THEATRE GOSSIP #315: "Off to a Rousing Start!" Edition

Is The Boys in the Band expected to receive any nominations?

Wait til The Cher Show gets here. We'll be drowning in Mackie's sequins.

How long is the cast staying in BITB? Won't a replacement cast be going in at some point? That would make it hard for nominations.

Any word on JAGGED LITTLE PILL?

For those in the previous thread who were casting Lucille Ball in everything, it wouldn't have happened. Lucy was known as a slapstick clown type. She could never break out of that mold. There was no room in those big screen musicals for the shtick that Lucy did. In "Yours, Mine & Ours" I'm convinced they put that drunk scene in just so Lucy would do the shtick. And in her last tv appearance, "Stone Pillow" where she plays a homeless woman, she's still doing her stupid shtick. You see it early on when she's bathing with a hose, all the "Lucy" tics are on full display. I haven't watched "Mame" in decades, but I bet if I were to watch it, I'd see some of the same slapstick shtick, unless the director and film editor but it all out when putting the film together.

but = cut

As good as the Drood revival was, it didn't compare to the magic of the original production. That's why nothing happened with it.

BITB closes in August. It was a STRICTLY limited run.

All true about Lucy, but the magic of imagining her as Rose is precisely that it might have tapped into the rage that was lurking underneath - imagine letting that raspy voice go as a vehicle of anger and bitterness

I’d rather not

Lucy as Rose? Why, because she was so beloved as Mame we would want to see her in yet another role that Angela Lansbury won a Tony for?

Watched a Dick Cavett show in which Lucy, little Lucy, and Desi Jr. were on. It was a “tribute” to Lucy. Gary Morton was on, too. They had a very odd dynamic as a family.

[quote]It was a STRICTLY limited run.

I have a fetish for STRICT r8 s

So whither HOH?

Did it get any good reviews?

More than a few posts in my social media feed about "Why are all the NYT reviews lately so offensive?" "Where are the Arts editors?"

I haven't read the theatre reviews lately and don't feel like doing so. Can someone here on DL give a synopsis of the controversy?

BITB will AT LEAST get a nomination for Best Revival.

HOH will be gone by Labor Day, and the sooner the better. Someday, Andrew Durand will use all of his gay superpowers and let loose. Staying in the closet on stage does no actor a service.

That Lucy and Family talk show was with Merv Griffin, wasn't it? It was right before the opening of MAME, so the reviews weren't in, so Merv was able to tell her she was spectacular, it was going to be a big hit, etc. Lucy soaked it all in, and it's rather sad to see her neediness.

Andrew Durand is not gay, sorry R18

Yes, it was Merv, R19. Thanks for the correction

Agree with R7 about the Drood revival. The show itself is kind of exhausting, for all that is good and smart about it - but Cleo Laine, Betty Buckley, Patti Cohenour, Howard McGillin, John Herrera, Jana Schneider and especially, George Rose were hard to top. I think the show especially needs the kind of mad twinkle that Rose brought to it. Cohenour was the murderer when I saw it, and her confession was absolutely bonkers. I remember it vividly. I don't even remember who the murderer was when I saw the revival, and the audience was kind of stone faced throughout it. Does anyone really love the show in general?

Cleo Laine can do no wrong. Her Sondheim album is one of the best.

The first 30 minutes or so of the second act of Drood is rough going, to put it mildly. And the voting/resolution stuff really only flies if you’ve got someone of Rose's caliber handling the audience.

Watching Nick Barasch cozy up to Chita was maybe the only good part of it for me.

Sorry, R20, but oh YES he is. Delightfully so. Offstage.

Andrew Durand? Lol. You bitches are really scraping the bottom of the barrel these days. She’s a squash faced nobody.

NEXT.

R19, Yes, it was Griffin, not Cavett. Although, DECADES has been running in rotation a Cavett show from the early 1970s with Lucy, Lucie and Carol Burnett.

Saw Moulin Rouge last evening. It's more like a Las Vegas review than a Broadway musical. Aaron Tveit, Karen Olivo, Danny Burstein and the rest of the cast are exceptional. Sets, costumes, choreography are all outstanding. Found it hard to buy the passion between Aaron and Karen, though, it's just not there. Their first passionate kiss is awkward and embarrassing. It doesn't help that Karen is seven years older than Aaron . . . and it shows.

[quote] Watching Nick Barasch cozy up to Chita was maybe the only good part of it for me

What about me?

The roller skates were pure Lucy r5. That was taken from Auntie Mame, though. It's an example where the stage MAME really weakens the source material. Doesn't it have Mame giving Beau a shave....or a facial......something like that.

After ILL, Lucy's persona became strangely Rose-like. Pushy, aggressive, obnoxious and oblivious to her possessiveness about her children. She could have played Rose without batting an eye because she WAS Rose in real life, expect she was the star and wanted her kids to be the same.

[quote]she WAS Rose in real life, expect she was the star and wanted her kids to be the same.

Then she wasn't Rose. Rose was trying to live her life through her kids. It was Rose that wanted to be the star. Lucy already was a star. Her kids probably would have been in show business whether she pushed them or not. Show biz is what they were born into.

R33, I think you could certainly argue that Lucy started living her life through Lucie as the years went on and she tried desperately to reclaim her days of beauty, glory and fame. It's still the story of Rose but told in reverse.

What a scathing review of Head Over Heals in the Times. It sounds like it has the elements of a good show, if they had pushed it further in the realm of the Ridiculous Theater Company. It seems to have gotten safe on its way to Broadway. I wonder how much has changed from Jeff's version of the show. It's too bad it doesnt have the courage of its convictions, because it does sound interesting.

Hey, all! Be sure to catch me in BBC's His Dark Materials!

Head over Heels is fun. Personally I can’t wait till peppermint is on vacation and Sharon Brown takes over. She was one of my favorite Effies and a great Narrator with David C after Laurie Beechman left

DROOD can be one of the most memorable and enjoyable evenings of theatre you'll sit through -- but it relies heavily on expert direction (Wilford Leach) and masterful performers to push through those aspects of the book/score that aren't quite up to par. I thought Holmes did a terrific job in refining/revising both for the latest revival -- but as R24 mentioned, there are some tough slogs at the top of the second act, especially in the original production. Howard and Patti's grandiose duet 'The Name of Love/Moonfall' used to close Act One in the Original Broadway version, but Holmes later pushed this to the top of Act Two...swapping places with the jaunty 'Off to the Races' (which used to back up against the show's other showstopper, 'Don't Quite While You're Ahead' = which was problematic!) I don't know if the revival solved the flow issue -- but once you get to the voting...especially in the hands of a George Rose sized talent, it's bliss. FWIW, the audiences we saw the 2012 revival with (both times) were certainly LOVING every minute of it.

[quote] Head over Heels is fun. Personally I can’t wait till peppermint is on vacation and Sharon Brown takes over. She was one of my favorite Effies and a great Narrator with David C after Laurie Beechman left

Bless your heart, dear. As if this show is going to run long enough for anyone to be able to take a vacation.

The SJWs are all up in arms over Brantley's review being flippant about the trannies and genderfluids and non-binaries and part-squirrels, etc. They were calling for his head on a plate. He quickly published an apology and explanation of what he was trying to say, which anyone without an agenda and too much time on their hands could have figured out just by reading the review. I hope this shit show goes up in flames.

In a twist of irony, now everyone will want to see Head Over Heels.

The original Drood is one of those I wish they had filmed for PBS. They could have filmed the various endings, but I guess in those days they didn't conceive of dvd where you could play different endings.

....and Sharon's telling you, r37.

R23, on the other hand, Chita was not very good. She wasn't bad, but she seemed low energy and fragile.

You’re right. I don’t understand it. Casting Chita as a cockney Music Hall singer made so much sense.

(Yeah, she wasn’t great, but as mentioned above, it was fun watching her and the little red-headed twink get chosen as lovers.)

R45 -- I'd agree. Love and respect Chita but her casting was a puzzlement. She couldn't do a cockney accent to save her life and seemed almost bashful when trying to play up Puffer's bawdiness. Her 'legend' status made up for much of this though... And certainly wasn't anywhere near the shitshow that WAS Loretta Swit. I guess the cast and crew loathed her...George Rose threatened to quit if Wilford didn't rein her in. It was a welcome sigh of relief when Karen Morrow came in to replace her... She might have also lacked an accurate cockney, but she was a riot (and sang her ass off!)

Article on the NYPost about HOH being on thin ice....

[quote]George Rose threatened to quit if Wilford didn't rein her in.

Does anyone know what she did to piss everyone off? Was she ad libbing a lot?

I've seen Drood 3 times. The first was in the park, and it must have been a critics performance as Frank Rich was there. The audience was very savvy and the place was pandemonium, certainly the best night I've ever spent at the Delacourte. Loved it. Saw it on Broadway, still with the same cast but with a bridge and tunnel crowd. It felt tired, even though it hadn't played all that long. So much to do with the audience. The last time I saw it was during previews for the revival. It was the Weds matinee right after Hurricane Sandy. They didn't have much audience (subways weren't running) so they invited anyone from Equity who was around to come for free. It was almost as good as the night I saw it in the park. And yes, Andy Karl and Jessie Mueller as the Landless' were the standout. And Chita was horribly miscast.

The OBC of Drood was incredible. In the ensemble alone you had Rob Marshall, Donna Murphy and Judy Kuhn. And of course, George Rose was definitive (as is evidenced below). I was also lucky enough to see Paige O'Hara take over for Buckley/Donna Murphy as Drood -- she was a revelation. The late, great Tony Azito had also joined as the Graveskeeper by that point...really reinventing that part that Jerome Dempsey originated. Musical comedy bliss.

Tony Azito!

R49 - Swit was a pain in the ass diva. Even the costume designer loathed her! She also became frustrated early in her brief run as she was never being selected as murderess. So she took it upon herself to add bits of business on stage (and off) to up the ante and indicate to the audience that SHE killed Drood. The story goes that in the 'No Good Can Come From Bad' scene (where all the characters - minus Puffer - are at the dinner table demonstrating possible motive as killers) Loretta found a lantern and flash light and for several nights, *inserted* herself in the scene. How? Well apparently she was sneaking behind the set and leering through the windows with her lantern, making all kinds of 'evil' faces. Literal upstaging in the middle of the number! I believe it got so bad that the cast threatened to write her up on Equity charges...this was when George Rose threatened to walk. But Wilford Leach, sweet as he was, never wanted to tell anyone 'no', so he just ensured the lighting designer 'killed' any lighting behind the set window, so the audience would never be able to see her even if she tried it again!

R49 I heard from someone who was in the original production's orchestra that Swit would indeed stick her head in the window. Also that she once suddenly pulled out a knife during a scene and waved it through the air apropos of nothing. According to him, it got so bad that they would occasionally rig the vote and announce her as the murderer just to make it stop.

I'm surprised that none of you nostalgiacs who saw the original show has mentioned that terribly cute young guy with the amazing rounded bottom. He played an assistant of some kind. The first time I saw it, he married Cleo Laine, to everyone's delight. Especially Cleo's.

Stephen something?

R54 - Yes! I forgot about the knife 'bit'...all true! I think that stage business might have been Rose's tipping point. He really set the bar for that company in terms of professonalism and dedication -- and refused to suffer that kind of BS on stage. I do recall one night he got so annoyed by all the "Hey Hot Lips!" hecklers in the audience that he said "Gentlemen! The theatre is like a BALLOON...all it takes is one little PRICK to ruin it! Now DO SHUT UP!" It might seem simple but as delivered by Rose...it brought the house down! And that would be Stephen Glavin R55, who played Deputy.

The kid who played the Deputy also played some sort of opium demon/hallucination in the Wages Of Sin scene. He wore a leotard and his ass truly was a thing to behold. I like to think Howard McGillin was making good use of it.

Yes, the hallucination scene was Glavin's finest hour.

He's straight, by the way. A cruel twist of fate. If I remember rightly, he was an acrobat rather than an actor, but he fit into the cast very nicely.

He was a breakdancer. I don’t know how I know this.

Which will close first? Head Over Heels or Smokey Joe's Cafe?

What a horrible season on Broadway coming our way (and some of it already here). Even Moulin Rouge looks to be just an expensive glittery Las Vegas style revue. And The Cher Show sounds even worse. Is there anything to look forward to? Is Scott Rudin producing any musicals or revivals next season?

The art of creating new musicals and even reviving the old great ones has truly been lost. Very very sad.

I guess it's no surprise that Goop wasn't at the HoH opening. She saw a preview out of town and washed her hands of it.

[quote]but Cleo Laine, Betty Buckley, Patti Cohenour, Howard McGillin, John Herrera, Jana Schneider and especially, George Rose were hard to top.

Oh, the jokes -- they just write themselves.

[quote] I think the show especially needs the kind of mad twinkle that Rose brought to it.

I would imagine there were lots of mad twinks whenever George was around.

Herrera especially.

HOH has been universally panned. It will close soon, professional outrage not withstanding.

Story is that Loretta Swit made Hirschfeld cry over her negative reaction to that caricature R53 posted.

It's good to know that Loretta Swit got the post-"M*A*S*H" career she deserved.

I wonder if Loretta was a cunt when she toured as Gooch in Mame?

Loretta slinking around behind the scenery and looking in windows has to be a DL meme! It just has to!

It is a shame this isn't in line to be a Broadway production.

When my Mother took me to NYC as a little gayling, I insisted that we go see "Drood." Rose was still in it, but Cleo Laine was not, and Swift was the Princess Puffer. After the show, I remember waiting for Rose outside of the stage door for his autograph. Loretta Swift came out, looked at me, ripped the program from my hands, signed it, and walked away. I felt like going all Lily Tomlin on her. ("I don't want no fucking autograph! I didn't come in this alley for no autograph! I came in here to pee!")

For those who saw the original Drood, how did you vote? Were you given paper and pencils? Did you have to circle names? How was it done?

You voted by number for the murderer of your choice ... I recall that you raised your hands as they called off each number. I think members of the ensemble were sent to various sections throughout the theatre to count the votes.

[quote]Loretta slinking around behind the scenery and looking in windows has to be a DL meme! It just has to!

Seth Rudetsky told the story on Serius XM a few weeks ago as it was told to him by, I think, Judy Kuhn who was in the cast at the time.

That's hysterical and awful R71 ! Did you wind up getting to meet Mr. Rose thereafter? And yes R74, Seth has had that story of Loretta slinking around corroborated by Kuhn and Howard McGillin on his show...and it's totally worthy of a DL meme!!

Goochy-Goochy....

Between Loretta and Celeste, that tour must have had more counters than a night at Patsy Kelly’s house!

I believe that was Vegas, r77, and Celeste took over from Susie.

Before Vegas, Celeste led a national tour and Swit was her Gooch. Then Swit went into the Vegas cast, and when Susan Hayward left, Celeste went in as well, along with her tour Vera, Vicki Cummings.

Ah, thank you, r79.

Loretta’s ready to do that musical version of “Bany Jane”!

Going back to Orchestrations of AGYG, didn't Rosie O's bandleader do the orchestrations for the Bernie revival? I remember them being particularly mediocre and then him nomming (or winning?) a tony for them based on people's love of Rosie at the time.

WHET that guy?

Loretta and Miss Dolly....

You mean John McDaniel, r82. He was the Supervisong Musical Director and did the vocal arrangements for that AGYG revival, but Bruce Coughlin did the rotten orchestrations.

Also re the AGYG orchestrations from the original in 1946, the situation was actually the exact opposite from what was posited in the last thread. Per Wikipedia:

“An early assignment were the original orchestrations for Irving Berlin's Annie Get Your Gun, in which Lang employed the new so-called "microphone technique" where the singer would carry the melody line without much support or competition from the orchestra. He would later use this to excellent effect for Rex Harrison's speaking-singing on My Fair Lady, but belters like Ethel Merman expected full-bodied orchestral underpinnings. Producer Richard Rodgers and the musical director Jay Blackton wanted the more traditional "live theater" sound and asked Russell Bennett to redo it during the tryouts.

In his autobiography Bennett suggests that he merely adjusted Lang's work without unbalancing it; but others have claimed that Bennett rewrote practically everything and saved the show.[4] Steven Suskin has confirmed that at least Lang's version of Anything You Can Do survived and was used in the final show, to which many other orchestrators eventually contributed. ,The dean of musical orchestrators, Russell Bennett remarked that the original arrangements Lang had prepared for Annie Get Your Gun (1946), which utilized a modern technique of orchestral scoring, were beautifully done. Bennett apparently appreciated Lang's work and happily collaborated with him on a number of other successful scores.”

That Orchestrations book goes song by song, and indicates that more of Lang’s charts that just Anything You Can Do were kept.

You don't fully appreciate how great a set of original orchestrations are until you hear someone go in and revise them for a revival. I think about how they butchered the most recent Annie revival...those Phil Lang charts in the original (think 'Easy Street') are near flawless. The arrangements for the Peters AGYG were also very middle-of-the-road. The Merman '66 charts had everything you wanted out of that score. There have been notable exceptions to this, however... Michael Starobin's orchestrations for the '92 Zaks 'Guys and Dolls' in almost every case, IMPROVED upon the originals...to the point that they almost sounded like they should've been the originals! Starobin was recently interviewed and said that MTI is finally considering renting out the '92 orchestrations to amateur/regional groups (which would be fantastic!) Old school theatrical orchestrator/arrangers like Lang and Ralph Burns (and obviously Tunick) are still the gold standards.

Finally saw "Newsies" (the filmed version of the show) last night -- how on earth did it lose the Tony to "Once?" Disclaimer: I've never seen "Once," but as it was based on one of the worst movies I've ever seen, I have no plans to do so.

Also, why was the show filmed at the Pantages in LA instead of in New York?

[quote] I think about how they butchered the most recent Annie revival

That was one messed up production. Easy Street sucked. Why did Rooster and Miss Hannigan start out with Irish accents and then change over to tough New Yawk accents halfway througt? And yes the orchestrations sucked big time.

How funny,r86. I was reading your post and looked up at the TV. Miss Faith Prince's mug on CSI.

ONCE was miles above and beyond NEWSIES in quality. To suggest otherwise (particularly based on only seeing the movie) is pure idiocy.

Newsies always looked like attack of the twinks

[quote]Cleo Laine can do no wrong. Her Sondheim album is one of the best.

😭

Once the movie was one of those passion project trifles like In America that are quite lovely in and of themselves, but really don't stand up to public adoration. They are just too slight. But without any baggage, they really are wonderful.

The musical Once, however, was jaw dropping. Speaking of brilliant orchestrations/music direction, both versions of Gold (the rousing full version and the a capella version) are gorgeously lush and yet always in service to the show.

Newsies was much better than Once and should not have lost the Tony.

And Kara Lindsay should not have been nominated in Lead Actress. If she'd been nominated appropriately in Featured she would have easily won instead of that forgotten girl from Once who barely made an impression

Phil Lang wrote the IC school song (he was an alum) and an ensemble of the best graduating voice majors sing it every year at commencement.

Kara Lindsay wasn't nominated in any category for Newsies. Tons of cuties in the cast though. Let's talk about Ben Fankhauser!

💖💖💖💖

That's an adorable picture. Did any other cast members return along with Bette?

R98 - Yup, David Hyde Pearce

From Loretta's last theatrical outing in NYC

Also, I wonder if this is the Loretta Whopper commercial from which this story comes (found it on another message board)

"She did Burger King commercials in the 80s and is a vegetarian. A stage hand would have to bite The Whopper she was holding for her and they kept having to replace the Whoppers because she thoughts the bite was too big and made her look like a pig. They eventually had a little girl bite the Whopper. "

Who knows if it's true?

Just to bring two thread topics together, that Cleo Laine Sondheim album was orchestrated by Jonathan Tunick. The orchestrations, and the album as a whole, are wonderful.

Re Cleo's Losing My Mind: Most everyone else brings it home (so to speak) on "Or were you just being kind?" She puts the climax just a bit before, on "You said you loved me." It makes so much more sense.

The Starobin orchestrations for Guys and Dolls are fucking amazing. I agree, they improve on the originals.

John McDaniel has had a pretty decent Broadway career. He worked steadily since Rosie but his last Broadway show was in 2011. Maybe he's moved back to TV?

r101- who is the cute guy in the Burger King commercial? He was in a lot of stuff back then.

Is C-List actor still around?

I'm right here actually. I got way behind in the Theater Gossip threads so I eventually gave up on trying to read (and possibly comment on) every post.

Looking at John McDaniel's credits sent me down a rabbit hole looking at all the different people that appeared in the revival of GREASE. What a list: Sheena Easton, Maureen McCormick, Chubby Checker, among others. That seemed like such a fun show to be in. I look at the cast list with some sadness because I was very close to being cast as a replacement for Doody. I showed up late to a replacement call that I had read about in Backstage. They had already made singing cuts and were teaching a dance combination to a the few boys that made the cut. I begged casting director Stuart Howard to let me dance. He let me. I danced my heart out and then they made another cut and we were given the music to the Sam Harris version of "Magic Changes." I already knew it by heart from listening to the recording. They were very impressed and had me sing it 8 times in a row (at least that's how I remember it). They wanted to see how durable my voice was and I nailed it every time. And so then they walked me into the audience to watch the show on Broadway. I had already seen it. It was cool that they wanted me to see it for free though. Eventually, Ty Taylor and I were called in to sing for Jeff Calhoun and The Weisslers. I cracked on one of the high notes. Stuart Howard. told the Weisslers right then and there "He can do it. We've heard him do it a million times." So they gave me another chance and I nailed it. But Ty was cast. I was brought in a couple more times to audition to play Eugene in the national tour but didn't get that either. Eventually, I got a call to play Doody on the road while I was doing BABES IN ARMS at the Guthrie with Kristin Chenoweth. I turned it down but then it was unclear as to whether I was ever offered it to begin with. My manager at the time said it was mine but when I called one of the casting directors to apologize for turning it down, it sounded like I didn't get it. Oh, it is so many years ago (22 in fact) and I can't remember the words that were spoken. That said, I wanted Doody on Broadway so bad (summer of 1995). Would've been my Broadway debut and I could sing the hell out of Magic Changes. I was so young and could sing so high. Those were the days.

I looked up Phil Lang on IBDB. I can't believe all the great shows he orchestrated. And many of them have some of the best orchestrations I've ever heard. Destry Rides Again, Carnival, Dolly, Mack & Mabel, Goldilocks, Annie, Dear World, the Good News revival, Li'l Abner, Fanny, Camelot, Take Me Along and My Fair Lady to name just a few.

I'd never thought much about him before, but he was outstanding.

Jeremy Jordan is the true millennial Broadway star, or as close as there is. Plus, he has history: Arthur Laurents giving epic acidic final breaths while he was playing the final Tony in WEST SIDE STORY, Harvey Weinstein and the Harvard FINDING NEVERLAND deal, (thus) L5Y movie, SMASH (best part of S2), plus NEWSIES and BONNIE & CLYDE original Broadway leading roles. And, SUPERGIRL after that. As talented as Aaron Tveit is... and he's achieved more than most under 40... Jeremy has shown he's going to be formidable with a pronounced interest to continue his stage career. Also loved him in A BED & A CHAIR, the Sondheim/Marsalis revue with him, Bernadette, Norm Lewis and the French chick.

I agree about Jeremy. I don't get Tveit. He has a good voice but he's way too serious. No comedy out of him in GREASE. Anytime I see a clip of him singing, he's dead serious. He needs to loosen up and have fun. I did not see CMIYC though. Maybe he was funny in that? He was the star of the show and didn't get a Tony nom though. Hm.

Tveit was very, very good in CATCH ME, but it was DOA on Broadway. Bad timing. It was a full-fledged star-making role, too. Weird that the Seattle tryout was so much better than the final version. Cutting the Playboy sex scene song (with Tveit in boxers) and replacing Tom Wopat's big number at the beginning was absurd. Yet, McNally's 15-minute (!) book scenes remained. Jack O'Brien failed everyone (same with LOVE NEVER DIES, but that's a longer story). Fabulous score. Stupendous songs. Also, I'd love to have seen Jay Armstrong Johnson (who did the workshops/understudied on Broadway).

I remember when they did a workshop of CATCH ME around 2005ish? The leads were Christian Borle and Nathan Lane. I wonder how THAT would've been. Borle was a bit old for it but we know what a great stage performer he is.

Aaron Tveit is very good looking. Jeremy Jordan isn't. So there's that.

I like Phil Lang's stuff a lot, but I think it's in Suskin's book that musicians didn't like his charts, because he often wrote without a lot of regard to their ranges, making them difficult to play nightly, and 8x a week. There are other orchestrators who were more inventive and surprising, like Sid Ramin, Robert Ginzler, Eddie Sauter, Ralph Burns, Don Walker, Luther Henderson and early Jonathan Tunick, but Lang is probably who I think of most when you try to define the traditional Broadway sound.

Jeremy Jordan and Aaron Tveit have been my two favorite Broadway performers for a while. Jeremy was excellent in Bonnie and Clyde and equally good in Finding Neverland when it premiered at the ART in Cambridge. So glad he finally spoke out about Harvey Weinstein replacing him with Matthew Morrison for Broadway. Aaron, I saw in Moulin Rouge two evenings ago and his singing was outstanding. However, his chemistry with top billed Karen Olivo just isn't there. She's excellent in her role, but they are not a good fit together. The fact that she's seven years older than him was clearly evident from my second row seat. Matthew Morrison was in the audience a few nights ago, hopefully he was there only as a fan. Aaron deserves to take Moulin Rouge to Broadway. It's true that the Seattle preview production of CMIYC was far superior to what arrived on Broadway. If the Seattle version had been kept intact, the show would have been more successful on Broadway and Aaron would likely have been Tony nominated. Aaron was also very good last summer in Company at the Barrington/Berkshires.

[quote] Is C-List actor still around?

Thanks a fucking lot for conjuring up that endless gasbag.

Agree with R94 that Kara Lindsay should have been nominated for featured actress for NEWSIES. She still would not have won, cause Judy Kaye had a much more fun part to play that year; the woman from ONCE (Elizabeth A. Davis) didn't have a chance.

Aaron Tveit was so sexy in NEXT TO NORMAL. But I don't remember a thing about his performance in CATCH ME IF YOU CAN. That show was so dull despite so much potential.

Quality gossip thread, people! From Phil Lang to DROOD to Aaron Tveit...we're covering a lot of ground here. And with a lot of DISH! Keep it up!

[quote]I like Phil Lang's stuff a lot, but I think it's in Suskin's book that musicians didn't like his charts, because he often wrote without a lot of regard to their ranges

No - some musicians felt that he repeated himself in his charts and wasn't as inventive as others. But that list of shows he did - those are all brilliant orchestrations, some of them (like Carnival, Li'l Abner, Fanny, Mack & Mabel) dazzlingly so.

Jack O’Brien needs to be put out to pasture for the crimes he committed against Carousel. What an epic fuck-up.

Speaking of Annie the Hollywood Bowl production needs to have more of a life ... no reason that cast can't bring it to Bway for the holiday season (without Grier who has a TV show)

What's the word on actor John Bolton? I've been watching those Anastasia vlogs on Broadway.com, and I find him so affable and cute. Is he gay? Can't seem to find much on him.

Billy Byers' orchestrations for City of Angels - he got the '40s sound perfectly adapted for a Broadway event. His work on Will Rogers Follies is also delightful. Cy Coleman must have liked him, no faint praise.

But Larry Fallon's work on SEESAW was even more brilliant.

Bolton is very gay.

Who is in the Hollywood Bowl Annie. I feel like I remember hearing a lot more about the Hollywood Bowl performances in past years and nothing on this.

Not an exciting cast.

Aaron Tveit's best work was in a little seen musical called SAVED (based on the indy film), music by the great late Michael Friedman, at Playwrights Horizons around 2007.

He was hilarious, hot (in his basketball shorts) and touching as the high school jock who is secretly gay.

What the hell happened to CMIYC on its way to Broadway? Even Bob Mackie left the show. And I love Aaron but he was deadly dull in that one.....but then the whole show was. Jack O'Brien is hopeless. He's bereft of ideas and always been completely dependent on the talent he hires

R127

I think Megan Hilty as Lily St James and Ana Gayester as Hannigan?

I did not hear what Jeremy Jordan said about Weintstein replacing him with Matthew Morrison in Finding Neverland. Can someone rehash it, please? I saw both versions. I think Jeremy is a better actor and singer than Morrison -- there's something about Morrison that bugs me -- but I do think Morrison was better-suited for the role. He added a sexual spark with the mother that jeremy did not have; they seemed more like a possible romantic couple than Jeremy.

I am DYING at the image of Loretta vexed by her fans thinking she's capable of wolfing down a Whopper.

R131, An excerpt from an interview Jeremy gave to BWW in March of 2018.

On working with Weinstein, who produced 'Finding Neverland'

'There was no guarantee [I'd get to do the show on Broadway], but I certainly wanted it. And I fought for it. ... It was a great company, and it was the first time I got to play an adult. ... Harvey was a prick. I felt like I was constantly being interviewed for a job I already had. After I found out I wasn't going forward with the show, he tried to pawn off another gig on me that was vastly inferior.'

[quote] The original Drood is one of those I wish they had filmed for PBS. They could have filmed the various endings, but I guess in those days they didn't conceive of dvd where you could play different endings.

The OBCR of DROOD was the reason I finally broke down and bought a CD player.

The LP only had one murderer, the CD included versions of "Out on a Limerick" by all five possible Datcherys and all six possible Murderer's Confessions.

Re: Swit. I live on the Upper West Side and have seen her walking her little dog on Central Park West. She reminds me of when Bette Davis as Jane Hudson gets all dolled up to go to the bank, a woman well past her prime who nevertheless would never go out of the apartment without looking like the star he still sees herself as. BTW, she turns 81 in November.

[quote] I guess it's no surprise that Goop wasn't at the HoH opening. She saw a preview out of town and washed her hands of it.

r62 she also might be keeping a low profile because of a not flattering NYT Mag cover story in print this weekend that went live online Wednesday

[quote] the star he still sees herself as

s/b "she sees herself as"

obviously

A few years ago, a friend of mine was having lunch with his mother at a NYC restaurant. Loretta Swit was sitting with someone at a table not far from them. When Loretta and her guest got up to leave, my friend left his table and followed Loretta out to the sidewalk and proceeded to ask for an autograph for his mother, adding that she was a big fan. Loretta just looked my friend in the eye and said "I don't do that.", turned and walked away.

It's....TODAY!

CMIYC was written for Matthew Morrison. But he got GLEE.

Welcome back C list!!!

The best version of CMIYC was the second workshop with Lane and Morrison, it was fantastic, a later one with Borle in the lead was inspired but he was too fugly.

C-List Actor if you are still here.

New to DL, I am not sure if you make your true idenity known or not but are you one of the guys mentioned in this thread from a few years ago? Or do you , being a NY Actor know any of them personally?

I loved reading about your audition for GREASE btw

TIA

JUSTICE FOR JEFF

R124 - Billy Byers is one of the great big band/pop arrangers of his generation. In addition to his own credited work, he did a LOT of ghostwriting for mega talents like Quincy Jones, Billy May, Nelson Riddle, etc. His arrangements have a punch, vibrancy and swagger that call to mind the golden age of Broadway. Not unlike Billy May, he infused his arranging with a lot of humor (where appropriate) and knew how to wring the most out of a song. Amazing talent!

Stiefelman and Bobbie sound like cunts of the first order. I hope they both get taken down hard.

[quote]Also, why was the show filmed at the Pantages in LA instead of in New York?

They filmed the national tour during its LA stop but brought in the original NY leads just for the filming.

Say what you will about Loretta, but she gave one of the most memorable and moving Supporting Actress Emmy-winning performances ever in MASH with her lonely and vulnerable “lousy cup a coffee” monologue.

I don’t know why people bother people for autographs, it’s so childish. Enjoy the work but have some dignity and just leave the people alone. It’s the work that matters. Stop trying to take something else with you.

Like how old was your mother? WTF was she going to do with that?

I saw the original Smokey Joe’s Cafe was blown away by the energy and excitement. I totally loved it!

How does the current version compare?

There is nothing I’m interested in seeing on Bway nowadays. Nothing.

What's happening with bringing the Amber Riley Dreamgirls production to Broadway?

R142, C-List long ago revealed his identity to be Eric Millegan, who was one of the regulars on Bones.

Two things: 1. Does someone have a link to the lousy cup of coffee monologue? I tried to google it, but I kept getting fake links.

2 . That NY Times piece about Goop was not that unflattering, I don't think. Overall, I think it showed that she is hardworking, disciplined, and human. I don't particularly like her, but I do admire her. SHe's managed to do what so few others have.

What, r153? Make her vagina send out steam signals?

Agree the Goop piece was more unflattering to the author herself than GP. She basically told it like it was... I do sort of feel the author is a bit unhinged, though. I mean, your first cigarette in 10 years suddenly makes you into a chain-smoking addict? Can't blame Goop for that. To use a DL trope, she types fat.

I don’t think Goop would have allowed her in her house if she were fat. Isnt she a fat hater on the level if Cloris Leachman?

I saw "Smokey Joe's Cafe" yesterday and enjoyed it more than the original. The only thing I remembered from the original was the dress the woman wears when doing the shimmy dance. This one had it as well; what kind of dress is that called what wiggles along with her? It really makes the number. Anyway, the staging and choreography in this one was really terrific, much better than the original one, and the cast on the whole was great. The black guy doing Elvis' number and acrobatics was terrific and Alysha Umphries sounded great, damn the critic trying to body shame her. The only one I didn't care for was the white guy, who sounding like he was sing/screaming through a vocal fry or on the verge of nodes. Otherwise, very entertaining show.

[quote]I don't particularly like her, but I do admire her. SHe's managed to do what so few others have.

If I had rich, well connected parents, I'd be able to do a lot as well.

How is "Fools Fall in Love" in the new Smokey Joe's, R157? Because BJ Crosby blew my hair back with her version in the original. (I was meh... on a lot of the rest of the show then, which seemed like a Vegas revue. Also: Smokey Joe gets a revival, but we're still waiting for an Ain't Misbehavin' revival?)

[quote]If I had rich, well connected parents, I'd be able to do a lot as well.

I don’t think Goop’s current success has anything to do with her parents.

There was an "Ain't Misbheavin' revival years ago with the original cast -- though I'm not sure how happy the rest of the cast was when Nell Carter got solo billing above the title. Did they change anything to give her more solos? Granted, she had become a big tv star by that point, but originally it was an ensemble show.

Fringed, r157.

NOBODY worked a fringed dress like Miss Candy Johnson.

That little blond twink dancer who shakes his ass in "This Ain't No Disco" is worth the price of admission all by himself.

I had no idea that it's Jeremy Kushnier who plays the king in HOH. Have not heard his name in quite a while. Wasn't he supposed to be a big deal at one time?

He was in "Footloose" years ago, I think. He looks the male equivalent of matronly now, but still good.

Laura Collins-Hughes' rude remark has probably given Smokey Joe's Cafe more attention than a rave review would ever have accomplished. NOBODY was talking about that show until then.

Gwyneth was genius to realize that her leading lady roles in Hollywood were inevitably limited and figured out a way to make far more money than she ever would have in movies.

Her roles were limited because she's not a very good actress and she's not likeable.

Jeremy Kushnier has (had?) an incredible voice... in the late-90s, I remember seeing him in a big Elton John fundraiser with a "who's who" cast (Nathan Lane, Christine Baranski, Betty Buckley, Adam Pascal, Heather Headley, Jason Raize, Sherie Rene Scott, Victor Garber, Lea DeLaria, Orfeh, Andrea McArdle etc) and his "Rocket Man" was the standout of the night. I thought he also excelled in a Jim Steinman revue where he nailed "Making Love Out of Nothing At All" and some others. Very tough songs. Didn't he also do AIDA after Adam Pascal left with DL Fave Taylor Dayne?

Victor Trent Cook was fucking incredible in the original SMOKEY JOE'S. His "I Who Have Nothing" was electric. Brenda Braxton was also good in the show. Very funny.

R142- Thanks. I’m not mentioned in that thread but I was in a play with James Riordan many years ago.

Jeremy Kushnier also spent a few well-paid years touring as Tommy DeVito in Jersey Boys and he was as good if not better than Christian Hoff, who originated the role.

Kushnier is also a helluva nice guy, solid and an asset in a company, really aces. He doesn’t go for the usual “ass kissing bs” that a few on campus embrace, so maybe that held him back here and there? He works a great deal, so he’s most likely fine and dandy.

[quote] [R142], C-List long ago revealed his identity to be Eric Millegan, who was one of the regulars on Bones.

And it's been one collective *meh* ever since.

[qupte][[R142]], C-List long ago revealed his identity to be Eric Millegan, who was one of the regulars on Bones.

[quote] And it's been one collective *meh* ever since.

Also known to post frequently on ATC, and often on BWW. He needs a publicist to get him to back away from the computer.

Who is GrumpyMorningBoy on ATC, and why does he post multi-part discussion questions as if people care about his thoughts? Love it when he goes on and on and not one person responds.

Saw Dolly tonight and, of course, loved it. What a perfect production. Bette was phenomenal. I even loved Pierce and Creel. Stemp was totally adorable and Kate Baldwin was gorgeous. Question: was Bette saying “This is gonna take a while so I hope you like the color red” always in this production? I assume so. There were two new ensemble members in it. One is Nathan Keen and the othet is Ryan Worsing. In his bio it says “Upcoming: The Cher Show.” Really? He was able to bounce from the OOT tryout to this and then will go right into that when this closes? Lucky boy.

R178 Ryan Worsing was in the Dolly cast last year and left to do Cher Show OOT. They must have needed someone to round out the last few weeks with Bette and the timing worked out. Lucky, indeed.

[quote] In his bio it says “Upcoming: The Cher Show.” Really? He was able to bounce from the OOT tryout to this and then will go right into that when this closes? Lucky boy.

He's bouncing between divas.

R164 The blond twink in This Ain't No Disco... Tony D'Alelio... super cute.

Saw Carousel last night. Completely ambivalent about this production, but the most remarkable thing was the audience: I might as well have been at a Knicks game. Loud whoops and woots and whistles after (and sometimes during) EVERY number and all through Blow High, Blow Low. Loud belly laughs at every single "funny" line of dialogue--nearly all of which were enough to provoke no more than a smile: audience fell apart at the lyric lines "Are you building up to another fleet?" and "And so will my figger."

I thought the MFL audience was overly enthusiastic last month, but this. Jesus.

That shit is still running?

Yes, that's him, R181. He and his ass in those little tight red gym shorts were truly giving me life yesterday. But I'd be remiss to not also point out that the kid is also one hell of a great dancer.

[quote] Loud belly laughs at every single "funny" line of dialogue

Is Equity papering the house with other actors who are instructed to give encouragement to those on stage?

Fascinated by R182. What's your theory of the case?

Carousel is always a laugh riot

For those of you who have seen Carousel, in Act 2, Jigger has a very funny line but I've never seen an actor do the line correctly. Can you tell me if this actor gets it right?

Billy comes running out to tell Jigger that Julie is having a baby. Jigger acts unimpressed so Billy leaves. Jigger turns to the audience and says:

"My mother had a baby once."

It's the funniest line in the whole show to think that Jigger had a mother and was once a baby.

But for some reason, all the actors I've seen make it an angry line and say, "My mother had a baby ONCE." And that kills the laugh.

Pre-recorded laughter installed in sound system by producer.

R184 I had the same experience at Carousel! To me, there was very little to laugh about, a few lines here and there, but I felt like the audience decided this was a funny show, so they were determined to laugh no matter what. They wanted it to be funny, so they found humor even in the most serious of scenes.

I just don't understand this behavior. I've experienced it before at the theatre, but not on that level.

Sorry that was for r182, not 184.

R186, It comes from decades of being brainwashed from watching/hearing laugh tracks on tv shows and coached live audiences on talk shows and such, where the whoops and whistles and general hysteria are in direct inverse proportion to the actual content. In other words, learned behavior.

As a performer, I've noticed audiences becoming over-emotive over the years as well. Lots of cheering and whistling and woo-wooing the tiniest little thing. I've always blamed American Idol.

I went to see My Fair Lady and when Eliza goes to speak to Mrs. Higgins, I heard someone in the audience yell out "Slap her, Willona."

Interesting to see a performer (R193) post that. In fact, given how much standing o's are the norm in theater (and have been for years), do actors now get offended if they DON'T get a standing ovation from an audience? I was at a show yesterday that was pretty bad and after it was over, lots of people didn't stand -- I think some in the back rows may have but most of us down front did not. We just clapped and that was it. Seeing this, do actors get pissed off? Do they think "We just worked our asses off up here and these assholes aren't even getting up? WTF?" Perhaps most don't, but standing ovations are just given out so cheaply nowadays, one wonders if it's turned mere applause from one's seat into a borderline insult.

While I'm in total agreement about overly-emotive and obnoxious audience reactions during a show, I've never really quite understood the hatred by some of standing ovations.

Yes, they've become meaningless but what's the harm in giving the performers a little extra appreciation by standing while clapping? I think when it's sincerely felt it only enhances the group/tribal nature of participating in theater. I imagine it allows the actors to see the audience a little more clearly. And let's face it, you'll be getting up soon, anyway.

I know this is not a popular opinion and btw, I'm not an actor.

Standing ovations are meaningless to me. Some do, some don't. Being on stage is not brain surgery and no one is going to die if people don't stand up. You can tell the difference between a rote standing-o and a spontaneous one, though.

Sometimes I only stand because I can’t see anything if I’m the only one still sitting.

The NY Times article is more enlightening about the Chicago suicide drama than anyone has seen thus far. Loeffelholz and his partner were on the cusp of potential financial drama with the loss of a partnership in a business and it seemed his partner’s income. I also wasn’t aware he was 57. If he’d been bought out, what would he have done? What roles are there for an elderly countertenor on Broadway? There aren’t any. Does anyone know if he was preparing for retirement at some point, or had he been saving or preparing to teach? Realistically, his instrument wouldn’t have lasted much longer. Operatic countertenors struggle to maintain their instruments past 40-45.

Now, I’m sure they were trying to push him out, and there’s legitimate reason that they would, but they handled it VERY VERY badly. They should have bought him out and given him severance. There are multiple Times sources saying Stifelman the music director was a vicious cunt to all and sundry. Also of note, she hasn’t returned to the company since the suicide. I would imagine her career is basically over. People will refuse to work with her. I know I would. As far as Bobbie, he’s a prick for pulling this on a fellow actor and company member, but I would imagine he’ll survive with some serious damage to hisreputation. Maybe he’ll just retire.

It’s a sad circumstance for all involved, and it seems to me there’s no doubt that that rehearsal did have a major impact on Loeffelholz and the horrible treatment in front of the cast likely did instigate his suicide, but it also seems clear there were other pressures that pushed him along as well. That being said, Bobbie and Stifelman used a tactic that is frequently employed throughout the entertainment industry that I’ve experienced myself, and watched others experience. I fully agree this kind of bullying and aggressiveness needs to stop in rehearsal and on the stage. It’s disgusting and unprofessional and there should be serious repercussions for those involved. Working in theater is a privilege, not a right, and those who abuse others in it should have that privilege permanently taken away.

[quote]As far as Bobbie, he’s a prick for pulling this on a fellow actor and company member, but I would imagine he’ll survive with some serious damage to hisreputation. Maybe he’ll just retire.

He may lose director work, but he can still find work as an actor. He was recently in the Condola Rashad "St. Joan." He won't make as much as a director, but he can get work in regional theaters and probably get a regular slot on a tv show.

Bobbie is fine. Fuck him. R198 same.

Straight White Men was an awful way to spend 90 minutes. Even with Armie. The stage frame and plaque made it even more annoyingly pretentious. If the author was NOT an Asian female, it would NEVER have gotten near Broadway

The original Drood was an absolute gem. Thankfully the Tony number captures the joy of the show.

Smokey Joe's Cafe, which I saw on the day of the Tony awards, was exuberant and filled with talent. If I recall correctly, it was also one of the first shows without an intermission.

[quote] If I recall correctly, it was also one of the first shows without an intermission.

Ahem.

"what's the harm in giving the performers a little extra appreciation by standing while clapping?"

Because in most instances today, it's NOT for the performers, it's narcissistic self-approbation... for having paid so much money, or because they have little or no discernment about what they've just seen, or to show they "get" it, or because they want to feel they're an insider or a part of a club, or simply because that's what they think they're supposed to do (learned behavior)…

There are many possible reasons but I bet applause for the performers is near the bottom of the list.

Smokey Joe’s Cafe has an intermission as written. This new one doesn’t?

[quote]There are multiple Times sources saying Stifelman the music director was a vicious cunt to all and sundry.

Nice selective reading. Did you skip the part where Rob Fisher defended her? And also mentioned that it would be hard for anyone to sing that part past a certain age? I proffered that as a possible reason for the scrutiny in an earlier thread. What he was doing is a party trick. It’s tough on the voice and as the voice ages, it becomes an issue. Combined with the closing of their other business, I have no doubt he was stressed. Doesn’t mean the PTB at Chicago are at fault

The Times article also pointed out that his father had committed suicide

R182 here. The belly laughs and guffaws weren't pre-recorded; many of them were coming from people sitting nearly within arm's reach of my seat. And this wasn't a situation where the whole audience was friends and family (I was in the audience for the penultimate performance of "Merrily" which was pandemonium, but there was a clear reason for it). Oh, they also loudly applauded and cheered every scene change--I could empathize a little since the lighting and scenic design were almost painterly, but jeez. I have no theory about any of this; I was completely flummoxed by the whole thing. Maybe the poster upthread who blamed it on American Idol is right. Is this what we're becoming? I've been a regular theater-goer since the dawn of time, and I've never experienced anything like this. Oh, wait: saw Scottsboro Boys at Signature/DC last month and there was a good deal of call-and-response in the audience, but that's the only other time.

R194, I hope you're joking about MFL--but I know you're not.

Jigger's line: he delivered it very well but it didn't get much response. Odd, since "so will my figger" had them rolling in the aisles. The Jigger (don't recall name) was very good.

Sorry--meant R193. ^^

I think it’s telling that their business was also failing or that they were being cut out. Wonder what that story is? I cannot imagine a candy store doing poorly at a tourist trap like Rock Center. And of course they were suing

R190--thanks for posting that. I was hoping it wasn't just me.

[quote] I cannot imagine a candy store doing poorly at a tourist trap like Rock Center. And of course they were suing

I don't know what their personal situation was, but the rents at Rock Center are astronomical.

Carmen Jones is stunning. The entire cast is just stellar with Anika Noni Rose and absolute star. I hope this can transfer to Bway but don’t see much of a market. Also with hardly any sets, I can’t figure out which theatre it would fit into.

Hardly selective R206. Fisher barely defended her and only because he would’ve looked like an idiot if he didn’t. She was his handpicked replacement. And the Weissler’s are going to of course attempt to look as innocent as possible. Every other source including players in the orchestra and multiple actors said she was a cunt. I’m inclined to believe members of a company before an administration that is doing everything to shift culpability. You’re a moron if you think his treatment by the administration didn’t somehow incite suicidal behavior. Yes, there were other pressures as I noted. People like you are part of the problem and why the entertainment industry has so many abusive shitty personalities in it. Blocked.

Patti at Ravinia before Broadway. This was more a concert version but it is obvious Arthur improved Patti’s acting a lot. But it is interesting to see an actor of Patti’s caliber getting better in a role. This is not bad but she got better.

Encores

[quote]People like you are part of the problem and why the entertainment industry has so many abusive shitty personalities in it. Blocked.

*massive eyeroll*

Where was Equity during all of this? If there's so much bullying going on shouldn't they have gotten involved? Or were they too busy having meetings about renaming the Gypsy Robe?

Which other major musical people besides Arthur Laurents and Jerome Robbins were known for yelling and being assholes to their casts on a regular basis?

Fosse and Bennett.

Apparently anyone who asks you to do your job, at least according to R214

I had heard that Fosse was very nice to people at his auditions. I know that he came on to a lot of his women that he was working with, and even openly screwed around while married to Gwen, but did he yell and rant and rave while rehearsing?

John Dexter was legendary for bullying actors.

Jeremy Jordan and Aaron Tveit cannot act. They are good looking, straight, and brood. And they have good voices. That is it.

There were stories about Dexter during Do I Hear A Waltz--apparently he hated all women and wouldn't the names of any women in the show, including the star. And he particularly loathed her and made her life miserable. That's a long time ago, but according to the folklore at the time, there were people who wouldn't work with him.

I do find this standing ovation thing fascinating. I think the only way to really tell if it's sincere these days are if a performers gets one after a song or something. I saw it happen with LuPone in GYPSY. At the end of "Everything's Coming Up Roses", people were on their feet. It was fascinating. It seemed like they really were so amazed and moved by it that it was like an impulse.

As an actor myself, I know when a standing ovation is sincere and I know when one is just done to be polite. I really wish they'd stop doing it unless they were really moved by the show or by a certain performer. It just cheapens it. I remember once coming out during a curtain call and everyone had been politely sitting and clapping for everyone, but the moment I stepped out, they rose to their feet. Now THAT was a great moment and one I'll never forget. If I got those every night of every show I ever did, it wouldn't be as special.

I can guarantee you that even LuPone in GYPSY didn't get that exact same response every night. In fact, I went back a few months later and she was even better than before, but the audience seemed confused as to if they were supposed to laugh in certain scenes, so they just shut up completely and made the entire evening a bit of a slog. It certainly wasn't Patti's fault. She'd even gotten funnier and more moving. Sometimes, you're lucky and you get an audience where 97-99% of them are on your side and loving what you're doing. I'd say that, for most performances, it's more like 70% of them love it. Even worse is when you get a dead crowd when it seems like everyone in that auditorium is against you. You have to have performances like that to make the really great ones special.

Sergio Trujillo is no walk in the park.

But Sergio has a big cock

Yes he does! Lucky Mr Noseworthy

I can't imagine Blythe Danner got rich from her career though I assume she is comfortable. She was pretty incandescent on the screen at Radio City in 1776 especially when she first rushes in the door on that huge screen. I'll never forget it.

What makes her dad so rich? I know nothing about him.

He's dead, lo these many years, but he produced (or directed or was the showrunner) the St Elsewhere tv series. Don't know his other credits or whether he had other sources of wealth.

Tveit and Jordan are not true stars and never will be. They suck and are very average looking. Nobody cares. Sergio is disgusting. All you guys need is a big cock though right?

The original Drood was very wonderful.

The revival cast was like you got stuck on a night when everyone was out and you got the understudies.

Though Karl was sensational and hilarious in a performance that sadly wouldn't be permitted today.

[quote] Even worse is when you get a dead crowd when it seems like everyone in that auditorium is against you.

Andre Bishop used to give a speech to the actors at Playwright's Horizon. The gist of it was that a smile is more complicated than a laugh and that the audiences that seemed the most unresponsive were often the ones that wrote the most positive feedback.

I worked with Gene Saks a long time ago. He gave notes to the cast (I was in another department). He said, "An audience will laugh: 'hahahahahaha, that was terrible.' Or they will laugh: 'hahahahahaha, that was true.' You want to get the second kind of laugh."

I never forgot those words of wisdom.

R235, I wonder how he felt when he attended a screening of "Mame"?

[quote] [R235], I wonder how he felt when he attended a screening of "Mame"?

Listen, I woulda done anything to keep from fucking Bea Arthur.

A friend who worked with Aaron Tveit said it was like having a pleasant afternoon with a sheet of crisp white paper, nothing was there but you had the possibility of doing “something” if YOU did the illustration...

R237, honey, since you don't remember, I was the one who did the fucking. It was hard enough finding a strap on that was bigger than my own dick.

[quote]Which other major musical people besides Arthur Laurents and Jerome Robbins were known for yelling and being assholes to their casts on a regular basis?

All of them. Basically, yes. All of them.

That's a pretty sweeping statement. ^^ Are you including composers/lyricists/MDs, R240?

when are we getting Dave and Moulin reviews from out of town?

Yes! Dave! I love Drew Gehling and his VPL

Is his name pronounced "Gayling"?

R244 Geh-ling. Rhymes with selling.

I adore this number.....

Holy shit, R246! I'll fully admit that I was ready to roll my eyes at you, but that was sensational. If ol' Ann were tapping and twirling any faster she would've spontaneously combusted. I also like how deliberately weird and oddball some of the choreography was. Eldergays, was this well received back then?

r246 I propose any musical that refuses an addition of Shang-hi-dee-ho, must at minimum add that number. Shuffling Along would have lasted at least another 2.5 weeks.

I also love it, r246. Everything about it is brilliant: song, orchestrations, staging, performances, design (the delicious John Held graphics--and I think the black "vamp" costume also makes an appearance in THE BANDWAGON).

Sergio Trujillo has big uncut cock, but has a major Napoleon complex

R246 - your posting had me looking up some other Ann Miller performances on YT. I have to admit, I really only know her by name. This clip from Kiss Me Kate has me asking a few things....

Am I nuts or is there something Ethel Merman'ish about Ann? Like, if Ethel didn't eat carbs and could tap dance, you'd basically have Ann Miller?

Was Cole Porter a character in the film version of Kiss Me Kate? I saw a production YEARS ago when I was a kid and I don't recall Cole being a character in the stage production.

Also, damn, how attractive are her costars in this scene? If I'm tracking correctly, that's Howard Keel (who looks TALL and broad shouldered and has BIG hands... rawr!) and Ron Randell who seems way too attractive to be playing Cole Porter.

Oops. Here's the aforementioned clip of Too Darn Hot from R251

Ann was zany and Merman was decidedly not. About the only thing they have in common is being white. Both unique and glorious in their own ways.

Sorry, I was typing too fast there, R253. I meant that something about her voice reminds me about Merman. Ann has more finesse, but the something about her phrasing (especially at the end of a line) felt Merman'ish.

[quote]propose any musical that refuses an addition of Shang-hi-dee-ho, must at minimum add that number.

Shanghai-de-ho is a piece of shit song that isn’t even one quarter as good as the superior Cole Porter songs (like Blow Gabriel Blow and the title song) that it replaced.

When you add the racist lyric, it slides even farther into embarrassing and offensive.

Wow. Ann Miller is a revelation. I have always been aware of her name -- I even saw Sugar Babies with her and Mickey Rooney, but was way too young to pay attention -- but I always thought of her as being the helmet headed old fashioned dancer who dance on a Campbell's soup commercial. I had no idea she was once so gamine. Thanks for those clips. de

Mantello is known to bully but I think he’s brilliant at getting good performances out of people so...

The more insipid and pervasive bullying is generally done by associate directors and MDs and stage managers maintaining a long running show.

[quote]who dance on a Campbell's soup commercial.

No, dear.

[quote]Eldergays, was this well received back then?

It certainly wasn't a huge hit movie. And that performance didn't even make it into any of the three "That's Entertainment" compilations.

Getting the Band Back Together is actually very cute and the bridge and tunnel people were eating it up.

This is another fun “Deep in My Heart” number, featuring Jose Ferrer and a surprisingly game Helen Traubel. This is the number that got Traubel the role of Fauna in “Pipe Dream”.

Still no cast for the Hello Dolly tour? Will nobody work with Betty Lynn?

Shakin' the blues away....

BTW, Noseworthy has a big cock, too; so they are a double-hung couple.

I thought that Gavin Creel was going to do the tour? Not that there would be a reason to, other than money. It's only playing two and three week engagements, even in the cities like LA and Chicago, where he might want to be seen. (Actually, if he's looking to get some film and TV work, maybe it's worth it to him to have those three weeks in LA).

I adore Gavin Creel but isn't he getting to be a bit long in the tooth for TV as a newcomer?

The best number in Deep in my Heart and one of the greatest number in any MGM musicals is One Alone with Cyd Charisse and James Mitchell which also did not make it into any of the That's Entertainment films.

Arguably Cyd's best number beautifully orchestrated designed and lit. Though it does look like some wealthy queens loft apartment with a Moroccan theme in the village which I don't think is a bad thing. I also love Merle Oberon as always and Ferrer's Jazz A Doo Doo number which is a takeoff on a very bad play. Most people will find it obnoxious even though I find it hysterical and they will respond like Isobel Elsom does in the film with total disbelief and a headache.

The blu ray looks awfully good and you can easily skip to all the best numbers.

Other highlights to add to the wonderful numbers already shown-Traubel singing Softly as in a Morning Sunrise(well nobody will ever write a song like this again), Martin singing Lover come Back to Me(ditto) and at the end when Ferrer sings When I Get too Old to Dream.

The tour must be fully cast now, because their first date is Sept 30th in Cleveland. That means rehearsals starting in probably by the third week of August, less than a month away.

Isn't there anything else from "The Desert Song" in Deep in My Heart besides "One Alone"?

I haven't seen Deep in My Heart in over 40 years but I adore both Romberg and old MGM musicals so I guess I'll have to seek it out. Any suggestions for finding it online?

No I don't believe anything else from The Dessert Song is in it.

It's also fun to watch Fred Kelly out dance his brother in I Love to Go Swimmin' With Women. Though poor Fred was not born with his brother's movie star charisma and looks.

City Opera years ago had a very lavish production of The New Moon(Traubel in the film sings Stout Hearted Men. Really. I have no idea why they didn't give it to Howard Keel.) It was a joy and I saw it 3 times. Sadly Romberg will never get that kind of generous treatment again which he firmly deserves.

If you don't want to buy it for the and then I wrote plot it might not be popular enough to be on some streaming service. I was amazed it got the blu ray treatment when there are other more popular MGM musicals which have not been transferred yet.

Actually, come to think of it, "It" is from The Desert Song, although the movie portrays it as being from an Artists and Models revue. And I can't believe no one has commented on the fact that the vamp in black with the cigarette holder in the "It" number is none other than Miss Julie Newmar!

The music for most of the dance in the One Alone sequence is actually "One Flower Grows Alone in Your Garden," another gorgeous song from "The Desert Song." And Cyd Charisse must have been relieved that James Mitchell was tall enough that she could actually dance in heels.

Encores did pretty well by "The New Moon" several years ago. They even released a CD of it.

City Opera also had a very nice production of The Student Prince, my favorite Romberg show. But it wasn't quite as theatrically effective as LOOM's version with piano and organ, which inspired CO to take a chance on it.

And didn't someone post awhile back that Lewis J. Stadlen has been cast as the tour Horace, based on a post at BWW? Perfect casting if true.

Cyd & Jim

I miss AFTER DARK magazine. "Good news" indeed!

I thought the vamp costume was in Singin' in the Rain, r249? I don't know how well received it was, r247. My guess is that it probably did lesser box office than the other MGM composer bio musicals. As fictionalized as they usually were, they basically were just a framework for extraneous musical numbers utilizing their thoroughbred stable o'stars.

[quote]Was Cole Porter a character in the film version of Kiss Me Kate? I saw a production YEARS ago when I was a kid and I don't recall Cole being a character in the stage production.

Yes, R251, Cole appears as a character in the movie version's prologue, in which the cast gathers at his apartment to sing songs from the show. He is not in the stage version. I've always found that opening very strange. Instead of arising organically from the action, "So in Love" is pretty much thrown away at the top of the movie: "Let's sing the love song!"

Maybe we should stop referring to the Weisslers as if they were still a team. Fran is 92. She barely knows who her husband is. Or what's going on in her show. Barry is the one making all the deci$ions.

As for Jack Noseworthy, don't forget, he attained a career by fucking Nicholas Hytner's brains out on a nightly basis to get "Sweet Smell Of Success". And he knows everyone still remembers, so he's still as nasty a cocksucker as his husband.

Re: Singin' in the Rain and the vamp costume....you're probably right, r277. I only remembered the costume ended up in another movie besides DEEP IN MY HEART.

It is.....distinctive!

[quote]he's still as nasty a cocksucker as his husband.

Isn't that a good thing?

One would think, r282....

Fun facts:

I think Ann Miller was in the Guinness Book of World Records for being clocked at 200 taps per minute.

Lucille Ball at one time claimed to have discovered Ann.

Ann claimed that she invented pantyhose. For dancers, their stockings were sewn to their underwear. If the stocking ripped, the whole garment had to be torn apart, and new stockings resewn to the underwear. Ann asked a tailor to make one long garment.

Let us not forget that they added tap to "Young I Feel" for Annie.....

love the vintage talk but wish it were in a different thread. not really gossip

Ah, yes, poster who corrected me upstream, Ann danced in the Heinz soup commercial, not Campbells. I was a kid when the ads came out, and, I guess, my mind just remembers the red in the palette, and I thought of the more popular Campbells. Thanks for the corrections. I didn't even know that Heinz made or still made soup!

"Theatre Gossip" can't be taken too literally as a thread title. It's a theater chat thread, occasionally interrupted by some gossip.

I think Jack Noseworthy played Alan Strang in a production of "Equus" so he's done nudity. Did anyone see him in the role?

I watched "Deep in My Heart" years ago and mainly zipped past most of the non-musical numbers, as well as the numbers with Jose Ferrer which went on and on. I realize he also did "The Girl Who Came to Supper" on Broadway, but he wasn't a particularly musical or dynamic in them, at least as far as I can tell from the recording (or from "Deep in My Heart").

The movie of "Kiss Me, Kate" was filmed in 3-D originally, so you had Ann MIller practically jumping into your lap while doing "Too Darn Hot". It's one film where i don't mind Kathryn Grayson too much, though if only Deanna Durbin had been coaxed out of retirement, it would have been a much better picture.

non-musical portion, not non-musical numbers. Silly me!

[quote]I've always found that opening very strange. Instead of arising organically from the action, "So in Love" is pretty much thrown away at the top of the movie

Same thing with “Too Darn Hot.” In the play, it’s a number that takes pace during “intermission” and the actors and crew are hanging out outside in the alley because it’s so hot in the theatre (due to a heat wave).

[quote]The movie of "Kiss Me, Kate" was filmed in 3-D originally, so you had Ann MIller practically jumping into your lap while doing "Too Darn Hot".

Several years ago Film Forum showed the movie in 3-D (this was at the time of the Broadway revival). There's a point where Ann throws a necklace and it comes flying right at the audience. I jumped in my seat. And then I had to laugh at myself because it's only a movie.

[quote]love the vintage talk but wish it were in a different thread. not really gossip

If we relied only on gossip, we'd still be back at thread #1. There just ain't that much on Broadway to gossip about.

Is it possible that Porter insisted that the entire score be included in the film (I've never seen the whole thing; just clips) and that was the only way to do it?

I can't imagine, if the movie were not going to have the complete score, throwing out either "So in Love" or "Too Darn Hot."

I don't think there's any real reason "So In Love" and 'Too Darn Hot" couldn't have had their original placement in the libretto in the film. They could have just added Ann Miller during the intermission break to do her song and dance. There also wan't any really good reason to have the character of Cole Porter in the film. But it's still a pretty good adaptation otherwise.

And now, a word from our sponsors......

They wanted to flatter Porter who is played by a good looking actor. Very much like the absurdly cast Grant in Night and Day.

I love the way Mitchell literally shrugs off Cyd after the wildly passionate dance. Men are such shits. They cum and then they're like what are you doing here?

The "Kiss Me Kate" movie also omitted Fred's reprise of "So in Love," which is an effective moment in the stage version. But, yes, it is generally a very solid adaptation.

Any gossip as to why school of rock is closing ? The shoe seemed to get decent grosses most weeks

R294, I don't think any composer would have that kind of clout at a movie studio, especially not at MGM, which was then in its prime. I think the only exception would be Rodgers & Hammerstein, who produced the movies of Oklahoma! and South Pacific themselves.

[quote]They wanted to flatter Porter who is played by a good looking actor. Very much like the absurdly cast Grant in Night and Day.

Don't forget me!

The real Porter was dashing mainly by his clothes, but not particularly good-looking. Now Ivor Novello -- he was really good-looking!

Porter looked a little like a frog. If the producers had been going for realisim, I suppose they could have had Oscar Levant play him instead of Cary Grant.

According to Scotty Bowers, Cole Porter spent most of his time on his knees (obviously praying for Scotty to hurry up and get the boys to his house).

Jean Howard who was gorgeous as a young Ziegfeld Follies showgirl and then became a photographer was a life long friend of Porter's and she said his death was the slowest suicide she ever saw.

God, I just love these threads!

So where is the discussion of today's NY Times article about that spoiled ($106,000 a year!) expert at denying reality who killed himself when confronted with the truth?

Over here.

I believe Betty Garrett would tell a story of meeting Larry Hart's boyfriend and telling him she had portrayed him in the movie.

That little faggot!

I never trusted him after that.

[quote] As for Jack Noseworthy, don't forget, he attained a career by fucking Nicholas Hytner's brains out on a nightly basis to get "Sweet Smell Of Success". And he knows everyone still remembers, so he's still as nasty a cocksucker as his husband.

Jack Noseworthy had a career long before SMOS. He'd been working steadily in film and television for a decade. I'm not disputing whether he and Hytner were fucking (I heard the rumors at the time), but he did not spring forth from Hytner's cock, fully formed, ready to greet the world.

[quote]but he did not spring forth from Hytner's cock, fully formed, ready to greet the world.

Why's everyone looking at me? I could hit Billy Bigelow's high notes when Nicky's cock was down my throat. It was just hard to hit those notes in performance eight times a week.

I remember seeing him on TV when A Chorus Line was closing down his initial run and he seemed like an insufferably snotty little shit.

Lucy never claimed to have discovered Ann Miller (they both appeared in 1938's Stage Door when Ann was a mere 14 year old...cough! cough!), but Ann claimed to introduce Lucy to Desi when they worked together at RKO's Too Many Girls.

Does EVERY SINGLE Ann Miller tap number end with her spinning around in exactly the same way?

IMHO Who (Stole My Heart Away)? with Judy Garland and company from 1948's Words and Music at r277 is really MGM's musical movie-making at it's zenith. And Judy was 3 months pregnant with Liza!

Who are you talking about r315??

Gary Beach!

Can anyone identify the gents in the After Dark Good News cover at r276?

I'll take #1, #2, #3 and #7.

Sorry.

Who....? is from Til the Clouds Roll By, not Words and Music.

[quote]Lucy never claimed to have discovered Ann Miller

Well, Ann claimed it. Maybe Gary told Lucy to deny it.

R315, I was referring to Jack Noseworthy. He was in the final cast of A Chorus Line in its initial run.

And Dolly um she um.......

Jackie Hoffman tweeted that Michael Avenatti was a “media whore” whose challenging of Alan Dershowitz should lead to him not being invited back on Anderson Cooper’s show. Bitch then got schooled by Michael Musto and others about what a piece of crap Dershowitz is. Maybe she’s feeling extra tribal these days because of “Yiddler.”

MAME after dark......

The special music issue features Lucy as Mame?

Ok.

"[R142]- Thanks. I’m not mentioned in that thread but I was in a play with James Riordan many years ago."

Thanks for responding C-List AKA Eric. Just btw, I think you are much more than C list having been on Bones.

Alexis' cover.......

Around the time of “My One and Only” Tommy Tune was working on a revisical of “Desert Song” Don’t know if it ever even got to a reading Stage but he wanted Anne Rice to do the book.

r327. Thanks!

Kathy & Gordy

R319: #2 is Ernie Pyssher (sp?), #3 is Tim Cassidy. I don't know #1 and #7 is Joseph somebody. He played Beef, so you can look it up on IBDB.

Beth Leavel's Rose. How does it rate, bitches?

Beth looks as if she acquits herself quite well.

I saw a rehearsal video of that MUNY Gypsy, and thought Beth was terroble. But she's really good in that performance video.

I am surprised that it includes so many songs but not the biggest hit, Everything’s Coming Up Roses.

Joseph Burke, r332.

R319, Left to right: Michael Austin, Ernie Pysher (later, Ernie Townsend), Tim Cassidy, Jeff Spielman, Terry Eno, Scott Stevensen, Joseph Burke.

R324 reminds me what a loathsome person Jackie Hoffman is. She has had a few good performances (especially Feud) but she’s a vile human being..

Scott Stevenson was the hottest of those guys. Wonder whatever happened to him? He and Joe Burke were the only two straight guys on that cover, I think.

Scott Stevenson was straight?!

For some reason, they made Everything's Coming Up Roses its own video. Weird. I'm not feeling this one, though.

Scott is straight. I think Ernie and Jeff also.

Beth Leavel just shit all over this thread.

Beth Leavel is the new C list. Sad.

Joe Burke is definitely straight.

The two summer productions of Gypsy starring Carolee Carmello and Beth Leavel look dreadful based on the footage released. I know they're both B list broadway names but whatever happened to tv and film stars in stock? Why not Lena Dunham in Gypsy??????

[quote]Why not Lena Dunham in Gypsy??????

As what, the cow?

Excuse me, but that cow has a name.

R315-He still is. And now he's an insufferable little prick with a child.

Walked past the Cort Theater today. Poor thing is just sitting there dead to the world with those two huge marquees just hanging there like two giant black squares. What was the last thing to play there? It literally looks abandoned. It's hard to believe that in nearly 20 years of going to the theater in New York, it's one of only three theaters at which I've yet to ever see a show (the Palace and the Marquis being the other two). I almost did about three years ago when Larry David's play was there but I got sick and gave my tickets to a co-worker, who went and loved the show. But you hardly ever hear a word about the Cort -- it's never spoken of the way we speak constantly of other theaters like the St. James, the Imperial, the Gershwin or the Richard Rodgers. It's like the stepchild of Broadway theaters, always around but mostly forgotten.

What makes it even worse is you go a few more blocks and run into the horrid New World Stages, all lit up like the big ol' barn that it is. Granted, that means actors are working, which is a good thing, but it's just such an eyesore in a theater district filled with houses brimming with character and history. Ugh.

R350, in the 1980s/1990s that complex used to be AMC Worldwide Plaza Cinemas where you could see a movie during the day for $1.50 or $2, I forget the price. It was fondly referred to as the Third World Cinemas because low income people would use it as a babysitter. I’d often see toddlers at R rated films. It disturbed the hell out of me but the price was right.

I think the last thing to play at The Cort was M. Butterfly.

R308, you asked, "So where is the discussion of today's NY Times article about that spoiled ($106,000 a year!) expert at denying reality who killed himself when confronted with the truth?"

Go the the thread dedicated to that Neely O'Hara imitator who took too much booze and dope that Broadway doesn't go for! look for 'Chicago producers..." title.

Broadway has a couple of those stepchild houses. I feel like the Belasco, Cort and Lyceum are underrated. The Cort was supposed to house The Prom and I think it's going to get some renovations soon.

They should have sealed the Cort up forever with that production of "M. Butterfly" left inside.

The Belasco is a beautiful theater. It's only sin is being on the wrong side of Broadway. It is has an incredible backstage and basement, which was built to accommodate Harry Houdini and his disappearing elephant. Though I believe they never played there, after all.

If you're talking about ugly and undesirable Broadway theaters, don't forget The Longacre. And bwt, who is it named after anyway?

[quote]Walked past the Cort Theater today. Poor thing is just sitting there dead to the world with those two huge marquees just hanging there like two giant black squares.

Maybe they should turn it into a church!

The Ambassador should be available soon.

R356, according to Wikipedia, it was named for Longacre Square, the original name for Times Square:

Longacre....did they ever name a theater after his brother Wise?

Pay attention, idiot at r353. Someone posted a link to said thread in the post right after the one inquiring about it.

[quote]Cole Porter spent most of his time on his knees

There was a famous story that has made the rounds for years. Supposedly when Cole was "seeing" (ie, servicing on a regular basis) Jack Cassidy, they had a little game where Cassidy would strip naked and stand on one end of the room, and work his prodigious dick up, while saying "If you want it, Cole, you'll have to CRAWL!" And Cole, on the other side of the room, crawled.

Sorry.....non sequitur.....I just love this photo.

[quote]The only one I didn't care for was the white guy, who sounding like he was sing/screaming through a vocal fry or on the verge of nodes.

When I saw SMOKEY JOE'S, I noticed that, as well. He'd better watch it. Not that the show will run long enough for it to become an issue.

[quote]For those of you who have seen Carousel, in Act 2, Jigger has a very funny line but I've never seen an actor do the line correctly. Can you tell me if this actor gets it right? Billy comes running out to tell Jigger that Julie is having a baby. Jigger acts unimpressed so Billy leaves. Jigger turns to the audience and says: "My mother had a baby once."

Cameron Mitchell delivered the line correctly in the movie, and Shuler Hensley also did, in the NY Philharmonic production.

[quote]As a performer, I've noticed audiences becoming over-emotive over the years as well. Lots of cheering and whistling and woo-wooing the tiniest little thing. I've always blamed American Idol.

Whatever the reason, I really HATE that.

[quote]Several years ago Film Forum showed the movie in 3-D (this was at the time of the Broadway revival).

Film Forum has screened KISS ME, KATE in 3-D many times over the years

[quote]I think Jack Noseworthy played Alan Strang in a production of "Equus" so he's done nudity. Did anyone see him in the role?

I didn't, but I find it fascinating that, apparently, EVERYONE who has played Alan Strang in EQUUS has had a really big dick. I've always wondered what the audition process was like...

[quote]I don't think there's any real reason "So In Love" and 'Too Darn Hot" couldn't have had their original placement in the libretto in the film. They could have just added Ann Miller during the intermission break to do her song and dance. T

"Too Darn Hot" makes no sense as a dance number with the original placement. When it's "too darn hot," dancing is something nobody wants to do. Another is screwing, which is the point of the song.

Finally, on the subject of Steve Glavin from the original DROOD, I guess this must be the same guy in the video at the link below?

Porter's legs were crushed in the late 1930s when a horse threw him and then fell on top of him. He was in severe pain the rest of his life and his doctors told him that the only thing they could do to relieve it was to amputate his legs, which were now useless. Porter was too vain to allow it until shortly before his death.

So when Cassidy told him to crawl, it was the only way Porter could get to him since Cassidy wouldn't let him use his wheelchair or his crutches.

I remember Hoffman literally climbing the walls in OTT trying to get a laugh and failing miserably.

For some odd reason I found her entertaining in Xanadu. Maybe I was out of my mind that evening.

I don't remember Cary Grant crawling towards anyone in Night and Day.

Good lord, anyone who thinks all the stage Alan Strangs have had big dicks didn't see Wee Daniel Radcliffe in the role -- a small performance in more ways than one, but then again he had the misfortune to be playing opposite Richard Griffiths, who looked as if he had just eaten Radcliffe, and lots of dry ice. Which probably doesn't help one to stand to attention.

You should see the cut scene with Randolph Scott as Cassidy, r367.

Did anyone see Keith McDermott play Alan Strang? Fun fact: he was a hustler by day (except Wednesdays and Saturdays) and performing in Equus at night. He didn’t want to get rid of his day job according to one of my exes who was one of his regular clients.

R362 Well, you left out the most important detail of the Cassidy-Porter anecdote--by then, Porter had had both legs amputated (due, I think, yo an accident). it wasn't sex play--it was cruelty on Cassidy's part. While Cassidy didn't die in a grease fire (I think it was a smoking related one), at least he DID die in a fire--and deserved to!

r370, I don't know if it's true or an urban legend, but, aorund that time, I heard a story about Keith McDermott not showing up for a performance of Equus on the road. They made management open up his hotel room to find him naked (and happy) handcuffed to the radiator.

yes, I saw Keith McDermott opp. Richard Burton and they were both extraordinary.

Out of all the stunningly beautiful boys in the 1970s, why did they choose Peter Firth to do the Equus movie?

Too bad the director of the film of Equus, Sidney Lumet, wasn’t gay. John Schlesinger would definitely have cast a tasty young lad.

I think that Porter/Cassidy story is apocryphal, because I also heard the exact same story about Desi Arnez and Caeser Romero.

what show is that at r276

Peter Firth had/has a huge dick, very much on display in the film. My friend saw the show originally, and while the nude scene made the rather talky show into a hit, some details (like Firth's huge member) weren't printed in the papers, but were passed around by word of mouth. Apparently the casting was decided by director John Dexter, who had a distinct kind of reputation as being difficult. Apparently he was rather rough when directing the Met Opera's "Billy Budd" as well with its all-male cast.

Btw, I saw Tom Hulce, who was very good, but not particularly endowed. He was also pretty smooth back then -- I don't know if he shaved his chest, but he seems to have become quite hairy in later photographs.

No, the story about about Arnaz and Romero is simply that Romero pestered Desi so much about wanting to suck that big Cuban dick that Arnaz finally let him do it one time just to get Romero of his back about it. So to speak.

I have every reason to believe the Porter/Cassidy story. Heard it so many times decades ago as a young man in New York from people who were completely in a position to know. Cassidy and Porter both confided it to friends.

I think the Porter/Cassidy story is even in Shirley Jones' recent autobiography! She at least acknowledges they had an affair.

Yeah, Shirley was fully aware Jack was bi when she married him. Why would she care? She got her start by sleeping with Richard Rodgers (chorus of South Pacific and Me and Juliet to lead in the film Oklahoma!) and she got her Oscar for playing a whore. I've always admired her. Her talent was limited but very real. She always knew the score and was neither offended nor afraid of dealing with it.

BTW, speaking of Jeff, Rodgers was another nasty piece of work. But as Noël Coward once said "Richard Rodgers just pees melody." Strange how the very best and very worst are often combined in the same person.

[quote]Well, you left out the most important detail of the Cassidy-Porter anecdote

That’s because it’s not true as you describe it. Porter’s accident was in 1937 (he was riding when his horse went down and then rolled over onto his legs, crushing them). Porter and his wife refused to let the doctors amputate his right leg, which they wanted to do, and the result was that he was in pretty much constant pain for the rest of his life.

His right leg eventually was amputated, but not until 1958, by which point his relationship with Cassidy was long over. (Cassidy’s first son with Jones, Shaun, was born that year).

According to most sources, Cassidy taking Porter’s canes away (he couldn’t walk without them) was part of the “crawl” outline, but it was definitely sex play and Porter loved it. “I get more exercise than anyone I know” was his supposed brag to close buddies like Monty Woolley.

[quote]Btw, I saw Tom Hulce, who was very good, but not particularly endowed.

I saw Tom Hulce, too, (with Tony Perkins as Dysart), but I don’t remember being disappointed in the nude scenes.

why is Sergio Trujillo such a prima donna?

According to Scotty Bowers, Cole would have him bring over 5 guys at a time for him to suck.

Walter Kidd was supposedly as nasty as Robbins, Laurents, Rodgers, etc. But he was a brilliant choreographer.

Although Shirley admitted to Jack's bisexuality in her book, she stressed that he fucked a lot of women during their marriage.

^ Michael Kidd, not Walter. Where the Hell did that come from?! Time for me to say goodnight.

R386, Sure you don't mean Michael Kidd?

Jack Cassidy was good looking and had a huge dick. And if you had two legs and the $$$$ or the power to advance his career he'd choke you with it or bend you over and fuck the shit out of you or both He didn't care who or what you were. A narcissistic DL alpha male to be worshiped.

Peter Firth had a weird face but an oddly beautiful one. Between that and his huge endowment (and modest talent) he was perfectly fine in the film of Equus.

Firth was cast in the film for the simple reason that he and Burton had both starred in the play (though never at the same time: Firth had left by the time Burton took over as Dysart). He had the face of an angel back then (and onscreen later in TESS) -- funny that both he and Hulce have ballooned into walking elephants. I wonder if the same will happen in time to Radcliffe -- doubt it somehow.

Interesting, too, that Peter Firth got the Tony nom for Best Actor in 1975 and not Anthony Hopkins - very surprising. And Tom Hulce was billed as "Thomas" then.

Shirley Jones was a very sweet ingenue in many films but never a great actress. (She really isn't very good in her Oscar winning role but she was playing a whore, so they gave it to her.) Having read her book, I can safely say she is not the brightest bulb, either.

My god, the film of Equus is so ponderous and boring. Burton thinks he’s reciting fucking Shakespeare.

Jones really is excellent in Oklahoma and Music Man. In comparison to the women who do these roles professionally today she seems an unlimited talent.

Rodgers seemed to know who to sleep with.

On stage in Equus Burton was reciting Shaffer's banal leaden musings in his sleep. Those deep round tones went on interminably. Probably because he was sober.

Everybody always talked about what a great voice Burton had.

It was certainly great as a soporific.

Wait is that the same Keith McDermott that Ed White was obsessed with

But you must admit, r393, that she has Vaselinity!

[quote]Jones really is excellent in Oklahoma and Music Man. In comparison to the women who do these roles professionally today she seems an unlimited talent.

I like her in both and in Carousel. I think she was popular because she was not a "shrieky" soprano. Her voice was pure and simple.

Shirl....

R397 Yes, he and White were involved (I don't know whether you would call it an affair). McDermott wrote a novel a few years ago--haven't yet read it.

Burton had one of the most astonishing vocal instruments ever, at no point more evident than in the film of VIRGINIA WOOLF in which he gives the most extraordinary performance of the four leads. We don't have Voice Beautifuls in the theatre anymore, except on rare occasions like Ralph Fiennes.

McDermott was going to star in James Kirkwood's "Good Times, Bad Times" with Cliff Robertson and Dennis Christopher. The movie was cancelled due to lack of funding but I think it would be interesting to see the screenplay. The book was about how a closeted headmaster at an all boys school lusts after the McDermott character and he has to eventually kill him to avoid being raped. McDermott was all wrong for the lead and actually, he and Christopher should have swapped parts.

McDermott has written a screenplay about his double life back when he was an escort/starring on Broadway.

It sounds so Angel, r404!

[quote]McDermott has written a screenplay about his double life back when he was an escort/starring on Broadway.

Did McDermott advertise himself as a Broadway star in his escort ads?

Isn’t the more interesting question is whether he advertised his escort services in his Playbill bio?

I always thought McDermott was kinda creepy looking. It did fit with Equus but he also never achieved any kind of success in Hollywood.

The character of Alan in EQUUS is supposed to be 17 years old Peter Firth was around 19 when originated the role in London in 1973, and around 20 when he played it on Broadway. The film was released in October 1977, and he arguably looks too old for the role in it, especially without the distance of the stage. On the other hand, it probably would have been difficult to find someone who looked 17 and had the talent to play the part.

Via ATC:

Network is going into the Cort

R409 and had a dick big enough as well.

[quote]Peter Firth was around 19 when originated the role in London in 1973, and around 20 when he played it on Broadway. The film was released in October 1977, and he arguably looks too old for the role in it

And with that big nose, fugly as sin.

I also saw Jacob Milligan do Equus with Anthony Perkins and he had a big dick as well. It came as quite a disappointment to see Hulce's little weenie at the Huntington Hartford in LA. As we were filing out, someone said they thought the play was kiddie porn.

Incidentally, John Simon noted Firth's dick and felt that the play did the nude scene to show him off. In retrospect, probably not mistaken because the nudity is a huge part of what made the show a hit.

R413, I think Simon is mistaken. Alan Strang re-enacts the blinding of the horses several times during the course of the play. It is only when he fully commits in the re-enactment where he gets naked that he has the breakdown/breakthrough. He in not only physically naked but completely emotionally exposed. I am not a big fan of nudity on stage, but in this case, I think it in necessary. I have seen regional productions without nudity and the play suffers.

Doesn't Alan also get nude with the girlfriend?

I'm watching Naked City. Guest starring Miss Denise Darcel......

I honestly don't know if I'm stating anything obvious, but it's impossible to read EQUUS now without seeing it all as a thinly veiled story of a teenage boy who cannot come to terms with his homosexuality. The horse Nugget, especially played by a hot actor standing erect on built up shoes is so clearly a phallic symbol.

Or has this always been accepted as true?

I agree that Burton had a magnificent voice but on stage in Equus it became a drone. I enjoy him enormously in his good films. Maybe he was on automatic pilot when I saw him but I did see him the last night of his Broadway run. That night somebody who worked at the theater told me that Perkins gave the best performance in the role.

If Cassidy had so much sway over Cole Porter, why didn't he star in more Porter shows? Coulda been the lead in Silk Stockings or even Les Girls.

Once again, like the discussion of A SEPARATE PEACE on another thread, the reduction of EQUUS to simply a latent gay subtext trivializes the story. Shaffer, like Knowles, had more on his mind than crotch-level antics. EQUUS concerns itself with larger-than-life mythic themes, such as the conflict between Apollonian vs Dionysian impulses, and the nature of ritual sacrifice and the boundaries of human passion. Much more interesting than what someone is doing with their pee-pee...

I am interested in male nudity on stage at its most base level. I don't give a shit what it has to do with the plot as long as the guys are cute.

Though Daniel Radcliffe(and had I been his age and in school with him I would have had a huge crush) creeped me out and I wouldn't see Equus with him.

So you basically just want male burlesque? Okey dokey.

The term is boylesque, r422.

witty, r423.

Someone on ATC claims to know via Ivo van Hove’s agent that Network is headed to the Cort sometime next season and Bryan Cranston is committed to a six month run but only seven performances a week. Who for Matinee Howard, then?

Donna Murphy!

Lauren Ambrose, of course!

[quote]Who for Matinee Howard, then?

Danny Burstein

Broadway can never have enough cocks.

[quote] Walked past the Cort Theater today. Poor thing is just sitting there dead to the world with those two huge marquees just hanging there like two giant black squares. ....What makes it even worse is you go a few more blocks and run into the horrid New World Stages, all lit up like the big ol' barn that it is. Granted, that means actors are working, which is a good thing, but it's just such an eyesore in a theater district filled with houses brimming with character and history. Ugh.

My you're quite the little whiny bitch arncha? The Cort is getting a full restoration and Network isn't confirmed, that's ATC gossip, but if it is booked it will be a strictly limited run. And World Stages is a great place to see a show. It could have become a supermarket but they are still theatres and cool ones.

what all the fuss is about

I saw a production of Equus in the Berkshires about 12 years ago with Randy Harrison and don't even remember any nudity. Maybe he didn't take it all off?

Awww, I just watched Miss Bebe Neuwirth on Dick Cavett. 1991. Lordy, I can't believe that's almost 30 years ago. I don't think he mentioned her SC Tony but I missed the very beginning.

Bummer. That strangely haunting video "Judy Garland dances to Radiohead" has been scrubbed from the internet by Warner Bros. Wish I'd saved it.

[quote]And World Stages is a great place to see a show.

I’m also glad it didn’t become a supermarket, but I’d hardly call it a great place to see a show. It looks like what it is: Charm-free movie theaters that were awkwardly converted into stages. The acoustics are horrible, and most shows have to be overly amplified.

[quote]The acoustics are horrible, and most shows have to be overly amplified.

TURN THE DIAL UP GRAMPA!

R435 is correct. It's not a great place to see a show. Or do a show. I always want to like it more, but it's charmless. Doesn't feel like a center of theatre. And for the most part it's certainly not doing risky or innovative work. Better than another damn drugstore or bank, but that's a very low bar. This is what was supposed to replace all those great Off-Broadway spaces in the West and East Village that have disappeared slowly but surely over the past decade, and on that count, this is a major fail.

If only this thread focused on modern theatre gossip, rather than rehasing stories of Cole Porter, things would be a lot more interesting

R438, actually they wouldn't. Theater today is not nearly as interesting as you want it to be.

Sweetie, if you want the thread to be more interesting, say something interesting.

I’m glad they decided to convert the New World’s space into stages. It was such a sad movie theatre

I don't like the New World space (formerly World Wide Plaza. I used to go there and see cheap movies). It's a movie theater and they didn't make any attempt to convert it. I saw "The Woodsman" there which was a brilliant production and in itself was able to use the space, but it's not really a space conducive to theater. And while I was there for "The Woodsman" they were advertising Miss Barbara Cook in concert (which never happened). But I would have paid to see her riding those moving platforms in her wheelchair!

R425, Rip Taylor

[quote]I don't like the New World space (formerly World Wide Plaza. I used to go there and see cheap movies). It's a movie theater and they didn't make any attempt to convert it.

Jeez is there anything you people won't bitch about. Convert it? The entire place was gutted to produce the live theaters, you think the cast get dressed behind the old screens? There six movie theaters, there are five Off-Broadway houses now.

Obviously r444 has never been there. They may have done a renovation, but inside they still look and feel like 1980s movie theaters.

Still no Broadway theatre for Moulin Rouge?

Question for the Broadway odds-makers on here: what is playing out of town this summer that is likely to come in? Obviously Jagged Little Pill and Moulin Rouge, but what else?

Is there anything running off-Broadway that is likely to move? Or does that not happen much anymore?

Are there any pictures floating around from when Dodger Stages was the movie theatre?

[quote] Obviously [R444] has never been there. They may have done a renovation, but inside they still look and feel like 1980s movie theaters.

Are you ya, know "special"? It a "multiplex" live theater complex, what did you want them to do with the lobby area besides having five doors to each theatre? What they did looks very cool.

I don't think The Cher Show will make it to broadway.

with Jeffrey seller involved I don't think it will die

I didn't realize Leslie Stifleman hasn't conducted Chicago since the investigation into Jeff's suicide started.

[quote]Are you ya, know "special"? It a "multiplex" live theater complex, what did you want them to do with the lobby area besides having five doors to each theatre? What they did looks very cool.

All you're showing is pictures of the lobby. I'm talking about inside the theaters. They didn't renovate inside the theaters. They still look like you're walking into a movie theater and the seating has your focus on a large movie screen. The seating was not rearranged for the audience to focus on a stage.

I have seen "The Cher Show" and it is not good but if "Summer" is playing on Broadway.....anything can.

They way i heard it, the Cassidy-Porter encounter was a one time trade. Cassidy wanted a song. And Porter agreed if he got Jack's johnson. Cassidy knew how to work an old time queen so he didn't make it "easy". He wasn't giving Porter access on the regular. That might be why he didn't get a splashy Porter vehicle.

R447, What about The Sting with Harry Connick, Jr.?

In the late 1940s, Porter was keeping Harold Lang. Lang had been a big star at ABT, but ballet was really a niche thing in the 1940s and he wanted a more mainstream career. He left ABT and got a handful of bit parts on Broadway but nothing substantial. Then he hitched his star on Porter.

He got Porter to push for him to be cast in Kiss Me, Kate. Between a good audition and Porter's influence, he got the role. He signed his contract, which guaranteed that one song would be written for him. The next day he dumped Porter. Porter was understandably both hurt and furious. As revenge, he wrote a song for Lang that was so undeniably bad he knew it would get cut. But he underestimated Lang. Lang's dancing in the number was so sensational he stopped the show every night from the first preview and the song stayed.

And that's how the turd that is Bianca ended up in the string of pearls that is the score of Kiss Me, Kate.

There are sanitized versions of what happened out there but this is the version told to me by more than one older gay man back in the 1970s who had moved in those circles and were in a position to know what really went on.

Cassidy wasn't the brightest tool in the shed and he was an asshole who felt David got the success he should have had.

If he really did that to Porter the composer keeping Cassidy from a vehicle and the actor's harrowing death were well deserved.

[quote]The next day he dumped Porter. Porter was understandably both hurt and furious. As revenge, he wrote a song for Lang that was so undeniably bad he knew it would get cut.

The producers still should have made them cut Bianca. Or Cole should have replaced it. It's embarrassing.

Bianca, Bianca,

Oh, baby, will you be mine?

Bianca, Bianca,

You'd better answer yes or Poppa spanka.

To win you, Bianca,

There's nothing I would not do.

I would gladly give up coffee for Sanka,

Even Sanka, Bianca, for you.

Has anyone played Kodaly in "She Loves Me" as well as Jack Cassidy? Just the right amount of smarm. (Sorry, Gavin, you're cute, but you were miscast.)

Poor Jack Cassidy. He was always looking for the part that would make him a big star. Then the MTM creators wrote the part of Ted Baxter specifically for him and he turned it down.

Cassidy had the perfect tv role created for him in a summer replacement sitcom called He & She and starring Richard Benjamin and Paula Prentiss. Probably early-mid 60s. His character was named Oscar North, and I think he was a supremely egotistical actor.

[quote]Poor Jack Cassidy. He was always looking for the part that would make him a big star.

Plus he was married to Shirley Jones who was one of the biggest movie musical stars, with solid movies like Carousel, Oklahoma and The Music Man. Then she had to flaunt it in his face and get a musical tv sitcom.

He & She & he......

WEHT Paula Prentiss? I think she was a bit nuts.

Jack Cassidy shows up in one episode of the MTM show as Ted Baxter's brother.

He & She was ahead of its time and only lasted one season, so no long term name recognition from that.

[quote]Jack Cassidy shows up in one episode of the MTM show as Ted Baxter's brother.

Well that's AWKWARD!

You're right, R467, He & She was way ahead of its time. I don't remember much about it, but I loved it. Thanks for the clip, Bajour.

Paula Prentiss had a "nervous breakdown" early in her career and she didn't work as much as you'd expect from someone of her talent and presence. I think she and Benjamin are still married, but I could be making that up.

[quote] a summer replacement sitcom called He & She

It wasn’t a summer replacement. It ran a full season, 1967-68. Then CBS ran it again in summer, 1970, because so many people were bemoaning its early cancellation.

I didn't know she had a breakdown but I was aware of her sister's difficulties.

Must run in the family. Paula P. threatened to jump from the rafters in a sound stage and got carted off to Payne Whitney for her troubles.

Shirley Jones on Jack Cassidy's sexual prowess:

"On July 9, Oklahoma! opened in front of a distinguished audience including the deputy prime minister of Italy, Giuseppe Saragat, Foreign Minister Gaetano Martino, and members of the Roman nobility, all of whom were so enthusiastic that they gave us eight curtain calls. That night, after the curtain finally fell on the show, in a romantic, little Roman hotel, Jack Cassidy made love to me for the first time. I was a virgin, having never gone “all the way” with anyone before. I had resolved to lose my virginity with the right man. That night, in Rome, I knew Jack was the right man. He was a great lover, that night and every night afterward. He could go on for hours, have two or three orgasms, then wake up in the morning and make love to me all over again. He was inventive and extremely well endowed (a blessing that all his sons, in particular David, inherited). He had no inhibitions about sex, no barriers, and he taught me to be the same, to be free about sex and to openly want it and love it. Through the years, Jack and I had sex wherever and whenever we wanted—on the floor of a sailboat in the middle of the Caribbean, in the dressing room at whichever theater we were appearing in, in the bathtub, and, at the height of The Partridge Family, now and again Jack would pick me up from the studio in the car, then drive us into the garage adjacent to our house, where he would have intercourse with me in the backseat. With me, Mrs. Partridge! That night in Rome, the only thing that marred my bliss during sex with Jack was the fear of becoming pregnant. He didn’t have a condom, and I hadn’t been fitted with a coil or a diaphragm, either. But although he pulled out at the last moment, he didn’t really hold back and afterward instructed me to get into the bathtub and make sure “to get as much of it out as you can.” Not the most romantic ending to my first night of love."

Her book was TMI on steroids.

Apparently, when Paula Prentiss was a student at Northwestern, she was prone to stage giggles. During a rehearsal of The House of Bernarda Alba, starring Lilla Heston (Charlton's little sister--formidable in her own right) and directed by arch-dyke acting-teacher-to-the-stars Alvina Krause (who was short but scary), Prentiss kept breaking ip (she must have been playing one of the daughters). Krause went onstage and went up to her and hauled off and slapper her across the face, saying "Feel like laughing NOW, Paula!" Of course, today Krause would be fired for such behavior (and probably rightly so). But it's a great story--I hope some of it is true.

Shirley on Jack and Cole Porter:

"Cole Porter gave Jack his first big break on Broadway. Soon after our wedding night, Jack told me exactly what motivated Cole to hire an inexperienced sixteen-year-old from Jamaica, Queens, to dance in the chorus of his sophisticated Broadway show. Despite the years that have passed, I remember Jack’s story word for word. Most women who married a handsome man and assumed that they were going to live happily ever after with him, but then heard the story I heard from Jack, would probably remember it word for word as well. Me: “So, Jack, did you ever meet Cole Porter?” Jack: “Meet him! I had sex with him.” Me (after I’d picked myself up off the floor): “You did?” Jack: “He was about to cast a new show. I wanted a job in it, and that was the way to get it. Somehow, someone invited me up for drinks at Cole Porter’s apartment at the Waldorf, and then everybody left and I was alone with Cole.” Me (holding my breath): . . . Jack: “I told a few funny stories, probably flirted with him some. Then the conversation stopped, and I took my penis out and said, ‘Do you want some of this?’ ” Jack’s endowment was so vast, so desirable, that I had no doubt whatsoever about Cole Porter’s answer. I was shocked, but not dreadfully, when Jack said straight out, “I’m not gay, but if I need a job, I’ll do whatever it takes to get it.” For whatever reason, partly because I loved him so much and for me he could do no wrong, and partly because my career had evolved so quickly, so easily, and so painlessly and it had not been that way for Jack, I understood. In a way, I was happy that Jack had told me the truth. I didn’t want him to keep anything from me. Besides, I didn’t want to hear about Jack and Cole Porter from anyone else. But when I read Gerald Clarke’s biography Truman Capote, based on his interviews with Truman, I got a much more negative slant on the Cole Porter story than the version Jack presented me with. Clarke quotes Capote as revealing, “There was another story Cole told me that I didn’t use because it sounded rather unpleasant and I liked Cole. It was about his long affair with that actor, Jack Cassidy.” Long affair? Jack didn’t give me the impression that he had more than a one-evening encounter with Cole. According to Clarke, Jack was uncharacteristically cruel to Cole, and I still have difficulty in believing the following story Capote claimed Cole Porter had told him: “Cassidy would say, ‘Do you want this cock? Then come and get it.’ “Then he would stand away so that Cole, whose legs had been paralyzed in that awful riding accident, would have to crawl toward him. Every time Cole got near, Cassidy would move further away. This went on for half an hour or forty-five minutes before Cassidy would finally stop and let Cole have it.” Difficult as it is for me to accept the possibility of truth in Capote’s anecdote, I do know that Jack did have a dark side."

I knew Harold Lang in the early 70s, and wish I had asked him about Porter. Unfortunately, he drank too much to be a good gossip. But acc to bios of Robbins and Laurents's memoir, Harold got around!

More from Shirley:

"When he was young, he didn’t want to go into the army, so on the application, he said he was gay, which meant that the army didn’t take him. That story shocked and disappointed me. Jack would never have labeled himself as bisexual, but I do know that he had had sex with men. When he was touring, he told me he roomed with various gay guys. I never questioned him about how many gay guys he’d had sex with. I didn’t want to know. Ignorance is bliss, as they say. He and director/choreographer Bob Fosse, creator of Sweet Charity, Cabaret, and Chicago, lived together on the road, but I don’t think they had an affair with each other. Fosse was a notorious womanizer, and I do know from Jack that he and Fosse often had threesomes with women. Jack, Bob, and a woman. In the seventies, when sexual promiscuity was the order of the day for many people, Jack did try to get me into a foursome with the handsome actor Pete Duel, who was just thirty years old, and Pete’s girlfriend. Pete and Jack met when Jack appeared on the TV series Alias Smith and Jones, in which Pete played Joshua Smith. They became close and had plans to star in a play together. Jack and I were living in Bel Air at the time, and Pete and his girlfriend came over for a swim party. We were all in the pool when Jack said, “Hey, let’s all take off our clothes and go inside and have a foursome!” I got out of the pool at once and said to Jack, “You go ahead, but I think I’ll forgo this.” Then I went into the living room. After a few moments, Pete Deuel came in, put his arms around me, and said, “You know something, you’re a very special lady.” “I’m sorry, I know that people do this, but it isn’t something I want to get involved in.” He said, “I admire you for that.” And that was it. Pete Duel was nice, and I was sad when he shot himself to death just a year later."

In his juicy memoir, Arthur Laurents wrote that Harold Lang's body was perfectly proportioned for sex. They rekindled their past affair when Laurents hired him for Wholesale, and he would fuck Lang in his dressing room.

That Cole Porter story is via Truman Capote. So it's specious.

I'm sure what Jack told Shirley about Porter is the true version. Gay and bi men never lie to their wives.

As a budding homosexual, I had secret crushes on Peter Firth and John Rubinstein (the Family/Pippin period) but when I came to New York for the first time in 1980 I saw CLOUD 9 at the Lucille Lortel theater and fell head over heels for Zelijk Ivanek. Loved him in the movie version of MASS APPEAL but after that he became a (great) supporting actor. Probably one of the hardest working actors around, and never gives a bad performance.

I know nothing about his personal life.

R478, Christ, in a threesome with Cassidy's huge cock and Fosse's huge cock, the girl of the evening must have left on a stretcher.

Boyd Gaines is doing Doll's House Part 2 opposite his wife this summer so guessing and hoping he's in good health? And has anyone heard anything about Marin Mazzie? I hope she's okay but she's been silent on insta for the past few months. Blessings.

R482 It's Zeljko.

I watched an old episode of Without a Trace she was on last night, r484.

I just checked Cassidy at IBDB. His first Broadway show was "a musical extravaganza" titled "Around the World" based Jules Verne's "Around the World in 80 Days," adapted and directed by Orson Welles. Music, lyrics and incidental music by Cole Porter. That was in 1946 and Cassidy did no more Porter shows on Broadway. I guess that dates the Porter/Cassidy story.

Harold arranged a meeting between me and Laurents because I wanted to meet him. All Arthur could do when Harold's name came up was shake his head and say, "Poor guy."

No, the meeting wasn't for sex, just for chat.

Has there ever been a musical version of Tobacco Road?

I thought that's what Smoke Gets in Your Eyes was from, r489.

r490 Roberta?

Shirley Jones' book showed her to be classless and gauche. And the story that Cassidy told her was probably not the way it happened. I doubt a16 year old boy would be so cocky on first meeting the legendary composer/lyricist. The later story I believe because Jack Cassidy was a cruel man.

I know this sounds nuts but -

Tommy Tune when working on “desert song” was also contemplating a musical version of “Tobacco Road” with Carol Channing !!! But that summer at fire island someone slid a cassette tape under the door of his house. Yes, it was “nine.”

Sorry it was grand hotel not nine

She won’t be returning R452.

R474 = VOMIT

Tobacco Road starring Carol Channing sounds like a parody rather than an idea. I challenge the truth of that one.

Who slipped the GH cassette under Tune's door?

r484 What would be great is if Boyd Gaines did a play on Broadway and won best actor, just to shut Audra the fuck up.

Boyd Gaines won't be doing anymore plays on Broadway.

What about Marin Mazzie? Will she be doing anymore plays on Broadway?

Maybe she and Boyd could star in a musical directed by Walter Bobbie and conducted by Lezzlie Stifelman.

Why did Tommy Tune have a crack under his door big enough to slip a cassette through?

R501...He was presenting hole?

r500 They can do a revival of Pipe Dream!

Zeljko’s gay, is all I know. Wonderful actor. Wasting his talent on Madam Secretary but the chunk of change must be awfully nice.

Zeljko was not originally cast in the series proper. His part was written as a one time character in the pilot. He was so good they immediately made the character recurring, then a regular.

Keith McDermott lived downstairs from Larry Kert. Larry got him the apartment after hiring him several times and wanted Keith's giant dick at his disposal whenever he was without some kid he picked up in Times Square tea rooms. Keith was also a speaker at Kert's memorial service at the Winter Garden Theatre on the set of "Cats", which someone mentioned was apropos because it "resembled his apartment".

Class act, that Larry.

Uggh...Noah Weisberg is playing Willie Wonka in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. He’s an unbearable ham. I wish someone would sneak into his dressing room and cut off that ridiculous mop of hair of his.

Zeljko was wonderful in Brighton Beach which I saw a couple of times. Thought he was very cute in it but had no idea he was gay. Really.

R508-REALLY??????

I want to hear more about Zeljko bding gay. Who’s had him? He was brilliant in Cloud 9, played Betty, a female role, in the first act, and a male hustler in the second act.

Unless I'm mistaken, Zeljko's partner is David Hyde-Pierce's nephew, Greg.

The happy couple?

R487, Actually, Jack Cassidy's first Broadway gig was as a chorus boy in Cole Porter's Something For the Boys, starring Ethel Merman, in 1943 when he was 16.

Jack Cassidy confirms R513 in this appearance on Dinah!, with Ethel Merman sitting across from him.

He brings up Something For the Boys at 5:10.

Zeljko Ivanek was born in .... Slovenia! Just like Vairst Letty!

Weisberg as Wonka will kill the tour with an early death, he’s charm free and exhausting to suffer through while watching anything he does onstage, terrible casting!!!

Loved this exchange between Merman and Cassidy:

Merman: I didn’t know you were a chorus girl - I mean chorus boy!

Cassidy: I could play both parts!

how is Marin Mazzie doing?

That Dinah ep was awkward as fuck. A lot of big egos interrupting/talking over each other, muttered jabs (except Phil Silvers, whose jabs were clearly articulated - no surprise as he was a comic and couldn't give a fuck about being "sweet").

Who the fuck is Noah Weisenberg?

Noah Weisberg. Used to be in NY, has been in LA doing tons of tv for the last few years. Has a great singing voice. Tall, skinny, very character-y looking.

Weird to hear the stories about Keith McDermott as a hustler - Ed White's City Boy memoir paints a very different picture of him as the great unattainable love of White's life

[quote]Cole, whose legs had been paralyzed in that awful riding accident, would have to crawl toward him. Every time Cole got near, Cassidy would move further away.

#metoo

Weisberg is one of the biggest hams I’ve ever seen on a stage. He was aparently taken to task for pulling focus during the run of Legally Blonde.

I doubt anyone going to see this show gives a fuck about who plays the lead

Is this from reheasal studio? Trevor Nunn made some weird choises for the original London production, which were changed for LA version. He put Patti walk to the front center earlier than Glenn and to turn her head back before the last version of the song.

Was that Noah Weisberg who played the young lead in that Brighton Beach revival that never ran long enough to open the other Simon play?

[quote]Ed White's City Boy memoir paints a very different picture of him as the great unattainable love of White's life

Everyone who said "No" to White was his great unattainable love.

R492, Shirley also reveals in her book that David Cassidy had an affair with Meredith Baxter and Patrick Cassidy had an affair with Bernadette Peters.

R527-I think that was Noah Robbins.

Those Cassidy kids must be so proud of their trashy mother.

They're probably more proud of inheriting their father's dick size.

[quote]Shirley also reveals in her book that David Cassidy had an affair with Meredith Baxter and Patrick Cassidy had an affair with Bernadette Peters.

Hey Shirl, maybe Meredith and Bernadette didn't want that information spread around.

Which she, of course, has to be implicit about, r532

So much for the Irish Curse.

David C has HUGE vpl on Patridge Family

Carousel- no print ads, no TV ads- have they just given up on the show? Looking at the tickets available for next week, it seems like they have... When does the closing notice go up?

So Shaun, the hotter one, has a big dick but not as big as David's. Got it.

EXPLICIT. Not implicit.

Moron.

I saw Shirley and her deadbeat husband Marty Ingalls on Sally Jesse Raphael. They were talking about a gossip item that they said caused them so much pain. It was that Ingalls had a heart attack and someone heart Shirley screaming for help and called 911. The reason Shirley didn't do it herself was because she was allegedly handcuffed to the bed. After seeing what she put in her bio, I think it's probably true but it also proves the appearance was total publicity for them. No one in the audience had even heard of it until they brought it up on the show.

R535 must be Irish.

What's wrong with Boyd G?

R533, If I were fucking Patrick Cassidy, I'd want everyone to know.

Is that what Bernie is thinking about when she brings on the waterworks?

[quote]What's wrong with Boyd G?

He never recovered from having Ann Romano as a mother-in-law.

Seriously, what gives with Boyd Gaines?

I seem to recall Patrick said he lost his virginity to a female star when he was doing Pirates of Penzance. I always assumed it was Linda Ronstadt, even though I don't think they performed together.

Rosemary Harris is replacing Diana Rigg in MFL. Umm...has anyone filled her in on 'Sundays' yet?

Rosemary could barely tolerate sharing the stage with Bacall in Waiting In the Wings.

[quote]Seriously, what gives with Boyd Gaines?

A poster on the theater threads often implies that he's ill but declines to give any details.

He is ill and it's nobody's business.

R551. Fair enough, unless you're the poster who keeps dropping the ominous hints about Gaines' health.

Rosemary Harris will be divine.

[quote]Rosemary Harris will be divine.

Divine would be better.

She's 90 years old and she'll do Sunday matinees.

I've seen all the Shaw performances Divine has done.

I think we can all hear Divine's delivery of "Bravo Eliza!"....

R547, If Patrick Cassidy lost his virginity during Pirates of P, it had to have been a high school production. Both were regulars at the Playboy Club in the late 1970s and early 1980s. (And, yes, Patrick would have been underage at the time.)

I want to know how Shirley knew David was so generously endowed. Did word get around? Did Dey tell her?

Or was this first hand observation under extremely interesting circumstances?

Did David and Shaun get naked so that Shirley could tell who took more after dad? Sounds like Shirley and Jack fucked anything that moved or crawled.

And what really happened at that orgy with Joan and Anthony while the soundtrack cutout of Dr Dolittle played on the turntable?

Was Pirates being done in high schools before the Papp production? I say this was the Broadway production, and he lost it to Pam Dawber.

[quote]He is ill and it's nobody's business.

Then why do you keep bringing it up? You smack of “nyah-nyah, I know something you don’t know!”

I read Shirley’s book when it came out, and I dont recall anything about Patrick fucking Bernadette Peters, or anyone else for that matter. I do recall how each of her boys shared the news with her when they first masturbated and shot semen.

Why wouldn't Pirates have been done before the Papp production? Pirates was a very famous operetta by very famous composers like before the production in the park.

Pirates, along with all the other G&S operettas, was being done in high schools when I was in high school, and I promise you that was many years before the Papp production. Papp hardly discovered it.

Papp did a very interesting thing. If he had just presented "Pirates of Penzance" people would have stayed away in droves. By casting pop singers (Rondstadt and Smith) he ensured that the younger generation would come see it. Maybe if George C. Wolfe had done that with On The Town it would have injected some energy in that dreary, long-ass, slow production.

Come hear Posh Spice sing "I Can Cook Too"

Just for you, R562

"Later on, he invited a beautiful African-American girl to be his prom date. I was cool with that, but then I got a call from her parents saying that they didn’t want her to go to the prom with Patrick because it wasn’t right. The same thing happened again when Patrick started dating a Jewish girl; her parents called and said that although Patrick was a nice man, he wasn’t Jewish, so they didn’t want their daughter to date him. But Patrick did find happiness for a time with the actress Bernadette Peters, who is fourteen years his senior. The age difference didn’t trouble Patrick, or me. I admired Bernadette, and so did Patrick. She is a wonderful woman, and they had a wonderful time together. Nowadays, Patrick is doing well in his career, and today he produces shows more often than he appears in them, and fortunately, his private life, too, is a great success. He is married to a beautiful choreographer, and together they have two marvelous sons."

Is Grandma going to blab about their penis sizes, too?

[quote]Come hear Posh Spice sing "I Can Cook Too"

I think I'd rather not.

I bet Shirley was mad when Frank Sinatra quit Carousel. She probably craved that spicy Italian sausage.

She claimed that she was happy to play opposite Gordon MacRae again and implied that Sinatra's voice wasn't quite right for the score.

Cos he was a GOOMBAH.

Sheila MacRae wrote in her book that Gordon was an amazing sexual athlete in bed.

[quote]Sheila MacRae wrote in her book that Gordon was an amazing sexual athlete in bed.

What is it about all of these women writing about the sex that they had? Sheila MacRae, Shirley Jones, Shelley Winters. We don't care that somebody fucked you until you couldn't stand up.

Any news on Pretty Woman? Has anyone seen it yet?

[quote]Any news on Pretty Woman? Has anyone seen it yet?

I thought the MeToo Mob shut that show down.

[quote]Sheila MacRae wrote in her book that Gordon was an amazing sexual athlete in bed.

Quite an accomplishment, considering that he was a big ol' lush.

Why was this thread grayed out?

The Poppins Loon is terrible

Who cares about Sheila McRae? I want to know if Richard was banging the lovely Mrs. Carlson on a regular basis.

Sheila's book was nowhere near as....as....uh...detailed as Shirley's.

Oh of course, the Poppins Loon. He usedvto f&f threads that he didn’t start.

Couldn't at least one of those hung Cassidy boys have been gay? Well, at least Cole got to swing on daddy Jack’s giant meat.

Patrick is hot as hell, go Cassidy giant cock

Patrick was so sexy in Longtime Companion when he saunters out of his bedroom in his underwear.

R584, Indeed.

Enough Patrick Cassidy- let's get back to theatre gossip folks-

The Fall slate on Broadway feels more boring than ever- any surprise shows coming in that haven't been announced yet?

Well I think you've just explained why we're discussing the Cassidy brothers instead of the current theater scene.

[quote]Any news on Pretty Woman? Has anyone seen it yet?

What do you expect from the Theatre Queens here and ATC besides, it sucks, the music sucks, the cast sucks......

[quote] I think we can all hear Divine's delivery of "Bravo Eliza!"....

Now that you put it in my mind, I'll never be able to think of anyone else

Moulin Rouge is now not expected to open on Broadway until summer of 2019?

[quote]What is it about all of these women writing about the sex that they had? Sheila MacRae, Shirley Jones, Shelley Winters. We don't care that somebody fucked you until you couldn't stand up.

The life of the heterosexual female is a strange and mysterious thing.

I know I state the obvious but each new season on Broadway becomes smaller and smaller because of the lack of available theaters.

When dreck like Kinky Boots and A Bronx Tale run for more than 2 seasons you know we're in trouble. Not to mention that each season brings us even worse dreck like Frozen that tie theaters up for 10 years and more.

r558 he was the first replacement for Rex smith on Broadway. One big cock follows another apparently

R593, I understand that. My point was that he was not a virgin when he joined the cast.

Here's a little gossip:

LCT almost wrangled Julie Andrews as a replacement for Diana Rigg.

But then they didn't.

Sadly these has-beens always try to sell their bios by emphasizing the sex parts. Most recently Rita Moreno made the talk show rounds yelling, “Marlon Brando fucked me!!”

R456, The Sting is not coming to Broadway. At least not any time soon.

Well r588 I wouldn’t have minded my Stevie K sucking.

Talking about people you slept with is one thing. Giving tips on masterbation is a whole other thing. Shirley came off - to put it kindly - not very bright.

I bet those chorus boys in blood brothers on Broadway could tell stories of bulges with those Cassidy boys backstage

Well we are pretty well informed and have a great deal of experience going to theater. We can smell shit from miles away.

Keith McDormott is now a LMT, working out of a spa and his home. I've been going to him for a while now, but only realized it was him after someone posted about his exploits on this sight. I was more impressed that he was in the movie"Tourist Trap", though I haven't asked him about it....yet.