"Now as the sweet imbecilities tumble so lavishly onto her lap…"

Whenever I listen to the sublime original Broadway cast recording of A Little Night Music, I’m always impressed with how Stephen Sondheim establishes Fredrik Egerman in the musical’s first song. Fredrik is a middle-aged lawyer whose eleven month marriage to naive 18 year old Anne has gone unconsummated. During an afternoon nap he, in true lawyerly fashion, lists all the ways he can go about seducing his wife. (His impetuous but staid “Now” is countered in a few minutes by her “Soon”). His son Henrik interjects with “Later” and eventually all three motifs are weaved together in contrapuntal soliloquies. The English major in me has always been amazed at this patter section in which he vents his sexual frustrations by listing the books he can read to get her into the mood…

“Which leaves the suggestive,
But how to proceed?
Although she gets restive,
Perhaps I could read.
In view of her penchant
For something romantic,
De Sade is too trenchant
And Dickens too frantic,
And Stendhal would ruin
The plan of attack,
As there isn’t much blue in
The Red and the Black.
De Maupassant’s candour
Would cause her dismay,
The Brontes are grander
But not very gay,
Her taste is much blander,
I’m sorry to say,
But is Hans Christian Ander-
Sen ever risque?
Which eliminates A…”

Oh! POTO 2?

The internet has been all abuzz with the new media campaign behind the sequel to The Phantom of the Opera, or as we like to call here at Theatre Aficionado at Large, POTO. There is to be a major announcement (by the Phantom himself, no less) next month regarding the new musical. The show has been in gestation for some time, known as Phantom 2, Phantom in Manhattan and now (and presumably forever) known as Love Never Dies, which is poised to make its world debut in 2010.

Meanwhile, POTO continues to break its own record as the longest running show in Broadway history, and there are productions, tours, etc. going on all around the world. The show made headlines when Lloyd Webber’s beloved kitten accidentally erased the score from his clavinova (which I find circumspect – you don’t write down what you’ve written?). Anyway, the Really Useful group is gearing a mass media blitz to hype up this new show as the next big thing from the Lloyd Webber franchise. This Phantom is on twitter.

But I’d like to wax prosaic about musical sequels: they fail. I’m not saying that Love Never Dies is going to bomb. George M. Cohan’s The Talk of New York, a sequel to Forty-Five Minutes from Broadway, was a success back in 1907. More recently, William Finn has done quite well by his Marvin trilogy – In Trousers, March of the Falsettos and Falsettoland (the latter two combined for Broadway in Falsettos). However, I’m just saying the statistics are not in Lloyd Webber’s favor. Let’s take a look at a few musical sequels from over the years…

Let ‘Em Eat Cake – The Gershwin brothers crafted a follow-up to their 1931 Pulitzer Prize winning smash Of Thee I Sing. Figuring lightning would strike, the creative team and some of the original cast reunited with this decidedly darker satire on American government and politics. President Wintergreen has been defeated in his re-election campaign, so and his Vice President, Throttlebottom, plot a Fascist takeover of the United States to get back control. The show ran 89 performances at the Imperial in 1933.

Divorce Me Darling – Sandy Wilson had a monumental success with The Boy Friend, his 1954 musical spoof of the 1920s that played for five years in London and introduced Julie Andrews to Broadway. The show was such a success that in 1965, Wilson wrote a new musical that brought the same characters to the same location (Nice, France) ten years down the road, with relationships on the rocks. However, audiences in London didn’t seem to care what Polly, Tony and the gang were up to and the show closed after 91 performances.

Bring Back Birdie – The curtain of the perennial favorite Bye Bye Birdie comes down on Albert and Rosie moving out West where he’s going to be the English teacher she’s always wanted him to be. Happily ever after, etc. In 1981, the creative team (with the exception of the late Gower Champion) was brought back together with director-choreographer Joe Layton at the helm, even returning to the Martin Beck Theatre where the original played. The failure was immense – the book was laughable and crass, the score unmemorable and the design was apparently quite hideous. Though original star Chita Rivera was back and giving it her all, her showstopping poise wasn’t enough to save the sinking ship around her. The musical closed after 4 performances. (Peter Filichia gives an in depth account of the disastrous first act of the very first preview here).

A Doll’s Life – This sequel is unlike the rest listed here, because it was a musical sequel to a play. Henrik Ibsen’s play ends with the character Nora slamming the door on her domestic life, leaving her husband and family in an attempt to find her place in the world. That door slam, once regarded as “the door slam heard round the world,” pretty much told you everything you needed to know about the characters. However, Hal Prince, directed a highly conceptual musical that begins where the play leaves off. With music by Larry Grossman and the unusual choice of Comden and Green for book and score, the tuner looked at what happened to Nora after she leaves. A metatheatrical conceit and messy libretto didn’t help endear the character to audiences or critics and the show closed after 5 performances, though it features a fascinating musical score.

Annie 2 – The musical Annie had taken Broadway and the world by storm in the late 1970s, running for 2377 performances and becoming “The musical of Tomorrow.” So naturally a sequel would be in order. Right? Of course, right. Well, Annie 2: Miss Hannigan’s Revenge turned out to be a disaster. The show brought back Tony-winning Miss Hannigan Dorothy Loudon opposite Harve Presnell as Oliver Warbucks. This time around, Hannigan was out of jail and wanted to kill Annie. Meanwhile Marian Seldes was on hand as a Congresswoman who insisted Warbucks marry within 60 days, or Annie would be taken back to the orphanage. Hannigan posed as Charlotte O’Hara a southern belle, to gain Warbucks attentions. Later she became the prim Frances Riley and was given a morbid, if fun, showstopper “But You Go On.” The show closed out of town in Washington DC, and Loudon left the project. After substantial reworking at the Goodspeed, the wholly different Annie Warbucks opened off-Broadway for a 200 performance run.

The Best Little Whorehouse Goes Public – Sex sells. And so did The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, a fun and raunchy musical inspired by the actual Chicken Ranch of La Grange, Texas. Miss Mona runs the nicest little whorehouse you ever saw, and by the show’s end, the moral majority has seen to shutting it down with the women moving on to the next chapter in their lives. The show was a huge success and there was a film version with Dolly Parton. Well, in the sequel Miss Mona was coaxed out of retirement to run a Las Vegas whorehouse. The show, which opened in 1994, starred Dee Hoty, with Tommy Tune at the helm (assisted by Peter Masterson and Jeff Calhoun). The sequel was closer to a cheap Vegas burlesque than book musical and was universally eviscerated by critics. It folded after 16 performances, and Tommy Tune has yet to direct another Broadway musical.

August: Sydney Harbor


It was Steve on Broadway who first reported about an item regarding a 2010 run of Steppenwolf’s production of Tracy Letts’ August: Osage County in Sydney, Australia. I had the news corroborated by a Steppenwolf member only a couple weeks later. However, there was no official announcement from the theatre company until today.

The production, with its superlative direction by Anna D. Shapiro and that miraculous set by Todd Rosenthal, will be setting up house at the Sydney Theatre Company for a month-long engagement from August 13-September 12. Official casting has yet to be announced but the press release mentions that original company members from Chicago and Broadway would be trekking Down Under. Much praise is due to Artistic Directors Cate Blanchett and Andrew Upton for importing the production, as well as for exporting their own productions (the STC production of A Streetcar Named Desire, starring Blanchett and directed by Liv Ullmann, will play BAM this fall).

This doesn’t mark the first production of the Tony and Pulitzer prize winning masterpiece in Australia. This past summer, there was a highly acclaimed production with original staging at the Melbourne Theatre Company this past May directed by Simon Philips and starring Robyn Nevin as Violet Weston. The production received expected raves and proved such a success that it extended its limited engagement.

So far tickets are only available as part of the 2010 season ticket, but information on availability and pricing can be found on the STC website. But if you’re in Sydney this fall, Cate is appearing in Streetcar until October 17 and God of Carnage starts performances October 3.

Now here’s the big question: anybody up for a field trip to Sydney next summer…?

"Modern Family"

So I finally checked out the first three episodes of Glee last evening. It’s been the talk of many of my fellow bloggers and message board users since it features lots of Broadwayites in leading and recurring roles, as well as ample musical numbers. I’ll get to writing about that soon enough; however, there’s another new comedy series that just premiered on ABC that has become my favorite new show of the season.

Modern Family is a single camera mockumentary that follows three branches of a wonderfully “normal” (read: dysfunctional) family. The family patriarch, played by Ed O’Neill, is newly remarried to a much younger Hispanic woman (Sofia Vergara) and living with her eleven year old son (already an old soul and romantic). His daughter and her husband (Julie Bowen and Ty Burrell) are struggling in every-day suburbia with their three children (including Grey Gardens’ alum Sarah Hyland as their eldest!). Meanwhile his uptight son, played by Jesse Tyler Ferguson (of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee) has just adopted a Vietnamese baby with his life-partner (Eric Stonestreet).

What most impressed me about the pilot wasn’t only it’s unique hilarity (which was practically non-stop), but the strength of the writing. Sitcoms about families have been done since Lucy told Desi that she was having a baby and in all honesty, the genre has been pretty much dead over the last few years. Lately, most of the successful network comedies focus mainly on the workplace (The Office, 30 Rock and Ugly Betty, for example). Much to my surprise and amusement, this series has resuscitated the family comedy.

Most shows usually establish an archetype in the series’ pilot and as the writers and actors feel their way through the series, they begin to add emotional layers and depth. However, in this case, they’ve successfully established realized characters and have cast them with actors with impeccable timing. (Even the youngsters playing the kids!) The writers have taken enough care in building the characters that the humor comes out of every day interaction and their personality flaws. (Especially Ty Burrell’s unpredictable and hilarious attempt at being a hipster fatherand who successfully embarrasses everyone around him). They’ve also managed to show how this dysfunctional unit successfully functions as family. This is especially evident in the touching, albeit hilarious, dinner scene where the two men introduce the baby to everyone.

I don’t think I’ve enjoyed a series pilot this much since Arrested Development came on the air in 2003. And this from the network that dragged out the mindnumbingly unfunny According to Jim for eight seasons, no less! While musing about the pilot with the irrepressible KariG and realized that it was the first series I’ve liked on ABC since the woefully shortlived The Job, and that was canceled in 2002. Plus, there’s something comforting about having Ed O’Neill back on TV as a curmudgeonly father. I have high hopes for the future of the show, and actually am interested in seeing what happens next week.

The series airs Wednesday nights at 9PM on ABC. You can check out the pilot here.

West Coast "Hair" – 1968

Here is an appearance of the original Los Angeles company of Hair, recreating the Broadway staging of ‘Aquarius,” “Hair,” and “The Flesh Failures/Let the Sunshine In” on the “Smothers Brothers” in 1968. Gerome Ragni and James Rado lead the company, which includes future Tony winner Delores Hall as Dionne.

Isn’t it rich…?

One of the worst kept secrets in recent months has been the casting of the first-ever Broadway revival of Stephen Sondheim & Hugh Wheeler’s Tony winning A Little Night Music. Murmurs of Angela Lansbury as Madame Armfeldt have been swirling since the beginning of the summer (if not before) and the rest of the actors’ names have been leaked out at one point or another. Then last week, Michael Douglas let it slip on Live with Regis and Kelly that his wife Catherine Zeta-Jones would headlining as Desiree Armfeldt. (He immediately mused whether or not he was supposed to say anything).

Well, it’s been announced that the musical will open at the Walter Kerr Theatre on December 13, with previews starting November 24. Catherine Zeta-Jones and Angela Lansbury will indeed headline the revival, as well as Aaron Lazar as Carl-Magnus, Erin Davie as Charlotte, Leigh Ann Larkin as Petra and the sole holdout from the Menier revival, Alexander Hanson, will reprise his Olivier-nominated turn as Fredrik for NY audiences.

All due respect to the headlining divas, but the most interesting piece of casting is that of Anne Egerman. The role is being portrayed by Ramona Mallory, who is taking on the role created by her mother, Victoria Mallory, in the original Broadway company. It doesn’t stop there: her father is Mark Lambert, who originated the role of Henrik.

I’m always grateful for the chance to see A Little Night Music, but had hoped that the original orchestrations would be reconsidered. The Menier production featured new charts by Jason Carr, who was responsible for eviscerating Sunday in the Park with George to a tinhorn and kazoo. (Hyperbole, yes, but it was the major flaw in that revival). I am loathe to think that Jonathan Tunick’s sumptuous orchestrations will be streamlined by a lesser talent for the sake of cost and size. But beggars can’t be choosers (though I realize I’ve personally yet to see a Sondheim revival on Broadway that used the superlative original orchestration). I quibble, but you know I’ll be there and how!

Tickets go on sale online starting October 17, the Walter Kerr box office opens on October 19. (And of course those with Amex can get them starting September 30).

Remembering Irving Berlin

Jerome Kern was once quoted saying “Irving Berlin has no place in American music. He is American music.” Berlin, a Russian immigrant turned patriotic American, was one of the most indelible songwriters of the 20th century. His first major hit song was “Alexander’s Ragtime Band” in 1911, which made him a go-to composer on both Tin Pan Alley and Broadway. He and his partner Sam Harris built the Music Box Theatre in 1925, which is the only Broadway house ever built to accomodate the works of a songwriter. Over the course of 60 years, Berlin wrote so many songs that there is apparently some debate on the actual number (Time magazine cited 1250 as the total in 2001, but some sources put the total at 1,500). Here’s a list of 850 from Wikipedia.

The songs themselves are a part of the American fabric. For example there’s “Always,” “What’ll I Do?,” “Blue Skies,” “Puttin’ on the Ritz,” Annie Get Your Gun (“There’s No Business Like Show Business, etc), Call Me Madam (“You’re Just in Love, etc), “Easter Parade,” and “Let’s Face the Music and Dance” to name only a few. He received the Best Song Oscar in 1943 for “White Christmas,” a Tony award for Best Score in 1951 for Call Me Madam (besting that year’s Best Musical, Guys and Dolls), a Congressional Gold Medal for “God Bless America,” the Presidential Medal of Freedom, lifetime achievement Tony and Grammy Awards, among countless other honors.

Berlin died on this day 20 years ago at the age of 101. As a tribute, here are Bernadette Peters and Peter Allen leading an immense, crowd pleasing production number paying tribute to the songwriter on the 55th Annual Academy Awards in 1983:

Where have you gone, Ken Mandelbaum?

While I first really learning about theatre, I came across a couple of columnists that I began to read regularly because their columns were informative, well-written and endlessly entertaining. They were Peter Filichia and Ken Mandelbaum. I started reading them in early 2001 when I discovered that there were several Broadway sites. Once I read a column by each writer, I went back and devoured their archived writing. I learned more in those hours than I did in any classroom (ask my musical theatre professor, he enjoyed having me there as his fact checker).

Peter Filichia continues his “Diary” on Theatermania Monday, Wednesday and Friday (and I highly recommend checking it out). However, Ken Mandelbaum’s column on Broadway.com stopped abruptly in early 2006 and very little has been heard from him. Granted, it’s not surprising as he left the website as it was shifting away from promoting news and criticism and becoming more about selling tickets. Ken would offer the latest Broadway gossip, casting rumors as well as review major musicals and cast CDs, DVDs, etc. When he wasn’t doing any of the above, he was recalling shows of years past, with laser precision in his detail about everything no matter how obscure. Shortly after Ken’s departure, the website came up with its insipid “Word of Mouth” reviewing system.

Aside from his column, he also penned two books: A Chorus Line and the Musicals of Michael Bennett and probably his most substantial contribution to date: Not Since Carrie: 40 Years of Musical Flops. The latter covers major flops from 1950 through 1990/91 and manages to be very informative and funny while informing us why these shows failed. Lord knows we’ve have enough in the last 18 years to warrant an update on his behalf.

When I was discovering Patricia Routledge on the original cast album of Darling of the Day and a live recording I’d heard of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, I sent him an email asking him about her career. He sent a detailed reply; practically an entire column’s worth of information in the body a simple email. That was a year and a half ago, and he’s yet to surface in any format or venue since. His disappearance from Broadway.com, being as abrupt and unannounced (I still recall going back periodically to check to see if he had come back) left a certain void in online theatrical journalism, such that he’s even warranted his own place in the All That Chat FAQ. His older columns were archived and available, but they appear to be harder and harder to find as Broadway.com keeps reinventing itself.

Hopefully, he’s busy taking care of that update of Not Since Carrie and will be resurfacing soon. So Ken, if you read this, please come back – you’re still greatly missed.