| Many of the books about the history of musical theater tend to give lots of importance to "Oklahoma!" for its place in the repertory, and for good reason. But among other shows, there were great innovations and scores in shows which came before it such as 'Porgy and Bess", "Of Thee I Sing" and, yes, "Pal Joey". Other shows from that pre-"Oklahoma!" period in American musicals that are still done include "Anything Goes" and "The Boys From Syracuse". But "Pal Joey" was significant for having rather original leading characters in a Broadway musical -- other than the sweet ingenue, they are unsavory folks who use other people for their own purposes. As I've written below in this thread, the original book is quite performable still, and would probably work well with non-traditional casting without really having to alter hardly anything from the original text. They'd still have plenty of space to showcase the choreographer as well as a fine dancing lead as Joey, as the original made Gene Kelly a star. But new creatives are going to do what they want to do. But, while "Pal Joey" isn't always given its due as a significant historical musical, it actually is -- even though some critics originally hated it like Brooks Atkinson ("Can you draw sweet water from a foul well?"). I think he and others eventually came round to appreciate it when it was revived. |
