Imitation of Life, The New Broadway Musical

[Tom1071]

Posted: 9/1/04 at 3:10pm

Updated On: 9/1/04 at 03:10 PM

[Rathnait62]

Posted: 9/1/04 at 3:15pm

I think that would be a great theatrical piece.

[sweetiedarlinmia]

Posted: 9/1/04 at 3:18pm

*Edited after I gave it some serious thought. Thus I have removed my knee-jerk reation.* Updated On: 9/1/04 at 03:18 PM

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 9/1/04 at 3:49pm

Best part of the '59 film -- Mahalia Jackson singing "Soon I Will Be Done With The Trouble of the World"

It's very dated and very much a product of its era, though. I can't imagine anyone seriously staging a play or musical about passing in this day and age, so many years after the civil rights movement, which made the need for people to pass irrelevant.

The themes in "Imitation of Life" were very popular in melodramatic literature for decades prior to the '59 film -- which, incidentally was the second film treatment of the popular novel (the first, which is superior in many ways to the Turner film, was from 1934 and starred Claudette Colbert and Louise Beavers). So popular, in fact, that the term "tragic mulatto" was coined to describe the protagonists of such novels. And the imagine of the noble, sacrificing, self-effacing black mother (played by Juanita Moore) who'd rather work as Lana Turner's maid than do anything else is little more that an update of the old mammy stereotype and would be offensive to many today.

Perhaps, someone could write a campy, TWEED-style, Busch-esque parody of it and play it for a few nights in Chelsea or somewhere, but a serious stage adaptation of this 70 year old novel with its tragic mulatto and its archaic views on race and passing would very likely be roundly jeered off of the stage wherever it was presented.

[Tom1071]

Posted: 9/1/04 at 4:04pm

Updated On: 9/1/04 at 04:04 PM

Posted: 9/1/04 at 4:07pm

I love the idea - I also think Pocketful of Miracles by Damon Runyan (guys and dolls) would make a wonderful musical. Hey - maybe a double bill!

[Rathnait62]

Posted: 9/1/04 at 4:07pm

Then Caroline, or Change is dated, Margo, with similar issues. The movie still stands up, I think a well-written play/musical would as well.

[WOSQ]

Posted: 9/1/04 at 4:26pm

Imitation of Life sounds like Valley of the Dolls as a musical--if I want camp, I'll buy a tent. So long as everyone involved's tongues are planted if not cemented, firmly in cheek this could be the next Lypsinka-Busch et al showpiece. Otherwise I have to quote John McEnroe and say "You cannot be serious."

Besides there are precious few stars carrying the baggage Lana Turner had when she made this film which is half of the fun. Go back and read Detour by Lana's daughter Cheryl Crane. One of the big all-time Hollywood scandals. On a par with O.J. Simpson.

Pocketful of Miracles has been announced many times over the years most recently in the 90s with Stritch attached. I think Charles Strouse composed it.

[Tom1071]

Posted: 9/1/04 at 4:32pm

Updated On: 9/1/04 at 04:32 PM

[joeyjoe]

Posted: 9/1/04 at 4:33pm

"There are other themes present in the piece like a mother's undying love for her ungrateful daughter."

Then maybe someone will musicalize Mildred Pierce!

[Tom1071]

Posted: 9/1/04 at 4:35pm

Updated On: 9/1/04 at 04:35 PM

[MusicMan]

Posted: 9/1/04 at 4:38pm

You cannot write a piece dealing with racial issues in our society without it being political. In addition, the current separatist movement of large segments of African-American population from the dominant culture renders IMITATION OF LIFE laughably outdated and irrelevant. As camp, the figure of the "tragic mulatto" would be as offensive to some as the antiquated stereotype that all gays are unhappy, tortured souls who are either ostracized from society or better off dead. Updated On: 9/1/04 at 04:38 PM

[Rathnait62]

Posted: 9/1/04 at 4:39pm

Stay strong, Tom. We're a tough bunch, but can be a lot of fun, too.

[WOSQ]

Posted: 9/1/04 at 4:39pm

It already is camp. It was camp in 1959. It would need a heap of de-camping which would also take the fun out of it.

Plus, can you get a star whose 14 year old daughter stabbed her much younger mobster boyfriend to death last year to play the lead? That's what you need to begin to erase Lana Turner's baggage.

Now THAT'S a musical! Where Love Has Gone! Now we're cooking with gas.

[Tom1071]

Posted: 9/1/04 at 4:47pm

Updated On: 9/1/04 at 04:47 PM

[lildogs]

Posted: 9/1/04 at 4:53pm

it's ok Tom, i think it's a good idea too...i think it could be a cult hit....people probably said the same things about "The Rocky Horror Show" and "Bat Boy"....

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 9/1/04 at 5:15pm

Caroline is a fully three-dimensional black woman with real longings and hopes and dreams and desires -- she's a maid, but there's nothing whatsoever sterotypical about Kushner's depiction of her. And there's nothing whatsoever dated about struggling to make a living or having to sacrifice your own wants for the sake of your children or lacking the courage, energy or where-with-all to keep up with an every changing world around you -- Caroline's story resonantes with literally millions of people of all colors all over the world in 2004 who are forced to make hard life choices in order to survive.

Annie from "Imitation of Life" is an outdated one-dimensional melodramatic construct -- a 50's update of the century-old mammy character, a variation on the noble Faulknerian servant who's chief characteristics are dignity and self-effacement. The only thing missing is the hankerchief on her head. Her daughter (the tragic mulatto) longs to pass for white -- hardly a hope or desire one encounters very often in 2004, and frankly wasn't very common in 1959 (I'm not sure who the heck would identify with or even understand this character as written in this day and age).

Unlike say Phillip Roth's protagonist from "The Human Stain," Coleman Silk (a rich, fully-dimensional character who's need to pass is so fleshed out and psychologically complex that it explodes the myth of the tragic mulatto), the daughter is more of a plot device than a flesh and blood character. "The Human Stain" explores the motivations and rationales behind the passing in 1940's and 50's America (complete with a heartwrenching scene in which the protagonist says goodbye to his "colored family" -- done non-melodramatically, with very real depth and power), but then juxtaposes the ramifications of it with the very different racial landscape of the late 20th century, complete with ruminations on political correctness and our contemporary notions of the politics of race and ethnicity. Perhaps, THAT'S the story about passing somebody should think about adapting for the stage -- not some overheated, underwritten, hackneyed, cliched, old potboiler that presents ideas about race which were patronizing and offensive a half a century ago.

[lildogs]

Posted: 9/1/04 at 7:45pm

Margo, as passionate and articulate as your argument is, Tom simply asked what we thought about "Imitation of Life" as material for a musical. Authors rarely adapt a work literally, and the tone and spirit can change a great deal in the translation. Look at "How to Succeed" or thwe differences between the stage and film versions of "Chicago"...your objection seems to be with the quality of the material itself, which is a matter of personal taste. But i see no reason why it isn't just as legitimate as any other material...just think of all the shows, if put into a short synopsis, that would sound ridiculous.

[MusicMan]

Posted: 9/1/04 at 10:52pm

Sure, artistry may redeem any subject matter but some material is hardly worth the effort. It's hardly a matter of personal taste.
IMITATION OF LIFE subscribes to every stereotype and cliched soap operatic situation in the book. Musicalizing it would be in keeping with the current, witless trend of adapting questionable, campy, or simply bad properties to the stage (JOHNNY GUITAR, THE BRADY BUNCH, DEBBIE DOES DALLAS,THE GOLDEN GIRLS, VALLEY OF THE DOLLS, etc) in order to poke fun at them or purportedly re-examine their original "truths." In reality, such low-rent projects only betray the staggering lack of imagination, paucity of ideas and inherently bad taste of its adaptors.

[lildogs]

Posted: 9/2/04 at 12:05am

well, many people in the film community are ardent fans of nicholas ray and "johnny guitar" "valley of the dolls" is one of the best-selling novels of all time, and "the golden girls" won the emmy for best comedy series twice....i see your point, but your examples need work...

[the-one-you-want]

Posted: 9/2/04 at 12:11am

I'm sorry to interject--but theres a musical version of "Valley of the Dolls"? Excuse me? WHERE?!
Must have...must own...