also love to see a production of The Visit. What I've heard was beautiful.

I think they lost the rights of The Skin of Our Teeth and aren't actively trying to reclaim them.

I saw the Reprise! production of Zorba back in '05 I think. It was amazing what director David Lee did with the show. Also as far as Banderas being too old, Marc Kudisch played Zorba in that production and was fantastic.

Also in the cast: Stan Chandler as Niko; Judy Kaye as Hortense; Camille Savioly as the Leader; and Leslie Margharita as the Widow.


Can't praise this production enough.

The Visit still needs work, but is an insanely intriguing show and deserves a New York production of some sort. (Whereas the only other somewhat "lost" Kander and Ebb musical, I think it was called Over and Over based on Skin of Our Teeth, is just a flat out, ill-conceived mess, and pretty unsalvageable from what I've heard of it).

(Charles Guiteau, recordings from the Goodman production of The Visit with Chita are pretty easy to find...)

My major vote for revival goes for Zorba (isn't one constantly in the works?) However I think it only works in the much darker Hal Prince original production (with those gorgeous Boris Aronson designs). All the revisions to make it more upbeat completely go against the work, even if audiences seem to enjoy them more (well, when a movie star's in the lead anyway). While by no means a perfect show, it's kinda annoying that it's sorta forgotten--in many ways you can see Prince's "concept musical" technique going from Cabaret (granted, which has stronger material), to after Zorba the Sondheim shows.

I think it's still too soon for a Kiss revival, but maybe that's just cuz I have the original production (my grandma took me to the tour with Chita when I was 15) still firmly ingrained in my head, and can't see it being bettered. (Interesting that Kander and Ebb seemed to only really be in their element when they had a strong director--Prince, Fosse, etc--at the helm.)