On the Twentieth Century

[BCfitasafiddle]

Posted: 5/13/21 at 4:37pm

Just finished watching a "slime tutorial" of the great 2015 revival: On the Twentieth Century. I didn't get to NY that year to see it during its limited run. What a great show and production. Anybody have any fun anecdotes or memories? 

[bwayphreak234]

Posted: 5/13/21 at 4:55pm

I saw the 2015 revival and found it to be harmless fun. The production itself was... fine. It was pretty to look at, the cast was top notch (Kristin Chenoweth was a firecracker!), but in the end, I did feel something was missing that, to this day six years later, I can't  put my finger on. I don't think it helped that it was in the same season as the absolutely glorious revivals of On The Town and The King and I, both of which were absolutely sumptuous productions in every way. 

[Leadingplayer]

Posted: 5/14/21 at 1:07am

Chenowith and Andy Karl were great. Having heard so much about the original sets I wish they had done more with the revivals. It was kind of a cheap Roundabout version which is often the case with them. 

 

Mary Louise Wilson was terrible. Just from the album you could tell Imogene Coca was a showstopper. Wilson barely put in any effort. 

 

So many women could have really done something with that role. Don't know how she was cast. 

[JBroadway]

Posted: 5/14/21 at 1:17am

Interesting, I didn't have any problem with Wilson's performance. But then again, neither did I think she stopped the show, and I'm not familiar with any past productions. So maybe I just didn't know what I was missing.

Chenoweth gave a great performance, channeling her life-long love of Madeline Kahn. She was a delight, as was Andy Karl. I liked the production a lot, but I agree it wasn't life-changing. 

Updated On: 5/14/21 at 01:17 AM

[Leadingplayer]

Posted: 5/14/21 at 1:47am

One more thing. I saw the final show. When Chenowith entered she got a huge ovation that went on forever. She stood so stoically in character threw it all. Maybe one or two little gasps of emotion about to break thru but otherwise she just stood center stage and waited it out. Very impressive. 

[SmoothLover]

Posted: 5/14/21 at 1:55am

I have always loved the silliness and farcical qualities within the script. And some of the music ain’t to bad either.

[OlBlueEyes]

Posted: 5/14/21 at 2:05am

I saw the show four times, so I guess I was a fan. I would like to think that Broadway had room enough to insert a screwball comedy every now and then, but if it has room the room isn't very large. Twentieth Century had a lively opening, but after failing to score any major awards, it just rather quietly faded away.

I now think that Kristin should have won the Tony. It was a very difficult role, musically and physically, and she had the discipline to "live like a nun" during the run. And she still suffered from the pain of the fractured skull and neck injury that had occurred when she was struck by falling scaffolding in 2012. Kelli O'Hara gave a Tony-worthy performance in The King and I, but it was not a great stretch for her and she has had so many successes to compensate her for a Tony failure. 

I remember reading an article by a British critic informing his readers what was worth seeing on Broadway. I don't think that he had Twentieth Century in his top five (he was not the screwball type), but he informed his readers to put aside all the distaste that they had developed for what they might have conceived of as an over-hyped Chenoweth, because she had given a helluva performance.

I also thought that Peter Gallagher was very good as Lilly's foil. An important role. He, however, was pretty much ignored. A lot of John Cullum fans? In fact I tweeted someone about the show within the last year and mentioned that about Peter and from nowhere he returned a Like. I guess he thought that he was ignored as well.

I don't remember much about the Mary Louise Wilson performance, so I guess I'm in agreement there.

Not long before the production there was a biography of Madeline Kahn published with a whole chapter devoted to her mishaps starring in the original Broadway production. Every cast member except John Cullum commented on that situation. Consensus was that she was afraid of the score; the high notes that she had to hit. Cullum had caught her several times transcribing notes downward.

So if this is the last screwball musical comedy that makes it to Broadway in my lifetime, at least it was a good and nearly memorable one.

[imeldasturn]

Posted: 5/14/21 at 3:04am

Btw John Callum talls a bit about On the Twentieth Century in Eddie Shapiro's A Wonderful Guy, the male version 9f his previous book "Nothing Like a Dame"

[gypsy101]

Posted: 5/14/21 at 3:05am

Peter Gallagher did not have the voice the character should have but other than him the cast was phenomenal and imo it was the role Kristin Chenoweth was born to play. she is perfect as Lily Garland.

[bwayphreak234]

Posted: 5/14/21 at 6:28am

Another thing I remember about this revival were the paper thin orchestrations. It sounded very canned and tinny.

[Broadway61004]

Posted: 5/14/21 at 2:29pm

Honestly, what I remember was leaving the theatre going "that was nice, but now I remember why this show doesn't get that many productions nowadays".  Don't get me wrong, it was a fine, pleasant afternoon at the theatre.  The score has a few great songs and there are some good comedic moments in the script.  But it also drags a lot, especially in the second act.  Kristin Chenoweth and Andy Karl were both wonderful (Peter Gallagher was out, so I can't comment on him).  I agree with the other comments about the light orchestrations and somewhat cheap-looking sets.  It wasn't a bad production by any means, nor is it a bad show--just not something that made me say "wow, I can't wait to see it again".  And it was certainly the weakest among the On the Town and King and I revivals that season.

[joevitus]

Posted: 5/14/21 at 3:34pm

The lack of spectacular sets may just be the norm for the Roundabout, but Twentieth Century was kinda infamous in its first incarnation as the show the audience left "walking up the aisles whistling the scenery." I wonder if there was a desire to make the actual book and score the center of the evening rather than the production values. Though I realize that in this day and age, such a level of production (similar to the much greater Follies) is practically impossible if a show wants to make a profit. 

[Broadway61004]

Posted: 5/14/21 at 3:54pm

joevitus said: "The lack of spectacular sets may just be the norm for the Roundabout, but Twentieth Century was kinda infamous in itsfirst incarnation as the show the audience left "walking up the aisleswhistling the scenery." I wonder if there was a desire to make the actual book and score the center of the evening rather than the production values. Though I realize that in this day and age, such a level of production (similar to the much greater Follies) is practically impossible if a show wants to make a profit."

Sort of like Roundabout did to the 2001 revival of Follies (completely stripping it down to hardly any set and churning out a disaster of a production).

[suzycat]

Posted: 5/14/21 at 5:02pm

The revival was a total delight, I went in blind. Andy Karl was another standout! Cheno was in top form - I watch VERONIQUE whenever I need a pick-me-up: https://youtu.be/NU1kwfzAnP4

[Leadingplayer]

Posted: 5/15/21 at 2:21am

John Cullum and his wife discuss Madeline and 20th Century here in their youtube show. 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OyVwPfWl2PE

[Owen22]

Posted: 5/15/21 at 7:58am

I saw the original on my first trip to New York as a teenager, I'd had the cast recording and delighted in the original cast (but for Judy Kaye who, to me at the time, sounded just like Madeline on the album). As good as Andy Karl was in the revival, Kevin Kline is a special performer (the role made him a star) and the comic oomph a seasoned clown like Imogene Coco brought to her role made Wilson seem almost community theatre-level in comparison.

However, Cheno and Gallagher were magnificent and easily trumped my memory of the original leads.  On that first trip I just mentioned I had ironically seen Gallagher as Danny Zuko in Grease and loved him.  As Oscar, he might not have sung as well as Callum, but he was sexier and so loosely funny (he later showed that side off in some sitcoms).  Chenowith was spectacular.  A perfect role for her, she was able to inject truth into a farcical character without not being hilarious for one single moment. ("Veronique". OMG, "Veronique".  Kelli was wonderful in King and I....but Cheno deserved that Tony!!!!

Updated On: 5/15/21 at 07:58 AM

[bwayphreak234]

Posted: 5/15/21 at 8:12am

This talk of Kelli vs. Kristin brings me back to this board 6 years ago when the conversation about the Tony for Best Leading Actress in a Musical on the board was so fascinating. That race was so incredibly tight that year between both women, and everyone had very strong opinions. I was definitely leaned toward Kelli's performance for the win, but Chenoweth was a dynamite and lit up the American Airlines Theatre with her zany performance. In the end, I do think Kelli won more for her body of work, but I do think her performance as Anna was worthy of a win as well. Anyways, I digress! 

[TNick926]

Posted: 5/15/21 at 5:18pm

BCfitasafiddle said: "Just finished watching a "slime tutorial" of the great 2015 revival:On the Twentieth Century. I didn't get to NY that year to see it during its limited run. What a great show and production. Anybody have any fun anecdotes or memories?"

I LOVED this show (this version was the only time I have ever seen it, except for excerpts on the Tony Awards, with the unforgettable Imogene Coca!).

What's the "name" of the slime tutorial?  I can't find it but I want to see it again - I would love to play Oscar Jaffe one of these days somewhere, anywhere! :)

 

[JBroadway]

Posted: 5/15/21 at 5:36pm

bwayphreak234 said: "the conversation about the Tony for Best Leading Actress in a Musical on the board was so fascinating." 

 

"Fascinating" is one word to describe it, though I would go with "maddening." It got quite heated, and at a certain point it was pretty tiresome to watch every thread devolve into a "Kelli vs. Kristin" argument. And it was always the same argument, rehashed in thread after thread. It got even more frustrating AFTER the Tonys, when many people simply couldn't stop complaining about how Kristin was robbed, and how Kelli didn't deserve it. For months, people seemed to be looking for any opportunity to bring it up. Frankly, I'm surprised this thread didn't immediately get hijacked by that old debate, but I'm glad that the people who HAVE brought it up in this thread have done so in a respectful way. 

[PTChazman]

Posted: 5/15/21 at 5:53pm

I loved Chenowith in it. It was as though the show was written for her and her range and character. Madelyn Kahn: didn’t see her in the original.

Wish Chenowith had won the Tony. Not many out there have the vocal range and talent to perform this part brilliantly. Like she did. Although I liked O’Hara in King and and I that year, many many actresses can play that lead role. Not so with 20th century.

[The Distinctive Baritone]

Posted: 5/15/21 at 8:41pm

Add me to the list of people who loved it. There are so few American comic operettas in the Gilbert and Sullivan style (that I know of anyway...or that still get produced), and it was just so much fun. Kristen Chenoweth gave one of the greatest musical theatre performances I’ve ever seen. It’s very dated and may never get another major production, so I’m glad I caught it.

[TNick926]

Posted: 5/16/21 at 11:27am

Can you give us the name of the "slime tutorial" for On the Twentieth Century, please?  I can't find it and I would love to see it again, if only that way!  Thanks!

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 5/16/21 at 12:30pm

Chenoweth was perfection.  As a first rate comic soprano with glamour, it was the role she was born to play and she did not disappoint.
Otherwise, though I am a big fan of the show, the production left me cold.  I think it's a show that needs a much more exciting set than this one to keep its momentum.  In the right material, Mary Louise Wilson can be very funny - Full Gallop! - but there is nothing screwball Coca-y about her - it's a shame Ruth Gordon never played this part.  Was Oscar Peter Gallagher?  I honestly don't remember.  Karl was very fine. 

[Dollypop]

Posted: 5/16/21 at 12:55pm

I saw the original production while it was still in previews and was unimpressed. I'm guessing that Kahn was having one of her "off" nights and the whole performance suffered.

[BCfitasafiddle]

Posted: 5/16/21 at 6:22pm

TNick926 said: "Can you give us the name of the "slime tutorial" for On the Twentieth Century, please? I can't find it and I would love to see it again, if only that way! Thanks!"

PM'd you.