The Opposite of the Super Bowl
February 1, 2015 10:11 AM   Subscribe

The brilliant Seth Rudetsky conducts a 19-minute deconstruction of Stephen Sondheim's "Opening Doors" from the 1981 musical "Merrily We Roll Along."

The show, based on the innovative 1934 play by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart in which the intertwining life stories of three friends is told in reverse, baffled audiences and closed after only 16 performances. Subsequent revivals have confirmed the timelessness of the score. Sondheim has identified "Opening Doors" as the one truly autobiographical song in his catalog.
posted by How the runs scored (11 comments total) 12 users marked this as a favorite
 
That was fun!
posted by ocherdraco at 10:38 AM on February 1, 2015 [1 favorite]


Jason Alexander and costars

... now I'm racking my brain to think of a better example of "polar opposite of the super bowl" ...

You've set a high bar. Kudos.
posted by mrgrimm at 10:44 AM on February 1, 2015 [1 favorite]




Don't spend much time with musicals but this is really informative and fun.
posted by Foci for Analysis at 11:07 AM on February 1, 2015


My freshman year of high school, the (new) musical director decided to do "Merrily We Roll Along". I remembered learning the "closed in four performances" fact from some of the other drama nerds. In any case, we (1) did not like the musical, and (2) certainly didn't have enough life experience to pull it off. I took me several years to rediscover the music and really appreciate it for what it was.

A few years later, I met up with the director, who profusely apologized to me and some other friends who were also in the show for having put on that play with high schoolers.
posted by damayanti at 11:27 AM on February 1, 2015 [1 favorite]


In any case, we (1) did not like the musical, and (2) certainly didn't have enough life experience to pull it off.

The biggest problem with any staging of MWRA is finding actors who can play both idealistic high schoolers and their disillusioned older selves. Sondheim later said that the reason the original production failed was that the young actors that were cast were not credible playing jaded middle-aged sophisticates. The one exception, according to Sondheim, was "a remarkable performer named Jason Alexander, who at twenty-one seemed like an old pro; it was if he had been born middle-aged."
posted by How the runs scored at 11:55 AM on February 1, 2015 [2 favorites]


Bob Mondello wants television to do a live staging of Follies, and I think it's a perfect idea.

(The challenge of Follies is you have to double cast all 4 of the main characters, so you have at a minimum 8 actors, one set young, one set old, and then all the surrounding characters... His ideas about using it as a vehicle to reintroduce veteran stars to a younger audience is brilliant.)
posted by hippybear at 12:57 PM on February 1, 2015 [2 favorites]


Thanks for posting that - Seth Rudetsky and Stephen Sondheim are bigger than football and Jesus combined around our house (none of which is my doing).

Yeah, there is no complexity involved in football.

From page 6:

LINE UP STRADDLING INSIDE LEG OF STRONG TACKLE

I don't think it's about which is more complex - Broadway or football. I think it's about which is gayer.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 1:37 PM on February 1, 2015


The Opposite of the Super Bowl

A crappy upside-down bowl?
posted by Greg_Ace at 3:14 PM on February 1, 2015


I've spent part of the blizzardy/boring-football afternoon on the Net talking about legendary contests that *I* consider important: Julie v. Audrey, Jennifer Holliday v. JHudson, all the Mama Roses...
I have a feeling anyone reading this thread might have their picks in those categories.
posted by NorthernLite at 3:15 PM on February 1, 2015


Oh, Hell YES!
posted by mikelieman at 7:33 PM on February 1, 2015 [1 favorite]


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