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| re: SHENANDOAH: Thoughts and Memories? | |
| Last Edit: hugoP 12:31 am EDT 08/23/20 | |
| Posted by: hugoP 12:29 am EDT 08/23/20 | |
| In reply to: SHENANDOAH: Thoughts and Memories? - EvFoDr 02:53 pm EDT 08/20/20 | |
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| I was in high school when it premiered on Broadway, and was just starting to travel into the city (from Long Island) to grab half-price tickets or standing room for any new show that looked interesting. It was also in those early years of Broadway tv commercials, and SHENANDOAH had a really exciting one-two punch of tv spots-- one of John Cullum doing his stunning soliloquy, the other featuring the song "Freedom." Together, those two numbers (or the 30 seconds or so we got to see of them) promised a powerful old-fashioned Broadway musical... I wasn't surprised it ran for a long time. I saw it several times during its run, and I really liked the score and the book. I remember loving the fact that it was set in a really pivotal moment in US history, and it might have been my first appreciation of how musicals could use history effectively. I thought SHENANDOAH had a lot of, well, gravitas. Not long after, though, I saw PACIFIC OVERTURES and that production really blew me away with its incredibly powerful and challenging look at history, and complicity and responsibility. Suddenly, SHENANDOAH seemed a bit, I guess, simplistic. Final thought: I did not see another production of SHENANDOAH til last year, more than 40 years after I saw the original. Serenbe Playhouse outside Atlanta did a site-immersive version and, while it was beautifully staged and sung (everything there has been), it made me realize the show itself is not very good and has not held up well at all. "We Make A Beautiful Pair", a lovely country number, was the highlight this time around. "Freedom" seemed naive, at best. |
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| re: SHENANDOAH: Thoughts and Memories? | |
| Posted by: EvFoDr 08:14 am EDT 08/23/20 | |
| In reply to: re: SHENANDOAH: Thoughts and Memories? - hugoP 12:29 am EDT 08/23/20 | |
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| Thank you! This is exactly the of-the-moment type stuff I love hearing about. And appreciate that you were able to contrast what made it so appealing in the moment to what (likely) makes it more forgotten these days. | |
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| re: SHENANDOAH: Thoughts and Memories? | |
| Posted by: hugoP 12:21 am EDT 08/24/20 | |
| In reply to: re: SHENANDOAH: Thoughts and Memories? - EvFoDr 08:14 am EDT 08/23/20 | |
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| I appreciated that you asked the question. It brought me back to a time when I would step off the LIRR at Penn Station, hike up to the TKTS booth, and get in a long line hoping for a good seat to a show I was excited to see (or see again). It was the biggest thrill, and I felt very grown up back then as a 15-year-old in 1975. I saw lots of shows, multiple times (like SHENANDOAH), and could easily afford it with my paper route money (delivered New York Newsday and the Daily News) I miss those days. I miss Broadway. I miss live theatre. And I can hardly wait for it all to return, someday. I realize some resourceful groups are doing what they can, where they can. And I love them for that. As I tell my grown up kids these days: never take any of it for granted. When it's available, make sure you take full advantage of it-- live theatre, live music, live performance of any sort. Oh, and I still read the newspaper, though I have no idea who delivers the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal to my door each morning! |
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| re: SHENANDOAH: Thoughts and Memories? | |
| Posted by: AlanScott 01:10 am EDT 08/24/20 | |
| In reply to: re: SHENANDOAH: Thoughts and Memories? - hugoP 12:21 am EDT 08/24/20 | |
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| Ah, at least three of us on this board had paper routes during this period, and we used the money we made to buy theatre tickets. :) The other two of us are just a bit older and we were no longer doing it by 1975. | |
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