Revivals: The '90s
The '90s also produced the most successful revival in Broadway history. This was, of course, Chicago, one of the few New York revivals to be reproduced around the world. The Chicago revival functioned very much like a new musical. Indeed, it seemed as if the show had never been mounted before, so enthusiastic were the reviews and the audiences that flocked to it.
Directed by Walter Bobbie, everything about this Chicago was a result of the fact that it was first staged by City Center's Encores! series of musicals in concert. That explains the production's stripped-down staging, with an on-stage orchestra, little scenery, and basic-black costuming. The origin at Encores! also explains why the Fred Ebb/Bob Fosse book was trimmed.
The book abridgement was the only thing that qualified this Chicago as a revisal. But the decade's most successful revival beyond Chicago represented a radical rewrite. Indeed, when I first encountered the Donmar Warehouse production of Cabaret in its television version, I was amazed by how substantially the dialogue veered away from an original I knew almost by heart.
It was this version, with further rewrites, that proved a blockbuster for New York's Roundabout Theatre Company. And one has only to compare the published scripts of the '66 and the '98 Cabarets to see how much the dialogue and tunestack have been altered. One did feel, however, that the new script was everywhere attuned to Sam Mendes and Rob Marshall's staging. One wonders how this revision will play in a different staging, just as one imagines that many stagings of the new script will borrow heavily from the Roundabout version.
It was probably the three-year run of the 1992 revival of Guys and Dolls that solidified the musical revival as big Broadway business. That's because it opened during a fertile season of new musicals that included Crazy for You and Jelly's Last Jam, but proved to be more successful than any of the new entries. True, this Guys and Dolls didn't have the endurance of the two Kander and Ebb revivals. But during its first year or so, it caused a sensation that made producers think more seriously about bringing back classic titles. It should also be noted that this Guys and Dolls, starring Nathan Lane, Faith Prince, and Peter Gallagher, was overly cartoonish. But then pushing material to its limits has been a trend in musical revivals of recent years. The hyped-up nature of this Guys and Dolls may have been partly responsible.
The most beautiful of the '90s revivals was Carousel, which came to Lincoln Center Theater via London's Royal National Theatre. Nicholas Hytner's production seemed to take as its keynote hero Billy Bigelow's comment that people are "a couple of specks of nothin'" in the vast cosmos. With the help of Bob Crowley's designs, the show's real world and its realm of fantasy were gorgeously realized, making an always touching show into an emotionally devastating one.
As with Guys and Dolls, the material of Carousel was only slightly altered. But director Hal Prince was allowed to assemble a new version of Show Boat for the Canadian Livent revival that hit Broadway the same year 1994 as Carousel. Of course, Show Boat had been altered for every one of its previous returns. But the latest Show Boat was a beauty, imaginatively updating the Kern-Hammerstein classic in a staging that flowed as inexorably as the show's "ol' man river." Carousel and Show Boat will, of course, be revived again in coming decades. But new productions will have to do battle with memories of the '90s incarnations.
The '90s saw the decline of the star-driven revival, although a few examples surfaced. In the middle of the decade, Carol Channing returned to Broadway for her final run in Hello, Dolly! At the beginning of the decade, Topol made his first Broadway appearance in Fiddler on the Roof, repeating his London and screen success. Raul Julia and Sheena Easton were less than wonderful in Man of La Mancha 1992. Nell Carter was pretty much at sea as Miss Hannigan in Annie 1997. All of these productions recreated at least a semblance of the original Broadway staging and choreography and adhered closely to the original texts, even if Annie underwent cuts during its run to make it more accessible for young audiences.
Other star-driven productions started from scratch. A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum came back because Nathan Lane was ready for a role he was born to play. And Lane, along with his successor, Whoopi Goldberg, made the revival a financial success, even if Jerry Zaks' staging was unremarkable. Matthew Broderick was the raison d'etre of the How to Succeed.... revival, even if he couldn't quite see the production into the profit column. Robert Goulet moved up from Lancelot to Arthur in a miserable Broadway return of Camelot. Cathy Rigby had three separate Broadway runs in Peter Pan.
Bernadette Peters was the draw at Annie Get Your Gun 1999, but her production represented one of the decade's major revisals, with Peter Stone's new book and the shifting around, dropping, or restoring of musical numbers. It was not a particularly happy arrangement, at least not until Reba McEntire joined the company and made it all work. Neil Simon filed a major revision for the second Broadway revival of Little Me, and while Martin Short did everything possible for it, the notion of combining the roles of older and younger Belle for one actress Faith Prince proved less than helpful. Among the most miscast of revival stars was the willowy, lovely Sarah Jessica Parker, playing the ungainly Princess Winnifred of Once Upon a Mattress.
Radical revision was the order of the day for several other classic pieces. Director Jack O'Brien wrote a substantially new script for Damn Yankees, one that was apparently approved by 107-year-old co-author and original director George Abbott. But the new script removed much of that which its ball players sang about --heart-- with Bebe Neuwirth a decidedly chilly Lola. Even with Jerry Lewis replacing first devil Victor Garber, the mostly well-received production failed to pay off.
Much less troubling was the extensively revised You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown 1999, which, with the help of director Michael Mayer, dropped about half of the original material, added a new half much of it from comic strips that appeared after the musical's 1967 premiere, and acquired two-and-a-half new songs by Andrew Lippa. Even the characer of Patty was dropped in favor of Charlie Brown's sister, Sally. The result was underrated and failed quickly at the box office.
The same year's Kiss Me, Kate was more extensively rewritten by John Guare than most people realized, even if the overall structure and musical program of the original were maintained. This Kate was satisfactory at best, but the quality of the score and the fact that a revival was overdue helped the production to box-office success.
Even The Sound of Music 1998 was considerably revised, some of the changes reflecting the film version, others made to accommodate Susan H. Schulman's disappointing staging. More Rodgers and Hammerstein: By way of Australia, The King and I got its first Broadway revival for two decades without the presence of Yul Brynner. And it was one of the decade's most satisfying rethinkings, the sets and costumes splendid, the character of Anna Donna Murphy visibly struggling with her new surroundings in Siam. Even The King and I was not free from alterations, particularly to the tunestack.
One of the must overpraised revivals of the decade was The Most Happy Fella, which Lincoln Center Theatre picked up for Broadway from a Goodspeed Opera House revival. Played to the accompaniment of two pianos and with disappointing vocals, one of Broadway's lushest and most operatic scores failed to get its due, and the occasional dramatic insights offered by Gerald Gutierrez's staging were insufficient compensation. The '90s saw two other revivals based on Goodspeed productions: An underpowered Gentlemen Prefer Blondes was roundly dismissed and disappeared quickly. And David Merrick imported an all-black version of Oh, Kay! with a pre-Stokes Brian Mitchell, a new book, and enjoyable musical numbers that weren't quite enough to keep the show going beyond a couple of months.
Also somewhat overpraised was Roundabout's pleasant revival of She Loves Me, directed by Scott Ellis. As had been the case with the original Broadway production, the commercial transfer of this revival which stuck fairly closely to the original text was a financial failure. The Roundabout also offered a respectable if unremarkable 1776, another commercial failure when it transferred, and a mediocre Company that was announced for a transfer that went unfulfilled. This Company had a substantially revised text and tunestack which has apparently become the standard performance version.
Another institutional company, the New York Shakespeare Festival/Public Theater, mounted a faithful On the Town that was a notable financial flop for the company. Director George C. Wolfe was unable to elicit from his young performers the heightened, revue-like performance style required, and a famous dance show was offered with disappointing choreography.
In a staging not markedly different from his New York City Opera version, Hal Prince's Candide with its Hugh Wheeler book got an unnecessary revival by Livent that met with audience apathy. Even the perennial Joseph and His Technicolor Dreamcoat failed to thrive in a production imported from London. My Fair Lady had its third Broadway revival in a controversial minimalist staging that boasted Richard Chamberlain as Higgins and a wonderful Eliza from newcomer Melissa Errico.
One of the biggest revival hits of the '90s was also one of the most critically lambasted. Although reviewers condemned it, "the Tommy Tune production" directed and choreographed by Jeff Calhoun of Grease played for four years. The success of this production indicated the international strength of a work that you just can't keep audiences away from.