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Just a heads up for John Barry admirers -- the Alan Jay Lerner/John Barry musical "Lolita My Love", based on the novel by Vladimir Nabokov, is being presented at the York Theater in New York City/Manhattan as a part of their "mufti" series:
https://yorktheatre.org/on-stage/musicals-in-mufti
This is the first time the musical will have been heard or seen in its entirety since it closed in Boston in 1971 -- it never made it to New York and has never been revived anywhere since.
A rare opportunity to assess a fairly legendary "lost" work only heard in poorly recorded sound system tapes from various live performances before the Boston closing.
Full disclosure: My best friend, Erik Haagensen, edited the script for this revival.
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I would love to hear more recordings. I agree that the "Lolita" song is among Barry's best. I also think that all of Barry's musicals--and one film musical--have been very tuneful, with a varied group of multiple themes. Instrumental suites from any of these works arranged by someone well-versed in Barry's style would be very welcomed.
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What does "created the script" mean.
And of course if I'd had my way back in 2001, there would be a wonderful recording of this score. Unfortunately, another record producer got to Mr. Barry (I'd made a deal with Liza Lerner), made promises he could not deliver, and we stalled (we were cast and ready to go), the other producer sheepishly had to walk away since he could not deliver the money to do it, and that was the end of that.
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What a shame. Can anything be done now?
Between Lolita crashing, Sinful Davey tapes being destroyed, Barry's sixties manuscript scores disappearing, the Seville concert fire, and Laurie Barry apparently not opening up whatever materials there are, it's amazing that any rare Barry stuff gets released at all.
I'm one of the few to see Brighton Rock (it was just an incredibly odd circumstance that I was in England for week in late October 04) and thought the score was wonderful, with trademark melancholia, a rather twisted tango, some Catholic choral passages, and several suspenseful and rather gritty instrumental bits. Will any of this ever get recorded?
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I spoke to Erik about my post -- and must apologize for a term that I used. Erik clarified that he has "edited together a script, still all by Lerner, that pulls from six different versions and draws liberally from the work done after closing, including new and rewritten songs." So I will change my original post to "edited." Sorry about that!
I haven't spoken to Erik about the possibility of a recording so I can't answer those questions. I know that some of the York Theatre Muftis have been recorded. But I have no information about any new recording of this revival.
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It's not a revival - it's a staged concert. I used to record quite a few York shows but somehow they ended up doing ones after me with John Yap and I find those cheap and rather horrid. I don't want a major John Barry score played by piano, bass, drums, and maybe a synth. This show had great orchestrations.
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Am I right in assuming this will be a run through of a complete version.....dialogue and songs?.
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Am I right in assuming this will be a run through of a complete version.....dialogue and songs?.
Yes, according to what John McMasters has said, someone cobbled together a script from various drafts Lerner had done and from some work that had been done post the show closing.
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If I remember correctly, Barry was to do a concert in Seville for the Moviola PBS special, but there was a fire or collapsing stage and the concert was cancelled, which was why the Moviola special was not a filmed concert.
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Well...I suppose "gave" isn't exactly the same as "composed."
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Well...I suppose "gave" isn't exactly the same as "composed."
Ha! Yes! Word choice matters.
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Posted: |
Feb 24, 2019 - 4:21 PM
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By: |
rob618
(Member)
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I saw the first performance yesterday and loved it. It was an entire show, dialogue and songs, and I thought that the cast was fantastic and did a wonderful job with the material, particularly with the singing.
It's true that the "orchestra" is one person, Deniz Cordell, on piano with some minimal electronic additions, but it worked for me and I preferred it to the LP of the original production (though some of that might be due to the recording quality of that record).
This is certainly a bare bones production that might not have a wide appeal but I thought it was terrific and I'm very happy that I was able to attend.
Sure, Barry's orchestrations were absent, as were some key points of the novel, but judging this endeavor on what I think are its own terms, I'd call it a success and a charming one at that.
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).
