Have there been any attempts to get a GONE WITH THE WIND musical to broadway ?

[N2N Nate.]

Posted: 7/29/13 at 4:10pm

It's my favorite film and I think it could look beautiful onstage.

[Dubliner]

Posted: 7/29/13 at 4:12pm

There have been two major attempts in London. Both failed so I think its unlikely.

[g.d.e.l.g.i.]

Posted: 7/29/13 at 4:12pm

Two major attempts.

1: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scarlett_(musical)
2: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gone_with_the_Wind_(musical)

[all that jazz]

Posted: 7/29/13 at 4:14pm

Trevor Nunn directed a production in London with music and lyrics by Margaret Martin, but I don't think it's coming to Broadway anytime soon...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZ7awhRnYZ4

Edit: Sorry guys, I was typing while you were posting.
Wikipedia Link Updated On: 7/29/13 at 04:14 PM

[Mattbrain]

Posted: 7/29/13 at 4:22pm

Can't speak for Scarlett but Gone With The wind was pretty damn bad.

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 7/29/13 at 5:00pm

I have the London cast album, given to me by one of the cast members. It's a hoot.


BTW, it's framed, so please stop sending me PM's asking to make copies.

Updated On: 7/29/13 at 05:00 PM

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 7/29/13 at 7:11pm

GONE WITH THE WIND was indeed atrocious. The first act was barely tolerable, although opening night in Miami, during the highly touted "burning of Atlanta" sequence a fiery pine tree fell and then stood up again--still blazing away. Meanwhile, the horse attached to Scarlett's getaway carriage took a dump on stage.

In order to get all the plot in, the second act resorted to having the company stand like chess pieces while Scarlett ran from character to character playing brief versions of all the events from the book.

The following day, the local reviews mostly discussed the resilient tree and incontinent horse. There wasn't much else to say.

If any of this sounds exciting, suffice it to say that although I worked at the theater I didn't bother sitting through GWTW a second time.

(Checking Wiki, I see that what I saw was the version once entitled SCARLETT. But I worked the Lucia Victor mini-tour in 1976; by that time, the title had reverted to the original.)



Updated On: 7/29/13 at 07:11 PM

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 7/29/13 at 7:27pm

Meanwhile, the horse attached to Scarlett's getaway carriage took a dump on stage.

I cackled like a maniac at this!

[philly03]

Posted: 7/29/13 at 7:42pm

In a ironic coincidence of theatre time, in the same year both the West End (GWTW) and Broadway (Tale of Two Cities) saw epic novels turned into mega-musicals written completely by a single woman (book/music/lyrics) for their first ever published theatrical work/music that both tanked (both around 70 performances). (Tale was better)

Martin had a few big problems with her attempt: first, she tried to shy away from film and thus decided to add even more detail from the book which made it impossible to be below 3.5 hours at the final perf (it was over 4 hours in previews!). Not only did her music not really advance the plot, it just wasn't very enjoyable (though I do have a soft spot for the title songs ending the acts).

Trevor Nunn then took her script and decided to do similar what John Caird had done for Jane Eyre, in adding narrators to scenes (although that was only for the titular character). Nunn, however, added the most unnecessary narration - in the vain of something like the slaves all moving off the stage and a narrator saying "The slaves had left" etc, etc. It was a totally failed attempt, but Jill Paice and even Darius Danesh gave impressive performances.

Martin is a fascinating and nice woman, and some credit must be given considering that she was able to not only convince the estate of Margaret Mitchell - but also a complete unknown getting their first production directed and retooled by Trevor Nunn is unheard of (though I personally haven't liked a production of his in a while).

[Matt Rogers]

Posted: 7/29/13 at 7:42pm

I heard there is a version that has played in Japan with an all female cast multiple times.

[theatredk]

Posted: 7/29/13 at 7:47pm

There is/was a [2cd] Japanese cast recording of Scarlett

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 7/29/13 at 8:17pm

It appears you are correct, Matt (see Wiki link below). I knew there is an all-female theater tradition in Japan because a friend wrote a paper on it.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Takarazuka_Revue#Adaptations_of_Western_works

[perfectlymarvelous]

Posted: 7/29/13 at 8:24pm

NaTasha Yvette Williams was Mammy in Gone With the Wind with Jill Paice and she talked about it at length in the Porgy and Bess Chatterbox interview with Seth Rudetsky (which I believe can still be found for free on this site by googling). The stories are quite funny, but it seems like the whole thing really was a bit of a disaster.

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 7/29/13 at 8:55pm

The Miami producers (my bosses) were enraged that the major local critic talked about the dancing tree and rude horse, but as I tried to gently suggest: "Well, that's the show the critic saw!"

Unfortunately, Act II was less ambitious scenically and held nothing comparable in terms of unintended humor.

****

I don't know why anyone would want to try again, but GWTW should probably be an opera.

In any event, a decision needs to be made as to which episode or two episodes (one per act) best give us a sense of the whole story. Trying to dramatize 1,000 pages of prose is madness (unless one goes the NICHOLAS NICKLEBY or CIDER HOUSE RULES route and does a 9-hour play). Updated On: 7/29/13 at 08:55 PM

[Joviedamian]

Posted: 7/29/13 at 9:20pm

When I was in college an actor who was part of the original production came to my class to speak on his career. He told us that he use to tell folks he would call the show "Gone With Her Wind" because it was such a mess. He told me that the audience was responding well too him and the star of the show got him fired out of jealousy.

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 7/29/13 at 10:17pm

There were at least three attempts to get SCARLETT/GWTW up in the States, each tour hoping to end on Broadway. Per Wiki, Lesley Ann Warren and Pernell Roberts opened the tour I worked on, but I would remember if they had still been with the show in Miami (particularly Warren--I love her). I honestly don't remember who was playing Scarlett by the time it got to Miami.

Soap star David Canary was bravely playing Rhett. Funny how I remember that...

*****

Have I seen even worse musicals? Probably. But GWTW was so unabashedly ambitious that all its flaws seemed magnified. Updated On: 7/29/13 at 10:17 PM

[allofmylife]

Posted: 7/29/13 at 11:20pm

Oh God. That London soundtrack is horrid. The overture sounds like it was recorded on a Kenner Close 'n Play. It's obviously mastered incorrectly.

GWTW was announced for The National Arts Centre in Ottawa and I hoped to crew on it (I was in college and moonlighting at the NAC) but unlike Sherman's March, it failed to reach its destination.

Sorry Harold Rome but the South shouldn't rise again.

[aasjb4ever]

Posted: 7/30/13 at 12:46am

I finally saw the film for the first time earlier this year and completely fell in love with it.

That being said, if a musical were to come to fruition, I would hope that Laura Benanti play Scarlett O'Hara.

[exedore]

Posted: 7/30/13 at 2:37am

I saw the 2008 London GWTW and laughed at some of the apalling lyrics from the third row. The show was bloated, misconceived, and worst of all, mind-numbingly boring with amteurish lyrics like:

Wounded soldiers may be physical wrecks
But at least they're members of the opposite sex

Seriously.

It was hard to believe that John Napier had made such a boring, uninspired set (complete with visible stagehands in modern blacks and not period costume pushing and pulling platforms by poles), and that Trevor Nunn who - albeit known for making everything he touches longer than any other production - could turn out a production so lifeless.

Imagine This, which followed it in flopping at the New London, was light years beyond what Martin got staged, and gave me hope that anything can be produced, no matter how awful, if you know where to find money.

[N2N Nate.]

Posted: 7/30/13 at 10:01am

Thanks, Everyone. Gaveston I was hoping you would comment on this thread. You always have such Knowledge and insight on everything and it seems like you have led an exciting life in the theatre. Cheers

[ErinDillyFan]

Posted: 7/30/13 at 11:19am

The problem with all of these projects is editing. They are too expansive to get into less than 3 hours and keep the full story. You have to have a very select set of scenes to tell the root of the story. I have both the 73 LP and Japanese translation (Scarlett), which could also use some more compelling music. Don't think they issued a recording of the more recent London production (completely different show/creative team)

I saw "Lord of the Rings" in Toronto. Similar problem at 4 hr 15 min (2 intermissions), it still took the books and condensed what took 8 hrs to show on film (and that was too contracted for many fans) and added 11 songs. You really had to have read the books to know what was going on on stage. That show at least had breathtaking staging to keep your attention and some beautiful music. Because of the staging this show would never tour.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 7/30/13 at 11:24am

Actually, there were THREE musical versions of the story. The other was the French musical spectacle Autant en Emporte le Vent in 2003 by Gerard Presgurvic which is probably the most bizarre and crazy of the three. The acrobat slaves were really...special.

I saw "Lord of the Rings" in Toronto. Similar problem at 4 hr 15 min (2 intermissions), it still took the books and condensed what took 8 hrs to show on film (and that was too contracted for many fans) and added 11 songs. You really had to have read the books to know what was going on on stage. That show at least had breathtaking staging to keep your attention and some beautiful music. Because of the staging this show would never tour.

I saw the revised London production and LOVED it. I found it to be the most concise and comprehensible version of the stories I'd seen (didn't like the films at all). The only problem I had was with the choreography and execution of the fight scenes. Otherwise, I thought it was wonderful and should have played the Foxwoods rather than Spider-Man.

Updated On: 7/30/13 at 11:24 AM

[N2N Nate.]

Posted: 7/30/13 at 11:45am

"The problem with all of these projects is editing. They are too expansive to get into less than 3 hours and keep the full story."

I don't think that's necessarily true. The Les Mis guys figured it out.

[dreaming]

Posted: 7/30/13 at 11:51am

It almost seems like it would work better as an opera than a musical. With an opera, you can get away with a longer, more sweeping storyline. (Heck there are five hour operas-and I've loved them.)

[ErinDillyFan]

Posted: 7/30/13 at 4:37pm

N2N Nate: I was thinking of Les Miz and Oliver! As I said it is an issue of editing. Knowing what to cut and not lose the essence of the story. Otherwise, you end up with something like what Johnny Carson did with "Abridged too far." Hilarious when intended.

Or you could do what they did with "Wicked" and throw the story out and take the name and characters and make a whole new story.