The Confidence Man

[SirLiir]

Posted: 12/4/05 at 8:18pm

Dirty Rotten Scoundrel and I discovered this today. Apparently, Norbert Leo Butz was in it. Anyone have any idea what this show was about besides what it says here?

The Confidence Man
(a musical) 1987

---Based on the novel by Herman Melville. Music by Jim Steinman, book and lyrics by Ray Earl Fox.

[alanimal]

Posted: 12/4/05 at 8:39pm

Well, it's a musical based on the novel by Herman Melville (I think that was his name) with music by Jim Steinman and lyrics by Ray Fox. Here's the description I found on Amazon:

"Like a microcosm of America, the Fidele, a Mississippi steamboat bound for New Orleans, floats downstream without reaching its goal, its passengers all the victims or abusers of trust or confidence. Melville's confidence man--deft, fraudulent, constantly shifting--represents a central symbol of American cultural history."

Starring: Yancy Arias, Mark Nadler, Andrea Marcovicci, Norbert Leo Butz, Chuck Cooper, LaChanze, Julia Murney, Andre De Shields, Eric Michael Gillet, Garret Long, KT Sullivan and Terry Waldo

I've never seen or heard it, though, so I really can't comment!

[JohnPopa]

Posted: 12/4/05 at 8:53pm

You might want to ask about it on www.jimsteinman.com as Steinman fans know it fairly well.

In fact, here's a link to a production put on by a big Steinman fan with a lot of info.

(I really don't know that much about it.)
Confidence Man

[rockfenris2005]

Posted: 12/4/05 at 10:38pm

Ask me.

Me and another Steinfan are aiming at bringing this back as a full-staged production. The other Steinfan has done this, to some success: in a production in Ohio last year (Beechmont Players). I'm working on a cabaret album for Equity Fights AIDS / Broadway Cares with the assistance of the lyricist Ray Fox. We are also adding a few songs that were written by Jim and Ray.. which will be the first time they've been heard since a cabaret in the 70s (and no one, except that original audience, has heard these songs)

I am a huge fan of this musical.. and of the work of Jim Steinman. The script to this show is adorable, and the lyrics are some of the most inspirational I've read since Rupert Holmes (Drood) and Sondheim. It's a very under-rated piece of theatre, but Steinman has recycled several of the tunes over the years (including one which became "For Sarah" in Dance of the Vampires). I love it

Any more Steinfans,
come and visit me at
www.freewebs.com/lordsteinman (HTM site, not easy webs: all I need is a better server: any tips?)

and I'm starting up a message-board soon

Trust me, to those who haven't heard it, go out and buy it today! It has some of the best lyrics I've ever heard, and really gorgeous music. Plus the money goes to a good cause

[SirLiir]

Posted: 12/4/05 at 10:54pm

Thank you very much, guys. I will definately check right away. All we found so far is that Norbert did the song Pain Humbles. He must have been a teenager lol

[rockfenris2005]

Posted: 12/4/05 at 11:56pm

Let me clear this up for you.

The Confidence Man was staged for the first time, in 1986, at Queen's College, New York. None of the cast we are talking about (the celebrities) appeared on this album.

The Confidence Man album was released in 2003, in which Norbert appears on the song Pain Humbles. This is a "celebrity cast recording" (in which the songs are cast) and was released to great success in '03. Other notable appearances include:

Andre DeShields on Pitch Penny
Julia Murney on Edging Into Darkness
Mark Nadler on Confidence
La Chanze on Nocturnally Yours
Norbert (of course) on Pain Humbles

and

Andrea Marcovicci and K.T. Sullivan on A Soft-Handed Gentlemen

Definitely worth checking out. Andrea was originally the female lead in the Joe Papp production (1975) that never went ahead. If it had of, there's no doubt (in my mind) it would have become Joe's third success: following Hair and A Chorus Line, as a landmark American musical

[SirLiir]

Posted: 12/5/05 at 12:00am

And that is the answer I was looking for. Thank you Rockfenris for clearing up that little mystery.

[rockfenris2005]

Posted: 12/5/05 at 6:19am

No worries SirLiir