 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
And "Stop The World":
Gonna Build A Mountain
Once In A Lifetime
What Kind Of Fool Am I?
Anthony Newley and Leslie Bricusse created some amazing songs in those 2 wonderful shows! And at the time the great Anthony Newley was on so many of the late night shows as well as prime time varieties singing some of the biggest hits from those shows with such authority. He's been long gone, but his (and Bricusse's) great music will never be gone.
Ron
I'm a big fan of 'Stop The World...' as well. I have the OBC of that one also. As you say, some classic songs feature in both those shows. Although it wasn't as successful or as well remembered, I've always preferred 'Roar Of The Greasepaint' myself. I just find it a more interesting listen and I think it has the better score. As I said earlier though, I've never managed to see a production of it.
Mr. Newley and Mr. Bricusse were a huge influence on me, and seeing Stop the World's national tour at LA's Huntington Hartford Theater with Joel Grey and Julie Newmar was a life changer for me. I've kind of come full circle, as I've just created and directed a new revue based on their work - we've been running since the beginning of December in Santa Monica and it's kind of a huge hit over there.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Bruce/haineshisway:
Ooops … got my Bocks and Harnicks reversed! But I meant well!
As for your review in Santa Monica, where do you have it? The last show I saw on stage was in Santa Monica -- my sweet neighbor Sloan Robinson performed her one-woman show as Josephine Baker at the, as I recall, Santa Monica Playhouse. Where's your review???
Incidentally, it was nice to see mention of the Huntington Hartford … I saw sooooooooo many great shows there, under that name and later incarnations. I've mentioned that I saw Dan Dailey and a fantastic Richard Benjamin there in Neil Simon's "The Odd Couple." Also "Your Own Thing" and Pinter's "The Homecoming" (that's an interesting juxtaposition!). Mart Crowley's "Boys In The Band" with nearly the entire original Broadway cast. And I saw Bill Finn's great "March of the Falsettos" TWELVE times with the New York cast, and they returned decades later for "Falsettos." It's such a terrific theatre!!!
|
|
|
|
|
|
I remember seeing the SEQUEL to THE BOYS IN THE BAND, called THE MEN FROM THE BOYS, at a little theatre up in L.A. Unfortunately, not very interesting. Takes place the day of Larry's funeral. Michael has been sober in AA for some time. And there's some younger gay guy who sort of scoffs at the behavior of the other principals, though he apparently also has a problem with some kind of addiction, not to mention flaky behavior.
Still, not a very good play, though I understand the version I saw was much improved from an earlier version a friend of mine saw up in San Francisco, wherein the ghost of Larry was drifting around, commenting on the others.
|
|
|
|
|
|
haineshisway:
Ooops … got my Bocks and Harnicks reversed! But I meant well!
As for your review in Santa Monica, where do you have it? The last show I saw on stage was in Santa Monica -- my sweet neighbor Sloan Robinson performed her one-woman show as Josephine Baker at the, as I recall, Santa Monica Playhouse. Where's your review???
Incidentally, it was nice to see mention of the Huntington Hartford … I saw sooooooooo many great shows there, under that name and later incarnations. I've mentioned that I saw Dan Dailey and a fantastic Richard Benjamin there in Neil Simon's "The Odd Couple." Also "Your Own Thing" and Pinter's "The Homecoming" (that's an interesting juxtaposition!). Mart Crowley's "Boys In The Band" with nearly the entire original Broadway cast. And I saw Bill Finn's great "March of the Falsettos" TWELVE times with the New York cast, and they returned decades later for "Falsettos." It's such a terrific theatre!!!
The revue is called Pure Imagination - The Musical World of Anthony Newley and Leslie Bricusse - it's at the Pacific Resident Theatre on Venice Blvd. near Lincoln. We've been playing since early December, but just shut down for a few days to move into their larger space. The show reopens on Feb 1 and plays through March 3. We have a really wonderful cast.
I began going to shows at the Hartford when I was thirteen - the first show I saw there was Paddy Chayefsky's The Tenth Man, followed by A Thurber Carnival. I saw Stop the World there many times, saw the same Dan Dailey Odd Couple you did, Luv (starring Herb Edelman, Dorothy Loudon, and Tom Bosley), a Cole Porter revue starring Tammy Grimes, a play called Rattle of a Simple Man (also with Miss Grimes, along with John Astin), a lovely production of The Glass Menagerie starring Ann Southern, Piper Laurie, James Olson and Ben Piazza, Hughie with Jason Robards, Jr. and lots of others. It was my favorite theater ever, and I hated when it became the Dolittle and they industrialized the design.
Oh, forgot Plaza Suite with Dan Dailey and Lee Grant.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Thomas:
Please go back to page 4 of this thread to see something I wrote you (and which I don't think you saw), including a theatre review of Michel Legrand's "The Umbrellas of Cherbourg" and a few other things. Thanks.
And to haineshisway, yes, I also saw "Luv," one of the many shows at the Hartford that I didn't cite, but had forgotten who was in it (Herb Edelman was sooooooooo funny -- kind of a much earlier version of Kramer from "Seinfeld"). I'm going to call and get a ticket to your show -- I'm very familiar with the Venice and Washington area, although since I stopped going to Venice Beach a few years ago it's less often these days, but I have an old friend who lives barely a quarter of a mile from your theatre.
From Wikipedia: Luv is a play by Murray Schisgal. A mix of absurdist humor and traditional Broadway comedy more in the Neil Simon vein, Luv concerns two college friends - misfit Harry and materialistic Milt - who are reunited when the latter stops the former from jumping off a bridge, the play's setting. Each discovers the other is equally miserable as they share hard-luck stories. Milt sees in Harry an answer to his primary problem - his wife Ellen, who he tries to foist on his old pal so he can run off with his mistress. After twenty-eight previews, the Broadway production, directed by Mike Nichols, opened on November 11, 1964 at the Booth Theatre. It transferred to the Broadhurst and then the now-demolished Helen Hayes before completing its run of 901 performances. It won the Tony Award for Best Director, Best Producer (Claire Nichtern) and Best Scenic Design (Oliver Smith). Alan Arkin, Eli Wallach, and Anne Jackson comprised the original cast. Barbara Bel Geddes, Larry Blyden, Gene Wilder, and Gabriel Dell were among the replacement performers later in the run. The 1967 film version, directed by Clive Donner and starring Jack Lemmon, Peter Falk, and Elaine May, added various locations and extraneous characters. Reviews criticized Donner's heavy-handed approach to the material and the miscasting of the three leads, and it proved to be a commercial failure. Harrison Ford has an uncredited role as a hippie.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
Posted: |
Jan 24, 2014 - 5:43 AM
|
|
|
|
By: |
Thomas
(Member)
|
You are right Ron, I did indeed somehow miss your response earlier!! And yes, I was referring to Legrand writing for the stage. (Regarding ‘Yentl’ that you mentioned, I can’t stand it. I detest the film and music).
Interesting to read that review of ‘The Umbrellas of Cherbourg’, I wasn’t at all aware there had been a recent stage production. Not that the review is particularly complimentary. I enjoy the film version a lot myself, however other than (as Billington states) ‘I Will Wait For You’, I don’t find the score that memorable. Yes, it’s pleasant and plods along with the visuals nicely, but nothing significant to my ears anyway. It certainly would require a lot of work and imagination to stage it successfully, as this recent production seems not to have managed.
Also, I gave this a listen last night for the first time in an age. Still love it, my favourite Jerry Herman work. Great performances as well on this 1974 OBC from Bob Preston and Bernadette Peters. 'I Won't Send Roses' and 'Movies Were Movies' are my favourites, but they are all great!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Well, as a lover of just about anything to do with "Umbrellas," I found SO much of the score a joy to hear beyond The Big Hit, but, as you can attest, the other songs probably aren't memorable enough to work on stage. However, when I listen to recordings of successful Broadway musicals from the past few decades, some of those secondary melodies from "Umbrellas" are sooooooooo much more listenable!
Ahhhhh … "Mack And Mable." I love both Robert Preston and Bernadette Peters, and bought the CD of that original cast recording for my friend Bob Thompson, who always loved it, and put it into my iTunes (back in the early 2000s). But when my old Mac started to indiscriminately feed on itself, that was one of the things it chose to delete, so I no longer can listen to it. I annually update an iPod I gave Bob before he spends a month in Hawaii each year, and think I'll borrow his "M & M" original cast CD to return it to my iTunes and see if I'm now, in my dotage, more open to it. Remember Preston in "Ben Franklin In Paris"? Just love that show! For me, his is the only "Music Man" I can listen to, just as Rex Harrison's is the only "My Fair Lady" I can listen to! Harold Hill and Henry Higgins!
I have this little 80-something friend named Tom Bratter whom I met back around 1988 when he worked for the Los Angeles Times Poll and would periodically use a room of our telephones there to make poll calls, and another of his temp jobs was at the Los Angeles Music Center and he was forever getting me free tickets to LAMC stage productions. But these days, no longer working there (or anywhere else), the free tickets have dried up, so he never sees theatre anymore. I told him last night when he called about Mr. Haines' Anthony Newley-Leslie Bricusse review and promised to get him a ticket for it when it resumes on Feb 1st. I'll let you know what we think of it!
Ron
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
MACK AND MABEL is another one of those problematic shows, with a wonderful score, and a very challenging book. "I Won't Send Roses" is right, because the 2 leads never really have a romance, and then the heroine ends up dying of a drug overdose!
Some fun, eh kid?
But it is a great score.
Though I never got around to see it before it closed, I understand the staging, by no less than the great Gower Champion, was also problematic.
There are more shows like this. CANDIDE, CYRANO, DANCE A LITTLE CLOSER, CARMELINA, and KING OF HEARTS all had good scores, with difficult books, or production.
|
|
|
|
|
|
haineshisway: Re: Pure Imagination - The Musical World of Anthony Newley and Leslie Bricusse
I've now told 2 people I will take them to see it when it reopens in February, and mentioned it to 2 others I've offered to also treat if they can fit it into their schedules. One of them asked if there was a web site or something he could see that may tell a little about the show. Let me know. Looks like I may come with my own entourage!
hardcastlehisway
|
|
|
|
|
|
haineshisway: Re: Pure Imagination - The Musical World of Anthony Newley and Leslie Bricusse
I've now told 2 people I will take them to see it when it reopens in February, and mentioned it to 2 others I've offered to also treat if they can fit it into their schedules. One of them asked if there was a web site or something he could see that may tell a little about the show. Let me know. Looks like I may come with my own entourage!
hardcastlehisway
Let me know when you're going and I'll try to come that night. I can't be there that first weekend back (I'm in the studio doing a new and complete studio cast album of And The World Goes Round) - we're doing a brush-up rehearsal the night before we reopen, which is our one and only chance in the new space, but everything should be exactly as it was in the old space - and we have a cover playing one of the roles for that weekend and the next. She's very good, though.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Am still waiting to see when my friends would be available, although it looks like during the week would be best -- unless the show is only running on weekends. Yes, it would be great to meet you when I'm there! Thanks.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Thomas: Definitely. If it were just me, I'd try to get a ticket for the re-opening night. But there are 3, possibly 4, others to consider. Looking forward to it!
|
|
|
|
|
|
Thomas: Definitely. If it were just me, I'd try to get a ticket for the re-opening night. But there are 3, possibly 4, others to consider. Looking forward to it!
Show plays Thursday through Sunday - I'd come anytime after the re-opening weekend. We've got a cover going on for one of the cast members for six performances starting Saturday night at the re-opening. She's actually great and worth seeing, but we've just moved into the bigger theater and everyone's getting used to the new space and how they need to project in there (we are unplugged - no mics, the way I like it - real voices).
|
|
|
|
|
|
Bruce:
Well, that answers one question. I have a friend here at FSM who occasionally comes to L.A. and hoped I could treat him, but he's only here in the earlier days of the week, which, while unfortunate, will simplify it a bit. Thanks.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Thomas: Looks interesting!
|
|
|
|
|
|
Bruce Kimmel: haineshisway: Re: Pure Imagination - The Musical World of Anthony Newley and Leslie Bricusse
I've now told 2 people I will take them to see it when it reopens in February, and mentioned it to 2 others I've offered to also treat if they can fit it into their schedules. One of them asked if there was a web site or something he could see that may tell a little about the show. Let me know. Looks like I may come with my own entourage!
hardcastlehisway
BK: I'll be seeing the show this Sunday at 3 pm. I'm taking this little very garrulous 80-something who used to get me lots of free tickets to the Ahmanson when he was working part time for the Music Center. Years ago, to thank him, I got him a ticket at the then very new Disney Hall for a Michael Tilson Thomas concert of Mahler's 6th symphony, and he didn't get to his seat until halfway through it, so this time I told him to be there AN HOUR EARLY!!! May come back with a couple more friends if I think they'd enjoy it.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
