Would a revival 'Sail Away' fare well with todays modern audiences?

[sondheimgeek]

Posted: 6/10/08 at 8:06pm

Todays audiences may or may not appreciate the classic genius of Noel Coward, but could 'Sail Away' ever have a possibility of being revived on Broadway by Roundabout, or even by Encores?

Or would some people prefer to leave the thought alone and preserve the wonderful memory of Elaines performance?

Updated On: 6/10/08 at 08:06 PM

[BigFatBlonde]

Posted: 6/10/08 at 8:12pm

It might be a fun afternoon to revisit it in a reading/concert version as Mufti might do... but on the whole, it was considered old-fashioned, dated and unsubstantial when it first appeared on the scene.

I don't think time has done anything to erase that original impression...

Didn't Stritch do concert version somewhere a few years back?

[sondheimgeek]

Posted: 6/10/08 at 8:15pm

I believe she did.

I do agree that a concert version might be the best choice. I didn't think about that.

[Smaxie]

Posted: 6/10/08 at 8:25pm

Yes, Stritch did it at the Carnegie Hall recital room a few years ago, and was terrific. I'm not sure the show is quite seaworthy though. It has some really fun songs and that great title tune, but my lord, is it light on plot and conflict.

[alterego]

Posted: 6/10/08 at 8:48pm

Funny this should come up now, I've been re-reading The Noel Coward Diaries and last night read about the out of town tryout and Broadway opening. It opened with good reviews and a strong box office advance, then shortly after How To Succeed...opened and took all their business away. It did have a successful London and Australian run in the years that followed.

[BigFatBlonde]

Posted: 6/10/08 at 9:00pm

I thought I read it was a financial flop in the UK too.

I could be wrong, of course.

Personally I found Coward's logo (he designed it himself) to have the GAYEST cowboy(?) I've ever seen.





Brokeback Mountain has NOTHING on this guy!

[sondheimgeek]

Posted: 6/10/08 at 9:05pm

Haha I never noticed that.

I was also thinking about how well a revival of 'Flora, the Red Menace' would fare. Although the book needs retooling I do prefer the original version to the 1987 version (score/orchestration-wise at least). Or maybe it's just the fact that it wasn't Liza on the recording

Updated On: 6/10/08 at 09:05 PM

[BigFatBlonde]

Posted: 6/10/08 at 9:12pm

You know.. at the end of the day... VERY few have successfully salvaged past musical theatre flops..

Like Patti LuPone once said about yet ANTOHER attempt to "revise" BAKER'S WIFE

"They keep tryin' and it keeps stinkin'"

Some shows are most truly honored by appreciating the best it had to offer while forgiving and forgetting the rest.

[alterego]

Posted: 6/10/08 at 9:13pm

I think it had a decent run in London but ultimately was a financial failure. Coward (and his work) at the time wasn't popular with critics and was looked on as "old hat" next to the "kitchen sink" dramatists emerging in the early 1960's. It wasn't until a very successful production of Hay Fever at the National Theatre with a cast that included Edith Evans, Maggie Smith, Robert Stephens, Lyn Redgrave, Derek Jacobi, and Sarah Miles that things turned around for him.

There was a successful Australian production of Sail Away (minus Elaine Stritch) that played Melbourne and Sydney following London.

[sondheimgeek]

Posted: 6/10/08 at 9:14pm

"Some shows are most truly honored by appreciating the best it had to offer while forgiving and forgetting the rest."

I couldn't agree more.

[TheEnchantedHunter]

Posted: 6/10/08 at 9:16pm

No.




Lady Marjorie Bellamy
165 Eaton Place
London, England UK

[BigFatBlonde]

Posted: 6/10/08 at 9:18pm

alterego,

Along with the HAY FEVER revival didn't Coward have a successful play.. something with "cello" in the title, where he played a gay writer?

I love Coward's work.. in spite of his being "thrilled" that Gandhi was assassinated.

However.. I do wonder how such a gifted and disciplined artist could let his "style" take over the basic necessities of dramatic storytelling.

I guess it was just the era.

I remember that story of Arthur Miller being in London and invited to the theatre by Olivier to see the lasted hit play...

Olivier asked Miller how he liked the show and Miller responded...

"Nothing happend! They just sat and talked for three acts!"

A lot a later Coward is like that.

Updated On: 6/10/08 at 09:18 PM

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 6/10/08 at 9:18pm

Wow, that cow poke is gayer than Dream Curley!

Even third rate Noel Coward is better than most shows today.

I'd like to see or hear ENCORES do HIGH SPIRITS.

[sondheimgeek]

Posted: 6/10/08 at 9:19pm

"Even third rate Noel Coward is better than most shows today."

That pretty much sums up my feelings.

[alterego]

Posted: 6/10/08 at 9:24pm

BigFatBlonde, yes you are almost right - it was Nude With A Violin. If you've not read The Noel Coward Diaries it is well worth a look for what he had to say about his own shows and actors/actresses and show that he saw on Broadway and the West End over 40 years.

[BigFatBlonde]

Posted: 6/10/08 at 9:30pm

Violin!!! Thanks!!

I saw a production of TONIGHT AT 8:30 a few years back.. and they interpolated many of Coward standards.

I WAS FLOORED by the melodic beauty of those songs.

MOST OF EVERY DAY
A ROOM WITH A VIEW

one beauty right after the other..

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 6/10/08 at 9:36pm

Actually, I don't think that's a cow poke at all, I mean what's he doing on a cruise ship anyway, besides cruising?

[BigFatBlonde]

Posted: 6/10/08 at 9:39pm

LOL!!!!

I love how he defies gravity by balancing "en pointe" on the rail.

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 6/10/08 at 9:46pm

And that stratigically placed suggestive life saver, God that Noel was something.

[alterego]

Posted: 6/10/08 at 9:49pm

After the show had been playing in NY for a couple of months the box office was dropping off and one of the co producers flew to Jamaica to see Coward with a list of a few things people were saying about the show (problems), one was " that the boys in the show are all pansies and the girls aren't attractive enough". Looking at that sketch they may have a point.