I was recently asked, "What one show would you go back in time to see if you had a time machine?" I immediately found this question easy to answer. For me, I always wonder what it must have been like to be at the New Haven Shubert Theater in the winter of 1943 to see the opening night of Away We Go (later renamed Oklahoma!). If only that audience knew what would be born that evening!
It got me thinking about some other productions I wish I could go back and see. Here is a list of 30 that got away (or I wasn't born yet to see!), in no particular order:
1. Away We Go - Opening Night at the New Haven Shubert Theater
2. Rent - New York Theatre Workshop - January 25th, 1996. This was the day after Larson's untimely passing. The cast performed a "concert" version of the piece for Jon's friends and family. For a full account of this evening, see Anthony Rapp's book Without You.
3. The Black Crook - September 12, 1866 - Niblo's Garden - Considered the first book musical, the combination of music, words and dance happened by accident. Click here if you've never read anything about The Black Crook!
4. Of Thee I Sing - Opening Night - This was the first musical to win the Pulitzer Prize for Drama.
5. Merrily We Roll Along - Original Broadway - Although it only ran two weeks, I would have like to have seen the show before the creative team made those great changes in the early 1990s.
6. Brigadoon - Original Broadway - One of my favorite musicals, it would be a thrill to see the piece in its original form; complete with the Agnes DeMille choreography.
7. Showboat - Original Broadway - Florenz Ziegfeld chose to produce this musical for a reason.
8. Zombie Prom - Original Production Off Broadway at the Variety Arts Theater - A show I've been in and have admired, I would love to see how it was originally produced. With better marketing, this show could've been a big Off-Broadway hit!
9. On the Town - Original Broadway - At the time, Comden, Green & Bernstein were relative newcomers. How great would it be to see them in this production?!
10. Assassins - 1990 at Playwrights Horizons - Although I adore the 2004 Broadway revival, I would have loved to have seen the piece with it's original cast, in an extremely small space, with a sparce orchestration, and without "Something Just Broke."
11. Gypsy - Original Broadway - Who wouldn't want to see Merman in the role she was born to play?
12. Follies - Original Broadway & Paper Mill Playhouse - From everything I have heard, both of these productions were perfect.
13. Children of Eden - Paper Mill Playhouse - As a big fan of this show now, I'm sad that my parents never thought to take me to see this!
14. She Loves Me - Original Broadway - One of the most undderated musicals, I would love to see Barbara Cook in this classic musical.
15. 30/90/Boho Days/tick, tick...BOOM! - One of the workshops - I would pay a lot of money to have been sitting at one of these workshops where Larson sat with a band and performed all of the roles.
16. Glory Days - Original Broadway - I can't believe that this musical only ran one performance solely because of the content. It was announced late in the season and didn't have the proper amount of time to advertise. There had to be some great elements that would be worth seeing.
17. The Wild Party - Original Broadway - As it's one of my favorite musicals, sometime in my life I will make my way to the Lincoln Center library to watch this production!
18. Blood Brothers - Original Broadway/London - Although many people don't care for this musical, I find it brilliant. Although I've been in the show and have seen a few productions, I haven't been to the West End yet to see the original production!
19. Fiorello - Original Broadway - Another Pulitzer Prize winning musical, I haven't heard of many productions since the original.
20. Anything at Signature Theater in Washington, D.C. - I've admired this theatre for many years for premiering wonderful new works of musical theatre. Some include The Highest Yellow, Giant, The Fix, & The Withches of Eastwick.
21. Company - Original Broadway (1970) - Of course, I would love to have been there for opening night of this groundbreaking concept musical.
22. Love Life - Original Broadway - Although many consider Company to be the first concept musical, Love Life is technically the first musical to use these Brechtian elements in a Broadway musical. While doing some research a few years ago, I had the pleasure of reading a draft of it and hope that someday it will be revised and produced.
23. Paint Your Wagon - Original Broadway - For many years, I've been a huge advocate for this musical being revised and produced on Broadway. If you read the script and listen to the score, you would understand how much potential there is in this musical. Although there has been some revisions made over the past ten years, there unfortunately hasn't been a Broadway revival.
24. Starlight Express - Original Broadway/London - You're probably asking how this musical made my list. When I was younger and just started to examine the musical theatre canon, for some reason I was enamored with this score. I still would love to see it performed in it's all it's cheesy glory!
25. No Strings - Original Broadway - This was the only musical that Richard Rodgers wrote music and lyrics for (and won a Tony), but unfortunately it doesn't get produced much anymore.
26. The Flops of Rodgers & Hammerstein: Me and Juliet, Allegro, Pipe Dream. These three are considered flops, but the first two have a lot to examine. I personally think Me and Juliet has a fantastic book and deserves to have a revival. For many years, Stephen Sondheim has talked about how he's always wanted to fix the second act of Allegro (He was a Production Assistant on the original production). Maybe he'll adapt a new book...?
27. Carrie the musical - Original Broadway - No musical theatre list is complete without a mention of Carrie the musical. I think the authors should finally release the rights. Someone would do it; even if it's just a concert!
28. [title of show] - Original Broadway - I am embarrassed to admit that I didn't get to see this musical at the Vineyard or on Broadway (long story). Someday!
29. One Touch of Venus - Original Broadway - Immediately after the premiere of Oklahoma in 1943, One Touch of Venus validated many of the theatrical devices that Oklahoma used. It also cemented Agnes DeMille as the force for movement on Broadway, as well as featuring the wonderful Mary Martin.
30. As this list has gotten way too long, here's a listing of some other musicals I would love to have seen in their original production: Marie Christine, Parade, Aspects of Love, Thou Shalt Not, Floyd Collins, Sweet Charity, South Pacific, Amour, Anyone Can Whistle, As Thousands Cheer, & Call Me Madam.
Feel free to post a comment with some of your thoughts and your own musicals you would love to have seen!
Posts
I guess I'm feeling really old, cuz I've seen quite a few of these:
ReplyDelete#5 MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG - and yes, people did really walk out at intermission. I drove in a blinding snowstorm to get the OC album the day it was released!
#8 ZOMBIE PROM - McKinley and Barnes were PMP folks so we all went in for a preview. I thought it would outlast LITTLE SHOP! Alas, no.
#12 FOLLIES at PMP - We all gathered at the back of the house to see if Ann Miller would remember her lyrics - she always brought the house down, no matter what.
#13 CHILDREN OF EDEN at PMP - I was the audio describer on the show, and remember when Stephanie Mills took a header on an 'amoeba' and Adrian Zmed had to carry her off stage in his arms - live theatre!
#17 THE WILD PARTY on Broadway - Not a fan of Patinkin, but Toni Collette was amazing as Queenie.
#18 BLOOD BROTHERS on Broadway - I really think it is a weak score ("Marilyn Monroe" over and over again), but it got me. The TV ads promised a standing ovation at every performance and dammit if we didn't spring to our feet!
#20 RHYTHM KIDS at Signature - by Matt Sklar. Supposedly Broadway bound, but it wasn't ready and momentum was lost.
#24 STARLIGHT EXPRESS London and New York - London was more fun (ditto CHESS).
#28 [title of show] on Broadway - Saw the opening night and the closing night and loved every minute of it!
#30 MARIE CHRISTINE was awful (except for Mary Testa) and PARADE was great for the leads, but a weak overall.