I was just listening to Playbill radio and there was a very interesting interview with Tom Jones about his career and the Fantasticks. Tom talked about a musical version of 'Our Town' called 'Grover's Corners' and how the production was and still is stalled because of Thorton Wilder's estate. I was wondering if anyone could point me in the direction of a recording ( if there is one) of the music. Thanks in advance!
The score is wonderful, my favorite Schmidt and Jones by far. They were perfectly suited to musicalize the story, and it is a crying shame that they can't get the rights back.
The estate also allowed Kander & Ebb to musicalize SKIN OF OUR TEETH.
They may be angry at Jones & Schmidt because they mounted a full production of the show at Marriott Lincolnshire Theatre (near Chicago) in 1987, while telling the estate it was just a "workshop".
I'm suprised it's good. I wouldn't think Our Town would lend itself well to being musicalized, but I guess I could see it working. I'd love to hear the music.
I saw the production at Marriott Lincolnshire back in the eighties. It was FABULOUS! I have remembered it ever since and kept an eye out for the soundtrack. In seeing this site and this message board for the first time today, I gave finally learned why that show dropped off the end of the world.
our Town was a play my high school put on. Of course we had read and studied the play in class as well. I always remembered the play with affection, but it was with the romanticized mind of a seventeen year old.
when the musical came around, I was now in my thirties. I saw the story and the production through the eyes of an adult now, while still remembering what I had formerly felt and thought. It was a surreal experience, truly the measure of a classic, I think, when you can enjoy the same thing at different times of your life but get totally different experiences out of it because YOU bring something different to the experience.
and the songs and staging brought so much to it too. It was extraordinary. I wrote a fan-letter to the producers saying all this and they wrote me back saying they had posted my nice letter backstage for all the cast to enjoy and they sent me two free tickets to see it again!
i wasn't dating anyone at the time, so a friend from work went with me. She had never heard of Our Town but seemed to be enjoying the musical. I thought. Until, at the end (remember, the third act is 'Death' I looked over at her and she was just sobbing and sobbing. "You didn't tell me it was so sad!" She managed to choke this out between mopping her eyes and blowing her nose. Poor girl!
definately worth a see, and I felt the music and songs truly enlarged the original wonderful pkay.
i am sorry to not be able to see it again and even more sorry to not be able to point my musical-loving friends at it so they can see it too.
I have a copy of the demo tape. It’s just Schmidt and Jones and Liz and Scott Waara. It is a terrific, if very gentle show. There’s a terric recording of Rita Gardner singing “Time Goes By” on YouTube that will give you a taste of the show.
It’s a shame that it’s not available for stock and amateur productions.
I also have a demo of the Kander and Ebb show, which at the time was called “Over and Over”. Due to the somewhat episodic nature of the source material, the score feels like three mini musicals rather than one big show. As Kander and Ebb scores go, it’s closer to “70, Girls, 70” (which is a delight) than “Kiss of the Spider Woman”. (Actually one of Sabina’s songs was originally written for “Spider Woman” and was replaced by “Where You Are”.)
"A coherent existance after so many years of muddle" - Desiree' Armfelt, A Little Night Music
"Life keeps happening everyday, Say Yes" - 70, Girls, 70
"Life is what you do while you're waiting to die" - Zorba
If memory serves, wasn't there a Bernstein, Comden and Green attempt at a musical of Skin of Our Teeth? It's impossible enough as a play, but a musical seems totally foolhardy.
Prisoner of 7th Ave said: "If memory serves, wasn't there a Bernstein, Comden and Green attempt at a musical of Skin of Our Teeth? It's impossible enough as a play, but a musical seems totally foolhardy."
SouthernCakes said: "Maybe someone will resurrect this and get a concert?"
No. Not without the Wilder estate's permission, which they have not been amenable to giving. Harvey and Tom tried for YEARS to get the rights back. The estate would not do it under any circumstances - adamantly so.