It’s been about a hundred years since I posted here, but I’ve been reading “The Making of NO NO NANETTE” by Don Dunn and I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions for similar behind-the-scenes books about stage musicals (or plays). Particularly from that same 60s-80s era or on lesser known shows.
It's really hard to tell just from the scraps we've seen. Some of them make it look slick and modern in an almost Disney Channel way. But others look like a real color photo from 1957. But I'd like to see a trailer before I pass any strong judgement.
I love love LOVE the score. I have never had a chance to see it but I think the material is fantastic. The score manages to sound so period and so modern at the same time.
So funny to start reading this thread as if it was just started yesterday and the early posts are over a decade old. And blaxx's statement about "this" season echoes true today...
What about the 1969/70 season when the two main best musical nominees were APPLAUSE and COCO? With other eligible musicals including GEORGY, BILLY and CRY FOR US ALL???
Sadly current events killed Encores! production of LOVE LIFE, which would have had its final performance today, but why not celebrate it regardless.
Opening in October 1948, the show was a collaboration between Kurt Weill and Alan Jay Lerner and pioneered the concept musical format later utilized in shows like FOLLIES and CABARET, with vaudeville numbers intercutting and commenting on a sweeping story of American disillusionment from colonial times through the then-present of 1948. Weill's score reflected the periods in which various scenes were set, and the changing mood from idealism to cynicism. The cast featured Ray Middleton and Nanette Fabray (who netted a Tony for her performance) as the central couple, with direction by Elia Kazan and sets by the great Boris Aronson.
Sadly the score has never received a proper recording, not even a set of 78s in 1948, but has remained popular among theatre buffs and Weill fans even spawning a few hits including the gorgeous "Here I'll Stay."
A local college here in Pittsburgh recently canceled their production of ADDING MACHINE the musical because of outrage that the piece was too "disturbing." I was intrigued to see something a little different and unusual among the endless Into the Woods and Drowsy Chaperone productions, but the masses spoke and it was canned.
I'm not really that familiar with the piece but does anyone else have issues with it? Is it actually worth this kind of backlash or is it a case of overreaction?
Talk about delayed gratification. Definitely going to have to pick it up, even though I was disappointed they didn't reconstruct it closer to the original show.
How did I forget her stellar performance in the Papermill FOLLIES. Hands down my favorite "Who's That Woman!"
It's a pity she never got a starring role of her own in a Broadway musical. The closest she came was the wacky computer dating musical HOW DO YOU DO, I LOVE YOU in the late 60s where she introduced such Maltby & Shire standards as "Just Across the River."
And of course she had her much acclaimed one woman show, replaced a few stars and had a number of supporting roles including her Tony winning one in SUBWAYS ARE FOR SLEEPING.
I had no clue who she was, and they definitely did not tell us in any obvious manner. But yea it was a douchey thing to say..
And would a star actor on a major network TV show really have much contact with one of the writers, let alone his wife? I may not know anything about TV production but it seems unlikely.
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