Q & A: 9/22/04
A: I saw Ragtime in Toronto, Los Angeles, and New York, and very much admired and enjoyed it. The Lynn Ahrens-Stephen Flaherty score is among the strongest of the '90s. The show had certain problems which I believe were built in to adapting a novel by E.L. Doctorow in which the characters had no names and were without dialogue, the action described in a passive, distanced tone. Altering the nature of the narrative by making those figures flesh-and-blood, singing characters on a stage proved tricky.
Still, I believe that the authors Terrence McNally was the librettist managed to come up with the best possible musical version of the novel. And in addition to a magnificent physical production that probably no serious musical would be accorded these days, Ragtime boasted one of those flawless original casts, with leads that were fairly irreplaceable, even though I saw perfectly satisfactory replacements during the run.
Brian Stokes Mitchell was ideal for Coalhouse, as he tends to be a performer better suited to serious roles than to comic or whimsical parts, like the ones he played in Kiss Me, Kate and Man of La Mancha. Stokes's work was matched by that of Marin Mazzie, Audra McDonald, Peter Friedman, and several others. Garth Drabinsky's Livent provided the show with a luxurious period of development, and it showed in all aspects of the production.
Ragtime ran two years on Broadway but closed without having returned its investment. Several factors came into play here. Reviews were very divided, with at least two negative notices in The New York Times and a number of unfavorable verdicts elsewhere. The show seemed to have about as many admirers as detractors. It was also a costly production to run, so even with strong grosses, it was unable to become a financial winner.
Then too, there was the question of timing. The fact that Ragtime opened on Broadway during the same season as The Lion King proved unfortunate. The Disney blockbuster took the Best Musical prize away from Ragtime, and Ragtime was the sort of serious, weighty show that really needed to win the top award. Had the show not waited a full season between Toronto and New York, it could have arrived in town at the end of the 1996-1997 season, where it would have stood an excellent chance of beating Titanic for the Best Musical Tony.
Q: When I was a kid, I recall a musical version of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde on something like TV's Hallmark Hall of Fame. Kirk Douglas had the tile roles and the score was by Lionel Bart. Do you remember seeing it? If so, what was it like? Was a recording of it ever made?---Mark Booher
A: I don't believe it was a Hallmark Hall of Fame presentation, but the TV musical to which you refer was "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde," telecast by NBC on March 7, 1973. The cast included Douglas, Susan Hampshire, Michael Redgrave, Susan George, Donald Pleasence, and Stanley Holloway.
The mediocre program featured seven songs by Lionel Bart, along with three from After You, Mr. Hyde, a separate, stage musical version of the Robert Louis Stevenson story from which the TV production was loosely adapted. After You, Mr. Hyde had been presented by the Goodspeed Opera House in 1968, with a cast including Alfred Drake, Nancy Dussault, Christopher Hewett, and Virginia Vestoff. It had a book by Lee Thuna, music by Norman Sachs, and lyrics by Mel Mandel.
The official credit for the TV "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" bills Bart, Sachs, and Mandel for the score and Sherman Yellen The Rothschilds for the screenplay. I don't believe that an album of the score was released.
Q: I attended a preview performance of Dracula, and while I'll keep what I thought of the show to myself, there is something about it that I found truly amazing. At the beginning of the performance, rather than the usual loudspeaker anouncement to silence cell phones and what not, the director, Des McAnuff, made the anoucement through a microphone, adding that they might have to stop the show in case what he called a "trainwreck" occured, and that intermission would last approxomately 25 minutes. Lucky for them, they never had to stop the show, but it still boggles my mind why a show that is so clearly in need of more rehearsal time would open itself to the public in those conditions. Also, reading Melissa Errico's biography always comes as a surprise to me. I just don't uderstand how someone as talented as her could take part in so many flops.---Jc1985
A: Dracula has the sort of complex physical production that required considerable preview time to perfect. Because the production delayed its previews more than once, it didn't have a great luxury of time -just over two weeks-to preview before the press came.
On several occasions, I've seen pre-curtain announcements like the one made by McAnuff at Dracula. What was unusual about the Dracula situation was that McAnuff kept making these announcements throughout the first two weeks of previews, right up until the press performances began. And indeed, on at least one occasion, the show was briefly stopped owing to some technical difficulty.
As for Errico, she remains one of my favorites, and it's true that she hasn't had great luck, what with Anna Karenina, High Society, Amour, and now Dracula. Her My Fair Lady revival fared better, thanks to a pre-Broadway tour. She had a recent success with the small-scale off-Broadway revival of Finian's Rainbow. And she has distinguished herself in other venues, like Encores! a triumphant One Touch of Venus and the Kennedy Center Sondheim Celebration in Sunday in the Park With George. I believe Errico is generally regarded as one of the most talented leading ladies around these days. So one suspects that she will eventually find her way into a success.
Q: I have the Sony CD of Cole Porter's television musical Aladdin, starring Cyril Ritchard and Anna Maria Alberghetti. I recently came across an LP of the same Aladdin, with the same cover but with a different, mostly British cast. Was there a British TV version of the same Aladdin?---Joseph C.
A: The LP you came across was DRG's domestic release of the London stage cast recording of Aladdin. DRG seems to have borrowed the cover art from Columbia's American TV album; in England, the London stage cast recording had a color photo on the cover.
In 1959, English producer Harold Fielding had had a success by picking up Rodgers and Hammerstein's recent American TV musical Cinderella and giving it a stage premiere at the London Coliseum. Fielding did likewise in 1960, at the same theatre, with the recent American TV musical Aladdin, this time with songs by Cole Porter. Among the cast was the superb soprano Doretta Morrow The King and I, Kismet in Alberghetti's role. To augment the score for the stage version, songs from Out of This World "I Am Loved," "Cherry Pies Ought to Be You", Mexican Hayride "There Must Be Someone for Me", and Red, Hot and Blue! "Ridin' High" were added to the Aladdin TV score.
For the record, there are two other London cast recordings called Aladdin. One features pop star Cliff Richard and songs from his London Palladium production full title, Aladdin and His Wonderful Lamp, and the other is Sandy Wilson's Lyric Hammersmith 1980 Christmas musical Aladdin, featuring Elisabeth Welch and Edward Hibbert.
Q: Is the Broadway Angel recording of Annie Get Your Gun starring Mary Martin a stage cast recording or a television cast recording?---Darren
A: A bit of both, actually. From 1947 to 1949, Mary Martin starred in the hugely successful national tour of Annie Get Your Gun, playing a role created on Broadway by Ethel Merman. It was one of two roles Martin and Merman shared, the other being Dolly Levi.
In 1957, Martin starred for the Los Angeles and San Francisco Civic Light Operas in two revivals, Annie Get Your Gun co-starring John Raitt and South Pacific co-starring Giorgio Tozzi. To coincide with the Annie Get Your Gun revival, Capitol made a recording of the Irving Berlin score with Martin and Raitt the only soloists. Even if it's not quite a cast album, it's a charming disc, with both stars in excellent vocal form, even if Martin's mellow Annie Oakley may take some getting used to for those familiar with Merman's brasher account.
Following the Civic Light Opera engagement, Martin and Raitt repeated their Annie Get Your Gun on NBC, for a telecast on November 27, 1957. The 1993 Broadway Angel CD reissue of Capitol's Martin-Raitt recording was incorrectly billed as the live recording of the 1957 NBC TV production. But it was actually recorded in a studio and released prior to the telecast.
Q: I know the Bells Are Ringing song "Better Than a Dream" was heard in the film version, but it's not on the original Broadway cast recording. Was it cut from the stage version?---Martin Roy
A: A duet for the characters of Ella Peterson and Jeff Moss, "Better Than a Dream" was actually added during the long run of the original Broadway production, apparently at some point during 1958. It's a bit surprising that with all her other songs and scenes, Bells star Judy Holliday was willing to take on yet another musical number during the run. But perhaps it made things more interesting for her.
In any case, "Better Than a Dream" was strong enough to be put into the film version, although the film omitted another Ella-Jeff song, the beautiful "Long Before I Knew You." The 2001 Broadway revival of Bells Are Ringing allowed Faith Prince and Mark Kudisch to sing both "Better Than a Dream" and "Long Before I Knew You," just as in the latter part of the first Broadway run.
Q: Which musicals of the new season are you most looking forward to, and which are you not looking forward to?---Lee in Boston
A: Ideally, critics should approach productions without biases, but it's only natural that, based on all that we've seen and heard over the years, we develop certain likes and dislikes. In terms of new musicals, I'm looking forward to Dirty Rotten Scoundrels because of its cast and because of the previous contributions of several members of its creative team.
I haven't been a fan of the previous work of Adam Guettel, but I am looking forward to seeing and hearing The Light in the Piazza because it seems like such a good source for a romantic musical. One hopes that Little Women will be a warm, touching, traditional show, although the Little Women song "Astonishing" performed by Sutton Foster at Broadway on Broadway sounded rather generic. I would expect Chitty Chitty Bang Bang to be harmless, silly fun if not taken too seriously.
Not being a Monty Python fam, I am somewhat wary of Spamalot. Because I'm not a pop music fan and because I prefer musicals with original scores, I am less enthusiastic about Good Vibrations and All Shook Up. I don't know quite what to expect of Brooklyn, although what I've heard of the score on the four-track CD sampler is clearly not in a style I favor.
In terms of the revivals, things are tricky for me. Of the four titles apparently set for the season, I saw the original productions of all of them, from Sweet Charity and The Wiz to Pacific Overtures and La Cage aux Folles. In the case of Charity, I also have the Broadway revival of 1986 to strengthen my memories of the original staging, which it recreated. There is the inevitable challenge for these new productions of measuring up to the glories of the original productions.
Q: I know that both Judy Tyler and William Johnson, two of the stars of Pipe Dream, died untimely deaths within a couple of years of the closing of the show. Miss Tyler along with her new husband were killed in a car accident soon after she wrapped Jailhouse Rock with Elvis Presley. How did William Johnson die just before his forty-first birthday? Also, was he married to Shirl Conway at the time of his death?---Ted Williams
A: Pipe Dream played from November, 1955 to June, 1956. According to Theatre World, William Johnson, 41, died suddenly of a heart attack on March 6, 1957, at his home in New Jersey. I'm not sure of his marital status at the time. Judy Tyler, 24, died on July 3, 1957, in an automobile accident near Billy the Kid, Wyoming.
Q: Now that we finally have Call Me Madam on DVD, is there any chance we'll get lucky and get Where's Charley? and Oh What a Lovely War! in the near future?---Mark Booher
A: It's always hard to predict such matters. I thought titles like Call Me Madam and New Faces were long shots for release, and they both came out this year. Some time ago, I had heard that Lovely War was on the list for release in the next year or so, but I'm not sure where it stands just now.
I'm less optimistic about Where's Charley? It has been rumored that Jo Sullivan Loesser is not in favor of its being reissued. I can't see why not, as it's a charming film, and preserves a major musical-theatre star in his best stage role. I don't believe that reissuing the Where's Charley? film which has never been released in any form on DVD would in any way damage the chances of future stage or concert mountings of the show.
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