Who made Bennett change the ACL ending?

[husk_charmer]

Posted: 2/7/07 at 8:26pm

Ok, I know when the show was in previews on Broadway, Cassie did NOT make the final cut, and instead it was Shelia (I think...don't hold me to Shelia, it could have been someone else). But after one performance someone or several someones cornered Michael Bennett and told him he HAD to change it so Cassie made it, to let her go home again. Who was it? Margo, Best12, MB, ya'll seem to be the ones to know these things.

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 2/7/07 at 8:26pm

Marsha Mason - wife of Neil Simon suggested that Cassie had to make the cut. Previously, Kristine had taken the fourth "girl" spot.

Updated On: 2/7/07 at 08:26 PM

[husk_charmer]

Posted: 2/7/07 at 8:28pm

Thank you! It's been driving me crazy. Was it actually Shelia who made it originally?

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 2/7/07 at 8:28pm

I edited my initial response - but no - it was Kristine.

[husk_charmer]

Posted: 2/7/07 at 8:30pm

MB, I love you.

[Raviolisun]

Posted: 2/7/07 at 8:33pm

Why did they think Cassie had to make the cut?

[husk_charmer]

Posted: 2/7/07 at 8:34pm

It gives hope. If Cassie came back, fought for it and still lost, it would not only make Zach a jerk (well, a bigger jerk), but it would really be a downer. Maybe that's me.

[purpleprince101]

Posted: 2/7/07 at 8:35pm

i like the ending, but would be curious to see how it is without it

[purpleprince101]

Posted: 2/7/07 at 8:35pm

i like the ending, but would be curious to see how it is without it

[TWSFan4Ever]

Posted: 2/7/07 at 8:35pm

I agree with you there

[thevolleyballer]

Posted: 2/7/07 at 8:35pm

I would venture to guess that because so much focus is put on Cassie and her emotional through-line is so concentrated on her need to make the show, it's a huge let-down for the audience if Cassie doesn't make it. Paul and Cassie are largely the two 'audience favorites', so to speak, in that they have the biggest character arcs. Since Paul goes down, it seems like a double mistake to have both fail.

[WickedGeek28]

Posted: 2/7/07 at 8:37pm

Cassie is often publicized as the lead of the show. (For example, when Donna McKechnie returned to the show, the Times read "Donna's Back!.")

While the show is about all of the dancers on stage, not relationship is more clear that the one between Cassie and Zach. Cutting her was like a slap in the face and it left the audience pissed off that the woman they've been rooting for all night didn't make it. And an audience shouldn't leave the theater after hearing "One" pissed off.

[WalkOn]

Posted: 2/7/07 at 8:41pm

For years I thought it was Marsha Norman the author of 'NIGHT MOTHER.

Updated On: 2/7/07 at 08:41 PM

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 2/7/07 at 8:44pm

Eh, if it were Marsha NORMAN, not only would Cassie not make it, she'd shoot herself in real time afterwards.

The original ending, as many have said, seemed like too much of a downer and audiences didn't like it (it was the ending which was used at the Public). They were rooting for Cassie.

In this current production, however....

[husk_charmer]

Posted: 2/7/07 at 8:45pm

(finishing Yankee's statement)...it goes to Shelia.

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 2/7/07 at 8:47pm

Eh, the more-right answer would have been "anyone but Cassie."

[husk_charmer]

Posted: 2/7/07 at 8:47pm

True that Yankee...and honestly I wouldn't give it to Shelia...now in the original, I'd have picked Shelia, but that's cause I am in love with Kelly/Carole Bishop.

[WalkOn]

Posted: 2/7/07 at 8:48pm

Also, if Marsha Norman had written it the stage would have been populated with the ghosts of all the chorus members who had died of the cholera.

Updated On: 2/7/07 at 08:48 PM

[husk_charmer]

Posted: 2/7/07 at 8:48pm

And we would have had an even MORE abstract set.

[NiteOwl]

Posted: 2/7/07 at 8:57pm

i havent seen the new ACL revival but does Cassie not make the cut in the new revival or are husk and yankee just joking around....

[best12bars]

Posted: 2/7/07 at 8:59pm

Also... nobody MADE Bennett change the ending. He had called in Neil Simon to help doctor the book. The show was coming off too heavy-handed and dark, and he brought Simon in... who brought his wife Marsha Mason along to watch the show.

Simon added several bits of dialogue. Bobby's monologue was pumped up with his Simon-like jokes, Shelia's quips like "Can the ADULTS please smoke?" and her answer to what they wanted to be when they grew up (her response: "Young.") as well. Marsha was very vocal about not liking the ending, for the reasons already mentioned. If Bennett's point was to lighten up the mood of the show, then he couldn't leave the audience on such a downer with her not getting in. Not being able to "start over" and try again. He agreed with Marsha and made the change. (She's very proud of that mini-contribution to the show!)

Another major change that was put in during this time was having Cassie not come late to the audition and make an attention-getting arrival. It was decided that the audience should gradually get to know Cassie, as they get to know everyone else there, and they'd eventually come to find out that she'd had a prior relationship with Zach, was a show-stopping dancer, etc.

Something they obviously completely ignored when they did the film... and Cassie makes that awkward attention-grabbing entrance. They put the trashed mistakes back in!

[husk_charmer]

Posted: 2/7/07 at 9:01pm

NightOwl-
We're joking..they didn't change that, I just really don't like D'Amboise as Cassie, or Goodwin as Shelia.

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 2/7/07 at 9:05pm

Actually, Kelly Bishop said "Can the adults please smoke" during the original recording sessions - but Simon did ad her quip: "Do you need any women?"

The Cassie arriving late bit was apparently something they tried and abandoned in the second workshop. It wasn't ever performed that way at the Public.

[WalkOn]

Posted: 2/7/07 at 9:07pm

Michael Bennett.. have you heard any of actual early recording session tapes?

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 2/7/07 at 9:09pm

No, but I've read the transcripts.