THEATRE GOSSIP #383: THE SHOW WILL NOT GO ON.

Is thing on?

If it took a world wide contagion to spare us Audra's Blanche Dubois, then that's just what it takes.

Due to the Coronavirus, I bring you Nick Jonas.

Have we not suffered enough R3?

We have two #383 threads. Which one are we going to use?

Happier times.

Olivier Awards Cancelled per Playbill.

R5 The other thread is the one.

[quote]We have two #383 threads. Which one are we going to use?

Use them both. One will be the Jets and one will be the Sharks.

At least we all have a lot of time to juggle two threads.

Do you Queens like Opera?

Agrippina

Save this one and use it when the other fills up.

Like in a few minutes?

Test.

Who was the last Broadway star who went from stage to film success? Cynthia Erivo?

Other thread is officially DONE, kids.

Sage advice from 93-year-old John Kander, posted via his grand-nephew Jason.

I have a question: If this situation was to linger for months and Broadway was to be shut down that entire time, by the time everyone could go back to work (let's say in the late summer/early fall), would the shows still need a little longer to prepare before they could reopen? You would think that the actors would need to go back into rehearsal, re-learn their lines, blocking, musical numbers, etc. I mean sitting out for so long, surely many of them have forgotten all that. How long would they need to get back up to 100%?

R18 It's got to especially screw with the Frozen cast, as they just recently rehearsed and had a "reopening" to put in the changes from the tour. Given they only performed that for a few weeks or so before the shutdown, you've got to think a lot of them will revert back to default.

I also wonder if someone is going in and maintaining all the stage equipment. If not, that could present a whole range of issues.

Knowing how poor Shubert and Nederlander seem to be as landlords they probably don't even have anyone running the faucets during this time, and there'll be a legionella outbreak once everyone goes back.

I want Idina Menzel and Matthew Morrison to put on a Zoom production of Seesaw from their basements. With Patti in the Tommy Tune role.

Apropos of nothing, I'm watching Dr. Fauci on my monitor while switching between CSI/Miami and the Flintstones on TV. Wilma and Betty are in an exclusive dress store. Betty expresses her fondness for "the Jackie Kennerock look". They run into a rich biddy they went to school with and they score two tickets to a ritzy Ambassador's reception.

Plaza Suite will NEVER open on Broadway.

R21 Why haven't we had "Flintstones - the Musical!"

Laughter on the 23rd Floor.

Ann Reinking and Gwen Verdon playing Naomi and Mama in the musical version of "Mama's Family."

The Seagull - 1975 - Broadway.

Jeff Marx (Ave Q co-creator) was working on The Flintstones musical for a few years but I think it’s dead now.

The Road to Broadway.

The Road to Broadway.

Well, kids, Trump has extended the pandemic rules through the end of April. So Broadway won't open until at least mid-May.

Bloody double posts, sorry.

NOTHING is opening in May or June.

Waitress not reopening in London.

[quote] So Broadway won't open until at least mid-May.

I doubt anything will open then. With all the Broadway types who have gotten the virus, I’m sure no one will want to be in a theatre with a 1000 other people.

Someone on the other thread asked if the Ethel Merman bootleg of Gypsy was recorded in L.A. because the keys weren't like the cast album. Merman did sing the original keys on Broadway for a while until she messed up one of her vocal chords and they changed the keys for her. Whether that recording is from the final night on Broadway or from the L.A. tour, she'd be singing in those updated keys.

[quote]Merman did sing the original keys on Broadway for a while until she messed up one of her vocal chords

Where does one begin to dissect that sentence...?

Manon de Sauces.

Manon de Sauces.

Presumably you are attempting to make a homophonic pun between the MANON (the opera) and MANON DES SOURCES (a movie by Marcel Pagnol, later remade into MANON OF THE SPRINGS by Claude Berri). There is no connection between the two.

Waitress in London only had a few weeks left, anyway. I wonder if the West End revival of City of Angels with Vanessa Williams will ever re-open.

[quote]Someone on the other thread asked if the Ethel Merman bootleg of Gypsy was recorded in L.A. because the keys weren't like the cast album. Merman did sing the original keys on Broadway for a while until she messed up one of her vocal chords and they changed the keys for her. Whether that recording is from the final night on Broadway or from the L.A. tour, she'd be singing in those updated keys.

I thought it was well established that the recording in question was of Merman's final performance on Broadway, but maybe I misunderstood and it's of her final performance on tour? Is there some question about this?

Speaking of boots, I'm listening to the one of Streisand's last performance in FUNNY GIRL, and the singing of the songs is great overall, her delivery of the dialogue -- at least what I've heard so far -- is terrible because it's so ridiculously fast. What was that all about? Did she just want to get to the songs, for some reason? Perversely, she has always said she thought of herself as primarily an actress....

[quote] Someone on the other thread asked if the Ethel Merman bootleg of Gypsy was recorded in L.A. because the keys weren't like the cast album. Merman did sing the original keys on Broadway for a while until she messed up one of her vocal chords and they changed the keys for her.

That’s actually not what was asked. Merman had the lower keys from the start. Once the show was open, she went to the lower keys, except on the album. Then, whenever there was someone important in the house, or she felt like it, she asked for the higher keys. There’s not a great deal of difference to listeners between the keys, perhaps slightly more dynamic higher, but Merman, 51 - 53 during the run at this point, was more comfortable singing the show in the lower keys. I’ve never heard anything about her doing this with any of her other shows, so it’s probably just how her voice aged.

In that picture of Ann Reinking and Gwen Verdon - is Reinking’s wig grey? Why on earth would they give her a grey wig for Roxie? In the b&w pics from her run, it looked blonde.

R40 Indeed, I was being absurd. Kisses.

The audio bootleg of Merman in Hello, Dolly! is also her and the show's final performance.

[quote] Jeff Marx (Ave Q co-creator) was working on The Flintstones musical for a few years but I think it’s dead now.

So is his career.

R48 Does he hate his old partner?

Mr NT, do you have a copy of The Audience?

Thank you so much for what you've posted.

R45, probably just a bad photo.

R44, then are you saying the oft-repeated story about Merman having some kind of problem with her vocal cords early in the run of GYPSY is not true, and she started singing the songs in lower keys just because her voice was aging or just because she felt like it?

I know of recordings of two separate live performances of Merman in DOLLY! that have been widely circulated. One is in very good stereo sound, but on that one Merm seems really disengaged in the dialogue. The other recording, of the final performance, is in mono with poor sound quality (a lot of hiss), but she seems more engaged -- presumably because it was the final performance of the show, and of her Broadway career.

R52 is right about Merman’s “Dolly,” there are two live recordings. On one, in the section where various Dollys have done various adlibs, she manages to come up with a “hi” to the guys, but she’s silent on the other one. “Spontaneity” wasn’t really Ethel’s forte.

r53

you mean call me ms. Bird's eye because I'm frozen couldn't come up with something off the cuff?? Surely you jest

[quote]then are you saying the oft-repeated story about Merman having some kind of problem with her vocal cords early in the run of GYPSY is not true

Gypsy opened in May 1959. In August, Ethel burst a blood vessel in her throat and had to take a week off. That's when they lowered the keys.

The GYPSY bootleg I have is marked 3-25-61, which was indeed its final Broadway performance. But whoever sold it to me could have written anything he wanted on the jewel case.

Does anyone know if it was ever considered that they could recast Rose on Broadway with another star, a la Dolly after Merman left? Or had the show just run its course?

I think they felt the show was running its course. In 1960, they changed theaters from the Broadway to the Imperial, which had fewer seats.

I also think that generally people thought that Merman owned the role and nobody was going to try and match her on it. Even when the Lansbury revival came around 13 years later, Lansbury said that when Ethel Merman came to see it, she said to Ethel, "It will always be your role." And really, Everything's Coming Up Roses became one of Merman's signature songs.

Are these Gypsy or Dolly boots online?

Lansbury in 2014 to the Los Angeles Times . . .

Lansbury had not seen Merman in the role, but she said her recording of “Gypsy” was often heard in her house. “I’ve still got it in the cabinet,” she said. “She was it, even though she really couldn’t act her way out of a paper bag. But boy, could she sing. It was the exhilaration in the voice that thrilled any musical lover. Nobody could imitate her. I had to forget my adoration of her. I gave her credit for giving me the excitement of approaching it in my own way, because I knew I couldn’t beat her at her own game.”

I guess The Inheritance closed at the right time!

Bring back Slave Play!

[quote] “She was it, even though she really couldn’t act her way out of a paper bag."

Angie waited until Merman was long gone before she made that comment. When she won the Tony in 1975 she graciously thanked Merman in her acceptance speech and was quoted as having said that Merman had deserved to win in 1960.

If Angie never saw Merman in Gypsy,, how did she know that she couldn’t act her way out of a paper bag in the role? I assume she heard that from Laurents or Sondheim. Although it sounds more like a comment that Laurents made many times over the years.

Merman made the famous comment about Lansbury. People magazine asked her if she'd follow her with a return to Broadway to which she replied she wouldn't follow Angela with anything but a shovel.

R50 Sure.

The Audience - Act One.

R50 The Audience - Act Two.

R50 The Audience - Act Two.

For absolutely no reason...

I saw a video yesterday of Chad Kimball talking about his recovery, but why has nothing been heard from Gavin?

The National Theatre has sent emails to ticket holders that all performances up to June 30th are cancelled so there you go,

Those "Audience" links don't work. Help! I would love to see that. Is it a UK/America thing?

R71 Turn off link previews

I posted this on on the saddest songs from musicals thread. It was one of SNL's finest musical moments.

[quote]Why haven't we had "Flintstones - the Musical!"

Paper Mill did the inspiration "The Honeymooners" never to be seen again.

R64 is lying about that comment. That question was never asked, & Merman never answered it like that.

[quote] In August, Ethel burst a blood vessel in her throat and had to take a week off

So what happened? Did the show close for a week, or did someone else go on?

[quote] So what happened? Did the show close for a week, or did someone else go on?

I think her understudy went on. They did close the show for a couple of performances when Ethel went to sing at the Kennedy Innauguration.

Was her understudy Benay Venuta?

R74, Did that Paper Mill production of The Sting starring Harry Connick, Jr. disappear?

[quote]Why haven't we had "Flintstones - the Musical!"

Because the musicals based on "I Love Lucy" "Hazel" "The Honeymooners" and "Tales of the City" never got any traction. TV shows just don't seem to make good musicals.

When was there an "I Love Lucy" musical?

Jane Romano was listed as Merman's standby for a good part of the Broadway run, then Betty Bruce is listed.

I can't believe they would have tried to run the show for a week with "Jane Romano" playing the part, especially so soon after the opening.

What will happen to Hamilton?

[quote]Because the musicals based on "I Love Lucy" "Hazel" "The Honeymooners" and "Tales of the City" never got any traction. TV shows just don't seem to make good musicals.

We could change that!

I don't know, R84, but, right now, I would not want to be in the room where it happens.

@ I meant R83!

[quote]When was there an "I Love Lucy" musical?

I don't think it was an actual musical in the sense that the songs were part of the story. They recreated tv episodes and I think the musical part was when Ricky sang in the club and when they recreated tv commercials in between scenes.

r87 I saw that show in LA.

Haha. Right! Now it doesn't even matter. So, is this like hitting the reset button on Broadway? The whole quarantine killed the complete run of THE MINUTES.

Fuck you R75. Whether or not you believe it, it's a well known theater story. I'd say it's a bit more believable than Carol Channing and corn.

"Gypsy (1974 - 124 performances) returned in a powerhouse revival imported from London. It brought Angela Lansbury her third Tony for Best Actress in a Musical and proved the show could succeed without original star Ethel Merman. Merman was not amused (who reputedly quipped, "The only thing I'd follow her with is a shovel!"), but audiences were thrilled, keeping Lansbury touring the road for years."

R89 is for R60 about Inheritance. Just smoked a joint. Haha. Anybody watch that free week of BroadwayHD? I don't know why they just don't film all Broadway shows like that and then post them on BroadwayHD when they close. Some of the profits go to Broadway League or something? What is so hard about that? I watched MISS SAIGON and all the ones coming out of London i.e. Kinky Boots, 42nd Street, The King And I. You practically don't need a film version. Told my parents to watch and they loved it.

Yes, that's such a reliable source, r90. A post on a website using ancient fonts says that "Merman who reputedly quipped, "The only thing I'd follow her with is a shovel!" There's no proof at all. There *is* proof that Merman went to the show and went backstage to talk with Lansbury. Your anecdote was made up by some queen and passed around and made it into print on a sketchy website, and you act like it's the word of God. It's not more believable than Channing and the corn, it's the same kind of fairytale.

Now I’m concerned that the “Call me Miss Birdseye” comment isn’t real.

You know, sometimes the show DOES go on.

Yeah I follow a few Broadway performers and they are going through withdrawal BAD man. Haha..

They need to migrate their talents over to Chaturbate. Or OnlyFans.

Actors need attention 24/7. I can't imagine being stuck with one in quarantine for a month or more.

From her autobiography MERMAN, regarding her absence from the show do to the throat injury:

"My understudy [sic], Jane Romano, went on for me and did a god job. [Press agent] Bill Fields alerted some of the press, who gave her the Cinderella treatment, But someone forgot to explain to her that without Bill's drum beating none of those feature writers and columnists would've been in the audience to witness her performance. She read the notices and instead of being grateful she demanded an increase in her salary. The management refused to grant it and Jane left the show. I was sorry to see her go, but I still expected that she would eventually make a hit, Unhappily, not long after she developed leukemia and passed on while still quite young."

[quote] From her autobiography MERMAN, regarding her absence from the show do to the throat injury:

I was so meticulous about getting the quote right, I overlooked my own typo. Obviously this should read "..due to the throat injury'

Tessie Tura/Betty Bruce, r82?

[quote] Anybody watch that free week of BroadwayHD? I don't know why they just don't film all Broadway shows like that and then post them on BroadwayHD when they close.

Every time someone suggests it the answer is always the unions want too much. Who knows? Worked OK for Hamilton.

[quote]Worked OK for Hamilton.

Huh? Disney reportedly paid $75 million for rights to show [bold]Hamilton[/bold].

Back in the 1990s, there was a segment of pay-per-view that tried to do Broadway. They broadcast "Smokey Joe's Cafe" and maybe one or two others. It wasn't profitable, so they dropped the idea.

Who remembers the filmed (regional?) productions that HBO would air in the 1980s? I saw WAIT UNTIL DARK with Katherine Ross and Stacy Keach about fifty times one summer.

Couldn’t find any pics of Jane Romano. Her NYT obit says she died at 33 in mid-1962. That means she was 30 when she filled in for Merman.

[quote]That means she was 30 when she filled in for Merman.

I was 25 when I understudied Merman in "Call Me Madam."

[quote] I was 25 when I understudied Merman in "Call Me Madam." --Stritchie

I was 15 when I played Desiree in A Little Night Music.

[quote]If Angie never saw Merman in Gypsy,, how did she know that she couldn’t act her way out of a paper bag in the role?

I had the same thought, but maybe Lansbury meant she felt that Merman couldn't act based on Lansbury having seen her in other things. She didn't actually say she saw her in the role, you added those words.

Regardless, I'm still surprised Lansbury said that.

What does Broadway closing for that long do to any Tony races? For one thing, we know that Laurie Metcalf won’t be getting a fourth nod in a row now.

*Make that fifth nod in a row.

Broadway will not open until September, at the earliest.

Holy smokes. I just watched about 20 minutes of the video of Neil Simon's Laughter on the 23rd Floor, and I can not believe how awful it was. There was no one laugh to be had, and even Nathan Lane, who is usually at least wort watching, was horrible, and his character was inconsistent. Why did anyone think that was worth preserving on film? Yikes!

Maybe the Tonys will just be canceled this year.

Thanks so much, Mr NT!

Nathan Lane is either very good or very bad. He's never mediocre.

Samuel Beckett Documentary.

Lansbury must have on the frumpiest dress in awards show history in the R62 photo!

[quote] Jane Romano was listed as Merman's standby for a good part of the Broadway run

Jane was a great star! And she could tap!

R97 A nightmare. R104 I remember this Showtime on Broadway airing of PICNIC with Jennifer Jason Leigh, Gregory Harrison, and Rue McClanahan.

R117, That was a Theatre Hall of Fame reception held in March of 1982. Princess Grace, at Ethel's left, would be dead six months later.

Pearl Bailey in The Member of the Wedding was quite good. And had a pre-European Vacation Dana Hill. It was broadcast on NBC in 1982. I think this was a tour show and it was filmed in Nashville at Tennessee Performing Arts Center.

When the theaters reopen, will the patrons have enough money to afford the outrageously priced tickets, or will the shows have to radically discount in order to get people back? If so, how can they survive?

R122, Will audiences feel comfortable sitting elbow to elbow in an enclosed area with 1,000+ other people for two hours, many of whom may have had the virus?

Will Mr. and Mrs. Ohio want to bring their children to NYC after what it's endured?

Dr. Fauci has repeatedky said that the Coronavirus will most likely return in the fall. If Broadway does open at any time during the summer, will the tourists come?

[quote]Huh? Disney reportedly paid $75 million for rights to show Hamilton.

Yeah they videotaped it and got $75 million, I'd say that worked out OK.

r112 the stage production was much better, not a masterpiece but some good laughs and performances. They really killed it for that film production

Those are all very good questions, R123.

I think Broadway will come back to life and fully but it may be a crawl at first. People will need time before they feel comfortable being that close to strangers again and I could see a lot of shows playing to half-empty houses for quite a while. It may only be AFTER a successful vaccine/treatment is found for COVID-19 that people will relax enough to go back to the theater.

Geffen Playhouse has created "Geffen Stayhouse" to stream some of its past productions.

Watch theatre on TV SUCKS

There are plenty of posters here who are willing to say Merman couldn't act—without having seen her.

I too doubt Lansbury put it that way. She has always been unfailingly polite.

I saw Merman as Rose and Dolly. She could act. Not with the depth and range of our great stage actors perhaps bot that was rarely required with her roles. She did not walk through the performances I saw.

Merman herself admited that she could be onstage performing and compiling a grocery list in her head. So obviously at some performances, she was on automatic pilot.

I don't doubt she wasn't firing on all cylinders at every performance. She played some roles for a couple of years. It's difficult to stay present and in-the-moment all the time. Some people are better at it than others.

Jesus, ENOUGH with Merman. Which current Broadway chorus boys are locked in their apartments and looking for Grindr love?

All of them r133.

More importantly -- which ones will be peddling their wares on Chaturbate or OnlyFans? A girl's gotta eat!

Will DIANA throw in the towel and not open?

Has Telly Leung finally dumped that nebbish hubby of his and opened his gaping hole for business again? I’d risk infection for a crack at that crack.

[quote] Some people are better at it than others.

I saw what you did there, r132

R119, I've seen that PICNIC and it's very good, including Harrison's performance. One oddity of it is the casting of the role of Bomber. He has a couple of scenes in the play, and he's supposed to be a young, punk kid, but in this version he's played by a REALLY hunky, muscular guy who looks like he could just as well have been cast as Hal. I guess maybe he was a friend of the producer, or the director, or.....

If we're being honest, I haven't met an actor yet who hasn't phoned in at least a few performances. It doesn't help if the audience isn't really feeling the show, either. You almost have to phone it in just to get through it. It's especially awful in a musical or comedy where the laughs and ovations pretty much guide where the evening goes. Doing a drama is different. You don't really expect much from the audience there, but doing a comedy is weird when, the night before, a certain scene got huge laughs and, tonight, it gets none. It throws you out of whack.

Someone asked for this, ages ago.

Leonard Soloway documentary.

Taboo.

r141 Are there any bootlegs of NBS? Did anyone who appeared go on to greater fame?

While the Lansbury Gypsy was a personal acting triumph, it seems that the actual production was a flop with less than 200 performances

Thanks for that Taboo link. I had just watched the previously-linked Road to Broadway documentary, and Taboo is the only show I am not familiar with, so I look forward to seeing it.

R145, the show did an extensive tour before it got to Broadway and toured extensively after it left. It was always said to be a limited run but they extended it and knocked "The Wiz" out when they were supposed to open at the Winter Garden.

My friend just sent this to me...

This is how I'm spending my time...

WEHT the Marian Seldes documentary? The Ann Sothern documentary?

Those HBO and Showtime Broadway shows R104 were pretty consistently well done.

PLAZA SUITE with Jerry Orbach and Lee Remick

BUS STOP with Margot Kidder

THE RAINMAKER with Tommy Lee Jones

BAREFOOT IN THE PARK with Richard Thomas and Bess Armstrong

VANITIES with Shelley Hack was part of HBO's Standing Room Only

PICNIC and WAIT UNTIL DARK, as mentioned

The HBO "Plaza Suite" has Lee Grant, not Lee Remick. Grant had done the national tour.

And here's a site of interest.

[quote]Will DIANA throw in the towel and not open?

Hopefully. The interpolation of Tunnel of Love into the final scene was disgusting.

^Ha!

Q: How many straight chorus boys does it take to change a lightbulb?

A: Both of them...!

Lucille Lortel Awards to be held online:

Something I learned over the weekend...

Does anyone know which version of Taboo that is? Is it the West End production? Broadway? The London revival? Thank you.

London original I think.

Is there a full video of Urie's Buyer & Cellar?

I loved Taboo on Broadway. I’m a big Culture Club fan and had read Boy George’s autobiography so the music and period really spoke to me. I thought the lead was great, liked the music, the coming out theme and overall found it to be very entertaining.

It would have run for years off Broadway.

Yes. I took it off my hard drive.

There is a decent bootleg out there, R159, but I don't know if anyone has posted it online. I thought it was adorable.

I had Buyer and Cellar on my Dvr for the longest time, I finally watched it last week, and I was so disappointed in how drab it all was. I couldn't even watch it all the way to the end

[quote]r150 VANITIES with Shelley Hack was part of HBO's Standing Room Only

I WAS IN IT, TOO!

#asswipe

Wow wow wow. Taboo really is a piece of shit, isn't it? How did they expect that to ever survive on Broadway. I'm somewhat fascinated by Leigh Bowery, and wonder if he was, indeed, the hateful person portrayed in the musical. And the story is just idiotic. A high school drama student could have written something more interesting during first period recess. I can see how it MIGHT have worked in a small immersion theater with WAY over the top outfits -- it could have been this generation's Rocky Horror -- but dear God what was anything thinking mounting that piece of crap?

Thanks, R150 - I'd forgotten about BUS STOP with Margot Kidder - if I recall, she was ok. I was only in high school, so I'm not sure I trust my own opinion. Tim Matheson was dreamy.

You have to see this insane production of "Hairspray" on a cruise ship. The sets never stop moving, there's flying just crazy.

More hairspray clips here

Loved Broadway "Taboo", Charles Bush re-wrote the London version but it worked for me and saw it three times. Loved the score.

Pronounced cock lump on that mailman in the opening number of Hairspray. Guess he was advertising for after the show.

R167 that "Symphony of the Seas Hairspray" was pretty good! I've seen cruise shows before and this one is way better than most. And those sets that keep moving - well it's pretty amazing for a cruise ship. And the energy and the number of performers. Those actors earned their money.

And, no, I'm not a shill for the cruise line...

Is that a real woman playing Edna in the cruise ship Hairspray?

I may be late to the game here but MERRI SUGARMAN is now a casting director? I've been out of business for awhile but this woman was a no-talent chorine. Please tell me this woman isn't now judging other actors. My jaw is on the floor.

[quote] I've been out of business for awhile but this woman was a no-talent chorine

I think that's one of the requirements for being a casting director.

She’s a MAJOR casting director

Who was Merri Sugarman before? That's how I feel about casting director Benton Whitley. He was a fucking cater waiter who started dating Duncan Stewart who then turned him into a casting director.

Buyer and Cellar was pretty terrific in its early stages, but the longer Urie played it, the more mannered he became.

I'd love to finally see Buyer & Cellar which I was never able to access through my local PBS.

Can anyone post Miss Saigon, too?

I loved TABOO on Bway. The first time I saw it, Boy George was out and his understudy was playing. Enjoyed it alot.

I went back again when Boy George was in it, and, he had tons of of star power!

I saw Buyer and Cellar live. It didn't live up to the hype at all.

[quote]R176 Who was Merri Sugarman before?

She was a singer who graduated from Emerson College in the mid 80s. She did one of the “Les Miz” tours, and probably a lot of smaller NY theater stuff that doesn’t turn up in online archives (like the Lucille Lortel Off Broadway database.) She was definitely talented, but was also in the oceans of performers who flood through New York and Hollywood each year, getting some work but never becoming notable.

This is a podcast featuring her I just found; will listen to it later.

Any body have the Sothern Lady in the Dark or the Blair One Touch of Venus?

I was in a show with Merri at Emerson. I really liked her.

MERRILY WE ROLE ALONG? CANDIDE? WEST SIDE STORY?

before those

Mmmmmmm..... there WAS no “before” Merri was Mary in MWRA! That is when history BEGAN!!

(Honestly, I heard she was very good in that.)

The Hard Problem.

Kiri on Leonard.

A View From The Bridge.

Again, to whoever is posting those theater links: I don't know if it is one person or many, but THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU. I am speaking for many of us when I say that they are greatly appreciated.

Merri Sugarman is an excellent casting director, as it happens, and one of the nicest and most compassionate too. You never hear a bad word about her taste or how she treats people in the room.

The Sothern Lady in the Dark and the Blair One Touch of Venus are both restored and remastered in solid video presentations on VAI DVDs, some of the others in the series (Kiss Me Kate and Bloomer Girl) have even made their way to Amazon Prime.

Meredith we remembered that you were in Vanities. Back when your name was Meredith Baxter Birney and not Meredith Baxter Lesbian. The DL remembers, and has read your memoir too.

R190 Good.

I think Tuesday Weld’s first acting job was understudying for “The Dark at the Top of the Stairs” when she was a young teen model. Did she ever do stage work again... or come close to it?

Here’s some rare (TV) footage, since there’s no stage record of her:

I saw "Buyer and Cellar" live at the Barrow Street Theater which is now Greenwich House. I thought the play and Michael Urie were great fun and I was really shocked that Urie could remember all the words in what was basically a 95 minute monologue. When the filming was shown on PBS it was unwatchable. Urie, who was so spontaneous, natural and charming on the stage, came off forced, mannered and slick and the play seemed very surface and artificial. It was really disappointing since Urie is an experienced television actor. So I have no idea why he came off so exaggerated and unnatural in the television taping. It was like night and day.

[quote] Urie, who was so spontaneous, natural and charming on the stage, came off forced, mannered and slick

Some people just don’t know how to tone it down for the camera.

R193, I had no idea there were screen tests for "The Legend of Lylah Clare"! I just assumed Kim Novak was offered it from the start.

[quote]I was really shocked that Urie could remember all the words in what was basically a 95 minute monologue

He was hardly the first actor to memorize, and perform memorably, an entire one-person play, you know.

[quote]R196 I had no idea there were screen tests for "The Legend of Lylah Clare"! I just assumed Kim Novak was offered it from the start.

It was done as a TV movie of the week first with Weld, in 1963. The movie version was made about 5 years later.

Good lord, I would pay cash money to see Julie Harris in The Belle of Amherst (on video) about now.

Brian Stokes Mitchell is poz.

That's just what I wrote earlier, r194. I think part of the problem was that he had preformed it hundreds of times and just got bored with it in time. I know the writer was peeved by the deterioration of his performance.

R199

The Belle of Amherst - Act One.

R199 The Belle of Amherst - Act two.

How bored am I?

Last evening, I watched Dolly! boots with Bette, Donna and Bernadette.

[quote]Brian Stokes Mitchell is poz.

Who?

This is Brian Stokes Mitchell, Motherfucker. Now shut up and listen.

..I don't know him.

R186 oh yes there was

Just saw that Broadway actor Nick Cordero is seriously ill with Coronavirus in the hospital. He can’t be older than early 40s at most. He has a wife and baby son.

R165, I didn't see the London TABOO live, and I haven't seen the video, but from all reports the show was hugely revised and much improved for Broadway. Unfortunately, it obviously wasn't improved enough to be a hit, I think mostly because Rosie made the mistake of picking a bad director, but also, Boy George REALLY couldn't act, and the sheer presence as a star name didn't compensate for that.

R194, maybe it wasn't about TV as compared to live, maybe it's just that Urie had been doing the show for too long by that point.

Oh, boy, I hated THE HARD PROBLEM. No there there.

That THE IMPOSSIBLE DREAM is unbearable. The additional chorus (with modulation, of course!) was not in the original production and is antithetical to what the character of Quixote and the moment are about--a humbling, not a grandstanding.

R210 -- Leigh Bowery, the character Boy George played, doesn't really need a good actor to be effective. It is mostly about strange outfits, and bad acting might even help showcase the performance art of his character. The Broadway version must have been remarkably different than the original version. I looked at the cast list of both versions, and a main character -- Billy, the photographer -- is not even in the Broadway version, yet he is the pivot for much of the plot of the original story. The Broadway version must have been markedly different. I think Rosie is crazy as a loon, but I admire her devotion to theater, and her willingness to put her money where her mouth is.

A live performance doesn't always transfer well to film. And, it's not necessarily the "fault" of the actor or that they changed or didn't change anything for a performance in a different medium. We, as an audience, also react differently to a live versus filmed performance. Totally different energy and connection created between the audience and the actors and the material. And, the quality of the film/tape/reproduction plays a big part, too.

THANK you, R202! Where do I send the cash money?

[quote]Brian Stokes Mitchell is poz.

Has Lorna Luft been reached for comment?

Thanks R142 for posting that link. It was a fascinating documentary

[quote] I didn't see the London TABOO live, and I haven't seen the video, but from all reports the show was hugely revised and much improved for Broadway. Unfortunately, it obviously wasn't improved enough to be a hit, I think mostly because Rosie made the mistake of picking a bad director, but also, Boy George REALLY couldn't act, and the sheer presence as a star name didn't compensate for that.

That's a lot of conjecture for two different productions you didn't see. If you see the documentary "ShowBusiness: The Road to Broadway" about Broadway that season you will see how not only was it a really hard brutal winter, the show was overshadowed by "Wicked " and " Avenue Q". Boy George got huge laughs and he should have won the Tony for score over the smutty parodies of "Sesame Street" songs.

Oh and it was really really Boy George singing about trick's cock size in a public toilet gay.

R144 There's like a 14 minute bootleg of NBS that has gone on to some of the porn sites, since the guys are naked. I recognized a few of the guys but don't know all their names. I'm sure they never reckoned on their posteriors (and anteriors) being posted for posterity.

The Janet Blair "One Touch of Venus" has been on Amazon Prime and she is excellent, really lovely singing voice. Russell Nype is a bit too nerdy in it though with those glasses. The Ann Sothern "Lady in the Dark" is terrific with she, in excellent form as well a terrific Carleton Carpenter in the Danny Kaye role and DL fave Tyne (and Tim) Daly's father, James Daly really good as another of the main men characters.

I recall seeing a very good cable tv version of "I Do! I Do!" with Lee Remick and Hal Linden, with Hal showing off his very good skills as a saxophonist (which I believe is how he started in the biz.

R210 Boy George was, in fact, a replacement in the London production of "Taboo." The role of Leigh Bowery was first played by Matt Lucas, just before his big success on TV with "Little Britain," and Lucas was far more amusing than his successor.

If Broadway doesn't come back until the fall, there will be 15 empty theaters.

Who says you can't give Tony awards in an abbreviated season?

New York is one of the world’s great cities for the arts — but the damage from the pandemic is proving to be catastrophic:

[quote]R220 I recall seeing a very good cable tv version of "I Do! I Do!" with Lee Remick and Hal Linden

That musical is kind of awful, IMHO

[quote] That musical is kind of awful, IMHO

I always loved the Original Broadway cast album. Then I saw the off-Broadway production with Karen Ziemba and thought, "Yeesh, this is dreadful." I think it's one of those shows that runs on the charm of its actors, originally Mary Martin and Robert Preston.

I saw "I Do! I Do!" back in the 70s with Vivian Blaine and Ralston Hill. It was lovely in a small theater. And I loved getting the chance to see Vivian Blaine in action.

Summer of 2019 . . .

I DO! I DO! is not in the least bit awful. Yes, it requires star power to pull it off, but its score is excellent, and it's an opportunity for an imaginative director to strut his/her stuff (it was among Champion's greatest triumphs). Sure, it can be a tad coy but, given the period and source material, that's totally appropriate. There isn't a show running today equal to its charm and melodic outpouring. Jones and Schmidt knew what they were doing.

Even Steve and Eydie did a great version of "The Honeymoon Is Over" from "I Do!" x 2.

Friedman's Liza Elliot...

Saw the Hunterdon "I Do! I Do!" Both Smith and McCardle were lovely and sang it really well. Took some friends who had never heard of the show and thought the first act was OK but surprised that the second act turns so dark and ended up fans.

Who is that playing the chauffeur in the Maria Friedman "Lady in the Dark"? He isn't much of a singer.

Friedman is pretty good in these clips, but I miss the way Gertrude Lawrence said "I want to make a speech" (on the recording of it that she did). I do like the set design a lot.

R233 That's James Dreyfus, pretty well-known in England as a highly campy, openly gay comic actor. TV series "Gimme Gimme Gimme," the London production of "The Producers," and in the U.S. a regular on Bette Midler's ill-fated CBS series "Bette."

[quote] Good lord, I would pay cash money to see Julie Harris in The Belle of Amherst (on video) about now.

I know someone posted a bootleg of it from YouTube already, but if you want to watch it in one piece and on TV, it's available if you have Amazon Prime.

Nick Cordero is in worse shape than Adam Schlesinger was in right before he died. He is only 41. I don't understand how all these wonderful, vital, good people are getting it and dying, yet the orange shitstain, who is a prime candidate for a horrible death from it remains well. It's not fair.

James Dreyfus was also the hairdresser in the "Sex" episode of AbFab. He's the one who finds the two gigolos/himbos for Eddy and Patsy, one of them being a very young (and hot) Idris Elba.

I also can't get the Google Drive links for The Audience to work. Someone please explain to me what I should do as if I'm Adore Delano.

I'm really not tech savvy. "Turn off the preview" <- huh??

R238 See the black task bar at the top of this page? Over towards the right, there is the Settings tab...click on it to open up the Settings page so you can change your "Preview" setting.

[quote]THANK you, [R202]! Where do I send the cash money?

Not r202, but you can send it to me.

Slave Play is going to end up with a Tony thanks to the pandemic, isn't it? As if Harris isn't intolerable enough already...

Stranger in this a World from Taboo.

If they give out the Tonys, Slave Play will win many.

Sweetie, Slave Play was ALWAYS going to get the Tony, pandemic or not.

The original pasta draining thread was Data Lounge gold. Sadly, lightning has not hit twice.

This thread is like a community theater production of a forty-year-old Neil Simon comedy.

Our show didn’t even open! Stop looking at us!

Whether it opens or doesn't open, I still want my royalties.

Are you saying I don't have charm, you fucking piss-ant bitch?! I have charm in God damned spades!

THANK YOU for posting those BELLE OF AMHERST videos! I've been looking for that for years!

Oh, Karen Ziemba! On stage you're just so darned... adequate!

[quote]I saw "I Do! I Do!" back in the 70s with Vivian Blaine and Ralston Hill. It was lovely in a small theater. And I loved getting the chance to see Vivian Blaine in action.

Would've been more fund with Vivian Vance and William Frawley.

"My Cup Runneth Over" from "I Do, I Do!" was a huge crossover hit for Ed Ames in the '60s.

[quote]Vivian Blaine in action

Pics please.

Sorry, R244, I totally forgot about the east coast liberal white guilt and their fascination with any shit that plays into it. Of course Slave Play will win everything. Don't want to look racist now do we, woke Broadway.

Ghosts - with Leslie Manville.

If you're interested, the National Theatre Live is streaming One Man Two Guvnors on its YouTube channel for a week starting today (2 April). Next week will be Jane Eyre, followed by Treasure Island and Twelfth Night.

Beware of Pity.

R256 That Jane Eyre was childish. Love the Treasure Island, the set got me hard.

But that Twelfth Night.....oh dear.

Anyhoo, Gillian in All About Eve.

[quote]That's a lot of conjecture for two different productions you didn't see.

R217, sorry if I wasn't clear, I most certainly did see TABOO on Broadway. I meant that I did not see the London version, live or on video. I actually kind of loved the Broadway show overall, and I agree that the things you mentioned contributed to its failure, but it do think Boy George's inability to act was a pretty big detriment. More importantly, I think the biggest problem was that the direction was not a strong one, and he made poor decisions -- or allowed Rosie or whoever to make poor decisions -- as far as changes during rehearsals. I remember one big change for the worse from rehearsals (based on a video I saw) to post-opening performances, involving the moving of the Boy George character's first number. By that I mean the role of Boy George, played by Euan Morton.

[quote] Sweetie, Slave Play was ALWAYS going to get the Tony, pandemic or not.

Umm, no. Actually the predicted winner for this season was the Lehman Trilogy.

I agree. HELP! on The Audience.

Turn off link previews as explained above

It worked! Thank you.

R263 Good x

R112- Laughter on the 23rd Floor was hilarious onstage and Nathan was incredible. But I agree that none of that worked in the TV movie. Nathan is a stage animal. He was amazing in The Producers onstage but on film, he wasn’t funny at all.

The one film where Nathan was really wonderful was The Birdcage. He was hilarious in that.

Nearly 50 years after the show Aretha puts her spin on "My Cup Runneth Over".

[quote]The one film where Nathan was really wonderful was The Birdcage. He was hilarious in that.

I know a lot of people loved that movie and his performance in it, but I really disliked both. This may sound ridiculous to say about a movie like that, but I think the whole thing is so false. The French original is actually much more grounded in reality, and so is Michel Serrault's performance, even though in another way it's so fabulously flamboyant. I love Lane when he's well cast, but I just don't think he's very funny or comfortable or believable when he's doing drag, either in this movie or in THE NANCE.

Norma is back!

Oh my gosh. Nick Cordero sounds bad. I think he's gonna die! So sad. I said a prayer. Ugh. I hate the Coronavirus. We need to keep our asses at home.

R269 Is Andrew Lloyd Webber going to ask for royalties for using that song? lol

Nick Cordero’s wife says he’s had two negative tests for Covid, but the doctors think it is what he has and have done another test. The medicine that he is responding to is the medicine for Covid-19. He’s a little better, she said, but it’s going to be a long recovery.

What's the medicine for Covid-19?

Helenesque

R273 those infected are often given hydrocholorquine and an anti-retro viral

R267, Ya got that right.

Andrew Lloyd Webber will stream his musicals online for free.

YouTube channel The Shows Must Go On

R277, he’s too ugly to watch. Are these the movies or tapings of his Bway musicals?

Tapings of his musicals.

It will be available for 48 hours, so you can tune in whenever you like over the weekend! First up, it’s Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat!

Tune in from 7pm GMT this Friday #GoGoGoJoseph #TheShowsMustGoOn

An adaptation of the hit Lloyd-Webber stage musical based on the Old Testament story of Joseph (Donny Osmond) the youngest son of Jacob (Richard Attenborough) tells of his betrayal by his jealous brothers and of his being sold into slavery.

PASS

Watching plays on a phone or TV screen is awful

Some people never do figure out that they’ve worn out their welcome. Andy, save it for your posthumous retrospective. We can’t miss you if you won’t go away.

[quote] Nick Cordero’s wife says he’s had two negative tests for Covid, but the doctors think it is what he has and have done another test. The medicine that he is responding to is the medicine for Covid-19. He’s a little better, she said, but it’s going to be a long recovery.

This is what I don't understand. The wife has been going on in the press that he was misdiagnosed and that's why he's so dire, but whether or not he had COVID, what would they have done until it turned into pneumonia, and pneumonia bad enough to hospitalize? I'm not condemning her, I just don't understand the differentiation.

R272. thanks so much for that little bit of hopeful news about Nick Cordero.

This Webber stuff is just the shit that’s already on Broadway HD, yes?

There’s a Joseph, the Cats video and the Phantom concert. His most boring, overdone shows.

Oh, and Paint Never Dries is on there too. Which is not even worth it for camp value.

Watched "One Man.Two Guvnors" yesterday and it's really quite good. Of course, it was almost 9 years ago.

Well at least Donny Osmond is shirtless in "Joseph".

James Corden was excellent in "One Man, Two Guvs" on Broadway, but his over-aggressive manner on tv is too much, especially late at night. I still miss the delightful Craig Ferguson.

When ALW going to give us a good taped versio of "Evita", his best musical. The Madonna movie isn't that bad; at least the photography of the real locations in Buenos Aires is great, plus Banderas was all right as well as Jonathan Pryce.

Is anyone planning on Live musicals anymore? Have NBC and Fox given up on that idea?

R288 After Craig died, who knows. It's about time someone else takes over anyway. I shudder to think who though. Haha. Donny Osmond is sexy as fuck to me in JOSEPH. Thick daddy body. He is so handsome and great singing voice. The best Joseph to date. The longtime dresser at PHANTOM just died from COVID-19.

What ALW should put on YouTube is that Christina Aguilera Evita sequence which was shot for that aborted Broadway virtual experience thing which was supposed to be in Times Square.

The Viennese state opera is streaming an opera a day.

I'm sure it can't compare to ALW but it might be fun just to check it out.

[quote]Is anyone planning on Live musicals anymore? Have NBC and Fox given up on that idea?

They're probably just waiting for people to stop dying in mass.

[quote] in mass.

Oh, dear.

Catholics die in mass

I’ll drink ta THAT!

One Man Two Guvnors is so awful. Terrible design, only occasionally funny.

Its really bad.

The last four posts gave me a big chuckle. Thanks.

I mean 292-295.

Just watched Joseph and... with Donny Osmond on youtube steam by ALW. Silly but funny show

ALW should also post the audiotapes of Faye Dunaway rehearsing for Sunset Boulevard. And they DO exist.

R300 You wanna break the internet?

The Opera House.

Sweeny Todd - Bryn Terfel.

Releasing ALW musicals for free will only increase sickness and suicide. Look for a CDC recommendation asap.

Frank, Judy and Dean Concert.

Battle of the Phylliseses...

Speaking of opera, one of my favorite documentaries is THE AUDITION (2007) which follows a group of singers through the Metropolitan Opera’s National Council Auditions.

I don’t know where you can stream or rent it, but it’s really good, if you admire performers in general.

CLIP:

CLIP:

About John Houseman

Is Bryn Terfel the best example of why opera singers shouldn't be in musicals? I never thought the role of Sweeney Todd could be so boring. Emma Thompson wiped the floor with him even though she's not a natural vocalist.

Love that clip of Alexis Smith. It seemed like, as the years went on, she became a much better and more confident singer. A shame she died relatively young.

What's funny about the clip of Smith is that it feels like what would have happened if she'd played Carlotta. That song has a very "I'm Still Here" quality to it.

No, R310, it's an example of why Bryn Terfel shouldn't be in musicals. Many opera singers have done fine work in musicals- Timothy Nolen was a fine Sweeney Todd in numerous productions for many years.

One has to wonder what Sondheim thought of Terfel in the role. I think he's gone or record as saying he prefers actors who sing over singers who think they can act. Terfel was about the least effective Sweeney I've ever seen. I don't think Sondheim's style works for opera singers. He always seems to write more for actors who can carry a tune.

Wow, Alexis Smith sounds great in that clip.

She did the national tour of "Plain and Fancy" doing Shirl Conway's role. I wish there were a tape somewhere of Alexis singing "It's a Helluva Way to Run a Love Affair." (Her hubby Craig Stevens played the male lead opposite her. Barbara Cook didn't do the tour, except for LA - they brought Babs in for the LA run, and then she went back to NY).

[quote]The longtime dresser at PHANTOM just died from COVID-19...

R288 or others. Can you share more information about this death. Can't find any info on the internet.

Thanks

R316 I love you, Billy Boy. Your stories are cool. X

[quote] Is Bryn Terfel the best example of why opera singers shouldn't be in musicals?

I beg your pardon

[quote]Is Bryn Terfel the best example of why opera singers shouldn't be in musicals?

No, Shirley Verritt is. She was awful in Carousel.

R316, I saw a photo of her on Instagram. She was a short blonde woman in her 60s. The poster (forget who) said she HATED Trump and died alone because of his ineptitude.

A wardrobe assistant on Law & Order SVU also died - they dedicated last night’s show to him.

R301, I love you

R319, Verrett was just fine. That role is just filler, with two songs and no character

Other than Dreamcoat, what else has ALW streamed?

"That role is just filler, with two songs and no character"

Of course Nettie Fowler has character: she's the archetypal mentor figure, described in Joseph Campbell's THE HERO WITH A THOUSAND FACES as "the benign, protecting power of destiny."

Destiny often does not protect and it is damned near never benign.

That's why we're all locked up right now.

Anita Loos sussed it out much better with "Fate keeps on happening."

R324 I think Jesus Christ Superstar will be next. It will be full stage show.

Shirley Verrett was miscast. She played the role like a grand dame of opera. Nettie Fowler has to be fun or “June Is Busting Out All Over” doesn’t work. Her voice was wrong for the role.

Happy 49th birthday to me!

Broadway’s Aaron Tveit Thought He Had a Cold — It Turned Out to be Coronavirus:

Riedel's column:

[quote]Theater sources say the League will soon announce that Broadway will be dark until further notice. Producers quietly are saying they won’t be back until June or July.

I think June/July is optimistic.

R333, September 1st at the earliest.

Christ, imagine surviving the AIDS era to be taken out by Trump's Virus.

Listening to a Terrance McNally interview on podcast, I was surprised to hear that "The Rink" was a musical.

I was, clearly, very unfamiliar with this show. But I became curious when I saw that Kander and Ebb wrote the score and McNally wrote the book.

I read the Frank Rich review and it was pretty scathing. He pretty much singles out Chita Rivera as being the only thing good in the show -- and even she can't overcome the material.

What I found pretty conspicuous was how Rich shied away from mentioning Liza, the other, above-the-title star. It's almost as if he was afraid of insulting her.

Did anyone here see "The Rink"? (You'd have to be fast.) Was Liza really bad in it? Was it while she was doing fistfuls of coke?

You would not have had to be that fast. It ran from February to August. It ran long enough for Liza to get replaced (by Stockard Channing).

Why would Stockard Channing want to be in a show that was not successful?

Why would Stockard Channing want to be in a show that was not successful?

[quote] Did anyone here see "The Rink"? (You'd have to be fast.) Was Liza really bad in it? Was it while she was doing fistfuls of coke?

The story is really stupid and the production was not good. There's a scene where Chita gets raped which is a lowpoint in a show full of lowpoints. It may have sounded good on paper (Chita and Liza worked so well together in Chicago, let's reteam them) but the material is terrible.

Fun fact: Jason Alexander was in the chorus. And that's another problem with the show. The "chorus" is six men playing many different roles. So you have Chita and Liza and six men.

It was a job.

r336 - Rink 1

Rink 2

[quote]Why would Stockard Channing want to be in a show that was not successful?

I always find Stockard Channing's career interesting. She was the second female lead in one of the most successful movies ever, Grease. She immediately gets a tv show which bombs. They retool it for the second season and it bombs again. She comes back East to Broadway where she gets replacement gig in "They're Playing Our Song" and then a replacement gig in "The Rink."

Finally, she breaks through on Broadway with "Joe Egg" and then "The House of Blue Leaves." And in a stroke of luck, Blythe Danner leaves "Six Degrees of Separation" and Stockard gets a career defining role which cements her reputation on Broadway and ensures several more years of Broadway work.

They'd should've replaced them with Rita Moreno and Lorna Luft.

R340, Jason Alexander was NOT in the chorus of The Rink. He had his own song , “Marry Me.”

I love don't ahh ma me from the rink

I have "The Rink" windowcard signed by Chit and Liza.

Liza was not bad in The Rink. It was just a failure of a show and Liza was not presented to any advantage. She was an angry, rebellious daughter in baggy jeans and... ugh. Rosie O'Donnell might have made something of it, with some changes. But it didn't suit Liza at all.

I had seen her in The Act which bent over backwards to bring every Liza cliche to the fore and that didn't work either. She is/was enormously talented, but only Bob Fosse has understood how to deploy her. Her own father built a shitty movie around her. The Act did no better. But she worked hard to make it work and it was in The Act where I could see what a skilled stage actress she really is. All to no avail, mind you, but I could see just how clearly and deliberately she worked on stage, both with the shitty book and with the other actors.

Chita Rivera getting top billing over Liza Minnelli? That was kind and generous of her. Appearing in the show so Kander and Ebb could get it produced was kind and generous. Frank Rich knew that none of this was her fault and wrote accordingly.

R344, you left out the beginning. She was the new it girl--kind of a comedic Gretchen Moll--much hyped as the brilliant comic lead who holds her own against established stars in The Fortune.

The Fortune bombed...and she started playing leads in B-level projects.

There are good songs. I like "Chief Cook and Bottle Washer."

This is why I come to DL!

Not for the waters?

Isn't The Rink the show where Liza had cocaine hidden in her costume (a la Mama!)?

I know during Victor/Victoria she would go into the alley during intermission to meet with her "pharmacist."

I agree that Liza taking second billing to Chita was very generous.

Liza had Tonys and an Oscar. Chita had not won a Tony yet.

Yes, it is true that Liza was struggling with addiction problems during The Rink.

R346, Jason had multiple roles in the show, including an old woman who lamented about the past in the song "What Happened To The Old Days?".

R328 It's strange they're advertising it as the full stage show, when it's the arena tour version. I suppose it's technically accurate in that it's the full show, but stage show makes me think full staging, rather than the steps, scaffolding and video screen that the arena tour uses.

Alexander didn't perform "What Happened to the Old Days?" Ronn Carroll and Mel Johnson Jr. played the two women who sang the song with Chita.

All due respect to the late Terrence McNally, The Rink was acrid. A mean, ugly, unpleasant show, due to his book. There were a few decent numbers and I remember a very clever bit with the wreckers doing a 'tap dance' on bubble wrap. Also, there was a tremendous scenic effect where the imposing-looking roller rink set disappeared into the flies in the final seconds of the show. Chita worked hard. Liza, in drab clothing, had to carry some of the show's worst material. It was one of those dreary 1980s musicals that made you think Broadway had completely lost its way. Good thing that it is better now, right?

R336, I saw it sitting Orchestra Center, Row 1. At one point in the show, Chita tossed cans of beer from a staircase to a group of demolition workers standing below, while singing. One of the cans hit the stage, bounced in the air and landed at my feet. I picked it up and Chita saw that I did. While still singing, she motioned with her head for me to toss it back on stage and one of the demolition workers picked it up. He needed it for later in the scene when all of them threw their beer cans in the air.

Liza's character was dressed in drab clothing throughout the show, but for the curtain call she quickly changed into a bright red, sparkling Halston gown and took her bows as if it were one of her concerts.

[quote]Also, there was a tremendous scenic effect where the imposing-looking roller rink set disappeared into the flies in the final seconds of the show.

Yes. One might have even called it a coup de theatre.

With the closing of Broadway for several months, could more churches be looking to purchase Broadway's best houses?

You do have to wonder how many vacant theaters we're gonna have come fall. Has there ever been a time in recent memory where there were more available theaters than there were shows looking to get a theatre?

[quote] You do have to wonder how many vacant theaters we're gonna have come fall. Has there ever been a time in recent memory where there were more available theaters than there were shows looking to get a theatre?

Yes. It was called the 1980s.

Watching clips of The Rink Liza seems to be playing Liza Minelli without the sequins.

She belts out that loud, brassy LIZA voice even when it doesn't fit the character or what she is singing.

Wasn't Liza's role more in support of Chita's? Not that they couldn't both be considered leads, but didn't Chita have the larger, more substantial role? I would think that would also count for Liza giving her first billing.

It was originally conceived as a small, two person show.

Maybe should have stayed that way.

And since most of the reviews said it was a "bitter" and "nasty" show, I would have cast drag queens. I mean real ones.

Broadway - The Golden Age.

The Lehman Trilogy - Act One.

The Lehman Trilogy - Act Two.

The Lehman Trilogy - Act Three.

Mike Doyle wrote and directed a movie with a gay love story at the center. Mixed reviews, screening near you.

Pretty sure nothing is screening near anyone now, R372.

[quote]I have "The Rink" windowcard signed by Chit and Liza.

Gayest thing you will read today.

The Rink has a few good songs. Bottle Washer, Colored Lights, The Apple Doesn't Fall From The Tree (though it's pretty much The Grass is Always Greener from Woman of the Year), and Wallflower are pretty exciting and well-performed by Chita and Liza, but the material as a whole didn't work. Some productions have re-tooled it over the years to a little more success.

r359 - "Also, there was a tremendous scenic effect where the imposing-looking roller rink set disappeared into the flies in the final seconds of the show."

You see that at the end of r343.

I re-read SIX DEGREES OF SEPARATION this past fall, as I wanted to experience the play one more time before the actual film version of CATS came out. Of course we all know how that movie turned out, and it will make those lines in the play get bigger laughs than ever before next time the play is done.

I'd always assumed that Guare wrote the part of Ouisa for Stockard Channing, as she is so perfect in the part (one of the best stage performances I've ever seen), but when I read the Intro to the play Guare mentions that when they were rehearsing, the original actress playing Ouisa was not getting the part and was a terrible fit and mistake. Of course he did not name names, and I've been wondering who that was ever since, but R344 just pops in and says Channing replaced Blythe Danner.

Danner, of course, makes perfect sense, and I can see her in the part, so what happened there? Why was she so wrong? She's not as talented as Channing but God knows she has the range to play an Upper East Side matriarch. Hell, she birthed Goop.

So what went wrong there?

Channing ended up getting Tony and Oscar nominations for that part, and it elevated her to a secure place on Broadway, so I wonder if Danner ever regrets the part that got away.

Sometimes, the most obvious casting just isn't the most interesting or exciting. Danner does seem like a natural fit, but she also seemed like a natural fit for Phyllis in Follies and we saw how that turned out. She was just sort of ok most of the time. Maybe they should have brought Channing in for that one, too.

Oh, let's watch Blythe bumping into chorus boys again....

[quote] but the material as a whole didn't work.

The fact that the original book (and its writer) was junked and the original director left is a red flag.

Danner could have never handled the humor. Besides not being anywhere near as talented as Channing, she is brittle and unappealing.

Fred Ebb was determined to have his bestie Chita finally win a Tony Award, hence The Rink.

I've never seen Connie's L&J. It's like they took Alexis' choreography and eliminated any actual dance steps.

Channing was really superb, as was Jim Dale, in "Joe Egg".

Chita really did have the larger role in "The Rink" and merited the left-hand star billing, even over Liza.

I recall some critics comparing The Rink to "Terms of Endearment" vis a vis the mother/daughter relationships.

Here's Liz Smith interviewing Chita and Liza on "Live at Five" in 1984.

Billing is about Oscars and Tonys, It is about selling tickets. It is not about being fair. Jesus.

I always used The Rink to explain what greatness is. Liza made it look hard, and Chita made it look easy. Not a terrible show but not a particularly good one. Didn't Datalounge fave Lenora Nemitz take over for Liza for a while?

Blythe Danner has spent an entire career being miscast. Did you ever see the movie version of "Brighton Beach Memoirs?" Geez, you wonder why they cast a shiksa WASP as a Jewish mother.

The story at the time of Six Degrees was that Blythe had been offered a movie role and left the production to film the movie. Would it have been Mr. & Mrs. Bridge? I can understand wanting to be in a Merchant-Ivory film, especially with Newman and Woodward. Also, remember that Six Degrees was never intended to be the hit it became. It started out in the smaller Newhouse theater and when it proved popular was moved to the larger Beaumont. I think the Newhouse is classed as an off-Broadway theater, so leaving an off-Broadway production wouldn't have been as severe as leaving a Broadway production.

I saw the original cast and Stockard was wonderful. She wonderfully pulled off that Cats movie joke, something I don't think Blythe could have believably pulled off. I'm sure it was difficult for her because Kelly Bishop is the better actress and had certain moments where she stole the show. Blythe would never have been able to hold her own against Kelly Bishop.

SNL parody of the commercial for The Rink called "The Womb"

Blythe Danner also struggled mightily with playing Elvira in that Broadway revival of Blithe Spirit and that’s far from a difficult role.

Blythe Danner also struggled mightily with playing Elvira in that Broadway revival of Blithe Spirit and that’s far from a difficult role.

Blythe is utterly charmless as Will’s WASP mother on Will and Grace. She reminds me of my mother.

Always thought Blythe was perfect for Tattingers, playing the rich WASP cunt.

Nathan Lane pays tribute to Terrence McNally:

Blythe was great with Kevin Kline in Much Ado About Nothing In Central Park in 1988.

[quote]R360 At one point in the show, Chita tossed cans of beer from a staircase to a group of demolition workers standing below, while singing. One of the cans hit the stage, bounced in the air and landed at my feet. I picked it up and Chita saw that I did. While still singing, she motioned with her head for me to toss it back on stage and one of the demolition workers picked it up. He needed it for later in the scene

You made it into the show!

I just wish it had been a better show - -

[quote]R349 Her own father built a shitty movie around her

A MATTER OF TIME (1976)

which no one had time for...

That movie is why the letters P and U were invented, r397.

[quote]Chita Rivera getting top billing over Liza Minnelli? That was kind and generous of her. Appearing in the show so Kander and Ebb could get it produced was kind and generous. Frank Rich knew that none of this was her fault and wrote accordingly.

Liza has been accused of al ot of things but being a bad friend is not one of them. She adored all three.

Did anyone care that Mart Crawley died?

In the scandalous [bold] THEATRE GOSSIP #368: "The Has There Ever Been a Musical Called GO FUCK YOURSELF?" Edition [/bold], I posted

[quote] I just read a 1986 paperback novel called "The Original Cast" by a former Broadway dancer named Kristen Valbor. She was in "Brigadoon," "Guys & Dolls" etc. It's a backstage story about developing a new musical in 1953. Reading that she died last March makes me think how ephemeral our lives are, except to those who knew us - - and those people will be gone some day, too. She did a decade of landmark musicals, published a book ... but who knows the name Kristen Valbor?

With theaters closed, maybe people can order the cheapie paperback somewhere if they want to read a backstage soap opera about the making of a musical.

#You’reWelcome

Apparently you didn't care enough to get his name right.

[quote]R400 Did anyone care that Mart Crowley died?

Maybe Robert Wagner cared? Crowley was kind of a hanger-on in Natalie Wood’s household.

I bet he knew for sure if Walken was screwing Wagner on that boat.

[quote] The fact that the original book (and its writer) was junked and the original director left is a red flag.

Who was the original book writer for The Rink? And director?

I think part of the appeal of Danner -- at least for me, when I first became aware of her -- is that she was a real life blue blood wasp matron, and not just an actress trying to play one. It added a bit of texture and reality to an otherwise unrealistic situation. The only other actress I can think of who had a similar appeal was Sigourney Weaver, another privileged actress, although Weaver also played roles outside the UpperCrust milieu. Now, though? I don't think Danner was ever a great actress. She just had a certain affect, which has long since faded.

Watched the first half of One Man Two Guvnors last night and laughed so loud I may have scared my upstairs neighbors' cat. And I'd seen it in the (movie) theater before, so it's not like I didn't know what was coming. Yes, it's very silly, but, these days, I'll take my laughs, even dopey ones, where I can get them. And I don't know how Corden did that show eight times a week. (I'd forgotten how long it is; the musical numbers add time but also give the cast a chance to rest for a few minutes). Thanks, National Theatre Live for free streaming it! (I wish the public could vote on their upcoming offerings. Because: Follies.)

[quote]R406 The only other actress I can think of who had a similar appeal was Sigourney Weaver, another privileged actress, although Weaver also played roles outside the UpperCrust milieu.

Weaver talked in some interview about getting strange looks on the subway going to and from MARCO POLO SINGS A SOLO in her milkmaid costume.

But why would she do this? It’s not like the Public Theater had no dressing rooms in 1977, and the play was being performed outside an abandoned gas station.

[quote]Who was the original book writer for The Rink? And director?

Albert Innaurato and Arthur Laurents, respectively.

FUN FACT: Laurents went on to direct La Cage -- and won the Tony against The Rink.

While it was running, its nickname on the street was The Rank.

I ask one question, and I get a wealth of interesting information.

Thank you. It is at times like this that I really appreciate DL!

[quote] That role is just filler, with two songs and no character

Nettie had plenty of character when I played her in London, thank you very much!

[quote]Maybe Robert Wagner cared? Crowley was kind of a hanger-on in Natalie Wood’s household.

Do you call your best friend a hanger-on? They were close and she was the one who convinced him to write BITB.

[quote] Blythe Danner also struggled mightily with playing Elvira in that Broadway revival of Blithe Spirit

That was very strange. It’s almost a “role she was born to play,” and she had no effervescence at all. Of course, she wasn’t boring like Chamberlin was, or flat out ham awful hideous like Gerry Page, s there’s that. Judith Ivey was a great Ruth, though. Her little breakdown was fantastic.

OK I watched almost all of today's reading of "The Tale Of The Allergists Wife" over at Seth Rudesky's site. Charles Busch, Andrea Martin, Richard Kind. Fun but I had to stop when an issue came up with $5000. I need a spoiler, I need to know how the show ends....anyone?

Randy Rainbow and Patti Lupone worship each other

[quote]Maybe Robert Wagner cared? Crowley was kind of a hanger-on in Natalie Wood’s household.

[quote]They were close and she was the one who convinced him to write BITB.

Crowley also worked with Wagner on "Hart to Hart."

Mart lived in Natalie's guest house rent free while he wrote TBITB.

One Christmas, she paid for a year's worth of analysis as her gift to him.

[quote]...While it (The Rink) was running, its nickname on the street was The Rank.

No, it wasn't, at least in my circles, and I was on Broadway at the time. It was referred to as "The Stink".

Thanks, r409.

R377, right after the first read through, Blythe starting asking questions that made it clear she did not understand the script at all. The rest of the cast was already loving the script and were a bit baffled. She clearly did not get the play at all. Equity allows an actor to be fired in the first three days of rehearsal, so it was decided to let her go. (I heard this from a cast member shortly after these events.)

Channing was in Jakes Women which unexpectedly closed out of town. Guare was a friend and asked her to fill in at rehearsals until they could find a name actress to play the role. (Channing was known but not that big a name at the time and Lincoln Center thought the play needed a star.)

After while they decided to stick with Channing and the rest is history.

Blythe Danner was a fantastic ingenue, but she never really was good as a leading lady. Don't know why, because the parts seemed perfect for her. Philadelphia Story, Blythe Spirit, Six Degrees. Unfortunately, she just isn't a very good actress. In Follies, all she did was play drunk. It was pretty bad.

From what little I've read about Stockard Channing, I've always thought that maybe she's very well set financially through her parentage and her marriages, and does not really need to work for that reason. That said, now that you mention it, it does seem extremely odd that she replaced Liza Minnelli in a show that received mostly terrible reviews and was a flop, if not a really quick one. I know she worked with Terrence McNally years later. Was she already friends with him at the time of THE RINK, and did she do it as a favor to him?

[quote]Has there ever been a time in recent memory where there were more available theaters than there were shows looking to get a theatre?

Your phrasing is very strange. I'm sure there were times when there were at least a few more available theaters than there were shows looking to get a theater. Maybe times like the '80s and early '90s, when there were seasons when the number and quality of Tony nominees for Best Musical was pitiful. But nothing even remotely comparable to the current situation, OF COURSE.

[quote]Oh, let's watch Blythe bumping into chorus boys again....

In that "Lucy and Jessie" clip, her singing actually sounds better than I remembered, but yes, she does seem kind of tentative and unfocused, and not just in the dance sections. Probably because she was so unused to that kind of number and musicals in general.

[quote]Blythe Danner has spent an entire career being miscast. Did you ever see the movie version of "Brighton Beach Memoirs?" Geez, you wonder why they cast a shiksa WASP as a Jewish mother.

That was beyond ridiculous, and I could never figure out why she was cast. It's not like she has ever been so big a star that someone would cast her for name value in a role for which she was completely wrong.

[quote]I think part of the appeal of Danner -- at least for me, when I first became aware of her -- is that she was a real life blue blood wasp matron, and not just an actress trying to play one.

Of course, none of her early roles fit that description. Her breakout role on Broadway was that of a free-spirited, very young girl, practically a hippie, in BUTTERFLIES ARE FREE.

Six Degrees opened in 1990. Stockard Channing was definitely as big a star as Blythe Danner then, probably bigger. If Lincoln Center “wanted a star” why did they go for Danner? She wasn’t box office dynamite any more than Channing was.

In the ‘70s and ‘80s we used to laugh about producers and publicists who claimed that their “terrific” show was in limbo because of the “Broadway booking jam”. Believe me, if the Shuberts, Nderlanders, or Jujamcyns wanted a show, they would find a place for it.

inho

The documentary someone posted upstream about Jerome Robbins is quite good. I had forgotten two things about him: 1. he named names in the House Unamerican trials, and 2. How handsome he was when he was younger.

There were some wonderful anecdotes, including one in which no one stopped him from walking backwards into an orchestra pit, and some amazing archival film. I'm surprised that he never worked with a troupe like Pilobolus, who used abstract movement to create stories. Perhaps he thought they were too kitschy? Anyway, the documentary is wonderful, and worth watching for anyone who has an interest in dance or classic Broadway. Thank you to whoever posted it.

R424, back then Danner was a bit of a bigger name having had a number of Broadway appearances in the 80s and other credits going back to Butterflies Are Free. Channing was best known for Grease. And clearly within a short amount of time, they decided she was big enough. (My guess is that they had someone specific in mind, not some generalized big name but a specific actress they hoped would come in--and when that someone turned them down they went with Channing. But that is speculation..)

And yes, Channing comes from upper east side money. I always think it is interesting that two upper east side patrician Susans picked odd names for their actress personas.

Re: Blythe Danner:

In YOU’LL NEVER EAT LUNCH IN THIS TOWN AGAIN, Julia Philips talks about openly mocking, and laughing in Danner’s face, in the 1970s because she’s such an Insufferably airy ditz.

Why would Robbins work with Pilobolus? He never worked with any modern dance company--let alone one that worked collaboratively.

He was very much the ballet and broadway model of the choreographer tells you what to do and they do it.

Danner was a real critics fave in the '70s. Pauline Kael, John Simon, Stanley Kauffmann, Charles Champlin, etc. all raved about her. Both Simon and Kael felt she was Streep's equal. But I think she also had a physical distinctness that prevented her from true leading lady status. When she did really good work, like in The Great Santini, you know she was a fine actress. She was also up for The Shining, which would have been a disaster.

What was it about Six Degrees that Blythe didn't get? She must have read the script before rehearsals started. Couldn't she meet with the director or writer and have them explain it to her? And her husband was a famous writer/director/producer. Couldn't he clue her in?

There was a tv series of "Adam's RIb" Danner did with Ken Howard; I think one of the episodes was pretty much like a 1-hour remake of the trial that Hepburn and Tracy did in the original film. Danner was pretty, but after her "Butterflies are Free" she kind of got stuck in a lot of the kind roles that Dina Merrill did better (and Merrill was real money -- daughter of E.F. Hutton and Marjorie Meriwhether Post -- the latter who built and was first owner of Mar-a-Lago).

The only thing I thought Danner wasn't bland in was The Prince of Tides.

But, even then, it wasn't captivating.

R431, I do not know the specifics, but people in the room say that she just seemed to not get it at all. And they were surprised for the reasons that you say.

As others have noted, Danner does have a reputation for being a bit dim.

"Six Degrees" isn't that complicated a plot, really. It's pretty clear, except maybe some monologues are a bit deeper than others. Her character is more concerned with getting into the film of "Cats". A question I have: are WAPs really happy to receive jam as a gift the way those guys are?

WASPs, that is

[quote] Both Simon and Kael felt she was Streep's equal.

Hail to thee, Blythe Danner -- Streep thou never wert.

I hate that bitch Danner, for reasons that are well known to her.

Bitch all you want about Blythe Danner, but Mel Gussow gave her a solid rave for her Blanche DuBois at Williamstown.

But two years later Frank Rich called her performance "a disappointment."

Wardrobe for her Tony winning performance in Butterflies are Free was basically just a skimpy bikini.

Stockard Channing may have hit it big in Grease, but I think a real springboard was that ABC Movie of the Week written by Joan Rivers, The Girl Most Likely… which put her on the map

R442, after Girl Most Likely to, they tried again and again to make Channing happen but she had several flops like The Big Bus, Dandy the All American girl, the Fortune, etc. Had Lucie Arnaz gotten Grease as Randall Kleiser intended, Channing might have had a different career.

Well, you’re right about The Girl Most Likely, r442, it definitely put her on the map. And since no one knew who she was, she was perfectly believable as the ugly girl, and her transformation into a beauty was stunning.

She had several other movies before Grease, though, including disaster film spoof The Big Bus (where she was made up to resemble Liz Taylor), and The Cheap Detective.

She worked constantly in films, tv, and Broadway in the 1989s (including taking over leads in They’re Playing Our Song & Liza’s role in “The Rink”), and won a Tony for Joe Egg. So the notion that Lincoln Center thought she wasn’t a big enough star to replace Blythe Danner is bizarre.

Stockard took Lucie's role in Grease and then she took Lucie's role in They're Playing Our Song.

But it was Tovah who took my Tony nomination for that piece of shit “Sarava.”

R445, Gary tried to talk Stockard out of taking Grease.

R430 What role would Blythe Danner be up for in The Shining? The hag in the bathtub?

I saw the original cast Brighton Beach Memoirs with Broderick when he was genuinely funny and a very cute Zeljko Ivanek. I couldn't believe Simon went along with Danner as the mother in the film when not only was she horribly miscast but she had no box office name or prestige. Elizabeth Franz was perfect in the part and brought down the Alvin with one of the biggest laughs I've heard in a theater with her reason why she needed only one stick of butter. You forget sometimes all these decades later why people found Neil Simon so funny. That line was so unexpected and Franz delivered it like a torpedo.

In what world was Blythe Danner a bigger name than Stockard Channing in 1989? Especially on Broadway where Channing had major successes with "Joe Egg" (which got her a Tony) and then doing Guare's House of Blue Leaves prior to Six Degrees. And, Wikipedia (not that they're always accurate obviously) seems to indicate Channing WAS first choice for Six Degrees but was already committed to Jake's Woman.

Danner had one major theater success in the 80s, her Blanche in Streetcar. She spent most of the 80s doing TV stuff and some minor movie stuff...oh, and raising Little Goopie.

And if Gene Saks was going to choose a non-Jewish woman to play the mother in BBM, he could have at least chosen someone like Anne Meara who could be funny. People weren't going to see the movie based on Blythe Danner's name.

Lucie would have been great in Grease. More people know Stockyard from that than anything else.

[quote]Lucie would have been great in Grease.

She certainly wouldn't have sang through her nose like Stockard did. However, I don't think Lucie could have gotten Rizzo's nastiness as well as Stockard did. The "Look At Me, I'm Sandra Dee" number works because Stockard owns the song. But Lucie would have done "Worst Things I Could Do" better than Stockard did it.

R267 Aretha's "My Cup Runneth Over" just made me weep. Thank you so much.

I've never seen Danner on stage, but she's an excellent movie/TV actress.

I saw Blythe in "Philadelphia Story" at Lincoln Center years ago, but she and the production wasn't very memorable. I hardly remember who else was in it.

I was going to say Danner got lackluster reviews for a DESIGN FOR LIVING revival, too... but then I remembered that was Jill Clayburgh.

Anyway, I didn't have dough handed to me because of my good cheekbones, I had to earn it - -

[quote]n the ‘70s and ‘80s we used to laugh about producers and publicists who claimed that their “terrific” show was in limbo because of the “Broadway booking jam”. Believe me, if the Shuberts, Nderlanders, or Jujamcyns wanted a show, they would find a place for it. inho —Billy Boy

Wow, you must have had some raucous get togethers.

If I'm not mistaken, it was supposed to be Marlo Thomas in Six Degrees. Maybe that was as a replacement. Don't remember what happened.

Like I said, the idea that they wanted someone bigger was what a cast member speculated. I really think the reason they delayed is that they were after a specific person with a bigger name, who turned them down. (That is a more common situation--a known actors is put on hold because the producer thinks someone bigger might say yes.)

And we are only talking a few days. Stockard was given a role after only a couple days of "filling in".

^^^And Guare himself confirms that Channing only came in to fill-in till the role was recast. So whatever everyone's name and status, LTC did not offer Channing the role until she had been in rehearsal a few days.

So there was SOME reason for them not to just give her the part.

Were Stockard and Guare friends before Six Degrees? They’re definitely friends now. I saw them together a few years ago.

Yes, Channing and Guare were friends. That is why he asked her to fill in at 6 Degrees rehearsals. (The intro to the published script has most of what has been said here---but omits Danner's name.)

I have a vague memory that there was supposed to be a two-act David Sedaris Christmas play in the village years ago. One of them was the reindeer monologues, which I think Sedaris performed himself. And the other act was supposed to star Marlo Thomas? Is that right? I seem to recall that she got fired. And only the first act was presented.

Whatever her skills as an actress, Blythe must have been one crappy mother. No one raised a more spoiled and self entitled child than Gwyneth Paltrow. You can’t blame a parent for all of a kid’s failings but Blythe has at least some responsibility for how Gwyneth turned out.

[quote]No one raised a more spoiled and self entitled child than Gwyneth Paltrow.

Come again?

[quote]Elizabeth Franz was perfect in the part and brought down the Alvin with one of the biggest laughs I've heard in a theater with her reason why she needed only one stick of butter. You forget sometimes all these decades later why people found Neil Simon so funny. That line was so unexpected and Franz delivered it like a torpedo.

What was the line?

[quote]Blythe must have been one crappy mother. No one raised a more spoiled and self entitled child than Gwyneth Paltrow.

I think Gwyneth turned out EXACTLY as her parents wanted her to.

We may not like her, but most parents would be very proud of having a child who is so accomplished.

R467, Didn't Joan Rivers replace Elizabeth Franz?

Elizabeth Franz's performance was one of the best I have ever seen. Every beat was perfect. I think she's the first actor I saw on the street and felt like I just had to tell her how great she was. And I saw her last year in the Anastasia tour. Still great.

Blythe Danner in THE SEAGULL (1975)

Thoughts?

Talk about acting a song..............

Joan Rivers did Broadway Bound and was really incredible in the role. And got to meet her afterwards - she was a very modest, lovely woman.

Joan was third after Linda Lavin & Elizabeth Franz.

That was Broadway Bound, r469. Same character, years later (both the show and the setting).

r470 I didn't know she did Anastasia or that she was still acting. Good for her.

She was revelatory in the Dennehy Death of a Salesman.

Danner's performance in "Eccentricities of a Nightingale" was very highly praised.

[quote]And only the first act was presented.

No hole?

The real story was, on the first day of rehearsals, Blythe started asking questions about the play which indicated she either hadn't't read it, or truly didn't get the play or her character. The next day, there was a letter from Blythe waiting when the cast came in to start rehearsals. Jerry Zaks read it to the cast. She explained she was having a family crisis, and was sorry, but she had to pull out of the show. A week later, it was announced she had been chosen to play Nick Nolte's wife in "The Prince Of Tides".

Elizabeth Franz in SISTER MARY IGNATIUS was also perfection.

“YOU MAKE JESUS PUKE!”

Franz was so funny in that role.

Meryl should have played Sister Mary Ignatius on HBO rather than that nun in the film of Doubt.

(Reading questions from the audience)

“Was Jesus effeminate?” Yes.

"God hears our prayers. It's just that sometimes, he says NO."

“There is no saint named Wendy.”

"I've sent him to heaven!"

Miss Bosworth and Miss Parsons...

Broadway and Jews.

A Little Night Music.

[quote]I have a vague memory that there was supposed to be a two-act David Sedaris Christmas play in the village years ago. One of them was the reindeer monologues, which I think Sedaris performed himself. And the other act was supposed to star Marlo Thomas? Is that right? I seem to recall that she got fired. And only the first act was presented.

No, I think it was Karen Valentine. But I have no inside info.

[quote] What was the line?

I'm guessing it's "And suppose the house burned down this afternoon? Why do I need an extra quarter pound of butter?"

Curious Incident of the Dog at Night.

Karen Valentine, nominal star of Off-Broadway's The Santaland Diaries, got an unwelcome Christmas present when early this week her segment of the play was dropped.

[quote]"And suppose the house burned down this afternoon? Why do I need an extra quarter pound of butter?"

Well it certainly MUST have been in the delivery...

Not Elizabeth Franz, but Laurie Metcalf does well with it here in the ill-fated revival.

Matthew and I were all set to make Neil Simon COOL again.

Sob.

[quote] If I'm not mistaken, it was supposed to be Marlo Thomas in Six Degrees. Maybe that was as a replacement. Don't remember what happened.

Marlo did the tour. I have a friend who played one of the kids of the couple and he said she was a nightmare.

I saw that production of Santaland Diaries (after Valentine was fired). The definite story was that she could not remember her lines.

I will say that it was one of the funniest nights I've ever had in the theater. I enjoyed it immensely and Olyphant was amazingly good. I had never heard of him before and within a few months, he was starring in some ABC cop show produced by Spielberg so Atlantic got him just in the nick of time.

I just heard Joe Machota's boyfriend died back in December at the age of 30. Anybody know the scoop? Was it drugs? Suicide? His mom was an addict.

[quote]I saw Blythe in "Philadelphia Story" at Lincoln Center years ago, but she and the production wasn't very memorable. I hardly remember who else was in it.

I actually really liked that production. Cynthia Nixon (who was a child then) played Tracy's younger sister, Frank Converse played the Cary Grant part, and Edward Hermann was the Jimmy Stewart part and Mary Louise Wison played Liz Imbrie. Don't remember the rest. I liked the set, and I thought Danner was a very good Tracy.

I was just going to post what R493 said.

[quote] I have a friend who played one of the kids of the couple and he said she was a nightmare.

Marlo Thomas’ butler wrote a book about being employed by her, and “nightmare” is about the kindest thing that could be said about her.

The HBO Sister Mary was Diane Keaton, right?

I also saw Mary Louise Wilson do it. Also superb.

R502 Yes, Diane was. The also expanded the story.

I saw Nancy Marchand as Sister Mary; she was wicked.

Elizabeth Franz delivered the "butter" line in BRIGHTON BEACH completely differently from Metcalf, and Franz did indeed bring down the house with it. And yes, that was largely because of the delivery. But I was once involved in a community theater production of the show, and the woman who delivered that line also got a big laugh with it even though she wasn't a great actress. There is a lot of humor in the line itself because the mother's "logic" is so ridiculous. By the way, was there some official TV version of the Metcalf BRIGHTON BEACH? That clips look pro-shot. Or is it just from B-roll?

Metcalf's pause on the second line destroys the rhythm of the set-up and undermines the humor. But I bet Elizabeth Franz got it right, all right.

The line itself is a brilliant bit of character observation (frugality, practicality, anxiety) and comedic polarities (the tragedy of a conflagration vs the banality of a stick of butter). Plus the verbal rhythms and "k" sound on a "quarter" (the famous Simon dictum via THE SUNSHINE BOYS) give it a quintessentially existential and Jewish inflection. Simon at his best.

R506, thanks for that excellent analysis. I think you got it exactly right.

R506, I love “quintessentially existential and Jewish inflection”! Well done.

What was the Simon play where Linda Lavin played the mother and had that amazing speech about dancing with George Raft? Was that Broadway Bound? Her delivery of that scene won her the Tony, I think.

Yes, r509 it was Broadway Bound. The Tony Awards that year presented a short clip of Linda Lavin in the show. I wish she had done the George Raft monologue, but the producers chose the table polishing scene.

I can't find it anywhere, but I think it was on Dick Cavett that Miss Parsons performed some of Sister Mary....no wait, that was Miss Margarida's Way.

Lavin's pretty wonderful in that clip. I could swear I've seen her do the George Raft scene - she was wearing a robe, I think. But if it wasn't on the Tonys, what would it have been on?

Unfortunately, Linda's Tony Award speech is "crazy grand actress" right from the start. In fact, the audience laughs at the very first thing she says because it's so over the top and sounds like she's parodying Sally Fields' Oscar "You like me!" speech. But it quickly becomes evident that this is no parody, it's just Linda.

R513, Little did Linda know that evening that she'd be giving an even better performance in 1992 on the witness stand during her embarrassing divorce from Kip Niven.

r498

Wasn’t Machota with Matt Wall? I think he’s still alive.

R514, what was the courtroom scoop there? I know it was a nasty divorce & Kip wanted alimony. I new him and his first wife, Sue, in the late 70s. She was killed in a car crash, early on in his marriage to Linda.

Question for r472 - why was Miss Saigon a thing? I feel like exact same story had already been told before many times. The lyrics are mundane, as are the melodies. The show was just dreary when I saw it years ago. Humorless and bleak.

Did Lea somehow make people think it was good?

Movie in my Mind is a decent song though...

R516, Linda testified that Niven was no longer interested in her sexually and offered when they had last been intimate.

"A judge granted Linda Lavin a divorce, saying the actress' husband, actor Clifford "Kip" Niven, was unsupportive and unfaithful.

Niven, 47, had sought $6 million from Lavin, 54. But the judge ruled Thursday that Niven had contributed nothing financially to the marriage and ordered Lavin to pay only $675,000.

Lavin, best known as the star of the old TV series "Alice," married Niven in 1982 and filed for divorce in 1989.

"We feel triumphant," said Lavin, who now stars in the TV comedy "Room for Two."

State Supreme Court Justice Phyllis Gangel-Jacob found Niven had at least two adulterous affairs and spent Lavin's money on the women.

Niven, who appeared in the Broadway flop "Nick & Nora," said the divorce could have been settled out of court except that Lavin wanted to embarrass him in public."

R515 No. He was with John Crowley, that's who died. Maybe Matt Wall is a new boyfriend.

Laurie Metcalfe and David Cromer who directed Brighton Beach hated each other. Anyone know the story?

Lea Salonga was excellent in the part. The show - not so much.

Lavin may not be to everyone’s tastes, and Alice was not to mine, but I absolutely love her onstage. Her performance as Mrs. Van Daan in Anne Frank devastated me. Once she had to sell her fur coat, she slowly, but physically deflated through the rest of the play. The costumes also deteriorated, showing patches and fraying. She may not be a kind person, but onstage I find her totally compelling.

R522, she was easily the best thing about that underwhelming production. At the end when the Nazis she did something like a silent scream and it broke my heart. I lnow....MARY!

Just watched a documentary on Rosalind Russell.

Was she even considered for Mame? She'd been a success on Broadway in Wonderful Town and, of course, been in Auntie Mame.

Was she sick during Mame (she had breast cancer)? Or was she considered too old or not a good enough singer?

Why would they want Roz Russell when they had Lucille Ball???

I think Russell basically said she was through with the role and didn't want to revisit it in another format. Also, when the musical appeared, she was close to 60, probably not up to the physical demands of the show.

Does anyone remember why Lavin opened Broadway Bound instead of Franz? I vaguely recall something about a feeling that, by the third play, they wanted more Jewish authenticity, but I can’t find anything online discussing it. Franz did replace Lavin before Rivers came in. (And Mr Sherie Renee Scott replaced Silverman as Eugene.)

Miss Saigon was riding the crest of the pop opera craze. If it had come five years later, I don’t think it would have been a hit. Salonga was stunning, and as un-PC as it is to say it now, Jonathan Pryce was excellent, too.

I like some of the music and the design was great. But there was something deeply offensive about it, specifically the use of photographs of real war victims during Bui Doi that was beyond disgusting; the exploitation of real human suffering to prop up a frothy little soap opera entertainment.

"Miss Saigon" came into town on a firestorm of publicity about the casting of Jonathan Pryce. It got more publicity and for a longer time than anyone could possibly imagine. By the time it opened, everyone wanted to see what the scandal was all about. Basically nothing, but the tickets got sold.

I found LES MIZ boring and pompous and endlessly long, but the vocal performances were outstanding and some of the music is stunningly beautiful. I never need to watch it again, but I will listen to the OCR occasionally. It holds up.

By contrast, I hated every moment and every aspect of MISS SAIGON. The score sucks, particularly the songs fans single out as favorites. I can't believe it's the same writing team. (No, I didn't see Lea Salonga, who I've enjoyed elsewhere.)

We walked out of Miss Saigon.

Forbidden Broadway had it right in mocking the banal lyrics:

"I am postcard. You are Hallmark.

Reach out and touch. FTD!"

r525 I'm pretty sure he was referring to the STAGE version of "Mame," not the movie.

R532 I was. I know that Angela had to lobby HARD to get the part (because the producers didn't think she was a big enough name), so I wondered if they had approached Russell.

[quote] But there was something deeply offensive about it, specifically the use of photographs of real war victims during Bui Doi that was beyond disgusting; the exploitation of real human suffering to prop up a frothy little soap opera entertainment.

Never saw it all like that. Most people didn't know about Bui Doi until then. Didn't glamourize it, just presented what happened.

They could have photoshopped some bright, lovely costumes on the Bui Doi victims.

I go to the theater for gaiety and to escape sadness.

Or they could have hired actors to play them and not just use for free images of dying children

[quote]Question for [R472] - why was Miss Saigon a thing? I feel like exact same story had already been told before many times

Ya think?

How did Joe Machota go from not terribly successful chorus boy to powerful agent in such a short time?

I assume Lavin got the part because she was available and a name who could sell tickets.

Rosalind Russell was so strongly identified with the role of Mame that she was indeed initially offered the musical. But, as R526 noted, she said she had no interest in revisiting the role. "Auntie Mame" had been a great personal triumph for her, both on Broadway and in the movie version. Maybe she didn't want to tarnish her career by doing a musical version that might very well have been a flop.

Russell also thought (rightly) that singing was her weakest talent.

She suffered the ignominy of being dubbed for Gypsy.

[quote]"Miss Saigon" came into town on a firestorm of publicity about the casting of Jonathan Pryce. It got more publicity and for a longer time than anyone could possibly imagine. By the time it opened, everyone wanted to see what the scandal was all about. Basically nothing, but the tickets got sold.

I think that does account for a lot of the ticket sales, but also, the basic story of MISS SAIGON -- that is, the basic story of MADAMA BUTTERFLY -- has moved audiences for more than a hundred years, and I think it continued to do so in MISS SAIGON even though the music is banal, the lyrics are worse, and there were indeed some very offensive and wrong-headed aspects of the production.

[quote]I found LES MIZ boring and pompous and endlessly long, but the vocal performances were outstanding and some of the music is stunningly beautiful. I never need to watch it again, but I will listen to the OCR occasionally. It holds up. By contrast, I hated every moment and every aspect of MISS SAIGON. The score sucks, particularly the songs fans single out as favorites. I can't believe it's the same writing team.

It really does seem like that composer put everything he had into LES MIZ, and nothing he has written since then comes close to the quality of the best songs in that show. (I'm not mentioning the lyricist here because that's a complicated situation, and I think his work is pretty awful in general, even in the original French version of LES MIZ.)

[quote] I know that Angela had to lobby HARD to get the part (because the producers didn't think she was a big enough name), so I wondered if they had approached Russell.

Even if Roz had been younger and in perfect health at the time of MAME the musical on stage, I can't imagine Jerry Herman would have agreed to the limitations necessary in writing songs that she could have handled. Not for the title role in MAME. I'm sure this has been written and talked about, but I don't remember if I've read or heard who else was considered for the part. Maybe one of the women who wound up replacing Lansbury? I would imagine Ginger Rogers was a bigger name in 1966 than Lansbury.

The Serenbe Playhouse who did Titanic in the lake did Miss Saigon and had an actual helicopter fly over the audience.

....

A lot of Miss Saigon tickets were bought by Vietnam Vets. I used to walk by the theater as the show was ending and there were a lot of white men with Asian wives exiting. I saw it quite often.

Miss Saigon was popular because it has a lot of power ballads. Never underestimate the selling ability of a power ballad, no matter how poorly written it is. Any song that changes keys, is written in a major key and modulates upwards will sell tickets. Power ballads is how Frank Wildhorn had a career.

[quote] Never underestimate the selling ability of a power ballad, no matter how poorly written it is.

You speak a depressing truth.

Sorry every show can't be a Sondheim dirge that doesn't make a penny.

[quote]Sorry every show can't be a Sondheim dirge that doesn't make a penny.

This is a straw man argument that contributes nothing.

Miss Saigon has a better score than Phantom.

Russell was the very first person offered Mame because of her box office value. Herman was fine with it. It was going to be a big, very expensive show and the producers wanted a big name.

But she turned them down flat with her famous comment "I don't eat yesterday's stew."

R549 While that is a fairly low bar, apparently most people disagree with you, given the amazing success of Phantom.

[quote]Miss Saigon has a better score than Phantom

One stole my story, one stole my music...

Miss Saigon came to Broadway as a huge hit from London. And Cameron Mackintosh masterfully parlayed the Jonathan Pryce controversy into ticket sales. I saw it early on, and both Salonga and Pryce were magnificent. And say what you will about the helicopter, but it was a stunning effect and far more impressive than the chandelier in Phantom. Some might even say it was a coup de theatre.

When R&H started writing South Pacific, they were going to musicalize the story about Cable and Liat. Rodgers stopped because, according to his autobiography, he realized the story was little more than a rehash of Madama Butterfly. Fortunately, Rodgers had had the foresight to buy the rights to the entire book of short stories, so they started over with the story about de Becque and Nelly. Later into the writing, Hammerstein figured out a way to combine the two stories. In Tales of the South Pacific, the two couples appear only in separate stories and never meet.

^ Nellie, of course, not Nelly.

^ Nellie, of course, not Nelly.

When Will Broadway Theatre Reopen, Based on COVID-19 Infection Data?:

From the article posted at R557:

[quote]Based on all the available infection data, information on the virus, mortality charts and insider political chatter about the Governors appetite to get the state up and running again, a somewhat-educated guess is that the full set of Broadway theatres will not open until June 1st 2020, at the very earliest. June 15th, 2020 may be more likely, with July 1st, 2020 being the conservative estimate.

Until our glorious New York theaters open again, Matthew and I are going door-to-door for people who wouldn't *mind* seeing Neil Simon.

R550, Many Broadway chorus boys have uttered those same words.

R558, September 1st is more realistic.

After AUNTIE MAME, Russell never did a Bway show, did she?

[quote]a somewhat-educated guess is that the full set of Broadway theatres will not open until June 1st 2020, at the very earliest. June 15th, 2020 may be more likely, with July 1st, 2020 being the conservative estimate.

Oh, that's terrible.

Wasn't Roz considered for Coco?

[quote]But she turned them down flat with her famous comment "I don't eat yesterday's stew."

Her loss. Leftover stew is great -- it's one of those things that improves by sitting in the fridge overnight.

r555 Did you say "Nellie"?

Lavin was great in Broadway Bound and The Tale of the Allergist's Wife. This is why her misfire of a performance in Gypsy has always been a mystery to me. On paper, she seemed better suited to the role than Daly was, but I longed for Daly to come back by the first 20 minutes of Lavin's performance. It's not even that she was terrible - just weird in a sort of unmemorable way. It was like she was deliberately trying to deliver every song and line in a way that no one else ever had and, by doing so, lost the character.

This is Nelly

R565, I agree.

Not to bring back Blythe Danner after comments about her have faded away, but I would disagree about what someone upstream said about her being a bad mother. I don't know GOOP or Blythe, but if Blythe raised G to be independent, hard-working, intelligent, with a great work ethic, well, I think she did a great job. You might not like anything GOOP stands for, but there is no denying that she built a hugely successful company, did not sit back and just count the money, and has been mostly free from salacious controversy. How can one not admire that?

London Assurance.

Les Blancs.

Lucky Stiff.

Russell was offered "Mame," but it was just a courtesy. They knew she would turn it down, but because it had been such a triumph for her, and she had entered the "beloved elder" phase of her life, they let her turn it down rather than suffer not being considered.

Besides Lansbury, the "down to the wire" ladies who almost but not quite were Mame were Nanette Fabray and Dolores Gray. I think it was Fabray who literally lost it to Lansbury. Herman must have been thrilled when Lansbury showed up (he famously coached her for her callback), because she sang almost (not quite) as well as Gray, and was ten times the actress Fabray was.

[quote]Wasn't Roz considered for Coco?

Yes. That's why Freddie Brisson (her hubby) acquired the rights, was for Roz. But by the end of '67, it was clear she didn't have the stamina for another stage run. This was a few years prior to her cancer diagnosis, but she was afflicted with crippling arthritis. She also wanted to play Aimee Semple McPherson in a film of "Storming Heaven," the biography of Aimee, but by 1970 she was simply too old. (Aimee died at 54, Roz was ten years older by then, and the best part of Aimee's story was the 1920s and her kidnapping, when Aimee was in her 30s).

After "Where Angels Go, Trouble Follows," Roz only managed two more screen appearances - a movie of "The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax" (retitled "Mrs. Pollifax-Spy"), which was a disaster and withheld from release for almost a year and a half, and a TV movie filmed in early '72. By then she was showing the weight gain from all the cortisone they were pumping her up with to help her arthritis.

[quote]Russell was the very first person offered Mame because of her box office value. Herman was fine with it. It was going to be a big, very expensive show and the producers wanted a big name. But she turned them down flat with her famous comment "I don't eat yesterday's stew."

I've heard that story, but I wouldn't be surprised if it's bullshit, for several reasons. Russell REALLY was too old for the part, even for the stage, and even if she had been in excellent health. And I repeat, I can't imagine that Herman -- or anyone else, for that matter -- could have written songs that Russell could have handled for a role like Auntie Mame. The only songs she ever could handle were out and out comedy numbers and/or songs with no sustained notes, and to have written that character with songs limited to that would have been awful. As for the score that Herman DID write, I guess Russell would have been okay in "Bosom Buddies" (although the vocal range even of that song might have been an issue) and "That's How Young I Feel."

[quote]Miss Saigon came to Broadway as a huge hit from London. And Cameron Mackintosh masterfully parlayed the Jonathan Pryce controversy into ticket sales. I saw it early on, and both Salonga and Pryce were magnificent. And say what you will about the helicopter, but it was a stunning effect and far more impressive than the chandelier in Phantom.

I agree with all of that except your comments about Pryce. He was so completely miscast that I thought he was ridiculous in the part, regardless of his great acting talent. Would you enjoy seeing Richard Burton play Porgy? That's sort of what it was like to me....

[quote]Lavin was great in Broadway Bound and The Tale of the Allergist's Wife. This is why her misfire of a performance in Gypsy has always been a mystery to me. On paper, she seemed better suited to the role than Daly was, but I longed for Daly to come back by the first 20 minutes of Lavin's performance. It's not even that she was terrible - just weird in a sort of unmemorable way. It was like she was deliberately trying to deliver every song and line in a way that no one else ever had and, by doing so, lost the character.

I wonder if her performance varied greatly from night to night, because I thought she was excellent in the part. And though I hate it when an actor does that thing of "trying to deliver every song and line in a way that no one else ever had," I really wasn't conscious of Lavin doing that in GYPSY.

[quote]Russell was offered "Mame," but it was just a courtesy. They knew she would turn it down, but because it had been such a triumph for her, and she had entered the "beloved elder" phase of her life, they let her turn it down rather than suffer not being considered.

Thanks. That makes a lot more sense to me than any serious offer of the role, so I'm going to go with this version of the story.

[quote]Besides Lansbury, the "down to the wire" ladies who almost but not quite were Mame were Nanette Fabray and Dolores Gray.

Didn't I read that Fabray lost the role for some silly reason, or was it just that she foolishly turned it down?

[quote]By the end of '67, it was clear she didn't have the stamina for another stage run. This was a few years prior to her cancer diagnosis,

Wait a minute, I'm confused. I think I've read that Russell had cancer as far back as 1960 or '61 or so, which is why Merman held out hope that she might get to do the movie of GYPSY after all, even though Russell's husband had already bought the film rights. Am I wrong about that?

No, Russell's cancer didn't happen till the early 1970s. It was her arthritis that had kicked in by the early 1960s. It became debilitating after she shot "Rosie" in 1967, "Where Angels Go" was perfect for her because it didn't require a lot of movement or physical comedy. But it's what kept her from "Coco," and it's what kept her from anything else other than her two final films. The cortisone bloat was because of her arthritis, not her cancer.

Re Fabray, it was "Hello Dolly" that she fucked up, refusing to audition for Gower (saying "He knows my work"). By "Mame," she had learned her lesson and read and sang for it.

Gisele McKenzie was also one of the finalists for Mame. I remember reading it in Life magazine in a feature at the time on Lansbury.

It's been confirmed that Judy saw Mame, but I've never seen a photo of her visiting Angela backstage.

Close enough.

[quote] Would you enjoy seeing Richard Burton play Porgy?

Right -- it would be as bad as Leslie Odom, Jr. playing Aaron Burr.

[quote]I agree with all of that except your comments about Pryce. He was so completely miscast that I thought he was ridiculous in the part, regardless of his great acting talent. Would you enjoy seeing Richard Burton play Porgy? That's sort of what it was like to me....

Alas the Tony Committee didn't agree with you.

I have been going to Broadway since a kid and have seen the original cast of every major musical since the late 70's and the only time I ever teared up in a show was the Saigon helicopter evacuation scene, both times I saw it.

I thought THE FALL OF SAIGON/Helicopter Scene was breathtaking and very powerful when I saw the show as a teen, twice. I loved it. Obsessed. Now, I see it for the corny and banal product it really is. Some of this music is truly beautiful and Lea Salonga was brilliant. I saw it with DeeDee Lynn Magno and Matt Bogart, who was super gorgeous then. The helicopter definitely tops the chandelier in PHANTOM.

[quote]...it really does seem like that composer put everything he had into LES MIZ, and nothing he has written since then comes close to the quality of the best songs in that show.

Check out Martin Guerre. While the book is terrible, the production in London was filled with musical moments reminiscent of Les Miz. Here's a clip of Hugh Panaro in the US cast.

And trivia question: Has any actor ever appeared in the West End playing principal roles in two different productions at the same time?

I saw "Martin Guerre" at the Kennedy Center in late 1999. Trust me, it sucked. There's a very good reason it never went to Broadway, the major one being that it sucks.

Some beautiful songs in the original MARTIN GUERRE but not enough. The show is a slogger. They also did that show MARGUERITE which has some beautiful music too.

[quote]They also did that show MARGUERITE which has some beautiful music too.

Yeah, and Marguerite had that hunky Julian Ovendon and a nude scene. Saw the show three times!

r587 And was it pronounced "Mar-gyoo-REET?"

The West End production of Martin Guerre was infinitely better than the UK tour or the US tour version. That version had completely new lyrics and a largely new story and every single change was for the worse. It was kind of amazing.

By far the best iteration was at the Watermill Playhouse using actor-musicians. It was basically the West End version only with much clearer storytelling and largely better lyrics.

I agree that Linda Lavin's Rose deliberately phrased everything differently as a rule, but I found it fascinating--a unique portrayal. Unfortunately, she ended up losing Rose's essential quality of charm--why the character bulldozes everyone around so easily. They have such fun with her that they can't push back till they finally snap.

I also feel that lack of charm has always been Lavin's problem. She's a fine performer, but I feel a certain meanness always comes through in whatever she does. Or maybe it's anger, weariness...something unattractive.

I saw her play a social worker (I think) in a cameo on TV not too long ago though not recently. I don't remember the show--was it The Good Wife?--but I realized as she played this distinctly unhelpful or even hostile character that I was seeing the essential Linda Lavin. Yet she never fails to deliver a fascinating performance no matter what she does. You always want more.

Actually, the part of the Engineer was supposed to be Eurasian, so it wasn't quite that much of a stretch.

[quote]R575 Rosalind Russell also wanted to play Aimee Semple McPherson in a film of "Storming Heaven," the biography of Aimee, but by 1970 she was simply too old.

I agree.

All those awful 80's mega shows were musically bankrupt and dramatically inert. Following in the wake of the sublime prime Sondheim-Prince musicals, their popularity signaled the end of quality and the rise of lazy, complacent songwriting, and the musical remains in freefall to this day.

[quote]Actually, the part of the Engineer was supposed to be Eurasian, so it wasn't quite that much of a stretch.

And that fact got lost in all the social justice posturing about "An Asian must play the role." It was ridiculous. I often wonder if the argument was more for publicity sake than anything. Jonathan Pryce was known in the US (loved him in Something Wicked This Way Comes and people knew him from Brazil) but naysayers kept screaming he wasn't considered a star so he shouldn't be able to do the production in the US.

Lavin has given some of the most brilliant performances I've seen on stage; Broadway Bound, Anne Frank, Collected Stories. Somehow, though, she hasn't fared as well in musicals. I didn't see her in Gypsy, but the clips are bizarre. I did see her in Follies at the Kennedy Center, where it looked like they decided to stop the show in the middle and have special guest star Linda Lavin come out and perform a song. It made no sense whatsoever.

She is excellent on OCR of "It's A Bird, It's a Plane, It's Superman" and apparently got the best notices way back then.

Did Linda comment on social media when Ron Leibman died?

#384?

[quote]Yet (Linda Lavin) never fails to deliver a fascinating performance no matter what she does. You always want more.

I had sufficient.