Theatre Gossip #332- Petruchio the SJW Menace

Claw clacking? Is that a thing?

It's making a comeback, R1. Get in on the ground floor.

Speaking of the HAIR movie, whatever happened to Miles Chapin?

I'd like to know whatever happened to Cheryl Barnes. That's someone who, with just one song, actually gave an award worthy performance. If she'd done that on stage in the way she did it in the movie, she'd have won a Tony. Every time I've seen the film in a theater (it shows up at revival houses in NYC and LA every now and then), the audience always applauds her performance of Easy to Be Hard. That woman had a hell of a voice.

Here's the clip of Cheryl singing Easy to be Hard. Sorry for the shitty video, but this version on YouTube had the best audio.

Sorry, folks. Try this one. The one above goes wildly out of sync in the middle.

Beth Leavel is extraordinary in The Prom. Will she have any real competition for the Tony?

Count me as one who likes the Hair movie better than the stage version. I wasn't around to see the original, so I can allow that there was a certain zeitgeist surrounding the production. But I saw it when Encores did the concert version, and I had trouble believing the show could be as high profile as it was. It's a show that has three good songs and nothing else. Aquarius, Easy To Be Hard, and Good Morning Starshine are the high points musically. All the rest of the music is just navel gazing or downright stupid shit. And the book is a mess. That 1960s/70 improvisational rambling that they do in Hair and Godspell and others shows never made for a good show because it always depended on the specific abilities of the original cast and subsequent actors couldn't capture the magic.

Love Beth Leavel.

Miles Chapin is now a big high end real estate guy in Long Island City. Saw him on line to vote a couple of weeks ago.

He still looks good.

Miss Cheryl Barnes, also looking fine.

R8, off-Broadway, Hair was a book musical. When it moved to Broadway (after a run at a nighclub) the script was largely jettisoned and it was turned into more of a musical review with a slight storyline.

Every production since has used the Broadway version as its base.

Wikipedia says that Cheryl Barnes accompanied Miloš Forman to Prague when he was filming Amadeus. I wonder in what capacity?

[quote]TV alert: For anyone who's interested, Elaine Stritch is on MeTV right now guest-starring in an old episode of "Wagon Train."

She was playing the wagon.

From the last thread:

[quote]Can anyone explain Grayson's appeal to me? She seems to have just been "there," unlike a Judy Garland, an Ann Miller or a Cyd Charisse.

I think Kathryn Grayson's acting is fine -- although Kate was not her best role -- but I have never heard anyone say they find the sound of her singing voice appealing, so the fact that she snared all those roles at MGM really is quite a mystery. Surely they could have founds SOMEONE to groom who was equal in the acting and looks department but who also had a soprano that people would actually want to listen to.

As for HAIR, I totally agree about the original book (I think almost everyone does), but there are a lot more than three great songs in the show. In fact, I'd say the opposite -- that very few of the songs are not good.

[quote] She was playing the wagon.

More likely, she was playing the woman that everyone was fighting over. The cowboys tried to push her off to the Indians and the Indians tried to push her back.

R12, that's a totally different Cheryl Barnes, but thank you.

She’s perfectly fine but not extraordinary in the Prom. And the costumer does her zero favors.

I was always sorry "Frank Mills" got cut from the HAIR movie. It's on the original soundtrack, nicely sung by Annie Golden.

It's a charming little song that doesn't advance the story in any way. Without it, the Jeannie character has almost nothing to do.

Some fangurl made this little montage video for YouTube, so you can judge for yourself.

r4 Meh.

Bennett wanted Barnes for Effie after Hair not Holliday. He simply couldn’t see Obba paired with Holliday.

I'd love to post here, but I'm too busy clacking my claws! Later, ladies!!

Who will get casted in the DEH movie? Ben? Chaz Bono? WHOO???

MGM wanted both Jane Powell and Kathryn Grayson to be their equivalent of the huge soprano star of the time Deanna Durbin who was over at Universal. Louis B. Mayer was pissed that they had let Durbin go after having her under contract a short time, when she filmed the "Every Sunday" short with Judy Garland. So he was determined to have a young star soprano over at MGM. Powell was the bigger "get" for MGM since not only could she sing well, she also was a good actress and a really good dancer able to keep up with Fred Astaire in "Royal Wedding". I generally found Grayson to have less appeal, with not as good a voice, but apparently a huge bosom. Sinatra hated her apparently, saying that Kathryn Grayson was the only person who could brighten up a room by leaving it. I do think she was actually rather at her best in "Kiss Me, Kate" since she was playing a shrew with some temperament. I think she had been at the studio longer than Keel, who only debuted there in 1950 in 'Annie Get Your Gun", so that's probably why she had top billing. He made some very famous musicals, but they were mainly in the years between 1950-1954 or 1955 -- but Kiss Me, Kate, Kismet, Annie Get Your Gun, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, etc. were all famous musicals. Jane Powell was billed over him, too. Jane is one of the only big MGM stars still around. I think there's also Leslie Caron, and to a lesser extent Arlene Dahl from that studio.

How close to the original book was the Diane Paulus revival of HAIR?

There is no such word as "casted."

Angela Lansbury made several musicals for MGM when she was under contract to them and, of course, she's still around.

While she was never a first tier star at MGM like Jane Powell or Leslie Caron, she became a far bigger star than either of them when they had both pretty much stopped acting.

As for Kathryn Grayson, I'm guessing she came closest to the "singing quality" Jeanette McDonald projected, which LB Mayer had always championed.

R22, Obba played CC White, Effie's brother in Dreamgirls.

Kathryn Grayson had the biggest tits in Hollywood.

Jane Powell still performed in tv Broadway and regionally after the studio system broke down around 1955-56 or so. She was performing even in one of the versions of Stephen Sondheim's "Bounce" some years back. But yes, Angela Lansbury's star remained bright long after she first became really big after starring in the original "Mame" musical.

I think they had to tie down Grayson's boobs on screen.

Jeanette MacDonald was sexier and much more fun over at Paramount co-starring at Paramount with Maurice Chevalier than she was refashioned over at MGM starring with Nelson Eddy, but she was a big star nonetheless. She had a very pretty voice, but I think she would have been better off singing in lower keys than the high coloratura ones they had her singing in. When she left pictures, she turned successfully to concert recitals and also had great success singing in "Faust" and "Romeo et Juliette", among some other true lyric soprano roles in opera houses.

[quote]How close to the original book was the Diane Paulus revival of HAIR?

In her version, they performed in the nude except at the end of Act 1 where they put clothes on.

[quote]Jane Powell still performed in tv Broadway and regionally after the studio system broke down around 1955-56 or so. She was performing even in one of the versions of Stephen Sondheim's "Bounce" some years back. But yes, Angela Lansbury's star remained bright long after she first became really big after starring in the original "Mame" musical.

Jane Powell replaced Debbie Reynolds in "Irene" on Broadway.

Both Jane Powell and Debbie Reynolds were terrific in "Irene".

What was the story about Monte Markham who was on the recording of "Irene" but seems to have left the show pretty early, to be replaced by Ron Hussman? Markham later became Blanche's gay brother on "Golden Girls", and he used to be in all manner of pilots and failed tv shows I recall. He was very hot .

R6

That is the whole movie.

I remember seeing it in the theater as a child and just being floored by her. Then I loved it on the soundtrack record when I got my first turntable as a Christmas present. It was such a pleasant surprise to find it on youtube years later and see that it was as good as I remembered.

Easy To Be Hard is great in the movie. But the little boy upstages Barnes with that one tear rolling down his cheek.

I bet he was thinking, "Ok, bitch, you got the big dramatic song, but watch what I can do."

I remember going to a benefit at the Shubert Theater in NY for something not long after the movie "Hair" came out. I think it was for some Greer Garson charity, as I think she was in attendance. Cheryl Barnes came out to sing and made what appeared to be some major flub where she had to re-start the song she sang, and it just seemed like she wasn't used to performing live. A shame, since she was great in the movie. I don't know if that led to a big career setback. Mandy Patinkin also sang, doing some song he wrote, and it was as expected, some very over the top, intense thing but without melody. I did get to see Christopher Reeve looked very slender and tall and gorgeous outside at Shubert Alley.

[quote] Easy To Be Hard is great in the movie. But the little boy upstages Barnes with that one tear rolling down his cheek. I bet he was thinking, "Ok, bitch, you got the big dramatic song, but watch what I can do."

Hahahaha. When you watch the clip, you can see her giving him a little signal with her finger to look up at her as she's holding his hand.

I think they cut away from her far too much and keep off of her for far too long in that performance. No one wants to watch five people in a long shot pretend to argue before they walk that long way back to where Cheryl is standing and singing. Stay on her for nearly the whole clip. You need maybe two quick shots of the kid and 2-3 quick shots of the main characters.

The continuity in Easy To Be Hard is terrible. They should have left the camera on her the whole time. When they swing the camera away, you see a lady walking with a purse, then she disappears, then she reappears again. Also, there's someone sitting on a park bench, then they disappear, then they reappear again. On the one hand, we can go with the idea that time is suspended during a musical number, but on the other hand, Forman films it in real time and the main characters arguing should really only last as long as the song. It's not like their argument is 30 minutes where someone could potentially get up and leave the park bench and another person sit down.

Kathryn Grayson for the Evan Hansen movie!

I'm surprised Viagra hasn't used Easy To Be Hard in one of their commercials.

BRILLIANT r43

Hopefully Ben Levi Ross for the DEH movie.

Is this real or just made-up urban legend? It's supposed to be a page from a magazine called Rave. The first item under Boys and Girls Lost and Found looks like the source material for Frank Mills.

[quote]Easy To Be Hard is great in the movie. But the little boy upstages Barnes with that one tear rolling down his cheek.

She got applause for the number, at least in New York opening weekend when it was at the Ziegfeld Theater where it opened exclusively on the east coast. But seeing a movie there was usually an event.

[quote]Cheryl Barnes came out to sing and made what appeared to be some major flub where she had to re-start the song she sang, and it just seemed like she wasn't used to performing live.

She was in the original cast of "The Magic Show" for a few years so the flub could have been technical.

R41, I was actually an extra in the scene leading up to “Easy to be Hard.” I was 17 back then and you see me walking toward the screen behind Cheryl Barnes in my brown coat. It was shot in January 1978 in Washington Square Park and it was BRUTALLY cold. I was on my way home, thankfully, when they finally got around to her singing the song after the lunch break around 1.

Oops, sorry, I meant to write “walking toward the camera.”

DL superstar Patti LuPone usually sings Easy to Be Hard in her concerts. It’s on her latest album

People MARK PLATT IS PRODUCING THE MOVIE

So Platt is going to produce DEH before Wicked?

Smart I guess?

[quote]DL superstar Patti LuPone usually sings Easy to Be Hard in her concerts. It’s on her latest album

Well, she certainly knows how to be hard.

r48, that's wonderful. How did you get the job? What does it feel like to see yourself on the big screen or to even see your young self 40 years later?

Leslie Caron never stopped acting. She was starring in films throughout the 1970s, and films and TV in the 80s and 90s (including a short run on "Falcon Crest"). She was a regular on the Brit series "The Durrells in Corfu" the past couple of years.

Ben Platt was announced as being "in early discussions" for the movie of DEH in the same article that announced the movie project. Since the "early discussions" are with his own father, I think that role can be assumed to be set.

R54, the office which cast background for the film contacted my manager whenever they needed anyone under the age of 21. I think it was probably Sylvia Fay Casting, who did most of the films shot in NY at the time. I remember seeing the film at the Ziegfeld and thinking “woah” when I saw myself tottering along in 70 millimeter. I’ll never forget the huge applause Cheryl Barnes got from the moviegoers when she finished the song. I’ve seen it occasionally in the years since and it just seems like a different person. But man, I remember how cold it was that day. It must have been only 15 degrees with the wind chill factor. Awful.

Monte Markham left "Irene" about three months into the run because he was cast as Perry Mason in "The New Perry Mason" in fall 1973. He still acts regularly, and is in pretty good shape for an 83 year old man. He's been married to the same woman for 57 years.

[quote]I remember seeing the film at the Ziegfeld and thinking “woah”

Are you sure you didn't think "whoa"?

Another fun recording sadly cut from the movie version of HAIR.....

"My Conviction" with DL fave Charlotte Rae, who appears in the film, but only briefly.

Here the movie's absurdly overproduced soundtrack actually serves the song and the singer. (My god, how much did they spend on this?) Charlotte is glorious and more than holds her own against the lush orchestrations.

I. Loved. That. Soundtrack.

(Including this number, R60.)

I saw Leslie Caron essay Madame Armfeldt in Paris at the Chatelet in 2010 (if memory serves, she even danced a bit). I can't say hers was the definitive performance of the role.

There was nothing definitive about ANY performance in that production, r62, which was not one of the better Chatelet musicals.

Jeanette & Jane.....

Agreed, r63, but I did appreciate the Belle-Epoque-Pont-Alexandre-III-lamps-palette of black and gold in the design elements.

Kathryn Grayson of Winston-Salem and Jeanette MacDonald shared the same voice teacher, some famous retired European diva whose name I forget. While many older singers tend to sing flat, MacDonald, especially as she grew older, had a horrible tendency to sing sharp.

I was absolutely oodles better than Julie! Oodles!

Grayson was a Broadway replacement Guenevere and later led a national tour.

Jane Powell may have been MGM's answer to Deanna Durbin but not Kathryn Grayson.

Jane was a fine, hard-working film studio soldier.

But never a star, or loved as one. Why?

Discuss.

Has anyone ever seen a production of Rockabye Hamlet? Is it a bad show?

r64 The youngest daughter in that scene is none other than Elinor "Princess" Donahue.

Honey, even MUSICALS IN MUFTI (let alone ENCORES) hasn't touched "Rockabye Hamlet."

Draw your own conclusions.

[quote]Honey, even MUSICALS IN MUFTI (let alone ENCORES) hasn't touched "Rockabye Hamlet."

In Encores defense, for years they had Rob Marshall as their director and he conducted like his baton was made out of concrete.

[quote]Has anyone ever seen a production of Rockabye Hamlet? Is it a bad show?

It's very bad. Very, very bad.

I can only tell you that I saw Rockabye Hamlet when I was very young and loved every minute of it.

I'll never forget Beverly d'Angelo as Ophelia strangling herself with her mic cord in her death scene.

It's actually had quite the history, R73

And here's the link. My apologies.

[quote]I think they cut away from her far too much and keep off of her for far too long in that performance. No one wants to watch five people in a long shot pretend to argue before they walk that long way back to where Cheryl is standing and singing. Stay on her for nearly the whole clip.

I've always assumed the camera is off her for so long because maybe the lip synching was bad in some of those places. On the other hand, Forman did have a rather odd editing style, so who knows.

And I don't think there's anything wrong with the orchestrations or arrangements in the HAIR movie. The original arrangements and orchestrations for the show are fine for a show but I think would have been to simple and spare for a movie.

R70, I think it was because Jane's career coincided with MGM coming down from its height. She made successful movies, like Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. But I don't know if she ever had anything that would depend on/be greatly wounded by without her. I'm thinking of Leslie Caron and Debbie Reynolds. They also got in around this time, but Leslie had An American in Paris and Gigi. Debbie had Singin' in the Rain and Unsinkable Molly Brown.

[quote] I've always assumed the camera is off her for so long because maybe the lip synching was bad in some of those places. On the other hand, Forman did have a rather odd editing style, so who knows.

He does and it's kind of maddening. There's another number, the opening one of Aquarius where it's almost as though he consciously decides to cut against the beat of the song. I'm not advocating he should have cut it like a music video, but there are definitely several shots that cut away too quickly or linger too long and parts of the song where you want the camera to be somewhere else or to get back to the action of the moment. There's one shot where John Savage is looking at a group of dancers, thinking he's watching safely out of their view, and they turn en masse to catch him, but Forman cuts away before the impact of Savage's desires have been recognized.

Yes, R81, I've noticed all those odd moments as well. And some of the editing in "Donna" is extremely weird, but again, maybe SOME of that is due to bad lip synching.

I wonder if Jane Powell was up for Sally in Follies.

This thread is rife with discussion of rock musicals. Zzzzzzzzzz

[quote]Leslie Caron never stopped acting. She was starring in films throughout the 1970s, and films and TV in the 80s and 90s (including a short run on "Falcon Crest"). She was a regular on the Brit series "The Durrells in Corfu" the past couple of years.

She also won an Emmy for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" playing "Lorraine Delmas". For episode "Recall".

Ooh good one - Jane Powell would have made a really interesting Sally, with a shell of brittleness over the vulnerable and crazy

Was the Hair film considered a hit or does it just have a cult following?

Didn't Jane Powell's career take second place to that flock of children she gave birth to?

Jane had five husbands. Who knew?

So happy to see all the love here for the Hair movie. And I would just like to express my love for Treat Williams’ ass in the movie. Oh, and the hot naked army recruits in “White Boys/Black Boys.” Making those numbers homoerotic was an inspired idea.

[quote]Was the Hair film considered a hit or does it just have a cult following?

Grossed $15 million on an $11 million budget.

[quote]I was always sorry "Frank Mills" got cut from the HAIR movie. It's on the original soundtrack, nicely sung by Annie Golden.

According to IMBD ... the song "Frank Mills," performed by Crissy in the stage version, was filmed, but cut from the movie. Suzette Charles, who played Crissy, was dismissed when the song was cut. Five years later, Charles became Miss America after Vanessa Williams was disqualified. The old RCA two-record soundtrack doesn't say who sang what in the film, but the souvenir program for the movie included a removable plastic extended play recording of selected songs from the film that does list the singers. The E.P, includes "Frank Mills," and Charles is credited as the vocalist.

I have the program and plastic attached record and that's how I knew Betty Buckley sang "Walking In Space" too.

Rob Marshall did not ever conduct Encores.

I think he meant Rob Fisher.

At least I didn’t butcher Nine

I would imagine Jane Powell was at the top of the casting list for Sally in Follies. It was like the role was based on her Hollywood persona, much as Carlotta was based on Joan Crawford.

(DL heads explode)

Jane Powell’s Hollywood persona was much the same Asher own, sunny p, good natured, and with nothing dark below the surface (her daughter Sissy is a different matter). I don’t see a similarity with neurotic Sally, whose outward sunniness is a pose.

R95, Carlotta was not based on Joan Crawford. The lyrics make no sense if based on Joan Crawford. The lyrics were loosely based on Yvonne De Carlo. Whether joking or serious, she quipped that, since the song was based on her life, she should get a royalty. Everyone immediately went into damage control mode to make it clear that the song was not based on Yvonne De Carlo.

I'd have to pull out Chapin's book, but I don't remember that Jane being on the FOLLIES list. This Jane, however, was.

Jane Powell would have been a perfect Sally. You have to believe that Ben might even think about having a relationship with her again and she has to still be at least moderately attractive.

But I suppose if you could make a case that Jane Powell would have been too young to perform in the Weissman Follies in 1941.

June Allyson would have been a good role model for Sally (she even had a bit of a neurotic quality underneath her sunniness) though June could never have sung her songs.

And apparently, Joan Crawford's "look" in the late 1960s was used as a reference for Carlotta (according to costume designer Florence Klotz). This was told to me by an associate of Klotz ---so I don't have a link to prove that assertion.

Wow, it's like this thread was all about me! I was an extra on the FRANK MILLS shoot, which indeed was filmed in front of the Waverly Theatre. A young pretty woman with dark hair, who I suppose could have been Suzette Charles, stood by the doors with a guitar case open in front of her and sang the song. It was pretty but incredibly boring. I wasn't surprised when it was cut. (as, obviously, was I!)

I was also on the Camelot tour with Kathryn Grayson! She was lovely to me but probably not as popular with the adults, as she had a habit of calling out sick a lot, and then sometimes showing up in the audience of other shows!

The Rink starring Patti LuPone and Lady Gaga. Would it be a Broadway hit?

Has Patti been raped in a musical? Shame she didn’t have the right voice for Aldonza.

Jane Wyman for Sally.

Ronald Reagan for Ben.

It would have had little to no life on iTunes, but I wish Idina and Lea would have sang "The Apple Doesn't Fall" on Glee.

That would make Nancy, Phyllis, r104. Soooo......

[quote]Has Patti been raped in a musical?

She alludes to it in Evita. "All you've done to me, was that a young girl's fantasy?" "I already know what cooks, how the dirty city feels and looks, I tasted it last night, didn't I?"

It wouldn't be too surprising if Nancy in Oliver! and The Old Woman in Candide had also been raped at some point.

[quote]but I wish Idina and Lea would have sang

Oh, DEAR!

This is Nancy's signature role.

Exactly how DID she lose that buttock, r109?

R108 That was beautiful. Thanks for that.

[quote]It wouldn't be too surprising if Nancy in Oliver! and The Old Woman in Candide had also been raped at some point.

And Fantine was forced into sex after being kicked out of the factory.

R14, a former voice teacher of mine was in the film version of HAIR. She told me Milos Forman was always flirting with her and had a thing for women of color. Maybe it was the same Cheryl Barnes.

I agree that I’m Still Here bears little to no resemblance to Crawford’s life (except for, perhaps, “danced in my scanties”.

[quote]I agree that I’m Still Here bears little to no resemblance to Crawford’s life

First you're another sloe-eyed vamp, then someone's mother, then you're camp sums up Joan's entire movie career.

Grand Hotel, Mildred Pierce, Whatever Happened To Baby Jane?

R105

Well Idina is getting plenty of confused reactionary right wing playtime with her Baby Its Cold Outside from people who think they are stigginit to SJWs by listening to a non-rapey version of the unChristmassy Christmas standard.

You're very welcome, r113. It all works out. Nancy (Jane) gets to do the role instead of Mom (Ann).

Oh, and she also gets those unfortunate tack-on braids.

A friend of mine was an extra in the "Hair" draft board scene, for which the guys had to stand around in their underwear. Some of the extras made the mistake of showing up in 1978-style undies. Someone brought out a box of briefs appropriate to the '60s for them to wear. My friend said they looked as though they hadn't been laundered.

Yikes! I hope those guys all took long, thorough showers.

I like the Nancy Goes to Rio finale....

Everyone knows that I'm Still Here was based on Debbie Reynolds.

R119 You probably know this, but that was a remake of Deanna Durbin's film (co-starring Kay Rancis), "It's a Date. Joe Pasternak, who produced Deanna's films, moved to MGM and was in charge of Powell and Grayson trying to become rivals to Deanna. Pasternak always loved Deanna and tried to get her to come to MGM to work after she retired at age 28.

Kay Francis, that is.

The wavishing Kay Fwancis would have had an even harder time saying her name without that "F" in her last name! :)

Oh, weally, r127? This certainly shows off Jane's vocal chops, but my God, how stunning is Elizabeth?!

What fucking idiot decided the Lunt-Fontanne was a better fir for "Girl From The North Country" than Circle-In-The-Square? "Oklahoma" will do no one any favors at Circle and won't make it to the TONYS. They should have moved the City Center "A Chorus Line" into the Lunt for a limited run and cleaned up.

This musical season has turned into a shitshow. And if "BE More Chill" wins Best Musical it will be like the year "Memphis" won.

I enjoy the movie of HAIR (and AMADEUS and CUCKOO'S NEST) but I've always thought Milos Forman was a hugely overrated filmmaker. His talents never matched his ambitions and his sense of story is not strong. RAGTIME, VALMONT, and MAN ON THE MOON are each a mess, despite some strong performances.

I loved his work on People vs. Larry Flynt as well. In fact, he got a surprisingly good performance out of Courtney Love there. Did Milos ever direct theatre?

Milos Forman had something in common with Michael Arden according to a very reliable source.

So, why did the sissy Marys who obsess over Broadway minutia adopt the anti-“SJW” lingo of gay- hating, Republican incels?

Since when are you against social justice?

Since when can you survive without social justice?

Are you going to throw yourselves in gas chambers for the neo-Nazis, too?

Nell Carter was fantastic in White Boys. It's a shame she wasted her career in awful sitcoms.

Nell was very good in the non-musical movie version of the "Grass Harp".

In the Carol Brice role, I assume.

R133 - it's generational.

Meanwhile, Kristin Chenoweth is 'literally killing' Mormon children.

These people are seriously out to guilt trip her into another fight with a religious organization she probably only half understands from the hit musical.

Was there this much anger when the Gay Men's Chorus teamed up with the tabernacle choir?

For r129 ...

[quote] Wow, it's like this thread was all about me! I was an extra on the FRANK MILLS shoot, which indeed was filmed in front of the Waverly Theatre. A young pretty woman with dark hair, who I suppose could have been Suzette Charles, stood by the doors with a guitar case open in front of her and sang the song. It was pretty but incredibly boring. I wasn't surprised when it was cut. (as, obviously, was I!)

Ok, I'm not saying for sure that the Suzette Charles thing is incorrect, but are we sure it was THE Suzette Charles? She would have just turned 14 when they were filming. Not impossible, but not likely. Does the poster above remember if the woman looked 14, or was white or black?

After all, we've proven there are two black female singers named Cheryl Barnes.

Is Oklahoma really going into Circle in the Square?

R107, I don’t think Magaldi raped her, I think it was surprise anal and she enjoyed it.

More importantly, does Circle in the Square have wheelchair access?

Or, R107, he shot his load in her mouth. That’s how I always interpreted the lyric “I tasted it last night, didn’t I?” It must have been consensual. The whole point of the Junin sequence is that Eva had sex with Magaldi to get her the fuck out of there and to Buenos Aires.

She did look really young, r140, though about 17, I would have said, and seemed more hispanic looking, but it was a long time ago. I remember her mother was on the shoot, holding her coat for her (It was very cold) but I don't remember much else.

Well, if it was Charles, then that's a really fun little bit of trivia about the movie.

I've read some bizarre reports about Cheryl Barnes. one source says she decided to stay in the area where they shot the Army barracks scenes and took a job as the maid in the motel they all stayed at. Hoo boy!

Re A Date With Judy: Those MGM flacks/hacks must have been licking their chops waiting for Elizabeth Taylor to grow up to cast her in adult roles but they weren't paying much attention to the gorgeous young Robert Stack.

Why didn't Metro ever turn Stack into a star? Did they really prefer Van Johnson??

Perhaps it was his stodgy wooden demeanor, r147.

Who knows if the Dylan musucal is really moving into the Lunt-Fontanne? Reidel is a willing shill for whatever producer wants to advance a narrative in the press.

r102 You can have 100 people in a room and 99 people don't believe in Gaga and one does and that wouldn't be Patti.

THE RINK would be a great ENCORES project (if they ever took the stick out of their butts) but no one in their right minds would revive it in an open run.

[quote]Chita, recalling the gang rape on rollerskates with some misgivings...

What misgivings? It was a paycheck and one more role that Rita Moreno couldn't play. Yeah, I had to play along side Judy's coked up daughter, but Rita wasn't going to get this role!!!

What a voice Carol Brice had! Man, what an evening with she, Barbara Cook and Karen Morrow on one stage in "The Grass Harp"! What gorgeous voices, and a beautiful score. It's a shame that show didn't last very long, but the recording lives on.

"her", r153. Not "she."

Meh, r153.

Watching Milos Forman’s Hair now. John Savage has a real Montgomery Clift quality in this.

Treat Williams’ ass is a thing of glory. You can see his peen when he dives in.

[quote] Ok, I'm not saying for sure that the Suzette Charles thing is incorrect, but are we sure it was THE Suzette Charles? She would have just turned 14 when they were filming. Not impossible, but not likely. Does the poster above remember if the woman looked 14, or was white or black?

The girl singing "Frank Mills" is supposed to be a young girl, so 14 would be appropriate.

[quote]I've read some bizarre reports about Cheryl Barnes. one source says she decided to stay in the area where they shot the Army barracks scenes and took a job as the maid in the motel they all stayed at. Hoo boy!

Have no idea if true but "Hair" as released on March 14, 1979 and I met her in December of '80 in New York at a Broadway function.

I saw a reading of The Rink at Manhattan Theatre Club with Dorothy Loudon and directed by Joe Mantello in the mid-1990s. I wish I could remember who played all the chorus boys. Julie Johnson (who?) played Liza's role.

It was great, though it wasn't staged, only read and sung. I think they were doing Terrence McNally a favor.

Should I watch the Cher show tonight?

Season 2 • Episode 1 • Christmas Special Performances by comedian Redd Foxx, the Lennon Sisters and the Hudson Brothers...

There is so much nudity in the Hair movie; how did it get a PG rating?

Assuming the Times will be thumbs down on Cher, with some plaudits for the performers.

The movie version of Hair was really good. I’ve always loved the score. The choreography by Twyla Tharp was great.

[quote] There is so much nudity in the Hair movie; how did it get a PG rating?

I saw Magnum Force last night on TCM, and was surprised how much nudity was in it. No peen, but full back men and women, and tits for women, and that was 1973. Plus, anyone who watched PBS in the 1970s got to see lots of nudity in British TV shows. We saw Alan Bates and Oliver Reed's penises in "Women in Love" in 1970, Jan-Michael Vincent's in "Buster and Billie" in 1974, and we got to see Richard Gere's dick a year after Hair in "American Gigolo." So it's not really unusual that we got to see Treat's treat in "Hair."

[quote]THE RINK would be a great ENCORES project

Why? It's not a very good show, and some of those songs were crappy even when the show was being done. ("All the Children in a Row" and "We Can Make It," anyone?)

Pat LuPone and Sutton Foster would kill in this.

LuPone is 70 in April, too old (plus, she notoriously can't dance, and the problem wasn't her hip). And Angel is "nearly thirty now" per the lyric in "Don't Ah Ma Me." How is SuttFo supposed to play "nearly thirty" in her mid-40s?

Liza was 40 when she did The Rink.

R169, Actually, she was 38.

[quote] The girl singing "Frank Mills" is supposed to be a young girl, so 14 would be appropriate.

Yes, I know. But film is a different animal. You would try and cast an 18 year old who looks 14 so you're not restricted to the child labor laws, which can really fuck up a film's budget. That's why I said that.

Wasn't Liza's age criticized at the time? I remember several critics alluding to how inappropriate she was for the role. Stockard Channing replaced her and was around the same age. I always did think was strange that Chita was playing Liza's mother. She didn't seem quite old enough for it for some reason.

R171, child labor laws has nothing to do with anything. It only means she could be on set for a limited period of time. NY labor laws have always been less stringent than LA’s, anyway. Suzette Charles filmed “Frank Mills” for a few hours in front of the Waverly in the wee hours of the morning and that was that.

It has to do with what I said, dear.

You have no idea how much they may have used her or not unless you were on the entire shoot.

And don't tell me about NY labor laws. I was on a NYC shot soap off and on for three years playing someone's kid and I was policed stringently in terms of school and work.

So are we sure that's Suzette Charles and not Annie Golden singing "Frank Mills" on the HAIR soundtrack album? I'm not sure....

Mother and daughter? We could be sisters!

Cheets is the class and the sass!

I had the album of Hair as a kid and I clearly remember it being Annie Golden who was credited with singing it. Listen to the clips. I sounds just like her.

Charles had a legit sound. I've heard her Miss America performance called the greatest Miss USA talent performance ever. Brave how both she and Vanessa Williams did Streisand songs. In my college the voice teacher wouldn't let the girls do Streisand songs because she said you will inevitably be compared to her and fail.

This is definitely Annie Golden. She had that cutesy little girl sound. She replaced in Little Shop of Horrors.

Plus she is a little bit of a speech impediment that you can always hear.

There’s no show so terrible that someone here won’t defend it.

Barnes won Star Search and then performed in the Long Beach CLO production of Dreamgirls to great acclaim. She was actually working as a maid when she walking in the open call of 'Hair". She indeed stayed in Barstow after "Hair" but is now settled in Germany.

Why would Cheryl Barnes be on Star Search? The show didn't premiere until 1983. She had already been on Broadway, in films and recorded (Love & Passion on the American Gigolo soundtrack) and had all but left show business by then.

Girl from the North Country will not do well in a theater as big as the Lunt-Fontanne. It will not be attracting tourists. Most of the Dylan songs are unfamiliar to most, and his name did nothing for that Twyla Tharp show. And the show is a downer. It success is from its mood, which will be lost in such a big theater.

Mare Winningham is wonderful but some of the cast are, well, not. Unless the show wins Best Musical, it will blow its entire investment.

Maybe she needed the money or a wider audience r181.

Here's a clip of her on the show?

100K is a nice payday for a five performances. I'm fairly sure she made less than that on Broadway and for "Hair".

It’s been a long time since we discussed big Broadway cocks and the accommodating chorus boys who love them.

Did Giorgio Moroder produce Barnes' track on the American Gigolo soundtrack? I remember looking to see if she release an album around that time but I don't think she did.

I saw Annie Golden on the upper west side in Manhattan a couple of months ago. Too bad this thread didn’t exist then. I could have asked her if she sang Frank Mills on the album. I’ll bet she would be delighted to know that a bunch of gsy men were wondering.

[quote]I had the album of Hair as a kid and I clearly remember it being Annie Golden who was credited with singing it.

No one is credited on the album thus the confusion. And as stated, Betty Buckley is not credited on the album but on the plastic record sampler that came inside the movie program sold at the theater. "Grease" and "Saturday Night Fever" also had attached records in their program. It was a flimsy black piece of plastic but it worked. Can't believe I can't find a pic online. They most have sold a million of those programs.

[quote]There is so much nudity in the Hair movie; how did it get a PG rating?

Probably the same ratings board that let the flopping dicks in 'Can't Stop The Music" through. Both around the same time.

Oops I'm confused. I was the one who stated Golden is credited on the album. Now I remember. It is the song "Air" that is clearly Golden and I assumed Frank Mills was her too.

I always knew Betty Buckley sang the solo in Walking in Space. I think she is credited in the film. I saw her in a small concert once and she said they forgot to credit her on the album so nobody knew it was her but me and a couple of people said we knew and she asked you did? It must be credited in the film or otherwise I don't know how I'd know it.

Somebody on twitter, tweet Annie and ask her.

Hey, R174/asshole, I’ve been a member of SAG since 1972 and know how this shit works so don’t thijk you’ve got all the answers. Children between 7-15 years of age can work for up to 6 hours. They could have banged out “Frank Mills” in 4 or less. Get off your fucking high horse, bitch. And...uhh...I have a feeling they killed you off that soap because you were no longer “cute.”

Lichitza.............

I loves Annie.......

...I really does

[quote] Hey, [R174]/asshole, I’ve been a member of SAG since 1972 and know how this shit works so don’t thijk you’ve got all the answers. Children between 7-15 years of age can work for up to 6 hours. They could have banged out “Frank Mills” in 4 or less. Get off your fucking high horse, bitch. And...uhh...I have a feeling they killed you off that soap because you were no longer “cute.”

Good for you, Grandpa. Clearly I hit a nerve when you heard I had an actual role in something and wasn't just an extra like you. Calm yourself and look on the bright side. At least you no longer have to kiss Sylvia Fay's ass to get in a crowd scene.

Thanks for sending that clip of Cheryl Barnes, R183. I guess I don't really know the rules of Star Search. I thought you had to be an amateur to compete, so I didn't think Cheryl would qualify.

[quote] Did Giorgio Moroder produce Barnes' track on the American Gigolo soundtrack? I remember looking to see if she release an album around that time but I don't think she did.

Moroder did produce Love & Passion, and no, she did not release an album at that time, unfortunately,

She comes THIS CLOSE to dialing a the phone with a sharpie and then doesn't?

Why!?!?!?

How did Lin-Manuel get on the cover of Vanity Fair's holiday issue? (Mary Poppins Returns, I know.) Ugh. At least there's a nice Cartier ad on the back cover so I can keep it face down.

The gossip about that is the writer originally planned to do a snark piece titled Ego, Ego, Ego, but the VF management decided to make it a fawning piece instead.

Speaking of bad editing during thrilling film performances like Cheryl Barnes' in Hair (the audience applauded Easy To Be Hard when I saw it opening week in Boston, too), the one that really makes my head explode is Try A Little Tenderness in The Commitments. Strictly for a plot point they cut away as the song is starting to build, then return to the performers for the final moments. I... arrrgh...

Come to think of it, The Commitments might work on stage as a different sort of jukebox musical. Getting the music rights would be spendy, though, and you'd have to find a bunch of Irish actor/musicians.

R199, that bobbing head routine between Annie and her boyfriend is all kinds of adorable.

Annie Golden is a handful....

R204, Not during Assassins.

R202, The Commitments WAS done as a stage musical in London’s West End a few years ago but I guess a NY transfer wasn’t deemed necessary.

r202 The London stage production was a mixed bag. It was better than many other jukebox musicals but it wasn't great.

Has it been a very long time since London has produced a mega hit new musical (NOT a revival) that's been a hit on Broadway? What's the last one?

The Cher musical will go the same fate as SUMMER. It will do great for 10 weeks, so-so for another 8, and then run for another few months at a loss. They'll close it next July 4 week. Bottom line: It's fabulous, but really empty, and no one cares about her, really. She's never done anything for anyone but herself, really.

The PROMS numbers sucked again last week, and they're spending hundreds of thousands to prop it up. Can it make it through January?

Kathryn Grayson in CAMELOT was so dull she ruined the show.

The Cher Show will do a little better than Summer. I give it until next Labor Day.

If Cher runs until next Labor Day, it's approximately the same run as Summer. 10 months.

All this mind-numbing Hair chit chat is nearly as tedious and unbearable as Follies any conversation.

Fine, then let’s give it exactly a year. Cher is far more well known than Donna Summer,

[quote]She's never done anything for anyone but herself, really

The same could be said of Donna Summer, Frankie Valli, any of the biomusical subjects.

Yeah, but what made Jersey Boys work is those guys were relatable, and their working class backgrounds and their story was real. Cher and Donna Summer were/are "show biz" creations, and their stories don't really have anything different from the usual showbiz story. Cher is also such a creation, a fantasy who wasn't selling reliability. She's more of a Goddess type, and that's harder to make human.

Also, Frankie Valli and the other Seasons gave Jersey Boys carte blanche in writing their story, warts and all. And the show really reveled in the grittiness of their past and misuse of their success.

Carole King, the Summer estate and Cher were all very protective about what they would and wouldn't allow in the story-telling.

The Cher Show window card will be on the wall of Joe Allen's by Easter.

[quote]They could have banged out “Frank Mills” in 4 or less.

You don’t know that. You literally don’t know what they could or couldn’t gavr done with filming the number. Stop being such a reactionary asshole. Just cause you’re elderly doesn’t give you the right to be a pig.

I’m so glad that the fabulous Annie Golden has finally gotten her day in the DL sun!

[quote]Has it been a very long time since London has produced a mega hit new musical (NOT a revival) that's been a hit on Broadway? What's the last one?

Billy Elliot? Matilda?

[quote]Thanks for sending that clip of Cheryl Barnes, [R183]. I guess I don't really know the rules of Star Search. I thought you had to be an amateur to compete, so I didn't think Cheryl would qualify.

I used to think that, too, r197, then I saw this clip with Randy Wojcik, Scott Fowler, Michael Berresse, Joey Pizza and Randy Bettis in what had to be the gayest dance routines on Star Search ever. In 2 of the routines, they wear rainbow colors. There's a gyrating ass display, hand running down abs and a male/male lift.

I believe at least 3 of them had been on Broadway by that point.

Uhhh...R220/douchenoozzle, you know ZILCH about filmmaking. With “Frank Mills” you’d need a medium shot, a close-up and maybe a side angle shot and that’s IT. Period. It would have taken no more than four hours. Get a clue, dipshit.

[quote]All this mind-numbing Hair chit chat is nearly as tedious and unbearable as Follies any conversation.

You don't find the change refreshing?

Scott Fowler was the cutest chorus boy of the 1990s.

Fuck now we’ve gone from HAIR to Jersey Boys. It’s like hell for DL

I am 100% on board with the Hair chit-chat.

It is new, refreshing and there was actual male nudity. And Charlotte Rae.

Scott Fowler’s got a nice Instagram account. He doesn’t flash a lot of flesh but he does flash them sparkling eyes.

Eh, det är allt skräp och inte hör hemma i en teate,

[quote]you know ZILCH about filmmaking. With “Frank Mills” you’d need a medium shot, a close-up and maybe a side angle shot and that’s IT. Period.

What the fuck is wrong with you that you're so nasty to people?

You weren't the director of "Hair." Despite what you think you know, you can't say definitively what it would take to film that number to Milos Foreman's specifications. So fuck off yourself.

Oh dear fucking god.

Both of you.

[quote]There is so much nudity in the Hair movie; how did it get a PG rating?

There was no 'PG13' rating until 1984.Just 'G' (general audiences-- everyone can attend), 'PG' (parental guidance -- may be unsuitable for preteens), 'R' (restricted -- under 17 need accompanying by adults), and 'X' (no one under 17 admitted). Back then, mere nudity wouldn't automatically get you an 'R,' only if it was deemed sexual (i.e., in the bedroom). 'X' was for more explicit nudity/sex. Well, as explicit as mainstream movies could get. For instance, MIDNIGHT COWBOY got an X-rating. Later, MPAA dropped the 'X' because of its association with the porn industry and adopted 'NC-17.'

Fowler is a lovely guy, has amazing blue eyes and a hot ass.

[quote]You weren't the director of "Hair." Despite what you think you know, you can't say definitively what it would take to film that number to Milos Foreman's specifications. So fuck off yourself.

Girls! Girls! You're both insufferable!

R225 I have a feeling people here will just bitch about anything. If you don't like the discussion, contribute and change the subject. Sheesh.

there used to be a rumor that Scott Fowler was kept by David geffen

Well, he was, for a while, anyway.

I wonder if Fowler sent Joey Stefano packing or if it was the other way around.

Joey PIZZI -- he's co-choreographer on "Mary Poppins 2 Electric Boogaloo"

R193 - that was so much FUN. Man, Cheets has such a great sense of humor.

Joey Pizzi was kept by Geffen? Wow.

R217

As someone who has actually seen The Cher Show you couldn't be more wrong. It is an aspirattional story & she is portrayed very much as a woman who struggles to be independent & strong as opposed to just being a goddess. It's quite moving.

aspirational

How about "inspirational"?

The Cher show is totally undone by the script, which is....jaw-dropping.

Variety liked The Cher Show. Gave it a horrible headline then proceeds to like it. Tony for Stephanie Block.

The Hollywood Reporter liked it too and is going back.

Well, if THR likes it, it must be good. They're pretty hard to please.

r247. Hollywood Reporter is positive; Variety, however, is definitely negative.

"a woman who struggles to be independent & strong"

What iconoclasm! What innovation! It's a new epoch of storytelling...

"One of the common complications of vomiting is re-routing of the vomit to the air passages via the trachea and into the lungs. This is called aspiration."

The Times review (by Jesse Green) is in: "Dramatically threadbare and surprisingly un-revealing. ... In its current state, you can’t distinguish scenes meant to borrow comedy-hour elements from those meant to be taken at face value. ... We need not rehearse the traps inherent in the genre (of bio-jukebox musicals), except to say that 'The Cher Show' falls into all of them. ... (The book has) three one-note characters from what might have been a single rich one. ... Not only does (Block) ace Cher’s vocal inflections and physical mannerisms, including the half-mast eyes, the arm akimbo and the dancing-from-the-hair-up hauteur, but she somehow integrates them into a portrait of a woman at odds with the very dream that sustained her. ... Though Jarrod Spector gets Sonny’s Napoleon complex just right, he also gives him an adenoidal honk so exaggerated as to render him cute and harmless. ... Nor is a word said about her initial difficulty accepting her son Chaz’s coming out as trans — a conflict that might have given some dramatic shape to the Star years. As depicted here, those years consist of little but farewell tours. ... The musical numbers are gleefully staged; the director Jason Moore and the choreographer Christopher Gattelli keep the super-buff ensemble whirling constantly on pop pastel sets under sparkly lights. ... Is not as unpleasant as slicker jukebox musicals ... It gets whiny just when you want it to get fierce."

Lens Dunham and Andy Randells for the DEH movie!

I have yet to read another review as positive as the one in The Hollywood Reporter.

But why is Lucille Ball in a show about Cher?

I remember as a kid being shocked by the fact that Wendy Edmead of the original cast of Cats left the show and went on to compete in the "spokesmodel" category on Star Search. It seemed such a step down.

R225

Cher's mother was an extra on a Lucy show I think.

Hahaha. I've been gone all day and I see someone else has taken up the mantle of bashing that guy who claims he knows how long it took to shoot Frank Mills. Speaking of which, I was listening to the soundtrack in the car today and that is very definitely Annie Golden singing it. I'd love to know where this Suzette Charles rumor started.

Thanks, I THOUGHT I was sure it was Annie Golden singing "Frank Mills" on he HAIR soundtrack, so thanks for reconfirming.

Annie Golden IS Cher in CHER 2: ELECTRIC BUGALOO

Sandy Farina who played Strawberry in "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" also was on and didn't even win once.

Suzette Charles When Vanessa Williams was dethroned as Miss America, Suzette Charles became the second African-American Miss America. She reigned 7 weeks, the shortest tenure of a Miss America.

Mays Landing, New Jersey Suzette represented New Jersey in the Miss America Pageant in 1984 as a 1981 Presidential Scholar and was presented the Presidential gold medallion by President Ronald Reagan upon graduating. Suzette's vocal performance as a contestant won her the talent portion as she sang Barbra Streisand's "Kiss Me In The Rain." Suzette was a child performer with union credits to her name. She was featured in Sesame Street and Electric Company at the early age of 8. After filming several television commercials she was a featured singer in Milos Foreman's feature film, Hair starring Treat Williams and Beverly DeAngelo. Her song "Frank Mills," was also recorded on the cast album at age 12. Suzette has appeared on several soap operas including CBS's The Young and the Restless, NBC's Generations and a contract role on ABC's Loving. Her vocal talent has led her to tour with Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., Bill Cosby, Alan King and Stevie Wonder to name a few. The famed recording producer David Foster has produced Suzette on his label on Atlantic Records. She has also had a top ten hit "Free To Love Again" with a single produced by Stock,Waterman Aikerman on BMG/PWL Records. Suzette has also had several talk shows on Bravo and HBO Entertainment News as well as an entertainment show on BET. One of her greatest moments was Andy Warhol throwing her a party and featuring her in Interview Magazine. Tina Turner was also there. Suzette is the mother of two children and the wife of Dr. Leonard Bley. She continues to work and inspire others to follow their dreams.

The big omission from the "Hair" score is, of course, "Frank Mills," a song which one would think is inexpendable. Sung by the character of Chrissy, played in the film by Suzette Charles (whose role was entirely eliminated), the song is like a lulling anthem to the sweet obliviousness of apathy and is achingly beautiful in its utter simplicity.

If the name Suzette Charles rings a bell, it's because she would go on to be named Miss America - by default. In 1983, at age 20 (four years after "Hair" was filmed), Charles was named first runner up in the contest, after Vanessa Williams, and was eventually given the crown when Williams was revealed to be the subject of compromising photographs.

When I mentioned all this to Forman during an interview for the initial release of "Amadeus," he was delighted although he admitted that, by then, he had only a dim memory of Charles and her participation in "Hair."

So, in 1983 a woman of color was going to win Miss America no matter what? Did it feel like they were making a statement at the time, kind of like people thought the Academy did in 2002 when Halle Berry and Denzel Washington both won lead Oscars?

R264, it did seem like it was "time" but, as it happened, they were both fantastic choices. I had hoped Suzette would win originally anyway.

R264, maybe they were the best contestants. Williams had already won both prelims in talent and swimsuit so it was obvious she was going to win. Charles was not terribly gracious about Williams after she got the crown and it hurt her popularity among black audiences. She said on Joan Rivers that she wanted to be Miss America so she really didn't care about Williams.

[quote]Cher's mother was an extra on a Lucy show I think.

That’s not the connection, at least in The Cher Show. It depicts a conversation Cher had with Lucy when she wanted advice on breaking up with Sonny, ie, breaking up a duo that was so beloved as a couple by audiences.

Did anyone go to the Red Bucket Follies today? I saw it and thought the show was better than it has been for a few years. It opens with a strong tap number and goes from there.

r264 it was pretty much assumed in the preliminaries that one of them would win. Partly because it was time but they both were very strong contenders. They both had great talent portions and were from two high profile states (NY, NJ) and the pagent was held in NJ. I kind of remember it being more of a given that Williams would win. The surprise was that Charles came in second. Williams was pretty much recruited to be the first black Miss America. Some pagent offical saw her perform somewhere and asked her to compete. They thought her looks and voice could get break the color barrier. Charles was more of a pageant perreinial who tried and tried to get in. Williams sort of had it put upon her (which is probably why she didn't realize the photos would come back to haunt her.)

The odd thing was when Charles crowned the new winner the next year she announced on the show she'd be joining The Cosby Show as the new oldest daughter....but that never happened. (now I wonder if she turned down Cosby's advances or something.)

worst thread ever?

So if Frank Mills had made the final cut, we would have seen Suzette Charles playing Chrissy to Annie Golden's singing voice?

Who the fuck cares about Suzette Charles??

Exactly, r272. Let's move on....

R271

Apparently, yes!

So weird.

Yes, please. More conversation about Follies

Who would be good in Follies?

[quote]So if Frank Mills had made the final cut, we would have seen Suzette Charles playing Chrissy to Annie Golden's singing voice?

It's better than Suzette Charles playing Chrissy to Marni Nixon's singing voice.

Or Glenn Close's speaking voice as Andie McDowell had to do.

[quote]Who would be good in Follies?

It's too bad Patsy Cline died before Follies premiered. She could have played Sally. Her "Losing My Mind" would have been #1 with both gays and lesbians across the world.

Well, Sally was definitely a "fall to pieces" sorta gal, r278.....

What ever happened to Kristin Chenoweth's Dusty Springfield project?

[quote]What ever happened to Kristin Chenoweth's Dusty Springfield project?

It got set aside for her Dolly Parton project.

Poor Kristin. She needs to attach herself with someone who can explain reality to her. There is no way she could be believed as either Dusty Springfield or Dolly Parton. She doesn't have the right voice type for Springfield and she doesn't have the right body type for Dolly.

Nice article on Cast Party guru and total top Jim Caruso.

R280, talk about ego. That Dusty role was a vicarious vanity project for KC's lesbian manager, who should stick to doing what's best for her clients instead of living through them. She thought she was the star. A lot of management gets confused about that. And Kristin, appropriately kicked her to the curb. Unfortunately, too much damage had already been done to KC's career, and now she's older.

I want to talk about Reinking again. She's worked with everyone except possibly Champion and certainly understands Fosse and Bennett well. I think her choreography in "Chicago" is fantastic but has she choreographed anything else? She did "Applause" which was a first rate bomb and her choreography was widely panned. Her performing days are through but can she do anything but "Chicago"? I saw her work at the LBCLO production and it was also excellent and markedly different than what was seen in the revival a few years later.

If she is something of a bridge between Bennett, Fosse and the current theater, I wish she'd do more. If she's insecure about her work, I think she stays retired, looking after her son.

I wonder, will Ann get paid "a consulting fee" for FOSSE/VERDON?

I saw NETWORK and I loved it. Not perfect but compelling and exciting theatre. And they can engrave Cranston the TONY now.....He is riveting. And a great final coup de théâtre.

Wow Max playing a top

If I hear one more thing about that fucking former pageant contestant, so help me god I'll start talking about which Rose in Gypsy I liked the best.

I'm watching old episodes of Angie. Nancy Lane was a recurring cast member in Season 2. She was one of the three Marys who went to high school with Angie, Mary Catherine, the nun.

The episode I'm watching also features DL fave Bruce Kimmel as a singing telegram guy.

Care to spoil the coup for us, r287?

Saw NETWORK. Another unnecessary production, IMO. The satire is largely absent and the gimmicky video work (with the same tricky effects used in the adaptation of THE DAMNED) overwhelm the human element, which neutralizes the whole point of the story. Duvall, Dunaway, Holden and Straight can all rest easy, wherever they are---none of the stage performances come close, though (except in one case) it's not the actors' fault (not sure what I thought of Cranston). There are a couple of unnecessary new speeches near evening's end that explicate the theme (in case you didn't get it) and the "mad as hell" sequence is played with a different inflection. Otherwise, it doesn't have an original idea in its head, and its relevance is solely dependent on Chayefsky's brilliant and prescient screenplay.

Ann Reinking has been receiving checks from the Broadway company of CHICAGO and all of its offshoots that pay back to the Broadway company (the cast recording, the domestic and international tours when they are out) year in, year out since 1996. Even if her share was merely the standard choreographer's royalty split 50/50 with the Fosse estate, there is no need for her to ever have to work again.

Big deal, r290. Yesterday I watched a Naked City with the lovely Barbara Barrie Harnick. It was followed by Route 66 with the lovely Beatrice Straight and in the disturbed ingenue role... Miss...Elizabeth...Ashley!

[quote]disturbed ingenue role... Miss...Elizabeth...Ashley!

If you want to read a dishy autobiography, read Elizabeth Ashley's "Actress: Postcards from the Road". The only problem is that she wrote it too soon. She needed to dish on some things as she got older.

r288 Made his head spin as much as yours.

[quote]Wow Max playing a top

Talk about a coup de theatre!

[r295] I love her memoir too. I too wish she had written an update in 2005 or something.

The notion that an ugly, hateful, straight asshole like Bruce Kimmel is a DL fave is just ridiculous.

R292, I saw it in London and had a similar reaction. I think the elimination of the Ecumenical Liberation Army from the script just shows how little these adaptors understand the material. They took Network and made it boring, no more so than in the casting of Cranston, that sacred cow, in Finch's role. They can't even make sense of Max's role, as he starts out narrating the piece and then just kind of recedes into the background. It's like they don't know what to do with his character. It's why the brilliant Beatrice Straight scene falls so flat. How was Tatiana Maslany? It's not really the same role that it was in the film.

People who've never seen the film find some power in it but it is otherwise a disappointment.

[quote] I think the elimination of the Ecumenical Liberation Army from the script just shows how little these adaptors understand the material.

I wouldn't second guess Paddy Chayefsky. He had success on stage, on tv and movies. Why would they mess with something that worked?

Fun fact-Paddy Chayevsky and Bob Fosse were best friends. It will be interesting seeing Norbert Leo Butz and Sam Rockwell play out that relationship in Fosse/Verdon.

[quote]If I hear one more thing about that fucking former pageant contestant, so help me god I'll start talking about which Rose in Gypsy I liked the best.

We're about due to restart that discussion anyway.

r301 One almost wishes the Chayefsky estate hadn't allowed this.

Time considerations, r 301.

Honestly, r300, if Diana is not presented satirically as an over-the-top monster (as a metaphor for the rapacious soullessness of television), the role is without fangs. Sure, the notorious sex scene gets played out and Max gives her the lecture at the end, ya-ta-ta, ya-ta-ta. but it made little impression in the scheme of things, so far as I was concerned.. Part of the lack of affect I would attribute to the performance, but I'll say no more.

Bruce Kimmel is straight?

So he says.

[quote]Nice article on Cast Party guru and total top Jim Caruso.

He used to host the Broadway Cares Equity Fights AIDS Annual Flea Market Celebrity Autograph Table. Might still, but haven't gone in a few years. He's friends with Liza and is one of her back up dancers. Wonder why he never got her to haul her cookies across town on a bright Sunday afternoon to sign. I would have had her at a separate table for $50 a pop and they would have made nice penny.

[quote]Wonder why he never got her to haul her cookies across town on a bright Sunday afternoon to sign.

You're funny to think that Liza gets out of bed before 6:00 pm on ANY day, let alone after a Saturday night of partying.

[quote][R292], I saw it in London and had a similar reaction. I think the elimination of the Ecumenical Liberation Army from the script just shows how little these adaptors understand the material.

Why did they get rid of it? Are they afraid to deal with the whole race and terrorist issues?

I've interacted with BK a handful of times at each the BWW forum and at HomeTheaterForum.com and never had any clue he was a closet case. He's a regular but not frequent poster at each.

If BK is straight, I'm Patti LuPone.

I hear they're doing a gender reversal Follies with K.D. Lang.

R295, When it was first published, it was considered quite raunchy. Fucking Thomas McGuane in a movie theater, for example.

Fosse, Chayevski and Herb Gardner all had offices on the same floor in a midtown building, Gardner wrote the monologue in the Roxy number in "Chicago."

FUN FACT

Do you mean Bruce Kimmel who produces CDs of obscure musicals? He's always yelling at someone in the those theater chat rooms.

Seeing Network next week though I'm not a fan of von Hove. But I've never seen the film of Network (believe it or not) so I don't have any particular expectations.

But von Hove's upcoming All About Eve?! I don't get how he'll ever get away with a new version of such a famous and iconic film. If he and the actors don't recreate a slavish reproduction of the original, everyone will be disappointed. And if he somehow creates a new version, everyone will be outraged.....because we all love the film so much. Seems like such a lose/lose proposition. Perhaps this will be the undoing of von Hove (at least in the commercial theater arena).

It may well be worth a trip to London this spring.

Bruce Kimmel has a creepy, pervy interest in young women (not underage. Early to mid 20s). He puts them in his little cabaret shows that he does in LA which are always terrible.

Last year he directed a workshop of a really awful musical called “Hit Song!” (I think, I can’t really remember) that gave two performances at the El Portal. The show was terrible (and has deservedly sunk without a trace) but his direction wasn’t bad. He’d probably get a lot more opportunities if he weren’t such an asshole.

Anyone attempting to do creative theater projects in LA is suspect.

When I posted at r311 that it never occurred to me that BK was a closet case after interacting with him, what I meant to say specifically was that it never occurred to me that he wasn't an openly gay man. He must be far more fucked up than I had thought. He has a pattern of attacking posters who try to support him.

Anybody who considers Network prescient has never seen any pre code film comedies. Though I've never been able to sit through the whole film as it comes across as hit you over the head with a mallet awful.

The Black militant negotiating the television contract elevates" Network" to exquisite AMERICA satire. Europeans just don't get it. Brexit or no Brexit.

I haven't seen the film of Network since it came out and had no memory whatsoever of the Ecumenical Liberation Army mentioned above. I'd guess most people only remember the "I'm mad as hell" ravings and little else. Which could be either good or bad for the stage version.

Per Broadway.com, Torch Song is ending its run six weeks early on Jan 6. There'll be a tour in the fall of 2019 with Michael Urie again in the lead.

How does "The Prom" hang on?

Now that "Head over Heels" is going we can say this about "Prom."

Philip Bosco has died at 88.

Early prediction: Network will extend its run to at least up to the Tonys.

OMG, RIP. I adored Philip Bosco. He played many parts, usually a Judge but often a featured guest star on the various L&Os.

I first became aware of him when he replaced Raul Julia as Mack the Knife in the highly regarded 1970s revival of The Threepenny Opera. Julia played the part as a jaded matinee idol, which was effective for him but didn't work for the show. Bosco played the part as a tired business man, which is how the show is written and suddenly that whole production came into focus. God I will miss him.

Philip Bosco won the Tony for lead actor in a play in 1989 for "Lend Me a Tenor."

R325 I’d guess that the producers have a sizable amount in reserve to cover short term losses until word of mouth kicks in. Great reviews, and award prospects are reasons to hang in. I think their chances are very good.

That was a very well deserved sympathy vote, r329. He was a fantastic actor who had always just missed out on a well deserved award.

Philip Bosco obit in THR:

Lin-Manuel Miranda and Lady Gaga Bond Over Their Love for Rent — Which Gaga Was Almost In:

Oh, God, bring back THE CAT AND THE FIDDLE!

R324 speaketh the truth:

A lot of ideas about royalty checks for actors is wrong. Recently a hit tv show actor said yeah he got checks but not the money people think ... so ok his role in the cast wasn't huge, but he was there .... and several years after the show ended he still got checks, like for an entire year, $17.

Cannibalistic Humanoid Underground Dwellers

[quote]Anyone attempting to do creative theater projects in LA is suspect.

As opposed to the stagnant NY theatre scene?

Christ - the THIRST in those Jim Caruso photos!

Lucas Hedges likes to warm up before a performance by singing "Rum Tum Tugger" from CATS (skip to 4:40):

Is George Hearn really still alive? Really? I thought he died years ago. How old was he when he retired? Or was it something like Alzheimers?

Hearn was in Kathie Lee's musical.

Philip Bosco was a great talent. He could do comedy and he could drama equally well. I saw him several times. "An Inspector Calls" "The Heiress" "Moon Over Buffalo" "Twelfth Night." He's irreplaceable.

Saw the bloated Les Miz villain Richard Jey Alexonder with the toxic Kevin Sessums at the Red Bucket Follies-great show, these guys are real pieces of bad work. Any Barricade survivors wanna share??

I want to see a "Shakes The Clown" Broadway musical. Who plays the LaWanda Page role?

Clearly, it should be Stephanie J. Block.

Falsettos tour cast? Bottoms on Ice! Why is Torch Song closing?

[quote]Hearn was in Kathie Lee's musical.

Which is the equivalent of death.

OMG, thanks, R340. How goofy-dorky-cute is he?

Lucas Hedges reminds me of the straight theatre nerds I was all too frequently developing crushes on in school when we did crappy shows together.

Hasn’t Hedges said he was sort of gay? Or was that someone else? If he is gay, he should be drummed out of our ranks for that performance. I mean, Cats?!? Sigh. The poor thing.

You know who's somebody that I'm always pleasantly surprised is alive? John Cullum.

Someone I was shocked wasn't dead: Savion Glover. Well, he's still alive but his career is dead.

Did anyone see "Molly" with Kaye Ballard? She sang a song from that show on a Merv Griffin Show dedicated to Broadway Divas. Merman sang "Everything's Coming Up Roses" natch, Barbara Cook did "Til there was You" and Bernadette Peters did "I Can Cook too". Ballard's song from Molly was so stupid and forgettable. The entire song was a buildup to an idiot punchline where she says she saw John Davidson in "Playgirl" and never realized he was Jewish. If that was her big showstopper, the rest of it must have been dreadful. That show was also notable because Kaye was so obnoxious that Merman told her to shut up. Cook also had her fill of Ballard.

Nick Adams used to take loads in the original bathroom at the Westway Diner, good times.

Was Molly set in the present day? Mrs. Goldberg, how could you?

[quote]You know who's somebody that I'm always pleasantly surprised is alive? John Cullum.

He made a couple of appearances on Patty Heaton's show.

I saw Molly. Yes, it was terrible, but if you like musicals a lot it was sort of fun in the wrong way.

Every now and then there was a good tune, and Ballard is always fun (though this wasn't a good Ballard role--too serious and sentimental). Lots of sets and people running around doing things. Swen Swenson, whose older protegeur killed his wife so they could be together. That little guy from Minnie's Boys who died very young. One eleven o-clock song, I See a Man (title?), for Ballard that might have been ghosted, because the show's authors were such nobodies.

The song ballard sang on tv, Go In the Best of Health, was hideous, a pandering thing.

Hedges is quite good in BOY ERASED. It's almost like silent screen acting since a great deal of his role consists of reaction shots.

Max von Essen’s angry clitoris will woo the midwestern crowds!

Will John Cullum be in the "Northern Exposure" reboot?

Wonder what the wrap was Ike over at the Neil Simon today; guessing not so great.

[quote]Philip Bosco was a great talent. He could do comedy and he could drama equally well. I saw him several times. "An Inspector Calls" "The Heiress" "Moon Over Buffalo" "Twelfth Night." He's irreplaceable.

Saw "An Inspector Calls" twice and he was out both times.I think he had a medical issue at the time.

Bosch was a very solid actor but without the je ne sais quo which would would have made him legendary.

Much like John Cullum. Both of them so very very good but missing the spark that makes a star.

I’m surprised Torch song is closing early.

Philip Bosco was amazing in The Moon Over Buffalo documentary. He had meltdowns and shouting matches with everyone but Burnett. He was a male Stritch.

I’m excited broadway names are touring again.

TORCH SONG is currently playing to 34% of its gross potential, just weeks after opening, during the holidays no less. They lost everything and I would be shocked if the tour actually happens. It was a valiant effort, but obviously it is a flop.

With Torch Song, why did they cut off the "Trilogy"? Which part of the trilogy was cut?

I also saw Molly and it was a perfectly fine show. Nothing more. The show got alot of publicity and there was a tie in with YOO HOO drink. Kay(e) was ok but not exactly ideal casting. Danny Fortus had a lovely song called IN HER EYES which sounded a lot like his song in Minnie's Boys (Mama, a Rainbow). I remember reading they changed the plot, the director and the choreographer out of town. And one of the original Molly Goldberg cast members recreated his role for the musical.

Is Bruce Kimmel Jimmy Kimmel’s Daddy?

[quote] That was a very well deserved sympathy vote, [R329]. He was a fantastic actor who had always just missed out on a well deserved award.

Not true. It was a weak year, and Bosco was the best of the four, hands down. They weren't going to give it to Baryshnikov. And people liked to pretend they enjoyed what Bill Irwin did, but everyone secretly thought it was bullshit. The only thing keeping him from being run out of town on a rail was the fact that he skipped the mime makeup. It was between Bosco and Garber for the same show, and Bosco was better. There was no sympathy vote, and no one more deserving lost out that year.

There hasn't been a day Torch Song wasn't on TDF (except maybe for opening night) in that tiny theater.

The show is such a flop, they should have renamed it Head Over High Heels

[quote]Hasn’t Hedges said he was sort of gay?

Yes. In an interview I just read, he said he felt his sexuality was “on the spectrum” - not 100% straight, but not 100% gay, either. Somewhere in between.

Well, he may be on the spectrum in between, but he's 100% boring.

[quote]Bruce Kimmel has a creepy, pervy interest in young women (not underage. Early to mid 20s). He puts them in his little cabaret shows that he does in LA which are always terrible. :Last year he directed a workshop of a really awful musical called “Hit Song!” (I think, I can’t really remember) that gave two performances at the El Portal. The show was terrible (and has deservedly sunk without a trace) but his direction wasn’t bad. He’d probably get a lot more opportunities if he weren’t such an asshole.

Yeah, he's a real "Get off my lawn" prick. Whatever you think about [titleofshow], he got seriously pissed off that they crowd funded a cd, for the price of a cd.

You paid for a cd, you got one. Bruce ranted he could have done it cheaper.

Moises Kaufman comes up short again.

That Torch Song is turgid and I never thought Michael Urie could be boring/annoying onstage.

Torch Song and Head Over Heels could both have run in smaller Off Broadway houses ... WEHT that kind of midsize OB house without which we have this need to move everything to Bway where it can't succeed ... Be More Chill you're next

I liked Torch Song but the play feels very creaky and old. Urie was great and so was the cast. However, I did not like Ruehl at all. She did not seem healthy enough to be on stage, she wasn't funny enough and let's not talk about that face. Why did she allow that?

Bruce Kimmel has always been an obnoxious blowhard. And he is not straight despite what he may say.

And what IS the deal with Nick Adams? Somebody spill.

Michael Urie is magnificent in Torch Song. Not to be missed. Hits all the notes with precision, and genuine humor. Bravo, sir.

Reeve Carney: gay? straight? neither? well hung?

Michael Urie is cartoonish in Torch Song. One note. Should be missed and is the main reason it's closing ahead of schedule. Sorry, sir.

R368, the song in Molly was actually called “In Your Eyes” and it was indeed lovely.

R381 Why the need to diminish a performance of exquisite beauty with your lowly snark? Cartoonish? Hardly. What’s your agenda? Urie’s notices were spectacular. What have you been in lately?

Moises is NOT a hood directot Urie is AMAZING The producers simply waited way too long for the transfer and all interest has waned

Good

Max as Marvin the controlling top? Nope.

Torch Song was always an off-Broadway show. It's too intimate for one of those large theaters. I know that it ran successfully on Broadway in its original run, but it's really an off-Broadway type of show.

[quote]Bruce Kimmel has always been an obnoxious blowhard. And he is not straight despite what he may say.

All true. It has always surprised me that he says such outrageous things on message boards under his own name. It's like Pal Joey on Broadway World. He's been pretty open about who he is (I won't dox him here), but the guy is a relatively well-known public figure

[quote]And what IS the deal with Nick Adams? Somebody spill.

Not sure what you want to hear. He's a sweet but not too bright guy. He became somewhat famous when that jackass Mario Lopez took over the role of Zach in the A Chorus Line revival, and insisted that Nick, in the role of his assistant, Larry, wear a hoodie and dance upstage of him, because Nick was more muscled than Mario.

Nick suffers from severe clown face.

TORCH SONG couldn't sell out at Second Stage, what did they expect was going to happen on Broadway? A miracle?

R389 LOL! How do you mean?

[quote]Reeve Carney: gay? straight? neither? well hung?

He's supposedly dating Victoria Justice, an actress I've never heard of. They were allegedly engaged, but according to CDAN, the engagement has been broken. I know CDAN makes up shit, but who would bother to make up shit about Reeve Carney and Victoria Justice?

Like this, R391

I've never met a clown with a dick that big.

I take a backseat to nobody in praising Nick's body, but he's a total butter face.

Ballard also sang “Go in the Best of Health” at the Jerry Lewis MD Telethon on Labor Day 1973.

I saw it in Boston and remember thinking it was completely uninteresting. I do remember Danny Fortus singing “In Your Eyes” from the window of a tenement. And the first number had a lyric that went like “Nothing’s all good and nothing’s all bad and nothing’s the way it ever seems.”

Maybe Musicals in Mufti can mount a concert version of it for Vulva Toadstool.

It's a miracle TORCH SONG ran this long with that hack, Richie Jackson, producing.

"Hello everybody, this is Mrs. Jordan Roth".

Annaleigh Ashford is playing Judy Holliday? I’m sure this will end well.

Judy Holliday was not blacklisted. She WAS called up in front of the House Un-American Committee and the transcript of her testimony is available for reading. What she did was that she brilliantly delivered her testimony in a way that made it look like she was dumb, when in actuality she had a genius IQ. But it got her out of any trouble and without having to name any names. I don't know if anyone could really equal the real Holliday in terms of talent, beauty (she was really gorgeous in "Born Yesterday"), being hilarious and endearing at the same time. One good thing about a film being made about Judy is that her films will be seen again by new generations who I'm sure will fall in love with her.

Oooh, that'll gross about $1.98.

Not if there's gunshots r400.

They'll add some subplot with co-star Aldo Ray nude or Dean Martin on the make to get an R rating.

[quote]Torch Song is ending its run six weeks early on Jan 6. There'll be a tour in the fall of 2019 with Michael Urie again in the lead.

A tour of TORCH SONG? With no current TV or movie stars in the cast? That's a really smart idea! If it only plays in L.A.., San Francisco, and Chicago for a couple of weeks in each place, maybe it will only lose 90 percent of its investment. (But it's probably all moot, because like another poster hear, I don't think the tour will actually happen at all.)

[quote]Moises Kaufman comes up short again.

Ain't it the truth. Hopefully the epic flop of TORCH SONG will end his career, which should have ended years ago. Or, rather, should never have gotten started in the first place.

[quote]It has always surprised me that he says such outrageous things on message boards under his own name.

Yeah, it seems his ego and also the terrible rage in BK has grown to the point of severe mental illness.

[quote]A tour of TORCH SONG? With no current TV or movie stars in the cast?

Michael Urie was on UGLY BETTY as Vanessa Williams' right-hand man.

I think Michael Urie hung the moon and is a fantastic actor yet I LOATHED everything about Torch Song including his performance.

[quote]Michael Urie is cartoonish in Torch Song. One note. Should be missed and is the main reason it's closing ahead of schedule. Sorry, sir.

You mean as opposed to that bastion of subtlety Harvey Fierstein?

What was that Hugh Jackman shit show on the Today Show? He looked ridiculous. And how much work has he had done on his face?

He had cancer which required work to be done which is unfortunate because he has the sort of charisma that was supposed to allow him to age ruggedly and the work he got done to clear up the cancer messed with how his face should be aging. IE it was bad work to look younger, but for the right reasons (to not look scarred.)

What a shame. I would never do anything to my face.

[quote]Michael Urie was on UGLY BETTY as Vanessa Williams' right-hand man.

What part of the phrase "current TV or movie stars" don't you understand? Oh, I guess it's the word "current."

^ You must be a fun dinner date.

I might regret asking this, but inquiring minds wanna know; what do you stalwarts think of 2.5D musicals, such as SERAMYU (shows based on the manga/anime cartoon SAILOR MOON), BURAMYU (“”, BLEACH) and TENIMYU (“”, THE PRINCE OF TENNIS?

[quote] The term is used to describe theatrical presentations based on Japanese manga, popular animation and video games. The meaning implies such theatrical shows exist somewhere between 2D the realm of manga, animation and video games, and 3D the realm of the theater. The term not only refers to musicals, but also to straight plays, comedies and dramas.

R412 As we are not emotionally crippled, we loath them

Ruehl must have already said no or she would have been included

Totally agree, r405. And I think Ashford is perfect for Holliday, but it's almost always a mistake to portray a star whose work is so well-documented on film. Has it ever worked?

At least once.

How many Tony performance eligible new musicals this spring? Beetlejuice, Tootsie, Girl From North Country, Kiss Me, Kate, Be More Chill, Ain't Too Proud, and Hadestown. Plus I'm hearing rumors of Oklahoma! at Circle in the Square (they're going to give ponchos to the first row patrons to handle the blood. Premium experience!) Every Fall musical but Pretty Woman is a financial flop, with Head Over Heals, King Kong, Getting The Band Back Together, and probably Prom total wipeouts. This is one crazy year. And then Moulin Rouge is waiting to steal everyone's thunder.

[quote]How many Tony performance eligible new musicals this spring? Beetlejuice, Tootsie, Girl From North Country, Kiss Me, Kate, Be More Chill, Ain't Too Proud, and Hadestown. Plus I'm hearing rumors of Oklahoma! at Circle in the Square [html removed] Every Fall musical but Pretty Woman is a financial flop, with Head Over Heals, King Kong, Getting The Band Back Together, and probably Prom total wipeouts. This is one crazy year. And then Moulin Rouge is waiting to steal everyone's thunder.

The Cher Show? It'll get costumes if nothing else.

The Cher Show will win the Best Musical Tony and the Pulitzer. It is a tremendous work of theatre! Bravo! Bravo, to all!

The Prom wont be a wipe-out, surely. It doesn't look expensive as a mess like Kong...

[quote]I'm hearing rumors of Oklahoma! at Circle in the Square (they're going to give ponchos to the first row patrons to handle the blood. Premium experience!)

No CARMEN JONES transfer?

As they are both 1943 Oscar Hammerstein shows, OKLAHOMA! and CARMEN JONES should share Circle in the Square.

Whether its Carmen Jones or Oklahoma! they will both flop...Everyone who was truly interested in both has seen them already. There's no new audience.

"La Tragedie de Carmen" which had a lot of press back in 1983, didn't last longer than about 5-6 months, and that was a small cast, cut-down version of "Carmen" in French. Even in English, variations of traditional operas don't tend of last very long on Broadway. Don't accountants ever tell this to producers?

[quote]Whether its Carmen Jones or Oklahoma! they will both flop...Everyone who was truly interested in both has seen them already. There's no new audience.

Not really true of OKLAHOMA! I didn't see it at St. Ann's but I understand the seating capacity was pretty small. And that title is still pretty big, whereas a lot of people don't even know what CARMEN JONES is.

I didn't quite realize that Circle in the Square's next tenant will likely be one of two Oscar Hammerstein shows that both opened in 1943. Good one, R422!

[quote]Philip Bosco was a great talent.

And on top of that he made a helluva chocolate syrup.

I hope Stephanie j block wins the Tony for Cher as a leading lady

I'd love to see a biopic about Judy Holliday. But I bet it will be heavy handed skewing the facts and it probably won't be successful.

[quote]But I bet it will be heavy handed skewing

They already tried to imply in that article that she was blacklisted because she turned down sexual advancements from the powers that be.

Ashford is talented but does she have what it takes to carry a film? Nope. Same goes for Nina Arianda.

[quote]Oklahoma! at Circle in the Square (they're going to give ponchos to the first row patrons to handle the blood. Premium experience!)

That made me laugh!

[quote]They already tried to imply in that article that she was blacklisted because she turned down sexual advancements from the powers that be.

Additionally from the article:

[quote]“Judy Holiday’s story is one for the ages and yet so relatable within the context of today’s headlines,” Kirkwood said.

Her life shouldn't be used to take jabs at Trump. Put her life in the context of the times she lived in, not in context of what's going on today.

Ashford is a great choice for Judy, but I do have to wonder what kind of audience they think this movie has. At best, it'll go straight to Netflix or Amazon. I wish them the best of luck, though.

It would be nice for SBJ to win a Tony for playing another Diva 15 years after making her debut as Liza.

Will she ever get over the Elphaba bitterness? Could this be the chance for her to finally just let it go?

[quote]“Judy Holiday’s story is one for the ages and yet so relatable within the context of today’s headlines,” Kirkwood said.

What does that refer to specifically?

My first introduction to Annaleigh Ashford was as the callback girl on Submissions Only - hysterical...

I should know this, but Elphaba bitterness, R434?

I don't know if Judy Holliday had to turn down advances from Zanuck, though nearly any good-looking lady at Fox had to deal with him; the studio shut down pretty much for an hour when he "auditioned" or basically shtupped the latest starlet on his real casting couch. But Judy really didn't do that well on her first outing to Hollywood with the Revuers, including Comden and Green. They were pretty much cut from the film "Greenwich Village", and maybe she had a bit part in another film before she came back to NY, where she won the Clarence Derwent Award for "Kiss Them For Me" on Broadway, then got her big break in "Born Yesterday" replacing Jean Arthur. After Katharine Hepburn went to bat for her in "Adam's Rib", making her big scene into basically a screen test for "Born Yesterday", Holliday was contracted to Columbia. Harry Cohn, head of Columbia, had a bad rep, but even he, realizing he had an Oscar winner and a possible big moneymaker in Holliday under contract, apparently went to bat for her when she was called up against the House Un-American Committee. He had, when he wanted at first Rita Hayworth for "Born Yesterday" referred to Holliday as "that fat Jewish broad", but when he finally cast her, at least appreciated her then. How he otherwise treated her, I guess you had to be there or know people who talked about it.

Anyone with any taste realized how embarrassing Michael Urie's attempt to be Harvey was. It doesn't matter how much you liked him in other roles.

[quote]I don't know if Judy Holliday had to turn down advances from Zanuck, though nearly any good-looking lady at Fox had to deal with him; the studio shut down pretty much for an hour when he "auditioned" or basically shtupped the latest starlet on his real casting couch.

Why would the entire studio have to "shut down pretty much" to allow that, even if Zanuck was a casting couch user? Your story would be more credible with less exaggeration.

Anyone more tiring that Singapore/Fling on ATC? I hate when he goes back and forth with posters I don't like because it forces me to agree with the posters I don't like

Well, the bosses' office, Zanuck's office, and any decisions he might have to make, were shut down, since he couldn't be contacted because he was fucking some starlet, is that more clear?

Singapore/Fling is real piece of work. He's also supposedly some sort of teacher; I'd hate to be one of his students, not only because of his relentless passive-aggressive adopted African-American point of view, also because he won't stop posting until he has the last word., even when others, some of whom you are correct are otherwise jerks, join in against him. Otherwise, yes, he seems like a real asshole.

The bigger questions are who will play Bette Davis and Gloria Swanson in the Holliday bio-pic!

I, for one would love to know who that Pal Joey is on BWW, if it's such common info in the biz. I actually look forward to his informed posts.

And who is WhizzerMarvin on BWW whose reviews I trust far more than Brantley and Green?

And Who is Hoganhero on BWW who is also ryhog on ATC? Now, he's a piece of work.

I frankly don't think even Harvey Fierstein could be tolerated in Torch Song if he was just opening it now. Times have changed.

And for those fans of Urie in Torch Song, I wonder if you saw after the Broadway move and he improved? He really was cartoonish at 2nd Stage (and I'm usually a big fan).

[quote]The bigger questions are who will play Bette Davis and Gloria Swanson in the Holliday bio-pic!

Susan Sarandon and Jessica Lange, respectively.

I saw Urie last week and he was awful. I almost left early.

[quote]I, for one would love to know who that Pal Joey is on BWW, if it's such common info in the biz. I actually look forward to his informed posts.

Read enough of his posts and you'll figure out who he is, r445. He's not Page Six famous, but he is well-known.. He sometimes says really outrageous things that could get him sued for libel.

Don't know who WhizzerMarvin is , but agree with you about his reviews. Likewise HpgansHero/ryhog, though I bever thought they were the same person.

Do people bootleg plays? I hate them especially when the filmer puts the camera down to applaud every song. But I'd watch Torch Song.

I really hope someone's been collecting WhizzerMarvin's reviews. Fine, astute and often really funny.

I'd go with WhizzerMarvin over jesse21 any day.

I'd pay good money to see frau tourists reacting to Daniel Fish's "Oklahoma".

I used to be friends with Whizzer. He knows a ton about Broadway theater history, past and present. Even the flops. I used to tell him he should write a book or two.

(they're going to give ponchos to the first row patrons to handle the blood)

Now that's what I call Musical Comedy!

I hope to God the Fish Oklahoma transfers to Broadway just to see and hear ALL the reactions of everyone too smart to schlep out to St. Ann's. The reports will be hilarious.

You’re not suggesting Pal Joey is Reidel, are you? Their politics could not be more different.

[quote]Could this be the chance for her to finally just let it go?

Let's not bring "Frozen" into this.

[quote]You’re not suggesting Pal Joey is Reidel, are you? Their politics could not be more different.

No, Pal Joey is not Reidel.

Why don't you just say who Pal Joey is?

Will be fun to go back an read his reviews. Jack Viertal? Is Whizzer in the business at all?

[r91], thanks for the info about Frank Mills on the soundtrack recording. I knew it wasn’t Annie Golden singing it! From the clips I’ve heard it doesn’t really sound like Suzette Charles either tho.

R460 No, Whizzer is not in the business. He prefers to be a spectator. He's just a very knowledgeable theater nerd who moved to NYC from the Midwest on a whim ten years ago. I admired that about him, because I need to have everything planned to the minute. He may have befriended some people in the business by now. I know that when we drifted apart 5 years ago, he had met Cory Michael Smith who was then starring in that dreadful BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY'S play alongside Emilia Clarke.

[quote] don't you just say who Pal Joey is?

Because I wouldn't want to be doxxed, r460. I'm not playing "I know something you don't know", I just don't want to dox the guy. If you want to know who he is, you can search his posts on the BWW board. It will be easy enough to figure out.

I will tell you that KingSpeed from ATC and Speed from BWW is actor Eric Millegan, from Bones. He has said so quite openly several times. That guy's publicist should take his computer away from him.

Plus, I am sure that Pal Joey posts here.

Isn't Eric Millegan also C-List Actor on here?

Pal Joey, we love you!

Who are you??

Who is dramedy? I’m worried about his nut.

R437

SJB was the original Elphaba in the first readings in LA (Feb of 2000) even before Chenoweth came on board. They held auditions right after September 11 in NYC and brought on Idina keeping both through the rest of the workshop process before committing to the more experienced Idina to originate the role on Broadway. (Idina was a Tony nominee, she had originated Maureen in RENT, she had Wild Party and Summer of '42 on her resume of new works and AIDA as a second Broadway credit as well as the HAIR reading and a degree in drama from Tisch. So the difference in experience between the two was not minor. But it was kind of unfair because Block's LA theater career included lead roles like Fanny Brice.) SJB left LA for NYC to do Wicked and remained part of the show as the Elpahaba standby and 'Track 10" through the San Francisco run. She thought she would make her Broadway debut as Elphie (either as understudy or replacement, because there was a lot of talk about firing Idina all the way into the Tonys apparently) but she ended up making her debut as Liza in The Boy From Oz. Not too shabby -- she was the lead in that.

SJB also recalls telling her parents after the big LA reading with Kristin Chenoweth that whoever got the roles would win the Tonys.

In the end the only thing Block didn't really get to claim as Elphaba is the Tony. She was first. She was there through all the workshops as Elphie and then Track 10. She got to go on as Elphaba in San Francisco (making her one of Kristin Chenoweth's three Elphies). She got to work through her own version with Mantello for the Tour rather than 'step into Idina's shoes'. She did a Broadway run of it. But the complaint that the producers wouldn't trust a newcomer to originate the role on Broadway was apparently a gut punch she has never really convincingly described herself as being over.

I thought Hugh Jackman was the lead in The Boy from Oz.

[quote]Isn't Eric Millegan also C-List Actor on here?

I can't say I've followed c-list actor's posts, but it wouldn't surprise me. He's very vocal and opinionated. Came out as gay and bipolar around the same time. He has never made any secret as to who he is, which is why I am okay naming him, but not Pal Joey, who has simply been careless enough to reveal his identity through his posts. I don't think he would want to be named. I have worked with him, and he does not know that I know he posts as Pal Joey.

Plus SJB is married to Sebastian Arcelus.

(swoon!)

Now I feel like a dope about the off-Broadway Oklahoma! Does Curly slaughter Dun on stage or something?

Are Hoganshero and ryhog the same person? I would never have thought that. Ryhog seems kind of asperger-y, while Hogan seems really angry and has many sticks up his ass.

I’m pretty sure Eric Milligan has made it clear that he’s c-list actor, much Idle he made it clear that he’s KingSpeed. I’m not sure he’s explicitly come out and said it, but he’s given so many clues regarding his previous Broadway work and being on Bones that he obviously doesn’t care that people know it’s him.

I have this vision of what jesse21 is like that probably doesn’t match at all what he’s like in real life. If nothing else, it’s clear he has a lot of disposable income.

Someone in the last thread asked about Brooks Ashmanskas' attendance in THE PROM and alluded to him being notoriously lazy and calling out a lot in past shows. Answer: his attendance is fine. He's notorious for a lot of things, but not showing up to work isn't one of them...

I expected to hate THE PROM but it's a great time. Leavel, Sieber, and Ashmanskas at their best. Hope it makes it to awards season at least.

Of course Block was devastated. Wicked did for Menzel what Evita did for LuPone and Cats did for Buckley. It gave her a signature song.

[quote]Of course Block was devastated. Wicked did for Menzel what Evita did for LuPone and Cats did for Buckley. It gave her a signature song.

Signature song, my wrinkled ass. That ALW pop crap is not a signature song. Every diva including Karen Carpenter recorded "Don't Cry For Me Argentina" and don't get me started on "Memory."

Now, I had a signature song given to me by Mr. Stephen Sondheim. Nobody croaked that song better than I.

Old news re Eric Milligan. He made it clear, explicitly clear, that C-List was him. People even asked him questions re the series finale of Bones (Milligan camelback the final season), and he answered when he could without giving anything away.

[quote]He's notorious for a lot of things

Including having a talented mouth that could give MVE’s ass a run for its money.

R478, yep. You can look back at archived threads and see how his reputation precedes him. Nice guy though. He seems to have mellowed a little with age.

Thanks for the Steph J story, R468.

I've always enjoyed her onstage--I was sorry to miss her Liza in BOY FROM OZ. But she is one of those performers I admire for their hard work and professionalism rather than a more specific yet intangible star quality.

Show biz (and ultimately, life) is unfair that way.

MikeR has the most incredibly powerful thighs. Backstage at a semi-professional production of How to Succeed in Business he once ushered me into his dressing room for a demonstration. He gave me his dance belt as a souvenir.

R481, are you the guy who said he dated MikeR? He raved about his thighs, too, and said he was fantastic sex. This was two or three years ago.

Block got everything she needed out of Elphaba. Hell, she even met Arcelus on tour!

R482 - No, we never dated. It was strictly physical. He never spoke of it, but I inferred that I was just one in a long line of conquests. He had tremendous control of his hip flexors. He was generally a very thoughtful lover, though he did once kick me out of his dressing room for ending a sentence with a proposition.

Fortunately, no one has invoked MikeR over at ATC lest like in the past he actually returns.

Ugh. *preposition, I mean. MikeR would've given me such a withering stare for such a careless mistake. He could be so pedantic, but then you'd catch a glint of mischievousness in his eyes and he'd remove suspenders and soon all was forgotten...

[quote] And for those fans of Urie in Torch Song, I wonder if you saw after the Broadway move and he improved? He really was cartoonish at 2nd Stage (and I'm usually a big fan).

Interesting. A friend of mine saw both productions and said he thought Urie was very good at 2nd Stage, but got really cartoony on Broadway.

C-list actor thinks highly of himself. He's no higher than a D-

We need a revival of Aspects of Love. It's not the worst of Andrew Lloyd Webber.

Not to hate, but I agree. C-List was a bore who was always treated with a misplaced reverence on these threads.

Any number of us have tread the boards at some point, professionally or otherwise.

Damn straight. The queens on here sucked his anus into an early prolapse.

Having met Eric Millegan, he's a very sweet guy. I've also met MikeR. He's also perfectly nice,but does not suffer fools gladly.

[quote]Now I feel like a dope about the off-Broadway Oklahoma! Does Curly slaughter Dun on stage or something?

Let's just say the production doesn't shy away from the dark side of the plot.

Do ATC and BroadwayWorld talk about DL as much as DL talks about them? Should we start casting BroadwayWorld Follies? Hattie seems like she ought to have a study pair of legs. So MikeR, then?

MikeR actually has a beautiful singing voice. Only a so-so actor, but his voice is definitely pro.

Who knew he was also a limber-limbed sex god?

I didn't know Rene Ceballos from Cats etc. died. What did she die from?

She supposedly hated being in Cats. Any gossip about that?

I wonder what the OBC of Cats was like what with Janet Hubert understudying Betty Lynn.

[quote]Do ATC and BroadwayWorld talk about DL as much as DL talks about them?

Nah, they mostly don't know DL exists. I know that Jordan Catalano and Pal Joey (from BWW) post here. When BWW had its meltdown over Patty Murin and flounced, I sent a few here (they're all cunty assholes - you're welcome), I also told ATC about this place, and though I don't think any of them took me up on it, I got mentioned here.

BWW message boards know everything about DL theatre threads. Please. Tit for tat.

[quote]Her life shouldn't be used to take jabs at Trump

I hardly think dealing with Holliday's experiences with harassment via Zanuck is taking jabs at Trump.

The movie Judy Holliday did before moving back to NYC was the film version of Porter's "Something for the Boys." She was in a scene at the assembly line, when Chiquita (Carmen Miranda) first starts to hear the radio transmissions in her teeth (in the play, it's Merman's character, Blossom, who hears the transmissions, but in the movie it's her cousin Chiquita). Judy has a couple of lines.

Several actors who later became noteworthy have small parts in that movie (June Haver, Cara Williams, BS Pully, Stanley Prager).

Who is MikeR IRL?

He was one of the regular posters on All That Chat. He used to be, a long time ago, quite Republican I gather (from his posts), and would be testy with liberals and those he found stupid (and there were many he found stupid.) He started performing in the SF Bay Area in opera choruses, and then started doing musicals. I saw him in two or three when I used to visit friends in the Bay Area and we would go to a show. In one, he had a big solo and and his voice was great. Haven't been up there is a long time, I assume he's still doing it.

Anyway, I have no idea if he still posts on ATC. A friend who was acquainted with him told me - this is a couple of years ago - that he quit being a Republican, and is now very vocal about being anti-Trump.

There was some Bay Area theatre freak who got into quite a pissing match with MikeR on twitter. I guess they used to be friends (maybe lovers?) but since MikeR became a liberal that person (can't remember his name) started trashing him. This is also some time ago, though. Oh, and he's a big Audra McDonald queen, he swoons over everything she does.

Judy Holliday's looks were sufficiently "regular" to get her the movies of some of her stage successes, but she was not a beauty.

[quote] He (Ashmanskas) seems to have mellowed a little with age.

Mellowed is a euphemism for "fat"?

[quote]We need a revival of Aspects of Love. It's not the worst of Andrew Lloyd Webber.

Not since he wrote “Love Never Dies”

Any truth to the rumor that Kristen Chenowith, Lens Dunham, and Andy Randells are all headed to Broadway in 2019 in a revival of "Bajour"?

MikeR. 8". Thick. Weird urethra.

Weird how?

Has everyone on the this board fucked MikeR except me?

MikeR's mouth is a hot cave of erotic delight.

Is that really the best you can do, r506? A tired "Bajour" joke with names that aren't very interesting?

MikeR is a local Bay Area actor whose actual first name is Mike and his last name begins with R, although I don’t remember what his actual last name is. But he’s not someone whom anyone outside the Bay Area would know.

Who is ryhog IRL?

I saw Aspects of Love on Broadway and how exactly is it any worse than any other ALW musical?

Really it terms of quality it is as good as any of them which means not very good but not loathsome.

Well except for Joseph. That was loathsome.

R504, ha. That too. Brooks' weight fluctuates... a lot. He looks like a different person depending on the month. Must be an adventure for the wardrobe department.

Can we have spoilers on Oklahoma? Why will people hate it? Will there be blood?

I mean at this point there's no reason to see Oklahoma except to hate it. Unless Mamoulian and DeMille come back from the dead to restage why bother doing it? We have movie which is quite wonderful. Any problems you may have with it are inherent in the material. But it is as good as we'll ever see it.

I don't go to BWW except to check about rush tickets. If you can't tell us who paljoey is, can someone at least give us a hint. I mean this is an anonymous board after all...

People will hate it, r514.

So I guess this is a hate watch production. We need to have these for the shows that they won't stop reviving no matter how much we wish they would.

ryhog + hogansheroes = Ryan Hogan

Duh.

so much talk about atc. I rest my case.

Think of a French river, R511.

Seine?

Rhone?

Are you new here, r510? There is someone who thinks it is funny to always say Lens Dunham, and everyone just politely ignores them

Lens Dunham is going to Broadway with a Crazy Ex-Girlfriend Jukebox show. They have cherrypicked the most difficult and sexy numbers suited to her talents.

If NYC had a thriving off-Broadway scene, we would have a nice, intimate production of Blood Brothers starring Megan Hilty.

Pal Joey's favorite show is FOLLIES. He saw the original. Have we ever discussed Follies here? It's about this whale....

[quote]Pal Joey's favorite show is FOLLIES. He saw the original.

And will argue to the death if someone else saw the original and didn't feel as passionately as he did about it.

And let's be honest, Follies is like every other Sondheim show. Sometimes you need a couple of viewings to warm to it. Except for Passion. That just sucked.

I'll be hornswaggled if he doesn't leave the whole banana!

[quote] If you can't tell us who paljoey is, can someone at least give us a hint. I mean this is an anonymous board after all..

You're a lazy fuck, r515. Pal Joey is a literary man.

Pal Joey is Stephen Sondheim.

[quote]Pal Joey is a literary man.

But John O'Hara is dead.

I saw Follies at the first Wednesday matinee after opening night which was Easter so I was off of school that week and it seemed like the audience left the theater stunned.

So no it did not take a couple of viewings if you saw that production at the Winter Garden at that moment in time.

I imagine seeing the original Cabaret was like that. You felt somehow everything shifted.

All right already. He's Mitchell Ivers.

[quote]and it seemed like the audience left the theater stunned.

I left the theater stunned after seeing "Gettin' the Band Back Together."

Mitchell who?

r532 = Pal Joey

There were some people that left Follies frustrated. Still to this day many people have trouble with the Loveland sequence. And still to this day, many people don't understand Phyllis' song in it.

[quote]Mitchell who?

He works at Simon and Schusters. He's an editor and worked on Miilo's book. Geez. He's not a rockstar, but not an unknown.

And if you like daddies ...

Oklahoma....white curly, black Laurie, girl in wheelchair, plenty of blood, corn bread and chili?

that's about it.

Who the heck is the girl in a wheelchair? Ado Annie?

Is the chili in Oklahoma with or without beans? And do they serve Beano with it?

R537, so much of these Follies memories are revisionist history or people who never saw it. People had trouble with the length (no intermission), too many characters and the non-linear storytelling. Loveland was hardly the problem. In fact, people responded much more to that than they did to the entire show. At both the Winter Garden and Shubert in LA, there were numerous walkouts because they felt the show was boring.

[quote]I didn't know Rene Ceballos from Cats etc. died. What did she die from?

She choked on a furball. It was just as well since they discovered during the autopsy that she had advanced feline leukemia.

Follies non-linear? It takes place at a reunion in real time where people remember incidents from the past and have fantasies (that do not affect the story).

That is about as non-linear as Ibsen. (Where people meet over the course of a day and recount incidents from the past and the fantasies they had and have.)

[quote]Oklahoma....white curly, black Laurie, girl in wheelchair, plenty of blood, corn bread and chili?

Much too SJW!

Are we ever gonna get straight-up productions/revivals again, without any gimmicks?

We will when the SJWs inevitably sell out.

Ceballos was Nancy Lane's replacement in ACL but she was also auditioning as a potential Cassie replacement. I thought she was one of the dykiest dancers I'd ever seen in Dancin'.

[quote] Do ATC and BroadwayWorld talk about DL as much as DL talks about them? ....Nah, they mostly don't know DL exists.

Hell, they don't know anything off West 45th St.exists. The biggest TV or reality star could be performing and they are clueless yet think Alexis Smith is a superstar.

Incredible but true: Faye Dunaway just announced to star on Broadway as Katharine Hepburn in a 2019 revival of TEA AT FIVE by Matthew Lombardo. I mean, the announcement is true, but this will never happen, because Dunaway is no longer up for a stage run in a part like this, and the playwright is a creepy, litigious ex-drug addict -- he's the one who sued Valerie Harper for backing out of another awful play of his (because she got cancer). So I don't know exactly HOW this TEA AT FIVE project will fall apart, but I'll bet money that it will.

NOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Harper-Lombardo story is more complicated than that.

Ashford should have done BELLS ARE RINGING for Encores! But an entire biopic? Hmmmm.

[quote]The Harper-Lombardo story is more complicated than that

I know, but he's still a creep, always involved in some sort of legal battle. See also.

Hey R543 I saw Follies twice in a packed orchestra the first time Easter week as I noted and the second time at a Sat mat in Feb of 72. There might have been empty houses in the evenings with plenty of walkouts but the two times I saw it nobody left and the house was quiet except for applause.

But because the show was about to close a couple of months later I clearly happened to be at the only 2 performances in a year long run where the audience was enraptured.

And the emotional overload and explosion into the color and spectacle of Loveland was the single most stunning thing I've ever seen in the theater. Of course now it is expected but at that time I don't know if anybody had ever seen that before. I was very young so my theater going experience was limited but I was knocked for a loop. And for a couple of years before this I had been obsessed with the book The Best Remaining Seats so I knew where all this was coming from but where it went was totally unexpected.

Also somebody said many years ago the young liked Follies because they think they can change the future. The older people didn't because they know you can't it's all an illusion and it was too unpleasant a home truth.

Aw c’mon R413, that’s harsh. Ever seen a 2.5D in full? If not, where’s ya sense of fun & adventure?

EGs are welcome to visit the lighter side of stage for a bit. In Tenimyu fandom we have plenty of twinks, Variety skits, earworms and Gay in-jokes to go round...

Watched the McNally documentary and was reminded of what a coward Lynne Meadow was over "Corpus Christi."

R558 that was a low point in MTC’s history. And then it turned out to be a shitty play too!

Speaking of Loveland in FOLLIES being a groundbreaking effect that is difficult to contextualize in contemporary times, was the chandelier in PHANTOM considered an amazing coup de theatre at the time of its premiere or was it vilified for being a gimmick? I know CATS was loathed by many over the course of its run for representing the corporatization and Spielberg-ization of Broadway, but was the tire effect a big deal in a similar way (and, later, the helicopter in MISS SAIGON)? I'm not really asking about people's opinions of the material but more the perception of the particular "coup de theatre" effects by the cognoscenti at the time.

Didn't Lombardo also do that play where Kathleen Turner was a nun?

I think they're all comparable, r560 (and add Norma's hydraulic mansion). But Loveland stands above as it was all about the brilliant design and not state-of-the-art machinery.

So the identify of ryhog and chekky remain mysteries. The guy who does those first preview posts at BWW is actually more reliable and on target than many paid reviewers. I wonder who he is.

I've met jesse21; he's a very nice guy, who looks like he used to be quite good-looking when he was younger. He appears to be well-funded to jet off to London and to see and review lots of things pretty regularly. MikeR is reportedly pretty nice in person, but can be a real drip and condescending in his posts. Maybe he's mellowed, but he hasn't posted lately.

Mockingbirdgirl and Singapore/Fling are among my least favorite posters at ATC; ryhog is among them as well.

the "identity" that is

Does anyone know anyone who speaks well of Lynne Meadow privately?

Table at Five -- where would it play? Since it's been announced as a limited run for the summer ... killing time at the Lunt-Fontanne until Tina?

Is Mockingbird 'Mamie' from BWW? I remember she was obsessed with that film and even had Scout has her avatar.

Oh, wow... Did anybody else notice this Daily News story linked on the page of Harper/Looped article?

[quote]Didn't Lombardo also do that play where Kathleen Turner was a nun?

Yes. HIGH, hands down one of the worst shows I have ever seen.. It lasted a week after opening, and at one point, its average ticket price was $27. Lombardo is truly the lowest of the lows, suing Harper for having cancer. When HIGH got bad reviews, he compared himself to Christ. Don't get me started on this self-obsessed prick.

The funny thing about the chandelier in Phantom is that is indeed a stunning effect...at the beginning of the show. The transformation of the stage from a dusty and dingy dump to the Paris Opera House at its height (not a million miles from LOVELAND, mind you) is truly a coup. The crashing of the thing at the end of Act I is always a tad silly. (On Broadway, anyway. In Vegas it was pretty cool, and perhaps it's a little scarier in countries without such stringent safety standards.)

Also Loveland was not a gimmick(maybe some older people at the time found it one?) but it served a dramatic purpose into shifting prosaic reality suddenly to a stunningly beautiful dreamlike scape. It wasn't only about people growing old but the 20th Century growing old, American optimism crumbling and Prince and Sondheim's goodbye to the theater they loved as children.

I know these things have all been said a million times but the synthesis WAS unforgettable.

Can you believe we eldergays who saw it as children are still shaken by it almost a half a century later?

Please. I was shaken by the end of "Pippin."

And I laughed at the end of Pippin!

I would add the incredible light towers in Dreamgirls. So fucking theatrical but also cinematic. Bennett was a genius. And although his ginormous Chess board in Chess (in London) became tiresome after the fifth time it shifted it was also brilliant.

I always hoped the duck in "Pippin" lived on. I would have said happy ending, but that term is double-edged around here, as is "edged".

At least "High" had a full-frontal naked guy in it.

The original Tea at 5 was a genuinely wonderful production.

Kate Mulgrew appeared in Act I as the young Hepburn in 1938, just declared Box Office Poison and licking her wounds in her Connecticut house as a storm approaches. After chatting with audience about her youth, family and how she got started in show biz, at the end of the act, the script for The Philadelphia Story arrives (and as fans know, eventually revitalized her career).

Intermission and then Mulgrew comes out wigged and costumed as the 80-something Kate and proceeds to tell us about the rest of her career and love affair with Spence.

How will this ever work with Dunaway?

EVITA had the balcony which was deemed its "greatest moment." The show certainly ushered in a decade of British mega musicals with spectacle that annoyed purists. Also, I believe it was the first British show to win the Tony for Best Musical.

OLIVER! in the early '60s had been the first major British musical on Broadway, but it lost the Best Musical Tony to FUNNY... FORUM.

JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR was first staged on Broadway in 1971 (the same season as FOLLIES), but it wasn't nominated for Best Musical.

Though JOSEPH... DREAMCOAT preceded JCS and EVITA, it didn't come to Broadway until after EVITA. Like, two or three years later (same season as CATS).

Great review for Fiddler on the Roof at the Menier Chocolate Factory in London:

Chekky is a gay fiction writer, probably best known for a novel that came out decades ago. I don't know what he has done since. Initials JW.

Thoughts on the musical Two Gentlemen of Verona? It did win the Tony over Follies, after all.

I love the song Night Letter as it was sung by Jonelle Allen and Clifton Davis on the OBC. Is the show revivable?

[quote]At least "High" had a full-frontal naked guy in it.

Yes. Too bad it wasn't Michael Berresse, who was the hottest priest ever, and had the sense to bail before the show hit Broadway. Poor kid. who played the addict who tried to rape Kathleen Turner's nun. She could have snapped him in half.

Oh man, I would have loved seeing Michael Berresse naked save for a clerical collar.

R571 here still shaking 50 years later from seeing the original Follies. Ok be snarky and say it's just my age.

I saw Two Gentlemen as well and loved it. Absolutely sensational. Saw the original cast except for Allen who was out that matinee. Understudy was wonderful with Night Letter bringing down the house.

Enormous fun, beautifully staged and no it's not reviveable. Didn't they try to and it crashed and burned? Still love the obc and still furious that it won over Follies and got a 2 lp set as opposed to Follies' 1. Still don't know how that happened. Broadway novice Papp finagles 2 lps and Broadway legend Prince only gets 1?

So I'm the only one who thinks it's outrageous if not just plain weird that New York City's premiere high school of the performing arts is censoring The Sound of Music of all things?

[quote]Oh man, I would have loved seeing Michael Berresse naked save for a clerical collar.

Fully clothed, he was hotter than hell.

R585 why?

Barresse needs to take off his clothes while there's still time as it's running out and he'll end up looking like Pevsner. Which isn't the worst thing in the world but he can still do better.

[quote]Thoughts on the musical Two Gentlemen of Verona? It did win the Tony over Follies, after all. I love the song Night Letter as it was sung by Jonelle Allen and Clifton Davis on the OBC. Is the show revivable?

Two Gentlemen was done several summers ago in Central Park for Shakespeare in the Park. It was fun but not good enough to run on Broadway. If we still had a thriving off-Broadway, I could see it going into a smaller off-Broadway house in the Village and running for awhile.

[quote] So I'm the only one who thinks it's outrageous if not just plain weird that New York City's premiere high school of the performing arts is censoring The Sound of Music of all things?

Nope. it's insanity. Ted Chapin ought to get on the phone with that cunt principal and tell her to knock off the shit or he'll pull the rights to do the show.

Why are they censoring it?

They're removing all the nazi symbols because they're "offensive."

As posted at r568:

That original production of Two Gentlemen had a large unit set(well used so you didn't get bored kind of like Company) and a large cast which filled the stage of the St James. That production could never have been done off Broadway.

I agree with r590. Chapin ought to rip her a new one. This is supposed to be an arts school for teenagers wanting to become professionals. What is she teaching them? That they can reinterpret history? That they can stamp their little feet and make huge changes to the classics?

Figures Lisa Mars is black. Does she not see that the swastikas are supposed to be offensive within the context of the show?

The students aren't bothered by it; she is.

SJWs and their agendas. smh

[quote]Barresse needs to take off his clothes while there's still time as it's running out and he'll end up looking like Pevsner. Which isn't the worst thing in the world but he can still do better.

It's Berresse, and too bad you missed him as a featured dancer at Broadway Bares. I saw him shirtless not long ago. Glorious!

Furry af

Is Ted that craven that he'll allow anything to be done now to R and H?

Where's the SJW defender when you need him/her/they?

Was he Bareassed? Yes that would have been pretty glorious to see.

Bajour?

What new censorship will LaGuardia High School of the Performing Arts see?

Grizabella doesn't go to the Heavyside Layer?

The Nazis don't take over Berlin in Cabaret?

Louise doesn't get smacked in Carousel?

Evita doesn't die?

Wasn't there a video of Michael doing Broadway Bares at some point? Someone needs to repost it.

BAJOUR, dammit!

[quote}Watched the McNally documentary and was reminded of what a coward Lynne Meadow was over "Corpus Christi."

I remember there were protests, but I don't remember the details. Of course I can look it up, but can you summarize what Meadow did that you thought was cowardly? P.S. I totally agree that CORPUS CHRISTI turned out to be a really bad play after all was said and done.

[quote]Yes. HIGH, hands down one of the worst shows I have ever seen.. It lasted a week after opening, and at one point, its average ticket price was $27. Lombardo is truly the lowest of the lows, suing Harper for having cancer. When HIGH got bad reviews, he compared himself to Christ. Don't get me started on this self-obsessed prick.

Me neither. That's only the tip of the of the iceberg with Lombardo. I'm shocked that he's still in the business and that anyone would finance any of his shows -- even one to which Faye Dunaway is attached, because she'll almost certainly never appear in it.

[quote]This is supposed to be an arts school for teenagers wanting to become professionals. What is she teaching them? That they can reinterpret history?

I'm not always for people losing their jobs over single bad decisions, but THIS decision is so idiotic, especially in this context, that the principal should lose her job immediately, no questions asked and no appeal allowed.

Why is this thread not yet closed?

Anyway, did anyone else cringe at the "fuhrer furor" (sic) pun in the Sound of Music article?