tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6956070.post6701262396478537198..comments2023-11-03T11:37:13.579-04:00Comments on Something Old, Nothing New: Alan Jay Lerner Hates the '80sJaime J. Weinmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15128500411119962998noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6956070.post-60374019197911672782010-07-01T16:00:57.368-04:002010-07-01T16:00:57.368-04:00I saw Katherine Hepburn in "Coco" in 197...I saw Katherine Hepburn in "Coco" in 1971. She covered the fact that she was no singer much better than did Lauren Bacall in "Applause" the previous year.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6956070.post-16489178892313428252010-06-29T21:46:47.237-04:002010-06-29T21:46:47.237-04:00It's Frank Loesser's centenary today.
Goo...It's Frank Loesser's centenary today.<br /><br />Good post. I wonder where you'd rank Jerry Bock with Strouse and the other musical theatre composers of his generation -- roughly including Cy Coleman, Stephen Sondheim, Jerry Herman, John Kander, and so onNoelhttp://www.weddingMusical.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6956070.post-70366644251297024662010-06-29T11:32:31.067-04:002010-06-29T11:32:31.067-04:00Griff:
Thanks for the comments. Some of the revie...Griff:<br /><br />Thanks for the comments. Some of the reviews from the period were a little unclear about just <i>why</i> that subplot didn't work, but I can definitely believe that with Lerner's (apparently) inept direction, nothing really worked.<br /><br />Someone once said -- on a musicals newsgroup, years ago -- that he met Lerner during previews of <i>Dance</i> and Lerner simply had no idea there was anything wrong with the show, or at least talked as if he didn't know. He comes off as pretty clueless in Strouse's book, too. <br /><br />In some ways it's too bad he didn't live to write <i>Phantom of the Opera</i> as Lloyd Webber wanted; he still had his talent (which appears in intermittent flashes in the lyrics of <i>Dance</i>) and working with Webber as producer and Prince as director, he might have been able to do something interesting. Certainly <i>Phantom</i> has enough of his favorite themes -- a man trying to shape a woman's life and career -- to engage him.Jaime J. Weinmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15128500411119962998noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6956070.post-14849404418925856872010-06-29T11:08:18.648-04:002010-06-29T11:08:18.648-04:00Jaime:
Regarding DANCE A LITTLE CLOSER's &quo...Jaime:<br /><br />Regarding DANCE A LITTLE CLOSER's "embarrassing" subplot with the gay couple who wished to be married, well, this was just handled so poorly (and cluelessly) by Lerner as director, one wanted to just look elsewhere in the theatre, think of other, better shows, hope for a sudden power failure. It could probably have be reworked and handled well by another director (who might have, of course, also suggested certain key revisions to the scenes) but it came across as altogether flatfooted -- indeed, painfully so.<br /><br />I had no issues with the idea of the Kissinger-like villain, which didn't so much betray the '70s origin of the libretto as the fact that it was penned by a New Yorker with a long memory; I daresay that this is one aspect of Lerner's book that has not really dated, at least not for many residents of Manhattan.<br /><br />Some of the songs <i>are</i> lovely. But the overall effect of the show, which I saw in previews, was stultifying; it made one want to flee the theatre. It wasn't just bad (my date regretted that we had attended the damn thing) -- I was actually surprised that the show did indeed open.<br /><br />I agree with you for the most part about Lerner's musicals sans Loewe, but I believe ON A CLEAR DAY has a lot going for it.Griffnoreply@blogger.com