Pal Joey (musical) videos and info

The author John O'Hara offered the stories of "Pal Joey" to Rodgers and Hart to turn into a musical. O'Hara was not present during the out-of-town tryouts, and the director George Abbott took over the rewriting. When the show opened in New York the critics were divided, with Richard Watts (New York Herald Tribune) calling it "brilliant." It became the longest running Rodgers-Hart show to that time.^[1]Ethan Mordden wrote that Pal Joey"...is a breakthrough in character writing...The two leads and Linda are extremely well-drawn...Pal Joey is tough...its script true to its characters...the show finds Rodgers and Hart at their best."^[2]Everett and Laird wrote that Pal Joey is the most important work produced by Rodgers and Hart, and is the most integrated of their musicals.^[3]

Joey Evans, as an unsympathetic antihero, is a striking departure from the usual musical comedy formula. Richard Rodgers said: "Joey was not disreputable because he was mean, but because he had too much imagination to behave himself, and because he was a little weak."^[4]

During early 1950, the song "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered" had become popular, giving Goddard Lieberson the idea to produce a studio cast recording. Because of the popularity of that recording, composer-producer Jule Styne produced the 1952 revival.^[5]

Productions

The musical was a greater success when revived in 1952 on Broadway at the Broadhurst Theatre. The revival was prompted by the success of the 1950 studio cast album featuring Segal and Harold Lang and released by Columbia Records.^[6] It opened on January 3, 1952 and closed on April 18, 1953, after 540 performances. Dances and musical numbers were again staged by Robert Alton, and it starred Lang, Segal and Helen Gallagher. The cast also included future Broadway star Elaine Stritch as Melba, and Bob Fosse served as the understudy for Joey. This production had the longest run of any revival of a musical in the history of the Broadway theatre at the time. It won the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award award as best musical and became the first musical ever to receive eleven Donaldson Awards.^[7]^[8]

There have been two productions in London's West End. The first was in March 1954 at the Princes Theatre, starring Harold Lang, Carol Bruce and Sally Bazely. The second was at the Noel Coward Theatre, from September 1980 until September 1981, starring Sian Phillips, Danielle Carson, and Denis Lawson.^[9]

Producer Marc E. Platt, along with Richard Greenberg (who had written the 1992 Boston adaptation) and director Joe Mantello planned a revival for fall 2007,^[13] which was postponed.^[14] The Roundabout Theatre Company and Platt are presenting a limited engagement through February 15, 2009.^[15] Previews began on November 14, 2008, and it officially opened on December 18, 2008. The original book by John O'Hara has undergone substantial "adaptation" by Greenberg, eliminating characters and reassigning songs.^[16] Mantello is the director, and Graciela Daniele is the choreographer.^[17] The production stars Stockard Channing as Vera, Martha Plimpton as Gladys, Matthew Risch as Joey, Jenny Fellner as Linda, and Robert Clohessy as Mike. The set designer is Scott Pask, with costumes by William Ivey Long and lighting by Paul Gallo.^[10]^[18] Advance publicity for the show included a full page spread in the November issue of Vogue, featuring Christian Hoff in costume as Joey.^[19] Hoff began previews as Joey, but he was forced to leave the production on November 22, 2008 due to an injury. His understudy, Matthew Risch, took over the part. Risch had previously appeared in Chicago and Legally Blonde on Broadway in featured roles.^[20]

Synopsis

In Chicago in the late 1930s, Joey Evans, a second-rate dancer and nightclub MC, a charming "heel" with big plans, schemes to get his dream–his own nightclub–"Chez Joey". He meets young and naive Linda English outside a pet shop, and, impressing her with his grandiose lies, they are romantically attracted ("I Could Write A Book"). In the nightclub, the older, wealthy but bored married socialite, Vera Simpson, comes in with her friends and becomes interested in Joey as the chorus girls are doing a song-and-dance number ("That Terrific Rainbow"). Joey, playing hard-to-get, insults Vera and she walks out. When Vera later returns to the club, Joey, in order to save his job, turns on his charm; they walk out together and start an affair ("What is a Man"). Joey runs into Linda while Vera is buying him expensive new clothing, and Linda becomes distraught. Vera, however, is glowing in the romance ("Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered"). Joey convinces Vera to set him up in business, but she becomes vulnerable to a blackmail attempt. As his nightclub is ready to open, a Joey expresses his disdain for women ("What Do I Care For a Dame").

"Chez Joey" is about to open, as the chorus rehearses ("The Flower Garden of My Heart"). Melba, an ambitious reporter, interviews Joey, revealing quite a bit of her other glamourous interviews ("Zip"). [In the 2008 revival, Gladys plays a "reporter" in a skit during the floor show at Chez Joey, doing the "Zip" number and going from demure suit-and-hat to the revealing burlesque costume.] Gladys Bumps, a chorus girl who dislikes Joey, conspires with an old flame Ludlow to blackmail Vera. [In the 2008 revival, Joey fires Gladys, and to get back at him, she conspires with Mike, the club manager, to blackmail Vera. Mike is forced into the scheme because Gladys threatens to have him fired because he is gay.] Linda overhears the plotting, and tells Vera, who then tells the Police Commissioner, who arrests Gladys and Ludlow. Vera and Linda both agree that Joey is not worth the trouble ("Take Him"). Vera has thrown Joey out and closes "Chez Joey". Although he and Linda meet again, Joey leaves her to follow another, unknown woman.

Principal roles and notable performers

Musical numbers

† 2008 revival: "Zip" is sung by Gladys; cut songs restored; Linda's reprise added

Critical response

Original and subsequent productions

In 1940 New York Times review, Brooks Atkinson wrote: "If it is possible to make an entertaining musical comedy out of an odious story, Pal Joey is it.... John O'Hara has written a joyless book about a sulky assignation. Under George Abbott's direction some of the best workmen on Broadway have fitted it out with smart embellishments. Pal Joey... offers everything but a good time.... Whether Joey is a punk or a heel is something worth more careful thinking than time permits.... Although Pal Joey is expertly done, can you draw sweet water from a foul well?^[21]

When he reviewed the 1952 revival, Atkinson called the production "brilliant", writing: "There is no sign of age in the brisk performance that Robert Alton has expertly staged; and the acting is sharp and original... Miss Siegel presides over the sordid affairs of an astringent tale with humor, reserve, and charm. It would be hard to improve upon Harold Lang's performance as the heel....^[22]

In reviewing the 1995 Encores! concert, Vincent Canby noted: "Here was a show in which cynicism, sophistication, bogus sentimentality and high spirits were as much the content as the form of an otherwise traditional Broadway musical.... The first production [1940] shocked a lot of critics and many theatergoers. There was no question about the quality of the Richard Rodgers score and Lorenz Hart lyrics. The disturbance was caused by John O'Hara's corrosive book: the sordid adventures of a Chicago nightclub singer and M.C. named Joey Evans. It wasn't until the 1952 revival that Joey was recognized as literature's latest darling, the antihero. In 1995, Pal Joey is a treasure."^[12]

2008 production

The New York Times panned the 2008 production, describing it as "in mourning for its own lifelessness", having "no detectable pulse".^[23] Todd Haimes, the Artistic Director of the Roundabout Theatre, commented on the "new book by Richard Greenberg that, in my opinion, does a stunning job of enhancing O’Hara’s original by more fully integrating the songs with the book and giving even more of a full life to each of his characters."^[16] The Times quoted Haimes as saying that he "thought the Greenberg adaptation transformed the original 'flawed book' by enriching the dialogue and sharpening the characters of not only Joey but the women in his life, like the damaged society wife Vera Simpson... and the wronged chanteuse Gladys Bumps.... In other words, there would be a stronger story that might match the well-known songs."^[24] According to New York Magazine, "Greenberg... simplified the story and removed much of the old script’s gangster gothic.... He made it smarter and sexier, and bleak. Where the movie ended with Novak and Sinatra walking off into the California sunshine, this ends with Joey alone on a dark street corner, wondering—like so many right now—what the hell to do."^[25]

Variety wrote: "The Rodgers and Hart songs...are certainly easy on the ear, but what makes the Roundabout revival of their 1940 show so compelling is Richard Greenberg’s trenchant adaptation of the original book by John O’Hara. Erasing the sanitizing stamp of musical-theater coyness, Greenberg brings a fascinating melancholy grubbiness to this cynical story of sordid emotional transactions and opportunistic behavior in late-1930s Chicago. It’s a dark show for desperate times...The major discovery is [Martha] Plimpton’s heretofore-hidden musicality...even half-talking her [Channing] songs, she puts across the rueful resignation of "What Is a Man?" with elegance... and pours enough bruising self-deprecation into "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered" to make it work."^[26] The New York Post ("a flawed revival") gave the production 2 1/2 stars. ^[27] The Associated Press wrote: "Richard Greenberg... has given John O'Hara's original book... a new sheen without changing the general outline of the story: punkish song-and-dance man scores big, gets his comeuppance but soldiers on. Greenberg's rewrite is crisp and to the point. There is a hard-boiled briskness to his work, a film-noir sensibility in its punchy dialogue that ricochets lickety-split across the stage. Channing gets across this number [Bewitched], one of the most famous in the Rodgers and Hart canon, in what can be described as her best Rex Harrison "My Fair Lady" manner. It's half-sung, half-spoken but acted to the fullest, a consummate bit of musical-theater performing.... Plimpton is quite a revelation in the role."^[28]

Awards and nominations

Recordings

The 1950 studio cast recording starring Vivienne Segal and Harold Lang was released by Columbia on February 12, 1951. A cast recording of the 1952 Broadway revival was released in January 1952 by Sony, and starred Jane Froman (Vera) and Dick Beavers (Joey) in place of the Broadway actors. A cast recording of the 1995 concert, starring Patti LuPone and Peter Gallagher, was released October 12, 1995 by DRG (ASIN: B000000PL1).^[29]

References

^ Hyland, William (1998). Richard Rodgers. Yale University Press. pp. 126–31. ISBN 0300071159.
^ Mordden, Ethan (1999). Beautiful Mornin': The Broadway Musical in the 1940s. Oxford University Press US. p. 53. ISBN 0195128516.
^ Everett, William A.; Paul R. Laird (2002). The Cambridge Companion to the Musical. Cambridge University Press. p. 121. ISBN 0521796393.
^ New York Times, December 30, 1951
^ Lorenz Hart.com, Pal Joey
^ Marmorstein, Gary. The Label: The Story of Columbia Records. New York: Thunder's Mouth Press, 2007, p. 263
^ theatrehistory.com
^ Infoplease.com listing, Drama Critics Circle Award
^ broadwayworld.com listing, 1980
^ ^a ^b Jones, Kenneth. "Hoff Is Broadway's New Pal Joey, With Stockard Channing and Martha Plimpton, at Studio 54", playbill.com, June 19, 2008
^ The Crimson review, September 24, 1992
^ ^a ^b Canby, Vincent (1995-05-06), "Adventures And Song In Chicago", The New York Times: 13
^ www.jewishjournal.com, February 17, 2007, & The Syracuse Post Standard, February 28, 2007
^ Gans, Andrew."Pal Joey Revival, with Jersey Boys Star Hoff, Postponed", playbill.com, July 31, 2007
^ Jones, Kenneth. "Fellner, Skybell, Marcus Join Channing, Hoff and Plimpton for Broadway's Pal Joey", playbill.com, August 19, 2008
^ ^a ^b Haimes, Todd. Haimes blog Roundabout Theatre, November 14, 2008
^ Gans, Andrew. "Mantello to Direct and Daniele to Choreograph Roundabout's Fall Revival of Pal Joey", playbill.com, March 6, 2008
^ Roundabout Theatre Pal Joey information
^ "Christian Hoff in Vogue" paljoeyblog.com, October 22, 2008
^ Jones, Kenneth and Gans, Andrew. "A Bewitching Switch: Understudy Matthew Risch Is New Pal Joey, Opening Is Now Dec. 18", playbill.com, November 24, 2008
^ Atkinson, Brooks."Pal Joey", The New York Times, December 26, 1940
^ Atkinson, Brooks (1952-01-04), "At The Theatre", The New York Times: 17
^ Brantley, Ben. "The Cad! (Dames Could Write a Book)", The New York Times, December 19, 2008
^ Healy, Patrick. "A Jersey Boy’s Moment as Broadway’s New Pal", The New York Times, November 20, 2008
^ Oxfeld, Jesse. "Pal Joey", New York Magazine, December 19, 2008
^ Rooney, David. Review: Pal Joey, Varety, December 18, 2008
^ Scheck, Frank. "Not Bewitched by 'Joey'", The New York Post, December 19, 2008
^ Kuchwara, Michael. "The cad is back: 'Pal Joey' returns to Broadway", yahoo.com, December 18, 2008
^ [1] amazon.com listing

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