Your Favorite "Lost" Musicals?- Page 2

[darquegk]

Posted: 10/3/24 at 9:44pm

Not a lost “show” so much as a lost variant, but during that same file-sharing era I was given a audio bootleg of a Pippin revival that was labeled as East West but wasn’t. It featured an upbeat EDM and dance based orchestration. Maybe an Alex Lacamoire?

Anyway, it was very cool and I wish it had a proper cast recording.

[steve.sometime]

Posted: 10/3/24 at 10:15pm

Soft Power just played Signature Theatre in Arlington VA last month. And The Bedwetter will be done at Arena Stage in DC early next year.

A friend of mine asked Andrew R. Butler about Rags Parkland during Stereophonic's Off-Broadway run, and iirc he said it may go to DC next. But with Stereophonic on Broadway, not sure where it stands now.

Updated On: 10/3/24 at 10:15 PM

[perfectlymarvelous]

Posted: 10/4/24 at 12:08am

Lennon was pretty terrible, but I've always wished there was a cast album because I remember a lot of the arrangements being quite beautiful. And so many incredible voices in that cast - Mandy Gonzalez, Julia Murney, Chuck Cooper, Will Chase, Marcy Harriell...

[Melissa25]

Posted: 10/4/24 at 1:52am

I regret missing Orotorio for Living Things.

[bway1430]

Posted: 10/4/24 at 3:13am

Mine would be two shows that were not perfect but that had great scores and a lot of promise:

- RADIANT BABY

- WITCHES OF EASTWICK

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 10/4/24 at 3:25am

A Room With A View

[TheatreMonkey]

Posted: 10/4/24 at 3:48am

There are two Michael John LaChiusa musicals that have always fascinated me -- both of which I would love to see done again. Even though it certainly has its issues, I find much of the score of Marie Christine to be ravishing -- especially the first act. I've often thought there's so much promise to the piece that a revisal could bring it to a higher level -- if even a concert production in conjunction with a forward-thinking opera company. 

Also, one of the highlights of my annual NYC trips with my parents was Bernada Alba -- which my dad actually enjoyed more than Light in the Piazza, which we saw the night before! A hard score but surprised it's not done more often, as it has some amazing music for women across multiple generations. 

Updated On: 10/4/24 at 03:48 AM

[Elibal]

Posted: 10/4/24 at 4:22am

For me it is "Philemon" by Schmidt & Jones. I live in a pretend reality where it is universally hailed as a boundary-pushing landmark of the genre with a similar status to Gypsy, Cabaret, Fiddler or Pacific Overtures and I refuse to leave it.

Updated On: 10/4/24 at 04:22 AM

[broadwaybabywannabe2]

Posted: 10/4/24 at 11:12am

Sondheim's ROADSHOW

[raddersons]

Posted: 10/4/24 at 11:20am

Haven’t actually seen it, but I’ve always been fascinated by Goblin Market. Mostly because discourse around it online is that either people adored it or they were insanely bored and I want to have an opinion on it. A cast recording exists but the publisher refuses to put it on streaming services so I’d need to like… buy the mp3s or rip a CD or something. 

[ChiDoc]

Posted: 10/4/24 at 11:31am

broadwaybabywannabe2 said: "Sondheim's ROADSHOW"

My kingdom for an anthology recording of the various evolutions of the show, including the two workshop versions of when it was Wise Guys.

[KevinKlawitter]

Posted: 10/4/24 at 12:04pm

Pokemon- Gotta Catch 'Em Live: the score is incredibly catchy but the book is BAAAAAAD. If this one had a spruced up book (what I wouldn't give for that job), it would do SpongeBob numbers in licensing.

The touring cast of that show is kind of insane in hindsight - pre-Wicked Dee Roscioli as Delia, pre-Book of Mormon Andrew Rannells as James, Dennis Kennedy as Brock, and Darren Dunstan as Giovanni... I'd love to see that show find a new life of some variety. I am a 90s kid after all.

[IronMan]

Posted: 10/4/24 at 4:56pm

William Finn's Romance in Hard Times still haunts me after seeing it at The Public back in the 90s.  

[Fan123]

Posted: 10/4/24 at 6:21pm

raddersons said: "Haven’t actually seen it, but I’ve always been fascinated by Goblin Market. Mostly because discourse around it online is that either people adoredit or they were insanely bored and I want to have an opinion on it. A cast recording exists but the publisher refuses to put it on streaming services so I’d need to like… buy the mp3s or rip a CD or something."

Jay Records have changed their position on streaming in recent years, so the Goblin Market cast recording can be streamed: https://open.spotify.com/album/7DDzDyegYODCpykTh0Gy1M?si=xA1-h-SbSP63IIl19Xe8IA . You can also read the libretto legally on the Broadway Licensing website: https://broadwaylicensing.com/shows/off-broadway/goblin-market/. Personally I really like the score, haven't read the libretto as yet.

'Cheri' by Teri Hansen - actually I have no idea if this show would be any good, but it sounded nice in theory: a Colette novella adaptation using the music of Chabrier, Chopin, Debussy, de Falla, Duparc, Ravel, and Satie. Haven't heard anything about its development in years though.

'Picnic at Hanging Rock' by Daniel Zaitchik - I really liked the demo songs I've heard. Wish it would have had a further life, or at least a full cast recording.

[CityofStrangers]

Posted: 10/4/24 at 11:02pm

I'm really interested in the iteration of Road Show that was Gold! There's little information about it from what I've found. 

Updated On: 10/4/24 at 11:02 PM

[Melissa25]

Posted: 10/4/24 at 11:44pm

I saw My Paris the musical about Toulouse-Lautrec at the Terris theater (Goodspeed) and enjoyed it very much. I always thought that it would make it to Broadway. It moved to the Long Wharf and seemed to die there.i thought that it was quite promising. Music and lyrics by Charles Aznavour; book by Alfred Uhry; English lyric adaptation and musical adaptation by Jason Robert Brown; directed and choreographed by Kathleen Marshall. I’d still go see it again.

[raddersons]

Posted: 10/5/24 at 12:39pm

Oh they just have put Goblin Market up very recently, I looked for it a few months ago! Thank you :)

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 10/5/24 at 1:56pm

Jay must have just been withholding from the streaming services, because I know I bought Goblin Market on iTunes way back in the day. It is quite a lovely score, but, having seen a production of it, can see why it is very, very niche and could very easily slip into the "quite a bore" mode if you don't have a strong team of director and actresses.

A score that I love and I wish that Encores would have tackled before their change in focus/redirection was Fade Out-Fade In. I know the comedy was highly tailored to Carol Burnett, so even a limited run at Roundabout would probably have struggled, but I think there have been several actresses who could have made it shine for the two weeks or so of an Encores run; Leslie Kritzer, Lesli Margherita, Anna Gasteyer, to name a few.

[SeanD2]

Posted: 10/5/24 at 3:59pm

TheatreMonkey said: "There are two Michael John LaChiusa musicals that have always fascinated me -- both of which I would love to see done again. Even though it certainly has its issues, I find much of the score ofMarie Christineto be ravishing -- especially the first act. I've often thought there's so much promise to the piece that a revisal could bring it to a higher level -- if even a concert production in conjunction with a forward-thinking opera company.

Also, one of the highlights of my annual NYC trips with my parents wasBernada Alba-- which my dad actually enjoyed more thanLight in the Piazza, which we saw the night before! A hard score but surprised it's not done more often, as it has some amazing music for women across multiple generations."

I would love a chance to see or listen to LaChiusa’s The Highest Yellow again. I definitely didn’t appreciate it when I saw it at Signature, but I know I’d get more out of it now. And oh that cast!

[Lavieboheme3090]

Posted: 10/5/24 at 4:04pm

Anyone remember “Little Miss Sunshine: The Musical”

 

stacked cast and creative team and DOA. 

[raddersons]

Posted: 10/5/24 at 5:39pm

IronMan said: "William Finn'sRomance in Hard Timesstill haunts me after seeing it at The Public back in the 90s. "

Fyi There’s some bootleg audio recordings of the 1989 production on YouTube. Not the greatest quality but it might scratch the itch.

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 10/12/24 at 8:09am

nativenewyorker2 said: "ABC’s Gepetto the musical lol"

There's a Disney Jr stage version, My Son Pinocchio, but I wonder how much it gets produced.  I assume you're joking, but the thing is, the Gepetto Disney TV movie score by Schwartz actually isn't bad--I just wish we had it sung by better singers so you could actually tell (Schwartz said he wrote much of the score when the thought was it would be a late-in-career reunion for Dick van Dyke and Julie Andrews, presumably as the Blue Fairy?)

 

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 10/12/24 at 8:22am

TheatreMonkey said: "There are two Michael John LaChiusa musicals that have always fascinated me -- both of which I would love to see done again. Even though it certainly has its issues, I find much of the score ofMarie Christineto be ravishing -- especially the first act. I've often thought there's so much promise to the piece that a revisal could bring it to a higher level -- if even a concert production in conjunction with a forward-thinking opera company."

Well over two decades ago, I was harassed on this forum for saying that the first half of Marie Christine is the best operatic-type Broadway score we've had since Porgy and Bess.  OK, maybe that was hyperbole, but I agree with you that Act I as played on the cast album is stunning song after stunning song.  I think music-wise, Act II simply doesn't hold up as well (maybe in part because they have to deal with so much more story--often not LaChiusa's strong point) but still has some good stuff.  But, man, that first long half of the CD is thrilling.  The show is very hard to stage (as the original staging, which I saw at the TOFT archives but there is blurry footage on YT, attests, and I get why between that and how to cast it it's rarely revived at all, but...

For a while it seemed like everything LaChiusa did got a cast album--so there are a number of his shows that have slipped through the cracks that I've been curious about.  One was his original musical based on The Nutcracker that he was commissioned to do in Japan for frequent (and well regarded) Sondheim director, Amon Miyamoto, which I've found like one photo from  Another was his musical adaptation of Maugham's Rain.  And yet another was his opera commission from Lyric Opera of Chicago, Lovers and Friends (Chautauqua Variations) .

[BalconyClub]

Posted: 10/12/24 at 11:05am

darquegk said: "Not a lost “show” so much as a lost variant, but during that same file-sharing era I was given a audio bootleg of a Pippin revival that was labeled as East West but wasn’t.”

The East West Players of LA had a production of PIPPIN during their 2007-2008 season.

But it sounds like there was a mislabeled bootleg.

[raddersons]

Posted: 10/12/24 at 11:27am

LaChiusa was the musical theater “it girl” for a few years, with everyone just waiting for the masterpiece to come but producers never willing to bite after a few broadway flops. That’s probably why so many of his shows got cast recordings — there was interest in theater circles. I think Giant was the latest of his shows with a broader commercial appeal but i think it was three hours  and never took off from The Public.