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.

Everybody's Talking About Jamie

Everybody's Talking About Jamie is the third contemporary musical focusing on gay kids at prom and the second one based on a documentary. The show transferred from Sheffield to the West End this Fall and opened to rave reviews. Turns out if you tell a teen they can't go to prom they become a loveable underdog.

Oh and that school board that de-funded Prom Queen: The Musical? They've restored funding. Turns out telling teens they can't put on a musical makes them loveable underdogs.

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.

Hallelujah, Baby!

Being good just won't be good enough

I'll be the best or nothing at all

In 1968 Hallelujah, Baby! won 5 Tony Awards: Best Actress, Best Featured Actress, Best Producer, Best Original Score and Best Musical. So why did it close after 293 performances? 

Arthur Laurents's libretto had a tricky concept. Leslie Uggams traveled through 50 years of American history while remaining 25. The book is focused the progress of civil rights. The score is focused on Uggams' showbiz career. It's Roots meets Funny Girl and critics found it a tough sell. The New York Times referred to the 1967 production as "Civics One" and a 2004 revisal as "bland and anachronistic." 

In a 2011 interview Arthur Laurents stated that the show was written for Lena Horne. He felt it lost it's edge when the sweet Leslie Uggams replaced her. Edgy or not Uggam's star-making turn is what the show is best remembered for now. You can watch her performances on the Ed Sullivan Show and the Tony Awards broadcast to see why.

Arms and the Girl

Nanette Fabray is best remembered today for her supporting role in the 1953 film The Bandwagon. She was a skilled comedienne who starred in a long string of Broadway flops. The cast album for Arms and the Girl is forgettable but Fabray, and supporting comic Pearl Bailey, show considerable charm.

Aspects of Love

"We... we sleep with everyone.
One by one and two by two.
And if you're in the audience
then you'll sleep too."
~ Forbidden Broadway

"Though ''Aspects of Love'' purports to deal with romance in many naughty guises - from rampant promiscuity to cradle-snatching, lesbianism and incest - it generates about as much heated passion as a visit to the bank."
~ Frank Rich, New York Times

Webber's Aspects of Love is not as romantic as it thinks it is. The May-December country house romance drew unfavorable comparisons to Stephen Sondheim's A Little Night Music. Sondheim's lovers know they're in a bittersweet comedy. Webber's bores take themselves so seriously that the plot turns to camp. They vow "love will never let you be the same" while repeating the same toxic patterns. The leading lady jerks three lovers around till their attentions turn to an underage girl. Then she sings an angry anthem, "Anything But Lonely," vowing to round up someone new "who'll say how good [she] looks each day." Send in the clowns indeed.

Ankles Aweigh

Pastiche is hard. You can't just throw some vapid tunes in a silly plot and call it an "old fashioned musical." The musicals we remember from the 30's and 40's are the ones with stars and composers who elevated the material. Ankles Aweigh closed in 176 performances. It's best remembered for the snarky reviews.

 "Some of us have been campaigning lately for a return to the old-fashioned, slam-bang, gags-and-girls musical comedy. Some of us ought to be shot." ~ Walter Kerr

Happy new year!