Steel Pier...was it really that bad?- Page 3
Steel Pier...was it really that bad?
#50re: Steel Pier...was it really that bad?
Posted: 10/11/08 at 11:53pmI'll concede to Jon on some of the staging. However, the potential was there for so much more - Stroman did some bizarre things.
Have I ever shown you my Shattered Dreams box? It's in my Disappointment Closet. - Marge Simpson
#51re: Steel Pier...was it really that bad?
Posted: 10/12/08 at 12:13am
You are right about the cast album. It is exceptionally well-produced even for RCA Victor who at the time had no real competitors in the cast album field. But the album did not make it into stores until a month after the final performance.
In some ways though it repeats the scenario from the original MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG album in that it encourages those who didn't see the show to think it was some overlooked gem. In small ways it is, as there are some nice moments. In addition to the ones already mentioned I will add two of my own: the finale from Act One where Bill makes time roll backwards was very effectively staged. And the tender final dance was simple, elegant and touching. If only the whole show had been at the level of these moments.
Cast albums are NOT "soundtracks."
Live theatre does not use a "soundtrack." If it did, it wouldn't be live theatre!
I host a weekly one-hour radio program featuring cast album selections as well as songs by cabaret, jazz and theatre artists. The program, FRONT ROW CENTRE is heard Sundays 9 to 10 am and also Saturdays from 8 to 9 am (eastern times) on www.proudfm.com
Jon
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/20/04
#52re: Steel Pier...was it really that bad?
Posted: 10/12/08 at 1:49pm
The book was unforgivably bad. Supporting characters named "Precious" and "Happy" who were as one-dimensional as their names suggest. A supposedly grueling marathon dance that lasts three weeks - when in reality, the dance marathons of 1933 lasted three MONTHS.
Plus, a cast in which the dance marathon contestants consisted of ONE middle-aged out-of-shape couple - Deb Monk and her partner, and a dozen young couples with perfect "dancer" physiques. Anyone familiar with the film "They Shoot Horses, Don't They?" will know that "horse" was marathon dance slang for a hefty woman who could "carry" her partner when he got tired. The Steel Pier marathon had just the one "horse".
