THEATRE GOSSIP #377: "WEST SIDE STORY, OR CHANGE!" Edition

In other, unsurprising news: THE INHERITANCE (as of 1/19/20) is the lowest-selling show on Broadway.

Sigh.

Thanks, OP.

"Hadestown" won the Grammy tonight for cast album.

The NYT article made me want to see it.

Nicely done, OP

[quote]How about a musical based on BOB & CAROL & TED & ALICE?

We already have one. It's called "I Love My Wife".

Good thread title, OP.

Hadestown bores me. I'd say at least it's an original idea and not an adaptation of a movie or something, but adapting greek mythology is itself an overdone and tired idea. Broadway's dead.

[quote]Broadway's dead.

Don't worry, dolls. My cast of "Company" will revive it! All of you are coming, right?

R7, you don't have to drop hints. If you want me to write a new musical, just ask!

Has anyone musicalized Dawson's Fifty Load weekend yet?

[quote]Has anyone musicalized Dawson's Fifty Load weekend yet?

Falsettos

Little Orphan Evita - white-eyed child whore from Buenes Ares and her parrot Sandy sleep their way to the top of New York Society.

You made me laugh hard, r11

The thought of "Hadestown" makes me want to see film "Black Orpheus" again,

In a stroke of casting seemingly designed to make some DL heads explode, Ruth Negga, who is a woman of color, will be portraying HAMLET. Yes, in the title role.

[quote]The Gate Theatre Dublin production of William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, directed by Yaël Farber and featuring Academy Award nominee Ruth Negga, will play an additional week at St. Ann's Warehouse in early 2020. As previously announced, the upcoming staging is a highlight of the 40th anniversary season at St. Ann's. Hamlet will now run February 1–March 8, starring the Loving actor as the tortured Dane.

R15 Is it going to be set in modern times or something? I don't care if they cast a woman of color as Hamlet as long as it's an updated version. But if they're playing it as the bard originally intended it it's a dumb stunt for attention.

It is most unfortunate that a Free Woman of Color is named...Ruth Negga.

I'm rather worried that someone is going to mispronounce her name when she is up for an award or being introduced in public, like if they didn't take their reading glasses.

"And the award goes to ... Ruth Nakers!"

It looks relatively modern dress.

R20 Is she pretending to be a dude or is Hamlet a princess? Or rather even more of a princess than he originally was?

Ruth Buzzi!

I saw Ruth Buzzi's Hamlet out of town. It wasn't good.

She did not deserve her Oscar nomination for LOVING. It was such a meh performance.

She got the PC slot that year.

What R25 said. Every year there's a minority slot for each category that has to be filled. Ruth was that year's just as Regina King was in 2019 and Marshala Ali was for the Best Actor category. It's Hollywood's way of tricking the idiotic masses into thinking they aren't racist.

[quote] I saw Ruth Buzzi's Hamlet out of town. It wasn't good.

They should have made her Ophelia. What were they thinking letting her play the title role?

Though Stritch's Gertrude was one for the ages, r23!

Saw Part 2 of THE INHERITANCE again last night. First of all, without Kyle Soller, it was tedious as hell. Tony Goldwyn gives an interesting performance, but Hickey just seemed so much more natural in the part. His look, his voice...Goldwyn was either fighting off a cold or his voice is getting huskier. And yes, I could imagine him naked. But I just couldn't buy the part about him not being interested in sex.

Vanna White's Helen Keller drew raves at the Opa-Locka Steakhouse and Dinner Theater.

Couldn't find funding to get it past Jacksonville though.

Did Pia Zadora play Fran in "Promises, Promises"? It was on the Kenley circuit in 1973, apparently.

[quote] Saw Part 2 of THE INHERITANCE again last night. First of all, without Kyle Soller, it was tedious as hell. Tony Goldwyn gives an interesting performance, but Hickey just seemed so much more natural in the part. His look, his voice...Goldwyn was either fighting off a cold or his voice is getting huskier. And yes, I could imagine him naked. But I just couldn't buy the part about him not being interested in sex.

I saw Goldwyn last week for both parts and I thought he was very good. Not having seen Hickey, I felt Goldwyn was more appropriate for the character- magnetic, classically handsome, but also very arms length. Not someone you could ever really get close to. Hickey (to me) seems too "regular guy" to really be able to pull it off.

So are you saying the understudy was bad? Or wrong for the role? I thought Kyle was very good, but I didn't imagine he was the linchpin holding everything together (actor, not character).

Margo Lion sure got a lot of press. Cameron must be fuming.

I saw Part 2 of THE INHERITANCE on Saturday evening. I guess i'm in the minority on this thread, but I found it to be incredibly moving. I'll take this kind of theater over bio-musicals and movie to stage adaptations anyday. It's not perfect. It's too long and indulgent. But it's got heart, and purpose and it actually says something. I saw the understudy Eric - and yes, he was the weak but not fatal link in the show. Goldwyn was very good in the role of Henry. The theater had quite a few empty seats.

I think Ruth Buzzi would be great as Gladhand in the WSS revival......

Helen Lawson's Ophelia was a virginal delight

R27 I saw Ruth Negga as Ophelia opposite Rory Kinnear. She gave a thoroughly expected performance.

Reading lyrics from your phone...?!

I went to the Burt Reynolds Dinner Theater to see Ruth Buzzi in Evita.

A woman of color has already played Hamlet.

Maxine Peake

Her performance has been ignored just because her color happens to be white!

Vanna White did NOT play Helen Keller in Opalocka!

She was Annie Sullivan. Soleil Moon Frye played Helen.

Anyone going?

New York, NY, January 22, 2020 - The complete cast has been announced for Manhattan Concert Productions' 50th Anniversary Celebration of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat at David Geffen Hall, Lincoln Center on February 17, 2020 at 8:00 pm. They join Michael Arden (Stage Director) and Stephen Oremus (Music Director) in leading this one-night-only performance, featuring a chorus of over 300 singers from across the United States, professional cast and creative team, and the New York City Chamber Orchestra.

CAST

Noah Galvin, Joseph Eden Espinosa, Narrator Alex Newell, Narrator Jessica Vosk, Narrator Chuck Cooper, Jacob Merle Dandridge, Pharaoh Andy Karl, Potiphar Orfeh, Potiphar's Wife Brooks Ashmanskas , Baker Gavin Lee, Butler Jay Armstrong Johnson, Reuben / "One More Angel in Heaven" Bonnie Milligan, Gad / "Those Canaan Days" Mykal Kilgore, Judah / "Benjamin Calypso" Robert Ariza, Zebulon Rodrick Covington, Simeon Jason Gotay, Issachar Tiffany Mann, Asher Julia Mattison, Levi Brian Sears, Napthali Daniel Yearwood, Dan Mason Grey Zaroff , Benjamin

"it's a dumb stunt for attention."

Why would it be a dumb stunt? I saw Dame Judith Anderson do it in 1970 when she was SEVENTY-THREE!

"50th Anniversary Celebration of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat"

THIS is what they spend their resources on???

The INHERITANCE at 37.29% of gross potential last week. I think it is closing very soon. It has been doing very poorly, time to put it out of its misery.

R29 I don't think the point is that Henry Wilcox isn't interested in sex--he just wants to compartmentalize it--like many straight men. A boy for sex, a man for marriage. Like something out of Mary McCarthy--or out of E.M. Forster, for that matter.

R42: Except now thanks to budget cuts they're going to have to process the dreamcoat at De Luxe.

Judy in Hamlet....

Someone please put Company out if its misery.

of. And it's so silly and dated.

Is Bobby Conte Thornton straight or gay? If he's gay, then it's three for three gay guys playing Bobbie's straight boyfriends.

Also - They look kind of young for Katrina Lenk.

The melancholy Diane (Venora), 1982

OMG R48 That was painful. Much worse than I thought it would be.

On the upside: I've just saved myself the cost of a ticket.

Rearranging "You Could Drive a Person Crazy" so that it's no longer a pastiche number has turned it into a whole lot of nothing.

It is a pastiche - it's just that now it's a pastiche of an early 60s guy group, not of the Andrews Sisters.

It's also not really any fun anymore.

I was eager to see Company, but I'm not so sure I could sit through You Could Drive a Person Crazy one more time. It is like I'm Still Here; I hope to never hear it again.

Ugh. I'm trying to keep an open mind, but that You Could Drive A Person Crazy was so just.... there. It wasn't awful. These guys clearly have talent, but the song is completely robbed of its knowing, winking sly sense of humor when you no longer have those female voices trilling (and sometimes saying very sharp things in those lovely voices -- like that great 'fag' line that Sondheim stupidly cut in prior productions.) And you really miss that swinging 30-piece band. The way those strings thrillingly swirl in the original arrangement -- it felt like a commentary on the song's theme. Now, there's just a serviceable arrangement for a smaller band and three "straight" men singing something no straight men would sing.

YOU FEMINIST!

So... is COMPANY redux the musical equivalent of THE INHERITANCE?

In other words, is the critical and popular darling of London (written by Americans) going to be a giant MEH on Bway?

I don't understand how Sondheim chose what should be modernized.

"Does anybody ever get the juice of you"

Does anyone today even understand what that means?

the essence Rose, the essence

Does that line have a particular period-specific meaning, R59? I guess I always assumed it was a cute, quippy way or saying "does anybody ever really know you at your core?"

Who was Madeleine Le Roux?

I agree with what every poster is saying about that version of You Could Drive a Person Crazy. What is that "ba da da" in place of the wonderful "triangle" effect in the original vocal arrangement? It's so...empty.

Is this the way the song will be presented in the new inverted Company?

Company was always trite garbage and belongings in the annals of 70 schlock.

Once upon a time, I was looking forward to Company. Now, not so much.

I think the "You Could Drive A Person Crazy" is trying to copy what was done in London.

R62: I don't know if Dick Cavett said much in introducing her, but Madeleine Le Roux was an actress who had an era in the early 1970s.

She played Sadie Thompson in a revival of Rain off Broadway, and also Helen in the Lincoln Center Troilus and Cressida in the little theatre in the basement.

I don't know if anyone else recalls this, but when Cavett was getting started, he dined out on making fun of gays. He would constantly tell stories about "an unusually graceful young man" on talk shows. I was very young and not out--I think I was still in high school. But I knew enough to resent it. I've always thought him a complete phony, for instance insisting on singing Kurt Weill with Lotte Lenya (and his German was unspeakably bad; I wondered what she was thinking) and in dancing with Gwen Verdon's troupe and falling all over his feet.

He had an intellectual's reputation simply because his talk show had classy guests (like Katharine Hepburn) and his theme music was the Overture to Candide.

Company looks unwatchable. I'll be skipping it vigorously.

Now that I've seen all of The Inheritance, I'm really sorry it's doing so poorly. Not that I was rooting for it to fail prior to that, but between the reviews and the WOM, I assumed it was not a good play/production and it clearly hadn't done what it set out to do. As bumpy as it is, it's still a very worthy play with a lot to recommend, and certainly better than nearly everything else on Broadway right now.

To me, Dick Cavett and Tony Randall are on the same side of the coin. Two slightly insufferable gay-adjacent guys.

The only time I ever saw Madeleine Le Roux onstage was in the original Equity Showcase production of Women Behind Bars, playng the crazy inmate. She was hilarious.

[quote]To me, Dick Cavett and Tony Randall are on the same side of the coin. Two slightly insufferable gay-adjacent guys.

I couldn't agree more. Now if you'll excuse me, I'll be in my dressing room interviewing a new male personal assistant. And when Eva Gabor arrives, for godsake, tell her to KNOCK before she enters my dressing room.

Charlie Rose also had great guests, but was a mediocre interviewer with a self-impressed aura.

Thank you, r67. It wasn't the overture, just Glitter and Be Gay. Anyway, I had just turned it on when Herschel Bernardi was finishing up. Second guest was Anthony Perkins (then performing in Steambath). Third guest was Darryl Zanuck who was pushing Tora! Tora! Tora! Finally she came out and I had absolutely no memory of her. I looked on Youtube and her clip was there so I linked it. Both she and Perkins towered over Dick, it was funny. She seemed to be in her own world.

Miss Le Roux....

Tony Randall at least was a capable actor in light parts--and he was really something in Oh Captain. He could sing and play comedy, but the main thing was his stage presence: commanding, confident, va va voom.

Yes, I'm the old guy who saw shows in the 1950s. They had to call out mounted police when Oh Captain! played Philadelphia (where I saw it), because so many folks wanted to see it. The word of mouth was tremendous. Everyone thought it would be a smash in NY, but it wasn't.

Yes, it was Glitter and Be Gay, but that melody is in the Overture, after the recapitulation, in the closing section. I heard that in my head without thinking exactly what part of the show I was thinking of.

Ozzie and Harriet toured the summer straw hat circuit in Virginia Woolf in '67.

Okay, that is pretty awesome about Oh, Captain! Would that ANYTHING inspired that kind of enthusiasm

Holy Shitballs, Batman! That COMPANY trio is quite terrible. The arrangement is awful; the men sound like they’re in an anodyne college glee club, for fuck’s sake.

TERRIBLE.

SHITE!

I'll keep an open mind since I love Company, but all three of those guys seemed bland as could be. At least all of the three girls in the original have personalities. I didn't get a feel for any individual personalities in that clip.

Rob McClure Addresses Concerns Over MRS. DOUBTFIRE's Impact On Transgender Community:

Jeremy O. Harris and Matthew Lopez to receive HRC’s LGBTQ Equality Award:

R81 So MRS. DOUBTFIRE will be designed by committee? That doesn't bode well for the show.

Frankly, I don't understand why the trans community is getting involved. The original film had nothing to do with transgenderism.

I'm not sure how much of the movie they're changing for the show, but how the hell is Mrs. Doubtfire transphobic? Everyone knows it's a dude in disguise. It never says "aren't trans people a hoot?" It's not even about them and they're never mentioned.

When do the Company previews start?

do your happy dance on the grave, DL

Here's video of Tony Randall and Alexandra Danilova in a number not on the original recording (and I think it's very fun score to listen to with lovely work by Susan Johnson, Jacqueline McKeever and Ed Platt (Chief on "Get Smart").

The most interesting thing about that clip is that this Le Roux woman appears to be about 2 feet taller than teeny microdwarf Dick Cavett.

Sorry, my comment relates to R62.

I don't think R83 or R84 bothered to click R81 and read the article that R81 posted. I was ready to have a similar reaction to you two, but, actually what you described is exactly what McClure appeared to address quite tactfully. He basically says Mrs. DF is not about a transgender character, but about a man who hides his identity by dressing as a woman and that the humor in their production will be about the farce, not about the fact that he's a man in a dress.

It will be very interesting to see if the audiences show up for DOUBTFIRE when they didn't for TOOTSIE.

I think I saw MRS. DOUBTFIRE--or part of it--once on TV a very long time ago. I have almost no memory of it. Regardless, I keep hearing that it was a beloved go-to movie for both younger audiences who grew up with it and adults who saw it in theatres at the time.

I also recall discussing TOOTSIE here a couple of years ago when the show was in development. I expressed doubts about the timeliness of the project, but the movie had many champions here who were convinced that a stage adaptation could not help but be a blockbuster.

Broadway is too SJW for my tastes these days. I'll stick to regional/community theater for now until Broadway is run by sane people again.

dramatic much, R92?

That NYT article about Slave Play is a bald faced lie. If the show had sold out every single performance, it would have only served 120,000 patrons, and we know that for most of its run, it was barely half full. Call it what it was- a major flop that bled money to make a point that no one wanted to hear.

Did Tony Perkins have an eating disorder? The pic at r73 certainly begs the question.

R87, the reason that number isn’t on the recording is because it’s not from “Oh, Captain.” That clip is from The Dinah Shore Chevy Show, which was taped and aired when “Oh Captain” was had been closed fo nine months. Randall requested Danilova as his guest, and a new number was created, using some of the choreography from their Oh Captain number, “Hey Madame.”

I can't believe the people behind Mrs Doubtfire have to coddle and cater to psychopaths that would see it as "transphobic". Lunatics.

Do they really have to? Or does addressing it get promo for the show...?

I would agree with you, r98, but we saw how the lunatics reacted to fucking "Tootsie". It was LITERAL VIOLENCE

Matt Doyle doing You Could Drive a Person also seems too bland for the room ... but they must have had their choice of musical theater gays in auditions ...

[quote]Frankly, I don't understand why the trans community is getting involved. The original film had nothing to do with transgenderism.

Except for one deleted scene where Daniel, Frank, and Jack go shopping for dresses. And the fact that 20th Century Fox kept pushing it in so many movies from [italic]Myra Breckinridge[/italic] onwards. And the fact that Robin Williams was also in [italic]The World According to Garp[/italic], the film where John Lithgow plays a transsexual, a film Pauline Kael, in one of her rare moments of lucidity, called an "emasculation fantasy."

If they're offended by anything, then it must be good.

yes r94. Ultimately because it's. not. a good. play.

If so-called SJWs are offended by it, then it must be good.

SJWs are offended by pretty much everything. If they didn't manufacture offense, they would have no reason to exist.

How is Jagged Little Pill doing? It's constantly on TKTS.

There were predictions it would set Bway on fire but no one is talking about it.

That Slave Play article is full of all kinds of complexities - ones I probably wouldn't want to discuss were this not an anonymous forum.

While I can understand that plays feel and function differently with different audiences, as a white guy who paid for my Slave Play tickets, I find the idea that the 'blackout' performances were somehow 'purer' at best feels like a lazy generalisation. At best, a bit of a fuck you. I felt similarly about Harris' public chastising of Louis CK - if you don't want certain contingents to attend your performance, lest they sully the experience, then maybe it shouldn't be a commercial venture where any old Joe can walk in off the street and buy a ticket.

[quote]That Slave Play article is full of all kinds of complexities - ones I probably wouldn't want to discuss were this not an anonymous forum.

You mean for the same reason anti-gay slurs get more of a pass than anti-black slurs?

Jagged seems like it's on a downward slope. Apart from the holiday weeks, it is usually around 80% of its gross potential. The average ticket price is healthy, but not sensational. It feels like it is on the American Idiot trajectory. I think it may start to lose steam by spring, and fade out around Labor Day.

No, R107. More so that there isn't an easy answer, and these conversations are difficult and I'm not sure what any resolution - even were it possible - would look like.

I mean, I'd consider myself pretty woke (in all the cliched ways), I'm aware of the structural advantages of my whiteness, and when I'm in a position to do so I try to mitigate them. So when one gets told that buying a ticket and attending a performance of Slave Trade sullied the experience for the performers, I just want to ask: why take my money, then? Why not just tell me that it wasn't for me? I felt the same after seeing Fairview: if I'm - quite literally - being told that I'm taking up the space of a non-white person, I could easily have saved the time and the money by staying at home.

Wait, they're saying they didn't want you in the audience at Fairview? Is that some Brechtian shit? To make you feel like an other?

[quote]I think I saw MRS. DOUBTFIRE--or part of it--once on TV a very long time ago. I have almost no memory of it. Regardless, I keep hearing that it was a beloved go-to movie for both younger audiences who grew up with it and adults who saw it in theatres at the time.

It seemed funny at the time, but the actual real-world violence against women by men claiming to be women cannot be ignored, and that plus the death of Wilson Gavin makes it harder to look at drag in the same light again.

Cavett would do a play up in Williamstown every few summers and troll for young interns after dark. Sort of the Kevin Spacey of his day.

[quote] the death of Wilson Gavin makes it harder to look at drag in the same light again.

To be honest, drag is best looked at in the dimmest light possible.

And gelled in pink or possibly bastard amber, r113.

Bastard Amber is actually a pretty good drag name r114.

You probably should ask ROSCO, r115.

"So MRS. DOUBTFIRE will be designed by committee?"

Like the WSS choreography?? (see the NYTimes article). It's very, very sad. It's not a frickin' documentary (as Sondheim said 60 years ago) but a poetic flight of imagination. Of course, like everything else, Broadway is becoming literal, unmetaphorical (the theatre's GREATEST strength) and utterly humorless.

R117: Then why fucking bother rewarding such half-assed revisionist slop?

I saw DOUBTFIRE in Seattle. It's biggest problem is that the writing is just average -- totally what you would expect. The "Something's Rotten" writers and B talents at best. McClure is great though. He carries the whole thing. Baldwin has another "supporting wife" role. And she's Kate Baldwin, so its interesting.

"Tootsie" was widely praised for its book and yet still failed because, ultimately, it seemed like the wrong story to musicalize in our current era (and also had a weak score). If the book of "Mrs. Doubtfire" has the same kind of second-rate gags that I silently groaned at in "Something Rotten," I don't see it standing much of a chance.

Jeez Louise! Why do studios think they can get away with slapping together second-rate books and scores for adaptations of popular movies? Why does it feel like there is no basic effort to at least try to make them good? Do they even care? Are they all following the Max Bialystock playbook?

[quote] And she's Kate Baldwin, so it's the same bland, beige performance she always gives.

Fixed that for you.

[quote] "Tootsie" was widely praised for its book

Which it had no call to be. It was one of the worst books in the past twenty years, a complete mishmash of modernizing the story, bad borscht belt jokes and sandwiching in lines from the film script that everyone was familiar with but didn't match the story or the tone of the writing. Cats had a better book.

The score for TOOTSIE was also a loser. David Yazbeck is a very talented songwriter, but TOOTSIE is probably his dullest, most generic score ever. Really disappointing work when it should have been smart, funny, and dazzling.

r124 If the number they chose to do on the Tonys and other shows was any indicator, your comment was spot-on.

[quote]Broadway is too SJW for my tastes these days. I'll stick to regional/community theater for now until Broadway is run by sane people again.

sane people=white men

sorry to break the news but that train's left and ain't coming back

if you make it another 10 years perhaps only the offerings of your local junior high theater troupe will meet your exacting standards

Judy in Hamlet....

Matt the Loon at r111.

R125 I'm Latino who is left-of-center. By 'sane people' I meant us moderates. SJWs are humorless, militant, and care more about promoting far-left propaganda than creating art. In fact, political extremists (be they far-left or far-right) are bad for the arts and artists because they believe in and practice censorship. For example, on Broadway, you can't get anything produced unless it has a woke agenda. But, as my grandmother used to say, the pendulum always swings back.

I saw Jagged Little Pill in previews, and to be honest I can barely remember it. Saw Sing Street at NYTW and can't wait to see again. I do hope they can fix it...

[quote] that plus the death of Wilson Gavin makes it harder to look at drag in the same light again.

Please. Wilson Gavin was a right-winger who wrongly and stupidly yelled at drag queen story hour participant. Then the little bitch couldn’t take the heat when everyone started protesting him and offed himself. He doesn’t deserve any praise or consideration.

so mr R129 "leftofcenter/moderate" Latino.....is Lin Manuel a SJW or a "sane" man? (we know he's a very rich one now)

lots of people think hamilton is shit....jes sayin

Betty does Hamlet...

r123 is right. The book had JOKES which is something we've been hungry for, so everyone got excited for a minute. But the book itself in terms of character and logic and momentum and storytelling was a nonsensical shambles. It made The Producers look like a masterpiece of musical comedy writing. And the show didn't fail because of relevance or politics, People just didn't like it. Overpraise leads to dismal WOM with people asking, Is that all there is?

Rob McClure would be the ONLY reason to see Mrs. Doubtfire...which isn't a surprise since the film was constructed as a showcase for ONE actor, so it's not surprising that it's still built into the material itself.

He'll probably win the Tony while the show closes after 9 months.

Rob McClure is very talented, have always found him to be unique.

[Quote] I saw DOUBTFIRE in Seattle. It's biggest problem is that the writing is just average

Which is exactly like almost every film-to-stage musical that has come to Bway in the last few years.

The sad thing is producers don’t care. They know the name will bring in stupid, high paying tourist audiences. That’s all that matters

any relation to doug mcclure, 1950s hearthrob (or other anatomical throbs)

Or Troy McCloure, who sleeps with the fishes.

[QUOTE] Rob McClure would be the ONLY reason to see Mrs. Doubtfire...which isn't a surprise since the film was constructed as a showcase for ONE actor, so it's not surprising that it's still built into the material itself.

Brad Oscar is a really dependable performer and can Rumplestiltskin straw into gold. I think he’ll be good too (although his role is minor).

R140 I've seen the show. Brad Oscar is fine but....it's a nothing role that they've TRIED to beef up but it just feels awkward. The musical turns his husband into this big black drag queen character (basically, it's now Lola from Kinky Boots....and, played by an actor who played that role) and they've been given this minor plot thread of trying to adopt a child. It doesn't really work because the story of Mrs. Doubtfire is really only about the one character. It was built that way. It's hard to change a "star vehicle" into an ensemble piece.

Have they inserted a scene where an official comes to assess the gay couple's suitability as parents and Doubtfire is there in some form of dress/undress. Hijinks ensue?

Question for the Broadway gays here. Who the fuck is Katherine Steele? This bitch constantly comes up in my Youtube recommendations (she must pay Google for the exposure) and she seems like she constantly gets the hookup for free Broadway shit due to being an "influencer." This is her talking about how the production of Beetlejuice comped her tickets to the show and she's been invited to other Broadway events and shows as well. Why is she famous? Do any of you know her? Why does the Broadway community seem to entertain her delusions of being a stage performer? Why is she verified on Youtube? Lots of questions, I know, but I'm genuinely curious as to what your thoughts are.

R142 No. It's VERY minor...basically, "Well we're trying to adopt a baby..." then POOF, at the end of the show they have a baby.

[Quote] No. It's VERY minor...basically, "Well we're trying to adopt a baby..." then POOF, at the end of the show they have a baby.

Lord. French & Saunders really got it right with their Mamma Mia Parody, which had the writer dismiss her own writing as "bag of fag packet stuff."

[quote]He'll probably win the Tony while the show closes after 9 months.

Wouldn't be the first time that happened.

I think Mrs. Doubtfire has the potential to be a lot more popular than Tootsie wound up being. The whole concept of "Tootsie" bumped up against the "MeToo" movement and the trans movement and caused complaints. Doubtfire doesn't have that situation. Plus, it's a more recent film, and one that didn't require the kinds of massive overhauling that "Tootsie" did. (Going from soap opera to musicals, for instance).

[quote]I think Mrs. Doubtfire has the potential to be a lot more popular than Tootsie wound up being. The whole concept of "Tootsie" bumped up against the "MeToo" movement and the trans movement and caused complaints. Doubtfire doesn't have that situation.

For your sake, I hope you're right, Rob.

The movie version of Mrs. Doubtfire ran solely on Robin Williams' talent. Without him, the movie would have flopped. Can the musical version stand on its own?

Is Santino going to be McClure's standby?

Tony winner Donna McKechnie stood by for Chita in "The Visit".

Yes , Mrs. Doubtfire is only 27 years ago, while Tootsie was 38 years ago. A critical difference...

Is Rob McClure enough of a name to carry Mrs. Doubtfire?

If Santino had not won the Tony they could have sent him on a "vacation" and stunt-casted the hell out of Tootsie and kept it open. Santino was not enough of a name to carry that show. And I enjoyed both the show and his performance - although I saw Be More Chill the night before and it could that anything is Shakespeare compared to that.

Even though these shows are known properties, you need a name to fill those $399 premium seats.

I don't think McClure's name sold many (or any) tickets for "Honeymoon In Vegas".

I have taken to calling it FAGGOT LITTLE PILL

[quote] Even though these shows are known properties, you need a name to fill those $399 premium seats.

If they can get the Pierce Brosnan character to show ass, that will fill a few seats. If they cast well and have this actor sing a song in a bath towel, they can probably guarantee a healthy box office for 3 months.

Since Broadway has become movie to musical transfer, they should do a production of "Betty Blue Eyes". I saw it in London and it has a few good songs and a couple of giggles. I guess Emily Skinner could play the Maggie Smith role.

For your viewing pleasure. Just turn off the sound and imagine what's going on here.

Well, with the sound off, I thought the gentlemen were discussing the finer points of syntax in the novels of Henry James. Am I correct?

Emily Skinner?! WTF. Bottom of the barrel.

Uh huh. Sure, r160. Please let us know what your idea of “top of the line” is.

This is from the Dutch equivalent of the Tonys which aired last week. Dolly’s red gown could use a little work. And some of the waiters need a bit of aging up so they don’t all look 16.

Well, that turn as Lucille Ball was a giant...turd.

I'm very liberal and very white and very gay and I was just so turned off by every media story around Slave Play so I skipped it.

I'd argue that Mrs. Doubtfire is probably more well known among younger people than Tootsie was. They kept promoting Tootsie as this classic but most people under 35 have likely never seen it.

[quote] I felt the same after seeing Fairview: if I'm - quite literally - being told that I'm taking up the space of a non-white person, I could easily have saved the time and the money by staying at home.

Was Fairview the show where white people had to go on stage after?

What is going on at The Inheritance? They have three difficult months before nominations come out and who's to even say that they'll get many or any sort of bounce. Can another show sneak in?

well we can't disagree, and do concede R164, that was very white of you.

r159. They call the one in the middle the Princess Cassamassima

It's a shame the old school model died out. Forty-odd years ago, guys like Rob McClure would have been able to score a hit sitcom after putting in his dues on Broadway. Still coming back to present at the Tonys, of course.

Rob McClure has been the best thing in so many awful shows.

He's really not that good and will never happen. Opportunity after opportunity.

This is Rob's last shot. He's basically become the Irra Petina of 21st Century Broadway.

[quote]This is Rob's last shot. He's basically become the Irra Petina of 21st Century Broadway.

Rob McClure is the queen of the floperetta?

In a way, yes

Uh, the Transgender community has already come after Mrs. Doubtfire.

I didn't like the show but Rob McClure really is terrific in it. He deserves greater success. But, he does suffer from "Average Guy Face". He's not handsome enough to be a typical leading man...he's a star with a character actor's face and persona.

Yes, R166, that's the one. I've posted my rant about "Fairview" in previous threads, so will only say here that I wasn't a fan.

R176 That hasn't stopped Nathan Lane or Matthew Broderick.

R178 Matthew Broderick became a star when he was still a relatively cute kid. He gradually turned into a nebbish.

Nathan Lane is a Clown. Clowns have charisma and uniqueness; they're not cute but they can be Stars.

Poor Rob McClure looks like your nice but bland brother in law. VERY talented but hard to transition to major stardom when you look like someone who would be hired to restock the Craft Service table.

Santino Fontana couldn't make "Tootsie" a hit because he just didn't have the "star" quality, at least, not in that role.

But Rob McClure has had "star" quality in almost everything he's done.

who is "Eunice"? By the end of that Dutch "Dolly," she was singing

"La la la, Eunice, la la la la la la, Eunice."

Hello, R 181.

R179, Rob McClure *is* a clown. One of his strengths is physical comedy/slapstick.

Rob McClure is a cutie. Too bad he's straight.

As I remember, his turn in Where's Charley at Encores! was blah. Didn't laugh once.

No one here has actually seen The Inheritance.

Wasn't "Angels In America" supposed to be the gay benchmark for sitting 7 1/2 hours or so in the theater, much like "Nicholas Nickleby" was for straight subject matter? Maybe check out the first part of "The Inheritance" before buying tickets for Part 2 ?

[quote]As I remember, his turn in Where's Charley at Encores! was blah. Didn't laugh once.

Really? Going in, I had doubts as to whether of the comedy of the show would hold up, but I thought it was very well directed and well performed by the whole cast led by McClure, and there were LOTS of laughs in it on the night I attended. R185, maybe you just have a poor sense of humor.

I think it's a downright shame that Betty Anderson never made it big on Broadway.

As producers have realized marketing to kids can make for a long-running show, I'm sure they will take this route for Mrs Doubtfire.

"Laugh as you watch a man dress up in women's clothes, kids!"

Speaking of Nathan Lane, what's he up to these days? How about a revival of Sugar Babies with him in the Mickey Rooney role?

And maybe, r188, you are easily entertained by mediocrity.

And maybe, R192, we actually GO TO SEE SHOWS.

Did either of you see "Moose Murders"?

[quote]As I remember, his turn in Where's Charley at Encores! was blah

"Where's Charley?" was one of the better Encores! shows, well-cast all the way down the line, well sung, and very well performed by Rob McClure.

That interview clip with Elinor Donahue is very moving.

[quote]Speaking of Nathan Lane, what's he up to these days? How about a revival of Sugar Babies with him in the Mickey Rooney role?

What was R192 saying about being easily entertained by mediocrity?

Nathan co-starred with Mickey Rooney (and a pre-SNL Dana Carvey) in a flop 1982 sitcom called "One of the Boys." TV Guide ranked it No. 24 on its list of 50 Worst Shows of All Time in 2002.

Mickey Rooney stepped in for Betty Bacall?

[quote]How about a revival of Sugar Babies with him in the Mickey Rooney role?

How about a revival of Sugar Babies with Nathan Lane in the Ann Miller role?

Lane really wouldn't work in that show. Part of the humor is that the male part has to be a dirty old man, otherwise the sex jokes aren't all that funny. Now if they could get Joe Biden to do the Rooney part, it would be the hit of the legitimate theater season.

A young Elinor Donahue singing "The Dickey Bird Song" with Jeanette MacDonald and Jane Powell.

[quote]I think it's a downright shame that Betty Anderson never made it big on Broadway.

I think it's a downright shame that Betty Buckley never made it big on Broadway.

A walk-on role in the male dominated "1776". Good work in "Drood". One tired power ballad in "Cats" and all the rest schlock, crap or replacing someone else. She should have tried to get a revival of "Whorehouse" to Broadway so that she could play Miss Mona.

[quote]She should have tried to get a revival of "Whorehouse" to Broadway so that she could play Miss Mona.

I saw Betty Buckley in "Hello, Dolly!" She has no gift for comedy. It would be like having Miss Mona played by Uta Hagen.

[quote]I saw Betty Buckley in "Hello, Dolly!" She has no gift for comedy. It would be like having Miss Mona played by Uta Hagen.

Nobody goes to Whorehouse for comedy. Depending on their proclivities, they go to see fit men dancing in their underwear or young ladies jiggling their boobies.

[Quote] they go to see fit men dancing in their underwear or young ladies jiggling their boobies.

For that they go Instagram.

We really should find out who the third one is r200....fine, I'll do it. O.K., it's Ann E. Todd....that's who. Oh, and I noticed Angie's mother is also in the movie.

Cathleen Nesbit?

Angie's mother? You mean Doris Roberts?

Sorry, R189, but that's some pretty easy tap dancing. Donahue is now 82, so she's now too old to do 8 a week of Aunt Sue, even if there was a coming revival of "No! No! Nanette!" Which there isn't.

Angela Lansbury's mother, Moyna Macgill, has a small role in "The Picture of Dorian Gray," for which Angie got her second consecutive Oscar nomination for best supporting actress. It was also her second movie.

R208 = Lauren Chapin.

I wasn't referring to Elinor Donahue, r208. I distinctly referred to Betty Anderson.

Miss MacGill's IMDB page.....

In this episode of Route 66, George Maharis is continually making goo-goo eyes at Julie Newmar. She's tall enough to be his mother.

Tweet by Jackie Hoffman:

My husband says I’m not being compassionate enough to our friend Ann Dowd after her hip surgery. I have a titanium hip. She has a titanium hip and an Emmy.

Jackie Hoffman has a HUSBAND?

R189 Please let me know where to send my marriage proposal. Je t'adore.

R190. I think it's fine for kids to laugh at a man dressing as a woman when the context is for comic effect (I.e. a man who IDENTIFIES as a man is trying to dres up do he can be around his kids). The character is not transgender and is not being comc to make fun of transgender identities. Part of the humor of the original film had to do with Robin Williams' natural hirsute body and his ability to create a funny persona for the nanny. This is not "I Am Jazz: The Parody," either lyrics by Gerard Alessandri, Fred Barton (drunk as usual) at the piano, and Christine Pedi doing funny voices (Bernadette Peters, Ethel Merman, Patti Lupone,ndand, for good measure, Karen Morrow as Mrs. D), though, come to think of it, that could be a bigger hit than the actual musical.

[quote]Lane really wouldn't work in that show. Part of the humor is that the male part has to be a dirty old man, otherwise the sex jokes aren't all that funny.

Right, that's why Nathan was such a flop as dirty oldish man Max Bialystock in THE PRODUCERS. (Sorry to embarrass you for your total lack of theater knowledge, but seriously.....)

I highly doubt there will be revival of SUGAR BABIES with Nathan Lane, but if there were, I don't think anyone would rate the show as a "mediocrity." Gosh, there sure is a lot of stupidity in this thread..

It's a Theater Gossip thread, R218. All of them are stupid threads chocked full of stupid comments.

FOLLIES will break box office records!!!!

[quote]Right, that's why Nathan was such a flop as dirty oldish man Max Bialystock in THE PRODUCERS. (Sorry to embarrass you for your total lack of theater knowledge, but seriously.....)

It's not the same thing. Lane didn't LOOK old in The Producers and he wasn't really old but more middle aged. Rooney looked like the stereotypical dirty old man.

But you already knew that, Nathan.

The male lead in SUGAR BABIES doesn't have to be or look especially old, he just has to have the style and timing of an old-time vaudeville/burlesque veteran. Nathan Lane was 45 when he opened in THE PRODUCERS, and the character Max Bialystock should be at least that old or even a little older, because he's supposed to have had a long career as a producer.

R132 I don't know him personally, but he strikes me as a narcissist who pays lip service to the 'woke' cause. Let's just say he knows which side of his bread is buttered.

R165 I agree with you. MRS. DOUBTFIRE has always been more appealing to kids/teens. It's got slapstick and a focus on the relationship between the children and their dad in disguise,which makes for a fun adventure; a twisted' family film. On the other hand, TOOTSIE is more of an adult romance set in a harsh work environment. Definitely a date film, but not something kids would enjoy watching.

I'm R129, btw.

Nathan will be on Broadway again in the Spring of 2021 when he plays Willy Loman in Scott Rudin's all-star DEATH OF A SALESMAN. Which is why the recent London production was barred from crossing the pond.

Playbill said that a production of "Harvey" Elinor Donahue did a few years ago (as Mrs. Chumley) was her final theatrical performance. Here's an interview she did about that production. Her Elwood was David Mason who was recently in the Theresa Rebeck play "Seared" with Raul Esparza.

And to the poster upthread, Betty Buckley, actual Texan, was to have played Miss Mona but in Whorehouse Goes Public, but then she couldn't or wouldn't do the workshop and DL fave Dee Hoty was a last minute replacement, and she was carried over into the Broadway production.

[quote]I highly doubt there will be revival of SUGAR BABIES with Nathan Lane, but if there were, I don't think anyone would rate the show as a "mediocrity." Gosh, there sure is a lot of stupidity in this thread.

Apparently you define "stupidity" as an opinion that differs from your own.

Nathan Lane is fucking 63, that's like 99 in gay years,

^^Based on that photo, Nathan would be ideally cast as one of the no-neck monsters in "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof."

One of the rare justices in life is that very average-looking men like Nathan (and like most of us, frankly) do not really "lose our looks" as we age. Nathan remains about as attractive a man at 63 as he was at 43 and 23. (I believe he no longer drinks and takes better care of himself, so kudos and bonus points.)

A lot of Nathan's prettier Bway peers have not weathered the last 40 years quite so consistently.

So.... I finally saw both parts of THE INHERITANCE today. Here's my takeaway:

Go see it. Go judge for yourself. There is so much misinformation, and so much (weirdly placed) resentment of this production and/or the forces behind it. You may not love, or even like it, but I urge you to go see a play by a living gay man about living gay men....on Broadway. These opportunities do not come along every day.

TDF and other discount services have good prices on decent seats, particularly on weekdays. I had a day off, so I was able to do a matinee (Part 1) and evening (Part 2), which I think is the optimal experience. Yes, it's 6.5 hours long, all told, but I didn't feel it at all. It was an immersive theatre experience.

I think it's a remarkable achievement, whether it returns or loses its investment, or wins a single TONY, or not.

The film version of Matilda the Musical will only get a theatrical release in the UK, Netflix everywhere else

R231, I agree 100% with everything you said.

Betty Anderson is gonna get her ass kicked for tap dancing on the basketball court.

Thanks R231. I am happy I made the investment, I found it to be incredibly moving. Not a perfect play, but still important as hell.

I loved the INHERITANCE and feel it's a MUST SEE for gay men.

The propaganda that Tootsie failed because of MeToo or Transgender is just that, propaganda. Audiences are always willing to be go with any story if its well-told and wonderful. Tootisie was a terrible adaptation. The book was jokey and thin, the score was missable, and almost every performance was forced. It reminded me of Golden Rainbow.

THE INHERITANCE was written for young gays to learn what their elders went through. Both times I attended Part 1 and Part 2, the audience consisted of those of us of a similar age, who survived the horrors. Unfortunately, I'm afraid this incredible play isn't reaching its target audience because the marketing of this magnificent work SUCKS. Mr. Kirdahy, are you paying attention at all?

[quote]Miss Mona but in Whorehouse Goes Public, but then she couldn't or wouldn't do the workshop and DL fave Dee Hoty was a last minute replacement, and she was carried over into the Broadway production.

I was in the audience the night that Donald Trump and Marla Maples came to see Whorehouse Goes Public. I think Marla had her eye on replacing Dee if the show was popular.

Since I have been in the same room as a future POTUS, I will make myself available later today for you to give me your prayer requests so that I may bring happiness to your dark, little lives.

We should be grateful Kirdahy took the chance, but he seems to have lost all interest in selling the play. Putting the author and the lead actor on Jimmy Fallon doesn't cut it.

The national tour of TOOTSIE will non-equity. Just saying...

Another DLer in agreement w R231. Get discount tix and see The Inheritance in NYC. The fact that we even have theatre like this is one of the essential things that makes NYC different from any other large American city.

Saw Bob, Carol, Ted & Alice last night. Total flop.

[quote]Apparently you define "stupidity" as an opinion that differs from your own.

No, I'm saying that, by definition, a revival of SUGAR BABIES starring Nathan Lane could in no way be described as a "mediocrity." You might hate such a production for whatever reasons, and you're entitled to your opinion. But Lane is so famous, and that show is so specific and over-the-top in its style of comedy, that it could never be labeled a "mediocrity." Understand?

[quote]THE INHERITANCE was written for young gays to learn what their elders went through. Both times I attended Part 1 and Part 2, the audience consisted of those of us of a similar age, who survived the horrors. Unfortunately, I'm afraid this incredible play isn't reaching its target audience because the marketing of this magnificent work SUCKS.

I agree about the marketing, and I think it's so bad that it has contributed to negative feelings about the play and the production.

[quote] No, I'm saying that, by definition, a revival of SUGAR BABIES starring Nathan Lane could in no way be described as a "mediocrity." You might hate such a production for whatever reasons, and you're entitled to your opinion. But Lane is so famous, and that show is so specific and over-the-top in its style of comedy, that it could never be labeled a "mediocrity." Understand?

Gurrl! Stop with the drama. Go directly to your local community college and take class in critical thinking and logic. The only good thing your poor reasoning accomplishes is to obscure your sub-par command of language.

Yes, Nathan Lane could star in a mediocre production of Sugar Babies. And the mediocrity of the production might not be the fault of Mr. Lane. He appeared in a mediocre production of The Odd Couple, as well as the mediocrity called The Addams Family. He could do it again. And Sugar Babies can be mediocre, too. Ask Robert Morse.

Omfg just shut up about Inheritance and let it die already.

I'd recommend watching several documentaries about the AIDS era over any play.

For once, I agree with Jesse Green. Go see "The Confession of Lily Dare." It's a hoot. Haven't laughed that much in a very long time. The cast is terrific.

Wow! Even Matlida is going straight to Netflix? This seems like the kind of musical that would actually do well in theaters. That's a shame. Do you think there's any hope that Follies will play in an actual theater?

Poor Betty Buckley. I've never seen someone with less of a sense of humor on stage. She takes every line so seriously. It made her productions of Gypsy and Hello, Dolly more than a little sluggish.

Strangely enough, she seems to have a little bit of humor off stage. She can be very funny and charming in interviews, but it never makes it to the stage.

I'm amazed that anyone could think that what New York theater could use right now is a revival of fucking "Sugar Babies."

Not to reopen that particular wound, but who really loved MATILDA on Bway?

I declined to see it after virtually every adult theatregoer I knew reported being disappointed and confounded by it, after waves of critical hype. Perhaps small children enjoyed it more. "Headache-inducing" was a phrase used frequently.

I'm not sure anyone was chomping at the bit for a big-screen version.

Expecting a bunch of kids to pull off regional Brit accent was too much of an ask.

R246 R247 EXACTLY. Marketing has nothing to do with The Inheritance dying a slow death. It's not good and any human being with discernment knows that. Case closed. It's never gonna happen. Let it go. Playing on the nostalgic emotions of Eldergays and this generation of idiots who are ready to worship and throw the "iconic" and "legendary" label on any and everything. If only the same judgement could befall Lin Manuel. UGH.

Are we allowed to have a musical on Broadway now where a dirty old man leers at pretty girls?

And are the girls allowed to be born that way?

[quote]Are we allowed to have a musical on Broadway now where a dirty old man leers at pretty girls?

Gee, that sounds swell.

If you cast Glenn Close, sure.

Let's revive this for R255.

R252 I loved Matilda. But your snarky second hand assessment surely carries much more critical weight. And it's CHAMPING at the bit, not CHOMPING. You miserable dope.

You can add me to those who loved Matilda.

[quote] We should be grateful Kirdahy took the chance, but he seems to have lost all interest in selling the play. Putting the author and the lead actor on Jimmy Fallon doesn't cut it.

Actually, getting those two on Fallon was a major coup. When was the last time two nobodies from the theater who are involved in a play with less than stellar buzz and box office did The Tonight Show? I say Kirdahy (or his PR team) pulled off a minor miracle there.

I posted about a week and a half ago about having marathoned The Inheritance and being pleasantly surprised and quite moved by it. Is it perfect? No. But what is? I'm still thinking about it nearly two weeks later. That rarely happens.

I can say that at my performances, I was surrounded by college age kids who were hanging rapt on every word and crying buckets through it. They had no idea. And for that, I will be forever grateful that the effort was made to bring this show to Broadway.

[quote] Baldwin has another "supporting wife" role. And she's Kate Baldwin, so its interesting.

Did Baldwin do the Seattle run? I know she did the workshop,but she’s definitely not doing the show now. Is there a story there?

R246 would prefer to talk about Gypsy/Follies/Company

That story about playwright Julie Bovasso sabotaging a production of her own play recalls one of the most demented theater people of all time. She was known for incendiary behavior at rehearsals. The police would have to be called, actors would quit, etc.

Why did producers keep putting on her plays, then? They weren't generally regarded as outstanding in anyway. When Marshall Mason threatened to cancel the Bovasso piece posted about above, her agent tried to negotiate, but Bovasso was still being impossible. So Mason canceled after all, losing the Circle rep $100,000--and they still had to come up with another show for their subscribers.

When Bovasso died, I wonder if ANYONE in the theater felt sad. She was truly destructive, a case for the textbooks.

^ sorry: that should be "in any way."

She pinged.

Not widely known: Kate Baldwin is the granddaughter of James Baldwin.

I'm a little taken aback that the Kate Baldwin claim upthread has gone unchallenged. It's like someone wandered in from BWW.

I saw Company in West End month after its opening. It was excellent with first rate cast full of energy. Audience loved it. I decided not to see it on Broadway. After seeing that video here I think I made the right decision. Guys on West End production were better.

Brits better than Americans? Does Not Compute.

R270 is correct. British musical casts/performers, as a general rule, can't hold a candle to Broadway performers.

Along with Fun Home, I think Matilda is one of the greatest new musicals of the past twenty years.

Matilda was a dark and dreary musical that went on about 30 minutes too long.

I just wanted everyone to die catastrophically, especially all those irritating kids

[Quote] I think Matilda is one of the greatest new musicals of the past twenty years.

Sadly there’s not much competition

I once saw a puppet show based on the story of Andrew "Crispy" Crespo. Not too much after that strikes me as too "out there" I'm afraid.

What I remember about Matilda was the terrible sound.

What I remember about Matilda was the terrible sound.

R258 Oooh, Oooh, can I have a new number added about Marvin Gardens?

I always found it amusing, R278, that Lew Parker's character on "That Girl" was named Lew Marie. One would have assumed that "Ann Marie" was a stage name and that her actual surname wasn't Marie. I guess that was the gag.

There was the very brief Marie Brewster period, r279.

But only one Marie Blake.

Wasn't Donald Hollinger just about the nicest, cutest and rather sexy boyfriend material? Who is the gay equivalent?

"Matilda was a dark and dreary musical that went on about 30 minutes too long"

...and the score was MIA and the production unintelligible.

I’ve been catching up on some episodes of That Girl which has started running on Antenna TV.

An interesting glimpse of late 1960s Broadway milieu. Often Ann is holding up the Times reading a review or an article and you can see theater ads on the reverse page.

Today, for example, I could see a large ad for The Promise starring Eileen Atkins, Ian McKellan and Ian McShane, then taking mail orders... (Turns out that show didn’t run long at the Henry Miller, from 11/3/67 to 12/2/67.)

I've also been catching some That Girl and Hazel episodes this week on Antenna TV. It's kind of fascinating how these two shows don't even TRY to be funny. They're both extremely gentle, maybe give you a whimsical smile (at best) in tone. And awfully boring. I'm a big Shirley Booth fan and Marlo Thomas is fine (as long as I don't have to have dinner with her.) But these shows (both fond childhood memories) yeesh! A little off topic, I know, but since I was here.

Bonnie Scott, who co-starred as Rosemary in the original "How to Succeed" on Broadway and is on the OCR, was Ann's neighbor Judy on "That Girl" during the first season; she apparently wanted out of the business and/or got married and didn't come back for the second season. She was cute, if you ever wanted to see who Michelle Lee replaced when she did the movie.

R264, can you share the story of Bovasso sabotaging her own play? I have looked and searched through this thread and found no recounting of the tale.

Love the Inheritance debate here. I'm not a hater but the play(s) really didn't work for me. Just didn't care about the characters, even after all those hours together.

So many current shows to talk about or trash, I wish we had a separate thread for old-time reminiscing so these gossip threads stayed current or at least more gossipy.

For example, how the hell is Tina a thing? Ms. Warren is a force, but the show itself may be a new low for jukebox bios. Nothing interesting, nothing moving, just plot points nonsensically connected by non sequitur songs. And choreography that makes the Milford Plaza commercial look like Fosse's best.

You just HAD to mention it, r288....

It does look a wee bit like "Damn Yankees" or maybe "Pajama Game."

When Marie Blake sang "Rapture" at Five Oaks, you could hear a pin drop.

She sang THAT quietly, r291???

AIDA the musical is being revamped for a national tour starting at Paper Mill. Will David Henry Hwang's rewrite of his book be EVEN WORSE than his original? Probably, judging from what he did to his own play M. BUTTERFLY.

Are they still gonna be played by white people?

Loved Fun Home, Matilda I don't remember much except the claustrophobic set, and lots of moppets.

Why don't they just revive My Darlin' Aida?

No, R294. The characters will be played by the best actors and singers the production can assemble.

R297 lmao. Since when?...

Miss Routledge....

300 posts already! These TG threads seem to be moving at a faster clip these days.

They tend not to be paywalled until about the 350 mark, at which point they understandably slow down.

R299 I love her voice. Beautiful. Emmet would appreciate.

She wants to sing in opera, r302.

[quote]Ingrid Michaelson's The Notebook Musical Will Make Its World Premiere in Chicago

The song is kinda pretty. I saw the movie a decade ago but have no recollection whatsoever.

Matilda was an obnoxious POS with terrible sound design.

It's amazing that Matilda ran as long as it did, seeing how everyone who ever saw it complained that most of it was unintelligible. I think for a while it just served a purpose as a babysitting show, i.e., something to bring the kids to because of the characters and the subject matter, even if the kiddies ended up hating it because they couldn't understand a goddamn word of it either.

[quote]Bonnie Scott, who co-starred as Rosemary in the original "How to Succeed" on Broadway and is on the OCR, was Ann's neighbor Judy on "That Girl"

Reva Rose, who was the original Lucy in You're A Good Man Charlie Brown, did a few episodes as Ann's friend Marcy.

Ann Marie didn't seem to keep friends for very long.

Patricia Routledge is an amazing singer. She was the first actress to be offered Mrs. Lovett in Sweeney Todd. Unfortunately, she turned it down and Angela Lansbury took the role.

Pat Routledge

[quote]Ann Marie didn't seem to keep friends for very long.

She kept walking in and finding them in bed with Donald. She never got that Donald seduced them and maybe it was Donald she should have gotten rid of. But that's the attitude Donald had which he learned from Don Draper. The two Don Juans.

Patricia Routledge won the Tony for "Darling of the Day" despite the musical's failure. She never had much luck on Broadway.

I never miss a Vincent Price musical.

[quote]She never had much luck on Broadway.

She could have transferred with the Public's "Pirates of Penzance" but I think workshops for "Noises Off" were starting up in London and she wanted to do that. She also could have starred on Broadway in "Sweeney Todd" but didn't like the material. She had her choice of work in the UK and even turned down some great projects.

Did she ever duet with Our Rose?

Ann gets a tip from Ethel....

A friend got me a standing room ticket for Matilda during the summer it won the Tony. I didn't hate it, but I wasn't terribly enamored of it, either. I also couldn't understand a word anyone said (and found it deeply ironic that it won Best Book).

The most annoying part was that I had a small backpack with me and I put it on the floor in front of me between my feet and the wall of the back row. I had several ushers come bug me during the performance to move my bag because "the actors come through the back of the theater and they might trip over it." They asked me to wear it instead. I tried to employ logic with them (big mistake) that since my back was to the back of the theater, it was far more likely that they would knock into my bag if I was wearing it, and that the only way they could trip over my bag on the floor would be if they shoved me out of the way first, since my body was totally blocking it.

I finally got so fed up that I left at intermission.

I had no idea they were making a musical of The Notebook. Gaw, what sentimental hogwash that movie was. Is this Ingrid Michelsen trying to emulate Sarah Bareiles' Waitress? Even the song in the clip bears a strong resemblance to "She Used to be Mine," but not as touching. I think Baireles is the large talent, and although Michelson gets to sleep with hot af Will Chase.

This was the only good thing in The Notebook

Bernie & Peter....

[quote]Bonnie Scott, who co-starred as Rosemary in the original "How to Succeed" on Broadway and is on the OCR, was Ann's neighbor Judy on "That Girl"

She left because she had newborn twins, and didn't want the grind of a full-time sitcom role. She did work after that, including on "He and She," but not as much.

R 259 Both can be used champing or chomping. Look it up. Love, a happy equestrian

[quote]She left because she had newborn twins, and didn't want the grind of a full-time sitcom role.

She had about 10 lines per episode. It's not like she was the lead. Slacker!

Saw on Twitter that Nikki Renee Daniels is covering Bobbie in Company. Hopefully, Katrina will go away early and Nikki can take over the role. She'd be great.

I can’t believe Next to Normal is back. Once was enough!

What's wrong with Next to Normal? It's very touching and the music is good.

My apologies for busting into your theatre thread but I have a question. After seeing the movie Cats I sincerely want to know how it managed to stay on Broadway for so long. Yes the movie was horrible but how much less horrible is it on the stage?

a) It isn't any less horrible.

b) Japanese tourists.

The problem with Inheritance isn't the marketing. The problem for me was there's 45 minutes of great storytelling, and some stunning theatrical moments, dropped into 7 hours of mediocre writing. Telenovela and cultural name-dropping aren't terribly interesting onstage, and there's 35 metric tons of both.

I thought how they handled the "storytelling" worked well. t's a beautiful production with a solid cast, and an uneven script. IMHO. And that's reflected by the tepid box office.

YMMV.

[quote]After seeing the movie Cats I sincerely want to know how it managed to stay on Broadway for so long.

It was very popular with families. It was very popular with tourists who didn't speak English. It was very popular with English tourists. It was a fairly cheap show to run. It was the first show to charge premium prices. During intermission you could go stand on stage and pretend you were Barbra Streisand in Funny Girl (I swear I didn't do that). It was ALWAYS, and I do mean ALWAYS, on TKTS.

CATS is just as bad onstage. There is a recording of the stage show. Just awful. I guess it was just another weird boomer thing. THE NOTEBOOK had a reading like a year ago with two white actresses as older Allie and one black as teenage Allie. haha. Hailey Kilgore. Bizarre.

[quote]After seeing the movie Cats I sincerely want to know how it managed to stay on Broadway for so long.

Basically, any woman who ever had a cat saw it at least three times. I had a co-worker who saw the show ten times. When the Cats come from the back of the theater, she used to brag that she would get an aisle seat and pet the actor that stopped by her seat.

[quote]The problem with Inheritance isn't the marketing. The problem for me was there's 45 minutes of great storytelling, and some stunning theatrical moments, dropped into 7 hours of mediocre writing. Telenovela and cultural name-dropping aren't terribly interesting onstage, and there's 35 metric tons of both.

Agreed. I really hated the constant dropping of names of celebrities, brands, trendy stores, vacation destinations. Incredibly lazy writing. But I do think the marketing of the show is also inept.

[quote] It (Cats) was the first show to charge premium prices.

I thought Miss Saigon, in 1991, was the first show to charge premium prices with that section in the center front Mezz that went for $100 per ticket (to see the helicopter come down).

I am a Sondheim man.

While he's written some nice melodies, I find the majority of ALW's shows a drag -- he doesn't work with good lyricists or effective dramatists -- none of them seem to know how to tell a story effectively or to develop characters. But neither of those was required in Cats. Cats wasn't pretending to be anything other than what it was. It was largely about theatrical imagination and fantasy, told through song & dance and a touch of spectacle. Something that only works in the theatre. I actually think it's a better night in the theatre than Phantom or Jesus Christ Superstar or any of the others. I may be misremembering, but I think Frank Rich even gave it a decent review.

R332, it's funny reading your post because it reminds me of when I first went to see "Cats" on Broadway. I had no idea that they did that and, like your coworker, I too had an aisle seat (in orchestra center). The lights went down, the music started, and out of nowhere I begin to feel this fur on top of my skin. Startled, I looked down and through the darkness saw this person dressed as a cat rubbing himself against my hand. I thought WTF and pulled my hand away. (IIRC, it was the cat Mistoffolees.) Anyway, I smile thinking about it now but in that moment it was kinda creepy.

Boomer here. I saw "Cats" when the first tour hit DC. Probably the only musical that I would never, under any circumstances, see again. I like, or at least can find some enjoyment in, almost every musical. "Cats" was just plain awful.

r336 Well, we all know about gay men and their aversion to pussy.

So it was "surprise pussy" instead of the usual "surprise anal?"

[quote]I thought Miss Saigon, in 1991, was the first show to charge premium prices

Maybe I'm using the wrong term. At the time, I think orchestra seats on Broadway were an average of $50. I think Cats either opened, or quickly escalated after opening, up to $65 per seat and then quickly climbed for choice orchestra seats. And I thought they were the first to break the $100 mark.

R335, you are not misremembering. Frank Rich did indeed give CATS a largely positive review, certainly not a pan -- and then he proceeded to make fun of the show in other reviews for years afterwards, as if he didn't think anyone would remember that he had reviewed it quite positively. Fortunately for him, by the time people could easily look up his reviews on the internet, he was no longer the Times' drama critic.

[quote]as if he didn't think anyone would remember that he had reviewed it quite positively.

He gave Madonna a positive review in Speed The Plow when everyone who had any eyes/ears saw how horrible she was in the show. When he released his book of reviews, he had to write a mea culpa along the lines of WTF was I thinking? Madonna's acting was shit and it was very obvious she didn't understand Mamet or her character.

Hats off to R338 and R339. Well done!

R334, i think the helicopter went up, not down, but i could be wrong...

I snagged a house seat to Cats' first Broadway preview. (Lucky thing or I mighta missed it!) It was also some kind of benefit for something or other. All I remember about the show was that Walter Cronkite and Nikki Haskell were both there. And the fog machine went kablooey near the end of the show and the entire theatre was filled with smoke and coughing patrons. Ah, Memories.

[quote] [R334], i think the helicopter went up, not down, but i could be wrong...

Haha, you're right, thought didn't it come down, then go back up?

That helicopter was THE WORST Broadway musical effect ever. It was poorly designed.

Memory, not Memories lol

[quote]kablooey

I love you, R347

The helicopter was underwhelming, yes. Lea Salonga was fantastic, though.

ROMANCE ROMANCE!

QUILTERS!

ROBERTA!

[quote] i think the helicopter went up, not down, but i could be wrong...

Maybe he was thinking about the upcoming new musical, "Kobe!"

[349] Lea Salonga and Jonathan Pryce were both fantastic. For some reason I didn't mind Miss S as much as a lot of other other shows of that time.

Company is full of singers who do a passable job, at best, at acting. I bet there will be lots of gestures.

What was interesting about Miss Saigon was when the show let out for the evening, the patrons would come out and half the audience were white men with Asian women. I'm sure they were Vietnam Veterans.

If they were older, they might have been Korean war vets (or just GIs who served in Japan and the Far East. ) Lots and LOTS of retired servicemen with Asian brides.

Helicopter boys: you're both right. The whirlybird landed, loaded up with passengers (but not Kim!), and then took off.

Did anyone ever try to musicalize The Last Picture Show? Could it be turned into a musical?

LAST PICTURE SHOW is not a bad idea, but I believe there are movie rights (annoying Peter Bogdanovich, still alive) and the McMurtry novel that it's based on.

That is the movie I wish Duncan Sheik had adapted instead of BOB & CAROL & Zzzzzz.

Re Cats on Broadway. The major difference between the movie and the live show is that the live show is essentially a dance performance. I read ALW's memoir, and that is what everyone involved thought it was, which is why it has no plot to speak of. It was intended to be an evening of dance, much the way an evening at the ballet would be about dance. The editing of the movie was atrocious, in that you never got to see any long shots or any shot that wasn't edited every two seconds. I did not like the show, but, oddly, I thought the movie was entertaining in a frightening kind of way.

stopped in at the "Hal Prince" exhibition at the NYC Public Library at Lincoln Center. Really lots of materials about his shows (FOLLIES!!!).

I highly recommend to those DLers who wax nostalgic for the golden age of Broadway, before the current ruination caused by woke swj puerto rican actresses stealing the role of puerto rican characters away from white actresses. so racist,

R353 - That's a shame. One of the things i liked about the NY Phil concert with NPH and Patti wasa how strong the book scenes were.

R262 Jenn Gambatese played Miranda/Sally Field in Mrs. Doubtfire in Seattle.

She was fine but it's still a nothing role even though they try to give her a bit more to do.

Matilda is such a terrible show. The book is awful and the songs are annoying. And, there's the "you can't really understand ANYTHING being sung" issue, especially when the kids sing in those awful treble voices trying to do a regional English accent.

I went to opening/press night of Matilda on its first national tour and at intermission, all the critics ran around to ask one another, "is it just me or is it impossible to understand a gawdamned thing they are singing?"

American musical theatre actors trying to do accents is usually a recipe for incoherence and disaster.

Songs by Arthur Laurents?!?

Was Patricia Routledge the Irra Petina of her time?

I can't believe I'm actually commenting about fucking Cats but here goes. The other major difference r359 is that in a theater, the show is a giant exercise in collective suspension of disbelief. The outsized scenery and the costumes and the fact that we're using our imaginations lets us say to ourselves, OK, they're cats. Doing it in the utter reality of film ruins that and leaves it looking just stupid.

Thanks for posting those Routledge clips. It's interesting to see how music hall her performance was - they def toned that down with Parsons on Bway

Considering the late Timothy Scott was the original Mr. Mistoffolees , he could have crawled into my lap and I wouldn't have said a word. That kitty was sexy as hell. I used to see him in Central Park after dark.

Did the boyfriend of Betty Lynn's brother have a named part?

Amazing!

[quote] Did the boyfriend of Betty Lynn's brother have a named part?

He played Skimbleshanks, right? The railway cat.

The CATS movie should have been animated. Movie execs are so dumb.

Tim Scott was Betty Lynn's brother's boyfriend. They met backstage at The Winter Garden. Norman and Tim were together until Tim's death.

In the 1990s, the beautifully reinterpreted Carousel played Lincoln Center. It had been done in London and the concept was brought over with the Lincoln Center production, but mostly recast. In the London version, Patricia Routledge played Nettie Fowler and sang "You'll Never Walk Alone" and "June Is Busting Out All Over." I've never heard any bootlegs of this and I don't think a cast recording was made (if it has can someone point me to it?) but I would love to hear her sing that.

That production of "The Pirates of Penzance" was one of the most brilliant productions that Shakespeare in the Park/Public Theatre ever did. It was back when they had employed directors with vision who would put on exciting productions.

For your listening pleasure, the Forbidden Broadway parody of Pirates. "Poor Country Star" still cracks me up.

I meant "Poor Warbling Star".

[quote]The CATS movie should have been animated. Movie execs are so dumb.

Better yet, the CATS movie just shouldn't have been. Period. Love it or hate it, it was purely about the magic of theatre. There was no way a movie would work, though God knows, Tom Hooper somehow found a way to take a bad idea and make it even worse.

Oh, for fuck's sake. CATS was not "purely about the magic of theater."

It was about having a non-narrative musical spectacle that could be sold to foreign tourists because there was no language barrier. That's why it existed. That's how it existed. That's why it still exists. It can be sold to anyone, so long as they have no taste and no sophistication. That particular class of persons is nearly limitless, ergo, the box office take is, too.

There's a sucker born every minute.

It was The Producers that started up with premium pricing. I remember reading an article in the 90s that argued that center orchestra tickets were underpriced relative to demand, but that producers didn’t have the guts to charge more. When Mel Brooks raised the top price from $100 to $480, he argued that it would prevent scalping and send the money to the people who actually put on the show.

Premium pricing got more obnoxious with technology. Every show tries to get $300, and then lowers prices or offers discount codes. Many Lehman Trilogy performances Are mostly unsold, but price subpar seats at $199. Even Six, Mrs. Doubtfire, The Girl From the North Country, and low key straight plays seem to think they can take this approach.

With Stub Hub and Ticketmaster, scalping became common. The twenty something girl next to me unwittingly subsidized most of the price of my pair of Hamilton tickets.

[quote] It was about having a non-narrative musical spectacle that could be sold to foreign tourists because there was no language barrier. That's why it existed.

r379 you're not really correct. That's a bit revisionist. It was sort of the first of its kind as a spectacle for tourists, and in fact didn't become such for several years into its runs, both in the UK and here. It really was the hottest ticket in town for New Yorkers for quite a while.

For Cynthia Errivo fans and not fans alike, there’s a new Awards Charter podcast from the Hollywood Reporter. 90 minutes with Cynthia discussing her entire life and career. Importantly, she finds her characters through scent. Celie was sandalwood and orange.

Is she really seeing Lena Waithe?

R381, what made premium pricing so obnoxious was when the theater owners started to built premium seats into the rental price.

When Cats first started, the phenomenon of selling tickets to non-english speaking tourists didn't quite exist the way it does now. It wouldn't be a market that could sustain a production for several years after Cats opened, so it was never intended for that market. Perhaps that market started because producers started to see that it was a gold mine, so it helped usher in that era, but it certainly wasn't created to take advantage of it. It was truly just an evening of dance, and no one expected it to be the juggernaut that it became. ALW even had to use his house as collateral because they could not get investors. It is easy to say that in hindsight that everyone thought it would be a bit hit, but, at the time, no one thought it would be one. It was very much out of step with everything else that was being done at the time.

Pffft. Broadway did not begin in 1982. The NYC theater has always had big reviews that were easily enjoyed by a diverse audience. Whether it was the Black Crook or the Ziegfeld Follies or the Radio City Music Hall Easter show, or Two on the Aisle or Sugar Babies or... take your pick. These shows have always been directed at the audience who for any number of reasons were not going to enjoy Shaw or Brecht or Tennessee Williams. CATS is in that tradition.

The lyrics for Cats are basically the poems that T.S. Eliot wrote for his godchildren. I'm glad that the musical brought them back into popularity because they really are charming poems.

Great poems, but crappy lyrics

"Oh! Calcutta!" was a spectacle in a way that had many foreign tourists (especially Japanese) buying tickets for years. It was a cheap spectacle, too, involving having no clothing on the actors quite a bit of the time. Kind of a lousy show, though except for a couple of sketches and a dance.

[quote] You may not love, or even like it, but I urge you to go see a play by a living gay man about living gay men....on Broadway. These opportunities do not come along every day.

Really?

I caught Henry Townshends Last Stand and was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed it; although Bierko got OLD.

We have to move on from gratitude at being the subject of a piece of (gay) writing.

Routledge also did a Bway play in 1966—How's the World Treating You?—that lasted a month. Friends who saw it say she gave one of the funnest performances ever. She's also a lovely Mary Sunshine on the London cast recording of LMS.

LMS/OLC

There is a cast recording of the London Carousel, but it has another, far lesser singer doing Nettie. The shrill sounds she produces are not pleasant.

R387, revues, not reviews...

Bernie/Bandstand

Gee Whiz

A very different song of Bernadette (hee).

The children are irritating, but Bernie and the song are sensational. She manages to embody a spirit in a 2-minute song that Madonna has failed to truly capture in a 40-year career.

This effect (when they take the stage and enter the film) rocked my world when I saw it in the theatre. I was 17.

Strange how that song "Chico's Girl" has never been released on CD.

What....the.....

Chico's Girl....

Bernie at 17....

Bernie RAWKS, R404!

Aged 4.

Grease fire, R397.

Bernie sucked in Slaves of New York.

LOVE IS GOOD FOR, etc is the only good thing in that misguided movie.

Tony News:

New York, NY (January 30, 2020) – The Tony Awards Administration Committee met today for the second time this season and confirmed the eligibility status of eleven Broadway productions for the 2020 American Theatre Wing’s Tony Awards. The Tony Awards Administration Committee will meet a total of four times throughout the 2019-2020 season to decide the eligibility for the 74th Annual Tony Awards.

The productions discussed were The Great Society; Slave Play; Linda Vista; The Rose Tattoo; The Lighting Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical; The Sound Inside; Tina – The Tina Turner Musical; The Inheritance; A Christmas Carol; Jagged Little Pill and My Name is Lucy Barton.

The committee made the following determinations:

David Weiner and Victoria Sagady will be considered jointly eligible in the Best Lighting Design of a Play category for their work on The Great Society.

Joaquina Kalukango will be considered eligible in the Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play category for her performance in Slave Play.

Ian Barford will be considered eligible in the Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play category for his performance in Linda Vista.

Marisa Tomei will be considered eligible in the Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play category for her performance in The Rose Tattoo.

Ben Stanton and Lucy Mackinnon will be considered jointly eligible in the Best Lighting of a Play category for their work on The Rose Tattoo.

Chris McCarrell and Kristin Stokes will be considered eligible in the Best Performance by an Actor/Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical categories for their respective performances in The Lighting Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical.

Adrienne Warren will be considered eligible in the Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical category for her performance in Tina – The Tina Turner Musical.

Mark Thompson and Jeff Sugg will be considered jointly eligible in the Best Scenic Design of a Musical category for their work on Tina – The Tina Turner Musical.

Andrew Burnap, Samuel H. Levine and Kyle Soller will be considered eligible in the Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play category for their respective performances in The Inheritance.

A Christmas Carol will be considered eligible in the Best Play category.

Campbell Scott will be considered eligible in the Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play category for his performance in A Christmas Carol.

Lizzi Gee will be considered eligible in the Best Choreography category for her work on A Christmas Carol.

Christopher Nightingale will be considered eligible in the Best Orchestrations category for his work on A Christmas Carol.

Elizabeth Stanley will be considered eligible in the Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical category for her performance in Jagged Little Pill.

Riccardo Hernández and Lucy Mackinnon will be considered jointly eligible in the Best Scenic Design of a Musical category for their work on Jagged Little Pill.

[quote]For Cynthia Errivo fans and not fans alike, there’s a new Awards Charter podcast from the Hollywood Reporter. 90 minutes with Cynthia discussing her entire life and career. Importantly, she finds her characters through scent. Celie was sandalwood and orange.

I can't wait for her starring role in "Cheryl! The Musical."

I can't believe anyone hires Cynthia Errivo after she closed that show.

Miss Betty Buckley made a guest appearance at Lincoln Center tonight at the Joe Iconis & The Family show. Make no mistake, Betty looks and sounds her 72 years: the glorious top of her voice is gone, never to return. (It also didn't help that she appeared to be wearing a flannel shirt and jeans--did she just drop in from some lesbian potluck?)

All that said, she did a nice job with a new Joe Iconis song that was just good enough to make you wish it was really, really great. Annie Golden also guested and did a fab job on another number. A fun evening. Love all around.

Stop trying to make Joe Iconis happen. After Be More Chill and Bway Bounty Hunter both laid an egg, critically and commercially, it’s time to acknowledge that he simply ain’t too good....

A Datalounger almost died but survived. Article below. His heart stopped and they had to electroshock it 34 times before it started beating again on its own.

How do we know he's from DL? His comment after the experience was "I'm still here."

[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.]

^ I was not aware until reading the article above that Ramasur was reinstated at City Ballet and is again on the roster and dancing there, although on leave to appear in WSS.

He shouldn't be in WSS. He's not fuckin puerto rican. Taking leave to take a job from a Latino. Greedy motherfucker.

He shouldn't be in WSS. He's not fuckin puerto rican. Taking leave to take a job from a Latino. Greedy motherfucker.

Those protestors claim the cast feels "unsafe" with him around. Unsafe, how exactly? Any actors union members involved in these harassing protests should be kicked out.

R417 -- good for her. I'm all for the MeToo movement and the way its shone a light on GENERATIONS of unacceptable, predatory behavior, but while Amar did a shitty thing, he is nowhere nearly on the level of a Cosby or Kevin Spacey. He paid a price, his girlfriend has forgiven him and he deserves to move on.

R420 -- he is of Puerto Rican and South Asian ancestry. His mother is Puerto Rican. His father is Indian, by way of Trinidad.

[quote]Ballerina Alexandra Waterbury has accused Ramasar, as well as several others, in a civil suit of allegedly trading lewd text messages about her while Ramasar was a dancer with the New York City Ballet

He said mean things about me! Trying to destroy someone's life and career can come back and bite you.

Production already said Mr. Ramasar is a member in good standing of his union, Actors Equity, and is an exemplary member of the ‘West Side Story’ company.” The added, “he will be on stage as Bernardo on opening night.”

Move on ladies.

[quote]He shouldn't be in WSS. He's not fuckin puerto rican. Taking leave to take a job from a Latino. Greedy motherfucker.

just shut up already, we don't see a problem,

at least he doesn't need "light egyptian"

R424 Haha. That was then. This is now. And neither one of you bitches should have been allowed anywhere near the set Carol and Natalie. You never see the problem. That we know.

Carol's got rhythm!

i feel prett(ier), being white

The girlfriend must have pretty low self esteem. Pics of her being traded around like Top Trumps.

R382, the word of mouth on Cats in NYC was terrible right from the start. I remember in my office a number of people saw it during the first three months and they all hated it.

R400, you do realize that Bernie is not singing in that clip....?

That what makes it remarkable, r430. She manages to bring real magic to that number, even hampered by having to lipsynch to voice that was recorded fifty years earlier.

Lenora!

Not a special voice, Lenora.

She's a second banana.

She's...Lenora, dammit!

[quote]the word of mouth on Cats in NYC was terrible right from the start. I remember in my office a number of people saw it during the first three months and they all hated it.

Wrong but thanks for playing.

R436 CATS was seen as avant-garde when it premiered, which isn't everyone's cup of tea, especially those who preferred and were used to traditional musical plays with plots and character development.

No, R437. NO.

It was an ALW cheezefest and everyone who ever took Music Appreciation as an undergrad knew it. The marketing efforts went on for months and months. Those fucking cat eyes looming with no title, no text. Streisand's recording rolled out at the precise moment. All of it made it clear this is only about the box office.

Avant-garde? Ridiculous. This was as avant-garde as Disney on Ice.

The dictionary definition of avant-garde is "new and unusual or experimental ideas, especially in the arts," How doe CATS not qualify?

CATS was the Mabou Mines of Bway musicals!

You can't revise history. Cats WAS rather avant-garde when it opened in London. Back then, ALW was far from the guaranteed success that he ended up being. Despite how awful it was, the original production was rather groundbreaking. By the time it made it to Broadway, however, it was already a proven success, so it had a lot of word of mouth and awareness, and they were able to coordinate Streisand's recording of Memory, etc. When it opened? None of it was guaranteed, and no one expected it to be a hit. We can now all pretty much agree that it is a piece of shit, but you can't deny that it was ground-breaking when it opened.

[quote]We can now all pretty much agree that it is a piece of shit, but you can't deny that it was ground-breaking when it opened.

It is not a piece of shit. The lyrics, based on the T.S. Eliot poems, are still very lovely. The characters created by the poems are wonderful characters. You can argue the music, you can argue the choreography and the presentation, but the poetry and characters are high quality.

For absolutely no reason...

R422 I don't give a fuck if his mother is Puerto Rican. He looks Indian. He's still only half. Maria in this production is also half Jamaican. What is so hard about casting real Puerto Ricans in this show!? 63 fucking years and never a full cast of Puerto Ricans. Now THAT would be ground breaking and progressive. This Maria (Pimpental) is as close as we've gotten. It's absurd. 63 years!

You think dramatizing an anthology of poems on stage is ground breaking?

Then you tell that to Edgar Lee Masters.

MATILDA was one of the worst musicals I've ever seen. Totally unlikable characters and horrible story.

Nathan Lane is a genius.

THE INHERITANCE *HAS* to be better than ANGELS IN AMERICA, a six hour play that could have easily been cut down to just one show, 3 hours. Tony Kushner had a million words in his head and he had to tell us Every Single One. Please, my nerves.

I think ANGELS is magnificent... in parts.

But the recent revival underlined the amount of pointless dreck in there: the 20-minute monologue about Bolsheviks that opens Part 2 is just one example. Not interesting, illuminating, or entertaining: this is simply a writer sharing their own obsessions, for no good reason. Kushner has a lot in common with Stoppard that way.

R249 I think the new MATILDA movie will be going to theaters only in the UK; Netflix everywhere else. I don't see why it can't have a US run. The 1996 film by Danny DeVito was a modest hit and an even bigger success on home video. Generation Z grew up on this movie.

R312 Bitch had to share the award with me!

Yes, R442, the poems in Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats are lovely. And the choreography was often brilliant. And the set was stunning, and unusual for its time. But the sum of its wonderful parts is still terrible. Although it was rather surreal, I actually enjoyed the movie of Cats more than I liked the play was because the lyrics were a lot more intelligible in the movie than on stage, so I could appreciate them all the better.

Just saw Moulin Rouge on Bway.

Flashy, fun, yet completely forgettable the second I left the theatre. Sort of like a fancy karaoke event.

The Bolshevik section in Angels is really moving to me. It captured the feeling of the time, which was that the systems that had organized our world were falling apart. It might not seem as relevant now if you didn’t live through it, but that is true of most of Angels - as well as history.

It's the Liberace movie all over again.

Lenora Nemetz kind of looks like a prettier version of Karen Ziemba in that clip of "I Can Cook Too."

[quote] I think ANGELS is magnificent... in parts.

I saw the original Broadway cast of Angels. I saw Part 1 the preview before opening night, and then Part 2 the week it opened. So there was some distance between the performances that I saw.

I felt the same way. Some parts of it were sheer genius. But it felt like it needed a severe cutting. Some of the brilliant moments get lost in the length.

Word of mouth began to build about the angel's entrance, but that was one of the weakest moments in the show. When the angel arrived, Stephen Spinella's line was "Very Steven Spielberg." I don't know whether it was poor sound design or Spinella's speech pattern, but nobody sitting around me could understand what he had said.

I think that some of the material was propped up by brilliant acting. Marcia Gay Harden, Ron Leibman and Jeffrey Wright were consistently BRILLIANT. Wanting to see them was the main reason I went back for Part 2.

I will never forget:

Marcia Gay Harden's monologue where she talks about all the people who have died forming a chain to fill in the hole in the ozone layer.

The doctor telling Roy Cohn that he had AIDS. Liebman was brilliant in that scene and it closes with the doctor saying, "Well, whatever you want to call it, it's very bad news." And the look on Liebman's face was sheer terror.

Jeffrey Wright in the scene where Cohn is in the hospital and has a stash of AZT.

Kathleen Chalfant and Ellen McLaughlin had some nice scenes, but I think they were trying to cover so much material or were possibly under rehearsed that they weren't consistently brilliant.

Strangely enough, I though that Stephen Spinella, Joe Mantello and David Marshall Grant were all just adequate. They were giving template performances.

R455 -- It has been a very long time since I've seen them, but I, too, saw them both early in the runs, so there was a great deal of time separating them. My memories match yours. I have read such great reviews of Spinella's performance, but he left me completely cold. I didn't think he was nearly as good as those around him, especially Wright, who really was magnificent. I didn't quite appreciate the entire play until I saw a bootleg of the recent London revival. I don't know if I appreciated it more now because I could look at it as a play, rather than an "event," or if the staging was just more coherent, or if it worked better seeing both plays without a year's long gap in between. I know it is heresy to say, but I also thought Denise Gaugh was better than Marcia Gay Harden. Although the latter is brilliant, she didn't seem as fragile and broken as Gaugh. Harden seemed stronger at her core, so I never doubted that she would find her way through the trouble, and that her troubles were drug-induced, whereas with Gaugh, I never knew if she would survive it, or if she would be forever broken. I was touched by her character, hears I wasn't touched by Harden's.

[quote]I have read such great reviews of Spinella's performance, but he left me completely cold.

The problem that I had with Spinella was that he seemed a stereotype: "the lisping, swishing faggot." Ka-ween! I wish he had taken time to normalize his character. It was hard to engage with his character because it seemed like it was 100% camp. A total earrings and caftan performance. I think that Justin Kirk in the tv version was heading closer to what the character should have been.

[quote]Nathan Lane is a genius.

Hi, Joe. Welcome back to DL.

[quote] The problem that I had with Spinella was that he seemed a stereotype: "the lisping, swishing faggot." Ka-ween! I wish he had taken time to normalize his character. It was hard to engage with his character because it seemed like it was 100% camp. A total earrings and caftan performance. I think that Justin Kirk in the tv version was heading closer to what the character should have been.

Compared to Andrew Garfield's monstrously awful performance in the revival, Spinella was Charlton Heston.

Doesn't Prior seek refuge in earrings and caftans?

Uh, Prior is SUPPOSED to be "the lisping, swishing faggot."

That's how the part was written by Kushner; it's very much spelled out. Prior and Belize are former QUEENS!

I saw the VERY first preview in NYC, for Perestroika. I had tickets for it, then it was postponed to the following night (they were having issues with sets/effects) and it was a very brilliant albeit tense night of theater...George C. Wolfe did a pre-show speech and basically warned us they might have to stop at some points. They didn't really "stop" but there were moments when everything seemed to awkwardly pause for a moment longer than it should and the actors would just freeze for a second.

It was an amazing night of theater. I still prefer Perestroika to Millennium Approaches. It's richer and deeper. And, I know people hate the ending....I LOVE THE ENDING! It's the right ending for that story.

I also saw Millennium with the cast replacements, Cynthia Nixon and F. Murray Abraham... they were "fine" but not as strong as Ron Leibman and Marcia Gay Harden.

People who say Angels in America needs to be one play are idiots. If you're seeing a production that feels like it's draggy, that's not the fault of the material...it's that specific production. AiA is a bitch to successfully do...you need a brilliant director and a top notch cast. It's not a piece for amateurs or hacks.

Gee, I've been out of the loop. Was there a Monique Van Vooren is dead to me thread?

R459 Could you elaborate on Garfield's performance? I wasn't fortunate to see it. If I recall, he won the Tony for it.

[quote] [R459] Could you elaborate on Garfield's performance? I wasn't fortunate to see it. If I recall, he won the Tony for it.

It was all indication and nothing more. He played at being a big screaming nancy and never actually became a real human being. And his performance started at 10 and there was nowhere to go, so he yelled every line at the top of his voice. There wasn't an ounce of nuance in the performance. He was exhausting and terrible, and it was one of the worst performances in the theater I've seen.

Lane wasn't much better, but it was because he was miscast. There's no room for Lane-isms when playing Roy Cohn. He had a better handle on the character than Garfield had on his, but Lane is not a super versatile actor. He's certainly talented. When he gives quiet performances, like he did with his character on The Good Wife, he can be tremendously effective. But whenever he plays a character that can get, well, histrionic, then he goes right into Lane mode. It's like Robin Williams. Quiet- he was fine. But give him a little comedy and he wore out his welcome in under five minutes.

The only successful performances in that production were those of the two older women who played various roles.

So the role won Garfield the Tony more than anything?

[quote]So the role won Garfield the Tony more than anything?

The role, and Garfield's movie star status.

Not to be confused with Mamie Van Doren, R462. Monique Van Vooren died Jan. 25th. Her obit was in yesterday's Times.

[QUOTE]It was all indication and nothing more. He played at being a big screaming nancy and never actually became a real human being. And his performance started at 10 and there was nowhere to go, so he yelled every line at the top of his voice. There wasn't an ounce of nuance in the performance.

Likely not helped by him thinking watching Drag Race counted as research

[QUOTE]Andrew later revealed that a certain drag superstar’s show has helped him find his character: “I mean every single series of RuPaul’s Drag Race. I mean every series."...“My only time off during rehearsals – every Sunday I would have eight friends over and we would just watch Ru. This is my life outside of this play. I am a gay man right now just without the physical act – that’s all.”

That last sentence...actually imagine being in Angels in America and yet still thinking watching some drag queens makes you a "gay man...without the physical act".

[Quote] I am a gay man right now just without the physical act – that’s all.

Tacky. Very tacky.

I am a gay man right now just without the physical act – that’s all.

doesn't that describe most Dlers?

I thought Garfield was horrible. it was a clueless straight man's version of what he thought a nellie gay man would be like. There was no nuance, no sense of some inner knowledge that he might be over the top. No subtleties. He was tiresome beyond belief. Lane wasn't great, but he wasn't the best. Liebman was incredible. He scared the fuck out of me, yet, even though he is not classically attractive, there was something sexy about him, so it made his double life more believable.

R468 So disgusting. I saw it and he was definitely acting. And now after reading that, he was just imitating what he thinks gay men are instead of just coming from an authentic place and giving an honest performance. And that's because he has no real life experience like all actors today. Idiot.

The character of Prior has always a lot of gay men uncomfortable, and Kushner clearly intended it that way. He is flamboyant, does drag, has large emotions, and lets people treat him like shit. Harper and Prior are both needy people, but they are not cruel like their respective partners. Their joint journeys to self respect is truly moving.

Garfield, like Kushner, didn’t give a shit that many gays want him to be more like Joe Pitt. Apart from the fact that Garfield kept his clothes on (during a non-prurient scene), he gave a fearless performance. I have seen many Priors, most try to “normalize” him in a way that is about their self image (and fears) rather than what is in the script.

I hate to speculate why many gays react so negatively to Prior, because I know I also did when I first saw the play as a self-closeted gay man. There is an awful lot to the role, but it doesn’t come in a package that is meant to be soothing.

"What's so hard about casting real Puerto Ricans in this show?"

Because 1) it's not a frickin' documentary and 2) you cast the most appropriate and accomplished actor in the role (little things like acting, singing, dancing and physical type come into play).

The problem with ANGELS IN AMERICA is that, unlike all the great American classic plays (STREETCAR, ICEMAN, SALESMANT, etc) it doesn't fulfill its premise. How could it? Any play that promises a messianic epiphany is going to fall short.

The best Roy Cohn I ever saw was Jonathan Hadary in the first national tour. I think Michael Mayer directed it. Hadary was very charming and insidious; very little screaming.

Elaine Stritch would have been 95 today.

[quote] So the role won Garfield the Tony more than anything?

I honestly can't explain why he won. I think the poster above who suggested his movie star status had something to do with it is definitely on to something. But I also think that there was very little competition. 2017-18 was a disaster of a season for Broadway, so it was an easy place for a high profile name to get an undeserved award. And it sure wasn't going to Denzel for Iceman.

[quote]That's how the part was written by Kushner; it's very much spelled out. Prior and Belize are former QUEENS!

As I said above, Jeffrey Wright was excellent in his portrayal. At times a queen and at times just a normal human being. Stephen Spinella was never a normal human being and it would have served his character better to find some moments where he was just a human being.

[quote]Elaine Stritch would have been 95 today.

Blow out your candles, Elaine, and make a wish.

Stritchy

I worked with Elaine Stritch once. She could teach a master class in being a pain in the ass.

R478 Yeah...I'm gonna have to agree with your sage opinion about the awfulness of Stephen Spinella in AiA...WHAT were those Tony voters thinking when he won unprecedented back to back Tony Awards for playing the same role.

Mr. Spinella OBVIOUSLY made a dreadful artistic mistake by not seeking you out for your valuable words of advise on how to act a role he was instrumental in creating with its author.

By all means, let us prefer Justin Kirk's drier/duller/ever so slightly butcher choices for the HBO film.

Elaine Stritch would have made a fierce Roy Cohen in ANGELS.

Elaine is teaching angels how to drink now.

[quote]WHAT were those Tony voters thinking when he won unprecedented back to back Tony Awards for playing the same role.

Yes, because we always know that the Tony Awards are given to the absolute best performances. Nobody ever gets one if they don't deserve it. Why Miss Audra McDonald has one SIX. all extremely worthy performances of her bland acting.

R474 It's not impossible to cast a show with real Puerto Ricans you fool. It's LAZY. It doesn't need to be a documentary. It should echo real life as much as possible to give an authentic experience to feel and discuss. Not fantasy land. Which I know you people love. Representation matters.

I’ve had sex with Spinella! I hooked up with him mainly so I could go to his place to see his Tony

It's no big deal that you did that R487. People do things for the wrong reasons pretty much every day.

But it's pathetic that you are so needy you had to bring it here and publish it for everyone to see.

You get no props, no points, and no admiration.

Where did you meet him r487?

Victor Garber once cruised me in Central Park.

[quote]It should echo real life as much as possible to give an authentic experience to feel and discuss.

You're not going to get that in this production that has a black Tony and Riff.

When are they going to do a gay West Side Story. Tony is hot for Bernardo.

A boy like that

Who'd kiss your brother

A boy like that

he'd fuck his mother

One of his own kind

Pedo his own kind

A few people recommended Ethan Mordden's books about Broadway, so I downloaded "One More Kiss," his book about musicals in the 70s. It is terrible!!! There is some interesting information, but Mordden can't write. His sentences are labored that I have to read some several times before I understand what he means. The book is also scattershot; there is no overacting structure to it, and no cohesion. I'm about 1/3 through. I am not sure if I will continue reading much beyond that, because the writing is so tragically bad. Did he not have an editor to help make it more cohesive?

A boy like that

Will date another

We like a boy

Who's good to Mother

One of his own kind

Prefers his own kind....

A boy like that

Who moves like Chita

He's playing Riff

But should be Anita

One of his own kind

Prefers his own kind....

R493 LMAO!!! At your signature,, as well. XD

[quote]When are they going to do a gay West Side Story.

George Chakiris, Richard Beymer, and Larry Kert aren't gay enough for you?

damn, why didn't we think of that

"Representation matters.

But TRUTH matters more.

R497 EXACTLY. So cast it with real Puerto Ricans. What is the point of your post?

I demand that everyone in Aladdin be Middle Eastern. Representation matters!

Can someone please identify the men in r496

Someone's gay card is about to be revoked ...

I spot Sondheim at far left and Hal Prince at center (standing).

[Quote] At times a queen and at times just a normal human being. Stephen Spinella was never a normal human being and it would have served his character better to find some moments where he was just a human being.

What a wretched conception you have of humanity.

R500 It is the replacement cast for 'Ain't To Proud to Beg', Rose.

What a wild coincidence that the only example of someone who didn't deserve a Tony is an African American woman

Real life and dramatic truth are two different things, r498.

Chita Rivera doesn't speak Spanish.

Therefore, she obviously should never have been allowed to play Anita.

Right?

Will the film of In the Heights get the accents right? On Broadway, every Hispanic character had the same accent in spite of their different ethnicities.

Any production of WWS is not going to have only Puerto Ricans as Sharks. The dance requirements would limit the pool to much. And no one cares if there are a few Nicaraguans, Dominicans, Chicanos, etc in there if they can dance.

R417 Those protestors look exactly like you would expect them to.

[quote]Can someone please identify the men in [R496]

Steven Sondheim in white jacket

Arthur Laurents sitting on the table

Harold Prince in jacket standing

Leonard Bernstein, with the "come and get me boys" pose

Jerome Robbins sitting on the ladder

Don't know who the man sitting at the table looking lustily at Bernstein is. Maybe Producer Robert Griffith?

So no gays, then.

Yes, it's Griffith.

[quote]So no gays, then.

Gays hadn't been invented in 1957.

[quote]So no gays, then.

No goys either.

Of course the Tony winner for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play would be one of the worst performances in the theater you've seen. Typical Datalounge Theater Queen. Yawn.

It also mean, R516, that the commenter had not seen Ute Hagen in CHARLOTTE.

Bernie in AGYG - another undeserved Tony.

[quote] Mr. Spinella OBVIOUSLY made a dreadful artistic mistake by not seeking you out for your valuable words of advise on how to act a role he was instrumental in creating with its author. By all means, let us prefer Justin Kirk's drier/duller/ever so slightly butcher choices for the HBO film.

Love or hate Spinella's flamboyantly gay performance, with all of that screaming, but I don't think it would have worked in a six-hour TV movie (or however long it was). I thought both Spinella and Kirk gave valid performances, one for the stage and the other for film.

[quote]What a wild coincidence that the only example of someone who didn't deserve a Tony is an African American woman

Because the fact that an actor is African American is one of the reasons, other than the quality of the performance, why voters would give the award to that actor over another. To show the world how "diverse" and "inclusive" the Tonys are, even if the winner is not deserving. Do you want another example? Heather Headley in AIDA. She's not an actress, she made one obvious choice after another in the way she sang the role, and she basically left the theater after her appearance in that show, focusing on trying to have a pop career and only rarely returning to the stage.

Among the many African American actors who richly deserved their Tony awards are Mary Alice, Laurence Fishburne, Gregory Hines, Jeffrey Wright, Audra McDonald in CAROUSEL and RAGTIME, Lynne Thigpen, Lillias White and Chuck Cooper in THE LIFE, Viola Davis in KING HEDLEY II and FENCES, Cicely Tyson in THE TRIP TO BOUNTIFUL, and Renee Elise Goldsberry, Leslie Odom Jr., and Daveed Diggs in HAMILTON. On the other hand, in my opinion, Audra McDonald in MASTER CLASS, Denzel Washington in FENCES, Heather Headley in AIDA, James Monroe Iglehart in ALADDIN, and some others did not deserve to win.

Audra does not deserve six Tonys. She's good when she stays in her lane, but she's not six Tony versatile.

R510 You mean white and female?

R518 I was rooting for Siân Phillips in MARLENE.

Remember, at the time, that fat Shubert fuck, Jerry Schoenfeld, set prices at $50 a ticket, a record in 1983. He explained the reason the prices were so high was to stockpile money to restore the Winter garden once the show closed. So he didn't think it would run either way. Then, of course, every show started raising their prices because if you could get $50 a pop for CATS, you could get big bucks for any other piece of crap.

[quote]Then, of course, every show started raising their prices because if you could get $50 a pop for CATS, you could get big bucks for any other piece of crap.

I expected the musicals to follow Cats. But then the plays started raising their prices too.

R499 YES! They should be. How many jobs are middle easterners given in film and theatre? R506 STOP trying to make excuses. R507 Ummm No because Chita Rivera IS Puerto Rican you idiot. Speaking spanish has nothing to do it. That is the dumbest argument. R509 YOU don't care because to you it's all the same. Ya racist bastard. You can teach someone the choreography. Puerto Ricans can naturally move. Its time to retire those tired Jerome Robbins moves anyway. It's fey and dated. It doesn't limit the pool. It's laziness. They don't even try to look. And the idea that someone must be trained at Juliard or wherever to be a stupid actor is absolutely moronic. And that's why all this shit sucks today. Old Hollywood would take someone off the street and cultivate them.

[quote]And the idea that someone must be trained at Juliard or wherever to be a stupid actor is absolutely moronic. And that's why all this shit sucks today. Old Hollywood would take someone off the street and cultivate them.

This is absolutely true! And it's the reason why we don't have good character actors anymore. You think Themla Ritter or Marjorie Main or William Frawley ever went to Julliard? The gave good performances without fancy training.

[quote] Puerto Ricans can naturally move.

The most blatantly racist statement in this whole silly thread.

Chita Rivera is NOT Puerto Rican. Her father was, but he died when she was 7 years old.

Her mother's family name is Anderson and her mother is of Scottish and Italian ancestry. Chita was born and raised in Washington, D.C. She doesn't speak Spanish. She is not a product of the barrio experience. She is no more Puerto Rican than she is Scottish or Italian.

So if we are going to be casting by ancestry and not talent or ability to perform a role, cast Chita in Brigadoon or possibly Tosca. She can't sing Tosca, but her DNA is correct and that's all we need to consider according to your standards.

Or better yet, go educate yourself to some facts, R525, and stop peddling ignorant notions.

P.S. Even Chita Rivera is not going to agree with your asinine comments on Jerome Robbins' choreography for West Side Story. Few will.

[quote] Audra does not deserve six Tonys. She's good when she stays in her lane, but she's not six Tony versatile.

She deserved each of those Tonys. Heck, she particularly deserved one for 110 in The Shade. She lost to Grey Gardens.

R492, I totally agree Mordden's writing is tough to read, for the most part. Plus, that picture he uses on his cpvers is at least 30 years old. He's old and fat now.

They had fancy training, r526, it was called Vaudeville.

Isn't Patti LuPone a character actress?

Wasn't she a leading lady for most of her career? She almost always had the starring role or female lead.

R527 She is still Puerto Rican you fool. You go ask Chita if she's Puerto Rican or not. I would love to see her reaction. Don't speak for her. You don't know her. I never said they needed to be from the Barrio. Where did you get that? You're the only one who mentioned the Barrio. Another one of your little Freudian slips. Obviously they must have talent. Where did I say they shouldn't? If anything, you keep exposing your racism because you keep implying that full blooded Puerto Ricans don't have what it takes. You're just making things up trying to win an argument you can't win. I said they don't need to be trained, which is true. You can teach someone choreography. And you said no because it takes too much skill. So Puerto Ricans don't have the skills? Again you're racism is exposed. Puerto Ricans CAN naturally move. It's in our blood. How in the hell is that racist you dumbass. You are so dumb. You're just saying anything. Stop trying to win an argument with your silly opinions and beliefs you old spinster. You need to go work on your comprehension skills. But its probably too late for your old ass. Ask yourself why you are so upset about me saying that a show about Puerto Ricans should feature actual Puerto Ricans. WHY? What you're really saying is they don't have what it takes. You're a loser. R526 Exactly. Thank you. That's where the real raw talent and personality is. R530 Haha. I know you're trying to be funny. Anyone could go into vaudeville. That's training in experience anyway. And nobody needed training for fucking vaudeville. You learn what worked and what didn't as you went along. It was all new.

The whole point of acting is to ACT LIKE A PERSON YOU ARE NOT.

Sure, I understand the call for Puerto Rican actors to play Puerto Rican character or gay actors to play gay characters--mainly because these people tend not to get roles on stage or film as much as white actors do.

That said, there comes a point at which the demands become ridiculous.

R534 Only ridiculous to people like YOU. Which are....

Nah. She's not Puerto Rican. She never lived in Puerto Rico. She wasn't raised in a Puerto Rican home. She got Latin coloring and a Latin name from her Latin father, but Dolores Conchita Figueroa del Rivero was raised in a Washington, D.C., by her white mother. Deal with it.

Puerto Rico is Numbere ONE!!

R536 Nah. You're just an imbecile. Being raised in Puerto Rico has nothing to with it. Latin coloring? You are stupid beyond belief. Deal with it.

These theater threads really, really suck of late.

DL has taken a nosedive in general. It happened around the time that people had to register to post.

R536 Just to play devil's advocate, Halle Berry had an absentee black father and was raised by her white mother yet she has always identified as black (or African-American) and is often recognized as the first black actress to win the leading Oscar. Same with Obama.

Can we please stop talking about Chita Rivera?

Let's discuss her nemesis Rita "EGOT Winner" Moreno.

R541 Reply 536 is an old bitter racist theatre queen who loves Nathan Lane. You can't talk any sense into him. haha.

Moreno is a terrible musical theatre performer.

Rita Moreno! Now SHE is probably a real Puerto Rican. On the plus side, she was born there. On the other hand, she left when she was five. After that, she was raised in NYC and Long Island. Maybe she was not in Puerto Rico long enough to be able to move naturally like a Puerto Rican, the way R533 wants.

Maybe we have to go back to having auditions and casting the best people for the role.

And why on earth would that be controversial?

[quote]Maybe we have to go back to having auditions and casting the best people for the role.

I agree to a degree. But you also have to consider suitability. For instance, casting a black Tony and Riff in WSS is absurd! Colorblind casting doesn't work for every show. It's this black-and-white mentality from the far-left who think that one size fits all.

But hasn't WSS entered... I won't say museum piece territory, but... it's not all that different to the twins in "The Comedy of Errors." Most of the audience knows to suspend disbelief and if they don't, they pick it up quickly.

Live-captured at the Richard Rodgers in June 2016 with the OBC. To be released in October 2021. (Yes, 20[bold]21[/bold])

FilmED version. Not Film Version.

R547 The audience is already suspending disbelief, considering there are warring gangs singing and dancing. What you are asking then is for them to suspend ALL disbelief, which is insane! There should be some realism to WSS. Unlike, say, with R&G's CINDERELLA, which takes place in a magical fairyland, so anything goes.

As someone relatively young, the jazzy "street" language of WSS already makes it not remotely realistic.

Was you head turned around when Harold Perrineau played Leo DiCaprio's close fiend in the Baz Luhrmann "Romeo & Juliet"? I seem to recall Perrineau dressed in drag for the costume party. Was that also a step too far?

[quote] What a wild coincidence that the only example of someone who didn't deserve a Tony is an African American woman

I didn't realize Andrew Garfield was an African American woman

[quote] Of course the Tony winner for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play would be one of the worst performances in the theater you've seen. Typical Datalounge Theater Queen. Yawn.

Yes, because only good performances ever win awards. No terrible performance has ever won a major acting award. Typical contrary post by a stupid Datalounger. Yawn.

I think musical theater performances can be held to a different standard of ability than straight out "acting" performances. Heather Hedley sang the role of AIDA beautifully and easily deserved that Tony. Some could argue (add me among them) that Ben Platt did not deserve the Tony because his acting performance in DEH was so terrible and amateurish that it canceled everything else out. But he did sing the role astoundingly well. Jennifer Holiday, who was devastating as Effie, has basically proven she's not an actress, but boy did she deserve that Tony.

Even smaller featured performances- Betty Buckley did nothing but come out and sing Memory and she got a deserved Tony for it. There are other performances that were dance or singing only that have won, where little to no acting figured into the equation. Musical theater is its own animal.

And yes, then you have Audra McDonald, who has at least 3-4 undeserved Tonys. (Which has nothing to do with what I just said, but it needed repeating.)

Bajour!

R541 -- You are confusing race with ethnicity. They are very different.

[quote] You are confusing race with ethnicity.

Like the scores of other DL posters who think that "Latino" is a "race."

I wonder was playing King George III when that Hamilton performance was filmed. Was Jonathan Groff still in it then? (And I didn't know Groff has already left Little Shop and been replaced by Gideon Glick. The NYTimes can be very informative.)

Marin Mazzie deserved the Tony for "Kiss Me, Kate", or Toni Collette for the "Wild Party" over Heather Headley, whose singing and look were very stylish, but weren't as good as the first two's overall performances.

R545 Oh my gosh. You are so old you can't even comprehend basic common sense anymore. Or could you ever? Being Puerto Rican is in your blood you dumb old geezer. You don't have to be raised there. Shouldn't you be out celebrating Nathan Lane's birthday anyway? Instead of spreading your mischief and rubbish.

R558 Yes it's Groff. The article claims it "was live-captured in 2016 when the company that helped build the show remained intact" - I'm sure this will come as interesting news to Brian d'Arcy James

So why 18 months to release a four year old recording?

Yeah why are they being shady towards Brian d'Arcy? I saw it with him and thought he was the best thing about it.

FOLLIES-adjacent!

R563 Maybe he wouldn't share a dressing room with LMM

[quote]Being Puerto Rican is in your blood you dumb old geezer. You don't have to be raised there.

So now Puerto Rican is its own race. Whatever. Go ahead and ignore the history of how all those people came to be living in Puerto Rico and how their ancestors got there. At least they all naturally know how to move, according to you.

You are as ignorant as you are racist. Theater is beyond your understanding. But at least you always take the bait.

[quote]Being Puerto Rican is in your blood you dumb old geezer. You don't have to be raised there.

So now Puerto Rican is its own race. Whatever. Go ahead and ignore the history of how all those people came to be living in Puerto Rico and how their ancestors got there. At least they all naturally know how to move, according to you.

You are as ignorant as you are racist. Theater is beyond your understanding. But at least you always take the bait.

Colorblind casting for WSS is hilarious, but anybody that cares is stupid. Broadway is now nothing more than a replacement for the Ringling Brothers, a way to entertain fat midwestern tourists. Broadway is a joke and anybody that still takes it seriously as an art form is also a joke. Theatre being art flew out the door sometime around Suessical.

[quote]I didn't realize Andrew Garfield was an African American woman

He is. Only without the physical act.

I'm sure they're sitting on the Hamilton recording to make sure the show itself keeps making a little more money. It's like the Wicked movie taking forever to get greenlit. Once the filmed versions of the these shows come out, they think less people will go see the show itself, settling for staying home or going to the movie theater instead.

Wasn't the film version of Hello, Dolly shot a few years before it was actually released because the producers of the Broadway show wanted to make sure the film wouldn't compete with the show?

Can we take a deep cleansing breath, and try to all get along for the rest of the thread?

C'mon kids!

Makes sense. They’ve got five touring companies criss-crossing the nation.

"Broadway is now nothing more than a replacement for the Ringling Brothers, a way to entertain fat midwestern tourists. "

And yet, the vast majority of posters who have seen and debate the shows are New Yorkers.

[quote] And Theory? How are we to proceed without Theory?

M was somewhat dreadful as the World's Oldest Living Bolshevik. But every time I see the opening monologue from Perestroika performed live, I cry buckets.

I'm not sure why.

R570, the movie of "Hello, Dolly!" was cursed in several ways. First, before they could sell the movie rights Jerry Herman was pressured to settle a lawsuit that he stole the melody of the title song from a country & western song called "Sunflower." Herman wanted to fight the lawsuit, but they were worried that it would delay selling the movie rights. Then producer David Merrick got a clause with the movie studio that they couldn't open the movie until the Broadway production closed. No one ever guessed that Merrick would keep the Broadway production running for so many years by bringing in a winning assortment of replacements for Carol Channing, including Pearl Bailey, Ethel Merman and Phyllis Diller (who was supposedly very good). Then the movie was triple-fucked by spending a fortune to make it a mega-event-movie, hiring the WAY too young Streisand to play Dolly and hiring Michael Crawford, who played Cornelius like a retarded Jerry Lewis.

R566 R567 haha. Well, apparently EVERYTHING is beyond your understanding imp. You just keep making up stuff to ease your racist mind and to fit your puerile narrative. haha. Pathetic. I never said it was it's own race. I believe only in one race. The HUMAN RACE. Stop projecting your nonsense. It's a good thing you'll be dead soon. You won't be missed. Trust me. Take that bait geezer.

Here's the "Sunflower" song. Jerry Herman definitely should have fought the lawsuit.

[quote] then you have Audra McDonald, who has at least 3-4 undeserved Tonys

Which Tonys didn't she deserve and who should have gotten them instead? I need a good laugh

I saw Hello, Dolly again when they re-released it last year as one of those Fathom Event things and I was surprised by how much better it was than I'd remembered. I think they should have kept it more intimate. The only big group number that makes sense and doesn't feel overstuffed is Before the Parade Passes By. Taking a number like "Dancing" and suddenly bringing in tons of couples to join them makes it go on for far too long.

Streisand is wonderful in the dinner scene after the title number and her "So Long Dearie" is easily the funniest, best sung, and most exciting version I've heard, but she suffers elsewhere. She's simply too young to have the pathos required for the role and it takes her a long time to warm up to the role. She's much better in the 2nd half of the film than the first which makes me wonder if it was all shot in sequence.

The less said about Crawford, the better. He's grotesque.

But all in all, it could have been a lot worse and it's still fairly enjoyable.

I don't understand why everyone here is complaining about racial casting in this production of West Side Story. There's a wide mix of blacks, whites and Latinos in this particular cast, including within the Sharks and Jets and their girlfriends. It's not Puerto Ricans vs. whites like in every other production.

R580 So they changed the lyrics and the book then?

R581, no they just ignore the fact that each gang has a mix of races. Personally, that aspect of the production didn't bother me. The mediocre singing and dancing talents of some of the cast (especially the really mediocre Anita), along with the inferior choreography and the director's usual overuse of video were the things I disliked.

I know a boat you can get on. Bye bye. And you can punctuate it!

Walter Winchell said he used to get so many items from Monique Van Vooren's press agent that he had to make a new word to describe it.....pufflicity.

The days of movies adaptations siphoning business from the original stage shows is long gone. The movies of CHICAGO and PHANTOM actually helped.

Disney paid $75 million for the Hamilton recording....they must have gotten the movie adaptation rights for that much too, surely?

I have not seen WSS in years, so don't know how important racial identity is to the two gangs in the book. Did it matter to me that one was one "white," and the other Puerto Rican? Not in the slightest. Gang membership is not always contingent on race or ethnicity. Look at the bloods and crips; they are both heavily black, and they are both gangs at war with each other. Does it matter if the new WSS has mixed-race gangs? It doesn't to me. A gang is defending its dominance or turf, and the requirements of membership are not important.

The reason why race matters is that the original story was not just about a gang war. It was also about racism. The Jets hate the Sharks because the Sharks are Puerto Rican immigrants, not just because they're another gang. When it's no longer an all white gang vs the all Puerto Rican gang the commentary on racism towards immigrants from born-and-bred New Yorkers is lost. They might as well remove the America number, it's pointless now.

So born and bred New Yorkers are always white?

R589, don't antagonize them with logic and obvious good sense!

Shakespeare might beg to differ with that "original story" comment.

Whereas you would lose the commentary on race, dropping the immigrant vs native angle would allow a greater emphasis on just how arbitrary gangs are; when you have to make a commitment to this large group not because of culture or race or something like that, but instead, just based on what street you live on.

You're failing to realize that West Side Story isn't just an updated version of Romeo and Juliet. It's more than that, it tells more of a story than just two lovers torn apart by their families. But if you want all works of musical theatre to be dumbed down and simplified until no musicals are written because the creators had something important and new to say, then by all means, don't allow me to stand in the way.

R592 has stated his limits

Wasn't it originally going to be about Jews vs. some other group?

West Side Story isn't just Romeo and Juliet set to music, but clearly some of you are too stupid to realize that.

R589 Dumb. R590 You are just too ignorant to live. It's such a good thing you will be dead soon. Good riddance. R588 R592 EXACTLY. But there is no point trying cure their foolishness. They are brain dead and OLD.

R594 Yes, Jews and Catholics, and to be called East Side Story

Here's to the ladies who lunch.

FOLLIES!!!

One midnight gone.

No, r589. But I suspect that you are always this dimwitted.