not logged in
| re: Hopefully Not Lost But Sad About Ray Errol Fox | |
Posted by:  |
rockfenris2005 05:41 am UTC 03/14/11 |
| In reply to: | re: Hopefully Not Lost But Sad About Ray Errol Fox - steven_stuart 03:41 am UTC 03/13/11 |
> > There have been three productions: > > > > • Manhattan Theatre Club in 1976 or 1977. This was a > > cabaret version and Mary Steenburgen, the famous actress > > who was married to Malcolm McDowell, worked as a waitress > > on this production. > > I am a fan of both. Did you see the film about the time > machine that they were both in? I wonder why they got > divorced. You know so much about the history of theatre. > How did you find that wonderful little piece of > information? Oh. Ray mentions that in the liner notes for the 2003 album. > > > • Queen's College in December 1986. This was the first > > full production and the only way you'll ever hear the > > complete score. This is where the VHS comes from. > > • Beechmont Players in Cincinnati, Ohio in 2004. Smeghead > > and his wife were behind this production and I thought > > they did a brilliant job. > > Are there You Tube clips of these two productions? There's nothing, as far as I know. I once saw the poster for the cabaret version on eBay and I wish that I had bought it... !!! > > > And of course there's the CD from 2003 with all proceeds > > going toward Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. > > Oh, so the album you review on Amazon is not from the 1986 > production? Even though the VHS you mentioned is. Yes, the VHS is from the 1986 production. The album is not the original cast. It's more of a concept album. The songs were cast instead of the characters. There are a lot of great performers on this album too, such as (I'm copying this from the cover) Yancey Arias, Norbert Leo Butz (the original Fiyero in "Wicked"), Chuck Cooper (he was in the original production of "Whistle down the Wind" in Washington D.C.), LaChanze (she was in "The Color Purple" on Broadway and Disney's "Hercules"), Julia Murney (she was in Andrew Lippa's "The Wild Party" and was originally going to play Magda in "Dance of the Vampires" on Broadway), Mark Nadler, Andre De Shields ("The Wiz" and "Ain't Misbehavin'", and Jim and Barry's "Rhinegold"), Eric Michael Gillett, Garrett Long, Andrea Marcovicci (she would have played the female lead in the production at the New York Shakespeare Festival which was cancelled), KT Sullivan and Terry Waldo. The arrangements on the album were based on the original orchestrations that Steve Margoshes wrote for the Queen's College production. Has > there only beeen a VHS release from the Queen's College > production? No, there hasn't. > > > According to the liner notes of the album, it was > > originally supposed to be produced at the New York > > Shakespeare Festival by Joseph Papp who, of course, did > > "Hair" and "A Chorus Line", and "More than you deserve" > > with Jim. But it was cancelled. > > Why was it cancelled by Papp? He kept taking all the leads for his other productions and finally he said to them he was cancelling the show. I'm amazed that he gave Jim the opportunity in the first place considering how well "More than you deserve" did... BTW, I have read negative > things that Papp had to say about "More Than You Deserve" > (like in the Paul Shaffer autobiography). How did it > actually do? At least it introduced Jim to Meat. > It was a flop. It lasted 63 performances but it was a flop. > > There were other attempts at mounting the production with > > Len Cariou (the original Sweeney Todd) and Howard Da Silva > > (the original Jud Fry). > > Really? Who tried to mount the Len Cariou one? I do not know. It's mentioned in the liner notes but it doesn't say who. I can > remember how big he was when Sweeny Todd opened on > Broadway. Someone must have been taking "The Confidence > Man" very seriously. Indeed. And Cariou hasn't really had a big hit since "Sweeney Todd"? After "The Confidence Man" fell apart, he did "Teddy and Alice" on Broadway and that was a flop. > > > Also, "Nocturnally yours" was the first song they ever > > wrote together, and it was then interpolated into the > > score. "Something of this masquerade may follow", which > > was written for the 1986 production, was the last song. > > They haven’t written together since. > > I heard a rumour (just a rumour) that there was some > disagreement over songs that were written for "The > Confidence Man" being used for other theatre and pop/rock > projects. > > > As far as I know, he's still working on revisions to "The > > Confidence Man" but I don't know if there will ever be a > > major production in his lifetime. I sure hope so. Ray is, > > in my opinion, a very talented lyricist and writer and a > > very generous person. I'd be thrilled if it did. > > Yes. What other shows has he worked on (if any)? Take a look at the link. He's even been nominated for an Academy Award. > > > I really wanted to see it done in Australia. I thought it > > would be something that one of the local theatre groups > > would have been interested in doing, because of how famous > > Jim’s music is, and it presented them with a rare > > opportunity, producing something that had rarely if ever > > been produced, composed by the writer of the third > > greatest selling rock album of all time. But, as usual, it > > was the same old, "Oklahoma!" next season, "My Fair Lady" > > the season after that and if they were lucky the fourth > > revival of "Les Misérables". > > Oh dear. Its amazing that you have got the funding for > "Don Claude: Cannibal Rapture" when that attitude exists. > you should be really, really proud of yourself. Oh, yes, I know. > > > Ray and I speak from time to time, I am HONOURED that he > > wants to hear about my progress, and you can read his blog > > at the link. He has recently posted an update. > > > > If you want to know more about his work, check out his bio > > on Wikipedia. That is based on a document that he wrote. > > Thats cool. He sounds like a very decent person. > > > PS. I wonder what the posters for "Rhinegold", "More than > > you deserve" and "Kid champion" were like. Has anybody > > ever seen them? > > No. Although there is a picture of a strange man in > costume on the first page of my copy of the "Rhinegold" > script. I don't know if he was part of the poster. Its not > Barry. > > > PPS. Ray doesn't like the recycling but he never mentions > > anything about it in the liner notes. But this shouldn't > > be surprising. Tim Rice was very unhappy when Andrew Lloyd > > Webber recycled the score for "Cricket" into "Aspects of > > Love" and "Sunset Boulevard". > > Didn't you say that ALW lifted an entire melody from "The > Beautiful Game" and plonked it down in "Love Never Dies"? > Yes, that is correct. The melody for "Our Kind of Love" was recycled in "Love Never Dies", but the melody was originally written for the sequel in the first place. He tried to work on the sequel in the 90s but he cancelled it and recycled the melody in "The Beautiful Game". "The Beautiful Game" was then revived as "The Boys in the Photograph" without the song, and "Love Never Dies" opened not long after. Ben Elton was involved with both shows. | |
| URL: | Link |
| reply | | |
| Previous: | re: Hopefully Not Lost But Sad About Ray Errol Fox - steven_stuart 03:41 am UTC 03/13/11 |
| Next: | re: Hopefully Not Lost But Sad About Ray Errol Fox - steven_stuart 12:32 am UTC 03/15/11 |
| Thread: |
|