THEATRE GOSSIP #335 - The CZJ/Imelda Were Great On Stage And The Camera Could Never Capture Their Magic Thread

God, I love Jonathan Bailey so much. He played a gay character in a TV show called "Crashing" over here a few years ago. Is he gay in real life?

If CZJ was hampered in A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC, it's because she was playing a grown woman with life experience beyond her own years.

#RespectTheCraft

R1 Maybe? Some people seem to take this post as him saying he's gay but he's never commented on it.

He was cute in Broadchurch as well... But sadly he played a hetero on that show.

D- for thread title.

r2: why would a middle-aged woman, such as the character of Desiree, have life experience "beyond her own years"?

R2 is making a joke that CZJ was just barely out of her teen years while attempting to play a middle-aged woman.

I love the thread title. It’s so true to at least one certain poster who always claims this

Oh, ha ha, I get it now. Thank you, r7.

Who did he play in BROADCHURCH?

Olivia Colman's nephew, the journalist.

He was a great douce in WIA.

I saw CZJ in A Little Night Music before her Tony performance and I thought she was wonderful. I saw the Tony performance and my first thought was "What drugs is this woman on?" What was with all the head turning? That's not what I saw in the theater.

And ten lashes with a Moose Murders Playbill to the OP for not including Bernadette's Gypsy performance in the title. I don't think anyone saw the same performance of that as anyone else.

Bailey is the highlight of "Company" in London with his "Not Getting Married Today." He is great and the staging is very funny.

How great was his quiet, r12?

He definitely deserves more of a career than he's had so far.

I'm sure other DL people would agree that he's CUTE.

The Times won't matter a whit at the box office. Adults will see Poppins for the nostalgia and they'll bring the kiddies. Fuck the NY Times. I adored the film and so did the entire audience I was with, who actually applauded most of the musical numbers. And the score is MEANT to invoke the original songs. are they as good as the originals? No. But they sure worked for me. And damnit, if Meryl's number doesn't stop the show. She's terrific.

I saw the rehearsals for Tonys the year that CZj won. Her voice was even worse at the rehearsal then on the telecast. She might have been sick at the time of the Tonys which is why people who saw her in the show thought she was great.

But, R13, the camera did capture Bernadette’s magic as she was fantastic on the Tonys that year.

I

What are thinking bringing Hadestown to Broadway. It's not selling in London. I'm getting all sorts of discount offers.

Hadestown feels like a well intentioned flop-

Jonathan Bailey is openly gay. I can't believe someone who lives in London isn't aware of that, or thinks it's something "he's never commented on." He's open about his sexuality and about his boyfriend.

[quote] I don't think anyone saw the same performance of that as anyone else.

Not true. A lot of people who saw it in previews thought she was weak or didn't have it and wasn't going to get it.

People who saw it after the opening night, and particularly in the last few months, thought she was brilliant. She certainly was a lot more nuanced and multi-layered than Patti LuPone.

This page trying to deny that Jonathan is gay (in very poor English) reads like parody...

I actually saw CZJ perform the 'A Little Night Music' matinee the day of the Tonys. She was wonderful! What she performed later that evening at the Tonys was not good and didn't resemble what I saw onstage that matinee. She didn't appear sick or sound sick that afternoon.

And I did see Bernadette in 'Gypsy' when she was quite sick. Lots of coughing. I love, love, love Bernadette, but that evening, it was uncomfortable to watch her suffer onstage and it definitely affected her performance and the show. Her Tonys performance, which was when she was healthy again, was a revelation of what could have been.

I didn't want to post endlessly here about Jonathan Bailey, so I started a Jonathan Bailey thread for pointed discussion and heated debate on all things Jonathan Bailey.

[quote]I didn't want to post endlessly here about Jonathan Bailey, so I started a Jonathan Bailey thread for pointed discussion and heated debate on all things Jonathan Bailey.

Thank you, Mrs. Bailey.

Speaking of FOLLIES.....

Are there video bootlegs of Imelda in Gypsy? I have audio bootlegs where she lands every laugh and doesn't seem to be shrieking every line like on the BBC recording. It seemed like a brilliant performance on those audio recordings.

Bernadette did indeed stink on ice in her Gypsy during previews. I mean, she was REALLY awful. There's a video bootleg going around from one of those previews and you'll see what I mean. It's very similar to the performance of hers that I saw. She was screaming every line for some reason (to seem intimidating?) and it was abysmal. She hadn't found the character yet and was making up for that by just being loud and shrill.

I saw her later in the run and, my God, she was a revelation. Genuinely brilliant! I've never seen a performance turn for the better like that. It should be studied. I still have no idea what she did. Of course, Arthur Laurents believes she just had to step out from the shadow of Mendes' poor direction (and maybe he was right.)

Yes, it took Bernadette time to find her Rose, but something rarely discussed is the fact that she is the only actress to ever open a production of Gypsy cold in New York without the benefit of going out-of-town first.

R32

Is that really a big deal for a role that has been made into a movie and revived so many times?

Probably not in the internet age, r33.

LOL! I only started following these theater threads in September and it's true that the discussion often comes back to GYPSY and/or FOLLIES. I thought people were exaggerating when I first joined, but it's happened several times since I started posting here. I don't mind, though. I recently got into GYPSY and have enjoyed the history and banter concerning that musical. Not familiar with FOLLIES yet beyond what's been written on here.

R33 Yes, it's a huge deal, especially with a role this size. Witness how LuPone's reviews changed from Ravinia to City Center to Broadway, and Tyne Daly got to play the show in a dozen cities over months before having to face New York audiences and critics. People forget, but word-of-mouth on Daly's performance was not so great at the start of the tour, but the performance she ended up with was tremendous.

*Please forgive sloppy grammar above

Per Broadway.com, Encore's Off-Center summer 2019 season will be Working, Promenade and Road Show.

[quote]Speaking of FOLLIES.....

How come Ted Chapin still wears a 1970s hairstyle?

R35

The actual show is a snooze compared to what this site would make you think.

Amy in COMPANY is always favorably received, no matter who plays her. The song, if articulated, is hilariously virtuosic and honors whoever sings it.

I had NO idea Mitzi did IRENE in Vegas!

Anyone new to Follies should watch the recent London National Theatre production. It comes close to perfection. If only they had cast someone other than Imelda.

I'm close to someone who played Rose in a production of Gypsy that only ran for two weeks (one of those regional productions) and she said she wanted to play it for another 3 years just to really dig into Rose. I think it's a hard role to open cold with. As much as you think you know the character, you really do have to fine-tune it once you get it in front of audiences. Everyone that's ever played it almost always starts off as too angry, too goofy, too cold, too shrill, etc. and they have to grow into the role and add more nuances as time goes by. Only Imelda seemed to get less nuanced as she went along (if that BBC recording is anything to go off of).

TAKE ME OUT is one of my fondest theatergoing experiences and I don't remember the play at all.

Does DL have a favorite performance of Getting Married Today? I think mine is Madeline Kahn's. She gets all the laughs and finds a couple of new ones. Also, she's less frenetic than some others.

FOLLIES has become a high school staple, r35. And will somebody please let this deluded girl know that Sally was NOT a showgirl!

The National Theatre Follies is probably the best production we'll get in our lifetimes. Imelda is a bit miscast and a tinge too manic, but she does come across better on this than she did in the Gypsy recording. Despite the Loveland sequence feeling a little ho hum, I can't think of another production that made me feel as much as this one did. There were laughs I never knew were there and moments that I never knew could be so beautiful and bittersweet. It really is terrific.

I'm curious to see if anything changes with a different Sally and Ben when it returns this year. Maybe they'll make Loveland more of an event this time, too.

I love that high schools do Follies. It's so gloriously inappropriate that all the parents and teachers must come to the show and guffaw. I'd say Gypsy is inappropriate, too, with the leading lady being over 40 and all the stripping, but to me, Follies is a far more bizarre choice for a high school to perform.

Westfield High School is known for taking on difficult material. A shame they didn't have someone proofread the captions on their video:

Buddy and Sally Plumber?

"FOLLIES is a far more bizarre choice for a high school to perform..." Not till you've done SWEET CHARITY in an all-girls' Catholic high school...

Thank God for FOLLIES and GYPSY on these threads. They provide an antidote to the agenda-driven, tone-deaf critics who slaver over some mediocrity to prove how edgy they are and only reveal their utter provincialism.

And reins and rains, r51!

Good on you, r51. You managed to cram an enormous number of insults into a single sentence.

Diana Canova and Debbie Shapiro were Phyllis and Sally, respectively, in either a college or high school production, r49.

I've hooked up with Jonathan Bailey. He's very gay

R55 how do you mean?

R56 He pushed back when he fucked him?

Which part of "very gay" is giving you trouble, r56?

Cynthia Erivo went up so badly on the lyrics to The Star Spangled Banner at a Nets-Lakers game last night she had to stand there frozen having the words prompted to her before starting over.

Now, why would you even have a non-American sing the national anthem? Of course she was going to fuck it up.

R59 The cast of 'Natasha, Pierre and The Great Comet of 1812' love that clip, lots

R61 could you elaborate? Is there a feud between that cast and Erivo?

[quote]FOLLIES has become a high school staple, [R35]. And will somebody please let this deluded girl know that Sally was NOT a showgirl!

I sort of love that the guy playing Ben is a freshman and the guy playing a Young Ben is a senior.

[quote]Cynthia Erivo went up so badly on the lyrics to The Star Spangled Banner at a Nets-Lakers game last night she had to stand there frozen having the words prompted to her before starting over.

She's British, so she's only familiar with it being a drinking song that is sung in low end boozers.

R62 You missed the Mandy/Comet fun? Shame, it was delicious

[quote]Cynthia Erivo went up so badly on the lyrics to The Star Spangled Banner at a Nets-Lakers game last night she had to stand there frozen having the words prompted to her before starting over.

And she's starring in a movie about Harriet Tubman to be released next year.

Well, we can't all be Leslie Uggams.

I've hated Erivo ever since the Great Comet fiasco. Seriously, what a cunt. There was nothing racist about bringing in an established star like Mandy Patinkin to draw up a little extra interest. Those actors lost their jobs because of her dumb fucking mouth.

I've hated her, too, since the Great Comet thing. A shame, too, because she is talented. I keep seeing her in trailers for big Hollywood movies, so I assume she's not going anywhere anytime soon.

Thanks R65/R68/R69!

Wow! The race card is being played too much lately and it does a disservice to the actual fight against racism. It's like the boy crying wolf. After a while, people tune it out and true claims are not believed.

The Company arrangements are quite terrible. And many of the keys chosen for Bobbi are just wrong.

r59 Even on the do-over, Erivo skipped the lines with the rockets' red glare, arguably the best part.

Sorry, rocket's.

Rockets'.

Three more months, original closing day was 22nd Dec

I'd be curious to see Diana Canova in that high school Follies.

The Times review was spot on. It's extremely mediocre and labored. Word of mouth will kill it.

^^I would, too, r76. She was born in 1953 (per Wiki) and would have been out of high school when the original show opened.

Then it was probably a college production, r78.

Even that would be a stretch.

r74 Sorry, rockets'.

[quote]I love that high schools do Follies. It's so gloriously inappropriate that all the parents and teachers must come to the show and guffaw. I'd say Gypsy is inappropriate, too, with the leading lady being over 40 and all the stripping, but to me, Follies is a far more bizarre choice for a high school to perform.

I'd love to see a high school production of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

No, it happened, r80. I know somebody who was in the production. I just couldn't remember if it was high school or college.

R77 is that a reference to the London COMPANY?

Thanks, r83

No, sorry, that was a reference to Mary Poppins Returns.

R82 They did one where I lived, it was just so fucking stupid.

I saw an Emerson College production of FOLLIES in 2000 and it was woefully miscast. The only student who was convincing as a middle aged adult was the young woman who played Phyllis.

You're welcome, r85. I believe it was L.A. City College.

It was. I looked it up. It was their 1973-74 season.

any photos, r89?

I did see a high school perform act 3 of Virginia Woolf in a play competition at Bucks County Playhouse in 1979 or 80.

[quote]And will somebody please let this deluded girl know that Sally was NOT a showgirl!

Then what the fuck is she doing at a showgirls reunion?

I'm finding the productions listed through the years, r91. Not sure if there are photos of Follies.

R92 ...were you better than Imelda?

Follies reunions.....they aren't just for showgirls anymore, r93.

Equity Members - Assuming the current actors are available and Broadway producers are lined up, why can't they bring over the entire cast of the Marianne Elliott/ National Theatre production of COMPANY, even if only for a limited engagement? Could this be possible?

[quote]The only student who was convincing as a middle aged adult was the young woman who played Phyllis.

Is that supposed to be a compliment?

From the New York Times. Head over there for more.

The director Gregory Mosher found an actor he thought was perfect to play George Deever, one of the main characters in “All My Sons,” the Arthur Miller classic that is coming back to Broadway in the spring.

Though the principal cast members in the original late-1940s production were white, this actor was black. Mr. Mosher went about trying to find a black actress to play his sister, Ann Deever.

But Rebecca Miller, the film director and screenwriter who runs her father’s estate, stepped in. She questioned the choice of making the Deever family black when the play’s other central family, the Kellers, had already been cast as white.

The two sides could not reconcile and this week, Mr. Mosher left the production, putting a cloud over a highly anticipated revival starring Annette Bening and Tracy Letts. It also rekindled a debate over access to important theater roles, though in this instance, the disagreement was not over whether to diversify the cast, but how.

Jesus! Color-blind or color-conscious casting (or whatever you want to call it) doesn't always work. You can't just plop people of color in roles that were originally meant to be white and set in a specific time and place. For instance, I don't think it worked in CAROUSEL or JOAN OF ARC, but it could work very well in R&H's CINDERELLA since that takes place in a magical land where anything goes.

Oh, what the hell. Here's a bit more. This part of the article expounds on the positions of Rebecca Miller and Gregory Mosher.

“All My Sons” tells the story of the Kellers and the Deevers, two families in 1947 Ohio whose relationships are upended by a scandal involving military parts for World War II, and a soldier gone missing.

In other instances, Ms. Miller has supported casting people of color in roles traditionally filled by white actors. A 2019 production of “Death of a Salesman” in London, for example, will feature a black Loman family. But here, she said, she was not convinced.

There is a romantic connection between the two families, and if the Deevers were black, it could introduce the concept of an interracial relationship in a time and place where that was highly unusual.

“My concern was that to cast the Deevers as black puts a burden on the play to justify the relationship in the historical context,” Ms. Miller said. Since the script does not address race, she said, “I was worried that it would whitewash the racism that really was in existence in that period by creating this pretend-Valhalla-special family where no one would mention this.”

Mr. Mosher, a decorated director and producer and the chairman of the theater department at Hunter College, said that he believed Ms. Miller was making a sincere effort to protect the script, and that she offered to allow Mr. Mosher’s choice for George Deever if Ann were played by an actress of a different race than her brother. It was unclear why that option was more acceptable, but in any case, Mr. Mosher said, the disagreement put him in an impossible bind, so he left.

“I was auditioning black actresses, which means the black acting community in New York knew I was doing it,” he said. “I didn’t know what to say to these actors. I’ve decided to hire a white girl? I couldn’t find somebody? What am I supposed to say?”

“It was a kind of breaking faith with a community that I didn’t want to break faith with,” he continued. “I’m afraid it comes rather quickly to ‘you just have the wrong skin color for this part.’ ”

[quote] “I was worried that it would whitewash the racism that really was in existence in that period by creating this pretend-Valhalla-special family where no one would mention this.”

That's my overall concern when they do multiracial casting in a period film or play. It really erases that part of history. Recently, because of a thread on DL, I was watching YouTube clips of the 1982 ANNIE film, which led me to clips of the 1999 TV remake that featured black, Asian, Hispanic, ,white orphans and a black Grace Farrell. Some of the comments in the '82 version were variations of "This cast is so white! Where are the POC?" Even calling the '82 film racist because POC were excluded.

thanks, r94. I'll have a look.

I don't understand why people are so resistant to the idea that two white people in 1947 would randomly have two sons who were black

[quote]“It was a kind of breaking faith with a community that I didn’t want to break faith with,” he continued. “I’m afraid it comes rather quickly to ‘you just have the wrong skin color for this part.’ ”

Drama queen, much?

And you were auditioning people before you had the Miller estate's approval to do so?

Ms Miller gets it right with logic, insight and grace (not to mention an amusing slyness).

I hope Rebecca Miller (and by extension Daniel Day-Lewsi) don't get attacked or branded as racists by the simpleminded Twitter morons.

Oh, you *know* they will.

Can anyone explain to me WHY the American Airlines always has to do revivals? You've got Tracy Letts and Annette Benning, why not put them in something new?

Jonny Bailey is out and gay and gave a wonderful interview to Nancy Durrant in the (UK) Times that can be easily googled in which he addresses this fact

Separately, the Donmar SWEAT is a revelation and miles better than the NY version -- Martha Plimpton is absolutely sensational in the part for which Johanna Day was nominated for a Tony. It's electrifying, even if the writing still belabors the point.

I do think that both were being true to their craft and acting in good faith. But this is theatre, so the will of the playwright (albeit implied, through his estate) trumps all.

As well it should. Whoever goes through the agony of getting it on the page, wins.

Plus it's clear that the production concept was not thought-through, unlike Ms. Miller's counter-argument.

Interesting that George is the sibling Mosher was focused on. I think Ann is more the star role of the two. Katie Holmes played her in the last revival.

[quote]Can anyone explain to me WHY the American Airlines always has to do revivals? You've got Tracy Letts and Annette Benning, why not put them in something new?

Because the Selwyn Theater on 42nd was restored and run by The Roundabout Theatre company, a non-proift that only produces revivals.

Before the restoration.

After the restoration...

[quote]Even on the do-over, Erivo skipped the lines with the rockets' red glare, arguably the best part.

Deport her!

[quote]“It was a kind of breaking faith with a community that I didn’t want to break faith with,” he continued.

This is an idiotic, grandstanding statement.

R117 was he talking about the African-American community? And what does he mean by not wanting to break faith?

Imelda was indeed terrible and not just on the BBC taping.

What you all missed was Rebecca Miller's solution, which was to open all the roles to black actors, so that members of the same family included both white and black actors. Thus, it would not read as realism. That way it would not whitewash the racism of the past.

The weird thing is that the Stratford production two years ago, had the Deevers played as a black family just like Mosher was going to do and it was well-received by critics and audiences---and Rebecca Miller did not say boo.

I think the father in Fences should be white.

Stratford ain't Broadway. And I don't think that's what Miller intended by her "solution" at all.

THAT would be racist, R121, for reasons no one can explain.

Essentially, this casting nonsense cannot be explained because it purports to be everything except what it actually is: white people and social Justice warriors wanting to punish and exclude white people for a while. It is disingenuous at its core.

[quote]r100 Jesus! Color-blind or color-conscious casting (or whatever you want to call it) doesn't always work. You can't just plop people of color in roles that were originally meant to be white and set in a specific time and place.

Wow. That's such a wonderfully illuminating and ground breaking point, it's a wonder you've never brought it up before.

R125 it seems to need repeating because the SJWs are still telling us what works

[quote]Jesus! Color-blind or color-conscious casting (or whatever you want to call it) doesn't always work. You can't just plop people of color in roles that were originally meant to be white and set in a specific time and place. For instance, I don't think it worked in CAROUSEL or JOAN OF ARC, but it could work very well in R&H's CINDERELLA since that takes place in a magical land where anything goes.

Ridiculous. It works fine in the current My Faor Lady, which has 3 or 4 African Americans and at least a couple of Asians.

Agree about the National Theatre's Follies. Imelda was the only bum note, and even in that central role it wasn't enough to seriously disturb the brilliance of the rest of it.

I usually find British productions of American musicals lack the spark, but this one required that the note of nostalgia be dark, with all the brightness ultimately failing against it, and it was perfect.

At last night 's Skivvies show, they did that bit where they borrow someone's cell phone and make a song from their tweets. In this guys phone was an exchange about someone peeing in an actor's water bottle at the Booth theatre and the police being called. Lauren of the Skivvies thought it was just an inside joke but the guy said it was real. I guess someone peed in Kerry Washington's water. Has anyone heard about this ?

R127 says you. I found it very distracting. It took me out of the film's setting. One can only suspend so much disbelief.

Meant to say "musical's setting."

R122, at least it is what she said was the intent.

“I was worried that it would whitewash the racism that really was in existence in that period by creating this pretend-Valhalla-special family where no one would mention this.”

What was so brilliant about the London Follies was that they found a use for all those strange little lines that really don't make sense. For example, some of the chorus played a camera crew filming the reunion and so some of those weird lines that Stella has were directed as talking in an interview. Also, Carlotta opens "I'm Still Here" sitting next to the camera crew.

Also, they did an excellent job using the revolve on the stage to open it up and make you think that the characters were actually walking around the old theater.

And as I've said in other threads, Josephine Barstow was the best Heidi I've ever seen. "One More Kiss" always bored me. It was some old, shrieky soprano. But Barstow was this frail old lady who really embodied a bygone generation. And as she starts to sing, she does it in a very flamboyant, operatic way which makes her somewhat pitiful. You think this woman probably sits in an old folks home reliving her days when she was a grand soloist on a European stage. She really brought home the theme that is behind Follies.

[quote]I've hooked up with Jonathan Bailey.

Who fucked whom?

Cut or uncut? Hung?

[quote]Jonny Bailey is out and gay and gave a wonderful interview to Nancy Durrant in the (UK) Times that can be easily googled in which he addresses this fact

You can't access it unless you're a subscriber.

I heard about a junior high school production of A CHORUS LINE. Don't know how that was accomplished. I attended a production of DREAMGIRLS at a school in Harlem - some decent singing (in a gymnasium). I remember Effie flipping over the table during the big number, and folks eating Popeye's in the bleachers.

[quote][R127] says you. I found it very distracting. It took me out of the film's setting. One can only suspend so much disbelief.

I pity your lack of ability, r130. It must be difficult for you to attend musical theater, what with people improbably bursting into song and dance.

Just curious, how did you feel about Diedre Goodwin's Shiela in the A Chorus Line revival?

R137 obviously, singing and dancing are expected in *musical* theater. It's par for the course. Like I said, I'm not opposed to color-blind casting, but it doesn't work for everything, which is what's been done a lot lately to cash in on a current craze. I wish TPTB were more selective in their choice of plays/musicals to incorporate non-traditional casting. because it can be effective when done right but quite jarring when not.

As for Diedre Goodwin, I liked her just fine. I don't remember feeling one way or another about her -- or the production, in general. But ACL is one show where color-blind casting actually works.

If singing and dancing are expected in musicals, then what is the problem with non-traditional casting? By now it is expected. as well.

I mean-- it is theater. We know they are actors playing roles.

"they are actors playing roles..."

...with truth as the objective. The same applies to productions as well. If painstaking attention is paid to period concerns like costuming, hair design, etc , then why shouldn't the manners and mores of the time--the historical realities of any era--be given the same consideration as well?

[quote] I heard about a junior high school production of A CHORUS LINE. Don't know how that was accomplished

I saw a high school production, in Texas, no less. It was quite good. Some of the language was cleaned up ('Tits and Ass, became 'This and That') and Morales' 'Jesus Christ!' was changed to something like 'Holly cow!'. But Paul's monologue was pretty much intact. There was something very poignant about these young people, about to graduate and start their independent lives expressing the hopes and dreams of a group of dancers auditioning for a show.

Junior high seems a bit young, however.

CONGA!

The Prince of anti-color blind casting, John Simon, said that Deidre Goodwin was as good as Kelly Bishop in the role and that's heavy praise considering he's creamed in his pants about Bishop's performance since 1975.

[quote]I mean-- it is theater. We know they are actors playing roles.

For the ten thousandth time: If this were the HONEST reason for color-blind casting (or whatever you want to call it), then there would be no problem with casting white people in A RAISIN IN THE SUN, for example. But, of course, it's not the honest reason, it's the dishonest reason. The honest reason is giving opportunities to people of color, who were excluded from mainstream theater for so long, at the expense of historical accuracy. Some people, Rebecca Miller, are concerned that color blind casting can rewrite history if it's not done thoughtfully.

Don't tell me. Rebecca Miller's white.

R140, The same applies to musicals as well. If painstaking attention is paid to period concerns like costuming, hair design, etc , then why shouldn't the manners and mores of the time--the historical realities of any era--be given the same consideration as well? No one sang and danced their debates in the 1700s. No American soldier sang on the streets of Vietnam during the war. The poor of 19th century France did not sing power pop songs.

There are some who say that if we can accept the convention of actors having different skin tone and hair color than the characters they play, then we should be able to accept characters breaking into song and dance numbers. But I am sorry, the music takes me out of the story in a way skin tone does not.

I guess it is about expectations.

And we all know that expectations are something than can never be changed.

Glad to see others on here re: Cynthia Erivo's role in The Great Comet business. She was terrible during that whole thing, and when called out as such, her flagrant non-apology was reprehensible. Also, what she was saying was an insult to Denee Benton and Amber Gray and their work and presence in the show from its opening.

There is an NYtimes retro report on youtube about internet hysteria, "mob rule" style-tweeting, and the damage it can do. Especially when the tweeting and mob rule is incorrect in what it is saying.

At different points in the report they show shots of computer screens with tweet after tweet incorrectly condemning the woman in this report. Which grew to such a level and height that she had to move, change her name and identity, because she couldn't get employment. All because of something she didn't do.

One of the screen shots they show of tweets has a big and loud tweet from Cythia Erivo right there dead center in the middle of the screen. Her name and her face are right there. And yes, she's also loudly condemning this woman. This woman who did nothing. And had her life somewhat ruined by this twitter hysteria.

It is amazing. It's not something show business based. But there she is! For all to see--In a report by the NY Times on the danger and damage of reckless tweeting. Her name and face. Doing what she loves to do more than anything, it would seem.

It's so sad. She basically is an internet troll, in many ways. A full-on internet troll. It is right there. Onscreen. At moment 7:05.

Why does she have this unceasing need to moralize and proclaim her opinions ALL THE TIME. Opinions, which at times are incorrect and do real damage.

When The Great Comet closed several hundred people lost their jobs. How many people of color worked in the orchestra, backstage, as theatre staff, on the administrative side of the production? They are there to represent too. Why no consideration of them and their positions? Their lives.

I always found her frustrating in terms of her moralizing tweets. But when she was so callous, and wouldn't remotely take any responsibility around her Great Comet tweets, she totally lost me. And it is so sad, because she is genuinely one of the most talented artists I've ever seen onstage. She is stunning. Absolutely thrilling. Gifted beyond belief. But--no. Shut up! Or at least get your facts correct.

Seeing her twitter post in this report was the final of final straws on how I feel about her. Sad.

Sorry. This is the clip.

It is weird that all the anti-color conscious casting folk are blasting Mosher's choice to make one family in the play black, and supporting Rebecca Miller who suggested casting a mix of white and black actors as members of the same family--which usually is something that makes their heads explode.

The times are changing.

"But I am sorry, the music takes me out of the story in a way skin tone does not."

"The poor of 19th century France did not sing power pop songs."

Precisely. I agree. And why is it unacceptable to you? Because it hasn't been STYLIZED within an acceptable approximation of the music of the period, i.e. reality. If it had been written with greater ability, taste, melodic invention, a feel for the period, all fused through a contemporary sensibility, the score wouldn't have taken you out of the story but engaged you even further. That's what the best theater is--heightened reality (or an approximation thereof).

R151, no all music takes me out. It just does not seem real. I have never seen a musical or opera where the music does not take me out.

Then why do you go if you don't want music in musicals or opera?

Bette.....

R153 I presume he is trolling, as he makes little sense

I will continue to believe colour never blind casting is total bullshit until we have a white version of 'For Coloured Girls, Who Have Considered Suicide When The Rainbow Was Not Enuff'.

I’m actually fine with color blind casting. Loved it in Carousel. But it’s hard to justify when you say that only Caucasians can’t play people of other races.

Rj153, I am exaggerating since someone was saying he could not accept dark-skinned actors in certain roles because of "expectations."

I was trying to point out that expectations are not logical. Just because I think musicals are ridiculous, I do not argue that they should not be produced or that people who create them are somehow dishonest about their motives.

And that expectations change. As he gets used to seeing dark actors outside their ethnicity (just like white actors have been doing for centuries) his expectations will change.

R157, on the contrary, it is easy to justify. Most roles in western plays have been written for white actors which limits employment for non-white actors, if you only cast white actors in those roles.

There is no need for white actors to play black roles since there are already plenty of white ones.

If you have not noticed, white people already dominate our culture. They do not need increased opportunity.

In most cases, it's the "expectations" that should be adjusted, not the casting.

[quote]There is no need for white actors to play black roles since there are already plenty of white ones.

Where do white actors play black roles? I don't know if I've ever seen one.

Actually, that’s a good point, R158. Just try to find people of color in a Broadway musical. Except, of course, Aladdin, The Band’s Visit, The Book Of Mormon, Hamilton, The Lion King, Once On This Island, and Summer.

That was meant for R159, actually.

The recent Carousel? And isn't MFL about to get a Freddy Eynsford-Hill of color? Company?

People are so purposefully ignorant. The reason a black Valjean or Eliza Doolittle is different than a white Younger family or Motormouth Maybelle is because the former roles have nothing to do with race and their skin tone or facial features are never described. Keala Settle (who is of Maori descent) should not have been cast as Tracy Turnblad. Just because the character of Bobby/Bobbie is traditionally played by a white actor, doesn't mean the character is white or only white people can play that role. And yeah, there are less roles explicitly written for people of color.

If you think white actors are being oppressed on Broadway, go back to watching Fox News. And if you can't tell the difference between a black actor playing a character with no set race and a white actor playing a role specifically described as being black, you're a fucking idiot.

R164, currently Freddy is played by a black actor, as is his mother and sister.

R162 by people of colour, do you mean black people? or are you referring to east indian, japanese, indigenous americans, etc? Because we'll be happy to sit here and wait while you come up with a list of of they're represented on Broadway.

R165, applause from me.

I wasn't crazy about Ann Darrow being played by a non-blonde. Seems that's the whole reason Kong's attracted to her.

They should have cast blonde Cynthia Erivo.

I remember back in the 90s when Lea Salogna went into Les Miz as Eponine. It was a bit confusing since the Thenardiers were played by two white people.

R147, thanks. There is definitely something wrong with that woman.

[quote]There is no need for white actors to play black roles since there are already plenty of white ones.

Right, but then just STATE HONESTLY that this is the reason for casting people of color in white roles -- don't call it "color-blind casting," which should work both ways but of course does not.

[quote]People are so purposefully ignorant. The reason a black Valjean or Eliza Doolittle is different than a white Younger family or Motormouth Maybelle is because the former roles have nothing to do with race and their skin tone or facial features are never described.....If you can't tell the difference between a black actor playing a character with no set race and a white actor playing a role specifically described as being black, you're a fucking idiot.

You are the (fucking) idiot if you don't realize there have been many cases of people of color cast as characters that are obviously intended to be white even if that's never explicitly stated. Valjean would never have been a black man because a black man could not have risen to become a mayor of a town in France at that time. Eliza can't be a black woman because the whole point of the story is that she successfully masquerades as a member of the upper-class aristocracy in England in the early 1900s. I could go on an on, but there's no point, because your mind will just do whatever mental gymnastics are necessary to convince yourself that I'm wrong.

[quote]Valjean would never have been a black man because a black man could not have risen to become a mayor of a town in France at that time.

Incidentally, I recently watched the trailer for the upcoming BBC TV remake of LES MISERABLES with a black actor as Javert. (The actor who played MLK in that biopic a few years back.) Colorblind casting is one thing on stage, where it's easier to suspend disbelief, but it's different on film which has a more realistic feel.

[quote]Incidentally, I recently watched the trailer for the upcoming BBC TV remake of LES MISERABLES with a black actor as Javert.

Nobody is watching for him. They will be watching to see if they can get a glimpse of my humongous penis.

As a writer, I'm fine with any kind of casting as along as... 1. Talent is the absolute #1 priority and the best person gets the job... 2. It doesn't make hash of the writers' work or its thematic concerns (a black Emile de Becque, for example), or impose considerations of race that are irrelevant to the piece (as in ALL MY SONS above)...which is altogether different than finding a new approach to the property that supports such casting decisions and amplifies the work in a new and meaningful way.

Ugh. Cynthia Errivo would be so much easier to dismiss if she wasn't so fucking talented. She's been excellent in everything I've ever seen her in, but I really fucking hate her for what she did during the Great Comet thing. I like to think of trolls as usually being people who have no talents or skills of their own (think real life Miranda Sings type people) who feel like the only way they can get attention is to troll people. It gets weird when they actually possess talent.

I thought Cynthia Erivo was on auto-pilot when I saw her in THE COLOR PURPLE. Heather Headley gave a fully alive performance.

Heather Headley was ASTONISHING as Shug. Wish she'd starred in it from the start, but I know J.Hud brought in the $$$.

Black actors are allowed to play any ethnicity. White actors are only allowed to play white.

yes r177 you are 100% right when I saw it too

When we were in London to see Company we happened to see Jonny Bailey and a gaggle of pretty boys huddled outside of a gay club around midnight near 7 Dials (wish I could remember the name of the club!). And Jonny was wearing a very gay white puffy coat trimmed on the hood with white maribou. Among the gay gaggle was that cute nerdy actor who played the cute nerdy doofus on WIA.

We nearly died!

The Metropolitan Opera no longer allows white singers to black up to play Verdi's Otello. It's odd because there are so many references to his skin color. The role is one of the hardest to sing in all opera. It's written for a heroic tenor -- that's a voice type -- and there are always less than a handful of men capable of singing it effectively or well in any generation, much less black men.

I have mixed feelings about it. Blackface doesn't have to be done in a stereotypical or insulting manner. This part, in either the opera or the play, has never been. Even Olivier blacked up for the part opposite Maggie Smith's Desdemona.

A couple of years ago the Village Light Opera was forced to cancel its production of The Mikado in New York because of accusations of "yellowface." The Mikado was probably the most performed stage piece in the world during the 20th century, especially the first half. And now it's verboten.

I have such conflicting feelings about it all I don't know to think anymore.

I know what you should think: that out if control social justice warriors with huge white-guilt complexes are giving “actors of color” whatever they want, no matter how unreasonable, absurd or exclusionary.

I was scanning the TV Guide to see what's on tonight and at 8:00 pm Fox is rerunning A Christmas Story Live! If you haven't seen it, it's very well done but maybe not a must-see.

Yes, even p.o.c. have the propensity to abuse power. Why would anyone think otherwise? Instead, we’ll meaning people of “privilege” want so badly to do right that they are rolling over for every and any demand p.o.c. have in the entertainment industry. Sealing their own fate.

Aghhhhhhh!!!

Stritch singing I New Know When to Say When from Goldilocks.

Thank you, r186, You've restored joy to this furrowed-brow, fist-to-forehead thread.

Now, back to our regularly tortured program....

^ I Never, not I New. Sorry

A Christmas Story Live! rerun starting on Fox now.

So will anyone give more dirt on the sissyfit fistfight backstage at OOTI? Blood was spilled gurl!

The director peed in the pool?

It has its charms, r191......

RIP Donald Moffat.

A true gentleman of the theater.

Oh, no. That's a real loss.

Jane Krakowski should do Mame for one of these live musicals. Or maybe Gypsy. Is that too adult for NBC?

Forget Gypsy, we've already had a TV version of that.

Mame seems to be dead in the water as far as any significant revival.

Jane K has never been top-billed in a Broadway musical for a reason. She couldn't carry Mame.

Still waiting to hear about Jonathan Bailey's cock size and top/bottom status.

I feel like Jane could carry Mame. As for another version of Gypsy, I think it's the best musical of all time and could never get enough revivals and filmed versions, but they really need to stop and look at why the previous versions did and didn't work before they attempt it again. There's a lot to learn from. For example, keep away from actresses who could never sing it (Roz), hammy actresses in Bozo wigs who can't land the pathos (Bette), and actresses who seem on the edge of a nervous breakdown from the first "Sing out, Louise!" (Imelda).

I think there should be 5 companies of "Gypsy" running on Broadway and a new Tony category for Best Rose.

I thought I saw a pic in the NY Times recently of an Otello at the Met and the Otello was not in blackface make-up, but was also not someone of color. He looked as white as the Desdemona. So, is that how they are dealing with this issue now? Does anyone know?

And though the Met made this rule of no blackface for Otello, they have never mentioned anything about the make-up for Cio-Cio San in Butterfly. Or any of the roles in Turandot. Or--on and on.

I have always considered the stylized world of opera extremely different in terms of rules of who can play what, and how it is represented. Also, the majority of operas in most company's repertoire are pre--1920 for heaven's sake. This makes it all difficult.

There is also the fact that many works of opera are set in mythical or fantastical worlds. Many works of Wagner, Strauss, Mozart for instance.

Also--as a form it is totally representational. It is not meant to be experienced as realism in any way. I am all for singers of all colors singing everything by the way. Leontyne Price is one of the great voices of all time. I would listen to her sing any role she wanted to sing. Including Woyzzeck in Woyzzeck. And I wouldn't care what her make-up looked like.

I want more opportunities for everyone. At the same time, I don't want limitations for anyone in opera. It has enough difficulties as it is.

A Christmas Story--live or otherwise--devoid of score.

Beth Leavel would make an ideal Mame Dennis.

[quote]For example, keep away from actresses who could never sing it (Roz), hammy actresses in Bozo wigs who can't land the pathos (Bette), and actresses who seem on the edge of a nervous breakdown from the first "Sing out, Louise!" (Imelda).

R201 also, to treat the material as a drama with songs instead of a musical comedy. They do the latter too often and it always comes out like a bad Norman Lear sitcom (all that shouting) with the actors playing for laughs and reading their lines like punchlines.

The best GYPSY I saw was the 2010 Rio de Janeiro production and it opened my eyes to how it should be done. That production actually made me fall in love with the piece whereas before I could take it or leave it and didn't see why people called it "the best Broadway musical."

She'd be a hell of a lot better as the drunk friend.

Opera tends to be presentational rather than representational.

The new year approaches! Let's play producer and discuss our dream Bway projects:

Jake Gyllenhaal in a revival of BARNUM. You know he'd love to do it.

Anne Hathaway does Liza in THE ACT. Or THE RINK. Ditto.

A really cool, tech-savvy rethink of THE MAGIC SHOW? It would run forever....Could we get Schwartz to pen a couple of new songs? I smell Disney money.

A smart, witty redux of A CONNECTICUT YANKEE (I'm casting as I type)....

Remember when Christine Baranski was in Kennedy Center production of MAME that was supposed to be Braodway-bound but never made it? She was so wrong for the part. She's more of a Vera.

What ever happened to the Amber Riley Dreamgirls production coming to Broadway. I think she'd be great.

Vivienne Segal rules this version of "To Keep My Love Alive" from the 1943 CONNECTICUT YANKEE.

R205 If only they took the "a" out of her last name, so the general public knew how to pronounce it, so they might get to know her and her talents.

R172, I do not use the term "color-blind" because it give rise to the idiocy where people start asking for it to work "both ways."

It is great that there are a number of black performers on Broadway, as pointed out above. That is pretty much limited to Broadway musicals. Look off-Broadway, LORT, not to mention TV and film and you will see that there is a lot less parity than there is on Broadway.

The idea that we it is somehow harder to accept a black Eliza Doolittle (even though black women have played the character in Shaw since the 1960s) than a singing and dancing Eliza shows the absurdity of this whole argument. If you can choose to adopt the conventions of musical theater, then why not choose to accept the conventions of non-traditional casting?

"The Act" is a really shitty show. Even with Liza, there were only two or three good numbers. Even Kander and Ebb could be off some days.

The Baranski Mame sounded ok on paper, but it was not up to snuff at all. The Ebersole one wasn't either. They were both so miscast.

I'd say that Mame must be the hardest role to cast on Broadway. There has so be a certain warmth to her. At least with Rose, you can hire someone with no warmth and some will call it a "brave choice."

I would love see Charo as "Mame", as maybe as Rose. Okay Rosie in "Bye Bye Birdie". Hootchie coochie! (And yes, she actually is a great performer and guitarist).

The Rink is crying out for an Encores production. At least then you could cast it non-traditionally and get a cast like Patti LuPone and Anne Hathaway/Laura Benanti to do it and not have to worry about exact types or ages.

As for Gypsy, I think the best balanced production was the Tyne Daly one. I remember act 1 being breezy, hilarious, and exciting and act 2 gradually got darker and darker until it was a full blown drama. To me, that's the best way to do it. If it's played too seriously at first, there's nowhere to go in act 2. On the other hand, if they whole thing is played like a goofy farce, the emotional bits don't land. I never saw the Rio de Janeiro production, so I can't comment on how they handled it.

Yes, r212, but it is SUCH a Stritch song.....like her version or not.

Can you just imagine everyone back in 1966 anticipating the new musical of Mame and hearing that she would be played by Angela Lansbury who never displayed a shred of warmth in any role ever?

The best version of To Keep My Love Alive is Mary Testa's, believe it or no! It's on youtube.

Somebody clever please post it for comparison. You'll see what I mean.

Is this the Rio De Janiero production? Is it really worth a watch? I mean, I can't speak the language...

I hear your Testa call, r22......

[quote]As for Gypsy, I think the best balanced production was the Tyne Daly one. I remember act 1 being breezy, hilarious, and exciting and act 2 gradually got darker and darker until it was a full blown drama.

Agreed. The first act in particular was true musical comedy. And then things got seriously intense at the end of Act I. Daly's Everything’s Coming Up Roses was chilling. (It’s interesting to think that if Rose just agreed to marry Herbie there at the train station, you could have a spiffy one-act musical with a happy, feel-good finale; no need for any more story.)

R223 Yes! That's the Rio production. If you're very familiar with the show, I don't think you need to know Portuguese to follow along. It's all there, just translated. Well, except for the Mr. Kringelein scene, which was inexplicably cut. But the staging/acting/singing were great, and they used the original choreography! Great orchestra, too.

So true, r 221, lol!

Okay. Point taken about THE ACT. So maybe Anne does THE RINK at ENCORES, with (hopefully) a Bway move. Who'd make a good mom to Anne?

I genuinely love her and apparently, she's game to do commercial theatre. How charming is she in this tribute to Meryl? Girl can SANG....

Okay. Point taken about THE ACT. So maybe Anne does THE RINK at ENCORES, with (hopefully) a Bway move. Who'd make a good mom to Anne?

I genuinely love her and apparently, she's game to do commercial theatre. How charming is she in this tribute to Meryl? Girl can SANG....

Magic........

That Brazilian production is very interesting, but, meu Deus, those tempi are muito rapido.

Maybe she wasn't "warm", but Lansbury was pretty heartbreaking as Sibyl Vane in "Picture of Dorian Gray". MGM soon turned her into playing mothers of people who in reality were around the same age as she was.

[quote]She's more of a Vera.

I've always thought so.

R233 LOL

R215 you’re ridiculous. That argument held 29 years ago, even 10. But be realistic. The forced casting of all-but-White is everywhere. Broadway, tv, everywhere. Open your eyes to the present. I hate victims who refuse to let go of victimhood.

Angela was very warm in Dark at the Top of the Stairs, as I recall.

Does anyone else remember when Cybill was going to do Hello, Dolly somewhere in North Carolina around 2011 or 2012 and pulled out. I'm sure that would have been excruciating. Speaking of the cold types...

Cybill was never much of a comedienne...or a singer.

Cybill can do dry/funny, not warm/funny. She might make a better MAME.

We've discussed this before. The only person that can pull off a high profile production of Mame is Catherine Zeta-Jones.

She's no Madeline Kahn, r237......

Actually, Zeta-Jones does seem tailor made for Mame. She has the charisma, star quality, voice, and dancing skills. I've seen her be quite funny, too.

Did anyone actually see Madeline Kahn in Hello, Dolly? It seems like a great fit for her, but the score must sound strange taken up so many octaves to suit Kahn's soprano as opposed to Channing's baritone.

Mame doesn't hold up.

Sometimes, I sit and wonder what wonderful performances Madeline Kahn would still be giving us these days if she hadn't died so soon.

I don't think it would sound strange at all, r242. C'mon, can't you just hear her So Long, Dearie?

Mame needs a book overhaul before it's remounted as a fully staged, commercial production. Some say the stuff in the south couldn't be done today, but I can't for the life of me figure out what's offensive about it. Isn't the whole point that, while they hated the idea of a filthy liberal yankee marrying Beau, they discover that Mame is a delight and they salute her? I find it moving. I don't remember any talk of slaves or uses of the n-word or anything. The south is depicted as fairly backwards and ignorant, especially with their assumptions about Mame.

Same with Upsons. It's not like we're supposed to like them.

The problem with Mame is that the milieu the show is set in is long, long gone and there's no context for contemporary audiences. Much of Mame/Auntie Mame is social satire and except for elders no one would recognize it or know what to make of it. Unwed mothers, Jewish refugees, plantation southerners and sophisticated Upper East Siders would either be unrecognized or irrelevant now. Likewise, unless you have a carefully directed production, the racial tensions that drive South Pacific and made it shocking in its time go unrecognized today.

At one point there was a film of Auntie Mame in development that took Mame from the wild 60s to the conformist 80s, which seemed a pretty good analog for the originals 20s through 50s.

You could do that when there is no music tying the setting down to specific periods.

^^It was for Goldie Hawn

[quote]Beth Leavel would make an ideal Mame Dennis.

Beth Leavel doesn't have the elegance and sophistication of Mame. In her younger days, she could have been a Gooch.

R244 I can't believe it'll be 20 years next year!

R246 today, people get offended about every little thing. If they see a depiction of the pre-Civil Rights South with no mention of Jim Crow or black characters (save for some domestics), they'll call it racist without understanding the context. I was watching GIMME A BREAK! on YouTube and on one of the episodes someone called the show racist because Nell plays a housekeeper for a white family. These people (including many whites) don't have a sense of history or want to pretend that the past was entirely different. I don't think Hollywood's reimagining of past American towns/neighborhoods are multiracial and POC in positions of power is helping. It gives a distorted view of the past, and people today are very impressionable I find.

For R224

R253, Love this clip. I hear Mark Jacoby sing the role of the bridegroom. Where have these wonderful actors gone? Mark Jacoby has the best voice I have every heard on Broadway. At one point, it looked like he was going to take over the world, but then just totally disappeared. And Rebecca Luker, what a voice. Somehow just faded. David Elder, one of the best song and dance men. He was truly blindingly good in 42nd Street. The face, the smile, the voice, and those dancing feet... After 42nd Street, apart from a replacement role in Curtains, he totally went regional. Why?

Rebecca Luker sounded great in The Secret Garden. I think that show is under-rated.

r255 Secret Garden is a lovely chamber musical that benefitted from having great art direction in its first Broadway production. The problem is most regional theaters want something more light and airy and most high schools need bigger casts and easier melodies so the show isn't popular outside of broadway. Because of this the show has gone through a bunch of really terrible rewrites that weren't necessary (think Wait Until Dark-level unnecessary rewrites) to take the focus off the adults and put it on the children.

Unfortunately there's no magic in the "new" Secret Garden and I hope it never gets produced on Broadway. (They've been workshopping versions of it for years now).

Luker was the best Christine in Phantom I ever saw or heard (early '90s).

R216, And there was the "scandal" when it was exposed that Liza was lip synching some of her musical numbers.

Ann Miller as Dolly . . .

[quote]The idea that it is somehow harder to accept a black Eliza Doolittle (even though black women have played the character in Shaw since the 1960s) than a singing and dancing Eliza shows the absurdity of this whole argument. If you can choose to adopt the conventions of musical theater, then why not choose to accept the conventions of non-traditional casting?

So, would you accept an 80 year old actress as Eliza under the argument that having a very old woman play the role is no less realistic than having the character burst into song at several points during the show? If your answer is "no," which is must be if you're honest, than your argument is worthless.

THEN your argument is worthless.

R254, Yes, I miss David Elder too.

Mostly cute, but it does go on way too long.

It's odd Rebecca Miller had issues with mixed race casting in All My Sons since the Miller Estate ok'd a mixed race production of All My Sons at Seattle's Intiman Theater in 2011. In fact, Arthur's sister was there at the opening.

(Side note: It was also the last production at the old-original Intiman before it imploded due to financial woes...)

[Quote] Are there video bootlegs of Imelda in Gypsy? I have audio bootlegs where she lands every laugh and doesn't seem to be shrieking every line like on the BBC recording. It seemed like a brilliant performance on those audio recordings.

It wouldn't surprise me if there weren't any video bootlegs. They even puts signs up in the theatre as a deterrent. I don't remember seeing similar signs at other theatres. If there were, they weren't as prominently displayed.

Can you upload some or all of that audio? I know it wouldn't make a difference to the loud and wrong types, but I'd like other to get the opportunity to hear it/them.

I wish Dolores Gray hadn't dropped out of "Goldilocks". Her recording of "I Never Know When" would have been great.

You're all so kind. I can't wait to play Mame in 25 years or so when I am age-appropriate. I shall mark this in my calendar for circa 2045. Thank you for the suggestion, loves!

R254, I agree! Jacoby was a fantastic Phantom, he sang that role so thrillingly, but his acting was even better, just incredible.

If you think his aciting was incredible, you should’ve seen the way he fucks!

R208 Omg. Thank you. You are correct. I wrote that wrong between presentational and representational. My bad. Thank you for getting what I meant.

Wow, I fast forwarded to Everything’s Coming Up Roses in that Rio production, and the voice on that woman playing Rose was excruciating. It sounded as bad as Tyne on that wretched cast album.

I think she has a good voice. Very emotional. What's excruciating about it?

Jacoby is in his early 70s and looks it. What roles do you think he should be doing on Broadway?

And Luker is almost 58, not a great age for an ingenue.

R260, if the actress brought something, then sure.

One of the most moving theater productions of the last few years was Transport Group's production of I Remember Mama in which EVERY role was played by an elderly actress, even though the characters were mostly young and middleaged men and women.

(The cast featured Lynn Cohen, Rita Gardner, Heather MacRae, Marni Nixon, Alice Cannon, Phyllis Somerville, Letty Serra, Barbara Andres, Dale Soules, Louise Sorrell, and Barbara Barrie)

I saw that Transport Co. I Remember Mama and it was indeed thrilling. The actresses were all just dressed in modern clothes that looked like their own and the set was just a series of tables and desks and each scene took place around them. It was incredibly imaginative and moving. I guess the concept was about the wisdom of older women and it sure worked.

Some of you are so close to believing in white supremacist conspiracy theories, if you aren't already.

what happened to aurora spiderwoman

[quote]Some of you are so close to believing in white supremacist conspiracy theories

Such as?

Christine Baranski is another second banana. Did anyone see her Mrs. Lovett in DC? The night I was there she was replaced by her understudy, who was quite good, except that she was so heavy that she had a hard time managing all those steps to the barber shop.

Chenoweth wouldn't be a bad Mame...just way too short.

Who would be good in Follies?

I can only hope that whoever plays Phyllis in the National reboot of Follies refuses to wear that pale grey schmatta with the large bow on the stomach that they foisted onto poor Janie Dee.

I saw Christine Baranski as Mrs. Lovett in D.C. I also saw Angela Lansbury in the original production and Patti with her tuba. Baranski was very good in the role. She was no Angela Lansbury, but I liked her more than Patti.

I also saw Baranski as Mame. The problem was not that she was miscast, although she brought nothing special to the role. The problem, as others have already noted, is that the book is just too dated.

Here's Mary Martin doing "To Keep My Love Alive" (with Richard Rodgers at the piano) without a trace of wit or bite, as though it's a number from "The Sound of Music."

And yet Mary Martin's version is one of the funniest.

I thought Janie Dee was returning as Phyllis...

Rio Rose has a good speaking voice. Maybe she's a song stylist but not a singer as required for Rose.

"I thought Janie Dee was returning as Phyllis... "

...But hopefully not her dress!

[quote]One of the most moving theater productions of the last few years was Transport Group's production of I Remember Mama in which EVERY role was played by an elderly actress, even though the characters were mostly young and middleaged men and women.

That was a completely different situation than my hypothetical of casting an 80-year-old as Eliza in MFL in an otherwise traditional and largely realistic production, so your point is pointless and a waste of time.

If I understand correctly, Rebecca Miller wanted an ALL MY SONS cast with racial diversity THROUGHOUT THE COMPANY, rather than having just two characters, who are brother and sister, played by black actors, which would have given the impression that the CHARACTERS are actually supposed to be black, which WOULD NEVER HAVE HAPPENED in the world and time of the play. Whereas if there were racial diversity throughout the company, that would imply a non-literal, non-representational approach to the entire play in which the races of the cast members would be immaterial. I'm not 100 percent sure I agree with the Miller perspective, but I think it shows a lot more thought than the other idea.

[quote]It sounded as bad as Tyne on that wretched cast album.

I had a COLD, damnit. How many times do I have to explain that?

So an elderly cast for I Remember Mama makes it unrealistic. Okay.

But a singing Eliza and a chorus singing and dancing in unison is realism?

Or for that matter does having an obviously 40 something Eliza at LCT not destroy realistic illusion as much as the black Freddy who is clearly at least a decade younger?

The larger issue that in theater (and film) there is no actual "realism." There are just conventions we are willing to accept, whether it is painted flats, compressed events, black curtains, singing, poetic language, people who look nothing alike playing a family, people playing characters of a different age than themselves, etc.

The question is that with all the conventions people are willing to suspend disbelief for, why is it this one that they insist is impossible to accept?

Until recently, few ever had a problem accepting white actors playing persons of other races.

What is it that makes them so angry about non-whites doing the same?

[quote]So an elderly cast for I Remember Mama makes it unrealistic. Okay. But a singing Eliza and a chorus singing and dancing in unison is realism?

We've already been through this. Certain kinds of entertainments have different levels of stylization -- straight theater, musical theater, ballet, opera, British panto, Noh drama, etc. We accept those levels of stylization for each form of entertainment, or not, but that doesn't mean everything about the show or movie can or should be non-realistic. "People don't sing and dance in unison in real life, so it's okay to cast an 80-year-old in the 20-yeard-old ingenue role" is a foolish argument, as far as I'm concerned.

[quote]Or for that matter does having an obviously 40 something Eliza at LCT not destroy realistic illusion as much as the black Freddy who is clearly at least a decade younger?

It probably does destroy the illusion for those who think she looks 40, and sure enough, there were some complaints about the Eliza casting for that reason -- also complaints about the casting of Higgins and his mother in terms of their relative ages. So, sorry, bad argument.

Jee....zus! This prattle continuing on the thread today? Enough already.

White actors playing persons of other races would use makeup and prosthetics to clue in the audience that they were not playing a white person, I doubt that black actors would use whiteface to do the same in revrse.

R296, not always. And rarely convincingly when they did. It was more a convention to indicate ethnicity than an attempt to actually look like someone of that race.

(Look at photos of David Wayne in Teahouse of the August Moon to see that there was little attempt to actually make him look asian.)

Bernadette couldn't use a WHITE parasol?

[quote]Jacoby is in his early 70s and looks it. What roles do you think he should be doing on Broadway?

According to some in this thread, he should take over as Eliza in MFL.

Chenoweth did a number from Mame in her Tabernacle X-Mas special.

I kind of think that a revival with Alison Janney as Vera would allow CJ to get another stab at a Tony. Patti Murin should play Gooch, just to make BWW frantic. And Patrick should be asian. Sorkin should come on board to rewrite the book.

"I also saw Baranski as Mame. The problem was not that she was miscast, although she brought nothing special to the role. The problem, as others have already noted, is that the book is just too dated."

Exactly, r283. But you get your diehards here that insist it can be tweaked for contemporary audiences. Ebersole also not miscast, also brought nothing special to the role.

R299 you're reaching.

Allison Janney really would be a spectacular Vera. I was surprised by how adept she was at musical comedy in 9 to 5. During that "One of the Boys" number I kept thinking how fun it would be to see her in a concert staging of Woman of the Year in Bacall's role.

Mame really could use a revamped book. It always paled in comparison to the original play, which I always found much wittier. Why has the play never been revived? I assume it'd be about as expensive to mount as the musical since they all have, more or less, the same amount of sets and costumes.

Not sure I want to see Janney carrying a musical, but she could do one number from it.

As witty as it is, and as much as I love Rosalind Russell in the movie, "Auntie Mame" is just as dated as the musical.

Wasn't there a Tilda Swinton Auntie Mame movie in development last year or the year before? Would they be updating it to the 60's and 80's?

Well, it’s Tilda, so I’m guessing it’s set on Mars in the 2510s.

[quote]Why has the play never been revived?

Huge cast. No one does straight plays with huge casts anymore.

[quote]Sorkin should come on board to rewrite the book.

The idea of Aaron Sorkin rewriting “Mame” is kind of irresistibly wrong-headed.

I say go for it!

Well, they could always musicalize the sequel......

[quote]As witty as it is, and as much as I love Rosalind Russell in the movie, "Auntie Mame" is just as dated as the musical.

Cant't it just be a period piece?

Is that Stefanie Powers as Auntie Mame on the cover of the sequel?

What's dated about Mame/Auntie Mame is the humor. The various situations in the plotting are no longer shockingly outrageous and therefore not funny.

I swear....posters who keep begging for a Mame revival have not watched it in decades.

Speaking of musical theater conventions and having to suspend disbelief, I'v always loved this exchange from Gilbert & Sullivan's Ruddigore that subtly references that.

Mad Margaret: But see, they come, Sir Despard and his evil crew! Hide, hide they are all mad quite mad !

Rose Maybud: What makes you think that?

Mad Margaret: Hush! they sing choruses in public. That's mad enough, I think!

I don't know, r314, is this Judy?

"But you get your diehards here that insist it can be tweaked for contemporary audiences"

Of course it can, and without rewriting a word, I bet. All you need are a savvy director and cast who can provide a subtext to the situations in the play. Its concerns of hypocrisy, convention and conformity NEVER go out of style (look at the present situation we're in) and are just as relevant and resonant as they were 60 years. ago.

And who the hell is this supposed to be?

Ella's is the best version. Perfection. No one comes close.

How could you even update Mame? Take Patrick to porn sets, crack houses, gang meetings?

Ruta Lee. R319?

I think what you might learn from all those images of Mame is that she was originally conceived and thought to be a woman in her 30s.

R306

That is the point. AJ would be a brilliant Vera -- and contrast so well with Chenoweth -- and she could eke out a Tony nomination in the supporting category. I think Chenoweth would also be well served to do an entire show that isn't in her range vocally. She would have to approach the role with the same sort of focus non-singers do. Forcing her to sell a song theatrically would probably stretch her in the right direction as a performer.

Sorkin to rewrite the book was just a joke. But it is as good an idea as any.

A woman in her 30s, you say? Why, I could conceivably play this role now with just the right old age make-up! Someone call up Mr. Herman (or should my agent do it?)!

Don't give Harvey Fierstein any ideas, or Vera will be rewritten as a man in drag. If not Mame herself.

He will, of course, play Vera.

Flourish the hands, ladies,.....

[quote]Don't give Harvey Fierstein any ideas, or Vera will be rewritten as a man in drag.

LOL! When I first watched the MAME film as a teen, I thought that Vera *was* played by a man in drag.

r329 But not Mame?!

It's abridged for the Tonys but two grand old broads showing the youngsters how it's done:

R330 I was familiar with Lucille Ball but not Bea Arthur, who I didn't really discover until I watched GOLDEN GIRLS reruns in college.

Well, I never, r329!

Janie Dee IS returning in FOLLIES with her onetime CAROUSEL colleague Joanna Riding as Sally -- it should be amazing.

What gay club is there in London in Seven Dials?????? Now if Jonny Bailey and do were at The Vault near Warren Street, we would really be cooking.

Lastly as regards this comment below, you can read I think it's two articles per week or something like that at The Times (UK) without having to pay to go behind the paywall -- that's the scheme I have.

>>Jonny Bailey is out and gay and gave a wonderful interview to Nancy Durrant in the (UK) Times that can be easily googled in which he addresses this fact You can't access it unless you're a subscriber.

see offsite link on co.uk

I bet Jan'll do it! Sure.....

Has Lucie Arnaz ever done "Mame?" She'd be far better than her mother was.

Lucie Arnaz as Mame is a real missed opportunity. She would be wonderful but at this point, she's a little too old.

That's some vig Janis is wearing.

Forget her wig, you shoulda seen her vag!

Now, now, Eva. Fuck off Fred.

Forget her wig and her vag and just make sure she eats her veg!

I always figured it was safe to place the age of the actors playing the roles somewhere between 40 and death.

It is one of the better lines, after all.

Maybe RuPaul as Vera?

I still see Cheno as Mame.

NIce try, Cheno, but you do have the high note for "Gooch's Song". Brush up on your stenography and see if you like Dr. Pepper.

As late as 2012 in my experience, there was a gay bar at the intersection of 7 Dials. When I returned last year, it was no longer there.

R301. You jest, but remember that Helen Gallagher was standby for Ito!

Thank you so very much, r345. I wish the sound on the youtube version wasn't quite so hard and tinny, but thanks again.

Charles Busch already did Auntie Mame in drag.

Yes, once in stock, once in a short stock tour, and once in a charity benefit reading for a large audience in NYC, r348. Great reviews every time.

Chuckie B.

r334: Checked with my hubby and he says the "gay bar" where we spied Jonny Bailey was actually The Groucho Club. Is that a private club for actors? Was I right about its location near 7 Dials?

It would be so distressing seeing Kristin as Mame with a Young Patrick taller than her.

Miss...Sylvia...Sidney!!!

Connie Bennett

My friend said that he saw Greer Garson play Auntie Mame, replacing Rosalind Russell, and that Ms. Garson was fabulous!

I saw Sylvia Sydney as Mrs. Malaprop in a 1960s tour of Sheridan's The Rivals and she was FABULOUS!

What about Eve?

Lady Peel.....

Lady Peel, who would have been the ideal Mary Poppins but never got to play the part.

It was a regulah Sophie's Choice, lemme tell ya!

Do ANY of the Mame ladies referenced bring Cheno to mind? Cheno IS Sally Cato to a T, kids, a Southern belle who's not as sugary sweet as she pretends. Sophisticated, to-the-manor-born glam, fun yet warm Mame she ain't.

Although they both may have trouble with the warmth, CZJ (with Donna Murphy as matinee alternate) might work, if the show weren't already problematic for all the reasons discussed.

LOL, the Groucho Club is a private members club on Dean Street not at all by Seven Dials and not specifically gay tho' like any of these clubs it has a large gay membership.

Cheno is a Broadway star who can carry a show. She isn't ACTUALLY expected to be Mame in real life.

I would like to see this kid as Patrick.

Thirty seconds into the credits of THE WAY WE WERE and I am sobbing uncontrollably.

Prediction: Gaga will take the Golden Globe for Best Actress for A STAR IS BORN. She will be nominated for an Oscar but not win (despite an electrifying live performance at the broadcast).

She will continue to record while she shops around for another film role, but few are forthcoming. Disappointing but not astonishing.

Around the time she turns 35 (April 2021), an enterprising producer casts her in a lavish Broadway restaging of MAME. Movie, TV, soundtrack rights all presold. It's huge. Jerry Herman lives to see it triumph and many wonder what took them so long. It's all so fabulous that it seems inevitable. $$$.

The kids start singing Herman at Marie's Crisis. Everyone's happy.

[quote]think what you might learn from all those images of Mame is that she was originally conceived and thought to be a woman in her 30s.

Exactly. Lansbury was 39 when she was cast and 40 by the time it opened,

[quote]Lady Peel, who would have been the ideal Mary Poppins but never got to play the part.

Not on film, she wouldn’t have been. Plus she was a pre-dementia case in her 70s when it was filmed.

No one’s going to revive Mame on Broadway. The best that could be hoped for is an Encores staging.

Not to bring it back to GYPSY, but Rose is also supposed to be relatively young throughout most of the show. She was 20 and 22, respectively, when Louise and June were born, which would make her around 29/30 when the play opens and 35 when Act I ends and pretty much most of Act II. Only at the very end is she supposed to be pushing 40. For once, I would like to see an age-appropriate Rose.

[quote]r149 Rebecca Miller who suggested casting a mix of white and black actors as members of the same family.

Didn't she just say "different races"? That doesn't have to be black and white...there could be Asian, Hispanic, Hawaiian, Native American, etc.

R101 states "[italic]she offered to allow Mr. Mosher’s choice for George Deever if Ann were played by an actress of a different race than her brother. [/italic]"

[quote]r127 You can't just plop people of color in roles that were originally meant to be white and set in a specific time and place. For instance, I don't think it worked in CAROUSEL or JOAN OF ARC, but it could work very well in R&H's CINDERELLA since that takes place in a magical land where anything goes.

But see, the difference is, your general Broadway audience member seeing the original MY FAIR LADY or CAROUSEL had probably never even spoken to a black person before, unless they were a servant. So to have people of color mixed into the cast would have been glaring and alarming to them.

But modern audiences have experienced a much more socially mixed world, as well as seeing that reflected on TV, etc. So to see blacks (or who ever) mixed into a white crowd doesn't jar us as much. It's just a reflection of all our lives.

You could almost draw a parallel to when GONE WITH THE WIND was done as a stage production in Japan in the 1970s. It had an Asian cast, but that wasn't strange to them, as it was produced in Asia. Similarly, a racially mixed cast isn't distracting to most of us today, because it's merely an extension of how we've all grown up, and what our country's like now.

[quote]r208 Opera tends to be presentational rather than representational.

Your HOLE is presentational rather than representational!

I've often wondered why there hasn't been a younger Rose. Maybe in a few years Anna Kendrick and Emma Stone could be up for it. I feel like Sutton Foster would read young enough, but she bothers me for some reason.

R254, I thought I am the only one who loves David Elder. Good to know I am not alone. Here is something to share with you.

R375, Oh My God. Absolutely the best gay wedding photos I have ever seen. They look so adorable together.

R375 Wow!

[quote]r367 Exactly. Lansbury was 39 when she was cast and 40 by the time it opened,

She seemed so much OLDER, though.

She's always been matronly.

[quote]r374 I've often wondered why there hasn't been a younger Rose. Maybe in a few years Anna Kendrick and Emma Stone could be up for it. I feel like Sutton Foster would read young enough, but she bothers me for some reason.

I think part of it is, realistically speaking, Louise and June will be played by actresses around age 20 ... so you you kind of have to age up their mom to keep it all in visual balance..

R373 Thank you. I would agree.

A leap--but go with me--DAMN that craigslist for ending those hook-up boards earlier this year.

Your quote: "Your HOLE is presentational rather than representational!" ignites so many possibilities here. A nooner with a post-discussion of post-modernism.

A subject line such as "Your HOLE is presentational rather than representational!" on craigslist would grab any man meeting a man, casual or no, and not let go!

I would take the slight liberty of changing "your" to "my" is all. For clarity. But damn again! Another shattered dream.

I can’t stand opera.

Opera hates you even more.

Is there a more litigious manager than Jeremy Katz?

Honestly, I don't know what would really be gained by having a younger Rose in her 30s. The role needs a certain gravitas for the desperation of the character to work. By Rose's Turn the audience needs to feel she's at a dead end.

It's not unlike King Lear. Lear could conceivably be in his 50s, but does that work? I saw a production with Kevin Kline at The Public about 12 years ago and he just seemed too healthy and vital.

r346 I thought you were kidding and do not know where you got Gallager but it looks like the Ito understudies were women named Hilda Harris and later Eleonore Treiber I guess that says a lot about Western views of Asian masculinity. times have changed.

[quote]I saw Sylvia Sydney as Mrs. Malaprop in a 1960s tour of Sheridan's The Rivals and she was FABULOUS!

Oh my!

David Elder was recently in that off-Broadway revue of 60s tunes over in that theater on 42nd Street that the Yiddish "Fiddler" is going into that hasn't had a hit yet. Who's the Patrick he married?

Elder is kind of in the line of that Scott Wise, who won a Tony for "Jerome Robbins' Broadway", but in his case, he seems to have disappeared, not really getting a bump from that Tony in his case.

R387, you mean Stage 42.

Uh oh Benanti is missing a full weekend of shows it seems!

possibly negotiated, possibly clearly noticed.

R387 Trip of Love, a guilty pleasure of mine. The show was bizarrely out of step with our times, but David Elder and others were just so talented and good looking. By the time I saw the show, Darlene Love had stepped into the show for a couple of weeks, and she was wonderful.

Elder is married to the assistant director at School of Rock.

I think Tyne Daly was the youngest Broadway Rose at 42/43. She was sensational, so I guess she could be your argument for a younger Rose. I swear, everyone else I've seen in the role was over 50 or at least looked to be over 50. Bernadette was in her 50's, but she could have passed for 35 at the time. She was easily the youngest looking and sexiest Rose and I remember a lot of people didn't like that.

Holy Shit! Charlie Williams is swole! He is huge in Cher Show

R393 - I think "35" might be a stretch for Bernie, but, in general, you're right. And Tyne could've passed for her 50s back in 1989. I'm not saying that to be a dick. It just is what it is. I don't know why we get hung up on literal age, it's how the actress 'reads' in the theatre and how that 'reading' affects the part.

I would have killed to see Bea Lillie in Mame. A friend said she used Young Patrick like a prop.

And don't. forget Celeste Holm as Mame on tour. Saw her in Chicago, and she was both witty and warm.

Lear's age is clearly indicated in the text (80-plus) so his being 50 isn't an option, at least not in terms of textual fidelity.

Yeah I say as long as Rose doesn't look over 50, you're good. It's hard to tell because Ethel, Roz, and Angie look like what most 60 and 70-somethings look like these days. Tyne looked late 40's/early 50's at the time. Bernadette has aged about 5 years since Into the Woods, so she looked great. Patti was 60 when she did it, but she could have passed for 50's. I thought Imelda looked too old for the role, but I only saw her on the BBC version where there were lots of unforgiving closeups.

I can't even imagine what Streisand would have been like in this role. Even when she was the right age for it, I can't picture her as Rose. I don't think the songs would sound right with her voice and I can't even picture how she'd play her.

there’s something we forget with age talk - for a lot of reasons ages are different now. 40 is younger than it used to be, people are living longer, aging better etc. So 40 at the time of Gypsy is probably 50 now in terms of life cycle etc it makes these things difficult

What percentage of ATC posters are on the spectrum, would you say?

[quote]David Elder was recently in that off-Broadway revue of 60s tunes over in that theater on 42nd Street that the Yiddish "Fiddler" is going into that hasn't had a hit yet. Who's the Patrick he married?

Patrick O'Neill, an actor/dancer most currently associate director foe School of Rock. Sweet guy. He was a dresser ages ago.

Did David Elder win a Tony? I don't get the comment comparing him to Scott Wise, who did.

Stage 42 most recently housed Smokey Joe's Cafe with the egregiously costumed Ayssha Umphress.

Saw Anatevka at the Komische Oper House in Berlin on Thursday night and can’t stop thinking about it. It was really fantastic. It had a symphony-sized orchestra and 60 cast members. I guess it was a good thing I was pretty familiar with the dialogue thanks to a few productions of it here in the US as well as the film, of course. I wasn’t sure I’d go for the opening concept. It began with a young blond boy, probably 14 and clearly gentile, strolling along with headphones playing something contemporary. He sat down and started playing the first notes of Bock’s score on the violin. He hears a knock on the door and Tevje (that’s how it’s spelled for the German production). Tevje then tells the story of Anatevka and its traditions to him and not the audience. The cast was absolutely incredible, especially Markus John’s Tevje which broke my heart. He plays Tevje’s love for his daughters so beautifully. I liked it a lot that “Do You Love Me?” is translated to “Is This Love?” “Sunrise, Sunset” and “Anatevka” are both staged on a turntable with all 60 cast members-incredibly beautiful, almost indescribable. The guy playing Fyedka was quite fey-the only casting mistake. At least Fyedka doesn’t sing. In fact this was, without a doubt, the most superbly sung piece of musical theatre I’ve ever heard. Did I mention the second act it’s snowing the entire time? More snow than fucking La Boheme and I’ll never get that initial image out of my head. I wish this production could be filmed.

R404, thank you so much. I just missed this when I was in Berlin. I wish I could have stayed an extra few days to have seen it.

[quote]The guy playing Fyedka was quite fey-the only casting mistake. At least Fyedka doesn’t sing.

Fyedka has a solo in "To Life." Obviously given to someone else in this production.

[quote]Elder is kind of in the line of that Scott Wise, who won a Tony for "Jerome Robbins' Broadway", but in his case, he seems to have disappeared, not really getting a bump from that Tony in his case.

[quote]Elder is kind of in the line of that Scott Wise, who won a Tony for "Jerome Robbins' Broadway", but in his case, he seems to have disappeared, not really getting a bump from that Tony in his case.

They were around at the same time, and like Michael Berresse and Randy Bettis, all seemed to be up and comers, but none of them really made names of themselves.

Random Harvest is one of my favorite movies so I would have killed to have seen Garson in Auntie Mame. Also I would have killed to have seen Lillie in anything. Even Funny Girl.

Whoops! This was supposed to be how r407 read:

[quote]Elder is kind of in the line of that Scott Wise, who won a Tony for "Jerome Robbins' Broadway", but in his case, he seems to have disappeared, not really getting a bump from that Tony in his case.

[quote]Did David Elder win a Tony? I don't get the comment comparing him to Scott Wise, who did.

They were around at the same time, and like Michael Berresse and Randy Bettis, all seemed to be up and comers, but none of them really made names of themselves.

[quote]Bernadette was in her 50's, but she could have passed for 35 at the time. She was easily the youngest looking and sexiest Rose and I remember a lot of people didn't like that.

Why not? Rose used her feminine wiles to attract men. That's how she nabbed Herbie -- and his book counterpart who is named Sam Gordon.

Are you suggesting that Ethel Merman had feminine wiles?

Obviously not. But the real Rose did, and it's implied in the text.

Merman had no feminine wiles? Two words: Spitcurls

R404 - sounds good. Is this a venue that traditionally performs opera and occasional musicals or do they specialize in musicals?

How was her dancing, r396?

r413 - Fuck off, Benay.

Isn't the Komische Opera Berlin one of the most notorious for inserting nudity in a good percentage of their operas? A lot of theatres in the German-speaking countries are known to have nucking futz directors who do that , like Calixto Bieto. Surprised they didn't have a nude scene between the Motel and Tzeitel. More along the lines of their production on Von Weber's "Der Freischutz"seen here.

Kay had such MAME-style......

Kay was 60 in that clip.

David Elder caught his break by replacing Scott Wise in Damn Yankees. He also replaced Michael Barresse in Kiss Me Kate, which established him as an acrobatic dancer. Titanic proved he could sing. Then, 42nd Street pulled it all together. He was at his best. His singing was good enough for duets with Christine Ebersole, his dancing stood out, and he was unbelievably good looking. So everyone thought he was at the verge of Broadway superstardom, but after that, apart from a replacement gig in Curtains, he essentially disappeared from Broadway. He has been very active in regional theaters, doing 5-6 shows a year some times. He has done White Christmas 6-7 times, Sing in the Rain 2-3 times, A Chorus Line twice, and Mary Poppins a few times. He did Big Fish with Emily Skinner, My One and Only with Tari Kelly, and Anything Goes with Vicki Lewis. Every year, he does a charity event in Greenville, TN. He gets some other Broadway players, and they host a American Idol style talent show in a few cities around Greenville. The winners then get to work with the Broadway actors to put on a show. The proceeds benefit a local children's hospital. It's a big deal in the local community. David has been doing this for the past 7 or 8 years, which was not easy when he was doing 5-6 shows a year. The locals love the event and love him

Scott Wise, Michael Berresse, David Elder, and Tony Yazbeck are the same type of Broadway actors. They are outstanding dancers, and yet they can sing and they can act. However, this type of actor usually play young men and they tend to get secondary billing. I hope we get to see David Elder on Broadway again soon. He still looks great.

Was Patrick O'Neill the Assistant Director or Assistant Choreographer on School of Rock?

David and Patrick look really cute. Wish them happiness!

Wasn't David Elder one of the original Forever Plaid boys?

And isn't Fyedka a dancer's role? I don't think he's the one with that solo in To Life!

R406, the SHAME. As written, Fyedka does not sing a solo in Fiddler, even if some underresourced theaters need to do so. Fyedka isn’t even a character until several scenes later. The character description on MTI describes it as a non-singing role.

I saw Merman as Rose. Her romantic relationship with Herbie was convincing.

I'll always remember Bernadette was playing opposite John Dossett - the sexy silver fox from Longtime Companion. It was the first time I could actually imagine Rose and Herbie having a sexual relationship. In most productions, I just imagine they had sex once a year and Rose would usually say she was tired to keep him at bay. It definitely added something to the show. You almost felt like Rose wasn't just scared of never being a star, but also of losing her sexual desirability, being upstaged by her younger daughter, and having to start all over again from scratch. She reminded me of a lot of women I've known who used their sexiness to get what they want up until their 40s and they discover that those tricks don't work like they used to and they never cultivated an attractive personality, so they end up alone.

I salute Bernadette for trying something new and stepping out of the Merman mold. It took her awhile to find her footing (those preview performances were painful), but once she did, she was extraordinary.

[quote]he SHAME. As written, Fyedka does not sing a solo in Fiddler, even if some underresourced theaters need to do so. Fyedka isn’t even a character until several scenes later

Clearly the stock production I was in was underresourced R425.

Tell us more, r181!

Jackie Hoffman could play Mame, Vera or Gooch. And probably Rose too.

[quote]I'll always remember Bernadette was playing opposite John Dossett - the sexy silver fox from Longtime Companion.

Dossett had dark hair in that movie. It was Bruce Davison who was silver-haired.

John Dossett is silver-haired now and I'm the dame who gets to run my hands through it nightly!

With all this talk of Auntie Mame I thought you might enjoy a glimpse of Greer Garson who replaced Roz and showed up on WML in character.

[quote]Jackie Hoffman could play Mame, Vera or Gooch. And probably Rose too.

And make a meal of the scenery in every role.

That is, when she wasn't climbing the scenery to try to get a laugh, and failing, as she did in "On the Town."

Yes. R433 - this is a pretty amazing episode so far. Thanks!

Eldergays, were those foot-long cigarette holders the height of elegance and sophistication back in 1955?

We need a revival of "Mama, I Want To Sing!"

Hoffman was literally climbing the walls in On the Town playing to an audience resembling the mourners at a child's wake.

Jackie Hoffman is horrible, with the single except of "Feud," when she was wonderful as Mamacita.

What about Noah Wylie? Doesn’t he belong on the shoulda/coulda/woulda spectrum with Wise, Elder and Beresse?

Has Noah Wyle tested his mettle on Broadway?

I’ve heard the entire cast of ER hated Noah Wylie. No wonder he doesn’t work.

It's nice to see Welles kissing Garson's hand. She was a great actress and today doesn't get the respect she deserves being considered a MGM studio manufactured Grande Dame.

R426, Ethel had the hots for Jack Klugman, as well. During out of town previews, she would telephone his hotel room late at night trying to get him into hers.

R443, Oh please, she was so limited and one note.

[quote]Eldergays, were those foot-long cigarette holders the height of elegance and sophistication back in 1955?

Yes. We even used them for dialing phones, but once they fell out of fashion we had to resort to using pencils.

Noah Racey?

R444 Klugman was 14 years younger than Merman and was in his late thirties during GYPSY.

Most of the great stars are limited and one note. Even Bette Davis would have been a disaster playing comedy.

Could you imagine her as Auntie Mame? What a horror show.

Judy Garland was supposed to be Mame but pills and liquor got there first.

R448, And your point is?

I just saw Noah Racey wildly tapdancing every bit of charm out of The Music Man. Way too old, zero chemistry with the Audra McDonald wannabe playing Marion, and singing that disappointed at every turn. I love the show, but wondered if it is still relevant. About an eighth of the Sarasota audience stood at the end, which was awkward when they tried to add a finale. They actually stopped the curtain at three feet from the floor so the kids could lie on the floor and wave at the audience.

Looking at the trailer, the complete lack of charisma or humor or sexiness or quirk or depth or anything that might engage an audience on the part of the leads was absolutely shocking.

The trailer for what, R453?

Is there a trailer for the Sarasota Music Man?? I wanna see Noah Wylie tap-dancing!

R454, the trailer and other footage of the Asolo production of The Music Man with Noah Racey and the Audra wannabee.

"wondered if it (The Music Man) is still relevant"

What aspect of it? The love story? Affectionate but sharp satire of small town manners and mores? Provincial attitudes and gossip? Glad-handing con men tripped up at their own game? Parents dropping dead over their kids' least accomplishment?

There are only two stories to be told....a person goes on a quest...and a stranger comes to town....

Noah Racey is another dancer with talent who couldnt quite make a major career happen.

And he definitely belongs in the BBDC.

R420, David Elder stayed on 42nd Street for the whole run of the show, which I believed was 3+ years. Very rare. Patrick O'Neill stayed with School of Rock for its whole run, which started in 2015 and will be closing in Jan 2019. I heard they were together for 8 years before they got married. They are stable folks.

One of the reasons The Music Man was a huge hit was that at the time it was slyly satirical but mostly realistic depiction of small town America in the first half of the 20th century. I grew up in rural North Carolina in the 1950s. The show is a time capsule, not an unrealistic stereotype. And that wonderful era appropriate score.

R409, Randy Bettis? The DJ? I didn't know he was a Broadway actor before. Thank you for the info.

[quote]Wasn't David Elder one of the original Forever Plaid boys?

No. You’re probably thinking of David Engel, who was also in the original cast of La Cage. Talented, but not nearly as good looking as David Elder.

What’s this Assholo Rep I hear so much about?

R404 here. One thing I forgot to mention about Anatevka is the set consisted primarily of wardrobes with very tall doors. For instance, during “Matchmaker, Matchmaker” three prospective suitors would pop out of the doors and dance around the daughters during each of their solos. And during the Fruma Sarah bit Tevje and Yente were not in a bed but an open wardrobr tilted downward. I’ll never forget the Act 1 curtain when the Russians arrive to trash the wedding- the villagers flee and Tevje, Golda, their daughters, Yenta,, Lazar Wolf, Motel and Perchik are corralled into the center of the stage where the Russians then pour milk on them out of large cannisters.

OMG that Asolo Rep trailer is shocking - love Noah staring slack-jawed at his co-star as if she had somehow appeared to him in a bad dream. (Plus he's looking mighty porky!!)

I can bring together two threads here and say that casting Harold Hill as African-American was a perfect way to use non-traditional casting to offer a new angle on a familiar show - Harold Hill is now *really* an outsider who has learned how to use charm and a fast tongue to win over white families in small towns by playing on their kidcentricity - and Marian's attraction to him underlines the sense of her as a secret rebel who is an independent thinker and wants to tell the town to go F itself

I did indeed mean Noah Racey, not Wylie.

Cannot believe how bad that Music Man looks. White people tap dancing in Iowa?

[quote]I’ve heard the entire cast of ER hated Noah Wylie. No wonder he doesn’t work.

He probably would remind them that there's no "i" in "Wyle."

Totally agree, r466, especially since Marian has courted scandal in the past.

Marian likes it in the shipoopi.

The thing about non-traditional casting (and why I think it doesn't often work) is that we're not supposed to see race, right? They're just actors and we're supposed to suspend disbelief. So to all intents and purposes, Harold Hill in the aforementioned production is not really supposed to be black. He's just played by a black actor. But people still see his skin color and draw their own conclusions, which takes away from the play.

Similarly, I read a Slate review of the KING KONG musical where the critic assumed when Ann sings about yearning “to break these chains,” she was referring to slavery. But Ann isn't supposed to be black in this version. She's just played by a woman of color. We're supposed to be colorblind to that. The creators have explicitly stated that this show was about female empowerment, more than anything. It's not an allusion to slavery or Jim Crow though it takes that meaning when the actress is black.

Marian is quite pristine as written. The book takes pains to establish that she is not who the town gossip says she is. She has never been to the footbridge, didn’t have an affair with Miser Madison, and Winthrop is her brother (despite the more plausible scenario that he is her illegitimate son).

The Asolo production also does gender blind casting, with a very tall man playing Eulalie (as a woman). The actor was not skilled enough to pull it off, and veered way too far into camp in the second act.

Now, Norm Lewis and Jessie Mueller? That sounds electric.

Why are we talking about Noah Wyle in a Broadway thread? I have more theater cred from having Patti play my mom for four years!

r473 Does Marian sit comfortably in Jessie Mueller's tessitura? I have no doubt that she can hit the high notes but overall the role's vocal range seems to sit higher than what we normally hear from Jessie. Don't know for sure, just guessing.

She should be able to handle it. She played Cinderella in ITW, Amalia, and Anne Egerman.

Anne? Where? Fair enough, she can do it.

Have people stopped bootlegging? Haven't seen any recent shows. Would like to have seen a few this season like "My Fair Lady" & "Head Over Heels" but not in the theater.

So r466 you’re saying - and I think accurately - that this sort of casting - somewhere between color-BLIND and color-CONSCIOUS - trades on and builds theatrical power from our inherent racism, thinking of the black Harold Hill as more dangerous. I think that happened with Josh Henry Carousel too. Not sure it’s progress. Ooo the dangerous black man!

R478, There are boots of both shows in circulation.

I think when people use the term "color-blind" it makes people think they are not supposed to see race. That is ridiculous. Of course we see it. But like when you see Jackie for example, you see Natalie Portman while at the same time seeing that she does not look or sound like the real person she is playing. The double-vision is part of the fun. You can see the actor in front of you and be aware how they are like and how they are unlike the person they are playing.

And yes, a black Harold Hill might play into a stereotype. That would need to considered in casting. But the Harold Hill was white and the Marion was black in the production we are discussing.

^^^ that should be

"ou see Natalie Portman as Jackie while at the same time seeing that she does not look or sound like the real person she is playing. "

Circa 1980, r436, I was working in a Dallas costume shop for the month of October. Miss Jane Powell came in looking for one of those cigarette holders to use in her nightclub act.

Did "summertheater" die?

The ATC poster or the genre?

The ATC poster

"thinking of the black Harold Hill as more dangerous."

In the minds of suspicious Hoosiers at the turn of the century? Absolutely. Plus, it addresses the "dangerous" aspect in a very meta way, unlike the pitiful KING KONG, which in its pandering political correctness and "female empowerment" blather, leaches the story of its Beauty-and-the-Beast resonances that are its only literary merit and interest.

R487, Hoosiers are residents of Indiana. The Music Man takes place in River City, Iowa.

Mi dispiace. But you knew what I meant.

What are Iowans? Sooners?

Hawkeyes?

With global warming all theater is 'summer theater' just without the past their prime movie stars.

Maybe summertheater got hit by one of those subways s/he is always complaining about. It would be poetic justice--especially if it happened while s/he was coming home from a 7:00 p.m. Performance of a play written by a right-wing playwright, featuring an all-white straight cast.

Why is an all-white straight cast a bad thing?

R494. It's not--but summertheater is always railing about the latest postmodern, racially diverse, political play at Playwrights Horizons or Atlantic. He seems to define the concept of reaction formation--insists on continuing to attend plays by Robert O'Hara and his ilk just so he can hate on them. Seems like an expensive fetish to me.

There was no more racially diverse producer than Joe Papp yet today he would be pilloried for not shoe-horning people of color into every production simply because sjw's keep stamping their feet like brain damaged 7 yr olds.

I think color blind casting works better in fluffy musicals like My Fair Lady and The Music Man, but not as well in more serious material like Carousel, or very realistic plays like All My Sons.

I want to see a production of "The Music Man" where he's Harold Hill, short for Harold Hillel and played as an Orthodox Jew in talis, tzitzis and payot (long sideburns).

That's about the reaction a black Harold Hill would get back then in River City --- and maybe even now in Iowa, come to think of it.

And where's mlop?

This relatively new trend of non-traditional casting seems to put actors' race before content, which is iffy, especially concerning established works. It should always be about the story, first and foremost, and which actors are best to tell it. Regarding PYGMALION/MY FAIR LADY, putting people of color in Edwardian high society dampens what the author(s) were going for, which is to mock the views and behavior of the English class system.

IMO, they should create more new works/characters for POC, instead. Why don't they?

More info on Jonny Bailey’s hole, please!

More info? Have we gotten any info at all on his hole yet? I must have missed it, can someone fill in the details?

Do we know for sure he has a hole?

Yes, a poster earlier on the thread (or perhaps it was last thread) claims to have sampled it, and we have politely asked for further details.

Well because there isn't enough of a theater audience to see contemporary works with poc. That audience is finite and saving for their Hamilton tickets so they keep reviving the same old shit. And if they aren't casting with enough diversity they've got the Times on their tails like the recent article complaining that there were too many white people on stage and in the audience at the Music Hall Christmas show.

What's kind of weird is that at some auditions for shows with poc characters or white character designated to be cast with poc, there are plenty of spots open to be seen, but many folks don't show up.

A very cute young white actor told me that an agent said he's not interested in him, but if he were Asian, he'd be interested. I guess agent sees the market opening up with the success of "Crazy Rich Asians".

R508 that movie was a hit, but it was not an international blockbuster. Not like A STAR IS BORN and BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY. It barely made a dent in China. It did just okay in the UK.

R506 the Times can go fuck itself! They're complaining about the makeup of the *audience* now?

It's true that actors of color don't always come out for chorus auditions but I've often heard it's because they're tired of being the token black or Asian person in the lineup. That's understandable to me.

R511 so they just want to automatically be considered/given lead roles? Whatever happened to paying your dues?

How about leads and ensemble in an all black-show, r 511? The clock will tick away the hours one by one...

r506, with print media lumbering to its demise like a dinosaur, the Times is desperate to appear cutting-edge. Let it go.

R511, that is extremely dated (contemporaneous with A Chorus Line In 1975). There used to be one black and one Asian in the chorus, and no more in the cast.

Colorblind casting is now the norm at regional theaters. It’s far more common than not in non-professional productions. Personally, it doesn’t even register for me unless the person is otherwise miscast. This whole discussion feels like something from the 90s.

[quote]R456 the trailer and other footage of the Asolo production of The Music Man with Noah Racey and the Audra wannabee.

Is Audra Lindley really the right [italic]type [/italic] to be playing Marian?

Does the Audra wannabe wannabe be black? or cast in white roles while black? Or both?

[quote]What are Iowans? Sooners?

Sooners are from Oklahoma.

[quote]r472 The thing about non-traditional casting (and why I think it doesn't often work) is that we're not supposed to see race, right?

Is that "the thing"?

Who told you that?

[quote]There’s something we forget with age talk - for a lot of reasons ages are different now. 40 is younger than it used to be, people are living longer, aging better etc. So 40 at the time of Gypsy is probably 50 now in terms of life cycle etc it makes these things difficult

What a brilliant observation! You are the first person ever to make this point! So much smarter than the rest of us!

[quote]I think color blind casting works better in fluffy musicals like My Fair Lady and The Music Man,

MY FAIR LADY is not a "fluffy musical." And, actually, neither is THE MUSIC MAN. Stupid comment.

[quote]IMO, they should create more new works/characters for POC, instead. Why don't they?

Because it's much harder and more time consuming to do that, so instead, they insist on "color-blind" casting actors of color in parts where that makes no goddamn sense whatsoever -- like MY FAIR LADY.

[quote]It's true that actors of color don't always come out for chorus auditions but I've often heard it's because they're tired of being the token black or Asian person in the lineup. That's understandable to me.

If that's true, it's an idiotic attitude.

Well, I just started watching Madame Secretary and Chita has a cameo as a professional dance instructor teaching Tea and Tim how to tango because they are going to have a marriage/remarriage commitment celebration. Now I have to watch the whole damned awful show in case she reappears before the end.

Bitch, please. *I* have a SERIES.

R522 And Season 3 starts in January, LOVE your show, much better than the original with that angry redhead

I remember being shocked when I saw that Applause number on the Tonys, because they showed the waiters' nudity in the "Oh Calcutta" section. I've heard much later that they were wearing phony asses, not really showing skin except for their chests.

I assume the roller skater who falls is an actual goof, not a planned "bit."

It is so mean to cast all the wonderful Bonnie Franklin clips, R524 ! She was taken from us too soon, and Hollywood robbed the Great White Way of one of its brightest stars.

Where is Bonnie's Marian Paroo? Her Norma Desmond? Her St. Joan?

Her Effie.....

I firmly believe she had the definitive Pollyanna in her, too. Certain artist's [italic]transcend [/italic] age.

Bonnie Franklin would have made the perfect Bobbie in Company once Dean Jones left the role.

"Because it's much harder and more time consuming to do that..."

AND requires talent...

Chita didn't show up again. But neither did any reference to the recommitment ceremony and the episode ended with the horrifying words "To Be Continued." So now I have to watch the next episode. Shit.

R520 is a delight to have at parties.

Rubbah!

R533, I actually am fun at parties with other guests who aren't intellectually challenged -- you know, the kind who think MY FAIR LADY is "a fluffy musical." I mean, come on, that is an incredibly stupid comment.

I've always hated My Fair Lady, but not because it's "fluffy." And The Music Man is definitely not "fluffy."

Whoop-Up and Wildcat - now those are fluffy musicals.

Not every fluffy musical can be about felines.

Incidentally, what would constitute a fluffy musical?

FLUFF OFF, R535 !

Did someone call for a fluffer?

Someone requested me?

My Fair Lady, based on Shaw's Oscar winning screenplay for Pygmalion with its added final scene by producer Gabriel Pascal, is still, like the original play, based on class entitlement. That is still a relevant theme in a properly directed production of either show.

I am so old that I remember the Hallmark Hall of Fame 1963 production of Pygmalion starring Julie Harris.

Neither show is "fluffy."

Wow. "FLUFFY" really sets the DL off.

[quote]Where is Bonnie's Marian Paroo? Her Norma Desmond? Her St. Joan?

Her Tevye?

[quote]Wow. "FLUFFY" really sets the DL off.

It's because there are so many cat owners here.

Bonnie Franklin would have been neck-and-neck for roles alongside Betty Buckley, had she not gone Hollywood.

Her Drood would have been revelatory.

that was probably said to placate people who were upset and offended by the nudity. Those look like real asses to me and not plastic. I saw the show not long after that Tony performance and they sure from the fifth row in the orchestra looked real to me. and they were the same asses.

[quote]Colorblind casting is now the norm at regional theaters. It’s far more common than not in non-professional productions. Personally, it doesn’t even register for me unless the person is otherwise miscast. This whole discussion feels like something from the 90s.

You're correct--it IS something from the 90s, R514. That is the average age of the poster in these threads, based on what appears to be their willing participation in the 21st century.

Not everyone who questions illogical colorblind casting is ancient.

[quote]r550 Not everyone who questions illogical colorblind casting is ancient.

That's correct.

Racists are born every day.

Is one of those guys showing their asses in that clip Sammy Williams who won the Tony for "A Chorus Line"? Looks like it.

In defense of Bonnie Franklin, yes, she overacted, and she played her tv scenes big like she was in the theater. However, she didn't speak in a monotone like the Tea Leoni, who hardly ever changes a line reading. Bonnie at least wasn't boring.

I wonder if there will be a chamber opera or something of THE HANDMAID'S TALE at some point.

It's become such a popular property.

Those look like real asses in "Applause" -- maybe they said they were fake to get by the censors back then.

Some time ago, r553...

They were real asses but it also looked like they had panty hose over them. I think the guy one thinks is Sammy Williams is actually Fosse dancer Gene Foote.

I'm thinking HANDMAIDS! More of a kicky, dance-y, girls-n-gags kinda show for the tired businessman.

Praise be!

We've already started on the campaign art!

May the Lord open - -

"A HANDMADE TAIL!"

A bawdy, "no-holes-barred" musical parody!

Coming to Theatre Row in Spring 2019!

The Handmaid's Tale Opera premiered in Copenhagen in 2000. Productions at ENO in London and Minnesota Opera in 2003. Mixed reviews.

Bad link. Sorry. See if this is any better.

"May the Lord open.... "

To stellar reviews!

Praise the fruit....

Blessed be...THIS SHOW!

Anyone bitching about the state of musical theatre today needs to look at that Applause clip. Dear God. And that was one of the best musicals of that year? It makes The Prom look like high art.

1970 wasn't a great year for musicals. Both Applause and Coco succeed on the backs of their stars, Lauren Bacall and Katharine Hepburn. Company came in at the tail end of the season, but wasn't Tony-eligible till the following year.

Applause and Coco both had dreadful scores.

Do they worship Dixie cups, r565?

Applause had ever so brilliant lyrics, r568!

[FIRST NIGHTERS]

Ba ba ba ba da bum

Ba ba ba ba da bum

Ba dum ba dum ba dum

Ba dum ba dum ba dum

Ba da ba da ba

Ba da ba wonderful

Ba da ba ba dum

Margo was just ba dum

Ba ba da she's looking mighty

Ba ba da ba ba ba da ba

Wasn't she ba da da

Ba da Mr. Benedict

Ba ba da ba da ba

Ba da ba producer

Ba ba da ba da ba

Ba la la la love it

[EVE]

A heeby deeby deeby deeby dee!

A heeby deeby deeby deeby doo!

[FIRST NIGHTERS]

Critics will certainly ba ba da ba da ba da ba doo

Didn't she da ba da

Dee bee dee marvelous

Ba da ba da ba hit

Look who directed it

Congratulations!

[BUZZ]

Thanks!

[FIRST NIGHTERS]

Ba ba da ba da

[FEMALE FIRST NIGHTER]

Dyah dyah dah da dyah dah dah da

[BILL] Yes, it sure was

[MALE FIRST NIGHTER]

Dyah dyah dah dah dah dah

Ba da da dum

[BILL]

You can say that again!

[FIRST NIGHTERS]

La la la la la la

La la la la la la

La la la la dee da

Just great!

Hoping things are really ba bah da

So exciting da ba da ba da

Lee bee dee bee doo bee dee

Love him very ba bah da

Wasn't Margo ba bah da?

Thought the play was dee bee dee

Set and lights were dee bee dee

What a hot, hot opening, wow!

R551 way to play the race card! But that's all it comes down to, isn't it?

R571: In your case I'd say so.

R552, Sammy is the bottle dancer on the left in the FIDDLER sequence just before the OH! CALCUTTA section. You can see Sammy in closeup around the 2:30 mark just over Bonnie's shoulder.

That wasn't Chita as the dance instructor, it was Priscilla Lopez. There's quite a difference.

Applause and Coco may have had sub-par scores from their usually dependable composers/lyricists but the staging of those 2 shows still soars over the Frozens, Chers, Proms and Mean Girls of today.

If they had put a fraction of the imagination they put into Lion King in staging Frozen, it would be a wonder. The ice castle sequence should have been AMAZING.

You’re defending the staging in that Applause clip?!? With Bonnie Franklin popping up out of a dinner cart? Really? The choreography was terrible and cheesy and shrill. It’s the kind of thing that makes me embarrassed to be a musical theatre fan.

Saw "I Love My Wife" in the front row as a kid and all I remember was how handsome James Naughton was and they had a scene with BINGO cards and they threw then up in and one landed in my lap. I still have it.

[quote]That wasn't Chita as the dance instructor, it was Priscilla Lopez. There's quite a difference.

Well, SOMEONE'S gay card is in jeopardy!

[quote] 1970 wasn't a great year for musicals

Aw, go fuck yourself!

R578 - holy crap that was terrible. Was the whole show as bad as that Tonys clip seems to suggest?

But, yes, James Naughton was a dish.

Coco is D.O.A as a score, to be sure, but there are some good-to-great songs in Applause. Anyone who ever toiled in theater can immediately identify with Welcome To The...But Alive is a terrific song as is Who's That Girl? I also like Backstage Babble and its yah-ta-ta, yah-ta-ta blather. Things take a nosedive in Act Two, but it's still head and shoulders above today's dreck.

True, Married Couple Seeks Married Couple is one of the lesser songs in I Love My Wife, but it also has some good-to-great songs: Love Revolution is fun as is Someone Wonderful I Missed (which charted on Billboard in the C & W category), Sinatra recorded the title tune and the barrelhouse Hey There Good Times remains one of the best theater tunes of the past quarter-century.

I saw I Love My Wife twice as young gayling. Sure, some of it was due to the manly charms of James Naughton, but I also remember it being a charming, small show with good performers (the kind they don't produce anymore, alas). I can't imagine ILMW ever being revived or even given the Encores treatment (see also: Seesaw), it does have at least two terrific songs: Hey There Good Times, as mentioned by R585, and Ev'rybody Today Is Turning On.

I always liked One Halloween from Applause. That's a fun song. As a whole, the show kinda sucks.

I'm actually surprised Seesaw has never gotten an Encores staging. I can truly say I enjoy pretty much every song on the cast recording, but I don't have a lot of context. It's hard to decipher much of a plot based on that. Was the book a mess or something?

The other things ILMW had going for it was the brilliant comic performance by Lenny Baker, who in Act Two had something like a 5-10 minute bit where he reluctantly and fastidiously stripped down to his BVDs, nervous to participate in the orgy to come. It was an expertly directly and played set-piece, worthy of the great clowns, that always brought down the house (I was involved in the production).

In a post-AIDS, #MeToo era, the show is probably unrevivable, but for an Encores showing--hell, it was already dated and seemed a bit low-rent in 1977!

The thing about SEESAW is that it was a tough job turning a two-character play into a full-fledged Broadway musical, so there was a LOT of trial and error before Bennett and team were able to assemble a decent show (with Ms Lainie Kazan being one of the casualties).

Bonnie Franklin IS BAJOUR!

Too early?

Lauren Bacall was a revelation in Applause.

A few days before the Tony Awards, Hepburn called good friend Bacall and asked her to accept for her, so sure she would win.

Suck it, Kate.

Ssshh... this thread is drawing to a close! And not a minute too soon.

It's time for Aunt Lydia's charm song!

"I kept my promise...."

I think an "11 o'clock" number would be more appropriate at this late stage.

Chicks and ducks and geese better scurry

When I take you out in the surrey,

When I take you out in the surrey with the fringe on top!

You're getting to be a habit with me.....

Dance break!

Stephanie Block would be a perfect for for Seesaw. at Encores.

James Naughton is Kelli O'Hara's father-in-law.

We know, Rose