| Broadway by the Year 1940-1964 last night at Town Hall | |
| Posted by: | Marlo*Manners 11:40 am EDT 04/01/14 |
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| For those who are interested here is the program: Monday Night at Town Hall in The Broadway Musicals of 1940-1964 (tickets still available!) Just Sayin’! — Scott Siegel Act 1 1940 NATALIE DOUGLAS – Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered* 1941 NANCY ANDERSON — My Ship* 1942 BARBARA FASANO & ERIC COMSTOCK — Everything I’ve Got* 1943 MARISSA McGOWAN – People Will Say We’re in Love* 1944 CAROLYN MONTGOMERY-FORANT – I Can Cook, Too* 1945 ALEXANDRA SILBER If I Loved You* 1946 AMBER IMAN Come Rain or Come Shine* 1947 JEFFREY SCHECTER When I’m Not Near the Girl I Love* 1948 ROBERT CUCCIOLI Where Thine That Special Face* 1949 WILLIAM MICHALS This Nearly Was Mine* (unmiked) 1950 BARBARA FASANO & ERIC COMSTOCK You’re Just in Love* 1951 AARON LAZAR – They Call the Wind Maria* 1952 MARILYN MAYE – Guess Who I Saw Today* 1953 MAXINE LINEHAN – I Love Paris* Intermission Act 2 1954 PATRICK PAGE Captain Hook’s Waltz w/chorus* 1955 JEFFRY & ERIN DENMAN Two Lost Souls* 1956 LIZ LARSEN – “Oooh My Poor Feet”* 1957 BRIAN CHARLES ROONEY Maria* 1958 DEBORAH TRANELLI – “Love, Look Away”* 1959 LISA HOWARD Climb Every Mountain* 1960 BEN DAVIS “If Ever I Would Leave You”* 1961 RON BOHMER Her Face* 1962 GAVIN LEE I’ve Got Your Number* ANITA GILLETTE Nightlife* (bonus number) 1963 JASON GRAAE She Loves Me* 1964 BBTY CHORUS Sunrise, Sunset* Marilyn Maye Before the Parade Passes By* (bonus number) Mixed bag evening with one shining standout: 85 year old Marilyn Maye knocking 'em flat in the aisles with her belting and even dancing in "Before the Parade Passes By". Amazing energy. Other standouts: Lisa Howard - gorgeous voice that had an operatic range and depth of tone with the unpretentious straightforward delivery of a folk singer. Anita Gillette was very charming in a night so memorable tune she created 52 years ago in "All American" called "Night Life". Other fine turns: Ron Bohmer, Amber Iman, Nancy Anderson, William Michals (unmiked), Aaron Lazar, Liz Larsen (over the top but fun), Patrick Page (very Cyril Ritchard rolling his "r"s), Maxine Linehan, Gavin Lee (unmiked) and Robert Cuccioli. Jeffry and Erin Denman sang and danced charmingly together. Brian Charles Rooney and Ben Davis were in lovely voice. Alexandra Silber was rather overwrought singing "If I Loved You" with one or two pitchy notes, too much vibrato, not enough repose and odd carefully formed vowels that made it seem like she was not a native English speaker. BTW: Silber sang unmiked and it is a quality soprano voice. She needs to relax - she is experienced enough that nerves should not be a factor. Notably poor: Deborah Tranelli wobbling and whooping through "Love Look Away" - she was on "Dallas" but should she be on "Broadway" (or close to it)? She must have had a lovely voice some years ago but is past it. Marissa McGowan belted too much of "People Will Say We're in Love". Others were sort of mannered, too cabaret or just not distinctive enough to make an impression in such famous songs. One man in the chorus forgot the words to "Sunrise, Sunset" (he is obviously one of Scott Siegel's "Rising Stars" recent graduate newcomers and was visibly nervous). More familiar material but everyone was at least interesting and had something to offer. Less unfamiliar material than usual - I often am curious to hear songs from the forgotten or flop shows or historical curiosities. However, many of my favorites were up there and some new favorites I haven't gotten to see in major shows: Bohmer, Howard, Michals, Linehan, Graae and Schechter. An evening well spent. Marlo Manners (Lady Barrington) | |
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| re: Broadway by the Year 1940-1964 last night at Town Hall | |
| Posted by: | BruceinIthaca 01:07 am EDT 04/02/14 |
| In reply to: | Broadway by the Year 1940-1964 last night at Town Hall - Marlo*Manners 11:40 am EDT 04/01/14 |
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| I'm sorry to hear this about Debbie Tranelli. I can vouch that she had a lovely, full voice and, despite her beauty, made a wonderful, moving Lizzie in "110 in the Shade," back when she was a senior at Northwestern (circa 1976). And, while I only knew her a fellow student in a couple of classes and a castmate on a student film, she was lovely, nice, genuinely warm. | |
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| re: Broadway by the Year 1940-1964 last night at Town Hall | |
| Posted by: | larry13 04:42 am EDT 04/02/14 |
| In reply to: | re: Broadway by the Year 1940-1964 last night at Town Hall - BruceinIthaca 01:07 am EDT 04/02/14 |
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| As recently as a few months ago in the latest Bill Daugherty revue at Stage 72(formerly the Triad), she sounded wonderful. I didn't think her singing Monday night as bad as did the earlier poster but, clearly, either this(difficult)song was not well suited to her or she was having an off night. | |
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| Scott's Big Error last night | |
| Posted by: | mermaniac 12:46 pm EDT 04/01/14 |
| In reply to: | Broadway by the Year 1940-1964 last night at Town Hall - Marlo*Manners 11:40 am EDT 04/01/14 |
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| He said that "West Side Story" won nothing, when it won scenic design & choreography, then missed an opportunity in 1959 to say again that 2 big musicals opened, and one indeed won NOTHING: a long-time pet peeve of yours truly. | |
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| I'd Say Four Big Musicals | |
| Posted by: | mamaleh 01:12 pm EDT 04/01/14 |
| In reply to: | Scott's Big Error last night - mermaniac 12:46 pm EDT 04/01/14 |
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| FIORELLO, GYPSY, REDHEAD and SOUND OF MUSIC--I'd consider all of those pretty big. But I'm guessing you're referring to GYPSY. Yeah, that's pretty unbelievable. | |
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| re: I'd Say Four Big Musicals | |
| Posted by: | larry13 02:19 pm EDT 04/01/14 |
| In reply to: | I'd Say Four Big Musicals - mamaleh 01:12 pm EDT 04/01/14 |
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| But FIORELLO and REDHEAD did win(major)awards. It was only GYPSY that won nothing. And if we're referring to Siegel not mentioning pretty big musicals, how about maybe the greatest of all musicals, MY FAIR LADY? Much as I really love MOST HAPPY FELLA, was it absolutely necessary to pick a song from that show--being revived this week!--over MFL? But don't get me started on some of the song selections and the singers chosen to sing them. | |
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| My problem with the selections | |
| Posted by: | Marlo*Manners 04:39 pm EDT 04/01/14 |
| In reply to: | re: I'd Say Four Big Musicals - larry13 02:19 pm EDT 04/01/14 |
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| I felt that there were too many duplications of song types programmed back to back. For example the quasi-operatic ballad "Love Look Away" followed by "Climb Ev'ry Mountain" one right after the other. In the first half there were big leading man baritone showstoppers programmed back to back. Frankly, given the time period you can't include everything and please everyone: there is just too much great material to choose from. They could have used Marissa McGowan as Ado Annie in "I Cain't Say No" or moved one of the back to back baritones over to "Oh What A Beautiful Mornin'" and then moved a charm song or ingenue number in that slot. Marlo Manners (Lady Barrington) | |
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| re: My problem with the selections | |
| Posted by: | keikekaze 06:08 pm EDT 04/01/14 |
| In reply to: | My problem with the selections - Marlo*Manners 04:39 pm EDT 04/01/14 |
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| Or instead of programming anything from the admittedly wonderful (but a too-obvious pick for 1943) Oklahoma! score, they might have done something instead from One Touch of Venus, Early To Bed, or Something For the Boys. There are some great numbers in all of those, and they're less familiar. I think the songs they picked from 1957, 1959, and 1960 are also all "too obvious," in the same sense. And for 1958, if it had to be Flower Drum Song (which it doesn't), I'd have picked "You Are Beautiful" or "I Am Going To Like It Here" over "Love, Look Away." | |
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| re: My problem with the selections | |
| Posted by: | larry13 04:51 am EDT 04/02/14 |
| In reply to: | re: My problem with the selections - keikekaze 06:08 pm EDT 04/01/14 |
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| Agree with both you and the earlier poster about song selections. I also think it was unnecessary for the host to have announced from the stage--immediately after "Love, Look Away,"--that the show was one of R&H's "weaker" efforts, in contrast to(next up)SOUND OF MUSIC. No question the latter ran a lot longer but there were too many comments during the evening that indicated number of performances as the defining mark of value. | |
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| re: My problem with the selections | |
| Posted by: | lowwriter 11:25 am EDT 04/02/14 |
| In reply to: | re: My problem with the selections - larry13 04:51 am EDT 04/02/14 |
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| Love Look Away doesn't have to be sung operatically to work. Malcolm Gets does a wonderful, more subtle version on his album. | |
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| Various & Sundry (was re: My problem with the selections) | |
| Posted by: | Marlo*Manners 11:57 am EDT 04/02/14 |
| In reply to: | re: My problem with the selections - lowwriter 11:25 am EDT 04/02/14 |
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| I don't think the idea was to provide novelty - the usual BBTY concert focusing on one season does that in spades. They were doing a cavalcade of shows from the Golden Age. So "Oklahoma!" which along with "Show Boat" is considered a watershed turning point in musical comedy (the point where it becomes "musical theater") has to be there. They just could have picked a better selection with a more appropriate performer. Scott Siegel has a good ear for talent for the most part - so I am not surprised that Deborah Tranelli actually can sing and well - or has until very recently. I heard the quality in the voice but the breathing, support and pitch were all over the place. Clearly Scott had heard her live earlier this year (maybe at that Triad show) and liked her. Here's hoping for greater success in the future. As for length of runs being indicative of a show's total "success" that is tricky. Lots of mediocre shows had long runs and made money because of popular stars or feeding into then hot trends or fads. Shows like "Candide" which were flops have had a rich afterlife. But the big thing is that fifty, sixty, seventy or eighty years ago a show could run less than a year, pay back its investors and be considered a success. The monster economics of the current Broadway model means that a musical has to run for years with full houses or it loses a fortune. Result: less and less creativity. How about non-operatic interpretations of "Climb Ev'ry Mountain"? I think it would work well as a folk or gospel ballad. Marlo Manners (Lady Barrington) | |
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