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| give me THE PIRATE QUEEN! | |
| Posted by: bmc 11:05 pm EDT 05/22/23 | |
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| years ago, while attending the second performance (in the same week) of CURTAINS, i overheard a woman say,"You can have this show. Give me THE PIRATE QUEEN.' I never saw that show ,SO I have no idea who was right. | |
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| re: THE PIRATE QUEEN! | |
| Posted by: Dale 02:10 pm EDT 05/23/23 | |
| In reply to: give me THE PIRATE QUEEN! - bmc 11:05 pm EDT 05/22/23 | |
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| She birthed a baby then had a sword fight ( and won )! I had friends in the cast ( "Hey, Tim!" ) and they hated the show... | |
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| re: give me THE PIRATE QUEEN! | |
| Posted by: NewtonUK 08:58 am EDT 05/23/23 | |
| In reply to: give me THE PIRATE QUEEN! - bmc 11:05 pm EDT 05/22/23 | |
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| Other than a few performances (like Jeff McCarthy, who only appeared in Act 2. I imagine about 30 % of ticket holders n ever saw him ...) there was nothing to like about THE PIRATE QUEEN. If you recall articles about the show, it was produced by the producers of RIVERDANCE, who wanted to expand into musical theatre. They came up with the idea ,based on a more or less true story. They approached Boublil and Chonberg to write the show, but the Frecnhmen demurred. They didn't write shows to order, they developed their own ideas for shows. The zillionaire Riverdance folk wouldn't take no for an answer and offered more and more money until they finally wore down B&S's defenses with riches. And they wrote a dismal show for money that they didn't truly believe in for a second. That was evident to the audience. Bad reviews. bad word of mouth. Short run. Oblivion. CURTAIN was a very professional musical, much of which worked quite well. With a great creative team and cast. PIRATE QUEEN ran 85 performance, despite no sales. CURTAINS ran 511 performances (one year +). No comparison. PIRATE QUEEN was dismal. CURTAINS was good. Just not quite good enough to become a hit. | |
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| re: give me THE PIRATE QUEEN! | |
| Posted by: pecansforall 05:42 pm EDT 05/23/23 | |
| In reply to: re: give me THE PIRATE QUEEN! - NewtonUK 08:58 am EDT 05/23/23 | |
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| ...Jeff McCarthy, who only appeared in Act 2. Only appeared in Act 2? Is that true? |
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| NewtonUK has it backwards... | |
| Posted by: Seth Christenfeld (tabula-rasa@verizon.net) 06:07 pm EDT 05/23/23 | |
| In reply to: re: give me THE PIRATE QUEEN! - pecansforall 05:42 pm EDT 05/23/23 | |
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| ...McCarthy only appeared in Act I. (NB: it's possible he appeared in flashback in Act II, as I only know what's on the cast album; however, the first act finale was his character's funeral.) Seth, who, as you might intuit, did not see the show |
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| re: give me THE PIRATE QUEEN! | |
| Posted by: carolinaguy 08:32 am EDT 05/23/23 | |
| In reply to: give me THE PIRATE QUEEN! - bmc 11:05 pm EDT 05/22/23 | |
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| I saw THE PIRATE QUEEN in its Chicago run as well. I confess to being a huge fan of LES MIS (which was my gateway drug into a love of theater) and MISS SAIGON. TPQ was a mess, though. Some of Schonberg's melodies ("She Who Has All," "Sail to the Stars," "I'll Be There" for example) were ravishing, but the story was preposterous and the love songs were so generic. (One was titled "Here on This Night.") In one sequence, Block gave birth belowdecks on a ship, then raced upstairs to join a sword fight. There was just no emotional center that worked, so everything fell flat. There were a lot of big choral numbers that were gorgeously sung, but the attempts at injecting some comedy were awkward. "Boys Will Be Boys" is no "Master of the House." | |
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| re: give me THE PIRATE QUEEN! | |
| Posted by: Zelgo 10:57 am EDT 05/23/23 | |
| In reply to: re: give me THE PIRATE QUEEN! - carolinaguy 08:32 am EDT 05/23/23 | |
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| "Block gave birth belowdecks on a ship, then raced upstairs to join a sword fight." Oddly enough, that part of the story is apparently true. |
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| re: give me THE PIRATE QUEEN! | |
| Posted by: Michael_212 11:33 am EDT 05/23/23 | |
| In reply to: re: give me THE PIRATE QUEEN! - Zelgo 10:57 am EDT 05/23/23 | |
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| Yeah, she comes out and stabs in the back a soldier who had just been merciful to her husband buy giving him a chance to surrender when he could have killed him. | |
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| THE PIRATE QUEEN or CURTAINS | |
| Last Edit: BroadwayTonyJ 04:52 am EDT 05/23/23 | |
| Posted by: BroadwayTonyJ 04:48 am EDT 05/23/23 | |
| In reply to: give me THE PIRATE QUEEN! - bmc 11:05 pm EDT 05/22/23 | |
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| The Pirate Queen is easily the worst musical I have ever seen that eventually made it to Broadway for a brief, commercially disastrous run. I saw it in Chicago pre-Broadway. It had no redeeming music, and Stephanie J. Block was ludicrously miscast. Curtains was a clever Kander and Ebb musical that had a respectable (511 perfs, 26 previews) run on Broadway. It might have done better if it had not opened some months before the 2007 stagehands strike. I saw it twice in New York. The storyline reminded me of various 1930's/40's mystery/detective movies I had seen as a child. In 2017 I had an extensive sit-down discussion with John Kander and his partner. They were a little coy about the inspiration for Curtains, just remarking that Fred Ebb had been a big fan of the mystery/detective genre. I later discovered that the old 1942 film Grand Central Murder with Van Heflin, Sam Levene, and a slew of great character actors undoubtedly was the source or inspiration for Curtains. Its storyline and setting inside a Broadway theater is almost identical to that of Curtains, even the murderer (or at least one of them) is the same. Curtains has continued to have a life in regional theatre, at least in Chicago. I doubt if The Pirate Queen has ever had a production following its closure on Broadway. Just IMO, of course. |
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| re: give me THE PIRATE QUEEN! | |
| Posted by: Chromolume 11:10 pm EDT 05/22/23 | |
| In reply to: give me THE PIRATE QUEEN! - bmc 11:05 pm EDT 05/22/23 | |
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| Are you sure you're not David Benkof lol? I don't think there's any right or wrong. Neither show is top of the line for either set of writers, yet I think both can certainly be enjoyed. I'd vote for Curtains, because I have more of an affinity for Kander's music. That doesn't make my opinion "right." |
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| re: give me THE PIRATE QUEEN! | |
| Posted by: ItalGuy 03:27 pm EDT 05/24/23 | |
| In reply to: re: give me THE PIRATE QUEEN! - Chromolume 11:10 pm EDT 05/22/23 | |
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| I did see Pirate Queen in previews, and SJB was out sick so a very terrified understudy did her best to carry that monstrosity of a show. I remember when McCarthy's character died at the end of Act I , I thought he's the lucky one to not have to come back and suffer through Act 2. The Lyric (or whatever they were calling it then) had a string of duds....Young Frankenstein....Hot Feet....Paramour...and let's not forget good ole Spidey. | |
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| Live from Lincoln Center? | |
| Posted by: showtunetrivia 04:17 pm EDT 05/23/23 | |
| In reply to: re: give me THE PIRATE QUEEN! - Chromolume 11:10 pm EDT 05/22/23 | |
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| Wasn’t THE PIRATE QUEEN on Live From Lincoln Center? Or am I thinking of another bombastic flop historical musical, A TALE OF TWO CITIES? I just recall that our local LA PBS station opted not to air it, and instead ran that “Magic Moments” fifties doo-wop special that seemingly was broadcast every other week. Laura in LA |
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| maybe you're thinking of this Tale of Two Cities concert/TV special? | |
| Posted by: Chazwaza 04:42 pm EDT 05/23/23 | |
| In reply to: Live from Lincoln Center? - showtunetrivia 04:17 pm EDT 05/23/23 | |
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| I'm pretty sure neither musical was ever aired on TV let alone Live from Lincoln Center. There was, apparently a concert of Tale of Two Cities that was filmed and aired on TV, but while James Barbour (the star of the show on Broadway) repeated his role, it is not the original cast. Michael York was in it as a Narrator, possibly because Barbour would have been close with him from when they did Camelot a bit before TOTC. It also has a lead actress who looks like Rachel York (also from their Camelot) but seems to be Brandi Burkhardt (who i am unfamiliar with), and also has Natalie Toro who was one of the stars of the show on Broadway. The trailer calls it "direct from Broadway" so perhaps it was filmed soon after, as a way to get the show sold to regional and international producers, and maybe it is the full original cast? I didn't know it existed, I kind of want to watch it now. Imdb says it's a "TV special", but I don't know where or when it aired. The Amazon page for buying the DVD says it aired on PBS, and is "featuring members of the acclaimed Original Broadway cast". The is also a 47 min documentary "The Making of The Pirate Queen" that you can find on youtube, clearly made for TV -- I'm not sure where it aired, or even if. |
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| re: maybe you're thinking of this Tale of Two Cities concert/TV special? | |
| Posted by: showtunetrivia 11:38 pm EDT 05/23/23 | |
| In reply to: maybe you're thinking of this Tale of Two Cities concert/TV special? - Chazwaza 04:42 pm EDT 05/23/23 | |
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| That’s probably it. All I recall is there was this stretch of years when KCET ignored a lot of the Broadway related PBS programming that definitely aired elsewhere. They’re now KOCE, and are better about such things, Laura in LA |
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| re: maybe you're thinking of this Tale of Two Cities concert/TV special? | |
| Posted by: Chromolume 10:38 am EDT 05/24/23 | |
| In reply to: re: maybe you're thinking of this Tale of Two Cities concert/TV special? - showtunetrivia 11:38 pm EDT 05/23/23 | |
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| At least they kept the K. Over here in snooty Massachusetts, the official name of our station is now GBH, with no W. So faux-trendy. :-) | |
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| re: "Wasn’t THE PIRATE QUEEN on Live From Lincoln Center?" | |
| Posted by: Dale 04:31 pm EDT 05/23/23 | |
| In reply to: Live from Lincoln Center? - showtunetrivia 04:17 pm EDT 05/23/23 | |
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| It was DOA at the Hilton Theater | |
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| re: "Wasn’t THE PIRATE QUEEN on Live From Lincoln Center?" | |
| Posted by: showtunetrivia 04:43 pm EDT 05/23/23 | |
| In reply to: re: "Wasn’t THE PIRATE QUEEN on Live From Lincoln Center?" - Dale 04:31 pm EDT 05/23/23 | |
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| I confess to not paying attention, then or now. ;) Laura in LA |
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