Introduction: So watch the joy go on and on! 

2022 is the silver anniversary of the Broadway musical, Steel Pier which opened on April 24th 1997. To celebrate, this blog continues the discussion of this gorgeous musical on a variety of different topics. The first blog I wrote to celebrate the show’s twenty-first anniversary in 2018 has been updated, improved and grammatically corrected. If you haven’t already read the first blog, Click here! 

STEEL PIER at College: Who ever gets a second chance?

Although Steel Pier has never been revived in New York either by a Broadway revival or by City Center Encores, the musical has recently been picking up steam in the theater departments of colleges throughout the country. Steel Pier seems tailor made for colleges because it allows many students opportunities to shine with to the various roles the show has to offer besides the leading characters such as Shelby Stevens, Happy McGuire and Buddy Becker to name a few. From a design and dramaturgical perspective, the show allows students in those areas of study to dive into the decedent world of the 1930s and of the dance marathons. Here are two video clips of two different universities performing Steel Pier as part of their theater season: 

I had the privilege of seeing two productions of Steel Pier within the state of California, at UCLA in the spring of 2018 and at San Diego State University in the winter of 2021, which featured a brilliant concept of changing their theater stage into an immersive seating experience that made the audience the attendees of the Steel Pier marathon. 

Both productions of Steel Pier made tiny arrangements to the musical, most notably trimming the first opening scene of the musical in which Bill Kelly is found on the floor surrounded by ethereal dancers in white. In UCLA’s production, “The Overture” was cut and started with “The Prelude” without the ethereal dancers. In SDSU’s production, “The Overture” was kept intact but skipped over Bill Kelly’s opening moment. The show began with Rita Racine walking on the beach, making it apparent that SDSU’s production was focused on the story being Rita’s narrative. Both productions omitted a small scene in Act One, Scene Five in which an Egg Dance was held in addition to a small section of Act One, Scene Ten in which Bill falls into the Diving Horse tank and scares Rita for a moment, thinking that Bill might have drowned. UCLA cut “The Entracte” and “Running In Place” in half, while SDSU cut the cameo of Mr. Peanut in Scene Ten in addition to reducing the orchestra to five players (wonderfully orchestrated and helped contribute to the honky-tonk atmosphere of the marathon).  

Both productions featured a minimal one unit set, a half symmetrical neon light STEEL PIER sign and brought in small set pieces for scenes that did not take place within the Marine Ballroom. This begged the question for me of whether or not the original Broadway production might have benefited from a smaller design. Although Tony Walton’s set for the original production was praised by critics and was nominated for a Tony Award, from production photos, the set makes the story feel over blown and too epic. Although it was not as big as other musicals of the 1997 season, the overwhelming design of the show might have thrown audiences off with the genuine love story and grittiness of its subject material. The blame could also have been that the original Broadway production played at the gigantic Richard Rodgers Theater. Furthermore, the scaling down of Kander and Ebb musicals such as Flora The Red Menace, The Happy Time, Cabaret and Chicago have all proven to be superior and to work better than their original Broadway counterparts with minimalistic scenic designs. Seeing Steel Pier at those two universities with a paired down set in smaller theaters proves this point to be true. 

STEEL PIER Remembered: You remember?

A second rendition of a Kander and Ebb revue (the first being And The World Goes ‘Round) was named after the pinnacle love song from the show, First You Dream: The Music of Kander and Ebb. The revue premiered on PBS in 2015 after having performed at the Signature Theater in 2009 and The Kennedy Center in 2012. The song, “First You Dream” was the finale of the show and featured the beginning selection from “Leave The World Behind”. 

Steel Pier is a part of the gold standard of Broadway flops. It has been featured in the grand catalog of flops in two other shows; [title of show] in the number “Monkeys and Playbills” and Forbidden Broadway: The Next Generation in the parody number “The Place Where The Lost Shows Go”. 

The song “First You Dream” has been covered by artists such as Audra McDonald and Peter Davenport. The song “Second Chance” was covered by Brent Barett for his Kander and Ebb album. 

Various media influencers have commented on Steel Pier, all with positive responses for the score. 

 STEEL PIER’s Relevance Today: Real life mixed with real show business.

When I saw Steel Pier at San Diego State University, a colleague of mine who also attended the production questioned the relevance of the piece within today’s society. Although Steel Pier is not a political battlecry as most shows are now required to be in today’s theater scene, the musical still comments on the condition of human suffering as a form of entertainment and the everlasting power of love. 

The love story of this musical is timeless, mostly impart on the story being based on the classic Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice. There are many people who are trapped in their own personal underworlds by their own Hades. For Rita, she was trapped by her Hades, Mick, in the underworld of the dance marathon. The way Rita escapes her predicament is through Bill, the story’s Orpheus. Like Orpheus, Bill teaches the lesson on the importance of not looking back and letting love guide the way. As he says to Rita in Act Two, Scene 6A; “Just don’t look back. When you’re flying, you never look where you’ve been. You can only look where you’re going. Ever see a bird look over his shoulder? No. There’s only one way to go. Straight ahead.” (Thompson, pg.98). 

The story of Orpheus, Eurydice and Hades is once again being told on Broadway in the Tony-Award winning musical, Hadestown, reinstating the timelessness of the Orpheus myth. With Hadestown being the toast of the town with audiences and critics alike who are becoming enamored with the musical, it could be theorized that today’s audience might be more accepting of Steel Pier’s story if the musical was ever to be revived in New York now that audiences have a contemporary comprehension of the Orpheus myth through Hadestown. 

Dance Marathons are still put on today, mostly through fun high school charity events and the ugly underbelly of the marathon still lingers today as well. There still are selfless promoters like Mick Hamilton still thriving off the back of the unfortunate and the blur between real life and the exploitation of show business still occurs. We can see this blur in reality TV shows like Wipeout in which ordinary people fight their way to the top for a grand cash prize by performing humiliating and painful obstacles. 

The ideals of Dance Marathons being endurance obstacles and a “survival of the fittest” competition still continue with the popular TV drama Survivor, which is still continuing in its 41st season. 

We also see Marathon habits, such as sponsored weddings and staged discord, creeping their way into reality dating shows. As Carol Martin stated in his book, Dance Marathons: Performing American Culture in the 1920s and 1930s, “Dramatic vignettes…helped break up the long hours of the contest…Members of the audience returned day after day to see new developments. It didn’t matter that the [dramatic vignettes] were ‘real’ or not because once narratives….were introduced, contest and theater overlapped.” (Martin, p.31). We see this played out today in shows like The Bachelor where everyday women are pitted against each other in order to obtain a “happy ending” with their “soul-mate”. The women are dropped like files and television audiences tune in each week to see who would win the heart of the wealthy stud. The winner is not usually picked by the bachelor himself, but rather by the team behind the show. In Steel Pier, we get a small glimpse of how the pressure of the dance marathon led to rivivaliers against contestants such as Buddy Becker with Johnny Adel and when Precious McGurie upstages Selby Stevens’ big number . 

Jimmy Donaldson, known on the internet as MrBeast, is one of the highest paid Youtuber content creators with over 80 million subscribers in addition to his own burger chain. MrBeast through his series of youtube videos has indirectly continued the tradition of dance marathons. His clickbait videos entice his Youtube audience with difficult and wacky competitions for an extreme cash prize. 

His video posted on August 31, 2021 entitled, “Last To Leave Circle Wins $500,00” (with over 100 million views on Youtube) is essentially the same as a Dance Marathon. Over 100 people fought for the chance to win a grand cash prize by standing in a circle and performing various acts such as standing for 24 hours straight without sitting down. MrBeast served as the Mick Hamilton-eque MC for the video and continually tricked his contestants to leave the circle for smaller prizes, the same way Mick tricks Dora into leaving the marathon to supposedly model fashion in New York. MrBeast’s friends served as the Floor Judges who checked who stepped out of the circle throughout the competition. During the competition, a marriage proposal was held in the circle, not dissimilar to marriage proposals and weddings that occurred during dance marathons. The video also heavily advertised MrBeast’s Burgers establishment and was sponsored by their “Fralinger’s Taffy”, Bitcoin. The “Leave The Circle” Marathon lasted over twelve days when only ten contestants remained standing and was only the FIRST part of the competition. The contestants later had to be subjected to a grueling game of Extreme Tag. 

MrBeast also hosted his own version of a marathon derby in which the last contestant to stop running on the treadmill wins $1,000 per mile they run. 

Another tradition that MrBeast has continued from Dance Marathons was a specialty act performed at the marathons. “Frozen Alive” was a special entertainment performed to keep spectators enticed during the long hours of the marathon in which a contestant would intomb themselves in a block of ice for an extended period of time. MrBeast did a variation of such an act in his video, “I Survived 24 Hours Straight In Ice”

The examples of reality TV and of Mr. Beasts videos prove that although dance marathons maybe out of fashion, the marathons’ melodramatic theatrics in addition to the public’s desire to view such content will not fade away anytime soon.

STEEL PIER vs. THEY SHOOT HORSES DON’T THEY: Yahousah! Yahousah! Yahousah!

The creative team of Steel Pier originally wanted to adapt They Shoot Horses Don’t They? into a musical. They Shoot Horses Don’t They? is a 1935 novel written by Horace McCoy and later adapted to an Academy Award winning movie of the same name in 1969 starring Jane Fonda. The creative team had a difficult time obtaining the rights to Horses, dropped the idea and decided to create their own story. That being said, there are some striking resemblances between the film version of Horses and the musical Steel Pier. Here are the similarities and differences;

• The plotting device that begins the story of both Steel Pier and Horses reveal themselves at the end. Both concern the story’s leading man. Horses begins with Robert Syverton as a child watching his father shoot a lame horse in a field of pasture to put it out of its misery. Throughout the film, the story shows Robert’s imprisonment and speedy trial for an unstated crime of which he claims not guilty of. At the end of the film, his dance partner Gloria Beatty, giving up on her life, begs Robert to shoot her. The image of the lame horse being shot in a field of pasture at the beginning of the film is replaced with Gloria being shot. The film cuts to the police dragging Robert off to jail. When an officer asks why Robert shot Gloria, he states the story’s title, “They shoot horses don’t they?”. The audience now comprehends that the brief moments in which Robert was in jail was the story’s epilogue scattered about the film. In Steel Pier, Bill wakes up off the ground in a tattered coat. He looks at his Trenton Air Show raffle ticket and exclaims, “All right, I understand. I’ve got three weeks. Three weeks!” (Thompson, p.11). Throughout the musical, the audience sees Bill resurrect a dead pigeon, reverse time and create a world of possibility in Rita’s dreams. There are also references to Bill not sleeping nor eating and he himself states twice to Rita that he is death-defying. It is not till the end of the show that the audience and Rita find out that Bill is dead, given a second chance in addition to the power to spend three weeks with the woman he loves. 
• Both center around the relationship of a man and woman. Although Bill and Rita’s relationship in Steel Pier is romantic, Gloria and Robert’s relationship in Horses is platonic. Both couples are proposed to partake in a fake wedding. Steel Pier sees this idea through while Horses does not.
• Both feature a sleazy emcee (Mick in Steel Pier, Rocky in Horses) who uses The Depression and the American Dream as an excuse to torutre the contestants. Both discuss how their father is the prime reason for the way they are. Mick and Rocky set up their contestants for humiliation. Mick in Scene 10A sprays a couple with a seltzer bottle and forces everyone to laugh at them. Rocky steals Alice LeBlanc’s dress and makeup in order to make her look as miserable as the contestants around her. 
• Both feature a comic relief who is later eliminated in the second act of the story, Buddy Becker in Steel Pier, Harry Kline (“Sailor” as he’s commonly referred to) in Horses.  
• Both showcase the passage of time within the dance marathon and a marathon derby race. The film is better at capturing the sleep depravity and desperation of the contestants than Steel Pier does through the use of close-ups, make-up in addition to showcasing the contestants’ clothes gradually deteriorate. 
• Both feature a perky young woman using the marathon as a way to gain exposure for her theatrical career. Precious McGuire in Steel Pier is so desperate to become the next Jeanette McDonald and to sing on the radio that she has an affair with Mick Hamilton in order to secure a singing spot for the phony wedding. Alice LeBlanc comes all the way from London in hopes of using the marathon as a way to be scouted by Hollywood talent (the marathon in Horses takes place on the Santa Monica Pier). 
• Both showcase contestants getting “squireley” due to sleep deprivation. This is represented by Buddy Becker in Steel Pier who ends up going squirrely and repeatedly screams, “I want a job!”. In Horses it’s represented by one of the female contestants screaming, “They’re crawling all over me!” when there is nothing on her. 
• The key difference between the two pieces is their ending message. Horses wanted to capture the exploitation and danger of the dance marathon world. The film ends with Gloria begging Robert to shoot her to get out of the rut of life. While Steel Pier does showcase the dance marathon’s dark underbelly, Bill represents the story’s message of hope and taking a second chance on life which inturn helps Rita get out of the marathon’s grasp. 

STEEL PIER’s Cut Songs: If you’re gunna sing, know the words of the song…

Here on this blog, I proudly present two never publicly heard Kander and Ebb numbers which were cut from the final stage production of Steel Pier. Both numbers are sung by the supporting characters of the musical as they come to grips of the mess they’ve got themselves into and what their motivations will be in order to get through the marathon. Presumably, these numbers where meant to take place during Act One, Scene Four in which the contestants begin to introduce themselves to each other and the audience in their bunker rooms. The same conversations that transpire in the scene are similar to the lyrics of the two songs.

There is also an additional number which was cut called “Dance With Me” which is presumably the first draft of the song of the same title that Mick Hamilton would sing in the final production. Here is a demo recording of the number, sung by the composer, John Kander. 

Another song that was cut was written for Rita Racine called “Nobody’s Fault”. This song comes in the second act after Rita once again agrees to go along with Mick’s exploitative plans in order to return to her home. I theorize this song was cut for several reasons. The first being that the song makes the leading lady sound like a self pitying victim, submissive to Mick and incorrectly labeling the blame on herself rather than her conniving husband. The second reason could be that another ballad right after “Somebody Older” might have slowed down the pace of the second act. The song also carries the essence of a Helen Morgan torch song, which might have been inappropriate for the character and the dire situation she is in. This song would be replaced with a brisk uptempo dance number, “Running in Place” which expresses Rita’s frustration on her entrapment in Mick’s world rather than blaming herself for the entrapment. Although the song was cut, a section of the song would stay in the show in the same scene: 

Twelve Ocean Drive, right by the shore  

Not many rooms, I only count four

But those four rooms spell happiness 

My address, our address

Conclusion:  Off we go, to the sky!

Let us raise a glass and propose a toast to Steel Pier! A musical that continues to resonate, fascinate and capture the hearts of audiences. Here’s hoping that the next twenty five will continue to give Steel Pier that second chance the musical so rightfully deserves.

I would also like to take this opportunity to answer the age old question many of friends have been asking me; “Why do you love Steel Pier so much?!” The reason why I love this show is mainly for two reasons. The first being John Kander’s incredibly romantic score that continues to move me ever since I discovered the original cast album in 2017. My favorite tracks on the album are “The Prelude”, “Somebody Older” and “Final Dance”. I would like to acknowledge once again Michael Gibson’s orchestrations and Glen Kelly’s incidental music and dance arrangements they created for the score that help Kander’s music to shine.

The second reason is the love story between Bill and Rita. Who wouldn’t want a dashing pilot to save us from the rut of life, inspire us to dream and point us in the direction our lives should go? My favorite moment in the show is “Final Dance” where Bill and Rita are forced to part ways but are given a moment to passionately dance in each other’s arm. When Bill finally disappears, Rita discovers Bill’s medal for daring and bravery which he gave Rita as a substitute for an engagement ring. In an earlier scene in Act Two, she asks Bill to give it to her when the time is right. In that moment when Rita pulls the courage to leave the marathon, the time is right.

To end our trip to the Steel Pier, I invite you to watch one of the best Tony Awards performance ever performed in the history of the telecast. There’s so much to marvel at in this five minuet clip; The orchestra’s fantastic sound in Radio City! The banjo! Susan Stroman’s choreography! The incredible ensemble! Mr. Peanut! Kristin Chenoweth’s microphone unknowingly being on as we hear her say in character, “Bye…Hi!” during Bette and Buddy Becker’s solo! And finally, the passion and romance when Bill and Rita whirl around, gaze longingly into each other eyes, ending with a kiss!

This humble little blog is dedicated to the memory of Daniel McDonald, who portrayed the role of Bill Kelly in the original production.

Works Citied

Martin, Carol J. Dance Marathons: Performing American Culture of the 1920s and 1930s (Performance Studies). University of Mississippi, 1994. 

Thompson, David, et al. Steel Pier. Samuel French, 2005.

Introduction

From a decaying mansion in the nasty republican town of East Hampton, to a picture perfect suburban house in Hartford, to the beauty salons on New York’s Fifth Avenue, Composer Scott Frankel and Lyricist Michael Korie have taken their audiences to interesting and dramatic slices of American life through their Broadway musicals. The characters this songwriting team decide to write about are larger than life. However, through their brilliant music and lyrics, the team is able to find the empathy, sympathy and pity within these characters in order for the audience to see their humanity. This blog will discuss and examine their three musicals; Grey Gardens, Far From Heaven and War Paint. This blog will also discuss the show’s similarities, the scores and how the work fits in the historical context of 21st century American musical theater.   

The Shows 

Disclaimer: Although the team has also composed the musicals Doll and Happiness, the contents of this blog will concern with their major Broadway works, or their musicals that have an accessible cast recording or libretto. Therefore, this blog may be considered biased in regards to comparing their work because it does not include Doll or Happiness.

Grey Gardens

Plot: Grey Gardens is the hilarious and heartbreaking story of Big Edie and Little Edie Bouvier Beale, the eccentric aunt and cousin of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. They were once bright names on the social register who would later become East Hampton’s most notorious recluses. Act One takes place in 1941 where Edith Bouvier Beale is throwing a party to announce the engagement of her daughter Edie to Joseph Patrick Kennedy. However, when stories of Edie’s scandalous past is told to Joe Kennedy, in addition to a telegram from Mr. Bouvier Beale desiring a divorce from Edith, the engagement and the party are off. Act Two takes place in 1972 in which the Beales live in squalid conditions in their dilapidated house filed with “racoon, flees and virtually no plumbing”. The two women argue, relive moments from their past and question what brought them to living in such shambles. Edie begins to be fed up with her mother’s comments in addition to the presence of Jerry, the Beale’s friend and houseboy. She plans to leave Grey Gardens for good although in the end she never does.

Theme: The theme of the musical mostly revolve around the undying love and dangers of a mother and daughter relationship. This is showcased through the Beales, particularly at the end when Edie decides to stay with her mother.

Musical Styles: The first act pastiches the type of parlor songs the Beales listened to and sang during that time: European Operetta, Tin Pan Alley, Soft Shoe, Minstrel tunes, and Gershwin. Act two has no pastiche style (besides the WWII number “The House We Live In”) but rather a musical theater sound similar to Sondheim.

History of the musical: Grey Gardens premiered at Playwrights Horizon and was a such a resounding success that it transferred to Broadway to glowing reviews and two Tony Awards for the actresses portraying The Beals. PBS’s Independent Lens would create a documentary discussing the original film and the creation of the musical entitled Grey Gardens: From East Hampton to Broadway. A 2009 HBO movie titled Grey Gardens starring Drew Barrymore and Jessica Lange as the Beals would premiere two years after the success of the musical.Since closing in New York, it has played in regional theaters all over America and around the world.

Far From Heaven

Plot: Its autumn in Connecticut 1957. Cathy Whitaker seems to be the picture-perfect wife and mother to her family and to her community. But roiling beneath the surface are the secret longings for her African American friend Mr. Raymond Deagan and the forbidden desires of her closeted husband Frank. These desires and complications would help causes Cathy’s world to unravel, with incendiary consequences.

Theme: The show revolves around how the leads, Cathy, Frank and Raymond, are affected by the repression, hypocrisy and snobby conformist rules of the ‘50s. The show also showcases the false facade that the decade and characters put on.

Musical Styles: The music and sounds resemble the music of 1950s suburbia: cocktail music, jazz, film noir, and latin salsa.

History of the musical: The show premiered at the Williamstown Theatre Festival in 2012 then Playwrights Horizon a year later. When it premiered at Playwrights Horizon, it received good but mixed reviews. Although the musical did not reach the Broadway stage (probably due to the show’s “non-commercial” nature), it did receive a cast recording and is now available for licensing through R&H.  

War Paint

Plot: War Paint is a biography musical about Helena Rubinstein and Elizabeth Arden who defined beauty standards for the first half of the twentieth century. Brilliant innovators with humble roots, both were masters of self-invention who sacrificed everything to become the country’s first major female entrepreneurs. They were also fierce competitors whose fifty-year tug-of-war would give birth to an industry. From Fifth Avenue society to the halls of Congress, their rivalry was relentless and legendary – pushing both women to build international empires in a world dominated by men.

Themes: The musical showcases the battle of women fighting against a male dominated world and the costs Arden & Rubenstein paid for in their personal lives in order to break the glass ceiling. Another theme is revealed In the final scene when Elizabeth Arden asks Helena Rubinstein this question: “Did we make women freer or did we help enslave them?”

Musical Styles: Act One captures the swing music and big band sounds of the 1930s. Act Two captures the rally calls of WWII and the bongo sounds of the 1950s. Elizabeth Arden’s music is in a major key, bright and laid back. Helena Rubinstein’s music is in a minor key, brassy with chunky chords.

History of the musical: War Paint had an out of town tryout in Chicago before opening on Broadway a year later to good but mixed reviews. It received four Tony Award nominations and lost all. 2017 was a watershed year on Broadway and unfortunately War Paint was lost in the mix of innovative contemporary musical theater shows such as Dear Evan Hansen, Great Comet, Come From Away and Groundhog Day. The show closed prematurely after 236 performance when it was announced leading lady Patti LuPone was to have hip surgery. The show is now available for licensing from Samuel French.       

Similarities Within Their Work

The musicals of Frankel and Korie have a distinct style and pattern to their work the same way any great artist such as Picasso or Miro does;

• Their musicals are based on a film: Grey Gardens and Far From Heaven are based on the documentary/film of the same name and War Paint is based on the documentary, The Powder and Glory (in addition to the book of the same name!).
• All the shows are directed by Michael Grief
• The shows are center around incredible and strong American women: In Grey Gardens, the Beals, Far From Heaven, Cathy and in War Paint, Arden and Rubinstein.
• The show also deals with how these women’s lives are comprised by the men in their life: In Grey Gardens, Edith is despised and resented by her father, Major Bouvier while Edie blames her problems on Joe Kennedy’s resentment to marry her due to his strict rules on what his ideal bride is supposed to be. In Far From Heaven, Frank’s unfaithfulness to Cathy in addition to his rude comments to her and his physical abuse causes Cathy to unravel. In War Paint, Arden’s husband, Tommy Lewis and Rubenstein’s business partner, Harry Fleming, both feel undervalued and not appreciated for their devotion towards the company’s successes. In retaliation, the men backstab the women by working for the opposite companies (Lewis goes to work for Rubenstein while Fleming goes to work for Arden). Furthermore, both the men give away the top secrets of the previous company. This causes Arden and Rubinstein to lament in the number “If I’ve Been a Man”.
• The musicals are tailored made for star vehicles: Grey Gardens’ stars were Christine Ebersole and Mary Louise Wilson, who both won Tony Awards for their performances as the Beals. In Far From Heaven, the stars were Kelli O’Hara and Steven Pasquale were the Whitakers (this was a year before they would pair up again as star crossed lovers in musical adaptation of Bridges of Madison County). War Paint’s stars were Christine Ebersole as Elizabeth Arden and Patti LuPone as Helena Rubinstein. Both women were nominated for Best Actress at the 2017 Tony Awards.
• Their musicals have underlying camp elements, deal with gay subject matters or appeal to gay audiences: Grey Gardens is considered to be one the definitive gay camp classics alongside Mommie Dearest and All About Eve. What makes this film appealing to gay camp lovers are the headstrong Beal’s quotable phrases, fashion statements, unique voices and catty arguments. Although all of these elements are intact in the musical, Frankel & Korie also attach a sympathetic and saddened look at the Beals rather than making them the cartoon drag queens as they have become over time. This pathos view of the Beales is evident in numbers like “Jerry Likes My Corn” and “Another Winter in a Summer Town”. Furthermore, Grey Gardens’ George Gould Strong, Big Edie’s confident and soulmate, is portrayed in the musical as flamboyantly gay. Although some might consider Far From Heaven campy due to the story’s melodramatic structure, it is FAR FROM camp (see what I did there?). Frank Whitaker is a closeted gay man and drives the plot forward when his wife Cathy finds him making love to another man. Frank considers being gay a disorder in his mind and discovered he had this “illness” while he was enlisted in WWII. Frank showcases these problems in the musical numbers, “Secrets” and “If It Hadn’t Been (Reprise)”. When Frank finally gives into his “illness” in the musical number “I Never Knew”, he decides to live with another man, divorces Cathy and crushes her spirit in the process. Like Grey Gardens, War Paint deals with two headstrong fabulous woman at constant battle with bitchy one-liners. War Paint’s Harry Fleming is a gay man who works for Helena Rubinstein. Fleming is caught when a late night tryst blackmails Rubenstein for money, Fleming goes against Rubenstein and discontinues to be with her, which is somewhat similar to what Frank did to Cathy in Far From Heaven.
• Their musicals take place during the mid-20th century: Grey Gardens’ first act takes place in July 1941 while Act Two takes place in July 1972. Far From Heaven takes places from autumn 1957 to spring 1958. War Paint takes places from 1930s to the early 1960s. Having the shows take place during the mid-20th century allows the musical language to consist of jazz and swing style or consist of music of an era before rock ‘n roll. Speaking of the music…
• Each musical beings with a prologue then goes into a splashy opening number: Grey Gardens’ prologue begins in 1972 with a newsreel giving the audience a brief background on what the mansion is and who is living in it. The scene then transforms into Grey Gardens in its heyday in 1941. Their is excitement in the air with preparations for Little Edie’s engagement party and is displayed in the opening number “Five-Fifteen”. Far From Heaven beings with a musical prologue (It’s the musical’s main leitmotif and is the basis for the song “Tuesday’s, Thursdays”). The original staging used this musical prologue to showcase the different types of people of Hartford, Connecticut; the snobby middle class whites versus the working class African Americans. This prologue segues into the opening number, “Autumn in Connecticut” introducing Cathy in her perfect 1950’s life as she gets ready for the fall season. War Paint’s prologue, “Best Face Forward” begins with different beauty advertisements taunting New York’s society ladies ladies with their imperfections in order to buy makeup products. This prologue then segues into two opening numbers, one for each of the leading ladies. Elizabeth Arden’s opening number is the swinging “Behind The Red Door” and Helena Rubinstein’s opening number is the brassy “Back on Top”.
• Their shows ends with the heroine(s) looking back at her life and singing an 11 o’clock number: These 11 ‘clock numbers are ballads that are more like 21st century opera arias than musical theater numbers. Grey Gardens’ “Another Winter In A Summer Town” is sung my Little Edie reflecting on her life and how Grey Gardens is a metaphor for her crumbling life. In Far From Heaven’s “Tuesdays, Thursdays” Frank is informing details about his divorce with Cathy. In return, Cathy looks back at her perfect life with her family and community. She finally realizes that it was all disillusionment and begins to feel all alone in the world. War Paint has two 11 o’clock numbers. The first is for Elizabeth Arden who has been asked by her board to leave the company and her signature color, “Pink”. She looks back at her illustrious career and her personal sacrifices only to discover that the only legacy she will leave behind is a basic color that she never liked in the first place. The second 11 o’clock number is for Helena Rubinstein as she reminisces all of the famous artists who have painted portraits of her and made her “Forever Beautiful”. She also looks back at her life filled with constant battling from disapproving men.
• Other minor similarities: Grey Gardens and War Paint book writer is Doug Wright. All these shows had out of town tryouts. Another minor similarity is two of their musicals feature a song about the character’s relationship with art. In Far From Heaven, it’s the song “Miro” and in War Paint it’s the song “Forever Beautiful”. Grey Gardens and War Paint both feature a pastiche of a WWII fighting song, “The House We Live In” in Grey Gardens and “Necessity is the Mother of Invention” in War Paint.    

A Sample of Their Work

The videos attached below give the sense of Frankel and Korie’s music and the mes-en-scene of the original productions of their musicals.

Grey Gardens

Far From Heaven

War Paint

This video, “Building Broadway: War Paint”, showcases Frankel, Korie and book writer Dough Wright as they discuss the songs and creative process for War Paint. It’s also entertaining, hypnotizing and absolutely astounding to watch Frankel play the piano. Watching Frankel play his score details how rich and introquite his music is.

My Favorite Songs

What I enjoy most about their work is Scott Frankel’s complex music. I feel smarter just listening to it. Just hearing the music one gets a sense of its complexity. When I saw the Piano/Conductor scores for Frankel’s shows, it’s even more intricate then listening to it. Crunchy jazz chords, music that flies by so fast in addition to the constant changing of musical keys and time signatures. Michael Korie’s lyrics are pure poetry that are appropriate for the period and the characters. Here are a couple of my favorite song from Frankel & Korie’s musicals with my commentary on what makes their songs sparkle.

• Grey Gardens:
  • The Five Fifteen: A great vamp and the harmony the characters sing at the very end is extremely exciting to listen to!
  • Drift Away: Truly evokes the Gershwin-esque parlor songs of the era in addition to evoking a beautiful grey sky on a Long Island beach. My favorite rendition of this song was actually performed by one of my dearest friends Bradley J. Beherman. You may think I am saying this because he’s my friend or I am doing a shameless plug in but I’m not. Bradley’s voice is perfect for this song and the key it’s performed in gives the music a more melancholy feel. Give it a listen and see for yourself!

• • • Around the World: This song takes the audience on the flustered emotions Edie is feeling. My favorite part of the song is when she discusses about one of the things in her collection, “a bird cage for a bird who flew away…”. I feel Edie resents this bird because unlike her, the bird is able to escape the closed off world of Grey Gardens.

• Far From Heaven

• • If It Hadn’t Been (Reprise): Frank’s aggressive vamp is such fun to hear. I also enjoy the end of the song where Frank out of nowhere sings an F with opposing music in what sounds like a different key. You would think he would hit an F#/Gb instead, which would make sense musically. However having Frank hold out an F gives the impression that his sessions with the doctor to cure his homosexuality in addition to his willingness to go forward with this treatment is as faulty and as sour as the note he hits. It sounds dissonant at first but it is absolutely fascinating and wonderful for the ear to hear.
  • Miro: Frankel & Korie at their best! Atmospheric music with haunting lyrics that captures the artwork of Joan Miro. It also communicates the intellectual sides of Raymond & Cathy, how they are the only ones who appreciate this art with descriptive words compared to the Ladies auxiliary whose only comment on the artwork is “interesting”.
  • Picture In Your Mind: A beautiful ballad that deserves more attention. That being said, heavy caution when listening to this song, you’ll need several boxes of tissues before diving in. It shatters my heart each time I hear it. Cathy and Raymond’s harmonies soar to lush romantic heights when they sing “And although I maybe far away we’ll never say goodbye/For in that moment we were free”. Another favorite moment is when the couple sings in harmony “When will I learn how to let go” against clashing music. To me the unison melody represents their love while the clashing music symbolizes the society that wouldn’t allow them to be together.  

• War Paint
  • Behind The Red Door: A great opening number that sets up the character of Elizabeth Arden and how she runs her business. Furthermore, the number takes the listener back to the Golden Age where the biggest concern was “When is the Grand Madame arriving?” and when she finally arrives, she glides down a grand staircase to triumphant music.
  • Back on Top: An exciting and engaging number with an amazing Bb13b9(#11) chord at the end.
  • Step on Out: An amazing and complex swinging dance break!  
  • Oh That’s Rich: A juicy vamp and key, one of the first songs from the score I feel in love with. The song is simply delicious! But not as delicious as what is inside the beauty jars of Arden and Rubinstein…
  • Face to Face: Oh that poor brass section at the very end.
  • Fire And Ice: Someone was listening to Judy Garland’s rendition of “Come Rain or Come Shine” while writing this song. Bongolisous!

Their Work in the Context of Musical Theatre History

21st Century musicals in my opinion fall into roughly four different categories in regards to new musicals. The first category is “Contemporary Musical Theater” with composers like Jason Robert Brown (Parade, Bridges of Madison County), Dave Malloy (Great Comet, Ghost Quartet) and songwriting teams such as Pasek & Paul (Dogfight, Dear Evan Hansen), Kitt & Yorkey (Next to Normal, If/Then). The second is “Commercial Contemporary” that blend a Golden Age style show with contemporary composers like Shaiman & Wittman (Hairspray, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory), Mel Brooks (The Producers, Young Frankenstein) and Alan Menken (Sister Act, Aladdin).The majority of shows are based on popular films like Anastasia, Wedding Singer, MeanGirls, and Once to name a few. The third I’d like to call the “I’m Still Here” category. This category, which I named after Sondheim’s tune from Follies are shows that have a specific target audience, come across as doing art for art’s sake and although are artistic success, they are usually commercial failures.They also come across to me as the type of shows similar to the musicals that Hal Prince and Stephen Sondheim created during their time in the 1970s, thought provoking musicals with depth using a musical mixture of content dicating form, contemporary and golden age sounds. Composers of this category include Adam Guettel (Floyd Collins, Light in the Piazza), Kander & Ebb’s later work (The Scottsboro Boys, The Visit) and Jeanine Tesori (Caroline or Change, Violet). The fourth category are jukebox musicals consisting mostly of famous performance artists from the later part of the 20th century (Motown, Boy From Oz, Summer, Beautiful, etc) or of composer George Gershwin (Nice Work, An American in Paris).

Now, where do Scott Frankel and Michael Korie fit in? They most reside in the “I’m Still Here” category. Although their musicals are based on films like the pattern followed in the “Commercial Contemporary” category, the films they choose are not popular or comedies like School of Rock or Newsies. Although their musicals are just as musically challenging as the composers of the “Contemporary Musical Theater” category, Frankel & Korie do not choose to have a pop or rock sounding score compared to composers like Pasek and Paul or Frank Wildhorn. The reason they fit into the “I’m Still Here” category is because the musical sounds of their shows are often referred to as Sondheim-esque to critics who described in their reviews of the shows. The reason for this is because Frankel’s beautifully complex arias and Korie’s poetic lyrics sometimes do come across like the type of songs Sondheim wrote. Furthermore, like the other shows in this category, Frankel & Korie’s musicals are artistic success but not commercial ones. The team’s two Broadway shows have stayed on the Great White Way for less than a year and did not recoup their profits despite the big star names attached to the projects. Far From Heaven has never premiered on Broadway. Frankel & Korie’s shows also have a very specific target audience. The subjects they choose to write about are usually for older adult audiences who appreciate traditional musical theater. This makes their shows difficult to sell to Broadway’s larger target audiences of teenagers (looking for something to fan over like Dear Evan Hansen or Newsies) and tourist looking for more towards “Broadway shows”, and then seeing “musical theater” (or another analogy I’d like to use: tourists and teenagers want to see a “cotton candy” show rather than seeing a “T-Bone steak” show). Frankel & Korie’s shows also have not seen much life outside of New York; Grey Gardens get produced but only once in a blue moon, while Far From Heaven has been only performed in two regional theaters and War Paint has not been performed regionally yet.

Conclusion

The musicals of Scott Frankel and Michael Korie challenge their audiences with their complex melodies and witty lyrics. Furthermore, their work has the ability to communicate with their audiences the emotional heights their characters deal within the show. Their work keeps the art of musical theater alive and I look forward to see what the team has in store next. If you haven’t yet, I highly suggest to listen to the cast recordings and read the librettos of Grey Gardens, Far From Heaven and War Paint. If you have the opportunity to see these shows in your community, do so!  While you watch or listen to these shows, see how the characters, in particular their leading ladies, through the songs communicate their personalities, connect with the relationship with other characters and lament their struggles.

For more information:

Michael Korie has beautiful website of his life and works at http://www.michaelkorie.com. Although Scott Frankel does not have an official website, information about his life and accomplishments can be found on various different sites via google search.

Photo Credits: The New York Times

Introduction: Life’s a party, why don’t you come to the Steel Pier?!

Twenty-one years ago today, Steel Pier: A New Musical premiered on Broadway. To celebrate one of my all time favorite shows, this blog will discuss all you need to know about this very special musical. So dip your toes into the ocean, be willing to ride, and welcome to the Marine Ballroom on the world famous Steel Pier!

The promotional footage for the original Broadway production

Background: No place draws a friendlier crowd than the Steel Pier! 

Steel Pier is a musical written by librettist David (Tom) Thompson, with music by composer John Kander and lyricist Fred Ebb. It was directed by Scott Ellis and was choreographed by Susan Stroman. Steel Pier based on the concept of the 1969 film, They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? in addition to the greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice. The original Broadway cast featured Karen Ziemba as Rita Racine (the show was written as a star vehicle for her), Daniel McDonald as Bill Kelly and Gregory Harrison as Mick Hamilton. The cast also featured Debora Monk, Casey Nicolaw (who later become the director of such Broadway hits as Drowsy Chaperone, Something Rotten and MeanGirls), Andy Blankenbuehler (future choreographer of Hamilton) and a young Kristin Chenoweth making her Broadway debut. It opened at the Richard Rogers Theater on April 24, 1997. The show received mixed reviews and ran for only 76 performances.

Historical Background: All Atlantic City is proud of the Steel Pier!

Steel Pier is a 1,000 foot long boardwalk built over the ocean of Atlantic City, New Jersey and is the world’s first Boardwalk. It is Atlantic City’s oldest theme park (founded in 1898) and helped Atlantic City win the title of being known as the Playground of the Nation. In its heyday, the pier featured a diving horse act (the best-known stunt on the Steel Pier), water skiing puppies, flagpole sitters (the most famous flagpole sitter on the Steel Pier was Alvin ‘Shipwreck’ Kelly who once sat for 49 days atop a flagpole), daredevil acts such as motorcycle stunts inside a 16 foot globe and was where the Miss America Beauty Pageant was created. It was particularly popular during the summer seasons as a way of escaping the heat and the crowds of the nearby industrial cities.

Two prominent food vendors, both of which are featured in the musical, that set up stores of the pier were Joesph Fralinger’s world famous Salt Water Taffy, created in Atlantic City in 1848 and Planters Peanuts which featured a Mr. Peanut mascot costume character who passed out free samples in front of the store.

The composer of the show, John Kander, once visited to Atlantic City’s Steel Pier with his grandparents in the summer of 1933. As he stated, “The memory of it is still with me…It was quite elegant – very tony and glamorous. Men were dressed in suits and ties. There was music all over the place. It had three movies going, a circus, and in the evenings there was dancing. The Paul Whiteman Orchestra played in a casino there”. (Kander/Currier, et.al, pg.19-20)

Dance Marathons were a popular form of entertainment during the 1920s and ’30s in which couples danced day and night on end in order to achieve a grand cash prize and publicity. Some of the marthons’ cash prizes went up to $5,000 ($96,282.28 in 2017 inflation). The main rule was to keep dancing, swaying or moving on the dance floor. If a contestant should stop moving, fall asleep or fall on the floor from exhaustion, the contestant was disqualified. Contestants would get one fifteen minute break every hour in addition to food and beds. Spectators threw coins at the marathon dancers and could even become a sponsor of their favorite couple.

Although Dance Marathons supplied contestants with food, a roof over their head, a chance to be recognized by entertainment producers and gave spectators free entertainment during the time of the Great Depression, there is a dark sadistic side to the marathons. Discussion on this matter will continue later in the blog.     

Plot: Here I go again, willing to ride!

ACT ONE

Steel Pier, August 12th 1933. Rita Racine, a charismatic young woman full of life, is waiting for her partner to show up so they can enter Steel Pier’s dance marathon. Rita is known as “Lindy’s Lovebird” for she was the first woman to kiss Charles Lindbergh when he returned from his famous flight. Rita, finding out that her partner never showed up, decides to dance instead with Bill Kelly, a “death-defying” stunt pilot. He tells her about the time he won a raffle ticket to a kiss and dance with “Lindy’s Lovebird” at the Trenton Air Show but couldn’t make it in time. Although he has two left feet, Bill dances his best for her and has has become very smitten with Rita.

Rita is secretly married to Mick Hamilton, Steel Pier’s marathon’s host and master of ceremonies. Mick and Rita have done several other marathons together in which he organizes, schemes and rigs the contests to ensure that his wife will be the winner. Mick promises Rita that this will be her last marathon.

Back at the Marathon, the contestants dance and drop from the Shag to the Two Step. The audience is also introduced to some of the contestants including Shelby Stevens, Johnny Adel, Betty and Buddy Becker in addition to Precious and Happy McGuire just to name a few.

In order to promote Rita and to get an important sponsor for the marathon, Mick hatches a plan to create a fake wedding between Bill and Rita. Despite her resentment, she willingly agrees.

Mick prematurely decides its time for the constants to run The Sprints in order to knock out some of Rita’s competition. However, it is Rita who falls in the sprints. Bill manges to stop time and run time back again so she doesn’t fall. The marathon continues.

ACT TWO

Steel Pier, August 26th, 1933. Rita falls asleep during her fifteen minute break where she dreams of Bill taking her to the skies in his airplane. She wakes up only to find Mick telling her to get back out on the dance floor.

The marathon drags on with contestants dropping out one by one. Buddy Becker goes “squirrel-ey” and has a mental breakdown from sleep deprivation, repeatedly screaming, “I want a job!”. Another contestant, Happy McGuire, who voluntarily dropped out of the marathon is confronted by Shelby Stevens. Shelby tenderly asks Happy to take her with him, back to his home in Utah. He declines and Shelby is left heartbroken.  

September 2nd, the night of the phony wedding. Mick, suspecting that his wife is beginning to have feelings for Bill, decides to create a break up between Bill and Rita right after their marriage. Rita once again agrees in order to finish this marathon so she can go home for good but instead, finds her world coming apart.

The phony wedding happens with a grand aria sung by Precious McGuire. Bill and Rita are sent to their honeymoon tent. Knowing that this tent will be ripped away for a taundry stunt pulled by Mick, Rita wishes that she could escape. Bill tells her that anything is possible in their dreams and takes her away on his plane telling her not to look back. But Rita does look back when Bill informs her that he has to leave for good. The tent is lifted with Rita and Bill going their separate ways, both hurt and confused.

Later that night, Rita is informed that she will be dancing in the St. Louis Dance Marathon and that her dream to go home was destroyed by Mick who sold the house and never told her. In return, Rita disqualifies herself by standing still on the dance floor. Mick, infuriated, reminds her all that he has done for her including her failed act at The Trenton Air Show in which a pilot got killed in a horrible plane crash and took all the publicity from her. “He died”, Rita replies shocked. She realizes it was Bill, the man she has danced with and fallen in love with.

Rita slowly begins to realise the loveless trap her marriage has been with Mick. Suddenly, Bill appears and tells her to take a chance on life, away from the marathon. He asks for the dance that he won at the Trenton Air Show raffle. After the dance, he is taken away to the other world while Rita finds herself around the exhausted and used marathon constants. With love in her heart and the determination to create a new dream, she leaves the Steel Pier and Mick for good.

Music: Common boys! Let’s make it hot, sweet and sassy!

The score is created by the songwriting team of Kander and Ebb who have brought signature tunes to the American songbook such as “All That Jazz”, “Cabaret”, “Maybe This Time” and the theme song from New York, New York just to name a few in their immense catalog. The songs Kander and Ebb write for their musicals are known for their use of pastiche; a song/score that indirectly and flatteringly mimics another song, musical style or performance style. Kander and Ebb use pastiche to help the draw attention to the theatrical or musical setting in which the story is presented.

An example of Kander and Ebb using pastiche are the songs they wrote for their 1966 musical, Cabaret. To draw attention to the theatrical setting of the Kit Kat Club in Weimar Germany, the team wrote songs in the style of the cabaret songs of the 1930’s such as “Willkommen”, “Married” and “Mein Herr”. An example to demonstrate the opposite of pastiche is the 2016 movie musical, The Greatest Showman. Although The Greatest Showman takes place in the mid-1800s, the musical styling of the songs within the film reflects the pop music of today rather than the music of the time the story takes place in.

In regards to Steel Pier, the pastiche is a combination of different musical styles of American music popular in the 1930s.

In “The Overture”, we can hear the pastiche of George Gershwin in the piano part. 

The gentle waltz of “Willing to Ride” gently calls back to carousel tunes on a beachside boardwalk.

The lyrics of the song, “Everybody Dance” call back to the songs lyrics of “Shakin’ The Blues Away” and “Forget Your Troubles C’mon Get Happy”.

The song “Dance With Me”, is a pastiche of the kind music heard in the grand sweeping Fred Astaire movies. The lyrics even nods to Astire in the song, “Fred and Adele never gilded as well as we do when you dance with me”.

Here’s Fred Astaire singing “Let’s Face The Music and Dance”

Here’s Kander & Ebb’s pastiche, “Dance With Me”

“The Shag”, “Two Step” and “Harmonica Specialty” are all based on the music Big Bands played at Dance Marathons during that time in addition to music that went along with the zany dance steps of the time such as the Suzy-Q, the Turkey Trot and the Moochi.

Shelby Steven’s number, “Everybody’s Girl” is an obvious pastiche of Mae West and Sophie Tucker, famous broads known for their naughty double antrandra. One of Mae West’s best jokes (“I had a cattle ranch, but I had to sell it. I couldn’t keep my “calves” together”) is featured in “Everybody’s Girl”. 

Here’s Sophie Tucker singing “You’ve Gotta See Your Mama Every Night”

Now here’s Kander & Ebb’s take on Tucker and West with “Everybody’s Girl” 

The production number “Leave The World Behind” is pastiche of the big Busby Berkley production numbers made in the early days at Warner Brothers and RKO, in particular the title song from the 1933 movie, Flying Down To Rio.

The song “Two Little Words” is pastiche on European Operetta (a popular form of theater music from the 1880s-the 1940s that featured melodramatic arias sung with operatic gusto) and of singer, Jeanette McDonald who sang one of the most famous of all operetta songs, (the often parodied) “Ah, Sweet Mystery of Life”. 

The music of Steel Pier also contains two musical phrases that are used as the love theme in the show. The first is Rita’s Theme as shown below.

The second is Bill’s Theme. His theme is also the basis of his song, “Second Chance”.

Throughout the show these two themes play separately. However, whenever Bill helps or shows his love to Rita, in such numbers as “The Sprints” or “Final Dance”, the two themes are intertwined to create the musical’s love theme.

At 1:46, “Rita’s Tune” begins due to the fact she fell down in the sprints. When Bill comes to rescue her his “Second Chance” theme intertwines. 

Themes: First you dream…

When David Thompson, Susan Stroman, John Kander and Fred Ebb came together to create Steel Pier, they wanted to “create a musical that celebrates a uniquely American view of the world” (Thompson, pg.8). The unique American view can be expressed in the three leads, Rita, Bill and Mick.

Bill and Mick both represent the two different sides of the American Dream. Bill represents an optimistic version, where you truly can get a second chance in life, anything is possible and as long as you hold on to your dreams with the courage of your convictions, anything can happen. Mick represents the dark side, in which to achieve the American Dream, one must fight tooth and nail to be at the top, “never be an employee, always be the boss” (from Mick’s song, “A Powerful Thing”) even if it comes at the cost of exploiting and humiliating others.  

Rita, represents the audience, who must decide which side of the American Dream they want to pursue in order to find home. In the end, Bill is the man who shows Rita how to achieve her goal.

For choreographer Susan Stroman the themes of the show were represented through dance and flight, which represent the two leading characters, Rita (dance) and Bill (flight);

“Dance in our story is used to heighten the romance of the love triangle. In Steel Pier, the marathon is used as a metaphor for people trapped in a rut. The rut could be a relationship, a job, or a depression. Not until our heroine is empowered with love does she realize she has the choice to leave.

There are many ‘flying’ references in Steel Pier – hardly surprising as flying, air shows, and pilots were the main news items at the time. Flying symbolizes freedom. Uninhibited dance is also freedom. The freedom and joy of movement; dance as exhibition. Our leading character, Rita expresses her emotions through movement. Risk taking is central to Rita’s story. Will she risk all? Or continue to let life dictate to her? In a dream sequence Rita imagines she is flying – gliding, sliding and dancing towards the future.

Steel Pier is a journey danced from beginning to end. The technique of close partner dancing heightens the sensuality of our love story. Dance as a metaphor, dance as history, dance as romance.” (Stroman/Currier, et.al, pg.11-12)

The American Dream Gone Awry: YOU’RE OUT!!!

“It was [Historian Thomas} Macaulay’s conjecture that the Puritans objected to bear-baiting, not because it gave pain to bear but because it gave pleasure to the spectators” – The New York Times, 12 June 1928, pg.12

Kander & Ebb’s most well known musicals such as Cabaret, Chicago and Kiss of the Spiderwoman deal with dark uncomfortable subjects with a cynical perspective that often ends with one of the characters dying. Steel Pier has been categorized as Kander and Ebb’s least cynical musical and in the same categories as the team’s other lighthearted shows such as Woman of the Year, The Happy Time and Curtains.

This is completely understandable. When one listens to this score, Steel Pier is full of happy, bouncy and romantic tunes piled on top of each other. However, the cynicism in the show can be found libretto and through the history about the darker side of dance marathons.  Steel Pier has a lot of cynicism than it’s given credit for.

Although as previously discussed, dance marathons helped Americans “dance their blues off” in addition to giving a chance for economic opportunity with free food and shelter, the marathons exploited the contestants. Furthermore, it gave the spectators the sadistic pleasure of throwing coins at the dancers in order to watch these constants fight to win in a gurgling contest. David Thompson, the book writer of Steel Pier, called dance marathons “a place where hope-and hopelessness-blurred”. Furthermore, just like Mick Hamilton in the musical, some of the dance marathons were only used as publicity stunts to promote businesses or celebrities and were rigged. Fred Ebb in conversation about the musical stated, “We were looking for a project that was a challenge and the idea of the dance marathon craze appealed to us. It incorporated all the glitz and glamour of show business but also showed the American dream gone awry. I like our shows to have a dark side.” (Ebb/Currier, et.al, pg.19)

Here are two examples from Steel Pier that show the dark underbelly of the Dance Marathon:

In Act One, Scene 7A (Thompson, pp.46-47), after the big “Shag Dance”, a pair of contestants drop to the floor from exhaustion. Walker, the floor judge, proclaims “Yoooooou’re Out!”. As Walker goes to help the constant up, Mick turns to Walker, “Hold on, Walker. Let everyone take a good look”. Beat. The contestants struggle to get up off the floor. “Don’t worry folks”, the boastful Mick says on the mic, “Their dreams may be broken, but tomorrow they’ll be as good as new, ready to try again, somewhere else. Because that’s the spirit of this great nation of ours! Right kids?”. The couple is taken away as Mick sings with a smile, “All Atlantic City is proud of the Steel Pier”!

This scene shows the Mick exploiting the pain that the contestants is going through just for them to get up off the floor, tells Walker not to help, (ironically) tells the crowd that their loss is fostered on the American Dream and then proceeds to sing a bouncy song after the couple’s loss.

In Act Two, Scene 3 (Thompson,pp.86-87), Buddy Becker, one of the constants begins to have a mental breakdown from exhaustion in the marathon. “What’s the matter with me?” Buddy proclaims as he begins to crack up, speaking faster and faster, falling to the floor, “There’s nothing the matter with me! Nothing’s ever been the matter with me! I want a job! I WANT A JOB! I WANT A JOB!” The music stops as Buddy turns to find everyone looking at him on the dance floor stunned. He quietly replies embarrassed and broken, “I can walk out of here myself, thank you”. Bette, Buddy’s sister and partner in the marathon, watches with pain. She grabs the couple number off her back, throws it at Mick’s feet and walks out. Beat. No one moves. Suddenly coins begin to be thrown by the crowd. None of the contestants move. Walker turns to them and barks, “Pick up the coins”. The contestants obey and barbarically grovels for the coins.

This scene shows how Dance Marathons brought out the worst in people’s morality. Thompson shows Buddy screaming, “I WANT A JOB!” in order to show the audience that dancing in a marathon was not a noble profession and the desperation these people went through just to have a chance of winning money in order to survive in the Great Depression. The only person who shows humanity in this scene is Bette, who disqualifies herself to be with her brother. The scene then goes to show the crowd’s sadistic pleasure from watching someone have a mental breakdown as form of entertainment by throwing coins on the dance floor. At first the contestants are aupaled but when ordered to, they run to grab the coins and fight each other for it. The underscore for this section is a happy bouncy vamp in G major which makes the scene very unsettling.

What happened?: Some hot-dog pilot gets killed in a plane crash and everything falls to shit

When Steel Pier came out 21 years ago, audiences either loved it, hated it or were confused by the piece. The musical, although considered to be problematic, was nominated for eleven 1997 Tony Awards, but lost all in year dominated by Titanic and the revival of Chicago. So what went wrong? Well, here is my theory on the matter:

Steel Pier is written in the style an old fashioned musical plays of Rodgers and Hammerstein and departure from their unique style. When people went to go see Steel Pier, they expected Kander & Ebb’s usual style of raunchy provocative material but were thrown off when they instead found a genuine love story. Ben Brantley of The New York Times in his review called Steel Pier, “the anti-”Cabaret”…{the} anti-”Chicago’”(Leve, pg.227). Historian Ethan Morden also puts the blame on the audience for the failure of Steel Pier; “Perhaps the fantasy felt too contrived for some, or perhaps it was another case of the public’s impatience with well-made story musicals with strong emotional foundation.” (Morden, p.238) Another problem could have been the year Steel Pier was competing in. The season was filled with pop operas filled with over the top spectacle with such shows as The Phantom of the Opera, Miss Saigon, Cats, Jekyll & Hyde and Titanic. Possibly, the 1997 Broadway audiences just didn’t want to see an old fashioned show where the scenery (like crashing chandeliers, helicopters or tilting ocean liners) wasn’t the star.

Where most critics and scholars put the blame of Steel Pier’s failure was the story’s ending when the audience finds out that Bill was dead the entire show. The set designer for the original Broadway production, Tony Walton said that, “the conclusion of the story begged too many questions and pushed the audience’s suspension of disbelief to the breaking point” (Leve, pg. 227). Here is what I personally don’t understand in regard’s to the ending; how come a musical theater audience can accept Billy Billglow coming back from the dead with the angels to help his child and wife in Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Carousel (which had a successful revival at Lincoln Center Theater three years prior to Steel Pier) but won’t accept Bill Kelly coming back from the dead to help Rita?

John Kander commented that ending of Steel Pier is not supposed to be thought out, “Sometimes you just have to go with your feeling” (Leve, pg.227). I agree with Mr. Kander and just like Bill says to Rita, “Just don’t look back”. Unfortunately a majority of the audience looked back.  

Bill and Rita 

Conclusion: Go on, fly!

Although Steel Pier has been criticized for it’s “problematic” ending and being the odd child in the Kander & Ebb musical family, I find it to be the team’s strongest score. I believe what helps makes this score so lush and romantic is the beautiful orchestrations by Michael Gibson, vocal arrangements by David Loud and dance arrangements by Glen Kelly. The combination of these creators in addition to cast, truly shimmer and glow on the cast recording. Historian Ethan Moore stated that “Those listening to the cast recoding in the future will find it hard to understand why Steel Pier only lasted two months”. (Morden, pg.238).

For those who haven’t listened to the cast recording, I highly suggest going to your local library or digital store to go listen to this musical, I promise you won’t be disappointed. I hope one day this musical will once again shine in the spotlight and be appreciated for what is. What Steel Pier really needs more than anything else is a second chance…..

WORKS CITED 

Currier, Jameson, et al. Steel Pier: A New Musical (Souvenir Program). Dewynters Merchandising Inc., 1997.

Kander, John, and Fred Ebb. Steel Pier: A New Musical: Original Broadway Cast Recording, Hit Factory Studio 1, New York , 4 May 1997.

Kander, John, et al. Steel Pier: Vocal Selections. Edited by David Loud, Hal Leonard , 2005.

Leve, James. Kander and Ebb. Yale Univ Press, 2015.

Mordden, E. (2004). The Happiest Corpse I’ve Ever Seen: The Last Twenty-Five Years of the Broadway Musical. essay, Palgrave Macmillan. 

Thompson, David, et al. Steel Pier. Samuel French, 2005.

In this blog, I discuss my obsession with the 1970’s musical Applause! I hope to make future blogs about other shows I’m obsessed with but for now, let’s step into world of 1970’s New York City at the Palace Theater!

BACKGROUND: “Welcome to the Theater! To the Magic! To the Fun!”
Applause is a 1970 musical based on the film, All About Eve and it’s original story The Wisdom of Eve by Mary Orr. The creators are Broadway royalty; Music by Charles Strouse, Lyrics by Lee Adams (Bye Bye Birdie, Annie) and Book by Betty Comden and Adolph Green (Singin’ in the Rain, Wonderful Town, On The Twentieth Century). The original Broadway production starred Lauren Bacall as Margo Channing and won four Tony awards including Best Musical.

STORY: “Fasten your seatbelts, it’s going to be a bumpy night!”
Super-fan, Eve Harrington is brought backstage to meet Broadway star Margo Channing on her opening night of The Friendly Argument. Eve tells Margo how the actress saved her depressing life after her husband died in the Vietnam War. With Margo’s ego boosted, she welcomes Eve to her life and Eve soon becomes Margo’s shadow. Eve slithers her way into the life of her friends; producer Howard Benedict, playwright Buzz Richards, Buzz’s wife Karen and Margo’s director and lover Bill Sampson, making Margo even more suspicious of Eve. This siltering leads Eve become Margo’s understudy making Margo horrified. “I can’t believe it”, Margo screams, “This little prairie flower has been standing in the wings, studying my every line, my every move for five months and I never knew what she was really up to!”. Margo blames and yells her friends, causing them and her lover Bill, to walk out on her. Planning to backstab Margo and to help Eve, Karen and Buzz empty the gas out of Margo’s car, making her unable to attend the performance and allowing Eve to go on for Margo. At that performance, Eve is a hit and the audience is full with critics. Margo’s hairdresser Duane snipes at Eve, “a birdie must have told ‘em you were on tonight, or maybe a vulture”. Eve tried to seduce Bill but Bill turns her down. She then moves to Buzz, but before their affair can flourish, Howard (the producer) calls her out for the lies she has told Margo and her friends. Her real name is Evelyn Hinkle and her husband never died, he’s still in Vietnam. Howard blackmails Eve for a starring role in an upcoming play and Eve now “belongs” to Howard. Margo finally realizing Eve’s motives, she decides to give up the stage and her own ego for “Something Better”, her love for Bill.
ANALYSIS: “Who’s that girl?”
The musical is an interesting character study between its two leading ladies, Eve Harrington and Margo Channing. Eve represents how far people go and what lines people cross in order to achieve their dreams. Margo’s journey throughout the show deals with coming to grips with the ugly side of ourself- our age. The women also deal with the theme of being alive. Throughout the musical, the characters sing and say what it is to be alive. However, it is up to the audience to decide what makes one truly alive. Both women sing the song “But Alive” at different times of the show. For Eve, being alive is artificial love from hundreds and for Margo being alive is true love from one person.
Much like Sunset Boulevard, the show centers around an aging actress in addition to the story celebrating and criticizing the excitement and backstabbing of show business (Shown through such numbers as “Applause”, “Backstage Babble” and “She’s No Longer A Gypsy”). It’s a show that discusses and deals with the hidden figures of theater business who do not get the applause they deserve such as the supporting characters of Karen, Bert, and Buzz.

GAY CULTURE: “It’s just too groovy to believe”
The show is most notably known for Margo’s “But Alive” which takes place in a gay bar in Greenwich Village. Before Applause, homosexual representation in musical theater had been coded and taboo on Broadway. For example in Damn Yankees, the role of the Devil is subtextually gay with his style, manor and wit in addition to the character ascending from Hell. In Cabaret, the role of Cliff was originally supposed to be gay but his character was changed to be in love with Sally. Applause is significant for having one of it’s character’s (Margo’s hairdresser, Duane) openly gay and for having one of it’s scenes in a gay bar, representing diva worship in the gay community. This is not coded in the show nor does the show make them blatant stereotypes such as future gay musicals such as The Producers or La Cage Aux Folles. Furthermore, Duane is never shamed for being gay, the characters respect him for who is (a MAJOR step considering it came out the year after The Stonewall Riots).

MUSIC AND LYRICS:
Although the music is joyous and the show is commercial, it is the darkest out of all the shows Strouse and Lee have written. Lee’s lyrics in such songs as “One Halloween” and “Welcome to the Theater” have cynical edge to them:
Welcome to the Theater
Welcome to the dirty concrete hallways
Welcome to the friendly roaches, too
Welcome to the pinches from the stagehands;
It’s the only quite thing they do!
Welcome to Philadelphia critics
Welcome to Librium and Nembutal
Welcome to a life of laryngitis
Welcome to dark toilets in the hall
Welcome to the flop you thought would run for years
Welcome to the world of fears and cheers and tears

One Halloween
Remember that Halloween when you were nine?
You wore a fairy queen costume of your own design
Well, look at you now
And you put on rouge and lipstick, though it wasn’t allowed
You were so proud
And Daddy said “Wash your face
You look like a whore”
That’s what he said
No more
……….
Everybody loves the winner
But nobody loves the flop
No one worries how you got there
Once you’re standing on the top

I love this version of the song by the original Broadway Eve, Penny Fuller. You can feel and hear all of Eve’s anger, hurt, vengeance and triumph. 

However, the show balances this cynicism with campy disco theater tunes such as “Fasten Your Seatbelts”, “But Alive” and “Who’s That Girl”. Strouse wrote in his memoir “Put On A Happy Face” that the disco/1970’s-esque tunes came from reading an article in the New York Times stating that in order for a show to be successful on Broadway, it must have an up to date score that aligns with the music of the times, hence why the score is settled in an heavenly dated 70’s feel.

WHY DO I LIKE APPLAUSE?: “What is it that we’re living for?”
For me, I’ve met a lot of Eve Harrington’s in my life and I love this story for telling this tale of this actress who will do anything for a part in a play. We have all met and have been Eve or Margo one time in our lives. We all have crossed lines and prostituted ourselves to achieve our dreams one way or another.

FINALE: “Something Greater”
This gem (like most gems) are swept under the rug. However there are rumors that Audra McDonald is to do a revival of Applause as Margo Channing next year on Broadway! And luckily for you, you can watch Applause now, thanks to the wonders of Youtube! This version is of the 1972 London cast filmed for television. Although there is a time bar at the bottom, the television adaptation is a faithful reproduction of the stage show and is definitely a must watch for any musical theater buff.

Written August 4th 2017

OVERTURE

This past July, I had one of the most life changing and wonderful opportunities of my life, performing musical theater in Italy! I have just returned back to the states, and boy am I jetlagged! I wanted to blog about the highlights of my trip, the wonderful people whom I met and what I took away from this surreal experience. So, let’s start at the very beginning, a very good place to start!

ACT ONE

In early spring, I was accepted into Music Academy International for Musical Theater Performance, after submitting an audition video. The program would take place in a sleepy mountain town in Italy called Mezzano throughout the whole month of July. Although I was ecstatic I was accepted into the program, I was very apprehensive because it would be my first time internationally, first time in Europe (not to mention I’d be on my own) in addition to being a little nervous about what the program would really be like. Nonetheless, I was willing to take a chance!

My parents also wanted to tag along in the fun! Therefore, we left a week early before the program started to go see the sites of Germany and Austria! In Austria, my mother and I went to go do The Sound of Music Tour, to visit the locations used for the 1965 film. It was EXTREMELY touristy and campy, but my mother and I had a great deal of fun! Some of the sites we saw  included the Mirabell Gardens (where “Do Re Mi” was filmed), Mondsee Chapel (used for the wedding sequence) and the Hellbrunn Palace Gazebo (used for “16 Going On 17”).  However, the most spectacular site we saw no not even in the movie, it in a town called Sankt Gillen which over looked this beautiful lake, so clear and blue, simply breathtaking. After that, my parents dropped me off in Mezzano and I was ready to begin with Music Academy International.  

I have confidence in sunshine! I have confidence in rain! 

The town of Mezzano, in addition to its neighboring towns of Imer and Fiera di Pimero, was simply spectacular. Everywhere you turned, there was another majestic view to hit you in the face! It truly was a storybook village untouched by time. My friends and I would keep joking that at any moment the town would just start to sing “Belle/Little Town” from Beauty and the Beast. Fortunately for me, I studied italian for two years in high school and for a semester at San Diego State so it was easy for me to decipher and assimilate to this italian culture.

And of course, when in Italy, MANGIARE MOLTO. Every restaurant in town had spectacular food and I loved them all! As a matter of fact, I lost 15 pounds over in Italy on this pizza diet! My favorite dish I had in Italy was Pollo allo Spiedo, a special type of roasted chicken with herbs and spices, so delicious! A special memory I had was every Friday having lunch with my fellow SDSU students and our professor Rob Meffe. I loved getting the opportunity to have a wonderful luncheon where I got to connect more to Rob and the other students who I love very much.

What I loved the most out of this program and what I will take away from this experience the most was the chance to make a lot of friends from this program. It was great to be around students from some of the top musical theater schools in the states who were just like me; had a deep love for musical theater, passionate performers, good head on their shoulders and knew what they wanted out of life and this career. I also got to make an Italian friend, Patrick! Patrick was the son of the landlord of the apartment of where I was residing. A fun memory I had with Partick was when he invited my roommate Stephen, my friend Coleman and I to go to a secluded lake to go swim in called Villa Welsperg. The lake was FRIGID but I made the guys dunk their whole bodies in the cold water. Patrick got to make a lot of friends with the other kids from the program! He even lead some of them on tour of Vienna. Che e bene amico!

Every weekend us students had the opportunity to explore the wonders of Italy! Some of the students hiked the Dolomites, some went to other cities like Verona, Venice or Rome! However, my newly acquainted friend from Pace University, Westley and I went to the enchanted (and tourist trap) city of Florence. It has always been my dream to go to Florence ever since tenth grade when I saw Adam Guettel’s musical The Light in the Piazza (this musical is also the reason why I decided to study italian). So the first stop on our trip was the site where Fabrizio and Clara met, The Piazza della Signorina. And of course, being the annoying American tourist I was, I began to re-enact the show in the piazza. Although I saw the many famous sites of Florence, I think the highlight of the trip to Florence was the opportunity to hang out with my new friend, Westley. I miss him very much and I hope to meet with him again soon in NYC.

And the beauty is I still met people I know…

ACT TWO

I had the opportunity to work with some of the best professors from the top musical theater schools in the states; From University of Michigan, Linda Goodrich, Jason DeBoard and Logan Jones (who will be in the cast of Spongebob on Broadway this winter, go Logan!), from Pace University, Marishka Wierzbicki and Gillian Berkowitz and from San Diego State, my professor, Rob Meffe! I was extremely fortunate enough to make some wonderful friends over there from performers all over the world! I loved being around these guys because they love musical theater as much as I do, they have so so so talented in addition to being extremely dedicated to their craft and know what they want out of life. I miss them terribly and look forward to the day our paths cross once more.

As part of M.A.I., the musical theater students get to put on two gala concerts and two full length musicals (this year it was Godspell and Chicago). We were split into two groups, the cast of Godspell would be in Gala One and the cast of Chicago would be in Gala Two. Although us students were always separated into two groups, we loved to hang out with each other and always supported each other, it was a very nice camaraderie between the students. The first gala was superb! My fellow classmates from San Diego State killed it with their songs from Guys and Dolls. Also in the first gala had an amazing moment. One of the students Samantha Williams was singing the ultimate 11 o’clock number “I’m Here” from The Color Purple. As she started to sing it started to trickle rain, then as the song progressed it began to rain, then pour (HEAVILY), than THUNDER. It was as if her powerful and beautiful voice commanded the weather, it was truly a memorable night and how lucky I was to be a witness to it! I performed in Gala Two where I sang with my dear friend Coleman Campbell, “Lily’s Eyes” from The Secret Garden.

Gala Two singing “S’Wonderful”

The musical I got to perform in was Chicago! I was very excited to be in this because I absolutely adore Kander & Ebb and anything ala Brecht! I played the role of Amos Hart, Roxie’s funny honey husband who sings the Bert Williams-inspired number “Mister Cellophane”. Now, I had some trouble finding the character of Amos because everyone plays Amos as stupid or one-dimensional, in addition to this show being produced so much,I wanted to find something new with this character so I wasn’t doing a carbon copy of someone else’s performance. But with the help of my wonderful director Linda Goodrich and analysis critique by Scott Miller, I began to understand the character and what he is/represents. As Scott Miller said in his book, Amos represents the unrecognized heroes or “nice guys who don’t win in the real world; sometimes nice guys get dumped on, and the Billy Flynn’s of the world get it all”. Amos and the Hunyak are the only two characters in the show who are not selfish, not “performing” or obsessed with fame and wealth. I decided to make Amos not one dimensionally stupid, but someone who wants to be smart but can’t be, making upset and little frustrated when he can’t be. He wants to be sexy and popular like Billy Flynn but never can. Amos does have moments where he stands up for himself but other people just keep pushing him down. He was the most interesting character I’ve played so far and I loved doing this show with a wonderful creative team and cast. (You can see my performance of “Cellophane” on my website under videos).

And all that jazz…..

FINALE

This trip to Italy was truly life changing and I am beyond grateful that I had the opportunity to do this wonderful program! I miss all my friends and wish I could relive this experience all over again just to be with them once more! A huge thank you to the wonderful ladies who organized this program, the amazing faculty who came out to Italy to help teach us students, Patrick and my parents for allowing/ helping me go on this journey! Till next time, arrivadella Italia!

Love’s a fake, Love’s a fabel