THEATRE GOSSIP #294: "Those Mean Girls Autumn and Fantine Go to Margaritaville" EDITION

I cannot believe that Bernadette Peters was smoking. She's always been very health conscious, which is why she looks as good as she does at 70,

Funny title. 👍😂

Well, I'm 80 and pass for a handsome 49. All adults smoke.

No, all adults do not smoke. The smart ones avoid it. The smokers' prime example is Catherine Zeta Jones, who at 49 looks ten years older than 70 year old non-smoker Bernadette Peters.

I've never trusted anyone who doesn't smoke. Puritans who deny themselves the simple pleasures are not reliable friends nor reasonable thinkers.

R5 thinks she's Oscar Wilde.

Thank you for the correct formatting, OP!!

It's the little things (you do together).

[quote]Because not everyone has an insatiable need to see "Into the Woods" 150 times.

This is something I've always found interesting about musicals -- that fans can and will see the same show over and over again over the course of their lives. Many shows, even if they're good, I only want to see once -- maybe twice if an interesting reinterpretation pops up. I know for sure I never need to see "Cabaret" ever again.

(I don't mean at all to suggest that wanting to see the same shows again and again is a bad thing. People like to do what they like to do.)

Hilarious thread title, OP. And I love that it all began with my daring to state that Fantine can’t be older than 20 due to the lyric “He took my childhood in his stride,” which is NOT reference to a destroyed hymen.

Heather, Heather, Heather, Veronica.

So basically the egg incident fails to answer the question -- does Mean Girls have a score and choreography to compete with Heathers? Will it inspire young thespians to tap into their inner biatch and dance?

MEAN GIRLS will inspire theatergoers to discover their inner gag reflex.

Some of us don't have a gag reflex, r11. Why do you think we're so popular?

[quote]Puritans who deny themselves the simple pleasures

I'm hardly a puritan; I just can't stand the smell of cigarette smoke, and fail to see what is pleasurable able inhaling the foul stuff into my lungs, especially knowing it was ruin my looks and my health.

Speaking of "unnecessary" second acts in musicals, what about Fiddler on the Roof's? Like the Embassy Ball in MFL, Tzeitel's wedding is "goal" of the first act -- the point to which the plot strives -- and everything is downhill after that. There aren't really any consequences for Fiddler's characters in the second act, just a procession of daughters leaving. Could that be wrapped up in 20 minutes and added to the first act? As always: What's the use of wondrin'?

R5? You stink, have bad breath and bad skin. And no taste.

No need for a victory lap, R9.

[quote]There aren't really any consequences for Fiddler's characters

Yeah. Except, of course, for that pogrom and all.

The pogrom could have shortly followed the bust-up of the wedding. They move to the Lower East Side and, after some struggles, open a cheese shop.

'Having a genuinely sexy Billy (and not some fat operetta-type actor)'

John Raitt

Gordon Macrae

John Cullum

Robert Goulet

Who are you talking about?

How was the LC revival such a new take except a Billy who couldn't sing the role?

[quote] What we really have to look at is that so many of the classic musical comedy books are just appalling in our #me too environment. The end of "My Fair Lady", The end of act one of "Kiss me, Kate" What the fuck 'Grease?"" Tell me more, did she put up a fight?" And the dress like a slut ending? I recently saw a screening of the film of "Funny Face" and in a fight Fred Astaire said to Audrey Hepburn -- "He's about as interested your intellect as I am." The room turned on Fred. LOL. That movie is the same genre of these shows. I see a lot of rewriting in our future revivals. Thoughts?

I'd rather get rid of all the over sensitive snowflakes who can't handle watching something and understand it in the context of when it was written without needing to run to a safe space.

Why do most of you even bother to go to the theater at all? You seem to hate everything, present and past.

I saw Heathers in LA in this dump of a theater in what I think was its world premiere. I got stuck in the front row in a raked house where the stage came right up to the seats so I couldn't leave without joining in. I hated it with a passion. I think we saw it on closing day, and the hack director Andy Fickman was there, pleading for us to spread the word because they wanted to go to Broadway with the show. He was so desperate and flop sweaty that I knew even before the lights went down that we were in for a shit show. The only time I laughed was when the black Heather lost one of her braid extensions in the middle of a scene and no one bothered to pick it up, so it got kicked all over the floor throughout the next number. I was shocked that it actually made it to NYC, even if it was at the Walmart of theaters, New World Stages.

Because it's fun dishing everything. Even things you love. Of course that's with affection.

Read Dietrich's book by her daughter. Marlene's accounts of the premiere of Disney's Snow White and the original production of South Pacific are hilarious. But she hated those.

So are the writers of Come From Away considering a feel good musical based on the events at Parkland including the subsequent weeks and with the 11 o clock number taking place on the eve of March For Our Lives?

For r585in the last thread: Julie is an apprentice because she lives in the dorm. What did not need to be spelled out to the original audience is that Julie is an apprentice weaver. She is paid nothing, but works for room and board in exchange for learning the trade. The cruel joke is that no one will hire here when she leaves at 18 because everyone else has an "apprentice" program as well. This scam was also very prevalent in nursing. Once you graduated nursing school, you better find a private position because every hospital was staffed with nursing students. Working at the mill was not a steady job. Note that Carrie is also working on her exit strategy. She know her days are numbered as well.

Billy does *not* seduce Julie. Julie seduces Billy, that is the entire point of If I Loved You. She is the one who puts the idea into his head.

It's JULIE who woos Billy gently and subtly, and he falls for her like the blossoms from the trees. Just their time, I reckon.

But is she knocked up when they marry? I thought she was.

I only go to the theatre because my boyfriend drags me. He'll watch anything and love it. He pays for everything too.

well, thanks for sharing, [R28].

R28 is for R21

Cherish him and hold him close, r28.

R31 haha! thank you for that. I will. ❤

Fantine asked the man who took her childhood in his stride to stay and meet her friend Autumn because Autumn thought Fantine lied a lot, especially about boys. Fantine always thought Autumn was hotter than herself and for once, FANTINE was going to be able to be like, "Look, I have a bae. It's not just you that has baes."

But the childhood-stride man made some idiotic excuse about needing to leave and LITERALLY five minutes later, Autumn walked in and Fantine just kept the whole thing to herself because she didn't feel like dealing with that fucking face Autumn makes.

He left when autumn came. Clearly autumn is not a person but another way to say "Summer's Eve." Fantine douched way too much because the nuns in the orphanage would burn her clitoris on a hot stove if she didn't wash properly. And you know how those French guys back in the day loved a little odor with their fun. He probably got down there, expected seafood delight and got vinegar and water and WHOOSH, he was out of there.

Herbert Kretzmer told this to me himself.

Has Ruthie Ann Miles hit $1m yet?

R33 and R34 you guys are hilarious

Autumn was played by Bonnie Langford in the RSC workshop but Nunn and Caird found her perkiness to be too distracting and pulled focus from LuPone.

It was my flaming batons, r37.

[quote] Autumn was played by Bonnie Langford in the RSC workshop but Nunn and Caird found her perkiness to be too distracting and pulled focus from LuPone.

I can do perky!

Not even in your dreams, Dave.

Let me understudy Julie Jordan. I can take a punch!

Did someone say perky?

what happened to 293?

Yes, I wonder that, too, R43.

R27, Julie tells Carrie she is pregnant after she and Billy have been married two months or so, after the "June Is Bustin' Out All Over" number.

Harper Lee Estate Sues Over in Aaron Sorkin's Broadway-Bound TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD!!!!!

According to the New York Times, Harper Lee's estate is trying to kill To Kill A Mockingbird- the play version, that is.

The author's estate is suing over screenwriter Aaron Sorkin's script of the play, claiming that it "deviates too much from the novel, and violates a contract, between Ms. Lee and the producers, which stipulates that the characters and plot must remain faithful to the spirit of the book."

The main concern in the complain filed in Alabama federal court has to do with the interpretation of the main character, Atticus Finch.

Producer Scott Rudin told NYT: "I can't and won't present a play that feels like it was written in the year the book was written in terms of its racial politics: It wouldn't be of interest. The world has changed since then."

Rudin's lawyer, Jonathan Zavin, explained that the play "does not derogate or depart from the spirit of the novel, nor alter the fundamental natures of the characters in the novel."

Ironic, considering how much Lee deviated from her beloved original character when she wrote her awful sequel.

293 came and went in a hurry

Sort of like Autumn, r47?

Thanks, [R44].

Faithful to the spirit? Do we have any Entertainment Lawyers or agents on here who can tell us how that is determined?

R46 -- The second Harper Lee book wasn't a sequel. Rather, it was the ORIGINAL draft of Mockinbird that she discarded and started anew. So, no, she didn't deviate from the original characters at all. I think it was a really really stupid idea for her to release that second book. Yes, we all would have liked to have read more from her, but something fresh and new , and not her hundred year old doodling. BTW, the folk singer and songwriter Tom Kimmel is her nephew. He is great. He wrote "I'm Riding the Blue Train," for those who are familiar with Ronstadt and Maura O'Connel's version.

Did I oversleep and miss 293?!?

Love Linda's version, r51.

[quote]Why do most of you even bother to go to the theater at all? You seem to hate everything, present and past.

We've gone over this. Theater Queens are bitter because they never amounted to anything but wanted to. They know they are better performers, directors, choreographers etc and no one is as talented as they, Thus the attacks.

A Theatre Queen's wet dream performed daily in the basement.

Oh God I hated Chris Colfer’s butchering of “Rose’s Turn.”

By "theatre queens" do you mean ny theatre casting directors?

[quote]Let me understudy Julie Jordan. I can take a punch!

Davey, you couldn't even understudy Julie JAMES.

That's actually a good theory. I know people who are cast in every goddamn community theatre production around here despite their lack of talent or stage presence and they still probably feel as if they were shortchanged in life and, if they'd been able to go to NYC, they'd have taken the world by storm. No, Fran, you were always meant to play matinee Mame in head voice with the Mt. Pleasant Community Players, not headlining Hello, Dolly instead of Bette Midler. These people always have the most "suggestions" to give about shows and professional performances.

r58 Fuck you!

I've always preferred Maura's version, because that is the one I first heard. Tom -- the writer, Harper's nephew -- is a sweetheart. We were in a book club together many years ago.

R.I.P. #293. Hope you had a good sendroff.

Sendroff!! He'd know what the legal definition of "Spirit of the original" is!!!

was there something in 293 about BP smoking... I'm lost....

What is all this fascination/concern with 293? It came, it filled up, it went. It’s still there along with all 600 replies

Us theater queens go back a ways and we know shit from Shinola.

We know there hasn't been a halfway decent musical since we did standing room for Florodora. Forget the lottery for that one. The bridge and ferry crowd had a lock on it.

That front row was as obnoxious as it got. You couldn't even hear 'Tell Me Pretty Maiden.'

[quote]Phyllis Hammerow, Miami's answer to Meryl Streep

Miami never even asked the question.

I listened to that ancient recording of the original Floradora Girls singing “Tell Me Pretty Maiden” and that song was SHIT. It took Rodgers and Hart and Cole Porter to heat up the musical theatre, and Jerome Kern to give it a soul.

You could just cut the whole second act of Floradora and essentially lose nothing.

Why are they in contract with Harper Lee's estate over "To Kill A Mockingbird." They should be in contract with Truman Capote's estate. It's perfectly clear. Harper wrote that shitty "Go Set A Watchman." The publishers rejected it. So Truman took it, rewrote it as "TKAM" and submitted it under Harper's name. If she was such a great writer, why did she only write one readable novel?

r64

It says the thread is not found

FLORODORA!!!

[quote]How was the LC revival such a new take except a Billy who couldn't sing the role?

To answer your question, r19. The overture was breathtaking. Most productions make the entire overture about the Carousel. The LC revival started before that. They had this huge clock projected on the set (or was it the floor?) and Julie, Carrie and all the girls are sitting at their looms weaving. So we see their drudgery at the top of the show.

The Heaven scenes were "dank". They were darkly lit, there was a constant "hum" going on through the whole scene and all the Heavenly beings were dressed as Puritans. It didn't look like a place where anyone would be happy. Which gives encouragement to Billy to go back to Earth.

As I said in the previous thread, Carrie was completely reimagined. Every production I've ever seen had her as a loveable airhead. Audra played her in the later scenes as a mean shrew. It was more realistic because after having 9 kids and being married to a man who stunk of fish, you could see why she would be angry. But that concept really worked for the character.

But there were plenty of weak spots as well in the LC production. A Billy who had a hard time with the high notes. A Julie who really didn't make a good impression. And a Nettie Fowler who was metallic.

And by the way, someone mentioned above about Julie being an apprentice. But if she got thrown out, she could always go back to Cousin Nettie's as she did. And I don't see why Nettie has to be played by an opera singer. I've seen productions were Nettie was happy go lucky, outgoing, boisterous and really made "June Is Busting Out All Over" into a rollicking song.

And the final word: exactly what type of spa is Nettie actually running?

Patti LuPone smoked.

Barbra Streisand smoked.

[quote] being married to a man who stunk of fish

"Cheryl Snow." "Mrs. Enoch Snow."

Hey -- I could get used to that!

I always assumed it was a Korean spa, r72.

Nettie's spa would basically be what we would call a B&B today. She is widow who is running a seasonal boardinghouse that advertises the benefits of fresh sea air. This is the sort of business where you make your entire year's profit in a three month period. She would have little or no income during the harsh Maine winters. Julie would be liability. She would an extra expense but not generate more money for the business.

If you are interested in the world of Carousel, read The Country of the Pointed Firs by Sarah Orne Jewett. R&H stated that the book was the reason they moved the location to Maine.

When will Seesaw be revived on Broadway?

[quote] Julie would be liability. She would an extra expense but not generate more money for the business.

We tried to get the bitch to set up a Carousel, but she was having none of it. She suggested I could earn my keep being a companion to old ladies, but I told her to stick it where the sun don't shine. Billy suggested he could be a companion to ladies, but Mrs. Mullin said if we tried to horn in on her business, she kick our sorry asses. Her carnies were all the companion poor, rich widows needed. Next week, we're thinking about starting a tartar sauce business.

Speaking of badly dated books, Seesaw's got one. You'd have to throw half of it out as well as a third of the songs (like Spanglish). But It's Not Where You Start, the patter law-lesson/tap number and the ballads can stay. But as a young gayling, I loved Seesaw (especially It's Not Where You Start) and saw it twice. I'd love for Tommy Tune to direct a reworked version of the show.

Does Tommy Tune still get enough dancer ass to cover all the understudy roles?

It's one of those wonderful but "What the...???" numbers, r79.

I was under the impression that Michael Arden was a hack, but Once on This Island is really wonderfully staged. The acting is occasionally only so-so (Daniel is a marble statue in the looks department but a wet blanket in both personality and singing and Lea Salonga seems... a bit lost or just phoning it in), but the design is quite lovely.

Why don't the chicken and the goat get to take bows? Certainly somebody should bring this up with the union.

nothin lovelier than seein a hot person smoking

NOT

GROSS

TOXIC SHIT POISON GO AWAY

[quote]It's one of those wonderful but "What the...???" numbers

Even worse than when Tommy did Lisa Kirk's role in "Mack & Mabel"?

Tommy Tune didn’t exactly play Lisa Kirk’s role. He did the show twice, in 1975 and 1976 (for the Kenley Circuit with Karen Morrow as Mabel, and Florida with Lucie Arnaz as Mabel). He played Wally, Bob Fitch’s role, but he got Lisa Kirk’s two numbers.

Oh, and Marilyn Cooper played Lottie, Lisa Kirk’s role, in the Florida production. Not much of a role without the songs, but I guess a girl had to eat.

In the original play “Liliom,” Nettie’s spa is a gay bathhouse, and Nettie is Nestor, an aging queen. Rodgers and Hammerstein knew this would never fly in the US, and changed him to Nettie.

I wonder why a drag queen has never played Nettie?

[quote]I wonder why a drag queen has never played Nettie?

I’m available!

It’s true, it’s true! #293 has completely disappeared! It’s gone from my watched threads, and if you search specifically for it, it doesn’t show up - you get wow and this one, but not 293.

Was there something controversial about it? It was kind of dull, but I don’t remember anything that would get it taken down.

Was it, mayhaps, started by a certain non-fan of Mary Poppins?

Was the Loon finally removed from DL?

I hope.

No, 293 was not a Loon generated thread.

Maybe all the personal comments re Steve S?

The Daniel from once in this island dates DL favorite wesley tay tay. I see them on the train together often. I always think of his breath because of DL.

I guess when 10% goes to your agent and then another several hundred to your union, you do have to ride the train to make ends meet.

I think they live together.

Wait—so did that person who was obsessed with "Bedknobs and Broomsticks" get banned right before a stage adaptation was announced?? LOL.

[quote] The Daniel from once in this island dates DL favorite wesley tay tay. I see them on the train together often. I always think of his breath because of DL.

Is Tay Tay a serial monogamist? He always seems to have a different boyfriend.

Given how he Karen Olivo level can't dance, I was almost surprised to find out that Isaac/Daniel was gay. Good for him for breaking stereotypes. And good for Wes for nabbing himself a hot young thing.

Whose production is going to last longer? Wes Tay Tay's limping along Spongebob that has a media behemoth behind it or Isaac's stunning Once on This Island that despite being better than 75% of current broadways seems to be currently selling 75% of its tickets on TKTS despite only having been open for a few months.

R100 breaking stereotypes?

STOP BEING SUCH ASSHOLES.

THERE WAS NEVER A 293.

What about Wesley's breath? Thanks to his performance with The Skivvies, I know he's pretty well hung.

293 was the best thread yet. I can’t believe that Broadway Insider showed up with all that fresh dirt. Plus someone got an advance copy of the NYT expose and printed it! Too bad you missed it and that the thread has mysteriously disappeared.

[quote]You'd have to throw half of it out as well as a third of the songs (like Spanglish)’

Spanglish and Ride Out the Storm we’re both dumped for the post-Broadway tour that Lucie A, John Gavin, and Tommy T did. A new song “The Party’s On Me” replaced them.

r101 I don't think he wears that in the show. Nor does he show anything even resembling a personality in the show, unfortunately.

Reviving Once on This Island is one of those shows that seems like a disaster waiting to happen for a commercial revival where tickets are $170+ per. Every middle American white high school has butchered it, so I can't imagine it has much appeal. It would be like reviving Into the Woods now; you will get a handful of high school theatre queens and not much else no matter how much new insight you can bring to a new a production.

Its like that Rebecca Luker Music Man from a decade ago. That production was beautifully crafted and amazingly well performed, but who wants to shell out Broadway prices to listen to Lida Rose again no matter how well staged?

Sorry if this has already been discussed, but I just saw Bernie's recent Watch What Happens Live appearance and, when asked, she had some very complimentary things to say about Patti. I wonder if Patti's ever said a kind word about Bernie in public.

Wait, what? Did non-talent Hunter Ryan Herdlicka get the last thread shut down? We know he’s got showbiz Himmler Mark Sendroff on his pristine ball sac, but would Muriel really shutter a bootieful thread down because of a musty sugahdadfue?

R106, that revival was more like 20 years ago than a decade ago

The Rebecca Luker Music Man opened in 2000, and actually played for 700 performances

Between Isaac Cole Powell and Lea Salonga, how have the SJWs not had Once on This Island shut down for cultural appropriation?

Also, Wes Tay Tay has hit the WALL! He's looking mighty old and rough.

Nettie being played by an opera singer is one of those weird conventions that has set in for no particular reason, like Stella in Follies being African American

Here’s proof that yes, once there was #293.

The Harper Lee estate is out of their fucking minds - an adaptation by Aaron Sorkin is the best they’re ever going to get. And even if adaptations differ, they always lead people back to the source. Sorkin’s take sounds like nothing less than a much needed reinvention of that tired old material.

Plus, if you read the terms of the contract there’s not much chance of them ever being fulfilled since they are tantamount to Lee acting as a collaborator and she’s no longer around to fulfill that role.

Rudin should tell them to shove it up their ass and cancel the production. It’s not like any other producer is going to bother with that estate.

Blame Rodgers and Hammerstein for casting an opera singer, Christine Johnson, as the original Nettie Fowler (she was only 33 at the time), and then following suit with opera contralto Claramae Turner for the movie (she was 34 when she filmed it).

Patricia Routledge is the only celebrity non-opera singer that I can think of who's played Nettie.

Nettie and Stella are characters who do not have important interactions with the leads.

That makes them easy to cast them with non-whites or non-actors a not disrupt the production with any statement or poor acting.

Who played Nettie in '94?

Wasn’t it Shirley Verrett in NY?

R111 Tay tay does look old. More so in person. Isaac Powell is half black. His father. So he's perfect for the role. I agree about lea but being Filipino makes her islandy i guess. It was her singing voice that bothered me. Can we have her replaced based on that?

R113, between talking about the NYTimes covering for Disney, and Sondheim's sexual history I cant IMAGINE why that thread disappeared?

Steve, Tom... can you help us here?

Scared and weak.

At least we once existed!!

RIP Thread 293

A FB Carousel group is reporting that the show opens in heaven (a very bad idea that was stolen from the mediocre movie) with angels in gold pajamas doing yoga! WTF!

Yes, Sondheim has the pull to shut down threads on the Internet. Meanwhile, criticism of Trump and the GOP continues, trolled but unabated.

I told y'all to stop talking about that Sondheim shit. And i was accused of having meltdown. Apologies please? 💋

[quote]The Heaven scenes were "dank". They were darkly lit, there was a constant "hum" going on through the whole scene and all the Heavenly beings were dressed as Puritans. It didn't look like a place where anyone would be happy. Which gives encouragement to Billy to go back to Earth.

Those scenes are set not in Heaven but in Purgatory, although no one calls it that. I think there's a reference to it as "the backyard of Heaven."

[quote]Nettie being played by an opera singer is one of those weird conventions that has set in for no particular reason, like Stella in Follies being African American

Nettie has been played by opera singers because that's the kind of voice her music calls for. That's the particular reason.

[quote]Rudin should tell them to shove it up their ass and cancel the production. It’s not like any other producer is going to bother with that estate.

I wouldn't be surprised if that happens. Remember what happened with "Clybourne Park?"

r111 Isaac Powell is black (his father is a black, gorgeous former cross-fit champion). Lea Salonga is perfect casting for an island god in this day and age because she is going to threaten neither of the groups of people too immature to make a big deal about things like this: rich white 'woke' teenagers on twitter and Cynthia Erivo.

Its a pity Lea is kind of phoning it in in the role. Love her costuming though start to finish.

Isaac Powell got all of his mother's genes.

R127 with his Father looks and fitness genes.

So you're saying his mother is an ugly fat fuck? Shame on you.

One of the reasons Rudin is such an unpredictable producer these days is his tendency to upend a project whenever he feels challenged or threatened. Clybourne Park is a good example, so is the early shuttering of Shuffle Along. He also walked out on Groundhog Day (a good idea it turned out.) There was also the case of not allowing that Tony voter into 1984 because of some past grudge, removing it from Tony contention. 1984 wasn’t going to win any Tony awards, but I’m sure the people in the design department would have enjoyed their nominations.

I wonder if the Harper Lee situation has anything to do with the fact that there is already a stage adaptation of TKAM that's presented annually in the town that was supposedly the setting for the novel.

r131 There is at least one OTHER stage adaptation of TKAM as well, I was in a pretty shoddy equity production over 15 years ago that is not the same adaptation as the Monroeville one.

The two existing stage versions of Mockingbird suck. A lot of productions just incorporate scenes and speeches from the film since it is so much better than either stage version.

Part of the reason for doing a new version is the hope that with a decent script, there would be a lot more professional productions of Mockingbird.

And to make shit-tons of money.

I was shocked to look at tickets for Hello Dolly for this Saturday and see that it's half unsold - looks like there's not much of audience for the show/BP without Bette

r130 Well, he made a good decision on Shuffle Along, too. That show was never the same once they changed the name, and with Audra out either with pregnancy or burrito indigestion, it was never going to recoup. It was smart of him to cut and run. Maybe they'll revive it some day in its original Shuffling incarnation.

Wasn't Rudin pissed at Bruce Norris for dropping out of his TV show because he no longer wanted to act. The nerve!!!! Rudin likes to own artists like slaves. He won't let them work on any one else's projects but his and won't let them open a show - even off Broadway - the same season as one of his Broadway shows. Mind you, well paid slaves.

So NPR Morning Edition co-host David Greene, evidently kind of a Parrothead himself, spends a day with Jimmy Buffett during a run-through of Escape to Margaritaville, and clips of the songs ensue. Heard this in my car this morning.

It sounds like a pretty lame show, but maybe a fun night out anyway.

Who's around who could make Dolly sell that would do Broadway?

I mean you'd need a contemporary version of Betty Grable or Dorothy Lamour.

Hey Loon at r120, don’t flatter yourself. You’re the only one who was talking about that NYT thing. No one else brought it up. And being the aspie jerk that you are, you’ve brought it up consistently in the last several threads, and yet they’re all still here except for 293. If the NYT were the reason, they’d all be gone as well.

This did happen once before, maybe a year or more ago. One of the threads disappeared for a couple of days, and then mysteriously reappeared. It was supposedly a glitch that time.

It makes sense that the "Hello Dolly" well would start to run dry in about a year, no matter who was starring. Lots of tourists have seen their local community productions and no doubt have had their fill.

According to the latest box office reports, for last week, Hello Dolly sold at just over 85%. That’s hardly the disaster the earlier poster was touting, and it’s a lot better than some shows that are currently running.

For some reason I have 227 on in the background. For some reason Marla and friends are at a kid's party dressed as clowns. Magic trick's magic words are: "Alakazam-Lainiekazan".

r142 Yes! I noticed that as well. People on here keep referring to Hello Bernie ticket sales as though its some sort of fire sale at an overpriced estate. Yes it's on TKTS often, but it's still doing moderate business.

I wish, like with sites that post Hollywood grosses, the broadway box office sites would post total and weekly costs for productions. For example, Play that Goes Wrong with its B-list cast can't be that expensive while I worry about the grosses for Once on this Island which can't sell out a very small theater and has to pay an animal handler and a small Orchestra.

While, Margaritaville and Spongebob are clearly not selling well in huge barns, I also wonder how much that really hurts them? On Your Feet seemed to run for ages on small grosses. Do shows get a discount if they go into the Marquis just because its such a terrible theater? I don't think I've seen anything in there that was any good since... Drowsy Chaperone was passable? And it has certainly had its share of bombs and dumb flyover-appeal shows.

[quote]While, Margaritaville and Spongebob are clearly not selling well in huge barns, I also wonder how much that really hurts them? On Your Feet seemed to run for ages on small grosses. Do shows get a discount if they go into the Marquis just because its such a terrible theater? I don't think I've seen anything in there that was any good since... Drowsy Chaperone was passable? And it has certainly had its share of bombs and dumb flyover-appeal shows.

I don't know what kind of rental "Margaritaville" is being charged, but haven't there been rumors that the hotel wants to eliminate the theater? Even though it was built to "compensate" for the loss of the Helen Hayes and the Morosco, I don't think many people would be sorry to see the Marquis go, because as you say it is a pretty awful theater in some ways.

Part of that NPR interview was Greene saying to Jimmy "you know lots of Parrotheads are going to drive to Manhattan, thinking they can just park near the theater and tailgate before the show as usual."

Buffet's reply was like "It's a hotel! Vertical tailgating! Why do you think we chose this place?"

I don't see the box office data a lot of you seem to see: how is Spongebob doing? I believe I heard that it was struggling, which is surprising given the reviews. A few of my friends who live in NYC saw it and loved it. I have the OCR, and I could listen to the opening number over and over. it is adorable.

Spongebob and Margaritaville are just about at or under 50% gross, but they have large theaters (the Marq and the Pal as we call them in the biz) so they're still doing about 120k above Once on This Island. Once is doing about what Fun Home did in its second year on a per weekly basis, which is almost 200k lower per week than Fun Home in its first year in the same theater.

For comparison, On Your Feet was never a sensation, and it still managed to pull in nearly 250k above what Spongebob is doing now for its first handful of months.

Spongebob might not be terrible, but its a property that nobody knows what to do with. Unlike Frozen/Aladdin/Anastasia the people who are the "right age" to enjoy it now have no attachment to the property or the totally new music. For people who are older, Spongebob is more cultural curio than it is cultural touchstone. It would be like opening a Reptar Musical. Millenials will say "oh I get that reference" and then go try and con their parents into buying them into Dear Evan Hanson Tix.

What's the word on cutie Mat Eichler?

r148 I believe the word is "mundane".

Just guessing, but Margaritaville will likely live on forever in tours and regional theaters (especially outdoor summer venues, where drinking and dancing are cool).

Are the reviews going to be hideous tonight?

There was also a production of a stage version of TKAM in London’s Open Air Theatre in Regents Park a few summers ago starring Robert Sean Leonard. And a UK tour starring some soap actor who was way too old for the role.

Robert Sean Leonard seems strange casting for The King And Me.

The Marquis should remain and remain a money loser just to spite the builders who tore down the five theaters on that site.

And I hope little Eddie is burning in hell.

John Dean-Young will be Lun Tha in The King & I this summer at the London Palladium, according to Baz Bamigboye.

Someone named NaYoung Jeon is playing Tuptim, she’s been on a UK tour of Miss Saigon.

According to Baz Cate Blanchett has dropped out of a stage version of All About Eve in London due to a “scheduling conflict.” I wonder if Nicole Kidman will do it, instead.

And now Gillian Anderson is in talks to play Margo Channing. It opens in the West End early next year.

Jon Jon Briones (The Engineer in the recent "Miss Saigon" revival) did a bang-up job on this week's installment of "American Crime Story" (directed by Matt Bomer) as Andrew Cunanan's horrible father.

I saw Wes Tay Tay recently and he didn't look old as much as malnourished. Skinny as a rail. I was like damn, dude, have an apple or something.

That said, I like he and Isaac as a couple. Hope they go the distance.

On Your Feet lost tons of money. Gloria and the husband kept it open with their millions. Aside from the dancing- it stunk. I wonder how it is doing on tour? Marg may wait until the Tony nominations and when it doesn't get any, will fold. More geared toward Branson than Broadway. Spongebob will get some nominations, not win any and then fold at the end of the summer. Pretty Woman is doomed. Carousel will be a shock because it will not have a long run. Frozen will get good reviews like the meh Aladdin. The big winner will be My Fair Lady. I have nothing to base it on except that Sher is a critics darling.

People calling people loons and aspie jerks are the ones with the issue R139.

Always a reveal of oneself when one speaks of others that way.

The NYTimes "thing" was and SHOULD be a topic by many more people other than myself as it was in MANY threads. Similar threads were removed from other sites so maybe you've been sent from there here. DL has great tolerance for discussion. What I love about it. We talk ad nauseam about favorite and least favorite shows, performers, and what goes on behind the scenes. The Times deciding to not reveal MANY stories from Hollywood to Bway is worthy of inclusion in this discussion on these threads.

It is not a contribution to just talk of the posters and not the topic. Do YOU think it strange how the Times handled things so far? If you dont care, then talk about YOUR passion and add something from YOURSELF.

Or maybe you just work for Tom or Steve or The NYTimes and protecting them IS your passion.

Yes! Jon Jon Briones was phenomenal in last night’s episode.

The show Margaritaville is closest to is Good Vibrations. They both are terrible musicals based on hugely popular song catalogues. See also Lennon and All Shook Up.

Julie Andrews as Dolly would increase ticket sales exponentially.

Rodgers and Hammerstein cast opera singers in Pipe Dream and as the male lead in South Pacofic

You guys are making me nervous. I can't make it back to NY until late April/early May. I really hope Hello Bernie's still running!

Speaking of Julie Andrews, MFL opens (for previews) tonight and the original also opened on March 15.

Why would ANYONE care about any NYT "expose" unless you are exactly like Scarlett in GWTW as Mammy describes her: "you sittin' there...waiting just like a spider?"

Thread #293 had someone post Sondheim's street address. That may be why it was deleted; that's generally a no-no in celeb threads.

If Reba turned down Unsinkable(and who wouldn't) can't she put on more of a northern accent and do Dolly. Brits do American accents and northerners do southern accents all the time.

Why can't a southerner do an accent in the same way?

She would be a smash even if Dolly had a southern accent.

R164 can you imagine?! She could do it. If Carol Channing could sing thru it then she can pull through too. Doesn't need to be soprano. It would be amazing. 😍

R161 = Loon and Aspie jerk. Stop referring to “We,” Matt, you’re despised around DL.

I still can’t believe Batty Betty is who Rudin went with for the tour Dolly star, playing one week and two week gigs.

We need a revival of Beatlemania. There will be LINES at Ticketron.

Andrews is in her 80s.

She would be the oldest Dolly ever which is really saying something.

She would be old enough to play Dolly's grandmother when you consider Channing was 43 when she originated the role.

[quote]Channing was 43 when she originated the role.

Which is the proper age for the role. Not these old crones like Bette and Bernadette and Betty. We have to believe that Dolly has a second chapter in her life. Not that she's marrying Horace so he can ease her into a dementia facility.

Is Lady Gaga too young to play Dolly?

Beth Leavel played Dolly on Cape Cod a few summers ago and she was excellent.

[quote] That said, I like he and Isaac as a couple. Hope they go the distance.

For Tay Tay, that'll be three months.

I can't necessarily judge All Shook Up fairly as I saw it for free, r163. Given that, I found it very entertaining and Cheyenne was never as sexy again.

Cheyenne for Dolly! He's the right age, and could really use a second chapter in his life.

Anyone who thinks Bernadette looks ready to be "eased into a dementia facility" is nuts.

Channing may have been 43 when she first played her, but Ruth Gordon, who originated the part in "The Matchmaker," was 58 when it opened, and Shirley Booth was 60 when she filmed the play. Yvonne DeCarlo, Eve Arden, Ginger Rogers, Martha Raye, Ethel Merman all played Dolly well into their 60s or 70s. Wasn't Channing something like 77 when she did her last tour?

Midler at 71 (when it opened) certainly had energy, and from the stage didn't play as old as she was. Bernadette looks at least ten - fifteen years younger than she is, and she's beautiful.

Anyone can "rejoin the human race" from any age. Dolly should have some mileage on her (which Streisand did not have), but it doesn't matter if she's 40, 50, 60, or - depending on the shape they're in - 70.

Look at the videos of Midler. Her So Long Dearie is arthritic. It looked like great grandma, performing at a bar mitzvah. She looked ancient.

Have you watched Midler's "I Put My Hand In"? She was quite energetic, dancing and hopping all over the stage. She hardly looks "arthritic" in So Long Dearie, either.

A friend texted me earlier while walking out of the (first?) My Fair Lady preview with a thumb's up emoji. I uhhh.... I could use more detail than that. Anyone else go? Can Lauren Ambrose sing? Can she do the accent(s)? What about Norbie? How grand was Diana Rigg? Did the Downton Abbey chap's Higgins work? What was Bartlett Sher wearing?

I should go just so I can say I was once in the same room as Diana Rigg. I just adore that woman.

R185, Lauren Ambrose trained initially as a classical/opera singer. She has a legit lyric soprano voice. Whether she had the vocal chops was never the issue with this casting.

Has anyone seen Santino Fontana in Hello, Dolly! this week?

BWW is ecstatic over MFL.

Except After Eight was MORTALLY OFFENDED by the ending. I hope he went home afterward, wrapped himself up in his coziest shawl, cranked up his gramophone and listened to the cast recording of Floradora to calm himself down.

r190, has the ending been re-imagined?

New news from the James Levine case.

"Conductor James Levine Sues Metropolitan Opera Following Sexual Misconduct Termination

Earlier this week. The New York Times reported that The Metropolitan Opera has fired conductor James Levine following "credible evidence" that Mr. Levine had engaged in "sexually abusive and harassing conduct."

This evening, news broke that the disgraced conductor has filed a lawsuit against the Metropolitan Opera citing breach of contract and defamation.

The lawsuit, which seeks $5.8 million in damages, alleges that Levine's firing is the result of an effort to "oust Levine from the Met and erase his legacy from the organization."

The lawsuit accuses the organization of acting on "vague and unsubstantiated accusations in the press" and states that Levine's contract had no provisions to fire or replace him.

The Met denies all allegations contained in the lawsuit.

James Levine is primarily known for his tenure as Music Director of the Metropolitan Opera, a position he held for 40 years (1976-2016). Allegations in 2017 of sexual assaults in the past led the Met to suspend its relationship with him and to cancel any future engagements by Levine.

He has made numerous recordings, as well as television and radio broadcasts, with the Met. Levine has also held leadership positions with the Ravinia Festival, the Munich Philharmonic, and the Boston Symphony Orchestra. In 1980 he started the Lindemann Young Artists Development Program, and he has often trained promising singers, conductors, and musicians for professional careers.

After taking an almost two-year health-related hiatus from conducting from 2011 to 2013, Levine retired as the Met's full-time Music Director following the 2015-16 season to become Music Director Emeritus.

[quote]Can Lauren Ambrose sing? Can she do the accent(s)? What about Norbie? How grand was Diana Rigg? Did the Downton Abbey chap's Higgins work? What was Bartlett Sher wearing?

Why aren't there any blacks in the cast?

The guy who plays Freddy is black.

[quote][R190], has the ending been re-imagined?

SPOILER!!!! LOOK AWAY!!!!

Eliza walks out at the end. Not through the door, but through the house. Not the voms, but into the lobby; into our world, effectively.

I don’t have a problem with that, but why does she come back to the house at all? Did she forget her toothbrush? She’s already walked out on him, in fairly spectacular fashion. Why return for one line?

Some are saying its happening in his imagination.

Sad that Broadway is still excited about fucking MFL and has little else to show for itself.

MFL will not cheer the modern masses, what a fucking boring cast!

agreed R197.

Or ANY of the masses.

Except our blessed reto-New York theater goers.

Why is that sad? Great shows endure for a reason -- is it sad when someone revisits Shakespeare or Chekhov or Ibsen?

My thoughts exactly, R199. What the hell makes a musical exempt? And anything that gets After Eight clutching his pearls can't be all bad.

Seeing a community theatre production is not the same as seeing a professional one. This show hasn’t been on the boards in ages. It’s ok to let new audiences in on the experience

Whats sad is that there has been NOTHING to rival these shows from the current crop of creators.

NOTHING! So yes R199. It sorta is sad. Unless you think Hamilton is a CLASSIC in the making.

Taking your thoughts now on Ben's audition for Spielbergs West Side remake-

Ugh. I find Ben Platt insufferable

Oh, please no--not Platt as Tony.

Not Platt as anything, but most emphatically not in WSS. The commenters on his audition think he's a musical god--what is wrong with everyone???

Holy shit R202, that video is disturbing, he must have upped his meds, you can see his towering insanity on full display, those eyes, those Aplenzin fueled eyes. What is also very present is that clip is the hard and cold fact his adoration for DEH is a crock, he wasn’t playing a role, he was simply performing in the only way his limited skill set allows, every vibrato, every tic is his curse, not his blessing. If that kid didn’t have a powerful and dictator like father, he’d be shuffling along at Bellevue. Horrid.

Is Tony a retard in the upcoming remake?

Platt would be dead wrong for Tony. He’d only be right for the developmentally challenged Baby John.

Special needs, r207.....

I have to admit that he is very strange looking.

Levine is going to get a huge settlement, because a court case would force the Met to acknowledge they paid hush money to all these "abused" boys for decades.

You know Bernie, being so beautiful and youthful, could probably play Tony.

Ben would make a better Officer Krupke.

One could say the same of Cher, r212.

Chris Burke IS Tony in WSS 2019!

Why did the Times hire Jesse Green? What was the upside?

The Times is on the decline obviously.

With the net there are too many sources not bought out by corporations willing to actually tell the truth

What issues do you have with Jesse Green's writing? I'm not always 100% with him on enjoyment of a show or even baseline level of taste, but I think his writing is pretty solid. His two most recent musical reviews (Frozen and Once on This Island) are exceedingly well written and nuanced even where their productions are not. His rave of Once On [it's really a pity that there is a show just called Once now, makes shortening this title harder] really got at the heart of that production: everything is a gimmick from hiring a gender non-binary Glee star and an aging Disney princess as Goddesses to having something new fall from the rafters every ten minutes, but its the sum of those gimmicks that really wins you over to the show and the show succeeds both in spite and because of them.

I also liked his treatise on gay theater... it wasn't the most researched piece, but it was quite thoughtful.

Is it me, or is Ben Platt kind of pitchy in that recording? And his vibrato is insanely out of control.

Ugh. Whoever pegged him as Baby John was on the money - he's perfect for that, and nothing else. Of course, as Baby John he'd have to dance, and I don't think he can.

Tovah and Dolly cast at Paper Mill

In the new ending to MFL, Eliza sprouts wings and carries Henry Higgins to heaven.

It's weird that Margaritaville has been conceptualized as a grand and happy place. Isn't it a euphemism for alcoholism?

Jesse Green couldn't wait to escape from Margaritaville

Here's the thing with Platt. Well, one of the things anyway; it's hard to know where to start with him. But leaving aside the vibrato and the not-terrific voice, his acting instincts are so far off as to be non-existent. He looks nuts in this clip--I expected him to start twitching uncontrollably--and yet he's clearly proud of it and the comments are effusive.

Why would he post it?

Is Platt the poor man's Johnnie Ray?

R224, Why has no one mentioned his breasts on display in that clip?

Ben Platt is just NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. i am so HAPPY to know i am not the only one who sees this little freakshow for who he really is. How can he be proud of his accomplishments when they where not earned on his own merits? Pathetic. Like someone said earlier, he doesn't belong in ANYTHING.

He posted it because he thinks it's fabulous--and the commenters, whoever they might be, agree with him. Who's his father? Not Marc Platt? In any case, this dreadful kid won himself a Tony, which makes it hard to say he's not getting stuff on the merits.

Ben's much hotter brother, Jonah, was a losing contestant on Jeopardy! two weeks ago.

Ben's other hotter brother, blobfish, has his own DL thread.

Lmao. He loves that vibrato, don't he?

He really needs a training bra at this point.

Say all you want about Platt (and I frequently do), but you have to admit he's lost a lot of weight and really can't be called fat anymore.

Melodramatic, a bad actor, a fountain-like spitter, a daddy's boy, a fake ass bitch, and a complete mess... Yes. But fat, no.

Didn't he score a TV series for the fall with someone interesting?

Oh, right - Gwyneth Paltrow and Barbra Streisand. It's a holy trinity of annoying.

r234 = Ben's bestie, Beanie Feldstein. Anyone would look thin next to you, Beans.

I made it to the end of Platt's "The most beautiful sound ever hearr-r-r-rd" and couldn't get to the Pause button fast enough.

LOL at r237. You and me both, sister!

Beanie actually cleans up quite nicely. If she would just have the surgery and drop the rest of the weight, she'd be quite attractive.

Beanie's clearly been working on the weight and I think will be fine--and quite pretty. She's also much more talented than her execrable BFF.

Spielberg's just idiotic enough to give Platt the part. I hope Arthur L. comes back from the grave and haunts both of them.

Well if ANYBODY could, r240...

R234 damn. Whoa. Maybe we should slow down datalounge people. We might be going in a little hard right now. He's fragile. I think i would feel bad if he ever read the things we are saying about him now. I think we all know whats up. We're not dumb. Y'all are cracking me up though. 😂

R228, I believe, in a more comforting and deserving Universe, Platt would be the secondary shift staffing for Theater Refreshments Co., DEH was a Trojan horse for daddy’s ugly duckling to sway to pathetic throng of Broadway’s current tween hierarchy, he’s truly nightmares made real, his turn on Will & Grace was an embarrassment. It’s fitting in this age of Ms’ Tepper’s Loathsome Heartfelt Bland he’s seen as a musical theater giant. 54Below is a nightly slog of twee, Broadway is hosting Jimmy FUCKING Buffet and the various websites are posting the same drivel about Buzzie’s tip tappin’ corpse and Patti Murin’s gin n’ tonic taco recipe.

Beanie Feldstein's Minnie Fay was one of the most irritating performances I've seen on a Broadway stage in 30 years of theatergoing. The fat had nothing to do with it (though it didn't help). She was just godawful.

54 Below's star attraction these days is the talent-challenged "Countess" and her cheesy cohort. But even with that low bar, Master Platt is criminally ungifted.

Beanie was pretty awful in Dolly, but Minnie Fay is a thankless role. She was pretty good in Lady Bird, although she's already perfecting her fat-girl foil to the ingenue, which is not a good shtick to own.

Oh, Jesus--did Buzzie finally drop dead (er, excuse me, please: "pass")? Drat my short attention span. Please don't tell me we've lost MLOP as well, or Alan Scott?

Yes, Minnie Fay is a thankless role with a few charming lines and nothing more. What she is NOT is a shrieking harpy gallumphing across the stage like she's off the stomp Tokyo, shrieking at the top of her lungs like someone doubled up her Adderall. I kept waiting for Cornelius, Barnaby and Irene to gang stomp her to death.

point taken, R247; LOL

[quote]-did Buzzie finally drop dead (er, excuse me, please: "pass")? Drat my short attention span. Please don't tell me we've lost MLOP as well, or Alan Scott?

Buzzie is dead to us, Alan Scott is "taking a break". No word on mlop.

Buzzie died a while ago, no? I miss mlop. Or at least the parodies of mlop we used to see on here. I haven't been on ACT in years.

Nor have I. Totally missed the Buzzie news. I stopped visiting that site around the time some lunatic poster (Bruce, from the Sondheim chat room) started randomly attacking other posters. Not that they didn't deserve it, but it all got tiresome pretty fast. And then I think he died.

[quote]I believe, in a more comforting and deserving Universe, Platt would be the secondary shift staffing for Theater Refreshments Co., DEH was a Trojan horse for daddy’s ugly duckling to sway to pathetic throng of Broadway’s current tween hierarchy, he’s truly nightmares made real, his turn on Will & Grace was an embarrassment. ...

And there Dear Students is a prime example of the bitter musings of a Theater Queen. Ben Platt spends a year wowing audiences and earning a Tony Award to boot and everyone who loved him in the show is wrong and this never achiever is right. All of Platt's achievements dismissed. This Queen even knows the name of Broadway's concession company which means he rose to the lower rung of candy butcher in the back of the house in the ladder of show biz. And don't bother arguing your case about anyone's talent, it will never be heard.

Ah darling R252, the anonymous defender of the status quo, that endearing bead of sweat that drips from the tip of Paul Wontorek’s desperate taint, you sure told dem!

Someone needs to post Patti Murin's gin 'n tonic taco recipe.

Hello? R229, his father IS Marc Platt.

I used to see 6-10 shows a year on Broadway and about the same number off, but I just can't afford to indulge theater, and eating out, and getting out of the city in the summer, and... and... anymore. And given the dismal slate of shows on or arriving on Broadway in the next few months, I'm thinking theatre might be the first indulgence to go.

If I were to take my partner and our son to a show and not play TKTS Roulette (which, when you lose is an even worse fate than Russian Roulette) it would cost us over $500 for a mere 2 hours of probably mediocre entertainment without even a good view. How do people justify it?

Is everyone getting half price tickets these days? My coworkers have started to think about trying to band together to get group discounts, but I don't want to chained to the whims of some finance bros and Susan in HR. Is there a better option than TKTS? or are people really just sucking it up and paying an arm and a leg to see 3rd rate Jimmy Buffet Karaoke?

Does anyone know when the Margaritaville Tony tickets come out. I want to see it quickly before it closes.

Maybe lots of you have already read it, but Adam Gopnik's New Yorker piece this month about Andrew Lloyd Webber, which is a longish essay that is something of a book review about ALW's autobiography and more of a reflection on musical theater in ALW's time, is interesting.

Webber writes to Patti during the Evita run, complaining that she needs to enunciate better so audiences can understand the lyrics; she never really changes; it never really matters.

R256, Bootlegs.

Was this discussed already? My eternal apologies if it was.

Wonder what the real story is....

r260 Cate realized Ivo Van Hove is a one trick pony and that trick wasn't good the first time. At least Cate conceivably has a busy schedule that she can pull the "scheduling conflict" card, unlike Audra who had to... you know actually conceive to get out of a shitty production.

And my own apologies if it's been discussed before...but "Ivo van Hove"?

Is that a real person's name? It sounds like a DL creation.

[quote] His two most recent musical reviews (Frozen and Once on This Island) are exceedingly well written

r218 Frozen hasn't opened yet wtf

He reviewed it out of town. WTF. They do that with shows the consider newsworthy. WTF. It's arbitrary and unkind but WTF.

apologies.

Yeah, that Maria clip is something awful, but Platt was solid in his Evan Hansen role. He’s just extremely odd and can never be an acceptable leading man in a normal role.

Mean Girls is boring, EtM is surprisingly fun, MFL is stunningly good, Carousel is awful and a mistake. A terrible musical season so far, real terrible overall.

I'm not understanding the MFL ending. She comes in and says her line and then walks out?

Why does she bother to come back?

And does she just walk off stage into the wings?

To fetch his slippers? To make dinner?

This isn't making any sense.

She walks off the stage into the audience, up the aisle and out of the theatre.

....and the audience just sits there looking puzzled?

Like....a Barbara Harris type of thing, r268?

r266 Is EtM surprisingly fun like Mamma Mia/All Shook Up were passably surprisingly fun, or is it like Nunsense surprisingly fun where if I were at some shitty summer stock place in the Berkshires with my arthritic father and his sleazebag brother it would keep them quiet and in air conditioning for a solid two hours but otherwise I would regret spending both money and time on it?

Mean Girls was... fine? out of town, but it was really no better than Lysistrata Jones and wasn't even as good as the original Legally Blonde (which is saying something).

OotI is a barrel of gimmicks, but its a rather good barrel. If you like Diane Paulus at her best (Pippin/Donkey Show), then this is the sort of production you'd like. I'm surprised Michael Arden had it in him. Spongebob would be a good show to take small-ish children to and not hate as an adult, but its the sort of thing that would be better as presented in a mid-sized ice arena in Peoria with 45 dollar tickets and shouldn't really be on broadway.

I'm not surprised MFL is excellent. If Sher can turn Kelly O'Blanda into a silk purse, he can certainly turn MFL into an enchanting evening.

R256 and anyone else who can't indulge in theater as much as you'd like, ask Jo Ann how she does it and report back.

R268 That is a direct steal from the end of Ingmar Bergman's production of A Doll's House where Nora left the stage into the audience up the aisle and on her way out slammed the door on the auditorium.

Are they paying the Bergman estate for this theft?

Is the Casey Nicholaw chapter coming to a close. Got lucky co-billed with South Park creator. Then bullshit with a side of Disney. Tuck Everlasting? Mean Girls? The Prom?

The character is now called Nora Doolittle.

What is EtM?

Escape To Margaritaville

I like when people in musicals make faces toward the audience to show when they are happy or surprised or confused or having fun.

ah thanks - it sounds like a medical procedure !LOL

The ending of this current My Fair Lady is that Eliza storms out of the theater, then Freddy Eynsford-Hill creeps in and says, "We both lost her. Let's comfort each other." The lights dim as they walk towards each other, arms outstretched.

R256 Try the TodayTix app.

R256. www.tdf.org

Nicholaw Is the girl who will sneak the last slice of cake, mediocre, hefty and lost. The Mindy Cohn of the Broadway stage. He’s running on empty this curdled season.

I thought to be truly au courant Eliza kneels between Higgin's legs and starts unbuttoning his fly.

Higgin's, 'Where the devil did you learn that?!'

Mrs Pearce from off stage, 'Colonel Pickering!'

Higgin's, 'Why that dissembling bugger!'

Curtain as music swells.

I like the idea of Higgins and Freddy getting together. Then Eliza can have a final scene with Pickering, and they both sing "What Did I Ever See in Him?," interpolated from "Bye Bye Birdie."

Bernadette peters is the last person I want to see...in h dolly or anything ... she only been arouond 100 yrs

recast dolly asap

omg I loooooooooove Norbert butz. he so good.

Just wait til Pretty Woman hits Broadway and 2 hacks Jerry Mitchell and Casey Nicholaw can both be banned together forever.

Loving the Ben Platt critique. Dude's ego is hysterically out of proportion to his talent. Like others said, I got as far as the wild glissando in "The most beautiful sound I ever heard", before I noped right out of that video. He was passable with DEH's dopey Broadway tween pop, but he doesn't have the ear or the chops to sing legit showtune. That video is an embarrassment and if I were his team I'd urge him to take it down.

Why doesn’t she just throw the slippers in his face? Also does she walk up the center aisle? How do the get her off stage gracefully?

R254, I’m guessing you would toss back the gin and tonic and then dive deep into the pink taco.

If they're determined to remake WSS, they need to cast all unknowns

Outside of New York, Ben Platt IS unknown. Just not unknown enough.

An earlier version of this article incorrectly identified the member of the cast who thanked Jo Ann Veneziano. The actor was Carolee Carmello, not Hugh Parano.

Eliza Doolittle needs a friend like Autumn.

He has more than 800K Insta followers, that doesn't count as unknown

He's known to theatregoers. I assume if the TV series with Streisand and Paltrow is a hit, his onscreen career will take off.

He's truly insufferable.

Always wonderful when a correction has a new error in it.

[quote]Hello? [R229], his father IS Marc Platt.

Hello? [R255], his father was not on stage at the Music Box Theater. Marc Platt did not get this reaction for his work for a year. OK?

That applause was 85% for the character of Evan Hansen, 15% for Ben Platt. It's tough to explain, but he burst on to the tween scene as a tabula rasa, and DEH put him on the map in a role with a zeitgeist-y message. Most of his fans unintentionally, subconsciously conflate Ben Platt with his character, Evan Hansen, and worship at his do-goody altar accordingly. Any actor would have succeeded equally in that role, in that moment. A talented actor may have even become a superstar. But, we'll never know, because we instead, we got Ben Platt.

Jesse reviewed "Frozen" out of town and he will review it again next Thursday. But he was in the audience, amongst all those dozing off, last night. Why would the Times review a performance a week ahead of opening night?

Um, because last night was a critics' preview (one of many). Dozing off? Really?

Frozen is as bad as Tarzan, really really “meh” and devoid of any magic.

Wesley Taylor likes em young...

Marc Platt is a Broadway legend, died years ago and would never produce a son as untalented as this guy.

But...her...face, r305....

Thanks, R304. I think they're very cute together. I'm also sure that Isaac is the top in the relationship (especially now given their "Wesley is expecting" joke at the end of the video).

r304 Yea Isaac has an amazing body - tall and ripped...seems sweet.

The only way Wesley will stay w/ Isaac is if Isaac's star continues to rise and being with him allows Wes to be photographed and noticed. Of course, Isaac may realize he can do 100 times better and dump this never was on the curb.

[quote]Marc Platt is a Broadway legend, died years ago and would never produce a son as untalented as this guy.

Not that Marc Platt.

This Marc Platt is Ben Platts sperm donor.

Issac is genetically gifted - his father is Will Powell, who has won the national CrossFit title twice (yes this is apparently a thing)...The kid has a beautiful body.

r309 Why so down on Wes Tay Tay? He seems like a decent guy...

The only people who think Wesley is a decent guy are the ones who haven't met him. he's a horror show.

And no, he didn't reject me.

That's why I expressed skepticism upthread that Marc Platt could be Ben's papa--THAT Marc Platt would be much too old (and as it happens, much too dead) to have fathered Ben.

Loved his dad in The Thin Man movies, r312.

Do relationships between actors ever really work out? I suppose some do, like John Dossett and Michelle Pawk. But the actor couples I know have a weird sort of competition going on, and the second one eclipses the other, a quick excuse is whipped up by the 'Norman Maine' and they very quickly move on.

He only died in 2014, r314

Fun Fact: He was one of the brothers in 7B47B

Yes, but he was 100 when he died, making it fairly unlikely that he fathered a child in his late 70s.

Jessica Tandy and Hume Cronyn hung in there, gloriously. Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward too (if not quite so gloriously). Whatever happened to the actress Tandy Cronyn, by the way?

True, r318

Streisand claims she never had a #metoo moment.

I thought she got Wholesale by sleeping with David Merrick.

If that's true (eww), Streisand may not have considered it a moment; in the 50s and 60s that kind of thing just came with the territory, and everybody played their parts to get what they wanted.

Reading the You Tube comments on BP's "Maria" was just depressing and left me feeling as though I was living in an alternate universe...

Me,too, [R323]. How is it possible that all those people thought that was a wonderful performance? This isn't bitchiness or envy or dog-in-the-manger, it's a statement of fact: that was just terrible by any measurable standard.

Isaac is perfect for Wes Tay Tay. He's beyond gorgeous, so he photographs well as a boyfriend and can be considered "a catch", he's successful enough that he's made it past the in-crowd gate-keepers, but he's not talented enough to ever distract from Wes should it come to that.

I disagree, if Isaac is a star on the rise, Wes will feel threatened and dump him. If this is his only show, Wes will feel unspecial and dump him. He needs to coast down the middle to last more than a year with Tay Tay.

I'm not convinced OotI will last that long, although it deserves better sales than its getting. It's being outsold by Faranelli and the King at this point, which is some of the most turgid writing undeserving of the performance Mark Rylance miraculously is giving it.

Frozen will last longer than Tarzan. It'll be, at minimum, Little Mermaid. The problem is the new songs are awful. Beauty and the Beast and Lion King did a great job of interpolating new songs that either were drawn from pre-existing score melodies or felt as one with the original score. Lion Kings additions were better than Beauty's, but it was a better show so that's to be expected. Difficult? Deadly? Dangerous? to Dream is awful. Where is the hook or melody line? And those words... sheesh, they sound like a rejected poster for a high school emo girl's locker. Horrid. No wonder MFL is wowing people, audiences have likely forgotten what intelligent lyrics sound like and are in awe.

I would say Frozen will last as long as Aladdin, if only on name value.

Looking at Isaac Cole Powell's IG, I'd say he's likely short on talent. If you've got the goods, you don't have the time to be such an instagram ho. He'll probably be relegated to chorus boy soon.

Is Powell any good in OOTI? It’s not much of a role, but does he at least have presence onstage?

You guys are getting weird with the relationship predictions. Maybe they'll last, maybe they won't...who cares? They seem like a cute couple.

Oh shut up, R329. Go play on BWW.

r328 Not really. He cuts a striking figure in his all white underwear, but he's sort of a cypher, and his Some Girls is probably the low point of the show. He's not bad per se, but when you are being severely shown up by a Glee actor and an American Idol reject, it's not the best look.

He's also pretty hilariously bad at the ball sequence traditional dance number.

Great arms though. Really A+ on those triceps.

I don't think Frozen will last even a year.

These bad to mediocre new Girl Power shows like Frozen and Anastasia only burn family income and force them back to Wicked where they can be guaranteed satisfaction for their $$$$.

If Frozen doesn’t last a year, look for the boys in Burbank to suddenly find religion and become upset with Schumacher's behavior.

Anyone who thinks Frozen won't last an entire year is insane. Tarzan lasted over a year. This isn't some half-forgotten Don Bluth property or a cut-rate pop-culture obsessed rehash of a tv show, this is a Disney juggernaut. It could literally just be a 3 minute performance of Let it Go and harried housefraus from across the tristate area would flock to it with their children.

I'm more interested in the staying power of Harry Potter. Tickets will be impossible to come by for a while as all the fanatics fight over seats, but what happens after a year? What family of 4 has $2400 and two days to waste for a poorly written but hilariously expensive rehashing that you could see for free on ABC Family twice a year? And that's only the cost of seeing the show and doesn't cover the cost of two dinners at Olive Garden Time Square and a three night stay at the Comfort Inn.

(I say this, but I'll definitely see it at least once).

[quote]Reading the You Tube comments on BP's "Maria"

I'm the only BP around here and don't you forget it!

So if Wesley Tay Tay is ready to leave Manhattan and go party in Provincetown for the Summer, will Isaac leave OOTI with vocal problems?

R334 Harry Potter is still selling out in London after over a year so why wouldn't it be the same in NY.

Hits not contingent on a specific star can run for decades. Now "Disney" "Harry Potter" and "Lin Manuel Miranda" are the brands that propel ticket sales.

[quote]Harry Potter is still selling out in London after over a year so why wouldn't it be the same in NY.

Because NY has sort of moved on from kid wizards. And as we're seeing with Angels in America, some things go better in London than they do in NY.

If I coulda been

What I coulda been

I woulda been something!

If I coulda been, I woulda been.

[quote]If I coulda been, I woulda been. —you know who

Who? Patti LuPone?

I'm watching a rerun of L&O:SVU where Patti L. is portraying the aging enabler of a rapist.

So tired of type casting.

I think with the popularity of 50 Shades of Grey, Broadway should revive Aspects of Love. It has everything: teenage love, lesbian love, senior citizen love

Aspects of Love has one moderately good if undistinguished song. It won't sustain a revival.

If only ALW wasn’t so stingy with the reprises.

Please let there be a leaked sex tape in their future.

I HATE that word, r345. They're returns!

Nunn's staging of Aspects was the best thing he's done on Broadway.

People used to get by by second acting because all the good Act I songs were reprised in the 2nd Act.

[quote]I'm watching a rerun of L&O:SVU where Patti L. is portraying the aging enabler of a rapist.

I was watching a rerun of "Frasier" where she plays one of their Greek relatives.

I was watching a rerun of “I Love Lucy” where she plays one of Ethel’s bowling buddies.

I loathe what passes for "acting" in musical theatre. I thought watching Platt sing Maria was refreshing. It felt new and honest. He may not be right for the role but I'd prefer him over any of those bland operatic leading man singers or worse - some "performer" who thinks they are acting when they are indicating.

[quote] I loathe what passes for "acting" in musical theatre. I thought watching Platt sing Maria was refreshing. It felt new and honest. He may not be right for the role but I'd prefer him over any of those bland operatic leading man singers or worse - some "performer" who thinks they are acting when they are indicating.

Then you've clearly not seen Platt try to act in DEH.

I did not see DEH. I'm simply going by that tape and I thought it was refreshing.

You mean the tape where he was doing the very thing you say you loathe?

[quote]some "performer" who thinks they are acting when they are indicating.

He acts the song like he’s watching Maria get gang-raped. It’s all phony emotionalism and not related to what the song and the scene are about at all. Which wouldn’t matter except that he specifically posted it as his “audition” for Tony.

RIP Sammy Williams, the Tony-winning original Paul from A Chorus Line.

What’s weird about Platt’s “audition” is the fact that he’s totally wrong for Tony. Tony is supposed to be the co-founder of a violent street gang on the upper West Side. At best, Platt comes off like a fey nerd. Whoever here thought he’d be type casting for Baby John was right on the money.

Maybe onstage he could project interest in females, but on film he seems just too gay. He’s basically not believable as a former street tough.

Even if all that weren't true, his singing is so mannered and stage-y (not in a good way). I think that tape is an abomination, and I'm surprised his agent hasn't suggested that he take it down.

That original Chorus Line cast had really nowhere to go.

They started in an experience that was all you could dream of in being in a hit Broadway musical.

It wasn't a great show in terms of book and score but that original cast in that original production was about as electrifying an experience as you could have in the theater.

It was really Michael Bennett's genius working on all cylinders.

[quote] It was really Michael Bennett's genius working on all cylinders.

Actually, I think his genius was more complete in "Dreamgirls." If you ever saw the staging of the original Broadway show, it was amazing.

Other than Hamilton (which is loathed here) what was the last musical that gained any sort of following for its score? I can't remember a show that had even musical theatre nerds humming let alone casuals taking an interest since... maybe Light in the Piazza? And I found those songs a bit flowery.

I can't name a single song worth an in-show reprisal in the past 10 years that didn't come from a pre-existing property. She Used To Mine is a great musical theater song, but as the 11 o'clock number, it doesn't make sense to give it a reprisal.

R361, my guess would be "Rent," particularly of course for "Seasons of Love," which became a pretty mainstream hit.

R361, you need to look up the definition of “reprisal.” You’re talking musical theatre, not war. The word is “reprise.”

Broadway songs were regularly a part of culture through the early 80s. Of course the demise of variety shows lessened that. But you could regularly hear "Send In The Clowns" "Try To Remember" "As Long As He Needs Me" "Let Me Entertain You" and so many others on radio and tv.

Sometimes those ATC girls nail it …. what, Ben Plat doing "Maria" on youTube? God, no, just no. Best comment: "That's Tony's song not Baby John's!" All the blathering about a West Side Story film remake, how the score will be treated in terms of the style of singing, faithfulness to the note values that are written, orchestrations, arrangements, etc. makes me want to slap them. Good Christ, it's a movie to be made, ilm a singing nobody. And girls, should I say gurls, remember, Tony isn't a hunk via Larry Kert on stage or Richard Beymer on film.

There's something about Platt'S body. I'd like to fuck him.

Tony’s not a hunk, but he’s also not an effeminate man with tits and a trembling lower lip.

I did see Dreamgirls and yes it was it was an amazing staging.

But Nine's staging was beautiful as well. The best thing Tune ever did.

Well those days are long gone. We were lucky to have seen those productions.

WHET to Larry Kert? I know the story about how he got excluded from the Sondheim/Prince inner circle after his inopportune comments at a drunken Prince party.

I'd forgotten about Nine, but you're right--it was gorgeous.

r369

more details please

Ben Platt IS Anybody's!

Yes, please [R369]. Much more interesting than Ben Platt.

If you listen very carefully to that Ben Platt "Maria" at the 1:45 mark, you can hear the neighbor banging on the wall and saying, "Shut the fuck up in there, we're trying to sleep!"

Yes, r369, many of us seem not to have heard the drunken Larry Kert story, so do tell!

Agreed^

"Now "Disney" "Harry Potter" and "Lin Manuel Miranda" are the brands that propel ticket sales. "

Sadder words were never spoken-

I wanna hear this Larry Kert story, too. Speaking of Larry, does anyone recall some b&w footage of him singing a stunning Something's Coming on TV? I feel like it was used somewhere recently -- perhaps in that HBO Sondheim doc? I was trying to find it on YT, but no dice.

R352, WTF are you typing about? Platt is doing nothing but stammer and indicate in his videa, there is nothing natural or organic in that, holy fuck are the people becoming “dead” because of his rendition just plain batty.

I liked the way Trevor Nunn staged the Pryce/sometimes McCutcheon revival of MFL. Higgins and Eliza have a staredown after the slippers line then burst out laughing. I mean Eliza has her 'fuck you, Higgins' moment in Without You. We get it. She's come into her own as an independent woman. She goes back to the dope because she's fallen in love with him but I never came away feeling that she was going to be his servant. If she was she would have picked up the fucking slipper and put them on his feet. This new staging sounds ridiculous.

Mean Girls needs new music and lyrics ASAP, some of the worst rhyming ever, what a shitfest.

I will kill Ben Platt to hear the Larry Story

R338 Glad you have your finger on the pulse of NY and their obvious lack of love for Harry Potter!

A show that sold out within hours and a franchise that still makes millions globally with books, films, theater, amusement parks and merch.

But, you know best!!!

Tommy Tune had Karen Akers exit the theater through the house in NINE. Very effective, as she has dumped her cheating husband.

Sorry but I'm with R338- I hope to god NY has moved on from kid wizards and another Angels in America revival.

Don’t know if this is the same Larry Kert story, but during his run in Company, he unhappily asked, “Who do I have to fuck to get out of this show?” Sondheim apparently replied, “The same person you fucked to get the role.”

Was Larry Kert not very ambitious?

He was gorgeous and had a beautiful voice during his WSS days.....why did he not have much follow-up? Did he do any TV or films? I can't remember him much on all those TV variety hours from the 1950s and 60s (and I'm old!).

R357, Tony isn’t some gang kingpin. He’s Romeo, FFS. You act like he’s out slitting throats, covered in blood. The Jets are just slightly more intimidating than The Thunderbirds. And Tony is formerly a member. Sheesh.

[quote]Ben Platt IS Anybody's!

Yes, he is. But what role do you think he could play in WSS?

[quote] Yes, he is. But what role do you think he could play in WSS?

Ghost Bernardo

[R369] has left the building...

WEHT to Kert? He died decades ago, you moron.

and his icon is a peach r327, what is this, Grindr?

whatever, [R391]. some of us would still like to hear the story.

Larry Kert had a big number with Liza in New York, New York, that was supposed to be his big film break. But Scorcese left him on the cutting room floor.

Scorcese should have left the whole film on the cutting room floor.

Larry Kert with baby Bernadette

Great wig.

Larry Kert was known to mock Dean Jones' performance in Company and felt that he made a better Bobby, when in fact Dean Jones was quite good in the show.

R362 -- I think they were implying in the last 10 years and RENT was over 20 years ago.

You are correct however because before Hamilton opened, If/Then set an album sales record for the hottest selling OBC since RENT. That was not just a testament to how crazy people were about Frozen (and the chance to hear Elsa singing 'fuck!') but also how little enthusiasm there had been for OBC recordings in the interim.

But if you were thinking in terms of the last time a musical had a mainstream breakout into pop music you would have to go to Wicked and The Producers before Rent. Popular, as jarring as that whole bit is, did sneak into the mainstream briefly and Springtime For Hitler has become frikking real world political movement.

R383 tommy tune's original NINE was so gorgeous. so theatrical. so fun. and so perfect somehow. that moment you bring up with karen akers leaving guido through the audience was excellent on several levels. she leaves guido on the stage. which has been filled with women besides herself all night. and goes out into her own space away from his. amazing. also she won't be a part of the "show" anymore. she breaks his theatrical/film dream. and now comes into reality with us. it's really bold staging. NINE and GRAND HOTEL were two of the greatest broadway show productions i've ever seen. and the original DREAMGIRLS, and A CHORUS LINE when it was at the shubert. both were thrilling. masterworks. bennett's staging on both is the highest of the hgh. jerome robbins territory. the original EVITA at the broadway theatre was also an epic piece. genius staging and production. as was gower champion's 42ND STREET. the tone of the show, the excess of it all. the dance numbers. the fun. it is very much a love letter to broadway itself. that was the last great era it seems. with all those shows playing at the same time. (except for GRAND HOTEL. which was several years later.) it was an incredible time to see the broadway musical. i feel lucky to have been there.

[R387] Then explain dialogue he has with Riff about previous fights they had with other gangs.

Speaking of Nine, does anyone know the details of the riff between William Ivey Long and Tommy Tune? Apparently Tommy Tune told him to his face, Enjoy your Tony, I will never work with you again. TT also won a Tony for Nine; so, I doubt it was envy.

[quote] You are correct however because before Hamilton opened, If/Then set an album sales record for the hottest selling OBC since RENT. That was not just a testament to how crazy people were about Frozen (and the chance to hear Elsa singing 'fuck!') but also how little enthusiasm there had been for OBC recordings in the interim.

No, what it set was the highest *debuting* cast album since Rent. It opened at #19 on the Billboard Top 200 Albums chart (as did Rent, where both peaked). However, that only translated into 15,000 sales/streams.

If you want to look at a recent cast album that did great sales numbers, The Book of Mormon hit #3 on the Billboard Top 200 and #1 on the iTunes Albums chart. It was the first Top 10 OCR since Hair in 1969.

And yes, I know we got a little OT as the subject was Broadway anthem.

Larry Kert and the Poor Man's/British Version Of Marilyn Monroe in an episode of "Alfred Hitchock Presents."

Wasn't Larry Kert one of the original power bottoms, and very blatant about it? Everyone knew he sucked cock because he just couldn't stay off his knees. I think that's what hurt his career (as far as TV and film) more than anything. The casting directors would let him blow them, but he was lucky if they gave him work as an under five most of the time.

that would hardly have hurt him with prince and sondheim, would it? still hoping for an explanation of the falling-out.

Larry Kert was handsome when he was younger. But as he started to age, he became less attractive. So he could really only find work on stage. He really didn't have a good look for tv or movies.

Larry Kert many years after WSS maybe the late 70s or early 80s sang Maria on Johnny Carson and still was magnificent. I was kind of surprised that it had lost none of its impact. But I don't think he was asked to sit down.

In the 70s he did a cabaret show and Stuart Klein on NY channel 5 reviewed it on the news. Kert berated one of the musicians during the performance. Klein noted it and said, 'Very unprofessional.'

Prince also publically said Company lost something when Jones left.

Did Kert keep shooting himself in the foot?.

He was in Side By Side By Sondheim which I saw in LA at the then Huntington Hartford. He was with Hermione Gingold, Millicent Martin and some bitch named Barbara Heuman. During the end sequence, he sang "Something's Coming". The audience began applauding when he came onstage. He sang and sold the song brilliantly.

Anytime I saw him on TV, I was always distracted by his bad rug and his bad skin. Like many great Broadway musical stars, he was made for the theater.

[quote] In the 70s he did a cabaret show and Stuart Klein on NY channel 5 reviewed it on the news. Kert berated one of the musicians during the performance. Klein noted it and said, 'Very unprofessional.'

Let's hope Stuart Klein never went to see Cyndi Lauper in concert. His head would have blown right off his shoulders.

[quote] Anytime I saw him on TV, I was always distracted by his bad rug and his bad skin. Like many great Broadway musical stars, he was made for the theater.

Did he have a male counterpart like Chita had Rita?

RE: My Fair Lady

Spoilers for ending...

Last scene plays out exactly as you know it, but after Higgins last line she walks out -- not going into the wings, but out and down through the audience.

Yes, she comes back only to leave seconds later.

Apparently its weird and sort of ruins what was a decent revival with what I am told are gorgeous sets and costumes.

Sher may be playing around with options for previews?

R411, I actually think Dean Jones was a good comparison. Much handsomer and photogenic and also had a more likable presence on camera.

I assumed she was just trying to beat the crowd out of the theater and catch a cab home.

r400 makes you realize not one current director is really any good. the bar has been lowered

Doe Eliza grab a bunch of programs on her way out the door?

I want an ending that goes like this...

Higgins finishes "I've Grown..." goes in, turns on the phonograph, listens and it runs out. Then he looks around and shouts out angrily to the abyss "Eliza, where the devil are my slippers?!?"

Curtain drops.

No R146 but she stations herself at one of the exits with a bucket to collect for Equity Fights Aids.

Jones was well known as a kind of movie star at the time for his Disney movies. Kert except for the Broadway crowd had no name recognition.

In '69 Kert starred in one of those one night flop Broadway big budget wonders La Strada.

In '69 Jones starred in the biggest movie hit of the year 'The Love Bug.'

So the New York Times hated Escape to Buffettville.

[quote]But if you’re not drunk or a Parrothead, as Mr. Buffett’s fans are called, you’re in trouble. Mr. Buffett’s denatured country-calypso ditties and horndog smarm seem awfully lowbrow, even in a Broadway environment debased for decades by singing cats and candlesticks. It’s quite a comedown

So I guess we better make travel plans to see it within the next six months, instead of the whole year or ten we thought we would have?

What does Springsteen have that Jimmy doesn't?

DL fave Cheyenne Jackson was on Will and Grace this week. He's not aging well. Really sickly looking and his hair looked 'enhanced.' Was Mat Bomer not available?

[quote]Sher may be playing around with options for previews?

I hear they're thinking of having Eliza rip open her jacket to reveal a #TimesUp t-shirt. She'll still march up the aisle, but she'll be taking selfies as she goes now.

[quote]Was Mat Bomer not available?

MatT Bomer directed this week's installment of the Cunanan-Versace Programme.

[quote]I hear they're thinking of having Eliza rip open her jacket to reveal a #TimesUp t-shirt.

Could it be a misspelled tattoo instead? Asking for a friend.

I'm Larry Kert's sister. I was also Rita's BlameMame voice.

Is Larry Kert wearing a bra in R404? That's an awfully thin strap.

Kert was in RAGS, too. He didn't choose well regarding his Broadway shows.

Well, in all fairness, Dean Jones later did Into The Light.

You used the word "choose", r427. Which ones did he turn down?

R403

Not off topic at all. Book of Mormon WAS huge. I totally forgot about that. It was even considered to be a big part of the mainstreaming of the Mormon church in politics.

But the score didn't really make it into pop music or the mainstream. I think the original quibble was about how long it has been since anyone has hummed a show tune from a new show without being aware of the theater....

My comment about If/Then wasn't that it DID make the leap into mainstream music -- only that the sales of the album were cited at the time as the most robust in recent memory. That seemed to back up the vague notion that broadway showtunes were not having robust sales or much crossover.

I posted this in the Our Miss Brooks thread.

Eve and Viv in Let's Face it!

Any feedback on Lauren Ambrose's performance & singing in MFL yet?

[quote] Did he have a male counterpart like Chita had Rita?

I would say Anthony Perkins. Kert could sing better, but Perkins got the tv broadcast of "Evening Primrose" even though Sondheim had already worked with Kert in WSS.

Maybe Kert didn't have a good agent or maybe he was a bad actor. He rode the "West Side Story" wave from 1957-1960 working with all the huge talents in that show. And by 1970, he was a standby for Company. I wonder if he ever auditioned for Lancelot in "Camelot" which opened in 1960 on Broadway? He was a replacement Cliff in Cabaret in the late 60s. But he didn't seem to be able to get the success that others of his generation got: Julie Andrews, Carol Burnett, Dick van Dyke.

Julie Andrews, Carol Burnett, and Dick van Dyke are pretty individual talents, r433. I don't think Kert really was.

[quote] But the score didn't really make it into pop music or the mainstream. I think the original quibble was about how long it has been since anyone has hummed a show tune from a new show without being aware of the theater.... My comment about If/Then wasn't that it DID make the leap into mainstream music -- only that the sales of the album were cited at the time as the most robust in recent memory. That seemed to back up the vague notion that broadway showtunes were not having robust sales or much crossover.

But my point was that If/Then's cast album sales really weren't all that robust, especially compared to BOM, which made a much bigger leap. Its biggest one week sales were 61,000 units in one week (which was how it hit #3 on the mainstream album chart). Granted it was the week after the Tonys and the digital download was priced to move, but people can't be bothered to listen to show albums for free let alone pay for them, so this was a huge accomplishment. Neither show produced a song that crossed over (and I'm not even sure Hamilton has, either) the way Seasons of Love did in terms of being anthemic.

If/Then happened to debut in a week where 15,000 units got you a high charting rank. It's like Janet Jackson's last album. She didn't sell shit, but it was a blah week, so she wound up at #1 (and was the lowest selling #1 album in years). In a more robust week, If/Then might have only hit #40 instead of #19. Not that 15,000 units isn't really good for an OCR in this day and age. And Idina having a moment definitely made that happen.

Larry Kert was the Jennifer Holliday of the 1960s.

I think Kert was a brilliant singer but can't remember anything about his acting. He might have actually made something of a career as a recording artist.

Larry had a weak chin

Here is Kert 30 years after WSS. His voice was still in good condition.

Kert sang well, but his acting was rudimentary. It was okay in Company because Robert is so hard to figure that Kert's lack of affect suited the show.

Kert was also not a pleasant person. Something inside him kept inspiring him to say hurtful or resentful things to people he was supposedly friends with.

The Larry Kert Company story in full is: it was at his birthday party, and when it was time to blow out the candles on the cake, someone called out, "Make a wish, Larry!" and he said, as if expressing his wish, "Who do you have to fuck to get out of Company?"

It was supposed to be a joke, no doubt, but it sounded crass.

Anyway, that's when Sondheim said, "The same people you fucked to get in it." And he left the party

I still think Dean Jones should have gotten the nomination. I don't know why they made an exception for Kert.

Exactly, R435 I am agreeing with your point and using If/Then as an example. If/Then WASN'T a breakout hit but it was one of the higher selling albums among people who didn't go see the show. I wasn't arguing that it was a hit we were ignoring, only that it was an example of a NON-breakout OBC album. I had not immediately remembered Book of Mormon because I didn't remember any stats trying to suggest that the score of that musical had become anything like Rent or Hamilton. I brought up the tid-bit about if/Then to back up the statement that Hamilton is the first musical hit since RENT where the music really did break out of the insular theater world.

Popular from Wicked did make a crossover for Mika and Ariana Grande -- but ironically for all the mania and love fans have for Wicked, the music generally has not made its way into pop culture. Defying Gravity is very much a song about a woke green witch. For Good is something Kristin Chenoweth sings whenever someone dies or she wants to give some kid a low-key audition for the movie role of Elphaba. I guess 'Hello' from Book of Mormon did become something of a catch-phrase connected to the tune, but it wasn't exactly something people mixed into their dance tapes.

[quote]Is Larry Kert wearing a bra in [R404]?

It's a MANSSIERE!

His voice sounds rather average in that clip.

Kert did a studio recording of Of Thee I Sing, and maybe another of those as well. It was well sung, but of course didn't require any acting.

So the "who do I have to fuck" story is the Prince-Sondheim party story?

That "who do I have to fuck" story has been recycled many times in several different scenarios. I question its authenticity.

Authentic or not (and I believe it because it sounds like Sondheim in the early 70s), it's certainly not breaking news.

God, what I wouldn’t give to have been a fly on the wall for Sondheim and Laurents’ smackdown over who got to spend the night with a hustler invited to Laurents’ dinner party.

[quote]God, what I wouldn’t give to have been a fly on the wall for Sondheim and Laurents’ smackdown over who got to spend the night with a hustler invited to Laurents’ dinner party.

I imagine the poor hustler was sitting in the corner, quietly muttering, "please let Laurents win, please let Laurents win" over and over to himself.

Any reputable hustler would have got up and left rather than have two ugly queens fight over him. I'm sure whoever ended up with the hustler didn't tip.

God, on what planet would Arthur L. be first choice? I enjoy imagining the two of them trying to land punches.

R451, at one time AL had a hot body. I don't think Sondheim ever had a hot body.

You don't get many opportunities in life, r450, to use the line " I'll admit I may have seen better days, but I'm still not to be had for the price of a cocktail, like a salted peanut." This would have been one.

He did, for a couple of years. Early-mid 80s, after the heart attack.

r432, you don't get out much do you?

Sondheim was sexy in a Jewish nerdy intellectual way when he was young. But along with his rise in wealth came a rise in ugliness. By the time he started to wear the beard, he was gross.

I would say anyone who DOESN'T follow BWW is the complete opposite of someone who doesn't get out much.

Yeah, there was maybe a week and a half in 1957 when Sondheim was mildly fuckable. But if you were on vacation, you missed it.

chacun a son gout....

I would take Sondheim at any age over mean, nasty, awful AL.

[quote]I don't think Sondheim ever had a hot body.

Sure he did -- whenever he rented one.

The only thing Company lost when Dean Jones left was the contagion of hepatitis.

The original production of Dreamgirls was the first B’way show I saw and I thought they were all going to be like that. How wrong I was!

Sondheim was really cute once.

Awwww.

Hot Lips does FOLLIES.....

And this is Sondheim now.

Great. Platt's started a trend. Watch, if you want to hear Anita sing with bad vocal fry.

Oh fuck these videos give me life. Shady, cringe-y, Schadenfreude-y life.

The two most self-regarding individuals on Broadway--Miranda and Platt-- seem to have found each other on Twitter. This can't be good.

From the ridiculous to the....the....

OMG, R471, from 3:35 to 4:45 is just... just...

Do yourselves a favor: DON'T LISTEN!!

There a choice to be made

R471, Maria-Cher is straight up lip syncing to another woman starting at 6:22. Such deceit!!

Sondheim looks like Walter Matthau in that photo.

Wasn't Anthony Perkins originally wanted for Company but he was either not interested or unavailable? I think that was around the time Perkins and Sondheim were having an affair but I might be off on the timing.

Dean Jones, of course, was going through a very nasty divorce during rehearsals and previews and was extremely depressed. The subject matter of the show made it much worse for him. He begged Prince to be let out of his contract during previews and the deal they struck was that if he would open for the critics in New York, he could leave after a month.

The London cast recording of Company with Larry Kert was actually the OBC with Kert's vocals dubbed in instead of Jones. I think Barcelona was the only song re-recorded.

Jewish men age horribly.

I don't know about the timing of the affair although that sounds right. I did read that Perkins was signed to sing the lead but then got the chance to direct something (Equus?) and asked to be released.

[quote]Sondheim was really cute once.

Albeit lipless.

Judge if you must, but I'll go with Leonard Bernstein.

Dean Jones came back when they decided to do the '93 Company reunion concert. Of course, Larry Kert was dead by that time so he couldn't do it.

R479, Equus came several years later. Perkins was humiliated during his run (by Alexander Cohen, I think) when they hired Richard Burton for a quick engagement, then kept him on.

Oh please. Stop trying to make Anthony Perkins gay, queens. He was MARRIED to a WOMAN. Not every attractive man in show business is gay.

chacun....

Bernstein: bad body.

Maybe it was Steambath, [R483].

The first ads I saw for Company had Anthony Perkins. But, by the time I saw it in the Boston tryout, it had Dean Jones.

Right . And then Prince agreed to replace him. I think he would have been wonderful.

[quote] Stop trying to make Anthony Perkins gay, queens

ibdb lists that he was partners with Tab Hunter and Grover Dale. So maybe he went to conversion therapy. Or maybe partners just means they were roommates.

Perkins was an interesting situation. He became close with the writer of the pop psychology book "How to Be Your Own Best Friend," which claimed (I'm simplifying this way down) gay men just needed more confidence.

Oh, sweetie, calm down. He was gay. Apparently he also wanted a family, and Berry was pregnant. Grover Dale got married to Whatsername at about the same time.

[quote]Jewish men age horribly.

—William Finn

update your photo in 22 years and get back to us, mr mick adonis

How do you do, 491?

[quote]gay men just needed more confidence.

More confidence for what exactly?

Um, that's the late Whatsername but I am ashamed to have forgotten her name. She was something.

The play Perkins directed instead of playing Robert was Steambath (Bruce Jay Friedman) in June of 1970; he also took a role in it.

Anita Morris. I meant to tease, not be obnoxious about it.

Perkins also had an affair with Bernstein. But then, didn't everybody?

[quote]'Or maybe partners just means they were roommates."

hahaha

Understood--not obnoxious in the least. But she was unforgettable (almost).

I'm not sure Bernstein engaged in "affairs," r497, but whatever you call them you're right that he was an equal opportunity satyr.

Larry and Chits' double act at El Morroco in 1966

Larry & Carol.....

What's her name?

Are you nuts?

Anita Morris whose Call From the Vatican was one of the few genuine Broadway showstoppers of the last 40 years?

I think Company was originally conceived as a play, not a musical, and that’s when Perkins was supposed to play Bobby.

mea fucking culpa, [R503]. you never forgot anything?

No, 504; it had no life as a straight play, and Perkins was scheduled to sing Robert. As a singer, he wasn't worse than Dean Jones.

You are correct, r503.

Didn't Perkins have quite a reedy voice? More NPH than DJ, IIRC.

Grover Dale actally staged A Call from the Vatican but he was uncedited.

R505 you don't forget Anita Morris!!

That picture from "Let's Face It" at r431 looks like Eve Arden is presenting hole to Danny Kaye, and Danny is terrified by it.

Sylvia, everyone was terrified of your hole.

r504, Company was originally conceived of as a series of short plays about marriage, in which two actors would portray a series of couples.

The character of Bobby was not added until the decision was made to make the piece a musical.

As I recall, I think the idea was that all the women would be played by Kim Stanley....but I could be wrong.

Kim Stanley acting George Furth. Enough pregnant pauses to keep Planned Parenthood running for a decade.

The additional numbers in Let's Face it! were by Sylvia and Max Liebman.

Yes, George Furth wrote 11 short one act plays for Kim Stanley that would have made up an evening's entertainment. Perkins was interested in directing and took the material to his friend Sondheim for his opinion. Sondheim took it to Prince and it was he who suggested that it could be a musical. Perkins was initially to have been Bobby but withdrew very early on when he was offered a film to direct.

This is from memory and from Wikipedia.

Here's Perkins (along with the girl from The Sound Of Music) singing Sondheim in the live tv broadcast of Evening Primrose.

Any thoughts on how the reviews for Frozen will go? This is also the week Iceman and Children of a Lesser God begin previews.

Forget the world, from 2:52 onward in [R517]'s post, I just want Anthony in me as deep as he possibly can go.

The 'girl' from The Sound of Music is Charmian Carr you dimwit.

It's not like we're discussing NFL players here.

Oops, excuse me. Evening Primrose was not broadcast live. It was actually filmed in Stern's Department Store.

Does anyone think Ben Platt has made a pass ever at Jonah?

With the world headed towards gender neutralization, I think it's time for a male Annie. How about Iain Armitage as Annie?

Also, “Evening Primrose” was not broadcast live.

Anthony Perkins was into golden showers. There were always stories of him showing up at gay events with a yellow hanky in his right back pocket.

Who knew Psycho wouldn’t be the most terrifying Anthony Perkins/shower combination?

When Annie opened, everybody called it Oliver in Drag.

[quote] When Annie opened, everybody called it Oliver in Drag.

And when Lapine's Annie opened, everybody just called it a drag.

Did we really have some idiot try to play the "Anthony Perkins wasn't gay 'cause he had a wife and kids" card?

Really? In 2018?

That’s what happens when we let the fraus in.

I saw Kert in Rags and he looked painfully uncomfortable. Fortunately (for him) it closed right after it opened. He also stoodby for Peter Allen in Legs Diamond but never went on. He also toured in a bus and truck company of La Cage opposite Harvey Evans.

I saw Kert in the touring production of "Sugar" with Robert Morse and Leland Palmer. I think he looked good as a woman.

Can "I am Telling You" really be considered a show stopper? Since it's the Act 1 finale, it doesn't have the opportunity to stop a show.

I have only seen one number legitimately stop a show, and that was Springtime For Hitler in the Producers. The night I saw it, it got an (approximately) 45 second standing ovation. I saw Jersey Boys after it had opened but quite early in its run (maybe second week) and a small smattering of people tried to standing O after Can't Take My Eyes Off of You, but the rest of the audience wasn't buying it.

I've seen a few numbers with plenty of fan reaction, but no others that noticeably stopped the momentum of the show beyond whats normal for a number.

r531 That looks like Tony Roberts.

R533, I think you're right.

Thanks for posting that clip, R507. Anita Morris looked like a lot of fun. Though, if I'm being honest, I think Jane Krakowski's sheet dance from the revival is even more stunning.

Sondheim's 88th birthday is next week. Of course he doesn't look young and cute anymore.

I know Anita Morris was topless under the Nine catsuit, but did she also go bottomless? That's some...in your face choreography.

R536,

if he used more of his ice cubes he would

Larry had no emotion in that Being Alive clip.

Never saw him before sing that.

It was right up there with Platt doing Maria

Guys. Girls. Enough! Tell me more about Nick Adam’s gaping hole!!!!!!!

As I mentioned above, Grover Dale choreographed his wife's number in Nine, uncredited. I assume there was input from Tune. As in most of the classic successful lavender marriages they genuinely liked, if not adored, each other and were best friends. They may even have had a sexual relationship at some point, like the bisexual Michael Bennett and Donna McKechnie.

R535 Really? No sensuality, no control, no class.

The Tab Hunter doc makes Perkins out to be one of the loves of his live. Dale was a partner as well for a while. To say he was straight is laughable.

Cary Grant was married 4 times yet everyone knows Randolph Scott was the love of his life.

[quote]They may even have had a sexual relationship at some point,

Well, considering they had a child together, that’s a safe bet.

I didn't know they had a child together, r544, but I'm not at all surprised and hope he brought joy to both of them. We lost Morris in the '90s but Grover is still alive. Did you know that he understudied Perkins in Greenwillow?

WOW. This is WONDERFUL. I wish they'd post the full production. Why didn't Nathan do the film?

The film was partly financed on Nathan's then minor name. I can't remember the exact reason he dropped out, maybe his managers didn't want him to appear in another gay role but I think he got a better offer and Jason Alexander saved the film by stepping in. Alexander wasn't nearly as good and it hurt the film but it got the film made. I heard that his leaving the film soured McNally against him for years.

I saw the show on Broadway with the original cast except that Mario Cantone had replaced Nathan. Cantone was wonderful, much to all our group's grateful surprise when we read the program.

^ "when we read the program." should have been "after we read the Playbill."

"I saw the show on Broadway with the original cast except that Mario Cantone had replaced Nathan. Cantone was wonderful, much to all our group's grateful surprise after we had read in the Playbill that Nathan was gone."

Nathan/Mario's first line after awakening his weekend housemates with late night screams: "I was having a musical comedy nightmare! Elaine Stritch and Tommy Tune in The King and I!"

Indeed, and when she played Mrs. Anna in stock, she was alternating nightly as Martha in Virginia Woolf, which she had played to rave reviews on Broadway. Talk about range.

R542, I know I define "class" as a woman in a sheer body stocking and heels, spreading her legs.

Love! Valor! Indicative Acting in Stereotypical Gay Prototypes!

As a kid I saw Anita Morris in the original cast of "The Magic Show" . I was standing by the stage door ( it was before what it has become today) and she came out an banged right into me almost knocking me down. Should could not have been sweeter, even hugging me as she apologized.

Gorgeous renovation of the Lyric. They extended the boxes. Wish they could have brought the balcony forward more but it does look great.

R551 Clutch those pearls, those spread legs may suck you up.

Hmmm the language of this blind is worrisome for those in the anti-Platt camp ...

This permanent A+ list mostly movie director is rebooting an old Broadway hit for the movies. The star of the Broadway revival that led to the new movie thought he had a chance at the role, but the director is totally blowing him off for his own favorites and only gave the actor an audition to make himself look good in case anyone asked.

Bernadette Peters was originally considered for the title role in Annie, back when they were struggling to figure out the tone of the thing.

And I’m Telling You I’m Not Going is considered a legitimate showstopper because the 2nd Act of Dreamgirls never recovers.

What does that blind have to do with Platt, r556? It sounds like it's saying he considered the actor who starred in the revival? Isn't that Matt Cavenaugh? And it doesn't indicate who the directors "own favorites" actually are.

[quote] Nathan/Mario's first line after awakening his weekend housemates with late night screams: "I was having a musical comedy nightmare! Elaine Stritch and Tommy Tune in The King and I!"

Thus setting the tone for the next two hours of that schlockfest.

surely the above poster jests when she suggests if a man is married he cant be gay....

is her head up her cunty?

perkins was gayer than aaron Hernandez.....

Not a fan of perkins, I was keen on his portrayl in the above primrose thing. striking voice and emotion.

he was an odd one, attractive but creepazoid at same time eh.

him and lover Sondheim musta have huge fights....

I thought Perkins was good in Greenwillow (of course I was about 14 at the time and wasn't all that discerning). He didn't quite have the vocal chops for it, but he was earnest and intense in ways that suited the role.

I can't imagine why [R562] thinks Perkins and Sondheim 'musta have huge fights.'

[quote] I know I define "class" as a woman in a sheer body stocking and heels, spreading her legs.

Are you people blind? The color still of Morris in that costume, posted above, clearly shows her wearing something underneath. She was not nude under that costume.

Oh, stop the assholery. Anita Morris was a class act in every way that matters.

[quote]What does that blind have to do with Platt, [R556]? It sounds like it's saying he considered the actor who starred in the revival? Isn't that Matt Cavenaugh? And it doesn't indicate who the directors "own favorites" actually are.

I don't think the blind item is about Spielberg and "West Side Story." Matt Cavenaugh has left show business, and even if hadn't, it's hard to believe he'd be seen for Tony in the movie of WSS, even as a courtesy.

What other "old Broadway hit" is being rebooted for the movies?

The only things close to coming to the screen are Aladdin (and Will Smith has been announced for ages as the genie), Wicked (which has no male lead) and The Lion King, which also had no male lead. All the other shows are in deep, deep development and nowhere near the casting point or have directors attached. It has to be WSS.

Where's the evidence that Perkins and Sondheim were lovers? I know they were friends, but . . .

Perkins sings wonderfully on the GREENWILLOW recording. He even has a few lovely albums of pop standards, including one in French. Kind of "Je M'appelle Tony." They're intimate and very sweet.

And if you want to see Grover Dale dance spectacularly, watch the films HALF A SIXPENCE and DEMOISELLES DE ROCHEFORT.

Matt Cavenaugh is 40. Why would they audition someone two decades too old for the part, even as a courtesy?

If the blind item is about WSS and if it's implying that Spielberg auditioned Matt Cavenaugh for Tony, I'd be very surprised if that's true. By the way, Jeremy Jordan played the part briefly as a replacement in that revival, but I don't think the blind item is referring to him, because he can't really be called the "star" of the show.

Unfortunately Dale is seen edited much to quickly in those films. Especially in Sixpence.

If you want to see what a truly spectacular dancer he was watch He's My Friend from Molly Brown. And Reynolds who was not trained as a dancer is spectacular as well.

The shots are long and sustained and you know that with all the training dancers go through today nobody comes close. Maybe dance trainers today are shit. Or the kids waste precious time in worthless university musical theater programs.

I was JUST coming on to say that it's probably Jeremy Jordan. BI's aren't meant to be taken literally. They do hints. Of that last revival, who went on to be a star? Jeremy Jordan. Certainly no Karen "I still can't dance, peoples" Olivo. Jordan went on to a Tony nomination, television and film. And he played the lead in WSS after Cavenaugh left.

R567

Wicked has a male lead. Fiyero. They have admitted to writing new songs for the movie which makes no sense for adapting a long musical to a short film format unless they have planned on making some major story shifts. The most likely shift they will make is to get rid of all the gay subtext with Glinda by beefing up Fiyero for the fangirl fanbase. The movie will be all about a green girl and her heart-throb prince and Glinda will be turned into a mean-girl transformed into a wacky side-kick.

The Lion King also has a male lead. (But hasn't it been cast?)

The real reason to exclude those two from consideration in the blind item is that they have never closed and therefore are not revivals.

I haven't listened to the Greenwillow OBC in years, [R568], but I did see the show (which seemed a little odd for Frank Loesser but was pleasant) and liked Perkins a lot. He did strain a bit on Never Will I Marry, but he brought such passion to it that the cracks weren't distracting.

I have no clue what his relationship was with Sondheim, apart from friendship; I just thought the speculation upthread about their "huge fights" was peculiar.

Sondheim and Perkins were just close friends. And, of course, they co-wrote The Last of Sheila in 1972.

Anita Morris was one of the sexiest women I've ever seen. I'm as gay as the day is long, but I could almost believe Grover Dale turned straight for a bit when he was in her presence. I'm obsessed with this clip. Between her wardrobe malfunction and that crazy note she hits at the end, it's musical gold!

There goes that Renee Zellweger changing her look again...

I remember a rumor that Anita Morris was having a thing with Judith Light (while she was still a soap star).

The boys with Anita are pretty great, too. Wonder who staged the number.

R576 -- That was fantastic!

The blind item at r556 specifically says its about a revival

[quote] the Broadway revival that led to the new movie

Why hasn't Tommy Tune had a show on Broadway since the mid 90s? I mean, I understand that now it's a bit late, but why not one more credit since Best Little Whorehouse Goes Public? I understand that was a flop, but there are plenty of directors and choreographers who continue to book gigs after flops. Especially those who've had such big critical and commercial successes as Nine, Will Rogers Follies, Grand Hotel, My One and Only etc.

R582, he seems to have lost the magic. None of his recent show show the vision that was found in his earlier shows. I don't know what happened. Lousy budgets? Interfering producers? Old age?

Didn't he have a serious injury at some point? Sometimes a setback like that can just flatten you beyond just the physical.

R584, he had a "broken ankle" during Busker's Alley. The is usually French for "get me out of this show!".

Yeah, that's what I was remembering. Never mind...

And they had already painted a likeness of him 30ft high on the St. James. It was there for six months, at least.

I saw a fully staged workshop that Tune and Sandy Duncan did of Easter Parade. He co-directed and choreographed and played the lead. They did it at the Little Shubert (which I hinkmwas called something else at the time). It was spectacular. Very different from the film. Second act dragged, but the whole thing was infinitely more entertaining than what was on Broadway at the time. And Duncan, in particular, was stellar.

Needless to say, it was killed by the Berlin sisters.

Sandy Duncan ... there's a name who should be doing more. When that one lady from Shark Tank was on Dancing with the Stars, I got so unnecessarily excited each week.

[quote]I was JUST coming on to say that it's probably Jeremy Jordan. BI's aren't meant to be taken literally. They do hints. Of that last revival, who went on to be a star? Jeremy Jordan. Certainly no Karen "I still can't dance, peoples" Olivo. Jordan went on to a Tony nomination, television and film. And he played the lead in WSS after Cavenaugh left.

You could be right, but I believe Jeremy Jordan was only an alternate Tony during the latter part of the run of WSS, and as I noted, I think he only played a few performances. So if the blind item is referring to him as a star of that show, I'd say that's misleading. But maybe you mean that's par for the course for a blind item. And I can't think of any other revival of a Broadway musical that can be said to have "led to" an upcoming film version.

In other news, I think one of the male dancers in the R576 clip of Anita Morris is Jeff Calhoun.

And as for the fabulous Sandy Duncan, I think maybe the main reason she didn't work more in her prime is that she and her husband were raising their kids. Some actors do make that choice, and obviously it's up to them, even if their fans miss seeing them perform.

R590, then, there was the drama during Finding Neverland...

Are there any plans to do a new "Dolly" movie? If so, the BI could be about David Hyde Pierce.

For the West Side Story blind item, AGC is suggesting it's Matthew Hydzik who was originally a Tony standby on the WSS revival and then became a Tony replacement. And he recently performed as Tony in a concert version of WSS with a 40-piece orchestra.

As always, you guys are weirdly compelling.

Yes, that is Newsies director Jeff Calhoun in the front row of those boys with Anita Morris!

And regardless of the validity of that BI, Jeremy Jordan would be spectacular casting as Tony for the film of WSS.

Tommy Tune may not have directed on Broadway since the 1990s but he's certainly done a fair number of various workshops aiming for Broadway.

R585 I remember seeing TT and Marcia Lewis walking down Shubert Alley after doing some kind of Busker Alley preview decades ago. It was a study in contrasts! I liked her.

The ST James Theater painted for the never opening "Busker Alley" by famous artist Leroy Newman.

Im not sure the blind is true. We know that SS is directing West Side Story, so we all assume it is about that. If you read the blind item, though, it said that the most recent revival is what led to the movie. There is no way that the last revival has ANYTHING to do with the movie. It is all but forgotten. I think this one is just made up, using the interest in the WST movie to get clicks to the site. I don't know of any other broadway property being made into a movie, but it definitely isn't West Side Store. Is an a-list director attached to Spring Awakening?

Just as Lanford Wilson lost his mojo when he was forced to give up drinking, Tune might have lost it when he had to give up smoking weed. According to cast members, he was high throughout rehearsals for "Nine". And "Grand hotel" would have lasted 2 weeks without Tune's ingenuity. Plus, he did just turn 79 years old. George Abbott, he ain't.

I seem to remember Larry Kert was busted in a theatre district men's room trying to pick up a minor sometime after "Company". That didn't help his career. Btw, the "Happy Endings" number with Liza from "New York, New York" is on the soundtrack and was restored for the dvd release.

And if Anthony Perkins had an affair with Lenny Bernstein, he must have been in his teens. Lenny liked them young, and kept nude photos of his conquests, while they sat on his lap, as souvenirs. Kept them under the blotter on his massive desk.

Finally, what the fuck is a "reputable hustler"?

I just had to watch this again.

magic, indeed. thanks for this, [R600].