Theatre Gossip #309-toot toot Tootsie, goodbye!

Oh I can't wait!

TOOTSIE, schmootsie. That era was chock-a-block full of movie-to-stage musical promise!

PORKY'S

AN OFFICER AND A GENTLEMAN

ARTHUR

THE FOUR SEASONS

MR. MOM

The Four Seasons would be great for Forrest and Wright, r2. Robert could adapt the themes of Vivaldi!

Wasn't someone exploring an ARTHUR musical at some point? Or am I making this up?

Goonies

The only person who misses a Karen Olivo musical is Karen Olivo...

I'll take movie-to-stage adaptations no one's ever heard of for $400, Alex!

I know you're joking, R2, but um....

yikes, R8!

I think Baby, It’s You would make a good musical.

There was a TV musical adaptation of "Our Town," from which the song "Love and Marriage" (used later in "Married With Children") originated.

[quote] Wasn't someone exploring an ARTHUR musical at some point? Or am I making this up?

You're not making it up. It starred that laugh riot and lovable scamp Gregg Edelman as Arthur (because apparently an actual sheet of beige wallpaper wasn't available) and Carolee Carmello and played at the Paper Mill Playhouse.

I've prepared a scene from Our Town.....

Patti M’s and Colin D’s first date. What a couple of cuties.

How does he stick his dick in that?

VERY CAREFULLY, R15.

R4 There was an Arthur musical written by Friends creators David Crane, Marta Kauffman and her then husband Michael Skloff. That much I'm sure of; beyond that I'm a little hazy on the details. From what I remember, it premiered in Japan and then there were some rights problems with the producer. I think it might have played the Goodspeed or somewhere. Anyway, something like that.

Thanks, we covered it.

Patti Murin looks like she’s closing in on 40.

Is “Arthur” where Carolee and Gregg met?

Patti Murin's laugh is slightly scary. Then again so is Patti LuPone's -- must be something about that rogue i .... tho' Judi Dench has a NICE laugh

Elaine Paige’s is downright sinister. She laughs often on her BBC radio show on Sundays.

Paige doesn't laugh, she cackles. So does Sarah Jessica Parker.

I saw the Arthur musical in Columbus, OH of all places. All it did was remind you how great Dudley Moore and John Gielgud were.

There’s an opera version of Our Town, approved by the estate. It’s by Ned Rorem. There’s some lovely, plaintive music in it, actually.

Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt also did a musical Our Town, if I'm not mistaken. Grover's Corners.

Patti Murin is 38 so yes, she’s closing in on 40.

Keep moving.....

Thanks, r13. That was a treat. Didn't know it existed.

Another lovely song from the TV musical (by Cahn and Van Heusen) is Look to Your Heart. Sarah Vaughan has a gorgeous recording of it.

I never miss a Paul Newman musical!

The pre-Broadway engagement of Moulin Rouge! has announced new dates at the Emerson Colonial Theatre following a construction issue at the newly restored Boston venue.

The Broadway-bound production will now begin previews July 10 at the Emerson Colonial Theatre instead of the originally announced June 27. A new opening night date will be announced shortly.

Someone on the #308 asked for a SPOILER for Fairview at Soho Rep...

So.....

####### S P O I L E R #######

######

Act One is very short, maybe 35-minutes max, in which an African American family is getting ready for the family matriarch's birthday dinner. It's very sitcom-y.

Act Two begins the very same way as Act One. We are re-watching the same scene when a voice-over begins which sounds like an NPR discussion of race. The scene continues with this voice-over (for a little too long). Then the family members who hadn't yet arrived in Act One appear and they are all played by white actors.

THEN

The girl playing the teenage daughter breaks character, steps out of the scene and asks all the white people in the audience to come up on stage to leave all of the people of color alone in the audience. It ends with her monologue, delivered in the house to the poc in the audience.

The end.

And I never miss an Eva Marie Saint musical!

Someone is trying very hard to push that Moulin Rouge is a massive hit- even without having had its set load-in to the theatre...

One of the very worst film musicals ever committed to celluloid. Of course it's a natural for Broadway!

Agreed r34.

Has anyone ever tried to musical-ize one of the Doris Day comedies from the '50s/'60s? I know there as a satirical version with songs ("Down With Love"), but I don't recall anyone ever trying to make a regular stage musical out of one of them. I guess it's probably too late now, but it might have been fun 20 or 30 years ago.

^^Twenty or 30 years ago, Broadway wasn't as creatively bankrupt as it is today.

So whatever happened to the Tales of the City musical?

I thought The Destiny of Me was far superior and more powerful than even The Normal Heart (which is pretty superior and powerful). Piper Laurie was outstanding as the mother. Unfortunately, Jonathan Hadary came off as Herbie with AIDS but Mark Ruffalo should be wonderful as Ned Weeks (again).

From r39's article:

[quote]Edie Falco will read stage directions

That made me laugh. I can just imagine Edie begging to be in the production so they said, "Ok, Edie, you can read the stage directions."

That was indeed lovely R13, even if Mary Martin is too old to play Emily, who is supposed to have died at a young age in the play. Imagine the good old days when the big three TV networks regularly broadcast plays like that. Now all we have is PBS, which gives us Sutton Foster and Andrew Rannells in concert. Yuck!

R41, it was indeed lovely, but with that nose, Mary was born to play Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer.

[quote]but with that nose, Mary

Yeah, I'm surprised she could muff dive with that honker!

Chomp chomp chomp Mary

I saw Mary in "Legends" with Carol Channing in Boston in 1985 (it was to have been the last stop before Broadway, but it died on the road). The poor thing was having trouble remembering her lines and was wearing an earpiece, which one night picked up radio transmissions from the Boston police, according to James Kirkwood in "Diary of a Mad Playwright."

R31. I'm the one who asked about Fairview on the other thread. Thanks for the info. I'm not sure what the point of the play is. Perhaps hearing her monologue might make sense of it. Thank you though.

Does anyone "stagedoor" James McArdle ?

Does anyone think Moulin Rouge is gonna be good? Or will next season belong to the Kong?

I’m not the one who asked about Fairview, but I wanted to thank you too. Did all the white people go up on stage? How many refused or just didn’t care enough to participate? I’m not white but I think I would have just stayed in my seat.

What's the story with Lin-Manuel's agent- John Buzzetti? is he the most powerful theatre agent in town nowadays?

Who is fucking Aaron Tveit? Will Moulin make him a household name, or is he missing the magic? He certainly has the talent, and the looks. I've met him and he's a very nice guy who is much better looking in person. Is he perhaps straight after all?

Mary Martin had a divine, singular talent for the stage.

But she was afflicted with acute puppet-face.

Aaron Tveit is straight, yes, and always has been. Ask anyone who worked with him last summer on COMPANY. And, yes, incredibly nice.

I think Moulin Rouge ‘could’ be good. They need to dump Tveit and Olivo before that is even a possibility.

I am sure there are a few ‘names ‘ sniffing around for a Broadway vehicle but can’t be bothered to spend their summer in Boston.

R53, Are you his manager, PR person, or might you just want to keep him for yourself?

R54 Jeremy Jordan is free now

And, r53, How would he know all of those songs if he were straight? Many of those songs are "SHOWTUNES"!!!

Aaron is cute in person, but quite short and slight. He comes across much differently on TV than he does in real life. Very unassuming, bland, no sparkle (not that that's necessarily a bad thing).

r34 Indeed. I had heard that it was all sold out and there are plenty of tickets available.

The problem with the construction flaws at The Colonial Theatre relating to the grid above the stage crashing down overnight is going to result in multiple lawsuits involving a whole bunch of unions. Had there been people in there, there would have been many fatalities.

Re: Fairview

######## S P O I L E R #########

At the performance I attended, an early preview, all the white people got on stage, pretty quickly and efficiently. But there are online reports of that not always being the case, in at least one instance involving someone disabled, which would be a problem because there are steps necessary to get on stage.

For what it's worth, I loved the show and thought Brantley's analogy to seeing the works of Albee for the first time in the 1960s.

^^^ For what it's worth, I loved the show and thought Brantley's analogy to seeing the works of Albee for the first time in the 1960s was very apt.

What is this "puppet-face"?

[quote]flaws at The Colonial Theatre relating to the grid above the stage crashing down overnight

Been there, done that.

[quote]Does anyone "stagedoor" James McArdle?

Is "stagedoor" in this context a synonym for "fuck ten ways from Sunday"?

Me too.

R36 they’re doing Pillow Talk

I have a question. How does one go from multiple Emmy winning roles on HBO’s most prestigious show of all time to reading stage directions in a c-list staged reading?

I’m asking for a friend.

I want to renew my interest in a musical version of "Sophie's Choice" where the audience gets to choose which child Sophie chooses.

CHOOSE, SOPHIE, CHOOSE!

Yes, I'll be singing "Take Her, Take My Baby" from "Choice!" the musical version of "Sophie's Choice."

Aaron Tveit is straight but no women will date him because they think he's gay.

R72, Then Aaron will have to make his own "Sophie's Choice", remain single or start sucking or get sucked.

r48 - They have same producer, the How to Train Your Dragon company, hmmm

R51, Aaron likes them young, and being in Boston for several months with Moulin Rouge, I'd be willing to bet he's been having his way with numerous eager college boys.

r75, So he's not straight? Who has he fucked?

Sue "Stro" Strohman has something super special planned for the "Lebensborn" dance number in CHOOSE, SOPHIE, CHOOSE!

[quote]they’re doing Pillow Talk

Who is "they?"

Well, “they” will never top DoDo Day’s original Pillow Talk song, so they’d better includebit!

R75, There have been posters on DL who witnessed Aaron chatting up twinks at the stage door and departing with them. There was also a poster who lived in the same building as Aaron who often saw twinks leaving early in the morning after obviously spending the night. Aaron is 35 and no history with a female exists, always shows up at events alone.

Re: Fairview

######## S P O I L E R #########

To me the spoiler would have to be the content of the last speech she gives to the black audience. What is it?

R80 Frau

Yup

[quote]the content of the last speech she gives to the black audience. What is it?

She recites Mammy's "Atlanta!" speech from Gone With the Wind.

I know r84 is kidding, but can you imagine the reaction?

Aaron saw The Man In The Orange Shirt and now gets it on with James McArdle?

I have a friend who was dating someone involved with Next to Normal and traveled to DC pre-Broadway with the show. They told me Aaron's sexuality never came up, gay or straight and that he's pretty guarded.

I'm extremely aware of the racism and issues people of color experience in the world and I hate it, but I refuse to go to a play that singles me out for being white. Fuck that.

[quote]I refuse to go to a play that singles me out for being white.

Thank goodness they don't single you out for wearing earrings and caftans. You'd be the only one on stage.

I agree. The content of the speech is critical to understand the play, I think, so I hope someone spoils it. Or is the power from the fact that blacks do not go to the theater, and, when all the whites are on stage, the theater is, essentially, empty, proving that blacks and whites live separate lives?

The Anglo-Erasure in theater is full speed ahead.

[quote]I saw Mary in "Legends" with Carol Channing in Boston in 1985 (it was to have been the last stop before Broadway, but it died on the road). The poor thing was having trouble remembering her lines and was wearing an earpiece, which one night picked up radio transmissions from the Boston police, according to James Kirkwood in "Diary of a Mad Playwright."

Seriously, it was a local taxi dispatcher. Mary would randomly look at Carol or the audience and tell them to go to a local address.

--------------

Years ago I had very sweet but very misguided friend who wrote a rock musical version of "The Picture of Dorian Gray" and titled it "Dorian!"

^ And no, "Dorian!" was never produced.

Aaron did publicly date a woman very early in his career for about two years, but after that, decided to "keep his private life private." That could mean a few things, of course.

I'd run to see this DORIAN! the Musical, r93!

Damn, there have been a shitload of theatrical versions of Dorian Gray. Including one staring Wesley Taylor and another with Sutton Foster.

[quote] Seriously, it was a local taxi dispatcher. Mary would randomly look at Carol or the audience and tell them to go to a local address.

This story is so old, it's wearing Depends. I'm not saying the posters are wrong. Kirkwood certainly said it in his book, but that's an old sitcom device from the 50s and has been used and abused for decades. And Mary Martin, however old she was at that time, has been on stage since that joke was fresh. Even she wasn't addled enough to understand those weren't the lines. It's a hackneyed story worthy of Kirkwood's hackneyed play. (The book, for the most part, however, is fucking hilarious.)

[quote] Damn, there have been a shitload of theatrical versions of Dorian Gray. Including one staring Wesley Taylor and another with Sutton Foster.

Did Wes play the actual portrait?

Aaron Tveit size meat verificatia?

Also in the Kirkwood book, he says that at one performance Carol was so pissed off at Mary Martin that she just sped up her lines and started saying Mary's as well until the end of the act. What a "see you next Tuesday" she could be.

I think there's a lot to be skeptical about in the Kirkwood book, entertaining though it is. He was obviously pissed that his "brilliant" play was a flop, and he blamed them.

That Legends tour closed in the black. It made money. Mary's escalating dementia is what kept the production out of New York. And no other bona fide star name wanted to touch the show after all the stories.

^ Well, that and reading the script.

Kirkwood said there were a couple of actresses he approached who wanted to replace Mary, but I think Carol had approval over casting. Ann Miller wanted to do it. Kirkwood said she told him, "Mary's too genteel. What you need on that stage is a coupla cunts. And with me and Carol, you'd have 'em." I believe Carol and her husband referred to Miller as a "joke."

There was a much later tour featuring two of our most distinguished practitioners of the dramatic arts:

Legends should have been done off-Broadway with two drag queens. That's the only way the show works.

And you know that when the highlight of the show is a black maid doing a split, you have no business bringing it to Broadway.

Yep, R106, it should have been done with Charles Ludlum and Charles Busch.

[quote]Legends should have been done off-Broadway with two drag queens. That's the only way the show works.

It was done exactly that way at D.C.'s Studio Theater in 2010, starring Lypsinka and James Lecesne in the Martin and Channing roles. Lypsinka can make anything funny, but it's still a terrible play. I saw both the original and the Collins/Evans version; the original was an embarrassment, but at least Joan and Linda added some camp value.

boom....

Cute.

It' been posted already several times, R110. it's not going to get any cuter.

"The Anglo-Erasure in theater is full speed ahead."

And will guarantee empty theatres. Good luck, gang!

I had never watched that clip before, but just watched it for the first time. I know nothing about Wes Taylor, but he seems to be disliked on here, but he is absolutely adorable and charming in that clip.

R113 I've worked with him. In my experience he was neither adorable nor charming.

R113, do a show with him. He is a very selfish actor, almost community theater level ham. He is very good when reigned in, but he is kind of notorious for milking a bit way over what the director wanted. Stage managers have a hard time keeping him from improvising. Allegedly, Nathan Lane smacked him but good during Addams Family for scene stealing. Pity, he is talented, but lacking in discipline.

It’s strange that’s he’s been on the scene for 10 years and yet hasn’t really broken out. He must be hated.

I find him to be anything but charming.

Yeah, he hit it big with Rock of Ages in 2008, Addams Family 2010, and for what ever it was worth, the lead in Tales of the City in 2011...and the crickets. Interesting that Cabaret isn't listed on his Wiki page. I believe that was the show that really gave him a bad rep in the industry.

He tried super hard to break through with his web series but it was pretty terrible, and he also alienated a lot of people he worked with on it, as well as a lot of people in the web series community. He doesn't know how to play ball. he thinks everyone should bow at his feet.

[quote]Allegedly, Nathan Lane smacked him but good during Addams Family for scene stealing.

Nathan Lane, the king of scene stealing, WILL NOT be undermined.

"......the web series community....?"

Late in Act 2, Sophie will have a song in "Choose, Sophie, Choose!" about what her child would have become had she not given it away. Since so many young composers steal, just imagine the song goes like this.

This was the first time I ever saw Wes and must admit I thought he was pretty hot:

The joke was good for a couple of posts and that's all, r122. You're beating a dead horse. Let it go.

Tay Tay did Cabaret in the DC area and wasn’t that good. A retread of a retread of a retread performance.

And wasn’t it reported on here that he shit on somebody during anal?

Oh look, Cheno is on TV.

It will be OK this time. She is in NBC, not ABC. So they might even put it on the air without canceling it first to appease the million moms.

ATC needs to tell delvino he isn't a critic.

[quote] Oh look, Cheno is on TV. It will be OK this time. She is in NBC, not ABC. So they might even put it on the air without canceling it first to appease the million moms.

Her very first series, "Kristin," was on NBC. And this is not a new show; it's season 2 of a show from last summer. Kristen is taking over the role of the defendant, which was played by John Lithgow in the first season.

[quote] He is very good when reigned in

Oh, dear.

The first season of Trial & Error was funny. Sherri Shepherd totally stole the show. However, the new season looks really stupid. And the Jackie joke was just crass.

Kristi Dawn is turning the big 5-0! She's featured in the new AARP magazine.

Is anyone going to the Fathom Events "Bandstand" next week? I saw the final performance on Broadway. I might go see the filmed version as well.

R132, I'll try. I think Corey Cott is an amazing talent.

R133 Great voice, great body, what is not to like?

Uh, it's a meh show with a meh score?

Tay Tay is a rotten human, selfish actor and a MESSY bottom!

Perhaps being with Isaac has changed Tay Tay. Sometimes all it takes is the love of a good man.

R99 tragically teeny

R129, Fuck, I actually looked it up before posting and still wrote it wrong.

Tay Tay and Isaac? Both bottoms.

In fairness to Wes, he's had a dece career compared to the thousands of other boys who never make it out of the chorus or being swings

Is Wesley Taylor anything like his bitchy Smash character? If so, no thanks. He was so mean to Karen Cartwright.

r134 yes great body good voice but another of the generation of zero personality. Is it the directors or the training that makes this crop so distinction-free?

I see Bobby Steggert is coming out of early retirement to do a musical this summer at the O'Neill Theatre Center.

Maybe that social worker thing wasn't for the boy.

Charles Busch, Lypsinka and Whoopi Goldberg did a one-night performance of "Legends" in NYC some years ago.

The story about LEGENDS above has another variation. When Channing was putting on her clown make-up, someone suggested Ann Miller as a Martin replacement. Channing turned around and said, "Ann Miller!!?? Isn't she a little cartoonish?"

Not quite R145. Busch and Lypsinka appeared, but Goldberg bailed (on the day, IIRC--illness? I can't remember what the reason given was). It was at Town Hall. It was also a revised/lampooned version of the script, with several meta-aspects added.

Who filled in for Whoopi, r147?

Derek Klena's one of the interesting young Broadway hunks right? Is Jeremy Jordan interesting? The Cott boy's cute, but seems bland.

Derek Klena has a real sexy voice. Straight, I think. But hot and cute.

What is Klea Blackhurst thinking right now? Will anyone do a musical version of "Come Back, Little Sheba?"

Who is gay in this?

It’s tragic that Wes Taylor of all people became the heir apparent to Nathan Lane. Can we expect a revival of Angels in 40 years with Wes as Roy Cohn?

There exists a musical version of CBLS, called SHEBA! Saw it in Chicago in the 70s. Starred Kaye Ballard and I've blocked almost all of it out of my mind, except for some kind of hula number. It was beyond bad.

When I saw the film version of CBLS with Shirley Booth, I thought, "This movie just screams for a hula number."

R154, Must have been as successful as Kaye's Molly Goldberg musical.

Why did Kaye bill herself as Kay during Molly?

Whatever happened to Bette Midler's movie about Lotte Lenya?

Sheba was revived in Westport in 2001 with Donna McKechnie. The Variety reviewer described it as more of a play with songs and wasn't very impressed.

[quote]Why did Kaye bill herself as Kay during Molly?

Who knows?

[quote]Sheba was revived in Westport in 2001 with Donna McKechnie.

Donna really doesn't seem right for the role. She seems too "sunny" for a role like that.

Kaye dropped the E for a while on the advice of her numerologist. I have no idea whether it was the same numerologist who advised Dionne to add an E to Warwick, which she did for a few years in the '70s.

Poor Kaye was hoping that "Molly" would be her "Dolly." I remember reading an interview with her before it opened, in which she said her biggest hope was that when people heard her name in the future, they'd say, "Oh, she played Molly"

As opposed to being remembered for "The Mothers in Law," I guess.

Dionne added the E to Warwick to sound more British. Cilla Black was stealing her material and she had to get noticed in British culture. And Warwicke looks more classy.

Hate to disagree, r147, but I saw that performance and Whoopi was in the cast.

[quote]I saw that performance and Whoopi was in the cast.

Did Whoopi do the split?

Wikipedia says Martin left before Broadway because her "her second act speech about breast cancer was cut." Sure, Jan.

Frightening:

You're all invited to the Jellicle Ball! Curtesy of Tom Hooper.

Oh god, please don't. Wayne McGregor to choreograph, so we can expect some more bitterness from Gillian Lynne. Which is fair enough really, the torture she put those dancers through is clearly what made the show, given how poorly the re-choreographed productions have fared.

[quote]You're all invited to the Jellicle Ball! Curtesy of Tom Hooper.

It's about damn time!

Reading Diary of a Mad Playwright, it becomes abundantly clear that the biggest problem with the play was the script by James Kirkwood. Judi Dench and and Maggie Smith couldn't save it.

My favorite Come Back Little Sheba musical starred Gwen Verdon. She stopped the show singing Whatever Lola Wants......

Actually, Gwen would have been perfect casting in a musical of this show.

Guys I just realized that Ben Platt's only an Oscar away from an EGOT. How do we feel about that?

[quote]Guys I just realized that Ben Platt's only an Oscar away from an EGOT. How do we feel about that?

Oscar is the toughest one to win. He'll never get it unless he's in a year where they do a split vote and it does a "Marisa Tomei" and falls to the least deserving.

Nah, all he has to do is write a song.

Ruthie Ann Miles will open The King and I in London after all. God Bless Her. Right now, doing what she loves and surrounded by love could be the best thing for her.

[quote]Reading Diary of a Mad Playwright, it becomes abundantly clear that the biggest problem with the play was the script by James Kirkwood. Judi Dench and and Maggie Smith couldn't save it.

Absolutely right. The script plays like a "Love Boat" subplot stretched out to two hours. And this is coming from someone "lucky" enough to have seen three different productions of it.

[quote]Nah, all he has to do is write a song.

Yeah, I can see him getting in through means other than acting. I bet he's brainstorming ways to do it. And with his well-connected father I wouldn't be surprised.

Saw Skintight last night and loved it. Smart move for Idina to do a straight play in which she's perfectly cast as the wealthy self-absorbed 40-something divorcee whose life is falling apart. She looks gorgeous, btw.

And Bravo to Will Brittain whose ass in a jockstrap will be remembered for a long time. He's hilarious as the young hustler making Idina's life miserable.

[quote]Poor Kaye was hoping that "Molly" would be her "Dolly." I remember reading an interview with her before it opened, in which she said her biggest hope was that when people heard her name in the future, they'd say, "Oh, she played Molly"

She should've followed her numerologist's other advice and had it renamed to "Mollye."

R179

I was wondering when someone from datalounge would chime in on Skintight. What is the raunchiest thing that happens?

I am entirely in favor of jockstraps on and off the Great White Way.

[quote]Smart move for Idina...She looks gorgeous, btw.

Did she have total face reconstruction?

i saw MOLLY. It was supposed to be the hit of the season and this was going to be Kay(e)'s big return to Broadway after the moderately successful MOTHERS-IN-LAW sitcom with Eve Arden (who's return to broadway was the infamous MOOSE MURDERS). The reviews out of town were so bad the director and choreographer were canned and the entire plot and book were revised. The broadway plot revolved around the invention of the woman's 2 piece bathing suit. There was one beautiful song called 'In Her Eyes' and it was sung by Danny Fortus who sang 'Mama A Rainbow' in Minnie's Boys. There were a few cheap laughs and gags and the production was very polished and professional but the money ran out and the show closed mid-week (they couldn't even hold on until Saturday night). Kaye deserved better.

Oh look -- clips.

In addition to "Bandstand," (and the movie version of "West Side Story"), Fathom Events is also showing the filmed "Newsies." I missed that one the first time around, and after being quite impressed with a regional theater production, I'm going to check out the filmed Broadway version.

Thank you for the update, R176.

With all the ugliness and hate in the world right now: there's a lot to be said for the curative powers of love.

I wish her the best. And so do many others.

The Newsies video is of the tour but the Broadway leads came back for the filming, right?

Yeah and there are a few original Broadway Newsies in it as well.

[quote]and professional but the money ran out and the show closed mid-week

It closed after several weeks. MOLLY played 40 previews and 68 regular performances. It opened on November 1, 1973, and closed on December 29, 1973. By the way, that closing date was a Saturday, not mid-week.

Where's Poppa? The Musical! Jason Alexander as the son and Andrea Martin as the mother.

I saw a rerun of Young Sheldon a little while ago and it was fun. Sheldon loses a science competition so he decides to focus his attention on something else and chooses acting. There was a cute scene of Sheldon watching classic film scenes and jumping to the telephone booth scene in The Birds. He auditions for the local community theater with King Lear and wins the lead in their next production. which turns out to be Annie. Opening night, in full Annie drag, he peeks out at the audience and is overcome by stage fright, which the director, Jason Alexander, can't talk him past. The curtain finally goes up with a Alexander in full Annie drag with facial hair playing the part with the little girls. The final scene is Alexander and Sandy singing Tomorrow. All of it.

It was much better than my description, sorry.

I love YOUNG SHELDON. Sweet, funny stories. Great cast.

R184, Isn't "Mama a Rainbow" from Raisin?

Saw Cyprus Avenue at the Public tonight. What an unrelentingly awful piece of shit. I felt badly for Stephen Rea who acts his ass off but the audience clearly hated it. If watching a play in which the leading character throws a six week old baby into a garbage bag and bangs it on the floor repeatedly is your idea of a great night out in the theater than go for it. Jesus H. Christ. The Ferryman covers many of the same issues and themes as this play but is a thousand times better.

No r194.....

The film of Newsies is the best filmed Broadway musical I've ever seen. It really captures the excitement of a live performance.

R197 And the curvaceous asses. The audience is loving it. Is a great filming

This one, r94...

Above meant for r194 and r196...

Either your eyes or your memory need checking, R165.

Lisa Estridge filled in for Whoopi Goldberg in LEGENDS at Town Hall.

I’m wondering if Katrina Lenk ends up doing Burn This.

CYPRUS AVENUE is infinitely more interesting and genuinely provocative than THE FERRYMAN and (rightly) received raves at the Royal Court here. But it's a tricky sell for an audience that (a) isn't used to proper theatrical satire (the play is clearly indebted to Swift and his inheritors) and (b) doesn't know the interstices of northern Irish politics. To anyone aware of Gerry Adams and his legacy, it's scorching stuff. But a brave and probably ill-advised choice for NY consumption. Their loss.

I'm not gay but is this what you mean when you say "pings?"

Does anybody know the performers and songwriter in this new New York State Lottery commercial? You can find all the production info about it with google except that.

R205 According to Adweek it was composed by Joe Iconis, who's probably best known for writing the Be More Chill musical.

Thanks, r206.

[quote] She looks gorgeous, btw.

Ummmmmm.... hmmmmmmm....

In addition to being so ugly, she’s also a terrible actress

R203, Cyprus Avenue didn’t get a transfer to the West End and The Ferryman did for a reason-The Ferryman is an infinitely superior play.

R208

She is very very good looking in real life. This has been discussed before. Apparently she isn't showing her age as much as the play probably requires -- but that is reasonable considering what her mother looks like.

I get the feeling Idina's character is not supposed to be the best looking person in the family but they decided to cast a stronger and funnier guy in the role of her son because the comedy needed his timing. Wouldn't it be a shock if Walker Digs ended up looking as goofy as the son in this play?

R 202

How long is Lenk likely to stay with The Band Visit?

[quote] CHOOSE, SOPHIE, CHOOSE!

How has this not been done at Showtune Sundays at Sidetrack, one wonders?

Speaking of Band's Visit, Etai Benson and Ari'el Stachel seem to have a very deep bromance according to Etai's IG. You keep scrolling and there are tons of pics of the two of them together. I think it's adorable. What do we know about them?

You don’t ever make friends with people you work with?

They've got that Cary Grant/Randolph Scott vibe going on....

Their bromance is the best part of the musical. But you are right -- look at how pretty they are together.

You think Jordan Roth pings????????

I hear the tinkling of a cut glass chandelier.

Why haven't they done a stage musical version of "There's No Business Like Show Business?"

If I was a producer I would be paying writers on spec for scripts/scores.

[quote]Why haven't they done a stage musical version of "There's No Business Like Show Business?" If I was a producer I would be paying writers on spec for scripts/scores.

Scores? What would be the point? The only possible reason for doing a stage version of that movie (which has a pretty lame "showbiz family" plot) would be to use songs from the Irving Berlin catalogue, both those used in the film and some that weren't.

Also, "There's No Business Like Show Business" would be pretty unwatchable if it weren't for the presence of great stars like Merman and Monroe. And DL fave Mitzi Gaynor!

Hey, what am I? Chopped Liver?

R225 You are mostly right and that concept sure worked out well for "Mamma Mia!"

But are you saying there are not really performers who can "sell it?"

Irving Berlin's White Christmas didn't exactly make it past being a seasonal show.

There are certainly performers who could "sell it," but I just don't think there's a whole lot there to sell, R228. Berlin's songs are wonderful, but awfully familiar by now. And that backstage plot is straight out of the 1930s, even though the movie was made in 1954.

I need a cigarette after looking at that photo at R215.

R227 I rather love that Donald O'Connor winds up with Marilyn Monroe in that film, but hell, Donald's incredible moves on camera probably translated into him being very athletic and good in bed, too.

[quote]If I was a producer I would be paying writers on spec for scripts/scores.

By definition, people writing on “spec” do not get paid unless the script gets sold. (“Spec” is short for “speculation”).

Looks like there's some fancy gymnastics going on in the dressing rooms over at THE BAND'S VISIT.

[quote]Why haven't they done a stage musical version of "There's No Business Like Show Business?"

How about "Hit the Deck"?

[quote]Hey, what am I? Chopped Liver?

At this point? Yeah, pretty much.

We love Donald!

The Talented Mr. Ripley: The Musical!

Thanks to poster 22 on the Janet Jackson thread, I've identified a short that I saw back in the 90s. So now I give you Door to Door Dolly.

Oops, I meant on the Taylor Swift thread.

Jordan Roth pings to the heavens, but I love that he does not care. He seems absolutely adorable and open and charming and seemingly loves what he does. That is fantastic, and I wish him nothing but more and more success and love. I know that gays are a high percentage of people working on Broadway, but, I assume, more on the creative than the producing side. I wonder if he has faced resistance or homophobia. And, he seems so incredibly sweet, and I picture producers being hard as nails and aggressive. How does he have as much success as he does, then, or is he a wolf in sheep's clothing? I find it hard to believe though; he looks like a sheep in fabulous clothing!

[quote]How does he have as much success as he does

He's from a rich family and his mother is a producer.

well,

that helps

R233 If I was a B'way producer it would be "spec" payment = nothing for now, lol, (but used to secure rights...)

Why should Jordan Roth care if he pings to the high heavens? He's an out gay man. He's not hiding anything.

Norman has posted a few nudes to his Instagram over the past few years.

Cross posting!!

^ LOL, so this is where that ended up. Sorry, I posted that to the Greg Norman ESPN shoot thread. Sorry.

He looks like Mr. Incredible, doesn't he. They could do a musical of that. So now it is on topic.

Meanwhile, Skintight reviews are generally positive. The play isn't earth-shattering or a sit-com but Idina has managed to hold her own in a straight play.

It appears that both witches have aged pretty well. 15 years ago, Chenoweth's scary forehead veins blended seamlessly with her microphone wig.

There are some unintentionally funny scenes in "There's No Business Like Show Business" involving the character played by real-life homosexualist Johnnie Ray, when he tries to explain to his family why he's decided to leave the act and become a priest. He tells them that he's always felt "different" from everyone else, and that's what's leading him to the priesthood. It was as though the screenwriters assumed movie audiences would never buy Ray as someone who would have a female lover interest.

Ray was bi. He and Dorothy Kilgallen had a well documented affair.

Ray may have been bi (Dorothy Kilgallen???), but he reads gay as a goose in the movie, which might explain why his acting career never took off.

Oh, come on--not Dorothy Kilgallen. What an odd choice.

Oh, my. A quick visit to Google confirms the affair. Truth really is stranger than fiction, boys and girls.

r246 Norman, Is That You?

Gay or bi, Johnnie Ray was a friend of Dorothy.

She was in her 40s and Ray was 27. Evidently she was crazed with jealousy of his male lovers. I'm finding it difficult to imagine this.

Dorothy wasn't one to take it on the chin, r257.......

Remember she was for a while the top nationally known Broadway columnist and really had considerable power to help or hurt careers. When she wanted something or someone she usually got it

When I mentioned that Ray was bi it was because most people think of him as gay and closeted and it's not well known that he actually could go both ways.

Dorothy wasn't one to take it up the ass either.

Not with Ray at least. He was horse hung.

Yep, hung like a horse and bi. He was very popular and had no problem impressing the right people in the right ways to establish a career. And he could sing too!

Should this project be a musical?

Katrina Lenk is a fabulous idea for Burn This. I was afraid we might get Analeigh Ashford or Alison Pill or someone generic like that.

Kilgallen and Ray had a complex friendship, or call it a relationship if you must, but it didn't involve any sex.

If Katrina Lenk stars in Burn This they could add the song Heat Wave just for her.

[quote]It starred that laugh riot and lovable scamp Gregg Edelman as Arthur (because apparently an actual sheet of beige wallpaper wasn't available)

That is horribly mean and very funny.

[quote]Legends should have been done off-Broadway with two drag queens. That's the only way the show works.

I saw the LEGENDS with John Epperson and Charles Busch. As others have said, the play doesn't work even with drag queens because the script is SO bad, but not in a "so bad it's good" way. And no, Whoopi Goldberg was NOT in it. I don't remember how far in advance she bailed, but I think it was earlier that same day.

From the movie of "New Faces of 1952" (just called "New Faces"), at 1:32, Robert Clary sings "It's Raining Memories," a parody of Johnnie Ray's weepy ballads.

R235 Love that cahrn!

I think it's rare that Broadway producers today initiate projects on "spec" (only RAGTIME comes to mind). Usually, producers take out on an option on an existing property...or, as more frequently happens today, especially when non-established writers are involved (the Dramatists Guild, notwithstanding), simply go into development on a handshake--no contract, no check--until they've capitalized or secured a production. A complete reversal of how business was done decades ago.

Johnnie & Dottie: A Love Story - starring Felicity Kendal as Dottie and Craig Parkinson as Johnnie

Dottie and Johnnie were lovers

Oh Lordy how they did the deed

Then one day Dottie found Johnnie

Naked in bed with Rex Reed

It starred that laugh riot and lovable scamp Gregg Edelman as Arthur (because apparently an actual sheet of beige wallpaper wasn't available) That is horribly mean and very funny.

But accurate. He is one of the dullest actors I've ever seen on stage (I saw him in Cabaret and Wonderful Town). But, he seems to work steadily and actually had a career and I'm a 50 year old proofreader/actor so what the fuck do I know.

First time I saw Edelman he was furiously masturbating with panties around his face in Little Children.

That video was so weird. Thanks R269!

I remember that Drabinsky hired 3 or 4 songwriters/songwriting teams to produce sample songs for Ragtime and after they were all submitted, he picked Flaherty and Ahrens. Does anybody know who the other songwriters were?

Kander and Ebb were one of the other teams for RAGTIME. I think Jason Robert Brown might have been involved in submitting something, ditto Maltby and Shire.

Am I wrong in thinking he approached Sondheim? I know Prince approached Sondheim about PARADE and he spent some time developing a few themes. Maybe I am getting the two mixed up (maybe not).

New Faces of 1952 did give us this standard, r275.

"New Faces of 1952" also had this standard.

Dorothy Kilgallen's husband, Richard Kollmar, was gay as a goose.

Thanks, r277.

According to one of the articles coughed up by google this afternoon, they had an open marriage and were free to do whatever with whomever as long as they kept the whatever and the whomever away from their brownstone.

Jordan Roth is a landlord, not a producer. Even on AiA, he only brought it over from London, producer Tony credit or not.

He is a Broadway landlord. That literally makes all the difference.

Gregg Edelman actually started to show some personality in the latest revival of " Drood" in a character part. But he actually did have an excellent singing voice in "City of Angels", but otherwise boring and not even particularly attractive. But a really good voice.

What the fuck, Kristi Dawn.

Too bad there wasn’t a movie of “New Faces of ‘56,” with TC Jones narrating in full Tallulah drag and also making appearances as Bette Davis and Kate Hepburn.

Do you have any New Faces clips from when Maggie Smith was in it?

Maggie Smith was in "New Faces of 1956," mentioned by R287. There was no movie version and hence no clips that I'm aware of.

This is all I can find.....

Corelle beat me to it. I was about to say there is an audio clip of Maggie Smith . . . doing Katharine Hepburn.

lol

Thanks!!

She is amazingly terrible.

Skintight was very enjoyable. Idina has fine comic chops.

I have to admit when I found out Idina was doing a show called SKINTIGHT I naturally assumed it was a musical. Smart of her to do a play. And I love Jack Wetherall who, when he was a young twink, stood by by David Bowie in The Elephant Man.

A musical about.....what, r295? The invention of Lycra?

Holy cow, R235.

That was so much GAY.... I need to lie down now.

But that's what makes it brilliant!

TC Jones as Tallulah, singing “I’ll Be Seeing Ypu.” Although he did do it in “New Faces,” this recording is from his club Act at a club in LA.

The Crescendo, darling r299, on the Strip!

[quote]That was so much GAY.... I need to lie down now.

I think MGM's unofficial motto back then was "Too much is never enough."

Set your DVRs, ladies -- DL's favorite musical is on TCM next week!

Are any DLers doing the "Movie Musicals" class on TCM?

I thought about it, but I actually don't have the time right now.

r303 I am!

Up early and listening to the local NBC news here in NYC. There was a molester in the crowd stage dooring Anastasia last night outside the Broadhurst. He rubbed up against and groped two teenage girls and stuck his hand up the skirt of a third. They've got good pictures of him -- middle aged and chubby -- and the police are looking for him.

Gregg Edelman was aware of his limitations. He has taken acting classes his has whole life. Unfortunately, some of his choices were ... odd. I remember he was doing something at the York to stretch himself, but his choice of an acting coach was odd... Fred Ebb? All I remember was thinking, "You're taking acting advice from that guy?????"

Kander and Ebb seem like they would have been exactly the right style for Ragtime

Wow, local news is all over the sex assaults last night at Anastasia. CBS is currently broadcasting from outside the theater.

The New London Theatre in the West End is now the Gillian Lynne Theatre.

[quote]Kander and Ebb seem like they would have been exactly the right style for Ragtime

I think some of it would be ok, but they're not that great with ballads. We wouldn't have had something on the level of "Back To Before" or "Make Them Hear You." I think Flaherty & Ahrens did a good job with the music. Does anyone know if E.L. Doctorow had any input into the choice of composers or book writer or did he just cash the checks?

R296

Yes. Like Warpaint but about the women who lived through the transition from controlling control top pantyhose to yoga pants.

"There Will Always Be a Woman in Rubber" is the breakthrough anthem for liberation from the show.

[quote]they're not that great with ballads

We beg to differ!

[quote] We beg to differ! —A Quiet Thing, Maybe This Time, and many more

If K&E wrote Ragtime, Mother would have had something as bad as "What Would You Do?" and Younger Brother would have been singing "Why Should I Wake Up?" K&E are great with the uptempo "razzle dazzle" songs, but their ballads do not inspire.

Yikes!

They clearly don't want to help identify white hat man on this channel since they hid his face under text.

My Coloring Book

Maybe This Time

A Quiet Thing

Married

What Would You Do?

I Don't Remember You

Among My Yesterdays

Seeing Things

The Butterfly

Only Love

My Own Best Friend

Isn't This Better

There When I Need Him

My Own Space

Sometimes a Day Goes By

Dear One

You Could Never Shame Me

First You Dream

I Miss the Music

Go Back Home

You, You, You

Love and Love Alone

Dear one, I don't miss you inside me.

Is that your idea of a good ballad? Is that a staple of the cabaret circuit? I cringed the first time I heard that! I could never imagine Mother singing that in place of "Back To Before".

Instead, you get Lynn Ahrens' sledgehammer lyrics, repeating their titles endlessly. "Ragtime! Ragtime! Ragtime!" "Crime of the Century! Crime of the Century!" "Make Them Hear You! Make Them Hear You!" Flaherty's work is usually very good, but Ahrens' lyrics for Ragtime drag that whole show down.

Doctorow liked Ragtime very much and called it "a very intelligent take on the material."

He had been very offended by the way Milos Foreman had him completely shut out of any input on the film and he hated the result. Forman had taken Doctorow's finely interwoven story of three families and turned it into The Coalhouse Walker Story, reducing all the other characters to supporting or minor characters.

He was very grateful that McNally and the others kept his overall premise of three intertwined stories and wasn't bothered by the changes and cuts that had to be made; he understood completely that a musical has different needs and possibilities than a long novel. He was especially grateful that they welcomed and even sought his involvement in the show's creation. He was sometimes asked to rehearsals and his opinions sought. He said they used his suggestions about 50% of the time.

[quote]Forman had taken Doctorow's finely interwoven story of three families and turned it into The Coalhouse Walker Story, reducing all the other characters to supporting or minor characters.

But isn't that really a flaw in the original material? Doctorow gave Coalhouse and Sarah actual names. The other characters were generic terms like "Mother" "Father" "Younger Brother" and "Tateh." How do you write dialogue in that situation? It's just easier to steer the narrative to those who have actual names.

Additionally, it points out the fact that black people didn't have a name in slavery times. So it really is a juxtaposition of American history.

[quote]But isn't that really a flaw in the original material?

No.

Ragtime, the musical, gave The Little Boy a name, Edgar, although he's still listed as The Little Boy in the cast list and program.

Doctorow was amused and pleased by it. Edgar was his first name.

The real-life people in the story (Goodman, Ford, et. al.) had names. So did Willie Conklin (I don't think he was a real person.)

[quote]Is that your idea of a good ballad?

How idiotic to single out one line of a long ballad. The list at r315 is excellent. Kander and Ebb did just fine with ballads.

[quote]We wouldn't have had something on the level of "Back To Before" or "Make Them Hear You.

You mean, power ballad after power ballad? That's one of the things that's wrong with "Ragtime."

[quote]You mean, power ballad after power ballad?

I agree that Ragtime is power ballad heavy. F&A were working in the British mega musical era. I imagine they knew Ragtime wouldn't have a falling chandelier or a flying helicopter, so they had to write power ballads to attract people. Then when they were booked into that barn of a theater, the power ballads reached the people who were sitting ten miles from the stage.

Every musical should be all power ballads

[quote] I imagine they knew Ragtime wouldn't have a falling chandelier or a flying helicopter

But we had a Model T!

I guess I'm a sucker for power ballads, because I loved "Ragtime." And I love power ballads in other shows as well.

Me too, R328. Wheels of a Dream is the best male/female duet ever. Lily's Eyes is the best for two guys. Both are big time power ballads.

I've got the power ballad "Santa Fe" from "Newsies" as my earworm today.

Is "The Incredible Dream" considered a power ballad?

[quote]Legends should have been done off-Broadway with two drag queens.

Actually nothing should ever be done with two drag queens.

Power ballads are as silly as power bottoms...

Why hasn't anyone written a power ballad from the perspective of a power bottom?

No, R331, but "The Impossible Dream" is.

Why is the Broadway community so insular? Running to the same handful of directors/writers/choreographers for everything? Plenty of each doing terrific work in the regions. Would it kill producers to think outside the box more often?

3 of Broadway's most honored musicals this season were directed by Tina Landau, Michael Arden and David Cromer, none of whom had a proven track record on Broadway.

Doesn't that make you happy, r336?

Here at Datalounge. The Theatre Queen motto is anyone who ever directed a Broadway show sucks. Can you image a whole roster of directors? MuMus would be exploding across the country.

'Ragtime' always feels like a night of successive audition songs.

[quote]MuMus would be exploding across the country.

Pics pl...

MuMu Xplosion is my new drag name!

[quote]Wheels of a Dream is the best male/female duet ever

Oh, really?

When will Raul Esparza be returning to Broadway?

Thanks to his SVU money, he can wait till something really interests him.

[quote]Why hasn't anyone written a power ballad from the perspective of a power bottom?

There are several:

Cats - touch me, it's so easy to leave me, all alone with the mem'ries of my days in the sun, if you touch me, you'll understand what happiness is, look a new day has begun.

Evita -Fill me up with your heat, with your noise. With your dirt, overdo me, Let me dance to your beat, make it loud, Let it hurt running through me

Evita - One thing I'll say for me, no one else can fill it like I can!

Kiss of the Spider Woman - Gimme love, gimme love, gimme, love, love, love

“Buenos Aires” isn’t a ballad, r345

I'm happy to see them hire directors and not ex-chorus boy choreographers.

R342, I did consider "If I Loved You" but it's second. Still "Wheels" number one.

I dunno, R347. On the one hand, it's good to have variety in the directing pool. On the other hand, it's never a bad idea to have newbies on the bench for when Casey, Jerry, etc. wind down.

[quote]MuMu Xplosion is my new drag name!

Call me!

I think Bess, You Is My Woman Now blows Wheels of a Dream out of the water. So does If I Loved You. And Tonight. And And This Is My Beloved (altho a quartet). And My Heart Is So Full of You. Just for starters.

Oh, I think Casey, Jerry, etc. wound down several years ago, r349.

HEAD OVER HEELS begins previews tonight. It looks rather twee and.....effortful.

Any predictions on this one?

Agreed, R351. "I Have Dreamed" is better than "Wheels of a Dream."

The word is muumuu, dummies

The posters for "Head Over Heels" appeared virtually overnight in the NYC subways this week.

And they are hideous. Notably so.... I overheard straphangers (who don't appear to be music theatre enthusiasts) staring at the poster and saying:

"What the FUCK?"

The Merman counterpoint songs are better than "Wheels Of A Dream"

Old Fashioned Wedding

You're Just In Love

Here' s the one we were all actually looking at.

Sorry, but should I know/care who who "Peppermint" is?

R357, no. No, they are not. I understand you are entitled to your own opinion, but you started grasping at straws once you went beyond "If I Loved You." Please don't sink any lower.

Why did Ethel Merman get a tattoo during the filming of Call Me Madam? And what was the tattoo of? If you look very closely at this picture, you see her arm wrapped in that plastic that they use when people have just gotten a new tattoo. It's rather shameful that she couldn't wait until filming was over. Or maybe she just got drunk one night and woke up the next morning with an arm brand?

The Head over Heels art is the ugliest thing I have EVER seen.

That was lame, r360.

R351 is spot-on. All the songs he lists are better duet ballads (or quartet, in the case of “And This is My Beloved”) are better than the over-the-top, turgid “Wheels of a Dream.”

Yeah, i don't know who the fuck the artwork for HoH is supposed to appeal to. I also find it odd they're downplaying the music of the Go-Gos, as I would have thought that would be the one fan base selling point they'd have, but perhaps they don't have permission to sell it that way. I know it's not the story of the Go-Gos, but I don't imagine they wouldn't want to be misleading unless they couldn't.

But look at that poster and tell me what that show is about.

R364 If Peppermint is the drawcard, I give it a week, nobody knows who the hell she is

So, allegedly the producers of Hedwig vetoed an actual winner of Drag Race playing Hedwig on the national tour but the producers of this dreck ok'd a nobody like Peppermint?

Is anyone here knowledgeable about Waitress? Someone asked me why there has been so much turnover recently in the part of Joe, and idk the answer ...

Turgid is such a good description for "Wheels of a Dream" - it's exactly right. Plus there was a moment I always remember from first seeing the original Broadway production. Coalhouse has a verse where Sarah interjects little phrases. He sings "We'll go down south and see your people." And she sings, "see my folks." And there was Audra McDonald, with her perfect Juilliard tones, trying to be all colloquial with it, and it was so phony, I shut down on the song immediately.

To the great list R351 posted, I'd add some Jerome Kern, working with Hammerstein. "You are Love" and "Make Believe" are superb male/female duets with melodic lines many a classical composer might have killed for. And "All the Things You Are" (a male/female quartet in its original version) is one of the great songs of the 20th century. It's a song of so much invention, completely unusual for the time when it first appeared, that scholarly essays have been written about it.

I love Wheels of a Dream but readily admit many of the other examples listed above are superior. I'd add Stranger in Paradise as a classic Broadway duet.

The theme of Wheels arises naturally from the plot but someone once correctly pointed out that it's an earthbound metaphor.

[quote]The Merman counterpoint songs are better than "Wheels Of A Dream" /Old Fashioned Wedding /You're Just In Love

Talk about apples and oranges. This discussion has become utterly pointless.

Can If I Loved You be properly considered a duet? She sings it to him then he sings it to her. They never sing together, which is conventionally how we think of a duet.

^ There's even dialog in between. Where's the duet?

[quote]Why is the Broadway community so insular? Running to the same handful of directors/writers/choreographe - rs for everything? Plenty of each doing terrific work in the regions. Would it kill producers to think outside the box more often?

An actual discussion question! I think it’s a good point. Broadway is essentially NY regional theater with more money than everyone else. The talent pool is not even the best of the best. Rather, it’s about connections and reputations.

The original setting of All The Things You Are gives me gooseflesh, it's so beautiful. I know only yhe John McGlinn version of it. Are there others?

Years ago (in the 60s), the Saturday Review did a poll of the major songwriters to find the best songs ever. All The Things came out on top.

And ... two people onstage singing the same song is a duet. They don't have to sing it together. Isn't Anything You Can Do a duet? Or Twin Soliloquies?

Young Barbra sang a gorgeous version of All the Things You Are on her Simply Streisand album back in the mid-1960s. And it sure wasn't a duet!

It would kill ya to provide a link, r375?

Simply Streisand

Here's the John (don't call me Posey!) McGlinn version.

That's what heaven will sound like.

i usually like MCGlinn but he takes that at the tempo of a funeral dirge. It's a love song.

I thought that when I first heard that version, R380. But I think it's because we are so used to hearing it in one of its many jazz interpretations. This original arrangement is much more formal and controlled and McGlinn might be conducting at a tempo more reverential than he should, but I still find it rhapsodic.

[quote]i usually like MCGlinn but he takes that at the tempo of a funeral dirge.

McGlinn always took things at the tempo of a funeral dirge. His "Anything Goes" CD - the entire CD - is so slow and stodgy it's unlistenable. (Well, the tempi plus the fact that Von Stade has never had a clue how to sing show music).

I remember liking McGlinn's Anything Goes but haven't listened to it in years. (It's useless to check right now; the parade is passing right under my window and the noise is deafening.) But I love his Show Boat. It's damn nigh perfect except for von Stade. Agreed, she couldn't sing show music. She spoils the full Cincinnati Pops recording of The Sound of Music, too. Why did she get so many of those albums? She has the soprano top notes but her timbre is entirely that of the mezzo she is. And she's stylistically at sea with Tin Pan Alley and show music.

I adored her in opera though.

I love the idea of recording a complete SHOW BOAT but the execution was problematic. Von Stade certainly didn't sound like a young girl but at least one can understand her lyrics unlike many opera singers. Stratas is deadly on that recording.

I love Stratas on the recording. And it's great to hear a soprano in the role, as it's written. Not many people realize that Helen Morgan was a classically trained soprano since that's not the repertoire she adopted.

I agree that Julie should be a soprano but Stratas sounds dead.

I appreciate the tempo on the title track to Anything Goes via McGlinn's recording. It's such a wordy song and the words can get lost if it gets too zippy.

Stark Sands has an ENORMOUS phallus.

That is NOT all. Do his erections have the consistency of a sponge?

Anything goes with Mitz......

She came along a few years too late, but Dawn Upshaw would have been perfect for all the musical theatre roles Von Stade recorded. She gets the musical theatre style in a way Von Stade didn't. Frederica could never have done this, for example...

That's absolutely effervescent, r391.

Miss Upshaw.....

Upshaw did get to record OH, KAY!

Didn't she turn into a great big fat person?

I knew McGlinn. He was very careful to keep the tempos as original. There is the same problem with Scott Joplin‘s music. The original tempos were much slower than we expect.

Re the turnover @ Waitress in the role of Joe: John Cullum didn't stay very long but it was probably a limited run. I get the impression from one of his Insta posts that Lee Wilkof intended to stay longer but was abruptly replaced by Steve Vinovich who, I think, is still in the role. Also, it's interesting that the understudies for the role are all young and play the role in age makeup.

[quote]Why is the Broadway community so insular? Running to the same handful of directors/writers/choreographers for everything? Plenty of each doing terrific work in the regions. Would it kill producers to think outside the box more often?

It's money.... and fear. At least, that's what people have been telling me for years.

There's so much money at stake in NYC (off-Bway and on) that cronyism is the only way.... better the dubious talents we know than the ones we don't. It's why a revival of anything is preferable to new material, why any new material with tenuous brand recognition (eg, CAR 54: THE MUSICAL!) is preferable to anything without, why capable but rather dull performers (you know who they are...) headline Broadway and win nominations over and over again.

I wish I had an answer to this. They'll keep playing by these rules until the next brilliant thing comes out of nowhere, and then they'll rush to emulate that.

Stark Sands is horse hung

I enjoyed the Von Stade / Carreras symphonic recording of WSS. The C at the end of the quodiblet makes me jizz.

Perfectly, and TRUTHFULLY, articulated, r399, every last word...

R400, that was not Von Stade, it was Kiri Te Kanawa with Jose Carreras, the only Hispanic singer on the recording, as the Polish American Tony.

That WSS recording is abysmal, only slightly better than the Candide that Bernstein later recorded. Talk about turgid tempos! But the absolute worst of the opera stars go slumming in musicals recording is Man of La Mancha with Placido Domingo and Mandy Patinkin. I swear that Mandy was channeling the Frito Bandito in his songs.

McGlinn was a prissy, feckless cunt.

This documentary is pretty fascinating if only for watching Bernstein be a cunt to Jose C.

Jo.....

Didn't Sondheim once say that All The Things You Are is his favorite song or something? Or maybe his favorite melody. It's pretty glorious.

On a separate note, what do we know about Stark Sands aside from the size of his dick? Gay? Straight?

I think he's fond of its construction, which I think he called perfect; there are interviews where he goes on and on about circles of 5ths. I would be surprised if the lyrics were a favorite of his. They're pretty wet, even for Oscar H.

R391 -- Dawn Upshaw's recordings of classic musical theatre works are wonderful -- especially that Rodgers & Hart recording and her I Wish It So album. She's one of the few opera singers who can move easily between these two worlds and unlike, say, a Renee Fleming, she can sing exquisitely while still sounding American or, frankly, like a human being, instead of just like an impressive voice.

I love her beautiful Knoxville Summer of 1915 recording as well. I saw her perform it with several other classical and musical theatre pieces with the LA Phil 10 or so years ago and she was magnificent. That voice of hers hit you like a moonbeam.

If you can get a hold of it her "Dawn at Dusk" concert video recording from Royal Albert Hall in the 90s is wonderful and is mostly (entirely?) an evening of musical theatre.

I mean, come on, listen to her here with Weill...

That Upshaw Supper recordijg is nice but it's lacking something by not having a real low voice singing the low part. The Debbie Shapiro/Becky Luker/Third Alternate recording is better.

That's Miss Ebersole to you, bub!

Miss Eileen Farrell did well vocally outside of opera as well.

It is amusing when people here think Broadway is only "connections" and "who you know" and are all hacks while they've achieved nothing but Intertnet swats. Twat swats.

[quote] John Cullum didn't stay very long but it was probably a limited run.

John Cullum is 88 years old. I'm sure the grind of 8 shows a week is not sustainable for a long period of time.

"Stark Sands" sounds like the name of a trailer park outside of Indio.

[quote]That's Miss Ebersole to you, bub!

Except when it's one of us! We both did it with them, too!

Pictures of Stark Sands' horse cock, please, or it never happened.

John McGlinn was a horrible person. He would lie, often, about the works he put together, put misinformation out there, and he claimed to be "authentic" in his conducting when there is no evidence to suggest his sloooowwww tempi are the originals. Most musicians will tell you he was a terrible conductor.

He would become obsessed with some of the guys he worked with - one in particular, in fact, found his life becoming a living hell because of McGlinn's obsession. His one true, undeniable major accomplishment is that Show Boat CD, although it is marred by Von Stade and Stratas (Judy Kaye was paid to sit in a hotel room in London for the length of the sessions, just in case Stratas pulled one of her tantrums and walked. I would have loved having Judy Kaye sing those songs).

All his woes - the fact that his career fell apart - were his own damn fault.

I never knew John McGlinn but his recording of Lady Be Good is spectacular.

It's practicully a saga.....

Dawn Upshaw has a face made for.....opera.

If you read r408 thinking it's a response to the prior post about Stark Sands' endowment, it's pretty hilarious.

"He's fond of it's construction.....etc......"

My only contact with John McGlinn was at Northwestern. We were both seniors and were enrolled in a seminar on John Donne. He looked and seemed peculiar (though I heard he was talented). He disappeared from the seminar after a week, never to return.

Miss Farrell did the best rendition of "Blues in the Night" I have ever heard, including evoking the opening train whistle as something produced by one of the Valkyries.

R419, which recording is that?

What is that "Sing For Your Supper" with Debbie/Christine/Rebecca from? Was it a PBS special? And is that Rob Fisher conducting? What do we know about him?

I think Stratas is magnificent on that Show Boat recording. She invokes Helen Morgan better than any other singer I’ve heard. Her acting is quite nice as well. It’s just a shame she is usually paired with the wooden Von Stade. Too bad Rebecca Luker wasn’t cast. A soprano who can act!

^evokes, I meant.

I'm particularly fond of Ms Farrell's humorous, lusty take on SEPTEMBER SONG....

OMG I'm totally wrong about that Lady Be Good recording. The loving restoration is by Tommy Krasker and conducted by Eric Stern.

...and Miss Stafford's rendition of that Berlin chestnut, I LEFT MY HEART AT THE STAGE DOOR, utterly destroys me every time. "A lovesick girl without a heart..." Dear God!

God, Head Over Heels sounds even more awful than I could have imagined.

sorry, Stage Door CANTEEN...

Cheer up, r432!

Canteens can be a wistful and perhaps bittersweet experience, r432.

[quote]What is that "Sing For Your Supper" with Debbie/Christine/Rebecca from? Was it a PBS special?

Yes - a PBS special called “The Rodgers and Hart Story: Thou Swell, Thou Witty.” It was a couple of years after Luker and Gravitte scored raves in the Encores version of The Boys From Syracuse.

LOL, R433!

Thanks, r, 433. I've got the Scotch n' Soda fountain covered, but the rest was a welcome relief!

God I love Kay Thompson.

Wow. I think Kay Thompson returned the love. She wrote and choreographed that? She sure loved a gay men's chorus.

I wasn't gay, r439. My brothers....who knows?

Horsey-faced women always love their gays.

I believe Robert Alton did the choreo for Kay

OMG, KAY FUCKING THOMPSON??? WHO CARES???? That old dyke has been worm food for DECADES!!!

R443 Who would you like to talk about, love? Patti Murin?

Rob Fisher is also a terrible conductor. His career exists because Brantley, who has a TERRIBLE ear, gives him plaudits. Sigh.

Rob Fisher is a much better conductor than McGlinn was. “Louisiana Purchase” is a fantastic recording.

The first three or four of those Tommy Krasker Gershwin recordings were excellent and well-conducted (by various conductors). It’s unfortunate that the first one, Girl Crazy, was marred by the horrendous miscasting of Lorna Luft, who couldn’t come close to pulling off Merman’s songs.

That would be Lorna (I’ve got a headache) Luft.

John McGlinn was a horrible person, but he was a great historian and a good, if not great conductor. I wish his Babes in Toyland would be released (it is available on Youtube).

As a conductor, Rob Fisher is a great librarian. He's especially inept with anything jazzy, and he can flatten just about any chart. Either live or on recordings, his orchestra always sounds like they are sight reading, or playing cautiously. The textbook example is with Chicago. If you listen to the original recording, conducted by Stanley Lebowsky, or the London revival recording, conducted by Gareth Valentine, those orchestras play with a raw, raunchy, energized vitality. On the Rob Fisher recording, the band sounds like a troupe of professional virgins, to borrow a line from Tessie Tura. They would have been better off with a metronome.

Eric stern is the best of those conductors

these Stratas McGlinn Upshaw opinions are fine but shouldn't they be in another thread so there can be some GOSSIP here.

cock.

that is all.

[quote]John McGlinn was a horrible person, but he was a great historian

No he wasn't. He picked and chose what he wanted to portray, and he twisted facts to suit his own fantasy version of shows. One example is Kern's "Sunny" in Chicago (with Luker and Criswell and Dvorsky and Brent Barrett). McGlinn tells the audience that "this is the version of the show that Broadway audiences saw in 1925" while they ooh and aah. In reality, he was presenting the London version of the show, which cut some songs and had several added. It's actually a better version, but it is not the 1925 version that Broadway audiences saw.

When "Sitting Pretty" was being recorded (after having been done in concert), McGlinn recorded all the cut songs. He came in with a lyric for "All the World is Dancing Mad," and said he had just discovered the missing lyric! The producer was wise to him, though, and suspected he had written the lyric himself, so she refused to allow him to use it. The song was recorded only with the orchestra and no vocal.

And there are dozens of other examples. He was a sloppy historian and a third-rate conductor.

[quote]He's especially inept with anything jazzy,

Not really. "Chicago," perhaps, but Louisiana Purchase, which gets quite hot, is perfect, and "Tenderloin" at Encores was also extremely well done.

I had a lot of unfortunate encounters with McGlinn, but I have to remind myself that he had a serious mental illness that left him destitute and living in squalor at the end of his life. I don't wish that on anyone. Well, almost anyone.

Jo Stafford had perfect pitch. Darlene Edwards, not so much.

Darlene had perfect off-pitch, r455. Jo wouldn't have a Grammy if it wasn't for Darlene.

LOVE JO STAFFORD - even as Darlene !

"You're The Top" will always be the ideal power bottom's tune.

Where does Blow, Gabriel, Blow fit in, r458?

That's a Top's song, obviously.

[quote] Girl Crazy, was marred by the horrendous miscasting of Lorna Luft, who couldn’t come close to pulling off Merman’s songs.

Hey! Gimme a break! I was molested, you know.

Why am I obsessed with Adam Kantor?

R462

Call him!

I have no idea.

Fisher is the quintessence of prissy. Apparently no one quite knows if he’s gay, straight or asexual. Which explains....a lot of his wan “music-making”

Julie Halston just tweeted she’ll be in Tootsie-plays Chicago Sep/Oct then Broadway in the spring.

Streisand's version of All The Things You Are for the win. (It is, however, the only one I know well.)

Speaking of Toot Toot Tootsie...

[quote]The complete cast for the world premiere Chicago production of the new comedy musical, TOOTSIE has just been announced. Joining previously announced Tony Award nominee Santino Fontana as Michael Dorsey will be Lilli Cooper as Julie Nichols, Sarah Stiles as Sandy Lester, John Behlmann as Max Von Horn, Andy Grotelueschen as Jeff Slater, Julie Halston as Rita Mallory, Michael McGrath as Stan Fields, and Reg Rogers as Ron Carlisle.

[quote]TOOTSIE will play a pre-Broadway engagement this fall at Broadway In Chicago's Cadillac Palace Theatre (151 West Randolph Street, Chicago, IL) from September 11 - October 14. The production will come to Broadway in spring 2019.

[quote]TOOTSIE features an original score by Tony Award-winner David Yazbek (The Band's Visit, The Full Monty, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels), a book by Robert Horn (13; Dame Edna, Back with a Vengeance), choreography by Tony Award nominee Denis Jones (Holiday Inn, Honeymoon in Vegas), and musical direction by Andrea Grody (The Band's Visit). TOOTSIE will be directed by seven-time Tony Award nominee and Olivier Award winner Scott Ellis (She Loves Me, On the Twentieth Century).

R468 Butterface.....as Dorothy Michaels, jessica christ

Julie Halston. Will she bring the same character she does in every show she's in?

I love Julie Halston although she really is a bargain basement Christine Baranski.

Scott Ellis has always been so great with comedy.

Is Julie Halston playing Doris Belack, the soap producer? That's a great role for her, actually, if so.

No one, REPEAT, NO ONE, should waste their time or money on the abysmal "On A Clear Day" at Irish Rep. It is adapted by the director, Charlotte Moore, who has no fucking clue. It looks like a production out of church basement. Errico is terrible, Bogardus is like a deer in the headlights, and btw, his toupee is harrowing.

Stick with the plays, Charlotte, you can't do musicals!

Well, we know what to expect from THAT score....

I heard Tootsie is a really mediocre score. REALLY mediocre!

I can't believe PRETTY WOMAN, TOOTSIE and KING KONG will all be running simultaneously (if they're lucky) in a few months. Dark days... holy shit.

Although I am remaining hopefully (foolishly?) optimistic about MOULIN ROUGE! It will be hard for that to at least not be entertaining, if not semi-decent.

Of all the movies to pick, the first three are so old-fashioned and out of step with current #metoo society it is ludicrous. And, no, some lame feminist pandering rewrite will not make them more appealing.

[quote]Why am I obsessed with Adam Kantor?

Because he's cute, has a beautiful voice, and gives a great blowjob?

[quote]Fisher is the quintessence of prissy. Apparently no one quite knows if he’s gay, straight or asexual. Which explains....a lot of his wan “music-making”

LOL at the newly-anointed "anti-Rob Fisher Troll." As with all trolls, he's a bit off-kilter, and inaccurate, in his obsessive hatred.

And Rob Fisher's friends and family know very well what his sexuality is. Of course, that doesn't include you, so you're assuming "no one knows."

[quote]I can't believe PRETTY WOMAN, TOOTSIE and KING KONG will all be running simultaneously (if they're lucky) in a few months. Dark days... holy shit.

Nope, love the song, LOVE the puppet and can't wait to see it.

On a Clear Day is indeed pretty bad for all the reasons you listed, but Irish Rep’s Finian’s Rainbow, also directed by Moore and starring Errico, was delightful. So go figure.

[quote]And Rob Fisher's friends and family know very well what his sexuality is.

Can I be one of his friends with benefits?

Irish Rep's "The Irish And How They Got That Way" was top notch. But that was really an Irish juke box musical.

I can't believe we have a Rob Fisher troll. That said, he's kind of right about Chicago. Last year a friend dragged me to Chicago. And while Amra Faye was probably celebrating her 67,000 performance and the rest of the ensemble were basically dust collectors, the orchestra was amazing. No joke. They were red hot -- it was like hearing the score anew. I remember pulling up the 1990s cast album on Spotify a few days later and shocked at how tame and underpowered the band on the cast recording sounded by comparison.

Is anyone expecting the story of a starlet and a giant ape to reflect post #metoo society? And Tootsie's mostly problematic in the context of never-was-a-feminist Dustin Hoffman.

Oh, Jesus, artistry can redeem ANY subject matter...but first you need the artist.

King Kong has the potential to be absolutely heartbreaking and wonderful. I think we have become more sensitive to capturing animals for our benefit since the last incarnation, so it just might strike a chord, if done right. If it's not done right, it will be just unspeakably horrible, but I have a feeling it might just be great.

O'Neill did it first and better with THE HAIRY APE.

There is no way that King Kong will be anything other than shit

What is Kong's vocal range?

If Tootsie is anything close to the recent reading it could actually work with that cast, but it needs THREE great numbers and so far has NONE.

Yes R491, as I said--investors werent chompin at the bit to invest after hearing that score.

[quote] Why am I obsessed with Adam Kantor?

You have a Richard Benjamin fetish?

Just got back from the Fathom Events "Bandstand." I'd seen it on Broadway and thought they did a pretty good job of filming it. Of course the theater I went to messed things up in a big way, but i won't go into that. Anyway, I wish the stage version had been more of a success. I haven't heard about any tours or regional productions, but I imagine it might be difficult to cast if they have to find people who can both act and play an instrument (and better than in one of those Doyle shows.) I think the show has a powerful message, and is totally appropriate for our time (and would be a good history lesson for many people.)

[quote] The complete cast for the world premiere Chicago production of the new comedy musical, TOOTSIE has just been announced. Joining previously announced Tony Award nominee Santino Fontana as Michael Dorsey will be Lilli Cooper as Julie Nichols, Sarah Stiles as Sandy Lester, John Behlmann as Max Von Horn, Andy Grotelueschen as Jeff Slater, Julie Halston as Rita Mallory, Michael McGrath as Stan Fields, and Reg Rogers as Ron Carlisle.

I'm out. How is hot 30 something John Behlmann playing John Van Horn? And Lili Cooper is a fat, not terribly attractive mulatto. It's hard to picture anyone putting their career on the line for her. And Sarah Stiles? Well, I guess she'll make Lili Cooper seem more appealing in comparison. Horrible cast.

Santino:Tootsie :: Andy Karl:Groundhog Day :: Tveit:Catch Me If You Can

r495 - 'fat' and 'mulatto'? You're a treasure.

Is Van Horn the Dabney Coleman role? Or the George Gaynes role? Who's playing Bill Murray?

Charlotte Moore is batshit crazy and shouldn't be allowed anywhere near any production.

Charlotte has fucked up an unfixable musical. Now that takes real talent.

^^ Thus spake an actor who wasn't cast in a Charlotte Moore production.

Charlotte must be 105 years old. Hasn't she been at Irish Rep since forever?

I think she is ten years younger than John McMartin, who died a few years ago at 88, so at this point she must be early 80s.

I didn't know John McMartin died. Why didn't anyone tell me?

What an interesting career for him. Oscar in "Sweet Charity" and Ben in "Follies". Two very opposite characters.

We missed you at the memorial, r504.

Van Horn, the George Gaynes role, is played younger, think a dumb soap hunk.

Charlotte did indeed fuck up TAKE ME ALONG and DONNYBROOK.

Plus "New Girl in Town" wasn't cast or done very well. The cast a non-dancer in the Gwen Verdon role, something which Broadway did when they cast Christina Applegate as Sweet Charity, too.

On Gwen in New Girl in Town.....

Which is what Fosse did originally with NEW GIRL IN TOWN (no dance)...till he and Gwen realized the only saving grace of the show was when she launced into Terpsichore mode.

Police have found and arrested the Anastasia molester. He's just some middle-aged loser creep. They said he'd felt up a fourth girl the night before at the same stage door.

Oh, "New Girl in Town" has a very good score. Verdon got raves, comparing her to Garbo. Plus Thelma Ritter shared the Tony with Verdon in a tie. But yes, originally it wasn't going to feature dance. Verdon had two Tonys before the show had opened, and most of all she had been hailed for her dancing. The powers that be finally decided that to put her in a musical without her dancing didn't seem like a smart thing to do. Fosse and Verdon eventually put in, among other things, a whorehouse ballet which George Abbott hated, and which he cut, though Verdon and Fosse would later put back in .

[quote]Plus "New Girl in Town" wasn't cast or done very well.

Of course not -- they needed ME!

[quote]Police have found and arrested the Anastasia molester. He's just some middle-aged loser creep. They said he'd felt up a fourth girl the night before at the same stage door.

Did they ask his thoughts on Mary Poppins?

[quote]Of course not -- they needed ME! —Miss Linda Lavin

Would you have played one of the whores, Linda?

You woulda been deemed too ancient for Marthy, Diane.

"but it needs THREE great numbers..."

There hasn't been a score with three great numbers in almost 40 years!

[quote]There hasn't been a score with three great numbers in almost 40 years!

Ha! That's almost true. I think you can find three great numbers in "City of Angels." "With Every Breath I Take" "Lost and Found" "You Can Always Count On Me" "Stay With Me" and "Everybody's Gotta Be Somwhere" are all good.

I don't get the Lili Cooper casting. Was Beanie Feldstein tied up elsewhere?

r518 You're Nothing Without Me is one of my all-time favorite musical numbers.

[quote]You're Nothing Without Me is one of my all-time favorite musical numbers.

I debated putting it on the list, but I always thought it was a bit corny. Other than the Jimmy Powers songs, I don't think the male numbers are as good as the female numbers in that show. But if you don't melt at those Kay McClelland low notes on "With Every Breath I Take", then you have no soul.

I wish that Sarah Vaughan had recorded "With Every Breath I Take" from the show; she may have recorded the earlier song with that title.

I suppose we could take a poll, r521.

Kay has that beautiful "Karen Carpenter" low scoop.

What ever happened to Kay?

"You Can Always Count on Me". Prince of Wales theatre. Haydn Gwynne. Fabulous!

I think "Double Talk" is really good, but dislike the song "Funny' which certainly isn't ( yes, I get that's it's about sarcasm). But "Double Talk" is one of the jazzier songs in the show, and while Gregg Edelman's acting and appearance was lackluster, his singing certainly wasn't.

They really need to do a revival of City of Angels. It's a fun show. But oh, you have to have excellent performers because those jazz harmonies have to be tight.

[quote]"You Can Always Count on Me". Prince of Wales theatre. Haydn Gwynne. Fabulous!

She now plays Camilla Parker Bowles Windsor on "The Windsors"

Well, NEWSIES has Santa Fe, Carrying the Banner and King of New York.

So there!

I think it was mentioned above, but Fathom is bringing back the filmed "Newsies" next month.

"You're Nothing Without Me is one of my all-time favorite musical numbers..."

And THAT is the one good/great number in CITY OF ANGELS, r520 (even if the opening riff is very reminiscent of the Aufschwung section of Schumann's Fantasietucke, which isn't surprising given Cy's classical background....3'43" below)

Hairspray had several good songs in it as well...younger than 40

R529 And [Haydn Gwynne] played the Patti LuPone part in Women on the Verge in London.

I'm sure none of these will ever be regarded as pop hits, but LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA is a dazzling score. I'd single out:

THE BEAUTY IS

DIVIDING DAY

STATUES AND STORIES/LOVE TO ME

Speaking of should have been pop hits, why didn't Barbra, Celine or even Susan Boyle record "Another Winter in a Summer Town" from Grey Gardens?

They were hoping it would be interpolated into "Summer: The Donna Summer Musical."

R504 don't forget Little Mary Sunshine.

R532, if you're talking about Cy Coleman "borrowing" another composer's melody, how about "All You Have to Do is Wait"? The whole first part of the melody is a direct steal from John Barry and Alan Jay Lerner's "Going, Going Gone" from "Lolita, My Love."

Why has ENCORES not revised CITY OF ANGELS? It could be wonderful. Love it or hate it, they did a fine job this year with GRAND HOTEL.

Or are the creators waiting for a commercial revival on Broadway?

I suspect the latter.

I'd add Say It Somehow to your list, r535.

Wow. Jill O'Hara, almost unrecognizable and huge as a house at the Promises Promises anniversary concert at Transport Group.

Look at R543 standing in the background

Where's Jenny?

[quote]Speaking of should have been pop hits, why didn't Barbra, Celine or even Susan Boyle record "Another Winter in a Summer Town" from Grey Gardens?

Because it's a terrible song?

Amen, Susan. At least you know what kind of person you’re dealing with when they say it’s a good song

God Bless Aurora Spiderwoman

And God Bless Aurora again!

“Another Winter in a Summer Town” really is a mediocre song and makes very little sense taken out of context.

Agreed. I'm dumbfounded when people say it's something special. "It's something alright!" is how I answer that.

Right now, I'm listening to Georgia Brown's bitchy, badass version of "The Saga of Jenny." Love that 60s swing.

Georgia Brown's "Alabama Song" is pretty good too. It would have been fun to sit in a 1960s tikki bar and listen to it, smoking cigarettes and swilling cocktails, watching Don and Betty Draper at the next table.

Random thoughts: I disagree about "Another Winter..." I think it works brilliantly out of context, and I love the song. I might have some affection for it, though, because I have spent winters on Nantucket and Cape Cod, and have a complete understanding of the sadness being there can bring, and I certainly understand the emotional aspect of feeling like you have missed your chance, that you're past your sell-by date.

I saw the original production of City of Angels, and the only thing I remember of it was the sets and costumes, how they were all shades of grey and evoked the palette of a silent movie. Other than that, I don't remember a thing. Oh, also: how fucking hot James Naughton was. The clips that someone posted, though, make me think it really was better than I remembered. The clips are obviously professionally shot. Is a recording of the full play out there somewhere?

It evoked silent film even though it took place in the era of film noir? Sounds like bad design.

I shouldn't have use "silent film" to describe the set design. It was more like a black and white movie, and I automatically thought of silent movies to describe that. I am not familiar with film noir, but the sets and costumes evoked a black and white movie come comic strip. It is hard to explain, but it heightened the artifice of the play for me.

Another Winter in a Summer Town would be a perfect track for Streisand, even now.

The scenes set in the gumshoe movie were in a black and white palette, while the scenes in the real world were in color in CoA. At times, the two worlds would meet like in “What You Dont Know About Women” and then there would be a side by side framing with color opposite black and white. It worked pretty well.

But FOLLIES did it first and better.

Georgia Brown sounds like shit to me. Thank God she didn’t do the movie of Oliver.

AH, that's right, R558. It was incredibly well-executed, but it made me keep thinking about the set and not the play. So was the full play recorded and available somewhere?

Jerry Colker posted three numbers from 'Three Gys Naked from the Waist Down' to Youtube, Gods bless him. Always loved the show and nice to see it.

Apologies if these have been already posted, loved this thread, y'all know alot of shit!

Get it, Scott Bakula. Have loved him since this show. Colker has mostly aged well, he was hot as hell in the show

^ Cry pardon meant to post this clip. Kisses

[quote]Stark Sands is horse hung

So why are we talking about Stark's big cock? Did someone here get to taste it?

R565, Stark went full frontal in Bonnie and Clyde when it previewed in Florida. When Jeremy Jordan replaced him on Broadway, he felt uncomfortable with the nudity and the scene was amended.

Ah, okay. Thank you, R566.

Random question for the elder gays here, but what Broadway costume shops (not designers) were active during the 1960s? Barbara Matera did get started until the late 1960s. Who preceded her, other than Eaves Brooks, of course?

Remember when this thread was actually gossip and not reminiscing about the good ole days ?

[quote]Remember when this thread was actually gossip and not reminiscing about the good ole days ?

Ironic.

r568: The elite NY costume shop of the early 1960s was run by Ray Diffen, an Englishman who was Barbara Matera's mentor and brought her (and Jane Greenwood) to America. Diffen did all of the British designers' work on Broadway, like Tony Walton, Freddy Wittop, Loudon Saint-Hill and Desmond Heeley, as well as Irene Sharaff's shows of that period, including Funny Girl. Streisand became so enamored of him that she had Diffen consult and build all of her costumes for her early TV specials.

He was not a good businessman, however, and his shop went under by the end of the 1970s (when Brooks Van Horn and Eaves were about to merge). By then Barbara Matera's shop was the prime prestige location for quality work, boosted by all of Theoni Aldredge's many hits. Diffen went on to run the Metropolitan Opera's shop for a number of years and eventually retired back in England.

R571, do you remember the one that was near Columbus Circle?

I saw an early preview of City of Angels and I've never seen anyone stop a show the way Randy Graff did. Audience howled at every wisecrack and You Can Always Count On Me brought the house down. I think Kay McClelland left the business. Too bad. She went from City of Angels to mostly being a standby (Nick & Nora, King and I). She was a wonderful Baker's Wife in Into The Woods.

[quote]There is no way that King Kong will be anything other than shit

Hurry back to the basement, your "Merrily We Roll Along" album is skipping.

Jill O'Hara in the PROMISES concert was divine, and her singing the song a true coup de theatre (she wasn't listed in the program as a singer.) The audience adored her. As for her weight gain, what will you look like 50 years from now?

"Another Winter" works as well out of context as Send in the Clowns or If He Walked Into My Life.

I'm going to look like a skeleton in 50 years so that's not a very good analogy.

"Another Winter" is a shit song, with shit lyrics and shit music that happens to have a clever title. When the lyrics include "Oh God, My God" you know it's shit. Continually using God's name in vain without actually making it a prayer is just laziness.

Because Little Edie would NEVER use the Lord's name in vain, r578.

[quote]Audience howled at every wisecrack and You Can Always Count On Me brought the house down.

You Can Always Count On Me is one of the most clever songs. The writing is top notch comedy.

There's lots of smirking motel clerks who call me "Mrs. Smith!"

I've made a name with hotel detectives who break down doors

I think Another Summer in a Winter Town is an exquisitely beautiful and moving song, certainly when performed by Christine Ebersole.

Call me Mary. I don’t care.

[quote]Because Little Edie would NEVER use the Lord's name in vain, [R578].

It doesn't matter whether she would or wouldn't. It's poor writing. There should be better lyrics to express what she is feeling. The whole point of a song is to express what can't be said in words. If she's feeling forlorn or dejected, then her lyrics should reflect that.

And they do r582.

Taking the lord's name in vain is a favorite pastime of mine.

"The whole point of a song is to express what can't be said in words."

So the songs shouldn't have lyrics?

[quote]So the songs shouldn't have lyrics?

No, numbnuts. The song raises what the character is saying or feeling above normal discourse.

Words are words, r585, be they spoken or sung.

No, it doesn’t, R576. Not a whole lot of people can relate to the likes of Edie Beale. Living in a “summer town” isn’t exactly common.

And the melody for it is extremely mediocre and unoriginal. There’s a reason it has been rarely performed outside Grey Gardens.

That which is too stupid to be spoken, must be sung.

Grey Gardens is all too exploitive and mean spirited for me. I don’t give a fuck she says “oh god”, I hate that we are laughing at mental illness

I can relate to neither Send in the Clowns because I've never lost my timing late in my career as a stage actress nor If he Walked Into My Life because I've never brought up a young boy in a lush and loud crowd.

^^ probably.

I was able to sing "this late in my career" convincingly, even though it is just starting for me, a still dewey ingenue.

How true is this female version of Glengarry? They have to have some cast attached I'm assuming. Why this show? Why give Mamet more money?

Glen Close in GLENGARRY GLEN ROSS.

Here's the next one for the gossipy types.

Well, that's a pretty lousy title, r595. Thanks for nothing.

[quote]Well, that's a pretty lousy title, [R595]. Thanks for nothing.

I bet you're the one person that likes the song "Another Winter In A Summer Town."

No, I don't give a shit one way or the other about that song, r597. I just appreciate clever gossip headlines, and yours never are. Please let someone else start #311 when the times comes, and don't rush to be the one to start it.

Is Kismet revivable?

Bajour!