Calamity Jane

At first glance Calamity Jane seems like a remake of Annie Get Your Gun. Independent pioneer woman swallows her pride to win Howard Keel. But Jane isn't chasing Howard Keel. She's chasing Lieutenant Danny Gilmartin. You know he's not important because he's in a musical but doesn't sing a note. To win him she needs to learn feminine drag.

Here's where the most interesting character arrives; Katie Brown. Katie is a maid impersonating a famous singer. Jane protects her from bandits, takes her to her first performance, and defends her from the mob when her identity is revealed. Howard Keel's at the performance too... in drag. He lost a bet with Jane. Katie finds the confidence to perform and suddenly... she's a maid no more. She has become the star she pretended to be. Jane is smitten. She wants Katie to teach her how to do drag. In the song "A Woman's Touch" Katie and Jane break out the tools and remodel their cabin. Jane trades her pants for a frilly dress and sings:

Then all at once the cabin that we knew
Becomes a shining castle built for two.
Me and you.

They're getting on fine till Lieutenant Whats-His-Name falls for Kate. Jane is heartbroken, kicking her out of the cabin and challenging her to a duel. The pants are back on. Katie grabs a gun and fights back. She can do drag too. Wild Bill splits them up and tells Jane he loves her. But there's no duet. Instead we cut to Jane alone in the woods singing "Secret Love." She sings the first verse in a dress and the last verse in pants, riding a horse.

Once I had a secret love
That lived within the heart of me
All too soon my secret love
Became impatient to be free

 

Who is she singing about? Did she love Bill all along? Or has Bill given her the excuse to save her friendship with Katie? She'll spend the last act of the film pursuing Katie and bringing her back home. They hold a double wedding with their forgettable men. 

How intentional was this lesbian subtext? Hard to say. Screenwriter James O'Hanlon also wrote the script for The Harvey Girls, another musical western focused on two strong women. He'd go on to write for the television westerns Maverick and Cheyenne. Whatever his original intention the film has gone on to play at LGBT film fests and was featured in Vitto Russo's fantastic documentary The Celluloid Closet. That's enough for me to feature it here for Pride month. 

Happy Pride!

A Letter to Harvey Milk

"May 22 was Harvey Milk's birthday."
"Who was Harvey Milk?" a friend asked.
I gave the short version. "He was a gay rights activist in the 70's. He became a San Francisco city supervisor. The first openly gay politician. He was assassinated in City Hall along with the mayor by a colleague they'd fired. He'd been getting death threats and had already recorded his will. One of his more famous quotes was 'If a bullet should ever enter my brain, let that bullet shatter every closet door.'"
For a longer version have a look here.

Harvey Milk's life has been recounted by a musical, two operas, a documentary and an Oscar winning film. The 2016 musical, A Letter to Harvey Milk, is less about the man than his legacy. Two strangers, a Jewish widower and a lesbian teacher, meet in a writing class and discuss the way Harvey influenced their lives.

Some detractors are upset by the homophobic comments the teacher must endure. I'm of the mindset that a show set in the early 80's would be more offensive if it ignored the homophobia that our community has had to overcome. There's room for the Love, Simon fantasias in 2018 but we must never forget our history.

A Letter to Harvey Milk is currently running Off-Broadway at the Acorn Theatre.

Nevermore

Nevermore compresses the life of Edgar Allan Poe into a string of cruel fathers, frail mothers, untimely deaths and long stretches of poverty. The worst horrors of his poems and stories cannot compare to the uncaring world he finds himself trapped in. They end up acting as a grim therapy allowing Edgar to become the death that haunts him.

Gay Prom Musicals!

Prom Queen the Musical. Music by Colleen Dauncey. Lyrics by Akiva Romer-Segal. Book by Kent Staines. 2016 Montreal's Segal Centre. Basis: Documentary Prom Fight: The Marc Hall Story (2002).

In 2002 Marc Hall sued the Durham Catholic District School Board. The principal had banned him from taking his boyfriend to prom. The story made international headlines and was adapted into a 2002 documentary, a 2004 film and a 2016 musical. In 2018 the London District Catholic School Board and the Thames Valley District School Board pulled their funding from a high school production of Prom Queen: The Musical. The board has cited profanity and mature themes but that didn't prevent their previous productions of Grease, Les Miserables and West Side Story. This kind of thing has happened before. It always sells a lot of tickets and makes the school board look bad.

The Prom. Music by Matthew Sklar. Lyrics by Chad Beuelin. Book by Chad Beuelin and Bob Martin. 2016 Atlanta. 2018 Broadway.

The publicity is likely to help Prom Queen: The Musical score some major productions. However another musical, The Prom, is going to beat it to Broadway. The Prom reunites The Drowsy Chaperone's Bob Martin and Beth Leavel for a zany comedy. The focus shifts from the teens to the well meaning adults making the protest all about themselves. The premise sounds messy on paper but reviews for the Atlanta premiere were strong. The Prom's Broadway run begins on November 15, 2018.

Queen of the Mist

Michael John LaChuisa is fond of existential crisis.  His protagonists come from all walks of life but most of them feel empty and trapped. Queenie, Charlotte, The Priest and the lost souls of Hello Again. and Anna Edson Taylor

"It can get pretty lonely being the kind of person who goes over Niagara Falls in a barrel. Anna Edson Taylor (1838-1921) made her name more than a century ago by doing just that, and received oceans of publicity...
As deeds of daring go, writing eccentric, highbrow historical musicals in a business that rewards hummable tunes and straightforward story lines may not rank with... shooting the falls. But it probably requires a similar degree of true, mad, deep dedication." ~ New York Times

"I like to work, but if I just did projects like Queen of the Mist, which I just adored and is one of the most magnificent parts I’ve ever had, I would be in the poorhouse..." ~ Mary Testa

Smash

"Fade in on a girl with a hunger for fame."

Smash suffered from an identity crisis. Theresa Rebeck wanted a drama about the struggles of balancing her personal and creative life. NBC wanted a soap opera about the sex lives of Broadway artists. I wanted a show about the development of a new Broadway musical. It soon became clear that Bombshell, the fictional musical about Marilyn Monroe, was incomprehensible. I gave up on full episodes once Uma Thurman's smoothies became a plot point. I kept watching the songs from Bombshell. Here are some of my favorites:

Let Me Be Your Star
The 20th Century Fox Mambo
Public Relations
They Just Keep Moving the Line
Don't Forget Me

Oh, and I'm Team Ivy all the way.

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"

Bandstand & Come From Away

The Tony nominations will be announced soon and it's time to catch up on the new musicals of 2017.

Bandstand. Music by Richard Oberacker. Book and Lyrics by Richard Oberacker and Robert Taylor. 2015 Paper Mill Playhouse. 2017 Broadway.

Come From Away. Music, Lyrics and Book by Irene Sankoff and David Hein. 2015 La Jolla & Seattle. 2017 Broadway.

Cabaret

Cabaret has gone through many rewrites. Bob Fosse's film brought the text closer to Christopher Ishwerwood's original stories. Revivals turned the subtext into text. But from the beginning the show turned a mirror on a hedonistic society that ignores politics at their peril.

Nixon in China

In 1972 U.S. President Richard Nixon flew to China to meet with Chairman Mao Zedong.

RealClearPolitics writes: "The trip would begin a new period of Chinese-American relations. Nixon's visit was a strategic maneuver made after relations between the West and the Communist East were gradually changing. China had publicly disagreed and split from the Soviet Union. Nixon used this confrontation, which was peaking in the early 1970s, to make a visit that would stun the world."

Director Peter Sellars proposed the subject of the opera to composer John Adams. Adams described the work as "part epic, part satire, part a parody of political posturing, and part serious examination of historical, philosophical, and even gender issues."

The libretto seeks to humanize the controversial leaders. The historical conversation is touched upon but the opera is more concerned with the characters inner thoughts and doubts throughout the visit. While National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger is presented as a boorish clown the Nixon's and the Mao's are treated with more kindness than general audiences may have expected.

Teddy and Alice

Irving Berlin's fictional president was immersed in a light family sitcom. Teddy and Alice puts historical figures in a light family sitcom, then dials up the creepy.

The New York Times wrote:  "Teddy sees his daughter as the reincarnation of his beloved first wife and refuses to share her with others - never mind that such monopolistic practices are in violation of the newly passed Sherman antitrust act. A happy ending can arrive only when Alice's mother returns from the grave to encourage Teddy to give up the ghost. This exorcism, unfortunately, takes considerably longer to accomplish than the charge up San Juan Hill."

Only in the theater folks. Only in the theater.

First Lady Suite

Michael John LaChiusa remains committed to writing challenging musicals with complex scores. Audiences may not flock to them but they gather committed fan bases. First Lady Suite and the sequel First Daughter Suite each present four vignettes about women who've lived in the White House. Some focus on the First Ladies themselves. Others view them through the eyes of their staff and admirers.

Variety writes: "What’s missing is any semblance of insight or revelation. A talented ensemble, under the capable guidance of Daniel Henning, instills as much pizzazz as possible into the proceedings but ultimately is defeated by LaChiusa’s convoluted, unfulfilling libretto."

The New York Times was kinder writing: "Weird, funny and wigged-out, "First Lady Suite" looks at history through frankly surrealistic glasses and extends its feminist sympathies even to a Presidential spouse as seemingly conventional as Mrs. Eisenhower. Yet, with the exception of "Eleanor Sleeps Here," the last and best developed of the three segments, Mr. LaChiusa's ambitions for his musical are more bracing than the musical itself."

Newsies

Extra! Extra! Read all about it!

Cult flop film becomes Tony winning Broadway hit!

The story was inspired by a real life news strike but don't look to Newsies for historical accuracy. Do look to Newsies for handsome male dancers. If fit men in tight vests were still delivering "the papes" then print media would be in a better place today!

Jack and David's intense friendship has inspired much fan fiction. Fierstein's libretto mitigates the homo-eroticism a bit by strengthening the leading lady. On film Sarah was "the beard." On stage we get Katherine, a feisty news reporter with career goals.

Underneath the love triangle and athletic dancing is a story about capitalism and the importance of worker's unions. It's simplified and romanticized but there are worse messages for kids than to stand by their co-workers.

War Paint

War Paint's Chicago premiere has many things going for it: Two great stars, a score that plays to their strengths, and interesting source material. Reviews have been mostly positive. Unfortunately the current book lacks conflict.

Librettist Doug Wright has several challenges. The real Elizabeth Arden and Helena Rubenstein refused to meet with each other. Wright has to give his leads equal stage time while keeping them apart. In this he succeeds. Without a co-star to play off of the leads steamroll the supporting cast. The founders of Revlon get two juicy scenes but vanish before they can develop into true antagonists. Wright will need to beef up the feckless love interests or scheming shop girls so that Patti and Ebersole have someone to play off of.

The Chicago production has been extended through August 21. A Broadway transfer has yet to be confirmed but is certainly in the cards.

Hamilton

The concept for Hamilton could have gone very wrong. A hip hop musical about the founding fathers could have been campy like Rockabye Hamlet or dull like Ben Franklin in Paris. Happily Lin-Manuel Miranda took the time to workshop, try-out, write and rewrite till Hamilton had the proper mix of history and drama.

Miranda gives most of the rap to Hamilton himself, while the melodies go to the supporting cast. This lets Aaron Burr steal act two with “The Room Where it Happens” and “The World Was Wide Enough.”

Hamilton is set to sweep the Tony Awards this Sunday. The material is strong and should run long after the original cast departs. Will we get strong regional productions or is the show to large in scale? Will high schools perform awkward all white productions, like we’ve seen with The Wiz and Once On This Island? Will the score hold up or will the “contemporary” music seem dated when the inevitable film rolls around 10 years from now? To quote Miranda: "Who lives, who dies, who tells your story?"

Here's a link to a gorgeous collection of fan art.

Shuffle Along

This is not a revival of the 1921 musical Shuffle Along. Rather it's a story about the rise and fall of Shuffle Along's creators. Critics praised the dances but criticized the libretto for an over-reliance on first person narration.  

"The dramaturgical tactic is vaguely Jersey Boys meets 42nd Street." ~ Time Out

As with Hamilton we are left with a question of who remembers you and who tells your story.

Nominated for 10 Tony Awards.

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.

Grey Gardens

The Fantasticks, Into the Woods and Sunday in the Park with George are just a few musicals to make drastic changes in tone or setting between acts. It's a risky gamble that often invites audiences and critics to pick a side. When Grey Gardens transfered to Broadway in 2006 the critics hated act the original 1940's farce Act One. However they loved the second act which was based on the 1970's documentary, and bowed down to worship the star at the center: Christine Ebersole.

Watching this performance is the best argument I can think of for the survival of the American musical. ~ Ben Brantley, New York Times

When the show was revived in Sag Harbor in 2015 the praise went from a starring role to a supporting role played by Betty Buckley. They were still ambivalent about the show itself.

This summer Chicago's Goodman Theatre will premiere War Paint, a new musical by the same creative team. Once again the plot will focus on a feud between two real world figures (Helena Rubinstein and Elizabeth Arden) and once again there will be great star power (Christine Ebersole and Patti Lupone). Time will tell whether the book and score win as much praise as the featured divas.

Marilyn: An American Fable

The Smash producers are gauging interest for a full production of Bombshell. The Marilyn Monroe bio-musical has no book but some terrific power ballads. This has encouraged the theater blogs to re-examine past Marilyn Monroe musicals including the campy Marilyn: An American Fable.

Frank Rich, New York Times: "If you read all the fine print in the Playbill for ''Marilyn: An American Fable,'' you'll discover that the new musical at the Minskoff has 16 producers and 10 songwriters. If you mistakenly look up from the Playbill to watch the show itself, you may wonder whether those 26 persons were ever in the same rehearsal room - or even the same city - at the same time."

Ken Mandelbaum, Not Since Carrie: "More than ten numbers and forty-five minutes were dropped before opening night... The show seemed to be the work of eight-year-olds assigned to write a musical about Monroe, so dumb it was almost inspired."

Clips from the original production reveal some terrible songs, but the soaring ballad "You Are So Beyond" has been a breakout hit for earnest tenors.

Less footage remains of London's Marilyn! The Musical which opened the same year. Preliminary research suggests it was a sungthrough popera inspired by Evita. 

Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson

Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson has structural similarities to the Sondheim/ Weidman musical Assassins. Both pit their historical characters against a snarky narrator who warns them that history will not remember them fondly. Both start with series of comic sketches before settling down for an extended dialogue scene where the stakes are raised. Jackson sings that his intentions were good. The narrator reminds him, and the audience, that history judges us for our actions.

The show received positive reviews but small audiences and closed after 94 performances on Broadway. Next season the Broadway transfer of Hamilton hopes to find the audience that Jackson could not.