Nine: The Musical. Just might be the finest ever written

[rosscoe(au)]

Everything about it perfect: it doesnt miss a beat , it’s thrilling , sexy , tells it’s story perfectly. What other show doesn’t need major set pieces and still enthralls with basically a bare stage.

Thoughts?

[QueenAlice]

Well many, many many critics and audiences criticized the film - not for Rob Marshall's decisions - but for the score. It is definitely not appealing to everyone. I personally love it.

[rosscoe(au)]

The film is a pure nightmare, removed nearly everything that was perfect about the stage show.

The less we talk about that movie the better

[QueenAlice]

Well, I think the film is worth mentioning specifically because my point is that much of the criticism was at something that is at the heart of the stage production which is the music. Theatre people hated the adaptation. Moviegoers hated the music.

Personally, I don't think mainstream audiences have ever liked the show as much as theatre folks have. The revival wouldn't have been the hit it was without Antonio Banderas' involvement.

Again, as much as I do like the show, I think it pretty much relies on a brilliant staging and a brilliant lead performance to work. It's not a 'fool-proof' musical like many of the great musicals of the Golden Era, which can be done with mediocre performances and inept directors and still somehow be effective.

[GeorgeandDot]

The musical is divine. It's just great. The film, however, is an embarrassment. I don't understand how anyone let Marshall direct (and ruin) Into the Woods after that monstrosity.

[rosscoe(au)]

We just had a small theatre company in Melbourne Australia do a very brief season. Thankfully saw it five times and took others who have never seen it and or ain’t fans of musicals.

Told them to go in blind and just listen, the five of them loved it, and wanted to know if every musical was as good!

I did see a production in LA about five years ago that was awful! ( it was a mix of female and male performers, don’t ask I’ve wiped it from my memory)

[dramamama611]

Funny...I dont often think about this musical. But when prompted, am reminded how much I love it.

[qolbinau]

I enjoy the film “Be Italian” and the acting in “My Husband Makes Movies”.

[Mister Matt]

The only production I've ever seen live was in Berlin at Theater des Westens.  Even though it was in German, I loved every second of it.

What other show doesn’t need major set pieces and still enthralls with basically a bare stage.

The Fantasticks.

[Jarethan]

I think it is a great show.  I have only seen two productions, the original and the revival with Antonio Banderas.  Very different and I thought both were great.  To me, the score and direction (both productions, but especially the original) may together be close to the finest..., but I have always thought the book was a little choppy, which I admit may have been due to the episodic nature of the basic story. I also think it took too  long to care at all about Guido, which was probably the intention.

Ironically, I would've said that Gypsy was the finest ever written, but lately I have found myself getting bored periodically during the show (off the top of my head, I have seen productions of Dolly, Les Mis, Follies, Evita, The Producers, Mame, Company, and A Little Night Music more than Gypsy, but I have never been bored in any of those).  So, I would have to think long and hard re the finest ever written.  

The movie to me was even worse than anyone here has said so far.  That big production number that Kate Hudson did was, to me, maybe the single worst number in musical film history.  I cannot think of a movie musical based on a Broadway production that came close to being as bad as this one...wait, I can.  The movie version of The Producers was just as bad as this,which is amazing when you consider the fact that it practically duplicated the show...which of course was the problem...it was not cinematic.  (The other oneI could mention is Mame, but that is for me a guilty pleasure, i.e., I know it is bad and that Lucy is atrocious, but I find enough to enjoy in it that it is not in the same league as Nine and The Producers. c

[castlestreet]

I think it has one of the finest scores ever written for the theater. I’ve always enjoyed the London concert cast with Jonathon Pryce.

[castlestreet]

I think it has one of the finest scores ever written for the theater. I’ve always enjoyed the London concert cast with Jonathon Pryce.

[ScottyDoesn'tKnow2]

This is a show that I wish to see live one day. I enjoy the original cast recording and LOVE select songs. But I don't feel that I've ever had the full impact of the piece, and from all accounts it was incredible live. I think the problem with the movie is that they cut a lot of the score (some of the pieces are beautiful) and the book scenes dragged and were filmed in a way that it made it drag that it made the musical numbers (even the good songs that stayed) not really have the impact that it should have. I also didn't really like the music video direction Rob Marshall goes for with the musical numbers. Bob Fosse used quick editing in his films too, but they still felt like a performance that made sense in a scene and not wholly separate entities. I guess it made sense in Nine though.

[RippedMan]

Interestingly enough, I'm working on a production of "Phantom" right now, and it has one of the worst books I've ever experienced. And the music is very hit or miss. And just funny to think this same team gave us the beauty that is "Nine." 

[QueenAlice]

Well let's not forget a huge part of NINE's success is due to Tommy Tune. And I'm not just talking about the brilliant staging of the original. It was Tune's idea to make the show all female (plus the male lead) and he was instrumental in guiding the creative team to make a lot of key decisions about the material. The show changed greatly from the time Tune first received the demo-recordings and script to the time it premiered on Broadway.

[Gizmo6]

I love the score but have never seen it live on stage, I've rarely come across a live production here in UK/Europe I could attend. 

Amateur societies seem to steer away from it. 

Also, the treatment of women as objects is problematic, I'd love to see it reimagined and the book torn to shreds. 

[Sondheimite]

This is the perfect show for Ivo Van Hove to direct.

[ScottyDoesn'tKnow2]

Would Nine be the same without that objectification though? I think the whole patriarchal, Catholic, Italian machismo being confronted with women is a big part of the show (and original Fellini film that the the show is based on).

[Gizmo6]

Sondheimite said: "This is the perfect show for Ivo Van Hove to direct."

It is crying out for something radical In my opinion. 

[Gizmo6]

ScottyDoesn'tKnow2 said: "WouldNinebe the same without that objectification though? I think the whole patriarchal, Catholic, Italian machismo being confronted with women is a big part of the show (and original Fellini film that the the show is based on)."

I understand what you mean I just think there is a way to reverse the gaze. Make the audience the ones on view, not the women. Something imaginative like they did with the Oklahoma at St Annes. 

[Sondheimite]

Gizmo6 said: "Sondheimite said: "This is the perfect show for Ivo Van Hove to direct."

It is crying out for something radical In my opinion."

I wonder what it would take to get David Lynch, a huge fan of the film 8 1/2 and someone who once did a full show at the BAM, to direct this for a stage revival...

 

[ScottyDoesn'tKnow2]

Gizmo6 said: "ScottyDoesn'tKnow2 said: "WouldNinebe the same without that objectification though? I think the whole patriarchal, Catholic, Italian machismo being confronted with women is a big part of the show (and original Fellini film that the the show is based on)."

I understand what you mean I just think there is a way to reverse the gaze. Make the audience the ones on view, not the women. Something imaginative like they did with the Oklahomaat St Annes."

That's really interesting. I'd be interested in seeing a reconceived production of this.

[SweetLips22]

Don't know how many times I saw the brilliant Melbourne production starring and directed by John Dietrich.Two leading ladies of Melbourne theatre Jill Perryman and Nancye Hayes played Liliane and I was in theatre heaven for everyone in that cast.

I had the good fortune of seeing the original on Broadway with Liliane Montevecchi and met the composer Maury at the stage door--the one and only autograph I have kept, I lie 2--the other, Bobby Helpmann

I love this show HATED the film

[Javi]

Rosscoe, I just saw the Melbourne production on Thursday (I assume it's the same one you saw) and loved it.  'Nine' is one of my top 5 musicals and so we managed to plan a trip to Melbourne to see it...as well as 'School of Rock' and 'Gentleman's Guide To Love and Murder'.  Everyone who came with me loved the show as well, so I'm glad we were able to fit it into our trip.   I saw the Antonio Banderas Broadway revival and that's when I fell in love with the musical.  That was just a beautiful production and made a big impact on me.  

[ggersten]

dramamama611 said: "Funny...I dont often think about this musical. But when prompted, am reminded how much I love it.
"

I saw Nine and Dreamgirls the same weekend on Broadway back in

 

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June 1983

 

(not really a spoiler, just well, it was a while ago)  At the time, I enjoyed thought more highly of Nine, but for some reason, over the years, I remembered the staging and impact of Dreamgirls more.