What Happened To Roman Holiday?

[lady_luck]

Posted: 10/16/17 at 11:32pm

Has anyone heard anything recently about Roman Holoday transferring to Broadway? I know it was expected to transfer from San Francisco this fall but I can’t find any news or press releases since June. I love Stephanie Styles and have been excited to see the production when it transfers. Has there been any news? Are they working on securing a theatre for the spring? 

[Sho-Tunes-R-Us]

Posted: 10/17/17 at 1:10am

Having seen the production twice in San Francisco I'm guessing that the producers are going back to the drawing board or perhaps even giving up on the show.  The lukewarm reviews and pallid word-of-mouth should have been enough to give them pause in regards to any Broadway aspirations at this point.

That said, I could see the show in its current iteration being warmly received in areas less sophisticated than NYC.

[MarkBearSF]

Posted: 10/17/17 at 1:42am

I'm not so sure about "less sophisticated" but yes. Especially following the lackluster response to Amelie last season, it's likely that the producers have elected not to pursue Broadway (at least this season). It's still a pleasant evening at the theater with great music and a plot of a great film. It could have a long life in regional theaters.

[JBroadway]

Posted: 10/17/17 at 1:50am

Its funny. Even though I hated large portions of Roman Holiday - and found it to have the most egregiously shoe-horned Jukebox score I've ever seen in a show - I still kind of look back on it on more fondly than not. It was a cute story, well-performed, and with beautiful, lush design. The sensation that comes to mind when I remember the show is a sort of mild feeling of pleasant warmth. Funny how you can dislike a show so adamantly, then inadvertently look back positively on it. 

I think it could have done well financially on Broadway, despite all the negatives. Between the film title and the Porter score, it's a pretty marketable show, and the average tourist wouldn't have been too bothered by the show's flaws. 

Part of me is also biased; I like it when shows I see out of town transfer to Broadway. It makes me feel like it was more worth my time to have "seen it when." 

Updated On: 10/17/17 at 01:50 AM

[bk]

Posted: 10/17/17 at 4:22am

There is nothing that would have made this show a hit on Broadway nor was it ever going to transfer there - every show says "pre-Broadway" and few of them arrive.  The film title of Roman Holiday is not known to the kiddies - it's not like Frozen.  The show would have to be something really special to come in with no stars, a title no one cares about, and a bunch of Cole Porter songs.

[Sho-Tunes-R-Us]

Posted: 10/17/17 at 5:00am

bk said: "There is nothing that would have made this show a hit on Broadway nor was it ever going to transfer there - every show says "pre-Broadway" and few of them arrive. The film title of Roman Holiday is not known to the kiddies - it's not like Frozen. The show would have to be something really special to come in with no stars, a title no one cares about, and a bunch of Cole Porter songs."

The vast majority of shows that have played San Francisco in the past 40 years of my attendance that have been advertised as pre-Broadway in fact have opened in NYC, but with decidedly varying degrees of success.  Lestat, American Idiot, Amelie, Imagine, Evita and Wicked all played at one of the three major touring houses or at the Berkeley Rep prior to opening on Broadway.  I'm sure I'm forgetting others, but these have stuck in my memory.

 

[willrolandsframes]

Posted: 10/17/17 at 7:11am

To be fair, if you’re going to take a chance and bring a musical with mixed out-of-town reviews to Broadway, this is the season to do it.

 

We have just 6 new musicals this season (and that includes Prince of Broadway). If Amelie came this season, there’s a very good chance it would earn a Best Musical nomination. Likewise, at this point, I think Roman Holiday would also have a shot at that 4th slot for Best Musical if it came.

 

It sounds like there’s a lot of new material coming in 2019, so if the producers want to bring it, it needs to happen now.

[QueenAlice]

Posted: 10/17/17 at 7:38am

I doubt there is a theater available for it this season. 

[darquegk]

Posted: 10/17/17 at 11:00am

It will reappear and wind up in licensing, though it'll never be a huge success. You're going to see a lot of these "classy jukebox shows" of American Songbook writers in the next two decades, since the songs are going to start going, trickle by trickle, into the public domain. Creating shows like this, which will remain copyrighted even when the songs that make the up do not, ensures that the current rights holders will continue to make money off the songs once anyone is free to use them.

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 10/17/17 at 12:05pm

I hope they continue to work on it and bring it in at some point or at least record an album for licensing. I love Roman Holiday and I love Cole Porter. It's a shame they haven't been able to get it together.

[bdn223]

Posted: 10/17/17 at 1:05pm

darquegk said: "It will reappear and wind up in licensing, though it'll never be a huge success. You're going to see a lot of these "classy jukebox shows" of American Songbook writers in the next two decades, since the songs are going to start going, trickle by trickle, into the public domain. Creating shows like this, which will remain copyrighted even when the songs that make the up do not, ensures that the current rights holders will continue to make money off the songs once anyone is free to use them."

This is the reason we got Nice Work If You Can Get It in 2009, "The Gershwin's" Porgy and Bess in 2011, and An American In Paris in 2015, as well as the likely revival of Crazy For You during the 2018-2019 season. The Gershwin catalog and their original musicals from the 1920s and 1930's will start to enter the public domain in 2019, with Lady Be Good. Then their entire catalog entering the Public domain by 2032.

[broadwaysfguy]

Posted: 10/17/17 at 1:09pm

it's been crickets from everyone involved since they left san francisco....it was truly a brutal collection of reviews to bring to potential investors....I hope they keep re-working the book, add better known cole porter songs,  and also find a stronger actress for the princess role

[Ado Annie D'Ysquith]

Posted: 10/17/17 at 4:45pm

I don't know if Amelie would have survived even if it came in this season. I liked the show, but it could have been something really extraordinary with a clearer vision (relative to the film's aesthetic) and some fixes after the Ahmanson run.

I still don't know why they picked Porter's songbook for this show. He's got a ton of shows already that use much of this music. Why not try a slightly less prolific composer?

For the record, I adored Nice Work If You Can Get It...

[PatrickDC]

Posted: 10/18/17 at 12:32am

It was a pleasant piece of fluff, a charming show, but had it not been part of the SHNSF season I doubt I would have seen it. I imagine the theater seats were filled with people -- like myself -- who had bought season tickets because of HAMILTON, and this was just another show we had paid for so might as well see. 

What I remember most was the set design. The outdoor scenes were beautiful and Joe's apartment was crazy detailed. The rest of the show, hmmm, not so much. Sure, I remember the Porter score, but mainly because I'm so familiar with the songs, not because of any new packaging. And the scooter scene was cute, though Ann didn't get to drive it and wreck havoc like in the movie. 

[Wayman_Wong]

Posted: 10/18/17 at 12:58am

It's probably time for Paul Blake, its producer and co-bookwriter, to give up ''Roman Holiday'' as a Cole Porter jukebox musical. Its lame San Francisco tryout was his third effort, and the reviews were pretty poor. (It debuted at the Muny in St. Louis in 2001, and another version played the Guthrie in Minneapolis in 2012.) 

As a 1953 movie, ''Roman Holiday'' was born aloft by the chemistry of Audrey Hepburn and William Holden, but there's barely any love story to musicalize. It's a celibate affair, possibly too genteel for today's audiences. So when they sing ''Our affair was too hot NOT to cool down?'' in the musical, are you crazy? There was no heat or passion between the princess and the reporter. Unless you're a 1950s cinephile, the title ''Roman Holiday'' means nothing to most audiences, so they have no interest in seeing a musical of it.
 

Updated On: 10/18/17 at 12:58 AM