Theatre Gossip #357: The "High Button Poo Shoes" Edition

Obligatory "I hate the title" post.

Obligatory "I also hate the title" post.

Well, tough shit. I had no time to come up with something before the last thread closed and everyone is now asking for the new thread to be posted early thanks to DL's lousy search engine.

Obligatory "first" post!

BTW I don't like the title, but who fucking cares. There's worse nonsense 8 times a week at the Circle in the Square.

Is it true that Doris Day was considered for the film of The Sound of Music. Who would have played Georg opposite her-Vincent Price?

I hate the title, too. No one cares about poo shoes anymore. Potential OPs should start working on title ideas well before the limit is reached.

[quote]Isn't there a way with today's technology to get rid of those color filters in the film? Did Logan ever confess that they were a mistake

Logan wrote that he wanted to film the songs twice, with the filter and without, in case he hated it. The studio said no, we can just do it in editing. Logan realized in editing what a mistake they were, but the studio said it would take three months to get rid of them and there was a deadline to get the film opened. So presumably yes, there is a way to get them out.

Nevertheless, the South Pacific movie was the highest-grossing film of 1958!

Patti now says if the entire British cast of "Company" doesn't transfer to Bway, she won't be doing the show. That should assuredly kill this revival.

That's really too bad, r10. I don't think she has enough clout to pull that off.

Maybe Joanne has gone to Glenn Close and Patti is doing pre-emptive damage control.

It was amazing how well Encores! pulled off that ballet given the short amount of rehearsal time.

Anyone know anything of the juvenile lead? Marc Koeck? A cutie and a very sweet voice.

I want to know who that blind item is about, don’t you?

I want to know if they are going to dim the lights for Grumpy Cat.

Dell paperback division certainly thought so, r6.

I had that copy as a young 'un, r17!!

They put Doris Day on the cover of a reissue of Maria Von Trapp's book?

R10 do you suppose she's calling their bluff? Nevertheless, it's ridiculous that she wants the entire British cast to transfer or else. Bitch.

So what is this about LMM being mean and competitive while otherwise putting on a friendly face? Any stories in particular? Is it a case of "Smiling faces sometimes" and "The smile in your face all the time they want to take your place, the backstabbers"?

"They" smile

I'm pretty sure a Company revival sound easily survive with LuPone. Les Mis sure as hell did.

Glenn Close isn't a bad choice. It's a role she could actually sing. Tons of women could sing it. Call Catherine Zeta Jones or Michelle Pfeiffer or even Blythe Danner.

I'd actually like to see someone besides LuPone play Joanne. I've already seen her do it in that concert version and she was fine, but nothing to write home about. Call in a really big star. As others have said, pretty much anyone can sing Joanne.

Sondheim might prefer to give it to M.

Meryl would definitely sell a shit ton of tickets. It'd be the event of the season.

M as part of an ensemble cast? You must be joking.

Do they make any reference to "high button shoes" in the script of the show of that name? I didn't notice it. It had a couple of really nice songs, the great comic ballet, but unfortunately some big miscasting. But it was a famous title that ran over 700 performances back then, written for Phil Silvers and made a star out of Nanette Fabray.

They'll probably consider Chita. But I'd rather see someone like Michelle Pfeiffer. If not her, how about Joanne Worley, who probably still has a lot of voice left.

Love Life AND High Button Shoes!

Hell, r29, why not cast Judith Lowry?

Here's Lotte Lenya putting her very different take and accent on "Green-Up Time".

Stockard Channing, though she's a show killer.

Donna Murphy

Yes, I thought of Donna Murphy when I heard Lotte Lenya having intonation problems, too!

Zombie Barbara Harris

Judith Lowry is dead. She did have one of the all-time classic lines on "Phyllis" though: "Go suck an egg!"

I think Murphy could knock it out of the park.

No one would go see Murphy

How about Elaine Paige?

or Janis Paige?

Dolores Gray would do it.

I know! Cast Ali Stroker! She’s perfect in everything.

Imelda for Joanne!

Miss Kendrick, of course!

[Quote] Imelda for Joanne!

That would piss of Datalounge AND Patti, so this casting gets my vote.

Will tour Ado Annie have to be in a wheelchair as well or can we get back to business?

[quote]Hell, [R29], why not cast Judith Lowry?

I'm tanned, rested, and ready! (And still alive!)

Let Murphy do it on Tuesdays.

[Quote] Will tour Ado Annie have to be in a wheelchair

Yes. But only because Betty Lynn wants a rest.

Can Judith Light sing? At least a little?

I know she can be a plank of wood but I'd like to see Cybill in a musical.

I actually love the South Pacific movie (and I’m not generally a huge fan of the R&H films), especially the extended road show audition. Plus John Kerr was hot af.

Judith light played Joanne in Los Angeles for Reprise. She was quite good.

That was for R53.

R46 what's this beef between Patti and Imelda?

When you think about all the hotties roaming around Hollywood in 1957 and they cast flabby rat-faced John Kerr.....

What was Josh Logan thinking??

Hotties were generally flabbier in 1957.

John Kerr has a nice package in that photo!

John Kerr couldn't even sing and had to be dubbed.

Hotness in 1957: Tab Hunter, Jeffrey Hunter or Robert Wagner would have all been more suitable to play the young guy. And that's just off the top of my head...there are dozens more.

Nice nips, too.

Patti bitched that ImeldaGYPSY put the kibosh on Patti bringing her Tony winning turn to London. I can't remember if it was in print or on the radio. Someone here will remember, no doubt.

Tab Hunter was a star. Hunter and Wagner were as well, if not on the same (brief) level Hunter was at the time.

[quote] Judith light played Joanne in Los Angeles for Reprise. She was quite good.

No she wasn't. She was known around LA as "Judy One-Note." She was Faye Dunaway-Sunset Boulevard bad.

Amy Pietz as April and Jean Louisa Kelly as Amy were both spectacular, though.

Debbie Gibson as Marta was embarrassing.

Shirley also known as Cock Hungry would like to recommend Mr Ty Hardin for the part.

[quote] I hate the title, too. No one cares about poo shoes anymore. Potential OPs should start working on title ideas well before the limit is reached.

Then I suggest you sit the thread out and wait for #358.

Judith Lowery was a genius on Phyllis.

Kerr looks much buffer in the film (I’m sure the dark tan helped making him look more defined). He was very sexy. Calling him “flabby” is absurd.

Virginia O'Brien was the anti-Betty Hutton.

O'Brien was coached to sing without showing much emotion or having a smile. She was nicknamed "the sphinx". There's one wartime musical where after she sings, the call her that, and she gives one of the most beautiful smiles you could ever see! A shame they rather typed her to be not very emotive, because she had a very good voice.

[quote]I hate the title, too. No one cares about poo shoes anymore. Potential OPs should start working on title ideas well before the limit is reached.

[quote]Then I suggest you sit the thread out and wait for #358.

I want to speak to a manager . . .

Tootsie and prom seem equally mediocre. The former a bit slicker, the latter a bit more heart. Equally serviceable scores, maybe Yazbeck's has a touch more imagination both musically and lyrically - although lots of whiffs of Full Monty and Scoundrels; Prom's is more generic, words and music. Choreography and sets equally blah.

I cannot imagine a score worse than Tootsie.

I don't think it will matter if any stars are in Company. Those who would go because Patti is in it are aware enough of Broadway to see it because of the gender switch, and because it really was a brilliant production. I might be wrong, but I don't think Patti sells tickets to tourists, just to more aware theatre buffs.

I wish I had seen War Paint

John Kerr looks much better in the actual film than in that costume study; maybe he got himself to a gym before shooting his scenes.

And R53, what is the road-show audition? Is that a typo for "addition," meaning bonus footage? Because I know more was shot of the devastating Ken Clark's bodybuilder act in the Thanksgiving show. Do we get to see it on the DVD as added stuff?

Clark was notoriously big hung, and it kept showing in his TV and movie scenes, right through his trousers. I think google will give you many a thrill. He's the king of the VPL.

I guess I must google "Ken Clark South Pacific" since no one is providing a link!

[quote]Kerr looks much buffer in the film (I’m sure the dark tan helped making him look more defined). He was very sexy. Calling him “flabby” is absurd.

He wasn't remotely flabby in the film, just very unattractive. His body is no better than average -- not remotely "buff -- and his face is FAR from handsome or pretty. Why Josh Logan, of all people, cast him rather than a hunkier guy is hard to figure. Maybe Logan was just titillated by the fact that Kerr had already played a possibly gay guy in TEA AND SYMPATHY?

[quote]And [R53], what is the road-show audition? Is that a typo for "addition," meaning bonus footage? Because I know more was shot of the devastating Ken Clark's bodybuilder act in the Thanksgiving show. Do we get to see it on the DVD as added stuff?

Yes, we get to see a LOT more of Ken Clark in the restored footage in the roadshow edition, including that fairly lengthy bodybuilding scene with him wearing nothing but bikini underwear. The road show edition of the movie has been available for years on DVD and then on Blu-Ray, and I'm really surprised you don't know that if you have so much interest in Ken Clark's body.

Was Josh Logan gay?

And I'm surprised you're a smug and loathsome little queen, R79.

I guess life is full of surprises.

When did Patti say that about the Imelda Gypsy? I thought the plan was to move to London soon after her revival closed on Broadway. After Arthur Laurents died, that dream sorta died, too, didn't it? It's not like they took the entire production she was in, kept everything, but exchanged her for Imelda. It was an all new, all British production. Does she think she owns the role now?

John Kerr is perfect in SP. You people are such idiots. A Princeton graduate when that meant a certain elite class and breeding from a main line Philadelphia family but with a sensitivity well beyond what that would imply. And then in those briefs swimming! Who knew R and H could be so sensitive and sly?

South Pacific without the filters does not exist. It was never exhibited that way. Never. No known print has ever been seen which I assume means the original negative was tinted.

Also the most recent restoration is not complete. It is missing 15 minutes which they are claiming could not be restored. If they didn't have their heads up their asses and studied the history of 70mm film they would have known a restoration of the entire film was done about 8 years ago in Denmark. All 2 hours and 45 not 30 minutes.

I too found John Kerr very attractive in South Pacific. The one I did not like at all was the blond butch guy with the deep voice. I mean, I love masculine men, but that was just too out there. However, I've noticed that many other gay men respond to him. That I don't get.

[quote]I cannot imagine a score worse than Tootsie.

I’d like you to meet the scores for King Kong, Mean Girls, Pretty Woman...

NYC just has Company with Raul and then the concert version with Doogie Howser and the Ny Phil.

If the producers actually want people to fill seat for yet another version, it needs stars, including Patti. Considering all the great notices she got in London, we’d be pissed if she didn’t come with the production

I’m in the minority, but my favorite Joanne was actually Barbara Walsh. I think she is brilliant in the DVD and can’t believe the Tonys snubbed her that year.

I don't think "we'd" be all that pissed. Patti's terrific, but not terrific enough to shut down a transfer if her demands aren't met. I'll be far more disappointed if Jonny Bailey and Rosalie Whatsername aren't in the case.

Never liked patti lupone. she could drop dead. NEXT!

r79 is always snitty and we hate his posts

Watched The Prom boot last evening. Brooks was out but his u/s was excellent.

The fact that it was Tony nominated for Best Musical underscores what a weak season this has been.

For anyone who missed it:

I’d be fine without ever seeing Company again. The music is great, sure, but the characters are unsettling. Bobby’s friends really sit up at night and can’t sleep because he’s not married? Psychotic.

I think you may be too literal for this show, r93.

R81, what was it about my post that got you so riled? All I said was I was surprised that someone who has so much interest in Ken Clark's body in SOUTH PACIFIC wasn't aware that the road show edition of SOUTH PACIFIC, with additional footage of Clark wearing next to nothing, has been available on home video for years. I didn't insult anyone, but now I'll insult you, you nasty piece of work.

[quote]John Kerr is perfect in SP. You people are such idiots. A Princeton graduate when that meant a certain elite class and breeding from a main line Philadelphia family but with a sensitivity well beyond what that would imply. And then in those briefs swimming! Who knew R and H could be so sensitive and sly?

He was far from perfect. Cable is supposed to be a beautiful man. John Kerr's face is not particularly handsome, his body no better than average. In the movie, I think he looks really good in certain angles but almost unattractive in others. Plus he couldn't sing the role and had to be dubbed, which wouldn't be such a big deal except the match between his speaking voice and the singing voice of Bill Lee (who also dubbed for Christopher Plummer in THE SOUND OF MUSIC) is very poor.

R95 yeah, well, you have a big behind!

R80, Is water wet?

Richard F. would be coming with Company, I hope.

So with My Fair Lady closing I wonder if LCT might do s deal with the producers of The Inheritance to put that into the Vivian Beaumont for a certain period of time. It would be a great space for it.

[quote]Plus he couldn't sing the role and had to be dubbed

Except for Mitzi Gaynor, everyone in "South Pacific" was dubbed, including Juanita Hall, who had created the role of Bloody Mary on Broadway.

Josh Logan was long-married to his wife Nedda. He was one of the few directors of the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s to have a prominent career in Hollywood and on Broadway.

He was notorious for always including scenes with shirtless men, usually of the sweaty hunky working-class variety. On Broadway, among many other stellar credits, he directed Wish You Were Here and All-American, with ensembles filled with muscular shirtless chorus boys and on stage and film South Pacific, Picnic, Bus Stop and Mister Roberts and Tall Story (Van Williams in the locker room shower!), all with their infamous share of shirtless scenes.

To be fair, he also directed Annie Get Your Gun, By Jupiter, Knickerbocker Holiday, Mornings at Seven, I Married an Angel and Charley's Aunt on Broadway and the films Sayonara, Camelot, The World of Suzie Wong and Paint Your Wagon and managed to keep all the men mostly clothed.

I wanted to sing "Moonshine Lullabye" shirtless, but Josh wouldn't let me!

Presenting Mr. Clark.....

Mr. Clark presenting.....

Giorgio Tozzi, who sang for Rossano Brazzi in "South Pacific," was actually credited, which was unusual back in the days when Marni Nixon was supposed to be a guarded secret. I saw Tozzi as Tony in a short-lived 1979 Broadway revival of "The Most Happy Fella," for which he got a Tony nomination.

R105 But alas, no Tony for Tozzi's Tony.

I was a stunning Lt. Cable

I have a hard time believing Mean Girls' score is as bad at Tootsie. Fans were bootlegging and learning the Mean Girls songs at this time last year - while the enthusiasm for Tootsie is entirely based on the book.

haha. Mean Girls is way worse than TOOTSIE. It's ALL crap. Only score any good is Evan Hanson. Hamilton has a few nice songs too but that is it.

I think Waitress has some good songs.

The ONLY determining factor re COMPANY coming to NY is what Marianne Elliott wants to do with it. The entire production is her and her producer Chris Harper's brainchild and they are not acceding to any casting that doesn't appeal to them. And given that ME constructed it for and around her onetime LIGHT PRINCESS leading lady Rosie Craig, her ongoing presence would seem assured -- unless some powerhouse producer co-opts the material and hands it over to a different team, which I suppose might be possible for the right price. But unlikely.

"Avenue Q" has a good score and "Book of Morman" had some good songs in it, too. "Hairspray" had a terrific score, and "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels" had a very good score, too.

"Hairspray" opened in 2002 and is practically a Golden Age musical compared with the scores currently on Broadway.

It's hard finding contemporary musical songs for auditions when asked for them because a lot of them are and lousy and good material is hard to find.

"a lot of them are lousy", that is

R111 Yeah that one is ok. It's got some. R113 Avenue Q? Book of Mormon? You're joking right? R115 Yes, they are all lousy. It's mind boggling. All the good music is gone in all genres. A good score should be full of songs that can be taken out of context yet still relatable to a life experience. Able to stand on it's own. Like, how in the old days recording artists recorded pop versions that became hits. Today, they tried "Hamilton". In the 90s they tried "Rent" with Seasons Of Love. So far, the only one that has sorta worked is "Greatest Showman". I hear Pink's version on the radio all the time.

Is anyone else here a member of any of the Cast Recording facebook groups? I've never seen so many cranky aspie types in my life, not even on the DL.

I've belonged for years. I almost never post as they leap on your ass if you don't accept their dogma.

Why did Neil Simon not write the script for the movie of Sweet Charity, when he wrote the book for the play? Was he thought of as too inexperienced at the time? And how different are the two. (I have seen neither the musical nor the movie; actually, I watched about 15 minutes of the movie, but hated it too much to keep watching.)

I remember seeing "Sweet Charity "as a kid at a suburban movie theater, and there were those old small movie still pictures outside the theater like they used to have, of the girls in the "Hey, Big Spender" number. Those were some scary looking broads. I remember mainly liking that number and the sequence of Charity hiding and doing "If My Friends Could See Me Now" from back then. Oh, and that it didn't have a happy ending. I've seen it since on TCM, and those and the big dance numbers remain highlights. I wish I could have seen Gwen do the show though. Neil Simon might have been too busy writing new Broadway shows to adapt the screenplay is my guess.

I think the last really great score, one that you would actually want to get the cast album to, was Spring Awakening. Every couple years I fire that up in my car and blast it for a few days.

[quote]Why did Neil Simon not write the script for the movie of Sweet Charity, when he wrote the book for the play? Was he thought of as too inexperienced at the time?

It hardly seems likely he would have been thought of as too inexperienced at the time. A year earlier, he adapted his play "The Odd Couple" for the screen, and it was a huge hit.

[quote] So with My Fair Lady closing I wonder if LCT might do s deal with the producers of The Inheritance to put that into the Vivian Beaumont for a certain period of time. It would be a great space for it.

Are you out of your fucking mind? Do you want to sit there for 7 hours in those horrible seats? 3/4 of the place is raked with absolutely no leg room. If you're over 5'5", you're fucked.

The last thing I saw there without getting a floor seat was Twelfth Night in 1998 and I left during intermission, I was so uncomfortable. I've only been back twice since- once for Contact where I sat on the floor, and once for The Light in the Piazza, where I sat in the balcony. Then I went back a month or so ago for MFL and I left it to chance with TDF and of course got stuck in the risers. There were a shit ton of empty seats in the back rows and I asked if I could move, but the bitchy usher said the place was full. (It was not.) And I couldn't sneak out once the lights went down because I was in the middle of the row. By the time the curtain came down, I was in agony for not being able to pop my knees and I moved to the back row on the aisle for Act 2. (LOVED the show, btw.)

The Beaumont is just a torture chamber. Anywhere but there.

R112, isn't t more accurate to say it depends on what ME and Equity want to do with it?

Agree about the Beaumont. I once spent an uncomfortable evening there feeling as though I might pitch forward into the orchestra section, an all the while with somebody's hairy knee about an inch from my ear. Feh.

R101, Josh Logan made William Holden shave his hairy chest for his shirtless scenes in the film version of "Picnic".

Simon probably didn't have time to do the screenplay. Peter Stone wrote the screenplay to SC and it is pretty much the show but with an added scene of Charity trying to get a job, and the hippy ending. Those were both Stone touches. Stone and Simon always seemed close in the 90's (I once saw them having lunch with Shirley MacLaine teasing her about her past lives) so it was probably Simon's choice. This was his busiest period.

And to think in his last ten yeas he was no one wanted his new shows or old shows in revival.. No Noel Coward renaissance for Doc.

.. Ten years no one wanted,

Odd bit of spell check.

It must have been a big slap in his face that the "Brighton Beach" and was it "Broadway Bound" plays that were to be revived were cancelled before opening. Then again, he and wife Elaine Joyce treated Mary Tyler Moore like shit around this time as well, so maybe it was karma.

It seems like the most plays of his that will be done are "Barefoot in the Park" and "The Odd Couple". It's very possible in the future that a major retrospective of his shows and films could be done, but some of them are aged pretty badly and some of the jokes are too "jokey" and not really what that particular character would say in that situation. It's as if Neil Simon himself is talking out of that character during some of the jokes; back then, audiences ate it up, but nowadays it's a bit jarring.

the "most likely" plays

R128 That hippy ending is actually a slight variation on the ending of Sweet Charity's source, Nights of Cabiria.

Out in LA, there's a revival movie theater called The New Beverly and last month they did a week-long tribute to Neil Simon, showing double features of about 8 of his movies. We went to a few, some I remembered fondly my childhood, some I'd never seen.

They were all painful. The dialogue was so staged and jokey. Everyone had the same style of speaking and every line should have had a rim shot after it. These people did not feel like real people who were in the moment. They felt like they had had their dialogue written for them. And that can work for some things, but films like Only When I Laugh- man, I felt for those poor actors trying to make real characters out of that. And we walked out of I Oughta Be in Pictures, mostly because Dinah Manoff was grating as fuck, but after 40 minutes of watching her talk AT people and not even connecting with them (it was like- nope, nope, don't interrupt me. I have to hit this line HERE), we couldn't take anymore.

Surprisingly it worked better in stuff like The Odd Couple, but that felt very stagey to me.

Anyway, no, his stuff hasn't aged well at all and he sort of deserves to be forgotten because I'm not sure there's a way to make that dialogue work.

R133 I like the Sunshine Boys. Yes, it's very stagey, but mostly very funny and Matthau & George Burns are both great.

Yes. For something like The Sunshine Boys, it works. Because those two are old vaudeville performers, so you could see them always being "on."

Surprised that no one has tackled a major bio of Logan, one that explores his attraction to men. Did he have sex with them, or was he just a looker? Plus, he was a major figure in 20th century culture. Moss Hart got his book, but nothing on Logan that I know of. Maybe there's just no market for it now.

Is that Unstoppable number the best of Tootsie? If so, yikes! "unstoppable/unpoppable"? Heard the score was mediocre, but . . . sheesh!

I just went looking on Amazon, because I could have sworn I'd seen a book about Logan before. There's only his autobiography from 1976, so I guess I was thinking of someone else.

However, if you do a search in "Books" on Amazon under Josh Logan, it brings up some pretty creepily porny titles. Stuff like "Diapered and Pegged" and an 11-part gay porn series about a high school football team.

[quote] Is that Unstoppable number the best of Tootsie? If so, yikes! "unstoppable/unpoppable"? Heard the score was mediocre, but . . . sheesh!

There is no BEST of Tootsie. Every number is excruciating.

Strange the David Yazbek was capable of writing such a fun musical comedy score for "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels" (which I think is his best work with the "Band's Visit probably second) but that this new one sounds like it hasn't any melodic hooks.

R76

No you don't. You saved money.

And I'm someone who loves Lupone and Ebersole and Douglas Sills.

[quote][R95] yeah, well, you have a big behind!

You want to talk big behinds, R96, they could show [italic]How the West Was Won[/italic] on yours!

I'm the guy who asked about Simon not writing the script to SC. Sometimes I get frustrated with the snark on DL, but, sometimes -- like in this case -- it can feel like having a conversation with six friends who know more than I do about something, and you're glad to hear their opinions. Ok, flame away.

R143 Nothing to flame. It was an interesting and pertinent question for this thread.

Logan was extremely bipolar, prone to wild swings between mania and depression. He didn't get it under control until the latter part of his life with anti depressants and lithium. He was also a notoriously closeted bisexual.

There was a locker room scene in his college musical All American. The football team sang a song called Physical Fitness while exercising. Logan wanted to stage it with the guys in jockstraps but the censors in Boston wouldn't allow.it out-of-town and the producers wouldn't let him do it New York. Here's how it ended up:

Evan Hanson has one decent song (the fantasy friendship tune sung to the parents), but even that one is not exactly a barn-burner.

The problem with today's scores is they're not composed of songs but jingles, ditties, "hooks." They're thin as wafers. And wafers can't sustain emotional weight or expression. The greatest musical theater composers didn't write "hooks," they either wrote elevated, long-lined and memorable (key word) melodies that communicated feeling (like Younger Than Springtime), or shaped short melodic cells into substantive cathedrals of sound (Old Man River). The other problem is most contemporary lyrics aren't poetic, compressed, metaphorical. They're literal, unnecessarily verbose and, when you add music to the mix, don't SING. God knows Sondheim can be prolix but he backs it up with remarkable craft, cunning and ingenuity. But both arts seem to have fallen into desuetude, and Broadway is certainly the poorer for it.

The songs in Waitress pushed the plot and emotions of the characters forward, and I thought some of the songs were excellent. She Used to be Mine is one of my favorite songs of the last few years. I'm not a Sara Bareiles fan, but I think she did well in her first Broadway score.

The Sweet Charity movie is fairly faithful to the stage show with the exception of the ending, the deletion of "Baby Dream Your Dream" (was it ever filmed?), and two new numbers replacing the stage versions: "My Personal Property" replaces "You Should See Yourself" and "It's A Nice Face" replaces "I'm the Bravest Individual". "My Personal Property" isn't too bad and a decent replacement, but "It's A Nice Face" is pretty useless and nowhere near as good as song as "I'm the Bravest Individual." Even worse, it stops the story cold.

A lot of people hate on the Sweet Charity film, but I've always found it well staged and paced, which is more than I can say for a lot of other stage to screen musicals. MacLaine is great in the role and it's nice to see Chita Rivera in an actual hefty supporting role on screen (though, some are right when they say that her face looks downright villainous on screen for some reason). I love the bittersweet ending.

Everybody rise!

I read a quote from the Guardian obituary of John Kerr that mentioned why Kerr scored the role in "Tea & Sympathy" over Anthony Perkins, who was also in the running. It was said that Perkins had a "differentness" that was immediately apparent, which they didn't want for the role. Hence, Kerr got the part. (Though, Perkins did get to replace.)

I wonder if the subtext to that comment is that Perkins read gay in a way that Kerr didn't. Maybe that was also part of his appeal to Logan as Cable. Sensitive but not necessarily a repressed homosexual (or bisexual), like Perkins.

Does anyone know how much of the Sweet Charity book Neil Simon actually wrote? I know Martin Charnin collaborated with Fosse on the book when it was going to be a one act. Fosse intended at one point to write the book alone, and early sheet music credits the book to “Bert Lewis”. Did Neil Simon write a completely new book for Charity or did he smooth-over/fix/doctor the Charnin and Fosse versions?

Anybody watch the Live From Lincoln Center with Annaleigh?

Yes. Very talented lady with terrible pageant-girl taste.

[quote]I have a hard time believing Mean Girls' score is as bad at Tootsie

The obvious fix is for you to listen to the Mean Girls CD so you can have an informed opinion.

It’s worse than Tootsie. Tootsie has some clever lyrics and a real melody or two. Mean Girls doesn’t.

[quote]11-part gay porn series about a high school football team.

That’s just “All American.”

Wouldn't it be funny if that BI turned out to be about NPH? She's got quite a temper.

[quote]Giorgio Tozzi, who sang for Rossano Brazzi in "South Pacific," was actually credited, which was unusual back in the days when Marni Nixon was supposed to be a guarded secret

Rosanno Brazzi was a known actor, a Italian movie star who had appeared in several English-language films already. There was no way to pretend he was a singer who had been hiding an operatic voice under a bushel. And there was no way for them to get a voice with the quality of Tozzi’s without credit. Tozzi wound up doing the part at Lincoln Center ten years later.

I'm not sure I buy that. Was Margaret Whiting credited for dubbing Susan Hayward's singing in Valley of the Dolls? I'd say it was mostly down to the performer and their rep. If the money was good enough (and needed), they'd do it without credit.

Nah, r156. I really really really want it to be LMM.

Did Marilyn Horne receive credit for dubbing Dorothy Dandridge's voice in the movie of "Carmen Jones"?

[quote]Rosanno Brazzi was a known actor, a Italian movie star who had appeared in several English-language films already. There was no way to pretend he was a singer who had been hiding an operatic voice under a bushel.

And yet, according to an interview Mitzi Gaynor did as a "South Pacific" DVD extra, Rossano Brazzi thought he was going to be allowed to do his own singing. Apparently Mitzi heard him sing ; she scoffed at the idea in the interview.

[quote]Except for Mitzi Gaynor, everyone in "South Pacific" was dubbed, including Juanita Hall, who had created the role of Bloody Mary on Broadway.

Yes, except Ray Walston, for the few lines he sings. But the match between Kerr's speaking voice and Bill Lee's singing voice is especially bad. The thing about Tozzi being credited brings up another of the many huge mistakes made in producing SOUTH PACIFIC. Apparently, Brazzi was tremendously resentful of being dubbed by Tozzi because, as someone just posted here, he felt he was capable of singing those songs himself. Because of that, it looks like he didn't put a lot of effort into mastering the lip synching and otherwise making it look like he was really singing when the songs were filmed. Lesson: If you're going to dub an actor in a musical movie, and you're planning to tell him that from the beginning, DO NOT hire an actor who's going to resent it and keep complaining about it, rather than working hard to make the dubbing seem seamless, like Deborah Kerr did with Marni Nixon in THE KING AND IT.

[quote]Why did Neil Simon not write the script for the movie of Sweet Charity, when he wrote the book for the play? Was he thought of as too inexperienced at the time? And how different are the two.

As per some other responses here, a lot of the film script is the stage script verbatim, but there are a few major sections that were added and written from scratch by Peter Stone, including the scene where Charity goes to the employment agency, and the greatly expanded scene at the end with her and Oscar at the marriage license bureau.

[quote}Surprised that no one has tackled a major bio of Logan, one that explores his attraction to men. Did he have sex with them, or was he just a looker?

I've always wondered about that. According to some reliable sources, including Mitzi Gaynor, he could be very flirty and "handsy" with the hunks in his shows and movies, but I'm thinking maybe he was too repressed to actually engage in casting couch practices or otherwise have actual sex with them.

[quote]Logan was extremely bipolar, prone to wild swings between mania and depression. He didn't get it under control until the latter part of his life with anti depressants and lithium. He was also a notoriously closeted bisexual.

Or maybe a notoriously closeted homosexual who went through the motions of leading a heterosexual life. He was married twice, but fathered no children. And I just found this in his Wikipedia entry, something that must have just happened: "In 2019, Jane Fonda, who starred in Logan's 1960 film Tall Story, claimed both she and Logan were in love with lead actor Anthony Perkins at the time of filming, causing tension during an already difficult shoot."

[quote]Did Marilyn Horne receive credit for dubbing Dorothy Dandridge's voice in the movie of "Carmen Jones"?

Yes, all of the singers who dubbed the major roles in that movie are credited in the main title sequence. Marilyn Horne actually spelled her name "Marilynn" back then. An oddity of the movie is that Brock Peters (then "Broc") plays a major supporting role that doesn't sing a note in the film, but he dubbed the singing for Roy Glenn, who played another major supporting role.

R124, I don't understand, what do you mean by "sitting on the floor" when you refer to the Beaumont. And what do you mean by "risers?" And why would sitting in the last row give you any more leg room than sitting in any other row -- or do you mean because you said the row was empty, so you could have spread your legs to give you at lest a little more leg room?

There's an anecdote in one of the musical theater audition books, I think maybe by Lehman Engel, that someone once sang, perhaps as something back then as "non-traditional" to Joshua Logan, the song "I'm in Love with Miss Logan" and apparently Joshua Logan was incensed that the actor had sung it, taking it as an insult to his masculinity. That apparently wasn't the actor's intent.

In that same DVD interview, Mitzi Gaynor credited Joshua Logan with being the director who finally got her "out of sequins." She got back into them, though, as anyone who ever saw her TV specials can attest.

It's incredible that a major motion picture like South Pacific could have been subject to such ineptness. If the producers didn't think they could afford to shoot the colour filter sequences using natural tones as well, they could at least have spoken to the film lab's for some advice about what to do. Those colour effects could have been added in post, either by adjusting the balance of the three stripe technicolour print or else by creating a new negative in the lab with the gels being interposed at that stage. Either way, they would have had total flexibility (though not like we have nowadays with digital processing).

Apart from being distracting and overbearing, those coloured gels made the image blurry. A terrible aesthetic choice.

It's really mind-boggling, constantly reading about big Hollywood stars like Audrey Hepburn, Natalie Wood, Rosalind Russell and now Rosanno Brazzi, who could have been so self-deluded to think that they didn't need to be dubbed in musical films.

Deborah Kerr could have taught them all a lesson.

A movie star lacking in self awareness? I can't think how that could happen.

Having seen the original Broadway production of Sweet Charity as well as the film, I'd say the major difference in the scripts was the tone, which was far more theatrical and unreal and IRONIC on stage than it was on film.

The movie really never worked for me (except for a few of the brilliant musical numbers Big Spender, Rich Man's Frug, Rhythm of Life, etc., which could remain very theatrical) because of the the cinematic need at the time to make the story-telling more realistic. The stage show was almost like a series of brilliant comic sketches done with minimal sets, lit with follow spots, as if it was a vaudeville skit.

I love Liz Callaway's Meg Ryan story. From 2:15.

[quote]If you're going to dub an actor in a musical movie, and you're planning to tell him that from the beginning, DO NOT hire an actor who's going to resent it and keep complaining about it, rather than working hard to make the dubbing seem seamless

But almost all the actors who are dubbed know about it from the beginning. They are filming to the dubbed tracks and know it’s not them. The two biggest problems, for Nixon at least, were with Wood and Hepburn, who were allowed to believe their own voices would be used, and when the vocal tracks were unusable, told after the fact. Same with Roz Russell, who swore to her dying day that it was her singing. In Wood’s case, they were just placating her & never intended to use her tracks, and scheduled Nixon on one occasion right after Wood, who then was then aware of what was going on. But there were a couple of numbers where Wood filmed to her own voice, and Nixon had to dub to the existing footage, which is much harder.

I can’t believe anyone would have let Brazzi believe he was going to do his own singing in an operatic-quality role after hearing him sing.

Well, they’re wrong on one of these. I saw I’m Not Rapaport starring Paul Scofield and Howard Rollins Jr in the West End in the late 1980s.

Most star who were allowed to demo vocals were probably told that their tracks would be "sweetened".

Doubt should have been on that list of plays never produced in the West End. It was only produced at the Tricycle Theatre in North London.

NEWSIES never played London!

And NEWSIES! NEWSIES never played London!!!!

Any word on The Flamingo Kid at Hartford Stage?

The photos look rather desperate.

That's really fun, r170.

Newsies was done at the Arts Ed School outside of London and that’s it. I think it would have had decent success at somewhere like the Dominion for a strictly limited engagement.

Agreed, R166. It speaks to the ineptitude of several of the powers that be behind SOUTH PACIFIC, most definitely including Joshua Logan, who presumably had the ultimate responsibility to decide whether or not those horrific filters would be used. In this case, that ineptitude even apparently extended to Richard Rodgers, who supposedly decreed that Juanita Hall would not do her own singing as Bloody Mary -- even though she had created the role on stage, and sung it perfectly for the character -- because he wanted a more technically perfect voice. So they hired Muriel Smith, who sang it in a smooth, operatic voice that was ALL WRONG for the character.

[quote]But almost all the actors who are dubbed know about it from the beginning. They are filming to the dubbed tracks and know it’s not them. The two biggest problems, for Nixon at least, were with Wood and Hepburn, who were allowed to believe their own voices would be used, and when the vocal tracks were unusable, told after the fact. Same with Roz Russell, who swore to her dying day that it was her singing. In Wood’s case, they were just placating her & never intended to use her tracks, and scheduled Nixon on one occasion right after Wood, who then was then aware of what was going on. But there were a couple of numbers where Wood filmed to her own voice, and Nixon had to dub to the existing footage, which is much harder.

Maybe "almost all" -- but then you named three major exceptions.

[quote]In Wood’s case, they were just placating her & never intended to use her tracks, and scheduled Nixon on one occasion right after Wood, who then was then aware of what was going on. But there were a couple of numbers where Wood filmed to her own voice, and Nixon had to dub to the existing footage, which is much harder.

It was more than a couple of numbers. I think Natalie did pre-records of most of the number, or parts of most of the numbers, and lip synched to her own tracks with maybe only a few of the higher sections initially sung by Nixon. Then, after the filming was completed, they threw out all of those tracks and Nixon went in and looped all of the singing in the entire role.

All wrong for the character? Do you mean that in a Liza vs. Natasha Richardson way?

Ok, I clicked on that Kit Andree link and it's deliciously AWFUL!. I have never heard of her before and I did a search and, outside of all the tracks on that album on YouTube, a death announcement that told zero and an IMDB entry that told even less, I can't find a fucking thing about her. Who is she? Who was she? Who did she hope to be??

Ask Annaleigh, r184.

Miss Kit as Mona Kent!

Miss Kit Andree WAS Peter Pan!

I'm in HEAVEN

She was Sally in the first production of FOLLIES I saw.

What? No mention of the fact that Miss Kit Andree was “survived by her daughter Phan Peterson”?

Who names their daughter Phan?

I AM one of her phans!

Jaime & the Kit Andree Dancers 1993

Her albums are mind-boggling. She covers everything from Eleanor Rigby to What Would We Do Without You from Company. From Fame to Purlie, from Vogue to Simply Irresistible to Broadway Baby

Like mother, like daughter?

I think they should have tried to mix the actor and dubber's voices a bit better and create a Frankenstein version of the songs. The dubbing on Rosalind Russell in Gypsy is quite good and almost seamless, especially in Rose's Turn where they let Roz speak/sing all of the first half of the song. They made it realistic by not only mixing the voices, but lowering the keys into a range most would assume Roz could sing it. Kirk was able to match Roz's voice beautifully.

Hepburn and Wood actually sound ok on some of their original takes, but would obviously need Marni to come in for the higher notes.

Phan is “Incredible Coach and Teacher of many Performing Arts Styles including (i.e. - Jazz, Tap, Ballet, Musical Theatre... Broadway...Lyrical / Contemporary, Funk, Salsa, Hip-Hop, Ballroom, Ethnic, Vocal Presentation, Stage & Acting “

Just like her mom, there is NOTHING she can’t do!

I'm about 3 episodes behind on "Fosse/Verdon." Is it worth catching up on?

No

-PHAN PETERSON is a....

Musically / Diversified and God Gifted - Choreographer!

Choreographer of Many Styles and Entities of DANCE & MUSICAL THEATRE!

-Incredible Coach and Teacher of many Performing Arts Styles

including (i.e. - Jazz, Tap, Ballet, Musical Theatre... Broadway...Lyrical / Contemporary, Funk,

Salsa, Hip-Hop, Ballroom, Ethnic, Vocal Presentation, Stage & Acting

-Phan is the Daughter of the Infamous, The One and Only, Super-Star Talent

Extraordinaire, Trippple Threat - PERFORMER / ENTERTAINER... [Director/ Choreographer /Coach]

Singer... Dancer... Actress: MISS KIT ANDREE

Annaleigh Ashford was funny on LFLC but that's about it. That voice is nails on a chalkboard. I was in the audience for Meg Hilty next week. I hope they show me! I agree about the Beaumont. But I think the worst is the mezz/balcony at the St. James if you're not in the first row. TORTURE.

[quote]All wrong for the character? Do you mean that in a Liza vs. Natasha Richardson way?

Umm, I guess that's what I mean. When Bloody Mary sings, she should not sound like she has had professional, operatic voice training at a conservatory. Muriel Smith, who did the dubbing, was in fact an opera singer who created the role of Carmen Jones onstage. Interestingly, she also played Bloody Mary in the original London cast of South Pacific -- but the kinescope of that production allows us to hear that she didn't sing the role quite so smoothly and operatically on stage.

[quote]I think they should have tried to mix the actor and dubber's voices a bit better and create a Frankenstein version of the songs. The dubbing on Rosalind Russell in Gypsy is quite good and almost seamless, especially in Rose's Turn where they let Roz speak/sing all of the first half of the song. They made it realistic by not only mixing the voices, but lowering the keys into a range most would assume Roz could sing it. Kirk was able to match Roz's voice beautifully.

They did a little bit of that in some other musicals, notably THE KING AND I and MY FAIR LADY. Also with Samantha Eggar and whoever dubbed her in DOCTOR DOLITTLE. Whereas every single note of singing by Maria in WEST SIDE STORY is Marni Nixon.

haha. Mean Girls is way worse than TOOTSIE. It's ALL crap. Only score any good is Evan Hanson. Hamilton has a few nice songs too but that is it.

It's sad when the best scores on Broadway are from jukebox musicals -- e.g., "Beautiful."

Rebecca Luker is speaking out against her home state of Alabama.

Good for her. But I don’t know what’s more surprising, that she reveals a hidden part of her past, or that she reveals what year she was born.

I'm not one of your PHANS...!

[quote]Kirk was able to match Roz's voice beautifully.

Yes - but she wasn’t able to sing it as dynamically as she could have if she'd been able to use keys that were a little higher (where her own voice lived).

[quote]Whereas every single note of singing by Maria in WEST SIDE STORY is Marni Nixon.

Plus a couple of phrases of Anita’s! (The high part of the Quintet).

Clips from three songs

Luker's statement is remarkable.

Next to Normal also still hasn't been done in London - is there an issue holding it up? I would imagine there has been some interest in a London production.

Aida also hasn't been staged in the UK

Rebecca Who?

Sorry to hear that Patti is still yodeling her way through Sleepy Man. Which queen said she was in good voice? Lord.

Yeah, Patti's voice is still in pretty amazing shape for her age, but this did not seem to be her best night. And yeah, there was TOO MUCH yodeling and scooping in "Sleepy Man." Pretty much ruined the song.

The color filters may have been totally wrong in SP, but I think most of the general audiences disagreed. My Grandma Morris, for example, thought they were beautiful. And the movie was a big hit.

"For her age" is the key phrase above. That's not so much singing as bellowing, on all of the songs.

R210 = Mrs. Marc Jacoby

Patti's voice has never worked for Sleepy Man

R215 Rebecca Luker is married to Danny Burstein.

But she had an affair with Marc Jacoby while doing the "Show Boat" revival on Broadway. Even the ushers knew about it back then.

It was....make believe, r218.

Not to Mrs. Jacoby.

Didn't it mess up both their careers for a while?

Life upon the wicked stage, doncha know.

Uh ... I’m embarrassed for you, r210. “Mrs. Mark Jacoby” said “Rebecca Who?” That was the joke.

During Show Boat, while it was in Toronto, Luker and Jacoby had a hot and heavy affair. When the show got to NY, with Mrs. J and all those little Jacobys nearby in Jersey, things got very ugly. Mrs J went a little nuts, and started doing some scary things. Luker was afraid for her life. Prince finally fixed it by separating them, so Luker went back into the Toronto company while Jacoby stayed here, and that seemed to take care of things.

Actually, r217 is the literal numbskull, not 210.

For some reason I thought Luker was banished to Toronto because she wouldn't leave Jacoby alone.

Why did the wife freak out?

On reflection, r225, does that strike you as an intelligent question?

Don't forget about me!

excuse me, Jbara

I think Patti's in excellent voice there, but she's never had the right voice for Sleepy Man. That hasn't changed over the years.

Attended a reading of the new Elton John / James Graham musical about the life of Tammy Faye Bakker. It’s incredible.

A rival Broadway production has been in the works for ages with K Chenoweth but that appears to have died a death.

[quote]I think Patti's in excellent voice there, but she's never had the right voice for Sleepy Man. That hasn't changed over the years.

I don't think there's anything about her voice that's inherently wrong for "Sleepy Man," at least, not when she was younger. Back in the day, she could certainly sing soft ballads when she wanted to, but maybe no longer. And I don't think she's in excellent voice in the clip. Although her belt and her soprano register still seem to be in really good shape, the break has widened A LOT, which contributes to the fact that she sounds like she's yodeling.

Liz Callaway's rendition is, indeed, perfection.

Who played Jim and Tammy Faye at the reading?

Whoever it was, it has to be better casting than Jessica Chastain and Andrew Garfield in the movie that's shooting right now

Is this musicalized to end the first act?

I went a little nuts last night and bought five Kit Andree LPs on ebay and discogs after making sure I couldn't find the music anywhere else. (I got them for super cheap, so even if I listen to them once, it was worth it.)

I cannot fucking wait to hear her sing Fame.

As I recall, Miss Kit Andree's first club was down from (next door to?) Sid King's.

Lupone's voice is pretentious crap. Yelling just to hear herself.

I adore Patti's LIVE cd that was taped in LA just before she went to London to do Sunset Boulevard. Brilliantly energized singing and lots of funny patter with the audience. The Baker's Wife stories are especially priceless.

Patti's voice is completely shot. If you can't hear that, then you don't know anything about real singing (i.e Liz Calloway style).

That clip at R235 is pathetically unfunny. And way too long.

The "you don't know anything about real singing" troll has arrived.

Please, troll, tell us what else we don't know about from your fount of knowledge.

Liz Callaway - twice the singer than Patti LuPone, with none of the star quality.

Liz Callaway will always be Anya to me.

[quote]I thought Luker was banished to Toronto because she wouldn't leave Jacoby alone.

No - they wouldn't leave each other alone. Which was fine in Toronto, but not with his wife in NJ. When she went cuckoo, things got scary. Prince had to farm out one or the other, and Jacoby stayed because he had kids in NJ. That was the end of the affair.

Fuck you, r245.

Are Cheyenne Jackson and Gavin Creel doing a sitcom together? I hope it's not a webseries.

A little of Kit Andree goes a long way. We've had a LOT of Kit Andree, so I think we're good for the next three or four years.

Who replaced Luker in Showboat on Broadway? Did Luker, at least, get to open the show?

And WEHT Greg Jbara? He seemed to be on Broadway constantly in the 1990s and early 2000s.

R247 LOL

Yes, Luker opened and got a Toby nomination before leaving. I think Patti Cohenour replaced but I could be wrong.

I want a Toby nomination.

You think WE'RE good, r249? Exactly who gave you the right to speak for US?

Who needs a Toby?

Sarah Pfisterer replaced Luker on Broadway. Ironically, she later had an affair which ended her marriage.

Sheesh. I didn't realize Broadway actors were just as bad with infidelity as their screen/TV counterparts.

[quote]Sheesh. I didn't realize Broadway actors were just as bad with infidelity as their screen/TV counterparts.

You might not realize it from the lack of gossip on the theater gossip threads.

Who should be cast in Follies?

Fritzi Scheff and Zeffie Tilbury.

Fritzi's filming a pilot, r60.

R231

Chenoweth's Tammy Faye isn't dead at this point. But for this second version to suddenly be actually happening is stunning.

I really really really don't want to see Chenoweth as Tammy Faye. It is too close to her actual persona and would emphasize everything that is unpleasant about Chenoweth and going by her description of the project on the RuPaul poscast - she would be playing Tammy Faye like some sort of sweet Christian angel without a shred of irony or self awareness.

I'd love to hear more about the Elton reading. Are they basing it on The Eyes of Tammy Faye?

Minnie Maddern Fiske would be a definitive Sally.

That old bag, r263?! We're going younger.....

I've got it, we'll cast all former models!

I'm betting the tide is turning and everyone is waking up. Inn another 3 weeks, by Tony night, voters will have realized that Tootsie and Oklahoma! are not really any good and will have cast their votes elsewhere.

More info on the Tammy Faye reading please.

[quote]voters will have realized that Tootsie and Oklahoma! are not really any good and will have cast their votes elsewhere.

I would suggest 1956.

Jessie Mueller played Tammy Faye and Jeremy Jordan played Jim at the reading. Don't know any more than that.

[quote] Sarah Pfisterer replaced Luker on Broadway

Pfisterer? I didn't even know her!

No comment on how hot Jake G was with Annaleigh?

[quote]voters will have realized that Tootsie and Oklahoma! are not really any good

Doubtful. They both got raves and near-raves and that hasn’t worn off yet. There is no way KMK is winning the revival Tony over Oklahoma, although that may be its only Tony if Amber Grey takes the award away from rolling Ado Annie. As for Tootsie, it was never going to win Musical over Hadestown anyway. But Santino is almost a lock, and Book and Choreography are very likely.

Tootsie's book is such fucking dreck it makes the score sound tolerable.

[quote]What is known by B'way insiders is that LMM is very competitive and mean. And he does it all with a fake earnest good boy routine. A film of him showing his true colors would be a treat.

I have a feeling this “iPhone video” is going to go the way of the supposed “Broadway Me Too” scandal. All talk and the goods are never delivered.

The bulk of the reviews raved about Tootsie’s book. There is so much affection for Tootsie that giving it book while Musical and Score go to Hadestown will likely be irresistible to Tony voters. So Tootsie gets three (Santino, Book, Choreography), Hadestown gets Musical, Score, Director, Featured Actor and quite possibly Featured Actress. Plus it’s likely to win several tech awards. The loser in all senses of the word will be The Prom.

Wow, the CAROUSEL concert last night at the Cadogan Hall in London was pretty nifty. A reunion of names from Hytner's 1992 National staging, including its two Olivier Award winning ladies Janie Dee and the incomparable Joanna Riding, and then lots of new names (to CAROUSEL, not to London!) like Hadley Fraser, who delivered a Soliloquy for the ages, and Gavin Spokes, a castmate of Hadley's wife recently in COMPANY who was utterly blissful as Enoch Snow. The entire evening was a joy. I wonder if Riding and Dee will try this again another 27 years from now. Hmmm ......

[quote]I wonder if Riding and Dee will try this again another 27 years from now.

You mean when they're in their 80s?

exactly -- pureed clams at the clambake

Joanna Riding is very talented (although I can’t believe she did that 10 minute role in a 2.5 hour musical so she could sing the big 11 o’clock anthem in ALW’s Stephen Ward) but she totally blew it in Hey! Mr. Producer with the Carousel vocal material... total cringe.

That picture alone does no one any favours. She was SUBLIME as Sally in FOLLIES and wondrous last night in concert.

Embarrassingly, it was basically the only misstep in what is arguably the most elaborate concert event in theatre history... even Bernadette (who was deathly ill) nailed “Unexpected Song”. The bootleg shows she was even more off-pitch and awkward. Too bad.

I’m not familiar with the Eyes of Tammy Faye but I don’t believe so.

James Graham is a wonderful political playwright and was brought in I believe to oomph up the political aspect, particularly of Tammy’s choice to embrace gay people and AIDS sufferers.

The Tammy Faye reading was in London btw, not NYC.

Late to the party, but I've just watched the Tootsie GMA performance, having succeeded in not seeing or hearing anything from it up until now. Jesus fucking Christ. What an abortion. It's as dreadful as 'That Beautiful Sound' from Beetlejuice - a repeated phrase does not a song make.

Broadway musicals don't just arrive onstage fully formed. Years are spent developing them, hundreds of people work on them, thousands and thousands of man-hours are poured into staging them, even before a paying audience take their seat. And clearly, as I've often thought this season, not one person involved in that process seems to have thought 'Maybe this isn't good enough.'

Dumb, sophomoric nonsense. We get the culture we deserve.

Aren't Jeremy and Jessie both on Broadway right now? Surely the Tammy Faye reading used London actors, unless r269 is referring to a reading of the rival American production?

Is James Graham gay? Saw him at Ink and he's extremely hot in person.

Agree wholeheartedly, r284, but how to explain the rave reviews from so many different quarters?

Sad.

What’s sad? That your opinion isn’t shared by everyone? Or even most people?

[quote] I have a feeling this “iPhone video” is going to go the way of the supposed “Broadway Me Too” scandal. All talk and the goods are never delivered.

Agreed, I wonder if the near outing of many Broadway leaders as sexual predators and then the cover up (not sure if that is the right word) has emboldened the predators or if they got the message.

Liz Calloway's voice is a great example of Broadway ingenue mix and high belt, but she is just so absent and white bread, I can't listen for more than a few minutes. I went to her show and all the glib jokes, made me squirm.

Someone already explained why all these shitty shows get rave reviews. MONEY. R271 He seems very eldergay now. Beautiful voice but eh. I thought he was adorable in Brokeback. R289 I agree. Beautiful voice but after a while I'm asleep.

Reviews don't matter anymore.

The people who write scathing reviews of the shows that run for years OR write beautiful reviews of shows that shutter have realized that.

And there's really very few places that review as newsrooms consolidate.

R288, they and the leaders of the industry quite literally think of actors as playthings and dogs. An expose would implicate nearly all of them severely compromising the entire Broadway industry. That’s bad for NY and bad for the Times. $$ Lucky for them. For now.

Gawd I can't think of anything more tragic than having to fuck some gross old director and the reward is to be in the chorus of some awful movie adaption. At least when Fosse did it they were fucking to be in quality stuff.

Jeremy Jordan as Jim Bakker would be interesting casting.

There's nothing interesting about Jeremy Jordan. Yes, he can sing, but he can't act worth a lick.

Can he lick worth an act?

I remember when Tammy Faye was on THE SURREAL LIFE. That was the only reality show I could tolerate. That was my first exposure to her. She was very lovable and well-liked by the other cast members. He friendship with Ron Jeremy was lovely.

So they are kind of taking their time announcing the Encores shows for next season. They'd already been out by this time last year. Are people chiding Mr. Viertel after this year's mostly unwise choices?

[quote] So Tootsie gets three (Santino, Book, Choreography)

Choreography?? You can't be serious. That guy should never work again, he was so terrible.

How was Patricia Routledge at the Carousel concert? I believe she was narrating the evening?

Patricia Routledge is 90 now. And I still think of "Keeping Up Appearances" as a relatively recent series.

R299 I totally agree. We all know how Denis Jones got where is. 💦 Unfortunately, he just did THE FLAMINGO KID at Hartford. He might be here to stay. Ugh. I hate the industry I swear. It's so cheap and sordid and the art and us suffer because of it. Nothing of quality. R295 And that face. 🙈

[quote] We all know how Denis Jones got where is.

I actually don't, who did he fuck?

everybody

Original book writer for the Elton Tammy Faye musical was cray cray Jeff Whitty. See him on Facebook and Molly!

"The Flamingo Kid," yet another classic movie that was just crying out to be turned into a musical.

Interesting how we lionize people like Fosse and Bennett and so on for fucking everyone in their midst but when someone does that nowadays we clutch our pearls.

R307, first define "that". Do you mean produce exceptional choreography? The operative word is "nowadays". You cant expect people in the 1960s to behave like people in 2019.

Because its audience is tween theater kidz, Be More Chill leads Broadway.com's Audience Choice Awards, closely followed by Pretty Woman. What are we gonna do about kids today....

Julie White is great in "Gary" but God, she's killing her voice.

Um R307, some queen is annoyed that some choreographer fucked his way to the top (if the top is defined as choreographing Tootsie...) and that is causing the "art and us" (whatever the fuck that means) to suffer. I'd talk more about this but I have to go see my doctor to see if she can help alleviate my suffering.

[quote]Liz Calloway's voice is a great example of Broadway ingenue mix and high belt, but she is just so absent and white bread, I can't listen for more than a few minutes.

She may be "white bread," though I would say not in a bad way, but she's certainly not "absent." She sings with great feeling, and if you can't hear that, it's your problem. Oh, and it's Callaway.

[quote]There's nothing interesting about Jeremy Jordan. Yes, he can sing, but he can't act worth a lick.

I think his acting is fine. He was very good in NEWSIES, and that's not an easy role. He was also good in a very different type of part in AMERICAN SON. And he was excellent in the movie of THE LAST FIVE YEARS.

[quote]Julie White is great in "Gary" but God, she's killing her voice.

I do not understand how she does that eight times a week, but whatever, it's literally painful to listen to.

R302: Oh, absolutely. See here photo of Jeremy Jordan's monkey face.

It's nobody's business who beds who, except (of course) in this Orwellian age, when people feel entitled to stick their prurient noses in anyone's pants.

I would stick my prurient nose in Jeremy Jordan's shitter.

R314, keeping it classy

There is a role is Newsies that is considered to be “not an easy role”? It’s practically a cartoon. Where are the acting challenges in Newsies?

I only know Jeremy Jordan from the Bonnie & Clyde bootleg. He was pretty good in that. Didn't care for Laura Osnes' portrayal. She was too princess-y and girly to be convincing as a hardened criminal. From my research, the real Bonnie had a mouth like a sailor and could hold her own against others, including men. She was a scrapper and a bit of a bully. That interpretation would've been more fascinating.

[quote] There is a role is Newsies that is considered to be “not an easy role”?

Whichever Newsie drew the short straw that particular evening and had to endure Harvey Fierstein sitting on his face.

"(industry leaders) think of actors as playthings and dogs"

That's a step up from the way they treat writers, who they consider nuisances and whose existence they barely acknowledge.

Actually, if would've been better if they had portrayed Bonnie & Clyde as the vengeful sociopath and his narcissistic girlfriend they really were. That's more fascinating.

That's pretty much how they're portrayed in The Highwaymen on Netflix.

[quote]Are people chiding Mr. Viertel after this year's mostly unwise choices?

But were the choices of shows wrong - everyone seemed pretty pleased when they were announced- or was it production choices? Wrong leading lady for CMM, wrong everything for I Married an Angel, wrong - well, what was wrong with HBS? It didn’t excite anyone, but it also didn’t embarrass and diminish the show like Angel did.

[quote]We all know how Denis Jones got where is

No we don’t. Enlighten us. And make sure to let us know exactly how you came to know this, and what your proof is.

R321 I've got to check it out. Thanks.

Are you all fucking serious about Denis Jones? Gee, let me think...oh I don't know, JERRY MITCHELL for starters. He danced lead in Broadway Bares for like 5 years straight. His big break was playing the stripper in FULL MONTY. That really got their loins going. And if you don't know about Jerry Mitchell then you better ask somebody. R311 It means that the Art and the audience suffer because we are given crap entertainment instead of something truly moving and inspiring. We are given low level talent because the talent fucked to get their position or because of nepotism. So, instead of really searching and hiring the most talented person for the job we get someone like a Denis Jones. Yea, you should go to the doctor and stay there until she gives you a brain that works.

....

R326 Jessica Christ, what a stupid entitled cunt, nobody sings along at Broadway shows, EVER

R325, Denis Jones lost Matthew Risch to Joe Mantello.

R326 the far left has certainly taught the young to hate old, white men!

Over the weekend, I was watching recording sessions of Disney Renaissance movies. A commenter (who appeared to be a young black woman in her avatar) posted "Ugh! White men!" because all of the behind-the-scenes people were mainly white and male. I didn't comment, but it made me wonder if she was going to hate these movies now because they were made by white men. It's all so bizarre. They preach color blindness and yet they're the first to notice/point out race.

Did Denis Jones choreograph that execrable Pal Joey at The Roundabout or was he with Risch before that fateful production?

WHET Matthew Risch??

Hissy fit much, r325? You may have connected those dots, but there’s nothing to prove it’s not just part of your overheated imagination. Nothing. At. All.

Isn't it early in the evening for you to have started your drinking?

^^^No hissy fit. No drinking. You don't know who you're talking to. I used to work in the industry but left because too much bullshit in the game. It's not connecting dots. And how am I supposed to prove to you? Shut up imbecile. R330 Matthew Risch, haha. That's another one. He was on the recent season finale of MODERN FAMILY briefly. Looking old and haggard.

If you're neither drinking nor having a hissy fit, r325, you might want to consider psychiatric help. Or drinking. Your post is irrational.

MR seems to spend a lot of time in the steam room at NYC gyms.

r312 I think a sixty year old woman who is still singing Defying Gravity and Anastasia needs to move on.

R333 Haha. Yea yea yea. Keep believing the bullshit then. People come on here and give y'all the real deal and some of you just can't take it.

[quote]...JERRY MITCHELL for starters. He danced lead in Broadway Bares for like 5 years straight. His big break was playing the stripper in FULL MONTY.

He choreographed “Full Monty”, you moron. His big break was showing his butt as “Indian of the Dawn” in “The Will Rogers Follies” a decade earlier.

^^^YOU ARE AN IDIOT. You fucking douche. haha. I'm talking about Denis Jones retard. He fucked Jerry Mitchell. Oh my gosh you all are dumb. DENIS JONES was the stripper in full monty. Go back and read dummy.

My post wasn't about the substance of your comments, r336. It's about the gratuitous ugliness of your response to other posters.

And I see you've just done it again. .

^^^YES. Because I hate stupidity. This is why things are the way they are. Too many idiots.

People who resort to invective and rants instead of rational dialog have always struck me as stupid.

Have a fun evening.

"Smug and loathsome little queen" is Datalounge's official spirit animal.

R341 haha. Yea. Ok buddy. 👌😭

"Rational dialog"??? Where the fuck does R341 think she is??

I smell a loon

Well, sounds like it, but Loon doesn’t live in NY. I think this is just some pissy old queen.

[quote]You don't know who you're talking to

Ah-hah! Now we know the answer to who’s in the iPhone video claiming celebrity entitlement. It’s r332!

R330, Matthew was with Denis prior to Pal Joey. Joe replaced Christian Hoff with bf Matthew.

I've seen the boot with Christian. Stockard wanted him out. At the curtain call, they wouldn't even join hands for the cast bow.

I've also seen the boot with Matthew. The man sweated profusely throughout the show. He was wiping his face with a handkerchief frequently.

This thread is officially shit.

It was gross

Though I believe Matt Risch was playing a smaller role in Pal Joey before he was promoted to lead and that's where he met Joe Mantello.

Matthew Risch was a chorus boy elevated to a star part that he was hopelessly unqualified for. He was awful. The fact that he’s had a somewhat decent TV career is jaw-dropping.

Stockyard really fucked up that Pal Joey revival. She wasn’t very good, either, and certainly shouldn’t have been throwing her weight around to get her leading man fired.

Stockard looked 30 years older than everyone else onstage in Pal Joey. I know she's playing the "older woman" but still.....

Her sex scenes with sweaty Risch were scary.

I would have shushed that woman if she was singing. Fuck that asshole. He goes on and on about how great his home training was. I guess "Mama" never taught him how to act in public. Entitled shitstain.

Everyone knows the loon lies, so maybe it is the loon & he’s lying about being in NY. His little “You don’t know who you’re talking to!” moment was telling.

Plus, he’s shown a bit of a racist, anti-left strain, and that definitely sounds like the loon, who is a Trump-loving racist.

How bad was Christian Hoff in Pal Joey? I saw it with Risch. He was okay, but I felt bad for him about the extreme sweating. He obviously can’t help it, but it was a lot of sweating and kind of distracting.

I'd rather wade through 600 posts about Follies than waste time with one post like R356

R357, Judging from the previews boot, Christian was fine. Matthew had been playing the drummer in the nightclub's band, who was having a fling with the nightclub owner, when he was elevated to the lead.

Well....we could cast Promenade.....

Am I the only one who saw the 70s revival of Pal Joey, when Joan Copeland and Fosse dancer Christopher Chadwick replaced Eleanor Parker and City Ballet star Edward Villella on 48 hours notice? Jerome Robbins saw a final run through and told Villella not to allow the NY critics to review him. He dropped out and when he did, Parker immediately followed.

R361 I saw it. It was just kind of dull. Janie Sell as Gladys at least brought a little bit of life to it, but other than that, nah.

Yeah, that production had a few really wonderful moments, but unfortunately it was uncut and ran nearly three hours long and the wonderful moments were far too few and in between. Would have loved to have seen Parker and Villella before they bailed. But I trust their judgment.

r306

Actually, lesser-known movies are perfect for adaptations, whereas iconic films (like Tootsie) invariably come up short when compared with the source material.

I saw DL fave Sian Phillips and Denis Lawson in "Pal Joey" in London years ago. Both were very good, though Lawson, if I recall, didn't do a heck of a lot of dancing like other Joeys had like Gene Kelly, Harold Lang and Bob Fosse. Great to hear to hear the great score. Was the firing of Christian Hoff just a totally political thing? Was he stealing focus from Stockard Channing? It's weird since he had just won a Tony and was replaced by a bit player whose name was immediately put above the title.

R353 That's what I was saying about people sleeping their way in. You end up with people who are unqualified. But I'm being called a "loon". haha.

I didn’t see Hoff, but I know a few who did and really liked him. I have no insider knowledge of what Stockard’s problem was, but the buzz on her was not good from the first preview. Maybe she wanted a weaker Joey so she would look better?

Wasn't Richard Rodgers notorious for using the casting couch?

Yes. Susan Johnson used to tell a funny story about her experience with Rodgers (she auditioned for Suzy in Pipe Dream). The punchline was “and that’s why I never worked for Richard Rodgers!”

I wonder if any of those well-built young men in All American had to suck Josh Logan’s cock to get cast?

[quote]Janie Sell as Gladys at least brought a little bit of life to it

I thought Dixie Carter singing “Zip” was supposed to be the highlight?

[quote]There is a role is Newsies that is considered to be “not an easy role”? It’s practically a cartoon. Where are the acting challenges in Newsies?

I would say the role of Jack in NEWSIES is a challenge to act well precisely because it is somewhat cartoonish in terms of the accent and a lot of the plot points in the show.

[quote]I wonder if any of those well-built young men in All American had to suck Josh Logan’s cock to get cast?

I'm not sure why, but I'm guessing the servicing was in the opposite direction....

R327, agreed, there are no words for the racist entitlement and myopia of the bitch who wrote that ridiculous article. If black people can't keep themselves from singing along when attending musicals about black people because those musicals "are part of black culture," then those musicals should not be done on Broadway. Maybe they should only be done at the Beacon Theatre. Oh, and the book of AIN'T TOO PROUD is not "brilliant," just because it was written by a black woman. It's trite and clunky and barely tolerable.

Hoff's Wiki page says he left Pal Joey due to and injury. Wiki pages are never wrong, of course.

Lol what is the TV career that Matthew Risch has

The book writer for Aint Too Proud, Dominique Morisseau, wrote something similar when she got shushed at a play. She wrote she wanted to slap the woman, who was white and gave her free tickets to see the play, because the woman asked her to be quieter. She said something like no one is going to tell her how to enjoy art.

The best part was when Morisseau insisted that this was all racist even though the woman’s husband was black. Morisseau wrote that didn’t matter because the other woman is part of an “elitist and supremacist culture.”

Morisseau must be exhausting to be around.

[quote]Lol what is the TV career that Matthew Risch has

There's this site called IMDB that can tell you exactly what his TV career is. I was expecting one or two entries (I knew he had done Looking and Modern Family) and was surprised by how many, including a couple of series gigs. Why don't you go there and find out?

Christopher Chadman, R361. Not Chadwick.

R371 The song is great. As I remember it, Ms. Carter was just okay.

R326

OMG! Cunt wasn’t the first thing to cone mind. NWA was.

[quote]Morisseau must be exhausting to be around.

And, judging from the "book" she wrote for AIN'T TOO PROUD, she can't write for shit.

More on the subject of black audiences singing along at musicals -- I remember there was some sort of incident when I saw MOTOWN. It didn't happen right near where I was sitting, so I don't know the details, but it did seem like there was an altercation between some black and white audience members over this very issue, and I think some of the white people either asked to have their seats changed or just left the theater in mid-performance.

I saw something recently--for the life of me I can't remember what it was; it wasn't a black play but there were a lot of African American people in the audience. And many of them started doing a "call and response" type thing--shouting out "Uh-huh" and "I know that's right" throughout the performance. Unbelievable.

R381, that's happened to me at that play about Thurgood Marshall.

I used to date a guy who would shush people. I sometimes found his shushing more distracting than the disturbances he was trying to fix.

In defense though of black people my Jewish grandmother also would sing along to Broadway musicals and if she didn't know the words she'd hum.

[quote]In defense though of black people my Jewish grandmother also would sing along to Broadway musicals and if she didn't know the words she'd hum.

Yeah, but I doubt your grandmother would have said that singing along at a Broadway musical was part of her "cultural identity," even if the show was written by Jews -- which it probably was :-)

By the time Andrew Rannells was starring in "Book Of Mormon", he was fucking Denis Jones. That wanna-be choreographer has been passed around more often than the Broadway League softball team.

What do we know about Ricky Schroeder, Jerry Mitchell's twink lover?

There's one by the name who was in "Naked Boys Singing", I think.

I saw the original production of "Dreamgirls." I wasn't expecting the level of "audience participation" that took place during Jennifer Holliday's performance of "And I Am Telling You." I must admit it did take me out of the show.

Same thing in L.A., r387.

R387 I experienced the same thing in NY, which actually kind of diminished her performance in a way. Her' "I Am Changing" in the 2nd act was lovely and audience participation-free fortunately.

I don't get all the attraction to Denis Jones. He's ugly as hell.

[quote] Christopher Chadman, [R361]. Not Chadwick.

I think you're overreacting, Miss Crawford.

And I think you're underreacting, Miss Chadman.

r490 this is why

and he was adorable back in the day. Weren't we all?

That's not adorable. That's a reject from "V."

Ugh, sorry. He is not the least bit attractive. Then or now.

r394 do not be dissing Marc Singer

[quote] I don't get all the attraction to Denis Jones. He's ugly as hell.

Maybe he has a huge schlong.

I know he's like Broadway royalty but I just find photos like this creepy. Jerry looks like his dad.

R373, Yeah, his feelings were hurt.

R387, I saw it from Orchestra Front Row Center on a Saturday evening. The audience went crazy during Telling You. I looked behind me and literally saw adults standing on their seats.

Wait, there's another actor named Ricky Schroeder?

Denis Jones reminds me of a better looking Benedict Cumberbatch and he's considered a sex symbol to many.

There's not even a hint of masculinity when Denis Jones speaks.

Gypsy turns 60! Really, gays? No mention of that? You're slackin'.

Is he trans?

[quote]There's not even a hint of masculinity when Denis Jones speaks.

In reality, R404, there's nothing especially gay about Denis Jones's voice. You seem to have some issues in terms of "masculinity," not to mention jealousy.

So it seems that Andrew Rannells has been a bit of a Broadway ho himself? His casting in Boys in the Band makes more sense to me now.

Yeah, that plate face has sucked a LOT of cock

There's not even a hint of masculinity when r404 types.

Rannalls absolutely seems like a tramp. I get the sense that his hips are always in the air and his throat is constantly expanding whenever a man walks into a room.

R411 I remember seeing a lot of backstage footage of BOYS IN THE BAND last summer, and he was always touchy-feely with Matt Bomer who seemed uncomfortable.

R411, it’s interesting how the ones who want fame the most end up the least interesting in the end. That empty himbo howdy doody wrote a MEMOIR about his empty life. Newsflash: anyone can F*CK.

Oh, I'm sure there were COUNTLESS failed pickup attempts.

Is it odd that no one sale date has been announced for the Ivo West Side Story that is supposed to start performances in a few months?

West Side Story is supposed to start in Feb 2020, so they've got 9 months

No it opens in February- it starts previews December 10

That's my birthday!

if its your birthday, Scott Rudin will let you have ice in your glass...

Little Ricky is bitter that he lost out on the role of Cowboy in The Boys in the Band. He thought mixing cocktails for Joe Mantello in Jerry’s place in the Hamptons would do the trick but nope.

That red headed beanpole thought he'd make a good Cowboy?

HAHAHAHA

[quote] Little Ricky is bitter that he lost out on the role of Cowboy in The Boys in the Band.

I wonder if Felicity did bribes for her fake sons too...

r414, He was all over everyone in that cast. It seemed to work with Charlie Carver. Many people spotted Andrew and Charlie all over Fire Island after the show completed. They allegedly stayed close until around Christmas.

It's kind of a shock that Andrew's nudes didn't leak until earlier this week which he promptly had pulled from you know what site.

" I... literally saw adults standing on their seats."

Not only bad form but unbelievably narcissistic as well.

As a 20-year old, I saw that PAL JOEY revival with replacement Chadman. I was friendly with its musical director, the late Scott Oakley, possibly the first person I knew with a Broadway career.

Know we don’t know what site.

Ugh, No (not know)

Why do you need 2 months of previews for a revival of West Side Story?

[quote] Know we don’t know what site.

It was All That Chat. Jesse21 reviewed them.

New different and rather funny relaxed interview

Rachel Bloom seems to often have her hand in something Broadway-adjacent, I'm surprised she doesn't write or star in a musical. She is very funny.

"A dance studio that the New York Times once called....."

I can’t believe so much of this thread has been devoted to Denis Jones. Although I would like to know what happened to his second “n”. Maybe he likes being just one letter away from Penis.

This Bloom interview is hilarious. Thanks for posting it!

White people sang along when I saw JERSEY BOYS. They talked and cheered like they were at a rock concert and nobody cared. It was annoying to me but oh well.

muh wypipo do the same!

God, Patti is a dream in that interview. So funny and bright. Too bad Bernadette is so dumb. Oh well.

Here's the thing about The Flamingo Kid:

While I respect writers and composers who are looking for film source material that is not overly familiar, and I guess The Flamingo Kid would rank in that category, the period (early 1960s) and the milieu (coming of age in working class suburbia) of the film are, by now, stale, predictable and cliched. Even the better juke box musicals Jersey Boys and Beautiful have covered this material.

Not to mention dozens and dozens of other movies in the last 30 years. We've seen all this before and it's tired.

The NY Times on the replacement of Christian Hoff.

He "injured his foot" - and that required him being permanently replaced? Was this just giving him the chance to "withdraw" rather than be announced as being fired? Did he actually injure his foot?

Saw TINA in London recently with the replacement cast and whooo boy, are the original leads missed. And where is the director where you need her? The new Ike plays the role like Mr. Magoo.

Detailed article on what went down with Edward Villella on the '76 Pal Joey. Sounds like Theodore Mann was the villain for pushing his casting in spite of the fact that Villella kept insisting he couldn't sing.

How about a silent movie version then, r437?

Colleen Moore. What a whore.

Denis O'Hare also spells his name with just one s. I think it must be an Irish thing.

Or French.

[quote]White people sang along when I saw JERSEY BOYS

At Mamma Mia, too.

That's true. Fair point.

For the delusional R407, 10 seconds into this interview will confirm that Denis Jones is gay.

I don't find Denis Jones to be stereotypically gay in that clip at all. I also think he looks kind of handsome, much better than he did when he was young. Age looks good on him.

On the other hand, that little "Meet me at the Muny" jingle is hideous.

R445 it doesn't make it right. I'd be pissed if anyone (black, white, whatever) sang along with the show. I didn't pay to hear them.

Did anyone get tickets to Jason Robert Brown/Sondheim's evening at the Town Hall?

Wait, are we supposed to find this Denis Jones guy ugly? He's kinda hot.

"She was the leading lady on her own patio?" "Of course, we were at her house!"

Was traveling last week and the PBS station where I was re-played the Leslie Odom LIVE FROM LINCOLN CENTER concert after Annaleigh Ashford's. Hers was pretty fun (engaging, at least). His was a big WTF? I somehow missed it when it aired last year. How did he think that song list with those dirge-like arrangements was a good idea? I guess this is why he has the career he has.

Denis Jones is NOT hot.

Denis Jones is hotter than

Christian Borle Jim Borsilman Even... Raul Esparza

Denis O’Hare was very cute and ripped when he joined CHICAGO albeit in a kind of generic way. I do remember he seemed to be a bit folically challenged.

I think I remember seeing him subsequently with a fuller head of hair

R457 what are you saying? That he's bald?

why couldn't edward villella have sung in the newly written shower scene?

R457 Denis O'Hare was never in "Chicago." I assume you mean Denis Jones.

[quote]Denis Jones is NOT hot.

“Hot” is always subjective, dear. You may think Denis Jones isn’t hot, but obviously there are those who think he is.

No. Handsome is subjective. Fat is subjective. Cute is subjective.

Hot is HOT.

Denis Jones would not be considered even remotely hot by any standards.

Not cute. Not ever. He was funny as the stripper in full monty. Gay as all hell.

Random Thoughts and Responses:

-Michael Shannon shows his tiny pee-pee in FRANKIE AND JOHNNY. He's definitely gotten in shape and toned up in prep for this play. Audra shows her dirty pillows. Both are giving very good performances.

-LMM is in the upcoming HIS DARK MATERIALS film. Holy crap, who hired him for that? He was atrocious in the MARY POPPINS sequel, out-acted by everyone on screen, including the children. And I'm not a LMM hater. I respect what he did with HAMILTON though it's grossly overrated. I just wish he'd stop performing.

-MARY POPPINS won the Chita Award on Sunday night for best film choreography. But Rob Marshall wasn't there to accept. Cher didn't show up to the Chitas either, though she was certainly expected to, as some dumbass award was obviously created just to get her to show the hell up. You could smell the disappointment in the air when it became clear she was not there and was, in fact, "on a bus to Manitoba." DL fave Wesley Taylor won an award and seemed quite surprised by his victory. He also mentioned his boyfriend in his speech more than once.

-Dave Malloy's new musical OCTET is almost as good as the Times review would have you believe. Malloy gets too intellectual in the second half of the show and loses some people, but other than that, he's created something incredibly unique and special.

-I'm amused by all the armchair critics on here who see a single number from TOOTSIE or BEETLEJUICE on television (no less) and then heartily and ignorantly dismiss an entire show with gusto. Both shows have far more going for them than I expected. TOOTSIE has some fantastic performances and a hilarious book (yes, I'm voting for it), and BEETLEJUICE has some book issues (unsurprisingly, since the film had script issues) but also has Alex Brightman and Leslie Kritzer, both of whom are doing superb work. I didn't expect to like Brightman at all, but he was hilarious.

-HAPPY TALK is not a happy time. Why was Susan Sarandon cast in this role? To be fair, Scott Elliott has done none of the actors any favors, as each seems to be performing in different plays.

-Jerry Mitchell likes twinks. Younger and thinner the better.

-Tickets for the Jason Robert Brown/Stephen Sondheim Town Hall performance started at $165. And the show sold out very, very quickly.

-The real standout in the most recent PAL JOEY revival was Martha Plimpton. She can SING.

Love how some people think they're the arbiter of all thins 'hot' or 'sexy.'

Denis O'Hare lives, or at used to live, in Chelsea. You could see him around. Made several excellent appearances in various guest roles on the various Law & Orders and has a remarkably extensive resume at IMDB. Appeared full frontal in the original New York productions of Take Me Out. The boot clips to prove it used to be on youtube, have no idea whether they are still there. He's a small guy, everything was in proportion and lovely. First rate actor.

[quote]Appeared full frontal in the original New York productions of Take Me Out

Denis O’Hare played Mason Marzac, Lemming’s manager, in Take Me Out. He did not play one of the ballplayers. He wasn’t nude.

Thank God.

Then who was the little guy in the boots?

Mack Sennett and Mabel Normand evidently fucked around for awhile but never had a serious long term relationship. She didn't die in drug ridden squalor but from long-term TB in 1930.

Everyone I've ever talked to who saw M&M in LA has told me that it was a much, much better show before the Broadway changes were put in.

I've also always heard over the years that two of the shows Encores most wanted to do were Herman's Mack and Mabel and Dear World but that Herman wouldn't release the rights, holding out for full scale revivals rather than concerts.

Very open to correction on any and all of this.

Denis O'Hare was absolutely NOT nude in TAKE ME OUT. And he and his husband now live in Paris where they are sitting out the Trump administration while leaving for work (like TARTUFFE onstage in London) as required. I'm afraid this could be a long and unhappy sit.

Mack & Mabel did, indeed, have a long-term relationship. After she caught him in bed (with Marie Prevost) she went on a wild car drive that ended with a crash and Mabel in a coma for a couple of days. The relationship eventually faded, but she was the great love of Sennett's life. Toward the end of her life, Mabel married her pal Lew Cody, but it was a "just for kicks" marriage, they never lived together. And while her death was from TB, it was hastened by the drug use that had wrecked her health and left her susceptible to all sorts of bugs.

What Mack & Mabel gets really wrong is not their relationship, but the relationship with William Desmond Taylor. In M&M, he's a villain of sorts who leads her into her druggie habits. In reality, it was the exact opposite, he desperately tried to get her off drugs (her real supplier was an actor who worked on the Sennett lot). As with Mary Miles Minter, he and Mabel were close, but weren't lovers. Taylor's affections were with the young men and boys he found very available.

The main thing that worked well in LA and was cut was the slapstick wedding finale. After Mack reminisces about Mabel dying, he fantasizes about the kind of wedding they might have had - it's done as a slapstick routine, with the Bathing Beauties as bridesmaids, and the Keystone Kops as minister, ushers, etc. There actually is footage of this ending, shot from the side, in all that performance footage from LA that surfaced years ago (some of that footage, of "Look What Happened to Mabel" and "Hundreds of Girls," was used in the Jerry Herman PBS doc several years back). The original setting of "Time Heals Everything" was on Taylor's terrace. He was shooting aimlessly at the moon, and Mabel, listless on a chaise, tried to convince him that she didn't mind his "problem" (that he couldn't get it up). Yes, really. The arrangement of the song was very quiet and muted. That was the first thing fixed in LA, replaced with the "midnight sailing" scene (very nicely written by Stewart) and the amazing "big band" orchestration for Time Heals Everything. It was definitely an improvement, and so was the restating of "Look What Happened to Mabel," which didn't happen till DC. "Hit 'Em on the Head" was in and out of the show in LA, replaced temporarily by a song called "Call the Kops." I loved that song, but it was gone after a week or two and "Hit 'Em on the Head" was back in. "My Heart Leaps Up" went in in DC as well. Although I don't care for "Hit 'em," people were expecting a big, fun Kops number, and the gentle "My Heart Leaps Up" was a disappointment. So that change wasn't helpful. There was also a redone version of the Hollywood Hotel scene, and "Wherever He Ain't" became a dance number for Mabel and the waiters at the hotel (it was previously a solo with very little blocking).

No one counted on audiences falling in love with Bernadette Peters and Mabel Normand as played by Peters, and so the unhappy ending, with Mabel dying and Mack's little "so long, kid" speech (which was longer in the show that what was recorded on the album) was controversial. Many thought they were better off with the wedding fantasy for the ending. Other than those things, there weren't big, show-changing moments between LA and DC. Snippets of dialogue here and there, Lisa Kirk lost a nice scene between Lottie and Mack right before the final Mabel scene, "I Won't Send Roses" got a revised orchestration and "Hundreds of Girls" a revised dance, and "Look What Happened to Mabel" was restaged and was better in the New York version than the LA one.

I should add that, as with "Dear World," the version of "Mack & Mabel" that was released for licensing was not the Broadway one. As he had with Lawrence and Lee on Dear World, Herman worked with Stewart. They put back "Hit 'Em on the Head" (combined with a snippet of "My Heart Leaps Up") and the wedding finale and added back some dialogue. This is the version you would have seen if you saw any of its amateur or regional productions before the big London rewrite in the 1990s. The show has gotten much worse since Michael Stewart's sister, Francine Pascal, took over the book and added a bunch of her own "improvements." (For that matter, same case with Dear World. The rewrite David Thompson did is dreadful. I would have thought it could be buried after the disastrous London production, but it's now all that Tams releases).

[quote]I've also always heard over the years that two of the shows Encores most wanted to do were Herman's Mack and Mabel and Dear World but that Herman wouldn't release the rights, holding out for full scale revivals rather than concerts.

The one show in that "Hey Look Me Over" thing Encores did in 2018 that everyone liked was "Mack & Mabel" - it was pretty much the only one that people felt was worthy of a revisit. I wonder if that might have given Herman the push he needed to okay it.

It would be nice if we got, in addition to the leaked "Love Life," Mack & Mabel and maybe High Spirits for next season, which would be 1940s, 60s, and 70s. I suspect they might stay away from the 1930s after what happened with this season.

Thanks so much, r473, r474, r475. Fascinating. I thought my knowledge was probably very incomplete.

The hapless LA Reprise series did Mack & Mabel with Jane Krakowski and Doug Sills and it was surprisingly terrific.

When a pile of crap landsh in your lap, jusht tap tap tap your troublesh away!

That single line is one of Jerry Herman's most unfortunate, right up there with, "rip the bandage off, dear world, and get well soon!"

Malloy's scores were best described by Terry Teachout in his NATASHA review: "This impression is reinforced by Mr. Malloy’s songs, whose “tunes” are flattened-out nonmelodies that exist only to carry the relentlessly wordy text and are superimposed on riffy vamps and short, oft-repeated harmonic cells."

R465 Alex Brightman is doing superb work? I have heard it all. I saw both TOOTSIE and BEETLEJUICE. Crap crap crap. Stop settling!!!! Demand better quality and better talent.

See, that's the thing, hon, you aren't the final arbiter of, oh, anything. No one is. You hate them, as you've told us over and over and over again (along with hating Patti LuPone and whatever else is on your long "hate" list). I'm sure there are people who agree with you about Tootsie and Beetlejuice (although, have you actually seen them? Really? You don't inspire much faith in the veracity of your statements.)

So, some people hate those two shows. And a whole lot of people love them. It's all subjective, no one's opinion is the final answer. So if someone says Alex Brightman is doing superb work (don't ask me, I don't care for him myself, but haven't seen Beetlejuice), then that's valid. He got excellent reviews, as did Santino. The fact that you hated them doesn't make the reviews invalid. Now go ahead, dear, with your insults and frothing anger. If you don't like being called a loon by some people, that's the reason the resemblance has been noted.

Some people hate McDonalds. And a whole lot of people love them. It's doesn't make it subjective. Good is good.

R482 You're a FREAK. And why are you so obsessed with me? Don't be mad because you have awful taste. haha. R483 Thank you baby. 💙

R482 You know, I really hate to keep insulting your intelligence but people like you are just so so pathetic. I don't give a fuck about reviews and tony nominations. It's all paid for and it's all politics. Is there anything worse than mindless followers?

Relax, girls, you're both ugly.

Jerry Mitchell might like his twinks but by all accounts he’s the bottom with Ricky.

Ricky is a TOP? Sure he is. hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha.

There are quite a few dancers on Fire Island who would spit out their smoothieses at the notion of pass-around Ricky topping anything.

Smoothieses?

Uh, smoothies, professor.

I love the cast album of HIGH SPIRITS and saw the original on Bway that was fun largely because of Lillie and Grimes. But I don't think of it as a good bet for Encores! unless they find performers of equal caliber. Given Encores! recent history, they won't. Mufti did it a while back with Carol Kane as Arcati and she was dreadful. The show seemed like a good play interrupted by some pretty decent songs, not by any means a good musical.

That being said, I won't give up my subscription ticket if it does come about.

R468 I've often wondered if Daniel Sunjata was pissed when he lost the Tony to Denis O'Hare, because he actually had to get fully naked twice! Did he think, "I did all that for nothing?"

What is the big deal about getting naked? Who cares.

R491, I am sorry to hear that Carol Kane was dreadful. I have worked with her several times and I find her lovely. She seems as if she should have been a good fit.

R493 Sunjata made statements at the time that he was never fully comfortable getting naked every day in front of strangers and had to psych himself out every time.

Psych himself out....

r494 Kane was a very touching replacement in Frankie & Johnny

[quote] Am I the only one who saw the 70s revival of Pal Joey, when Joan Copeland and Fosse dancer Christopher Chadwick replaced Eleanor Parker and City Ballet star Edward Villella on 48 hours notice? Jerome Robbins saw a final run through and told Villella not to allow the NY critics to review him. He dropped out and when he did, Parker immediately followed.

Christopher Chadwick took Eleanor Parker's place?

To be fair to Carol Kane, she may have been directed badly, and the resources of Mufti are not, shall we say, rich.

Who played Elvira in that production?

Jerry Herman, as much as I love him is delusional if he thinks anyone is going to mount a Broadway revival of Mack & Mabel.

Interestingly Roundabout has never done an awful production of one of his shows.

Did Patricia Routledge ever do Arcati? She'd be marvelous.

[quote]Jerry Herman, as much as I love him is delusional if he thinks anyone is going to mount a Broadway revival of Mack & Mabel.

Maybe if it hadn't been for the recession, there would have been more people willing to invest in something that's not a sure thing just to see if it can be done.

Several threads ago, someone said the pre-Broadway version of [italic]Mack and Mabel[/italic] was better than the one that ended up on Broadway. If anyone really wants to put the kind of money in it that it would take to do it right, then they should do a "pre-vival" of that version.

Isn't Jerry Mitchell too old to bottom for anything?

I think the DL is sufficient proof r506 that one is never to old to bottom.

Is he still dating the Ricky Schroeder who isn't in jail and actually has two e's in his name?

Which agency represents Jerry Herman? He doesn't seem to have anyone smart looking after his catalogue

[quote]Denis Jones would not be considered even remotely hot by any standards.

Oh, piss off, you smug queen.

[quote] Which agency represents Jerry Herman? He doesn't seem to have anyone smart looking after his catalogue

I wonder if that will change when he passes on which can't be that far away, he's 87 and hasn't been seen out in years.

This whole Denis Jones thing is absurd.

Not a single person has said he's talented or does good work.

It's been insinuated that he works so much because he fucks the right people so clearly SOMEONE must find him attractive.

Who ever got ahead without putting out?

[quote] Who ever got ahead without putting out?

Ethel Schutta

Marie Dressler

R513 Moi!

On my show she WAS the casting couch!

That's Shutta, r514, ya putz!

Did Ethel Merman put out?

Would anyone have wanted her to?

That's for me to know and you to never find out, R519.

Ethel was fairly attractive when she was younger.

For about five minutes

if all these guys are such Broadway whores, how come no one on DL ever seems to have first-hand (or -mouth or -ass or -cock) knowledge?

[quote]This whole Denis Jones thing is absurd. Not a single person has said he's talented or does good work. It's been insinuated that he works so much because he fucks the right people so clearly SOMEONE must find him attractive.

Denis Jones has done good work as a choreographer on TOOTSIE, HOLIDAY INN, HONEYMOON IN VEGAS, and a few non-Broadway shows. Even IF he got where he is partly because some people thought he was hot, and even IF he had sex with one or more of those people, at least he turned out to have talent. Unlike Rob Ashford, for example.

Did Rob Ashford have to shtup Zadan or Meron to direct [italic]The Sound of Music LIVE[/italic]?

Sshe Schtoops To Conquer!

[quote] Denis Jones has done good work as a choreographer on TOOTSIE

Oh, so you haven't seen Tootsie.

Herman really needs to remove the fist from his ass and realize that no-one is going to put up money for full scale revivals of his shows without seeing how the material plays to a modern audience first. Mame would be fun with the right star, but I'd recommend an Encores staging first and then a heavy tweaking of the book before it hits Broadway.

[quote] if all these guys are such Broadway whores, how come no one on DL ever seems to have first-hand (or -mouth or -ass or -cock) knowledge?

Because no one who posts on these threads is under 40. Everyone who used to got scared away by lunatics or people accusing them of lying. How many times is the nudity in Take Me Out discussed here? A chorus boy today was an infant when Take Me Out was performed.

[quote]Because no one who posts on these threads is under 40.

I am.

Anyone else see the documentary Bathtubs Over Broadway? Currently streaming on Netflix, it's about the industrial musicals popular for corporations' sales meetings during the '50s, '60s and '70s. I'd heard of them (I knew about the Milliken shows), but, of course, never seen one. I'd give the movie a solid B -- there's a bit too much of the former Letterman writer who becomes obsessed with the show, but there are some great clips from the shows as well as interviews with with the people who wrote, directed or acted in them (Martin Short, Susan Stroman, Jerry Bock).

Most Disneyland music was essentially commissioned for those same corporations since they're the ones putting up the sponsorship money for the attractions.

R528, I have seen TOOTSIE. Please enlighten us all as to what exactly you think is so bad about Denis Jones's choreography in it. He did get a Tony nomination for it, and though I'm sure you're going to say "Well, that doesn't mean anything," the fact remains that he was nominated over several other eligible nominees.

Really? Who were all the other eligible nominees he was nominated over? This was a shit year all around.

[quote] I have seen TOOTSIE. Please enlighten us all as to what exactly you think is so bad about Denis Jones's choreography in it.

I'll tell you what- since the burden of proof would be on you, why don't you tell us what makes his choreography in Tootsie so great.

Burden of proof. LOL

For choreography, Head Over Heels should have been nominated over Tootsie or Choir Boy.

R536, since Denis Jones did get a Tony nomination for his choreography of TOOTSIE, I would say the burden of proof is on YOU to tell us why you think his choreography is no good.

And to answer another question, Jones's choreography was nominated over THE CHER SHOW, BEETLEJUICE, BE MORE CHILL, OKLAHOMA! and HEAD OVER HEELS.

Yes, I'd love to hear about all the amazing dance numbers in Tootsie. Please tell us about them. And I'd love to hear how Jones' movement and staging commented on the characters and the story. Please, PLEASE enlighten us.

I am under 40 as well and have been accused of lying many times on here. Been called a loon, racist, moron. Even though I'm mixed (POC) and none of those things. Sometimes I do just leave this site for awhile because of all the bullshit. I'm sticking around for the tony awards thread which is always better than the show itself. I generally like everyone here, even the ones i disagree with. But it gets annoying being accused of shit constantly. What do people have to lie for here? It's fucking anonymous. R539 Once again, award nominations are decided by a small clique of people. Like, what 18 people I think actually decide the nominees (not the winners) GET A FUCKING CLUE. You obviously don't know how the business works. I'm with the other guy, the burden of proof is on YOU. PLEASE tell us what was so good about his choreography in TOOTSIE. Cause you still haven't answered.

Too bad they don't have Tonys for "Best Use of Chili and Cornbread" and "Best Attempt to Satisfy People Who Are Never Happy About Anything".

R541, I won't accuse you of being a racist, but I'll definitely accuse of being a loon for insisting that the "burden of proof" is on me to explain why I like Denis Jones's Tony-nominated choreography for TOOTSIE. The same goes for you, R540. Maybe you two should exit this thread, stage right and go spend your lives together.

The burden of proof is very much on you to justify why this show deserved a nomination.

WHAT choreography in Noglaucoma?

R543 is toooo funny! 😂😂😂😂 and STILL can't answer the question.

What's next, an Ado Annie who literally can't say no … or anything else?

Endless discussions of "Follies" suddenly look a lot better.

Was Daniel Sunjata up against Dennis O'Hare for a Tony or was he in the Lead category where he belonged?

[quote]Endless discussions of "Follies" suddenly look a lot better.

Would you settle for endless discussions of [italic]La Cage Aux Folles[/italic]?

An 85-year-old Patricia Routledge in a 2014 production of "An Ideal Husband."

The Mufti HIGH SPIRITS cast included Veanne Cox as Ruth, Janine La Manna as Elvira, and Howard McGillin as Charles. Not a bad cast, but the show itself is kind of earthbound, if you'll pardon the pun.

Sorry R539, but you've gone on and on about how the show deserves its choreography nomination (and you've been something of a smug ass about it) so yes, it is on you to tell us why.

R549 Sunjata was in Featured Actor, too. The other nominees were:

- Thomas Jefferson Byrd, "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom"

- Philip Seymour Hoffman & Sean Patrick Leonard, "Long Day's Journey into Night"

2003 Lead Actor in a Play nominees:

- Brian Dennehy, "Long Day's Journey into Night" (WINNER)

- Brian, "Tartuffe"

- Eddie Izzard, "A Day in the Death of Joe Egg"

- Paul Newman, "Our Town"

- Stanley Tucci, "Frankie & Johnny"

Sorry, "Tartuffe" was with Brian Bedford.

"Did Ethel Merman put out?"

Yes, of course she did. She put out a new hit show every season!

[quote]Was Daniel Sunjata up against Dennis O'Hare for a Tony or was he in the Lead category where he belonged?

For the Drama Desks, Sunjata was in Lead and O'Hare was in Featured, and they both won. For the Tonys, they were both placed in Featured, and O'Hare won.

Oh look, Miss "You obviously don't know how the business works" is back. AKA "You have no idea who you're talking to, I quit the business because of all the shit."

Everyone knows who you are, despite your claims of being a POC under the age of 40. I have no idea if you're THE loon, but you're certainly A loon.

^^^See. Once again..

[quote]Jones's choreography was nominated over THE CHER SHOW, BEETLEJUICE, BE MORE CHILL, OKLAHOMA!

Can't believe the Oklahoma! choreography was ignored when it has that stunning one-person modern dance reinterpretation of the famous ballet, complete with cowboy boots dropping from the sky!

I agree with whomever suggested upthread that Head Over Heels (which was otherwise, largely dire) deserved a choreography nomination over some of the other shows.

R559 on ATC, one of the "you don't know how the business works" loons is pretentious, argumentative SJW Singapore/Fling.

Here's an odd opinion. I actually think "head over heels" could have been interesting with an original score. Cool premise, fun design, great choreo.

It was actually a fun show and showed diversity in its cast and message without hitting you over the "Head". Bonnie Milligan was excellent.

Singapore Fling is a scourge.

[quote]since the burden of proof would be on you, why don't you tell us what makes his choreography in Tootsie so great.

There's no burden of proof for either one of you. One liked it, one hated it. He doesn't have to justify hating it, and you don't have to justify liking it.

[quote]Who played Elvira in that production?

There was a reading of High Spirits several years back, I think it was put together for Roundabout which was considering it. Anyway, I know Megan Mullally was in it, but I don't know if she was Elvira or Ruth, she could have been either (or even a youngish Mme. Arcati. Now she's the perfect age for Arcati (61).

Carrie and Miss Sally Adams.....

La Cage ain't got no mystique, r550.

High Spirits (and Blithe Spirit) need authentically eccentric British actors, schooled in high comedy. Of course, Tammy Grimes wasn't British, just simply brilliant.

Carol Kane, a nice actress, could never suitably fill the bill. Nor could Megan Mullaly, IMHO.

I'm guessing Mullaly was Elvira, since her go-to persona is one of hyperactive sexuality. Don't think she is subtle enough for the role.

Jackie Hoffman as Arcati? (kidding, kidding)

Why won't Encores mount a production of "The Happy Time"?

I'm currently watching a Good Wife rerun. Denis O'Hare is playing the judge.

Nathan shuts down audience members for talking over him:

[quote]Why won't Encores mount a production of "The Happy Time"?

Because it stinks? Just a guess.

Really, it’s a dreadful book and a decent, but unexceptional, score).

Harry Haddon-Paton could play Charles Condamine in an Encores! High Spirits. Or Jefferson Mays, or Bryce Pinkham.

Julie White would actually be a funny Mme. Arcati, and she sings, too (or did, once upon a time). Laura Benanti could be an Elvira, but she’s almost too old already. But it might not matter for Encores.

Sheridan Smith for Elvira!

Charles is a bit of difficult sing, in more high baritone range, so I don't think Haddon-Paton or Jefferson Mays could sing it, unless they transposed keys down. Edward Woodward, known in the US mostly for the original tv series "The Equalizer", had a very good singing voice, usually not remarked upon.

Who’s the Brit who did so well in something last year, and then played Willy in I Married an Angel? He has a nice high baritone.

But i don't think he got such great reviews in "I Married An Angel' in a bigger role.

[quote]Sheridan Smith for Elvira!

Her body type is more of a Mme. Arcati these days. Imelda Staunton May have an Arcati in her, or Zoe Wanamaker.

I wish they'd bring over Jeremy Northam; he'd be great!

Ooh, yes, Jeremy Northam! He has a lovely voice. It was Mark Evans who was in Angel.

The Downton Abbey guy, the missing father of Edith’s baby, played Charles in the tour of Blithe Spirit with Angela, and I think he sings. He didHiggins in the Melbourne stop of Dame Julie’s MFL.

What about Mark Umbers?

Jeremy Northam was terrific singing and acting as Ivor Novello in "Gosford Park" and also playing Dean Martin in a tv movie about Martin and Jerry Lewis opposite Sean Hayes.

JRM said that Northam is a homophobe.

That would be a surprise given that Northam is gay.

I thought it was odd for JRM to bring up in an interview. He portrayed Northam as a standoffish, "backs to the wall, fellas" type.

Who is JRM? And yes, I have heard for ages that Northam is gay.

Jonathan Rhys Meyers.

Ivor Novello was gay. So? Northam has played straight and gay roles. He'd be a fine Charles in "High Spirits".

Would "High Spirits" require chorus boys? They might make Jezza nervous.

New Thread

Oops... Meant Denis Jones (not O’Hare) circa his stint in CHICAGO had thinning hair. I’m assuming he’s had hair transplant surgery .

Come.

On...

End..

This.