Threaded Order Chronological Order
| re: ‘‘Tis the season; of “Here’s Love”’s unsung small treasures | |
| Last Edit: AlanScott 04:35 am EST 12/31/18 | |
| Posted by: AlanScott 04:29 am EST 12/31/18 | |
| In reply to: re: ‘‘Tis the season; of “Here’s Love”’s unsung small treasures - Jax 03:13 am EST 12/28/18 | |
|
|
|
| Well, I’ve never even listened to the whole cast recording. I find much of what I have heard to be unbearable. The stuff that’s discussed in the quotes in the Suskin book does interest me, as history, not as music. It's true that the show has been done as a holiday show at various theaters over the years, but my impression, which may be wrong, is that that’s a relatively recent development, and that for a long time it was not done much. My impression is that when the title was changed to Miracle on 34th Street: The Musical, it started to get done. It's certainly true that it's been done more than I Had a Ball, which was never licensed, or Bajour, which think I was never licensed, although I'm not so sure that it's been done more than High Spirits, which has shown up a bit over the years. As for the tour, it was a short tour, only four months, and most of the venues it played were heavily sold on subscriptions. It played the three venues where the Edwin Lester-Civic Light Opera shows were then playing in California, and it played in Dallas at the State Fair Music Hall. It did well enough in the houses that were heavily sold on subscriptions (although really just passably in San Francisco), but I think that the reasons why a marginal show toured or didn’t tour may have less to do with popularity than with whether the producer was determined to make a tour happen and sometimes whether there was a cast with some drawing power interested in touring (if it’s a star show). In the case of Here’s Love, it had Meredith Willson and the source material, which made it viable case for some sort of tour, especially since it seems that Edwin Lester wanted it for his Los Angeles and San Francisco Civic Light Operas. Without that interest from Lester, I suspect there would not have been a tour. And a few years later, Willson's final show, 1491, played for Lester's Los Angeles and San Francisco Civic Light Operas, theoretically before Broadway but the reviews were dismal, and that was it. Oddly, the Here's Love tour closed just before Christmas. You’d think it would have booked some sort of Christmas run in Chicago or Boston, but perhaps no theatres were available at that time by the time they were booking the tour. I think that if Bea Lillie had been up to touring, High Spirits could have and would have toured, but she was in bad shape, although she did do a couple of short runs of the show in stock shortly after the Broadway run. High Spirits did have a London production, which Here’s Love did not get, although High Spirits was not a success in London, where it got very negative reviews. Reading reviews of Here’s Love, it does seem like it probably was better in performance than it seems to most of us on the recording. The book seems to have played reasonably well, and the supporting cast of character actors carried it along (and even the replacement character actors carried it along). I Had a Ball and Bajour were part of the strange 1964-65 season, where there was an unusual number of also-ran musicals that managed runs of six months to a year, but only one big hit. Everything else closed at a loss, although Half a Sixpence paid off due to the two touring companies. Which shows how strange the whole touring thing could be. On Broadway, the show did not do very well without Tommy Steele, but they sent out two tours without him that did well enough to help the show pay off. Here's Love did not pay off. Really, I Had a Ball and Bajour have nothing that would make them financially attractive propositions to small theatre companies, but obviously Miracle on 34th Street: The Musical does. |
|
| reply to this message |
| re: ‘‘Tis the season; of “Here’s Love”’s unsung small treasures | |
| Posted by: Jax 02:11 pm EST 12/31/18 | |
| In reply to: re: ‘‘Tis the season; of “Here’s Love”’s unsung small treasures - AlanScott 04:29 am EST 12/31/18 | |
|
|
|
| In this day of searching for content and IP, known properties that can be exploited, it's not inconceivable that "Miracle on 42nd St: The Musical" will pop up on a streaming channel some future December. Someone did a live version of "A Christmas Story" last year" "Miracle"/"Here's Love" is better than that, I'd say. The nostalgic pull of the film might convince a streaming exec to thumbs up a musical version. That would drive some posters on this board mad. Happy New Year! | |
| reply to this message |
| re: ‘‘Tis the season; of “Here’s Love”’s unsung small treasures | |
| Posted by: AlanScott 09:10 pm EST 12/31/18 | |
| In reply to: re: ‘‘Tis the season; of “Here’s Love”’s unsung small treasures - Jax 02:11 pm EST 12/31/18 | |
|
|
|
| If I have to choose between A Christmas Story and Here's Love/Miracle on 34th Street, I choose . . . something else. :) Actually, I would watch a TV version of the latter, or at least I would try. I do hate the way these TV musicals are shot, with constant cutting, so I often find myself tuning out figuratively after a bit and sometimes literally after a while. |
|
| reply to this message | reply to first message |
| re: ‘‘Tis the season; of “Here’s Love”’s unsung small treasures | |
| Posted by: BroadwayTonyJ 11:13 pm EST 12/31/18 | |
| In reply to: re: ‘‘Tis the season; of “Here’s Love”’s unsung small treasures - AlanScott 09:10 pm EST 12/31/18 | |
|
|
|
| This time of year I generally pull out the CD of Here's Love and listen to it again -- I'm not sure why exactly, probably just out of habit. The score is so mediocre with some of the most awkward lyrics I've ever heard. Even worse, though, is that Willson takes the Fred Gaily character (who John Payne in the '47 film made so likeable despite being kind of slick) and turns him into an unpleasant jerk (at least until the middle of Act Two). Nevertheless, I do think that "You Don't Know" and "That Man Over There" are quite good. I also like "The Bugle", "Pine Cones and Holly Berries", and Janis Paige's reprise of "Look, Little Girl". Actually she and Naismith are fine on the recording. There's a theater in the greater Chicago area that presents Here's Love during the Christmas season every 3 years -- under various titles, but never under the original one. I saw the 2010 production. The fine character actor Peter Kevoian was excellent as Mr. Macy and stopped the show with "That Man Over There". |
|
| reply to this message | reply to first message |
| CORRECTION: Regarding frequency of HERE'S LOVE productions in Chicago area | |
| Posted by: BroadwayTonyJ 07:49 pm EST 01/01/19 | |
| In reply to: re: ‘‘Tis the season; of “Here’s Love”’s unsung small treasures - BroadwayTonyJ 11:13 pm EST 12/31/18 | |
|
|
|
| My post should have read: Over the last 19 years, a Chicago area theater has done 3 productions of Here's Love during the Christmas season (in 2000, 2010, and 2018). | |
| reply to this message | reply to first message |
| re: CORRECTION: Regarding frequency of HERE'S LOVE productions in Chicago area | |
| Posted by: AlanScott 09:28 pm EST 01/01/19 | |
| In reply to: CORRECTION: Regarding frequency of HERE'S LOVE productions in Chicago area - BroadwayTonyJ 07:49 pm EST 01/01/19 | |
|
|
|
| Your earlier post, combined with Jax’s posts, persuaded me to listen to the OBCR, including the tracks that I'd never listened to before. It is nice that Masterworks Broadway keeps these on youtube, although it’s not always easy to find the complete playlists in order. (I think I’ve figured out that you have to include a principal cast member’s name in your search, e.g., Here’s Love Janis Paige Original Broadway cast, in order to easily find the complete playlist.) Anyway, there are a few decent numbers in there, apart from "You Don't Know," and they are mostly the ones that the critics liked. I can see how "That Man Over There" and "My State" must have played well in the theatre. Even “Pine Cones and Holly Berries / It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas” comes off well enough on the recording. So now I would say that not all of the score is awful, and it does seem like both “That Man Over There” and “My State” were played for a certain degree of intentional absurdity in the original production. Still, even “That Man Over There,” though a decided highlight, would have profited from less repetition in the lyric. It was surprising to me to hear how well Paul Reed sang. It probably shouldn’t have surprised me since I had at some point come across some operettas, including some Gilbert and Sullivan, among his credits. There’s a passage in it that musically makes me think of “The Ruler of the Queen’s Navy,” not that it’s identical or that it’s really anything much like a G and S patter song. Anyway, Reed comes off very well on the recording. Btw, there’s a really noticeable little flub during “My State.” I’m surprised that Goddard Lieberson chose that take (or decided to leave it at only one take). Unfortunately, some of the score remains something like unbearable to me, and Craig Stevens should have been dissuaded from sustaining any notes. :) |
|
| reply to this message | reply to first message |
| re: CORRECTION: Regarding frequency of HERE'S LOVE productions in Chicago area | |
| Posted by: BroadwayTonyJ 11:36 am EST 01/04/19 | |
| In reply to: re: CORRECTION: Regarding frequency of HERE'S LOVE productions in Chicago area - AlanScott 09:28 pm EST 01/01/19 | |
|
|
|
| I should have mentioned that I really enjoyed Paul Reed's performance on the recording also. Regarding the score, the '63 LP listed 2 numbers on the song list that were not present on the recording: "The Plastic Alligator" and "Nothing in Common". When I saw the show in 2010, I found neither song to be memorable, but one of them was just plain God awful -- it was a patter song somewhat in the style of numbers from The Music Man -- which made it so out of place in a show about the true meaning of Christmas in a Manhattan setting. Anyway I've gotten Here's Love off my bucket list. I'll still probably listen to the CD again next year, but I am glad that the 2 unrecorded songs aren't on it. |
|
| reply to this message | reply to first message |
| re: CORRECTION: Regarding frequency of HERE'S LOVE productions in Chicago area | |
| Posted by: Alcindoro 03:18 am EST 01/05/19 | |
| In reply to: re: CORRECTION: Regarding frequency of HERE'S LOVE productions in Chicago area - BroadwayTonyJ 11:36 am EST 01/04/19 | |
|
|
|
| I have long nurtured a burning desire to hear "The Plastic Alligator". Well, maybe not exactly burning. Or a desire. But I've just always been curious. I was hoping when the CD came out they would have found the tapes. But, alas, no. I've also always wanted to hear "A Sense of Love and Honor" from ANYA. It's not on the LP or CD, but my copy of the LP has it listed, and there's even a timing for it. It's based on Rachmaninov's "Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini". You know, that beautiful melody once enamored of figure skaters everywhere. Also known by Philistines everywhere as "Love Theme from SOMEWHERE IN TIME". I'm serious. |
|
| reply to this message | reply to first message |
| re: CORRECTION: Regarding frequency of HERE'S LOVE productions in Chicago area | |
| Posted by: AlanScott 05:00 am EST 01/08/19 | |
| In reply to: re: CORRECTION: Regarding frequency of HERE'S LOVE productions in Chicago area - Alcindoro 03:18 am EST 01/05/19 | |
|
|
|
| There's a good chance that "The Plastic Alligator" was not recorded. In those days, it was common for the jacket and gatefold, if there was one, with everything, including the song list, to be prepared and ready for LPs to put inside before the recording was even made. This is why several cast recordings of the period list songs that were not recorded. I'm not sure but it may be that all the recordings on which this happened were Columbias. Re Anya: This is a different case. I would think that the two songs listed were recorded. For starters, there are those timings. And it was recorded early, possibly before previews began. If you scroll down to the Trivia & History notes on the linked page, you'll see some info on this. |
|
| Link | Anya cast recording |
| reply to this message | reply to first message | |
| re: CORRECTION: Regarding frequency of HERE'S LOVE productions in Chicago area | |
| Last Edit: BroadwayTonyJ 02:15 pm EST 01/05/19 | |
| Posted by: BroadwayTonyJ 02:14 pm EST 01/05/19 | |
| In reply to: re: CORRECTION: Regarding frequency of HERE'S LOVE productions in Chicago area - Alcindoro 03:18 am EST 01/05/19 | |
|
|
|
| I was 15 years old when I purchased the Here's Love LP in '63. I too was curious about "The Plastic Alligator" and "Nothing in Common". The '92 Sony Broadway CD release has the same numbers as the LP, although the liner notes refer to "Plastic Alligator" as a song of advice Shellhammer sings to his sales clerks to help them get shoppers to buy an over-stocked Christmas toy. You can find a performance of the song on YouTube from a high school production. I just watched it -- it's actually very well done, even delightful. The number is a combination of recitative and singing -- the melody is very similar to that of "That Man Over There". When I saw Here's Love some years ago, the number (performed, of course, by mature adult actors portraying sophisticated Manhattanites) came across as being pretty stupid. I think it works a lot better when you having enthusiastic high schoolers doing it. I've noticed that as early as '98 Columbia Broadway Masterworks began re-issuing much expanded releases of classic Broadway musicals on CD. Recordings of L'il Abner, House of Flowers, Anyone Can Whistle, Gypsy, South Pacific, Finian's Rainbow, Sound of Music, Cabaret, West Side Story, On the Town, Annie, A Chorus Line, and many others were re-released with material that was not on earlier CDs. To my knowledge Here's Love has never received an expanded release. Regarding Anya, Walter Willison states in the CD liner notes that the original LP jacket was printed before the show began performances and contained a number of errors (like listing songs that apparently were either cut or reworked). The song you mention is not listed on IBDB. In addition, Kritzerland's reputation for issuing never before released material on its CDs of Broadway musicals and movie soundtracks is pretty much unmatched in the industry. Most likely if it's not on the Anya CD, it doesn't exist |
|
| reply to this message | reply to first message |
Time to render: 0.026419 seconds.