| re: MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG -- Can the Original 1981 Version Ever Be Shown Again? | |
| Posted by: AlanScott 07:02 pm EDT 08/24/22 | |
| In reply to: MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG -- Can the Original 1981 Version Ever Be Shown Again? - BroadwayTonyJ 06:16 pm EDT 08/24/22 | |
|
|
|
| You are asking the question correctly. Whoever is in charge of the Furth and Sondheim estates, at least on this particular matter, would have to decide. I have wondered if Furth left Sondheim in charge of the decisions on the shows they wrote together. I think Furth would have been very unhappy with what was allowed to be done to the book in the Encores! and Fiasco-Roundabout productions. The version that opened on Broadway was never licensed. The version that was licensed had a few changes. Pretty much everyone I know prefers the original version. Some see at least some merit in some things in the revision. Some think nothing whatsoever in the revision is an improvement. As I've said here many times, I like a few things here and there in the revision, but overall I think it was a mistake. Since they felt such a strong need to revise it, I would have much preferred if they had gone back to some stuff that was cut during previews. I don't think they solved all the problems in 1981, but even people who thought the original was a major failure often admitted that the last couple of scenes were very moving. I do think the casting of young people was at least part of the reason. I have never seen a production of the revision in which I found the last scene very moving. I don't recall ever hearing or reading any members of the original cast opine on the question you are wondering about. If I have, I have forgotten. If someone with a great track record and a lot of clout wanted to do the original or wanted to create a new version using stuff from various versions, perhaps the folks who will now be making the decisions would allow it. Might the first licensed version ever be licensed again? I would like to think so. Generally, I think it's a kind of rotten thing for writers, composers, film directors, etc., to completely forbid versions of their work that they once approved from ever being seen or heard again. Hell, I wish the extended dance music for "Now You Know," heard in at least one or two early post-Broadway productions, would be made available again. I think it was soon dropped from the materials that were sent out. My sense from what I have read and heard is that Furth more than Sondheim was the driving force behind revising the work as greatly as they did and forbidding the original version from being seen again. |
|
| reply | |
|
|
|
| Previous: | re: MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG -- Can the Original 1981 Version Ever Be Shown Again? - WaymanWong 02:53 am EDT 08/25/22 |
| Next: | re: MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG -- Can the Original 1981 Version Ever Be Shown Again? - BroadwayTonyJ 07:39 pm EDT 08/24/22 |
| Thread: |
|
Time to render: 0.062691 seconds.