The Roar of the Greasepaint - The Smell of the Crowd

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Musical dates
Original title: The Roar of the Greasepaint - The Smell of the Crowd
Original language: English
Music: Leslie Bricusse & Anthony Newley
Book: Leslie Bricusse & Anthony Newley
Lyrics: Leslie Bricusse & Anthony Newley
Premiere: 3rd August 1964
Place of premiere: Theater Royal, Nottingham
Roles / people
  • Sir
  • Cocky
  • The kid
  • The girl
  • The Negro
  • The Bully
  • The Urchins

The Roar of the Greasepaint - The Smell of the Crowd ("The roar of the make-up - the smell of the crowd") is a stage musical by Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley from 1964. As a "concept musical" it depicts the class struggle in a parable manner between "above" and "below" in the form of a game between two competing clowns.

action

In an unspecified country, on a rocky plateau, where a playing field is “already marked with chalk”, two figures arrive to engage in a clownish competition: “Sir”, a representative of decrepit nobility, educated, well-fed, cocky and domineering, as well as "Cocky", a skinny, shabby member of the lower class whose name is derived from the London Cockneys . Sir's entourage also includes “The Kid,” a minor (played by a female performer). This child is at Sir's service and emulates him; Sir teaches it lessons but also takes advantage of it and doesn't really let it rise to any higher rank. It apparently comes from a group of street children ("The Urchins"), who are also present as a passively observing and commenting choir.

Sir and Cocky each set up their base, whereby it quickly becomes clear that they have played the following game many times, which is somewhere between " Heaven and Hell ", " Don't get angry " and Monopoly . Both positions and chances are extremely different: Cocky is weak, uneducated, dependent, his area is cold, while Sir, who is washed with all hands, is enthroned in his area on a hunting stick in the sun. Other attributes of Sir are binoculars and a whistle; Sir is in charge, he gives the starting signal and determines the rules and the evaluation of the game - whereby he adapts the rules in order to get away as cheaply as possible: the opponent has to move back and forth so many fields, with his fingers in his ears on one Stand on your feet, go to jail without collecting money, etc. For each new round, the respective bet is placed in the middle of the playing field. Although Cocky loses round after round, Sir drives him into the arena again and again by inciting his needs, dreams and desires. Cocky plays one after the other for bread, for work, for love, for revenge, for sexual satisfaction - always without success. Sir additionally humiliates his opponent after each defeat by forcing him to enter his supposed presumptuousness and sins as punishment in "The Book": gluttony, laziness, pride, envy, lust.

The arguments between the two men are accompanied by all kinds of puns, misunderstandings and comic situations. Cocky's ever more desperate attempts to revolt against his established losing role are initially slightly undermined by Sir. After Cocky finally takes his opponent's throat seriously, Sir explains very vividly that his younger brother Bertie fell victim to the attack; In the following, Sir blackmailed Cocky with the threat of extraditing him to the police for the murder - that Cocky didn’t kill anyone, but that Cocky had killed himself on a life-size straw doll that was slipped into him by the kid at Sir’s behest, he’s only found out much later. Sir's position is seriously threatened by the appearance of "The Negro" - a stranger who approaches the game with curiosity and without respect for the rules and thus wins a round. Cocky, who has now witnessed a defeat in Sir, wants to give the game new rules. Sir sends him a brutal thug on the body ("The Bully"), with a wig and dress roughly costumed in the style of Cocky's dream lover ("The Girl"), who almost massacres him.

As a last resort, Cocky goes away, leaving Sir alone - much to his helpless dismay. Finally, Cocky returns, and since their existence seems pointless to each other, they both set out to play new games according to new rules.

To the piece

The parable is accompanied by musical numbers in the typical style of the 1960s, some with echoes of soul (“The Joker”), gospel and blues (“Feeling Good”) as well as music hall and variety (“Where Would You Be Without Me”) . The hit “Who Can I Turn To?” Instrumentally opens the show as a tonal signet and at the same time metrically depicts the words “The Roar of the Greasepaint”; The title of the play is derived from the phrase "The smell of make-up, the roar of the crowd", which refers to the world of circus and theater and is rendered in a twisted way by Cocky in his absent-mindedness.

A few years earlier, the duo of authors had already achieved success with the very similarly conceived musical Stop the World - I Want to Get Off . The premiere production of The Roar of the Greasepaint - The Smell of the Crowd did not see the planned performances in London's West End due to a lack of audience interest after a tour of Great Britain. After the famous US producer David Merrick saw the play in Liverpool, he brought it to the United States. On Broadway it saw 231 performances from May 16 to December 4, 1965 at the Shubert Theater ; Anthony Newley, who also wrote the libretto, directed and played the role of Cocky. The production received six Tony Award nominations , but lost to Fiddler on the Roof . Even before the New York premiere, "Who Can I Turn To?", As interpreted by Tony Bennett, was widely known. The song was also subsequently as "Feeling Good" by numerous stars gecovert .

An LP recording with the original Broadway Cast was released in 1965 on the RCA Victor label (OC-1109), re-released as CD in 1990 (60351-2-RG).

Song numbers

I. act

  • "Beautiful Land" (Urchins)
  • "A Wonderful Day Like Today" (Sir, Cocky, Kid, Urchins)
  • "It Isn't Enough" (Cocky, Urchins)
  • "Things to Remember" (Sir, Kid, Urchins)
  • "Put It in the Book" (Kid, Urchins)
  • ("With All Due Respect" (Cocky), later deleted)
  • "This Dream" (Cocky, Urchins)
  • "Where Would You Be Without Me?" (Sir, Cocky)
  • "Look at That Face" (Sir, Kid, Urchins)
  • "My First Love Song" (Cocky, Girl)
  • "The Joker" (Cocky, Urchins)
  • "Who Can I Turn To?" (Cocky)

II. Act

  • "A Very Funny Funeral / That's What It Is To Be Young" (Urchins)
  • "What a Man" (Cocky, Sir, Kid, Urchins)
  • "Feeling Good" (Negro, Urchins)
  • "Nothing Can Stop Me Now" (Cocky, Urchins)
  • "Things to Remember (Reprise)" (Sir)
  • "My Way" (Cocky, Sir)
  • "Who Can I Turn To? (Recapitulation) "(sir)
  • "Beautiful Land (Reprise)" (Urchins)
  • "Sweet Beginning" (Cocky, Sir, Urchins)

Web links