THEATRE GOSSIP #308 Tony post mortem edition

Could there possibly be a bigger loser than Andy Mientus in that skirt?

A Tony award winning dry cleaning store. Such prestigious awards...

So Denzel Washington's wife didn't join him tonight ... boring

R2 Hey, I think it's great--a reminder that Broadway needs everyday people doing unglamorous work to function (and, I might add, that Broadway doesn't go for booze and dope!)

Off topic (I mean about the Tonys) -- why are there songs about Santa Fe in both "Rent" and "Newsies?" Is it because it's easy to rhyme? It just seems kind of random and overly coincidental.

Was Jeremy Katz really asked to leave over a seating dispute?

And they both played the Nederlander R5. Coincidence? I think not.

Been there, done that.

It's the rhyme, r5.

Ari'el Stachel is so hot,it's ridiculous !

Was Denzel who that BI was about? Matthew Morrison also didn't bring his wife (and sat, as he often does, next to a man), but of course, he had nothing to do with the Tony race this year except as a presenter.

I doubt the Theatre Wing or League care enough about Denzel's marital woes (Surely they've all heard the rumors!) to retroactively award him a second Tony.

Joan Allen was there with Tina Landau, so I guess they really are a couple (or "just good friends") and obviously not having trouble! Casey and Joe were there with beaus, and of course Michael with Andy in a skirt! Didn't see if Amy Schumer had hubby or not, but I don't think she was the BI's focus.

R11 Not Denzel.

It was a major acting award nominee. They brought a parent.

That's all I'm going to say for now.

Over the years, on and off, I'd been telling this story here as it was happening. It's all over now. Maybe in a couple of years, I'll come back here with names, and spill ALL the tea.

It's an unbelievable story.

R5, it's the Illuminati.

And the award for Most Annoying Tease goes to

R12!

Andrew Garfield brought his dad...

Did Denise Gough's bitchy behavior at events cost her the tony?

R15, awwwww...

Jesus the lack of many replies show what a disaster the Tony's were

A year from today, what is going to be the winner? Hadestown?

Why do nominees applaud for themselves?

No one will care two years from now if you come back and spill the tea, r12. We will have moved on to fresher gossip, with no time for a stale scoop from 2018.

Conditioning, r20. People are applauding, they applaud. At that particular moment their brains are on autopilot.

R12

Cunt.

With the shameful exception of Garfield winning with his minstrelsy show, the Tonys did what they were supposed to.

R24, If Garfield is the answer, who was his partner? I have not heard any gossip about him since Emma Stone.

What story, r12?

Huh, R25?

The best clip moments were surprisingly the Donna Summer show (love LaChanze) and not surprisingly OOTI. Carousel was just sloppy sloppy dancing (how long until they post closing?) and MFL was yawn inducing. TBC was intriguing.

Sorry, TBV.

I was surprised that Laura Ambrose had such a nice voice, but that was the most demented Liza I have ever seen. She started off Rain in Spain as if it was the Wa-Wa... Water scene from Miracle Worker. She played everything else like an ax murderess in a Hammer Horror film. And what the fuck are Can-Can dancers doing in Edwardian London? I can grudgingly make allowances for the drag, but Can-Can dancers? With the Lord Chamberlain's Office being all ears and eyes?

i think we all know that r12 was just making up a story... back to Jordan's transition

Ha! Garfield DID win.

Norbert played Eliza's father as if Alfred Doolittle was on speed and had mixed his drinks.

And he shouldn’t have R32, he was embarrassingly bad.

I found Lauren Ambrose's performance mesmerizing, and not in a good way. Agree with r29 - I kept waiting for her to grab a chainsaw out from behind the couch and attack. And what was with the hands?? Horribly distracting - was that the director's choice or (god help us) Ambrose's own affectation?

She started "The Rain in Spain" in Cockney and switched to RP (received pronounciation) a/k/a good English speech, in the middle of the sentence, which was weird, and which she doesn't do on the recording. She does have a lovely voice, but even on the recording she sounds a bit too careful, like she's monitoring her voice as she sings. They tried to cram those 3 songs into too short a spot which cramped "The Rain in Spain", rushed her "I Could Have Danced All Night", and in his shortened spot prompted Norbert to overact even more than he usually does.

Lauren’s performance, unfortunately, is like any okay regional theater performance. It’s why she didn’t win. And the whole show just looks and sounds tired and old.

The MFL montage was the most perplexing of the evening. Trying too hard to cram in too many moments, all performed with manic charmless craziness.

They would have accomplished so much more with just doing 3 minutes of The Ascot Gavotte, even with Higgins, Eliza and Diana Rigg's Mrs. Higgins all off to the side observing. WTF cares if Norbert isn't in the number?

AiA should never have bothered moving here, and judging by the extremely poor ticket sales, everyone else agrees with me. Now there won’t be an good revival of this play with a gifted American company with actually gay actors for decades. It’s a real shame.

Does Norbert sell tickets on his name?

AiA was packed the nights I went.

Katrina Lenk looks like a Uneeda Suzette doll. I mean that as a compliment.

I thought she looked gorgeous, especially in closeups.

R38, Tourists can't come in on the bus for an afternoon show and see the entire play. Big mistake.

It sells barely 60% of its house and usually less R40.

Why did they have the best actor category so early?

Did Denzel stay all evening?

[quote] Garfield winning with his minstrelsy show

“Minstrelsy show”? Please, vagino.

For me the losers were some of the winners. Has there ever been a best play Tony that let two producers chat away didn't let the playwright speak? Oh and we know its so difficult to raise money, Ken, but did you want to mention the director of your revival?

In other news, it is a delight to watch First Night Fanny dissolve into self-parody. Sure, "Angels in America" is a terrible play. What's next of you? "Hamlet" really doesn't have any good roles for men?

"Alfred Doolittle" did not do a lot of dancing, he just jumped around while others around him jumped more. NOT an award-winning number. NLB is fat. Nice-enough performance, but not a winning one.

The MFL production is "just good" and not anything stunning. Nor even anything fresh on a classic show.

AiA is a too-complicated show. A few colleges and amateur groups will try it, but it won't "have legs" throughout the country. People in non-coastal America wanting to see live theater in their hometowns aren't a AiA market. Noises Off is more their speed.

Did anyone else find it positively unseemly that the obviously soulless Marvelous Miss Maisel showed up on the Tony stage while her beloved Aunt Kate Spade’s body is not even cold yet? The show must go on indeed.

R27 OH HELL NO. OOTI and band's visit came across as the best. Summer? Are you out of your fucking mind? As bad as mean girls is, Summer made me cringe the most. That is not broadway. That was a cruise ship revue. The only reason you enjoyed it was because "LAST DANCE" is such a great song and you probably liked that tired disco dancing choreography. Those girls didn't look or sound anything like Donna and the audience is too stupid to know any different. I will let Summer do it's thing only in celebration of her memory and legacy.

[quote]"Alfred Doolittle" did not do a lot of dancing, he just jumped around while others around him jumped more. NOT an award-winning number. NLB is fat. Nice-enough performance, but not a winning one.

It was AWFUL. I couldn't wait for it to be over. Or at least for them to switch to "A Little Bit of Luck."

I was waiting for Zaza and the Cagelles to start singing Jerry Herman. WTF did that staging have to do with MY FAIR LADY?

Y'all know trans is everything now. Put the boys in dresses and do can can. Why again? For what purpose exactly?

R54, the thinking is that it is his bachelor party and they are doing a "mock wedding" with guys playing the girls.

[quote] AiA was packed the nights I went.

The show has been on TDF for nearly every performance since it opened. It will not make its investment back.

R32, right? He ran out of steam a minute in and stopped singing, Sher even gave a raspberry afterwards that the camera caught, Norbert was “off.”

R51, SUMMER is far more than those TONY 5 minutes showed. It's a typical Bway biopic--part plot, part revue, but it is dones so slickly, that it's a great party.

One of the best shows on Bway this year.

I enjoyed the TONY Awards this year despite not having seen that many shows this year and not really wanting to see many more after the TONYS. The TONY show always runs smoothly and is entertaining. This one was no different.

What’s the early morning omelet run buzz out of Rick Miramontez Party Central? Did Wesley and Jordan put on a private show? Did Tina Fey show up and cry in her Pinot? Did the ensemble of SUMMER spit roast Jim Caruso in between sets? Has Julie James left yet or is she still talking about herself to Rachel Bloom???

I'm assuming Mr. Shalhoub gets showier moments. What little that was shown looked like Monk was in a musical.

LaChanze looked and sounded spectacular R58, I might actually go, and I loathe jukebox musicals.

Catherine Zuber never fails to show up in the ugliest outfit of the evening every time she wins a Tony for Costume Design

R55-oh, I see. Was that fact mentioned in Sher's program notes?

I think Sher is pretty much finished now, unless he comes up with a really great revival of "Sound Of Music". With Jordan Roth as the Baroness.

Umm, how did Patti Lupone play Lucy in her high school production of You're a Good Man Charlie Brown when she had graduated the year it hit Off-Broadway??

After watching the tranny sing Mama Will provide in the OOTI number, I'm glad I saw the understudy. I could at least understand what she was saying. He was terrible.

R61, I saw Shalhoub's replacement while he was filming Mrs. Maisel. The replacement did a nice job. It is not a major singing role, though; I think he sings one song in Hebrew that Lenk sings something (in English) in counterpoint to. Nevertheless, his character's relationship with Lenk's is the crux of the show. It's a nice, basically non-singing role, and Shalhoub, I'm sure, was good in it but won primarily because he's never won before and theatre people love him because he keeps coming back. Of course, he apparently is officially no longer in the show, which is kind of ridiculous, but the voters all saw "special performances" where he came back for them, so what do they care?

Seriously- why was that fat hog has been Marissa Jaret Winokur on the awards? Was this year so lackluster she was all they could get?

I'm glad OOTI won, but reflecting on this morning, it does make more sense than My Fair Lady, which is done at every high school and community theatre every year anyway. No one is paying $100 a seat to see that on tour. Don't get me started on Carousel Lite.

[quote]Shalhoub... is not a major singing role, though; I think he sings one song in Hebrew that Lenk sings something (in English)

Oh Dear! why do some people never engage their minds before they type stupid shit. He's a fucking EGYPTIAN and would not be singing in Hebrew moron. The Egyptians and Israelis only communicate verbally with English.

I worked on the original OOTI and hated it. I wasn't the only one. About half of the actors in the workshop production refused to do the main stage production as they found the show so offensive. What was performed at Playwright's Horizon really was a minstrel show with plantains replacing watermelon and the mammy's do-rag in Kente cloth. I really am interested in seeing the new version. It seems as if they have solves some of the problems.

Having seen Carousel last weekend, i'm just surprised how 'cheap' it felt... Whether you love him or hate him, Rudin's productions never feel cheap, so this one just felt so out of the ordinary for him

I said it a couple of threads back: Katrina Lenk as Desiree in a fully staged and orchestrated revival of ALMN at the Beaumont, pleaseandthankyou. She was SO good in Indecent, and I really liked the number she did from The Band's Visit.

Speaking of ALMN, that expository number from Mean Girls was just dreadful. Compare and contrast with ALMN's Now/Later/Soon.

Wow, I’m sad to hear that R71. The OBC production of OOTI remains to this day one of my favorite experiences in a theater. I thought it was really wonderful, and of course, LaChanze.

Broadway theaters ranked.

If they ever do a live-action version of "The Simpsons," Michael Cera is a shoo-in for Moe.

[quote]Umm, how did Patti Lupone play Lucy in her high school production of You're a Good Man Charlie Brown when she had graduated the year it hit Off-Broadway??

Maybe she returned to her high school as a special guest artist.

Don't forget Miss Lillias, r74.

How come Bette Midler didn't hand out the award to this season's Leading Actress in a Musical? (Or is it only the Oscars that do that?)

Dude -- they made it clear in the opening number that LOSERS are the ones who are required to show up the next year to present and stuff. The Tonys have their own weird rules.

Why was Frank DiLella so drunk on the red carpet?

You assholes tear apart My Fair Lady and actually sat through Mean Girls, Frozen, and SpongeBob without hurling your dinner?? Producers (the ten million of them that appeared last night) should thank God for Robert DeNiro because everyone is talking about him and not the horrifying, stupefying, uninteresting, boring (not to mention embarrassingly fey) scenes from the new musicals. Howard Stern pegged it today: What the fuck happened to Broadway.

R82, bravo and brava!

I didn't watch. I did go to the matinee of BAND'S VISIT. A meager mood piece. Total non event. Some bad bad direction. Barely regional-theater quality. YAWN. The fiddler was excellent.

R82, some things are better not talked about. And, to be fair, I did tear apart the Playwright's Horizon production of OOTI as well. Seriously, one can discuss misguided productions of good shows, or potentially improved productions of misguided shows, but what can one really say about Mean Girls?

The first thing is to start hiring aspiring writers (especially honest-to-God composers!) of talent, training and taste. The low-rent, amateur crap being produced that panders to the tourist trade is what's destroying Broadway.

The best Tony numbers of the last few years were Ring of Keys and Omar Shariff. A singer connecting with a song is fabulous television.

But producers are going to continue to do those medleys that make the show look insane (like MFL).

Two of the most enervating songs from equally enervating scores from the last 20 years.

Ratings for last night's Tonycast actually weren't bad, with a slight uptick from last year:

Good, screw you Dear Evan Hansen.

I would guess Omar Sharif is probably more enjoyable in context, but as a standalone number, it was quite the snooze.

It is really great that they did not suffer from last year's unpleasant host.

Who was that, r92?

R93, I assume R92 means Kevin Spacey.

[quote]You assholes tear apart My Fair Lady and actually sat through Mean Girls, Frozen, and SpongeBob without hurling your dinner??

Don't be silly. Theater Queens here and at ATC see most of their shows on bootlegs.

That Vulture article ranking the theaters is painful to read. Written by a likely 23 year old (or someone aspiring to be Julie James). But some of her top five theaters are among the worst on Broadway. The Vivian Beaumont? Only if you're on the floor of the orchestra. The Lyric? That fucking barn? Studio 54? Not quite a barn. More like a bomb shelter.

I am not a fan of showtunes, but I have been listening to Omar Sharriff for a few months. It sounds like real music rather than show music.

It was great to see how they do it in the show.

Who wants "real music???" It's musical THEATRE, heightened, dramatic, elevated...not contemporary droning.

Wesley Taylor ( Sponge Bob) - zilch.

Isaac Powell ( OOTI) - best revival

You know who got to play top last night.

Countdown until Isaac leaves Wes for being a loser. (And 15 years too old for him.)

Tony nominated actor David Morse is HOT. And 62! Yikes!

The BI was Quinto

[quote]I would guess Omar Sharif is probably more enjoyable in context, but as a standalone number, it was quite the snooze.

I assume “Omar Sharif” was chose because it’s Katrina Lenk’s big number and got ,entioned in all the reviews. But a much more effective number for that slot would have been “Answer Me,” high doesn’t feature any of the stars, but is quite beautiful and stirring, even if you don’t know the story.

[quote]Umm, how did Patti Lupone play Lucy in her high school production of You're a Good Man Charlie Brown when she had graduated the year it hit Off-Broadway??

Patti was a special needs student. She was in high school for eight years.

[quote]The BI was Quinto

So Zachary Quinto told Miles McMillan to take a hike? Because of drugs?

[quote]In other news, it is a delight to watch First Night Fanny dissolve into self-parody. Sure, "Angels in America" is a terrible play. What's next of you? "Hamlet" really doesn't have any good roles for men?

I know, ALL reviews of the play must be both sealed in amber AND follow the party line that ANY production of AiA is "AMAZING", and never do more than digest what the NY Times tells me. Your attempt at humor is.....time consuming!

The BI was BS from the Poppins Loon and half of you fell for it. Again.

I could swear I saw Quinta and his boy toy photographed on the red carpet

[quote] The BI was Quinto

But the blind implied the person was up for an award this year. TBITB opened after the cut-off date and won't be eligible for the Tonys until next year.

The Poppins Loon was the one bragging about the blind item? Damn.

I wonder if Patti, who will be playing the role of the Casa Rosada the next time Evita is revived, was pissed that Bernadette presented the prestigious last award of Best Musical, while she herself was stuck talking about the women of the Theatre League?

Why did Chita go bra-less last night?

Chita looks great for a woman of her age, but yes, r112, her look last night did her no favors. At all.

We wonder if Broadway newbie and Tony presenter Erich Bergen ended the night deep inside Jim Caruso’s tunnel of love?

R102-

No. The person showed up with their parent as their date. That was the last clue I was going to give. And, remember, the name of the person was mentioned a few times in the other thread.

I was surprised that no one picked up on it. News of their engagement was printed/posted all over.

Sorry if it's not as big a deal as I thought. I can tell you, though, there is a very interesting story there.

R107 No, I'm not the Poppins loon. I fucking hate that guy with a passion.

your BI, true or not, turned out to be a bomb.

Didn't Garfield show up with his daddy? And by that I mean his real life father.

R118 not Garfield

R117 It's true. I guess I didn't really think it though. I know the entire story, but I should've realized I was never going to tell it here. Still, there are elements to the story that even if you just figured out the person would be interesting. Like, what this person is a part of.

It's almost twisted around, bizzaro version of A Star is Born, with crazy added elements.

What was that show called with Linda Evans and Joan Collins?

But yeah, R117. It was a bomb. Unless I was willing to spill more tea, I should not have said it.

Spill the tea or die, r119 / r120. Or at least stop posting. You're like the little girl who prances around the playground sing-songing "I know something you don't know! I know something you don't know!"

R121 What can I say? Mea culpa.

Sorry, r122. I was too harsh. But spill or stop posting about it.

There were some folks you were pretty savvy in the other thread. If they saw my R119 post, they'd know it right away.

R121 It's ok. You weren't too harsh. I know it's annoying/frustrating.

[quote][R121] What can I say?

"I am a big, fat stupidhead. And a mean gay."

R125 What make you think I'm fat and mean?

You're right, r126, I don't know that you're fat. But if you weren't mean, you'd have told us what the fucking BI is [italic]in this thread[/italic] rather than expecting us to have memorized it in whichever thread you started talking about it. And then there's the whole "I know something you don't know" cunting that is a hallmark of meangirlism.

Sit on a serrated knife, bitch.

Because you TYPE fat and mean, r125. And there was no reason for you to mention it at all if you had no intention of telling us. You're just being an asshole.

We get it, r119. Whomever you are alluding to is a part of some (presumably theatre) dynasty. And so what?

It's Alexander Gemignani or Joshua Henry. Although only Gemignani comes from a theatrical dynasty. "Because of what they're a part of" - people would be shocked to know that the wife is abusing the husband. Especially because they are a part of a musical about spousal abuse.

Gemignani, who has lost a ton of weight, didn't look too happy on the Tonys red carpet.

I totally forgot that Hal Prince was going to direct Bands Visit...

Why did Prince drop out after doing the bulk of preproduction?

Grandiosity and Narcissism. Bad karma.

If Prince had stuck with the show, the awards would have become the Hal Prince tribute...

they ended up lucking out

R127 I actually find you to be rather mean. Not to mention tightly wound. Take a valium, toots.

It's not at all a case of "I know something you don't know" at all. I thought the way most BIs go is that I have clues, someone guesses it, and I indicate subtly that that person was correct, and leave it at that.

It was fun in Theater Gossip 307, and someone came very close. Or a couple people did. The person was mentioned a few times, but always incorrectly ruled out. I figured my final clues here would prompt one of those guys to get it, but I guess they haven't been on recently.

It's really amazing how few awards were won by any musical besides TBV. Supporting Actress, Costumes and Choreography. It must be very, very, very, very, very hard to create and mount a new musical.

I bet that Katrina Lenk's agent's phone is ringing off the hook. It's rare to have such an exquisitely beautiful and talented actress seemingly appear out of nowhere. She could be the next great femme fatale in movies.

Oh, shut up already r135.

No one cares.

R68, it's clear that no one likes you and you have no friends.

Not to worry, R119. That you didn't really think though what you were posting is a hallmark of DL's theater threads. You should be commended for the tenacity you employed in doing it again and again.

Condola Rashad?

Mills was sitting to the left of Quinto. Mills was recently seen with Quinto at AIA.

THE END.

Is there some reason Michael Arden wasn't even nominated for directing the winner of the Best Revival of a Musical?

R141 He was nominated though.

Right. So, no, there's no reason.

He was nominated, deserved to win, but that hack Cromer won instead. Life on Broadway sucks. Maybe Cromer will fade into the background now because they're not going to give it to that gnome again.

Is Cromer still seeing that high-pitched Judy Garland impersonator?

Cromer can't see anything beyond his own inflated ego.

Is Cromer seeing the unbearable little whore/cabaret Garland destryoer Seth Sikes? Isn’t she working on the show as well, that would explain that mystery, as our shrill Judy channeler is a screechy mess, unless he’s ass up in a back room, then it’s cleaned up. What an industry!

"Mills" who, R140?

I believe Mills is Zachary Quinto's partner/lover/husband who did that tour of their apartment and spoke often about "crystals."

[quote] News of their engagement was printed/posted all over.

Gemignani has been married for 10 years according to Wikipedia.

Joshua Henry has been married for 2 years.

I think the Blind Item is bullshit.

Gemignani looks AWFUL in that photo. He looks like he aged 20 years overnight. He used to be a hot bear.

Thanks, r149. That's Miles. Not Mills. Oh, Dear.

I saw AiA and loved it.

Saw Joe Montello yesterday with an Asian guy, not the man who accompanied him to the Tonys.

Do you queens really give a rat's ass about a stupid, insipid BI? Get out your dancing shoes, ladies, and get out of the house!

Ooh, I found a really good quality boot of Ambrose doing My Fair Lady.

That was genuinely hysterical r156

Interesting idea about Lenk as Desiree - who else would you cast with her?

R157, that would never be shown on television today, or the MeToo people would be up in arms. Also, the immigrant community would chime in, in addition to Democratic congresspeople. The women of The View would hate it, and someone at SCTV would be fired, but only after a profuse apology was released.

[quote]Interesting idea about Lenk as Desiree...

Yeah, interesting to about six people. This might be a good idea for the Peterborough Players, but she would sell about six tickets in NYC. I think Lenk's success is going to pan out as well as Nina Arianda's.

NYC would be the only place that would have any idea who she is or have a desire to see ALNM.

R160

No kidding. ALNM is the vehicle that does not really have a lot of interest. However getting someone to play Desiree who does not actually make you want to AVOID seeing a production is kind of important.

Lenk is old enough to play the role but she hasn't been around long enough to have alienated anyone.

"Saw Joe Montello yesterday"

My favorite sighting of Joe Mantello was watching him troll the basement booth area of that long closed porn shop midway on Christopher Street.

I had just seen The Heiress (the Cherry Jones version) and was trolling myself. I think at the time he was dating the now-forgotten playwright Jon Robin Baitz.

Was Seth Sikes the twink who was the boy toy of Broadway lawyer Mark Sendroff? Is Sendroff the guy who killed the NYTimes article?

There was no NY Times article. Now fuck off, r164.

R165 = Reddsy Schroeder typing from the sling in Jerry Mitchell’s panic room at the beach house.

Most shocking thing about this years Tony Awards is a young(ish) producer wins best musical (Orin Wolf) and no one has anything bad to say about him- good for Orin!

What is Reddsy Schroeder, pray tell?

The producer for "Once On This Island" should be ashamed for not acknowledging Michael Arden.

R169 Isn't Arden 'difficult'?

Ask Charlie Williams about that supposed New York Times essay...

R171 Was Charles raped?

^^^not willingly anyway. Haha.

These are such uncertain times on Broadway.

Is there really any interest in seeing a musical of the early 1990s film DAVE, especially directed by Tina Landau? It just went into rehearsal today down in DC with Drew Gehling as Kevin Kline, Mamie Parish as Sigourney Weaver (who? who?) and Douglas Sills as the older fellow.

Katrina Lenk will have a far more successful career in film and TV because she's so gorgeously photogenic, unlike that Arianda creature. And far nicer.

You don't mention the writers, r174, so I, too, immediately assume it's a hopeless cause.

Eh... she's a woman of a certain age with an old school nose job. Did you predict a big screen career for Dolores Gray back in the day?

The shows produced on Broadway were much more legitimate in my day.

Well, I don't know if Katrina had a nose job but if I was going to make a list of all the beautiful stars with nose jobs who had long-lasting success in films, it'd be a pretty long list, r177.

Yes, dear Arlene, we all remember your great legitimate success in Mrs. Dally Has a Lover in 1966. Did it actually run longer than 2 weeks?

Dorothy at R180, The play was simply titled "Mrs. Dally," and it ran for a month and a half.

It was a limited engagement.

I was killed figuratively for that , Dorothy, but you were killed literally. BTW, today you could have started a GoFundMe to buy to a chin.

You were always known for your heart, Arlene. The cheap little one you wore around your neck.

The last four or five posts are so welcome, beautiful stuff you wonderful bitches! Now what ‘bout Charlie’s #metoo? I fear it was HE doing the raping while Rob watched and took notes...

Oh God, dramedy at MUNY in shorts …

[quote]Dorothy at [R180], The play was simply titled "Mrs. Dally," and it ran for a month and a half. It was a limited engagement.

But did it have a coup de theatre?

Re the BI. WHO GIVES A FUCK! Shut up about it already.

Tony Shaloub’s Tony is like Viola Davis’s Oscar in reverse.

[quote]Oh God, dramedy at MUNY in shorts …

With his spreadsheets

I always imagine dramedy to look like compsoser William Finn. Not sure why....but what do you think?

I’m pretty sure the BI is Condola Rashad. Dynasty and all that. And she got engaged at the end of 2016 but went to the Tonys with her dad. So I believe the BI has been solved.

R191 Lost interest days ago sorry. And the guy was such a prat about it

WTF cares about Condola Rashad and her love life??

probably more than care about some bullshit BI teaser

Yes R78!!

Condola Rashad is hardly A-list Broadway. More like C list. I don't care how many Tony noms she has because diversity, but you could start a soccer game in the house on any night Saint Joan is performing and not disturb a single audience member.

Isn’t Seth Sikes like 20 years younger than Cromer? Is he getting plowed by the Cromer Tony © Award-winning beercan schlong?

r164 That was Hunter Ryan Herdlicka.

There's nothing special about Condola. She's fine. Serviceable. But no spark. The 4 Tony nominations are puzzling. Maybe she would do better in film?

Hunter Ryan Herdlicka is the name AIDS uses when it checks into a hotel.

Wow, that's a new low .....

But what about Wesley, was he all over his Tony winning show beau? Surely that relationship is gonna suffer.

What’s with all the sensitive prisspots joining the DL? It’s worse than the Bernie Bro invasion of 2016, if you can’t stand the cuntery then go enjoy the fun and games over on the A&E boards.

Comparing a person to the AIDS virus is worthy of our blighted president but no one else.

R204 Jog on

R139-

Jesus H Betty Lynn Buckshot R204, it was the name with its supreme gayness, not the talent free actor who answers to it, fuck off already and go suck Ryhog’s taint over at ATC where you belong.

Seriously, r207? Calling someone AIDS is low, even for you.

It will be interesting to see what Isaac does next, given that he has gotten so much attention and got a lead on Bway right out of school

Isaac would be perfect for the Timothee role in the Broadway musical of CMBYN.

Condola has a stupid name. Not cute face. Boring presence and acting skills and she's just as arrogant and pretentious as her bitch ass mother. Go away. Nobody will watch her in film. That would have happened by now. The nominations and theatre career is because broadway is up her mother's sour asshole. I don't know what Isaac Powell can do next. His singing voice is an acquired taste and i don't think he has superb acting skills. He seems more suited for TV. Something light and fluffy where he can be cute and funny and shirtless/naked. He's pretty gay too and open about it on insta with the cross dressing and stuff so that might limit him. Maybe he can play Jonathon larson in a movie or do RENT live. Jesus Christ superstar, HAIR live. Stuff like that.

Comdola's nomination after lukewarm reviews is as puzzling as Denzel's, who brings little but himself to the role.

[quote]Is there really any interest in seeing a musical of the early 1990s film DAVE, especially directed by Tina Landau?

Didn't work when it was called ZENDA, why should it work now?

[quote]Is there really any interest in seeing a musical of the early 1990s film DAVE, especially directed by Tina Landau?

Yet another movie-to-musical the world was not crying out for.

Was Jonathan Larson closeted?

[quote] I don't know what Isaac Powell can do next.

There's always porn.

R211, preach! Condola entered the scene years ago without an ounce of humility, just a real entitlement princess with a low grasp of text and narrative, very common girl. What’s interesting with the BI connecting with her, is that during her early arrival upon the New York stage she would do anything with a power broker and was quite the “athlete.”

What’s the story with Roundabout taking so long to announce that Kiss Me Kate was going into Studio 54? I assumed the delay was because Beautiful was closing and freeing up the Sondheim but apparently that’s not the reason.

[quote] Condola's nomination after lukewarm reviews is as puzzling as Denzel's, who brings little but himself to the role.

Not really. They had no one else to choose from. They only wound up doing 4 nominees, that's how small the pool was. How do you think Schumer's fat ass got in there.

Also- the BI was garbage. Condola is NOT Broadway A-List. What's more is NO ONE would have voted for her if they'd known what she'd gone through. Nothing could have derailed Jackson's Tony, not even Phylicia Rashad being gunned down in front of David Hogg. Whoever you are, you suck at blind items and you dragged that shit on interminably

I heard that Hunter lives next to the LIRR far out in Queens. I guess Elaine didn't leave him any money.

Looking at social media and Seth Sikes sure gets around. He has a cute body, but that face is so tragic.

Sikes looks like Hermey from Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, but that girl sure gets around, a party bottom to some top bananas and then some!

I am still not sure who is Seth Sikes but in his ig he looks like an instaho. As [221] mentioned, he sure gets around..... And he calls himself, "Cabaret Star."

Seth Sikes sings Judy Garland in cabarets his various sugar daddies pay for, people were discussing him because he’s latched on to DL fav and Tony winner David Cromer, Sikes wormed his way into “associate director” status on some shows by taking pipe like a champ.

I've been away from DL for a few days so never got the chance to read the Tony awards threads, I gotta go back now and read them.

I'm SOOOOO happy that Laurie Metcalf is a two-time Tony winner now, back-to-back no less (even if this is just supporting). Can someone please start a thread dedicated to this amazing actress?

When will Mean Girls post its closing notice?

I would just love to see the Mean Girls box office plummet based on their horrifying spot on the Tonys! Will that happen?

It will probably eke out a mediocre run, similar to Something's Rotten (gee, by the same hack director!), which also started big and then quickly fizzled.

R196 Sorry if you don't like her, but 4 Tony nominations at age 32 is A list.

I don't think Elaine Stritch had any money to leave by the end... pretty sad

Why is that sad, r229? Elaine spent it all on herself. She had no heirs or children.

Did Stritch HAVE to leave NYC because she was broke? That IS sad.

But, my God, living in a fancy hotel for years on end is not cost effective.

I think given her diabetes, chain smoking, severe alcoholism and numerous ailments, I don’t think she thought she’d love to be 89. Live for the day lifestyles bit her in the ass the last few years

[quote]I think given her diabetes, chain smoking, severe alcoholism and numerous ailments, I don’t think she thought she’d love to be 89. Live for the day lifestyles bit her in the ass the last few years

But only in the last few years. I rather doubt she regretted living life on her terms.

Presented without comment, because I am sure you bitches will have plenty to say.

The pic won’t load for me what is it

Ben Platt - shirtless selfie 🤮🤮🤮

saw her (ES) at an off-off-b'way play shortly before she left NYC. She was alone and looked like a bag lady, though maybe that was her "disguise".

[quote] When will Mean Girls post its closing notice?

Probably two to three years. It's doing good box office amongst people who couldn't care less about Tonys.

Or theatre.

Platt’s got the body of a middle aged Shirley Booth!

[quote] Sorry if you don't like her, but 4 Tony nominations at age 32 is A list.

Oh, really? So producers can raise money to put up a show based on the strength of Condola Rashad's name? She can keep a show running and guarantee a percentage of box office based solely on her being in a show? That the two shows in which she was a lead ran a combined length of 17 weeks means she's a draw?

I don't think you have a fucking clue as to what A-List means, which is no surprise since you actually thought your BI was interesting.

I don't get it. That Platt link is coming up as some kind of log in page for LPSG?

aren't there a constant and renewable supply of vapid teenage girls for Mean Girls?

Four Tony nominations, and she comes from show biz royalty = Broadway A-list. You can argue it, but why are you so angry, dear?

isn't it obvious?

Ben Platt is the white Condola Rashad...

we know he's fat and ugly, is he also uppity?

She is also a trigger for a number of dataloungers because she is not gay, white or a man. Putting that aside -- the BI author's conceit that Tony voters would have sympathy for a woman with man troubles is astonishing. In 2014 a broadway A-lister who WAS putting asses in seats to watch her play a challenging role in a less than thrilling show finally divorced her cheating husband and that didn't get her a sympathy Tony. If it didn't work for Adele Dazeem, why would it be a bigger deal for Condola?

Look for Carousel to close around Labor Day- no sales to talk about post Tony Awards (look at this Saturday's evenings inventory on ticketmaster for the evening show)... Both Hadestown and Dreamgirls want the Imperial

Darlings, what you read in PEOPLE is not A-List!

Ugh, this BI is going to be the new Follies, forty years from now, the queens on this board are still going to be arguing about it.

Didn't Elaine Stritch move across the country to be near her relatives so she'd have people to watch out for her when time weakened her past being self-sufficient?

Shag, Marry, Kill.

Denise Gough's remark in SMK is very telling .... WATCH OUT, LAURIE !

Did you see the way Gough’s eyes turned at that last moment? THAT’S the look that has even scared Nathan backstage...

The mysterious BI is entering turkey meatball legend territory

Genuine question- why is there not more discussion of JK Rowling totally skipping the Tony Awards?

It is a shame she skipped it. I remember he coming out at some point as being a big Spongebob fan whose favorite character is Squidward. The 'I'm Not a Loser" number might as well have been selected to amuse her.

The Squid number was chosen because it’s the only good song in the show.

That too.

[qiote]Maybe she would do better in film?

She can be seen on TV in Billions. Totally vacuous presence. Her face us permanently set in an open-mouthed semi-smirk and sort of droopy eyelid stare. Mumblecore too. But you can feel she thinks she's the cat's pj's.

"Genuine question- why is there not more discussion of JK Rowling totally skipping the Tony Awards?"

Well, with Sonia Friedman monopolizing the time, she wouldn't have been given the time to be acknowledged anyway.

I don't think Ben Platt looks too bad at all in this pic (provided it's not funhouse mirror-distorted at all).

He's cute. He's fun. He's energetic.

He's too young for me, but I don't understand the DL hate for him. He's a cute talented cub.

I clicked on R263's link and got a page about LPSG (whatever the heck that is).

[quote]The mysterious BI is entering turkey meatball legend territory

Right along with the mysterious/suppressed New York Times searing Broadway sexual harassment report.

[quote]but I don't understand the DL hate for him. He's a cute talented cub.

you must be new here.

he's chubby (i.e., not hot), he doesn't have a hot bf, and his father is connected (hence "nepotism")

Has anyone discussed how FAT (and awful) Amy Schumer looked at the TONYS?

The dress, while quite safe and dull, didn't look so bad from a distance. Up close, though, when she was presenting: it was sausage casing. Arm fat, underarm fat, neck, cleavage, all puddling out of that dress.

I hope she's happy in marriage to her (not terrible looking) husband, who is a professional chef.

But Amy? I'm thinking.... SALADS.

R267 is outraged that the BI wasn't about Amy.

How dare she not have a sympathy inducing break up? That man is going to make her fat!!

I feel bad for anyone buying a ticket to the Elevator Repair Service show (Everyone's Fine With Virginia Woolf) based on Brantley's review. But I guess if you are such a lemming that you blindly follow whatever The Times says, you get what you deserve.

Sorry if you don't like her, but 4 Tony nominations at age 32 is A list.

No, dear. 4 OSCAR noms at age 32 is A list. Funny that most MTC productions extend a week or two but not St. Joan. It stunk up the theatre.

jack davenport was hot

[quote]Sorry if you don't like her, but 4 Tony nominations at age 32 is A list.

[quote]No, dear. 4 OSCAR noms at age 32 is A list. Funny that most MTC productions extend a week or two but not St. Joan. It stunk up the theatre.

I'm not either of the posters above but I've learned over the years (especially on DL) not to engage in endless debates about who is and who isn't A-list because everyone has their own individual ideas about what being A-list means. I've actually heard people deny that JLaw and Meryl Streep are A-list simply because not all of their films open at #1 at the box office -- not to say this criteria is right or wrong, just that it proves we all have varying opinions about what makes a person A-list and what doesn't. It's obviously the same for the theater -- for some, it's about who can fill a Broadway house while for others it's garnering a certain amount of Tony nominations (particularly by a young age). But whichever is the right answer, you will never be able to convince someone else why your standards are correct and theirs are wrong, so you might do better just calling it a draw.

Word on the street:

Tina Fey really pissed she didn't win.

Bruce really pissed about Deniro's intro.

Nobody having exciting wraps after Tony's

Tina Fey pretty much expected Best Book of a Musical, she worked the awards lead up like a champ and looked slightly stunned when she lost. The show REALLY need that lone “Tony Winner” pull for the months ahead, anyone saying it will run “years” is insane, it will follow recent misfires in a relatively early closing considering the source material’s affection.

R274, CBS obviously expected it, too, because otherwise that category would've been presented during a commercial break. They televised solely it because they thought Tina had it in the bag.

I'm a little offended that Book Writer was televised and Best Score was not.

Just sayin'

[quote] Four Tony nominations, and she comes from show biz royalty = Broadway A-list. You can argue it, but why are you so angry, dear?

Do forgive me. I get that way around the blatantly stupid, such as yourself.

[quote]I'm a little offended that Book Writer was televised and Best Score was not.

They should both be televised.

I keep getting a log in request to see ben platts manboobs, i annoying, I wanna see his manboobs

LOL!

In what world is Phylicia Rashad show biz royalty?

For being Mrs. Cosby for 10 years? Debbie Allen's sister?

The Rashads are barely B List Royalty and that's being generous.

You can’t fault Tina Fey. For 15 years she won an Emmy just for showing up to the ceremony. Multiple Golden Globes and a trunk full of SAG awards. It was ridiculous how the television community over awarded her.

She’s now unaccustomed to losing so Sunday was a huge shock.

Quite honestly, the best thing for the Tonys would be to televise them on PBS and allow for ALL the awards to be presented on camera. That would be such a novelty, the ratings would soar.

And the viewers would snore.

And also get them out of Radio City Music Hall and back into a real Broadway theater.

The location has absolutely nothing to do with the organization of the telecast.

Condola Rashad, who I actually like and think has some talent (she’s fun on Billions) is nowhere near A List, even on Broadway, but she is definitely on her way up. Saint Joan was pretty much a box office catastrophe, and was well past her current abilities.

The BI deliberately said BROADWAY A-lister. And being 1.) a famous child (like Rumur Willis) 2.) the titular lead of her show and 3.) a multiple Tony nominee wont make you famous outside of NYC but it WILL make you a Broadway A-lister.

She is the multiple award nominated STAR of a show and therefore 'A'-list for Broadway. Most people answering the Blind Item are literally angry that the gossip wasn't about a chorus boy. As if complaining about the star of one show not being really 'big enough' will retroactively break up Wesley Taylor and Isaac Powell or something.

Carousel making it to Labor Day? I find that hard to believe. I’m surprised it didnt post closing the night of the Tonys.

When trying to figure out if she was the one in the BI -- I got to like Condola Rashad too. Her social media is pretty well done.

Saint Joan is NOT a play that is easy to sit through. Shaw could be a bore when he wanted to be.

Just do like they used to do: present the so-called "boring" categories first from 7 to 8 on PBS, then the "glamour" categories on the main broadcast on CBS. Was that not considered a nice compromise by most when they used to do it years ago? Why not do it again?

Any word on JTF's "Log Cabin" play at Playwrights Horizons? Good? Bad?

What do y'all think of Show Score? For example, here is the page for Log Cabin mentioned above. 76 isn't a bad score for the site.

Here's the pic of Platt incase you couldn't access it earlier.

The Elevator Repair Service show is total shit and Brantley is an idiot - but that's not news

Mean Girls was far from inspiring, and that's coming from a huge Tina Fey fan, but I was pretty shocked that she didn't win book. I assumed she'd win solely because she's Tina Fey and it was maybe the only award the voters could stomach giving the show. She wanted it too. Like someone above said, she and her husband were campaigning hard.

The thing is though... I'm pretty sure everyone on board knew the show wasn't that great. I remember in one interview Tina jokingly talked about how the real money was in licensing the show to high schools, and I knew in that moment the entire production was a cynical exercise.

Fey losing was the voters sending a message. Telling the queen of television that she'd at least need to try if she wanted to take Broadway by storm. I think that's pretty cool to be honest. It'd have been a cheap award for her to win because she can do better.

Wow, R295, I did not know Fey said that. I never liked her, and now I like her less. I HATED Mean Girls. I thought it was nothing but a pedestrian and cynical cash-grab, but I thought she was looking just for Broadway money. I had no idea that it was staged to just license it down the road. And that is what is wrong with Broadway, and I love that the theater community did not reward such blatant cynicism. It makes me think that maybe there is still a heart beating under there somewhere.

I cannot fucking believe people are still debating that tedious blind item, which was never interesting to begin with.

Why does Ben Platt need to post that shot? Chances are he’ll put the weight back on in another few months. And he doesn’t even look good now. Sad!

I actually had to research the Mean Girls at the August Wilson because I could not believe that the cheap production we saw on the Tony Awards was the actual production. It really does seem like a cynical cash grab for the high school market. It looks like $1.99 was spent on the whole production (Sounds like it as well...)

R296 Yeah... I wish I could remember which interview I watched where she said that. It did stick with me though because it just seemed... like the wrong reason to write a musical. I'm sure she's right though. They're gonna license the hell out of it and considering its rabid fanbase I'm sure it'll do well, perhaps better, in a high school setting.

I also love that Frozen was barely nominated for anything and won nothing. I live in CA and most of my Broadway exposure comes from tours or watching the Tonys, but even I could tell that Mean Girls was a pretty lazily put together show. The Band's Visit looks like a crafted work of art, so I'm happy it swept.

Where did Ben Platt post that photo? I don't see it on his instagram... is it a scruff / grindr pic? He just looks so...soft

Word is also that Glenda Jackson and "John" Montello really don't like each other.

I think it's possible Fey also lost because many of the voters, when checking their ballots, probably thought "You know, since everyone else is going to vote for her, I'll use my vote on the person I'd really like to see get it" and thus she lost.

[quote]Fey losing was the voters sending a message. Telling the queen of television that she'd at least need to try if she wanted to take Broadway by storm.

I actually think Tony voters deserve a lot of props: they've proven time and time again that they will put Hollywood stars "in their place," meaning they won't just hand them an award simply because these people are bold-faced names. Sometimes yes (Andrew Garfield) but many times no (Tom Hanks), so anybody out there who may be thinking (like Fey apparently did) that their starpower alone would guarantee them a Tony could be wrong.

[quote]Word is also that Glenda Jackson and "John" Montello really don't like each other.

If true, that's very interesting. Didn't someone post here once that Joe treats the stars in his shows like gold but the "no-names" like shit? If so, you'd think he'd have been very kind to a two-time Oscar winner.

I wonder how big Ben Platt's dick is? He must be a total bottom.

All the negative comments about MSD kids are from the same fucking asshole. We know who you are, freak show. Take your aspie ass out of here.

[quote]I think it's possible Fey also lost because many of the voters, when checking their ballots, probably thought "You know, since everyone else is going to vote for her, I'll use my vote on the person I'd really like to see get it" and thus she lost.

I wouldn't be surprised if that's the case. Honestly, from the outside, it seemed like everyone assumed she'd win. If I'm not mistaken just about every critic on Gold Derby had her winning book. I'm sure everyone assumed it'd be good for ratings as well. It just seemed so obvious, so it going to Itamar Moses felt pretty monumental. Props indeed.

[quote]they've proven time and time again that they will put Hollywood stars "in their place," meaning they won't just hand them an award simply because these people are bold-faced names.

I've definitely felt that from them before. I assume it's the reason Daniel Radcliffe hasn't managed to get a single nom. From what I can see though he seems super dedicated to the work, and if I'm not mistaken he's gonna be in a play this season with Cherry Jones and Bobby Cannavale.

Ooh, back to the Tony's pivoting from the obvious. Can we compare what happened this year with what happened the year Wicked lost? If I'm not mistaken, everyone assumed it'd take Best Musical, but Avenue Q ended up taking Book, Score, and Musical. I watched the ceremony again recently and all the winners seemed completely shocked. Looking back it seemed like they weren't too hot on Wicked. Its director, Joe Mantello, wasn't even nominated for his work on the show, but ended up winning for the Assassins revival. Felt like another message was sent that year, no? Can anyone who was plugged in at the time shed some light on that ceremony?

'Saint Joan" was pretty fucking good when Maryann Plunkett and Michael Stuhlbarg did it.

And so not boring at all.

I have the feeling Glenda Jackson does not like many people. I have watched many interviews and she rarely says anything nice about many people.

R304, I think that comment was made about George C. Wolfe. Early preview commentators for The Iceman Cometh said the ensemble was mostly lost and gave his directing style as a likely reason. I thought they were all doing distinctive and interesting work when I saw it a few weeks ago, so maybe they needed the preview period to jell. They were more interesting than Denzel, so so much for the star getting all the attention and it paying off.

Is there really that much money in licensing a show? How much does each licensee generally pay for a show like Mean Girls?

r307, in terms of the Wicked vs Avenue Q showdown, the reality was Avenue Q ran an absolutely brilliant campaign- they had one of the most memorable 'road' events ever (a mock campaign rally imploring voters to 'vote their heart') and behind the scenes, were pushing it as vote for one set of producers (Jeffrey & Kevin) versus another (Voldemort)... it was truly fascinating to behold and even more fascinating in retrospect... Someone should truly write a book about it

Do You Know All of the Tony-Winning Best Musicals?

"Mean Girls" might the cheapest looking Broadway show ever. It's all TV screen they roll in a fake mini escalator and it's a mall! They roll in tables and it's a lunch room or class room.

How in Hell did "Three Tall Women" not win best set?

[quote] think it's possible Fey also lost because many of the voters, when checking their ballots, probably thought "You know, since everyone else is going to vote for her, I'll use my vote on the person I'd really like to see get it" and thus she lost.

As an award voter (not Tonys, but a handful of film/TV), I can tell you this is tantamount to throwing your vote away. People vote three ways- either they follow the party line and vote what they think everyone else will, they vote for the names they recognize because they haven't seen anything, or they vote strategically, and that means voting for the entity that has the biggest chance of upsetting the frontrunner, whether or not you like it or have even seen it. This is usually done when you dislike the front runner. I can believe Fey lost not because people figured, oh everyone's voting for her, I can do something nice, but because they were annoyed at an outsider infiltrating theater for an award, and they voted The Band's Visit because it was the only book that could possibly topple Fey's.

However, I really think this season voters were sending a message. It's the only way to explain Ariel Stachel and Tony Shalhoub's wins.

Was Lenk completely unknown before this ABV turn?

Lenk was a replacement in Spider-Man and Once, and was fantastic in Indecent last year, for which she probably should have been nominated. She's been kicking around for a while.

As far as whether Glenda Jackson and Joe Mantello got along, what does it matter? Some of Broadway's greatest shows were created under contentious circumstances, with screaming, fights, acrimony. No one is in it to win a popularity contest, or Miss Congeniality.

Here's an interesting recent interview w/ Glenda Jackson in the LA Times. Seems she is frequently combative with her directors.

[quote]I have the feeling Glenda Jackson does not like many people. I have watched many interviews and she rarely says anything nice about many people.

I think we should make her an Honorary Datalounger!

R306 furiously typing from his elderly aunt’s basement in Modesto fueled on by Little Debbie’s brownies and despair. Fuck off Mary!

R317

She got lots of attention during Indecent and she appears to have handled it well. She isn't an ingenue or a belter -- so I don't think she assumes she will be plugged into the musical machinery of Broadway as a new leading lady. But her "quadruple threat: sings, acts, dances AND plays an instrument" skills do make her appealing.

Glenda Jackson put that miserable cunt, Thacher in her place; Mantella woul be child's play for her

Ben might look a tad better if he shaved his chest. Someone on one of those chat boards posted that Bill Irwin was taken ill during a performance of Iceman and was replaced mid performance. Something about he kept forgetting lines and lost his way. I hope he's ok. Has anyone heard anymore about this?

Jackson and Mantello have both made it pretty clear in interviews that they had conflict during rehearsals. She definitely likes to challenge directors. Whether they "like" each other is a pretty irrelevant concept - this is a workplace relationship.

Ben would look better if he just didn't manscape. the clipped chest hair is almost as bad as the plucked chicken look. Ben is far too swarthy to pull off hairless. As for his body, he actually looks pretty good. he's certainly transformed himself from the tub of goo he once was. I say good for him. That shit's hard.

Katrina Lenk BELTED the house down with Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah at the Broadway Dreams benefit last December at the Plaza Hotel. That girl can really sing. Don’t be confused because that’s not what she’s doing in TBV.

Is "Girls and Boys" worth it?

Does Seth Sikes sell out those concerts at 54 Below that he has gotten financed? He sings in too high keys. I actually prefer Tommy Femia as Judy, who brings out Judy's wicked sense of humor and nails her laugh.

I don't care who sings it, I never want to have to listen to Hallelujah again.

What do you have against Handel?

[quote]Tony Post Mortem

I think I dated him once.

How can anyone find Ben Platt’s body hot? He needs to do a cycle stat if he wants any kind of lasting career in Hollywood.

R328

I wasn't trying to imply she isn't amazing at all 4 of her skills (as an actress she has amazing range, which includes languages as well as dialects, as a singer her musicality is masterful, as a dancer she is professional and she can play a wide range of really hard instruments -- oboe, WTF. Who randomly masters the oboe?!) I was just saying she isn't identified as a belter.

Count me as someone else who's surprised that J.K. Rowling's absence from the Tony ceremony and Glenda Jackson's flub of Joe Mantello's first name ("John") haven't received more comment. I'm really surprised Rowling wasn't there, and if she had been, I'm pretty sure both she AND Jack Thorne would have been allowed to speak in accepting the Best Play award, even if the producer hadn't shortened her remarks.

R322 seems mentally ill.

Tony Post Mortem I think I dated him once.

Not one of ours

R337 IS mentally ill.

R300, that Tina Fey remark about licensing is from her interview with David Letterman on his Netflix show.

R339 = Hi, Matt! How are things in Aspieland?

The licensing fees Fey will make from Mean Girls will be a pittance compared to what she's made and can continue to make from TV. I think she made the comment with a tongue in her cheek.

Also, isn't Mean Girls too raunchy for high schools? And it hardly seems like community theater fare.

The other Tina, Tina Landau is obviously adored and admired by her creative team but is that because she lets them do whatever they like? The love-fest certainly doesn't come through in the product.

OOTI is getting a good boost in sales from its Tony win. Maybe Ken Davenport will stop treating the cast like shit now.

Mean Girls it total community theater stuff.

A presold title without great acting challenges.

[r345] sounds good for me!

OK, I have to ask. I get who Omar Sharif is, and why it's important to the song, but what on earth is "Oooonecle Tooooom"??

Uum Kulthum, r347. Famous Egyptian singer. Now that you know how to spell her name, look her up.

Oum Koultum(? various spellings apparently count) was a woman who would literally get on the radio and sing songs that lasted for up to an hour.

Her broadcast voice which the character Dina would be recounting was actually more complex than is suggested by the musical. As wikipedia summarizes:

"The spontaneous creativity of Umm Kulthum as a singer is most impressive when, upon listening to these many different renditions of the same song over a time span of five years (1954–1959), the listener is offered a totally unique and different experience. This intense, highly personalized relationship was undoubtedly one of the reasons for Umm Kulthum's tremendous success as an artist. Worth noting though that the length of a performance did not necessarily reflect either its quality or the improvisatory creativity of Umm Kulthum. Some of her best performances were 25–45 minutes in duration, such as the three available renditions, including the commercial version of El Awwila Fi'l Gharam ("First in Love"), and Ana Fi Intizarak ("I am waiting for you"), (commercial and 3-3-1955 performance). On the other hand, her songs as of the mid-1960s would extend sometimes over a duration of two hours (premiere of Enta Omri, Enta el Hobb, etc.); however, the repetitions, mostly executed upon the request of the audience, were often devoid of creative musical improvisations and limited to vocal colorful variations on a syllable, letter or word. Around 1965, Umm Kulthum started collaborating with composer Mohammed Abdel Wahab. Her first song composed by Abdel Wahab, "Enta Omri" (You are my life"), was considered the "summit meeting". Several beautiful songs composed by Abdel Wahab followed, such as "Amal Hayati" ("The Hope of my life"), "Fakkarouni" ("They reminded me"), and others. In May 1967, just before the Six-Day war she was heard on Radio Cairo and Radio Damas singing "Slaughter, slaughter, slaughter and have no pity ..." towards the Zionist Israeli.[12][13][14][15][16] Another source mentions the creation of a song of war.[17] Laura Lohman[18] has identified several other warsongs created for her in that same period. In 1969 it was followed by another one "Asbaha al-Ana 'indi Bunduqiyyah" (Give me a rifle).[19] In 1969 Umm Kulthum sang a war song "Asbaha al-Ana 'indi Bunduqiyyah" (Give me a rifle).[20] Her songs took on more a soul searching quality in 1967, following the defeat of Egypt during the Six Day war. Hadeeth el Rouh ("The Talk of The Soul"), which is a translation from the poet Mohammad Iqbal's ”Shikwa”, set up a very reflective tone. Generals in the audience are said to have been left in tears. Umm Kulthum also sang for composers Mohammad El Mougi, Sayyed Mikkawi, and Baligh Hamdi.

And just like that that, Umm Kulthum has killed the thread, just as her song does in the show,

wow, I had no idea Uum Kulthum was a person. I thought she was just kind of scatting. Like Mmmmm doobedoobop and Omar Sharif. But in that boring, snoozeworthy way of David Yazbeck's.

"Dirty Rotten Scoundrels" and "Full Monty", also by Yazbek are not boring.

Meh

Double meh for dopey songs.

Omar Sharif deserves a better song.

Broadway doesn't go for booze and dope and Tina Fey!

Broadway deserves better musicals

Bring back Sugar Babies!

Umm Kulthum is certainly no Mabel Mercer.

R329 - Girls & Boys is really worth it. The play is good, but Carey Mulligan is really quite special in it. It was almost impossible to get tickets for the London production, so I'd highly recommend it if there are tickets available for her NY stint.

Ben Platt— looks like his brother Jonah helped him get in shape

They’ll all end up looking like Oliver

that list of Tony winners through the ages was depressing.

GREAT MUSICALS ARE A MIRACLE

Sugar Babies, apart from the giddiness of seeing those two legends on stage, was an incredibly hilarious and entertaining confection.

"Sugar Babies" was pure entertainment, exactly what it was supposed to be and I saw it with my family as a kid. Rooney and Miller were as old as my Grandparents and even at that age I knew they were legends and I was thrilled to be able to see them. Plus it played in at the time the most gorgeous theatre on Broadway.

Can’t wait for the revival of Sugar Babies with Condola Rashad and Ben Platt!

"GREAT MUSICALS ARE A MIRACLE"

That should be emblazoned on a banner and hung over Times Square.

Wow, Angels in America didn't seem to sell any tickets...

Yes R368, we know. AiA’s terrible sales have been mentioned here many times.

How long before Rudin Rasputin announces his plan to bring Tom Hanks in HENRY IV to Broadway for a limited run? So he can charge 200 bucks a seat to sit in the mezzanine. It's a big fat hit in L.A.

Platt is pretty homely even with a fit body. And that shag carpet from neck to waist brings him from homely to genuinely upsetting. Why is he posting this? Why is he making it public? Looking like a domesticated animal when shirtless and then exhibiting yourself to the world is only for the delusional narcissist. I'm sure his back could only be tamed by an Australian sheep shearer.

it's not even a very good body- not much muscle tone- for a 20something guy with a trainer and dietician, he should be in better shape than what we see on that photo... it's the body of a formerly out of shape 40 year old who spent a few months in the gym

Things have reached a pretty pass when people are nostalgic for Sugar Babies, which was moronic fun then and I can't IMAGINE how it would play now (the answer is, with its flagrant sexism, it wouldn't)

Sorry guys, but please try and embrace the modern day?

In that photo, Platt looks like he just got fucked by a really tiny dick and the guy didn't know who he was when he agreed to the "date".

[quote]Also, isn't Mean Girls too raunchy for high schools?

Not in Stanton, PA!

I just wanna know if Jerry and Ricky are still together.

Platt must think that is a primo hook-app shot, he’s tragically wrong of course, but he lives in his own twisted mind bubble so that isn’t a surprise. As someone said above, he looks like a forty something dad from Bayonne NJ.

[quote] Sorry guys, but please try and embrace the modern day?

Not until you learn proper punctuation.

R365, Sugar Babies also succeeded because Rooney and Miller were very aware of how to play vaudeville and burlesque. It's a dead art form. I think a Sugar Babies with William Frawley and Lucy (circa ILL of course) would have been the most amazing show.

I would have loved to have heard Frawley do Mr. Cellophane or Buddy's Blues.

YES! An I Love Lucy special episode of Chicago with Lucy playing Velma, Ethel playing Roxie, Ricky playing Billy and Fred playing Amos.

Mrs. Trumble could be Mama Morton and Carolyn Appleby could be Mary Sunshine.

R380, Lucy IS Roxie

And Little Ricky on drums!

Van Johnson *IS* Mary Sunshinw

It's a tossup. Lucy could be Velma OR Roxie, but I don't see Viv doing Velma, so sorry, Luce. You're gonna have to take a backseat for once.

Somebody get me Zombie Gary Morton on the horn!

Who says I can't play Velma!?!

"GREAT MUSICALS ARE A MIRACLE"

'GREAT MUSICALS ARE A THING OF THE PAST"

And in color too!

Sorry. My bad.

Who the fuck is Joan supposed to be- Little Bo Peep?

Holy Moth Balls Batman! Sugar Babies, Lucy, VIVIAN FUCKING VANCE?! We’ve died and gone to DL Eldergay Heaven!

Listen, you cunt. Vivian Vance is DL ROYALTY. Don't even.

What the hell happened with/to the Liza Auction?

I bought Lorna for $50

Who hasn’t?

I didn't, R395. Yecch.

Travolta though... when we has hot... with a spoon!

R387, when I said that, I was going to say what you said as well but I didnt want to be negative.....

Does anyone know what kind of injury Carey Mulligan sustained which resulted in cancellation and reshuffling of performances

I believe it was excessive tweeness

Both Liza and Lorna supposedly went on dates with Barry Manilow in the 60's...

The first in a long line of gay men?

Sooooo.......does anybody know the status of the auction?

Ok what do you suggest we embrace in this modern day?

SpongeBob? Mean Girls? Aladdin? Dolly?

There aren’t enough trans lesbians of color in the Broadway community to properly cast Sugar Babies.

I don't remember any African Americans, Asians, gays or lesbians in Sugar Babies.

There might have been trans.

Wait -- you're telling me that Ann Miller wasn't a drag queen?

The late old dyke Patsy Kelly would have killed it if she had the chance to do Sugar Babies. That's exactly the sort of show she needed to demonstrate her wildly overthetop comedy. She totally stole both No No Nanette and Irene with that sort of schtick.

The whole goal with musicals today is to get it to the point where it can be licensed. That's where you rake in the bucks. For DECADES. It's like a never ending slot machine that pays out DAILY.

It's why we have so many bad shows based on pre-existing shit like movies and tv shows...name recognition and being part of a brand makes it much easier to market.

Also explains why you see shows running longer than seems financially responsible on B'way. Producers (especially huge corporate ones) are willing to lose a bit of money to extend a run long enough to insure it gets licensed. Or, send it on the road even if it's not a huge hit. There's a hundred Paramounts/Foxes/Orpheums across the country who have yearly subscriber seasons to fill. And, tens of thousands high school/college/community theaters needing new material to produce. And, they don't care very much if it's crap. A pre-sold brand name insures it will sell some tickets.

[quote]Wait -- you're telling me that Ann Miller wasn't a drag queen?

I often suspected that Annie was a man.

Musicals have been written with the intention of licensing for a long time. I'm pretty sure that is the explanation for You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown.

Nevertheless, The Band's Visit, clearly wasn't written with that in mind.

Concerning Ann I said there might have been trans.

And if you love Patsy seeing The Cowboy and the Lady is a must.

I had no idea she was in it until I started watching the film on youtube. It's just an ok movie but pleasant enough.

"Dirty Rotten Scoundrels" and "Full Monty" are fine shows. Have done both. Fun! Not to mention good paychecks.

Tina Fey must have been joking about high school licensing making a lot of money. I’m pretty sure a sell-out show on Broadway with a national tour is much more lucrative. The book writer for Wicked has made around $24 million just from the broadway run, not counting London, national tours, etc.

I was pretty sure Tina was going to lose. The Tony voters are a bit schizophrenic about stars. Sometimes, they fall under the spell of star power, like Geoffrey Rush’s ordinary performance in Exit the King. But they often decline to honor stars who would never even been nominated if they weren’t celebrities. Like Tom Hanks or Philip Seymour Hoffman in Death of a Salesman. Mean Girls would not have been the front runner if Itamar Moses had written it.

Both Rooney and Miller were nominated for the Antoinette Perry Award for Sugar Babies so there’s that.

[quote]Carolyn Appleby could be Mary Sunshine.

No! Frank Nelson (Freddie Fillmore) as Mary Sunshine, the role he was born to play!

Debra Messing for "Sugar Babies 2018"!

SUGAR BABIES! 2019

Starring Debra Messing

Starring Brad Garrett

I’m here for the role of “Mary Sunshine.”

That image made me laugh, R418. I don’t remember that episode.

Has anyone heard anything more about the Tootsie musical? Is it going to be a proper musical or just a shitty 2D transposition to the stage?

With the adorable Santino?!

What do we know about him?

Santino and wife playing Newlywed Game/

It took me a minute to realize it was Lauren Ambrose and not Alicia Witt onstage at the Tonys.

Next we're getting a musical version of Clueless. So we'll have Clueless and Mean Girls running at the same time. Is it time for a Heathers revival?

The Tootise workshop script from a couple years ago was very different than the film, it was set in the theater industry and the main character was sort of lost in that adaptation, but so many things have changed since then, in many ways it was almost too different.

R419-In a Fred Mertz falsetto-"No RICKY RICARDO??!!??. Let's go somewhere else, girls".

Why can't' *I* be Mrs. Santino Fontana?

Too ugly? No vagina?

Tom Hank's Henry IV is set for coming in this spring...

Something odd. AIA is on HBO but in the info it comes on as NT LIVE:AIA. I got all excited but it is the Nichols version.

F430. The person who writes the listings probably just googled the information to write the summary, but cribbed it from the wrong production. Stuff like that happens more often than it should.

R426, Frawley's only line was "Oh dear, Hazel, LOOK!" Trivia: Hazel was Lucy's stand-in Hazel Pierce who was often seen in the episodes.

They should adapt for the stage Lucy and Ethel crash The Most Happy Fella at the Imperial featuring Mr Wilson.

[quote]Mean Girls would not have been the front runner if Itamar Moses had written it.

True, but then again, it might not have been absolute dreck

All of the posts referring to that Lucy episode are why I come to the Datalounge.

Itamar was surprisingly hot. I'd never seen him before but I've heard his name for quite some time. i was picturing someone much older. So great that they were so sure Tina Fey would win that they moved the category to the broadcast and someone who's actually made a life in the theater won. AND we got to see a speech by a cute guy instead of that wonky eyed cunt.

Well, it looks like we have the next show that will get 10 nominations next year!!

They'd probably have better luck using that title on a Roy Orbison jukebox musical.

Any guess where Rudin would want Henry IV to play?

Looks like Matt McGrath exited Boys in the Band. At least he got to play Michael once. Anyone know why he left? David Turner has replaced him. (The same David Turner who was in that awful On A Queer Day..... revival?)

Oh wow, I love David Turner. I'd like to see him play the role. I would have also liked to see McGrath play the role.

I'd like to see anyone but Jim Parsons play that role. Any chance BITB will extend with a new cast? Plenty of other gay actors to choose from. Neil as Michael and Cheyenne as Donald?

David Turner is a wonderful actor. Was so good in Good Person of Szechuan with Taylor Mac and Last Sunday in June. Turner is also beyond wealthy—private plane that he pilots himself, townhouse in the Village, big family estate, etc. Speaks Latin or Greek or both. Family has pharmaceutical dough, I think.

I'm surprised Matt McGrath accepted a standby job. He seems to work pretty consistently. Unless a steady 2 month paycheck for sitting at home appealed to him.

Why do the ATC kids get so upset about Rudin's rules of late seating and no outside drinks... are these people that miserable?

No Tom Hanks revival will ever come close to the Kevin Kline Henry IV at Lincoln Center in 2003.

Oh please Kline was as bad in that as he was as Hamlet

Chris Peterson, the ugly fuck who's deemed himself the theatre own SJW, is at it again. Now he's bitching about St Louis MUNY. They are doing "Jerome Robbins' Broadway," which includes "The Small House of Uncle Thomas." They have cast Asian/Pacific Islander dancers for the dancing leads (Eliza, etc), but a caucasian is playing Tuptim. Peterson lies (as he often does) and says she's doing a Broken-English accent (she's not, she's just read the lines as written) and using "yellow face" (she's also not wearing yellowface makeup).

Anyone in St. Louis seen the production?

R448 God he gives me thrush

Deplorable!

R450 What make is he? Apart from fat

Very sad. He should never appear in front of a camera let alone attempt to smile.

Chris Peterson is a horrible creature, a perfect example of the freak show quality of modern theater “journalism”, the internet created the ability for any talentfree nobody to become Walter Kerr, just look at all the theater websites, it’s nothing but mutants on and off the red carpet circuits. Peterson is one of the most useless voices ever!

I saw Matt McGrath go on in BITB. Based on that experience it would not surprise me if he were fired. He was bad. And it wasn’t about not being ready-though he should probably have been fired for that-He was bad.

I just watched a new episode of the British show "Midsomer Murders." Miss Elaine Paige is a guest star. She plays a role that is really a stretch for her...an aging theatrical actress.

Unfortunately, Peterson is not completely wrong. I saw the show. Tuptim is not wearing yellow face. She has some kind of white makeup over her face, that’s it. But she does a broken English generic Asian accent. Maybe not the best choice.

r455 I believe that's the first episode of Season/Series 20. Is it available on Netflix yet, or are you in the UK??

Scott Rudin isn't producing the Hanks Henry IV- its Colin Callender and Sonia Friedman

Yes, r457, that is the first episode of Season 20. It also guest stars my fantasy British boyfriend Jason Merrells. Season 20 has not been broadcast in the UK yet. It is currently on the subscription site Acorn. But I watched it on a certain pirate website.

Jason Merrells was cute in Queer as Folk. Until, ya know...

R456 again. I posted before I finished. The King and I number is only one number in the show and no other number needs an Asian cast. So it’s easy to fall into the temptation of hiring the minimal number of Asians possible. And if you’re a small regional theater, maybe you do that and try to cover it up by having the white woman you hired do an Asian accent and wear heavy makeup. But The Muny wants to be considered to be one of the leading theaters in the country. It spent a lot of money on this show. There are 255 costumes. But they didn’t think they had to hire another Asian actor. That was a mistake. The Muny can’t be taken seriously if it’s going to nickel-and-dime in the wrong places like this.

If we're going to start nitpicking about a non Asian playing a small Asian role in a huge musical then I'd like to voice a complaint over an African American actress playing St. Joan. There. I said it. St. Joan wasn't African American. And there are plenty of Caucasian actresses who would have been just as awful as Condola Rashad.

If they had hired a white actress and just had her speak without an accent, it would have been fine. But don’t hire a white actress to play an Asian role and have her speak with an Asian accent. Especially when she sucks at the accent.

I saw The Kite Runner recently and one of the women plays a Korean shop owner briefly. And yes, she did "that accent". As a non-American/-Brit, I'm used to shitty "other" accents. I can see others being offended.

R456/461 = ugly Chris. Yeah, you are wrong, and It’s a lie that she’s using an accent. The “broken English” is how Hammerstein wrote the dialogue/lyric. The actress at the MUNY is NOT applying an accent on top of the dialogue, she’s just doing it as written. There’s plenty of video out there (including on ugly Chris’ site) and anyone can hear what she’s doing,

“Jerome Robbins’ Broadway” has a major qualification for that number: they need to be hardcore dancers. In the original Broadway JRB, Barbara Yeager (a non-Asian) played Tuptim, although they listed her only as “narrator.” In fact, there are more Asians in the King and I number at the MUNY than there were in the original Broadway cast.

Of a sudden she can see Wicked Simon of Legree Sliding 'cross the river fast With his bloodhounds and his slaves!

Small House of Marlo Thomas!

Chris Peterson has 266 followers on twitter, so how can anyone take him seriously. Does he have a larger following elsewhere or am I missing something?

[quote]Has anyone heard anything more about the Tootsie musical? Is it going to be a proper musical or just a shitty 2D transposition to the stage?

I'm 50, and recall the 1982 movie being funny and charming, if slight. However...

The idea of a mainstream musical (Bway or elsewhere) about a straight white man succeeding (in full drag) as an actress in daytime soaps (?!) while winning the hearts of the beautiful straight gal, the older character actor, and American viewers... this is pretty much DOA in 2018. In the age of next wave feminism, Me-Too, and the transgender movement... I can't think of anything so clearly targeted for condemnation, failure, and doom.

You may not have to buy into these "radical" new beliefs, but when your wallet is on the line, you'd damn better acknowledge that they exist.

I say this as a Boomer: Boomers are often fucking stupid and infuriating in their ostritch-like behavior. Culture does not BELONG to you exclusively anymore.

You recall incorrectly, R469. Tootsie is hardly slight and is considered the 2nd all time greatest comedy film ever made, right after Some Like it Hot. It was nominated for 10 Academy Awards, including Best Picture and more than 35 years later, still holds up.

Culture belongs to those who can afford it. Anyone who would bitch about Tootsie being sexist and flouting MeToo clearly hasn't seen it. And clearly can't afford the price of a Broadway ticket, so I hardly think there needs to be any worries that the mass exodus of the twitterverse from the audience of whatever Bway theater Tootsie lands in is going to affect their bottom line. Everyone knows SJWs don't pay for anything. They think they're entitled to be given everything.

The only thing a Tootsie musical is in danger of (besides its stage adaptation sucking balls, which is a very likely possibility) is whether or not they set it today or back in the early 80s, not so much because of politics but because there's nothing believable about a man fooling everyone he comes into contact with into thinking he's a woman. Not in this day and age. Hell, it wasn't even believable in 1995 when they tried to do it with Too Wong Foo. Trash Talk Shows had become all the rage in that 13 years since Tootsie and drag queens and cross dressers had been explored ad nauseam on shows like Jerry Springer, Maury, Donahue, Sally Jessy, et al. Even in the hinterlands, where To Wong Foo took place, those yokels ate that shit up with a spoon and there was no way they wouldn't be able to figure out those three weren't men, which is why the movie failed completely. So yes, in a way Tootsie is dated, but not because of politics.

Also, if you're 50, you're not a Boomer. You're Gen X.

R469 Your points are so considered, oh no they're not fuck off noddy

[quote]Even in the hinterlands, where To Wong Foo took place, those yokels ate that shit up with a spoon and there was no way they wouldn't be able to figure out those three weren't men, which is why the movie failed completely

Almost all the women in the movie understand exactly the nature of the queens’ identities. Michael Vartan and his pals are the only ones who think they’re women. Well, and Stockyard’s hubby, too. That’s was the point of the “I’m a drag queen” ending - they all knew.

And1995 was pre-internet. Pre-RuPaul’s Drag Race, pre Will and Grace. Drag queens weren’t quite as ubiquitous as you’re remembering.

R472 No, honey, they look like men in bad drag. Daylight has never been the natural habitat for drag queens and Snipes looked like a fucking quarterback. It didn't 'work' then and it does not now

And yet, it did work then. You may have hated it, but not everyone shared your opinion.

It was certainly better than Priscilla Queen of the Desert.

It will have something else in common with Priscilla, though. That became a rotten musical, and To Wonf Roo is about to follow suit.

R474 Worked? Wong Foo bombed like the Tony Awards 2018

The early buzz on Moulin Rouge is excellent.

R476 Oh, thought it was delayed because of issues with the theater?

So, who's fucking whom these days? What's the vibe at HELLO, DOLLY? with Garber on the prowl? SPILL, peeps!

Technically, a Gen-Xer/Boomer cusp. Whatever.

[quote]What's the vibe at HELLO, DOLLY? with Garber on the prowl?

Who cares about Garber? How many notches has Charlie Stemp gotten on his American bedpost?

It's an uncut post.

[quote]Why do the ATC kids get so upset about Rudin's rules of late seating and no outside drinks... are these people that miserable?

Because their 85 year old bladders won't hold for two hours and the seats are too tight to be comfortable with the adult diaper on.

[quote] Technically, a Gen-Xer/Boomer cusp. Whatever.

Boomer generation is 1946-64. You're 50. So no. No cusp.

Tootsie is a slight film stretched out overlong. The idea that it is the second greatest comedy film (ahead of Miracle of Morgans Creek, The General, Life of Brian, etc.) is just ridiculous.

The plot would have to be reworked considerably since it is weirdly anti-feminist in its idea that a man dressed as a woman can do things real women cannot.

[quote] Tootsie is a slight film stretched out overlong. The idea that it is the second greatest comedy film (ahead of Miracle of Morgans Creek, The General, Life of Brian, etc.) is just ridiculous.

Yet it's true, so I guess maybe you're not the expert you think you are. Sucks.

Priscilla, Queen of the Desert was very popular among gay audiences because it was funny and had a great sound track.

To Wong Foo was stupid and the gays shunned it like an Amish drug addict.

Tootsie as second greatest comedy is completely insane. God I hated that phony film.

And Hoffman learned so much about being a woman! Total bullshit. But he is a fucking actor after all.

R484/R487, your opinions of Tootsie are ridiculous. Tootsie is, always high on lists of best comedies of all time for a reason.

Who cares about bullshit lists? We do not need anyone else to tell us what is good or bad.

When a consensus develops around something, it might be good to revisit your opinion. It’s fine to have and hold said opinion but foolhardy to deny that the majority of people share the opposite opinion.

I think there's an opportunity for Tootsie to work in the #metoo era as it is essentially about a man waking up to the discrimination and oppression that women face, especially in the workplace. Though, of course, there' s the criticism of Hoffman that goes something like "first, in Kramer vs Kramer, he claimed he could be a better mother than any woman, then, in Tootsie, he claimed he could be a better woman than any woman." Still, the story itself doesn't strike me as inherently misogynist.

For several reasons, it really should be done as a period piece. The lack of technology is key to its final narrative development, as is the medium it takes place in - soap operas were arguably at their peak popularity in the early '80s. If it was updated, Dorothy Michaels would barely be known to a few DL fanatics, at best. And maybe it's unspoken resonance is how little things have actually changed for women in the intervening years. It's depiction of theatre in New York is very late '70s/early '80s as well, back when there was an Off-Broadway scene and actors could have standards.

I'm not sure Santino Fontana has the the requisite intensity to pull off Michael Dorsey. I suspect it'll be more Pretty Woman The Musical than A Little Night Music.

The mansplaining is problematic, to say the least.

All problems can be solved by casting a non-white. All the SJW types will be appeased. Leslie Odom Jr *is* Tootsie.

Garber on the prowl? For what? Cream of wheat?

Honey, his prowling days are over.

Tootsie is among the top few films on every list of the greatest comedies of all time. I LOVE that film - every scene and very performance is perfect.

Michael Dorsey needs to be played by someone older. He has to be so desperate for work, with really no other opportunity than this big risk, last chance effort to get an acting job. It can’t just be “I’m so good, I can even do this.” Ultimately, he is transformed by the experience of masquerading as a woman. It’s not mansplaining. It’s a declaration of love. That’s where the musical can really improve upon the film - the love story.

Wow! The American Film Institute does have Tootsie as the 2nd best film comedy. I’m shocked as I can think of much better comedies to be #2.

It absolutely deserves to be at #2. It’s almost as perfect as it can be.

I wish Julie’s father was a more prominent character so JK Simmons could play him in the musical version.

[quote] Wow! The American Film Institute does have Tootsie as the 2nd best film comedy. I’m shocked as I can think of much better comedies to be #2.

What a coincidence, since I just pulled that comment out of my ass with nothing to back it up with. Wow, huh!

R494, He's nearly reached the Medic Alert wearing stage.

That is a horrible list.

I hope some enterprising souls captured some decent quality video of Bernie and company performing the title number from Dolly. I'd love to relive that moment.

I only saw the production a few weeks ago and thought things would be stale by then, but Bernie and the company were on point and the audience gave an even louder and more passionate response than when I saw Bette perform back in October.

I'm not an overly sentimental guy, but it was so nice seeing Bernie go out on top that way. Have to assume this is going to be her last Broadway production. At least as a lead.

Who would we cast as Julie and, more importantly, Sandy in Tootsie?

Anyone who puts her claw on her hip and declares Tootsie is not a great comic film should be strapped in Row B and forced to sit through Mean Girls the Musical until they perish.

Caissie Levy for Sandy and Datalounge favorite Patti Murin for Julie!

Yeah Tootsie is better than- The Producers, Safety Last, Palm Beach Story, The General, Bringing up Baby, One Two Three, The Bank Dick, Adam's Rib, Speedy, What's Up Doc, The Great Dictator, Annie Hall, The Odd Couple...

Sure.

R506 Yes it is, boo hoo

Wow, I seem to have struck a theatre queen nerve here.

I liked TOOTSIE. I maintain that it was a slight, charming comedy back then that has dated rather badly (as many comedies do). As a stage musical, it would keep younger audiences away in droves. That's just being practical--nothing SJW about it.

And no one who really knows and loves film takes those "100 Best of All Time!" lists seriously. Those are designed for the remaining Readers Digest subscribers of the world.

Well the comedies I listed have not dated badly but try telling that to R507.

The entire internet is nothing but Readers Digest material writ large. Have you been in a coma for 20 years?

I bet Sandy and/or Julie will be ethnic and not Caucasian blondes.

In this one Tootsie will actually be a trans who really just wants to use women's lavatories.

This thread is in desperate need of razzamatazz.

No black people can play Tootsie. It's a negative stereotype of a tootsie roll being a black person!

The irony of "Tootsie" is, of course, a man's having an easier time being hired as a woman than as his male self. As if.

the audition

I loved Tootsie back then and love it now. And I don't think the comedy has dated at all.

How interesting that the 2 highest rated comedies would both be about men masquerading as women.

Thank you R515

That is the most insanely offensive thing about the stupid comedy. The idea that a man of a certain age isn't over-employed and even over paid while there just aren't any women that age who can act or anything.

The Tootside hater has been TRIGGERED!

Toot, Toot Tootsie.....

R519 The Tootsie troll is going manic, it is divine

Dollars to donuts that the Tootsie troll also just happens to hate Mary Poppins.

I think the Tootsie troll is tremendous.

Old fat men don't like Tootsie for some reason

All this talk of TOOTSIE and nobody bothers to mention that the #1 Comedy according to AFI, SOME LIKE IT HOT, will be coming to Broadway soon... scored by no less than BOMBSHELL songwriters Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman. Will any SMASH tunes appear? "Let's Be Bad" is too perfect... but, maybe not...

I don't want to see any more musicals based on movies, be it Tootsie or anything else. The only thing worse are jukebox musicals.

There is more than one person who thinks Tootsie is way overrated.

Ok at least two. I'm one of them.

And why don't they just revive Sugar?

The score seems to have found a new audience. Though having seen the original production a few times it wasn't very good.

R507, there are at least two different vids of Bernadette doing the Hello Dolly number. One is from early in her run, when she was getting a standing ovation on”nice to be back home where I belong,” and the other is more recent, when the reaction is still wildly enthusiastic, but not so over the top.

[quote]I don't want to see any more musicals based on movies, be it Tootsie or anything else. The only thing worse are jukebox musicals.

Well, you’re gonna love CLUELESS at New Group then. Based on a movie AND a jukebox show.

R529, isn't that a sign of Armageddon? I think it's how you break the third seal.

Tootsie has Yazbeck who's good but Scott Ellis and that stupid producer

How about we compromise and do a musical about Toots Shor?

You know these thread have hit gay zombie apocalypse when it sniffs out the haughty queens who just MUST dig in and scream about Tootise being a “slight” comedy, these are the kind of old fags who have never actually SEEN a cock in real life, they’ve lived out their entire life sitting across from mother dearie and Aunt Frances in that creepy old kitchen in Old Bridge NJ where they work at The Fabric Den and play bridge with the nuns. What CUNTS!

Toot Toot Tootsie, the Al Jolson musical

Margaret O'Brien and Kim Fields in "TOOTIE - The Musical"

BEANS.....the Musical!

I have not seen Tootsie since it came out. All I remember is that the Teri Garr character is treated very shabbily.

So, RR537? Because Jessica Lange was way hotter than Teri Garr? And your point was...?

I’d love to have seen Scott Bakula in a musical of Tootsie. But then again after Romance Romance I’d have wanted to see him in anything, preferably in a jock strap and thick white socks.

Aren't there just about 4 or 5 soap operas now? They don't seem to have much national resonance anymore, certainly since Susan Lucci/Erica Kane was pulled kicking and screaming off the air.

Is there any reason to think that this musical of Tootsie is not set in the early 1980s like the film?

Dear god. A discussion of the endless, failed regional theatre productions of FOLLIES and how they measure up against the original might actually be welcome now.

TOOTSIE, for fuck's sake?

Jan Maxwell would have been good in the beefed up role of the soap producer in Tootsie.

Jan, how does it feel to have never won a Tony and then DIED.

It was the hottest night of year with a sizzling record breaking Broadway Bares, just full of hot chorus boy bussy, and all you lot can talk about is ZaSu Pitts bloomers! Wake up Marys, you’re already dead!

I'm an eldergay and I saw plenty of cocks and jocks in middle school, high school and college and Tootsie is a great comedy only in the minds of arrested adolescents who are now well into middle age and think a great epic consists of cartoon characters in front of a blue screen.

The Producers, Safety Last, Palm Beach Story, The General, Bringing up Baby, One Two Three, The Bank Dick, Adam's Rib, Speedy, What's Up Doc, The Great Dictator, Annie Hall, The Odd Couple...

The Producers is all screaming. It's not that great.

Safety Last/The General/Speedy/Great Dictator.....Silent or silent adjacent. Whole other ballpark.

Palm Beach Story is great.

Bringing Up Baby is brilliant; why it's #14 on the AFI list is beyond me...they're WAAAAAY too much Mel Brooks in the top spot. And, I like Mel Brooks but....

One, Two, Three is another screaming movie. No.

The Odd Couple is awful.

The Bank Dick is great.

Annie Hall is....fine.

What's Up Doc? IS Streisand's best film.

Mary Poppins is BRILLIANT!

The Tootsie book from years back was NOT set in the ‘80’s period of the film, it was then present day, it was bad.

It's so dumb to update "now" stories. It almost never works.

Company needs to be done as circa 1970. Follies is circa 1971. A Chorus Line is circa 1975. They don't work outside of those contexts and neither will musicals based on a film from a specific time. Tootsie IS 1982.

Exactly R548, everything was “off”, it didn’t work, as a matter of fact it wasn’t even called Tootise in the earliest incarnations, it was “Dollface”, lyrics and semi structure by David Zippel, the new creative team corrected some of the course, but the 2017 reading was certainly not a winner...and really, the show NEEDS a bonafide Star in the lead, Santino won’t carry it.

Silent is not another ball park. There are 5 silents on the list all of which make Tootsie look like a failed Norman Lear sitcom.

They put Sidney fucking Pollack far way above Chaplin and Keaton and Lloyd isn't even mention.

That tells you right there it's a shit list.

I guess NPH passed on it?

[quote]the comedies I listed have not dated badly

"The Odd Couple" hasn't dated badly? Well, maybe not. It was a piece of shit when it came out, and it's still a piece of shit.

Ok what about DL's beloved Barefoot in the Park? Yes dated but a lot funnier than Tootsie.

Why is writing the book to a musical so difficult? Particularly when adapting a film, I would think that most of the structure and nearly all of the dialog is already there. It really is just a matter of really good editing. Nearly all of the film-to-musicals that I have seen suck because they made too many changes from the original, not because they stayed too close to the original.

What happened to the musical of Soapdish?

[quote]The Odd Couple is awful.

Sorrrrrrreeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee just watched it TMC last month and it is laugh out loud funny.

Yeah wasn’t Chenoweth announced at one point, then it just evaporated?

Chenoweth as The Odd Couple?

DL fave Robbie Fairchild is in Provincetown. Not sure who the BF with him is, though.

I have a question for theater scholars. Can the Stage Manager/Narrator in Our Town be played by a woman? I once heard an argument that it could not. I've also seen a production where the role was played by a woman, but it was a poor production, so I don't know if it could work or not.

Ive just started a Douglas Sills thread but I want to ask you guys if you love him as I do?

And if so, could you post your favorite clips.

I dont want to clutter us up over here.

R559, There's no compelling reason why the Stage Manager in "Our Town" can't be played by a woman. The character addresses the audience directly and so exists in the "present day," although the play itself is set in the early 20th century. The Stage Manager also assumes small roles in the action of the play: He's the minister who marries George and Emily, and he's the drugstore owner in the scene where George and Emily are at the soda fountain, and first realize the seriousness of their relationship. But having a woman as the Stage Manager would still work in those scenes. "Our Town" has always been "meta," in some ways. The Stage Manager always reminds the audience that they're watching a play. ("Here's a but scenery, for those who need scenery.") And women have been playing the Stage Manager for years.

^^Sorry. "Here's a bit of scenery, for those who need scenery."

Chenoweth would be great as The Odd Couple. Let Yazbek do that and kill off this stupid Tootsie thing.

Suzyn Waldman as Oscar Madison.

It rewrites itself!

Kristin Chenoweth and Lea Delaria *are* The Odd Couple.

[559] The David Cromer production of Our Town used Helen Hunt as a replacement for the Stage Manager both off-Broadway and in California.

[quote]The David Cromer production of Our Town used Helen Hunt as a replacement

Yikes. She's a terrible actor. What did he have against off-Broadway and California?

That Odd Couple would be better than Tootsie or that Tammy Faye thing that is probably going to actually happen.

Kristin Chenoweth and Lea Delaria workshopping the peice:

Fun fact: Tony Shalhoub made his Broadway debut in The Female Odd Couple playing one of the male Pigeon sisters. I forget what they named them when they changed them to male, but I think they were Hispanic.

R568 Jesus & Manolo Costazuela

That is amazing.

It is also stunning that Shaloub won best actor for a role that is so silent this year. But I do really love the musical.

The featured role's song was kind of better...

Isnt it sad Bway couldnt write something for such a talent?

Film adaptions decades ago were highly anticipated by the NY Broadway audience but now it seems everyone is sick of them and knows it is nothing more than a cynical grab for flyover tourist dollars.

What's the story with the Trump-tard who interrupted Bronx Tale? Did he really start waving a Trump flag? How did the audience react?

The female Odd Couple is hilarious. I saw it 3x during it's broadway run and laughed my ass off every time. Towards the end of the run, Brenda Vaccaro took over from Rita Moreno and she was a hoot.

If you don't know this is a bullshit dishonest industry - 11 shows last week grossed well over 100% of potential gross, how is that possible, isn't the potential gross the most you could possibly gross?

Potential gross is based on the figure for all seats sold at the show's regular full price figure. When shows sell over 100% of their potential gross, they are selling many of their seats at premium prices.

R574

A musical remake of the female Odd Couple sounds like it would be great.

And Tony Shaloub should be in it.

Yeah, he can not sing in it and win a Tony like he did this year.

Ewwww. Wes Tay Tay was one of the Emcees for Broadway Bares. He's so fucking gross.

[quote] The David Cromer production of Our Town used Helen Hunt as a replacement.... Yikes. She's a terrible actor. What did he have against off-Broadway and California?

She's an Oscar, Emmy, Golden Globe, Screen Actors Guild & Independent Spirit Award winner and you, well, are not.

R248 I was being tongue-in-cheek there.

R191 CORRECT!

R199 She actually worries about that. Not being "weird" enough.

R272 Thank you.

[quote]If you don't know this is a bullshit dishonest industry - 11 shows last week grossed well over 100% of potential gross, how is that possible, isn't the potential gross the most you could possibly gross?

They use Leo Bloom as their accountant.

R581

You also had no reason to believe the BI would be the single driving topic of the 2018 Tony thread when you posted it. So the inappropriate use of irony is forgiven.

I'd rather have fifteen threads of Follies and Tootsie. In fact, let's dedicate the next three threads to a production of Follies where Dorothy Michaels plays Sally, Jessica Lange plays Phyllis, Teri Garr plays Carlotta, Dabney Coleman plays Ben and Sydney Pollack plays Buddy, ANYTHING to stop talking about that shitty failure of a blind item.

Teri Garr is a Stella.

To placate our newest troll, Douglas Sills as Roscoe!

The musical version of Our Town by Jones and Schmidt was set to cast Mary Martin as the SM.

Doug Sills can play John Van Horn in Tootsie, there are ya happy?

Enough with the Tootsie, already!

Hello Doug Sills! Nice to see you posting here again! How is your friend John McVeigh?

Wow, great review of Fairview in the Times today. Did anyone see it? Can you spoil it for me? I don't live in NYC, and a play like that is not likely to be performed where I live.Thanks.

In the female Odd Couple almost every critic complained that Rita Moreno and Sally Struthers were playing the wrong parts. Rita was the Oscar character and Struthers, Felix.

Tony "TONY WINNER!" Shalhoub sings... and plays... for you.

Kristi Dawn and Adele Dazeem ARE The Odd Couple!

MONK: THE MUSICAL!

R587 Dyke, ya know.

DL Players present:

FRAU TOWN!

Perhaps, more accurately:

DOUR TOWN!

SOUR TOWN!

I saw the Jones/Schmidt production of Our Town ("Grover's Corners") in what I think was its only production, at a kind of dinner theatre in the suburbs of Chicago. Jones played the Stage Manager and Schmidt accompanied on piano. The whole thing was meh (and I love the play and saw Cromer's production twice--once with Cromer as the SM and once with Michael Shannon in the role--both were good, though Shannon brought his grim reaper quality to the proceedings, which worked for Act III).

I think the Stage Manager can now be played by a female actor--when it premiered, having a woman in the role might have seemed anachronistic, as the town was not likely to have women in the utility roles the SM takes on in the period in which it is set. By now, the play seems beyond its historical specificity. I think I would costume the female SM in slacks, though, to distinguish her from the "real" women (Emily, the mothers) of the play.

THIRD MIDNIGHT!