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| re: The Confidence Man? | |
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Smeghead 06:00 pm UTC 01/03/08 |
| In reply to: | re: The Confidence Man? - rockfenris2005 01:19 pm UTC 01/03/08 |
| The reason for all the reprises in Act II is because Jim quit the project and Ray had to finish it with the music that was finished. I can understand how it wouldn't appeal to mass audiences, because it isn't a spectacle or a movie or a simple idea. It basically harkens back to Showboat and Music Man and that type of show. I think the main thing that would help make it accessible to audiences is a song at the begining that explains to the audience what the Confidence Man is doing on board and what he hopes to achieve... an "I want" song. I suggested to Ray it should go after New Orleans and before Pitch Penny. You could even show the Con Man singing it as he puts on the Blackface make up which would eliminate an incredibly impossible Quick Change. Ray wrote lyrics for 2 new songs. He put the first before New Orleans and the last a sum up song before Masquerade... Do they work? I don't know. I think they don't really explain completely what he wants... especially to an audience not willing to think... Will it ever go anywhere... I doubt it... but it would be nice to see it given a shot. I had an amazing time working with it given my very limited resources in actors, musicians, etc. > > I've heard/seen tonnes of musicals, and I fkn LOVE the > book & lyrics for "The Confidence Man". The wordplay is > exquisite, the rhyming is divine, and the story always > left me on the edge of my seat. I think TCM gets "bad > press" because the original book was so cold and > confusing. I tried to read the original book and I gave > up, more or less 6/7 chapters into it. I love the script, > always have, always will. I think it would have been > successful in 1960s/70s era Broadway, but not so much > today with all the movie musicals, and stuff like "Spring > Awakening" (which Jim and Ray were *ACTUALLY* going to > work on at some point!! Which would have been totally > fking crazy!!) > > I like the new idea, as a selling point. What I don't like > about TCM is Jim's sometimes "failing to live up to" Ray's > lyrics. I think another composer could do a much better > job than Jim, or I think Jim could write at least 3 new > tunes. There are too many reprises in the 2nd act. There > needed to be a song for TCM, an "I want" song of sorts, > and a Melville soliloquy. On the whole, I'm a fan of the > musical and I believe it can be done if it has a really > capitol production team. > > I would have liked to have seen your attempt with a $15 > million budget. > > > I think the new idea is not my type of thing. Ray wants > > his daughter to write the new script with the Confidence > > Man travelling down to New Orleans for some type of > > disaster relief paralleling the Katrina disaster. I think > > it adds an unecessary layer and seems to be more Bush > > Bashing than proper script. But of course I'd have to see > > it. I never understood what was so hard to understand > > about the story. I fully understood it the first time I > > heard the Queens College audio recording with no visuals > > to go along with it. > > > > > > > > > I don't, the story's too complicated for people to fully > > > > follow. > > > > > > I've never gotten through the full book. I enjoyed the > > > script. Ray's daughter had a brilliant idea which I > > > thought could have made it really something special, or > > > definitely something more than it was? Though I like it > > > was, it's just that it has to find a particular niche in > > > NYC. | |
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