RadioMaster
24 Feb 2010, 22:41
(shamelessly stolen from the rockman record)
Paul Saffer, pianist on MYTD wrote the following in his autobiography "We'll Be Here For The Rest Of Our Lives". pretty interesting.
"I learned that a show at Manhattan's Public Theater was looking for a rehearsal pianist and jumped at the chance. I was told that if rehearsals went well, I'd have a shot at being the musical director. The production was called More That You Deserve.
Joe Papp, who ran the Public Theater, had hired Jim Steinman to write a rock score for More Than You Deserve.
It was an unsettling parody of South Pacific set in the troubled times of the Vietnam War.
I gave it me all, but halfway through the rehearsals, Steinman fired me. He didn't think I had the right feel for the music. I was bummed, but what could I do? It was back to Toronto.
I wasn't encouraged about my prospects. How could I be? I'd just been fired as a lowly rehearsal pianist. While at a party the phone rang. It was Jim Steinman from More Than You Deserve.
"I was wrong to let you go," he said. "We need you."
I was in New York the next day.
The show itself had been a nightmare. In attempting to update South Pacific; the creators of More Than You Deserve did it in the grossest way possible. The production was replete with graphic gore and bloody decapitations. One song asked, "How'd You Like To Marry a Man Without A Face?"
Bloody Mary was raped in her wheelchair by a soldier using a bayonet. (Years later when I met Papp, I told him, "I was once musical director of More Than You Deserve, and every night when I left the theater I was...." "Sick," Papp completed the sentence for me. "Yes," I said. "Me too," he confessed.)
In spite of its unredeemable flaws, the show had an interesting cast. Fred Gwynne was the star. Mary Beth Hurt was the much abused Bloody Mary. A young Meat Loaf sang his ass off. After four months of previews, though, even Meat Loaf's rare vocal talents couldn't save the show.
The damn thing opened and closed in one week. I had no regrets."
(originally posted by junior here (http://www.jimsteinman.com/messageboard/d.php?id=35297))
Paul Saffer, pianist on MYTD wrote the following in his autobiography "We'll Be Here For The Rest Of Our Lives". pretty interesting.
"I learned that a show at Manhattan's Public Theater was looking for a rehearsal pianist and jumped at the chance. I was told that if rehearsals went well, I'd have a shot at being the musical director. The production was called More That You Deserve.
Joe Papp, who ran the Public Theater, had hired Jim Steinman to write a rock score for More Than You Deserve.
It was an unsettling parody of South Pacific set in the troubled times of the Vietnam War.
I gave it me all, but halfway through the rehearsals, Steinman fired me. He didn't think I had the right feel for the music. I was bummed, but what could I do? It was back to Toronto.
I wasn't encouraged about my prospects. How could I be? I'd just been fired as a lowly rehearsal pianist. While at a party the phone rang. It was Jim Steinman from More Than You Deserve.
"I was wrong to let you go," he said. "We need you."
I was in New York the next day.
The show itself had been a nightmare. In attempting to update South Pacific; the creators of More Than You Deserve did it in the grossest way possible. The production was replete with graphic gore and bloody decapitations. One song asked, "How'd You Like To Marry a Man Without A Face?"
Bloody Mary was raped in her wheelchair by a soldier using a bayonet. (Years later when I met Papp, I told him, "I was once musical director of More Than You Deserve, and every night when I left the theater I was...." "Sick," Papp completed the sentence for me. "Yes," I said. "Me too," he confessed.)
In spite of its unredeemable flaws, the show had an interesting cast. Fred Gwynne was the star. Mary Beth Hurt was the much abused Bloody Mary. A young Meat Loaf sang his ass off. After four months of previews, though, even Meat Loaf's rare vocal talents couldn't save the show.
The damn thing opened and closed in one week. I had no regrets."
(originally posted by junior here (http://www.jimsteinman.com/messageboard/d.php?id=35297))