Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown

I like Laura Benanti’s patter number and Patti LuPone’s torch song. So did the critics.
As for the rest, well…  you’re better off watching the film.

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)

Easter Parade

"Someday, we’re going to write a treatise on the crazy hats women wear in musicals. We propose that because there was so much sexual repression in these films, the outrageous hats are supposed to represent vaginas on top of their heads. It’s why so many of the men had walking sticks too.
Think about it." ~ Tom and Lorenzo

This one's not about the plot. It's about the showcase numbers. Here are some highlights:

Steppin' Out with My Baby - Fred Astaire and chorus
Shakin' The Blues Away - Ann Miller
A Couple of Swells - Fred Astaire and Judy Garland

Frozen's Three Act Structure

Disney's Frozen opened on Broadway last night to mixed reviews. The film's three act structure sits oddly on a two act frame. Let's take a closer look at the screenplay: 

• Act One is the set up. It takes 6 songs to introduce the world, the protagonists, the conflict and the inciting incident. Elsa's powers are revealed and an eternal winter begins. The act ends with "Let It Go."
• Act Two is rising action. Anna tracks down her sister. We get 2 songs to introduce supporting characters and bring the sisters together. The turning point comes with a reprise of "For the First Time in Forever."
• Act Three is resolution. The sisters must overcome self doubt, unseat the antagonists and end the snow storm. Most Disney films run out of songs by this point. Frozen gives us the momentum stopping "Fixer Upper" and a reprise of "Vuele." 

The score front loads the best songs and splits the story between two protagonists. Now what happens when the stage show adds 10 more songs? We get this:

• Act One
• "Vuelie" – Company
• "Anna and Elsa" – Young Anna, Young Elsa and Townspeople
• "A Little Bit of You" – Young Elsa and Young Anna
• "Do You Want to Build a Snowman?" – Young Anna
• "For the First Time in Forever" – Anna, Elsa and Townspeople
• "Hans of the Southern Isles" – Hans
• "Dangerous to Dream" – Elsa and Townspeople
• "Love Is an Open Door" – Anna and Hans
• "Reindeer(s) Are Better Than People" – Kristoff
• "What Do You Know about Love?" – Anna and Kristoff
• "In Summer" – Olaf
• "Hans of the Southern Isles" (reprise) – Hans, Duke of Weselton and Townspeople
• "Let It Go" – Elsa
• Act Two
• "Hygge" – Oaken, Kristoff, Anna, Olaf and Company
• "For the First Time in Forever" (reprise) – Anna and Elsa
• "Fixer Upper" – Bulda, Olaf and Hidden Folk
• "Kristoff Lullaby" – Kristoff
• "Monster" – Elsa, Hans and Volunteers
• "Hans of the Southern Isles" (reprise 2) – Hans
• "True Love" – Anna
• "Colder by the Minute" – Pabbie, Anna, Kristoff, Elsa, Hans and Townspeople
• "Vueille (Love Thaws)" – Townspeople
• "Resolution" – Company

Disney is streaming several of the new songs on the Frozen website. We've lost "Frozen Heart" (no tears here), moved "Let it Go" and crammed two acts of screenplay into one act of stage libretto. Act two stretches out the film's finale. The storytelling has gotten a bit lumpy. Does it matter? Not to the target audience. They'll keep it running a year at least. Then the schools will produce it for ages.

Edit: I've now had the good fortune to see this show live. The problem for me was less the structure than the lack of danger. Film Elsa uses her ice powers to throw her sister out of the palace and attack invading assassins. She has to be knocked unconscious before the army can arrest her. Stage Elsa sings she "will not be a monster" and politely surrenders. Frankly she could stand to be a little more monstrous. The show would benefit from higher stakes.

Jamaica

Film star Lena Horne made her Broadway debut in a show that was basically a concert. It didn't start that way. Jamaica was conceived as a vehicle for Calypso singer Harry Belafonte. He would play a Jamaican fisherman resisting the commercialization of the local culture and attempting to keep his NYC loving partner by his side. Some accounts say Belafonte left due to illness. Others say he was unhappy with the material.

Lena Horne had turned down St. Louis Woman in the 40's but agreed to play Jamaica's flighty leading lady. The show shifted focus to her character and the book was cut to ribbons. According to wikipedia she opts to stay in Jamaica after her fisherman beau (now played by Ricardo Montalbán) rescues her brother from a hurricane. Sure. Whatever. It ran a year and a half.

The show is so slight and dated that even Encores won't revive it. Instead they gave Vanessa Williams a handful of Horne's songs in a 2018 revue. Songs like "Push de Button," "Cocoanut Sweet" and "Ain't It The Truth" (cut from Horne's Cabin in the Sky) are worth another listen.