Thanks for asking. Here is what I think Hal did completely wrong. He gave an important song, You are Love which is the first important song in Act II, sung by the romantic leads and gave it as a lullaby to Elaine Stritch as Magnolia's mother, Parthy Ann. He commissioned new arrangements of several key first act songs (Make Believe and possibly Can't Help Lovin' That Man of Mine). He changed the dramatic arc of Act II and lastly he made the opening and closing scenes of Act I less grand than they were originally and need to be. My thought is if you don't trust the classic show you are reviving, leave it alone for someone else who does.
For a superb introduction to the show, the studio version by John McGlinn with ALL of the music and more than enough dialogue to follow it will get your feet wet. I won't say that the show has aged well, there are some built in difficulties, but it really is the first integrated (songs and story) musical, long before Oklahoma is credited for doing this. There are many moments of absolute loveliness and grandure. The first act plays quite well as written, the second act has issues and some stuff that simply can't be allowed on stage today because of racial sensitivites. It is possible to trim these away and still have a playable second act although dramatically it is not tight. |
