Ghost Quartet

So... eight months. How's everybody doing? I'm not back back but I've a few more ideas for comics.

The success of Dave Malloy's The Great Comet has renewed attention to the earlier Ghost Quartet. My synopsis doesn't do it justice. Four artists take the stage to tell four intertwining ghost stories. The sisters at the center, Pearl and Rose, provoke a cycle of revenge that burns for seven centuries. Malloy says he was playing a board game with his friends and said "The four of us should make a show." The result is something that will confuse, impress and lodge itself in your mind.


The Chicago premiere runs July 12 - August 17. Details are here. 

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.

Be More Chill

The musical Be More Chill had a short run but the cast album has inspired a rabid fan base. I was introduced to it by the shows breakout song "Michael in the Bathroom." The premise reminds me of Little Shop of Horrors. Each features a self-loathing protagonist goaded by a malevolent force into harming others for the sake of his crush. Audrey II wants to eat the world. The Squip wants to control it. The Squip in the novel could be cruel but it has been upgraded to full super villain in the musical. Seymour wants Audrey. Jeremy wants the underwritten Christine. She takes a back seat to Michael, the leading man's mistreated best friend. They get the duet and the arc. Hence the fan base (and the fan artists) focus on the bro-mance.

There's a lot of tonal whiplash on the album. I'm curious to see how a live production balances the black comedy with the uglier themes of depression and sexual assault. Particularly after watching season 3 of Crazy Ex-Girlfriend balance these so well.

Zombie Prom

I don't have much to say about this one.Grease without the sex. Little Shop of Horrors without the horror. It occupies a bland middle ground. The antagonist, Miss Strict, gets a fun song but they didn't let RuPaul sing it in the abridged film version. I'm running out of Halloween themed shows.

The Addams Family

So producers ask you to write an Addams Family musical. What story do you tell? The films contrasted the Addam's with "normal" criminals who wanted to harm them. The stage show introduces a fiancee and conservative in-laws. The device has fueled many comedies including You Can't Take It With You, Auntie Mame and La Cage Aux Folles. So that's your spine. But what do you do with the details?

Who are the Addams's? Are they undead? If so are they zombies, ghosts or vampires? Are they just unusually morbid mortals? How much of their BDSM leanings can you mention in a family show? If you put them onstage do you use the personalities from the comics, cartoons, TV sitcom or films?

The stage show went through multiple rewrites before and after the Broadway engagement. The squid was cut for the tour. She certainly isn't in the school version. But the song about squid molestation was in the Chicago tryout and made it to Broadway.

The Fan

Lauren Bacall started a new chapter of her career by starring in the musical Applause. She followed this up with two less successful musical projects. The Fan opened a few months after the opening of Lauren's next musical, Woman of the Year. Unfortunately it also opened after the murder of John Lennon. The grim ending was quickly re-written and re-filmed. A happy ending and an award bait song weren't enough. The film was a box office bomb.

Lauren Bacall's musicals cast her as fairly passive figures. Margo Channing, Tess Harding and Sally Ross start off with thriving careers. The active supporting characters harm that success and leave them reeling. We watch them cope with the loss rather than strive to recover.

A similar plot would have more success in the 1992 film The Bodyguard... which has just been made into another terrible musical.

Kiss of the Spider Woman

This show isn't great but at times it's very good. If you're familiar with the novel the very idea of adapting this into a musical sounds silly. To the show's credit it dances the fine line for most of the run time.

The seduction of the straight cell mate is a touchy subject for many. In the book this is an act of vulnerable affection. ("You are the one who is kind.") In the musical it is a cynical manipulation. ("If we touch before he goes he'll make that call.")  Which is more believable? You decide.

The Spider Woman, Aurora, is Molina's muse. Her tunes provide comical commentary on a dark story in a manner similar to the Emcee in Cabaret though her films are much cheerier than the propaganda film in the novel. Two performances were recorded: Chita Rivera's and Vanessa Williams'. I've heard it said that Chita plays a gay man's fantasy and Vanessa plays a straight man's fantasy. Simplistic but funny. Chita brings out the scary gravitas of the character. She's there to kill. Vanessa brings out the sex appeal and the comedy. She's there to party.

Marie Christine

If you've heard of Medea you know what she did. The question of any adaptation is why. The cast album did not make this clear to me. Audra MacDonald's Marie sounds remarkably self-possessed, boasts of her magic powers and is clearly too good for Dante Keyes. The libretto told me more.

In Marie Christine LaChuisa spends time developing the world Marie is fleeing from. Act One's Louisiana is no more home to her than Act Two's Chicago. Her magic is questionable as well. She boasts of her power to seduce men but uses her magic to manipulate and murder other women. She has no biscuit or ribbon to hold on to Dante. Her obsession with Dante becomes a fatal flaw. She "will not let go" and she cannot change enough to fit the new life he leaves her in. 

Children complicate the matter. If she simply fled with them she'd have no means to support them. If she left them to Dante they'd become servants. Perhaps that would have been better but she'll never know. 

Shockheaded Peter

Children are the future but children are naughty. How shall we teach them to behave? Perhaps tell them the stories of those who did not. Awful things happen to children who do not behave. 

Before Wonka's Chocolate Factory of Doom there was Struwwelpeter. German psychologist Heinrich Hoffman had written his son a series of "funny stories." Each followed a child who broke a rule and suffered a disproportionate fate. He published them in 1845 to bring laughter to the children of the world. 

In 1998 the Tiger Lillies, a British punk trio, premiered the stage adaptation. The children's stories were are told but the title characters story was adapted to shift blame to the narcissistic parents. Lead singer Martyn Jacques was surprised to learn the show made him popular with children. In a 2016 interview with The Australian he said: “Kids love me... They are not usually allowed to see me, but when they do they absolutely love me. They look at me and go, ‘Ooh, he’s bad’ — the rare misbehaving adult. I mean, adults tend to be a bit boring really — they behave themselves and have boring conversations. Children love it when you misbehave. And I am known to be a little naughty.”

Sunset Boulevard

Scan the reviews of Sunset Boulevard and you’ll see some common threads. The leading lady gives a star turn but the lyrics are klunky and there was no point adapting the film for the stage. Sondheim declined a chance to adapt after Wilder said the film could only work as an opera. The current revival has been praised for scrapping the giant sets but something else is missing. What exactly? Let’s take a closer look at the libretto.

What is the story about?

May-December romance? The dark side of Hollywood? The horrors of age, death and time? The horrors of being trapped in a big house with a crazy lady?

The characters pursue big dreams and destroy themselves in the process. This lends itself to the musical form. At the same time the characters are static. This does not. Their fatal flaws lie in their denial. Norma isn’t hustling to be a star. She believes she is one. Joe isn’t hustling to be a better writer. He believes the folks rejecting his work are fools and jerks. Halfway through act one the career arc fades. The action shifts to Joe’s attempts to escape the house and Norma’s attempts to keep him there.

Who is the protagonist?

The music thinks Norma is. She gets the “I want” songs (With One Look, The Perfect Year), the “I am” songs (With One Look again, New Ways to Dream) and the “celebration” song when she thinks she’s achieved her goal (As If We Never Said Goodbye).

The plot thinks Joe is. We follow his journey and everything is seen through his eyes. He leaves the house frequently to pursue work at the studio and a relationship with Betty. Norma becomes his antagonist attempting to lure him back with money, threats and violence.

Sadly the score doesn’t have much use for Joe. He’s stuck with recitative and reactive duets. His only solo, Sunset Boulevard, has to serve as his “I want,” “I am,” “I’m becoming” song as well as a takedown of Hollywood culture. It’s more responsibility than the lyrics can handle. (“Beneath the tan the battle rages.”)

What’s missing?

For me it’s a consistent tone. Webber’s romantic score undercuts Wilder’s cynicism. The music buys into her delusion that she’s a dethroned queen. A tragic victim. Is she? Is it really so bad to be a wealthy retiree living in an L.A. mansion with a servant who worships her? A snarkier composer might have played up the contrast between her dreams and her reality. They might have given Joe something interesting to sing while they were at it.

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.

The Nightmare Before Christmas

I didn't appreciate The Nightmare Before Christmas in the theaters in 1993. The trailer had spoiled the film's best gag and Danny Elfman's moody ballads didn't appeal. Ten years later I saw the film again and was amazed by what I'd missed. The film is gorgeous with an bold design and a clever score.

The stop motion field was revitalized and continues today with the crazy geniuses at Studio Laika. However Laika, for all their artistry, has been criticized for their inability to sustain a narrative. Nightmare's story remains clever, subversive and well told. Haven't seen it in a while? It's worth another look.

Matilda

"Whatever it was that hurt (Roald) Dahl so deeply, he never forgave it, and his children's stories... are driven by it." ~ Roger Ebert

Here's another tale that could have ended very differently. Matilda could have gone the way of Carrie, using her powers to destroy others and herself. Instead she makes the choice to use her powers for good.

Matilda and her mentor, Miss Honey, are both victims of abuse. They handle their situations very differently. Miss Honey has stayed with her abuser and become a self loathing neurotic. Matilda fights her fate and saves Miss Honey from hers. Deep topics for a so called "children's musical."

"Just because you find that life's not fair it

Doesn't mean that you just have to grin and bear it

If you always take it on the chin and wear it

Nothing will change." 

~ Naughty

Tim Minchin's lyrics are dense and clever. They were also left at the mercy of child actors and theatersound systems. A common complaint, particularly on the American tour, was that audiences couldn't understand the words. I've yet to hear the score of his new show, Groundhog Day. I'll be curious to learn if he slows the rhythm of his lyrics a bit so that more can be taken in on a first listen.

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. 

Bat Boy: The Musical

I had touched on Bat Boy in my Camp Horror Mad Libs, comparing it to Reefer Madness and Little Shop of Horrors. Like Audrey II, Edgar can only survive on blood. Like Jimmy, Edgar is brought down by his own addictions.

The element Bat Boy introduces apart from the others is the chorus of cruel townsfolk who push Edgar to his downfall. Edgar is less Dracula and more Frankenstein, a tragic creature who is denied love by his appearance.

Scott Miller writes:

"Many musicals are built on the concept of Assimilate Or Be Removed. The central character in many musicals must make a choice to either change in certain ways in order to join the existing community or he must be removed from that community either by leaving or by dying. In The Music Man, Harold Hill turns legit in order to join the River City community. In Sweeney Todd, Jesus Christ Superstar, and Evita, the main characters will not change so they must be removed, by death."

Which side does Edgar fall on? The show is still being produced so you'll have to see a production (or listen to one of the terrific cast albums) to learn.

American Psycho

American Psycho is closing before the summer tourists get a chance to see it. The reviews and think pieces have raised many questions.

Moralistic satire or misogynistic porn? Wildly theatrical or un-adaptable? Does the ending blame Patrick or society? Can the 1980's materialism depicted be applied to America today? Should it have opened off-Broadway? Or with a movie star? Will it have a life in regional theater? Will we get a Broadway cast album?

And finally what does Patrick Bateman want? Sweeney wants revenge. Seymour wants love. J.P. Finch wants a material success. Patrick already "has it all" but feels nothing. Does he want to "feel?"

Clips:
Selling Out
Cards
You Are What You Wear
A Girl Before
Backstage vlogs
London Cast Album at Entertainment Weekly
*** And some fun backstage gossip on Broadway.com. 

Nominated for 2 Tony Awards.

Little Shop of Horrors

I've touched on Little Shop twice before, but wanted to give it a full post.

Reviews of the recent American Psycho musical have said there's no way to make the murderous protagonist sympathetic. This got me thinking about Seymour Krelborn. I mock (and lust after) Patrick Bateman. I pity Sweeney Todd. I genuinely like Seymour. From the moment I hear the song "Skid Row" I'm on his side. How does he do it?

Well, like Sweeney, he has a loathsome antagonist and a seductive accomplice. Like Sweeney he also does some truly awful things in Act Two. Unlike Sweeney he holds on to the possibility of redemption. *** spoiler? *** The movie gave him a happy ending, but it left a sour aftertaste. We may want him to get away with it but understand when he doesn't. ***

So why did this popular show flop when it opened on Broadway in 2003? Some said the stage was too big, the performances too arch, the material too dated. An Encores concert in 2015 showed that the show still works if the larger-than-life characters are played with honesty.

*** EDIT: Seeing the show again I realize that Seymour and Audrey's fatal flaw is their crippling self-loathing. It's not greed as they don't really take advantage of their new found income. They're given several opportunities to escape their fate but keep making poor choices from a place of low self-worth.

More on Heathers

*** The following post contains spoilers ***

Some stray thoughts after seeing Heathers the musical.

My favorite songs: Fight for Me, Dead Girl Walking, Seventeen.

To folks who say Heathers is odd source material for a musical I say murder and suicide are common musical tropes. They've fueled classical opera for decades. Heathers only contains one more teen death than West Side Story. 

Many remember Heathers as a black comedy but the biggest laughs and quotable lines vanish about a quarter into the story. Then it tilts closer to horror.

Murphy and O'Keefe's scores to Bat Boy, Legally Blonde, and Heathers lack satisfying finales. I find they front-load their best songs in the first act. Duncan Sheik's two murder-suicide musicals, Spring Awakening and American Psycho also suffer from ballad heavy second acts as things turn "serious." But to be fair even the great Sweeney Todd lacks an 11 o'clock number.

The adults in Heathers the movie and West Side Story are clueless. The teachers in Spring Awakening are sadistic but the parents are given a brief moment to mourn the deaths. The adults in Heathers the musical are grotesque caricatures who are completely indifferent to teenage suicides. Their lame "comedy numbers" are low points that keep the show from greatness.

The movie Heathers included a date rape. The musical Heathers settles at attempted rape set to a "comedy song." Some critics found the song "Blue" funny. I was squicked out. Your mileage may vary.

Tone is a challenge. The story has at least four endings which alter the piece considerably. The producers vetoed the first two screenplays. I'd heard of the ending where everyone dies and dances in heaven. In a 2014 interview screenwriter Daniel Waters also mentions another:

"The ending I should’ve fought harder for is where Martha Dumptruck pulls out a knife, stabs Veronica, and says, “F— you, Heather.” And Veronica’s on the ground laughing, with a knife in her stomach, saying, “My name’s not Heather. My name’s not Heather.”"

Grim stuff. The film settled for the death of the "villain." The musical goes one step further with the attempted redemption of the protagonist. Some have criticized the musical for missing the point by softening the protagonist. Seeing it myself I was uncertain they were sincere. The "happy ending" seemed rushed and cynical which somehow made it even more disturbing. I'd say by that point in the story Veronica's about as redeemable as Mrs. Lovett.

EDIT : Thinking more on it, the fact that Veronica seduces some audience members into her worldview, and presenting herself as the heroine, may be the most subversive thing about Heathers the musical. The screenplay's cut endings took J.D's point of view but Veronica's may be just as toxic.

I also don't buy Veronica's insistence that all kids are "beautiful" and kind before they reach high school. I remember plenty of kids being just as toxic in middle school and parts of elementary school.

Heathers

More murder this week as we look at Heathers the musical. This vicious teen "comedy" set the template for softer films like Mean Girls, but also shares DNA with the horror of Carrie. Westerberg High School is a battlefield filled with violent bullies and clueless teachers, honing students for the cruel world of the late 1980's.

Veronica, the anti-hero protagonist, dances on a knife edge. The film never quite tells us how aware she is of J.D's schemes and the musical pushes her further into ignorance. By the end of the story she's seen and done too much to be truly innocent but the right actress can still maintain audience sympathy.

 Much ink has been spilt about the escalation in high school violence in the past decade. High schools may perform West Side Story but it will be some time before they feel comfortable producing Heathers. Neither the 1988 film, nor the 2014Off-Broadway production had commercial success but both have established loyal cult followings who remember the world it portrays.

Adding Machine

Elmer Rice's bleak 1923 play was adapted into a musical in 2007. I was impressed with how much humor the work mined while remaining true to the source material. I was also saddened by how timely the themes of destructive capitalism and social alienation remained.

Musical theater protagonists often strive to rewrite their fate, but Mr. Zero seems resigned to his. His most drastic actions occur when change is forced upon him. Rice asks whether Mr. Zero is a victim of society or a willing participant in a corrupt system.

*** Spoiler **** There are a lot of musicals about murderers aren't there? Shortly after watching a production of Adding Machine I listened to the cast album of Duncan Sheik's American Psycho Musical. While Patrick Bateman has reached a level of wealth Mr. Zero could only dream of they are both slowly dying inside. This causes them to make very bad decisions.