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| re: Showman | |
| Posted by: steven_carter 12:14 pm EST 01/23/18 | |
| In reply to: Showman - bearcat 11:49 am EST 01/23/18 | |
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| I understand your point, and it's true that -in our era at least, many of the most commercially successful movies/plays/books are not the works which critics support. It's a bit of a myth, however, that the SOUND OF MUSIC film was "derided by critics" in 1965. While it's true that many NYC critics (Pauline Kael, Judith Crist, etc...) were negative, the vast majority of critics across the country (including some NYC reviewers), and especially the industry press (Variety, etc...) RAVED about THE SOUND OF MUSIC film, giving special praise to the changes Robert Wise and Ernest Lehman made in adapting the play to film. If you look at the recent book SOUND OF MUSIC:FAQ, or other recent books, you'll find that the filmmakers, as well as Richard Rodgers, were kind of shocked by those few bad reviews in NYC after the RIvoli press screening. But the general consensus was so overwhelmingly positive-especially in the industry- it made perfect sense that the film was nominated for, and won so many Academy Awards. |
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| re: Showman | |
| Posted by: JereNYC (JereNYC@aol.com) 03:00 pm EST 01/23/18 | |
| In reply to: re: Showman - steven_carter 12:14 pm EST 01/23/18 | |
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| When the show opened on Broadway though, I've always understood that the reviews were not strong, especially when compared to Rodgers and Hammerstein's other big hits. I've generally heard this ascribed to the Lindsey & Crouse book, which was not at the level of the books written by Hammerstein. But, of course, it found an audience anyway and ran a long time, even after the departure of the original stars, and the film really built it into our national culture. I'm not saying that will happen with THE GREATEST SHOWMAN, which is what it is, unless someone decides to adapt it for the stage and we get the reverse situation, where it would get terrific reviews for a reworked stage version, perhaps better than the original version of the property. |
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