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| Sugar did not tour | |
| Last Edit: AlanScott 04:23 pm EST 12/28/22 | |
| Posted by: AlanScott 04:10 pm EST 12/28/22 | |
| In reply to: re: And then there was SUGAR ... - NewtonUK 07:47 am EST 12/28/22 | |
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| It's easy to get confused because it was produced in 1974 by the Civic Light Operas of Los Angeles and San Francisco for a run in each city, but that was it. It seems to have been pretty much a recreation of the original production, although with some adjustments to the song list, but Cyril Ritchard was credited as director, and Denny Martin Fiinn (a swing in the original) with the choreography. I am guessing Champion was credited as being the original director and choreographer but I'm not sure. David Merrick had nothing to do with this production. Over the several years after the Broadway run it showed up at a few — just a few — of the big regionals that did mostly or entirely musicals. These included a Kenley production with Mickey Rooney, Ken Berry and Elaine Joyce, |
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| re: Sugar did not tour | |
| Posted by: BobPlak 07:25 pm EST 12/28/22 | |
| In reply to: Sugar did not tour - AlanScott 04:10 pm EST 12/28/22 | |
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| I saw Morse in Sugar at one of those big regionals, and it was unimpressive. The big problems with the show were summed up perfectly by Dan Sullivan in his review in the Los Angeles Times of Sept. 5, 1974: "... this is nowhere near as good a musical as 'Some Like It Hot' was a movie. Jule Styne's tunes and Bob Merrill's lyrics are dreadful, lacking charm, wit, style, texture - lacking everything, in fact, but insistence. (Kert's 'People in My Life' is the most promising song, but it turns into melted ice cream after after about eight bars). "Peter Stone's book is larded with jokes like: 'Do you play the market?' 'No, the ukulele,' which are not charming-because-dumb, but just dumb. "Not only is 'Sugar' labored, it is sometimes downright unpleasant, as when Gordon and a pack of arthritic crocks chug about the stage after a bevy of bathing beauties cackling that even 'naughty old men need love.' ... "But 'Some Like It Hot' was a personal pictture and 'Sugar' is an assembly-line, least-common-denominator musical, and that's the difference. "See it, by all means, for Morse and the other good people in it ... But don't expect a whole lot. When they are in it only for the sugar, this is usually the kind of show that comes out." As Ethel Merman said to columnist Earl Wilson after the Broadway opening: You'd think they could have come up with one good song! |
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| re: Sugar did not tour | |
| Last Edit: HelenHaze 04:31 pm EST 12/28/22 | |
| Posted by: HelenHaze 04:29 pm EST 12/28/22 | |
| In reply to: Sugar did not tour - AlanScott 04:10 pm EST 12/28/22 | |
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| Saw this production of Sugar in San Francisco and it was a very faithful recreation of the Broadway production which I saw several times. Robert Morse and Larry Kert. Gale Gordon played the Osgood part and he was terrific including his trademark cartwheel. I think Leland Palmer played Sugar but my memory might be faulty on that. | |
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| re: Sugar did not tour | |
| Posted by: AlanScott 04:36 pm EST 12/28/22 | |
| In reply to: re: Sugar did not tour - HelenHaze 04:29 pm EST 12/28/22 | |
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| At the link, there is some info on the production. Cyril Ritchard was originally to have played Osgood, but he suffered a heart attack a day or two before the first preview, and Gordon replaced him. |
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| Link | Sugar 1974 CLO info |
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