THEATRE GOSSIP #385 - Gavin & Lavin Edition

Recording The Grass Harp in Czechoslvakia would have been wildly cheaper than recording it in Manhattan with Local 802 musicians. This was 18 years before the fall of the Soviet Union and Czechoslovakia was in the East. That recording might have cost pennies on the dollar compared to the cost of recording in NYC.

Thanks for the insight, r1.

Maybe Diana Rigg knew her body wasn't up to dancing 8 shows a week. The moves may not be complex but the actress has to work hard.

*And yes, I know that Rigg danced "Who's That Woman."

CHITA!!!

[quote]*And yes, I know that Rigg danced "Who's That Woman."

Which is more than Yvonne De Carlo did.

There's a new thread in town!

From the previous thread:

[quote] The orchestra for Company must've loved Elaine then

IIRC, and I'm open to correction, maybe I don't, when Stritch came back the next day to re-record her vocals, the orchestra didn't come back. She sang to orchestral tracks laid down the previous day.

Carlotta was not a chorus girl. She had her own number in Philadelphia. Logically, she would not have been in "Who's That Woman?" and would, therefore, have no way to remember it and join in.

She had her own number that she bombed. She maybe banged Weisman and he gave her a number.

Did anyone catch Ivy Lynn in last fall's bomb revival of "Liaisons"? Terry Falls didn't know what he was doing and neither did anyone else. Only ran for a week, and vy was the best thing in it, for sure.

Can't wait to see what she does with Marilyn!

When Dolores Gray left "Seven Lively Arts," chorus member Helen Gallagher got her featured spot. That never happened in the Follies?

There's really not much for Phyllis to do dance wise in Lucy and Jessie. There are some kicks and some hand waving and that's about it. It seems like, after Michael Bennett, people started giving Phyllis more to do in the number which only works if you have someone who's an actual dancer. Bennett knew how to make Alexis Smith look good.

Never look back. Never look back.

In his forward to a book on The Avengers, Patrick Macnee recalled affectionately that Diana Rigg had "a face like a monkey in those days." He also made note that Honor Blackman had a "bum like a boy scout." I'm still not quite sure what that means.

R1, but the Grass Harp was closed. I do not know if that changed the financials or if it made the producer more willing to experiment in how the album was assembled.

However if it was cheaper and created no difficulties you can be sure that all the cast albums in the 70s would have imitated The Grass Harp.

What most shows (better capitalized than Grass Harp) did was record the Sunday after opening.

The idea put forward that Follies should have had European musicians record tracks, over which later the cast would record vocals so that they could afford a two album recording sounds like a Ken Ludwig plot for a farce that never sees a second production after its Denver premiere.

The Grass Harp was mentioned as an example of an alternate way of producing a cast recording. It was suggested that the situation was Czech or Die.

*It was NOT suggested.

Alexis struts...

Dee does justice to Underneath...

Or Tony Sheldon does...

Jason Robert Brown confirmed in a recent interview that an doing an original cast recording of any show, even off-off Bway, was as expensive as fuck. Prohibitively expensive. OTOH, it's still the primary means of keeping anything alive in the hope of a regional production or mainstream revival.

So crazy that there are multiple recordings (and in different languages) of a couple dozen Bway hits while some shows from the past 25 years, particularly off-Bway, have never been recorded at all. I would have thought that newer, less expensive technology would change that, but that hasn't borne out.

Hoty hasn't an ounce of sex appeal. It's odd.

She does on stage, r23. Even John Simon raved about her Phyllis.

"Ah But Underneath" is such a "meh" song. Not terrible, but really, really not good. Dee Hoty is selling it hard in that clip.

It doesn't feel like Sondheim. It feels like the work of an ambitious undergraduate who swallowed a rhyming dictionary.

She was rather dreary on stage as Phyllis. She's good on the cast recording and at the Broadway Leading Ladies concert. The hair in that number is very severe and unflattering and makes her looks like a maiden aunt.

When The Grass Harp closed, the employment of the Local 802 musicians was ended. The contract was done.

If, during the run of the show, Local 802 heard that the producers were trying to make that cast album in Eastern Europe, those Grass Harp 802 musicians would have been out on the sidewalk IMMEDIATELY. Until their musicians got paid for that recording, there would be no more performances of The Grass Harp.

As opposed to shlitz (sp?) in her mitz ... it's so schizo... etc. "Uptown Downtown" is the real tryhard lyric of the three songs.

I didn't find her dreary at all, r26. I thought she was quite good.

That makes sense, r27.

Did Prince try to take FOLLIES to London as he did COMPANY?

I hate that one too, R28.

Stick with "Lucy and Jessie" IMHO.

[Quote] I didn't find her dreary at all, [R26]. I thought she was quite good.

I think she's talented but she lacked spark. I thought that of the produciton overall. It was still better than the Roundabout debacle.

Enough with Grass Harp before....Aghhhh, too late!!!!

I hate this, especially the move where she sends them to the ground as she sings "something even eerier." Did the choreographer even read the lyrics?

Look how long it took to record Prettybelle...

Cleo to the rescue!

Caroline

I saw the NT production of Follies in movie theaters a couple of years ago. It was my first time seeing any production of Follies, I really expected to like it, given its pedigree and subject matter, but quite frankly I was mostly bored, except for "I'm Still Here" and maybe some other elements that I don't even recall...

For those of you who didn't catch BANDSTAND, there's a (free) link is in the previous thread. (Or better yet, you could donate $7 to The Actors Fund and watch it online that way.)

Worth a look. I can see how the show didn't hit big on Bway, but I'm surprised at how little love/attention it received critically or even here on DL (unless I missed it at the time). It's a pretty smart, ambitious book with an original POV. The score, alas, is not consistently great, but has strong moments. I'll be listening to the OCR this week and will probably watch it again.

[Quote] I saw the NT production of Follies in movie theaters a couple of years ago. It was my first time seeing any production of Follies, I really expected to like it, given its pedigree and subject matter, but quite frankly I was mostly bored, except for "I'm Still Here" and maybe some other elements that I don't even recall...

I brought someone to the NPH Company and they thought similarly. They only liked "Not Getting Married Today."

Uptown

She's stepping out with a swell

Downtown

She's holding hands on the El

Hyphenated Harriet

The nouveau from New Rochelle

Uptown

She's got the Vanderbilt clans

Downtown

She's with the sidewalk Cezannes

Hyphenated Harriet

The nouveau from New Rochelle

She sits at the Ritz with her splits of Mumms

And starts to pine for a stine with her Village chums

But with the schlitz in her mitts down in Fitzroy's Bar

She thinks of the Ritz, so it's so schizo

Oh yes, R18 , it was in the last thread. These Theater Gossip threads are a safe haven for ridiculous schemes, but this one is really one of the best.

"They could have recorded the music and vocals separately. I believe "The Grass Harp" music tracks were outsourced to the Czech Republic. Karen Morrow has spoken about it. There were ways to make it happen. Prince made quite a stupid error and it wasn't his first time at the rodeo. "

But as R27 points out, the unions would never have let it happen. But the idea of a band in the Czech Republic recording Sondheim's latest score and then sending the tracks back to New York for Alexis Smith and Ethel Shutta to record over is just delightful to contemplate.

Is it less delightful if it's Barbabra Cook and Celeste Holm---I mean, Karen Morrow?

THEATRE GOSSIP #385 - *Lavin & Gavin* Edition

Why do I have to clean up all your mistakes? Get it right the first time.

Speaking of Gavin, why do people like Cheyenne Jackson get to record concert version of shows? Creel has a much more beautiful voice. I'd love to hear him sing the male lead in "Promises, Promises" - maybe for a BBC Prom.

Michael Bennett liked Uptown much better than Lucy and Jessie and the staging for Uptown is why the dancers have their backs to the audience.

Didn't the Chapin book say that Bennett request a new song as revenge for being dicked around - something like that. It made no sense.

I hate Jessie AND Lucy!

That song #SucksAss

"The Bedwetter": Sarah Silverman musical starring Lavin is, like everything else, postponed.

Ah, But Underneath is a piece of shot. The lyric is Sondheim masturbating lyrically, showing off as many complicated rhymes as he can.

It’s not half the song “Lucy & Jessie” is.

[quote] I cannot think of any such full-score and highlights recordings being released until the age of CDs

Think harder.

"Hyphenated Harriet" is going to be my new handle on Grindr, unless one of you bitches has already taken it.

[Quote] The Most Happy Fella

Interesting. Thanks for the information.

Not that anyone cares, but Victor's studio recording of The Chocolate Soldier with Rise Stevens and Robert Merrill (singing their music down about a fifth, dulling it beyond belief) also came out complete (on two LPs) and in highlights.

[Quote] "Hyphenated Harriet" is going to be my new handle on Grindr

Or you could just go with "Given Up."

[quote] Didn't the Chapin book say that Bennett request a new song as revenge for being dicked around - something like that.

No. He requested a new song because he didn’t think “Uptown, Downtown” was as danceable as he needed it to be. It was one of the last things he staged before Boston, & he didn’t realize earlier that he needed a different song. He also discovered in staging it & Who’s That Woman that Alexis was a fairly facile mover, and wanted to give her something that would show off her and her legs more.

Dear God that "acting" in the Pride and Prejudice musical at r534 of the previous thread. Just when I thought watching some filmed theatre would warm my heart.

From the last thread: "I'm one of those that likes Ah! But Underneath the best. In my opinion, the song flows better than Lucy/Jessie. I get that Sondheim doesn't like it because of its simplistic rhymes"

"Query her superior exterior" is simplistic? C'mon, Steve, snap out of it!

As a composer I have had occasion to write replacement songs. Inevitably one is better than the other...and not necessarily the replacement. But both LUCY AND JESSIE and UNDERNEATH are tour-de-forces of extravagant wordplay (even if musically they both tread water, IMO).

I'm only familiar with Uptown Downtown form the Papermill Cast recording. I can't say that musically it registered as all that different from Lucy and Jessie, such that one was more danceable than the other. I must listen again.

I forgot UPTOWN DOWNTOWN...

Make that THREE tour-de-forces of extravagant wordplay.

R8 True, I meant more how late that recording session ran thanks to the take after take after take.

R22 It's interesting that the cast recordings are so expensive. I wonder, then, how much the recordings are for things like the Thanksgiving Day parade. Okay, it's just one song, but they're still getting everyone into the studio, and it's across four or five shows. Or perhaps it's just prohibitively expensive from a theatrical budget view, but from a television budget it's nothing.

The OBCR of Sweeney Todd was released originally as a two disc album and shortly later as a generous one disc highlights album.

Recordings made for one off peformances on TV are for promo. They're not for sale so no one's going to deman their "cut."

*demand

I watched the link of Bandstand. The story and acting and choreography were al quite good, but the music was just dreadful. I admit that I really dislike big band music, so it was not likely I would have liked it, but it just seemed too pedestrian. I liked the the actors played their own horns, that was a nice touch, and the ending was very satisfying. But the music? Does anyone still listen to big band?

[Quote] I liked the the actors played their own horns

Pics, please!`

[quote]In his forward to a book on The Avengers

Oh, dear.

Did someone mention "The Chocolate Soldier"?

I think it's interesting that, for some reason, Sondheim apparently insisted that the Paper Mill FOLLIES use "Ah, But Underneath," not "Lucy and Jessie." I guess he hadn't yet decided he really doesn't like the former. To me, "Lucy and Jessie" is much better for that slot because it's musically better and you really do need an up-tune there.

Back to "Losing My Mind," I understand that the character of Phyllis and the others may not have been fully realized when Sondheim wrote that song for Phyllis, but was she ever carrying a torch for someone? If you're married to someone who doesn't love you, that's sad, but the lyrics of "Losing My Mind" are not about that kind of situation at all.

[quote] Sondheim apparently insisted that the Paper Mill FOLLIES use "Ah, But Underneath,"

That was Robert Johanson, who directed (and was Papermill AD at the time). He liked ABU better, and made the case to Sondheim (even though Dee Hoty was perfectly capable of doing “Lucy and Jessie”). That production was what convinced Sondheim that Lucy & Jessie was better. When Johanson wanted to record it, Sondheim said he would only consider it if Lucy & Jessie were put back. Then Johanson suggested recording all three songs, and out of that grew the idea of doing several cut songs. Sondheim was the one who put a stop to a NY transfer, too. Neither he nor Goldman thought it was good enough (in the sense of capturing what they intended), but Sondheim was worried that he would hurt some of the old broads, especially Ann Miller. That’s when Goldman’s wife stepped in and offered to take the heat. So she was blamed for it. And Ann Miller was indeed hurt, but she didn’t think it was Sondheim who crushed her dream.

Who else was in the Paper Mill Follies besides Dee Hoty and Ann Miller?

Disregard the question.

Donna McKechnie as Sally and Laurence Guittard and Tony Roberts as Ben and Buddy.

Yuck, boring. No wonder it didn't transfer.

I've always thought that both Uptown/Downtown and The Story of Lucy and Jesse are riffs on The Saga of Jenny from Lady in the Dark. All three are about stylish UES society ladies who can't make up their minds.

^ And serve roughly the same dramatic purpose and placement in the plot of the shows.

And yet Sondheim has said many times that he very much dislikes the work of both Kurt Weill and Ira Gershwin.

My late partner, who was a 7th Avenue and off-Broadway clothes designer, always told me that if you are going to steal, steal from the best.

Hyacinth was the Darling of the Day. Short run but she won a Tony.

Darling of the Day

Has anyone ever doubted that The Story of Lucy and Jessie was inspired by The Saga of Jenny?

All the talent and she ended up to flop after flop on Broadway. She was much more successful in West End.

She was both Prince and Sondheim's first choice for Mrs. Lovett. She turned them down so they turned to Angela.

R77, no disrespect, but you do realize--that quote didn't originate with your late partner?

R82 She would have been perfect.

R83, of course. But it was the first time I'd heard it and it's still good advice.

Some info

Lucy as Phyllis, Vivan Vance as Sally, Desi as Ben and William Frawley as Buddy.

Wonderful, r87.

Wonderful, r87.

Mary Jane Croft as Carlotta!

And Gale Gordon miscast as Weismann.

And Gale Gordon miscast as Weismann.

She thought that love was a matter of

"Hi, there!"

"Kiss me!"

"Bye, there!"

and I want to hear Mrs. Trumbull sing Broadway Baby

If Mrs. Trumbull could sing "Ah Sweet Mystery of Life," "Broadway Baby should be a cinch.

No, Mrs. Trumbull will sing One Last Kiss.

Oh, I feel like watching this again....

Marion Applebee will sing Broadway Baby.

I stand corrected. R98 and R96 - better choices!!!!!

No, Carolyn (Lillian) Appleby will sing Broadway Baby. Marion Strong will be one of the ladies who sing and dance in the Mirror number.

And One More Kiss with Mrs. Magillicuddy and the teenage girl who had a crush on Ricky?

Thanks for the Vincent Price clip! Had no idea it existed. But my, doesn't he seem uncomfortable!

Oh, for the love of God. We're all stuck in quarantine and its hellish enough. CAN WE TALK ABOUT SOMETHING OTHER THAN FOLLIES!

They'll cut Bolero d'Amour. Why? Because they have sufficient!

[Quote] CAN WE TALK ABOUT SOMETHING OTHER THAN FOLLIES!

WAHHHHH!!!

Hot rumor of the day. Disney has three shows on Broadway, but one won't reopen.

The Lion King?

Patrica Routledge was in that successful version of Pirates of Penzance. She could have gone to Broadway with it (and no doubt won a Tony Award) but she decided she wanted to go back to London. In London, Noises Off was beginning to take shape and she was excellent in the production.

She made the right decision. She would never have a better career in America than in England.

William Frawley doing "Buddy's Blues" would have been amazing. I can even hear his stylings.

But no, not Desi for Ben. Obviously Gary.

It's FROZEN.

LION KING will outlast us all, for better or worse.

R101, the girl was Janet Waldo, the voice of Judy Jetson.

Stella could have been played by Carlotta Romero.

Why cut "Bolero d'Amour" when Desi Arnaz is playing Ben? More Latin would be better than less.

If anything, I would replace "Live, Laugh, Live" with "Cuban Pete."

Broadway Star Danny Burstein on Harrowing Coronavirus Experience....

Yikes!

[Quote] The six-time Tony nominee

Always a bridesmaid.

[Quote] It felt like there was an 80-pound boy standing straight up on my chest

Lucky.

[Quote] I was going incognito.

Bless your heart, Tony/Dany.

“She made the right decision. She would never have a better career in America than in England.“

I dunno. I think if she stayed in the US, she might have been offered “Murder She Wrote” when Jean Stapleton turned it down. However, her return to the UK gave us “Keeping Up Appearances.” She was always destined for a tv show of some type.

"Murder She Wrote" would have made Routledge rich but I wouldn't describe it as an example of a better career. I consider it a waste of Lansbury's talents.

Bill Frawley's understudy would be Ted Kurtz.

[Quote] While I'm getting better, Rebecca has started dealing with the virus as well now. She's not been tested, but has all the symptoms to varying degrees. We are monitoring her closely.

I guess they couldn't afford to send her away, or they wanted her to be near a hospital.

You read my mind, R122.

Best wishes to Rebecca right now.

[quote]William Frawley doing "Buddy's Blues" would have been amazing.

I would kind of prefer William Frawley doing "In Buddy's Eyes".

Well.....I suppose we could move on to....

[quote]That was Robert Johanson, who directed (and was Papermill AD at the time). He liked ABU better, and made the case to Sondheim (even though Dee Hoty was perfectly capable of doing “Lucy and Jessie”). That production was what convinced Sondheim that Lucy & Jessie was better. When Johanson wanted to record it, Sondheim said he would only consider it if Lucy & Jessie were put back. Then Johanson suggested recording all three songs, and out of that grew the idea of doing several cut songs. Sondheim was the one who put a stop to a NY transfer, too. Neither he nor Goldman thought it was good enough (in the sense of capturing what they intended), but Sondheim was worried that he would hurt some of the old broads, especially Ann Miller. That’s when Goldman’s wife stepped in and offered to take the heat. So she was blamed for it. And Ann Miller was indeed hurt, but she didn’t think it was Sondheim who crushed her dream.

That pretty much accords with what I had heard at the time, although it was presented to me that Sondheim was the one who wanted "Ah, But Underneath" over "Lucy and Jessie." I'm a little surprised he let Johanson talk him into "ABU," but then again, Sondheim did write both songs, so he probably didn't hate "ABU" even if he preferred the other one. Ann Miller was indeed very upset about the show not transferring to Broadway, and apparently, she did indeed fully accept the story that Bobbi Goldman was the one preventing it. Another interesting part of the story is that, supposedly, Bobbi agreed to let the Roundabout do FOLLIES on Broadway only as a package deal with THE LION IN WINTER. Both productions turned out to be very poor, so maybe there was some karma involved there....

I wonder how Sondheim REALLY feels in retrospect about putting the kibosh on the Broadway transfer of the Paper Mill production in favor of allowing the Roundabout to do theirs. Of course, Sondheim didn't bad-mouth the Roundabout show at the time, nor has the done so since then, as far as I know. But again, I wonder how he REALLY feels about all that. If anyone has any inside knowledge of any comments he may have made about this, please bring it on!

The article by Danny Burstein will be part of the chronicles detailing the coming devastation of Broadway as a viable form of art. of Broadway.

How many COVID-19 victims have been in the audiences of Broadway shows?

[quote] The article by Danny Burstein will be part of the chronicles detailing the coming devastation of Broadway as a viable form of art. of Broadway.

Maybe ticket prices will come tumbling down, and producers stop thrusting stupid jukebox musicals at us.

The Madness of George III - Act One.

The Madness of George III - Act Two.

An Ideal Husband - 2018.

A Night With Janis Joplin.

[quote] Mrs. Trumbull will sing One Last Kiss

Now, THAT I’d like to hear!

A fella can dream, can't he....? Pleeeeeeeeease?

Scary part of Danny’s article is that now Rebecca has symptoms of Covid-19.

Lotsa MGM musicals on TCM today. Deep in My Heart, Royal Wedding, Seven Brides already finished. Now Always Fair Weather (with DL fave Dolores Gray), On the Town, Singin' in the Rain.

Tonight a bunch of Jane Russell flicks. Then tomorrow ... it's a Clifton Webb extravaganza!

[quote]Maybe ticket prices will come tumbling down, and producers stop thrusting stupid jukebox musicals at us.

YES! After all this mess, the unwashed masses hungry for entertainment will pack 'em for a Sondheim depressing dirge of a show.

One of the showgirls will be Mrs. Bow Wow Richard Carlson wearing her Don Loper original. Loper will design all the costumes except for Loveland which will be designed by Jacques Marcel.

Watched the 1976 PBS recording of Julie Harris in "The Belle of Amherst" on Amazon Prime yesterday. I may have cried just as much as she did (MARY! I know!). Harris was simply incandescent.

R135 I have got his Hamlet I shall post.

And Present Laughter may appear, other lost shows have.

[quote] It felt like there was an 80-pound boy standing straight up on my chest

Tell us more.

[quote]it's a Clifton Webb extravaganza!

Been there, done that. Make sure he takes his teeth out first.

Lupone sings a brilliant Rose’s Turn at NYC Encores

Ibegtadiffyabilly!

That was awful, r145. Not since Kay Medford ...

R145, what a strange clip to release. It seems like Patti was in a rehearsal and saving her voice for the real performances and you can hear the clicks of several cameras. Still, there's something interesting about watching her give a more subtle performance of the song.

I don't exactly understand about half the posts on this thread

Can we talk about Broadway cocks? What is Gavin Creel packing, for instance?

That is an embarrassing clip of Patti. She found a much better performance by the time she got to Broadway.

[quote]What is Gavin Creel packing, for instance?

Probably his bag lunch to take with him to the unemployment line.

[quote] She found a much better performance by the time she got to Broadway.

Whose was it?

And did she find any consonants?

I bet even Creel’s cock is forgettable.

Still, someone said she's sincere...

Arthur Laurents wrote about how much Patti improved by the time they took it to Broadway and he was right. She was really excellent and had found tons of wonderful nuances in the role that weren't present in the Encores version. They also changed her hair so it looked less severe which was a wise choice.

It's actually very interesting to watch her Ravinia, Encores, and Broadway performances and compare them. Ravinia is radically different from what she did with Laurents on both Broadway and during Encores. There are some moments in that Ravinia performance that are maybe even a little preferable to what she did with Laurents. It's amazing how some actors grow into a role and how having a different director can make a big difference. Not necessarily a bad difference, but a pretty substantial difference.

[quote]Arthur Laurents wrote about how much Patti improved by the time they took it to Broadway and he was right.

I thought her performance was actually worse on Broadway, at least the night I saw it. Overacted and over-calculated, and her "Rose's Turn" was out of control.

Ravinia...

Ravinia Ravinia have you seen Ravinia...

Patti needs to stay in her basement.

[quote]The article by Danny Burstein will be part of the chronicles detailing the coming devastation of Broadway as a viable form of art.

Could you imagine Broadway being closed until the fall of 2021? Yes, I said 2021. That's what some "expert" was just saying in a report on one of the local news channels here in NYC. And they weren't just talking about Broadway -- they were referring to ALL live venues including concerts, movie theaters, etc. They said they should probably all stay closed that long until it's safe for that many people to collect in one space again.

[quote]Could you imagine Broadway being closed until the fall of 2021?

That would be a shame!

Uhhh, R163/Joel, I seriously doubt that the NYC authorities would tolerate a large group of churchgoers anywhere, much less in a Broadway theatre. Nice try, though.

I have rarely heard anyone here discuss “Marry Me a Little,” the 1980 Off-Broadway show by Craig Lucas and Norman Rene. Consisting of Sondheim trunk songs, cut from various shows, and sung by a man and woman, it was cleverly staged on the existing studio apt. set of another show being presented in the same theater. The conceit of the concept was that the two singers were single people inhabiting similar apartments in the same building, but who never actually meet, except in their fancies.

For a show consisting of one song after another, with no spoken dialogue, it was quite charming, with performances that were endearing and memorable.

And the songs were wonderful. Some had been previously presented at the Sondheim Tribute in 1973, but this was the first public presentation for many others. I loved it, and eagerly bought the lp, and later CD, which I still have. There was enough enthusiasm for Sondheim’s music at the time that even a collection of his unused songs could not only attract an audience, but merit a recording release.

I understand it was revived at some point, but I didn’t see that.

Jeremy Jordan and Ashley Spencer to Announce 2020 Lucille Lortel Award Nominations Virtually:

“Uhhh, [R163]/Joel, I seriously doubt that the NYC authorities would tolerate a large group of churchgoers anywhere, much less in a Broadway theatre.”

That’s not the point. After a year of no revenue, some owners will be ready to sell.

I'm watching Bandstand. Corey Cott's furry chest and pits are going a long way to keep me engaged.

Isn't he some kind of religious homophobe, though?

r168 I certainly hope not!

Corey Cott sucks. Not even cute or anything. The show sucks worse. I saw it on Broadway. Cream rises! Haha. I can still see Corey's retarded face singing that bile. Don't get me started on reality TV actress Laura Osnes.

Laura Osnes may not be the second coming of Mary Martin but she is lovely and fine. Wonderful singing voice.

Laura is good. She has a lovely voice and she's playing the character well and believably. Beth Leavel is a treat. Was surprised she didn't get a Featured Actress nomination. Shit, Ariel Stach'el won an award for doing less.

Laura has all the acting talent of a community theater fifth grader. I saw her in Bandstand and Cinderella. Laughable. The voice is bland and very limited. NEXT!

Fuck off, you're boring.

Haha. But not as boring as Laura Osnes and Cory Cott.

Did anyone here see the infamous performances of Robert Johansen as Peter Pan or Jesus in JCS? The stories are legendary.

[quote]the infamous performances of Robert Johansen as Peter Pan

It gave a whole new meaning to the Lost Boys ...

“Even as actor, Mr. Johanson is putting on a show rather than giving a performance. Failing to assign psychological or ironic weight to such lines as "No one has ever touched me," "No one's gonna catch me and make me a man" and "To die would be an awfully big adventure," Mr. Johanson is at his most efficient best in the song "Once Upon a Time and Long Ago," which he sings torchily, as though Peter has just come to the cabaret.” (NY Times review)

When Papermill did it again in 2010, Nancy Anderson played Peter, and the Times review said “Oddly enough, Papermill audiences are getting a much more masculine Peter than they did sixteen years ago.”

[quote]I thought her performance was actually worse on Broadway, at least the night I saw it. Overacted and over-calculated, and her "Rose's Turn" was out of control.

Wait, you mean you paid to see her, didn't like her performance and then paid to see her again?

Oh, R179. There's a lot of that sort of thing here.

One of my gayest moves ever was to fly from NYC to Chicago just to see Lupone in Gypsy at Ravinia.

At the time, I knew that Laurents had forbidden Lupone from ever singing it in NYC and figured this would be my only chance.

[quote] One of my gayest moves ever was to fly from NYC to Chicago just to see Lupone in Gypsy at Ravinia.

I'm right there with you. As a broke 18 year-old college student,in 1975 I took a Greyhound bus from San Francisco to LA to see Pearl Bailey in HELLO, DOLLY! I slept on the floor of a friend's dorm room at UCLA and came back to SF the next day.

Gayer still:

The day I graduated from high school, when all my friends were out at parties, I drove two hours to Pittsburgh to see the second national tour of Sweeney Todd.

I was going to make my first trip to NYC in August of 1976. One of my purposes was to see PACIFIC OVERTURES. And then in June, it posted its closing notice. I was in a gay fury. I missed Company and I missed Follies and I missed A Little Night Music, and as God is my witness... I would not miss a Sondheim musical again. But my work schedule was fixed. I only had the weekend.

So early on Saturday morning of the last weekend of Pacific Overtures, I flew to NYC with a friend. I dashed to the 46th Street Theater and we got a pair of unpurchased house seats for the matinee of CHICAGO. Great show and GREAT seats for my first Broadway show. Then in the evening PACIFIC OVERTURES. Afterwards, my first subway ride to the Upper West Side and the midnight show at the Grand Finale. Dorothy Collins. I was beside myself with excitement and wonder. OF COURSE, I waited after the show and like an idiot child introduced myself to Dorothy Collins who kindly and generously asked if I and the two friends I was with would like to join her for a drink. That's a YES. So, a 30 minute audience with Dorothy Collins.

The next day was the matinee of EQUUS with Tony Perkins. And as we were flying out of La Guardia that evening, the Twin Towers suddenly lighted up like the sun. They were testing the lights for that evening's filming of King Kong's fall.

The only way it could have been gayer was if I had spent the night with Casey Donovan. Which, sadly, I did not.

Well, r184, I'll close the circle. Casey Donovan was given to me as a gift. Not an overnight, but memorable nonetheless.

Not terribly handsome. A bit Armie Hammerish.

Nice cock, though.

I did have the opportunity to meet him a few times in later years. We came to have a mutual friend.

And Lord, Lord, Lord, Lord, Lorrrrrd.... that man was charismatic and handsome.

Bandstand was pretty bad. Even though they acted it was about brotherhood and the military, the show was actually about the writers' anger at 1) That no one had ever recognized what geniuses they are/were; 2) how unfair contracts are. It was insanely empty and mystifying navel gazing. (The big plot twist was how to raise money for......wait for it....BETTER HOTEL ROOMS!) Prior to this, the writing team had a series of flop regional shows (Fishman, Ace) and at every NAMT meeting and panel they would go and on about how they were Broadway's biggest unrecognized talents. They finally got their big break and they blew it big time. Wrote about their petty squabbles with the world. Bandstand is really about how life is so unfair to unrecognized talents. Listen to they lyrics to the first song Cott sings. Blankenbueler did genius work trying to mask the emptiness but even he couldn't make that turd sing.

These gayling theatre sagas! What stories.

Everything but the bloodhounds snappin' at your rear end.

R184, what a whirlwind...!

It's like Ann Marie in the opening credits of That Girl, just what I imagine a weekend in New York would be like.

So true...

[quote]I'm watching Bandstand. Corey Cott's furry chest and pits are going a long way to keep me engaged. Isn't he some kind of religious homophobe, though?

I know he's very religious -- or should I say "religious?" -- but I don't think he's a homophobe. Don't know how he could have any kind of career in the theater if that were the case.

[quote]Wait, you mean you paid to see her, didn't like her performance and then paid to see her again?

Umm, first of all, I didn't pay either time. There are lots of reasons why people don't always pay for theater tickets. Anway, I wouldn't say I didn't like Patti's performance in GYPSY at City Center, I felt like it was unfinished. And also, seeing how her Broadway performance brought a complete turnaround review from Brantley in the NY Times, I went again partly out of curiosity to see if I agreed.

R187 certainly perked up this thread!

That N Y Times review of Robert Johanson's Peter Pan cites a song that isn't in the score. He IDs it by its first line, but it's called "Distant Melody."

Wouldn't that be simple to get right? Or would it have been mid-IDed in the program? In which case the song is still "Distant Melody," "Once Upon a Time and Long Ago."

Not to be mistaken with...

I Heart Radio is playing a Broadway album every Saturday at 2pm. I thought “Great. Will they choose something classic? Follies, Mame, Carousel?”

This Saturday, it’s Jagged Little Pill.😞

I Heart Radio == I Heart computers. It's crap. They bought out all local stations, and fired everyone but sales staff, with one national dj pretending they know shit. Fuck I Heart Radio.

There was a mystery novel written about it back then, called "Who Dropped Peter Pan?" It's pretty funny, and surprising how much the author, (who knew everyone involved) put in about the mafia connections to the Papermill and other stuff.

Patti was definitely better on Broadway than she was during Encores. Everything felt rushed about the Encores production. I'm sure there were some nights on Broadway where Patti rushed through. It seems to be a recurring issue with her. Remember how, in Evita, she'd start rushing through the songs, forcing the orchestra to try and keep up?

She seems like the type you have to put a short leash on or she gives in to her less desirable habits. I'm sure, after the reviews came out positive, Laurents just let her do her thing for the most part.

She’d speed up Evita because she had to meet her dealer before getting downtown to her gay audiences at Les Mouches.

She grew to be very unhappy being in EVITA. A friend was in it and told me that Ms. Lupone would arrive at the theater and do directly to her dressing room. No pleasantries. No nothing. And she only came out when it was time to step on stage. And that was fine with the company.

Did that behavior start after someone posted her understudy's notices on a bulletin board?

Was Evita the first show where the lead didn’t have to do matinees?

Nay.

My Fair Lady went to 2 Elizas after Andrews left. And Dame Julie still never shuts up about it.

Any show with Patti in it after the first three weeks is bound to be miserable. She's famous for finding someone to hate. Music directors have quite the tales to tell. She's an awful human being.

Isn't Betty Lynn similar?

And Patti has no filter for making herself look bad.

Both in Evita and Noises Off, she herself said she left the stage and immediately began screaming at the stage manager.

R207 Judging by the Company curtain call in London that someone posted a few threads back (linked again here), it was the lovely Mel Giedroyc who Patti chose to hate on that run. It's like there's a wall of ice between the two, even more obvious given how she's overdoing it with Rosalie

Was the quarantine a gift to Katrina Lenk? We didn’t get to see her Bobbi.

“it was the lovely Mel Giedroyc who Patti chose to hate on that run.”

She wasn’t an actress. She was a presenter. On a *British* baking show. As if the British know anything about cooking. Would you expect me to share a stage with Paula Deen?

Gedroytch (sp?) started as a comedian. She's done musicals before.

Did Stritch and Barbara Barrie clash in the original company?

[quote]Would you expect me to share a stage with Paula Deen?

Give it a few years

[Quote] She was a presenter.

Americans don't say "presenter", Pats.

“Americans don't say "presenter", Pats.”

You’ve never listened to Patti in interviews, have you? She’s always using language that is too grand.

A few years ago, she did an interview and spoke about being in her dressing on Broadway and opening the window and hearing the carriage trade on the street. Nobody says carriage trade. They would say traffic.

Richard Madden says "trade" as well.

R145, thats more controlled than what she did on Broadway when she was all over the place. It just need a stepo-up from the Encores performance, not a lot but just enough. Bway got Too much.

Miss Arnaz...

Thanks for the interesting comments about the writers of Bandstand. I thought it was a bit unwise for the lyrics to often mention being moved by Gershwin et al songs, because we should be moved by the NEW songs, and not by having to reference better, superior songs. Hearing about great american songbook songs just made me realize how far off the mark the music for Bandstand was. Yes, there is something angry and bitter underlying the theme of Bandstand, but I think it could have been better had the music been better. The orchestrations and dancing were quite good, but there was not one memorable song in the entire score. Osnes was fine. I had no problem with her. Cott seemed a little bland and kept reminding me of Matt LeBlanc. He's cute, but has no sex appeal, and I didn't believe he had that deep-seated anxiety or anger or edge. I had heard so many good things about the musical, and was disappointed with it. Thank you, though, to the person who posted the link. Your links have been absolutely fantastic and appreciated.

Master Harold and The Boys.

Julie with Vanessa Kirby

Wise Children.

[quote] Did that behavior start after someone posted her understudy's notices on a bulletin board?

Only the bulletin board? Poor thing.

[quote] Richard Madden says "trade" as well.

I think he means trade that is a little rougher.

Romeo and Juliet with Madden.

For absolutely no reason...

If you saw Sondheim with the director of Roundabout Follies(which I did) you would know why he went ahead with it.

What does that mean r229?

R203, it wasn't the understudy. Although LA was the first tryout city for Evita, it was a huge hit and Prince decided to bring it back immediately. The new LA company opened in Jan 1980, just three months after the Broadway opening.

Loni Ackerman was Evita and she got across the board rave reviews. Patti did not for the NY company. It was Loni's reviews that someone posted backstage in NYC.

Like Patti's alternate, Terri Klausner, Loni had the advantage of being a dancer. Eva's first big number, "Buenos Aires," was a piece of cake for both of them, while Patti noticeably struggled with the dance (on opening night in LA, she fell on her ass in the number). It took Patti longer to hook the audience because she couldn't grab them with Buenos Aires. That's why the clip of her singing it on the Tonys two or three years later is so good - they cut the dance, and it was just Patti. It was the best she had ever been in the number, free and uninhibited and not having to concentrate on moves she couldn't really do.

Patti LuPone is a not nice person.

OT, but look what I found! Patti’s screen test for LGO. It was made in NY during her Anything Goes run. It took five hours and she instantly hated Bill. She writes in her memoirs how he stood behind her and all the sudden grabbed her shoulders. She was, who is he and why is he touching her. She got the part and signed the contract thinking they would never hire her screen test partner but they did. During the final season Patti and Bill didn’t speak nor look each other unless their characters did.

R232 I don’t know. I would say she is honest and doesn’t hide her feelings, which means she might be difficult.

Loni Ackerman dancing Buenos Aires (and probably exactly what the choreographer intended with the number).

I'll not post Patti dancing like a 58 year old truck driver.

Does Loni get a lot of cabaret bookings?

R235, More than Loni Anderson.

She has played both Feinstein's at 54 Below and The Metropolitan Room (before it went away). She recently became a grandma.

I just watched the video of Master Harold and the Boys that the kind person posted. Wow, what a piece of pretentious, obvious crap. I saw a production a LONG time ago -- I want to say that Danny Glover was in it?!? -- and thought it was brave and daring, but time has not been good to it. Perhaps it seemed like such an important play at the time because discussion of racial injustice had not reached Broadway's main stages, but, now, it just seems heavy-handed and obvious and not terribly good. Is Fugard still a respected playwright? Or has he fallen out of favor as the world and the stage has caught up with him, using more subtlety and power?

[quote]R202 A friend was in EVITA and told me that Ms. Lupone would arrive at the theater and do directly to her dressing room. No pleasantries. No nothing. And she only came out when it was time to step on stage.

At the 7:00 mark in this interview she says she was never sure if she’d have the voice to comfortably get through the show night to night, and simply didn’t speak during the day. Maybe that was part of it?

Apparently when she later did the show in Australia, she’d technically got a hold on how to sing the score without straining her voice.

Closed Theaters Are Nothing New. The Good News Is, They Reopen:

I first saw Ackerman in the early '70s in the second or third national of No, No, Nanette, playing Helen Gallagher's role. She was fabulous. I was sure she would become a huge star.

I first saw Ackerman in the early '70s in the second or third national of No, No, Nanette, playing Helen Gallagher's role. She was fabulous. I was sure she would become a huge star.

Broadway star Brian Stokes Mitchell sings "The Impossible Dream" from his balcony:

I saw Loni Ackerman in Evita in SF - she was brilliant. The Che wasn't great though. (John Herrera?)

Nick Cordero still in a coma in the hospital in LA.

His wife is using the hashtag #WakeUpNick

[quote]At the 7:00 mark in this interview she says she was never sure if she’d have the voice to comfortably get through the show night to night, and simply didn’t speak during the day. Maybe that was part of it?

Met her before an "Evita" performance and she indicated she couldn't talk and Idina was similar with "Wicked". Totally understandable. When The "Wicked" cast album was released, they did for some reason the record signing right in the lobby of the Gershwin right before a show. Poor Idina had to meet a few hundred people and couldn't converse back.

r233 When you have problems with people every where you go, the problem is you

Anybody watching Vulva Toadstool’s cabaret act on YouTube on Friday?

Only if there will be panties.

I like Nick Cordero as a performer, met him to talk about him working on a project of mine and found him to be a decent guy, and I'm really upset at what's happened to him and am really worried he won't come out of this. But I have to say, his wife is giving me major ick vibes. She so badly wants to be an "influencer" and I feel like she's using his illness in order to make everyone aware of who she is. It's just distasteful.

I don't get that from her at all, r250. It seems like she doesn't know what to do, so she's trying everything, singing songs for him, taping their baby, etc. It must be awful for her to have to be alone taking care of the baby with no help, and not knowing day to day if your husband is going to survive.

I saw Loni Ackerman in the original cast of the '71 revival of NNN. She was one of Jack Gilford's lovelies I believe or were they Bobby Van's? Wasn't her mother one of the producers or was that somebody else? Anyway it was one of the most joyous experiences you could have at a musical comedy. It might have been a total nightmare backstage but in the audience it was like one of the best parties you ever went to.

Yes, Loni's mother is Cyma Rubin, who financed No No Nanette with her husband's money, and then got power hungry and pushed out Harry Rigby, whose idea the whole thing was.

[quote] I don't get that from her at all, [R250]. It seems like she doesn't know what to do, so she's trying everything, singing songs for him, taping their baby, etc. It must be awful for her to have to be alone taking care of the baby with no help, and not knowing day to day if your husband is going to survive.

I'm sure it is awful. but it's also private. Or it should be, at least to a degree more than she's exhibiting. I just get major grifter vibes from her. Time will tell.

R210’s clip raises a big question for me - why did the costume designer lose her damn mind between London and NYC?

I haven't seen the NYC costumes, R255, but those in London are pretty damn ugly. What is up with the pleated Dockers?

Patti was absolutely evil toward the music department of Company in London.

How so?

“Yes, Loni's mother is Cyma Rubin, who financed No No Nanette with her husband's money, and then got power hungry and pushed out Harry Rigby, whose idea the whole thing was.”

It’s been a long time since I read the book, but wasn’t it Rigby who brought in Busby Berkeley to direct? Berkeley wasn’t working out and Burt Shevelove had to take over. Yes Cyma took over and pushed Rigby out, but the show never would have made it to Broadway with just Rigby making the decisions.

Rigby later had success with Sugar Babies.

I remember years ago reading an item about Ruby Keeler saying she would never do another Broadway show. When asked the reason, she said, "Cyma Rubin."

[quote] Patti LuPone is a not nice person.

Then, don't be her friend

The comma was unnecessary.

I saw Evita on Bway only with Loni Ackerman. I was in NYC on a school trip and two of us bought tickets.

I thought she was fantastic but am so surprised her career didn't progress much after that.

None of the American replacements had careers of note, whereas the British replacements did (Marti Webb, Stephanie Lawrence, Kathryn Evans).

I thought Valeria Lynch was terrific in this shitty show in Mexico City, back in 1981. She was the first Argentinian to do the role.

Es mucho más auténtico en español.

Is it time for a BLOOD BROTHERS revival?

Tell me it's not true, R266!

Jeff Whitty apparently posted a new rant about his Head Over Heels experience, but he has since then deleted it. Anyone know what he said?

Her former building mate DL favorite and scat singer supreme Linda Lavin is on live with Billy Stritch right now, R248. Linda and Billy are doing a medley of "Little Jazz Bird" that she sang in Oh, Kay way back when, and "Bye Bye Blackbird."

Does he PnP?

Thought Catherine Zeta-Jones would have been perfect for the "Blood Brother" movie with Hugh Jackman as the narrator ten years ago. Lost opportunity.

[quote] Does he PnP?

Jeff Whitty? The question should be does he do anything else but PnP. I don't know how he was able to function enough to co-write the script for Can You Ever Forgive Me. Nicole Holofcener must have done the lion's share of the work.

Valeria's a busty lass!

I saw Loni Ackerman (and the rest of the original cast -- George Lee Andrews and Margery Cohen) in Starting Here, Starting Now, a treat of a tiny cabaret revue. They don't make 'em like that any more.

I read it. It was crazy.

Whitty viciously attacked EVERYONE from Head Over Heels. Mostly John Buzzetti, who I gather was both his agent (manager?) and a producer on the show. Whitty also accuses him of being a coke addict. He called Michael Mayer a decorator as opposed to a director. He called the final show a "camp skit". He called the Go-Gos "has beens". He evidently felt that everyone was threatening him; he started tape recording conversations. He has very high opinions of his art, which he feels was destroyed by his collaborators and producers. He swears he's sober. Oh, and he even gave a special "fuck you" to Gwyneth. There was much more, but that’s the stuff that stood out to me.

Endgame with Alan Cummings and Daniel Ratcliffe.

Is Daniel Radcliffe a good actor or is he just game?

Consent.

“Is it time for a BLOOD BROTHERS revival?”

I’d like to see an off-Broadway production with Meagan Hilty.

I’ve also wondered if there was a way to do a ghost production of Blood Brothers ala Follies. Two ten year old boys in short pants are always present when the brothers are onstage.

I loved seeing Con O'Neill in the original. And then seeing him fvck Freddie Fox in Cucumber several years later. That scene on the kitchen counter gave me the vapors.

Fun fact: Blood Brothers is not the only show where adults play children. Blue Remembered Hills also does that and requires them to stay the same age throughout the show. Helen Mirren was in the original TV movie. The National did a stage version that I saw in the 90s.

R227 Watching Endgame now. So far, NO.

Victor/Victoria.

Is Vic/Vic a Chatelet production?

Wow, thank you for posting Endgame. I was planning to see it on a recently-canceled trip to London. Whoever is posting those links: Seriously, thank you so much.

“Is Daniel Radcliffe a good actor or is he just game?”

Daniel is serviceable but I’ve never seen him be brilliant. The most I can say is that he takes direction well.

[quote]He called Michael Mayer a decorator as opposed to a director.

No argument there, no matter how trustworthy a narrator Whitty is or is not.

Thanks, yet again, Mr. NatLiv. I also had a ticket to see the play but, alas.... Thank you so much.

Can someone post Whitty’s rant?

R271, I think Adele would be great for a film of Blood Brothers but I doubt she could do a Liverpudlian accent.

I'm surprised a movie hasn't been made. If they do it for TV, it will probably go to DL fave Sheridan Smith.

Yep, R288, you’re probably right. She’d actually be a good choice.

R279, I don’t think Hilty is right for Mrs. Johnstone. I doubt she can do the accent and she doesn’t have to look like Marilyn Monroe just because the song keeps on making references to her. In fact two of the first Mrs. Johnstones (Barbara whatsername and Kiki Dee) looked nothing like her.

Sorry, but Loni Ackerman will always be second best. No star quality and dead eyes. She does have the ability to scream on pitch . . . I’ll give her that.

Isn’t Blood Brothers a big pile of crap? I never saw a production, but I heard one of the cast recordings. My memory is that it was Frank Wildhorn-like in its awfulness.

Watch the Tony clip above it has beautiful music.

BLOOD BROTHERS is a guilty pleasure of mine: I saw it on Bway twice.

Completely overbaked, sentimental, melodramatic tripe, but it almost sort of kinda works. The music is a limited handful of melodies (with some really tacky lyrics) reprised over and over again, but they're great earworms in a way that Wildhorn never is, at least for me.

Plus it was very well cast on Bway.

I didn't see all of the celeb replacements.

I saw Blood Brothers 8 or 9 times over the years in London. It's amazing that a show set in such a specific period remained relevant for so many, many years. It's important to remember it's a small show. A unit set, small band, small cast. It's a story of people in desperate circumstances, told as a classic tragedy. Much of the score is serviceable -But the finale, "Tell Me It's Not True" was a big hit in the UK. Clearly the show resonates -It's been translated and performed all over the world, and there are 16 different cast albums available, including Dutch, Czech, Catalan, German, Japanese, Korean, and Hebrew as well as multiple versions in English. It's easy to dismiss it as sentimental or melodramatic, but audiences love it. They get involved in the story, have some laughs, and good cry at the end. It should be a staple in high schools and community theatres.

Much as I love Barbara Dickson, Stephanie Lawrence owned the role of Mrs. Johnstone. She lived that character onstage! I saw her one night where she was clearly sick, and as the performance went on she was losing her voice. By the end, the actress playing Linda had to take over singing the finale. But Lawrence made it seem like she was overcome with grief rather than fever. I was so sad when she passed suddenly at such a relatively young age.

What was the story behind Lawrence' alcoholism? She made a career in the West End as a leading lady. Did she have a terrible childhood or something?

R293 is correct. It’s melodramatic and sentimental but it works. And you sort of love it despite how ridiculous the lyrics get. Like when the mother compares her jailed son to Marilyn Monroe, you realize the analogy has been way overused.

Many people have said it doesn’t play well in the US because we don’t have a class system. But I think it does play well because we realize that success isn’t just about class but also about luck and the opportunities you’re given. It breaks the American myth that with a bit of pluck and a dream, you’ll come out on top.

I like Daniel Radcliffe but he doesn't have a good voice...he still sounds like a reedy teenager.

If Kelly Garrett could act, she might have had a better Broadway career. Champion fired her from Mack and Mabel and Prince didn't cast her as Evita, although she was in contention.

Doubt it.

I saw it in London in the 1980s and it was fantastic. It got a rousing standing ovation and there were very few Americans in the audience.

Curtains - Musical comedy from the Manchester Opera House 2019

From the recent Livestream. All profits were going to Funds For Freelancers, so please consider donating to help out the community.

Which community? In the UK? No thanks.

Whitty's original Facebook rant was taken down after a few hours. There's DL thread about it. That thread includes a link to a BWW message board posts that repeats the original screed.

Whitty's original Facebook rant was taken down after a few hours. There's DL thread about it. That thread includes a link to a BWW message board posts that repeats the original screed.

Can someone repost the text here, in case the BWW thread is removed. TIA!

Blood Brothers

It's a perfectly adequate voice, R300, but yes, that is one dull performance.

With the right singer, that song should break hearts, particularly in the context of the show (Promises Promises).

[quote]R299 If Kelly Garrett could act, she might have had a better Broadway career.

Kelly Garrett was always better known for her dancing.

Most record versions of "Knowing When to Leave" are pretty dire.

Rare rehearsal footage, before Garrett was fired from MATA HARI (1967)

Not many people know this but Kelly Garrett's first cat was a rescue cat. She called him---

The Whitty rant (part 1)

On another note, now that I am coming short on my bills and got dropped by my business manager Altman, Greenfield and Selvaggi for lack of money, I send a “**** you” to the hot-**** William Morris Endeavor “talent agency” and the predatory “law firm” of Levine, Plotkin and Menin.

And a very special **** you to Gwyneth Paltrow and the has-been Go-Go’s.

All of you stole and destroyed three years of my work, turning a no-brainer success into an embarrassing camp skit asking Broadway prices. The greatest work of art of my career. I met every end of the contract and then some. The producers didn’t pay me for 15 months a mere $25K I needed desperately, and then stole half of my scant royalties for the 32-week Broadway flop. F*CK you, **** you, **** you, **** you.

F*CK you, John Buzzetti, you lying greedy cokehead piece of **** agent. The clients you shoved on my show - as you stole my creative control with my first contract - are talentless hacks, awards aside. Michael Mayer isn’t a director, he’s a decorator. The proof is in the flop pudding, bitch. Remember, John, when you called my work a “work of genius” that would “run forever” before you got greedy and ****ed it up?

Remember those phone calls and email chains where you would shame and humiliate me before producers knowing that you had stolen my creative control?

Shall I run some before-and-after tapes of my show and then the hilarious disaster that “the king of Broadway punk” Michael Mayer and your beloved Tom Kitt did? Because it would bring me great pleasure to do so. If Equity has a problem with it I can argue that it’s for my personal safety given the many threats I received. The clips are funny as **** if you’re not me. They show what happens when an agent decides he has the knowledge to be an artist. Want to play, John? You lurk in the shadows normally and will shrivel when exposed to the light.

F*CK you, Conrad Rippy, you grossly unethical predator posing as a lawyer and friend. You sad-sack know-nothing. You and John drew up that first contract that was a theft of my creative control because you were repping the Go-Go’s and the producers and me. I didn’t stand a chance. F*CK you. F*CK you for urging me not to join the Dramatists Guild who would have stopped your predations. Your betrayal destroyed me because you had posed as a friend for so long. Every minute of life I spent with you was a waste. All the kindnesses I showed you, a waste.

Part 2:

And **** you, Gwyneth Paltrow, who Mr. Rippy was representing in secret without telling me. You and all of your idiot first-time producers who fell for John Buzzetti’s bull****. Donovan Leitch. Rick Ferrari. Shame on you all.

I crafted a show that ran commercially in New York City for for sixteen years. I won a Tony Award. I would later receive an Academy Award nomination and win the Independent Spirit and Writers Guild awards. I was at the top of my field in the most difficult of storytelling mediums, the stage musical. What the **** were you thinking?

And shame on you, John and Conrad, for lying that I refused to change my work to make me seem unreasonable, which is easily disproved by a letter I wrote to the excellent New York Times critic Charles Isherwood saying “Please do not review this work as finished because I am not done.” John, you told a commercial producer not to take on the show - because you hadn’t yet secured a place for your clients - on the basis of a lie (that you made up) that I refused to change anything! Shame on you. What a disgusting abuse of my trust. I’ll just post the letter I wrote. It’s a great letter. I’ll post it tomorrow.

And a special **** you to all guilty parties for sending that “intelligence agency” to give me warnings to shut up for those two ****ing years - I guess the nondisclosure agreement wasn’t enough - and then telling the industry I had just gone mad when I would tell people about the scary encounters, begging for help. You have no idea how terrifying that was and how scarred I am from what you did to me. You have no idea how horrifying it was to fall apart under your overt abuses and find that you were capitalizing on my immolation to justify your theft.

I’m sober. How’s John Buzzetti doing? Still going into coke-fueled rages and slamming down the phone when the truth becomes too much?

I can fight your lies. One by one by one. Because I hold the ****ing records of all of it. Contracts. Emails. Texts. Audio of the first threat I got in August 2017. Email accounts of the terrifying encounters with strangers giving me warnings as they happened. The moment when dunderheaded producer Christine Russell accidentally revealed that she knew about the mercenaries that were hired, after which nobody spoke to me for a year. You have no ****ing idea.

I once had a light in my eyes that you put out from your years of abuse. I used to really like people. You taught me to hate myself and hate people in general.

You drove me to a suicide attempt in San Francisco that I’ve not discussed yet, but that friends and family will confirm. Sober six months of the drug I fell into when John Buzzetti’s abuse, plus the loss of my livelihood, plus the destruction of my self-expression, plus the stalking and harassment, all became more than I could take alone.

I no longer hate myself. But people? Meh. I am ****ing broke in the middle of a pandemic. You businesspeople and celebrities are rich. I don’t want any of your ****ing money. I want you to spend your time in seclusion ****ing yourselves.

Freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose. You took everything in life that I valued. Thank you. F*CK all of you cretins. It’s the funniest ****ing story in a way - if you aren’t me - because it shows how bumbling and inept you really are.

I took massive risks in my career and a bunch of greedy businesspeople who juggle dozens of clients found a way to steal an artist’s property while taking no risks at all.

Well. Except that the artist might survive. So go ahead, make good on the threats that were made to me. By all means. Go right the **** ahead.

There is a difference between power and strength. Power can be lost.

There is a difference between truth and lies. Truth cannot be assailed. It can be covered up by lies. But lies are fragile things.

I apologize to everyone who read this. You have no idea how awful these people have been to me, and how many lies they have told to justify - to others and themselves - the destruction of the artist who trusted them.

[Quote] a mere $25K I needed desperately

How long did Avenue Q run again? And he needed 25k desperately? Did he do a Lionel Bart and sell his interest in the show?

Whitty has always been cray. And not so talented. His true talent was as a go-go dancer at the Slide many years ago.

BTW, the London COMPANY had a music dept from hell (inept), so Patti was understandably upset.

Who did he play in "Shortbus"?

I was right with him until he started quoting Janis Joplin.

After reading that rant, I will never see another Gwyneth Paltrow movie again! That's it, I'm done!

R313/R314 = meth, glorious meth

Gwyneth made him take off his shoes and socks before he entered the theater. It must have been during her vag steaming period when everything had to be purified to enter her presence.

Do book writers typically get the same percentages as composers and lyricists? I suspect not.

[quote]Do book writers typically get the same percentages as composers and lyricists? I suspect not.

They can be pains in the ass and stop productions of their work.

Is "Head Over Heels" really the hill this queen wants to die on?

R309, that scene had two Cassies from ACL, Pamela Peadon who finished the LA original company run and Sandy Roveta who was in the original International company and opened the show in London.

The standard split is one third (book) one third (music), one third (lyrics). I imagine someone like Andrew Lloyd Weber might get more like 40-50%, but I can’t think of any other writer starry enough to demand an unequal share. Maybe Alan Menken or Elton John?

I remember an interview with Peter Stone sometime in the early 90s (I think). I recall being really surprised when he said something like, "Well, I'm the only living book writer in the theatre I know who's continued to make a good living at it."

I realize he had WILL ROGERS FOLLIES at the time, and many others (1776, WOMAN OF THE YEAR, MY ONE AND ONLY) in previous decades, but it seemed like a stretch. The only living book writer to make a good living?

I wonder if Sondheim does a 1/3 split with the Lapines or Weidmans he works with. That seems generous of him.

I'm sure Terrence McNally had an equal cut with Ahrens and Flaherty on Ragtime.

Wait. Head Over Heels is the "greatest work of art" of anyone's career?!?! Head. Over. Heels???? That's just sad. He's obviously devastated, but that is just...sad. How in the world could a jukebox musical be considered "art?" Was Sondheim supposed to be jealous?

[quote]I'm sure Terrence McNally had an equal cut with Ahrens and Flaherty on Ragtime.

He shouldn't have had. He didn't do any of the heavy lifting.

Terence also wrote the book for "The Rink"!

He didn't do any of the heavy lifting there, either.

He's just game.

R302 You post is just a mess.

Curtains.

Has anyone considered the possibility that Broadway (and Off-Broadway, etc.) could be shut down for a whole year? All I've heard talked about this evening is how mass gatherings are likely not going to happen again anywhere for at least that long, if not longer. And though I agree with Gov. Cuomo that people should stop trying to predict the future and just take a wait-and-see approach (which he said tonight when asked about Garcetti's comments about mass gatherings in L.A.), the thought of Broadway being shut down for that long did cross my mind. And I can't say at this point that it seems like such a far-fetched possibility.

We're long overdue for a revival of "Miss Gulch Returns."

Honestly, I'd give it until September or October. I think they'll start slowly opening things up and testing the waters. Cinemark just announced that they're opening their theaters again in July (which might be too soon).

There are regional and community theaters around where I live that are already announcing their next seasons and having auditions for shows that are supposed to be performed in July and August.

[quote]Met her before an "Evita" performance and she indicated she couldn't talk and Idina was similar with "Wicked". Totally understandable. When The "Wicked" cast album was released, they did for some reason the record signing right in the lobby of the Gershwin right before a show. Poor Idina had to meet a few hundred people and couldn't converse back.

I actually don't know the WICKED score all that well, but I really don't think the part of Elphabai is remotely near as challenging and tiring as Evita. For one thing, Elphaba has SO MUCH less music to sing, and there's nowhere near as much belting.

[quote]Much as I love Barbara Dickson, Stephanie Lawrence owned the role of Mrs. Johnstone. She lived that character onstage! I saw her one night where she was clearly sick, and as the performance went on she was losing her voice. By the end, the actress playing Linda had to take over singing the finale. But Lawrence made it seem like she was overcome with grief rather than fever. I was so sad when she passed suddenly at such a relatively young age.

Agreed, Stephanie was unforgettable in the role. I'm a fan of both Catherine Zeta-Jones and Megan Hilty, but there's nothing about either one of them that would make me think of them for the role of Mrs. J. i BLOOD BROTHERS. Do you people pick these ideas out of thin air?

R310, that doesn't sound ANYTHING like Michele Lee in that recording of "Knowing When To Leave." Was that her "pop voice?" It's just awful.

Yes, Michele was quite a crummy pop singer.

"The Look of Love," flip to "Knowing When to Leave."

Thanks for the link, R334, but man, those attempts at an American accent made my ears bleed.

[quote]got dropped by my business manager Altman, Greenfield and Selvaggi for lack of money

A lack of money suggests they weren't very good business managers

[quote]F*CK you for urging me not to join the Dramatists Guild who would have stopped your predations

Ah, that answers so many questions.

[quote]Do book writers typically get the same percentages as composers and lyricists? I suspect not.

From what I can tell, it varies. 6% of the adjusted gross is the minimum, and this is shared between the three roles, but as for how its proportioned it'll change for each show.

He's been a book writer at least twenty years and he's never joined the Dramatist's Guild?

That was my question, too, R343. His first union show was Avenue Q which played Off-Bway in 2003 before moving to Bway later that year. How did he not join during that time?

Whitty has obviously been very foolish with money. Those AVENUE Q royalties should have lasted a lifetime, properly invested.

Meth doesn't pay for itself.

Did Whitty's lawyer get him to sign a waiver for conflict(s) of interest?

Speaking of Karen Morrow and The Grass Harp recording, she’s the only one who did her vocals live with the orchestra. She happened to be on vacation over there at the time they were recording the orchestra tracks, so she came in and laid down the vocal to the entire “Babylove Miracle Show” with the musicians. At the session in NY, they just had to add in Cook, etc (who in addition to their own material, sang all the parts that the Heavenly Pride and Joys sang in the show, since the kids weren’t used for the album). The other Babylove numbers were done by Morrow to the tracks in NY, although two of her songs, “Pick Yourself a Flower” and “Take a Little Sip” weren’t recorded at all.

Listening to Kelly Garrett, it’s hard to imagine what Champion was so taken with for Mabel. He made some comment about what a heartbreaker it was to fire her, “that face, that voice!” Bernadette has (or had) a much better voice than Garrett, and so did, for that matter, Marcia Rodd. Well, at least the right woman finally wound up in the role.

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

Yes, R335. Everyone has considered that possibility. That is why theaters and performers are scrambling to figure out a way to continue on Zoom et al.

Did I once own a Kelly Garrett solo album? What was I thinking?

Wow. Crystal is an awful drug.

But of course....

Surely "entirely" is redundant in that headline?

"entirely female," hee.

That is criminally stupid, re R354. I hope no one attends. It's the only hope in stopping this level of insanity.

That stated, as a non-overweight 50-something white male, I can't WAIT to get to be Effie White. Love that show.

“Upcoming 1776 Revival to Feature Entirely Female, Nonbinary, Trans, Genderqueer Company“

Write your own damn musicals and leave the musical theater canon alone!

[Quote] It's the only hope in stopping this level of insanity.

Dial it down, Mary. It's a production that will come and go (probably quite quickly).

[quote]"Upcoming 1776 Revival to Feature Entirely Female, Nonbinary, Trans, Genderqueer Company“

Sounds like a must-miss!

Here's one reason to hope the reopening of New York theaters is delayed indefinitely.

Coming Soon: The all-female production of Pacific Overtures

Didn't Encores explore the post-HAMILTON/people of color casting of 1776 some years back? They did it with men in men's roles, however. Anybody here see it?

Diane Paulus can cast the show however she likes. My quibble is that the vocal ranges for the entire score will (probably) have to change, and poor Sherman Edwards died in 1981. He's not around to protect the integrity of his work.

Patti LuPone talks social distancing with THR:

[quote]Here's one reason to hope the reopening of New York theaters is delayed indefinitely.

Oh hush, all the theaters will open with Sondheim productions because those Sondheimite cult would risk their lives for even a bad "Follies".

1776. Bring it on! All they have to do is hire great actors and everything will come out well.

Plus, it will help us smoke out the racists.

Sherman Edwards doesn't need to reach his cold dead hand out of the grave to control the creative output of a generation that follows his demise by 40 years. The script and score will survive this production and it will survive every other production that follows.

Yes, it was 17 people's fault, not Patti LuPone's. Yes, that was the problem. Sure.

How many all-female productions of 1776 have been done? I think there was one in St Louis about 10 years ago. There must have been others.

As usual, Paulus takes a used concept and sells it as something original.

Has Patti LuPone's sone done any acting of note?

*son

I have attended several productions from the Judith Shakespeare Company. They were good. If JULIUS CAESAR can work with a female cast, and it did, then 1776 has nothing to fear.

[quote]Diane Paulus can cast the show however she likes. My quibble is that the vocal ranges for the entire score will (probably) have to change, and poor Sherman Edwards died in 1981. He's not around to protect the integrity of his work.

They have cast the show entirely with women (and female identifying actors), including people of color, even though much of the point of 1776 was that the founding fathers (not mothers) were a 100 percent white, patriarchal society, but you feel the integrity of the work will be most damaged by the fact that the keys of the songs will have to change? Okay.....

I thought he’d croaked already:

Let's talk Flop Musicals. BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY'S. Mary Tyler Moore and Richard Chamberlain in their Broadway debuts. Gets clobbered out of town with harried re-writes and songs coming and going. So what does famed producer David Merrick do to make it better and ready for New York? Hires Edward Albee - EDWARD ALBEE - to rewrite the book, he who had never done a musical before. It must have been the drugs that got to Merrick at that point. One of his popular games he liked to play, it backfired like crazy. So who saw it in Philly, Boston, New York?

Actors’ Equity Says It’s Heard “Troubling Reports” of Live Theaters Targeting May 6 Openings:

What if back to normal is never? Leaders in arts and entertainment are feeling increasingly pessimistic:

Enough with the doomsday crap. It will all be back someday. That article is nothing but speculation.

[quote] Has anyone considered the possibility that Broadway (and Off-Broadway, etc.) could be shut down for a whole year?

Yes. I was just speculating with friends over one of those damned virtual happy hours whether or not any of us will be comfortable going to the theater until there is a reliable vaccine, which experts tell us is 18 months away.

Many of the common folk (that includes me) are not going to risk contracting a possibly fatal disease just for a night at the theater. Every cough, every sniffle is going to take you right out of the moment and have you worrying about whether the person behind you blowing her nose has 'it'.

I hate to say it, but I think 2020 AND 2021 are going to be looked back on modern civilization's 'lost years'

Nonbinary can't identify as female/male. That's rather the point, isn't it?

[quote]Many of the common folk (that includes me) are not going to risk contracting a possibly fatal disease just for a night at the theater.

You do know that there is no vaccine for the flu? You can get a shot every year that scientists estimate what strain will be strong, but you're not 100% protected from the flu.

Jeff Whitty claims he's sober nowadays

How sad that Whitty can't see his blessings.

Small Island.

Lady Windermere's Fan - Act ONe.

Lady Windermere's Fan - Act Two.

Sweeny Todd - with DL fav Imelda Staunton.

Could you please repost the NT Follies? I've seen it but want to pass it on to a needy friend. Thanks!

R386 Sure.

Dames Brantley and Green are sharing their Top 10 Desert Island Broadway Cast Albums. What are yours?

Off the top of my head and subject to change, mine are: ALMN, Sweeney Todd, She Loves Me, Guys and Dolls, Gypsy, The Music Man, Hairspray, Ain't Misbehavin', Cabaret and Light in the Piazza.

Has anyone mentioned that Faith Dane has left us? (With all the "Gypsy" discussion here, I figure she should be worth a mention.)

I just came across these two pics I saved off one of Miss Patti's listings when she was selling a crapload of her stuff on eBay. I don't even remember what year that was.

[quote] Dames Brantley and Green are sharing their Top 10 Desert Island Broadway Cast Albums. What are yours?

The complete OCR of THE MOST HAPPY FELLA. As a little 14 year old gayling, I saved my paper route money to buy the 3 LP set and I practically wore the grooves off those records. I knew every note, down to the transitions and crossovers.

It's one of those shows that I'll see anywhere and anytime it's presented, but when Cleo first opens her mouth to sing 'Ooh! My Feet!' and Susan Johnson's voice doesn't come out, a little bit of me dies inside.

[quote] His true talent was as a go-go dancer at the Slide many years ago.

Well, that and his blowjobs.

Yes, R391, Susan Johnson had one of the greatest Broadway voices, clear, strong, and natural. And to think she was a soprano until she had to go on as an understudy for Meg Brockie in BRIGADOON. I got to see her live in DONNYBROOK! and she was terrific. That's one of my favorite not-so-guilty pleasures albums.

Emily does well by it, r391....

A soprano or a contralto?

Is that clip of Suzanne Johnson singing "Almost Like Being In Love" somewhere on YouTube? It used to be there but it was sparsely titled - something like "Johnson Almost" - I guess to avoid being found by the copyright owners.

Faith Dane was a sort of (crazy) institution in Washington, D.C., where she ran for mayor 9 times. She always had her trumpet with her at campaign stops, and a trumpet was always displayed on her campaign posters, which I used to see all over town. She not only originated the role of Mazeppa on Broadway in 1959, she pretty much created it by doing her trumpet routine when she auditioned for the show. Arthur Laurents worked it into the script. And of course she re-created the role in the 1962 movie.

"Somethin' WRONG with strippin'?"

If the lights of Broadway weren't already shut off entirely, they should dim them tonight for Faith Dane.

R387 Much appreciated!

Great Dane....

Poor Gypsy. One of the better, faithful(for the most part) adaptions of a Broadway musicals to the screen and it gets very little love as if most of us saw the original production with Merman.

[quote]R397 Faith Dane was a sort of (crazy) institution in Washington, D.C., where she ran for mayor 9 times.

I waited on her once in NYC around 1992 and she was a jolly doll. She was meeting up with two other old showgirls. I wish I’d noted their names - -

Once she was a schlepper ...

Good Lord, Jerry Robbins was a genius.

Company

I'm reading this thread, thinking about all the fun Faith Dane has given me for decades and then I encounter "COMPANY" and a picture of Patti Fucking Lupone. Bleccchhh... It is immediately clear the amount of fun we've lost in the theater over the decades.

Although... that Patti Lupone would have made a great Mazeppa in her day.

Who goes to the theater for fun?

I used to.

I don't anymore.

Tony Awards postponement is a first, historians say:

Nick Cordero may never walk again after coronavirus battle, wife says:

Is Cordero's wife an actress? Why doesn't she simply update her friends and family, not the world?

she was a dancer with a few Broadway credits (they both did Bullets Over Broadway together) and is now a trainer. I think its just her way of coping. Feel horrible for the family.

Thanks for the strippahs, R400. I laughed, even though I knew every joke that was coming by heart.

R409 I don't understand why they're not just announcing the obvious that there are no awards this year. Just do them next year to cover two seasons - which will probably add up to the equivalent of one full season - though that might be optimistic. Then again, given the greed of most producers, probably not.

Kelly Garrett was on some tv show, like "Name That Tune" or "Musical Chairs" back in the 70s; there was a decent amount of press about her, but she was a rather average singer. Even back then, when they heard her, folks were going, what's the big deal?

I had a coffee date from AOL years ago with a guy who was a musical director for a couple of Patti LuPone's shows. I asked hin if she was difficult, from all the stories I had heard about her. He said that she wasn't exactly difficult, but she acted very "entitled" was the word he used.

[quote]Was Evita the first show where the lead didn’t have to do matinees?

Ironic then that they mention Eva performs "eight shows a week, two matinees."

Kelly with Hef...

I presume Garrett got attention because she was a young, pretty woman with something of a throwback vocal sound.

Didn't Garrett have several famous paramours?

Talk about a throwback sound....

Donna Loren had a similar vocal sound - too old fashioned for the pop market.

Ditto Marilyn Michaels.

The wee Scots lass got the hit (in the UK).

They could have brought Rosalie from West End production. She was excellent.

I don't think bringing a bunch of Brits over to play New Yorkers would have gone down well, certainly not here.

r425 continuing the fine tradition of musical theatre acting that stinks.

[quote] Is Cordero's wife an actress? Why doesn't she simply update her friends and family, not the world?

Because she's a wannabe influencer.

I hope Nick wakes up, recovers fully and dumps her ass.

Public Theater cancels 2020 Shakespeare in the Park:

“Public Theater cancels 2020 Shakespeare in the Park:”

No big loss. It sounded like a crap season anyway.

"He also made note that Honor Blackman had a "bum like a boy scout." I'm still not quite sure what that means. "

MARY! turn in you gay card immediately

Incidentally, why didn't Honor Blackman's parents spelled 'honour' the British way?

This week’s ALW musical was/is Phantom special 25 year performance with Ramin and Sierra from Royal Albert Hall

Why isn't it "Christopher Walkin'"?

I always assumed Honor was short for Honoria.

R432 Because that's the way the name's spelled. I know it sounds like I'm being a dick, but I'm not - when used as a name it's just generally without the u.

That clip of Lenk is maybe the worst version of Being Alive I've ever heard. Maybe COVID was the best thing to happen to this production. Give them time to really think if they want to continue this revival with her as the lead. She's awful.

I suspect that clip won't be up for long.

For Lenk's and the producers' sakes, I hope not. I loved the show in London and was planning to see it on Broadway. After seeing that clip, I doubt I’d make the effort when the show reopens.

What is it with Patti LuPone and her leading ladies?

Hey, I was great, bitch.

I said leading, not featured.

Disney on Broadway 25th Anniversary Concert for Broadway Cares' COVID-19 Emergency Assistance Fund

[quote]That clip of Lenk is maybe the worst version of Being Alive I've ever heard. Maybe COVID was the best thing to happen to this production. Give them time to really think if they want to continue this revival with her as the lead. She's awful.

I saw the show the last weekend it was open. I thought Lenk was the worst thing in it. There were a lot of bright spots, but then she would come out and drag everything down.

What are going to be the issues with insurance for all the cancelled/postponed productions, for both the producers and theater owners? Will the insurers have to pay up or will this be declared force majeure, ie, Act of God, and allow them to escape payment?

I'm not understanding why sellers of concert tickets don't have to refund money but can only give credit if they want to when theaters have to.

R444 If the actor playing center character is bad the production will have little hope

R439 I’ve been thinking the same. London production was near perfect and I don’t want to ruin those memories with bad production. Lenk’s Being Alive is the final and biggest number and it sounds awful. Producers need to react.

[Quote] London production was near perfect and I don’t want to ruin those memories with bad production.

Didn't LuPone say something similar about Lez Mis?

Translations.

Cat On A Hot Tin Roof - Sienna Miller - finally complete.

Studio 54 - Documentary.

[R450] I wonder if we are getting our videos from the same place?

Don't name the source site.

First rule of Fight Club... ;)

Are there videos of any of the versions of either Martin Guerre or Chess?

Is there something wrong with the key for Lenk's Being Alive? It sounds uncomfortable for her with weird breaks in her voice throughout and it's the only version of the song I've heard that doesn't build up to a big, rousing finale. Even the versions sung by people with less than ideal voices start putting some power into it at the end or the orchestra at least sweeps over them.

She always has those weird breaks in her voice -And a great deal of difficulty sustaining notes. I've never "gotten" her. Maybe her acting is really good?

R456 Think there is a London Chess shot from the house camera, but with sound board sound.

Ran across this...

Lenk kind of reminded me of Sally Field in "Sybil" where she was the little girl personality (of multiples) when Lenk crouched down during that number. It didn't really build to a meaty, full-bodied tone to a climax. Of course, some guy in the front row on audience right stood up immediately. Duh.

Any videos of "Statements" by Fugard which has the black man and white woman nude for most of it? Ben Kingsley did it origihnally, and I think Eriq LaSalle did a production as well which he once described without naming the play.

Sally Field Sings!

Shoot, I thought it was going to be "Golden Days" from "The Student Prince"!

Shoot, with a good tenor and good older baritone, there is nothing more wonderful than "Golden Days" from "The Student Prince"!

Shoot, with a good tenor and good older baritone, there is nothing more wonderful than "Golden Days" from "The Student Prince"!

Oh, that heavily-processed sixties sound! Same as they did for Patty Duke, Shelly Fabres and Hayley Mills. Turn up the reverb and lower the mic. Covers a multitude of vocal sins. I have Sally's Flying Nun album somewhere about -She has a pleasant voice, just small and untrained. Good pitch.

[quote]Shoot, with a good tenor and good older baritone, there is nothing more wonderful than "Golden Days" from "The Student Prince"!

Really? Not even "My Hero" from "The Chocolate Soldier?"

I'm watching Elaine Stritch: At Liberty (the full DVD version which I've not seen, not the truncated HBO broadcast). Elaine is doing her opening number and makes reference to winning a Tony and her speech getting cut. I looked up the show and saw that it had closed before the Tonys that year so I was wondering where they shot it. Then I noticed that Elaine had no Tony wins under her name. So she did NOT win the Tony for At Liberty, only the producers did? So A- Why did she go around the last decade of her life as though she'd won a Tony, and B- Did anyone ever call her on her bullshit?

Also C- It's amazing to me that Elaine has zero Tonys yet Audra Ann has 6.

Oh, and D- With the exception of a 5 night stint in Love Letters, it seems Elaine was away from Broadway from 71-94. She IS Broadway. WTF was she doing for 23 years (besides drinking, I mean)?

As Carol Channing said: I'm not the First Lady of Broadway! The others died - or words to that effect. Stritch has much less claim than Carol.

Stritch was cut off from her Emmy speech. And wasn't the full length At Liberty recorded at Drury Lane, in London? (That is, after the New York run.)

[quote] Stritch was cut off from her Emmy speech.

I don't know if she was cut off from her Emmy speech, too, but she was definitely cut off from her Tony speech. I remember watching it that year. Also, he says in her show- The good news is you won a Tony. The bad news is they cut your speech.

When I finish the DVD I'll see if they list where this was shot.

Is there any shot that they would go ahead and bump Nicki Renee Daniels up to replace Katrina Lenk as Bobbie? I know she is the understudy. She'd be great.

[quote] And wasn't the full length At Liberty recorded at Drury Lane, in London? (That is, after the New York run.)

It was recorded at The Old Vic.

Theatre Royal, Drury Lane is a pretty massive theatre. She'd have been a dot on that stage.

Technically, Elaine Stritch never won a Tony. The producers of her one woman show won it, but it was easier to let her claim it than try and tell her it wasn’t hers.

At the Tony ceremony, when her show won, everyone knew she was going to try and pull some bullshit. The speeches are timed and her category wasn’t important enough to let her run her mouth and have the show run into overtime, as for several years they’ve depended on the kindness of network tv. As predicted, Elaine got up there and started to babble as if this was a lifetime achievement award. They let her go on for the 2(?) minute limit and then started the orchestra. Elaine, ever the victim, started having a meltdown and they cut to commercial.

Elaine was a very good actress but she was a pain in the ass to everyone (sober or drunk). Being a PITA, very few people voted for her. However, I think she should have won for “Company” and “A Delicate Balance.” I wasn’t around, but I bet she should have been given strong consideration for the original “Bus Stop” and the revival of “Pal Joey.” But I think it was her abrasive personality that kept her from getting the prize.

If she'd have been nominated in the proper category for A Delicate Balance, she would have won, hands down. Her character was featured and has always been treated as such. But they put her in lead because her name was over the title (dumbest fucking rule ever) and she was never going to win over Zoe Caldwell (though she deserved to).

And especially since the featured actress category was bereft of options that year, Elaine was the only choice. But instead they gave it to Audra because they had to give it to someone.

I literally watched only the first three minutes of that CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF, and the production concept and the readings of the first few lines were so bad that I stopped. And the Brick's accent sounds Scottish.

I've never really understood how that kind of insurance works, but what the hell good is insurance if it doesn't cover something like shows not being able to perform because of global pandemic? What kind of disasters DO they cover? Just fire and water damage?

I love Julie harris in ev thing she did 1!!!!!!!!!!

I'm watching the free PHANTOM OF THE OPERA on YouTube. Nice of Sir Andrew and TPTB to make it available. I've never seen the stage show. Not once. Like many of us, though, I know the music pretty well (I have an old CD of excerpts from the OCR from the 80s).

Holy cow. It's a slog. I mean, the pace is glacial. I'm sure these actors are giving it their all, but I feel as if I'm watching an actual grand opera sung in a foreign tongue. (Not an opera-goer, to be clear.) And the stage effects are really hokey. But I'm at the 2-hour mark, so I may as well tough it out.

Cross this one off my bucket list.

“If she'd have been nominated in the proper category for A Delicate Balance, she would have won, hands down. Her character was featured and has always been treated as such. But they put her in lead because her name was over the title”

She should have played the game better and had her name under the title. “And Elaine Stritch.” Personally, I don’t think she would have won even then because she really pissed a lot of people off.

R479, if you ever have a chance to see Phantom in New York or London with the original sets, costumes and Hal Prince's wonderful staging, it's a good show. That concert and the current national tour only preserve ALW's lame rewrite of Puccini's original score.

All I remember about Elaine at Liberty was that Chris Rock, who appeared at a urinal during a sketch at the 2004 Emmys, asked the person beside him,"Who the fuck is Elaine Stritch?!"

If the Tonys don't give PITA's awards, how did Lauren Bacall get TWO of them including one for Woman of the Year, one of the worst starring performances of all time.

Yeah, sorry, but Patti won for Gypsy and she was at the apex of her PITA powers. And I don't think Elaine's rep was as bad in the 90s as it became after At Liberty. Plus Elaine's performance in ADB was transcendent and she got the reviews of her career (up until then).

And Lauren Bacall was at her all time PITA mode when she won for WOY. I do remember when she went on vacation and wanted Dina Merrill to replace her and the producers got Raquel Welch instead. Talk about a bitch slap.

[quote]With the exception of a 5-night stint in Love Letters, it seems Elaine (Stritch) was away from Broadway from 71-94...

I had the privilege of working on that production of Love Letters, and in particular, working with Elaine Stritch during the short run. She must have been on her best behavior because she was nothing but warm, funny, and professional with me. She had the habit of showing up at the theater 3 or 4 hours before the performance - long before Cliff Robertson or any of the staff had arrived. I was dispatched to keep her company and make certain she had everything she needed. What I spent most of my time doing was sitting in the empty theater with her and chatting/dishing about "the business" until the Stage Manager arrived and she would go up to her dressing room. We had a lot of theater folks in common, so lots to chat about. I've read all the dish about her diva, crazy, frugal antics, but she was nothing like that with me. I prefer my memories over those others.

Stritch never stopped working (or drinking): if there was a dry spell with stage work, she did TV or movies. Or tended bar. She got bored quickly and couldn't stay idle. This is from the recent bio.

I should have said "last national tour" of Phantom above, not "current national tour." I found contradictory things on google about whether that tour is still running after playing some international engagements.

Katrina Lenk was absolutely good in COMPANY and clearly still discovering the nuances of the character and the score. She was excellent and unexpected but everyone is desperate to have their take on her.

Finally finished the Stritch DVD. It's def the Old Vic but what's odd is she threw me off halfway through because she started talking about the first time she'd been somewhere alone, and then talked about the last time she'd been there was when she played the Hollywood Bowl. I think she was a little mixed up.

Everybody had seen the Company documentary and knew what a mess Elaine was.

I think Lauren Bacall was awarded because she was “Hollywood” and people gave them more respect. Elaine was just a booze hound and people weren’t sure that if she got up there if she’d even be sober to give a thank you speech. The Tony Awards have always been the charity case of network tv and nobody was going to upset the few sponsors they got.

I saw At Liberty first at the Public and then at the Alvin. It was better at the Alvin because through her larger than life personality she filled that musical theater. The smaller Public theater was good but the Alvin theater experience was better because it wasn't as confining. Though barns like the Broadway and Gershwin(booby prize winner) would have been too large.

[Quote] everyone is desperate to have their take on her.

Or, ya know, people have opinions to which they're entitled.

Bacall was also box office in the theatre at that time. Stritch was never a star in that sense.

[Quote] she started talking about the first time she'd been somewhere alone, and then talked about the last time she'd been there was when she played the Hollywood Bowl. I think she was a little mixed up.

Where's the contradiction? She'd been X previously but in the company of others, one presumes.

That's wild - I remembered Stritch as having been beaten by Audra! It seems so obvious that she was featured not lead. That said, she was not "transcendent." She was herself, which was all she was ever able to be.

R482, He asked the same question about Jude Law one year on the Oscars and Sean Penn came on next and publicly chastised Chris.

R483, Bacall's competition was especially weak.

Lead Actress – Musical

Lauren Bacall

Woman of the Year

Winner

Meg Bussert

Brigadoon

Nominee

Linda Ronstadt

The Pirates of Penzance

Nominee

Chita Rivera

Bring Back Birdie

Nominee

R409, Helen Menken, mentioned in the article, was Humphrey Bogart's first wife.

The hatred for Elaine Stritch on this site is pathological. She wasn't your mother.

I saw A Delicate Balance. It was a bore.

Yet another Albee play about angry, drunk upper middle class white people

That production of A Delicate Balance was terrific. The film with Hepburn is torture. But Gerald Gutierrez got it just right in every detail. He was an extraordinary director and taken from us much, much too soon.

Stritch stole the show.

R501 I saw it in London with Maggie Smith and Eileen Atkinson and it was excellent.

I saw that production too r503 but I heartily agree with r501 - Smith I enjoyed but she’s generally worth the price of admission.

“The hatred for Elaine Stritch on this site is pathological. She wasn't your mother.”

How do you know? Maybe she was.

“The hatred for Elaine Stritch on this site is pathological. She wasn't your mother.”

How do you know? Maybe she was.

ES in ADB

[quote]The hatred for Elaine Stritch on this site is pathological. She wasn't your mother.

What you see as hatred, others regard as clear-eyed appraisal.

Linda Ronstadt gave an amateurish performance in Pirates, but if she played the Tony game, she likely would have won. She didn't attend the nomination ceremony, nor did she attend the actual awards.

I can't believe the one bitch who's got himself so out of sorts over Nick Cordero's wife. For one thing, she's hardly the only person who's being open about their fight. Hello, Chris Cuomo? He won't even shut up for a day. And there are dozens and dozens of people who are taking to FB and IG to talk about their struggle with it and to ask for prayers or "healing light" or whatever. Or, who talk about family members with it.

To assume Cordero's wife is a "wannabe influence" just because she's reporting on his health, and asking for prayers, is the height of stupidity. Could you be any uglier?

Meg Bussert was terrific in that "Brigadoon" opposite Laura Benanti's dad, Martin Vidnovic, and she had the NY Times comparing her, saying that as lovely a voice hadn't been heard in the theater since the days of Barbara Cook. It's a shame she wasn't able to capitalize on those reviews. But Bacall was a movie star, and she certainly had presence in a show written for her. I saw her do "Wonderful Town" in the round at Westbury, and she was actually very, very good.

In rehearsal...

Stritch and Rosemary Harris were both sublime in that DELICATE BALANCE production.

I think Bacall, understandably, also had the Sally Ross stans voting for her: "Hearts not Diamonds" got her that fucking Tony.

Candide - with Leonard conducting.

Amadeus - Act One.

Amadeus - Act Two.

Wagner's Dream.

Which one of you DL theatre queens can explain all the changes made to Woman of the Year 2.0 when it went out on tour? They got rid of Charmoli and Moore and replaced them with Joe Layton doing both directing and choreographing, got a new title song, and what else?

I watched that Terrence McNally documentary on Prime last night and it was wonderful. There's a bit where he was suffering from a depended on booze and was at a Sondheim birthday party and he bumped into Lauren Bacall and spilled his drink on her and she went off on him and confirmed every story from DL that she was a monster. It was Angela Lansbury who pulled him aside after that and told him that he was a brilliant writer who was wasting his life away with booze and needed to get back in the game and sober up. Angie comes across as quite lovely, warm, and maternal.

R519, Hopefully, a less ridiculous ending. I saw both Bacall and Welch on Broadway. When Sam threw the pitcher of water on Tess at the end, the audience could see a wide piece of material sewn inside Raquel's blouse so her breasts would not be seen under the lights once it became wet. No such precaution was necessary for the much less buxom Bacall.

This is so sad. My thoughts are with this family.

Day 18 on a ventilator?

R522 Fuck, that is awful.

[quote]R475 At the Tony ceremony, when her show won, everyone knew she was going to try and pull some bullshit. ... As predicted, Elaine got up there and started to babble as if this was a lifetime achievement award. They let her go on for the 2(?) minute limit and then started the orchestra. Elaine, ever the victim, started having a meltdown and they cut to commercial.

That was the most embarrassing car wreck I ever witnessed. She started the problem by taking her sweet ass time hugging everyone around her in the audience, as well as people sitting on the aisle on the way to the stage. That part alone was interminable.

Ain’t nobody got time for that!!

Then she started wailing and begging like g-damn Lucy Ricardo when they finally brought the music up.

The Elaine Stritch Horror Show begins at the [bold]54:00 [/bold] mark

[quote]The Elaine Stritch Horror Show

Booze and dope.

Booze and muffins.

And perhaps a piece of Mahler's cheesecake.

Elaine's 2004 Emmy acceptance speech was much more over the top than her 2002 Tony acceptance speech . . . and Trump and Melania were there.

[quote] Meg Bussert was terrific in that "Brigadoon" opposite Laura Benanti's dad, Martin Vidnovic

That was a glorious revival. I was in NY for the very first time and got picked up by a very nice guy who took me back to his apartment. The next day he recommended I see BRIGADOON and I was so glad he did, and that I'd followed his advice.

How many Tony voters are out of town producers? Did they know Bacall was planning to tour in WOTY? Perhaps they voted for Bacall thinking it would help box office on the road.

Has any one Broadway performer generated as much media attention, gossip, and public discussion in relation to such a slim body of work and (arguably) an even slimmer talent than Elaine Stritch?

Just wondering.

Streisand.

Stritch kept telling the "it's not the work it's the stairs/stares" over and over and it never got a laugh and she got to the point where she had to start explaining it and people still didn't laugh. Not because they didn't understand it but because it wasn't funny.

Elaine's Tony mess - she actually gets up to the stage pretty quickly. The camera cuts away from her to run a quick bit of her show so we don’t see if she’s stopping to hug people on the wY, but when it cuts back, she’s already up there.

Stritch was one of the sure bet wins (if Cook hadn’t won a Tony already, she might have been more competition), so she should have been prepared with something written down about who she wanted to thank. It was the turning around to see who was there that was so awful. I wonder what happened in the house when they cut away for the commercial, after she said “please don’t do this to me”?

Well, R532. Madonna has appeared on Broadway.

Anyone who thinks Stritch had little talent never saw the woman on stage. She could hold the house in the palm of her hand. Absolutely without peer when it comes to story telling. Perfect timing. That last appearance in A Little Night Music was ill-advised. It was getting away from her at that time. But for decades, she was in that exalted top tier of theatrical talent.

This ain't top tier.

I saw the train wreck of At Liberty in LA. She couldn't even remember the stories and the audiences started prompting her. And listening to that woman try to sing makes you long for the song stylings of Yoko Ono.

That Meg Bussert/Martin Vidnovic production of BRIGADOON featured an actor named Stephen Lehew as Charlie Dalrymple. He had the most glorious tenor voice as I remember. I checked Google and don’t see any major credits for him after that. Anyone know what happened to him?

This took seconds to do. Seconds.

[quote] That was a glorious revival.

Meg Bussert & Vidnovic were glorious, but a lot oF it wasn’t, especially the really awful Meg Brockie of Elaine Haussman (long since,& justifiably, forgotten). Then the changed the Act One ending, which is written to be the Wedding Dance, which end with Harry Beaton saying he’s going to leave Brigadoon & doom them all. They moved that to the top of Act Two, and ended Act One with Tommy & Jeff going off to find out the story of Brigadoon, while Mr. Lundie said something like “Pray for the understanding of our American friends!” And curtain. It was awful. Oh, skater John Curry was a pretty good Harry Beaton (Curry had a long affair with Alan Bates, & died in ‘94 in Bates’ arms.)

Was it all that long? I know Curry saw him at the end.

*I know Bates saw Curry in his last days.

[Quote] takes delight in having been chosen for this by Richard Rodgers himself.

Was Rodgers strictly hetereo?

Stephen Lehew also played Henrik in the national tour of Night Music with Jean Simmons and Margaret Hamilton. A couple of years after Brigadoon, I saw him in the male lead of Bloomer Girl opposite Judy Blazer at Goodspeed. Offstage he was pretty queenie. I’m actually surprised he’s still alive.

And only into oral.

[quote] Was it all that long?

No, a couple of years or so. It was long over by the time Curry died, but they were still close.

[quote] Was Rodgers strictly hetereo?

Rodgers was an alcoholic, womanizer who hated gays. Make of that what you will.

[Quote] No, a couple of years or so. It was long over by the time Curry died, but they were still close.

Thanks. That's what I thought. Bates was said to be in love every six months.

[Quote] Rodgers was an alcoholic, womanizer who hated gays. Make of that what you will.

But he was vers for Dolores Gray, right?

You forgot "cheap, petty, and mean" R548.

Rodgers was a cheap, petty, and mean alcoholic womanizer who hated gays.

True enough.

But the man simply peed melody.

Watched the National Theatre Live's "Treasure Island" -- good lord, that SET. It was fantastic and must have cost a fortune. The play and the performances are fine -- I mean, it's Treasure Island, not Tamburlaine the Great -- but it's worth watching for the set. (And the parrot; I am not kidding.)

I said this after I saw the NT "Follies": The actors were clearly miked, but I did not see a single microphone or wire in any closeup. Why can't US sound designers figure out how to mic performers so they don't have that gumdrop on their foreheads or the Madonna mic along their jaws? I loathe those distracting things.

[quote] Where's the contradiction? She'd been X previously but in the company of others, one presumes.

No, she was talking about the last time she was in the city she was currently in, and even turned and pointed outward as if she was directing us to a spot. While she was doing this, she said, I think the last time I was here was at the Hollywood Bowl, which got me to wondering just exactly where she was because I live in LA and I did not recognize the theater she was in. But the end credits definitely said Old Vic.

[quote]Why can't US sound designers figure out how to mic performers

Because they are still struggling with how to do the sound mixing. In some shows, it's terrible. I get that those old theaters were not designed with acoustics for rock music, but some don't even seem to be trying.

[quote]r535 I wonder what happened in the house when they cut away for the commercial, after she said “please don’t do this to me”?

In my house, anyway, there were shrieks of laughter.

Goddamn, that is horrible news about Cordero. I just don't know if he's gonna pull through. I don't even think David Lat was on a ventilator for more than 6 days and he was near death's door. That being said, he seems to be fighting hard.

And I am ONE of the people who talked about his wife. There are others. And I stand by my comments. Her behavior is just a tad unseemly for my taste. She's hosting a fucking online dance party to his new song today.

[quote] Her behavior is just a tad unseemly for my taste. She's hosting a fucking online dance party to his new song today.

And your behavior r557?

Brigadoon 1980

I don't judge the wife's behavior. If the becomes the face of victims' spouses, it could open up a new avenue of earning for her. She won't be able to raise her kid alone in New York while working as a trainer.

*If she becomes

[quote] And your behavior [R557]?—Would obscene cover it?

Yes, you've tried to sell this already upthread and no one is buying. Go clutch your pearls somewhere else.

Actually r562, no I didn't. Have you considered that more than one person on this thread finds your position to be obscene?

[quote] Actually [R562], no I didn't. Have you considered that more than one person on this thread finds your position to be obscene?

Actually yes you did. I checked.

I tried to watch the NT Treasure Island, R553, and, yes, that set was out of this world. I could not get past the 30 minute mark, though. I might be one of the few people who have never read or seen any version of TI, and have no idea what the story is. I'm almost embarrassed to say that, because of that, I had trouble following what simple plot there was, nor did I really care. Pirates? Treasure Island? A treasure map? Those stories never held my interest, even when I was a kid. The broadness of the acting was almost panto, and it stated to annoy me. But, oh, that set.

Who did Patsy Ferran play in Treasure Island?

[quote]I wonder what happened in the house when they cut away for the commercial, after she said “please don’t do this to me”?

Chita went over and kicked Elaine in the crotch. Hard!

Did Cordero have an underlying cause? Maybe diabetes? Issues with blood flow before he entered the hospital?

I've wondered that too.

Supposedly not. I think the "those with underlying causes are likely to be the worst hit" theory has fallen by the wayside. This virus has no rhyme or reason to it.

A friend just sent me this- Christopher Cross, who also had/has the virus, is experiencing paralysis. This is a new "side effect."

[quote]That was a glorious revival. I was in NY for the very first time and got picked up by a very nice guy who took me back to his apartment. The next day he recommended I see BRIGADOON and I was so glad he did, and that I'd followed his advice

Oh so that was that stain I saw on the seat at The Majestic.

[quote]And I am ONE of the people who talked about his wife. There are others. And I stand by my comments. Her behavior is just a tad unseemly for my taste. She's hosting a fucking online dance party to his new song today.

Ohhh unseemly? She is terrified as her husband holds on for dear life and he has fans she is informing and celebrating him. She can't even be next to him.

Yet she's been selling herself hard as a "celebrity fitness trainer."

Look, it's clear some people find her behavior a little distasteful and some don't. If you don't, then good for you, but unless you were crowned the authority on this, then shut the fuck up and stop telling people what to think.

I used to see Stephen Lebew a lot at Manhattan Plaza. He was very pretty back in Brigadoon days but he porked out substantially in the intervening years.

Lehew, sorry.

Actually, r564, you didn't check. I'm the one who thinks you're an asshole upthread, but I'm not the person who thinks you're obscene.

Although, really, why ARE you so obsessed with Cordero's wife? She's not doing anything that hundred or thousands of other Covid-19 survivors or family members are doing. For some reason you've focused in on her, and it just makes you seem weird and petty.

[quote]She won't be able to raise her kid alone in New York while working as a trainer.

She's not in NY. They moved to LA a few months ago. He's in Cedars Sinai, which is a huge hospital in West Hollywood on the edge of Beverly Hills. All the big stars go to Cedars Sinai.

[quote] Although, really, why ARE you so obsessed with Cordero's wife? She's not doing anything that hundred or thousands of other Covid-19 survivors or family members are doing. For some reason you've focused in on her, and it just makes you seem weird and petty.

I'm not. You're the one who's obsessed with my comment. I'm merely defending my right to express it. If you'd have just shut the fuck up about it instead of insisting you were the arbiter of all opinions, it wouldn't have been brought up again.

Personally, I'm worried about Glynis Johns. Well into her '90s, apparently a resident of the actors home in California (which has had several COVID-19 cases) ...

[quote] stop telling people what to think.

No one cares what you think. It's the fact that every time he is mentioned, you pipe up with your opinion of her that has grown tired.

I like that IBDB is getting more info on touring productions. I see that there was a Woman of the Year national tour with Bacall, Guardino and Cooper, but apparently no bus and truck tour.

Oh shut up about it already, R581

R580, 16 cases with residents and eight staff, with three deaths so far.

Glynis should be worried.

[quote]r580 I'm worried about Glynis Johns. Well into her '90s, apparently a resident of the actors home in California (which has had several COVID-19 cases)

My friend was her dresser for THE CIRCLE and told costar Stewart Granger he had to stop arguing with Johns or the actress was going to drink. Which would be disastrous for everyone.

He was quite nice about it, and buttoned his lip.

Those walls in the MPTF are awfully industrial looking. I would have figured this place to be a bit swankier.

I wonder if the actors home in New Jersey is as sterile looking.

Please stop. You’re both gross.

I thought Johns lived at Belmont Village in Hollywood. It's an upscale retirement home and they featured her in their ads. She might have moved to the Actor's home.

I think Lavin's much younger husband has her on the waiting list for the Jersey facility. His application was marked URGENT.

Glynis said to the stage manager (a friend of mine) that Granger was such a pain in the ass because “he has such woefully miniscule equipment.”

Hopefully Glynis lives a long, long time. She seems to be the bitchy gift that keeps on giving.

She's 96 and in a nursing home. You'd better send your cards and letters now.

She was marvelously bitchy in The Ref!

Holy crap, Marge Champion's still with us. She turned 100 last September. Having a quarantine throuple with Olivia de Haviland and Norman Lloyd?

Speaking of Marge, Elaine Stritch's withering take down of her in At Liberty is hilarious.

Are you just going to leave it at that, R596?

[quote]Holy cow. It's a slog. I mean, the pace is glacial. I'm sure these actors are giving it their all, but I feel as if I'm watching an actual grand opera sung in a foreign tongue. (Not an opera-goer, to be clear.) And the stage effects are really hokey. But I'm at the 2-hour mark, so I may as well tough it out.

Interesting. I'm certainly no fan of PHANTOM, but I never thought pacing was the problem. If anything, I think maybe some of it moves too quickly -- for example, near the beginning of the show, where they completely leave out everything about how Christine first encountered the Phantom and came under his tutelage.

[quote]Speaking of Marge, Elaine Stritch's withering take down of her in At Liberty is hilarious.

I think most of the funny stuff was from John Lahr.

What was the one about Gloria Swanson? She's in that trailer with her two male assistants. They're cooking the meals and she's cooking her autobiography.

Bajour? Too soon?