Threaded Order Chronological Order
| re: Could Applause ever work as a revival on Bway? | |
| Posted by: JereNYC (JereNYC@aol.com) 04:24 pm EST 12/19/17 | |
| In reply to: re: Could Applause ever work as a revival on Bway? - Delvino 10:02 am EST 12/19/17 | |
|
|
|
| APPLAUSE is one of those shows that I wish someone would take another crack at one day. I don't really mean a revisal of APPLAUSE, but rather than a new team of writers might go back to the screenplay and/or the short story and just start again and write a new musical based on the source material. From all reports, there's just no fixing APPLAUSE, but it's still a great story. SUGAR and VICTOR/VICTORIA are other shows that I think this about. There might be great musicals in these stories...but the shows we got were not those great musicals. |
|
| reply to this message |
| Of course they couldn't get the rights to the screenplay when Comden & Green first tackled it. ... | |
| Last Edit: flaguy 01:42 pm EST 12/20/17 | |
| Posted by: flaguy 01:40 pm EST 12/20/17 | |
| In reply to: re: Could Applause ever work as a revival on Bway? - JereNYC 04:24 pm EST 12/19/17 | |
|
|
|
| Of course they couldn't get the rights to the screenplay for 'ALL ABOUT EVE' from 20th Century-Fox when Comden & Green first began to tackle this project. Which is why Addison DeWitt is missing. He wasn't in the original (slim) story by Mary Orr, which is what they had to use to base the musical on. Then, late in the process, 20th Century-Fox relented and gave them the rights, which is why the occasional line/song like 'Fasten Your Seat Belts' slips in. Anyway, they always wanted to make it more 'ALL ABOUT MARGO,' so I guess they were satisfied with what they had, minus Mr. DeWitt, etc. I missed Bacall, but saw Anne Baxter twice, and thought she was terrific. And I liked the show a lot, too. I also saw Christine Ebersole in the Encores! presentation, and felt she kind of did a 'Betty Grable' with it, which really didn't work for me at all. And the show is dated. Much like 'MAME,' I think it would take an awfully imaginative director and a GREAT STAR to ever bring it back successfully. |
|
| reply to this message |
| re: Could Applause ever work as a revival on Bway? | |
| Posted by: PlayWiz 01:39 pm EST 12/20/17 | |
| In reply to: re: Could Applause ever work as a revival on Bway? - JereNYC 04:24 pm EST 12/19/17 | |
|
|
|
| Well, there certainly have been multiple attempts at famous stories in the past. In opera, for example, both Massenet's "Manon" and Puccini's "Manon Lescaut" are still in the standard repertory. Plus in musical theater of much more recent vintage there are the two dueling versions of "The Wild Party", plus Maury Yeston's version of "Phantom" vs. Lloyd Webber's behemoth. There was also apparently a full score written by Yeston for a version of "La Cage aux Folles" called "The Queen of Basin Street" which, to my knowledge, has never surfaced for some reason. So, yes, other writers have made attempts at famous properties, but it's a matter of financing and also, if it would even see the light of day for all their efforts in writing it. | |
| reply to this message | reply to first message |
| re: Could Applause ever work as a revival on Bway? | |
| Posted by: JereNYC (JereNYC@aol.com) 03:29 pm EST 12/20/17 | |
| In reply to: re: Could Applause ever work as a revival on Bway? - PlayWiz 01:39 pm EST 12/20/17 | |
|
|
|
| Since APPLAUSE, in particular of the shows I mentioned, has pretty much dropped out of the national repertoire, I would venture that most casual theatregoers have no idea that a musical adaptation of ALL ABOUT EVE even exists. So, if a new creative team got the rights and wrote a new adaptation, it would likely be perceived as something completely new (which, of course, it would actually be), so this new adaptation wouldn't have to bother competing with APPLAUSE the way the other shows you mentioned had to compete with their rivals. |
|
| reply to this message | reply to first message |
| The gay culture in "Applause" | |
| Last Edit: Delvino 12:06 pm EST 12/20/17 | |
| Posted by: Delvino 12:04 pm EST 12/20/17 | |
| In reply to: re: Could Applause ever work as a revival on Bway? - JereNYC 04:24 pm EST 12/19/17 | |
|
|
|
| Cutting edge maybe in 1972, but in a way, odd then. A really nitpicky observation: Why would this B'way star's hairdresser not want to go to the biggest night of HIS own life, the opening of Margo's show? He'd be invited, of course. Instead, he has a date to go to a disco, the type of thing he could do any other night in NYC. Margo comes along, and dances on a jukebox. Whenever I glimpse the CBS special version, that scene, literalized, is just weird. Field gave Bacall a lot of post "Lucy and Jesse" moves, mostly arms in that post-60s a go go style that was designed to make people over 40 looks hip on the dance floor. Bacall wore a dreamcycle orange dress with fringe and big pumps with straps over her ankles. It doesn't look like anything any star would wear at any time, let alone her opening night. I said, nitpicky. If it made sense to turn Birdie into Duane, the result isn't nearly as interesting as we expect. Duane has nothing interesting to say or do, save drag Margo to the Village. (Why does a hairdresser hang out at Joe Allen's with dancers?) Birdie is briefer, but more compelling by half. And threatened by Eve, albeit subtly. I'd rather see the show set in 1950, like the original film. The 70s are not exactly vintage for styles or pop cultural artifact preservation. Just looking at the stills from "Applause" is a reminder. |
|
| reply to this message | reply to first message |
Time to render: 0.018675 seconds.