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| re: MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG -- Can the Original 1981 Version Ever Be Shown Again? | |
| Posted by: AlanScott 07:21 pm EDT 08/24/22 | |
| In reply to: re: MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG -- Can the Original 1981 Version Ever Be Shown Again? - comedywest 07:05 pm EDT 08/24/22 | |
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| "When they did the reunion concert in 2002, Ann Morrison said they wanted to used the original book, but Furth wouldn't allow that (which pissed more than a few people off)." Since you have said what I was reluctant to say in my post below, I will add that Furth did not attend the concert. What I have heard, and perhaps you have heard the same, is that this was because of the elements of the original that he did not want to be done. He was persuaded to allow those things, but he was not happy. As you (and Ann Morrison) say, they wanted to do the original book, or at least a lot more of it, and he would not allow that. He would allow only a minimal amount of the original dialogue to be included. Sondheim attended, of course. Prince was reluctant to attend, because he felt he had failed the cast in 1981, but he was persuaded to attend and was very glad he did. |
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| re: MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG -- Can the Original 1981 Version Ever Be Shown Again? | |
| Posted by: comedywest 07:53 pm EDT 08/24/22 | |
| In reply to: re: MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG -- Can the Original 1981 Version Ever Be Shown Again? - AlanScott 07:21 pm EDT 08/24/22 | |
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| And since all my information is based on a few conversations I've had recently, I was a little hesitant about sharing, but I was lucky enough to be at that concert. I didn't know any of the back story at the time. I just saw Prince and Sondheim hug and figured all was well with them. Morrison said ( to me and I think it was in her recent show) that "I know now that the big problem was the book." snap But as you said, the original ending was powerful. I wonder what Furth could possibly have disliked about that original production so much that he wouldn't even give it a shot in the reunion concert. |
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| re: MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG -- Can the Original 1981 Version Ever Be Shown Again? | |
| Last Edit: Chazwaza 08:36 pm EDT 08/24/22 | |
| Posted by: Chazwaza 08:29 pm EDT 08/24/22 | |
| In reply to: re: MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG -- Can the Original 1981 Version Ever Be Shown Again? - comedywest 07:53 pm EDT 08/24/22 | |
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| At the end of the day, my final thought is a simple but mighty one... it is that whatever they think they fixed in act one or even the first half of act 2, gutting and undoing the incredible and unique emotional momentum and impact of the last few scenes/songs nullifies any good any other rewriting did or is said to have done for the show. It is now a hollow shell of what it once was, flaws and all. And of course that is only achieved from setting up certain things in act one, like the graduation opening scene. And I don't think most of the revisions before the last 1/4 of the show are improvements, mostly I think they have weakened and worsened it. There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that Furth especially, and Sondheim, were so traumatized and scarred by the experience of how the broadway production went after the first preview that their vision was clouded and tainted irrevocably. They were no more able to revise it for the better than they were able to see it for what it was anymore. In my estimation. Watching the Merrily documentary film is all the more heartbreaking to see them and Hal discussing what they intended, why the wrote the show, what they were doing... because in their trauma-fueled rewriting and re-seeing of it, they betrayed so much, and so much that was essential, to why the piece came into existence and why they wrote it originally the way they did, and what about it worked (so much). Just simplified, to have an original production that has such an unusual conceit of the young cast AND the backwards timeline together, in a production that doesn't try out anywhere before opening directly on broadway, AND to have the legendary director have a creative breakdown and sabotage the entire endeavor with his last minute changes to the look and feel of the show... I mean, it's absolutely bonkers that Sondheim & Furth never let that version of the script and score be produced by another director without the T-shirts etc, to see if it works as is, or as a 80% foundation that works but needed a bit more revising/polishing... but they wrote the entire thing off. The issue, I really maintain, was much more the production mixed with the reception at the time on Broadway, not the SHOW. The show was not something that even should have been on Broadway. It should exist as it was and performed *IN SCHOOLS* or in regional and community theaters by a cast of young people... where the audience understands the conceit going in. This wasn't meant to be a musical for 40 year olds to perform all the roles, and it doesn't work this way any more than it did with 22 year olds. But the 22 year olds version... where it works, it works exponentially better and with more emotional impact and creativity than the 40 years version ever does. It's such a shame. And you know what... given that the show still works backwards and still has the same actors playing all ages of the timeline, including the young versions... so there's no real reason the show can't STILL start with a graduation, why did they think it had to start in Frank's home for the movie party? |
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| re: MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG -- Can the Original 1981 Version Ever Be Shown Again? | |
| Posted by: AlanScott 08:04 pm EDT 08/24/22 | |
| In reply to: re: MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG -- Can the Original 1981 Version Ever Be Shown Again? - comedywest 07:53 pm EDT 08/24/22 | |
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| I think he felt that a lot of the changes he made were made under duress. Which was why I would have hoped that some stuff would have been restored when they revised it, but little if anything was restored, except "The Blob," which was not the book. And to me "The Blob" makes little sense with the mix-and-not-really-match Gussie of the revision. It seems that both Furth and Sondheim felt that the problem was casting young people. The script and score had been written for young people to perform. A lot of the playfulness of the original book disappeared. I think one problem with the revision is that if the book was going to be changed that much, the score needed to be changed a lot more to fit the book. Sondheim wrote his score to fit that book. The book pretty much preceded the score. But since most everyone liked the score a lot, relatively little of the score changed, at least compared to how much the book changed. I don't think they fit together all that well now. And who are those people singing to us at the beginning and why are they singing to us? Productions keep trying to solve this via staging and projections, but there is a limit to what can be done without bringing back the frame. |
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| re: MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG -- Can the Original 1981 Version Ever Be Shown Again? | |
| Posted by: Chromolume 10:33 pm EDT 08/24/22 | |
| In reply to: re: MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG -- Can the Original 1981 Version Ever Be Shown Again? - AlanScott 08:04 pm EDT 08/24/22 | |
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| And who are those people singing to us at the beginning and why are they singing to us? Productions keep trying to solve this via staging and projections, but there is a limit to what can be done without bringing back the frame. And why, in one of the last "Merrily Transitions" (if not the last), is Frank Jr - labelled as such - singing to us, before he was born? :-) |
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| re: MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG -- Can the Original 1981 Version Ever Be Shown Again? | |
| Posted by: Chazwaza 08:33 pm EDT 08/24/22 | |
| In reply to: re: MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG -- Can the Original 1981 Version Ever Be Shown Again? - AlanScott 08:04 pm EDT 08/24/22 | |
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| 100%. And what's even more infuriating is that the framework of the graduation is SO good and works SO well, and it is a perfectly good motivation for the opening title song to be sung. In the current version it is awkward and meaningless... not to mention how awkwardly stunted the song feels in so many places now with the revisions/cuts he made in it. If they were going to revise it to cut the high school graduation, you'd think they'd have at least subbed it out for some kind of lifetime achievement film award, or People's Choice award or something where he's thanking people and comes to Mary and Charley... and the people in the audience or at the gala are the ones who sing back to him for him to reflect. |
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| re: MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG -- Can the Original 1981 Version Ever Be Shown Again? | |
| Posted by: Chazwaza 07:33 pm EDT 08/24/22 | |
| In reply to: re: MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG -- Can the Original 1981 Version Ever Be Shown Again? - AlanScott 07:21 pm EDT 08/24/22 | |
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| I also attended, and I will never forget it. :) | |
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| re: MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG -- Can the Original 1981 Version Ever Be Shown Again? | |
| Posted by: comedywest 07:57 pm EDT 08/24/22 | |
| In reply to: re: MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG -- Can the Original 1981 Version Ever Be Shown Again? - Chazwaza 07:33 pm EDT 08/24/22 | |
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| At 1:00 that afternoon, a co-worker said, "I have an extra ticket to the Merrily Reunion concert, would you like to go? It's $50." (I think) Sold! I ran out to an ATM. One of the best moves I ever made. |
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| re: MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG -- Can the Original 1981 Version Ever Be Shown Again? | |
| Posted by: AlanScott 07:52 pm EDT 08/24/22 | |
| In reply to: re: MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG -- Can the Original 1981 Version Ever Be Shown Again? - Chazwaza 07:33 pm EDT 08/24/22 | |
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| I was there, too. | |
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| re: MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG -- Can the Original 1981 Version Ever Be Shown Again? | |
| Posted by: WaymanWong 02:53 am EDT 08/25/22 | |
| In reply to: re: MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG -- Can the Original 1981 Version Ever Be Shown Again? - AlanScott 07:52 pm EDT 08/24/22 | |
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| That ''Merrily'' concert might just be my favorite musical reunion of all time, and it was so great to see Sondheim and Prince there together! | |
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