Everything I Know I Learned from Musicals

Godspell Revival Sets Opening Date

The upcoming Broadway revival of Stephen Schwartz's Godspell will begin previews at the Ethel Barrymore Theater on September 29th (And what's the significance of that date, Ricky?), towards an October 23rd opening.

As previously announced, the show will feature Gavin Creel (Thoroughly Modern Millie, La Cage aux Folles) as Jesus and "American Idol" finalist Diana DeGarmo (Hairspray) as one of his followers.

Although it might be because I've done Godspell twice (hasn't everybody?), and seen it innumerable times more, I can't say that I'm all that excited about this new production. But what do I know about producing musical revivals? I never would have given the green light for bringing A Chorus Line, Les Miserables, or Grease back to Broadway, but each of those runs has been profitable, some abundantly so. And I had serious doubts about yet another Gypsy revival, but so far that production seems to be doing solid, if not blockbuster, business.

So I'll leave the business prognostications to others. I just hope that director Daniel Goldstein (All Shook Up) and choreographer Christopher Gattelli (South Pacific) can come up with some way to make this creaky old show fresh. The piece certainly lends itself to creative/conceptual/pretentious interpretations. I remember one local high school production that got around the show's minimal casting requirements by including a chorus of underclass-persons who acted as the fence. (The crucifixion scene was an unintentional hoot.) I've seen the prodigal son parable told with puppets, with projections, and in sign language. I've even seen an all-male version of the show at a Catholic seminary. (The performer who sang "Turn Back, Oh Man" played it drunk, a la Foster Brooks.)

Often, in their zeal to find some new way to present the show, people seem to lose track of its message. I vividly recall one local version of Godspell (Ricky?) in which most of the performers wore revealing cutoffs and midriff-baring T-shirts, and performed slinky, sultry dances like something out of "Flashdance," or an old Janet Jackson video. ("Wait a minute. What's this show about again? Oh, yeah. That Jesus guy. Anyone seen my body glitter?")

Then there's the piece itself. There's no question that Godspell has a very strong score, but the book is sketchy and episodic, and that doesn't always work in the show's favor. It's the sort of show that pretty much anyone can pull off in a church basement or high school gym. (I've done both.) But when it comes to bringing it back to Broadway, the expectations are going to be a lot higher. I don't envy Goldstein and the task before him. But I'll certainly be making a trip to the Ethel Barrymore to see how he rises to the challenge.

Damn Yankees: Summer Fun at City Center

Although I briefly address Damn Yankees in my Boston Conservatory course, until last weekend I had never seen a professional production. I'm very familiar with the faithful movie adaptation, and I've long been a fan of the cast album, but this was my first time seeing the show on a real stage.

No mere concert version, the City Center's Encores! production is fully staged, with costumes and sets, and without scripts. I had heard that performers in the Encores! series have to carry scripts because they're operating under a special concert agreement with the union. This was true of Juno and No, No, Nanette, but for Damn Yankees there wasn't a script in sight. Perhaps the "Summer Stars" series has a different union agreement, and/or since the Encores! shows run a bit longer in the summer, it's more worthwhile for people to actually learn their lines.

In any case, I thoroughly enjoyed this production of Damn Yankees, although I had some minor reservations with the show itself and with a few of the performances. The marquee performers here are TV stars Sean Hayes and Jane Krakowski, and for the most part they're professional but uninspired in their respective roles as Applegate and Lola. Hayes is at his best when glimpses of his Jack McFarland character on "Will and Grace" are peeking through, but he's stiff and stilted when he's trying to play it straight, as it were. It reminded me of seeing Megan Mullaley in Young Frankenstein, who was trying way too hard not to be Karen Walker. I say, don't resist it: If something works, let it ride. Did anyone knock Jimmy Durante or Fanny Brice for always doing the same shtick? Perhaps they did, but it hasn't affected the legendary status of those performers.

Hayes has some really great moments as Applegate, and certainly has the audience on his side. However, Hayes and director John Rando have made a major miscalculation during Applegate's second act would-be show-stopper, "Those Were the Good Old Days." Hayes is a classically trained pianist, a fact that Rando mistakenly chooses to showcase during the first part of the number. It's a choice that could have worked, but doesn't. Hayes focuses so much on his keyboard ministrations that he drains the number of its comic intent. It does set up a very cute visual joke with a violin, but otherwise this choice was misguided.

Jane Krakowski has the thankless task of trying to reclaim the Lola role from the marvelous Gwen Verdon, a very difficult task, as Bebe Neuwirth discovered during the 1994 Damn Yankees revival. But Krakowski certainly holds her own. There's no real spark in her Lola, but she has a strong voice and an amazing body. Plus, she's really a terrific dancer, a fact that becomes particularly evident during the "Two Lost Souls" dance break. Krakowski didn't really get much of a chance to show off her dancing skills in Grand Hotel or Nine.

The production team have chosen to use Bob Fosse's original choreography, recreated here by Mary MacLeod. Some of the dancers aren't quite in sync with the Fosse style, including Tony nominee John Selya. He's athletic, to be sure, but he hasn't quite been able to adopt the signature Fosse postures and mannerisms.

The below-the-title cast members are for the most part outstanding, particularly Randy Graff as an animated and sympathetic Meg. Cheyenne Jackson is his strong-voiced, appealing, and gorgeous self, although some of the vocal tricks he employs to such great effect as Sonny in Xanadu don't really work for Joe Hardy. 

The show itself is not without its flaws. The Gloria character, played here by Tony nominee Megan Lawrence, starts off helping to create the "Shoeless Joe" persona, then spends the rest of the show trying to cut the guy down, and the script provides no justification for the sudden switch. And the "Who's Got the Pain?" number is a direct parallel to "Steam Heat" in The Pajama Game: neither number has any real justification in the plot, but rather merely exists to showcase some terrific Fosse choreography. But even in the '50s, this was an antiquated notion, obviated by the Rodgers and Hammerstein revolution, which dictated that every element of the show should somehow serve the plot, reveal character, or establish time and place. Both "Who's Got the Pain?" and "Steam Heat" fail on all counts. 

But, on the whole, this is a solid production with an appealing cast, and a welcome summer diversion. And it's about as close as I'm ever going to get to taking in a Yankees game. Or any game, for that matter.

Boeing-Boeing: Return Trip Even Better

One of the best times that I had in the theater this season was taking in the revival of Boeing-Boeing, a middling excuse for a sex farce given a first-rate production by director Matthew Warchus. I somehow found myself convulsed with laughter, even as my logical mind was telling me that the play shouldn't have been as funny as it was. Since I saw the show, I've been reading the script, and although there's some clever wordplay, there's really not much on paper that would lead you to think it would be so hilarious on stage. 

So I decided to see the show again to see if it would hold up to repeat visits, and I'll be damned if it wasn't even funnier the second time. The expert cast of comic actors have settled comfortably into their roles, crafting even finer farcical performances. Christine Baranski was out for this performance, but her understudy Pippa Pearthree was just as good, although admittedly Baranski hadn't exactly blown me away.

Bradley Whitford and Tony winner Mark Rylance also gave performances that were satisfyingly on par with the ones they gave when I first saw the show. Rylance seemed to be adding business to his performance, probably to keep it fresh for him and to keep his fellow cast members on their toes. That spontaneity created an atmosphere in which everyone on stage seemed to be having a ball, which was terribly infectious.

But what really made this performance a treat were Mary McCormack and Kathryn Hahn, who have taken their already broad performances and made them even broader. Yet somehow it works, and deliciously so. This isn't the sort of play you can't really take seriously, on either side of the footlights, and McCormack and Hahn have embraced that notion and pulled out all the stops. Hahn seemed to sense the audience's approval of her exaggerated style and responded with more of the same. And McCormack was a nonstop riot from her very entrance.

The show is doing rather well at the box-office, grossing around $400,000 a week, which is pretty strong for a play. The average ticket price has been around $60, which means there are a lot of TKTS-ers in the mix, a fact I could tell by witnessing the cross-section of humanity in my immediate vicinity. A number of them talked a blue streak during the performance, and at least four of the people around me were chewing gum WITH THEIR MOUTHS OPEN throughout the entire show. Talkers I can deal with: You just politely ask them to cork their pie holes, and if they don't you get the house manager. But how do you delicately tell people to close their mouths when they chew? It's just such a fundamental element of manners that it's sort of like telling them they need to wear shoes.

But then at intermission, I overheard one of the cud-chewers talking about how Bradley Whitford was also in A Few Good Men on Broadway. "Wasn't that by that guy who did the TV show?" he asked his masticating wife. "You know, Aaron Spelling." Sometimes, if you wait, the universe provides you with its own satisfying version of revenge: blissful stupidity.

Upcoming Musicals - Coming Soon

There's certainly no shortage of musicals, both new and classic, settling into Broadway berths for the next season. Some have already found a home and are even selling tickets (Shrek, Billy Elliot, A Tale of Two Cities, [title of show]). Other have been announced, but are either waiting for a suitable theater to open up, or just haven't started to sell tickets yet (The Story of My Life, Pure Country, 13). Then there are the shows that are a little bit further on the horizon, but remain distinct possibilities for the coming season:

GODSPELL:
Cast: Gavin Creel
Staff: The upcoming Broadway production will reunite the creative team from the recent Paper Mill Playhouse production: Daniel Goldstein (All Shook Up) will direct, and Christopher Gattelli (South Pacific, 13) will choreograph.
Status: Details have been scant, but according to Broadway.com, Godspell will begin previews at the Ethel Barrymore Theater in September and open in October.
My Take: "I know I've seen this show before, in some old high school gym, on someone's basement floor..."

VANITIES:
Cast: Lauren Kennedy, Sarah Stiles, and Anneliese van der Pol
Creators: Book by Jack Heifner, who wrote the play Vanities, upon which the musical is based. Music and lyrics David Kirshenbaum (Summer of '42)
Staff: Judith Ivey will direct, Dan Knechtges will choreograph.
Status: The show will play the Pasadena Playhouse from August 22 to September 28, before bowing on Broadway, reportedly in the fall 2008.
My Take: I saw the play many years ago, and recall it being fun but slight. A group of high school friends meet in the bleachers to talk about their lives: Will this wind up being Glory Days with girls?

9 TO 5:
Cast: Allison Janney, Stephanie J. Block, Megan Hilty, and Marc Kudisch
Creators: Score by Dolly Parton, book by Patricia Resnick, based on her original screenplay.
Staff: Directed by Joe Mantello, choreographed by recent Tony winner Andy Blankenbueler.
Status: Will play the Ahmanson Theater in Los Angeles from September 3rd to October 19th. Possible Broadway bow shortly thereafter?
My Take: Great source material, fantastic cast, and Dolly Parton's first Broadway score. The show has so much going for it, but then so did Cry-Baby.

Tomorrow: Upcoming Musicals - Further Out

for colored girls...to Play Circle in the Square

So I made it through jury duty relatively unscathed. The trial upon which I was impaneled was relatively straightforward, and our deliberations only took as long as they did (about 45 minutes) because the court had brought in lunch for us, and we weren't about to let a bunch of terrific deli sandwiches go to waste.

And now back to the stuff that really matters in life: musical theater. Only today, I find myself intrigued by an upcoming production that isn't really a musical, although it's not quite a straight play either. But there aren't a lot of plays that spawn cast albums, nor many that list choreographers among their production staffs.

I refer, of course, to the first Broadway revival of Ntozake Shange's "choreo-poem" for colored girls who have considered suicide when the rainbow is enough. The show ran for 742 performances at the Booth Theater in the '70s, and the Broadway Theater Archive issued a video recording, which is now available on DVD.

Now comes the announcement that the upcoming revival of for colored girls... will play the Circle in the Square, most recently the home of the short-lived Glory Days. The Circle in the Square has a thrust stage and three-quarter wrap-around seating, which seems a much more appropriate setting for such a work than the traditional-proscenium Booth. I'm not overly familiar with the piece, but from what I know of it, it would seem to lend itself quite well to a black-box-like performance space.

Two names caught my eye in the published pieces about the for colored girls... revival. One was Hinton Battle, the three-time Tony Award winner, who will provide the choreography. (Two caveats: his three Tonys are all for acting, and his most recent New York choreography credit was for the unimpressive Evil Dead: The Musical.) The other notable name is Whoopi Goldberg, who's listed as the executive producer. You might say that Whoopi's taking a page from Oprah's book (cf. The Color Purple), but Whoopi has already produced two shows on Broadway: the 2003 revival of Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, and -- believe it or not -- Thoroughly Modern Millie.

One name that didn't initially catch my eye was that of India.Arie, who will appear in for colored girls.... I don't pay any attention to popular music, but apparently she's an up-and-coming, Grammy-winning singer. Does this constitute star casting, dear reader? Because I'm genuinely clueless as to whether India.Arie is going to be a box-office draw.

Tickets to see for colored girls... go on sale to American Express card holders on July 9th, and to the general public on July 19th. I'm hoping to catch it the same weekend I see A Tale of Two Cities. Should make for quite a contrast.

Will Kelli O'Hara Reprise Eliza?

Despite my best efforts to appear subversive and shifty, I was in fact impaneled on a jury today. I can't talk about the case. (And don't particularly care to: Yawn City.)

But I had to pass on some inchoate yet intriguing news about the delightful Kelli O'Hara. She recently told Parade magazine (so it MUST be true), that she'd love to play Eliza Doolittle in a Broadway revival of My Fair Lady. In fact she even said that she'd gladly postpone having a family for the possibility.

O'Hara played the role last year with the New York Philharmonic, opposite Kelsey Grammer as Henry Higgins. I wasn't able to see it (Anyone?), but have no trouble imagining O'Hara in the part, and doing a bang-up job of it. O'Hara is currently playing to packed houses in South Pacific, and although I've made my views about the show plain, I remain an ardent fan of O'Hara and her numerous charms.

O'Hara's wish to reprise Eliza on Broadway is hardly a pipe dream, since there appears to be some definite talk about bringing the show back, despite the fact that the Lerner and Loewe classic played the Rialto as recently as 1994 with Melissa Errico and Richard Chamberlain.

Quoth O’Hara: "My husband and I have talked about this. As much as we want to have children, if I were offered My Fair Lady, then he agreed that I should do it. Any other show, we’d choose to have a kid.”

Wow. I say we give the gal a shot. Are ya with me?

Pal Joey Gets Super Cast

The upcoming Roundabout Theater revival of Pal Joey is quickly garnering must-see status by amassing a first-class cast.

As long rumored, Tony winner Christian Hoff will play Joey Evans, a role that he was truly born to play. The magnificent Stockard Channing will make her long-overdue return to Broadway as the bewitched, bothered, and bewildered Vera Simpson. Joining them will be two-time Tony nominee Martha Plimpton as Gladys Bumps, a role that will apparently be much more prominent once playwright Richard Greenberg is through with his adaptation.

Greenberg has his work cut out for him. As a show, Pal Joey is historically significant for numerous reasons, including using dance for dramatic purpose, as well as being the first significant use of an anti-hero (a main character who isn't exactly an angel) in a musical. Yeah, we see anti-heroes all the time now (Sweeney Todd, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, The Producers, Gypsy, etc.), but way back in 1940 it was a novelty, prompting critic Brooks Atkinson to famously ask "Can you draw sweet water from a foul well?" As significant as Pal Joey is, the book is creaky at best, and could certainly use a good tune-up.

The show will sport direction by Joe Mantello (Wicked, Assassins) and choreography by always-a-Tony- bridesmaid-never-a-Tony-bride Graciela Daniele. Performances for this limited engagement of Pal Joey begin in November, toward a December opening. As a Roundabout subscriber, I already have my ticket, and I'm greatly looking forward to seeing what this top-notch cast and first-rate production team are going to put together.

Follies Movie and Merrily Revival

BroadwayWorld.com recently held an online chat at with Stephen Sondheim in conjunction with the current Roundabout Theater production of Sunday in the Park With George. During the chat, both Sondheim and Todd Haimes, the Roundabout's artistic director, hinted at some intriguing upcoming projects.

First, Haimes confirmed that Roundabout is planning a revival of Stephen Sondheim's Merrily We Roll Along as part of its 2009-2010 season. The show is slated to be directed by longtime Sondheim collaborator James Lapine, and not the show's original director Harold Prince. Also, Sondheim himself revealed plans afoot to film a movie version of Follies, with what he described as "a major star" and "a major director," although he wouldn't yet reveal who they are.

Sondheim seems to have reached the point in his career where, rather than forging new works, he's cultivating new versions of shows from his considerable catalog. As excited as I am about the prospect of both a Merrily revival and a Follies movie, I'd be much more excited if he was, to borrow a line from Dot in Sunday, working on something new. In the chat, he confirmed that at one point he was considering a musical version of the Bill Murray film "Groundhog Day," but he eventually dropped that idea because, and I paraphrase, the movie is already perfect the way it is and to musicalize it would be gilding the lily. (Hmm...)

But anyway, back to the stuff that actually is in the works. Merrily is arguably the most beloved flop of all time, and certainly Sondheim's. This is probably the only way the show would ever make it back to Broadway: in a limited run under the auspices of a non-profit. I list it on my page of fascinating failures: although it has a marvelous score, I've never seen the show work, in any incarnation. I will be very interested to see if Lapine can bring out the heart of this cold but admirable work.

Because the problem with the show is not that the plot goes backwards in time; it's that we don't care enough about these people. The changes that Sondheim and company have made over the years have made the show different, not better. The added and rearranged songs, if anything, make the show more cynical and heartless. Here's hoping they go back to something a little closer to the original, at least in terms of the score.

As for the Follies movie, although I'm excited personally, I can't imagine that such a property would have any real commercial value. It's an art-house film at best. A friend of mine speculated that the "major star" might could be Barbra Streisand. "They're inseparable," he says. That would certainly lift the movie above art-house status. (Would Babs play Phyllis or Sally? My bet would be Phyllis.)

Care to speculate, dear reader, as to who that major star and major director might be?

Brigadoon to Reappear in 2009

We can add another musical revival to the 2008-2009 Broadway season. The very busy Rob Ashford will direct and choreograph the upcoming revival of Lerner and Loewe's Brigadoon. The show will open in the spring of 2009 after a Boston tryout.

Ashford is a masterful choreographer, as he's demonstrated in such recent shows as Curtains, The Wedding Singer, Thoroughly Modern Millie (for which he won the Tony Award), and the recent London revival of Evita. But he's relatively untried as a director, although he did take the helm of the recent London production of Jason Robert Brown's Parade.

Brigadoon is certainly not an unknown commodity: there have already been four Broadway revivals of the show in 1950, 1957, 1963, and 1980. However, the longest run of these four was only 133 performances. Reviews for the 1980 production were kind, but whereas in 1947 the show had seemed charming, some thirty years later it was downright precious. Vincent Minnelli's dull movie version of "Brigadoon" takes out some of the best songs, and spends too much time giving Gene Kelly something to dance about.

To give the old show a new face, playwright John Guare (Six Degrees of Separation, The House of Blue Leaves) will revise Alan Jay Lerner's original book. This is a pretty standard practice for revivals of older shows, but it usually occurs for shows that were written before 1940.

The book could certainly use some revising. [SPOILER ALERT: If you've never seen the show, skip the next two paragraphs.] There's a terrific sense of time and place in the show, but there's also an awful lot that's hard to swallow. For instance, Tommy Albright takes an awfully long time catching on to the central conceit. And when one character threatens to destroy the central miracle of the show by leaving the town, he meets with a very convenient "accidental" death. "We were chasing him and he fell and hit his head on a rock. Honest."

And then there's the ending, which is just plain ridiculous, a deus ex machina if ever there was one: the strength of Tommy's love wills the bridge to Brigadoon to come back into existence. The sage Mr. Lundie explains: "You shouldna be too surprised, lad. I told ye when ye love someone deeply, anythin' is possible. Even miracles." Horse hockey.

So, overall, the horse race for best revival next season is looking pretty strong: Pal Joey, Dancin', Godspell, West Side Story and Brigadoon. Anything I'm missing, dear reader?

No, No, Nanette at City Center

Suddenly I'm a lot more interested in seeing the upcoming Encores presentation of No, No, Nanette. In fact, I pretty much have to see it: one of my former Boston Conservatory students, Ryan Malyar, just got cast in the ensemble.

Ryan was a member of my first class of freshmen, essentially my out-of-town tryout for the course, during which I ironed out a lot of the bumps. (Some bumps, of course, remain: I always consider the course a work in progress.) In deference to Ryan's guinea-pig status alone, I guess I owe him one. But he's also a very talented guy, and I greatly look forward to seeing him perform alongside Sandy Duncan, Rosie O'Donnell, Beth Leavel, and Fred Willard.

Apparently, the City Center concert version of No, No, Nanette will follow Burt Shevelove's script from the 1971 revival of the show and not the (presumably creaky by today's standards) original book by Otto Harbach and Frank Mandel. The choreography will be by the wonderful Randy Skinner: as I said in my review of the Boston production of White Christmas, I could watch an entire evening of Skinner's tap choreography. Until such an event occurs, his work in Nanette will likely tide me over. (Ryan informs me that Rosie has been in tap camp for weeks in preparation. The mind reels.)

Coincidently, I just picked up a copy of The Making of No, No, Nanette by one Don Dunn, which chronicles the tumultuous development process that the show went through prior to its 1971 Broadway bow. The original 1925 production went through a similarly stormy tryout: it toured the country for two years, and in the process nearly the entire show changed. Producer H. H. Frazee at one point reportedly locked composer Vincent Youmans and lyricists Otto Harbach and Irving Caesar in a room and told them not to come out until they had written two hits: they emerged with "Tea for Two" and "I Want to Be Happy."

I guess this is all a message from the cosmos that it's time for me to bone up on my No, No, Nanette knowledge. But here's an interesting tidbit that I already do know: Nanette spawned a less successful sequel titled Yes, Yes, Yvette. I kid you not. More evidence that musical sequels aren't really a good idea.

Break a leg, Ryan!