THEATRE GOSSIP #298: Two Real Nice Clambakes EDITION

Someone mentioned in the past thread that Carousel didn't work exactly because Julie was white and Billy is not.

I'm not sure race is the issue, I think it's more that they have zero sexual chemistry.

A friend saw "Pretty Woman" in Chicago and said it's even worse than you would think. Apparently, the Richard Gere character has whole song about how hard it is to be a rich straight white guy—that is then given two reprises.

To answer a question from the previous thread - I've witnessed one of Mike Nichols' screaming tantrums. A truly horrible person.

What? I thought he was Beloved By All.

R3 = Diane Sawyer

He was Beloved By Stars.

In other words, he was friendly to Meryl, but everyone else could just fuck off.

Pretty Woman largely got a pass from the Chicago critics.

I've learned not to trust the Chicago critics when they are assessing pre-Broadway tryouts. They have skin in the game, because they want a hit show to have originated in Chicago—and that bias shows in their assessments.

Sister Leslie explains it all......

Is clam a euphemism for a lady's private parts?

[quote]And what of Robbie Fairchild's pilot? Will his dog enjoy the move to LA?

What pilot?

Doggie seems to have survived plane.

I know Fairchild gets undue attention on here because of the “Ashley Day sucked Robbie Fairchild gay” troll but that dog is ADORABLE and we should keep posting pics of him.

You would gay too if I happened to you.

Glover can make people very uncomfortable with his "flirting." Saw him make Michael Urie squirm with his flirting.

R3, I heard a veteran Hollywood hair person who’d seen it all call Nichols a “nasty closet queen.” He was an incorrigible snob as well.

The Nichols stories are news to me. I imagined him as a gentleman. Imagined.

"I've learned not to trust the Chicago critics when they are assessing pre-Broadway tryouts. They have skin in the game, because they want a hit show to have originated in Chicago—and that bias shows in their assessments."

I don't think that theory applies when the show is a commercial, Broadway-bound production that just happens to pick one city to try out in rather than another. The "critics have skin in the game" argument only makes sense to me if the first production of a show is actually originated and mounted by a regional theater somewhere.

Meryl based Miranda Priestley on Nichols.

R16, Mike Nichols was said to have severe Alopecia and wore wigs . . . even his eyebrows were fake.

But Richard Avedon LOVED him, in all ways.

I just realized that "gossip" spelled backwards is "pissog."

[quote][R16], Mike Nichols was said to have severe Alopecia and wore wigs . . . even his eyebrows were fake.

More likely he was bald from tearing out his hair all the time.

I want Brandon victor dixon

That would make us spissog, r22.

To continue from the previous thread...

I too was at ICEMAN last night.

That BAM production of the show, which originated in Chicago and had Nathan Lane as Hickey, was far far far superior to what I saw last night. And Lane was much better than Denzel. Denzel still sits on stage and delivers his last monologue directly to the audience, prompter on the ready. Only one line was called for, but you could tell that Washington was still swimming in the lines rather than owning them. Not as bad as Forest Whitaker in HUGHIE, but that's a very low bar.

The direction is mostly terrible. Wolfe has NO FUCKING CLUE what to do with all those characters when they're not speaking. The lighting design has been criticized already, but I think that's much better than the sound design, which is awful. And given the number of characters who are on stage at the start of the play, it's a major problem. The first 30 minutes were torturous. Really, really awful.

And we know this is bad acting when we see actors who consistently give great performances flail around the stage here. Frank Wood is giving a baffling performance that is actually bad, which I've never seen him do before. Couldn't hear him, and didn't really want to. David Morse is the heart of the show (especially since Denzel isn't able to provide anything close to that yet), but his opening scene was lethal. And he's a brilliant actor who's just not being helped here.

Wolfe has a reputation for helping his stars while ignoring others, and that is happening here exponentially. Unfortunately, Hickey doesn't even arrive until about an hour into the piece, so it's rough, rough, rough.

Many in the audience last night had clearly never seen the play before and were there for Denzel, and I think they were mostly satisfied. I didn't hate the show, but it's such a pale comparison to other productions I've seen that I just had to rely on the text to carry the evening, and it did, when I could hear it. (And I was in the orchestra.)

Denzel might actually end up giving a great performance in this play, though having a black actor in the lead role is at total odds with the text's purposeful inclusion of only having one black character. All the underlying racial aspects of the play, which could be so potent in this Trump era, are undermined by having Hickey played by a man of color.

When is this show actually opening?

[quote]and [R575] I've heard Glover is hung huge and fun

not huge huge, but ample and nicely proportioned, nothing a DLer couldn't handle adroitly, "fun" not so much,

From the last thread wondering why Spinella got featured for AiA and Garfield will be in the lead for Tonys, you have to remember that the original AiA's two parts were in two separate seasons, so they were each individually considered for awards. In Pt 1- Prior is a supporting role. In Pt 2- He takes on much more of the lead (and that's why Spinella got a Featured Tony for Pt 1 and a Lead Tony for Pt 2). With this production, the whole thing is being considered one production, so that would automatically place Garfield in the lead category (I guess). Personally, I never thought it was any one character's story and they all should have been considered featured, but it doesn't really matter. It's not like Daisy Eagan winning a featured Tony while being on stage for nearly the entire show.

[r28] Whoopi just recited your entire post on The View today.

Is Denzel ever anybody but Denzel on film or stage ?

Denzel plays the same character no matter what movie or play he’s in. Very serious all the time, even when he’s telling a joke

Denzel was great and very un-Denzel in that Roman J. Israel flick.

I guess I'm in the minority, but I really loved that Howard Davies/Kevin Spacey production. Even Spacey’s empty razzmatazz quality paid off in the end. And the ensemble work (Danza aside) was absolutely tremendous.

Nichols didn't have alopecia; he had an allergic reaction to a whooping cough vaccine as a child and as a result was totally hairless. Totally. And in addition to being a closet queen, married 4 women and produced 3 children. I've always assumed he had a nasty side because he and Nora Ephron were such good friends.

How come we don't hear anything from Neil Simon anymore? Is he just too feeble to make any appearances? Or does he have a disease like dementia where he's unable to even give an interview or comment on a production?

Virtually every obit of or commentary on Mike Nichols states that he had alopecia; odd to see that disputed above.

You wouldn't enjoy Neil Simon nowadays, trust me. Not fun.

Yeah I’m dead and it’s still better than Neil Simon barking at me to learn my lines.

[quote]Yeah I’m dead and it’s still better than Neil Simon barking at me to learn my lines. —MTM

That was Elaine Joyce. Neil's voice isn't that low.

Both the HBO documentary (Being Mike Nichols, I think) and the PBS one directed by Elaine May are clear that the hair loss was the result of a bad vaccination as a child. Honestly, I don't care very much about this, so I'm happy for [R35] to have the last word on this.

Mike Nichols power presence in a rehearsal room was based on pure passive aggressiveness. He never had to yell because nobody dared question him. And Diane is still just like him.

But I'll give you this:

Joe Mantello, like Mike Nichols, is ALWAYS the smartest person in the room. Definitely not the nicest but certainly the smartest.

Oh Aurora Spiderwoman....

You are a treasure.

Do you think producers put crap up on stage just so they can get a tax write-off? Or do they honestly believe that some of the crap is actually going to run?

I’ve heard from a close friend whose opinion I trust that MFL reeks to high heaven.

What happened to all that positive buzz from early previews? It’s like the show has slid backwards.

Neil Simon is not well. Someone posted a scan of an autograph they had received from him on an autograph collecting site I frequent and it looked like he could barely hold the pen and he didn't even sign "Simon," just "Neil"

I know it just opened but I know like three people who aren't huge theatre people who ran out to see the Donna Summer musical. Three are gay men, one grew up on her music. I wonder if this show will have stronger legs than people assume.

Both Mike Nichols and Nora Epheon were snobs to the extreme and VERY nasty to those they considered unworthy of their time. A lot of people in the industry are not sorry they’re dead.

Oops. Ephron, of course.

R46 = Carl Bernstein

[quote][R46] = Carl Bernstein

Nora Ephron was majorly pissed that Bernstein would never tell her who Deepthroat was.

Can't you just see her trying to get it out of him? That in itself would have made a hilarious show.

This is why the entire cast of "Iceman Cometh" hate George Wolfe. In fact, this is why most actors hate George Wolfe.

Rudin is going to eat him alive.

Mark Harris is working on a massive and definitive bio of Nichols and will have all the access he wants, as a great writer and as husband to Tony Kushner. But I must say, I wonder if Harris will go into the gay rumors, the rumored affair with Avedon, so forth.

The new (amazing) Garry Shandling doc on HBO goes go into how horrible Nichols was to Shandling on that awful movie they did together. And Nichols, for what it's worth, does own how awful he was in his youth. But lots of posters here are saying he was bad up until the end.

[quote]This is why the entire cast of "Iceman Cometh" hate George Wolfe. In fact, this is why most actors hate George Wolfe.

And yet, he still keeps getting hired.

The Howard Davies revival of ICEMAN is still the best I've ever seen. Spacey was brilliant, but it was a true ensemble.

This production is garbage.

If it hadn't been for Mike Nichols, we wouldn't have had "Annie".

Elaine Stritch told a funny story on Theatre talk about GCW coming to a rehearsal to help her with a new show since At Liberty was such a success. She said he stayed for 20 minutes, he announced he had vertigo, he went home and she never saw him again.

[quote]If it hadn't been for Mike Nichols, we wouldn't have had "Annie". —Sarah Jessica Parker, the Annie who looked like she was starving

And if it hadn't been for [italic]Annie[/italic], Martin Charnin wouldn't be able to complain about Hollywood desecrating his show over and over again when he took just as many liberties with the underlying source material.

Saw Children of a Lesser God on Saturday night. I never saw the original on stage (just the movie) - does anyone know how Sara's lines were handled in the original play? Was/is she normally subtitled?

And if hadn't been for Mike Nichols, George Gizzard would have been the governor of Texas in "Primary colors" instead of Larry Hagman. Nichols called Gizzard and fired him the night before his scenes were to be shot.

Nichols was jealous of all actors, because of his own aborted career.

^^ Grizzard

[quote]Nichols called Gizzard and fired him the night before his scenes were to be shot.

But he still got paid, right?

I’ve only ever seen one production of COALG, but I don’t recall subtitles. One of things I can’t stand about the play is how the other characters are forced to repeat everything she signs. It's stilted and phony sounding and it literally makes the play twice as long as it might otherwise be.

r61 = COAGG

R61 that was my complaint as well, but made worse due to the subtitling of the spoken lines and the occasional divergence by Josh Jackson from the lines as written. I get the subtitling for accessibility, but if they're there for everyone to see, why not subtitle the main character as well??

WEHT Linda Bove?

Yeah, what's up with Children...God? We didn't have to subtitle "wah-wah"

Is Robbie Fairchild not a gay?

Rudin must really love Wolfe after the fiasco of Shuffle Along. I don't get it.

Re Nichols and his women. This still makes me laugh...

R51, Mark Harris, that queen who married Martha Raye?

Yes, and after Martha kicked the bucket, he set his sights on Tony Kushner. What can you say? He clearly has a type.

Holy shit. Just went down a wormhole of a couple of these Mark Harris Howard Stern interviews. The one in which he's LITERALLY twirling around on camera while giving a tour of his boudoir? Too much.

R35, while Nichols was alive, the whooping cough vaccine story was given in outlets ranging from The New York, the New York Times, to the Daily Mail.

Do you suppose Nichols was lying for sympathy and the truth came out after his death?

[quote]Do you think producers put crap up on stage just so they can get a tax write-off? Or do they honestly believe that some of the crap is actually going to run?

there are better reasons

Are you serious that Martha Raye's husband is now Tony Kushner's husband? The mind reels, if true.

Is alopecia not a sympathetic disease?

It’s a joke, r74. Same names, different men.

Martha’s Mark Harris was evil. He encouraged a rift between Raye and her daughter, to the extent that Raye told People Magazine she wished she’d never given birth to her.

He didn't want to be a real baldie.

It was just a horrible accident.

Alopecia is just the medical term for hair loss. Anyone who has lost hair has alopecia. It doesn't indicate anything about the cause.

not true:

"Scarring alopecia is a rare disease that destroys your hair follicles and makes scar tissue form in their place. Hair will not grow back."

[quote] [[R28]] Whoopi just recited your entire post on The View today.

Did she at least credit me?

At least now gay male golddiggers can marry other men.

Yes, but it wasn't credit-credit, r81.

R28 Think someone else from AiA has a chance at the Featured Tony now?

James McArdle will definitely be nominated in Featured. Maybe the crazy lady who plays the Angel. Hopefully not the other 2 Brit ladies.

Simon has Alzheimers. Critiquing his signature is low, even for DL.

I've read a lot of chat room chatter criticizing Carousel's "Real Nice Clambake" number as being too static. But hasn't that number traditionally always been directed with the actors seated and lying about the stage, without any dancing....as if they're all to drunk and stuffed to dance?

I thought Nathan Stewart-Jarrett was good in the NT Live showing, and he seems to have gotten positive comments from others. (Haven't read the "official" reviews yet). Seems like he will be nominated. I also liked Denise Gough, though recognized her Harper would not be to everyone's taste. It appears to have not been, but she is clearly being pushed by someone in NY, with this coming on the heels of People, Places and Things at St. Ann's, so she will probably be nominated and may even win, though if Metcalf goes into Featured that may well be the end of that. (Perhaps David Morse will take Featured Actor, too, if early reports are to be believed). I'm sure it will come down to Andrew and Nathan for the Best Actor win. Glenda will easily take Best Actress whether Metcalf shares the category with her or not.

Who all from the Harry Potter cast might get nominated? Might any of them win? Has anyone actually seen it? This is not a very bounteous year for acting nomination possibilities in either the play or musical categories.

Nathan Stewart-Jarrett should absolutely be nominated in Featured. He's terrific and deserves to be recognized, as does James McArdle. Lee Pace and Denise Gough turn in fine performances but I'm not sure, particularly in Gough's case, if it's work that will be seen as award-worthy as opposed to just serviceable. As for lead, though I certainly enjoyed Andrew Garfield as Prior, I wouldn't hesitate to give the Tony to Nathan Lane, who breathes fire as Roy Cohn. It's a magnificent performance, particularly from someone known primarily for his comedic work, and Garfield just can't compete with that. That is why I also do not think he will win over Lane; being a movie star didn't help Tom Hanks in the end and I don't think it will help Garfield either. (If it turns out I'm wrong, I will gladly come back on here and admit it.)

[quote]Alopecia is just the medical term for hair loss. Anyone who has lost hair has alopecia.

I believe Michael Cerveris also had this.

Didn't Rudin produce the transfer of the Nathan Lane "Iceman" to BAM? So this is the second "Iceman" in three years for him.

R90-and he's going to keep doing it until he gets it right. Next production-Jim Parsons as Hickey.

Isn't Martha Raye the one person Jerry Herman speaks ill of in his autobiography? He had surgery and missed her in it and gave him shit for it when she saw him in a wheelchair months later.

[quote] But hasn't that number traditionally always been directed with the actors seated and lying about the stage, without any dancing....as if they're all to drunk and stuffed to dance?

They're sitting on these weird plastic cut outs, it's a very boring start of Act II, particuarly since the only point where Joshua Henry has any sort of momentum is the end of Act I.

Carousel is a weirdly formatted show. She falls in love with him in 10 minutes not really knowing him, he beats her, they're unhappy, he dies and then there's a seemingly endless ballet. Is that a style of the times? And this production is so ugly and limp.

I found the Children subtitles very distracting and the set was ugly. I liked Josh's ass. Poor Anthony Edwards. He's like the new Peter Scolari.

Weird performance tonight of HELLO, DOLLY! Molly Griggs left the stage soon after entering to clear her throat -- very odd. Meanwhile, Santino has ZERO charm and needs to lose weight big time -- bring back Gavin, and FAST! And neither Garber nor Bernadette can sing the score as written, so all sorts of peculiar accommodations are made to suit what is left of their voices. All very peculiar. But the audience went wild, so what do I know? And it was packed, including the boxes. (BP was very sweet by the way at the BC/EFA speech following the curtain call.)

When I saw the show, Bernadette sounded great. The “accommodations” were made for Bette, and I guess they have just become the way it’s going to be sung from now on, at least in this production.

Garber is not nearly as successful a recast as Peters, Stemp, and Griggs are.

Saw TRAVESTIES tonight. Even though it's at Roundabout, it's a transfer from London (at least most of it), and it's terrific. Someone earlier said that he walked out at intermission. Not sure why, cause this production is a far cry better than almost anything else I've seen this season. Yes, it's cerebral and dense, but it's also hilarious and has great joie de vivre. Add Tom Hollander to the list of Best Actor Tony nominees, along with Nathan Lane and Andrew Garfield. That leaves two slots...

Why weren't the two songs Jerry wrote for Merman restored to the Dolly score for Bernadette? She could sing them far better than Bette would have.

[quote]So this is the second "Iceman" in three years for him.

yes, the iceman cometh triannually

Bernadette's upper register is completely gone as is most of her lung power - tonight you could hear her dropping syllables so as to be able to manage the next word. Like Bette, she gets stronger vocally as the show continues, but Donna is the only one of the three ladies so far who really knocks the score out of the park. Garber looks like positively arthritic and couldn't begin to handle the final note of his act-two opener.

Travesties by the way is dazzling. At least it was in London.

Again, that wasn’t my experience of Peters’ voice at the performance I saw (right after the opening). I guess it’s show-to-show with her re her voice.

R97, no, those songs were not added back. Peters is playing the same show Midler was playing. But truthfully, World Take Me Back and Before the Parade are essentially saying the same thing, there’s not really a need for both of them. And Love Look in My Window is a more romantic variation of that same theme.

London cast of Fun Home announced, Bruce Bechdel is being played by British/Asian (think “of India”), Zubin Varla. No word yet as to whether Mindy Kaling will play Alison.

Donna Murphy no longer goes flat on sustained notes? Isn't that her thing?

Has James McArdle been well reviewed? I thought he was terrible in the Angels broadcast. I thought he was fine in Man In An Orange Shirt.

I've heard from friends who have seen Carousel that Jessie Mueller is, in fact, a queer one, who is quieter n' deeper than a well. In addition, there's nuthin' that she cares to choose to tell.

These threads used to be much more fun when they were actual GOSSIP.

I was wondering the same thing about whether the Harris bio will get into all of Nichols' gay activities - I could see him taking the "it's about the work" line to avoid the issue

I'd imagine Diane will do her damndest to keep the gay component out of this.

Perhaps if Diane had been into anal, her husband would not have had to stray!

Stepping out on Diane wasn't his first rodeo, r108. The Avedon connection went back years. Ditto Perkins.

Donna belts now that her reflux is under control

[quote]Stepping out on Diane wasn't his first rodeo, [R108]. The Avedon connection went back years. Ditto Perkins.

She’s some journalist, huh?

agree r105 and it didn't help when a supposed Broadway Sex Thread spun off and potentially removed sex from this thread. now they're both boring.

Fruit of the Loon ruined the gossip aspect of these threads with his constant lies. No one believes gossip anymore as a result.

Fruit of the Loon??? Huh???

Go to the another broadway sex thread

Nora Ephron was the WORST. Overrated, and a pain in the ass. NO ONE CARES THAT SHE MADE A “GREAT ROOT BEER FLOAT!”

....a legend in her own mind.

Who's read the Avedon bio? What does it say about Igor?

"Follies" opened 47 years ago today.

[quote]"Follies" opened 47 years ago today.

And there will be 500 DL posters who say they were there and nothing has equaled it since.

FYI: I was 7 when it opened. I wasn't there.

Just announced: Karen Olivo, Aaron Tveit and Danny Burstein will star in the stage version of Moulin Rouge.

[quote]Fruit of the Loon ruined the gossip aspect of these threads with his constant lies.

Plus his obsessions like with Ashley Day/Robbie Fairchild, the movie of MFL, and Bedknobs and boresticks.

[quote]Just announced: Karen Olivo, Aaron Tveit and Danny Burstein will star in the stage version of Moulin Rouge.

So there won't be any dancing in the show? Coz none of them can dance.

Will "Shakespeare in Love" ever come to Broadway?

Maybe if Playbill paid their interns they could do something other than a Google image search and find some better Follies photos.

I saw a very nice production of Shakespeare In Love at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival last season. The script hews very closely to the screenplay. And the kid playing John Webster walked away with the show, no lie.

The West End Shakespeare in Love was a big nothing. On a happier note, there's a great interview with Tom Hollander on the NYT website -- the "sex thimble" comment is a hoot!

You missed the casting note that Toulouse Lautrec in Moulin Rouge is now African-American

When I think of Nicole Kidman I immediately think Karen Olivo

Um, she's not playing Nicole Kidman

[quote]You missed the casting note that Toulouse Lautrec in Moulin Rouge is now African-American

Emmanuel Lewis?

I was 15, r125. I got the cast album and was floored. I started a Follies scrapbook. I wrote to Fifi d'Orsay and Harold Prince. I was 15 and yes, I'm........

Ugh Playbill, are all theater website staff unpaid, in 2018? Smdh.

I wasn't at the opening of "Follies" -- lol -- but I did see a preview where they still had an intermission. I preferred it that way.

Saw "Follies" in Boston before it reached Broadway - including Yvonne doing "Can That Boy Fox Trot"

[quote]You missed the casting note that Toulouse Lautrec in Moulin Rouge is now African-American

I'm assuming the actor will have to play it on his knees, ala Shrek. Do we know any African-American men who are good on their knees?

Saw the Lincoln Center Follies concert from backstage.

[quote]Saw the Lincoln Center Follies concert from backstage.

Was Elaine Stritch shaking her tits, further trying to grab the focus from Barbara Cook?

You didn't incorporate yourself into the Beautiful Girls line-up, r137?

I was there 3 days later at the Wednesday mat. It was Easter week so we were off from school.

$7.50 full price orchestra seat. Even then I thought it was a good deal instead of the insane $15 for a Sat evening.

No intermission. House packed. Nobody went to the bathroom.

Unlike today everyone in that large cast was in it.

Stayed up late Easter(It opened Easter evening) to watch the reviews on the 11pm news switching between channels.

I think they were mixed.

[quote]Unlike today everyone in that large cast was in it.

And, I assume, everyone that was not in it was not in it.

R138 - She changed her tights during rehearsal. In the room. I will never forget the look on Carol Burnett's face.

I am hardly a Beautiful Girl - but I guess I could have passed at the time. I was busy holding a clipboard and keeping elderly singers from wandering off.

r141, I think r140 is saying everyone in the large cast was in the bathroom, so the audience couldn't go.

I'm just hoping everyone in it was into it, r141.

Jeez, he's talking about understudies, r141! I saw it twice, and thought it was brilliant. The second time, though, Both the Roscoe and Fifi were completely over the top. I presume Fifi figured the bigger she was, the more she could upstage Ethel. Fifi was wrong.

[quote]She changed her tights during rehearsal. In the room.

I believe it because we already have that rehearsal clip where Barbara's trying to sing "In Buddy's Eyes" and Elaine is busily changing her shoes.

You were truly doing the Lord's work, r144.

oops ^ for r142

R129 Don't worry, the odds are she'll be out sick if you go to see it.

R141 knew what I was saying he just thinks being stupid is funny.

Yes where is the gossip? This is a snarky opinion thread. News; gossip please. You mean the chorus boys are not playing around and sucking? Prep is like a daily vitamin. Nichols is dead = who cares? I think R Fairchild is cute. So more dish. And the dirt on upcoming shows is needed. Word stinks on Carousel and M Fair Lady.

Actually r150, I had no idea what you were saying.

R152 so you really are stupid. It wasn't a lame attempt to be funny. R145 take note.

Tell us about that current leading lady who fell off the wagon and is becoming cold as ice backstage...

[quote]Tell us about that current leading lady who fell off the wagon and is becoming cold as ice backstage...

Actually, I plan to put myself up for featured, not leading.

[quote]I’ve only ever seen one production of COALG, but I don’t recall subtitles. One of things I can’t stand about the play is how the other characters are forced to repeat everything she signs. It's stilted and phony sounding and it literally makes the play twice as long as it might otherwise be.

As I recall, the other characters speak what she's signing while she's signing it -- which is the way that's normally done -- so it doesn't take any longer than if she were just speaking the lines herself.

Lupone did an interview for an upcoming concert and she said she was surprised to later see what the Grammy reaction was, because she said everybody in the audience, from her vantage point, looked bored.

That’s must have been devastating for her in real time. I’m glad she later got word of the full picture.

[quote] Isn't Martha Raye the one person Jerry Herman speaks ill of in his autobiography? He had surgery and missed her in it and gave him shit for it when she saw him in a wheelchair months later.

He wasn't recovering from surgery, he had been in the hospital with hepatitis he contracted from eating bad shellfish (not from eating bad butt)

[quote] But truthfully, World Take Me Back and Before the Parade are essentially saying the same thing, there’s not really a need for both of them. And Love Look in My Window is a more romantic variation of that same theme.

Yes, but. In a star vehicle, there is nothing wrong with the audience getting to spend some time alone with the star. In DOLLY, possibly due to Channing's vocal limitations, she mostly introduces songs and let the chorus take over the heavy lifting. The only times she gets a solo finish is a few bars of BEFORE THE PARADE PASSES BY (and the curtain falls immediately), and SO LONG DEARIE where the audience finally gets to give her a solo ovation.

Be honest, the only reason most of us go back to see HELLO,DOLLY! again and again is to see whichever Great Lady is playing the lead role. A little more private time with Bette, Bernadette, or Donna wouldn't have been such a bad thing.

[quote]Tell us about that current leading lady who fell off the wagon and is becoming cold as ice backstage...

Kat McPhee. Not even opened in the show yet and already having problems. Can't take the 8 performances a week.

Full cast for The King & I at the London Palladium this summer. Ruthie Ann Miles is still scheduled to repeat her role as Lady Thiang:

Good for ruthie. Pushing through. Karen Olivo and Aaron Tveit? YIKES.

"Carousel is a weirdly formatted show. She falls in love with him in 10 minutes not really knowing him, he beats her, they're unhappy, he dies and then there's a seemingly endless ballet. Is that a style of the times? And this production is so ugly and limp."

Nothing weird about it. Innovative pantomime opening, Julie knows him from previous visits to the carnival, he doesn't beat her, he's frustrated from lack of opportunity, and the ballet is the one of the only good things about this production.

Not sure that's really true. They know each other as the action begins--he's been sneaking her onto the carousel. And in "Mr Snow" Carrie says she hadn't told Julie earlier because Julie didn't have a feller of her own, but now she does. This is before the bench scene.

Speaking of changing one's tights on stage, when will they mount a real revival of Crimes of the Heart? When that show started and Chick started taking off her stockings mid scene, I remember people in the audience howling. I thought there's no way they could sustain this level of comedy in a serious production, but Mia Dillon nearly stopped the show in the denouement.

Surely that's a better candidate for revival than the slog of Iceman yet again or the millionth productions of View from the Bridge/Glass Menagerie. I think there was an off broadway production that Kathleen Turner bungled a few years ago, but I doubt people even remember it existing.

Add Saint Joan to other current previewing shows with bad word of mouth.

And really.....are you surprised?

No one cares about St Joan. I saw Maryann Plunkett and she was great. Play lays there.

Any word on My Fair Ladly?

Poor Daniel Sunjata. Will he ever be in a hit again?

I don’t understand. He’s talented and gorgeous and yet no real career

I agree about Daniel Sunjata! He must have the worst agent ever.

Granted, he may not have a lot of control over the film and TV projects he's offered but if he's going to commit to a play, surely he could have followed up his brilliant and unforgettable debut in Take Me Out with something better than boring Christian in that tepid Cyrano, playing some anonymous knight in the talky and academic Saint Joan and that insipid Donald Margulies non-play at MTC opposite Goop Sr. (sorry, can't even remember the name of it)?

R168, blame it on the fact that no one nurtures talent anymore. No one. Look at Nina Arianda, a next big thing by all accounts then poof nothing. They’ll move on from Lin eventually, too, though his reps are more likely to really make a push for him on the acting side to keep him happy. He’s a content creator. Really the only way to keep today’s reps working for you is for acting to be your side hustle and to bring big money to the table from family connections or your own original content. Who wants to put a heap of work behind an ACTOR, anymore when you could rep writers or show runners or directors or choreographers or composers. Actors are a dime a dozen. And they don’t even need to be all that charismatic anymore to star on Broadway. Producers want shows that are actor-proof, which is why we have no Broadway stars to speak of anymore, unless they’re left over from a bygone era: Nathan Lane, Bernadette, Patti LuPone. Sad, really. It’d be great to leave your phone for a few hours and really see someone magnificent again who’s allowed to be a star and isn’t treated by producers as an automatic liability because they might leave the show or can’t be replicated in tours or other simultaneous productions. Even the zoo has a star panda; it’s sad.

Karen Olivo, Aaron Tveit and Danny Burstein in "Moulin Rouge". Do any of these people ever sell tickets? Why don't they give someone else a chance to be a star?

Karen Olivo as Satine? Really?

Perhaps I should save this for the Unpopular Opinions thread, but I have never found Daniel Sunjata hot. Of course, I'm not surprised so many of you do. I wonder what Sunjata's percentage of overlap is for the Venn Diagram he shares with DL Hot Roberto Portales, star of the "Let's discuss this muscular gay narcissist" thread. I'll bet it's over 90%.

R171, you’re making a cardinal error. As always, from the beginning and into the future, the career being worried about in any Alex Timbers production is Alex Timbers. The actors are incidental to the experience and are the type to fall in line behind the REAL star, Alex Timbers. Watch carefully for directorial tells, i.e. “look what **I** did!”

Poor Melissa Gilbert. Having to act in a basement theater on Christopher Street, practically in the Hudson River. She couldn't even sell out the Lortel.

[quote]Speaking of changing one's tights on stage, when will they mount a real revival of Crimes of the Heart?

Probably never, because nobody knows how to direct it. There have been about three off-Broadway productions, each more suckier than the previous. One was directed by Kathleen Turner and she missed finding laughs in the dialogue that is intentionally funny. It was a godawful production.

I love Crimes of the Heart, but it has to have the right actresses and the right director. You have to know how to make Southern gothic funny.

I’m reading a book about Joan Rivers. As it happens, I’m very surprised Joan never tried to do Gypsy with Melissa. In the early 90s, I’m sure someone somewhere would have booked it since Joan enjoyed personal success with “Broadway Bound”

"Play lays there.:

What utter nonsense.

"He’s a content creator."

Apart from the pesky being a musical business, why would Joan be interested in a property where her talentless daughter would play her talentless daughter? Joan was touchy about Melissa. Judy, OTOH... she'd have played opposite Liza no priblem.

This was a fun tour...

But Liza couldn't get by with the 'I'm pretty' bit.

Gypsy has to be really pretty to get away with it.

But strangely Gypsy Rose Lee while very charismatic was not herself 'pretty.'

To each his own, r182......

Just saw Burstein as the arraignment judge on on a L&O rerun on ION TV. God that show and its spinoffs supported so many talented Broadway performers.

Hate the Chicago versions although I guess Chicago local talent appreciate the new series for the $$$$. Many of them are very good.

Liza, like Gypsy, could be striking and glamorous, if not exactly pretty. Both creatures of the stage, who could reap the benefit of by being a sizeable number of feet away from their audience.

Pretty girl?

C. Moore or C. Less?

Anyone seen any of Jason Ralph's odd little off off Broadway shows at his theater company? He's adorable on The Magicians.

R179, he’s brilliant! As a writer and as a promoter. He is no actor or singer! Come on. Why do we always have to LIE to each other in our undignified scramble to prove we’re hip to whatever’s hot at the moment. Remember when Lena Dunham was Hillary Clinton’s surrogate?? Like the Secretary of State if the Inited States of America sits around watching GIRLS.

And don’t dare point out United is misspelled. You’re proving you can’t overlook the obvious. Just like me.

R188 Jason Ralph also played DL fave Jonathan Groff's ex-boyfriend on the pilot episode of Looking, although he's apparently straight in real life.

Unrest backstage at OOTS! Guuuurrrrl!!!!!

Fuckin’ spell check, ONCE ON THIS ISLAND, for the above bit...

Thank you for correcting that, I was about to post that OOTS sounds like a fart.

Apparently Timbers is hung. There can be no other explanation for his career...

[quote] Unrest backstage at OOTS! Guuuurrrrl!!!!!

Lea Salonga refuses to pee on Michael Arden?

R170, that is not *exactly* true. Nina Arianda is the perfect example. They gave her Born Yesterday and she bombed. People will nurture talent, but one has to deliver the goods and you don't get second chances. That is perhaps the big difference. In the past, you did not have to hit it out of the park each and every time.

The casting of Moulin Rouge has made me NOT want to see it.

Lea Salonga was a no-show at Broadway Backwards (which was fabulous as always) on Monday night. Part of the OOTI backstage drama?

The movie of Moulin Rouge has made me not want to see it on stage

Alex Newell sounded like he gargled glass at Miscast

OOTI is produced by Ken Davenport. He's cheap and treats the company like garbage. There will always be drama backstage.

[quote]I’m reading a book about Joan Rivers. As it happens, I’m very surprised Joan never tried to do Gypsy with Melissa.

Very surprised? Maybe it had something to do with the fact that Joan didn't have a musical bone in her body. Only on DL, where the banshee-voiced Fran Drescher is constantly being suggested for "Hello, Dolly!," could anyone be surprised by that.

Telly and Taylor at Broadway Backwards.

Is there anyone on earth who could possibly want to watch Melissa Rivers strip?

I think that would qualify as Theatre Of Cruelty.

^^It also brings to mind the title of a book by Peter Handke, "Offending the Audience."

From the DL Talent Show Audition thread.....

R183 It's the makeup.

Great clip, R207. Love the cigarette. If it was a DL talent show, of course, the singer would be holding a joint. Or perhaps a molly to pop in celebration right afterwards, if they were young enough.

[quote] I’m reading a book about Joan Rivers. As it happens, I’m very surprised Joan never tried to do Gypsy with Melissa.

[quote] Very surprised? Maybe it had something to do with the fact that Joan didn't have a musical bone in her body. Only on DL, where the banshee-voiced Fran Drescher is constantly being suggested for "Hello, Dolly!," could anyone be surprised by that.

Joan Rivers as Rose? I take back every bad thing I ever said about Linda Lavin's singing.

I guess I’m one of the few so far to have liked Saint Joan. It wasn’t perfect but I can see it being in good shape by opening. The winners on the Broadwayworld message board were picking it apart after it’s first preview. As theatre fans you’d think they’d be more understanding. It’s a daunting play.

I'm so bored by Condola Rashad. Three Tony nominations and she's completely forgettable. No wonder Audra has 6 Tonys when total bland snores like Condola, Danny Burstein and Kelli O'Hara rack up nominations like they were Avon giveaways.

[quote] Lupone did an interview for an upcoming concert and she said she was surprised to later see what the Grammy reaction was, because she said everybody in the audience, from her vantage point, looked bored. That’s must have been devastating for her in real time. I’m glad she later got word of the full picture.

They were probably asleep and had nothing to do with Patti . The show might be televised for three hours but the doors actually open two hours before and they hand out all the non-televised awards such as cast album and spoken word. Patti actually sang in the fourth hour of the show

The Joan and Melissa comment brings to mind little Tina Denmark’s line in Ruthless!: “But she’s too Jewish to play Pippi!”

Has anyone seen Lindsay Mendez in carousel? I can't imagine her singing classical style so I wonder if she's able to pull it off?

She sort of pulled it off in "The Golden Apple," r215, but you could tell it was an uncomfortable style for her. But she's had several weeks of previews with Carousel, so hopefully she's used to it by now.

[quote]total bland snores like Condola, Danny Burstein and Kelli O'Hara

Both O'Hara and Burstein were terrific in "South Pacific," and deserved to win the Tonys they were nominated for. He was also excellent in The Droopy Chaperone. Fiddler and Follies, not as much, but he's hardly a bland snore.

Nice to see that Christian Dante White got to show off a little of his spectacular body in that Broadway Backwards thing.

R206, I adore you.

NY Daily News has a story on Lin-Manuel Miranda: "He should have gotten HIS SHOT" -- he has shingles. Pretty young to be getting it at his age, but isn't it kind of ironic?

[quote] NY Daily News has a story on Lin-Manuel Miranda: "He should have gotten HIS SHOT" -- he has shingles.

Insurance won't cover it until you're 60.

Not that he needs insurance.

Just what we've needed! Here's your chance to read all about the creation of Lauren Ambrose's Ascot Gavotte hat!

Actually the new shingles vaccination is more effective than the older one, and I believe insurance will cover the new one when you're 50. Check it out. One of my doctors had it recently, and he suffered terribly, lost weight and he had already received the prior vaccination.

That is, my doctor had shingles -- he didn't suffer from the new vaccination.

What does getting shingles have to do with Ashley Day or Follies or Karen Olivo?

[quote] NY Daily News has a story on Lin-Manuel Miranda: "He should have gotten HIS SHOT" -- he has shingles. Pretty young to be getting it at his age, but isn't it kind of ironic?

Only if you mean because LMM is usually the one making everyone else sick.

OMG....Corbin Bleu's hot ass will get wet this summer! I'm on a plane...

Christian Dante White’s body is headlining nightly on the Harlem Grindr, and by headlining I mean bottoming.

NOPE - Aetna will not cover the new shingles vaccine

[quote]The Droopy Chaperone.

Does she need a good foundation garment?

Medicaid will.

It's kind of ironic that Lin-Manuel didn't get his shot when one of the big numbers in "Hamilton" is all about wanting to get his shot. Duh.

And so it's come to this: the theater gossip thread has turned into a discussion of shingles.

[quote]Christian Dante White’s body is headlining nightly on the Harlem Grindr

A "source" tells me he's a world-class cocksucker

Shingles'll be the subject of LMM's next musical!

[r234] so is Gavin Creel. It’s in the character breakdown when they audition with sides.

I agree that we shouldn't be too hard on previews since they aren't making audiences pay for them ... oh wait ...

If you host CDW you betta have poppers, clean sheets and Pinot!

[quote] Has anyone seen Lindsay Mendez in carousel?

She wasn't as god awful as the people around her and actually got some laughs; but the bar is set low.

I wonder if Nina Arianda regrets taking Born Yesterday.

When I saw Nina Arianda in "Born Yesterday" it seems like she must have watched Judy Holliday in the film version and decided (with her director's blessing) to say all her line readings differently from Judy just to be different and make her own mark. A lot of Arianda's readings just sounded wrong unfortunately.

Arianda did show up last year in "Florence Foster Jenkins" in the role of the woman who in one implausible scene tells and rallies the audience to Florence's defense when she starts singing at Carnegie Hall.

[quote]Who wants to put a heap of work behind an ACTOR, anymore when you could rep writers or show runners or directors or choreographers or composers.

Strange comment, and why do you say "anymore?" Do you think it's less worthwhile to represent actors now than it used to be?

There are lots of good actors who don't follow up on a great success for lots of reasons, but I've always thought of Daniel Sunjata as a not-very-good actor who got lucky because the lead in TAKE ME OUT fit him so perfectly, and that show got a lot of attention because of the nudity and the subject matter. But also, Sunjata did have fairly long-term TV success on RESCUE ME, didn't he? His acting ability is probably better suited to TV, but I'm not surprised his stage career hasn't amounted to much.

I think anybody who takes on the role of Billie Dawn after Judy Holliday is setting herself up for failure unless she's a completely different type from Holliday. Whoopi Goldberg was mentioned for the part in a movie remake at one point, and she might have worked because she's so different. But even Madeline Kahn got mixed reviews as Billie, if memory serves. And yeah, I think Nina Arianda went off course because she couldn't figure out how to still be funny while avoiding doing a Holliday imitation, so it seems like it was a big mistake for her to do that show. She was much better in FOOL FOR LOVE, I thought.

Nina Arinanda is inexplicable. She was hoisted upon us and then dropped as quickly. She beat La Stockard for the Tony that year.

It was a bloodbath backstage after those TONYS

I will not see Moulin Rouge if Caroline O'Connor is not in it. Burstein is very good but i thought he was too cuddly in Fiddler.

How much of his clothing will Aaron Tveit get to remove in Moulin Rouge?

I LOVED SHINGLES. It was at the Westside Arts Theater, right?

R221, is this a joke? This is entertainment news now? A composer has a headache and tweets about it?? Stay tuned for the next installment: it’s shingles. But everyone’s ok! Thanks for your attention. Next up, Jerry Mitchell has a difficult bowel movement.

R246, He rented a house in the Berkshires last summer while starring in Company at the Barrington. Lots of young overnight visitors.

Our Lin thinks every detail of his life is newsworthy

r241 So many dumb and insecure actors do this...they'll go to ridiculous extremes to avoid being compared to an iconic performance of the role they're playing without realizing that the very clever and talented original iconic creator of that role played it the way it is SUPPOSED to be played.

This is especially true in comedy where dumb dumb actors will just completely fuck up a laugh line because they're terrified they're going to be accused of "copying" the original.

No, dumbass actor: that was the CORRECT way to nail the laugh and if you don't play it with the same rhythm you're gonna fuck up the joke and not get the laugh...

Moulin Rouge has bomb written all over it. It was a perfect movie. But that doesn’t mean it’s a good stage show.

Danny Burstein is good but his Follies performance was overrated.

Caroline O’Connor is an old lady now. She doesn’t belong in Moulin Rouge.

Mandatory meeting at the Actors Studio.

Too many teachers having sexual relations with students in the library!

R252, NEVER underestimate the talent of Aaron Tveit.

The editing of Moulin Rouge The Movie gave me a blinding headache. Baz surely bought his editor the very best cocaine the Australian dollar could buy. Wouldn't necessarily have that problem onstage, but the movie made next to no sense to begin with. Great costumes, though -- when they were shown for more than five seconds in a row...

Is Aaron really gay? He's like the last of the Broadway actors who became known in the last 10 years who still isn't out OR married to a woman.

Has anyone of note come out of the Actors Studio in the past ten years?

R257, If you can unearth a photo of Aaron with a girlfriend or female significant other, I will rim you every day for a month.

Carlin Glynn, Tony winner from "Best Little Whorehouse" was teaching at Actors Studio when I assisted a member in class some years ago. I don't know what one has to do to become a member nowadays though.

Aaron, kissing a girl?

R257 here. I'm not doubting that he's gay; I just think it's weird how every single one of his contemporaries have come out and thrived (Gavin Creel, Jonathan Groff, the entire cast of Boys in the Band, Andrew Rannells, etc, etc) and he's still closeted. I wonder what his financial picture is. He lived in my neighborhood for years after he became well know (he may even still) which I always thought was strange seeing as he could easily afford Manhattan.

Someone please fill us in on Gavin Creel's "world-class" cocksucking skillz! Because I would totally sign up for that.

But what’s weird is that there is also no dish about Tveit being with any guys. What is he now, 35 or 36? Surely there would be rumors of some kind, and there’s nothing. It’s like he has no sex life.

It used to be “Aaron Tveit, rhymes with straight” but there’s nothing about him with anything, male or female.

The world-class cocksucker comment was in reference to Christian Dante White, I believe, not Creel.

Oh R160 enough with the "family connections" pap. You should like those simple-minded ugly teens on theater ticket lines, just so knowing of "theatre" and every thought a cliche.

Playwiz and Mockingbirdgirl are just so full of themselves.

Moulin Rouge was the only movie I've walked out of. Gigantic nuclear-powered pile of overrated horseshit.

Can't imagine the stage version will be any better. Tourists will lap that shit up though.

Broadway Backwards, ok, why are all the gay boys so sibilant?

So not trying to sound trollish, but Ashley Day and Robbie Fairchild unfollowed each other on Instagram. So I guess they broke up.

Does Robbie favor the dong?

Robbie also went through and deleted every “like” and every comment he had on Ashley’s pics. I guess when Robbie calls it quits, he calls it quits.

Try to keep up, R271.

Try to cunt down, r273.

The playlist for BROADWAY BACKWARDS is dull. They seem to do the same songs over and over.

[quote]OMG....Corbin Bleu's hot ass will get wet this summer! I'm on a plane...

Honey, better have that plane land right on the stage if you want to see anything. YouTube The Muny and see what I'm talking about.

R271 = the song of the Loon

[quote]I think anybody who takes on the role of Billie Dawn after Judy Holliday is setting herself up for failure unless she's a completely different type from Holliday.

It's the same with Bus Stop. So many actresses try to not "BE" Marilyn Monroe and they end up falling short because Marilyn fit that role like a glove.

[quote]Mandatory meeting at the Actors Studio. Too many teachers having sexual relations with students in the library!

In my day, we never did it in the library! Too many books.

Was there anything more tacky than Sara Ramirez at the Tony Awards. She wins her award and so she stands up and yanks her dress up like some two bit hooker.

And did anyone announce titles with dramatic flair than Leslie Uggams?

I have it on good authority that Lin-Manuel's new musical will not be called "Shingles," but rather "Shingling Along."

Shingles is a new musical that tells the story of the Hispanic Jews that white privilege erased from Fiddler on the Roof. While that fat Jew was on the roof fiddling way, the Hispanics were busy trying to repair the shingles on the roof.

I’m sad. The troll/loon kept at it long enough to see the Robbie Fairchild Ashley Day break up come to fruition.

They were a cute couple. Long distance is hard.

Aaron Tveit is no doubt fucking SOMEbody but he just keeps his shit under wraps. Either that or he's asexual.

As for Robbie, perhaps he's trying to cover his tracks with regard to having been in a (rumored) relationship with a man because he thinks he's about to become a TV star?

Tveit likes his boys young and prefers Asians, if possible, in a pinch whoever is on Grindr in Queens will fill the bill, and by bill I mean hole.

The very handsome Beau Gravitte, husband of Debbie, is now Head of The Actors' Studio.

You’re sick, r283, with your obsession. You’re the only one interested in them, and you keep bringing it up, but no one bites because we don’t care.

Why ARE you so obsessed with those two?

I think the fact that they broke up is news worthy. [r287] get over your fucking self.

R285, When performing, Aaron will pair up with the most attractive young morsel outside the stage door.

"It was a perfectly awful movie. "

"And so it's come to this: the theater gossip thread has turned into a discussion of shingles."

Well, given the state of theater.....

r281 Maybe Lin could write a meta-musical about the making of Shuffling Along and he could play Audra and Ashley Day could play the Chipotle cashier.

r291 Maybe we could hope for a Droopy Chaperone revival? Could Sutton make her long awaited return to Broadway as the Droopesse?

When will Lin do the Shingles Benefit Song recording?

THE Fairchild Loon is disgusting. He’s been at it since last summer with his fake “concern” about that relationship, and then has kept at it ever since. It has no proof of anything, except it keeps posting updates re their Instagram that no one else cares about. And the fact that it apparently when down their entrance re list of followers to see if they were still there tells us everything. Of course, if it's an Aspie, that would explain a lot. But it’s still obsessed.

Oh for christ's sakes, stop whining, R295. Who gives a fuck? The Robbie/Ashley posts aren't even 1/100th as irritating as your constant complaining about them. Nor are they as lengthy and nap inducing.

The bigger question isn't who Aaron Tveit is fucking, it's why he still lives in Astoria.

Thank you!! [r296]

Um, Aaron is straight, fellas -- keep your knickers on. And for proof ask ANYONE who was part of his COMPANY revival last summer in the Berkshires.

R299 is posting from Earth 2

Indeed. Or ask anyone who worked on ASSASSINS with him in London at the Menier. The determination of this site to insist on every male of a certain body type and age as gay is increasingly laughable. Guess what: some people are straight. Deal with it !

R301, the biggest threat to Tveit’s larger career isn’t his perceived sexuality, it’s his seemingly permanent scowl, present even when he’s smiling. They should be looking for serial killer roles for him, like in the vein of Darren Criss as Cunaanan who is a bigger star because he’s capable of smiling. Instead they’re trying to make him a romantic leading man. He’s more right for the rapist.

R299, ANYONE?

Don't miss Christine Ebersole this week at 54 Below -- sublime. And her PINK tonight, accompanied by Scott Frankel, was beyond wonderful. She's straight, by the way.

R251, I’m sure that’s the fate that awaits Santino in Tootsie.

[r304] did she do Grey Gardens?

I think I watched an interview with Joan Rivers (I think it was Show People with that weird Paul guy) and she mentioned that Hal Prince once told her that, if she could sing, she'd have been a brilliant Mama Rose. I don't think he was wrong. Besides the singing, she really would have been something. Too bad it's a musical.

But Joan had no acting talent, either. Just because she WAS a monster doesn’t mean that she could PLAY a monster.

Sondheim looks like he has a bomb strapped to his chest underneath that loose grey polo shirt.

Garson Kanin wrote Born Yesterday specifically for Jean Arthur and the part was tailored around her when she played the part out of town. But Arthur suffered from debilitating stage fright (rumor says there was always a bucket on her film sets to throw up in before each take) and dropped out just 3 or 4 days before the New York opening. Her understudy, Village cabaret performer Judy Holliday, was suddenly thrust into the limelight.

Did anyone see the revival with Ed Asner and Madeline Kahn? It only ran about 6 months but she got a Tony nom.

No, Christine didn't do anything from GREY GARDENS - alas. And I don't think she would have done "Pink" if Frankel hadn't been in the house.

For someone who saw the Broadway Backwards - how did Tony Yazbeck do with "Ice Cream"?

Did she discuss any of her favorite conspiracy theories, r311?

There is no way aaron tveit is straight. Just no way. He reeks of gay. It's not up for debate. Yea it's really weird they have been pushing him for leading man for years now and with those folds and wrinkles. Like a skinny old man. Basic af too.

No conspiracy theories from Christine but her opening patter about coping with the age of Trump was genuinely funny. And she looked fabulous. Separately, Tony Y did very well with "Ice Cream" - one of the highlights of a largely lackluster occasion.

Weren’t Aaron Tveit and Darren Criss fucking?

Tveit is so blank and affectless - that's surely related to his being so hidden about his sexuality

LOL, [R309]

Its Friday and I have to admit I miss reading Riedel

Seeing Tim Curry in the clip at R280 made me sad. Does anyone know how he is doing? Talk about an under the radar icon.

The reveal of Stephen Sondheim's bomb under his shirt is a coup de theatre!

HATED "Moulin Rouge" - can't imagine the show will be anything but a bomb

Better question-who's fucking Ethan Slater?

[quote] Tveit is so blank and affectless - that's surely related to his being so hidden about his sexuality

In [italic]Grease[/italic], he was the Pat Boone to Travolta's Elvis.

[quote]Maybe Lin could write a meta-musical about the making of Shuffling Along and he could play Audra

There could be a sex dance like Tick Tock in Company and then a song where Audra finds herself pregnant. Who would dance the part of "Audra During Sex"?

Fast forward to 2028 - DataLounge is asking the question "WHET to Aaron Tveit?" and some astute poster will say, "He left the business and became a real estate agent."

[quote][Seeing Tim Curry in the clip at [R280] made me sad. Does anyone know how he is doing? Talk about an under the radar icon.

Although wheelchair bound he's been doing the autograph shows but only professional photo ops. You can leave things to be signed and his team will mail them back but her can't sign fast so photos only. He gets $100 a photo so it's a living.

If my math is correct, Mister Curry has his stroke at the age of 66. That's rather young, no?

Probably on the young -to-average end, but people have strokes at 30.

Did anyone here see him in "Amadeus"? Why didn't he get the movie?

Saw MFL last night - Lauren needs to project a bit more at times, but overall impressive performance! Loved it.

How are they aging Norbert Leo Butz? He's only ten years older than Lauren.

Garfield and Lane are brilliant in Angels. Great cast and direction. And if you bitches just watched the televised version, then zip it. Much better live.

Andrew Garfield was much better than i thought. Especially in hospital scene in part one breaking up. Like really good. I can't stand Nathan lane but he didn't bother me. I knew he would be there. Typical Nathan in the other costumes. Totally wrong for the parr to me. The original guy is perfect. I loved that music and entrance for Belize!!! ❤

[quote] If my math is correct, Mister Curry has his stroke at the age of 66. That's rather young, no?

Franklin Roosevelt died of a stroke at age 63.

Now that I'm closing in on 61 I find things like that unfathomable. In every photo I'd seen of him he looked so...OLD

[quote]How are they aging Norbert Leo Butz?

I like Norbert, but I think he's wrong for this role. Americans just can't do British Cockney. They try to do a funny accent, but they never get the characterization right. It comes out more as a cartoon rather than a real person. And the role is delightful when it is played properly.

[quote] But Joan had no acting talent, either. Just because she WAS a monster doesn’t mean that she could PLAY a monster.

Listen, faggot. I got a Tony nomination for Sally Marr and Her Boys that says differently!

Joan in "Tears and Laughter" proving that she can't even play herself convincingly.

Can The New Yorker bring in a second theater critic to alternate with Hilton Als? Because he hates nearly everything. Better, make Als a culture critic at large and bring in someone new to write about theater.

[quote]I got a Tony nomination for Sally Marr and Her Boys that says differently!

God, I saw that show. It was awful! You don't base a play around Lenny Bruce's mother getting raped.

re Tim Curry - he lives near Burbank. I see him around sometimes, grocery shopping with his...aide, I presume?. They drive around in a huge red SUV of some kind. Didn't notice the model, all that RED was kind of mesmerizing. All things considered he looks good, but the first time I saw him I wanted to cry, remembering how he used to be. And it certainly did put my own health issues in perspective. At least I'm able to walk and shop without assistance.

Shingles. Strokes. Joan Rivers singing. Gawd, you queens are a right cheerful bunch today.

Didn't she get good reviews for Broadway Bound, r338?

You're damn right I did, Lavin. I was better than you!

People age differently now, r335. I mean, look how many ancient celebs are surviving into their 100s? You can see 80 year olds out jogging. Franklin Roosevelt looked 15-20 years older than he was by today's standards. He was also a smoker, so there's that, too.

[quote]can't imagine the show will be anything but a bomb

The same one that's under Stephen Sondheim's shirt, no doubt.

[quote]God, I saw that show. It was awful! You don't base a play around Lenny Bruce's mother getting raped.

Was it by a Mexican illegal? Cuz personally, I think it sounds very compelling.

Speaking of Aaron Tveit's possible real estate agent career, WEHT Arthur Laurents fav and #metoo vicitm Matt Cavenaugh and his uncontrolled vibrato?

[quote]Franklin Roosevelt looked 15-20 years older than he was by today's standards. He was also a smoker, so there's that, too.

Not to mention that whole polio thing.

I think you mentioned that whole polio thing, r349.

[quote] Shingles. Strokes. Joan Rivers singing. Gawd, you queens are a right cheerful bunch today.

Don't forget brain tumors

The sex must be awesome.

I just posted on the Love, Liza Exhibit thread that I went. They did a really nice job. Given it's the auction lot, there's a fair amount of bugle-beaded filler. Also, I paid scant attention to the casual/sportswear grouping as it could have been Ship 'n Shore for all I knew. Culling that, there were copious amounts of Liza fabulous to be viewed. Copious amounts.

Did anybody get to see Miss Flannery's Neely?

Condola Rashad is a lovely actress, but that script is talky and way too long. Why didn't they choose The Lark? Same opps to pose and look noble for the young, beautiful actress.

Was watching the Roosevelt doc on Netflix.

Had no idea how handsome Franklin was when he was young.

You grow up seeing only photos of him in the '30s and '40s.

Time certainly took its revenge on him.

But I still got a solo in Act II of Annie

[quote] Did anybody get to see Miss Flannery's Neely?

I did and it was one of the most hilarious evenings I've ever had in the theater. We were dying laughing. The whole cast was great, but Flannery was the standout. Jackie Beat was also a fantabulous Helen Lawson.

R351 Not to mention: squirrels...death.

R328 you can have a stoke at any age. I know a 19 year old who had one.

ok, bitches, i have an open theater slot on a sunday night in a few weeks when I'm in NYC. I was going to go see Rocktopia, because I love Cheap Trick and Robin Zander is the special guest, but then I read the reviews and it sounds unendurable. So my only other choices are Spongebob or the one man show w/ Billy Crudup at Atlantic Theater Co. What say you? (Also, I have never seen an episode of Spongebob, so there's no nostalgia or familiarity going for it.)

R362-- I, too, had never seen a single episode of Sponge Bob, but I loved the play. The score is uneven, but that is probably because they were starstruck and couldn't tell Aerosmith, for instance, that their song sucked, but enough of it is good enough to call great. And the sets are wonderful and inventive. And the guy playing Sponge Bob is fantastic and adorable. I enjoyed it a lot more than I ever thought I would. It is well worth seeing.

If you area toddler with no discernible taste, see SPONGEBOB. If you are an adult, see HARRY CLARKE. ONCE ON THIS ISLAND is also playing on Sunday nights.

You know what's going to happen if that wall doesn't get built, don't you?

[quote]You know what's going to happen if that wall doesn't get built, don't you?

It's nice they gave Who's That Woman to Patti LuPone. She even wearing her original Evita pre-Casa Rosada wig.

Is that a drag queen playing Carlotta? They do understand that Carlotta was supposed to at one point in her life be sexy, right?

Harry CLARKE is terrific. Go for that!

Patti's guest starring on "Mom" later this month.

[quote]Patti's guest starring on "Mom" later this month.

New hips don't pay for themselves.

Perhaps, R352, but who would be the top?

R370, double-ended dildo?

[quote] If you area toddler with no discernible taste, see SPONGEBOB. If you are an adult, see HARRY CLARKE. ONCE ON THIS ISLAND is also playing on Sunday nights.

I am super bummed that Harry Clarke is no longer playing Sunday nights. I guess they changed it when it moved to the Minetta. I did not see that Once on This Island was Sunday nights, thanks. I'll check it out. I also read all the reviews for Rocktopia. Forget it. I'll have to see Robin Zander another time.

Oh, also- how about the immersive Sweeney Todd? Worth it?

Ok. Broadway needs a time out.

[post redacted because linking to dailymail.co.uk clearly indicates that the poster is either a troll or an idiot (probably both, honestly.) Our advice is that you just ignore this poster but whatever you do, don't click on any link to this putrid rag.]

Ah, QL will love that -- he runs towards controversy, not away from it.

R316, only in the Tveit troll's dreams.

[quote]The sex must be awesome.

And most of all, nonexistent.

Whether Tveit is straight or gay, I agree with R314 that he's basic AF.

Is Andy Randells scheduled to go into the Carousel as Billy Biggielow the same time NeNe Leaks is going in as Mrs. Mullers?

R375? We don't refer to it as "colour blind" casting in London anymore. Now we just say "blind." Apparently.

I mentioned upthread about how Zubin Varla - a very talented actor - has been cast as Bruce Bechtel in the London premiere of Fun Home. Mr. Varla is of British/Asian descent. Not sure how this will impact the play but, AFAIK, the Alisons are all cast as white, as is Helen. The exterior characters, Joan and Roy, are cast as black.

It's also interesting to note that, at least on this side of the pond, straight actors still seem to get the best gay roles. Straight, married Kyle Soller is playing one of the leads in what should be an all-gay production of The Inheritance. Trans actors seem to get their way in terms of fencing off their roles now. I'm not sure gay actors just want to play gay roles anyway but, honestly, aren't there enough great roles for white, straight actors in the theatre?

In terms of Fun Home, does Varla's ethnicity heighten and intensify Bruce Bechtel's plight? Or does his exoticism - essentially a black, gay Asian (Indian) man with an all white family - create unnecessary distance?

Personally, I don't mind "colour blind" casting when it works - like casting a black actress as Ruth in The Homecoming, which just creates further tension and another unspoken dimension. But not when it's applied carelessly. Isn't the flip side of this that these artists' need to tell their own stories as well? In relation to the Fun Home casting, I'm not sure how the inclusion of one minority at the exclusion of another really serves an purpose at all, other than self-flattering PC pats on the back.

I have heard that Marcy D'Arcy is being considered as a replacement for Jessie Mueller in Carousel.

Andy Randells is not, r379. He's struggling to learn his lines for the upcoming Boys in the Band, so as to avoid tripping over pages and pages of dialogue a la the disastrous Falsettos.

What was "disastrous" about Rannells in FALSETTOS, for which he got a Tony nod - aside from the fact that he looks like an inflatable doll, but that aspect is never going to change.

I'm a gay actor and i only wanna play gay roles. I don't wanna have to touch a woman ever.

Kyle Soller is brilliant in The Inheritance and I don't care if he's gay or straight. The same for American leads Samuel Levine and Andrew Burnap. That entire cast is amazing, even our DL fave John Ben Hickey, and let's all praise heaven that Vanessa Redgrave comes in as the closer at the end of Part 2 with a performance for the ages. I do hope they can keep under wraps who she plays, as one sits there for 6 hours over 2 performances, mesmerized by it all but wondering how she will figure into the story.

Young American playwright Matthew Lopez will be hailed when the plays reach Broadway. Director Stephen Daldry's great work will come as no surprise after Billy Elliot, An Inspector Calls and The Crown and so many others. It depresses me that this wonderful American work had to begin in London but The Young Vic is giving it a production the non-profits here could only dream about.

Would someone bring The Inheritance over here hot on the heels of the AiA revival? Seems like a lot of the same territory being covered.

That’s what I thought, R386. Plus with The Boys In The Band revival, can there be much support for The Inheritance? Not this season, at least. The Inheritance is far more decadent than AiA - not sure it’ll play on B’way.

That’s probably true, R385. I know Kyle and he’s a really nice person in addition to his talents as an actor. But plenty of minorities speak of “white washing” in casting, I don’t think any trans character could be played by anyone other than a trans performer nowadays. But typically, the gays demand nothing in terms of representation - it’s almost like we’d rather be played by straight actors. Not to mention, there’s so much reward for straight actors who play gay - how they suffered, what a burden it must’ve been, etc. We’re always in some decidedly grey area.

I wouldn’t want to see gay actors just play gay characters but what that exchange means is that there are even fewer opportunities for gay actors, once the straight actors have taken all the plum roles.

Hilton Als is a conundrum. Self-hating black man and self-hating homosexual all wrapped up in one smarmy package. Hates the Brits and the Americans with an equal passion. He should be writing reviews for Breitbart News.

[quote]Hilton Als is a conundrum.

Did he change his name from Hilton Lou Gehrig's Disease?

I just finished Andrew Lloyd Weber's memoir. I don't care for his music -- too serious and ponderous -- but the book had much levity and wit. He would make an interesting dinner companion. I have questions, though, for anyone who knows him or his circle. It is generally acknowledged -- even by him -- that he is short tempered. He has not worked with Tim Rice in a very long time, and admitted in the book that he was hurt and surprised that Rice brought the idea of Chess to the Abba boys, instead of to ALW, who had been asking if he had ideas he wanted to work on. And Rice then went on to work with many other composers, particularly Elton John. ALW is careful to not assign blame, but it seems odd -- and ALW seemed hurt -- that they never worked together again. Why was that, if anyone knows. Was it because Rice was an opportunist who thought he could work faster and better with others who had more fame (Elton John, Abba, et al), or was it because he did not want to work with ALW again because Andrew can be a dick? It is never explained in the book. Also, although ALW is ostensibly straight, it almost sounds like he was in love with Rice. He fawns over his name and appearance, etc. It is rather sweet and sad. The book is worth reading, even for those who don't care for his shows.

Well, Rice was quite handsome when young so there must have been quite a lot of envy there, though certainly not penis envy, given Sarah Brightman's famous remarks about ALW's sizable endowment. Plus, schoolboy crushes are ubiquitous amongst the English upper crust.

r392

ALW is well hung???

[R390], are you in the 6th grade?

[quote]He would make an interesting dinner companion.

Speaking as someone who actually attended a dinner party he was at, let me disabuse you of this notion. His reputation (which I can attest to in some small measure) is that of a bitter, sullen drunk. I imagine the wit and levity in the book is mostly due to a ghostwriter.

And yes, I imagine Tim Rice just didn’t want to work with ALW anymore. It was, by all accounts, unpleasant for him toward the end.

R395. ALW acknowledges in his memoir that he used to drink too much, but he has been sober for a while now, and sold off his extensive wine cellar. I watched the tv special on him that ran a week or so ago, and he is articulate and well-spoken. He was extremely successful at a very young age -- hell, he was 20 and at Oxford when he started to write Superstar -- so he probably has the arrogance of wealth and early success. I'm sure he is a total dick, though.

As much as I loved The Inheritance I think it would be unwise to bill it as a successor to AiA. Not that it's not as good, and in some ways I think it's even better, but it sets up the wrong expectations.

Dare I say, it's more of a successor to Love! Valour! Compassion! but with far more depth, scope and complexity.

Is Sara Gettelfinger still in the clink??? Should I send her a card? I drop a line every once in awhile to Bets Broderick. Just to check and make sure she’s ok. Maybe Sara would like to hear from the outside.

[quote]As much as I loved The Inheritance I think it would be unwise to bill it as a successor to AiA.

You mean it's not a sequel to "The Heiress?"

R385 - was just reading about The Inheritance, it sounds like a great night at the theatre, but perhaps it is good that the production didn't originate here. One has to imagine it would have been competing directly against AIA and The Boys In the Band ad Torch Song Trilogy for much of the same audience. I know that's a touch... reductive, but it's probably true.

According to the link at R338, Mamas Family’s Dot Lyman is in that Joan Rivers biopic. I must see it. Love Naomi Harper.

Who does she play, r401?

I went to high school with sara gettlefinger. It was our high school dance teacher she robbed. Crazy. NO ONE saw that coming. I still can't believe it. Never would have thought she had such a drug problem. Always nice. I remember when she played Rose in Bye Bye Birdie in high school. She's come so close.

R402, She plays Dorothy Melvin, Joan's manager.

In a Twitter post, Ashley Day referred to a recent "huge tragic loss," and on Instagram said he was picking himself up, dusting himself off and starting all over again. From this I think we can infer that it was Robbie who did the dumping.

"Three Tall Women" is as good as they say. The final 15 seconds....

"huge tragic loss" puts one in mind of plane crash involving one's entire family, not the breakup of a fairly brief romance. But whatever, Poor Baby.

R407 Was Toxic Bisexuality to blame?

R405, Ashley's manager is a good friend of mine.

...and?

Does he allow you access to Ashley's dong when you want it, R409?

Is his manager gay? Hot?

How did Sara G. rob the dance teacher? Was it burglary? A mugging?

No one describes a break up as a huge tragic loss, do they? The "hate and negativity" does make one wonder...

The pick yourself up... may have a deeper meaning but on the surface it's a reference to him tripping at the curtain call at a gala performance of 42nd Street.

r414, it's a reference to the Jerome Kern/Dorothy Fields song in the Astaire/Rogers film Swingtime.

Or did Sara tie up the dance teacher and for him or her to listen to her sing and/or act??? A secret service agent would crumble under that kind of torture.

I didn't realize when I posted that youtube clip above that it cuts their famous dance after the song.

I watched some clips of Broadway Backwards and other charity events. Are the chorus boys in these shows always directed to act as faggy as they can? Jeez- why can't they celebrate the masculine side of being a gypsy? They have the talent-why can't they act butch?

R362,

Do NOT go see SPONGEBOB. My husband and I had never seen the cartoon, nor were we high, and both are requirements to enjoy this doltish show. Yes, the cast is talented, and there are bright colors and lots of big numbers, but we were both really miserable. ONCE ON THIS ISLAND is far, far, far superior.

R413 she was staying with the dance teacher. Apparently Sara was hitting rock bottom and the teacher took her in. I don't know the details but it was thousands of dollars. Leading up to her crime she was trying to hustle around louisville and indiana. I remember seeind ads. Doing the whole broadway star returns home and available for private lessons. No one took the bait. She was desperate. I know her family and herself must be so embarrassed. She was a local success story from a good family. Looking back in dance class and then knowing what happened is crazy. She was one of the stars of our school. Nicole Scherzinger being one of the others. And i was the one looked at as a bad kid! Haha. R416 the dance teacher is an old woman.

I saw her off Broadway in Grey Gardens and though she looked nothing like Ebersole she was so far superior to whoever it was who took her role on Broadway it wasn't funny. When she saw Joe pulling away from her it was wrenching and heartbreaking as she saw all her hopes turning to ash. On Broadway it went for nothing. In fact all the changes for Broadway were horrible and removed so much power of the piece.

If she's fucked up her life with drugs that's tragic. She really had talent.

She was serviceable in NINE. I preferred Jane Krakowski, though. She really sold that number. (I’ve only seen Anita Morris on tape, but I thought she was incredible, too!!!)

Gossip! Tyce Green put up on blast. You NYers know who this is.

That "apology" letter is very poorly written.

Happy for Matthew Lopez. I know people who worked with him before he became successful and they say he is a real sweetheart.

R412, He lives in London, gay, not hot in my opinion, known him for 15 years.

Is the last 15 seconds of Three Tall Women a coup de theatre!?

Good points, R380. Most of the time that sort of casting over there smacks of the tic-ing of the diversity box along with an insufferably smug “Aren’t we wonderful to do this?” attitude.

Oh damn, R423. I guess his starfucking days are over.

Hey Fairchild Troll, Ashley Days “huge, tragic loss” was his grandmother - the first of his grandparents to die. Sorry to ruin it for you, when you’re drooling at the mouth over thoughts of a breakup.

Possible spoiler...Can someone spoil the last 15 seconds of three tall women? I have never seen it, but I'm aware of the plot, as it were. My guess is the last 15 seconds when you realize that the three women are the same woman at different times in their life? or is that apparent earlier in the play? I wish I lived in NYC so I could see this. What a cast!

R427 , I know you're joking, but the last 15 seconds of Three Tall Women actually IS a coup de theatre. I have mixed feelings about the whole show. It feels very repetitive and the first act in particular has very little arc. It's the same thing over and over again. The second act is more engaging but still feels like it could have been shorter and tighter. The acting is great, although I don't feel that the script allows Glenda Jackson in particular to show a lot of shadings and layers. Laurie Metcalf is always good, but I've found her more affecting in other shows. Her role is more of a concept rather than a three-dimensional character, but she does the best she can.

And the last 15 seconds is a great, unexpected capper. It's a very simple, straightforward coup, but it's a nice one to end the evening.

That's a whopper of a spoiler. Thank you so much.

Just like the idiot who let loose with the ending of the Sixth Sense before i saw it.

That guy who runs that bog linked at r423 is a total nutcase. He views himself as the all-important, crusading defender of Broadway innocents. In reality he’s smug, judgmental, and, as is clear fro, the pic, fugly to the extreme.

I’ll spoil it - the last fifteen seconds reveals that it hasn’t been Glenda Jackson at all, but Maggie Smith in a mask.

Three Tall Women spoiler: the calls are coming from inside the house.

Do they finally get to Moscow?

R435 R436 nice try. But the real spoiler is one of them sees dead people and one has been dead the whole time. You have to see it twice to really catch it.

Someone in a previous thread recommended reading William Goldman's The Season. I am only on page 24 , and am disgusted with it. He obviously has a disdain for gay men -- he mentions them several times, even to the point of quoting a man at the theater as saying "no one goes to the men's room tonight" when he notices the theater audience has a large number of gay men. And he also recounts seeing a gay man wringing his hands in the audience to the point of them bleeding. As far as I know, that is not even possible. I'm sure that Goldman might have some valid points about the theater, but I'm not going to read a book written by a man with so much disgust towards gays. For anyone out there: don't read it. Don't support such crap.

Actually, in the spirit if "The Crying Game", in the final 15 seconds it is revealed that they're Three Tall Men.

Guys,do yourselves a favor ... buy the play and read it. See Albee's lovely words in print, hear them in your head. Well worth the effort.

R439... a post by a gay reason enough to dislike gays.

R423 we New Yorkers in the theatre community generally don't know who he is. I actually heard of him for the first time just a few weeks ago when a couple friends were talking about how he friended everyone he had ever met on Facebook and offered them voice lessons which he is in no way qualified to give. I looked him up on Facebook and he seemed like nothing more or less than an egomaniac. Until today, he was "known" solely for being annoying on social media.

I also know Matthew Lopez slightly and he is very sweet. Priscilla Lopez is his aunt.

So has anyone tried to do "Three Tall Women" with colorblind (or even gender-neutral) casting?

Any relation to Bobby Lopez?

And in colliding two threads, Tyce has an album of Jim Steinman songs.

How did Sara Gettlefinger become financially strapped so quickly? Wasn’t this shortly after she had toured for a couple of years in “The Addams Family”?

Reading the synopsis of Three Tall Women on Wikipedia give the closing line, but no indication oh what kind of coup de theatre might be being done in the current production,

Someone please take pity and spoil it for those of us who won’t be able to see it.

Was Gettlefinger already into drugs during Grey Gardens? I remember thinking, "Someone throw her a sandwich!" when I saw it.

Ugly toad nutcase:

I wrote this back in January when the Ben Vereen news hit and it bears repeating today. To anyone that knows someone who has used their positions of power and influence to sexually harass or abuse, let them know I’m closing in...

“I always find it interesting when theatre professionals are so vocal online when it comes to broad causes, but when it hits home, they all of the sudden go on radio silence. Do they do this to save their careers? Possibly. Don't want to ruffle feathers? Most definitely.

If you don't want to address this now, that's fine. But you're going to have to address it soon.

This is just the beginning. There are pillars in the NY theatre industry that were built on years of sexual abuse and harassment and they are going to crumble.

In addition to connecting victims(and the bravest people I’ve ever met) with law enforcement and mental health professionals as requested, I'm also working right now with responsible and excellent journalists on things that will come out when they're ready to be published.

I don't say this to be salacious or for self-promotion. It's a warning. It's a warning to those in this city and abroad who have built successful and legendary careers in the theatre all the while victimizing others for sexual purposes.

If you know you've done this, believe me, I know you have too.

Using your profession and industry to sexually abuse, assault or harass should have prevented you from priceless opportunities in this business.

I hope the demise of your career will make way for people who would never do such a thing.

So save your money, book as many gigs as you can now, gather your residual checks, you're going to need it.

Or, admit and apologize, right now.

And if you're stressing about this, know that it's a small fraction compared to the distress you forced upon your victims for years.

This isn't a witchhunt or "Modern-Day McCarthyism", this is putting a spotlight on sexual abuse in the theatre industry and those perpetrators trying to run away from its gaze.

So get some rest, you'll probably need that too. Consult with your lawyer. And be ready for a phone call asking for comment.

^sounds like it was written by someone who has a hard time getting laid

R451 sure needs an editor,

The coupe de theatre of Three Tall Women is that every night, they pick some man out of the audience to play the son. The usher says, "Go sit up on the stage with your back to the audience. And if you so much as move, Glenda Jackson will smack the hell out of you."

R451 needs anti-psychotics.

The Post at r351 is from Chris Peterson, who does that onstage blog. He’s supposedly straight and married with child, and he’s ugly as sin. His blog is full of posts like the one above.

Think Boris Aronson and CABARET, r449, and you'll get the gist of it.

Oh, don't tell me that the three tall women represent all of us. That would be too much to bear.

And how come the son isn't listed in the ibdb credits? I know he doesn't speak and just sits in a chair, but can't they give him a credit?

He doesn't even sit.

What about the by the fireplace nude wrestling match. What act is that in?

Which side of the orchestra has the best view.

Broadway needs a revival of Bombay Dreams. With lots of sexy Indian men.

I don’t know why there hasn’t been a film version of it yet, R461.

Where is that clip from, R461? Was it recorded for streaming?

R461 - is that Raza Jaffrey? I liked him in Homeland.

The homophobia runs throughout The Season. Goldman also calls homosexuality one of Broadway's two big secrets. I think the other is 'ice.'

Still I think there is a lot worth reading on how Broadway worked in the days before the corporate run theme park Disneyworld of mid Manhattan of today. The homophobia expressed is very much of its time and makes clear that since so many creators and performers are gay it's the elephant in the room.

Jews come in for their licks too.

I think Laurents in his book says that in the 60s David Merrick made a public announcement that that homosexuals are ruining Broadway. Considering that his biggest hits were created by gays it's just Merrick being a shit stirrer.

Raza Jaffrey needs a nude scene in something. Anything.

Aronson was perhaps the greatest scenic designer in Broadway history. I seem to remember reading that he was quite difficult to work with. There's surprisingly little information about him.

[quote]is that Raza Jaffrey? I liked him in Homeland.

Yes. And the poor guy was having some major vocal problems in that Journey Home clip.

I don't know where the clip is from. They made a documentary about the mounting of the London production of Bombay Dreams, so it may have been filmed to be used in that.

Maybe the ending is that the audience is collectively the son.

Okay, here goes for the Three Tall Women spoiler. Someone please correct if I have the details wrong.

And OBVIOUSLY THIS IS A SPOILER.

There are actually two coups de theatre in this production. Joe Mantello, the director, and Miriam Buether, the set designer, are at the top of their game here.

The first act takes place in the bedroom of a rich woman's apartment, and at the very end of the act, the rich woman, played by Glenda Jackson, is lying in bed and has a very bad stroke, possibly bad enough to eventually be fatal. As the second act curtain rises, we see the same apartment, but now the back wall has been replaced by glass, and behind the glass is the mirror image of the apartment, with the exact same furniture but arranged like it is seen in a mirror. For example, the bed is facing the audience in the original bedroom, and it is facing upstage in the mirror image bedroom, with the two heads of the bed virtually touching each other. (The headboard disappears with the wall.). The chairs, lamps, tables, etc are all also arranged as if you are looking in a mirror, but you aren't, because the divider is glass. Then at the far end of the mirror image apartment, there is an actual wall entirely mirrored, so you can see the image of both the original apartment and the mirror image apartment reflected back, in almost a fun-house kind of way. And you can see the audience reflected back as well, which I'm sure is intentional.

The original apartment does not seem unusually shallow in Act One, but it takes up less than half the depth of the stage,. But it really isn't obvious that there is something behind, especially something that seems really deep with the entire back wall being mirrored, so everything is reflected and re-reflected. It's pretty stunning when the curtain goes up. So the revealing of the mirror upon mirror of the apartment is the first coup de theatre.

The very first lines of the second act take place in the mirror image apartment between Alison Pill and Laurie Metcalf. They refer to the Glenda Jackson character lying in bed, but from my seat pretty far in front, I couldn't actually see anyone lying on the bed (the pillows are quite heaped up). But pretty quickly, Pill and Metcalf come into the original apartment, joined by Glenda Jackson coming in from the wings. Then, for the rest of the second act, the three women stay in the original apartment, with the son's arrival occurring in the mirror image apartment. And every so often, the three women step out to the bare stage in front of the actual apartment set to give their monologues.

The final monologue is by Glenda Jackson, talking about how the happiest moment is when we finally die. She has incredible presence, and when she steps out onto the bare platform to give this speech, she is spellbinding. And in the last fifteen seconds, while she is talking about welcoming death, the entire back mirrored wall tilts, so that it is no longer reflecting the audience but now reflects the bed, and lying in the bed is an incredibly realistic mannequin of Jackson's character, awaiting death. The moment of death turns from the public (reflecting the audience) to the intensely personal (reflecting just Jackson's character). I think Mantello and Albee are saying that death is a moment you go through alone. Jackson's voice fades away, and the lights come down.

There is no indication that the mirrored wall can move before that, so it really is a coup de theatre. And the wall is huge. It covers the whole width of the stage and is probably twelve or fifteen feet high, maybe more. I was the person who earlier said I had mixed feelings about the material, but those two moments were unforgettable. It was even more powerful because I didn't know that there was a body in the bed before that. I'm sure the mezzanine viewers can see it throughout the act, but I don't know how much of the orchestra can see it before the end.

I was seated in the mezzanine and the body/mannequin was clearly seen at the beginning of the second half, so the interpretation above is intelligent but doesn't hold.

Well, it holds for those seated in the orchestra. Maybe that was all that Mantello and the designer cared about.

I liked the idea of Glenda Jackson turning into Maggie Smith at the end better.

Wow, real gossip at R433. Thanks. And that album cover art at R447 is hilariously ugly.

Well, I was sitting in the stalls to the right of the stage for John Tiffany’s The Glass Menagerie and saw fuck all of the supposed stage craft, other than that girl getting sucked up by the couch. Had to settle for Cherry Jones’ lumpen Amanda Wingfield.

THAT’s the coup de theatre ? I long for the days of craft when an actor could just deliver the lines and have the same devastating effect on the audience without all the distracting nonsense.

R471 , what is reflected at the very end? Is it the bed or something else?

R476, You see the reflection of Eliza walking out on Higgins through the audience.

In those 15 magical seconds of "3TW," while Glenda Jackson has her final lines and the mirror tilts, Arvo Part's "Spiegel im Spiegel" softly plays.

Also, the "body" of Glenda Jackson clearly moves in the second act. Twice.

a good description of the "coups" mikey, thanks,

[quote]I'm sure the mezzanine viewers can see it throughout the act, but I don't know how much of the orchestra can see it before the end.

I was sitting in Row L center orch. and the top of the woman's head in the mirrored bed was visible throughout the act 2. it was not clear whether it was a mannequin or an actor

[quote]it was not clear whether it was a mannequin or an actor

It’s neither. It’s the exhumed corpse of Marian Seldes. Very meta.

Wasn't there a big beautiful coffee table book about Boris Aronson's designs published a couple of decades ago? Was Frank Rich involved with it? It must be a rare find these days. I wish I owned it.

Aronson toiled away for about 40 years before he was asked to design Fiddler on the Roof. Though, as a Russian-born Jew, he was perfect for that assignment, he certainly showed enormous versatility with the designs to come. If he was a little bitter and difficult, it's understandable.

Thank you for the spoiler of 3TW, R470. It was clear, and well-written and well-considered. It makes me wish I could see it even more! Given the incredible cast, one would hope something like that would be recorded and streamed, although the sets might not be as powerful on a screen as it is in a theater. Thanks for the post.

The effect described by R470 is indeed effective, but did anyone else dislike the design of the actual set itself? I thought it was too bright and too seemingly new—not musky enough. However, I more than loved the whole second set of costumes.

[quote]How did Sara Gettlefinger become financially strapped so quickly? Wasn’t this shortly after she had toured for a couple of years in “The Addams Family”?

Yeah, c'mon spill it for us who never heard this story. How the hell did she steal thousands? Wasn't she also in the 101 Dalmatians The Stilted Edition Tour?

[quote]The coupe de theatre of Three Tall Women is that every night, they pick some man out of the audience to play the son. The usher says, "Go sit up on the stage with your back to the audience. And if you so much as move, Glenda Jackson will smack the hell out of you."

Going to see "Three Tall Women" at the end of the month and after reading all those paragraphs I still have no idea what the coupe de theatre is but I do want Glenda Jackson to smack the hell out of me.

R482, Boots are not yet in circulation for MFL and TTT, but they are for Dolly/Bern, Carousel and Grand Hotel.

R485, Will Rogers Follies had an audience member be Wiley Post at each performance.

I am sad 3TW cut the farting contest. It was fun.

R484 i don't know the details. A mutual friend from high school sent me her mugshot and then told me what happened. What i knew about Sara was that she was doing well. Always working. Always nice. I had no idea she was bad off and deep into drugs. We all fell into drugs at one point. Most of us made it out. She didn't. She was living with the woman. She had access to all her stuff.

[quote]The homophobia runs throughout The Season. Goldman also calls homosexuality one of Broadway's two big secrets. I think the other is 'ice.'

There's also some nasty homophobia in the otherwise excellent book THE MAKING OF NO, NO, NANETTE, by Don Dunn. From a modern perspective, it's pretty shocking that homophobia would be so openly expressed in mainstream books from that era -- especially in books about the theatre.

I had the Aronson book, r481. I ended up selling it which I now regret. It is, to use Miss Merman's words upon first seeing Mielziner's Annie designs, fucking gorgeous.

Mielziner didn't design Annie, David Mitchell did.

Now how long will it be before the typical DL response to that typical DL response gets posted, r492?

If you want to avoid the homophobia in The Season but read some wonderful chapters read the ones on The Freaking Out Of Stephanie Blake, the Sandy Dennis play. and the chapters on The Happy Time, the well deserved evisceration of Clive Barnes who still wrote Broadway reviews for years at the Times after this!, and the one on Golden Rainbow called Washing Garbage. Hilarious stuff.

Oh and there is a chapter called Jews. And Goldman talks about himself being a jew yet being unable to not write about this stuff.

Also discussions about the changing nature of Times Square in terms of crime which as we know was only to rapidly accelerate in the early '70s.

I saw "Lobby Hero" and it is not as bad as I feared. And that Chris Evans....I don't think I have ever seen one of his movies but he is a delicious man. He does not have many lines but what a hunk. Michael Cera is perfect for the role.

R470, when I saw THREE TALL WOMEN on Thursday night, Glenda Jackson's character did not come out to that front lip of the stage, actually. I noted that the other two women did, but Jackson's character did not. I was thinking that that was to say that A (the Jackson character) never could leave her home, her apartment, her "self," and so forth.

I also thought that A was dead the entire second half, that she was looking back at her dead self. You thought she was still alive, did I understand you correctly?

I hope some of tonight’s Olivier Awards will be put on YT, especially the number from Everybody’s Talking About .Jamie and Tracie Bennett performing “I’m Still Here.”

They have some odd categories at the Oliviers, including some in which musical and drama productions (or actors) compete against each other. And a "best achievement in music" category in which a composer's original score competes against the performance of the orchestra in a musical revival. Categories here...

Aronson was working on Broadway from the 30's onwards and designed for the Met as well...why would he be bitter? Perhaps he had other reasons, but not from lack of recognition or employment.

Congratulations to the West End HAMILTON cast and crew - 7 Olivier awards this evening including Best Musical, Best actor, Best Supporting Actor, best choreography, lighting, sound, and achievement in music. Eat it, haters!

Brits have notoriously shitty taste when it comes to the legitimate musical theater, so this is really no surprise. You can also get tickets to Hamilton very easily there, so it's not quite the juggernaut that it is stateside.

R481, the book is available.

R500, re: “eat it” what else was going to take the Olivier? Remember when Memphis won Best Musical at the Tonys? Hamilton is a great show, it won’t orevent World War III. Get over yourself.

I saw some clips of Frank DiLella getting ready to do commentary outside the Oliviers. God, he's aged terribly in just a few years. Still has the personality of a corpse, though.

r488 if you want a farting contest, it's actually in The Sting, so rush on over to New Jersey's Paper Mill Playhouse!

R505, And we should mention the bowel movement in Chicago where Pretty Woman is previewing.

r330

Curry was too old to play the role. But no one from the stage production appeared in the film.

The stage play was faster, funnier and sexier. Ian McKellan threw out a number of one-liners and looked amazing. The film is just too long and is a complete snooze.

The decent copies of the Aronson book will run about $35 online. There's a good one on eBay, I just noticed, and the advantage over Amazon is the seller can post visuals of his copy so you know what you're getting, as opposed to books on Amazon described as "Like New" that are lacking the dust jacket. I've bought a lot online, and there really are some sellers who operate outside their site's rules.

That sort of thing goes on amid "used" sellers all the time at every site, because anyone can start selling even without reading the site's rules. One of Amazon's Aronson sellers' conditions notes says he doesn't sell to APOs. This is absolutely against Amazon rules, and if the bots see it, that seller will lose his selling privileges.

The Aronson book is well worth the buy, and there are also wonderful scene-design studies of the Eckarts and of Mielziner.

I realize most DLers aren't interested, but for those few who are: proceed with caution when buying online from third-party sellers. And it doesn't hurt to ask the seller a question if his posting is unclear. No, they won't like it, but the tone of their answer will give you a good idea of whether they are reliable or not.

Now I feel bad for Groff that the Brit King George won the Olivier

The Oliviers weren't the total car crash they usually but they certainly are, um, eccentric. Chita got very low-key applause all things considered (much less than PattiLu) and boy oh boy did Tracie Bennett need some direction tonight on "I'm Still Here."

Watching the Oliviers on FB, it’s still going on. That song in Everybody’s Talking About Jamie was so fucking generic. It makes the show look hugely overrated.

Memo to Frank DiNelli, who conducted interviews between “acts”-it’s “IN the West End,” not “ON the West End,” you moron. I know you’ve been over there many times thanks to daddy’s moolah but you might like to avoid sounding like an ignorant tourist when you’re on camera.

So the finale surprise of Three Tall Women is that nobody understood a fucking thing they just watched for two hours.

Did Patti and Chita perform something? Any performances worth looking up later?

What's not to understand, R512? It's probably the most straightforward of all of Albee's plays. It's not exactly Tiny Alice.

No perfs from Patti or Cheets. Every single thing about ... JAMIE is generic. The show is well-meaning but doesn't have an original artery in its body. Surprised so little love for AN AMERICAN IN PARIS in London, given that it got arguably the best reviews of any musical in London during 2017, up until HAMILTON.

I have seen Carousel and it isn't that bad. And there is plenty of hawtness on that stage. Joshua Henry's ass needs a Tony of its own. And Amar Ramasar is worth the price of a (discounted) ticket.

I love the name Amar Ramasar, which sounds like an anagram of itself. Yummy.

and the only reason to see this shitty production

Not in the least.

How can I see the Oliviers?

R509, don’t feel bad for Groff. He may not have a Tony, but he’s everyone’s favorite puppy, number two with a bullet behind LMM. Most Tony and Olivier winners can’t claim that.

Even Gavin Creel has an Olivier. Purr Groff. Purr, purr Groff.

“The speaking in perpetual hyperbole is comely in nothing but love."

R520, you’ll be able to watch all of it soon on the Olivier’s Facebook page.

THR reviews "Mean Girls":

God, are people really going to see Mean Girls?

NYT review:

of course it will get good reviews. People love Tina Fey for some inexplicable reason. And is Barrett Wilbur Weed going to make a career of playing sloppy seconds movie adaptation teen heroines?

I just saw Love Never Dies in the LA and it was hands down one of the worst shows I have ever seen.

One of the lyrics (in the title song, if there ever was a show that needs a title song LESS, it's this one) is actually "Love never dies / Once it is in you." Not sure if she's talking about the traditional definition of love or an STD.

Now that you mention it, I'd pay good money to hear a broadway cast sing "Chlamydia never dies / once it is in you".

The Mean Girls reviews aren't good, really. I mean they both complain about the songs not being good. That's kind of a big problem.

no, the reviews aren't unqualified raves but there are plenty of pull quotes

Chlamydia, Chlamydia, oh have you Chlamydia, Chlamydia the pesky virus!

Well I'm annoyed that Tina hired a guy who has NEVER WRITTEN A MUSICAL to write the music but whatever.

R498, British award shows are always awkward.

R534, given the source material, I don’t think it would’ve mattered. Richmond is a clever guy. But nothing much about Mean Girls ever cried out to be musicalised, other than the licensing of the material to high schools and community theatres. Once they hired that woman from Legally Blonde, the fate of this musical was sealed. It was never going to be Rodgers & Hammerstein, much less Jeanne Tesori.

That guy Tina hired is her husband.

Chlamydia is caused by bacteria, not a virus, and is curable with antibiotics — i.e. it can die once it's in you.

I was thrilled to see Shirley Henderson win an Olivier as Best Musical Actress for The Girl from the North Country, as well as Sheila Antim who won Supporting for the same musical. The show, with all of Bob Dylan's music, is a bit of a hot mess but great fun and emotionally involving and I hope it finds its way to NY with those actors, if not the entire cast. Oh yes, and hottie Sam Reid!

MTC's Saint Joan is quite enjoyable, although the casting of the bland Ms. Rashad baffles me. She does the yearning aspect well, but she was a dud in the fiery speeches and she can't project at all (I was in the fifth row and sometimes had trouble hearing her; I can only imagine what it was like for audience members in the balcony). Jack Davenport certainly caught my eye, though. What a hot daddy! For some reason, I haven't noticed him in his many movie or TV roles. I did a quick Google search for hot images of him, but it appears that some recently leaked nude pics were not really him. Too bad.

I loved The Girl from the North Country when I saw it in January but the British cast’s American accents made my ears bleed. It should be totally recast for NY with the genuine article.

Hated the Everybody’s Talking About Jamie number on the Oliviers. The music was totally generic and who gives a fuck about some teenage queen prancing about going on and on about how fabulous he is? It looked like a fair amount of those in the audience agreed with me.

Tracie Bennett’s “I’m Still Here” was great. Still very Judy. In the dialogue bit before the song I noticed she forgot how to say “goddamn” like an American, like it’s two words/“god DAMN.”

I do not think "Carousel" is that bad. "MFL," on the other hand, is a never ending bore.

That should be "p-e-es-sky", r533.....

Moulin Rouge/Boston is nearly sold out already.

Condola is HORRIBLE. The only show i ever walked out of was that damn romeo and juliet with 40 year old orlando bloom. She's just like her mother. An arrogant, pretentious, bore.

Myma is Yerma.....

They got Annie!

Elizabeth Hurley is a "NYC Celeb?"

That’s the most publicity Andrea McArdle and Liz Hurley have gotten in years. Congrats, ladies!

Hilton Als's review of TTW in the New Yorker was pretty negative.

"The Sting" got good reviews, next stop Broadway.

Some of you vastly overestimate how much money someone like Sara Gittlefinger has, particularly if she's also using.

Aaron Tviet is gay.

If you really care about Broadway history you can make it through William Goldman's homophobia.

Who the fuck is Tyce Green?

[quote] We have also been notified that Mr. Green has been removed from the performance lineup of "54 Sings We Will Rock You" tonight at Feinstein's/54 Below.

That's like the saddest line I've ever read. Ever.

r551 NY Daily News and NY Times are both kind of weak, the NJ website review is luke.

Best word-of-mouth I've heard about The Sting was "meh" and "so-so."

The Sting will move in spite of the so-so reviews and do so-so on Broadway.

When I kept reading on BWW that The Honeymooners was way better than The Sting, I thought.....whoa!

I have tickets to see Yerma R546 . I will be sure to use that lines multiple times while waiting in line for the restroom and bar.

Can anybody tell me about Yerma? I also am seeing Harry Clarke (Billy Crudup's one man show) and Three Tall Women.

Oh, I also have tickets to see the Downton Abbey exhibit. Jealous?

But the musicals, r558! What musicals are you seeing?

PS: Is SF still as filthy dirty?

Hey, we haven't talked about "Follies" in a while.

Reading Brantley's mixed review of Mean Girls today and it became even clearer how behind the NY Times (and all of NY professional criticism) is by having 2 middle aged white men as their main critics. Where are the professional women critics??

I haven't seen Mean Girls and I'm not defending it but isn't it weird that we have all of these new musicals - Mean Girls, Frozen, Anastasia, Pretty Woman, Summer, The Cher Show, etc. about "girl power" and even revivals like MFL and Carousel that are being tested for their relevancy to young female audiences, and yet Brantley and Green are the ones judging them?

Serious response R561, a great deal of the problem is that theater reviews are still considered writing for "the women's pages". A great many women refuse to do it. (Yes, actually, refuse.) Then there is the problem that a lot of young (ish) people of both genders feel that theater reviews are a thing of the the past and that they might as well be taking up corset making.

I was a Spanish major and remember reading "Yerma" (in Spanish, of course) many years ago. Right now all I remember about it is that the title character's name means "barren" in Spanish.

I appreciate your serious response, r562, but I do wonder if more young people would read the NY Times reviews if they were written by a smart woman under 40. It certainly seems that most commercial NY theater is aimed at audiences under the age of 30, if not younger.

Actually, Lorca's "Yerma" and what is playing at the Armory have only the title in common.

The Times already has a great female theatre critic in Laura Collins-Hughes, and it is inexplicable to me that they chose to hire Jesse Green rather than promote her to a lead critic. Her insights are typically far more astute than Green's IMO, and she's a better writer.

"Then there is the problem that a lot of young (ish) people of both genders feel that theater reviews are a thing of the the past and that they might as well be taking up corset making."

How sad and provincial of them.

The NYTimes has had female theater critics over the years, and the less said about them, the better.

"I mean they both complain about the songs not being good. That's kind of a big problem."

And to what non-revival DOESN'T that apply?

Bartlett Sher's dismal revival of MY FAIR LADY is completely cold and emotionless. There is no chemistry between the 2 leads, so there is really nothing at stake. She walks out at the end? big fucking deal. This isn't "A Doll's House". The way Harry Hadden-Paton ( a Bill Hader dead ringer) plays Higgins, anyone would leave him in the dust. His is a stilted performance, Ambrose is just a neophyte with a pleasant voice. She's one note throughout the entire show.

There are musical numbers that are terrific, but they look as if they came from another production. Norbert does his usual scenery chomping, but the real stars here are Diana Rigg and Alan Corduner. And when Mrs. Higgins and Colonel Pickering steal the show, you've got a big problem. And if that big fucking set twirled around any more it would end up in the basement. Singing "Just You Wait" while running through all the doors in the house while it spins like a top, is just really poor direction and/or choreography. And it doesn't work.

"Once On This Island" will be the only choice for Best Revival.

[quote] Singing "Just You Wait" while running through all the doors in the house while it spins...

Wait, they not only stole the ending from A Doll's House, the stole the set from the BAM/ Young Vic Production???

So, which subscription company will get the 2 part London hit, "The Inheritance"?

Personally, I hope it's Atlantic, but it could end up at MTC, LTC or Roundabout. God help us, don't let it be Roundabout.

It is interesting that once upon a time there were many female movie critics. For some reason theater has been for the most part a man's domain.

And where are all these young women getting the money to see these female empowerment shows and multiple times as well.

I guess the young men are spending hundreds of dollars on single pro sport tickets.

Clearly Trump is doing something wonderfully right for all these people who once would have had to sit up in 'paradise' to use crisp hundred dollar bills as toilets paper.

Boy- Charlotte St. Martin is going to flip her wig when the season's grosses come out. I rememberr a time when $500,000 was blockbuster. Today if a show doesn't gross over 1 million, it is a flop!

In order to get tickets to see Hamilton I got a season subscription to SHN, so I already have tickets to see School of Rock, Waitress, The Color Purple (I have seen), and Oh Your Feet. I walked out of Something Rotten, skipped Aladdin, loved but have forgotten An American in Paris.

San Francisco is beautiful. I have been staying in the Castro for the SFfilm festival, and it is charmed for those who are charming. Not dirty. Went to the Giant's game. Lots of love in the city.

There is a lot of voice talent in the bay area. I subscribe to Ray of Light which puts on 2 musicals a year, plus Rocky Horror Show. This year they are doing Jesus Christ Superstar and Hedwig and the Angry Inch.

I saw Hedwig at the same theater, the Victoria Theatre, with Kevin Cahoon in 2002, and I saw Legally Blonde when it opened in SF. That was hysterical.

Angels in America will be at Berkeley Rep, directed by Tony Taccone who co-directed the original production in 1991.

To answer someone upthread: I decided to slog on with Goodman's book, despite the rampant homophobia. He does, indeed, have some good comments on the theater, but the homophobia still stings. I am old enough to have been around at the time he was writing, and it is astonishing to think that his thoughts and ignorance were considered mainstream. One doozy: gay writers writer better female than male characters, because we can relate to and understand women better than we understand men. WTF?!? Writing and thoughts liek that shaped my youth and thoughts about what being a gay man is. It's a wonder all of us didn't just kill ourselves, but that would have made ignorant dicks like Gibson only too happy.

R568 = Michael Arden

So transparent, Michael.

[quote]There is a lot of voice talent in the bay area. I subscribe to Ray of Light which puts on 2 musicals a year,

Usually staffed with cast members who can't sing.

And you forgot to mention that it's "Shejus Christ, Superstar" - an all-female version.

San Francisco is so disgusting that touring AEA members have started posting about how unsafe and disgusted they feel, having to step over the drug addicts in the street, or the peeing homeless people, to get to their gigs at the Orpheum, Golden Gate, or ACT or the Curran.

Rob McClure, who's starring in the Something Rotten tour, wrote a piece about how gross SF is, and you should have seen the people piling on to agree.

Such compassion for society's forgotten.

Well, this will be something to rush out and miss. And it looks like Lea Michele has started early on getting work done to her face.

[Quote] I am old enough to have been around at the time he was writing, and it is astonishing to think that his thoughts and ignorance were considered mainstream. One doozy: gay writers writer better female than male characters, because we can relate to and understand women better than we understand men. WTF?!? Writing and thoughts like that shaped my youth and thoughts about what being a gay man is. It's a wonder all of us didn't just kill ourselves,

So if such writing shaped your youth, why are you astonished that it was mainstream?

[quote]And if that big fucking set twirled around any more it would end up in the basement. Singing "Just You Wait" while running through all the doors in the house while it spins like a top, is just really poor direction and/or choreography. And it doesn't work.

The original production made extensive use of The Hellinger's large revolving stage. But Moss Hart, Oliver Smith and Hanya Holm made it work brilliantly.

R580 - It is astonishing to look back and realize that his homophobia was mainstream. No one necessarily said those hateful things to me -- I grew up in a supportive, liberal family -- but I still sensed I was "different." If I were to have read his comments then, it would not have shocked me. To read them now, it is astonishing. We're still hated, but I, at least, sometimes forget just how mainstream and accepted that hatred was. It takes looking back to realize how far we've come.

I desperately want Darren Criss and Lea Michelle to do a tour of MACBETH. Preferably, a high-concept Steampunk production.

R579 What exactly do you think she has done to her face?

I'm waiting for their Evita, r583.

Christ, R574, what bomb shelter were you living in that you grew up in a time when disparaging gays was the norm yet you can't even make it through something like The Season. How the fuck did you ever make it through the AIDS crisis?

[quote]And it looks like Lea Michele has started early on getting work done to her face.

They were on Ellen in HD today promoting the show and she looked absolutely fine.

I know it was a typo, r573, but I would really love to see "Oh Your Feet!"

I can give you “Ooh, My Feet!”

Is there really going to be an all-female “Shejus Christ Superstar” in San Francisco? What an awful idea.

I can give you "Ow My Balls!".....

R590, unfortunately, R576 was correct. Oh dear.

There was a Shakespeare in the Park production of Hamlet with a gender-queer large headed guy as Ophelia.

R 592

I am stunned. I thought we were talking about the thing with ShoBean and Morgan James! This does not look at all good -- while I kind of look forward to anything Shoshana does. (The Broadway Shesus Christ Superstar definitely should have gotten Chenoweth to play Herod.)

I don't know if The Inheritance will have a West End run after the Young Vic but in NY it will certainly go straight to Broadway. There'll be no need of a non-profit production here. Investors will be begging to be a part of it

R594-Don't count on it. If "Angels In America" is struggling to fill the house, how will a 2 part play about gay men today, by an unknown author, survive on Broadway? Even WITH Vanessa Redgrave in Part 2?

No, the right way to go will be the non-profit way first and Oskar Eustis is just the guy who can do it right.

R575- Nope. Not Michael Arden. Just your average Tony voter.

[quote]If "Angels In America" is struggling to fill the house, how will a 2 part play about gay men today, by an unknown author, survive on Broadway?

"Angels in America," to some, has a "been there, done that" feel to it. There's the HBO miniseries—as well as the fact that the current production was simulcast to movie theaters not to long ago. "The Inheritance" won't have to fight that feeling of deja vu.

I'm not saying it's a super easy sell, but I think the comparison to the current AiA is flawed.

Isn't touring with Lea a step down for Darren Criss? I would assume he has a legitimate shot at an Emmy nomination next year, and her career is in the shitter.

What we do for friends, amiright?

R598, I could also see Darren as the type who would do something like tour with Lea and make it very well known to everyone involved (her especially) that it's out of charity.

New one

An all Glee alum Macbeth with Chris Colfer as Duncan, Matthew Morrison as Macduff and Cory Monteith as the Ghost of Banquo