Golden Boy Musical: Thoughts?

[RippedMan]

I saw Golden Boy a few ago, and was reading Strouse's bio tonight at Annie and forgot he made it into a musical. I can't seem to find a recording of it anywhere. Anyone have any insight? Was it pretty close to the play? The play is kind of a downer, so I can't see it as a musical, but did it work? Does it have to be cast with a black lead?

[willrogers2008]

I've just saw a CD of the original cast a few days ago. There is a cd of the japonese production, too.

[willrogers2008]

Yes, I am quite sure that the musical requires a black lead instead of an italian like the play. It was conceived for Sammy D. Jr. I've saw a dvd of the japonese production, some time ago. The production was great. Really amazing! But all japanese actors used in their faces a black make up. Very strange.

[newintown]

The OCR is available on both iTunes and Spotify. There are some nice songs, particularly "Night Song." I've never seen it, so can't give an opinion of the book (the most important part of a musical).

[RippedMan]

Weird. Was searching Itunes. Guess I just didn't search correctly.

Yeah, I'm just curious to know what moments were musicalized. Some of them I can understand, like when the two are together walking home. But others, like all of Act 3, I can't really understand.

[Wee Thomas2]

If Odets wanted it to be a musical, he would have written it as a musical.

Sheesh.

[newintown]

Odets was actively involved in the original work on the musical and William Gibson took over when he died.

[D2]

Here's the IBDB entry for the show, which ran at the Majestic from September 1964 - March 1966:
Golden Boy on IBDB

[The Other One]

I've never seen the show. A few years back there was talk of it being revived with Usher, but all talk of that seems to have died at this point.

I love the play (and its current revival) but have never seen the musical. I think the world of its cast album, particularly its initial vinyl release. Sammy Davis's original vocals were a bit ragged, and he re-recorded them to be more in keeping with his big, booming style. The original versions have a lot more passion, in my opinion, but to the best of my knowledge they never made it on to CD. The CD in release is still excellent.

The album's original ending, different on the CD, is faithful to Odets's play, but may have been changed somewhat during the run of the musical. Joe and Lorna come through with great material, as do, to a lesser extent, Moody and, I think, Fuselli (surely re-named). "Don't Forget 127th Street", Joe's and his neighbors' ode to their Harlem roots, is a lot of fun, and was performed well on the Ed Sullivan show. Look for it on youtube. Other great songs are "Night Song", "While The City Sleeps" and "I Wanna Be With You". The whole score is dramatic, entertaining and atmospheric. It also deals frankly if patiently with issues of racial identity. Joe's song "Colorful" is both pointed and funny.

I like it more than any other Adams and Strauss score!

[RippedMan]

Yeah, I think I'd really love to see it. Wish Lincoln Center or someone would take on a revival, but with the play being revived I doubt we'll see one anytime soon.

[willrogers2008]

GOLDEN BOY was also revived by Encores! a few years ago. Here is the link of one of the reviews:

http://www.theatermania.com/new-york-city-theater/reviews/03-2002/golden-boy_2034.html

[Mr Roxy]

I remember seeing this with SD Jr . The show was great and I loved the score - to me one of Strouse /Adams best. This deserves a revival.Lola Falana, Billy Daniels & Johnny Brown were in it as well. Nothing much happened with the actress who played Lorna whose name escapes me now.

I had the LP & got it on Bay Cities CD. Another CD came out using alternate tracks years later by another company. Both are out of print. Met SD in the alley afterwards & got him to sign the Playbill. Surprisingly there was not much in the way of a crowd at the stage door. I remember him being quite nice & he was glad I enjoyed the show. To bad he never made it into look To The Lillies.