THEATRE GOSSIP #305: Honoring Jim Seabough of Kansas City, MO EDITION

Um... dare I ask? Who was Jim? Regarding the tail end of the last thread, 100% agree with the poster who was praising Regina Resnik's performance in the NYCO production of Night Music. This might be sacrilege, but I actually think she's the definitive Mdme. A.

Jim was friends with Jill Haworth and told us some great stories about the original Cabaret and Ms. Haworth's life.

Here is what one of his friend's said about him in a previous post:

[quote]One of our DL denizens has died....you may not recognize his name, but Jim Seabough of Kansas City, MO posted often in the Theatre Gossip editions (and even came up with some of the better thread titles back when they had wit and sparkle). He was close with Jill Haworth (the original Sally Bowles in Cabaret), and a host of other Broadway and Broadway adjacent names, and often passed along gossip here that later came to pass.

[quote]An elder gay by his own admission, Jim loved the theatre with optimism and humour, going to shows as much as humanly possible, in New York, on tour, and at regionals and community theatres, along with concerts and cabarets. He also loved DL, and was a regular poster in the theatre, lgbt, and nostalgia threads. He was a sweet man who would snail mail theatre bootlegs and rare dvds free of charge to any person he came across online who expressed curiosity about the Merman & Martin Ford Anniversary show, Laurie Beechman, Turkey Lurkey Time, Sondheim, Kander & Ebb, Judy and Liza, or the various Evita casts.

[quote]He also paid attention to the new ways of doing things while holding the old ways dear, and is missed by his large extended family and wide circle of friends, both online and in real life. Rest in peace, friend.

[quote]P.S. Jim definitely would have wanted the DL to know his iPod is fired up and ready for suggestions!

It’s sad that people who post in these anonymous sites will never be remembered when they die

Two words, r3.......

Oh piffle

Zeta-Jones should play Mame but only if her father-in-law plays Mother Burnside.

Unlike you, r3, posting on DL probably was neither the highlight nor the center of his life.

NYTimes print ads serve as 'for your consideration' ads that you see during Oscar time in Variety / Hollywood Reporter... Rudin's lack of ads just take focus away from their awards push as well

Are ads effective attention getters with the Tony voters?

Not as effective as cold, hard cash.

[quote]But there are no women in Bitb..

we fixed that in the film

classy thread opener, OP. kudos! our wonderful KCGuy is missed.

*

*

bajour

*

*

DL fave Deb Messing with Theatre Gossip fave Cheno.

R2, that's lovely. Thank you for sharing. RIP, JIMMY-BOY!

Deb looks like she’s auditioning to play Ursula from The Little Mermaid in that picture!

Condola Rashad IS Mama Rose!

DL Fave Lenora Nemetz heading back to Broadway in Half Time? It's about time, Lenora! She's fucking fabulous and, for me, was the definitive Velma Kelly.

Half time looks awful. Had a different title when it stank up Chicago.

R8, ads were certainly effective for the Oscars and were one of Weinstein’s big weapons. He took Oscar ads to a whole new level, and it definitely paid off for him.

I don’t know if the same is true for the Tonys, but it might be. There are so few voters that every little thing might matter. Rudin might be cutting off his nose to spite his face here.

Miss June Havoc is the guest star on McMillan and Wife right now.....

I think Sheridan Smith will make a great Rose in ten years or so.

The three little girls from Matilda will make terrific Roses in Gypsy in thirty years.

What was Haltime called when it was in Chicago, r18?

I agree, it looks absolutely awful. This is a Jerry Mitchell project, no? What is going on there? Is this shitfest actually Broadway bound?

How many flops is Jerry going to have this season? He should just take over Head Over Heels while he's at it.

I'd like to see "Blood Brothers" off-Broadway with Megan Hilty.

Does Rudin participate in any Tony campaigning? I honestly think the race between Carousel, MFL and Once on This Island is closer than one might suspect.

And though Glenda and (I think) Laurie are locks, is Best Play Revival going to 3 Tall Women or Angels in America? Seems to me it could go either way with just a little push.

I had sex with one of the guys in the BAJOUR number. On the campus of the University of Michigan. In a trailer. But I don't remember his name, and the faces fly by too fast on the screen. I was just out of high school. Time flies.

Rudin is a very active participant in Tony campaigns- this past week for 'league week' the out of town voter event, he had 3 different events (including the midnight Three Tall Women show)... a lot of the voters stay through the weekend, so having zero ad presence in print just makes no sense- this is clearly him (over)reacting to something and someone must know what is going on

Hear me out - I think Chenoweth could actually be a great Rose, especially if she keeps her little cutesy pie schtick. It might be genuinely chilling to have a Rose so sunny and optimistic and completely oblivious to what's going on around her. Might be pretty heartbreaking, too. Idina seems like a more obvious choice for the role, but I can't see her being very effective in the role and I can't picture her singing that score.

Jane Krakowski would be my first choice for both Rose and Mame. I could see her nailing both of those roles.

Jane Krakowski had a horrific stage mother in real life (not just on 30 Rock, where Tina Fey used Krakowski's real life as inspiration)... it could be wonderfully chilling to have her in the role... She needs a hit.

Idina can't fucking act.

Idina can act (her range is limited but extremely convincing) but the only reason I imagine any one would cast her would be if Lea Michelle wanted to show off how well she can pretend to be her teenage daughter that she somehow got a production going.

Chenoweth would be an amazing Mama Rose. She looks so starved and angry. It would be amazing to see her play a complicated role. But the score is probably too low for her comfort.

I like the idea of Krakowski -- a genuinely sexy Mama Rose would be fascinating. I didn't know her mother was a monster -- but considering how young she was when she made her impact on Broadway I guess it makes sense.

I think Benanti is a funny idea. She is almost as old as she has always appeared -- but still too striking to make sense in the role.

"She is almost as old as she has always appeared......"

I'm assuming that came in handy when she did Maria opposite Mr. Chamberlain, r32.

Paul Sorvino was in the chorus of "Bajour."

[quote]I had sex with one of the guys in the BAJOUR number.

Stan Mazin? Dan Rehg? Terry Violino? Mark Maskin? Sal Lombardo? Bick Goss? Fernando Grahal? Gene Foote? Vito Durante? John Cashman? Goldie Hawn's ex, Gus Trikonis?

[quote]Paul Sorvino was in the chorus of "Bajour."

So were Michael Bennett and Leland Palmer.

DL Golden Girls fave Herb "Stan" Edelman was also in Bajour.

God that is an awful picture of Debra Messing above.

They could raise the keys for Cheno. The score keys are lower than the OBC cast recording, IIRC. Did Tovan sing it the lowest? Maybe Dolores Gray did.

That fat woman in R10's photo is Elaine Kaufman, of Elaine's Restaurant fame.

Why is Chenoweth always showing her boobs? She's not a Hooters hostess.

The Gypsy keys were lowered for Roz in the movie. Poor Lisa Kirk had to dub in Roz’s low keys, when she could have done a better job in a higher key.

[quote]I think Sheridan Smith will make a great Rose in ten years or so.

She won’t be able to sing it. And she’s huge as a house now.

Sheridan Smith could handle the score to Funny Girl, she can handle GYPSY.

R44 She couldn't, she was off for most of the run, lazy and shit

There was a showing of American In Paris in Sohohouse in NYC. Did anyone go? Oscars to come?

Gus Trikonis of Bajour fame was sex on a stick. Lucky you if you got to bang him, R27

Is Joshua Henry a small man? I haven't seen Carousel yet, and I've never seen him perform before. His hands look tiny and he doesn't appear to have a neck. I mean, don't get me wrong, I think he's got a lovely voice and all, but... I wasn't expecting such a diminutive Billy.

Joshua Henry didn't look small to me when I saw him, and I sat in the Mez. He did a great job. I loved Carousel more than I thought I would, but the direction was lacking in my opinion. The dancing was spectacular, the singing amazing, orchestrations top notch - and honestly the whole subject matter was handled fine. But the dialects were all over the place, especially the supporting characters. Could have been fixed in a 30 minute rehearsal with a director who cared about details.

R43, I got two words for ya-Tyne and Daly.

Smith can definitely sing it.

TESORI HAS DONE IT AGAIN:

SOFT POWER's reviews are coming out !!

Wonder what NYC will say??!!!

Idina isn't the only one who can't act. Joshua sped through "Soliloquy" like a freight train. Another American Idol scream-it-at-the-top-of-your-lungs performance with no thought as to what it means. Horribly deficient as an actor.

Many people love Joshua Henry’s performances but I’ve always found him to be a so-so actor at best. He’s got a great voice, but he needs to work on creating a character. I’m not sure why people like him so much. I was really disappointed when he was announced for Carousel, and I found him to be unconvincing.

He’s not small though.

I don't participate in these theater threads but wanted to say I was sorry to hear about KCGuy. We chatted on DL a few times, both of us having grown up in Springfield, and I live not far away from KC now. He's a sweet guy. I didn't see a local obituary for him so I half hope the death announcement was just a bad joke...

hi R54. Unfortunately, it's true. Go on his facebook page to see the various tributes, and the initial posting from his niece Allison sharing the news of his passing. No service, no obit. Glad to see everyone posting here about him, and he absolutely would have been tickled pink to know there was a theatre gossip thread in his honour.

Sheridan Smith couldn't pull off "Funny Girl," not the way those songs need to be delivered. No one in their right mind will allow that fat old cow near Rose in Gypsy, certainly not in the US, and the UK is still basking in the Imelda glow.

Both countries have had sufficient.

So what caused Jim Seabough to kick, anyway? It couldn't have been the double whammy of lousy Carousel and My Fair Lady revivals, could it?

Young Jim Seabough

R55 No service or even obit? That is kinda stink, so shall post a beloved show tune for Jim. Cause show queens are the best and attention MUST be paid to such a man

[quote]There was a showing of American In Paris in Sohohouse in NYC. Did anyone go? Oscars to come?

What is Sohohouse?

[quote]Gus Trikonis of Bajour fame was sex on a stick. Lucky you if you got to bang him, [R27]

Gus Trikonis was Goldie Hawn's first husband.

Soho House is a private members' club that has outposts worldwide - there are two in lower Manhattan and nearly a dozen now in London, including a new one that has opened in the former headquarters of the BBC !!

Hahahaha starved and angry ... that's brilliant and so on point, whoever you are ...

So what the hell is SOFT POWER, anyway? I've read numerous articles and reviews and I still can't figure out what the hell it's about. It seems to be a play that contains a musical that is actually taking place in the future or something?

SOFT POWER sounds like a retread of MR BURNS

Did Goldie hang around backstage at Bajour, throwing darts in her eyes at Nancy Dussault.

I guarantee you that the slept-with gypsy in Bajour was Gene Foote who cut quite a wide swath in the late 60s/early 70s through the gay bars of Manhattan. I remember a friend of mine had him when he was in the ensemble of Pippin (Gene, not my friend).

Gene Foote (on the right) with Jill Clayburgh and Chris Chadman in "Pippin."

Gene Foote is a fat old man now, but he tells great stories.

Haha now that we know what a SoHo House is...did anyone go to the screening? Was anyone there of note?

SOFT POWER looks like facile left wing bullshit. I def don't need to see Hillary Clinton sing. Sounds like late nite Comedy Central bullshit. Big yawn.

Bajour guy here. Wasn't Gus Trikonis. but could have been one of the others named. Can't remember his name; I was drunk it was late . . . But for some reason he had an performing gig on the U of M campus.

U of M?

University of Miami? University of Michigan? University of Montana?

I assume the middle since it is famous for its musical theatre programme (Gavin Creel and others)

Its fame must have passed me by.

Well, you must not know anything about musical theatre programs coz the U of M one is among the 3 or 4 best known in the country -- you might want to get with the drill.

3 of 4?

After NYU what are the other two?

I am deeply ashamed that I am not current with the rankings of musical theater programs. Clearly, I am out of touch with contemporary culture.

R75, who CARES? As if a degree in MUSICAL THEATRE is something to BRAG about. As if our world needs a steady crop of narcissistic showoffs who know who Jerry Herman is but couldn’t locate North Korea on a map if you threatened to take away all their tight circuit party tank tops.

I am just curious what the others are. A.R.T. ? I know so many great people who did that program --

I knew about Conrad Ricamora, but I had no idea Francis Jue was in "Soft Power." He plays that bitchy-queen Chinese Foreign Secretary on "Madam Secretary." LOVE his character.

Did we all miss Our Idina on "Undercover Boss-Celebrity Edition?"

[quote] After NYU what are the other two?

Juilliard

Cincinnati Conservatory of Music

Carnegie Mellon

Bio data on Mr. Gene Foote....

Sheridan Smith's voice is haggard and raspy. I'm surprised London doesn't ask for better.

For musical theater? Cincinnati? I did not know that.

Just found this great reviewers reel of the late Stephanie Lawrence in Blood Brothers on Broadway . She had star quality in spades as well as a killer voice (Sounds like she has a bit of a cold in the video though). She is still much missed in the West End.

R78, it's worse than you think. Most musical theatre grads couldn't name three Jerry Herman musicals if you asked....but they can tell you in depth all about Jason Robert Brown, Lin-Manuel Miranda's biography, or every song in Wicked.

Judging from that photo at R67, I would have rather had Chris Chadman.

R86 Stephanie has her demons but she was a nice lady. Much missed.

R76 and R79, the generally accepted top BFA Musical Theatre programs are UMich, Carnegie Mellon, and Cincinnati Conservatory. NYU is not nearly as prestigious as it used to be.

R82 Juilliard doesn't offer a Musical Theatre major.

North Carolina School of the Arts used to be considered a good one. Is that no longer the case?

[quote]Juilliard doesn't offer a Musical Theatre major.

They don't have to. All they have to do is graduate actors who are working in musical theater.

Here's Playbill's list of the 10 Most Represented Colleges. While not all of them are musical theater, you can see the top represented in musicals.

I'm not one to usually bitch about content on this thread (unless the loon takes over), but the school stuff....

WHO GIVES A FUCK?? Are any of us enrolling?

Thanks R94

That was fascinating.

I had no idea Krakowski's mother was such a terror. Maybe she really could pull off Rose with a mother like that. I can actually see her being pretty wonderful in the role. God knows she'd nail act I's humor and charm. As for the darkness in act II, I've never quite seen her do something like that before, so she could end up being a revelation.

Jane could play Rose but not Mame. Jane comes across as working class and not particularly sophisticated. Unless Mame is meant to be an up from her bootstraps kind of girl. Jane could do that.

OH R70--

God, how I love the white male mind.

And its meeting ground: DATALOUNGE.

Looks like Softpower is in its way to being the talk of the Great White Way next season.

Speaking of the male mind, can some one actually point to anything about Jane Krakowski's mother that paints her as a horrible stage mother?

I didn't find much indication of theatrical evil with my first google search.

I think that's one reason why I never cared much for Rosalind Russell in Gypsy. She projected too much patrician class for the role. Even her outfits, like the one in Rose's Turn, didn't seem gritty enough. What did Arthur Laurents say about her black and white pumps? She was perfect for Mame, but not so much for Rose. I remember hearing someone once say they wish Cate Blanchett could sing, because she'd be an amazing Rose. I wanted to knock them in the head. Phyllis in Follies? Yes. Desiree in A Little Night Music? Yes. Rose in Gypsy? HELL NO!

Patricia Morison has died.

Then again, Angela Lansbury could be described as patrician and classy (hence her big musical claim to fame being Mame), but she was brilliant as Rose. I remember her playing her as less from the gutter (a la Merman, Daly, and LuPone) and more daffy and goofy. It worked. Her "Rose's Turn" is still the scariest version I've ever seen (and I saw Tovah's, too).

I had a season ticket to see Soft Power last weekend, but considering the last David Henry Hwang show I saw was the abomination Face Value (starring Jane Krakowski), it didn't seem worth the gas and mileage to bother.

[quote]Patricia Morison has died.

Ooops, I already thought she had died.

R104, Face Value sucked, but that was literally 25 years ago.

Some gushing over Marin Ireland's performance in the deadly-dull Summer and Smoke on ATC. I've seen her in at least a half-dozen shows over the years and her 'characters' always seem a tad...um...slow. Not a fan.

[quote]her 'characters' always seem a tad...um...slow.

Obviously graduated from the Amanda Plummer School of Acting

Elaine Stritch, obviously hell bent to prove that Lucy wasn't all that bad.

I love that Stritch fucked up the lyrics and laughed it off in [r109] clip. Better than some gloomy gussies who act mortified if they fuck up their song.

I don't know why shows continued to let Stritch sing. She was terrible in A Little Night Music and screamed her way through I'm Still Here for Sondheim's birthday. What did Noel Coward ever see in her?

R102 Loved Patricia, met her in New Zealand when she came her to star in 'Aloha' in the mid 80s, she sure had star power, and a lovely little old lady 'companion' . The NYT Obit

Patricia Morison was 103? Why was Olivia de Havilland DL's patron saint?

[quote] [R104], Face Value sucked, but that was literally 25 years ago.

Yes, but I referenced it because I believe it's the last time Hwang did something with music in it.

Wasn't "Face Value" reworked as "Yellow Face" at the public? I remember liking that.

[quote]Here's Playbill's list of the 10 Most Represented Colleges. While not all of them are musical theater, you can see the top represented in musicals.

Hudson University would've made the list, except most of their promising students were murdered before they made it on Broadway.

Patricia Morison at 99

Patricia Morison at 104

A beautiful stage presence.....

That Gene Foote story was great. I love hearing those stories from gypsies (are we still allowed to use that term??)

Thank goodness for folks having the sense to record these oral histories.

More, please!

SOMEONE must have seen Soft Power or Head Over Heels by now?

Guys??

Another non-starter score to pollute Broadway.

Is this the same Gene Foote?!?

“I have already read it twice… this is by far my favorite book ever written and photographed on Barbie period… this book is like spending an afternoon with Gene here in NYC visiting Barbie heaven …the styling is impeccable, and best of all you get to see Barbie through Gene’s eyes.”

I saw Head Over Heels at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival (two seasons ago?). Granted, it wasn't the current production, but as a friend of mine who saw it with me said, "Was there no adult in charge of this?" It was *awful*, but kudos to the actors who at least appeared to be committed to their roles.

the Scott Rudin thing is probably one of the biggest potential scandals to hit broadway in years and this thread is talking about dead old ladies...

It's arguably better than dissecting university musical theater (sic) majors, R125!

Apparently, Broadway star threesome gay sex vids aren't interesting either since nobody cares to comment on Jay Armstrong Johnson...

Well if you know more about it, R125, feel free to share. Otherwise what exactly are we meant to discuss about it?

Is C-List Actor also KingSpeed on ATC?

We could talk about Idina Menzel. She was on TV wearing a chicken suit Friday night. But it really wasn't that interesting compared to a clip of Stritch not remembering her lyrics.

Please don't invoke C-List Actor. It's dull enough in here already.

The Scott Rudin thing is a hard nit to crack - now because nobody wants to say anything. I have only two stories - 1. two producers overheard cackling over cocktails Scott Rudin can’t be side money anymore because he keeps not paying back. 2. An investor on “Book of Mormon” pissed he’s not getting nearly enough many back too much is still being spent

Oh and in hear i’ve Heard the “Dolly” producers are pissed that they really took a bath

Could someone put a spoon in R131’s mouth? She appears to be having a seizure

Well, regarding Book of Mormon, Jon Platt (no relation to the von Platt family singers) was one of the above title BoM investors and has not invested in recent Rudin shows, so....

[quote]believe it's the last time Hwang did something with music in it

No. The last thing he did with music was the awful Flower Drum Song revisal.

[quote]Elaine Stritch, obviously hell bent to prove that Lucy wasn't all that bad.

Give me a fucking break. I was only allowed two cocktails at that performance. They had a stage manager stuck to me like white on rice making sure I only had two.

Somebody just posted really good video of Patti LuPone in the broadway Oliver. Why did it only run for 17 performances?

It’s Oliver and it’s LuPone circa early 80s. Seems it should have done a lot better

Was Patricia Morison family?

I only saw Stephanie Lawrence when “Blood Brothers” opened on Broadway. I loved her voice. I think she would have been a killer Norma Desmond.

Went to see “The Gentleman Caller” Friday night. It wasn’t as bad as I was expecting from reviews and word of mouth, but is just TOTALLY miscast.

Went to see Frances Ruffelle at The Green Room 42 tonight. She sounds in incredible voice, and has a monthly residence there, so if you can, go.

[quote]Somebody just posted really good video of Patti LuPone in the broadway Oliver. Why did it only run for 17 performances?

Because nobody wanted to see Patti LuPone's overwrought performance as Nancy. Why did they even cast her in that role? LuPone has zero subtlety and Nancy needs to be played with feeling.

I am only a simple woman who lives to serve Bill Sikes in his noble crusade to rescue his people. I have taken these riches from the oligarchs, only for you. East End Scrubbers! Everything done will be justified by my friend Fagin!

A bit of added scuttlebutt re the Rudin rialto rampage is that a number of investors were NOT informed in any meaningful manner that the show wasn’t going to try and work in celebrity Dollys and ensure a longer, more profitable run. There’s also panic at Betty Lynn dimming the momentum for the Tour.

R137 Yes, when I met her she had her companion with her, and she was just as lovely

Her companion was Isabel, who lived in the same building in Park LaBrea that Patricia lived in. Isabel was the widow of Pat’s vocal teacher. I’m not sure that they were actually doing each other but maybe, there was never any kind of gossip about Pat Morison and a man.

Pat was tall and elegant. Isabel was short and feisty and said what she thought. She died several years ago, like 12 or 13.

Do you have any real sources, r140, or are you just making stuff up?

[quote]Because nobody wanted to see Patti LuPone's overwrought performance as Nancy.

One of the reviews - was it Frank Rich’s? - noted that it was the first time he’d ever seen the audience applaud when Nancy was killed.

R140 Hmmm good point, I met her when she was doing a show with my Mother, and we had dinner a few times, Met Isobel R142 sorry to hear she died. So in answer to your question, did she come out to you, kinda. Bit of assumption, but also from pat, abit of, yes we are family. Pat kinda adopted me as she couldn't believe a 20 year old in New Zealand knew Broadway.

Fyi she was out here performing in 'Aloha' written by Bob Magoon (13 Daughters) and Robert Helpmann (if you need to ask) Here is a clip from the original production before Pat played the part. No laughing

I have trouble seeing Patti as the victim in an abusive relationship, especially the one who ends up dead first! Good time girl and tough woman of the streets, sure, but very in love with a truly awful boyfriend? If he was just a bad boy, okay, but...

I know she has sung "As Long As He Needs Me" forever, and does it reasonably well, but I don't think it rings as true with her as it might on others. Also, that production was a retread of the original, with the old Sean Kenny sets and Ron Moody brought over to play Fagin, so perhaps, in the wake of Angie's disastrous Mame revival, it just looked too tired for the moment.

Did Mandy play Bill Sykes in blackface in that production?

Asking for a friend.

Scott Rudin is used to shady Hollywood book keeping.

That’s why he had to do it his own money into “Iceman” - no one else trusts him with their money

For people who know Caroline or Change, or Fun Home-do you think Soft Power will end up being in the same league prestige wise?

I cant see the critics all out attacking the second new musical (or rather musical WITHIN a play) about Asians, no?

If I had invested in Book of Mormon and wasn't getting decent residual checks I'd be a tad pissed, too.

Selling at capacity world wide for how many years? And, it can't have a huge weekly nut....not a huge ensemble and no huge sets/effects to pay for.

Has no one seen Jagged Little Pill?

Is JLP about Alison???

R142 and R145 -- thanks for your warm recollections of Pat and her companion. Morison was quite a remarkable lady on stage and off. It is a bit sad though that those of her generation had to hide in plain sight (such as Kaye Ballard). May she rest in peace.

Supposedly Book of Mormon returns $50k a week to investors- which makes the breakeven well over $1,000,000... I wouldn't be pissed, I would be litigating

All those DOLLY investors got a Tony last season. That might be the only thing they get. If DOLLY ends up not returning its investment, a LOT of bridges will have been burned.

And if BOM is returning so little to its investors, then yes, time to litigate!

Very intrigued by SOFT POWER. At least it sounds interesting. After this dull shambles of a season, interesting is highly welcome.

At the Chita Rivera Awards last night, Robbie Fairchild won (for OB performance) and gave a beautiful speech. Made me think of the DL Troll who obsesses over him so. Tony Yazbeck , who also won (for PRINCE OF BROADWAY), performed an open-shirt number from the new play with music at the Vineyard (BEAST OF THE JUNGLE, or something like that.) Sadly, it was easily the dullest part of the evening, Tony's abs notwithstanding. Andy Karl and Orfeh did a barely tolerable job as hosts. That's too generous, actually. They were fairly awful but couldn't manage to sink the show, which was surprisingly good. Not their fault, though. It seemed like no one was even telling them when to come on and off the stage.

How is it even possible that Dolly didn't recoup given most weeks it was pulling in around 2 million? Bette can't have been being paid that much, surely? And Mormon has to be returning more than 50k a week, surely, or there would've been lawsuits already by now.

Does anyone know how much information investors get about the finances of a show? Do they get detailed statements and they know how much to recoup and so on, or is it basically just a case of them getting regular payments and that's it?

They get statements r156 but it doesn’t mean those statements can’t be falsified. I believe the bulk of Dolly’s $ went into the advertising in the Times and I have a hunch their capitalization was sky high. Some of these investors may lose money but ultimately most of them can afford to lose it and I bet ALL of them got to meet Bette Midler which for some people was worth whatever they put in.

On another note There was a rumor that Rudin pulled his ads from NY Times because the expose on harassment in theatre was about to come out.

Was the Patti LuPone OLIVER produced by Cameron Mackintosh, or was this before he snapped up the rights?

[r155] what was Robbie’s speech? Was anything in it that would be of interest to DL?

But Robbie s speech/award might be why Ashley was in town

Some of you are are treading on extremely dangerous defamation ground here with a known litigious and explosive personality. Everything you write here is subject to libel laws. Just a friendly FYI.

[r161] is this in regards to Robbie mentioning or not mentioning Ashley in his speech? Isn’t that freedom of speech to talk about a possible relationship?

Even the commercial looks bad.

There's probably a chorus girl or chorus boy still hanging on, but I would think that Patricia Morison was the last living above-the-title star of a 1940s musical. Anne Jeffreys died last year.

I'd be happy to be corrected, but I can't think of one.

At 103, I'd guess you were right.

One of you guys must have been at the Chita awards. Did Robbie mention Ashley in his speech?

Ash didn’t walk the red carpet with him.

Not one peep on this whole thread so far about the Tony Awards. Are they even HAPPENING this year??? Broadway is sooooo important.

The What *YAWN* Awards?

Patricia Morrision performing (the complete number) just shy of her 100th birthday

From San Francisco: The Angels in America at Berkeley Rep is sublime. Stephen Spinella, who originated the role of Prior, playing it for 5 years on Broadway and winning two Tony Awards, is back playing Roy Cohn. The rest of the cast is also fantastic.

[quote]Stephen Spinella...is back playing Roy Cohn.

The nelliest nell who ever nelled playing Cohn? Is it a comedy?

Yeah, because Nathan Lane is soooo butch doing it on the stage of the Neil Simon 8 times a week.

R170, the show did not run for five years on Broadway.

I posted just a week or two ago that I was watching a Have Gun Will Travel guest starring Miss Morison and Mr. Price.

[quote]the show did not run for five years on Broadway.

No, but Spinella could still be seen performing his scenes every night on the street in front of the Walter Kerr, or as we in the biz call it The Walker.

Was Morison acquainted with Price's wife, the actress Coral Browne?

R143, as far as can be explained. What was written was info expressed by a member of an investment packet group, can’t say it’s not filtered through their frustrations, but it was told to a few others.

Is Rudin our next Garth Drabinksy?

or as I used to call him, Drab Garbinsky?

Drab Grabinsky as we in the MeToo movement call him.

RIP Jim S. He and I used to have hours long phone conversations about Broadway and movies. He also used to send me B'way bootlegs. He was a sweet, sweet guy.

Rudin has been taking national TV ads on comedy central every night during either South Park or Daily Show since Book of Mormon premiered in 2011- not local ads, but national... I know cable isn't as expensive as broadcast TV, but does anyone have any idea how much those ads costs? I'm assuming what has been eating into profit has been the immense amount of advertising for the show- granted, the show hasn't had many unsold seats, but if there is zero profit left, whats the point?

Darth Grabinsky

r139 you should be on stage you’re so witty. No, really.

[quote]Apparently, Broadway star threesome gay sex vids aren't interesting either since nobody cares to comment on Jay Armstrong Johnson...

WHAT???!! Tell me more!! Was Rusell Tovey involved?

Again for the Robbie Fairchild troll and the hags who love him, did Robbie mention Ashley in his award acceptance speech last night? There’s limited photos and vid of the event and the only pic of Fairchild of him I’ve seen were him, alone, on the carpet

R182 Is it possible that he wasn't buying them but it's something Matt Stone and Trey Parker had as part of their deal with Comedy Central?

R186 When you're repeatedly asking the same question about someone no-one cares about, you don't get to call someone else the Robbie Fairchild troll.

You read the schlock that some regional theatres are producing next season (with an eye to Broadway, no doubt) and you want to scream and shout and wonder how the hell we managed to sink so low.

There's no longer an incentive for great writers to work in theater. Plus the diversity pressure puts politics above genius.

Just saw on another thread that CDAN (I know...) suggested the late George Rose molested Alex Winter while they were appearing in the Sandy Duncan revival of 'Peter Pan'. Winter would have been 14 at the time. Perhaps this was the real reason Rose only stayed in the show 2-3 months before Christopher Hewitt replaced him...? Eldergays: did any of you know Rose or hear murmurings of his behavior back in the day? Just a sad, disturbing story all around.

whats you feeling about Soft Power R189?

Outside of New York do you think "America" will see it?

💤💤💤💤💤💤💤💤💤😴😴😴😴

R190 he referenced being molested on the BBC back in Feb but don’t think he named names. Interesting especially given Rose’s demise.

R185, a few months back either Armstrong's ex (?) or the jilted bottom posted a cellphone video of a threesome with Jay topping, the bottom in the middle and Jay's (then?) bf getting blown. There was a DL thread but that and the video were quickly deleted, but apparently even though faces weren't shown the tattoos matched up so it's allegedly that trio. It was a hot video, too.

I wouldn't mind a PHANTOM threesome vid follow-uo of Jay, swarthy Ben Crawford the the surprisingly sexy new Christine, btw.

Where's Ruthie Mitchell when you need her?

Sounds hot, R194. If anyone has it, feel free to post it!

[quote]Where's Ruthie Mitchell when you need her?

Dead.

Fuck you R196

CDAN?

This is cute. GREAT harmonies, too.

R193 George Rose IS Rose in Zombie Gypsy!

Just a damn minute there, r200!

I wonder if George Rose tried to feel Rex Smith's humongous member during Pirates of Penzance? Did they share a dressing room or did Rex and Kev share a dressing room?

This mythical NYTimes broadway producer harasser article is never coming out, per a very in the know person... So much for that

And now for a Miss Gray break.......

I did not realize that Alex Winter, later of "Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure," was in both "The King and I" and "Peter Pan" as a kid on Broadway.

[quote]I did not realize that Alex Winter, later of "Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure," was in both "The King and I" and "Peter Pan" as a kid on Broadway.

How many British child actors could work in the US? Haley Mills and Alex.

Kay Medford's rendition of "Rose's Turn" gave me a pretty good idea of what a Lucy/Mame version would have been like.

Alex Winters is british?

[quote]Alex Winters is british?

He was born there. His family move to the US when he was 5.

And Dolores Gray's version was surprisingly painful to listen to.

Nothing like Jordan Roth comparing himself to Megan Markle in a tweet

[r211] how embarrassing for all parties involved.

I knew George Rose back in those years. I knew about his animals (four-legged) he kept but not his proclivity for young men.

"This mythical NYTimes broadway producer harasser article is never coming out, per a very in the know person... So much for that"

Its not UP to "one person" anymore.

Those days are almost done.

And so is The NY Times as the ultimate source breaking stories.

The net has won

George Rose was hardly a secret. He had *very* specific tastes, though. I doubt he would have had any interest in Rex Smith.

Here's my question? Why are the artistic directors at so many regional theaters bailing? Its quite a list.

[quote]"This mythical NYTimes broadway producer harasser article is never coming out, per a very in the know person... So much for that"

"Mythical" being the operative word.

I LOVE Dolores Gray's delivery of the monologue right before the song with that creepy underscore under her. I rather like her performance of the song, too, but it seems very underusing considering Gray's vocal talent. It's almost like she wasn't feeling well or something. Was this one of her last public performances or something? The last part of the song seems spoken more than sung and her last note is just bizarre. Still, I feel like she's more in character than some other, better sung versions I've seen/heard.

[quote]Why are the artistic directors at so many regional theaters bailing? Its quite a list.

It’s a near impossible job. LORT keeps reclassifying theatres which balloons budgets and raises ticket prices. Donors are shying away. There is almost no new affordable, audience-attractive content to produce. And the whole #MeToo and alternative casting movements have made the ADs job unbelievably tricky.

If only Lynne Meadow, Todd Haimes, Andre Bishop and Tim Sandford would bail........

Why did lovely Patricia Morison never get a lead role on Broadway again after taking over for Gertie Lawrence in King and I? Did she even star in a flop??

Seems odd as she had it all.

Looks like #metoo is causing the Met Opera to declare bankruptcy... their bonds were downgraded on Friday and today, a $35,000,000 bond holder redeemed their bonds- wonder if the Met will be able to open in the Fall

I just felt like listening to this.....

This is lovely.....

This is her IBDB page, r221. It does seem odd.

It seems like she kept fairly active, career-wise. Just not on Broadway.

Do you think Angela Lansbury ever regretted the porn movies she made? After all, when she made them she was already a star of the legitimate theater, movies and tv. She surely didn't need the money. Why stoop to such lowbrow entertainment?

But, can she take train, R227?

Just askin.

Wait till Jordan Roth sees that clip r277- he will put up his own video

Patrica Morison was in "The King and I" for only about the last month of its original Broadway run prior to taking it on the road with Yul Brynner.

^^Er, Patricia. Where's that edit function?

It's bad enough her last name is missing a letter r231, must you penalize her first name as well?

"I Hate Men."

Enough about Patricia Fucking Morrison!

Who will play Sally in the National Theatre’s remounting of Follies since Imelda Staunton isn’t returning? My money’s on Jenna Russell if Fun Home doesn’t transfer.

Well Patricia Morrison (whoever she is) was supposed to do it, r234,.....

[quote]Well Patricia Morrison (whoever she is)

For a theater thread, there are some mighty stupid people here.

To be fair, r236, I know who Patricia Morison is.....

Ride the train!

Most people on planet earth have no idea who the hell Patricai Morrison was. I barely knew of her and I consider myself a Broadway-phile.. She was strictly D-Lst, if that.

According to IBDB (kindly posted above), Patricia Morison was in The King and I from March 1951 to March 1954. That's a lot longer than a month, r230!

Here's her IMDB page....

Gypsy opened 59 years ago today. Will there be a 60th anniversary production next year?

R240 those are the dates of the original production.

From the Denver Center site:

[quote] Patricia Morison, who at the time had created her own Broadway sensation in Cole Porter’s Kiss Me Kate, was Rodgers’ first choice to replace Lawrence. But Morison was in London with Kate and had a year to go on her contract. She eventually joined Brynner in 1954, continuing the Broadway run of The King and I for another four months — the fourth longest of that decade — before going on the road with Brynner and the show for more than three years.

My apologies, r230! I am chastised.

Morison was also in Winner Take All, a musical of 1976 that played California but not New York.

It had the same general storyline as the later Onward, Victoria.

Yawn. This thread needs a speedball.

I'm in the midst of reading the new bio on Rogers and Hammerstein, and it got me thinking about a recently mounted production of Oklahoma. I think it was produced in Chicago, and was somewhat stripped down, and was somewhat immersive, in that the theater was made to be a barn or something like that. I thought it would have a longer life or transfer, but I forgot all about it until now. Does anyone remember what I'm talking about? I wonder if there is a bootleg of it somewhere. And: I did not know that Agnes deMille's uncle was Cecil B DeMille.

I never miss a Jill Eikenberry musical, r245......

Patricia Morison was Cecil B. DeMille’s babysitter when he was a kid.

Jesus. Is there really someone (I bet it's the same person) blaming the state of the regional theatre scene on the #metoo movement and on racial diversity in casting? Seriously? I guess deplorables enjoy theatre, too. Wasn't Donald once a regular theatregoer?

BTW, R227, I prefer Angie's remix...

Thanks so much for posting the Hallmark Kate excerpt. That same year Capitol released the first stereo recording of the score with Morison, Drake and Lisa Kirk. It's great but a little too abridged. Kirk's voice had dropped an octave from the OBC.

Several shows from the forties and early fifties were rerecorded in stereo in the late fifties and early sixties featuring members of the original casts. My Fair Lady, On the Town, Kismet and Wonderful Town were among them. Wonderful Town was broadcast in 1958 as a color special on CBS with most of the original performers recreating their roles. CBS released a stereo recording of that production and Russell's voice had dropped an octave.

R249 Oh, Celeste, you hate everybody! Just jealous that you were only on Broadway, instead of BEING Broadway.... Now, outta my way, I got a real man waiting for me, not like that fag you married!

Okay, that My Fair Lady description got a general L-O-L out of me...

Laura Benanti tries too hard.

Laura Benanti snorts too hard.

Agnes de Mille created the ball scene dances in MGM's ludicrous1936 Romeo and Juliet with 40+ year old Leslie Howard and the equally aged and totally inept Norma Shearer. (To be fair, some of the supporting performances were good to great, George Cukor's direction was intelligent and Adrian's costumes were fabulous.) At any rate, de Mille was furious when the film was released and her meticulous work had been reduced to a few quick shots and background material for the principles.

Carole Or Change could be a really neat revival. Who could play Caroline? Please god not Cynthia Erivo.

Cynthia Erivo could play whatever appliance has a gap between its teeth and shrieks about social injustice every five fucking minutes.

A CAROLINE, OR CHANGE revival plea is officially most depressing post in the history of THEATRE GOSSIP.

Those IBDB dates for THE KING AND I are for the entire Broadway run. Patricia Morison played only about a month from mid-February to mid-March, 1954 before going on tour with the show.

That TV Wonderful Town was in black and white. You can watch it on YouTube.

^ It was broadcast in color. Only a black and white kinescope survives. Same deal as the Julie Andrews Cinderella on NBC.

R262 -- I just read why the only the black and white kinescopes servive-- they were broadcast live on the east coast and in color, but they were delayed in western time zones because of the time differences. They did not have the technology at the time to record live color, so the shows were recorded in black and white, and were then shown in the different time zones. So...only east coasters saw them in color, and the black and whites exist only because they had to delay broadcast for the other time zones.

So you guys didnt LIKE Caroline or Change?

I preferred the sequel, Caroline Must Be Destroyed.

I posted this in another BITB thread, but is Parsons still using the cane? Reports on his first performance back last week were that he was using it well as a prop and making it work for the character. Any updates on his performance or physical condition?

That immersive Oklahoma! is coming to St. Ann’s Warehouse next season.

That's MISS Guys to you, r264...

[quote]That immersive Oklahoma! is coming to St. Ann’s Warehouse next season.

Do we get to be in Jud's shack while he's jerking off to his lady pictures?

[quote]It was broadcast in color. Only a black and white kinescope survives. Same deal as the Julie Andrews Cinderella on NBC.

The Julie Andrews "Cinderella" was broadcast live and in color on CBS in March 1957. "Cinderella" was CBS's answer to the enormously successful "Peter Pan," first broadcast (in color) on NBC in 1955.

Broadway gabber Julie James celebrated her birthday the other night, we were at the same hotel, we didn’t see one Broadway person with her, how did she become the voice of New York theater?

[quote]but I would think that Patricia Morison was the last living above-the-title star of a 1940s musical.

Off the top of my head, Allyn Ann McLerie is still alive, and she went above-the-title with Miss Liberty in '49, after being co-star in "Where's Charley?". Also Helen Gallagher, who did a supporting role in the 40s, although she didn't go above-the-title till the after her first Tony for the Pal Joey revival. Both ladies are 91.

[quote]How is it even possible that Dolly didn't recoup given most weeks it was pulling in around 2 million? Bette can't have been being paid that much, surely? And Mormon has to be returning more than 50k a week, surely, or there would've been lawsuits already by now.

And don't call us Surely.

Patricia Marshall's also still alive. Major supporting role in the movie of Good News after several Broadway roles starting in 1942. But she didn't get above-the-title status till she replaced Janis Paige during the original run of "The Pajama Game."

Also, if you're talking movies, Doris Day got over-the-title billing in 1949's "It's A Great Feeling."

Photos, many in color, from the original "Gypsy," which opened May 21, 1959.

Idina would actually make a good Rose opposite Lea for a tv GYPSY special. As much as Lea is annoying, I think she’d be a good Louise and Idina could bring good pathos

To add some drama they could cast Taye Diggs as Herbie.

[quote]Idina would actually make a good Rose opposite Lea for a tv GYPSY special.

Except that Idina is a screamer. Merman had a belt voice and even the ballads were written for a belter. Idina is a screamer and would make "Small World" sound terrible.

And really, does anyone want to hear Lea's "Little Lamb"?

Well, if you're talking movies, Jane Powell was a major MGM musical star in 1948's A Date with Judy and she's still among the living.

And, of course, if you're talking about someone who was in movies and who in the '60s became a major Broadway star, there's Angela Lansbury, a supporting actress Oscar nominee in 1944 and 1945 for "Gaslight" and "The Picture of Dorian Gray."

I'm with R277

Mostly I think Idina should play Rose in order to appease Lea's rabid fans who are still convinced SHE is the perfect one to play Elphaba in Wicked. It is a holdover from that episode in Glee where her character threw a hissy fit because she had to audition for a difficult song which she felt entitled to sing without challenge. The episode was followed up with an actual decade of Lea being paraded around like true born heir apparent of all diva roles based off being better equipped to belt than some of the non-Broadway girls they also had in Glee and her uncanny physical resemblance to Menzel. But for fuck's sake, IDINA MENZEL doesn't get any extra points for looking like Idina Menzel. Lea's fan-base (and perhaps Lea herself) have behaved as if Lea is the greatest thing on earth when it comes to Brodway diva-dom because she so readily could pass as Idina's ugly little sister.

Give Lea's fans what they want. Let them have their TV production of a musical where Idina plays old so Lea can feel like the anointed future Broadway diva. Let Lea swan around like the 'biggest TV star and most talented 30 year old who looks like Idina' in a production of Gypsy. Please. Give Lea's Gleeks what they want and then make her go away. TV Gypsy. Not Wicked.

Make it the live Gypsy so we have the added drama of wondering what level of train-wreck Idina can bring. Because that is half the fun of Menzel: Sometimes she gives young ears chills when she belts out a steely C6 and sometimes she crashes and burns. Idina is without a doubt the seasoned Broadway veteran most likely to quit singing and start cursing on live TV and isn't that what we really want out of these dumb broadcasts? The possibility of a gloriously sweaty rage-filled meltdown?

It probably would not be epic. But the possibility of epic would be there.

To save costs, most productions of Gypsy use the Toreadorables as the showgirls during Gypsy's Minsky gig. Robbins used actual showgirls whose only job was to be there for a few minutes during the Tribute to Christmas.

According to IBDB, Patricia Morison was in THE KING AND I only from Feb. 17, 1954 to March 20, 1954, but that source seems to have a lot of mistakes (and also a lot of missing info) when it comes to replacements.

[quote]Thanks so much for posting the Hallmark Kate excerpt. That same year Capitol released the first stereo recording of the score with Morison, Drake and Lisa Kirk. It's great but a little too abridged. Kirk's voice had dropped an octave from the OBC.

Maybe you're exaggerating for effect, but her voice hadn't "dropped an octave." It has a bit of a lower timbre than on the original cast album, but I'm pretty sure her songs on the stereo recording are in the same keys as on the original. By the way, as you probably know, Kirk wasn't in the TV production of "Kate" -- her part was played by Julie Wilson. I'm not sure why Kirk didn't or couldn't do it, but Wilson is great as Lois/Bianca.

[quote]I just read why the only the black and white kinescopes servive-- they were broadcast live on the east coast and in color, but they were delayed in western time zones because of the time differences. They did not have the technology at the time to record live color, so the shows were recorded in black and white, and were then shown in the different time zones. So...only east coasters saw them in color, and the black and whites exist only because they had to delay broadcast for the other time zones.

I've read the same thing, and I couldn't understand why they didn't or couldn't use color film for the kinescopes, but here I guess is the explanation: "After the network of coaxial cable and microwave relays carrying programs to the West Coast was completed in September 1951, CBS and NBC instituted a "hot kinescope" process in 1952, where shows being performed in New York were transmitted west, filmed on two kinescope machines in 35 mm negative and 16 mm reversal film (the latter for backup protection) in Los Angeles, rushed to film processing, and then transmitted from Los Angeles three hours later for broadcast in the Pacific Time Zone. In September 1956, NBC began making color 'hot kines' of some of its color programs using a lenticular film process which, unlike color negative film, could be processed rapidly using standard black-and-white methods ." CINDERELLA was telecast in 1957 and KISS ME KATE in 1958, so I guess they both could have been preserved in color as far as the technology existing, but they weren't.

I'm still here, too, fellas!

How is Janis? How's Jane Powell? June Lockhart? Carol Channing? When these beloved older actors stop working regularly or stop making public appearances, one begins to worry.

Helen Gallagher still teaches at HB.

[quote]Do we get to be in Jud's shack while he's jerking off to his lady pictures?

Don't get seats in the Splash Zone.

[quote]I guess they both could have been preserved in color as far as the technology existing, but they weren't.

I don't think they had a preservation mentality at that time. When Johnny Carson started hosting The Tonight Show in 1962, they didn't preserve his first season. I think he started producing the show so that they could be preserved on tape/film.

I imagine the powers that be said, "This is going to be a one time broadcast of a musical. Why bother to throw a lot of money at it?"

[quote]Helen Gallagher still teaches at HB.

I attended one of her classes. She's a hoot.

[quote]Don't get seats in the Splash Zone.

Why ever not?

If Lea has such rabid fans, why has she had exactly zero post-Glee success?

R290, because all the powers that be are on to her.

Someone posted a curtain call photo from Saturday's BITB performance and Parsons was still wearing the boot. Saw Bomer on one of those late night talk shows last night. He seems dull as dishwater. Nice looking but looks like a million other handsome gay men wandering from audition to audition. I don't think I've ever seen him in anything. Is he at least a good actor?

I've always loved Ethel's Rose's Turn period specific Mother-of-the-Bride cocktail dress.

R292, Bomer is by no means a good actor, but he is easy to work with as well as easy on the eyes. His partner gets to play business bad guy when necessary. Being trouble free on a set means something.

What about Bette Midler's Rose's turn. So much sass.

I only want to see Idina do this to get rid of Lea Michele for good. Just watching how much it helps to have a diva who can 'move well' to make this work I'd actually like to see Chenoweth do the role.

Damn, I though Bette could act after seeing her in The Rose. Guess I was wrong. That was crap.

Gotta say those BITHB actors are EVERYWHERE promoting the show which grossed over $1 million last week. Now the Booth isn't a huge theatre so I'm assuming they're selling out at practically every performance.

Rather than do real work, I did a little research in the NY Times Machine and found that Carol Channing's name did go above the tile in GENTLEMEN PREFER BLONDES in December 1950, so, since 1950 was the last year of the 1940s , she would qualify for an over-the-title star of a 1940s musical.

[quote]Damn, I though Bette could act after seeing her in The Rose. Guess I was wrong.

Bette can only play herself. She's fine when it comes to the brassy comic, but ask her to actually make any character choices and she's lost.

I see Soft Power now has its own thread.

But political musicals are challenging and become dated fast!

Good luck. i hope it does well.

1950 is not in the 40s. Are you a moron?

[quote]Don't get seats in the Splash Zone.

Michael Arden has this cross-stitched on a pillow in his apartment.

Posted on ATC.....

Bad link. What is it?

Huh. It's a trailer for the Film Project's upcoming Gwen Verdon documentary.

I don't ever want to see ANYONE play GYPSY again. It's revived way too often IMHO

Then don't buy a ticket, r306. Easy.

Channing was not top-billed when GENTLEMEN opened. Look at the OBCR.

R307 and I won't...unless Audra sings it,

[quote]I don't think they had a preservation mentality at that time. When Johnny Carson started hosting The Tonight Show in 1962, they didn't preserve his first season. I think he started producing the show so that they could be preserved on tape/film. I imagine the powers that be said, "This is going to be a one time broadcast of a musical. Why bother to throw a lot of money at it?"

I think you're right, but given what a huge and prestigious production Rodgers and Hammerstein's CINDERELLA was (for example), I find it surprising that even a show like that wasn't deemed worthy of being preserved properly, in color, for posterity. Maybe if the powers that be could have known in advance how phenomenally huge the ratings would be, they would have made it their business to figure out some method of proper, high quality preservation in color.

Technically, Broadway hasn't seen a good production of Gypsy in a long time. Tyne couldn't sing it, Bernadette's production was a mess and Patti kept stopping the show to yell at audience members.

Is it too much to ask to have one full orchestra, fully casted, capable sane actress/singer, non-British production of one of the American Theater's best musicals?

Tyne could sing it, though maybe not consistently. She sounded a lot better when I saw her in the show than she does on the cast album, and I believe she's been quoted as saying she wasn't in good voice for the recording sessions.

I saw Tyne. As others have said, she acted it very well, but the voice is not a "musical singing" voice. She had done it as a road show before bringing it to Broadway, so maybe by the time she hit NYC her voice was tired.

R311, Oh, dear.

Tyne is not a singer first. She is an actor who can do singing role and not a concert performer who stretches herself vocally to make up the Broadway schedule.

She has literally declared Broadway's 8 shows a week to be 'easy' -- especially as compared to working in TV. So whatever you saw her sing was what she had to offer rather than a fine voice blown out by over-use.

I'm guessing that the consensus is that Tyne was the best fit for Rose since Merman?

Tyne was a very good fit, dramatically. I didn't get to see Merman, but Angela Lansbury's version is still my favorite, by far, and I've seen every once since Angela.

[quote]I'm guessing that the consensus is that Tyne was the best fit for Rose since Merman?

No, Merman could sing it.

. . . every one since Angela. Sorry.

Another vote for Angela......

[quote]but Angela Lansbury's version is still my favorite

I've only seen the B-roll on YouTube, but I love how she made Rose more loopy. Tyne was a streamroller.

Tyne gave one of the absolute best performances I’ve ever seen in a musical, period. It might not have been a powerful voice (she used it well enough that you couldn’t really tell), but it was a hugely powerful performance. She was funny, sexy, warm and terrifying, sometime all at the same time.

That said, I find the CD to be unlistenable. You had to see her live, I guess.

I wish I’d been around to see Angela.

DL fave Robbie Fairchild is in London. Could he be scouting work in the West End? Maybe he wants that Olivier!!

Or he could just be visiting Ashley, not to bring up a sore subject.

Many years ago when I lived on the Upper West Side I was a neighbor of Helen Gallagher's and I'd see her grocery shopping at the local D'agostino's. When she got to the meat cabinet she's handle several pieces, then throw one into her cart with the same look of disdain and disillusionment as Mary Richards. I'll never forget that look.

This was just a year or two after her glory days in No No Nanette but, I think, before she started on Ryan's Hope.

[quote]Maybe he wants that Olivier!!

He's now dating someone named Olivier? Gurl gets around.

R311, Patti was pretty stupendous in the role. She made Rose sort of sexy, which was an interpretation I'd never seen before.

Bernadette was completely miscast. Missed Tyne Daly.

Betty Buckley (at Papermill) was the polar opposite of Tyne. She sang the hell out of the score but didn't have a clue how to act the role.

Besides To Kill a Mockingbird and Waverly Gallery, has Scott Rudin announced any shows for next season? Is he just not going to take any ads out in the NYTimes to announce these shows?

[quote]Patti was pretty stupendous in the role. She made Rose sort of sexy

I think I just lost my lunch. Patti LuPone and sexy do not belong in the same sentence.

And the first one that posts that picture of her in the slip in The Baker's Wife gets a wedgie. That's not sexy.

[quote]Patti was pretty stupendous in the role

LOL! LuPone wats AWFUL as Rose! She had no nuance, no colors, nothing. It was all big and shouted. Even Linda Lavin wasn’t as bad a Rose as LuPone was, and Peters was ten times better than LuPone (and she was NOT miscast.) LuPone could sing it, but that’s about it.

Now, LuPone had the misfortune of being directed by the decrepit and hideous Arthur Laurents, and he was undoubtedly a big part of the problem. Perhaps with a good director, LuPone might be able to do better.

Tyne Daly couldn’t sing AT ALL. You were worried if she was going to make it all the way through “Some People”

Patti played Rose like a fishwife from Canarsie. Good singer but totally wrong for the role.

Angela was tremendous.

"But political musicals are challenging and become dated fast!"

Remember a little thing called RENT? Barely over 20 years old--does anyone even do it anymore? If tapping into the zeitgeist is the only thing you've got goin' on....

I saw Angela twice. Believe me, she wins.

RENT never got the chance to be polished in previews off Broadway because Larson died. It had a long run and then it closed. It was dated before it opened - but that was OK - because it was a blend of La Boheme's timelessness and a post-HIV version of HAIR.

There is nothing wrong with that.

That said, I can not fucking get through any of it. Gloating about killing a dog and trying to push a guy to take heroin with you just sets me up to pull for Benny until I get to kick back and enjoy Maureen and her lesbian drama. In RENT's defense, I don't like La Boheme either.

I loved Angela's tin plate kicks in "Together"!

I saw Tyne on opening night in LA. I thought her performance was more ferocious, scarier than what she did on Broadway but also sweeter and kinder. I think Laurents also directed her differently because several of her line readings were totally different in LA and become closer to what Lansbury did. One thing that Laurents definitely changed was the moment where Rose says "my daughter can do it" when Pastie is looking for a star act. Tyne came running out and said "my daughter can strip". The audience gasped because it was such an ugly moment and the second she said it, Louise ran into Herbie arms. No other Rose I've ever seen made this such a dramatic and shocking moment. It was very much watered down on Broadway Nothing can be said about her singing because she was terrible even then.

[quote]Channing was not top-billed when GENTLEMEN opened. Look at the OBCR.

Did you even bother reading the prior post? The whole point of it was Channing attaining that status in 1950.

But it doesn’t matter. Lorelei is a star role and Channing gave a star performance, and it opened in 1949. She counts in the list of stars of 1940s musicals who are still alive (whether they were strictly above-the-title or not).

And no one cates about Jane Powell or Doris Day. We are NOT talking movies. Powell only has one Broadway credit (when she went into “Irene”) and Day never appeared on Broadway (or any other stage).

I condole you Jim Seabough.

I bet he baby sat for Jeanne Eagels.

Judging by his pics I don’t think Robbie is visiting Ashley OR dating Olivier lol. I think this trip is business which is why I asked if he was looking for West End work

I've never been a huge fan of RENT, even before I read Sarah Schulman's excellent book on its co-opting of LGBT culture (and, yes, I know, she has a dog in the fight because of her novel--doesn't make her critique any less valid on its own terms). The local youth theatre group did it a year ago--my poor colleagues who had to go because their children were in it or had friends who were talked about what an awful choice it was for that group. I'll be teaching it this fall in a class on AIDS and the arts--I'll be interested in what my college students think of it, now that it's not hot news. The Theatre department did Angels in America, Part I, last season--it was, by all reports, an excellent production (I missed it). So, I don't think today's young people have no interest in the topic of AIDS or the culture that emerged from it--they just want it to be good art, as well. We'll see.

[quote] 1950 is not in the 40s. Are you a moron?

No, I am not.

There is no year zero. So the first decade would've been years 1-10, the second decade years 11-20, etc. If you’re counting decades since the beginning of the counting of years, each decade ends at the end of the -0 year and begins at the beginning of the -1 year. So the current decade, if you’re making stacks of 10 like poker chips starting with AD 1, ends at the end of 2020.

Thus, the end of the 1940s would be December 31, 1950.

R341 Well now you have opened a can of worms, hope this doesn't turn into another 'This Is When The Millennium Actually Starts' circa 1999/2000 shitfest

Every sane person knows "the 40s" means 1940-1949. We don't need to go back to the year 1 to resolve that one. Next!

It's so easy.... In order of their performances in Gypsy:

Angela

Bernadette

Tyne

Patti

Hey r344, where do I fit on that list?

And me! I was a stunning Rose! If you haven’t seen me play that last scene, you haven’t seen anything, r344!

Lisa Kudrow as Valerie Cherish as Rose would be amazing

Speaking of Ashley Day, how long is he in 42nd street? I haven’t seen it yet and he’s a good dancer

So Charlie Williams is assoc choreo on Frozen, again working under (a-hem) Rob Ashford. How long has this been going on?

Tyne Daly went flat on the last note of Everything's Coming Up Roses when I saw it. But it was Christmas Eve afternoon, so maybe she had had a cocktail or three.

R349 Charlie is dreaming. BBC 4 just played a doco on the history of Tap, is fun

Long Island Ice Teas.

I love Tyne's singing voice on the Call Me Madam recording from Encores. Am I crazy?

[r353] I think Tyne is good on the On the Town recording. For whatever reason, Tyne sounds awful on the Gypsy recording but passable to good on others.

Why would the producers be fine with a subpar recording of their Tony winning star in a Tony winning production?

[quote]Except that Idina is a screamer. Merman had a belt voice and even the ballads were written for a belter. Idina is a screamer and would make "Small World" sound terrible.

Oh please, Merman couldn't sing for shit. She sounded like a foghorn on estrogen. She could reach the back of the balcony without a mic and that's why she was a star.

Parson fractured his foot...broken bones. He'll be in the boot for at least six weeks.

It's known Tyne was sick during the Gypsy recording. I'm assuming it would have been cost prohibitive to reschedule it (or at least the producers felt it would be).

[quote] Why would the producers be fine with a subpar recording of their Tony winning star in a Tony winning production?

They said she was sick the day it was recorded. I guess they want to save money because cast albums rarely turn a profit. I guess that's why they don't just lay the orchestral track and have her come back when she's better and sing over the track.

[quote]Why would the producers be fine with a subpar recording of their Tony winning star in a Tony winning production?

Please see r356 for the answer.

[quote]I love Tyne's singing voice on the Call Me Madam recording from Encores. Am I crazy?

Yes. You’re crazy. She’s awful. Her pitch is terrible, so bad, in fact that I wonder how Lewis Cleale manag d to hold his own pitch singing against that hideousness.

She wants to be a singer, but she isn’t. The sheer force of her acting talent allowed her to pull off Rose because no one had ever seen such a dramatically astute performance in that role before, not even with Lansbury. But she can’t sustain notes, and she has faulty pitch.

She did Call Me Madam with the BBC a couple of years before Encores, and her singing was better there.

Tyne Daly had no right to think she should do a musical, ANY musical, because SHE COULDN’T SING. There. Plain talking enough for you?

R359

Another reason why Tyne could pull off Rose with the strength of her acting is that the songs themselves are not vocally fabulous. The orchestration brings most of the uplift that goes beyond the singer's capacity to emote.

I think Diana Rigg could have been a wonderful Mamma Rose and she has a range of about 3 notes.

No, not plain enough to hide your adoration of Ms. Daly.

Robbie Fairchild gave a lovely speech at the Chitas on Sunday. No, he did not mention Ashley. He spoke about how meaningful the award (for FRANKENSTEIN) was, as it was his first that wasn't connected to NYCB or Chris Wheeldon, that it was his first foray into doing his own thing, and how scary that was, and how he could only see all the flaws. He then made a comment about Frankenstein's innate kindness, and how in this day and age that's what we all need a bit more of.

It was a surprisingly good speech.

The whole evening was surprisingly good, but how Sergio T. won Best Choreography for SUMMER is beyond the pale.

It is indeed a sign of how bad things are on Broadway when none of us are talking about the Tony Awards, or wondering who is going to win. I've never been less interested in the show, and that depresses me.

That goes x 20 for me.

Angela Lansbury in Gypsy was the greatest performance I've seen of anything ever.

I saw Tyne Daly in L.A. pre-B'way. I thought she was awful, particularly her singing. Maybe it was a bad day or maybe I was comparing her to Lansbury, but I saw a bootleg of her Rose after she got to Broadway and thought she was great.

I would much prefer to watch the live feed from a bar of Laura Benanti not watching the Tony Awards than watch this year. And I don't even like Laura Benanti.

Benanti must have patched things up with her bio father Martin Vidnovic because she’s shilling his upcoming cabaret gig on Twitter.

I haven't been paying attention: is Rachel Bloom hosting the Tonys, or affiliated with them in any way? I watched a few episodes of Crazy ex-Girlfriend, and it was very Broadway centric, with the casting and songs. It surprised me that she has not done much --or any-- Broadway. SHE would actually be a good Rose, because she can be pushy and charming and sexy and vulnerable and a steamroller, all at once. She would sell about two tickets, though, but she could pull it off. She could probably also pull off Funny Girl, because she's pretty enough, but not too pretty.

Bernadette was BY FAR the worst Rose EVER including Andrea McArdle and that high school girl.

Bernadette Peters was fantastic at the performance I attended. Not enough to eclipse the incredible Angela Lansbury but close.

I don’t like kewpie dolls playing Rose

Rachel Bloom needs to write her own Broadway show. Well off-Broadway. She doesn't need to play Rose she needs to keep generating content. Off Broadway content would likely be more interesting.

Sara (Waitress) Barielles(sp?) and Josh Groban are hosting the Tonys.

No one mentioned in this post should play Rose.

[quote]I don’t like kewpie dolls playing Rose

Uh-oh.

I saw Peters as Rose a couple of months before it closed. She was brilliant. There was nothing rdmotely “kewpie doll” about her performance, in fact, I’ll wager the person who made that comment didn’t actually see her in the show.

And to claim she was eorse that Andrea McArdle? Whoever said that invalidated their opinion by that ridiculous comment. As the tape of McArfoe’s Tose thatbused to be on YouTube showed, in her case having the voice for it couldnt make up for having no acting talent whatsoever.

Of the Roses who could act AND sing, Lansbury took the prize, followed by Peters. Daly wins the Rose acting prize, but it's a singing role and she just didn't have it. LuPone was much better in Chicago, where she had a different director, thsn she was in that cheap looking Laurents mess that was the last NY Gypsy.

Meryl and Mamie could do Gypsy.

God, Rachel Bloom was so fucking annoying on the Tonys (was it last year?) doing that backstage commentary. I wanted to punch her.

Lansbury did well in the acting but her singing left a lot to be desired. She did well on "Small World" "You'll Never Get Away From Me" and "Together" but her "Rose's Turn" is a travesty. It sounds like they sped up the tempo of the final section because she didn't have the belt for it so she went into full on Bette Davis/Baby Jane mode.

I kinda like the baby Jane ending on rose’s Turn. Kinda got a lesbian twist on it too. Super lipstick

I saw Daly, Peters, and LuPone. Daly’s Everything’s Coming Up Roses was chilling. I thought Peters did a good job. She was fantastic doing Rose’s Turn at the Tonys. I still remember she knocked it out of the park and then they gave Winokur the award, and Winokur sucked in her Tonys number. It seemed kind of messed up. LuPone’s Rose was an egomaniac who didn’t know she was one. No self-respecting guy would have put up with her but Boyd Gaines’s Herbie had no self-respect. LuPone stomped all over him and her daughters. Maybe there wasn’t much subtlety but it worked for me.

I saw Joyce DeWitt in GYPSY at the Bucks County Playhouse bitches!

Peters was quite good in Gypsy. It is a pity the show was not allowed to go on as intended. I saw the first preview. In spite of the normal first preview issues, it was fascinating. I saw it after it opened as well. Peters was great and in good voice. Remember, one of the strippers cracks "She would have made a damn fine stripper in her day." Peters was the first Rose where that line actually made sense. Nobody would look at Merman, Lansbury, or Daly and think, "Gosh, I'd have loved to see her strip if she were younger".

Other virtues in the Peters production - you could understand why Herbie would stay. There was good chemistry between Peters and John Dossett. Also, you could imagine Peters as the mother of Baby June. It was also the least misogynist of the major productions I've seen. I don't know that Peters was ideally cast, but she went at it with intelligence and I felt made it work for her.

Always contrarians on here. Peters was universally reviled (reviled!) in the real world with the bad reviews to back it up. Word of mouth was deadly. That is all you really need to know. She may have been sick or she may have been miscast but ultimately she couldn’t keep the show open.

R384, the Peters production ran over a year which is better than LuPone or Lansbury. Also, she was with the show for the entire run (except for short vacations) , unlike the Daly/Lavin production. Regardless of your (most likely second hand) opinion, the facts prove you wrong.

I adore Bernadette Peters. But I saw her GYPSY, and she was awful. Admittedly, I saw it in previews (when there still wasn't any scenery -- just door frames and chairs). So it's possible she improved. The performance she gave on the Tony Awards was NOT the performance I saw in the theater.

I saw Joyce DeWitt play Rose, as well. She wasn't any good. But you couldn't hate her, because she was trying so darn hard. I think the Big Ragu played Herbie.

I saw the first preview. And all the scenery was there. The door frames/chairs story doesn't hold up. Also, Bernadette was unspeakably awful. As she was in Follies.

[quote]Remember, one of the strippers cracks "She would have made a damn fine stripper in her day." Peters was the first Rose where that line actually made sense. Nobody would look at Merman, Lansbury, or Daly and think, "Gosh, I'd have loved to see her strip if she were younger".

That assessment really can't be made. That's what "Gotta Get A Gimmick" is all about. Those three strippers are not lookers so they had to incorporate "vaudeville acts" into their strips. I think the line can be interpreted that Rose had enough moxie, no matter her looks, to be a stripper.

Exactly right, r388.

What is that ear biscuit clip with Rachel Bloom?I have not heard of it before. I tried to google to see what it is, and could not find much information, just clips on youtube. What's the deal with the dark haired one? He's adorable. He has a wedding ring on, but he pings.

Charlie Williams would fuck anyone for a job, but he doesn't have to. He has Rob.

Didn't see Bernadette in Gypsy, but she couldn't have been any worse than she was in Annie Get Your Gun - the worst performance I've seen on Broadway since Madonna in Speed-the-Plow

Bernadette lost her Tony to Tyne really, not Winkour. People judged her against the idea that acting should be more important than voice and then decided to reject her well acted interpretation. It is also difficult to keep revivals relevant - so the fierce Mamma Rose types give dated material life while Peter's retro approach to characters leaves too much room for audiences to look at the piece and cringe at how women were supposed to be.

R390

I think the Rachel Bloom bit qualifies Rhett and Link as musical theater enough for discussion here. So yeah. What is up with them?

I saw Dame Angela in London. There was a standing ovation after “Everything’s Coming Up Roses.” I’ve never seen a London audience before or since give a standing ovation in the middle of a show.

Wwll, since Roses ends Act I, the audience may have been getting up for intermission!

[quote]Wwll, since Roses ends Act I, the audience may have been getting up for intermission!

Clive: Beryl, what is she going on about? Her daughter just ran away and she's singing about everything coming up roses? I need a choc ice.

Beryl: I need to nip to the ladies toilet. Get me one as well. Ta!

This thread is the perfect reflection of the current state of broadway. We can only discuss the past because there is no one and nothing to discuss. Will we ever make it out of this slump? Or is despicable me the musical next?....i really used to love broadway theatre too.

I know The Greatest Showman is a movie, not a Broadway show, but...I gave in an watched it last night, and Holy Fuck it is really an enjoyable movie. The whole while I was watching it, I kept thinking that it would make the most incredible musical. If it's done right, it will be bigger than The Lion King. If there's magic -- both the literal and figurative alchemist kind -- it will be HUGE. I assume they are currently writing it for the stage? I hope they don't go the route of just putting the movie on stage a la Frozen, and do something imaginative and creative with it. Given that the plot bears no resemblance to Barnum's life and the events are mostly fictionalized, they're not tethered to having to tell the truth, so they can let their imagination run free. I think they should completely lose the characters of the daughter. The focus of the play should be on accepting who you are, and they don't really add to that theme in a significant way. Some of the songs were weak as fuck, and should be replaced, but as long as they sing This Is Me, I will be happy.

R384 and R385, you're both right. The production was reviled and Peters along with it. However, Peters did improve markedly, albeit far too late to go back and change reviews or hearts & minds. But Peters' performance on that year's Tony awards was like nothing anyone had seen her do with the role who had come to see it in the first half of its run. And even towards the end of the run, Peters did not deliver as spectacularly as she did on that broadcast. Had she been doing that 8 times a week from the get go, she'd have had that Tony. I firmly believe the reason she lost was because a lot of voters thought- Oh fuck, not another production of Gypsy, and a lousy, miscast one at that. I'll skip it and go see Hairspray instead.

R397 I agree completely

Peters got a rave review from, of all people, John Simon.

Oh great. The Greatest Showman troll is back to sell us a bad bill of goods. The Russians are less tenacious.

I wish Lucie Arnaz had done Gypsy when she was younger.

Peters also got a rave in the NY Times.

R393 and R399 , thanks for the interesting perspectives. Was Bernadette’s Gypsy a must-see event like Tyne or Patti’s? No. It was a good production but it never had that must-see aura around it.

Interesting that Patti’s production had to close early despite the raves. I guess she can only sell so many tickets.

I am considering hate-watching Betty Lou in the Dolly tour.

The idea fascinates me so that I may have to check it out.

I'm the guy who posted about The Greatest Showman, R402, and I'm not the troll. I purposely didn't watch it when it first came out because of all the bad shit I read about it on here, and the bad reviews it got. I also do not care for Hugh Jackman. I know he's handsome , but I think he's of limited talent. His singing voice annoys me, and his acting leaves me cold. I don't ever care about what happens to the character he plays; I don't get even the slightest bit of sincerity from him, ever. I don't know what made me watch it last night via Amazon, but I'm glad I did. It was surprisingly entertaining.

Can you see Anne Bancroft as Louise in Gypsy?

Here is what Steven Suskin says in "Second Act Trouble":

"Elkins also tells us that Arthur Penn arrived in Boston with Anne Bancroft, whose career was launched with two Tonys and an Oscar for Gibson and Penn's Two for the Seesaw and The Miracle Worker. The idea, apparently, was for Bancroft to take over the female lead [in Golden Boy]. This did not happen, but it was not altogether farfetched; the production team behind Gypsy very much wanted Bancroft to play the title role, but she turned it down for Miracle Worker." Page 187

Bancroft was too old and bony, even back then, to play Louise. It's almost as ludicrous as her playing Joan Crawford in Mommie Dearest.

Let's get back to gossip. What major new incoming musical is about to announce a significant lead change.

Old news, r410...

Did Miss Kazee have another breakdown?

How the fuck is that old news, R411. That article is dated today.

Yes, Broadwayworld is always on the cutting edge of breaking news.

Oh my.

Kazee is citing family issues. Isn't that his go to every time he leaves a show?

Ah, I see what you're saying, R415. I stand corrected.

Can someone put Steve Kazee and Donna Murphy in a show together?

Kazee is just too ashamed to say it was sushi poisoning.

I'm confused -- wasn't Fat Pig cancelled? Or was it cancelled at another LA theater, and different theater picked it up? If so, did they pick up the entire production -- actors, directors, etc -- or just the play and lead actor? Also, is it bullshit that LaBute already had a new ending? or did he change it recently to prevent any outcries and protests?

Here ya go, r420.

I didn't realize that Our Kristin was going to be taking over the John Lithgow role (as the accused) in this summer's season 2 of "Trial and Error."

Steve Kazee's father's house burned down, and the actor felt he had to give his dad support and help him figure out where he's going to live now, etc.

I just wonder, though, if this is going to seem impractical to casting directors and producers in future, as it's the second time SK has left a production. Or is he that talented? I wasn't bowled over by him in the Audra 110 in the Shade, but maybe he's really good in other parts.

"The last time I felt this emotionally encumbered is when I was playing Lady MacBeth on a Crystal Skies Cruise Ship during Shakespeare At Sea week."

I feel bad for Kazee- good looking, nice voice but little charisma on stage. He was blah in 110 In The Shade He is probably a gentle but tortured soul. Like most people in show business.

R435, Kazee is an odd duck. He was awful in 110, but he was excellent in To Be Or Not To Be (an awful play).

Didn’t Kazee have a breakdown at one point?

Always nice to have Andy Karl and his big dick back on Broadway

Even Andy Karl can't save Pretty Woman. The score (particularly the lyrics) is terrible. And the show's very dull.

Someone at sloppy old BroadwayWorld.com fucked up by reposting that Fat Pig story which was canceled months ago. I saw Fat Pig off broadway ages ago with a marvelous actress named Ashlee Atkinson who was fabulous opposite creepy Jeremy Piven (before his full head of hair).

The Tony Award Nominee Luncheon has always been a strictly private affair and except for a single "class photo" of all the nominees lined up together, press and photographers were always forbidden. Nominees aren't even invited to bring a date (maybe that's still the case?) and seating at lunch was assigned without regard to production or category.....it was a great leveler occasion where everyone nominated was equal.

I was nominated several times and won once. It was my favorite part of the whole shebang.

Sad that this was not the case this year. You can check out photos of the event on BWW.

What was different this year, R431? And congratulations on once winning!

I saw Bernadette do GYPSY late in the run, but not at the very end. She was superb, far better than what I saw years later from Patti.

Sometimes a preview is just a warm-up to what's eventually going to come. And this is the joy (and horror) of live theatre: it's different every night.

[quote]What was different this year

They needed the publicity because nobody gives a shit about the Tonys this year.

Remember Kazee's last breakdown in 2012? We were all so much younger then...

I saw Pretty Woman in Chicago and there's not much there there. It's the movie script with some nice songs. Samantha Barks has a great voice and charisma to spare and the audience loved her. Kazee had a part written for film and he approached it as an intelligent actor which left him high and dry and boring. Andy Karl will bring more charisma and charm. I can't believe they're doing Pretty Woman in the age of #metoo, but the audience was mostly 35-55 year old women and they ate it up, so who knows?

Whoever said that Gypsy with Bernadette in previews only had door frames and no real scenery yet is insane. The full set was in place by the gypsy runthrough (before the first preview). And Bernadette was terrible (as she was in Follies and Annie Get Your Gun). Easily the worst Rose.

R418 They could do a revival of Marat/Sade--an immersive, site-specific production.

Or The Balcony, r438.

Bernadette was fucking AWESOME in GYPSY and the haters can hate. You have your memories and so do we.

Had Mendes been able to fulfill his dark and grisly vision for the production, we could have likely had another CABARET-level success on our hands (something the show has never really been since its original producton). Mendes wanted it DARK with constant off-stage action visible, with the wings always in view and a proscenium within the proscenium where the rest of the action took place. Stage hands grabbing, ass, people fucking, smoking, snorting coke, whatever - the shit that went on backstage at these places way back when (and now). Love it or hate it, he had a definite vision. And, Arthur made sure no one - especially mighty Mendes - would put an actual directorial stamp on the show and make it "all about them." So, it became what it was...

BUT, despite all that, Bernadette was tremendously moving, very real and unique in her interpretation. No one has done it like her before or since. Also, Tammy Blanchard was spectacular, as well. Laura Benanti wishes she could be as painfully human and in-the-moment as Blanchard often is. A real actress.

Also, could A-M have pulled off Rose? Mrs. Walker in TOMMY isn't a huge stretch as a nightmare mother trope, especially as portrayed in the film (with the newly-written "Champagne"). I think around 1980 A-M could have really nailed the part... she certainly has a better voice than Tyne Daly and is twice the actress as many of the Roses since. She would have brought glamour, sexiness and vulnerability to the part in a way only Bernadette touched upon...

If Kazee's father has just lost his house wouldn't it be better to be earning money to help his father out?

You are wrong R311 and none are "casted." Proper English is so simple

R315 ... !!!!!

I'm reading the Rogers and Hammerstein book, and in the middle of the chapter on Carmen Jones. I was aware of the movie, but did not realize that it was on stage before then. I've never seen it, so also didn't realize that Hammerstein used the original music. I was totally ignorant of it. Has it ever been revived for the stage? I don't ever recall seeing it mounted anywhere. Is it too non PC for these times? If they did revive it, would they have to be color blind and cast white people?!?!?!

No R301 1950 is the last year of the '40s. The 10th year of a decade. 1941 to 1950 …. then 1951 t0 1960. Like 2000 was the last year of the last century; it all began again at midnight 2001.

R445, John Doyle is going to a stripped-down production of Carmen Jones at CSC this year. The show needs to be big, so I suspect it will suck. I saw a full production in London in the 1980s that was great. The lead actress from the movie Diva (Wilhamina something?) alternated in the role of Carmen with another actress. I can’t remember her name, but most reviewers thought she was better than the Diva actress.

Thank you, R447.

Wilheminia Wiggins Fernandez or something like that

And Owen McDonnell in THE FERRYMAN here last week -- PHWOAR !

"Given that the plot bears no resemblance to Barnum's life and the events are mostly fictionalized, they're not tethered to having to tell the truth, so they can let their imagination run free"

It was already done---and brilliantly---in 1980, and had a memorable, tuneful score as well.

Barnum is very different than The Greatest Showman, and the theme of the two are quite different. I don't recall much about Barnum other than I liked it -- I was YOUNG! -- but I believe that it was more a bio, whereas the focus of The Greatest Showman could be about embracing the freak inside you, and being proud of who you are. Yes, it would touch on the same themes as Wicked, and which made it a huge hit with everyone who ever felt like an outsider, which is most everyone. It uses the man Barnum just as a springboard to tell a larger story, whereas the original musical Barnum was about, well, Barnum. If done right, The Greatest Showman could be the next generation's Wicked.

But who will love US as we are, r451? WHO???

We need a revival of "The Life" Stat!!! This time they should have an all male cast.

I thought the performers deserved a better show, r453. I also thought Harris was totally miscast.

R454, I worked on the workshop of The Life downtown. This was another case of the workshop being better than the full production. I wish they had taken the risk of putting what was downtown uptown.

"embracing the freak inside you, and being proud of who you are.:

And we know how that worked out for SIDE SHOW. What a theme, presumptuous, narcissistic and banal, all at once!

"whereas the original musical Barnum was about, well, Barnum."

Well, no, it was "about" showmanship, sleight-of-hand and theatricality. An unheralded "concept" musical, in fact.

When Rent was playing on Broadway, a frau I worked with wanted to take her pre-teen children. I said, "You know it's a musical about drag queens, drugs and AIDS, don't you?" She said, "No, I thought it was like Fame, a bunch of kids wanting to be in theater." I think she ended up taking them to The Lion King.

[quote]Tyne Daly had no right to think she should do a musical, ANY musical, because SHE COULDN’T SING. There. Plain talking enough for you?

Yes that was plain talking enough and oh go fuck yourself, was that plain talking enough for you?

Love that clip from The Life.

[quote]I worked on the workshop of The Life downtown. This was another case of the workshop being better than the full production. I wish they had taken the risk of putting what was downtown uptown.

What was different? Songs, plot? Or was it just that it had a grittier tone?

Oh for chrissakes, r456, please see r452......

[quote]Well, no, it was "about" showmanship, sleight-of-hand and theatricality. An unheralded "concept" musical, in fact.

OK-- but did it have a coup de theatre?

"This thread is the perfect reflection of the current state of broadway. We can only discuss the past because there is no one and nothing to discuss. Will we ever make it out of this slump? Or is despicable me the musical next?....i really used to love broadway theatre too."

And now we have Greatest Showman"

And all the great songs from Evan to sing for eternity.

And Waitress.

Oh, and lets not forget all those songs from Hamilton ANYONE who cant sing nor require a melody can sing.

BUT thank god Pretty Woman is coming!!!!,

The Life was just weird. Pamela Isaacs looked to be middle-aged and she needed to be fairly young (early 30s at the oldest) for her story to make sense.

But Pamela Isaacs had a beautiful soprano belt. It's too bad she didn't work more on Broadway.

I'm the only person I know who enjoyed The Life. Didn't think it was great but I enjoyed it. It didn't hurt that the tickets were freebies from my firm when the client who was supposed to use them cancelled at the last minute.

I definitely wanted to see her in a different and better show, r465.

Pam & Lil......

It does seem like perceptions or Bernie's Gypsy performance are tied to when in the run they saw her performance. You can add me to the list of people who saw her late(r) in the run -- about 6 mos after opening -- and I thought she was spectacular. No one -- not even sacred Merman -- will sing the role as powerfully as Patti, but I don't think anyone will give as moving a performance or Rose as Bernie. And, no, it wasn't just the songs, her book scenes were just as strong. I mean... watch this clip of her final scene....

There were two problems with The Life. It was a very uneven show and it was a very uncomfortable show with no payoff.

For example, Pamela Isaac's character sings a ballad about her lover that goes "He's no good, but I'm no good without him." Then 10 minutes later she sings a ballad to him that goes "I'm leaving you..." It's like the songs were written for two different characters.

And don't get me started on The Hooker's Ball.

But for some strange reason, I always liked Pamela Isaacs on the "Go Home" song.

I don't know when that "Can't Get To Heaven" number was filmed, but when I saw the show the church lady in the hat did a "praise Jesus" dip/shake that was incredible. Obviously you could tell she was a dancer because her body during that move was so limber. I didn't see the move in the clip so I'm wondering whether they added or cut that movement for her.

My favorite part of The Life was when Liza Minnelli came out after the curtain call, and sang a few songs "For the kids"!

As for GYPSY, I saw Tyne, Linda Lavin, Bernadette and Patti. Tyne Daily acted the balls out of the show. I will NEVER forget her singing "Everything's coming up roses", with Louise (Krista Moore) watching Rose in utter disbelief, as the backdrop turned from yellow to red.

THAT scene wrecked me. None of the other productions did THAT.

I was also surprised at how good Linda Lavin was. I had always found her annoying. She could both act and sing the part.

Bernadette was a very sexy Rose, and they said she was the closest to the real Rose.

Maybe I was too far away in the balcony to have Patti's performance register for me.

Please, God, no new revival with Imelda. Her performance may have been great, but it did not translate on TV. She was eating the scenery like mad.

Rose, life goes on. 'Vonia, life goes on.

There won't be another Gypsy revival without a movie star as Rose. You can count on it. That show hasn't turned a profit since Tyne starred.

These are dire times.

[quote]There won't be another Gypsy revival without a movie star as Rose.

Cam Jim Carrey sing?

Another vote for Angela. Sublime.

Saw Bernadette (early on) and can't imagine anyone thinking she was sexy. And why does she need to be? Rose gets by on charm and chutzpah, and the Herbie characters are always sweet shlubs who don't exactly have their pick of women.

And des this man Andy Karl will have another flop under his belt? (If you'll pardon the expression.)

I'm wonder if Pretty Woman will be the show Andy gets a makeup Tony for, or if he has to wait another 10-15 years for the career-cumulative award.

Andy really earned that Tony for ON THE TWENTIETH CENTURY, R477. Agreed.

Still surprising he lost, although Christian Borle's part as Shakespeare in SOMETHING ROTTEN! was a true star turn (but, again, it was his 2nd).

2014 was dicier since NPH obviously was foregone conclusion for HEDWIG and ROCKY was a flop.

Bad timing, I guess (GROUNDHOG DAY included).

Maybe Andy should star in a revival of TAKE ME OUT. That should win him a Tony

How about a Mommie Dearest musical?

Songs could include:

Christina's Uncles

Christina, eat that meat!

I'm Not One Of Your Fans

Carol Anne Blues

I Hate The Dirt

The Wire Hanger Tang

Call From Bette Davis

^^^The Wire Hanger Tango

Joan's thrilling Act Two closing turn, the soliloquy "Bring Me the Axe."

I'd say half of those would be cut in Boston and replaced with

Box Office Poison

If You're Acting

I Will Always Win

The Boys and The Booze

Property of MGM

The Last Word

Equity's board will probably try to not allow the title "Gypsy" and have them call it "Pushy Woman" instead.

R484 - I love you.

Is Santino still in Dolly or has Gavin returned? A poster in one of the earlier threads indicated that they saw Gavin recently but I thought he was returning when Bette or David are returning. Anyone?

Gavin and his love meat have been back for over a week now. Beauty is back on Broadway.

Does Gavin still smell like hot dog water and ass?

What’s the deal with Paul Wontorek? I just watched an interview he did with Lauren Ambrose and it was embarrassing. Aside from constantly talking over her, he had to make sure she knew how “surprised” and “impressed” he was with her performance. It seemed very condescending.

Well, that's annoying, R487. I (I mean, my friend, er…) already saw the admittedly gorgeous-looking and singing Gav with Bette and company. I wanted to see Bernie and Victor but was hoping for a Santino bonus. He may not be as gifted visually or vocally as Gavin, but I think he's cute and talented. Granted, there are worse indignities than sitting through Gavin again while Bernie is offstage, and I'm glad he recovered from his back surgery sooner than might have been anticipated. I just should have asked my question BEFORE I purchased the ticket, clearly!

R485 I love that you love me, and I love you too!

During the "You Gotta Have A Gimmick" number, Lin-Manuel joins the girls, holding a CD of "Hamilton" and goes, you can "UH. You can Uh. You can Uh Uh Uh!'!

Charlie Williams is one sexy and talented man. His spots on those Broadway Preview shows are so natural- he should be an anchorman. I saw that he is now in the cast of "Cher"- hopefully shirtless.

The Life had the worst poster art- A big picture of a foot in a toeless shoe? only good for foot fetishists. Too bad it wasn't in smell-o-rama

Gavin Creel has enormous feet -- he'd have been good in THE LIFE

Does Charlie Williams escort?

Does Gavin? I love big feet. But are the alleged hygiene issues from his Hair days true?

Is Charlie more a top or a bottom?

R496 Is the answer, 'Whatever he prefers, anytime'?

Gavvers looks squeaky clean in his DOLLY togs !

If Charlie is with Rob, he's a top.

R489, is Paul a top, bottom or a sideways? That marble mouth of his can probably suck the chrome off his cheap ass set chairs.

I saw Gavin in Dolly a couple of weeks ago -- I believe shortly after his return. He was great. Funny and charming and sang like a dream. And, yes, he has big feet and LONG legs.

I was there to see Bernie, of course and it was such a pleasure seeing her do musical COMEDY again. Victor, as lovely as he is, was the only disappointment. The role just didn't suit him. He reads far too patrician.

My friend is a big Gavin fan and insisted on stage dooring. I indulged and even took a photo of the two of them for her. He was very sweet and he smelled fine as far I could tell. He and Stemp were the only stars of the show who came out the stage door.

Now you know.

[quote]Andy really earned that Tony for ON THE TWENTIETH CENTURY, [R477]. Agreed.

He damn well earned it for "Groundhog Day," too -- especially since his competition was the Plattster.

Karl should have had a Tony for Rocky. An astonishingly convincing and difficult performance for a "song and dance" guy.

Are there any links to Bernie singing in Dolly? i know there were several weeks back, but I avoided listening to them before I'd seen her performance. Now they seemed to have vanished.

I saved a tumblr link of her doing the title number to my hard drive.

And then it died.

^ True story, BTW.

[Quote]I saved a tumblr link of her doing the title number to my hard drive.

[Quote]And then it died.

...the Tumblr link, or the show?

Carousel has tons of tickets available for this weekend (and I've gotten 2 discount offers in the last week)... Are people really buying tickets to this show last minute? How is it actually pulling in big grosses... something doesn't add up

It's weird that everyone (here and on other boards) is assessing Kazee's situation at face value rather than as a transparent excuse that he was dumped like "spending more time with my family"

It's interesting in that article announcing the change, Jerry Mitchell only mentions Andy Karl - no "I wish Steve the best, he did a great job, but I understand his need to be with family" or some such.

Steve Kazee's go fund me for his father's house/trailer. He's raised 45k so far.

He has a gofundme but would turn down a high-paying steady starring role on broadway ... right

I’m mystified by all the adoration here for the utter mediocrity that is Gavin Creel. Is some of it tongue in cheek? Because the guy can move and carry a tune but little more than that. Zero personality and a face you’d forget a half hour after meeting him.

All the adoration here? He's hardly Christian Borle or, back in the old days, Raul Esparza.

Gavin has a gorgeous voice - he can do much more than carry a tune.. He's not a terribly distinctive actor. And he has a face like a muppet. Who forgets someone with a face like a muppet?

Gavin C is terrific in Hello Dolly - loads of charisma and pizzaz in a role that can be a real trap (see Michael Crawford). And he sings beautifully.

Never thought much of Creel until I saw him in Dolly, where we was quite charming and engaging. Borle's success is as puzzling as Boyd Gaines'.

Boyd Gaines success is hardly puzzling. He is a very good actor. He was amazing in Journey's End. However, most importantly, he is drama free. Not being difficult actually counts for a lot in the business.

love the wisdom/fun from the theatre threads....

rest in peace sir, may u be on a cloud near Beatrice lily!

I adore the stud who did American Psycho on bway,, he done a few flix too....HOT and brilliantine.

Borle has a great voice and body and is a better-than-average actor. One presumes he’s also easy to work with since you don’t hear stories. Unfortunately he has a very ugly face.

Andy karl has been terrible in everything. That's why they all flop. He's busted too. Gavin creel has a great voice but bland everywhere else. Speaking of bland, i decided to watch the greatest showman because you all were talking about it and the bf had been wanting to watch. It put him to sleep. Corny as fuck. The worst is all the CGI. i despise the way films look now. Are they even on set anymore? Efron looks weird now. Jackman looks ruff. Like really ruff. OLD. the number with efron and hugh made me cringe. The songs sounded the same. I can see why it was a hit with the millennial crowd. Right up their alley.

creel trying to be the straight horndog in She Loves Me was awful

Yeah The Greatest Showman was a snore. It felt like thirty minutes of Pasek and Paul songs stretched to fill four hours without so much as a new lyric or a key change. Maddening.

What happened to Boyd Gaines? He was in a ton of shows for a while but his last one was in 2012. He only has a handful of credits on IMDb since 2012, too.

Creel was horribly miscast in She Loves Me. He's incapable of playing Kodaly.

Boyd Gaines is reportedly not well.

Boyd Gaines starred in the Dec. 2016 Irish Rep's "immersive" production of "The Dead" opposite Kate Burton.

I think I read that he was suppose to do it again in 2017, but did not.

I loved Hello Dolly but second the puzzlement about Creel - it seemed like a totally average performance for which people just decided to give him a career achievement supporting Tony

[quote]He and Stemp were the only stars of the show who came out the stage door.

How did everyone else leave? Down the fire escape?

[quote]Boyd Gaines success is hardly puzzling. He is a very good actor. He was amazing in Journey's End. However, most importantly, he is drama free. Not being difficult actually counts for a lot in the business.

He had more absences from Roundabout's Company than Donna Murphy and Bernadette Peters put together. When he showed up, people thought they were seeing the understudy.

What's the rumor about Boyd Gaines? Is he sick?

Boyd Gaines did the Driving Miss Daisy tour of Australia with Angela Lansbury and James Earl Jones in 2014.

Maybe he caught something from Patti Lupone, rabies?, When he did Gypsy. Or just lost the will to live/work after that.

Just saw the Stephanie J Block PBS concert. I've loved her in the amauteur clips I've seen, in falsettos and in interviews etc but the concert didn't showcase her talent at all. Falsettos number and defying gravity mediocre and the duet choice for her and her lovely husband Sebastian Arcelus again poor. I've seen wonderful chemistry between them at other times.

Hope the Cher show showcases her better but can any singer do much in jukebox musical?

[quote] Hope the Cher show showcases her better but can any singer do much in jukebox musical?

Good question.

Don't forget there was a time when Boyd was thanking doctors at the end of his bio included in Playbill.

Just saying...I hope he's ok.

R534 definitely Lupone rabies then

Lansbury's Rose's Turn from London and it's pretty dismal. Styne was called in after LA to give her more of a Merman sound but it was determined she couldn't sing it so that's why he sped up the final portion of the number. Hearing her go flat on that final note is quite embarrassing because you can hear the effort but also know she's not up to the demands of the song.

Elaine's Turn

Ann-Margret wouldn't be interested in doing the grinding work of a large Broadway role, especially now.

People who talk about THE LIFE as some odd flop forget that it actually won the other Best Musical prizes (DD, OCC) it just DIDN'T win the Tony Award. TITANIC won, it was headed for flop-land and then Rosie really got behind it when her TV show was at its apex, and that did a lot to turn the tide. Then when the Tony came (for Best Musical, Book, and Score), that cemented TITANIC's reputation as a "hit" even though it did not recoup during the Broadway run. One would presume it has in the intervening years with licensing.

TITANIC has become part of the canon of shows that get done; THE LIFE did not, even though it ran over a year (466 performances). It was the also-ran musical that year. The other big shows were STEEL PIER which was lovely but really got lost and JEKYLL AND HYDE, which outran all the new musicals that seasonl, and is probably the most famous and well-traveled of them all, but still failed to recoup in its original Broadway run. The hit musical that 1996-97 season was the CHICAGO revival, still with us and winner of six Tonys.

THE LIFE was never going to be a natural for regional theatres, schools, or community theatres. It feels low/smarmy and it's tough to cast, whereas TITANIC feels upscale and noble. Plus, THE LIFE was licensed by Tams-Witmark, which didn't have the funds to give it (or any of the comparatively few new titles they acquired) a big push once they had it. Hopefully this new regime that bought T-W will give their rehearsal materials and all their classic titles the upgrading they've needed for a while.

On Broadway, where I saw it several times, THE LIFE was a somewhat flawed but enjoyable show about difficult subject matter, that nonetheless had some blazing, wonderful, old-school starpower performances with charisma and a snappy score. People who refused to emotionally engage with it called it "hokey" and "melodramatic" and that's valid, but I enjoyed it a lot, even though it was about 20 minutes too long.

The Brantley review of TITANIC's original production could charitably be described as mixed-negative:

I'm going to see a small community theater production of "Titanic" soon. I'm planning to be underwhelmed.

Love Titanic. That score is divine.

How do amateur groups make the Titanic sink?

I think Lansbury sounds good on that recording. Yeah, the last note is awful, but the rest is sound. She doesn’t sing it better than Peters did, but she sounds a million times better than St. Tyne

Probably by just doing the show, R541 (cymbal crash!)

I have never gotten the Angela Lansbury thing. She's not untalented, but she doesn't have a particularly good voice and, at least onstage, she's only a passable actress. I feel like her true medium is film.

I saw TITANIC, THE LIFE, and STEEL PIER within a month or so of each other (I skipped JEKYLL AND HYDE). It was a disappointing set of shows, each for a different reason. TITANIC aimed highest, I think, but its score reminds me of that for COME FROM AWAY: virtuous, lots of choral pieces, but well-sung. The attempts to show the boat sinking just didn't have much impact on me. THE LIFE seemed at least twenty years out of date and a bunch of cliches that were cliches when first trotted out. There were some very strong performances (Lilias White, Chuck Cooper, Sam Harris in his way, and Pamela Isaacs, who did what could be done with a bargain-basement Bess) and some fun music, but the story and characters (other than White's) never engaged you. I think I was most disappointed by STEEL PIER--Kander and Ebb, Karen Ziemba in what all thought might be a star breakout role, and an interesting subject matter (though not remotely as powerful as THEY SHOOT HORSES, DON'T THEY, which it seemed to draw a lot from). The fantasy element also seemed "borrowed" from better and older movies, like A GUY NAMED JOE. Ziemba and the late Daniel McDonald both did their best, which was often very good, with some of Kander and Ebb's least inspired material--none of it "bad," just not very interesting. Why Gregory Harrison, of all possible actors, was cast seemed a mystery. Debra Monk had a fun, if predictable number, and she made it seem as if she were channeling Mary Martin, Ethel Merman, and Elaine Stritch, and the number had been better when it was called "Zip" or "My Heart Belongs to Daddy." The most interesting pair were Joel Blum and Kristin Chenoweth, the former because there was some genuine pathos to his role, the latter because no one expected that singing voice to come out of that small body and babydoll speaking voice. She didn't steal the show--there wasn't enough to steal--but she was the one you left talking about, rather than Ziemba. And I love Ziemba--would see her in just about anything, including THE HAIRY APE!--but the material didn't give her any great moments. Even her big Act II number, "Running in Place," just didn't give her enough.

I'll say this - Peters WAS genuinely awful in GYPSY during previews. There's a bootleg video to back that up and I think that video is probably why people didn't like her in the role (same with Imelda Staunton's taped BBC performance). She was screaming every single line, so it's no wonder her voice couldn't hold up. It's like she was trying too hard to come across as a badass bully or something. It didn't work. However, I saw her again later in the run and it was a complete turnaround and she was pretty terrific in the role. That YouTube clip that was posted earlier of the finale is super close to the performance I saw and it gutted me. I love the staging of having Rose hold out her arms for a hug instead of Louise. I thought that was very powerful.

Linda Lavin wasn't terrible. Her only problem was that she was merely ok in the role after Tyne Daly had played it brilliantly. She'd have probably fared better if she'd done it for TV or film. It was a much smaller, more intimate performance. She was a bit misguided in some parts of the show, but I'd take her any day over Betty Buckley's humor-free performance. I've never been to a performance of GYPSY that seemed like it lasted 8 hours.

LuPone was excellent, but there wasn't much surprise there. It was exactly as you'd imagine LuPone playing Rose.

To me, Daly and Lansbury win. Lansbury's "Rose's Turn" was terrifying. I think the "Baby Jane" thing worked.

And what's with this misogyny thing about the show? I've never found the show hateful towards women.

Karen Ziemba is not leading lady material. At best, she was comic character actress. She was really one of the people that A Chorus Line was about. Great in the chorus, but really not enough star wattage to be pulled out of the chorus.

And then she showed her titties in Playboy.

Oh, r545. Your summation of those shows was 150% perfection.

I saw "Titanic" at Signature Theater in Arlington, Va., in late 2016. It was actually a decent production, even if it was directed by Eric Schaeffer and had arena staging. The sinking was depicted with dead bodies (actors on wires) and objects floating in the air, clearly influenced by Cameron's movie. But I love "Titanic" and think the score is wonderful.

[quote]I have never gotten the Angela Lansbury thing. She's not untalented, but she doesn't have a particularly good voice and, at least onstage, she's only a passable actress.

Bullshit. Her acting in "Gypsy" was brilliant.

Eric Schaeffer couldn't direct a fart out of his asshole.

I'm never a leading lady! I'm always the fun sidekick!

Who's got my banjo?

I loved THE LIFE.

Loved. It.

That being said, it's not a show they can do in high schools.....

[quote] Bullshit. Her acting in "Gypsy" was brilliant.

Simmer down, old theater queen still clutching your souvenir program of Flahooley. People have opinions that differ from yours.

Didn't Boyd Gaines just do The Age of Innocence.....somewhere? With DL fave Alexandra Silber? Or was it Sierra Borgess. I get them mixed up alot.

I’d like to have seen Debra Monk tackle Rose.

[quote]I’d like to have seen Debra Monk tackle Rose.

She's one of those that on paper she seems good, but in reality probably wouldn't be. Her Joanne in Company was very mediocre.

A little Deb Monk goes a LOOOOOOOONG way.

Speaking of Gypsy

Greg Edelman for Herbie! JK

I love THE LIFE too. Go home, easy money, use what you got, oldest profession, etc...HILARIOUS

R558 Yes, she's like Dorothy Loudon in that respect.

The Life was God-awful and Steel Pier, pretty bland. Titanic was clearly the best musical that dismal season.

Did Loudon ever play Madam Rose? Bea Arthur would have been a perfect Rose, if she could sing it.

Not one distinguished song in the entire lot.

Wow, R529, I wish I had known that Donna Murphy and Bernadette Peters were in Roundabout's COMPANY!

[quote]Had Mendes been able to fulfill his dark and grisly vision for the production, we could have likely had another CABARET-level success on our hands (something the show has never really been since its original producton). Mendes wanted it DARK with constant off-stage action visible, with the wings always in view and a proscenium within the proscenium where the rest of the action took place. Stage hands grabbing, ass, people fucking, smoking, snorting coke, whatever - the shit that went on backstage at these places way back when (and now). Love it or hate it, he had a definite vision.

Sounds awful.

[quote]There were two problems with The Life. It was a very uneven show and it was a very uncomfortable show with no payoff.

I don't agree that it didn't have a payoff, but it sure was uneven in tone. Most of it was a musical comedy about hookers, but then the Chuck Cooper character was very real and dangerous. Also, I guess there were a lot of changes to the tone of the show before it opened. I remember that, in the original publicity photos, Sam Harris's character looked like a low-rent street person with ratty clothes and a bandana, but he ended up in a tarted-up pimp suit -- which I guess is more accurate, since I guess pimps usually dress like that.

[quote]Love Titanic. That score is divine.

The opening sequence is musically stunning, and most of the other songs in Act I are really good, but I think most of the score in Act II (except for the reprise of the big chorale at the end) is uninspired.

R469, there's some really good work in that GYPSY final scene clip with Peters and Blanchard, but it's incredible how long the pauses are. Too long. I didn't remember that.

R472, I also thought Lavin was excellent as Rose, but apparently a lot of people (including Frank Rich!) disagreed.

Steve Kazee was miscast in 110 IN THE SHADE, and his voice was not well suited to that kind of music. He was much better in ONCE.

Youre absolutely RIGHT R567; GREAT opening and Brian's song--WONDERFUL.

But Act was was just that:uninspired.

And climaxed in the weak love song (forgot the name like I forgot the song) between the older couple.

Greatest Showman was written for children and it seems BY children as well.

Speaking of which---LOVE the comments on Lin R491,

So true!

For whoever was wondering why Robbie Fairchild is in London, he's performing an excerpt from "An American in Paris" with Leanne Cope at the Royal Opera and Royal Ballet's spring gala next week.

I had a friend who was very close to John Kander. I read an early draft of Steel Pier. It was very dark, much more like They Shoot Horses... I am fairly certain that there was no fantasy element. What I heard was that they had to change the script because June Havoc threatened to sue. She though anything written about marathon dances was ripping off Marathon 33 (which she never allowed to be produced because there was always a "musical version in the works".) Basically, it was easier and cheaper to change the book than deal with a lawsuit.

The Life was terribly uneven, but it did have this. Which sometimes felt like what the entire show was written around....

The NYTimes may be planning to release the theatre 'metoo' article right before the tony awards! going to make for an interesting ceremony!

Neil Meron just tweeted that Hair will be NBC’s next live musical, to be telecast next spring.

Gavin Creel is not very telegenic so I think Zac Efron will probably be Berger.

Link:

I'm guessing there won't be any nude scene, though. :(

R568 And that's about as much as Lin-Manuel can handle singing-wise, too!

Creel played Claude, not Berger. Shawn Mendes has said that he has an acting role coming up. I could see him as Claude. Harry Syles could be Berger. Ariana Grande is an obvious choice for Sheila.

*Styles

Alex Newell for Ronnie Dyson/Melba Moore.

Okay, so nudity's out, but what about underwear? Might as well have something sexy in that old war horse.

Eric Schaeffer did the best SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE ever (sorry Jakebots).

Kennedy Center Sondheim Celebration 2002 (he was artistic director of all, actually).

Yes, Raul was intense and Melissa Errico was unhinged, but it was the best Act One Finale ever staged for this show (including original)...

And, Raul's "Finishing The Hat"? Astonishing.

"Move On"? Wish you were there.

[quote] Gavin Creel is not very telegenic

But I bet home viewers would be able to smell him through their TVs!

Pretentious and uninvolving, including the score. But if ever a case was made for the show, it was the 2006 UK production with David Evans.

If you weren't there you don't know, R582.

The Sondheim Celebration was incredible and anyone who saw any, let alone all, of the entries would agree - and, Sondheim supervised everythingl, in particular COMPANY (which remains best production to date since the original).

The Kennedy Center shows were the first and probably last time Sondheim could artistically dictate what went down and have any major say in it all. If you saw A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC with CZJ on Broadway you know what is possible when he has no real control, just cashes the checks.

Yes, SUNDAY is all the things you say, but a great production viewed live in the theater can be transcendent and that was it. COMPANY and SUNDAY were, too. MERRILY, NIGHT MUSIC and PASSION were less impressive, but, to have 6 great productions on that scale over a summer was a blessing.

Yes, the KC Sondheim Celebration was extraordinary. Even the less-than-perfect productions were terrific, and the atmosphere around the event was wonderful. One of the few times I've been grateful to live in DC.

(I think Shaeffer did so well because Sondheim was in control; left to his own devices he can be very good or really godawful.

I have a fantastic bootleg of Esparza and Errico in Sunday and it truly is the best production of the show I've ever seen and I'm including broadway with Mandy and BP. Errico really is a tremendous talent.

That would be Daniel Evans, R582. He was superb. Anna-Jane Casey not so much; Jenna Russell was much, much better.

Forget about the nudity -- they'll have to censor the hell out of the book and lyrics of "Hair" for it to get on broadcast TV.

[quote]That being said, it's not a show they can do in high schools.....

I'll bet Lou Mazzuchelli would've tried it at Stanton High next year if "Rise" had been renewed. (Right after the fall production of "Oh! Calcutta!")

'Coloured Spade' on TV will be a treat for the kids!

"Hair"is a really stupid idea for a live broadcast. There is no plot to speak of, unless they hire a book writer to somehow create one, but the songs are absolutely glorious. Many of them, however, will have to be jettisoned because there's no way on earth tv will allow songs like Black Boys, Sodomy, Prisoners in Niggertown, etc. I bet what makes NBC want to do it, though, is they can hire a cast of current singing stars to play the parts. Since there is very little book, the singers will get to do what they do best: sing. I'm sure Sara Bareilles' success in JC Superstar has something to do with this. I will watch it for sure because I absolutely love the songs, but it seems sad that a musical that was once an emblem of anti establishment, etc is now going to be cleaned up and sanitized for tv. One could say that the counterculture won because they are now the mainstream, but nothing could be further from the truth. They are now fodder for The Man!

I think it will be great that HAIR might remind younger generations that theater, even musical theater, once had the power to move, incite, and agitate. Yes, it will be bowdlerized, but its essence will still remain (if it's well-performed and directed, which is always a crap shoot).

They should do it on cable. Remember that even the movie version didn't have frontal nudity.

[quote]Didn't Boyd Gaines just do The Age of Innocence.....somewhere? With DL fave Alexandra Silber? Or was it Sierra Borgess. I get them mixed up alot.

Boyd and Sierra look nothing alike

What would happen to NBC if they flashed a little bit of tit? No you won't see full frontal, but I bet they get away with some ass shots.

For the TV "Hair," they could use the story that the movie used.

Hair is a stooopid idea, NBC

[quote]How do amateur groups make the Titanic sink?

bad acting and shitty singing should do the trick

[quote] There is no plot to speak of, unless they hire a book writer to somehow create one

I'm available to shit all over it.

voila

I vote we kill that new thread and start a different one. No one, and I mean NO ONE puts a response post in the OP. YOU FUCKING AMATEUR!