Most Bizarre Press Release Perhaps Ever
Colin Mitchell | Jun 07, 2012 | Comments 10 |
A “friend” in the press corp sent me this press release from the Pasadena Playhouse. In part it reads:
Dear Member of the Press:
It was announced today by producer David Shor and the national press representative (Keith Sherman & Associates) that Lonny Price will direct “Sleepless in Seattle – The Musical.” The world premiere of the new production will be at The Pasadena Playhouse in June 2013.
David Stern was also announced as the production’s musical director.
The composer and lyricist as well as the remaining creative team members will all be announced at a later date. A cast for the production, specific engagement dates for The Pasadena Playhouse run as well as on sale information will also be announced at a later date.
My “friend’s” response was classic:
Could you imagine a press release back in the mid 50s which read, “Today, producer Herman Levin and press representative Richard Haney announced that Moss Hart will direct a musical adaptation of George Bernard Shaw’s “Pygmalion.” A composer and lyricist will be announced at a later date.
What the fuck?
Indeed. WTF. Just when you think the Playhouse is back on track…
Filed Under: colin mitchell • Featured • Ponderings
About the Author: COLIN MITCHELL: Actor/Writer/Director/Producer/Father, award-winning playwright and screenwriter, Broadway veteran, Marvel comics scribe, Van Morrison disciple, Zen-Catholic, a proud U.S. Army Brat conceived in Scotland and born in Frankfurt, Germany, currently living in Los Angeles and doing his best to piss off as many people as possible.
In no way is it unprecedented to announce the engagement of one talent for one upcoming show. And in this case I think it’s totally understandable given the context (and I don’t have any inside information, mind you; this is all conjecture).
The Playhouse has gone through some tough times, as we all know. Under the circumstances, pulling such a high-profile show as “SiS” off last year’s schedule must have been a bitter pill and a scary one, even more so when it became clear that the original songwriters’ services would no longer be needed. How do you signal to the press, donors, and subscribers that your operation is still sound, and that you still have faith in a high-profile, potentially lucrative property? You announce that a high-profile, respected Broadway veteran has faith in it and has come on board. What’s the phrase I’ve seen used on this website? — “It’s called marketing.” The “MFL” analogy doesn’t hold: That was the product of a commercial management’s mounting a show that was never seen as being in development trouble.
Now “Camelot,” on the other hand, started hemorrhaging money early on and was dogged with rumors of problems. Also, “MFL” and “Gigi” had intervened in the meantime, meaning that expectations were high (or that the knives were out, whichever you prefer). Would it have been a surprise to see a press release announcing that “‘MFL’ director Moss Hart will be helming, details T/K”? I think not. There actually may have been one; I’m not sure.
And here comes Bob Verini furrowing his aged brow and going all pedantic on our asses, clearing brush out of the way for a theater that has lost its artistic bearings and is now pimping a shabby idea for a musicalized midsummer night’s rom-com designed for the lowest third of middle brows.
You don’t need to know the composer and lyricist – hell, any of a hundred each will do – to know the music will be utterly mediocre, derivative, insipidly rock’n\'rolly, safe and prepackageable, and that the lyrics will be strictly the AABB “june, moon, and spoon” variety.
Gag me with one.
Some good points, Bob. And though my ire is not quite as great as Bill B’s I must lean in favor of his argument.
Mostly because this Sleepless in Seattle fiasco reeks of the way that so many movies are made in the Studio system; find a known commodity with a supposedly built in audience (see “Spiderman”), green light it, throw some money at it and hope it attracts the talent that will continue to draw at the box office. From what I’ve heard, this is basically how this SIS project has been moving all along.
Not to say this doesn’t often times work commercially, but I find it to be anti-thetical to anything approaching the making of quality theater and good storytelling.
I guess it all depends on what the bottom line is for those involved.
Was he making an argument? I just read a rant condemning, without hearing, a score that hard-working individuals will be working on and trying to do their best with. Oh, and with an ad hominem slap flung at me, which I guess I deserve because — ? (I was raised to be polite to other people, especially but not exclusively my elders. Maybe that’s out of fashion?)
Meanwhile, I was in no way defending the “SiS” project, about which I know nothing and on which I will opine when and if given a chance. I was simply responding to the suggestion that the PP was acting “bizarrely” in putting out a press release whose subtext is “The show is going forward.” That’s all.
Fair enough, Bob. And no, there wasn’t much of any argument from Bill B, you are correct, more of a sentiment, I guess, towards this type of project. A sentiment which I tend to agree with. Though I’m hardly a sentimental guy.
Oh, and yes, I do still think it’s an extremely “bizarre” way to put together any theatrical project, let alone a musical.
I’ve a sneaking suspicion I’m older than you, Bob, so that wasn’t me being sassy to an elder, but to a whippersnapper. I do admire your sunny hopefulness, I truly do, but being of my particular disposition I (along with Colin) despair of how musical theater is made these days, what motivates its manufacture, what limits of originality are thereby placed upon it and how utterly bankrupt the entire process is.
I’m glad you are enough of a cock-eyed optimist to think that a musical scooped from the treacle of “Sleepless in Seattle” can somehow transcend its organic insipidness the way another tuner once made a masterpiece of “Green Grow the Lilacs,” but however many “hard-working individuals will be working…and trying to do their best…” on this thing, I’m pretty sure its entire raison d’etre – careful duplication of a known money-making formula – will overwhelm all else and the result will be precisely as I have predicted.
Fair enough, though I want to reemphasize I’ve not expressed any opinion, optimistic or otherwise, about “SiS” as a piece of work. My job requires me to maintain a steadfast neutrality. I admit that I always go to the theater hoping it’ll be wonderful, but to me that’s the minimum I (and we) owe to the efforts of so many writers, actors and technicians to develop a project over many years, however it ends up turning out. I try to give the same courtesy that I hoped for from the community — now turned into the blogosphere — when I was acting, directing and stage managing professionally.
Not to get it lost, my original point remains: With so much insistence here on BL and other sites that theaters should market themselves more robustly, it seems to me crass to slam a Pasadena Playhouse for trying to market its wares via a proud press release about hiring a major talent, even if those wares aren’t or don’t promise to be to one’s taste.
By the way, “Green Grows the Lilacs” is a much more interesting play than most give it credit for. Check it out.
Wow, Bill B. & Colin — you guys are slamming and condemning a musical *that hasn’t even been written yet*.
Bill B. — you say you already know this musical will suck. Have you composed your review already as well?
Colin — you say it “reeks” (of something bad, presumably)
Is your approach –
Open minded? Nope.
Fair? Hardly.
Utterly judgmental? Yup.
Immature? Extremely.
A sensible approach to embracing new works of theater?
Not one bit.
*sheesh* guys…
My answer to all of this is a simple five words:
Sleepless in Seattle: The Musical.