We watch a lot of tv. Well, probably as much as any normal person does or maybe a little more. A few of our favorites, which we try to watch the same day or within a day or two of them airing, are NCIS, The Good Wife, Glee, The Amazing Race and Grey's Anatomy. So, with my love of musicals, when I heard a couple of months back that Grey's would be airing a special "musical" episode, I was fairly excited- mainly because I knew that two of the regular cast members on the show, Sara Ramirez and Chandra Wilson had appeared on Broadway before. Sara won a Tony for Spamalot- check out my review of the current tour of that show by scrolling down or clicking here as it has some videos of Sara rocking the house! So, I knew that Sara and Chandra would be good on the songs they were given to sing, but I had no idea how the rest of the cast would be or how effective they'd be at fitting the songs into the show.
Sara Ramirez and Jessica Capshaw
The plot of this episode, for those of you who missed it, is fairly basic- Ramirez's character, Callie, is pregnant and is in a car accident. The rest of the Doctors race to find a way to save both Callie and the baby - while Callie imagines her co-workers, who are also her closest friends, in a way she's never seen them before- singing. The episode is told almost completely from Callie's point of view - sorta an "out of body experience" as she sees what is happening around her lifeless body as the Doctor's try to save her and the baby. I loved how in the opening sequence "Callie" is singing "Chasing Cars" while pandemonium is happening around her, sorta like she is in a dream like state, singing a song to herself and knows no one else can hear you. However, when "Owen" joins in singing the same song, the look that "Callie" gives him and the scared sounds she makes perfectly shows her realization that she is actually in the real world and that something terrible has happened to her. A great and perfect way to start this episode off and to seamlessly incorporate the singing into the show.
The music the show uses is all pop songs that were either introduced on the show, or were used in pivotal moments in previous episodes - songs like "How to Save a Life" and "Chasing Cars." Nine songs in total were used, including other pop hits like "Breathe" and "The Story." All in all, a nice collection of pop songs that include upbeat ones as well as ballads that all have a former connection to the series.
Kevin McKidd
Before the episode aired, some people were calling it Glee's Anatomy, which I thought was pretty humorous. So, now that the show has aired I will say that overall it was fairly good, the episode effectively incorporated the songs into the scenes and for the most part the songs chosen and the lyrics of each song tied in well to the scene they were a a part off. However, I think they were scared to just have a bunch of people singing so they incorporated the other non-singing character's dialogue into the songs, and at many times it was kinda hard to understand both the dialogue and the lyrics. Some of the songs just ended up being a little lackluster with overlapping dialogue and singing. Watch some of the clips below to see what I mean. But I still enjoyed what they were going after, and appreciated the emotional heft the songs were able to add to the episode.
Fortunately the nine songs from the episode are available via iTunes -without any dialogue from the episode to get in the way of the lyrics- and having listened to them several times now I have to say that I am thoroughly enjoying them.
Chyler Leigh
As far as the cast's singing abilities goes - Ramirez gets the most to sing and sounds great on her songs, Chandra Wilson is also very effective on her parts. I was most surprised with Kevin McKidd (Owen) and Chyler Leigh (Lexie) as they have many solo's and they actually have really good voices. McKidd actually gets the most amount to sing with the exception of Ramirez and he has a great, strong voice. Justin Chambers also turns out to have a really nice voice. Jessica Capshaw, who stars as "Arizona" - Callie's girlfriend - doesn't have much to sing in the first part of the episode, but the duet of "Universe and U" she has with Ramirez toward the end is pretty special. And while almost everyone in the cast has something to contribute to the songs, I did find it an interesting choice that both Patrick Dempsey and James Pinkins, Jr don't sing one note. I'm not sure if this is because they both thought it was beneath them or that neither of them have good voices, but I like to think that in Callie's mind she wouldn't have either of them singing since one is the current Chief of Staff and the other was previously in that role.
So overall I give them an A for effort, a B for execution and give the 9 track audio download from iTunes a big A+.
The episode is currently available for streaming for a limited time at abc.com as well as here from imdb/hulu
Songs included in the episode and the original artist who performed them:
"Breathe (2AM)," Anna Nalick
"Chasing Cars," Snow Patrol
"Grace" Kate Havnevik
"How To Save A Life," by The Fray
"Runnin' On Sunshine," Jesus Jackson
"How We Operate," Gomez
"The Story," Brandi Carlile
"Wait," Get Set Go
"Universe & U," KT Tunstall
Promo for the episode -
"Chasing Cars" from the episode
Behind the scenes footage -
Behind the Scenes - Part 2
"How to Save a Life" from the episode-
"Running on Sunshine" from the episode -
"Wait" from the episode -
"Universe and U" - (I love how Jessica and Sara's voices blend on this song!)
"The Story" -
And, bringing this back to Broadway- here is Jessica's mom, Kate Capshaw singing (or at least lipsynching) "Anything Goes" (which the Broadway revival of that show opens tomorrow) in the opening credits of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. I think the Grey's producers need to get Kate to play Jessica's mom on the show and I think her step-dad Steven Spielberg should direct a musical- I mean, come on, check out the amazing camera work for this musical number he did for this movie!
While it seems that Sutton Foster burst onto the Broadway scene with her star performance in Thoroughly Modern Millie, she actually had already appeared in several Broadway shows before her Tony Award winning performance as "Millie" in 2002. She has appeared in four Broadway shows after Millie, and received Tony nominations for three of them. She is currently in previews for her fifth post-Millie show, Anything Goes, which opens this Thursday, and will most likely score her fifth Tony nomination for that part as well.
Sutton released her first solo cd "Wish" two years ago, and her latest cd, "An Evening with Sutton Foster Live at the Café Carlyle" was just released a few weeks ago.
After the release of her "Wish" recording, she set out on a tour that stopped in several cities across the US. These concerts were mainly a combination of songs from "Wish" and songs from some of the shows she's appeared in, along with humorous patter between the songs. She also appeared for two weeks at New York City's Café Carlyle last Summer, performing a show similar to the concerts she had previously toured across the country, with musical director and arranger Michael Rafter and guitarist Kevin Kuhn. Her new recording comes from those concerts.
Sutton has charm, sweetness, a good sense of humor and an extremely clear voice - all of which come through in spades on this recording. The material she covers on the cd is varied and somewhat eclectic, but she delivers every song with a soulfulness that few performers have. She is a Broadway leading lady who is known for her ability to deliver and belt to the rafters. But the great thing about her voice is she also has a soft side to it that has such charm and passion underneath. A slow and quietly sung "Warm All Over" and an jazzy "Down With Love" are perfect examples that show the passion and warmth she has without having to belt. Of course, she does deliver on the "belt songs" as well including a humorous bit when she has a member of the audience pick one of five potential "broadway belt" songs from a cup. The winner on the recording is Wicked's "Defying Gravity" - along with a second one, "And I Am Telling You" from Dreamgirls which she performs as an encore. Her delivery of both is as expected, sublime and perfect theatrical delivery of two big show stopping songs. As far as non-theatre songs goes, her performance of John Denver's "Sunshine On My Shoulder" is delivered in such a dream like state, with emphasis on the lyrics, that it makes you pay attention to what I always thought of as a throw-away pop song in a new light. She also couples "Anyone Can Whistle" - which she performed in last year's Encores! production of that musical, with another Sondheim gem, "Being Alive" - and gets across the hopeful yet fearful feelings that both songs conjure up.
Sutton in Thoroughly Modern Millie, Little Women,The Drowsy Chaperone, Young Frankenstein and Shrek and below with Joel Grey in Anything Goes.
The recording also includes plenty of humorous material- not just the patter between songs but also Sutton delivers a comic gem "Air Conditioner" that I remember Betty Buckley singing in concert back in the mid 90's. It is a perfect song to sing in the Summer months, when this concert originally took place.
This recording is highly recommended!
Songs on the recording include:
I'm Beginning To See The Light
Monty Python and The Holy Grail was a hit movie in 1975 that comically told of King Arthur's search for the Holy Grail. The zany Monty Python comedy team featuring Eric Idle, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones, Michael Palin and Graham Chapman made many other films and had a hit tv series from the UK as well.
Almost 30 years after the Holy Grail film premiered, Idle created a musical version of the movie called Spamalot, a direct reference to the musical Camalot which was also set in the same period as the Grail film and about King Arthur, and was also part of a line in the Grail movie (that is also present in the show - basically how they like to eat "Spam a lot.") The subtitle of the musical states "lovingly ripped off from the movie." The show went on to win the 2005 Tony and Drama Desk awards for Best Musical and ran on Broadway for just under four years, playing 1,574 performances.
The plot of the show is fairly basic, King Arthur forms the Knights of the Round Table and with his knights along for the ride, searches for the Holy Grail. Almost all of the wild characters and lines from the film remain in the musical but the show also includes new scenes and over the top production numbers as well. Some of the musical numbers very humorously spoof long running hit shows like Phantom of the Opera, West Side Story and Fiddler on the Roof.
The non equity tour that played the NJPAC last week uses the same sets and costumes from the recent equity tour that ran for three years. This current tour started this past September and is set to run into 2012. The direction and choreography are also recreations of the original Broadway production which was directed by Mike Nichols and choreographed by Casey Nicholaw.
Bowman
The cast of this tour is definitely game for what they have before them, with lots of them playing multiple parts. Steve McCoy's King Arthur is somewhat different from the one I saw in the original broadway cast where Tim Curry played that part. He isn't quite as "royal" and stoic as Curry played it. He does have a great relationship with his fellow cast members though his singing isn't quite up to what Curry could manage. Caroline Bowman as the Lady in the Lake, the only female in the cast who has an actual character, can't quite match what Sara Ramirez (now on tv's Grey's Anatomy) was able to capture in the original company. Ramirez did win the Tony for her performance after all, but Bowman gives it her all and has a quite a lovely voice though she doesn't ring as much humor as Ramirez did out of the part. The rest of the ensemble does very well with the comic parts and the zany songs and chews every possible piece of scenery they can find along the way. Spoof and satire run rampant in this show and the cast knows how to play low brow and high brow humor just fine. All in all, a pleasurable 2 plus hours in the theatre, though if you've never seen the show or film before I would recommend watching the movie before you go as it will make you appreciate how they've been able to theatricalize some of the funniest bits and characters from the film.
McCoy
This tour continues into 2012, check out the website for tour dates near you.
Stephen Sondheim and James Goldman's Follies opened at the Winter Garden theatre on April 4, 1971. It ran for 15 months, closing on July 1, 1972. The musical was inspired after a New York Time article appeared that documented a reunion of former "Ziegfeld Follies" girls. For Follies, Sondheim was joined by producer/director Hal Prince and co-director/ choreographer Michael Bennett, all who had worked with Sondheim on Company the year before.
Collins and Smith
The story follows a 1971 reunion party for ladies who were part of the "Weismann Follies" at the abandoned theatre where the Follies closed 30 years before. The theatre is in somewhat of a shambles as it has been scheduled to be demolished. The main characters are two couples, Sally and Buddy Plummer, a traveling salesman and his wife and Phyllis and Ben Stone, a more stylish and successful couple. All four are unhappy with their marriages and their spouses. We later find out that Sally was and still is in love with Ben. The other supporting characters in the show were "Weissman girls" during the various years the Follies ran. The score is comprised of standard musical theatre songs as well as during the party many of these other "girls" perform their featured solo numbers that they performed as Weissman girls. The songs represent the various time periods when they were stars of the Follies. The show itself exhibits a somewhat dreamlike state always referring to the choices one makes from the past that affect the future and dealing with unfortunate truths from the past as well. The beautiful theatrical conceit the show uses to represent the past is to have actors portray younger versions, or ghosts, of the follies girls as well as the two main couples. Thus a quartet for the main couples "The Girls Upstairs" becomes an octet when the four younger versions of their characters come on stage and join on. Or, a solo for one of the Weissman girls shows her now at 60 as well as in the past at 20, thus becoming a duet. The last section of the musical finds the four leads performing Follies-like numbers that represent the inner real feelings of each, culminating in a frenzy that then dissolves back into reality and haungtingly ends with the ghosts of the four leads on stage with the two younger male ghosts calling once more for their "girls upstairs."
John McMartin and Gene Nelson - waiting for their girl's upstairs.
The original cast included Dorothy Collins and Gene Nelson as Sally and Buddy, Alexis Smith and John McMartin as Phyllis and Ben with Yvonne De Carolo as Carlotta, Mary McCarty as Stella, and Ethel Shutta as Hattie.
The show is chock full of Sondheim gems, including songs dropped during the Boston tryout like "Can that Boy Foxtrot" as well as songs written for later reworkings of the show like "Ah, But Underneath.". Other songs include "I'm Still Here," "Broadway Baby," and "Losing My Mind."
The young "ghosts" of the two couples.
Unfortunately the original broadway cast recording did not include the entire score and some of the songs, including "I'm Sill Here," were recorded as truncated versions in order for the recording to fit on one lp.
Follies is one of those shows that even though it had a fairly nice run of 522 performances it has been reworked and performed numerous times in hopes of fixing the few flaws. Like Sondheim's Merrily We Roll Along, the score is rich with beautiful ballads, themes and comical songs, but just like Merrily, the book isn't quite at the same level of the score, Sondheim wrote several additional songs for subsequent productions (like the 1987 London premiere production) and Goldman has made various changes to the book. Subsequent productions and concert versions of this show have usually included "names" in the parts of Carlotta and Hattie, since those two ladies individually perform the two songs "I'm Still Here" and "Broadway Baby" that are definite crowd pleasures and have some of Sondheim's wittiest lyrics.
There have been numerous concert productions of the show, including one at New York City's Lincoln Center/Avery Fisher Hall in 1985, which was presented for two nights. This concerrt was recorded for both video and audio release, though the video unfortunately doesn't include all of the show but instead includes highlights from the two concerts as well as behind the scenes and rehearsal footage. The audio recording of the concert was the first to include the entire score though some of the songs are slightly different from what was performed in 1971. The concert starred Barbara Cook and Mandy Patinkin (right) as Sally and Buddy, George Hearn and Lee Remick as Ben and Phyllis and featured Carol Burnett as Carlotta and Elaine Stritch as Hattie.
The Paper Mill Playhouse in New Jersey presented a production in 1996 that received a 2 cd recording of the score. This was the first time all of the songs for the show were recorded as the cd also included several of the songs that were cut from previous versions of the show. The cast included Donna McKechnie and Tony Roberts as Sally and Ben, Dee Hoty and Laurence Guittard as Phyllis and Ben with Kaye Ballard as Hattie, Eddie Bracken as Weismann and Ann Miller as Carlotta.
2001 Broadway revival poster
A 30th anniversary Broadway revival opened on April 5, 2001 which starred Blythe Danner and Gregory Harrison as Phyllis and Ben, Judith Ivey and Treat Williams as Sally and Buddy with Polly Bergen as Carlotta and Betty Garrett as Hattie. The production was a very scaled down one and did not receive the best notices. It only ran for 117 performances.
In February 2007, New York City Center Encores (a series of musicals presented in semi staged concert productions) presented Follies as their 40th production. The cast included Donna Murphy and Victor Garber as Phyllis and Ben, Victoria Clark and Michael McGrath as Sally and Buddy with Christine Baranski as Carlotta, and also featured Anne Rogers, Jo Anne Worley and Philip Bosco. The original 1971 book and score were used and it was directed and choreographed by Casey Nicholaw. Murphy also sang "Could I Leave You?," which she performed at the Encores! production, at last year's Sondheim 80th Birthday celebration, available on DVD.
A somewhat star studded production is planned for this May and June at The Kennedy Center in D.C. Including Bernadette Peters and Dany Burstein as Sally and Buddy, Jan Maxwell and Ron Raines as Phyllis and Ben, Elaine Paige as Carlotta, and Linda Lavin as Hattie. Many are hopeful that if the reviews are good that this production will transfer to Broadway.
Dorothy Collins, left and below, singing "Losing My Mind" -
The rock musical Spring Awakening is an adaptation of the 1891 German play of the same name by Frank Wedekind. With an alternative rock score by pop composer Duncan Sheik (he had the hit song "Barely Breathing" in the late 90's) and book and lyrics by Steven Sater, the show ran for 888 performances on Broadway. A national tour ran for just under two years, ending last Summer, and a non-equity tour* is currently playing across the US, ending this coming May.
Though mainly about a group of teenagers, the show and play are both very adult and the original play was extremely controversial. Set in late-19th century Germany, the show is about teenagers who are discovering sexuality but due to the nature of the times get none or misguided information from the adults around them. With rape, suicide, abortion, child abuse and homosexuality all present, you can see why it created a stir in the late 1890's and why the play was originally banned in Germany at that time. The original play carried the subtitle "a children's tragedy" and I believe the fact that the musical deals directly with these topics in an adult way with a very catchy score is why the musical hit such a positive chord with audiences and ran for just over two years on Broadway and also won the Tony for Best Musical.
Elizabeth Judd
The story follows three main characters, Wendla, a young teenage girl who, when she asks her mother where babies comes from, is told that to have a baby a woman must love her husband with her whole heart. Not exactly clear information for a budding young girl. Melchior and Moritz are teenage friends, one very smart and one whom is a little less so as well as being very intense. They both question life, their strict and over disciplining teachers and the erotic dreams and thoughts they have been having. The musical shows that teenagers today pretty much feel exactly the same way they did 100 years ago, and the way adults treat them has barely changed for the better. Throughout the show there is unhappiness and despair but the musical manages to have an uplifting ending.
The main theatrical device the show uses to connect the issues of 1890's Germany to the present is to have the kids use hand held microphones to sing their inner thoughts and hidden desires and when they sing they sing like modern pop stars using modern language while the book of the show uses language from the late 1890's. If you haven't seen a production of this show that might sound very disconnected, but I thought it worked perfectly, and obviously many others did as well as the show won eight Tonys including ones for best musical, direction, book, score and featured actor. The show also won four Drama Desk Awards, and the London production won four Olivier Awards including Best New Musical. There are also two other ways the show gets it message across. First, there are around 20 audience members seated on the two sides of the stage and when the members of the cast aren't performing they sit in the empty chairs amongst the audience members. They are always watching what transpires in the plot and the combination of clothing from current times to the 1890's costumes the characters wear is another way to combine the past with the present and to show how times have barely changed in over 100 years. The other conceit the show uses is to have all of the adult male and female parts played only by two people - thus showing that even though some of the adult characters in the show are more responsive to the needs of the children, at the core, all adults are basically the same. Sarah Kleeman who plays the Adult Women and Mark Poppleton who plays the Adult Men were both excellent in their performances. They gave each character they played new manners and a different diction or speech pattern to set them apart from the others. I have to say that I think they did better in this then both times I saw it on Broadway.
Jeff Ostermueller
The current non equity tour that played two performances in New Brunswick, New Jersey yesterday is modeled on the original Broadway set, costumes and direction. The three tour leads make their parts their own, while also being somewhat in the same style as the original Broadway leads who have all gone on to greater things. Lea Michele, the original Wendla, is currently starring on the tv show Glee, Jonathan Groff also appeared on Glee with Lea and just starred in a production of Death Trap in London and John Gallagher, Jr. who won a Tony for playing Moritz, just finished a year run as the lead in the Broadway musical American Idiot.
Coby Getzug
For the non-equity tour, Elizabeth Judd is Wendla, and plays her in such a heartbreaking way that you can't help but feel for her. Her singing is also top notch. Jeff Ostermueller was on for Melchior last night, most likely since he is from Metuchen, NJ which is only about 10 minutes from New Brunswick, so this way his friends and family could see him in this lead role. And even though he isn't the main Melchior on this tour, he was perfect. He is charming and handsome, singing with a nice clear voice. Coby Getzug as Moritz perfectly captures the anxiety ridden nature of the part, with a wild hairstyle that is completely in sync with the inner feelings of the character. He is also shorter than the other boys in the cast, which also sets him apart and plays into the outcast feelings he has.
A few members of the supporting cast had amazing voices. Courtney Markowitz is Ilse, the girl who had run away because she was being abused, and her solo in act two as well as her contributions to some of the ensemble songs were all perfect. Jim Hogan and George E. Salazar who play two of Moritz and Melchior's schoolmates sang with such passion, force and clarity during the solo sections in many of the songs - check out the clip of them singing some solos in "Touch Me" below. The choreography for the tour uses the same from the original production. Bill T. Jones won a Tony for his work, and the athletic, stylistic moves are like none you've ever seen in a Broadway show.
The sound mix for the tour was great. The State Theatre is a much large venue then the Eugene O'Neill theatre where this played in New York - but the larger theatre was not a problem as every line of dialogue and every lyric was crisp, clear and loud. We saw this show twice on Broadway, once with the original cast and the second time with the final Broadway cast. Both times were memorable nights in the theatre and this non-equity tour is on par with those nights. If this comes to a town by you, don't miss it.
The final dates for this tour are as follows, Concord, NH. April 5, 2011 Burlington, VT. April 6, 2011 Bloomsburg, PA. April 8, 2011 York, PA. April 9, 2011 Greenvale, NY. April 10, 2011 University Park, PA. April 12-13, 2011 New London, CT. April 14-15, 2011 Indiana, PA. April 27, 2011 New Bedford, MA. April 29, 2011 New Haven, CT. April 30, 2011 Orono, ME. May 1, 2011 Chicago, IL. May 3-8, 2011 Worcester, MA. May 10, 2011 Kingston, ON. May 11, 2011 Kitchener, ON. May 12, 2011 Ottawa, ON. May 13-15, 2011
*non equity tours are ones that feature actors who are not members of Actors Equity. These tours usually happen after an equity tour of the show has already played in major cities across the US and will sometimes use the same sets and costumes from the equity tour. These non equity tours sometimes have smaller casts than the original and usually play in smaller cities and unlike equity tours who usually play at least a full week at each city, only play for a single night or two in each city. Non-equity tour casts are usually younger as well, which for a show like Spring Awakening actually works in it's favor
My niece Anna came up with this snazzy logo/photo for my blog so I decided to use that as a starting point to re-design the color scheme of the entire blog. Let me know what you guys think!
Here are the before and after pics - I took the "after" pic and cropped and enlarged it to fit across the top of the blog - thanks Anna!
Coming up in the next week: reviews of the Spring Awakening and Spamalot National Tours, a very special Stephen Sondheim musical celebrates it's 40th birthday on Monday, a review of the new Sutton Foster cd and the Off Broadway production of The Milk Train Doesn't Stop Here Anymore with Olympia Dukakis and a few other things as well. So check back every day for new posts and reviews!
I started this blog less than four weeks ago and I've already had over 1,000 page views, with visitors from Russia, China, Germany, Australia, Iran, Indonesia, the Phillipines, Canada, the UK and of course the US. So hopefully those of you that have discovered my blog are enjoying what I'm writing about and finding the reviews and things I post helpful. Just email me if you have any thoughts or questions - thanks!
The 1977 tv mini series Roots was a historical moment in tv history. Starring a virtual who's who of African American actors from that time, and obtaining unheard of ratings, it was also the first time I remember seeing Ben Vereen. He starred as Chicken George in the mini series that told of a slave family over a 100 year period. His performance was electrifying.
I didn't know until much later that by the time he made Roots, Vereen had already appeared in several Broadway shows, including starring in Hair, as Judas in the original Broadway cast of Jesus Christ Superstar and as the Leading Player in Pippin, winning a Tony for his performance.
I saw Vereen in concert several years back, when he appeared with his Roots co-star Leslie Uggams in a tour where they each performed their solo acts and a couple of duets at the end. He was extremely entertaining, still in good voice and had that theatrical edge that resonates with any Broadway fan. I also saw him in a production of "I'm Not Rappaport" at the Paper Mill Playhouse. He appeared in the show with Judd Hirsch and that production also then went on for a limited run on Broadway.
So Vereen has had a long, varied career on Broadway, tv and film. So imagine my surprise when I realized that Vereen's recent cd release, "Steppin' Out Live", is his first solo recording, recorded last Summer at his concert at the Hartford Stage in Connecticut.
The live recording perfectly captures the 64 year old Vereen in all his theatrical glory. Sure he can't hold some notes for as long as he used to, but the polish and delivery of the material are still in fine form and while it is nice to hear a medley of songs from the Broadway shows he performed in, it is equally nice to see the material he covers isn't all just his hits he delivered in the past but also includes newer songs like "Defying Gravity" from Wicked (which he performed the part of the Wizard in on Broadway for just under a year)
The cd is very entertaining, with nice jazzy arrangements delivered by a person who's middle name is "show biz"!
Recommended
Songs include: "With a Song In My Heart" "Getting To Know You" "Corner Of The Sky"/"Aquarius"/"Hair"/"Jesus Christ Superstar"/"I Don't Know How To Love Him" "Defying Gravity" "Frank Sinatra Medley" ("It Was A Very Good Year"/"I've Got You Under My Skin"/ "The Lady Is A Tramp"/"Come Fly With Me"/"My Kind Of Town, My Way") "Once In A Lifetime" "I Got A Lot Of Livin' To Do" "That Old Black Magic" "My Funny Valentine" "Bewitched, Bothered & Bewildered" "Mr. Bojangles"
I guess a Musical Theatre Primer would have a chapter about not attempting to make a sequel to a smash show. Bring Back Birdie, Annie Warbucks and even the recent Phantom sequel, Love Never Dies, didn't get good reviews or exactly catch fire at the box office. But still original director Tommy Tune, original composer Carol Hall and original book writers Larry L. King and Peter Masterson came together in 1994 to create a sequel to their hit 1978 show The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas.
The story of The Best Little Whorehouse Goes Public tells how madam Mona Stangley, owner of the Chicken Ranch brothel in the original Whorehouse musical, is asked by the government to come out of retirement to take over a Las Vegas brothel to recover millions in back taxes owed by the former owner. Mona enlists the aid of a former boyfriend who has the idea to take the establishment public and sale shares on the New York stock exchange, which of course doesn't sit well with some people including a high powered, right wing Senator. (The Playbill to the right was designed to look like a piece of stock.)
If you know the story of the original Whorehouse, you can see that the story of the sequel is somewhat similar to that one in which Mona runs a Texas brothel, has a relationship with the local sheriff whom looks the other way so the business can flourish but comes to the attention of a news reporter on a mission to close the place down.
The show opened on May 10, 1994 at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre, where it ran for 16 performances. The reviews were pretty ugly, commenting on the lurid nature of the choreography, the garish sets and the over the top glitz of the production. One number that got particularly bad comments was the second act song, "Call Me" which had various scantily clad girls incased in see through plexiglass boxes taking phone sex calls from men who were on top of the boxes in various stages of undress. Toward the end of the song, with the men practically only in their underwear, they gave us this lyric "no one hears and no one sees, it's boring in my BVD's." Not exactly a Tommy Tune showstopper, or at least a showstopper in a good way.
I had the pleasure of seeing a preview of the show, and while it wasn't quite in the "it's so bad it's good" category I did remember liking a few of the Hall songs and was impressed by Dee Hoty (below) who played Mona. Hoty previously starred in the Tune directed hit show The Will Rogers Follies three year before and was also Tony nominated for both shows, her Tony nomination for this show was the only one it got. I also loved how Hoty came out for her curtain call on a horse.
I believe this show has the distinction of having the first (and the last) infomercial for a Broadway show that highlighted the glitz of the production, including the Bob Mackie costumes and the redesign of the Lunt Fontanne theatre.
Even though the show only ran for two weeks after it opened, fortunately a cast recording was made as there are a few good songs in the score, and the cast does give it's all. Recommended songs include "It's Been A While," "Change In Me" and "A Piece of the Pie."
the cd 
link for making of Follies book - 
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