sjrozan

Saw the City Opera production of this show last night. Enjoyed myself, though I can't say I loved the production. Paul Sorvino was not in good voice, and the whole thing was low energy. Tom Savage, who's a former actor and has done the show, says it moves faster on Broadway than on an opera stage, and I think it needed that. But I do want to comment on this: the emotional nuance, the show's understanding of the characters and how complex peoples' feelings are, was incredibly sophisticated. I'm not sure what accounts for it: Frank Loesser, who wrote it, was also responsible for GUYS AND DOLLS, which, though it's one of my favorite shows, is pretty straightforward boy-gets-girl stuff. He also did HOW TO SUCCEED IN BUSINESS WITHOUT REALLY TRYING, though. So maybe it was the times, or maybe it's the times now -- I don't think a musical with this many loose ends, this level of tentativeness and lack of happy ending for some of the characters would get very far on Broadway today.

sjrozan I'm a writer, at work on my 11th book. This blog is a record of random and less-random thoughts. If you want to know more about me, check my website, linked here. I also had a blog going from spring through late fall 2004 about the publishing process for my 9th book, ABSENT FRIENDS. That blog's called "Progress" and you can find the link here. I won't make any more entries but I'm leaving it up in case anyone's interested; the process is more or less the same from book to book.
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Previous Entry :: Next Entry Read/Post Comments (4)		2006-03-24 12:25 PM Most Happy Fella Saw the City Opera production of this show last night. Enjoyed myself, though I can't say I loved the production. Paul Sorvino was not in good voice, and the whole thing was low energy. Tom Savage, who's a former actor and has done the show, says it moves faster on Broadway than on an opera stage, and I think it needed that. But I do want to comment on this: the emotional nuance, the show's understanding of the characters and how complex peoples' feelings are, was incredibly sophisticated. I'm not sure what accounts for it: Frank Loesser, who wrote it, was also responsible for GUYS AND DOLLS, which, though it's one of my favorite shows, is pretty straightforward boy-gets-girl stuff. He also did HOW TO SUCCEED IN BUSINESS WITHOUT REALLY TRYING, though. So maybe it was the times, or maybe it's the times now -- I don't think a musical with this many loose ends, this level of tentativeness and lack of happy ending for some of the characters would get very far on Broadway today. Read/Post Comments (4) Previous Entry :: Next Entry Back to Top