Theatre Gossip #419: The "Another Opening, Another Show... Another Million Dollars" Edition

Link to old thread

HALSTON starring Ewan McGregor has a fair number of NYC Theater actors in it. Looks interesting.

Chicago will be the first to reopen with Melania as Roxy

ANGELS IN AMERICA opened 28 years ago today.

Why did the Shubert Org. remove the brightly lit, old-timey, vertical sign for the St. James? New name coming for the old girl?

The Terrence McNally, perhaps?

Insiders have always called it "The James," R5.

Vicki Clark as Mame?

On “Stars In The House” tonight, Ann Harada said she wants to do it with herself as Gooch, Victoria Clark as Mame and Harriet Harris as Vera.

Due to Olympia's recent death, I rewatched Moonstruck last night and was struck with how absolutely charming (but slight) a story it is. Wasn't John Patrick Shanley working on a musical version himself a few years back?

R8, I rewatched it last night also. The character acting in it is really superb, from the leads down to the smallest roles.

I always adored this scene.

Acting students? Watch two masters at work.

Agreed/ r10, Great scene. TALENT matters.

Man, John Mahoney was so underrated. The first time he really made an impression on me was Say Anything. He gave an Oscar nomination worthy performance in that as Ione Skye's father (and having to act opposite her and managing to stay awake is a feat unto itself). While I saw this first, I didn't necessarily remember it being him in it.

I love "MoonstrucK', but an Italian-American friend years ago told me he found it unbelievable that a married Italian woman would invite a strange man (John Mahoney) to sit at her table at a restaurant that she was a regular at and where nearly everyone including the waiters and maitre d' knew her.

John was gay, yes?

Yes, but maybe that's what she wanted, R13. She knew her husband was stepping out on her and maybe she wanted it to get back to him.

The other #418. Is it dead or still going?

Uggh. The world has moved on, R16.

So must we.

Yes, in a thread with another dull title.

A title that spelled "THEATRE" properly, R18.

I'm sitting listening to a selection of showtunes...

Songs from A NEW BRAIN are playing. Does William Finn ever write a second draft? Good lord, this is a mess.

He was teaching at NYU for a while. Anyone have stories?

(FWIW, I love FALSETTOS.)

Continuing the DROOD discussion from 418, here's the dish on Loretta Swit as Puffer:

In short: Swit was a royal pain in the ass. Total diva. Even the costume designer loathed her! She also became frustrated early in her (brief) run as she was never being selected as murderess. So she took it upon herself to add bits of business on stage (and off) to up the ante and indicate to the audience that SHE killed Drood. Ridiculous, right? Hold onto your hats...

The story goes that in the 'No Good Can Come From Bad' scene (where all the characters - minus Puffer - are at the dinner table demonstrating possible motive as killers) Loretta found a lantern and flash light and for several nights, *inserted* herself in the scene. How? Well apparently she was sneaking behind the set and leering through the windows with her lantern, making all kinds of 'evil' faces. Literal upstaging in the middle of the number! Sometimes she would even sneak a prop knife and work it into the routine.

It got so bad that the cast threatened to write her up on Equity charges...this was when George Rose threatened to walk. But Wilford Leach, sweet as he was, never wanted to tell anyone 'no', so he just ensured the lighting designer 'killed' any lighting behind the set window, so the audience would never be able to see her even if she tried it again! Needless to say, Karen Morrow was a welcome sight when she came in and replaced her.

OK now [italic]that[/italic] is good tea. I've heard about her mugging but these are new details. thank you r21 you're a very model for us all.

My pleasure R22! Hopefully we can tee-up the tea in this thread...and avoid in the inevitable descent into BAJOUR or FOLLIES!

BTW here's a fun footnote for la Swit... One night George Rose got so annoyed by all the "Hey Hot Lips!" hecklers in the audience that he ad-libbed, "Gentlemen! The theatre is like a BALLOON...all it takes is one little PRICK to ruin it! ...and I DO mean LITTLE, sir!" Pretty great.

[quote]A title that spelled "THEATRE" properly, [R18].

All the West Germanic languages (American English, German, Dutch) spell it "theater." For whatever reason, British English opted to adopt the French spelling "théâtre," which is odd because they usually hate the French. I guess they detest the Americans more. For example, the British introduced Received Pronunciation in the 19th century to differentiate themselves from Americans, post-Revolutionary War. Thus, movies/shows that take place in pre-1800s England, where the characters speak the King's/Queen's English, are historically inaccurate.

[Quote] One night George Rose got so annoyed by all the "Hey Hot Lips!" hecklers in the audience that he ad-libbed, "Gentlemen! The theatre is like a BALLOON...all it takes is one little PRICK to ruin it! ...and I DO mean LITTLE, sir!"

Fantastic r23, MORE PLEASE! Btw, Did you post in the "Nasty People on Broadway" threads years ago? I think i recognize your "voice" as the poster with T and Dish about Bacall, Lupone, Mirren and asorted Divas

Swit also made Al Hirschfeld cry when she harangued him about his caricature of her. She has had the post-M*A*S*H career she truly deserved.

Did anyone here see the national tour of DROOD with Jean Stapleton and George Rose? It also starred Mark Jacoby as Jasper (the McGillin role) and Paige O'Hara as Drood. Clive Revill stepped in halfway thru when Rose was murdered on hiatus in the Dominican Republic.

Stapleton seemed as good a fit for Puffer as Chits did in the 2012 revival. Lulu's casting as Puffer in the '87 West End production was actually quite inspired. A far better fit than poor Ernie Wise in Rose's part (who was decidedly NOT good).

I'm actually surprised Rose didn't go overseas to his native England to bolster things. I wonder if it had to do with what Ed Dixon implied in his play 'Georgie'...that there was a darker reason why Rose never returned to England after the '60s? The London production (which survives as a soundboard recording) also wound up having to fly Patti Cohenour over at the 11th hour when their Rosa Bud bowed out. Lots of drama!

A typically lackluster performance by a British cast.

Loretta Swit was nice to me when I met her at a reception and even told me to call her "Loretta" when I had been calling her "Ms. Swit". She even gave me updates of how folks from M*A*S*H were that she kept in touch with later on during out conversation. I didn't off talking about that show per se, but about my having liked her voice when she sang a few times. There's one episode where she sang "C'est Magnifique" from "Can-Can" where she sounded excellent indeed. Btw, that's actually a pretty darn nice Hirschfeld of her.

I didn't "start" off talking

Interesting blind reveal at CDAN yesterday:

Monday, May 03, 2021 Blind Items Revealed #5 - Mr. X

April 16, 2021

I’ve always heard rumors about the authenticity of its existence, but it does indeed exist. It is s professionally shot color film of the star making Broadway musical (and eventually film) that would win its star, a permanent A++ list singer/actress/icon, several big awards. In order to prepare for the show’s West End opening after the star left the Broadway show to go overseas, the play was filmed in its entirety so sets, costumes and choreography could be duplicated. After the film was seen by the London producers it found its way into the hand of the show’s star who promptly shove it into a storage locker never to be seen again... that is until recently. While she was preparing for an auction of her personal memorabilia in the mid 2000s she found the film in that storage locker and had it screened. It was in bad shape and she personally paid to have it restored. Whether or not the general public will ever see it remains up for grabs.

Barbra Streisand/Funny Girl

Was Loretta blind? What the hell was wrong with that caricature? It's pretty damn flattering.

Bet they’re sorry now they couldn’t nominate ICP against white bread Aaron T

"Even the costume designer loathed her (Loretta Swit)....."

Are you kidding, r21? Costume designers are usually the first victims and the deepest hurt by divas out of control.

Perhaps that very flattering caricature of Loretta was after Mr. Hirschfeld altered it?

She learned everything she knows from Helen Lawson, r26.

Didn't Terry Lester (the original Jack Abbott on Y&R) play Jasper on that George Rose/Jean Stapleton tour of DROOD?

From what I understand, George Rose was quite the authority on little pricks.

FOREVER PLAID!

[quote]All the West Germanic languages (American English, German, Dutch) spell it "theater." For whatever reason, British English opted to adopt the French spelling "théâtre," which is odd because they usually hate the French.

So why do they use "aubergine" and "courgette" if they hate the French?

WE SEE YOU EXTREMELY WHITE FOREVER PLAID!

Mark Jacoby according to Wikipedia, r37

[quote] From what I understand, George Rose was quite the authority on little pricks.

Not in the Dominican Republic, r38

Evidently, Terry Lester did it in Pasadena. Was this part of the tour?

So who was the star of Funny Girl in that filmed version, since Babs had left? Mimi Hines? Or did Lainie Kazan shank a bitch and fight her way onto the stage to screech- A FEATHERED HAT FOR THE BABY!

I'd take that blind with a grain of salt but there is a complete South Pacific with Mary Martin, so sometimes things do happen. Like four minutes of silent but clear color footage from The Library of Congress of Ethel in the original AGYG. I had no idea LOC has a youtube channel now. Check the link to their page at the Annie link. Not a lot there but there's also Ethel in Anything Goes and Ethel, Bob Hope and Durante in Red, Hot and Blue. Short clips but fabulous.

R44 -- Terry Lester did indeed play Jasper in the California Music Theatre production (out in Pasadena), which starred Rose. But this was separate from the '88 tour. Although they did use Bob Shaw's scenery, which (fun fact!) you could rent up until the mid 2000s.

With Merman, r46, you got...Merman.

OK, I'll Oh dear myself. That's obviously a private user's page called The Library of Johngress. But check it out.

LIZA!

FOLLIES!

Actual Follies.

"Theatre" is the art form, "theater" is the building.

There hasn't been a second draft written in musical theatre since the aughts.

r5 The St. James is a Jujamcyn house, silly.

Not sure I could get all excited about watching Mimi Hines in Funny Girl. And yes, I know she was supposed to be good.

Congress or not - thanks for the link, R46! What extraordinary footage. I've always thought Merman was an acquired taste, but even in just a tiny snippet of film one can see that she was absolutely a creature of the stage.

The Anything Goes clip is also remarkable. And I'm unsure if it's the frame-rate or whatever, but it all just looks so effortlessly artful and joyous. No wonder I find the cynical irony and calculated corporatism of most contemporary musical comedies to be intolerable.

r44 that site is impressive. Is it accurate?

Thanks for the link R46. I wonder who the hunky dancer was at 0:48.

Interesting curtain call in that Merman and Middleton remain so far upstage. Every show I've ever seen, the star walks all the way down to the edge of the orchestra pit to take their bows (or in the case of DOLLY, onto the passerelle.)

[quote] that site is impressive. Is it accurate?

not the poster who put up the link, but that site is accurate but incomplete. In other words the cast lists are accurate but they are far from complete in many cases.

I interpreted the blind item to mean that the star, presumably Streisand, had her own performance filmed so that everything could be duplicated for the London production she was about to do. The producers of Funny Girl would have also had an investment in the film capture to ensure that the London production be what was seen on Broadway.

I can't imagine Streisand would bother with a film of Mimi Hines or anyone else playing Fanny. Lainie Kazan, btw, was long gone from understudying Fanny by the time Streisand left Funny Girl.

Long excerpts of Streisand in Funny Girl at the Winter Garden have for a long time been on youtube. Maybe it was taken down? I'm surprised everyone on DL doesn't know this. By the way much of it is murky and Streisand races through the performances like she left dinner cooking in the oven at home.

Goldman in his book The Season said that at the end of the run she was literally doing Fanny Brice as played by Jerry Lewis.

When I was a teenager I saw Streisand in Funny Girl in her second year in the show (opposite handsome Johnny Desmond). I was a huge fan of her early recordings but was disappointed to see her walk through most of Act I (even before I understood what "walking through" a show meant) until she sang "People" and then she was fabulous for the rest of the evening.

I would imagine it was very hard for her to have the patience to get through a 2 year run on Broadway and a commitment to bring the show to London and then make a film of Funny Girl when she had the confidence to know the possibilities of the career before her.

Mimi/Fanny

love her voice r63. Given her other credits, one can assume Hines was a pretty decent comedic actress. She's older than Streisand and maybe she couldn't make a transition to films or television for whatever reason.

It was her chipmunk looks, r64. She and Phil got noticeable TV appearances on the variety shows back in the day, but they weren't exactly Steve & Eydie. She would have made a great Dolly.

THIS DAY IN BROADWAY HISTORY: In 1955, "Damn Yankees" opened at the 46th Street Theatre.

R53, your high school drama teacher was wrong when she told you that one was the art form and the other the building.

Or if she told you one was the building for live performance and the other for film.

Or if.......

My first job was at...

R68, you worked at an art form?

Jane Wyman also had a chipmunk look. Hey, how come no one ever suggest Jane for "Follies"? Very good singing voice in those films she did with Bing Crosby.

Cuomo: Broadway to reopen on September 14.

I worked in a...theatre, r70.

[quote]I would imagine it was very hard for her to have the patience to get through a 2 year run on Broadway

I'm sure you're right, but what a lousy fucking attitude: "I'm bored out of my mind, too bored to give the paying customers a real performance. Because it's not about the audience, IT'S ALL ABOUT ME." Also, apparently, Streisand's boredom and lousy attitude set in VERY early in the run of FUNNY GIRL, so even if she had even been contracted for only a year, or even only six months (which would never have happened in those days), it would have been an issue.

To be fair, she was 26

Jane didn't have Mimi's overbite, r70. You might accuse her of being mouse-y, but she was hardly chipmunk-y. She actually was on the potential casting list for FOLLIES.

[quote]Cuomo: Broadway to reopen on September 14.

By the way, that will also be at 100% capacity.

I've actually worked twice at the Aladdin Theater (shown in r68 and r70). I grew up seeing big movies at this Denver theater (Fiddler, Oliver! Earthquake). Anyway in the early '80s, someone bought it and removed the movie screen to discover an entire onion shaped proscenium arch and a decent sized stage. There were fountains in those towers on the side of the stage and if you flushed a toilet in the dressing rooms, the water in the fountains would dwindle until the water pressure returned to normal. Beautiful theater but closed in late '80s and is now a fucking Walgreens.

[...]

It's another shitshow day on Broadway. The governor released a statement without telling anyone, and all the shows and The League are scrambling. The DeBlasio v Cuomo mess is making everything a nightmare. Why are the stupid people the only electable ones these days?

I read that opening night of Funny Girl in New York Streisand gave her greatest performance. The the night after she walked through it and Stark was there. After he immediately ran to her dressing room very angry and was like What the hell happened to last night's performance?! She's very open about detesting doing a Broadway run.

I wonder if I tore your ticket for EARTHQUAKE, r77. I was wearing a Red Cross disaster services uniform and hardhat. If you saw TOMMY, I was attired in blue jeans and a TOMMY t-shirt.It was built in 1926 and was the first theatre(er) built west of the Mississippi specifically for sound pictures. You can see at r72 what was behind the 70mm screen. There had also been a pipe organ. Back in the day, the ceiling had stars and there was a cloud machine. When did you work there?

Streisand was lazy even in her 20's, huh?

I do think you have to be a certain type of person to perform on Broadway, night after night, and still try to deliver the same level of performance. It's really tough and I have great respect for anyone who does those 8 shows a week.

Anyone who's ever worked in the theatre knows that performers can only do so much when they have a bad audience and, even with hit shows, you're bound to get a dud of an audience every now and then that just zaps the energy right out of you. That's when your training comes in so that you can dust yourself off and continue doing the show full out as if they were the best audience you've ever had.

r77 - Oh, and you saw OLIVER! at the Century 21. The Aladdin, hot off Mary Poppins and The Sound of Music were thrilled to get the surefire STAR! and looked askance at Century 21 getting OLIVER!. We all know how 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 turned out.

Streisand can be wonderful but I don't think many of her colleagues would ever describe her as a "selfless" performer.

And good musical theatre is collaborative and to a degree, selfless, by definition.

It probably didn't help that the script to Funny Girl isn't exactly one that you can find new layers and nuance in night after night. Not defending her sleepwalking through performances, but there's not much to that script besides the songs. Even Hello, Dolly has more substance.

It has been said that Streisand deliberately got pregnant during the West End run of Funny Girl so she could get out of it. I will say she is pretty fabulous in the soundboard recording of her last show on Broadway. She may "walk through" some scenes but her line delivery is inspired. She was/ is a gifted comedienne.

Streisand is the kind of star who could a walk through a performance and still have the audience going crazy. I remember meeting a guy who saw Merman in Gypsy and I was like Wow how was she?! and he said 'Tired.'

[quote]She would have made a great Dolly.

Mimi Hines did "Dolly" on the road a lot. A friend of mine toured with her.

Well she did keep Funny Girl running for a while. People at the time did not think only Streisand could do it. Unlike a show like The Producers that few people wanted to see after the stars left. Maybe it was seriously bad producing that killed that show after Broderick and Lane left not being able to get the right cast. Or maybe the show was intrinsically terrible? I didn't see it.

How long did Hines keep FG running after Babs left?

MIMI/DOLLY

r89 - Dec 27, 1965 - Jul 01, 1967

Fanny Standby, Miss Linda Gerard...

So she kept the show open a year and a half after Streisand left. That's pretty good.

She had such a warm voice.

Nobody answered my question. If Streisand had called Stark's bluff and would only sign for the one film and he put somebody else in the film who could it have possibly been?

Roz Russell

I was approached, but then Gary...well, you know the rest of it.

new protest just dropped

Producer Sam Speigel was set to sign Albert Finney for Lawrence of Arabia (despite director David Lean's not really wanting him). Then Speigel demanded that Finney sign a seven year personal contract with him to play Lawrence. Finney stunned him by walking away and that's how the barely known Peter O'Toole ended up starring in a huge multi-million dollar blockbuster.

R98 - Jesus Christ. These authoritarian wokesters need to find a new hobby during their unemployment. The industry has been CRIPPLED for 14+ months now and this is the whiney shit they decide to get on their high moral horse for? Yes - Rudin was a toxic, abusive bully. Completely unacceptable. But using that to springboard into a greater crusade over perceived wrongs and historical slights? The same way the March on Broadway loosely tied Rudin's ills in with equal representation for BIPOC performers? Give me a fucking break.

There won't BE any Broadway to return to if the community doesn't get behind it in a productive, positive way. And yes, this includes the 98% of the Actors Equity membership that is unemployed at any given time. Vilifying 'The Music Man', its stars or creatives is completely misguided. (But then the woke see them as heretics so they need punishing!)

People don't respond well to demands and ultimatums -- even well-intentioned people who would otherwise be an ally. The tone needs to shift. Put aside the juvenile tribalism and divisive identity politics and start being CREATIVE again. Collaborate with one another. Have real conversations. And realize that the struggle to be employed in the theatre, period, is really fucking difficult for EVERYONE. Start there and you might realize you have more in common with your (perceived) enemy than you think.

r100 you're a hero. How can we get you in touch with THEM.

—[italic]Another[/italic] actual progressive tired of this shit

R95: The studio wanted Shirley MacLaine.

During the NY run, Streisand instituted three versions of the show--1. complete, 2. losing one singing bit, and 3. dropping a scene and Who Are You Now? She would announce which version bthey were to do when she arrived for the performance.

One night, the producer, Ray Stark, dropped in when they were doing version 3, which loses a significant portion of Act Two. He ran backstage and told Streisand if she did it once more he'd go with MacLaine for the film.

Thanks for posting that great Annie Get Your Gun clip R46. Fascinating to see how brief the bows are, unlike today where performers milk the audience for as much applause as possible. And also interesting to see that director Josh Logan managed to include some of his typical beefcake in the show with that almost naked Indian.

Maybe Phyllis Newman with a big star-build as a f-you to Streisand.

Looks like they took down that R98 tweet. Good. Probably someone who can't get a job in Non-Equity.

[quote] And also interesting to see that director Josh Logan managed to include some of his typical beefcake in the show with that almost naked Indian.

Speaking of Josh Logan, thanks to another poster's suggestion, I am reading his book MOVIE STARS, REAL PEOPLE AND ME where he talks about a party he and his wife Nedda threw for Princess Margaret and her husband The Earl of Snowdon during their1965 visit to the US.

Among the people invited for dinner were Rosalind Russell and Frederick Brisson, but what surprised me was that he had invited Ethel Merman to entertain, which she did. After Merman, people like Benny Goodman, Alan Jay Lerner, Sammy Davis Jr., Tommy Steele, and....Rosalind Russell got up to entertain as well.

So there was Merman, not only performing in front of 'The Lizard of Roz', but sitting there while Roz herself performed (or maybe she hit the buffet instead). I knew they had once been friendly, sharing a fire escape while Roz was in AUNTIE MAME at the Broadhurst and Merman was in HAPPY HUNTING next door at the Majestic, but after the movie version of GYPSY came out, I'd never before read a report of them being in the same room together, let alone entertaining in front of each other.

BTW, Mr. and Mrs. Elliott Gould were also in attendance, although Logan made a point of saying Miss Streisand refused his invitation to perform (of which the princess what presumably unaware)

A contemporaneous report in the next day's Times confirmed the attendees. Logan frankly admits it was the most marvelous party he and Nedda ever gave.

Please tell me Roz performed Rose's Turn with several downshifting key changes.

The tweet is still up, R105

You can just listen for yourself, R107. The first half of the song is all her. Lisa Kirk's dubbing doesn't show up until "I had a dream"

I'm not a musical key expert, but it does sound like it's been significantly lowered from the original Merman key. That said, pretty much every actress who's ever played the role has had keys changed for certain songs. Lansbury had different keys for many of the songs, Tyne Daly had "matinee keys" for the days her voice was tired, etc.

[quote] Please tell me Roz performed Rose's Turn with several downshifting key changes.

Now, wouldn't THAT have been something?

According to Logan neither woman sang a number from GYPSY (or if they did, he diplomatically didn't mention it). Roz sang a number from WONDERFUL TOWN and Merman sang 'I Got Rhythm' and "There's No Business Like Show Business".

It took me quite awhile to digest the fact that they had over 100 people in their River House apartment for a party. My partner and I had 15 people over and our apartment felt like a subway car at rush hour

The mix of voices in Rose's Turn on the actual Gypsy film soundtrack is different from what's heard on the commercially released soundtrack album.

I've read that Merman started having vocal issues during Gypsy's run and that at some point some keys were lowered for her. So what you hear on the OBCR might not be what audiences heard live later on.

I believe it's 100% Lisa Kirk on the Gypsy soundtrack album. Guess it made for a more pleasant listening experience.

Someone told me Bernadette Peters was the closest to singing the score in the original keys. Pretty much everyone else has had them toyed with.

R74 Being "26" isn't a valid excuse for shitty and lazy workplace behavior.

Streisand is and always has been a very selfish woman. Talented, with a gift, but she's not nearly as brilliant as she think she is.

It isn't 100% Lisa, r113.

Woke assholes like that shit eating jerk on the Disney thread. Yeah put all these people out of work because of your extremist sjw attitude. Because your twisted ideology is so much more important than anything else in the world.

[quote]Maybe Phyllis Newman with a big star-build as a f-you to Streisand.

"And Phyllis Newman will have to do as Fanny Brice."

And who did Stark plan on using to dub MacLaine? Lisa Kirk?

"And realize that the struggle to be employed in the theatre, period, is really fucking difficult for EVERYONE."

EXACTLY. For anyone to point fingers at others in the field and denigrate them is disgusting beyond belief. No one knows what it took for ANY person, whatever their color, gender, race or creed, to make gains in their career, or what sacrifices they had to make, or losses they endured in order to pursue their passion. Grow the f*** up!

We Hear You White Lisa Kirk!

Aw fuck off, r120, I'm sitting on top of the world.

r113, Rose's Turn is all Lisa on the soundtrack apparently....

No, it isn't. Both the album and the film use a mix of the two voices but the mix isn't the same on the two.

There are three sets of vocal tracks for the film of Gypsy.

1. Ruzsell's first set which was so atrocious it was unusable. Those tracks are the one's Merman got ahold of and used to play for the amusement of her party guests.

2. Russell's second set, made six months later, after she been vocally coached and rehearsed much more. A few parts of it are passable.

3. Kirk's set, which is really good.

Both the film and the soundtrack used a mix of the voices from Russell's second set and Kirk's set. But the mixes are different on the two although each is mainly Kirk.

[quote]And who did Stark plan on using to dub MacLaine? Lisa Kirk?

Lainie Kazan, as an extra F-you to Streisand.

Lainie was so...so...

[quote]Lainie was so...so...

Overwrought?

Dixie Carter, Madeline Kahn and Lily Tomlin sing of CAMP in Below the Belt (audio only, at link).

Yes, Boycott Broadway. So smart right now...For such clear reasons too...

That's just it R119 -- the woke have oversimplified a brutally rigorous, insanely competitive field and turned into juvenile, petulant blame game. Wherein some insidious, underlying 'white supremacy' explains all career disappointments and barriers to entry. The reality is that Broadway has never been more equitable or more inclusive. Ever. And it stands to become even more so! In fact, there are entire casting mandates on Broadway (but also at the TV/Film level) that advocate for greater BIPOC and LGBTQ representation. Progress, right? Accountability, right?

But because this "progress" doesn't explain why some actors and creatives STILL can't get ahead, the woke (ie. those who define their identities out of eternal victimhood) have turned it into this whole tribalist, "us vs. them" narrative. Wherein "Whiteness" is some original sin that must be atoned for (as is evidenced by these Twitter morons demanding hard working white actors step down) They're literally fighting racism with MORE racism. (See Robin DiAngelo's execrable book for this on full display)

Make no mistake: wokeness does NOT equal progressive or rational thought. It's illiberal and based in moral absolutism. Any true progressive should reject its religiosity, yet things are so polarized, that any such criticism of their (authoritarian/marxist/religious) rhetoric make you a racist right winger. It's ridiculous. It needs to be stomped out by ACTUAL progressive democrats and moderates. It's bad for the soul, it's bad for art and it's bad for society.

OMG, r127, thank you for that. I had no idea that had been recorded.

What are you protesting against, kids?

[quote]It needs to be stomped out by ACTUAL progressive democrats and moderates. It's bad for the soul, it's bad for art and it's bad for society.

Everything you said, 100% on target and deserves a wider audience than it will get here.

Well said r129

Laura Benanti has jumped on the protest train. None of them actually spell out how exactly Broadway isn't safe for the people they claim are being victimised.

Benanti is just mad at Hugh and Rudin for not casting her as Marian.

Streisand was actually a mere 22 when Funny Girl opened. That's very young for the kind of overnight stardom she was experiencing.

Is that Anthony "Scooter" Teague (the chorus boy on our extreme left) in the clip of Lisa Kirk at r121?

R31 Many years back, I was given these "Funny Girl" videos, in the form of a can of 16mm film, from Larry Fuller, a dancer in the original 1964 production who was also the dance captain. I had them transferred to VHS and I dubbed them from the sound-system audio. Larry Fuller told me that they were indeed shot for London, to facilitate his recreation in the West End of Carol Haney's Broadway choreography. In the London "Funny Girl" program, the title page gives the credits as follows: "Musical Numbers Created by Carol Haney" / "Choreographed by Larry Fuller."

Whether or not the film of the full show exists --the one mentioned in the blind item you posted and said to be in Barbra's possession-- I cannot say.

I'm reminded of why I wish Dixie Carter did more theatre.

Dixie Carter sings of birth control in the Upstairs at the Downstairs revue Below the Belt.

That's a very plausible explanation of how rumors of a full color film version could have been started, r135.

For decades I heard rumors that when Julie Andrews left My Fair Lady for the London production she had been filmed running through her entire part with a stage manager feeding her lines. It would have something like a study guide for her replacements to learn the staging, pacing, etc. I heard that it had been lost years ago. I talked to many collectors, people in the business and even asked at BWW and lots of people were familiar with the story but nobody had ever seen it and said that if it ever existed, it must completely lost.

A few days ago, when I found the AGYG footage I posted above, I ran across this scripted and rehearsed 14 minute recreation of early MFL rehearsals starring Andrews and Harrison. It was broadcast on TV in 1960. It made me wonder if this is how rumors of Andrews rehearsal footage could have been started. It's very interesting and fun, BTW.

"The reality is that Broadway has never been more equitable or more inclusive. Ever."

The reality is that Broadway--among all populist entertainments- has ALWAYS been more equitable and ALWAYS been more inclusive. ALWAYS.

A slight adjustment defines the truth a little sharper.

We see you white Rex Harrison

Kate Hepburn puts the kibosh on A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC....

R122, you might have bothered to read the notes for the video you posted. If you had bothered, you would have read that this clip substitutes Lisa Kirk's vocal for Roz's in the first half of the number. As others have pointed out, the film itself features Roz's vocal for the first half of the number, Kirk's for the second, whereas on the soundtrack album, Kirk performs the whole number. P.S. The pitch is off -- too high-- in the clip at R122.

[quote]For decades I heard rumors that when Julie Andrews left My Fair Lady for the London production she had been filmed running through her entire part with a stage manager feeding her lines. It would have something like a study guide for her replacements to learn the staging, pacing, etc. I heard that it had been lost years ago. I talked to many collectors, people in the business and even asked at BWW and lots of people were familiar with the story but nobody had ever seen it and said that if it ever existed, it must completely lost.

You seem a little confused. If Andrews had made a film of her performance in the Broadway show when she was about to leave it for the London production, why at that point would a stage manager have been feeding her lines? Also, when you say you "even asked at BWW" about this, do you mean the Broadway World website? If that's what you mean, why in God's name did you think that any of the children associated with that site would know anything about a film of MY FAIR LADY with Julie Andrews?

R139 Thanks for that Julie-MFL movie rumor; had not heard that one before.

One similar story that I did hear decades ago: A complete film of Carol Burnett in "Fade Out-Fade In" exists (probably in black and white). This film was made to document the physical challenges involved in Burnett's role in the 1964-'65 musical. It was to be used in a potential lawsuit involving Burnett's absences from the show owing to a neck injury while she was at the same time able to appear on the TV series "The Entertainers," produced by her husband, Joe Hamilton.

"Fade Out-Fade In" was forced to close because of Burnett's continued absences. Burnett was apparently threatened with a lawsuit and forced to return and re-open the show, which closed soon after.

Have no idea if the alleged "Fade Out" film exists.

I asked at BWW at least 10 or 15 years ago, when there were still a few adults around there.

By feeding her lines, I meant reading the other characters' dialog so she could react.

Yes, I know Wicked Fan says the soundtrack was all Kirk. So does Wikipedia. But I bought and still have the album when it was first released. It's so obvious when the voices switch in the first half it's jarring. I suspect that's why in the film the voices only switch once.

R135 Was the entire show recorded or just the dance numbers?

Talking about recordings that may or may not exist. It's claimed that the Mendes/ Donmar production of Assassins was recorded and aired on British TV like Mendes' Cabaret and Company. However, I have yet to find any evidence of it's existence. My theory is that it has been confused with a recording of a 1993 production in Manchester, England. Anyone know if it really was aired on TV?

I’m sure many of you know since 1970 the Lincoln Center Library for the Preforming Arts has recorded theatrical productions for archival purposes and made them available in a public library setting. The 50th anniversary belated celebratory exhibit should be opening soon highlighting some of their best materials.

[quote] Talking about recordings that may or may not exist. It's claimed that the Mendes/ Donmar production of Assassins was recorded and aired on British TV like Mendes' Cabaret and Company. However, I have yet to find any evidence of it's existence. My theory is that it has been confused with a recording of a 1993 production in Manchester, England. Anyone know if it really was aired on TV?

There's no evidence that the Donmar "Assassins" was recorded for broadcast, and it certainly never aired on UK TV.

Another musical theater "urban legend": A London cast recording of "Mame" starring Ginger Rogers was made but never released. Ginger's "Mame" was NOT recorded, at least not commercially.

By any chance is the person who mentioned having gotten boots of Sweeney and Evita from the master (the person who recorded them) on the "Theatre Gossip #410: More Sex, Please, We're American" thread lurking on this new one? I'd love to talk to them about those recordings... if you're here please let me know!

"The reality is that Broadway--among all populist entertainments- has ALWAYS been more equitable and ALWAYS been more inclusive. ALWAYS."

R140 -- a perfect addendum. Historically, Broadway HAS been the refuge for marginalized groups. A unifying, safe haven for creative types to collaborate regardless of background. Gay or straight, Black or White, Male or Female - perceived divisions and differences were erased in the name of creating art. One's talent superseded their intersectionality. And in these increasingly inclusive times, I'd like to think that's never been more true!

But here's another issue with the woke agenda: WHO exactly is this "Broadway" they're directing their crusade towards? "Broadway" is nondescript. It changes show to show, season to season, creative to creative. And just the same way that Whiteness or Blackness can't be any one thing (despite what the woke insist) Broadway isn't any one thing. There are tyrants, there are saints. There are those who will champion and seek out new talent, and those who will rest on what's tried and true. It's many people, with MANY agendas, all just trying to make it work.

It's what makes tackling these complex issues of opportunity and representation so fucking difficult. You have that unavoidable human element that informs the decision making. Because there are a hundred more pressing aspects BEYOND race and sexuality that factor into hiring an individual. Attitude? Chemistry? Sex appeal? Box office appeal? How do you weigh these many factors remotely fairly? Oh right, you can't. And that's not even factoring in the "luck factor" needed to succeed (it's funny that they never mention THAT as an all-pervasive, often crushing, variable in all this...)

But the woke won't have these kind of conversations. They paint their arguments in broad, lazy strokes, when what's actually needed is the pointed precision of Georges Seurat.

And a very wise hat it is, r150.

[...]

Let's get serious. If Mimi Hines walked through many of her FG performances, who would have known? Or cared?

I absolutely refuse to get serious about Mimi Hines.

[...]

I'd get serious with Hines, Hines and Dad.

And this from an article about a Secret Garden revival, whose workshop is getting the streaming treatment. This quote is about the new production-- [quote] The revival, Carlyle said, is a “complete reimagining.” It will feature pared-back sets, more intimate orchestrations and different scenic design. "pared-back" "more intimate" "different scenic design" In other words, cheaper. Always cheaper. Give the audience less, get acclaim for "raw power." And charge more.

Is JCM going to part of the cast, maybe as the crazy uncle, or was there a crazy aunt? Maybe Hedwig can just wander through singing existential German songs or such?

What exactly did Secret Garden have going for it other than its lushness? The story was so poorly adapted and the songs, minus all the swoopy strings, aren't really all that much.

I saw the original SECRET GARDEN and vaguely recall liking Daisy Eagan, JCM. I think I saw Howard McGillen in Mandy P's role (thank god). I must have seen Rebecca Luker but didn't know her at the time.

Other than that, I have no memory of the show whatsoever. None. I couldn't identify one of the songs if I tripped over it.

Daisy's U/S...

Surely you remember Plant You Now, Dig You Later, r160!

That comes from The Secret Garden? That makes sense.

I thought it wonderful that when Secret Garden was on Broadway, thousands of families with little girls in bright dresses poured in to see a new musical about death.

It replaced Garden of Joy when they were in New Haven, r163.

Here is Daisy Egan’s Tony win presented by, of all people, Audrey Hepburn!

Allison Fraser doesn’t seem happy.

Perhaps they can update Secret Garden changing cholera to covid and setting it in a woke east village

Alison Fraser shouldn't have been happy. The kid didn't deserve it...

Did Alison?

I thought Daisy was terrific (but it was 30 years ago). Why was she "Featured" and not "Best Lead Actress"? Her age?

They need to change "Wick" to "Woke".

When a show is Woke/There’s something smug about it...

WE SEE YOU ON NATIONAL TELEVISION DEJECTED WHITE ALISON FRASER

I assume they knew there was no way to beat Lea, so they put her in featured, r170.

Why do I suddenly have permission denied for posting here?

[quote] "Fade Out-Fade In" was forced to close because of Burnett's continued absences. Burnett was apparently threatened with a lawsuit and forced to return and re-open the show, which closed soon after.

Based on most reports, the show itself was a turkey

I think I've solved the Roz Russell/Lisa Kirk problem. It seems there were at least two different versions of the soundtrack album issues. One has Kirk singing all of "Rose's Turn," the other has Roz singing (or whatever) the first half, up through "they take bows and you're battin' zero." Fortunately, both are on YouTube. Here's a link to the all-Kirk version, I will link to the half-Roz version in a subsequent post.

R135, did the film include Babs' performance or was it a different lead?

Okay, and here's the half-Roz version of "Rose's Turn." Sorry, for some reason, I initially had trouble posting these links.

Here's Sondheim with Bernie around the time of INTO THE WOODS.

Steve, babe.... have you been working out?

He actually looks almost.... hot here, kinda.

.... but then he brings the crazy....

why crazy, r160.

and he started working out post- heart attack and kept it up for several years. easy to see why....

He looks batshit insane at R180.

Otherwise, not too bad at age 57.

Wasn’t there a rumor that he and Lapine wrote ITW while doing fistfuls of 'shrooms?

There was definitely a rumor that he and Lapine dropped acid at the Chicago Art Institute while looking at Sunday on the Island of the Grand Jatte in order to get the painting to speak to them while writing Sunday in the Park with George

If Audrey Hepburn gave me an award and a kiss on the head, I could die happy.

Audrey was an even hotter piece of ass than you can imagine, R185.

Breakfast at Tiffany's, indeed. Mmmmm.

Sondheim in the 80's up to the mid 90's really was rather sexy. There's that great video where he's in London teaching actors his work and he has this devilish smile when one of them does something he really loves and it's infectious. You can see how much he must really love actors. Well, the ones that get it right. He has such a calming presence. Does he ever really blow up and start screaming at anyone? I've only ever heard of him being patient and level headed.

yes r185 isn't that kiss on the head one of the loveliest things you've ever seen? Audrey Fucking Hepburn.

[quote] Here is Daisy Egan’s Tony win presented by, of all people, Audrey Hepburn! Allison Fraser doesn’t seem happy.

Alison was heard to remark later that evening (and I'm not making this up): "I lost to someone who doesn't menstruate." I remember meeting her many years later, expecting her to be a massive cunt because of this, but she was lovely and others who have worked with her have had nothing but nice things to say, so I'll chalk it up to a one time sour grapes.

Daisy was fucking amazing in that show. No, it wasn't a featured role, but the Tonys have always had those crazy billing qualifiers that determine who gets placed where, so don't blame the show. She well deserved that award.

Daisy’s mother was ill at the time and she and Fraser became very close. If Fraser later made a joke about losing I wouldn’t read too much into it.

You can like someone and still be pissy about losing a Tony to their 10 yr old daughter.

Have to wonder why Audrey wasn't given one of the bigger categories to announce. Who gave out best play, Queen Elizabeth?

[quote]Alison was heard to remark later that evening (and I'm not making this up): "I lost to someone who doesn't menstruate."

Considering the massive shift in gender identity in recent years, this will be happening a lot more often.

The Harry Potter producers announced they were looking at "restructuring" the show. Is it going to be just one show from on?

How to say both of those versions of “Rose’s Turn”suck. I would love to hear the first version done by Russell that was so bad that Merman used to play it at parties to make fun of it.

^Have to say…

Harry Potter is being re-written into one show. Americans and the rest of the world can't deal with the two part thing. But by the time they have it ready, I think Harry Potter will feel very early 2000s. Not sure the market is still there. They're not expanding the Florida theme park...

I'm surprised Eden, Jaime, et al aren't boycotting the Harry Potter play because JK Rowling is a TERF.

The Melbourne production of harry Potter reopened in February, the full production.

[quote]Daisy’s mother was ill at the time and she and Fraser became very close. If Fraser later made a joke about losing I wouldn’t read too much into it.

Yeah, maybe the remark about Daisy's Tony win was just a joke, and not a mean-spirited one, along the lines of Merman's legendary comment when Mary Martin in THE SOUND OF MUSIC won over Merman in GYPSY: "You can't buck a nun!"

Look at Alison's face when Daisy mentions her. Tell me it was good natured.

R201, what I'll tell you is to piss off and bring your nasty, troublemaking ways with you. Even if Alison DID have a bad reaction to Daisy winning, and I'm SURE she didn't, it's highly unlikely that she would have made a face to express her displeasure, as she would surely have known it was likely that the cameras might cut to her when Daisy mentioned her. You lame-brain.

[quote]They're not expanding the Florida theme park...

They actually are, so I (and Comcast) think your theory about the end of Harry Potter is premature.

Wish I had seen dreamy Jonathan Bailey in Last 5 Years in London. Did anyone here see him? Was he wearing briefs in this scene?

THIS DAY IN BROADWAY HISTORY: In 2008, "Glory Days" opened and closed at the Circle in the Square Theatre.

An article in the NYT about the reopening contains the line, talking about the list of things productions will have to deal with, "Some performers have gained weight". And yep, the actors are bitching and whining about the NYT being so "rude" for this line, and demanding that producers accept that their bodies will be different from before. So seems a bunch of them are planning on doing zero prep work to return to work.

I really wonder how these thin-skinned idiots cope with the countless bad reviews they undoubtedly get.

[Quote] Harry Potter is being re-written into one show. Americans and the rest of the world can't deal with the two part thing

The two part thing was a money grab.

No way that needed to be two parts . So much extraneous material should be cut

I know everyone adores Sunday in the Park, but I spent most of the time staring at my navel

THIS DAY IN BROADWAY HISTORY: 2021, Some lunatic TQ at R202 puts her pinky up and hisses her boundaries over Alison Fraser.

Breaking news via Baz Bamigboye:

Eddie Redmayne will play the Emcee and Jessie Buckley will play Sally Bowles in Cabaret in London starting in November. Well, Eddie does look like Howdy Doody so it might work.

I'd fly to London to see Eddie in CABARET, especially if Jake and Annaleigh are doing SUNDAY.

Jake and Annaleugh aren’t doing SUNDAY until next year at the earliest due to Jake’s film commitments being postponed because of Covid.

Eddie Redmayne doesn't have enough charisma or presence to play Cliff, let alone the Emcee. And Jessie Buckley is odd casting (though she has a good voice).

Really, is anyone clamoring for another Cabaret or another Sunday?

Annaleigh Ashford is a regular on a network sitcom, plus she's playing Paula Jones in the latest "American Crime Story," so I don't think she's going to have a lot of free time.

Well, if CABARET opens in November, it could easily run until next year.

Her sitcom hasn't been renewed yet.

R207, agreed. It was a tremendous mistake, and I don't think it took them very long to realize that.

r217 It hasn't been cancelled either, and I'm sure she has a contract.

R209=the sort of hissing, bitchy queen who projects her bitchiness onto others. This is why they hate us.

No, R220, it's why we hate you.

Poor Dame Judi is apparently blind as a bat so her playing Frau Schneider would appear to be a remote possibility.

Maybe she should play the Emcee. She'd still be more charismatic than Eddie Redmayne.

How is there no recording out there of the Natasha Richardson - Vanessa Redgrave LNM benefit? Did anyone here see it? It’s hard to imagine Redgrave in that part since she’s not grand and has no sense of humor.

Natasha...

ALNM Concert in full

Barbra on Dinah...

Unalloyed joy, that Barbra. I remember at the time I was totally crushing on Georgia Brown after seeing her in OLIVER! By this time, my passion had turned to Barbra, but seeing them together was special.

And it was sponsored by S&H Green Stamps! Who remembers them?

I suspect the difficulty with condensing Harry Potter into one play isn’t making cuts to the story, it’s all the set up and tear down and technical transitions. A lot of the stuff that feels like dramatic filler is probably there to cover the time it takes to get the next illusion safely in place. Plus, I imagine the the hour before each part is a flurry of activity, tearing down the old show and setting up the next. That show is about as big a technical challenge as anything ever put on Broadway.

[quote]And it was sponsored by S&H Green Stamps! Who remembers them?

As a child, I was given the task of adding the new Green Stamps to the booklets after each week's shopping expedition. For some reason, I thought this was grand fun.

me too r230 but we had Plaid Stamps instead of S&H

r230 If your mother only knew what you'd be doing with your tongue when you grew up ...

[quote]I suspect the difficulty with condensing Harry Potter into one play isn’t making cuts to the story, it’s all the set up and tear down and technical transitions. A lot of the stuff that feels like dramatic filler is probably there to cover the time it takes to get the next illusion safely in place. Plus, I imagine the the hour before each part is a flurry of activity, tearing down the old show and setting up the next. That show is about as big a technical challenge as anything ever put on Broadway.

EIther I wasn't paying close attention, or you weren't, because it seemed to me that almost all of the illusions involved projections and other methods non-physical methods, and that the actual constructed set pieces in the show were quite few. In that way, I think it might be relatively easy to condense the two parts of the play into one.

[quote]R230 If your mother only knew what you'd be doing with your tongue when you grew up ...

Another happy childhood memory destroyed by feelings of guilt.

I'd be curious to see numbers on attendance/sales for Harry Potter properties. I have suspicions that the angry "woke" SJWs really haven't made that huge of an impact on a hugely beloved global franchise enjoyed by millions of people who don't really care about J.K. Rowling not kowtowing to the Transgender Agenda.

Do we really need a WAITRESS revival?

Well, considering the number of performers who probably acquired actual waitress experience during the shutdown ...

Patrick O'Connell, the inventor of the red ribbon and founder of Visual AIDS, has died of AIDS related complications. He was the person who got the ribbons introduced at the Tony Awards in 1991. I can remember watching that ceremony with a bunch of friends that year and all of us wondering through half the show what they were until finally Jeremy Irons explained them.

We used a damp sponge to moisten Green Stamps to stick to the booklet. No tongue.

Can't for the life of me remember any item we received for redeeming the stamps.

How old do you need to be to remember green stamps? 65 maybe.

Certainly confirms that Broadway thread posters skew ancient.

How many DLers went to the NY World's Fair and how old were you?

[quote] How old do you need to be to remember green stamps? 65 maybe.

I'm in my mid-50s and I remember them. They were popular at least into the 1970s, but I think declined after that.

Broadway shows are announcing their returns and here we are, discussing S&H green stamps! The state of the Theatre Gossip threads today.

The Harry Potter script is very poorly written. Without the extravagant production and the effects, it's a third rate bus and truck children's theater production.

I doubt the "woke" rebellion has had much impact on box office, but maybe it has. Are people going to see it multiple times like the tweens do with WICKED? If not, they may just saturated their audience.

Also, I would imagine the time commitment for a two part version for family's and tourists on vacation in NYC might be unattractive. It was a spectacular production of a very thin text

Harry Potter was already starting to wane on Broadway long before Rowling starting poking the trans-bear. As opposed to London where it was still near-impossible to get tickets. I suspect a lot of it has to do with a.) the structure of the tourist trade in each city and b.) the cultural place of HP in London vs. the US.

And the poster upthread made a very good point about repeat viewings. That's what separates hits from smashes quite often, and multiple viewings of two shows is both financially prohibitive and difficult from a scheduling perspective. It really is asking a lot of a tourist in NY (let alone a family of them) to commit to a two-play ticket.

Nicholas Nickleby was a two-show ticket, and it was a huge hit in NY and in LA. Of course, that was forty years ago.

It was also a limited 3-month run, r245. And they brought it back 4 years later and it flopped.

I fondly remember a set of formica collapsible TV tables that could be stacked in their own holder when not in use that we acquired with our Plaid Stamps. They were the perfect platform for Mother's Swanson TV Dinners as we watched The Garry Moore Show. Oh how I loved that Salisbury Steak with the apple compote dessert.

There seems to be some consternation over whether that new CABARET will be the Mendes or the Prince version over at ATC. Will we ever see a revival of the Prince version with a straight Cliff? Has a director been announced for this new revival? I'm sick of CABARET.

I remember when the Nicholas Nickleby revival was announced, my best friend and I POUNCED to get tickets the minute they were available so that we didn't miss out again. Months go by, we show up at the theatre and it was about half-empty.

Has anyone ever musicalized NICHOLAS NICKLEBY?

There's OLIVER and DROOD and a bunch of semi-successful CHRISTMAS CAROL musical adaptations. What's a good Dickens novel that hasn't been adapted yet, DL scholars?

[quote] I remember when the Nicholas Nickleby revival was announced, my best friend and I POUNCED to get tickets the minute they were available so that we didn't miss out again. Months go by, we show up at the theatre and it was about half-empty.

That seems to happen to me too. Stuff that I'm sure is going to be a smash hit closes in a week and shows that I think to myself 'Who's gonna want to see this shit?" becomes an impossible ticket and runs for years.

I've always thought producers could make a fortune by using me as a one-man focus group and investing in inverse proportion to what I like.

[quote] Has anyone ever musicalized NICHOLAS NICKLEBY?

Sorry, I don't have a decade to watch one show

2020 Tony Awards Should Be Coming This Fall to Launch Comeback:

[quote]Patrick O'Connell, the inventor of the red ribbon and founder of Visual AIDS, has died of AIDS related complications

I don't know him.

I aw the original NN and long stretches were tedious. I don't know why it caught on and was such a hot success. There were some performances that were wonderful. And Rees was dynamic and handsome but everything was happening to him and it didn't seem very interesting.

For those who've seen it on video is it compelling?

I worked on Nicholas Nickleby. I enjoyed it, but A). I was busy, and B). I was getting paid.

I've seen the video, and while I didn't find it compelling, it was, for me, worth the watch. Years later, I was watching The West Wing. President Bartlett was attending the theater, and the song they were singing sounded familiar. Later, I learned why.

This clip shows The West Wing version, and at around 2:42, you see the Nicholas Nickleby version.

Sure, they're were some duller stretches—but the overall experience was (as the poster said) priceless. It worked on so many levels- sussing out which characters were played by which multi-cast actors ("OMG that's the same guy who's playing so-and-so!" etc.), the taking over the entire space, the cast hanging out with the audience during the intermissions, and the overall feeling of doing this massive undertaking with the company. I remember people throughout the audience being amazed at how much time had passed when the first intermission intermission came.

I find the trashier and more lurid Mendes version more interesting.

[quote]We used a damp sponge to moisten Green Stamps to stick to the booklet. No tongue.

Are you Madeline Kahn in "Young Frankenstein"?

Prince revived his version of Cabaret with Joel Grey and it was a huge flop.

I saw NN towards the end of its run and when the cast came out to mingle with the audience right before the second part started they seemed very tired. I stood by Rees a part of the time trying to engage with the people talking to him but his face appeared a blank from sheer exhaustion. But as soon as they got back on stage and it started they didn't show a trace of it, they were immediately into the performance. I was really impressed.

The 80's Cabaret just didn't work. Maybe because Allyson Reed was so boring as Sally. I'd always thought of Sally as being a great fool-proof role until I saw her and Sienna Miller in the role that I realized how that character can seem almost inconsequential in the hands of the wrong actress. You really need someone with a lot of charisma to make that role work. You have to understand why Cliff would be drawn to her in spite of all her shortcomings and lack of talent. It's like having a Mama Rose without charisma. It makes you ask the rest of the characters "why are you keeping this crazy bitch around?"

Sienna Miller was my favorite Sally and I’ve seen about 7 of them in the Roundabout production. She was a spoiled child I wanted to put in the corner for a time-out. I thought it worked beautifully.

They beefed up the role of the Emcee for the 80s revival and it just didn’t work. The cast was dull and uninspired. They did give Cliff a new song (Don’t Go) which was an improvement over Why Should I Wake Up. There’s a pro shot on YouTube if anyone needs a nap.

[quote]There seems to be some consternation over whether that new CABARET will be the Mendes or the Prince version over at ATC

Is there any reason they've ruled out an entirely new production?

I saw Nicholas Nickelby early in its first New York run, and it remains to this day the best play I've ever seen. It was a thrilling piece of theatre done with no special effects, just imagination (while Nicholas was having a tearful goodbye with his mother and sister before heading off to his first teaching job in Yorkshire, a stagecoach was created with boxes and baskets by the cast; he hopped on waving and the coach pulled away, to great audience applause). Actors played wicked characters in one scene and good or comic characters a few scenes later. The Crummles theatre company was a hilarious/loving satire of those who tread the boards. I've never wept at a Christmas carol, but the use of one at the very end was heart-rending. It was eight hours long (and left out several long slogs from the book), and I would have happily watched it for another eight hours. And I had a brief chat with the charming Roger Rees and got him to sign my Playbill during one of the intermissions. I believe my ticket was $150 for an orchestra seat at the Plymouth. It was recorded for TV, and while it's a nice visual reminder of the show the flat direction and overuse of audience reaction shots doesn't do it justice.

R265 Did they purposefully limit themselves to Victorian stagecraft as a reinforcement of the material?

R265 I completely agree. That original NY production was the greatest thing I've ever seen in the theatre. The tv filming was flat, but a decent souvenir of what happened live in the theatre. I also saw the very soon after return in LA and it was fine, but (maybe because I knew what was coming or maybe because of a less great cast) nowhere near as thrilling or heartbreaking. You're dead on on all counts in your assessment here. (Or at least you agree with me, which, of course, makes you100% right.)

[quote] Prince revived his version of Cabaret with Joel Grey and it was a huge flop.

I don't know if it made its money back, but I wouldn't call it a huge flop. It ran for 8-9 months.

Alyson

I doubt in the 80s 8-9 months would get you your money back especially if it wasn't selling out.

[quote]t's like having a Mama Rose without charisma. It makes you ask the rest of the characters "why are you keeping this crazy bitch around?"

Agree to disagree.

"2020 Tony Awards Should Be Coming This Fall to Launch Comeback:"

Ladies and Gentlemen, the lowest rated awards show in history will take place in the fall of 2021 - The 2020 Tony Awards.

Will it be held in a train station? There is that new train hall in the old post office building that might be nice?

Totally agree with r265 and r267. Best theatrical production in my lifetime. I watch the DVD every few years to remind me of the joy of seeing it the first time.

A few years ago in Williamstown I ran into Roger Rees; we were staying in the same hotel. I got to tell him what NN meant to me, and he was bashul and sweet. "You're too kind," he said. I melted.

[quote]The 80's Cabaret just didn't work. Maybe because Allyson Reed was so boring as Sally. I'd always thought of Sally as being a great fool-proof role until I saw her and Sienna Miller in the role that I realized how that character can seem almost inconsequential in the hands of the wrong actress. You really need someone with a lot of charisma to make that role work. You have to understand why Cliff would be drawn to her in spite of all her shortcomings and lack of talent. It's like having a Mama Rose without charisma. It makes you ask the rest of the characters "why are you keeping this crazy bitch around?"

Spot on.

Grey toured in Cabaret pre and post broadway. It made its money back and then some

Re: The Redmayne/Buckley CABARET

Baz has tweeted that it will be a [bold]new[/bold] production.

There is speculation on the UK TheatreBoard that Jamie Lloyd will direct (due to his Company's connection to the Playhouse Theatre). If so, you'd think that would have been announced along with the casting news.

I gather the Rufus Norris production of Cabaret was really good.

Introducing the Dutch Aladdin. He’s a cutie.

I saw the Prince CABARET at least 3 times when I was a teen and, let me tell you, Jill Haworth got the most undeserved bum rap for her Sally Bowles. She was absolutely enthralling and unforgettable. I think even those who've only heard her performance on the OBC would agree. She was far better than any of the Sallys I saw in the Mendes production including Natasha Richardson.

Jill

Laura Benanti giving us big ol crazy hair and eyes!

I saw the original NN as well. The ending was truly devastating, in a purely theatrical way, but it has stuck with me all these years.

But the real highlight for me was when the cast mingled in the audience, I recognized one of the British actresses as someone from one of my favorite films. I didn't want to say anything, but she came and stood right next to me and smiled, and so I said to her in my best Scottish accent:

"Mary MacGregor?"

She nodded her head and said "Why yes, thank you for remembering me"

The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie was one of my favorite films!

I believe Jane Carr has played Jean Brodie as well, r282. She also did Lettice and Lovage on the West Coast.

NN was stunning. Would love to find a copy of the Three Sisters they did that season. Was beautiful.

I've worked with Jane (Mary MacGregor) Carr a couple of times over the years and she's a truly delightful person. She also played Angela Lansbury's wallflower daughter, in love with Michael York, in SOMETHING FOR EVERYONE, directed by Hal Prince, of course.

I think NICHOLAS NICKLEBY is actually Dickens' most adaptable novel to a stage musical. It has somewhat fewer subplots and characters than his other books with a couple of love stories at its center and less true tragedy and Victorian politics. It also covers fewer years than most of Dickens' stories. And, of course, there are the hilariously sweet episodes with the Victorian theatre troupe.

Jane Carr wasw valso in A Gentleman's Guide To LOve and Murder.

She had a smallish role, but it was right at the beginning, so they must have wanted someone with professional polish to launch the show, what with all the newcomers in the cast.

At least they were new to me.

R285 NN has already been a musical of sorts. I have the PYE label LP on my shelf.

"For those who've seen it on video is it compelling?"

It's far less compelling on video than it was in the theatre, where it was one of the most brilliant, vibrant and astonishing productions I've ever seen. The muffin boys! "To be or not...to be that is the question"....The death of Ralph Nickleby...Smike's "Who calls so loud?"....so many moments still resonating in my mind forty years after the fact!

Here, spend an hour of your Friday night with Barb & Steve...

Speaking of stage shows on video that are both English and long....

I'm watching BILLY ELLIOT (THE MUSICAL LIVE) now. Live recording of London cast.

I'm about 50 minutes in, but the damn thing is just under 3 hours long. Never saw it on Broadway. And it's not really working for me.

Does it get.... better?

R290, saw it in London. It's really good live.

Billy Elliot musical was never any good, except for the lads dancing.

TBH I thought the Billy Elliot film was beautiful, with a great cast giving their all to the material. It’s no great shakes, but in comparison to many of the recent filmed performances (Kinky Boots, Gypsy) it resounds. Of course, Follies wins (when does it not) in regards to a masterful filmed show, but it’s entertaining and enjoyable for what it is.

Someone earlier in the thread asked about the Johnathan Bailey/Samantha Barks Last 5 Years. He was charming as hell in it, and gorgeous.

Jason Robert Brown's direction was tedious and very literal. TV screens descended regularly to show cheap looking animations (weather, what was being described on the Schmuel song). During 'The Next Ten Minutes' two doors at the back of the stage took forever to open and Cathy came out reallly slowly on a little boat.

Fra Fee and Amy Lennox did a really beautiful production in Belfast the year before it that I wish had been revived in London.

HP is not beloved on Broadway cause word-of-mouth isn't great. I loathed it, and so did my friend, who was an HP fanatic. It's a crap script with lots of fancy special effects. It should never have won the Tony.

I first saw Cabaret onstage in Prince's late 80s revival and although it was disappointing it was far from a total wash. Grey was still wonderful but I can't believe no one has mentioned my favorite thing about that production, Werner Klemperer as Herr Schultz and Regina Resnik as Fräulein Schneider. Klemperer's performance must have been very different from Jack Gilford's in the original but it was sincere and deeply affecting. A different universe from ColoneI Klink. I had adored Resnik for years in opera but was floored by what she did here and just a few years later in A Little Night Music at City Opera. Huge ovations at the end in both shows. Astonishingly fine as both an actress and singer.

I’m available for Fraulein Schneider! Can we add some “business” of me peering behind windows to every scene? Just an idea.

London gets a lot of [italic]Cabaret[/italic] productions. Instead of getting a revival of the Mendes production, they had Rufus Norris directing a 2006 revival that ran almost 2 years and came back again slightly revised in 2012 after touring, and then toured again. I saw it with Will Young and thought it was dreadful. I'm 90% sure he ended up totally naked. What a concept.

I think the TV version of Nickelby works best as a sense-memory for those of us who saw the original live. Part of why it was so magical was that it was one of the most compete and authentic uses of live theater's suspension of disbelief I've ever experienced, from the coach that r265 references, to the cast mingling, to the sheer running-time with all of us in agreeing to live in this alternate universe of imagination for 8 hours. We all made a tacit deal to believe everyhing they suggested, and it was ecstatic as a group experience, including the cast.

TV, as it must, made it literal.

Remember the days when Trevor Nunn's name on a show was a promise of excellence? Sigh.

Billy Elliot on Bway SUCKED.

There was so much hype with some shills calling it a “classic that will be revived over and over again” and “among the greatest musicals of the century.”

It was just a limp noodle that stunk up the stage

yes r301 and one of the worst-written musicals ever. The book was jaw-droopingly bad. And that giant room that spun up on a corkscrew mechanism like Pride Rock. And a character [italic]actually[/italic] named "Dead Mum" Oy.

That said, "Merry Christmas, Maggie Thatcher" is catchy.

[quote]I think the TV version of Nickelby works best as a sense-memory for those of us who saw the original live.

It also worked quite well for this old guy who never had that pleasure r299.

Is LMM coming back into HAMILTON?

Was Jane Carr in the original NN? In New York?

Also, Fra Free. Thanks for reminding me. How is he? WHERE is he?

Yes

[quote]Was Jane Carr in the original NN? In New York?

No.

Suzanne Bertish was in the original 1980/81 RSC production and appears in the TV broadcast. Jane Carr played those parts in the 1986 revival (and was, imo, even better than Bertish.)

Is Jane Carr coming back to Hamilton?

[quote]Is Jane Carr coming back to Hamilton?

Speaking of Hamilton: Will "Man 6" become "Any Gendered Human 6"

Fra Fee is such a atupid name.

'Fra' is short for Francis.

He's out, ripped, adorable and talented - a standout in that excellent Ferryman cast. He could call himself Cis and I wouldn't care.

[quote]Remember the days when Trevor Nunn's name on a show was a promise of excellence? Sigh.

I think maybe there was a time when his name attached to a NON-MUSICAL show was a promise of excellence....

I would say BILLY ELLIOTT is a basically wonderful show that would be improved tremendously by major cutting, and it probably would have been cut to its advantage if people with more expertise in musical theater -- especially American-style musical theater -- had been involved in the original production.

Perhaps, OP...

Maybe like many of us, Lin just hasn't cut his hair in 15 months. My hair is well past my shoulders. Maybe I'll go into Six.

I saw BILLY ELLIOT in London in its second year, before it arrived on Broadway, on a Thursday matinee, filled with school children and teenagers and their teachers, as well as a healthy sprinkling of British matinee ladies. They all went nuts for the entire show, laughing and screaming and enjoying themselves. The Margaret Thatcher number really brought down the house.

My husband and I smiled a few times.

Fra Fee indeed is the whole package, especially with his hot little bod... which he now has done his best to ruin with a plethora of the ugliest tattoos imaginable. Why actors, especially stage actors, insist on covering their bodies with tattoos is confounding to me.

There's a reason Suzanne Bertish's NY theater appearances have been so few and far between. She's a major CUNT.

[quote]Fra Fee indeed is the whole package, especially with his hot little bod... which he now has done his best to ruin with a plethora of the ugliest tattoos imaginable. Why actors, especially stage actors, insist on covering their bodies with tattoos is confounding to me.

So true, and so sad. (Though I don't understand why you think it's worse for stage actors than film actors.) I wonder if any of these fools are familiar with the experience of Cheyenne Jackson. He at one point point covered his torso in tattoos (at a time when he seems to have gone off the deep end mentally and emotionally) and later went through the pain and expense of having them all removed because he felt they were preventing him from getting some acting jobs and/or it was way too much trouble and too time consuming to try to cover them with makeup for certain parts.

I stated this on another TG thread: pre-CV19, I saw a small musical off-off-Bway. One of the featured actors had NECK tattoos (the kind with cursive script that encircles the entire neck). This, for a show set in another period. It was visible to everyone in the audience, and beyond distracting. There wasn't even a half-hearted attempt to cover it with make-up (which never really works, anyway).

If I were in Casting I'd bounce any wanna-be performer with visible, distracting tattoos on their face, neck, hands, legs, or forearms. It's a genuinely disgusting trend and a disfiguring one. Worse than piercings.

[quote] and later went through the pain and expense of having them all removed because he felt they were preventing him from getting some acting jobs

Poor deluded Cheyenne. Yeah, THAT's why you're not getting acting jobs.

While in film there are makeup artists very adept at covering up tattoos because it is such a prevalent trend, a lot of stage productions (such as the one just referenced) don’t have the resources to have a makeup artist on hand at every performance to do the painstaking work of covering up tattoos eight times a week. That’s why I stated it was even worse for stage actors to go tat crazy, but it’s stupid for any actor to get them.

I once saw a terrible Hercules-type movie (on Netflix) that was obviously made for 79 cents. One of the ancient gladiators had a tattoo of Texas on his bicep.

"That said, "Merry Christmas, Maggie Thatcher" is catchy."

So are jingles and viruses. "Catchy" and "earworm" have to be the most denigrating descriptions of music in common usage. It's helpful in only one way: it's shorthand for crap.

[quote]That’s why I stated it was even worse for stage actors to go tat crazy, but it’s stupid for any actor to get them.

Also, r322, a film actor's tattoos can be touched up between takes, whereas a stage actor's could easily be sweated or rubbed off.

I do know a few actors that have several tattoos, but cover them themselves. Michael Cerveris comes to mind.

Ramin Karimloo is a primary offender in terms of tats.

r321 Cheyenne is a regular on a network sitcom.

Yeah, and it's about to be canceled.

Sleepy Man

Meaningful

I’m not a theater gay but it’s fun to read these threads now and then. Why is OP greyed out?

R329 Kevin Kline asleep on stage seems like the best way to take him.

Fra Fee in solo concert performances is great. He was supposed to star in a musical version of Breakfast on Pluto last year, not sure if it's still happening. The trans community went a bit crazy over the casting

This is what all you queens are going crazy over? Jesus. He looks inbred.

I have worked with Michael Cerveris as well as two actresses who had rather large tattoos on the front of their legs and they all covered them with makeup before each performance very easily. The makeup is safe to the skin but it's like painting over the tat with a flesh-matched opaque acrylic paint. No makeup artist necessary.

Not that i approve of tats on actors, but It's really not hard these days. Of course, the makeup is used for auditions so casting and directors are not even aware of the issue.

[quote]Poor deluded Cheyenne. Yeah, THAT's why you're not getting acting jobs.

There's some truth to that rather nasty comment, but I do believe that Cheyenne has gotten some recent work that he might not have gotten if still had those tattoos. Check imdb for details.

Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't get the memo that non-talent, crazy as a shithouse rat, cheating piece of shit Cheyenne had been deified recently. My mistake.

R337, I'm not sure what you're referring to in your comment about Cheyenne Jackson being "deified." As for me, I was only commenting on his tattoo removal and whether or not that has removed one barrier against him getting work

R335, but obliterating tattoos with makeup may not always be that easy, depending on how many tattoos there are, where they're placed, how dark the ink is, et cetera.

I was referring to your pearl clutching over my comment. If you can't handle "nasty" (which it hardly was), then perhaps the DL isn't for you.

So let's get back to some old school DISH! Anyone have the real tea on why The Nanny's Daniel Davis was canned from the LA CAGE revival back in 2005? I heard the Nederlanders met him after a Sunday matinee with this walking papers. But it was never spelled out what he was doing backstage (other than frosting out the beloved Gary Beach). Anyone know what actually went down?

R328 No.

[quote]I’m not a theater gay but it’s fun to read these threads now and then. Why is OP greyed out?

If you look back, most of the preceding theater gossip threads are grayed out, I suspect by some unstable person angry that someone other than he got to start the new thread. I have no idea who this person is, of course.

If you're referring to me (the guy who started the other #518), I can assure you I have never FF'ed an OP because I didn't like their title, and I really don't care if someone posts a new thread (though I do love busting balls over a bad title). And I'm pretty certain one person can't get a post greyed out, otherwise Jabba from the Janet Jackson threads would have gotten half of those things canceled on the power of her own mania.

I think it's more those people who either don't like numbered threads, or those people who can't cope with people starting threads about subjects which don't interest them personally.

I saw Fra Fee play CANDIDE in London five years ago. He has a fantastic voice.

R345 Meh, he is no DL fav Jonty bailey.

R296 - agreed about Regina Resnik. I think she was, by far, the greatest Mdme. Armfeldt. And, yes, I include Hermione Gingold in that assessment.

Excuse me? Excuse you? Excuse whomever...

Is there any footage of her in Cabaret?

yes r324 and don't forget [bold]lyrics[/bold]. The damn [italic]words[/italic] really contribute a lot to the "catchiness" or deserved instant forgeability of a song, and Billy Elliot's are crap and so far from [italic]lyrical[/italic] (vs. prosaic) as song's words can get.

[bold]pro·sa·ic | prəˈzāik | adjective having the style or diction of prose; lacking poetic beauty. See for example, these lyrics to the London and Broadway musical "Billy Elliot":

[italic]What the hells wrung with expressing yourself? Being who you want to be? Will anybody die if you put on a dress? Who the hell cares if your blushers a mess?[/italic]

Billy was a financial success, making it more desirable a property than a financial bomb like Follies. after all, it IS a business.

Second Stage announces its fall season, and confirms that, yes, the TAKE ME OUT revival is happening.

I wouldn't have put money on that happening.

I saw it, it's a good show. great for a well-built multi-ethnic cast

Broadway celebrates LGBTQ Pride!

In a park in Queens.

Gingold is Gingold in everything. As Mme. Arnfeld, John Simon very correctly noted that she played an aging courtesan as a fag hag.

Cheyenne Jackson is no actor but most actors would kill to work as much as he does. I haven't seen that "Julie and the Phantoms" show. Is he recurring on that?

Is Fra Fee still coupled with the London Phantom, Killian Donnelly?

Here's "Expressing Yourself" from BILLY ELLIOT. Thoughts?

IMHO, the kids are cute and trying hard. Perhaps a bit too hard. I wanted to love this number but the song is pure crap and the giant dresses are nightmare-inducing.

The kid playing Billy really is a spectacular dancer, at any rate.

Cheyenne is an understudy who got lucky.

That worked out well for Shirley.

R311 who'd name their kid Fra Fee?

Fra is short for Francis, lazy cunt at R361.

Too short, I say, r362.

Cheyenne was a guy in musical theater who was masculine (at least onstage) and that's a Golden Ticket.

Why do the Irish shorten names weirdly? Liam for William. Ria for Maria. Now Fra for Francis.

Isn't Ria Jones Welsh?

[quote]Gingold is Gingold in everything. As Mme. Arnfeld, John Simon very correctly noted that she played an aging courtesan as a fag hag.

As worthless as most of John Simon's assessments.

No one but a gay man would have believed Gingold had sex with Kings and Dukes.

He was very sexy in All Shook Up, r364.

She was certainly no Naima Wifstrand , r368!

Frances Heflin, who played Erica Kane's mother on "All My Children" (and was in the original cast of "The Skin of Our Teeth" on Broadway), was known as Fra to her friends and family members.

I was very close to her, r371, and she allow me to call her Fr.

I remember being smitten with Cheyenne's massive thighs in Daisy Dukes in XANADU.

[quote]No one but a gay man would have believed Gingold had sex with Kings and Dukes.

You're so right. Margaret Hamilton was much more believable casting in the national tour.

Cheyenne wasn't bad in Xanadu. He came across as masculine as noted and boy did that show need it.

Still very enjoyable.

Pamela Harriman wasn't exactly a stunner...

Did Cheyenne refuse to wear the short shorts on a TV performance or was it the network? He wore longer ones, as I recall.

[quote]Fra is short for Francis, lazy cunt

The truly lazy cunt is this Francis, calling himself "Fra."

Did you bitch about Binky Beaumont?

[quote]Fra is short for Francis.

I guess he didn't want to call himself "Cis."

Regina Resnick was much more believable and because we knew her as a young girl, Leslie Caron.

Discuss: Cheyenne Jackson is the gay Andy Karl.

Handsome, sexy leading men with strong voices and undeniably masculine presence. Veterans of many failed Bway shows.

Have they ever worked together?

[quote]Cheyenne Jackson is no actor...

You're probably just being naturally bitchy, but I disagree with your assessment. He has a beautiful singing voice, and I think he's always been excellent in comedy and musical comedy roles. He even managed to be very funny and charming in that very short-lived Broadway play about pron actors. The only serious dramatic fare I ever saw him in was the harrowing film UNITED 93, and he was fine in that as well.

Andy Karl is jolie laide. Cheyenne wasn't.

r383

I wasn't being bitchy. I don't think he's a good actor.

[quote]Discuss: Cheyenne Jackson is the gay Andy Karl.

Except I have 3 Tony nominations!

[Quote] I think he's always been excellent in comedy

You saw him in 30 Rock?

Cheyenne has to be a good actor if he can make me believe his character would voluntarily kiss Mayim Bialik.

I find Andy Karl quite handsome, but then I like strong masculine features, not androgynes.

Those eyebrows, Jesus wept.

[quote]I wasn't being bitchy. I don't think he's a good actor.

In what roles did you find him wanting? In my opinion, he has never played a part beyond his wheelhouse. Of course, I haven't seen EVERYTHING he's done, but I've seen a lot of it.

r382

Andy Karl and Cheyenne worked together in Alter Boys in its initial NYMF production. Cheyenne left the production before it transferred to New World Stages when Scott Porter stepped into Cheyenne's role.

Scott Porter left Alter Boys when he was cast in Friday Night Lights.

[quote]Andy Karl and Cheyenne worked together in Alter Boys in its initial NYMF production.

Was "Alter Boys" a trans musical?

That would be "Altered Boys" R393.

[quote]I find Andy Karl quite handsome, but then I like strong masculine features, not androgynes.

R389 = Orfeh

[Quote] In what roles did you find him wanting?

I found him underwhelming in 30 Rock, American Horror Story... Shit, even in this clip from "Julie and the Phantoms," he underwhelms. He has no flair. He has no character as a performer. He has bone structure, height and a capable, generic pop voice.

Cheyenne was wasted on 30 ROCK. Tina and her team had no idea what to do with him.

If only Tina had jolie laide him.

It seems at some point that Kyle Dean Massey replaced him, but I feel someone must have replace KDM as well. And AKB slipped in there for a few years as too, but seems to have also been passed by.

I think Cheyenne is au fait with Tina.

Cheyenne is just fine. He doesn't offend, but he doesn't dazzle either. I'd say that's the case with most Broadway performers from the past 20 years. They're capable and serviceable, but not very memorable. Most of the time, it only becomes obvious when they share the stage with the true Broadway stars. Those folks are able to turn a nothing line into a 3 act play by itself whereas the newer actors will get it out, make it sound semi-believable, but you won't be thinking about all their interesting choices for days after.

Fra is a stupid name but then following it up with Fee makes it even worse. At least another London musical theatre queen Danny Boy Hatchard listened to those around him and dropped the Boy from his name.

It would be more memorable if had dropped the Danny and became Boy Hatchard.

Ste is another silly Britishism. Short for Steven. Why not Steve? Ste sounds like you're being cut-off mid-word.

There's an opera called "Fra Diavolo" by Auber that was turned into a Laurel and Hardy movie!

I thought it was because he got sick and tired of the pipes (the pipes) calling, r402.

[quote]Ste is another silly Britishism. Short for Steven. Why not Steve? Ste sounds like you're being cut-off mid-word.

Let's not forget BAZ and GAZ.

And HAZ.

How do you feel about Jonty?

^ Warm inside.

The story of O...

By Gayle King?

A problem with Jackson on screen is that his eyes are just too piercing with his dark hair. I don't mean the coloring, there's something unsettling about the look. However, as a lead, he is much more convincing than most other out actors like Matt Bomer.

It doesn't seem to hurt Cillian Murphy.

In the early 2000s, I had friend who called Cillian Murphy a 'defective Tom Welling that somehow made it out of the factory.'

If you want to see Cheyenne stink on ice, watch him in Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks. I'm surprised Rowlands didn't walk off the set. He's also terrible in AHS, and he's never been more than barely adequate in anything. He cannot act.

At least Fra Free is a name you can't forget.

[Quote] In the early 2000s, I had friend who called Cillian Murphy a 'defective Tom Welling that somehow made it out of the factory.'

Your friend considers acting ability a defect?

[quote]At least Fra Free is a name you can't forget.

Or say three times quickly.

[Quote] If you want to see Cheyenne stink on ice, watch him in Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks.

He replaced someone at the last minute. I think it was Sean Hayes.

It's Fee, not Free.

[quote] He replaced someone at the last minute. I think it was Sean Hayes.

So?

I hope Boo Boo Stewart never comes to Broadway.

How about Fine Time Fontayne?

Cheyenne actually did a really good ad lib in that flop show with Henry Winkler about porn stars when at one point some beach ball or something they were throwing about went awry. I don't remember exactly what was said, but they kept the laughter going for a while. He has a good voice -- did a nice job in "Finian's Rainbow" and as Joey in "Most Happy Fella", though I've heard better ones. I just don't know why he got more work than some others.

R418 he was talking about their looks, which he said were similar but that Welling was a much better-looking version of Murphy.

I know. I just wanted to get in a comment about Tom Welling's acting ability.

[Quote] I just don't know why he got more work than some others.

Broadway is often home to the homely. Cheyenne was a big hunk of a man in the looks department.

I can’t watch Peaky Blinders. Cillian Murphy’s eyes creep me out the way Meg Foster’s did back in the day.

Didn’t Daisy Eagan’s mom die around the time of the Tonys? That’s why her older sister brought her to the awards.

Where does Nick Adams fit in the equation when we talk about/contrast people like Cheyenne, Andy and Kyle Dean Massey? Wasn't Aaron Lazar also a member of the handsome and/or masculine (maybe not so much in Nick's case) fraternity of musical performers?

Nick Adams gets booked on a web series. That's where he falls.

Aaron Lazar was quite an improvement over Matthew Morrison in "Light in the Piazza", though he wasn't quite as impressive in "A Little Night Music" or other things since.

Nick Adams is fit to play Bozo the Clown Stripper and that’s it.

Aw. Nick's a nice guy - though if it hadn't been for Mario Lopez making Nick put on a hoodie and dance upstage of him in the A Chorus Line revival for fear he'd be shown up. nobody would know who he is. Good for him for making the best of it.

[quote]If you want to see Cheyenne stink on ice, watch him in Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks. I'm surprised Rowlands didn't walk off the set. He's also terrible in AHS, and he's never been more than barely adequate in anything. He cannot act.

You might want to avoid stating your minority opinions so definitively, you bitch.

Leave Cheyenne alone!

Personally, I had no idea Cheyenne had ever been in the Ice Capades, so I appreciate r416's deep insider information.

Cheyenne was a stunning man who, sadly, had no charisma on stage. I saw most of his Bway shows and , again, he was beautiful to look at but everything else screamed chorus boy, not leading man.

He was great in All Shook Up, r439.

[quote] You might want to avoid stating your minority opinions so definitively, you bitch.

Ooh, looks like I hit a nerve in some fangurl. Honey, you can stan him all you like. Be my guest. But your love for him doesn't make him suddenly have talent.

And your dislike of him doesn't mean he doesn't.

No, his work does.

Cheyenne has admitted that he was using during Xanadu....And in "Most Happy Fella" you could tell he had been on the west coast too long. He sort of had contempt for the whole thing. It was a splendid production except for him.

R444 using what?

Just For Men, Rose.

Drugs and booze...heavily

R447 But as a gay man he would have been fully aware that Broadway doesn’t go for booze and dope?

Re Fra Fee: His real name 'Francis Fee' sounds way better and trips off the tongue easier. 'Fra Fee' just sounds... retarded.

Francis isn't well known as a male name anymore. I can't see why he went with the oddity of Fra instead.

In her Tony speech, Daisy Eagen thanks her parents and says they’re both at the event (though not sitting with her).

Whenever Cheyenne tried TV, he didn't really work either. Whenever I hear things like, "He was wasted and wasn't used correctly," I just roll my eyes.

It's not the script; it's him.

Years ago there were entire DL threads filled with vicious gossip about Cheyenne and his new boyfriend for whom he'd left his long time (older) lover Monty. Whatever became of that relationship and why don't we talk about it any more? I think they even adopted a kid or two.

R452 why do you think it's him?

Did you see AHS Hotel?

We get it, R443. You dislike Cheyenne Jackson and think he has no talent. We really don't need you to repeat it another 50 times, but you seem to have a problem understanding that not everyone shares your opinion or is terribly interested in it.

R454, I do. He's beautiful, a serviceable actor, has a good singing voice---but so uninteresting on TV or on Bway. He doesn't really have that star quality.

I always compare him to Reichen, who is also beautiful and energic but oh so boring everything.

He was good. in Finian's Rainbow too.

And I suppose Frank Fee sounds too much like a postal tax

^^^Nice one.

“Look at me I’m Fra Fee, lousy with virginity.”

Cheyenne and Fra could do a musical version of TWINS.

Blood Brother?

Or Sideshow?

Come again, r464?

I think R462 was talking about a musical adaptation of the 1988 Arnold Schwarzenegger/Danny DeVito smash comedy hit.

R464 Cheyenne has already practiced it with JJ. This does go along way towards showing how strapping he is, I’ve not thought of Jeremy being pocket sized before, but he certainly does look it in comparison.

Jeremy is 5'7" on a good day.

Cheyenne talking about his drug period and depression...

[quote]He's beautiful, a serviceable actor, has a good singing voice---but so uninteresting on TV or on Bway.

I would say rather that Cheyenne is excellent at low-key, subtle comedy and charm, and since most of the roles he has played have required exactly that, I don't see the problem that some people have with him.

[quote] We get it, [R443]. You dislike Cheyenne Jackson and think he has no talent. We really don't need you to repeat it another 50 times, but you seem to have a problem understanding that not everyone shares your opinion or is terribly interested in it.

Umm, that wasn't me the past few Cheyenne criticisms. You seem to have a problem understanding that not everyone shares your opinion or is terribly interested in it.

I could probably go searching, but what was the backstage scene like at NEWSIES? I imagine it went either two ways: with those guys all thick as thieves or HAAATING each other (and their common enemy, Kevin Spacey).

Why would they hate Spacey? The entire cast of Newsies were whores.

Cheyenne Jackson was sexy AF in ALL SHOOK UP. Great part for him, and he made the most of it. It was a star-making performance in a show that never took off. (And of all the jukebox musicals, it was one of the best. It's KING LEAR compared to the CHER SHOW or that Jimmy Buffett crapfest.) And he was charming and funny in FINIAN'S RAINBOW and XANADU. He's masculine and hunky in a world of prissy madams, and that alone makes him special.

30 ROCK had no idea what to do with him.

I hope he can get his personal life together, and I hope he returns to the stage.

Let's not forget Cheyenne in Rocky Horror...

Cheyenne and Laura B were bff drug buddies for years and their respective repeated ODs is why their relationships with their loving, respectful partners both went to shit. It’s nice that they’ve apparently moved on and are “in a better place” but one doesn’t forget years of sweeping up sordid situations and heartbreaking incidents under the rug, ad nauseum. Steven and Monty are saints, period.

[quote]I would say rather that Cheyenne is excellent at low-key, subtle comedy and charm,

You might rather say that, but he's a mediocre actor and an uninteresting presence on stage. His big "thing" was Xanadu. That's it. His sell-by date has come and gone.

Just how much does he cost at this point r477?

Broadway is finally coming back and we've got 40 posts debating Cheyenne who hasn't been on Broadway in 9 years, and 40 posts on whether we like [italic]the name[/italic] of an actor named Fra Fee, who's been on Broadway once. Gossip, girls, gossip.

Is Adrenne Warren going to come back to the dreadful [italic]Tina[/italic]? Who will star opposite Tony Award® winner Aaron Tveit in the dreadful [italic]Moulin Rouge[/italic]? Will now-pregnant Elizabeth Stanley return to the dreadful [italic]JLP[/italic]?

Oh, please, R479. Broadway is PLANNING to come back, perhaps, yet there is no plan in place. Given the fact these buffoons at the Broadway League, et al. couldn’t even get their shit together to do a zoom Tony Awards over the course of an entire calendar year, the “re-opening” looks bleak at best. Maybe - and that’s a big maybe, depending on how the summer goes and how deadly and/or vaccine resistant these variants turn out to be - Broadway will actually be reopening sometime in 2022.

Who have been the most stunningly handsome men of the Broadway musical theater in the past 20 years? I don't think most of the people you've been discussing would even make the list.

Cheyenne would have made a good Larry or Donald in BITB revival.

Try Cowboy, r482. That's more his speed.

Cheyenne is 45. Cowboy would have been his speed 15-20 years ago.

Lea Michele for replacement Satine in MOULIN ROUGE!

[quote]Broadway is finally coming back and we've got 40 posts debating Cheyenne who hasn't been on Broadway in 9 years, and 40 posts on whether we like the name of an actor named Fra Fee, who's been on Broadway once. Gossip, girls, gossip.

It isn't exactly fossip, but it's current. I know it isn't a DL fave, but Come From Away filmed on Saturday, in front of an audience. This is the cast entering the theater.

This morning, they announced they were reopening in September.

[quote]Lea Michele for replacement Satine in MOULIN ROUGE!

Lea Michele for Cowboy in BITB!

The late, great Rebecca Luker laments that soprano roles are "Not Funny."

[...]

Young Howard McGillin would certainly have ranked among the 10 handsomest men in Broadway musicals back in the 1980s. Also, Michael Maguire, the original Enjolras in Les Miz. I think of the current crop, Paul Alexander Nolan (from the flops Dr. Zhivago, JC Superstar, Bright Star and Margaritaville) is very handsome.

That In the Heights movie looks very ethnic.

[Quote] Who will star opposite Tony Award® winner Aaron Tveit in the dreadful Moulin Rouge?

We've already decided on Sierra Boggess.

They will not repeat [italic]not[/italic] replace Latinx Olivo with white as snow boggess. do you think they're crazy????

COMPANY returning in December.

Howard McGillan was the rarest of Broadway leading men. Handsome with talent.

Could anyone tell if Chad was amongst the cast walking in to the theater? The camera was too far away for me.

Also supposedly hugely hung as well.

Sorry, I meant to tag R485's post.

Howard McGillin was one of the few performers I would actually go see as a replacement in shows I'd already seen, even if I didn't much care for them, because I knew his role would be sung beautifully. I saw him in The Secret Garden, Kiss of the Spider Woman and Phantom, three shows I would have never paid to see twice if not for him. He was especially a welcome replacement in The Secret Garden and sung the role beautifully, unlike Mandy Patinkin, who was so affected that he ruined several of the songs.

Well R480's post didn't age well, with Company (December), Mrs Doubtfire (October), Six (September), Chicago (September), Phantom (October) and Come From Away (September) all having confirmed reopenings this year.

I know- let's predict their closings!

"It's KING LEAR compared to the CHER SHOW"

Actually, r474, it's TWELFTH NIGHT

Are they going to tell Katrina Company is reopening or hope she doesn’t notice.

R498 Howard McGillin is also really tall and thin; he must be like 6' 3' or something when I met him years ago. He has a beautiful voice, though he does do something like a hoot owl sound near his passaggio (break area) of his voice, a very strange kind of "covering". It's kind of weird and whenever he sings this it's there; it sounds a little haunting, but that worked especially well for his Phantom.

I knew one of McGillin's old neighbors in Brooklyn who confirmed that he is a genuinely nice man.

He was wonderful in Drood which I saw twice in the park. Who could ever replace Rose in that show? An all around terrific cast.

Is Howard still with the young merch shopbottom he picked up at the St. James when he was doing The Secret Garden there?

Ahem. You meant to say "The James," R506.

Howard can't really act, which is why he was the best "Phantom."

Just watched the Hazel episode with Miss Diane Ladd. Did anyone see her in Lu Ann Hampton Laverty Oberlander?

Wow, I didn't realize how little McGillin has been on Broadway for having a nearly 40 year career. He does a lot of regional, though (and a lot of shows that never wind up coming in to Broadway).

McGillin can do light comedy very well and can sell a song. He absolutely should have been nominated for She Loves Me. He was a delight in that production. I've never seen him do anything non-musical, outside of the remake of Where the Boys Are, so I can't vouch for his acting skills outside of a musical.

Tickets for SIX went on sale today. $149 for Front Orchestra. Who do they think is going to pay that?

Isn't it practically a 6 person concert with some staging and costumes for like 90 minutes? Jeez.

There are rich people who were pissed that they didn't have much to spend all their money on during most of the pandemic. The folks whose pride of point is overpaying for things because they can. So some folks will pay $149 unfortunately. But maybe their numbers are fairly limited and finite.

Noel Coward, Alfred Lunt, Lynn Fontanne, Tammy Grimes--1970 TV

Didn't Holden Caulfield hate the Lunts? He thought they were "phony". But that was like his favorite criticism. Hopefully when he finally got laid, he found other words to use.

Bedford seems rather out of his element next to Grimes. She was enchanting.

[quote]They will not repeat not replace Latinx Olivo with white as snow boggess. do you think they're crazy????

The character, as originally portrayed by Nicole Kidman in the film, was snow-white. Olivo's casting was brown-washing.

From Noel Coward and the Lunts to.....SIX.

Broadway, we hardly know ye.

[quote]Could anyone tell if Chad was amongst the cast walking in to the theater? The camera was too far away for me.

He was not present for the filming, r497

I agree that MOULIN ROUGE producers will undoubtedly cast a BIPOC actress as Satine after Karen. They're just asking for social media mud to be flung if they don't.

The appearance of youth and hipness is one of the only thing that show has going for it, as it's actually neither of those things.

Rumor is SIX did $4,000,000 their first day. Lot's of people will pay $149. It's the same as dinner for two in an above average NYC restaurant. Know the territory, fool.

I wish Matt would fuck off with his constant T jokes. You are NOT FUNNY.

What’s a T joke R532?

[quote] Lot's of people will pay $149.

Oh, dear.

Lot's Wife

Whhyyyyyy did Phantom not stay dead?

[quote]Also supposedly hugely hung as well.

There's no "supposedly" about it. Howard has a huge cock, which I've seen. And he also is a super nice guy. And he's also now a grandfather.

I though that poster was referring to Milky White/Chad "I will not worship from home"... I can't remember his surname.

[Quote] I can't remember his surname.

He played Special Needs in "Memphis." He was also in "Come From Away".... KIMBALL, that's it.

[...]

[...]

The ITH film is mostly nothing, it just lies there.

I do hope Chad is in the CFA film, I adore him, and find him an adventurous actor.

R530 I thought LMM whole schtick was colorblind casting, but it looks like he suddenly gives that up here?

R502 Alas, she - and Patti - are both confirmed to be returning.

R533 Isn't it actually colour-conscious casting? At least Hamilton certainly is.

Did you move?

[...]

[...]

[quote]I do hope Chad [Kimball] is in the CFA [Come From Away}film, I adore him, and find him an adventurous actor.

He is not, r532. See r519

Howard McGillin is one of those rare performers I've also purposely sought out to see as a replacement in shows. His 'Phantom' was extraordinary - totally vulnerable yet over the top operatic when necessary. Really made the high romance Prince aimed for, work beautifully. And that very mix-y (hoot-y?) quality in his passaggio worked especially well for the character. I personally love the timbre of his voice - it's a lyric baritone/heroic tenor sound in the same tradition as John Raitt, who also had that mix-y quality.

His Jasper in DROOD, Billy in Anything Goes and Kodaly in She Loves Me were exceptional turns. And he was excellent in both Secret Garden and Kiss of the Spider Woman as well. I believe he now teaches at NYU Tisch. Here's a bit of his Kodaly (the Jack Cassidy part) from the '93 She Loves Me (starts around 6:41):

R533, his whole schtick? Um, the only play he did that with was Hamilton which came a few years after In the Heights.

I was told that Victor Garber was almost jealous of him. When he saw ANYTHING GOES, he said to his companion, "If that guy can dance, I'm going to kill myself."

[quote]Paul Alexander Nolan (from the flops Dr. Zhivago, JC Superstar, Bright Star and Margaritaville) is very handsome.

Paul has one of the hottest bods ever seen on Broadway, and his simulated sex scene in SLAVE PLAY was something to behold. But I have to say his face looks rather skeletal, sometimes more or less so depending on his weight at the time, maybe also his hair style. I wish I had gotten to see him onstage when he was considerably younger, I imagine this was less of an issue back then.

'Howard has a huge cock, which I've seen.'

Explain please.

I concur with R543

Victor Garber's an excellent actor, very good looking, though I wish his singing were more than adequate.

Paul is handsome but to say he has “one of the hottest bods ever seen on Broadway” is MARY! to the nth. I suppose it depends on your tastes, but Ramin, Nick Adams and Juan Castano (has he ever been on Broadway?) are certainly much more the “buff bro” ideal as far as leading men go. We could also include Hugh Jackman, Sebastian Stan and Chris Evans, if we want to count movie stars doing a short run in a lead role.

Speaking of Sebastian and Chris, all these re-opening announcements makes it feel like when everybody re-emerged at the end of Avengers: Endgame. I know, I know ... MARY!

So lion King, Hamilton and wicked are making a joint announcement tomorrow on good morning America. Do you think they have come up with something special?

Yes- We suck and we're ready to embrace it.

They've decided to become one great-big super show about politics, lions and witches.

Okay, maybe I exaggerated a little bit about Paul Alexander Nolan, but I do think he has a hot bod. Here's some evidence.

The Skivvies tend to have some of the hottest Broadway guys.

[quote]They've decided to become one great-big super show about politics, lions and witches.

THE LION, THE WITCH, AND THE WAISTCOAT

[quote]Yeah, and it's about to be canceled.

Cheyenne's sitcom was renewed for another season.

[quote]why LMM felt the need to resurrect the Gay Villain trope

No! no! It's not resurrecting the gay villain, R536, it's the return of the [italic]sissy[/italic].

I too can vouch for Howard McGillin. Incredibly nice guy without a whiff of pretension.

I cannot vouch for his huge cock. But I have heard that rumor before, and I believe it. His husband is a lucky man.

It’s nice for Cheyenne and Blossom that their horrible, antiquated and stupid sitcom is renewed, but let’s count Covid fatigue and “a return to normalcy” in that decision. The British original is actually quite fun and engaging in its way. But, hey, it can’t always be “Amanda’s (By The Sea)” as far as half-assed British sitcom remakes go.

[quote] Is "color-consciousness" why LMM felt the need to resurrect the Gay Villain trope with the casting of Jonathan Groff as one?

No r536 since the role was created by Brian d'Arcy James

Why is it okay to have an all-black cast in a play or movie, but unacceptable to have an all-white cast as well? It makes no sense, since whites are still the great majority in America.

McGillin sings well and can act with his voice but not the rest of his body. watch his awkwardness in his body and his arms & hands in numbers like "You're The Top" but his Kodaly was great for some reason and Gavin Creel should have studied it more closely. And no r506 Mcgillin isn't with that Torres guy he left his wife for, now his with some Proskauer lawyer

R559, what are you talking about?

Has anyone said any of this? What all black play are you talking about? What all white play?

Wow R557, I did not know 'Call Me Kat' was a remake of 'Miranda.' No wonder it looks so bad.

That isn't infamous theatrical lawyer Mark Sendroff in that photo with McGillin at r560, is it? If so, I'm sure they're merely friends, not lovers.

Howard is tall and lanky which always equals awkward body movements but he’s surprisingly graceful.

no r563 its Richard Sampson and they're married I think

or Samson

Is there a separate thread for dinner theater gossip?

Are some posters here under the impression that everyone in HAMILTON except King George (the Groff character) is African-American?

This is interesting.

Who wants to gossip about dinner theater(s)? Are there any remaining? Who possibly cares?

A link from triblive, the evil conservative Richard Mellon Scaife rag? Hmmmph.

Would gossip about Sally Struthers, for example, go under a dinner theatre thread?

Kids, there are no more dinner theaters.

You haven't lived until you've seen FOLLIES at an in-the-round dinner theater!

I saw McGillin a lot on TV when he was a contract player. I thought he could've had a good career but followed his heart to Broadway. I really hadn't even thought of him much until this thread but he does have less charisma than Cheyenne. He's sort of like John McMartin, pleasant but forgettable.

[quote]I saw McGillin a lot on TV when he was a contract player.

What do you mean? A contract player? Where?

More about Howard's huge hog, please.

Didn't Prince say McMartin gave the greatest performance he saw as Ben in Follies? I saw him in it a couple times and thought he was ok but I was very young.

And I would have given the Tony to Collins not Smith. I thought 2GOV was terrific. Enormous fun. I wish I could see that production again. So much joy that hasn't been seen on Broadway in God knows how many years. Still I don't know how it won Best Musical over Follies. We were so lucky back then.

What's going on with Plaza Suite? Are SJP and Mathew pulling out?

[quote]You haven't lived until you've seen FOLLIES at an in-the-round dinner theater!

I saw "Titanic" at an in-the-round dinner theater in Maryland.

How about "Sweeney Todd" at a dinner theater?

This was probably a bit more properly environmental, r580....

I always thought "dinner theatre" was how Linda Lavin approached acting.

I thought the Beef n Boards was still tap, tap, tappin' in the Midwest.

Shows like PLAZA SUITE and MOULIN ROUGE really can't open until they can sell and seat to capacity. Otherwise, they won't make any money.

Coming attractions with Carol Ann...

Anyone purchase tickets to any of the reopening shows yet?

I've seen Howard's cock, what more is there to say? Along with the rest of his body. It was not a sexual situation.

YouTube just algorithmed me a video from the UK [italic]Dreamgirls[/italic] tour. Three women split the role of Effie???

yes, because Gen Z believes doing 8 shows a week is white supremacy.

More re-opening announcements coming tomorrow?

They should talk to the Yankees first.

I can’t wait not to wear a mask and sip my $40 Chardonnay (double pour) when I come to see these shows on big Broadaway... my hubs is taking the kids tonight (at the hotel), but tonight is all about me, gays. After the show I’m thinking of going to that place Marie’s Crisis cuz they don’t believe in masks or all that either and I can get lit up with my gays. Can we do a duet on a Phantom song? Please dm me.

Re the theory stated by r590—elders, Do you recall reports of Miss Jennifer holiday not doing eight a week in her initial run? I do not, but I am A few minutes shy of elderhood.

[quote]I am A few minutes shy of elderhood.

That state of being absolutely does not exist.

The only thing I'll own is your ass while I'm smashing it like a teenager.

—Take It, Twink

[quote] After the show I’m thinking of going to that place Marie’s Crisis cuz they don’t believe in masks or all that either and I can get lit up with my gays.

I hate to break this to you, but Marie’s Crisis is no longer a gay bar. The straights have taken it over.

Closing this thread out ...

Rachael Lily Rosenbloom!

Bajour!

bajour