THEATRE GOSSIP #316: "Crawl, Cole, Crawl!" Edition

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

If they wanted Dame Julie, they should have gone with her for the original instead of as a replacement. Although Julie would probably have rolled her eyes at some of Bart's "touches." And she certainly wouldn't have put up with her Eliza playing only seven performances.

[quote]Patrick was so sexy in Longtime Companion when he saunters out of his bedroom in his underwear

That's right when I was fucking him!

I agree that Julie doesn't have to beg for scraps. If she wasn't considered for the first cast, why should she except a replacement role? After all, she's not Bernadette Peters.

If Lincoln Center really wanted a casting coup, they should have cast Anne Hathaway as Eliza, Julie Andrews as Mrs. Higgins and Hector Elizondo as Alfred Doolittle.

Playing devil's advocate, had Julie been the original Mrs. Higgins in this production, do we think broadWAY would have forgiven her for the V/V controversy 22 years ago and given her the long awaited Tony? (And spared us from "Tony winner Lindsay Mendez?")

Hector Elizondo is still working? Where?

He's bus and trucking Steambath summer stock style until September, r5.

[quote]Hector Elizondo is still working? Where?

He was a regular on "Last Man Standing"

[quote] He was a regular on "Last Man Standing"

In other words, he had fallen off the face of the earth.

[quote]In other words, he had fallen off the face of the earth.

A girl's gotta eat.

Can't believe that Julie isn't quite well-off and in no need of an acting gig.

someone on the last thread said Cher wasn't coming in but the producer Flody is posting the Neil Simon marquees all over

I just saw Keith McDermott in the child abduction movie "Without a Trace". He played a pedophile who once worked with the family and they naturally assumed he had something to do with the boy's disappearance. He was very convincing as a pervert, both in looks and acting. Difficult to believe that at one time, he owned the NY gay escorting scene.

Well, he didn’t, R12. At that tiime Casey Donovan/Cal Culver no doubt owned the NY gay escorting scene.

Does LMT Keith McDermott give happy endings?

Amazing Keith McDermott survived the AIDS crisis.

Does anyone know what services Keith performed? Top? Bottom? Side to side?

[quote] He played a pedophile who once worked with the family and they naturally assumed he had something to do with the boy's disappearance. He was very convincing as a pervert, both in looks and acting.

I may remembering this wrong, but I thought it was just that the character was gay and the cops thought he had something to do with it because the kid's blood was on some piece of clothing and they naturally assumed that, because he was gay, he must also be a pedo.

R17, I think that's correct but I also think the character was caught having sex with an underaged prostitute and the McDermott character says something like he never had sex with someone who wasn't willing.

R17, the blood was found on the kid’s underpants and it emerged that the babysitter had cut himself somehow and used the underpants to help stop the bleeding. Not very bright. I love Kate Nelligan in that film, particularly in a restaurant scene late in the film with the late David Dukes, who played her husband.

Ruthie Ann Miles returns to the stage tonight in the West End production of The King & I. I cannot begin to imagine the kind of courage that takes.

Yes, it's been ages since I saw Without a Trace. I remember it was the first VHS tape we ever rented. We didn't even have our own player yet. Friends of my parents let us borrow theirs because they didn't use it much (I think they used it for porn tapes when they had sex), and my mom wanted to see if it was something we'd really use before she made the investment, as they were several hundred dollars back then. I think it took us almost a whole year before we finally bought our own. It was one of the first front loaders and came with a wired remote.

Not sure it's been discussed here but what's the word on "Pretty Woman"?

It seems like a large number of new shows for middle of summer. What's up with that?

Good for Ruthie. Sharing her gifts and getting back to work is probably the best thing for her.

In the novel (Still Missing) that formed the basis for the movie, the guy had been their weekly cleaning person, and after the disappearance he was discovered to have a pair of the kid's underpants in his coat pocket. He said he'd been using it to dust. Of course it turned out to be the truth, but not before his life was destroyed. Good book, good movie.

Thinking about Ruthie and near tears.

anyone know how to book an appointment with Keith McDermott or, at least, what city he is in and what name he practices under -- is it actually Keith?

He's in New York. R26, look it up and if not, he probably has an ad in Rentmen.

All these posts and no recent photo of Keith?

I found recent pics of Keith via Google.

Keith McDermott today

We haven't talked about Val Harper in awhile. Since Ryan Murphy needs a new idea for Feud, I suggest he explore the fight between Val and Melissa Gilbert to be President of SAG. It could be called "Val & Mel".

catchy.

Keith McDermott's legit massage page.

Is "summertheater" for real?

Can Hector Elizondo sing?

Other than Steve Martin, Patrick Cassidy and her dead husband, do we know of any other males Bern has been with?

I'm ceaselessly entertained by both "summertheater" and the reaction he engenders. I do think he’s a genuine deplorable, not some performance art persona.

Someone on ATC called him a Russian troll this morning and that accusation was quickly deleted. I don’t know if he’s Russian, per se, but I’d wager the majority of the news he gets comes via Russian news sources and bots.

Apparently the breakup with Steve Martin was quite devastating and she has refused to ever speak about it.

I've occasionally wondered if she and Sondheim ever got together.

To do what?

One thing that is really cool about Bernadette and Patti, is I’m sure they both have been offered money for interviews over the years about their famous exes (Martin and Kline) and Peters never really discusses him and Patti only mentions Kline when talking about Evita and the acting company.

Why would she talk about Kline when talking about Evita? He had nothing to do with it.

I think he was offered Che before Patinkin. Didn’t Barry Bostwick turn down Che to focus on a film career?

I always thought Bernadette liked the lez-lez. She hung around Carol Burnett an awful lot.

Why is nobody talking about the Rosie O'Donnell-led Broadway protest of The White House.

we're about to live with a Broadway on which Casey Nicholaw has four shows. Any questions?

Rosie is about as irrelevant as possible. Who cares?

[quote]Rosie is about as irrelevant as possible. Who cares?

But Rosie and 4 chorus boys are going to CONFRONT THE WHITE HOUSE!!!

Maybe Barron will give her the middle finger from his bedroom window?

Does Barron have someone with him to show him where his middle finger is?

LOLOLOL

By the way Steve Martin and Bernie must have been the oddest match ever -- he's fiercely intelligent and she, um, is not, though I suspect at that point in her career especially she made up for it in other ways

What makes you think Bernie's not intelligent?

R51, most actors are dumb as a post. The ones that are intelligent are often very limited: Jody Foster, Fritz Weaver, Mayim Bialek , David Duchovny, Geena Davis, etc.

R51-For one example, she's close friends with Richard jay-Alexander.

So? She's also close friends with Sondheim, who doesn't suffer fools.

Bernadette always seemed a bit dumb in interviews.

Like Chita.

Not the brightest bulbs in the pack.

I saw Bernadette in a tv interview about the time of "Annie Get Your Gun." She was talking about how they cut the song "I'm An Indian Too" because it said horrible things about Indians. Yet, she had no problem singing, "Folks are dumb where I come from...." Now maybe she had a bad publicist or wasn't prepared for the interview, but it came across as her not being very smart.

R54-Unless the fools can sing his stuff exactly as he wants them sung.

Hector Alizondo is on Last Man Standing, which has been renewed.

[quote]most actors are dumb as a post.

Of all the stupid, asinine comments made on DL, this has to be the stupidest.

[quote]Yet, she had no problem singing, "Folks are dumb where I come from...."

Why should she? There’s nothing wrong with that lyric. Annie’s from the backwoods in Dark County. Folks WERE dumb (ie, uneducated) where she came from but they had a lot of common sense, which is the point of the song. And Bernadette is from Queens. Folks really ARE dumb there.

R60, Really? Have you spent any time among them?

[quote] Of all the stupid, asinine comments made on DL, this has to be the stupidest.[quote]

That's a lofty claim, r60, but I tend to agree. I am on the business side of the business and I know plenty of actors and many are very intelligent.

Btw, is there a story/gossip behind the understudy replacements with Boys In The Band? What happened?

What R60 said. Really, the stupidity on this board is quite stunning, surpassed only by statements projecting some poor idiot's fantasy onto a celebrity he's never met and never will.

R63, name some very intelligent ones. I can certainly name quite a few that are too stupid to live (OK, a few are dead.) Mathew Broderick, Sarah Jessica Parker, Maureen Stapleton, Elizabeth Ashley (even without the drug damage), Davis Gaines, Amanda Plummer, Jane Adams, Glynis Johns, Mark Nelson, Mitchel Anderson, Carol Kane (very sweet. I hate to put her on the list, but...), LaChanze, , nearly every Instagram obsessed chorus boy (you know who I mean), and so on.

[quote]Hector Alizondo is on Last Man Standing, which has been renewed.

1. Elizondo.

2. Not renewed, rebooted. It was cancelled by ABC at the end of the 2016-2017 season. The reboot was ordered by Fox for this fall.

Steve Martin is what passes for "fiercely intelligent" in Hollywood where one is considered so if one has published a couple of (badly written) books and collects expensive art.

On Broadway, we know better, as evidenced by Meteor Shower and his other mediocre pseudo-intellectual plays.

This SOUNDS impressive. A production of Titanic, staged -- literally -- on a lake with a ship that sinks and actors who "drown" -- but in the pictures it just looks like an unfinished construction site that got flooded. I mean, I know it's theatre and we use our imaginations, but...

Playwright here. Most of the actors I've worked with have been very bright. So I agree with R60.

That said, I've only done one musical. Different kinds of actors do those, but among the ones I've worked with, they may not be formally educated, but they are not dumb in the slightest. I'm sure many are, but to paint all actors with such a broad brush is rather ridiculous.

The "most actors are dumb" comment is proof that most DL comments are dumb.

R68, I would totally go see that.

How do they use underwater body mics?!

And now.....

a non sequitur

I've always had a soft spot in my heart for this Spike Jones beauty...

Is Kyle Dean no longer a Boys understudy

Kyle Dean was listed in the Playbill as one when I saw the show a week and a half ago.

I loved the character of Melvina Robinson in Without a Trace. That Crazy bitch rescued the kid. She’s the reason he’s alive.

Was she the kidnapper's neighbor?

R65, what is your proof that those actors you listed are "dumb" or not intelligent? Please post. For that matter, please post proof of your own intelligence, because it's nowhere in evidence in your posts.

I work with actors and with students training to be actors and I think the intelligence range is the same as with any other profession. The ones who bothered to get a decent grounding in the liberal arts tend to be more interested in the broader world and the people who inhabit it, and use their analytic and critical skills to create characters and to interact with fellow actors. The ones trained in BFA programs tend to be focused on themselves and on how to get the next role. They may have native intelligence, but expanding it seems discouraged by their teachers, who are often failed professional actors, bitter and superficial themselves. And then there are some actors who simply seem gifted and questions of intelligence are irrelevant to whatever it is that allows them to be successful at their work.

Has this been posted?

Just watched that, r81. It looks like the musical theatre equivalent of Bela Lugosi wrestling with the octopus in Ed Wood.

Just saw an interview with Randy Rainbow on "On Stage." Never heard of him before. Very interesting and funny guy.

People can be very intelligent but also ignorant or just not very knowledgeable, and that makes them come off as "dumb."

I think part of the stupid actor idea comes from Hollywood. How many times have we seen actors in interviews or at awards shows or even on Twitter get on a political topic and not know their ass from a hole in the ground? Most of the successful actors are comfortable financially and extremely out of touch with what the average American has to go through in their daily lives: banking, grocery shopping, laundry, etc. And so they will get up and make the dumbest comments.

The dumbest people in the arts are the ones who began as kids and essentially don't know anything else but entertainment. Similar to those kids who only played sports.

I would disagree with your theory, r86.

We wouldn't.

[quote]The dumbest people in the arts are the ones who began as kids and essentially don't know anything else but entertainment.

Or who had parents in the arts.

Charlie Sheen, Liza, Jane Fonda

r85, as seen by this last election, the "average American" 1/3 wholly uninformed and unqualified to speak on most topics. Famous actors have a platform. The average deplorable does not.

Someone posted at BWW that he/she is confined to a wheelchair and there are no ADA seats available. Wants to know which seats will be easiest to crawl to.

As I'm sure I've posted before, the BFA system has led to a huge crop of "cookie cutter" actors. They're extremely technically skilled and usually traditionally attractive but not much else. I often see posts on Facebook by some of these people and many can barely string together a sentence, because they never had to learn how. That said, as many of the posts indicate, that does not necessarily equate to a lack of intelligence; just a lack of education.

They don't have to be smart since every word they say at work is, literally, supplied to them. It doesn't mean they are all dumb, just that it's a good line of work to get in to if you are and are attractive.

[quote]Never heard of him before. Very interesting and funny guy.

At this point Randy Rainbow is feeling like a one-trick pony. It’s amusing, but nothing is ever surprising or even really all that interesting anymore.

BTW, I wasn't making that up at r91. People are responding as if the poster, who just joined, is serious.

Which one of you bitches is it?

[quote] Someone posted at BWW that he/she is confined to a wheelchair and there are no ADA seats available. Wants to know which seats will be easiest to crawl to.

The ones with cock in them, duh.

Bernadette is very private and very guarded, especially since her husband's tragic death, which is why she does only the rare interview. Her publicist is one of the toughest in the biz, Judy Katz, who also repped DL Faves Joan Rivers and (currently) Rita Moreno. With an incredible career like hers, Bernie's clearly no fool (Sondheim's adoration of her included).

To answer the poster above about why LuPone brings up Kevin Kline with Evita...he convinced her to audition in the first place

I remember when channel 9 in NYC used to cover broadway openings with 2 hour specials on opening night and one of them was The Goodbye Girl. Poor Bernie was miserable in the show and, if that wasn't bad enough, Steve Martin and his wife were at the opening to support Martin Short. All four were interviewed backstage together and Peters looked like she wanted the floor to open and swallow her. I guess they didn't end on good terms.

I too remember when New York was exciting and the cultural center for the arts, r99.

Does anyone remember the honest-to-God infomercial for The Best Little Whorehouse Goes Public? I wonder if it’s online anywhere.

Someone posted it just a little while ago at BWW so I guess it is.

Has Bernie dated much (at all?) since her husband's untimely death? Certainly no one she's brought with her to the red carpet over the years.

Rita Moreno is a low rent dumpster woman. I don’t care if her publicist is Judy Katz, Judy Garland, or Swifty Lazar. She is an asshole.

R104, Chita darling, give it up.

Randy Rainbow has career ending clammy hands, just swampy nightmares with extra moisture.

I worked with Rita (TV) about ten years ago. I liked her.

Bernie occasionally comes to things with Sondheim.

[quote] name some very intelligent ones. I can certainly name quite a few that are too stupid to live (OK, a few are dead.) Mathew Broderick, Sarah Jessica Parker, Maureen Stapleton, Elizabeth Ashley (even without the drug damage), Davis Gaines, Amanda Plummer, Jane Adams, Glynis Johns, Mark Nelson, Mitchel Anderson, Carol Kane (very sweet. I hate to put her on the list, but...), LaChanze, , nearly every Instagram obsessed chorus boy (you know who I mean), and so on.[quote]

I am guessing we have both been around long enough to accept that people exist on a continuum, meaning, we can all have different experiences of the same person, determined by our existing bias and psychological agendas. I don't know in what capacity you interacted with the aformentioned actors in your post. I've had interactions of varying duration and intenisty with many of them. None of them are dumb. Most of them are in fact, intelligent. What they al share is some level of depression and a history in the business that has included navigating some fairly risky psychological terrain.

I cannot begin to guess how you define intelligence from your post. Websters defines intelligence as "the ability to acquire and apply knowledge and skills." How many of us can acquire knowledge and skills in every aspect of life, without a bump, 24/7? Bold question on my part, but do you think you might have a need to see these people as less than you in some way and so you attack their "intelligence" because they don't measure up to some standard you imagine you would uphold in their circumstances?

Maureen Stapelton? really? Maureen had issues (depression among them) but a lack of "the ability to acquire and apply knowledge and skills" in her art and carreer was not one of those issues. Elizabeith Ashley has been characterized many ways by many people but I have never heard anyone call her stupid. And she's not. Difficult is not stupid. I am not going to get into any of the younger people you mentioned but some version of what I am saying applies.

I am not trying to change your mind. But I do have some advice. If you are active in the business and you have intense negative feelings about actors, maybe you should move on. to something else. But whatever you go, there you are.

And just to make things even more awkward re: that Goodbye Girl special (which I now must watch) -- Steve and his wife divorced a year later. If I recall correctly, the rebounds were (a) Chris Farley's then-girlfriend* and (b) Anne Heche. *The SNL oral history had a cruel but funny comment about how they'd have to break the news to Chris that she was trading up in every sense.

Whatever.....

ben just came all over moulin rouge

I read that review too quickly and for a minute thought the female lead's name was "Saltine."

When Will Swenson is added to the cast, Karen will run like hell.

Without a Trace is gem of a film and has the most emotional ending sequence I’ve ever experienced in a theatre. Literally heaving sobbing.

The 1983 movie? Kate Nelligan?

Oh that's right, he was stolen by some woman who wanted him to be her son. Unlike Etan Patz, who was the inspiration for the story and was murdered.

I don't think so. I think he was taken by a man, and a woman next door kept reporting him to the police who ignored her.

The story was that he was abducted by a man because he needed help caring for his wife.

Can we get back to Keith McDermott? Did any of you eldergays hire him back in the day? Any reports?

And what of his book abput being a stage star at night and hustler by day? Was it published? And if he’s a masseur now, does that mean he’s still escorting?

LIZA 🔥🔥🔥

(now I know where Alison Goldfrapp got her on stage look from)

Is it true that Moulin Rouge is waiting until the season after next to open? Is it because they're afraid of the competition of King Kong? Or is there a theater they want that won't be available this season? Now, with Brantley's review they are surely certain to be a financial hit.

Or, most unlikely, because they need the time to make it better?

You just know that Jesse Green would not have given the rave that Ben did. Or anything near it.

I wish the Times would go back to the old days with 2 reviewers reviewing the same show....one on the day after the opening and then one in the Sunday edition.

r123 Are there notable examples of when the two reviewers widely differed?

I have just seen "Moulin Rouge" and I thought it was amazing. Karen Olivo is amazing. She sings "Firework" in the first act and she makes that crappy song sound like a masterpiece. She is pretty phenomenal. Aaron Tveit sings his heart out. In the second act, his singing feels more like a triathlon. He sings non-stop. It is a pretty good show. I did not think I would like it but I did.

The review above unconsciously reveals everything about the show I need to know.

Speaking of low rent dumpster women, Wendy Williams had Rita on her show recently and she asked Moreno if Brando or Dean (I think) was the better lay. And Rita answered. Tacky.

Here is a photo from Bygone Broadway of Bye Bye Birdie and Chita already looks like she's 50 and it's 1960 (she was only 27). Chita has a face that suited a villainess. This is why she never had a career onscreen. Sorry Chita but the question was Brando or Elvis. Since your men were all fags, you'd never get asked that question.

I met a guy who did massage on the side. He told me that massage therapists do it for a decade or 15 years before their hands deteriorate, making it impossible to continue. Is that true or was he blowing smoke?

How is "Head over Heels" doing at the box-office? What was the consensus of the reviews? Do people think it is going to run for a while? Thanks.

R120, he hasn’t written a book about his experiences as a Broadway actor/escort, he’s written a screenplay he’s trying to get produced.

R131, he should try producing Good Times Bad Times with Justin Bieber and Freddie Highmore. Highmore would be perfect casting for Jordan.

Right. With Brian Cranston as the headmaster and Bridget Everett as Fat Patty.

I love Chita, but she did always read older than she was. It might be why she still looks so good today. She didn't have that far to fall. There's a fascinating screen test out there from the early 60's where she says that she's in talks to play Rose in GYPSY in London. This had to have been a year or two after Merman. She would have only been in her late 20's/early 30's by that point, which would have made her the youngest person to every play the role in a professional production. I think she would have probably been wonderful. It'd be nice to see a Rose who, for once, could pass for having young children at the beginning of the show.

R133, GTBT is a fascinating book and one of Kirkwood's best since he's trying to rewrite Catcher in the Rye. A lot of people like myself heard of it when Nicholas Dante said in the ACL program that it was his favorite book. When the McDermott/Dennis Christopher movie was announced, Cliff Robertson was going to play Mr. Hoyt and DL fave Dorothy Loudon was going to be Fat Patty. They originally wanted Bud Court for Jordan, which sort of explains the character.

Scratch Bieber and replace him with another DL fave Connor Jessup. Highmore is indeed inspired casting. And if there was ever a perfect part, Kevin Spacey would have been idealt for the headmaster. Since that couldn't happen, what about Kelsey Grammar. He's probably too old but John Lithgow would have been good a decade ago. I'm sort of surprised someone hasn't done it since it reads very much like a screenplay. Perhaps the concept of a closeted headmaster who falls in love with his student only to have him murder him is still too provocative.

Remember when Karen Olivo left show business in a press release and everything and moved to Wisconsin? Bitch is back. I for one am thrilled but why the dramatic “leaving the business” bit a few years ago?

Sorry, I re-read GTBT last summer (hoping thirty years would give me a different opinion) and, excepting a few tender passages between the two friends and the father, I found it the same as decades ago: a cliched and unbelievable bore.

Farewell, Charlotte Rae.

Yeah. Bye bitch.

[quote]Remember when Karen Olivo left show business in a press release and everything and moved to Wisconsin? Bitch is back. I for one am thrilled but why the dramatic “leaving the business” bit a few years ago?

I had to go away so you could miss me, peoples!

R118, THAT WOMAN/NEIGHBOR was Malvina Robinson. The hero of the picture.

[quote]Remember when Karen Olivo left show business in a press release and everything and moved to Wisconsin? Bitch is back. I for one am thrilled but why the dramatic “leaving the business” bit a few years ago?

the rumor was that Will Swenson denying her his timid penis and giving it to Audra drove her crazy.

I'm another one who read GTBT in my 20s (in the 1970s), adored and obsessed over it, and then found an old paperback a few years ago and found it rather juvenile and unreadable.

I also remember searching for and reading a couple more Kirkwood books way back then like There Must Be a Pony and finding them.....wanting.

But finally reading Diary of a Mad Playwright last year clinched it for me. Kirkwood was a hack.

I wonder who Karen Olivo's understudy will be on Broadway because odds are that's who most people will see.

r122 it's the same producer as King Kong so she'll be busy, also Alex Timbers is probably booked with Beetlejuice which starts in October in DC

Chita's screen test.....

Chita's not especially attractive, nor was she ever. But for what it's worth, everybody looked older and frumpier in the 50s. Everybody.

Keith McDermott should write a book! I'm sure most of his clients are dead by now.

Oh c'mon r147. She's striking, just not photogenic.

If I could get in a time machine, one of the off-Broadway productions I would like to see is the 1954 The Threepenny Opera. What a cast.

Bea Arthur, Scott Merrill, Jo Sullivan, Lotte Lenya, Charlotte Rae, John Astin, Paul Dooley

Poor Charlotte Rae only 28 years old and already playing mothers. She was Mrs. Peachum.

Kirkwood’s only decent novel was PS Your Cat is Dead.

And even that was uneven and kinda rapey

Wasn't Charlotte Rae the original Mammy Yokum?

[quote]Wasn't Charlotte Rae the original Mammy Yokum?

Yes.

she must have been a mere slip of a girl then.

I wonder why Charlotte never returned to Broadway. I know that Different Strokes and Facts of Life gave her the security and popularity that she needed. But it would have been fun to see her as a replacement Miss Hannigan in Annie. She was one of those actresses that captured "dizzy" better than most could. And rather than a drunk, mean Miss Hannigan, she would have given us a drunk, dizzy Miss Hannigan.

I saw her play Jack’s Mother in INto the Woods in LA in the 90s

Natalie Cortez is listed as Satine's understudy during the Boston Run.

Oh great, now I keep seeing it as Saltine as well.....

Think she did a fair amount regional theater, too. Saw her in COME BACK LITTLE SHEBA in Cincinnati in the early 70s.

RE James Kirkwood. I devoured all of his books when I was a young gayling, but, even then I knew they were hackneyed and cliched. His popularity, I think, was because no one else was writing mainstream gay-themed fantasy novels at the time, so we took what we could get. I, too, recently read Diary of a Mad Playwright, and was shocked at what a hack writer he was. Calling the black maid Aretha? It could not have been more pedestrian if a high school kid wrote it. There was nothing clever or witty or charming about the play, or the book. It makes me wonder how much he was involved with the book of A Chorus Line, because it is heads above everything else he wrote.

Good god Chita’s visage is positively frightening. And that’s with a ton of make-up and lighting! Hollywood must have recoiled en masse at that screen test.

[quote]It makes me wonder how much he was involved with the book of A Chorus Line, because it is heads above everything else he wrote.

Not much really. The original A Chorus Line was taken from interviews that many of the dancers had done in workshops. So all it really needed was someone to shape it. Nicholas Dante was called in but it proved too difficult for him, so they added Kirkwood, which it obviously proved too difficult for him as well because Neil Simon came in and punched up the script. And reading the script, you can tell some of the jokes that Simon provided. Pam Blair said in one of the ACL books that she hated the material Simon wrote for Val, so much of it was taken out.

speaking of A Chorus Line, Rick Mckay had a whole segement ready to go for the sequal about the genesis of A Chorus LIne. Its on youtube. Along with this great clip with the one and only Jane Summerhays playing Sheila.

Kirkwood wrote some good one liners for ACL, which is what he did best. "To commit suicide in Buffalo is redundant" was his and the entire character of Sidney Kenneth Beckenstein was his. In fact, SKB was the name of his one time lover.

He just did too much cocaine, especially after ACL. Diary of a Mad Playwright has several factual errors and it does show how far gone he saw.

Too bad there's no record of Charlene Ryan doing Sheila. She did it in LA and fell into the Playboy crowd.

[quote]"To commit suicide in Buffalo is redundant" was his and the entire character of Sidney Kenneth Beckenstein was his.

Are you sure? That sounds more like Neil Simon. I think the whole Jewish, gay, bitchy character was probably Kirkwood, but to me the line sounds like Simon. You can hear the "ba dum" after every sentence.

I used to be slammed into lockers. Not only by the students, but by the teachers too. (ba dum)

I used to break into people's houses. I wouldn't steal anything, I'd just rearrange their furniture. (ba dum)

My mother was one of the foremost bridge cheaters in America. (ba dum)

I couldn't catch a ball if it had Elmer's glue on it. (ba dum)

He used to tell people I had polio. On Father's Day I used to limp for him. (I think this was Kirkwood because Simon didn't write bitchy).

R165, Bennett said that himself. I think it was in our favorite DL mag After Dark.

[quote]Bennett said that himself. I think it was in our favorite DL mag After Dark.

Oh, ok. The monologue, to me, always sounded Jewish Borscht Belt, but if Bennett confirmed it, then it must be Kirkwood.

No, I think Bennet said it.

Kirkwood was a dreadful writer, but the book Diary of a Mad Playwright itself is fucking hilarious, even if the play is a piece of garbage.

Jane is great in that Chorus Line clip and she's still a very attractive woman.

Bennett was not generous about giving credit to others so if he said Kirkwood wrote it, it's probably true. Priscilla Lopez said he would often show up with sheets of paper during the workshops and say "why don't you say this?" She said that Neil Simon wrote a lot of lines but she thought Bennett wrote them and had great inspiration during the night. For example, when Zach asks Diana "tell me about the Bronx" and she says "it's uptown and to the right" that was Simon but the kids thought Bennett came up with it.

Haven't seen Jane onstage in a long time. That made me miss her.

I was in NY this weekend and enjoyed “The Band’s Visit,” “Boys in the Band,” and “Once on This Island.” All three were delightful. The discounted tickets helped my enjoyment, to be sure.

[quote]But it would have been fun to see her as a replacement Miss Hannigan in Annie

Annie was long closed by the time CR was finished with her Facts of Life commitment.

Charlotte would have been a very funny Mama Morton.

Given the success of BOYS IN THE BAND, can we expect a revival of the sequel any time soon?

(I'll bet most of you didn't even know there was one.)

R176, God! I hope not. I saw a production. It is really terrible.

How about a musical version of Boys In The Band?

Nine Jews in a room bitching....

[quote]Given the success of BOYS IN THE BAND, can we expect a revival of the sequel any time soon?

I'll put it on my list right after The Miracle Worker sequel, Monday After The Miracle.

R179, and after The Savage Dilemma, the sequel to The Curious Savage.

How about Opal is a Diamond, or Opal's Baby, or Opal's Husband.....

There are discount tickets for Boys in the Band?

Yes R182. TKTS was offering 20% off the other day.

Ah, okay, thanks. I was thinking more like Playbill or Theatermania discounts. I haven't thought about TKTS in ages. Duh. Sorry.

Don't forget the sequel to Bye Bye Birdie, Bring Back Birdie. It had one number that was staged with the performers sitting on toilets.

CHITA in BBB the sequel

And now.......

What I never understood from DOAMP was why his producer was fanatically obsessed with Mary Martin (who couldn’t learn the lines, couldn’t comprehend blocking and was lukewarm about even doing the play) and fanatically hated Carol Channing. It comes up often in the book

Because Martin was a far bigger star than Channing.

Here's a partial list of Charlotte Rae's credits.

Not by the mid-80s, she wasn’t, r188.

I saw that piece of shit at the Ahmanson in LA. What surprised me was that Channing was giving a real acting performance, one that wasn’t rooted at all in her Lorelei/Dolly persona. I came out of it admiring her.

[quote]It had one number that was staged with the performers sitting on toilets.

If it did, it must have been cut in previews. There was no such number when I saw the next to last performance.

I’ve always thought a little of Betty Hutton is more than enough. I was ready for that Hamlet number to be over after about ten seconds.

It was wartime, r193. Bombshells were big.

R192 "The real knockout punch came not when we were introduced to a grossly overweight Conrad but when, a bit later, we saw and heard Albert, Jr. playing with his band. Each musician was sitting on a toilet, singing: "We are Filth. We are Filth. We are Fil-il-il-il-il-il-il-il, We are Filth!" while flushing in rhythm. "

I never miss a Scott Merrill musical!

I never miss a Dina Merrill musical!

Not only were they sitting on toilets, r192, but a huge latex tongue, emanating from a cube-like structure, bobbed up and down in time to the rhythm.

I was there...

Anyone know what's up with Katie Finneran these days? Is she a stay at home mother? Post Annie, she just disappeared.

Though her Annie reviews were not good, her performances in Noises Off and Promises Promises were both comic master classes.

I was wondering about her, too, R199. I just read her wiki bio, and it doesn't show any recent activity at all. She was brilliant in Promises, Promises, and got a huge amount of press from Annie, although it was not a successful run. I wonder why she stopped working.

I was as well!

She was great in Bosoms and Neglect.. Miss Mary Louise Wilson was superb.

[quote]Anyone know what's up with Katie Finneran these days? Is she a stay at home mother? Post Annie, she just disappeared.

She was just in Edward Albee's "At Home At The Zoo" off-Broadway. Can't a girl take the Summer off?

I'd love to hear Audra McDonald cover "Filth." Someone please get her the sheet music!

[quote]I'd love to hear Audra McDonald cover "Filth." Someone please get her the sheet music!

Somehow I'm seeing it as a commercial for Chipotle. Audra is handed a meal from Dos Toros and she sings "Filth." Then she's handed a meal from Chipotle and she gets a great big smile on her face and chows down on it.

[quote]"We are Filth. We are Filth. We are Fil-il-il-il-il-il-il-il, We are Filth!"

Stolen straight from West Side Story's Gee, Officer Krupke

We are sick, we are sick, we are sick, sick, sick....

STRAIGHT WHITE MEN is only doing 56% of its potential gross?

I guess everybody's favorite pretty boy, Armie Hammer, can't convince people to pay good money to see that turd

Maybe word is getting around that STRAIGHT WHITE MEN has very little to say and is pretty much a waste of time. And/or maybe word has gotten around that the pre-show music is loud enough to cause permanent hearing loss. I didn't exactly hate the show, but the friend I went with sure did. With a passion.

Katie Finnergan is another Broadway baby like Chita Rivera with a face made only for the stage.

I just looked at last weeks' grosses, something I never do. How the fuck is Mean Girls doing over 100% of business? It is the biggest money turn cash grab I have ever seen in my life. I thought for sure that it's lack of success at the Tonys would doom it, but it doesn't seem to have. I am depressed that shit like that is successful; it gives people no incentive to actually put on something original or good.

[quote]Just watched that, [R81]. It looks like the musical theatre equivalent of Bela Lugosi wrestling with the octopus in Ed Wood.

Skedaddle back to ATC were the rest of the "theater lovers" are holding their breath waiting for the next flop revival of "Merrily We Roll Along".

God you're such bitches. That Chita screen test is fascinating. No, she was never a raving screen beauty, but she was so striking -- one of those performers born to be on stage. But, because of what a truly brilliant dancer she was, I think her acting skill sometimes gets overlooked. She's absolutely devastating at the end of that clip. Thanks for sharing, R146

It is astonishing how casual the racism is in the Chita clip, between pretending to confuse her with Rita Moreno, and having her talk in the Hector Jimenez voice, and saying her name is a nice Jewish name. It must have been awful to have not been white back then, meh worse than now.

Agreed, R213, but she handled it with class and elegance.

Who wrote that monologue for Chita?

Poor Katie was so misdirected in that Annie revival. On paper, she seemed like a great Hannigan, but James Lapine, for some reason, wanted to suck every last drop of humor out of the show. Jane Lynch and Faith Prince fared better as her replacements - probably because Lapine might have not been as hands on with them.

Katie is truly one of the most inventive, original, fascinating comedic actresses I've ever seen on a stage.

How was Katie misdirected? What was her performance like?

I saw Lynch. She was ok. Nothing special. One thing that I couldn't believe got as far as it did was they had that huge staircase Miss Hannigan had to enter on every time she appeared. It completely killed the comedy. I saw the original as a child and can still remember Alice Ghostley's entrances to yell at the kids.

In the new production every time Miss Hannigan entered we'd have to wait as she navigated the steep treacherous staircase, completely killing the comedy.

[quote]Jane Lynch and Faith Prince fared better as her replacements - probably because Lapine might have not been as hands on with them.

Not many men have gotten "hands on" with Lynch.

I do remember thinking something was off with Katie's performance. She seemed defeated by having to go along with Lapine's choices. I almost reminded me of Linda Lavin in Gypsy. She had the goods, but some items shifted before the delivery. Katie wasn't quite that off, but it wasn't exactly a memorable performance either.

*it almost reminded me of...

r220 And LL needs a good director. She has gifts, but man are they unwieldy and they always have been. Her You've Got Possibilities swings from brilliant to miserable sometimes in the span of four notes. Listening to her on the recording of the Mad Show is especially interesting.

I see Katie every few days walking her kids to summer school. She always says "Hello". She's adorable! I'm just shocked how old her kids are, even if 8 and 6 are not that old. I also see her husband playing soccer in the local park with the older kid.

[quote]Kirkwood was a dreadful writer, but the book Diary of a Mad Playwright itself is fucking hilarious, even if the play is a piece of garbage.

This again. If you've never read this book, you're missing exactly nothing. The person who posts every time Kirkwood's name is brought up obviously gets some sort of royalty on it. It is awful and a complete waste of time.

Those clips of that Titanic look terrible. It also looks incredibly dangerous. Is this a professional Equity theater? I recognize one of the actors in it and he did the DC-area production of it a couple of years ago, albeit in a different part. He does lots of DC-area theater but always oversings and is often not quite on pitch.

[quote]One thing that I couldn't believe got as far as it did was they had that huge staircase Miss Hannigan had to enter on every time she appeared. It completely killed the comedy.

Yes, that would be hard to believe if anyone else had directed that production. It's a disgrace that the no-talent Lapine completely sabotaged Finneran's performance as Hannigan, but I'm glad he didn't completely destroy her career, and I hope she'll resurface in a big way, maybe when her kids are a little older. (I didn't get to see her in the Albee play.)

[quote]If you've never read this book, you're missing exactly nothing. The person who posts every time Kirkwood's name is brought up obviously gets some sort of royalty on it. It is awful and a complete waste of time.

Count me as someone else who thinks DIARY OF A MAD PLAYWRIGHT is a highly enjoyable read even if LEGENDS is a steaming pile of dog shit. This is not meant as a judgment on the veracity of the book, only its entertainment value.

Either you read that book ages ago and forgot how bad it is or you have terrible taste

Uncle Mame is a much better book

[quote]Either you read that book ages ago and forgot how bad it is or you have terrible taste

Or maybe my taste is just different from yours, sweetheart. I'm pretty sure DIARY OF A MAD PLAYWRIGHT got a lot of positive reaction when it was published. I read the book before I read LEGENDS, and I was amazed that someone who wrote such a piece of garbage play could write such an entertaining book about it.

[quote] Either you read that book ages ago and forgot how bad it is or you have terrible taste

We get it, asshole, you hate the book. No one cares. Now sit down and shut the fuck up.

Katie was brilliant in the Albee double-bill which for some reason people remember only for Paul Sparks whereas both KF and the wonderful Robert Sean Leonard were both much better. Speaking of Leonard, does he have a big cock? One assumes so.

The sinking Titanic in a lake production of Titanic is at a summer theater outside Atlanta. Last year they did a production of Miss Saigon that featured a real helicopter landing and taking off from an empty field just behind the stage. Atlanta has been having a particularly stormy and rainy summer this year and I've read many performances have had to be moved into a shed that holds the cast, band and audience but basically turns the show into a concert performance.

I have a copy of Uncle Mame but haven't read it since I first bought it when it was published. How many decades ago was that? At my age the years blend together.

r163 How did they film that clip of Summerhayes? It doesn't look like a bootleg.

She really is good. I always found Kelly Bishop too bitchy and a bit unlikable. Summerhayes brings makes her more likable. It would be cool to see how a young Bebe Neuwirth played the role.

Another rave for Moulin Rouge in Variety. Producers have to be rethinking not bringing it to Broadway for another year.

Moulin Rouge should take the Marquis since nobody really wants it anyway and it's basically a big plain ugly barn. They can redo it anyway they like.

How hard would Aaron work to get a Tony

Katie Finneran was one of an ensemble of actors in a great Netflix series that filmed down in Florida (sorry, spacing on the title!) so spent a few years down there raising her kids with her husband Darren Goldstein, who's also a great actor and all-around good guy. I think she works as much as she'd like.

Katie's Tony acceptance speech taught me a valuable lesson: thank your spouse, don't renew your vows.

R236, Or at least a Tony nomination.

I am surprised how many people are already hating Moulin Rouge without having seen it. And what about King Kong? I have a friend who wants to see it but I do not....should I?

I wonder what's going to happen to Rick McKay's Golden Age of Broadway sequels. What a shame if they fall into limbo and are never released.

MEAN GIRLS was fun. Loved Kyle Selig. Sigh.

The Katie Finneran Netflix series was called Bloodline - and it was fantastic. Stunned it didn't get more attention. Ran for three seasons - Sissy Spacek, Sam Shepard, Norbert Leo, Linda Cardellini. And Katie had quite a dramatic role in it.

[quote] I have a friend who wants to see it but I do not....should I?

What a stupid question. Why would you see something you clearly don't want to especially if some stranger tells you to?

Dear M-I'm going to win an Oscar and you're not. Back your ass up to a Broadway show, bitch.

And don't forget delicious bad boy Ben Mendelsohn...

Robert Sean Leonard has a very average cock, flaccid. Used to see him at my health club.

[quote]Why would you see something you clearly don't want to

How else can you have a valid opinion?

I have seen several shows I was pretty sure I wouldn’t like, just so I could discuss them intelligently.

“Kong” could go either way, brilliant or insipid. Or it could be mediocre. Everyone will have an opinion, but if you haven’t actually seen it, your opinion is worthless.

Does Carousel put up its closing notice this tuesday or next Tuesday?

[quote]The Katie Finneran Netflix series was called Bloodline - and it was fantastic. Stunned it didn't get more attention. Ran for three seasons - Sissy Spacek, Sam Shepard, Norbert Leo, Linda Cardellini. And Katie had quite a dramatic role in it.

I watched about 3 episodes of this and hated it. It was like a really bad Southern gothic soap opera. Great cast, terrible writing.

[quote] She really is good. I always found Kelly Bishop too bitchy and a bit unlikable. Summerhayes brings makes her more likable. It would be cool to see how a young Bebe Neuwirth played the role.

Agreed. Jane was the best Sheila I ever saw (and I saw many) And what a dancer! My partner was a vacation house manager at the Brooks Atkinson and Jane was standby for Jane Curtin in "Noises Off" He and Jane chatted several times and she was a sweetheart to him. Signed my playbill (at my breathless request) and gave me a hug. I know.. Mary.

The Titanic talk reminds me of that horrible Romeo & Juliet several years ago in Central Park directed by Michael Grief. He had this pool of water in the middle of the stage and everyone had to constantly walk through it. It made no sense and was a huge distraction.

The only good acting in that production was Camryn Manheim as the Nurse and Christopher Evan Welch (RIP) was brilliant in Mercutio's death scene, just absolutely gut wrenching brilliant. Lauren Ambrose was an awful Juliet and Oscar Isaac seemed lost as Romeo.

People thrashing around in a pond is going to be laughable. All those pretty, slow motion shots in the trailer won't translate to watching the show live.

Okay, now, all joking aside: Are you seriously telling me this video is about an ACTUAL production of TITANIC, and that it's not a hilarious, WAITING FOR GUFFMAN-esque parody? If that's true -- well, now I've seen everything.

Every time we talk about someone whose career has fizzled out we get the "works as much as s/he wants to" troll

So, how is the "Titanic" cast miked (which they would almost have to be outdoors) if they are leaping into water?

...and now a non sequitur moment with Miss Shirley.......

I saw a screening of "The Wife" yesterday. Excellent film, and Glenn Close should have the Oscar nomination in hand and hopefully the award itself finally. She's given some great performances over the years, and this one is another very meaty role. Any talk of finally filming "Sunset Blvd" with her to preserve her performance on film? Jonathan Pryce is also excellent in "The Wife".

I don't want to hear her try to sing the score at this age, given what she sounded like 25 years ago.

She just did it on Broadway last year again to great acclaim, with some saying that her singing had actually improved (after more lessons apparently).

The director of that Titanic is a hoot. Bayou Corky Sherwood.

Sherwood?

[quote]She just did it on Broadway last year again to great acclaim, with some saying that her singing had actually improved (after more lessons apparently).

...and with some saying that some of her vocals were pre-recorded.

I heard one short phrase of her singing on the commercial (which had to have been the best she ever sounded), and I could tell she was still awful.

Jane Summerhays is featured in an episode of Sex and the City where she and Samantha become fast friends and she's hilarious. As good on film as she is on stage. We need more Jane Summerhays!!!!!!

They lipsynch to themselves on film anyway -- they could find some good audio of herself to use. When I saw her years ago, she sounded quite good on one of her big numbers, problematic on the other. They could use her vocals from back then, as she's still playing the same character. Her acting was actually magnificent.

Jane Summerhays was fabulous in "Me and My Girl" years ago; I always wondered why she didn't have a bigger career. I remember one number with Robert Lindsay where she was all over him on the couch or chair trying to seduce him. She was quite marvelous.

[quote]How the fuck is Mean Girls doing over 100% of business?

Mean Girls has always seemed like the type of property that would do well regardless of its critical response or Tony haul. Its target demographic will keep it alive the same way they're keeping Frozen alive.

There's probably a thread on this already up, so this is just FYI. Head on over to that thread.

This interview is EVERYTHING.

Thread on above..........

Thanks, r270. Muriel's search function just never works for me.

[quote]They lipsynch to themselves on film anyway

Well, sometimes to themselves

Well, sometimes they claim right to their lipsynchers' faces that they lipsynch to themselves. Start at 1:48 if you want to minimize Rudetsky exposure.

Or persist right to the end. Props to Liz Callaway for her remarkably well-preserved voice.

[quote]Bayou Corky Sherwood.

Redundant! Miss Corky Sherwood WAS from the bayou!

PBS's Great Performances is giving us "An American in Paris," the London "Sound of Music" and a couple of shows on on John Leguizamo and Harold Prince this fall.

I would have liked to have seen An American in Paris' original Broadway run, though I've seen some of the bootlegs that are out there. Love Max Von Essen, as well as his behind the scenes vlog during his days on the show.

[quote] I remember one number with Robert Lindsay where she was all over him on the couch or chair trying to seduce him. She was quite marvelous.

The song was "You Would If You Could." Here it is from the Kennedy Center.

[quote]the London "Sound of Music"

Was this the "Live" broadcast with Julian Ovenden as von Trapp and Maria Friedman as Mother Abbess?

R279 Yes. And Kara Tointon.

[quote]And Kara Tointon

Who?

[quote]having her talk in the Hector Jimenez voice

My name José Jiménez.

Liz Calloway sounds off on her last note.

Listen, bitch at r255, sometimes "works as much as they want to" is really the truth, especially for actors with young children who aren't financially needy.

[quote]hopefully the award itself finally

Don't count on it, old lady.

Fuck you, Saoirse!

Saw THE WIFE today also and it is embarrassingly bad. Looks incredibly cheesy especially the airplane scenes (and that final shot is a howler) and the central premise MAKES NO SENSE. Why doesn't Glenn/Annie tell Elizabeth McGovern that she's a self-hating pile of shit and go ahead and be the writer she clearly wants to be, and the script has one inanity after another -- my favorite is the scene where Jonathan Pryce tosses his Nobel prize out the window, because, well, why not? And Max Irons has gained a LOT of weight. He's no longer a pretty boy.

R287 You're a dear.

Carousel's apparently closing 9/16.

Wow, that was fast.

Has MVE settled down with someone? Used to regularly hear tales of his many sexcapades but nothing in quite a long while.

Glenn Close is dreadful on the Sunset Boulevard cast recording. The woman can not sing.

r292 - Hi, Patty! How's London?

Thank God that hopeless, hapless production is finally closing so we can look forward to new shows to stink up Broadway.

[quote]And Max Irons has gained a LOT of weight. He's no longer a pretty boy.

He must have lost it then. The Wife was filmed before Crooked House, and he looks great in that.

I only know Kara Tointon from "Mr. Selfridge," where she played one of the title character's daughters.

PattY???? Next you'll be referring to JudY !!!!

The Live London Broadcast of SOM is far superior than the piece of crap NBC presented. It's a little on the dark side and Maria comes off as rather no nonsense rather than a sugary sweet nanny/nun. Julian Overdon is a boyish (hot) Captain and the kids aren't too cloying. I liked it.

2 out of 2 flop Broadway shows for Renee Fleming. I think the only box-office opera star is still Domingo, now singing baritone and conducting (not so hot) -- late night shows rarely have opera singers anymore.

I saw Carousel last week and liked it a lot in some respects (could have done without Lindsay Mendez chewing the scenery, for one) but didn't like Fleming's Nettie at all. She was so desperately trying to pull the focus to herself at any opportunity.

I just don't see a Glenn Close Sunset Boulevard film happening. She's been trying to talk to Ryan Murphy about it. I don't think there's much an audience for it. It'd probably go straight to Netflix.

I saw her last year in the revival and she had, indeed, gotten better with the vocals. I might have seen her on a particularly good day, though, because there are clips going around where she literally massacres some notes. The day I saw her, her voice was oddly miles better than it was in the 90's. I'm just nervous about the close ups in the film version. Norma is supposed to be 50, not 70. These days, I could see someone like Catherine Zeta Jones or Nicole Kidman playing the role.

I'd honestly never heard of Jane Summerhays before this thread, but now, I'm obsessed. Seriously, though, why isn't she a huge star?

[quote]These days, I could see someone like Catherine Zeta Jones ... playing the role.

They'll need the finest makeup artists to age me up, but I'm game!

[quote]Thanks, [R270]. Muriel's search function just never works for me

Did you search “Turner” or something more elaborate? You are doing something wrong if search “never works”

I agree about The Wife. It’s a very poor film. Glenn Close is wonderful but won’t win awards. Pryce is very miiscast. Max Irons is awful-he’s doing way too much in every shot. Christian Slater is OK. Suzanne Bertish, who was in Nicholas Nickleby, has a few lines as an American friend.

I'm watching Dick Cavett. Miss Shirley Booth said she's doing a tour of Harvey. It will begin at the Central City Opera House.

R305 Love when the cast of NN turn up working still now.

[quote] Miss Shirley Booth said she's doing a tour of Harvey. It will begin at the Central City Opera House.

In her later years, Shirley Booth played every one horse town across America. I was told by someone who knew her that she would get on a train with a bag of books and go to any theater that wanted her and play a role for a week or month. I can just imagine Shirley Booth sitting on a train with a pile of books, reading as the scenery flew by and then showing up in Butte ready to play Amanda Wingfield.

Hey bub, the Central City Opera House is/was quite historic and absolutely lovely!

Perhaps I can play Norma Desmond in the flashbacks, when she was a dewy ingenue!

She mentioned to Dick how much she loved solitude and reading, r308.

[quote]Miss Shirley Booth said she's doing a tour of Harvey. It will begin at the Central City Opera House.

Is it on Ticketmaster or Telecharge? I want to make sure I get in before it's sold out!

The Central City Opera House was also where Lillian Gish performed Camille in 1932.

It's not a big house r312, sooo......

Jane Summerhayes also appeared in the leading role in Oh Kay, a revival in 1978. It closed on the road (at one point, Barbara Cook was brought in to give direction!). Maybe she would have become a star if it had opened on Broadway.

I saw Miss Celeste Holm at the CC Opera House in The Irregular Verb to Love. Mr. Christopher Reeve was also in the cast. I also saw your Mr. George Gobel in Last of the Red Hot Lovers. In the pivotal role of Bobbi Michele was a certain Miss Jane Curtin.

Jane Summerhays looking great in her early 70s, along with the similarly ageless Donna McKechnie.

I believe Jane Summerhays was married to a billionaire (non-show biz) by the early 1990s and became very choosy about working. Not sure if they're still married.

I saw Miss Summerhays in The Wild Party.

How are Company rehearsals going? Do the new lyrics/script make sense? Surely a London queen must know what’s up. Hopefully LuPone and Sondheim don’t come to blows

[quote]Hopefully LuPone and Sondheim don’t come to blows

Sondheim doesn't give a shit as long as the royalty checks clear.

Of all the shows that have featured large puddles of waters that the cast has to splash through, which was the most successful? The recent revival of Once on this Island which has some really affective (and surprisingly restrained) usage of the river entrance/exit or Metamorphosis which had that stunning central pool?

No matter how well staged Titanic on a Lake is, at the end of the day you are still watching the garbage that is Titanic. And whoever said that the Central Park Hamlet was a disaster was right. I didn't know somebody could be bad as Juliet, a role that takes NO talent other than remembering a few dozen lines, could be so dismal. Oscar Isaac wasn't great, but he was leagues better than the (pond of water-less) Orlando Bloom in that horrific Condola Rashad production.

Wish You Were Here, r322.

Chita Rivera's Great Tunes Of Broadway #276:

"Everybody's looking for Corelle Bajour..."

The BFA grads from Michigan are far from dumb. Michigan is an elite university and one must be relatively "smart" to get in. Alumni is doing well. Creel became Michigan's first Tony winning performer (Jeff Marx won a Tony for co-writing Avenue Q). Benj Pasek and Justin Paul may soon become Michigan's first EGOT.

The worst was that rivival of NINE where they were moving from plastic chair to plastic chair with water all over the floor and I thought someone was going to get electricuted.

I say that toilet number from Bring Back Birdie. It was a parody of punk music, Albert’s son was in a punk band. So in a way, it was SUPPOSED to be terrible.

Didn’t Scott Rudin used to have hits? Did Dolly ever recoup?

Audra McDonald: Filth

Audra’s new CD features questionable songs from shows that never should have been written!

In addition to the title song, Audra gives her own spin to songs like “Come in My Mouth” from Let My People Come, “The Smut Song” from Best Little Whorehouse Goes Public, and “Yellow Shoes” from The Visit!

The Maggie in the Jane Summerhays clip is pretty fucking awful.

R318, Jane and her husband divorced a long time ago.

Synetic Theatre often does lots of flooded stages or waterfeatures. I don't understand how they afford it given that their productions generally feel so cheap. Maybe they get the DC tourist crowd?

There was "Singin' in the Rain" with Mr. Sandy Duncan, Don Correia, plus Tommy Tune and Twiggy had a very lovely song and dance in "My One and Only" which I believe was featured on the Tony Award show that year.

[quote]Alumni is doing well.

They is?

The old lady rarely wins

Synetic Theatre has a smallish but very loyal following in DC. Their productions are almost always inventive.I can't imagine that many tourists would be drawn to their productions over whatever the KC or National is offering.

Finally started watching "The Crown" with my future boyfriend Matt Smith. Discovered that he was also in the UK stage production of "American Psycho," and on one site this image was posted supposedly from that production. We certainly didn't any nudity like this in the Broadway production! I can't quite tell if this is really Matt Smith, though. What say you, Dataloungers?

Are you also a Cumberbitch? Both look like bugs

[quote]Audra’s new CD features questionable songs from shows that never should have been written!

She already did that with "Way Back To Paradise."

[quote]Of all the shows that have featured large puddles of waters that the cast has to splash through, which was the most successful?

Lincoln Center's Twelfth Night had Paul Rudd bathing in a pool. That was a really beautifully designed production and was almost perfect except for Helen Hunt.

“Almost perfect except for Helen Hunt” - every review anywhere.

[quote] Agreed. Jane was the best Sheila I ever saw (and I saw many) And what a dancer! My partner was a vacation house manager at the Brooks Atkinson and Jane was standby for Jane Curtin in "Noises Off" He and Jane chatted several times and she was a sweetheart to him. Signed my playbill (at my breathless request) and gave me a hug. I know.. Mary.

Are you sure about this? Jane Summerhays was understudyng Jane Curtin? I had heard that "name" actors sometimes understudy, so its possible but not listed on ibdb?

just have to say this is the best Theatre gossip thread in a while. Lots of information on people who are interesting but not necessarily names like Bernie or Batty Betty or whomever. Keep it up!

Robert Lindsay was great in "Me and My Girl". I think there's a bit of a quick full frontal of him in his film "Bert Rigby, You're A Fool" when he gets out of a bath; the film was directed by Carl Reiner to try to show off some of Lindsay's comic talents which were on display in "Me and My Girl", but didn't succeed commercially. Lindsay never came back to Broadway, though he's had a big career in the UK on tv and the stage all these years though.

R291 Max has been in a relationship with Daniel Rowan for some time now.

[quote]No matter how well staged Titanic on a Lake is, at the end of the day you are still watching the garbage that is Titanic. And whoever said that the Central Park Hamlet was a disaster was right. I didn't know somebody could be bad as Juliet, a role that takes NO talent other than remembering a few dozen lines, could be so dismal. Oscar Isaac wasn't great, but he was leagues better than the (pond of water-less) Orlando Bloom in that horrific Condola Rashad production.

You sound like a complete joy to be around.

Yes r346. And who exactly is Juliet in Hamlet?

[quote][R291] Max has been in a relationship with Daniel Rowan for some time now

The Laugh-In host?

Bet your sweet bippy, R148!

[quote]Lindsay never came back to Broadway, though he's had a big career in the UK on tv and the stage all these years though.

He's done really well on UK tv, but I would have loved to see him come back to Broadway. Is he sophisticated enough to do a Noel Coward play or does he read more middle class/cockney?

You know who we've not gotten enough of over here? Miss Janie Dee, that's who.

Well, I have had sufficient.

Up.......up...with....

R350 Well, he's done Shakespeare with Laurence Olivier....

Water on stage: The Ahmanson had a revival of "Dead End" a while back that featured a pool that was intended to represent the East River in Manhattan.

R307: How I wish the RSC would revive The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby. To this day, it's the very best thing I've seen on any stage. I saw it all in one day at the Plymouth and would have happily sat there another eight hours. Tickets were a "scandalous" $100 then, but you got eight hours of show and 30-plus actors -- a bargain! (And now all we're left with is the terrible VHS to DVD transfer of the original production -- better than nothing, but it really needs to be remastered. And revived!)

STILL no word on who's in the Hello, Dolly! tour?

[quote]I saw Carousel last week and liked it a lot in some respects (could have done without Lindsay Mendez chewing the scenery, for one

Maybe her performance has gotten bigger and broader since the show opened, and since she won a Tony. She wasn't chewing the scenery when I saw the show right after opening.

[quote]I saw her last year in the revival and she had, indeed, gotten better with the vocals. I might have seen her on a particularly good day, though, because there are clips going around where she literally massacres some notes. The day I saw her, her voice was oddly miles better than it was in the 90's.

Yes, very oddly. Did it not occur to you that maybe you were hearing some pre-recorded singing?

[quote]How I wish the RSC would revive The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby. To this day, it's the very best thing I've seen on any stage.

I think that was one of those things that came together perfectly: perfect actors, perfect direction, etc. I don't think it could be done as well today. I think somebody would try to make it too slick and it would lose its innocence. You just don't see productions that good these days. (And before any of the naysayers chime in about being an eldergay and how things were different back then, it was a really brilliant production.)

Even the second iteration, R359, by the same company and with some of the original cast (but a new not very strong Nicholas), already lost the verve and tang of the original.

And now a non sequitur featuring Miss Ginger Rogers.......

[quote]STILL no word on who's in the Hello, Dolly! tour?

According to Amar Ramasar, who plays Jigger in Carousel, Garett Hawe is joining the Hello Dolly tour, though he doesn't say who he's playing. He also implies that another one of the Carousel crew members is joining the tour. My assumption is that Hawe may play Barnaby as he's done the role before, and perhaps Jess Leprotto's going on tour, as he was a dancer in the revival on Broadway.

The original production of Sondheim's "The Frogs" in the Yale swimming pool

Also, Network's opening at the Cort Theatre Nov. 10.

Grapes of Wrath on Broadway had a swimming pool.

No mention of Meryl, r363?

Network does the mad as hell scene without the raincoat? Oh, I don't like that at all.

I was right. Jess is going on the Dolly tour.

Good for Jess. I knew him when he was just the Cantor at the local Catholic church.

Question: Why is nobody talking about Jamie?

In the past, we've discussed how Mack & Mabel has a problem book and will never get a full scale revival. Has anyone ever tried to rewrite the show as being a dream? Mabel wakes up to realize she could go down the wrong path? But then it would probably turn it into a morality tale. I guess there's just no way to cover Mabel's descent?

Not even a Life cover can make a silent film musical successful, r371.

R371, that is one TERRIBLE cover photo. Carol looks like she's a drag queen doing Phyllis Diller. And why is she on the floor?

Say what you will about Carol, but she DID get Clint as a love interest. Not even Barbra can say that!

The Clint Eastwood pairing is humiliating. First, Channing has to act like she's beautiful and sexy and desirable and she's obviously none of those things. And Eastwood has to act entranced.

But her figure was lovely, r375......

IBDB isn't always correct and they're especially bad when it comes to documenting replacements. I don't think Noises Off ran very long once Jane Curtin and the new cast took over so it's quite possible Jane came in as a new standby but IBDB didn't pick it up. Or she might have been a vacation replacement.

[quote]I don't think Noises Off ran very long once Jane Curtin and the new cast took over

The contracts for the original cast expired in the middle of July. The producers tried to breathe life into the show but it just died a mid-Summer box office death. It was gone when Autumn came.

R370 Because he is overrated and the score is total shite?

R379, not that I disagree, but who "he"?

Ha, the boy in Jamie, so much press, such few skills

London production of King & I with Kelli O’Blanda & Mushmouth Wattanabe is being filmed tonight for cinema release in the U.K. and US this November. Hope Ruthie is in it.

There’s a passageway linking 47th/48th streets on the same side of the block as the Cort which can be used for the Max/Diana exterior walk and talk scene in Act 2. It will be far more convincing than the south bank of the Thames was when it was done at the National.

[quote]London production of King & I with Kelli O’Blanda & Mushmouth Wattanabe is being filmed tonight for cinema release in the U.K. and US this November. Hope Ruthie is in it.

I think she's still walking with a cane. I'd hate to see her performance captured like that.

Someone in the cast (Bart Sher?) wrote on twitter that Ruthie was so wonderful in her first performance that it will be hard ever to imagine her character without a cane.

Ginger Rogers has no right making fun of singers better than her. When was her first (or last) hit record?

A Lady Thiang with a cane does not sound so odd.

r383 What does this exterior scene add to the play? Offhand, it just seems like a stunt. (Not even a coup de théâtre!)

Some standbys don't want to be listed in the Playbill.

why?

[quote]Mabel wakes up to realize she could go down the wrong path

Why would you want to do that? It’s not accurate to what happened. Mabel’s “descent” is one of the most interesting things about it.

Of course my heart goes out to her but nobody needs to see Lady Thiang with a cane. It’s almost unseemly because it reminds the audience of the actress’ personal tragedy and takes them right out of Siam where they should be. Seems like cheap sentiment which I thought we all detest.

The list of notable hit songs by George Gershwin, Cole Porter and Irving Berlin, not to mention Al Dubin and Harry Warren, that were introduced by Ginger Rogers when she was on Broadway in Girl Crazy and in 1930s musical films would be far too long to list here.

I'd be interested to see lists comparing her to other female singers with multi-hit songss, in films or otherwise.

[quote]Of course my heart goes out to her but nobody needs to see Lady Thiang with a cane.

It sounds like your heart might be a couple of sizes too small.

[QUOTE] Grapes of Wrath on Broadway had a swimming pool.

Didn't Gary Sinise go full frontal in the swimming scene?

Sounds to me like the cane works perfectly with Lady Thiang’s story, making her an even more poignant character.

Doesn’t look like it, r394.

Jim True is the one who went full-frontal in The Grapes of Wrath.

I can't imagine a cane is going to pull the audience out of the story. Jesus.

[quote]I can't imagine a cane is going to pull the audience out of the story.

People might think the character is a lesbian.

Ew, Gary Sinise, put your clothes back on!

[quote]Jim True is the one who went full-frontal in The Grapes of Wrath.

He’s very cute, even in his 50s. He seems to have done a lot of nudity, but I can’t find any full frontal shots online.

Jim True Frost

Jim again

Ahhhhh! Jim True Frost. Yes, he needs to come back to Broadway.

Well, there are two ways it could go...onstage, a character with a cane could indicate a metaphorical weakness, instability, infirmity, even death...or wielding great power. Think of the tyrannical husband in ORPHEUS DESCENDING...who commands his wife and household with the beating of a cane on the floor. Ultimately, I guess it depends on how it's staged, directed and played.

Think of it as a walking stick, not a cane. It could definitely make Lady Thiang seem rather majestic and certainly set her apart from all those other wives.

Or they could just have her use a cane, for fuck's sake. What would you have her do, raise her cane on "This is a man who stumbles and falls"? Even the kid from Glee didn't have to explain why he was on a wheelchair.

Looks like a Datalounger had a night out at the theatre...

He looks a little like Seth Rudetsky in that photo.

For all the "concerned" Boyd Gaines fans out there, he'll be appearing at Princeton's McCarter Theater in The Age of Innocence.

He sends his love!

Gary Beach is not well. Sad.

R409 Thank you, dear!

[quote][R371], that is one TERRIBLE cover photo. Carol looks like she's a drag queen doing Phyllis Diller. And why is she on the floor?

Jack Cassidy was behind the camera?

[quote]Of course my heart goes out to her but nobody needs to see Lady Thiang with a cane. It’s almost unseemly because it reminds the audience of the actress’ personal tragedy and takes them right out of Siam where they should be.

Maybe to today's audiences, but do you think people in 50 or 50 years are going to watch the broadcast and think "isn't that the lady who didn't look both ways before crossing the street?"

You can see pictures of Boyd in the background below.

Keep the cane r407, and give her a straw hat. Listen to Something Wonderful....total soft shoe!

Word is that Kelli O’Hara loves the cane so much, she’s thinking of using one as Lilli Vanessa in Kiss Me Kate.

i, r417.....

Why did Jim True change his name to Jim True-Frost?

That's because that was television, r407, where everything is literal and has no meaning outside itself. But in the theatre, everything is a metaphor and has greater resonance.

Those arm gestures at the end. Donna's such a ham. Love it.

[quote] Are you sure about this? Jane Summerhays was understudyng Jane Curtin? I had heard that "name" actors sometimes understudy, so its possible but not listed on ibdb?

Yes, I am sure. I have the Playbill that she signed for me personally. However she is NOT listed in the Playbill. I always like the actors to sign by their names. Jane signed the back of one of those "at this performance the role of..." and I taped it to the inside. From that performance, I have the signatures of Jane Curtin (super nice, was smoking a cig), Byron Jennings (a little brusque) Jane Summerhays (swoon, idol), James Riordan,(doll and tall) Kali Rocha (don't remember what she is like) and Kaitlin Hopkins (super nice) As I mentioned my partner was the sub house manager for a few weeks. Said Jane was always nice and said hello by name.

So Boyd isn't void? Void. No, Boyd. Boyd. No, void.

Here's your tour Dolly. Just watch the first few minutes. This is from five years ago and she's out of college now. Big girl but fantastic.

[quote]Here's your tour Dolly. Just watch the first few minutes. This is from five years ago and she's out of college now. Big girl but fantastic.

All those women are exactly the same. You can't tell one from the other. Not one with personality. Just belt-screamers.

I beg to differ. The girl doing Dolly was clearly superior to all of the others.

Kathleen Marshall has three Tonys. Her bother Rob doesn't. Does he care?

r424 Goes flat, sings ahead of the music. All in one minute.

R423 YES Boyd is back, baby!

So guy who constantly infers he is ill can go get fucked much

Careful, r429. For all you know, Boyd-is-ill troll might also be Don't-start-a-sentence-with-so troll.

[quote]Why did Jim True change his name to Jim True-Frost?

He got married. His wife’s last name is Frost.

R431 How modern

Carol Channing looks so much like a man it's surprising there aren't more Mae West-style rumors about her - you really could see her whole persona as a drag act

R433, she looks and SOUNDS like a man. Have you ever heard her sing the opening verse of Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend on the original cast recording? You would swear it’s a man singing.

Carol has one of those voices that can go really low but it also can go really high.

Interesting that Carol sometimes went out for Eartha Kitt parts like "Archy and Mehitabel".

Speaking of LEGENDS, did anyone else besides me see the tour with Linda Evans and Joan Collins a few years ago? I went to see it ony because I'm a huge Joan Collins fan, but I never warmed up to Linda Evans. I wish Joan would have done the show opposite Diahann Carroll. I loved it when those two sparred on Dynasty.

R437, I saw both the original "Legends" and the Joan and Linda version. The play was even worse than I had remembered, and Joan and Linda didn't do much to elevate the material. Linda had never acted on stage before and looked uncomfortable. But the main problem was that the play is a piece of crap with barely a laugh in it. Diahann Carroll wouldn't have helped. No one can make that script work.

[quote]No one can make that script work.

Not even the black maid who does the split?

Actually, there was one nice moment at the very end of the original production. Channing and Martin sang a few bars of the Cole Porter song "Friendship" (shades of Lucy and Ethel) and did a couple of simple dance steps. The audience loved it, mainly because it was the sort of thing they had entered the theater hoping to see.

Needless to say, the song and dance were dropped from the Joan and Linda version.

Actually that song was "Accentuate the Positive" R440.

There's a tale in DIARY OF A MAD PLAYWRIGHT re: Mary's memory and the song: "Mary's out there singing 'you've got to accentuate the negative!'"

Yes, those high school girls were totally generic. Shows why Channing, Verdon, Merman, Peters, etc. were sui generis. Not a moment of originality in any of these young women. And the clip revived my nightmares of judging hs speech contests back in the day.

[quote]Actually that song was "Accentuate the Positive"

You're absolutely right, R441. It all comes back to me now. My only excuse is that I saw the production in 1985, and it was not one of my more memorable evenings in the theater.

[quote]Yes, those high school girls were totally generic.

Whatever happened to the musical theater voice? Martin, Verdon, Channing, the A Chorus Line girls (other than Kay Cole who had an extraordinary belt used to perfect effect) never belted their songs. Now it seems like every theater girl has to belt so the Chinese can hear it. Was it the invention of rock music that created this fad?

I thought one of the best things about LEGENDS! was in the very first scene, when Gary Beach's character, Martin Klemmer, calls Sylvia Glenn (Carol Channing) on the phone. Off-stage, Channing answers the phone with the most marvelously affected 'Hallllooooooooo?', just like you would've expected an old film star to do. The audience of course recognized her voice immediately and roared with laughter.

Unfortunately the evening went quickly downhill after that.

R444, it probably has to do with our need for more and more. If you listen to Scott Joplin played as it was originally intended, it sounds like a dirge. We expect it faster and bouncier.

Another good example is comparing the various Brotherhood of Man stagings from Bobby Morse to Daniel Radcliffe. Morse does very little dancing until the last 60 seconds or so of the number, and what he does is very easy choreography. Radcliffe not only starts dancing about 1 minute into the song, he is expected to both sing and do elaborate choreography. The Matthew Broderick versions falls somewhere in between, but is a full production number with men and women.

Tootsie's opening at the Marquis Theatre on April 23.

Are the Chinese hard of hearing?

Gotta love that Broadway World doesn't know its "its" from its "it's."

r446 Ashford ruined everything with overly busy choreography. Company Way made no sense because he made it about him instead of about the great lyrics.

[quote] The Maggie in the Jane Summerhays clip is pretty fucking awful.

Assume you mean her singing because she had no dialogue. What didn't you like about her? I thought she was good but I have no musical training.

R449, true, but it continues the trend that was evident in the Broderick production- making Brotherhood of Man into a big Brotherhood of People production number that was as much about Lillias White as it was the star of the show.

I seem to remember that there was also a problem with Footloose because the chorus was expected to do elaborate choreography and sing at the same time and nobody seemed to understand why it was not possible.

R444, none of the ACL girls were singers, they were dancers but you can see they tried to belt, McKechnie especially. Verdon and Channing were never singers and probably incapable of belting. Ever heard of Merman? Streisand? The history of Broadway musicals is in the belt of female divas and that was possibly because it was before miking.

[quote]Ever heard of Merman?

Merman was the first Broadway belter. There was really no belting before her: Show Boat, Oklahoma, Carousel really don't have belt music.

After Merman, Streisand came along, then Patti LuPone and then the floodgates opened and now every girl has to do it.

Merman made her Broadway debut in 1930. If she was the first, that's nearly a Century ago. That was before Oklahoma and Carousel but one could see "Can't Help Lovin Dat Man" being a belt song.

She was yelling, r450, and that last note was a full-on shriek of questionable pitch.

r452 r453 r454 What's the difference between Merman belting and modern belting? If Merman didn't need a mike because she belted, how come modern belters are miked?

Merman did use a mic for Gypsy and certainly the revival of "Annie Get Your Gun". But Merman's entire style, pitch, delivery, enunciation, tone, volume, etc. was all geared towards the theater which is why she never achieved any crossover appeal but was a Broadway legend. Today, it's more important to be a pop star than a Broadway star. Honestly, the only ones who truly go for that over-the-top presentation are drag queens doing Merman or Channing.

I went to see Les Miz on Broadway in the late 90s. The woman playing Eponine screamed all her music. On My Own sounded terrible. Zero nuance.

Modern musical theater audiences love screaming songs now.

Wicked is just 2 and a half hours of horrible songs being screamed at you.

Saw CARMEN JONES and wondered why those powerful singers had to be miked in such a small space. Anyone know?

Dolly! tour cast has been announced!

[quote]The previously announced Ms. Buckley will be joined by Lewis J. Stadlen (Horace Vandergelder), Nic Rouleau (Cornelius Hackl), Analisa Leaming (Irene Molloy), Jess LeProtto (Barnaby Tucker), Kristen Hahn (Minnie Fay), Garett Hawe (Ambrose Kemper), Morgan Kirner (Ermengarde), and Jessica Sheridan (Ernestina).

Wow Barnaby has really become the gay role

[quote]Ashford ruined everything with overly busy choreography. Company Way made no sense because he made it about him instead of about the great lyrics

Agreed. "Grand Old Ivy" was another number that was ridiculously over-choreographed, with the whole male ensemble coming on for that fantasy football game.

[quote]It continues the trend that was evident in the Broderick production- making Brotherhood of Man into a big Brotherhood of People production number that was as much about Lillias White as it was the star of the show.

The joke of "Brotherhood of Man" in the original HOW TO SUCCEED, and in the movie, is that suddenly the uptight, severe, battle-axe, white executive secretary played by Ruth Kobart starts to let her hair down and sing gospel-type music in her operatic soprano voice. When the character is played by Lillias White or some other woman of color with a gospel-type voice, the moment becomes very literal and the joke is destroyed.

[quote]One could see "Can't Help Lovin Dat Man" being a belt song.

But it wasn't belted as performed in the original SHOW BOAT by Helen Morgan, whom you must know had a very lyrical voice with basically a soprano timbre.

Any gossip on Spencer Garrett? He appeared in House of Cards with his good ol bud Spacey. Last I heard he was dating CNN 's dana bush

R458, that's exactly what people said about the original WSS which was NOT a hit on its first trip through Broadway.

[quote]that's exactly what people said about the original WSS

No they didn't. There's no belt songs in WSS. People didn't warm to it originally because it was too modern day. It talked about gang warfare and people wanted escapism like The Music Man.

R465, audiences HATED the jazz songs, which was a huge departure for Broadway. Point being that older audiences are always putting down what is currently successful.

Productions constantly running all around the world notwithstanding, has any Broadway run of West Side Story EVER been a hit?

Miss Kobart has entered the room....

R467, both Gypsy and WSS played for over 700 performances so while they weren't huge hits, they were flops either. Very interesting that Gypsy comes to Broadway it seems every year but WSS seldom gets a revival.

[quote]it seems every year but WSS seldom gets a revival.

Because you need legit voices to sing that score and most of today's kids can't sing it.

According to IBDB, both Gypsy and West Side Story have been revived 5 times. WSS's also getting another revival by Ivo Van Hove.

Sorry, make that 4 times.

R470, that's such baloney. If Chita Rivera could sing that score, anyone could.

[quote]Those arm gestures at the end. Donna's such a ham. Love it. '

Bette could have had lunch up at the top of the stairs before the applause subsided so she could start the number.

[quote]both Gypsy and WSS played for over 700 performances so while they weren't huge hits, they were flops either. Very interesting that Gypsy comes to Broadway it seems every year but WSS seldom gets a revival.

Those were huge hits, shows didn't run twenty years like they do now. "Fiddler On The Roof" started the long run trend. Then "Grease" went longer.

Plays ran for longer because they were obviously cheaper. King and I, Guys and Dolls, Annie Get Your Gun, Kiss Me Kate, Damn Yankees, Pajama Game, Sound of Music were all 1,000 plus performers.

Uh, no, r474. “Oklahoma!” started the long run trend in the 1940s, running 2212 performances. Prior to that, no musical had even reached the 1000 mark. South Pacific came in at 1925 performances.

[quote]Very interesting that Gypsy comes to Broadway it seems every year but WSS seldom gets a revival.

I used to love Gypsy, but now I’m tired of it. Please don’t make me tired of WSS too.

R477 Krup you!

One of the other differences is that WSS has a good (even great) movie version.

Gypsy’s movie version sucks. Not as bad as Mame did, but pretty bad.

There's no comparison between the movies of "Gypsy" and "Mame." I've never understood the hatred for the movie of "Gypsy." Except for some minor book changes it's actually quite faithful to the original. No, Rosalind Russell was not Ethel Merman, but she was very effective in her own way.

Uncle Jocko IS Herbie!

Say what you will about the movie of "Gypsy," but it did have future '70s TV stars Morgan Brittany (billed as Suzanne Cupito) and Ann Jillian sharing the role of Baby/Dainty June.

R479, following that logic, "Mame" should be revived often. Even when they tried it with Lansbury in the '80s, it was a gigantic flop.

The 2nd act portion of the Gypsy film isn't too bad, but getting there seems like more of a slog than it should be. I prefer act 1 of that show to be zippy and fun. All the useless narration by Rose (were 60's audiences THAT fucking stupid?), Herbie and Uncle Jocko being the same person (why?), and switching "Some People" and "Small World" seemed like idiotic, useless changes. Don't even get me started on how they fucked up Louise's arc by making June run away with some chorus boy and not Tulsa. That moment should really sting for Louise, but it doesn't sting anywhere near as much when they get that little farewell scene. I feel like Louise should feel as betrayed as Rose at that moment.

For all the crap in the first half, the second part evens out and is pretty faithful to the stage show, even if they're still directed with zero imagination. I always wonder why both the 60's film and 90's TV film depict "Rose's Turn" in such a bland fashion. Rose singing on an empty stage works in the theater, but on film, it's really dull. They couldn't have given her some chorus boys or horny guys in the audience asking her to "take it off" or something?

I got my hands on a copy of the screenplay for the proposed Streisand version and it's legitimately wonderful. Unlike I'd feared, they didn't soften Rose up at all or give her more to do. A shame it never happened. I mean, I don't think I would have wanted to see Barbra in that role anyway, but the script was very good and perfect for the screen.

Just about every girl on Broadway these days is a bland belter/screamer and every guy is high, nasally pop tenor. So boring. One can only hope that'll go out of fashion soon. Even worse, none of them have any personality.

[quote]They couldn't have given her some chorus boys or horny guys in the audience asking her to "take it off" or something?

Wow, that is a really bad idea.

Dob’t stop there, r484. Tell us more about the Streisand Gypsy script. Who wrote it? Did they keep all the songs?

Inquiring minds want to know.

"audiences HATED the jazz songs, which was a huge departure for Broadway. Point being that older audiences are always putting down what is currently successful."

That is simply not true. When released, the OCR landed and remained on the Billboard charts for almost FOUR years, peaking at #5. And there were early covers by Rosemary Clooney and a medley of seven songs by Sammy Davis, Jr. Granted, it wasn't till the movie debuted that the score's popularity truly soared.

"I feel like Louise should feel as betrayed as Rose at that moment.

Fascinating insight and very true, r484, and, predictably, Louise's heartbreak takes a distant back seat to Rose's feelings.

I agree it wasn't a good change, but having Tulsa leaving with the others (after June elopes with Jerry, whoever the hell he was) did give Natalie Wood a brief bittersweet goodbye scene with Tulsa. Maybe that was the reason for it.

This draft was one of the more recent drafts. Not the Julian Fellows drafts (although, I'd love to read that. Is it true that it opened with Rose dead in a coffin?). All the songs were there and accounted for except for the reprise of Small World in act II. They added back in "Mama's Talkin' Soft" for young June and Louise to sing as Rose and Herbie walk around town at night on a date.

The script opens with an unseen Rose (her face is obscured) walking into an alley and paying a homeless man to start a fight so that she can sneak into the stage door where Gypsy is performing. She has a look around and it turns back to the beginning at Uncle Jocko's. "Some People" is staged with lots of movement around the house and ends with Rose getting the kids and leaving. They stop in a town and Rose pretends to be faint and pulls out the "unmarried woman card". She says manipulates her way into getting booked at one of the lodge halls.

Everything else plays out mostly as is with Rose meeting Herbie at their next stop, Small World, time passes, Louise's birthday/Mr. Goldstone/Little Lamb, the big audition with June...I remember there being a scene with June, Louise, and Tulsa in there somewhere that was very sweet where they meet on the stoop of the hotel. All I Need is the Girl happens and then June and Louise go see a movie and that's when June leaves. She never tells Louise that she's running away, but we can tell that June knows this might be the last time she sees her sister and it's a very beautiful scene and a nice addition. Everything's Coming Up Roses plays out as it usually does and everything else is pretty faithful to the stage show after that except for one really awkward moment (perhaps Barbra trying to soften up Rose?) where they've just been talking about how burlesque is their only choice now and Rose grabs Louise and hugs her saying "please, don't ever leave me." It felt a bit melodramatic, especially at that moment.

Louise's rise to stardom is treated like a montage and it works really well and then we pick up to "present day" and Rose has her falling out with Louise and goes out on stage and "Rose's Turn" happens, but they stage it so that after "this time, boys, I'm taking the bows..." Rose suddenly transforms into a golden gown and there are lights everywhere and it sounds much more exciting than any other filmed version I've seen. The end with Rose and Louise on stage is word for word and ends with Louise walking out before Rose, Rose gets one last look at the stage, goes over to the ghost light and turns it off. End of movie.

R488, that's wrong. According to Billboard, WSS OBC peaked at #38, spent 38 weeks on the charts and its peak week was August 31, 1963, three years after the movie

That Streisand Gypsy draft sounds way better than it has any right to be. I'm kinda sad it'll never happen now. Is it weird that I'm sorta proud of Babs for not softening up Rose? You'd think she'd actually want to keep the reprise Small World.

r 421

Poor Donna is alwaya a little...under pitch.

r491 Is this the version written by Richard LaGravenese?

R446 - the Radcliffe 'Brotherhood' number was one of the worst P.O.S. stagings I've ever witnessed. It was totally anti-musical comedy and the dancing/choreo had NOTHING to do with character or the scene at hand. It was athletic -- that's IT. Making Radcliffe and the rest dance around like they did was a travesty and made me long for even the (slightly misguided) Broderick version. At least that one had some old school musical comedy basis to it -- Rob Ashford's dancing was humorless and had no bite. Fosse's version with Morse had all the specificity, snark and joy you could ask for. The Radcliffe production seemed to forget that even in 1960, the show was a SATIRE.

Yes, that was the LaGravenese draft. It had an STX watermark, so it must have been the most recent draft once they moved the project there.

What the hell kind of Theatre Gossip thread is this without any mention of Follies? (I think, I didn't double check.) Here it is, the all-time worst professional performance of I'm Still Here. Watch it to the end. You don't want to miss the falsetto and the flying kick.

Oh, dear. Never have I appreciated Yvonne De Carlo quite so much.

I kinda like Betty's sassy, lighter version. It's like watching Molly Shannon's Sally O'Malley do the song. I hate seeing it being played so angry all the goddamn time. Relax, bitch. This isn't "Rose's Turn."

I know this used to be a theatre gossip thread (but morphed into faded memories of 20th century entertainment) so asking a theatre gossip question ... How did David Binder get to lead producer of Network instead of Jeffrey Richards (who did Bryan Cranston's last show) or Scott Rudin (who was rumored to have the show in the bag)?

Here's something.

Costume designer William Ivey Long's been accused of sexual harassment by Michael Martin, who had his own relatively popular thread here on DL. He was the guy who ran the blog Piefolk where he'd bake desserts in nothing but an apron. Anyone remember that?

R502, he looks about 20 years too old for William Ivey Long.

[quote]I know this used to be a theatre gossip thread (but morphed into faded memories of 20th century entertainment) so asking a theatre gossip question ... How did David Binder get to lead producer of Network instead of Jeffrey Richards (who did Bryan Cranston's last show) or Scott Rudin (who was rumored to have the show in the bag)?

This is gossip fodder? I think I prefer faded memories of 20th century entertainment.

R503 The harassment occurred in the 90s when Michael Martin was just out of college.

There's a looooooooong list of those Long boys coming...........

I think WSS does not get revived much because the book is awful. The original choreography and songs are outstanding, but the book is tedious and unbelievable, and has absolutely no emotional depth. Also, when it first opened, the shock of having an act end with a murder was electric and "now" and simply something no one had done before. Now? Yawn. The elements are there -- hell, it still works for Romeo and Juliet! -- but the characters in WSS are too naive and simplistic and insincere for it to work now. I know, let's get Harvey Fierstein to rewrite it, so it's about a straight man who falls in love with a trans!

R505, straight out of college, he would still be 20 years too old for William.

R507, the excerpt from WSS in Jerome Robbins Broadway was superb. I even remember how it started. The emcee said it was the story of a boy (Tony enters) and his friends (Jets enter) and the audience suddenly got quiet. And the story of a girl (Anita enters on the opposite side) and her friends (Sharks enter) and I might have that reversed. But it totally got us ready for the sequence and the entire thing, complete with the "Somewhere" ballet was just amazing.

A friend of mine played Anita in a big, professional production of WSS in Germany and said that it was the hardest show she'd ever done. The Robbins choreography alone was killer, never mind singing while doing it, plus nearly being raped nightly and emoting over all the death and destruction of lives. So any revival needs a full cast of triple threats who can make you forget the dated and clunky book. (Agreed with R509 about the excerpt in Jerome Robbins Broadway. There's another fantastic show I'd like to see again. It, too, needs a huge cast of triple threats, alas. I would settle with just seeing the Bathing Beauties Ballet excerpt from High Button Shoes, though.)

What a sad story, re William Ivey Long. It has the ring of truth to it, but I wonder why the poor guy waited so long to bring it up. I have never been sexually harassed, so I don't know how I would react, but it is amazing that the MeToo movement has encouraged others to come forward with their stories. I also don't know if it would be something that would affect me for the rest of my life. We all get hard lessons that are painful, but don't those who succeed eventually learn what we need and move on? I haven't been sexually harassed, but I certainly have been the object of some horrible things, and some terrible crippling political office ploys, but you pick yourself up, learn from them, and move on. Only the toughest and most tenacious really do well in this world, non? So if it weren't a sexual harassment, would it have been something else that derailed this young man's career? I am in no way condoning what Long allegedly did, but am I wrong to think that people who become crippled for life from something like that would have just had the wind knocked out of their sails from something else? You've got to have nerves of steel to thrive in some professions, theater being one of them.

I did think it was an odd but obviously thought-out choice to not have a photo of the guy when he was 20, and the object of Long's desire. it would have been interesting to have seen what drove Long to such indiscretion, but it also would have objectified the younger man yet again.

R511, Actually, it doesn't really ring true. WIL is a very fearful person. He might think about doing such a thing, but I cannot imagine him actually doing it. His family has been involved in the production for decades. He is the sort of southern man to whom family reputation is everything. I cannot imagine him doing anything where he might tarnish the family name.

I can't imagine that Long would be that blatant and clumsy, but maybe when you have power you can get away with that.

Wait, what am I saying. That's exactly the sort of masher/groper behavior that Weinstein and Louis C.K. and even patrician Charlie Rose got away with for years.

What was the reason for removing "Together" from the movie version of "Gypsy?" It had practically become a standard by the time the movie rolled around.

Have you heard the recording? Karl Malden, Rosalind Russell and Natalie Wood did not constitute the most mellifluous of trios. (Roz didn't get help from Lisa Kirk on that number.)

Together was filmed but cut. The actual footage is gone but someone on the set the day it was filmed made black and white home video of it. Several years ago that footage was synched to audio version on the soundtrack album, which included the song. It was either a feature on the DVD or a youtube video, I can't remember which.

[quote] think WSS does not get revived much because the book is awful. The original choreography and songs are outstanding, but the book is tedious and unbelievable, and has absolutely no emotional depth.

Say whateth?

I guess somebody found the original footage of Together.

The vocals sound different from what's on the soundtrack album. The album sounds like Kirk. This, unfortunately, sounds like Russell.

Oh, dear.

Tootsie is going into the Marquis? I guess the show is going to be a flop then. That theater has not had a hit for ages

I totally believe that story about William Ivey Long. The stories about him, his nasty temper, his sexual pucliarites, his abuse of others - are legion. In fact, back when there was an inaccurate rumor about a “big NYT story coming” someone speculated that Long would be involved.

But I do wonder why Michael Martin felt compelled to tell his story now. Plus, he was apparently fucking Colby Keller for a while per pix from his blog, which throws major shade on his judgment.

Jesus, if at least one of them was a half way decent singer, "Together" might have been salvageable, but good Lord that's rough. They really cut out all of Malden's musical moments in the film, didn't they? It's not like he was any worse than Roz.

I hate to say it, but Gypsy doesn't need another Broadway revival...it needs a new fucking movie. The ones we have are awful and I don't get it, because it's a great show. Find a way to use that Streisand script and hire Toni Collette for Rose.

Awhile ago, didn't a bunch of people get together at the Public Theatre to tell their MeToo stories?

Did anyone record it and plan to make a musical of it?

Boy, Natalie Wood sounds rotten as well in that clip. You know you’re in trouble when Karl Malden is the best singer in your trio.

[quote] Awhile ago, didn't a bunch of people get together at the Public Theatre to tell their MeToo stories? Did anyone record it and plan to make a musical of it?

Yes. It's going to be called A Crossed Line.

[quote] sexual pucliarites

I want to hear more about these! Pucliarites sound like some kind of nasty insect!

Natalie does fairly well with her other numbers in the movie, but wow, she really is the worst one in that song. It sounds like she's singing up the octave - an octave she doesn't have. Why didn't someone tell her to sing it lower? Surprisingly, Roz doesn't sound too bad on this song.

Roz looks like Charles Busch in that Together clip.

Scott Rudin should produce the film of Gypsy starring Toni Collette and Emma Stone.

[quote]Scott Rudin should produce the film of Gypsy starring Toni Collette and Emma Stone.

I would play Louise, of course.

[quote]Natalie does fairly well with her other numbers in the movie

Especially “Little Lamb,” where she’s dubbed!

I would still love to see an updated film version of "Cabaret" with Alan Cumming and Emma Stone (particularly while Cumming is still young enough to do it). I think it would make an interesting companion piece with the original film.

Don't tell mama!

I really like this staging.....

"I think WSS does not get revived much because the book is awful...the book is tedious and unbelievable, and has absolutely no emotional depth."

Such bullshit. WSS translates R&J into contemporary terms brilliantly (you don't like the slang? Ever hear what's on the street today?); it trumps Shakespeare by making all the action based on human foible rather than coincidence or 'fate'; it has its own take on the tragic outcome, instead of merely parroting the Elizabethan; and most important, it has reduced audiences, including grown men, to tears for 60 years. Yeah, that's some terrible, tedious , unbelievable and unemotional book.

An all-women "Glengarry Glen Ross" to be staged by Amy Morton....who will be cast?

Roz had sensational gams!

R534 that production of She Loves Me was magical. The train wreck that was revived a few years ago was terrible. And krakowski was all wrong for Ilona as was Benanti for Amalia

Lady Thiang’s cane is a coup de theatre!

It'll be interesting to see if any of the Broadway sites pick up the WIL story. So far it's only on Buzzfeed.

Knowing William for 40 years, I have NO trouble believing the accusations, except I'm surprised they're not much worse.

Broadway is really overdue for that #Metoo article, NY Times!

He ain't called Poison Ivey Long for nothin'!

R540. It's now up on ATC.

Have any Broadway people tweeted about it yet?

WIL is designing Tootsie and Beetlejuice this season so his career ain't suffering. Yet.

Wow, what a tuneless, unfunny slog that Roz number is. No wonder The Girl Rush was such a flop.

And why were the desert and train station set in Gypsy so phony looking. It takes you out of teh movie, not even an effort to look realistic.

R452, Streisand never appeared on Broadway without microphones.

R458, there were only floor mikes in GYPSY not body or head or face mikes like today.

I'd be sold on a Toni Collette/Emma Stone Gypsy. That'd be pretty exciting casting actually. Plus, I think people would actually go see it.

A female 'Glengarry' makes exactly zero sense, stupid bloody idea

[quote]A female 'Glengarry' makes exactly zero sense, stupid bloody idea

Sounds like a ridiculous stunt idea, based on the idiotic current notion that there are no differences whatsoever between men and women, people of different cultures, etc.

Re GYPSY, I really don't think Natalie Wood's voice is dubbed in "Little Lamb" or any of the other songs. I think the movie is much better overall than the general opinion, although it would have bee a lot better with Merman and even better with Garland. I agree about the train station set and the desert set looking horribly fake.

Natalie Wood was dubbed for the West Side Story music, but she did her own singing on Gypsy.

Three movie musicals that do not need a remake because nothing would ever surpass the originals: Fiddler, Cabaret and Sound of Music.

[quote]Awhile ago, didn't a bunch of people get together at the Public Theatre to tell their MeToo stories?

[quote]Did anyone record it and plan to make a musical of it?

Sounds like something Michael Friedman and The Civilians might have done

[quote] [R488], that's wrong. According to Billboard, WSS OBC peaked at #38, spent 38 weeks on the charts and its peak week was August 31, 1963, three years after the movie

No, R488 is correct. See the below link. What you looked up was the result of the album having been on the Billboard Top 200 Album Chart (or the iteration it originally was starting in 1963).

[quote] On August 17, 1963 the stereo and mono charts were combined into a 150-position chart called Top LPs. On April 1, 1967, the chart was expanded to 175 positions, then finally to 200 positions on May 13, 1967. In February 1972, the album chart's title was changed to Top LPs & Tape; in 1984, it was retitled Top 200 Albums; in 1985, it was retitled again to Top Pop Albums; in 1991, it became The Billboard 200 Top Albums; and it was given its current title of The Billboard 200 on March 14, 1992.

Did anyone turn down the Hello Dolly tour? Was Betty Lynn the first choice?

Good Christ, that Betty Garrett I'm Still Here was awful. I didn't mind Betty's take on the song (even though she sped through it like her labia was on fire) so much as all the lyric changes, which were really terrible. Did Steve Allen step in to write them?

R555, the wikipedia has no attribution. I was surprised and maybe not surprised that most of the mentions combine both the Soundtrack and OBC's grosses. If it took the OBC six years to reach Gold Record status (and after having the Soundtrack be the top selling record in the country for two consecutive years), it certainly suggests that the four years before the movie came were not great for Larry, Carol, Chita and Company.

The album went gold and hit #5 on the chart in 1962. If you really feel the need to push the #38 thing, then you go prove what was written is wrong. I'll stick with the facts. They've been up there for far longer than your post.

[quote]it certainly suggests that the four years before the movie came were not great for Larry, Carol, Chita and Company

The only thing it suggests is that you're an idiot if you believe that.

R535, the slang is West Side Story has always sounded ridiculous because Arthur Laurents invented his own. He didn't want it to sound dated since slang goes out of style so quickly, but hearing supposed gang members yell out phrases like "cracko jacko" is worse than dated slang would've been.

I've seen all the major revivals of WSS, including the 1960s one with Kurt Peterson, Victoria Mallory and Barbara Luna at Lincoln Center and the early 1980s one with Debbie Allen (I can't even remember the Tony and Maria), and let me tell you, the show is never quite as great as the one you imagine in your head from listening to the OBC album.

The music is indeed timeless but the show itself has always creaked for me. Even lots of movie looks and feels dated and tedious.

I have no idea about how well-selling that OBC was, all I know is it played constantly on our knotty pine-paneled rec room hi-fi in the late 1950s, alternating with My Fair Lady and South Pacific, and introduced me to my future in the Broadway theatre.

Michael Martin’s blog has been his forum for sharing bitter stories of bad dates and his attempts at woke-witty interactions with guys on the apps and whining about Andy Dick putting his tongue in his wife’s actual lady-wife for more than a decade. He’s desperate for attention of any kind but he must have found it waning so he jumped onto the me too movement.

The entire cast of the touring Hello Dolly was announced on Broadway.com

Great cast!!

Wait. I realize this is late in the game--but am I to understand now that Jim True-Frost has nothing at all to do with FROST/NIXON? And I've been mistaken all these years?

And now I have to completely rearrange my memory of his full frontal nudity in THE GRAPES OF WRATH? Which was impressive even from the balcony of the Cort.

Judy

The SHE LOVES ME clip demonstrates once again what a magical, near=perfect musical it is. Also, how much better it is when it's played simply and honestly, unlike the recent version. My admiration for Gaines went up several notches and Kuhn was ideal. Thanks for posting, whoever you are!

You're very welcome, r568.

so why did Scott ellis do it so well the first time and not well the 2nd?

[quote]so why did Scott ellis do it so well the first time and not well the 2nd?

The first time was the first Broadway revival and we hadn't seen it since the original 30 years ago, so it was a straightforward production. The second revival he had a "CONCEPT". Happens all the time. Same with West Side Story. The first "real" revival in the 1980s was decent. Then the most recent revival had a "CONCEPT" that some of it should be done in Spanish.

R559, you don't read too well, do you? This is the proof. Billboard's own site. Read it and weep.

R571, true, but it was also about the time in which it was produced. In 1995, we were still in the Merchant/Ivory hyper-historically correct era. People were far more willing to accept a period piece on face value and characters as being of their time. In 20016, we were in the "girls must be Grrrrr-ls", pander to the audience period. Remember that Jane K. lost Sweet Charity because she demanded that the show be rewritten to make Charity more "empowered". (Can you imagine an empowered Charity Hope Valentine?) The vulgar sexual stage business was also very much pandering to the audiences of today. It was She Loves Me re-imagined as Sex in the City: Budapest.

Someone's in the kitchen with Michael Martin ...

[quote] The vulgar sexual stage business was also very much pandering to the audiences of today.

For a show as elegant and sophisticated as She Loves Me, Ellis' 1995 production also veered occasionally into vulgar terrain. "Romantic Atmosphere" was more coarse than it needed to be, and as the video linked above also shows, "12 Days to Christmas" got schticky as well. But with Boyd Gaines, Judy Kuhn, Sally Mayes and Howard McGillin, the characters didn't act like they were in a sitcom, as in the 2016 production.

[quote] [R559], you don't read too well, do you? This is the proof. Billboard's own site. Read it and weep.

Ok, as I fucking told you once before (but you refuse to listen, because you're an obstinate moron), the Billboard Album Chart as we know it now did not exist when WSS OCR was released. There were two separate charts, mono and stereo, they then merged and then went through several iterations before they became what you are citing.

ON THE 1957-1962 CHARTS, which AGAIN, were the ONLY WAY BILLBOARD WAS RANKING ALBUMS AT THE TIME, West Side Story OCR hit #5 and went Gold. This has all been explained to you before.

Maybe if you read it slowly and move your lips while doing so, something will sink in. Or get an adult to help you.

The lovely Miss Mayes........

[quote]This has all been explained to you before.

R559 - He told you then so he wouldn't have to tell you now.

[quote]Three movie musicals that do not need a remake because nothing would ever surpass the originals: Fiddler, Cabaret and Sound of Music.

I would argue that it might be nice to have a "Cabaret" film that includes the songs and plotlines that were removed from the movie version.

Is chorus boy Andy Mills (Cinderella, Memphis) still around? What's his story? Seems to disappeared since Cinderella closed.

R579, a British Sally Bowles would also be nice.

R576, then where are the fucking charts that say it was #5. Anywhere? Post it and don't think people are going to take your word for it.

Already did, sweetie. Already did.

R583, no you didn't sweetie and if you did, post it again. Oh, it was Wikipedia. Your turn.

Well Billboard itself has West Side Story listed as the best selling album for both 1962 and 1963

[quote]I would argue that it might be nice to have a "Cabaret" film that includes the songs and plotlines that were removed from the movie version.

How close should that be adhered to? In the revival, they cut some of Cliff's music. Should "Why Should I Wake Up?" be restored? And the revival also added movie songs that weren't in the original stage production: Mein Herr, Maybe This Time, I Don't Care Much

I think a movie version would lean towards the vanity of the star playing Sally, so they would probably build up all of Sally's songs. Poor Christopher Isherwood's story is co-opted by a diva.

Sally's amazing - it feels like Broadway let her down, she had (and has) such tremendous talent, and deserved a bigger career. What happened, or didn't happen?

Who the fuck cares this much about the West Side Story cast album? Jesus.

[quote]Sally's amazing - it feels like Broadway let her down, she had (and has) such tremendous talent, and deserved a bigger career. What happened, or didn't happen?

To me, she was always like Karen Mason. A cabaret star who got lucky once or twice with acting roles.

What's surprising about those charts is that My Fair Lady was the best selling record in the country for two years 57 and 58. The Sound of Music took it in 1960 and then repeated in 61 when Billboard went to separate charts for mono and stereo and shared the award with the Mono Camelot. Look further and 64 saw Hello Dolly as the biggest selling record.

Regarding the cheesy slang in WSS. The Boston expression "wicked" is a direct result of it. A local (Somerville) high school principle was afraid that his students would adopt the slang from the movie -- and he didn't want his students to do anything that was associated with gangs -- so he encouraged the students to use the random word "wicked" instead. It stuck!

[quote]And the revival also added movie songs that weren't in the original stage production: Mein Herr, Maybe This Time, I Don't Care Much

I Don’t Care Much isn’t a movie song. It was cut pre-opening from the original production. It first reappeared in the late 80s revival with Joel Grey, miscast Alison Reed, and super-boring Gregg Edelman.

Oddly, even though "I Don't Care Much" was cut from the original production, it remained in the Entr'acte. Hey, since Broadway gossip is in short supply on these threads, maybe on the new thread we can talk about Broadway's cut songs that still make appearances in Overtures and Entr'actes: "MIs'ry's Coming Around" from Show Boat, "It's Nicer In Nice" from The Boy Friend, "Loopin' the Loop" from Chicago...

Nice was cut, r593? It was in the revival.

The Old Piano Roll From “Follies”

That dreadful Penny In My Pocket song in Hello Dolly should have remained on the cutting room floor.

Also "All Things Bright and Beautiful" from FOLLIES.

Yes, r597, good one!

They dropped "Nicer in Nice" from the original Broadway production of The Boy Friend, though I think its been in every subsequent revival.

Would love to know what the original staging of 12 Days to Christmas looked like, courtesy of Carol Haney. Anyone see it?

I guess the revival version is a bit shticky, but I like it anyway.

[quote] That dreadful Penny In My Pocket song in Hello Dolly should have remained on the cutting room floor.

I agree. I would've much preferred one (or both) of the songs writtem for Merman to be reinstated.

r571 Rob Marshall was the choreographer in the first one and heavily involved in all staging. He made that first revival the magic that it was.

It terms of Sally Mayes. I am not sure what happened. She is a Faith Prince type and everything seemed to go to Faith perhaps?

The beautiful Andy Mills quit performing and switched to being a dresser after he got married.

Fiddler isn't a good movie.