Friday, September 12, 2008

Eliza Doolittle-Bennet?

Lyn from dovegreybooks Yahoo Group (not to be confused with Lynne from dovegreyreader blog) sent me another little piece of information today - I hope she won't mind if I quote her email:

Just got home to find the latest issue of Jane Austen's Regency World magazine waiting for me. Nice new smaller format, looks very good. I thought I'd give this a try for a year because I got a good deal on the sub through the JA Society here. Flicking through, I see an article on Lost In Austen & on the back cover, an ad for JA's P&P :the new musical. Was there ever an old one? I feel myself growing faint, it's coming to Broadway apparently. The tag line on the website is
The world has waited two centuries for this smart, song-filled & compelling investment opportunity (I'm not joking!)

If you click on the site, you'll hear Darcy singing about Fine Eyes.

Lyn (feeling as though that particle exploder did something to the world after all & I'm in another dimension).


Well. Gosh. Of course, it does seem rather as though one can't have anything on the stage without a song
and dance accompanying nowadays, and it's a miracle that Austenmania hasn't led to this before. Bad as the 2005 film was in so many ways, at least it didn't have Keira doing the can-can singing 'It is a TRUTH uni-ver-salllllly ackNOWledged!'

But am I too quick to judge? Obviously I would go and see this, even if I expected it to be dire, and I imagine there are enough Pride and Prejudice addicts to make this sell out whatever the quality - but perhaps, just perhaps, it would actually be good? Stranger things have happened. And what if they took a selection of extant songs... how would that go... Lizzie could sing
I Don't Know How To Love Him then Learning To Love Him and finally Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man. Lydia could get I Could Have Danced All Night, and Sixteen Going On Seventeen, while Kitty would have to settle for You Can't Get A Man With A Gun. And for Mr. Bennet, howsabout If I Were A Rich Man?

More suggestions in a similarly irreverent tone, please!



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