pixeltracker

Happy 50th Anniversary to THE ROAR OF THE GREASEPAINT - THE SMELL OF THE CROWD

Happy 50th Anniversary to THE ROAR OF THE GREASEPAINT - THE SMELL OF THE CROWD

Mr. Nowack Profile Photo
Mr. Nowack
#1Happy 50th Anniversary to THE ROAR OF THE GREASEPAINT - THE SMELL OF THE CROWD
Posted: 5/16/15 at 3:30am

Happy 50th Anniversary to THE ROAR OF THE GREASEPAINT - THE SMELL OF THE CROWD


It opened 50 years ago today at the Shubert Theatre.


Intended to be the smash follow up of Bricusse and Newley's earlier hit STOP THE WORLD - I WANT TO GET OFF, it was received poorly in England but David Merrick brought it over anyway (knowing it would be cheap to run) where it would go on to run a respectable 231 performances before closing later that year.  


Did anyone see it 50 years ago, either in the UK with Norman Wisdom or in the US? The score is of course lovely and featured the evergreen classic "Feeling Good."


The silhouetted playbill:


Happy 50th Anniversary to THE ROAR OF THE GREASEPAINT - THE SMELL OF THE CROWD


The poster from the unsuccessful UK tour:


Happy 50th Anniversary to THE ROAR OF THE GREASEPAINT - THE SMELL OF THE CROWD


Production shots:


Happy 50th Anniversary to THE ROAR OF THE GREASEPAINT - THE SMELL OF THE CROWD


Happy 50th Anniversary to THE ROAR OF THE GREASEPAINT - THE SMELL OF THE CROWD


Happy 50th Anniversary to THE ROAR OF THE GREASEPAINT - THE SMELL OF THE CROWD


Happy 50th Anniversary to THE ROAR OF THE GREASEPAINT - THE SMELL OF THE CROWD


From the recording studio:


Happy 50th Anniversary to THE ROAR OF THE GREASEPAINT - THE SMELL OF THE CROWD


Happy 50th Anniversary to THE ROAR OF THE GREASEPAINT - THE SMELL OF THE CROWD


Happy 50th Anniversary to THE ROAR OF THE GREASEPAINT - THE SMELL OF THE CROWD


Happy 50th Anniversary to THE ROAR OF THE GREASEPAINT - THE SMELL OF THE CROWD


Happy 50th Anniversary to THE ROAR OF THE GREASEPAINT - THE SMELL OF THE CROWD


The cast album was actually recorded well before the Broadway opening in order to sell on the road, as Merrick had done with OLIVER some years before. 


Keeping BroadwayWorld Illustrated
Updated On: 5/16/15 at 03:30 AM

GavestonPS Profile Photo
GavestonPS
#2Happy 50th Anniversary to THE ROAR OF THE GREASEPAINT - THE SMELL OF THE CROWD
Posted: 5/16/15 at 7:12am

I've only seen one production (at the U. of Miami), but my high school did it twice while I was there. It's really a lovely and moving small musical--one that probably doesn't belong in a Broadway house, certainly not the Shubert!


I don't remember "Feeling Good" being a big hit until it was covered ten years ago.


In the show's day, the big hits included, "Who Can I Turn To?", "The Joker" and "On a Wonderful Day Like Today".

JayG  2 Profile Photo
JayG 2
#2Happy 50th Anniversary to THE ROAR OF THE GREASEPAINT - THE SMELL OF THE CROWD
Posted: 5/16/15 at 8:53am

Tremendous score. Weak book.  Did not see on Broadway but a production at the Paper Mill Playhouse was deadly. The next Merrick-Newley-Briccuse musical was going to be Cyrano with Newley as Christian. Never happened, but Hollywood called and the two writers took off. 


Great pics. Thanks. 

Smaxie Profile Photo
Smaxie
#3Happy 50th Anniversary to THE ROAR OF THE GREASEPAINT - THE SMELL OF THE CROWD
Posted: 5/16/15 at 10:27am

>I don't remember "Feeling Good" being a big hit until it was covered ten years ago.<


Nina Simone covered the song in 1965, and her version is the one that Michael Buble, George Michael and other singers have used as a model (divorced, unfortunately, of the song's context and meaning).  


 


Begin at the beginning and go on till you come to the end: then stop.

canmark Profile Photo
canmark
#4Happy 50th Anniversary to THE ROAR OF THE GREASEPAINT - THE SMELL OF THE CROWD
Posted: 5/16/15 at 11:06am

Indeed, Nina Simone’s version of Feeling Good is used in the trailer for the upcoming documentary about her, What Happened, Miss Simone? She had an uncanny way of taking a show tune and turning it into a Nina Simone song (to be later covered by other artists).


 


Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=moOQXZxriKY


Coach Bob knew it all along: you've got to get obsessed and stay obsessed. You have to keep passing the open windows. (John Irving, The Hotel New Hampshire)
Updated On: 5/16/15 at 11:06 AM

Mr. Nowack Profile Photo
Mr. Nowack
#5Happy 50th Anniversary to THE ROAR OF THE GREASEPAINT - THE SMELL OF THE CROWD
Posted: 5/16/15 at 12:19pm

It was indeed Simone's version I was thinking of, and its many descendants. I suppose "Who Can I Turn To" was the biggest hit, as evidenced by the intro to this Ed Sullivan performance:



Awkward cameo by David Merrick at the end.


Keeping BroadwayWorld Illustrated

mamaleh
#6Happy 50th Anniversary to THE ROAR OF THE GREASEPAINT - THE SMELL OF THE CROWD
Posted: 5/16/15 at 12:42pm

Saw the original Bway production on a class trip after Anthony Newley had been replaced by Orson Bean, whom I had known only as a game show panelist.  He was surprisingly good and sang well.  This was only my second Bway show. I have fond memories of that evening--loved the score, especially Gilbert Price's powerful "Feeling Good."  

Fantod Profile Photo
Fantod
#7Happy 50th Anniversary to THE ROAR OF THE GREASEPAINT - THE SMELL OF THE CROWD
Posted: 5/16/15 at 12:48pm

Interestingly enough, the show actually made back its money back in the day. I actually like the score more than Stop the World. I loved singing On a Wonderful Day Like Today for auditions back when I still performed. Thanks for the photos as always, Mr. Nowack.

KathyNYC2
#8Happy 50th Anniversary to THE ROAR OF THE GREASEPAINT - THE SMELL OF THE CROWD
Posted: 5/16/15 at 1:30pm

Also one of my first shows...LOVED the music, I remember buying two albums because I wore out the first one. I remember singing/acting out the chorus members parts (a group of young urchins/girls) in my bedroom with the music blasting...LOL


I do remember one of the girls - Kay Cole -really stood out in the chorus to me and then just a few years later I saw her again singing At The Ballet in Chorus Line at the same theater...the Shubert.


Can also remember a number of scenes and visuals from the show - including the amazing silhouette pose of the two leading actors at the end. I remember the audience sort of gasping at that moment...


And Gilbert Price - who died too young. It was confirmed that he actually died in a sleep due to a faulty space heater. What a huge loss..


Memories..


 

Updated On: 5/16/15 at 01:30 PM

Mr. Nowack Profile Photo
Mr. Nowack
#9Happy 50th Anniversary to THE ROAR OF THE GREASEPAINT - THE SMELL OF THE CROWD
Posted: 5/16/15 at 2:01pm

I never knew Orson Bean replaced Newley. I've always liked him and bet he was great, though I imagine very different from his predecessor. 


Keeping BroadwayWorld Illustrated

PalJoey Profile Photo
PalJoey
#10Happy 50th Anniversary to THE ROAR OF THE GREASEPAINT - THE SMELL OF THE CROWD
Posted: 5/16/15 at 3:33pm

Of all of the covers of songs from this wonderful show, this one has to be the most jaw-dropping:


 



Updated On: 5/16/15 at 03:33 PM

GavestonPS Profile Photo
GavestonPS
#11Happy 50th Anniversary to THE ROAR OF THE GREASEPAINT - THE SMELL OF THE CROWD
Posted: 5/16/15 at 5:50pm

Thanks for that, PJ. I blame the arrangement, because it isn't such a bad song choice for Merman.


***


Re "Feeling Good", thanks to all for the Nina Simone info. I didn't mean to imply the song had never been covered by anyone. I just don't remember it being the hit some of the others (and I should have included "Nothing Can Stop Me Now") were. But I was 11 in 1965 and my knowledge of pop music came from the TV variety shows I watched incessantly.


***


I don't agree at all that the book to GREASEPAINT is "bad". It's an odd mixture of Beckett and Brecht, I'll grant, but it's quite a feat to do both and still charm an audience.


Even in a high school production, I recall many people sobbing by the end.

Jarethan
#12Happy 50th Anniversary to THE ROAR OF THE GREASEPAINT - THE SMELL OF THE CROWD
Posted: 5/16/15 at 10:31pm

I saw this at the Shubert theatre from the second balcony on a Saturday matinee.  I am not sure that I understood it, but I had a good time.  The score was the real star...'Who Can I Turn To', 'Feeling Good',  'On a Wonderful Day Like Today ',  'Put It In The Book'. "My First Love Song' we're all terrific numbers; and 'What Would You Do Without Me' was a bona fide show-stopper.


Despite the score, there was an obvious reason for the short run...it was very affected / absurdist...was it really necessary to do a show in the same vein as 'Stop the World' so soon after it?


Since it had a small cast, I am guessing that it might have been more successful in a smaller house.  It was just too precious for a long run at the Shubert.

Charley Kringas Inc Profile Photo
Charley Kringas Inc
#13Happy 50th Anniversary to THE ROAR OF THE GREASEPAINT - THE SMELL OF THE CROWD
Posted: 5/16/15 at 11:16pm

This is one of those shows where I've listened to the cast album over and over without the faintest idea what it's about. From what I gather it was sort of like Rosencrantz and Guildenstern meets Waiting for Godot: The Musical, which is extremely up my alley. In any case, the songs are superb and I wish I could find a copy of the book.

GavestonPS Profile Photo
GavestonPS
#14Happy 50th Anniversary to THE ROAR OF THE GREASEPAINT - THE SMELL OF THE CROWD
Posted: 5/17/15 at 11:42pm

Other than official scripts from Tams Whitmark, I've never scene a book of the libretto, Charley.


It probably wouldn't make sell many copies, since much of the dialogue is pure (and intentional) nonsense. (Or, in the Beckett sense, "absurdist".)


Still, how many musical comedies actually take class warfare as their subject? I don't mean how many have characters engaged in some sort of class struggle, but musical comedies where class struggle (its history, strategies and effects) is literally the action AND the theme of the evening.


Basically, two men, Sir (a parody of an English upper-class man) and Cocky (the opposite--the similarity of "Cocky" and "Cockney" is quite deliberate) play a nonsensical game in which Sir constantly makes up new rules so that he always wins. A chorus of street urchins align with Sir and mock Cocky through most of the play.


Etiquette, history, criminal records ("Put It in the Book"), religion, taste and education are used by Sir to make sure Cocky remains cowed and downtrodden.


Dramatic tension increases when Sir "buys" Cocky's true love, The Girl (and basically rapes her), and increases again when The Negro enters to ignore Sir's changing rules and thereby win the game ("Feeling Good").


Cocky takes his cue from The Negro (just as many leftist movements in the West took their cue from the African American Civil Rights movement) and finally unseats Sir as the perennial game winner ("Nothing Can Stop Me Now"). As Cocky prepares to leave Sir behind and alone, each realizes he is really dependent on the other and the curtain falls as the two quarrel over which way to travel next. It is very much reminiscent of WAITING FOR GODOT in the sense that neither character seems to have anywhere to go or anything to do outside their quibbling and competing with one another.


(The songs are not random, but as I said, much of the action consists of Sir pelting Cocky with nonsense, so it would take me quite awhile to recall the motivation for each song (especially those by the Urchins).)


But if a specific song or two puzzle you, I'll do my best to remember the context(s)....

Wilmingtom
#15Happy 50th Anniversary to THE ROAR OF THE GREASEPAINT - THE SMELL OF THE CROWD
Posted: 5/18/15 at 3:50am

I've always thought of it as "The Roar of the Score, the Smell of the Book."  I did a production of it long ago and don't even remember "Feeling Good."  I do recall "On A Wonderful Day," "Nothing Can Stop Me Now" and "Who Can I Turn to?", which is essentailly a recycle of "What Kind of Fool Am I?" from "Stop the World..."  By no means a great musical IMHO.

GavestonPS Profile Photo
GavestonPS
#16Happy 50th Anniversary to THE ROAR OF THE GREASEPAINT - THE SMELL OF THE CROWD
Posted: 5/18/15 at 8:58pm

I'll agree the book is demanding: it is not only absurdist, but an extended allegory (which some would argue is a contradiction in terms); however, demanding is not the same as bad.


GREASEPAINT is one of the few great small musicals. Perhaps people have trouble reconciling the very pop score with the more experimental book, but Brecht did the same thing (and his audiences often had the same problem reconciling the two). That's not the same as being "bad".


I figure any time you can make people cry and think, you have to be doing something right. IMO, this is not a candidate for "revisal"; unless you discard the entire story along with the libretto, I doubt you can make the story any more palatable (especially to American audiences who like to pretend we have no "classes").


***


Wilmington, if you don't remember "Feeling Good", there was something very wrong with your production. The Negro's (I hope it's clear I'm using the terminology from the play) victory is a major turning point. It's also a beautiful song, even when sung as a theater song rather than a pop song.

Updated On: 5/18/15 at 08:58 PM

Timmer
#17Happy 50th Anniversary to THE ROAR OF THE GREASEPAINT - THE SMELL OF THE CROWD
Posted: 5/18/15 at 11:47pm

This is one of my all-time favorite shows.  I saw it three times on Broadway, met Anthony Newley, and shook his hand.  


 


In addition to "Feeling Good", which has been covered by a few different artists, "On a Wonderful Day Like Today" and "Who Can I Turn To" have had their popularity.


 


I'd lvoe to see it revived, but who could you turn to to do Newley's part?

Mr. Nowack Profile Photo
Mr. Nowack
#18Happy 50th Anniversary to THE ROAR OF THE GREASEPAINT - THE SMELL OF THE CROWD
Posted: 5/19/15 at 12:10am

"who could you turn to to do Newley's part?"


Haha!


If it were revived, what are the demands of the main roles? I'm sure they would be right in someone's wheelhouse. Think it would be a good idea, maybe Off-Broadway?


Also here are some clips by the original UK cast members.




 


Keeping BroadwayWorld Illustrated

Wilmingtom
#19Happy 50th Anniversary to THE ROAR OF THE GREASEPAINT - THE SMELL OF THE CROWD
Posted: 5/19/15 at 4:16pm

Gaveston, I do recall the "Feeling Good" moment in the show as being strong but I couldn't hum you one bar of the song.  And I'll admit that allegories about the British class system are not where I live dramatically.

MarkBearSF Profile Photo
MarkBearSF
#20Happy 50th Anniversary to THE ROAR OF THE GREASEPAINT - THE SMELL OF THE CROWD
Posted: 5/19/15 at 5:35pm

"...I'd lvoe to see it revived, but who could you turn to to do Newley's part?"


Cheyenne Jackson? 

GavestonPS Profile Photo
GavestonPS
#21Happy 50th Anniversary to THE ROAR OF THE GREASEPAINT - THE SMELL OF THE CROWD
Posted: 5/20/15 at 8:28am

I know Sir has to sing a brief F in a few songs, but the part is traditionally talk-sung so there are ways around that. There are numerous references to Sir being fat, but looking at the photos above, I don't think Cyril Ritchard looks terribly big except compared to Newley. I did the show in high school, but I think a pro production would want Sir to be at least middle-aged.


Cocky has to be a very strong singer and IIRC needs a very strong G, because that was Newley's money note and he ends more than one song sitting on it (but especially "Who  Can I Turn To?"). It makes sense that he be diminutive and as close as possible in age to Sir.


Both have to be strong actors since they have almost every other line for 2-and-a-half hours.


The Kid (the leader of the urchins) needs a moderately ranged belt.


The Negro is a tenor and The Girl needs a not very challenging soprano. Neither does much acting; they basically sing their songs and then exit for the night.


The choral music, as I recall, is all pretty easy. (ETA unless you radically reconceive the production, there is little dance and what there is should probably be simple.)

Updated On: 5/20/15 at 08:28 AM

KathyNYC2
#22Happy 50th Anniversary to THE ROAR OF THE GREASEPAINT - THE SMELL OF THE CROWD
Posted: 5/20/15 at 8:34am

I don't know about vocally (because I just know enough) but as actors, I can picture either Kelsey Grammar or Roger Rees as Sir maybe. Cocky...hmm..I have to think about that more...


 

broadwaybabywannabe2 Profile Photo
broadwaybabywannabe2
#23Happy 50th Anniversary to THE ROAR OF THE GREASEPAINT - THE SMELL OF THE CROWD
Posted: 5/20/15 at 8:45am

i too LOVE the score...having never seen the Broadway production i listen to the score all the time...from THE BEAUTIFUL LAND...to THE JOKER...to LOOK AT THE FACE the score is one of the most singable scores written...

WOSQ
#24Happy 50th Anniversary to THE ROAR OF THE GREASEPAINT - THE SMELL OF THE CROWD
Posted: 5/20/15 at 11:09am

I saw the first tryout engagement which was a 4 perf stand in Wilmington before it headed out to DC, Philly, Boston and one or two  more cities totaling about 12 weeks before it came in in mid-May. I think the small cast, single set show paid off prior to the New York opening or very shortly thereafter.


 


To my unsophisticated 14 year old eye, the show was great even though the symbolism was rife and obvious even to me (Noel Coward famously said, "I hate stooping to symbolism."). The score was the thing however, with one hit after another.


 


Gilbert Price singing Feeling Good was a high point and that voice filled the theatre in those pre-body mike days.


 


Joyce Jillson was the Girl and later wrote the horoscope column for the Daily News for about 25 years.


 


More:


After Stop the World, Newley was a big star (note first billing ahead of Ritchard) and this show ran only as long as he was in it. Orson Bean did take over, but the show lasted only maybe another month.


"If my life weren't funny, it would just be true. And that would be unacceptable." --Carrie Fisher
Updated On: 5/21/15 at 11:09 AM