"Musicals Tonight"

[+ beethoven]

This off-Broadway gem is in its 19th season. I call it the poor man's Encores! "Musicals Tonight" presents pared-down performances of old Broadway musicals. Last night I saw "Louisiana Purchase" (1940) with music and lyrics by Irving Berlin. It starred Victor Moore, William Gaxton, Irene Bordoni, and Vera Zorina. It ran for about 450 performances, and was made into a movie with Bob Hope. Part of the fun is imagining those old Broadway musical stars, such as Victor Moore, in the parts.

 

This was expertly and professionally done, though the only musical accompaniment was a piano. These are performed at the Lion Theater on west 42nd St. Tickets are only $35. "Louisiana Purchase" ends on Sunday, March 12. The theater was almost full last night, so you can probably get tickets.

 

'Anything Goes" will be next, from March 14-26, and "Du Barry Was A Lady" will be the last one this season, from March 28-April 9. I saw the FABULOUS revival of "Anything Goes" a few years ago, but never saw Cole Porter's "Du Barry...." Ethel Merman and Bert Lahr were in the original!

 

This probably sounds like an ad placed by their PR firm, but I'm sure they don't have one; I enjoyed this so much last night that I just wanted to tell you about it.

[actor61]

This off-Broadway gem is in its 19th season. I call it the poor man's Encores! "Musicals Tonight" presents pared-down performances of old Broadway musicals. Last night I saw "Louisiana Purchase" (1940) with music and lyrics by Irving Berlin. It starred Victor Moore, William Gaxton, Irene Bordoni, and Vera Zorina. It ran for about 450 performances, and was made into a movie with Bob Hope. Part of the fun is imagining those old Broadway musical stars, such as Victor Moore, in the parts.

 

This was expertly and professionally done, though the only musical accompaniment was a piano. These are performed at the Lion Theater on west 42nd St. Tickets are only $35. "Louisiana Purchase" ends on Sunday, March 12. The theater was almost full last night, so you can probably get tickets.

 

'Anything Goes" will be next, from March 14-26, and "Du Barry Was A Lady" will be the last one this season, from March 28-April 9. I saw the FABULOUS revival of "Anything Goes" a few years ago, but never saw Cole Porter's "Du Barry...." Ethel Merman and Bert Lahr were in the original!

 

This probably sounds like an ad placed by their PR firm, but I'm sure they don't have one; I enjoyed this so much last night that I just wanted to tell you about it.

We have a theatre in Chicago that also produces pared down, sort of staged readings of "forgotten" musicals. So far, I've seen Mack and Mabel and Applause. When watching these shows, it was easy to see why the first didn't succeed and why the second is not done anymore. It is hopelessly dated in its views of "career women". Even with a very famous/strong female star in the leading role, set in 1970 (the year it premiered). the show doesn't work. I was in the London and Australia productions in the early 1970s. It was a vehicle for a star (in my case Lauren Bacall in London and Eve Arden in Australia) and lived or died on the performance of said stars. (Eve was wonderfully vulnerable. Bacall. Well....) The scores for both shows are great, though, and if you ignore the dialogue and just enjoy the numbers, it's a real treat to revisit them.

 

It's great to read that "Musicals Tonight" is restaging some of the old chestnuts. DuBarry is another dreadful show with a delightful score. From all I've read, Merman and Lahr was hysterically funny and socked every number to the back of the balcony. You don't see that much anymore. I'd love to see a theatre do an entire season of Merman vehicles - DuBarry, Panama Hattie, Happy Hunting, Call Me Madam and Something for the Boys, for example.

[bostonman]

'Anything Goes" will be next, from March 14-26, and "Du Barry Was A Lady" will be the last one this season, from March 28-April 9. I saw the FABULOUS revival of "Anything Goes" a few years ago, but never saw Cole Porter's "Du Barry...." Ethel Merman and Bert Lahr were in the original!

 

It isn't clear to me from the webpage which version of Anything Goes they are doing, given the songs they list. (Most of the list reflects the Lupone revival, which is the same material used for the recent Sutton Foster revival - and the mention of the character "Erma" [instead of "Bonnie"] hints at this version as well, but "Let's Misbehave" was only in the 1962 off-Broadway revival, so who knows?)

 

But - "Friendship" was also added to that 1962 version (as a trio for Billy, Reno, and Moonface), and then kept in for the more recent revivals (where it's a duet for Reno and Moonface), so it will most certainly be in this production of Anything Goes somewhere. The intriguing this is that this song originated as an iconic duet for none other than Merman and Lahr in Du Barry Was A Lady - so here's a unique case where the same song will be heard in two different shows in the same season, in different contexts and with different characters.

 

My hope is that they're doing the Lupone version - having done productions of both revival versions, I absolutely feel this version of the score is so much better. (Though also much much harder to play as a solo piano rendition, lol.) Also, it rightfully restores (all but one of) the original 1934 songs, many of which were cut in the 1962 version. And it puts "I Get A Kick Out Of You" back at the top of the show, where it belongs (something else the '62 version screwed up).