| re: Billy Porter injects life into “The Life” and Ledisi stops the show | |
| Last Edit: Chazwaza 05:22 am EDT 03/19/22 | |
| Posted by: Chazwaza 05:11 am EDT 03/19/22 | |
| In reply to: Billy Porter injects life into “The Life” and Ledisi stops the show - Singapore/Fling 11:24 pm EDT 03/18/22 | |
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| I haven't seen this production/version, and can't speak to how it works on its own or as compared to the original version... but The Life has a big cast that has to handle a lot of tonal shifts as actors, has to sing extremely well, and has to perform a show about sex workers. It requires "hooker" clothing, has very adult context and content in the text and lyrics and theme, in both its humor and its often dark drama/melodrama ... I think there were many reasons it hasn't been performed more around the country since it closed on broadway, and I am willing to bet that it being "occasionally inspiring but often embarrassing" as a piece of writing is much lower on that list of reasons for most theaters than the adult content and difficulty casting it/pulling it off. I suspect for most musicals that are easier to pull off, more appropriate, and more sellable, being "fresh from a successful Broadway run" and "the most Tony nominated musical of last year" or just "12 time Tony nominated musical straight from Broadway" (which many theaters would say even years after it closed on bway) would be enough reason for many theaters to program a musical... if it weren't about sex workers in 1979 Times Sq... I said this replying to another posting of yours about The Life, but I can't help myself :) You can have your opinion and paint it however you want, but I think I made a very convincing case that especially in the late 90s, it was not by any means universally considered the trashy mess or bad and embarrassing musical you describe -- again in was nominated for 12 Tonys including Musical, Score, Book and Director (a year when another major new original new musical was left out of most of those categories), it *won* Best Musical at the Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle and Drama League, and Best Music at Drama Desk ... it ran over a year (like I said in another post, longer than many better musicals and many worse musicals), it had two albums, it got mixed reviews, and there was even a glowing review/article on the specific joy of seeing the show for all it's many flaws and many shining strengths. Many many bad musicals with embarrassing writing but wonderful scores are performed more that The Life, including after a relatively successful Broadway run... I bet they are a lot easier to cast, pull off, and sell to a wide ticket buying audience. The Scottsboro Boys also got a heap of Tony noms, also lost them, and also is rarely performed since Broadway. It's certainly not because it's embarrassing and messy and bad... it is very challenging, adult, difficult to cast and dealing with dark subject matter but with comedy and drama. I'm not comparing them at all in terms of class or quality over all ... but on paper you could reduce them to the same presumed reasons they haven't had much production since Broadway, with a very similar response of noms/loses from The Tonys in their years. (I'm not saying the original The Life wasn't messy, or in places/ways bad or embarrassing, but I think it's better and more worthwhile overall and just as a score than you painted it... but no matter what either of us think of it as a musical, I still think there were reasons higher up on the list that made it less produced after Broadway.) |
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