Hazel - A Musical Maid in America opens at Drury Lane outside Chicago
Hazel - A Musical Maid in America opens at Drury Lane outside Chicago
#1Hazel - A Musical Maid in America opens at Drury Lane outside Chicago
Posted: 3/26/16 at 8:08pmUpdated On: 4/8/16 at 08:08 PM
#2Hazel - a new musical opens at Drury Lane outside Chicago
Posted: 3/26/16 at 8:54pm
I hate to be a downer on the subject of Hazel. I am a HUGE Hazel fan. I grew up watching Hazel. I know every episode. I also saw one of the staged readings directed by Lucy Arnaz. I sure hope they have reworked a lot of what I saw. I am afraid that the people who know and love the show Hazel will be disappointed on one level, and the people who didn't know the show will care less about who Hazel is. I love me some Klea Blackburn too. I think she is a really great talent. I just wish this material was as strong as her talent.
The story, for instance. When I saw it, and it could have changed, the first 30 or 40 minutes of the show is Mr B interviewing Hazel for the job to see if she is up to it. That is incorrect from the start. Hazel was Missy's nanny! Hazel was Mrs. Baxter's nanny and that's how she got the job. She wasn't a stranger off the street. And they spent too much time on this plot point.
It went off into some tangent about aliens coming down to get everyone. I can't really remember. I do remember the best thing in it was Harold had a song in Act Two that was amazing. And I think Hazel has a wonderful song in Act Two as well. I am not sure where they are going to squeeze all this dance into. The score was pretty mediocre and the script needed a lot of help. I sat there, as a Hazel fan, wondering how it had made it as far as it did.
I still wish it all the best. I hope they rewrote much of it. I hope they succeed. We will see. I am only commenting on what I saw. I didn't see the last staged reading. I saw the one before that, (but that wasn't that long ago) so they might have made lots of changes already. I just don't know if the material was strong enough to fix.
I don't think the young crowd is going to be attracted to a character like Hazel. Let's face it, Shirley Booth really brought A LOT to the role. Klea is great but she only has two hours to do it. Shirley Booth, one of the most amazing actresses ever, had several seasons to achieve that.
Mr Roxy
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/17/03
#3Hazel - a new musical opens at Drury Lane outside Chicago
Posted: 3/26/16 at 9:28pm
Bad idea. Millennials buy the tickets these days and they have no idea who Hazel is and will not care about this.
Poster Emeritus
#4Hazel - a new musical opens at Drury Lane outside Chicago
Posted: 3/26/16 at 9:38pm
The first person I thought of who would be great in this role would be Faith Prince.
"Noel [Coward] and I were in Paris once. Adjoining rooms, of course. One night, I felt mischievous, so I knocked on Noel's door, and he asked, 'Who is it?' I lowered my voice and said 'Hotel detective. Have you got a gentleman in your room?' He answered, 'Just a minute, I'll ask him.'" (Beatrice Lillie)
ArtMan
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/10/08
#5Hazel - a new musical opens at Drury Lane outside Chicago
Posted: 3/26/16 at 9:38pm
I watch Hazel M-F each morning (two episodes). I especially enjoy the Mr. B. (Don DeFore) and Missy (Whitney Blake) seasons the most. But why anybody would want to make a musical about Hazel completely escapes me. I'm a fan of the tv show and I wouldn't spend money to see a Hazel musical. Crazy!
Mr Roxy
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/17/03
#6Hazel - a new musical opens at Drury Lane outside Chicago
Posted: 3/26/16 at 9:47pm
The new craze is musicalize movies and/or tv shows. Like you said, who wants to pay big bucks to see a musical of a tv sitcom.
Poster Emeritus
#7Hazel - a new musical opens at Drury Lane outside Chicago
Posted: 3/26/16 at 9:54pm
Why this property and why now? Before Antenna TV acquired the syndicated rights the show was hardly if ever rerun. Sure, it has it's fans who grew up with it and before that it was a comic strip, but I doubt that this property has any real viable commercial appeal now. It's a relic - - - and that plot sounds abominable.
#8Hazel - a new musical opens at Drury Lane outside Chicago
Posted: 3/26/16 at 10:17pm
I suppose there have been crazier ideas. ANNIE was supposedly turned down by every producer in NYC because they couldn't understand who would want to see a musical based on a creaky old comic strip that had been pulled from the newspapers because nobody read it anymore.
On paper, HAZEL THE MUSICAL sounds like a terrible idea but, well...anything could happen I guess.
“I knew who I was this morning, but I've changed a few times since then.”
Updated On: 3/26/16 at 10:17 PM
Mr Roxy
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/17/03
#9Hazel - a new musical opens at Drury Lane outside Chicago
Posted: 3/26/16 at 10:30pm
Annie was 40 plus years ago. Totally different Broadway now.
Poster Emeritus
#10Hazel - a new musical opens at Drury Lane outside Chicago
Posted: 3/26/16 at 10:40pm
And Annie has a more specific, universal, upbeat theme... a poor young orphan who seemingly has the entire the world against her thrives and beats all odds because of her eternal optimism...... or something like that..... Hazel.. is well... just Hazel. And without the charm of Shirley Booth....
Mr Roxy
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/17/03
#11Hazel - a new musical opens at Drury Lane outside Chicago
Posted: 3/26/16 at 10:53pm
Even Booth could not save Look To The Lillies a million years ago.
Poster Emeritus
theatreguy12
Broadway Star Joined: 4/20/15
#12Hazel - a new musical opens at Drury Lane outside Chicago
Posted: 3/27/16 at 12:19am
Some movies and TV shows have transitioned well to Broadway, but I agree. Why Hazel...of all television shows? Interesting, if not odd, choice.
#13Hazel - a new musical opens at Drury Lane outside Chicago
Posted: 4/8/16 at 9:55am
Hazel has opened to mixed reviews. I assume its Broadway chances will have to wait further revisions or another production or may plans may be nixed.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/theater/reviews/ct-hazel-musical-drury-lane-ent-0408-20160407-column.html
http://chicago.suntimes.com/entertainment/hazel-a-musical-maid-in-america-too-manic-for-its-own-good/
http://www.theatreinchicago.com/hazel/reviews/8263/
I will post videos when available.
#14Hazel - a new musical opens at Drury Lane outside Chicago
Posted: 4/8/16 at 10:45am
Mixed reviews don't necessarily stop Broadway plans.
It's like an out-of-town preview. It seems like the issues raised can be fixed.
It may slow down the timetable, but I don't see mixed reviews causing anyone to give up on the show.
....but the world goes 'round
#15Hazel - a new musical opens at Drury Lane outside Chicago
Posted: 4/8/16 at 11:18am
I know "a new musical" is in the thread title, but does anyone else keep seeing this thread and assume a revival of Hazel Flagg is being mounted? Maybe it's because I've never seen Hazel: The TV Show, but do we really have enough room for another Hazel in the canon? :)
Marie: Don't be in such a hurry about that pretty little chippy in Frisco.
Tony: Eh, she's a no chip!
#16Hazel - a new musical opens at Drury Lane outside Chicago
Posted: 4/8/16 at 11:58am
First ten pictures are from this production:
https://www.facebook.com/drurylanetheatre/photos/pb.184473104910902.-2207520000.1460130981./1204145482943654/?type=3&theater
#17Hazel - a new musical opens at Drury Lane outside Chicago
Posted: 4/8/16 at 12:43pm
What's up with that green floor.
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#18Hazel - a new musical opens at Drury Lane outside Chicago
Posted: 4/8/16 at 5:46pm
For all the talk of making it as '60s as possible in the video it looks very '70s to me, and with a strange futuristic angle?? Not that I was actually alive for either decade.
I've never heard of the TV show but I think any domestic-set network TV show from that era would be very difficult to adapt and not feel super dated. It seems like they've tied to add some more progressive touches though.
Keeping BroadwayWorld Illustrated
Mr Roxy
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/17/03
#19Hazel - a new musical opens at Drury Lane outside Chicago
Posted: 4/8/16 at 10:20pm
Shirley Booth is turning over in her grave now based on these photos.Cannot see this working but honestly had no intention of seeing it when I first heard about it. My feelings have not changed.I was alive when this aired and the photos look nothing like it.
Poster Emeritus
Updated On: 4/8/16 at 10:20 PM
#20Hazel - a new musical opens at Drury Lane outside Chicago
Posted: 4/9/16 at 9:41am
Like I said from my post above... I attended one of the read-throughs in nyc. It seems the director was talented enough to elevate the material from awful to mixed reviews. It still isn't the Hazel I love.
I remember seeing the Gypsy run through of Will Rogers Follies on Broadway. No costumes, sets, lights...etc.... Stripped down, with nothing to cover it up, the book was really weak. I thought the show was doomed. I went back and saw it after it had opened, with all the spectacle and it was an entirely different experience. Some of you may be saying "Duh"... but the book still had the same structural problems. The book was still weak. WWF has a really weak book and should have never won the Tony that year. Same with Hazel. It's a terrible book and score, dressed up pretty. Apparently it passed with a Grade C.
Auggie27
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/13/03
#21Hazel - a new musical opens at Drury Lane outside Chicago
Posted: 4/9/16 at 10:08am
To me it has a "Big" feel, though "Big" had a high concept, very singable musical premise, and a good story to tell. (And an underappreciated score, another topic.) I wish it well. I cannot fathom a mainstream audience spending $126 plus to see this material, but I'm wrong more often than not.
"I'm a comedian, but in my spare time, things bother me." Garry Shandling
Updated On: 4/9/16 at 10:08 AM
#22Hazel - a new musical opens at Drury Lane outside Chicago
Posted: 4/9/16 at 10:08am
Clip from Broadway World:
https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/BWW-TV-A-Musical-Maid-Hits-Chicago-Watch-Highlights-of-Klea-Blackhurst-and-More-in-HAZEL-at-Drury-Lane-Theatre-20160408
I will be seeing this production on April 24 and will report back.
#23Hazel - a new musical opens at Drury Lane outside Chicago
Posted: 4/9/16 at 10:12am
Why did they update it from the 1950s to the 1960s (if that indeed is meant to be the 1960s)?
#24Hazel - a new musical opens at Drury Lane outside Chicago
Posted: 4/9/16 at 10:28am
The period is the 1960's (as indicated in this article): http://drurylanetheatre.com/news/hazel/hazel-musical-mix-comic-panel-classic-tv-series/
Note that the series ran from 1961-66 and was placed in that period.
ArtMan
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/10/08
#25Hazel - a new musical opens at Drury Lane outside Chicago
Posted: 4/9/16 at 10:28am
That was really just awful. Other than the Hazel uniform, there is nothing in those clips that resemble any part of the tv show.
