Bounce?

[children&art]

Posted: 1/16/06 at 12:28pm

so im at my desk and this show popped into my head and i cannot get any bit or piece of any of the songs in my brain. i have the cd at home and have listened to it more than once, but usually no matter how small or bad the musical is i can get some part of it running around in my head. ugh.

[jam_man]

Posted: 1/16/06 at 12:31pm

There are a couple of them that get into my head from time to time from Bounce.

"You"
"The Best Thing That Ever Has Happened"
And also the "Look at it!" part. That was in my head numorous times from after I saw it to when I got the CD - which was almost a year apart.

[ALWrules]

Posted: 1/16/06 at 12:37pm

What's going on with that show anyway? Is sondheim working on it to try and fix the mistakes it had.

[jam_man]

Posted: 1/16/06 at 12:54pm

Supossedly, yes. But I haven't heard anything since the Wall to Wall Sondheim concert, that being practically a year ago.

[BobbyBubby]

Posted: 1/16/06 at 1:03pm

I'm pretty sure it's dead.

It's not a bad show, it's just eh, mediocre.

I think because it's SOndheim, people expect more out of it.

[Roninjoey]

Posted: 1/16/06 at 1:14pm

Maybe you just have a crappy musical memory?

No, totally j/k :P

I sing "Talent," the main theme, and the bit "You're the best thing that's ever happened to me... you are" all the time.

[CJR]

Posted: 1/16/06 at 1:18pm

The only thing that ever pops into my head regarding Bounce is what a painful musical theatre experience it was.

[melissa errico fan]

Posted: 1/16/06 at 1:42pm

Aww, it had a few good songs, and Michele Pawk was wonderful (when is she not?). I saw the show in DC and had mixed feelings. There's a good show in there...somewhere...dying to burst out.

[IssaMe]

Posted: 1/16/06 at 5:17pm

Sondheim and Weidman are still working on rewriting it (no, seriously - this is not a joke).

[frontrowcentre2]

Posted: 1/17/06 at 12:32pm

No, its not..this just popped up on Playbilll...


Sondheim and Weidman's Bounce to Get Reading at Public Theater Beginning Jan. 30
By Robert Simonson
17 Jan 2006


Bounce, the Stephen Sondheim musical that played Chicago and Washington, DC, in 2003, but failed to reach New York, will be given a week-long reading at The Public Theater beginning Jan. 30, a spokesperson for the company told Playbill.com.

The Public could not confirm the personnel involved, but sources close to the venture have Eric Schaeffer (Putting It Together) directing, and Richard Kind and Bernadette Peters in the cast. Kind was part of the 2003 company and was generally praised for his portrayal of Addison Mizner, one of the scheming, early 20th century Mizner brother. (He was nominated for a 2003 Joseph Jefferson Award.) Howard McGillin played the other sibling, Wilson, in the regional productions.

The reading is not open to the public.

Bounce officially premiered at Chicago's Goodman Theatre, June 20-Aug. 10, 2003. It then travelled to the Kennedy Center Oct. 21. The intention was to bring the show to Broadway, but ultimately producer Roger Berlind decided not to move Bounce forward, making it that rare Sondheim show that didn't reach Gotham.

The show, however, was recorded Nov. 10-11, 2003 and the cast album released by Nonesuch on May 4, 2004. Orchestrations were by Jonathan Tunick, musical direction by David Caddick, and the recording was produced by Robert Hurwitz and Tommy Krasker.

The length of the reading would seem to indicate a renewed hope that the show will have a New York production.

Bounce is inspired by the lives of the colorful American capitalists cum-con artists, the Mizner brothers. John Weidman (Sondheim and Prince's collaborator on Pacific Overtures) wrote the libretto of the musical, which, prior to 2003, had been in earnest development for several years under different producers and in different versions and with different titles.

The Chicago and DC Bounce company of 19 actors, singers and dancers also featured Gavin Creel, Herndon Lackey, Michele Pawk and Jane Powell in the principal roles. Harold Prince directed, reuniting with Sondheim for the first time since the two men's multiple triumphs (Company, Follies, Sweeney Todd) during the 1970s.


I saw BOUNCE near the end of its stay in Chicago. Unlike some here, I didn't hate it. In fact there were parts of it I liked a lot. But the big problem (for me) was that I never understood why Sondheim, Weidman and Prince were telling this story. This is the first time with any Sondheim show I didn't get why he wanted to share this story with us.

[BroadwayBaby6]

Posted: 1/18/06 at 9:37pm

I saw Bounce in Chicago and HATED IT...And I'm a big Sondheim fan...Sondheim Review reader and everything.

If anybody can rescue this show it's Eric Schaeffer. Harold Prince did a terrible job of directing Bounce. I think Bernadette would give the show the comedy it sorely lacked in its previous incarnation. Eric Schaeffer has done wonders with other shows.

I'm afraid to say that I'm the only person in the world that did not care for Richard Kind's acting in Bounce. I felt that he was doing a 3rd rate Nathan Lane imitation. I felt his comic skills were not particularly good and his singing was adequate but not great.

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 1/18/06 at 9:40pm

Bounce is far from dead. Richard Kind and Bernadette Peters are set for the reading at the Public. It will be Ms. Peters' first performance in NY after the death of her husband. Provided the reading takes off, sources say a full scale production at the Public will be mounted later in the year.

[BreakingTheCircle07]

Posted: 1/19/06 at 12:30am

"Provided the reading takes off, sources say a full scale production at the Public will be mounted later in the year."

::fingers crossed!!!::

[smartpenguin78]

Posted: 1/19/06 at 12:33am

Does anyone know what would constitute the reading "taking off," since it is not open to the public? Does it just mean the creative team needs to think, "hmm this seems good now"?
I would really like to see this happen, with Bernadette especially.

[d5johnston]

Posted: 1/19/06 at 3:17am

I would love for this show to finally get a Broadway run, and with Richard Kind and Bernadette Peters no less.

Because let's face it, old Stevie boy isn't getting any younger and this may be the last new musical we get from his genius.

I'm not trying to be morbid, but did anyone want his Broadway legacy to end with "The Frogs?"

-d5johnston

[melissa errico fan]

Posted: 1/19/06 at 6:17am

I doubt Bernadette would sign on for a full-fledged production, especially since the role of Nellie is small and not particularly well-written. It seems like she's doing this reading as a favor to Sondheim.

[moljul]

Posted: 1/19/06 at 11:24am

Bernadette is not playing the role of Nellie but instead the role of the mother and the reading is apparently of the show that is closer to its original Wise Guys incarnation when the role of Nellie didn't exist. I don't know how big the role of the mother is but I agree she won't come back to Broadway in a small role. And this could simply be a situation where she wanted to work with a friend and "get her feet wet" so to speak as her first stage performance since her husband's death. It's not a big commitment and she's working with a friend so I'm sure it was the ideal situation for her.

It will be interesting to see what comes out of this reading. Oh how I wish I could get a ticket!
Updated On: 1/19/06 at 11:24 AM

[popcultureboy]

Posted: 1/19/06 at 11:43am

The readings I assume will be open to people interested in backing the show for a future possible Broadway berth. If they eat it up, I guess that would constitute the reading going well.

Was anyone else a little nauseated by Riedel's fawning all over Bernadette in his column after spending SO long being vile to her when she was in Gypsy?

[CJR]

Posted: 1/19/06 at 11:59am

Aww, it had a few good songs, and Michele Pawk was wonderful (when is she not?).

She was. In fact, she was the only reason I didnt leave at intermission.

[moljul]

Posted: 1/19/06 at 12:07pm

PopCultureBoy,

Did you see Bernadette and The Butcher of Broadway? Perhaps it was true. LOL

I think even Riedel is smart enough to know that Bernadette is being held in very high esteem these days by everyone who feels so awful for her loss. Anything negative said about her (whether founded or not) would be opening yourself up to crucifixtion. Everyone is going to protect her. You just don't use a recently widowed woman as a punching bag.

[popcultureboy]

Posted: 1/19/06 at 12:23pm

No indeed. But he could have either said nothing at all, or apologised for his misplaced bitching about her when she was in Gypsy. Instead he spends a whole column being syrupy sweet about her, which came off as insincere.

[moljul]

Posted: 1/19/06 at 12:45pm

Oh that's much too decent a thing to expect from Riedel!

[frontrowcentre2]

Posted: 1/19/06 at 2:05pm

She was. In fact, she was the only reason I didnt leave at intermission.

Lucky you didn't! The first act (based on what I saw near the end of the run in Chicago) was overlong and unfocussed. The second act was tighter and (I thought)much more interesting. The score really took hold too..."Talent", "You", and especially the "Boca Raton" sequence which condensed the whole land boom/bust into one 6 minute number that had the hallmarks of the best of all the Sondheim-Prince shows.

Still, the show was unsatisfying in the state it was in then but I have repeatedly enjoyed the OCR!

[Cutielyricist]

Posted: 1/19/06 at 2:17pm

Based on the CD, I enjoyed alot of Bounce...it did take alot of repeated listening..and reading..to "feel" for the show...but i didnt HATE it..,

[SahDu]

Posted: 1/1/07 at 10:49pm

A year later...did anything happen with this reading?


Updated On: 2/15/14 at 10:49 PM