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re: New Side Show and old Side Show

Posted by: Delvino 07:24 am EST 11/18/14
In reply to: New Side Show and old Side Show - Ann 11:50 pm EST 11/17/14
I saw the original several times, 2nd acted it, and have to report: it was not grittier. It was far more stylized, it had a consistently darker vein in the production values (the actors wore black and white much of the time). But its darkness was not connected to verisimilitude. Longbottom's staging was more like CHICAGO, streamlined, with a theatrical shorthand, only a handful of period touches. The new production is in vivid color, but that color always highlights the side show and carny world with great specificity. The new staging is evocative in ways the original only suggested.

What was missing the first time: a strategy to tell the world this is a big Broadway musical, a backstage rags to riches to rags story, more GYPSY with a touch of CARNIVAL than anyone could tell from the dreadful artwork in the ad campaign.

The two productions are different, but emotionally rich, both, and vivid as well. If anything, the sexuality in, say, "Private Conversation" is far more explicit in the revival. As is the handling of Buddy, and even "One Plus One Equals Three" is more THE NANCE.

The difference is in how the show is framed for today's audience. The show has not been cleaned up.


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