THEATRE GOSSIP #557: the "Vanya and Sonia and Jonathan Hadary" Edition

They wouldn't dim the lights for Durang, would they?

They fucking should. He had a few plays on Broadway, even if all them were bombs but one. It shouldn't always be dimming the lights for some old musical theatre star but any significant theatre artist.

Did they dim for Wendy?

Yes, they did.

Durang is a Tony award winning playwright. Dim the fucking lights.

Dim All The Lights

I'll bet they won't.

They might dim for Durang, if Charlotte St. Cunt isn't the president of the Cunts For Dimming The Lights org any more.

They should be prepared to dim the lights for Cabaret, or as it will surely be called, Here Lies Crap.

Do you think some Broadway shows will be cancelled due to possible tremors and aftershocks?

[quote]They might dim for Durang, if Charlotte St. Cunt isn't the president of the Cunts For Dimming The Lights org any more.

My opinion of her is just as low as yours, but whom to dim the lights for wasn't her decision. She was always really just a spokesperson for the league, though a really bad one.

That's horseshit. Charlotte was always behind the curtain.

If they should dim the lights for anyone, it should be Water for Elephants.

[quote]That's horseshit. Charlotte was always behind the curtain.

If you're saying she was ever more than a figurehead and a spokesperson, and that she was actually running things, I think you're way off base, based on what I've heard from people who are in a position to know.

He's a white man, they won't dim the lights.

[quote]He's a white man, they won't dim the lights.

Is no one paying attention to you, r15?

Is Joey Sorge family? He looks like a nice piece of ass.

How is Bebe Neuwirth’s German accent holding up?

I have a question about Our Town. In the scene between Mrs. Gibb and Mrs. Webb, Mrs. Webb says she’s not going to choir practice. Mrs. Gibb says, “Can’t you sing over your voice?” What does that mean? Is she asking if she can still sing even though her speaking voice isn’t great?

After Cromer’s production of Our Town, I don’t quite understand why anybody feels the need to offer any additional interpretations. It was a remarkable, extraordinary production.

I cried so hard during that final scene I almost threw up.

I’m ok with American classics coming back every 10 years or so, rotation like they do in opera, but I can’t stand the need to attach a gimmick to it. Just do a 3 month run of a solid play, with excellent actors and let the classics stand on the idea that it’s a classic for a reason.

I love the play "Our Town." wish it were being performed near me this summer. I live in New England and cannot remember the last time it was performed and we have many theatre companies in the region.

R22, I think the issue is that it’s such a large cast. No paying theater company can afford that right now. But it is a beautiful play.

[quote]Mrs. Webb says she’s not going to choir practice. Mrs. Gibb says, “Can’t you sing over your voice?” What does that mean? Is she asking if she can still sing even though her speaking voice isn’t great?

I think she means try to sing in a higher octave. Mrs. Webb's next line is "Yes, but somehow I can't do that and stay on key."

Is it time for another revival of A Chorus Line? The last one on Broadway was in 2006.

R25. Billy Porter IS Cassie!

"He's a white man, they won't dim the lights."

Yes, but he was a gay white man.

We need a revival of Lusitania Songspiel

Get Meryl to return in The Idiots Karamazov.

[quote]Mrs. Webb says she’s not going to choir practice. Mrs. Gibb says, “Can’t you sing over your voice?” What does that mean? Is she asking if she can still sing even though her speaking voice isn’t great?

I always assumed "singing over your voice" meant singing in a sort of breathy head voice, rather than full voice. But it is a rather odd way to phrase it.

Did anyone listen to their Follies OBCR yesterday in honor of the anniversary of its B'way opening?

[quote]Is it time for another revival of A Chorus Line? The last one on Broadway was in 2006.

ACL is dated.

I saw the 2006 ACL revival in SF before it went to Broadway. It just kind of sat there. No one was particularly bad (or good), everyone danced it just fine, the Deco mirrors at the end were still a thrill, but methinks the original production was just an enormous flash in the pan.

Revive Ain't Misbehavin' instead!

ACL, Company and FOLLIES have all lost their immediacy.

By most accounts, the City Center ACL was fantastic

I listen to my Follies OBCR every day!

The big drama I see on Gaybook is that Cabaret is NOT selling window cards!

What will show queens who’s walls are covered in show posters do?!?!

[quote]By most accounts, the City Center ACL was fantastic

The lowest age of the Encores audience is 70. They still get all the references.

Brits not happy with color-blind casting.

The timing.....

R35, it was. It was superb. I loved it from start to finish.

And I was in my 40s. :)

Face it, Dorothy—ACL is limited.

I tore my ACL

I am saddened by the death of Durang. I have always adored Sister Mary Ignatius....a very funny precise piece.

Did any of you aged whores see the original run? It had a great number of stars cover the role. I would kill to Have seen Nancy Marchand as Mary. God, she would have been chilling.

Andy, I'll nurse on your cock.....I mean, nurse you back to health.

[quote]By most accounts, the City Center ACL was fantastic

It was. They really got it right. That production had a freshness and immediacy that the Broadway revival sorely lacked.

Everybody loved Durang.

R47, I thought so too, although someone described him online as "prickly" in the wake of his death. I'm guessing he was a very smart guy who didn't suffer fools gladly, which to me is not the same as being prickly.

I had every "Durang Durang" album...

There was nothing about Durang that was prickly. That person was the only one who described him thus.

Maybe the person who described Durang as prickly once said something stupid to him, and Chris didn't react well :-)

Maybe. But Durang was kind to fools.

[quote]The Notebook is notable for what co-director Schele Williams calls "color-conscious casting," with three couples of different cultural backgrounds representing the universality of love. "This particular project is trying to show that what matters is what's inside," says Harewood, whose younger Noah counterparts are played by Ryan Vasqeuz and John Cardoza. "If you peeled the skin off all of us, we'd all look the same. I do think the reason why they're able to put The Notebook on is that there's a population out there that can look beyond the exterior and really see what the person has to offer. Slowly, there's been some advancement towards enlightenment."

All of the above is from the current People magazine interview with Dorian Harewood. Semantics can be tricky, but I don't understand how the casting of the leads in "The Notebook" could be described as "color-conscious." Since the same characters are played by actors of different races and colors at different stages of those characters lives, it seems to be that "color-blind" would be the accurate term for the casting, regardless of whether one thinks it's successful or not, since obviously people in real life don't change color or race as they grow older. Thoughts?

[quote]since obviously people in real life don't change color or race as they grow older.

Michael Jackson did. 😂

A reimagined ACL would be interesting with some good choreography. Bennett's work as a director is outstanding but his choreographic work in this show is pedestrian. "One" can still impress but everything, especially Music and the Mirror should be rethought. But Bennett's estate would never allow it.

ACL is going to be revived in 2025-2026 season potentially. That's the buzz.

R53. In real life, people don’t typically break into song to express their feelings or live in three distinct bodies simultaneously to represent different stages of life. Get over it.

[quote]In real life, people don’t typically break into song to express their feelings or live in three distinct bodies simultaneously to represent different stages of life. Get over it.

Yes, but that has nothing to do with whether or not "color-conscious" or "color-blind" is the more accurate term for the casting of the leads in "The Notebook." I hope you understand that and you just ignored it to make your point.

[quote]I listen to my Follies OBCR every day!

It only counts, r36, if it's the remastered Kritzerland version...which is indeed wonderful.

r53 It sounds like they deliberately chose people of different races (as opposed to it just having happened naturally), so that would make it colour conscious. Like Hamilton, which some also mistakenly called colour blind.

R56 a 50th anniversary production that will bomb.

They'll probably follow the Hollywood Bowl version and include a curtain call

[quote]If you peeled the skin off all of us, we'd all look the same.

Pics please.

Hello 12, Hello 13, Hello Color Conscious Casting....

Sergius has spoken: His review of Lempicka on ATC is a total pan.

r59, of course it is! Accept no substitutions.

This is the first year that I will not spending money to see most musicals. Notebook, Outsiders, Water for Elephants. I am not that interested to pay those prices.

[quote]ACL is going to be revived in 2025-2026 season potentially. That's the buzz.

George Santos IS Cassie!

Jonathan Hadary looks awful on "Girls5Eva." I'm hoping that's just the way they made up his character.

R20 agreed. The bacon!

I apologize beforehand for this delayed post, but I just got through the previous thread this morning (after not being on for nearly a week) and now there's this new thread.

Anyway, someone had posted...

[quote]I think Sweeney could still sell some tickets even without stars. Sad to see it go.

No, it cannot.

After Groban/Ashford departed in mid January and the understudies took over for 3 weeks, it was only grossing around $700k.

Since Foster/Tveit came along in early February, it has been grossing around $1.4 million.

This thread title sucks. Let me guess who started it.

While the rest of the world celebrates the total eclipse of the sun, I think the theatre thread should be celebrating a different total eclipse.

[quote]It sounds like they deliberately chose people of different races (as opposed to it just having happened naturally), so that would make it colour conscious.

I suppose. But from another perspective, it's "color-blind" casting in the sense that, somehow, you're not supposed to "see" that the characters are being played by people of different races at different points in their lives, because of course people don't change races or colors during their lives (Michael Jackson excepted). Also, I don't think it's possible in the current climate to let casting like this "happen naturally," when there's so much focus on representation.

That’s a fair reading^

I love me some Siggy Weaver and her big hairy beaver! She should really do more stage work.

The Notebook wasn’t terrible, but I found the cross-racial casting a little off putting. They seemed to be using it to sidestep any discussion of race in the post-war South. The fairy tale storytelling couldn’t support that, so this was probably the only way to avoid criticism.

The book was a fairy tale. The movie was a fairy tale. Would anyone expect this to be different?

I don’t think anyone expected that, r78. The point is that showing the segregated South, having an all-white cast, or making either of the leads black would introduce complexity that the fairy tale approach could not support.

I never miss a Gena Rowlands musical.

[quote]The Notebook wasn’t terrible, but I found the cross-racial casting a little off putting. They seemed to be using it to sidestep any discussion of race in the post-war South. The fairy tale storytelling couldn’t support that, so this was probably the only way to avoid criticism.

This is an excellent point. The cross-racial casting was especially off-putting in this show because of the setting in the South in the post-WWII years. If there had been cross racial casting of the two actors playing the leading male role in WATER FOR ELEPHANTS at different ages, it would have been confusing but not so troubling from the standpoint of racial politics. That said, I wouldn't necessarily describe the storytelling in THE NOTEBOOK as "fairy tale," and I'm almost surprised they didn't make the leading male character black and the leading female character white at all ages. I think that would only have made the story more powerful in terms of the young woman's family destroying her relationship with the young man because he's not "good enough" for her, but I guess they didn't want to go there because they thought that would make the story too real and too heavy?

…because it isa fairly tale. You answered your question. 2 cents

It’s color-conscious casting that demands us to be colorblind. Perhaps well intentioned, but a confounding distraction and an utter failure in storytelling. She remembers herself white and we’re racist if we get confused. And the story was always about class, but now even that is gone.

Again, R82, I wouldn't really describe THE NOTEBOOK as "fairytale storytelling." I don't think a plot that contains a woman with dementia in a nursing home can be described as a fairytale. But even if it's not a fairytale, I guess the creators of the musical didn't want to get into racism as a subject of the show -- even though it is set in the South in the post WW-II years -- for whatever reasons.

[Quote] Again,

Again?

This is all so boring!!!!!

Which of these Theatre Gossip threads will take precedance?

We should have "The Biggest Whores Currently on Broadway" as a thread. If we did, oddly, Eli Gelb might cum up as the winner.

R85, unless you have never repeated a point when posting here, please tacet.

[quote] She remembers herself white and we’re racist if we get confused.

You’re not racist if you get confused. Just stupid.

This^.

But they could still also be racist.

Oh for christ's sakes, R91, just screech KLAN GRANNY already. It won't do your tourettes any good to hold it in.

For Len Cariou, Dying Onstage Each Night Has Been ‘Invigorating’:

R93. More invigorating than kissing Betty Bacall every night?

[quote]More invigorating than kissing Betty Bacall every night?

Sweaty Betty...

[quote]The book was a fairy tale. The movie was a fairy tale.

I had no idea it was about effeminate gays.

[Quote] This is all so boring!!!!!

Go see Suffs, then this will seem like a thrill ride

Some posters keep referring to The Notebook musical as taking place in the late 40s post WWII South, but that's the book and film. The musical actually moves everything a few decades forward, starting the story in the Vietnam era 1960s. By then interracial romances had started to show up in mainstream popular entertainment.

All these people confused or put off or unable to tell it's the same character need to go to the theatre more often. It's so clear about the three generations of actors playing the same two roles. The material, the production, and the staging combine to give the audience every possible theatrical clue that's what's happening, from the character listing in the Playbill, to the characters wearing the same color throughout, to two generations of the same character doing the same gestures and staging, to the older versions watching their younger selves. It ain't that hard.

You forget R98 that people are stupid. Bigoted folks more so.

R98, you're correct about the time frame of the musical. But of course, there was still rampant racism in the South in the 1960s and '70s, and needless to say, even more recently. So the comments above about the musical ignoring all of that still apply.

As for objections to the cross-racial casting, it's not that we can't tell or are actually confused about who's supposed to be the same character, but that it's nonsensical to have people who look absolutely nothing like each other playing those two characters at three different stages in their lives. At any rate, many people in the audience seem to feel that way, even if you don't.

Suspend your disbelief for fuck’s sake. It’s call theater, not the Encyclopedia.

[quote]Suspend your disbelief for fuck’s sake. It’s call theater, not the Encyclopedia.

So, for hundreds and hundreds of years, if a show had characters that we saw at different stages of their lives, the actors cast as the younger and older versions of each character would of course have been chosen partly because they resembled each other at least somewhat. But now, suddenly, that no longer applies, because......umm, well.....I guess.....for no good reason.

r74 Except that isn't what colour-blind casting is at all. You were wrong, get over it.

You type old and stodgy, r102.

Go outside once in a while

How old and stodgy to think that people can't post on DL while they're outside.

For any fans of Our Town I’d highly recommend Tom Lake. by Ann Patchett, which centers an actress playing Emily in the play. It’s a wonderful novel.

Excuse me, R103, but it seems clear that different people have different definitions -- all of them rational -- of what "color-blind casting" means (as opposed to "color-conscious casting," or "alternative casting," or whatever). So please don't tell me I'm "wrong" or to "get over it."

R102 for hundreds of years men played all women’s roles on stage. We somehow managed to adapt and survive.

Three Tall Women: The Musical

Starring: Bernadette Peters, Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Debose

Call Telecharge today!

I loved most of Durang's plays and remember the first production of BETTE AND BOO with Joan Allen, directed by Jerry Zaks in his prime. It was flawless, which is, unfortunately, more than one could say about the Roundabout revival directed by Walter Bobbie, which was pretty flat despite some good people in the cast.

I saw SISTER MARY with Elizabeth Franz, who was superb. There was a production in the Berkshires a few years ago with Harriet Harris, who was also excellent. Hopefully, we can all graciously forget about the disaster that was SEX AND LONGING.

Williamstown did an excellent production of BEYOND THERAPY back in 2008 directed by Alex Timbers, with Katie Finneran, Darren Goldstein (as the bi guy), Kate Burton, Darrell Hammond, Matt McGrath, and Bryce Pinkham. After seeing it, my friends and I went to a local restaurant for dinner and saw Durang talking with someone - we were hoping it was someone who would be smart enough to bring this to NYC, but alas it never happened.

Any reports on Jinkx as Audrey? Or better yet, audio?

r108 Funny how back in your initial post about this at r53 you didn't think there could be "different definitions" there. No, then it must be that you, a random DL poster were right, and the theatre director who actually did the casting was wrong. But then once it was explained why you were wrong (and yes, you are wrong) - oh, well now everyone's allowed to come up with their own definitions! Words can mean whatever we want, as long as we never have to accept we're wrong.

Has anyone seen National Theatre Live: The Motive and The Cue?

It’s about Richard Burton and John Gielgud.

I know some people who saw it in London and liked it a lot. Sorry I don’t have more details

[quote]Three Tall Women: The Musical Starring: Bernadette Peters, Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Debose

Danny DeVito for matinee Bernadette!

I will always bless Chris Durang for bringing New York "Sex and Longing," because I worked on it and if I ever dramatized the goings on backstage and onstage, I'd have another "Noises Off," only cuntier.

I’ve used this line of Sister Ignatius’s more than a few times: God always answers your prayers. Most of the time He just says No.

r118 I love You make Jesus wanna puke.

I saw Sex and Longing. First preview. Very long night. Dana Ivey was magnificent. I like Sigourney Weaver better on film. And there was a gorgeous actor named Jay Goode who deserved better. That's all I remember.

I saw "The Hardy Boys and the Mysteries of Where Babies Come From" and all I remember is that cute young Sam Trammel as Joe got down to his boxers.

I remember that Michael Feingold, ever the contrarian, gave SEX AND LONGING a very good review.

I saw it and could not have been more disappointed.

Who the fuck is Eli Gelb

R120. Jay Goode was a touching and memorable Frog in “A Year with Frog and Toad” some twenty years ago.

Who the fuck is Sam Trammell? And where are the photos of him in boxers??

It's Jay Goede, not Goode. And he wasn't the hot guy in S&L. That was hot, hot, hot Eric Thal. I'm not saying Jay wasn't in it, just that he was a meeskite compared to Thal.

Jonathan Groff on the Tonight show:

R126. I forgot about Eric Thal but I remember Jay Goode. Maybe I like meeskites.

For fucks sake it's Jay GOEDE (pronounced Geddy) no Goode.

I saw Franz in Ignatius. Wasn't she the original? You could tell the people who went to parochial school. We were laughing the hardest. I was bent over in laughter. Honestly I don't want to see anybody else in the role. I'd be like I thought this play was funnier.

He IS Jay Goede.

Elizabeth Franz was the original nun though it could be fairly said that she was replaced by Nancy Marchand and Lynn Redgrave, among other actresses, who were somewhat more famous.

I think Chorus Line is not a very good show. Poor score and book. However the original staging with the original cast which I saw twice was the most electrifying thing you could ever see. And I don't know why. It just was.

But being an eldergay I'm still upset almost a half a century later raging at God that Pacific Overtures didn't win all the major awards which it so richly deserved.

Applause which I saw at the Palace with Bacall was enormous fun and a mediocre but terrific show. But whenever I see a clip from that production I think God that was terrible.

[quote]And I don't know why. It just was.

I'll tell you exactly why that is, r134. I've said it before...ACL, Company and FOLLIES were *in the moment*. They were set in a contemporary world on stage and playing in real time. The NYC the audience had seen portrayed was the same NYC they walked out into. Now they're period pieces.

I would add Applause to my list at r137, r136. How well does RENT hold up? It was so *edgy* when it opened.

The 1970s were filled with good but not great musicals like SEESAW, OVER HERE!, SHENANDOAH and APPLAUSE that were simply just very entertaining.

[quote]The NYC the audience had seen portrayed was the same NYC they walked out into. Now they're period pieces.

I had the same experience with Falsettoland and Rent.

Exactly, r140, those original productions had an immediacy and relatability that can't be recaptured.

Hedwig, as well, started contemporary and is now a period piece

Maybe it isn't the shows that have aged, but the audiences who have grown less sophisticated. ACL is a timeless piece. It doesn't matter that it's set in the mid-70s, it's still relatable. The writing and composing are fantastic. I loved the 2006 revival because I never got to see the original, so for me it was a chance to see it as it was intended to be, not some untalented trust fund baby's interpretation in order to seem edgy. I, for one, think doing a revival of a classic, perfect show within its original concept/design/etc is a way for audiences to really get to see the brilliance of theater before it became a soulless tourist spot competing with half-hearted, ridiculous attempts to seem contemporary.

I'd rather sit through ACL a hundred times than 99% of the shit Broadway has churned out in the past 20 years.

[quote] I loved the 2006 revival

And you accuse others of having "grown less sophisticated"?

R130. Calm down, Jay

[quote]Funny how back in your initial post about this at [R53] you didn't think there could be "different definitions" there. No, then it must be that you, a random DL poster were right, and the theatre director who actually did the casting was wrong. But then once it was explained why you were wrong (and yes, you are wrong) - oh, well now everyone's allowed to come up with their own definitions! Words can mean whatever we want, as long as we never have to accept we're wrong.

No. In my initial post, I gave MY interpretation of what "color-blind casting" means, and I think it's a perfectly sensible interpretation but not the only one. You're entitled to your opinion of whether my definition is "wrong" or "right," but it's still your opinion. At least I'm intelligent and mature enough to recognize that people can use that phrase to mean different things, whereas you keep insisting that my interpretation is "wrong."

P.S. I remember that S. Epatha Merkerson once said she did not like the term "color-blind casting" because "it makes me feel like I'm not really there," so I imagine her interpretation of the phrase is closer to mine than to yours.

[quote] And you accuse others of having "grown less sophisticated"?

Or just being a cunt. J'accuse.

r146 You keep acting like colour-blind casting doesn't have a defined meaning, which it does. You can keep stomping your feet all you want, it's not going to change that. And don't try and move the goalposts now, in your original post you claimed your use was the accurate one - suggesting you thought any other was inaccurate, or wrong. Or, let me guess, you have a different "interpretation" of what the word inaccurate means.

As I said I didn't think the music or book were very good but Bennett was a theatrical magician. Some have noted that ACL did not have great choreography but it had great staging. And considering Bennett had been working with that original cast down to their little fingers with the generosity of Papp to get it as perfect as he could the production was tight as a drum. And that with that brilliant lighting it was explosive. And yes it was very much the theatrical world of Broadway in the mid 70s. It caught the zeitgeist like nothing else.

I agree with Company and Follies being so much of their moment reviving them is useless. They were great shows but when Stritch says 'Does anyone still wear a hat?' it had so much resonance. What could it mean to people today? And are there still Ladies who Lunch like Capote's swans? Also a straight man unmarried in 70 people really did think he had commitment issues and people back then did not automatically think he was gay(I could understand a person if a person was a fag.) Even another Hundred People captures the New York of 1970 so perfectly with pinpoint precision I think it was already dated by 1972 by the time the show closed.

And Follies with that cast of elderly people who knew Ziegfeld personally and people who were at the end of that era like Collins, Smith and Nelson and brought the show so much richness well that's so far in the past when done today it's nothing more boring than paper mâché.

I've never seen Follies again since the original production and I went to see a revival of Company which was a big mistake.

The London Follies revival at the National Theatre was hands down the best show I've ever seen, and was sold out for years.

And I'm sorry nobody can love these shows like you do, r150. Christ, that must be such a burden to bear!

R152 Who ever said that? Why did you pull that out of your ass? I never said nobody can love these shows like I do. There were people much more obsessed with these shows than I was and saw them many times. Go to Home Depot and get some calking and plug up that hole in your head.

Both Follies (I’m Still Here) and Company (Another Hundred People) got lyric touch ups for modern audiences. I think the lyrics of A Chorus Line got a refresh for the Broadway revival.

I’m not saying I agree with this, just pointing it out.

caulking

Your knee-jerk reaction says enough, dear. You were definitely stratifying yourself and your sense of aesthetics above everyone else.

Saw both Franz and Mary Louise Wilson as Sister Mary. Both were terrific.

[quote] Both Follies (I’m Still Here)

You mean Shirley Temple for Brenda Fraser? That happened in London because the Brits wouldn’t know who Brenda Fraser was. It’s not used consistently over here.

He also did updated lyrics for Shirley Maclaine in POSTCARDS FROM THE EDGE.

R158, it was used for the 2001 Broadway revival.

We need to get DL fave Debra Winger back on Broadway.

And not in a dumpster fire play by David Mamet!

I never miss a Debra Winger musical

[quote]We need to get DL fave Debra Winger back on Broadway.

Aren’t we due for a revival of Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom?

R123, he's in the cast of Stereophonic and he fucks every living female he can.

[quote]Has anyone seen National Theatre Live: The Motive and The Cue?

Yes, R114, this week. Sam Mendes is the director, and he suggested the idea to the playwright. Here's a shocking thing -- Gielgud and Burton were both played by white men who bore quite strong resemblances to them, Elizabeth Taylor was not trans, and what the play was serious about was the art of making great theatre happen, no matter whose feelings get hurt in the process.

I thought it was an intelligent treatment of a good, well-made play. I didn't find it thrilling, except for the scene between Gielgud and Burton where they finally get to "the motive and the cue" of Burton's Hamlet, but it was satisfying and the acting was excellent. Definitely worth seeing. I also discovered the 1964 Hamlet for which they are rehearsing throughout the play is on YouTube in full, so you can come home and watch the result. The audio of Gielgud playing Hamlet in 1948 is also on YouTube for comparison.

[quote]Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom?

A bio-musical about Billy Porter already?

[quote]he's in the cast of Stereophonic and he fucks every living female he can

I beg your pardon. Being alive is NOT an absolute requirement, but a preference.

And thery don't need to be awake, either.

Has serious rapist face.

I saw the Motive and the Cue last summer. I really enjoyed it, though as said above, it's not really a great play, but a good one. The Burton was great, but the Gielgud was brilliant. The Elizabeth Taylor, unfortunately, was awful.

Debra Winger would make an amazing Martha in WAOVW! They can re-team her with Jeff Daniel’s as George!

I am not as crazy as some of you about "Motive/Cue." I thought it was just okay. I thought Flynn and Gatiss were excellent but the play dragged too much for me.

[quote] Jeff Daniel’s

Seriously, R171?

That's a very common autocorrect mistake, R173.

Jeff Daniels.

No autocorrect mistake.

Both Winger and Daniels are close to 70, which is long in the tooth to be playing George and Martha. Staunton was likewise too old.

I can play Honey!

Was Jay Goode Goede the one in Frog and Toad who was rumored to be horse-hung in one of the early Broadway sex threads? Or was that the other one?

R175 if they're past George and Martha there are plenty of senior two handers, or shows with two aging-star roles, they could do, from Gin Game to Golden Pond to Sunshine Boys, to Love Letters if they can't memorize or move around.

The horse-hung of Broadway. Great idea for a thread.

Deb Winger and hubby Arliss Howard would be wonderful in On Golden Pond.

Too bad that the play itself is crap, though, R180.

Couldn’t Debra Winger do that play that Elaine May did a few seasons ago?

I'm hearing great things about Wooster Group's Symphony of Rats @ Performing Garage. Just grabbed a ticket - many performances are sold out. Haven't loved their work in a while (used to be a huge fan) but I understand this is the best thing they've done in years! Fingers crossed...

Thank you for the reminder, R183! I had been meaning to buy tickets, and it does look like they have almost sold out the run—so your post came right in time.

[quote]You keep acting like colour-blind casting doesn't have a defined meaning, which it does.

No, it doesn't Some people use that term to mean you're not supposed to see the color of the performer -- so if they are an African-American or Asian performer, you're not supposed to take that to mean that the character is Africian-American or Asian. Other people use "color-blind casting" generally to refer to the casting of POC in traditionally white roles. Those are only two completely valid interpretations of the term.

[quote]And don't try and move the goalposts now, in your original post you claimed your use was the accurate one - suggesting you thought any other was inaccurate, or wrong.

No, I simply stated MY INTEPRETATION of the term. If you want to continue arguing that your definition of "color-blind casting" is the only correct one, please address yourself to S. Epatha Merkerson, who I think has a very different interpretation from yours. At any rate, I'm withdrawing from this pointless discussion with you.

I'm very eager to see the NT Live showing of The Motive and the Cue later this month, love the subject matter, but have to say the promo video I saw of the play was a bit off-putting. It seemed very artificial and stagy. I hope I'm proved wrong. As many here will know, Burton is played by Johnny Flynn who can currently be seen as Dickie Greenleaf (Jude Law role) in the Andrew Scott Ripley series on Netflix. He seems perfect casting as a young Burton.

I was in London last month and saw the latest Jez Butterworth play The Hills of California and was somewhat disappointed by the play and Sam Mendes' direction, or perhaps truer to say his casting of several of the key roles (including the unavoidably cast gf of the playwright). The play is a multi-character family drama in the August: Osage County vein, about a family in 1977 of grown daughters waiting out the imminent death of their aged mother who was quite a Mama Rose type, trying to get them all into show biz in the 50s when they were teens. Resentments brew and flashbacks tell us how they all got there. Not sure if it'll come to NY but Sonia Friedman is lead producer.

[quote] I'm very eager to see the NT Live showing of The Motive and the Cue later this month,

R186, thanks for letting me know. I also am interested in it.

Was the gf in the Butterworth play bad, I gather? Or just miscast?

Probably both.

She's the worst, R188!

[quote] They can re-team her with Jeff Daniel’s as George!

Re-team her with Jeff Daniel's what?

Jeff Daniel's dick as George.

r185 You're literally trying to argue that just because some people believe something, it makes it right. No. Words and terms have actual meaning, idiots refusing to accept that does not change that.

r187, Jez Butterworth apparently wrote The Hills of California for his gf Laura Donnelly, who may be a brilliant actress (she was a lead in The Ferryman) but I found her too petite and unprepossessing as the tyrant of a mom of the 4 teenaged girls who were cast opposite her in the 1955 flashbacks.

But then I think it could have been solved by casting the girls younger, say around 10 -12 instead of a galumphing 16 -18. Their innocence would have also been more believable. Donnelly reappears in another role in Act 3 (no spoiler here!) in which I thought she was simply not very good, but then, I didn't care too much for the writing of the character which necessarily has a lot of American components to it.

This used to be a fun thread, but the constant race-baiting,, "woke" bitching, and outright hostility makes it hard to re-visit. Problem is, I know this ugliness poster isn't really a Datalounger, but a Freeper, white supremist who just trolls many websites to cause trouble and spread hate. Please. Go away. And let us get back to theater gossip.

Two SNL ladies seemingly doing Donna Murphy impressions

Thanks, R193. I hope it comes to NYC.

R194 Oh fuck off, even August Wilson hated color based casting.

Yep, the ugliness comes right back. Just. Go. Away.

[quote] This used to be a fun thread, but the constant race-baiting,, "woke" bitching, and outright hostility makes it hard to re-visit. Problem is, I know this ugliness poster isn't really a Datalounger, but a Freeper, white supremist who just trolls many websites to cause trouble and spread hate. Please. Go away. And let us get back to theater gossip.

Oh, you know that, do you?

Preliminary look at the KOTSW movie logo. Filming has officially begun, but we don’t know any of the cast besides JLo… very odd, no?

R197 makes up a new term on the spot. Is that Benjamin Moore or Behr?!

Hasn't it been announced that Diego Luna is playing Valentin? I've read that somewhere reliable (but can't remember where). I believe the other actor is an unknown discovery.

Dearest cretin R156 your comprehension of what I wrote is that of an idiot who can only find satisfaction in a booted foot up his asshole.

Excuse me kindly for my knee jerk reaction to your stupidity.

Every time I try to F&F you, you’re already F&F’d.

Imelda looks like she's lost a little weight. She looks good!

I was trying to count how many of these books were made into musicals. I came up with five, I think.

The Messy White Gays reading at SoHo was hilarious. If you like Oh Mary, this feels like the murder mystery companion to that. For better or worse it felt like some of the best parts of DL threads: diva worshipping , self-centeredness, camp, acidic political fights, and drug use. The cast worked so well together it was easy to ignore the binders they read from.

It’s nice to see so much good stuff popping up on Off or Way Off Broadway.

R117,

I saw SEX AND LONGING early in previews, possibly even the first performance. I'd just moved to the city, and I knew the play wasn't good, but I was fascinated by the mess that it was and couldn't believe that this was on THE BROADWAY.

And it wasn't all awful, either. Dana Ivey was brilliant, and I remember blow-up sex dolls as Supreme Court Justices, which seems more apt now than ever.

I'd love to know what was going on behind the scenes. Please, do share.

Apropos of nothing:

When you're Dunne you're done, r210.

[quote]Oh fuck off, even August Wilson hated color based casting.

August Wilson is dead and non-traditional casting isn't going anywhere, but do keep whining about it.

Hi gang! I’m on my way to NYC today!

I’m seeing Patti LuPone at Carnegie Hall tonight

Cabaret tomorrow evening

Sweeney Todd matinee and Merrily We a roll along on evening Wednesday

Ibsen’s Ghost on Thursday.

Is anyone else seeing any of these? If so, see ya dolls there!

Sounds like a great itinerary, r213!

An oral history of Mrs. Lovett, one of theater’s greatest, bloodiest roles:

I did r114. It was fantastic except for the Elizabeth Taylor who was distractingly awful.

R81 I think in reality she was white and he was black. She’s recalling it from the “story” and she has Alzheimer’s so she may be remembering it wrong.

One word r134 :

COCAINE

The worst thing about the 2006 ACL was Shelia. Totally wrong. The best thing, (or one of them) about City Center ACL was Robyn Hurder. That whole production was excellent (and I'm way below 70).

I agree that Deidre Goodwin was horribly miscast as Sheila. I think they talked themselves into casting her because she's a veteran and she's easy to work with, and her competition (who was much more appropriate for Sheila) was a pain in the ass (or was made to look like one). And the Morales was underwhelming, too.

[quote]The worst thing about the 2006 ACL was Shelia.

I never understood why people thought Goodwin was miscast, but it is certainly true that she is easier to work with than Rak - who would have been too over the top and cartoonish, imo.

The revival also was hampered by Avian and Basyork's unwillingness to change anything at all - until Mario Lopez came in.

That was the worst thing about the 2006 ACL.

Goodwin and Rak both made Sheila too angry and both lacked the witty sarcasm and vulnerability Sheila needs. The 2006 revival was badly acted all around. I didn't care about any of those people.

Seeing Rak lose the role in the documentary was really awful. I’m not saying she would have been a star with that one role, but it would have helped her career tremendously…and to watch her lose it in real time was terrible.

I like Rak, but she was too much of a risk at that time, plus I think she was not right for the role.

Has anyone seen The Great Gatsby?

Rak played Sheila at Papermill. She didn't prove anyone connected with the revival wrong with that performance.

And the next thing I saw her on was a couple of episodes of Dance Moms.

I thought Goodwin was superb and really made the role her own. Her line readings were excellent and markedly different from Bishop, which seems to be a major problem for some.

Jason Tam audition for Paul.

R228 That clip never gets old for me. I didn't have the chance to see the 2006 revival, but I've seen Jason Tam in a number of other things and he's always excellent. I'm so glad we got this moment captured.

Every Little Step was made because it was claimed that was Bennett's idea for the movie version of ACL, which sounds as dreadful as the documentary. Goodwin wasn't in it until the very end making Rak's story even more bizarre and of course, no Morales auditioning because they already had their actress.

Goodwin was a bore as Sheila. And Sheila shouldn't be a bore.

Goodwin, to me, felt like she still was so happy that she got the role that she forgot to find her character. She was playacting Sheila.

Maybe Goodwin's just not that good of an actress. I mean she is a dancer first, and a fantastic dancer. And she hasn't really ever broken out of that. ACL is probably her largest speaking role onstage.

Sheila is a pretty mouthy character. I wonder if Goodwin was trying to stay clear of the smart ass black girl stereotype?

[quote]Goodwin and Rak both made Sheila too angry and both lacked the witty sarcasm and vulnerability Sheila needs.

With all respect to Kelly Bishop, the very best Sheila in ACL for my money was Jane Summerhays. Actually, I'ts not fair to compare Kelly and Jane because they are so different but they both understood the character and brought the force of their individual personalities to the role. It might be generational. Younger actors reading the role might think she's an angry bitch on paper when, in reality, she's a charming, wounded warrior.

And btw and as an aside: there was nothing "prickly" about Chris Durang. Jesus.

A taste of Jane. She was fabulous.

Do we think what's left of Bernie's voice will actually survive until 2025?

Most of the ACL characters were based on stories from actual dancers. Was Sheila based on Kelly Bishop? I always loved Kelly Bishop because she had that throaty voice.

I do know that the Indian Chief story was Donna MacKecknie's.

Greg Kinnear will never get to play Atticus Finch but at least he got to play a Southern lawyer on Curb this week.

Touchè. And he played it like William Windom in the movie!

I always suspected that’s what Every Little Step was supposed to be: A Chorus Line The Movie. I like that it exists, but I do wish it were a little better. It did bug me that Goodwin sort of just appears at the end. I feel like she was always the leading contender and they just wanted to push the Rank angle because it better fit the movie. Not sure I even noticed morales missing because that actress was so boring.

r237 I think Bebe's story about her mother saying she'd be different is Bishop's. I can remember her somewhere saying she never said she hated her mother though.

Yes R241. Thanks for copying R230

I thought the banter between Val and Sheila was too bitchy in the revival. If you watch the original cast on youtube there is more of a playfulness about between the two characters. That probably had a lot to do with Pamela Blair's expert comic timing in addition to Bishop's.

Kind of shocking Blair didn't get a Tony nomination too. She really was unique.

Broadway needs a revival of Lettice and Loveage.

I just watched that Summerhays clip. She was good, but Christ, Pam Klinger was horrible as Maggie.

R244, everyone in the company hated Blair. Lopez and Blair shared a dressing room and Bishop and Lopez, who were buddies decided they wanted a bigger dressing room (suspected because Lopez didn't want to continue sharing with only Blair) so they knocked the wall down between the rooms and had the largest dressing room. Blair was upset from that day forward.

It's felt that although there were different stories, Bennett based Sheila on Bishop and Charlene Ryan, who played Sheila in the first national company and had worked with Bennett in Coco.

Carole and her boa...

My favorite parts of "Every Little Step" is watching Tony Yazbeck avoid the documentary cameras every chance possible. It's hilarious. He's no fool.

Kelly Bishop and Priscilla Lopez knocked down a wall between dressing rooms at the Shubert Theatre, r249?

Yeah......right.....

[quote]Kelly Bishop and Priscilla Lopez knocked down a wall between dressing rooms at the Shubert Theatre, [R249]. Yeah......right.....

Not them personally, but they did bug the Shuberts until the wall was knocked down and the dressing rooms combined.

R246. Pam Klinger played Maggie in the movie and she was a drip. The best part of Every Little Step was watching Jessica win the role of Val after initially being considered for the understudy. She was terrific in the revival. And Cassie came down to Charlotte and Natascia Diaz? That's the best they could do?

[quote]You're literally trying to argue that just because some people believe something, it makes it right. No. Words and terms have actual meaning, idiots refusing to accept that does not change that.

No, you dolt. What I'm saying is that exactly what "color-blind" casting means is very much open to interpretation, and there's lots of disagreement on the subject. It's not a question of "some people" having a weird interpretation that goes against that of the majority. And even if you don't respect my opinion on what the term means, you've got a lot of nerve insisting that YOUR interpretation is "right" and S. Epatha Merkerson's is "wrong."

R252 and who could play Cassie in the next revival? Sutton Foster?

And R250, you really didn't think that Kelly and Priscilla took sledgehammers and brought the wall down themselves, did you?

Leigh Zimmerman was a pretty great Sheila in the Encores version

r253 I guess "I'm withdrawing from this pointless discussion with you" is another phrase you have your own personal "interpretation" of.

Your constant attempt to appeal to authority is hilarious, both because you're so stupid that you don't even understand what Merkerson was saying, and because all it does is show you know you're wrong but can't admit it.

And by the way, I'm not talking about my "interpretation" of what colour-blind casting means. I'm talking about the actual definition it has. Go ahead, Google it, search for it in any kind of respectable resource which details theatrical terms. Every single one of them gives the same definition. There's no argument, there's no disagreement, there's no interpretation. There's just a silly little queen trying to insist he has the right to make up his own definitions so he can convince himself he was right.

Jane Summerhayes certainly sings better than Kelly Bishop, vet Bishop wins the acting race. The really awful aSheils was Charlene Ryan in the West Coast company; I wonder why Kelly Bishop chose not too do the tour?

The "tearing the dressing room wall down" was the exact opposite off the story that was told re Eileen Brennan and Sondra Lee in Hello Dolly - they hated each other so much that they requested, and got, a dividing wall.

Color!

R249 why was he avoiding the cameras? He's attractive and photogenic.

[quote]Suspend your disbelief for fuck’s sake. It’s call theater, not the Encyclopedia.

People are already suspending disbelief when they walk into the theater.

You want us to suspend ALL disbelief, which is akin to asking us to lose touch with reality.

R259... I saw Yazbek in "On the Town" when it was a summer production at Barrington Stage. Your "He's attractive and photogenic" is an understatement. He was gorgeous on stage... one of those actors who 'just is' gorgeous and charismatic and etc... His ballet sequence in the boxing ring was amazing and really special (for me) because he didn't shave his chest during the run of that production. I know, "Mary!", but swoon.

The thing about " Every Little Step" was that it focused totally on the women, nothing on the men, except for Paul. But, there was no back story on him , just the women. Incomplete filmmaking.

[quote]You want us to suspend ALL disbelief, which is akin to asking us to lose touch with reality.

Suspending all disbelief is what makes theatre magic.

[quote]I wonder why Kelly Bishop chose not too do the tour?

She got a role in the movie An Unmarried Woman. She, more than anyone else in the original cast, had success with an acting career, proving she was more than just a dancer. An Unmarried Woman, Dirty Dancing, Six Degrees of Separation, Gilmore Girls. Not bad for a chorus girl.

Dear r253 and r256: Please stop. I'm not a "hall monitor," just someone who used to enjoy these threads and you two seem committed to working out whatever needs you have here. Please do [italic] not [/italic] calls people "stupid," "dolts," "morons," etc. Please do [italic] not [/italic] continue one-and-one bickering back and forth. I have no idea if that's how you behave in real life, but it's oppressing, offensive, and worst of all, [italic] boring [/italic]. Be better, or begone. [italic] Please. [/italic]

R265, beware getting in the way of NYC theater queens trying to prove that they know more about the stage than anyone who has ever lived. You will incur their wrath and will be the center of attention as they will unite to bludgeon you with insults.

The grouch who went to the original FOLLIES is one of them. That mary is all over this thread and Datalounge letting us know that she went to see that goddamn show every chance she gets.

[quote][R244], everyone in the company hated Blair.

Why did the entire company hate Pam Blair? Did it have anything to do with Blair having the number that everyone quoted and talked about or was it Blair's off stage behavior?

Count me as another skeptic about the Schubert org removing a wall to appease two actresses whose dressing room assignments were not a part of their contract.

Old Friends

New Broadway

March 25

[quote]Count me as another skeptic about the Schubert org removing a wall to appease two actresses whose dressing room assignments were not a part of their contract.

This has been documented several times and nobody has denied it.

You have to remember that ACL was a blockbuster. They would have done a lot to keep them happy. Knocking through a wall, which probably had been erected to divide a larger dressing room years ago, was not that difficult.

r265 Really, lessons in civility from the poster who thought the suicide of the actor from Chicago was the perfect subject for an attempt at a joke?

Funny how you never post comments like that telling the openly racist posters to "begone". Or the ones using right wing talking points to moan about "wokeness". Meanwhile, you do know what the block button is for, yes?

But rest assured I shall endeavour to match the quality of your posts, such as the sterling efforts like "I tore my ACL". Hi-larious. Cunt.

It seems to me that several of them were bitter towards Donna McKechnie. It was supposed to be an ensemble show but she was considered the breakout star.

One source, it may have been one of the books, said McKechnie was getting paid more. I think one source said she was getting $1,000 per week (which in today’s money is over $5,500 per week).

In material I’ve seen and read, Pam Blair always seemed to be a shit stirrer. Perhaps that’s why certain cast members didn’t like her.

If the dressing room wall was original to the architecture of the Shubert Theatre, it was not getting torn down to appease two supporting actresses who'd only be residing there for a year. It would have been far simpler, cheaper and logical to change the dressing room assignments.

If you’re A Chorus Line fan, it’s worth watching the Phil Donahue Show when he hosted the original cast at the announcement of the show’s closing.

Donna had her own dressing room. She was very much treated like the star of ACL but after all those years in the ensemble she deserved it.

"Need any women?"

Does anyone know the dressing room assignments at the Shubert for original ACL? The "Bette Midler" Dressing room for Hello Dolly is off stage left but is sometimes the stage management office.

Was that McKechnie's room? I doubt it. Upstairs there are multiple dressing rooms for one or two people per room.

Thanks, R274. I'm outside the US and I never knew that existed!

Bishop said she chose not to go to LA because she was in a relationship with Lee Leonard and didn't want to leave NY. Also, she said she didn't want to tour anymore and also because anyone important had already seen the show in NY. She was one of only a handful who stayed behind and it was not a pleasant experience. She said that Bennett did something similar to the ending of the show. He lined everyone up and said all those leaving to go to LA step forward. It was almost the entire cast. He dismissed them and they left literally screaming with joy. Bishop was up there with two or three others and he then had the replacement cast fill in the blanks. Bishop said it was one of the worst experiences she could have had because she was suddenly standing next to and performing with these "strangers".

Nancy Lane was perhaps the most liked original cast members and even she thought Blair was strange.

I was on the $25,000 Pyramid with Nancy Lane. She helped me win $600.

Here is the story of the Priscilla/Kelly Shubert dressing room wall. All concerns neatly answered.

"Kelly said that when the show moved from downtown to the Shubert Theater, she and Priscilla were in separate dressing rooms. They were right next door to each other, but there was a wall separating them. Kelly asked Michael Bennett why they were in dressing rooms with other people and he told her he chose those other people because she and Priscilla could "teach" them. Kelly said she immediately said, in Sheila-style, "I don't care about teaching them anything! I want to be with Priscilla!" Well, Priscilla and Kelly then noticed that the wall separating the two rooms looked like it had been put in after the theatre was built. Kelly said that Gerry Schoenfeld loved A Chorus Line and especially loved Priscilla. She told Priscilla to have a talk with him and a few days, the wall was gone! They were finally together. Kelly ended by saying for almost 40 years she and Priscilla have had a friendship that can break down walls!"

Blair was also not in the Record breaking performance but neither was Lane or Lupone. Lane had another gig and couldn't make it to NY but Blair and Lupone had grudges.

Priscilla and Kelly: "Tear down that BITCH of a bearing wall!"

[quote]The thing about " Every Little Step" was that it focused totally on the women, nothing on the men, except for Paul. But, there was no back story on him , just the women. Incomplete filmmaking.

Michael Berresse, who played Zach, was occasionally heard, but never seen. Like the actress who played Morales, he had been cast very early in the process.

[quote]Lupone had grudges.

A LuPone with a grudge? Pshaw!

What was his grudge?

What was up with Donna and Michael’s marriage? Was it to secure their financial affairs? Was it because they felt affection towards each other in every way except sexually? Was it a shrewd marketing ploy on Michael’s behalf? Did she think she could turn him?

R286 if you read Donna’s memoir, she writes that she believed he loved her and he was presenting as straight, who gave up men while they were together.

Course he died of AIDS and by all accounts never stopped sleeping with men…so

I think it was in Mandelbaum's Bennett book where Bishop is quoted as saying that if there was one person in the company she did not want to be paired with, it was Blair. Naturally, Bennett put those two together.

Lupone said something like he didn't want to be part of an extravaganza that was simply to glorify someone he felt was morally corrupt.

The marriage might have been because he wanted to be Fosse/Verdon2 but everyone in the company was shocked when it happened. I think some producer told him to marry Donna because it would be good for his career. If you read her bio, Donna really had bad luck with men. She was dating a hairdresser during ACL and after he asked for a credit in the program, she said if she asks Bennett for it, they were finished. She asked, he got the credit and she moved on to Ken Howard.

Was that hairdresser Jon Peters?

I worked with Donna about 10 years ago and when she was around 70 and she was still a gloriously attractive woman. The sweetest and kindest person! If she was without a husband or man in her life it could have only been her own decision.

It's interesting that Robert LuPone returned to the show later in the run and started improvising by randomly pulling dancers out of the line and asking them unscripted questions. One night the poor actor playing Mark looked like he was going to burst into tears but Laurie Gamache, who was playing Cassie, jumped in and got the show back on track. I don't know how he got away with it.

R291, he did that in LA as well. He said he thought the company was getting soft in LA and so he called Trish Garland out of order. She complained to Equity but LuPone said he saw their attention go from 0-60 overnight.

Had no clue Jan Brady’s husband (Ron Kuhlman) was in the original cast.

MSW today...She's wearing a version of her Rose's Turn frock.

Interesting stories about Robert LuPone's behavior during ACL. Seems that, when he wanted to, he could be as difficult as his sister....

Percy

But not as talented as Patti, which is probably why his acting career went nowhere.

[quote]Color-blind casting is the practice of casting without considering the actor's ethnicity or race. Alternative terms and similar practices include non-traditional casting, integrated casting, or blind casting, which can involve casting without consideration of skin color, body shape, sex or gender.

I think we can all agree on the above as a good general definition of color-blind casting, but the problem is that it still leaves a lot of questions open. When S. Epatha Merkerson played Lola in COME BACK LITTLE SHEBA, she made it very clear that she was playing the character as a black woman, rather than leaving it unclear. That's why she didn't like the phrase "color-blind casting," because "it makes me feel like I'm not there." Although I don't remember if she specifically said so, I expect she would have preferred one of the alternative terms noted above.

Anyway, part of the issue is that many other shows do not make it clear whether the characters are supposed to be the same race as the actors playing them. And then we have shows like THE NOTBOOK, in which two of the characters are played by actors of different races/colors at different stages of their lives, which can only be sensibly interpreted as meaning that those characters are not supposed to be seen as black OR white.

I hope this post is considered a polite enough response to R256, who really doesn't deserve the politeness, but R265's point is well taken.

R265 Thank you for speaking up! It is boring having to sift through the threads when 2 people are having a snit.

But, was there anyone on Broadway's ACL prettier than Ross Lynch?

[quote] I hope this post is considered a polite enough response to [R256], who really doesn't deserve the politeness

Nope, and you know that.

Holy shit. Producing revivals is the way to go these days. THE WIZ did $1.3 million for 6 shows, and CABARET did $1.5 million for 6 shows.

[quote]Producing revivals is the way to go these days

Like, duhhhh. You don't have the time and expense of creating the show from scratch.

Pam Blair started rehearsals for the gala longest running show but walked out when she found out she'd have to share Dance Ten, Looks Three with two other actresses.

I remember seeing Pam on the Tonite Show with Johnny Carson. She was a hoot. Sad she died so tragically.

The whole colorblind casting would be helped if Billy Dee Williams had his way. He's too old to act, so he can't be canceled.

[quote]Sad she died so tragically.

How did she die, r305?

R307. She suffered from Clippers disease, a chronic inflammation of the central nervous system and was confined to a wheelchair for the last years of her life. Her actual cause of death was pneumonia following colon surgery. Sad.

R304, that's not totally correct. She was going to share the number with Mitzi Hamilton who was the actual inspiration for the song and played the part n the first international company. She was okay with that (Sammy Williams and Donna McKechnie shared their numbers with almost ten people apiece) but something happened, Blair bolted and Bennett turned the number into a trio.

For those breathlessly waiting to find out who the men are in Kiss of the Spiderwoman:

Diego Luna And Tonatiuh To Co-Star

‘Cabaret’, ‘Stereophonic’, ‘Uncle Vanya’, ‘The Great Gatsby’, ‘The Outsiders’ Sell Out As Busy Broadway Spring Blooms:

Why is Appropriate making so little money when it seems to be selling out at exorbitant ticket prices? It didn't come close to a million last week. Is the Hayes really that small? Is that it?

Well...Helen was tiny.

The cast of "Merrily We Roll Along" discussed bringing the show back to Broadway and recording the New Broadway Cast Album:

Broadway Openings Crowd Theaters as Hopefuls Aim for Tony Nominations:

Absolutely mind-boggling that the Deadline article linked to above doesn't bother to tell us which male actor is playing which role in KISS OF THE SPIDER WOMAN. Journalistic standards have really gone to shit.

[quote]‘Cabaret’, ‘Stereophonic’, ‘Uncle Vanya’, ‘The Great Gatsby’, ‘The Outsiders’ Sell Out As Busy Broadway Spring Blooms:

I've tried to learn not to be surprised by anything in the theater, but I'm quite amazed that THE GREAT GATSBY would be selling out, even in its first performances. It sounds like a terrible idea with awful casting, aside from the fact that I've heard the score is not any good.

[quote]Absolutely mind-boggling that the Deadline article linked to above doesn't bother to tell us which male actor is playing which role in KISS OF THE SPIDER WOMAN. Journalistic standards have really gone to shit.

From the first paragraph of the Deadline article linked at R310:

"Diego Luna and Tonatiuh will star in the adaptation as Valentin Arregui and Luis Molina, respectively."

DL poster standards have really gone to shit

why'd Pam Blair bolt from the gala r309? (if you know)

Diego Luna is hot.

UNCLE VANYA at Lincoln Center

There's a coup de theatre that's right now really's more of a coupette.

Anyone else seen it?

R322 Does he walk out of the back of the theater?

R323,

He does not. But only because that wouldn't make sense for Vanya, who doesn't get to go anywhere, ever.

Does the set open up at the finale to reveal a full kitchen, with the scent of borscht filling the air?

I saw Uncle Vanya. Loved it. Amazing acting ensemble.

The rain is pretty, though IMHO it upstages Vanya's bit speech US.

Mimi Lien is a genius. I've never seen Lila Neugebauer's work before but I was impressed.

And it's almost sold out, so if you wanna go get tickets now for June.

[quote]But not as talented as Patti, which is probably why his acting career went nowhere.

What an absurd statement. Not only did Bob have an enviable theater career, he co-founded a thriving off Broadway company. Most people who dream of Broadway don't ever appear on Broadway. I guess you imagine every actor or actress who isn't famous a failure?

I worked with Bobby LuPone in the early 1990s (as an actor) and he was a true mensch. Loved him.

[quote]R119 I love “You make Jesus wanna puke.”

“Was Jesus effeminate? Yes.”

Isaac Powell is Gatsby in the other Great Gatsby.

Kimberly Akimbo's grosses are falling right before closing. It's been on life support for so long. No more oxygen.

R331. Doesn't help that Vicki only plays 6 shows a week and has been for the past few months.

I had heard about that, R332. Odd that she felt she was able to do eight a week for all that time and then had to pull back.

[quote]Isaac Powell is Gatsby in the other Great Gatsby.

So, there are two Gatsby musicals? Talk about creative. Shouldn't they be called " The Great Gatsby" and " The Greater Gatsby"? Or should we just wait for the " re-imagined for a contemporary audience" female version," The Greatest Gatsby"?

I'm going to predict that within the next decade all the unions will join together and demand a six or seven show week. Between the physical demands of most new musicals although with the intense amount of technology - none of which is making the shows better, imho -- it's so hard to do 8 shows. They don't demand this of professional athletes, symphony musicians, dancers, etc...It's gonna change.

^Great! So producers will jack up ticket prices even more to make up for fewer shows!

R334 The other version is simply "Gatsby".

I wish they had called one "Oh, Jay!"

Vicki cut back to 7 shows during Piazza. I think it's to spend more time with her family which is admirable. She probably makes the request when her contract renews so it's either give in or replace her.

[quote] UNCLE VANYA at Lincoln Center. There's a coup de theatre that's right now really's more of a coupette.

At the curtain call, after having completed her transition, Uncle Vanya emerges as AUNT Vanya!

[quote] I wish they had called one "Oh, Jay!"

Or "I Picked a Daisy."

Will Broadway ever do a genuine split, i.e. one matinee daily and one evening daily. Would the unions say no. There had been a trend towards three matinees but I could see a huge hit doing it with different starring casts at either performance.

Why didn't Kelly Bishop ever work with Fosse? She seems like his type and she modestly claims she was the best dancer on Broadway along with Pam Sousa.

[quote]r268 Why did the entire company hate Pam Blair? Did it have anything to do with Blair having the number that everyone quoted and talked about or was it Blair's off stage behavior?

Reportedly, Blair was somewhat needy and would want to talk incessantly about her number every night after she did it. [italic]Was it as good as the night before, was it not as good? Why or why not??[/italic] I don’t know if it was Lopez or Bishop who shared a dressing room with her, but being pulled into this critique every night quickly became draining.

Blair felt ignored after the neighboring dressing rooms were combined, and bitterly noted that no one asked her if she wanted to be in one with three other performers.

(I think this was in the book “On the Line: The Creation of A Chorus Line” by Robert Viagas.)

Pam Blair married Don Scardino after they co-starred in the Broadway musical flop KING OF HEARTS. Not sure if that came before or after her role in the original BEST LITTLE WHORE HOUSE IN TEXAS but she did have a couple of fair attempts at stardom after ACL.

And she was Elaine Joyce's understudy in SUGAR before ACL.

Eventually, I believe she became a realtor in NJ.

Poor Pam Blair. Sounds like her death was an ugly one. (Colon, sepsis, pneumonia, clipper’s disease)

*

R17, Joey Sorge is married (to a lovely woman) and has two beautiful daughters. Totally gay friendly, and yes, sexy as hell and a total mensch.

And Jay Goede is currently playing the Frog (twenty years later) in “Frog and Toad” at the CTC in Minneapolis, where the show began. And yes, his penis is legendary. Like a billy club. And he’s finally gotten his act together after years of substance abuse.

He played the David Marshall Grant role in the original Angels for the last year of the run I think.

I read in one of the ACL books that Kelly Bishop's roommate was the Kristine (Renee Baughman).

Bishop bitchily said they didn't get along because Bishop can't tolerate "weak" people.

I can think of few worse pairings for dressing rooms than Bishop/Baughman, Lopez/Blair. No wonder Kelly and Priscilla wanted out.

[quote]I can think of few worse pairings for dressing rooms than Bishop/Baughman, Lopez/Blair. No wonder Kelly and Priscilla wanted out.'

Do you really feel like you know these people well enough to make such a judgment?

R352, It's DL; it's the theater post. All theater queens know every performer so well, they can accurately judge anything. But, be careful. Don't doubt their knowledge of everyone and everything Broadway.

Does anyone think Hillary's role as 'producer' of Suffs in making any difference?

I don't imagine it is.

If Suffs wins a Tony (I know snowballs chance)

Hills would only be the Oscar away from EGOT

Ok dolls-mid week report

Patti was great at Carnegie Hall but as was publicized, she only sang 5 showtunes all evening. It was a good idea…but I don’t think it was fully realized. When she left she went through a different door than the stage door and ignored her fans. True to form, I suppose.

Cabaret was sensational! Bebe Neuwirth really scored in a tricky role. Eddie was great and the new girl as Sally was actually really good. I still wish they had cast a star…..but as long as the didn’t, she at least does a great job..

Sweeney Todd- This was okay. Sutton was better than the YouTube clips…still not the best role for her. Aaron sang well when the key was higher, but did less well with the low notes. Joe was pretty good as Toby. There were a ton of young kids in the audience (even though it was a Wednesday matinee) and he got a HUGE round during the bows. He got more screams than the stars

Seated for Merrily…Lindsay is out…what else is new.

Tomorrow is the last show and it’s Charles Busch’s show.

[quote]r351 I can think of few worse pairings for dressing rooms than Bishop/Baughman, Lopez/Blair. No wonder Kelly and Priscilla wanted out.

A cast member said in that book “On the Line: The Creation of A Chorus Line” that Michael Bennet took a perverse pleasure in putting people who were ill matched into dressing rooms together. It gave him some kind of sick, controlling thrill.

There were other cast members paired up that made everyone think, “Oh, JESUS, no!”

Either Bishop or Lopez said their dressing room was “big and beautiful” once the wall came down and it was returned to its original size.

[quote]she only sang 5 showtunes all evening

Which ones?

[quote]When she left she went through a different door than the stage door and ignored her fans.

I can see her running down 57th Street with a pack of fans behind her.

Zzzz on the dressing rooms.

[quote] If Suffs wins a Tony (I know snowballs chance) Hills would only be the Oscar away from EGOT

She's more likely to get an Oscar than G.

[wuote]Zzzz on the dressing rooms. —Move along, toots.

At least it’s gossip, something these threads haven’t seen in years. Vintage gossip is still gossip.

[quote] When she left she went through a different door than the stage door and ignored her fans. True to form, I suppose.

Are you under the impression that she owes you an appearance at the stage door?

R359

Some People Don’t Cry For Me Argentina I Dreamed a Dream The Ladies Who Lunch Anything Goes (this was a different arrangement and she didn’t do the “Times Have Changed” opening

Most of the songs were rock or pop songs from the 50s, 60s and 70s

So Miss Patti will sing from Evita, but she won’t sing from Sunset Boulevard?

[quote]When she left she went through a different door than the stage door and ignored her fans. True to form, I suppose.

Meh, r357, Dietrich did the same thing when I saw her and Marlene was three years younger than Patti.

Dietrich always made a big show about her fans, buying a bouquet of flowers and having an usher present them to her at every curtain call as if a fan sent them.

I don’t think Patti owes anything to fans at the stage door.

The problem was the people waiting were kids who all has posters/book/cds for her to sign. She didn’t even wave at them. It was pretty rough for them

By any measure Jay Goede should have been a big star or at least had a great career. Absolutely beautiful and unbelievably talented. It’s a heartbreaking business for most.

Saw Mother Play tonight. Sad disappointment. Lange is fine, but hardly a stretch for her to play a bitter, vain, homophobic harridan. Keenan-Bolger's and Parsons' roles could have been played by almost anyone else. Best guess is that Vogel is trying to work out her complicated feelings for her mother. Or else just wrote a bad play.

From Patti, not waving is pretty nice not "pretty rough."

Perhaps Tina “Transparent” Landau wasn’t the right director.

Since next season of American Horror Story is #13 and also the end of Ryan Murphy’s contract with FX, it seems that Jessica Lange will get offer she deserves to headline the end of the series and go out on top, as it/they should.

[quote] The problem was the people waiting were kids who all has posters/book/cds for her to sign. She didn’t even wave at them. It was pretty rough for them

Won’t somebody please think of the children!

[quote]r357 When Patti left she went through a different door than the stage door and ignored her fans. True to form, I suppose.

[quote]r367 Meh, Dietrich did the same thing when I saw her and Marlene was three years younger than Patti.

Maybe Miss Dietrich cut herself on her saw, and needed medical attention.

[quote]The problem was the people waiting were kids who all has posters/book/cds for her to sign.

There are people under 50 attending a Patti LuPone concert?

"Opening Night" closing earlier in London

[quote]There are people under 50 attending a Patti LuPone concert?

65 might be more accurate.

[quote] Or else just wrote a bad play.

R371, Vogel only writes bad plays. She's just a bad playwright. She's written two decent plays in her entire career.

Paula Vogel has written several great plays: Indecent, How I Learned to Drive, The Baltimore Waltz, The Mineola Twins, Desdemona and The Long Christmas Ride Home are all extraordinary.

Are Tina Landau and Joan Allen still married?

Extraordinary, R381? I acknowledge that she wrote two good plays: How I Learned to Drive and The Baltimore Waltz. Indecent was dreadful. I've spent enough hours with a bad Vogel play to know crap when I see it. The play about the geriatric whores was her nadir.

R383, you're entitled to your opinion of INDECENT, but many people strongly disagree with you -- including me and R381. So stop it with the "statement of fact" opinions, please.

I never said it was a statement of fact, R384. Clearly it's an opinion, just as it's yours that she wrote a string of great plays.

R385, what you wrote was "INDECENT was dreadful," which sounds like YOU think it's a statement of fact, even though the play and the production received a huge amount of praise. Of course, I don't think someone always needs to write "in my opinion" when expressing an opinion, but it probably is wise to do so in cases like this, just to show that you recognize yours is a minority opinion.

Oh, fuck. Here we go again.

So Patti and Mia will open on Broadway at the Booth Theatre in THE ROOMMATE a 2 hander one act play by Jen Silverman that's been knocking around the regions for about 10 years. Directed by Jack O'Brien.

I loved Indecent. It may be the best play she's ever written. I was also blown away by The Long Christmas Ride Home, and I saw a very low budget production of it in North Hollywood, so the play itself really shone through.

I do agree that The Oldest Profession was pretty dreadful.

For Mia's sake, I hope bad publicity destroys that Mia-Patti show in the same way Mia destroyed Woody's BULLETS OVER BROADWAY. And that would serve Patti right as well, for her Equity shenanigans.

Vogel's DESDEMONA is a fascinating play. Essentially OTHELLO as seen from the point of view of the 3 female characters. I saw a brilliant production of it at the old Circle Rep in the early 90s with J Smith Cameron as Desdemona, Fran Brill as Emilia and Cherry Jones as a fantastic Bianca (who IIRC is really the lead in the play). The play deserves to be better known.

BULLETS OVER BROADWAY was destroyed by the lousy production Susan Stroman mis-directed, Mia had nothing to do with its failure.

A minority opinion is also your opinion, R386.

No worries, R387. This is where I'm leaving it. I have no wish to go on about Paula Vogek here.

*Vogel

R392, I think BULLETS OVER BROADWAY certain had its problems, but I think its run would have been considerably longer without Mia (and Ronan) campaigning against it because of their hatred for Woody.

If they're so extraordinary, why are her plays never hits? Critically acclaimed in the not-for-profit world, sure. But the general theatergoing public doesn't really want to see them. The fact that playwrights have been relieved of the obligation of having to write something an audience wants to pay money to see is one of the core explanations for the "Why don't we have hit plays like we used to?" question.

Look at the list of Pulitzer winners from the 50s and 60s: some of those plays may have been challenging for their time, but they managed to still be critical and commercial hits that were then promptly filmed or adapted for television. Most of these works still pack a punch when they're well-produced today. More than a few of the recent Pulitzer winners couldn't attract and sustain an audience in New York or anywhere else.

R396 is not wrong. Dumb-ing down of society perhaps?

Opening Night to close two months early

R396, you seem to have failed to notice that, sadly, new plays are ALMOST NEVER big commercial hits on Broadway anymore. APPROPRIATE is a rare exception. For that matter, non-musical plays -- whether new or revivals -- are usually not commercial hits unless a big star or two are involved, for example, AN ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE.

I would say that playwrights should not be writing just to be commercial.

Yes, R400, another excellent point.

NYT today

And conversely remember commercial success is often actually a sign of shit. Witness, Back to the Future, McDonald's and Moulin Rouge. The non profits are supposed to be doing less-than-surefire work.

The audience gets the theater it deserves

Stupid audiences means stupid theater

Broadway sold its soul to tourists. It may never recover.

R405, when I started observing theater in high school (in the early 80s), that's what they were saying then. Broadway will always exist in some form but financially, it doesn't make much sense to do a musical. If you're pretty, talented and young, you have to really want Broadway rather than going to do a movie or record for 25x the money and 100x the exposure.

Not a part of the Broadway cognoscenti, but McDonald's?

In the early 80s, the problem wasn’t that they were catering to the lowest common tourist like they are now.

In the 80s, the problem was the British Invasion. Broadway was taken over by the West End.

I miss the days of looking forward to the yearly Neil Simon play or the new Jerry Herman or Sondheim musical. Even their misses were better than the crap on Broadway today. Wondering what magic Tommy Tune was going to whip up next or will Julie Harris or Geraldine Page pop up this season. Now we have reality TV people going into existing shows for a month or two. I'm glad I was around in the 70s and 80s to see the greatness for myself.

[quote]will Julie Harris or Geraldine Page pop up this season

God, I hope not.

R408, but that was also true when they started doing those revivals like No No Nanette and Irene in the 70s. I remember hearing the term "tourist show" from reviews.

Broadway needs a gay version of Lysistrata.

[quote] [R408], but that was also true when they started doing those revivals like No No Nanette and Irene in the 70s. I remember hearing the term "tourist show" from reviews.

There have always been some tourist shows. And some real theater.

Now there’s nothing but tourist shows. That’s the difference.

[quote] Now there’s nothing but tourist shows

I wouldn’t call the two leading contenders for best play, Appropriate and Stereophonic, tourist shows.

R414, though I agree with your larger point, Appropriate is a revival, so it is not a contender for best play.

Yes, Yes, Yes, ladies. We know. It was all better in the past. It's always better in the past. We get it.

Lempicka, Suffs, The Outsiders, Appropriate, Stereophonic, The Mother Play, Hell's Kitchen, Hadestown, Uncle Vanya, Doubt, Patriots, An Enemy of the People, Mary Jane, Corruption, even Kimberly Akimbo, Sweeney Todd and Merrily - I would hardly claim any of those shows were tailored to the tourist trade.

You may not like them, you may think they're trash, but they're not tourist shows.

Sweeney Todd and Merrily are definitely tourist shows. Both have been cast with big names to bring in the tourist trade.

R418, the manner they're being performed would absolutely qualify as pandering to that audience.

R414 Appropriate is not a Broadway revival. It played Off-Broadway. It is a contender for Best Play.

No, r430, the Tony committee has deemed Appropriate a revival.

I’m also imagining how Sondheim or Prince would have reacted to calling Sweeney and Merrily “tourist shows.” Both lost every dollar invested in their original production.

I would tend to agree with R421. I don't think the fact that a show has one or two stars in it necessarily classifies it as a "tourist show."

Anyone listen to the chattu podcasts of Matt Koplik? Broadway reviews and gossip. Seem to know his stuff but awfully full of himself.

After reading that article at R421, there is no logic as to why Appropriate is being considered a revival.

Merrily might have "big" names (well, maybe two) but the 3 leads are hardly inappropriate or illogical casting.

I disagree about Vogel not having any hits. How I Learned to Drive was a big commercial off-Broadway success that sustained several cast changes. The Baltimore Waltz also did very well in a commercial extension of its original run.

It's the landscape of theater itself that isn't allowing for hit plays anymore, not necessarily the playwright who can't get produced thanks to politics and the idiot audiences who don't know what the fuck they want.

Bad marketing too

[quote] Broadway needs a gay version of Lysistrata.

Lezziestrada!

[quote] After reading that article at [R421], there is no logic as to why Appropriate is being considered a revival.

Appropriate originally premiered at Signature Theatre in 2014. The play is 10 years old and has been done at theater over the country.

But it was never on Broadway before. I would imagine that would be the criterion. I guess not.

It sucked that Little Shop and Assassins(among others) were deemed revivals but never were on the Broadway before. Sondheim and Ashman never had a chance to win a tony

Nevertheless, Sondheim and Ashman each had a few other opportunities to win Tonys. Though I don't know if Ashman ever did.

Gee, if only one could somehow find out whether Ashman ever had a Broadway show with a Tony nom. Hint: it was Smile, for which he actually did get a nomination as book writer. Posthumously, he was nominated for Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid, and Aladdin - none of which won.

And Sondheim never got another Best Score nomination, so he didn’t have a few other opportunities either. Strangely, they gave Michael Starobin a best orchestration nomination even though those were for the original Off-Broadway.

But the Tonys are pretty dumb all around. It’s just a horse race with showtunes.

[quote]It’s just a horse race with showtunes.

At least now you get an actual award and not a goddamn compact.

Congress to consider giving struggling theaters tax payer money.

Here...this joint could use a little class.

R433, Starobin wrote new orchestrations for the Broadway revival of Assassins. He has an interesting post on his website about it.

[quote]Merrily might have "big" names (well, maybe two) but the 3 leads are hardly inappropriate or illogical casting.

Has anyone said otherwise?

Best Play will be between Patriots and Stereophonic.

Jesse's review of "The Outsiders" can be summed up by "someone said they're sincere, so they're here."

Prayer for The French Republic is a serious Tony contender.

[quote]Not a part of the Broadway cognoscenti, but McDonald's? Mayor McCheese

If Spongebob can get a musical, why can't I?

Still to open: suffice, Lempka, Gatsby, Illinois. Anything else? The onslaught feels more like a whimper.

Oh, and Hell‘s kitchenI

And Suffs not suffice. AutoCorrect doesn’t know what the hell to do with that one

R437, thank you! I never knew he re-did them. (And, yes,I appreciate the irony of getting schooled after pointing out the lack of historical knowledge and curiosity on this thread).

That revival was near perfect. It’s a shame that Assassins and Little Shop never were eligible, but now Suffs and Back to the Future are.

The “Little Shop of Horrors” production on Broadway sucked. Like “You’re A Good Man Charlie Brown” and “Falsettos”, it belongs in a small theater. Not every show needs a huge production.

Are those pans for THE OUTSIDERS enough to close it before the Tonys? Not that it's gonna get any nominations.

Bets on first, second, and third new musicals to close? I’ll go conventional and predict that Lempicka, Suffs, and Outsiders pave the way,

It's tragic that these new original musicals give a bad name to new original musicals.

R441,

Yes! I'd forgotten that that was this season. PRAYER will definitely be a contender.

The plays are far stronger than the musicals this Tony season.

It was ridiculous that "Appropriate" wasn't a new play. Loved it.

Anyone see Gatsby yet?

[quote]Anyone see Gatsby yet?

Which one?

[quote]Which one?

The Warner Baxter version

I saw Charles Busch newest play, “Ibsen’s Ghost” and how delightful to see him live on stage and clearly having a ball.

The whole cast was great and the small stage works well.

DL faves Barbara Barrie and Kate Baldwin were in the audience.

Any further word on Cabaret? I really haven’t heard much said about it other than Joy Behar giving it a thumbs up the other day on The View.

PSA about Hell's Kitchen - bring earplugs. I have never sat through a show so loud. I ended up stuffing tissues in my ears after the first twenty minutes. The decibel level should not be allowed at a Broadway show - it's truly dangerous. At least if you are going to a concert, you know to expect it. My left ear is still ringing.

Louder than Rent from a right orchestra seat at the Nederlander?

[quote]PSA about Hell's Kitchen

"Gee, it's good 'n' loud!"

Joel Grey was in the audience last night

APPROPRIATE is so good it seems to transcend the artistic impasse that has taken hold of modern theatre. Ella Beatty has replaced Elle Fanning, and the performance really comes together with her in the cast. She's Warren Beatty and Annette Bening's daughter, and has the talent and Juilliard training to match the other excellent members of the cast. It's the first thing I've seen in years where every element: writing, directing, scenery, lighting, etc. is absolutely outstanding.

[quote]PSA about Hell's Kitchen - bring earplugs. I have never sat through a show so loud. I ended up stuffing tissues in my ears after the first twenty minutes. The decibel level should not be allowed at a Broadway show - it's truly dangerous. At least if you are going to a concert, you know to expect it. My left ear is still ringing.

Sorry to hear that, and a little surprised. The show wasn't abnormally loud at the Public. But thanks for the PSA, people should be warned about such things.

r461 = Annette

Too funny 461. Love the satire.

🫥

This Cabaret is overpriced, overhyped, and overdone. Bebe is the only reason to see it. It'll be gone by Christmas.

Outsiders deserved better reviews

R466 = S. E. Hinton

Stereophonic, Mary Jane, Patriots and Prayer for the French Republic will be nominated for Best Play. The only question is which will be fifth nominee, The Mother Play or Jaja's African Hair Braiding.

Mother, May I Play with Tony

Ponyboy is the Tony Boy!

I really enjoyed Appropriate, but had one issue with it: given the location and even the house itself, isn't it all obvious what the big revelations are going to be? But it's definitely a fun ride, well performed, directed and designed, which is not to be lightly dismissed these days.

Do we think there will be any major gossip coming out of the Patti and Mia show? They are both insufferable. Will they be getting on each other’s tits, as the British say? It just seems like such an odd pairing.

Mia worked with Tony Perkins and Patti worked with Deb Winger. This should be a breeze.

Patti'll do earthy, Mia will do ethereal...they'll be fine.

Patti and Mia are supposedly playing women in their 50s. Bwhahahaha....

[quote]Patti and Mia are supposedly playing women in their 50s. Bwhahahaha....

It's in dog years.

What do you think the nominees for Best Musical will be? What will win?

50 years ago...

R571 Yes: the plot “twist” could be seen a mile away. What was more annoying—certain characters played it so insipid. Strong acting in spite of *weak* writing.

Oh, and that damned tree in the coda. Like a Western Union telegram!

For R471 not 571^^

Is Hadestown worth seeing? For some reason I've been resisting it all these years. Opinions?

Best Musical is …..MUFFS.

R491 Fact: No. Opinion: Zzzzz.

R481^^

Under good lighting and proper makeup, LuPone could feasibly stretch looking late 50s.

Mia, on the other hand, had looked in her late 70s from Hannah and Her Sisters to circa…now.

Mia has had very bad work done on her face. She should have gone to Ronan's plastic surgeon.

Writers talk about their theater " sexual awakening." Mine was seeing Barry Tubb naked on stage in " Sweet Sue." It's an old article, but so what?

Naked Barry.

I have a better ass crack

Sorry to tell you but that is not Barry Tubb in r488's photo. It's John K. Linton who played the other young man in Sweet Sue. Barry played his alter ego as Lynn Redgrave played Mary Tyler Moore's. Barry did have a nude moment in the play but this wasn't it.

I enjoyed Hadestown. I liked the political commentary.

STEREOPHONIC is everything it is touted to be—intelligent, layered, funny, and quite touching, although I wasn't blown away as I thought I might be. Superb cast and direction. As for the fifth play mentioned above, I'm guessing it will be Jaja. Mother Play is a mess.

[Quote] They wouldn't dim the lights for Durang, would they?

Guess not, r1.

Any advance word on Uncle Vanya. It’s my favorite Chekhov and I was in a student production of it years ago. It’s be a three hour drive each way. I liked Andrew Scott’s solo based on it a lot and I saw it at BAM twenty years ago, with Simon Russell Beale and Emily Watson. The people on ATC hate it, but I’m more interested in what anyone on this site has to say about it.

I’m seeing the Las Vegas FOLLIES this afternoon. Not expecting much, but I’ll report on it later tonight or tomorrow.

Can't wait, r495!

Is that right, R494, that ATC hates Uncle Vanya? I was curious about it but don't want to deal with trying to get a ticket at this point and paying too much.

Vanya is one of those evenings in the theatre where you sit there thinking, "For what I paid, I'd love to see this cast in almost anything else." The new adaptation regularly disappoints and doesn't prove its reason for being, by being smarter or funnier or more insightful. The contemporary affect in the script must be intended to make the issues of the play feel more immediate to the audience, but even that only works in little spurts. To impart the Chekhovian aimlessness, the writing ends up being markedly on the flat side, and the direction doubles down on that. Carrell is more than competent on stage but the piece doesn't really suit him, and he's such a beloved star that for his first show on Broadway you'd rather see him in something more vehicular and tailor-made (I kept thinking how good he'd be in something like A Fish in the Dark). Even if the material were poorer, you miss the thrill of seeing him do what he's beloved for doing.

While Uncle Vanya definitely isn't Noises Off, the performance was so pause heavy and slow of speech that you wish Jerry Zaks or George Abbott were around to whip the cast into manifesting their aimlessness, melancholy, bordeom, regrets, and discontent in more energized ways and drive the pace instead of just playing listless lethargic boredom. People weren't forgetting lines en masse, it was direction. This is the trick of Chekhov: the whole play can't take place in a comic drop, it still needs heights and peaks and passions on the surface at least some of the time. There's still a play to be done and an audience to engage (if not compel) after all. The whole evening could be a good half-hour to 40 minutes shorter, without cutting a word, if they'd just move it, and it would be the better for it. That would also help the disconnection and lack of believable relationships. Everyone should be a little kooky and damaged and in a bit of a dither because of all the ways they think their life sucks, which they can't stop thinking about or (in some cases) trying to awkwardly break through and change.

Regular theatregoers have seen most of this cast be absolutely golden in show after show: Molina, Hadary, Rose; even Houdyshell and Pill who can be mileage-may-vary are still reliably capable of excellence onstage. You can only conclude they're doing what they're told to do by the director or whoever the muscle is on the production, since the problem is cast-wide and the connections between characters seem so arbitrary and forced.

It's not unbearable. If you already know the play, you at least have the mild fun of seeing how this adaptation and this cast are going to handle the next plot point or scene or speech or whatever.

Also, with the high ticket price and little discounting on the production, at a not-for-profit, it was appalling how many empty seats there were. For a name show like this you'd think LCT would at least go to the trouble to fill the seats with college theatre students, senior groups and the like. See it if you're a completist on major NYC productions of Chekhov, but wait till the tickets are much cheaper.

[quote]Sorry to tell you but that is not Barry Tubb in [R488]'s photo. It's John K. Linton who played the other young man in Sweet Sue. Barry played his alter ego as Lynn Redgrave played Mary Tyler Moore's. Barry did have a nude moment in the play but this wasn't it.

I saw "Sweet Sue" In Boston on press night. As I recall, the play opened with both Linton and Tubb seated downstage, naked. Rear views only.

Mia Farrow did have her face done.

Southwestern!

Tubb didn't get naked until the beginning of the second act.

My favorite production of Uncle Vanya was the Annie Baker adaptation at Soho Rep with...

Reed Birney, Maria Dizzia, Georgia Engel, Peter Friedman, Matthew Maher, Roberta Maxwell, Michael Shannon, Paul Thureen and Merritt Wever.

Last year's production with David Cromer sounded similar in it's intimacy, but I didn't see it.

How many productions of Uncle Vanya do we need?

As many as the market will bear

I hope Annie Baker's adaptation was better than that tedious slog called THE FLICK.

Guess a decent translation of Chekhov's original just isn't good enough anymore...

Well, I recently had the great good fortune to see Trevor's Nunn's adaptation of Uncle Vanya at the Orange Tree Theatre in Richmond, just outside London. It was done in period, simple turn of the century costumes on a tiny tiny stage in the round. I doubt if there were much more than 100 seats and the intimacy went a long way in supporting the poignancy and comic foibles of the characters.

It also didn't hurt that Dr. Astrov was played by the super-hunky Andrew Richardson (of the Bridge Theatre's Guys & Dolls) who entered into the Act II rainstorm wet with his shirt all unbuttoned to reveal his magnificent hairy chest. He was truly wonderful(he really is a star in the making), as was the entire cast. And best Yelena I've ever seen. A difficult role often just played for boredom but here her yearning and frustration were palpable.

Just trust the play, trust Chekhov. He's timeless, he doesn't need modernizing or updating.

Hillary Clinton, Shaina Taub and the cast of Suffs will be on The Kelly Clarkson Show on Monday.

No thanks—I’ve had suff…icient

But where is Malala? Does she just give her notes to Shaina Taub each night and then go home?

Shaina Taub, Meskite Extraordinaire, you mean.

[quote]r506 Uncle Vanya at the Orange Tree Theatre in Richmond … best Yelena I've ever seen.

You know what? FUCK YOU!

I want a film about the Jacobi Vanya, about the set breaking down, and the show must not go on, because, set issues.

Julie Christie, whose birthday is today, remains the best Yelena I've ever seen.

R513. I bet she was extraordinary

Happy Birthday to Julie Christie. Love her.

R514-I was in the first row at Circle In The Square the first time I saw that production, and Christie was damned near perfect as Yelena. Her scenes with George C. Scott were electric.

[quote]The original trailer in high definition of Vanya on 42nd Street directed by Louis Malle and starring Wallace Shawn, Phoebe Brand, George Gaynes, Juliane Moore . . .

You lost me at Wallace Shawn.

Having seen Uncle Vanya at LCT last night, which I thought was kind of meh, that trailer for Vanya on 42nd St. looks wonderful.

VANYA ON 42ND STREET is uneven. Moore is fine and Larry Pine isn't bad as Astrov, but you have to put up with Shawn as Vanya and the generally annoying Brooke Smith as Sonya.

When I saw the misbegotten production with Jacobi, there was no set mishap. But everyone seemed to be in a different play. It's sad that Michael Mayer botched the whole thing when you consider the cast included Roger Rees (Astrov), Laura Linney (Yelena), Brian Murray (Serebryakov), and Amy Ryan (Sonya, though I didn't like her performance, even if she did get a Tony nom). But it was also a Roundabout production and after this and earlier (and bad) productions of THREE SISTERS and Turgenev's A MONTH IN THE COUNTRY they wisely gave up on the Russians.

It was generally shrugged off, but my favorite live UNCLE VANYA to date (and I just saw the newest one) was at Classic Stage Company 15 years ago, directed by Austin Pendleton, with a wonderful cast including Denis O'Hare (Vanya), Peter Sarsgaard (Astrov), Maggie Gyllenhaal (Yelena), Mamie Gummer (Sonya) and Louis Zorich (Waffles).

Dear fucking christ! Is there anyone who has not been in Uncle Vanya?

Nicole and Tom both won Olivier's for their Sunset performances. The production walked away with a bunch of awards.

Kidman and Cruise won Oliviers?

R522. yes, 7 out of 11. I was surprised that Tom did win....but. Their number was fantastic.

[quote]r518 Having seen Uncle Vanya at LCT last night, which I thought was kind of meh, that trailer for Vanya on 42nd St. looks wonderful.

The concept of VANYA ON 42ND STREET is it was an ongoing project the actors devised, inspired by the fact that the Moscow Arts Theater used to rehearse the Chekhov plays for a year, sometimes in various locations. (Like, if there was a garden scene, they’d sometimes rehearse in a real garden.)

So Wallace Shawn, Andre Gregory, and the rest committed to rehearsing the play as a long, ongoing project, as a chance to develop the characters and each performer’s understanding of the story outside a traditional 4-week rehearsal period. As time went on they’d perform it informally for friends and colleagues in different locations, and eventually it was filmed.

I wonder if that was the last time they did it.

I adore Sarah Snook but she just does not give good awards speeches.

[quote]As time went on they’d perform it informally for friends and colleagues in different locations

I suppose it breaks the ice at parties.

I believe the only Vanya I've seen is the 2020 production with Toby Jones (Vanya), DL fave Richard Armitage (Astrov), Rosalind Eleazar (Yelena), Aimee Lou Wood (Sonya) and Roger Allam (Serebrayakov), just to add a few more actors to the Who's Been In Uncle Vanya list. (I think I saw it on National Theatre At Home, but I could be wrong. IMDb says it's currently on Prime Video.) Jones and Wood were the standouts for me (Wood cried SO much, I don't know how she did it).

The best bits of 2011

Lempicka opening tonight. Suffs opening on Thursday.

[quote]r527 As time went on they’d perform it informally for friends and colleagues in different locations

[quote]r527 I suppose it breaks the ice at parties.

Wallace Shawn, who spearheaded the project, is kind of into that “environmental theater” approach. He wrote one play, THE FEVER, that’s a long monologue sitting in a chair, which can be done by men or women - and he would perform it around town in friends’ living rooms.

When he published the play he encouraged readers to do the same thing with it : )

Many performers have done “The Fever”

In the Toby Jones VANYA in London, they managed to get Richard Armitage's shirt completely off him in the rainstorm of Act II. It was good!

Here's the whole walk and chew gum at the same time

The Notebook - good show, great performances but done in by a weak score.

Tommy - Dazzling production, well performed, Best seen in a slightly altered state

Water for Elephants - Great circus artists. Nothing else especially good

I can't figure out why Guys & Dolls was nominated for Oliviers just now. Didn't the show open a couple of years ago? Wasn't it eligible last season? Same with Hadestown; wasn't it at the National a couple of years ago?

[quote]I can't figure out why Guys & Dolls was nominated for Oliviers just now. Didn't the show open a couple of years ago?

No

[quote] Same with Hadestown; wasn't it at the National a couple of years ago?

Which is why it was nominated as Best revival.

Why would you ask these questions when you could've easily taken a couple of seconds to Google and answer them yourself?

More thoughts on the LCT Vanya, following up R498's great post:

Agree with R498 on everything. The play's enjoyable if you know UNCLE VANYA and can see how this version plays around with the text, and the cast is full of amazingly talented people, with William Jackson Harper stealing the show as Astrov.

Three major problems with this production: 1. The direction. It's too listless, too unfocused. The longueurs mount and add only to a too-long running time. 2. The adaptation. Heidi Schreck is a talented writer, but she's out of her depth here. Not enough experience as a playwright. CONSTITUTION was about her. This isn't, and the problems become sadly evident in the second half of the first act, problems that more experienced writers would not have had. 3. Yelena. Anika Noni Rose is terribly miscast. Who thought this actor known for her incredible spirit and energy would make a good Yelena? She's wrong for the part, and her director has done her no favors.

And yep, there are a fair number of empty seats, which means that LCT doesn't want to discount this starry production one iota.

Lempicka, ouch. Woman was.

What role would Uncle Vanya have in "Follies"?

The LEMPICKA reviews are out as of 11 pm EST, and they ARE NOT PURDY.

[quote]The creators of “Lempicka” — book, lyrics and concept by Carson Kreitzer, music by Matt Gould — want their title character to be many things: feminist, sexual revolutionary, trailblazing entrepreneur, tortured artist, victim and survivor, and martyr to the passing fads of art and history. There’s enough evidence in the life of the real Lempicka to justify most of those claims to some degree, but this musical wants to prove all of them, absolutely, in the space of two and a half hours. The result is a breathless, up-tempo force march through some of the darkest decades in European history, and a big, messy, fascinating life is processed into a theater piece that is just big and messy.

[quote]And now for the other shoe to drop. Why have Kreitzer and Gould given their Lempicka nothing but loud, caterwauling screeds to sing? Once upon a time, Espinosa played Elphaba in “Wicked” on Broadway, and here, she appears stuck trying to top “Defying Gravity” in one female empowerment anthem after another. We get it! Tamara de Lempicka is a most liberated woman.

[quote]Only when the title character is off the stage are we able to give our ears a respite from all the noise. Equally loud but even more grating is the performance of George Abud, who plays a Nazi Emcee on leave from “Cabaret.”

[quote]Unfortunately, having garishly blared open Sunday night at the Longacre Theatre, it’s far too late for the creators to start over again on a blank canvas.

[quote]And so, the ugly splatter that audiences are left to parse is a ridiculous two-and-half-hour Eurovision act with stratospheric delusions of grandeur.

[quote]The unwieldy show, with a book and lyrics by Carson Kreitzer and music by Matt Gould, grapples with such lofty topics as fascism, misogyny, homophobia and the nature of what good art is.

[quote]“Isn’t perfection the enemy?,” a character named the Baroness (Beth Leavel), who I could tell you exactly nothing about, asks the founder of Futurism Filippo Marinetti (George Abud), a loon who prizes sleek efficiency over romantic beauty. Could very well be, Baroness. But in musical theater, coherency is definitely your friend. And “Lempicka” is incoherent.

EPIC!

They have their pull quote.

If I'd known there were caftans in "Lempicka" I'd have been more excited...

Eden Espinosa IS Monday night Norma in Sunset Boulevard (looks like she'll be available).

At the opening night curtain call of LEMPICKA the composer sort of acknowledged that in three hours they would get bad reviews. It was wild.

Saw Patti in SF tonight. Those 75 year old pipes are something to hear-pretty astonishing. The audience (including me) ate her up with a spoon.

Let's get back to Follies. Who saw the Vegas presentation?

Let’s not.

R524, Tom Francis is outstanding as Joe, his Olivier was much deserved.

[quote]Lempicka opening tonight. Suffs opening on Thursday.

So "Lempicka" opened the evening of April 14th, which, 112 years ago, is when the Titanic hit the iceberg.

"Lempicka" - a musical re-imagined for a contemporary woke audience.

[Quote] At the opening night curtain call of LEMPICKA the composer sort of acknowledged that in three hours they would get bad reviews. It was wild

So I suppose he is now living in the self deluded narrative that their show is just way ahead of Its time, and won’t be appreciated now but be rediscovered years from now.and appreciated for the groundbreaking masterpiece It is. Like Merrily

[quote]And so, the ugly splatter that audiences are left to parse is a ridiculous two-and-half-hour Eurovision act with stratospheric delusions of grandeur.

Wow! Get the popcorn, George, that sounds just like our bag!

[quote] The musical spans the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution, World War I and World War II, finally calling it quits in 1975 America. Fifty-eight years. Take that, “Evita”!...As director Rachel Chavkin’s production is staged on what appears to be the set from a “Starlight Express” in Peoria, none of these time periods or places feel any different from another. I did, however, begin to daydream about roller-skate races.

That's from the NY Post.

I'm disappointed how bland Jesse's review is in the Times. Lately it seems he's afraid to be criticized for his reviews, so he twists himself into pretzels and winds up saying nothing.

So I guess Lempicka will be closing...when?

Mañana

Haiku.

R558: In two days.

Lempicka needed a better title. Until I Googled it, I thought it was something DL made up. Seldom a good sign.

I loved LCT's "Vanya". Thought it was a lovely take on the play. Great ensemble overall. If you're going expecting to see [bold]THEA-TUH[/bold] well yes, you're gonna leave disappointed. Steve Carrell was a bit lacking in the darker regions of Vanya, but in the lighter moments he was fine. Thought the direction was solid. Micing the actors allowed them to give quite intimate performances.

That's all. YMMV.

That's a strange criticism, R562. She was a pretty famous painter, one unusually and specifically known by her first name.

I know, R564. Someone should tell those Philistines at NPR. Everybody else is always talking about Lempicka.

Anyone know how much LEMPICKA cost/burned through? I've heard $15 million at least...

R565, I didn't say everyone was always talking about her. But her paintings sell for millions at auction, and she was collected by Madonna and Streisand. It's inaccurate for NPR to say she was "little known." That's rather ridiculous. Nor was the artist "queer"--another stupidity from NPR.

Michael R Jackson is back griping on Twitter, this time in response to Sara Holdren's review of "Lempicka," which began—

[quote]I am politely requesting a moratorium on musicals that begin with some version of “How did I wind up here?”

Jackson tweeted:

[quote]I am politely requesting a moratorium on reviews that begin with a desire for what they would or would not like to see as if they are a monarch awakening in the middle of the night wanting cook to bring them a pastry.

Holdren responded:

[quote]Calm down. It's obviously meant in jest. But it's also a joke based on the fact that this show, as do several others this season, traffics from the get-go in a huge cliché. To point that out is hardly a demand for a croissant.

Jackson replied back:

[quote]It’s a joke based in an extremely broad opinion which the average reader has no ability to assess for themselves, which is not a great way to kick off a critical assessment of these artists’ work when you could have just started here: --screenshot of later paragraph in Holdren's review--

Oompaloompa is tearing them apart!

He’s wrong. And more writers would be well served to heed her request. It’s a lazy way of starting a show—and rarely engaging.

*Record Scratch*

*Freeze Frame*

"Yep, that's me. You're probably wondering how I got into this situation …"

Cool your jets, Jackson. She's right.

The more time he spends whining on Twitter, the less chance he writes another show, so tweet away Jackson.

Why don't the current crop of creatives seem to understand that putting something in front of paying audience means they are going to face criticism, and some of it won't be nice. Acting like critics need to be respectful of your feelings is disingenuous at best and just kind of pathetic at worst.

Sara Bareilles also went on an anti-critic rant after the negative "Lempicka" reviews. It's all rather embarrassing.

[quote]“There is so much cruelty in how we receive the work that is done. And I just think the worst thing that could happen is that people stop making art. It’s so important to make art and reviews are like bleep,” Sara said in an Instagram video. “Who cares. Like truly honestly who cares. They just don’t carry the power they used to. I know it feels like garbage when it happens, I literally know that from the inside. But I love this community so much. I love the theater community, I love the music community. I love that people make things. I love that we are trying to put beauty in the world. I would always rather be on that team so I celebrate all of these openings.”

[quote]She added, “I just want to celebrate all of the artists out there who stand in the fire and unzip their souls and let people look at them and tell them what should look different or be changed… and f–k them. F–k them. Make the world better by being who you are and literally f–k them.”

"Literally fuck them." Really, Sara? What a dumb bitch.

I love that the beauty she puts in the world includes fuck them. It's beautiful.

Fine, put your beauty out there in the world...just don't charge the down payment on a home for it.

I find fucking extraordinarily beautiful.

Who cares. Like truly honestly who cares. They just don’t carry the power they used to. –±-----__--+++++

Who cares? Well you do, obviously.

Let me say this about " Lempicka." Oh, fuck it.

[quote]That's a strange criticism, [R562]. She was a pretty famous painter, one unusually and specifically known by her first name.

Yeah, but they’re using her last name

I knew who Tamara was. I had no idea who Lempicka was.

Though I'm not at all surprised about Michael R. Jackson's response to the LEMPICKA reviews, I'm extremely surprised by Sara Bareilles' reaction to them. Until now, I had nothing but positive feelings about her, but now that has suddenly changed, FWIW.

[Quote] Make the world better by being who you are and literally f–k them

Sara, have you [italic] seen [/italic] them??

[quote]'Lempicka' showcases a little-known queer artist's dazzling life

If this doesn't bring in all the tourists, nothing will.

Will they post the notice Wednesday?

Almost time for (1) BAJOUR! and (2) a new thread!

Remember the off Broadway play TAMARA which ran for 4 or 5 years in NYC? Yeah, no one else does either.

Wow, I did not remember that TAMARA had a five-year run at the armory. Anyway, I thought it was very good, and the best interactive show I've seen.

It made Angelica Huston legit—in the LA run

I remember it, R588.

We could jump back and fill this underused #556 thread... or should it just wither and die, like "Lempicka"?

Start a new one. That old one has that not-so-fresh smell.

" Limp-prick-a" was not produced for tourists, but for sophisticated, intelligent theater queens, primarily Manhattanites.

Except that it’s inept and bad, despite it pretensions.

You know, I don’t usually reduce things to the money side, but I’d say to both Jackson and Bareilles—when I’m paying 200 for a seat, I don’t want critics to worry about the artists’ feeling—how fucking elitist. And I’d also say to Miss Jackson, maybe Loop would have run a little longer if your lead showed up with any consistency (I tried seeing it three times, only to be told each time that the star would not be appearing) and if people could have understood your lyrics. The awards were simple virtue signaling. Colleges will do student roduced black box productions of it for a few years and then it will join such plays as Alison’s House and Hell-Bent for Leather in the obscure Pulitzers box.

Follies in Vegas. It looks more intriguing than I expected.

New thread:

then it's time for

BAJOUR!!