THEATRE GOSSIP #367: "The Which of Us will Deign to Replace Jonathan Bailey in COMPANY" Edition

Why the fuck did you post this now, OP? The other thread is only up to 510 replies. You just can’t stand to have anyone but you start a thread, can you? Stupid fuck.

Why the fuck did you post this now, OP? The other thread is only up to 510 replies. You just can’t stand to have anyone but you start a thread, can you? Stupid fuck.

Rannells will probably be gunning for the "Amy" role in the Broadway COMPANY revival.

Why the fuck did you post twice, nitwit?

Clearly we can't have YOU in charge.

I could see Barrett Foa doing it, if he's not still tied up with that procedural show.

Due to much consternation (and unspeakably foul language) please refer back to #366 for commenting purposes, until such time as 600 posts (?) is reached)

LINK TO PREVIOUS THREAD:

Well THIS is working out well.

Harrumph.

Karen, we'll work on your posts in private, please.

TAKE FIVE, PEOPLE!

The previous thread is crawling along. It appears to have only about two people sniping at each other.

haha

On Another Note: I put this in the other thread - am I imagining it, or is it kind of great?

(Karen Z, can you prepare an important dance break ... or dream ballet?)

R11 So, now you are double posting on both threads......

I am replying to my honorable GUESTS.

You may see yourself out - LOTS to do!

At least everyone can post on this one for now. It could catch up to the other thread if it doesn't get put behind the paywall for a couple days.

We aren’t your guests, OP/r13. Just because you fucked up & started it way too early doesn’t mean you OWN the damned thing.

The reason these get started so early is because fucking Muriel keeps putting them behind paywalls at around the 450th post. And that's why they get so sluggish. It's bullshit.

Why didn't they cast Bailey in The Eternals? He's so much more beautiful than Madden, and a better actor as well. Hope he doesn't get too old before we get to lust over him in big movies.

I'm still agog at Liberace and Millicent Martin....first nighters!

[quote]r15 We aren’t your guests, OP/[R13]. Just because you fucked up & started it way too early doesn’t mean you OWN the damned thing.

You are cordially invited to shut the fuck up, before I start #368. Like, right now.

We know who you are, OP, so go fuck yourself. And we know exactly what will happen if you try to lamely start 368 with one of your stupid titles. You're not clever at all, though you clearly think you are.

[quote](dead silence)

The dead part would be fine r19.

[quote]r20 We know who you are, OP, so go fuck yourself. And we know exactly what will happen if you try to lamely start 368 with one of your stupid titles. You're not clever at all, though you clearly think you are.

As you like.

Who let a maniac start a thread?

Jesus wept, the fucking idiot is off his meds.

Greyed out... So what?

There's no thread like theater threads.

Andrew Keenan Bolger for Company

The Thread #368 which our troll OP started because she was pissed has been removed.

Thanks for the update.

No, not Keenan Bolger for Jamie in Company. Someone who doesn't read as a tween. I keep thinking Gavin Creel, but only because I can't think of anyone else off the top of my head. How about Zachary Levi for "April," the flight attendant role? Just a passing thought. Matthew Morrison could play nearly any of the husbands.

Gideon Glick for (J)Amy!

[quote]The Thread #368 which our troll OP started because she was pissed has been removed.

it's still there for me.

Bunch'a control freaks all up in here

Yes, it's still there.

its not bad to have one in reserve.

if r20 hadn't thrown a shit fit and tried to be so controlling it wouldn't have happened

As long as the threads are linked, it's fine.

Ryan Murphy is adapting A Chorus Line into a ten-part mini-series. WTF?!?

Will it be like SMASH? (I don't mean "will it be shit?")

J'ai adoré Smash!

In the previous thread, someone asked when American Son was going to be released. TIFF: September 12, 2019; Netflix: November 1, 2019.

R20 isn’t the OP. Because the OP is the one who was controlling and threw a “shit fit.”

All OP did was try to start a new thread. They made a mistake about when to do it but so what. it's not like they started a new thread when the old 1 was at 20 posts.

And everyone can post to this one unlike the old one. Thanks, OP.

So, kids, I just watched the London production of KINKY BOOTS on The Broadway Channel. Never saw it on Broadway, even though that fucker ran like 6 years.... And I have more questions than answers!

Why exactly did the heir to the declining shoe factory decide that large male cross-dressers represented a lucrative untapped market segment?

Given the subject matter, why is every design aspect of the show hideous, particularly the costumes?

I love Cyndi so much. When exactly did she lose her songwriting talent?

Lastly, how did this raging dumpster fire of a musical run for so long?

R43 Why is the twink lead now a fat fucker?

Kinky Boots is one of the worst shows. Evuh.

I actually like the first 45 minutes of Kinky Boots and the last half hour.

But it has a first act finale that just lays there like a turd on stage, and the first two songs of the second act are horrible. (The boxing scene should not have been musicalized. And probably played off stage.) And the characters just randomly start arguing near the end.

But I like the finale a lot, and several other songs are very good (especially “Soul of a Man”, and “History of Wrong Guys”)

It’s about 60% fun and 40% slop.

Because, R44, fat is where it's at.

R47 = Chris Sieber

Stark Sands is fat now?

Why hasn’t the earlier thread closed?

Does really no one post there?

So this 10-part A Chorus Line is going to be, what, all the back stories, I guess? That is, At The Ballet will take up an entire episode or more on the three women's childhood dance dreams? Ugh, no. Like it or not, ACL is a pretty streamlined (and intermission-less) show that tells us enough of what we need to know about its characters as it drives toward a spectacular finale (a finale that negates everything we learned about the dancers as they immediately become anonymous). I hope Ryan Murphy never reads George Bernard Shaw; Man and Superman is long enough already.

Will he use Jackie “Mamacita” Hoffman? Maybe as the wife who can’t sing?

We need to see her in a leotard.

[quote]Will he use Jackie “Mamacita” Hoffman? Maybe as the wife who can’t sing?

Sure, because one sees so many 58-year-olds auditioning to dance in the chorus.

Couldn't they just toss the leotard on the stage r52?

[quote]R53 Sure, because one sees so many 58-year-olds auditioning to dance in the chorus.

He did that age-reverse CGI on Jessie in AMERICAN HORROR STORY, season 1, tho. They can just use it on Jackie for the whole CHORUS LINE season.

I vote yes.

Apparently the Chorus Line 10 parter is going to be the story of how it came to be.

So the original cast members will be ripped off twice?

Whatever the configuration, 10 parts is fucking excessive. Look at Fosse/Verdon. They couldn't sustain enough interest for 8 episodes. It felt stretched to beyond boredom. And they had so much more material to work with.

I say one episode should be devoted to Nicole getting a role in the movie version of A Chorus Line and everyone mocking her behind her back for being a talent free cunt who got the job because someone owed daddy a favor.

Ryan Murphy is out of control. Someone needs to stop that cocksucker.

[quote]Apparently the Chorus Line 10 parter is going to be the story of how it came to be.

There’s nothing to indicate that in the information that’s been released.

A Chorus Line would be great as a 2 hour Netflix movie. Right the wrongs of the original film version - don't take it and stretch it out until it gets boring.

"Stark Sands is fat now?"

Please, nooooooooooo.

Sands’ butt in Die Mommie Die

R58 = Lisa Mordente

Anyone who could see the movie version of ACL and pick Nicole as the weakest link has an obvious personal grudge.

Oy, Bella!

Getting back to something that was posted at the end of 366, why HAVEN'T they cast Che in the City Center Evita?

DL fave Andrew Keenan Bolger gender-bends "The History of Wrong Guys" from Kinky Boots.

Oh, they haven’t announced Che? I wonder if LMM is going to do it?

Well, doesn't this look spiffy?

Andrew Keenan-Bolger is 34, turns 35 next May. He’s actually a perfect age and type to play Jamie in Company.

A Chorus Line requires a star to play Cassie. You either are a star, or you are not. If you saw the show with Donna McKechnie, then you know. Donna's replacement, Ann Reinking, would have been just fine in the chorus. The other Cassie's I saw over the years would be just fine in the chorus. The only problem with A Chorus Line is finding a Cassie who stands out from the others. Most dancers do not. Donna always did.

And no television mini-series is going to be able to make that problem go away.

None of the other Cassies had the star quality that Donna had. Reinking actually came closest. The rest were very unexceptional.

Actually, if Leland Palmer has been able to stay with the show in LA beyond the one performance she did, she probably would have been a Cassie with major star quality.

Leland Palmer was a stand-out in the National Company of APPLAUSE. She might have been great as Cassie.

Ann Reinking sang the goddamned score in Carol Channing's key. Or possibly William Warfield's. It made a difference. A horrible difference.

The Eleanor Parker company had Candy Brown.

Paging Karen Ziemba, please....Karen Ziemba.

I had no star quality?

And what about meeeeeee?

Mckechnie had no star quality, a fact proven by her post ACL career. When she was in the line, she didn't stand out, which was the point. She was returning to the show because there was nothing left for her, which sadly mirrored McKechnie who returned to ACL many times.

No, not true. McKechnie shone in ACL. The point was not that she didn't stand out, but that, having had a bit of success, she had to prove she knew how to "turn it off" so she could be a chorus dancer again. McKechnie was also the best thing about that wretched Follies at Papermill (well, McKechnie and Laurence Guittard).

Bennett fucked her up with ACL. Rather than pushing her as a star (for the Tonys), he should have let her win in supporting, and move on to TV and film in supporting roles. But he felt she was now a big Broadway star and couldn't take something that was beneath her. There's not much in the musicals of the 1980s that she would really have been right for, even in non-dancing roles. Maybe the Witch in Into the Woods. Maybe the ballerina in Grand Hotel (kind of surprised she wasn't one of the replacements for that). Or even Karen Akers' part in Grand Hotel. By the 90s, she was sliding into her 50s, and age became a factor (plus the weight gain that happened when she got arthritis).

[quote]Wanda Richert - being a bizarre new age guru somewhere

She's not just a new-age guru. She's also a fundie freak "minister." She's anti-vac and supports Trump and guns. The only time she sounds like the old Wanda is when she is complaining about being screwed out of her royalties.

You only have to listen to McKechnie's (mostly) monologue pre Music and the Mirror to recognise that she wasn't all that special outside of her dancing.

R71, Reinking WAS a star. She had headlined on Bway and had some name recognition.

McKecknie was not well known before ACL. She had never starred in anything on Broadway. She was a great featured dancer, but not anyone the general public would have known.

Do you think the Bennett would ever allow the original ending where Cassie does *not* make the cut? The current ending always seems like a big fat lie to me.

R79, you don't understand A Chorus Line. Not at all.

Cassie is the stand out. Zak tells her so. But she needs a job. She's broke. When she dances with the others, Zak barks at her to fit in. She can't.

But because everyone wants a happy ending, she gets the job. Those are just basic plot points. How did you miss ALL of it?

I can dance! I am dance! I am Cassie!

Find fault with the Paper Mill production if you will, r80, but it was far from wretched. There were many things right with it. Dee Hoty really made Ah, But Underneath work, it was nice to see the original Mirror choreography, and the Prologue was stunning.

Maybe Mr. Groff can be persuaded to be in COMPANY.

Dee Hoty was dull in the book scenes. She was good on the cast recording, as was Ann Miller, another cast member who wasn't great onstage in the actual production.

Whoever that was who played Cassie last year in the City Center ACL was better than Donna.

Further casting for Jackman/Foster Music Man announced. Of course Jayne Houdysell is playing Eulalie Shinn:

Surprising to see Marie Mullen in the cast.

I didn't find her at all dull, r89. Even John Simon was effusive about her. I also agreed with his "Phyllis Newman will have to do as Stella".

Who will play ME in the ACL miniseries?

R85 you don't understand. Cassie is not a standout until Zach tell us. We don't zero in on Cassie's dancing ability in the opening number because she's the same as everyone else. MATM might have shown us what made her. star but Bennett's choreography (or Donna's as has been rumored) is so lackluster that we don't believe her plight. They used the One moment to showcase her "talent" but she's able to completely blend into the scenery by the number's end. Notice they don't use her in the later Tap Combination because she wouldn't stand out there either.

McKechnie's terrible luck in all entertainment fields after ACL attests to her lack of personal star quality. A good dancer but not a star is a sadly prophetic observation from the show about her.

To see what a stand-out McKechnie was in her prime, just view all the YouTube videos of "Turkey Lurkey Time." No one else comes close to what she can do. She even stood out at Paper Mill doing "Who's That Woman."

Turkey Lurkey wasn't ACL and we aren't given that history in the show. McKechnie had lots of chances but the public never embraced her as a star. Physically, she's quite ordinary.

She did have competition from Liliane, r96

Yes, r96, you ARE given that history in the show.

^ meant r97

R99, we're TOLD of it, we don't see it. They keep saying she's too good for the chorus but never get that proof. The original MATM included four chorus boys that enacted what was presumably the numbers that Cassie stopped the show in but was cut. For them to keep saying Cassie is too good for the chorus and we don't believe it makes for a terrible set up.

McKechnie is a lovely lady and fine dancer but very much replaceable.

To be fair, r101, there are really only two women I'd consider irreplaceable Broadway dancers.....

R102, we're talking about Cassie and McKechnie and how the upcoming miniseries will be a flop without her. Patently ridiculous. It will be a flop because time has passed it by.

Yes, R102. Gwen Verdon and Carol Haney.

No, Gwen and Chita.

LIIIIISSSHHAAA!

r98

Have Tony Sheldon and Dee Hoty ever been seen in the same room?

Not in the same body.....

Whatintheholyhell was Phyllis Newman doing in that Follies clip? Patti LuPone in Anything Goes?

We get it, r101. You’re never going to convince that your opinion is anything but that, an opinion. You don’t have the “right” answer, and Michael Bennett would not agree with you.

Wow. Shuler Hensley as Marcellus is casting I would not have expected.

And also peculiar to see Broadway’s favorite schlub, Jayne Howdyshell, as Eulalie McKechnie Shinn.

Jayne Houdyshell is a walking mole.

Not the animal, the growth on one's face.

Jane Houdyshell and Jefferson Mays seem an odd match. She's quite a bit older than he.

R111, I guess he wouldn't since he's dead.

“Ah, But Underneath” is vastly inferior to “The Story of Lucy & Jessie.”

Dame Diana couldn't dance L&J. Hoty could've, so I'm curious why they didn't use it.

I love all three of Phyllis' possible Follies numbers

Did someone mention a leading dancer with star quality?

She sits at the Ritz with her splits of Mumms And starts to pine for a stine with her Village chums But with the schlitz in her mitts down in Fitzroy's Bar She thinks of the Ritz, so it's so schizo

[quote] Did someone mention a leading dancer with star quality?

Well, they sure weren't talking about me.

[quote]r101 They keep saying she's too good for the chorus but we never get that proof.

Cassie's a dancing Band-Aid.

Donna gets dumped in the wings!

I never miss a Patty Duke musical.

I think Patty Duke wrote that she was mortified doing musical numbers in the 60s because she knew she couldn't really sing or dance. She'd drink while recording the songs, and then the emgineers layered uo whatever she could do in the mixing, and it sounded okay-ish. But she felt like a sham.

^^ layered UP... not "uo"

[quote]Wow. Shuler Hensley as Marcellus is casting I would not have expected.

I think he's a good choice for the part. A little old for it, maybe, but Hugh Jackman is no spring chicken. And neither is Sutton.

I'm honestly surprised they didn't cast an African American as Marcellus. This means none of the leads in THE MUSIC MAN are people of color. That's refreshing as far as I'm concerned, because it has started to seem like you HAVE to have at least one person of color in a major role in any Broadway show, regardless of the setting and period of the show, or you'll get protests.

Well they certainly can't make Tommy Djilas be black!

Maybe Winthrop can be Filipino.

I have no use for Houdyshell since she became complicit in kicking Reed Birney out of the cast of The Humans movie. Everybody else is in, but Houdyshell badmouthed Birney to Karam, and since he's the director, he believed her. She's a snake.

[quote] I have no use for Houdyshell since she became complicit in kicking Reed Birney out of the cast of The Humans movie. Everybody else is in, but Houdyshell badmouthed Birney to Karam, and since he's the director, he believed her. She's a snake.

Ummm, you have no idea what you're talking about. No one but Houdyshell is reprising. The entire rest of the cast was replaced. It's Beanie Feldstein, Amy Schumer, Steven Yuen, Richard Jenkins and Houdyshell.

At "Betrayal" on Broadway, a cellphone makes Tom Hiddleston cry:

Was "Betrayal" the show that Constance Wu lost out on because (horror of horrors) her TV show got renewed?

I hear Vivian Vance is understudy to Patti Lupone

Can we talk about Michael Bennett? Who had him? What are the stories? Was he a filthy slut? Well hung? Whiny bottom? Who were his lovers?

Wasn’t Michael Avian one of his lovers?

[quote]So this 10-part A Chorus Line is going to be, what, all the back stories, I guess? That is, At The Ballet will take up an entire episode or more on the three women's childhood dance dreams? Ugh, no. Like it or not, ACL is a pretty streamlined (and intermission-less) show that tells us enough of what we need to know about its characters as it drives toward a spectacular finale (a finale that negates everything we learned about the dancers as they immediately become anonymous). I hope Ryan Murphy never reads George Bernard Shaw; Man and Superman is long enough already.

So don't watch but of course you will and come back week after week and bitch about it

They should have cast Bobby Banas as Cassie. You can't take your eyes off him in that Billie clip.

[quote]Wasn’t Michael Avian one of his lovers?

Do you mean Bob Avian? I don’t think he was.

Time to don our go-go boots.....

I bet Murphy will say the ACL miniseries primary source will be the hours and hours of audio tapes Bennett made with a group of dancers.

How about casting DL fave Robbie Fairchild as Cassie?

Emma Roberts is playing Cassie. Evan Peters for Zach.

Jessica Lange for Sheila. Sarah Paulson for Val!

"I heard that, you bitch. I didn't want them like yours. I wanted mine in proportion."

They should have Patti LuPone play Zach. What a "meta" kind of moment, for her to play the role created by her brother.

[quote]How about casting DL fave Robbie Fairchild as Cassie?

He's too much of a cunt for Cassie. It's Sheila or nothing for him.

[quote]R135 Can we talk about Michael Bennett? Who had him? What are the stories?

Did Donna McKechnie really leave him because he wouldn’t use her in Dreamgirls?

This is weird. The Margo Sappington version of Turkey Lurkey Time seems to have been scrubbed form Youtube. The Donna McKechnie version is still there. The revival is still there. The three guys are still there. Why would the Margo Sappington version be deleted?

They were finished years before Dreamgirls, r147.

Margo Sappington, Donna and Baayork were the original cast for Turkey Lurkey. Sappington left the show first, though, for Oh Calcutta. By the time the number was done on the Tonys in 1969, she was long gone. Was there another tape from an appearance earlier in the run that is missing now?

R151, yes. There was a version where Margo Sappington dances the lead, Donna is not in the number, and Baayork has the ridiculous white collar added to her costume.

Oh, here’s Margo’s version!

That ain't me!

Speaking of "Oh! Calcutta!", does anyone have any updates on some of the folks who appeared in the show and what happened to them (besides the famous ones like Bill Macy ("Maude") and Alan Rachins ("L.A. Law", "Dharma and Gregg"). For instance, there was this one guy Cy Moore who I remember, when the revival opened, had his naked back in posters on the NY subway; he looked really hot. Does anyone hear know anybody who did the show? (Btw, I'm more interested in hearing about the guys.)

Here's the original cast of "Oh! Calcutta!".

The guy on the top here was Cy Moore - not as good as photo as the poster, but you can tell he was cute.

There was an Ed Sullivan Show performance of Turkey Lurkey Time that used to be on YouTube. The sound is better. The image is better. The dancing is not better. It's probably Lada Edmund dancing Vivien Della Hoya. Barbara Alston is Miss Polanski.

But now it's gone from YouTube.

What's our Miss Brooksie up to next?

[quote]Speaking of "Oh! Calcutta!", does anyone have any updates on some of the folks who appeared in the show and what happened to them (besides the famous ones like Bill Macy ("Maude") and Alan Rachins ("L.A. Law", "Dharma and Gregg").

Cress Darwin was in the original 1976 revival cast at the Edison Theatre. He was the male in the nude Pas de Deux with Haru Aki. You'll never guess where he is now...

[quote]Did Donna McKechnie really leave him because he wouldn’t use her in Dreamgirls?

Well that and he was gay.

Wait! All those guys were actually naked on stage and none were hung to their knees? How did they find such tiny guys?

[quote]There was an Ed Sullivan Show performance of Turkey Lurkey Time that used to be on YouTube.

Oh - well, if that's the missing one, it makes sense. The guy who controls all those Ed Sullivan clips has his minions go through YouTube periodically to have anything that he owns removed. He theoretically wants them so he can release them, but he's already done his "Broadway" release. He won't be doing another one. Fortunately, those Sullivan clips all made it out years ago, and every time one gets deleted, one of the guardian queens puts it back up.

There were other pictures from that original Oh Calcutta. My memory is that Leon Russom (the younger guy dead center in that pic) actually had a nice sized dick, George Welbes (standing to his left), too. Bill Macy and the other two, not so much.

I wonder which cast this was?

Wow. Cress Darwin these days is rather handsome. Too bad there are no pictures from his Oh Calcutta stint.

This is the 1976 revival cast. Is Cress Darwin the one standing on his head? None of the others really looks like the older picture. (I know the guy on the right with the mustache is Richert Easley, renowned for his Karen Black drag ("I can't fly this plane alone. I can't! I can't!") in that Craig Russell film, Outrageous.

The guy on the left is Buddy Jarvis who originated the role of the Courier in 1776 and sang"Momma Look Sharp."

R166 that picture is of a replacement cast for the 1976 revival, not the original revival cast. The only person from the original revival cast in that picture is September Thorpe, pictured far left. That is not Cress Darwin who is standing on his head.

R167 is referring to Scott Jarvis, who sang Momma Look Sharp in the OBC of 1776. Here's his obituary in the NY Times, March 3, 1990:

Scott Jarvis, an actor and singer, died of AIDS on Monday at his home in Manhattan. He was 48 years old.

As a member of the original cast of the musical '1776,' Mr. Jarvis sang the antiwar song 'Mama Look Sharp.' He sang the song at a White House reception given by President Richard M. Nixon, and on the 1969 Tony Awards telecast. Mr. Jarvis also appeared in the musicals 'Sugar' and 'Here's Where I Belong.'

He appeared in several television shows, including 'Starsky and Hutch,' 'The Young and the Restless' and 'The Edge of Night.'

There are no survivors.

This is a souvenir program from the original 1976 revival cast. Haru Aki, Cy Moore, Cress Darwin, etc. There are pictures of Darwin and Aki dancing the pas de deux but his dick is obscured. But at the end, they have a "take of the robe" picture.

I remember Scott Jarvis from when he was the maitre d at Palsson's, back in the 80s when Forbidden Broadway was there. He was a sweet but also gay bitch hilarious. If he was only 48 when he died, then was aging horribly, because he looked like he was in his 50s when he worked at Palsson's.

Here's a good picture of the original 1976 revival cast. Cress Darwin is the actor on the far right.

Interesting trivia: Pamela Pilkenton (second from the right) married actor John Hamill (tall actor with curly hair, fifth from the left). Have no idea if they are still married.

Enough about the nudie show.

I can’t wait for the October publication of Still Here, a biography of Elaine Stritch.

R173 What don't you know?

Thank the goddess she's not still here - -

I hope they don't go into all the details about her musty, virginal, 30-year-old vagina.

R175 Yaaaah vagina stories

R175 Yaaaah vagina stories

[quote] If he was only 48 when he died, then was aging horribly, because he looked like he was in his 50s when he worked at Palsson's.

Perhaps the fact that he had AIDS had something to do with it.

Very cute replacement guy Nick Mangano I think is a theater professor now. He had a gorgeous hairy chest and a beautiful smile and a sexy moustache. He's the guy with the tambourine being held above his head. Also remember seeing at another time the understudy, Bill Bass, very handsome with a stache, go on, and he was so happy to go on and show off his huge dick.

"Naked Boys Singing" premiered over 20 years ago! Amazing that those guys are all middle-aged now and probably going after twinks like they used to be, though a few of them were straight.

ENCORES is bringing back a refreshed Oh! Calcutta! for the 2020-21 season. Jeannine Tesori and Tony Kushner are already at work, fine-tuning the score and the book, respectively.

R182 Isn't the 'book' a series of famous sketches and songs written by people of the moment?

r183 you know that r182 was kidding, right?

It is good that you asked, R184. One can take nothing for granted on a theater thread. Even the obvious.

These are people notoriously lacking a sense of irony.

BAT OUT OF HELL closing tomorrow! Will it be remembered come Tony season?

You're probably joking, but I'm almost positive that BAT OUT OF HELL will not be Tony eligible, as I'm 99 percent sure it was not produced on Broadway contracts.

No Tony nods. Just fumigation of City Center.

Jon Groff has a already signed up to take off the robe in Encores' new Oh! Calcutta! Rumors are that everyone's favorite Broadway elder-twink, Andrew Keenan-Bolger, will be joining the cast to dance the male part of the pas de deux.

I'm sure Jay Binder would be in favor of Encores staging Oh Calcutta! - anything to give him a legit reason to get actors to strip for him

But “Oh Calcutta!” Is a terrible show.

[quote] But “Oh Calcutta!” Is a terrible show.

Darling, so is Tootsie.

Agreed

I can't answer your questions right now, I'm on the phone.

Somebody posted this on ATC.....

I saw BAT OUT OF HELL and haven't really recovered from the confusion I felt throughout.

Frank Dilella did his whole show tonight on "Moulin Rouge." Not saying it's a bad show (haven't seen it), just that it looks like it's the manifestation of every complaint ever made about Broadway these days (i.e., an empty film-based extravaganza designed solely to pull in tourist dollars). The critics gave it a great big huge pass, though, so perhaps it's better than it seems. I think it's also, at least for now, the show expected to sweep up everything in sight come Tony time.

Sorry, I take that last part back: I forgot Dilella also did a segment about how Broadway shows based on blockbuster films don't always go on to sweep the Tonys (case in point, "Frozen"), so it remains to be seen about how "Moulin Rouge" will do.

Not to mention when Broadway shows based on popular movies not only don't sweep the Tonys, but are big ol' flops.

[quote]R185 One can take nothing for granted on a theater thread. Even the obvious. These are people notoriously lacking a sense of irony.

Is it time to start a new thread yet?

[quote]Not to mention when Broadway shows based on popular movies not only don't sweep the Tonys, but are big ol' flops.

Stop looking at me!

Poor TOOTSIE. Business was up almost 10% this week!

But capacity-wise, still the lowest-selling show on Bway.

Yes, according to Seth Rudetsky, no stage show based on a hugely popular movie has ever succeeded on Broadway.

Seth never saw The Lion King?

I hate most jukebox musicals (with the exception of Ain’t Misbehavin’) and deplore most film-to-stage adaptations, but I thought Moulin Rouge was a lot of fun.

[quote]Somebody posted this on ATC.....

That's old news, the black netting came down months ago. Now you can clearly see the front of the theater as work progresses. It's going to get excruciatingly slow to actually raise the building, just wonder if you can see it or they will block with scaffolding.

It's the construction behind the TKTS booth. The elevator track on the left is where the hotel starts.

Nice rendition of “When You Believe” by cast members of the upcoming West End production of Prince of Egypt.

[quote]the upcoming West End production of Prince of Egypt.

Why?

Because, R208, theater has been reduced to Product now. That's all. The show is the product. The writing is the content.

It's all dead. Dead and gone.

Oh for chrissakes, I can't get that stupid Delicatessen song out of my head. What was that from?

R203 Seth has no time-delay on his mouth. He constantly makes stupid mistakes on air, and, as dowager queen of Broadway knowledge (Julie James, who I find more odious and obsequious) is the lady-in-waiting. The only people on that serious channel I can stand are Christine Pedi (no brain trust herself, but always seems nice and warm and her imitations are quite well-done) and Johnny Tartags (who should be doing better than summer theatre with his mom, but he is not the most castable of actors--when I heard he was doing The Music Man, I thought he would make a splendid Mrs. Shinn or even a decent Marcellus, but Harold Hill? No--more like Debbie Reynolds' Carol Hill). And they play the same damn songs over and over in rotation. I get that the channel is not designed for aging theatre queens like myself, but it would be nice to hear some things other than les oeuvres of ALW, Sondheim, and whoever has a show currently on Broadway).

Seth is now, and always has been, full of shit.

not a. Tootsie fan or defend about the same number of attendees as Hamilton and Moulin Rouge. But the average price was pretty low, they still in trubs

I remember meeting Seth R and I was rather stunned by his lack of knowledge and limited point of reference. Actually clued him into a potential point for an upcoming interview with Howard McGillin (La Bohème) only to have McGillin bring it up himself.Another part of the same conversation a reference to vintage Broadway diva and Seth said that’s more the area of a mutual friend than his (despite some of his video deconstructions).

Shameless self promoter and not the brightest bulb. I remember when he began to contribute to PLAYBILL and on occasion being appalled by his written grammar.

As another mutual friend said of him “ I knew Seth before he was ‘SETH’. She has no use for him”.

But have you seen my stepdaughter Juli's FAN KICKS!?

Juli, put that cheesecake DOWN!

Funny how we obsess over ACL when it’s so dated a show.

The word-for-word, move-per-move identical revival was a flop because the story has been done in so many forms since the original ACL that it’s cliched at this point.

Let it go! It would be nice to see at Encores in 20 years

r217

I was surprised that it took so long for a revival of ACL to arrive and when it did, I was surprised that they didn't get better dancers/actors than they did... I've seen better ACLs in my community theaters quite honestly

Seth is only interested in shows with big belty divas. He isn't interested in male singers and couldn't care less about most shows from the "Golden Age" 1930s - 1964. .

Where is Seth's Medea? His Madame Armfeldt?

I thought the ACL documentary, EVERY LITTLE STEP, was 1) a bit dull, considering what a cultural phenomenon ACL was and 2) did not bode well for the revival.

It was one of the reasons I avoided the revival. That and the word-of-mouth about how disappointing it was.

I'd rather treasure my memory of the original. A lot of things shouldn't be revived.

[quote]I'd rather treasure my memory of the original. A lot of things shouldn't be revived.

That's how I feel about "The Black Crook."

A lot of kids wouldn't know who Robert Goulet was, for instance, when one of the girls in ACL in "Hello, Twelve, Hello Thirteen" is raving about Goulet. They probably have no idea where or what "Peyton Place" was. There are a lot of references which make the show very much about its time. So it pretty much has to be done as a period piece when it is done. I hope young budding ballerinas still watch "The Red Shoes" and after "Fosse/Verdon" some folks are again aware of Verdon's incredible talent; again, these are two reference in ACL, among many which put in in the mid 1970s.

Was the revival set present day? Or back in the 70s? I just assumed it was the latter.

I saw the revival but don't recall when it was supposed to be set. The book wasn't updated, so I guess it was set in the '70s by default.

The revival of ACL was, of course, set in the original time period.

In fairness to the revival, they weren't allowed to update it. It wasn't until a few years ago that the estate of Michael Bennett allowed it to be restaged.

They should reimagine it, where they're all auditioning for a circus troup or something.

I didn’t really know what “Peyton Place” was when the original came out. I vaguely knew that it was some TV soap from the 60s, but had no idea what “locked in the bathroom with Peyton Place” meant or that it was considered so shocking in the 1950s.

[quote]I'd rather treasure my memory of the original. A lot of things shouldn't be revived.

[quoteThat's how I feel about "The Black Crook."

I feel the same way about “Our American Cousin”.

And again, who had Michael Bennett? Was he a slut? Sexy? Top or bottom? Did he have relationships with men?

I think PEYTON PLACE has pretty much found its way into the lexicon, just as LADY CHATTERLY'S LOVER has as a scandalous book. Just because you don't get every reference doesn't mean the work is dated. Cole Porter's songs are stuffed with period people and things, but that's part of their charm.

Bennett was the Jerry Mitchell of his day, with way more talent.

[quote]They should reimagine it, where they're all auditioning for a circus troupe or something.

Maybe a mash-up with "Pippin."

What's a......circus?

The Encores presentation of A Chorus Line at City Center (some sort of Encores Gala thing) last year was amazing and everything that the mummified Broadway revival wasn't. As far as I could tell, the Encores production was the original choreography and book, but it had so much more vitality and heart. The Broadway revival had neither. It was rote and boring. And poor Charlotte failed to make an impression, as always.

[quote]The Encores presentation of A Chorus Line at City Center (some sort of Encores Gala thing) last year was amazing and everything that the mummified Broadway revival wasn't. As far as I could tell, the Encores production was the original choreography and book, but it had so much more vitality and heart. The Broadway revival had neither. It was rote and boring. And poor Charlotte failed to make an impression, as always.

True, that.

[quote]And poor Charlotte failed to make an impression, as always.

They had their chance...

BREAKING NEWS

[quote]It's going to get excruciatingly slow to actually raise the building,

Oh Dear! I'm so confused, up is down and down is up

Agree about the City Center A Chorus Line - Robyn Hurder was an excellent Cassie. The best production I've seen since the original.

Seth's interviewing skills have not improved in the slightest since his Chatterbox days. He interrupts guests every half second. It's rude and obnoxious, but he thinks it's part of his "witty" schtick.

[quote]He interrupts guests every half second.

His interview with John Cullum (not a particularly fast speaker on a good day) was especially egregious. Cullum is a legend; let him complete a sentence, for god’s sake.

Matt Doyle is playing Jamie in COMPANY.

Since it's clear we're never going to get a revival of Ain't Misbehavin', is it too soon to bring back Hairspray?

Wokesters and the trans community are up in arms about Trunchball in the Matilda movie reportedly being played by a man. I can’t imagine they’d be okay with Edna being played by a man anymore.

JFC...

I'd be up in arms about a Matilda movie being made, period. Who the fuck is asking for that shit?

[quote] I can’t imagine they’d be okay with Edna being played by a man anymore.

Peter Pan has been primarily (although not exclusively) played by women since James M. Barrie wrote the play. Edna being played by a man is now a theater convention, although certainly not as longstanding as the "Peter Pan" tradition. Will we have only male Peter Pans from now on?

only gay men and lesbos can do peter

[quote]only gay men and lesbos can do peter

You’ll get no argument from me.

[quote]only gay men and lesbos can do peter

You’ll get no argument from me.

[quote]Matt Doyle is playing Jamie in COMPANY.

I thought he gave up performing to become a personal trainer?

[quote]Seth's interviewing skills have not improved in the slightest since his Chatterbox days. He interrupts guests every half second. It's rude and obnoxious, but he thinks it's part of his "witty" schtick.

Interesting. In some recent interviews I've seen, I thought he was actually much improved since his Chatterbox days -- interrupting far less often, and maybe talking a little more slowly. I suppose maybe this varies from one interview to the next.

Seth makes his interviews about HIM. He basically doesn't care what the other person has to say as long as whatever they say is a cue for him to quip or tell an anecdote about himself.

I believe it's written into the performing contracts that Edna has to be cast with a male.

[quote]r236 What's a......circus?

This place.

This place a circus? Hardly. I've worked in a circus. It was a much healthier place to be.

Data Lounge is more like group therapy in a residential housing program.

If Seth is so disliked by the Broadway community, how does he get so many stars on his cruises or up in P town to perform with him ?

Welcome to the Circus!

Come join the DL circus!

R259

Come look at the freaks!

Fuck those bulldykes Joan and Marlene.

I got to ride a pink elephant.

I know a certain "freak" who fit right in at the circus.

Bombshell Betty!

Circus, you say? Why that gives me a totally original and never-done-before idea for a show

Okay we don't need any more stupid "circus" things. One was enough. But as usual, you over do it and don't know when to stop.

Doris Mary!

[quote]r269 we don't need any more stupid "circus" things.

Okay, but can I just say it's so funny when old movies show elaborate, supposed stage numbers that would never be done? Like, a Broadway show would really keep 3 elephants, a llama, a horse and a marching band backstage each night?

Seth Rudetsky is the Andy Cohen of Broadway musical world.

And the next revival of A CHORUS LINE will be set present-day: onstage, but as a reality TV competition to win parts in a Broadway show. It will feature giant video screens and live social media broadcasting from the audience, plus a different "surprise celeb" guest every night as Zach, the director. "Music and the Mirror" will be replaced by a mash-up medley of ever-changing top 10 singles. No one will miss MATM anyway.

It will make a fortune.

Re: The moaning about the casting in the film of Matilda. What's become obvious is that there is so much complaint and bitching about casting, no minorities in the leads (the up-coming revival of The Music Man), an actor not being exactly who he/she has been cast and on and on that we've hit a tipping point of so much noise, it's easily ignored.

[quote]r274 ...we've hit a tipping point of so much noise, it's easily ignored.

But you're not ignoring it - -

[quote]Okay we don't need any more stupid "circus" things. One was enough. But as usual, you over do it and don't know when to stop.

We're sorry, Mommie Dearest.

[italic]"What do you mean, playing?"

Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick are doing a revival of "Plaza Suite."

"Plaza Suite"???? Without Neil Simon around to do rewrites, this is the dumbest idea I've heard in a long time. Talk about past its prime. And that's just the play.

I’d rather see a stage version of Love, American Style with a revolving cast every week.

I'd rather see a revival of "Oh Calcutta" with a revolving cast every week!

I'd rather see the original Les Miserables with a revolving cast

If they're going to do dated Neil Simon, it should be The Prisoner of Second Avenue. The plot of an upper middle class couple's descent into madness lite was a pretty prescient commentary on the ultimate eradication of that strata in NYC.

It would be both a time capsule and a reminder that lots of regular real people used to live in Manhattan, and not that long ago. The way Simon dismantles his seemingly successful pair is a perfect metaphor for the loss of Manhattan's personality.

Plus the play is angry with some edge. Plaza Suite is a comic strip in comparison, which I guess is what they want.

I'm going, I enjoy both of them.

SJP and Matthew Broderick are many, many years past their box-office prime. This ain't George C. Scott and Maureen Stapleton here. I don't see this being a big hit.

John Benjamin Hickey is directing? Has he directed anything before?

"The project will make for a complicated winter for Mr. Hickey, who is also an actor, and who is featured in this season’s Broadway production of 'The Inheritance,' which begins performances later this month. Mr. Hickey said he expected to take a “brief leave” from 'The Inheritance' to oversee rehearsals of 'Plaza Suite.'"

R274 I routinely ignore Singapore/Fling's posts on ATC, among others, since that's his whole shtick. Frankly, it's getting boring.

I’m available for the Sydney production of The Inheritance!

John Benjamin Hickey is a core member of SJP and Broderick's circle of pet gays, including Andy Cohen, Anderson Cooper, and others. My guess is SJP and Broderick will basically direct themselves and didn't want interference from some underling.

So they found one of their beloved underlings who wouldn't dare interfere.

This is going to suck enormously.

So don't go, problem solved. See how easy that is?

Broderick and Parker might actually be decent and better cast in "The Prisoner of 2nd Avenue". Acts 1 and 2 of "Plaza Suite" are really hard to pull off, especially since those two usually give the same performances all the time, especially him.

I’d rather see someone like Jessica Hecht play the wife in Prisoner of Second Avenue.

Ashley Day is playing Nicky Arnstein opposite Christina Bianchi in Paris starting next month? Mon dieu!

As witnessed in London some 8 or 9 years back with Mercedes Ruehl and Jeff Goldblum, "Prisoner Of Second Avenue" just doesn't work anymore and hasn't aged well. I imagine "Plaza Suite" will be even worse.

[quote]Ashley Day is playing Nicky Arnstein opposite Christina Bianchi in Paris starting next month? Mon dieu!

Didn't Ashley move to New York from London recently?

What was the last Neil Simon play to be revived successfully? Did the Lane/Broderick Odd Couple recoup?

Anyone who saw or even recalls the play PLAZA SUITE on Broadway as an adult.... is now at least 70 years old.

Who exactly do SJP and Broderick think the audience for this Simon revival is? Or is it based entirely on their own fandoms? Parker couldn't get her fandom to tune in to DIVORCE.

Divorce was a chore to watch in season 2. I couldn’t imagine suffering through season 3. Life is too short.

I could see them being funny in the act about the wedding where the daughter won’t come out. Not so much in the one where he’s trying to seduce his old girlfriend. I can’t even remember what the third one is.

Why on earth does anyone want to do one of those hideous old Neil Simon plays?

Ashley Day is such a slut, I imagine he’s going to have a field day with all that hot Parisian chorus cock.

Of course it did.

[quote]I routinely ignore Singapore/Fling's posts on ATC, among others, since that's his whole shtick. Frankly, it's getting boring.

Me too. He seems to be a smart and well-informed person, but many of his posts are insufferable because he is so aggressively, annoyingly, ridiculously "woke." If I understand the situation correctly, he's a gay white guy whose partner is a POC. Is that right? There seems to be a lot of self loathing going on with him.

Bianco, sorry.

R300, most of the chorus boys in Funny Girl will be British. The show will be in English and the French don’t have a musical theatre culture thus no chorus boys.

Don Porter from "Gidget" and the film "The Candidate" and Peggy Cass from "Auntie Mame" and "To Tell The Truth" headlined "Plaza Suite" after George C. Scott and Maureen Stapleton left the Broadway production.

The 3rd act is the one with the father and mother of the bride dealing with her locking herself in the bathroom. It's the only act that's consistently funny; the first act if I recall is pretty bittersweet and the second is more based on insinuation and the guy trying to seduce the woman, but isn't typically as farcical or funny as the 3rd act.

Don Porter with Mo Stapleton

Don Porter with Peggy Cass

Why aren't they doing California Suite? It certainly is a better movie, if not the better play.

Broadway has been dead for a long, long, time. Still, reading that SJP and Matty Broderick will assume roles once created by Maureen Stapleton and George C. Scott - even in a Neil Simon comedy - feels like the final indignity.

And John Benjamin Hickey is no Mike Nichols.

Brighton Beach was a flop and they never even got around to doing the other one in rep. And, quite frankly, it was probably the most revivable of all of Simon's plays in that it had a real story and real heart.

No one respects Simon more than I do. He caught lightning in a bottle so many times, it defies belief. The man knew how to write jokes. But unless you’ve got HUGE stars (ie Lane & Broderick), who’s gonna show up these days?

Izzard out Everett in...let the tiresome bitching begin.

Miss Rosemary Harris in Plaza Suite.....

Queens cops sting Broadway piano player who allegedly thought he lured 14-year-old for sex

ew

Even more grotesque, they describe King Kong as a Broadway hit.

SJP and hubby would do well to follow the lead of the movie, with three different actresses playing the three women. And do the same with the men. Neither of them has the chops to handle the versatility required.

The problem with Plaza Suite is the same problem with DL fave Trilogy of Terror- the first two stories are deadly dull and you have to sit through them to get to the last one, which is the really good one.

Well, there's always seconding acting, or in this case, 3rd acting -- if there are 3 intermissions like the original. Although with today being 9/11, I don't know how easy it is to 2nd act anymore.

pardon, 2 intermissions like the original.

How does The Good Doctor hold up?

Ask Walter Bobbie!

THE GOOD DOCTOR has never been revived on Broadway. One of my favorite plays by Mr. Simon, and it is timeless. There's a revival I would pay to see.

THE GOOD DOCTOR must have been the first time I saw Christopher Plummer onstage. That was one helluva cast.

[quote]Ask Walter Bobbie!

ASSASSIN!!!

"You still dress like a stolen car." Hah! And, good lord, her smile could light up Times Square *and* the West End.

Yikes, has the "B" Troll invaded our Theatre Gossip Thread?

Let's get back to 21st century matters, please. Like that Neil Simon revival.....

And lo those many years later Midler was Carson's last guest and she won an Emmy for it.

What Alex Brightman does on his day off:

Is Broadway ready for "Slave Play"?

Ready for more jukebox musicals?

[quote]Stark Sands is fat now?

I think the comment was referring to the guy in the London cast (which was the one telecast), not to Stark Sands.

I worked as a projectionist around the late 70's and would screen the new releases for the movie theater staff the Thursday night before their Friday opening, and when we screened The Prisoner of Second Avenue not one of my coworkers laughed, and we all thought it was shrill and terrible.

Much to our surprise, there was lots and lots of laughter from the audience that weekend... i guess some movies just need a big crowd to deliver the the goods.

The film of Prisoner was awful. terrible film. But onstage, Peter Falk and Lee Grant, Art Carney and Barbara Barrie, and Phyllis Newman and Hector Elizondo, brought the house down. And Mike Nichols made it prettier than it was supposed to be, as was his habit.

I saw the National Company of PRISONER with Shelly Berman and Mimi Hines. They were terrific.

But, yes. The play is pretty thin, especially if you don't give a damn about white male middle-aged angst.

I'm sure that there will be a lot of discussion about Slave Play after it opens. Some will be on Paul Nolan's ass ( which is delightful). Most of it will be on the theme and the message. Ultra-liberals, who are motivated by white guilt, will passionately defend it as an expose of how white supremacy has subconsciously invaded the minds of ALL white people and how every white person is inherently racist. Theater critics will go on about how repetitious and overly pedantic the message is and how the blatant lecturing is enough to ruin the experience. Many will feel ripped off, some urging reparations for the evils of white people. But, if you go to see it and hate it, wait until the end when Paul reveals his ass. Then you can go home, because it will be the only thing you will remember

Is Paul Nolan black or white?

[quote]Some will be on Paul Nolan's ass

All New York should be on Paul Nolan's ass!

Oh, he's white. He's unlikely to have much of an ass.

I don't understand how John Benjamin Hickey can appear in a major, two-part London import like The Inheritance and at the same time make his Broadway directing debut with Plaza Suite.

One of the projects will have to suffer…

First show I ever saw as a kid with an English class...Hector Elizondo and Barbara Barrie.

[quote]I worked as a projectionist around the late 70's and would screen the new releases for the movie theater staff the Thursday night before their Friday opening, and when we screened The Prisoner of Second Avenue not one of my coworkers laughed, and we all thought it was shrill and terrible.

Yeah, but I worked theaters in the 80's and you know except for you and management , the staff were kids, 16 and up and "The Prisoner of Second Avenue" was aimed at their parents. But it wasn't that successful either. Wasn't anywhere near the hit "The Odd Couple" & "Barefoot In The Park " were which each broke Radio City Music Hall records.

R345, he’s hardly in the first play so maybe he can hop over to a rehearsal studio on matinee days.

R309, Watched a vintage WML? on BUZZR with Maureen Stapleton as the MG.

She mentioned that she would soon be leaving the Broadway cast of Plaza Suite to make the movie "Airport" and then be returning to Plaza Suite.

Isn't Hickey just repeating his role from London?

Maureen cuts a rug at 15:00......

If the staging is the same on Broadway as it was off, some will be lucky enough to see ,not only Paul's ass, but his semi-erect dick as well. But you still have to slog through 2 idiotic hours for the glimpse of peen.

Paul Nolan gets nearly naked and shows an impressive bulge at 2:25.

Does the pushing of below average looking men ever stop on these threads?

For real. That guy is butt ugly.

R353 He's all right, but some of these guys creaming over him must never get to a gym; there are so many better looking guys that can be seen on the floor and naked in the lockers and shower area.

I didn't know we were casting a strip show, R 356.

Who saw Starmites?

Just watch the movie of Plaza Suite. It was dreadful in '71 and I imagine it is today. I assume the director and stars made the original a hit(If you read The Season it comes off like the biggest hit in the history of Broadway with people asking endlessly for impossible to get tickets) but it didn't last very long after they left. I believe both Odd Couple and Barefoot had long original runs.

I think that revival on Broadway of Barefoot I saw years ago with Patrick Wilson did not get literally a single laugh all night. The only rise in the audience was when for some reason Wilson stripped down to his jockey shorts. He even had the elderly straight jewish men murmuring.

Jeez....the music @ the 3:30 mark in r355 sounds so incredibly dated.

So, in A CHORUS LINE, do the seven dancers who are cut at the beginning just get to go home after the opening number? What a depressing job.

I'm assuming they understudied various roles in the show, so maybe sometimes they got to go on.

An actor's nightmare must be being trapped in a revival of a Neil Simon play. Ugh.

[quote]Who saw Starmites?

I saw them in my apartment in New Year years ago but had someone come in to spray for them.

[quote]An actor's nightmare must be being trapped in a revival of a Neil Simon play

... starring Matthew Broderick and Sarah Jessica Parker

This once giant of Broadway, I mean in terms of comedy he was the Rodgers and Hammerstein of his time, has a reputation that has gone down like the Titanic.

[quote]An actor's nightmare must be being trapped in a revival of a Neil Simon play

With Elaine Joyce giving notes to the cast.

It's hard to pick the worst of Mr. Simon's plays

[quote]It's hard to pick the worst of Mr. Simon's plays

Don't forget about me!

Are you sure that trailer doesn't include scenes from The Million Dollar Duck?

That trailer looks like it included the opening credits to "Love American Style."

[quote]So, in A CHORUS LINE, do the seven dancers who are cut at the beginning just get to go home after the opening number?

No, they are the first ones onstage for the finale in the gold lame costumes. All the regulars needed time to change into their gold lame costumes so the cut dancers are ready to go and first on the stage. Originally, didn't they do some offstage singing as well? Was the finale done live every night or was it on a click track? It seemed it was very rigorous dancing to be singing.

[quote]r368 Are you sure that trailer doesn't include scenes from The Million Dollar Duck?

Maybe they threw in some outside footage because the movie itself is so lame?

Which NYC chorus boy has the million dollar dick?

R366, I saw the national tour in 1968, with George Hamilton, Deana Martin and Jimmy Boyd.

Connie friggin' Stevens?!

[quote] I assume the director and stars made the original a hit(If you read The Season it comes off like the biggest hit in the history of Broadway with people asking endlessly for impossible to get tickets) but it didn't last very long after they left.

It ran for 2 1/2 years and five different actors succeeded Scott and four different actresses succeeded Stapleton (who also wound up coming back for a stint late in the run) so I guess it ran for a while after the two stars left.

Didn't you know Connie worked on the legitimate stage?

On Big Brother tonight Tommy Bracco thanked his “Pretty Woman family” for letting him out to do the TV show. Heh heh.

Connie Stevens actually seems like better casting than Miss Wheat Thins ... I (mercifully) have never seen the whole thing, but I grasp that the two male characters are supposed to be totally gaga for her.

Who flips for Sandy Duncan?

[quote]Who flips for Sandy Duncan?

I beg your pardon?

[quote]I think that revival on Broadway of Barefoot I saw years ago with Patrick Wilson did not get literally a single laugh all night.

Literally not a single laugh? Well wouldn't they have closed in previews or at least opening night instead of playing four months? Literally not a single laugh huh?

R380, have you no better use for your precious time on this Earth than to deride someone for hyperbole?

R381 is having NONE OF IT!

What about The Gingerbread Lady? That's one of my favorite Simon plays and it has a great role for a woman 40-50-ish. It's never been revived, has it?

The only Neil Simon play I truly didn't care for was The Dinner Party. That's pretty lousy. The first act isn't terrible, but the 2nd act becomes like an angrier version of Follies with couples doing nothing but bickering and being assholes to each other.

I know one very gifted director who somehow accepted a job doing a Neil Simon play, and they had to search for something to love about it. She ended up really respecting the play's structure, if nothing else. (I don't know which one it was.)

His work was always pitched in a very "crowd pleaser" way. Not lowbrow ... but certainly nothing that would ever cause an audience to think, or stretch themselves. (The exception might be THE GOOD DOCTOR, which was inspired by Chekhov pieces.)

Wow, that trailer for “Star Spangled Girl” is deadly. Whoever edited it should be shot.

“Star Spangled Girl” was Paramount's big Christmas picture in '71 released on December 22.

I saw Starmites. It really was children's theater. I am sure it is justifiably a hit with high schools, but as a Broadway show, it did not measure up. Sharon McKnight was wonderful, but that all I can say good about it. Victor Garber was fucking the male lead behind his boyfriend's back. That shuffle was probably more interesting than Starmites.

There was a Jim Steinman thread on DL several years ago. Starmites came up because a producer was associated with Jim. The producer was a real creep who apparently enjoyed infecting young boys with HIV. Second hand gossip, but that was what was mentioned in the thread.

Barefoot had a name cast which is why I went but I really don't remember much laughing if any. And I like the movie a lot. The cast is from heaven and their way with the zingers which come one after the other is wonderful. I wish I went to the original production of Prisoner but it was a hard ticket to get and I was very much into musicals at that point. I didn't think Sunshine Boys was funny but it was a big hit.

Is Patrick Wilson known for comedy?

R389, was Robert Redford?

I'm a little young to answer that. But I think Robert Redford's hair suggests he has a sense of humour.

I'm a little young to answer that. But I think Robert Redford's hair suggests he has a sense of humour.

Tommy Bracco is fucking annoying. That accent and face. Why is he already doing botox and shit? Can you imagine that midget when he's old? haha

R218 I agree. I couldn't control my laughter during Paul's monologue because the actor was so bad. And Charlotte is terrible. Why is she cast in ANYTHING? Ok dancer. Can't sing for shit. Old. Ugly scary ass face. I'm sick of it.

I've always thought Garber was solid without being outstanding or especially interesting - but he keeps on working.

[quote]What about The Gingerbread Lady? That's one of my favorite Simon plays and it has a great role for a woman 40-50-ish. It's never been revived, has it?

"The Gingerbread Lady" was one of Simon's least successful Broadway shows, and its alcoholic main character would work even less well today than back in 1970. There's a reason it's never revived. It was somewhat improved when Simon reworked it as the movie "Only When I Laugh."

Redford is at his best in light comedy. Barefoot, Butch Cassidy, The Sting...It's when he gets into drama the trouble starts. But his good looks and screen charisma carried him through a lot.

I saw Neil Simon's "Proposals" on Broadway and I don't remember a thing about it. I think it hit Broadway right after he threw his very public tantrum about Broadway ticket prices and flounced to off-Broadway where London Suite was produced.

If there are zero laughs in a production of "Barefoot In The Park" it's the entire cast's fault. The mother can be very funny when you get a good character actress. I've seen productions where the mother stole the show just with the bit of entering after walking up all the stairs.

I do give Neil Simon a bit of credit because the book for "Sweet Charity" is a bit dark. So he did move slightly away from his usual "bah-da-dum" format.

I also saw The Goodbye Girl on Broadway. Even our Bernadette couldn't save that stinker. It was one of those shows that looked good on paper but the actual production never arrived to the show that was in everyone's head.

Simon was known on Broadway as "the show doctor." It's well documented that he punched up the script of A Chorus Line, but does anyone know what other shows he punched up?

Michael Bennett wanted Simon to doctor the script for Follies, but Prince and Goldman wouldn’t allow it.

[quote]Michael Bennett wanted Simon to doctor the script for Follies, but Prince and Goldman wouldn’t allow it.

Sally: Phyllis, I'm running away with your husband.

Phyllis: Husbands are like bras. They need to be washed frequently and discarded when they no longer support you.

Ba-dah-dum

[quote]I couldn't control my laughter during Paul's monologue because the actor was so bad.

Is that the actor who in the documentary of producing the revival had everyone in the room crying after doing it at his audition?

[quote]If there are zero laughs in a production of "Barefoot In The Park" it's the entire cast's fault. The mother can be very funny when you get a good character actress. I've seen productions where the mother stole the show just with the bit of entering after walking up all the stairs.

The revival's Mother was Jill Clayburgh.

r399: I heard it was for COMPANY not FOLLIES.

Anybody see Sada in Twigs?

R403, Produced by Roz Russell's widower.

Would that be the Widower Russell?

[quote]Produced by Roz Russell's widower.

The Lizard of Roz wasn't yet a widower when "Twigs" premiered in 1971.

I did the TWIGS tour!

Frederick Brisson was also the producer of "Coco," which he originally intended as a vehicle for Roz. But her arthritis made it impossible for her to do.

[quote]Frederick Brisson was also the producer of "Coco," which he originally intended as a vehicle for Roz.

I always wanted Encores to do that show with Dixie Carter. Alas, Judith Daykin, Walter Bobbie, Rob Fisher, et al didn't see the brilliance of my suggestion.

Dixie Carter was an ensemble player.

Whatever, R410.

It did not stop Dixie Carter from being splendid in MASTER CLASS.

[quote]Dixie Carter was an ensemble player.

Miss Dixie Carter could sing, unlike Scotty Bowers' favorite lesbian client who did the role on Broadway.

AND Dixie put out two solo albums. Not bad for an ensemble player!

It seems that the things that made Coco worth seeing were Hepburn, Rene Auberjonois, Beaton's spectacular costumes and Bennett's exciting staging. None of which any revival will have. We have a taste of it from that Tony clip. And from what I've read the end of the first act was equally spectacular but instead of being all red the costumes were all black.

" Slave Play" not enjoying a profitable pre-sale.

I could see people thinking Follies could benefit from the Simon touch, but I think the zingers that Goldman wrote were pretty terrific by themselves. If anything, the book has been accused to being too quippy at times with characters talking like they're in a 40's noir movie.

Company's book, while structurally odd and lacking any actual plot in the traditional sense, gets more than enough solid laughs if the roles are cast right. I don't think they'd have wanted Simon for that.

Dixie had a decent voice, but she reminds me of Linda Lavin and Cybill Shepherd as actresses who can technically sing, but they never seemed to know what their sweet spot was.

From what I remember Simon's jokes in ACL were lame. I guess just better than the others in the show.

R416, I knew what Linda's sweet spot was.

Simon's book for Sweet Charity is pretty good, but the ending always caused problems. I swear, every production of that show has a completely different ending. They've never landed on one that everyone likes.

If he's really dead, Ann's gonna have her hands full on ATC.

Who? Billy Porter?

Yup. Wrong thread. Sorry.

I didn't mean to stir them up over here in Crazy Land.

Yes SC is good.

I think the movie 's ending is very good. And I should have hated it. I mean hippies and 'love'? But the musical underscoring is so gentle and beautiful and MacLaine's reaction to the flower children(Hey it's Bud Cort!) is incredibly moving that for me it works.

I love Charity's movie ending. It's just bittersweet enough.

R40&, I have a feeling Roz’s arthritis started playing up after she heard Andre Previn’s dreary score.

Rosalind Russell, long one of the brightest stars of the American stage and screen, whose witty sophistication as Auntie Mame was a natural extension of Roz, the woman, died yesterday of cancer at her home in Beverly Hills, Calif. The family gave her age as 63.

A spokesman for the family said Miss Russell's husband, the producer Frederick Brisson, and their son, Lance, were with her. He said the actress’ long illness had been complicated by rheumatoid arthritis and that she had been in the hospital three months ago for surgery to replace her right hip joint.

[Quote] The family gave her age as 63.

Was the report implying she was older than 63?

When reached for comment, broadway actress Ethel Merman said, "Thank fucking God."

I imagine Roz would have been as as much like Chanel as Hepburn was. Darieux was a bad choice for a replacement because the theater audience at the time was still a good part NY Jewish and the show had only run for about 8 months. Considering that both Chanel(definitely) and Darieux(strong evidence) were both collaborators it didn't seem like a good pairing of performer and role in terms of PR.

Swanson claims she was supposed to take over but after her opening week launch they were cutting down on the orchestra and chorus so she said no. Don't know why they couldn't get Rogers to take over like they did on the road.

R401 I really don't remember who the actor was. I just remember it felt very artificial.

R401 I really don't remember who the actor was. I just remember it felt very artificial.

Would Rogers have been doing MAME in London at that time?

I guess I should add this to what I wrote above.

'But her decision to keep working after the Nazis occupied France, and to star in movies made by the studio set up by their propaganda chief Joseph Goebbels, saw her branded as a collaborationist.

However, Darrieux later said that she was forced to take part in a notorious publicity tour to Berlin in 1942 so she could free her husband, the playboy and diplomat Porfirio Rubirosa, who had been interned by the Nazis as a spy.

She left the German-backed studio after he was freed.'

Was Rogers still doing Mame in '70?

I bet the Nazis did research on Rubirosa’s massive dick while he was in captivity.

Doing the Conga eight shows a week will lead to rheumatoid arthritis ....

[quote]From what I remember Simon's jokes in ACL were lame. I guess just better than the others in the show.

" . . . but then I realized to commit suicide in Buffalo is redundant."

...as lame as I remembered.

“I assure you this town is teeming with adventurous theater lovers who will find their way to the Golden Theatre while you’re hanging outside the St. James waiting to find out who’s going to replace Carol Channing in ‘Hello, Dolly!’ ”

Only a bitch waiting to find out who's going to replace Carol Channing in Hello Dolly would write that.

In ACL, was the tit joke between Val and Sheila one of Neil Simon's?

Val: You're all looking at my tits now, aren't you?

Sheila: They're not very big.

Val: I heard that, you bitch. I didn't want them like yours, I wanted them in proportion.

Sheila: Well, you got what you paid for.

Connie: I wouldn't mind having just one of yours!

Ginger Rogers didn't take over the national tour of Coco. Hepburn did the post-Broadway national company, which played Cleveland, Chicago, Toronto, Baltimore, Dallas, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. She agreed to the tour because the show had not made all of its money back on Broadway, and she felt responsibility to get it to "paid off" status for the investors. George Rose and Jeanne Arnold stayed with the show from the Broadway cast, and Daniel Davis took over for Rene Auberjonois.

Ginger Rogers headed a separate tour that was strictly summer stock, in-the-round venues like Westbury, Owings Mills, and Cohasset. It lasted two months, but was not connected to the national tour.

[quote]Was the report implying she was older than 63?

Probably. And she was. Roz was born in June, 1907, which made her 69 when she died, not 63. I'm sure one of her dying requests was for her husband to shave several years off her age in the obits.

Ginge....

The orchestration is wretched but that's the first time I've heard Always Mademoiselle sung. It really is a beautiful song. Too bad she didn't sing it to Kay's orchestration.

Danielle.....

Danielle looks like Brett Somers in R443.

[quote]It's well documented that he punched up the script of A Chorus Line, but does anyone know what other shows he punched up?

"Our American Cousin."

The American musical might never have been born if Neil Simon's gags hadn't saved "The Black Crook" from an early closing.

Raul Julia documentary is on the PBS station in NY at 9 pm. The guy who did the voice over for the promo should have been informed his first name was pronounced “Rowl” and not the standard “Rah-ool.”

I hope the RJulia doc has a long segment on Threepenny Opera. That production was fantastic, the only one I've seen that I thought worked. Plus, Ellen Greene!

This thread needs some Monique Van Vooren.

That Threepenny was great. I feel like I never want to see another production because it couldn't come close.

This website says that Lotte Lenya didn't like the Raul Julia production. Do you think it was because she knew Ellen Greene sung the score better than Lenya ever could?

[quote]Do you think it was because she knew Ellen Greene sung the score better than Lenya ever could?

No, but it might be because she knew Ellen Greene SANG the score better than Lenya ever could.

I think Lenya felt the same way as I did about that production. I hated the translation. None of the lyrics fit the music. The Blitzstein version may have been a bit old fashioned by then, but it was pretty amazing.

Agreed about the awful lyrics for the NY Shakespeare Festival production.

R456 is a shit pot.

R430-the creepy actor who played Paul in the revival of ACL was Jason Tam, late of BE MORE CHILL. And yes, he was better at the audition than in the actual crappy revival.

Michael Berresse and Tony Yazbeck were also in the ACL revival.

So weird that it ran for almost 2 years: I know almost no one who saw it, and it feels like no one even remembered that it happened. Zero impact.

DL fave Ashley Day just posted a pic on Fire Island with a guy looking at him - you only see the guy from the back - and it says "Throwback to sunnier days."

Is the guy Robbie Fairchild? I can't tell, but it would certainly make the "sunnier days" reference make sense.

R451. That is probably my favorite English language recording. I gather the Weill estate hated the translation, and will not allow i to be produced.

Did anyone see the Berliner Ensemble/Robert Wilson version of TPO? The short videos on Youtube make it look wonderful.

After three months, I am able to post again. Who knew we had to register to have such a privilege?

WTF, are they really selling tix to Music Man (giant gatefold ad in NY Times today) a year before opening without a theater yet? Are people going to pay big bucks for unknown seats? To hear “My White Knight” transposed down an octave?

Who knew, R454? Everyone here posting knew.

You are slow to the game, but welcome anyway.

R456, if you listen to German recordings you will see that the German lyrics do not fit either. They are irregular, with some lines having more syllable than fit the music.

If you compare Theepenny to Happy End or Mahagonny, you can tell that the German lyrics are deliberate written to be hard to sing. Other Brecht-Weill works feature easier to sing sounds but Threepenny is designed to thwart the vocal ease that lyrics usually strive for.

The only translation that tried to duplicate this strategy is the Manheim-Willet used in that production. It is also the only one that matches exactly the meter and syllable count of each and every line.

[quote]but Threepenny is designed to thwart the vocal ease that lyrics usually strive for.

Why was that done? To make the audience feel uneasy?

That does appear to be Robbie, R461.

R468 -Alienation effect, also called a-effect or distancing effect, German Verfremdungseffekt or V-effekt, idea central to the dramatic theory of the German dramatist-director Bertolt Brecht. It involves the use of techniques designed to distance the audience from emotional involvement in the play through jolting reminders of the artificiality of the theatrical performance.

r470, so if the idea is to distance the audience from emotional involvement, what is the point? Is the audience supposed to be learning something from this piece? Is the idea that if we remove emotional involvement we can more clearly see things or have better thought process? What is the idea behind doing this?

R461-"Put a ring on it, BITCH", sayeth Ashley.

The discussion at R470/R471 reminds me why so many of us in musical theatre love TPO (or at least in a good translation and production) but don't really like Brecht very much. Sondheim famously said as much around the time of SWEENEY TODD after it was described as "Brechtian" for the umpteenth time. Not his thing, either.

I am all about emotional involvement in the musical story.

The alienation effect is not meant to "emotionally distance the audience" even though that is often said. It is to have a different kind of emotional involvement.

Just like when you watch a football game you are emotionally involved, but you do not identify with the players. You cheer, you boo---but you do not feel the pain of the tackle. Or like at the circus where you are emotionally involved with the event, but you do not imagine what it would like to do the feats they do.

Brecht loved Ethel Merman. He wanted her to play Mother Courage. I think what he liked was that she could emotionally engage an audience without having them identify with her. (Gypsy took great advantage of this same quality.)

That said, I do not think that this has anything to do with the lyrics in 3PO. (I do not think Brecht had actually even formulated this idea when 3PO was written)

Reading Brecht he seemed to want a more actorly kind of singing. One where the transition from speaking to singing would be a clear break rather than a smooth transition.

Happy End and Mahagonny are different. The lyrics are more "sing-friendly" You can easily slide into Surrabay Johnny in a way that you cannot do with the Barbara Song.

[quote] I am all about emotional involvement in the musical story.

Isn't that really the point of music? To pull you in emotionally?

Going back to the Sondheim and Jerry Herman Tony Awards argument. Jerry's music was always relatable and was a part of Broadway's Golden Age. You immediately see the emotional involvement of his songs. "If He Walked Into My Life" "We Need A Little Christmas" "Put On Your Sunday Clothes" "It Only Takes A Moment" have immediate emotional pulls.

Sondheim was always considered more intellectual and had less immediate emotional attachment. It was said that his songs weren't "hummable" and people were frustrated because they didn't leave the theater "with a song on their lips." So it seemed that Sondheim leaned more towards the Brecht viewpoint. But also seems to have set the tone for current Broadway writers.

I think one reason juke box musicals are more successful is because people have an emotional attachment to that music. Yes, ABBA music may be corny, but people respond emotionally to "Dancing Queen" and "The Winner Takes It All."

Brecht was often overtly melodramatic. The suspense of the chase in Chalk Circle or the terror of Katrin trying to save the children by drumming a warning to the town---how do those people who claim Brecht was against emotional involvement explain that?

Today we are so used to Brechtian involvment, that it seems old hat. Sweeney Todd is Brechtian in that you feel for the story more than individual characters. (No one cries for Sweeney when he learns the Beggar's identity. But you feel the emptiness of violence and the self-defeating nature of revenge.)

And not to get too lecturey, but Brecht loved Annie Get Your Gun when he saw it on Broadway.

Like Brechts work it invited you to appreciate the virtuosity of the performers. You knew from the start how the story was going to end (ie. you knew Annie would end up with Frank), but were asked to enjoy how it got there.

Hello Dolly with Bette was really Brechtian. You knew she would end up with Horace and the guys would end up with the girls. You never for a moment "believed" anything that was going on, but enjoyed following it. Bette and all the actors were always slightly outside their parts commenting on what they were doing.

[quote]Today we are so used to Brechtian involvment, that it seems old hat. Sweeney Todd is Brechtian in that you feel for the story more than individual characters.

Some said Sondheim was trying to do that with Company.

Would "Our Town" be considered Brechtian? Or does the sentimentality of small town life get in the way? If the characters in Our Town lived in a big city, would we care as much?

I think people younger people respond more readily to Sondheim's sense of alienation and cynicism. Which is why he is so influential. Also simply because it is easier to approximate a Sondheim melody than a Rodgers, Loewe, Cole Porter, Arlen or even Jerry Herman tune. He's not even that good at pastiche the way Jule Styne or Cole Porter were. For some reason people have lost the talent for rich soaring sophisticated melodies. Of course people will tell me the scores of Hamilton or Frozen or Wicked are just as good as anything from the pianos of the aforementioned men so there will be disagreement.

Also Foreman's directorial use of alienation was so brilliant it was chilling and emotional in a way you didn't expect.

If you think that "Our Town" is awash in sentimentality, R479, then you really don't know or understand the play at all.

Our Town brilliantly has it both ways. It is as filled with sentiment and nostalgia as it is filled with coldness and unsparing devastation. Throughout there is an amazing balance.

There's always something odd about a production of Sweeney Todd or Gypsy where the actors seem to be trying so hard to get you to fall in love with Sweeney, Mrs. Lovett, or Rose. Those productions never quite work for me, because they take the edge off. I like the ones where they don't try to sweeten them up and make them sentimental and just let them be monstrous. Those shows work best with that Brechtian quality of keeping us at a distance.

They can't just be monstrous. The comedy wouldn't work throughout.

Our Town was heavily influenced by Russian theater of the 20s. This is the same work that influence Brecht.

So Brecht's work and Our Town are like cousins descended from the same grandparent.

Stella Adler told our acting class about her one attempt to work with Brecht. The character she was to play was a mother of a baby. She was given a life size baby doll to work with. On her first day of rehearsal, they began the scene. Stella said she held the baby close to her, as a mother would. Tenderly. Protectively. Brecht told her to show the audience the baby. Keeping it close to her body, she carefully lifted the baby a bit for the audience to see.

Brecht screamed at her, "NO! Not like that!" He stomped up to her, grabbed the baby by the throat, thrust it directly out at the audience for them all to see. "Do it just like that."

Stella told him she couldn't work with him and left.

Therein, you will find the essence of the Brechtian point of view.

R484 gets Brecht!

Nothing can be one sided. The sentimental approach is to make every character all good or all bad. In Brecht, you show multiple sides of a person. Mother Courage is loving and indifferent to her children. She is not all monster and Kattrin is not all saint.

It is hitting me how Gypsy may be the most Brechtian of all musicals. Brecht based characters on the choices they made. Nothing was inevitable like in traditional Aristotelian drama. Gypsy keeps focusing on moment of decision--stealling the plaque, rejecting Herbie's offer, etc. The play includes a lot of extraneous stuff that is only there to show the kind of moral choices characters make (like Mr. Goldstone or even All I Need Is the Girl.)

Brecht said the American musical was a lot like his theater. And I guess it is true.

R484, tell that to Betty Buckley when she played Rose.

I think acting styles have changed so much in the past 50/60 years. You're not allowed to play a monster anymore even if that approach will best serve the story. Every actor and director thinks they're an amateur psychologist and must show the good in all characters and sand down rough edges.

Except Stella never worked with Brecht. She probably never even met him.

Never believe that what actresses tell you is factually correct. Never. But the story tells the listener a lot about Stella's approach to a script and about Brecht's.

And how the hell would anyone know if she ever tried, unsuccessfully, to work with Brecht? She worked with Stanislavski and that's far more improbable than working with Brecht.

[quote]"Slave Play" not enjoying a profitable pre-sale.

I'd see it if I lived in New York. Jimmy is dreamy.

How would they know? Because there are records of where these people were and what they worked on--even if it was abandoned or they were fired. Letters, conversations, diaries also support it.

Brecht never directed in the US. Stella never acted in a German stage production. The incident she describes is not consistent with his practice as it has been described by himself and others.

Stella's work with Stanislavsky is documented. She wrote and talked of it at the time. They were both in Paris. What she said he taught her is consistent with his ideas in the 1930s.

Betty Buckley was rather drab as Rose. I wouldn't sum up her characterisation as monstrous. She only really came alive for the diva numbers.

Betty definitely wasn't monstrous. She was cold as ice and didn't connect to anyone on stage or in the audience. I'm not sure if it was a concept she was going for or what, but it made her Rose seems Autistic or something.

STELL-UHHHH!!!!!

We enjoyed our work with Brecht. He totally got us and our vibe, and vice versa.

Marion Cotillard is "Coco" 16 weeks only! Shubert Theatre 20-- (fill in the blank) OK? Get it done or must I do everything?

Coco is still an iffy musical with an iffy score, r497. Cotillard could certainly sell out a couple of months, I don’t know about 16 weeks. And she can sing, not as well as Darrieux but far better than Hepburn or Rogers. A better goal is Encores. It would be a coup if they got her, and for only a two-week commitment, maybe she’d do it. And it would fare better with the critics in such a scenario, too.

Tonight’s Slave Play curtain held 15 minutes so Rihanna and her entourage could arrive late for her 4th row orchestra seats. Bitch, the rest of managed to arrive on time!

R499 How was the polemic? Are you turnt now?

At least Ri-Ri supports live theatre.

I wonder what her favorite number in FOLLIES is.

The Raul Julia Documentary is good, apart from his 'Impossible Dream', which they play twice and it gets no better.

BUT the footage of Raul and Meryl doing Taming of the Shrew is fucking incredible, wish the lazy thing did nore stage work. Why did she stop?

What did they say he died of?

Apparently Ri-Ri was texting every 5 minutes or so during the play.

If you saw this mess, you'd be texting too.

r502 - Here's Part 1 of Kiss Me, Petruchio......

R503, He was battling stomach cancer, but his cause of death was a stroke at 54.

I loved the clip of his first film appearance where he played a Cuban Jew.

Man, his rendition of “The Impossible Dream” was bad. He did have a wobbly voice at the best of times.

R502, I've often asked why Meryl doesn't do more live theatre. She did that MOTHER COURAGE in Central Park in 2006 (that only corporate sponsors seemed to be able to get tickets to), but that lasted one month. And she did some one-night reading of ROMEO & JULIET with Kevin Kline, I think (hilarious, as they're playing teenage lovers).

She's 70 now. It's never too late, but I'm not seeing her taking on 8 shows a week (or even 6) any time in the near future. Her film career has had its ups and downs: I only wish she had returned to theatre in her 40s/50s, when there were so many roles she could have done so beautifully.

SIgh.

She's 70? Well, she's much too old to play Mama Rose.

Wow, Streep is fantastic in that documentary. I've always assumed that she didn't play comedy until late in her career. I always think of her early career as a series of overly dramatic serious roles. She really is extraordinary. It would be nice to see her play Mdm Armfeldt in a limited run some time?

R508-Raul was already battling stomach cancer during the run of Man Of LaMancha. How are you supposed to sing anything when your diaphragm is fucked up?

You fucking idiot.

R512 -- Why on earth would you curse R512? if Julia was incapable of singing an iconic song in a high-profile production, he should not have taken the part, and he should not have been hired.

R513 speaks the truth. The legit vocal requirements of Cervantes/Don Quixote in "La Mancha" are part and parcel of the role. Just being able to act it doesn't cut it.

Meryl on Broadway 1976

Meryl on Broadway 1977

I wonder what Meryl might have done playing Pirate Jenny in TPO, back in her youth.

[quote]And the next revival of A CHORUS LINE will be set present-day: onstage, but as a reality TV competition to win parts in a Broadway show. It will feature giant video screens and live social media broadcasting from the audience

Srsly? Can't wait to see that one preview performance with a 12yo sitting in a back tweeting "THIS GAY SHIT SUX" over and over onto their display screens.

Another revival of VIRGINIA WOOLF?? Enough!

Rupert Everett as George - ugh. Laurie Metcalf as Martha might work.

Hopefully she'll model her performance on Francine's, r519.

Raul Julia never had a very good singing voice. On the lovely “Only With You” on the OBC of Nine he’s flat several times. His voice was shaky. He was able to act the songs brilliantly, at least.

Wasn't it the reverse with Franchi, r521?

I didn't appreciate how good Julia was in NINE until I saw the revivial. Mostly I remember how horrible he sounded. The OBC recording makes him sound pretty good, but in the theater he could barely sing it at all. But otherwise, he was perfect.

[quote] I wonder what Meryl might have done playing Pirate Jenny in TPO, back in her youth.

The part to play is Polly, not Jenny- unless you are Lotte Lenya stealing all of the good songs. Pirate Jenny only makes sense if Polly sings it at the wedding.

Phyllis Newman has died, according to ATC and Facebook. Amanda Green posted.

Guess we'll have to make do without her, from now on.

Sigh.

Shoo-In.....

Phyllis Newman hasn't died. She "passed away."

Phyllis Newman and Jerry Herman were childhood friends.

Jerry's a couple of years older than Phyllis. I wonder how he's doing now? He wasn't well enough to travel to NYC to see Bette's "Dolly," and supposedly he's just sticking around home (in Florida). I wonder if his mind is still active or if he is "in his dotage"?

I preferred the revival of NINE. The original was dazzling to watch but ice cold. Plus I never cared much for Karen Akers and her machine-gun vibrato.

The revival felt like it was about human beings, and whatever his occasional vocal shortcomings, Banderas sang much better than Julia, who jut barked the songs. Mary Stuart Masterson was far better than the too-brittle Akers. I would say that Chita, with her exaggerated rolled "R"s, and Jane Krakowski were not as good as Montevecchi or Morris.

Mary Stuart Masterson found all sorts of colors in Luisa that Karen Akers just didn't have the acting depth to find.

Meryl Streep in "The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds" 16 weeks only! Shubert Theatre 20-- (fill in the blank) OK? Get it done or must I do everything?

Mary Stuart Masterson was fantastic in Nine. Does anyone know why she doesn't work much? Is it by choice, or is she difficult to cast and work with? I've always enjoyed working with her, and would love to see her onstage again.

You must do e v e r y t h i n g R532.

M&G in Arsenic and Old Lace

Is it true that Phyllis used to sprinkle some of this into her douche?

On the thread where it was first announced, I was the first to say that Charlotte would be Cassie but no one agreed. She was great in Chicago. Lithe and stunning in Song and Dance. But I sure was disappointed with her Cassie. They pushed her too hard to "act" and "sing" instead of letting her find it herself, which I've seen her do. Baayork is to blame. She can stage the show but not direct actors - at all.

They should have changed the Music and the Mirror choreography for her too. She looked terrible doing it.

Yeah you're right. I just watched it on youtube a couple of weeks ago. Her arms were all over the place and the sl to sr doubles were late and ungraceful.

Someone on DL mentioned Newman's memoir "Just in Time" (1988) and I read it last year. The best part is about her childhood in Atlantic City , where she performed as Baby Phyllis and her mom read fortunes. She was really rooted in show biz.

Julius LaRosa and Phyllis Newman sing "A Casual Affair" from the 1958 movie "Let's Rock."

r541 SAD!

So Jeremy Harris has stirred up a Twitter controversy (perhaps to provoke or perhaps because he’s an idiot—I suspect the latter) by holding the curtain of his play 15 minutes for Rihanna and happily responding to her texts she sent during the play.

“Jeremy O. Harris. @jeremyoharris: Two things I learned today about the Type of theatre maker I am:

When my idol texts that she’s running late. I hold the curtain for her.

When my idol texts me during a play I’ve written, I respond.

I'm sure the texts were more interesting than that piece of shit he wrote.

R543. Maybe I don't understand the texts. Why are they causing controversy? She thanked him for holding the curtain, and he is said that he responded to a text that she sent during the performance. She could have been in the rest room when she sent the text for all we know, and didn't disrupt the performance with her phone. If his tweets are as badly written and pointless as his play, NY theater is in trouble.

R545 it’s a one act play so they were texting each other during the show. He thinks that’s fine. He also thinks it’s fine to keep 900 or so people waiting because a celebrity pal is running late. Both actions strike a lot of people as unprofessional.

In other words, the type of "theater maker" he is is self-indulgent and more concerned with his own needs over the needs of the audience.

No one in their right mind would touch EFFECT OF GAMMA RAYS... It's one of the worst plays to win a Pulitzer I can think of.

Joanne Woodward couldn't make it work (albeit on film) so I wouldn't assume Streep could either. Besides, Streep is at least 20 years too old to play Betty.

That's Ms. Hunsdorfer to you, r548.

Where is Carol Burnett's TWIGS?

Wow, good find, r550. I had no idea she had done a TV movie of Twigs.

The NY Times wasn't too impressed with Burnett's "Twigs," and says that Burnett was "adequate, but not, however, very impressive or convincing."

It ran opposite the Laurence Olivier-Kate Hepburn "Love Among the Ruins," so I guess that's why it sank.

One of the greatest performanes I ever saw: Sada Thompson in ...Man in the Moon Marigolds. And I'm sure she was just as good in Twigs.

I agree about Man in the Moon Marigolds. I only saw the movie, but it was pretty bad. It did have a nice bit with Judith Lowry, Phyllis' Mother Dexter, though.

I don't remember realizing that at the time, r552. I watched TWIGS.

Swoosie started out as Janice Vickery. Through the run she also played Ruth and Tillie.

"The gun was in my hand. I don't know what I did next....it's just a blur."

Hal Linden!

Ken Page!

Cathy Rigby?

I never miss a Cathy Rigby musical. Actually, I saw her in "Peter Pan" some years ago and she was really very good.

Is one of the grumpy old men a big caftan queen? I can’t imagine Ken Page playing it any other way.

I honestly thought Hal Linden had died.

R561 Me too. I guess he's the new Abe Vigoda.

R560, Who is Ken Page's understudy, Rip Taylor?

[quote]Streep is at least 20 years too old to play Betty

She's an actress, she'll act young.

Doesn't Rigby own the LA Mirada where she first did "Peter Pan"?

cr:pp

Remember, there's a new thread (#368) already started, hovering in the wings like a dewy understudy ready to go on...

AND LIGHT UP THE SKY!

r564 She and her husband own McCoy-Rigby Entertainment, which does its shows at the La Mirada theater, but the theater itself is owned by the city.

Wait a minute, we are only up to r567 here. Fuck r566 and the horse she road in on.

Will Broadway dim for Phyllis Newman?

[quote]Will Broadway dim for Phyllis Newman?

She was in "Subways Are for Sleeping"! So I'm guessing not.

Ah, but there's the Phyllis Newman Health Foundation, which is referenced twice a year in the BC/EFA as part of their fundraising drive. And inspires its own annual gala. Plus she was royalty-by-marriage via Adolph Green. I'm guessing yes.

I keep reading about threads being “locked,” which allegedly includes this one. What does that mean? Only paying customers are allowed to post in a locked thread?

And, her daughter Amanda Green is very active on the current Broadway scene.

Phyllis also received a second Tony Award recently for her humanitarian work.

Yep

R572 If you subscribe, this is not a problem, as we are so never see it, but apparently yes, popular threads become subscriber only and people, who say hilarious shit like, "Datalounge should pay me for the amazing content I supply', refuse to pay the pittance and set up threads with bizarre obtuse titles, or, in the case of these threads, set the next one up earlier than needed to say 2.00 a month

They are poverty threads

I think I was on DL about a year before I subscribed and it's totally worth it. It really is a pittance, r575.

Just trying to help with the assisted suicide of this dying thread...

Oh....let's see......

Being from NY even as a kid I thought Phyllis Newman was considered Theater Royalty not just for her stage work but her long time marriage with Adolph Green.

Broadway is dimming its lights for this stage manager, so maybe Phyllis Newman will be honored, as well.

R580 Indeed, who did he blow

.....

Received a message from American Express, allowing me to purchase tickets for Plaza Suite with Matthew and SJP in Boston this February.

How can you resist, r583?

I imagine it will go something like this.....

If Walter Matthew couldn't make the movie work, how the hell will Matthew Broderick? That monotone, whiny, little voice for 2 hours onstage with Mister Ed.

Of course there's.....

[QUOTE] jerry's a couple of years older than Phyllis. I wonder how he's doing now? He wasn't well enough to travel to NYC to see Bette's "Dolly," and supposedly he's just sticking around home (in Florida). I wonder if his mind is still active or if he is "in his dotage"?

Obviously he isn't well. If he was well he would definitely have been at the Dolly revival. It was a majorly successful revival of his signature play. I wonder if he or Channing attended in secrecy.

So a playwright has the ability to hold a curtain?

Did Betty Hutton ever do Dolly?

[quote]So a playwright has the ability to hold a curtain?

Only if he twirls while holding it.

r590: Hutton never did DOLLY. Her later Broadway work was replacing Carol Burnett in FADE OUT, FADE IN and briefly replacing Dorothy Loudon in ANNIE. By most reports Hutton was not good in either.

That's sad about Arthur Gaffin. He was adorable and had a sweet face. He seems to have been genuinely beloved by the people he worked with.

Nothing about the cause if death or if he had a partner.

I didn't mean on Broadway, r592. I know she did Rose in stock (with little Bernadette as Hollywood Blonde #whatever).

I'll bet they managed to get Jerry a copy of the archival taping of Dolly. He's a great theatre composer-lyricist too old and too ill to travel to see a major hit revival of his first huge hit show. I'm sure whoever had to sign off on it did so.

I sure hope that Rhianna remembers this playwright because his play is crashing.

r590: Sorry about that: I wondered to0 about Hutton in stock DOLLY and could not find anything.

But I stumbled across this and I'm not sure it has ever been posted here before: Carol Channing doing a very evil takeoff of (mostly) Betty Hutton at the Palace....with a bit of Judy at the end. Channing doesn't perform any of Hutton's or Garlands songs - It's pretty brilliant.

Such a humongously limited talent.

Farewell.....

.....and Bajour