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The Neil Simon 1979 Broadway Musical "They're Playing Our Song"

There must be folks here who saw it, have opinions of it.

It was the hot show on B'way in 1979. That's when I saw it as a teen...can't say I remember being enamoured.

I wonder if it was ever considered for a movie.

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by Anonymousreply 601January 19, 2021 3:31 PM

I saw the Reprise version in LA with Jason Alexander and Stephanie J. Block a few years ago. It was enjoyable, but not something I'd want to see again. The score is marginal at best.

by Anonymousreply 1August 12, 2015 7:50 PM

Many musical hits become so because they are a perfect fit or reflection of their time, the year they're produced and then continue for a couple years on that energy. "They're Playing Our Song" is a great example of that. I saw it then a couple of times (tickets were much more affordable and not just gobbled up by tourists) and then again a couple of years ago. It doesn't hold up as classic entertainment but it was perfect, lighthearted fun then. Like a good TV movie. But is it "event theatre" which most everything seems to need to be today to run? No.

by Anonymousreply 2August 12, 2015 7:57 PM

Lucie Arnaz opens her closet to show the Original Wardrobe from "They're Playing Our Song" Broadway Show

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by Anonymousreply 3August 12, 2015 8:01 PM

Fun show. Loved the music. Lucie Arnaz was outstanding. She's a natural Broadway performer and very talented. I wish we saw her more. I heard she's in part of the national touring company of "Pippin."

by Anonymousreply 4August 12, 2015 8:01 PM

Rosie O'Donnell practically creamed her jeans when she first saw Lucie Arnaz Luckinbill in "They're Playing Our Song." I think she was it multiple times after that. Lucie became one of the great erotic obsessions of her youth, along with Helen Reddy, Kate Mulgrew on "Ryan's Hope," and Barbra Streisand.

by Anonymousreply 5August 12, 2015 8:05 PM

I saw every cast: Klein & Arnaz Stockard Channing and Tony Roberts Roberts & Anita Gillette Diana Canova & Ted Wass (both from SOAP) Victor Garber & Rhonda Farer Garber & Marsha Skaggs (now Waterbury) Absolutely loved it.

by Anonymousreply 6August 12, 2015 8:21 PM

R6 what did you think of the video at R3

by Anonymousreply 7August 12, 2015 8:22 PM

I always thought Gilda Radner would have been the perfect Sonia Walsk.

by Anonymousreply 8August 12, 2015 8:22 PM

[quote ] I always thought Gilda Radner would have been the perfect Sonia Walsk.

She was the first choice for the part, along with John Rubenstein for the male lead. Both of them turned it down

by Anonymousreply 9August 12, 2015 8:26 PM

Actually, sonia Walsk was either Didi Conn or Arnaz, but you are right about Rubinstein. Neil Simon, who wrote TPOS, used Rubinstein in FOOLS ans Conn as a replacement Bella in LOST IN YONKERS.

by Anonymousreply 10August 12, 2015 8:35 PM

I loved Lucie in it, but Robert Klein mugged too much. I read that Lucie's mother Lucy wanted the Sonia role, but Gary (wisely) talked her out of it.

by Anonymousreply 11August 12, 2015 8:45 PM

I attended Lucie's closing night, with Robert Klein sitting behind me.

by Anonymousreply 12August 12, 2015 8:48 PM

[quote]I think she was it multiple times after that. Lucie became one of the great erotic obsessions of her youth, along with Helen Reddy, Kate Mulgrew on "Ryan's Hope," and Barbra Streisand.

Don't forget me!

by Anonymousreply 13August 12, 2015 9:01 PM

[quote]Neil Simon, who wrote TPOS

Unfortunate acronym (or whatever you call it.)

by Anonymousreply 14August 12, 2015 9:02 PM

Lucie Arnaz was robbed of a Tony nomination that year. It was actually quite shocking that she was snubbed since most said they voted for her. It may have been because of an insidious backlash against the child of a well-known tv star although her extraordinary talent proved there was no nepotism in her getting the part. And Lucie btw also was a replacement Bella in Lost in Yonkers. I think I speak for all audiences when I say we wish she would return to Broadway in an original role and secure the Tony triumph she so richly deserves.

by Anonymousreply 15August 12, 2015 9:09 PM

[quote] I think I speak for all audiences when I say we wish she would return to Broadway in an original role and secure the Tony triumph she so richly deserves.

You're a total dollface. Bless your heart.

by Anonymousreply 16August 12, 2015 9:20 PM

[quote] I wonder if it was ever considered for a movie.

Once new wave and punk overtook disco and acoustic adult contemporary, there went the chances of the commercial viability of a movie version.

by Anonymousreply 17August 12, 2015 10:46 PM

I played Vernon in a regional production of the show. Loved every minute of the experience.

by Anonymousreply 18August 12, 2015 11:21 PM

It's a very thin show that today would be a one act 90 minute show and probably seem much better. Klein and Arnaz really sold it though. I also saw Richard Ryder and June Gable on tour and they wrung every laugh they could out of it.

by Anonymousreply 19August 13, 2015 12:50 AM

I don't fuck pigs.

by Anonymousreply 20August 13, 2015 2:03 AM

June Gable! What a name from the past. I thought she'd be a big star. I saw her replace Rita Moreno in "The Ritz" and she was fantastic, different than Moreno, much dirtier and nastier. She got a fair amount of TV work from that including the retool of "Laugh-in" which featured Robin Williams and Wayland and Madame.

I saw TPOS in Seattle with Dawn Wells, little Mary Ann. She was just wonderful but she couldn't sing at all. And no, she didn't reprise "You Need Me" but it might have helped.

by Anonymousreply 21August 13, 2015 2:09 AM

I saw it and hated it. It wouldn't be on Broadway today.

by Anonymousreply 22August 13, 2015 2:13 AM

R6 tell us what you thought of them all!!! BTW Ted Wass is a new crush. I just discoverd S oap.

by Anonymousreply 23August 13, 2015 2:14 AM

I saw Lorna Luft (molested) on Merv talking about it.

by Anonymousreply 24August 13, 2015 2:16 AM

Why are we calling it a Neil Simon musical? Wasn't it more a Marvin Hamlisch-Carol Bayer Sager musical given that (1) it was about them, and (2) they wrote the score?

by Anonymousreply 25August 13, 2015 3:07 AM

You lie R20 and I have the names of examples.

by Anonymousreply 26August 13, 2015 3:24 AM

Poor little Lorna. That girl got fingerbanged everywhere.

by Anonymousreply 27August 13, 2015 3:28 AM

I thought it mediocre and charmless though everyone around me seemed to think it was nice enough.

But it was all so insipid and Robert Klein is so boring and bland he should have been a neighbor on Hazel.

And I never liked Hamlisch's music and it just gets worse as the years go by. He seems to have written his music purposely for hair salons.

After the 2nd act started I realized it was not going to get better so I left. And god did it look cheap. A big musical with dull minimal sets and entire cast of 8.

It should have been done at the Cherry Lane.

by Anonymousreply 28August 13, 2015 3:43 AM

I love Robert Klein, the comic. As an actor, not so much

by Anonymousreply 29August 13, 2015 3:58 AM

I love the TPOS score, and Hamlisch music in general, it is just my brand of 70s cheese.

A couple of songs (Just for Tonight and When You're in My Arms) were featured in an episode of Picket Fences back in the 90s, which is where I first head them. David E. Kelley did love.his showtunes.

by Anonymousreply 30August 13, 2015 4:16 AM

I saw it twice...once with RK/LA and the other time with TR/LA..........it was a reflection of the times but keep wondering if it could be updated to current times and use young pop stars as the leads....Lucie Arnaz's performance was exciting......

by Anonymousreply 31August 13, 2015 4:23 AM

I saw the national tour with Victor Garber and Marsha Skaggs (that's a name you keep?). Victor Garber was out the matinee I attended and his understudy Orrin Reiley played the role. Reiley died of AIDS in 1984, he was only 38. I recall both of them being quite good in a slick, but VERY slim show. Even with a first-class production, it's sort of a college or community theater show, as there just isn't much to it, but it's good enough fun for a middle class, middle aged audience I guess. It's a VERY Jewish show.

by Anonymousreply 32August 13, 2015 4:31 AM

Ted Wass! Blossom's dad! How was he in the show? Did he do other Broadway/touring musicals? I guess all the musician stuff on Blossom was for real.

by Anonymousreply 33August 13, 2015 4:37 AM

[quote]I played Vernon in a regional production of the show. Loved every minute of the experience.

Me too! Fun times!

by Anonymousreply 34August 13, 2015 9:40 AM

Ted Wass and Diana Canova were cute, energetic and fun ... but came off as a little young (Wass' character Vernon, patterned after Hamlisch, is supposed to be a Grammy and Oscar-winning composer with a longtime friendship with Striesand and Liza -- the Oscar is a prop mentioned in the script, as is mention of "having to finish the new song for Barbra")

by Anonymousreply 35August 13, 2015 8:02 PM

Garber seemed the most annoyed by Sonia's antics -- like a musical version of Dick Sargent as Darren.

by Anonymousreply 36August 13, 2015 8:03 PM

I saw Ted and Diana in the show in May, 1981, not being familiar with either of them although I'd met her mother, Diana Canova, at a function while on a visit to L.A. earlier. Enjoyed their performances because of their energy although the show was a bit thin. He was very cute, I thought, and when he signed my program at the stage door, he wrote down his phone number too. I have no idea if it was legit or not because I was in NYC with a group from the company I worked for and we were due to leave the next morning.

by Anonymousreply 37August 14, 2015 3:41 AM

Lucie Arnaz deserved the Tony. She was fucking fantastic!

Watch Lucie perform the role at the The Tonys:

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by Anonymousreply 38August 14, 2015 4:13 AM

[quote]although I'd met her mother, Diana Canova, at a function while on a visit to L.A. earlier.

I believe you meant JUDY Canova.

by Anonymousreply 39August 14, 2015 4:38 AM

I saw Victor Garber and Ellen Greene do it on tour in Chicago when I was in college. I enjoyed it well enough, but I can't imagine that Arnaz deserved the Tony over Lansbury in "Sweeney Todd" (the winner that year)--the material is simply not good enough.

by Anonymousreply 40August 14, 2015 5:05 AM

Wow, that Tonys clip is PAINFUL! I remember it being slightly goofy, but that shit is just terrible acting and pretty bad singing, and this show was a HUGE HIT!

by Anonymousreply 41August 14, 2015 5:32 AM

OOPS - You're right, her mom was comic actress Judy Canova.

by Anonymousreply 42August 14, 2015 10:26 AM

"Wow, that Tonys clip is PAINFUL! I remember it being slightly goofy, but that shit is just terrible acting and pretty bad singing, and this show was a HUGE HIT!"

Yes, it was pretty shit, wasn't it?

I think it was the combination of many elements that made it right for the time.

I'd like to read the original NYT review...which would have ultimately been behind the making of this into a big hit.

by Anonymousreply 43August 14, 2015 10:56 AM

Here's a 1979 New York Magazine article about the show

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by Anonymousreply 44August 14, 2015 10:59 AM

If you find that fucking fantastic, R38, you need to get a clue.

Her singing and acting are strictly community-theater quality.

by Anonymousreply 45August 14, 2015 12:31 PM

There were two Times reviews, which were both negative. Richard Eder and Walter Kerr gave it near-total pans. Eder was a little more positive than Kerr, but called it one of Simon's weakest shows.

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by Anonymousreply 46August 14, 2015 12:42 PM

[quote]strictly community-theater quality

Hilarious!

by Anonymousreply 47August 14, 2015 12:48 PM

After Lucie wasn't Tony nominated, the producers took out an ad in the NYT berating the nominating committee.

by Anonymousreply 48August 14, 2015 1:14 PM

Cherish your memories of the original or tour productions of THEY'RE PLAYING OUR SONG. I saw Victor Garber and Marsha Skaggs and loved the show. Listened to the original cast album a lot during my youth.

I was asked to direct a production several years ago and said yes, because I had enjoyed the show so much. I should have re-read the script first. Revisiting the show was interesting. The script is awful. I found it to be more of an outline or first draft. Like they said, "Okay, we'll come back to this scene and write real jokes later." But they never got around to it. The lines have Neil Simon rhythm, which if delivered in that rhythm makes the audience laugh. For some reason. But the line itself isn't particularly witty or funny.

And the timeline makes absolutely no sense. When Vernon or Sylvia refer to Leon, the event was yesterday. But in the next scene, which is allegedly two hours later, the Leon event took place last week. It's a mess.

by Anonymousreply 49August 14, 2015 2:20 PM

[quote]And the timeline makes absolutely no sense. When Vernon or Sylvia refer to Leon, the event was yesterday. But in the next scene, which is allegedly two hours later, the Leon event took place last week

LAZY.LAZY. LAZY.

by Anonymousreply 50August 14, 2015 2:25 PM

The Lucy puppet danced better

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by Anonymousreply 51August 14, 2015 2:25 PM

Because of its small cast and minimal production demands, TPOS was very popular with small theater companies once the rights were released. After sitting through something like eight productions of TPOS in three years, our regional theater critic threw up a white flag of surrender. She wrote a column castigating the local producers for not showing more awareness of what shows had been done and done to death already. She vowed not to review nor even attend any further productions of TPOS in the near future. After seeing eight different takes on the show she wrote, "Frankly Vernon and Sonia, I don't give a damn."

by Anonymousreply 52August 14, 2015 2:37 PM

Jake Gyllenhaal and Anne Hathaway for the revival. Pass it on!

by Anonymousreply 53August 14, 2015 2:39 PM

Just like WICKED, no one loved it but the audiences - in droves. Idiot critics.

by Anonymousreply 54August 14, 2015 4:50 PM

[quote] After Lucie wasn't Tony nominated, the producers took out an ad in the NYT berating the nominating committee.

Atta girl!

by Anonymousreply 55August 14, 2015 4:57 PM

Who are the bigger narcissists: Vernon and Sonia or Zack and Cassie?

by Anonymousreply 56August 14, 2015 5:06 PM

I directed a version of this show, what a bomb.

by Anonymousreply 57August 14, 2015 5:16 PM

[quote]Just like WICKED, no one loved it but the audiences - in droves. Idiot critics.

Gawd DAMN, "Wicked" is an unendurably boring slog. I thought act I would NEVER END!

THE CRITICS WERE RIGHT!

by Anonymousreply 58August 14, 2015 8:07 PM

R6, how did Marsha Skaggs compare to the other Sonia's? They found her in Chicago when casting/re-casting the national tour.

by Anonymousreply 59August 14, 2015 8:34 PM

Lucie put such an indelible stamp on the role of Sonia that it was difficult for another actress to make it her own. Kind of like Merman in Gypsy. Truth be told only Stockard Channing was really up to the challenge.

by Anonymousreply 60August 14, 2015 8:55 PM

OMG. That clip looked awful. I don't think Lucie Arnaz or Robert Klein should've been given a dance break.

by Anonymousreply 61August 14, 2015 9:05 PM

{quote]I directed a version of this show, what a bomb.

Wow, hard to hurt this show, guess you are totally talent-less as a director.

by Anonymousreply 62August 15, 2015 12:10 AM

It must have killed the reviewers who panned this that the show ran for three years, quite successfully thus proving the obsolescence of critics.

by Anonymousreply 63August 15, 2015 6:57 PM

of course everyone knows that neither of those actors would be considered for the part today.

by Anonymousreply 64August 15, 2015 7:05 PM

R63, it's hard for even the critics to kill a show that has such a low operating budget. It probably turned a profit quickly and was able to make money even when audiences dwindled. Marvin Hamlisch was perversely popular in the seventies and early eighties.

by Anonymousreply 65August 15, 2015 8:01 PM

Her mother was going to buy the movie rights but Gary talked her out of it

by Anonymousreply 66August 15, 2015 8:04 PM

stockard on mer singing from the show

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by Anonymousreply 67August 19, 2015 9:35 PM

Wasn't there talk of Barbra doing the movie with Elliott Gould at one time?

by Anonymousreply 68August 19, 2015 10:03 PM

Could Elliott Gould actually sing?

by Anonymousreply 69August 20, 2015 8:53 AM

If people called what Robert Klein did actual singing then yes Elliot Gould could sing.

by Anonymousreply 70August 20, 2015 9:14 AM

The idea that Lucie put such an "indelible stamp" on such a one dimensional character is laughable. A lot of actresses did better in the role. It's not Mama Rpse.

by Anonymousreply 71August 20, 2015 9:15 AM

Elliot Gould starred on Broadway in Drat! The Cat!

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by Anonymousreply 72August 20, 2015 12:26 PM

I saw Jacki Weaver in They're Playing Our Song.

by Anonymousreply 73August 20, 2015 2:10 PM

How much, at the time, would someone like Lucie have made for her run in this play?

by Anonymousreply 74August 20, 2015 2:15 PM

"Wasn't there talk of Barbra doing the movie with Elliott Gould at one time?"

Yeah, Rona Barrett suggested it. No one else did.

by Anonymousreply 75August 20, 2015 2:31 PM

"I don't do Rona Barrett."

by Anonymousreply 76August 21, 2015 5:39 AM

I saw Lucie in concert recently and at the end of one song she just said Sarava! and the said to her piano player that was the show that kept me out of the Tonys!

by Anonymousreply 77February 6, 2017 11:26 AM

R1 "marginal at best" describes 90% of the media and men that DLers jerk off to.

by Anonymousreply 78November 17, 2020 12:05 AM

Terrible! Not even suitable for dinner theater!

by Anonymousreply 79November 17, 2020 12:08 AM

The Idiot Thread Bumper is BACK.

by Anonymousreply 80November 17, 2020 12:10 AM

"It was the hot show on B'way in 1979."

Um, I don't think so, it ran, but not too far. I saw it in 1979 on Broadway in an half empty theater. The show was okay, Lucie and Klein were trying so hard, the music was blah, the story tedious...it would never get produced even ten years later.

by Anonymousreply 81November 17, 2020 12:16 AM

Lucie & Robert 40 years on

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by Anonymousreply 82November 17, 2020 12:25 AM

Carole & Marvin

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by Anonymousreply 83November 17, 2020 12:27 AM

[quote]Why are we calling it a Neil Simon musical? Wasn't it more a Marvin Hamlisch-Carol Bayer Sager musical

So I guess "Sweet Charity" is also a Neil Simon musical?

by Anonymousreply 84November 17, 2020 12:48 AM

I saw it shortly after it opened. I found it mildly entertaining, but as thin as a "Love Boat" episode. The book was far from compelling, just a loose structure on which to hang the songs, which were far from compelling. Klein mugged too much. Lucie was fine. I can't imagine it being revived.

by Anonymousreply 85November 17, 2020 12:52 AM

It ran two and a half years. Pretty respectable for the times. Sweeney Todd with all its acclaim and award only managed a year and a few months.

by Anonymousreply 86November 17, 2020 4:13 AM

[quote] (Wass' character Vernon, patterned after Hamlisch, is supposed to be a Grammy and Oscar-winning composer with a longtime friendship with Striesand and Liza -- the Oscar is a prop mentioned in the script, as is mention of "having to finish the new song for Barbra")

That somehow makes the show all the more special, doesn't it?

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by Anonymousreply 87November 17, 2020 4:27 AM

The best part of the clip is Henry Fonda.

by Anonymousreply 88November 17, 2020 12:59 PM

R5 = Rosie

by Anonymousreply 89November 17, 2020 1:01 PM

That musical was obviously influenced by television variety shows. I love to hate watch that clip.

by Anonymousreply 90November 17, 2020 1:46 PM

[R85] Similar reaction...very thin material, not outstanding songs. Klein mugged his way through the role (and got a Tony nomination!); Lucie was better, but neither had that "star" quality that breaks through to the audience. I did not see her in Seesaw, but apparently she was very good. I saw Michelle Lee , Ken Howard, and Tommy Tune, and really enjoyed the show (in a minority, to be sure).

by Anonymousreply 91November 17, 2020 3:25 PM

I didn't see Seesaw, but I enjoyed the cast recording at the time, r91. The problem is the source was a two-hander. How the hell can that be successfully expanded into a splashy Broadway musical? You end up with extraneous padding. It *can* work and be kept a two-hander, but you needed star wattage like Martin and Preston.

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by Anonymousreply 92November 17, 2020 3:47 PM

One of the reasons the show ran so long was it actually had a great logo. It just looked fun, so it attracted a huge middle brow audience because of the logo, Lucie and loyalty to Neil Simon. The show itself was really a television skit with songs, and you forgot it all as you walked out. "Just For Tonight" was a decent pop song, however. The show tried to get laughs from lyrics like "I can't wait till we get to Quogue!" It was a very tired evening. I also saw the bus and truck with Lorna Luft. She could sing it, but doesn't have funny in her, so the night was really awful. Don't remember who the guy was.

by Anonymousreply 93November 17, 2020 4:03 PM

Lorna & the late Richard Ryder. He died of AIDS 15 years later.

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by Anonymousreply 94November 17, 2020 4:17 PM

That's Miss June Gable, r94.

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by Anonymousreply 95November 17, 2020 4:27 PM

[quote]I can't imagine that Arnaz deserved the Tony over Lansbury in "Sweeney Todd" (the winner that year)--the material is simply not good enough.

No offense, but Madame Lansbury could enter, walk to the front of stage, take a huge dump, turn around and leave and would have won the Tony. Lucie deserved a nomination. Some people here appear to have rolled up Playbills shoved up their asses. My family and friends went back a bunch of times.

by Anonymousreply 96November 17, 2020 4:36 PM

Were Lucie and Lorna childhood friends?

by Anonymousreply 97November 17, 2020 4:52 PM

Klein and Arnaz made the show a hit. They were magical together. Like The Producers, the replacements were fine but never came close to the originals.

by Anonymousreply 98November 17, 2020 4:54 PM

R95 Thanks--I think this is really Lorna, not June....

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by Anonymousreply 99November 17, 2020 5:15 PM

I think it could make a cool gay show if they made the characters same sex.....male/male or female/female........

by Anonymousreply 100November 17, 2020 5:27 PM

[quote]No offense, but Madame Lansbury could enter, walk to the front of stage, take a huge dump, turn around and leave and would have won the Tony. Lucie deserved a nomination.

Angela Lansbury was brilliant in "Sweeney Todd," so your observation is pointless.

by Anonymousreply 101November 17, 2020 5:48 PM

Lansbury deserved the Tony but Lucie deserved a nomination instead of Tovah Feldshuh.

by Anonymousreply 102November 17, 2020 5:51 PM

Poor Lorna. To have that wonderful voice, but none of her mother or sister's star power or humor.

by Anonymousreply 103November 17, 2020 6:35 PM

Yes, r99, that would be your Miss Lorna Luft.

by Anonymousreply 104November 17, 2020 6:39 PM

[R98] Thanks for mentioning The Producers; I saw it with the replacement cast, and could not figure out what the big deal was. Frankly, I couldn't wait for it to end. I enjoyed The Full Monty so much more that season.

by Anonymousreply 105November 17, 2020 7:23 PM

[quote] No offense, but Madame Lansbury could enter, walk to the front of stage, take a huge dump, turn around and leave and would have won the Tony.

Why do people say "no offense" right before they're clearly intentionally going to be offensive?

by Anonymousreply 106November 17, 2020 7:49 PM

I'm surprised "Sweet Smell of Success" another Hamlisch show hasn't gotten a revival yet. It was really hurt by opening around the time after 9/11 when the mood of the city and the country was really not ready for such a somewhat dark show. Saw it with John Lithgow and Brian D'Arcy James, they were both great.

by Anonymousreply 107November 17, 2020 7:50 PM

It's the "no offense, *but*...", r106.

by Anonymousreply 108November 17, 2020 8:02 PM

Carol Burnett playing Sonia in "They're Playing Our Song"

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by Anonymousreply 109November 17, 2020 8:06 PM

Why does Carol have a big turd sticking out of her head?

by Anonymousreply 110November 17, 2020 8:15 PM

Lorna Luft. Daughter of Sid.

by Anonymousreply 111November 30, 2020 1:01 AM

Shid!

by Anonymousreply 112November 30, 2020 1:05 AM

Why didn't Bonnie Franklin and Dick Van Patten do the movie?

by Anonymousreply 113November 30, 2020 1:20 AM

I think there was talk of a movie with Steve Martin and Gilda Radner but it never happened.

by Anonymousreply 114November 30, 2020 1:21 AM

'Madame Lansbury could enter, walk to the front of stage, take a huge dump, turn around and leave and would have won the Tony.'

That was Dear World.

by Anonymousreply 115November 30, 2020 1:38 AM

Haven’t seen it, but I did get Carole Bayer Segar’s autobiography on audible on a whim. Main characters of that pkay based on her and Marvin Hamlisch.

I didn’t know anything about her before i listened to her book. It’s a DL must read (or listen). Absolutely delicious gossip throughout. Plus, she’s very self effacing and likeable

by Anonymousreply 116November 30, 2020 1:51 AM

R102. Well, to fair, my cat is more deserving of a Tony nomination than Tovah Feldshuh—and she sings better than Tovah.

by Anonymousreply 117November 30, 2020 2:29 AM

Is that Alan Arkin singing with Carol?

by Anonymousreply 118November 30, 2020 2:40 AM

yes

by Anonymousreply 119November 30, 2020 2:42 AM

[quote]I didn't see Seesaw, but I enjoyed the cast recording at the time, [R91]. The problem is the source was a two-hander. How the hell can that be successfully expanded into a splashy Broadway musical? You end up with extraneous padding. It *can* work and be kept a two-hander, but you needed star wattage like Martin and Preston.

They opened up the movie.

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by Anonymousreply 120November 30, 2020 2:42 AM

This is the only performance of they’re playing our song that matters.

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by Anonymousreply 121November 30, 2020 3:19 AM

I love you r121

by Anonymousreply 122December 1, 2020 4:13 PM

[quote]Why didn't Bonnie Franklin and Dick Van Patten do the movie?

The best you can hope for it getting based on Hollywood's attitude towards musicals in the early 1980s was an Allan Carr production with Helen Reddy and Barry Manilow.

by Anonymousreply 123December 1, 2020 5:07 PM

Seesaw was turned into a big busy tedious musical with lots of pointless people on the vast stage of the Uris. And no sets. Just lots of screens going up and down. But it was nice to see Michelle and Ken on stage in their prime. Wish I had gone back for John Gavin.

by Anonymousreply 124December 2, 2020 9:22 PM

I haven't thought of it since I saw it with my mother in Chicago. My father refused to go with her. Ellen Greene and Victor Garber were just as cute as they could be. Entertaining and eminently forgettable.

by Anonymousreply 125December 2, 2020 11:56 PM

the score has too many ballads and not enough up tempo stuff. I like the up tempo songs. The title song is fun and "Working it Out" is a great song.

by Anonymousreply 126December 3, 2020 4:52 AM

Diana Canova was the final star on Broadway. The girl had pipes. I never knew she song the theme to Throb (one of her many attempts at a sitcom of her own.)

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by Anonymousreply 127December 3, 2020 4:56 AM

Wow, that THROB video included Paul Walker and Jane Leeves!

by Anonymousreply 128December 3, 2020 4:41 PM

In OP's pic, Lucie Arnaz looks like she's about to upchuck. Robert Klein looks like someone just put an ice cube down his pants.

by Anonymousreply 129December 3, 2020 5:15 PM

Marsha Skaggs and Victor Garber were the final leads on broadway. They replaced Diana Canova and Ted Wass.

by Anonymousreply 130December 3, 2020 5:28 PM

Which did you prefer, They're Playing Our Song or I Love My Wife?

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by Anonymousreply 131December 5, 2020 5:48 AM

I Love My Wife has a better score. And the book is about as funny as TPOS. Annie dominated the Tonys that year but ILMW was for the grownups. And casting The Smothers Brothers as replacements was genius. Jimmie JJ Walker was set to follow them with a black cast but he backed out. Maybe that’s a good thing.

by Anonymousreply 132December 5, 2020 9:43 AM

Marsha Skaggs became Marsha Waterbury and she was brilliant in the flop musical "SMILE." Her breakdown as Brenda was hilarious. Whatever happened to her?

by Anonymousreply 133December 5, 2020 3:07 PM

Marsha continued to work mostly in ensemble and understudy roles in shows like Mamma Mia and Fiddler and stood by for Suzanne Pleshette in a one performance flop called Special Occasions. And she worked for Neil Simon again in Jakes Women.

by Anonymousreply 134December 5, 2020 3:16 PM

[quote]I Love My Wife has a better score. And the book is about as funny as TPOS.

That Piece of Shit??

by Anonymousreply 135December 5, 2020 4:29 PM

I was going to post my TPOS memory, but I see I already did at R12 . . . five years ago.

I do remember the PLAYBILL handed out that evening already had Stockard Channing and Tony Roberts as the leads.

by Anonymousreply 136December 5, 2020 4:41 PM

Lucie didn’t give them alot of notice. She got the female lead in The Jazz Singer and quit. Stockard Channing barely had any rehearsal and the understudy filled in until she was ready. Same with Klein. It was announced in early November that he would be leaving in February and Tony Roberts would be stepping in. Then it was suddenly announced that he would be leaving after Thanksgiving. Standby stepped in for a few weeks and Roberts came in sometime in December.

by Anonymousreply 137December 6, 2020 12:57 AM

Did Stockard leave unexpectedly too? She only did three months and then an understudy did the summer until Anita Gilette came in.

Stockard was supposed to be going back to her sitcom but it was cancelled. She left anyway.

I remember reading Bernadette Peters was approached for the role.

by Anonymousreply 138December 6, 2020 1:03 AM

Yes Deborah Raffin was supposed to star in The Jazz Singer but something happened and Lucie got the role pretty quickly.

Lucie made a big mistake (on Sue Mengers advice) by turning down the mother role in Poltergeist. Mengers told her to do some comedy instead and that flopped and her film career was pretty much over.

by Anonymousreply 139December 6, 2020 1:05 AM

[quote] but Robert Klein mugged too much

I don’t get him, never have. Why did he have a career? All he seems to have had was “I Can’t Stop My Leg.” Oh stop, I’m in stitches.

I forget the venue but he was once doing humorous commentary on something off the top of his head and it was mortifying. He was absolutely dreadful. Never has a funnyman been less funny.

by Anonymousreply 140December 6, 2020 1:07 AM

[quote]Lucie made a big mistake (on Sue Mengers advice) by turning down the mother role in Poltergeist. Mengers told her to do some comedy instead and that flopped and her film career was pretty much over.

Not before she embarrassed herself by co-starring in Tom Laughlin's fourth Billy Jack movie, "Billy Jack Goes to Washington," which barely got a release.

by Anonymousreply 141December 6, 2020 1:11 AM

Why didn't Gary talk her out of it?

by Anonymousreply 142December 6, 2020 1:17 AM

It's odd that Lucie's career would take such a blow with the Jazz Singer considering that she was the only one who came out of that catastrophe with decent reviews. (Neil and even Olivier were destroyed by the critics).

In recent years, Arnaz has said that she didn't have the drive that her parents or even Desi Jr. had when it came to her career. She also saw the toll that having a huge career took on Lucy, so that might have played into her decisions as well.

by Anonymousreply 143December 6, 2020 1:18 AM

Lucie's career might have not been helped but she would certainly have been better remembered if she played Rizzo in the movie of Grease.

by Anonymousreply 144December 6, 2020 1:36 AM

Lucie got a Golden Globe nomination as Best Supporting Actress for The Jazz Singer surprisingly.

by Anonymousreply 145December 6, 2020 1:42 AM

Lucie wanted a family and she got one. She was brilliant in Lost In Yonkers. I did hear that she was disappointed that she didn’t get The Goodbye Girl and the show would have worked much better with her. Stockard left to do a forgettable movie with David Carradine. Rhonda Farer was given the role officially and was very good but when the box office dipped they brought in Anita who, by her own admission, was too old for it. It closed because Dreamgirls wanted the Imperial and the only available theatre was the Winter Garden so instead of moving it closed abruptly with one weeks notice. It probably could have run longer.

by Anonymousreply 146December 6, 2020 1:59 AM

How come The Jazz Singer was never made into a Broadway musical?

by Anonymousreply 147December 6, 2020 2:14 AM

[quote]How come The Jazz Singer was never made into a Broadway musical?

Because it's a moldy old relic, reeking of sentimentality? It started out as a Broadway play starring George Jessel, who turned down the movie version when his salary demands weren't met.

by Anonymousreply 148December 6, 2020 2:29 AM

It is pretty easy to cast. I'm surprised more TV stars didn't go into it during the run.

by Anonymousreply 149December 6, 2020 2:38 AM

It was "hot" but not as hot as "Evita" and "Sugar Babies."

And the year belonged to "Sweeney Todd," anyway.

by Anonymousreply 150December 6, 2020 2:48 AM

Evita and Sugar Babies were the next season.

And it ran much longer than Sweeney which only managed a year and a few months.

by Anonymousreply 151December 6, 2020 2:57 AM

[quote]And it ran much longer than Sweeney which only managed a year and a few months.

And we all know that long runs are the true gauge of quality.

by Anonymousreply 152December 6, 2020 3:12 AM

Not saying it was better than Sweeney just that it was a big hit. Sweeney got all the awards but Song got lots of attention and box office.

by Anonymousreply 153December 6, 2020 3:15 AM

[quote]It is pretty easy to cast. I'm surprised more TV stars didn't go into it during the run.

He was probably too old, but I would have liked to see Jerry Orbach do it.

If the Weisslers had been on their game back in 1979, they would have cast Barbra Streisand and Elliot Gould.

by Anonymousreply 154December 6, 2020 3:30 AM

[quote]If the Weisslers had been on their game back in 1979, they would have cast Barbra Streisand and Elliot Gould.

I'm pretty sure Babs would not have leapt at the chance to return to Broadway in a middling musical back in 1979.

by Anonymousreply 155December 6, 2020 5:17 AM

there actually was talk that Streisand would do a film version with Gould

(but back then every show that opened had rumors that Streisand wanted to do the movie.)

by Anonymousreply 156December 6, 2020 5:19 AM

[quote] (but back then every show that opened had rumors that Streisand wanted to do the movie.)

Even [italic]The Wiz[/italic]?

by Anonymousreply 157December 6, 2020 7:15 AM

As long as we're wallowing in the late 70s, whatever happened to Montieth and Rand? Anyone remember them?

by Anonymousreply 158December 6, 2020 4:18 PM

r158 they split up a long time ago and and then Montieth died recently.

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by Anonymousreply 159December 6, 2020 8:33 PM

Did Monteith and Rand do mime? Or am I thinking of Shields and Yarnell?

by Anonymousreply 160December 7, 2020 12:31 AM

Shields and Yarnell did mime, and they were on EVERY -- and I mean -- EVERY variety show in the 70s. I remember groaning out loud every time they were in the credits.

by Anonymousreply 161December 7, 2020 1:44 AM

Monteith and Rand were marketed as the new Nichols and May. I think the comparison did them in.

by Anonymousreply 162December 7, 2020 2:57 AM

Does this bring back memories, R161?

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by Anonymousreply 163December 7, 2020 3:00 AM

Were Stiller and Meara the old Nichols and May?

by Anonymousreply 164December 7, 2020 3:00 AM

I've directed a production of it

by Anonymousreply 165December 7, 2020 3:02 AM

Monteith and Rand were improv actors (maybe they did sketches too? never saw them live just on tv doing improv)

Shields and Yarnell were mimes who starred in a Broadway review that only lasted one night.

by Anonymousreply 166December 7, 2020 3:08 AM

One night too many, R166.

by Anonymousreply 167December 7, 2020 3:16 AM

Lorene Yarnall danced with Bobby Rydell in the "Got a lot of living to do" from Bye Bye Birdie. Future Mrs. Neil Simon Elaine Joyce is also in the number.

by Anonymousreply 168December 7, 2020 3:21 AM

Shields was hotter after he and Yarnell split and he hooked up with Daisy Duke.

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by Anonymousreply 169December 7, 2020 3:22 AM

Elaine is also one of the Keeney girls at the beginning of Funny Girl.

by Anonymousreply 170December 7, 2020 3:27 AM

[quote]Shields and Yarnell did mime, and they were on EVERY -- and I mean -- EVERY variety show in the 70s. I remember groaning out loud every time they were in the credits.

Not only were they on every variety show, but for two seasons, they had their own variety show.

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by Anonymousreply 171December 7, 2020 5:12 AM

I remember in Tootsie when Dustin Hoffman pushes the mime off the pretend tightrope he is walking on the audience erupted in laughs and cheers.

by Anonymousreply 172December 7, 2020 5:17 AM

I remember a "Newhart" episode in which Peter Scolari announced he was going to become a street mime. "Everyone loves a mime," he told Bob. "Everybody loves a clown," Newhart said. "People try to run over mimes."

by Anonymousreply 173December 7, 2020 5:25 AM

And don't forget me looking hotcha on Route 66, r170!

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by Anonymousreply 174December 7, 2020 4:12 PM

I'm an oldster, and I have to admit I'm floored by this talk of the "magic" of Lucie and Robert. I have absolutely no memory of this magic--maybe you had to be NYC to experience it first-hand?....for one thing, Lucie's hair in OP's photo scares me.

by Anonymousreply 175December 7, 2020 5:29 PM

I'm a Lucie fan and it held no magic for me. I watched the clip thinking it was going to be a lot better than I remembered and in fact it was worse. Hamlisch's music was lousy in the 70s and it remains so today. Do people still listen to it?

by Anonymousreply 176December 7, 2020 10:15 PM

There's just not a lot of there there. It wasn't unpleasant to watch (and yes, I saw Lucie and Robert Klein), but I've never seen a more instantly forgettable show, at least not one that was something of a hit.

by Anonymousreply 177December 8, 2020 12:26 AM

[quote] I remember a "Newhart" episode in which Peter Scolari announced he was going to become a street mime. "Everyone loves a mime," he told Bob. "Everybody loves a clown," Newhart said. "People try to run over mimes."

There was another scene which IIRC was also in that episode where a French restauranteur who appeared in several other episodes said "Monsieur, I do not like mimes! You people are the reason I left France!" The actor was I.M. Hobson, who was Drake the Butler in the movie of [italic]Annie[/italic] and also was in [italic]All That Jazz[/italic] in a scene Ann Reinking wasn't in.

by Anonymousreply 178December 8, 2020 12:29 AM

Not in the US and never seen the show but a couple of the songs were performed on an episode of “Picket Fences” back in the 90s and I bought the OBC album because of that. Always enjoy a bit of Hamlisch.

by Anonymousreply 179December 8, 2020 12:34 AM

Why does Robert Klein sing out of the side of his mouth?

by Anonymousreply 180December 8, 2020 12:36 AM

What was the dance level of Lucie Arnaz? Could she have done any of the Gwen Verdon roles: Damn Yankees, Sweet Charity, Chicago?

by Anonymousreply 181December 8, 2020 12:42 AM

R181 Lucie did dance with Tommy Tune in the tour of "My One and Only."

by Anonymousreply 182December 8, 2020 12:53 AM

[quote]Lucie did dance with Tommy Tune in the tour of "My One and Only."

Which meant all she had to do was hang on for dear life as Tune whipped her around the stage.

by Anonymousreply 183December 8, 2020 12:58 AM

[quote]Why does Robert Klein sing out of the side of his mouth?

He mugged his way through the entire show. I guess it was just another mugging choice.

by Anonymousreply 184December 8, 2020 2:46 AM

It would be a cute one night event with two stars who already have a personal or professional relationship. The two juveniles from soap were so fun to see together – and they were actually up to the rules. For one night, they should find a couple who want to do it together and just have fun

by Anonymousreply 185December 8, 2020 2:55 AM

[quote]For one night, they should find a couple who want to do it together and just have fun

Matthew, call my vocal coach! I think I can talk Ryan Murphy into producing! Hurry up, before Mullally reads this and thinks it works for her and the dope she's married to.

by Anonymousreply 186December 8, 2020 2:59 AM

Diana Canova was very good. Ted Wass was ok. I saw Dick Latessa and Susan Anton do it in stock and he was hilarious. But too old for it. She was fine but too waspy for the role.

by Anonymousreply 187December 8, 2020 3:07 AM

R116 Thanks for the suggestion. Great, fast , gossipy read. She's a good writer and isn't afraid to kiss and tell. Her mother comes across as Sophia from "Golden Girls" in some hilarious anecdotes near the end.

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by Anonymousreply 188December 8, 2020 6:20 AM

Lorna Luft did the tour. She felt molested by the role.

by Anonymousreply 189December 10, 2020 3:56 AM

Dawn Wells did the bus and truck tour as well but her singing was so bad that she was pulled in Seattle. Her acting was said to be really wonderful and she looks amazingly like CBS.

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by Anonymousreply 190December 10, 2020 4:13 AM

Who replaced Dawn Wells? Wasn't she the ticket selling draw?

by Anonymousreply 191December 10, 2020 4:18 AM

to answer my own question at r191 looks like it was June Gable.

by Anonymousreply 192December 10, 2020 4:24 AM

June Gable replaced Lorna and Dawn replaced June. Then the tour closed.

by Anonymousreply 193December 10, 2020 4:43 AM

So when Wells was fired they just shut down the whole tour?

by Anonymousreply 194December 10, 2020 5:05 AM

Did you know DL fave Eydie Gorme sings the last few notes of When You're In My Arms because Lucie couldn't do it?

by Anonymousreply 195December 10, 2020 5:07 AM

On the OBC album of course.

by Anonymousreply 196December 10, 2020 5:08 AM

So what did Lucie do in the show? Did they lower the note?

by Anonymousreply 197December 10, 2020 5:09 AM

Just throwing in a mention of Tom Conti and Gemma Craven, who were wonderful together in the London production. TPOS was quite well-received there.

by Anonymousreply 198December 10, 2020 5:40 AM

R197, she just did what she could, but it would have been noticeable on the recording. The OBC was done in LA before they got to NY so they enlisted Eydie.

by Anonymousreply 199December 10, 2020 5:41 AM

R195 Too bad Helen Reddy wasn't around to sing those last few notes. Helen and Lucie are sound-alikes.

by Anonymousreply 200December 10, 2020 5:51 AM

Lucie has that same chipmunk vibrato that her dad had.

by Anonymousreply 201December 10, 2020 5:52 AM

so Edye comes in at the "In my arms" part.

It does sound like a different singer if you listen closely.

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by Anonymousreply 202December 10, 2020 5:54 AM

Dawn Wells looked like CBS?

Not NBC?

by Anonymousreply 203December 10, 2020 1:07 PM

Yesterday IONtv reran the Law & Order episode inspired by Martha Stewart's insider trading conviction. Lucie played the Stewart character and was really, surprisingly good! And also outrageous. Lucie killed her stockbroker lover, who was also the lover of her daughter, because of menopausal rage! Or hormone replacement discontinuance rage. Whatever -- DL heaven! It was a great comparison to Mildred Pierce which ran on Movies!tv the night before.

by Anonymousreply 204December 10, 2020 2:43 PM

^ BTW, the episode was titled "Bitch" and it's hard to find on IMDB and some other sites because they refused to publish the title at the time, 2003,

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by Anonymousreply 205December 10, 2020 2:57 PM

I'd forgotten what a stupid song "When You're in My Arms" is. Thanks for that, r202. "Only got eyes for my sweet, sweet baby..." Jesus. And that synth! And the same percussion as in the title song.

by Anonymousreply 206December 10, 2020 3:24 PM

Dawn wasn’t fired. The tour was coming to an end and it closed. She’s not a great singer but those songs aren’t terribly difficult. She wasn’t playing Eva Peron.

by Anonymousreply 207December 10, 2020 4:17 PM

I was better than Joyce Dewitt in Gypsy!

by Anonymousreply 208December 10, 2020 4:24 PM

[quote]I was better than Joyce Dewitt in Gypsy!

So was I!

by Anonymousreply 209December 10, 2020 4:48 PM

[quote]Too bad Helen Reddy wasn't around to sing those last few notes. Helen and Lucie are sound-alikes.

I had the same reaction when I saw Lucie in "They're Playing Our Song." She sounds even more like Helen Reddy on the cast album.

by Anonymousreply 210December 10, 2020 4:52 PM

I don’t know if this is true but when they were recording the album in LA Hamlisch ALLEGEDLY had Liza and Midler on hold to come in and sweeten the ensemble vocals on Workin’ It Out.

by Anonymousreply 211December 10, 2020 5:38 PM

this would have been a good vehicle for Liza

by Anonymousreply 212December 11, 2020 10:39 PM

Op, is Lucy arnez wearing a helmet wig in that pic?

by Anonymousreply 213December 11, 2020 11:04 PM

^it was the 70s. Lucy did straighten her hair when Tony Roberts came in. I guess she was bored.

by Anonymousreply 214December 11, 2020 11:53 PM

Lucie did the show for a year before she missed a performance. That’s unheard of today. Unfortunately Debbie Shapiro had just left so the new understudy went on while Lucie recovered from the flu.

by Anonymousreply 215December 11, 2020 11:57 PM

Donna Murphy was a swing

by Anonymousreply 216December 12, 2020 12:13 AM

And she sure *can* swing, r216!

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by Anonymousreply 217December 12, 2020 12:21 AM

There's no way Liza or Midler would be used to sweeten anything. They were way past that in their careers no matter who was asking, and their voices don't blend with anyones.

by Anonymousreply 218December 14, 2020 3:24 PM

It's a real indicator of how desperate we are that this minor show is being discussed here (218 comments and counting) and extensively on the main theatre thread. Damn you, COVID.

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by Anonymousreply 219December 14, 2020 4:25 PM

When we get to Quogue...

by Anonymousreply 220December 15, 2020 9:58 PM

Someone really clever needs to start a new theatre gossip thread

by Anonymousreply 221December 16, 2020 6:43 PM

And have bitchy queens snarl at me about how bad the title is? No thanks, R221.

by Anonymousreply 222December 16, 2020 6:47 PM

Quogue? Yes!

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by Anonymousreply 223December 16, 2020 6:47 PM

r222 that's what I'm afraid of

by Anonymousreply 224December 16, 2020 6:50 PM

Oh r222 either one of us could have done better than [italic]this[/italic].

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by Anonymousreply 225December 16, 2020 6:58 PM

Lucille Ball cried hysterically while watching her daughter Lucie on-stage

Not because she was proud, but because Lucie succeeded as a musical star, while Luiclle did not. As being a big Broadway musical star was Lucille Ball goal, and NOT being known for "I Love Lucy"

by Anonymousreply 226December 16, 2020 7:00 PM

Lucille had to have known her own vocal limitations. I could really only see her pulling off Hello, Dolly or Wonderful Town. She was similar in voice to Rosalind Russell, Elaine Stritch, and Lauren Bacall. She could be great if she stuck to her own limited range, but they don't write many roles for women like that. Now, I'm really wishing she did a version of The Ladies Who Lunch in Company. Now that would have been a great role for her.

by Anonymousreply 227December 16, 2020 7:04 PM

Jesus. Tony Roberts kills anything he's in. How did he get cast in so many musicals? (Xanadu, Follies)

by Anonymousreply 228December 16, 2020 7:39 PM

[quote]It's a real indicator of how desperate we are that this minor show is being discussed here

It may be a minor show, but it really captures the 1970s like few musicals have done.

by Anonymousreply 229December 16, 2020 8:35 PM

Where was Tony Roberts in Follies?

by Anonymousreply 230December 16, 2020 9:40 PM

[quote] The Ladies Who Lunch in Company. Now that would have been a great role for her.

Lucille would have never accepted the role as it was a supporting role, she was only interested in lead - like Mary Martin & Ethel Merman

She wanted a career like those ladies after "I Love Lucy" - but it never happened.

by Anonymousreply 231December 16, 2020 9:44 PM

Unfortunately *in* it, r230...

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by Anonymousreply 232December 16, 2020 9:52 PM

The stage version of "Victor/Victoria" wasn't very good to begin with, but casting Tony Roberts in the role played in the movie by Robert Preston certainly didn't help.

by Anonymousreply 233December 16, 2020 9:57 PM

[quote] The stage version of "Victor/Victoria" wasn't very good to begin with, but casting Tony Roberts in the role played in the movie by Robert Preston certainly didn't help.

Well, they did announce that Robert Loggia would be playing Toddy in the stage version, but it seems that Loggia's vocals weren't up to the task.

by Anonymousreply 234December 16, 2020 10:07 PM

Personally, I *never* miss a Robert Loggia musical!

by Anonymousreply 235December 16, 2020 10:16 PM

I saw Tony Roberts in Promises Promises when he replaced Jerry Orbach. He seems to have been a David Merrick favorite. I was a boy and had never heard of him. He was sensational. Had the audience in the palm of his hand. For some reason he was never nearly as good again to the point where you wondered why he ever had a career.

by Anonymousreply 236December 16, 2020 11:27 PM

Tony Roberts starred (opposite Betty Buckley) in the London production of "Promises" and later repeated the role in the Broadway production.

by Anonymousreply 237December 17, 2020 12:34 AM

And let's *not* forget...

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by Anonymousreply 238December 17, 2020 12:37 AM

[quote]Now, I'm really wishing she did a version of The Ladies Who Lunch in Company. Now that would have been a great role for her.

She'd had sufficient.

by Anonymousreply 239December 17, 2020 12:43 AM

Tony also did the Jason Alexander part in the touring company of Jerome Robbins Broadway and he was quite good, although honestly not very memorable.

by Anonymousreply 240December 17, 2020 5:25 AM

Roberts was good in the film (and maybe the play) of Play it Again, Sam.

I'm now at 528-4547 etc.

by Anonymousreply 241December 17, 2020 5:27 AM

[quote]I'm now at 528-4547 etc.

That joke wore thin, didn't it?

by Anonymousreply 242December 17, 2020 5:29 AM

I guess after a while. It was really Woody's movie. His blind date mishaps are priceless. (and the line about did any blind date ever pass out when they saw you, a Brooklyn co ed but she was weak from dieting.)

by Anonymousreply 243December 17, 2020 5:34 AM

[quote]Haven’t seen it, but I did get Carole Bayer Segar’s autobiography on audible on a whim. Main characters of that pkay based on her and Marvin Hamlisch. I didn’t know anything about her before i listened to her book. It’s a DL must read (or listen). Absolutely delicious gossip throughout. Plus, she’s very self effacing and likeable

We talked about it at great length when the book was first published.

by Anonymousreply 244December 17, 2020 5:34 AM

[quote]His blind date mishaps are priceless

I love the rain. It washes memories off the sidewalks.

by Anonymousreply 245December 17, 2020 5:40 AM

Look what just popped up. notes say it is the final Broadway performance. Victor Garber and Marsha Skaggs

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by Anonymousreply 246December 18, 2020 2:07 AM

Who is Marsha Skaggs?

by Anonymousreply 247December 18, 2020 2:09 AM

[quote]Who is Marsha Skaggs?

When they couldn't get Lenora Nemetz to be the standby/understudy, they'd call Marsha Skaggs.

by Anonymousreply 248December 18, 2020 2:35 AM

It would appear that she became Marsha Waterbury...

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by Anonymousreply 249December 18, 2020 2:43 AM

Thank you, R246, for posting that. It is just as bad as I remember it. Victor Garber and Marsha Skaggs are not getting any farther with it than did Tony Roberts and Anita Gillette.

by Anonymousreply 250December 18, 2020 2:43 AM

Marsha apparently was an Audrey...

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by Anonymousreply 251December 18, 2020 2:47 AM

Andrews, her husband Blake Edwards, the rest of the creative team and the producers all begged Robert Preston to play Teddy in the stage version of V/V, He just wasn't interested and turned them down multiple times.

But they couldn't do better than Tony Roberts?

by Anonymousreply 252December 18, 2020 2:51 AM

Act I

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by Anonymousreply 253December 18, 2020 2:53 AM

The only way it was getting a film or TV adaptation that came anywhere near close to good would be if Norman Lear ended up with the rights and Joel Higgins and Adrienne Barbeau ended up as the leads in an HBO production of it. Embassy Television also adapted [italic]Greater Tuna[/italic] that way.

by Anonymousreply 254December 18, 2020 2:56 AM

Lenora played Sonia in Pittsburgh.

by Anonymousreply 255December 18, 2020 4:09 AM

So back in the late 90s or early 00s, my partner dragged me off to NJPAC in Newark but wouldn't tell me where we where we were going or what we were going to see. It turned out to be a road show tour of Sugar, which had been renamed Some Like It Hot after the source material and starred Tony Curtis in the Joe E. Brown part (he was very good, btw). At first I wasn't really interested but it turned out this version was just a big tap show with a cast of 30 or 40 and every 10 minutes the whole cast would just come out to just tap their way into your heart. Normally we went to the Met or City Opera once or twice a week for years. But for some reason he'd read about this and knew I'd love it. Because he understood me well enough to know that as much as I love opera I'm just an old tap show whore.

Well anyway, what he didn't know but I saw immediately in the program was that Sweet Sue, the girl band leader, was to be played by Lenora Nemetz!!! My beloved Nemetz!!! Gary didn't even know who she was but I had been enthralled by her in the original Fosse Chicago! and had never seen her since. I screamed when I saw her name in the program and got a hard on when she made her entrance. She had two big dance numbers, one in each act and of course brought down the house each time. I was in Heaven!

Gary loved it too. We went home ecstatic and fucked all night.

He's dead now.

by Anonymousreply 256December 18, 2020 4:44 AM

Hey, you old tap show whore! Did Gary take you back to Papermill for the "No, No, Nanette!" in which Helen Gallagher graduated from Lucille to Sue and lead the chorus tapping away to "I Want to Be Happy?"

by Anonymousreply 257December 18, 2020 12:00 PM

Good for her!

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by Anonymousreply 258December 18, 2020 3:13 PM

I nominate r256 for BEST DL post evah!!!

by Anonymousreply 259December 18, 2020 3:22 PM

I don't know, r259, if I was Lenora, I'd be more than a bit...concerned.

by Anonymousreply 260December 18, 2020 3:58 PM

It wasn't a particularly wonderful time for Broadway, so I'm not surprised it ran for a few years. I'm surprised that Roundabout has never coerced two hot television actors with limited vocal ability to do a revival.

by Anonymousreply 261December 18, 2020 5:30 PM

Poor Debbie Shapiro. She understudied for a year without going on and then the new understudy not only got to go on but played the role the whole summer in between Stockard and Anita Gillette.

(that always seemed off to me. I thought Stockard would return or they'd bring in another star. Stockard's contract was short because she was on a hiatus from a sitcom. it got cancelled though but she still left at the end of her contract.)

by Anonymousreply 262December 19, 2020 3:35 AM

Not only that but Lucie got sick the week after Debbie left. Talk about bad timing. I saw the show with Rhonda Farer and John Hammil who was a great Vernon. Neither were stars but the laughs were all there and they had a nice chemistry.

by Anonymousreply 263December 19, 2020 5:44 AM

Was there a time when Farer and Hammil were the regular stars or were you seeing them as understudies?

by Anonymousreply 264December 19, 2020 5:55 AM

I was a big soap fan – still am — and got a kick out of seeing the show a second time with Diana Canova and head wass. I don’t remember much about their performances but enjoyed it

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by Anonymousreply 265December 19, 2020 12:32 PM

Farer officially had the role and Hammil was subbing during Tony Roberts vacation. Hammil did leave briefly to start the tour with Lorna Luft.

by Anonymousreply 266December 19, 2020 12:33 PM

Ted Wass not head. Freudian

by Anonymousreply 267December 19, 2020 12:38 PM

Miss Dee Dee Canova and Miss Debbie Shapiro were Phyllis and Sally, respectively, in a '70s LACC production of FOLLIES, r265.

by Anonymousreply 268December 19, 2020 2:00 PM

Canova was born in 1953. Wasn't she awfully young for Phyllis in the 70s?

by Anonymousreply 269December 19, 2020 2:20 PM

It was LACC....she was a coed.

by Anonymousreply 270December 19, 2020 2:26 PM

^

'73-'74

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by Anonymousreply 271December 19, 2020 2:28 PM

Cool

by Anonymousreply 272December 19, 2020 3:11 PM

Ashtray.

by Anonymousreply 273December 19, 2020 5:43 PM

r271 When/why did LACC stop doing musicals? I moved to the area in 1987, and don't recall them every producing a musical. (And I go to a LOT of theater.)

by Anonymousreply 274December 19, 2020 5:53 PM

When did the Ahmanson become just a boring Broadway touring house? When Iived there, they self-produced. It was legitimate.

by Anonymousreply 275December 19, 2020 5:55 PM

Are you referring to *ASHTRAY!* the Musical, r273?

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by Anonymousreply 276December 19, 2020 6:03 PM

r275 Same goes for Long Beach CLO, which disappeared, and Reprise, which has disappeared twice. Musical Theatre West and 3D Theatricals still self-produce.

by Anonymousreply 277December 19, 2020 6:11 PM

I assume there was more of a theater department back in the '70s. They certainly haven't done as many productions in the recent past.

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by Anonymousreply 278December 19, 2020 6:29 PM

Someone posted Ellen Greene from the original tour

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by Anonymousreply 279December 26, 2020 1:03 AM

Heaven. That's singing...

by Anonymousreply 280December 26, 2020 1:05 AM

Ellen Greene should have had a better career. I wonder if she was up for Evita or Grizabella or some of the other big roles of that era.

Little Shop seemed to be the peak and also the end of her stage career.

by Anonymousreply 281December 26, 2020 3:27 AM

Ellen Greene and Jake Gyllenhaal singing "Suddenly, Seymour" in 2015. She was 64 at the time.

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by Anonymousreply 282December 26, 2020 4:15 AM

thanks r282! the part about 4:21 seconds in where she belts and shows she still has the same power from the old days gave me chills. (and the audience's eruption in applause shows lots of people were thrilled at each subsequent line.)

by Anonymousreply 283December 26, 2020 4:24 AM

How did it happen that Broadway got Anita Gillette in "They're Playing Our Song" and Ellen Greene was sent out on tour? That just makes no sense.

Greene was well known in NYC at that time. Known and appreciated. She had worked for Joe Papp, even getting a Tony nomination for Threepenny Opera at Lincoln Center. None of this would have made her especially well known out of NYC. "Next Stop, Greenwich Village" came before this touring company, but that did not make her a star.

Anita Gillette was a dependable Broadway actress, but she was a little long in the tooth for "They're Playing Our Song." She is 15 years older than Lucie Arnaz.

And the recordings prove that Ellen sang the hell out of these mediocre songs. It seems so odd that she was on tour and not on Broadway.

by Anonymousreply 284December 26, 2020 2:16 PM

Maybe Ellen didn’t want to do the show on broadway. She left the tour early to do Little Shop... and, after that, she probably figured she could do better things than replacing.

by Anonymousreply 285December 26, 2020 4:06 PM

Can’t find any pix of Greene in the role

by Anonymousreply 286December 26, 2020 6:24 PM

I'd guess Anita Gillette was more of a name and had just done well by Neil Simon with Chapter Two. They had had an understudy in all summer so probably felt they needed a name to bring publicity.

Ellen Greene couldn't have left the tour for Litttle Shop. The years don't match up. The tour was over by the time Little Shop started and the leads of the tour got to close the show on Broadway after a month's run. Greene could have done that if she had stayed with it.

Looks like she had a role in the movie I'm Dancing as Fast As I Can right after TPOS. Maybe she left the tour to do that.

by Anonymousreply 287December 26, 2020 9:55 PM

[quote]Looks like she had a role in the movie I'm Dancing as Fast As I Can right after TPOS.

I cannot stop reading this as That Piece of Shit.

by Anonymousreply 288December 27, 2020 12:38 AM

Anyone see Lorna Luft in it? How was she?

(I've always been a little fascinated by her bio where she talks about being up for Grizabella in Cats. She says they hired someone to work with her for months and basically said she had the part and then one day she read in the papers Betty Buckley was cast. I think she is fibbing or exaggerating. It doesn't line up with Buckley's story of multiple auditions over a period of months before she got the role.-----and if she was so close to it why did she replace Buckley or do the LA production? Instead she went into Snoopy a low profile off-Broadway show and was like the third replacement for a role in Extremities off-Broadway which she probably got because Liza's husband was a producer.)

by Anonymousreply 289December 28, 2020 4:04 AM

[italic]Snoopy[/italic] was from the 1970s; it opened way before [italic]Cats[/italic]. That's honestly the weakest out of all the Peanuts-themed musicals whether on stage, screen, or TV. Even [italic]Flashbeagle[/italic] had catchier songs.

by Anonymousreply 290December 28, 2020 4:06 AM

no r290 it opened in Dec. 1982 a few months after Cats.

by Anonymousreply 291December 28, 2020 4:09 AM

link for Snoopy

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by Anonymousreply 292December 28, 2020 4:09 AM

I had no idea it took that long to get to New York when it opened in San Francisco in 1975.

I also didn't know David Garrison played the title role in New York before his sitcom roles began.

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by Anonymousreply 293December 28, 2020 4:12 AM

Anything that comes out of the mouths of Lorna and Liza always needs to be assumed to be somewhere a lie and a half-truth, particularly when talking about themselves or their histories. To be fair, they can't help it; it's what they saw growing up and all they know. Reality was a scarce concept in those households.

by Anonymousreply 294December 28, 2020 6:35 PM

R294: And it's no coincidence that their mother marrying a Jewish man was the closest thing to stability that family ever saw.

by Anonymousreply 295December 28, 2020 6:47 PM

r293 Garrison also did A Day in Hollywood (Tony nom) and replaced in Torch Song and Pirates of Penzance before finding TV success. And someone I know a long time ago who claimed to be dating him said he's hung big-time.

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by Anonymousreply 296December 28, 2020 8:46 PM

What sex is this person?

by Anonymousreply 297December 28, 2020 10:56 PM

He was fired from Torch Song for some reason.

by Anonymousreply 298December 28, 2020 11:21 PM

Male r297

by Anonymousreply 299December 29, 2020 12:22 AM

Well that's odd because from everything I've heard even from what I've read here on DL it appears he is straight. Though I've found it strange that he never got married or had any long term partner. Especially because of the fact he was so popular on his sitcom the gossip magazines would have pounced on it.

I can even tell you he's well hung from personal experience. I saw him in I Do I Do with Karen Ziemba and he stripped down to his underwear in one scene and did not bother to wear any jock or dance belt. And I believe the entire audience marveled at how impressive his crotch was. Naked he must have been quite something.

by Anonymousreply 300December 29, 2020 8:15 PM

Q: "Alexa, what's mugging?"

A: "Look at the still image of Robert Klein in OP's post. Would you like me to tell you stupid shit you don't care about while you do that?"

by Anonymousreply 301December 29, 2020 8:47 PM

The full show with Victor Garber and Marsha Skaggs (the final Broadway company)

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by Anonymousreply 302December 29, 2020 11:37 PM

Garber wasn’t very good as Vernon. Marsha was ok but it was like watching an understudy.

by Anonymousreply 303December 30, 2020 1:42 AM

Garber gave up his role in Sweeney Todd to tour in TPOS. I wonder if he was offered the tour of Sweeney or if by then he felt that was beneath him. He missed the chance to preserve his role in the TV production.

by Anonymousreply 304December 30, 2020 2:23 AM

He and Sarah Rice both left Sweeney at the same time. Their contracts were not renewed by management.

by Anonymousreply 305December 30, 2020 2:42 AM

Why r305?

by Anonymousreply 306December 30, 2020 2:44 AM

Fun to see the boot at r302 but jeez. Feels like two understudies. Garber is kind of bitchy and charmless (but with a potentially nice ass is those 1981 slacks), and Skaggs is earnest but uninteresting. It’s a personality piece cast with two non-personalities.

R305: Any idea why they weren’t renewed? Garber could never really sing it I think.

by Anonymousreply 307December 30, 2020 2:45 AM

Garber and Rice both missed a lot of performances. At one performance, they both missed and Cris Groenendaal and Betsy Jocelyn went on together. Everyone agreed they were better. When contracts were up for renewal, two problems got solved.

by Anonymousreply 308December 30, 2020 2:50 AM

I remember hearing Neil Simon say on the Larry King overnight radio show that he thought Victor Garber (or the guy who did it in Chicago as he referred to him, was the best in the role.) He said Robert Klein and Tony Roberts were great but he thought Garber really captured the role. Odd.

by Anonymousreply 309December 30, 2020 2:51 AM

Did Garber and Rice leave when Lansbury and Cariou did or before?

by Anonymousreply 310December 30, 2020 2:52 AM

They left six months into the run. Both Cariou and Lansbury were in for some time after that. Hearn and Loudon only played for about three months.

by Anonymousreply 311December 30, 2020 2:54 AM

I personally heard Neil Simon say the best he'd ever seen in the role was Mr. Joyce DeWitt Ray Buktenica who did the show with Anita Gilette in Canada. He was going to go to Broadway but Ted Wass got the nod.

by Anonymousreply 312December 30, 2020 2:55 AM

It sort of is surprising they'd fire original cast members. As a kid I always wanted to see the originals.

In another thread on DL someone linked an interview with Kim Criswell and she discusses how she got cast as Grizabella in Cats in the sitdown LA production. She said they had auditioned her in the beginning but she didn't get it. Then they came to her a year in and said they were thinking of not renewing Betty Buckley's contract due to absences. Just shocks me they'd fire a Tony winner.

by Anonymousreply 313December 30, 2020 2:55 AM

Before. Hi Saul Lansbury and carry you but Garber was already gone. Groenendaal sang it well but was a very effeminate seaman.

by Anonymousreply 314December 30, 2020 2:56 AM

Betsy Joslyn. Sorry.

Hearn and Loudon played about 4 months. Sorry.

Why can't we edit???

by Anonymousreply 315December 30, 2020 2:56 AM

I saw Lansbury, not hi Saul.

by Anonymousreply 316December 30, 2020 2:57 AM

So Garber was let go first and then Rice left with Lansbury etc. Your post got a little scrambled.

by Anonymousreply 317December 30, 2020 2:58 AM

And Cariou not carry you. Aaaaaargh.

by Anonymousreply 318December 30, 2020 2:59 AM

Why didn't Cariou do the tour? Was his voice damaged by then?

(by the way I just watched Cariou win his Tony in youtube. They put the camera on a young blonde woman and label her "Mrs. Len Cariou"-------it is our very own G aka Glenn Close!) (and no they don't seem to have been married ever)

by Anonymousreply 319December 30, 2020 3:00 AM

Glenn sure got around. three husbands, a baby daddy, engaged to the head electrician of Sunset Boulevard but never made it down the aisle. Plus Woody Harrelson and Robert Patorelli who overdosed to get away from her.

She should get a sculptor. They stay in the basement and play with their clay and don't bother you too much.

by Anonymousreply 320December 30, 2020 3:02 AM

Funny, I saw Cris and Betsy go on together for the leads in Sunday in the Park... He’s a giant and she’s tiny but they were lovely together.

by Anonymousreply 321December 30, 2020 4:39 AM

r302 how do we think this video was done? What video equipment was even around in '81? Or was this from the tech board or something?

by Anonymousreply 322December 30, 2020 2:01 PM

R322. This was the final performance. Camera was set up on a tripod in the back of the theatre so some one from the production got the ok to film it.

by Anonymousreply 323December 30, 2020 2:13 PM

Anyone can argue for Betsy's alleged superiority, but her performance has been immortalized on video and it tells another story.

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by Anonymousreply 324December 30, 2020 7:09 PM

The world lost a Sonia Walsk today. Dawn Wells passed. Covid. Very sad. She seemed lovely.

by Anonymousreply 325December 30, 2020 7:52 PM

When Simon was writing names like Vernon Gersh and Sonia Walsk, you had to know how desperate he had become. The show was really annoying, and I couldn't believe it ran as long as it did.

by Anonymousreply 326December 30, 2020 8:04 PM

The recording of the original London cast is just awful. Did they rewrite the characters as Brits for that production or did the actors just do a terrible job of playing Americans? The male lead on particular sounded ghastly.

by Anonymousreply 327December 30, 2020 8:28 PM

Stop, R325. Just stop. Actresses play their roles as directed.

Betsy Joslyn had been playing that role for several years when the touring company was videotaped. The Broadway company opened in March of 1979 and the touring company was videotaped in August of 1981. The producers contracted for a recording of a stage performance and they got one. The Uris Theater was huge. The Dorothy Chandler is, too. And Johanna is annoying as fuck, anyway. Yes, Joslyn's performance is too big for television. But not for the Uris or for any of the huge touring houses the show played for the 10 months prior to the videotaping. There is a great deal in that video that might have been rethought for television. But wasn't. If the producers were not in favor of her interpretation of Johanna, they had years to get rid of her. But they didn't.

by Anonymousreply 328December 30, 2020 8:40 PM

Now if you really want to see a BIG performance check out Betty Bacall in the Tv version of APPLAUSE. It was not filmed in front of an audience and for the life of me I don’t know why no one told her to bring it down. Joanna is a crappy role and at least Betsy does something interesting with it.

by Anonymousreply 329December 30, 2020 9:38 PM

We're off the rails. I'm amazed a thread about They'r Playing Our Song has 330 posts—but once we're talking about Applause, it's a mess. Back to the titular show: Does anyone know how soon Klein left, and why so fast?

by Anonymousreply 330December 30, 2020 10:15 PM

Klein was bored but it never showed on stage. He just didn’t like the grind of 8 shows a week. But he stuck it out for a year. When he did Sisters Rosenzweig he left after 6 mos.

by Anonymousreply 331December 30, 2020 10:57 PM

With my parents, I saw Lucie and Tony Roberts. I didn’t realize the show was already a year old.

Went back with friends to see Ted Wass and Diana Canova. We were Soap fans so it was really fun to see them together live doing something else . I remember liking them but was young , so I don’t known if they were actually any good.

by Anonymousreply 332December 30, 2020 11:21 PM

this. show. is. not. worth. this. thread.

by Anonymousreply 333December 31, 2020 12:42 AM

I read (maybe even back in this thread) that Klein left at the end of Nov. 1979. I think the person said he left kind of unexpectedly early and Tony Roberts wasn't ready yet so an understudy did two weeks. Same thing happened when Tony Roberts left. That same understudy played a few weeks before Ted Wass took over.

Lucie left suddenly too I think but she played the full year contract. An understudy went on a bit but Stockard got ready earlier than expected and took over.

by Anonymousreply 334December 31, 2020 4:04 AM

Lucie should have replaced Joanna Gleason in Into the Woods. I could see her doing well in that role.

by Anonymousreply 335December 31, 2020 5:41 AM

Fun idea

by Anonymousreply 336December 31, 2020 12:24 PM

Robert Klein, Tony Roberts, Victor Garber... Was Ted Wass the only Vernon with any real sex appeal? Watching Garber in the closing night performance, it doesn't seem why she'd be interested in this snippy queen. It's not like Simon writes sexy guys; it's gotta come from the performer (like Redford in [italic]Barefoot[/italic])

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by Anonymousreply 337December 31, 2020 1:37 PM

The standby John Hammil was adorable and probably the best of all the Vernons. He got the laughs and had that nerdy/sexy look. He did Woman of the Year after that then disappeared.

by Anonymousreply 338December 31, 2020 2:03 PM

The show was harmless, charming, and completely empty. There's always a place for that.

by Anonymousreply 339January 1, 2021 4:29 PM

It's called musical comedy.

by Anonymousreply 340January 1, 2021 4:47 PM

Musical comedy? Did you see the goddamned thing? Have you tried to listen to any of the cast albums recorded?

If it is any sort of 'musical comedy,' it is the failed sort. Utterly wretched few hours in the ol' the-ay-ter.

by Anonymousreply 341January 1, 2021 6:09 PM

oh, relax, r341, it's a new year. Anyhow, I was responding to r339. Who asked you?

by Anonymousreply 342January 1, 2021 6:31 PM

And I thought DataLounge was obsessed with Follies. This must be the new obsession. At least Follies tried to have something to say.

by Anonymousreply 343January 1, 2021 6:46 PM

John Hammil was a nice guy and probably still is.

by Anonymousreply 344January 1, 2021 6:54 PM

Conti & Craven at the royal preview performance.

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by Anonymousreply 345January 1, 2021 6:56 PM

Please tell me this we're not going to have multi-part threads on "They're Playing Our Song."

by Anonymousreply 346January 1, 2021 9:05 PM

Lucie was going to do the show in London but got pregnant. Goldie Hawn said no. Gemma Craven was delightful.

by Anonymousreply 347January 1, 2021 11:54 PM

Now starring TONY ROBERTS and RHONDA FARER!!!!

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by Anonymousreply 348January 2, 2021 2:58 AM

Try it in Spanish. That way you don't have to hear the silly lyrics.

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by Anonymousreply 349January 2, 2021 3:34 AM

Lucie left right after the commercial started airing. I’m sure the producers were pissed.

by Anonymousreply 350January 2, 2021 7:47 PM

R350, why would they be angry? They knew she was leaving--otherwise they would have put her in the commercial.

by Anonymousreply 351January 2, 2021 7:50 PM

She left sooner than expected when she got cast in The Jazz Singer. Was supposed to come back and replace Stockard but that never happened.

by Anonymousreply 352January 2, 2021 8:42 PM

She may have left sooner than expected, but there must have been enough notice if she was still there while they were airing a commercial with her replacement as R350 says.

by Anonymousreply 353January 2, 2021 8:52 PM

I had to look twice at that commercial. At first I thought it was Lucie, then realized it's not. Then thought it was her in the wider shots - and maybe they shot Ronnie for the inserts - but I don't think so.

by Anonymousreply 354January 2, 2021 9:47 PM

Tony and Anita

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by Anonymousreply 355January 2, 2021 10:06 PM

Did they run the commercial with Lucie while Stockard was in the show (and put up Stockard's name like they did with Rhonda Farer.)

Why did Lucie never return to the show after filming the Jazz Singer?

That must be why Farer went on for three months. They were expecting to have Lucie back and Anita wasn't ready yet.

by Anonymousreply 356January 3, 2021 3:09 AM

it is Lucie r354

Those kind of commercials were common back then. The ran the Evita commercial thru the whole run with a sign saying scenes from the original cast. I bet some people still showed up expecting to see Mandy and Patti.

by Anonymousreply 357January 3, 2021 3:11 AM

People come and go in the casts of long-running shows. There are agreements in place between the League and Actors Equity about how many current cast members must be in a specific image so that it can still be used when it depicts cast members who have left the show. While Lucie can still be dancing in a large group in the commercial, you do not see her there solo, nor is her name mentioned. The music, the choreography, the costumes, are all part of the production, even if one particular performer has changed.

Video is expensive to shoot and edit. Still photography is, also.

by Anonymousreply 358January 3, 2021 2:10 PM

Gawd, that Tony Roberts and Anita Gillette commercial was done cheaply. Just re-use the still photos they already have. Don't pay the stars to shoot a commercial. And how much could a toy piano have cost them?

It is common to see lavish commericals shot when the show opens. The commercials that follow them are something else entirely.

by Anonymousreply 359January 3, 2021 2:13 PM

R357, it does not even look like Lucie. And running her face with another person's name next to it would never have happened.

by Anonymousreply 360January 3, 2021 2:27 PM

It’s not lucie

by Anonymousreply 361January 3, 2021 2:49 PM

It is definitely Lucie. At the beginning she is seen in close up and it it her.

They ran the commercial when she and Tony were in it. Then when she left they added the "Now starring."

The "now" was to indicate the cast had changed.

by Anonymousreply 362January 3, 2021 6:24 PM

R360 and R361 are both wrong about it not being Lucie Arnaz.

by Anonymousreply 363January 3, 2021 6:30 PM

I looked again, and apologies: It [italic]is[/italic] her. Never mind.

by Anonymousreply 364January 3, 2021 7:01 PM

Lucy wanted to replace Lucie, but Gary...

by Anonymousreply 365January 3, 2021 11:47 PM

What were the Los Angeles reviews of the try out? Did people in LA care?

by Anonymousreply 366January 4, 2021 2:24 AM

'Member when Tony Orlando tried to rescue his career from the shitter with a disco version of the title song?

I remember.

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by Anonymousreply 367January 4, 2021 2:31 AM

Tony also did Barnum on the Broadway. Did anyone see him?

by Anonymousreply 368January 4, 2021 3:54 AM

No, but I saw Jim Dale several times and loved him and the production each time. I can't say the same for UK production on video with the execrable Michael Crawford.

by Anonymousreply 369January 4, 2021 4:10 AM

Rhonda Farer (sometimes billed as Ronnie Farer) is the dancer to the right of Lucie in the commercial I believe. She was a skinny small framed woman. I think that one is her.

by Anonymousreply 370January 4, 2021 4:37 AM

Ronnie Farer was also Carol Burnett’s standby in Putting it Together and went on during previews. But once Kathie Lee became the Tuesday night alternate she filled in whenever Carol was absent.

by Anonymousreply 371January 4, 2021 5:00 AM

[quote]r4 Lucie Arnaz was outstanding. She's a natural Broadway performer and very talented.

Why did her career go straight down the proverbial shitter?

by Anonymousreply 372January 4, 2021 5:49 AM

R372. She got married and raised 5 kids. Her priorities changed and she missed out on opportunities. Plus she’s got all that Desilu money and doesn’t need to work.

by Anonymousreply 373January 4, 2021 6:02 AM

r372 Her film career was said to be ruined by Sue Mengers. She advised Lucie not to take the mother role in Poltergeist because it would be too arduous with all the mud and skeletons and stuff. Instead she did some comedy that bombed and later a sitcom that only ran briefly.

Her Broadway career probably slowed because the 80s brought the big British musicals that needed belters.

Plus as said she had a lot of kids and worked a lot with her husband. They toured a lot and even did Whose Life Is It Anyway alternating the male and female lead versions.

Poltergeist was a big mistake. Not that Jobeth Williams had that great of a career but it may have opened Lucie up to dramatic roles. She always has that wry comic quality that I don't think people took her seriously for non-comedies.

by Anonymousreply 374January 4, 2021 6:07 AM

Lucie was great in that L&O episode where she played a Martha Stewart character after Stewart's insider trader conviction. Or maybe it was one of the L&O spinoffs, I can't remember. At any rate, her defense at her trial, where she was accused of fucking her daughter's boyfriend and then killing him, was that she was having hot flashes from hormone withdrawal therapy and didn't know what she was doing. She gets found guilty but it's great fun along the way.

Lucie could have had a really good run but I think she found happiness with her family and after a certain point just didn't really care about a show biz career any more..

by Anonymousreply 375January 4, 2021 6:26 AM

^ hormone therapy withdrawal, not vice versa, but I'm sure you know what I meant.

by Anonymousreply 376January 4, 2021 6:57 AM

Was she good in The Jazz Singer?

I thought that film was a bomb but she got a Golden Globe nomination as Best Supporting Actress beating out a bunch of women who'd go on to Oscar nods instead of her.

by Anonymousreply 377January 4, 2021 7:28 AM

The whole story has always been contrived. Seriously, the idea that no synagogue in New York has a spare Cantor for Kol Nidre services was absurd in 1927 and became no less absurd with each new remake.

by Anonymousreply 378January 4, 2021 7:40 AM

She was the one bright spot in Jazz Singer. She’s also been doing her club act for years. Gave a great performance as Bella in Lost in Yonkers. So many roles she could have played. Oh well.

by Anonymousreply 379January 4, 2021 11:33 AM

She did the latest pippin tour

by Anonymousreply 380January 4, 2021 12:28 PM

Lucie has worked a lot over the years. Where and when she wants. She has a 40 year marriage to a nice guy (who was also very hot in his day.) Three kids. And an inheritance. Very few get all of that.

Show business has been very, very, good to Lucie Arnaz.

by Anonymousreply 381January 4, 2021 12:42 PM

THEY'RE PLAYING OUR SONG / LA REPRISE

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by Anonymousreply 382January 4, 2021 3:20 PM

The choreography for "the boys" is, um, interesting....

by Anonymousreply 383January 4, 2021 3:29 PM

No, THIS is interesting.

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by Anonymousreply 384January 4, 2021 4:55 PM

[quote]She did the latest pippin tour

I saw her in "Pippin" in D.C. She was wonderful in the Irene Ryan role. (I also saw Andrea Martin in New York.)

by Anonymousreply 385January 4, 2021 4:56 PM

Pippin interview

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by Anonymousreply 386January 4, 2021 5:00 PM

I got to see Adrienne Barbeau in her Pippin tour and she was pretty great. Landed all the laughs, looked gorgeous, and had a much better voice than I'd expected. I knew she played Rizzo in Grease, but for a woman of her age to still be belting it out like that was impressive. Makes me wonder if she has any other musical roles left in her.

by Anonymousreply 387January 4, 2021 5:38 PM

Adrienne Barbeau could have played Sonia (just to bring it back to TPOS).

by Anonymousreply 388January 4, 2021 6:15 PM

Includes a previously unheard song that replaced "I Still Believe in Love":

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by Anonymousreply 389January 4, 2021 6:42 PM

Did that song end up as a pop song? I feel like I know it...

by Anonymousreply 390January 4, 2021 6:48 PM

Agree with R2 and R32.

It was fun, light, cute, unpretentious, catchy and affordable.

My father very much appreciated Broadway musicals and murder mysteries and would make a day out of a visit to see a show. THEY'RE PLAYING OUR SONG was either the second or third musical my father took me to see. I must have seen this when I was 9 or 10 or 11. I still have fond memories of the show and seeing it with my Dad. When I saw it a second time years later, I realized that was just a fluffy soft rock New York Jewish 1970s fluff musical.

by Anonymousreply 391January 4, 2021 6:49 PM

I saw the original production with Klein and Arnaz , didn't think there was very much to it at the time, and, all these years later, think there's even less to it than I originally thought.

by Anonymousreply 392January 4, 2021 7:41 PM

It's like Grease for gays. Its insipidness inspires a certain devotion.

by Anonymousreply 393January 4, 2021 8:34 PM

Neil Simon works were usually quite successful at this time. I think his next play "Fool" was his first flop. Funny that John Rubinstein agreed to do that one but passed on TPOS.

Rubinstein also did the tour of Pippin as the King. I wonder if he and Lucie were in at the same time. Finally together after all these years if so.

by Anonymousreply 394January 4, 2021 9:32 PM

Yes r394 she mentions him in the interview.

and that clip at r384 is amazing. Tanks tops and Spandex. That must be what they think of Americans, because the Boys and Girls are decked out in red, white and blue stars and stripes.

by Anonymousreply 395January 4, 2021 10:07 PM

I think all the older broads they cast were pretty impressive, r387. from the clips I've seen.

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by Anonymousreply 396January 4, 2021 11:34 PM

I wonder why Lorna Luft never made it into the Broadway company. That three month period with the understudy is odd. I guess they were expecting Lucie to be in it then in between Stockard Channing and Anita Gillette.

Who was else was up for the role either as the replacement or in the original casting?

by Anonymousreply 397January 5, 2021 4:31 AM

[quote]I wonder why Lorna Luft never made it into the Broadway company.

I'm not sure Lorna could have handled the circus stuff, to be honest. Movement was never her strong suit.

by Anonymousreply 398January 5, 2021 5:35 AM

I meant why didn't Lorna go into the Broadway company of TPOS.

by Anonymousreply 399January 5, 2021 5:59 AM

R76 Marry me!!

by Anonymousreply 400January 5, 2021 7:10 AM

The Jazz Singer is on youtube.

I'm going to watch it now and revel in how bad I'm hoping it will be.

I have very little Lucie Arnaz knowledge.

I watched Here's Lucy as a kid but don't have much memory of her. I remember Desi Jr cuz I'm gay.

I do like her on the Witches of Eastwick London Cast recording. Though I was surprised she was cast in it because even back then I thought 'there's a name I haven't heard in ages'.

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by Anonymousreply 401January 5, 2021 7:47 AM

Holy shit Ellen Greene sang the FUCK out of those meager songs and turned what was bathos into pathos.

And she's naturally funny.

Whole different musical with Greene and Garber

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by Anonymousreply 402January 5, 2021 9:05 AM

Amazing that the show didn’t attract better replacements. Poor Anita. Even she knew she was too old for it and choked every time she had to say she just turned 30.

by Anonymousreply 403January 5, 2021 11:43 AM

How do you know that? Does she have stories?

by Anonymousreply 404January 5, 2021 12:53 PM

It was perfectly obvious that she was ill-suited and much too old for the role. Anita Gillette is talented and experienced and not stupid. She knew. We all knew.

by Anonymousreply 405January 5, 2021 1:02 PM

Seemingly, everything made Anita nervous.

by Anonymousreply 406January 5, 2021 1:05 PM

Indeed.

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by Anonymousreply 407January 5, 2021 1:07 PM

OK, I'll do it:

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by Anonymousreply 408January 5, 2021 1:27 PM

She made Julie wanna laugh, r407.

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by Anonymousreply 409January 5, 2021 1:35 PM

I find all the production photos for this show hilarious. They have nothing to photograph other than two cutesy actors making cutesy faces. And the Sonia dresses always look awful... And that fingers in the air shot!? Why did they think that would sell tickets?

by Anonymousreply 410January 5, 2021 3:14 PM

[quote] Why did they think that would sell tickets? It ran from Feb '79 to Sept '81 so apparently it did. A cheap show in a large theatre, and the marketing apparently worked just fine. It's not like they had big stars to carry it, as we've discussed here: Tony Roberts, Anita Gillette, the Soap pair, Rhonda Farer, Marsha Skaggs...

by Anonymousreply 411January 5, 2021 3:18 PM

sorry messed up formatting above

[quote] Why did they think that would sell tickets?

It ran from Feb '79 to Sept '81 so apparently it did. A cheap show in a large theatre, and the marketing apparently worked just fine. It's not like they had big stars to carry it, as we've discussed here: Tony Roberts, Anita Gillette, the Soap pair, Rhonda Farer, Marsha Skaggs...

by Anonymousreply 412January 5, 2021 3:19 PM

Anita said in an interview that she cringed every time she said she was 30. Joanne Worley played Sonia in her 50s. Wonder how that went over.

by Anonymousreply 413January 5, 2021 4:01 PM

[quote]Joanne Worley played Sonia in her 50s. Wonder how that went over.

I don't see a problem with it.

by Anonymousreply 414January 5, 2021 4:07 PM

Hey, r410, they were nice enough that Lucie kept *hers*!

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by Anonymousreply 415January 5, 2021 4:11 PM

Cathy Rigby played Sonia in Bucks County and added a cartwheel to the choreography for the title number. Andrea McCardle played Sonia in her late teens.

by Anonymousreply 416January 5, 2021 4:26 PM

I saw her on that summer tour. She did it with her husband Laurence Luckinbill. I saw them at The Muny, and they actually pulled it off.

by Anonymousreply 417January 5, 2021 4:29 PM

[quote]Cathy Rigby played Sonia in Bucks County and added a cartwheel to the choreography for the title number.

For the curtain call, did she fly out over the audience?

by Anonymousreply 418January 5, 2021 5:45 PM

It's not on YT but they did a commercial with Lorna and she sang "If He Really Knew Me" and obviously sounded very good.

by Anonymousreply 419January 5, 2021 6:05 PM

Lucie Arnaz is obviously a member of the DL and bored.

by Anonymousreply 420January 5, 2021 6:08 PM

r418

No, but she gave out peanut butter

by Anonymousreply 421January 5, 2021 6:09 PM

A third-rate musical that no one even thinks about....COULD SOMEONE PLEASE PUT THIS THREAD OUT OF ITS MISERY?

by Anonymousreply 422January 5, 2021 8:52 PM

[quote]COULD SOMEONE PLEASE PUT THIS THREAD OUT OF ITS MISERY?

I'm predicting a Part 2.

by Anonymousreply 423January 5, 2021 9:03 PM

Some of us have been enjoying all the attention this B- minus musical has been getting... It is hilarious. Let's keep it going!

by Anonymousreply 424January 5, 2021 9:15 PM

This thread has almost 500 posts. I'm shocked. Maybe this show has more life in it than I originally thought. Might be time for a revival or at least an Encores staging.

by Anonymousreply 425January 5, 2021 10:34 PM

It's people posting here because they've been paywalled out of the Theatre Gossip threads.

by Anonymousreply 426January 5, 2021 10:37 PM

I'm personally going to see to a Part 2 just to make r422 explode with chagrin.

by Anonymousreply 427January 5, 2021 10:39 PM

I saw this when it opened. It looked like an off off Broadway show on the stage of the Imperial. And they were charging full Broadway prices. They must have made a fortune.

by Anonymousreply 428January 5, 2021 10:39 PM

Sometimes the timing is just right for a small musical.

by Anonymousreply 429January 5, 2021 10:55 PM

But Day in Hollywood played at something like the Royale or Golden.

by Anonymousreply 430January 5, 2021 11:13 PM

I'd honestly rather read this thread than have to hear anymore about that stupid rap show about that asshole who deserved to get shot for enabling the oligarchic nightmare we see before us today.

by Anonymousreply 431January 5, 2021 11:16 PM

Ankles Aweigh?

by Anonymousreply 432January 5, 2021 11:24 PM

I never saw this show since it was before my time, but I used to enjoy the songs whenever they would pop up on Broadway radio or whatever. Now having seen the deadly clips posted here, I definitely have no desire whatsoever to ever see the show live. That LA Reprise clip in particular is embarrassing in it’s awfulness. I guess you had to be there.

by Anonymousreply 433January 5, 2021 11:30 PM

Workin'!

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by Anonymousreply 434January 5, 2021 11:58 PM

R433. The LA reprise production was horrible in every respect. It’s a very good show when it’s done well and cast well.

by Anonymousreply 435January 6, 2021 1:11 AM

It cannot be done well and cast well in that the material is Broadway slop.

by Anonymousreply 436January 6, 2021 1:21 AM

That's why it's TPOS, r436!

by Anonymousreply 437January 6, 2021 1:25 AM

It was sold more on the names of Neil Simon and Marvin Hamlisch (fresh off A Chorus Line) than the stars.

Notice how no one is billed above the title.

Plus it was the only hit of the season besides Sweeney and Whorehouse.

1979 had a ton of flop musicals.

by Anonymousreply 438January 6, 2021 4:36 AM

I'd give anything to live again in a world where a single season would give us Sweeney, Whorehouse and even TPOS.

Any body want to talk about Seesaw?

by Anonymousreply 439January 6, 2021 4:41 AM

Yes.

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by Anonymousreply 440January 6, 2021 4:44 AM

Sonia's dresses were a running gag in the show. All her clothes came from closed Broadway shows....this is my Pippen dress etc.

by Anonymousreply 441January 6, 2021 4:57 AM
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by Anonymousreply 442January 6, 2021 4:59 AM
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by Anonymousreply 443January 6, 2021 4:59 AM

Bringing up Seesaw makes me think of Lainie Kazan, and can we imagine what a mess she'd make of TPOS (or Sweeney, for that matter)?

by Anonymousreply 444January 6, 2021 5:07 AM

Barbra missed only one performance of Funny Girl, It was a pre-scheduled evening absence. Her understudy, Lainie, finally got a full orchestra run through that afternoon, after nothing but piano rehearsals. During "I'm the Greatest Star" the conductor stopped and rapped his music stand. "No, no, no. Barbra does it like this" and hummed a few bars.

Lainie just stood there, glaring at him, before finally saying glacially

"I'm. Not. Barbra."

He didn't interrupt again.

by Anonymousreply 445January 6, 2021 5:26 AM

R394 Arnaz and Rubenstein were, in fact, in Pippin at the same time. I'd seen it in LA with Andrea Martin, and a few weeks later in OC when Lucie came in. Sorry to say, Lucie underwhelmed. That evening, anyway.

by Anonymousreply 446January 6, 2021 5:50 AM

Martin was so brilliant in Pippin that I doubt anyone could follow her.

She got such huge laughs just with expressions and gestures and was so good at working the crowd.

by Anonymousreply 447January 6, 2021 7:38 AM

Martin was brilliant as The Old Lady in that short lived late 90s Prince revival of Candide with Jim Dale. I think both of them got Tony noms.

by Anonymousreply 448January 6, 2021 7:45 AM

This should have died like the Sweet Charity thread.

by Anonymousreply 449January 6, 2021 12:03 PM

You’re just jealous.

by Anonymousreply 450January 6, 2021 12:25 PM

When I think a thread is ridiculous or a waste of time guess what I do? Ignore them.

by Anonymousreply 451January 6, 2021 12:41 PM

The lyrics are generally generic pop, but every once in a while something good shines through: "To him, 'broken heart' is a phrase I should write for his goddamned middle part."

by Anonymousreply 452January 6, 2021 12:45 PM

I was there, R433. Being there doesn't make this show better. It makes it worse. The Cast Album isn't very good, but you don't hear much of Neil Simon's script. He had passed his prime when he pushed out this one.

by Anonymousreply 453January 6, 2021 1:03 PM

Did anyone at the end of OP's video a young Glenn Close applauding in the audience.

by Anonymousreply 454January 6, 2021 1:17 PM

Anita Gillette probably got cast once she became a regular on so many game shows like Match Game, $10000 Pyramid, and Hollywood Squares. Those game show appearances make you a name actress. Others like Lainie Kazan should have done it.

by Anonymousreply 455January 6, 2021 2:13 PM

[quote]This thread has almost 500 posts

425 IS NOT almost 500. You must be a ballot counter

by Anonymousreply 456January 6, 2021 2:32 PM

[quote] 1979 had a ton of flop musicals.

It had a ton of flop TV shows, too.

by Anonymousreply 457January 6, 2021 2:35 PM

To make it work, r444, it should be *the* Toby.

by Anonymousreply 458January 6, 2021 2:58 PM

To the question of the billing, at this point in his career, not only did Simon always get top billing, but he was also actually the producer. It was usually his own money. Manny Azenburg was hired by Simon.

by Anonymousreply 459January 6, 2021 3:30 PM

Does Elaine also get royalties from Lost Horizon on DVD?

by Anonymousreply 460January 6, 2021 8:21 PM

[quote]—God she was awful in Sugar.

Elaine was awful on "Tattletales" and "Match Game."

by Anonymousreply 461January 6, 2021 8:53 PM

Elaine Joyce Van Simon, herself!

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by Anonymousreply 462January 7, 2021 3:09 AM

Elaine Joyce was a bitch to Mary Tyler Moore.

The letter came from Simon but people think it was Joyce's nastiness that encouraged him to write it (or she wrote it.)

by Anonymousreply 463January 7, 2021 4:01 AM

What a rhinoplasty can do for a career.

by Anonymousreply 464January 7, 2021 4:37 AM

You said a mouthful, R464.

by Anonymousreply 465January 7, 2021 1:37 PM

I beg your pardon, r464!

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by Anonymousreply 466January 7, 2021 2:15 PM

I also beg your pardon, R464!

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by Anonymousreply 467January 7, 2021 3:06 PM

I loved when Elaine Joyce would randomly show up at rehearsals for the (totally mediocre) revival of "Promises, Promises" and want to dance with the ensemble.

by Anonymousreply 468January 7, 2021 3:44 PM

R453 he actually had yet to write some of his most popular, acclaimed works. The Eugene trilogy, and Lost in Yonkers.

by Anonymousreply 469January 7, 2021 3:52 PM

His most popular, acclaimed works are Barefoot in the Park, The Odd Couple, Sweet Charity, and Promises, Promises. And obviously, he had help with two of them.

by Anonymousreply 470January 7, 2021 5:19 PM

Simon’s best plays came in the 80s. Lost in Yonkers is my favorite.

by Anonymousreply 471January 7, 2021 6:00 PM

The original Lost in Yonkers was wonderful and Kevin the monster Spacey was terrific in it.

by Anonymousreply 472January 7, 2021 8:58 PM

And Lucie was replacement Bella. We're still on topic. Whew!

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by Anonymousreply 473January 7, 2021 10:44 PM

Lucie was great. Anne Jackson? Not so much.

by Anonymousreply 474January 7, 2021 10:48 PM

He was brought in near the end of previews to add one liners to A Chorus Line. Not credited but well known.

by Anonymousreply 475January 8, 2021 2:16 AM

I never knew that about Elaine Joyce and the Promises, Promises revival. What must the cast have thought?

by Anonymousreply 476January 8, 2021 2:35 AM

[quote]What must the cast have thought?

Um, "Oh no, not that bitch AGAIN"?

by Anonymousreply 477January 8, 2021 2:40 AM

On one of the recent theatre gossip threads, it was mentioned that Elaine Stritch and/or fans tried hard to reinvent herself as a living legend, last of the tradition, etc. It sounds like this was playing out in a smaller scale with Elaine Joyce. Shoot, maybe she thought she was like Gwen Verdon ...

by Anonymousreply 478January 8, 2021 2:59 AM

Elained Joyce in The Gretchen Wyler Story.

by Anonymousreply 479January 8, 2021 3:04 AM

Wasn't Neil Simon with Marsha Mason during "They're Playing Our Song"? I know she was with him during A Chorus Line at The Public where he contributed some lines. (Can the Adults Please Smoke.....I've had three today.). Mason also convinced Michael Bennett that Cassie had to make the final cut. He had to give the audience some hope.

by Anonymousreply 480January 8, 2021 3:17 PM

I think Chapter Two was filming around the time TPOS was on broadway so, yes, they were still together.

by Anonymousreply 481January 8, 2021 5:00 PM

Simon and Mason were together into the early 80s. They still had Only When I Laugh and Max Dugan Returns that they did together.

Breaking up with him pretty much ended her film career.

by Anonymousreply 482January 8, 2021 9:17 PM

Because Mason was god awful as she proved in that piece of pornography The Goodbye Girl.

by Anonymousreply 483January 8, 2021 10:00 PM

Mason was great in Cinderella Liberty. She sucked in every movie she made with Simon especially Chapter Two where she was playing a character based on herself.

by Anonymousreply 484January 8, 2021 11:42 PM

Neil Simon had four wives. Joan Bairn obviously inspired a good deal of his work (Barefoot in the Park, Chapter Two, Jake's Women), as did Marsha (Chapter Two, at least) and Diane Lander (Jake's Women). Did Elaine Joyce inspire any of his last three plays?

by Anonymousreply 485January 9, 2021 12:06 AM

Given how much we've gotten out of TPOS, I can't wait for the "The Goodbye Girl -- the Musical" thread....Let's talk about how many songs were cut out of town....And the advance still grew...

by Anonymousreply 486January 9, 2021 2:02 AM

Lucie was pissed that she wasn’t offered Goodbye Girl. She would have been much better than Peters. Neil threw her third replacement Bella in Yonkers instead. It should also be mentioned that the producers of Rags brought Lucie to Boston to check the show out in case Teresa Stratas was too ill to make it to broadway.

by Anonymousreply 487January 9, 2021 2:18 AM

[quote] Lucie was pissed that she wasn’t offered Goodbye Girl

Interesting but how do you know?

by Anonymousreply 488January 9, 2021 2:23 AM

Say what, r487? I don't think so.

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by Anonymousreply 489January 9, 2021 2:29 AM

Bernadette was much more of a name than Lucie in 1993, certainly, but honestly, the role of Paula needs a young actress, someone who's believable as a dancer starting to age out of her prime.

by Anonymousreply 490January 9, 2021 2:45 AM

Lucie talked about it on one of those old American Theatre Wing Seminars. Lucie has no filter. She pointed out that she wasn’t even considered for GG and had to audition for Lost in Yonkers and they sent her the movie script by mistake. Rags I don’t get because she doesn’t have the voice but I had a friend in the show and she swears they were thinking of bringing Lucie in.

by Anonymousreply 491January 9, 2021 2:54 AM

I assume that Gary talked the producers out of it.

by Anonymousreply 492January 9, 2021 6:34 PM

[quote]Lucie talked about it on one of those old American Theatre Wing Seminars. Lucie has no filter. She pointed out that she wasn’t even considered for GG and had to audition for Lost in Yonkers and they sent her the movie script by mistake. Rags I don’t get because she doesn’t have the voice but I had a friend in the show and she swears they were thinking of bringing Lucie in.

Either your friend is delusional, or the producers were. There is NO WAY IN THIS UNIVERSE that Lucie could ever have sung the Stratas role in RAGS -- and I can't imagine they would ever considered asking her to play the other major female character, a supporting role. Besides, there would have been no reason for the producers to think of bring her into the show, of all people, because she really doesn't have that much name value at the box office. For similar reasons, I don't know why Lucie expected to be sought after for THE GOODBYE GIRL. I think she would probably have been fine in the role, but again, why her specifically, of all people?

by Anonymousreply 493January 9, 2021 7:03 PM

I saw "Rags" on press night in Boston, with Christine Andreas subbing for Teresa Stratas. It was Christine who was reviewed. I can't imagine anyone more wrong for the Stratas role than Lucie Arnaz.

Well, Elaine Joyce would be more wrong, come to think of it.

by Anonymousreply 494January 9, 2021 7:04 PM

I saw "Rags" on press night in Boston, with Christine Andreas subbing for Teresa Stratas. It was Christine who was reviewed. I can't imagine anyone more wrong for the Stratas role than Lucie Arnaz.

Well, Elaine Joyce would be more wrong, come to think of it.

by Anonymousreply 495January 9, 2021 7:04 PM

Sorry for the double post. I got a "couldn't save/low captcha," or whatever the hell it is, the first time I tried to post it.

by Anonymousreply 496January 9, 2021 7:06 PM

How was Christine? I don't know the show but I've seen Stratus a few times and I can't imagine a more unlikely replacement for her in anything than Andreas.

by Anonymousreply 497January 9, 2021 7:28 PM

Well, R497, keep in mind that I saw "Rags" in Boston back in 1986, but, as I recall, Christine sang the score beautifully and was quite effective in the role.

by Anonymousreply 498January 9, 2021 7:32 PM

Elaine woulda danced the hell out of it, r495!

by Anonymousreply 499January 9, 2021 7:39 PM

You bet your ass, I would have!

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by Anonymousreply 500January 9, 2021 8:06 PM

The Goodbye Girl was such a flop that maybe Lucie should be thankful that she wasn't in it. Didn't seem to hurt Peters or Short's career since everyone agreed it wasn't their fault the show sunk. In fact, it was exhausting trying to watch good performers try to turn bad material into something worthy of them.

by Anonymousreply 501January 9, 2021 8:33 PM

And to attempt an eighth-inning tie-back ... suppose sometime after DROWSY CHAPERONE (but no later than VIOLET), Sutton Foster did a revival of GOODBYE GIRL. In case we've forgotten, her resume includes SWEET CHARITY and ... THEY'RE PLAYING OUR SONG.

by Anonymousreply 502January 9, 2021 8:45 PM

sports.

by Anonymousreply 503January 9, 2021 9:51 PM

Sutton did a revival of The Goodbye Girl? You mean a workshop or something? Or was it a regional production somewhere? I've never heard of that show being done anywhere since Broadway.

I'm not a big fan of hers, but that might not have been a half-bad role for her.

by Anonymousreply 504January 10, 2021 2:25 AM

They did keep on trying to make "The Goodbye Girl" work, at least for a little while after Broadway. There was a London production in 1997, co-starring the late Ann Crumb and Gary Wilmot. Only a couple of David Zippel lyrics were retained, with Marvin Hamlisch writing new songs with Don Black. And there was a cast album.

"The Goodbye Girl" got a West Coast production (L.A./Glendale) in '96 with Debbie Shapiro Gravitte and Gary Sandy.

And in '97, Donna McKechnie starred at Philadelphia's Walnut Street Theatre in the title role.

by Anonymousreply 505January 10, 2021 2:58 AM

Sheryl Lee Ralph was signed to replace Bernadette in The Goodbye Girl on Broadway but they closed it instead. Not sure if Short was going to continue or if they had a replacement for him too.

by Anonymousreply 506January 10, 2021 3:18 AM

R506 Matthew Modine was mentioned as a possible replacement for Short, to play opposite Sheryl Lee Ralph.

by Anonymousreply 507January 10, 2021 4:02 AM

Tony Danza was also mentioned as a replacement for Short. Ralph was already in rehearsal when they pulled the plug.

by Anonymousreply 508January 10, 2021 4:37 AM

The Goodbye Girl was so bad it didn't even get a tour, and hell, GHOST got a tour...

by Anonymousreply 509January 10, 2021 5:16 AM

Will you fill in the words?

by Anonymousreply 510January 12, 2021 4:03 PM

did anyone see Donna Murphy?

by Anonymousreply 511January 12, 2021 4:26 PM

The producers of TPOS were apoplectic about the TONY awards that year. Lucie Arnaz wasn't even nominated, the flop Ballroom received more nominations than the confirmed Simon/Hamlisch hit, and it got completely shut out of the awards when Sweeney Todd swept. They actually gave interviews at the time vocally complaining about how they were unfairly shunned.

by Anonymousreply 512January 12, 2021 4:28 PM

That show cost them the price of a bandaid so they should have just taken the money and shut up.

by Anonymousreply 513January 12, 2021 4:50 PM

agreed R513

by Anonymousreply 514January 12, 2021 5:03 PM

One-night only reunion in 2019. Missed it.

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by Anonymousreply 515January 12, 2021 5:12 PM

It's interesting to consider the difference between the Tony Awards in 1979 and how things would have gone 40 years later. Hell yes, Whorehouse and TPOS would have gotten nominations for Best Score. They'd likely have given a special award to Eubie Blake rather than nominate him and others for Best Original Score (did he write anything new for Eubie!?). The roles of Ed Earl and especially Miss Mona in Whorehouse would be considered lead, not featured (and who knows, maybe you could get 1-2 more nominees from that show, like the actors playing Watchdog and the governor or the actress playing Jewel). Among Turpin, Anthony, Johanna and maybe even Toby, Sweeney Todd would also have been guaranteed at least one nomination in the featured actors category.

by Anonymousreply 516January 12, 2021 11:42 PM

Muy caliente!

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by Anonymousreply 517January 14, 2021 6:57 PM

I keep trying to watch the Victor Garber/Marsha Skaggs video of this masterpiece you're all extolling, and I keep falling asleep. I can't even tell what this show wanted to be about....

by Anonymousreply 518January 14, 2021 7:02 PM

No one has said it’s a masterpiece. And I think we all agree those two performers are lacking. It needs personalities with charm.

by Anonymousreply 519January 14, 2021 8:15 PM

It needs a grave.

by Anonymousreply 520January 14, 2021 8:27 PM

As I said in the Theatre Gossip thread, r518, we celebrate its mediocrity!

by Anonymousreply 521January 14, 2021 8:56 PM

Nice legit sound from Diana Canova. Who knew?

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by Anonymousreply 522January 15, 2021 1:40 AM

Uh...r522, some of us?

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by Anonymousreply 523January 15, 2021 2:20 AM

adorable

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by Anonymousreply 524January 15, 2021 12:42 PM

Diana was very good but Ted Wass was bland. Also, I saw Donna Murphy as one of the voices. I think she was right out of school. Just a few years later she was back at the same theatre in Drood.

by Anonymousreply 525January 15, 2021 1:32 PM

Where's Donna's Rose?

by Anonymousreply 526January 15, 2021 1:48 PM

Cute pic. All the show had was "cute." but that's not a bad thing.

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by Anonymousreply 527January 15, 2021 2:07 PM

But it has to be at the right time. And apparently...this was.

by Anonymousreply 528January 15, 2021 2:13 PM

I agree 100 with r528. And it was the polar opposite of [italic]Sweeney[/italic] thus offering ticket buyers alternatives.

by Anonymousreply 529January 15, 2021 2:22 PM

It's hard to imagine a mash-up of the two.

by Anonymousreply 530January 15, 2021 2:33 PM

Angela & Len in TPOS? Klein & Arnaz in Sweeney?

by Anonymousreply 531January 15, 2021 2:44 PM

PS I [italic]love[/italic] how the robustness of this thread drives some queens (especially on the Theatre gossip thread) insane.

by Anonymousreply 532January 15, 2021 2:45 PM

Me too! Me too!

by Anonymousreply 533January 15, 2021 2:57 PM

I supposed Day in Hollywood would also be a *cute* show. Then there are *charm* shows like She Loves Me and ANNIE. Where did Romance/Romance fit in?

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by Anonymousreply 534January 15, 2021 3:04 PM

It was so sad when Bakula took off for the west coast. Broadway's big loss.

by Anonymousreply 535January 15, 2021 4:33 PM

I can never get imgur.com to open on my apple. It just gives me a blank page. Any thoughts "TPOS" obsessed Dataloungers?

by Anonymousreply 536January 15, 2021 4:34 PM

OMG I posted this on the regular Theatre thread by mistake. They must be FURIOUS

(Sorry r536 it's on Imgur)

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by Anonymousreply 537January 15, 2021 5:21 PM

I think they're too busy debating Ben Brantley, r537.

by Anonymousreply 538January 15, 2021 5:24 PM

More fun here.

by Anonymousreply 539January 15, 2021 6:14 PM

Do people do A Day in Hollywood? It seems to have fallen off the edge of the earth after its initial successful production. You'd think with its small cast it would be a staple all over the place.

by Anonymousreply 540January 15, 2021 6:18 PM

I don't know if people even know the Marx Bros anymore

by Anonymousreply 541January 15, 2021 7:03 PM

Blimey! This thread has sure had a long shelf life.. I love seeing it popping up again and again.

by Anonymousreply 542January 15, 2021 7:14 PM

It *does* seem to be one of those threads, doesn't it?

by Anonymousreply 543January 15, 2021 7:20 PM

My father LOVED the show more than I did. I must still have been at school in England. He bought the album and brought it back to London and played it constantly. MAJOR eye-roll from me every time. He died a few years ago and the album reappeared when we cleared the house, so I brought it home with me for old times sake or as a keeps sake...or something.

by Anonymousreply 544January 15, 2021 7:36 PM

It did have a wonderful logo. There was something about that logo that made you feel you'd have an enchanting, fun night out. It looked even more fun on the album and the album was far better than the show.

by Anonymousreply 545January 16, 2021 1:20 AM

I'm really shocked that we're 545 posts into this and not one DLer has yet brought up the ridiculous mini car they rode around stage on. It was SO funny that they got lost, right? RIGHT?!

by Anonymousreply 546January 16, 2021 1:21 AM

When I saw the show the car swung off its track and tony Roberts jumped out and was clearly shaken. Two stagehands ran out and put it back in its place. His next line was ‘sorry I’m late but the car came unassembled. The audience howled.

by Anonymousreply 547January 16, 2021 2:22 AM

It's hilarious to watch the car on the Victor Garber/Marsha Skaggs tape. It looks like they're on a kiddie ride at a county fair.

by Anonymousreply 548January 16, 2021 4:38 PM

Before this thread is closed, here are bits and pieces from the only existing complete video of the original Broadway production at the Imperial, with first-replacements Tony Roberts and Stockard Channing.

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by Anonymousreply 549January 16, 2021 6:32 PM

TPOS....still makes me laugh. I think the acronym is what's going to get this thread to 600.

by Anonymousreply 550January 16, 2021 6:35 PM

Every time you see more clips from this show it just gets worse. There's no bottom.

by Anonymousreply 551January 16, 2021 7:23 PM

[quote]TPOS....still makes me laugh. I think the acronym is what's going to get this thread to 600.

However long it may have taken. This thread was created in 2015.

by Anonymousreply 552January 16, 2021 7:42 PM

These two are much better than Garber and Skaggs. You can tell the show is fresher and sharper, and hasn't been xeroxed and xeroxed yet. Sorry you're so unhappy r551. It's just playful and cute. Again, not a masterpiece but a reasonably good time. Sometimes you want a beer, sometimes you want wine. And sometimes, r551, [italic]you[/italic] just want bitters.

by Anonymousreply 553January 16, 2021 8:40 PM

and OMG we're now discussing this little harmless show on [italic]two[/italic] threads.

by Anonymousreply 554January 16, 2021 8:41 PM

Bernadette was much more of a name than Lucie in 1993, certainly, but honestly, the role of Paula needs a young actress, someone who's believable as a dancer starting to age out of her prime.

The role has always been played by someone in her early-mid 40s. Mason was 44 when she shot the movie and Bernie was 44 when she did the show. Patty Heaton was 45 when she shot the TV remake. Lucie would have been 42.

by Anonymousreply 555January 16, 2021 10:37 PM

whoops, forgot to put a quote on the above. Sorry!

by Anonymousreply 556January 16, 2021 10:37 PM

[quote]This thread was created in 2015.

One of the 2015 Thread Bumping Troll's biggest successes!

by Anonymousreply 557January 16, 2021 10:49 PM

Did a local gym school teacher create the choreography?! WTF is that crap that the "boys" are doing?

by Anonymousreply 558January 16, 2021 10:50 PM

R553 But this show is dishwater!

by Anonymousreply 559January 16, 2021 10:50 PM

We *celebrate* dishwater, r559!

by Anonymousreply 560January 16, 2021 11:32 PM

Seriously, would someone please explain the choreography to me? Huh?

by Anonymousreply 561January 17, 2021 2:04 AM

A five-six-seven! There, ya got it, r561? Anyway, remember when Stockard got her cinematic break in The Fortune?

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by Anonymousreply 562January 17, 2021 2:15 AM

Some bitch has already had the Stockard TPOS taken down! Damn you Dataloungers! Damn you!

by Anonymousreply 563January 17, 2021 2:23 AM

R563 Seems to be back up.

by Anonymousreply 564January 17, 2021 2:26 AM

Tony and Stockard look like their having fun and it’s infectious.

by Anonymousreply 565January 17, 2021 2:34 AM

Victor and Marsha weren’t.

by Anonymousreply 566January 17, 2021 3:02 AM

R555 that’s the key to doing Neal Simon well. They need to be human beings to counter the pitfall of sounding like joke machines. They are smart funny people who knew are having clever conversations but it has just sound like it’s coming from their brains in their hearts, not the author. It can be done.

by Anonymousreply 567January 17, 2021 3:05 AM

And yes Neil not Neal. Autocorrect Before some sourpuss like r551 gets all worked up

by Anonymousreply 568January 17, 2021 3:07 AM

That clip sounds like its from a school group matinee. There's all this high pitch squealing....And applause at the beginning of the title song. High School Theatre students who had seen the Tonys?

by Anonymousreply 569January 17, 2021 5:02 AM

[quote] that’s the key to doing Neal Simon well. They need to be human beings to counter the pitfall of sounding like joke machines. They are smart funny people who knew are having clever conversations but it has just sound like it’s coming from their brains in their hearts, not the author. It can be done.

But it's surprising how many good actors can't pull it off (or are directed not to). Watch "Only When I Laugh" for instance. You have a cast split right down the middle. You have Marsha Mason and James Coco (Simon veterans) fully giving into the rhythms of the dialogue on the page instead of using them to help build a character that is separate from them, then you have Joan Hackett and (to a lesser degree) Kristy McNichol fighting it every step of the way and striving to create something more honest. Poor Kristy had no idea how to deliver a Simon line the way he likes it and every time she tried, it was painful. But in the moments she was allowed to break free of them, she was wonderful. And Hackett probably burst in with a scowl the first day of rehearsal and was left alone to do what she wanted. I know who I liked better.

Then look at something like "I Oughta Be In Pictures." It's unwatchable after 20 minutes because Dinah Manoff is pure Neil Simon dreck. You can almost see her head movements as she follows the rhythm of the dialogue on the page. She's not a real person, she's a joke machine. And within 10 min of Walter Matthau's appearance, she's got him doing it, too.

Barefoot in the Park is the same. After 10 min of listening to those two characters talk at each other, it's like being trapped in a room with someone who's always "on." It's exhausting and not terribly enjoyable. And when the characters aren't supposed to be that way, it's just baffling.

I'm not saying Simon's writing never works. For something like "Rumors," it's probably the only way to play it. I saw that show on Broadway a couple times with different casts and it was hilarious. But those characters don't need to be much more than they are on the page. We don't have to invest any time in getting to know who they are outside of the surface stuff because we don't need to. And obviously the man can write a joke. He's frequently fall down funny. But I don't envy the actor who has to conquer the writing in order to be seen.

by Anonymousreply 570January 17, 2021 5:21 AM

Chorus boy perky muscle ass.

by Anonymousreply 571January 17, 2021 11:58 AM

I think Simon got it right in "The Odd Couple" and "Plaza Suite"

by Anonymousreply 572January 17, 2021 3:42 PM

...with [italic]really[/italic] good actors like George C. Scott, Maureen Stapleton, Walter Matthau, Art Carney and Jack Lemmon.

by Anonymousreply 573January 17, 2021 3:53 PM

Didn't everyone hate Art Carney?

by Anonymousreply 574January 18, 2021 2:42 PM

[quote]Didn't everyone hate Art Carney?

He drove me crazy with that thing he would always do with his hands before using a pen.

by Anonymousreply 575January 18, 2021 5:01 PM

Plaza Suite is a god awful movie. And I saw it twice. I tried watching it recently and I couldn't. I saw it once in a touring production and it wasn't much better. Maybe it was good with Scott and Stapleton and Nichols directing.

by Anonymousreply 576January 18, 2021 6:10 PM

I imagine it was, r576. But making the movie all about Matthau and his limited bag of tricks didn't do it any favors.

by Anonymousreply 577January 18, 2021 6:46 PM

The third act can be hilarious with the right farce performers and direction. (I couldn't bring myself to say "[italic]farceurs[/italic].") And its fun in theater (more than film) to see actors transform into different roles in an evening. The first two acts are tough going. Not sure how Broderick and Parker will be but word from Boston wasn't great.

by Anonymousreply 578January 18, 2021 6:48 PM

I saw Plaza Suite in Boston, and I was surprised how well the plays (well, 2 out of 3) held up. Broderick and Parker were quite good, and when it was funny, it was very funny.

by Anonymousreply 579January 18, 2021 6:57 PM

good to hear. They should do [italic]They're Playing Our Song[/italic] on Mondays.

by Anonymousreply 580January 18, 2021 7:40 PM

Yesterday I re-watched the movie of Neil Simon's 'Barefoot in the Park'. I remembered it as charming and fun.

Now it's unbearably-stagey and the Jane Fonda character is a tedious whiner.

by Anonymousreply 581January 18, 2021 9:17 PM

Well, I say bring back...

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by Anonymousreply 582January 18, 2021 9:19 PM

That's funny I watched it in Amazon Prime yesterday. A lot of the lines are genuinely funny and sometimes they come right on top of one another. The cast is excellent but plot becomes pretty silly because Simon feels he got to build up some tension and the motivation is pretty thin. Corrie becomes hysterical because Paul is straight-laced and then Paul almost falls off a building because he is so insecure.

I saw the Amanda Peet revival and I swear the play did not get one laugh. There was just a frisson throughout the audience at one point because Wilson looked so spectacular in his jockey shorts.

by Anonymousreply 583January 18, 2021 10:11 PM

The Mr. and Mrs. Bosco line despite being today incredibly insensitive and un pc is still funny as delivered by Redford.

by Anonymousreply 584January 18, 2021 10:18 PM

[quote] Mr. and Mrs. Bosco

Paul Bratter: Well like to begin with, in Apartment 1C are the Boscos, Mr. And Mrs. J. Bosco.

Corie Bratter: Who are they?

Paul Bratter: Mr. and Mrs. J. Bosco are a lovely young couple who just happen to be of the same sex! And no one knows which one that is.

Corie Bratter: [Giggles] Crazy!

by Anonymousreply 585January 18, 2021 11:12 PM

God, that "Come Blow Your Horn" preview is painful to watch. Everything I hate about Sinatra...

by Anonymousreply 586January 18, 2021 11:19 PM

Tovah!

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by Anonymousreply 587January 18, 2021 11:25 PM

Bless you, 587....I may be finally able to erase the car in TPOS...

by Anonymousreply 588January 19, 2021 12:01 AM

The Sunshine Boys came up on my Amazon feed over the weekend and I resisted the temptation stop haven’t seen it since 75 or something no desire to revisit stop

by Anonymousreply 589January 19, 2021 12:49 AM

Now that we're onto the Suite plays and their adaptations, I'll mention that aside from Visitors From London, I don't really like California Suite.

by Anonymousreply 590January 19, 2021 1:29 AM

Does "Visitors From London" involve Rula Lenska? If not, I don't think I'm interested.

by Anonymousreply 591January 19, 2021 1:36 AM

Who is starting they’re playing our song thread number two and what will the title be

by Anonymousreply 592January 19, 2021 1:44 AM

[quote]and what will the title be

"Please Make It Stop."

by Anonymousreply 593January 19, 2021 1:45 AM

"They're Playing Our Song 2: Electric Boogaloo"

by Anonymousreply 594January 19, 2021 1:59 AM

They're Playing Our Song 2: Visitors From Quogue

by Anonymousreply 595January 19, 2021 2:13 AM

They’re Playing Our Song Thread #2: Don’t Say A Word Now

by Anonymousreply 596January 19, 2021 11:48 AM

Here’s Where My Boys Come In.

by Anonymousreply 597January 19, 2021 11:53 AM

In the time it takes to read this thread, you could see the wretched show. But you wouldn't remember any of it 24 hours later.

by Anonymousreply 598January 19, 2021 3:19 PM

Just for r598, after all the tears she's cried.

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by Anonymousreply 599January 19, 2021 3:24 PM

Maybe we might get it right this time

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by Anonymousreply 600January 19, 2021 3:25 PM

Instead of Bajouring this thread, I'm gonna Sarava it *while* flashing my panties! Sarava!

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by Anonymousreply 601January 19, 2021 3:31 PM
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