A Face In The Crowd (musical): Difference between revisions
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Revision as of 00:35, 1 June 2016
In April and May 2016, Elvis Costello premiered eight songs connected to A Face In The Crowd, the 1957 film written by Budd Schulberg, directed by Elia Kazan, and starring Andy Griffith.
Elvis had spoken previously about working on three stage musicals, and fans quickly speculated that a musical adaptation of A Face In The Crowd was one of them. Elvis confirmed in a May 18 post at elviscostello.com that A Face In The Crowd was intended as a "forthcoming stage production."
A German-language article in the Swiss newspaper Zurich Tages Anzeiger reported later that month that the musical would premiere in 2017 and Elvis had written 17 songs for it.
The ecsongbysong blog has a very detailed article about this project.
Songs played live
- A Face In The Crowd, premiered April 12 in Salt Lake City, obviously shares a title with the film.
- Vitajex, premiered April 13 in Jackson, concerns the miracle pill featured in A Face In The Crowd. (Vitajex is also the subject of song in the film, but Elvis' song is an original.)
- Blood & Hot Sauce, premiered April 13 in Jackson, is sung by Lonesome Rhodes, the character portrayed by Andy Griffith in the film.
- A Town Called Riddle, premiered April 15 in Boise, refers to Lonesome Rhodes' hometown of Riddle, Arkansas.
- Burn The Paper Down To Ash, premiered April 15 in Boise, is intended for the Marcia Jeffries character, played by Patricia Neal in the film. It was sung by Rebecca Lovell in concert.
- They Call Me Mrs. Lonesome, premiered April 16 in Eugene, is for Rhodes' first wife, played by Kay Medford in the film.
- American Mirror, premiered April 17 in Bellingham, could be another Marcia Jeffries song, or possibly for Mel Miller, the character played by Walter Matthau in the film.
- The Last Word, premiered May 31 in Brescia, is intended to be sung by Lonesome Rhodes on his radio show. Elvis introduced the song as Don't Lose Your First Love Looking For The Last Word, but the shorter title was registered with ASCAP.
Unheard songs
An additional nine songs were registered with ASCAP at the same time as the eight listed above. It has not been confirmed that they are also associated with A Face In The Crowd, but the total number of songs matches the 17 mentioned in the Zurich Tages Anzeiger article.
These songs have not been heard publicly, although Elvis used this phrase "He Makes My Water Bowl" in introducing the Marcia Jeffries character at the London Palladium.
- Big Stars Have Tumbled
- Byline
- Does Your Doll Speak
- Don't Put Me On
- He Makes My Water Boil
- How Could You Know?
- Miss Hot Mischief (American Truth)
- Nice Guys Come Last
- Why Don't You Jump In?
