Song and Dance

[Stevie72]

Posted: 1/26/14 at 5:54am

Was Song and Dance a book musical or revue all the way through

[Jon]

Posted: 1/26/14 at 6:52am

The first act was "Tell me on a Sunday" - a one act musical play about an English girl coming to New York. You hear about, but never see, the men in her life.

The second act, "Variations" was essentially a ballet illustrating the men in her life. The music was a cello suite Webber had written for his brother, a classical cellist. The woman in Act 1 does not appear in Act 2.

So, Act 1 was "song, and Act 2 was "dance".

[sbflyfan]

Posted: 1/26/14 at 9:16am

Slight correction: Act one is a sung-through song-cycle, act two is the ballet, but at the end she DOES re-appear and reconcile with one of the men, and a reprise of "Unexpected Song" is sung as a duet, with the ballet dancers eventually joining in singing as an ensemble/chorus.

In London, "Unexpected Song" wasn't a part of the production until the one-off performance with Sarah Brightman that was filmed and released on video.

Prior to that, "The Last Man In My Life" was performed in place of "Unexpected Song." The reprise in the second act had completely different lyrics and was titled "When You Want To Fall In Love" (it also did in the Sarah Brightman version).

On Broadway, it was just "Unexpected Song" repeated with the same lyrics as in the first act.

There is no book author credited. It's an original musical, but an odd hybrid of song-cycle and ballet.

Updated On: 1/26/14 at 09:16 AM