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| re: When you saw the original... | |
| Posted by: toros 02:52 pm EST 11/25/22 | |
| In reply to: When you saw the original... - peter3053 02:24 pm EST 11/25/22 | |
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| Ha! Assuming you're serious, it definiately got better. It was crazy sloppy for over a week, and then started to shape up, and by opening night, it was potent. I still prefer almost everything about the original production. | |
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| re: When you saw the original... | |
| Posted by: jjhbb340 06:10 pm EST 11/25/22 | |
| In reply to: re: When you saw the original... - toros 02:52 pm EST 11/25/22 | |
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| I'm with you-NO other production has ever touched it. The cast may have been only kids,but they were so sincere and true-every minute was heartfelt and ultimately heart breaking. Thank God for the cast album! | |
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| re: When you saw the original... | |
| Posted by: bobjohnny 03:48 pm EST 11/25/22 | |
| In reply to: re: When you saw the original... - toros 02:52 pm EST 11/25/22 | |
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| I saw the original Broadway production of Merrily the week it opened. It was dreadful. Like a high school production of "Company." Go back and read the Sunday NYT profile of the show that featured a long interview with Hal Prince. It was published the week the show opened on Broadway. You can tell from that interview Prince knew he had a major major dud on his hands. | |
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| re: When you saw the original... | |
| Posted by: Chazwaza 11:00 pm EST 11/25/22 | |
| In reply to: re: When you saw the original... - bobjohnny 03:48 pm EST 11/25/22 | |
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| I am one who is vocal about how much better the original version, cast and production were than what's come since. And whether one thinks it was good, great or a mess, it was nowhere near as bad or as messy as you're describing. Perhaps you can at least accept that the original still stands, for some of us, as untouched by future productions simply because none of the rewrites have improved it (I'd say confidently they've almost all made it worse, as a script, a score and a musical as a while) and that for all its many many issues, no staging or cast since has been better. That doesn't mean the original production was flawless or that others haven't had good things... but I can say I've seen many productions (of the revised version), and i would pick the Prince staging/production, the bad and the good, over the ones I've seen since (the good and the bad). |
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| re: When you saw the original... | |
| Last Edit: toros 09:13 am EST 11/26/22 | |
| Posted by: toros 09:06 am EST 11/26/22 | |
| In reply to: re: When you saw the original... - Chazwaza 11:00 pm EST 11/25/22 | |
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| I agree completely about the original production being the best. I've enjoyed many productions since, but none as much. I'm always reminded, and was again at NYTW, that the show wasn't just cast with kids, it was written for kids. That was the conception. So many of the lyrics, and all of the transitions sound like kids - Frank's high school classmates, who, as originally conceived, follow him from the graduation ceremony, watching and commenting on his life. It worked beautifully. Since the graduation has been eliminated, but the transitions remain, I always wonder who these people are, and why they are following Frank around, admonishing him. Of late, they appear before the movie premiere party, so they're not his recent, Hollywood friends Some productions find a way of integrating them better than others, but they never make much sense to me. And at NYTW, especially in the first act, they seem completely out of place. | |
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| re: When you saw the original... | |
| Posted by: Chromolume 12:20 pm EST 11/26/22 | |
| In reply to: re: When you saw the original... - toros 09:06 am EST 11/26/22 | |
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| There's also a very strange gaffe in the revised version, with Frank Jr appearing in the final transition, which means it's happening before he was even conceived(in fact, before Frank and Beth even met) if the timeline means anything at all. I've never understood that. | |
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| re: When you saw the original... | |
| Posted by: showtunetrivia 03:41 pm EST 11/26/22 | |
| In reply to: re: When you saw the original... - Chromolume 12:20 pm EST 11/26/22 | |
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| Hey, I’m the one mashing up Broadway and science fiction here! Laura in LA |
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| re: When you saw the original... | |
| Posted by: AlanScott 10:34 pm EST 11/25/22 | |
| In reply to: re: When you saw the original... - bobjohnny 03:48 pm EST 11/25/22 | |
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| Do you think that those of us who loved the production — as toros did, as I did, as jjhbb340 did — haven't read that piece? And do you think if we read it again that we would change our minds? I don't get the point of that suggestion. I know what was said in the piece. I've read it a number of times over the years, starting on the Saturday night when that edition of the Sunday Times appeared on the newsstands. I read it when I came back from second-acting Merrily. I had seen it four times complete and I was to see it two more times complete, plus one more second act. I don't think any production since then has even come close to that production. I'm sorry you didn't enjoy it as some of us did. I promise you it's more than just us three who loved it. Not that it matters how many people loved it. Even if it were just one person, that person has the right to have that opinion. I don't mind you stating your opinion, but even if Hal Prince feared it was a dud, should that change someone else's higher opinion of his work? It feels like you're trying to make us change our opinion. I don't want to try to make you change yours. You can be wrong as much as you want. :) |
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| re: When you saw the original... | |
| Posted by: toros 05:57 pm EST 11/25/22 | |
| In reply to: re: When you saw the original... - bobjohnny 03:48 pm EST 11/25/22 | |
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| I'm sure you can imagine how many times over the years I have heard from those who share your opinion. Hal also thought he had a hit on his hands with "A Doll's Life." I remain unswerved in my appraisal. Happy holidays! | |
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| re: When you saw the original... | |
| Last Edit: Dale 05:51 pm EST 11/25/22 | |
| Posted by: Dale 05:50 pm EST 11/25/22 | |
| In reply to: re: When you saw the original... - bobjohnny 03:48 pm EST 11/25/22 | |
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| I saw it early on when a different actor was Franklin Shepard. Wild how that fall into the "swimming pool" stopped the show DEAD! I know someone in that cast and as a budding teenager she wasn't fond of wearing all white on stage. |
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| re: When you saw the original... | |
| Posted by: toros 05:59 pm EST 11/25/22 | |
| In reply to: re: When you saw the original... - Dale 05:50 pm EST 11/25/22 | |
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| Wait till you see what happens at NYTW! | |
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| re: When you saw the original... | |
| Posted by: showtunetrivia 05:57 pm EST 11/25/22 | |
| In reply to: re: When you saw the original... - Dale 05:50 pm EST 11/25/22 | |
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| (imagining horrible mashup of MERRILY and SUNSET BLVD…) Laura, too tired to conjure parody lyrics today |
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| re: "Imagining horrible mashup of MERRILY and SUNSET BLVD" | |
| Posted by: Dale 06:37 pm EST 11/25/22 | |
| In reply to: re: When you saw the original... - showtunetrivia 05:57 pm EST 11/25/22 | |
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| Both have a swimming pool... maybe a revival of "Wish You Were Here"??? | |
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| Unaware of the caliber of disaster... | |
| Posted by: peter3053 02:34 pm EST 11/26/22 | |
| In reply to: re: "Imagining horrible mashup of MERRILY and SUNSET BLVD" - Dale 06:37 pm EST 11/25/22 | |
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| As Harold Hill once (almost) said, "You are unaware of the caliber of disaster indicated by the presence of a POOL in your MUSICAL.... Well, ya got trouble, My friend..." |
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| re: Unaware of the caliber of disaster... | |
| Posted by: AlanScott 05:12 pm EST 11/26/22 | |
| In reply to: Unaware of the caliber of disaster... - peter3053 02:34 pm EST 11/26/22 | |
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| Seems like all this pool talk provides a good excuse for me to link this interview with me about Merrily. | |
| Link | Merrily history interview with yours truly |
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| re: Unaware of the caliber of disaster... | |
| Posted by: WaymanWong 10:03 pm EST 11/26/22 | |
| In reply to: re: Unaware of the caliber of disaster... - AlanScott 05:12 pm EST 11/26/22 | |
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| Thanks, Alan, for reposting that. I never saw it before. What a wonderful interview. ''Isn't it nice to know a lot?'' And you certainly do! ;) |
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| re: Unaware of the caliber of disaster... | |
| Posted by: Ann 06:01 pm EST 11/26/22 | |
| In reply to: re: Unaware of the caliber of disaster... - AlanScott 05:12 pm EST 11/26/22 | |
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| That was amazing, Alan. I don't remember reading it before, though it's possible I did. | |
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| Alan’s wonderful article, two above from here | |
| Posted by: lordofspeech 09:09 pm EST 11/26/22 | |
| In reply to: re: Unaware of the caliber of disaster... - Ann 06:01 pm EST 11/26/22 | |
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| So many times, things get lost in the shuffle. This one is so worth reading. Thanks thanks thanks! | |
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| re: Unaware of the caliber of disaster... | |
| Posted by: AlanScott 06:16 pm EST 11/26/22 | |
| In reply to: re: Unaware of the caliber of disaster... - Ann 06:01 pm EST 11/26/22 | |
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| Thank you so much, Ann. I definitely posted that link here when the transcript was posted, but it's hard to believe how long ago that was already, isn't it? | |
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| re: Unaware of the caliber of disaster... | |
| Posted by: Ann 07:01 pm EST 11/26/22 | |
| In reply to: re: Unaware of the caliber of disaster... - AlanScott 06:16 pm EST 11/26/22 | |
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| Yes, after ten years of COVID :) Which i finally got this week, after all this time. | |
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