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MrsJamieWellerstein

Lost gems

There have been shows that have been up for best musical, best actor/actress, all that stuff...damned good shows, too. But many die after only a year or two of running. What's your favorite lost musical?

Mine: On the Twentieth Century. Up for Best Musical, lost to Ain't Misbehavin'. Featured John Cullum, Madeline Kahn (Yes, I know she was gone in a month), Imogene Coca, and Kevin Kline. When Madeline left, it was Judy Kaye's first big show.
RainbowJude

My Lost Gem

MrsJamieWellerstein wrote:
There have been shows that have been up for best musical, best actor/actress, all that stuff... damned good shows, too. But many die after only a year or two of running. What's your favorite lost musical?


Mine: The Full Monty. Up for Best Musical, lost to The Producers. Featured Patrick Wilson, Annie Golden, Kathleen Freeman and André de Shield. The show has a remarkable score, which (in my opinion) outshines The Producers in many ways.

Later days
David
GlamorousGriz

MrsJamieWellerstein wrote:
There have been shows that have been up for best musical, best actor/actress, all that stuff...damned good shows, too. But many die after only a year or two of running. What's your favorite lost musical?

Mine: On the Twentieth Century. Up for Best Musical, lost to Ain't Misbehavin'. Featured John Cullum, Madeline Kahn (Yes, I know she was gone in a month), Imogene Coca, and Kevin Kline. When Madeline left, it was Judy Kaye's first big show.


You're my new hero... On the Twentieth Century is one of my all-time favorite shows and I had a ball when I was in it earlier this year. I wish Judy Kaye had recorded the show. (HUGE Judy Kaye fan here)

I also like Redhead... it actually won the Tony when it was nominated, but I don't know too many people that have actually heard of Redhead. Another fun show to be in.
belleboi80

I love on the twentieth century. It should be a much more produced show, it is great.

My favorite "lost gems" both lost to Titanic the same year. The Life and Steel Pier. Two totally different shows but I loved them both. The Life definately needed some tweaking here or there but overall, still a great show. It has a cast of Lillias WHite, in the most amazing perfomrnace I have ever seen, Pamela Isaac and Sam Harris. And Steel Pier was magnificent. Frojm the dancing to the storyline and costumes, I loved this show. It was a shout out to the old school musical, which unfortunately does not work today.
belleboi80

Also wanted ot mention Side Show. do not think it is exactly a lost gem yet, but Still not given enough credit. It lost to Lion King nad got overshadowed with teh lion king vs. ragtime thing
MrsJamieWellerstein

I don't know if Full Monty counts because just about everyone has heard of it.

Meanwhile, good call on Steel Pier. That was such a great show. I believe it featured Megan Mullaly at some point...or was that something else?
belleboi80

Quote:
Meanwhile, good call on Steel Pier. That was such a great show. I believe it featured Megan Mullaly at some point...or was that something else?


Not that I am aware of. I do not think it played long enough to ever get in replacemenets lol. It did feature Karen Ziemba and an unkiwn at the time...Kristen Chenoweth
fender_outta_hock

Amour--definitely an excellent score--nommed for Best Musical, Score, Book, Actor and Actress--deserved better than a run of 17 perfs

Once On This Island--Deserved to run longer than a year and a bit--bad luck to be up against Will Rogers Follies and Miss Saigon at the Tonys
Guest

Milk and Honey - lost to How To Succeed

High Spirits - lost to Hello Dolly

Golden Boy - lost to Fiddler on the Roof (the revived book of Golden Boy, done in CT a few years ago was even better than the original and the new songs were also quite good).

The Rothchilds lost to Company

Baby and the Tap Dance Kid lost to La Cage(That was also the year of Sunday in the Park with George - arguably the last great year for musicals, with all shows quite strong in their own way).

I saw Redhead at Goodspeed a few years ago and enjoyed it a lot.

I don't object to most of the winners. Just pointing out some good shows that were up in the same year that need more recognition. The exception is High Spirits loss to Hello Dolly, which I do strongly object to.
belleboi80

Quote:
Once On This Island--Deserved to run longer than a year and a bit--bad luck to be up against Will Rogers Follies and Miss Saigon at the Tonys


unless I am wrong it was up against Phantom and Into the Woods, which is even worse


Quote:
Sunday in the Park with George

I like La cage but George is just amazing
Salome

I second HIgh Spirits..one of the best musicals of the 1960s...and the great NOel Coward's last contribution to Broadway.


also


romance/romance

Baker Street

Robert and Elizabeth (a long run show in LOndon that was prevented from coming to America)
Two By Two

Rex

Darling Of The Day
fender_outta_hock

belleboi80 wrote:
Quote:
Once On This Island--Deserved to run longer than a year and a bit--bad luck to be up against Will Rogers Follies and Miss Saigon at the Tonys


unless I am wrong it was up against Phantom and Into the Woods, which is even worse


Chess was the one up against POTO and ITW
MrsJamieWellerstein

I'm definately with you on Darling of the Day, Salome.
GlamorousGriz

Ahh! Someone else has seen Redhead! Yes!
B3TA07

Smile.

I love Side Show, but I agree it's not technically a lost gem yet, but if RainbowJude can consider The Full Monty one, I'm sure we can consider it one.
Pasty

Probably not a lost gem, but something that doesn't get as much mention as it should : A Man of No Importance. Absolutely love the Irish music, and the story is well told.
MrsJamieWellerstein

That's more of an "underground" success than a lost gem. It's one of the most commonly talked about off-broadway shows, along with BatBoy, the Last Five Years, and the original production of Little Shop.
belleboi80

I really like James Joyce's the Dead. Even I know Blood Brothers isnt exactly LOST but I don't think it gets the attention it deserves in America
MrsJamieWellerstein

Blood Brothers SO counts. Lost across the pond, I suppose.
starry_eyed

Can I submit TBG?

Look, I know That The Beautiful Game is in some songbooks and compilations albums with other webber stuff. and I mean, it is, of course, Andrew Lloyed Webber, but it never made it to America. Only the UK. Burried treasure if you ask me. it's a keeper in my books. Smile
starry_eyed

Well, how about "little Women"? It lost several awards to "Wicked".I'm sure you've heard of Wicked, you know, the most recent blockbuster musical?! ha ha. i mean, sure. I loved wicked, and maybe it should have won anyway. but it's sad that LW had to live in that shadow.
B3TA07

Little Women was in the season after Wicked.

Little Women lost awards to such great shows as Spamalot, The Light in the Piazza, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, and The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.

In comparison, Wicked would have probably lost to these shows as well. In its season, it only won three awards, one of which for the a member of the cast.

Plus, Little Women is going on tour. It has a chance of still being popular. And Sutton Foster attracts a lot of people...so does that other person whose name is on the cover of the CD. Way too early to consider it lost.

Blood Brothers is such a favorite of mine...I really want to hear the International Cast Recording with Willy Russel as the Narrator. A theatre near me is producing the show...I can't wait to go see it.

And if there were one "Lost gem" of ALW, I think it would be Whistle Down the Wind or By Jeeves over The Beautiful Game.
MrsJamieWellerstein

Whistle Down the Wind is the only one I've heard. That was good.
belleboi80

the only reason Little Women was anythign was because of Sutton Foster and Maureen Mccormick. I thought the show was a good good starting point. I think it coulda been really great but only after much work
LoneWanderer

Yeah...the 91 tonys were really messed up. Nominated for best musical were:
The Secret Garden
Once on this Island
Miss Saigon
The Will Rogers Follies

Somehow the Will Rogers Follies won. I love both The Secret Garden and Once on this Island (and yeah, not nearly enough people know about Once on this Island...it's a GREAT show), and I can recognize that Miss Saigon is good dispite not loving it. Yet all 3 lost to Follies...

~The Lone Wanderer
MrsJamieWellerstein

belleboi80 wrote:
the only reason Little Women was anythign was because of Sutton Foster and Maureen Mccormick. I thought the show was a good good starting point. I think it coulda been really great but only after much work

McCormick? Did you mean Maureen McGovern? Because that's who Boston's getting, and she's the one getting billed above the title.
Chi

My pet lost Gem is "Apples". I've yet to speak to anyone else who knows this show, but it's awesome. It's about gay male prostitutes, an exotic dancer, and an incredibly sleazy tabliod hack, and it's one of the funniesr shows I've heard.

And Frances Ruffelle was in it!

Chi
Master Thespian

I don't know if I'm gonna get blasted for this, but I loved the musical adaptation of Jane Eyre. The score was beautiful, and the sets were just really, really good. Shame it got crushed under the weight of The Producers.
B3TA07

It was okay. I like "Sweet Liberty" but that was like the main theme and atleast that is usually good isn't it? I never fell in love with it.
JelliclePat

I'm finding it hard to locate anyone who knows 'The Apple Tree', even though it's by Bock & Harnick, and featured Alan Alda, Barbara Harris, and Larry Blyden. I was in it back in college, and hope someday to direct it for our local theater group.
RainbowJude

Lost Gems...

MrsJamieWellerstein wrote:
I don't know if The Full Monty counts because just about everyone has heard of it.

Well, I think it counts. A lot of people I know - particularly non-theatre people - are surprised when they hear there is a musical; they are mostly familiar with the film.

An Anonymous Guest wrote:
Baby and The Tap Dance Kid lost to La Cage. (That was also the year of Sunday in the Park with George - arguably the last great year for musicals, with all shows quite strong in their own way).

I'm not sure I'd go that far. I think the 2004/2005 season (Light in the Piazza / Spamalot / Spelling Bee / Dirty Rotten Scoundrels) certainly qualifies as a great year for the musical. And even other recent seasons that haven't had the overall clout 0f 2004/2005 have had shows that, in my opinion, outweigh Baby, The Tap Dance Kid and even La Cage in the quality stakes.

An Anonymous Guest wrote:
Once On This Island - Deserved to run longer than a year and a bit - bad luck to be up against Will Rogers Follies and Miss Saigon at the Tonys

belleboi80 wrote:
unless I am wrong it was up against Phantom and Into the Woods, which is even worse

fender_outta_hock wrote:
Chess was the one up against POTO and ITW

You are both mistaken, my friends. As LoneWanderer said, Once On This Island was up against The Will Rogers Follies and Miss Saigon (as well as The Secret Garden). And The Phantom of the Opera was up against Into the Woods, Romance/Romance and the South African musical, Sarafina!.

starry_eyed wrote:
The Beautiful Game... it never made it to America. Only the UK. Burried treasure if you ask me.

B3TA07 wrote:
If there were one "Lost gem" of ALW, I think it would be Whistle Down the Wind or By Jeeves over The Beautiful Game.

Whistle Down the Wind easily gets my vote over The Beautiful Game. I think it's his best show since Sunset Boulevard and that it os much better than most of his work in the 1980s.

Later days
David
belleboi80

Quote:
I'm finding it hard to locate anyone who knows 'The Apple Tree


I am goign to be directing this next fall[/quote]
MrsJamieWellerstein

Jude brought up another one I liked, Sarafina!.
JelliclePat

Belleboi, are you going to cast the same people for all three leads? I've seen it done both ways, but prefer the triple-casting.

I hope you have better luck with your singers than one local group here. The guy singing 'The Apple Tree' couldn't hit the high last note, so went down instead, and the one doing the 'I'll Tell You a Tale' reprise couldn't handle the discordant final note, and it just seemed so tame. We managed it as written in college, so it makes me wonder...
belleboi80

Quote:
Belleboi, are you going to cast the same people for all three leads? I've seen it done both ways, but prefer the triple-casting


It will be triple casting
Salome

fender_outta_hock wrote:
belleboi80 wrote:
Quote:
Once On This Island--Deserved to run longer than a year and a bit--bad luck to be up against Will Rogers Follies and Miss Saigon at the Tonys


unless I am wrong it was up against Phantom and Into the Woods, which is even worse


Chess was the one up against POTO and ITW

Chess was not up against ITW and Phantom...Chess only got 2 nominations...Judy Kuhn and David Carroll. The show that was up against ITW and Phantom was a delightful show called Romance /Romance starring Scott Backula and Alison Fraser. ITW was the best show of the year..but if it wasnt on broadway that year Romance/Romance would have been. Its a shame Phantom is such a long running show while R/R a far superior one is forgotton.
JeffF

Because it only needs a small cast, Romance Romance is sometimes done by community theaters around here.

"Words He Doesn't Say" is one of the best songs of musical theater of the 1980s.
MrsJamieWellerstein

I never paid attention to Romance/Romance on the grounds that I don't like Scott Backula. Should I investigate?
Salome

yes! its wonderul! and if you don't like scott bakula (why dont you?? ) this will change your mind. he is wonderful...versatile and charming in romance/romance.

considering the fact thar poor chip zien didnt get nominated for ITW..i think bakula deserved trhe Tony over Michael Crawford.
calli flowers

Gems

Anyone remember 'Saratoga' with Howard Keel and Carol Lawrence? Used to own original cast album but it was stolen. I don't know if it was nominated for best show but from hearing the album I would have assumed so.
JeffF

Saratoga was only nominated for Cecil Beaton's costumes.

To me, it's a harmless, but unexciting score. Pleasant, but not very memorable.
Mimi Marquez

"The Cocoanuts." It's a Marx Brothers show that I did last year. It is very goofy, but the music is cute. Its by Irving Berlin. The classic song "Always" is originally from it. You all should look into it!
Webster

I second Amour comepletely.


Also. Passion. It won best musical, but still died quite quickly. Emotional as hell, Sondheim's best effort of the nineties. Yes. Better than Assassins.
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