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| A trio of contemporary recordings and one "classic" | |
| Last Edit: DanielVincent 11:30 pm EST 11/19/22 | |
| Posted by: DanielVincent 11:19 pm EST 11/19/22 | |
| In reply to: Favorite Flop recordings you play a lot (that haven't had many revival "second chances") - PlayWiz 01:02 pm EST 11/19/22 | |
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| Add me to those who've sung the praises of the recordings of The Life, The Visit, High Fidelity, Taboo, and Steel Pier. But here are a few more that, at least in a cursory scan, I didn't notice being singled out. If/Then: This manipulative mess was a guilty pleasure of mine while it was still on Broadway, but its recording makes an especially compelling case for it as more than just an Idina vehicle--though she has never sounded better. The score is incredibly melodic, moving and memorable (#unintentionalillteration). Without having to muddle their way through the misbegotten book, the performers truly shine. Anthony Rapp, James Synder, Jason Tam, Jen Colella, and Jerry Dixon all sound flawless. Rapp, Synder, and Tam all have genuinely tender moments that, despite the stereotypical bluster of musical theatre, succeed because they seem so intimate. Marie Christine was mostly dismissed as pretentious, atonal, and only valuable as a starring vehicle for Audra, but, DEAR LORD, I think the album showcases it as having one of musical theatre's most thought-provoking, complex, and dramatic scores. "Before the Morning" and "Paradise Is Burning Down" accelerate my heart rate like a rigorous workout! Audra's rendition of "Beautiful" is as exciting to me as I think Marvel movies are to the general public. Triumph of Love: I truly believe that one of the major reasons why this musical didn't work on Broadway is because Susan Egan is not a natural enough comedienne to be at the center of a farce; had the show come along just a few years later, it could have been the perfect vehicle for Sutton Foster. Nevertheless, most of Egan's shortcomings don't come through on the record and it's easy to enjoy her smooth vocals. And it's hard to imagine a more impressive supporting cast. Nancy Opel is one of the very few people who can deliver equally on vocal gymnastics and campy humor. Roger Bart and Kevin Chamberlain are both delightful. Though F. Murray Abraham obviously isn't a singer, the mixture of vulnerability and authority he brought to his performance onstage is still captivating on record. And there just aren't enough superlatives for Betty Buckley's performance. Her rendition of Serenity is a master class in stopping a show. She has more of an arc in that one song than most performers discover in their entire shows. It's musical theatre perfection. And speaking of Betty Buckley, it was through her semi-recent London revival that I discovered... Dear World: The bizarro book makes it hard to imagine a production that would work, but, dear lord, the music is fantastic. "And I Was Beautiful", "I Don't Want To Know", and "Each Tomorrow Morning" are as good as any standard from Jerry Herman's better known musicals. And Angela Lansbury's performance on the recording is so specific, so bold, so thoroughly imagined, it's easy to understand how she won a Tony despite the show's very short run. (That being said, I do wish Buckley had gotten the chance to record hers as well.) |
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| re: A trio of contemporary recordings and one "classic" | |
| Posted by: rossprib 02:04 pm EST 11/22/22 | |
| In reply to: A trio of contemporary recordings and one "classic" - DanielVincent 11:19 pm EST 11/19/22 | |
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| In the corner of my mind, I can still see when I saw Betty Buckley sing "Serenity" in Triumph of Love from my half-price, single seat in aisle C of the center orchestra section (on the left side). She was crying as she sang, and I remember thinking, "She does this eight times a week, and it still makes her cry!" One of my top ten theater moments! Just lovely. | |
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| Has no one mentioned my favorite LaChuisa score? | |
| Posted by: GabbyGerard 12:21 am EST 11/21/22 | |
| In reply to: A trio of contemporary recordings and one "classic" - DanielVincent 11:19 pm EST 11/19/22 | |
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| Little Fish!!! It's a shame the original production wasn't recorded because I would love to be able to hear Jennifer Laura Thompson, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, and Lea Delaria sing LaChuisa's score, which has all of his trademark complexity but is also somehow more accessible. The good news is that the "World Premiere Recording" is sensational. Alice Ripley's odd sense of humor has probably never been put to better use, and even though she's already starting to exhibit signs of the vocal damage that would plague her throughout Next to Normal, it lends her singing a weather quality that works quite well for someone who's struggling to quit smoking. And though I'd be just fine never seeing Chad Kimball on another stage, he's in glorious voice. |
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| re: Has no one mentioned my favorite LaChuisa score? | |
| Posted by: Chazwaza 01:28 am EST 11/21/22 | |
| In reply to: Has no one mentioned my favorite LaChuisa score? - GabbyGerard 12:21 am EST 11/21/22 | |
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| Thanks for pushing this... I'm a huge LaChiusa fan, and I somehow still haven't even given this score a listen. | |
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| re: A trio of contemporary recordings and one "classic" | |
| Posted by: NewtonUK 10:40 am EST 11/20/22 | |
| In reply to: A trio of contemporary recordings and one "classic" - DanielVincent 11:19 pm EST 11/19/22 | |
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| HENRY SWEET HENRY (Bob Merrill) SAIL AWAY (Noel Coward) REDHEAD (Albert Hague) FLORA THE RED MENACE (Kander & Ebb) GOLDILOCKS (Leroy Anderson) |
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| re: A trio of contemporary recordings and one "classic" | |
| Last Edit: PlayWiz 11:21 am EST 11/20/22 | |
| Posted by: PlayWiz 11:12 am EST 11/20/22 | |
| In reply to: re: A trio of contemporary recordings and one "classic" - NewtonUK 10:40 am EST 11/20/22 | |
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| I enjoy listening to "Redhead" very much but it wasn't considered a flop -- it ran over a year and won Best Musical and many other Tony awards. It was Bob Fosse's first directing gig and considered maybe the most dance-filled show of Gwen Verdon's career. It's certainly neglected and not done very much though. I'd love to see a production with a worthy and capable triple-threat star who is needed to pull off the female leading role. | |
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| re: A trio of contemporary recordings and one "classic" | |
| Posted by: NewtonUK 02:00 pm EST 11/20/22 | |
| In reply to: re: A trio of contemporary recordings and one "classic" - PlayWiz 11:12 am EST 11/20/22 | |
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| I know it wasnt a flop. Just forgotten. ANd Encores has resolutely refused to consider doing it. I know there is an effort in place to 'fix'; a few things in the book - nothing major - just a few VERY un PC lyrics. and some plot confusion. | |
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| re: A trio of contemporary recordings and one "classic" | |
| Posted by: PlayWiz 02:53 pm EST 11/20/22 | |
| In reply to: re: A trio of contemporary recordings and one "classic" - NewtonUK 02:00 pm EST 11/20/22 | |
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| Jack Viertel apparently just didn't like it. At a party held at City Center after the season some years ago, I even suggested the very capable (and very nice!) Karen Ziemba would be great for "Redhead" to him in her presence; she said "oooh, Redhead!" but he just wasn't enthused about the show. Other people would pitch shows to him at events like that. I once suggested Bette Midler for "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" before it was done there. He said she'd be great, but suggested there would be problems in getting her or dealing with her (or affording her) for the short time period of production, I seem to recall. She'd have been wonderful in the Shirley Booth role. | |
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| re: A trio of contemporary recordings and one "classic" | |
| Posted by: showtunetrivia 08:30 pm EST 11/20/22 | |
| In reply to: re: A trio of contemporary recordings and one "classic" - PlayWiz 02:53 pm EST 11/20/22 | |
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| I saw a concert style production of REDHEAD and was so disappointed. I mean, I was not expecting anyone approaching Verdon, but from the material I saw, the score is infinitely better than the book. In comparison, I saw a similar concert ONE TOUCH OF VENUS, and while the jokes were corny as hell, they were landing with a power that REDHEAD lacked. Laura in LA, who had written a long, long post this morning about her favorite flops and 18th century French plays, but her post timed out and the whole fricking thing was lost—lost, I tell you!—and she’s trying to get the energy to redo the whole thing—and is taking notes on How Not To Lose Long, Complicated ATC Posts from the discussion below |
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| re: A trio of contemporary recordings and one "classic" | |
| Last Edit: PlayWiz 11:01 pm EST 11/20/22 | |
| Posted by: PlayWiz 10:45 pm EST 11/20/22 | |
| In reply to: re: A trio of contemporary recordings and one "classic" - showtunetrivia 08:30 pm EST 11/20/22 | |
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| But you didn't see the effect of the original show with Verdon, which included Fosse's choreography (plus his first directing gig which Verdon insisted upon), and also Tony winning performances from Richard Kiley and Leonard Stone, which apparently made this a real treat. Not many murder musical comedies had been attempted to that point. I've never seen a production, and I'm not expecting an intricately plotted Agatha Christie or Arthur Conan Doyle work. Once Verdon attached to this show (after having already won 3 Tonys), it became a vehicle very much for her. I think besides the Karen Ziemba suggestion I mentioned in the thread for more recent years, that someone like Sandy Duncan might have been marvelous in the role. I'm not sure if toured or did stock much without Verdon (who looks like had "I'll Try" removed from the tour). But the difficulty of casting a star dancing lady of Verdon's triple-threat ability, combined with the kind of sensitivity and lovability she radiated, has made revivals hard to approximate how wonderful I've heard the original described. I appreciate your and keikekaze's attempts to try to reconstruct your original lost/timed out apparently lengthy responses. |
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| re: A trio of contemporary recordings and one "classic" | |
| Posted by: AlanScott 11:36 pm EST 11/20/22 | |
| In reply to: re: A trio of contemporary recordings and one "classic" - PlayWiz 10:45 pm EST 11/20/22 | |
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| Redhead did tour successfully and then had at least two summer-stock tours as well as productions at such venues as the Muny, Paper Mill and I think at least a few others. | |
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| re: A trio of contemporary recordings and one "classic" | |
| Last Edit: PlayWiz 10:53 pm EST 11/20/22 | |
| Posted by: PlayWiz 10:44 pm EST 11/20/22 | |
| In reply to: re: A trio of contemporary recordings and one "classic" - showtunetrivia 08:30 pm EST 11/20/22 | |
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| sorry - this posted as a duplicate before when I edited the above. But since it's here, I love "Greenwillow", most of "Steel Pier" in addition to ones I've mentioned before, and I'm probably forgetting some. "Pipe Dream" has a mostly fine score, and that's considered one of Rodgers & Hammerstein's biggest flops. Love listening to how well Judy Tyler's voice kept up with Wagnerian Helen Traubel in duet. |
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| re: A trio of contemporary recordings and one "classic" | |
| Posted by: showtunetrivia 11:01 pm EST 11/20/22 | |
| In reply to: re: A trio of contemporary recordings and one "classic" - PlayWiz 10:44 pm EST 11/20/22 | |
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| I tried to take that into account, PlayWiz. The ONE TOUCH OF VENUS I mentioned also didn’t have full choreography. I understand that a Verdon type star and full Fosse choreography could elevate damn near anything to a considerable degree. It was the book that just didn’t land with me: not the way the plot developed, or the way the characters interacted (some of that was downright cringe-worthy). The material was weak. Laura in LA |
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| re: A trio of contemporary recordings and one "classic" | |
| Posted by: keikekaze 12:54 am EST 11/20/22 | |
| In reply to: A trio of contemporary recordings and one "classic" - DanielVincent 11:19 pm EST 11/19/22 | |
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| I had mentioned Triumph of Love, just in passing, in a post below. I had mentioned it at greater length in an earlier version, before I got timed out and lost the post. The show is a longtime favorite of mine, and I listen to it regularly. I think it has one of the best-crafted scores of its decade. It's a shame that one of the very best songs, Buckley's "If I Cannot Love," a breathtaking song, was cut from the show. It was replaced by "Serenity." Happily, the CD includes both songs in Buckley's original performances of them. If I had to guess about why the show failed on Broadway, I'd speculate that one of the show's few flaws is that we're not always quite sure how seriously to take the characters. Clearly, the three servants are meant to be "just" clowns--and that's fine. But what of the four others? There's a great deal emotionally at stake in most of their songs--they're heartbreaking as well as funny, for the most part. But Hesione and Hermocrites, too, are sometimes treated as if they were "just" clowns. I find myself a bit taken aback by that, sometimes. |
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| Marie Christine, 100% -- and LaChiusa's The Wild Party | |
| Last Edit: Chazwaza 11:27 pm EST 11/19/22 | |
| Posted by: Chazwaza 11:24 pm EST 11/19/22 | |
| In reply to: A trio of contemporary recordings and one "classic" - DanielVincent 11:19 pm EST 11/19/22 | |
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| I couldn't agree more. Marie Christine was a compelling, fascinating show to see, but the score lives on to me as a standout in the top tier of modern musical scores, and is easily one of the most original and dynamic scores I've ever heard. The Wild Party i think is a masterwork... i forget sometimes that it flopped on broadway because I was so wowed by it, the show, the score, the cast. It was incredible. And as piece of writing, I can't say enough about it. Neither has had much life since the broadway runs... though I do think the cast album to Wild Party is pretty well regarded and a favorite among musical theater nerds. Somehow despite Marie Christine being a vehicle written for Audra, and some of the most compelling and impressing singing and acting she's done (which is saying a lot), MC doesn't seem, to me, to have had the same amount of life as an album even. I listen to both cast albums A LOT. LaChiusa has never had a "hit" show, they have all either done their scheduled runs (maybe a few extensions) at the non-profit they started at, or failed on Broadway. That doesn't make any of them failures to me, but I don't see them as "flops" because most were off-bway and not intended to have long runs. Some of more life regionally and in schools than others. But I think i'd put *many* of his scores in this thread. MC and WP of course, Bernarda Alba which is stunning to me, See What I Wanna See is produced more than many of his works but not enough, Giant... so many. And many of his shows have cast albums, but some don't (including The Highest Yellow, Rain, and the recent Gardens of Anuncia which was absolutely wonderful). High hopes for his new musical, workshopping in nyc right now. |
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| LaChiusa's The Wild Party | |
| Posted by: DanielVincent 12:19 am EST 11/20/22 | |
| In reply to: Marie Christine, 100% -- and LaChiusa's The Wild Party - Chazwaza 11:24 pm EST 11/19/22 | |
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| I'd rank as one of the five best scores of the 1990s. The only reason I didn't mention it is because, based on my own experience, I assumed it *has* been produced quite a bit since its Broadway production. I've seen three productions in Chicago and one production in New York. | |
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| re: LaChiusa's The Wild Party | |
| Posted by: Chazwaza 01:19 am EST 11/20/22 | |
| In reply to: LaChiusa's The Wild Party - DanielVincent 12:19 am EST 11/20/22 | |
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| Top 5 of the 90s is a big honor for a decade that includes Kiss of the Spider Woman, Passion, City of Angels, Once On This Island, Secret Garden, Titanic, Parade, The Life, Rent, Ragtime, Violet, Hedwig and Floyd Collins! But... It technically premiered in 2000, and not even on the cusp, in March. Marie Christine was technically 1999, on the cusp... but the both ran around the same time, but they didn't even run concurrently, which screws with my mind because I remember seeing them within 2 weeks of each other, but MC closed Jan 9 and WP didn't start until March 10. But I wouldn't object to calling them both 2000, because that's their Tonys year. I'd rank Wild Party as one of the top 5 scores of the 2000s too (competitors include Caroline or Change, Piazza, Hairspray, Taboo, Spring Awakening, Grey Gardens, In the Heights, Passing Strange, Color Purple, Wicked) ... and in the Top 10 scores of the last 30 years. But when was there a NYC production of LaChiusa's Wild Party after the broadway run? I'm generally not aware of many productions of it, sadly. It was produced once in LA that I'm aware of, by a small theater, maybe 10 years ago. And that was largely because they have a relationship with MJLaC. |
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| Don’t forget The Lion King, Side Show, When Pigs Fly, Zombie Prom, even Scarlett Pimpernel | |
| Last Edit: KingSpeed 05:19 pm EST 11/20/22 | |
| Posted by: KingSpeed 05:16 pm EST 11/20/22 | |
| In reply to: re: LaChiusa's The Wild Party - Chazwaza 01:19 am EST 11/20/22 | |
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| All from the 90s | |
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| re: Don’t forget The Lion King, Side Show, When Pigs Fly, Zombie Prom, even Scarlett Pimpernel | |
| Last Edit: Chazwaza 01:27 am EST 11/21/22 | |
| Posted by: Chazwaza 01:26 am EST 11/21/22 | |
| In reply to: Don’t forget The Lion King, Side Show, When Pigs Fly, Zombie Prom, even Scarlett Pimpernel - KingSpeed 05:16 pm EST 11/20/22 | |
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| I'm not sure I'd consider most of those among the competitors for top 5 of the decade. Maybe Lion King. But I dunno if my love for the opening number and the songs added for the stage show move it close enough to the top for me to even consider it in the top 10. | |
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| Oops! I feel stupid… | |
| Posted by: DanielVincent 12:33 pm EST 11/20/22 | |
| In reply to: re: LaChiusa's The Wild Party - Chazwaza 01:19 am EST 11/20/22 | |
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| I remembered The Wild Party as being a musical of the 1990s because I associate it with running while I was in high school. I forgot, of course, that the tail end of my high school career was indeed in 2000. (And now you all know how old I am.) At any rate, in 2007, “Columbia Stages,” which I think is just the gussied up name of MFA productions at Columbia University, did The Wild Party. Anne Tolpegin, who would later cover Marin Mazzie in Carrie and go on several times, was Mae, and Katy Frame, who is now better known as part of the comedy country duo Reformed Whores, was Nadine. |
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| re: the superior Wild Party | |
| Posted by: kidmanboy 08:10 am EST 11/20/22 | |
| In reply to: re: LaChiusa's The Wild Party - Chazwaza 01:19 am EST 11/20/22 | |
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| What's most frustrating is that Lipppa's Wild Party seems to get much more attention - the Encores Off-Center production, schools and regional theaters, etc. I was shocked at Encores by how little that version mines from the story compared to LaChiusa's. It made me downright angry that they did that version before LaChiusa's, which I think is a masterpiece and hope it gets its day again in NY in my lifetime. | |
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| re: the superior Wild Party | |
| Posted by: Chazwaza 02:36 pm EST 11/20/22 | |
| In reply to: re: the superior Wild Party - kidmanboy 08:10 am EST 11/20/22 | |
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| I couldn't agree more. Looking at the two supposed adaptations offers a masterclass in adaptation from LaChiusa & Wolfe, compared to a surface level lazy attempt by Lippa. I'll grant that Lippa's score is fun, and a lot of people like it, but the show itself is not my cup of tea... whereas I can't get enough of LaChiusa's. LaChiusa's score is an intelligent layered masterpiece and is also very fun - a lot more fun if you ask me. I think Encores did Lippa's because Sutton wanted to do it (miscast though she was). But I think it was a bad choice. It's also a show that gets produced pretty often around the country. |
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| I love Andrew Lippa's wild 'Wild Party' | |
| Last Edit: WaymanWong 01:42 pm EST 11/20/22 | |
| Posted by: WaymanWong 01:28 pm EST 11/20/22 | |
| In reply to: re: the superior Wild Party - kidmanboy 08:10 am EST 11/20/22 | |
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| I didn't get to see Encores' version with Sutton Foster, Steven Pasquale, Brandon Victor Dixon and Joaquina Kalukango in 2015. Or the West End revival in 2019. But I caught the original 2000 Off-Broadway production a couple of times at Manhattan Theater Club. What a great and energetic cast! Brian d'Arcy James, Idina Menzel, Julia Murney, Taye Diggs and Alix Korey. I've never forget Korey bringing down the house with ''An Old-Fashioned Love Story'' or James raising the roof with ''Let Me Drown.'' Plus, Michael Gibson's rousing orchestrations. But above all, Andrew Lippa's sensational score, which (to me) is one of the most terrifically tuneful ones of the 2000s. Other songs I enjoyed: ''A Wild, Wild Party,'' ''Raise the Roof,'' ''What Is It About Her?'' and ''How Did We Come to This?'' I wish Lippa's show moved to Broadway for the Tony attention it deserved. Oh, well. We've always got the cast album. ''What a Party,'' indeed. |
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| Link | 'The Wild Party' - Off-Broadway 2000 - Reviewer's Reel (snippets of the show) |
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