A Bronx Tale & Kid Victory

And now two musicals that tell dark stories with jaunty scores. The mobster loving teen of A Bronx Tale gets to sing. The teen protagonist of Kid Victory never does despite some critics' hopes that he'd find his voice by the finale.

A Bronx Tale. Music by Alan Menken. Lyrics by Glenn Slater. Book by Chazz Palminteri. 2016 Broadway.

Kid Victory. Music by John Kander. Lyrics and Book by Greg Pierce. 2016 Off-Broadway.

300th post?!

Amelie & Anastasia

Several films have been adapted to the stage this season. The following both feature spunky heroines with tragic childhoods who find love and self worth in Paris.

Amelie. Music by Daniel Messé. Lyrics by Daniel Messé and Nathan Tysen. Book by Craig Lucas. 2015 Berkeley. 2017 Broadway. Based on the 2001 film.

Anastasia. Music by Stephen Flaherty. Lyrics by Lynn Ahrens. Book by. Terrence McNally. 2016 Hartford. 2017 Broadway. Based on the 1997 film.

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.

The Most Happy Fella

“You ain’t young no more, and you ain’t good-lookin’, and you ain’t smart.”

Thus says Marie to her brother, the unconventional protagonist of The Most Happy Fella. He has proposed to a young woman by letter and sent a photo of his handsome foreman in his stead. This Cyrano set-up could have carried a musical comedy but writer Frank Loesser was more ambitious. He resolves things quickly to focus on Tony’s rocky marriage to his wary new bride.

Loesser is best remembered for the brassy scores of Guys and Dolls and How to Succeed. The Most Happy Fella is something different. The brass is mixed with complex arias, quartets and chorales. The title role was originated by operatic baritone Robert Weede though Loesser denied the work was an opera. When asked he said “It’s a musical with a lot of music.”

Hedwig and the Angry Inch

Hedwig and the Angry Inch is 19 years old(?!) The score has aged remarkably well. In that time LGBTQIA+ politics have made great strides and the show has grown from cult classic to Broadway smash. The story takes place at a rock concert by The Angry Inch. Hedwig has decided to confess all sins through cutting humor and brash songs. Hedwig wants to be seen as both victim and survivor. The truth is uglier as Hedwig has gone from being abused by a father and first spouse to the abuser of a young lover and second spouse. 

Tommy Speck was 17 when Hedwig seduced him. The Broadway production cast actors ranging from their late 20's to early 50's in the title role. An older Hedwig seems sadder (and creepier) chasing after the man that got away. 

Is Hedwig's story a redemption arc? The ending is ambiguous but I'd like to think so. Hedwig may feel like a failure but Hedwig is deservedly a hit.

Joan Crawford Musicals

Stephen Sondheim based the lyrics to the song I'm Still Here around the career of Joan Crawford. 

First you're another

Sloe-eyed vamp,

Then someone's mother,

Then you're camp.

The FX show Feud reminds us that Hollywood treats many of their actresses the same way. While she played dancing flappers in the 1920's I'm going to focus on two works from the 1950's.

Johnny Guitar

Music by Martin Silvestri. Lyrics and Music by Joel Higgins. Book by Nicholas van Hoogstraten. 2004 Off Broadway.

The 1954 film is campy because it took itself so seriously. It wants to be a feminist Western about McCarthyism. It's better remembered for Joan Crawford's outfits, Mercedes McCambridge's scenery munching and the barely repressed lesbian subtext. The 2004 musical flopped because it tried to be a zany Forbidden Broadway style spoof. The subtext became text which misses the point.

Torch Song

Screenplay by John Michael Hayes and 

Jan Lustig (de). 

Music by Adolph Deutsch. 1953 film.

Here's another film that didn't need a parody. (Though Carol Burnett made a go of it). Joan Crawford dancing in blackface while lip synching to India Adams is camp enough. 

The Harvey Girls

“In this day and age girls don’t leave home. But if you get a hankering you wanna roam.”

The railroad allowed Fred Harvey’s chain of restaurants and hotels brought civility to the Wild West and independence to single women in the 1870’s. His waitresses, the “Harvey Girls,” are the subject of one of Judy Garland’s most interesting films.

The show had one breakout song, “The Atchison Topeka and the Santa Fe.” This fantastic number introduces the townsfolk, the Harvey girls, the supporting cast and the plot. Then Garland enters and brings it to a big finish. She’s come to town to get married but the groom is a bust. She joins the Harvey Girls and never looks back.

The disposable love interest doesn’t appear till later. His duet with Garland was cut as the film’s not about him. Instead she shares a trio with Cyd Charisse (dubbed by Betty Russell) Virginia O’Brien’s fellow Harvey Girls as they struggle with the social roles they’ve been assigned. They learned their trades to attract husbands. When none appeared they used the skills to support themselves. The number feels like a template for Sweet Charities “There’s Gotta Be Something Better Than This.” Their boss, Marjorie Main, and their rival, Angela Lansbury, will get solos as well. Main wants to class up the town. Lansbury… does not.

Lansbury’s “showgirl” is a hoot. Her solos were dubbed but her body language says more about her character than the lyrics. She looks fabulous but she’s bored. Garland’s rivalry brings a spark into Lansbury’s life and helps her find her priorities. At the end she’s happy to hand her boyfriend off to Garland and focus on her career.