Pal Joey revival?

Posted: 12/14/17 at 6:53pm

I was just reading some of the bios of the creatives in the Muny announcement, and I noticed that Camille A. Brown (whose work I loved in Once on This Island) is apparently choreographing a 2018 Broadway revival of Pal Joey. Was this previously announced? I assume it has to be happening in the fall.

https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/John-Tartaglia-Marcia-Milgrom-Dodge-and-More-Sign-On-as-Muny-Season-100-Creatives-20171214

[BroadwayConcierge]

Posted: 12/14/17 at 6:56pm

Ooh, that'd be news! I thought it was just a typo because of the 2008 revival, but Graciela Daniele was the choreographer for that one. 

[BroadwayConcierge]

Posted: 12/14/17 at 7:38pm

Searching around Twitter for more info, and it looks like Tony Goldwyn is directing?

https://twitter.com/kingsthings/status/912458224132964352

[Jarethan]

Posted: 12/14/17 at 9:37pm

I have seen at least three productions of Pal Joey and do not think Broadway needs another production.  It is really not that good, despite having some terrific songs.  I suspect the key issue had been with the leading character...none of the men I saw play Joey were good enough in a very complex, unsympathetic role.

[ErinDillyFan]

Posted: 12/15/17 at 10:37am

About 4-5 years ago I saw a workshop of new Pay Joey in summer stock.  It had a revised book and added several songs from the Rodgers & Hart library and removed a couple from the original.  The plan at the time was to work it some more in LA, then put it on broadway.  Not sure if this is the same script.

The main change was to make Joey black and bi-sexual.  Certainly heightened the stakes for character set in a pre-WWII era.

[BroadwayConcierge]

Posted: 12/15/17 at 11:12am

https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Tony-Goldwyn-Directed-PAL-JOEY-May-Be-Returning-To-Broadway-Next-Year-20171215

I better get paid for literally doing half of the "research" for this piece. Another great example of insufferably lazy BWW reporting.

Updated On: 12/15/17 at 11:12 AM

[Dollypop]

Posted: 12/15/17 at 11:14am

The title role seems to be tailor made for Robert Fairchild but I think Tristan MacManus would be sensational if he could drop his Irish brogue (as charming as it is!)

[Jarethan]

Posted: 12/15/17 at 11:31am

Even though it is something I have zero interest in seeing -- I'll play Ella Fitzgerald's 'Bewitched...' instead and save some money -- I have to acknowledge that Robert Fairchild seems like a great choice.  Only concern: he does not strike me as having much charisma.  I would say that was a serious deficiency in the previous actors I have seem in the role.

Plus, starting with Tony Goldwyn as director...that does not sound encouraging.

[denali.fire]

Posted: 12/15/17 at 11:51am

Didn't Matthew Reisch star in it? Mt memory fails to remember the female lead. When someone posts her name I'LL kick myself.

[denali.fire]

Posted: 12/15/17 at 11:53am

Stockard Changing. (I admit I googled it.

[newintown]

Posted: 12/15/17 at 11:54am

Matthew Risch (the director's boyfriend at the time) replaced Christian Hoff in previews. The women were Stockard Channing, Martha Plimpton, and Jenny Fellner.

[little_sally]

Posted: 12/15/17 at 12:37pm

If Marin Mazzie is cast, I'd be there in a heartbeat.

I think Tony Yazbeck is a better choice than Robert Fairchild. He's a better singer, and has much more charisma and charm.

[SweetLips]

Posted: 12/16/17 at 2:01am

Pal Joey needs reviving?

Where do I send a card?

[Jarethan]

Posted: 12/17/17 at 1:37am

SweetLips said: "Pal Joey needs reviving?

Where do I send a card?"

???

[markypoo]

Posted: 12/17/17 at 7:50pm

The Goodman Theatre in Chicago did two memorable productions:

1) 1973 - Anthony "Scooter" Teague played Joey, and

2) 1988 - Kevin Anderson (who was out the afternoon I saw it) was Joey, Carlin Glynn was Vera, and Ann Reinking played Melba for a short time.

And those were my 2 Pal Joey's.

[Dollypop]

Posted: 12/17/17 at 9:54pm

How's this for casting:

Patti LuPone as Vera
Tony Yazbeck as Joey
Jennifer Simard as that girl who sings "Zip"

?

[sabrelady]

Posted: 12/17/17 at 11:00pm

SweetLips said: "Pal Joey needs reviving?

Where do I send a card?"

 

Quel drole.

PJ is jes fine- thanks for caring.

 

[PalJoey]

Posted: 12/18/17 at 12:52pm

 

I'm not usually a fan of "revisals"--but the book to Pal Joey has never worked. However, the original John O'Hara short stories from the New Yorker are great, and someone ought to be able to fashion a smart, ascerbic book from them:

 

The Paris Review: John O’Hara’s Pal Joey remains an exemplar of a rare form: the epistolary novella

 

 



 

 



 



 

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 12/18/17 at 1:05pm

I actually really enjoyed Richard Greenberg’s book for the last revival but I think I was in the minority on that. His writing for the scenes where Joey first meets Linda at the cafe and later Vera at the club were far more engaging to me than the original book and I thought Matthew was at his best in those two scenes. I also liked Greenberg’s reworking of Gladys with a terrific performance by Martha Plimpton. I could have done without the added songs though.

[Demitri2]

Posted: 12/18/17 at 1:15pm

The Los Angeles revival back in the seventies titled PAL JOEY '78 starring Lena Horne and Clifton Davis was awful even with a legendary star. The last Broadway revival wasn't much better. Unfortunately, I think the show was a product of its time and just doesn't work anymore. 

[Someone in a Tree2]

Posted: 12/18/17 at 3:46pm

Very cool to see PJ's showcard of Carol Bruce in a summer stock Pal Joey. In fact I saw another production of Pal Joey starring the same Miss Bruce that was staged at my alma mater Brandeis University around 1980 and directed by the great Broadway set designer Howard Bay. At the time, I thought the show was hopelessly out-of-date and unstageable, but years later I was happily proved wrong when I saw the pretty terrific Roundabout Revival with Stockard Channing. Honestly though-- with only 4 or 5 decent songs in the score, is this really a property that demands being revised/revived yet again?

[Jarethan]

Posted: 12/18/17 at 3:59pm

A musical with an unlikeable leading man is off to a bad start before anyone has written a single line of dialogue of lyric.  Unless that leading man is incredibly charismatic, I don't think it can work.  I have seen 4 productions, including the Lena Horne one, and the leading man failed every time, in fact pretty miserably.

I agree with Pal Joey (who I always assumed absolutely loved the show) that the script has always been a problem; but even if someone manages to fix it, the leading man has to be right.  (And the script has to deal with an unlikeable leading man role).  I can't think of another musical HIT whose leading role was unlikeable. Will definitely have to be a small production, cause a big investment will lose more money than On The Town, which was joyous from beginning to end.

I also thought Dollypop's suggestion re Patti Lupone and Tony Yasbeck was right on; I disagree re Simard, who annoys me almost as much as Jackie Hoffman.  

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 12/18/17 at 4:21pm

It's okay if Joey is written to be unlikable as long as he's also charming and sexy. Isn't that the point? That's why the women can't say no at first and then by the end they've had enough and argue over who gets to take him. I also think every song is a gem. The reason to revive it and perhaps the reason creators can't seem to let it go is that score. 

[Someone in a Tree2]

Posted: 12/18/17 at 8:38pm

The character songs can be sold well even today, but those hoary old show numbers -- "Happy Hunting Ground", "Flower Garden of My Heart"-- are pretty damn insufferable. I don't know if there's a choreographer alive who could make those worth sitting through.

Updated On: 12/18/17 at 08:38 PM

[Play Esq.]

Posted: 12/18/17 at 9:41pm

Very mixed opinions about the last revival, but Martha was worth the price of admission alone!