STATE FAIR revival?

[brdwybound04]

Posted: 6/28/13 at 12:44am

I am a big fan of this show, while definitely nowhere near the perfection of South Pacific, Carousel, King & I, or Oklahoma!, I think it could do well in a limited engagement non-profit setting like LCT or Roundabout. The show was very well received on tour, and I'd like to think if it hadn't opened in such a stuff competition period on Broadway, may have cared better, but it was up against RENT, The Cabaret revival, & the Lion King... I'd be especially interested to see a Bartlett Sher revival... It might as well be spring is a perfect romantic ballad...

[After Eight]

Posted: 6/28/13 at 7:10am

"but it was up against RENT, The Cabaret revival, & the Lion King"

The Lion King was later.

As for State Fair, it looked amateurish on Broadway. Perhaps LCT could do a better job with it, but I don't know if the passage of time has broadened its appeal to contemporary audiences. They would probably have to put a roller coaster in the theatre and have audiences ride on it during the show to bring people in.

[DottieD'Luscia]

Posted: 6/28/13 at 7:24am

^Exactly! One of the only shows I have ever seen on Broadway that came off like a really good community theatre production. Andrea McArdle was out the night I saw it and her understudy couldn't sing for squat.

[frontrowcentre2]

Posted: 6/28/13 at 9:31am

The Broadway production never really worked. There just isn't enough plot to stretch out into a 2-act musical (the original film ran about 1 hour and 40 minutes.) Padding the score with other, lesser known R&H song just seemed like... well, padding.

The show, as written, is ideal for community theatres, or maybe the Dallas state Fair but was never worthy of Broadway.

[Ed_Mottershead]

Posted: 6/28/13 at 9:48am

Yeah, the last go-round simply didn't work and I seriously doubt that LCT would go to the bother and expense. On the other hand, how about LCT consider doing Show Boat? It's been almost 20 years since Broadway last saw it so there's a whole generation that hasn't had the opportunity to experience the stage show.

[Comden Green]

Posted: 6/28/13 at 10:21am

Was the Broadway incarnation able to delete/replace the most inane subplot in the show? the pig competition. The book must be reworked to give the father some more interesting goal. That part of the show never worked. It actually makes the show not worth watching.

[Esther]

Posted: 6/28/13 at 2:10pm

"The Lion King was later. "

As was the Cabaret revival (same season as LK). New musicals in that season were- Victor/Victoria, Bring in Da Noise...., RENT, Chronicle of a Death Foretold, Swinging on a Star and BIG


And ICAM with your assessment of the 1996 production.

Posted: 6/28/13 at 2:17pm

Watch the movie(s).

[Wilmingtom]

Posted: 6/28/13 at 2:18pm

I think the biggest problem with the Broadway production was the casting. John Davidson was just miscast as the gruff father, Donna McKecknie, Andrea McArdle and Kathryn Crosby were all too old for their roles. Scott Wise and Ben Wright were terrific. I saw a production a few years later with a great cast and the audience adored the show.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 6/28/13 at 2:26pm

I was one of those who saw the Broadway production and it just didn't come together. Part of it was bad casting and part of it was the show is a "sleeper". Oh and did I mention how poorly it was cast?

[Gothampc]

Posted: 6/28/13 at 2:38pm

"John Davidson was just miscast as the gruff father, Donna McKecknie, Andrea McArdle and Kathryn Crosby were all too old for their roles."

And John Davidson was the best thing about the musical, that's how bad it was.

People who came to see John Davidson would have remembered him as a sexy star from the 1970s. It's uncomfortable to see your dream man playing an old farmer.

Donna McKecknie was a great dancer, but her role is supposed to be played by a sexy woman and Donna was too old to be believed as someone who draws all the men to her.

Andrea McArdle - oh brother! First, you don't hire a belter to sing "It Might As Well Be Spring". It's like Ethel Merman singing Ave Maria. Second, McArdle's character was the cute little sister. McArdle was never cute and it was a stretch to believe her as anyone's sister. Maybe a spinster aunt, but way too old for the ingenue.

Poor Kathryn Crosby got the worst of it. Jokes were made by the dozens about how ugly she was and her performance was dismissed as not worthy of Broadway.

[Jon]

Posted: 6/28/13 at 3:52pm

The show had its pre-Broadway tryout in Des Moines, during the actual Iowa State Fair. That version used a real live hog as "Blue Boy". For Broadway, it was re-staged so you never saw the pig. He was always behind a hedge or a fence or something.

The show did feature something you rarely see on Broadway: Painted scenery. Beautifully painted backdrops depicting different areas of the fairgrounds - at least half a dozen of them.

[ABitOnTheSide]

Posted: 6/28/13 at 3:59pm

It's the world's most boring show. For two straight hours, nothing happens.

Better to revive "A Grand Night For Singing" if you want to hear a bunch of R&H trunk songs.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 6/28/13 at 4:02pm

"It's the world's most boring show. For two straight hours, nothing happens."

I would amend that to say the world's most boring musical. There are some non-musical plays that are more boring than State Fair.

[Wilmingtom]

Posted: 6/28/13 at 4:08pm

Jon, there was never a live hog in the show, even in Des Moines. From the outset it was written so as never to see Blue Boy. Tom Briggs, who wrote the stage adaptation, did an NPR interview where he said he never felt they could show the audience a hog as majestic as Blue Boy was made out to be and that it was better left to their own imaginations. And having worked myself with a pig in a production of Li'l Abner, I think it was a wise decision. Those animals are not good collaborators.

[Dollypop]

Posted: 6/28/13 at 4:27pm

John Davidson himself admits he was miscast:
article

[Gothampc]

Posted: 6/28/13 at 4:30pm

Ye gods, Dollypop, that picture of him is horrible. He looks like Eileen Atkins.

[Dollypop]

Posted: 6/28/13 at 4:32pm

That's the picture he was using when he played The Old Actor in THE FANTASTICKS, as well as Don Quixote shortly after. It works for those roles.

[Wilmingtom]

Posted: 6/28/13 at 4:33pm

He could play the Chief in Cuckoo's Nest!

[Gothampc]

Posted: 6/28/13 at 4:36pm

Long hair doesn't work for him.
Much Better

[Dollypop]

Posted: 6/28/13 at 5:36pm

You know he's now touring in WICKED, don't you?

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 6/29/13 at 7:37pm

I agree "It Might as Well Be Spring" is one of the greatest ballads every written.

And "It's a Grand Night for Singing" is another lovely Rodgers waltz.

But otherwise, give me Ann-Margret and Pat Boone as eye candy to distract from the lack of action.

[Dollypop]

Posted: 6/29/13 at 11:09pm

"It's a Grand Night For Singing" was exceptionally well staged in the Broadway production.