MUSICAL MAYHEM: MY TOP TWENTY-FIVE
MUSICALS
The Honor Roll - Part 7
After a glorious month relaxing and escaping
a cold Chicago February in beautiful Isla Verde, Puerto Rico, we're back in
Chicago and instead of lounging on the beach, I'm dealing with a prickly March
cold. Bleh.
In life, sometimes there are ties, instances
where the choices presented don't result in a definitive winner or loser, so to
speak, i.e. a draw. And so, as in life, in my Musical Honor Roll, instead of
fifteen shows, I have sixteen because I simply could not choose which show
would drop off the list to accommodate the newest addition. I guess this means
I should change the title to "Musical Mayhem: My Top Twenty-Six
Musicals," but that sounds, I don't know, indecisive or something, so I
won't. Hey, it's my blog!
The two musicals I'll write about today are
different in style and format. One is a very traditional affair, but with a
surprising dollop of anarchic social commentary. The other is bracingly fresh
and new, yet it proudly displays an anarchic smattering of good, old-fashioned
Broadway musical. Both feature family as a theme. In one, the search for a
family. In the other, an exploration of a troubled, dysfunctional family. And
both shows feature girls as protagonists.
Coffee? Check. Let's begin.
FUN HOME – Book and Lyrics by Lisa Kron, Music by Jeanine
Tesori
Fun
Home made
theatre history with Lisa Kron's and Jeanine Tesori's win for the Tony Award
for Best Score as the first all-female writing duo to win the coveted prize.
Lisa Kron won the Tony for Best Book and Fun
Home itself won Best Musical and won the most Tony Awards of any musical in
the 2014-2015 season (five Tony Awards all total), every one of them richly
deserved. Fun Home has been called
"groundbreaking." That's a mighty powerful word, but in this case,
it's appropriate. Based on the graphic novel by Alison Bechdel, Fun Home told the compelling story of
her family, a family that masked their emotions and their selves. The entire
show is told in flashback by our narrator (Alison) and focuses on two periods
in her life: one as a young 10-year-old girl (Small Alison), in which she is
just starting to become aware of her sexual identity and the other as a college freshman
(Medium Alison), in which she begins to explore her lesbian identity,
eventually coming out to her parents. Within this framework, Kron and Tesori
explore the complexities of an unsatisfying marriage, burgeoning lesbian sexuality,
closeted male homosexuality, suicide, and a desperation to make everything
appear normal. Told with courageous and unblinking honesty, Fun Home is a perfect example of an
adult musical that could convert non-musical fans into musical fans. I have
long been a fan of Jeanine Tesori. Her scores for Caroline, or Change, Shrek, and Thoroughly
Modern Millie have long delighted me. Her score for Fun Home is arguably her finest to date. Lisa Kron's book and
lyrics are stylish, compelling and always human. In staging and performance,
this is unlike any musical I've seen and yet at the same time, and here's the
anarchic smattering of good, old-fashioned Broadway musical, it is comfortingly
familiar and has at least one smashing ballad that would do Traditional
Broadway Musical proud. Thrilling stuff.
September,
2015. I don't even know where to begin. Winner of the 2015 Tony Award for Best
Musical, and rightly so, this remarkable show was
funny, sad, joyful, and had the audience in the palm of its hand. There were
moments I had to remind myself to breathe. I'm not normally fond of
in-the-round staging, but Sam Gold's direction was damn close to perfection.
The design elements were superb. Michael Cerveris' Tony-winning performance was
poignant, desperate, and ultimately touchingly sad. Judy Kuhn, as his wife, was
quietly stalwart and devastated us all with her big eleven o'clock number,
"Days and Days," a completely stunning number that every diva should
have in her/his repertoire. Beth Malone,
Sydney Lucas and Lauren Patten (subbing for Emily Skeggs) were affecting as
Alison, each in their own ways, with young Lucas particularly a standout with
her wonderful "Ring of Keys." (And, yes, it's even better live than
it was on the Tony Awards broadcast.) Roberta Colindrez was a life force as Medium
Alison's lover, Joan. And props to the rest of the outstanding cast Zell Steele
Morrow and Oscar Williams (as the young Bechdel brothers) and Joel Perez in the
other adult male roles. Thank you to everyone involved for creating this
magnificent work and sharing it with us. What a fantastic way to celebrate my
birthday! This should be at the very top of everyone's bucket list. - at Circle
in the Square, New York
ANNIE – Book by
Thomas Meehan, Music by Charles Strouse, Lyrics by Martin Charnin
Annie? Really? You're
joking, right? Yes, Annie. Really.
No, I'm not joking. Here's why. About one-third of the way into the
first act, the ensemble launches into a song called "We'd Like to Thank
You" and suddenly this musical about hard-knock-life orphans and sun that
will come out tomorrow has a social conscience. With its sharply pointed lyrics
and song-and-dance staging that is the antithesis of the bluntly political
lyrics, the tenor of the show darkens a bit and sends the show into a different
category. Oh, it's still loads of fun with lots and lots of heartwarming
sunshine, but with this number, Messrs. Strouse, Charnin and Meehan make sure
the adults have a little something to chew on, a little anarchic seriousness
that is bracing, unexpected and necessary to keep the show from crossing the
line into saccharine kiddie fare. And as if that wasn't enough, there's the
glorious "You're Never Fully Dressed Without a Smile" that opens Act
Two, the love song to New York City, "N.Y.C," the unjustly underrated
and absolutely beautiful "Something Was Missing," and finally a
cheer-inducing, let's-scream-stomp our
feet-and-in-general-carry-on-like-there's-no-tomorrow showstopper in "Easy
Street." (Full disclosure: the "Tomorrow" reprise scene with FDR
in the White House momentarily derails the show with a dose of icky cuteness. I
kind of cringe every time I see it. It's really the only thing I don't like
about the show.) The book is tight, the score rock-solid and, by giving these
orphaned little girls some sassy attitude, makes the boys in Oliver! look like a bunch of whiny
wimps. "Please, sir, I want some more." Oh, whatever, dude. Let me
put it this way…you wouldn't want to run into any of Miss Hannigan's girls on
the playground, if you catch my drift, and that is precisely why Annie, nearly forty years after it took
Broadway by storm, is quite possibly the most produced show in Music Theatre
International's catalog. Redheads rock!
Before Annie.
After Annie opened. Luckily for the producers there are the same number of letters in "Alvin" as there are in "Annie."
Standing room...$5.00! Even taking inflation into account, that was still a bargain. If standing room tickets were sold in numerical sequence, this means that 1161 standing room tickets were sold between my first and second visits to Annie.
May,
1977. Mother's Day, 1977. Judging by the makeup of the audience that filled the
Alvin Theatre that Sunday afternoon, it appeared that every gay man in New York
City treated Mom to Broadway's newest smash hit. Annie, you see, had opened just two weeks earlier and it was the
absolute hottest ticket in town. Luckily for me, I managed to snag a Standing
Room ticket and was able to find my perch right off the center aisle with a
nice, clear, unobstructed view of the stage. The lights dimmed, the overture
started, and I knew instantly that I was in for a treat. And what a treat!
Let's talk about that original cast. Andrea McArdle, the 13-year-old wunderkind
playing the title role, had a Garland-esque set of pipes that rang throughout
the theatre, but also an assured way with her lines and a stage presence
unusual for one so young. Reid Shelton was a sturdy, brusque, but eventually,
tender Daddy Warbucks. Sandy Faison, Robert Fitch, Barbara Erwin, Raymond
Thorne (a doppelgänger for FDR), and especially a young, vibrant Laurie
Beechman as A Star To Be made up the excellent supporting cast. With wonderful
settings, costumes and lighting by David Mitchell, Theoni V. Aldredge and Judy
Rasmuson, respectively, Annie was a
treat for the eyes. Martin Charnin's direction was effortless and Peter
Gennaro's choreography was spot-on, especially with his iconic staging of
"Easy Street." But when all is said and done, it was Dorothy
Loudon's oversized, demonically-possessed, balls-out performance as Miss
Hannigan that stole the show and showed the Alvin audience beyond a shadow of a
doubt what a true star performance was. The audience reaction after "Easy
Street" was deafening and Loudon's curtain call was twice that. Weren't
all those moms lucky to have such considerate and loving sons?? – at the Alvin
Theatre, New York
Sidebar: Annie dominated the musical Tony Awards in 1977 winning seven,
including Best Musical. Loudon's win as Best Actress in a Musical put her
career back on track after a promising start that somewhat fizzled out. After Annie, she would star in Michael
Bennett's ill-fated Ballroom, replace
Angela Lansbury in a critically-acclaimed performance as Mrs. Lovett in Sweeney Todd, play opposite Katharine
Hepburn on Broadway and on the road in Ernest Thompson's slight The West Side Waltz, and give one the
most hysterical performances I have ever seen as Dotty Otley in Noises Off. She became a fixture on Tony
Awards broadcasts and usually stole the show. But her admittedly broad
performing style didn't work in a poorly-received Jerry's Girls, with some critical barbs aimed at her. And in 1990,
the highly anticipated Annie 2: Miss
Hannigan's Revenge closed after its disastrous Washington D.C. tryout,
instantly becoming part of theatre lore. After that, she retreated from
Broadway for nearly thirteen years, except for a brief run in a specialty holiday offering called Comedy Tonight. In 2002, she was cast in a Lincoln Center revival of Dinner at Eight. She played only one
preview and then withdrew under doctor's orders. She died less than a year
later of cancer. I loved her. A true loss for the theatre. Orphan Danielle
Brisebois, the youngest of the lot, became somewhat of a media darling and
gained recognition for her work on All in
the Family and Archie Bunker's Place.
She's now best-known for being a singer/songwriter and was nominated for a 2015
Academy Award for Best Original Song. Laurie Beechman was a much loved Broadway and cabaret performer and recording artist who was probably best known for being
the longest-running Grizabella in Cats,
playing the role for over four years on tour and in New York, returning again
and again to the Winter Garden for return engagements. Tragically, she died of
ovarian cancer at the age of 44. An off-Broadway theatre is named in her honor.
March,
1978. Traveling with friends for a theatre weekend, I, flawless friend that I
am, got up at an unholy hour and arrived at the Alvin Theatre at 6:30 AM,
hoping to grab three Standing Room tickets for Annie's Saturday evening performance. I was about the tenth person in line. At
six-bloody-thirty in the morning! (I suspect something similar goes on every
day now at the Richard Rodgers for Hamilton.)
By the time my friends arrived with coffee and doughnuts at 7:30, the line had
grown to about fifty people and the box office wouldn't open for another 2 ½
hours. We got our tickets, yay us. I don't know about the dozens of other
people who were lined up all the way to 8th Avenue by the time the box office
opened. I'm happy to report that Annie
was just as good the second time around with Loudon handily demonstrating why
she won the Tony the previous June. Former orphan Shelley Bruce was now playing
Annie in a solid performance. She may have lacked McArdle's sheer power, but
she was adorable and had the audience in love with her. Sarah Jessica Parker
was playing July. Little did anyone know back then that she would become a
hugely popular television/fashion/style icon. Annie would run for 2377 performances and make a crapload of money
for all involved. – at the Alvin Theatre, New York
The original Chicago cast. This cast opened at the Arie Crown and then transferred to the Shubert.
The return cast.
The barn called the Arie Crown Theatre. Thankfully, it has fallen out of favor for touring musicals.
May, 1979; July,
1979; October, 1980. The First National Company of Annie rolled into Chicago twice. During its first, quite long, stay
in Chicago, it had the distinction of being the very rare instance where a show
transferred to another theatre during its run, in this case from the
inhospitable and thoroughly nasty Arie Crown Theatre to the more intimate, more
appropriate Shubert Theatre. (Yes, I truly, truly hated the Arie Crown, but for
many years, this was the spot for big
musicals because of the 4000+ seating
capacity.) For its return engagement in the fall of the 1980, it returned to
the Arie Crown. This was a faithful Xerox of the production that was still
selling out in New York with a leather-throated Annie (Mary K. Lombardi, and
later Theda Stemler) and a strong Warbucks (the veteran actor Norwood Smith).
In the cast was a young Gary Beach as Rooster Hannigan. Cast in the pivotal
role of Miss Hannigan was Ruth Kobart, the original Miss Jones of How to Succeed in Business Without Really
Trying and the original, Tony-nominated Domina in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. Perhaps I was
spoiled by Dorothy Loudon, but I didn't especially care for her. She was
thoroughly professional and on the mark, but there was just something about her
performance that I found off-putting, an opinion that didn't change over time.
I have read, however, that her portrayal was considered one of the finest
interpretations of the role, so there's that. Opinions differ. The production
on display in Chicago was entertaining and slick. I enjoyed it, but there
really wasn't anything that especially stood out. It was a first-class
production, full stop. I took my folks to Annie
when it came back to the Arie Crown and they quite liked it. My dad, however,
told me he liked The Wiz better.
Everybody's a critic! – at the Arie Crown Theatre and the Shubert Theatre,
Chicago
August,
1982. Milwaukee's Uihlein Hall (a terrific theatre) played host to the summer,
1982 engagement of the Third National Company of Annie. In those days, even Third National Company tours looked
great, and this production, despite its many months on the road looked
sparkling fresh. Understudy Jill Harwood went on as Miss Hannigan in place of
second-billed Patricia Drylie. I don't think anybody in the audience really
cared, no offense to Ms. Drylie. The big draw of this company was big-voiced
Harve Presnell as Daddy Warbucks. Presnell's claim to fame was playing Johnny
"Leadville" Brown in the original Broadway and, more famously, the
film version of The Unsinkable Molly
Brown. (For the record, he also played Rhett Butler in the London premiere
of Harold Rome's version of Gone with the
Wind.) Presnell was the
audience draw and his strong voice was his best asset and he used that asset to deliver a solid performance that was, up to this point, the best sung
Warbucks I'd seen/heard. Playing A Star to Be was a young Kim Criswell who went
on appear in numerous shows regionally, in New York and especially in the U.K.
and, to cast recording fans, is noted for her studio recordings of Broadway
musicals. Again, a first-rate, if not especially memorable production. – at
Uihlein Hall, Milwaukee, WI
Sidebar: Okay, I'm going to say
it. I hated the film of The Unsinkable Molly Brown. I especially
hated Debbie Reynolds. She was so freaking perky and cute, I just wanted to
reach through the screen and slap her silly. Sue me.
(the
following remarks are edited from earlier posts)
February,
2013. Welcome back, orphans! This was a first-rate revival of a first-rate show
and, despite some reservations, wisely played up Annie's inherent
assets. I'd read that director James Lapine wanted a fresh, slightly darker
look to this Annie. I wish I could
say this was a successful approach, but it wound up being somewhat of a
disjointed affair in both staging and performance. In performance, it was most
apparent in Katie Finneran as Miss Hannigan. The two-time Tony Award-winner expertly
chewed everything in sight, and fun as that was, I felt it was at the cost of a
real character, and, frankly, it got old after a while. Finneran worked very
hard and I so wanted to like her better. On the plus side, however, Lilla
Crawford did everything right as Annie. Vulnerable, tough, with a terrific set
of pipes (more nuanced than the Annies of the 70s and 80s who tended to favor
loud over interpretation), she won the hearts of the audience, mine included. Her
New York accent was a nice and unexpected touch. Aussie Anthony Warlow took top
honors as a superb Warbucks (actually the best I've seen). He and Crawford were
a formidable team. His "Something Was Missing" was a showstopper and
so touching you could hear sniffles in the theatre. Two negatives and they were
big negatives: 1) Andy Blankenbuehler's choreography was serviceable at best,
but nothing more. I hated his pedestrian "We'd Like to Thank You" and
his "Easy Street," frankly, was just plain dull and turned this
showstopper into just another number. 2) Sunny, as Sandy, basically
"barked" in his canine performance. Totally disinterested in doing
the work. I'm serious. The dog tanked. The gazillion kids in the audience loved
the show. Boring choreography notwithstanding, so did we. - at the Palace
Theatre, New York
July,
2013. Those frisky orphans under Miss Hannigan's loving care were just as
delightful the second time around. Taylor Richardson, the Annie cover, was
wonderful with a confidence and energy that lit up the stage. (Shortly
afterwards, she would become one of two "regular" Annies.) Anthony
Warlow remained the best Warbucks I've seen. Three cheers for the talented and
hard-working ensemble. And finally, all hail the divine Faith Prince whose
delicious portrayal of Miss Hannigan was a truly worthy successor to the
legendary Dorothy Loudon's original. Faith rocked it! Prince has an unerring
sense of how to chew scenery with abandon and yet keep everything grounded in a
character. She is a goddess. The staging and especially the choreography
unfortunately remained bland and lackluster. (Could this be why Martin Charnin
took over the direction of the currently-touring non-Equity production and
hired original choreographer Peter Gennaro's daughter Liza to choreograph?) -
at the Palace Theatre, New York
And
scene. More later!
©
2016 Jeffrey Geddes
