After hearing of Stephen Sondheim's passing, I had to watch this taped performance of his 1979 masterpiece SWEENEY TODD, filmed in LA in 1981 towards the end of the national tour.
SWEENEY won eight Tony Awards on Broadway and this won three Emmy Awards. Despite a central flaw, it remains essential to any musicals fan as a record of Hal Prince's original production.
The central flaw is that tv director Terry Hughes doesn't adapt performances for his medium, so while the actors are pushing energy to the back of the balcony, the camera is only a few feet away. Oddly enough, the women are the worst: Johanna's hydraulic soprano and the Beggar Woman's caterwauling are eventually irritating.
Angela Lansbury's Mrs Lovett, already a Music Hall grotesque, tips into sheer mugging; however she is so charismatic that you have to surrender to her. George Hearn's underplaying as Sweeney works a treat.
Shelf or charity shop? Of course, it's a shelf. Despite the over-pitched performances, it's great to see due to the quality of the production, Hugh Wheeler's marvellous book and, of course, Sondheim's magnificent score. As I have
often said, the final 20 minutes of the show - if done right - should be
one of the most relentlessly scary things you can experience, even if
you know the show It has an internal motor that if stoked properly
keeps gathering pace leaving dead bodies in it's wake and an icy, clammy
grip on
the back of your neck and here you get that as it should be.
The 50 shows that have stood out down the years and,
as we get up among the paint cards, the shows that have become the cast
recording of my life. So here we are... a year and 10 months in the making and we have reached the stage musical that is my favourite ever - and I cannot name one out of the four shows that I have left to consider.
I have tried every criteria, every angle and there is simply no way I can say that one of the four is better than the other. One nearly lost the shared top place when I considered productions of it that I felt had not done it justice but, with that particular show, I simply had to overlook that, bearing in mind the first I saw was definitive. So let's go... my Top Four Number One's (in alphabetical order)
First performed: 1971, Winter Garden Theatre, NY
First seen by me: 1985, Forum Theatre, Wythenshawe
Productions seen: four
Score: Stephen Sondheim
Book: James Goldman
Plot: In 1971, onstage at the derelict Weismann Theatre on the eve of it's demolition, producer Dimitri Weismann holds a reunion of the stars and chorus girls of his "Follies" which ran between the World Wars. Old songs and routines are remembered, stirring up the ghosts of their younger selves. But for former best friends and chorus girls, Sally and Phyllis and their husbands, salesman Buddy and diplomat Ben, it becomes a night of bitter recriminations and the chance for lost love to be found again... what will the cruel light of day reveal?
Five memorable numbers: LOSING MY MIND, IN BUDDY'S EYES, WHO'S THAT WOMAN, I'M STILL HERE, ONE MORE KISS
In 1965, Sondheim and writer James Goldman wanted to collaborate on a project together and agreed on Goldman's idea of a murder mystery set at a
showgirls reunion. The murder plot stalled but
the showgirls reunion intrigued them especially how regrets for what
one did and more importantly didn't do, can haunt your life. Five years later, Sondheim was keen to follow up the success of his groundbreaking COMPANY with the show's producer/director Hal Prince and choreographer Michael Bennett and, when Prince heard of the reunion idea, he had an immediate visual reference: a 1960 Life magazine
photograph of a glamorous but fragile 61 year-old Gloria Swanson, standing in the
rubble of the Roxy Cinema in New York which had opened in 1927 with her film
THE LOVES OF SUNYA. Prince felt this captured the essence of the project
- the survivor, the glamour and the ruin.
Goldman and Sondheim brought in the bittersweet marital discord found in COMPANY and FOLLIES was born. Prince's 1971 production ran for 522 performances but lost over $720,000, due of huge production costs and audience
ambivalence - despite 'names' like film stars Alexis Smith and Yvonne de
Carlo, 1950s singer Dorothy Collins, Broadway star John McMartin and veteran performers Ethel Shutta and
Fifi D'Orsay, audiences found Goldman's book too downbeat. It won seven
of the ten Tony Awards it was nominated for but failed to win Best
Musical. Cult status grew through the original cast album but sadly
Capitol Records only released it on a single album meaning a lot of the score was abridged or not recorded. The show has had two further Broadway revivals in 2001 and
2011, but lost out winning the Best Musical Revival Tony Award both
times.
1985 was my FOLLIES year! To rectify the abridged 1971 recording decision, Herbert Ross staged two concert versions at Lincoln Center to be recorded
over both nights by Thomas Z Shepherd for RCA featuring the full score with a jaw-dropping cast of Barbara
Cook, Lee Remick, George Hearn, Mandy Patinkin, Elaine Stritch, Carol
Burnett, Betty Comden and Adolph Green, etc. which is the nigh-on definitive recording. But
before this, I had seen my first FOLLIES production in
Wythenshawe, Manchester, directed and choreographed by the under-valued Paul Kerryson and starring the wonderful Josephine Blake, The production swept me away, making me yearn for a London transfer.
However, when FOLLIES finally opened in London in 1987, it was with several new songs and a more upbeat ending; producer Cameron Mackintosh had asked the creators to 'revisit' the material to make it more optimistic - Goldman was happy
to, Sondheim less so. After seeing a preview, I was outside the Shaftesbury Theatre stage door
and Sondheim came out on his own. While he signed my programme, I told him I had seen the Manchester production; he
shot me a look and asked which I preferred. Cautiously I said that,
while loving Julia McKenzie, David Healy, Dolores Gray and Lynda
Baron in the new version, I felt that Manchester had the edge for being more true to the material. He replied that while shows
can always stand a revision, it was always possible to return to the
original. Point taken Steve...
In 2006, FOLLIES reappeared in the unlikely location of the Landor Theatre in Clapham which
seated a mere 48 people above a pub! But any lack of grandeur
was compensated with a cast guaranteed to make any 1980s musicals fan giddy: Sarah Payne, Claire Moore, Adele Anderson,
Rachel Izen, Carol Ball and Roni Page among others. This small production scored over the National Theatre's opulent 2017 version in one key element which was also there in 1971: then as at the Landor, the cast were chosen not only for their talents but also because to most of the audience, they would conjure up memories of seeing them in earlier shows back in the day. For FOLLIES to truly work I believe that an audience must have that nostalgic connection to the actors onstage - particularly for those who appear in the smaller but pivotal roles of the former Follies performers, then the audience can supply their own 'ghosts' for the performers; dimly remembered memories of them in previous shows.
It was with trepidation that I watched the National's FOLLIES for the first time in 2017 - I had longed for a production to be done on that stage for so many years, could it measure up? Yes it did - despite the lack of 'names' in the smaller roles, despite Tracie Bennett's mugging through "I'm Still Here" - I got the FOLLIES I have yearned for. Because when
it hit, it hit hard and with astonishing
performances wherever you looked: Imelda Staunton's despairing Sally, Janie Dee's bone-dry Phyllis. Philip Quast's crumbling Ben, but especially Josephine Barstow's tear-enducing "One More Kiss" - that the production managed to cast one of Britain's great operatic
divas for the small role was special enough, but within the short space of her
song, you could hear a pin drop as her voice soared around the
auditorium; in a score of
unstoppable great musical moments this was one to treasure.
The truly astonishing thing about FOLLIES is that Sondheim
floors you with one fantastic song after another. It was director Dominic Cooke's first musical and he gave his production a thoroughness of vision which allowed the
musical numbers to flourish while being equally as thorough at the emotional trauma the four main characters
inflict amid the nostalgia.
So... what video to pick? FOLLIES is well represented on YouTube through productions and one-off performances of songs from the score - and with a score so all-encompassing as this how do you pick a represenative song? How's about a few.. the stinging sophistication of "Could I Leave You" sung by Lee Remick at the 1985 Lincoln Center concert and then, from the same documentary, a fascinating clip of Barbara Cook rehearsing and then performing the pure emotion of "In Buddy's Eyes" and finally, from the NT Live screening of their 2017 production, Imelda Staunton's broken Sally. lost in her obsession, singing "Losing My Mind".
The 50 shows that have stood out down the years and,
as we get up among the paint cards, the shows that have become the cast
recording of my life.
First performed: 1966, Broadhurst Theatre, NY
First seen by me: 1986, Strand Theatre, London
Productions seen: four
Score: John Kander / Fred Ebb
Book: JoeMasteroff
Plot: Writer Cliff Bradshaw arrives in 1930s Berlin seeking inspiration. Renting a room at Fraulein Schneider's boarding house, Cliff then visits the seedy Kit Kat Klub - presided over by the mysterious MC - and meets extravagant English performer Sally Bowles. Sally moves in with Cliff the next day and their love affair grows alongside Fraulein Schneider's tentative relationship with Jewish shopkeeper Herr Schultz. But the darkening shadows of the Nazis are closing in...
Five memorable numbers: CABARET, TOMORROW BELONGS TO ME, WILKOMMEN, WHAT WOULD YOU DO, PERFECTLY MARVELLOUS
CABARET has infiltrated people's imaginations for 54 years, largely due to Bob Fosse's iconic 1972 screen version with the brilliant star wattage of Liza Minnelli as Sally Bowles. It seems remarkable that the film was released only 6 years after the show's Broadway debut but it is a completely different entity to it's source. Fosse dropped most of the score, any songs that were sung outside the Kit Kat Klub onstage were jettisoned to give his film a more realistic feel; a few sneaked through as background music and of course "Tomorrow Belongs To Me" provided a magnificent set-piece in a beer garden. So a first-time viewer of the show who has a knowledge of the film - like me in 1986 - is thrown initially with the original storyline. But CABARET has seen additions and deletions from it's score with almost every stage revival as tastes and directorial conceits change.
The first attempt to musicalize John Van Druten's play I AM A CAMERA based on Christopher Isherwood's GOODBYE TO BERLIN stories was by Sandy Wilson, writer of THE BOY FRIEND - just dwell on that for a minute - but the rights transferred to Harold Prince who decided his SHE LOVES ME writer Joe Masteroff could provide the book, with the score being written by John Kander and Fred Ebb, only their second musical. The show opened at the Broadhurst Theatre, going on to win 8 Tony Awards including Best Musical. This production included British actress Jill Haworth as Sally, Joel Grey as the MC, Lotte Lenya as Fraulein Schneider and Jack Gilford as Herr Schultz. The production transferred to two other theatres before closing in 1969, and by then Prince had reproduced the show at London's Palace Theatre with Judi Dench as Sally (her musical debut), Lila Kedrova as Fraulein Schneider and Peter Sallis as Herr Schultz. As I mentioned, I first saw CABARET when Gillian Lynne directed a revival at the Strand Theatre which felt off-kilter thanks to an over-emphasis on Wayne Sleep's MC to the detriment of Kelly Hunter's Sally, a real star turn.
Sam Mendes staged his acclaimed revival at the Donmar in 1993, starring Alan Cumming as the MC, Jane Horrocks as Sally and Sara Kestelman as Fraulein Schneider. Setting it within the cabaret itself and ramping up the sleaze, songs were dropped while others were added. In 1998 Mendes' production, now co-directed by Rob Marshall, made it to New York where it ran for four years, first at the site-specific Kit Kat Klub then, very appropriately, at Studio 54. The cast was led again by Cumming with Natasha Richardson as Sally and both won Tony Awards as did the show for Best Musical Revival, losing other awards to THE LION KING juggernaut. Mendes moving the MC to the centre of the production also meant he closed the show by stripping off an overcoat to reveal he was dressed as a concentration camp inmate. Taking the sleaze and Nazis route, Rufus Norris directed a London revival in 2006 at the Lyric which starred Anna Maxwell Martin as Sally, James Dreyfus as the MC, Sheila Hancock as Fraulein Schneider and Geoffrey Hutchings as Herr Schultz. No doubt feeling the need to top the Mendes final image, Norris had the MC joining the Cabaret dancers huddled upstage under a shower of Zyklon-B flakes and the sound of hissing echoing around the stage. Hey Mr Director... we, the audience DO get the ending of the show. One wonders how the next revival will end, it's almost like the directors are desperately covering up that they are actually directing a Broadway musical.
CABARET should be higher in the chart, it is at #7 only because it has suffered with misguided productions that the show struggles to overcome.
The obvious choice would be a clip of the Fosse film but I have gone with the original 1966 production at the Tony Awards - just look at the size of the cast - with Joel Grey's MC bidding us Wilkommen.... and who can ever refuse that invitation?
The 50 shows that have stood out down the years and,
as we get up among the paint cards, the shows that have become the cast
recording of my life.
First performed: 1957, Winter Garden, NY
First seen by me: 1984, Her Majesty's Theatre, London
Productions seen: two Score: Leonard Bernstein / Stephen Sondheim
Book: Arthur Laurents
Plot: in 1957 New York, two young gangs - the American Jets and Puerto-Rican Sharks - fight for control of the streets. Despite this, American Tony meets Puerto-Rican Maria and they fall in love. But when the fighting results in two deaths, Tony and Maria are trapped in a dangerous momentum...
Five memorable numbers: TONIGHT, AMERICA, MARIA, SOMEWHERE, SOMETHING'S COMING
It's just always been there. An early memory is going to see the film version at the Gaumont in Notting Hill Gate with my mum and a neighbour - no, not in 1961 - and enjoying the colour and music but my biggest memory is the two of them bawling at the end so I joined in, not terribly sure why. I have always been suggestible, Constant Reader. It's stunning songs were frequently sung on television variety shows and then the film was a constant staple of Bank Holiday films on television. It truly was and is a global phenomenon. But it nearly didn't happen at all...
In 1947, choreographer Jerome Robbins, composer Leonard Bernstein and writer Arthur Laurents attempted an updating of Shakespeare's ROMEO AND JULIET, set in New York's Lower East Side focusing on the conflicts between Irish-Americans and Jews but it foundered on Bernstein's wish for it to be operatic and the realization that it was rehashing old themes. This most quintessential of NY musicals was re-born in Los Angeles eight years later where the three men were working on separate projects; they decided to switch to the Upper West Side where a gang culture was growing between American teens and Puerto-Rican immigrants. It must also be borne in mind that in the intervening years Robbins had been a 'friendly witness' in the McCarthy Communist witch hunt hearings; although they were not named by Robbins, Bernstein and Laurents had suffered from the resultant blacklisting of suspected persons. Bernstein only wanted to write the music so when Arthur Laurents met his friend Stephen Sondheim at a party, 27 year-old Sondheim - recovering from his debut Broadway musical SATURDAY NIGHT being cancelled - was offered the lyricist role. Sondheim was wary as he wanted to write his own material but his father-figure and mentor Oscar Hammerstein II advised he take it as working with such talents would be invaluable experience. But two weeks before the start of rehearsals, producer Cheryl Crawford backed out; Sondheim sent the script to his producer friend Hal Prince who, after hearing Sondheim and Bernstein perform the score for him, jumped aboard. During rehearsals, Robbins demanded a "Conceived by.." credit due to the extensive contribution his choreography had to the show; he received the credit but used it to his advantage, causing serious dissent from his collaborators. The show opened to wild acclaim in 1957, Sondheim's lyrics almost always overlooked in reviews in the rush to praise Bernstein's music and Robbins' choreography. For all it's shaking up of musical theatre, it only won two of it's six Tony nominations: Best Choreography and Best Scenic Design. Carol Lawrence as Maria was the only acting nomination - bizarrely as Best Supporting Actress - but lost to Barbara Cook in THE MUSIC MAN as did the show for Best Musical! The London production opened at Her Majesty's in 1958 and ran for two and a half years, some seven months longer than on Broadway, and won the Evening Standard Award for Best Musical. In 1961, the film version co-directed by Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins - although in fact Robbins was fired during filming - exploded onscreen and went on to win ten Academy Awards, losing only one nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay. Apart from it's two Broadway and three West End revivals, WEST SIDE STORY had also had countless regional productions
I first saw WEST SIDE STORY onstage in 1984 when the production from Leicester Haymarket moved to Her Majesty's and ran for over a year. It was the last major production to play there until THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA took up what looks like an eternal residency. Robbins' partner Tommy Abbott - one of the original Jets on Broadway - reproduced Robbins' choreography to glorious effect and despite being note-perfect on the film version I was captivated with it when seen in it's original theatrical context. I was also swept away by Jan Hartley's glorious Maria - it's a difficult role as Maria is the essence of purity which can be hard with more flashy characters around her but she was quite wonderful. There was good work too from Steven Pacey as Tony, Richard Pettyfer as Riff and Lee Robinson as Anita. In 2008 a touring 50th Anniversary production had a sold-out run at Sadlers' Wells and again, although the cast were picked for their dancing skills over their singing, it still was wonderfully powerful on stage. In 2020 WEST SIDE STORY will be rising again: Ivo van Hove is directing a new Broadway revival and next December will see the release of Steven Spielberg's film remake. The Variety newspaper theatre critic Hobe Morrison died in 2000 but I suspect he remembered his 1957 review of WEST SIDE STORY's Broadway opening for many years after:
"The show seems a doubtful prospect for record album popularity and would need considerable revision as film material... at a guess it might be a sensation in London"
The obvious choice would be to include something from the film version but as this blog is about my favourite stage musicals I have chosen this dynamic version of the "Dance At The Gym" from the 2009 Tony Awards to show that while Jerome Robbins might have been difficult but his choreography is timeless.
The 50 shows that have stood out down the years and,
as we get up among the paint cards, the shows that have become the cast
recording of my life:
First performed: 1973, Shubert Theatre, NY
First seen by me: 1989, Piccadilly Theatre, London
Productions seen: five Score: Stephen Sondheim
Book: Hugh Wheeler
Plot: In 1900 Sweden, actress Desiree and lawyer Fredrik are two former lovers who rekindle their feelings for each other when she visits his town on a theatrical tour; however they are now paired with Anne, Fredrik's teenage bride, and Desiree's jealous lover Count Carl-Magnus. Matters come to a head during a weekend party at Desiree's haughty mother Madame Armfeldt...
Five memorable numbers: SEND IN THE CLOWNS, THE MILLER'S SON, A WEEKEND IN THE COUNTRY, EVERY DAY A LITTLE DEATH, THE GLAMOROUS LIFE
Well, here are... the Top 10 Musicals; these are the ones whose scores mean the most to me. We start with yet another Sondheim for a very good reason... he is my favourite musical composer.
After COMPANY and FOLLIES had shaken up the Broadway musical in the early 1970s with explorations into what could be done with the form, composer Stephen Sondheim and producer/director Hal Prince were in no mood to stop. They revisited an idea they had in 1964 when they wanted to create a modern take on an operetta-style romantic musical and decided to do an adaptation of Jean Anouilh's RING AROUND THE MOON but Anouilh said no - and said no again after they told him they had writer Hugh Wheeler on board! Sondheim suggested two films that had a similar theme: Jean Renoir's THE RULES OF THE GAME and Ingmar Bergman's SMILES ON A SUMMER NIGHT as both feature a weekend country house party with romantic intrigues and jealousies enveloping both guests and servants. Sondheim decided the Bergman had a subtlety that lent itself more to becoming a musical - and luckily Bergman agreed to the adaptation, his only stipulation being it be given a new title. Hal Prince once described NIGHT MUSIC as "whipped cream with knives" but Sondheim is of the opinion that Prince was more interested in the former, he the latter. Indeed what makes it such an interesting show is that all the characters are dissatisfied with something or unhappy at an other - they may be in love but it causes as much pain as pleasure - and Hugh Wheeler's witty book runs deceptively deep, something Sondheim has only grown to appreciate in the fullness of time and over many revivals. Sondheim later asked Ingmar Bergman if he ever saw the show and was surprised when Bergman said he had and enjoyed it, brushing aside Sondheim's apologies about changing certain characters by saying "We are both eating from the same cake". Oh and the cherry on that cake? Soon after it opened, Jean Anouilh's 'people' contacted Hal Prince to say that the rights for RING AROUND THE MOON were now available - too late Jean!
Sondheim went into rehearsals with most of the score written but added - and subtracted - more along the way. The rousing Act 1 closer A WEEKEND IN THE COUNTRY was written during the rehearsal period when Hal Prince felt all the story lines had to come together to send the audience out on a high; this also gave Sondheim the opportunity to write the song tailoring it to the cast's specific voices, and speaking of which... Sondheim and Prince has assumed they would cast a comedy actress for the lead role of Desiree who probably wouldn't be able to sing too well, and eventually decided on Glynis Johns who, they discovered, was able to sing in a breathy, delicate style. Sondheim had given Desiree two duets in Act I and nothing in Act II but it was decided Glynis Johns had the musicality to be given a solo in the second act. Hal Prince re-directed the scene to focus it on her while Sondheim turned up after two days with SEND IN THE CLOWNS. Knowing her range meant she could not sustain long notes, he devised the song to comprise of short questions "Isn't it rich? Are we a pair?" that would fit on her voice perfectly.... the rest is history! The show ran on Broadway for 18 months, was nominated for 12 Tony Awards and won 6 including Best Musical, Best Score, Best Book and Best Actress for Glynis Johns. The London premiere was in 1975 with the dazzling cast of Jean Simmons, Joss Ackland, Hermione Gingold, David Kernan, Maria Aitkin and Diane Langton; the London cast recording remains my favourite with several definitive renditions especially Diane Langton as Petra, the practical maid, tearing the roof off with THE MILLER'S SON.
I first saw NIGHT MUSIC through Hal Prince's misguided film version starring a miscast Elizabeth Taylor; Sondheim had advised against it but Prince wanted to prove he was as good a film director as he was on stage - he wasn't. I first saw it on stage in 1989 when Ian Judge's Chichester production transferred to the Piccadilly with Dorothy Tutin's unforgettable Desiree, Susan Hampshire's excellent Countess Charlotte and Sara Weymouth again mining gold with THE MILLER'S SON. I saw Judi Dench's magnificent Desiree at the Olivier Theatre in 1995 which won her an Olivier Award in an otherwise over-directed production by Sean Mathias. The Menier production in 2008 was a delightful chamber version, let down by Trevor Nunn's rather languorous pacing, not helped by his inclusion of the previously cut song SILLY PEOPLE but with winning lead performances from Hannah Waddington and Alexander Hanson. Hanson transferred with the production to Broadway where I finally saw Angela Lansbury onstage as Madame Armfeldt; Catherine Zeta-Jones was an oddly lascivious Desiree but she reined in the Swansea barmaid interpretation to deliver a heartfelt SEND IN THE CLOWNS. In 2015 we saw a concert version at the Palace Theatre with Janie Dee as Desiree, Joanna Riding as Charlotte, Jamie Parker as Carl-Magnus, Laura Pitt-Pulford as Petra (delivering yet another fiery THE MILLER'S SON) and Anne Reid as Madame Armfeldt. It's a show I would happily see again but sadly the one that got away was a fundraising concert version in January 2009 for the Roundabout Theatre Company in New York with Natasha Richardson as Desiree, Victor Garber as Fredrik, Christine Baranski as Charlotte and Vanessa Redgrave as Madame Armfeldt; two months later Richardson was injured in a skiing accident and later died.
So which SEND IN THE CLOWNS will it be? Despite memorable versions by Glynis Johns, Bernadette Peters, Barbara Cook and Angela Lansbury, for me it's Judi Dench in the 1995 NT production, seen here over the end credits of a South Bank Show profile. It's not a good transfer but Dench delivers a nigh-on definitive rendition where every word comes straight from Desiree's broken heart...
The 50 shows that have stood out down the years and,
as we get up among the paint cards, the shows that have become the cast
recording of my life:
First performed: 1981, Alvin Theatre, NY
First seen by me: 1983, Bloomsbury Theatre, London
Productions seen: four Score: Stephen Sondheim
Book: George Furth
Plot: Franklin Shepard is a successful composer and film producer but as he looks back over his 20 year career he can see how step-by-step his aspirations were lost along with his two best friends Charley Kingkas and Mary Flynn.
Five memorable numbers: MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG, OUR TIME. NOT A DAY GOES BY, GOOD THING GOING, OUR TIME
One show had to just lose out on the top 10 - how ironic it had to be MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG. After their previous show SWEENEY TODD: THE DEMON BARBER OF FEET STREET won eight Tony Awards and nine Drama Desk Awards, the partnership of composer Stephen Sondheim and producer / director Hal Prince were expected to come up with another smash hit. But it was not to be... MERRILY lasted a mere 44 performances after a troubled rehearsal period where the original leading man and choreographer where replaced and audiences walked out, confused by the back-to-front plotline. Prince's concept of a cast of teenage performers, all in sweatshirts and jeans, backfired and the resultant failure had a lasting effect on it's devastated young cast as well as Sondheim and Prince who would not work together again on a new work for 22 years. The odd thing is that the seemingly revolutionary plot-twist of having the story told backwards originated in 1934 in a play of the same name by George S Kaufman and Moss Hart, which had also closed losing money - albeit with more performances. It was neglected at Awards time too, MERRILY received a single Tony nomination for Best Musical Score - which lost to Maury Yeston's NINE. The palpable sadness of that original production has remained, especially as that cast's recording of the score has kept the show alive down the years - remarkable considering they recorded it the day after they closed. Since then MERRILY has gone on to be reclaimed as one of Sondheim's most remarkable scores - particularly as the usual criticism thrown at him that he is too cerebral to be emotional is made ridiculous by songs such as NOT A DAY GOES BY and GOOD THING GOING which are tear-triggers of the highest magnitude. Sondheim's score ripples with great songs whose tunes appear throughout the show in different guises so you can track them seemingly down the years as Charley, Frank and Mary's lives change and grow apart.
I was lucky enough to see MERRILY's European premiere when the Guildhall School's production transferred to the small Bloomsbury Theatre two months after it was first staged at the school. Ian Judge's wonderful production swept me away and made the show instantly one of my favourites. Over the years as it's status has grown with every UK and US revival, Sondheim has revisited the score and added new numbers for Frank and Gussie, the musical star he marries, but for me the original score is the one I return to. After the 1983 Guildhall show I had to wait 17 years until another London production at the Donmar. Michael Grandage's production featured career-defining performances from Samantha Spiro as Mary, Daniel Evans as Charley and Julian Ovenden as Frank and won three Olivier Awards for Best Musical, Best Actress and Best Actor for Evans; sadly no West End transfer occurred. That happened three years later when Maria Friedman's production at the Menier Chocolate Factory transferred to the Pinter Theatre for a few months. While happy that this remarkable show was finally seen in a proper West End house I was less enthusiastic by Friedman's garish and broad production - it did however win the Olivier for Best Musical Revival. The latest news on MERRILY is that Richard Linklater has announced he will make a film of it with the absurd idea of filming it over 20 years so the characters can be seen to age properly... one is tempted to think of Olivier's line to Dustin Hoffman while he was holding up filming doing his Method shenanigans "Why don't you try acting?".
A much more poignant and telling film take on MERRILY is Lonny Price's wonderful documentary BEST WORST THING THAT EVER COULD HAVE HAPPENED from 2016. Initially a film about the making of MERRILY and the impact of it's failure on it's young cast, Price - who was the original Charley - had remembered ABC News filming all of the audition and rehearsals for a segment in one of their news programme but when they were informed they had an investment in MERRILY they stopped the filming and put out a statement that the footage was destroyed. However the original videotapes were finally tracked down and Price utilizes the footage to recreate the excitement of the young cast turn to bewilderment at it's failure to work despite Sondheim and Prince's best efforts. The bigger themes of looking back to see what you gave up to live your dreams - or giving up your dreams to live - are as palpable as MERRILY itself - do hunt it out...
An unashamedly starry-eyed celebration of that most American of art forms, the Broadway musical.
Produced for PBS, the six episodes are narrated in syrupy style by Julie Andrews and charts the milestone shows of the musical from 1893 to the 2000s: the Ziegfeld Follies, SHOWBOAT, SHUFFLE ALONG, OF THEE I SING, PORGY AND BESS, PAL JOEY, OKLAHOMA!, ON THE TOWN, CAROUSEL, KISS ME KATE, SOUTH PACIFIC, GUYS AND DOLLS, MY FAIR LADY, THE SOUND OF MUSIC, WEST SIDE STORY, FIDDLER ON THE ROOF, CABARET, HAIR, COMPANY, A CHORUS LINE, CHICAGO, SWEENEY TODD, THE PRODUCERS, 42ND STREET, CATS, SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE, LA CAGE AUX FOLLES, THE LION KING, RENT and WICKED.
Packed with interviews from the performers, composers, directors, writers, choreographers and critics who created and witnessed this evolving story, what makes the series really special is the dazzling historical footage of almost every great Broadway star.
Shelf or charity shop? Singing out (Louise) from the shelf!
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
I am glad I did my last scene-setting blog for PARADISE FOUND. Now I don't have to linger too long over it.
It was truly one of the most bizarre musicals I have ever seen - and I saw BERNADETTE.
It is based on a 1939 novel by one Joseph Roth, an alcoholic Jewish Austro-Hungarian whose only other work I am familiar with is THE LEGEND OF THE HOLY DRINKER - a glomfest about an alcoholic down-and-out trying to get his life together. Expect a musical of that sometime soon.
Oh lord where to start... the torturous plot? The Shah of Persia travels to Vienna with his Chief Eunuch due to his terminal boredom with his hundreds of wives and while attending the Emperor's welcoming celebration finally gets aroused... by the Empress.
The Eunuch arranges with a Baron who he has just met to bring the Shah to the brothel where the Baron's mistress - who looks vaguely like the Empress - works and hoodwink the Shah into thinking he has had the real thing.All goes well but there are always consequences - the Baron is jealous of his mistress... who falls out with the madam of the brothel over a string of pearls that the Shah gave her... so she lands in debtor's prison... and the Eunuch turns up with a full head of hair... to find a-now alcoholic, suicidal Baron and mistress playing in a cheap vaudeville act based on the hoodwinking of the Shah... and the vaudeville is owned by the ex-madam... and it just never ends. The lyrics aim for wit but land on facile. They are set to Johan Strauss waltzes which no doubt seemed a good idea at the outset but the unrelenting 4/4 time rob the songs of any variety. Happy song, sad song - they all sound the same.
Now onto the set design... Beowolf Boritt's set of black shiny walls with wonky left and right sides looks more like the design for THE STUD: THE MUSICAL and Judy Dolan's costumes are not unlike the contents of a particularly run-down fancy dress shop.
As you will have read in my previous blog, the cast included performers who I have long admired. They all performed with that smiling-wide-but-dead-behind-the-eyes look that signalled "You should have seen me in x - I was great in that!"Mandy Patinkin, Judy Kaye, Shuler Hensley, John McMartin, Kate Baldwin, George Lee Andrews and Nancy Opel all gave as much as they could and it was great to see them on a London stage - it's just a shame the material was so beneath their talents.
I don't know whether it was having two directors - Hal Prince and Susan Stroman - that has given the show such an uneven feel but I doubt if anyone could have breathed life into it.
Just goes to show, you can have more Award-winning talent than you can shake a stick at.. but if are building on a dodgy book and misconceived score, your show will just lie there and die there.
Mandy's expression says it all.
Friday, May 21, 2010
It's supposed to be a glorious weekend weather-wise... so I will of course be spending the evenings sitting in the dark!
I am genuinely nervy about tomorrow's show, PARADISE FOUND at the Menier Chocolate Factory. Nervy because it has the potential to be a real event... but it also sounds a bit dodge.The Shah of Persia and his Eunuch travel to Vienna and get involved in a LA RONDE-style escapade where everyone loves someone else's husband or wife... all set to a score of Strauss waltzes with new lyrics. The production is playing the Menier as a sort of glorified workshop with an idea of it transferring at some point to Broadway.
The reason I am worried is that in 2007 the Menier presented the World Premiere of Maltby & Shire's TAKE FLIGHT - which kinda didn't, and certainly didn't make it over the Atlantic. Once again one wonders whether an under-cooked musical is hoping for the seemingly-magical Menier name to carry it to Broadway.
The talent involved in PARADISE FOUND however is quite staggering...The musical is co-directed by 82 year-old Hal Prince, winner of 21 Tony Awards and a Broadway legend - among the shows he originally produced are THE PYJAMA GAME, DAMN YANKEES, WEST SIDE STORY, A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO THE FORUM and FIDDLER ON THE ROOF and he directed the original productions of SHE LOVES ME, CABARET, ON THE 20TH CENTURY, EVITA, THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA and KISS OF THE SPIDER WOMAN.
He of course is also famous for his close collaboration with Stephen Sondheim on his groundbreaking shows COMPANY, FOLLIES, A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC, PACIFIC OVERTURES, SWEENEY TODD and MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG.The show is co-directed by Susan Stroman who has won 5 Tony Awards for her choreography and direction and her shows include CRAZY FOR YOU, CONTACT, THE PRODUCERS and YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN.
The all-American cast also boasts many Broadway performers of the highest calibre:They are led by Mandy Patinkin, Tony Award winner for Che in EVITA and nominated for a Tony as George in the original SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE. He appeared in the 1980s concert production of FOLLIES as well as appearing in such films as RAGTIME, THE PRINCESS BRIDE, YENTL and DICK TRACY and tv shows CRIMINAL MINDS and CHICAGO HOPE (Emmy Award). His only other book show appearance in the UK was in the frankly awful musical BORN AGAIN which opened and closed in Chichester in the 1990s - and yes I saw it!
He is joined by (from left to right):George Lee Andrews: original companies of A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC, ON THE 20TH CENTURY and PHANTOM OF THE OPERA (in which he appeared over 20 years - a Broadway record!)
Kate Baldwin: Best Actress Tony Award nominee this year for the revival of FINIAN'S RAINBOW
Nancy Opel: original companies of EVITA, SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE, URINETOWN (Best Actress Tony nominee) and TOXIC AVENGER: THE MUSICAL! I saw her a few years ago as Yente The Matchmaker in the Broadway revival of FIDDLER ON THE ROOF.
Judy Kaye: original companies of GREASE, ON THE 20TH CENTURY (replacing star Madeline Kahn as the lead 2 months after it opened), THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA (Supporting Actress Tony Award), RAGTIME, MAMMA MIA (Supporting Actress Tony nominee), SOUVENIR (Best Actress Tony nominee) and replaced Patti LuPone as Mrs. Lovett in the latest revival of SWEENEY TODD.
Shuler Hensley: National Theatre, West End and Broadway companies of Trevor Nunn's revival of OKLAHOMA! (Supporting Actor Olivier Award & Tony Award), TARZAN and YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN (as The Monster, Supporting Actor Tony nominee). His films include VAN HELSING where he played... yes you guessed.. The Monster! John McMartin: original Oscar in SWEET CHARITY (Supporting Actor Tony Award nominee) which he repeated in the film version, original Ben STONE in FOLLIES, DON JUAN (Supporting Actor Tony nominee), Cap'n Andy in Prince & Stroman's revival of SHOW BOAT (Best Actor Tony nominee), HIGH SOCIETY (Supporting Actor Tony nominee), INTO THE WOODS revival (Best Actor Tony nominee) and GREY GARDENS.And that's not all! The seven supporting actors include Lacey Kohl who was in the short-lived musical CRY-BABY and Pamela Winslow Kashani who was Rapunzel in the original production of INTO THE WOODS.
All squeezed onto the Menier stage - Lord knows how I will have the energy for Ray Davies on Sunday!
