What was wrong with SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS?

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What was wrong with SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS?

Posted: 7/24/08 at 12:46pm

I never got to see it but I've read the book/text which I thought was strong, love the OBCR, and think the cast is so incredibly talented.

What was wrong with this show/what kind of reviews did it get?

Updated On: 7/24/08 at 12:46 PM

re: What was wrong with SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS?

Posted: 7/24/08 at 12:54pm

Nothing! Absolutely nothing!
One of the most wondrous shows on Broadway in many, many years!
So misunderstood by the critics and public alike.
I was lucky enough to catch the very last performnace and I had no idea it was closing until the person next to me told me!
As you said, a stunning recording.

A young actress with Noel coward after a dreadful opening night performance said to him 'Well, i knew my lines backwards this morning!'' Noels fast reply was ''Yes dear, and thats exactly how you said them tonight'!'

re: What was wrong with SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS?

Posted: 7/24/08 at 12:54pm

It lacked the nasty edginess of the movie. John Lithgow came across as a comic villain - like Mr. Applegate in DAMN YANKEES. Burt Lancaster inthe movie was TRULY evil.

re: What was wrong with SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS?

Posted: 7/24/08 at 12:57pm

Wicked, The NY critics panned it. I really enjoyed it alot and still listen to the OBCR. The small fault I did have with it. It was just very dark in design. Except for a little neon here and there.

re: What was wrong with SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS?

Posted: 7/24/08 at 12:58pm

It was a mess. Big huge numbers that did nothing, went nowhere. It sort of meandered around not really sure what it wanted to be. I did like the creepy incestuous love song Lithgow sang to his sister. But people mostly didn't understand it or were repulsed.

re: What was wrong with SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS?

Posted: 7/24/08 at 1:01pm

I think the score is beautiful to be quite honest. "At The Fountain" is gorgeous.

re: What was wrong with SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS?

Posted: 7/24/08 at 1:05pm

So what's wrong with dark now and again? Not everything on Broadway is The Little Mermaid'- thank god.

re: What was wrong with SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS?

Posted: 7/24/08 at 1:08pm

I didn't see it, but Ethan Mordden praised it in "The Happiest Corpse I've Ever Seen"

"Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they've been given than to explore the power they have to change it. Impossible is not a fact. It's an opinion. Impossible is not a declaration. It's a dare. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing.” ~ Muhammad Ali

re: What was wrong with SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS?

Posted: 7/24/08 at 1:12pm

I did have its moments, but as Joe pointed out it was unfocused and had no real sense of what it wanted to be. AT THE FOUNTAIN is a gorgeous song, and DIRT is a lot of fun, but the whole show just wasn't the sum of its parts.

Cheyenne Jackson tickled me. AFTER ordering SoMMS a drink but NOT tickling him, and hanging out with Girly in his dressing room (where he DIDN'T tickle her) but BEFORE we got married. To others. And then he tweeted Boobs. He also tweeted he's good friends with some chick on "The Voice" who just happens to be good friends with Tink's ex. And I'm still married. Oh, and this just in: "Pettiness, spite, malice ....Such ugly emotions... So sad." - After Eight, talking about MEEEEEEEE!!! I'm so honored! :-)

#10

re: What was wrong with SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS?

Posted: 7/24/08 at 1:16pm

I'm with D2. It comes off a lot better on the recording than it did on stage. And "For Susan" or whatever it was called really was a great moment.

It kind of had the same problem as "High Fidelity" -- the musicalization impeded rather than enhanced one of the chief characterizations in the piece.

#11

re: What was wrong with SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS?

Posted: 7/24/08 at 1:24pm

WickedBoy, There is nothing wrong with that. I thought the Mermaid was much to bright. And I think the lighting was done by the same person.

#12

re: What was wrong with SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS?

Posted: 7/24/08 at 1:28pm

But Jon, if Lithgow was a problem, why did he win the Tony? I mean, if I recall, that was a weak year for musicals in general (save for Urinetown) but I doubt they'd give him the Tony if he was really a big issue with the show's success.

(And how/why the hell was Hunter Foster not recognized with a nomination that year?!!)

#13

re: What was wrong with SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS?

Posted: 7/24/08 at 1:30pm

Dark is fine- but this show was very hinty about what was going on. "For Susan" was masterful- as Lithgow becomes more & more obsessive about all he's done for his sister, you could FEEL the audience squirm as they "Got it" but the show pulled back and went unfocused again. You never really cared about any of the characters and it seemed like they couldn't decide what they wanted. It was interesting, but very unsatisfying.

I should add I saw the Previews in Chicago, not the final show.

#14

re: What was wrong with SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS?

Posted: 7/24/08 at 1:32pm

I saw one of the final previews in New York, Joe, after it had been frozen, and it seems like they still hadn't really fixed that problem.

Updated On: 7/24/08 at 01:32 PM

#15

re: What was wrong with SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS?

Posted: 7/24/08 at 1:34pm

How was d'Arcy James?

#16

re: What was wrong with SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS?

Posted: 7/24/08 at 1:49pm

I do agree that the show felt mostly that it had to put so much on stage whereas a little less would have gone a lot further. 5 mins ago I listened to 'For susan' - a Tony winning performance for sure.

#17

re: What was wrong with SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS?

Posted: 7/24/08 at 1:50pm

James was fine, but he couldn't really carry the show. It just got lost on the stage of the Hirschfeld, there was no real intimacy there at all. It was an okay musical of what isn't really a very interesting movie.

I still remember laughing out loud at one of the more serious moments in the score, when the Chorus appeared to ask, "Whatcha gonna do SIDNEY?!?!?!?!??!!!!"

"If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don't have to worry about the answers." Thomas Pynchon, GRAVITY'S RAINBOW "Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away." Philip K. Dick My blog: http://www.roscoewrites.blogspot.com/

#18

re: What was wrong with SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS?

Posted: 7/24/08 at 3:05pm

the must sounded amazing but i've never seen it either...

#19

Posted: 7/24/08 at 3:12pm

Updated On: 5/2/09 at 03:12 PM

#20

re: What was wrong with SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS?

Posted: 7/24/08 at 3:51pm

Real depressing show, very disappointing since we had such high hopes. Upon repeated listening, the cast album is occasionally entertaining...very occasional.

#21

re: What was wrong with SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS?

Posted: 7/24/08 at 4:17pm

A dear friend refereed to it so lovingly as "Sweet Smell of Sucked-ass!"

#22

re: What was wrong with SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS?

Posted: 7/24/08 at 4:44pm

"It was an okay musical of what isn't really a very interesting movie"

Ok, obviously there is no accounting for taste... but I'm sorta shocked that you could feel that way about the movie. It's generally regarded as one of the better Hollywood movies of it's era. Even if you don't LIKE the movie... it's interesting in a number of ways.

All that said, I think the musical isn't really successful... which is a shame... 'cause they do get a lot right. As previously stated, a lot doesn't go anywhere.

kmc

Jesus saves. I spend.

#23

re: What was wrong with SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS?

Posted: 7/24/08 at 4:46pm

Oh, well, if it is highly regarded then it must be good. Boy am I wrong.

SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS is a masterpiece, and all that.

#24

re: What was wrong with SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS?

Posted: 7/24/08 at 4:54pm

I listen to the OBCR all the time and have seen it through other means. I agree At the Fountain is a great song and the cast was great. I think as said before it didnt know what it wanted to be. But I personally enjoy it.

<------ Me and my friends with patti Lupone at my friends afterparty for her concert with audra mcdonald during the summer of 2007.
"I am sorry but it is an unjust world and virtue is only triumphant in theatricle performances" The Mikado

#25

re: What was wrong with SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS?

Posted: 7/24/08 at 4:58pm

I loved SWEET SMELL. I thought the score , cast and staging were great.The staging was almost cinematic. Welcome To The Night never stopped.The cast would sweep the set around so it was seemless. My feeling is people did not like the story they were being told. It was very dark and ugly but it was great. I wouldn't be shocked if there was a good bootleg around so you could see for yourself.

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