Carry on, darlings.
Theatre Gossip #411: "Tony, Tony, When Are The Tonys" Edition.
by Anonymous | reply 601 | February 7, 2021 11:29 PM |
Ah, as much as I want to, I just don't have a lot of hope in that Spielberg WSS.
by Anonymous | reply 1 | January 30, 2021 11:35 PM |
A few months ago when Anson Mount was accused of inappropriate behavior he was cut out of all WSS PR for the movie. I guess that died down and they’re ok with featuring him again.
by Anonymous | reply 2 | January 30, 2021 11:42 PM |
R2 Who is Anson playing?
by Anonymous | reply 3 | January 30, 2021 11:43 PM |
"Anson Mount," R2? Who's he playing, Doc?
by Anonymous | reply 4 | January 30, 2021 11:44 PM |
^ Doc is gone Rita Moreno is playing that 'role'.
by Anonymous | reply 5 | January 30, 2021 11:48 PM |
This article is from April 2020
by Anonymous | reply 6 | January 30, 2021 11:50 PM |
Ansel Elgort, not Anson Mount!
The ridiculous Wayman Wong is STILL singing the praises of MEMPHIS over on ATC, even though several people there have named it as their #1 choice for the worst musical ever to win the Tony for Best Musical. It's quite funny, actually.
by Anonymous | reply 7 | January 30, 2021 11:51 PM |
R6 Well, it was actually meant to be a photo of Ansel 'Mount' Elgort, but Dl does funny things.
by Anonymous | reply 8 | January 30, 2021 11:54 PM |
Oops. Sorry. At least I didn’t type Anson Williams.
by Anonymous | reply 9 | January 30, 2021 11:56 PM |
Who was the audience for Memphis, anyway?
by Anonymous | reply 10 | January 30, 2021 11:57 PM |
Dear Evan Hansen is coming out sooner than I'd imagined. September.
I'd have thought it would have taken longer for the CGI team to make Ben Platt look young enough to be a high schooler.
by Anonymous | reply 11 | January 31, 2021 12:00 AM |
Only if the guys in the new production are less fem than the ones in the old movie.
by Anonymous | reply 12 | January 31, 2021 12:00 AM |
R10 I thought Chad made incredibly brave decisions in her acting for Memphis. The first time I saw it, I thought he was playing him slightly simple, but it was all about the character. Am still not sure it served the piece in anyway, but it sure was ballsy.
by Anonymous | reply 13 | January 31, 2021 12:02 AM |
Okay, so 2 minutes ago I added this thread to my watched list and it already dropped off. I know this glitch has been happening for a while, but it ALWAYS seems to affect the Theatre threads. Can this really be a coincidence at this point?
by Anonymous | reply 14 | January 31, 2021 12:02 AM |
R14 Did you leave DL in those two minutes? I often find that the site seems to lag by a minute or two. For example, if I read all new posts in a thread and then immediately leave DL, the next time I come back those posts I read will be marked as unread again. I've found I often have to wait for a minute or two for DL to register the changes before leaving.
by Anonymous | reply 16 | January 31, 2021 12:05 AM |
[quote] The ridiculous Wayman Wong is STILL singing the praises of MEMPHIS over on ATC, even though several people there have named it as their #1 choice for the worst musical ever to win the Tony for Best Musical. It's quite funny, actually.
Wayman never misses an opportunity to defend or sing the praises of Aaron Tveit and "Moulin Rouge," "Memphis," "High Fidelity," "Cry-Baby," "The Wedding Singer" and others.
by Anonymous | reply 17 | January 31, 2021 12:06 AM |
and Muriel, who serves , hate your guts R14. What did you do to ? Are you black?
by Anonymous | reply 18 | January 31, 2021 12:06 AM |
What r16 said.
by Anonymous | reply 19 | January 31, 2021 12:23 AM |
Is the title of this thread a comment on the new West Side Story film?
by Anonymous | reply 20 | January 31, 2021 12:57 AM |
Well the Tony awards and the flick.
by Anonymous | reply 21 | January 31, 2021 1:00 AM |
Ben Platt for the Oscar - and EGOT status for the only role he's capable of playing
by Anonymous | reply 22 | January 31, 2021 1:04 AM |
[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.]
by Anonymous | reply 23 | January 31, 2021 1:06 AM |
Actors winning Emmys for doing excerpts of their shows on TV news shows was bullshit. Glad that's over.
by Anonymous | reply 24 | January 31, 2021 1:07 AM |
R23 It's David Alvarez. I thought he was the best of the three original Broadway Billy Elliots.
by Anonymous | reply 25 | January 31, 2021 1:09 AM |
shoulders at r23
by Anonymous | reply 27 | January 31, 2021 1:11 AM |
R25 Thanks for the correction!
R27 And some pits!
by Anonymous | reply 28 | January 31, 2021 1:15 AM |
So, yet again, all the guys are flaming queens pretending to be Puerto Rican thugs right? Love George, but come on!
by Anonymous | reply 29 | January 31, 2021 1:28 AM |
Thank Christ they did away with that stupid fucking Emmy for singing on a morning show. I think all EGOT winners should have to win real Emmys and not Daytime ones, anyway.
by Anonymous | reply 30 | January 31, 2021 1:42 AM |
Does anyone know why that particular production of Showboat was filmed for television? It wasn't Broadway, and the cast is D-list at best. Was it especially well reviewed at the time or was PBS just jonesing for a production of Showboat and any game in town would do?
by Anonymous | reply 31 | January 31, 2021 1:49 AM |
Wrong Greek George, R32.
by Anonymous | reply 33 | January 31, 2021 2:03 AM |
Oh shit. Dumb mistake
by Anonymous | reply 34 | January 31, 2021 2:06 AM |
Doesn't matter- George Maharis is WAY hotter than George Chakiris.
by Anonymous | reply 36 | January 31, 2021 2:13 AM |
More of the gay Sharks and Jets.
by Anonymous | reply 37 | January 31, 2021 2:15 AM |
That Paper Mill Show Boat was years before the revered Hal Prince revival and at a time when the show had not been produced in a major production for decades.....so it was a bit of an event to capture it for PBS. If you watch carefully, you'll see DL fave Malcolm Gets in the chorus, long before Caroline in the City.
by Anonymous | reply 38 | January 31, 2021 2:38 AM |
Why is it that Wayman happens to adore all those awful musicals with young male hunks? He is so transparent he should be called Mr. Cellophane.
by Anonymous | reply 39 | January 31, 2021 2:40 AM |
[quote] Why is it that Wayman happens to adore all those awful musicals with young male hunks? He is so transparent he should be called Mr. Cellophane.
Oops, I forgot to include "Newsies" on my list of Wayman favorites. Your post reminded me, thanks.
by Anonymous | reply 40 | January 31, 2021 2:45 AM |
I should've say "wrong Greek GAY George," since that's another characteristic they share.
by Anonymous | reply 41 | January 31, 2021 2:46 AM |
Thanks, R38
by Anonymous | reply 44 | January 31, 2021 3:02 AM |
Let's get back to the original topic. When are MY Tonys....I mean THE Tonys ?
by Anonymous | reply 45 | January 31, 2021 3:02 AM |
Ivan Hernandez doing Impossible Dream. When this first played during lockdown, it drove me to tears. The whole 'when will theatres reopen, when are the Tony awards, why is Linda Lavin". I adore it.
Also, of all the endless fucking Zoom concerts, this and the Sondheim 90th are the only ones I can abide. Usually, they so stink.
by Anonymous | reply 46 | January 31, 2021 3:08 AM |
Fuck youtube, song starts at 1.07
by Anonymous | reply 47 | January 31, 2021 3:19 AM |
Remove Erivo’s Emmy. Impeach her! She’s mean. Needs to be pulled down a peg or two.
by Anonymous | reply 48 | January 31, 2021 3:34 AM |
I think there are some classics that should be off limits in remaking...this is one of them!
by Anonymous | reply 49 | January 31, 2021 3:48 AM |
R16 - nope.
by Anonymous | reply 50 | January 31, 2021 3:54 AM |
[quote]Why is it that Wayman happens to adore all those awful musicals with young male hunks? He is so transparent he should be called Mr. Cellophane.
I think we can all guess the reason :-) And it seems he'd still be glad to service Chad Kimball, despite all the terrible publicity that CK has received lately. I guess sometimes lust outweighs all else!
by Anonymous | reply 51 | January 31, 2021 4:46 AM |
[quote]the revered Hal Prince revival
Was the Prince revival of Show Boat really revered. I know Garth Drabinsky spent a ton of money on it, but I remember thinking it was a big bore. And I hated that the actress who played Queenie had short hair and one of those ugly fucking microphones clearly visible atop her head. I’m sure someone decided it would have been un-PC to have the character wear a head kerchief (as Hattie McDaniel did in the 1930s movie) but couldn’t they have hidden that microphone better?
by Anonymous | reply 52 | January 31, 2021 9:51 AM |
Any scuttlebutt on which shows are talking about [italic]not[/italic] returning? Was anyone surprised about [italic]Mean Girls[/italic], especially after that NBC special with Tina Fey and all those numbers from it?
by Anonymous | reply 53 | January 31, 2021 2:30 PM |
Mean Girls is closing? I definitely would have pinned that as one of the safe ones.
by Anonymous | reply 54 | January 31, 2021 2:36 PM |
Hahah, thanks! I haven't been following the Theatre Gossip threads for a while, so I missed the news.
by Anonymous | reply 56 | January 31, 2021 2:47 PM |
Also, in the MR article, the producers were looking at 3M to open the musical back up. I am sure that the big ones might not have any problem with that amount but those that were just doing okay, they are history. That also implies that theatre capacity is at 100% from the get go. I think the late spring date that has been rumored is completely delusional.
by Anonymous | reply 57 | January 31, 2021 2:51 PM |
Yes, the Hal Prince Showboat was quite a sensation. I remember people raving about it and it ran a decent amount of time. Did well at the Tonys, too (though that was the year where there was not a lot of competition). 10 nominations and 5 wins (and if Lonette McKee had been eligible, it would have been 11).
by Anonymous | reply 58 | January 31, 2021 2:52 PM |
A worse Best Musical Tony Award winner than MEMPHIS? Let's try PASSION, a musical about a selfish, self-indulgent hypochondriac with unrealistic sexual fantasies. Oh yes, the fellow who she supposedly loves avoids her like the plague until the final scene when he decides he Does love her and fucks her. OY.
by Anonymous | reply 59 | January 31, 2021 3:00 PM |
Except that PASSION has some gorgeous music. Can;t say that about MEMPHIS.
by Anonymous | reply 60 | January 31, 2021 3:04 PM |
Sorry, Chad. Memphis is way worse than Passion. And I nodded off at least four times through Passion.
by Anonymous | reply 61 | January 31, 2021 3:05 PM |
Yes, let's hear it for Puerto Ricans only playing Puerto Ricans because George Chakiris did such a piss poor job of it in 1961, right?
But let's not object to a black actress playing the historical figure of a verifiably white Queen of England - two former verifiably white queens of England, if you count Sophie Okonedo at 47 playing the 20 year old French Margaret of Anjou, wife of Henry VI.
The problem with reimagining and updating is that it always forgets that the original gestalt is what made the original a success.
No one gives a fuck that the actors are all "real" Puerto Ricans.
It's called "acting".
by Anonymous | reply 62 | January 31, 2021 3:11 PM |
ONCE is worse than both of them.
by Anonymous | reply 63 | January 31, 2021 3:11 PM |
The chick who played the girlfriend of the lead in The Prom is playing Maria in the WSS movie? They have a way bigger problem than color-blind casting. She is charisma and talent-free.
by Anonymous | reply 64 | January 31, 2021 3:13 PM |
You're crazy, R63. Once was delightful.
Unfortunately, lightning did not strike twice with Sing Street.
by Anonymous | reply 65 | January 31, 2021 3:14 PM |
I have a French friend who was obsessed with Passion, listened to it day and night, said it was not only his favorite Sondheim show, but his favorite American musical ever. When I asked how he could stomach the plot, he said he just ignored it. His English was poor enough that he listened to it as we might opera; just a flow of beautiful music. I suppose listening to it unaware of the story and characters is a gorgeous experience. It really is Sondheim's most sophisticated music.
by Anonymous | reply 66 | January 31, 2021 3:17 PM |
R66, fair enough. Except I would say that, while much of the music in PASSION is indeed beautiful, quite a lot of it is nothing special. I'm thinking of all those scenes with the soldiers, to start. Is your French friend familiar with A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC, and if so, does he really like the score of PASSION better than that one?
by Anonymous | reply 67 | January 31, 2021 3:30 PM |
He does, r67. He finds ALNM a bit twee and precious. I disagree.
by Anonymous | reply 68 | January 31, 2021 4:01 PM |
Will [italic]To Kill a Mockingbird[/italic] come back? Looks like it was still grossing $1.3M+, which is awesome for a play, when the world stopped.
by Anonymous | reply 69 | January 31, 2021 4:14 PM |
R68, thanks. I guess he really likes the darker stuff. Europeans, you know :-)
I just caught up with the Lincoln Center Spotlight on THE LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA that recently streamed online (I think you can still access it). Overall, I enjoyed it very much, aside from one or two self-congratulatory moments that were a little off-putting. But there was one embarrassing moment, when Victoria Clark said she wasn't a slam dunk for the role of Margaret, because Adam Guettel initially told her she was "way too young" for it and they wanted someone older. I checked, and Clark was about 46 years old when she began playing the role. Now, it is true that the character of her daughter, Clara, is said to be 26, but even so, it would have been quite plausible in those days that Margaret would have gotten married very young and would have had a child right away, at age 20 or so. And even if you feel that's stretching it a bit, and you think Margaret would have been a little older than that when she gave birth to Clara, it still wouldn't be true that Clark was "way too young" for the part. At most, she might be thought of as slightly too young for it. So I don't know what that was all about. Maybe Guettel originally thought she wasn't right for the part in other ways and trotted out the age thing as a gallant excuse. Either way, I'm surprised Clark repeated his comment that she was way too young for the part when it just isn't true. It kind of mad her seem a bit delusional.
by Anonymous | reply 70 | January 31, 2021 4:15 PM |
George Maharis was my baby gay dream man.
by Anonymous | reply 71 | January 31, 2021 4:16 PM |
Well, r66, there *are* numerous flops that have very listenable cast recordings.
by Anonymous | reply 72 | January 31, 2021 4:19 PM |
In the movie, Olivia was 46 and Yvette was 20, although the imdb synopsis specifies that the daughter is 26.
by Anonymous | reply 73 | January 31, 2021 4:20 PM |
I think the subtext of what Victoria Clark was saying was: "Can you imagine they almost passed on me and the brilliance I would bring to the role because I was a few years too young? "
by Anonymous | reply 74 | January 31, 2021 4:23 PM |
Loved Passion. Loved Once. Loved Piazza. Musicals with heat -and souls- and beautiful scores. I'll go out on a limb and say that those who bash Passion for its storyline are people who feel 42nd Street is cutting-edge deep. Of course not every show is to everyone's taste, but there's a difference between not enjoying something and saying it is bad.
by Anonymous | reply 75 | January 31, 2021 4:41 PM |
Yes, perish the thought that we would have missed Vicky Clark and her lisping through the role of Margaret. Thank goodness the show was so boring, we napped through most of her scenes.
by Anonymous | reply 76 | January 31, 2021 5:12 PM |
[quote]He finds ALNM a bit twee and precious.
Comment dit-on "twee" en français?
by Anonymous | reply 77 | January 31, 2021 5:18 PM |
Oh, please. Vicky was extraordinary in that role.
by Anonymous | reply 78 | January 31, 2021 5:21 PM |
r77 - écœurant?
by Anonymous | reply 79 | January 31, 2021 5:25 PM |
Light in the Piatha!
by Anonymous | reply 80 | January 31, 2021 5:26 PM |
R75, I don't think people dislike PASSION because it's deep and dark, I think it's because they find the central character more horrifying than sympathetic, and they don't buy the ending of the story for a second. Neither ONCE nor PIAZZA have a major story problem like that.
Back to Victoria Clark and PIAZZA: Ironically, a few years AFTER that show, I seem to remember reading and hearing that Clark was really pushing to be cast as Nellie Forbush in LCT's SOUTH PACIFIC. Which would have been very dicey, to say the least, as there needs to be a big age difference between Nellie and Emile, so Nellie really should be no older than her early 20s. And yes, I know Mary Martin was considerably older than that when she did the role, but those were different times and different circumstances.
by Anonymous | reply 81 | January 31, 2021 5:27 PM |
Honey, Kelli was no spring chicken, herself.
by Anonymous | reply 82 | January 31, 2021 5:30 PM |
Chad made me absolutely detest Memphis. His acting choices were so wrong on every level
by Anonymous | reply 83 | January 31, 2021 5:34 PM |
I didn’t realize the character in Light In the Piazza that Kelli played was supposed to be slightly retarded until someone brought it up late in the musical.
I was like WHAT??
by Anonymous | reply 84 | January 31, 2021 5:35 PM |
Kelli was terrible in Piazza.
by Anonymous | reply 85 | January 31, 2021 5:40 PM |
This is going nowhere fast. Is it just two of you talking here?
by Anonymous | reply 86 | January 31, 2021 5:41 PM |
R84 I seriously thought Chad played Huey as lightly retarded, and that was the book writers saying you had to be mentally challenged to support intergration. It confused me, until I realized he had made 'acting choices'.
by Anonymous | reply 87 | January 31, 2021 5:43 PM |
[quote]I didn’t realize the character in Light In the Piazza that Kelli played was supposed to be slightly retarded until someone brought it up late in the musical.
I think the decision was made to play her retardation (or whatever the acceptable word for that is now) very subtly, so not to risk nervous laughter from the audience, and also so it would be believable that Fabrizio and his family don't notice. But you should have had a clue that something was wrong with Clara if only because of that scene where she gets lost in the streets, panics, has a breakdown and starts screaming until her mother finds her.
R86: Have you anything more to contribute? If not, piss off.
by Anonymous | reply 88 | January 31, 2021 5:49 PM |
[quote] if only because of that scene where she gets lost in the streets, panics, has a breakdown and starts screaming until her mother finds her.
In other words, a typical Gen-Z'er.
by Anonymous | reply 89 | January 31, 2021 5:53 PM |
She was Mentally Challenged in the classic Hollywood tradition.
by Anonymous | reply 90 | January 31, 2021 6:02 PM |
Sorry for the dumb question. Why is a new movie of West Side Story needed?
by Anonymous | reply 92 | January 31, 2021 6:35 PM |
And please stop saying "retarded." It's kinda gross.
by Anonymous | reply 93 | January 31, 2021 6:38 PM |
^ It is historically accurate for the time.
by Anonymous | reply 94 | January 31, 2021 6:40 PM |
In that Lincoln Center // Piazza zoom, Vicki Clark also mentions Guettel found her voice "too legit" for the role - apparently coming into her dressing room one day and telling her she could pick her three favorite moments to really sing out and to pull back on the rest of the score. Clark also talked about struggling with "Dividing Day," during one rehearsal she had to sing through the song over and over and was so worn out that she felt she wasn't doing anything with the song and that's when Sher or Guettel told her that was what they wanted from her in that moment. I wondered if Guettel had anyone particularly in mind when writing Margaret (I think they briefly mentioned a reading or workshop of the piece before Clark came on board) or who he might have wanted to play the role. The only two "names" that came to mind for the part were perhaps Donna Murphy or maybe Glenn Close (not that I'd want to hear "Fable" bellowed in chest voice).
The zoom was very much a puff piece (wish the creatives had been there to discuss the process - I had forgotten that there was completely different director/production in Seattle with much of the same cast), but I was glad to see B-roll of the original production. I thought the Live at Lincoln Center was still on youtube but alas not.
Wasn't Steven Pasquale recast as Fabrizio due to his Rescue Me shooting schedule? Also, was Kelli the Clara understudy as well as playing Franca in Seattle?
by Anonymous | reply 95 | January 31, 2021 7:08 PM |
So does anyone feel Chad did much lasting damage to his career with the recent controversy about masks? Or is it already (mostly) forgotten?
by Anonymous | reply 96 | January 31, 2021 7:13 PM |
I can't picture anyone wanting to be in rehearsal or backstage with him.
by Anonymous | reply 97 | January 31, 2021 7:21 PM |
[quote]while much of the music in PASSION is indeed beautiful, quite a lot of it is nothing special. I'm thinking of all those scenes with the soldiers
I'LL SAY!
by Anonymous | reply 100 | January 31, 2021 7:25 PM |
R92 Because Spielberg has long wanted to remake it. That's basically the only reason it's being made.
by Anonymous | reply 101 | January 31, 2021 7:27 PM |
In The Heights is still meant to open in June. If it is good, (if), it could easily steal the thunder from WWS.
by Anonymous | reply 102 | January 31, 2021 7:30 PM |
DEH will steal the thunder from both of them!
by Anonymous | reply 103 | January 31, 2021 7:35 PM |
So the film version of WSS has a bit of stain from the Angort kid sleeping with a 17 year old and ghosting her, and the Broadway version has a stain from casting one of the ballet dancers involved in the sending ballerina nudes to each other scandal. Best to just leave this musical in the past. The original with adorable young Russ Tamblyn holds up well.
by Anonymous | reply 104 | January 31, 2021 7:43 PM |
Forget Piazza and Passion! Are we ever going to have a DL critical appraisal of The Visit? I found Jason Danieley and his act 2 solo very powerful and moving. Kander's score in general is beautifully written with songs like A Car Ride, Winter, Look At Me, In The Woods Again, and Love and Love Alone delivering wistful theatricality. And Cheets dancing a pas de deux with a ghost of her youth? Stunning!
It was a bit unfortunate that John Doyle tried to drain all the humour out of a show that needs it and they played a theatre that may have suited the show's theme well but is not a prime Broadway house.
by Anonymous | reply 105 | January 31, 2021 7:46 PM |
[quote]In that Lincoln Center // Piazza zoom, Vicki Clark also mentions Guettel found her voice "too legit" for the role - apparently coming into her dressing room one day and telling her she could pick her three favorite moments to really sing out and to pull back on the rest of the score. Clark also talked about struggling with "Dividing Day," during one rehearsal she had to sing through the song over and over and was so worn out that she felt she wasn't doing anything with the song and that's when Sher or Guettel told her that was what they wanted from her in that moment.
I believe you mixed two stories. I'm pretty sure Clark said that Guettel felt she sounded too legit in "Dividing Day" specifically, because he wanted it more introspective, so he told her something like she could pick her three favorite notes in that particular song to sing out and asked her to pull back for the rest of it.
[quote]Sorry for the dumb question. Why is a new movie of West Side Story needed?
I wouldn't exactly call it a dumb question, but I'm surprised you can't figure out the answer yourself. WEST SIDE STORY is one of the few classic musicals that remains tremendously popular with a large percentage of the general public today, and while the original film was justifiably considered a masterpiece in its time, some people feel it hasn't aged well in some respects. So combine those two things alone and you have more than enough justification for a remake.
by Anonymous | reply 106 | January 31, 2021 7:50 PM |
The difficulty there, R105, is that to have a fair critical appraisal of a show we all have to have seen it -And very few people saw The Visit during its brief run. We can talk about the score via the cast album, and we can comment on the clips that are found on YouTube, but it's not the same as having seen the show. In the case of shows like West Side Story, Light in the Piazza, and Passion many of us have now seen multiple productions, as well as the filmed versions, so we have a point of reference. Absent that, we're just spouting off baseless opinions! Oh. Wait. It's Datalounge... Carry on!
by Anonymous | reply 107 | January 31, 2021 7:50 PM |
insufferable
by Anonymous | reply 108 | January 31, 2021 7:51 PM |
Why shouldn't someone remake WSS or any other movie? If you don't like it, skip it.
by Anonymous | reply 109 | January 31, 2021 7:52 PM |
How many Showboat movies are there
by Anonymous | reply 110 | January 31, 2021 8:01 PM |
I saw the Frank Galati-directed version of The Visit at Signature. It was a little rough in places, I guess, but a thousand times better than what ended up on Broadway. Really thrilling. George Hearn was especially brilliant.
by Anonymous | reply 111 | January 31, 2021 8:05 PM |
I was just about to write the same thing, R111. The Visit was vastly better in D.C. I also thought it was more effective when the whole town had a hand in Anton's death.
by Anonymous | reply 112 | January 31, 2021 8:11 PM |
[quote]How many Showboat movies are there
Three, and the first one, from 1929, was originally intended as a straight adaptation of Edna Ferber's novel. Later a couple songs from the musical, and other songs, were added, and it was released in both a silent and sound version.
The other two are a black-and-white version from 1936 featuring Irene Dunne, Helen Morgan, Paul Robeson and Hattie McDaniel; and an MGM color remake from 1951 with Kathryn Grayson, Howard Keel and Ava Gardner. The 1936 version is more faithful to the book of the original show. The 1951 version ends when Magnolia and Gaylord are still young and imposes a happy ending that's not in the stage version or in the 1936 movie.
by Anonymous | reply 113 | January 31, 2021 8:14 PM |
It should be mentioned that DL fave Lenora Nemetz is featured as Ellie in that PBS Showboat.
by Anonymous | reply 114 | January 31, 2021 8:19 PM |
[quote]So does anyone feel Chad did much lasting damage to his career with the recent controversy about masks? Or is it already (mostly) forgotten?
I think his career was already in trouble due to personal issues, which is why his most recent job was a replacement in the ensemble show COME FROM AWAY -- quite a come-down from his Tony-nominated leading role in the new musical MEMPHIS, and that was almost 10 years earlier, with no other major credits in between. But the anti-mask thing sure ain't gonna help.
by Anonymous | reply 115 | January 31, 2021 8:27 PM |
R115, he was in the original cast of Come From Away. He played the super annoying half of the gay couple and did it in a super annoying manner.
by Anonymous | reply 116 | January 31, 2021 8:30 PM |
Speaking of Signature, what's become of Eric Schaeffer?
by Anonymous | reply 117 | January 31, 2021 8:45 PM |
R116, sorry, I don't know why I thought Chad wasn't in the original cast of COME FROM AWAY. But I do still think that was a big come-down from MEMPHIS for him in terms of the size and significance of his role, even though COME FROM AWAY is about 1000 times better as a show. And again, there was a pretty long stretch of time for Chad between one project and the other, though not as long as I originally thought.
[quote]The 1951 version ends when Magnolia and Gaylord are still young and imposes a happy ending that's not in the stage version or in the 1936 movie.
Well, the 1936 version also imposes a happy ending -- and a pretty ridiculous one -- although it doesn't happen for Magnolia and Ravenal until much later in their lives.
[quote]I was just about to write the same thing, [R111]. The Visit was vastly better in D.C. I also thought it was more effective when the whole town had a hand in Anton's death.
Add me as one more person who saw the show in D.C. and thought that production was far, far better than Broadway. John Doyle turned out to be a terrible choice as director, and it's a crying shame, because I'm pretty sure it was what he did to the show that caused it to flop big time on Broadway.
by Anonymous | reply 118 | January 31, 2021 8:48 PM |
[quote]Speaking of Signature, what's become of Eric Schaeffer?
He was canceled.
by Anonymous | reply 119 | January 31, 2021 9:00 PM |
I don't think an Emmy win for Best Cast Recording should count as a win for the actors, either. It further cheapens the EGOT status. Thus, Cynthia Erivo and Ben Platt have legitimate Tonys, but their Emmy and Grammy wins are dubious, IMO.
by Anonymous | reply 121 | January 31, 2021 9:32 PM |
You mean Grammy r121 but Cast Recording seems way more legit than doing a number on the Today show.
by Anonymous | reply 122 | January 31, 2021 9:34 PM |
Also agree on Signature’s VISIT. George Hearn was extraordinary (and I’m not always a fan).
by Anonymous | reply 123 | January 31, 2021 9:58 PM |
How does DL feel about the musicalization of Smile? I've seen the 1975 movie, but was only ever familiar with "Disneyland" before picking up a copy of Howard Sings Ashman. I don't dislike the score, but I found than "Disneyland" aside, it was largely the best parts of the movie plugged into some songs and some interesting bits of condensing/inflating drama (like having Big Bob and Brenda be married; I initially thought Doria was responsible for the nude photo of Maria).
by Anonymous | reply 124 | January 31, 2021 10:11 PM |
I thought Chad was great in the revival of Into the Woods
by Anonymous | reply 125 | January 31, 2021 10:16 PM |
R105 here, and I also agree that the Signature version was better. I did however love the Broadway set more than the Signature version. He was a lovely man, god bless him, but Roger Rees seemed lightweight as Anton. Hearing Hearn's glorious voice ring through the theatre was truly thrilling in a way that Rees never could do.
Does Chita have another new musical or revival in her at this point?
by Anonymous | reply 126 | January 31, 2021 10:20 PM |
Roger Rees was literally in the throes of death as he performed in The Visit. Didn't he die just moths after it closed? Lovely man, so very sad.
You can all be grateful that the Tony Kushner adaptation of The Visit (the play, not the musical) didn't land in NY after a badly-reviewed run at The National. It starred a very miscast Lesley Manville as Clara (way too bird-like and demure) and the action was moved from eastern Europe to an industrial town in the US in the late1950s. It was 3+ hours long and excruciating to sit through.
by Anonymous | reply 127 | January 31, 2021 10:50 PM |
I wouldn't say Come From Away was a comedown from Memphis for Chad. Actually, it was something of a life preserver for him. He'd been fired from a show in (I think) Seattle and was even fired off a web series, and no one wanted to hire him. He was very lucky to get CFA and even luckier that it turned out to be a hit.
by Anonymous | reply 128 | January 31, 2021 11:06 PM |
What was he fired from in Seattle, and any idea why? If not, make something up. It's a gossip thread, after all, and we're bored talking about Passion, if that isn't redundant.
by Anonymous | reply 129 | January 31, 2021 11:11 PM |
R127 was that The Visit that was playing in 2020 and was meant to be broadcast? Sad to hear Manville stunk, she is usually reliable, at least.
by Anonymous | reply 130 | January 31, 2021 11:18 PM |
I wish I could remember (and I'm not even sure it was Seattle). Happy to withdraw my statement for lack of information. I will say that I do know the "injury" story about why he left Memphis was bogus. Yes, he did have an injury, but he was let go for missing performances and basically being on too many pain pills to function.
by Anonymous | reply 131 | January 31, 2021 11:20 PM |
Weird he did the movie of Memphis after being let go.
by Anonymous | reply 132 | January 31, 2021 11:27 PM |
He didn't, R132. He was still in the show when they taped it.
by Anonymous | reply 133 | January 31, 2021 11:41 PM |
^ Ahhh, it has a release date of 2013 and as he Valley of the Dolls in 2011, assumed he came back for it. That makes more sense. Thanks x
by Anonymous | reply 134 | January 31, 2021 11:42 PM |
R134 the taped INTO THE WOODS with the original Broadway cast was recorded in May 1989, but it didn't air on PBS's American Playhouse until March 1991. That's why it has a copyright year of 1991.
by Anonymous | reply 136 | February 1, 2021 12:36 AM |
R136 ....you're just trying to seduce me now.
by Anonymous | reply 137 | February 1, 2021 12:41 AM |
Aren't you?
by Anonymous | reply 138 | February 1, 2021 12:43 AM |
There is also a new film version of FIDDLER in the works...You read it here first...
by Anonymous | reply 139 | February 1, 2021 12:47 AM |
Denzel Washington IS Tevye!
by Anonymous | reply 140 | February 1, 2021 12:48 AM |
Show Boat in its complete version really drags on. Who wants an epic as a musical? The MGM musical ends it where it should end and is visually gorgeous and moving.
The bluray has been announced and is coming out very shortly. The Warner blurays are nothing short of stunning and Good News and The Pajama Game are musts. Even if you don't like the movies you'll love the colors!
by Anonymous | reply 141 | February 1, 2021 12:59 AM |
Would they give Tevye to Danny?
by Anonymous | reply 142 | February 1, 2021 1:02 AM |
Danny DeVito? Sure, why not.
by Anonymous | reply 143 | February 1, 2021 1:12 AM |
r130, I don't know if The National's Visit was meant to be taped but I saw it in 2020 (or maybe 2019, dates mean nothing to me any more) and it was too awful for preservation. Everything about it, starting with setting it in a small town in the US but directed by Brit director Jeremy Herrin and performed by a Brit cast who had no idea what small town 1950s America was like. I'd be curious to know if that production was slated to come to NY or if Tony Kushner always intended there to be a new American production.
I normally love Lesley Manville but she was just overwhelmed by the Olivier stage and this production. As I said earlier, she was just too petite and sweet to play that vengeful viper. Vengeful Viper.....I like that!
by Anonymous | reply 144 | February 1, 2021 1:34 AM |
R144 Olivier is a barn, like Larrys' anus. Many shows get lost there.
by Anonymous | reply 145 | February 1, 2021 1:39 AM |
[quote]Show Boat in its complete version really drags on. Who wants an epic as a musical? The MGM musical ends it where it should end and is visually gorgeous and moving.
Chacun a son gout, as the French say. You're welcome to it, including the insufferable trilling of Kathryn Grayson.
by Anonymous | reply 146 | February 1, 2021 1:40 AM |
I also think the MGM Show Boat is dreadful. Honestly, instead of West Side Story, I wish Spielberg or someone talented would do a new film of Show Boat with more, if not all, of the entire story and score.
by Anonymous | reply 147 | February 1, 2021 3:20 AM |
I would love to see a A Chorus Line filmed with Bennett’s original choreography while the people who so lovingly recreate it over and over again are still around.
by Anonymous | reply 148 | February 1, 2021 3:30 AM |
Brad's with a woman now, isn't he? I thought for sure he was gay but then I have no proof so I'm spreading gossip. I have o idea what he is doing now
by Anonymous | reply 149 | February 1, 2021 3:37 AM |
^ Brad Majors?
by Anonymous | reply 150 | February 1, 2021 3:39 AM |
Brad who?
by Anonymous | reply 151 | February 1, 2021 3:43 AM |
[quote] I normally love Lesley Manville but she was just overwhelmed by the Olivier stage and this production. As I said earlier, she was just too petite and sweet to play that vengeful viper. Vengeful Viper.....I like that!
She plays a real shrieking harridan in the recent film Let Him Go, though it's a dreadful performance, absolutely Razzie worthy.
by Anonymous | reply 152 | February 1, 2021 3:50 AM |
R152 I did find that film bizarre. Like poverty tourism mixed with Grand Guignol. But Costner is still hot.
Did Kevin Costner ever do any stage work?
by Anonymous | reply 153 | February 1, 2021 4:19 AM |
Wasn't Kushner's The Visit rumoured to have been written for Oprah to star in until the musical was announced as coming to Broadway?
by Anonymous | reply 154 | February 1, 2021 4:43 AM |
Just to play devil’s advocate on the above EGOT discussion— that performance of the title song from The Color Purple on Today was really pretty wonderful and made me decide to go see the show which I did think was absolutely magical. Not strictly on topic but what John Doyle did to TCP revival was/is some kind of genius. I saw both productions—the original (at The Broadway IIRC) was long and bloated and over designed and felt like six hours while the Doyle production was stripped down much tighter and leaner and amazingly much more compelling. It felt to me like a completely different much better and waaay shorter show. And say what you want about Erivo (I know you will...).but her Celie remains one of the great performances I saw in NYC through 30 years of theater-going. I was so in love with the whole cast and the production I saw it at least 15 times including Heather’s last show and the production’s closing performance. Heather and Erivo were peerless together. Jennifer Holliday kind of stunk up the joint when she replaced Heather, sadly. Was like an unfortunate high school performance opposite some of the best singing actors in the world.
But I digress. My point was Cynthia’s performance of TCP on the Today show was truly thrilling and like I said it made me climb out of bed and head for the Richard Rodgers STAT. She and some cast members performed the song live at 8am and blew the roof off the studio. Matt Lauer was speechless. So I guess I don’t begrudge whoever picked up an Emmy for that particular performance. It wasn’t ONLY a promo for the show — it stood (and stands) on its own as a beautiful uplifting piece of TCP. I still get chills when I watch that particular Today show performance on YouTube. I know...Mary! But I’m a sucker for really talented black ladies belting the bejesus out of good songs and they effing delivered.
So yeah Erivo may need a reality check and possibly could use being knocked down a notch or two — but I can’t say she didn’t deserve that Emmy. IMHO She absolutely did.
by Anonymous | reply 155 | February 1, 2021 5:17 AM |
[quote]There is also a new film version of FIDDLER in the works...You read it here first...
No, we read it elsewhere, many months ago -- I think it may even have been pre-pandemic. Thomas Kail has been announced to direct it. I don't think any other details were announced, and if they were, I don't remember them.
Regarding the M-G-M version of SHOW BOAT, it does have its pluses and minuses, but I would say one huge plus is the script, which in my opinion is -- heresy!!! -- far better overall than the original. Two examples: In the original show and in the 1936 movie Joe sings "Ol' Man River" for no good reason at all, in response to a silly question from Magnolia about her first meeting with Ravenal. In the M-G-M version, he sings it as Julie and her lover are being thrown off the show boat because they are a mixed race couple. And the M-G-M script contains that newly invented, very powerful scene for Julie and Ravenal towards the very end of the film, which is the catalyst for Ravenal and Magnolia getting back together, plus we also get that heartbreaking shot of Julie standing in the shadows as the show boat pulls out, knowing she'll never see Magnolia again.
by Anonymous | reply 156 | February 1, 2021 5:29 AM |
R155 Mary!
by Anonymous | reply 157 | February 1, 2021 5:53 AM |
Is the theatre thread dropping off of others' "Watched" lists again as well?
Anyway, since y'all been talking about Showboat, LOVE this...
by Anonymous | reply 158 | February 1, 2021 8:46 AM |
YES, R158. I never did get the previous one to adhere to the watch list, and this one's just as bad. Yet numbers of others are fine.
by Anonymous | reply 159 | February 1, 2021 9:05 AM |
Did anyone see the SF Opera Show Boat? How was it? Looks like a pretty lavish, well sung production. Though, I will say, based upon the clips, I much prefer Lonette McKee's vocals to Patricia Racette's more 'legit' sound of Julie.
by Anonymous | reply 160 | February 1, 2021 9:20 AM |
R160 I can’t get the video to play, but Julie was fist played by Helen Morgan, who was a soprano. Over the years, the vocal range for Julie has been steadily lowered. I also don’t understand why they cast black actresses in the role. Julie is supposed to pass as white, which is the whole point of her story.
by Anonymous | reply 161 | February 1, 2021 9:41 AM |
[quote] I normally love Lesley Manville but she was just overwhelmed by the Olivier stage
In defense of Ms. Manville, Sauron would be overwhelmed by the Olivier stage.
by Anonymous | reply 162 | February 1, 2021 11:23 AM |
That opera version of SHOW BOAT was unwatchable. The acting was embarrassing. Francesca Zambello’s seemed clueless as far as directing a musical comedy (or play, whatever you want to call it). I remember thinking the Julie was fine, though probably historically accurate physically, until she had to act. I think Irwin was okay ibut overall the performance fell a little flat.
It popped up all over the country. I remember you couldn’t get tickets for it in DC.. I seem to remember Chicago Lyric broadcast their production over the radio . I thought Ashley Brown might be able to do something more with Magnolia given her theater roots but she was as bad as the one in the video. Affected a little girl voice in the early scenes which was rather cringe worthy
by Anonymous | reply 163 | February 1, 2021 11:57 AM |
Hey, don't you be dissing the great Jennifer Holliday, r155! That was Jennifer Hudson you're talking about.
by Anonymous | reply 164 | February 1, 2021 12:04 PM |
Both Jennifers did TCP
by Anonymous | reply 165 | February 1, 2021 12:13 PM |
R155 that whole story and you Couldn’t bother adding a link?
Regarding the EGOT, it just seems off that a performer like Erivo could have E, G and T for one performance one the same production.
by Anonymous | reply 166 | February 1, 2021 12:16 PM |
The best that Show Boat has been performed musically is in the opening of Till the Clouds Roll By. Just one wonderful musical performance after another. And though Lena Horne would be all wrong dramatically in a complete performance(honestly in the South people would be shocked to learn she had black blood in her?) she is luminescent in her singing. I have no problem with Grayson's warbling especially in Clouds. It's an operetta style of singing which like the contralto or the basso profundo has gone out of fashion. Unfortunate.
Also I'd like to know from that poster what problems the film of WSS has. This should be interesting. What Beymer? Who else should have played the role? Warren Beatty? Anthony Perkins? Troy Donahue? I hate to tell you this but he was the best choice at that moment in time. And though Wood despised him their scenes together are electric which is why the ending is so devastating. And Chakiris as a Puerto Rican? It just happens to be one of the most beloved performances in a movie musical.
by Anonymous | reply 167 | February 1, 2021 1:51 PM |
I'll just throw this here in this thread as well...
by Anonymous | reply 168 | February 1, 2021 2:22 PM |
Thanks, r158. That number was so brilliantly conceived by its creators that I've never seen it fail.
Speaking of Julies, anyone old enough to see the Lincoln Center version with Cook, Stephen Douglass, William Warfield and Constance Towers, who gave the most moving delivery of "Bill" I've ever heard.? It got encore after encore in most every performance.
by Anonymous | reply 169 | February 1, 2021 2:32 PM |
Was Connie sporting MF Light Egyptian, r169?
by Anonymous | reply 170 | February 1, 2021 2:45 PM |
[quote]Speaking of Julies, anyone old enough
Possibly the most unnecessary question in the entire history of Datalounge.
by Anonymous | reply 171 | February 1, 2021 2:53 PM |
No one has the courage to write that every since "Angels" -- maybe a 'Caroline' exception -- Kushner's writing has been at best wildly uneven, and at worst, just plain bad. His "The Visit" was just embarrassing, painful to watch. I think for a lot of us, after "Angels" our hope was he would be our generation's Arthur Miller or Tennessee Williams, writing 3, 4 great, necessary, beautiful plays. That didn't happen. It's also been shocking that he's been silent during the Trump era. If ever there was a time for his voice...
by Anonymous | reply 172 | February 1, 2021 2:53 PM |
WHET "The FUCKING Visit?"
by Anonymous | reply 173 | February 1, 2021 2:56 PM |
I don't have a link to provide but Tony Kushner has apparently said that Trump is simply too shallow to interest him and write about and he has no intention of creating an epic play of his rise. Maybe Kushner will eventually change his mind as time marches on and write that play. You know someone will.
by Anonymous | reply 175 | February 1, 2021 3:10 PM |
The Central Park Delacorte production of Julius Caesar a few years that had Caesar and his wife dressed and made up to look like Dump and Melania with the Senators as modern day Repubs was actually quite effective in many ways.
by Anonymous | reply 176 | February 1, 2021 3:29 PM |
^ And it certainly struck a raw nerve with Trumptards. Several performances were interrupted by right wing trolls who rushed onstage and tried to shut down the show.
by Anonymous | reply 177 | February 1, 2021 3:33 PM |
Saw the Broadway revival of "Show Boat"...snooze-worthy.
by Anonymous | reply 178 | February 1, 2021 3:37 PM |
I saw Act I.
by Anonymous | reply 179 | February 1, 2021 3:41 PM |
Although it’s in Dutch this behind the scenes of the Netherlands production of Sunset Boulevard is quite watchable. Joe was played by the extremely handsome Antonie Kamerling, who committed suicide a few years later.
by Anonymous | reply 180 | February 1, 2021 3:42 PM |
A big part of what made Drabinsky's productions of Ragtime and Show Boat so loved (in certain corners of the industry, anyway) was the sheer size of them. A 50 person cast singing Ol' Man River, backed by a full orchestra is moving, almost by default.
by Anonymous | reply 181 | February 1, 2021 3:42 PM |
Rita Moreno did not like Natalie Wood and has made several snide comments about her in interviews. By all accounts Nat was professional but chilly on the set. Beymer said he met her at a party years later and they both laughed off the friction between them.
by Anonymous | reply 182 | February 1, 2021 3:49 PM |
Thank you to Valens, With One Look and all the other posters who have shared their videos with us during this time. As the pandemic continues and we run out of things to watch on Netflix, their contributions become much more needed and appreciated. Anyway, I wanted to ask if anyone could share the entire pro shot of Betty Buckley in "Sunset Blvd" that is rumored to exist, as well as any capture of City Center`s Me and My Girl and Mack and Mabel? TIA
by Anonymous | reply 183 | February 1, 2021 3:50 PM |
"I don't have a link to provide but Tony Kushner has apparently said that Trump is simply too shallow to interest him and write about and he has no intention of creating an epic play of his rise. Maybe Kushner will eventually change his mind as time marches on and write that play. You know someone will."
Trump deserves a genius like me to bring his story to the stage!
by Anonymous | reply 184 | February 1, 2021 3:50 PM |
I had heard Beymer was very surprised that she greeted him. Even while filming she was so cold that despite the many reunion interviews and anniversaries of the film he never shows up. There's an excellent doc on youtube, over an hour which is enormously satisfying to fans of the film, and just about everyone is interviewed except Beymer(and Natalie of course.) The filmmaker says Beymer declined to be interviewed.
by Anonymous | reply 185 | February 1, 2021 4:15 PM |
Beymer’s career is a mystery. I happen to like him in WSS where his goofiness is appealing. But he usually comes off as the popular kid in school who always gets the lead in the school play. Handsome, yes. Not as handsome as Tom Tryon or as wooden.
by Anonymous | reply 186 | February 1, 2021 4:39 PM |
Did we really need Kushner to tell us that Trump was a horror and a failure?
by Anonymous | reply 187 | February 1, 2021 5:17 PM |
I was so sick of Trump and am so happy that he's gone, it would be a very a long time before I'd be interested in a dramatization of his rise and fall. Any by "a long time," I mean "never."
by Anonymous | reply 188 | February 1, 2021 5:22 PM |
[quote] There's an excellent doc on YouTube
r185 links make every post better
by Anonymous | reply 189 | February 1, 2021 5:23 PM |
I always loved that Richard Beymer and Russ Tamblyn reunited in Twin Peaks. Did they ever have any scenes together?
by Anonymous | reply 190 | February 1, 2021 5:25 PM |
I enjoyed The Visit on Broadway. Some odd things here and there, but still a good show. Chita was radiant and the cast was solid all-around. About Roger Rees, I was a little confused as to why they would cast him, since he played the part like a gray, washed out man. As the story unfolds and you learn more about the character, you realize that Mr. Rees` s choices are spot on. This was a defeated man, probably the kind who peaks at 20 or 22 and has been failing since. If he had played him as a vigorous, charismatic and self-assured man, there would have been less contrast with Clara´s strength and it would just have been odd that he didn´t really put up a fight or run away before the town turned on him.
by Anonymous | reply 191 | February 1, 2021 5:51 PM |
Even the character's name in the the original Durrenmatt play is Alfred Ill (ill) . That should give you a hint.
by Anonymous | reply 192 | February 1, 2021 6:21 PM |
Let me guess, R193... Slave Play is in the Top Five
by Anonymous | reply 194 | February 1, 2021 6:53 PM |
The list was compiled by The Evening Standard so only plays that were performed in London are included. There are a few American ones there. but with the casts that played in London.
by Anonymous | reply 195 | February 1, 2021 7:48 PM |
WE SEE YOU, WHITE LONDON THEATER!
by Anonymous | reply 196 | February 1, 2021 7:52 PM |
There are several plays on that list that bombed in the US, like Enron and Coram Boy.
by Anonymous | reply 197 | February 1, 2021 8:03 PM |
ENRON was hilariously bad. And famously, all the investors had to also put money into another show to get into ENRON because (for some reason) everyone assumed it would be a smash. The investors got clobbered.
by Anonymous | reply 198 | February 1, 2021 8:38 PM |
Kushner saying "Trump is too shallow" shows that he is missing what is going on in this country right now. Sad.
by Anonymous | reply 199 | February 1, 2021 8:39 PM |
Does any playwright today have the vision to create social commentary that isn't on-the-nose literal, as Arthur Miller did with [italic]The Crucible[/italic]? He set McCarthyism in Puritan times with accused witches. Eureka! There doesn't have to be an actual Trump figure to comment on our current socio-political climate, and something more artful is always way more interesting.
by Anonymous | reply 200 | February 1, 2021 8:45 PM |
I agree, r200, and sadly, Kushner has failed to do exactly that. Instead, he's been rewriting....West Side Story!
by Anonymous | reply 201 | February 1, 2021 8:49 PM |
Ugh. I'm sorry, while you can argue about whether or not Kushner's lost his mojo, I agree with the posters who have ZERO appetite for some 'great' play about Trump. It's been nothing but the Trump show for 5 straight years if you count the 2016 campaign. I'm not arguing that his awful administration wasn't of consequence, I just think those of you hungry for some great theatrical exploration of Cheeto may be in the minority.
Also, talk about shooting fish in a barrel. Is there really anything left to be surprised about and revealed with Trump and his goons?
by Anonymous | reply 202 | February 1, 2021 9:07 PM |
Not about Trump per se. But something about our country's culture could be better than another play about family agita.
by Anonymous | reply 203 | February 1, 2021 9:22 PM |
Kushner could write about Trump by revisiting Joe Pitt. It would be interesting to see Joe see his ideals shredded by the MAGA. Of course, that depends on what happened to Joe after the 90s. I’d be curious to see it, as Kushner was harsher on Joe than Roy Cohn.
by Anonymous | reply 204 | February 1, 2021 9:35 PM |
I'm with r202.
by Anonymous | reply 205 | February 1, 2021 9:44 PM |
But dear God rewriting WSS when Lehman already did it just fine? It is incredibly lazy and craven. It would be like Arthur Miller writing a new screenplay for South Pacific. Everybody would have been WTF? So very much to write about and he does this.
by Anonymous | reply 206 | February 1, 2021 10:37 PM |
Meanwhile in the UK:
[quote]An actress who was dropped from a play for posting alleged homophobic remarks online had not realised the character she was due to portray was a lesbian, an employment tribunal has heard. Seyi Omooba was due to play the lead character, Celie, in The Color Purple at Leicester's Curve Theatre in 2019. Ms Omooba, who is Christian, would have refused the role if she'd known the character was gay, the tribunal heard.
The most embarrassing thing about this is it's clear she's only ever heard of the film version
[quote]"In the film the lesbian theme is not present at all, there is one kiss between the female characters which can be interpreted in all sorts of ways," said Mr Stroilov. "It is in no way obvious and was never made clear to claimant that she was expected to play a lesbian character." He added: "It's, with respect, absurd to suggest it's for an employee, an actor, to go and inquire with an employer whether or not they interpret this play differently from Steven Spielberg."
by Anonymous | reply 207 | February 1, 2021 10:55 PM |
Beyond pathetic in so many ways....
by Anonymous | reply 208 | February 1, 2021 11:01 PM |
R206, save your opinion for when you’ve actually SEEN the fucking film.
Kushner has added a significant new component to the story (which I won’t describe) that gives it another dimension entirely. You’ll know what it is during the first few minutes.
by Anonymous | reply 209 | February 1, 2021 11:05 PM |
[quote] which I won’t describe
It's a gossip thread, fucker
by Anonymous | reply 210 | February 1, 2021 11:19 PM |
Trump isn't a stage play, it's an opera about hubris. The man who has everything reaches for the highest prize of all, never intending to achieve it. When he does, his character flaws bring everything crashing down and he loses everything.
by Anonymous | reply 211 | February 1, 2021 11:29 PM |
Stuff it R209 if you won't describe it. It starts with Tony in heaven? It turns out to be Anybody's dream? I'm sure it will be pure nonsense. It always does. It will be up or more likely down there with Glenn's South Pacific.
by Anonymous | reply 212 | February 1, 2021 11:38 PM |
Is a *list* involved?
by Anonymous | reply 213 | February 1, 2021 11:40 PM |
Isn't Trump's play Bennett's "The Madness of King George III" ?
by Anonymous | reply 214 | February 2, 2021 12:09 AM |
[quote] I also don’t understand why they cast black actresses in the role. Julie is supposed to pass as white, which is the whole point of her story.
That's why Lonette McKee was so perfect for the role, aside from her talent and beauty. I believe she is actually mixed race, but at any rate, she looks exactly like someone who could pass as completely white and yet it would be credible when revealed that she had black blood in her.
[quote]The Central Park Delacorte production of Julius Caesar a few years that had Caesar and his wife dressed and made up to look like Dump and Melania with the Senators as modern day Repubs was actually quite effective in many ways.
No, it wasn't, because the story of that play has almost nothing to do with the story of the Trumps. One of the stupidest, most hare-brained and pointless "updatings" of a show that I've ever seen.
[quote]"It's, with respect, absurd to suggest it's for an employee, an actor, to go and inquire with an employer whether or not they interpret this play differently from Steven Spielberg."
This has got to be one of the most infuriating and idiotic statements of all time. With DISrespect, what's ACTUALLY "absurd" is that this idiot actress didn't bother to read the script and listen to the songs of the musical before signing on to play the leading role.
[quote]Kushner has added a significant new component to the story (which I won’t describe) that gives it another dimension entirely. You’ll know what it is during the first few minutes.
POTENTIAL SPOILERS AHEAD!!!!!! One major new component of the new film version of WSS is that it covers the "urban renewal" project that involved the razing of an entire Upper West Side neighborhood that housed lower- and middle-income families of various ethnicities, including many Puerto Ricans, to build what is now Lincoln Center. Apparently, another major new component is the rewriting of the character of Doc as a Puerto Rican character called Valentina, to be played by Rita Moreno. I don't know the details of that, but I think she's actually supposed to be Doc's widow.
by Anonymous | reply 215 | February 2, 2021 12:13 AM |
Kushner moving forward timewise to the rise of Lincoln Center has been common knowledge for awhile. And is it really that clever?
by Anonymous | reply 216 | February 2, 2021 12:15 AM |
I think it is clever, and very ironic, because of course, most of the opening sequence of the first WSS story film was shot in the area where Lincoln Center now stands. Also, it's only a slight move forward in time, if at all, because I believe the demolition of the buildings in that area began in the late 1950s or very early '60s.
by Anonymous | reply 217 | February 2, 2021 12:28 AM |
Save the Dump story, whether onstage or in the opera house or in a mini-series for the next generation who were too young or not even born yet to witness it all in real time.
No need to remind anyone reading this but it was a daily barrage of: "if this was in a movie. I'd never believe it!" How do you top that?
by Anonymous | reply 218 | February 2, 2021 12:44 AM |
I'm with you, r218.
by Anonymous | reply 219 | February 2, 2021 12:58 AM |
Nobody needs a play about Trump. We already have The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, which is exactly on point. It paints the rise of an ignorant Chicago gangster to the pre-eminent position in the land, and is an allegory for the rise of Hitler. Arturo is a ridiculous, limited, laughable little man, whose soaring narcissism makes him a god to other limited little men.
The play that Tony Kushner is too shallow to conceive investigates either the worldwide rise of populism, or, if you want to focus on the US, how the ghosts of the Confederate Army and the KKK rose again in the post-trickle-down-economics era.
Personally I thought Angels in America was pretentious and ridiculously over-long, but I'm not American so I have to allow that I'm not its best critic.
by Anonymous | reply 221 | February 2, 2021 1:32 AM |
Tonight on Designing Women:
*
A Broadway has-been vows to make Julia rue the day that she stole the role of "Mame" from her in Anthony's community-theater production. Jeff: Sean Ryan. Julia: Dixie Carter. Anthony: Meshach...
by Anonymous | reply 222 | February 2, 2021 1:48 AM |
^^Who plays the Broadway has-been? ^^
by Anonymous | reply 223 | February 2, 2021 2:51 AM |
[quote]It will be up or more likely down there with Glenn's South Pacific.
Only if they cast Maria with a 45-year-old.
by Anonymous | reply 224 | February 2, 2021 2:54 AM |
R223 I believe it was none other than DL favorite Miss Gretchen Wyler. And Gretch had in fact played both Mame and Vera (not in the same production).
by Anonymous | reply 225 | February 2, 2021 2:56 AM |
And the title of the episode is... MAMED
by Anonymous | reply 227 | February 2, 2021 2:58 AM |
Soooo, Julia's Mame, Ivy gets Vera, Mary Jo gets Gooch, and Carlene gets...to be in the chorus. Dixie and Gretch just did a portion of Bosom Buddies. I think Gretch was using Stritch for inspiration.
by Anonymous | reply 228 | February 2, 2021 3:17 AM |
At least they didn't give Mame to that bitch Phyllis Hammerow.
by Anonymous | reply 229 | February 2, 2021 3:21 AM |
R216 No. It isn't clever at all. Is Tony trying to say they are desperate and kill people because of the Lincoln Centre. What the fuck does that have to do with WSS?
by Anonymous | reply 230 | February 2, 2021 3:33 AM |
R230, again, what Kushner and Spielberg have apparently added is acknowledgment and coverage of the fact that an entire neighborhood of low- and lower-middle-class, multi-ethnic people, including many Puerto Ricans, was displaced by tearing down the buildings in which they lived so that Lincoln Center could be built. If you are so incredibly stupid that you can't understand how that's germane to the plot of WEST SIDE STORY, then there is no hope for you. I invite you to try to explain why you think this idea isn't clever or dramatically strong, though I cringe in advance of what your response will be......
by Anonymous | reply 231 | February 2, 2021 3:42 AM |
I hope at some point they cut to a shot of the marquee of "West Side Story" playing at Lincoln Center--a revival played the New York State Theater throughout the summer of '68.
by Anonymous | reply 232 | February 2, 2021 3:47 AM |
R231Ha ya patronizing cunt. The building of the Lincoln Centre has exactly zero to do with WSS. What are Kushner and Spielberg trying to say - that the Jets and Sharks are fighting because they are losing their houses? No. They fight because that is what men do, have always done, and will, especially if pussy is involved.
by Anonymous | reply 233 | February 2, 2021 3:53 AM |
R232, I've been thinking, there are some striking things they could have done in the new WSS given the new concept, though I doubt they did them and I have no idea if they even considered them. For example, yes, they could have presented the "Somewhere" ballet as a flash-forward performance of that full production of WSSS on stage at the New York State Theatre in 1968, or perhaps a New York City Ballet performance of the WEST SIDE STORY Suite, although I think that would have been too jarring, as the ballet comes in the middle of the narrative. More realistically, the Spielberg movie could have some kind of an epilogue with archival footage of that neighborhood being torn down and Lincoln Center being built, and there could be a really powerful meta moment with a few brief shots of the first movie version of WSS being filmed right in that area.
To the moron at R230/233, the point is that street violence is bred among the have-nots -- people who are marginalized because they are poor and/or recent immigrants, or for other reasons. Whatever problems exist among rich kids, they don't tend to have gang fights in the streets. Do you get it now, are are you SO dense that you STILL don't understand, even though I've now attempted to explain it three times?
by Anonymous | reply 234 | February 2, 2021 4:08 AM |
R234 Rich people don't fight? Bless. God's sake, they may not use switchblades on the streets, but they do.
by Anonymous | reply 235 | February 2, 2021 4:13 AM |
[quote]Rich people don't fight? Bless. God's sake, they may not use switchblades on the streets, but they do.
WEST SIDE STORY is about gang violence in the streets. What I wrote was that rich kids "don't tend to have gang fights in the streets," you incredibly dense, mentally defective simpleton. This is why you have no place among people who have brains and know how to use them.
by Anonymous | reply 236 | February 2, 2021 4:25 AM |
[quote]the point is that street violence is bred among the have-nots -- people who are marginalized because they are poor and/or recent immigrants, or for other reasons. Whatever problems exist among rich kids, they don't tend to have gang fights in the streets
I'm not the person you were attempting to condescend to, but how is that linked to the clearances for Lincoln Center?
Surely a more reasonable interpretation is it's meant to show just how futile the gangs are - fighting and killing each other over territory which is being taken away from both of them by the system. Fighting each other, instead of the system oppressing both sides - hmm, wonder if that's relevant to today.
by Anonymous | reply 237 | February 2, 2021 4:38 AM |
[quote]I'm not the person you were attempting to condescend to, but how is that linked to the clearances for Lincoln Center?
Because it points up the fact that all of these kids -- the Jets and the Sharks -- are so poor, so marginalized that they live in a neighborhood that's about to be completely wiped out to build a temple to high art and culture for rich people. Makes perfect sense to me, though your point about the other significance is very true as well. I think both points are closely tied together, so I don't know why you don't understand my point and why you're questioning me.
by Anonymous | reply 238 | February 2, 2021 4:49 AM |
[quote]so I don't know why you don't understand my point and why you're questioning me
You're ridiculously defensive, and unfortunately for you the rest of us know why.
by Anonymous | reply 239 | February 2, 2021 4:55 AM |
R238 And the storyline in Romeo and Juliet about property prices in Verona and tearing down the old slave quarters totally supports the point you seem obsessed that we all accept YOUR OPINION.
by Anonymous | reply 240 | February 2, 2021 4:57 AM |
Dear R236 ( and all the other posts you’ve posted): so sorry about your micropenis situation. If you work on really improving your ass-eating skills, I’m sure you can compensate and find someone. Someone blind. Eventually.
by Anonymous | reply 241 | February 2, 2021 6:58 AM |
Jesus, we have a Tony Kushner Apologist on here trying to make excuses for Kushner's banal track record after the huge success of Angels in America.
Kushner's career is very disappointing. Many did hope he would have a Miller/Williams type career and instead we got one floppo play (Intelligent Homosexuals....blah, blah, blah) and not particularly interesting film adaptations for Spielberg and Denzel.
He apparently shot his entire artistic wad with AiA.
by Anonymous | reply 242 | February 2, 2021 7:12 AM |
Oh...I left off "Homebody/Kabul" which was ok. Not great but modestly interesting.
by Anonymous | reply 243 | February 2, 2021 7:23 AM |
Hal Holbrook has died. He always seemed nice.
by Anonymous | reply 244 | February 2, 2021 7:25 AM |
[quote] Jesus, we have a Tony Kushner Apologist on here trying to make excuses for Kushner's banal track record after the huge success of Angels in America. Kushner's career is very disappointing...
I haven't been part of this particular discussion, but it sounds like you're the one with the problem. Two Tony awards, an Emmy and two screenplays (with two more about to be released), both of which were nominated for Oscars and were successful at the box office. Most people would be beyond happy with that career trajectory, but YOU'RE disappointed.
by Anonymous | reply 245 | February 2, 2021 7:29 AM |
R245 Well, yes. Most people are. He writes little, needs an editor when he does, and does seem to have never reached his potential. I expected more.
by Anonymous | reply 246 | February 2, 2021 7:31 AM |
LOL. Most every award Kushner has ever won was for some form of AiA. And, the fact he's pretty much exclusively spent the last 15 years working on dreary film adaptations for an also past his prime Spielberg is very depressing.
I suspect our Apologist is Mr. Kushner's agent or p.r. person.
I hope it's not his husband because I like Mark Harris; he's a good writer.
by Anonymous | reply 247 | February 2, 2021 7:59 AM |
Can Halsey sing? She'd be a zeitgeisty choice for Julie in a SHOWBOAT movie.
by Anonymous | reply 248 | February 2, 2021 8:08 AM |
[quote]needs an editor when he does
Much like literally every single writer in the history of the world.
by Anonymous | reply 249 | February 2, 2021 8:52 AM |
Is there a filmed performance of “The Inheritance”? Will it tour the US? Would love to see this show.
by Anonymous | reply 250 | February 2, 2021 9:18 AM |
I'm not sure the show got filmed for TOFT before it closed.
by Anonymous | reply 251 | February 2, 2021 9:37 AM |
Was Betty lip-syncing in that clip at R220? And may I add that song has some really crappy lyrics. And that closing note: “With one look, I’ll be MAAAAAAY!”
by Anonymous | reply 252 | February 2, 2021 9:41 AM |
The idea of two small time street gangs fighting tooth and nail for turf that they’re about to lose anyway is a great and tragic idea. The Have Nots battling with each other futilely, while the Haves pose the real threat. That’s potentially powerful if it’s done well. And subtly.
I quite liked Kushner's screenplays for Munich and Lincoln, though I know both films have their detractors. I guess we’ll see if it works soon enough.
by Anonymous | reply 253 | February 2, 2021 11:17 AM |
I love the fact that people here think they have (or should have) ownership over Kushner's career. For god's sake, let him write what makes him happy. If AIA ends up being his lone masterpiece, then so be it. Most playwrights would kill for that legacy.
As for WSS, I guess it's true to DL form that there is so much stupid (and vicious!) kvetching over a film that hasn't been released yet.
by Anonymous | reply 254 | February 2, 2021 1:24 PM |
The film remake of WSS actually will take place the sunmer of 1957 when the show first opened.
by Anonymous | reply 255 | February 2, 2021 1:57 PM |
I know there’s a reference in the screenplay about the residents being offered a financial sum to move out ($1000) and some actually turn it down and choose to stick it out and fight.
by Anonymous | reply 256 | February 2, 2021 2:26 PM |
Enough talk about Kushner and the building of Lincoln Center....what about that shiny yellow dress on Anita?!?
by Anonymous | reply 257 | February 2, 2021 2:31 PM |
R257, take it up with Paul Tazewell, the costume designer. The legendary Ann Roth was supposed to design the costumes but bowed out in pre-production because it was too big a job for an octegenarian.
by Anonymous | reply 258 | February 2, 2021 2:49 PM |
Do people really think that Lincoln was a "dreary screen adaptation?"
by Anonymous | reply 259 | February 2, 2021 2:58 PM |
Not me r259.
by Anonymous | reply 260 | February 2, 2021 3:14 PM |
When Lincoln Center was built even 'poor' people could go. Did you sit in the first ring or parterre boxes? No but there were plenty of tickets in the top tier and standing room where you could enjoy the greatest performers in the world for a few dollars. So what if the rich paid for it and got the best seats. It's the way things work. I was a very poor book clerk and went several times a week and did not worry. I would have preferred though that some of the great beautiful movie palaces that were torn down in Times Square and the old Met had been repurposed for these companies. Architecturally these buildings are cold cold cold.
by Anonymous | reply 261 | February 2, 2021 3:31 PM |
Speaking of Lincoln Center, this is a great documentary...
by Anonymous | reply 262 | February 2, 2021 3:39 PM |
I loved living in the West 60s. I would cruise at Lincoln Center, whether at a performance or just sitting at the fountain.
by Anonymous | reply 263 | February 2, 2021 4:00 PM |
Compare and contrast these multi-theater complexes of the '60s:
Lincoln Center (NY)
Kennedy Center (DC)
Music Center (LA)
by Anonymous | reply 264 | February 2, 2021 4:09 PM |
The thought of all those sharks and jets bitching about "The Man" makes me very happy. Kushner can't write without an oppressive male force.
by Anonymous | reply 265 | February 2, 2021 4:47 PM |
[quote]The idea of two small time street gangs fighting tooth and nail for turf that they’re about to lose anyway is a great and tragic idea. The Have Nots battling with each other futilely, while the Haves pose the real threat. That’s potentially powerful if it’s done well. And subtly.
I doubt it will be anything but subtle. These days, Hollywood tends to hit you over the head with a message/agenda.
by Anonymous | reply 266 | February 2, 2021 5:01 PM |
Some of the best fighting on DL happens right in these threads.
by Anonymous | reply 267 | February 2, 2021 5:10 PM |
[quote]I doubt it will be anything but subtle.
You wanna parse that?
by Anonymous | reply 268 | February 2, 2021 5:10 PM |
[quote]The idea of two small time street gangs fighting tooth and nail for turf that they’re about to lose anyway is a great and tragic idea. The Have Nots battling with each other futilely, while the Haves pose the real threat. That’s potentially powerful if it’s done well. And subtly.
Exactly, and yet some small-minded people here think that adding this plot element to WSS is a terrible idea on Kushner's part, and they feel it necessary to be extremely bitchy and insulting towards me for saying that I think it might turn out to be a very powerful addition. I'm fairly confident that this new element will be added to the script subtly, rather than becoming a major new plot point. Someone who worked on the film told me that there are scenes with construction workers tearing down buildings, and also I believe some scenes of neighborhood residents protesting the demolition, but I'll bet those moments will be there as background context for the tragic story of Tony and Maria's love for each other being doomed by tribal hatred.
by Anonymous | reply 269 | February 2, 2021 5:46 PM |
R269 Gods sake, you are so fucking weak.
by Anonymous | reply 270 | February 2, 2021 5:48 PM |
Seriously 270? Why are you here?
Most folks don't love the theater because they are hard core and emotionless.
by Anonymous | reply 271 | February 2, 2021 5:56 PM |
Am I the only one longing for a lengthy discussion of "Follies"? Because this WSS bickering is damned tedious.
by Anonymous | reply 272 | February 2, 2021 5:59 PM |
Is it just the same two bitches catfighting?
by Anonymous | reply 273 | February 2, 2021 5:59 PM |
Hey, let’s talk about the Wicked film now.
The director of the forthcoming In the Heights is the new director:
by Anonymous | reply 274 | February 2, 2021 6:04 PM |
Hey 272, easy, you don't have to go that far.
Just start talking about Ethel Merman or Angela Lansbury or APPLAUSE!
You can even throw in a Len Cariou or George Hearn debate.
by Anonymous | reply 275 | February 2, 2021 6:06 PM |
[quote]Someone who worked on the film told me that there are scenes with construction workers tearing down buildings, and also I believe some scenes of neighborhood residents protesting the demolition, but I'll bet those moments will be there as background context for the tragic story of Tony and Maria's love for each other being doomed by tribal hatred.
I hope they take a cue from JOKER and the uprising depicted in that movie. It was kept largely in the background, while the main focus was Arthur's origins. The movie didn't try to lecture us. It just told a story that had some political themes, but it wasn't preachy about it.
by Anonymous | reply 277 | February 2, 2021 6:10 PM |
[quote]The movie didn't try to lecture us.
Joker was pretty overbearing, and did a whole lot of preaching during the talk show sequence and some of the therapy sessions. Joaquin made a lot of it palatable though.
by Anonymous | reply 280 | February 2, 2021 6:15 PM |
Thanks R279!
by Anonymous | reply 281 | February 2, 2021 6:20 PM |
Thank you R278!
by Anonymous | reply 282 | February 2, 2021 6:23 PM |
[quote]This WSS bickering is damned tedious.
Seeing as how there's precious little new product during the continued pandemic, I can think of few things more worthy of interesting discussion than a new concept that's being added to a remake of a classic musical by one of the today's most famous writers. And if that discussion has turned into a "catfight," that's only because at least one person here is conducting himself like a bitchy, gay five-year-old.
[quote]I hope they take a cue from JOKER and the uprising depicted in that movie. It was kept largely in the background, while the main focus was Arthur's origins. The movie didn't try to lecture us. It just told a story that had some political themes, but it wasn't preachy about it.
That's what I expect will happen. I really don't think the new WSS will be mostly about urban renewal.
Anyway....on a (hopefully) less contentious note, what I've heard about the movie of IN THE HEIGHTS, plus what I've seen in the trailer, is so good that I'm very happy and not at all surprised to hear John M. Chu has now been signed to direct the WICKED movie.
by Anonymous | reply 283 | February 2, 2021 6:27 PM |
[quote]Just start talking about Ethel Merman or Angela Lansbury or APPLAUSE!
Or, for that matter, "They're Playing Our Song," which is already well into its second thread. People weren't even talking that much about it in 1979.
by Anonymous | reply 284 | February 2, 2021 6:43 PM |
R285, probably not everyone, if you know what I mean... (and I'm sure you do)
by Anonymous | reply 286 | February 2, 2021 6:49 PM |
R280 like I said, the movie had political themes but it wasn't preachy, IMO. It didn't give focus to nor comment on the uprising one way or another. Arthur/Joker didn't even care about the protests nor its "kill the rich" cause. In the talk show interview he clearly states this. All he cares about is the attention he's (finally) getting because the protesters are using his image as a figurehead.
by Anonymous | reply 287 | February 2, 2021 6:50 PM |
The new plot twist in WSS is that Maria recognizes Tony's kindness and gentleness and becomes his girlfriend/beard so people will stop calling him a "pansy."
by Anonymous | reply 288 | February 2, 2021 7:00 PM |
Blithe Spirit is a favorite of mine can't wait to watch, thank you! The recent version with Dan Stevens is really bad.
Wondering what will be the next attempt at doing a live tv musical. I think School of Rock could be successful. I think they should lose the idea of having an audience while filming live though. It doesn't add anything and restricts what they can do during the broadcast.
by Anonymous | reply 289 | February 2, 2021 7:03 PM |
I'm watching the DVD Show featuring the lovely Miss Barbara Stuart as...Maureen Core.
by Anonymous | reply 290 | February 2, 2021 7:26 PM |
The two TPOS threads have done well because people go there when they're paywalled out of this thread.
by Anonymous | reply 291 | February 2, 2021 7:26 PM |
r290 Isn't Jackie Joseph in that one, too?
by Anonymous | reply 292 | February 2, 2021 7:43 PM |
If they're doing a screen capture of COME FROM AWAY is that a sign that the musical won't re-open on Broadway?
by Anonymous | reply 293 | February 2, 2021 7:44 PM |
Yes, r292, as... Alberta Schweitzer.
by Anonymous | reply 294 | February 2, 2021 7:47 PM |
What's going on with the Diana musical Netflix movie? Have Harry and Megan buried it?
by Anonymous | reply 295 | February 2, 2021 8:45 PM |
Will American Utopia be eligible for Oscars? I find I keep returning to it. It is a great stress release.
by Anonymous | reply 296 | February 2, 2021 8:50 PM |
I saw an article about CFA and the headline made it sound like they were doing a movie adaptation, not a live capture. Does Chad play this character as slightly retarded, too?
by Anonymous | reply 297 | February 2, 2021 9:02 PM |
No is a live capture of the stage show. Chad plays a homosexualist in CFA, and he is fine.
by Anonymous | reply 298 | February 2, 2021 9:10 PM |
Why don't they remake Finian's Rainbow? It's one of Broadway's best scores and the film is so bad. Though it was one of those films that made a terrific soundtrack album.
by Anonymous | reply 299 | February 2, 2021 9:37 PM |
Two words. Black Face.
by Anonymous | reply 300 | February 2, 2021 9:43 PM |
[quote]Two words. Black Face.
Of course, that problem was neatly sidestepped in the most recent Broadway revival by having the bigoted white senator played by Chuck Cooper after his transformation.
That said, FINIAN'S RAINBOW will never be remade as a movie, and I suspect may never have another major stage revival, because for all the brilliance of its score, the show is extremely dated in several respects.
by Anonymous | reply 301 | February 3, 2021 12:09 AM |
[quote]Why don't they remake Finian's Rainbow? It's one of Broadway's best scores and the film is so bad.
There are much worse movie adaptations of Broadway musicals. I think there are some very good things about the movie, including Petula Clark as Sharon. Of course, the show was already dated by the time the movie was released in 1968, 21 years after its Broadway debut.
by Anonymous | reply 302 | February 3, 2021 12:51 AM |
So, Pet got Finian's Rainbow, Shani got Oliver!, and Sally Ann got that piece of Chitty.
by Anonymous | reply 303 | February 3, 2021 1:02 AM |
And I got Carmelina and Roza.
by Anonymous | reply 304 | February 3, 2021 1:16 AM |
And I got.....nothing.
by Anonymous | reply 305 | February 3, 2021 1:16 AM |
BWAH-HA-HA-HA-HAAAA!!!
by Anonymous | reply 306 | February 3, 2021 1:25 AM |
[quote]And I got.....nothing. —Ella Logan
What do you mean? You were in the cast of that fabulous Broadway musical "Kelly" in 1965.
Oh, wait. Your role was cut out of town. But at least you avoided the embarrassment of being in a flop that opened and closed the same night.
by Anonymous | reply 307 | February 3, 2021 1:26 AM |
The Wicked movie
Viola Davis as Madame Morrible
James Cordem as the Wizard
Ansel Elgort as Fiyero
Emma Roberts as Nessa Rose
Emma Watson as Galinda
and Janelle Monae as Elphaba
by Anonymous | reply 309 | February 3, 2021 2:41 AM |
How about casting people who can really sing? Revolutionary, I know.
by Anonymous | reply 310 | February 3, 2021 2:42 AM |
But but but but but......
by Anonymous | reply 311 | February 3, 2021 3:31 AM |
Holy crap, is that seriously the Wicked cast?
by Anonymous | reply 312 | February 3, 2021 4:01 AM |
Genre as Belinda.
by Anonymous | reply 313 | February 3, 2021 4:06 AM |
I blame Lynn Trans-Smell Esmeralda for all bad things du monde.
by Anonymous | reply 314 | February 3, 2021 5:12 AM |
That's actually not a terrible cast....well, Emma Watson is out of the question. They need a real singer and one who can do the comedy.
Though, I'm thinking Meryl will end up as Morrible.
by Anonymous | reply 315 | February 3, 2021 5:46 AM |
Anna Kendrick will almost certainly play Elphaba.
by Anonymous | reply 316 | February 3, 2021 6:01 AM |
R316 Why? Other than the fact she can sing it.
She's really not much of a star.
by Anonymous | reply 317 | February 3, 2021 6:05 AM |
Alex Newell for Galinda.
by Anonymous | reply 318 | February 3, 2021 7:11 AM |
I will shit in Glinda's wig!
by Anonymous | reply 319 | February 3, 2021 10:58 AM |
Has Lea aged out of Elphaba territory?
by Anonymous | reply 320 | February 3, 2021 11:23 AM |
Glennie for Morrible! She can do her Norma schtick!
by Anonymous | reply 321 | February 3, 2021 11:31 AM |
Arianna Grande has a lock on Elphaba.
by Anonymous | reply 322 | February 3, 2021 2:28 PM |
Maybe she can add a dollop of Cruella, r321.
by Anonymous | reply 323 | February 3, 2021 2:34 PM |
R320 I think she has cunted out of it.
by Anonymous | reply 324 | February 3, 2021 4:49 PM |
And the winner is........SLAVE PLAY!
Just imagine...
by Anonymous | reply 325 | February 3, 2021 4:57 PM |
For some reason, Hamilton is nominated for a Golden Globe for Best motion picture - musical or comedy. And LMM is nominated for Best Actor, where he's competing with James Corden, who's nominated for the Prom. The Prom is also nominated for best musical/comedy, but at least it's actually a film version, not just a recording of the stage show.
by Anonymous | reply 327 | February 3, 2021 7:04 PM |
Heaven...
by Anonymous | reply 329 | February 3, 2021 7:47 PM |
Who’s that with the tuba? Is that Patti?
by Anonymous | reply 330 | February 3, 2021 7:52 PM |
Re Vicky Clark and "South Pacific," it was a minor scandal. Vicky had given interviews about being up for it, how it was her dream role. Then suddenly comes word that Kelli has gotten a callback. Vicky was stunned because Kelli hadn't told her she was even auditioning. It was the second time that had happened - Vicky heard through the grapevine that Kelli was leaving Piazza to do "The Pajama Game" before Kelli told her she was going to do that. A freeze developed in the relationship for a while there, because Vicky really wanted Nellie Forbush, and felt kind of betrayed by Kelli. (In reality, it was Bart Sher who felt Vicky was too old for it). I notice the two went out of their way to praise each other during the Zoom reunion. I think that's leftover from working to get their relationship back.
by Anonymous | reply 331 | February 3, 2021 9:37 PM |
Dear G, R330, the tuba player is Sam Pilafian.
by Anonymous | reply 332 | February 3, 2021 10:38 PM |
Is there a big enough (and age-appropriate) leading lady on Bway to pull off a revival of THE ACT?
by Anonymous | reply 334 | February 3, 2021 10:43 PM |
How about a revival of BEST LITTLE WHOREHOUSE IN TEXAS? Or does the book require major surgery for contemporary audiences?
by Anonymous | reply 335 | February 3, 2021 10:46 PM |
WE SEE YOU WHITE TEXAS SEX WORKERS IN YOUR WHOREHOUSE IN TEXAS!
by Anonymous | reply 336 | February 3, 2021 11:02 PM |
girl from the prom movie is not maria in west side story (2021). she has a different part.
by Anonymous | reply 337 | February 3, 2021 11:06 PM |
Oh god, she's playing Anita? That's even worse.
by Anonymous | reply 338 | February 3, 2021 11:12 PM |
Rachel Zegler is Maria in the new WSS.
Ariana DuBose, who played Alyssa in THE PROM on Netflix, is Anita.
I thought DuBose was wonderful (and gorgeous to behold) in the ensemble of HAMILTON. She was... fine, mostly, in THE PROM. Good, not great. Not a standout. (Not much was in the movie of THE PROM.)
Her character in THE PROM was utterly bland, but maybe she'll fare better as a feisty, sexy Anita.
by Anonymous | reply 339 | February 3, 2021 11:21 PM |
ooopsy. It's DeBose, not DuBose.
by Anonymous | reply 340 | February 3, 2021 11:23 PM |
Her character was bland, but she did nothing to overcome that. In fact, she was perfect for the role because she was boring as shit.
by Anonymous | reply 341 | February 3, 2021 11:23 PM |
I bet with a little coaxing, r334, we could get Miss Rufus Wainwright to do it!
by Anonymous | reply 342 | February 3, 2021 11:25 PM |
OMG that would be hilarious
by Anonymous | reply 343 | February 3, 2021 11:26 PM |
Actually slightly altering The Act for a gay male movie star making a comeback isn’t a bad idea.....for off broadway.
by Anonymous | reply 344 | February 3, 2021 11:29 PM |
Miss Wainwright has announced that she will be singing the entire score of THE ACT in the original keys.
And supplying her own wardrobe.
by Anonymous | reply 345 | February 3, 2021 11:37 PM |
Hopefully attained from the LIZA auction, r345!
by Anonymous | reply 346 | February 4, 2021 12:10 AM |
What's Off Broadway? Is that something between Broadway and The Winston-Salem Little Theater?
by Anonymous | reply 347 | February 4, 2021 12:10 AM |
[quote]Is there a big enough (and age-appropriate) leading lady on Bway to pull off a revival of THE ACT?
Why bother?
by Anonymous | reply 348 | February 4, 2021 12:33 AM |
R334. Well, after the GG nomination, James Corden would be perfect to play Michelle Craig. He has the Liza lisp down.
by Anonymous | reply 349 | February 4, 2021 1:19 AM |
[quote]So, Pet got Finian's Rainbow, Shani got Oliver!, and Sally Ann got that piece of Chitty.
Pet also "got" the musical of "Goodbye Mr. Chips."
by Anonymous | reply 350 | February 4, 2021 1:30 AM |
[quote]And I got.....nothing.
I feel your pain.
(Speaking of DuBose ... )
by Anonymous | reply 351 | February 4, 2021 1:31 AM |
at least it isn't DL non-fave whoziz who sings in ear-shattering high keys who was dating the beer-can cocked director of that "Our Town" with the bacon?
by Anonymous | reply 352 | February 4, 2021 1:37 AM |
Coppola's film of Finian's Rainbow has many wonderful things, including Pet, many if not most of the supporting performances, the orchestrations and a lovely musical farewell for Astaire. Unfortunately, it is interminable (at least 45 minutes too long, uncut) and, dare I say it, the absolutely insufferable performance of Tommy Steele as Og The Leprechaun. And yes, the material was already starting to look dated, which the screenplay didn't fix.
by Anonymous | reply 353 | February 4, 2021 1:54 AM |
Which is another one of those musical flops that made a lovely soundtrack recording, r350.
by Anonymous | reply 354 | February 4, 2021 2:01 AM |
I saw Pet in The Sound of Music in the West End and it was a lovely evening in the theatre.
by Anonymous | reply 355 | February 4, 2021 2:12 AM |
Pet Clark made her debut as a child singer and actress for BBC radio during WWII. She made her first film in 1944 and did many, many films in the UK. By the time of Finian's Rainbow and Goodbye, Mr Chips, she was an experienced film actress as well as singer and it showed.
by Anonymous | reply 356 | February 4, 2021 2:23 AM |
Pet Clark was very assured as a young performer! Fine voice back then too.
by Anonymous | reply 358 | February 4, 2021 2:29 AM |
Didn’t she do Sunset Blvd somewhere
by Anonymous | reply 359 | February 4, 2021 2:47 AM |
That show is fucking ridiculous
by Anonymous | reply 361 | February 4, 2021 2:57 AM |
The problem with Best Little Whorehouse is it doesn't have much of a book to speak of. And what there is blows it. For instance, Doatsy Mae who has a killer first act number, more or less disappears after her big song. The rest of the townspeople are caricatures. Angel and Shy are set up to be integral to the story but with Carlin Glynn having stolen The Bus From Amarillo from Pamela Blair, those two have nothing in the second act. Jewel has no character arc. On and on... The whole show plays like one of those 30s Cole Porter shows. Boffo musical numbers with something that sort of resembles a book but really isn't stringing them together.
by Anonymous | reply 362 | February 4, 2021 3:07 AM |
If you saw the original production of Whorehouse under Tommy Tune's direction, then you know there is no problem with the show. From start to finish it played like a dream.
Ann-Margret's touring company was a recreation of the original production, but led by Thommie Walsh. It was flat as piss on a plate.
by Anonymous | reply 363 | February 4, 2021 3:20 AM |
Is that like caca on a coffee table?
by Anonymous | reply 364 | February 4, 2021 3:51 AM |
A WHOREHOUSE revival was one of the seemingly endless projects Kristin Chenoweth was attached to (along with the Tammy Faye musical, and an adaptation of DEATH BECOMES HER, and ...) To be honest, I never minded that WHOREHOUSE never happened, since I suspect it would have been a revival of the movie, not the show.
by Anonymous | reply 365 | February 4, 2021 3:59 AM |
Thanks, R331. Well, OF COURSE Bart Sher felt Clark was too old to play Nellie in Lincoln Center's SOUTH PACIFIC. As I noted above, she was almost 50 -- about 30 years too old for a role that HAS to be played by an actress who is actually, or at least comes across on stage as, very young, since there are multiple references in the script to the age gap between Nellie and Emile. We all should be very happy that Clark did not get the role as that casting would have been incredibly embarrassing for her and everyone else concerned.
by Anonymous | reply 366 | February 4, 2021 4:13 AM |
I know she's beloved by many, but I've never understood Barbara Cook's appeal. Never saw her live, but seen plenty of clips from concerts. So... VANILLA (ice cream.)
by Anonymous | reply 368 | February 4, 2021 5:23 AM |
I saw Petula Clark in Blood Brothers with the Cassidy Brothers...she was great!
For that matter, so were the Cassidy Brothers.
by Anonymous | reply 369 | February 4, 2021 6:06 AM |
Patrick?
by Anonymous | reply 370 | February 4, 2021 6:16 AM |
Pet, David and Shaun in "Blood Brothers" on Broadway:
by Anonymous | reply 371 | February 4, 2021 6:37 AM |
R366, the reason Nellie has to be played by a young woman is that the character is a young woman. A young woman dropped into a terrible war, experiencing many, many, new and sometimes terrible things which challenge everything she had learned and accepted growing up.
She gets overwhelmed by circumstances, loses her footing, and finds her way to a new, more accepting, view of the world. If Nellie has too many miles on her, she simply cannot be sympathetic while questioning Emile's children. If that can't happen, then there's no play.
It doesn't help that Oscar Hammerstein reduced Michener's eight children from a variety of mothers down to the two most adorable children in the history of the world. Michener gave Nellie a number of other difficult things to contend with that Hammerstein dropped from the story. Not all of Michener could be included, though, Nellie does come from a short story, but if Nellie is to be reduced to being challenged by those two little kids, she's got to very young and inexperienced. It's still a gargantuan acting challenge.
If Clark was offended by not being cast as Nellie, she was being ridiculous. At that moment in history, she's lucky she wasn't asked to play Bloody Mary. Several years earlier, she had already played Kelli O'Hara's mother.
by Anonymous | reply 372 | February 4, 2021 1:09 PM |
What does it say about the power of Mary Martin's talent and charisma that she was able to create the roles of the virginal and naive Nellie Forbush and Maria Von Trapp, the Goddess of Love in One Touch of Venus, a Chinese maiden in Lute Song and a scrappy teenaged boy who could fly in Peter Pan? And a loving wife over 50 years in I Do! I Do! Not to mention brilliant turns on tour as Annie Oakley and Dolly Gallagher Levi?
by Anonymous | reply 373 | February 4, 2021 1:26 PM |
How old was Kelli O'Hara when she did Nellie at Lincoln Center?
I saw her late in the run. I believe she had returned from maternity leave... and it showed. Not to be rude, but her body in a bikini resembled a woman who had recently given birth. I didn't believe for a moment that she was in her 20s.
That aside, she sang Nellie gloriously and gave as good a performance as I could have hoped. I thought her acting was an improvement over LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA (which I also loved).
by Anonymous | reply 374 | February 4, 2021 1:46 PM |
She was 34 when she returned after giving birth.
by Anonymous | reply 375 | February 4, 2021 1:51 PM |
What Broadway soprano *isn't* vanilla, r368? It kind of comes with the territory. What sets them apart is if they have a *sound*. Cook, like Dame Julie, had a...*sound*.
by Anonymous | reply 376 | February 4, 2021 1:53 PM |
R372, in Mitchner's story it is not the number of children that challenge Nellie. It is that their skin color shows that Emile had sex with someone Nellie considered a "nigger." She is repulsed at being touched by a man who touched a dark skinned woman.
The story is pretty explicit that racism is at the heart of Nellie's inner conflict. If the children were white she would have been okay with them.
by Anonymous | reply 377 | February 4, 2021 2:35 PM |
[quote]The story is pretty explicit that racism is at the heart of Nellie's inner conflict. If the children were white she would have been okay with them.
No one said motherhood is easy.
by Anonymous | reply 378 | February 4, 2021 2:42 PM |
R377, Emile's children had several different mothers of differing ethnic heritages. He married none of them. Not a small thing in the 1940s for a young and inexperienced woman from Little Rock, Arkansas. The oldest of Emile's children was herself a young woman who could rock already rock sarong.
Michener threw a lot at Nellie. Hammerstein took most of it away. Michener's Nellie had a lot more to sort through, as she thought about life with Emile. I don't really care, one way or another. But Nellie in SOUTH PACIFIC got left with a quite smaller life challenge but a MUCH bigger acting challenge, if that story line is to have any substance.
by Anonymous | reply 379 | February 4, 2021 2:55 PM |
[quote] Not a small thing in the 1940s for a young and inexperienced woman from Little Rock, Arkansas.
Someone needs to do mashup and replace Nellie with Lorelei Lee, and experienced woman from Little Rock.
by Anonymous | reply 380 | February 4, 2021 3:59 PM |
Carol Channing in SOUTH PACIFIC ... now there's a production for the ages.
by Anonymous | reply 381 | February 4, 2021 5:04 PM |
I think she would have done a fantastic Honey Bun!
by Anonymous | reply 382 | February 4, 2021 5:38 PM |
[quote] What does it say about the power of Mary Martin's talent and charisma that she was able to create the roles of the virginal and naive Nellie Forbush and Maria Von Trapp, the Goddess of Love in One Touch of Venus, a Chinese maiden in Lute Song and a scrappy teenaged boy who could fly in Peter Pan? And a loving wife over 50 years in I Do! I Do! Not to mention brilliant turns on tour as Annie Oakley and Dolly Gallagher Levi?
It says that audiences were a lot more nearsighted.
by Anonymous | reply 383 | February 4, 2021 5:40 PM |
Question about the "In the Heights" movie -- do you think they'll subtitle the occasional use of Spanish in the dialog and the lyrics? Obviously they didn't do that for the stage version, but I wonder if they'll feel the need to do it for a wider audience.
by Anonymous | reply 384 | February 4, 2021 5:42 PM |
I have never seen a production of South Pacific, nor either film version. )I started to watch the Lincoln Center concert w/ Reba, but I got bored really quickly.) So I don't know the story or the characters very well.
Until this discussion, I never knew Nellie was supposed to be in her 20s, as I'm used to people like Mary Martin, Glenn Close and Reba playing her. I know Mitzi Gaynor took over the role in the original film, but I have no idea how old she was back then, and I assumed she was in her 30s. And Kelli (to me) has always looked middle aged, even in Piazza. So I figured Nellie could be played as 30s-40s. I remember being really surprised when Laura Osnes took over for Kelli because I thought- man, she is REALLY young for that role, isn't she??
by Anonymous | reply 385 | February 4, 2021 5:45 PM |
r383, I know you were just being adorably snarky with your response about audiences being near-sighted back when Mary Martin was a star but what you're saying is ironically quite truthful. Audiences WERE willingly near-sighted and stars with unique talent and presence were created and the world's best composers even wrote shows for them.
by Anonymous | reply 386 | February 4, 2021 5:54 PM |
Well, what I was really going to say, R386, is that it's because there was no DL back then, meaning audiences didn't overanalyze every detail of a show and discuss it endlessly on the internet. And that's not meant to be a slam, actually. It's just that things like this were not as important. But really, stage has always accommodated aging very well, and much more so back in the day, when one had to come up in the ranks and earn their position as opposed to getting a large, prime role because of their youthful tits and box.
by Anonymous | reply 387 | February 4, 2021 5:59 PM |
Not everyone, R386.
After seeing Sound of Music, John Gielgud said "Mary looks old as God and was frisking around as if she were seventeen."
by Anonymous | reply 388 | February 4, 2021 6:45 PM |
and were you there with your kids r388?
by Anonymous | reply 389 | February 4, 2021 8:36 PM |
No, he wrote in a letter that was published after his death.
by Anonymous | reply 390 | February 4, 2021 8:46 PM |
Gielgud's line could describe SO many DLers.
by Anonymous | reply 391 | February 4, 2021 8:48 PM |
R385 - Reba seems to be worshiped in theatre circles, but I've never gotten it. The woman can't act. I think people just get sucked in by her warmth and star power, but, god, I find her so stiff on stage. And, yes, I saw her celebrated Annie Get Your Gun. Guess I'm just in the minority. All that to say, if you haven't seen a production of South Pacific, you're doing it wrong by starting with that concert. Go straight to the LCT revival that everyone's been referencing. I only seem to like 1/3 of what Bart Sher directs, but in that case, he basically directed as perfect a production of South Pacific as you could wish.
by Anonymous | reply 392 | February 4, 2021 9:23 PM |
I didn't see Reba in AGYG, but I was a fan of her sitcom and I can say she improved markedly throughout the run, though she was not unskilled at the beginning. She was just getting trounced in Season 1 by Melissa Peterman, Steve Howey and the anorexic who played her middle kid.
by Anonymous | reply 393 | February 4, 2021 9:27 PM |
Mary Martin in SOUTH PACIFIC (1952, London)
by Anonymous | reply 394 | February 4, 2021 9:32 PM |
[quote]Question about the "In the Heights" movie -- do you think they'll subtitle the occasional use of Spanish in the dialog and the lyrics? Obviously they didn't do that for the stage version, but I wonder if they'll feel the need to do it for a wider audience.
I highly doubt it. There isn't that much Spanish in it, as you noted, and no long stretches of it. I think the filmmakers' attitude will be that if people can't figure out what "Pacienca y Fe" means, they can just Google it.
by Anonymous | reply 395 | February 4, 2021 10:08 PM |
Marvin Hamlisch’s turgid score for the London flop Jean Seberg. Thanks, WithOneLook!
by Anonymous | reply 396 | February 4, 2021 10:15 PM |
There used to be theater stars who had a hard-to-define and even harder-to-duplicate stage presence. Ethel Merman, Mary Martin, and Gwen Verdon all had it. They never really succeeded in films, but onstage they were magic. I can’t think of anyone who compares today. Maybe Hugh Jackman? And much as I love Audra, I don’t think she’s in that category.
by Anonymous | reply 397 | February 4, 2021 10:18 PM |
R397 - I'm not sure Hugh Jackman really counts given his massive film success. Perhaps Bernadette? She's so idiosyncratically Bernadette'y that, while she's certainly had good film/TV roles (loved her in The Jerk), most of the time I find her on camera performances a bit... stilted. But, as we all know, on stage, in the right role, she's magical. Interestingly, though, it's probably because two of her most iconic roles -- Dot and The Witch -- were preserved on video and then presented practically on a loop for years and years that she became such a big theatre star. As a child of the 80s and 90s, I feel like I grew up on Bernie + Sondheim because of those video presentations.
by Anonymous | reply 398 | February 4, 2021 10:31 PM |
It's so weird that HAMILTON got GG nods in the motion picture category.
by Anonymous | reply 401 | February 4, 2021 10:43 PM |
He looks fine to me
by Anonymous | reply 403 | February 4, 2021 11:45 PM |
Laugh me off the internet, but I wonder how Miley Cyrus, if she hadn't strayed from her Hannah Montana persona, would have done as either Nellie or Annie Oakley.
by Anonymous | reply 404 | February 4, 2021 11:49 PM |
Miley/MAME!!!
by Anonymous | reply 405 | February 4, 2021 11:51 PM |
I dunno, are Nellie or Annie supposed to sound like a five pack a day smoker?
by Anonymous | reply 406 | February 4, 2021 11:52 PM |
Look for a young shirtless Sean Connery in that chorus of seabees at r394.
by Anonymous | reply 408 | February 4, 2021 11:57 PM |
Miley Cyrus for Galinda!
by Anonymous | reply 409 | February 5, 2021 12:06 AM |
Is Miley a Sally or a Phyllis?
by Anonymous | reply 410 | February 5, 2021 12:07 AM |
I've been going to Broadway musicals for 40 years, and Reba in "Annie Get Your Gun" is in my all time Top 5 greatest musical comedy performances. She was incandescent. It's a shame she had no interest in returning to Broadway. The TV money and lifestyle were just too good.
by Anonymous | reply 411 | February 5, 2021 12:08 AM |
^ Are you the Reba stan? Cause than bitch is crazy.
by Anonymous | reply 412 | February 5, 2021 12:18 AM |
Well, r411, I think that was more a meeting of the role and her personality. I think I would have rather seen her than Bernadette. I don't know what Reba could have come back to Broadway in where she would have made the same splash she did with Annie.
by Anonymous | reply 413 | February 5, 2021 12:54 AM |
Which brings us right back to Best Little Whorehouse...
by Anonymous | reply 414 | February 5, 2021 12:57 AM |
R383. It also says that audiences were capable of greater imaginative acts and that theatre goers were willing to accept someone like Martin, with talent and charisma and conviction, could make us believe in the theatrical “truth” of a middle-aged actress creating a late twenties nurse, a flying boy, and a late teens novice. We had more gifted performers (if not in terms of technique, like your factory-built Michigan or CMU grads, than in the ineffable gifts of belief and presence)—and better audiences who weren’t do fucking literal. This is not a screed about non-traditional casting—that’s another argument—but about the mutual willingness of actors and audiences to imagine together—a kind of implicit utopian contract.
by Anonymous | reply 415 | February 5, 2021 1:14 AM |
R408, Sean Connery is not in that film; he joined the show later.
by Anonymous | reply 416 | February 5, 2021 2:21 AM |
Rebe apparently can't speak in any accent other than her own extremely thick Oklahoma twang, which is why there are precious few roles other than Annie Oakley in which she'd be well cast. Ado Annie in OKLAHOMA! might have been perfect for her when she was younger, though I don't know if she would have signed on for a supporting role like that. Maybe Miss Mona in WHOREHOUSE, as others have suggested (even though her accent is, of course, not actually Texan), or maybe the title role in a revival of the stage version of CALAMITY JANE. Her accent DID NOT work in SOUTH PACIFIC, because Nellie Forbush is supposed to be a well-educated, upper-middle class girl from Little Rock, Arkansas, not some yokel with a country accent you can cut with a knife.
by Anonymous | reply 417 | February 5, 2021 4:41 AM |
There is a video of Rebecca Luker in Nine out there (after her awful death). Is there a video of the whole replacement cast? I cam’t find anything of Eartha in Nine.
by Anonymous | reply 418 | February 5, 2021 6:01 AM |
[quote]There is a video of Rebecca Luker in Nine out there (after her awful death).
Seems a bit risky casting her after her death.
by Anonymous | reply 419 | February 5, 2021 8:43 AM |
I didn't mind Reba's accent in South Pacific, but the scooping of notes was awful. And, as much as I liked her in AGYG, that new script was still horrible.
by Anonymous | reply 420 | February 5, 2021 12:01 PM |
Sean Connery was never in the London production of SP. He did a regional production in Manchester. People also say he was an extra in A Night to Remember but no one has identified him onscreen and studio casting records don't mention him.
by Anonymous | reply 421 | February 5, 2021 12:35 PM |
[quote] Her accent DID NOT work in SOUTH PACIFIC, because Nellie Forbush is supposed to be a well-educated, upper-middle class girl from Little Rock, Arkansas, not some yokel with a country accent you can cut with a knife.
highly educated, upper-middle class?? Where'd you get THAT idea? She's a military nurse.
by Anonymous | reply 422 | February 5, 2021 1:11 PM |
She may be educated, but an upper-middle class daughter would not have become a nurse. She would have gotten married.
by Anonymous | reply 423 | February 5, 2021 1:20 PM |
Suely not educated and upper middle class.
"He's a cultured Frenchman. I'm a little hick." I don't think that's modesty.
by Anonymous | reply 424 | February 5, 2021 2:15 PM |
She was, I believe, a...*knuckle-head*.
by Anonymous | reply 425 | February 5, 2021 2:21 PM |
But Nellie was born "an old soul" with an inherent sophistication beyond her years!
The right actress would tap into that.
by Anonymous | reply 426 | February 5, 2021 2:30 PM |
Was Nellie really as corny as Kansas on the 4th of July?
by Anonymous | reply 427 | February 5, 2021 2:30 PM |
Was Nellie actually an elderly man, R426?
by Anonymous | reply 428 | February 5, 2021 2:31 PM |
Was Nellie...nellie?
by Anonymous | reply 429 | February 5, 2021 2:36 PM |
I shouldn't have said that Nellie is supposed to b "upper middle class," but I do think she's supposed to be solidly middle class. And I didn't say "highly educated," I said "well educated," as in she finished high school at a good school. I do not think she's supposed to be a yokel. There are those lines in the first scene where Nellie shows Emile a clipping about her from her hometown newspaper, describing her as "Arkansas' own Florence Nightingale." Nellie tells Emile, "That was written by Mrs. Leeming, the social editor." I really don't think the social editor of the paper would be writing about some lower-class bumpkin, and I'm sticking with my opinion that Nellie should not have an accent like Reba McEntire's. I think when Nellie refers to herself as a "hick," it's an admirable moment of self awareness -- she says she became a navy nurse partly because she wanted to see what the world was like outside Little Rock. The drama of SOUTH PACIFIC is that she is at first unprepared for and shocked by the fact that not everyone in the world lives their lives the way people do in Arkansas, and it takes her a while to overcome her prejudices and accept that.
by Anonymous | reply 430 | February 5, 2021 3:46 PM |
It seems that many of you have put a lot more thought into the character of Nellie than R&H did!
by Anonymous | reply 431 | February 5, 2021 4:55 PM |
Well, R&H didn't come up with the character on their own!
by Anonymous | reply 432 | February 5, 2021 4:58 PM |
"Was Nellie really as corny as Kansas on the 4th of July?"
No, I was only corny in August.
by Anonymous | reply 433 | February 5, 2021 5:07 PM |
[quote]It seems that many of you have put a lot more thought into the character of Nellie than R&H did!
Ha! But seriously, I think they (and Michener) put a LOT of thought into the character. Nellie is a product of her environment, which is why she's initially shocked and can't accept the fact that Emile sired two children by a Polynesian woman. But she is young, and open-minded enough to have wanted to see the world outside of her home town. That's why she's eventually able to overcome her bigotry. This is one reason why Nellie SHOULD NOT be played by an older woman -- it's a lot harder to believe than someone in her late 40s, who is presumably very well set in her beliefs, would suddenly have an epiphany and say, "Hey, you know what? I was wrong about the bigotry I've carried with me all my life!"
by Anonymous | reply 434 | February 5, 2021 5:07 PM |
Was Nellie for bush...or against it?
by Anonymous | reply 435 | February 5, 2021 5:44 PM |
I think Mary was definitely pro bush.
by Anonymous | reply 436 | February 5, 2021 5:57 PM |
Mary...totally a fuller bush girl.
by Anonymous | reply 437 | February 5, 2021 6:15 PM |
How do you think the taxi driver got into that accident? Janet was having a late night snack in the back seat and he was watching in the rear view mirror.
by Anonymous | reply 438 | February 5, 2021 6:19 PM |
[quote]Mary...totally a fuller bush girl.
You mean like Lucy?
by Anonymous | reply 439 | February 5, 2021 6:23 PM |
Reba could do "Call Me Madam", as Ms. Sally Adams' wealth comes from hitting oil (was it in Oklahoma?) from somewhere where it's not out of line to have her kind of accent. Plus she'd be great doing those Irving Berlin songs.
by Anonymous | reply 440 | February 5, 2021 9:23 PM |
But where would she do this? Even with Reba, this antique (albeit with some great songs) wouldn't run.
by Anonymous | reply 441 | February 5, 2021 9:35 PM |
They could do a concert like they did with "South Pacific", since Encores just did it a few years ago in NY, for the 2nd time.
by Anonymous | reply 442 | February 5, 2021 9:40 PM |
Reba IS Aunt Eller!
by Anonymous | reply 443 | February 5, 2021 9:47 PM |
My mom (born in 1917, died in 1996) came from a small mining town in the UP of Michigan and graduated, though by her own admission, more interested in fun than school—though she was required to take two years of Latin, which means she had more knowledge of classical civilization than many private school kids in big cities today). She went straight to work and then, during WWII, moved down to Chicago and lived for awhile with her pill of a sister, my old maid aunt Violet. Restless, wanting to get away from my aunt, she applied to nursing school. Her high school grades weren’t impressive and she had to take geometry in summer school and passed mainly because the teacher took pity on her (and she was pretty and had a bubbly personality), she got into nursing school because the Army needed nurses and the nun in charge of the nursing school (Sister Timothy) thought that, despite her grades, she’d make a good nurse. She succeeded in nursing school, got her RN, and would have been required to serve as an Army nurse (I have a picture of her in her uniform), but the war ended. She worked at a hospital, met my dad, and continued to work while my brother and sister were kids (she was 2 months shy of 40 when I was born, and my dad had a steady bank job). She came from a poor, but respectable family, and could have described herself as a hick. Her best friend from her childhood in the UP. was the advance man for R&H, so when tours came through Chicago, she and my dad saw all their shows—I think they saw Janet Blair as Nellie and Florence Henderson as María. She also loved Flower Drum Song and King and I, as well as My Fair Lady, which may also have been produced or managed on the road by R&H, because there was no money in the house at that point for live theatre. She could have been a Yooper Nellie Forbidh.
by Anonymous | reply 444 | February 5, 2021 9:53 PM |
Shhhhh.....don't tell anyone but when Encores decided to do their second concert of Call Me Madam a couple of years ago (Tyne Daley starred in it the first time around) it was only because Reba had shown interest and promised to do it. When push came to shove, she.....shoved off. Carmen Cusack came in at the last minute and was good but without the real star quality the show demands.
by Anonymous | reply 445 | February 5, 2021 10:10 PM |
I had wondered why a bigger star wasn't involved with a star vehicle. Why did Reba abandon ship? Viertel problems?
by Anonymous | reply 446 | February 5, 2021 10:18 PM |
Back in the day at BWW there were endless threads about who had dropped out of Call Me Madam at Encores resulting in Cusack taking over. Chenowith and Lupone were the leading culprits.
by Anonymous | reply 447 | February 5, 2021 10:22 PM |
Yes, r447.
Chenowith - Still recovering from a head injury when a light fell on her head shooting The Good Wife.
Lupone - Went to London to do Company.
It was Reba? Interesting.
by Anonymous | reply 448 | February 5, 2021 10:29 PM |
Would a post-Covid revival of Hairspray run? Too soon for it? I think it would make a lot of people happy. (I know it would me.)
by Anonymous | reply 449 | February 5, 2021 10:34 PM |
Hairspray is still scheduled to open in the West End once things get back to semi normal.
by Anonymous | reply 450 | February 5, 2021 10:43 PM |
We've had more than enough of Hairspray for the next century.
by Anonymous | reply 451 | February 5, 2021 10:52 PM |
I, for one, would not pay to see Hairspray again. I don't think I'd even attend for free. Nothing against the show, but I've seen it and the TWO films quite enough for now.
by Anonymous | reply 452 | February 5, 2021 11:12 PM |
What would you pay to see again in a new production, r452?
by Anonymous | reply 453 | February 5, 2021 11:30 PM |
They're Playing Our Song!
by Anonymous | reply 454 | February 5, 2021 11:56 PM |
lol
by Anonymous | reply 455 | February 5, 2021 11:57 PM |
No, but seriously, what *could* be revived that hasn't been done too recently or has too much baggage? If it's R&H, I guess Sound of Music is back at the front of the line. If it's Sondheim, it's Company (and maybe Forum next?). Of the Fosse shows ... Damn Yankees?
by Anonymous | reply 456 | February 6, 2021 12:02 AM |
*Smacks head* And, oh, duh, Music Man's waiting in the wings.
by Anonymous | reply 457 | February 6, 2021 12:04 AM |
City of Angels!
by Anonymous | reply 458 | February 6, 2021 12:31 AM |
I think Hairspray is a perfect show for reopening theaters -upbeat, bouncy, funny, and exuberant. I saw multiple casts from Broadway, tours, and regional productions but the absolute best was the original London with Michael Ball. I'd happily pay to fly to London to see him in the show again.
by Anonymous | reply 459 | February 6, 2021 12:56 AM |
Might it be worth it to pay to see Michael ball too?
by Anonymous | reply 460 | February 6, 2021 3:08 AM |
I found the first episode of Grease: You're the One That I Want on YouTube today and, having never seen the show (or that Grease revival, which I'm sure was horrid), I watched. It was terrible, but now I want to see the rest of them (even though obviously I know who won). I can't find them anywhere.
by Anonymous | reply 461 | February 6, 2021 3:09 AM |
R461 don't spoil it for the rest of us.
by Anonymous | reply 462 | February 6, 2021 3:43 AM |
I didn't have to pay, R460 -It was a night to remember (but no breakfast in the morning).
by Anonymous | reply 463 | February 6, 2021 4:25 AM |
Carmen Cusack in Call Me Madam was like watching paint dry. Zzzzzzzzzz.
by Anonymous | reply 464 | February 6, 2021 5:33 AM |
The interesting parallel in Call Me Madams with Reba dropping out in NY and Cusack being boring af vs. Chita dropping out of Reprise in LA and the always underrated Karen Morrow knocking it out of the park ...
by Anonymous | reply 465 | February 6, 2021 11:08 AM |
[quote] I watched. It was terrible
Said no one on DataLounge about anything ever.
by Anonymous | reply 466 | February 6, 2021 12:01 PM |
r363 spill at least a little. This is no place or time for being coy.
by Anonymous | reply 467 | February 6, 2021 12:42 PM |
O/T - I'm watching Saturday morning cartoons. This one was just on, it's pretty wonderful.
by Anonymous | reply 468 | February 6, 2021 4:55 PM |
Victoria "Not Nellie" Clark does a nice job with "Don't Laugh," Sondheim's song from HOT SPOT.
Is HOT SPOT worth taking a look at, even just for Encores? What do we think of this number, DL?
by Anonymous | reply 469 | February 6, 2021 4:55 PM |
You win, 470. Wow...
by Anonymous | reply 471 | February 6, 2021 5:09 PM |
That was pretty awful, R470. Point taken. I think it's safe to assume those lyrics are Martin Charnin's alone.
I realize some folks have a lot of love for ONCE UPON A MATTRESS, but almost nothing Mary Rodgers composed has ever really impressed me, not even a little. This, and DON'T LAUGH, are typical. (Which is too bad, because she always struck me as smart, cool, and down-to-earth.)
by Anonymous | reply 472 | February 6, 2021 5:10 PM |
Just imagine if Judy hadn't gotten ill. I assume she'd have been a front runner for Dolly.
by Anonymous | reply 473 | February 6, 2021 5:15 PM |
I'd rather have seen Judy as Mame. Lucy might have made a passable Dolly.
by Anonymous | reply 474 | February 6, 2021 5:30 PM |
Judy could do anything. Anything. Her in South Pacific would have been mind-boggling.
by Anonymous | reply 475 | February 6, 2021 5:34 PM |
R463. So, no turkey meatballs?
by Anonymous | reply 476 | February 6, 2021 5:44 PM |
I agree that Judy Holiday was underrated, and it's criminal that she isn't better known by the younger crowd. She was brilliant in real life, which accounts for her being able to play dumb so well.
by Anonymous | reply 477 | February 6, 2021 5:45 PM |
Oh, he had meaty balls, R476! In fact, he was meaty (where it counted) all around. Sweet guy.
by Anonymous | reply 478 | February 6, 2021 5:47 PM |
I think she was incredibly overrated. To give her an Oscar for a competent performance over two of the greatest screen performances ever was one of the biggest Oscar gaffes of all time.
by Anonymous | reply 479 | February 6, 2021 5:47 PM |
I was referring to the stage version, r474. Judy wasn't a Mame and Lucy would not have been a good Dolly.
by Anonymous | reply 480 | February 6, 2021 5:49 PM |
Herman wanted Judy as Mame and once said he wrote the songs with her voice in mind. There were talks about having her be a replacement Mame but even at that point she was no longer insurable. And some people claim that's the real reason she didn't do Valley of the Dolls. As many problems as they were having with her, her casting was announced before she'd been insured and then they couldn't get insurance.
by Anonymous | reply 481 | February 6, 2021 6:08 PM |
[quote]Herman wanted Judy as Mame and once said he wrote the songs with her voice in mind.
I think the previous poster was talking about Holliday, not Garland.
by Anonymous | reply 482 | February 6, 2021 6:11 PM |
A pity Judy (Garland) died in 1969. I feel like she'd have been the definitive Sally.
by Anonymous | reply 483 | February 6, 2021 6:21 PM |
Judy couldn't even handle three days on a movie set, what makes you think she'd have been able to sustain a stage run?
by Anonymous | reply 484 | February 6, 2021 6:24 PM |
Okay, okay ... lived and also did a radical cleanup of her life (which just wasn't gonna happen).
by Anonymous | reply 485 | February 6, 2021 6:26 PM |
Was R469 / Victoria Clark cut from the broadcast of Sondheim's 80th Birthday concert? I have zero recollection of seeing that. By the way, when I look up the number it's attributed to another show? Some one-woman show called The Madwoman of Central Park West....
by Anonymous | reply 486 | February 6, 2021 6:26 PM |
Remember that late '90s primetime soap CENTRAL PARK WEST? John Barrowman in his prime. Yum!
by Anonymous | reply 487 | February 6, 2021 6:33 PM |
PRINCE OF CENTRAL PARK, maybe?
by Anonymous | reply 488 | February 6, 2021 6:35 PM |
You type young, r496.
by Anonymous | reply 489 | February 6, 2021 6:49 PM |
^ r486
by Anonymous | reply 490 | February 6, 2021 6:50 PM |
I'm not THAT young, R488. / R489, I'm 40.
by Anonymous | reply 491 | February 6, 2021 6:53 PM |
I remember Melissa Errico played Barrowman’s character’s scheming, neurotic wife. I gather it wasn’t much of a stretch for her.
by Anonymous | reply 492 | February 6, 2021 6:54 PM |
^^ But it was a helluva acting feat for him!
by Anonymous | reply 493 | February 6, 2021 6:57 PM |
Did she play it to the back row, R492? I saw her in an episode of The Good Wife and her entire performance was given to make sure the back row of the Hippodrome heard it.
by Anonymous | reply 494 | February 6, 2021 7:02 PM |
Supposedly Melissa pulled a "Sister George" during the shooting of her character's last scene on CPW by screwing up takes and generally prolonging the experience.
by Anonymous | reply 495 | February 6, 2021 7:07 PM |
R495 why did she do that?
by Anonymous | reply 496 | February 6, 2021 7:15 PM |
I'm going to guess it was a bitch/ego/spite thing. The character was being killed off. No clue how she got along with Barrowman.
by Anonymous | reply 497 | February 6, 2021 7:21 PM |
Is anyone old enough to have seen Judy Holliday on stage?
by Anonymous | reply 498 | February 6, 2021 7:24 PM |
R484, after the VALLEY OF THE DOLLS episode, Garland toured the summer circuit and then played the Palace Theatre for a month with no night off.
by Anonymous | reply 499 | February 6, 2021 7:25 PM |
r425, if you're still around: "knucklehead" may well have been the lyric in the movie version, but it was "little hick" on the OCR.
by Anonymous | reply 500 | February 6, 2021 7:27 PM |
Yes, r498, I saw her in Bells are Ringing. Unfortunately, I was eleven at the time so my memory is fainter than faint and mostly involves having to pee during most of the second act.
by Anonymous | reply 501 | February 6, 2021 7:28 PM |
It's in the dialogue, r500, not the song.
by Anonymous | reply 502 | February 6, 2021 7:30 PM |
They had a Stars in the House tribute to Ann Reinking last night. Rob Fisher, Chicago's music director, relayed a very cute story to help convey her sense of humor. They were in Australia to launch the first Australian production of Chicago and were on a train headed to wherever the rehearsals were taking place and Ann was in one corner of their carriage taking several minutes to put some makeup on, she turned to Rob and said, "Let me know when you recognize me and I'll stop."
by Anonymous | reply 503 | February 6, 2021 8:02 PM |
R503, you must mean the first production of the revival? Wasn’t there a production of the original sometime in the 1980s?
by Anonymous | reply 504 | February 6, 2021 8:40 PM |
Some really great Sherman brothers songs...
by Anonymous | reply 506 | February 7, 2021 12:16 AM |
R504 - yes, that's correct. The first Australian production of the revival.
by Anonymous | reply 507 | February 7, 2021 1:32 AM |
What revival?
by Anonymous | reply 508 | February 7, 2021 1:35 AM |
Was the music director who drove poor Jeff Loeffleholz to suicide on the Stars in the House zoom?
by Anonymous | reply 509 | February 7, 2021 2:08 AM |
R509. No. And she’s no longer working at Chicago.
by Anonymous | reply 510 | February 7, 2021 2:34 AM |
Yes, R504. The original Chicago in Sydney starred Nancye Hayes and Geraldine Turner, with Jason Donovan's father Terence as Billy Flynn. It was part of the Sydney Theatre Company's 1981 subscription season, but the production later had a commercial transfer and toured.
by Anonymous | reply 511 | February 7, 2021 5:52 AM |
Will never ever forget this quote from a New York Magazine story about Melissa around [italic]High Society[/italic] time: "It’s no accident,” says an actress who has worked with her, “that Melissa’s initials are M.E.”
by Anonymous | reply 512 | February 7, 2021 12:33 PM |
In that article, it's so clear the writer really didn't take to her. "And yet, almost immediately, the Ivy League grad-fetching soprano-elegant dancer-charming actress-gifted gymnast (“I’m trying to get a cartwheel into the show”) starts sounding uncannily like one of those people she doesn’t much care for."
by Anonymous | reply 513 | February 7, 2021 12:35 PM |
"Errico’s devotion to hard work is endearing; her devotion to herself is equally unstinting." “I’m planning an engagement party.” “You’re getting married?” Errico is a bit indignant. “Don’t you read the papers? Didn’t you see Liz Smith this morning?”
by Anonymous | reply 514 | February 7, 2021 12:37 PM |
I did not care for Errico back in the day but I’ve got to say, she seems much more humble and likable now. Maybe it’s been the lack of the career she thought she deserved, or marriage and kids but I have found her to be quite charming and accessible. I also think she’s grown as an actress.
by Anonymous | reply 515 | February 7, 2021 12:42 PM |
That imbroglio with Classic Stage was tricky. Although it was troublesome that Errico chose to blog about it.
by Anonymous | reply 516 | February 7, 2021 1:09 PM |
by Anonymous | reply 517 | February 7, 2021 2:14 PM |
When did this thread chain start? When was #1 posted?
by Anonymous | reply 518 | February 7, 2021 2:16 PM |
Good question. I'm trying to look. Here's #153. I'll keep looking.
by Anonymous | reply 519 | February 7, 2021 2:20 PM |
I remember Errico having continual vocal problems during My Fair Lady and she was out at the performance I saw.
by Anonymous | reply 520 | February 7, 2021 2:21 PM |
[quote] When was #1 posted?
I can’t remember the exact date, but there was much grousing about how overhyped The Black Crook was. Edward Harrigan was rumored to be a sloppy bottom.
by Anonymous | reply 521 | February 7, 2021 2:23 PM |
Richard Chamberlain hated Errico and vice versa. But he loved her understudy and later toured with her in Sound of Music. I think having kids humbled her and by all accounts she’s now quite lovely to work with. Performs at Irish Rep a lot. ALTHOUGH, weren’t there issues when she did Passion off broadway and didn’t the producers not include her on the cd?
by Anonymous | reply 522 | February 7, 2021 2:33 PM |
Oops sorry. Didn’t see the post about ME and Passion I’ll try and keep up
by Anonymous | reply 523 | February 7, 2021 2:34 PM |
I remember seeing Errico in One Touch of Venus at Encores and leaving at Intermission. Never got her or the praise back then.
by Anonymous | reply 524 | February 7, 2021 2:57 PM |
Great natural instrument and pretty. Hate to quote him, but John Simon got it right in his [italic]High Society[/italic] review: "But back to Miss Errico, erroneously cast as the ice goddess with a heart of lust. The actress is superficially animated but cold underneath, the opposite of what is called for."
by Anonymous | reply 525 | February 7, 2021 3:00 PM |
I remember people at the time putting forth that Rebecca Luker in [italic]Sound of Music[/italic] and ME in [italic]High Society[/italic] should have switched roles. Luker would have been better in the latter but not sure about ME in [italic]SOM[/italic].
by Anonymous | reply 526 | February 7, 2021 3:03 PM |
"Don't Laugh" was written by Sondheim to give some juice to HOT SPOT. Acc to his book, he wrote it with Rodgers and Charnin. Later it was incorporated into MADWOMAN as a song for Phyllis Newman.
by Anonymous | reply 527 | February 7, 2021 5:16 PM |
"Later it was incorporated into MADWOMAN as a song for Phyllis Newman."
*
Who...will have to do.
by Anonymous | reply 528 | February 7, 2021 6:28 PM |
Who is this woman misidentified as Streisand on the Harold Lang site?
by Anonymous | reply 529 | February 7, 2021 6:40 PM |
[Quote] I remember people at the time putting forth that Rebecca Luker in Sound of Music and ME in High Society should have switched roles. Luker would have been better in the latter but not sure about ME in SOM.
I could see the Von Trapps running from "The Nazis" (Melissa Errico).
by Anonymous | reply 530 | February 7, 2021 6:42 PM |
Martha Raye?
by Anonymous | reply 531 | February 7, 2021 6:42 PM |
Is that Bibi Osterwald, R529?
by Anonymous | reply 532 | February 7, 2021 6:42 PM |
[quote]Who is this woman misidentified as Streisand on the Harold Lang site?
Delilah-Judith?
by Anonymous | reply 533 | February 7, 2021 6:46 PM |
She's not Martha Raye, Bibi Osterwald nor Delilah-Judith.
by Anonymous | reply 534 | February 7, 2021 6:50 PM |
I think the bigger question is why somebody would even think that was Babs.
by Anonymous | reply 535 | February 7, 2021 6:55 PM |
Probably because the woman is in a sailor suit costume like Barbra used to wear and she and Harold Lang were in I CAN GET IT FOR YOU WHOLESALE together on Broadway.
by Anonymous | reply 536 | February 7, 2021 7:00 PM |
The lady in question looks a bit like Marlyn Mason, one of the stars of the legendary flop HOW NOW, DOW JONES.
by Anonymous | reply 537 | February 7, 2021 7:06 PM |
Marlyn Mason had more delicate features.
by Anonymous | reply 538 | February 7, 2021 7:10 PM |
OK, how can we here in the US watch The Greatest Show (hosted by Sheridan Smith) airing right now on the BBC in the UK?
by Anonymous | reply 539 | February 7, 2021 7:21 PM |
The woman with Lang looks like a cross between Joan Rivers and Sally Kellerman.
by Anonymous | reply 540 | February 7, 2021 7:29 PM |
Yes, r536, but she looks *nothing* like Barbra.
by Anonymous | reply 541 | February 7, 2021 7:34 PM |
Yes, R541, we know that but whoever posted that on his website doesn't.
by Anonymous | reply 542 | February 7, 2021 8:01 PM |
The woman behind that website wrote and published a biography of Lang. The mind boggles at its contents.
Here is Lang with DL fave Helen Wood.
by Anonymous | reply 543 | February 7, 2021 8:05 PM |
I picture Harold Lang as the first pass around bottom of Broadway
by Anonymous | reply 544 | February 7, 2021 8:06 PM |
Is that why Porter gave him the substandard "Bianca"?
by Anonymous | reply 545 | February 7, 2021 8:08 PM |
Arthur Laurents described Harold Lang as a great fuck, with a truly magical ass.
Indeed.
by Anonymous | reply 546 | February 7, 2021 8:12 PM |
Speaking of Streisand and the sailor suits, I always loved that Neely O'Hara's understudy in Valley of the Dolls, the one who replaces her on opening night, wore such an outfit.
by Anonymous | reply 547 | February 7, 2021 8:15 PM |
Did Lainie Kazan sport this hairstyle BEFORE she got the Funny Girl gig?
by Anonymous | reply 548 | February 7, 2021 8:17 PM |
[quote]I picture Harold Lang as the first pass around bottom of Broadway
And who's the most recent?
by Anonymous | reply 549 | February 7, 2021 8:19 PM |
I'm so glad Lainie Kazan embraced her own style as a singer later on. She looks lovely at R548 but her vocal style is so mannered, artificial, so "ladylike".... uggh. It feels like such a put-on. Is it just that she's channeling a young Streisand?
by Anonymous | reply 550 | February 7, 2021 8:34 PM |
She's not really channeling Streisand. Note all the heady notes.
by Anonymous | reply 551 | February 7, 2021 8:38 PM |
[quote] And who's the most recent?
Hard to say, since I don't really keep up with the chorus boys. I guess I kind of lost track somewhere between David Burtka and Jonathan Groff.
by Anonymous | reply 552 | February 7, 2021 8:47 PM |
r546 if Lang lived in the era of the internet and IG we'd be able to see it
by Anonymous | reply 553 | February 7, 2021 8:52 PM |
I thought Josh Buscher (WEHT?) had a fine ass, although I suppose it's a matter of personal preference.
by Anonymous | reply 554 | February 7, 2021 8:59 PM |
r547 - The hair and make-up were totally Barbra, but the costume was more Shirley in What a Way to Go...
by Anonymous | reply 555 | February 7, 2021 9:20 PM |
Shirley Who?
by Anonymous | reply 556 | February 7, 2021 9:21 PM |
Shirl...
by Anonymous | reply 557 | February 7, 2021 9:22 PM |
"I thought Josh Buscher (WEHT?) had a fine ass, although I suppose it's a matter of personal preference."
It's nice.
by Anonymous | reply 560 | February 7, 2021 9:25 PM |
I wonder if that VOTD costume was an outtake from What a Way to Go ...
by Anonymous | reply 561 | February 7, 2021 9:29 PM |
One of the chorus girl's....
*
Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without!
by Anonymous | reply 562 | February 7, 2021 9:35 PM |
Joshua Buscher-West? Did someone make an honest whore out of him?
by Anonymous | reply 563 | February 7, 2021 9:48 PM |
Yes. He's married to Kyle Dean's ex.
by Anonymous | reply 564 | February 7, 2021 9:54 PM |
Apparently Kyle Dean caught Bryan fucking Joshua, and punched Joshua. Which seems bullshit, as Bryan was the cheater.
by Anonymous | reply 565 | February 7, 2021 9:55 PM |
Bullshit? The wronged woman often goes after the other woman.
by Anonymous | reply 566 | February 7, 2021 9:57 PM |
Yes, when they should be going after the cheating husband instead.
by Anonymous | reply 567 | February 7, 2021 9:58 PM |
I've always found West rather creepy looking. Is the forehead vein botox related?
by Anonymous | reply 568 | February 7, 2021 9:59 PM |
Wait, so Kyle Dean Massey got married to this West guy, the West guy cheated with Buscher and then married Buscher?
by Anonymous | reply 569 | February 7, 2021 10:03 PM |
No. Kyle Dean and West weren't married.
by Anonymous | reply 570 | February 7, 2021 10:04 PM |
West should also grow out his hair a little on the sides. He could do with the softness.
by Anonymous | reply 571 | February 7, 2021 10:06 PM |
West is way too unattractive to be pulling so much hot ass. He must be packing.
by Anonymous | reply 572 | February 7, 2021 10:08 PM |
Wasn’t Errico supposed to play Maria in that SOM revival but they cast Luker instead? Errico did play Maria at the Hollywood Bowl opposite sexy John Schneider.
by Anonymous | reply 573 | February 7, 2021 10:12 PM |
What's Sara Gettelfinger been up to? Any plans?
by Anonymous | reply 574 | February 7, 2021 10:21 PM |
20 to life
by Anonymous | reply 575 | February 7, 2021 10:23 PM |
I thought she got out?
by Anonymous | reply 576 | February 7, 2021 10:29 PM |
Those are her plans.
by Anonymous | reply 577 | February 7, 2021 10:31 PM |
Is Charlie Williams now the pass-around bottom or has he aged out?
by Anonymous | reply 578 | February 7, 2021 10:38 PM |
I presume Isaac Powell has been... busy.
by Anonymous | reply 579 | February 7, 2021 10:39 PM |
"Joshua Buscher-West? Did someone make an honest whore out of him?"
The proposal
by Anonymous | reply 581 | February 7, 2021 10:45 PM |
R579 Well he certainly did something to impress the trio of Rudin, Geffen and Diller to get the role of Tony in WSS
by Anonymous | reply 582 | February 7, 2021 10:46 PM |
Charlie Williams is too old.
by Anonymous | reply 583 | February 7, 2021 10:47 PM |
Speaking of Tonys, what the fuck happened to Matt C?
by Anonymous | reply 584 | February 7, 2021 10:48 PM |
Jesus, he got old.
by Anonymous | reply 585 | February 7, 2021 10:50 PM |
R584 Having to deal with Arthur Laurents will do that to a person
by Anonymous | reply 586 | February 7, 2021 10:51 PM |
And trying to escape the pull of MVE's black hole.
by Anonymous | reply 587 | February 7, 2021 10:54 PM |
I didn't know that Kyle Dean Massey fought Joshua Buscher West. I wonder if anyone in that circle took sides or just let it play out.
by Anonymous | reply 588 | February 7, 2021 10:55 PM |
I brought jello for them to wrassle in.
by Anonymous | reply 589 | February 7, 2021 10:56 PM |
Reba in Call Me Madam would have been an event. I wonder what she'd do with two other Merman roles - Anything Goes and Gypsy. Has there ever been a Reno or Rose with a hick accent?
by Anonymous | reply 590 | February 7, 2021 10:57 PM |
Miss Ann Miller sort of had a hick accent, no?
by Anonymous | reply 591 | February 7, 2021 11:00 PM |
Reba and Nathan Lane in Sugar Babies!
by Anonymous | reply 593 | February 7, 2021 11:11 PM |
Surely she's been pursued for Best Little Whorehouse?
by Anonymous | reply 594 | February 7, 2021 11:11 PM |
I'm guessing she feels like she'd be in Dolly's shadow with that one.
by Anonymous | reply 595 | February 7, 2021 11:13 PM |
Speaking of Harold Lang, Helen Gallagher speaks of him in this interview. She took against Gower Champion because he didn't showcase Lang as Gallagher thought he should.
by Anonymous | reply 596 | February 7, 2021 11:13 PM |
She wasn't afraid of being in Bernadette's shadow...
by Anonymous | reply 597 | February 7, 2021 11:14 PM |
Reba would have made a great Dolly, too. A shame that last production couldn't run forever with a new Dolly every few months. I haven't felt an audience response that electric during both Bette and Bernadette's run in years. People loved that show. I saw people crying from joy.
by Anonymous | reply 598 | February 7, 2021 11:15 PM |
R588 Fight is probably overstating it, the way I've heard it told is just KDM punched him and the days after he was seen with a black eye, so sounds pretty one-sided.
by Anonymous | reply 599 | February 7, 2021 11:17 PM |
Suckerpunch BAJOUR!
by Anonymous | reply 600 | February 7, 2021 11:27 PM |
Nancy Dussault!
by Anonymous | reply 601 | February 7, 2021 11:29 PM |