Why Aren't These Shows Revived?- Page 2
Why Aren't These Shows Revived?
Marquise
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/1/04
#25re: Why Aren't These Shows Revived?
Posted: 6/13/05 at 10:57pm
PROMISES PROMISE needs to be revisited, revived and rediscovered. Next to DREAMGIRLS and RENT it's third on my all time favorite lists. The show is sublime. (And hell i don't toss around that word frequently).
I was fortunate to see the 1997 ENCORES! mounting starring Martin Short, which although it didn't really use the original Bennett moves was a good show. It was so succesful that there was talk about a full fledged revival and then. . .NOTHING!
If they ever get around to doing this I would love to see either Jean Louisa Kelly or Kelli O'Hara play "Fran Kubelik".
alterego
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/5/03
#26re: Why Aren't These Shows Revived?
Posted: 6/13/05 at 11:00pmHow can you do Pippin these days? I remember a few years ago a production (Goodspeed?) where the show was set in an alley at the back of a theatre, Berthe did her number from a motorised wheel chair. Sounded a dreadful production.
#27re: Why Aren't These Shows Revived?
Posted: 6/13/05 at 11:00pm
I think Stephanie J. Block could take on Fanny Brice, despite the fact that she isn't a huge name...
awkward.
"I think it was the Korean tour or something. They were all frickin' asian!" -Zoran912
Cages or Wings
Featured Actor Joined: 11/27/04
#28re: Why Aren't These Shows Revived?
Posted: 6/13/05 at 11:03pmPippin can be done today without major change in setting, structure, or book. It is a period piece (in that it takes place during Charlemegne's .sp?. empire), so it sounds like the bad production you saw may have been a creative team that tried to get too creative.
Jon
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/20/04
#29re: Why Aren't These Shows Revived?
Posted: 6/13/05 at 11:42pm42nd Street failed to recoup because the cast was too frikkin' huge! Look at SPAMALOT - a total cast size of 20 - half the size of 42ns Street.
alterego
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/5/03
#30re: Why Aren't These Shows Revived?
Posted: 6/13/05 at 11:46pmFor me Pippin's success was mostly due to the brilliance of Bob Fosse and Tony Walton/Patricia Zippdrodt being able to make a clever spectacle out of what is a pretty light show. Without their contributions it would be apretty tame night in the theatre.
#31re: Why Aren't These Shows Revived?
Posted: 6/13/05 at 11:46pmI did Carnival, years back, and it was a fun show...But the thing is, are we really supposed to believe that this girl is actually DUMB enough to think these puppets are real? That's what turns me off about the show...her stupidity.
"Do you know what pledge time is, Andrew"? said the PBS Executive.
"Yes", Lloyd Webber replied. "My 50th birthday special must be one program that gets done a lot."
"No", mused the man from PBS heedlessy. "Not so much. Our Stephen Sondheim Carnegie Hall concert. That's a big one."
Spoons, forks and knives seemed suddenly to suspend their motion in horror, all around the table.
Marquise
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/1/04
#32re: Why Aren't These Shows Revived?
Posted: 6/13/05 at 11:51pmJustice that made me laugh out loud!
hypertruffle
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/22/05
#33re: Why Aren't These Shows Revived?
Posted: 6/13/05 at 11:53pmHow about Raisin the Musical? How will that fair out as a revival?
"The cynicism you refer to, I acquired the day I discovered I was different from little boys!~All About Eve
Jon
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/20/04
#34re: Why Aren't These Shows Revived?
Posted: 6/13/05 at 11:54pm
In the original movie LILI, Leslie Caron comes across downright retarded!
And it is, after all, a show in which an underaged girl is lusted after by several older men. Grobert, the souvenir seller, tries to molest her 15 minutes into the show!
MargoChanning
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/5/04
#35re: Why Aren't These Shows Revived?
Posted: 6/13/05 at 11:55pm
Alterego --
That's why I've never quite understood people who say "Oh just toss out the Fosse staging and choreography and come up with a different concept."
Huh?
Underneath it all, PIPPIN is a pretty lousy show, with some good songs, but a terrible, incoherent book that makes no sense -- what made the show a hit was all of the brilliant smoke and mirrors Fosse created that were so entertaining that audiences forgot that basically, there's not much to it. Perhaps another visionary director/choreographer will come along who can also make it work on his/her own terms, but, as it stands, the material itself is pretty weak.
"What a story........ everything but the bloodhounds snappin' at her rear end." -- Birdie
[http://margochanning.broadwayworld.com/]
"The Devil Be Hittin' Me" -- Whitney
Marquise
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/1/04
#36re: Why Aren't These Shows Revived?
Posted: 6/13/05 at 11:57pm
That "Lili" was a kinky li'l thing wasn't she?
She knew what really made the world "go 'round"...
alterego
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/5/03
#38re: Why Aren't These Shows Revived?
Posted: 6/14/05 at 1:19am
dear margo,
i wish i had the theatre knowledge that you posess.
i wish you would be my girl.
wanna wear my pin?
♥
whatever and ever amen - ben folds five
#39re: Why Aren't These Shows Revived?
Posted: 6/14/05 at 1:51am
Margo -
You're like my Broadway World Message Board idol.
(bowing down)
Be the change you want in the world....
MargoChanning
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/5/04
#40re: Why Aren't These Shows Revived?
Posted: 6/14/05 at 2:00am
thibodeaux --
If that's you in that avatar, pin away.......
"What a story........ everything but the bloodhounds snappin' at her rear end." -- Birdie
[http://margochanning.broadwayworld.com/]
"The Devil Be Hittin' Me" -- Whitney
Updated On: 6/14/05 at 02:00 AM
#41re: Why Aren't These Shows Revived?
Posted: 6/14/05 at 10:08amDidn't Schwartz and Hirson take out parts that Fosse added? Maybe the missing peices were used and mounted by someone brillaint then Pippin could actually work.
twogaab2
Broadway Star Joined: 5/19/03
#42re: Why Aren't These Shows Revived?
Posted: 6/14/05 at 10:13amSimply Heavely-maybe for Encores?
TWOGAAB
"A Class Act" will never die!
#43re: Why Aren't These Shows Revived?
Posted: 6/14/05 at 10:31am
I agree - we had a revival of Simply Heavenly here in London last year (from which a cast album is available). It was a nice enough little show, but I think it would have to be blown out of proportion to get on Broadway and really wouldn't work. Encores would proabably be the only way to go
Updated On: 6/14/05 at 10:31 AM
#44re: Why Aren't These Shows Revived?
Posted: 6/14/05 at 10:41am
I think that another reason Promises, Promises is tough to mount is that, it should not be updated, and therefore is going to come off very sexist.
Also agree that Pippin without Fosse's vision is not a very interesting show...also a fave of mine, was my first professional theater experience, saw the tour...It was the concept of the show, performances and alot of the score that drove it home.
"Carson has combined his passion for helping children with his love for one of Cincinnati's favorite past times - cornhole - to create a unique and exciting event perfect for a corporate outing, entertaining clients or family fun."
"In Oz, the verb is douchifizzation." PRS
"In Oz, the verb is douchifizzation." PRS
twogaab2
Broadway Star Joined: 5/19/03
#45re: Why Aren't These Shows Revived?
Posted: 6/14/05 at 11:13amHow about Salad Days for the York. (Perhaps, again, this may be a tad too English)
TWOGAAB
"A Class Act" will never die!
Cages or Wings
Featured Actor Joined: 11/27/04
#46re: Why Aren't These Shows Revived?
Posted: 6/14/05 at 11:16amWell my question is, in a day where it seems everyone is "recreating" the original choreography why can't the same be done for Pippin. I saw a production last year in Ohio that attempted to do just that, and it was a very good show.
#47re: Why Aren't These Shows Revived?
Posted: 6/14/05 at 11:22amEven though 42nd STREET didn't recoup, I say it's a success because first, the revival was first rate. Secondly, it had a very nice long run - what? 4 years?
"The Spectacle has, indeed, an emotional attraction of its own, but, of all the parts, it is the least artistic, and connected least with the art of poetry. For the power of Tragedy, we may be sure, is felt even apart from representation and actors. Besides, the production of spectacular effects depends more on the art of the stage machinist than on that of the poet."
--Aristotle
--Aristotle
cathyhyatt
Broadway Star Joined: 10/20/04
#48re: Why Aren't These Shows Revived?
Posted: 6/14/05 at 11:33amLil' Abner is not being revivied (or should never be) because it's NOT good.
"You won't fight without layers of armor
Suit on up and come brace my sword
You look back when the pieces are missing
Hollowed out hope that no time can restore."
#49re: Why Aren't These Shows Revived?
Posted: 6/14/05 at 12:04pm
Funny Girl--indelibly linked to Streisand; think about the inevitable comparisons. Sara Ramirez has been mentioned recently, but seems all wrong. Plus as someone mentioned, this show needs a star who can sell tickets.
Mame--Revived with the original, Lansbury, several years ago. Failed.
Do Re Mi, Carnival--dated, no interest for the general public
Pippin is very '70's in conception, and so the book seems quite dated (finding your "true self"--aagghhh!)
Updated On: 6/14/05 at 12:04 PM
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