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| The recreations question | |
| Posted by: AlanScott 01:55 pm EDT 07/04/17 | |
| In reply to: I know I have said this before .... - jdm 11:11 am EDT 07/04/17 | |
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| I think there is some confusion because of what Prince said in an interview. Or at least I think he said that they would not be recreating the original stagings. But I never took what he said — which I wish I could find, and maybe I could if I searched online — to mean that if "Don't Cry for Me, Argentina" were included, it would not have a woman singing on a balcony. And as the video posted by Wayman shows, it is included, or at least it was included in Japan, where it was sung by a woman on a balcony in a dress that at least evokes the dress worn in the original. I think that what Prince meant, which the video seems to confirm, is that he was not going to try to slavishly recreate the exact original stagings, some of which are lost to time anyway (except for notes in stage managers' scripts, when those can be found). In addition, he obviously was going to give Stroman some degree of a free hand. I seem to remember seeing a video online with excerpts from a workshop or perhaps it was a rehearsal for Japan with a section of "You've Got Possibilities" not in the video posted by Wayman, and that staging did not include a moment I remember so well from seeing Superman when I was eight years old. I remember this moment because the moment got a big laugh. So while most of what we see in the video may bring to mind the originals, some of them do so to a greater degree than others. Some diverge pretty far, others stay pretty close. Similarly with the costumes. And unlike Jerome Robbins' Broadway, we are not seeing the original sets recreated, although again sometimes what we see evokes the original sets, but sometimes only in the most general way. |
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| re: The recreations question | |
| Last Edit: WaymanWong 02:22 pm EDT 07/04/17 | |
| Posted by: WaymanWong 02:10 pm EDT 07/04/17 | |
| In reply to: The recreations question - AlanScott 01:55 pm EDT 07/04/17 | |
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| Alan, could this be the ''Superman'' video you're thinking of? It's got ''Possibilities.'' Speaking of costumes, in the previous video I posted, Emily Skinner is wearing a flowered print dress while singing ''Broadway Baby.'' That is definitely not what Ethel Shutta wore in ''Follies'' (she wore a solid green dress). Also, I'm surprised they didn't give it to Nancy Opel to sing instead. She would've evoked more of a showbiz veteran. |
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| Link | 'Prince of Broadway' rehearsal: Mariand Torres and Ramin Karimloo in 'You've Got Possibilities' |
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| re: The recreations question | |
| Posted by: Ned3301 11:50 pm EDT 07/04/17 | |
| In reply to: re: The recreations question - WaymanWong 02:10 pm EDT 07/04/17 | |
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| I don't know if this helps us ascertain how much this show is planning to be "authentic," but what happens in that rehearsal video bears no relationship to the way "You've Got Possibilities" was originally staged. For one thing, Sydney wasn't remotely that athletic. The number took place around Clark Kent's desk, not in a kind of floor show all over the office. And when Sydney unwittingly revealed the trademark tights under his shirt, it was a matter of opening a few buttons in a teasing way, not pulling the top half of his shirt open and then standing in front of him. The idea was that she is paying no attention to him even while she's addressing all his supposed faults, so she's looking right at him while missing the telltale colors of his Superman outfit that are right in front of her eyes. It was a great way to define how Sydney looks at the world--in other words, she's focused on herself. But this new staging isn't about character. It's in this new style of throwing every staging trick at the public because directors and choreographers are afraid that audiences won't listen to lyrics and they'll get bored if the actors are still for a few moments. |
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| re: The recreations question | |
| Posted by: MarjorieMae 05:39 pm EDT 07/04/17 | |
| In reply to: re: The recreations question - WaymanWong 02:10 pm EDT 07/04/17 | |
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| OMG! I wouldn't be at all surprised if knife fights break out at Ramin's yoga classes for the mat behind his. | |
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| re: The recreations question | |
| Posted by: AlanScott 02:21 pm EDT 07/04/17 | |
| In reply to: re: The recreations question - WaymanWong 02:10 pm EDT 07/04/17 | |
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| Thanks, Wayman. It was a different video, with a different staging. Maybe I'm just thinking of the first one you posted, although I don't remember seeing all of that before. Not only is Emily Skinner wearing something different, but she does not seem to be playing a woman in her 70s (and obviously she's not a woman in her 70s). The whole original concept of the number seems to have been dropped for that one. Shutta's dress looks light blue in some photos, and in some it looks kind of teal. Maybe not teal exactly, but very blue-green. It may be that the color was changed between the opening in Boston and the opening on Broadway. As so often is the case with older shows, many of the photos we have of Follies are pre-Broadway. |
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| and whose staging is it, anyway? | |
| Posted by: stevemr 07:24 pm EDT 07/04/17 | |
| In reply to: re: The recreations question - AlanScott 02:21 pm EDT 07/04/17 | |
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| Although those involved (including Prince) know the answers, it seems reasonable to ask/wonder who should get primary credit for the staging of a musical number --- Shutta's number may well have been staged by Prince, but it might well have been staged by Michael Bennett? Is a collection of musical numbers from Prince's productions Prince's work? Or the work of Jerome Robbins, Michael Bennett, etc? Adding in the contribution of Susan Stroma only complicates the question (or perhaps relieves the need for resolution of rights issues). | |
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| re: and whose staging is it, anyway? | |
| Posted by: AlanScott 01:58 am EDT 07/05/17 | |
| In reply to: and whose staging is it, anyway? - stevemr 07:24 pm EDT 07/04/17 | |
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| Shutta's number was staged by Bennett, at least according to a couple of books, and I don't doubt it. You bring up a good point. Prince worked with a lot of choreographers, and many of them received credit for staging the musical numbers, not just choreographing. While Prince surely did stage a good many of the numbers that did not involve dance (even when someone like Bennett had a credit for staging the musical numbers, as he did on Company), there are many numbers for which permission would have to be attained and credit (and royalties) given if the original staging were recreated. Enough of the shows were filmed for TOFT or for broadcast (or both) that original stagings could be recreated for a good many of the shows, although for some of the older shows this would obviously be tougher and in some cases perhaps impossible. And then Prince of Broadway will be including numbers from at least some shows that Prince only produced. So, as you say, even when it's possible, it would be very complicated to recreate all that original stagings for something like this. |
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