Take Me Along review

Take Me Along Review - Broadway musical

The musical is an adaptation of the play ‘Oh, Wilderness’, created by E. O'Neill in 1933. Typically, the playwright wrote about his past with anger, but this time he looked back with nostalgia, calling this work ‘a comedy of memories’. The idea to make of this play a musical came to the producer D. Merrick in 1955. But because of death of the poet and librettist J. L. Touche, creation of theatrical has been postponed. A few years later D. Merrick decided to go back to the development of …Wilderness. In 1957, he made a proposal to address this production to the composer B. Merrill, who made another musical adaptation of the O'Neill’s play.

The premiere of the Broadway production showed a significant public interest in this spectacular. Although the show could not be attributed to the commercially successful projects, it lasted on the stage for more than a year. Much of the credit for 10 nominations of musical at Tony award belongs to the star composition of the first Broadway production. J. Gleason & W. Pidgeon, as well as young R. Morse, brilliantly revealed their characters. All three received nominations for Tony, but only the first actor managed to win the reward. The second Broadway production was totally unsuccessful. The stagings passed in regional theaters suffice successfully, but production came to Broadway with a large underfunding. Hopes of organizers to receive financial support did not materialize, and the musical closed immediately after its premiere.

Critical responses to the second Broadway production were very different. Many reviewers have pointed out that the musical sounded too clumsy for a modern audience. Also was noted too cloying chorus performance in the absence of sunny mood. According to critics, the main mistake was that in the cast of the musical were not involved any brightest stars of Broadway. Producer of the first Broadway production took into account the fact that the show could become a disaster without the participation of famous stars, but the organizers of the second production did not think about this possibility seriously.

The production of 2008 in the Irish Repertory Theater deserves particular attention. Director C. Moore faded the role of Sid Davis, which allowed the rest of the characters in the play to show themselves very clearly and energetically. Acting of B. Glover forced to re-evaluate her character Lily. Warm and gentle attitude of woman expressed to scampish beloved perfectly conveyed in the clear voice of an actress. Thanks to chamber hall of the theater, theatrical has acquired a provincial charm, present only in small towns. Story of an ordinary American family life can seem overly moralistic, but it is clear that the characters truly worry about each other, referring to the family with great portion of love and care. These values are in demand with the audience at any time, so the musical would find its audience in the XXI century.
Last Update:July, 18th 2016