Great Songs from Broadway Musicals

[amicablyalan]

 

From one of Oscar and Hammerstein's musical; movie version. The King and I, 1950s.

[InBangkok]

There are a lot of interesting stories attached to "The King and I". For the original Broadway production the costume designer made use of Thai silks manufactured by the relatively new Thai Silk Company run by Jim Thomson. In Thailand the  headquarters of his company is at the top of Suriwong Road in Bangkok (near the gay area!) There are also Jim Thomson boutiques in most major hotels and airports.

 

Thomson had come to Thailand just after World War II to head up the OSS there, the forerunner of the American CIA. He loved Thailand so much he decided to stay, soon helping restore the Thai silk industry and in the process becoming very wealthy. He loved the high life and mixed freely with the elite and most of the famous visitors to the city. Thai silk became popular worldwide and Thomson's name was always associated with it.

 

There are very strong rumours that he was a closet gay. Despite having some lady friends, he never married. There is, however, a more sinister mystery about him that remains to this day. In 1967 he made a trip to Malaysia. No one knows the reason for the trip, although it is now believed he went to see the head of the Malaysian communist guerrilla party, Chin Peng. After a few days in Penang he went to stay with friends in a house in the Cameron Highlands which was close to Chin Peng's operations base. One Sunday afternoon, he took a walk down the road towards a village. He then disappeared. No evidence of him has ever been found even though there have been several major searches. No clothing, no bones, no DNA traces. Nothing!

 

The most recent theory is that he was acting on behalf of a major Thai government figure who wanted to contact a former Prime Minster then living in exile in Beijing. At the last minute, this man decided not to go and asked Thomson to take his place. The alleged plan was that Thomson would be spirited by Chin Peng's guerrillas to Phnom Penh. As Cambodia and China maintained good relations it would have been easy for the former PM to get to Cambodia. On learning that he had worked for the OSS and smelling a rat, the story goes that the guerrillas murdered him and then ensured there wold be no trace of the body. True or not, it is an intriguing story.

 

For a long time the "The King and I" was banned in Thailand and songs from the show could not be broadcast. That was finally eased after Queen Sirikit saw a Broadway revival of the show in 1985 and was photographed meeting the star, Yul Brynner. By then Brynner had been battling cancer for three years. He died 7 months after that meeting with the Queen.

[amicablyalan]

So interesting! Getting to know The King and I...😄

[30yochinese]

On 10/4/2020 at 2:55 AM, sgmaven said:

 

Another one from Miss Saigon

thanks @sgmaven here is the full show: 

 

ENJOY 😃
                        

[30yochinese]

On 10/4/2020 at 12:12 AM, sgmaven said:

Did any of you catch Miss Saigon? I watched the opening cast in London, which was the WestEnd debut for Lea Songla!

OMG!!!

U saw Lea in 1989? Then you've got to watch the "MAKING OF MISS SAIGON" which has many clips of the Original-West-End-Cast that u saw... ENJOY 😃
                        

 

[30yochinese]

On 10/4/2020 at 2:51 AM, sgmaven said:

 

From Miss Saigon...

in October 2018...

these 2 Leading Stars REUNITED ON STAGE... it was a magical performance...a night to remember 😃
ENJOY 😃
                                           

 

[30yochinese]

On 10/3/2020 at 6:19 PM, sgmaven said:

I watched Anything Goes in the Westend, with Elaine Paige. She was such a chilli-padi...

*i know it is illegal to post/watch Bootlegs...
     
www.youtube.com/watch?v=eh2f9pw3_cU&t=1392s
           
Stephanie J. Block in the 2011 Broadway revival, of "Anything Goes", taking over Sutton Foster for a limited engagement.
                                                                                                                                          

 

[30yochinese]

On 10/3/2020 at 6:21 PM, sgmaven said:

I haven't been able to find any video clips of my favourite song from Aspects of Love, "Hand Me The Wine And The Dice". Quite an under-rated musical, even though it was an Andrew Lloyd Webber one. I think most people will only remember "Love Changes Everything" by Michael Ball from that.

I haven't been able to find any video clips of my favourite song from Aspects of Love> hope this video clip reminds u "of the good old days of BOOK MUSICALS" coz A.O.L. is based on a novel... ENJOY 😃
                                 

 

[30yochinese]

On 10/4/2020 at 3:11 AM, sgmaven said:

Colm Wilkinson - The best Valjean!

if u have 2 hours & 27 minutes to spare...
          

 

[30yochinese]

On 10/4/2020 at 3:09 AM, sgmaven said:

Since you mention Les Misérables... Still my favourite musical!

 

 

*i know it is illegal to watch/post Bootlegs

here's the full show of the original 2014 broadway revival cast:
              

 

[30yochinese]

On 10/4/2020 at 3:36 AM, sgmaven said:

I remember going to watch Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat with Jason Donovan. He was still very popular at that stage, and there were so many teenage girls there, just to see Jason Donovan...

*i know its illegal to watch/post OFFICIAL SHOWS WHOLESALE onto the web...

i have seen this a million times... & as a gay man... nothing makes me happier than seeing the 28th-minute-with-Donny-Topless, haha... 
                        

 

[30yochinese]

On 10/4/2020 at 4:02 AM, sgmaven said:

No llores por mí Argentina...

*i know its illegal to watch/post Bootlegs...
      
i love the CHOREOGRAPHY of this Broadway Revival Production:
       

 

[30yochinese]

On 10/8/2020 at 11:58 PM, sgmaven said:

Telly Leung starred as Aladdin in the production in Broadway from 2017-2019, while Taylor Trensch starred as Barnaby Tucker in Hello, Dolly! on Broadway from 2017-2018.

*i know its illegal to watch/post Bootlegs.
      
some of u are going to think i am a Pirate...nope, i am not. Just sharing if u have the time to watch...
               

 

[doncoin]

13 hours ago, InBangkok said:

 

I agree. I adore "Follies" but it is such difficult show to cast because it requires two casts - the reunion in a crumbing theatre of a dozen or so 60/70 year old actors who had appeared in the Ziegfeld Follies during the 2 World Wars and their young alter egos. But the original Hal Prince directed "Company" was such a revelation for me. Over the years I find myself playing the original London cast album more than almost any other show. Just love it.

 

I saw the revival of Follies a few years ago with Bernadette Peters and Elaine Paige on Broadway. What made that performance memorable that evening was Barbara Streisand was in the audience. She came in with James Brolin, and was seated a couple seats from my row. They came in when the lights dimmed to be discrete but during intermission, everyone saw it was her and applauded. She snucked out quickly by curtain call. 

 

As much as I love BP, I do have limited patience listening to her. After a while, it starts to sound like nails scratching on a blackboard. 

[doncoin]

So for some strange reason, I love love love this musical- Caroline or Change. I saw the original production twice with Tanya Pinkins. It is such an incredible story of struggle and redemption. Lot's Wife, the key song from the show must have been one of the most emotionally charged songs IMHO. If you watched Tanya's performance, I think she somewhat "ruined" her voice singing it due to the demands. 

 

Little trivia: Anika None Rose, played her daughter in the show, and won her Tony. She later got cast in Dreamgirls movie with Jennifer Hudson, and of course, Disney's the Princess and the Frog. 

 

To me, Lot's Wife, is up there with And I'm Telling You, due to its vocal and emotional demands. Jennifer Holiday's voice was "ruined" singing that during her Broadway run, and much after. 

 

Again, a new production was supposed to open, transferred from London, but closed due to the coronavirus. 

 

 

Edited October 11, 2020 by doncoin

[InBangkok]

16 hours ago, doncoin said:

As much as I love BP, I do have limited patience listening to her. After a while, it starts to sound like nails scratching on a blackboard. 

I only saw her once in a not very good revival of “Annie Get Your Gun”. Can not agree more with your description of her voice. Most of the audience seemed to love it. I didn’t!!

[doncoin]

5 hours ago, InBangkok said:

I only saw her once in a not very good revival of “Annie Get Your Gun”. Can not agree more with your description of her voice. Most of the audience seemed to love it. I didn’t!!

 

I saw her in that too in the late 90s, early 2000s. Then I saw her in Gypsy etc. the last time I saw her was Hello Dolly when she took over Bette Midler.

[InBangkok]

1 hour ago, doncoin said:

 

I saw her in that too in the late 90s, early 2000s. Then I saw her in Gypsy etc. the last time I saw her was Hello Dolly when she took over Bette Midler.

Ah the divine Miss M. Only saw her in her one-woman show “The Showgirl Must Go On” in Las Vegas probably around 2008. Wonderful singer and she cracked amazingly funny risque jokes.

[InBangkok]

Sad news for fans of Broadway in the USA or able to gel to New York. The Broadway League announced yesterday that all shows will now be suspended until at least June 1. The 94,000 who depend on Broadway theatres for their livelihoods and who contribute an annual benefit of US$14.8 billion to the city will by then have been out of work for 15 months.

[InBangkok]

Since the "Making Of . . . " vdos has come up, I wonder how many readers have seen this one of Leonard Bernstein conducting (for the first time ever) his "West Side Story". This was for a 1984 audio recording  issued by one of the top classical labels. A stellar cast of opera stars includes Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, Jose Carreras and Tatiana Troyanos.

 

SIdenote. By this time Bernstein's wife had died. He had been homosexual long before his marriage. Indeed he married only because it was at that time essential for him to pursue his career as a symphony orchestra conductor. After just one year of marriage his wife wrote to him saying, "I know you are a homosexual and may never change." Even during his marriage, it was not unusual to see him in the gay bars in Tokyo when he was giving concerts there. Some years before she contracted cancer, he left her and lived in San Francisco with his male lover although, on learning of her illness, he returned to New York to look after her.

 

Another singer in the video is the young Kurt Ollmann whom Bernstein tells us will become one of the big opera singers of our time. Ollmann was gay and may have been bedded by Bernstein as some of his proteges were. He never did fulfil that promise.

 

The video gives interesting insights into the music. Although I generally feel that opera singers cannot get the right 'feel' for musicals, they more or less do for this one. Te Kanawa does extremely well. At one point Carreras has trouble with rhythm and Bernstein chews him out in front of the entire ensemble. At another, he walks out. The best singer in my view is the marvellous mezzo-soprano Troyanos as Anita. She died much too young aged 54. Overall it is a fascinating vdo.

 

 

[Greenliv]

One of my favourite... 

Fiddler on the roof

 

 

[InBangkok]

"42nd Street" is one of the great classics. Not an oldie but certainly a goldie. It was composed in 1980 and based on a popular 1930s movie. The Street itself crosses directly across Manhattan with Times Square in the middle. By the 1980s the Street had become  a part of New York's low life  full of all manner of sex shops, prostitutes, pick pockets, phoney drug stores etc. The mayor and business corporations had a real desire to clean it up. By 1990 the city had bought up 6 theatres on and around 42nd Street. The grandest, the New Amsterdam, had been home for 14 years to the famous Ziegfeld Follies. But the late 1930s it had been turned into a movie theatre. As part of the area's renovations, it was sold to Disney who gutted and renovated it before opening one of the most successful of all Broadway shows, "The Lion King". Now the area is packed with up market shops.

 

"42nd Street" is an upbeat musical that in no way presents the true nature of the 1980s Street. It played for more than 8 years on Broadway. That was notable for one sad event. On the afternoon of opening night, its director, the famous dancer Gower Champion, died. This news was kept from the cast and audience until a speech after the performance. 

 

I have only once been at a true opening night. This was at the opening night of this production after it moved to the Theatre Royal in London's Drury Lane. I enjoyed the show hugely.

 

It has an unusual opening in that the curtain rises only a meter or so to show the cast's feet tap dancing,  before then rising. This clip starts in the actual theatre before moving into a more staged ending at the Tony Awards ceremony.

 

 

[InBangkok]

I don't think  think Lloyd Webber's first monster hit has been mentioned. 50 years ago "Jesus Christ Superstar" appeared as a rock opera musical. Not on stage, but in what was to become a pattern for several future mega shows, as a pop album. With public interest aroused, the stage production opened on Broadway the following year. Despite mixed reviews it had a respectable run of close to 2 years. Some Christian groups came out against the show as being blasphemous and some Jewish groups called it anti-semitic. But there is the old adage - all publicity is good publicity. The show went on to run for 8 years in London. Since then it has been revived many times including a stadium version.

 

Yvonne Elliman starred as Mary Magdalene in the recording and the first Broadway production.

 

 

One interesting fact about this song. Lloyd Webber has often been called a plagiarist - in that he takes music written by others and adapts it, sometimes not very obviously. Once he was even taken to court in New York, but he won the case. But there is no doubting that there is much of his music that is pretty close to other works in the classical repertoire.

 

Years ago he appeared in a documentary with the British TV personality David Frost. He was confronted by this question. He said he never consciously copied anyone else's music but did admit that there are similarities between the "Superstar" song above and the first four solo bars of the slow movement of Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto. Decide for yourself. Play the start of the song and then play the moment when the violin starts at 0:46 seconds in to the vdo below. You have to admit it is identical note for note!

 

 

Edited October 17, 2020 by InBangkok

[Maturechnman]

Plagiarism, inspiration or coincidence? You decide. 🙂

 

 

Edited October 17, 2020 by Maturechnman

[savagegarden]

Oh cool. There's a theatre thread here. Hello all. 

[InBangkok]

2 hours ago, Maturechnman said:

Plagiarism, inspiration or coincidence? You decide. 🙂

 

 

Love that vdo - have not seen it before. I remember another 'coincidence'. Listening to a classical concert which included Prokofiev's incidental music for the famous Eisenstein silent movie "Alexander Nevsky", there is a passage right in the middle which is virtually the opening of "Phantom of the Opera" with the same basic orchestration! 

 

I have heard before about the battery of lawyers he keeps on hand. Difficult, though, to prove that any of these coincidences were more than just that. Personally I don't think he is a plagiarist. I read that many of his melodies were written long before a show was conceived. He would then rake through the list to find any which he could use when a new show was being written.

 

One of his shows that is rarely referred to is a simple one he wrote in between "Evita" and "Phantom".  It was originally just one song, then a dance was added and from there it just grew into "Song and Dance". I love this number from the show.

 

 

 

[InBangkok]

53 minutes ago, savagegarden said:

Oh cool. There's a theatre thread here. Hello all. 

Welcome to this musicals thread. Do tell us about any Broadway musicals you have seen and especially enjoyed.

[amicablyalan]

 

My first musical watching it in Brisbane more than 20 years ago 🙊

[avgmjadick]

4 hours ago, amicablyalan said:

 

My first musical watching it in Brisbane more than 20 years ago 🙊

Watched this when it was in SG, brings back memories...

[poet]

Jekyll & Hyde has got some good catchy songs, the original concept album has the amazing Anthony Warlow and of course Linda Eder on most of the soundtrack. When it was first released, it is a little reminiscent of both Phantom and Les Miz, but I guess once it moves to a full stage production and over the years, it evolved to its own.

 

 

[InBangkok]

Surely one of the most popular musicals of the last two decades has been Disney's "The Lion King". The star of the production has to be less the music and much more Julie Taymor who both directed the show and  designed the extraordinary costumes and animal figures, rightly winning Tony Awards for both. This is a vdo from the second run in Singapore.

 

A celebrated opera and theatre director, Taymor also produced Broadway's most expensive ever musical "Spiderman: Turn Off The Dark". With huge complicated scenery and the need for characters to fly around the stage, this encountered a host of disasters before opening night in June 2011 which had before then been delayed and delayed. This show holds the record of the most previews ever - 182. It finally opened in mid 2011 but collapsed two and a half years later with massive losses of over US$75 million. Before opening night Taymor had been fired and a new creative team brought in.

 

 

[savagegarden]

My own preferences for musicals veers more towards the modern and eclectic - though I do enjoy some Rogers and Hammerstein (Oklahoma!), Sondheim (Company, Follies) or Lloyd Webber (but less so for the latter except for Evita - sorry just not a fan). I've got song favorites from Hamilton or Dear Evan Hansen. Or Rent, Hedwig ("The Origin of Love") and Next to Normal. Or Fun Home (oh 'Ring of Keys') and Ave Q ("There's a fine line") (but no Wicked pls). Or Hadestown and Matilda and The Band's Visit. I could throw in some songs from Waitress or The Color Purple or Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet. 

 

I guess I'm less partial for 'sunny' musicals and favour those with a bit of tragedy thrown in (the darker - the better like Les Miz, Miss Saigon tragedy level - give me "On My Own" or "I Still Believe" anytime). Hence not fan of Disney musicals - except for Lion King which I think remains a staging watermark (but not a fan of Elton John songs). 

[savagegarden]

On 10/12/2020 at 12:45 AM, doncoin said:

 

I saw the revival of Follies a few years ago with Bernadette Peters and Elaine Paige on Broadway. What made that performance memorable that evening was Barbara Streisand was in the audience. She came in with James Brolin, and was seated a couple seats from my row. They came in when the lights dimmed to be discrete but during intermission, everyone saw it was her and applauded. She snucked out quickly by curtain call. 

 

As much as I love BP, I do have limited patience listening to her. After a while, it starts to sound like nails scratching on a blackboard. 

 

I saw the same Broadway revival and the recent London revival at the National Theatre with Imelda Staunton. Like you also cannot stand BP's voice after a while. But you should try to see Imelda's take on it. And like anything the National Theatre does - it was such a refreshing re-staging of Follies. I actually fell in love with it all over again. If you know where to find it (*hint hint), NTLive recorded it for posterity.

[doncoin]

3 hours ago, InBangkok said:

A celebrated opera and theatre director, Taymor also produced Broadway's most expensive ever musical "Spiderman: Turn Off The Dark". With huge complicated scenery and the need for characters to fly around the stage, this encountered a host of disasters before opening night in June 2011 which had before then been delayed and delayed. This show holds the record of the most previews ever - 182. It finally opened in mid 2011 but collapsed two and a half years later with massive losses of over US$75 million. Before opening night Taymor had been fired and a new creative team brought in.

 

 

I actually did see Taymor's Spiderman. I think it is a show that might have worked better for Las Vegas than Broadway. The music was meh, and really the people who really enjoyed it were the kids. The night I saw, was accident free thankfully. Like Lion King, the Magic Flute and other Taymor's theatrical projects, Spiderman was visually pretty spectacular. Just that given the subject matter, it would worked so much better at a theme park or as a Las Vegas spectacle. 

 

https://youtu.be/767rww9__D4

 

 

[InBangkok]

10 hours ago, doncoin said:

 

I actually did see Taymor's Spiderman. I think it is a show that might have worked better for Las Vegas than Broadway. The music was meh, and really the people who really enjoyed it were the kids. The night I saw, was accident free thankfully. Like Lion King, the Magic Flute and other Taymor's theatrical projects, Spiderman was visually pretty spectacular. Just that given the subject matter, it would worked so much better at a theme park or as a Las Vegas spectacle. 

 

https://youtu.be/767rww9__D4

I believe the plan was to upscale it and take it to Las Vegas after Broadway where it would have been rather like one of the great mega Cirque du Soleil shows there. It never made the move. I can only assume the losses had been so great in New York the producers were unable to find sufficient investment cash. Another problem might have been the lack of a large enough theatre, Cirque's later mega shows from "O" onwards had theatres in hotels specially built for them to Cirque's specifications. When "Phantom of the Opera" was upscaled and revised to a 90 minute Las Vegas spectacular, The Venetian built a special theatre to accommodate it. It played there for 6 years. 

 

11 hours ago, savagegarden said:

I saw the same Broadway revival and the recent London revival at the National Theatre with Imelda Staunton. Like you also cannot stand BP's voice after a while. But you should try to see Imelda's take on it.

I love Imelda Staunton. Saw her five years ago in "Gypsy" in London.  Didn't enjoy the show but she was marvellous.

[savagegarden]

17 hours ago, doncoin said:

 

I actually did see Taymor's Spiderman. I think it is a show that might have worked better for Las Vegas than Broadway. The music was meh, and really the people who really enjoyed it were the kids. The night I saw, was accident free thankfully. Like Lion King, the Magic Flute and other Taymor's theatrical projects, Spiderman was visually pretty spectacular. Just that given the subject matter, it would worked so much better at a theme park or as a Las Vegas spectacle. 

 

https://youtu.be/767rww9__D4

 

 

 

Same here. I saw it and can see what Taymor was trying to achieve with it - sort of like a Cirque du Soleil abstract treatment to a campy superhero character on Broadway. Not exactly the right approach to something that was intended to a mass audience if it was to recoup its huge budget. Unlike Lion King where Disney had a firm hand on Taymor - this one really got to her head and she was probably off to her own artistic devices. 

[InBangkok]

1 hour ago, savagegarden said:

Same here. I saw it and can see what Taymor was trying to achieve with it - sort of like a Cirque du Soleil abstract treatment to a campy superhero character on Broadway. Not exactly the right approach to something that was intended to a mass audience if it was to recoup its huge budget. Unlike Lion King where Disney had a firm hand on Taymor - this one really got to her head and she was probably off to her own artistic devices. 

Do you think it would have worked as a Las Vegas spectacular where shows all last 90 minutes with no intermission? I did not see "Spiderman" but adored the Cirque shows "O", "Ka" and "Love" in Las Vegas. It's been 20 years since I saw "O" and then I thought it the finest 90 minutes of pure entertainment I had ever seen anywhere. Some years later I thought "Ka' had the most fantastic technical staging I have ever seen. "Love" was less spectacular but the newly digitised surround sound Beatles music was superb. 

[savagegarden]

3 minutes ago, InBangkok said:

Do you think it would have worked as a Las Vegas spectacular where shows all last 90 minutes with no intermission? I did not see "Spiderman" but adored the Cirque shows "O", "Ka" and "Love" in Las Vegas. It's been 20 years since I saw "O" and then I thought it the finest 90 minutes of pure entertainment I had ever seen anywhere. Some years later I thought "Ka' had the most fantastic technical staging I have ever seen. "Love" was less spectacular but the newly digitised surround sound Beatles music was superb. 

 

I've heard that said before - or even for arena kind of venues. I think Cirque has a specific audience it caters to where the story is not the main focus (sometimes there is hardly a plot) but the spectacle of it - and Las Vegas certainly will have that sort of audience. You really can see the Cirque influences as there were several gorgeous sequences Taymor included like suspended acrobats swinging back and forth on ribbons of cloth, moving from high up the stage weaving a huge tapestry on their way down to the floor. It was amazing but didn't move the plot at all. Those spiderman aereal sequences were meh as you can see all the cables flying all over the place. You can even hear the whirring of motors when it happened.  

 

To some extent - it will work for tourists to NYC as well but it was just too expensive to stage (around a 1M per show! and Fox was already one of the biggest theatres in NYC) - even if it was reportingly earning almost 1M per show - it was just not sustainable. 

 

[savagegarden]

Since this is a thread for great songs from musicals, let me share one from Hedwig and the Angry Inch.

 

You may discount Hedwig as just another campy, hedonistic piece of work but the songs can be surprisingly profound. Take the song below - which at first hearing may sound like another sappy ode to love - but on closer hearing will reveal that it's actually based on Plato's (yes the Greek Plato) re-telling of the myth of human love - on how there were originally 3 sorts of humans - the pure male, the pure female, and the male/female humans. Pretty profound stuff coming from a fully made up transvestite. Sequined pathos at its best.

 

This version comes from the 2001 film adaptation and I'm not really a fan of the John Cameron Michell's delivery as it felt like - 'ok let me tell you a story' vs the Neil Patrick Harris version in the 2014 revival where there was angst, sorrow and resignation just simmering beneath all that glittery surface.

 

When I saw the revival - they had a gigantic transparent screen fall between the audience and the actors where they projected animated scenes depicting the story (much like in the movie version). This was in 2014 when projections were becoming big in Broadway and it was quite effective as you can still Hedwig behind the screen singing atop that cadillac, while animated scenes played in front of him like ghosts conjured from his head. 

 

"The last time I saw you we had just split in two
He was looking at me, I was looking at you
You had a way so familiar I could not recognize
Cause you had blood on your face
And I had blood in my eyes
But I swear by your expression
That the pain down in your soul was the same
As the one down in mine
That's the pain
That cuts a straight line down through the heart
We call it love"

 

 

 

Edited October 21, 2020 by savagegarden

[doncoin]

In case you guys missed it, 2 cinematic treatments of Broadway shows are coming: 

 

Lin Manual's pre-Hamilton hit, In the Heights and Spielberg's WSS. 

 

https://youtu.be/U0CL-ZSuCrQ

 

https://youtu.be/bABWMqB3Jt0

 

[savagegarden]

13 hours ago, doncoin said:

In case you guys missed it, 2 cinematic treatments of Broadway shows are coming: 

 

Lin Manual's pre-Hamilton hit, In the Heights and Spielberg's WSS. 

 

https://youtu.be/U0CL-ZSuCrQ

 

https://youtu.be/bABWMqB3Jt0

 

 

Yes - nice things to look forward to indeed.

 

Others in the pipeline -

Dear Evan Hansen with Ben Platt reprising his stage role

The Prom - haven't seen it on stage before but it's a Ryan Murphy production so expect style and star power

Everything about Jamie - a Brit stage production that never landed in the US (yet). I just hope the movie is better than the stage version - which I felt was all fluff - like a mediocre lovechild of Kinky Boots, Dear Evan Hansen and Billy Elliot. 

 

Edited October 21, 2020 by savagegarden

[InBangkok]

15 hours ago, doncoin said:

In case you guys missed it, 2 cinematic treatments of Broadway shows are coming: 

 

Lin Manual's pre-Hamilton hit, In the Heights and Spielberg's WSS. 

I look forward to Spielberg's adaptation of "WSS" but with serious doubts. Decades ago he was signed to do the movie of "CATS" but had a falling out with Lloyd Webber over how to bring it to the screen. No ideas what the doubts centred on but he would surely have made a vastly better job of it than Tim Hooper's total dud.

 

But judging from that short preview of the cast, I fear that he may have fallen into the same trap as Hooper. The "CATS" movie added new characters and new scenes. It is clear that Spielberg is doing the same. 

 

I'm not saying the Robert Wise/Jerome Robbins 1961 movie version was perfect. It wasn't. But they were hamstrung by the copyright holders - Robbins himself, Bernstein, Sondheim and Laurents - who would not permit many changes from the original 1957 Broadway show. All later handed their rights over to the Bernstein Estate which made it all but impossible to revive the show without, for example, Robbins original choreography - great at its premiere but even that was getting out of date by the 1990s. Two big producers had planned what could have been an exciting arena version for London's Earl's Court in 1992 with sets and costumes by Maria Bjornson (of "Phantom" fame). No matter how much cash was put on the table, the rights would not be released unless the original choreography was used. The project died. And that was surely a pity for a believe an arena version could be very successful.

 

 

[doncoin]

I 

10 hours ago, InBangkok said:

I'm not saying the Robert Wise/Jerome Robbins 1961 movie version was perfect. It wasn't. But they were hamstrung by the copyright holders - Robbins himself, Bernstein, Sondheim and Laurents - who would not permit many changes from the original 1957 Broadway show. All later handed their rights over to the Bernstein Estate which made it all but impossible to revive the show without, for example, Robbins original choreography - great at its premiere but even that was getting out of date by the 1990s. Two big producers had planned what could have been an exciting arena version for London's Earl's Court in 1992 with sets and costumes by Maria Bjornson (of "Phantom" fame). No matter how much cash was put on the table, the rights would not be released unless the original choreography was used. The project died. And that was surely a pity for a believe an arena version could be very successful.

 

I didn't know that. That explains why pretty much every adaptation of WSS looks more or less the same. I guess the biggest change I saw was the last Broadway revival where they updated the production with "spanglish" to make it more realistic.  

[InBangkok]

8 hours ago, doncoin said:

I didn't know that. That explains why pretty much every adaptation of WSS looks more or less the same. I guess the biggest change I saw was the last Broadway revival where they updated the production with "spanglish" to make it more realistic.  

Seems Spielberg has been given approval to make certain changes. We'll just have to wait to see if they will be beneficial.

 

What will be interesting is what happens when the original copyright expires. In the USA it is now 70 years after the death of the creator. Of the four original creators of "WSS" Stephen Sondheim is thankfully still alive. But surely that cannot mean any seriously updated version of "WSS" will have to wait till the end of this century when virtually all of those reading this thread will no longer be around? 

 

The Bernstein Estate was ruled with a rod of iron by his former business manager Harry Kraut. Kraut always refused to permit any but merely cosmetic changes. Kraut died in 2007 and Bernstein's children now nominally control the Estate. I expect over time they will be much more easily persuaded to permit new productions. Time will tell.

[savagegarden]

4 hours ago, InBangkok said:

Seems Spielberg has been given approval to make certain changes. We'll just have to wait to see if they will be beneficial.

 

What will be interesting is what happens when the original copyright expires. In the USA it is now 70 years after the death of the creator. Of the four original creators of "WSS" Stephen Sondheim is thankfully still alive. But surely that cannot mean any seriously updated version of "WSS" will have to wait till the end of this century when virtually all of those reading this thread will no longer be around? 

 

The Bernstein Estate was ruled with a rod of iron by his former business manager Harry Kraut. Kraut always refused to permit any but merely cosmetic changes. Kraut died in 2007 and Bernstein's children now nominally control the Estate. I expect over time they will be much more easily persuaded to permit new productions. Time will tell.

 

And Sondheim appears more open to changes to his work - like the recent female Bobby in the Company revival. It will be good to see an updated version of WSS beyond the cosmetic. 

[InBangkok]

1 hour ago, savagegarden said:

And Sondheim appears more open to changes to his work - like the recent female Bobby in the Company revival. It will be good to see an updated version of WSS beyond the cosmetic. 

"WSS" appears to be an anomaly. Most creators are delighted to have their work reproduced in different versions. It keeps the shows alive for new generations. Equally it keeps generating revenues! I remember there was a tour of "Sound of Music" around greater China about 15 years ago. It was totally different from the original Broadway production but the producers had first to get approval from the Rodgers and Hammerstein Estate. Apparently that was quickly given. Mary Rodgers, the composer's daughter, even attended the first night in Shanghai.

[savagegarden]

2 hours ago, InBangkok said:

"WSS" appears to be an anomaly. Most creators are delighted to have their work reproduced in different versions. It keeps the shows alive for new generations. Equally it keeps generating revenues! I remember there was a tour of "Sound of Music" around greater China about 15 years ago. It was totally different from the original Broadway production but the producers had first to get approval from the Rodgers and Hammerstein Estate. Apparently that was quickly given. Mary Rodgers, the composer's daughter, even attended the first night in Shanghai.

 

It seems counterintuitive, I agree. But there are the purists who refuse to allow any artistic liberties on their works - conceit I suppose.

 

Edward Albee had absolutely refused any cast changes to "Who is afraid of Virginia Wolf' while he was alive (and to some extent even after death). Sometimes even when the composer/playwright has passed away - the estate gets in the way. The recent much celebrated revival of To Kill a Mockingbird was the subject of litigation by the Harper Lee estate as Aaron Sorkin took so much liberty with the text (which by the way is a convoluted legal story by itself). 

Edited October 22, 2020 by savagegarden

[InBangkok]

@savagegarden probably knows these books about Broadway but for others they may be of some interest.

 

Razzle Dazzle: The Battle for Broadway by Michael Riedel. Riedel was the theatre critic of the New York Post and knew all there was to know about Broadway. He relates the history, the gossip, the larger than life characters, the corruption, the shows, the producers - all who contributed to making Broadway what it is. A great read.

 

Everything Was Possible: The Birth of the Musical Follies by Ted Chapin. Theatre runs in Chapin's blood. His father was General Director of the New York Metropolitan Opera for a while. When still a student, Chapin got a job as production assistant on what was Stephen Sondheim's new musical "Follies". He takes the reader on the roller-coaster ride from the casting to the tension of the opening night. Its creators were the giants of Broadway of the time - Hal Prince, Michael Bennett, James Goldman and Stephen Sondheim. Aged only 20, Chapin kept a journal which he used to write this fascinating narrative.

 

Finishing The Hat: Collected Lyrics (1954-1981) with Attendant Comments, Principles, Heresies, Grudges, Whines and Anecdotes by Stephen Sondheim. If you care for Broadway musicals and love Sondheim's work, this is an essential companion to his shows up to and including "Sweeney Todd" and "Merrily We Role Along".

 

Going off on a tangent, as a theatre buff there is another book that I could not put down, but it is more of interest to those interested in British theatre. Stage Blood by Michael Blakemore is a wonderful insight into the first five years of Britain's National Theatre. Blood is an ideal title for this is a story of backstabbing and power. Laurence Olivier was the NT's first Director. Around him he assembled a group of brilliant associates including John Dexter and William Gaskill and an ensemble of the cream of Britain's acting talent. Blakemore was soon to join as an Associate Director. Olivier wanted him as his successor. But the Board and its Chairman went behind both their backs and instead appointed Peter Hall, the former director of the competing Royal Shakespeare Company. Few liked Hall with, as illustrated in the book, very good reason.

[doncoin]

I enjoy fresh interpretations of shows as @InBangkok pointed out, it makes the show relevant for each new generation. I think one of the reasons I haven't seen Phantom in a theatre for nearly 20 years is because I felt I have seen all there is to see and there really is no desire to watch it. 

 

I think the smart producers will update the shows- I think of the last revival of Cats on Broadway like 5 or 6 years ago, there were updates to the cats themselves with more diversity and updated choreography. Even the juggernaut Miss Saigon had the sets revised and the lyrics updated. Even when Glenn Close revisited Sunset Boulevard, the entire show was transformed. Gone was the gigantic set, and replaced by more minimalist staging, but it did not take away her incredible performance. 

 

While having a show nearly identical to the original production is great, since you want to deliver the same experience to audiences everywhere, a revival is an opportunity to reimagine how the show could have been. I like to see the same show after a few years in-between just to see if it is still as enjoyable as the first time I saw it. 

[doncoin]

Speaking of which, just show just popped on my radar today. Meryl! Nicole! James! Andrew! Oh mine!

 

https://youtu.be/Zt9v3f35l5Y