What Playwright would you bring in to fix a musical?
What Playwright would you bring in to fix a musical?
Link Larkin Wanabe
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/1/04
#0What Playwright would you bring in to fix a musical?
Posted: 7/18/05 at 7:23pm
Okay,
So there are lots of musicals out there with amazing score, and flawed books. So my question is what playwright would you bring in to revise a specific musical's libretto? Who could fix up Steel Peir? Could you think of anyone that could tighten up Camelot or Me and Juliet or Pipe Dreams?
Akiva
Updated On: 7/18/05 at 07:23 PM
Unknown User
Joined: 12/31/69
#1re: What Playwrite would you bring in to fix a musical?
Posted: 7/18/05 at 7:25pmNeil Simon, he's a genius or Mel Brooks.
Link Larkin Wanabe
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/1/04
#2re: What Playwrite would you bring in to fix a musical?
Posted: 7/18/05 at 7:28pm
For what shows?
Akiva
#3re: What Playwrite would you bring in to fix a musical?
Posted: 7/18/05 at 7:29pm
I would bring in Neil Simon to fix THOROUGHLY MODERN MILLIE. I don't know how many people would consider it a flop...It did win Best Musical. But I can't help but find the book to be EXTREMELY corny. It seems like the book-writers were in a rush and used every old gag that had been used many times before.
I couldn't help but find myself nodding off whenever there wasn't any singing or dancing. I think Simon could take the crappy book from the movie and turn it into something that is actually funny.
magruder
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/15/03
#4re: What Playwrite would you bring in to fix a musical?
Posted: 7/18/05 at 7:36pmDonald Margulies for Merrily We Roll Along. Success that costs you your soul, your family or your friends has been a running theme in his plays, and he is very bright at working out plays with non-linear structure. I'd love to see what he could do with Merrily.
#5re: What Playwrite would you bring in to fix a musical?
Posted: 7/18/05 at 8:11pmSimon can't even fix the stuff he's written (Charity).
#6re: What Playwrite would you bring in to fix a musical?
Posted: 7/18/05 at 8:12pmPlayWRIGHT.
Yankeefan007
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/20/04
#7re: What Playwrite would you bring in to fix a musical?
Posted: 7/18/05 at 9:27pm
you took the words right out of my mouth, Rath. It's "wright" not "write." (Bonus points to the person who can tell me why...my inner teacher is showing!)
Anyway, I'd bring Tom Meehan/David Henry Hwang in to fix Wicked, and Joe DiPietro to fix Good Vibrations (which I enjoyed, the same way I enjoy a school show.) DiPietro managed to create something out of Elvis music, so he can do justice to the Beach Boys.
#8re: What Playwrite would you bring in to fix a musical?
Posted: 7/18/05 at 9:48pm
Is it something to do with like...shipwrightery? So you sort of..."craft" a play instead of writing it? Wright must've been pretty old, so is write just one big homophonic coincidence? It always sort of bothered me..but I saw it as playWRIGHT first, and had been writing it like that since.
Mamie
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/26/04
#9re: What Playwright would you bring in to fix a musical?
Posted: 7/18/05 at 9:55pm
I don't think I'd bring in Edward Albee.
(I believe you're right (make that CORRECT) Aigoo. A 'wright' is a person who constructs or builds something.)
A click for life.
mamie4 5/14/03
Yankeefan007
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/20/04
#10re: What Playwright would you bring in to fix a musical?
Posted: 7/18/05 at 9:58pm
Aigoo and Mamie win bonus points!
A wright is a person who constructs something, i.e. a wheelwright. A playwright constructs plays. I'm an English geek.
#11re: What Playwright would you bring in to fix a musical?
Posted: 7/18/05 at 10:00pm
David. Mamet. He'd fix it up. Real good.
Seriously, though, David Ives seems to be the rewriter of choice for many right now. I think I prefer him rewriting than writing his own plays, which are mostly too gimmicky for my taste.
#12re: What Playwright would you bring in to fix a musical?
Posted: 7/18/05 at 11:26pm
Comedy - Neil Simon
Drama - Tony Kushner
DID YOU KNOW--that Edward Albee was the book writer for the doomed musical version of BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY'S!
Mamie
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/26/04
#13re: What Playwright would you bring in to fix a musical?
Posted: 7/19/05 at 1:28amI did know and I still can't believe they brought him in for that! I LOVE Albee's work - but a musical?!
A click for life.
mamie4 5/14/03
rawleygirl
Understudy Joined: 4/23/05
#14re: What Playwright would you bring in to fix a musical?
Posted: 7/19/05 at 2:08amIt was briliant. He had Sally Kellerman committing suicide in the second act. She was the supermodel played in the movie by Villalonga. It was a musical number, as I recall. Of course, he was writing for one of the great musical comedy pairings of all time -- Richard Chamberlain and Mary Tyler Moore. Can you feel the heat?
alterego
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/5/03
#15re: What Playwright would you bring in to fix a musical?
Posted: 7/19/05 at 3:18amThat guy Shakespeare has a pretty good track record in the theatre, maybe he could help some of those shows. He did some great work on KISS ME KATE.
#16re: What Playwright would you bring in to fix a musical?
Posted: 7/19/05 at 3:31amNeil LaBute might do something interesting with Rent.
jam_man
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/25/05
#17re: What Playwright would you bring in to fix a musical?
Posted: 7/19/05 at 4:26am
I'd use Terrence McNally, though that's just general, not for any show specificly.
If I had to pick a playwright/show combination, the only one I can think of would be maybe Mary Zimmerman to help Aida. That's the only "match" I can think of - hey, it's 3:30 AM!
"The man who wishes he had written Phantom of the Opera!" - SueleenGay
GO CARDINALS!!!
Videos