What the hell did they do to The Rhythm of Life?!

Rhythm of Life and The Frug used to be my two favorite numbers in the show. Now I am just sad.

Darling! You must get the original I feel it is much closer to what Cy Coleman envisioned but that is just my opinion. Much bolder, much jazzier fewer daisies.

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For all of his genius, Coleman also had a history of going in and making unnecessary changes to things that were never broken to begin with. Since he was hands on with the revival, up until his death, he probably did approve of the new "Rhythm of Life". The original arrangement, which must have seemed up to the minute in 1966 with its satire of hippie culture, still has a kind of groovy wit about it that seems absent to me in the new version.

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Yes, the '86 version had the new "Bravest Indvidual" melody line, the film version of the title song and some other changes. But my recollection is that Coleman made additional and extreme changes to the arrangements for the cast recording that were not necessarily what was being performed in that revival.

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Updated On: 7/20/05 at 12:47 AM

As I recall, there were several changes made for the cast album, that had nothing to do with how the material was performed in theatre. If I'm not mistaken, the arrangements and choreography were recreated precisely as possible for Allen for the actual show.

My biggest problem in this revival was with "Frug" which was just a big ole nonsensical sloppy mess in this revival, instead of the clean, crisp, expert choreographic satire I remember from the 1986 revival (as well as the film and "Fosse"). I'm not against change, per se, but when that change renders one of the highlights of an entire show into a meaningless display of wrong-headed, random dancing, it's hard not to wonder just what the creative team was thinking when they did it.

Between that and the utter lack of wit and invention in "The Rhythm of Life" (which is badly blocked and staged and just sits there) and "Big Spender" (which had the feel of a college production trying to cover up for the fact that their chorus really couldn't dance ... and this one COULD if Cilento knew how to stage the number) and the fact that "There's Gotta Be Something Better Than This" never exploded and electrified the stage and nearly stopped the show as the original version did, made me wonder exactly what the point of tossing out the Fosse choreography was, if it wasn't being replaced by something that was at LEAST a tenth as good.

I've seen HIGH SCHOOL productions that have choreography as good as what's passing for "Broadway dancing" on the stage of the Hirshfeld these days, which is criminal considering the talent that's being wasted on that stage.

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Absolutely. Reinking -- a former Charity herself -- would have NEVER allowed such a lackluster presentation of such a brilliant number. I realize they were working around Applegate's injury, but STILL, there's no excuse for that number just to sit there as it does.

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I was rereading this thread.. and the harmonies on the new ROT are pretty much the same as the original harmonies, they aren't much different - the only thing different is the music. The number really comes ALIVE on stage - the lighting was wonderful.

The only dissapointing changes they made for me were- Cutting down the Overture, and taking out the original ensembles lyrics/harmonies in "Sweet Charity." There is nothing like the "Keep cool you two up there" from the original, then the lovely sopranos strong as could be at the end. Those are my only main dissapointments.

This is off topic, but I had to sing The Rhythm of Life with my chorus.

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I love the new Broadway cast recording, but I loved the show itself with Christina, and the new recording helps me relive that experience. I have the original cast recording as well, but sue me, I prefer the new version, including Rhythm of Life a lot.

Well on the OBC - it's mostly an ensemble song - Daddy didn't sing that much. But in the movie, 86 Revival, and the new Revival - Daddy sings a lot more in the song.