THEATRE GOSSIP #328: Trick or Treat Edition

I miss Bobby Steggert.

I was hoping for the "Your mother sucks cocks in Hell" Edition

Starring Patti LuPone?

Patti would've been good in Ellen Burstyn's role in a musical version of "The Exorcist".

Weren't most of the Alan Strangs in "Equus" tricking?

I know I'm in the minority here but I prefer Funny Lady to Funny Girl. I love the Kander and Ebb score, the Follies numbers and the relationship between Fanny and Billy is much more interesting than Nicky Arnstein.

The point of Funny Girl on Broadway became to keep Barbra Streisand onstage for as much of the show as possible. So any storyline with Nicky Arnstein was always going to take a back seat. Some director should do the show from Arnstein's point of view. So while Fanny is onstage, you see Nick in the wings chatting up some chorus girl.

If I recall right, wasn't Barbra contractually bound to do Funny Lady?

Oh sure. Funny Girl from Nick’s point of view. Funny Nick? What kind of an idiot are you exactly?

James Caan was horribly miscast in "Funny Lady".

It was initially to be Robert Blake. I recall him going on the Tonight Show and tearing Barbra a new one as he complained to Johnny that he auditioned and was led to believe he had the role.

Barbra was blown away by Blake's audition but turned off by his attitude. He blew it. James Caan got the part.

Fanny and Billy

"James Caan was horribly miscast in "Funny Lady"."

Only insofar that he was a helluva lot prettier than Rose. But as a macher with charm, Caan couldn't have been more perfect for the role.

I think it may be time for Brooks Ashmanskas to get a new headshot.

Headshot....

Doing press for The Prom....

I kinda like Funny Lady more, too. I love that song "Isn't It Better?" I love that's it's about someone realizing that this person might not be the great love of their life, but they do still like them enough to keep them around. I feel like we've all been there.

I think Barbra looks great in all those 30's/40's fashions and hairstyles, too. A nice peek into what her Rose in Gypsy could have looked like.

You're so right! Her Fanny is even a little rough around the edges yet still charming and likeable so it's definitely a peek into what might have been if Babs had ever played Rose.

Babs' How Lucky Can You Get is definitely "Rose's Turn"-esque. Maybe she could have pulled it off.

Guys, what the fuck is this? Did anyone ever see this live? This has to be one of the best things I've seen in years.

My....God....

R20/21 I'm speechless--what is this from?

[quote]I'm speechless--what is this from?

Hunger.

R8 Yes. She didn’t want to do it but had to because of her contract with Ray Stark. She wrote about it in her Just for the record... collection.

Those clips are from her one-woman show, The Blonde in the Thunderbird. This is the first I've seen of it, but it's been spoken about in hushed whispers for years by those who saw it. It certainly looks like it lives up to the hype. These clips look pro-shot to me. I don't think it ran long and it got awful reviews.

I DIDN'T MEAN TO KILL DADDAY!!!!

I love how she comes in too early the end, and has to wait till the pianist gets to the right place.

Jesus, those Suzanne Somers clips are gold! They're pretty much the textbook definition of camp. I imagine the "Take Back Your Mink" clip is glimpse into what Suzanne would have been like doing "Rose's Turn." Hilarious!

How about Joyce DeWitt as Phyllis and Suzanne as Sally in Follies? Clearly, Suzanne has the pathos for Sally.

One of those shows with the dubious distinction of having more previews than performances. Grossed less than 200K.

I'm obsessed with her happy-go-lucky ending in Take Back Your Mink. She's just told us how she hit her drunken father over the head with a tennis racket until blood was gushing out of his head, but she just can't resit giving us a strong Vegas-style finish.

Once in a blue moon, something like this comes along that means well, but is so poorly constructed and conceived that it becomes a camp classic. This rivals Leslie Uggams/June is Busting Out All Over and Tovah's panty flashing "Rose's Turn" as one of the best things I've ever discovered on DL.

[quote]Holy Jesus, this is bad. Marius sounds terrible.

Yes, no one could figure out why David Bryant got the part. He was semi-cute, but if it was a "Cameron" choice, he could have had much cuter with better voices.

The rumor was that Colm Wilkinson had hurt his back in London carrying Michael Ball around, so one of the requirements for the Broadway Marius, at least while Wilkinson was in it, was that Marius had to be short and thin. Hugh Panaro had auditioned originally and was told he was too tall for the Broadway one, but then they gave him the national tour.

David Bryant, by the way, is still short but no longer thin, and no longer has hair.

Yes, Marius is the Cordelia of musicals, if you catch my drift. Poor Colm, having to carry around the Pillsbury Doughboy onstage. He must have begged him not to pig out on Greggs’ sausage rolls between shows

Those Suzanne Somers clips are jaw-dropingly godawful and two of the funniest things I’ve seen in years. Thanks for posting them!

Hugh Panaro too tall? That's a laugh.

David Bryant sucked as Marius. He missed a lot. Marcus Lovett was his understudy and much better

Thank you for posting those Suzanne Somers clips! It is a glimpse into madness.

I tried to look for internet verification of Suzanne Somers' story about her dad and the tennis racket. I couldn't find any but I came across this gem in the LA Times. Please enjoy.

[quote]Her turning point came totally unexpected when she was still in her 20s. Her young son, Bruce, critically injured after being struck by a car, got well but still suffered from nightmare replays of the incident. Somers took him to therapy sessions at a low-cost community counseling center.

[quote]"After awhile, our therapist said Bruce was OK and he didn't have to come in anymore. But then she looked straight at me and said, 'But you come back. You have the worst case of low self-esteem I've ever seen!"'

^awhile [sic]

^totally [sick]

I had a friend who saw the show and was always saying it was Moose Murders level bad. Still not sorry I never saw it

Now it becomes so much clearer how Andy Mientus got cast

The Blonde In The Thunderbird aka The Suzanne Somers Show was produced by her husband. I bet it took all the money she ever made on Three's Company to get it up on the stage. They hired Ken & Mitzie Welch to write and direct the show. It's a wonder that some of the songwriters or their estates actually gave permission for their songs to be used. The Bermans, Bock & Harnick, Frank Loesser, Harold Arlen. Couldn't anybody say no to Suzanne?

And there's more!!

According to IBDB, one of the playwrights (should I put quotes around that?) of Suzanne's show was a replacement for Carol Burnett in Fade Out-Fade In.

Mitzi Welch was the one who went on many times for Burnett while Burnett was pulling her games on "Fade Out Fade In" - except for the one week that Betty Hutton went on. That's the holy grail for collectors, but no one seems to have any audio of it.

[quote]If I recall right, wasn't Barbra contractually bound to do Funny Lady?

Damn right!

Mitzie and Ken Welch.....

R41, Not to worry about Somers' financial health, she made millions on the Thighmaster.

Her current net worth is listed at $100 million.

Was this show taped for a possible airing somewhere? It certainly couldn't have made it to network TV.

Even Doug Henning has a Tony nomination. Not Suzanne.

She single-handedly revolutionized the garment industry.

[quote]Now it becomes so much clearer how Andy Mientus got cast

Andy Mientus was in The Blonde In The Thunderbird?

But the question is would Suzanne make a better Sally or Phyllis?

She'd combine them into one character named Phallys, r52.

I'd like to see the Thighmaster attachment for that, r53.

Supposedly when David Merrick saw the troubled Funny Girl in Philadelphia he said cut every thing she isn't in. The audience hates the show but loves her. Put her in every scene.

Funny Girl had....

Suzanne Somers as Phyllis

Joyce DeWitt as Sally

Mark Linn Baker as Buddy

Bronson Pinchot as Ben

Some people have said that Jessie Mueller would be perfect for a Funny Girl revival. But has she ever shown us she can be remotely funny? her demeanor is always so drippy and melancholy.

I, too, wonder why people think Mueller is the obvious choice for Fanny. I've never seen her be funny. At all. I don't even think she was a funny Cinderella in Into the Woods. I guess she could sing Funny Girl, but it takes more than that. Hell, even Pia Zadora could sing the score (and sing it shockingly well, might I add), but she wasn't terribly funny. Same with Lady Gaga rumors. Is it because they don't look like traditional leading ladies and can sing the score? I could find a lot of people like that. They have to also be funny (hence the title).

Those Suzanne Somers clips are out of this world brilliant. I haven't laughed that hard in ages. Let her play all the characters in Follies and stand by for LuPone when Company hits Broadway.

[quote]Those Suzanne Somers clips are out of this world brilliant.

Hey, that was my show!

Anybody heard anything about the workshop of Becoming Nancy? Jerry Mitchell is choreographer/director and the leads are Stephen Ashfield, Sally Ann Triplett and Jenna Russell. And Mitchell’s ginger boy toy is also in it, the one named after the child lead of Silver Spoons.

You mean Corky Pigeon?

I love Bea Arthur, but her one woman show was absolute trash. I remember it came out right around the same time as Stritchy's, and I assumed given Bea with the better actress that it would be the better show.... boy was I wrong. While Stritchy spent the night lying, at least they were interesting lies. Bea started the show (I think?) by reading a recipe for lamb vindaloo? She would also in between each song sort of go off on these wild tangents about Lotte Lenya, or just say punchlines from the Golden Girls and say "wasn't that brilliant?" At one point she stared right at the person sitting next to me and brayed ECONOMY! THATS WHAT I LEARNED! ECONOMY!

It was a depressing and altogether disappointing evening, and I couldn't imagine a more asinine show being produced at such a level... until seeing those Suzanne clips. Wow.

What is Becoming Nancy? Is it based on something? Who are the writers/composer?

You said it, R64.

Those Suzanne clips are Valerie Cherish level brilliance.

R20 I saw The Blonde in the Thunderbird. Two moments have lasted in my memory of it: the breakdown about her father while she sang "Take Back Your Mink" (see clip), and the re-enactment of giving birth which she performed in the onstage Barcalounger. I vaguely remembered something about her being in a closet as a child, which one of the clips presents in full.

As Anna Russell used to say, "I'm not making this up, you know!"

Bless Suzanne's little heart. A shame she didn't have anyone there to tell her that this was some of the funniest shit to ever hit the boards. Maybe, given her sitcom past, it was all meant to be a hoot, but I highly doubt it. I always thought she must have been really self-effacing after she did that cameo in Serial Mom, but this just makes me confused.

Someone (Charles Busch, Billy Porter, Michael Urie) should transcribe Suzanne’s show and perform it at 54 Below.

R14 how does he still get work? He is just awful. Dreadful voice and charmless.

I'm surprised that Somers didnt take her show on the road. The set could fit in the back of a sedan, and the" band" could fit on one side of a CD. It would have been a very inexpensive show to tour, and she would have been a sensation in any small town that would have paid to see a celebrity in person.

She still could, I suppose. Frame it as "the show that was too real for Broadway."

R69 I nominate Rufus Wainwright Jr.

Jesus Christ! Those Somers clips are brilliant. If the writers of The Comeback don't use this for Valerie as a storyline in season 3, I'll cry.

Has anyone had any of those young guys in FERRYMAN? Especially the hot one in the tight tight jeans????

What about Peter Saide from Desperate Measures? Who’s had him?

Could Sherie Rene Scott play Suzanne Somers in a musical about the making of the Girl in the Red Thunderbird? It would be the perfect match of performer to performance.

R56 I love that announcer’s ridiculously over-enunciated speech: [italic]“Her name IS Bahhhhhrrr-bra.”[/italic]

And they way she makes up pronounciations: “she-fawn” for chiffon, “oh-pulent” for opulent.

Is that Arlene Francis??

R20, At least her hair looked good.

John Ritter was still the star most people turned to watch in "Threes's Company". He made the show; Suzanne was cute, as was Joyce in her own way.

R64, it’s based on a novel by Terry Ronald. Composer is Anthony Drewe, lyricist is George Stiles. I think it’s about a young boy in England transitioning.

Sorry, it’s the other way around: composer is George Stiles, lyricist is Anthony Drewe. Book is by Elliott Davis.

Somers is a Trump supporter so she can take the show on the road to the red states and make a killing.

She can have open carry specials - Bring your gun and get a free drink at intermission!

It does say Arlene Francis in the credits as the narrator. I've never heard her come up with ridiculous pronunciations like that on WML. Bennett, yes, but not Arlene.

Is there really going to be a season 3 of The Comeback, or was that wishful thinking of a poster upstream? I just recently saw the first two, and thought they were heartbreaking and brilliant.

They have an open door with HBO for a season three of The Comeback if they ever want to do it. However, with the death of Robert Michael Morris - Mickey - that seems unlikely. He was such a grounding force to Valerie, I can’t see the character working without him. Perhaps a discussion for another thread.

She certainly pronounced certain words correctly, r85.....

Arlene used a more conversational tone as a panelist on What's My Line? but you can hear her highly trained mid-Atlantic accent creeping in whenever she was acting or narrating or giving a speech.

One last thing about the possible season three of The Comeback -- it would be an interesting hook if I'm It! was the latest show returning after many years off the air.

Arlene learned diction from Kitty Carlisle, it seems.

Hardly, r91!

Kitty and Arlene were twins from a different Clairol bottle.

A musical about a teen transitioning? That money couldn't be more wasted if they decided to fund the next three seasons of West 40s.

I thought "Becoming Nancy" is about a boy selected to play Nancy in his school production of "Oliver!" and he has doubting parents. Seriously. I don't know if there is a trans aspect to the show though otherwise.

KING KONG: The ape - A+, the show, C-.

Oh, I thought we were talking about There's Something About Jamie.

No, there are no trans aspects to Becoming Nancy.

Becoming Nancy is based on a book of the same title. According to announcement at BWW:

"Set in 1970s working-class East Dulwich, the novel follows David Starr who is cast in the role of 'Nancy' in his school's production of Oliver. As rehearsals get underway, he finds himself falling in love with the captain of the football team, Maxie Boswell, who plays the role of Bill Sikes in the play."

[quote]KING KONG: The ape - A+, the show, C-.

Is the puppet anatomically correct? How do they handle that?

[quote]Is the puppet anatomically correct? How do they handle that?

It takes four puppeteers to get it up.

King Kong is hung. Who's had him?

Sorry, no puppetry of the penis at King Kong.

Betty Buckley met Kong before she left town and proclaimed “Now that’s a meal and a half!”

What happened to all the chorus boys who used to post about things like blowing Roger Bart, and Max Von Essen on the lazy susan? Has sex disappeared from Broadway?

Von Essen is practically a daddy by now.

So who hosted Today's 9 AM hour this morning?

Karen Ziemba, R106. And she was fabulous.

R104 Well it's been a while since Andrew Keenan-Bolger had a job on Broadway, so he's out of the loop.

Sorry, I posted r106 in one of the Megyn Kelly threads.

[quote]R104 What happened to all the chorus boys who used to post about things like blowing Roger Bart, and Max Von Essen on the lazy susan? Has sex disappeared from Broadway?

It’s all about talent now.

Disgraceful.

From Playbill:

Jordan Fisher, Vanessa Hudgens, Brandon Victor Dixon, and RuPaul's Drag Race contestant Valentina are among the names announced for Fox's 2019 live production of Rent.

Set to air January 27, 2019, Rent will feature Kiersey Clemons (Hearts Beat Loud) as Joanne, Dixon (Hamilton, Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert) as Tom Collins, Fisher (Hamilton) as Mark, and Hudgens (High School Musical, Gigi, Grease: Live) as Maureen, with Brennin Hunt (Nashville) as Roger, Mario (Empire) as Benjamin, recording artist Tinashe (Dancing With the Stars) as Mimi, and Valentina as Angel. Tony nominee Keala Settle will also be part of the production, singing the solo from "Seasons of Love."

I'm officially old. I don't know who any of these people are.

I'd wager that most people who do know who those people are don't know what Rent is.

How are they going to get Rent past the censors?

Mark is black adjacent? Cannot think of a whiter character than Mark

[quote]Mark is black adjacent? Cannot think of a whiter character than Mark

I always thought that Mark was supposed to be the most like Jonathan Larsen. Sort of neurotic, Jewish, young Woody Allen type.

I just saw a dvd of Everybody's Talking About Jamie. I can't imagine it transferring from London. It is about a high school boy who decides that he wants to be a drag queen for a career, and the tension of the plot comes from whether or not he will wear a dress to the prom. Although the actors are almost all excellent, and the singing was so good I thought that it must have been lip synced, I didn't care for the show. The lead character was a complete and total effeminate poofter, and that, alone, was supposed to be why he is so "fabulous." It had the requisite handsome homophobic straight boy who, by the end of the play, changes his views, and may or may not get it on with Jamie. Not that again! It was one of those "drag queens are so fierce and awesome and funny and the best possible kind of friend you want to have" set up that teenage kids might think was edgy and outre and uber-hip, but it was tired. There were some good elements of it, though, but overall there was just nothing there. I read that it will be broadcast to theaters in the US in the next year, which seems odd to do, considering it has no traction of recognition here. Perhaps they will market the screening to high schools?

And the songs are state-of-the-art songwriting in contemporary musical theatre: pedestrian as can be.

I agree, R118. The number from it that they showed at the Olivier Awards was so generic it was painful. The replacement Jamie is going to be a very talented black performer named Layton Williams. He was wonderful in the BBC series Beautiful People.

R119 He has matured nicely. Fucking wish 'Beautiful People' had gotten a third season

R117 here. Even thought I actually liked "You Don't Even Know It," the lyrics show the lack of professionalism and internal logic within the show. It's the opening number, and he sings about dressing in drag, but the song is sung well before he finally does. How could he be singing about loving something he has not even done yet?!?

I had not seen that clip from the Olivier Awards. It is clear that the vocals on the DVD i saw were doctored, because the singing was studio quality. I got the DVD from my bootleg source, and it looked pro-shot. I suspect it might be the version that will be streamed in the theaters next year. I'm really surprised it is doing as well as it has; I read that they just extended the run yet again. I imagine the audience is high school and younger kids who think the show is edgy and clever, but, alas, it is neither. It's a shame, because it could have been better. It should have ben called Torch Song Elliott.

[quote]How are they going to get Rent past the censors?

Let's worry about "Hair" first.

That RENT cast is so boring and disappointing. They couldn’t even get one B-list name, let alone a true A-lister like NBC always does? Vanessa Hudgens is barely even C-list at this point and the less said about the rest the better. They really blew it. Ugh.

When is NBC finally going to do Bloomer Girl?

They already did...in 1955.

Oops...1956.

I saw "Jamie" in London and it looked and felt and is someone's first attempt at writing a musical: Sincere, often talented, but ultimately inept. There was so real drive or point to the story, no real drama. You knew it all 12 minutes in. My friend -- a tony nominated director -- left at intermission.

aren't some of these Rent performers OLD for the roles, espeically since it's harder to pass as young on TV vs stage? Fredi WAlker was 34 when she sang seasons of love, Keala is 42. Idina was 25, and Vanessa is 29; Brandon is 37, Taye was 25,;

Been there, done that, r124.

The Rent cast does seem to be a little long in the tooth as a whole. Doesn't everyone seem to agree that the ages of the cast was one of the main reasons the movie version didn't work? The older these characters are, the sadder and more annoying they seem. It's like how a 20-something Sally in Cabaret is mildly annoying in her delusions because she might still grow out of it. Start aging her up and get someone in their late 30's/early 40's to play her and it's downright depressing and pathetic and you just want to punch her.

And here I thought I was making a joke about Bloomer Girl!

Isn't that the gorgeous Keith Andes with his hands around Barbara Cook's 19" waist? Why din't he do more Broadway? He had a beautiful voice if this clip is the evidence.

Valentina as Angel....jesus that could be a disaster or a total disaster....or maybe not

Andes had great pipes, r131.....

I ADORE the thrilling, dramatic Corduroy Road! One of the best things Cy ever wrote....

Tall Hope is my favorite Wildcat song. Andes is perfection on the cast album. Lucy is fun, too. Apparently the book is dreadful, though.

R131, Keith Andes fucked DL's beloved Lucy during Wildcat.

I like it too, r135. I linked Corduroy because Andes isn't listed in Tall Hope.

[quote]Vanessa Hudgens is barely even C-list at this point and the less said about the rest the better. They really blew it. Ugh.

Vanessa was terriffic in Grease Live" and she did it the day her Dad died, so shaddup.

Marc Platt is producing, so how the Hell is Ben not playing Mark?

Tall Hope always reminds me of Lonesome Polecat from Seven Brides, etc.

R136 Was she around long enough to fuck?

Follies is a good show.

She wanted them to title the show Wildpussy, r140, but Gary.....

I don’t think older Lucy cared much about sex. She had a wild sex life with Desi, and she felt like “been there, done that” in her 50s.

But of course, one doesn’t look a gift hunk in the mouth, especially one with a huge dick like her costar, so I’m sure she enjoyed the Andes appendage for the five or so months they worked together.

Not a huge dick, r143.......

Please tell me that's not Keith at r144!

By the time Keith was as old as the guy in that photo, he didn't need to pose like that, did he??

Do we really need another RENT? Hair, yes. Rent, no. Still, I guess it's better than another Gypsy or Annie

R146 Nor an old 'Rent', that should have cast young, not mid twenties up

I love Tall Hope, too. Let's give some credit to the wonderful Carolyn Leigh, too.

My two favorites from Wildcat are What Takes My Fancy and That's What I want for Janie. Janie made it to the cast album but was cut shortly after the show opened.

[quote]Mark is black adjacent? Cannot think of a whiter character than Mark

The full name of the character is Mark Cohen, and yes, it is important for the story that he be a sort of nerdy young Jewish intellectual type. The character makes no sense at all if he is a person of color, or partly of color. There is even a point in the show when a street person of color calls out Mark for filming her as a way to assuage his white guilt. One would think that, given that at least three of the main characters in RENT are usually cast with performers of color, it would have been fine to cast Mark traditionally in the TV version of RENT. But this is what we have come to.

Is anyone watching the "Wicked" Halloween special? It won't be on for a few more hours here in the West --is it worth recording?

Nope.

It's worth watching, R151.

Why wasn’t Lucy nominated for a Tony for Wildcat? It seems inconceivable given her level of stardom at the time. And her reviews were decent.

r150 Wasn't there a famous review of Rent that said something to the effect of "all these young kids try their best, but it's a bridge too far to try and buy Anthony Rapp as either Jewish or straight"?

If they were going to go with olds, they should have just gone in the complete opposite direction. Faith Prince as Mimi! Chita as Maureen! Danny Burstein IS Angel.

R128 The wonderful Gwen Stewart sang Seasons of Love, not Fredi Walker. She was 33 when Rent opened.

Didn't she shut down the show for a bit r154 that caused controversy?

Ball was suffering from some lingering illness and kept missing shows. The producers shut down for two weeks but when she returned, she soon collapsed onstage. The producers then planned to closed for 9 or 10 weeks and reopen. Then they found out that due to union rules the orchestra would have to paid anyway. That made the whole thing financially untenable, so they cut their loses and closed before the show had reached even 200 performances.

Out of town, Ball had tried to create an original character. But audience response tepid; they had come to see "Lucy." By the time the show reached New York, she was full on mugging, using all the classic Lucy shticks and mannerisms. Audiences were eating it up but she just didn't have the strength or stamina to do eight a week.

Can one of you bitches start a Broadway sex thread?

R159 Pay the dollar fifty David Merrick

So, on a board I visit someone has posted Patti doing Sunset Boulevard in London, black and white, filmed from the 'house camera' but sound from the sound desk (WOO HOO), has this been floating round for awhile or is it new to the cyberscape?

I'm sure the fact that at that point Ball had become a chronic alcoholic who smoked two to three packs a day had nothing to do with her inability to sustain eight shows a week leading a big, expensive Broadway musical.

R151

The final bit with all the Elphabas and Glindas appearing to sing 'For Good' is worth recording - because you get to see Julia Murney on a Broadway stage. I think Jennifer Laura Thompson might have been throwing the whole thing a little bit of shade as well. She missed her cue, letting Jackie sing alone when it was supposed to be harmony and appeared to be staring at Kristin's crocodile tears in shock.

Idina's costumes were pretty good.

I thought the whole point of MP doing Rent was to star Ben - is it bc he's busy doing that ryan murphy netflix show

The Wicked special was not filmed on a Broadway stage. It was obviously a set in a soundstage. So Murney was not even near a Broadway stage.

Why was Murney so far back in the crowd?

Where was Megan Hilty?

Hilty has too much self-respect to do back-up singing for Cheno.

Today’s the first day of shooting on the F/X miniseries Fosse/Verdon. A friend of mine is on the crew. He said it’s a very exciting project but FX isn’t throwing enough money at it as of yet so both a wardrobe department head and hair department head already quit in pre-production.

WILDCAT.........

Julia Murney is a bitch. That's the reason.

I walk through Schubert Alley every morning on the way to my office. Yesterday Scott Rudin was walking the other direction and he cruised me. HARD.

Told people at the office (we're all a bunch of theatre queens), and they kindly pointed out that I look just like Rudin's husband, but 20 years younger and 40lbs lighter.

[quote]Scott Rudin was walking the other direction and he cruised me. HARD.

Pics please.

There seem to be highly divergent opinions on The Prom in the 2 theater chat rooms.

Not knowing the profiles of most of the posters, I'm guessing the difference is in their ages, with the young loving it and the old hating it. I wonder where the critics will fall on this one?

I can't remember the last time Ben Brantley gave anything a true pan. He seems to love everything these days, as if his life (and job) depended on it. I find Jesse Green far more astute and refreshing.

In the old days, Frank Rich hated most everything so when he wrote a rave review, it really meant something.

Rent sort of lives in its own world. The characters act like young kids but they're not. Benny has to have time to get married and get enough money that the others think he is a sellout. One could argue that it's his wife's money, but would she really allow him to pay for Mimi's drug treatment?

I saw Rent went it premiered at New York Theatre Workshop. It had originally been workshopped there in 1993, but didn't make it to the stage until 1996. The Thompson Square Park riot in the show happened in 1988. The East Village was already slowly gentrifying by '88 but the threat of AIDS was still very real. Audiences in 1993 had a memory of those things, but by '96, it was already in the rearview mirror. However, it was a thrilling experience to see the show in an East Village theater, just blocks from where the characters in the show were existing. (I was also privileged to see Falsettoland in the West Village at the Lortel. You just have such a sense of connection when you walk out of the theater and realize that it's all right in front of you).

I remember when it moved to Broadway, there were some people saying that it was just a bunch of whiny kids complaining. What was lost by the time it moved to Broadway was the zeitgeist. People like me, who had college degrees, were not making it like we had been promised. The Baby Boomers had control and they weren't moving out of the way to make room for us. So the cry of "How are we going to pay this year's rent; next year's rent?" was very real for me and others.

Having lived through the Rent experience, I have an appreciation of what Hair must have been to its original audience. The feeling of seeing your generation onstage is powerful.

On a side note, I think that Michael Grief sucks as a director. All he did in Rent was have the actors come downstage and sing "at" the audience. In the hands of a more competent director, or a young director with loads of talent, it would have been a better show. The coming downstage worked in the small theater over in the East Village. It didn't work for Broadway.

Ben is a little too nelly for Mark at this juncture.

Gavin Creel's "Hulaween" costume here:

On the boards, Prom has been hugely well received, with only a couple of people disliking it. I loved it myself, but cannot imagine what the critics will think.

Digital photography is the bane of BroadwayWorld.

Can you imagine anyone using that much film for such an event?

Prom pretty much makes it impossible for Everybody's Talking About Jamie to come in from across the pond, doesn't it? I can't imagine there is enough demand for two musicals about what happens when a gay high schooler wants to go to the prom. Prom, too, has a better pedigree, and there is more story there, and doesn't just rely on "will he or won't he wear a dress to to the prom?!?!?"

R160 It's been around for a while. It's from the previews so it's fascinating to see the changes made.

R176 Disappointing lack of any bulge

They called her Technicolor Tessie. That was her....whaddya call it? Her.....

Why would SUNSET BLVD. have been taped in black and white at that point in time, even as a bootleg? Hadn't all video cameras been color for years by that point?

The Prom has that quality that critics really hate -- so ridiculously self-aware and show-buzzy insider. Half the jokes could have been in "something's rotten". It's also Casey on a really manic high in terms of direction, and following MEAN GIRLS, that's saying something. Also, it's weird because the lesbian gets the worst material, which tells you where this all male writing team was really at. The whole night I kept thinking they really wanted to write "Drowsy 2." Beth Leavel is great, and worth the price of a ticket, and there are some decent laughs.

[quote]Why would SUNSET BLVD. have been taped in black and white at that point in time, even as a bootleg? Hadn't all video cameras been color for years by that point?

Could it possibly have been filmed through closed circuit? The camera that projects the image of the conductor so the actors can see him/her from the stage?

Let’s get back to Everybody’s Talking About Jamie. It sucks.

Goodness, is Wildcat the new Follies?

The Prom is mediocre. At times grating. Yes, the young ones love it. Those with more refined tastes do not.

Woo-hoo, way to go Mr. Adams!!!

R164

That was the Marquis stage. It counts. Although you might be right that they seem to have limited the audience size - so this may have been another Murney off Broadway Broadway appearance....

I don't know why they put her in the back with Kendra. People at the taping literally complained that Kendra (too short to be behind Sandy Cheeks the Tony Nominated baby-Elphie-standbye) wasn't there.

After her real/fake choked up start to the song, it does appear that Cheno did get verklempt when she turned around to watch Murney sing. She should have ditched that cross for a string of pearls because she went to clutch them and they were not there. Maybe that is why they hid Murney back there. To keep Cheno from seeing how old everyone really is and going into her actual snot cry on TV. They also appear to have bunched the EGT award winners and nominees together in the front: Kristen; Tony and Emmy winner for supporting actress, Tony and Grammy nominee (is grammanee a new word?) as well. Sandy Cheeks; Tony Nominee for supporting. Idina; Tony for lead and two more nominations. Jennifer L T; Emmy and Grammy winner with what, two Tony noms? Lead and supporting? Whatever, she actually has one of those Grammy trophies they give out for singers on cast albums now.

Julia Murney came as Morticia Addams.

[quote]I thought the whole point of MP doing Rent was to star Ben - is it bc he's busy doing that ryan murphy netflix show

Who or what is "MP?"

[quote]Schubert Alley

Oh, dear.

r192 Ben's dad.

R191

Definitely better than coming across as Lurch. But there you go.

That Wicked performance is a joke. A Chorus Line did it years before and much better.

I have a bootleg of Patti in SB. It's so washed out that it appears to be in black and white. It also has Patti doing the Charlie Chaplin bit Swanson did in the film. Obviously, that was cut. It was nice of Bette to invite all of the Hello, Dolly! cast to Hulaween like she did last year when the show was still running. Bette has class.

A Chorus Line isn't a parable about the rise of fascism as imagined by a Foxblonde who likes to think she was really a good person under all her lies and that it all worked out for the best because she knows she is forgiven.

The concert was supposed to be a ratings grabbing stunt for Ariana Grande. But I think she pretty much blew it all on social media and NBC was left with theater buffs who quickly recognized that the concert itself was designed to remind everyone that the songs don't really pack much punch out of context so -- hey remember when you loved this show? Go see it with our tiny new Elphie!

Everybodys Talking About Jamie - he never does drag, which would seem to be the whole point, yet we never see it, stupid. Is way too long and it just gets lost up its own ass, and the Mums 11 O'Clock number is dreary as fuck. He needed to kiss the non love interest boy at the end, and, basically it just needs to be better. FFS, the Muslim girl has the best songs AND character

[quote]A Chorus Line isn't a parable about the rise of fascism

Au contraire. There is a dictator director who yells and screams at people trying to get a job, and bullies and embarrasses them. Then at the end, he sends half of them away because they don't line up with his vision.

If that was Arianas' audition for the film of 'Wicked' fail in everyway

R200

That is the patriarchy! A Chorus Line is about the indignity of living in a world run by the whims of the patriarchy! And it isn't really a parable - it is an actual example.

R199, agreed. The muslim girl had good songs, and a lovely voice. The mom's big songs were absolute rubbish. And Loco Chanel?!? Dear god the whole character and plot line was stupid and pathetic, and all of the drag queens' roles and songs were written as though the writers thought that all they had to do was put someone in drag and hilarity ensues. I've never seen more boring drag in my life. And there were plot holes galore. Yes, why would they not even show Jamie doing drag that night, when there was such a build up to it? I thought the staging of him about to go on stage was clever, albeit borrowed from Dreamgirls. And the whole story with his dad allegedly buying the dress for him? Fucking absurd. How did his mother even know how much it cost and where he got it from? And why would she even buy it if the store owner lent it to him? Were there no dramaturges or outsiders who could have helped the writer and director tidy up the show, because so much of it was sloppy and illogical? And are people really satisfied with an evening's entertainment just because there is an effeminate guy doing his "fabulous" act? Is that what passes for fabulous these days?!? The reviews were overwhelmingly positive. Isn't the job of reviewers to put the play in proper perspective, and offer suggestions and criticism? Or were the critics too afraid of being called out for homophobia if they didn't write a valentine's day card to the show? It did have some nice moments. SOME of the music was good. The acting was uniformly good. The boy who played the potentially gay kid was adorable. I thought the muslim girl's slagging said boy at the end, about how he's a loser, etc was touching and somewhat real, and it did touch on why some kids become bullies, but it was one moment of honesty in a show full of wrong notes. I wish they had explored more, but I'm sure the writers shied away from it because it would have taken away from Jamie and all his drag queen fabulousness.

It is a shame how few new musicians get produced, which makes it extra disappointing when someone is able to get something off the ground and then blows it. The goal shouldn't just be to make money, it should be to illuminate. They are certainly doing the former, it is too bad they are not doing the latter.

I bought a tkt to City Center ACL for one reason: Tony Yazbeck's ass. I hope it's worth it.

After their respective shows close, maybe Beth Leavel and the puppet from King Kong could do a show together at 54 Below. Beth could do comic torch songs and Kong could perform selections from a The Blonde In The Thunderbird.

R203 Oh fuck yes, the Coco character was a trainwreck, not an old queen in any sense. And the beating in the street scene was just ridiculous, went nowhere and affected the character not at all

Good review

[post redacted because independent.co.uk thinks that links to their ridiculous rag are a bad thing. Somebody might want to tell them how the internet works. Or not. We don't really care. They do suck though. Our advice is that you should not click on the link and whatever you do, don't read their truly terrible articles.]

Finally from Variety

[quote]The muslim girl had good songs

Did she sing them with the gingham dog and the calico cat?

Didn't Company get those reviews ages ago?

R190, A few more salon visits and Cheno will be as dark as Tan Mom.

R185 It is indeed from the house cam, and audio is from the sound board. It's black and white due to it being recorded in some kind of night-vision mode, as you can see everything, even during black outs.

Is it me or can anyone else feel the tension whenever Chenoweth and Idina are interviewed together? It's as if they're trying way too hard to prove they actually like eachother. I had a friend in the OBC and he was tight lipped when it came to the rumors they weren't getting along but he did tell me that Joel Grey and Norbert were 'Team Idina.'

Is Kristin supposed to be difficult to work with? Or has she been at different stages of her career?

Kristin will never be tan mom because her ovaries never properly descended. Give the tiny thing a break. She loves you.

R210, that would have been muslin girl, not muslim.

The Fiyero understudy from the original cast was team Kristin. He told me Idina was really difficult and combative during the rehearsals.

I've worked with both Kristin and Idina (never on Wicked) and far more enjoyed Kristin.

Kristin can be a little much, but she is never anything less than kind.

R215

Short story. Kristin is perfection. No there is no tension.

Kristin is rumored to be a dream to work with. Almost everyone who has even met her loves her. She has admitted that she had a hard time during Wicked and has hinted at difficulties for 10 out of the 14 years since she left the show. She had never been involved with a hit before and was apparently unprepared for the 8 shows a week grind extending past the first few months. Especially because she hurt herself in San Francisco and has never recovered from that neck injury.

Did she have an eating disorder that interfered with her endurance or issues associated with injuring herself and not getting good support for recovery and pain management? Possibly. She jokes about going on stage after accidentally 'overdosing' on her vicodin. She thought Laura Bell Bundy was available to go on for her but Bundy was in LA and she took 2 pills when she should have taken 1/2 etc etc ... but there is a bootleg out there of her incomprehensibly slurring her words. Laura Bell Bundy and Melissa Bell Chait apparently went on for her so often that she averaged less than 7 shows a week as Glinda during her 9 month run - and she especially was not present when the Tony voters were seeing the show. She pulled a Lauren Ambrose 15 years ago, one emergency at a time. A few years later she joked about setting her hair on fire while 'throwing up - as you do...' but literally explained away her weight loss before the Tonys as 'stomach flu' in a puff piece where her manager commented that she was 'looking good.' That is a lot to unpack for someone who also presents herself as a paragon of professionalism and healthy Christian self-regard. It is doubtful that she is an actual hot-mess like April Rhodes but she did apparently provide a fair amount of drama (adding a story about her dog eating rat poison in her dressing room to her list of 'fun' Wicked stories some time this week.) during Wicked.

Chenoweth does have a history of hurting herself and then performing while medicated. The injuries are generally attributed to her Meniere's interfering with her balance. She accidentally copied Idina's 'last performance' rib crushing injury by also falling into a hole in the stage before Apple Tree opened. She wore a visible patch over ribs for some other injury during On the 20th Century. The crew of Pushing Daisies all marveled at how adorable she was while stoned shooting her first big episode after breaking ribs in a fall down stairs. She has complained about the seriousness of her neck injury which she got during Wicked but no one has really pointed out how often she has fallen and broken ribs and required medication to make it through a show.

There are also gossip page 'insiders say' (Joel Grey) story that implies that Kristin claimed that Idina connected once during the slap scene hurting her neck more and ending any friendly feelings between them. (Apparently Idina recounts a story with different details that Kristin got hit with Fiyero's rope on stage - actually lifting her off the ground by her tiara and that rather than be empathetically horrified that her injured co-star had suffered a blow to the head, Idina laughed so hard that she almost peed herself.)

It seems apparent that Kristin's publicity people decided to put a story out there that she had 'really tried to make it work with Idina' only to give up when Idina slapped her on stage during the cat fight. It is a Page 6 story you can google because they really did put it out there. But it does seem possible that a somewhat stoned Kristin misremembered taking a blow to the head and her manager thought some Idina blaming gossip was required to make Kristin look less like a sore loser over the Tonys. Instead it made Idina look awful.

But the MOST juicy issue really is this creepy Christian shit that Kristin apparently got into when trying to sell her Christian album:

It must have put a strain on their relationship when Idina won the Tony.

I can't picture hunky Marc Kudisch plowing former fiancee Kristin.

Holy shit.

R221, how could you leave out the bit where Cheno got hit with a light fixture on set of The Good Wife?

[quote]I walk through Schubert Alley every morning on the way to my office

If you I walk through Schubert Alley every morning and past the Schubert Theatre and the theater merchandise store One Schubert Alley, have you not noticed it's actually spelled Shubert?

Kristin was adorably voluptuous before she opened in Wicked. It was very clear why Kudisch would have found her sexy. And a lot of men are turned on by doll-sized women.

I watched a few episodes of Pushing Daisy on Amazon the other night, and it’s slightly shocking how different Kristin looks from the pilot to the second episode. I don’t know how much time passed between the two (sometimes it’s as much as a year) but her face was markedly more gaunt.

Daisies

Ariana Grande really sang Idina and Kristin right off the damn stage.

Kristin Chenoweth has talked a lot about struggling with Meniere's -- which can be a very serious career ending ailment especially for a musician. It causes vertigo (which in turn causes vomiting) and ringing in the ears and often results in hearing loss. One of the ways to treat it is to take diuretics and stop eating salt to reduce the pressure in the ears.

It is quite likely R228 that the rapid physical changes where she looks suddenly old and leathery are caused by attempts to treat bouts of vertigo associated with Meniere's with diuretics.

Kristin is not one of my very favorite performers but she is undeniably good in the right situations and I usually enjoy her. She has always had my admiration because we both grew up in the Bible belt and she has always been unabashedly a Born Again Christian but proclaimed her total support for LGBT equality and gay marriage. That's seriously hard to balance.

And as r231 pointed out while I was typing, she has succeeded despite serious health problems and injuries.

205 A whole lot of words for so little funny. Yep. Nope.

[quote] If you I walk through Schubert Alley every morning and past the Schubert Theatre and the theater merchandise store One Schubert Alley, have you not noticed it's actually spelled Shubert?

I'm not the poster, but I know when I type Shubert on my phone, it ALWAYS autocorrects to Schubert.

I think that one of the ironies of it all is that love her or tolerate he,r Kristin is a better performer when Idina is there. Her attention seeking balances really well with Idina's tendency to lapse into self absorption. Rather than being too carried away acting out every literal word she sings, the shit Kristin does to kill a song seems to actually have real time intent to either communicate more forcibly or to express frustration at being tuned out. Idina's persona of self absorbed moodiness is an ever present obstacle to Kristin's often annoying drive to charm and be the center of attention and the result is that Kristin seems quite genuine and believable when paired up with Idina.

[quote]The Baby Boomers had control and they weren't moving out of the way to make room for us.

Baby Boomers In 1993 were between late 20s and early 50s. Why would they have gotten out of the way to make room for you? What generation EVER “gets out of the way to make room” for a following generation? Have you gotten out of the way to make room for millennials?

I forgot about that Laura Bell Bundy incident which led to her getting fired from Wicked. Cheno was not able to perform, Melissa was hospitalized and dealing with her own illness and, rather than cancel the performance, Cheno went on stoned. Maybe that's why Elphie and Glinda each have at least 3 understudies now? I think the broadway company has two Elphaba standbys plus an understudy.

[quote]She has always had my admiration because we both grew up in the Bible belt and she has always been unabashedly a Born Again Christian but proclaimed her total support for LGBT equality and gay marriage. That's seriously hard to balance.

Actually impossible to balance, since the first of those two things -- the "Born Again Christian" nonsense -- requires an infantile stupidity on the part of the "believer."

Kristin is not born again. She has clearly stated in interviews that she was born Christian the first time was raised Southern Baptist.

There is a lot of weirdness the way she presented her faith from 2005 to 2012. After the 700 Club debacle, she scaled back her southern baptist christian identity and admitted that she is run of the mill non-denominational (and goes to the same church as a bunch of other theater professionals maybe once a month) and that she realized she needed to be a pro-gay Christian and be more of an activist representing her non-bigoted view of homosexuality. But she still presented herself as a conservative Christian in certain interviews. She continued to seem to think she could play both sides of the culture war by talking about her faith a lot when on FOX as if she was a conservative Christian (just like them) who really understood how persecuted they feel as fellow Christians in America. I think the continued blowback from conservative Christians she got during CGB may have finally chilled her tendency to play up to the conservatives.

This interview is actually kind of jaw dropping:

[quote]Kristin is not born again. She has clearly stated in interviews that she was born Christian the first time was raised Southern Baptist.

Perhaps one of the most ignorant things I’ve ever seen on DL, and I’m not referencing her or her beliefs

Kristin intervening....

A guy who was in the OBC of Wicked said that KC would sometimes call him at 3:00 am and use a different voice and call herself Amber.

[quote]I think the continued blowback from conservative Christians she got during CGB may have finally chilled her tendency to play up to the conservatives.

She also lost a singing contract because of it. There was a group of Christian women who had meetings in several different cities. They had scheduled Kristin to sing at each of the meetings. When they found out her true beliefs, they cancelled her contract. So she lost 6 singing gigs.

R242, let's turn that into an expression of surprise. "Well, ring me up at 3 a.m. and call yourself Amber!"

Let's change the subject to Broadway born-again satanists.

[quote]Baby Boomers In 1993 were between late 20s and early 50s. Why would they have gotten out of the way to make room for you? What generation EVER “gets out of the way to make room” for a following generation? Have you gotten out of the way to make room for millennials?

Perhaps I worded the thought incorrectly. We had been sold the idea that if we went to college, it was a successful pathway to a good career. However, those at the tale end of the Baby Boom and Gen X discovered that *everyone* was going to college and there was no way that college could be considered a sure ladder to a successful career. We were the first to graduate with good degrees and not find meaningful work.

NO!

Almost OT. Caitlin Kinnunen in Prom has to have relatives in Finland. Finnish migrants moved to US and to the north Minnesota etc. (Like fictional Rose Nylund and her Lindsrtöm family.) Kinnunen is Finnish family name.

[quote]KC would sometimes call him at 3:00 am and use a different voice and call herself Amber.

Like you've never done that yourself.

[quote]I'm not the poster, but I know when I type Shubert on my phone, it ALWAYS autocorrects to Schubert.

Sure, Franz.

R249, shut up, Amber.

Alan Tudyk was also fucking Kristin while she was dating Kudisch.

R252

Did she live with Kudisch when they were engaged? Did they just both talk at the same time? All the time. That had to be rough for the neighbors.

R240

That was literally the punch line she used herself. (A more thoughtful response admitted that she did her witness thing as a kid in bible camp.)

The weird thing is that she is FAR from alone being a southerner raised in a Christian household who now works in entertainment but she presents herself as the uniquely Christian outlier bravely working in spite of persecution and living her faith against all odds. But the only persecution she has gotten has been from that organization of Southern Baptist women who don't like her palling around with gays.

She also seems utterly convinced that people respond positively to her assurances that she is a nice Christian woman of faith. The way she brings up Jesus in her concerts when she is in the south especially is off putting. How the hell did she grow up in a Southern Baptist family and NOT realize that sanctimonious evangelical church ladies who like to cry and sing and talk Jesus are deeply unsettling, small minded and hateful? No. One. Literally No One thinks that evangelical women are 'nice people' and after her best friend grew up gay in that environment and she herself has been hounded by them, the million moms and Westboro why the hell does she still go into her church-lady Christian mode EVER? I REALLY dread her Tammy Faye phase and hope to hell that musical never gets produced. It was bad enough when she was pretending to be Dolly (as a poor Appalachian country & western woman of faith she just seemed fake) -- but her Tammy Faye phase promises to be pure unadulterated cringe.

Nobody thought "born again" Kristin was wrong when she was sleeping around without the benefit of marriage.

Ariana Grande always looks like she's pooping when she sings.

Maybe she is, r255....

I know I'm late to this but I saw Once On This Island finally on Sunday. Rapturous show, I cried multiple times from the sheer joy exhibited on that eccentric stage. Go see it if you haven't seen it yet.

R257

What stood out as memorable?

I'm still pro-Kristen. She's a much better example of a true Christian than a lot of other Christians I know. She seems fun and lovely and, if more Christians were like her, maybe they wouldn't get such a bad rep.

R258 Everything! I knew I was in for a good time the minute I walked in the theater and saw all the actors doing their thing preshow. But the show itself was just so...theatrical, beautifully directed. I walked in knowing very little about the show and my expectations were exceeded. Alex Newell was the highlight, of course. Wish I'd seen Lea Salonga but I didn't realize she left in June. The girl who won the Tony as Ti Moune was also sublime. I don't know...there's just so much crap on Broadway right now that this just stood out as one of the exceptional shows.

The theater had vast swaths of empty seats, so I'll be surprised if it lasts much longer.

R259

Yeah. I think the issue where she tried to play both sides of the political fence made her seem fake and unpleasant even if you suspected she didn't actually vote Republican.

Since she began to tour with Mary Mitchell Campbell she has emerged as less afraid to be seen as a liberal Christian beyond gay rights. She does not appear to have been tempted to pretend that she can speak for or appeal to evangelical deplorables and has been quick to sign on to Campbell's charity efforts even if things like raising money to help detained children have become a politically polarized issue likely to outrage a few so-called Christian fans.

From a distance Mary Mitchell Campbell seems rather remarkable. Has anyone worked with her? Since the other female music director/conductor on Broadway is reported to be a bullying monster -- what is Campbell like to work with?

Any scoop on Mary Mean-Girls Mitchell Campbell?

Cheno is a fan of the gays and Idina married one. It's a tie.

Painful.

I think the official settlement gave Kristin custody of the elder gays and drag queens while Idina got the baby dykes, bicurious black men, and the trans teens who are contemplating suicide.

[quote]I know I'm late to this but I saw Once On This Island finally on Sunday.

It's nice Circle In The Square has a hit again too. Many have tried.

Once on This Island is not really a hit. Despite rapturous reviews and great word-of-mouth, it just hasn't been selling, playing to half empty houses, and nobody thinks it's going to run much longer or make a profit. And that's sad.

As a revival doesn't it count as a hit for running this long and winning awards and generally being good?

It depends on how you define a "hit." The strict definition is that the show turns a profit. Some well received shows run for two or three years without managing to do that. So a hit in the popular mind but not technically. It's semantics.

They have kept the show running past the expected Labor Day closing day. I think Davenport wanted to produce a show he himself liked and he made a few budget errors that certainly seem interesting. Hopefully the financial loss wasn't too much.

When I think of a hit, I go with the Not Since Carrie criteria. A musical has to run 250+ performances. I modify that for plays (200+ performances). With that in mind, the only flop musical of last season was Margaritaville. So far this season, Getting the Band is a flop. But I wouldn't be surprised if Head Over Heels fell short.

Yeah, it's semantics. Some popular shows don't turn a profit on their original productions but go on to have long lives in tours, stock and regional productions, sale of film rights, etc., and the producers eventually make back their money and even a profit. There have long threads at BWW about what constitutes a "hit."

Nowadays, shows don’t close quickly like they used to. A commercial Broadway musical probably shouldn’t be considered to have staying power until more like 400 performances.

Once on This Island will run over a year. It opened dec 3, 2017. But it doesn’t feel like a hit at all. Except for a brief time after the Tonys, it’s only had so-so ticket sales in a very small house. It’s never been a hot ticket.

Wendy Hiller in SEPARATE TABLES....

Jesus God Almighty

Why was Laura Bell Bundy fired from Wicked?

Come From Away is a hit. Once On This Island was a critical success for the producer -- but having a hit revival seems to be an iffy idea. Is running longer than previous revivals the standard?

Then pay more attention to your life, R234.

Alan Tudyk is a real piece. Still.

Laura Bell Bundy was standing by for Cheno but went to LA (?) or someplace without telling the stage manager. Cheno was unable to perform. Understudy was sick. Cheno had to go on high on painkillers and she should get a purple heart for that. Bundy was fired. But she rebounded with Legally Blonde and Christian Borle. That's it.

As explained above, r275, she was supposed to be covering Kristen but flew to LA for an audition for one day without telling anyone she would be gone. That same day Kristen was too sick to go on and her understudy was in the hospital. When Laura Bell couldn't be found, Kristin had to go on, very sick and very drugged up to get through the performance. LB was fired when she got back.

Laura Bell Bundy got an interesting contract lined up to be Chenoweth's standby understanding that she really would go on a lot (and she did - over 40 times in half a year) and would likely be Chenoweth's replacement if Chenoweth left. I guess she usually got advance notice from the producers and so she did not really hang out at the theater the way standbys do. Apparently she was in LA when Chenoweth's understudy, Melissa Bell Chait had a stroke and was hospitalized. This happened at a time when Chenoweth was hurting from her neck injury and assumed she could sedate herself and let LBB go on. So Chenoweth got gooned on pain killers only to find out that LBB wasn't there and she had to go on.

According to rumor Bundy HAD been given permission to go to LA by a producer. Also Melissa Bell Chait's stroke had hospitalized her early that morning. Bundy was NOT fired for this. She returned from LA and continued to go on as Chenoweth's standby and Bundy assumed she was still contracted to be Chenoweth's replacement.

When Chenoweth refused to extend her contract Bundy actually announced that she was going to be Chenoweth's replacement on social media. I don't even know what that would have been. A blog? Myspace?

Around this time they auditioned Jennifer Laura Thompson (who has just given birth and had been paying very little attention to all the drama associated with the show) for Glinda. Thompson was given the role and announced as Chenoweth's replacement. After Chenoweth left they literally shut down for a while to rebuild things like the bubble to fit the much larger JLT.

Bundy was not fired or technically at fault for Chenoweth going on while doped up. But they probably did use the incident to push her out of her contract. Some rumors are that Bundy asked for too much money.

Apparently this is not audio of the show she did that day...

I don’t understand the significance of that clip : (

Speaking of drama involving Laura Bell Bundy has anyone else heard the story that when she was a child performing in Ruthless! off broadway she and her mom took Christmas week off so they could fly home and spend it with family and her understudy Britney Spears would take over her role. Except at the last minute Brit and her mom said 'fuck it, we're going home, too' and walked out leaving the producers to bring former standby Natalie Portman in for the week?

Never heard a word about that r284 but I saw the show at Actors' Playhouse on Seventh Avenue South and thought it was wonderful, nasty fun. And whoever the little girl I saw was, she was great.

R278 I saw Alan Tudyk nude in "The Most Fabulous Story Ever Told" along with the even more gorgeously nude Jay Goede (who I think has left the business). It was ginger and dark/handsome side by side as Adam and Steve (or Steve and Adam).

I saw Jay Goede in Sex and Longing (dreadful Durang starring Sigourney) and he was sex on a stick.

Why don't they try to revive "Scandal", Michael Bennett's last show that never got produced. Even for something like Encores.

Goede was gorgeous in "Sex and Longing"; yes, it was terrible, but Dana Ivey was terrific in her scenes in what I seem to remember was a role as a very conservatiive born again type crusader against sexual liberty.

R281, I hate it when deliciously nasty theater stories are calmly explained away by people in the know. The fake dirt is so much more fun.

r299, there's rumored to be a complete video of one of the last run throughs of Scandal and many of the performers are still around. It probably could be recreated. By all accounts of everyone who's talked about it, it would have been a remarkable show.

^ I meant r288 above, not r299. Sorry.

R290, the person who claims to have the video is the same one who shall not be mentioned who is a video collector and also wrote a bio on Bennett. Although he hypes "Scandal", I've also heard from a few people associated with it that it wasn't very good. Bennett's staging was, but the book and score weren't.

R283 For years people thought it was the clip of Chenoweth getting confused and messing up the opening number because it was the show she did when Bundy was in LA. Apparently it was just an ordinary goof.

One of the odd things about the made up rivalry between Idina and Chenoweth, is that the same vocal experts who constantly complain that Idina is wrecking her voice and always making mistakes and is unprofessional and hard to work with like to contrast her with the always 100% perfect Chenoweth. But the reality of Wicked was that Glinda isn't as physically taxing a role and Chenoweth messed up as much as anyone but also missed a rather large number of shows especially during the important Tony voter season (regardless of whether she blew her own chances at winning the Tony by skipping shows to shoot the Pink Panther -- it seems obvious that Wicked itself and certainly Stephen Schwartz lost any chance to win the Tony because the voters saw the show with Laura Bell Bundy in the role.)

Laura Bell was not fired. The LB Bundy - Wicked story I heard was that LB had right of first refusal after Chenoweth. For whatever reason they didn’t want to give laura the role when Chenoweth decided not to extend — (the reasons aren’t totally clear) but contractually they were obligated to offer her the role. So they offered Laura a paltry salary to take over as Glinda (something incredibly insulting and refused to come up at all in numbers ) - and LB had to turn it down - especially because it was glaringly obvious at that point the producers didn’t want her there and made it clear by the salary offer and refusal to negotiate.

R290

I am sorry that I worded it to seem like I was watering it down.

Being backstage during a Broadway show is extremely dangerous. It is like being inside of heavy machinery that is being operated. You really shouldn't be there if you are on 'do not operate heavy machinery' drugs. The idea that a producer decided to go ahead and let them strap Chenoweth into the bubble and generally go on with the show while she was under the influence is a little bit scary.

I still want to know who's fucking the young guys from The Ferryman

Alan Tudyk.

Saw Martha Raye do WILDCAT at Westbury Music Fair after it closed on B'way. Martha's co-star with Keith Andes. Martha was hilarious and a little dirty too (she backed away from an embrace with Keith implying his big cock was hard). And, she had the vocal chops to do all of Wildy's numbers; nothing cut. Made a funny speech at the end of the show. Everyone loved Martha except Jerry Herman.

I don't give a shit about Wicked, but I thought Jennifer Laura Thompson was wonderful in the Neil Patrick Harris / NY Phil COMPANY concert.

R261,

I'm friends with Mary-Mitchell Campbell. She's one of the most impressive people I've ever known. Her brilliant musicality is matched with a fierce, non-judgmental morality and an unparalleled work ethic. One reason I think she and KC are best friends is because MMC is not impressed by celebrity but the values and ethics a person has, and KC, at heart, is a wonderful person who, like all of us, has some real issues that accompany her very real talent. MMC gives so much time and energy to charitable causes that I actually worry about the toll that such a work load will take on her health. She can be tough, but what she's doing is challenging, and doesn't have a lot of time for trivial nonsense. Literally. She does not have the time. She is, as you guessed from afar, remarkable.

Thanks for responding R300

Its nice to hear that. Except for the health bit.

I saw "Company" last night at the Gielgud. I thought it was very good. The production is clever, lots of boxes. The book scenes drag but Lupone is as better than ever and "Not Getting Married" is brilliant (if campy). The guy playing the flight attendant is fantastic and that body deserves a bootleg. I am not sure it would be a hit in NYC.

What's the story with Martha Raye and Jerry Herman? Was she not vulnerable enough for him?

Perhaps Martha's dick just wasn't up to his high standards.

This is my favorite Jerry Herman story:

Can't WAIT for the revival of Funny Girl on BROADWAY with Gags as Fanny, Rosie as Mrs. Brice and Lens as Mrs. Strakosh. A trifecta if there eve was one!!

The thought of that revival ^^ gives me a headache.

R299 I think JLT has been sublime in everything I’ve seen her in - agree

R300 that’s so nice to hear. I have spent time with KC and she is absolutely genuine and kind-hearted. I really thought she would seem fake but she’s absolutely lovely and down to earth.

And how long would Gaga stay in the show? 6 months?

R302 why not?

I'd love to see the first part of this number somehow recreated on stage....

I still think that ANY production of FG is doomed to failure. As it's been pointed out, it is not a strong show to begin with, And any and all Fannys would be compared to Streisand's, for whom the songs and jokes were carefully crafted. Had she not made the movie, it would be a different issue, but she did.

R313 -- I don't see why Funny Girl can't be a success. It is not doomed. The score is remarkable, and, although the book might be creaky, it can always be revised. Enough time has passed since the movie and the original production that people will not be comparing it or completely aware of any changes that were made. Plus, very few people remember Fanny Brice, so they could, essentially, bless faithful to the facts than the original production. It would be like Hello, Dolly: a show with a so so book, but glorious songs and a big star at the center. I would see it, even though I have no interest in seeing the movie with Streisand.

FUCK FUNNY GIRL

[quote]and Lens as Mrs. Strakosh.

Lens is too busy writing that Syrian refugee movie for Spielberg.

R298 Top billing Monday, Tuesday you're touring in stock

Lens writing a script for Spielberg?

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Martha Raye was an ugly, unpleasant cow.

Hey, R320. That's my wife you're talking about!

R319 Lens is, about a Syrian refugee, cause that is so in her wheelhouse

It's gorgeous to be graceful....

According to CBS NEWS....

Wall Street is backing Democrats for the first time in a decade

[quote]I don't see why Funny Girl can't be a success. It is not doomed. The score is remarkable....

The score on the whole is not remarkable. Some of the songs have great music by Styne, others not so much, and the lyrics by Merrill range from meh to awful. At least four of the songs in the stage version are mediocre at best: "Sadie, Sadie," "Who Taught Her Everything She Knows," "Find Yourself a Man," and "Rat-a-Tat-Tat."

[quote]It would be like Hello, Dolly: a show with a so so book, but glorious songs and a big star at the center. I would see it, even though I have no interest in seeing the movie with Streisand.

The book for HELLO, DOLLY! is several hundred times better than the book for FUNNY GIRL.

Exactly. Dolly's book is tight as a drum, and funny, whether it's to your taste or not. DOLLY proved that any a number of old broads can fit the role, but very few actresses can be a credible Brice (Barbara Cook notwithstanding). If FUNNY GIRL were easy to cast, there would have been a revival by now. And don't get me started on Sheridan Smith. Gaga could be great, but she'd still be compared, favorably or not, to Barbra.

Mimi Hines kept the original show running for quite a while after Barbra left and was considered to be excellent in the role by many.

[quote]Mimi Hines kept the original show running for quite a while after Barbra left and was considered to be excellent in the role by many.

She was apparently great in the show, and she sure looks and sounds amazing in the few clips of her in it. I agree with the other poster who wrote that, though Streisand is irrevocably associated with the role of Fanny in FG, that probably would not be true if no movie version of the show had been made -- or if someone else had done the movie, but that never would have happened.

Barbra could sing the role beautifully but her acting was always just Barbra being kooky. Mimi Hines knew how to open up and be a clown, so she kept the audience coming because she knew how to be funny. Lainie Kazan was neither.

I'm shocked that there is backlash about Lens writing the Syrian screenplay. Perhaps they weren't happy when the lead character receives anal rimming or sits nude on the toilet eating cake?

Henry Street is another dreadful song.

Henry Street is a dreadful man!

Don't forget Mimi's hubby took over the role of Eddie Ryan and got above the title billing along with her and Johnny Desmond. Today's equivalent would be Neil Patrick Harris playing Tevye and sharing above the title billing with David Burtka as Fyedka.

I haven't seen that Fanny Brice clip in some time, but, man, is she brilliant and hilarious. She and Eddie Cantor (who she imitates for a moment), just the best.

Apropos of nothing...

As a young man, Joe E. Brown was so frickin' sexy.

[quote]Don't forget Mimi's hubby took over the role of Eddie Ryan and got above the title billing along with her and Johnny Desmond. Today's equivalent would be Neil Patrick Harris playing Tevye and sharing above the title billing with David Burtka as Fyedka

Not a good example. Mimi and her husband were already a well known comedy team. So it would be more like Stiller & Meara getting top billing.

314 Hello, Dolly has a great book -- fast moving, funny, well structured with just enough moments of real emotion. Funny Girl is a serviceable star vehicle and barely that.

R111 so 'Roger' will be the only white character? This is getting ridiculous. The far left is proving themselves to be as tone-deaf as the far right. As someone upthread noted, RENT already has several plum roles for people of color. Why also make 'Maureen' and 'Mark'?

Do you all like the show "Follies"?

It's a helluva lot better than anything else being discussed.

Don't forget Dolly had Matchmaker as a strong framework to work with.

Don't forget who is sucking whose hairy ballsack.

[quote]As a young man, Joe E. Brown was so frickin' sexy.

Yeah, what a stud!

R343 one doesn't have to be drop dead gorgeous or traditionally handsome to have sex appeal.

No, but Joe E Brown is neither and doesn't have sex appeal either. Find something of his earlier than "Sally" to show he had sex appeal - he was in his late 30s when he filmed that, and he's anything but sexy in it.

[quote]he's anything but sexy in it.

R345 not to you (or me) perhaps. But you can't tell someone else, like that poster, what is sexy to them.

That Fanny Brice clip upthread really shows what that Swan Lake parody number in the Funny Girl film was supposed to be like. Barbra was clearly never very comfortable being funny if it compromised her heightened sense of her sex appeal. That never seemed to concern Fanny.

You all don't seem to think much of Martha Raye, but her comedy style was far closer to Fanny Brice than anything Barbra ever attempted.

Yes, I realize Funny Girl was never intended to be a documentary.....

"That poster" (wink, wink) made a declarative statement, that Joe E. Brown was "so frickin' sexy" and did not qualify it. So I answered in kind. Joe E. Brown was known as a "rubber-faced" comic - that was his stock in trade. He known for his exaggerated looks (when Martha Raye came on the scene about 15 years later, they were often put together because of the goofiness of their looks). He had no public perception as being "sexy," nor would he have wanted it, frankly - his fortune was his goofy-looking face.

Whose ballsac is hairy?

[quote]R344 one doesn't have to be drop dead gorgeous or traditionally handsome to have sex appeal.

Said every DLer, ever.

" Hello, Dolly has a great book -- fast moving, funny, well structured with just enough moments of real emotion. Funny Girl is a serviceable star vehicle and barely that.?

Who's to say that they keep the Funny Girl book. The point I was trying to make was that so much time has elapsed since the original production, and it's not something that has been revived often so our memory of it is still fresh, that they can completely rewrite the book and no one would probably remember. Further, Ray Stark was involved with the original, and, IIRC, Brice was his mother in law, so the book could probably take few liberties with her real life. Now? The writers could take a lot more liberties with the story, and does not have to be faithful at all to either her real life or the original book.

Yeah, what a stud....

...and athlete...

...and ballplayer...who was offered a contract by the Yankees...and turned them down...

...with goofy/sexy looks like young Steve Martin, Robin Williams, Seann William Scott, French Stewart....

...and...

In the "trick" department, eldergays here may be bemused to discover that a former Tarzan (in Europe, not the US) has started sidelining as a gay escort

I think the Broadway Tarzan was doing that, too.

Really? I would hire the Bway one, but have no interest in this European one.

Saw the video version of Funny Girl in the wilds of Pa last weekend. Anyone know what Harvey changed? It all made sense and was all very serviceable but glad I didn't spend $200 to see it live.

Who's the European Tarzan trick?

R338, other than Mimi, there is no specified ethnicity for any of the characters in Rent. There have been Black, Hispanic, and Asian Rogers, Bennys, Angels, Marks, etc in a number of productions.

Is it not a good thing when a play is universal?

R351. You couldn't be more wrong. It's because Stark was married to Frances Arnstein that Funny Girl was such a sanitized version of the Brice-Arnstein marriage (she had already been married and divorced before she met him and he was much more of a hood than the gentleman gambler he is depicted as).

R351 here. I don't know why you say I could not be more wrong, R360. I thought I said the same thing you did. Because Brice was Stark's MIL, the writers probably had to create some sort of hagiography. Now that it is independent of Stark and enough time has elapsed sine the original production, the writers have more freedom to write what they want. Isn't that, essentially, what you said?

R359 but it only goes one way. If they were to cast Benny, Tom, Joanne, or Angel (whose full name is 'Angel Dumott Schunard,' though he is usually cast as Hispanic) with whites, you'd better believe there would be outrage and petitions to the network.

R362, I was not aware that there is a lack of opportunities for white performers. Learn something new everyday.

R363 you don't see the hypocrisy? Like I said, the fart left is no different from this far right, at this point. Both extremes = totally tone-deaf.

At least half of the leads in RENT and most of the ensemble and supporting characters were written to be, and have traditionally been cast, with people of color. It's important for two or three of the leads -- definitely Mark and Maureen, and probably also Roger -- to NOT be people of color, for purposes of the story and the characters' interactions. But R362 is too much of a reactionary fool to understand that.

R364, no I do not see hypocrisy. Most people in the United States recognize that white people occupy a different position than minorities. I spent a decade working for an agent, and our white talent booked a lot more work than our black talent (even though our black talent IMHO were much more highly skilled).

I think the hypocrites are the people who insist that there is equity in employment when any statistical analysis or casual observation clearly shows that this is not the truth.

Having seen a number of Rent casts, why is it important for Roger, Mark and Maureen to be white?

I say this because the most sympathetic Rogers have always seemed to be the black/dark Latino ones.

Brantley swoons over Torch Song again. I can't believe it. It's so mediocre and badly directed.

Does Brantley just love everything on Broadway now? He really wants to be liked. He'll pan King Kong, of course, but that will probably be his only negative review this season.

[quote]Who's the European Tarzan trick?

Maureen O'Sullivan.

There was a couple that had a youtube series, and one of them worked on Tarzan (was definitely not Tarzan) in Germany and they suddenly split up after having been together for a decade. I always found that strange. They used to host a crafting video series. It also made me confused as to why Tarzan seemed to be running endlessly in Germany...

Speaking of Rent and Maureen, remember when Scooter Girl from American Idol claimed she was offered the role on Broadway but was unable to accept it because AI had her sign an exclusivity contract?

lol - no R371

Where the living hell did the time go, anyway?

Bat out of hell tour cancelled Cast is PISSED!

Brantley is such an ass. And predictable as a Trump press conference.

Bat Out of Hell is kind of a garbage show, but it still sucks that everyone is out of a job!

Part of the point is that Mark is white and no matter how hard he tries, out of touch. No matter how hard he tries to relate to minorities, gays/lesbians, those with AIDS he is still a product of his suburban upbringing. He tries to connect but just can’t. The whole scene where the homeless woman is going off on him about all the fucking “artists” is just one example. Casting a person of color in the role blunts all that.

Plus they are going to have to change his last name from Cohen to Washington.

Excuse me??

The puppet in King Kong is amazing and there are some great visual set pieces that they do with it. But what they hell is going on around it. Horrible songs, out of place choreography, bad character choices. Ann Darrow is given some of the worst dialogue I have ever heard. She does not speak or act like she's in the 30's. It could have worked if they didn't make it a musical and just did it as a play. More of the puppets and less dancing sailors.

Some naked sailors might help.

I've certainly never seen a show that was hurt by naked sailors.

R376

I always thought we were supposed to know Mark was gay and his outsider status in the alphabet soup was still because he didn't have the courage to come out when his ex did. But that wasn't because he feared AIDs -- it was because he is in love with that straight dude so it wouldn't really matter anyway.

And for the tired businessman.....

I think I've heard it all when a thread on DL debates the sex appeal of Joe E. Brown.

You assume that posters on a DL Theatre Gossip thread have ever had sex.

This is DL, r384. You haven't heard it all.

[quote]Part of the point is that Mark is white and no matter how hard he tries, out of touch. No matter how hard he tries to relate to minorities, gays/lesbians, those with AIDS he is still a product of his suburban upbringing. He tries to connect but just can’t. The whole scene where the homeless woman is going off on him about all the fucking “artists” is just one example. Casting a person of color in the role blunts all that.

It doesn't blunt all that, it renders the character nonsensical. And there are lines that make it clear that Maureen is supposed to be a white girl from Hicksville, which makes it more interesting and amusing that she has become this edgy, East Village performance artists.

For those of you who remember the brief discussion of the 1977 Edward Gorey-designed "Dracula" from a few threads back, Thursday's NYTimes article on him shows him with the breakaway casket (with the complete lid; in the show the top third of it was taken off so the audience could see the Count).

No,dear, R362, five Queens would get their panties in a bunch but the America what would bother to watch a television Rent wouldn't know nor care about casting.

Ay, ay,ay,R380,Illya Darling!

R383

[italic]”It’s fun to BRAG like a sailor / And GAG like a sailor...”[/italic]

???

I wonder if Mr. Busch emphasized that line in his Goodspeed re-write, r391.

[quote]392 I wonder if Mr. Busch emphasized that line in his Goodspeed re-write.

Well I should hope NOT!

Let's put it this way: How many of you would invest a pile of money in a FUNNY GIRL revival with Gaga, who would stay, at tops, 6 months? Then she would be replaced by . . . who? Ana Gasteyer? Lea Michele? Idina (who probably wouldn't be a replacement anyway)? Shows have to run a long time to show a profit, so I'm guessing you'd end up losing your shirts.

COMPANY will be a big hit on Broadway for 3 months, like all Sondheim revivals. That it will run at break-even for another 6 months at break-even, and then another 2 at a loss. It's Sondheim!

Maria Irene Fornes died. I thought she already had....goes to show ya.

[quote]Let's put it this way: How many of you would invest a pile of money in a FUNNY GIRL revival with Gaga, who would stay, at tops, 6 months?

I wonder if Gaga could handle 8 shows a week for 6 months? Stars always say they want to do Broadway, but I don't think they really understand what a grueling schedule it is. The show goes down at 10:30 pm and then the star has to be up and bright and cheery for a 7:00 am interview with Good Morning America.

Riedel says Company is coming to Broadway.

How is Patti's new hip working out?

Cool. I wonder why he thinks the West End cast will come along.

He probably read it here.

[quote]Cool. I wonder why he thinks the West End cast will come along.

Because American Equity loves bending over and taking it for a British accent.

You're probably right, r401. You, too, r402.

Whatever, based on the press, I'd like to see it.

So well that they've reinstated Joanne's tap hula, r399!

[quote]Shows have to run a long time to show a profit, so I'm guessing you'd end up losing your shirts.

Apparently it's easier and quicker now for a show to earn back its investment and begin to make a profit than it was in the days before premium tickets -- assuming, of course, that demand is high enough to sell lots of high-priced premium tickets. But that still doesn't guarantee big profits for a show that runs only a year or so. Wasn't it reported that the Broadway run of HELLO, DOLLY! made only a small profit for investors?

The Caedmon recording of Aristophanes' LYSISTRATA with Hermione Gingold and Stanley Holloway...simply amazing, and as modern and current as #MeToo....

Sounds like Roaslie may be coming over but I doubt they'll bring all those fucking brits with her.

I'm sure Rosalie is wonderful, but I can't believe it would be much of a challenge to find others who could play Bobbie.

Why yes, we have Miss Sutton Foster! or AnnE Hathaway. Or Idina!

So is Bat Out Of Hell really cancelled? Fucking Michael Cohl. First Spider-Man, then this. He’s making quite a name for himself in the theatre.

It's still not possible for a musical to make a profit in 6 months time. Especially one with the large cast and name lead that Funny Girl would require.

Plays, OTOH, do seem to make decent profits in 6 months time, even with name leads. though I suspect they're not huge profits with that short of a run. They're more about the clout and respect (and possible Tonys) for producers.

I see your point, r409.

Time for a revival.....

Is An American in Paris worth watching tonight on PBS?

Yes, r414. It’s charming.

Don't forget Michael Cohl cancelled the JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR arena tour the day before the first preview, with a year of shows scheduled with that no-name cast. Ditto the Joplin show. BAT is a great show that has gotten great reviews and very successful runs abroad, so it especially sucks that something interesting and innovative is going down. I mean, Jay Scheib is the director. It's not a jukebox musical in the traditional sense, it's something different. Uber talented cast, too. What a shame.

If they’ve got Patti and Rosalie Craig, they’ve got the two big stars of this production. They don’t need to bring any other Brits, although I wouldn’t be surprised to see them bring Jonathan Bailey, especially if he wins the Olivier.

Spielberg’s developing the musical of The Color Purple for the screen? Jesus. I guess Cynthia Erivo will be first in line for Celie.

R418, the movie was announced a few years back and would star Fantasia. No way Cynthia gets it over her.

Charlie and the factory tour will likely be closing up shop on the road as well as cancelling their tour

The original FUNNY BOOK was rather darker, and in the last half of the show Fanny was not a wholly sympathetic character. She becomes a fanatical perfectionist backstage at the Follies and alienates a number of her friends, including Eddie. And Georgia (the Anne Francis character) has a great drunk scene where she crashes in at Fanny's Long Island estate after she is fired from the Follies for chronic drunkeness and being "a tramp", and after bawling her out with "I'm sorry, Fanny that some people can't live up to your high standards" then says something like"a pretty girl burns out quickly on Broadway, but you, Fanny have talent and will survive."

Allyn Ann McLerie was the original Georgia. She was fired when they decided to drop the character.

Anne Francis maintained that she had a couple of good scenes that were filmed for the movie but cut at Babs’ insistence. I wonder if one of them was the one r421 describes?

This part of Riedel's article made me happy. If it's too be believed...

[quote]A few critics have complained that this revival, which is set in the present, doesn’t quite capture the spirit of New York. That is a problem since “Company,” originally set in 1970, is the essence of sophisticated New York. But Elliott, sources say, is taking the criticisms into account and will inject more of the Big Apple into the Broadway production.

R419, it was NOT announced a few years ago. There were only rumors. This is the first official announcement.

And Fantasia will play Celie rather than Cynthia Erivo? Are you just out of a coma after ten years?

Cynthia Erivo has started doing film this year, including the upcoming high-profile Widows. I wouldn’t be at all surprised is she’s one of the reasons the film of TCP is moving into higher gear now.

Anne Francis did talk about how most of what she filmed was cut but contrary to the urban legend she never said she thought Streisand was responsible.

Let's get back to The Blonde In The Thunderbird. I took a frieend, whom I toom to The Pirate Queen and In The Life to see it with me. Holy SHIT! We could not believe what we were seeing. Suzanne Summers- AKA Boney Mahoney in a catsuit, camel toe and all. When she was giving birth, my friend laughed out loud so hard that the people next to us said " Why are you laughing?" She said " Are YOU watching this CRAP?" We had the tits to wait at the stage door, and we asked Suzanne what was next and she said in ALL SERIOUSNESS " We are hoping to film this or take it to Branson." Yes, it was a camp fest, but she was so earnest, it was almost sad. I treasure my 4 signed playbills.

I really think Jesse Muller would make a good Fanny Brice because when she was in Into The Woods,she was pretty funny. Who I felt sad for was Amy Adams , who I love, was lackluster. If only the Sandra Bernhardt version would have gotten off it's feet, it may have been a hit. GaGa? She is hardly "Funny".

I haven't seen King Kong YET, but look at all the other shit shows...Do you remember ANYTHING from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang...Other then the car?

Although Head Over Heels is no Momma Mia, I hope that it is the NEW Momma Mia, because it's really a fun show, with amazing talent, and inclusionary.

As for the TV version of RENT...Do we really need ANOTHER verion with all the Disney stars no one's ever heard of? There is already the movie...which sucked. And the filmed version of the show that was much better. I actually saw the 5th performance at the NYTW, and at the intermission I said 'This is going to Broadway."

R424, actually I saw Erivo and excellent as she was, the role will still go to Fantasia.

Jennifer Hudson will get the movie (although she only won one Oscar). How can they not?

Also, if an old slave-owner man is needed... I think I can help someone out with a cameo. It is a Spielberg film, so... whatever that means (don't ask).

[quote]the role will still go to Fantasia.

Uh-huh. Right. Keep your day job, r428, because your prognosticating skills are out of whack.

Wouldn't JHud get the Oprah role?

JHud played the other role, the Margaret Avery role, on Broadway. I think that's a showier role in the musical than the Oprah part.

[quote]Do you remember ANYTHING from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang...Other then the car?

In all fairness, Marc Kudisch and Jan Maxwell were pretty memorable. I'll never know what the director was thinking. It was like they periodically wandered in from another, much better, much more adult show.

Oh....no.

r399 - I'm doing well, thanks for asking!

Yikes R435

David Merrick's announcement is described as melodramatic in Gower's wiki page.

Well, it seems that Merrick could have waited to give the news to the cast backstage, but he wanted to get the headlines this way. Callous prick.

Bat Out of Hell is a horrible piece of dreck. No wonder it was cancelled.

more details or confirmation about r420 news? the Warner theater people are famous for being dumbasses although Beetlejuice sounds like it may succeed anyway opens tomorrow in washingont

so embarrassing if Charlie tour shuts down

I’ll never forget Jan Maxwell’s performance in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. She was a genius.

Jan Maxwell really showed how talented she was in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Not many actors could make a three course meal out of a role like that, but she did. She's sorely missed. She was the real deal.

Come to think of it, The Blonde in the Thunderbird would have been a perfect show for Branson. They love that cheesy shit. Hell, it might still be running there to this very day if they'd done that. It was not, however, right for Broadway...or anywhere where the audience wanted to do something more than gawk at a star. I saw the show live and those clips brought me back. I never thought I'd see them again and everyone always thought I was making them up.

Thanks R345. I didn't know there was a video of Merrick making the announcement. Interesting to see it after all the years of reading about that evening.

I'm listening to this and it's giving me an uncontrollable urge to get some bongos....

R435, For any unaware, Wanda Richert was Gower Champion's girlfriend at the time.

Jan Maxwell may have been the real deal on stage but off of it she gamed the subsidized housing system for years in her palatial Manhattan Plaza digs high above the homeless, starving actors for whom those apartments were meant to begin with.

[quote]We are hoping to film this or take it to Branson.

One of the saddest things I have ever read.

R426: It wasn't Anne Francis who spoke of her cut scenes but rather her PR rep speaking on her behalf. And the PR rep did accuse Streisand of having Francis' scenes cut. It looked very odd: Francis was fourth-billed, yet had little more than an under five in the finished film.

Francis didn't want to correct what the PR rep had said because she was a close friend. Years later, Francis finally did admit, publicly, that Streisand had nothing to do with cutting her scenes.

Anyway, Funny Girl was Streisand's first movie. She didn't have the power--then--to demand that other players be cut back. And the part of Georgia was always "fill" in the Funny Girl storyline. Allyn McLerie got cut out in the same role in the stage show. You can tell that there wouldn't have been room for a lot of Anne Francis in the Funny Girl movie because it's already long enough, especially in the second half, which is where Georgia's big scenes were.

Wanda Richert's FB lists her as "Metaphysician~Mystic~Broadway Legend~Interfaith Reverend ~Founder at Rhythm of Life Mission."

Unfortunately, she seems to have completely lost her mind, and is a hardcore right winger, believer in every conspiracy theory. Now she's heavily into GAB. Sad, sad case.

Has anyone seen The Lifespan of a Fact? Is it worth seeing for $99?

Reverend Wanda...........

R438, there were also many of Gower's friends and people who had worked with him over the years in the audience (I was one of them) who did not know Gower had died that day. Word was beginning to leak to the press. I think Merrick made the best decision he could. We all got the sad information at the same time.

R446, the Jan Maxwell and her subsidized apartment remarks are so tired and so wrong. She got her apartment when she was one of many hardworking, underpaid actors in the city. The deal there is to pay 30% of your income so she paid more when she made more and less when she made less--just like all the other actors in the buildings. She wasn't "gaming the system."

There’s a documentary about the history of Manhattan Plaza airing on PBS later this month. I wonder if Jan will be featured in it.

Would people have been happier if Jan lived in the Milford Plaza?

How glamorous, r455!

In the '80s, I was serving on a jury for a criminal case in Manhattan. We had to be sequestered, and so the court put us up at the Milford Plaza. "Glamorous" is not the word I would have chosen.

Plus Jan’s not the one who designed Manhattan Plaza with two and three bedroom apartments in addition to the singles, they were anticipating some families would live there.

Any word yet on The Cher Show previews?

The UK 2015 Christmas "Sound of Music" is on PBS's "Great Performances" next Friday.

Can Suzanne Somers play M. Armfeldt somewhere?

In ponytails?

Using her thigh master while singing "Liaisons" in her wheelchair.

[bold] [italic] Suzanne Somers’s Sondheim! [/italic] [/bold]

LIMITED ENGAGEMENT

[quote]Don't forget Michael Cohl cancelled the JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR arena tour the day before the first preview, with a year of shows scheduled with that no-name cast. Ditto the Joplin show.

I know almost nothing about this guy, but honestly, how can he continue to have any kind of a career with a track record like that? Has he had some huge successes as well?

[quote]Charlie and the factory tour will likely be closing up shop on the road as well as cancelling their tour

Sorry to see people out of work, of course, but from an artistic standpoint, this is good news, because that show is a real POS.

[quote]Anne Francis maintained that she had a couple of good scenes that were filmed for the movie but cut at Babs’ insistence. I wonder if one of them was the one [R421] describes?

I don't know, but I read the novelization of FUNNY GIRL decades ago, and I seem to remember there's a scene where Georgia gets drunk and admits that she has been sleeping around with a lot of men.

R453, thank you. That old bit about Jan Maxwell "gaming the system" by having an apt. at Manhattan Plaza is incredibly tired, unfunny, and inaccurate.

Finally, I'm glad someone posted on ATC about how the author of the Playbill interview with Lucas Hedges confused him with Timothee Chalamet. SO embarrassing.

Can Suzanne Somers do FUNNY GIRL?

r465 Sure, but could Barbra pull off "The Blonde in the Thunderbird?" I'll bet even Meryl would find it an insurmountable challenge.

Oh my god, yes please. If Meryl would do that version of Take Back Your Mink, I’d die a happy homo.

I think Debra Winger’s ANGER would suit the author’s vision better.

Before the bed bugs re-entered our consciousness (and the hotels), the Milford Plaza was known as the "Mildew Plaza" because of how filthy it was. Tons of mold.

[quote]KING KONG: The ape - A+, the show, C-.

agree all the technical aspects of the show are quite literally "spectacular" but the book and music are pure dreck.

what idiot investors would put up $36m and have no stars, or tv names, and only somewhat talented leads with zero chemistry?

that said, there are some amazing asses, pecs, and guns in the male dancers, especially casey garvin and rory donovan

[quote]Has anyone seen The Lifespan of a Fact? Is it worth seeing for $99?

I saw it and liked it a lot. I thought all three actors were at the top of their form. Did not like the ending (no spoilers) only that it was based on a true story so didn't see the point of a different ending.

But seriously, if you HAD to (like you owed the mob a favor), what could you cast Suzanne Somers in on stage?

What would be the least injurious of all evils?

Maybe....um....well, there really aren’t a lot of roles for knocked about old whores, are there? If she were younger she could try BELLS ARE RINGING (?)

Since she apparently likes the melodramatic, maybe the mom in CARRIE?? I am at a loss.

Suzanne Somers IS Sally Bowles -- no need to ask which interpretation -- the actress who can't sing so she's deluding herself - We have a winner!!!

I think the Reverend Wanda has a "Blonde in the Thunderbird" in her future!

A friend worked for R&H in the licensing department. Apparently, one of the very few "NO" responses was Suzanne Sommers in an Annie Get Your Gun national tour.

My friend had a fascination with Suzanne. Whatever home shopping channel she was working had a special show, they had discount tickets and then you could stay for a Q&A. So we went. Little did they know it turned out to be the last matinee and the show would close after the evening performance. The show is what you've heard. Show over and they are trying to kick us out. One of her people couldn't believe three guys were there for the Q&A . She came out and talked for ten minutes mostly about how sad she was treated by the critics and having to close the show. After a few and I mean very few questions, her husband comes out, gets applause by the thirty or so women sitting there because they recognize him from her shopping show. He says to her, I'm hungry we have to go and that was it. I'm sure they were expecting a packed house. As we walked out they handed us a hard copy of her first book. which was what 20 years old? There were cartons of books. Warm and fuzzy it wasn't.

So is KONG essentially like PARAMOUR? Too mediocre to truly deliver and far too expensive to run?

Suzanne Somers IS Sally Durant Plummer!

Wanda Bimson died. But Wanda Richert lived.

No justice.

I am one of those guys who has conversations with his dog. He can be very loquacious. Lately, whenever I want him to do something he doesn't want to do, like take a walk in the rain, etc, he looks at me with an evil eye and says "I didn't mean to kill DADDDAAY"! I think he's ready for the stage.

r444, your post on Frances Faye salutes one of the best live albums ever. It's always a pick-me-up on a dreary day. Wish someone would write a bio of her.

R480, don't put your dachshund on the stage, Mrs. Worthington.

480 here. I don't get the reference, I'm afraid. My Rufus is a big mutt, probably a pit/australian cattle dog. And he's ready for his close-up.

The male lead in King Kong (I mean besides Kong) is Eric William Morris who is very hot and very talented though I fear his material is so awful in the show, it's not helping his career any. He's such a great guy, I feel bad for him. Big break like this that he won't even want on his resume.

I was very pleasantly surprised by how great American Son is. Maybe not the freshest take on the material but the 4 actors are so good (Steven Pasquale is really incredible....he's got far more to offer than musical theater talent), I found the 90 minutes pretty riveting and the audience was in shock by the ending (no spoliers here!). Great pacing and direction.

And Kerry Washington was also superb. I'm not so familiar with her TV work, but she appears here with no makeup and no glamour and is barely recognizable at first. In any other year she could be a shoo-in for the best actress Tony.

I hope the show gets great reviews and runs for the season.

R485 -- Non New Yorker here, and I am unfamiliar with American Son. I googled, but there is scant information. What is it about, may I ask? And...I like spoilers if you want to label your reply with a spoiler alert. Thank you

[quote]But seriously, if you HAD to (like you owed the mob a favor), what could you cast Suzanne Somers in on stage?

Will "King Kong" run long enough to need a replacement for the title role?

r486, American Son is about a separated couple of mixed race in Florida (Washington and Pasquale) who are distraught that their teenage son, who has been MIA for the past 24 hours, has been apprehended by the police, apparently with no reason. I'd rather not give anything else away.

"Nobody is extending in my fucking theatre!!!!!!!"

[quote]r483 I don't get the reference [DON’T PUT YOUR DACHSHUND ON THE STAGE, MRS. WORTHINGTON] I'm afraid.

Who knows if Kong will pull them in, the ape is really something to behold and something like theater goers have probably not seen before.

The book, which is a revisionist take on movie, could have been really interesting if the actual dialogue wasn't so leaden.

The music however is just so awful and has very little to do with what is happening on stage. Maybe they should just jettison the score and stage it as an "action" play.

not sure what any "stars" could do with this hot mess.

It is a pick-me-upper, r481! From Wiki it looks like the Crescendo was open from 1954 to 1964. I wonder what occupies that real estate at present. There are 20 live recordings that were done there (including one of Ella's).

I just saw "The Inheritance" yesterday. Pretty good but.....the end of the first part (no spoilers) is exactly the same as the ending of another movie. Very moving but a dejà vu! I loved it though. Not a perfect play but funny and touching. A little preachy and heavy handed but it works and it did not feel as long as AIA, for example. Vanessa Redgrave is too old to be on the stage, I fear. It is only 20 mn or so, but she is very fragile. But those eyes!

[quote]it did not feel as long as AIA

World War II did not feel as long as AIA

Saw the St Ann's OKLAHOMA!. An experiment, with mixed results, some interesting, some pretentious and pointless, and forget the dance element. Some refreshing glosses on the dialogue and score, but not much joy, ebullience or humor---less a musical comedy than OKLAHOMA! by way of Henrik Ibsen…

Oh dear. Without a little bit of humor, Oklahoma! is a total slog.

I've asked this before but didn't see an answer. Do they really serve the audience chili and cornbread durinig the box social, r495?

In Babs new album she sings ‘Take Care Of this house’ from 1200 penn ave. Whats the gossip on that Bernstein flop?

Did Jed show dong?

You mean the put the Clampetts into this production!?

tapa tapa tapa

A little humor it's got, with Ado Annie and Will Parker doin' the honors. But surefire numbers like Pore Jud Is Daid just lay there.

Well, that's a (partial) relief. I got nervous about the Will and Ado Annie story being played without laughs.

The St. Ann's OKLAHOMA! is a bad grad school thesis based on watching too much Ivo Hove shit.

And I really went in wanting to like it. Ali Stroker was the only actor who succeeded within the director's lame concept. And she got NO help from that weasly Will Parker (whatever his name is).

Who'd ever want to eat Mary Testa's belligerent cornbread anyway?

Has there been any talk of bringing the gay Oklahoma! to New York?

I went in dreading it, particularly the wheelchair bit, but, like you, r504, thought Ms Stroker was the high point of the production (but unlike you , I liked the W. Parker as well). The rest I thought ranged from okay to Jesus-I-can't-wait-for-this-to-end.

Was watching the Todd AO Oklahoma on Blu-ray. I was surprised at how dark and raunchy it actually is. And Laurie is really a downright manipulative bitch. I think Kazan was coaching Steiger on the weekends. The genius of Rodgers and Hammerstein was that they tricked the public into thinking they were watching wholesome homespun Americana.

r498 That's 1600.

I like that Babs sang the seldom-heard verse. And the climax is thrilling, even if she's now quite tentative at approaching the big notes. But I don't care for the glossy arrangement and the additional lyrics are too obvious and don't fit in with the "house" metaphor. "Beware of false smiles" doesn't even land properly on the music.

Wait: Streisand ADDED lyrics?

I don't know if she WROTE them but she sure sang them. Towards the end: "Beware of false smiles that lead you astray, when someone is telling you lies let truth lead the way." Maybe I'm wrong but I've heard many versions of this song and I've never heard that couplet before. Mawkish, trite, and given that she had already sung "this house is the home of us all," anticlimactic.

I know she gets little love on DL, but Jennifer Hudson sang a great version of this for some Vegas theater opening. In your face, not subtle, but suited the occasion very well. It's on YouTube.

I wish Streisand had sung “I Love This Land” from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, instead.

^^The anticlimactic effect resembles that of the switched verses on her "Send in the Clowns", even though she insisted the song is better that way and tried to convince Sondheim so (cf. liner notes from long ago, back when pop albums came with them). Without acknowledging that she's right, he of course relented.

^^^Sorry, I meant "hope", not "home".

Sondheim has a lot of trouble saying no.

Re Take Care of This House: that lyric's definitely been added by somebody. I'm amazed that whoever holds the rights didn't shut that down.

I wish Streisand had sung "Duet for One" from 1600 Penn Ave instead.

r511 r515 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue is beginning to sound like the new Streisand Gypsy.

If I could have been, I would have been.

Suzanne Somers being told she couldn’t tour Annie Get Your Gun and yet Cheryl Ladd was approved for Broadway is amazing in its own way.

Cheryl Ladd has a modicum of talent, and she never became a joke the way Suzanne did.

Gorgeous. She's operatic, but so was Patricia Routledge.

Cheryl Ladd actually wasn't too bad as Annie. I was pleasantly surprised. None of them compared to Reba who was born to play that role, but she was probably one of the better replacements during that production. Suzanne would have been hilarious...for all the wrong reasons.

Me, too, r511...

Yes r519, she has operatic aspirations....

Jessica Sheridan went on for Betty Lynn in Dolly, currently playing in Chicago. Well, we knew that would happen.

Oh, right, R521, it was actually called “To Make Us Proud.” I saw Liz Robertson perform this song at her Lerner Without Loewe cabaret set at Pizza Express (my pepperoni pie was outstanding) in the Kings Road in London a few years ago.

Why aren't we seeing the original cast of American in Paris on PBS? No Brandon Uranowitz. No DL Broadway fave bottom Max Von Essen ....

I'm beginning to want to see KONG. Two friends from Colorado and Kentucky loved it, and said the audience was giddy with delight. Then a Julliard acting student I know, "fucking loved it." Although he said it was better if you're stoned. Now I'm curious.

Yep, an audience of self-loathing, that's Broadway state-of-the-art and our culture in a nutshell.....

Just checked the Complete Lyrics of AJL and there's no alternate lyric to Take Care of This House." A few word variations, but nothing that resembles what Babs sings. I somehow doubt his estate would give a shit. Residuals from her albums bring in big bucks.

My friends did say that they thought it might fare better in a theme park!

Believe me, Liz Robertson would care, r528. Guess we'll have to get on our hands on the album and read the fine print to find out....

The American in Paris video was of the London cast. It was charming but the recorded sound kept me at a distance, being both slightly tinny and slightly muffled. it sounded as if the microphones were in an offstage room.

I know several people who’ve seen the gay Oklahoma in Ashland, and they all really liked it. It’s the one with Curley and Laurie both being women, Will Parker and Ado Andy a gay male couple, and a trans Aunt Eller.

In the article in the times, Ted Chapin indicated he was keeping an open mind re any kind of future life for it.

If Liz Robertson has okayed the really dreadful lyric rewrites in that awful revival of GIGI (not to mention the crappy Clear Day revival and Bart Sher’s PC ending of Fair Lady), then I’m sure she was fine with Streisand needing some additional lyrics for Take Care of This House.

Ya gotta have a gimmick, r532...

"If Liz Robertson has okayed...Bart Sher's PC ending of Fair Lady..."

Unless I misunderstood, she hasn't....

For years, the R&H shows were approached as if they were 1920s operettas, especially the film versions. They aren't, including Show Boat. But PC considerations governed most of the films and revivals. The original productions were very adult, raw and real. That's why the Hytner Carousel at Lincoln Center in the early 1990s was such a revelation, a lesson lost in the last revival.

Suzanne Somers *IS* trans Aunt Eller.

The Cowboy and farmhand song will have a brief inner monologue of Aunt Eller being brutally raped by Ado Annie’s Uncle

[quote]Residuals from her albums bring in big bucks.

Albums bring in royalties, not residuals.

I don’t remember the details, but didn’t Streisand ask Sondheim to write new lyrics for Send in the Clowns and Putting It Together for her Broadway Album? It make some sense to shift the verses in Clowns as she asked because there is an interruption in the song on stage that affects the flow of the song, but I think Sondheim wrote new lyrics as well.

"Putting It Together" had Sydney Pollack, David Geffen and Richard Baskin playing a trio of skeptical executives. I recall only the occasional lyric chance ("Every time I go on the defensive, I remember vinyl is expensive.").

"Send in the Clowns" had new lyrics, but only for that one portion (trying to remember them) -- "What a surprise/who could forsee/finally knowing I feel the same way that you feel for me"

You remember correctly r539 but I don't have any more details to add. It was widely reported at the time.

Sondheim has lots of side-eyeing comments in his annotated lyric book(s) about Streisand's request for rewrites and him doing them, with the rewrites included. He also completely rewrote "I'm Still Here" for her with very pro-Feminist lyrics, although that full version was never officially recorded on an album. A portion appears in THE CONCERT, though. Additionally, she recorded "I Remember" for CHRISTMAS MEM'RIES with totally new lyrics about the holiday season as recently as 2004. He does not include that rewrite in the book, but I personally sort of enjoy it. I'm glad she included "The Best Thing That Ever Happened To Me" on her PARTNERS album, it's one of Sondheim's most tuneful and pleasant post-PASSION compositions.

Forgot to add, Sondheim also rewrote "Children Will Listen" with a new verse for Babs for BACK TO BROADWAY... good stuff ("How do you say to a child who's in flight", etc.). Lots of people who cover the song include that verse and I think it's a wonderful addition to a glorious song. Maybe the "children will glisten" is too on the nose, but I sorta love it.

R540, Barbra's "Putting It Together" had many completely new lyrics ("Be new girl, they'll tell ya till they're blue girl, you're new or else you're through, girl...") to fit the new concept over whether making an album of Broadway music was "commercial" or not. It was a major rewrite even though the theme of the song stayed the same. Since the context was different, the lyrics had to be, too. I really enjoyed it. (And didn't Bernadette sing ANOTHER rewritten version on the Oscars one year about moviemaking? Movie buff Sondheim must have loved rewriting that one).

The point, however, is that Barbra gets a rewrite if she wants it, so I'm sure Liz Robertson or whoever else has a say let her rewrite a few lines of "Take Care Of This House." That didn't just happen on a major release out of the blue. Didn't she slightly rewrite "What a Wonderful World" for the mash-up with "Imagine" to "It could be a wonderful world" or something? It sounded like that from the carpool karaoke clip she sang of it with Corden. Again, the theme of the album is, to borrow from Dorothy Fields, "anger and (yes) hope and doubt" at the current administration, so tweaking of these standards may be necessary, and she's still Barbara fucking Streisand, so that ends any waffling, I would think.

I liked the rewrite of I'm Still Here. It suited so well being sung to a large audience of adoring fans. They ate it up, and so did I. "One day you're hailed for blazing trails, next day your nailed for fingernails." Also, "I kept my nose to spite my face." It's as if she wrote the lyrics herself! (The part about a Tony on Monday is inaccurate. The Tonys are always on a Sunday and it was an SPECIAL Tony Award. Wink.)

Sorry, but, IMO, "children will glisten" is trying too hard and a forced rhyme. Then again, I've never cared for the song and didn't think it worked in the show proper.

r544 Just to be clear, those new lyrics on Take Care of This House did not replace existing ones. They were tacked on to the end of the song.

Children should glister. Rhymes with blister.

She does her Christine Pedi head shake at the end.

[quote]The point, however, is that Barbra gets a rewrite if she wants it...

So does Chris Colfer, this was his idea and requested this song and it earned him a Golden Globe and an Emmy nomination.

The New York Times liked American Son. Jesse Green, not Ben Brantley, so I think this counts for something.

My understanding is that the decisions about Lerner's shows are made, from the Lerner side, not by Liz Robertson but by Lerner's two daughters, and it would seem that they are interested only in letting the shows produce royalties, which is why they okayed, for instance, that dreadful gender-bending revision of On a Clear Day.

Thank you, R544. I was having a mind-melt. That version of "Putting It Together" is great.

Can anyone be so kind as to spoil American Son? Please label spoiler alert for those who don't want it spoiled, but, especially after reading that review, I am eager to hear what the surprise is. Thank you.

I think Barbra's request for more lyrics for Send in the Clowns was rather brilliant. She's right - the song doesn't make as much sense without something in the place of that Frederick monologue.

Washington Post hates Beetlejuice, another triumph for those Warner a-holes

Could Suzanne Somers be a potential Mistress of Murderer's Row, Matron Mama Morton?

Glister, r548?

I think nearly all the new lyrics Sondheim wrote for Streisand are fine--in some cases, terrific. And in all cases, he has said/written that she made a case for the changes that made sense to him in the context she intended to sing them. ( I didn't realize he'd written new ones for Glee.) But in the current case, she obviously didn't ask AJL to write new lyrics; she apparently did it herself, and they're not very good.

I'm willing to bet that whoever's given the task of administering Sondheim's catalog will have been instructed not to permit others to mess with his lyrics. I

"All that glisters is not gold."

Google it, r558.

"glisten and be gay"

R520, Let us not forget . . .

Shakespeare wrote "All the glisters is not gold/Often you have heard that told."

"Glister," which means to sparkle or shine, became an obsolete word not all that long after Shakespeare used it and "glitter," which means the same thing, has traditionally been substituted since. For a few hundred years now.

But Shakespeare wrote "glisters."

Eric William Morris was really good, and cue and hot, in a Joe Iconis show called "Bloodsong of Love." He was also one of the leads in "Be More Chill" at Two River Theatre but not Off-Broadway. Bet he wishes he had stayed with that show, but of course it may not have been his choice.

[quote]In Babs new album she sings ‘Take Care Of this house’ from 1200 penn ave.

What's that the address of? The Beige House?

[quote]I don’t remember the details, but didn’t Streisand ask Sondheim to write new lyrics for Send in the Clowns and Putting It Together for her Broadway Album? It make some sense to shift the verses in Clowns as she asked because there is an interruption in the song on stage that affects the flow of the song, but I think Sondheim wrote new lyrics as well.

Streisand asked Sondheim to write additional lyrics for "Send In the Clowns" so she could reprise the bridge section of the song, and he complied. So those new lyrics were added to the song, but none of the lyrics were flipped or verses shifted.

[quote]I think Barbra's request for more lyrics for Send in the Clowns was rather brilliant. She's right - the song doesn't make as much sense without something in the place of that Frederick monologue.

The song makes perfect sense without Frederik's spoken lines, in terms of the sense of the lyrics, but if you cut those spoken lines, then you have the singer singing the main melody of the song after the verse, then the orchestra playing that same music with no singing, and then the singer singing it again to end the song, which sounds kind of repetitious (but not when broken up by the spoken lines).

^ All that, not All the. Wow, I've been been making word mistakes and typos all day. I don't know what's wrong with me. Sorry.

Eric William Morris = cute and hot, not cue and hot :-)

I don’t find Eric William Morris to be either cute or hot, facially. He does have a rockin’ body, though, which he’s showed off several times (nothing full frontal, though, just his chest and legs).

Doesn’t Streisand’s version end with “don’t bother, they’re here” while the original version had that right before the Frederick monologue and ends with “maybe next year” or something like that?

yes r567. I think you are correct.

Patricia Routledge has the vocal chops for opera, but she knows how to "lose" it for musical theatre. A good example is "Duet for One" from 1600 Pa Ave, where she plays two parts. One, Lucy Hayes, is written as an operetta parody, and the other is pure musical comedy character voice. She goes back and forth between the voices at dizzying speed.

Another singer who can do both equally well, Judy Kaye, recorded Duet for One, but she can't quite match Routledge doing it in the actual show.

Well, I sat through that whole god damn "A Little Night Music" waiting for those god damn clowns and nothing. God damn it.

[quote]( I didn't realize he'd written new ones for Glee.)

Don't know if Sondheim specifically rewrote the lyrics but he definitely had to approve the new ones.

[quote]Although he said it was better if you're stoned.

I believe this was also said regarding the original production of "Lysistrata".

The Gold Dust Orphans' one weekend visit to NYC with "Brokelahomo" was much more fun than the St. Ann's "Oklahoma!"

How have we not mentioned that Liz Robertson played Phyllis in the infamous French Follies

Melissa Errico has a new Sondheim album out. Some of its good but some of it seems to be inspired by those awful Betty Buckley Kenny Werner Jazz uptempo arrangements of the 90s. WHY do people fuck with stuff that is homeruns without changing it?

The new Lerner lyrics are by Jay Landers and David Pack, whoever they are. This acc. to the liner notes.

Nobody can top Cleo Laine's Sondheim album. Especially lightweights like Melissa Errico.

r576 Oy, I so rarely hear the verse that I didn't realize its lyrics have been changed.

Word on the street is that Lens Dunham is rehearsing madly for the upcoming revival of 42nd Street. She's readying for the role of Peggy Sawyer with her real life pal Andy Randells cast as Julian Marsh. Should be fun!! Squeeeee!

[quote]Word on the street is that Lens Dunham is rehearsing madly for the upcoming revival of 42nd Street. She's readying for the role of Peggy Sawyer with her real life pal Andy Randells cast as Julian Marsh. Should be fun!! Squeeeee!

Suzanne Somers *IS* Dorothy Brock!

Does someone really have nothing better to do than post that unfunny and outdated gibberish

With that Washington Post review, is Beatljuice still coming in?

Will Rosalie Craig really come to Broadway in Company? Nobody in the US knows who she is and there are American actresses who can play the role.

Baskin took some part in making The Broadway Album, R540. But the booklet credits Geffen, Pollack, and Ken Sylk as the Columbia executives.

I hope that, one day, the Gypsy outtakes from Barbra's Broadway Album will be released. It was rumored that she had been working with Sondheim on a mashup of Some People and Rose's Turn. It might similar to the one she did at her concerts a few years ago, but I'd love to hear it from back when she was in brilliant voice.

[quote]With that Washington Post review, is Beatljuice still coming in?

It's the latest uninspired and unnecessary musical adaptation of a popular movie. Of course it's coming in.

Rosalie Craig won’t transfer. Bets are on DL villain Sutton Foster

I think it will all be up to Company's director Marianne Elliott. At this point she truly has the power to say Company won't come to Broadway without the ENTIRE London cast or not. Equity won't balk.

But unlike AiA, a Broadway revival of Company with those London reviews has the potential to be a big money maker and even bigger with an American Bobbie who's a star here. Marianne may just want to see a bigger royalty check and screw any London loyalties.

That would make an amazing box set -- Barbara on Brodaway. A remastered edition of the Funny Girl album, remastered Broadway Album and Back to Broadway, a compilation disc of the many times she's recorded showtunes and 1-2 discs of treasures from the vault (maybe not the dance version of "Shall We Dance").

Anna Kendrick would be a great Bobbie, I think. She's charming enough, but she also has enough sourness to understand how she pushes some people away. And she can sing the score.

[quote]I think it will all be up to Company's director Marianne Elliott. At this point she truly has the power to say Company won't come to Broadway without the ENTIRE London cast or not.

Why do you feel she has that much power? She didn't win a Tony for AIA, and the show wasn't really a huge hit at the box office.

R591 And yet she won for War Horse and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time and they were hits.

She's the director, and she and her producing partner got it on. Sondheim thinks she walks on water and likely will push for her to get what she wants to bring it in (and I'm sure he wants to bring it in, too--kind of a triumph for him), and the show/cast has been stupendously well reviewed. I think she holds all the cards.

If Equity caved to Marianne Elliott and brought the entire cast over there would be hell to pay. Unless they send an all-American cast over there to do something like Fings Ain’t Wot They Used T’Be. ‘Allo, Guv’nor!

I meant “over from there,” of course.

What about ME for Bobbie?

r589 Make Our Garden Grow deserves an official release.

For no reason....

The new one

Bajour!

Kendrick is too ugly.