The Baker's Wife

Patti LuPone got a signature song, Meadowlark, from The Baker's Wife despite producer David Merrick's attempts to cut it. That's about all she got as the show closed on the road. Stein's book spends more time with the Baker than his wife and he's a dull protagonist. We've been left with a pleasant, abridged cast album, and the occasional regional production.

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat

When Drury Lane Theatre in Oakbrook produced a sexy, pop-culture-y Joseph several critics were horrified. The Chicago Tribune claimed it was "shorn of all heart and emotion." 'But wait,' said I, 'isn't Joseph already a sexy, pop-culture-y show shorn of all heart and emotion?' It certainly has been in the three professional productions and Webber produced TV film I've seen.

Joseph is a weird show. A fairly grim story from the Book of Genesis retold as a sexy panto and performed by schools. As Bible musicals go it's closer in tone to the silly Godspell than Webber's angsty Jesus Christ Superstar. But who knows? Maybe some day I'll see a production that changes my mind.

Thoughts on Jesus Christ Superstar

Jesus Christ Superstar has always straddled a line between sincerity and camp. Last night's NBC production leaned toward earnest. That was the right move for a family audience but did make things a little dull. The rock stars lacked acting chops and the Broadway babies lacked the money notes. The show has always been a sound engineers nightmare and the screaming audience didn't help.

Still it reminded me how smart the writing is and why some audiences are offended. It's not the goofy 70's slang as much as the fact that it's told from a secular perspective. The principals see Jesus as "just a man" or a political "puppet." For me this raises the stakes over a traditional passion play or a syrupy piece like Godspell. 

The structure is interesting. Judas carries the show. Mary gets the heart. The Pharisees get the exposition. Jesus is unknowable to all around him. Herod and Pilate get the opportunity to steal the show. Alice Cooper won some fans last night by showing up but I was underwhelmed by his deadpan rendition of Herod's song. It was more fun to see Ben Daniels make a meal of Pilate's trial scene.

Andrew Lloyd Webber wrote this when he was 22. What have I done with my life? (Sob)

Ambassador

The works of Henry James have been successfully adapted into plays, films and operas. Ambassador is, to my knowledge, the only attempt at musical comedy. James's 1903 novel, The Ambassadors, focuses on Lambert, a middle aged American, seeking his fiancees wayward son in France. He learns that the lad is having a passionate affair with a married older woman and has no plans to return. The revelation shakes the protagonist to his core causing him to rethink his life and his identity. His struggle is interesting but internal.

The musical focused on the romance between Lambert and the married French woman. This generic treatment ignored much of what made the novel work. The show opened on Broadway, despite bad reviews in London, and closed swiftly.

Santa and the Ice Cream Bunny

RifTrax gave this laughably bad low budget children's film a new life and brought attention to the creepiness of the sweaty Santa Claus and the creepy animal costumes. A comic really can't do it justice. Check out this clip.

They're Playing Our Song

Ever hear the one about the manic pixie dream girl who romances the uptight boy?
How 'bout the one where the destructive manic depressive hooks up with her priggish passive-aggressive co-worker?

On paper They're Playing Our Song shouldn't work. Neil Simon's characters are too unpleasant to root for. They should not be together. It's not that he's trying to deconstruct the romantic comedy. He's too busy writing wisecracks to cover up the lack of plot. She's late for work, they argue, her ex calls on the phone, rinse, repeat.

And yet the show was a hit running 1082 performances. Watch the clip from the 1979 Tony Awards and you may see why. Lucie Arnaz oozes carefree sex appeal while Robert Klein transforms his role into a clumsy jittery clown. You may not want Vernon and Sonia to get together but you'll have fun watching Arnaz and Klein.

Chicago

On April 3, 1924 Beulah May Annan shot her lover. On May 24 a jury declared her “not guilty.” The Chicago Tribune sent a rookie reporter, Maureen Dallas Watkins, to cover the trial. The jury was told that Annan and her lover had “both grabbed for the gun” after he’d threatened to kill her.  Watkins reminded her readers of the many contradictions in Annan’s story.

Watkins left the Tribune soon after and recounted the trial in her first play. Chicago premiered on Broadway in December of 1926. Beulah May Annan was reborn as Roxie Hart. Watkins declined all requests for the musical rights till her death in 1969. Bob Fosse and Gwen Verdon then secured the rights from her estate.

Roxie’s trial is seen through the lens of a vaudeville stage. The libretto makes nods to the likes of Sophie Tucker, Marilyn Miller and Texas Guinan. The Cook County jail is no Palace Theater but Roxie quickly learns that in America anything can become entertainment for the masses.

1976 Tony Awards - Jerry Orbach performs "All I Care About is Love"
1970's Mike Douglas Show - Gwen Verdon and Chita Rivera perform "Nowadays" and the "Hot Honey Rag"
1997 Tony Awards - Bebe Neuwirth and Ann Reinking perform "All That Jazz" and the "Hot Honey Rag"
1998 Kennedy Center Honors - Chita Rivera and Bebe Neuwirth perform "All That Jazz"

Me and My Girl & No, No, Nanette

Me and My Girl. Music by Noel Gay. Lyrics and Book by Douglas Furber and L. Arthur Rose. 1937 West End. 1952 & 1985 West End Revivals. 1986 Broadway.

No, No, Nanette. Music by Vincent Youmans. Lyrics by Irving Caesar and Otto Harbach. Book by Frank Madel and Otto Harbach. Revival book by Burt Shevelove. 1925 Broadway. 1971 Broadway revival.

Two old fashioned musicals that got revised for modern sensibilities. Though My Fair Lady is the best remembered there were many musicals in the 1930's about crossing class lines.

Meanwhile No, No, Nanette toyed with sexual promiscuity while making sure Nanette and her uncle Jimmy never actually get laid. The men drive the plot but the women get the best songs. Ruby Keeler came out of retirement to dance up a storm in the revival. Helen Gallagher took home a Tony in the role of Lucille. She has the least effect on the plot but the score treats her like a star.

Me and My Girl at the 1987 Tony Awards
No, No, Nanette - A starry medley at the 1972 Tony Awards.
No, No, Nanette - Trailer for the 2011concert at Encores

Julie Andrews Flops

Julie Andrews attempted to shake off her wholesome image with a pair of sex comedies. It didn't work. You'd think these films would be camp classics. Sadly they are simply boring. Blake Edwards blamed Darling Lili's failure on studio interference but his attempts to mock the studio in S.O.B. proved no less tedious.

Darling Lili. Written by William Peter Blatty & Blake Edwards. Music by Henry Mancini. Lyrics by Johnny Mercer. 1970 film.

S.O.B. Written by Blake Edwards. Music by Henry Mancini.

1600 Pennsylvania Avenue

Lerner and Bernstein collaborated on an ambitious piece about the history of race relations in the White House. The original libretto was a play within a play. An argument between the "actors" was the through line as they switched between numerous Presidents, First Ladies and servants. The finale suggested that American Democracy was always "in rehearsal." The show went through many rewrites during a tumultuous tryout period. When it arrived on Broadway the framing device was gone leaving a revue-like series of sketches.

Critics praised Patricia Routledge's turn as the First Ladies and panned the rest. The show closed in 7 performances. Bernstein's estate has arranged  a 1992 student production and a 2008 concert. They've restricted licencing rights beyond that and avoided a full recording.

Snippets of the original show have been found online. Abigail Adams' ballad "Take Care of This House" has received several recordings. The true show stopper of the evening was "Duet for One," a clash between outgoing First Lady Julia Grant and incoming First Lady Lucy Hayes at the 1877 inauguration. Patricia Routledge rapidly alternated between the roles with two distinct character voices. Recordings of the song capture some of the humor but the physical staging apparently lifted it to musical theater heaven.

Pete's Dragon

"It's not easy to find someone who cares.
It's not easy to find magic in pairs."

Okay so I stretched the truth a little on this one.

Pete's Dragon was no masterpiece. It stopped Disney from making live musicals for many years but it had some catchy songs. The 2016 remake cuts the songs and apparently improves upon everything else. Disney tends to base their heroes journey around dead parents. In the original film Pete is fleeing from an abusive family bringing things closer to a Roald Dahl narrative.

Today's artwork is loosely inspired by the game Undertale. 

Company v.2

A recent production of Company inspired me to revise this comic slightly. The original was in pencil and marker. The revised was drawn with digital pen, keeping the same models but cleaning them up and giving Elaine Stritch more prominence (never a bad thing!).

Evita

When the money keeps rollin in
what's a girl to do?
Cream a little off the top
for expenses wouldn't you?
...
Never been accounts in
the name of Eva Peron
~ Evita

Don't recognize that lyric? Well it isn't in the movie version. I wondered why Antonio Banderas was so angry at Madonna. Her Eva Peron didn't seem to accomplish much of anything, good or bad. Turns out the film cut several references to the Peron's crimes, settling for ambiguous montages. The film doesn't even bother to tell us what she's dying of.

The stage musical presented Eva as a ruthless opportunist. The New York Times has described it thus:

Some of the musical detractors have objected to ''Evita's'' glamorization of a fascinating, albeit Fascist, figure. The show has even been compared with ''Springtime for Hitler,'' the parody in the film ''The Producers.'' This is sheer nonsense. ''Evita'' is about media manipulation, the power of ''hype,'' the gullibility of the masses and, perhaps most of all, the arbitrariness of stardom.

However Madonna's turn seems to present her as a feminist icon. In an interview with Roger Ebert she said:

And then there were the people who thought she was a saint. They thought only Mother Teresa could portray her in a movie. Then there were other people who thought she was a sinner, and they didn't want a tribute being made to her. So it got very confusing.... The stage version of the musical portrays a very one-dimensional version of her. It doesn't show her in a very humane way; it doesn't show any vulnerability, it doesn't explain her past. Alan Parker had the chance to do that in a movie

Madonna took some flak for lowering Webber's keys, but even Patti LuPone admits the original score is a bear to sing:

"I was always in danger, from the first D, which was at 20 minutes into the show," says LuPone.

The dependence on a star with a range of E3-G5 makes Evita challenging to revive. Elena Roger won praise in London but when she transferred to Broadway in 2012 she drew mixed reviews. Some suggested the role had simply overtaxed her voice after years of performing. Despite the song, Eva is a role that will make a singer cry.

Rachael Lily Rosenbloom (And Don't You Ever Forget It!)

Tom Eyen would go on to write the libretto for Dreamgirls. Paul Jabara would go on to write the disco hits “Last Dance,” and “The Main Event,” and co-write “It’s Raining Men.” The actors (including Ellen Greene, Anita Morris, Andre De Shields, Kelly Bishop and Wayne Cliento)  would go on to hit shows and Tony Awards.

But on the night of December 1, 1973, they were playing a packed house at the 7^th preview and closing night for the disco musical Rachael Lily Rosenbloom (And Don’t You Ever Forget It!). The early closing secured it a place in flop history. The extra 'A' in "Rachael" is the one dropped from Barbra Streisand's name.

  

Frank Rich from the New York Times wrote:

“What followed was a musical fantasy of surpassing lavishness that made no sense, at any level, from beginning to end. The majority of the crowd fell into a sullen, open-mouthed stupor like that with which the audience greets the opening scenes of ''Springtime for Hitler,'' the fictitious Broadway flop within Mel Brooks's film ''The Producers.'' But no one walked out: ''Rachael Lily Rosenbloom'' became an existential test which everyone was determined to pass. The cast, many of whom were dressed in silver lame g-strings, attacked their tasks as if they were performing ''Guys and Dolls.''

The Wiz

I'm super late getting this up and much commentary has already been written about NBC's fabulous production of The Wiz Live.

For more info on the show check out:
Playbill's archive of photos from the 1975 Broadway production.
Peter Filichia's recount of 1974's disastrous out of town tryout.
The New York Times' Wesley Ross gives a passionate defense of the troubled 1978 film.
Tom and Lorenzo analyze the costume design for the 2015 Broadcast.

Next on my list: Wicked!

The Apple

Part Rocky Horror, part biblical allegory and part acid trip. The Apple gets weird fast. Legends say that the premiere audience was given free copies of the soundtrack. Shortly into the film the audience began to boo furiously and throw the records at the screen. Few walked away from this with careers intact. 

As TV Guide wrote: "Making a cult hit is harder than it looks."

Bedknobs and Broomsticks

Happy birthday Angela Lansbury!

Bedknobs and Broomsticks is part Mary Poppins and part Sound of Music. The film is beloved by some, forgotten by others, and managed to win an Oscar for Best Visual Effects. When the film was re-released on DVD twenty minutes of cut footage and songs were restored. 

Click the tag for more of Lansbury's musical work.

Murder Mysteries: Something's Afoot

"Something's afoot and the butler didn't do it!"

This burlesque of Agatha Christie mysteries is too small for Broadway but sparkles in a black box. The book and score are slight but the set design is a magical puzzle box of low tech death traps.

After a tour, a short Broadway run, and a longer run in London, the show has survived in amateur groups and the occasional regional production. Though no cast recording exists the show was taped for Showtime in 1982 starring Jean Stapleton and Andy Gibb. 

Here's a link to The Goodspeed Opera Study Guide.

Pippin

Bob Fosse mocks Pippin's rehearsal process in the movie All ThatJazz. The perky composer has written a cheerful show that Fosse’s surrogate keeps twisting with erotic choreography. Pippin is often the least interesting person Pippin. It’s easy for Fosse's style and the flashy supporting roles to overshadow the Everyman plot. 

Scott Miller argues that there’s more to Pippin’s story than many realize see: “The show deals with the coming of age, the rites of passage, the lack of role models and guidelines for the young adults of today's society, and the hopelessness that has become more and more prevalent among young people. Because of its 1970's pop style score and a somewhat emasculated licensed version which is very different from the original Broadway production, the show has a reputation for being merely cute and harmlessly naughty; but if done the way director Bob Fosse envisioned it, the show is surreal and disturbing."

Happy End

Legends say that Bertolt Brecht and his wife, Helene Weigel, sabotaged the opening of their own show to prevent the career of writing partner Elisabeth Hauptmann. Brecht scholars would debate the uncredited role she played in Brecht's prior work and whether she'd meant Happy End to launch an independent career. Helen Weigel staged a political protest in the middle of the performance, audiences booed, and Happy End was temporarily forgotten.

Several songs, including the Bilboa Song and Surabaya Johnny, gained some airplay on their own. The full show would find a new life in 1977 for a short lived Broadway production with Christopher Lloyd and Meryl Streep.

The slight gangsters vs. salvation army plot has been considered a sequel to The Threepenny Opera and a spiritual precursor to Guys and Dolls.