THEATRE GOSSIP #431: 'Fanny Hill, I mean Feldstein' Edition

Can't hardly hear her over the piany in the background.

Lea Michele is not going to be happy Beanie is Funny Girl. Also they did Monica Lewinsky dirty casting Beanie as her.

Is this going to be Elena Roger all over again?

R3 Victor/Victoria? Loved her, hated him.

I'm a bad gay: I have never visited these threads before, being a movie buff, and assumed that the casting of Fanny referred to in the title of the previous thread was talking about the linked musical, as it had become one of my favorite movies minus the songs, so was kind of excited to see it on stage.

Are you vaccinated?

There are still 20 posts to go in the old thread, OP. Wait your goddamn turn.

R5: Why did Joshua Logan take all of the songs out of that particular show’s movie when he directed three other movie musicals? Was the score really that expendable?

Budget cutbacks?

Is that also why the movie of Irma La Douce drops the score?

I once saw Irma drop La Douce at Sardi's

R8, according to Wikipedia:

Jack L. Warner purchased the screen rights to the stage musical but, believing that the popularity of movie musicals was on the wane, he decided to eliminate the songs. West Side Story, released the same year as Fanny, proved to be a box office hit. The production did benefit significantly from the decision: Charles Boyer, who had refused the role (of César) when it involved singing because he would neither sing nor allow his voice to be dubbed, gladly accepted when that was no longer necessary.

Beanie Feldstein! Beanie Feldstein! What a beautiful, beautiful, name!!!

R13

Hitler's Argentinian grave just started smoking and shaking.

Nick Jonas for Nicky? They need some names.

Hitler never made it to Argentina.

R16 That's exactly what he wants you to think!

Next I bet you're gonna tell me Bloomberg isn't still mayor of NYC.

[quote] Nick Jonas for Nicky? They need some names.

If that’s the best they can do, then they might as well let me play that part!

Patti LuPone wants to put a hit out on this whole production.

But name five people on Broadway she does NOT want to kill.

Mandy Patinkin.

Link to the unfinished previous thread.

Will they still cast Rosie as Mrs Brice?

[quote] Patti LuPone wants to put a hit out on this whole production. But name five people on Broadway she does NOT want to kill.

The guy who kicks people out for using their cell phones during performances.

If Patti LuPone were ever Miss Hannigan, all the orphans would have run away from the orphanage.

Kevin Kling would have been a fun Rooster.

Kline, even.

R25 Patti LuPone and Kevin Kline were an item for years back in their early acting days.

[quote] Will they still cast Rosie as Mrs Brice?

They could cast her as the boat Fanny sails on in “Don’t Rain on My Parade.”

R28 Rosie O'Donnell sure has a face like a tugboat.

Whoever said George Cukor should have directed [italic]Annie [/italic] a couple threads ago obviously never saw [italic]The Blue Bird[/italic].

Beanie, just a heads up gurl, check your wig each time before you put it on!

[quote]Kevin Kling would have been a fun Rooster.

I think he would have been too static.

Harold Rome's score is used in the film of Fanny. He wrote the background music based on the show's songs. He has the sole music credit.

Andre Previn gets the music credit for Irma but he did base some of it on the show's songs.

Fanny was pretty entertaining at Encores! It's a second-tier show, but there are some terrific and quirky songs in it. I remember being especially surprised when James Snyder just belted "Restless Heart" to the rafters. Cry-Baby really did him no favors.

James Snyder as Nicky Arnstein? Or Andy Karl?

How about Nick Cordero?

Oh-- wait.

R36 His corpse will be being dragged on stage at the Waitress curtain call each night. It'll be the first red bucket speech which ends with "buy my book!"

Ramin Karimloo is Nicky Arnstein.

Eliot Gould is Nicky Arnstein.

Jason Gould as Nick!

[quote]I remember being especially surprised when James Snyder just belted "Restless Heart" to the rafters. Cry-Baby really did him no favors.

True, that.

I would see James Snyder in anything. Especially me.

Andy Karl would bring the sex to Nicky in Beanie's FUNNY GIRL. As he brings the sex to everything he's in.

I don't dislike Beanie, but she's gonna need a lot of high-power support onstage.

Mr. Karl has yet to bring the sex to me.

I think we can safely call this one BEANIE GIRL.

It gets right to the point and allows for no confusion.

How the hell did they raise the money for Beanie when they couldn't do it for Ambrose or Lea?

Have six egg rolls, Beanie Feldstein.

[quote]How the hell did they raise the money for Beanie when they couldn't do it for Ambrose or Lea?

If I recall, the FUNNY GIRL production with Ambrose was all set to go, but then was canceled when advance ticket sales were dire. Maybe the same thing will happen here?

Somebody in the previous thread said she had charisma? Where is it? Well I guess the young like her so she's got something us elders don't see. And I can't imagine her bedding down with Arnstein before the roast beef and potatoes.

Lauren Ambrose is a bit of a critic's darling, but outside of SIX FEET UNDER loyalists (and she was wonderful on it), she has no real following. She's gotten some great reviews for other stage shows but that's not enough to sell tickets.

I didn't see her MY FAIR LADY, but I know the reaction to her Eliza was mixed (certainly on DL).

I don't think Ambrose will ever really become a star. She may not particularly want it.

I remember when Ambrose was announced for MFL, someone posted a performance video at some cabaret. People weren't convinced that she had the notes.

I guess they raised the money based on the success of the creatives' earlier production, even though it isn't a trasnfer. Remember, that despite Streisand, the original production got mediocre reviews out of town until Streisand finally demanded they bring back Robbins to restage it. It's a mediocre show with some good tunes and it demands a great singer and a great production to work.

Go-Go Una.

Beanie has a very bright, young-sounding singing voice, which is obviously a plus for the role of Fanny in that the character is supposed to be very young, especially at the start of the show. But it's not so good for the role in the sense that her voice lacks the kind of warmth and depth you want to hear from someone who is onstage for about 90 percent of the show and has ALL those songs to sing.

Chad Kimball as Nicky. That oughta keep audiences away in droves. Except the church groups.

Streisand, Hines, Michaels, all had voices that were trained to fill a theater, or at least get the voice out to the shotgun mikes.

Beanie Feldstein's thin nasal sound is what you get after a few decades of singing only as far as the mic taped to your forehead.

It's the Sound Designer who killed Broadway, kids.

I had no urge to listen to a Sheridan Smith album after seeing her at the Menier. I think Beanie will be fine as long as the audience root for her.

Matinee Fanny?

Off-Broadway League, Actors’ Equity reach new collective bargaining agreement. "Additional provisions of the agreement include ... the removal of gender-binary language, wherever possible, in audition, hiring, rehearsal and production processes."

What does this even mean? Are there no men and women at all?

r55 well it's not like he's in Come From Away anymore

Maybe the vociferous pro trans people of DL can explain all of this.

Death of a Salesperson just doesn't sound very sympathetic. In fact you're more likely to think 'Good!'

What does "wherever possible" mean? Far to vague to have any legal viability.

So someone can sue because they auditioned for a fireman in Ragtime but weren't given further consideration because they won't say the n-word? Productions of that show have been cancelled because the rights holders won't allow productions that want to neuter the original text.

Anyone else think that the announcement of it being Beanie was forced earlier then they plan to release it because there was a lot of speculation that it was her, but also a lot of negative stuff was being said and they hoped to head that off and contain it before it put a stain on the actual image of her in the role?

"Wherever possible" is the meaningless compromise that allows one side to declare victory and the other side to move forward with this 'Get Out of Jail Free' card tucked away.

Wherever possible. Oh, please.

They should get Beanie on one of the late night shows to do a number - not necessarily "Funny Girl" but something that at least shows her chops - ASAP.

Has Babs issued a statement yet?

What chops?

Clearly most roles are gender specific. But you would be surprised how often with minor characters, no one stops to think that they could be of any gender. I think it will help to remind producers that there are some roles that do not require people of one gender (or ethnicity) . That they really can just look for the best performer for that role.

Not unless you count the joyous laughter heard coming from her compound, r66.

[quote]I think it will help to remind producers that there are some roles that do not require people of one gender (or ethnicity) . That they really can just look for the best performer for that role.

I concur.

By the time Beanie is expected to sing Who Are You Now? and The Music That Makes me Dance, she'll be exhausted. And so will we. THat second act can be be a slog in even Barbra's hands.

Yes, I definitely believe the announcement of her casting was earlier than desired to hopefully squelch the disappointed rumors of it that were surfacing. I'm sure they would have preferred to wait until Nick and Mrs. Brice, at least, were also cast, as Beanie isn't much of a name.

Scott Landis, one of the producers, is married to Kathleen Marshall. Why isn't she directing this, especially with her huge success directing the London Anything Goes?

I don't mean to be a naysayer and I applaud Beanie's youth and quirkiness, but this revival has DISASTER written all over it. Michael Mayer is a horrible director.....anyone see his Ona Clear Day or Rigoletto and Traviata at the Met. DISASTER!

So is Marc Platt one of the producers or not? And if he is will Nicky be Jonah?

Mayer directed the London revival. It shouldn't surprise that he's doing the Broadway revival as well.

I once played Bill Calhoun in a production of "KISS ME KATE" that featured one gangster and one gun moll. She got that part because she was fabulous in the role. I don't think a word had to be changed. Entirely non-traditional, yet still great casting.

No point was being made other than at the auditions, she was strong and funny. She nailed the laughs and was not right for either Lili or Lois. But there she was and a smart producer recognized what he had. He asked the director to consider her and took about 30 seconds. 'Brush Up Your Shakespeare' was just as funny as ever.

It can be done successfully. Probably more often than is immediately obvious.

I also devoured the Lapine book in one sitting and loved all the dish he revealed through interviews with his cast and collaborators. As someone who's worked with him, I'd say he revels in not being a classically trained director, and thinks that his cast complaining about his lack of traditional skills just make him into more of a fascinating rebel.

Beanie does look someone who'd drink pâté all day.

[quote]Anyone else think that the announcement of it being Beanie was forced earlier then they plan to release it because there was a lot of speculation that it was her, but also a lot of negative stuff was being said and they hoped to head that off and contain it before it put a stain on the actual image of her in the role?

Umm, that's an interesting theory....except it's dependent on the idea that negative comments about her casting would decrease after the official announcement was made, and this does not seem to be the case.

[quote]Yes, I definitely believe the announcement of her casting was earlier than desired to hopefully squelch the disappointed rumors of it that were surfacing.

The only way this makes some little bit of sense to me is that, yes, announcing Beanie's casting now will presumably limit the number of suggestions of other people who might have been better for the role, and better in terms of having a name that will sell tickets. But even there, people can still say "This would only have worked with Lady Gaga," or whatever. And people can still criticize Beanie's casting because they don't think she's a good choice for the role, for one reason or another.

[quote]Scott Landis, one of the producers, is married to Kathleen Marshall. Why isn't she directing this, especially with her huge success directing the London Anything Goes?

Marshall is an even worse director than Mayer, and the only reason ANYTHING GOES has received such over-the-top raves in London is that any old-style American musical done over there by Americans who are even barely competent is likely to go over like gangbusters.

[quote]I also devoured the Lapine book in one sitting and loved all the dish he revealed through interviews with his cast and collaborators. As someone who's worked with him, I'd say he revels in not being a classically trained director, and thinks that his cast complaining about his lack of traditional skills just make him into more of a fascinating rebel.

....when, in reality, it only makes it all the more clear that he's an asshole with only the tiniest particle of talent as a writer and none at all as a director.

[quote] But you would be surprised how often with minor characters, no one stops to think that they could be of any gender.

Yes r68 but what about the WRITER?

[quote] The only way this makes some little bit of sense to me

Who cares what makes sense to you, r77, you insufferable thing?

James Snyder was the best Billy Bigelow I ever saw in a production at Goodspeed. He had so much charisma and he sure sang the role better than Michael Hayden did. A low bar, I know, but prior to that Hayden had been my favorite Billy.

[quote]the removal of gender-binary language, wherever possible, in audition, hiring, rehearsal and production processes."

Can we now do “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolf” with four men like it’s supposed to be done?

A male couple, one a faculty member, are living on campus at a university run by the other one's father? Make it make sense.

Did Albee say it was supposed to be with 4 men? Or are you saying that when gay men are writing for female characters they are really writing with gay men in mind?

R56, I don't know about Mimi Hines or Marilyn Michaels but Barbra Streisand didn't have to reach the floor microphones--she wore a body mic.

[quote]Clearly most roles are gender specific. But you would be surprised how often with minor characters, no one stops to think that they could be of any gender. I think it will help to remind producers that there are some roles that do not require people of one gender (or ethnicity) . That they really can just look for the best performer for that role.

True, though I wonder if this could open up a complaint down the road that gender-neutral performers are never given leading roles, only minor ones. I think producers will need to walk this tightrope very carefully.

[quote] Did Albee say it was supposed to be with 4 men? Or are you saying that when gay men are writing for female characters they are really writing with gay men in mind?

I’m saying the only way the play makes sense is if it is played by four gay men.

What woman, even when drunk, would say, “Hump the hostess?” Especially not the daughter of a college administrator. But you would expect a bitchy gay man to say it.

r86 is the reason 'oh puhleeze' was invented.

[quote]I’m saying the only way the play makes sense is if it is played by four gay men.

Cluck!

Marilyn Michaels

Only gay men can be vulgar?!

[quote]Who cares what makes sense to you, [R77], you insufferable thing?

You insult me, but you don't explain why you think the post I'm referring to makes any sense -- because it DOESN'T make sense, and even if it did, you don't have the intellectual capacity or verbal ability to explain why.

Ramin Noodle is far too fucking old to play Nicky opposite Beanie Feldstein. It will end up being someone more in her age range.

I expect the person who initially said Ramin is right. Though the role should really be stunt cast.

[quote]It will end up being someone more in her age range.

Maybe Aaron Carter after he finishes up his Las Vegas "residency" in Naked Boys Singing?

Stanley Kaffmann notoriously said that Martha was clearly meant to be a male character that was turned female in deference to the norms of commercial theater.

Albee vigorously denied this.

Albee was a contrarian little bitch.

I guess makes Martha makes some people so uncomfortable that they deny that she could possibly be a real woman. How odd.

Nick was 12 years older than Fanny.

r95, it's Stanley KAUFMANN! And he was a notorious homophobe. If Albee had written it for four men, he would have said so. Besides, if G and M had started talking about their child, H and N would have known immediately it was a fantasy.

r77, you're analyzing our interpretation of the Beanie as Fanny announcement like it was Einstein's theory of relativity. It's simply not that complex or intellectual, just a gut feeling. Are your initials M.P. by any chance?

No, R100, my initials are F.U. And I don't mean Felix Unger.

So you are allowed to interpret the reasons for Beanie being announced as Fanny now rather than later, but when I question your interpretation, I'm over-analyzing? Got it.

R78 Writers have casting approval rights, so if they - or their estates - are unhappy with the casting they can veto it.

Yes r102 and then this happens

Actually, it's Stanley *Kauffmann*

R104 Ugh, Broadway, be MORE Jewish

Ramin Noodle? How terribly clever you are, R92.

So will they serve beans and noodles during intermission?

Beanie is 28. She plays younger quite convincingly, but it's not wrong to suggest men aged 35-45 to play Nicky.

Ramin Karimloo is 42.

Andy Karl is 46.

James Snyder is 40.

I vote for John Cullum.

Is Nehemiah Persoff available?

[quote]So will they serve beans and noodles during intermission?

Pastafazool!

R107 Not if Beanie finds the stock room

more Nicky suggestions:

Tony Yazbeck

John Gallagher

Leslie Odom, Jr.

Who cares who gets cast in any of the roles in this SHITTY SHOW?

They’ll probably cast Nick Jonas

It’s not as if the part requires the performer to actually perform or anything.

Froy for Mr Arnstein!

Ugh, it'll probably be Ben. They clearly aren't bothered about suitability. He's probably lobbying Harvey to have them switch all the songs to Nicky

R106, not been here long? I’m far from the first here to use that moniker for him. I remember back in the day someone used Ramen Vindaloo but that was a tad racist

So go fuck yourself and have a lovely afternoon.

As a brief palate cleanser, have some Chrysanthemum Tea.

Remember when John Doyle did Pacific Overtures and cut "Chrysanthemum Tea," one of the few numbers anyone enjoys in the show? Such a genius.

won't the audience feel cheated when they waited two hours to hear My Man?

[quote]won't the audience feel cheated when they waited two hours to hear My Man?

They may feel relieved that it's finally over.

I imagine Beanie is going to sound somewhat like Brenda Vaccaro in the Playtex tampon commercials.

Checking Zap2It, Ben Platt is scheduled to appear tomorrow on Today. Searching when Beanie's next talk show appearance is.

[quote] Searching when Beanie's next talk show appearance is.

Depends on who's got the best craft service table.

Ben Platt's also scheduled to be on Late Night with Seth Meyers on Monday. NBCUniversal is all in on this guy!

Whoever posted that video of The Widow Kloots in the last thread saying she was going into Waitress should learn to read. She said she's going back to SEE Waitress.

I can't imagine Oscar nominee Leslie Odom Jr. would accept a role as diminished and unrewarding as Nicky Arnstein. But I wouldn't be at all surprised to hear Nick will be played by a BIPOC.

Jeremy O. Harris for Nicky!

Lil Nas X!

Why doesn't Beanie record a BEANIE SINGS FANNY album and see how it goes?

From her horrible nasal quality, she'd be better off singing THROUGH her fanny.

How about Nathan Lane? He is America's sweetheart after all!

When Broadway reopens, will it be less " woke," or still an offshoot of the Eboni K. Williams lecture series?

[r127] I posted the kloots waitress video

A fan asked if she was going to SEE it and kloots replied that there was an announcement coming soon about it

So I took that to mean she was cast but I guess it could just mean they’re doing a Nick cordero night TBA

Two Tony winnin' gals...

Why say yes and “all this information is coming soon”

Is his role gender swap-able? I’m not familiar w the show

Broadway continues to self-implode, left right and center....

"I also devoured the Lapine book in one sitting and loved all the dish he revealed through interviews with his cast"

Having sat through it twice, I have no desire to reheat that dish....

"she wore a body mic"

True. BS does not have a big voice, but one that blooms tremendously when amplified.

If Beanie is being cast, I want Rice-ie in there too. Need more amino acids to make a rich protein meal.

Any possibility if she isn't up to par in rehearsals, a stronger voiced understudy gets the roles, lots of articles and a build up and gets opening night?

Sutton is another singer with a not so special voice. It gets the job done but that's all.

Platt is everywhere because another fucking album gets released tonight.

There is nothing special about Sutton. She get's the job done but that's all.

Anyone remember the group Gotham? They were often the opening act for Barbara Cook in the 70's. They used to do a Funny Girl" joke in their act.

"Didja hear they're going to revive Funny Girl for Diana Ross? They're gonna call it GIRL!

Gotham...

r144 It's been done.

Laura Osnes loses a gig thanks to refusing vaccination. No one who has worked with her is upset.

Good. Republican skank. Wasn’t all that, anyway.

There should be zero tolerance of the unvaccinated.

Laura Osnes= CUNT, CUNT, CUNT, CUNT, CUNT

Laura Osnes and Chad Kimball, coming your way soon in a bus & truck tour of I Don't! I Don't!

Great career move there, Laura.

Don't look now, but ATC has gone all Laura Noses about Osnes, especially after her flak had a heading calling her a "superstar". Certainly, she's been known here (and probably backstage) by that name.

Any good stories about Osnes?

[quote]Any good stories about Osnes?

I think we're seeing the beginning of one.

What a hill to kill your career on.

I don't recall any detailed stories about Chad Kimball, other than the church thing and that NPH used to fuck him.

One of the ATC stalwarts even wrote a parody post about Noses starting with "We won't hire Noses"! set to "I won't send Roses".

I've worked with Osnes and Kimball. Osnes was pleasant enough, though extremely religious. Everyone gave Kimball a wide berth.

Does he try to engage you in philosophical discussions?

[quote]One of the ATC stalwarts even wrote a parody post about Noses starting with "We won't hire Noses"! set to "I won't send Roses".

Was that BRKLNBOY, r156? Now there was a loon. They finally banned him.

Maybe Tovah Feldshuh for Mrs. Brice? Two Felds for the price of one.

R159 No, BrklynBoy's parody would have been much better than this still-appreciated attempt -- he's a genuinely talented lyric writer.

Fanny Bianco

Now the OP is grayed out.

Who the fuck is going to rush out and spend money on a ticket to see this talentless and charisma free cow star in a 55 year old show that has a handful of good songs and a shitty book?

Nobody wants to see Mrs. Brice's panties, r160...

R162 Christina Bianco is wonderful! Very funny lady too and can do great impersonations of stars.

This is the most attention Laura Osnes has had in years. Just came from her IBDB page. I forgot she was in six Broadway shows in a 10-year span.

Tweet of the day

Laura's been replaced by Sierra Boggess, whose IMDB page has six shows in nine years and none since the Obama administration.

Sierra deserves a bigger career, but it seems like lately she's been connected to things that haven't panned out. The musical of Ever After that never went anywhere, a French production of Phantom. She did Into the Woods at the Hollywood Bowl in 2019 and was great.

[R159] No, BrklynBoy's parody would have been much better than this still-appreciated attempt -- he's a genuinely talented lyric writer.

BrklynBoy may have been talented, but he was insane, r161. After he was banned, he wrote a musical about how he was wronged and tried to have it produced.

Wonder what happens to the Disney Princess Party Tour if Osnes refuses vaccination...

[quote] Sierra Boggess, whose IMDB page has six shows in nine years and none since the Obama administration.

Well that’s because she spent so much time in England. Phantom, Love Never Does, & lots of concerts and radio shows. She did two or three of the BBC Proms.

Bklyn Boy is NOT talented. Period. And he writes letters to the editor at the Times CONSTANTLY, which they inexplicably publish (online).

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

Take it away, Bklyn Boy!

[quote] Who the fuck is going to rush out and spend money on a ticket to see this talentless and charisma free cow

Hey! Lots of people will pay good money to see a cow!

[quote]Bklyn Boy is NOT talented. Period. And he writes letters to the editor at the Times CONSTANTLY, which they inexplicably publish (online).

I was being kind, r174. God knows why. He's a psychopath.

In 2016, he wrote this, 4 years after being banned on ATC:

[quote]Is there something wrong about my having written a musical about my experiences on the theatre chat boards? I wrote it mostly during the year after the events happened. I'm genuinely wondering why it would be wrong to write a musical about my own life experience. Thanks, Freddie.

After the ban, he also showed up at theaters to harass other ATC posters.

One day, we'll read about him in the Times when he goes postal.

Osnes is married to hot photog Nathan Johnson. Is he anti-vax too? I'd stick him.

Beanie got the job because of her best friend’s dad. Marc Platt will keep Ben and his friends employed and in our faces forever.

Laura Osnes is extremely talented. Perhaps I just like cheering for the underdog, but I would much rather attend a performance by Laura Osnes than one by Kelly O'Hara or Audra McDonald. Laura is fresher on stage. Much more natural. The other two, as talented as they are, frequently seem calculated. Someone I knew worked on the crew of one of the Broadway shows in which Laura was the leading lady. He was hospitalized during the run. He told me the only person from the company who came to see him at the hospital was Laura Osnes.

Don't throw it away, Laura. Don't throw it away!

Yes, so caring that she's unwilling to get vaccinated and help protect those who are genuinely unable to. What a kind loving person she is.

Underdog isn't the word I'd use.

She's completely WRONG in this decision. Let me be clear about that. But she should retract her refusal, get vaccinated, and make ALL the appropriate apologies.

Who she is listening to has advised her poorly. Whether it is her husband, her minister, or little Christian voices in her head. Her decision to refuse a vaccination is 100% wrong.

We have all been wrong before, R181. Even you.

I've worked with her. She's a stupid, untalented idiot.

Not everyone feels they can change a religious view to make a career move. I really wish she'd get vaccinated (I wish everyone would) but if it's genuinely religious, talking about it from 'bad career choice' point of view is pointless.

Laura Osnes is not untalented. That's a ridiculous thing to assert. If you have a criticism you can make and defend, do so. But you only show yourself to be a dolt when you make a statement like that. The woman has been the lead in six Broadway shows. Talent? She has sufficient.

[quote] Beanie got the job because of her best friend’s dad. Marc Platt will keep Ben and his friends employed and in our faces forever.

Do you actually know of any connection between Marc Platt and this production? More like IMO is that the producers think they're being all modern and savvy because she has 474K followers on IG. Or maybe she gave a great audition, and we're all wrong.

^ more likely ^

R184 Unless you know otherwise, it doesn't sound like it was a religious objection (and what would be the grounds for a religion objecting anyway?). From the Page Six article:

[quote]We’re told that’s when two-time Tony nominee Osnes — who starred in the title role of the Broadway adaptation of “Cinderella” from 2013 to 2014 — revealed that she hadn’t been vaccinated, and announced that she doesn’t trust the jabs.

So stupidity, not religion. Well, a different form of stupidity anyway.

I’m surprised Laura never played Jenna in Waitress. Seems like a good role for her.

r188, from the [italic]same[/italic] article:

[quote] Osnes has described herself in interviews as a Christian conservative.

R190 And? Her being a Christian doesn't automatically make every action she takes linked to her religion. Whereas her being a conservative absolutely does make every action she takes stupid.

Why on woke Broadway is there a musical called Waitress? It is a condescending non inclusive title.

WAITRON

Much better.

I never got the appeal of Laura Osnes. To me she’s always been that chick who has a Broadway career because of a reality show.

Speaking of, whatever happened to Max Crumm?

[quote] More like IMO is that the producers think they're being all modern and savvy because she has 474K followers on IG.

Vanessa Hudgens has over 40 million Instagram followers and Gigi ran less than three months. An Instagram influencer might be able to get their followers to buy a product, but not to travel to NYC and to purchase a theatre ticket. All those Beanie fans will end up supporting her by watching a bootleg on YouTube.

Yes that was exactly my point r195. Broadway producers are so un-savvy they think looking up that figure actually counts as a marketing decision.

Oh, Broadway Briefing:

[quote] When we arrived, Ali Stroker and Andrew Rannells each sat down with the students...

When is Ali Stroker [italic]not[/italic] sitting down?

Her career is based on a contest. Sell real estate, bitch!

From the "Broadway Superstar" thread:

[quote]Well, never a superstar but she has indeed been a Broadway star. But in the future she is going to be starring as an overaged Nellie Forbush at the Des Moines Roadside Dinner Theater.

[]quote]She will be a great hit in South Pacific and the theater will try to revive Bonnie and Clyde with her and Jeremy Jordan. The theater will receive a letter from Jordan's agent that he does not appear in non-Equity houses.

Max Crumm? Just another guy in the long, long line of gays NPH was fucking.

I find Crumm very sexy. Anyone (other than NPH) have him or have stories?

r194, Max Crumm is still around, and offering delightfully bitchy tweets in response to the Osnes story.

Crumm

NPH fucked Chad Kimball? Wow, I totally missed that story.

About Osnes, there’s this “some of my best friends are gay” nonsense.

As for Funny Girl casting, though he’s probably too old and I don’t know if he can sing, Bobby Cannavale would be an interesting choice for Nick Arnstein.

My sources tell me Chris Noth regrets going back to Senior Citizen Sex & the City and is begging the producers to play Nicky.

Osnes for Fanny! She's a Superstar!

[quote] As for Funny Girl casting, though he’s probably too old and I don’t know if he can sing, Bobby Cannavale would be an interesting choice for Nick Arnstein.

He was cast as Nicky in the Lauren Ambrose/Bart Sher Funny Girl that didn't happen.

[quote]Hey! Lots of people will pay good money to see a cow!

Or at least good beans, thought Jack, ironically bringing the conversation round in a circle.

Loved this...

Nick only has 2 songs -- they're both duets, and he really doesn't have much to sing at all.

Laura Noses could get an reverse nose job to try to resemble Barbra's proboscis. Isn't Fanny being facetious about her "American Beauty nose"?

[quote] Nick only has 2 songs -- they're both duets, and he really doesn't have much to sing at all.

No problem! Andrew Lippa can knock out a couple of new tunes.

Maybe Harvey’s new book can include a gay chorus boy who is showing Nicky some attention while Fanny dithers.

[quote] Nick only has 2 songs -- they're both duets, and he really doesn't have much to sing at all.

The London revival restored Nicky's "A Temporary Arrangement," which was cut from the original production because Sydney Chaplin couldn't sing it, and the show was running long.

I don’t know where this bit of gossip started, but Beanie is NOT playing Fanny Brice. She is playing Fanny Farmer, the candy manufacturer.

Sydney Chaplin was quite hot back then though!

Maybe he's playing Fannie Flagg? How's her Southern accent? Who's playing Brett Somers?

She (Beanie), that is

Why did Chaplin and Streisand hate each other so much? Did he refuse to kiss her ass?

Didn't she have an affair with his replacement Johnny Desmond?

Wasn’t there a song that Barbra would cut sometimes when she didn’t feel like singing it, like Gwen Verdon used to do?

[quote] Why did Chaplin and Streisand hate each other so much?

He was Hollywood royalty and she was an ugly duckling from Brooklyn who didn’t deserve fame so quickly.

Don't forget that Funny Girl didn't win a single Tony. It was The Year of Hello Dolly.

So looking back, quite a crappy year.

Chaplin already had a Tony from “Bells Are Ringing.”

On People’s podcast a few weeks ago Rosie said she was set to do Funny Girl with Idina Menzel right before the pandemic hit, but it was put off for obvious reasons and then Idina got a gig in the meantime which now prevents her from committing to a Broadway run. The podcast was recorded at the very end of July 2021. Since Rosie just moved to LA full-time and enrolled her kid in school there it seems unlikely she’d come back now, but who knows.

R225 He won it in 1956, probaby the most Golden Age of the Broadway musical tooo -- "My Fair Lady", "Bells Are Ringing", "Candide", "Li'l Abner", "The Most Happy Fella" among nomines and winners that year.

Maybe Harvey wants to play Mrs. Brice? He'll probably make Eddie Ryan gay, like Mae West had a gay best friend in that Ann Jillian biopic, maybe also a cross-dresser too?

[quote] He'll probably make Eddie Ryan gay

Yes, they'll add back "Find Yourself a Man," but in Harvey's rewrite, Mrs. Brice will sing it to Eddie.

Osnes is due to perform in two London concerts of Bonnie & Clyde alongside Jeremy Jordan next January. An extra date was added soon after it was announced, so there’s clearly an audience for it.

But good luck crossing international borders without taking a test or being vaccinated, Laura.

Wasn’t Randy Graff cast as Mrs Brice in the proposed Bart Sher revival?

I know this is OT so please don’t yell at me. Re Chris Noth someone broke their NDA and posted online that Mr Big dies in episode 1. So, yeah, he didn’t want to do it AND HE’S FREE TO PLAY TUESDAY NIGHT NICKY ARNSTEIN!

I just listened to this podcast where Jeffery Seller somehow puts himself forward as a humanitarian for not charging $3000 for Ham tickets and for offering $10 seats via lottery while having $800 premium tix. "I care about people who are not rich more than I care about people who are rich. "

R230, not to mention Jeremy Jordan, who has a young child, may read this story and think along the same lines as Tony Yazbeck did.

[quote]Max Crumm is still around, and offering delightfully bitchy tweets in response to the Osnes story.

I see from his tweet that Max Crumm's pronouns are they/them. I must have missed that earth-shattering announcement.

r235 And if you read his Wikipedia article, it's quite clear (and annoying.)

[quote]Rosie said she was set to do Funny Girl with Idina Menzel

I know she's butch, but do you think she could pull of Nicky Arnstein?

R231 Yes, the aborted Sher production cast Randy Graff as Mrs. Brice and Noah Racey as Eddie. Both excellent choices; this production should stick with them. I hadn't heard the Bobby Cannavale as Nick rumor, but that could be great too.

I believe Yazbeck is quite religious and yet he got poked.

Unfortunately he's too religious to get poked-poked, r239.

R239, on the one hand I'm glad he got the shot, but on the other, I wish you weren't talking about a vaccine....

Tony Yazbeck brings the sex to every project he's in.

He wasn't very sexy doing The Hot Honey Rag.

Osnes is talented in the same bland way so many people are on Broadway these days. She can hit the notes, she doesn't embarrass herself, but there's not a lot of spark or character there. No big loss if she ends up confined to dinner theatre out in the boonies somewhere.

[quote] I hadn't heard the Bobby Cannavale as Nick rumor, but that could be great too.

What I meant is that he was cast as Nick in the Bart Sher production, not that he is being rumored for this one. At 51 now, he's probably way too old to play opposite 28 year old Beanie Feldstein.

Meanwhile...

So Platt has given up on the possibility of spending spring 2022 collecting acting awards for his big screen turn as Evan.

Zak Resnick thinks we're just as bad as Laura and Chad

[quote]I’ll say what I said about CK again now. What LO did is wrong, irresponsible and enraging - but the vitriol you’re all spewing makes you no better. Hopefully she is learning from this experience and growing and becoming better version. That is all any of us can hope to do.

Ugh, self-righteous scold.

“Wrong, irresponsible and enraging” doesn’t call for vitriol? Huh?

Oh, people tapa-tapping away on their keyboard is as bad as Osnes putting people sharing breath space with her in danger.

Who the fuck is Zak Resnick? Seriously. The guy is verified but he has fewer than 6000 followers.

[quote][Yazbeck] wasn't very sexy doing The Hot Honey Rag.

Maybe not, but it was fun, r243.

Has Yazbeck spoken publicly about Osnes? All I've seen is Riedel trotting out his old "insider's tell me" trick.

I doubt Riedel is making it up about Yazbeck.

Unless she is a Christian Scientist, a Dutch Reform Church member, or part of an extreme Islamic sect, it is unlikely that this is a genuine religious objection.

Most religions are just fine with vaccination.

Streisand and Chaplin got along just fine until their affair broke up. After that, not so much.

Is Streisand’s affair what broke up her marriage with Elliot Gould? Or did he answer a door and someone called him “Mr. Streisand”?

Osnes was quite good in South Pacific but she followed Kelli O’blanda sooooo......

[quote] Is Streisand’s affair what broke up her marriage with Elliot Gould? Or did he answer a door and someone called him “Mr. Streisand”?

It was that she insisted on having a mall in their fourth floor walk up.

How did Laura prepare to play the ignorant Nellie? Follow herself around for a year?

FWIW, r255, I have an in-law who won’t get vaxxed because he believes the vaccines are made from ground up fetuses. He’s very religious, pro-life and clearly too stupid to live.

[quote]I doubt Riedel is making it up about Yazbeck.

I doubt it also, r254, but I think it was shitty of Riedel to name-check Yazbeck.

I miss Marin...

Oh, honey. We all do.

Absolutely. Why couldn't it have been Kelli?

That's just ugly, r 265

OT, LA Olympics in 84

Why does Ben Platt think we want to see his pits?

Ewww. Ewww. Ewww. Ewww. Ewwwwww!

[Quote] I think it was shitty of Riedel to name-check Yazbeck.

How so? Yazbeck is the one smelling of roses in this.

From wisebear on ATC:

[quote]Opinions below are strictly that - my personal opinions, based on my own interactions and observations. I spent a week on a small ship with Laura and her husband. I find that church piece a bit rich because - and again MY PERSONAL OPINION - I believe that Laura Osnes is married to the flamingest most obviously deeply closeted most most not-heterosexual married “straight” man I have ever met in my considerable experience.

I have never heard that said out loud before.

Do you mean you've also thought it? I'm not familiar with her husband.

Cookies for days...

It doesn't have to be said out loud, R271.

[quote]I think it was shitty of Riedel to name-check Yazbeck.

[quote]How so? Yazbeck is the one smelling of roses in this.

Not all publicity is good publicity. He's a fairly private guy who quietly expressed concern on the matter, and now his name is everywhere. Of course he was correct to do so, but I honestly think that he would have preferred to see his name left out of this one. If he had wanted to speak on this publicly, he would have done so.

[quote]Do you mean you've also thought it? I'm not familiar with her husband.

I've met him only a few times, but yes.

"Fairly private." Tony Yazbeck could use the press, any press.

I need to see more than pics of a smiling man. Have we got any video of the Osnes husband?

I'm getting more of a straight vibe from Carson Kressley than from him!

These Xtian crackhead fraus always marry gays. They think they can “cure” them.

He looks like he adores her. Beyond that...

[quote] I believe Yazbeck is quite religious and yet he got poked.

Toby is religious, but he’s that anomaly, a liberal Christian. Very gay-friendly and not a Trumper or anti-Baxter.

Anti-Baxter replace Lauren Bacall in APPLAUSE.

Klea Blackhurst *is* Fanny Brice.

I thought Tony Yazbeck was hot until I worked with him. He is actually quite tiresome and asexual. Very self-absorbed like most actors.

I've only seen Beanie in Hello, Dolly! but she did play Minnie Fay, a role with the possibility to steal scenes. She did not. As a matter of fact, I honestly don't remember her performance at all, just that she was a cute chubby demure type.

Yeah, I find Yazbeck a snooze. But I think fanboys gas up str8 men on Broadway.

I'm surprised that a revival of something hasn't been built around Keala Settle.

I feel like the only thing memorable about Beanie in Dolly was her ability to pop her eyes like an African American stereotype.

[quote] I'm surprised that a revival of something hasn't been built around Keala Settle.

To each their own, but I dread it when she's in anything.

Beanie IS Diana Ross IN Funny Girl.

[Quote] To each their own, but I dread it when she's in anything.

Oh, I'm not a fan. But that song and its subject matter seemed like it would lead to a vehicle or two for her.

LIZA/ROXIE

Beanie was better than whoever replaced her when she left. That actress really didn't make an impression.

I found Beanie really memorable in the films she's done, so maybe she's got it in her. Her voice sounds reasonable and decent, but I just hope it can withstand 8 shows a week.

Liza didn't have the edge for CHICAGO.

Saw Keala twice (Pricilla and Side Show) before “This Is Me” made her known.

She’s great in supporting roles, but I don’t think I could take an entire evening of her.

Liza might not have had the edge for Roxie, but she was funny and memorable and made the show a little more accessible to audiences at that time. The show needs a Roxie you can love, which is why Gwen was well cast in terms of personality. You always liked her and wanted to take care of her.

Liza's desperation to be liked works against Roxie, who is cold blooded killer. Gwen was adorable, but more self sufficient, not desperate. She married the sides of the character better.

The show isn't about two Velmas, r297. The book makes her a softer murderess by having her shoot Fred instead of Amos.

Roxie is a user. Liza could never. Capiche?

Chacun son goût, r299. I would have been vastly entertained by Liza's take on the role.

Thoughts and prayers for poor Lea Michele.

R301 why is that type of bullying acceptable?

She deserves it. Vicious cunt who I saw in action up close when Glee shot in NYC.

Stooping to her level will surely lead you to happiness.

Maybe not but it sure is satisfying.

[quote]I thought Tony Yazbeck was hot until I worked with him. He is actually quite tiresome and asexual. Very self-absorbed like most actors.

I never found him hot, but I can understand why others might. I agree with everything else you said except "asexual". He and Jessica Goldyn fucked like bunnies during the ACL revival.

Why would Bobby Cannavale want to play Nick opposite that hideous cow?

They're going to have to find someone unknown and desperate to take on that role.

Can you imagine having to make sweet musical love to THAT face 8 times a week?!!??

(shudders)

It would very stupid of them to cast an unknown as Nicky when the Fanny is unproven at the box office. If they did it a decade ago, John Stamos could have been Nicky.

r302 you expect the woke to not have double standards?

I hate to be the struggling actor faced with dilemma of hitching his star to this train wreck or passing on a Broadway leading man gig.

R307 oh like she’s going to show up 8x a week.

I can see Andy Karl playing Nick opposite the Beanster.

Any Well Known Broadway Leading Man Being Approached To Play Nicky Opposite The Beanster:

"Uh, you're going to have to add a LOT of numbers to that offer to get me to take this gig..."

OH! I know! Maybe then can get Ben Platt to do it as a favor to his gal pal!

That would sell a lot of tickets to sad, fat, young musical theater fans who adore these two turds.

Well, let’s hope Lea isn’t driven to escape the mocking by taking her small child out in the middle of a lake on a boat.

Do we know if Lea had expressed a desire to be in this production of FG?

R315, she made a fucking fool of herself at the Tony Awards a few years ago in an attempt to be in FG on Broadway.

[quote] I'm surprised that a revival of something hasn't been built around Keala Settle.

Settle is a nightmare to work with. Ask the cast of the last Les Miz revival.

"Do we know if Lea had expressed a desire to be in this production of FG"

Did you read the article at R301?

Did Beanie leave Hello, Dolly! before the run ended?

Maybe not Nicky Arnstein, but surely Eddie Ryan will be cast with a BIPOC.

John Stamos had a pretty good run as a replacement actor in musical revivals, but I kinda wish he would have gotten a shot at creating a role.

He wasn't a replacement in "Bye Bye, Birdie," but obviously he didn't create the role.

Watch the last episode of Schmigadoon. Tell me Keegan Michael Key isn't perfect for Nicky Arnstein.

Only if you picture Nicky Arnstein driving a minivan.

No one has brought THIS up....

Who's been sucking dick at the rest stop?

Ben Platt? Lin Manuel? Harvey? Billy Porter? Nathan? Andrew? Christian?

Andrew R.

Well there goes his chance to play Baron von Trapp. If you can’t be within 500 feet of a minor, you can’t be in Sound of Music

Andrew Rannells doesn't have a Tony.

He inherited the ones Jan Maxwell had in her bag.

Tony winning out gay actors of the last few years on the musical side:

Ben Platt

NPH

Billy Porter

Paulo Szot

David Hyde Pierce

Harvey Fierstein

Nathan Lane

André De Shields

Gavin Creel

Levi Kreis

In Plays:

Denis O'Hare

John Benjamin Hickey

Nathan Lane

Of course, it could be someone NOT out. Or, for that matter, maybe it's not an actor.

Kelli & Audra can act. Laura Osnes cannot.

Beanie is a dog who has neither the voice nor the acting chops to carry a show. It will be a sensational-to-watch train wreck.

R318 A YouTube video is not an article, and you don't read it.

R324 No-one brought it up because that site is full of bullshit.

Kelli, Audra and Laura can’t act. There, I fixed that for you.

R334, the woman who has more Tony awards for acting than anyone - and in all four categories - “can’t act”? I’m sure your heartrending college performance as Blanche DuBois is still discussed in local coffee shops..

Enough already with the Tonys for Audra.

She has sufficient.

R335. Fortunately we were spared Audra’s Blanche at Williamstown thanks to the pandemic.

more on r324's item please. This could be fun. Hickey? Creel?

Rest stop sex usually suggests a married man with few viable sources for good dick.

James Corden?

Gavin Creel won a Tony?

For what?

Denis O’Hare is my imaginary boyfriend.

Dennis's husband is my imaginary boyfriend.

"Gavin Creel won a Tony?"

Here.

r324 I vote for John Cullum.

[quote]Who's been sucking dick at the rest stop?

Savion Glover

John Benjamin Hickey

Joe Mantello

Patti LuPone

Speaking of Andrew, he wrote and directed a gay episode on the newly dropped Modern Love Season Two on Prime and despite my predilection to wanting to hate it, it was very good. I am confused If it was from his original submission to the NYT, I thought they had filmed that one last time, but the story is heartbreaking.

Getting crowded in there r345.

R340, I think it was for featured actor in a musical for "Hello, Dolly!"

Rest stop sex was big in the 70's. It was my playground. What kind of lowlife would still be doing it now?

If Creel was able to convincingly sing, "And we won't come home until we've kissed a girl," then he deserves a Tony.

Why are they featured at the Tonys, but supporting at the Oscars?

NPH looks like the type who'd be lurking in truckers rest stops. No old guy like Hickey would get a second glance.

[quote] No old guy like Hickey would get a second glance.

It’s not Saturday night at the bathhouse where you have a choice. Men go to rest stops for quick and anonymous. And have you seen the truckers that stop at rest stops? Real truckers, not the models in porn? They’re not exactly the most desirable.

[quote]Rest stop sex was big in the 70's. It was my playground. What kind of lowlife would still be doing it now?

This sounds like notorious climber John Benjamin Hickey to me. I get very old-school "we publicly date upwards, but privately fuck/suck downwards" vibes from him. He probably gets off on describing how dirty/rough-trade/working class his rest stop pickups are to his bestie, Andy Cohen.

At least Hickey was generous in showing off his full-frontal bod on stage and screen. Excellent actor, too, especially in his Tony-winning role in "The Normal Heart".

I'm baffled by all the hoopla around FUNNY GIRL. Is anyone really salivating to see this show? I'm over 50 and that show is even before my time, and I thought the film was okay with a few great songs and great leading lady. But the story is... MEH. Beyond the show-tune queens who get excited over every damn thing, who wants to see this show, Beanie or not? (For the record, I thought she was very funny in HELLO, DOLLY! and was great in BOOKSMART.) I think this project is mostly doomed, just like its prior Broadway reincarnation that never happened.

And because of Delta I think Broadway is in for a far rougher road than was even expected a few weeks ago, much less a few months ago. There's one play on Broadway right now (PASS OVER), and NO ONE IS GOING. This isn't a surprise given that the show has no stars (though one of the leads deserves to be one) and that its previous incarnation at LCT3 also could not give away tickets, but this idea that audiences will be rushing back to Broadway just to be back in the theatre is farcical. It's going to take a real star vehicle that people are excited about to get people back in those Broadway houses. THE MUSIC MAN will be that show, but as Delta ramps up, that production might get delayed again. How many New Yorkers besides the diehards are excited about seeing PHANTOM or WICKED or LION KING? Those shows are truly old hat, especially to denizens of the city, and the tourist numbers aren't there.

As for Tony Yazbeck, I'll concur with the earlier poster who worked with him and found him to be a bit asexual and self-absorbed. I too have spent time with Tony, and I like him and find him to be extremely professional and driven and hard-working, but he's not reeking of natural charisma or sexuality. He's very focused on his career and his family, and the fact that he has an amazing ass is just part of the package he is selling to support his family. I applaud him for calling out Laura Osnes on her bullshit and for being protective of his kids. Being a professed Christian does not give you the freedom to spread a plague without repercussions.

[quote]Rest stop sex usually suggests a married man with few viable sources for good dick.

True, though it could still be a single guy but one with a fetish for public spaces (like rest stops).

[quote]Being a professed Christian does not give you the freedom to spread a plague without repercussions.

This should be posted on billboards all across America.

Funny Girl has always been one of the Golden Age shows that people have wanted a revival of just to see if it’s as magical as everyone says.

Follies used to be this way. There was so much talk about the original production and in the late 80s there was so much interest building up for a revival.

Evita was another one. The effect of “You had to be there” made people want to see a production of it just to experience the magic for themselves.

[quote]...just to see if it’s as magical as everyone says.

Hon, FUNNY GIRL was produced to death in the 60's and 70's. NO ONE ever thought it was magical. Not ever. The show is a dog.

Streisand's singing in the 60's was magical. End of story.

Rest stop sex=Matthew Broderick.

Few shows are perfect. FOLLIES contains some of Sondheim's finest songs, but the show has problems, particularly in the book. EVITA is among ALW and TIm Rice's most electric, alive work, but it's fraught with problems (and not just the book).

Almost every revival points out those problems. Shows can be magical experiences without being perfect.

Broderick too recognizable for rest-stops.

[quote] Hon, FUNNY GIRL was produced to death in the 60's and 70's.

40-50 years ago. That’s two generations of theater goers that think Hamilton is the height of the American Musical Theater experience. Funny Girl may not have the best book, but in today’s society a show about an ugly duckling becoming successful may speak to some young audience member. In the age of bullying, some young gayling may need the escape of hearing Fanny Brice sing, “Don’t Rain On My Parade.” No Beanie won’t stir the passion like Barbra did, but if she can muster a performance as good as Mimi Hines, she may be able to pull it off.

Grow up, R363. Nothing is perfect. You don't pose a reasonable question. You pose a question that you can win because nothing is ever going to be perfect.

A show is magical or not based on the writing. But that's what the show is. The writing. Some productions have been magical. But usually not without a good and very solid book and score. A great cast, the director, the designers, the choreographer can all add to good writing. It's hard to paper over bad writing. (Though it did make for an interesting segment of Fosse's film "All That Jazz.")

FUNNY GIRL has a few outstanding songs by Jule Styne and an assortment of songs that are not his best work. That's it. That's all. The book is weak. All of FUNNY GIRL's past success is attributable to the huge, extraordinary, success Barbra Streisand made of that show and of her herself. But without her... it never found big success. Not in over 55 years. Never. FUNNY GIRL is not magical. If it was, someone would have found evidence of the goddamned magic by now. There is none.

" but in today’s society a show about an ugly duckling becoming successful may speak to some young audience member."

They have Wicked and Hairspray, r365. Also, Beanie doesn't have half the voice of Mimi.

Agree with r366. Without Barbra, it will NEVER succeed.

" but in today’s society a show about an ugly duckling becoming successful may speak to some young audience member."

They had this piece of shit, but didn't bother to see it.

That I40 rest stop just beyond Greensboro was paradise. But I finally decided to grow up and took the bus to Manhattan, the best decision I ever made. I got a career and a life in addition to a sex life.

But I still have stories to tell about the rest stops on I95. What days those were.

I think Funny Girl has a great score. Yeah it has a couple of clinkers but what show doesn't? When I first heard the obc after growing up with the soundtrack I was surprised how terrific some of the songs were that I had never heard before.

[quote] But I still have stories to tell about the rest stops on I95

Yes? And?

"And we won't come home until we've kissed a girl."

There has never been a Cornelius or Barnaby who was able to sing that line convincingly. But that's ok. It's a musical not a documentary.

All these rest stop stories are making me think of Miss Mona ...

When did Jim McGreevey win a Tony Award?

The National Theatre revival of FOLLIEs had some staging problems (Loveland) and arguably, some less than ideal casting, but it made the best case for the book since the original. I don't think it's all that problematic. I think relatively poor productions have made it seem that way.

Does Zac Efron have a Tony?

I’m curious, what songs are clinkers (or should that be clunkers) in Funny Girl? Even the lesser numbers like Henry Street and Find Yourself a Man are melodic and leagues better than anything in Mean Girls or Beetlejuice.

The book was criticized in the original production, r376. I personally think it's a fine structure to hang the score on. FOLLIES isn't about the plot, it's about its theme.

"Follies" was kind of misleading in that audiences who first saw it thought probably they were seeing some kind of lightweight show like the old Ziegfeld Follies and found, besides plenty of those kind of numbers, a mostly downbeat story of two relatively sour marriages on the rocks and a lot of stuff about making bad decisions in the past. The show's poster did give a hint in the cracked forehead of a Follies girl. When I saw a production with an uncle, he asked why Donna McKechnie wasn't dancing more, and he perked up more with the various pastiche numbers in the second half. Numbers like "In Buddy's Eyes" and "The Road I Didn't Take" might be profound, but to an audience seeking entertainment, they have to wait for "I'm Still Here", "Broadway Baby", "Who's That Woman" and the songs in the Loveland sequence.

The National Theatre revival was closer to the original book than any of the other revivals.

The crack represented the crack in the American dream, r380.

The advantage to Beanie playing the role is that Jonah can understudy.

[quote] Also, Beanie doesn't have half the voice of Mimi.

Or even Lainie.

Speaking of THE PROM, is the upcoming national tour equity or non-equity?

Lainie sang with...feeling.

Funny Girl IS a great score so when people say it's got some good songs I find it jaw dropping. It has a lot of sensational songs. It also has one of the all time great overtures. This is why people want it done to hear those wonderful Styne/Merrill songs. Yeah the second half still needs book help but the last person in the world who should be doing it is Fierstein. He can only make it worse. He should have a restraining order against him when it comes to musicals. If you've got a great Fanny and a terrific production you should be able to gloss over that problem. Not that those things can be accomplished with today's talent.

I also like the second half of the movie(except the swan number.) It's where Wyler shows his talent for melodrama. The scenes between Streisand and Sharif when their marriage is crumbling are very well done especially when Nick is offered the casino job and he is overjoyed until it dawns on him what is really going on.

[quote]The crack represented the crack in the American dream

I didn't crack in "The American Dream."

“Henry Street” is a clunker, it’s a totally generic “Hey, we live here!” kind of song. Compare that to “Grant Avenue” from Flower Drum Song which actually has DETAILS in it as to why that thoroughfare is so fab.

DETAILS are good, r389...

All " Henry Street" needed was Pat Suzuki to sing it.

I didn't crack in "The American Dream."—Jonathan Pryce

And you royally sucked in the whitewashed role. Totally unbelievable.

“Henry Street” is the Act 2 curtain raiser, right? A generic number for when everyone’s getting settled back into their seats after the intermission?

No. It's in the midst of Act 1 at Fanny's opening night party at the mother's saloon. It's heard in the movie as music being played at the party, pretty much in the same spot it was in the show.

Beanie is going to make Funny Girl look like a high school production. More like Fugly Girl.

[quote] “Henry Street” is a clunker, it’s a totally generic

Henry Street is there just to give Barbra a rest before she sings “People”. Whaddya want from me? Another “Everything’s Coming Up Roses”?

Funny Girl's score is better than anything new on Broadway in the past 20 or 30 years. The book is horrendous, though Act 2 is especially terrible and a chore to get through even with top notch actors in the roles.

Will they call Harvey Weinstein to try to make the second act better?

How do they do the big ending on the boat on stage in Funny Girl? Is it like that gondola in Phantom?

R399 I believe she just sings the whole song at the train station and makes her way off to follow Nick as the curtain falls.

Why is Lea Michele so shouty in her Tony Awards song? You’re performing for every director and producer who can advance your Broadway career and you sing like a bored Patti LuPone in Evita Year 2? Had she sung the song as written, she may have been playing Fanny instead of Beanie.

No. Lea M has a terrible rep and no heat/fanbase to make it worth hiring her.

Lea Michele’s voice doesn’t have the bloom on top to become the next Barbra, but lord, she keeps trying

[quote] The National Theatre revival of FOLLIEs had some staging problems (Loveland) and arguably, some less than ideal casting,

To whom would you be referring?

Just starting Rick McKay's Broadway The Golden Age sequel on the PBS app. It's only an hour and 38 min. I seem to remember his first one was nearly twice the length. Maybe I'm thinking of the extras on the DVD.

Jonathan Groff is hosting the broadcast. Someone put some really terrible Trump-like orange tanner makeup on him.

The Beanster advised him on his makeup.

R405 -- I'll be eager to know your thoughts. The first film from 2004 was indeed a lot longer, and far more substantial. If you take out Groff's intro and outro along with the pledge breaks, you've got a very short 65 minute TV special.

There were some interesting tidbits (Once Upon A Mattress) but on the whole, had no narrative through line. Definitely a disappointment after all the hype and fundraising and sneak peeks Rick released himself thru YouTube. You've got to wonder if some chunks were excised to save $$ on licensing. It's not an offensive viewing but just kind of feels disjointed and lacking the heart and urgency of the original. I mean, the fact they didn't even get into ANNIE but focussed on Bye Bye Birdie (to no great impact) speaks volumes to the lack of focus this one had -- at least in its finished PBS form. Would be eager to know from those that saw the LONG rough cut in Palm Springs in 2016, how different this version was...

Also -- could they have gotten some former Chicago cast member to properly sync the music to the steps of the live footage Liza's Hot Honey Rag? It was off by a full 4 bars the entire clip.

For example, here's a GREAT story from the always dishy Lee Roy Reams about the Merm at the opening night of Woman of the Year. This was supposed to be in this installment:

"can knock out a couple of new tunes."

"Tunes" would be a charitable word.

"Funny Girl may not have the best book, but in today’s society a show about an ugly duckling becoming successful may speak to some young audience member."

But Funny Girl's secret strength is that it capitalizes on SEVERAL myths at once: Not only the ugly duckling/swan meme, but...

a Horatio Alger rag-to-riches tale of pluck and nerve...

a show biz myth of a broken heart for every light on Broadway...

a laugh-clown-laugh Pagliacci story of the pain behind the comedy...

and of course a Jewish-woman-survivor's tale.

You bitches need to think a little harder and give more credit to Isobel Lennart's book then you do.

Credit for tired cliches?

One man's tired cliche is another man's archetype.

Beautiful, and thank you, r413. Especially when all of those archetypes are combined into one story.

The problem is Funny Girl trots these out for ten minutes at a time and it never culminates into anything remotely cathartic.

It's an achievement to combine a bunch of hoary old tropes? Ok.

I recall reading many years ago that until a few days before opening, the ending to FUNNY GIRL changed again and again and again. It over 20 endings as rehearsal progressed. They finally ran out of time and cobbled together an ending that they had to live with.

Over 20 potential endings suggests there is not a very clearly delineated story to develop. And in FUNNY GIRL, there isn't. We know early in Act 1 that Nick is going to be a huge disappointment. But does she listen? Nooooooo. And what happens? Just what you knew would happen. It's not a very compelling narrative.

"it never culminates into anything remotely cathartic."

The final goodbye scene and resolve to carry on isn't cathartic?

"It's an achievement to combine a bunch of hoary old tropes?"

It worked for James Joyce and T.S. Eliot.

"And what happens? Just what you knew would happen."

You mean, like in 1776?

It's why Streisand demanded Robbins back to give some musical comedy shape and structure to a show she knew was floundering.

[quote]You mean, like in 1776?

No. Not like GYPSY, either.

When I was in high school in the mid-70s, our hip young drama teacher directed “Funny Girl” as the big spring musical. I thought it was an odd choice, as the movie (which is all I knew at the time) was so much Fanny all the time. It actually turned out well—numbers like Henry Street, Rat-tat-tat-tat, Cornet Man, and His Live Mskes Me Beautiful allowed her to cast a big chorus, and Mrs. Brice, Eddie, Nick, and even Mrs. Strakosh have decent stuff to do as support. Added to the fun was it in auditions it came down to the senior class star (headed next year to Northwestern, where she would discover every other girl in the theatre department had been the lead in their school shows—she transferred to Kansas and became a born again—a nasty piece of work she was), the head of the debate team (who was destined for Princeton and couldn’t muster an ounce of yiddishkeit), and a scrappy blonde Irish-American girl from the working class, who could belt. The last one got the part.

Meanwhile, I played a red-faced western/forest ranger in our queens old drama teacher’s production of Little Mary Sunshine.

[Quote] It worked for James Joyce and T.S. Eliot.

You're saying the book to Funny Girl is artful?

Well, it’s not the first musical to be carried by its score and its cast. But no, the book is only so-so.

Pia IS Girl!

THEY'RE IN THE ATTIC!!!

Not a single comment.

THEY'RE IN THE ATTIC!!!!!!

Bobby Cannavale has been confirmed as Nick.

He could be her father. What about Jake Cannavale?

[quote]It's an achievement to combine a bunch of hoary old tropes? Ok.

You're a hoar, darling.

[quote]Will they call Harvey Weinstein to try to make the second act better?

Harvey WEINstein? Won't he be in prison?

Somehow, I doubt an actress of Beanie's, uh, stature would be cast if Harvey Weinstein was producing.

Apocryphal old theater story: As a teen Pia starred a local production of Anne Frank. As the Nazis stormed into the factory in the last act, the audience began shouting "They're in the attic! They're in the attic!"

[quote]Apocryphal old theater story:

Emphasis on the OLD!

Old and tired.

And here you are, r434, a Saturday night and you're on the DL theater thread.

With you, R435. With you!

Honestly, continuing to repeat that ancient "She's in the attic!" story is embarrassing.

Oh, I'm so old I'm beyond being embarrassed. Don't care. Meanwhile I haven't seen Taylor's Cleopatra in years and Caesar just got stabbed. Oh, the drama!

Infamy! Infamy! They've all got it in fo' me!

I tried to watch Liza With a Z on PBS the other night and there were so many long pledge breaks I swear they only showed about 40 minutes of Liza.

[quote] they only showed about 40 minutes of Liza.

A little Liza goes a long way.

Those Irene Sharaff gowns on Taylor. God love her.

They cut her 'My Mammy" tribute to Judy, too. Even if Liza did go down on one knee it's not offensive.

[quote] [R405] -- I'll be eager to know your thoughts. The first film from 2004 was indeed a lot longer, and far more substantial. If you take out Groff's intro and outro along with the pledge breaks, you've got a very short 65 minute TV special.

It wasn't very good, and I do think that it had to be a much truncated version of what McKay had intended. I thought his first film was terrific. For as cheap looking and not very well shot as the first volume was, it had heart and it had some fascinating stories that he gave the time to allow to unfold. Other than the story about Jane White (which I did find very interesting), every other story told has been told over and over and over and needn't have been told again.

The other thing that bugged me was that there was so much old footage that you knew was leftover scraps from when he shot the first film that it really felt like you were watching outtakes and not an actual film. And like you said, there didn't seem to be any theme or through line to the film.

So what happened before Rick died? He had shown a rough cut in Palm Springs in 2016? Did anyone see it?

What took him out? The Big C?

PBS still has those interminable pledge breaks? I haven't endured one of those 'specials' in decades thank god. And hasn't that Reams' Merman/Bacall story been around for decades?

Who did all these fabulous headpieces and jewelry for Cleopatra? Was it Sharaff or someone else? Dramatically as boring as I remembered but visually so spectacular.

I don't think so, R444. His brother said they found him in his apartment, dead. My guess is a heart attack or natural causes.

Not only has that story been around forever, but it's also been attributed to Merman seeing Bacall in Applause and saying "Holy shit!" after her first song. I think Reams is full of crap.

The Merman story was "Pick a note, Betty!"

"I'm one of the girls who sings like the boys."

Beyond...

Did Reams steal that story? The timeframe is off.

Biggest issue with Beyond is it is only focused on musicals. No plays even mentioned in passing.

No one cares about plays

…said no one with a brain ever.

Couldn’t they incorporate that (I’m paraphrasing here) “And all along I was in love with a bunch of goddamn toothbrushes” from Funny Lady into Funny Girl? I guess Jay Presson Allen would have to be credited.

[quote]Honestly, continuing to repeat that ancient "She's in the attic!" story is embarrassing.

That story has had more performances than "Phantom of the Opera."

In that miniseries where Lee Remick played the murderess Frances Schreuder there’s a party scene set in 1964 or thereabouts where she tells the “She’s in the attic” joke and the actress named in it was Sandra Dee. Is the joke really that old? I thought it started with Pia Zadora in the 1980s.

R457: You stole that joke from [italic]I Love Lucy[/italic] where the show Lucy mentioned was [italic]South Pacific[/italic].

The attic joke is stupid because no Nazis appear in the original The Diary of Anne Frank. They were added to the crappy Broadway revival that starred DL fave Linda Lavin in the 90s.

Some of you are so literal.

[quote]You stole that joke from I Love Lucy where the show Lucy mentioned was South Pacific.

I prefer to think of it as an homage, R459

r460 but the Nazi's were the ones who were searching for them. How'd the original end? With just the noise of them coming up the stairs? Did Lavin's have actual soldiers burst into the room?

She scared them away by singing "Beir Mist Du Schon."

I thank you, R451!

Some of us in the US don't have have PBS access, either.

Does anyone have access to LIZA WITH A Z?

[quote] She scared them away by singing "Beir Mist Du Schon."

If it was Lavin, she scared them away by scatting it.

[quote] My guess is a heart attack or natural causes.

A heart attack IS a natural cause.

R465 here you go.

[quote] How'd the original end?

The original ending had a coda. You hear the door being broken down and boots running up the stairs. The lights go down on the cast frozen in horror. Then the lights come on as Mr. Frank and Miep do a short (and unnecessary) scene where Miep explains she had gone out to the country searching for food and Mr. Frank explains what happened to them afterwards. I think the final scene was there to cut the tension but it’s very anti-climatic. But it ends with a voiceover from the actress playing Anne reading the end of her diary where she says she believes people are really good in their hearts.

[Quote] Does anyone have access to LIZA WITH A Z?

Billy Stritch!

In the Lavin version, they are all sitting at the table eating strawberries and the Nazis quietly enter and surprise them.

[quote] A heart attack IS a natural cause.

Sweetheart, anything outside murder, an accident or suicide could technically be deemed a natural cause. Cancer could be called a natural cause, flu, Covid, etc. Don't be so fucking pedantic.

That revival of The Diary of Anne Frank wasn’t very good-Natalie Portman’s flat line readings didn’t help-but I’ll always remember Linda Lavin’s Mrs. Van Daan crying out in anguish when the Nazis arrived. It was quite bone chilling and rather moving.

Thanks, R468!

May Judy bless you.

[quote]R97 I guess makes Martha makes some people so uncomfortable that they deny that she could possibly be a real woman. How odd.

Not odd if they have PTSD from seeing Bonnie Franklin play her in Pittsburgh.

The only way that ever could work is if Pat Harrington played George.

Holy shit, the only thing more horrifying than seeing Bonnie play Martha in Virginia Woolf is seeing Bonnie play Frankie in Frankie and Johnny in the Claire De Lune.

If I never get an erection again, then it's your fault, R477.

FLOP! I am the Earth Mother and you are al flops!

Is that why Ernest Lehman went from that to [italic]Hello, Dolly![/italic]?

Was Bonnie nude in the original Frankie and Johnny?

I thought I read that it was all much more in the dark (the nudity) and not as blatant as in the Staley Tucci/Edie Falco version.

Bruce Weitz was in the original with Carol Kane and then Tony Musante and Bonnie.

I'd have enjoyed seeing Bruce Weitz nude.

Bruce Weitz didn't even take off his clothes for those underwear commercials he did concurrently with [italic]Hill Street Blues[/italic].

What if DL Theatre Gossip all just occured in Bonnie Franklin's mind?

That would explain a lot of Ann Romano's behavior, R483. It would be how her initial attempt to build motivation for the character of Ann Romano somehow went haywire and an electrical current in her brain created an alternative universe of theatre-obsessed Boomer- and Gen X-aged gay men who take all their mommy issues out on her.

[quote] Was Bonnie nude in the original Frankie and Johnny?

Bonnie didn’t do the original. It was Kathy Bates.

If I weren't already gay, I would be now.

Bonnie was in the third replacement cast of the original production.

Bates and F. Murray first. Then moved to an open run off-Broadway with Bates and Kenneth Welsh (and Bates then husband took over for a while.) Then Carol Kane and Bruce Weitz took over, the Tony Musante and Bonnie.

At least when Joshua Logan tried to put guys on stage without their clothes, he chose hot ones for the era. Not one name R487 dropped is one I would go out of my way to see naked.

Carol Kane was never fat, was she?

[quote] Bates and F. Murray first. Then moved to an open run off-Broadway with Bates and Kenneth Welsh (and Bates then husband took over for a while.)

Wasn’t Bill Smitrovitch in it for awhile?

And Kane and Franklin really don’t make sense because Frankie has to be fat. She has a line where she says, “I don’t trust thin people.”

For Bonnie, maybe it was changed to, “I don’t trust any people.”

For Bonnie it was changed to "I don't trust people who sleep with their fathers."

Yes i think so r490. Maybe just as an understudy or short term replacement.

“Dammit, George!”

[quote] For Bonnie it was changed to "I don't trust people who sleep with their fathers."

Even when they are the least fucked-up members of their family?

R392 I never understood the complaints about Jonathan Pryce's casting. Do y'all remember the show? The Engineer is Eurasian: his father was French; his mother was Vietnamese. Therefore, Eurasian children can look like either parent or a mixture of both. If a full-blown Asian can play him, why not a Caucasian?

Who are some Eurasians that pass for white?

I saw Tony Musante's bare hot butt in P.S. You're Cat Is Dead.

I also saw that bus and truck tour with Pia in Bonnie's role in Applause.

I tell ya, guys, I've been around.

I'm Oh deared. Your Cat Is Dead. Whatever.

[quote]Who are some Eurasians that pass for white?

Larry Blyden in Flower Drum Song. Or did I get that in reverse?

[quote] [R392] I never understood the complaints about Jonathan Pryce's casting. Do y'all remember the show? The Engineer is Eurasian: his father was French; his mother was Vietnamese. Therefore, Eurasian children can look like either parent or a mixture of both. If a full-blown Asian can play him, why not a Caucasian?

It was quite worse than that in the London production, where he wore eye prosthetics and skin bronzer to make him look more Asian. It's no different than a white actor wearing blackface to play Othello. I think that really helped fuel the controversy further in New York, as much as it's a role that should have more properly gone to an Asian or biracial actor. Cameron persevered, yelled and stamped his feet and threatened to pull the production, so he got his way and Pryce came, but without the eye prosthetics, and I don't think he wore the bronzer either. It's true that an Eurasian might look like either parent, but great as Pryce was in the part, an Asian actor really should have had the opportunity to open such a high profile production. Mackintosh had Lea Salonga, which was who anybody really cared about anyway.

[quote]and Pryce came

Pics please.

The Met no longer allows its singers to black up for Otello.

[quote] They cut her 'My Mammy" tribute to Judy, too.

Jesus, did they really? That makes me sad. Cancel culture at its worst.

Can they use Lena Horne's Light Egyptian No. 2 to look swarthy?

I can't wait until the pendulum swings back and the moderates are in charge of the entertainment industry once again. Political extremists are just horrible for the arts, because all they care about is promoting a leftist agenda than creating art. But all that breeds is mediocrity, because they don't want anyone to feel left out or offended.

Didn't Lapine direct that not very good Portman Lavin [italic]Anne Frank[/italic]

And skinny or not, Carol Kane was great as Frankie. Perfect wounded, self-protective idioscyncracy-that Audra had none of.

A few years ago The Gilbert & Sullivan Players in Manhattan cancelled its production of The Mikado because it was accused of yellowface in the press. They substituted The Pirates of Penzance.

Yellowface Pirates?

R458, and what year was that film made?

Did you really think the script was written in 1964?

The nazi’s were heard coming up the stairs and breaking down the door.

^we know, Rose

[quote]I think the final scene was there to cut the tension but it’s very anti-climatic.

It was against the weather?

The obvious mixed/Asian passing as white performer who could easily do the role of the Engineer in Miss Saigon and they could build a production around is Darren Criss, who at least wouldn’t be doing another gay role. Two other possibilities are from Riverdale, K. J. Apa, who despite singing on the show hasn’t really shown much aptitude for it and Charles Melton, who I don’t know about his abilities in singing..

I remember when Miss Saigon was coming to Broadway, they tried to block Jonathan Pryce saying he wasn’t an established star. I knew who he was from “Something Wicked This Way Comes” and “Brazil”.

"Infamy! Infamy! They've all got it in fo' me!"

Sorry, Caesar. Carry on, Cleo.

He might not have been as famous as he later became, but Pryce already had a Tony Award to his credit for Comedians in 1977, and two Olivier Awards (including one for Miss Saigon). Awards do not equal fame, but the idea that he wasn't an established star was specious.

[quote]At least when Joshua Logan tried to put guys on stage without their clothes, he chose hot ones for the era. Not one name [R487] dropped is one I would go out of my way to see naked.

He never tried to get them buck naked but when he directed All American, a Charles Strouse college musical starring Ray Bolger, he wanted the football team in jockstraps during their locker room number Physical Fitness. The Boston censors wouldn't allow it and they wore football pants and gym shorts. He tried again when the show moved to New York but the producers told him the issue was settled and to forget it.

More All American:

Physical Fitness, the Fight Song from All American.

Sad article about Australian performers languishing in the age of Covid. One of them is the first Aussie Elphaba who’s left performing to be a real estate agent:

A green real estate agent.

[quote] I can't wait until the pendulum swings back and the moderates are in charge of the entertainment industry once again. Political extremists are just horrible for the arts, because all they care about is promoting a leftist agenda than creating art. But all that breeds is mediocrity, because they don't want anyone to feel left out or offended.

The next time the pendulum swings, it will swing to the right of the Taliban.

Just watched BROADWAY BEYOND It was spectacular! I cried several times. I can't imagine why anyone here would be whining about it.

Thank you, r451 for providing the link.

Apart from Portman’s line readings, which were indeed flat, the production had a lot going for it. Anne seemed less precocious and actress’s and more like a real person. Lavin’s reaction to giving up her fur coat was heartbreaking. She was physically deflated for the rest of the show but her reaction when the Nazis entered was even more chilling since you thought there was no life left in this woman. The Nazis looked young and unexceptional in their menace, which is a smart choice. When the entered, only the children were eating strawberries - on the upper floor. For a few seconds. the parents knew the Nazis had captured them all, while the children were upstairs smiling and laughing.

What do I know? I bought the ticket same day at TKTS in the World Trade Center

I loved Broadway Beyond too and also thank r451 for providing the link.

But wouldn't it be wonderful if someone took all the unedited footage from both films and just posted it somewhere. I'll do the editing in my mind.

[quote]I can't wait until the pendulum swings back and the moderates are in charge of the entertainment industry once again

The so-called moderates are the ones who left the door open for the so-called extremists to take over.

Thanks for that, R525. All I remember from that production was Portman’s relentlessly flat line readings and Lavin’s heartbreaking moment at the end. I forgot about the coat.

Whoever wrote that joke never actually saw the play.

I've seen most of those Broadway Beyond clips before. Like a hundred times. That this stuff is new to anyone is surprise. I guess I just watch a lot of interview clips on youtube where most of this stuff could already be found.

For something new from a dancer's perspective I highly recommend Peter Menefee's interview with Rusty Frank 'A Dancer's Life' on youtube. It was suggested by somebody on All That Chat. Though he never appeared on Broadway he did a lot of stock in the 50s(flying in Peter Pan in the round), tried out for the film of West Side Story and though he didn't get it started touring all over in the stage production until he got the role of Harvey Johnson in the film of BBB. He continued in movie musicals and TV variety shows until he became a costume designer. This guy is fascinating and charming with a lot of great stories of being a west coast dancer as opposed to a New York dancer. Dish about working with Julie Andrews('You fucking traitor.') and Audrey Hepburn on two great musical classics. Dancing with Terri Garr in Elvis movies and in Ann Margret's Vegas act. If you like that era of show biz you'll love it. For eldergays this was the stuff we grew up with in the movies and on TV.

Hey, asshole/R510, I’m well aware the script for Nutcracker (which aired in 1987) wasn’t written in 1964. I was asking if the Anne Frank joke, which is included in a scene SET in 1964, is really that old.

Pay attention, dipshit.

They still never saw the play. I don't even think the 1959 movie, the one Shelley Winters won an Oscar for while Ed Wynn lost one, showed the Nazis.

Am I remembering correctly, was the Portman production theater in the round?

It sounded pretty square to me!

If only Otto hadn't gotten that drum set for Anne...

No, R533, it was at the Music Box Theater aka The Box.

Maybe it was the stench from her cooter that gave us all away.

R533 you may be confusing it with the most recent revival of The Miracle Worker with Abigail Breslin.

All right, everyone say it with me:

"It's water, Helen!"

[quote] I never understood the complaints about Jonathan Pryce's casting. Do y'all remember the show? The Engineer is Eurasian: his father was French; his mother was Vietnamese. Therefore, Eurasian children can look like either parent or a mixture of both. If a full-blown Asian can play him, why not a Caucasian?

Because a major plot point of MISS SAIGON is that the Engineer feels excluded from The American Dream due to his Asian appearance. He aspires to and fantasizes about The American Dream -- there's that whole song about it -- but has not been able to attain it. In the Broadway production of the show, Jonathan Pryce looked like any middle-aged, 100 percent white guy you might run into when walking along the streets of London or New York, so his casting made that whole subplot nonsensical.

[quote]I cried several times.

MARY!

That production of ANNE FRANK was just okay, except for two phenomenal performances by Linda Lavin and Harris Yulin.

Jonathan Pryce is also hideously miscast as Philip in The Crown Season 5, now shooting. Philip was handsome. Pryce just looks sinister. He would have made a great Peter Mandelson, though. Brits of a certain age here will know who that is.

I watched BROADWAY: BEYOND THE GOLDEN AGE last night and agree with pretty much every negative thing that's been posted here about it. Such a disappointment. Did anyone involved give the slightest thought to what made the first film so wonderful, to what McKay was really interested in exploring and sharing?

One point I haven't seen anyone else make yet (sorry if I missed somebody) -- pretty shocking to cover the period in question with virtually no reference to any of the Prince-Sondheim shows. Yes, let's have 2 extended segments about A CHORUS LINE (free from any tidbit not already well established in the overabundance of literature on that show), but let's make sure that no one even utters the name "Sondheim."

The sequence about watching from the wings was fairly compelling, and I really liked the part about the circumstances surrounding G.'s New York début. But most of the rest . . . feh.

8 years ago, McKay released a trailer for this film, which I've linked below. Watching it after the released film is deeply depressing -- it makes it beyond clear what a different result he had in mind.

Didn't Lapine direct that not very good Portman Lavin Anne Frank?

I think the word you're looking for is RUIN.

The saddest thing about that Portman revival was the poor actress cast as Margot got hit by a car and suffered a broken leg during the tryout (I think). Her understudy replaced her but I think she may have returned at some point during the run. Poor thing.

Was the understudy charged, r546?

ANNE FRANK and ANNIE are 2 properties one would think are fool proof onstage. Just leave it to an idiot like Lapine to fuck them up.

THE HEIRESS is another fool proof property IMO. Yet that recent revival with Jessica Chastain was fucked up by Moises Kaufman, another idiot.

I still kick myself for missing the Cherry Jones/Philip Bosco revival of The Heiress. I've yet to see the show onstage. Thank God the film is so wonderful.

R544 -- that's just it. That ancient trailer had more dish and points of interest than most of the 'finished' 70 minutes combined. Really missed some huge opportunities. Truthfully, the estate would've been better off uploading all the oral histories (unedited) to the NYPL Digital Collections for public viewing.

Has anyone here heard the joke about "She's in the attic!"?

Still kicking myself for missing that as well, 549.

^r549

[quote]ANNE FRANK and ANNIE are 2 properties one would think are fool proof onstage.

Perhaps a mashup?

We should discuss what a fabulous actor Philip Bosco was. We should be grateful for how often Dick Wolf used him on the various L&Os, letting us remember him.

The very first time I saw him, he had replaced Raul Julia in Richard Foreman's the Threepenny Opera at Lincoln Center. Julia had played the part like a debonair matinee idol. It was very glossy and entertaining but it didn't have much to do with 3PO. Bosco played Mack as a tired businessman, the way Brecht described him, and the whole show just opened up.

[quote]Bosco played Mack as a tired businessman, the way Brecht described him, and the whole show just opened up.

I wish I had seen Philip Bosco instead of Raul Julia. He was entirely ill suited to the role.

I guess Bosco was better known as a straight dramatic actor but when he did comedy, his comic timing was impeccable. He could bring the house down with one carefully phrased line.

Annie Frank, a Jewish orphan adopted by Oskar Schindler. The songs can just be recycled with a few lyrical tweaks.

Definitely a hard-knock life!

Schindler's List Song.

Actually, there was a musical based on Anne Frank. It was called "Yours, Anne". Trini Alvaredo played Anne.

Anne's big second act comedy number with the van Daans, Find Yourself a Man.

They didn't want Perkins for the film. Wyler's first choice was Audrey Hepburn but she didn't want to touch it. Neither did second choice Jean Seberg nor Susan Strasberg, who had created the part on Broadway. Millie Perkins had led the national tour and kind of got the part by default when nobody else they wanted would say yes.

You're Never Fully Dressed Without A Star!

ANNIE FRANK

For this kid, there is no "Tomorrow"!

"You Won't Be An Orphan For Long" takes on a whole new meaning, doesn't it?

R548, Lapine and Kaufman are without doubt two of the worst directors in the business. Kaufman made his name by hogging the credit for "Gross Indecency" and "The Laramie Project," even though both of those shows were created by a collective that apparently involved a lot of people far more talented than he is. Given his track record since then, I'm surprised he ever gets hired anymore. He's been away for a while, but I'm very sorry to see him attached to the upcoming "Paradise Square" musical.

As for Lapine, I'm amazed he was allowed to direct anything ever again after that horrible "Annie" production. I'm glad at least that, over the years, people have seemed to realize that a big reason for the brief run of the original production of "Passion" was his totally inept direction. We'll see how "Flying Over Sunset" turns out, but I'm not expecting much.

Any nudity in 'Flying Over Sunset"?

[quote]a big reason for the brief run of the original production of "Passion" was [Lapine's] totally inept direction.

Well, yes, there is that too. But there's also the onerous score and the limp book. And that Murphy woman.

I never knew that Millie Perkins led the AF tour. I’d always heard she was a model who had never acted before. Audrey Hepburn? Too old at that point so I don’t know what they were thinking even considering her. And if you’ve ever seen Strasberg on film then you know she would have been worse than Perkins.

R569, yes, the limp book. Also the work of J.L.

The designs for PASSION were awful. Of course, Lapine was involved with developing and approving all of it. But the production was ugly and did nothing to support the narrative. From start to finish, it looked like the American South during the Civil War. The director and designer needed to make sure that did not happen.

Was Rita Tushingham already acting by then?

Audrey Hepburn had been malnourished during WWII in Belgium and had actually worked for the Resistance by delivering notes and things for them against the Nazis. She just didn't want to go back to that time which doing Anne Frank would have required. She'd have been fine, even if she was too mature.

Lapine's book on the making of Sunday in the Park is wonderful, and I was stunned at how much he included about how most of the cast hated his working methods (Bernadette is a notable exception). I think he deserves a lot of credit for what he did accomplish, especially given that it was his first Broadway show and his first time working with Sondheim AND he was both writing and directing. I saw that original production four times, and it remains one of my favorite theatrical memories. Fun fact from the book: the idea of the whole cast bowing to modern-day George at the end of the second act came from a woman who was brought it to provide musical movement. She wasn't billed as a choreographer, because the producers were worried that the audience would expect dancing if a choreographer was listed for the show. That bowing moment always gives me chills. Yes, I know....MARY!

She didn't r570...

Millie Perkins looked like Jean Simmons.

I saw Paradise Square at Berkeley. The show wasn't quite fully baked yet, with too many plot lines fighting for attention. But Kaufman didn't fare that badly, to be honest. It's quite a large endeavor and really ambitious. It's a large cast and physical production. It took me a little while to warm up to it, but I eventually did and it had a very emotional payoff. But where it soared was with Bill T. Jones' choreography and the dancers. They were absolutely amazing.

[quote] That bowing moment always gives me chills. Yes, I know....MARY!

No, it's a great moment. Agreed.

After the revival of Bent Kaufman did at the Ahmanson a few years back, he should be barred from ever entering a theater again.

R578, "Paradise Square" has Bill T. Jones billed as choreographer AND Graciele Daniele credited for musical staging, so if Kaufman hasn't fucked it up, maybe it's because his actual involvement is so small.

How about a "Funny Girl" / "Annie" mashup? Playboy already has the title and a bunch of storylines.

R575 Meh. The moment in the Paris version when George enters, and luxuriates in his work at the end of Act One devastates me. And hearing the role sung with the fucking Patinkin vibrato is also a great pleasure.

Didn't the Paris version have a 40 or 50 piece orchestra playing those glorious Tunick orchestrations?

R584 I think so. Huge budget, it looks incredible.

I went onto the BroadwayWorld message board last night to see if they had said anything about the Broadway Beyond the Golden Age doc and I found a thread about another documentary I'd never heard of called One Ticket, Please. It's about an old woman who used to be an actress and an usher who now goes to see theater up to 500 times a year, mooching freebies off of people. I thought she looked familiar, so I rented it, and it turns out I had several run in with her in the 90s when I worked for the Shuberts. She's also the mother of actor Rory Cochrane. It's a slight doc that I think could have been longer and more detailed, but worth a rental. It's only available on this site.

She's famous. Lots of people have had unfortunate experiences with her.

She harasses box office staff into giving her a free ticket?

Lots of folks really can't stand her. Folks couldn't have made a documentary about someone pleasant or who has achieved something in life instead?

That's one of her strategies, R588. I was initially really interested in her story, and throughout the piece, several interesting tidbits are brought up that you hope will be expanded upon. Her kids are awful and treat her terribly, especially her daughter. She lives in a one room hovel, yet she has money. She tells these stories about her youth that sound totally made up. There's a lot of meat there, but the filmmaker declines to really delve.

[quote]She harasses box office staff into giving her a free ticket?

She harasses ANYBODY who she thinks might get her in for free.

[Quote] Her kids are awful and treat her terribly, especially her daughter. She lives in a one room hovel, yet she has money.

Hmmm... Is she mentally ill?

I don't think so.

[quote] Didn't the Paris version have a 40 or 50 piece orchestra playing those glorious Tunick orchestrations?

They are by Michael Starobin.

Oops. But how large was the Paris band?

Why didn't Tunick do Sunday? He did Into the Woods.

In Lapine’s book, Sondheim says Tunick was busy with another project and also working on his own composing. The book also reveals that there is no love lost between Tunick and Paul Gemiagni. Tunick does seem like something of a dick, the few times I’ve met him.

I just asked this in one of the Beanie threads, but did Alice Playten ever play Fanny? She's one of the few who could have really sung it but could she have pulled off the rest of it?

He also doesn't bathe (Tunick).

Ew [Lucy spider].

Bajour!

Except for the lack of a big nose, Alice Playten would have made a perfect Fanny Brice in the 1960s/70s.