Everything I Know I Learned From Musicals

American Idiot Will Play the St. James

Even in this economy, most Broadway theaters don't remain vacant for very long. (That's either a testament to the reinvigorated status of the Broadway musical, or the sheer idiocy on the part of producers and investors. Perhaps both.) The current revival of Finian's Rainbow will play its last performance on January 17th, but the venerable St. James Theater has already signed on its next tenant: America Idiot, the new rock musical based on the eponymous recording by the popular band Green Day. The show is scheduled to begin previews on March 24th and open on April 20th.

American Idiot features a number of Spring Awakening alumni, including producer Tom Hulce and director Michael Mayer, and during its recent two-month run at Berkeley Repertory Theater, it starred Tony-Award winner John Gallagher Jr. Mayer is collaborating with iconic Green Day front man Billie Joe Armstrong on the show's book. Although the Berkeley run sold out, and the run was extended twice, the reviews were rather mixed.

The Sacramento Bee deemed American Idiot "worthy," but said that, while the characters "do eventually grow, the production's weakness lies in their lack of compelling development." Robert Hurwitt of The San Francisco Chronicle wrote that the show "doesn't deliver much in the way of character or story" but said that it "packs plenty of excitement and entertainment into a remarkably theatrical rock concert." Leslie Katz of the San Francisco Examiner concurred that the book for the show "remains thin," but Karen D'Souza of the San Jose Mercury News called the show as "compelling as it is abstract," adding that the show reflected "the grungy spirit of punk while also plucking at the heartstrings."

So the consensus seems to be that there are the makings of a pretty powerful show here, but the book and characterizations could both use some fleshing out. Will Mayer and Armstrong be making any significant changes to the show before it hits New York? We shall see. In the meantime, anyone interested in getting a sense of how the show will sound can download the cut "21 Guns," recorded by the Berkley Rep cast and available on Amazon and iTunes.

Review - Ragtime Revival on Broadway

What exactly is a "modern classic"? I mean, it's a contradiction in terms, right? An oxymoron if ever there was one. People who use this phrase tend to be either morons themselves or marketers, the latter of whom seem forever bent on destroying the English language, or at the very least disregarding its every tenet.

And yet, it's the phrase that springs to mind when I think of Ragtime. I guess by "modern classic" I mean that the show is so strong, so powerful, so seemingly timeless that it appears destined to enter the upper pantheon of musical theater. So although Ragtime is not technically a classic, I feel confident that, in time, it will be.

Which is why I was thrilled to hear that the well-received recent production of Ragtime at Kennedy Center would be moving to Broadway's Neil Simon Theater. The show was famously overproduced in its original incarnation, which forced the show to close prematurely, at least in the estimation of its legion admirers.

I saw the current Broadway production very early in previews, the third performance, in fact. And while all of the elements seemed essentially in place, and the performances were solid, the show seemed to be missing an emotional center. The proceedings were thoroughly professional, to be sure, but the overall effect was often flat and bloodless, especially during the sequences with Coalhouse (Quentin Earl Darrington) and Sarah (Stephanie Umoh). It's possible that, in the weeks since I saw Ragtime, the production has coalesced into the affecting amalgam it deserves to be, but I've heard conflicting accounts: some people have said that the production is nothing less than astonishing, while others have repeated my hesitation about the show not quite gelling. 

To be sure, this is a far more streamlined production than the original. The glorious score by Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens has been cut down a bit, but that only seems to have made the show stronger. "Crime of the Century" is shortened considerably, and the tag for "He Wanted to Say" is gone, neither of which really affects the impact of either scene. The score still features a few too many stirring anthems that end with re-e-e-eally lo-o-o-ong no-o-o-o-o-otes, but in truth, each seems to serve its individual function. And there are still some numbers of questionable significance, including "What a Game" and "Atlantic City." But nobody else writes opening numbers like Flaherty and Ahrens: within the first few minutes of each of their shows, you know exactly what the rest of the evening will hold in store, and Ragtime is fortunately no exception.

As for the book, I used to think that all the historical characters (Henry Ford, Harry Houdini, J.P. Morgan, Evelyn Nesbitt, etc.) weighed the show down, although there's little question that both Emma Goldman and Booker T. Washington, in particular, are crucial to the plot. But in the current production, director Marcia Milgrom Dodge and librettist Terrence McNally seem to have trimmed some of the context and focused more on the main characters. And the skeletal scenic design by Derek McLane provides a far greater fluidity to this production, removing much of the literalism that made the original bloated and slow.

Comparisons are odious, of course, and it's really not fair to compare any of the talented performers here to their counterparts in the original cast. Fortunately, the current cast members seem to more than hold their own. Particularly compelling is Ron Bohmer as Father, a rather difficult part to make three-dimensional and sympathetic, but Bohmer manages to do both quite handily. Another tough part is Younger Brother, which in the wrong hands can simply fade into the background. But the wonderful Bobby Steggert brings a fiery vibrancy to the role, and is certainly in no danger of blending in, and thankfully so. 

For me, the two most compelling characters in Ragtime have always been Tateh and Mother, and one of the chief delights of this production is watching Robert Petkoff and Christiane Noll embody these roles so thoroughly. It's gratifying to see Noll finally have some decent material to work with, after seeing her suffer through Jekyll & Hyde on Broadway and Frankenstein off. Her "Back to Before" was a knockout, full of honest emotional choices. And both Petkoff and Noll brought a charming simplicity and palpable subtext to "Our Children," a song that features a brilliant use of dramatic irony: the characters are talking about their kids, but what we're really sensing is the emotional connection that's growing between these two people. Simple, stunning moments like this are why I love musical theater. 

Based on my abiding love for Ragtime, I'm hoping to catch this production again, in the hope of seeing the show develop the solid emotional core that it needs, and settle in for the long and healthy run that it deserves.

Boston Theater - A 2009-2010 Season Preview

 
[Dear Reader: What follows is an article that I wrote for artscope, a local arts magazine here in Boston. It's a preview of some Boston-area productions that I'm looking forward to seeing, and it runs in the current issue of artscope. I reprint it here, with the kind permission of the folks at artscope, and encourage you to read the rest of the issue online, or by picking up an issue at a newsstand and reading it the old-fashioned way. --CC]

Forgive me, reader, if I tend to focus on musicals: I willingly accede that there’s a vast array of interesting theater out there to behold, it’s just that I personally don’t happen to be much interested in a show if it doesn’t include lyrics and a musical score. I could blame it on my current gig as a teacher of musical theater at the Boston Conservatory of Music, but the truth is, I’ve suffered from musical myopia my entire life. That said, there are some genuinely interesting, if not downright compelling, musical offerings coming from local Boston theater companies this season.

My personal favorite is Adding Machine, which is receiving its Boston premier from the Speakeasy Stage in March 2010. Based on the seminal Elmer Rice play, Adding Machine is an uncompromising work that relates the story of one Mr. Zero, who after 25 years of service at his menial job, is replace by the titular adding machine. The ramifications of this act, as well as Mr. Zero’s desperate response to it, take the viewer on a stylized trip through the afterlife, confounding expectations at every turn. What starts out as a paean to the faceless underdog becomes nothing less than a call to action on the part of drones everywhere. Certainly not to everyone’s taste, Adding Machine is nonetheless one of the best musicals to emerge in decades.

Also very intriguing is the Huntington Theater’s upcoming holiday production A Civil War Christmas. Not content to offer yet another production of A Christmas Carol, the Huntington has instead chosen to stage an original work, albeit with a score consisting of holiday standards. What makes this work so intriguing is its author: Pulitzer-Prize-winning playwright Paula Vogel (How I Learned to Drive), whose presence single-handedly garners the production must-see status. As the play’s title implies, the production is set during the 1800s, and incorporates a variety of stories, including those of Abraham and Mary Todd Lincoln, an escaped slave, and a rebel soldier. The show runs through December 13th at the Huntington’s main-stage theater.

In the quasi-revival department, we have Hot Mikado from the New Repertory Theatre in Watertown. The folks at the New Rep have long established themselves as a major local theatrical force, but it’s only been relatively recently that they’ve really made a name for themselves in musicals, through acclaimed local productions of such shows as Ragtime and Dessa Rose. The idea of updating the Gilbert and Sullivan comic opera certainly isn’t new: in 1939 there were two jazzed-up versions of The Mikado (called Swing Mikado and Hot Mikado) playing across the street from each other on Broadway. The New Rep version is a more recent adaptation by playwright David H. Bell, one that has played London a number of times and seen a number of additional international productions as well. Hot Mikado runs at the New Rep in May 2010.

I must admit that there is one non-musical that is definitely on my local radar: the national tour of Tracy Letts’ Tony- and Pulitzer-Prize-winning play August: Osage County. To call the Weston family of Letts’s play merely dysfunctional would be a gross understatement. The laundry list of scandal that plagues the Westons would put any daytime drama to shame. And yet Letts’s play, while tragic, is also howlingly funny. The tour cast is led by the brilliant Estelle Parsons, who brings more than 50 years of stage experience to what may well be her finest performance yet. August: Osage County plays Boston’s Colonial Theater in May 2010.

 – Christopher Caggiano  

Memphis at the Shubert Theater

In 1992, a bold new musical came to Broadway, a daring show with a lot more on its mind than mere diversion. That show was Jelly's Last Jam, and in addition to boasting an uncompromising performance from its leading man, the late Gregory Hines, the show also took a hard, innovative look at the self-loathing, internalized racism of jazz musician and composer Jelly Roll Morton. Alas, director and librettist George C. Wolfe was only able to sustain the magic of Jelly's Last Jam for the first half, after which the show ran out of steam, unable to sustain the same sense of electricity and surprise. 

A very similar dichotomy dogs the ambitious, entertaining, but ultimately flawed new musical Memphis, which opened last night at the Shubert Theater in New York. A major caveat: I saw the second preview of the show, which began Broadway performances in late September. I'm sort of confused as to why I was invited to see the show so early in previews. What's even stranger, the press folk said there was an embargo on publishing any reviews until the show actually opened. Which means nearly a month has passed since I saw the show. Oh, well. Go know, right? It's entirely possible that the production team has made significant changes to the show since then.

Similar to Jelly's Last Jam, Memphis has a killer first act. As I sat watching the show, I kept thinking, "Wow, this is not your typical musical." But a few minutes into the second act, my tune had changed to, "Oh, this really is your typical musical." Which is a shame, because so much of what the creators do in Memphis is solid and ambitious. The book by Joe DiPietro (I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change, All Shook Up) centers around an interracial romance coinciding with the birth of rock and roll in the 1950s. Director Christopher Ashley (Xanadu) and choreographer Sergio Trujillo (Jersey Boys) have taken DiPietro's story and created what is, for a time, a nearly seamless fusion of compelling story and cinematic staging. The show invites you in from the very first number, imbuing the proceedings with clever staging touches and a terrific sense of forward motion.

The original score by David Bryan (of Bon Jovi fame), with DiPietro and Bryan sharing duty on the lyrics, features an interesting mix of technically diegetic numbers (i.e. songs in which the characters are aware that they are actually singing, as opposed to singing songs in character) that nonetheless propel the plot and reveal character. The songs aren't especially memorable, at least to my ear, but they more than serve their purpose within the context of the show.

Director Ashley has coaxed strong and compelling performances from his talented cast, particularly Chad Kimball (Into the Woods, Lennon, Good Vibrations) as the white DJ, and Montego Glover (The Color Purple) as his black protege and love interest. Kimball and Glover, in addition to being kick-ass singers, also bring great verisimilitude to their performances, rendering credible the sense of both apprehension and attraction that these character feel toward each other.

As I said, I saw a very early preview of Memphis. I truly hope that the production staff were able to pull the show into better shape during the month of preview performances. When I saw the show, the second act needed trimming by about 15 to 20 minutes, mostly in the form of an enervating and derivative epilogue, which seemed borrowed directly from Dreamgirls. I genuinely look forward to seeing the show again, to see if the final product came closer to the promise of that dynamite first act.

The Donkey Show - Welcome to the New A.R.T.

Regular readers will likely recall my recent interview with Diane Paulus, the new artistic director of the American Repertory Theater, as well as the director of the current Broadway revival of Hair. In that interview, I was struck by Paulus's impulses to expand the boundaries of theater, to empower theater audiences, and to bring the venerable-but-staid A.R.T. into a new phase of theatrical exploration.

The Donkey Show certainly accomplishes all three of those admirable goals, although apparently not everyone is pleased with that fact. In tracking down the artwork that accompanies this post, I came across a number of dismissive reviews of the show on ArtsBoston. It seems that some people consider The Donkey Show to be a cheap marketing ploy, an attempt to lure in crowds with promises of licentiousness. Well, what's wrong with marketing? Furthermore, what's wrong with licentiousness, or at least the portrayal of same? Paulus was brought in to shake things up, and that's exactly what she's done.

The Donkey Show certainly won't be to everyone's taste, but it's not titillation for its own sake. It's a rather thorough re-imagining of A Midsummer Night's Dream, with the action moved from Shakespeare's sylvan forest to a 1970's-era disco. You don't need to be familiar with the original play to enjoy the show here, but it couldn't hurt to give Wikipedia a look-see before you embark across the Charles. It will make certain production devices a lot more clear and more enjoyable in the process.

The production begins with 30 to 40 minutes of good, old-fashioned disco dancing, with the cast mingling among the crowd on the dance floor. The action emerges almost imperceptibly from the harmless bacchanal. Most of the main characters in the show involve double casting, and part of the infectious fun of the show is identifying who is playing whom. I have to admit, when all was revealed at the end, I found myself a bit surprised at who was beneath which disguise.

The show's staging takes full advantage of the auditorium at the A.R.T.'s new Zero Arrow Theater (renamed Club Oberon for the run of the show). The show isn't so much in-the-round as all-around, with the action weaving through the dance-floor crowd, ascending and descending various staircases, hanging from the rafters, etc. In fact, the least utilized space is the actual stage. All this creates an atmospheric, experiential, fourth-wall-be-damned kind of vibe that invites full audience engagement.  (Don't worry: the cast doesn't force anyone to participate. If you like, you can purchase a a seat at one of the booths or tables that overlook the dance floor.)

I, for one, am greatly looking forward to the remainder of Paulus's current season, which includes Sleep No More, another experiential theatrical event, which is based on on Macbeth, and Best of Both Worlds, a gospel-infused celebration of The Winter's Tale. 

No this isn't the old A.R.T. And hoo-frickin'-ray for that.

Diane Paulus and the Human Brain

Sorry for my extended absence from the blogosphere. This week has been a bit of a perfect storm. It's the first week of school at the Boston Conservatory, and I just started teaching a new course on the neuropsychology of music.

Seriously. This may surprise some of my readers, but I actually have a degree in psychology. Despite the hyperbolic title of my blog, there has been the occasional thought that has entered my head that wasn't in some way connected to music theater. Emphasis on "occasional."

The course is essentially about the way that the brain processes music. We start off with some gross anatomy (hence, the Human Brain Coloring Book image to the left), then segue into discussion of brain pathologies and imaging studies, and how they illuminate the neural pathways involved in experiencing and creating music. One of the texts in the course is Oliver Sacks' marvelous book Musicophilia, which features a series of compelling and often heartbreaking case studies of people with a variety of brain malfunctions, from dementia to stroke to Williams syndrome, and the amazing ways that music can either bring relief or torment to people with these conditions. I can't recommend the book highly enough.

But, anyway, back to musical theater. I did want to bring my readers' attention to the artscope article that I wrote about Diane Paulus, the new artistic director at the American Repertory Theater, and the director of the current hit Broadway revival of Hair. I posted outtakes from the interview here a few weeks back, as well as a preview of the A.R.T.'s upcoming season. The article just came out in the September/October issue of artscope, but it isn't available online yet, so here's a PDF of the article:

Download Artscope 22_PDF_Caggiano. 

I'll be attending a press performance of The Donkey Show tomorrow night. Look for my review here sometime early next week. And after that, I promise I'll find something to post about besides Paulus and the A.R.T. That is, until I go to see Sleep No More and Best of Both Worlds.

Little Johnny Jones - A Little Bit Racist

Starting this semester, I've added staged readings to my musical-theater history course at the Boston Conservatory. The idea is to give the students a chance to experience some obscure but historically significant shows, works that they would otherwise be unlikely to have a chance to see or appear in. This semester, we're doing Little Johnny Jones, which was the show that put George M. Cohan on the map. Next semester, I'm looking into doing one of the "Princess" shows, perhaps Oh, Boy! or Very Good Eddie.

Initially, I was hoping to perform the original script and score to Little Johnny Jones. My first difficulty: they were rather challenging to track down, but I eventually found the libretto through the good folks at Goodspeed Opera House. As of yet, I've only been able to locate fragments of the original score. But the hunt for the score proved moot when I read the original book to Little Johnny Jones, which was creaky to the point of being virtually unplayable.

History books often point to the aforementioned Princess shows as the start of the musical-theater integration process. As significant as those shows are, they came about a decade after the first Cohan shows. Prior to Cohan, most early American musical comedies were fragmented and diffuse. The songs and dances usually had little or nothing to do with the plot of the show, and were often changed to suit popular tastes and new performers. Cohan brought a bit more cohesion to the American musical, with songs and dances that were at least marginally related to the story. But that doesn't mean the shows were any good, at least by modern standards.

But there was another challenge to presenting the original show: racism. I had always read that Cohan shows were patriotic to the point of jingoism, and Little Johnny Jones certainly reflects that nationalistic bent, with foreigners portrayed in a rather unflattering light. But the original show also presents some challenging racial stereotypes, mostly with respect to the Chinese and Asian Americans. There's even a song in the second act called "March of the Frisco Chinks."

I've always taught my students that shows should be considered in their historical context. The very first word to Show Boat is the N-word, and my contention is that it should remain so, although many modern productions change the lyric to "colored folk work on the Mississippi" or "Here we all work on the Mississippi." The folks at the BoCo came across this conundrum last year when we presented a concert version of Show Boat, prompting a good deal of discussion and controversy. Eventually we went with "colored folk," a choice that I disagree with, but given the strength of feeling from our African American students, it may have been the wisest political move at the time.

As for Little Johnny Jones, fortunately there's a revised version, which was originally presented at the Goodspeed, and then transferred to Broadway. The show starred Donny Osmond as Johnny (opposite the BoCo's own Maureen Brennan in the ingenue role), and only lasted one performance. In his New York Times review, Frank Rich slammed Alfred Uhry's reworked book as a "synthetic hodgepodge," while acknowledging that the original would probably have been "just as unworkable." 

The new book does indeed have its problems, but I have decided to use it rather than the original for a number of reasons. First, I can't find the complete original score. (Anyone?) Second, Uhry's adaptation, while workaday, is a considerable improvement. And a distant third is the racism. The new book still has Chinese stereotypes, but Uhry makes some changes that make it all a bit more palatable. Again, the goal is to expose students to historically significant shows. And, interestingly enough, the new book does indeed reflect the imperfect integration of shows at that time, and it will be considerably more pleasant for the audience to sit through. The historian in me hates to compromise, but the showman in me wants to put on an enjoyable, and educational, show.

iSondheim with Barbara Cook?

We've been hearing off and on about a new revue of Stephen Sondheim's work with the unbearably precious name iSondheim. The show is being compiled and directed by James Lapine, longtime Sondheim collaborator.

The show was originally supposed to run at Atlanta's Alliance Theater this past April and May, but that production was canceled because of the projected production costs and the weak economy. As the awful title implies, iSondheim was to have included a great deal of technology -- multimedia, video, projections, etc. -- featuring interviews with Sondheim himself, intermingled with live performances of songs from Sondheim's career. But the production requirements apparently made the show untenable for a regional, non-profit run in the middle of a recession. 

More recently, there's been chatter on the Rialto about a New York run for iSondheim, under the auspices of the Roundabout Theater, and starring none other than the glorious Barbara Cook, who would be making her first appearance in a non-concert, non-benefit Broadway show in nearly forty frickin' years. The show would also feature two additional singers, yet to be cast. The wonderful Liz Callaway was supposed to have starred in the Alliance run. Wouldn't it be great to see her treading the boards again? Perhaps with her equally marvelous sister, Ann Hampton Callaway?

However, iSondheim seems to have hit a bit of a snag, according to Michael Riedel's column today in the New York Post. Apparently, Mr. Sondheim himself isn't happy with the revenue percentage that the Roundabout wants from any future touring company of the show. Something tells me Steve is going to get his way; it would seem that the Roundabout needs this show -- financially and artistically -- a lot more than Sondheim needs the Roundabout. The good news is that the iSondheim name, according to Riedel, is very likely to change. He mentions that both Virtual Sondheim and Sondheim on Sondheim have been under consideration as replacement titles, although neither seems to be much an improvement. 

Here's hoping that the differing parties iron out their differences so that we can all get to see both Stephen Sondheim and Barbara Cook back on Broadway where they belong.

Shakespeare Exploded - The A.R.T. Does Musicals (Sort of)

I must confess that I never really paid all that much attention to the American Repertory Theater, and not simply because the organization really didn't do all that many musicals. There was just something about the show choices that never really appealed to me. It was always Henry IV, Part II or a revival of The King Stag. I do have to say that, whenever I did make it across the Charles to the Loeb Drama Center, I was almost invariably impressed by what I saw. The productions were usually innovative and interesting, and featured extremely talented performers.

But the A.R.T. just wasn't generating a lot of excitement in the Boston area, at least not among my circle of theater cronies. And the A.R.T. rarely originated a production that moved to Broadway, as the Steppenwolf Theater in Chicago so frequently does. Not that this is necessarily the goal for a regional theater, but, rightly or wrongly, the A.R.T. was never really on my radar.

Diane Paulus has single-handedly changed that. Paulus recently shot to fame as the director of the current hit Broadway revival of Hair. (Read my review.) Shortly after I saw the Central Park production (read my review), I heard that Paulus would be taking over as A.R.T. artistic director. Suddenly, I became a bit more interested in what the A.R.T. was doing.

I recently interviewed Paulus for an article in artscope, a local arts magazine. That article comes out in September, and focuses on the A.R.T.'s upcoming season, as well as Paulus's vision for the future of the organization. I threw in a few questions about Hair, and recently posted that portion of my interview in these pages. 

But I did also want to give my readers a heads-up about three shows that the A.R.T. is doing this fall, all under the rubric of Shakespeare Exploded. First up is The Donkey Show, which takes the basic plot of A Midsummer Night's Dream and sets the action in a 1970s disco. I may be a tad biased here, as three of my Boston Conservatory students are in the cast. But there was something about the way Paulus described the show to me that was infectious, and has me eagerly anticipating the show. If the name sounds familiar, The Donkey Show ran for six years Off-Broadway. I had heard of the show, but never got around to seeing it in New York. The show runs at the A.R.T.'s Zero Arrow Theater (renamed Club Oberon for the run of the show) in Harvard Square from August 21st through January 2nd.

Next up is Sleep No More, an experiential theatrical event based on Macbeth, and told in the style of a Hitchcock thriller. The show was developed by noted British theater troupe Punchdrunk. The production takes place in a renovated school in Brookline, Mass., and guides the audience through four stories of the school, not unlike the ambulatory action in the 1980s Off-Broadway show Tamara. Sleep No More runs from October to January. Finally, there's Best of Both Worlds, which infuses The Winter's Tale with the sounds of gospel music and R&B. The show will also feature a rotating roster of choirs and choruses from the Boston community. This holiday-themed show will run at the Loeb Drama Center from November to January. 

It's not clear to me whether these productions are actual musicals per se, although they all seem to feature quite a bit of music, particularly The Donkey Show and Best of Both Worlds. But, hey, I'm open-minded, and I do make the occasional foray into non-musical theater. (Just to keep up appearances, you know.) But, musicals or not, each of these three productions seems fascinating in its own way, and the Shakespeare Exploded festival makes me quite eager and hopeful to see what the remainder of Paulus's tenure at the A.R.T. will bring.

Interview - Diane Paulus on Hair

I recently had a chance to speak with the delightful Diane Paulus, whom most of you probably know as the talented director of the current hit Broadway revival of Hair. Well, Paulus also recently took over as the artistic director of the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, Mass., and I was interviewing her for an article that I was writing for artscope a local arts magazine.

That article is about the A.R.T.'s upcoming season, and Paulus's plans to shake up that 30-year-old institution, but I couldn't resist throwing in a few questions about Hair. The article comes out in September, but here are some musings from Paulus that didn't make it into the article.

EIKILFM: I have to say that you completely changed my opinion about Hair. I always thought it was this great score hampered by an overly fragmented libretto.

PAULUS: Well, we really did a lot of work on the book. We streamlined and focused it. During the Hair rehearsal process, I had this deep partnership with James Rado. [Rado was one of the original authors of Hair. His writing partner, Gerome Ragni, died in 1991.] I never talk about it as a revival, but as a re-imagining of the original work. Jim and I were joined at the hip, working on a way to craft a new version of the book. We built a very trusting relationship, and there was this incredible combination of Jim, who was there and lived it, and created the show, and me, coming in with a deep respect for the show, but also a fresh eye. Jim had every bit of information about the show, from when it was created to how it's been done for the past forty years.

EIKILFM: What's your personal connection to the show?

PAULUS: Well, I was born in 1966, so I wasn't really old enough to remember the 1960s. I always like to say that I missed my decade, because I really wish I had lived through the '60s. But I guess now I have the benefit of not having seen the original show and getting hung up in my head about it was supposed to be. When I got the call from the Public Theater, I had never seen a production of Hair or even read the script, just the liner notes from the album. So when I started to work on the show, I had this deep love of that wonderful music, and I had my fantasy about how the production would sound and what it would feel like, and how to revive the '60s from the inside out.

EIKILFM: The cast of Hair really seems like this cohesive unit. How did you achieve that tribal feel in rehearsal?

PAULUS: It actually started one step before the rehearsal process with casting. When I was asked to do the original concert version in 2007, I knew that we needed the right people, people who were going to invest themselves in the show not as actors but as human beings, fully relating to the issues. Of course, we needed people with great voices -- and great hair! --  but we really needed to know where their hearts and minds were. And that led to the rehearsal process, where it wasn't just a show but a cause, a mission, a communication that matters. And they took that process very seriously. And now, two years later, 23 of those original 26 people are still with the show. At first, a lot of them were daunted. They said, "Our generation isn't like this." But that was in 2007, pre-Obama, and I think now young people have realized that they can create change, and they're all like activists now. 

EIKILFM: For instance, the upcoming march on Washington.

PAULUS: That's right. We’re all going to Washington for a day. [Paulus refers to the National Equality March in support of gay-marriage rights. The producers of Hair have canceled the October 11th performance so that the cast can participate.] You can tell that the cast really take the show and its message seriously, and that's what people are responding to when they see the show. As we need to recast, there will be a weeding-out process as we try to find people who aren't just talented, but who also care passionately about the planet and gay rights, and other important issues. We just recast our first new Broadway cast member, and she’s all of like 20 something, and she said to me, "I am so honored to be part of this. It means so much to me to be a part of a show that I can really engage myself in." When you think about it, there really aren't that many opportunities like this, so I think we'll be able to find more people like her out there.

EIKILFM: What have you noticed about the audience response to Hair?

PAULUS: What makes me happier than anything is to see the young people, coming to Broadway and seeing and reacting to the show as if it were written yesterday. Because Hair really isn't a period piece. It's a show that says just as much about today as it does about the '60s. It says, "This is American history, but this is also what it means to be alive and a young person, even today." So you have these young people coming to the show, and they're owning it, and I just love that. 

EIKILFM: Hair features a lot of audience involvement, and seems to invite the audience to participate, sing along, even dance in the aisles. A number of recent newspaper articles in both New York and London have lamented the deterioration of theater behavior. It sounds as though you might have a different take on that.

PAULUS: Well, I think there are different kinds of theater. Historically, theater hasn't always been this quiet, sit-down affair. It certainly wasn't in Shakespeare's day. Theater is like sports, you have golf and tennis over here, and the whole audience gets quiet, and you don’t make a sound. At the other end, you have ice hockey and everybody's screaming. But we never mix up golf and hockey. I honestly believe there’s a spectrum, even in theater. Are you going to talk at a Peter Brook production of Hamlet? Or The Seagull? Of course not. You have certain types of behavior that work for different kinds of theater. But my gripe is that people tend to say, "Well, that’s the way theater is. You have to be quiet." Everything doesn't necessarily have to be like The Seagull. You can have Hair or The Donkey Show. [Paulus's first production at the A.R.T. is a re-staging of her New York hit, The Donkey Show, a raucous retelling of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream set in a 1970s disco club.] I think we have the possibility of letting other sorts of behavior be released, and enlivening what we think theater is and what it can do. 

EIKILFM: Hair recently recouped its initial investment. That must be gratifying, given the difficulty the show had actually making it to Broadway.

PAULUS: I love that those producers [Jeffrey Richards and Jerry Frankel] who stepped forward and helped us make it, that they got their money back, and that means that they'll take that risk again.

Catch Me If You Can and First Wives Club in Tryouts

Two rather high-profile musicals are currently in the middle of their out-of-town tryout runs. First, there's Catch Me If You Can, which is in previews at Seattle's 5th Avenue Theater. (The show's opening was tragically delayed by the murder of Norbert Leo Butz's sister Teresa. I'm sure all of our thoughts are with Norbert during this terrible time.) Quite a bit further south, we have The First Wives Club at the Old Globe Theater in San Diego.

Variety recently ran a piece talking about the pros and cons of billing a tryout production as "Broadway-bound," citing both Catch and First Wives as examples. The producers of First Wives Club are of the opinion that the "Broadway-bound" moniker gives a boost to ticket sales, and in fact the show has extended its San Diego run until the end of August. However, the folks involved with Catch Me If You Can have been very careful to call the Seattle run a "world premier," possibly to hedge their bets in case the show needs work.

Well, according to Michael Riedel of the New York Post, Catch Me If You Can would seem more likely to be bound for Broadway, whereas First Wives Club could well be dead in the water. The critical response to First Wives was, in Riedel's words, "harsh," and even worse was the word of mouth among potential investors. The show is pleasing the California crowds, but the producers are scrambling to fund a move to New York.

Meanwhile, the advance word on Catch is relatively positive, although the show is apparently in need of some polish. Catch is scheduled to open tonight (8/6/09), and I've found no indication that the delayed previews have changed this, so the reviews will likely appear tomorrow.

Here's a promotional clip from the show, featuring Aaron Tveit (in the Leonardo DiCaprio role) performing the number "Live in Living Color." Um...gee, I hope the show is better than that clip. Much better. The song itself is unimpressive, with a decent tune but generic lyrics that tell me nothing about this character. And Jerry Mitchell's choreography here is atrocious, like something from a bad community production. Perhaps it's supposed to be bad, kind of like the garish costumes? Who knows. Yeah, it's not entirely fair to judge the show solely from this clip, but there's not much here that impresses me.

Then again, if I had only seen one number from Hairspray -- say, one of the forgettable numbers, like "It Takes Two" or "Without Love" -- I probably wouldn't have been all that stoked either. But the way "Live in Living Color" was shot would seem to indicate that this clip was meant for press distribution, so this was the number that someone somewhere chose to best represent the show. But there's no questioning the talent of the team behind Catch Me If You Can. (Book: Terrence McNally, Music and lyrics: Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman, Direction: Jack O'Brien.) Count these gentlemen out at your peril. So I remain hopeful that they'll be able to pull the show into shape before its likely Broadway bow.

Tales of the City - The Musical

In the past, I've run into trouble when my passions have intersected. Obviously, I'm obsessed with musical theater, but I do have a few other overriding interests in life. I'm a complete Monty Python fanatic, for instance, and was initially thrilled to hear about Spamalot, only to be significantly disappointed in the actual quality of the show.

So, it was with a measured sense of caution that I approached The Eugene O'Neill Theater Center in Waterford, Conn. this past Saturday for a staged reading of the musical version of Tales of the City. I've been an ardent fan of Armistead Maupin's series of books back from the early '80s, and have pored through them numerous times since then. As with any musical from a beloved source, the creators of the Tales musical have quite a formidable task ahead of them.

Fortunately, those creators are themselves formidable in their own right, including Tony-winning librettist Jeff Whitty and director Jason Moore, both Avenue Q alums. The score is by some musical-theater newcomers: Scissor Sisters front man Jake Shears and keyboardist John Garden. In addition, the reading took place under the auspices of the National Musical Theater Conference which has seen quite a few notable shows emerge from its workshop process, including Nine, Violet, In the Heights, The Wild Party (Lippa), The Bubbly Black Girl Sheds Her Chameleon Skin, [title of show], The Story of My Life, and the aforementioned Avenue Q.

Obviously, Tales the musical is still under development, but I found much to enjoy and appreciate in the O'Neill's admittedly low-key production. The show's key asset thus far is Whitty's nimble book, which ably compresses the Tales story and cleverly intermingles its sprawling cast of characters. Whitty and director Moore also display sharp instincts for character parallels and song placement.

Would that the songs themselves were worthy of the setup that Whitty's book provides. So far, they're not, although there are some really terrific pieces in the second act. On the whole, there are currently too many bland, undifferentiated ballads, including "Don't Rush the Seasons," between Anna Madrigal (played here by the marvelous Candy Buckey) and Mona (the spitfire Mary Birdsong). The uptempo numbers are a bit more distinct and memorable, including "Welcome Home," a number for the society sissies that Michael (Christopher J. Hanke) and Jon (Josh Breckenridge) encounter at a party, as well as the act one finale, in which the characters exhort Mary Ann not to go back to Cleveland.

Most of the show comes from the first Tales book, but there are a few elements from the second book, More Tales of the City, including the pivotal character Mother Mucca (who gets the show-stoppingly profane number "Ride 'Em Hard," performed here with great gusto by Kristine Zbornik), as well as Michael's iconic "Letter to Mama," which receives a stirring rendition here from Chris Hanke.

With such a large number of important characters to flesh out, it seems inevitable that at this point in the show's development there would be some holes. In particular need of beefing up are Michael and Brian Hawkins (played here by my old friend Steve Kazee, showing a great deal more charisma and heart than in certain recent outings). This is especially true in the second act, which spends a bit too much time on the whole Norman Neal Williams plot. (Does NNW really need a song?) But here's the challenge that lies before Whitty, Moore, and their colleagues: the show is already running at about three hours. How can they cut the show down but solidify the story at the same time? Well, there are at least three or four boring ballads that could go: that would save at least 15 minutes right there.

But, from where I sit, the challenge of getting the show down to a manageable length while creating stronger characterizations is eminently surmountable. I'm not so sure about the score. It's not clear that Shears and Garden are really up to the task. It makes me wish that Moore and Whitty had gone with composer/lyricists with a bit more MT experience. Of course, it's quite possible that the barn at the O'Neill wasn't the ideal place to experience the score; although I was in the second row, I found myself straining at times to understand the lyrics because of the acoustics.

On the whole, Tales of the City shows great promise, and is already a fitting tribute to its beloved source material. As the show evolves, it would be great if it could hold on to as many members as possible of the O'Neill cast, which comprised an exceptional roster of pros, including the above-named performers as well as Betsy Wolfe (Mary Ann Singleton), Jeffrey Carlson (Beauchamp Day), and Jose Llana (various parts). Whatever the future of the show, rest assured that I'll be there whenever I can to witness and document its development.

The Most Produced High School Musicals 2008

I'm always fascinated by the shows that live on after Broadway. And by live on, I mean catch on in regional and community productions. Of course, high school shows are a subset unto themselves. Some shows, no matter how artistically strong or financially successful, just won't catch on in high schools. The Producers will likely fall into this category; the subject matter, and all that. And then there are other shows that catch on in schools despite their lack of quality: Footloose and Fame come to mind.

Each year, the Educational Theater Association surveys high schools around the the country asking them what plays and musicals they've performed. (But we only care about the musicals, right, dear reader? For the full list, see here. For my take on last year's list, see here.) This year, 830 schools responded, and here are the results:

1. Beauty and the Beast
2. Little Shop of Horrors
3. Guys and Dolls
4. (tie) Seussical
4. (tie) Thoroughly Modern Millie
6. (tie) Bye Bye Birdie
6. (tie) Into the Woods
8. (tie) High School Musical
8. (tie) Once Upon a Mattress

The thing that struck me was that four of these shows have had recent, financially under-performing revivals: Guys and Dolls, Little Shop of Horrors, Once Upon a Mattress, and Into the Woods. Could it be that a major factor in the lack of success for these revivals is that everyone has already seen or done these shows again and again? I mean, why pay $100+ for something you could see at your local senior high? Of course, one data point in the other direction is the current smash-hit revival of West Side Story. That show is done all over the place, and that doesn't seem to be stopping people from shelling out an average of $100 at the Palace.

Which brings me to Bye Bye Birdie, which the Roundabout will be mounting in the fall. Pro: This will be the show's first-ever Broadway revival. Con: Frickin' everybody has done this show. Pro: Talented director/choreographer Robert Longbottom is due for a hit. Con: The book is creaky as hell. Pro: The score is charming, with lots of memorable tunes. Con: The book is creaky as hell. Pro: They've amassed a cast replete with Hollywood beauties (Gina Gershon, John Stamos) and Broadway stalwarts (Bill Irwin, Jayne Houdyshell, Dee Hoty). Con: The book...you get the idea. 

The Roundabout will run Birdie at the newly renovated Henry Miller, rather than the Studio 54, which is where they typically house their musicals. Perhaps this is because they've realized the Studio 54 is a cold, heartless barn of a venue, and that Birdie will do much better in a warmer, more intimate space. It could also be that they have high hopes for Birdie, and plan on running it for a while, while using the 54 for their rotating slate of shows.

Another indication that the Roundabout has grand plans for Birdie is the show's recently announced top ticket price of $136.50, which Roundabout managing director Harold Wolpert defends by pointing out that subscribers comprise half of the Roundabout's ticket sales, and pay about half the face value on the ticket. Well, all I can say is, after the Roundabout's lackluster 2008-2009 season (cf. Pal Joey, The Philanthropist, A Man for All Seasons, Waiting for Godot) you'd think that they'd be lowering their ticket prices. I'll definitely be seeing Bye Bye Birdie, but I'll have to take the rest of their 2009-2010 season on a case-by-case basis.

Pirates at Boston's Huntington Theatre

I have a very soft spot in my heart for The Pirates of Penzance, the comic opera by Gilbert and Sullivan. I was deeply enamored of the 1983 movie version, which was a filmed version of the 1981 Broadway revival. And one of my favorite stage roles ever was the Pirate King, which I played at a certain community theater on the south shore of Boston. (The particular...ahem...company will remain nameless, but I will say that the one stage direction I received from the "directors" was to watch the video.)

So I was intrigued when I heard that Boston's Huntington Theatre Company would be presenting the Gordon Greenberg (director and co-conceiver) and Nell Benjamin (co-conceiver) version of The Pirates of Penzance, entitled Pirates! (Or, Gilbert and Sullivan Plunder'd). The show had an apparently successful run at New Jersey's Paper Mill Playhouse in 2007, prompting the Huntington to add the production to its current season. I was especially interested in seeing the show when I heard that Broadway performers Steve Kazee (110 in the Shade, To Be or Not to Be) and Cady Huffman (Tony winner for The Producers) would be featured in the show, as the Pirate King and Ruth, respectively.

Benjamin and Greenberg have reworked the show considerably, moving the setting to the Caribbean (get it?), cutting down a decent portion of the score, throwing in some 7/8 time signatures, and rewriting a good 80% of the book. They've attempted to make the show bawdier (note decolletage in poster above), looser, and more freewheeling. But when you tamper with a classic, you'd better have a really good reason, not to mention the chops to fulfill your artistic vision for the piece. Benjamin and Greenberg would seem to have neither, at least based on the show in its current form.

Despite some engaging performances -- including those of Anderson Davis as Frederic, Farah Alvin as Mabel, and Ed Dixon as the Major General -- Pirates is a lackluster affair. The show features a good deal of imaginative and energetic staging from choreographer Denis Jones, but very little that's actually amusing. Greenberg and Benjamin have merely produced a serviceable substitution for the Gilbert and Sullivan original, not an improvement. My overall impression while watching this admittedly professional, if uninspired, production was "Why?"

As for the Broadway ringers, it's beginning to look as though Steve Kazee's charisma-deprived performance as Starbuck opposite Audra MacDonald in the recent Broadway revival of 110 in the Shade wasn't a fluke. And Cady Huffman is surprisingly...you should pardon the expression...flat, despite her numerous talents and charms.

And yet, Pirates is reasonably entertaining, and certainly not a disaster or a waste of time on anyone's part. But, as my friend Ken said to me as we exited the theater, "Tomorrow, I'll probably forget I even saw this show." My feelings exactly.

Is Ragtime Headed Back to Broadway?

Perhaps you can go back to before.

Playbill.com is reporting that the current Kennedy Center revival of the magnificent Flaherty and Ahrens show Ragtime could be headed to Broadway. The DC production was very well received, and at last check was extended through May 17th.

A new Broadway engagement for the show would make up for an unfortunately abbreviated original New York run, thanks to poor producing on the part of Garth Drabinksy (who was recently convicted of fraud and forgery, and will likely serve jail time).

Of course, we know better than to count our chickens when it comes to Kennedy Center shows making the jump to NYC. Witness the recently rumored but ultimately aborted Broadway transfer of Mame, starring Christine Baranski.

The Kennedy Center production stars Ron Bohmer as Father, Quentin Earl Darrington as Coalhouse, Manoel Felciano as Tateh, Christiane Noll as Mother, Jennlee Shallow as Sarah, Bobby Steggert as Younger Brother, and Leigh Ann Larkin as Evelyn Nesbit. Marcia Milgrom Dodge directs and choreographs. If the show does make it to New York, I hope the develop a less dreary poster for it. (See below left.)

Ragtime has taken on a very healthy afterlife in regional theater, despite the challenge of finding sufficient numbers of African Americans to perform in the show. (African Americans have traditionally not been all that interested in performing in community theater, although thankfully that seems to be changing.) The show is exhibiting every sign of becoming a classic, thanks in part to its amazing score, but also Terrence McNally's intelligent -- if a bit bloated -- book.

Why "bloated"? Well, there are just a few too many supporting characters to keep track of. I mean, the presence of Henry Ford, Emma Goldman, and Booker T. Washington is understandable, as each serves a purpose in the plot. But Evelyn Nesbitt and Harry Houdini? They're interesting but unnecessary color. Don't get me wrong, I love the song "Crime of the Century." But if you took it out, the show would still work. Kind of like "The Miller's Son" in A Little Night Music. Great song, but it doesn't belong in the show. (IMHO)

OK, let the flames begin...

Next to Normal Vastly Improved, But Still Biased

I know that a lot of you have been waiting for my re-review of Next to Normal. As you may know, after I posted my review of the Off-Broadway production at the Second Stage Theater, librettist/lyricist Brian Yorkey contacted me in a series of emails that started out vitriolic but eventually took on a more collegial tone.

I had some problems with the Off-Broadway version, some having to do with the execution of the show, but mostly because of the apparent anti-psychiatry bias that the Next to Normal reflected, at least in my estimation. The show's plot involves the troubles of one family as it copes with the mother's bipolar disorder.

Well, now that Next to Normal has moved to the Booth Theater on Broadway, after an engagement at the Arena Stage, I felt honor bound to revisit the show, partly to see whether it had evolved as a show qua show, but also to see if the apparent bias remained. In short, Next to Normal has greatly improved in terms of quality musical theater. In fact, it's genuinely stirring, heart-breaking at times. But although Yorkey seems to have toned down the show's anti-psychiatry tone -- considerably in fact -- I still saw numerous examples of an admittedly far more subtle bias.

Yorkey, in collaboration with composer Tom Kitt and director Michael Greif, has succeeded in making the relationships among the characters more complex, the emotions less pat. The show exhibits far better exposition and character development. There's also less forced humor: the number in which the mother character, Diana, has a would-be comic manic episode in Costco is thankfully gone, replaced by a far more moving and effective sequence in which she manically makes dozens of sandwiches. Gone too is the questionable act I finale "Feeling Electric," in which Diana has a hallucinatory episode portraying her psychiatrist as a rock star during an ECT (electroconvulsive therapy) session.

As I said, I still perceive an anti-psychiatry message in the show. It's a lot more subtle, but, in a way, that makes it more insidious. There are numerous examples throughout the show that support my contention, for instance a song in which the cast satirically sings the names of various psychoactive drugs to a tune reminiscent of "My Favorite Things." In the song "I Miss the Mountains," the mother character romanticizes the highs and lows of bipolar disorder. But the truth is the "highs" are not refreshing, they're debilitating. And the "lows" are characterized not by wistful melancholy but by active self-loathing and destruction.

But the thing that really solidified the show's bias in my mind was the audience reaction. When Diana's psychiatrist suggests ECT as a treatment, I heard audible gasps from the people around me. When doctor explained that ECT isn't the nightmare people think it is, I heard a number of people snort and tsk. Many of them seemed to me more on the side of the son character in the show, who responds to the doctor's recommendation by exclaiming "It causes brain damage!" In Yorkey's defense, the son character seems to represent a personified version of her disorder. In other words, it's the disease talking. But whether Yorkey intends it or not, the show seems to reinforce the ill-informed prejudices that people have about mental illness and its treatment. 

The show's denouement still comes off as an endorsement of Diana's reckless decision to discontinue all forms of treatment. The scene in which Diana confronts her psychiatrist has a self-righteous tone that had the people around me audibly approving of her decision. "Give me pain," one character in the show says. "It's the price we pay to feel." Yes, pain is part of life, but what's wrong with taking advantage of the treatments available to ameliorate that pain? As the psychiatrist states in the show, "medicine may not be perfect, but it's all we have." There are certainly gray areas in this topic, but going it alone is a dangerous option to advocate.

All that said, I still think Next to Normal is an eminently worthy show, one that I encourage anyone who cares about the future of musical theater to see. There were quite a few times during the show when I was moved to tears, including during the numbers "He's Not Here" and "How Could I Ever Forget." The show received 11 Tony nominations this morning, and deservedly so. It's the most artistically ambitious of all the nominees for best musical. (The other nominees are Billy Elliot, Rock of Ages, and surprisingly Shrek, which beat out 9 to 5 for the fourth slot.) Will N2N stop the juggernaut that is Billy Elliot from scooping up every last award? We'll have to wait until June 7th to see.

Catch Me If You Can Set for Seattle

Ah, stardom is so fleeting. Now that the BGMC concerts are over, I no longer get to feel pretty, at least not in song form. But now I get to catch up on some blogging posts I've been meaning to write.

The long-gestating musical Catch Me If You Can finally seems to be coming to term. The show, based on the 2002 Stephen Spielberg movie of the same name, will have its world premiere in Seattle this coming summer.

The creative staff comprises many of the same people from Hairspray, including director Jack O'Brien (once he's finished with the apparently disastrous Impressionism), and choreographer Jerry Mitchell (back where he belongs after an arguably unfortunate stint as director for Legally Blonde). Also on board are Hairspray composer and lyricist Marc Shaiman and Scot Whitman. One new member of the creative staff is Terrence McNally on book. (Thomas Meehan and Mark O'Donnell were apparently too busy with Cry-Baby. An unfortunate choice, in retrospect.)

The cast boasts some of the best performers that Broadway has to offer, including Norbert Leo Butz in the Tom Hanks role, and Aaron Tveit in the Leonardo diCaprio role. The cast will also feature Kerry Butler, Linda Hart, and Tom Wopat. So, the production has all the feel of a Broadway-bound musical, although no official Broadway opening has been announced.

Memphis Musical Coming to Broadway in Fall

You gotta admire some people's optimism. Despite the fact that the only musicals that are staying open on Broadway right now seem to be the pre-branded hits and long-running blockbusters (and some of them are even struggling along themselves), there are still intrepid souls who dare to risk the move to Broadway.

Witness the long-aborning musical Memphis, which recently announced a planned move to Broadway in the fall of 2009 at a theater TBA. The show has had numerous tryout runs, including a world-premiere engagement at the North Shore Music Theater and most recently a run at Seattle's 5th Avenue Theater. Apparently the latter engagement went so well that the producers feel confident in shepherding the show to New York, despite an admittedly chilly economic climate. (Heck, there are recent weeks when even Wicked and Jersey Boys aren't selling out.)

Memphis sports a book by Joe DiPietro (I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change, All Shook Up). Thankfully, this is not a jukebox music, but rather one with an original score by Bon Jovi's David Bryan. DiPietro and Bryan share duty on the lyrics. The pair are also collaborating on the new musical version of The Toxic Avenger, which opens Off Broadway next month.

Director Christopher Ashley (Xanadu) and choreographer Sergio Trujillo (Jersey Boys) will repeat their roles for the show's Broadway bow. Casting has yet to be announced, but recent versions of the show have starred Chad Kimball (Into the Woods, Lennon, Good Vibrations) and Montego Glover (The Color Purple). 

Subtitled "The Birth of Rock and Roll," Memphis tells the fictionalized story of a young, white radio disc jockey growing up in Memphis in the '50s. He becomes an on-air champion of African-American music, and falls in love with a black female singer, with "dramatic consequences," according to press material. That certainly sounds a lot more interesting that the show's title, but then the similarly named Chicago certainly seems to have done well for itself.

The Story of My Life Will Close Sunday

I had heard rumors today that this announcement would be coming, but now it's official. The new Broadway musical The Story of My Life will close tomorrow, after five regular performances and 18 previews. The mixed-to-negative reviews apparently did nothing to improve attendance, which was hovering at about 40% during previews.

It's really a shame, because the show had much to recommend it. When I saw The Story of My Life at the Goodspeed's Norma Terris Theater, I found Brian Hill's book to be riddled with clichés, but I thought that Neil Bartram's score was strong. Very strong, in fact, something that none of the reviews really gave the show credit for. In my review, I pointed out the merits of the show, including two terrific performances by Malcolm Gets and Will Chase, but that I thought New York audiences and critics would eat the show alive.

Neil Bartram sent me an E-mail, thanking me for my kind words, but taking me to task for digging the show's grave prematurely. I wrote back, emphasizing that I was really quite impressed by his score, and that truly hoped that I was wrong, and that New York would embrace this earnest but sweet show. But something about the nature of the show, as well as the current economic climate, made it very hard for me to back off on my dire prediction.

Unfortunately, I proved to be right, and I take absolutely no pleasure in that fact. I can only hope that Bartram's wonderful score receives a recording, because this is really the sort of show that could catch on in regional productions. (Because no recording, no afterlife. That's just the way it works, folks.) The cast and production requirements are extremely modest (two actors, one set), and the sentiment of the show would work much better outside the cynical, critical, unforgiving Manhattan environment. Even if it doesn't, I greatly look forward to the future work of the very talented and promising team of Bartram and Hill.

Big River at Goodspeed

A few weeks back, I caught one of the final performances of Big River at the Goodspeed. I hadn't seen the show since its original Broadway run, and my overall impression was that this musical hasn't aged well. It has an engaging and moving story (props to Mark Twain), but the score is thoroughly generic, mostly unmemorable, and not well integrated into the story.

Big River has the dubious distinction of winning the Tony Award for best musical in a year (1985) when the competition was, well, crap. The other nominated shows were Grind, Quilters, and Leader of the Pack. Hardly an august or memorable bunch. I remember being quite impressed and entertained when I saw Big River at the Eugene O'Neill, but upon further inspection, there are significant flaws.

The main theme of my Boston Conservatory course is integration. One of the hallmarks of a quality show is when all the production elements serve a unified purpose. It often seems surprising in retrospect, but for a huge chunk of the history of musical theater, the songs in a show didn't always have very much to do with the plot. They were often interpolations from outside sources, and pretty much stopped the action of a show for the duration. Rodgers and Hammerstein changed all that, although there were significant steps toward integration before R&H. (cf. The "Princess" shows, Show Boat, George M. Cohan, etc.)

I like to tell my BoCo sudents that one sign that a show is integrated is if you can listen to the score and pretty much follow the plot of the show. And here's where Big River comes up short. With very few exceptions, it's virtually impossible to discern the plot from listening to Roger Miller's admittedly agreeable score. The opening number, "Do You Wanna Go to Heaven?," is really the only song in the show that actually tells you what's going on, and even then it's mostly the narration that sets the stage. Big River certainly has some beautiful songs ("River in the Rain") and some entertaining songs ("Muddy Water"), but you could remove all of the songs and the story would still make sense, another sign of missing integration.

The Goodspeed production featured some truly great performers, virtually all of Broadway caliber, including the remarkable Will Reynolds as Huck Finn. And Rob Ruggerio's direction was swift, efficient, and energetic. And I'm certainly glad to see more regional theater's producing Big River. It's a sign that there are more African Americans entering the world of musical theater. Even just a few years back, you'd be hard pressed to find regional productions of shows that are dependent on casting black performers, including Big River and Ragtime. But as more blacks enter the field (which, interestingly enough, coincides with a long-overdue infusion of popular idioms into musical theater scores), we're starting to see more productions of some worthy and often undervalued shows. But, IMHO, Big River isn't quite as worthy, and remains perhaps justifiably obscure.