Discussion Board
Merrily at the Cochrane
Has anyone else seen this ? It's not bad - some enthusiastic perfomances (as usual, Mary stealing the show) and some fairly terrible ones (but it would be unfair to name them, as, hey it was £8.50 and they are still students !). But the interesting thing was that the book was almost unrecognisable from any previous productions I've seen. No high school graduations (a mistake IMO). A much longer opening party scene (in which the film is a success and which a reference is made to Frank's son gradutating which seemed rather odd considering he can't be more than 15). Like it Was/Old Friends done chronologically *before* Frank and Charlie actually quarrel - no restaurant scene but Mary seeing Charlie just before the chat show. A very cut Bobby and Jackie and Jack (presumably the director decided that the student audience wouldn't *get* it but it was so abridged that you had to be fairly attentive to realise what the joke was about. No Now You Know. And some extended dialogue about the importance of songwriting and the lefty show that Frank and Charlie *don't* do. And some nice touches I'd never noticed before (maybe other production's use them but I'm not very observant) Eg a talk show runner showing Gussie the script of the film made in the first scene, and Gussie being Joe's runner in the Opening Doors scene.
Some of the changes worked and some definitely *didn't* though the audience was incredibly enthusiastic and the cast mainly pretty good. So I would definitely recommend it, especially if you missed the Donmar but I'd be interested to hear what anyone else thought.
Oh, and they played Sinatra's Good Thing Going, which I bet they hope his people don't find out!
Some of the changes worked and some definitely *didn't* though the audience was incredibly enthusiastic and the cast mainly pretty good. So I would definitely recommend it, especially if you missed the Donmar but I'd be interested to hear what anyone else thought.
Oh, and they played Sinatra's Good Thing Going, which I bet they hope his people don't find out!
Re: Merrily at the Cochrane
Urm, Nicky...
The new version of the show actually uses the Sinatra version of "Good Thing Going" as a tie-in to scene two - it is mentioned in the stage directions and the first line of Act 1 Scene 2 is something like...
"That was Frank Sinatra singing 'Good Thing Going'..."
So I suspect that people might just find out :-)
However, I agree that the chopping off the graduation stuff gets rid of "Hills of Tommorrow" - but in a way it does fix the problem that Frank can write something so harmonically complex as "Hills of Tommorrow" at 16-17 and then spends the rest of his life writing "Good Thing Going"
...and actually the tune to "Behold the hills of Tommorrow" the first line of "Hills of Tommorrow" is actually very similar - if not the same as "It started out like a song" the first line of "Good Thing Going"... and for that matter "Who wants to live in New York" one of the early writes of Good Thing Going which they are working on in Opening Doors.
Actually the writing in Merrily is just so brilliant - it all sounds so effortless - that it's such a shame that this show hasn't had a decent run - Donmar was fantastic - but more people should be able to see this show.
The new version of the show actually uses the Sinatra version of "Good Thing Going" as a tie-in to scene two - it is mentioned in the stage directions and the first line of Act 1 Scene 2 is something like...
"That was Frank Sinatra singing 'Good Thing Going'..."
So I suspect that people might just find out :-)
However, I agree that the chopping off the graduation stuff gets rid of "Hills of Tommorrow" - but in a way it does fix the problem that Frank can write something so harmonically complex as "Hills of Tommorrow" at 16-17 and then spends the rest of his life writing "Good Thing Going"
...and actually the tune to "Behold the hills of Tommorrow" the first line of "Hills of Tommorrow" is actually very similar - if not the same as "It started out like a song" the first line of "Good Thing Going"... and for that matter "Who wants to live in New York" one of the early writes of Good Thing Going which they are working on in Opening Doors.
Actually the writing in Merrily is just so brilliant - it all sounds so effortless - that it's such a shame that this show hasn't had a decent run - Donmar was fantastic - but more people should be able to see this show.
Re: Merrily at the Cochrane
I knew about the Sinatra recording - just wondered if a student production could afford the rights ! My understanding is that the Sinatra estate is quite hot on that sort of thing.
Re: Merrily at the Cochrane
I would assume that this should be covered in the license of the show as if it is written in to the lib one would think that they would have got clearance...
BUT I could be wrong.
BUT I could be wrong.
Re: Merrily at the Cochrane
With the fees we pay at Mountview trust me the college can afford the rights!
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© 2004 Damon Jones, inSignificant Productions
© 2004 Damon Jones, inSignificant Productions