THEATRE GOSSIP #375: "Mixed COMPANY?"

FROZEN?

FREESTYLE LOVE SUPREME?

FLAHOOLEY?

Fiorello!

Laura Linney starts her new play tonight. Do we care? Any advance word?

I don't agree that there's nothing at stake with a thirtysomething Bobby. Intimacy. A life shared versus "Shall we let it go?" That's not small stuff.

FAIL!! You Forgot the Fucking word "edition" in your title.

FADE IN FADE OUT

FALSETTOS

FANNY

FIDDLER ON THE ROOF

FINDING NEVERLAND

FIRST DATE

FINIAN'S RAINBOW...

Anyone else hear that Maggie Smith's one-woman show is coming to BAM this year?

Is Karen Olivo still missing performances at Moulin Rouge?

Bobby should be 40 and it should always be set in present day from here on out. 1970 was soooo long ago and I was not alive. I don't wanna watch that shit.

[quote]1970 was soooo long ago and I was not alive. I don't wanna watch that shit.

You must have despised "Hamilton."

A 40-year-old woman in NYC debating commitment and marriage? A highly desirable single, with multiple suitors, and overly helpful married friends?

It's a musical comedy, not science fiction.

[quote]Is Karen Olivo still missing performances at Moulin Rouge?

It's her signature. She has to miss performances, so the lucky ones who actually see her can feel extra special.

I must say, for a 56 year old woman, Laura Linney looks spectacular. If she's had work done, it doesn't show at all. (I don't think she has).

[quote]A life shared versus "Shall we let it go?"

Or a life shared versus "could I leave you? Yes!"

(OOPS!)

OP, congrats. That's one of the better thread titles and openers we've had in some time.

Al Martino: "Losing My Mind"

Tony Bennett: "Losing My Mind"

Tony Bennett: "Losing My Mind"

An older Bobby/Bobbie definitely raises the stakes a bit more. These days, I don't think an unmarried 35 year old man or woman raises that many eyebrows like it did in the 70s.

[quote]Is Karen Olivo still missing performances at Moulin Rouge?

[quote]It's her signature. She has to miss performances, so the lucky ones who actually see her can feel extra special.

If Karen really misses as many performances as people say, how does she keep her job? You would think after so long, the producers would remind her she has a contract and if she doesn't start showing up more regularly that they're going to fire her ass and maybe even sue her for breach of contract. Any regular person who doesn't show up for work would get fired, so why should a Broadway star (who isn't even a celebrity at that) be any different? Seriously, how does she get away with it?

If she does "get away with it", it's presumably because she's not a celebrity and thus there aren't much of any demands for refunds when she's out.

She seems not to be doing any Tuesday evenings per Ticketmaster

R20 The story I heard is she told them she is having dance lessons, and they were so fucking overjoyed the Queen of the NO Dancing Leady Ladies was actually upping her weak skill set, they were overjoyed.

[quote]Bobbie's biological clock ticking is a subtext of the gender-swap Company, and it is made somewhat more specific in the way that Tick Tock was staged. It made the issue of should she or shouldn't she get married more meaningful and with some emotional weight in a way that having a male Bobby simply did not. Who really cares if a 30's good looking white male can't decide if he wants to get married? There is nothing at stake, whereas with a woman, there is.

Even if that argument makes sense, do you not think it's weird that ALL of Bobbie's married friends would spend SO MUCH time discussing that fact that she's not married, yet never actually mention the baby thing, and just leave all of that to "subtext?" I haven't seen this production yet, but it seems like that would be very odd, and I highly doubt they've added any actual lines about Bobbie's biological clock ticking.

In real life you rarely if ever discuss a single woman, or a married woman's desire for a baby. With so many miscarriages and infertility issues ts a mine-field. You do not talk about someone's poop habits, possible eating disorder, or anything about fertility unless they bring it up first.

[quote]In real life you rarely if ever discuss a single woman, or a married woman's desire for a baby. With so many miscarriages and infertility issues ts a mine-field. You do not talk about someone's poop habits, possible eating disorder, or anything about fertility unless they bring it up first.

I see what you mean, but I think it would come up if your friends were talking ALL THE TIME about why you're an unmarried, 35-year-old woman and if you ever do plan to get married, or if you're avoiding it.

I don't think it actually does. Talking about soon to be rotten eggs is not the same as talking about finding the right guy.

I don't ever talk about the possibility of having a baby with any of my single friends OR married female friends. Despite how close we might be, bringing it up would be stepping into a minefield. If they are dating someone really great, and I might encourage a more permanent union, there is always the implication that they could have children, but I can't imagine anyone reminding a single female friend that their days of having children are numbered.

[quote]Talking about soon to be rotten eggs is not the same as talking about finding the right guy.

It's not the same, but I would think talking to a 35-year-old WOMAN about one thing would lead to the other, even if one would have to chose one's words carefully.

[quote]I can't imagine anyone reminding a single female friend that their days of having children are numbered.

Agreed, but of course, there are ways of bringing up and discussing the subject without being so blunt about it.

R29 does not know any 35-year-old women.

Of course, you generally do not talk to a 35-year-old man about why they are not in a relationship either.

But the characters in Company do.

Maybe we are getting to the problem of this script? No one acta like a recognizable human being.

We don't see any kids in COMPANY, do we?

The two scenes that didn't work for me in the London Company were:

1) Poor Baby. A bunch of men worrying about a woman being alone has a different vibe than a group of women worrying about a man. The latter has a maternal element to it, the former just comes across as the men wanting to fuck Bobbi

2) The Harry and Sarah DUI story. It's just gross how breezy they all are about drunk driving, and is a real relic of another era. Now I feel that if someone admits to driving under the influence that they would be shunned, and definitely wouldn't try to play the story for laughs at a social gathering.

What's playing at the Roxy?

Re. Laura Linney’s plastic surgery . . . LL has said the focus on looks and pressure to be beautiful was one of the reasons she struggled in Hollywood and a key reason she doesn’t like LA.

However, she’s certainly had something done, if only fillers and Botox. My dermatologist said there’s no one we see on TV or in the movies who hasn’t had work.

FOLLIES!

That steaming piece of shit , Slave Play, lasted this long?

R33, I get all of that, but just running through the original script of COMPANY in my mind, I would there there are many scenes, lines and lyrics that worked fine when the story was set in 1970 but would seem very weird when it's set in the present day, regardless of whether the main character is male or female.

If a person was a...

The drunk driving story in Company could still work if Bobby/Bobbie displays utter horror at it. Or is that too subtle for today's audiences and they need someone coming out and saying "drunk driving's bad, kids. Don't do this at home?"

follies

Robbie Fairchild interviewed this weekend on "On Stage" by Frank Dilella. Very cute.

New Taylor Mac Play Will Seat Audience in Giant Ball Pit:

^ How very modernish.

It takes balls.

[quote]My dermatologist said there’s no one we see on TV or in the movies who hasn’t had work.

Glenda may be the exception.

Based on that short-lived KING LEAR, Glenda may want to reconsider. As a public service, if not out of vanity.

[quote]The drunk driving story in Company could still work if Bobby/Bobbie displays utter horror at it. Or is that too subtle for today's audiences and they need someone coming out and saying "drunk driving's bad, kids. Don't do this at home?"

If Bobbie did react to the drunk driving story with utter horror, don't you think that in turn would require some counter-reaction from the couple that tells the story? Which would in turn require some new lines? Sorry, but your idea isn't as clever as you seem to think it is.

Food on my clothes? So what...!

If it's good enough for Stephen Sondheim and Gore Vidal, then it's damn well good enough for me.

I’m sorry, but Glenda Jackson was in her own play-within-a-play in that Broadway King Lear. She was incredible (as was Ruth Wilson playing The Fool). There was a lot wrong with that production - even tough I appreciated Elizabeth Marvel getting fucked in a pile of trash and then squatting through ther next scene so she could make sure the cum went up her pussy - but Glenda was astounding.

I was shocked when she didn’t even get a Tony nomination, especially after they had expanded the category to six nominees that year. Thankfully Ruth got one.

R10 I did despise Hamilton. haha. R11 I'm talking about the original version with a male. I think doing it with a woman at all is moronic. R19 EXACTLY.

Laura Benanti Auditions for NBC's Peter Pan Live!

Since when does Laura Benanti audition for anything?

Didn't Benanti audition for My Fair Lady but then had to bow out because of her baby? She considered it a miracle that she got to replace Lauren Ambrose in that production, because she thought it'd be her last chance to play Eliza.

"She had to bow out."

Sure, Benan.

R55 I think she got pregnant. Same reason why Annette Bening missed out on paying Catwoman.

Laura Benanti was not going to get MY FAIR LADY over Lauren Ambrose. The production was built around Ambrose. Remember the FUNNY GIRL revival that fell apart?

[quote] I appreciated Elizabeth Marvel getting fucked in a pile of trash and then squatting through ther next scene so she could make sure the cum went up her pussy

wait, WHAT?

Wouldn't squatting make it come out?

One would think.

Yep, it’s exactly how I described it. In the Glenda Jackson King Lear, Pedro Pascal and Elizabeth Marvel fucked on top of a pile of trash on stage (Edmund and Goneril) with Marvel taking her pantries off beforehand. Then, after he cums, she performs her next lines squatting presumably in order to make sure the cum stays in and she gets pregnant.

But squatting brings the law of gravity into play... it would make more sense if she lay down and kicked her legs up into the air.

I wasn’t the fucking director!

[quote]I’m sorry, but Glenda Jackson was in her own play-within-a-play in that Broadway King Lear.

You make that sound like a good thing. Is it???

[quote]Didn't Benanti audition for My Fair Lady but then had to bow out because of her baby?

Benanti has been VERY vocal about the fact that Bartlett Sher initially had no interest in her playing Eliza, and yes, he did build the show around Lauren Ambrose. As it turned out, Ambrose wasn't as well received in the show as everyone hoped she would be, and Benanti was hired to replace (and got a far better reception overall).

In the MFL revival going to the West End? I guess Diana Rigg reprising her role is rather unlikely.

Only if that slacker Ambrose repeats, r65.

But it's highly unlikely to go to the West End. There wouldn't be much point.

I thought Katrina was a terrible choice for Company from the start. She doesn't really exhibit a great sense of humor on stage, and she seems too frosty and chill to play someone looking for any companionship at all.

Katrina has a moon face.

Judy Kuhn is so wonderful....

While I didn't loathe Katrina Lenk's "Losing My Mind" as much as others, her "Could I Leave You" was just, yeah, no. I've said it before here (as have a small handful of others), but Lenk will make an excellent Desiree Armfeldt someday. (Preferably with a full orchestra and a beautiful production.)

After two Sondheim medleys in that NYPhil concert, I FF'd to Lenk. I felt like I was watching a high school concert band's spring concert. (Blame Gemignani and Lonny Price.)

R67 My thoughts exactly.

[Quote] I FF'd to Lenk.

Fist fucked?

Lenk is probably more suited to "Dear World" than "A Little Night Music." She seems a bit of a space cadet.

What Sondheim roles would Lenk even be right for? Desiree probably comes the closest.

It's not Sondheim, but I could see her as Sally Bowles.

Lenk seems hard to cast. There's not a big demand for cold, vaguely European glamour girls.

I always assumed Ambrose got a rather warm reception for My Fair Lady. I'm usually a fan of her TV and film work, but she didn't impress me in that show at all. She surprised me with how lovely her voice was, proving that she does have a good enough voice for the musical theatre, but her acting was what bugged me and the lousy projection didn't help. I was in the 6th row and could barely hear the poor thing. She didn't have a great stage presence.

Guess again, r74....

I was going to say Lenk is a Kost.

R68 What's a moon face? Full of craters? Pock-marked?

That Cabaret that Lenk was in was one of the few good things that Reprise did.

R80, bit why is Sally singing Tomorrow Belongs to Me? I have always seen that sung by the waiters and the MC.

Lenk played Fraulein Kost.

Fräulein Kost and Ernst sing Tomorrow Belongs to Me at the party that ends act one in the play version of Cabaret.

R79, have you ever heard of Google?

*

I missed the MY FAIR LADY revival at LCT in part because of negative word-of-mouth:

It was too long and slow, and...

Many were underwhelmed by Lauren Ambrose, her small voice, and her uneven acting. I think the hype leading up to the production didn't help her: people went in expecting a Liza for the ages, the second coming of Julie, etc. And she wasn't it. I do recall that the reviews were respectful towards her. The word-of-mouth, though, was much more negative.

In hindsight, I wished I'd seen Benanti do it. Or seen Ambrose and made up my own mind.

Had you seen the show late in its run, you would have experienced a superb Higgins by Harry Haddon-Paton. One of the best I've seen in years.

Agree, HHP was the best Higgins i've seen. Saw both Elizas - don't get Lauren Ambrose, but Benanti was right. And the set. Fucking glorious.

[quote] people went in expecting a Liza for the ages

Hey! I'm shhtill alive, people! There'sh only one Liza for the agesh, and it'sh ME, darling!

Yes, waiting for the replacement cast was the right move. Not only was Benanti perfection, but Danny Burstein was eons better than Norbert Leo Butz. And Harry Haddon Payton should have won the Tony, ESPECIALLY over Tony Shalhoub, which was a ridiculous win.

The production itself was lovely, and beautifully done, but I can see how it would be torpedoed by the wrong cast.

I finally watched Lenk on the Sondheim special. I liked her in Indecent (didn't see The Band's Visit) and I assumed people were just being unnecessarily nasty. They weren't. I too went to Northwestern and any of the women who did theatre there when I was a student in the late 70s would have done a better job. I thought she was dreadful, both dramatically and musically, sorry to say.

I know she has her detractors on here, but Benanti was an Eliza for the ages.

What I heard of Benanti featured less than stellar accent work.

"foyce", "I would navva." I guess Diana Rigg had already left the production, so...

Rosemary Harris took over for Rigg.

Her studio recording is odd too. She pronounces "once" as "'unce", for instance.

[quote]What I heard of Benanti featured less than stellar accent work.

Neither her Cockney nor her RP accents were perfect, and maybe not quite as good as Ambrose's, but certainly not bad at all, and in every other way Benanti was wonderful in the role.

[quote]Rosemary Harris took over for Rigg.

And was brilliant.

[quote]"foyce", "I would navva."

Her cockney pronunciation of both of those words sounds fine to me.

[quote]She pronounces "once" as "'unce", for instance.

No, she doesn't. Why would you type something like that when people can hear for themselves that it's simply not true?

I didn't get to see Benanti in MFL but did attend a concert she gave. She sang all her MFL songs and told the story as she went. Stunning

I've been watching interviews with Lenk to see if she has that weird accent in real life and she sounds like a normal woman her age with almost no trace of an accent. Why the weird accent for both the songs on the Sondheim special? Will she be delivering her lines in an American accent in Company, but switching to her Europea accent for the songs? What a confusing dame.

What word do you hear at 0:55? It certainly isn't Once (or wonce or wunce). She lops off the beginning of the word. That's nonsensical and it hasn't nothing to do with cockney or RP.

She was interviewd by Skip E. Lowe!?

I think she lets the "t" in "at" do all the work, so the start of "once" gets a bit lost. There should have been more "w" in her "once." But I don't think she's simply dropping the start of the word.

She really sounds lovely in that cut.

I saw MFL and Benanti was good. The set was fucking amazing. The show is pretty boring. I sat dead center Orch and everytime that house slide in and out, WOW. And the rotating! Forget about it.

[quote]I think she lets the "t" in "at" do all the work, so the start of "once" gets a bit lost. There should have been more "w" in her "once." But I don't think she's simply dropping the start of the word.

In my opinion, there's just as much of the "w" sound as there needs to be. She doesn't hit it with a sledgehammer, but it's definitely there, and distinct enough that I don't know what the hell R100's problem is.

[quote]What word do you hear at 0:55? It certainly isn't Once (or wonce or wunce). She lops off the beginning of the word. That's nonsensical and it hasn't nothing to do with cockney or RP.

She definitely drops the "W" sound on once. I was wondering if the word sits in her break and she was so busy changing from chest voice to head voice that she just let the "W" go.

However, she does get lazy in the beginning by speaking the second "bed" and "sleep". There are notes there and if she can't sing them, she shouldn't be playing the role. And her "Wouldn't It Be Loverly" is atrocious. Did she study the Cockney accent at all? Or even read the script? The Cockney accent drops the "H" at the beginning of words. You can clearly hear her "H" on the phrase "lots of coal making lots of heat." Never mind that her cockney sounds more like a speech impediment. With all the YouTube videos out there of people actually speaking the Cockney dialect there's no reason for her to be so sloppy with the accent.

But despite the fact that she doesn't have the singing technique to handle this very difficult role, she's just not right for the role. She's too porcelain. She's an Elsa in The Sound of Music, not an Eliza in My Fair Lady.

"Sprad my wings" at 1:40. "Unce" again at 2:00 (repeated later as well). "Spryed my wings" at 2:56... And she keeps changing the way she pronounces "danced."

oh for fuck's sake

Do you want us to place a fatwa on her head, r106?

[quote[Dream Whip predated Cool Whip. // Which is what I said at [R310].

This may be a first. I posted the above on the thread about discontinued foods, and it somehow migrated over here. You'll note that the above follows R96 above but is listed as R324.

That only shows up on your browser, probably because you posted on one thread and immediately clicked on another.

Good to know. Thanks, R110. I don't recall that happening before, and this site has been wonky for the past day or so.

*

Correct, R69. Judy Kuhn has a unique and fantastic voice. Days and Days is a show-stopper number as is Colors of the Wind in Pocahontas.

Laura Benanti is a treasure. It's just a shame that she's a soprano, because those roles are so few and far between these days. She has the personality of a brassy beltress and the singing voice doesn't always match.

[quote]She definitely drops the "W" sound on once. I was wondering if the word sits in her break and she was so busy changing from chest voice to head voice that she just let the "W" go.

She definitely does NOT drop the "w" sound on "once." She definitely sings a light "w" sound at the beginning of the word, all three times it occurs. If she didn't, the phrase would sound like "why all at unss," and that is not what it sounds like. I'm glad we have the link to the recording so that anyone without hearing loss can clearly hear the truth.

Ironically, there are a few other words she pronounces a bit oddly in the song -- some vowel sounds, not consonants -- so it's strange that some people are dogging her for a word she pronounces absolutely correctly.

More than one person has said she's not pronouncing "once" correctly...

[Quote] a light "w"

Did you type that with a straight face?

Can we have an opinion on her pronunciation of “still,” “begged,” and “more”? I have issues with them.

And don’t get me started on what she does to “the.”

Verge

I saw both Benanti and Ambrose. Ambrose had some issues and was far from effortless when singing, but there was a real person fighting for respect. Benanti has it in the bag from the beginning and showed it Her singing was also far from effortless, but in a haughty way that was about her training rather than Ms. Doolittle.

Replacement Freddy was terrible, smiling constantly as though he had never stopped playing Cornelius. Danny Burstein was great, and an improvement on his predecessor (as was Rosemary Harris). That set was beautiful.

[Quote] Benanti has it in the bag from the beginning and showed it

That quality is common with Benanti, e.g. "She Loves Me."

r69

Kuhn is a meeskite and that Days and Days song is a real stinker.

[quote] Replacement Freddy was terrible, smiling constantly as though he had never stopped playing Cornelius.

Terrible actor, but he sang the role beautifully.

Plus he has a huge bulge, which he happily shows off all the time on his IG.

IG link, please.

Bulge? What bulge?

Ew.

[quote]Replacement Freddy was terrible, smiling constantly as though he had never stopped playing Cornelius.

Of course I can't say for sure, but I expect he was directed that way to show Freddy as something of a twit, although it's true that I don't remember the actor who originated the role playing it quite so broadly.

I think he's just a naturally smiley guy (as evident at R126) and he needs to find a way to control it. Ricky Martin had the same problem when I saw him in EVITA years ago. A dumb smile plastered throughout.

If he were acting, thought by thought, beat by beat, he wouldn't have to "control" his smile.

Speaking of food on one's shirt, looks like Bernie spilled a little guacamole on her grey blouse.

Benanti was at her best in Gypsy where she didn't seem to have it in the bag from her first scene. Her Louise was genuinely, painfully awkward and grew into a stunning woman throughout the course of the night. It was beautiful. Plus, she was roaringly funny in the most unexpected spots.

Still, she still didn't look right as young Louise. Not an inch of babyfat on her face. It's a shame she isn't having roles crafted around her, like "Women on the Verge..."

Oh dear. Did he trip on his dungeon sling up in CT?

[quote]Benanti was at her best in Gypsy where she didn't seem to have it in the bag from her first scene. Her Louise was genuinely, painfully awkward and grew into a stunning woman throughout the course of the night. It was beautiful. Plus, she was roaringly funny in the most unexpected spots.

If Benanti did seem like she had it "in the bag" from the beginning in SHE LOVES ME and MY FAIR LADY, I suspect that's because, in the current climate, many people seem to feel that all female characters have to appear completely in control at all times, never vulnerable or unformed or unsure or in need of anything they don't already have. Of course, this is ridiculous, but there you have it.

Elderly people falling and injuring themselves is such a cliche. I would have expected better of Sondheim.

Me here at last on the ground.

I'm watching Naked City. Ruth Ford is playing the mother of Kathryn Hays, a pill-popping socialite. I assume it's the same Ruth Ford....

R137 is my first big laugh of the New Year. Thanks, r137!

I had no idea that Ruth Ford was so noteworthy. I only knew her from The Grass Harp. She was the widow of actor Zachary Scott but had many lovers, she died ten years ago at 98, completely wrote her daughter & grandchildren out of her will, and was known for having artistic "salons" in her Manhattan apartment. It was at one of those salons that Ruth introduced Stephen Sondheim to Leonard Bernstein. When she died she had a much younger lover that she had set up in the Dakota in his own apartment.

Ruth Ford, who died last year at 98, was best known for the salon she created at her beautiful, art-lined Manhattan apartment, frequented by the likes of William Faulkner, Cecil Beaton, Truman Capote and Andy Warhol. The apartment, is now in the hands of Indra Tamang, raised in a mud house in rural Nepal but for the past three decades the Ford family's loyal servant. In her will, the former actress, model and wife of the Hollywood film star Zachary Scott left her estate, including two apartments and her valuable collection of Russian surrealist art, to Mr Tamang. She kept back only her clothes and some jewellery. Mrs Ford had become reclusive in her last years, barely talking to her estranged daughter, Shelley Scott. Along with Mrs Ford's two grandchildren, she was completely written out of her mother's will. A lawyer for Mrs Scott, who received a modest settlement after challenging the will in court, said she was "very happy" for Mr Tamang. The 57-year-old Nepalese man was persuaded to come to America in 1974 by Mrs Ford's brother, Charles Henri Ford, a writer who had lived in Kathmandu. He cooked, cleaned and cared for Mr Ford, who also lived in the Dakota Building until his death in 2002, and then for his sister. He lived with his own wife and three daughters in a small house in a modest part of Queens. Mr Tamang said he was "grateful, honoured and humbled" by the Fords' generosity but was not altogether surprised. "This is my second family and I think they considered me family, too," he said. The American dream aspect of Mr Tamang's story has its limits, however. The co-op board which decides who can live in the landmark Central Park West building, once the home of John Lennon, is not expected to allow a former member of a resident's staff to move in. Mr Tamang, who now faces a seven-figure tax bill and has already put one of the apartments on the market for $4.5 million, tactfully said he was happy to stay in his house in Queens. While the value of Mr Tamang's property portfolio has been hit hard by the economic slowdown, prices for work by Pavel Tchelitchew, the Fords' favourite and most collected artist, have been rising. Last month his portrait of Mrs Ford sold for nearly $1 million at Sotheby's, a record for the painter. Mrs Scott had contested the will but Arnie Herz, her lawyer, insisted she was not upset about the outcome. He told the Wall Street Journal: "The one thing that everyone seemed to agree upon is that the guy who took care of her mother and the uncle is very well liked and well respected. Shelley also liked this guy and is happy for him." Mrs Ford starred in Orson Welles’s comedy Too Much Johnson opposite her then boyfriend, Joseph Cotton, as well as the western Roaring Frontiers and the crime serial Secrets of the Lone Wolf. She achieved more success on stage, touring with Welles’s acclaimed theatre troupe. Wells was another of her reputed lovers. Illustrating the influence of her artistic salons, Stephen Sondheim said that only a chance meeting with Leonard Bernstein at a Ford soiree led to their collaboration on West Side Story. After two marriages, she took up with a much younger boyfriend whom she installed in a separate attic flat in the Dakota Building

Gavin performing at the Met (not that Met, the other Met):

Blair Underwood driving Broadway audiences wild:

[post redacted because linking to dailymail.co.uk clearly indicates that the poster is either a troll or an idiot (probably both, honestly.) Our advice is that you just ignore this poster but whatever you do, don't click on any link to this putrid rag.]

Hopefully Gavin will receive some more music, of the acoustic variety. No more of that dancefloor stuff for which he has not budget.

*release, not receive

Gave prefers to receive.

Jonathan Groff is a dom top?!

R142 People are that hard up huh?

In other news, Jason Robert Brown is musicalizing the 1993 film FAREWELL MY CONCUBINE. With an all-Asian cast.

Will they all be the right kind of Asian? No one would make an Irish musical with a bunch of Germans.

Moises Kauffman is directing?? Jesus

Asian privilege

Who is the audience for this? Chinese female impersonator tourists?

I saw that too, R151--I wouldn't trust him to direct him to direct traffic, but he's weirdly esteemed by some people in theatre.

I think JR Brown is making a big deal out of the casting as a pre-emptive measure: if this show actually has a life, he will be pilloried without Asian-Americans on the creative team.

He'll be pilloried for cultural appropriation, as in "how dare he!" in being a non-Asian writing a show about Asians. It's a different time than when Sondheim wrote the score to "Pacific Overtures", which I don't think has ever done particularly well at the box-office.

Kaufman is one of those inexplicable people in theater.

Kaufman nailed [italic]Gross Indecency[/italic] 23 years ago, and [italic]Laramie Project[/italic] in 2000 was ok. That's how he still gets jobs.

NYC is not about good directors. All it takes is one play well directed and it creates a lifetime career of directing, even though one is a mediocre to poor director. (I might mention Michael Greif ).

LARAMIE PROJECT was just... okay. To criticize it as anything but Really Groundbreaking Epic Theatre at the time was interpreted as hating on the memory of poor Matthew Shepherd. Which is absurd.

I see some of that thin-skinned, reactive response in the ongoing debate over THE INHERITANCE, or the last ANGELS IN AMERICA production. We're never going to get great and lasting LGBT art if we can't criticize it, people.

[quote] Kaufman nailed Gross Indecency 23 years ago, and Laramie Project in 2000 was ok. That's how he still gets jobs.

Yeah, but he really fucked up “Bent” in LA a few years ago.

The only salvageable part of the last Angels in America was the actress playing Hannah Pitt. She was fantastic. Everyone else was trash especially the awful performance of Denise Gough.

[quote]Kaufman nailed Gross Indecency 23 years ago, and Laramie Project in 2000 was ok. That's how he still gets jobs.

But both of those were group projects, neither one greatly dependent on his direction. I believe EVERYTHING he has done since then has been a critical and/or financial flop, which unfortunately (in his case) gives the lie to the the theory that, in the theater, you're only as good as your last show. Like someone above wrote, the fact that anyone hires him to direct ANYTHING anymore is inexplicable. I had hoped that TORCH SONG had ended his career forever, but I guess not....

[quote] For which he should be blackC

What is blackC, r160? Black cock?

I meant to write “blacklisted”, but my finger posted before my brain was done.

NY producers are very lazy when it comes to hiring directors. Talk about rounding up the usual suspects.

[quote]NY producers are very lazy when it comes to hiring directors. Talk about rounding up the usual suspects.

Agreed, but aren't there far more successful, less flop-ridden people than Kaufman among the "usual suspects?" Maybe he only gets hired when everyone else who's known to be a decent director is already working. But honestly, when it comes down to him, that's when they should really go looking for a talented newcomer.

I was looking at My Fair Lady page on the Kennedy Center's website, and it warns: 'Please note that Act II contains a brief scene that may be suited for ages 13 and up.'

What are they referring to? The men in dresses during Get Me to the Church on Time?

Here's a theory - Slave Play's odds of winning the Tony will actually be enhanced by its closing. With no one able to see it -- and witness its crappiness as a play -- come spring, it will increase in its reputation as a cultural accomplishment for woke Broadway.

[quote]it warns: 'Please note that Act II contains a brief scene that may be suited for ages 13 and up.' What are they referring to?

There's a new scene where Mrs. Pearce teaches Eliza how to orally service Prof. Higgins.

[quote]Here's a theory - Slave Play's odds of winning the Tony will actually be enhanced by its closing. With no one able to see it -- and witness its crappiness as a play -- come spring, it will increase in its reputation as a cultural accomplishment for woke Broadway.

Interesting theory, but it doesn't really work, because the people who would vote for SLAVE PLAY to win the Tony, or not, are only supposed to vote if they've seen it and all of the other nominees. And there have been reports that, in recent years, the League has been cracking down on this.

As much as it’s lambasted on this board, The Inheritance will still receive Tony nominations for Best Play, Best Leading Actor in a Play, and Best Featured Actor in a Play.

Don’t be too sure about that R171...

FOLLIES set in bombed-out Dresden? I'm THERE.

I was looking at My Fair Lady page on the Kennedy Center's website, and it warns: 'Please note that Act II contains a brief scene that may be suited for ages 13 and up.'

What are they referring to? The men in dresses during Get Me to the Church on Time?

It's a new scene where Higgins , while getting anally penetrated by Freddy Eynsford-Hill, sings," Why Can't a Woman be More like a Man?"

Forget "Hazel." We'll be getting a "Nanny" musical.

What we were all waiting for: "Young Frankenstein Live!"

Hot box of crazy Bway producer, Adela Holzer, DEAD.

Trapped in a time tunnel: Stefanie Dietrich (Stella), Dominica Herrero Gimeno (Young Stella) in “Follies” at Staatsoperette Dresden.

Pagin Almodovar! Carmen Maura IS Adela Holzer!

Was Young Stella meant to be a transman? An Olympic pole vaulter? A bouncer?

Those legs. Saints preserve us.

Good god, Jermaine Jackson is disgusting.

Her name is Luka......

She'll be in the second act!

She'll be upstage from you!

I guess you might have seen her before.....

The most shocking thing about the article at r182 is that Jonathan Marc Sherman is still writing. Remember when he was a teenager and we were told he was going to be the greatest playwright in generations?

....

Um, Jason Robert Brown is not Stephen Sondheim...

He's not even Jason Butler Harner!

Kyle as a twink at the Jimmy awards.

I actually watched that entire FOLLIES from 1991. WTF!? I couldn’t avert my eyes. Why are the young ones doing the twist in “Girls Upstairs?” Why is “Broadway Baby” staged with six backup guys in vinyl police outfits? So many questions.

Who the hell knows? It’s Germany. We're lucky they didn’t do a coprophilia ballet during "One More Kiss".

Maybe Young Heidi was doing it offstage because she sure wasn’t in the number.

Incidentally, the playwright of SLAVE PLAY thinks that only women know how to TRULY act; if a man has some acting talent, he's probably gay or bi. Didn't he hire some straight men for his play?

R184 Kyle Selig trying to sing Oh, Is There Not One Maiden Breast from Pirates of Penzance was PAINFUL!! He had to scream the high notes.

Apparently he doesn't have a solo as Aaron Samuels in MEAN GIRLS...

Re: The Benanti comments, I have to say it's refreshing not to see an entire thread trashing her. I'm a big fan. But I found her Eliza monumentally disappointing. She felt entirely too contemporary in the role, the accents were such a mess and, as others have said, there was no journey for Eliza in her hands. But, I'm still happy she got to play her dream role. Harry Hadden Patton was out the night I saw the show. At first I was disappointed. I needn't have been. His understudy, Clarke Thorell, was magnificent. In fact, he was the first Higgins I'd ever seen who didn't make long for Rex Harrison in the role.

Bart Sher remains, to quote the King of Siam, a puzzlement to me. I found his South Pacific thrilling, but his King & I and My Fair Lady both felt cold and stilted to me.

Is it a bad sign that Isaac Powell has deleted every single Instagram post? He hasn't made them private, he's literally deleted every post. His account remains live. I was hoping he'd be back in West Side Story by the time I was in NY in late February, but this move makes me a touch suspicious.

[Quote] But, I'm still happy she got to play her dream role

This comment is entirely too contemporary.

He apparently went on a social media post deleting spree a while back. Someone commented about it here but, of course, they failed to elaborate on what he'd posted/deleted.

You can archive posts on Instagram, right? They disappear from the page but they're not actually deleted.

[quote]This comment is entirely too contemporary.

R196 - 😂

Buck Henry has died at 89. He adapted "The Graduate" for the screen and co-created "Get Smart."

Goddamn, Jeremy O. Harris is fucking exhausting. Does he actually think people are reading his stupid tweets and thinking- Thank GOD! The Algonquin Round Table will rise again! And he doesn't even know the difference between your and you're.

BROADWAY IS WOKE, R201. Get your geezer self out of the way and let in the new generation of theater folk who grew up on Mamma Mia and Sponge Bob but have all of the answers to what ails New York theater. Too much focus on the past and not enough on the future of theater as a social statement on the evil of white males and cis identifiers. Every new show must reflect that!

BOB & CAROL & TED & ALICE is such a silly idea for a new musical that it might be brilliant. Or excruciating.

Duncan Sheik has had mixed success as a theatre composer, but even his failures (ALICE BY HEART) are more interesting musically, IMHO, than many of his contemporaries' work. I'd rather listen to ALICE than, say, TOOTSIE.

SPRING AWAKENING is one of the few outstanding musical scores of the 2000s.

Jeremy Harris really shouldn't handle his own social media. Or he should hire a proofreader, at least.

For a Yale-educated playwright (and I think, a promising one), he keeps stepping in it.

[quote]She felt entirely too contemporary in the role, the accents were such a mess and, as others have said, there was no journey for Eliza in her hands.

The first two points are arguable, but I really don't think it's accurate to say that Benanti's Eliza had "no journey." To me, an important aspect of the character is that she's a very strong and smart woman from the get-go, it's just that she needs to learn how to speak and act in such a way that she won't immediately be dismissed. I thought Benanti caught all of that beautifully, and I'm wondering in what specific way(s) you feel that her Eliza had "no journey."

Ugh, I walked out of Alice By Heart after a half hour. I aggressively loathed it. I wanted very much to walk out of Tootsie, as well, and contemplated it all through intermission, but I grimly stuck with it. I've only seen three Duncan Sheik shows and I consider Spring Awakening to be the last great score Broadway has produced. I did not feel the same about American Psycho.

R205 - I completely agree.

What I think Sher's production did specifically - as he's arguably done in every one of his stagings of classic musicals - was draw attention to the social conditions in which Eliza lived, rather than Eliza herself. It doesn't matter how strong and smart from the get-go one might be if the opportunities to make use of those qualities are limited because of gender or class.

MFL has always been about this to various degrees, but what I thought was genuinely wonderful about Sher's production and Benanti's performance in particular was that Eliza smartly but intentionally outwitted all of the men. She is supposed to be supine and grateful, the subject of a bet between two older educated dudes and a father who wants to profit from her. If Eliza went on a journey, it wasn't that she flowered into the woman that the men wanted her to be, but the realisation that she could suddenly be unstoppable on her own terms if she played along with them.

It's a subtle but significant difference, and I found it (MARY!) profoundly moving. I cried several times: when she stepped off the set, out of Higgins' house and social milieu to deliver the final full-throated final lines of I Could Have Danced All Night; when she appeared in her dress for the Embassy Ball, as if she couldn't quite believe it herself; and the end, where she left that fucker dry and stepped out into the world. Glorious.

R207 interesting

R207, The same is true of She Loves Me! Benanti gave the performance the producers wanted. People seem to ignore that the same director did a vastly different production some years earlier. The producers did not want a traditional Amalia. They wanted an Amalia for women who had grown up with Sex and the City.

Unfortunately, this is going to be the norm for a very long time to come. I am waiting for the empowered Bella in Angel Street.

That being said, Amalia should not have the fashion model vidage that Benanti has. There is no way that woman would be neglected by men. Same as Benanti's Rosabella in MOST HAPPY FELLA.

[quote]I'd rather listen to ALICE than, say, TOOTSIE.

Why, thank you! Nice to finally get some love here on DL!

r194: Thanks for the shoutout to Clarke Thorell, HAIRSPRAYS original Corny Collins. Handsome, talented fellow with a gorgeous singing voice. He didn't work as often as he should.

"doesn't" sorry!

r188: I loved the fabulous Kessler Twins in "Who's That Woman"!

[quote]Thanks for the shoutout to Clarke Thorell, HAIRSPRAYS original Corny Collins. Handsome, talented fellow with a gorgeous singing voice. He didn't work as often as he should.

When I saw "My Fair Lady" at Lincoln Center, Clarke Thorell was playing Zoltan Karpathy.

R207, agreed. I thought Benanti's empowered portrayal of Eliza worked beautifully, but her performance as Amalia in SHE LOVES ME, not so much. I think that character has to be more nervous, more unsure of herself, less "empowered" than Eliza, especially at the start of the story, because that's the way she was written.

I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure Clarke Thorell had a period of vocal difficulties around the time of HAIRSPRAY, and if so, that would certainly explain why he didn't work more after a certain point. Hope he's fine now, glad he was involved with MFL at Lincoln Center.

And we love you, r214!

Now THAT'S how to put asses in seats, R218! Company, schmompany!

Howchamagowcha.

Bring in the Girls!!!

THE INHERITANCE?

Feh. No girls, no gags, no chance!

Wasn’t “I Love My Wife” basically a musical version of “Bob and Carol and Ted and Alice” with the names changed.

Alice & Ellen turn on the STEAM HEAT!

I don't live in NYC, and saw a bootleg of Ambrose in My Fair Lady. I didn't think I would enjoy it as much as I did, because I had seen it enough times for a lifetime, but I was curious about Ambrose. She was wonderful. I've read criticisms of her singing, but it did not bother me at all. She was scrappy and a little less sure of herself than most Elizas, which I thought worked beautifully. As someone else commented, I thought the focus was more on the society in which she lived than on Eliza. There is a line in the play which is something to the effect of "the difference between a lady and a flower girl is how she is treated, not who she is." I certainly heard that line before, but it was the first time I HEARD it. Ergo, I have not seen Benanti's version, but it shouldn't make a difference if she appeared strong in the first scene, because Sher really didn't make it about her evolution as much as he commented on how society's view of someone can alter their circumstances.

Hey kids! Time to open a can of worms.

Let's unpack one of the latest COMPANY promo photos together and discuss representation!

Here's "Bobbi" and her good and crazy people, her friends. Of the 5 couples, one is 2 gay men. Three appear to be interracial, including Patti as Joanne and hubby Larry. Looks like the 3 boyfriends are all white.

I think this is all swell. My question: is there any lesbian content/representation in this production?

PS: bonus points if you can answer why "Bobbie" is dressed like a convicted prisoner. Is it a metaphor?

Will Bernadette replace as Joanne?

All Bobbie's boyfriends are played by gay men?

"Susan & Peter" do not look right together.

I saw the Neal Patrick Harris COMPANY (with the NY Philharmonic). It also had Patti Lupone.

I loved it. Is there any reason to see this new revival considering Patti is playing the same role?

The lead role has been switched to that of a woman.

R224 Love it. ❤ And I agree. I don't understand why people were bashing her voice. It was perfectly fine. But you know how snooty Theatre queens like to be.

[quote] The lead role has been switched to that of a woman.

...but that woman is being played by Lenk.

PASS

Ben Cook out of West Side Story. New Riff - cute kid, but it loses something when the Jets are multiracial.

Have we discussed this yet?

ah yes, the classic story of a gang of black and white guys who all hate puerto ricans.

Is that ballet creep still in the company of WSS?

[quote]Have we discussed this yet?

I linked to the same article at R176, and the only response was the sound of crickets, R235.

because we're all bored by the Young Frankenstein choice.

It was a flop on Bway for a reason

WEHT Roger Bart?

What's WEHT, r240?

Last I saw Roger Bart was supposed to play Doc Brown in Back to the Future the musical in the West End.

Another ugly black boy taking a role traditionally played a white guy for a reason. How thrilling and progressive. I'm Puerto Rican by the way and this totally negates the purpose. A friend of mine saw it and confirmed what I already knew. That its trash. She said it didn't feel like WSS but glad she saw it. She said the computer screen was distracting to her. She said it only worked during the rumble. She saw understudy Tony and said he was horrible. She said Maria was the best thing about it. Her daughter went and it was her first time seeing WSS. She did not like it.

Blacks and Whites team up against the Puerto Ricans. Yea ok. 👌

And another ugly racist comment,

R245 And how is it racist? He is ugly and he is black. Those are facts. And in what world are whites and blacks teaming up together to fight Puetro Ricans? Please. It's idiotic. And for the record, I probably wouldn't mind if he was being played by a hot and thick sexy black boy.

[quote] And for the record, I probably wouldn't mind if he was being played by a hot and thick sexy black boy.

At least you're not shallow.

All that Jazzy "street" shit has aged into pure camp. WSS might as well take place on another planet

R239, the reworked version of Young Frankenstein I saw in London last year was terrific.

I must say I don't have very high hopes for a musical based on "The Nanny."

Songs"

"Oh Mr. Sheffield",

"She's Out On Her Fanny",

"Hahahahahehehehehehheehheeeeeeeeehhhhhhhhh (Oh That Laugh Of Hers)"

I'm proud to announce the nominees for the 34th annual ROBBIE AWARDS have just been announced! This is a very prestigious Los Angeles Area Theater Awards program that highlights the best in theater in the Los Angeles Area! Created by internet theater reviewer Rob Stephens, a real champion of Los Angeles Area theater!

That's an awful lot of exclamation points, R252.

And the next major musical revival that Absolutely No One Was Clamoring For....

Diane Paulus "reexamines" 1776 in spring 2021!

At the Roundabout--so you just know it's gonna be good.

And the next major musical revival that Absolutely No One Was Clamoring For....

Diane Paulus "reexamines" 1776 in spring 2021!

At the Roundabout--so you just know it's gonna be good.

I recall the last 776 Revival. The script was so strong that the songs were unnecessary...which is a bad thing for a musical

I wonder if hottie Ramin Karimloo knew any of the victims of that plane in Tehran. He’s Iranian-Canadian, too, after all.

It's no Teddy, r252.

Or a Sea Bee.....

Let alone a Sarah Siddons....

I don't understand the hate surrounding Ambrose's voice. She genuinely surprised me with how robust she sounded. The main issue was, as many have said, the way she stopped acting the minute the music started. It was like she was so nervous that she wouldn't hit the notes that she couldn't stay in character. I felt like I was watching some opera singer trying to act. Benanti definitely made those transitions much smoother, but she's such a natural musical theatre actress. I think that's what was missing from Ambrose. She's a great actress with a great voice, but she's a terrible musical theatre performer. It almost feels like a gene some people just don't have.

[quote] [R245] And how is it racist? He is ugly and he is black. Those are facts.

I'm not R245, but when I saw his photo with today's announcement, I thought Dharon E. Jones was very nice looking. So... feel free to say he's ugly in your opinion, but I wouldn't call it a 'fact'.

I don't think Jones is remotely ugly. And I'm a Broadway fan. I know ugly.

[quote]The main issue was, as many have said, the way she stopped acting the minute the music started. It was like she was so nervous that she wouldn't hit the notes that she couldn't stay in character. I felt like I was watching some opera singer trying to act.

None of this makes a very compelling case for casting her as in the title role in a high-profile revival of a classic, much beloved stage musical. I like to set the bar a bit higher when I buy a theatre ticket, frankly.

Jackie Hoffman just tweeted “Why is Vancouver in another country? Why is Canada another country? What is British Columbia is that another country?”

I guess she’s referring to Harry and Meghan. She cracks my shit up.

Baz Bamigboye has tweeted that Andy Nyman is playing Vandergelder opposite Imelda Staunton in the London production of Hello, Dolly! Nyman last played Tevye in a successful West End production of Fiddler on the Roof. Is director Dominic Cooke intent on only casting Brits and no Yanks in what is an extremely American musical? He did the same thing with Follies but that was OK.

I saw that Fiddler. Nyman was ok, but could not sing to save his life. They gave almost all of Sunrise, Sunset to Judy Kuhn.

[quote]She cracks my shit up.

Pics please.

R262 263 Yikes. I guess that comes with slumming it.

The cast of WSS is being reminded that they have all signed NDAs and they cannot talk to the press about what is going on backstage. When is The Times going to write that story?

F&F racist r243.

Andy Nyman also played part of the cute gay couple who invited Judy over and cook her dinner in "Judy." Then they reappear at the end of the movie in a crucial part.

[quote]I recall the last 776 Revival.

Me too. I hated the actor who played Hrodgaud of Friuli.

Why didn't the Amber Riley Dreamgirls production transfer from the West End to Broadway?

They want to build a new revival around Cynthia Erivo.

R275 oh God, no

I hope Erivo's Dreamgirls has white actors in a roll traditionally played by a black actor. Colorblind casting is colorblind casting, bitch.

I'd like a jelly roll.

R277 Yup. That's how it should work.

[quote]They want to build a new revival around Cynthia Erivo.

As what? James Thunder Early?

[quote]ah yes, the classic story of a gang of black and white guys who all hate puerto ricans.

I could be wrong, but I believe the "Puerto Rican" gang in this production has also been cast multi-culturally. I certainly don't think they're all Latino. And apparently they ALL have freaking tattoos, to make them look "tough."

R281 what is the point of casting both gangs multiracially?

[quote]Thanks for the shoutout to Clarke Thorell, HAIRSPRAYS original Corny Collins. Handsome, talented fellow with a gorgeous singing voice. He didn't work as often as he should.

[quote]When I saw "My Fair Lady" at Lincoln Center, Clarke Thorell was playing Zoltan Karpathy.

He understudied Higgins, and took over the role of Karpathy til the end of the run. He was excellent in each role.

Soooo both of the male leads in WSS have now gotten serious injuries. Where is Equity when you need them? Seems like there is not enough being said about this ...

Is West Side Story the new "Spider-Man"?? How many more actors will be injured to satisfy Ivo's crazed vision?

Injuries? Big deal!

"[R281] what is the point of casting both gangs multiracially?"

You don't understand, because you're either old or logical. Despite being multi-racial, all of the Jets IDENTIFY as being white.

Meanwhile, Anita identifies as being a young gay tearoom queen.

Hasn't she always r288?

[quote] She's a great actress with a great voice, but she's a terrible musical theatre performer. It almost feels like a gene some people just don't have.

It’s called training and practice, dear. Something Lauren Ambrose does not have in musical theater. You can’t just suddenly decide that you have an operatic voice and you are going to sing one of the most demanding musical theater roles written. It simply doesn’t work that way. Yes, I know she studied voice for five minutes when she was young. That did not make her qualified to sing MFL.

It’s not a gene. Benanti has been doing this repertoire literally her entire career. That’s why it looks “natural” to you.

Regarding the WSS injuries, and the earlier rumours about De Keersmaeker's choreography being replaced or being made more B*R*O*A*D*W*A*Y by Sergio Trujillo, perhaps it's worth considering that contemporary dance pieces - as is De Keersmaeker's forte - aren't made to be performed eight times a week. Opera singers and ballet dancers don't do eight performances a week for a reason.

I haven't seen it yet, but could it be that the choreography is just a bit more demanding than usual Broadway song and dance fare?

I hear from an insider that the Maria has been out for several performances because her voice has been affected by some additive in the "rain" to replace chlorine. The shirtless boys are getting rashes from the rain. Last week they went on with seven understudies. Sounds like fun all around.

If De Keersmaeker's choreography isn't meant to be performed eight times a week, she shouldn't be choreographing a show on Broadway.

But, but.......she's so NOW. Just read her words........

In her movement vocabulary for the show, she harmonizes the vertical and horizontal. “In ballet, you’re constantly celebrating vertical posture and defying gravity on extension,” she says. “With the history of contemporary dance, post-modern dance, we came to a sense of reality that defying gravity is the history from [a crawling] child to somebody who’s growing up from animal to upright person.”

Who cares if everyone is injured? It's an intellectual exercise. Isn't that the thrust of the new Broadway?

Anyone who would injure adorable Ben Cook is evil!

I don't think Benanti sounded natural singing Eliza. Quite the opposite. Her choices drew attention to the work - her work, not the character or piece.

R287 Haha. Right!

[quote] The shirtless boys are getting rashes from the rain. Last week they went on with seven understudies. Sounds like fun all around.

Won’t somebody PLEASE think of the shirtless chorus boys?!?

I have an idea. A theatre centric remake of Deathrace 3000 : Taymor vs. van Hove (sp?)

I can't help but wonder if someone (a marketing rep) is stirring the pot for WSS. These weird backstage stories are actually helping sell the show, perversely enough. The public is curious and it's selling exceptionally well in previews.

In other news, THE INHERITANCE continues to bleed money every week. Maybe they should consider chlorinated rain or post-modern crawling.

They should dump Lois Nettleton and stunt cast the role with a series of Real Housewives.

*Lois Smith

[quote] Benanti has been doing this repertoire literally her entire career.

but r290 Benanti stunned everyone when she replaced Luker in The Sound of Music opposite Richard Chamberlain. She was, like, 19 so it was before her career - but she just had "it" and still does - and I didn't even particularly care for her in MFL or She Loves Me. But the "it" factor is undeniable.

Having "it" really is real. And mere "training and practice" can make you way more competent and capable but doesn't do the trick.

Not really R303. I saw that Sound of Music. It was a competent performance. She didn’t “stun” anyone. People were surprised that she was so competent being so young, but there are a lot of kids that could have pulled off the same thing. It actually left me cold. She was so concerned about getting through it and so young that there wasn’t much there other than what was on the page. It wasn’t fully alive. I contrast that with now when there’s a lot of depth and life to her performances, something that only comes with training and practice. Yes, there’s an it factor, but she didn’t have it early on. The charm came later.

[quote]They should dump Lois Nettleton and stunt cast the role with a series of Real Housewives.

Lois Nettleton died in 2008, so her salary demands are probably minimal.

R282, don't you know, in this WSS production, none of the issues or tension is about race; they're just fighting over who gets to play basketball at what time on the playground.

Is the youtube kid helping sell tix to Mean Girls?

If only Joshua Logan were around now to direct, think of it. Back when he was directing, he often used to feature lots of shirtless guys in locker room scenes, football players shirtless, guys without shirts in "South Pacific", etc. Nowadays with nudity allowed, he'd have naked guys in practically everything (and still insist on being called totally straight).

Would he be METOOed?

I don't know if he actually pulled their undershirts off; he only directed them too.

"to", not "too", that is.

r298....

Incidentally, whatever happened to 'Pollyanna Prisspot, School Marm'? That name always cracked me up whenever she'd post.

I think Pollyanna has been subsumed by The Maiden Aunt Brigade.

These things happen.

Benanti first caught my attention in that absolutely awful revival of Into the Woods. She was the sole bright spot in a truly excruciating night. It was like your local community theater took over a Broadway theater and everyone either seemed to be phoning it in or they were incredibly miscast. She was the only one who made her role seem fresh and I remember her being incredibly funny and singing beautifully. I've been a fan ever since. I love actors who can support an entire show on their backs even when they shouldn't have to. That's real talent right there.

Baby Christine "lacked star presence"......

[quote]Benanti stunned everyone when she replaced Luker in The Sound of Music opposite Richard Chamberlain. She was, like, 19 so it was before her career

Her professional career may have begun with The Sound of Music, but she had been doing musical theatre since junior high school. She's got more than twenty years of doing leads and supporting roles in musical theatre under her belt.

So if Christine Ebersole took over as Guinevere on just a few days' notice, who did she replace, and what happened?

[quote]Baby Christine "lacked star presence"......

We know! That's why I booted her ass off Saturday Night Live.

The first thing I saw Benanti in was as Ann(e?) in A Little Night Music at LA Opera. She definitely had "it" there -- a very funny and, of course, beautifully sung performance. What a great cast they had, too. They very smartly cast from Broadway instead of from the opera world -- Judith Ivy, Victor Garber, Michelle Pawk, Kristen Bell (yes, the movie star... now), Zoe Caldwell, Marc Kudisch. I think it was back in 2003 or 2004.

Kristen Bell is a movie star?

I have no idea, r318. I remember her telling the story but I don't remember if she said who she replaced.

Hey Lorne at r319, I'm sorry I couldn't make cancer funny like Gilda did!

Christine Ebersole replaced Kathleen McKearney who wasn't cutting it.

Pro tip: blocking the inbred racist fuckwit shitting all over the Megan Markle threads makes his racist fuckwit posts in this thread disappear.

Would be nice if Muriel could block white nationalists from posting here, but I guess that's not gonna happen.

Yeah, the racebaiting on these theatre threads is beyond tiresome.

[quote]Hey Lorne at [R319], I'm sorry I couldn't make cancer funny like Gilda did!

Hey Christine at r323, you couldn't even remember your lines. You got, what, five lines in that 2 minute skit, and you stumble over five lines.

Christine's loveliest SNL moment.....

[quote]They should dump Lois Nettleton and stunt cast the role with a series of Real Housewives.

Better yet, they should stunt cast it with other dead actresses, each playing for two weeks!

Imagine that role played by Ethel Barrymore, Mary Boland, Liz Taylor, Claudette Colbert and Ethel Merman!

[quote] Better yet, they should stunt cast it with other dead actresses, each playing for two weeks!

I noticed you didn't mention me. But then again, if I was offered, Gary would talk me out of it.

Hey Christine. You were so fucking checked out on SNL, you didn't even realize I'd left the show in 1980 and was replaced by Jean Doumanian, who was then replaced by Dick Ebersole, who was your boss. You dumb fuck.

There's never been one ideal production of LNM, but Benanti is definitely the all-star Anne ... along with Sian Phillips as Mme Armfeldt ... and who else?

The best Anne I ever saw was Joanna Riding in London. The best Carl-Magnus was Doug Sills at the Kennedy Center. Everyone else was difinitive in the original production.

R293, other choreographers from the concert dance world whose choreography was not meant to be performed 8 time a week did okay on Broadway. Balancine, Robbins, de Millle.....I am sure that there are others.

[quote]There's never been one ideal production of LNM, but Benanti is definitely the all-star Anne ... along with Sian Phillips as Mme Armfeldt ... and who else?

I thought NY City Opera's production in 1990 was pretty fantastic. The best work Scott Ellis has ever done. Sally Anne Howes as Desiree and Regina Resnick is the definitive Madame Armfeldt. You can just feel the imperiousness dripping off her (a far cry from Stritch's fishwife Armfeldt).

Resnick's great "Liaisons" begins at the 51:55 mark. (watch it, she breathes life into the song)

"Send In The Clowns" scene begins at 2:22:56 (watch it, Sally Anne brings warmth to the role that other recent actresses weren't able to capture)

why is Girl From the North Country recasting the role they put out a breadown for a few days ago?

Joanna Riding would make a terrific Charlotte now.

[quote]I thought NY City Opera's production in 1990 was pretty fantastic.

That production was very good overall, but that theater is too large for NIGHT MUSIC, and there were a couple of weak links in the cast. The guy who played Henrik, an opera singer named Kevin Anderson (not the actor), was incredibly good looking and had a gorgeous tenor voice, but his acting was weak, especially for that kind of character. And Michae Maguire, from LES MIS, was also weak as Carl-Magnus -- not funny, and vocally miscast as well. (I believe he was involved with Susan Stroman at the time but then apparently he started abusing her and he was basically drummed out of show business.)

For me, the Kennedy Center production with Doug Sills et al. was the best ALNM I've seen, near perfection.

The City Opera ALNM was much better on TV than it was onstage.

[qquote]he was basically drummed out of show business

And now he's an attorney in Los Angeles. Still sings, occasionally, and the voice still sounds good. Les Mis shot him into an arena he didn't really have the chops for. Even without the Stroman situation, I don't think it would have been a long-lasting career.

He won the Tony for LES MIZ.

[quote]I thought NY City Opera's production in 1990 was pretty fantastic.

Can you believe that 1990 is as distant to us as 1960 was to them then?

Yes, he did, r341. And then didn't really have the acting goods necessary to back up that win. His career disappeared as much from that as from the rumors of his abuse of Stroman.

R343 He won in '88 and reprised 'Enjolras' in the LES MISERABLES 10th Anniversary Concert Dream Cast seven years later. I don't think he disappeared that quickly after winning.

Here's the 1990 NIGHT MUSIC. I think it's complete. Quality is just... okay.

I saw Michael Maguire in 1991 playing Starbuck in 110 in the Shade in San Bernardino, which is one the the dumps of the world. Maybe that was after he was blackballed.

R346 Not necessarily. Didn't Patti LuPone do community theater (and was ridiculed for it) after winning the Tony for EVITA?

Patti did community theatre? Do you mean regional theatre? That's pretty common and where most actors find their work. Community theatre is (maybe) one rung above high school theatre and there's no payment whatsoever. I'd assume she was in Equity during Evita and they frown upon actors doing non-union work.

R348 I didn't mean she did it immediately after winning the Tony for EVITA. It was sometime in the early '80s before she returned to Broadway in OLIVER!.

[quote] That production was very good overall, but that theater is too large for NIGHT MUSIC, and there were a couple of weak links in the cast.

As opposed to "Company," which will just have one weak LENK.

Patti was Rosamund in AS YOU LIKE IT at the Guthrie Theatre directed by Liviu Ciulei, in Mamet’s EDMOND at The Provincetown Playhouse. All regional, not community theatre.

[quote]Yes, he did, [R341]. And then didn't really have the acting goods necessary to back up that win. His career disappeared as much from that as from the rumors of his abuse of Stroman.

The thing about all those European pop-operas is that they're through sung. Some actors who appeared in them came across very well because they had beautiful voices, and the fact that they couldn't act dialogue wasn't an issue because -- there was no dialogue. Then, later, some of those people were cast in actual musicals with book scenes, and it became obvious that they could not act dialogue well at all.

[quote] Bobby should be 40 and it should always be set in present day from here on out

The entire show would have to be rewritten so drastically it would not make any sense.

[quote] Patti was Rosamund in AS YOU LIKE IT

Oh, [italic]dear.[/italic]

[quote] It was sometime in the early '80s before she returned to Broadway in OLIVER!.

No. That was when she went to Australia for a year and started in Elvira in Sydney, Melbourne, and Adelaide. She did regional theatre, but not community.

[quote]That was when she went to Australia for a year and started in Elvira

Did she have the boobs to play Elvira?

R353 I don't think so. Why? I saw it at Barrington with Tveit for the first time. I'm 38. I had no idea it was taking place in the 70s. Was it? Same with Chorus Line. If they didn't stick them in those stupid costumes I would have no idea. Even then I just thought they were like the dancers at my performing arts high school wearing eccentric clothing. I really don't understand what's so dated about the show material. I need examples.

Patti LuPone did not do community theater after Evita or before Oliver,

She was an Equity actress and could not do community theater without losing her union membership.

If you look at Lupone's stage work in the 1980s, there does not seem to be much time available for community theater.

Unless she used another name. Here she is doing Sweeney Todd in Brooklyn.

[quote] I really don't understand what's so dated about the show material. I need examples.

r357 it's about many many references in the script. People who are 25–30 today wouldn't talk about Troy Donahue, Peyton Place etc etc

The lyrics in Company have been revised but in doing so are much less on point.

In 1970 you might clutch a copy of Life, just to keep in touch. Today no one clutches a copy of Time (the lyric change) to keep in touch. No one clutches any magazine to keep in touch.

In 1970 talk of god and the decade ahead really were popular topics (with Time magazine asking on its cover "Is God Dead? just shortly before and no one knowing where the social changes would lead).

Mahler was plucked out of music history obscurity to become the "hip" classical composer.

It is a perfect period time capsule.

The "talk of God" has been changed to "wedded bliss". And "clothing that you swap" has been changed to "people that you drop".

Someone on here suggested a different lyric to "clutching a copy of Time", it went something like:

"Here's to the girls who play mom, aren't they too much? Keeping house and logging onto Bloomberg.com, just to keep in touch"

I missed the "clutching a copy of Life" line more than any of the other changes, because of the double entendre of "life." I don't care about the other revisions, but the futility of clutching onto "life" is a beautifully heartbreaking image.

Also, changes needed to be made to Another Hundred People

"And I'll call you in the morning or my service will explain"

Everyone these days has cell phones, they don't need answering services anymore.

I think it was changed to "I'll call you in the morning or I'll text you and explain".

Uggh. Those lyric changes are awful. (Sure, Mr. Sondheim. "I Feel Pretty" is the worst thing you ever wrote.)

Does the new COMPANY still mention Sazerac Slings? I remember having to look that up. Even people who were adults in 1970 had no memory of this cocktail, which sounds ghastly.

This website is cute, if not terribly complete, BTW.

What was the lyric change somebody suggested on here? It was funny, as I recall.

Patti traveled to East McKeesport, where, under the name "Gerda Utling," she played "Mame" with the Coopersmith Community Players.

It's one thing for Sondheim to change his lyrics (even if said changes are lamentable). He wrote 'em, he can do what he wants with 'em.

However, how can they change the book? George Furth died in 2008.

I guess "Author's Rights" only extend so far....

You're asking that question when the FOLLIES bookwriter is long dead?

Thank you all for the examples. I see. I really didn't notice or hear those things when I saw it I guess. I had no idea it was in the 70s. It's a story that totally can work in the present though. Just change those lyrics. It can't be that hard. Go grab Lin Manuel and Harvey Fierstein (KIDDING!) haha.

That is a good question about Furth's book. What loophole allows that and is there a certain amount they can change before you have to add someone else as co-writer? Speaking of Follies, did the Widow Goldman do all the revisions for those post-70's productions?

I do seem to remember one witty DL poster saying that they should change "June!" "April" in "Barcelona" to "Amos!" "Andy." Then again, would that reference be just as dated as copies of Life and answering services?

Speaking of answering services, has any musical ever become as instantly dated and un-performable as Bells Are Ringing by the time the 21st century rolled around? It'd be literally impossible to stage that in this day and age since the entire show revolves around an answering service. So many people would be confused. Even if you kept it a period piece, I feel like it wouldn't work.

[quote]I do seem to remember one witty DL poster saying that they should change "June!" "April" in "Barcelona" to "Amos!" "Andy." Then again, would that reference be just as dated as copies of Life and answering services?

Even more dated.

If they didn't switch genders for this production, they could the names to the Kardashian women.

I don't think the concept of a telephonist is confusing. I'm reminded of the scene of that in Auntie Mame (a movie I still haven't gotten all the way through). As a young'un, it's immediately clear what's going on and the scene is still funny.

[quote] It'd be literally impossible to stage that in this day and age since the entire show revolves around an answering service.

Literally impossible, R374? Yes, it would have to be done as a period piece, but you don't have have to be a rocket scientist to figure out what an answering service was. It was revived as a period piece in 2001 with Faith Prince. It wasn't successful, but it was badly directed and, although on paper she seemed like a good choice, Faith Prince was not a good fit for the Judy Holliday role.

I watched "Bells Are Ringing" last week on TCM, and even though it's clearly a period piece now, it's still very entertaining. Judy Holliday was fantastic, Dean Martin fun, and its score is chock full of standards and other enjoyable songs. Yes, Faith Prince, a rather boring Marc Kudisch, and that production fell short, but the concept of an answering service isn't hard for anyone to comprehend, pre-smart phones. Someone like a younger Cyndi Lauper (maybe Annaleigh Ashford) could still pull it off if done well.

Ashford would be a good choice. Didn't they do it an Encores with Kelli O'Hara? I can't think of anyone less right for that role. It's a personality role and O'Hara, God love her, doesn't have much in that department.

[quote]Judy Holliday was fantastic, Dean Martin fun, and its score is chock full of standards and other enjoyable songs.

All true, but, regrettably, the movie cut one of the loveliest songs in the score, "Long Before I Knew You."

Yes, there's only a few phrases of it that Holliday "la da da da da da"s in her singing of "The Party's Over" that remains. They also filmed but cut (though it's available on the DVD) "Is It A Crime?". It's a fun song, and great to see another performance by the great Ms. Holliday, but it's really more a song for the stage, and it would have slowed down the film. I like Dean Martin's performance of the song "Do It", though I rather like the original song in its place "On My Own" as well. The lovely duet "Better Than a Dream" works really well on screen was actually added to the original stage version after the show opened and is in the printed music score.

Barbara Cook singing "Long Before I Knew You." She was 80 when she recorded this.

R373, I have suggested wanting him to change them to "Oscar" and "Tony." They're both two syllables which fit the music and they are both names that everyone can still relate to and will be able to relate to for the foreseeable future.

The lyric change I'm thinking of was online related - Huffington Post or something like that.

R385, so Bobbie becomes a non-entity with no life?

I love the musical "Bells Are Ringing". I saw the Faith Prince revival and it just landed like a dud. I think part of the problem is that Faith Prince is a great actress (her Falsettoland was excellent) but her comedy needs to be reigned in. So Faith's take on the character became overbearing. Judy Holliday was very subtle with her performance, funny in a quiet way. Faith was going at the comedy and playing to viewers in Hoboken.

This is the one:

[Quote] Here’s to the girls who play mom/Aren’t they too much?/Keeping house but bookmarking Bloomberg.com/Just to keep in touch

In contrast to the Sondheim rewrite:

[Quote] Here’s to the girls in their prime. Aren’t they too much. Keeping house but Clutching a copy of Time just to keep in touch.”

that lyric so doesn't work compared to Life.

Back in the day, Bernadette is really the only one who could have succeeded as Ella in a revival.

Michael Maguire was a sexy fucking otter back in the 80s. Chest hair for days.

A Bernadette-led Bells Are Ringing really could have been adorable. She's just the type that role needs.

Bernadette is so fucking over-rated. She is a terrible actor and brings no joy to any role she attempts. She does pouty very well, but that's it.

She was pretty joyful in Hello, Dolly. Better than Bette who looked like she was walking through it and doing her grocery list in her head the entire time.

Can't you hear her Party's Over, r393?

R394 And, you bring no joy to your cunty post.

Hell, I'd go see a Bernadette Peters Bells Are Ringing now. Her voice has diminished a bit, but she still has the range that role would require and, of course, she still looks like she's 45 (especially past the 4th or 5th row). Who says the role has to be for any particular age? It could be more endearing with an older woman and could imply she's a widow who took this job to support herself.

If Bernadette needs a leading man, I'm available as always.

So am I.

Now, now, r400!

So I'm suddenly getting a lot of discount offers for Jagged Little Pill and Hadestown. Is there a story?

R357, as several people above have noted, both COMPANY and A CHORUS LINE have many specific references in the lines and lyrics that date the shows back about 45-50 years, and not just the examples people have given here. But on top of that, the basic concepts of both shows -- a bunch of married couples constantly pressuring their 35-year-old bachelor friend to get married, and a Broadway audition being conducted as a group therapy session -- are absolutely "dated" in the sense that the shows only make sense if the original time period of the action is retained.

[quote]Speaking of answering services, has any musical ever become as instantly dated and un-performable as Bells Are Ringing by the time the 21st century rolled around? It'd be literally impossible to stage that in this day and age since the entire show revolves around an answering service. So many people would be confused. Even if you kept it a period piece, I feel like it wouldn't work.

"It wouldn't work" only for people who don't have the basic intelligence or grasp of the history of technology to comprehend how answering services worked and why they were necessary before answering machines, voicemail and cell phones existed.

[quote]They also filmed but cut (though it's available on the DVD) "Is It A Crime?". It's a fun song, and great to see another performance by the great Ms. Holliday, but it's really more a song for the stage, and it would have slowed down the film.

Really? I've always thought of that song as a near-total dud, with only one amusing section in it -- "Those two kids would be alive today!"

Bells are Ringing wouldn't work today not because of "dated" material (audiences do understand the concept of "period") but because it was one of the "charm" shows, cannily built around the very specific gifts of its star, by writers who knew her well. I think Holluday had much more versatility than many give her credit for (her Billie Dawn is different from Gladys Glover and Ella Peterson and her Laura Patridge in Solud Gold Cadillac was re-envisioned from the stage version that starred Josephine Hull!), but the particular kind of comedy with wistful romance that makes her do godd in BAR was especially designed for her--even more, I'd say, than the Fanny Brice of Funny Girl (though, obviously, the latter's score was made for Streisand). I know Phyllis Newman was Holluday's understudy or standby and I'm sure she was capable, but Holluday was one of a kind. Prince, as good as she can be (and I thought she made Miss Adelaide her own and was strong in A Catered Affair, though the latter left much yo be desired as a show), but her kind of vulnerability (and Adelaide has to have some vulnerability) just doesn't translate to the romance of the comic Ella. Kelli O'Hara sounds about as wrong as could be--I've never seen her really funny and her voice would overpower the score. A good performance of Ella should seem effortless, and that is not a word I would use for either Prince or O'Hara.

Plus the show just disappears anytime Ella isn't on. Sue is a thankless role and the Bplot with her and Sandor/Otto isn't very amusing. Seeing the movie again on TCM did make me appreciate the Dean Martin of the late 50s/early 60s. He matches Holliday in making it seem easy. And I'm not usually a big fan of his--but he was good in this and Some Came Running.

What about a "revisical" of BELLS with a gay male romance at the center? Make Ella "Elton" and keep it in period.

It would heighten the drama if Elton pines for the Dean Martin character without knowing whether he's straight or not. Set a musical number in a pre-Stonewall gay bar.

per IMDB.com:

[quote]This film failed at the box office, resulting in a loss to MGM of $1,720,000 ($14.62M in 2018) according to studio records.

This past December, I went to see MikeR in A Christmas Carol. He said the director insisted on the nude scene, but, I have my suspicions. Anyway, the switch from Orange Theory Fitness to F45 has done wonders for him. His hip flexors are incredibly powerful now. Since he works at that theatre so much, he should see if they can get the couch in his dressing room reupholstered, though. Those tufted buttons really dig into your skin when you have the full weight of MikeR on top of you.

Anyway, do we think there's a chance the Met will bring Porgy & Bess back in 2021 or 22 or are the remaining performances through February my last chance?

[R394] And, you bring no joy to your cunty post.

Nice to see you posting, Bernie.

Answering services are not defunct; many doctors' offices still use them.

Jesus, R409. You must post on ATC. So pedantic. You know exactly what the poster meant -- no one uses answering services in their personal or professional lives outside of medical staff.

The issue is not whether anyone uses answering services, but whether the public would be so mystified by the concept of an answering service that a revival would not work…

I'm mystified by the concept of a Show Boat, so that show should never be done.

I don't understand the need to update older shows (e.g., COMPANY) with modern references/parlance. Movie audiences have no problem with period films, so why can't theater folk do likewise.?

These paper-thin shows of the past are perfect for Encores! but not for open-ended revivals, especially shows built around a specific personality. Annaleigh would have made a great Ella for Encores! but there's no way it could have run longer on Broadway. (Think AA should be playing Mabel, too.)

That's the one disappointment about Mack & Mabel, Alexandra Socha is not a very exciting performer. It's not like she created a sensation in that Hey Look Me Over revue with the M&M songs. And Sills must be 60 now. Poor thing has never really gotten over losing his older brother in a horrible plane crash.

Annaleigh triumphs in every show she does, r414. Thanks to ME!

Baranski.....

Now movie star Anna Kendrick was in the NYCO ALNM revival, I believe

I believe that was Danielle Ferland.

Saw Sing Street. Kinda loved it. It's a small show but a lot of heart. BTW I HATED Moulin Rouge, so I guess i'm not the norm.

Alexandra Socha for Mabel???

What, was Carmen Cusack busy?

I sort of like Sing Street. Felt amateur hour to me...

Where are there discounts for Hadestown? I looked but haven't seen any.

Jagged Little Pill, however... all over the place.

A gay Bells Are Ringing would certainly liven it up a bit and add a few more dramatic stakes. Then again, that might also be what they thought with the revival of On A Clear Day and we saw how that went. It's a good concept, but maybe it'd be best to do an entirely new show loosely based on that concept. Rip offs tend to fare better than reimagined revivals.

[quote]Alexandra Socha for Mabel??? What, was Carmen Cusack busy?

Socha played Mabel opposite Doug Sills in that "Mack & Mabel" segment of the "Hey Look Me Over" revue at Encores two or three years ago. It was the best-reviewed segment of the show.

In this clip, at about 1 minute in, you can see Socha do a bit of "Look What Happened to Mabel," and Sills do "Movies Were Movies." She's actually not bad at all. Sills ... well, I hope he's been dieting since he did this. Age is not being as kind to him as it is to some people.

R415-WTF does losing his brother in a plane crash have to do with anything, except your own inflated sense of self?

Nice belt, r425, but she doesn't have a...for lack of a better phrase....quirky appeal like Bernadette or Jane. She seems spunky enough, but I don't think she could break my heart.

Douglas Sills has turned into a hot daddy if that clip is any indication. Can I make a confession? Does anyone like Bebe Neuwirth's singing voice? It always grates me nerves and that's saying a lot since she's singing a song originated by Elaine Stritch. It's not a like a pretty voice is a requirement.

Of course, one can have a bit too much quirky charm...

[quote]Movie audiences have no problem with period films, so why can't theater folk do likewise?

Only stupid, ignorant, uneducated theatergoers and moviegoers have a problem with it.

R428 I think she's horrible. One note performer. Severely overrated and arrogant. R430 Not all of us want to travel back in time. Some of us prefer the present. There is enough period pieces. People are too modern now days anyway. All the girls have vocal fry. If I want a glimpse into how it used to be, I'll just watch something from that exact period. Only exception is something before 1920. Ignorance has nothing to do with it.

[quote]That's the one disappointment about Mack & Mabel, Alexandra Socha is not a very exciting performer. It's not like she created a sensation in that Hey Look Me Over revue with the M&M songs.

The one disappointment? What about the total miscasting of Lilli Cooper as Lottie and Major Attaway as Fatty Arbuckle just to fill a quota?

[quote]A gay Bells Are Ringing would certainly liven it up a bit and add a few more dramatic stakes. Then again, that might also be what they thought with the revival of On A Clear Day and we saw how that went. It's a good concept, but maybe it'd be best to do an entirely new show loosely based on that concept. Rip offs tend to fare better than reimagined revivals.

How would a "gay BELLS ARE RINGING" work? Do you mean just that Jeff and Ella would both be gay guys? The whole point of the original show is that Jeff doesn't realize the woman he has met and fallen in love with is the same woman who works for his answering service and gives him his messages. I hope no one is suggesting some kind of weird rewrite involving a man pretending to be a woman, because I don't see how that would work at all. Anyway, any gay version of the story would require so much rewriting that the result would no longer be BELLS ARE RINGING.

I dunno, r425. I think Sills looks (and sounds) pretty great.

Thank you, r426.

What the fuck are you babbling about, r426? What does that have to do with inflated sense of self?

[quote]What about the total miscasting of Lilli Cooper as Lottie and Major Attaway as Fatty Arbuckle just to fill a quota

Lottie isn't a real character, she's not based on anyone historically. Why shouldn't Lilli Cooper play her? She's actually pretty good casting for it, assuming she's can really tap.

The fact that they've cast a "Fatty Arbuckle" at all means that, unfortunately, they're using one of the Francine Pascal rewrites. It used to be that Encores endeavored to do a show as it was done on opening night originally, even when said show has since been rewritten (ie, like 70, Girls, 70). But not anymore, and so we get poor additions like "That Frank" in Merrily. Oh well. Fatty isn't really Fatty in the show. When the show was first produced, Arbuckle's widow Minta Durfee was still alive, and they couldn't include him in the cast. After she had died, they didn't want to bother with massive rewriting (more than what they were already doing), so they just slapped Fatty's name on the character of Charlie that Christopher Murney played in the 1974 original cast. It's a one weekend concert, who cares if they cast a POC in a role that was historically a white man? It's doubtful there is a "quota," just a desire to open the casting up.

"Bells Are Ringing" doesn't have to be gay -- you just switch Ella to Elliot the answering service operator and have Jeff become Jess, who is the career woman playwright in need of a hit who has men oogling her when she goes out to the party and who want to go the RACES with her. The should could work with a couple of lyric changes. "On a Clear Day" actually invented a character and gave her new songs (granted it was Jessie Mueller being very impressive in her NY debut), but it really didn't work for the show, which had a major book rewrite anyway. "Bells Are Ringing" doesn't need that much of an overhaul to its basically simplistic plot -- the dentist, actor and others he/she is helping are purely platonic. Only the playwright and the telephone operator have to have real chemistry. It could work. Plus, I guess if you want to make them gay, I guess it could work, too, but more rewriting -- which again, screwed up "On a Clear Day".

I don't understand. What is the point of that, r436? I mean, what does it really accomplish? It's not like "Bells Are Ringing" is one of the great musicals that needs to be freshened up so people can still do it.

It's better than a lot of musicals charging $200 these days, so I disagree -- plus it can mounted for a lot less without special effects.

"Bells Are Ringing" also has a wonderful score, something that can't be said about most shows these days that aren't jukebox musicals.

Since we're talking about gender-swapping roles, I DEMAND that a man be cast in "Song & Dance."

Can't you just hear him singing:

Take that look off your face, you would love to be right

I'll bet you didn't sleep good last night

Couldn't wait to bring all of that bad news to my door

Well, my hard bitchin' friend, I knew before.

what's the word of mouth on van hove's WSS?

Megan Mabel

r435 - that tinkering doesn't sound good if it means the original, downbeat ending which shocked audiences expecting a splashy bit of Jerry Herman razz-ma-tazz has been jettisoned in favor of the "Keystone Kops Wedding" finale.

Who saw Broadway shows last year?

[quote]Lottie isn't a real character, she's not based on anyone historically. Why shouldn't Lilli Cooper play her? She's actually pretty good casting for it, assuming she's can really tap.

Aside from the fact that that sort of character would NEVER have been an African-American woman, because the film industry (like so many other industries and social constructs) was so segregated at the time, Lilli Coopers's personality and performing style have nothing to do with that character as written. I thought she was well cast in her reconceived role in TOOTSIE (many people disagreed with me), but not as freaking Lottie in MACK AND MABEL.

These far-leftists just want to rewrite history and pretend that segregation never happened. See the recent Disney LADY AND THE TRAMP remake.

Lili Cooper should be playing Fatty Arbuckle.

I'd actually like to see Lili Cooper take on Mabel vs Sills as Mack. Socha was fine at ENCORES previously, but this would be a more dynamic duo.

Mullally could really have been the great Mabel - it's too bad that never happened.

Nobody could ever be as perfect for it as Bernadette. She even looked almost exactly like her.

Do people who post here actually see any shows, or do they just like to keep giving their opinions about the same 3 shows and trash everything else, whether they've seen it or not?

[quote] Do people who post here actually see any shows, or do they just like to keep giving their opinions about the same 3 shows and trash everything else, whether they've seen it or not?

I definitely trash shows I haven't seen. Can Beetlejuice, for example, in any way, ever be a good show?

[quote] Can Beetlejuice, for example, in any way, ever be a good show?

Not with that score. It's the element that I thought kept the show completely earthbound. It also plays through about three quarters of the plot of the movie by the Act One curtain, and Act Two is all a lot of huffing and puffing and filler. That said, it could have gone a whole lot worse, I suppose.

I just felt like listening to the Grass Harp overture.

[quote]It's better than a lot of musicals charging $200 these days, so I disagree -- plus it can mounted for a lot less without special effects.

Yes, but what would be gained by gender-swapping the two leads?

This is on in an hour. Do I want to watch it?

It's a Living

TODAY, 5:00 PM ON ANTEN 5.2, 30 MIN 1981 TV-PG

SEASON 1 • EPISODE 9 • MAKING THE GRADE • COMEDY / SITCOM

Jan's grade depends on how she reacts to her teacher's advances. Jan: Barrie Youngfellow. Larry: Terry Kiser. Lois: Susan Sullivan. Dean Pressman: Priscilla Morrill. Cassie: Ann Jillian. Nancy: Marian Mercer. Woman at Piano: Maxine Elliot...

All the Mack & Mabel talk got me to listen to the score again, and wow does it make you realize how much songwriting has declined. Sure there are some clunkers but when it's good, it's miles and miles beyond the best songs we get today. Made me sad.

I was listening to the OBC recording of 42nd St., and although the songs were not originally written for Broadway, that Warren and Dubin sure knew how to write a catchy tune. I'm not surprised the show ran for so many years…

Harry Warren doesn't quite get his proper due in the tunesmith Pantheon because he is pretty much an exclusively Hollywood composer - working for warners, Fox, MGM and Paramount - and never had a hit Broadway show. "Shangri-La" (1956) was a huge bomb running for only 21 performances.

Has ENCORES done THE GRASS HARP yet? It seems the perfect, quirky little show to bring to that audience.

I'd happily trade my THOROUGHLY MODERN MILLIE Redux ticket for that.

Glad to see Harry Warren getting some love here. His catalogue is incredible. Not only tons of standards, but even throwaways like IN ACAPULCO, YOU DISCOVER YOU'RE IN NEW YORK, HAPPY HARVEST (just to name a minimal few) are musically appealing and distinctive. But he really soars in songs like THE MORE I SEE YOU or IN THE VALLEY (When The Evening Sun Goes Down), they are simply glorious. It puts contemporary "songwriting" in Hollywood and Broadway to shame.

One of Warren's best songs, the very dark "There Is No Music," was written for Judy Garland when she was going to do "The Barkleys of Broadway." When Judy quit (was fired?) and Ginger took over, the song was cut because Ginger didn't have the vocal or emotional chops for it.

[quote]Has ENCORES done THE GRASS HARP yet? It seems the perfect, quirky little show to bring to that audience.

You're right, r460. Encores should do it. It could be their "wild card" show, and they can follow it with some blatant cashgrab, which they will need after mounting a first class "The Grass Harp."

Rebecca Luker for Dolly Talbo? She's a bit older than Cook was, but she has that "faded soprano leading lady" look, and her voice is still gorgeous.

Earworm

Too bad they didn’t record the “Yellow Drum” reprise, where Dolly sings it in counterpoint with Verena singing “Think Big Rich.” Cook is really heartbreaking singing it on the tape of the show.

Karen Morrow mentions on a podcast that the instrumental tracks were done in Prague. That was unusual, no?

Thank you, rt461: You picked two of my Warren favorites: "In The Valley (When the Evening Sun Goes Down)" is one of Garland's most beautiful and inexplicably forgotten MGM songs. And the luscious "The More I See You" doesn't get the attention it once did.

You discover you're in New York....eventually.

"The More I See You" ended up being a pop hit for Chris Montez in the '60s.

Judy

Apparently Funny Girl has been announced for Bway in 2020, starring Idina Menzel (who is pushing 50...), per Broadway Journal

[quote]Idina Menzel (who is pushing 50...)

Not to worry. From the stage she reads to be pushing 70.

I've always loved this.

Have any of you Queens heard rumours of Idina Menzel doing a Funny Girl revival?

[quote]Apparently Funny Girl has been announced for Bway in 2020, starring Idina Menzel (who is pushing 50...), per Broadway Journal

Well I never in all my life!

R471 Oops, didn't see this. Well here's Idina singing Cornet Man.

Any chance of Lillias White as the standby?

She'll be matinee Fanny, r477.

Idina can sing the songs, but she's never been funny

I recall Menzel's "Don't Rain on My Parade" at the Streisand Kennedy Center Honors segment was on the side of cringe. Did she make a dorky lyric change?

She's loud

The first version I head of The More I See You was Peter Allen's. I was such a fan during the day. I saw him several times at the Paradise in Boston, and, then, a bunch at a nightclub called Madison's in London. I was thrilled that he recognized me from the Boston shows when he saw me waiting outside at Madison's. We chatted for a little bit, and, thereafter, I was always on his guest list for future Boston shows. He was very friendly, but, looking at videos of him now, I wonder what all the fuss was about. His act hasn't aged well.

I looked up some Peter Allen videos on YouTube after seeing the TV biopic. He seemed rather charmless. The guy who played him was very appealing.

The funniest thing about Idina Menzel is Adele Dazeem.

In person, Allen was wonderful.

I meant to post the link to Peter Allen's version of The More I see You

I saw Peter Allen in Legs Diamond on Broadway. The show was awful; he was " energetic."

Thanks for posting that, R469. Good song.

Oh, the 60s! The arrangement is fun, in a cheesy way, but holy mackerel: that dude cannot sing. Even a little bit.

Was there another pop cover version later on? I know this song, but that version is just a little before my time.

Actually, R486 answered my question.

Not bad. Pleasant, a little bland.

Somebody who saw it told me it was amazing scenically, r487. She said the sets never stopped moving.

What men did Peter Allen have affairs with? Surely there must have been some famous ones?

My Fair Lady Comes To Town (1965)

[quote]Idina can sing the songs, but she's never been funny

So how do you know she's not? She's a singing Jew from Long Island. She's perfect.

[quote]Not to worry. From the stage she reads to be pushing 70.

Oh don't tell us you're one of those strange people that actually believe the characters on stage are real are you? Unless you are sitting in the front row with binoculars, she'll be fine.

Should we consider more appropriate titles?

FRUMMY GIRL

FUNNY LOOKING GIRL

NOT ESPECIALLY FUNNY GIRL

Isn't it around this time when we hear from the poster who talks about Idina's face scaring children at a screening of Enchanted?

Isn't that Donna kissing George?

Carol Channing was practically promanading the passerelle with a walker and no one bitched.

Barbra was just turning 22.....

Uninterrupted takes - One uninterrupted take for Judy, and only two 'cuts' for Carmen & Alice. I can't imagine any director/choreographer doing that today.

No Theatre Queen will ever approve of Idina. They want a complete nobody they can claim they discovered before she was famous.

Idina proved she had undeniable magnetism in IF/THEN. She made you care about a trivial human being for 2 hours.

To be fair, r500, Busby did almost kill Carmen filming Tutti Frutti Hat.

FUNNY--BUT I THOUGHT FANNY WAS SUPPOSED TO BE YOUNG--GIRL.

Anyone know why Sing Street is transferring? I saw it last night. It's beyond amateurish. It will close by July 4. wtf?

I was psyched to see SING STREET off-Bway, but was put off by the word-of-mouth.

I agree. It sounds like this show will DIE on Broadway without some major surgery first.

[quote]Isn't it around this time when we hear from the poster who talks about Idina's face scaring children at a screening of Enchanted?

Honestly, and with no exaggeration, she did look quite hideous in that movie, at least in some shots. I remember I couldn't get over how carelessly she was photographed. She looked far better in RENT.

[quote]FUNNY--BUT I THOUGHT FANNY WAS SUPPOSED TO BE YOUNG--GIRL.

Idina is an actress, she'll act young.

Maybe they should adapt FUNNY LADY instead.

[quote]Idina is an actress, she'll act young.

She's got 36 expressions! Sweet as pie to tough as leather.

Idina will be 50. Fanny Brice died at 60.

Tovah for Mrs Brice?

I'm still young and can play Fannie better than hatchet-face Idina.

"Well I never in all my life! —Lea Michele"

Imagine how I feel.

R512. Not even in jest...

A Britney Spears Jukebox musical on Broadway. Who's booking The Marquis? Did they not learn from "Margueritaville"?

Gee, r514.....born in London and died in....Gardena.

And somehow Gardena, California, ended up in the UK. Who knew?

Please don't mention her name, r516. Just last week on my jaunt....

What is "The Zone"?

Hell if I know.

But, but...............

[quote]"Margueritaville"

Oh, dear.

yeah, it was hell on the lungs

R505 How do you mean by 'amateurish'? I believe the book writer also wrote the book for ONCE, and the director won a directing Tony a couple years back.

I guess they're going to need to change the name to "Funny Older Woman Going Through Menopause."

Gardena is the garden spot of California! It's almost as lovely as San Berdoo!

[quote]Well I never in all my life! —Lea Michele"

Lea can be first replacement.

Idina Menzel is Funny "Girl"

Not only is she not funny, nor a girl, she also has one of the most off-putting personalities ever. She exudes conceit.

r529 = Kristi Dawn

I’d actually be interested in seeing this Funny Girl because I know Idina will sing the roof off the place.

The script is crap so I’ll just ignore it

Who will be Nicky Arnstein? Aaron Lazar?

No, Taye Diggs

Nicky Arnstein is supposed to be older and more sophisticated than Fanny (who is a teenager at the start of the show).

So I'm thinking they'll see if Lee Roy Reams or Tommy Tune are available.

Maybe Martin Vidnovic?

Idina Menzel is a Triple Threat!

Can't Act

Can't Sing (that's technically shrieking)

Number 3 could either be: "She's Not Funny!" or "Hatchetface!" depending on how mean you are.

At 82, DL fave Linda "ALICE" Lavin would be perfect as Fanny's mom.

Jayne Houdyshell will probably play Mrs Brice.

Muriel needs to make "I'm a DL Fave!" t-shirts.

[quote] Idina Menzel is Funny "Girl"... Not only is she not funny, nor a girl, she also has one of the most off-putting personalities ever. She exudes conceit.

Oh my R529 has spoken. Perhaps Idina should just retire now and become a housewife back on Long Island.

R536 THANK YOU. She's fucking awful.

R536 THANK YOU. She's fucking awful.

Miss Loudon....

Obviously, Alex Newell IS Fanny Brice in 'Funny, Girl?'. Only a black trans fatty with no fanny can do justice to Fanny.

It's America. Alex has a fanny.

[quote]Maybe Martin Vidnovic?

Then of course Laura Benanti for matinee Fanny.

Benanti can play the Anne Francis part.

In the stage version it’s the Allyn Ann McLerie part. It was cut in rehearsals, and her three remaining lines were doled out to the chorus girls.

Allyn Ann!

Move over, Barbara Nichols!

Kit was Sally in the first FOLLIES production that I saw.

... did she try for the soprano notes?

It was about 45 years ago. I only vaguely remember her Losing my Mind....it was torchy. Also her gown probably out-sparkled Dorothy Collins....just a bit.

^ Collins'

[quote]r79 What's a moon face? Full of craters? Pock-marked?

No. Round.

Full details about ONCE UPON A ONE MORE TIME, for the Spears Carriers among you.

Dear God, that Britney Spears musical sounds like five kinds of hell. Of COURSE it is about a bunch of women who discover they are STRONG! and CAN FORGE THEIR OWN PATH! and, by golly, THEY WILL CLAIM THEIR OWN KINGDOM! Even money says one of the "princess" is a trans. I am so fucking sick of all this "woke" bullshit. I saw the Max Martin jukebox play in London, in which Romeo and Juliet is rewritten to make Juliet a woke woman who DOESN'T NEED A MAN! WHO CAN LIVE HER LIVE FOR HERSELF! It is pandering and god awful and tedious. Is this what we have to look forward to? I am a white male who is not into the drag culture, so I know that I am not their target, but I can still smell a pandering, by the numbers "woke" musical a mile away. God deliver us from this crap.

At least it's not a bio-musical. If Cher and Donna Summer's bio-musicals didn't last, Britney's doesn't deserve one either.

As is, ONCE UPON A WHATEVS sounds like someone's massive tax write-off.

A Britney Spears musical strikes me as the nadir of jukebox shows, but who knows what else is on the horizon.

Anyone planning on seeing the TAKE ME OUT revival?

I liked the original well enough, but I'm not psyched to see it again. They seem to be de-emphasizing the mansexiness of the original. The gratuitious male nudity was pretty much the incentive for going, IMHO.

Anyone know anything about the new production and the eye candy? How's the advance sale?

oops, pic is probably NSFW, for you Cubefrauen....

[quote]I liked the original well enough, but I'm not psyched to see it again. They seem to be de-emphasizing the mansexiness of the original.

How do you know they're going to do that? The show hasn't started performances yet.

Anyone seen My Name is Lucy Barton? Love Laura Linney and hope she will finally get her long-overdue Tony.

The only reason Sing Street is transferring is its billionairess producer...Those theater owners love those corporations and those trust fund producers. It will be gone by July 4.

I saw the original Take Me Out. It was great. I don't want to replace its memory with another version

I based the "unsexiness" of the revival based on a promo email I had seen.

Here's the trailer video, which.... tries to be sexier. You decide.

I'm sure they'll all do a fine job....

But none of those actors really do it for me.

It does look like Mitchell Pritchett is in it, doesn't it?

Ha, r268! Yes!

Jesse Tyler is off stage during the shower scenes, does he get to sit front row during the undress rehearsals?

Okay.... I know it's bad form to review a show in previews, much less based on the first preview performance. I guess I can live with the guilt.

The musicalized version of BOB & CAROL & TED & ALICE (from The New Group at Signature Theatre) is the worst new musical I can recall seeing in a very long time. And I see a good deal of new theatre. Given the prominence of the creative team, it's shockingly bad.

The performers are merely adequate, but I don't fault them. The book and lyrics are atrocious. How did it make it this far?

I never miss a Mr. Maisel musical.

He was... fine. Given the low bar, he was the one of the four that irritated me least. (Did I mention the bar was quite low?)

Can we speak frankly? These are 4 performers I never need to spend 2 hours of my life with while they chain smoke in their underwear.

And Suzanne Vega (!) stepping in for Duncan Sheik as the narrator/bandleader/lead player simply had no idea what she was doing. Or perhaps, where she even was.

Absolute hell to sit through.

^^ Someone thought that making a musical out of a forgotten relic of the Swinging Sixties was a good idea? ^^

With an actual point of view, BCTA could have been fun. It could have been satiric, or straight camp, or as a knowing examination of gender roles in the throes of the sexual and feminist revolution. Like Sondheim famously said, almost anything can be a musical.

Instead, it was basically the screenplay of the movie performed achingly slowly, minus the laughs, with a few musical moments thrown in. With a lot of herbal cigarettes smoked onstage. And Suzanne Vega.

Forgettable songs pointlessly stuck into little-changed screenplays is an apt description of so many recent Broadway flops: "Pretty Woman," "Groundhog Day," "Rocky." And those are just the Andy Karl shows.

Andy Karl in his underwear, smoking or not--that almost might have been worth 2 hours and the price of the ticket.

I'm going to lie down now.

The creative team for that show is, frankly, pretty darn unskilled.

Mr. Maisel looks pretty distressed in that photo.

The gif, r575.....

[quote]The musicalized version of BOB & CAROL & TED & ALICE (from The New Group at Signature Theatre) is the worst new musical I can recall seeing in a very long time. And I see a good deal of new theatre. Given the prominence of the creative team, it's shockingly bad.

On the one hand, I thought it MIGHT be good because of the songwriters and the book writer. But on the other hand, almost everything that company produces -- The New Group -- is shite, and especially everything directed by their artistic director.

And thus, another DL Theatre Gossip Thread fades off into the sunset, trailing ooze, glitter, and broken dreams....

[quote]trailing ooze

Pics please.

In happier news, a season seemingly designed with us in mind, with revivals of

SEESAW!

A CLASS ACT!

NO STRINGS!

Michelle IS Gittel!

More...

[quote]And thus, another DL Theatre Gossip Thread fades off into the sunset, trailing ooze, glitter, and broken dreams....

And the utterly predictable failure of the stated goal of not mentioning "Follies" once in the entire thread.

Yes. That didn't last long, did it?

We are SO predictable.

FOLIES!

Bad news for chorus boys, and those who love them.

I see what you did there, R589.

Heh.

FIRST MIDNIGHT!

C'mon, kids.

I have Thread #376 ready to go.

Let's kill this fucker already.

Whoop-Up!

Pousse Cafe!

Oh, fuck it all. It's Friday.

New thread.

Happy Friday!

Bajour

Bajour

Bajour....dammit.