The fact that Jason never did a full version of Forum is a sadness I will never be able to fully express with words. Still, wonderful to find a video of this.
We have the director of the original 1962 Broadway production of the show, the legendary George Abbott, to thank for this song. Originally the opening number was a laid-back, charming Sonheim song, "Love Is In the Air"; during the out-of-town tryout (Philadelphia, I believe) Abbott insisted on replacing it with something that would let the audience know they were about to see a broad comedy full of vaudeville pratfalls and puns. Jerome Robbins -- who was not the choreographer on the show -- came in to stage this number, which turned the fortunes of the show around and made it a hit. Along with his insistence on adding "Steam Heat" to "The Pajama Game" and -- a truly inspired stroke -- "Some Other Time" to "On The Town," this guarantees Abbott a place in theater Heaven!
Not... quite. The initially written opening Invocation (which was partly re-used for the opening of The Frogs) served to set up the evening well, but Abbott hated it because he couldn't hum it. Abbott was happy with Love is in the Air but the show in DC was not working--so Jerome Robbins was brought in. One of the first things Robbins said was Love is in the Air made people think they were seeing a charming, gentle show. Sondheim played his original opening for Robbins who said that suited it better, and Robbins told him to do something similar but with a melody that Abbott could hum. Robbins also completely re-staged the final long chase sequence. AND he suggested changes be made to Hero and Phylia. Their original material was much more, well, gentle again and not raucous--they didn't sing Lovely (which existed only in its later reprise when Hysterium is in drag) but instead their first duet was Your Eyes Are Blue which is beautiful but more of an art song. And in Act II they sang Echo Song (which some revivals, like the 1972 one with Phil Silver, have reinstated.) These were replaced with Lovely and That'll Show Him. But boith roles were also recast (so the original Phyllia was out--and she was played by an unknown Karen Black in a blonde wig.) Jack Cole, hardly a slacker, was the show's official choreographer and I do wonder what he thought of Robbins coming in (to be fair Cole--who was one of the biggest influences on Fosse--seemed to have more success with cabaret and his film choreography than on Broadway for the most part.) Also, Abbott wanted Steam Heat out of Pajama Game. It was Jerome Robbins, who had taken co-directing (with Abbott) credit and had agreed that if newbie Bob Fosse wasn't working out as choreographer, he would step in and take over choreography, who insisted that Steam Heat had to stay. But I thoroughly agree that Abbott deserves his place in musical theatre heaven!
@@EricMontreal22 Thank you so much for correcting and clarifying! Didn't know the true story behind Steam Heat (or the full sequence on Forum). Theater, and musical theater in particular is such a collaborative process, and when everything lines up the results are so amazing (and deceptively seamless). And this goes back to before "musical comedy" evolved: in Gilbert & Sullivan's comic opera "The Mikado" the original lead soprano, Leonora Braham, had trouble singing her big solo number "The Sun Whose Rays" in its original Act I position after two demanding ensemble numbers ("Three Little Maids" & "So Please You, Sir") and asked that it be moved later. G&S obliged, placing it early in Act II, where it fits much better.
@@treesny I apologize if I sounded snarky in my reply--that wasn't my intention but I actually just a few years back was doing research for a project about Robbins' involvement in FORUM and had to go through a number of sources to get the story as right as possible. ;) Yeah, I think (as Sondheim himself always pointed out and corrected people about) theatre and musical theatre in particular is so dependent on the collaborative process. I admit, too, that I'm always a bit obsessed with how shows changed during the out of town/preview process. And, while I'm a (casual) G&S fan, I had no idea about that. I always just assumed that quite often G&S had their most...romantic (or maybe least comic?) ballad somewhere in Act II, like Ah, Leave Me Not to Pine Alone in Pirates. Fascinating!
The fact that Jason never did a full version of Forum is a sadness I will never be able to fully express with words. Still, wonderful to find a video of this.
What if he did? That would've been excellent.
We have the director of the original 1962 Broadway production of the show, the legendary George Abbott, to thank for this song. Originally the opening number was a laid-back, charming Sonheim song, "Love Is In the Air"; during the out-of-town tryout (Philadelphia, I believe) Abbott insisted on replacing it with something that would let the audience know they were about to see a broad comedy full of vaudeville pratfalls and puns. Jerome Robbins -- who was not the choreographer on the show -- came in to stage this number, which turned the fortunes of the show around and made it a hit. Along with his insistence on adding "Steam Heat" to "The Pajama Game" and -- a truly inspired stroke -- "Some Other Time" to "On The Town," this guarantees Abbott a place in theater Heaven!
Not... quite. The initially written opening Invocation (which was partly re-used for the opening of The Frogs) served to set up the evening well, but Abbott hated it because he couldn't hum it. Abbott was happy with Love is in the Air but the show in DC was not working--so Jerome Robbins was brought in. One of the first things Robbins said was Love is in the Air made people think they were seeing a charming, gentle show. Sondheim played his original opening for Robbins who said that suited it better, and Robbins told him to do something similar but with a melody that Abbott could hum.
Robbins also completely re-staged the final long chase sequence. AND he suggested changes be made to Hero and Phylia. Their original material was much more, well, gentle again and not raucous--they didn't sing Lovely (which existed only in its later reprise when Hysterium is in drag) but instead their first duet was Your Eyes Are Blue which is beautiful but more of an art song. And in Act II they sang Echo Song (which some revivals, like the 1972 one with Phil Silver, have reinstated.) These were replaced with Lovely and That'll Show Him. But boith roles were also recast (so the original Phyllia was out--and she was played by an unknown Karen Black in a blonde wig.)
Jack Cole, hardly a slacker, was the show's official choreographer and I do wonder what he thought of Robbins coming in (to be fair Cole--who was one of the biggest influences on Fosse--seemed to have more success with cabaret and his film choreography than on Broadway for the most part.)
Also, Abbott wanted Steam Heat out of Pajama Game. It was Jerome Robbins, who had taken co-directing (with Abbott) credit and had agreed that if newbie Bob Fosse wasn't working out as choreographer, he would step in and take over choreography, who insisted that Steam Heat had to stay.
But I thoroughly agree that Abbott deserves his place in musical theatre heaven!
@@EricMontreal22 Thank you so much for correcting and clarifying! Didn't know the true story behind Steam Heat (or the full sequence on Forum). Theater, and musical theater in particular is such a collaborative process, and when everything lines up the results are so amazing (and deceptively seamless). And this goes back to before "musical comedy" evolved: in Gilbert & Sullivan's comic opera "The Mikado" the original lead soprano, Leonora Braham, had trouble singing her big solo number "The Sun Whose Rays" in its original Act I position after two demanding ensemble numbers ("Three Little Maids" & "So Please You, Sir") and asked that it be moved later. G&S obliged, placing it early in Act II, where it fits much better.
@@treesny I apologize if I sounded snarky in my reply--that wasn't my intention but I actually just a few years back was doing research for a project about Robbins' involvement in FORUM and had to go through a number of sources to get the story as right as possible. ;)
Yeah, I think (as Sondheim himself always pointed out and corrected people about) theatre and musical theatre in particular is so dependent on the collaborative process. I admit, too, that I'm always a bit obsessed with how shows changed during the out of town/preview process.
And, while I'm a (casual) G&S fan, I had no idea about that. I always just assumed that quite often G&S had their most...romantic (or maybe least comic?) ballad somewhere in Act II, like Ah, Leave Me Not to Pine Alone in Pirates. Fascinating!
Thanks for this, Jason Alexander is great!
Love the false leg!
Hey, David. Do you have the rest of the show?
What am i missing because it's meeh
A sense of humor?
No thanks . Boring