Sondheim Bounces Back with "Road Show"

Stephen Sondheim's oft-reworked musical about brothers Wilson and Addison Mizner — most recently titled Bounce — is getting yet another incarnation, under the name of Road Show.

The musical chronicles the picaresque lives of the Mizner brothers from the Alaskan Gold Rush of the 1890s to the Florida land boom-and-bust of the 1920s. Frequent Sondheim collaborator John Weidman wrote the book of the musical.

The show was originally developed as Wise Guys. It premiered at the New York Theatre Workshop in October 1999, with Sam Mendes directing. Nathan Lane and Victor Garber starred.

Another version, briefly known as Gold! but later retitled Bounce, was produced at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago. Harold Prince directed. Richard Kind and Howard McGillin played the Mizner brothers. Jane Powell played their mother. A new character — a dance hall girl played by Michele Pawk — was added to the show.

Bounce also ran at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., but never made it to New York. However, a cast album of Bounce was recorded and released.

The new version, Road Show, no longer includes the title song, "Bounce." Sondheim kept most of the music from that song, but wrote new lyrics. Also, the character of the dance hall girl is no longer in the show. Sondheim says there is no title song for Road Show, and the new version is an amalgam of the Mendes and Prince productions, with new material.

The new production, directed by John Doyle, will be staged at the Public Theater October 28 through December 28. Michael Cerveris and Alexander Gemignani play Wilson and Addison Mizner. Alma Cuervo is Mama, Claybourne Elder is Hollis, and William Parry is Papa.

Personally, I can't wait to see what Sondheim does next with this show. Bounce always seemed a lesser work, one I never warmed up to in the way I did with, say, Passion, which I've come to love. But any new Sondheim music is a major event, even if the show itself has been down that road before.

Source: Playbill and Broadway World

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Ready to Rumble? "West Side Story" Returns to Broadway

Arthur Laurents, 90, who wrote the libretto to West Side Story, is directing a revival of the musical, which is scheduled to open at a Nederlander theater in March 2009.

But first the show will play at the National Theatre in Washington, the venue of the musical's world premiere in 1957. This pre-Broadway run will be December 16, 2008 through January 17, 2009.

The show was originally directed and choreographed by Jerome Robbins, with music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and book by Arthur Laurents. Harold Prince was one of the producers. The show ran for 732 performances. It was revived on Broadway in 1980, and has remained popular in local theaters and schools throughout the world.

Source: Broadway.com

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