What's the deal with "Amour"?

Deemed too slight for Broadway . We saw it & throughly enjoyed it. It probably would have fared better Off Broadway

No falling chandeliers or helicopters spelled its doom.

---

I think there just wasn't enough "umph" in it. I fell in love with the recording a couple of years ago, and I tried to get my University to do it in this season, but it was deemed to "light." I think it's beautiful, and I love the magic of the production. Sometimes some clips will surface on THAT SITE.

A great quality full show bootleg video exists of the original Broadway cast. Seek it out and it'll help answer all your questions.

I don't know who thought it was right for Broadway... That was an odd move. I don't think it's quite as slight as everyone made it out to be. Certainly its fluff, but what's wrong with a little fluff? I mean, The Wedding Singer ran longer that Amour did!

The score really is just ravishing. I'm surprised more community theaters haven't done it yet,seeing as it's beautiful charming fluff and can be done very cheaply. But I suppose we need to see Oklahoma one more time...

RentBoy are the rights even available?

---

I havent heard much of the show either, but considering the credits I might look into getting a cast album. Do pictures exist of the production at least?

A lot of the problem was how to show Dusoleil actually passing through the walls. They had these strange flappy walls that looked silly from time to time. Malcolm Gets's glasses often fell off when he went through the walls.

Another problem was the translation from the French to the English. The lyrics were often silly, or inappropriate, and were not up to par with the music.

The musical also billed itself as a musical comedy, and while the show was quite funny in some parts, it was not a musical comedy like those that had recently opened (The Producers, or urinetown as examples). Many of the jokes were sex jokes, or equivalent to "potty humor." Some were funny, others were not.

The size of the theater was also a problem as even a smallish theater like the music box seemed to swallow up a small, dainty musical such as this one.


That being said, the music by Legrand was, for the most part, marvelous. Melissa Erico had some beautiful music to sing, and she sang it beautifuly. Malcolm Gets also had some fun things to sing. The supporting cast was wonderful..Norm Lewis had a wonderful song in "The Painter's Song."

It was most certainly a fun time at the theater. Some great moments, and some not so great moments. The court room scene was a great show-stopper, but the scene with the judge and his "sick ways" with the prostitutes was just odd. I still listen to the cast recording which recorded the show beautifully. The music and the actors were most certainly the best things going for the show, and the CD is a joy to listen to. Hope that helps a tiny bit.

---

Leave it to the french...

---

He actually went on? I was under the impression that he never did.

---

Norm Lewis during "The Painter's Song" is like butter.

I love the cast recording as well and would love to see this done regionally... Goodspeed or Long Wharf? So much fun!

The rights to Amour have finally been made available through Tams Witmark. Does anyone know why it took so long? Were there royalty battles over the English translation? I imagine the show will do better in black box productions than it did on Broadway.

---

I also saw this show and enjoyed it. Leaving the theatre that evening, people were just underwhelmed. More than once I heard...It sure isn't Hairspray! As much as I liked it, I felt other smaller shows such as Once on this Island and Urinetown were much more entertaining, and at that performance Malcolm had trouble getting through the wall so he merely sidestepped it, lol.