Re: BOUNCE off-Broadway

On Apr 22, 9:51=A0am, ElBo...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
 (robert armstrong) wrote:
> chromolume:
>
> >Well, maybe there should be another attempt at
> >revising the book??
>
> No! Imperfect is fine. Audience loved it. Follies, Merrily, and, God
> knows, Birdie have problematical books and audiences love these.

Ultimately, the book doesn't work because it doesn't ring true. In
reality Mack was the good guy and Mabel was the one "with issues."
They also play fast and loose with other bits of history - for
example, Taylor was murdered in 1922, not during the transition to
sound.

So what we had in 1974 was a series of contrived confrontations
between the two leads. It was very episodic and uninvolving, but had
some great songs.

The problem we have now with revisions is that we essentiually have a
juke box to shoe-horn into a new book and it just doesn't work. I
would love for someone to completely scrap the book and start over,
but in order to do that Herman would have to be willing to rewrite
half of more of his score and I doubt he would be willing to do that
at this stage in his life.

 That's not to say I don't pray that this *does* happen, but I doubt
it ever will. Pity. It *should* be Herman's masterpiece.