A Face In The Crowd: London 2024

Pretty self-explanatory
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Re: A Face In The Crowd: new musical

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You know more, Colin?
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Re: A Face In The Crowd: new musical

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Jodie Comer(Evertonian btw) aka Killing Eve's Villanelle: Betty Lou Fleckum :wink:
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Re: A Face In The Crowd: new musical

Post by sulky lad »

As an Evertonian, she doesn’t need acting lessons to show disappointment and emotional let downs :cry:
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Re: A Face In The Crowd: new musical

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I think it’s official now!!!
From another thread: http://www.elviscostellofans.com/phpBB3 ... 8#p7740354

Re: Elvis & Imposters/Blondie Forest Hills July 24, 2019
Thu Jul 25, 2019 10:39 pm


EC: "I'm gonna play you a new song now. This comes from a show called Face in the Crowd. It's gonna be on the stage in New York next year. Y'all gonna come see it?"

Is this an official announcement?
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Re: A Face In The Crowd: new musical

Post by Neil. »

sweetest punch wrote:I think it’s official now!!!
From another thread: http://www.elviscostellofans.com/phpBB3 ... 8#p7740354

Re: Elvis & Imposters/Blondie Forest Hills July 24, 2019
Thu Jul 25, 2019 10:39 pm


EC: "I'm gonna play you a new song now. This comes from a show called Face in the Crowd. It's gonna be on the stage in New York next year. Y'all gonna come see it?"

Is this an official announcement?
I sincerely hope this is true, but until we see a theatre with a poster on it, I'm going to keep a very tight rein on my hopes. I know he wanted Jackman, but Jackman's doing The Music Man on Broadway next year. https://www.musicmanonbroadway.com/ So it's unlikely to be him.
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Re: A Face In The Crowd: new musical for 2020

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https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/10/thea ... emoir.html

Sarah Ruhl, the Celebrated Playwright, Will Publish a Memoir

In 2010, the playwright Sarah Ruhl had just given birth to twins and was still in the maternity ward when she learned she had Bell’s palsy, a condition that caused paralysis on the left side of her face. Even as she learned to blink again or stop drooling, she still was not able to smile.

Ms. Ruhl will explore her nearly decade-long struggle with Bell’s palsy, her search for a way to speed up her recovery and how she reckoned with the inability to fully express her inner self in a forthcoming memoir, “Smile,” according to a statement from Simon & Schuster, which acquired the title.

The book, Ms. Ruhl said in a phone call, “is a confluence of, in my own life, wanting to move past a difficult nine years of navigating the health system, navigating the kind of limits of my own body, and then also thinking about women smiling culturally in general.” She referred, for instance, to Christine Blasey Ford “smiling her way through” her testimony in Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court confirmation hearings.

But the book isn’t meant to be “a complete downer,” she said. The condition is “a disappointment but it’s not a tragedy,” she explained, and she hopes it will illuminate “an outlier experience of motherhood, but hopefully a path forward that has some sense of humor and hope about healing.” “Smile” also touches on postpartum depression and her life in the theater, as well as topics like faith, beauty, art and family.

“I knew from the very first page that this was something absolutely transcendent,” Marysue Rucci, the editor in chief of Simon & Schuster, said. “It’s a memoir that’s about so much more than an ailment. Things that are mundane and things that are sublime,” she added.

Ms. Ruhl is best known for her plays, which have a poetic sensibility and often cross over into the surreal. She won a MacArthur Fellowship in 2006 and was twice a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize in Drama, for “The Clean House” in 2005 and “In the Next Room, or the vibrator play” in 2010. Ms. Ruhl also wrote a book of essays “100 Essays I Don’t Have Time to Write: On Umbrellas and Sword Fights, Parades and Dogs, Fire Alarms, Children and Theater,” which was published in 2014.

Aside from “Smile,” Ms. Ruhl is also working on a musical version of the 1957 film “A Face in the Crowd,” with music by Elvis Costello, though she declined to say when it would run. She will also release her first book of poetry next year.
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Re: A Face In The Crowd: new musical for 2020

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https://www.heraldscotland.com/arts_ent ... -pop-rock/

Music: Elvis Costello ‘I’ve always thought of myself as more pop than rock’

(...)

Among the songs that make the set-lists in Glasgow and Edinburgh, Scotland’s Costello aficionados will also be listening out for the possible inclusion of ones from another current project, a musical based on the 1957 film A Face in the Crowd that is set to open in the coming year. Costello’s interest in musical theatre can be traced back to a commission from Nottingham Playhouse in the early 1990s and some of his 21st-century albums have included songs derived from stage projects that have not made it to full productions.

A Face in the Crowd, which boasted a sharp script by Budd Schulberg and was director Elia Kazan at his political best in the original film incarnation, looks to be just as pertinent a comment on American politics in our time and, although it has been gestating for the best part of five years, its time could well have come.

Its composer is both confident and pragmatic, pointing out that these things take the time they take.

“Hamilton was over ten years in development,” he points out, adding that his own way with the songs is no longer the important issue. “We are now at the time when we have to hear them in the voices of the theatre artists.”
(...)
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Re: A Face In The Crowd: new musical for 2020

Post by Man out of Time »

Elvis dialled into Steve Nieve's Immobile Tour (BackStage) from Vancouver today and was asked about A Face In The Crowd. To paraphrase his answer, the show was ready to go into rehearsal earlier this year, but that is now on hold until the theatres in the US can reopen.

He did premiere a song from the show - Does Your Doll Speak" which was one of eight songs registered on ASCAP but not previously performed.

So the wait goes on....

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Re: A Face In The Crowd: new musical for 2020

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anyone have a link to the new song performance?
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Re: A Face In The Crowd: new musical for 2020

Post by Man out of Time »

supplydavid wrote:anyone have a link to the new song performance?
It is available to subscribers to "The Immobile Tour Backstage". Details on Steve Nieve's page.

I got the sense that Steve had asked Elvis to include some rarities in his set on Sunday night to give ITB subscribers value for money.
Steve has now posted a short (6 minute) clip of Elvis' appearance, to Facebook, but it does not include "Does Your Doll Speak".

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Re: A Face In The Crowd: new musical for 2020

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Elvis talks about AFITC in Steve’s Immobile Tour: http://www.elviscostellofans.com/phpBB3 ... &start=150
Man out of Time wrote: (...)

Elvis: “Some of the big events of this summer, have had to take place in the gala form. I contributed a while ago to a gala for the public theatre where we were hoping to be staging A Face In The Crowd by now, and that gala is going to be, what you would call it, broadcast - issued online, so some of those things were done a while ago, some would have been newly done. I got to sing a song on that and tell people that that show is still coming. Because of these connections, we are able to move the process forward, it is not as satisfying as rehearsing or making music in person, but you can at least communicate and we can work with all the people you would have to work with in production of a stage show in advance, that is the designers, choreographers we can talk about ideas and work with the actors, remotely.

(...)
MOOT
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Re: A Face In The Crowd: new musical for 2020

Post by FAVEHOUR »

CNN's Jake Tapper writes about the film in The Atlantic:


https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/ar ... mp/616471/

his Twitter feed also notes EC's musical and provides a clip of Elvis singing the title track


dave
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Re: A Face In The Crowd: new musical for 2020

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And No Coffee Table wrote:EC is interviewed on "The Music Show with Andrew Ford" on Australia's ABC Radio:
https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/pr ... r/12774426
https://abcmedia.akamaized.net/rn/podca ... 201017.mp3

"The Whirlwind" is played at 49:05 (and "Radio Is Everything" at 32:15).

Elvis Costello hasn’t been quiet during the pandemic; his new album 'Hey Clockface' started life in Helsinki, then moved to Paris and New York. But as global lockdowns stopped musicians in their tracks, Elvis finished it off remotely. It's the usual 'expect the unexpected' outing and includes spoken word, jaunty ragtime a la Fats Waller, pop noir and a salute to the enduring nature of radio. And a bonus is the return of longtime Elvis Costello keyboard collaborator Steve Nieve and a guest appearance by Bill Frisell. 'Hey Clockface' is out on 30th October.
Elvis talks about the song “The Whirlwind”, which is an adaptation of the ‘A Face In The Crowd’ song “No Man’s Woman”.
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Re: A Face In The Crowd: new musical for 2020

Post by jardine »

I think that this is one of his best vocals ever, and a melody to match. And the background vocals near the end -- the melodies they are singing, and the sound...beautiful.
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Re: A Face In The Crowd: new musical for 2021

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https://variety.com/2020/music/news/elv ... BNmm6Q5ENc

Elvis Costello on His ‘Clockface’ Album, ‘Armed Forces’ Set and Coming Broadway Musical: ‘I’ve Spent My Whole Career Leaning Backwards to Launch Forward’

(...)

Costello’s new album includes one ballad, “The Whirlwind,” borrowed from a planned Broadway musical adaptation of “A Face in the Crowd,” delayed by the pandemic. “I did think about recording the songs for ‘A Face in the Crowd’ last year. I thought about that being my next recording, my renditions of these songs, because I’ve performed many of them over the last four years as we’ve been developing the show. For the very same reasons as I’m not currently on my way to South Dakota or somewhere to play a show, we’re not opening in previews the theater this week as we might have been. Instead, next week we’re entering into another workshop, which obviously is over this kind of medium,” he says, referring to Zoom.

Despite the Trump parallels people have seen in the 1957 film about a grifter who turns sudden media stardom into political ambition, Costello thinks the theme will stay fresh regardless of election results. “Budd Schulberg couldn’t have imagined Richard Nixon or Ronald Reagan when he wrote the book, let alone the current catastrophes,” he marvels, referring to the early-’50s short story that the writer adapted into a seemingly prophetic screenplay. “So whatever the coming days bring, it will still be a story worth telling, because Schulberg originally wrote this tale of ‘A Face in the Crowd’ about somebody who was summoned up from the dark impulses of the audience. We still have to tell a story about what the relationship is between the audience’s desires and how they’re reflected in a particular kind of ruthless, raw talent on television.”

Costello does worry a bit for this adopted realm he’s entered into, though: “I hope the theater world survives this particular thing. They have a lot more moving parts. I can always walk up with just one guitar and sing you a new song I just wrote.”

(...)
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Re: A Face In The Crowd: new musical for 2021

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https://au.rollingstone.com/music/music ... iew-18472/

The Spontaneous Genius of Elvis Costello

(...)

Well, yeah and I mean bear in mind that I’ve been working on this musical for five years, which should have been opening next month and will probably open next year at this time, the way things are looking. You continue to work on it, we can do all the preparations, we can work with the choreographers and on their plans for designers and everything. Costume designers and we can work on the score and we can work on the script. But we you know, that has 20 songs in it and that’s based on the Budd Schulberg story “A Face in The Crowd”.

Now I’ve been performing those songs in concert for a number of years now and people seemed to really respond to them. I didn’t tell anybody I was recording but I know some people thought that I was going to record those songs next. But because the show has been delayed, I may well record my versions of them some day. But not right now because the show hasn’t been heard. I want them to be heard in the context of a rip. And I’ve carried on working through this year, I carried on after we finished this album. I just continued working.

(...)
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Re: A Face In The Crowd: new musical

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sweetest punch wrote:https://news.hamlethub.com/coscob/event ... y-concerts

Rob Mathes Performs 3 Sold Out Holiday Concerts this Weekend Celebrating 25th Anniversary of Holiday Concerts

Rob is currently working on a project with the band Train and also musically directed and supervised a reading of a new musical by Elvis Costello.

(...)
This article from the Greenwich Time published in May 2019 also mentioned Rob Mathes in connection with A Face In The Crowd.

"Rob Mathes to speak at Greenwich High School graduation

extract..

"Mathes has also written music for the Los Angeles Philharmonic, The Nashville Symphony, The National Symphony, The Boston Pops and The Royal Philharmonic. He directed and orchestrated Sting’s Broadway show, “The Last Ship,” and soon begins work on a show he’ll musically direct for Elvis Costello. He recently orchestrated and conducted the song score for the film “The Greatest Showman” starring Hugh Jackman and wrote the arrangements for last year’s No. 1 record, “Pray For The Wicked” by Panic! At The Disco, including the hit single, “High Hopes.”"

I still have hopes of seeing Hugh Jackman in the stage version, but when/if it ever opens, who knows?

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Re: A Face In The Crowd: new musical for 2021

Post by Neil. »

I really hope it happens, but new musicals always have such a chequered path. A big show cost a fortune to put on, and getting all the backers in place etc, is a nightmare. Perhaps they'll manage to do an off-Broadway, stripped down show?

But Jackman would mean Broadway proper, and he's already slated to be in The Music Man this time next year: https://musicmanonbroadway.com/ so I seriously doubt he'll be doing Elvis's before that, and the pandemic has hit all theatre plans like an earthquake, it's dreadful.

But hope springs eternal!!!
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Re: A Face In The Crowd: new musical for 2021

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https://preview.houstonchronicle.com/mu ... d-15775547

(...)

Much of his attention this year has been consumed by “A Face in the Crowd.” Having worked in all manner of musical modes over the years, Costello hadn’t ever thrown himself into anything with as many moving parts as a stage musical. But the story fits into his body of work like a rabbit in a top hat.

For those unfamiliar, the film “A Face in the Crowd” marked the debut of Andy Griffith, playing Larry “Lonesome” Rhodes, a drifter and an opportunist whose dumb luck turns him into a radio superstar. A beloved plainspoken public persona masks a darker, manipulative character who detests the masses who adore him.

“I’m not just an entertainer,” Griffith’s Rhodes bellows in one scene. “I’m an influence, a wielder of opinion, a force! A force!”

Costello wants to be clear that his musical — based on Budd Schulberg’s short story that was turned into Elia Kazan’s 1957 film — wasn’t undertaken as a commentary on any contemporary political trends or figures.

“We worked a long time at this story, but to my mind, it was never about a parallel to current circumstances,” Costello says. “It’s a coincidence that it touches on this same story about the crowd that makes the monster that they desire.”

Costello found something in Schulberg’s story that connected with him the way his songs have resonated with listeners over the years — some mode of expression that escapes of time and place. For Costello, the idea is roughly the same each time out: to write about some truth with some thematic opacity and a little showman’s razzle-dazzle so that one day, years from now, some performer may take something he wrote and apply it to a new time and a new place and have it provoke, comfort or entertain.

The old and the new, traveling along, singing a song, side by side.
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Re: A Face In The Crowd: new musical for 2021

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https://www.theatermania.com/new-york-c ... 92851.html

Interview: In Her New Memoir Smile, Sarah Ruhl Tells the Story of a Face — Her Own
Ruhl discusses her struggle with Bell's palsy in this gorgeous book.

(...)
What else do you have coming up? I know you've got a play at some point, and then there's a musical you're working on with Elvis Costello of A Face in the Crowd.
Most of my theater stuff got really postponed. And it's just chance. Everything gets thrown up in the air and then everyone's schedules come down sooner or later, and in my case it's later, which is probably fine because I have enough to occupy me. But I have this play, Becky Nurse of Salem, which was done at Berkeley Rep and is coming to Lincoln Center next fall. A Face in the Crowd we're still working on and we're almost done with it. If the pandemic hadn't happened, we probably would have done it already, but I'm hoping we announce dates for that soon.
(...)
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Re: A Face In The Crowd: new musical for 2021

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https://www.nevadalozano.com/about

Nevada Lozano
COMPOSER • LYRICIST • PIANIST • MUSIC DIRECTOR

(...)
Nevada has also assisted on many exciting shows-in-development, including A Face in the Crowd (music and lyrics by Elvis Costello, book by Sarah Ruhl, directed by Des McAnuff),...
(...)
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Re: A Face In The Crowd: new musical for 2021

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https://variety.com/2021/music/news/aim ... 235107609/

Aimee Mann Checks In About Her New ‘Girl, Interrupted’-Inspired Album, ‘Queens of the Summer Hotel’
Mann had both Burt Bacharach and Debussy in mind as she wrote songs for a stage musical Barbara Broccoli was developing.

(…)

Where does the theatrical version stand now? It sounds like you don’t know if it’ll be produced, ultimately, or if your songs will definitely be used if it is.

The last script that I saw used a handful of songs, definitely not all of them. But that was maybe a year ago. Obviously the pandemic has really put everything on hold, and as you said before, these things could take a decade. Meanwhile, though, I have a record and I feel like I have a nice representation of the songs as I heard them, in more or less the order I heard them, and that’s fun for me. I mean, it always is sort of sad if you feel like you’re writing music that nobody will ever hear. I just couldn’t see letting these songs hibernate for another five years.

It’s a crossroads other people in your position have come to. A few years ago, Elvis Costello put an album out (“Look Now”) that included several songs he’d written from two different unproduced stage musicals he’d long been working on.

I was in New York recently and we ran into each other on the airplane, and so we’ve been exchanging emails, talking about that very thing. Thinking of all those unheard treasures, it makes me crazy. There’s a musical he’s working on now (based on “A Face in the Crowd”), and I think he should do his own version of it. There’s something really nice about having the composer sing their own songs. It’s more personal.

When Costello would sing the songs from his unproduced musicals in concert, he’d often set them up by describing the story and even explain the point in the narrative at which the song would have come in. Do you feel like you need to do that with yours?

I think most of them still work as songs. I mean, some of them you do need a little bit of a context for.
(…)
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Re: A Face In The Crowd: new musical for 2021

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Since you put me down, it seems i've been very gloomy. You may laugh but pretty girls look right through me.
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Re: A Face In The Crowd: new musical

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Since you put me down, it seems i've been very gloomy. You may laugh but pretty girls look right through me.
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Re: A Face In The Crowd: London 2024

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https://twitter.com/ElvisCostello/statu ... 7596849502

Breaking news: Kwame Kwei-Armah will direct his final production at the Young Vic with the world premiere of A Face in the Crowd, a cautionary tale about the dangers of celebrity, power, and politics, with music and lyrics by Elvis Costello and book by Sarah Ruhl.
@Elvis Costello
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