It might be TMI for some but this is great fir an amazing point of view of Cole Porter and his Anything Goes

I was so grateful to come across this fantastic discussion of a show I've been obsessed with since I was young teen discovering Sondheim in the 90s--and now am writing about. I have to say I have always pushed back against Mary Rodgers' (and Sondheim's) term for the show as a "why" musical, because for myself, the work IS improved or at least made more interesting with its songs. And the way time and perspective are played with in numbers like Here We Are Again does feel very Sondheim, if not as complex as what he would later do in his shows as composer (or had attempted a year earlier in Anyone Can Whistle.) One thing that always leaves me scratching my head a bit is the resolution, or lack thereof, for the story of Eddie and Jennifer Yaeger... We have a final scene between Eddie and Floria, but I assume we're just meant to imagine that Eddie and Jennifer try to salvage their marriage if they can, back in the US. On that note, I'd add that in the discussion of the replacement of "We're Gonna Be Alright"'s original lyrics, I'm not sure it WAS Rodgers' homophobia and the "sometimes he's homosexual" lyric that was the main issue, in fact. We know from Sondheim and more recently from Mary Rodgers' book Shy that Rodgers was initially thrilled with the lyrics. It was only after his wife Dorothy Rodgers read them and was horrified that Rodgers severely changed his mind, and the insinuation was that Dorothy somehow felt the lyrics were mocking her own relationship (SHE didn't drink in bed, but apparently sometimes Richard did, and that seemed to be the one lyric she really took exception to.) I've always found the revised lyrics as one of the few times Sondheim must have done something passive aggressively in his finished work. Because they are SOOO bland, so non-Sondheim, you can see that he put absolutely zero effort in it. I think it's also worth looking a bit more about the director situation. Laurents first wanted Franco Zeffirelli which sure would have been an interesting take--but Rodgers, apparently drunk, passed out during the meeting which caused Franco to have zero interest in the show (if he might have anyway.) But they did hire the great artist (and later high class erotic film director) Beni Montresor to do the beautiful sets, and he also had ties to Italian opera (he was also bisexual--perhaps adding weight to Rodgers' paranoia that he was surrounded by queer men.) Dexter was a terrible fit for the musical and apparently very little of his direction was used--Herbert Ross was brought in officially as choreographer but reportedly as director as well. Fixing the show as he was able to, he did add a lot more dancing (including the highly staged fantasy version of the title song which you can see on Ed Sullivan) which maybe wasn't the best fit for the material either (Herbert Ross had choreographed Anyone Can Whistle and his work there was the only aspect of the show--along with the sets--that got universal praise, including a Tony nom. In hindsight Ross should have directed Whistle as well which did lend itself to a highly stylized, choreographed staging.)

Franz Von Soop?!? Soopay!

I wish they could do actual musicals like this in broadway instead of that modern, degenerate trash they do nowdays... Good job!

The sound's never great on these old radio broadcasts and I found the musical a little saccarine. Sondheim says he was a "gofor" for R&H during this (at the tender age of 17).

'Barcelona' from the original Company album is my absolute favourite. Susan Browning's delicate voice goes perfectly with Dean Jones'.

gerry wilson this is interesting one of the last episodes of tge railroad hour was a version of this starring gordon macrae and one of his most frequent radio co-stars lucille norman the discussion reminds me of porter's last actual show, aladdin, done for tv's dupont show of the month with peter pan's captain hook, cyril ritchard, as he villain of the piece unfortunately the disney version has eclipsed it

💙💜🧡🤍🤎

Passion is a show where you have o lower your defences and surrender

I would love to hear these guys' reactions to the recent Broadway triumph. I'm sure they'd have great insights. Is it odd that I still prefer the original?

My favorite movie of all time! 💖

And now Raul is getting the Icon award!!!!!!!!

Love this video. Even I learned a lot. Proud of you Jeannie and Michael

Everybody's got a right to their dream -- not to their delusion.

Just saw the new one. Show is thin and kind of pointless, but two of the songs are beyond sublime.

I'll have to check out more on Assassins - my first listen to a couple of numbers was "meh". Now I'm thinking maybe there's something I'm missing. Thanks

I would tend to agree with Sondheim - it's just a little saccharin all around

I've been watching one of these sessions on Sondheim every day, and I dread the day they run out...brilliant discussions (and then I'll probably just start again). My one wish, if it ever could have happened, would be to see Sondheim work with Bob Fosse - that would be spectacular!

All writer's characters are reflections of themselves in one way or another. And finally, Stephen being gay was actually acknowledged.

In Grimm's time they were cautionary tales about how dangerous the woods, and most of them didn't end "happily ever after" - somebody always died and usually in a gruesome way. Sondheim and Lapine captured that same caution. The woods is about daring to go into life without a tether (to me).

Raul is THE Bobby for me. And I wonder that Bobby isn't Stephen himself - all writing and characters is the writer looking at themselves and expressing who they are, and Being Alive is Stephen wanting that deep relationship with one special person (to me).

34:27 I hear Stravinsky 🤓

Sweeney was my intro to Stephen - first on a friend's CD player and I was hooked and then the London production in London in 1980. When he killed Pirelli the whole audience screamed - interestingly though as the murders continued the audience becomes inured to it all and it becomes normalized. It was wonderful and disturbing. That was the start of my love for Stephen's work.

The comment about the women not appearing until the end of the show (NEXT) in the original version, is not quite accurate as they were there as the Kuroga(s?) "stage hands" for the earlier part of the production.

West Side is a brilliant work from the book to the lyrics to the music and Jerome Robbins choreography. And I think, in studying the form of the Mambo scene, I wonder that Bernstein wasn't influenced by Prokofiev's ballet. The Montagues and Capulets divided by Juliet's solo the same way that the Mambo stops mid way and there's a gentle dance between Tony and Maria.

ZT'l Stephen - your lyrics and music live on for us to enjoy and discover. Good music has a good melody, great music makes us think and feel and tells us a compelling story.

High production value but no comments, how come?

Love finding out how many revivals there've been, b/c it's a show I loved from the minute I got the original cast recording. Never seen it, though. I hope they tour this new revival. Maybe my chance will come. Thanks to everyone responsible for this wonderful appreciation, especially Lonny Price, my very first Charlie.

thank you for this

OMG! I dearly love the first number Heaven in My Arms.

I love you Mandy ❤

very interestinggg

A Beautiful version also.

Thank you, the original production is available on KZbin. I had heard the original cast album as a kid, watching it for the time during the pandemic, it floored me. There Is No Other Way is such a heartbreaking song. For me, the all male cast has a haunting feel.

Night Before Christmas at 4:00 Babes in Toyland at 16:00

Why not the movie?

Next: A Little Morning Music. Who knows? This was a sumptuous discussion - thank you! Bows to Sondheim.🙏

Wow!!! This concept should be taken to Broadway!!

From one musical legend to another…..🎉🎉🎉 ❤

I love the music to this show, but I increasingly think its major theme is “Expect your dreams to be dashed.” Which is a depressing message to leave an audience with. (And I’m not even a super sunshiny person, myself!)

Mandy I love your acting too. I'm not familiar with Joel.

gerry wilson just a thought michael porter's last score was actually a tv version of aladdin which you can find on you tube it was a du pont show of the month starring cyril ritchard and sal mineo it featured geoffrey holder as the genie he later was in charge of timbutku an african ser version of kismet hope you're having a pleasant easter season

gerry wilson from only sshow no strings for which richard rodgers did words and music it opens the brandy/whitney houston version of cinderella

So...which version in Porchlight doing?

1:00

Whoa!!!! Mandy Patinkin

I don't think the reference to John Gilbert would have been wildly shocking in the 20s. Nor would people have thought gay referred to being happy. People were much more openly gay until the 50s arrived. We've spent several decades recovering from the 50s, but things were more open BEFORE then. Once WWII ended and the men came back home, Rosie the Riverter had to go back into the kitchen and gays into the closet.

This is wonderful. Do you also have act two?

Do people really want to go out to SEE music?