Curtains (musical)

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Curtains
Original Broadway Cast Album
Music John Kander
Lyrics Fred Ebb
Book Rupert Holmes
Based upon Original book and concept by Peter Stone
Productions 2006 Los Angeles, California
2007 Broadway
2008 Tour planned

Curtains is a musical with a book by Rupert Holmes, lyrics by Fred Ebb, and music by John Kander, with additional lyrics by Kander and Holmes.

Based on the original book and concept by Peter Stone, the musical is a send-up of backstage murder mystery plots, set in 1959 Boston, Massachusetts and follows the fallout when the supremely untalented star of Robbin' Hood of the Old West is murdered during her opening night curtain call. Can a police detective/musical theatre fan save the show, solve the case, and maybe even find love before the show reopens, without getting killed himself?

Stone died in April 2003, leaving the book unfinished, and Holmes was hired to rewrite it.[1] Ebb also died before the musical was completed. Curtains had its world premiere on July 25, 2006 at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles. Local reviews were mixed but not discouraging,[2] and the producers decided to transfer the show to Broadway.

After twenty-three previews, the Broadway production, directed by Scott Ellis and choreographed by Rob Ashford, opened on March 22, 2007 at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre to mixed reviews. The cast includes David Hyde Pierce, Debra Monk, Karen Ziemba, Edward Hibbert, and John Bolton (reprising the roles they played in LA), as well as Ernie Sabella. The musical garnered eight Tony Award nominations, with Hyde Pierce winning the award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical.

It has been announced that Curtains will close on June 29, 2008.[3]

Contents

[edit] Synopsis

Robbin' Hood of the Old West, a bad Western adaptation of the Robin Hood story is reaching its conclusion. The egregiously untalented leading lady, Jessica Cranshaw, is a triple threat: she can't sing, act, or dance (or remember when to say her lines). She is murdered during her opening night curtain call. The entire company comes under suspicion, and Lt. Frank Cioffi of the Boston Police Department is called in to solve the homicide. Believing that the perpetrator is still in the building, he sequesters it.

The suspects include the hard-bitten lady producer, Carmen Bernstein; her husband, Sidney, another producer; the show's flamboyant director Christopher Belling; divorced songwriting team Aaron Fox and Georgia Hendricks; stage manager Johnny Harmon; choreographer/leading man Bobby Pepper, ingénue Niki Harris, and ambitious chorine Bambi Bernét.

The company uses the down time to attempt to fix the show's problems. Niki, Ms. Cranshaw's understudy, is passed up for the leading role in favor of Georgia, whom the producers convince to assume the part despite the protests of Aaron, who has fallen in love with her again, and despite her long absence from the stage. Cioffi, a theater fan and amateur actor, becomes more involved with saving the show than solving the case. The detective also finds himself falling for Niki, and she seems to return his affection, so he hopes she's not the murderer. Meanwhile, secrets are surfacing, the production numbers in Robbin' Hood are rewritten, rehearsed and rewritten again, and the body count is rising, now including Sidney and Johnny, and an attempt at Carmen. Finally, it turns out that the murderer of Jessica, Johnny, and almost Carmen is a critic named Daryl Grady, Niki's old boyfriend who didn't want her to move away to New York, so he decided he would do anything to stop the show. Sidney's murderer is Carmen, because she wanted Bambi, her daughter, to move on to Broadway, but Sidney was going to close the show. In the end, it is decided that Lt. Cioffi wouldn't "solve" that part of the mystery until after "Robbin' Hood" moves on to Broadway.

[edit] Original Broadway principal cast

[edit] National tour

A U.S. (and possibly Canadian) tour of Curtains is scheduled to start in September 2009.[4]

[edit] Song list

Act I
  • Overture - The Orchestra
  • Wide Open Spaces - Randy Dexter, Niki Harris, Jessica Cranshaw, Bobby Pepper and Ensemble
  • What Kind of Man? - Carmen Bernstein, Oscar Shapiro, Aaron Fox and Georgia Hendricks
  • Thinking of Him - Georgia, Aaron and Bobby
  • The Woman's Dead - Entire Company
  • Show People - Carmen, Lieutenant Frank Cioffi and Company
  • Coffee Shop Nights - Cioffi
  • In the Same Boat 1 - Georgia, Niki and Bambi Bernét
  • I Miss the Music - Aaron
  • Thataway! - Georgia, Bobby and Ensemble
Act II
  • The Man is Dead (reprise) - Sasha (the conductor)
  • He Did It - Company
  • It's a Business - Carmen and Stagehands
  • Kansasland - Randy, Niki, Harv Fremont, Bobby, Bambi and Ensemble
  • He Did It (reprise) - Company
  • In the Same Boat 2 - Bobby, Randy and Harv
  • Thinking of Him/I Miss The Music (Reprise) - Aaron and Georgia
  • A Tough Act to Follow - Cioffi, Niki and Ensemble
  • In the Same Boat Completed - Company
  • Show People (Reprise) - Cioffi and Carmen
  • Wide Open Spaces (Reprise) - Ensemble
  • A Tough Act to Follow (Reprise) - Company

[edit] Awards and nominations

Poster for Curtains on Broadway
Poster for Curtains on Broadway
  • Tony Award for Best Musical (nominee)
  • Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical (nominee)
  • Tony Award for Best Original Score (nominee)
  • Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical (David Hyde Pierce, winner)
  • Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical (Debra Monk, nominee)
  • Tony Award for Best Performance By a Featured Actress in a Musical (Karen Ziemba, nominee)
  • Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical (nominee)
  • Tony Award for Best Choreography (nominee)
  • Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Musical (nominee)
  • Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Book of a Musical (winner)
  • Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actor in a Musical (Hyde Pierce, nominee)
  • Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical (Monk, winner; Ziemba, nominee)
  • Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Orchestrations (nominee)
  • Drama Desk Award Outstanding Music (nominee)
  • Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Lyrics (nominee)
  • Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Set Design of a Musical (nominee)
  • Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Costume Design (nominee)
  • Outer Critics Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical (Ziemba, winner)

[edit] References

  1. ^ The Journal News
  2. ^ Did L.A. Critics Think Kander & Ebb's Curtains Was Ready for Broadway?
  3. ^ Playbill article, March 19, 2008, "It's Curtains for Curtains; Murder Mystery Musical Will Close June 29"
  4. ^ tour information

[edit] External links

v • d • e
Kander and Ebb musicals