THEATRE GOSSIP #306: Noel Coward Edition

Very clever, OP.

Now let's get back to bitching about HAIR LIVE.

Why bitch about Hair live? That's so far in the future. Is there truly nothing this season to discuss? For crying out loud, it's practically TONY time, does no one care?

Please think of the Tonys!

HAIR might end up like SUPERSTAR LIVE: flaccid!

And even more so with all the lyric changes.

No WAY in this climate is it not going to be whittled down to a 2 incher.

HAIR is too good for network tv crap

PURLIE - LIVE ON NBC!

The concert format of HAIR is what makes it perfect for today's TV. Singers wailing directly into the camera. Deplorables will feel right at home, if they don't listen too closely to the lyrics.

Anybody remember ME?!

Another Friday, another conspicuous lack of any ads or mention of Rudin shows in the NYTimes!

I read the online version of the Times, and there is no advertising in the version I get. Are the lack of ads really noticeable? I have no idea how many ads would normally be there. One? Two? A hundred?

Why are we concerned about Rudin not running Times ads? Was there some blowup or something?

[quote]Does anyone know how OCR rites are assigned?

Funeral rites?

Seriously - a record company only has the RIGHTS to what they record - which these days is likely to be financed by the producers anyway. Back in the day, when for instance Columbia funded part of the original production of My Fair Lady, they shared in the ancillary rights. And they also did the London OC recording. But these days it's totally different.

Cutting the nudity and transgressive language from Hair completely neuters the work. They might as well call it 'BALD.'

I want to see "Pubic Hair"

The movie didn't have nudity did it? I would have killed to see Treat Williams showing us Treat junior.

It all sounds very ill-planned. They should have done Pippin instead.

Buttocks, r13.....

You saw Trea Wiliams ass, Beverly D'Angelo's tits, and I think Michael Jeter full-frontal quickly as a recruit before the draft board.

I seriously hope the OP of the *2nd* #305 thread has learned his lesson and never starts another. He makes Tina Fey's husband look competent.

Treat Williams

Anybody else see Treat in Captains Courageous? I just realized I've seen him three times on stage. That, Follies, and a Grease national tour.

I'd watch Treat read the phone book.

Oh wait, I already have. I've seen an episode of Everwood.

Treat would make a great Billy Flynn

[quote]Anybody else see Treat in Captains Courageous?

I saw that. Beyond excruciating.

Oh c'mon, r21. At the very least there was some beefcake eye candy.

Miss Jessica Walter IS Lois Lane!

Saw the delicious Christine Pedi at Richard Jay-Alexander’s big birthday bash at Sardi’s last night, quite the star filled affair, why isn’t she on Broadway?

I don't know, Christine. Why aren't you?

R24 can she act? I’ve only seen her do impersonations. She’s also put on a few pounds i think.

Is she Tom Pedi's daughter?

Pedi was fantastic as Mama Morton in CHICAGO.

Richard Jay's party was a sad affair... it was a who's who of who cares

Did none of the previously molested ex-Mariuses show up to RJA's party?

She's cross-eyed, obese and can't act. Just a few reasons.

[quote]She’s also put on a few pounds i think.

If “a few” = 40 or 50, then yes, she has put on “a few.”

I womder what Ethel Merman thought of Dolores Gray? Was she jealous because Gray teiumphed in AGYG in London? They dontcseem to have been friends.

While Ethel had a great big unmistakable voice, I've heard from some sources that Gray's voice was as big and possible even louder. Not doubt it was a very creamy and smooth as silk voice, delivered very loudly, but capable of some subtlety too. Ethel had a bit of that early in her career in some early musicals, but rather decided loud and booming was the way to go. I love them both. I saw Dolores in summer stock doing Rose in "Gypsy" and she was great. Big big voice and great presence on stage.

I saw Dolores in Follies. I had no idea who she was but did note that the audience seemed awed by her. She was the best singer in that cast but that isn't saying much.

ATC is impossible! Now the resident nine-plus fat old queens are bantering about the incoming Pretty Woman musical, the male lead Steve Kazee is out and in is Andy Karl. They are nattering Kazee was let go, the story he must tend to his father and family troubles just a ruse. Those nine doing most of the posting don't seem to have lives other than on ATC. Having seen some of 'em at the Christmas parties, you only want to run. They are not theater insiders, just sad old men.

R30, so many ruined barricade boy holes out there...sad.

RJA and his shenanigans are the oldest of old news. Unless we are getting new abd explicit details, there’s nothing more to say.

And let us not forget that RJA started on his knees himself, as the chorus boy who gave Cameron the million dollar blowjob.

R38, isn’t RJA a chatty top?

RJA is a piece of shit, as most of those who've worked with him will readily tell you.

Cameron only wanted to be blown, r38, or so the story goes. Although a would imagine for Cameron Mackintosh at the height of his theatrical power and fame, even the most die-hard top would be willing to be a back-door boy.

Dolores Gray had a much warmer voice than Merman's. She had all the heft necessary when it was needed, but she knew how to modulate it and croon sweetly when required.

[quote]She's cross-eyed, obese and can't act

Is this comment in relation to Richard Jay Alexander or Christine Pedi?

It could be either.

Les Metooz

In an industry of horrible people, Richard Jay is at the top of the heap of shit

What is so bad about him, r45? Is it the fact that he's alway all over the chorus boys? Or is he also an asshole in the way he treats people?

Again, no ads for any Rudin shows in this weekends Arts & Leisure section

And why do we care, r47? What's the backstory there?

Well r36 I’m worried about my Steve. He needs a hug and I’d more than likely pinch his buttocks. That should make him forget his woes.

Well, r48, when the producer who takes the lions share of print ads suddenly ceases all advertising, including the ABC listings, something is clearly going on - add to that rumblings of unhappy investors and you have the makings of something big... Even ignoring the gossip of unhappy investors, just the fact that 5 major shows have no NYTimes presence is quite something

Rudin finally wised up. Everyone who reads the NY Times has already either seen his shows, is aware they will be opening or has decided they are not interested. Why throw away money? Nobody is going to pick up the NY Times and say, "Oh wow, I think I'll go see Hello Dolly."

I don't believe that is the reason. It's been done for far more specific purposes -- remember the personality involved.

But why would you pull your shows from the directory? I can see the argument for not taking large ads, but the listings? Makes zero sense

"she knew how to modulate it and croon sweetly when required. "

As did Merman. Listen to Moonshine Lullaby

Miss Merman would not have been as effective in this number.....

r21, a truly awful musical. It felt like it had been workshopped to death.

The two threads are annoying. Anyway, i saw Carousel last night. Oh boy. First time seeing the actual stage show. What is the hype with this show? I think it's horrible. Joshua Henry made for a very strange billy bigelow. Forget skin color, his acting was just bizarre. Despite his gruff and abuse, Shouldn't billy be a charming, rugged, good looking hustler? That's why the whole town is drawn to him. Henry was awful. I didn't like his ol man river r and b way of singing either. Jessie mueller not that good either. She was acting like Nell or something. A weird irish accent or something. The supporting actors were best except Carrie. That actress is fucking annoying. Renee fleming has a funny voice. I couldn't help it. I liked the lady who ran the carousel, Enoch snow and Jigger surprisingly. Jigger's number was my favorite. The set was lame. Another uneventful emotionless night at the theatre.

I don't remember it being awful, r56. No great shakes, but not awful.

It stank!!!

Henry won't be winning a TONY this year. He's going to lose to a sponge!!!!!!

I saw Soft Power last night in LA

Clever if very strange show that is likely to not find its audience in NY.

Did it remind you of "The King and I," r61

Not at all, r62. The King and I is heavily referenced, but this show is totally different, in tone, structure, themes, and style.

You don’t hear the orchestra until halfway through the first act, when it suddenly becomes a musical. Then in the second act, it jumps forward 50 years, when China is a world power.

Both David Henry Hwang and Hillary Clinton are major characters.

A very, very strange show.

[quote]She's cross-eyed, obese and can't act

Two out of three ...

The photos of Tony Yazbeck in the awful New York Times review of ‘The Beast in the Jungle’ are almost enough to make me buy a ticket anyway!

Almost.

When Weinstein surrendered to the police yesterday, he was carrying a bio of Elia Kazan and a copy of "Something Wonderful," the new book about Rodgers and Hammerstein.

Tony Yazbeck got old. He looks like Big Pussy from the Sopranos in that photo.

Wondering where when/why Weinstein thought he might get in any reading during his arraignment.....

Rodgers was a skirt chaser and Kazan fucked ingénues. If a woman turned down Rodgers he didn't push it. With Kazan it was consensual. According to all gossip. Neither did anything wrong.

Weinstein is an exhibitionist and rapist. Desperate and disturbed.

[quote]Wondering where when/why Weinstein thought he might get in any reading during his arraignment.....

The whole process took several hours. At one point he had to sit alone in a holding cell for over half an hour. His attorney probably told him to bring something to read.

Anything but that grifter McGowan's book, which I already saw on the remainder table!

Maybe he's planning on putting on a prison show.

I hope it's Women Behind Bars, r72!

[quote]Maybe he's planning on putting on a prison show.

Call me.

Yazbeck did get old. I saw him at 54 below. I was front and center.

Yazbeck is wonderful in THE BEAST IN THE JUNGLE and looks great. There is much to enjoy in the show.

It's David Yazbek who's gonna get the Tony this year.

Is it as stunningly good as Captains Courageous?

Summer stock is upon us. The dish in the original DL 'summer stock memories' thread was the stuff of legend. How about a 10th anniversary edition of this DL classic (linked below)??

You beat me to the punch, r21. It was amusing, however, to watch a two-masted schooner depicted on a low-slung horizontal stage.

Agreed, r80. Nothing like a show celebrating the freedom of life on the sea set in a cramped, claustrophobic basement.

OMG, that summer stock thread has the famous Lainie Kazan “get a feathered at for the baby” story!

“"Gypsy" with Laine Kazan at Westbury Music Fair and Valley Forge- I was really excited to work with Laine - but Laine was not excited to do this show (she was about to start the Broadway Flop "My Favorite Year"). The dressing room was a waiting game to see what Laine would fuck up each night. Although her lines were written on the set (in the round no less) she was a train wreck. My favorite was when she got to the lyric in "Some People" that starts "get yourself some new orchestrations" she got fixated on "get a feathered hat for the baby" and just kept repeating "get a feathered hat for the baby" about 5 times. ”

Have at it, Lainie!

Soft Power sounds soft R63--

"Clever and very very strange" is not a ringing endorsement,no?

Did you like it? Was the music great? Was it an emotional experience?

Because aint no way in hell its not coming to Broadway, no?

Please tell us more of your feelings/

The reviews for "Soft Power" have been excellent, r84.

Are digital playbills now a thing Off Bway? I went to that shit show Gentleman Caller and they handed out slips of paper with a QR code on it to scan to read the playbill online. It would seem to me this would encourage more cell phone use in the house, even during the show. And for fuck's sake- I'm paying exorbitant prices. You can give me a program. Make it mandatory to recycle if you're not going to keep it. Or give people the option so that if they don't want to waste paper, they can look it up online.

[quote] The reviews for "Soft Power" have been excellent, [R84].

Darling, it's Los Angeles. Everything theater gets a good review in LA. They don't know dick about what makes good theater.

Darling, that hasn't been true for ages. Take your nose out of the air and realize that NY is no longer the be-all and end-all for theatre.

The list of horror shows that the NY critics and public have slathered affection on is a lengthy one.

[quote]Are digital playbills now a thing Off Bway?

Hopefully not. That's all we need, an audience awash with idiots turning on their smart phones to find out who's playing what part.

Christine Pedi is a Liza Minnelli shadow. When Liza got fat, Christine got fat.

Is this old news? I'm reading the recent book about Rodgers and Hammerstein, and the author mentions that Richard Haliday -- Mary Martin's husband/manager -- was a closet case, and Mary Martin was gay, and in a longterm relationship with Janet Gaynor. That might have been discussed before, but that's the first I've seen it confirmed in a book. I always thought Martin's son Larry Hagman was handsome. He was one of my childhood crushes.

[quote]When Liza got fat, Christine got fat.

Somehow I suspect that if Liza suddenly got thin, Christine's "shadowing" would come to an end.

Christine Pedi was thin once?

(She is funny as hell.)

[quote] Darling, that hasn't been true for ages. Take your nose out of the air and realize that NY is no longer the be-all and end-all for theatre.

Sweetheart, I live in LA. I see my share of theater out here, large and small. I know what I'm talking about. LA theater stinks to high heaven, and its local critics have no idea what they're talking about. The Moises Kaufman production of Bent from a couple years ago got raves. That should tell you all you need to know.

The closest they've gotten recently were the middling reviews for Amelie, but they were still too good. Either they don't know what they're doing or they've been instructed to EW it up to help strengthen business.

SOFT POWER HAS A TALENTED CAST, BUT SHRILL AND ALREADY DATED THEMES

An uber talented cast, despite the male lead's accent vanishing in the second act, from the amazing David Henry Huang (M Butterfly) gets bogged down by amateur hour political shrillness with grotesque stereotypes. America bashing even in a satire, especially with half baked knowledge of world affairs brings this down to a pop up performance at a liberal fundraiser or yes, "high school musical'. You can make a commentary on guns but literally everyone is shot or stabbed in this POV of America with silly and constant dialogue that we are going to have a world war 3 with China with no balancing characters, (forgetting of course the 600 BILLION dollar annual trade deficit, intellectual property theft, discrimination of gays, no freedom of speech), David please do your homework, a research assistant could have helped you with this. But this seems to be for MSNBC addicts and somewhere in a reworking of the book is a fun satire. Cast is stellar.

Sweetheart, I live in LA, too. I see great theatre here all the time - more than enough to come up with ten great things I saw at the end of the year.

And the comment still stands about NY. Shit storms get praised up and down there all the time, and it's almost impossible to go to a Broadway musical that doesn't get an automatic standing ovation.

The Hollywood Reporter closed its review of "Soft Power" with this:

Soft Power might be the most creatively and intellectually ambitious musical of the year. Unfortunately, like the dream it portrays, much of the production lacks coherence. The focus on theme over story leaves it feeling a bit like a showcase for clever songs and heavy-handed observations on identity. As a protagonist, Xing seldom drives the action, instead witnessing and reacting to events. His relationship with Clinton allows for occasional hilarious political insights but fails to ignite any passion.

[quote] And the comment still stands about NY. Shit storms get praised up and down there all the time, and it's almost impossible to go to a Broadway musical that doesn't get an automatic standing ovation.

Who gives a fuck about your NY theater comment? I didn't waste my time acknowledging it because it had no bearing on the conversation. So what?

Wow, someone needs some anger management training.

[quote] Sweetheart, I live in LA, too. I see great theatre here all the time - more than enough to come up with ten great things I saw at the end of the year.

Don't blame us if you have terrible taste.

You're BOTH right about NYC and LA critics and theater;

Theater as a whole, ESPECIALLY musical theater, has been on the decline .

And Hamilton verified that .

[quote] Wow, someone needs some anger management training.

Ahhh, that's the level your wit. No wonder you love LA theater.

"Soft Power might be the most creatively and intellectually ambitious musical of the year. "

I wasn't trying to be witty. I'm not the one who took the highest dudgeon at someone not agreeing with my blanket statement about LA theatre.

Yes, that's the pull quote, r103. But the rest of the quote is what the critic really thought.

So it will be interesting to see what New York thinks.

But in this climate, I cant imagine it will be badly reviewed

I think it's pretty old news, r91.

true R105--

[quote]Anybody else see Treat in Captains Courageous?

No but I saw him in "Pirates Of Penzance" when he replaced Kevin Line. Got to meet him too. It was a treat.

NYC theater most certainly has its problems (ticket prices being one of them, but that's a different conversation). The difference is there's always a possibility I'll like what I'm seeing in NY (even though it's become less likely as the years go on). There's just a different sensibility about why theater is produced there as opposed to NYC. LA productions (at least the smaller ones; I'm not talking about the biggies like the Ahmanson, Taper, Geffen, et al) seem to exist in order to give actors a showcase so that they can maybe invite a casting director or agent to come see them. There's no love of theater, no passion for it, no burning desire to tell that story in a particular way that only the theater can do. And it shows. It's strictly amateur hour all the way around.

In terms of the larger theaters, now that Matt Shakman has taken over for Randall Arney, perhaps the Geffen will see an uptick in quality both in their choices and the way they're presented. Randall Arney should be put in some form of jail for the crimes against theater he's perpetrated against Los Angeles patrons. The Taper and the Ahmanson are mostly just the purgatory waiting rooms of NYC theater, and they both have that generic touring stink about them.

The only large(ish) theater doing any intriguing work is the Kirk Douglas, though the past couple seasons, it seems to have been full on infected by PC/SJW bullshit and its mission statement seems to be "All lecturing, all the time." The last good thing I saw there (and the last great piece of theater I've seen in LA) was the production of "Girlfriend" by Todd Almond and Matthew Sweet.

Treat also did the movie of "The Ritz" playing the undercover cop wearing nothing but a skimpy towel.

GREAT POST R110--THANK YOU FOR THAT!

SUMS IT UP

More of Treat's treats in "The Ritz."

Theatre in LA has undergone a sea change in the last two years, due to the 99 seat wars. Now that AEA has taken charge and insisted that 99 seat theatre have to be on a full contract with p&w, most of those theaters are only hiring non-AEA. Not that AEA membership is necessarily an accurate barometer of talent, but all non-union shows are usually going to be either awful or a mixed bag when it comes to performers.

I've seen some great 99 seat shows, with people who were definitely "theater people" - but not in the last few years. And one can bitch about "Soft Power" all they want (I haven't see it yet - going next week), but it certainly counts as "intriguing" theatre, even the worst reviews give it that. A good idea that has not been realized particularly well (although McNulty in the LA Times loved it). And even the worst reviews are giving out actor Conrad Ricamora raves.

[quote]Christine Pedi is a Liza Minnelli shadow. When Liza got fat, Christine got fat.

Good thing she doesn't do Lorna. Would she get molested too?

Mary Martin's husband was apparently very effeminate, obviously gay. Martin spent a great deal of time with Jean Arthur and especially Janet Gaynor..

[quote] Mary Martin's husband was apparently very effeminate, obviously gay. Martin spent a great deal of time with Jean Arthur.

Yes, Mary starred in the porn version of Arthur's last Broadway play, "The Eating Out of Stephanie Blake."

Wasn’t there a Roman-a-clef published about ten years ago about Jean Arthur?

I want to be molested by the young Treat Williams.

Is this old news? I’m reading the recent book about Rodgers and Hammerstein, and the author mentions that Richard Haliday -- Mary Martin's husband/manager -- was a closet case, and Mary Martin was gay, and in a longterm relationship with Janet Gaynor. That might have been discussed before, but that's the first I've seen it confirmed in a book. I always thought Martin's son Larry Hagman was handsome. He was one of my childhood crushes.

Yes on Mary Martin. Old news from old timers, just listen when you're cornered at an opening. And you two old queens bitching? Go to bed!

[quote]Did you like it? Was the music great? Was it an emotional experience?

(Re: Soft Power)

I liked but did not love it.

The music was not great, but it was serviceable and competent (and not the point of this show)

It was more of an intellectual experience than an emotional one. I like the risks it’s taking, but it isn’t completely successful at paying off on those risks.

This will not do well on Broadway, but may develop a cult following.

We're all still waiting to hear the titles of the 10 wonderful shows the above poster saw in LA last year.

Saw The Boys in the Band tonight. Parsons wasn’t in a cast or wearing a special boot or anything. He seemed fine. Loved every second of it. Quinto was the revelation for me. He might be doing something of an imitation of Leonard Frey but he nails his laughs and then some. Got to see Bomer’s magnificent nude body (and ass) in the mirror reflection as reported here and elsewhere and it is indeed a thing of beauty. He happens to be very good in it, too. He gets a few laughs here and there. There isn’t a weak link in the entire cast. The writing really does peter out toward the end (especially for Parsons’ character). However there’s a specific spot-on directorial choice for the final moment by the superb Joe Mantello involving Bomer which I’m not sure was in the original script or was done in previous productions. Absolutely worth going out of your way to see.

Why are you such a nasty cunt, r123? Jesus, can you really not take someone having a different opinion than you? It is, after all, subjective. There is no definitive right answer when it comes to art.

I live in SF, and as a rule we hate LA even more than NY does. But I’ve seen some good things there (the last was that thing about Streisand’s basement at the Taper with Michael Urie. Fun, but not great art. I don’t get down very often anymore).

Anyway, aside from our ballet we aren’t much better (or worse) than LA or NY. As someone upthread implied, it’s sad times for the theatre in the US (not so in the U.K., where it’s still considered a vital art form).

[quote]However there’s a specific spot-on directorial choice for the final moment by the superb Joe Mantello involving Bomer

Hopefully another nude scene.

[quote]The music was not great, but it was serviceable and competent

That quote could have been made about any of Jeanine Tesori’s scores.

I like this Broadway boo's big feet.

R122, thank you but I have a question:

I know the point of the show is not the music, but would the show have been more of an emotional experience (though I know its mostly an intellectual one) with music that was more than " serviceable and competent" because one reviewer said for every good song theres a clunker!?

I dont know if its because the musical is SUPPOSED to be bad and that great songs would hurt that objective, or if Tesori was just not inspired by the proceedings?

What do you think of Tesori's work; here and in general.

And R127--do you like any of her songs?

r79 Just got through reading that hilarious Summer Stock thread. It's closed -- should we start an new one or just add to it here? Someone back then (geez--it's more than 10 years ago!) kept asking about the Sacramento Music Circus-- the only show I remember seeing there was "Same Time, Next Year" with Gary Collins and DL fave Sue Ane Langdon.

[quote]...for every good song theres a clunker!?

I don’t agree with this. The trouble is they’re all okay but a little bland.

And I think most of Tesori’s work is pretty bland.

I don’t think this musical is supposed to be bad, per se, just campy and over-the-top. I would have preferred a stronger score, but it worked. It certainly was never bad.

Weak praise I know, but this show is complicated.

Tesori is utterly mediocre at best—and often much, much worse than that.

Whenever you hear Tesori's music you think 'Fall, fall and crush.'

Richard Jay-Aloxander is a really nice guy, he has done more for Broadway than most, saved many a broken performer and took care with the kids. A mensch and a mentor!

THIS......

AND THAT.....

R131, I understand it was "competent, serviceable, and that it worked" but would that " stronger score" that you said you'd have preferred...would it have improved upon the impact of the show?

I get it, itis a complicated show, but a great score adds cohesion, no?

And can even elevate and clarify?

People seem to be confused by the show as a whole.

R130 That Summer Stock thread is fucking golden! Billy Boy, especially, beautiful human stories. .....But the stars gone wild stories are also delicious. I think it needs a new one

i wonder why the summer stock thread was closed out early at 520 replies. TMI, got complaints? Regardless, great, classic DL thread.

R139 Wondered that too, nothing too namey or stories that would threaten lawsuits, shame

I think that happens routinely when threads age past a certain point - they're considered part of the archive but not "active" and closing them out wherever they landed when they first ran is where it ends.

Please tell me that's one of the worst songs in the show, r136, because it was pretty bad.

It's not that I ever expect much from Tesori but that was unusually tuneless.

So what play did Wesley Taylor get fired from when he was 22? (around 2009)

He tweeted something about how the director came to see Sponge Bob tonight and they talked.

I haven’t seen Soft Power yet (east coast here), but a friend who saw it actually thought it needed LESS of a score. His feeling was they needed the "musical" to be less substantial because it took away from and eclipsed the "play". He’s a big Fun Home fan, but here, he felt it needed a more lightweight songwriting team writing fewer songs, something more Forbidden Broadway than Caroline Or Change.

Huh someone cares enough about slagging off Henry to post the same post on both this thread and the false-start other one ... Slater's reps are earning their pay

I loved Tesori's Violet!

[quote]So what play did Wesley Taylor get fired from when he was 22? (around 2009)

He spent most of 2009 (when he would indeed have been 22 until his birthday in August) in Rock of Ages, so he must have been fired in something in 2008 (he would have been 22 Aug-Dec 2008)

That song from “Soft Power” was boring, meandering and tuneless. Though the performers seemed well rehearsed, I really couldn’t understand what they were saying. Not that it matters; there was no melody to speak of, just a sound wall, with power ballad outbreaks.

Makes me not want to see this show.

Richard Jay Alexander is a nasty piece of work. How on earth has he avoided Metoo?

R137, yes of course the better the score the better the show.

I’m not sure what your agenda is, because that’s a pretty stupid question.

But it only would have helped so far. You need good dramaturgy too.

R144, if the music were handled that way then it would be a lot more obvious that Soft Power is a rip-off of Mr. Burns---which treats the music exactly the way you describe.

One decent song and a 16-measure tag do not a score make.

Who knows, maybe Richard Jay is in this mysterious NYT article... maybe Rudin pulled his ads in allegiance with RJA!

Fuck off about the non-existent NYT article, r153. You've been pushing that for months, and it's gotten tiresome.

Breathe. I think r153 was making a joke.

R131-

You say the score is 'certainly not bad" but I agree with R142 and R148 on THAT score.

And THAT song wasnt going for "camp" I imagine.

Yes, of course, your opinion on one song from a rehearsal video is SO much more valid than the opinion of someone who’s see the show and heard the whole score.

Again, what is your agenda. You seem to want this show to fail because of its score.

But it won’t. It will fail because of its book.

[quote] Why are you such a nasty cunt, [R123]? Jesus, can you really not take someone having a different opinion than you? It is, after all, subjective. There is no definitive right answer when it comes to art.

I'm the person you tried (and failed) to make your point with (and then tried to shame for having a bad attitude. Whoops!) re: LA theater, and I did not make the post at R123. Someone else entirely.

Tsk.

I have a $10 bet with a friend who insists he has Tony voter friends who say SPONGEBOB will get he Best Musical Tony winner. I think it will be BAND'S VISIT. Who will win?

Spongebob.

Deservedly or not.

Forgot to mention a particularly amusing moment at The Boys in the Band last night:

At the moment Donald (Bomer) walks down the stairs and says to Michael (Parsons) “Well? Am I stunning?” a guy in the audience blurted out “YES.” The way he said it was what made it so funny. He just said it as a knee jerk reaction, a point blank statement of fact.

^ I'm embarrassed at that kind of audience behaviour.

~ This thread is entitled "THEATRE GOSSIP #306: Noel Coward Edition" but I can see no mention of that talented wordsmith.

This is from the Summer Stock thread. I am including the original peppy song/dance number.

"Speaking of Jane Morgan. Kenley hired her for TOVARICH for the role Vivien Leigh played on Broadway. A highlight of that musical and featured on Ed Sullivan, was the charleston number, "Wilkesbury, P.A." When Kenley players did it, the director cut that number which was probably the only good number in the show and replaced it with "Diamonds are Forever," the theme from that summer's very popular James Bond film. So there was Jane Morgan as the disposed Russian princess singing that rather slow ballad instead of the peppy song/dance number.

Wilkes-Barre, PA

Vivien after the number seems like she knows Ed. Don't know if she did or not but it seems odd. Like Ralph Richardson or Edith Evans knowing him.

^ But Ralph Richardson or Edith Evans would not have known that schmoozy ignoramus.

I thought the best male show dancers of the 80s and 90s were Don Correia, Hinton Battle and Gregg Burge. Are today's male dancers like Yazbeck, Berresse or Fairchild their equals or superiors? Although I appreciated his technique, I thought Fairchild's MATM was pretty unexciting but then again, I don't like the number.

Noel Coward. I saw the celebration of what would have been Noel Coward's 100th birthday in 1999 at Carnegie Hall in NYC. Elaine Strritch sang several songs from "Sail Away." She then addressed the audience, "Noel thought he would be forgotten. Tonight proven him wrong."

Why did Noel Coward write for Elaine Stritch? He could do so much better than her.

[quote]This thread is entitled "THEATRE GOSSIP #306: Noel Coward Edition" but I can see no mention of that talented wordsmith.

The reference to Coward is in the OP.

[quote]I saw the celebration of what would have been Noel Coward's 100th birthday in 1999 at Carnegie Hall in NYC. Elaine Strritch sang several songs from "Sail Away." She then addressed the audience, "Noel thought he would be forgotten. Tonight proven him wrong."

That's surprising. Coward always seemed to have a strong ego and to be very well aware of his talent and his place in theater history. Maybe Stritch made it up that he said that, as was her frequent practice.

Coward WAS very well aware of his talent and his place in theater history.

But he also said something in the 40s to Judy Campbell (she of the interesting family) something about he actually had a fragile ego behind his façade.

(I forget the actual words he used, some English idiom about 'jam')

Several weeks before the 1999 concert Elaine Stritch did a revival of "Sail Away" in a small theater, part of Carnegie Hall.. She was very good.

private lives

Thanks for the TOVARICH clip. Always cheers me up.

R138 & R130 -- glad you're enjoying the thread...it's one of the all time gold standards for old showbiz dish. I wonder if Billy Boy is still around...perhaps he has more memories to share?? Someone should start a new one!

Fairchild is a very boring dancer. Years ago he would have gotten juvenile roles in Broadway musicals by fucking the director.

[quote]Darling, it's Los Angeles.

[quote]Darling, that hasn't been true for ages.

[quote]Sweetheart, I live in LA.

[quote]Sweetheart, I live in LA, too.

[quote]Why are you such a nasty cunt

Noel Coward didn't start out to hang SAIL AWAY on Ms. Stritch. The "star" was Jean Fenn, an opera singer. In her role her voice, for which she was cast, turned out to be too big for the show. As well, everytime Stritch in her minor role was on stage she electrified. Oh dear, it's the show business, decisions were made ,eventually Mr. Coward called the company together, "Kiddies, we lost Miss Fenn."

Repeating from the horse's mouth, the show property master, Abe Einhorn, R.I.P.

It's too late now R325, but come to the cemetery tomorrow, I'll let you see my dick.. You'll plotz!

Did Stritch scream her way through Noel's music like she did mine?

I think she's ok on the OC album. Never was a voice-fan of hers, but she seemed to always get the job done.

Has anyone mentioned "Pacific 1860," the musical Noel Coward wrote for Mary Martin? Martin played a world-weary opera singer, totally at odds with her voice and public image. It played only in London, and only lasted a short time. Noel Coward put together a Vegas nightclub act to earn money.

Christine Pedi has a vision problem that must keep her from being able to take a role in a musical. She's perfect in cabaret. She's incredibly talented and a very funny lady.

It's weird how often you see pics of Stritch dressed like a man, even wearing a tie, plus hanging out with Liz Smith ... why aren't there more gay rumors about her (plus she's so butch)

[Quote] Christine Pedi has a vision problem that must keep her from being able to take a role in a musical.

Glass eye?

Well, a poster has repeatedly told of overhearing Stritch in a therapist's office, bellowing "I can't be a dyke! I'm Cardinal Stritch's niece!".

R182 Everyone acknowledges Noelie was losing his shine in the 50s. But that doesn't diminish his cleverness over the previous 25 years.

He was an excellent lyricist, a satisfactory music composer and a lousy actor.

Are the other songs in Soft Power anything like r136's clip? Does every musical theatre song have to be an anthem now?

More importantly, does Christine Pedi like blue?

He wasn't the only one, r182......

r125, do you go to the SF Opera at all? I lived in the Bay Area for a few years and fondly remember some wonderful nights there. The Met may have more star power, but SFO is (was?) at least as good. Catherine Malfitano in Madama Butterfly was unforgettable (in that small theatre, when the house was being rebuilt). Anyway, sorry if this doesn't count as musical theatre.

It's the pencil skirt, r184.

SpongeBob is not winning the Tony for Best Musical.

No way, no how.

If that show is lucky, it will win Best Actor, and even that would be a bit of a disgrace.

The Band's Visit has this award locked and loaded.

r185 Sandy doesn't have a glass eye.

R190, I go to the opera once a year or so, not a subscriber, but yes, in addition to the ballet, that's ahead of LA, too. Although LA Opera is much, much better and stronger than it used to be.

[quote]He was an excellent lyricist, a satisfactory music composer and a lousy actor.

Did you miss my stunning performances in "Bunny Lake is Missing" and as the Witch of Capri in "Boom"? Darling, I was divine.

[quote]Sandy doesn't have a glass eye.

I read it on a DL Theatre Gossip thread so it has to be true.

Sandy had an operation to remove a tumor, and in the process, her eye lost its vision. But it was never removed and replaced with a glass eye.

How is it possible there is no bootleg of Boys In The Band yet?

Because they can't get a good shot of nude Bomer and that's all anyone wants?

What about of Lee Pace, Pace, o mio Dio?

It seems that Noel made quite a bit of money from when he was a young man but was quite the spendthrift until he got serious about it in the 50s and made his money in nightclub acts.

According to Riva her mother made a lot of money and spent it as quickly without making any investments. Dietrich lived very lavishly and was very generous as long as you did her bidding. There was little of her money at the end.

I wonder what happened to all those gold and jewel encrusted cigarette cases flush celebrities were giving to each other back then. It seems to have been the gift of choice.

When you really think about it. wasn't Private Lives the only play of Coward's that would pay him constant royalties? Well, I guess Blithe Spirit, too. And maybe Hay Fever, at least throughout his lifetime.

Had he wisely invested his money from the 20s on he would have been a very rich man. Well I guess he would have been wiped out in 29. But from then on he had a number of big hit plays and films. And he did manage to have a home in Switzerland and a home in Jamaica.

Noel Coward did several specials in the 1950s without much success. His plays were considered old fashioed. Without his nightclub act, he would have been lost

R202 A Noel Coward play gets performed every month somewhere across the world since 1929.

A Noel Coward song has been sung every week somewhere across the world since 1929.

Revisiting the Summer Stock thread . I assume you all remember that Mr. Kenley of Kenley's famous players was a transexual woman.

I've always considered Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf a lackluster rewrite of Private Lives. Woolf to me is fun but over the top with little subtext. Lives is layers deep in subtext.

r182, I've never heard it, but there is a London original cast recording of Pacific 1860. The part is not, as you said, totally at odds with Martin's persona. She could impersonate a coloratura (I phrase that very deliberately) and Martin specifically requested to have a number in Peter Pan that would show off her "ability." The result was Mysterious Lady.

The Pacific 1860 recording is surprisingly not on youtube, although a couple of amateur performances of numbers from the score are.

The music and the production were well received at the time.

^ But you're right, r182, it didn't run.

Whats going on with Sondheim's Exterminating Angel musical that was supposed to premiere at the Public last season?

[R208] Mary's persona was a small-town girl from Texas. She could break away somewhat ("One Touch of Venus" and "The Sound of Music"), but not as an opera singer.

To be honest, One Touch of Venus was before Mary really had a "persona" on Broadway. Wasn't it her first starring role on Broadway after her supporting role in Leave It to Me?

And then she played an elegant Asian in Lute Song. I would have said her "persona" did not gel until South Pacific in 1949.

r208 r211 Speaking of which---did anyone catch Kelli O'Hara in Così fan tutte at the Met?

I'd like to know this, too, r210. Anyone?

I did see O'Hara. She was just fine. I'm not a special fan, but she was easily the best actor in the cast and managed to be funny amid all the clutter of the misbegotten concept. As to her voice, I'm not a classical vocal critic either, but she sounded fine to me, even if her voice seemed somewhat smaller than her co-stars.

[quote]I assume you all remember that Mr. Kenley of Kenley's famous players was a transexual woman.

Not exactly. He was intersex, the term for what used to be called hermaphrodites. His parents thought he would have an easier time of it if they raised him as a male. AS an adult, after he had success, he spent his spring and summers as John Kenley doing theatre in Ohio and Pennsylvania, and his autumns and winters in Palm Springs as a woman named "Joan Kenley."

Mary Martin's "My Heart Belongs to Daddy" in Leave It To Me was so successful because she was a last minute replacement, and Sophie Tucker had to explain the lyrics to Mary.

She sang it 'straight', without naughty winks and pauses is what made it funny. She sang it like she had no idea what the lyrics meant.

Mary Martin sang with a soprano voice in "The Great Victor Herbert" film, but after going to Hollywood after her success in "Leave It To Me", Hollywood had a hard time trying to find her niche. She meshed nicely with Bing Crosby in a couple of pictures, but Hollywood was always trying new makeup and hairstyles on her, but she was never box-office there. Back to Broadwy she went, and on to a stellar career.

Pedi is WONDERFUL on Sirius radio. Much better than Seth

According to Mary, Sophie told her to roll her eyes upward on certain phrases (like "to dine on my fine finnan haddie"). Mary had no idea why, but it always got laughs.

That's an extremely low bar, r220.

I can’t bear listening to Seth on Sirius. He always sounds like he’s eating or sucking and on a piece of hard candy. I really don’t want to listen to his phlegm.

John Kenley in his "male" persona

Interesting how major personalities couldn't make it in film but were very appealing on a close up TV. Maybe it was the size of the screen.

And the Noel Coward renaissance began during his lifetime.

Present laughter which at one time was one of his lesser know efforts has had a number of on Broadway revivals. I enjoyed the George C Scott and Langella very much. I hear the recent Kline was awful probably because the director wasn't skilled enough to do a Coward play.

More on John/Joan

One of Martin's last movies on her Paramount contract was the Technicolor HAPPY GO LUCKY (1943) . Despite some funny non-Mary moments (a plastered babbling Mary gets thrown into a cold shower by Dick Powell to sober her up, a caterpillar falls down her dress between her boobs making her twitch uncontrollably), she co-stars with Betty Hutton who blows her off the screen. Demure Mary was no match for Barrelhouse Betty.

At 5:46: Mary and Betty make a roast and rice pudding.

(Martin was supposed to be in HOLIDAY INN, but her pregnancy caused her to drop out. A pity, as we could have seen what she looked like in blackface and pigtails.)

Mary recreates her big Broadway number in Warner's NIGHT AND DAY (1946). When she debuted the song in LEAVE IT TO ME, one of her chorus boy Eskimos was Gene Kelly.

I don't see Gene Kelly.

r228: He was in her Broadway chorus (1938), not her Hollywood one (1946).

.........and supposedly he made Cole Porter very very happy to land that gig.

Paramount was the wrong studio for Mary Martin. Bob Hope and Bing Crosby didn't need a girl next door type who could sing.

No studio could have used her. MGM had Garland, Fox had Faye, Universal had Durbin. And with rare exceptions like YANKEE DOODLE DANDY and THIUS IS THE ARMY, in the early '40s Warners had pretty much stopped making musicals.

And I cannot see Mary Martin at Republic on Monogram....

Mary met Janet Gaynor and her 2nd her second husband, Richard Halliday, in Hollywood.

Mary in Victor Herbert (enters at 1:55...or so).

Question about that Summer Stock thread. I started reading, and I see there were 520 posts per the top number, but it only goes to 16 and then says thread closed. Did anyone else find this? Thanks.

I'm not having that problem, r236.

I got all the way to the end, r236.

Hmmm. Maybe how I accessed it? I don't know. I'll try searching it out and clicking on it from there. Thanks, R237

Noel and Mary....

[quote]And I cannot see Mary Martin at Republic on Monogram....

Damn straight!

I love Joan Kenley's voice on my voicemail and telephone directories. She's just tremendous.

No one will say it out loud, but this "Angels In America" is better than the confusing mess George Wolfe perpetrated 25 years ago. His actors back then were stellar, but his direction was as lame as everything he'd done before and since. Wolfe is a hack. That's why he couldn't run the Public Theater. Because he would have eventually killed it. He has no respect for the written word, and no vision of the big picture.

But they keep letting him direct. Mike Nichols could take the grittiest material and make it look pretty. That was his talent. It didn't serve the play but it served Mike.

George can take anything and just barely get it to walk. That's not a gift. It's a curse. And it's the best he'll ever do.

[quote]Several weeks before the 1999 concert Elaine Stritch did a revival of "Sail Away" in a small theater, part of Carnegie Hall.. She was very good.

Not exactly, I was there. Stritch presented herself in this barely-staged reading as a kidnapped hostage. She sat with her face in her script, wearing that stupid hat she favored, seemingly unprepared, barely muttering her lines as if forced to against her will. Typical. The magical change occurred when Marian Seldes started getting big guffaws in her meager supporting role, because that's what Marian could do whenever she so desired. Suddenly Stritch saw herself about to get swept into the wings by Seldes and came alive at long last, well after her first number. Then and only then was she pretty good. Still, in the second act, the biggest laugh and the ONLY mid-scene applause belonged to Seldes. You don't ever forget these things....I know, MARY! (MARIAN!)

[quote] No one will say it out loud, but this "Angels In America" is better than the confusing mess George Wolfe perpetrated 25 years ago.

No one will say it because it isn't true.

[quote]Question about that Summer Stock thread. I started reading, and I see there were 520 posts per the top number, but it only goes to 16 and then says thread closed. Did anyone else find this? Thanks.

That happens to me occasionally. The site's backend database gets messed up. Reload the page or close the site altogether and then open it again.

Could someone please link that Summer Stock thread again?

TIA!

But why didn't Paramount make more and better musicals during the 1930s/40s? They had Bing Crosby under contract and he was the biggest singing star in the world during those decades. And Bob Hope, their other big contract property, was a musical comedy star on Broadway before he moved to Hollywood.

Not sure how to do that r247, but I'll try.

Wrote this before. I saw Perestroika years ago done by the graduate program of NYU far over on the lower east side.

Absolutely tremendous. A great moving experience with very little in the way of sets.

I saw the hash Nichols made in that half of the film and in comparison the glossy big name stars were a joke. Incredibly amateurish.

In the NYU version I will never forget Harpers speech sitting on a ladder and Mrs Rosenberg and her vigil over Cohn. Terrifying.

How cold the pros turn it into such a hammy farce. If I hadn't seen those young people I would have considered Angels way overrated by the film version. I have never seen the first half and do not want to see it in the film that's for sure. And what's his face on stage? No, no, no...I hope the brilliant young man kid who played Cohn at NYU is having a major career.

[quote]No one will say it out loud, but this "Angels In America" is better than the confusing mess George Wolfe perpetrated 25 years ago.

I disagree. The original production was brilliant. It hit you right in the solar plexus and Wolfe was partly responsible for that impact.

Sorry for the typos. You never see them until you post.

R250, that "kid" who played Cohn in the NYU workshop played Louis in the HBO film.

I saw a fat blond Michael Hayden play Cohn at Juilliard with Elizabeth Marvel as Hannah and Michael Stuhlbarg as Louis.

I meant to eliminate 'kid' when I wrote 'young man.' F-cking typos.

And it just goes to show you how lousy Nichols could be.

Though Streamers was overwhelming. Loved it. RIP Peter Evans.

Debra Messing was Harper in that NYU production. Daniel Zelman, Messing’s former husband, played Prior. Vivienne Benesch was the Angel.

[R244] I saw a totally different "Sail Away" than you. At the performance, I saw, Elaine dominated the stage.. I do not even remember Seldes..

I got the Summer Stock thread to reload properly. And it's a HOOT! Thanks to whoever brought it to our attention!

R258 - glad you got it working! IIRC, there was actually a Part Two to the Summer Stock thread, but that doesn't seem to be in the archives. Definitely time for a revival!

It's a shame star-driven summer stock is virtually non-existent these days. You get some exceptions like Ogunquit and Forestburgh but even then, it's C and D tier stars from the '70s (Sally Struthers, Loretta Swit) who haven't been active in the mainstream in 30+ years. While Kenley and other circuits would still get B and C tier stars, the difference is that they were still larger than life STARS who had mega careers in Hollywood/TV/Broadway years earlier...they just don't make em like that anymore!

Christina Crawford used to act at Ogunquit. Wonder who her understudy was?

I'd like to see Paul Glaser and Jaclyn Smith tour this summer in Plaza Suite.

First Night Fanny is rather notorious for just making shit up. I saw Elaine Stritch's reading of "Sail Away" and was enthralled. Andre Bishop has also gone on record as saying it was one of the highlights of his theater going life -- but oh that Fanny.

Now -- did you know that Noel's American boyfriend, John C. Wilson, was a terrible businessman and lost a lot of Noel's money in the twenties? John, who was Cole Porter's ex., later became a Broadway director of note including the original "Kiss Me, Kate" and "Gentleman Prefer Blondes." And he also became a good old married to a woman drunk.

I saw Stritch in SAIL AWAY a couple of times the first time around and she was terrific. A loathsome human being but an undeniable talent.

The deeper I get into the Summer Stock thread, the more I'm starting to think Billy Boy is making shit up hoping to secure a book deal, or auditioning material for a one man show.

One of my favorite Westbury summer stock experiences was seeing blonde and severely tanned barbie doll Susan Anton as neurotic Jew Sonia Walsk in They're Playing Our Song. Fortunately she played opposite Dick Latessa who carried the show and it all worked. For $10 a ticket!!!!!

Dick Latessa?? I can't ever envision him young. Or even middle aged. And I've enjoyed his performances going back to The WiIl Rogers Follies.

when does Jackie Mason and his broadway exploits get the MeToo treatment

I literally had tears streaming down my face from laughing so hard at some of the posts in the summer stock thread.

[quote]Debra Messing was Harper in that NYU production.

What? So I'm no longer "DL fave Deb Messing?" Fuck you.

Dick Latessa was probably in his 50's when he toured in They're Playing Our Song. I remember thinking his hair looked dyed.

I also saw that concert version of SAIL AWAY, and yes, Stritch was brilliant, and blew eveyone else away. Not much of a show, and I never thought much of her 11 oclock number - until I saw her do it...she was brilliant.

And I'll also add that though most of the time I think George C Wolfe is a terrible director, the original production(s) on Angels in America was stunning, and watching those press reels pretty much puts the new revival to shame.

I saw the original Broadway production of Angels in America. The staging didn't impress me. And I think there should have been some cuts to the script. Lord, that Tony Kushner can go on and on. But some of the original cast was just brilliant. Ron Leibman, Marcia Gay Harden and Jeffrey Wright were all perfection. Not one false moment in their performances.

The thought of Jackie Mason doing anything sexual with anybody at all is making my skin crawl.

That young man playing Cohn at NYU and then playing Louis in the HBO Angels was Ben Shenkman, who also played Mary-Louise Parker's geeky/sexy boy friend in Proof.

WEHT? He was hot!!

Ben Shenkman is a regular on Shonda Rhimes’ new series, For the People, which just got picked up for a second season.

But not Follies-Follies, r266?

RIP ALLYN ANN McLERIE, 91, star of Miss Liberty, Where's Charley?, Lincoln Center's Showboat, and the films Calamity Jane and They Shoot Horses, Don't They?

[quote]and supposedly he made Cole Porter very very happy to land that gig.

I made him happier, and on a regular basis!

r277 and widow of George Gaynes, who died at 98 in 2016.

and former wife of Adolph Green.

The lovely Miss McLerie....

And of course....

That summer stock thread is as hilarious as I remembered! Tears streaming down my face from the laughter and I haven't even read the first 50 posts yet!.

So where's 'Where's Charley?'

Occasionally show played in simmer direct from Broadway such as, "A Majority of One" with Gertrude Berg.

R284, if you mean the movie of “Where’s Charley?” I read somewhere that the film elements need a lot of repair, which is expensive. And there’s probably not much demand for the movie. Too bad the widow Loesser won’t kick in some funds from the royalties generated by Frank’s shows.

With Jo Sullivan blocking the release of Where's Charlie on video or DVD, there was never any reason to preserve it.

I've heard that she is no longer blocking the release of the film but no one has been willing to put up the money for restoration.

R264 I did think the posts weren't just a guy chatting, but an attempt for a book. Many "truths" seem manufactured to me, too. So much was just old material. Today no one really wants to read that. Well, few. Maybe we need twenty-thirty years before reading funny quips about Hamilton or Dear Evan .. speaking of, I've an odd lust for Platt naked. Am I the only one?

R264. Yes.

r289. Yes.

Allyn Ann McLerie also played Anita in WEST SIDE STORY in the original production when it returned to Broadway after a short tour.

Does Ben Platt have a love life?

So Where's Charley doesn't even exist on some faded VHS? And Ted Turner never saw a reason to restore it?

Did the widow Loesser hate it despite not even knowing her husband when it was made? Did Frank hate it?

Though stagey Bolger is supposed to be wonderful and so many of films from that era are at least in watchable condition.

No. It was never released on VHS.

Jo claimed Frank hated it.

So she blocked it for a long time.

Since the film was never released, it was not missed.

The bit of Where's Charley you can see online makes it look like a bit of a slog.

R293 certainly v discreet. As long as the boy is willing to convert I'm sure it will be fine.

Pauline Kael thought that most of the Where’s Charley? movie was wonderful. She hated the young lovers’ song but loved Bolger’s dancing. It’s a shame the movie can’t be seen.

Agree with those who thought Stritch's Carnegie SAIL AWAY was pure bliss. Some here seem to be on a mission to prove that she had no talent or charisma—despite her many acclaimed roles and awards. Yes, she seems to have been a monstrous human being, but that had no effect on my life, and I'd rather see her at her worst than any current female star you could name at her best.

Did Stritch once say that she was sort of in love with Sondheim or that he was sort of in love with her? Or did I make that up?

Ben Shenkman is also on Billions on Showtime.

The original AiA was fucking brilliant, there is no comparison with the current dullness and ugliness on that stage. It’s sad.

I saw Stritch in Company, Delicate Balance and twice in At Liberty.

A great Broadway talent.

Would I have wanted to deal with her in life? No. But I didn't buy a ticket to deal with her in life.

When I was making my first film, my casting director said- I'm friends with Elaine Stritch. If I ask her to do this role, she will. I thought abut it for a few minutes, weighed the options, and said, don't you dare.

[quote]The bit of Where's Charley you can see online makes it look like a bit of a slog.

I agree - and you're probably talking about "Once in Love With Amy," which goes on forever and is performed by an oh-so-self-satisfied Ray Bolger.

The Pernambuco ballet is better. It still has too much Bolger, but it also has Allyn Ann McLerie dancing and emoting delightfully.

Othello begins tonight in Central Park. Are there any stars in it? I didn't recognize any names in the cast list.

r306 Corey Stoll isn't a big enough name for you?

[quote]Corey Stoll isn't a big enough name for you?

No, I had to look him up. Is he Iago? He looks like Stormy Daniels' attorney.

The last time I saw Othello in Central Park, it starred Raul Julia and Christopher Walken. The time before, I saw it on Broadway with James Earl Jones and Christopher Plummer. We had *STARS* back then. *STARS* I tell you.

And now you just have *DEPENDS*

I saw the Jones/Plummer "Othello" in Boston at the Wilbur Theatre. It was excellent, and afterward I thought, Well, I never need to see "Othello" again. I said the same thing about "Macbeth" after seeing Ian McKellan and Judi Dench in it at Stratford-u-A.

Who’s playing Othello?

r311 Some Olivier-Award winning Brit.

Jonathan Pryce?

And...Laurie Metcalf wins the Tony!

Will it be a consolation prize for having to put up with Roseanne this year?

Now that Roseanne has been cancelled perhaps Three Tall Women will extend?

I don't see why not, r316, now that Roseanne is free to take over from Glenda Jackson.

This makes me want to buy a ticket. And by 'this' I mean Mr. Boner

Surprised there isn't a huge poster of Matt Bomer in by underwear outside e the theater.

R297 I know it's silly, but he does it for me. Badly want him naked in my bed. My only solace that it'll never have him is that having him once I'd be done with him, You know, just like a man. But oh, how I'd like a crack at him. Hell, I'd convert!

So well put R303 …"great Broadway talent"

Last night, I watched "Stage Door Canteen" on TCM on demand. Fun to see cameos by the likes of Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne (she looked decades older than he), Talulah Bankhead, and Katherine Cornell, doing a bit from the balcony scene as an bit long-in-the-tooth Juliet (though still radiant) to Lon McAllister's more than a little gay Romeo. Talk about Dyke Central! Oh, and Helen Hayes was there, looking as drab as ever. Kate Hepburn at her most dry and withered (for someone still in her thirties). Were there any straight women on Broadway back then? All we needed was Mary and Janet. Ethel seemed positively feminine by comparison. And Miss Peggy Lee rushing through "Why Don't You Do Right?"

Lon Mcallister as "California" was sweet, and there was queer subtext galore in his snuggling against brawny Dakota!

Bomer is SO wrong for Donald. Frederick Combs may have had a hot bod and he could look very handsome from the right angle. But from other angles, his face could look very charactery and ethnic. The overall impression was "nerdy wallflower who's had something of a glow up". Matt Bomer has never been less than the prettiest in the room. Someone who looks like he does is not believable as a caretaker for Michael. A Bomer would be snatched away. He'd have men ringing his phone off the wall.

Believe it or not, I've known several men as beautiful as Bomer who don't have men knocking at their door. Either they're A.) insufferable assholes or B.) they're incredibly shy and revered which can come across as aloof or snooty to people who don't know them. Sometimes, people are scared to approach people like that for fear of being turned down.

I almost want to say there was an interview with Morgan Fairchild where she said she didn't really date, because men just assume she's out of their league or think she's some sort of grand diva or something. It does happen a good deal.

Did Morgan not really date in the way that Patricia Morison didn't really date?

Bomer’s actually quite right for the role. Donald is a bookish kind of guy but also has to be hot so you get why Larry was seriously tempted to get it on with him in front of his lover.

Larry's kind of an asshole. He wouldn't need much persuasion.

Did Mart Crowley ever say which "boy" he was?

Would Bomer be believable as someone in a long lasting relationship with an older ordinary looking man? Yet he is.

[quote] Did Mart Crowley ever say which "boy" he was?

Well, I think we can cross one of them off.

An older ordinary looking man who can help him in the business? Certainly.

[quote]When I was making my first film, my casting director said- I'm friends with Elaine Stritch. If I ask her to do this role, she will. I thought abut it for a few minutes, weighed the options, and said, don't you dare.

R304 = Chi Chi LaRue?

hahahahaha. Droll, R332.

Nah. Elaine didn't do anal.

Wanna bet?

It looks like Bette will only be playing 6 performances a week (wed through sat) when she returns to Dolly. Donna Murphy will play Tues nights and the show will be dark on Sundays and Mondays.

That's funny. I just read in Deadline that Murphy was playing Sunday matinees.

Yup, Donna will be playing Sunday matinees. Bette will play 7 shows/wk Tues through Saturday.

Jim Parsons on Kelly & Ryan today saying he wears the boot but for the show Dr said he can wear special shoes, he called them rockers for the two hours.

Looks like Donna's final performance will be a Monday evening, so she gets one evening performance, too. Nice! I might make it back to NY during her 6 performance run.

Anyone here have any Donna stories? I know everyone can engage in social masking, but she comes across as such a lovely, big-hearted person on Twitter. Is she a total cunt in real life? I hope not...

"Special shoes"? Rockers my ass.

Nobody can think of a good alternative to Beymer in WSS. No to Wagner, Beatty and Perkins. And Wood is wonderful and if you don't think so you get a big Bronx cheer.

Nobody can think of a good alternative to Streisand in Dolly. No to Lucy, Ginger and Carol.

Just was watching the Blu Ray of the Todd AO print of Dolly and it got me thinking. Some of it is this is why people hate musicals bad(I'm pointing at you Crawford. Brando would have been a better choice.) but some of it is downright magnificent. Lockin can be silly too but we love him so it doesn't matter. Visually it is amazing and sad because it is the end of the old Hollywood studio system and all its resources.

Interesting too as somebody pointed out that Streisand holds onto her dress with both hands as she's running towards the camera singing Before the Parade Passes By. In the print I saw as a boy at the local empty movie palace, so many times I figured out how complicated the editing was during the parade to make it seem longer than it actually is(groups are in different order in different shots as well,) Streisand's hat starts to fall off and she has to hold it on with her right hand as she runs. So the question is and it's a very important question why was a different take used for the general release Panavision version than the one in the roadshow Todd AO version? Did somebody in the studio prefer Streisand singing, running, and trying to keep a hat on her head all at the same time? It is more effective.

Has anyone looked into enrolling in the free on line "Mad About Musicals" class being offered by TCM (through Ball State University)? Sounds like it could be fun (and interesting.) It's about musical MOVIES, of course, not theatrical musicals, but obviously there is some overlap.

tried to R343 but they wont let you unless you agree to this :

I WOULD LIKE TO RECEIVE MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS FROM INSTRUCTURE, AND I CONSENT TO THE PROCESSING OF THE PERSONAL DATA THAT I PROVIDE INSTRUCTURE IN ACCORDANCE WITH AND AS DESCRIBED IN THE PRIVACY POLICY BELOW.

Bomer is def miscast (and I've actually seen it) bc he doesn't at all convey the bookish introvert described in the text

r344, every website now has to post a revised privacy policy, and most ask you to sign off on it.

This morning's NYT has a "Confirm or Deny" interview with Mantello in which he "hopefully" confirms that Sondheim will deliver a completed score for the Bunuel musical by the end of the summer. Something to live for....

r345 but doesn't Bomer wear glasses?

I don't know, Road Trip was such a piece of shit, and Passion as well, that I'm having a hard time getting excited about a new one from Sondheim.

I'd rather have a new one from John Kander at this point.

Road Show was disappointing, but I loved Passion--at least I loved the score; the book not so much. But I have some confidence in David Ives and I'm interested in seeing what the two of them have cooked up.

The Delacorte "Othello" I saw was Raul Julia and Richard Dreyfuss, not Walken. I was shocked at how bad the James Earl Jones/Christopher Plummer production was on Broadway - I expected much better with those two in the cast.

[quote]I was shocked at how bad the James Earl Jones/Christopher Plummer production was on Broadway - I expected much better with those two in the cast.

I was in high school when I saw it. At the time, I thought that the actress playing Desdemona was terrible. She seemed so whiny. Years later, I dug out my Playbill and saw that it was Dianne Wiest. I also remember hating the set which was a bunch of curtains that swished around to denote different locations.

The thing that I hated about the Julia/Walken production was that they seemed like they were in two different plays. Julia was playing what we think of as "Shakesperian" and Walken had his hair dyed black, was wearing a black leather jacket, talking out the side of his mouth and slouching through the whole show. It was very confusing. Think one person doing Romeo and Juliet and the other doing West Side Story.

I saw both productions of "Othello".

Dreyfuss and Walken both sucked ass.

Each other's? That must've been something!

Actually, Dreyfuss was one of my all-time favorite Iagos.

Why does Shakespeare not play on Broadway? Is it because Broadway is so tourist focused?

It could be because your average Shakespeare play has such a HUGE cast.

I have no idea how people sit through Shakespeare. The last few productions I saw years ago were absolutely unbearable. Pure tedium and listening to the actors who don't have years of intense training speaking the verse is like sitting through an opera where everyone is singing flat. James Earl Jones was terrible in that Othello.

R250, I'm just curious, why have you seen "Perestroika" twice (on stage and the TV film) but never seen "Millennium Approaches" in any version? Did you purposely avoid the first part? I would think seeing the second part wouldn't make much sense, and would at any rate be much less effective, to anyone who hadn't seen the first part. Also, I was under the impression that the TV film was very well received at the time, so I'm surprised to read people trashing it here.

The movie versions of WHERE'S CHARLEY? and PORGY AND BESS are both really problematic, but nevertheless, it's shameful that Jo Loesser in the first case and the Gershwin estate in the second have suppressed them.

[quote]Believe it or not, I've known several men as beautiful as Bomer who don't have men knocking at their door. Either they're A.) insufferable assholes or B.) they're incredibly shy and revered which can come across as aloof or snooty to people who don't know them. Sometimes, people are scared to approach people like that for fear of being turned down.

Plus, the Bomer character in THE BOYS IN THE BAND is a gay man living in pre-Stonewall NYC. A big point of the play is that, no matter how gorgeous or desirable a gay man was at that time, he was probably going to have a rough time partnering up with anyone because it was VERY difficult for gays to be openly gay back then.

I didn't avoid Millennium Approaches it's just that I haven't had the opportunity. And I just happened to start the film in the middle flipping through channels and was so appalled I had no interest in seeing the first part. I regret not having seen the original Wolfe production. The current NT production has had a very mixed reception and I know I'm in the minority but I recoil from Lane whenever I see him. I'm not sure exactly why but there is something so repugnant about him not unlike latter day Patinkin. And the ludicrous Pacino in the film.

It didn't help either, and I've written this before, that I happened to be walking by the St James as he was walking in before a performance of The Producers and he looked about as wretched and unhappy as a person could look and purposely ignored a wellwisher. I know it could have just been a bad day for him but it seemed to confirm everything I had heard about him.

I wish the RSC still brought some of their productions to Broadway. Waaay back in the day I saw their All's Well That Ends Well on Broadway and later their Much Ado About Nothing and Cyrano de Bergerac, the latter both with Derek Jacobi and Sinead Cusack. I saw both productions in one day. Heaven.

When Shakespeare is done, it is more thrilling than you can imagine. In my experience, though, that happens more frequently on BBC broadcasts (I'm thinking of a recent JULIUS CAESAR, which I was listening to while walking around NYC, and had to stop and sit down, I was so caught up in the drama) or other audio productions than in the theatre. For example, I have YET to see a live HAMLET or (even more rare) the Scottish play that does justice to the magnificent material, and, believe me, I've seen puh-lenty.

Love such astute theater criticism …"Dreyfuss and Walken both sucked ass." We can always count on DL observations to be from the higher ground. Yes, directed toward you, you silly twit.Yes, directed toward you, you silly twit. We know who you are.

I dont know who he is

Not part of the "we" here. Need I be?

I don't know who "we" is either.

Seeing an actor behaving badly to a well-wisher is maybe the worst reason I've heard in a long time for avoiding a production. But it's your loss.

It's the Royal "we" you fools.

Nigel, can you get Philip off Twitter before he posts that? Meghan does NOT look like a cross between a Muslim Brotherhood and a Planet of the Apes.

Matt Bomer is miscast and not a very interesting actor. He is, however, absolutely beautiful. I didn't find him sexy per se, but I was in awe at his beauty.

For me missing a Lane performance is never a loss. As I said there is something very grating about him. Too loud and smug for my tastes. It oozes out of him.

Lauren Bacall was an unpleasant bitch to me once when I was a store clerk years ago and trying to help her. It was an 'It's all true moment!' for me. I avoided her after that. Tony Randell in that same store gave me a withering look and made it clear he did not want to talk to me when I asked him about his activism in theater preservation.

I still enjoy them both enormously.

fuck that shit

A buddy sold ties at Bloomingdale's ...... Barbara Cook was buying. Mike gushed how much he adored her. Her reply charmingly was "Oh you all day that."

.... damn ...."say that."

It's not so much that Bomer reads as someone who would be snapped up for a relationship, it's that his dance card would be full. He's the kind of guy that would be stopped on the street by modelling/casting agents. Bomer's Donald wouldn't just have been fucked by Larry, he'd have gotten a print campaign via Hank's man.

Combs would have looked right as Clark Kent, but not as Superman. Bomer, on the other hand...

R373. "You" = homosexuals

She might have meant the salespeople at Bloomingdale's.

I sold Barbara Cook a tent once. She was looking for material to make a new caftan.

[quote]Bobby hangs out on the Ashley Madison dating site. Why don't one of you get a date with her, get her drunk, get her to sign a release form and then we can rewrite the Follies book.

It doesn't need to be rewritten. It just needs to be done in the version that opened in 1971.

[quote]It just needs to be done in the version that opened in 1971.

With Vincent and Vanessa?

Well, people have commented here and elsewhere that National does use the original book with only a handful of minor changes.

I love the Bolero d'Amour. I've read that Sondheim doesn't like it because he didn't write it; it was cobbled together by the dance arranger (who was that?) working with Bennett so Sondheim doesn't mind when it is cut. I've heard similar stories about Sondheim and Tick Tock because it was put together based on music in the score by David Shire. I think Company hurts even more without Tick Tock than Follies without the bolero but both numbers should always be included. What are the real stories?

And did she make the caftan for you, R378?

Every time I hear Barbara Cook's name, I can help but wonder what that last cabaret act of hers would have looked like. Tommy Tune wanted to use moving platforms to move her wheelchair around the stage. God, that would have been laughtastic!

Anyone know if The Booth has assisted hearing? My friend saw "3 Tall Women" and lost some words. We are going to BITB in June and he wants to use it but I haven't seen it anywhere on the Booth website.

r385 Just bring Garrett Morris along.

John Morris, I think, r382. Too lazy to look it up.

Bingo, r379

Speaking of Morris men, whatever happened to Gary Morris? Before anyone ever thought of Reba on Broadway, Gary Morris played Jean val Jean in Les Miserables. I think he was in the first Broadway replacement cast. He never did Broadway again.

Assisted Listening System: Reservations are not necessary. Drivers license or ID with printed address required as a deposit.

Before he did LES MISERABLES, Gary Morris alternated with David Carroll as Rodolfo in LA BOHEME at the Public Theater.

[quote]This morning's NYT has a "Confirm or Deny" interview with Mantello in which he "hopefully" confirms that Sondheim will deliver a completed score for the Bunuel musical by the end of the summer. Something to live for....

Is there a different version in the print edition? I don't see any mention of Sondheim here...

Joe Mantello looks more and more like Austin Pendleton every day.

Gary was on the bus, too, from what I gather.

Isn't dance music often not done by the composers? I realize there are exceptions like Bernstein and Rodgers.

Usually not. Dance arrangers take materials from the score to create the necessary charts. Not even sure Rodgers, unlike, say, Weill, did his own dance arrangements, unless they were "themes" as in Slaughter on 10th Avenue, which the orchestrators fleshed out.

Trude Reittman (might have the spelling wrong) did a lot of dance music for Rodgers, usually using his melodies but sometimes not.

It's an entirely different piece, r391, called "Cofirm or Deny"--kind of a quickie Q&A.. If you google NYT Confirm or Deny Joe Mantello it will pop up immediately.

Thanks, R397. Are the Palm Springs Target bathrooms cruisy?

God, when did Joe Mantello turn elderly? And Matthew Risch is only 37.

[quote]God, when did Joe Mantello turn elderly?

Doing the Sally Field Glass Menagerie aged him.

How long has Mantello been with Paul Marlow? Any photos??

I wanna clear up something about the boys in the band cast album. Someone said it said broadway cast on the label. I have the original cast album and it says original new york cast album.

To [R330]: Crowley was Michael. This was confirmed by Ed Zang, an understudy in the original cast, who said Crowley used to get drunk and behave badly toward his friends, then feel guilty about it the next day and send them telegrams, saying, “Can you find it in your heart to forgive me?”

This is the inscription on the photo of himself that Michael gives Harold. In the text, when someone asks what it is, Harold just responds, “It’s just something personal,” with no further explanation.

Harold was based on a choreographer who lived in L.A., and was Crowley’s ex. I can’t recall his name, but the only Broadway credit of his I’m aware of was the musical, “Georgy,” which I actually saw. According to Ed, he was at the opening night, and went to the cast party, at the Oak Bar at the Plaza, where Ed saw him sitting next to Crowley, with a photo of them in a silver frame, and the inscription, “Can you find it in your heart to forgive me?”

As for “Where’s Charlie?: the movie used to be shown on a local New York TV station all the time. MacLerie is charming, especially in “Make a Miracle.” Bolger is really too old, and too stagey for the movie medium. He did beautifully as the stylized Scarecrow, but a realistic approach shows just how gawky and scrawny he really was. Not leading man material at all. Everyone else is personable, and Bolger does very well in the stylized drag scenes. The score is reduced from the show’s list of tunes, but what’s there is well sung and played. Too bad there was never a soundtrack album.

As for “Angels in America,” I saw the original production at the Mark Taper Forum in November of 1992, and I was blown away. Directed by Oskar Eustis and Tony Taccone, it was more stylized, with the action on a thrust stage, in front of a white, Federalist, cracked facade, which split apart with the arrival of the Angel at the finale of Part I.

I also saw the later Broadway version, and the major difference was that the Taper presented the story as really happening, while Wolfe’s Broadway version took pains to diversify between “reality” and “fantasy.” The play creates a world wherein Prior, Harper, and Roy all operate on levels beyond what we would call the everyday. At the Taper, it was all presented in a fluid fashion, leaving the audience to decide.

But the Broadway added accents to show us the difference. For instance, at the Taper, when Ethel said, “History, Roy, is about to crack wide open. Millenium approaches,” it was delivered as information. But, on Broadway, she said the first part of the line, then looked out at the audience, as a green light shone on her, very weird, and said the rest. Just to make sure we get the point. This was just one example of Wolfe spelling it out for you.

I also had trouble accepting David Marshall Grant as Joe Pitt on Broadway; he has never seemed particularly masculine to me. Jeffrey King at the Taper was a hunky football player type who looked much more believable as the tormented closet case that Joe Pitt is. (But then, I always thought Kushner mostly ignores Joe for the most part; at the ending, though his mother is present, Joe is nowhere to be found. I can expound more on this, but I’ve already gone on here rather too long.)

I also saw a touring production in the mid-90’s that was better than the one on Broadway, and the theater video screenings of both parts of the National Theatre production, which was better than I’d expected, but not as electrifying as 1992 at the Taper. But how could anything be as mesmerizing as that? Certainly changed my life.

But that, as they say, is another story....

Who are the great dance arrangers of today? And is anyone interested?

In this revival of Boys in the Band is Harold's insulin line new? I remember all the big laughs from the original script, but that one seemed new.

[quote] Who are the great dance arrangers of today? And is anyone interested?

Probably Glen Kelly and David Chase.

The problem with some dance arrangers today is that they don’t know how to capture the tone and style of the composer. I loved the NT production of Oklahoma back in the 90s (which was destroyed in the transfer), but the dance arrangements bore little resemblance to Rodgers. The music for the ballet, in particular, pulled me right out of the show.

Yes, R30, we need the tango! Wonderful melody! I've two cassettes I made of the show from a Winter Garden box, The Bolero d'Amour is a highlight for me. Also, never heard any story of it being a cobbled number. Belying DL "truths" and supposed-industry lore, DeCarlo was line-perfect both nights.

I see this so often, "Certainly changed my life." In what way R403? What was your life like before one night in a theater, when it changed, what is your life like now?

R398, do NOT speak of bathroom cruising! On a thread about London touring a Miss Priss is very upset at posts about the exiting loos in parks and not.

John Berkman wrote the Bolero. He was otherwise the dance arranger for Follies, but I think the Bolero is entirely his, not based on any existing melodies in the show.

Not terribly surprising, but Escape to Margaritaville is closing in July. Between that, Dolly, Play that Goes Wrong and the scheduled closures, I suspect that might be it on the summer culls.

I wonder about that too R409 though I've used it myself. Has my life changed? Not really. But you feel in some way altered. Like I didn't know I could be so moved by a theater piece and I feel as if I'm seeing the world and its possibilities in a different way.

R403 How was Georgy? I always wished I had seen it because I had a huge crush on John Castle and I believe it was his only Broadway appearance. And I feel like I came so close. When I started going on my own to Broadway shows I was still pretty young and the Georgy billboard was still above the Winter Garden.

Castle seemed like he would have been perfect in the Bates role.

Another John Castle fan at r414!

I first remember seeing him in the 1980s as the sexy inspector in the Joan Hickson Miss Marple A Murder Is Announced (best filmed Christie ever!) and then as Colin Firth's hot uncle on the PBS series Lost Empires,, only to realize later that I saw him years earlier when I was a teen as Henry II's middle son Geoffrey in The Lion in Winter.

Sad that Mr. Castle never got much of a chance on Broadway.

[quote]the Joan Hickson Miss Marple A Murder Is Announced (best filmed Christie ever!)

Both the other "Murder is Announced" (better because of a spectacular performance by Zoe Wannamaker and a surprisingly good one by Elaine Paige) and the Poirot "Hallowe'en Party" are better.

What I'd really love to see is the first "A Murder is Announced," with Gracie Fields as Marple and Jessica Tandy as Leticia Blacklock.

Apparently the stage version is quite popular in the UK. There are several "trailers" for various stage productions of it on YouTube.

To [R409]: My life was altered in several ways, instigated by seeing the 1992 Taper “Angels.”

1. I sent a letter to author Kushner, detailing all the coincidences between characters and events in his play, which neatly coincided with events and changes in my life, at the same time, and in the same locations as in the play. Anyone who knew me and saw the play would even have wondered if I was a character in it. Kushner even wrote back, expressing the same kind of wonderment. I still have his letter.

(Essentially, in the fall of 1985, I was an active pill-popping alcoholic, more ore less daily, like Harper, and also a self-hating closet case like Joe. While they live on, I think, Pineapple St. in Brooklyn Hts., I was living around the corner a few blocks away on Willow. Then, on New Year’s Eve, in a revelation similar to Prior, I came out and got struck clean and sober, on New Year’s Eve 1985, and have been ever since. I asked Kushner if Joe didn’t maybe do the same, ending up moving to Kaua’i and becoming the Director of their AIDS Project, which is what I did, but he thought Joe had a lot more darkness to experience first.)

2. In Part I, Prior is making up at his vanity, when we hear the Angel’s echoing voice, announcing her imminent arrival. Slowly, in a shaft of golden light next to him, a large feather spirals down, landing next to him. Ever since, at important moments in my life, feathers have appeared before me, right up to this day. Dozens of them over the years, many of which I still have.

(This was staged at the Taper with Prior sitting at a vanity downstage left. Realistic, meaning the metaphysical is part of it. But Wolfe on Broadway made it look like a fantasy dream sequence, as if it was all in Prior’s head. He kept having to retain his rigid take on “fantasy” versus “reality.” He wouldn't allow the play to exist in its own intermingled world. There’s a lot going on in our world that defies explanation....)

3. Seeing “Angels” made me aware of angel lore in general. I learned that, of all the Angels mentioned in the Bible, only one is female. So I resolved to paint hunky, naked male angels, and I‘ve done quite a few.

4. For a variety of reasons, I ended up becoming an LPN nurse, for over 22 years, the last 8 in hospice, where I was referred to as an “angel” rather often. (Curiously, Kushner in his letter mentioned that, had writing not worked out, he would have gone into nursing.)

5. For several years, I’d travel to see anything Kushner did, including his version of Brecht’s “The Good Person of Szechuan,” and “Slavs,” both at the La Jolla Playhouse in San Diego. (“Slavs” is a section deleted from the finished “Angels in America.” Essentially dealing with the effects of Russian industrial pollution, it really doesn’t belong. Besides that, it’s very wordy, including a final, four-page monologue, spoken by a small child, whose voice at the performance I attended was barely audible. Nice idea, but a real challenge to bring off.) I still try to see productions of “Angels” here and there. A little gay theater in San Diego did a production of “Millenium Approaches” with a male Angel, which worked.

It’s fascinating that the experience of seeing a play can resonate so much within you that, afterward, your perception of your existence is altered in subtle ways, and the path you follow shifts into a different direction.

Oh yes, “Angels in America” has had an effect on my life. It still has.

I thought BITB was opening tonite but it looks like it opened last night? someone needs to tell playbill.com because they ran an article today announcing tonite's opening.

The Bridge and Tunnel hen party squatting in my row at BOYS IN THE BAND laughed uproariously at virtually every line, and one of them heaved a huge sigh when gazing at Bomer's bare ass.

Not to throw shade on Messrs, Kelly or Chase, but I feel the day of exciting dance arrangements are long gone. First because there are fewer new shows that feature dance and, if they do, the scores are so pedestrian, though orchestrators can sometimes work their magic (like Starobin did on Legs Diamond). Watching the thunderous Tony Awards I WANT TO BE HAPPY on youtube with its brilliant arrangement is breathtaking...and a cause for tears.

[quote]Watching the thunderous Tony Awards I WANT TO BE HAPPY on youtube with its brilliant arrangement is breathtaking...and a cause for tears.

That's the way I always feel about "Turkey Lurkey Time." Without the great dancing, it would be a bomb of a song. Without the dance, it would have taken a really good character actor/actress to put it over. Bennett took a silly song and made magic out of it.

I'm wondering if there are not good dance arrangements these days because there aren't any exciting choreographers?

BITB opens officially tonite. Last nights performance celebrated the shows 50th anniversary. Not sure why they're having back to back celebrations but Ryan Murphy can afford it. Robert Wagner showed up to support Mart Crowley (Nat Wood's former assistant and close friend) and Larry Luckinbill and Peter White, the only two surviving members of the original cast, were there as well. Oh, and Lens Dunham was there.

Well, No No Nanette had an absolute dream team of orchestrations by Ralph Burns and dance arrangements by Luther Henderson. The charts are out of this world. I think for the type of show it is, it's the gold standard of what a musical comedy should sound like.

Chase and Kelly can both write great arrangements, but orchestras have shrunk by half, and shows with a more pop or rock sound don't usually require their particular skill set. But they've done good work, and I remember being particularly impressed with what Chase was able to do with a paltry 13 musicians on the Roundabout's Pajama Game, in particular, the swinging arrangement for "Hernando's Hideaway."

The dance arrangement of Turkey is also sensational being almost kept in its entirety on the LP. I just wish they had also kept the music in for a Fact Can Be a Beautiful Thing which was also a knockout dance number but now seems to be lost.

The BITB insulin line was in the original.

Is Boys In The Band on TKTS? I'd like to see it just to see how the show plays, I'm not that interested in any of the stars in the show.

An opening night and the 50th anniversary! I hope certain cast members have 2 suits... More random celebs

Pity scenes from "straight" play's aren't done at the Tony's, Bomer's shower scene would be a popular choice. Maybe a poster/postcard could be issued for charity.

His visage does have a certain appeal, r415......

[quote]Pity scenes from "straight" play's aren't done at the Tony's,

They have done that in the past. The scenes never come across as interesting as the musical numbers.

Well r416, Elaine sez.....

I want to see a musical version of "A Murder is Announced"!

"Lettie was sweaty, but a really good gal.

Lottie was naughty, and nobody's pal.

Lettie wants to be Lottie,

Lottie wants to be Lettie.

That's the sorrowful setty

It's rather petty!

I'd like to see it as well, r416.

It's been rated by six people, so it must exist. Where would they have seen it?

I saw “Georgy” in tryouts in Boston. I enjoyed it, though it seemed padded, taking a roughly 90-minute sort of situation comedy, and just adding musical numbers to it. The songs did not propel the story, but rather stopped it. Dilys Watling was more pixieish than the overweight Lynn Redgrave in the movie, and seemed to have one perky number after another.

Standouts were the farewell song her self-centered roommate had, “Gettin’ Back to Me,” probably the musical highlight of the show, though it did nothing but take away interest from the main story, and a nostalgic ballad for Georgy’s father and his aristocratic employer. As they drank and sang about happier times downstage right, the stage behind them became filled with dancing couples in evening dress, who all disappeared by song’s end. Hokey, but effective.

John Castle was good as the kind of generic male lead, but he didn’t have the same charm as Alan Bates in the movie, though he did the same striptease down to his briefs to get Georgy’s attention, and he managed the title song OK. (His body was just passable, but, even though his upper lip always gave him the look of a perpetual sneer, I always liked his work. Wonder what happened to him.)

All in all, it was another show trying to be traditional and “with it” at the same time, but really succeeding at being neither. Despite this, I enjoyed the score and certainly would have bought the recording. It’s certainly a candidate for Encores!, instead of many of the more successful shows they keep doing.

JEN CUDDLES CODY IS GEORGY!

[quote]First Night Fanny is rather notorious for just making shit up. I saw Elaine Stritch's reading of "Sail Away" and was enthralled.

Of course you were. You are rather notorious for just being impressed with everything you see, apparently. Do you go to the theater with Gio and Tommy? What's the last thing you saw that wasn't "AMAZING!"?

Right, R413, "alerted" is good, I guess you can begin to look at things differently. Then I read R417. Oh, lovely story. Blessings! It is men writing like that this, telling stories that make DL worthwhile. R417, you inspire. Thanks

Spring revival of August Osage County with Laurie Metcalf is being discussed for Spring 2019 right now... just being discussed but sounds amazing

Laurie Metcalf as the mother or as the daughter??

[quote]Larry Luckinbill and Peter White, the only two surviving members of the original cast

wrong: Black Lives Matter!

Don't you mean Greene Lives Matter, r440?

If I recall correctly, Laurie refused to play the mother in the original (back in Chicago). She only wanted to play Barbara., which she was too old for.

sure, if you wanna be a racst cunt

I thought I heard Ruben Greene died a few years back. I don't see it listed anywhere, and I know he is (was?) a very private person.

Good for Ruthie and glad she'll be sharing the role to lessen the stress. I hope doing what she loves and what she was born to do helps her heal.

Reuben Greene disappeared ages ago and no one knows if he's dead or alive.

[quote]Assisted Listening System: Reservations are not necessary. Drivers license or ID with printed address required as a deposit.

Thanks! R 389

[quote] I wanna clear up something about the boys in the band cast album. Someone said it said broadway cast on the label. I have the original cast album and it says original new york cast album.

Wow that is a major misprint. This current production, fifty years since the record was produced is the first Broadway production. All other productions have been Off-Broadway.

Titicaca?! She should have got first billing in that announcement.

Was Lucie Arnaz with Lawrence?

oops, Laurence.

Lucie was there and she looks fabulous. Really. Aging very gracefully and just beautiful.

Emory has always been the scene stealer in Boys.... yet I've read very little about Robin DeJesus in this production. Has anyone seen him? Is he funny? How does he handle the phone call with Dr. Delbert Botts DDS?

HURRY!!!!

BID FOR A CHANCE TO SEE LIN IN HAMILTON IN PUERTO RICO!!!

The talk of the world in 1935 and 1938 would not have been forgotten thirty years or so later by mature adults at a Follies reunion. . Carlotta, now a successful star, was young when in the follies, wasn't able to handle a song she had, As she says, she gave 'em sad, they laughed. So they cut the song. Just another thing she had to go through to get to where she is now. The laugh lines talking to the boys are the lead-in to her number, which is NOT Carlotta doing the song cut from the follies. No matter what Wikipedia says. Where do they get that stuff? Carlotta begins to tell all she has gone through … the rueful I'm Still Here. Not bitter, not belting, Look at old videos of DeCarlo singing … see/hear the way the song should be sung.

Let's get one FOLLIES thing straight. The talk of the world in 1935 and 1938 would not have been forgotten thirty years or so later by mature adults. Carlotta is a successful star, albeit maybe second-tier,at a reunion. She was young when in the follies, wasn't able to handle a song she had, As she says, she gave 'em sad, they laughed. They cut the song. Just another thing she had to go through to get to where she is now. The laugh lines are the lead-in to her number, which is NOT her song cut from the follies. No matter what Wikipedia says. Where do they get that stuff? Carlotta begins to tell all she has gone through … the rueful I'm Still Here. Not bitter, not belting, Look at old videos of DeCarlo singing … see/hear the way the song should be sung.

R452, he’s wonderful in it and Emory’s phone call is easily one of the highlights.

Boy Culture on Broadway....

[quote]The laugh lines are the lead-in to her number, which is NOT her song cut from the follies.

They were in Boston though. When she sang “Can That Boy foxtrot?” She had the same lead-in lines that led into “I’m Still Here.”

[quote]Laurie Metcalf as the mother or as the daughter??

It's a major rewrite. She'll be playing Ree Drummond.

FFS can we please NOT TALK ABOUT FOLLIES--- until Nathan Lane plays Sally, no one cares.

Looking forward to 30 years, Laurie Metcalf as "A."

In time when they're the right ages, i'd like to see Metcalf as "A" too, and her daughter Zoe Perry as "B." Maybe by then Perry will have a daughter for "C" That'd be some cast!

Iain Armitage as C.

I was just thinking that, r453!

GET IN WHILE THE BIDDING IS LOW

How were the BITB reviews?

Based on the reviews I've read so far, Robin deJesus seems to have gotten the best reviews of the 'all star cast'

I really like Kelli, but I do wonder how British audiences will react to her in The King & I when she cannot do an even halfway decent accent.

Laurie metcalf is 62 and Amy Morton, who originated the role of the daughter, is 60. They look about the same age to me. In 2007, Metcalf would have been 51 and way too young to be the mother. I think she could still play the daughter now.

Maybe Estelle parsons could come back and play the mother.

While Kelli is in Britannia, who will Equity trade for her? Will we get Sheridan Smith in Villanelle: The Musical?

Maybe they could dig up Elaine Stritch to play the mother

HERE R466--

From the NYTIMES:

"I wish I could report that this charismatic and capable team, directed by the busy Joe Mantello, transported me vividly and uncompromisingly into the dark ages of homosexual life in these United States, and that I shuddered and sobbed in sympathy. But even trimmed from two acts to an intermission-free 110 minutes, the show left me largely impatient and unmoved."

I'm the one who asked about Georgy having seen the billboard above the Winter Garden.

I hadn't seen the film but of course I loved the song. How do you have a musical based on Georgy Girl without that song? Wasn't that what everyone was asking?

The artwork showed Georgy as a very pretty waiflike girl. So it makes sense what the poster above said when he saw it.

Imagine my surprise when I saw the film for the first time years later and that pretty girl in the artwork was in actuality the frumpy plain Lynn Redgrave.

Lynn Redgrave was cast as Georgy after Vanessa Redgrave turned it down and Vanessa was never a big girl. Georgy doesn't really have to be big....just frumpy and unfuckable.

Trimmed? They made cuts in the show?

So without the NYT review, will business fall off quickly?

Negative reviews can't hurt Boys..... It's been previewing for a month and word of mouth is extremely positive plus those boys have been publicizing the show all over town. It will run.

That's too bad. I want to see it but I sure as fuck don't wanna pay $160

A mediocre song performed just the same way:

Chrissy Metz IS "Georgy!"

Chrissy Metz is Georgetown

All those millions of dollars thrown at Frozen and they still can't manage to hide the fucking mic pimple on Caissie Levy's forehead. Why is it some sound designers achieve this and some don't? And why does anyone consistently hire the sound designers who don't?

Honest question.

I imagine BITB with that cast is a limited run?

Those mic pimples are gross. I'm always thinking can't an actor afford to go to a doctor and have it removed?

[quote]Lynn Redgrave was cast as Georgy after Vanessa Redgrave turned it down and Vanessa was never a big girl.

Angela Lansbury made some bitchy comment (was it when Lynn appeared on Murder She Wrote?) she was expecting the fat girl from Georgy Girl and Lynn showed up and she was svelte and in shape.

I take it Angela didn't watch any Weight-Watchers commercials.

Variety:

The Hollywood Reporter:

The New York Times:

NYT picks the 25 best American plays since "Angels in America." Do you agree with their choices?

[quote] NYT picks the 25 best American plays since "Angels in America." Do you agree with their choices?

No, because you can already see by the article's photo there's an inclusivity agenda. If that's how you're gonna choose "bests," with caveats and quotas, then no thanks.

THANK YOU R491!

My very first Broadway show on Broadway was My Fat Friend with Lynn Redgrave and George Rose as the fat girl's gay BFF. At the end of Act I, Redgrave went away to a fat farm so that she wouldn't lose her straight boyfriend and at the top of Act II, she returned all svelte and attractive, without the fat suit, only to discover that her boyfriend was a chubby chaser who was no longer interested.

I don't remember why I posted this. Goodnight.

r493 I guess we don't have to worry about a revival with Chrissy Metz then.

R491 and R492 = dinosaurs surviving the crunch

It's seems Robin de Jesús might be worthy of his third Tony nomination but will the producers bother for 1 of the non star's? Maybe this will bring better opportunities than touring in Wicked

Yeah, that NY Times article is definitely a non-white, cis, straight male list written by an intern. And when they did go into the non-straight white male field, they didn't even get that right.

Albee is represented with Three Tall Women, which is a fine play. But "The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia?" was the better play. Three Tall Women is a "nice" play. The Goat shocks its audience. I saw an interview with Albee and he said adultery was so mainstream now that if he wanted to jolt an audience into thinking about relationships he had to write about bestiality.

The Times list is so much better than these things usually are. Yes, you can argue individual choices, but overall, the plays and even more so the writers chosen seem pretty right.

Some well-reviewed COMMERCIAL plays left off the list:

PROOF

AS BEES IN HONEY DROWN

LOVE! VALOUR! COMPASSION!

DOUBT

DINNER WITH FRIENDS

THE DYING GAUL

BUYER AND SELLER

OTHER DESERT CITIES

some of their choices are based more a good production than on a great script with potential longevity. Eg., Chad Deity.

R495-anyone still using that Sondheim line is the dinosaur

I don't know what opportunities dejesus will have. He's like 5'2.

Great list R499. Of course, we know why each of those plays was left off the Times' list...

BUYER AND SELLER? AS BEES IN HONEY DROWN? Oh, come on.

My Fat Friend was fucking hilarious. George Rose gave one of the best performances I've ever seen on a broadway stage (I saw it about 40+ years ago and I can still remember the audience howling). Lynn and a young John Lithgow were also pretty fabulous. Probably could never be revived today because someone would find it insensitive to put an actress in a 'fat suit' and the body image police would be all over it blah blah blah. Life was so much simpler in the 70s

They could get eliminate the fat suit by casting Erin and Diane Murphy.

BITB will sell out, NYT or no NYT

To [R409] from [R413]: Thanks for your kind response. Frankly, all I ever wanted was a boyfriend and a small fortune, but, after 32 years of sobriety, I've never had either. Oh well.

Although, as both you and no doubt others would point out, there have been multiple compensations...

It's strange when Powers other than anything you can imagine send your life off in actually amazing directions.

Might as well enjoy the ride.

And, to [R414]: I was also the one who saw "Georgy." Makes me wonder about starting a thread here about flops we've all seen. That might be fun.

Wow, that Let It Go is a total shrug. Taking it down a half step removes the impact of the song, although obviously most girls are going to have trouble with sustaining it for the week if they kept the key. Adele Dazeem could barely do it live, and completely crashed and burned at the Oscars. As far as production values, it’s all projection, and had very limited physical impact. A tiny bit of wire work and they pull her dress through the floor? It almost looks like they copied most of it from the Disneyland production.

Is it really a good idea to show the number that justifies the existence of this production on TV? That pale reinterpretation is hardly going to pull in audiences, and with chunky psychotic Splatsy Urine in the cast it’s a must avoid.

[quote] It's seems Robin de Jesús might be worthy of his third Tony nomination but will the producers bother for 1 of the non star's?

What do the producers really have to do with it? It will be up to the Tony nominating committee. I've seen many non-star actors who were in either flop shows or shows that closed well in advance of Tony nominations who were nominated. Of course, they rarely, if ever, win, but "campaigning" is usually not part of what goes in to getting nominations for the Tonys at least. And DeJesus is a 2-time nominee. That actually goes a long way with the committee. How else to explain all those nominations for Condola Rashad and Danny Burstein?

You got to respect that first live Elsa -- she really worked with all the weirdness involved. The hunchback coronation gown look and singing while walking up revolving stairs, letting the kids take over for one line at the start of the song...

My favorite thing is that she has a slight physical resemblance to Patti LuPone.

R508 And? Did you like it? Was John Castle hot? Was Georgy made into a waif according to the artwork and what the other poster said who saw it in Boston?

I wish I had gotten window cards back then of these shows. I remember a store selling a '71 On the Town for $6 back then and stupidly not getting it. Reproductions don't count.

So, last night was the official opening night of BITB yet the red carpet and party were on Wednesday? Why??????????

Who knows.

Apparently Sarah Paulson stage doored Skintight last night (because gay royalty?) and Sutton Foster (Younger) has agreed to replace Kristin Chenoweth (older) in most of her summer concert schedule.

Things are crazy all over.

Cannot imagine Proof and Love, Valor, Compassion not being included.

In TBITB Robin DeJesus has the lines. The performance is nothing outstanding. People remember the Emory character, stereotypical fag, funny, hurt masked. DeJesus will not be nominated for a Tony next year. A nice guy, yes, but The Show Business is hard.

Exactly, R499. The dispiriting thing about that list is the near-total disregard of how quite a few of those plays failed to connect with a mass audience in the way yesteryear's best plays (i.e. Streetcar, Salesman, or even something from the 80s like Driving Miss Daisy) almost always did. Theatre gets further and further from the center of popular culture.

Popular doesn't automatically equal "good" of course. But today if the audience doesn't "get it" or stays away, it's their fault and they are looked down upon; a dismissive stance toward the audience is encouraged. Previously, that was blamed on the playwright or the production.

How much does it matter what a playwright has to say if they're playing to an empty theatre? If the ticket-buying public doesn't care to hear it? The New York run of recent Pulitzer winner Cost of Living was comped left and right, in a small off-Broadway theatre. The NFP regional theatres line up to produce these shows in the years following their NYC runs, but will many of these plays be beloved by the audience at large 20 or 30 years from now?

The Times does nothing now but has thoughtless think pieces and makes lists like a supermarket shopper.

Whoever thought there'd be a world where it was irrelevant.

[quote]It's seems Robin de Jesús might be worthy of his third Tony nomination but will the producers bother for 1 of the non star's?

The show will be long gone by the time the Tonys roll around, so why would the producers bother at all?

[quote]At the end of Act I, Redgrave went away to a fat farm so that she wouldn't lose her straight boyfriend and at the top of Act II, she returned all svelte and attractive, without the fat suit,

Was that considered a coup de theatre?

If you were introduced to the world by the wrong name at the Oscars, you might not perform at your best either, R509. Imagine the stress for a performer at an event like that. And then to hear yourself introduced by a completely wrong name. It had to have been a nightmare

Agreed, but Idina NEVER hits all the notes when she sings that song live. Search YouTube. It’s kinda painful.

Idina can be electric live... and hit all the notes.

I truly think her best performance to date was in SEE WHAT I WANNA SEE.

A perfect role (well, 3) and she was riveting. Truly.

Fearless.

Better video:

[quote]At the end of Act I, Redgrave went away to a fat farm

Thank God she wasn't a Method actress. The audience would have had to come back in six months.

[quote]I don't know what opportunities dejesus will have. He's like 5'2.

I see a production of Fiorello in his future.

No R520 those breathlessly excited about the theater get all get-up about such stuff, but an actor like Menzel doesn't even hear the intro, just is listening for the note to enter on.

It was a coup du costume, r519.

[quote]Sutton Foster (Younger) has agreed to replace Kristin Chenoweth (older) in most of her summer concert schedule

Why does she need to replace her? Has Chenoweth gotten something else?

Chenoweth has some kind of persistent neck injury. That's a lot she's giving up, so it must be bad.

R529 From when the light fell on her on set?

Probably, r530, but she's had neck problems since "Wicked" in San Francisco, too. I can't remember what happened, some accident, but she had to miss a couple of performances, and she wore a brace for a week after that.

Of course, it could just be because she's an old lady now and has arthritis.

R532 Sending cuddles

Chenoweth's Wicked injury was apparently made worse by the Good Wife accident -- but a slipped disk is its own frequently recurring nightmare that has nothing to do with arthritis.

That said, the first show that Sutton took on was scheduled very close to Chenoweth's 50th birthday coming up this July. When she first announced Sutton would take the July 21 Utah show Chenoweth kept a few June and July shows on her schedule. Then Sutton was announced for the July 10 Bernstein concert too.

Apparently the July 10 show will be Sutton's Hollywood Bowl debut.

So after all these years of pretending that Millie was a fairy-tale 'big break' for Sutton, she is finally getting her actual 42nd Street 'replace the diva' debut.

It is kind of sweet. Sutton is releasing an album right now too -- and didn't appear to have much scheduled by way of concerts.

Cheno is still vaguely down to sing June 27 in Bethesda Md and June 28 in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. I'm curious if she will go on, cancel or find a replacement that quickly.

"The Times does nothing now but has thoughtless think pieces and makes lists like a supermarket shopper..."

...and reveals plot points in lieu of criticism.

But what about Cheno playing Tammy Fay? Will she play her in a neck brace?

r516, yours is one of the most honest and discerning posts I've read here in a long time. I'm an inveterate theater-goer, but you couldn't have dragged me to see many of the plays on that list.

Cheno's Tammy Faye musical has a book by DL fave Jeff Whitty. I think he walked off that project also. That show might not be happening right away, I'd wager.

Let me add to r516's illuminating observations: This dismissive stance towards audiences is an altogether recent phenomenon. Forty-eight years ago, George Abbott called a postmortem the morning after the opening of TENDERLOIN to announce, "Gentlemen, I thought I had a concept. I was wrong." Or Oscar Hammerstein, speaking of ALLEGRO, commented, "I overestimated the audience's ability to identify with the leading character (and his situation)," i.e. it wasn't credible.

Could you imagine that ever happening on Broadway today?

Cheno indicated that she thought the Tammy Faye thing was still happening in her conversation with RuPaul a few months back. I'd rather see her genderbent Hannibal Lector in 'The Silence of the Lambs - the Musical.'

Chenoweth is really spindly looking these days. You want her to have a milkshake a few times a week.

Why is it every time I see Joe Mantello on the street he's talking on the phone? I saw him a few years ago in Chelsea standing on a street corner gabbing on his phone and then tonight he was pacing outside the Booth Theater yakking it up with somebody (he was wearing all black, which made his gray hair stand out quite nicely).

[quote]Why is it every time I see Joe Mantello on the street he's talking on the phone?

So he doesn't have to engage with his fans.

Only old people use their phones to talk to people

[quote] If you were introduced to the world by the wrong name at the Oscars, you might not perform at your best either, [R509]. Imagine the stress for a performer at an event like that. And then to hear yourself introduced by a completely wrong name. It had to have been a nightmare.

Her pain is the wound that refuses to heal in us all. I grieve for her hourly. Still.

R542 saw Joe Mantello several years ago and he was on his phone, and now he’s seen him again tonight and he was on his phone, too! Good Lord, doesn’t Mantello EVER get off his phone?

R542 so many possibilities. Maybe he just didn't want to talk to YOU and his was pretending to take a call. How ignorant but at least you can contribute this JM I'd mentioned here.

On a more DL theme is Joe Mantello a top? Who here had had him? And who are his celebrity conquests? Forgot how big iis his cock. And is he fucking anyone in the BITB cast? Who was cast for that purpose?

Nobody seems odvoius, with Bomer not available.

R542 has been triggered.

[quote]On a more DL theme is Joe Mantello a top? Who here had had him? And who are his celebrity conquests? Forgot how big iis his cock. And is he fucking anyone in the BITB cast? Who was cast for that purpose?

And why did he break up with Jon Robin Baitz. Years ago, the NY Times ran this huge splashy article about them. I had my doubts then because the main photo they used had Mantello sitting on the sofa cradling a cat and Baitz standing behind the sofa like he was Jeeves. They didn't seem like a couple at all.

Another weekend, another conspicuous absence of any ads for any Scott Rudin shows

Lol, R520, Idina is a pro and is not going to be thrown by some dumbass announcing her name wrong. What she was thrown by was vocal exhaustion and she should have asked for the key to be lowered.

Cheno is the star of this season's "Trial and Error" as the accused (the role John Lithgow had in the first season.) But maybe filming is already complete?

[quote]How ignorant but at least you can contribute this JM I'd mentioned here.

Huh?

can't wait for 305 and 306 to be compete so we can have ONE 307 Especially with the queen who keeps posting verbatim on both

There's been so many what-if projects for Cheno -- the Whorehouse revival, the Tammy Faye musical, Death Becomes Her. Honestly, I'd like to see one go the distance.

Cheno was screwed out of Tony for 20th Century

Whatever happened to Chenoweth's country music movies? It was originally rumored that she was going to do a biopic of Dusty Springfield. When everyone picked themselves up off the floor from laughing so hard, it was switched and rumored that she was going to do a biopic of Dolly Parton. Were these just her publicity people trying to keep her name in the news? Because who would believe Chenoweth as Dusty Springfield? She'd have to lip synch all the songs and have all her dialogue dubbed.

Dusty was a project Kristin's manager owned and failed to get financed for years and years. Kristin is under new management now.

Surely someone on DL knows what went down with Chenoweth and Dannielle T. They were still best of buds in 2013 after the GCB debacle and Cheno's 'career ending' accident but have not been pushing each other publicly since 2014. Chenoweth had changed her management twice since dating that creepy Dana Brunetti.

Also what happened between Cheno and Ellen Degeneres? Cheno used to practically be a regular on that show... but she hasn't been on it for years now. Her reaction in the video below is so uncomfortable --

Chenowith is so dull. She recycles the same bits over and over. (Has she ever done a show where she did not at one point act out the lyrics literally--what wit! Picking out the words from the air when she sings "that is the word I choose"--hillarious!

She gives the same performance over and over, so we have to wait till we forget the last one before she comes back.

That whole video is uncomfortable.

Wasn’t Kristin attached to Soapdish as well?

Jeff Whitty is no longer posting on Facebook. The DL angels weep.

R554 oh calm down. I wasn't the only one doing it. I'd rather be a Queen than a datalounge cunt. I mean at least im royalty. I just wanna make sure everyone has the information. It's not my fault somebody fucked up. I agree, i can't wait for these threads to finish. Such a pain. I stopped looking at 305. This had more responses. Please don't ever fuck up the threads like that again!

I didn't have a problem with the person posting the same thing to both threads.

R558, her bestie manager ruined about a half dozen highly promising careers of other artists before Kristin realized the same was happening to her and that the industry was washing their hands if her because of the antics of the same, limited vindictive manager. Kristin now joins those other artists in having to scrape what’s left of her career off the floor. Amazing how managers and agents think they’re the Stars and their misfeasance doesn’t catch up with them as often. Blame the client is agenting 101.

R559, just because your name has two n’s doesn’t mean the word hilarious does.

(doesn’t mean hilarious has two L’s!!)

Although Kristin did have some good opportunities: Pushing Daisies, West Wing, Bewitched, Glee. Not bad for a helium-voiced munchkin.

What's the story with Kristin Cheno's facial appearance? Illness, poor plastic surgery? Her head appears so skeletal and the over tanned skin colour is hideous.

It’s bad plastic surgery. Her skin is stretched too far and she’s way too skinny. It’s a shame because I love watching her on stage but her appearance is starting to become distracting. She must have been pretty pissed to lose the Tony for Twentieth Century to Kelli O’Hara’s competent but very ordinary performance in The King and I.

I'm still so sorry I wasn't able to see Marin Mazzie in The King and I. I heard she was far superior to Kelli, as I expected, and very affecting

Marin Mazzie in "The King and I" is the best case to make of the need for a replacement Tony.

Kelli O'Hara is a case of awarding a Tony to someone so they'll finally go away.

Since when isn't O'Hara competent but very ordinary? When she's being a sure cure for insomnia?

Here's a little Marin...

and some more

Marin was very good in THE KING AND I. Her acting was far superior and she was funny too. Kelli had her beat in the vocals though. But she was a great replacement.

Does anyone know how Mazzie is doing health-wise now?

I loved O'Hara, but agree Marin was a far better actor and handled the humor better (completely unsuprising).

She was also struggling with recovery from a battle with ovarian cancer.

O’Hara’s Tony was for being content with Broadway and Broadway only. Broadway lovvvves people who only have Broadway on the brain. You know, the circle jerk dynamic.

(though good luck ever witnessing the Tony’s giving her any play, i.e. presenting or otherwise if she isn’t in the current season. They reserve that for TV and film stars only, whether they’ve ever been near a stage or not)

(or in this year’s case, mainstream music stars. Broadway has the worst inferiority complex ever. They’re still the AV club geeks who throw themselves against the locker when the prom court walks by)

And Marin put Cheno to shame in On the Twentieth Century too!

You know what I miss? The days when a majority of TV comedy actors had stage experience. Watching old school Tony telecasts is like catching a fall preview special from the Fred Silverman era (pick one).

She does a pretty swell Babette, r583.

Was that whole performance filmed? I'd love it as a DVD.

R585 Is that woman wearing some kind of concealed bra and corset?

R586 yes,archival video circulating among collectors

[quote]Marin was very good in THE KING AND I. Her acting was far superior and she was funny too.

I bet she wasn't as funny as me. I was a laugh riot in the role. They were rolling in the aisles.

I saw Faith Prince in The King and I. She replaced Donna Murphy for 2 or 3 weeks in the 1990s production when Murphy went on vacation. She was indeed a laugh riot. She got huge laughs on lines you would never have suspected. We were indeed rolling in the aisles. It was astonishing.

Astonishing and almost none of it had anything to do with Mrs. Anna and the The King and I. It's one of the most entertaining but bizarre performances I have ever seen.

R565

Who else did Dannielle T manage other than Megan Mullally? And when did she start managing her? (Obviously Mullally's success came in spite of her manager. She was in actual financial stress when she landed the role of 'the secretary' on Will & Grace and turned that into a bigger role herself in front of a studio audience without any help from her management team or her previous success on Broadway.)

It does seem strange that Dannielle Thomas shows up at the end of this recent article about Betsy Wolfe's wedding -- right about the time when Betsy suddenly started to not be in any of the shows she was supposed to be in (Frozen and Carousel.)

[quote]Who else did Dannielle T manage other than Megan Mullally?

Why me, of course! That’s why my career is going gangbusters since my Tony win!

I heard that Betsy Wolfe was indeed offered Carousel but it was leaked prematurely while contract negotiations were still underway. The negotiations fell apart so she didn't play the part.

Vicky, dear... Your career is dead because you're a pockmarked, lisping old woman who got fat.

Makes you wonder who leaked the info prematurely.

Faith Prince was Murphy’s permanent K&I replacement, not two or three weeks. She did the role for most of 1997, the Marie Osmond came in and closed out the run.

Here's Marie's "Shall We Dance?"

I thought Marin was far better than Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio in Man of La Mancha.

Why do they keep awarding Tonys to costume designers for copying the original Irene Sharaff designs? Both revivals of The King and I won Tonys for their costume design. Donna, Faith, Marin, Marie and Kelli are all wearing the same dress.

Somebody upthread asked -- How is Marin? Jason's playing the Jason Alexander part in Pretty Woman.

John Lloyd Young was also managed by that Danielle woman when he was starring in Jersey Boys.

WEHT John Lloyd Young?

At this point, he’s John Lloyd Old.

And John Lloyd Short, which is the answer to what happened to his career.

I stand corrected about seeing Prince in The King and I.