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There is a decent show in there somewhere?  Jul 13 2020, 06:40:29 PM

Jarethan said: "
I literally just thought of something. As I recall, most of those big production numbers had neither M or M in them. They were just big numbers, filled with background players. I think the inability to identify with anyone up there was an issue also. Maybe I will regret saying that, but I guess I feel that M&M is probably unsalvageable."

Another post points out that Mack does sing some of those production numbers, but he sings a chorus and then exits to make way for the dance ensemble (as he also did in "Seventy-Six Trombones", but there wasn't the one big number, there is more than half a score of them.

The first act in Florida may have got by on charm: in addition to Lucie Arnaz (not a singer in Peters' class, but an extremely engaging performer) and Tommy Tune (utter charm and humor), our production had Jess Richards (early victim of AIDS, but a talented and handsome juvenile), Marilyn Cooper (a later Tony winner for WOMAN OF THE YEAR) and Stanley Simmonds (a Broadway standard). David Cryer played Mack and he was a really good actor/singer, but not the overwhelming presence I imagine Preston to have been. And as I said, the choreography was sensational, very much the director's strong point.

BTW, I saw it again at Reprise-LA about 20 years ago. Jane Krakowski, Donna McKechnie and Douglas Sills. It was the Broadway version, of course, and had all the problems you mention. People seemed very welcoming to Donna McKechnie, but the enthusiasm was for the performer, not the character. As you said, there is no character there.


Perfect Rhymes vs. Imperfect Rhymes  Jul 13 2020, 06:18:06 PM

Someone in a Tree2 said: "Gaveston, thanks for the nod of approval, sir.
I would probably agree with you that BRIDGES remains one of my two favorite Bway scores of at least the last ten years. Wanna hear my other favorite? The gorgeous but perpetually slant-rhymed HADESTOWN.

See how open-minded I can be in the face of sheer brilliance?
"

And I own all three recordings of HADESTOWN! If I hadn't met you in RL I might think you were some ghostie I had


Did Kevin Anderson get fired from Sunset Blvd with Patti Lupone?  Jul 13 2020, 05:59:52 PM

wiggum2 said: "random question, which of the Normas sang the line "I'm sick to dead of that old filling station shirt, stained with yesterday's dessert in The Ladys paying? It seems most of the videos I have found on YT have the lines

Shut up, I'm rich
Now some platinum blonde bitch
I own so many apartments
I've forgotten which is which



thanks
"

Damn! What a terrible lyric for that character!

To what "apartments" does she refer? Real estate investments? Who cares?

Other homes in NY, London and Paris? Even worse, because it negates the pathos of Norma trapped with her memories in that overblown mansion from yesteryear!

SUNSET BOULEVARD is a dreadful show with repetitive lyrics ("I play every part"/"I can play every role." and a page-by-page approach to adapting the screenplay that in no way accounts for differences in the media. Patti LuPone misses the "fun and camp"? The original isn't camp, it's a horror film for grown-ups! The musical gets laughs because it's badly written; it was obviously a smart move on Close's part to play into those laughs, but it does nothing to improve the art of the piece. Her original Norma was just a warm-up for her Cruella de Ville.


Perfect Rhymes vs. Imperfect Rhymes  Jul 13 2020, 05:34:04 PM

HogansHero said: ""those impeccable rhymes maintained the high standard of the best Broadway showtunes of the period"

and they also helped maintain his record of flops because not many people were interested in those perfect rhymes of his. Sorry but iin the commercial world of Broadway in which he tried to play, it's about resonance not rhyme.
"

Hogan, without arguing your point, I think you've picked the wrong example. To me--and I acknow


Perfect Rhymes vs. Imperfect Rhymes  Jul 13 2020, 05:27:54 PM

Someone in a Tree2 said: "With something as personal as rhyming, context is everything, isn't it?

Jason Robert Brown's absolutely perfect rhymesfor his small-town 1960's characters inBRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY don't make those plain people any less colloquial and salt of the earth than if their rhyminghad been imperfect. The tunesmight be country-inflected, but those impeccablerhymes maintained the high standard of the best Broadway showtunes of the period.<


Naya Rivera presumed dead  Jul 13 2020, 05:22:32 PM

Sutton Ross said: "Absolutely agree, Dolly. People know NOTHING about what happened. Anything could have happened, a fall, a medical event, anything. Disgusting that people keep judging and keep just going after her for choices they have NO IDEA she even made.

Despicable. Keep it to yourself and stay out of this thread.
"

She made a choice to take a toddler out on a boat by herself. She got into the water with that child without her life vest. Those ar


Naya Rivera presumed dead  Jul 13 2020, 05:10:41 PM

Dolly80 said: "...None of us know what happened to Naya, so for anyone to even dare say she was negligent or did something wrong , is absolutely disgusting...."

Oh, get over yourself and your "disgust". You don't know these people.

It is a FACT that it was a poor decision to take a toddler out on a large expanse of water by herself; if was also unwise--if true as reported--to go swimming without her life jacket. This is proven becaus


Perfect Rhymes vs. Imperfect Rhymes  Jul 13 2020, 01:16:39 AM

Wow, Mike, you took great notes! I'm going to keep a copy, if you don't mind.

Yeah, I assumed Mueller (my guy) and Pattison were probably just using the word "tension" in different senses of the word. What I didn't mention was that I had written the prologue of an opera in perfectly rhymed couplets, which got to be more than a bit much after a while. The scene was much better when I re-wrote it in (unrhymed) free verse, and the composer was happier, too.

Th


There is a decent show in there somewhere?  Jul 13 2020, 12:44:02 AM

joevitus said: "Ron Field, but I know that was an unconscious error. You know who Ron Field is."

Yes, of course, I do. Thanks, pal.

Ron Link was a big name in Los Angeles theater and also died much too young. I've lived in SoCal since 1985.

I'll fix it and give you credit.


COMPANY musical (STEPHEN SONDHEIM) 1995 BROADWAY (BOYD GAINES, KATE BURTON, DEBRA MONK, LaCHANZE)  Jul 13 2020, 12:40:03 AM

ljay889 said: "Man, I don't enjoy the cheesy staging/choreography of the titlenumber. The Mendesand Elliotproductions did/doa much better job with the number. Sondheim has told Elliot that her staging of the number is actually how he always envisionedit."

It might have been more helpful if he had told previous directors as well. (j/k)


Naya Rivera presumed dead  Jul 13 2020, 12:38:00 AM

Thanks for the update on the Twitter wars, Tag. I have no emotional attachment to Miss Michele one way or another, but I agree with you: I don't see how she can win. Deactivating her account probably made a lot of sense.


There is a decent show in there somewhere?  Jul 13 2020, 12:08:49 AM

Jarethan said: "...Just not sure re M&M. The basic story is such a downer. They would have to only focus on part of the story, but songs would no longer work; give it a Pulp Fictuon telling (out of order, the dead guys are happy at the end of the movie because it is not the end of the story. I am betting it will never work...."

We probably had this conversation years ago, but that's basically what Ron Field [thanks to joevictus for correcting my senio


When is promotional or B-roll footage of shows filmed?  Jul 12 2020, 11:37:06 PM

GavestonPS said: "A friend of a friend films Broadway shows for B-rolls and commercials and, yes, he DOES shoot the entire show so that he can review it for likely clips. I know this for a fact because I have seen the filmed shows. They are not ... suitable for broadcast, but are filmed with hand-held recorders often blocked by the head of the patron in front. (Some of the worst YouTube videos come from such a source.)

Onc


Perfect Rhymes vs. Imperfect Rhymes  Jul 12 2020, 01:51:32 AM

^^^^^ I wasn't in the room where it happened, JB, but knowing their other work, I suspect Fornes and Carmines were making an asset out of a liability. (Carmines did some interesting work with Gertrude Stein's texts, unrhymed of course because that's the way Stein wrote, even when she intended her words to be sung.)

Paul Gordon is a current example of work where the characters sometimes sing in the prose of the source novel, sometimes sing in unrhymed verse, sometimes in


Perfect Rhymes vs. Imperfect Rhymes  Jul 12 2020, 12:49:09 AM

To continue Hogan's train of thought, to some (particularly those who grew up on pop music and slant rhymes) perfect rhyming can make all the characters sound like they are at one of Cole Porter's cocktail parties.

(On the other hand, the "hillbilly" characters of L'IL ABNER all sing in perfect rhymes by the master, Johnny Mercer. As do the "underworld" characters of GUYS AND DOLLS, with Frank Loesser's lyrics. So the impact of rhyming in comedie


Naya Rivera presumed dead  Jul 12 2020, 12:38:56 AM

Sutton Ross said: "You can question it all you want, GavestonIt really doesn't matter anymore, sadly. It's always very weird to me when people judge someone for the way they've died and are still judging them in death. A person is dead, regardless of the reason. It's a loss felt by all who loved them, and that should be the focus. I could go on about that but that is a whole other subject for a whole different day. Take care of yourself, friend."

I&#3


Naya Rivera presumed dead  Jul 12 2020, 12:30:06 AM

poisonivy2 said: "This actually sounds like a pretty classic suicide to me. But I could be wrong. Really tragic. Her poor son."

Of all the possible scenarios, this seems the least likely to me. Obviously, she was sufficiently in her right mind and involved as a parent to put her son in a life jacket. That the same woman would leave her child alone in such an expanse of water for who-knows-how-many-hours just doesn't strike me as possible. Four-year-olds slip off


Naya Rivera presumed dead  Jul 12 2020, 12:26:06 AM

ErikJ972 said: "I know I always come to the BWWfor boat safety tips."

Point taken, but we've been discussing all sorts of things while most of us are confined at home.


Naya Rivera presumed dead  Jul 10 2020, 04:44:05 PM

With respect, my friend, you don't know that either. I still question the wisdom of taking a toddler out on a lake with only one adult supervising. I further question the wisdom of taking the toddler for a swim (as has been reported), leaving no one on the boat, particularly if the supervising adult wasn't wearing a life jacket.

Now a lot of concerned and caring parents might do either of those things. I readily admit that. But I question the wisdom nonetheless.


Naya Rivera presumed dead  Jul 10 2020, 03:58:02 PM

This thread reminds me of how we can't discuss gun control after a mass shooting because "it's disrespectful to the victims"; but then nobody is interested in the subject when there has NOT been a mass shooting.

I'll have to consult the Oracle at Delphi for the exact moment when we can use this tragedy as a reason to discuss water safety.

Obviously, Miss Rivera cared enough about her child to make sure HE was in a life jacket. At worst, she made an unfortun


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