Theatre Gossip #437, Happy 155th Bday, BLACK CROOK! Edition

Why do you insist on making threads when you have

NO

idea how to do them well or correctly?

In 2015, Mamma Mia! finishes up its 5,773-performance run on Broadway.

Today's Birthdays: Maurice Chevalier (1888-1972). Harvey Schmidt (1929-2018). Ian Holm (1931-2020). Peter Scolari (b. 1955). Tony Sheldon (b. 1955). Hans Zimmer (b. 1957). Gregg Edelman (b. 1958). Will Chase (b. 1970). Jennifer Hudson (b. 1981). Will Blum (b. 1984).

2001 All Broadway and Off-Broadway shows remain dark, the day after terrorist attacks destroy the World Trade Center and travel into and around Manhattan is disrupted.

2002 The Ragtime team of Stephen Flaherty, Lynn Ahrens, and Terrence McNally collaborate again for the Off-Broadway musical A Man of No Importance at Lincoln Center Theater's Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater. Starring Roger Rees as bus conductor Alfie Byrne, it runs through the end of the year.

2010 The New York City premiere of Me, Myself & I, Edward Albee's play touching on some of his favorite ideas—parenting, children, identity, reality—opens at Playwrights Horizons. The play is directed by Emily Mann, who staged the 2008 world premiere at the McCarter Theatre, and stars Elizabeth Ashley, Zachary Booth, Brian Murray, Natalia Payne, Stephen Payne, and Preston Sadleir.

2011 The Kennedy Center's critically acclaimed production of James Goldman and Stephen Sondheim's musical Follies, opens at Broadway's Marquis Theatre. The cast is headed by Bernadette Peters as Sally, Jan Maxwell as Phyllis, Danny Burstein as Buddy, Ron Raines as Benjamin, and Elaine Paige as Carlotta.

2018 Jen Silverman’s play Collective Rage: A Play in 5 Betties opens at the Lucille Lortel Theater. Directed by Mike Donahue, the MCC production stars Dana Delany, Lea DeLaria, IAdina Verson, Ana Villafañe, and Chaunté Wayans as five women—all named Bettie—who collide at the intersection of rage, love, and the theatre, provoking them all to take a look in the mirror and be brave enough to face the person they didn’t know they could be.

I'm surprised Whoopi didn't take over for Nathan when he left Love! Valor! Compassion! She would have done a better job in the movie version than Jason Alexander.

In the movie version, about halfway through, someone finally got it through to JA that the role was flamboyant and all of a sudden he just ramps it up 500%. Probably the most uneven performance in any movie.

The NYT devotes a rather large and adoring article to DL fave (sort of) Adam Chanler-Berat.

A "star" sells tickets, whatever his or her talent. It was enough to see Nathan's ass in LVC, so I didn't want to see Whoopi's, thank you very much.

Jason Alexander is such a limited act. He fell into a pot of gold with Seinfeld, but has he really ever been great in anything?

I'm sure he was clearing space on his mantel for the Best Supporting Oscar in the LVC movie that never arrived.

There were a zillion other actors they could have cast to fill Nathan's role in the LVC movie. I think Matthew Broderick could have pulled it off, albeit it in a more Ferris Bueller way. I guess Jason was the star power to get it made, but nobody was coming to that film because he was in it.

He was ok in "Jerome Robbins' Broadway", but I don't think he had much competition that year, so he won. He was reasonably charming in those excerpts, but once he scored as George Costanza, that pretty much became what he did in almost everything, same as Matthew Broderick is almost always underwhelming and the same.

Jason Alexander was in two episodes of "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel" last season. He started out really great but then fell back into his old acting patterns, I wish the director had smacked him and said, "Go with what you did in the first scene."

Previous thread.

I remember seeing Adam Chanler Berat in Wesley Taylor's webseries and thinking that he, not Taylor, should have played the lead.

If you can get your hands on a copy of the book SON OF ANY WEDNESDAY it’s highly entertaining. Michael Rennie and Dick York were both replaced before broadway. The show was a big hit in stock and dinner theatres usually with a name actress in the wife role.

[quote] NOBODY went to see The Love Bug to see Helen Hayes because she wasn't in it. THAT was Buddy Hackett.

To be honest, it was hard to tell the difference sometimes.

[quote] Why do you insist on making threads when you have NO idea how to do them well or correctly?

Besides being completely unentertaining, what exactly did OP do wrong, on Grand Exalted Poobah of the Theatre Gossip threads?

[Quote] Why do you insist on making threads when you have NO idea how to do them well or correctly?—Stop it

Be sure to make the next thread then.

Jesus, who at the NYT has a massive hard-on for Adam Chanler Berat? That headline is laughable. Broadway Star? Generation's Most In-Demand voices?

Ridiculous.

[quote] I remember seeing Adam Chanler Berat in Wesley Taylor's webseries and thinking that he, not Taylor, should have played the lead.

Well, to be fair, anyone would be better than Wesley Taylor, the antithesis of charisma and personality. And that fucking webseries was awful. Gideon Glick was in it, too. I remember when it was running, Glick was doing two of those series at one time, and someone tweeted to him about them and he made some really shitty comment like- Well, if you want to see me play the stereotypical flaming queen, then I guess you lucked out. And I (having seen both series, and can say neither of those characters were written to be that way) thought to myself- Sweetheart, look in the mirror. You ARE a stereotypical flaming queen. It really left a bad taste in my mouth about him, to shit on the two creators that way. I was even on Wes Tay Tay's side and I can't stand him. I've never cared for Glick since.

I don't think Wesley lacks personality. He just always seems faintly villainous.

Julian replaced mid performance

Such a slimming aspect ratio.

Jason was rather charming in Reprise's They're Playing Our Song and tried to create a character.

I actually liked Wesley in his second series, when he played the slightly villainous roommate.

I think Come From Away was a massive collection of mediocre songs, cliched characterizations, and predictable plot turns. But I thought it was brilliantly directed and thought that Ashley deserved his Tony.

"I was just surprised how such a well-received, popular show had such a mundane score and book. It was simplistic and sentimental and smug."

State of the art Broadway.

r19, thanks for the clip but we really wanted to see the moment when Julian faltered.....clutched his throat and then staggered off the stage in great humiliation. Where is that footage?

R17, I wrote off Gideon Glick years ago, back when he was in SPRING AWAKENING and, during a Q&A somewhere, he went off on how upset he was that audiences were laughing at the scene in which his character was seduced by another boy. I thought, "Well, bitch, maybe they wouldn't laugh if you didn't shamelessly overact that scene and play it like a special-needs deer caught in the headlights."

As for Jason Alexander, I've been down on him ever since, in an early interview, he told in excruciating detail how he turned down JEROME ROBBINS' BROADWAY more than once (for no good reason other than stupidity and ego, in my opinion) before reluctantly accepting the role. And then, many years later, he apparently ran the L.A. Reprise! series into the ground almost single-handedly.

Hermione Gingold takes a drive.

I’m no expert, but I think that was green screened.

Really? I thought Hermione always did her own stunts.

Was the staging of COME FROM AWAY really brilliant, R23? It was brisk and efficient and kept dozens of characters moving, so there's that. But there was nothing very fresh or inventive to me about lining up chairs in different patterns or quick costume changes. The "choreography" such as it was was pretty dim: hand-clapping, foot-stomping.

The commitment to telling the stories of little, average, common people is admirable, but it doesn't mean that the songs, sets, and staging all have to look and feel little, average, and common. Theatre should aim higher.

Yes. Look at the apartment featured in FRIENDS.

Well, r30, Tony voters seemed to agree.

Jason Alexander was meh in Jerome Robbins' Broadway and the the Tony because competition was so weak. He's intolerable (now) on Seinfeld reruns. Yes, he was playing a character based on Larry David, but David has a kind of sleezy charm that Alexander lacks. He's totally one note and mostly a loud bore. Note that he's had little success after Seinfeld, and he's been given 2 or 3 chances at new series.

Never look back, OP.

Rear projection, not green screen, r28.

Julian Ovenden singing You Are Love from Showboat

What is Sierra Boggess? Chopped liver?

The Heather On The Hill with Ovenden AND BOGGESS

Not sure if this link was posted, I believe it was discussed a couple of threads ago.

Wicked in concert 2021

Jessie J.

Jason Alexander was great in Broadway Bound. That’s it.

I don't know much about Jessie J. but I'm for anybody that has a voice and knows how to use it.

Unfortunately, that doesn't happen very often these days.

Alexander was not the reason Reprise failed. He took over a huge money losing venture and it simply went bankrupt.

[quote]Jason Alexander was meh in Jerome Robbins' Broadway and the the Tony because competition was so weak. He's intolerable (now) on Seinfeld reruns. Yes, he was playing a character based on Larry David, but David has a kind of sleezy charm that Alexander lacks. He's totally one note and mostly a loud bore.

Interestingly, Jason was the only member of "Seinfeld" to never take home an Emmy. Michael and Julia won for their acting, Jerry and Larry as show producers, and Larry for his writing but Jason, despite several nominations, always went home empty-handed.

[quote]but Jason, despite several nominations, always went home empty-handed.

Richards winning for his grating, one-note performance as Kramer, which I found about as funny as a cholera epidemic, tells you all you need to know about the Emmys as an arbiter of quality.

He had really very good entrances.

We often hear about what's going wrong with Encores. I'd like to hear a little more about what went wrong with Reprise.

I prefer hearing this 12 yr old sing instead of Idina.

R17 Ah yes, his webseries, where he wrote himself as a passing-for-straight dom for hire, as if anyone would buy him being any of those things. It did have a thing with him using his headshot on his Craigslist ads, which does make me wonder if that's something which actually happened. Also wrote a scene in which Kyle Dean Massey hit on him, and Wes turned him down - ha, sure.

R26 Glick's career is really quite odd to me. Long stretches of nothing, and then getting high profile jobs. Even more odd, given he really isn't that talented. Also, tried to say on Twitter he was a total top, which is hilarious. Pretty sure he and Wes are/were very good friends, which pretty much says everything. He looked at home in the sling in the bondage dungeon scene of Wes's series.

Glick a top? Don't make me laugh. Rumor was he bottomed for all comers before he married that doctor he hooked up with.

And Wes' series was a laugh riot in that it was all Wes' projection of how desirable he thought he was. A friend of mine and I would hate watch it over text together and make fun of it. Wes even had his own therapist (played by Audra McDonald) hit on him.

Jason on the demise of Reprise in 2013. They tried to bring it back a few years later -- I went to their "Sweet Charity" with Laura Bell Bundy and Barrett Foa -- but the rest of the planned season never came to fruition and they went under again.

More on Reprise.

And here's where they called it quits for good.

Laura Bell Bundy would make a good Roxie Hart.

I used to be a regular attendee of Reprise. It was a pain in the ass to get there, a pain in the ass to park, and the productions were more miss than hit. I never saw one that I enjoyed. I finally stopped going.

And if anyone was curious as to how Judith Light's Joanne was in Company... She STINKS!

The roadshow down South renamed it Thievin' Darkies with Helen Lawson as the ingenue.

Two weeks from tonight, I'll be holding my first Tony.

Tony who?

LA ain't a theatre town, r56.

r59 I beg to differ. There are so many actors and wannabes in town that there are dozens of Equity waiver theaters, as well as several strong regional theater companies and lots of community theaters.

What R59 meant was LA is not a "good theater" town.

I didn't say there weren't theaters, r60.And what I meant, r61, is that people don't come to LA with a "And we *must* see some plays while we're there!" mindset.

Fine, then I meant LA is not a good theater town. I live here and the theater fucking sucks.

THR rave for the film version of Stephen Karam's "The Humans":

R64 Beanie is everywhere.

Have the 2020 Tonys been given out yet?

R66, two weeks from tonight.

Nice to see and Asian actor in a film which takes place in Chinatown.

The Black Crook: The Bill Cosby Story - it will run for years.

[quote]What [R59] meant was LA is not a "good theater" town.

Nor was it meant for R56.

Who's going?

R71 Stinky linky.

Cynthia Erivo at the Hollywood Bowl singing "Don't Rain On My Parade"

R71, This . . .

Wow, r73. That had all the personality of a cadaver. She really does have a great voice, but I got absolutely nothing from that.

How did the rest of you spend your Sunday afternoon?

[quote]THR rave for the film version of Stephen Karam's "The Humans":

One of the most overhyped and overpraised plays I barely sat through.

I saw THE HUMANS on stage twice. Liked it a lot.

I loved Sarah Steele in The Humans.

Yes, I watched those Erivo Hollywood Bowl videos a while back. Very careful singing. No excitement.

I absolutely loathed The Humans. What a bunch of utter NOTHING. Fat Houdyshell was awful. She was way too old to have had the equally annoying Sarah Steele as a daughter. A massively overhyped bore.

R81 much prefers "Slave Play."

R27 Made me think of this…

R76 Are you new here?

Hardly, r84. But I had the chance to see it in a theater again today and I wasn't gonna say no.

Can you believe Reed Birney gave up the stage because Karam promised him the movie of "The Humans" and then cast Richard Jenkins instead?

Pretty funny Eric Roberts was "dating" Sandy Dennis while having his dick sucked regularly by a hot young waiter named Anton, who later died from AIDS complications.

R87 Eric Roberts infected him via a BJ?

Eric Roberts' best performance was in "Star 80" .

R89 he was so scorching hot in that!

Fucking hell, Yannick conducting Verdi's Requim at the Met is a sight to behold.

Not since Bernstein....

Not Since Nineveh…

[quote] Can you believe Reed Birney gave up the stage because Karam promised him the movie of "The Humans" and then cast Richard Jenkins instead?

Richard Jenkins has an Emmy and two Oscar nominations. That gets movie investors more interested than Reed’s Tony.

[quote] Fucking hell, Yannick conducting Verdi's Requim at the Met is a sight to behold.

Somebody at PBS in NYC is going to get fired today. They cut to a commercial in the last minute of the performance. You’re hearing the final strains of music and then all of a sudden you’re hearing about Viking Cruises.

R95 They way he held it at the end....God I want him.

Reed Birney "gave up the stage"? What did you really mean?

It looks like Sondheim is going to be on the Colbert show this week.

R98, With both eyes open?

Reed Birney was in a play in the Berkshires this summer. He's doing fine and sends his love.

Reed Birney was in a play in the Berkshires this summer. He's doing fine and sends his love.

Personally, I prefer Eric Roberts’ performance in A Talking Cat!?!

eric Roberts was FIRE in Burn This replacing Malkovich

Yes. I preferred him to Malkovich in BURN THIS.

Roberts fell up the stairs backstage while going to his dressing room during his first week of performances, and missed a couple of shows because of injuries to his cock-sucking lips.

R100-A play no producer has the balls to bring into NYC because it features two white guys who are (gasp) related to each other. Diversity will ruin all of off-Broadway yet.

Regarding the play (Chester Bailey), I believe Tom Viertel is working to bring it in. I think it would probably end up with one of the non-profits next season. It was a very good play in a truly gorgeous production. Both Birneys were excellent.

One of Roberts' early appearances was in a PBS adaptation of Willa Cather's PAUL'S CASE. Right after it aired I walked into the shower room of the UWS YMCA and found him alone, lathering up. I stammered out a compliment on his performance and he smiled, thanked me charmingly, and kept on lathering. Seemed pleased I recognized him. Still have vivid memories of that day.

Watching right now...

Roger Bart and his trouser python sidelined by COVID

So then Roger will have more time to work on setting up the WEBDC.

R108, Umm . . . Aren't you leaving something out of your story?

Reprise was a loser, but Jason made it worse with his hideous Damn Yankees rap version.

The original founding director, Marsha Seligson, tried to revive the whole thing about three years ago (she had been dumped by the Reprise board in a big scandal about six or seven years after the start). She went into it, as usual, severely underfunded, did a Sweet Charity that people liked, then, faced with no money, switched her middle show to “The World Goes Round” which no one was interested in, and canceled the third show, Grand Hotel (starring the older Platt). And that was the end of Reprise, for good this time.

R110, I still miss it.

R21, I thought he was miscast, but Stephanie J. Block was charming.

Please keep the musical of Back to the Future away from Broadway. I can think of nothing worse than sitting with a masked audience, who are desperately trying to be heard, mouthing the film's dialogue along with the interchangeable actors. This show will only encourage more godawful 1980s/90s film to stage adaptations.

r112, if I were I'd be happy to tell you. Indeed, proud to tell you. But no.

Damn Yankees rap version? Tell me more.

For r118

The guy in the yellow pants has quite the cod piece.

Jason Alexander's Tony for JR's Broadway was the most bewildering win in the Tonys history. He was completely charmless. Once I saw his understudy and they were equally bad. They could have just had a tape of JR introducing every scene. I saw it a number of times and the only numbers that held up as excerpts were Peter Pan and On a Sunday By the Sea which might be the best production number I ever saw.

THIS DAY IN BROADWAY HISTORY: In 1954, "Hayride" opened at the 48th Street Theatre.

[Quote] Once I saw his understudy and they were equally bad.

His understudy was nonbinary?

"Beetlejuice" is going to reopen.

Has the Palace been raised yet?

Audra will be hosting the Paramount+ section of the Tonys, Leslie Odom Jr the CBS portion. Not exactly dazzling us with star power.

In case anybody is interested in getting a sense of place for OP's mention of THE BLACK CROOK, Niblo's Theater stood at the NE corner of Broadway and Prince Street. In the post-Civil War decades, this ws the heart of the theater district. There are images of the exterior and interior of Niblo's online.

R126, Woke is me!

R125, It was raised when I played it.

Judy raised it many times.

I had my comeback there just like Mama. Only better.

Liza May Not.

The Girl in Pink Tights

Any relation?

It's all relative.

She was more...

Oooh. DL fave Grayson Hall has a starring role in "Satan in High Heels" at R135.

Hey, r137, nobody was looking at Miss Hall!

R108. Many, many decades ago, a (late) friend of mine taught in Northwestern’s summer theatre program for high school students (“Cherubs”). He directed an adaptation of PAUL’S CASE. His Paul was a young man named Paul Reubens—better known as Pee Wee Herman.

someone just posted some clips of Marin Mazzie in The King and I - and the moron audience needing to clap along to the polka like it's a fucking hoedown typifies everything wrong with our world. Oh, Mary, indeed

I never in all my life, r140.

No doubt ushers who were told to start the clapping.

It was....

I really like both Sarah Steele and Gideon Glick -- together, they made SPEECH AND DEBATE a good experience even though the play is quite problematic. And I loved Gideon in SIGNIFICANT OTHER.

Here you go, Zombie Charles Lowe.

Carol was uniquely gifted, but it is still true that a performer can't learn to do this by going to L.A. for pilot season.

I’m so glad R145 reminds us how everyone always reacts to the old Carol Burnett sketches, too. Timeless hilarity.

Gene Shalit needed a flea dip

Gene Shalit and Anderson Cooper have the same giggle.

Wasn't what's-her-face, the girl who played Lydia in BEETLEJUICE, supposedly a real cunt?

Apparently everyone's 'first look' at Jeremy Jordan as Seymour on Fallon last night

why do they keep casting good looking guys who have to "act" nerdy instead of nerdy guys like Lee WIlkoff who could just play the guy?

and why is Christian Borle playing the drunk bum in the ensemble and did anyone comment on that?

sorry forgot clip

Actor playing the Dentist also plays other small roles and is part of ensemble.

Got it. Good for him doing ensemble on Fallon, and being really good in that bit.

What do we think of Jordan? And . Somehow the production feels and sounds a little high school to me but maybe that's part of its charm that just doesn't translate well to TV. I know it's not supposed to be slick - and that's what killed the Zaks revival for Broadway but this didn't work for me. Probably they should have done Suddenly Seymour to really hit hard with a great song and the two lead characters rather than that stupid thing all shows try to do show 'they have a big show' and an ensemble which usually ends up make the show seem smaller not bigger.

[quote] No doubt ushers who were told to start the clapping.

Speaking of Carol Channing, her husband would hire someone to sit in the audience and start a standing ovation at the end of every show.

Charles Lowe led the applause himself. No one in the audience knew who he was. Why pay someone to do what you can easily do yourself for free?

[quote] Why pay someone to do what you can easily do yourself for free?

Maybe because he got tired of doing it. I know a woman who did it for awhile for the 90s Broadway production.

Don’t get me started on Little Shop of Horrors. The show needs to be properly cast for it to work. Nobody would cast a short, fat, bald man as Curley in Oklahoma. You can’t cast a leading man and throw a pair of nerdy glasses on him and have him play Seymour. I wasn’t even impressed with Rick Moranis’ performance in the movie.

Little Shop of Horrors is actually a difficult show to do because if Seymour, Audrey and Mushnick aren’t played by character actors, then the show becomes a cartoon or is just not interesting.

Jason Alexander would have been a good Seymour. Getting back to his performance in TPOS, the reason I was impressed was because he was a short, fat Vernon when the others have been tall and skinny so he actually tried to create a character.

TPOS? That Piece Of Shit?

Jordan's looks have been compared to that of a gargoyle so...

And I know a guy who was also hired to lead a standing ovation for that same production in the 90s. It seems so quaint now that every show gets a standing ovation.

[Quote] Nobody would cast a short, fat, bald man as Curley in Oklahoma.

John C. Reilly couldn't be more of a Mitch but someone still cast him to play Stanley Kowalski.

And we saw how that worked out for us, r162.

[quote]I really like both Sarah Steele and Gideon Glick -- together, they made SPEECH AND DEBATE a good experience even though the play is quite problematic. And I loved Gideon in SIGNIFICANT OTHER.

Funny how Steele was in the SPEECH AND DEBATE movie but now is ditched for 'movie star' Beanie in THE HUMANS.

Beanie...baby!

Sarah Steele is a wonderful actress. The movie of SPEECH AND DEBATE was a disaster, unfortunately. (Gideon was replaced by Some Dude.)

Ben Platt on with Kelly and Ryan this morning, he's attending Wicked this evening.

Said he quarantined last year at his parents' house with his boyfriend.

I imagine his boyfriend's parents were very happy about that.

No one has mentioned the revival of The Glass Menagerie in London starring Amy Adams as Amanda?

Then someone's mother, then you're camp.

Amy Adams is old enough for Amanda? Christ!

Totally agree, R144.

Why do people say Jeremy Jordan looks like a gargoyle? He's a cutie patootie. Easily too cute for Seymour.

I guess that means Amy Adams might be up to play Sally Durant Plummer? Chris Pine is an obvious choice for Benjamin Stone.

Seeing NT's FOLLIES again, I was reminded how fine Quast was.

While I wouldn't call him a gargoyle, I wouldn't describe Jordan as relentlessly photogenic either.

To me, this is a "best friend" face. I cane see why he's more of a second/third/fourth lead on screen.

*can

R167-Right, Ben stayed in his bedroom and Noah was locked in the maid's quarters.

Trans, the musical

Isn't Platt a little old to be living at his parents' house? Particularly with a boyfriend?

He lived in the cottage.

Casting someone like Chris Pine as Ben Stone would fix a few of the problems with that show's book. At least with someone like him, you'd immediately understand why Sally was still so in love with him after all these years. I've never understood why they always try to cast that role with guys that have so little charisma.

Amy would probably make a wonderful Sally. We've heard her sing, seen her do perky and seen her do morose. She's got what it takes.

Just got a TDF email for the newest Woke play on Broadway- Thoughts of a Colored Man. And Lackawanna Blues starts its fifteenth run in NYC tonight, its first on Broadway, but who gives a shit at this point?

To pass the time in his parents' cottage, Platt crafted his hideous Met Gala outfit, painted his nails and gently moussed his chest hair.

AT 48 would Adams be the youngest Amanda ever? Laurette Taylor was over 60

R181, Ben clearly stated that he and his boyfriend slept in the same bedroom he had when he lived there originally years ago.

Isn't Tom supposed to be close to 30 during the time the play takes place? And my impression of Amanda is that she married later in life (at least later than a woman was expected to take a husband in those days) and that her boasting of all her gentleman callers was a fantasy to hide the truth that no one wanted her and she settled for a man who treated her poorly and left her and the children.

CZJ for Laura Wingfield?

[quote] Isn't Platt a little old to be living at his parents' house? Particularly with a boyfriend?

LOL that you think that Marc Platt's home doesn't have the room.

She'd read as too young, r188.

Amy looks like she could play Laura.

Jamie Bell for Buddy!

It has nothing to do with physical space, r189, and everything to do with being an adult--or not. He's 27 with a substantial income, living like a child.

R169 Young and older version of Tom? Are they going to make Tom the Narrator old and Tom within the play a young man?

Will Dream Skipper show up?

Ben Platt's father bought him an apartment. The quarantine living wasn't a failure to launch situation.

Amy is 48? Good for her. She looks much younger.

She really IS age appropriate for Follies these days. That's wild to think about.

Chris Pine is such younger but reads older like John McMartin did when he played him.

I know she's still a dewey ingenue, but Catherine Zeta Jones seems ideal for Carlotta, but who can handle Phyllis?

Throw Liza a bone and wheel her out for Broadway Baby.

[quote]Throw Liza a bone and wheel her out for Broadway Baby.

Broadway babies don't go for booze and dope.

How much money is Ben Platt's father going to spend to make him into a "star?"

Based on the absolutely brutal DEH reviews, outside of the Broadway world, people aren't going to play along.

It'll be interesting to see if he can supress his ego and bitchy side when doing press, given he failed to do so before with the 'it would never have been made without me' interview

At the Q&A I attended on Sunday he didn’t veer off into that sort of discussion, R200, buf he certainly laid on the platitudes about the “journey” he felt he had to undergo to put his performance on celluloid.

I hate when promos veer from the expected hype into "journeys" and "personal narratives". Dustin Hoffman was exhausting when he did that shit.

I started checking out press reels...

THIS DAY IN BROADWAY HISTORY: In 1972, "That Championship Season" opened at the Booth Theatre.

A post from the year 2071, "Theatre Gossip #1037, Happy 100th Bday, FOLLIES! Edition":

THIS DAY IN BROADWAY HISTORY: In 2021, Broadway officially reopened after an 18-month shutdown due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Why the fuck does the Williams estate allow shit like "Dream Skipper" and "Young Tom"/"Old Tom"? Just direct the fucking play and act the damn roles. Two different actors playing Tom sounds like unnecessary bullshit. Critics will probably rave! If only Young Tom played the harpsichord and Old Tom played the kazoo. Coup!

That’s been done before, though, hasn’t it? Two Toms?

I'm glad the estate allowed the musical, r206.

Shouldn't there be a young Amanda wafting around in the background when she talks about her gentlemen callers?

It's been done, r209.

NY1 is doing a live "On Stage" special right now from outside several Broadway theaters. There are people working the crew at "Wicked" (and I assume every show) who are wearing T-shirts that read "COVID Safety Team."

But are they doing the Safety Dance?

There’s about 90 minutes of B roll of TITANIC out there

Kristin C gave the curtain speech at Wicked.

*Kristi Dawn

Who?

[quote] Isn't Tom supposed to be close to 30 during the time the play takes place?

Doesn’t he leave to join the Merchant Marines? I would think he was in his 20s.

The script says that Laura is two years older than Tom. I also get the feeling that Amanda married very young. The gentleman callers can be real or chalked up to her imagination.

I put Amanda between 45 and 55. I think the character is like Rose in Gypsy she keeps getting played by older and older actresses. But she talks about having to work in a department store demonstrating bras so she can’t be too much older than early to mid 50s. There was discrimination in those days and they would have put an old woman on to unemployment in a minute.

The original "Tom" actor was quite old, right?

Yes, Eddie Dowling (who also produced and directed the first Broadway production) was 55. Laurette Taylor, who played Amanda, was 61 and died shortly after the play closed.

R187, you can work out the ages and Laura is 26. Tom is her younger brother (his age is harder to work out).

Amanda is about 45.

I once worked on a production and when you go through the text, you can work out the timeline.

r208 there's also this musical for real - with an 85 year old Amanda - but it's only a concert and there's only 1 Tom, but he's 68

oh and a 38 year old logo

Would Madeline Kahn have made a good Amanda?

The 1966 TV adaptation of GLASS MENAGERIE had a 68-year-old Shirley Booth as 'Amanda,' 41-year-old Hal Holbrook as 'Tom,' 34-year-old Barbara Loden as 'Laura,' and 42-year-old Pat Hingle as 'Jim.'

I have to admit, watching Frank DiLella's NY1 special tonight, it made me want to buy a ticket to a show. Like many, I've been missing theater (Broadway and otherwise) so much but was still holding back because I'm just not quite "there" yet, but seeing that full house at "Wicked" tonight was just so heartening and makes me want to jump back in. If I do, I think my first choice will be the revival of "Caroline, or Change," which I had tickets for back when the shutdown first happened.

“The play is memory.” - Tom

WTF? Is Rob Ashford directing this London Glass Menagerie shiftiest? He's fucked up Williams in London once before. That horrid Streetcar.

Cherry Jones played Amanda like a butch gym coach. Jessica Tandy was too old. Sally Field was trapped in a shit production. Jessica Lange was all wrong and had Dallas Roberts fired when he touched her ass. Judith Ivey was lost.

The best Amanda was Maureen Stapleton but she had to work with a canned ham named Rip.

Maureen Stapleton is nowhere near being a faded Southern Belle. Forget inappropriate racial casting. Stapleton was as wrong as can be even though she was white.

My high school's Amanda was very very good and grownups cried at her "Go to the moon you selfish dreamer" and we only had one Tom

Rip Taylor as Tom?!

I saw Brenda Blethyn. She was fine.

No, he was the Gentleman Caller who arrived throwing confetti.

Had a friend whose sister played Amanda in college. During her speech about "human beings must chew their food before they swallow it down and chew, chew. " the director interrupted her and said "No, no, not like a train!"

Mitzi Gaynor was an Amanda for the ages.

She should have had just one Bob Mackie number, though.

In THE GLASS MENAGERIE script, Laura specifically says, in response to a question from Jim O'Connor, that she will be 24 in June. In another scene, Amanda says to Tom that Laura is older than he by "nearly two years." So Laura is almost 24 and Tom is around 22. There's no mystery about this, folks, it's all there in the script.

The upcoming musical inspired by THE GLASS MENAGERIE, with Anita Gillette et al., is supposed to be a portrait of the same characters many years later. Please pay attention, people, and stop writing stupid things.

What about Joanne Woodward's Amanda? I saw Julie Harris's and she was wonderful, but also trapped in a crap production. Nobody has yet mentioned the disaster that K-Hep did for television.

It's a perfect but delicate play.

Judge for yourself, r238...

She wanted Amanda's clothing to look old and worn, r236, so she just wore her old Les Girls costumes.

[quote] In THE GLASS MENAGERIE script, Laura specifically says, in response to a question from Jim O'Connor, that she will be 24 in June. In another scene, Amanda says to Tom that Laura is older than he by "nearly two years." So Laura is almost 24 and Tom is around 22. There's no mystery about this, folks, it's all there in the script.

Then perhaps you can shed some light on why EVERY SINGLE TOM has been cast as if they were in the episode of One Day at a Time called Ann's Crisis.

Glass Menagerie is a dated bore

Hepburn was great as Amanda and the rest of the cast was perfect. Joanna Miles was a heartbreaking Laura.

[quote]Amanda says to Tom that Laura is older than he by "nearly two years.

It's either 'than him' or 'than he is'. There is no 'than he'.

Standards, people!

Years and years ago, I saw a regional production of The Glass Menagerie in an Equity theater in the midwest. Amanda was played by Bella Jarrett. She was one of those working actresses we used to have who worked all the time, but was never famous. She was also born and raised in the South. An enormous advantage for any actress playing Amanda Wingfield. I was probably a freshman in college, but I was so impressed with that production, mostly because of Bella Jarrett's performance.

I never trust my youthful memories of how good these sorts of things were. I was young and, perhaps, too easily impressed. But It wasn't so many years later that I saw Jessica Tandy play the role on Broadway and that was a major crushing disappointment. (John Dexter's production was horrible.) I thought then that Bella Jarret had been much, much better that Jessica Tandy. Subsequently, I've seen the movie, the television versions, and Cherry Jones. None have been better than Ms. Jarrett.

It's an exquisite play, but as delicate as the class figurines featured in it.

R244 that's a fine way to lose a man!

[Quote] It's an exquisite play, but as delicate as the class figurines featured in it.

Mary!

I don't really think Amanda was the role for Kate, r243. But, she *did* get to re-use her Philadelphia Story dress!

R246, Too funny.

Lucie Arnaz as Ruth Sherwood.

I wish Gary had talked her out of it.

R250 I saw that (pretty lackluster) production. Lucie was perfectly swell, replacing an otherwise-engaged Tyne Daly. Stephanie Zimbalist was unfortunate with an even more unfortunate wig that made it feel like you were watching My Grandmother Eileen.

[quote] It seems so quaint now that every show gets a standing ovation.

Happily, so far that's only a convention on Broadway. Maybe you guys can reverse it before the tourists get back.

I do notice that here in Australia the probability of a standing ovation rises, not with the quality of the production but with the cost of the tickets. Your Mums and Dads who've spent $400 to see Hamilton are much likelier to stand than the picky subscribers at Sydney Theatre Company or Belvoir Street, even on occasions when the quality at those places is at its peak, which is considerably north of Hamilton. When you prise a subscriber out of his or her seat it's a real achievement -- as it's meant to be. That appears to be still true in Britain too, if the NT Live productions are anything to go by.

Of course the ubiquitous standing ovation is a purely self-congratulatory response on the part of the audience in direct proportion to the cost of the ticket and mediocrity of the show. The more banal, the more thundering the reception.

[quote] Glass Menagerie is a dated bore

What an insufferable comment. "Dated" because it took place long ago, r242?

Amanda = Thelma Harper

Laura = Iola Boylen

Tom = Bubba Higgins

Gentleman Caller - Vinton Harper

Opening soon at the Pepper Pot Playhouse.

I went to a way off broadway play at The Producers Club last week to see a friend in the cast and the small audience of around 30 leapt to their feet at the curtain call. It’s a thing now and not just on broadway.

with standing ovations (and the infuriating whooping) already [italic]de rigueur[/italic] for everyday performances, how does an audience acknowledge a truly major event like last night's returns? Ejaculating in the air?

[quote]how does an audience acknowledge a truly major event like last night's returns? Ejaculating in the air?

Pics please.

R258, The whooping is beyond ridiculous, especially when watching a bootleg recording and the person recording happened to have sat near someone who felt it necessary to whoop continuously after each musical number.

West Side Story trailer

I think with standing ovations, people in the front stand up and then because people in the back can’t see, they feel compelled to stand.

I attended Wicked's reopening last night. Plenty of standing and screaming. There were about 6 standing ovations during the show, but it was an occasion, so I understand.

How were Sam Waterston and Michael Moriarty in that Hepburn MENAGERIE? They would have been pretty spectacular casting back then I would think.

Kate and company

I grew up in the DC area, where everyone stood after performances. When I moved to NYC, I was relieved that audiences didn't do that here...and then it started.

Now it's gone off the rails, Even the two worst shows I ever attended (Festen and a show of dancing to Burt Bacharach songs--can't remember the name) had standing ovations.

Laura, I wouldn't play that Victrola if I were you!

The obligatory standing ovation I think stems from this 'everybody gets a trophy/medal/applause' mentality. Just so no one takes offense or gets their feelings hurt. It's a strictly liberal thing.

Even stranger is when there are standing ovations in MOVIE theaters (and I don't mean at premieres or other events where the cast is present.) Jennifer Hudson's "And I Am Telling You" got a standing 'o' at the weekday matinée showing I attended.

AIDS killed off discriminating audiences. Now, Bway is filled with tourists. They are dazzled by any crap

[quote][R258], The whooping is beyond ridiculous, especially when watching a bootleg recording and the person recording happened to have sat near someone who felt it necessary to whoop continuously after each musical number.

I don't mind standing ovations, but the whooping is totally uncalled for. Sillier still is when a bootlegger puts down their recording device to whoop and applaud. Why bother recording?

[quote]The obligatory standing ovation I think stems from this 'everybody gets a trophy/medal/applause' mentality. Just so no one takes offense or gets their feelings hurt. It's a strictly liberal thing.

That's a completely ridiculous statement. I don't understand why anyone cares whether others give a standing ovation or not. It doesn't affect you negatively in any way

Thanks, r239. I enjoyed that. Karen Allen is a strangely compelling performer. I was associated with the Actor's Studio workshop of Monday After The Miracle, a three hander including Ellen Burstyn and John Heard, who absolutely despised one another. Arthur Penn would watch helplessly while those two went at each other. Karen would wander off and practice on her harmonica.

R269, it's hilarious when people clap at a screen--but at least they were moved.

The McCarter Theatre presented an Emily Mann-directed production of Glass Menagerie back in 1991. Timothy Hutton was announced to play Tom, but he must have eventually met with Mann and thought, "this woman's insane". They replaced him with Dylan McDermott, who swished around that stage like a Las Vegas showgirl, and had obviously been directed to play Tom as Tennessee Williams. He was unbearable. Lisping, and flapping his wrists. Awful. Even worse though, was Shirley Knight, who sashayed around that stage, drawing out every...fucking...line.....like....this...... Judy Kuhn was a terrific Laura, but the highlight was this actor name of Jeff Weatherford, who was amazing as Jim. He made you cry. And, of course, he's never been heard of since. Shirley Knight was the most boring, overcooked Amanda I've ever seen. Her curtain call was a one woman show.

r256 Both Waterston and and Moriarity was beautiful.

were

R263, Who was the most famous audience member you saw last evening?

R271, I was involved with that Actor's Studio MONDAY AFTER THE MIRACLE too. In the Broadway production, Jane Alexander was much better for the role.

I think audiences have changed a lot. During the Jessie Mueller--Joshua Henry Carousel a few seasons ago the audience clapped, whooped, and roared with laughter at the many "jokes" in both dialogue and lyrics. None merited more than a gentle chuckle. (and I also remember the LCT audience clapping along to "Shall We Dance").

[quote][R271], I was involved with that Actor's Studio MONDAY AFTER THE MIRACLE too. In the Broadway production, Jane Alexander was much better for the role.

Absolutely no doubt about that, r277. Burstyn was miscast. Heard was an absolutely horror to work with. He endlessly baited Burstyn, and she always rose to it. They had horrific fights. The rehearsal process was most unpleasant. I did not make the move to Broadway, but was given tickets to opening night. Alexander was a much better choice. Sadly, it wasn't a very good play, and closed the week it opened.

[quote] The obligatory standing ovation I think stems from this 'everybody gets a trophy/medal/applause' mentality. Just so no one takes offense or gets their feelings hurt. It's a strictly liberal thing.

r268 that's ridiculous

[quote]Then perhaps you can shed some light on why EVERY SINGLE TOM has been cast as if they were in the episode of One Day at a Time called Ann's Crisis.

Since I didn't cast those productions, I can't help you. But my guess is that the roles in MENAGERIE have frequently been cast with actors considerably older than the characters for the same reasons this has happened so often in so many productions of so many other plays.

I'm pretty confident that the main reason behind the huge increase in standing ovations, whooping and hollering after (and sometimes even during) musical numbers, etc. is the oft-heard theory that has been repeated here: theater tickets are now SO expensive that audiences need to convince themselves that they've had an extraordinary experience. And since, of course, they can't control the quality of the shows, they do this by way of their over-the-top responses. Another part of it is that, generally speaking, I think audiences today as compared to back in the day are more insistent about making the theater-going experience all about them rather than about the show itself.

Another possible reason for all the whooping and hollering is because people have been seeing and hearing that behavior for years on television shows where audiences are instructed and signaled to overreact to everything.

The whooping and hollering is all about being seen as getting the joke. Look at me!! I'm an insider!

[quote]Another possible reason for all the whooping and hollering is because people have been seeing and hearing that behavior for years on television shows where audiences are instructed and signaled to overreact to everything.

Likely, r282. I went to a Colbert show pre-covid. The attempts to wind up the audience off camera were so annoying that I'd never go again. I don't know that this behavior is all that new. Listen to this recording of Irene Ryan in Pippin. The applause goes on for over a minute.

Lee Grant, 50 years ago on the Dick Cavett Show, told him audiences were much more responsive and animated on Friday and Saturday nights because they had paid more for their tickets. She was appearing in The Prisoner Of Second Avenue at the time. She said the laughs were bigger, the crowds were more attentive, and they were more vocal during the curtain calls.

This has been going on a long time, and it has everything to do with money.

WSS trailer: Once again, a movie musical that wants to pretend it isn't a musical. Only tidbits of full-out singing and dancing. Yuck.

Friday and Saturday night audiences drink more.

R284 I like Colbert, but those chants of "Stephen! Stephen!" are a bit overblown (at least before all the great stuff he did about Drumpf); now they're more tolerable. I think he probably considers it a bad night if when he starts talking and "Hello, my name is Stephen Colbert..." and doesn't get another big outburst of applause, though. He does put in a pause there usually.

Why yuck, r286?

Friday and Saturday night audiences are usually the best everywhere. They're more determined to have a good time since they're off of work, have the kids with a babysitter, have just had a few drinks, etc. Sunday matinees are normally the worst. All those elderly folks that are still offended by an actress wearing a dress above her ankle who can't hear most of the jokes (or who can hear them but who have decided they're too offended to laugh at them). It's a disaster.

R290 A completely different experience here. Up until the first time I worked on Broadway (15 years ago) I always assumed Saturday nights had the best audiences. In fact, a great majority showed up drunk, laughed too loud and long at any hint of a joke and then died after intermission, when the residual alcohol lured them into a collective stupor. Saturday matinees were almost always delightful with people who really wanted to be there. Sunday matinees were not great when folks arrived after a brunch of too much food and too many mimosas. Wednesday matinees were the worst.

Burstyn might have made a good Amanda Wingfield.

I've always wanted to see a younger Amanda, probably as a reaction to the casting always being SO old.

I'm not a fan of Amy Adams but I don't have anything against her either. I'd like to see Nicole Kidman do it, combo of fragility and strength I think and has stage chops

Why was the Glinda who appeared on The Today Show a different color than the actual Glinda who is appearing in the show now?

An Amanda Winfield who's patently fond of cosmetic surgery? That's not good casting in my book.

[Quote] Why was the Glinda who appeared on The Today Show a different color than the actual Glinda who is appearing in the show now?

Honey blonde versus ash blonde?

[quote]Friday and Saturday night audiences are usually the best everywhere.

But especially in Miami Beach!

R271, more, more about the war between Ellen Burstyn & John Heard!

John Heard got fired from his first big job when director Mike Nichols replaced him with Paul Rudd (the FIRST Paul Rudd) when the show STREAMERS moved from its Long Wharf Theatre tryout in New Haven to Lincoln Center. And it wasn't due to Heard's lack of talent.

"Never work with an ass hole twice." Nichols' ass holes included Walter Matthau, George C. Scott and Mandy Patinkin.

WEHT William Converse-Roberts who replaced Heard in MONDAY AFTER THE MIRACLE? I was at Yale with him back in the 70s and he was a great guy, very charismatic and talented.

I think that WSS trailer looks great. I'm very excited about this movie.

With a few people familiar to DL.

[quote]"Never work with an ass hole twice." Nichols' ass holes included Walter Matthau, George C. Scott and Mandy Patinkin.

Nichols worked with Scott four times: The Little Foxes; Plaza Suite; Uncle Vanya; and The Day of the Dolphin.

r300. Looks great, yes, visually, but why not be out and proud about its musicality? It's the score and the dancing that are that show's glories. Seems they're afraid that many might not show up if they find out there are songs.

Well, you're absolutely right, r302, but I swear the new Nichols bio goes on about Mike saying that shit about Geo C Scott.

Heterosexuals aren't as musical inclined.

Yes, Nichols said Scott was hard to work with because he was an alcoholic. I guess he thought the results were worth the trouble, as he continued to work with him.

R284, Could that have been the Actors Fund performance?

There are actors who are a handful, but who are wonderful at what they do and then there are those who are vain, narcissistic, mean spirited cunts who are mostly definitely not worth the work. They're the types who'll demand more lines even though they still haven't learned the ones they've been given and must always be the center of every scene. These people are fucking nightmares, especially since their performances are never worth the trouble.

It amazes me how far some of the latter ones go with the way they behave, but they usually notice a steep decline later in their career once everyone's wised up to their antics. Life's too short to work with people like that even if they end up giving great performances. There's a reason why people like Betty White are so beloved. They came in, did the work, delivered, and didn't start things or pull any bullshit.

Are you shading Estelle Getty?

Estelle Getty couldn't remember her lines, but she wasn't difficult in any other way. I'm sure it was annoying, but it's not like she was a horrible bitch. That whole cast was the definition of professional.

[quote]Looks great, yes, visually, but why not be out and proud about its musicality?

This is the first of what will probably be a few trailers. It teased the musicality and the story.

By the time of the film's release I suspect no one will have any doubts that it is a musical and that it is a retelling of Romeo & Juliet.

Patience my fellow theatre queens. We will have more than enough time to bitch.

[quote]WEHT William Converse-Roberts who replaced Heard in MONDAY AFTER THE MIRACLE? I was at Yale with him back in the 70s and he was a great guy, very charismatic and talented.

Ahem. I'm sure you meant WHET, r299 :) I worked for awhile on the tv show Reasonable Doubts, early 90s. I did not work closely with him, but closely enough to tell you that he was still the great guy you knew in the 70s. A sweet man, and funny, too. He had a decent career in tv. Can't find anything on him after 2002.

[quote][R271], more, more about the war between Ellen Burstyn & John Heard!

It was a long time ago, r298. I don't remember specific details. He needled her relentlessly, and was sociopathic about it. He'd find flaws and sore spots, and chip away at them. She spent a lot of time in tears. Penn frequently called for breaks and several times sent people home early. There was nothing dishy or fun about it. It was ugly and depressing. Maybe r277 has more details.

[quote][R284], Could that have been the Actors Fund performance?

I doubt it, r307. An AF audience would have been shouting "BravA!", I'd hope. Remember, she was still well known as the much beloved Granny from the Beverly Hillbillies, and as an old vaudevillian, she knew how to work a crowd. John Rubenstein used to say that she regularly stopped the show with the number I posted at r284.

A fun AF curtain speech:

Don't most musical movie trailers these days avoid ALL on-screen singing? I was impressed to see this one open with some.

and r294 I'm betting last night's Glinda wasn't really ready for a crack of dawn call for morning TV

and r312 it's WEHT (whatever happened to). What would WHET stand for?

You're new to DL, aren't you, r313?

*

Proper DL form is WHET

WHET stands for cak and graxy.

[Quote] Can't find anything on him after 2002.

Don't tell me he's joined Boyd Gaines and Malcolm Getz.

WHET = FOLLIES!

So. Apparently Nathan Lane announced on some morning show (Hoda Kotb) that he and Bernadette just did a reading of a new Sondheim show. Who has details?

Now I'm pictured Nathan and Bernadette in Rosie O'Donnell fetishwear.

*picturing

Since Sondheim himself is a guest on Stephen Colbert’s show tonight for some random reason, perhaps announcing this new musical is the actual reason… the question is, is it Bunuel or something new? I suppose we will know soon.

It’s a musical about the love affair between Liberace and Sonia Henning. It’s called Liar’s Ball.

It's actually a bio musical of Nathan. Bernie plays a DLer who blew him that one time and Lane never called.

Sonja Henie not Sonia Henning.

[quote]So. Apparently Nathan Lane announced on some morning show (Hoda Kotb) that he and Bernadette just did a reading of a new Sondheim show. Who has details?

Sondheimites have already deemed it a masterpiece!

Not the Ice skater. Sonia was Pekingese Chihuahua mix that live next door.

That wasn't the Heine Lee was interested in.

I saw Ryan in Pippin and the huge ovation she got after her number was the real thing. As has been said she was a beloved performer but her vaudeville days were long behind her so the fact that she could hit a musical number out of the park was a surprise and delight to an audience that only knew her as Granny.

Three pieces of cringeworthy news from Playbill today:

Matthew López Will Pen Remake of The Bodyguard

The playwright has been tapped to pen a re-imagined script inspired by the classic 1992 romance, Variety reports. The original movie starred Whitney Houston and Kevin Costner and featured several soundtrack hits from Houston. No casting details for the new film have been announced. López is a current Tony nominee for his play The Inheritance, which opened on Broadway in 2019.

Peppermint Will Host "Dreaming the Queer Future" Panel Conversation

The recipients of the 2021–2022 New Visions Fellowship from National Queer Theater and the Dramatists Guild of America will participate in an online conversation on the importance of transgender and gender non-conforming representation in American Theatre. Activist and performer Peppermint will host the panel with fellows Ayla Xuan Chi Sullivan and Nick Hadikwa Mwaluko, along with New Visions Lead Mentor Roger Q. Mason. Postponed from June 8, the conversation will now take place on October 19 at 6 PM ET via Zoom. To register, click here.

Karen Olivo Will Lead Project Broadway Training Program

Conceived and led by the Tony winner, Project Broadway will offer a free virtual musical theatre training program. Ten BIPOC high school students will be selected to participate in the seven-week Moscaic Training Program with acting, vocal, and dance masterclasses led by Olivo (currently a Tony nominee for Moulin Rouge!) and other Broadway artists. Applications are due by September 21. For more information or to apply, click here.

Standing ovations are pretty much commonplace for all major musical theater productions...in fact, many of them are created via the music and how the curtain calls are staged. Also, big emotional dramas at larger theaters tend to give them out, too.

The standing O is pretty rare at smaller theater companies and especially if it's a younger, "hip" theater. They disdain them for the most part.

I see lots of theater, or did pre-Covid, and I agree about Sunday matinees especially at older skewing theaters. Super low energy and sleepy. Matinees in general are awful.

Friday and Saturday audiences can be fun but also obnoxious.

I'm a fan of the Thursday performance. If the show is long, the audience can get sleepy but a Thursday audience is usually a smarter audience and there because they really love theater.

I hate most opening nights. The audience is too rah rah...it's all board members or investors and theater employees and "friends" and they overdo all their reactions. Lots of fake laughing at an opening night.

R299 I went to college with John Heard and directed him in a one act play by Edna St. Vincent Millay called ARIA DA CAPO. Or rather I should say I "...tried to direct him." I ended up firing him a week before the opening and replacing him with a less adequate performer. John was a great actor, but he had one real problem: he was an alcoholic - even in those early days. He went on a three day binge, - just disappeared and never contacted anyone - leaving us worried and baffled.. When he finally showed up and I told him that we had replaced him, he wasn't upset or surprised. That was even more baffling to me.

We actually stayed friends, and when we moved to New York City in the 70s, our paths would cross frequently. As has been mentioned, he continued to get fired from shows, ostensibly because of attitude or conflicts with the director or other cast members, but the real reason/demon was his continued alcoholism. It's why he always looked bloated and in poor health. RIP John.

[Quote] That was even more baffling to me.

Really? Addicts seek oblivion.

I wonder if Heard and Burstyn eventually made up. They were both in the HBO movie "The Tale", released the year after Heard died.

When I was going to matinees back in the 70s audiences were serious and attentive. They wanted to be there. I don't know what happened.

William Converse-Roberts was also excellent recurring as Duke Cheever, poor Jillian's drug dealer on Ryan's Hope and as Molly's ex-husband Fred on The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd.

R334 Disney and Rent.

Disney is pretty self explanatory - but it turns Broadway into a theme park attraction.

Rent democratized Broadway - $20 rush tickets opened the door to a way younger audience than usual - or at least a young unaccompanied audience, lots of kids without parents.

And it just snowballed from there. At least in my opinion.

Sondheim could well be doing Colbert to push the new COMPANY.

R322, The original title was The Right Girl.

R299-That's a load of crap. Heard asked to be let go after the New Haven run because he was being sexually harassed by Peter Evans. When Peter tried to do it to Peter Weller, Weller pushed back and threatened him with a complaint to Equity. Peter took every opportunity after that to badmouth Weller as much as he could. But he never had nice things to say about Heard either. And by the way, I know this to be true because one of the drunken sergeants was my acting teacher. Oh, the stories.

Peter Evans died from the AIDS, correct?

Why would Heard be the one let go if he was being sexually harassed?

R337, How many food stains will Sondheim be wearing tonight?

Peter Evans was a much-beloved young actor, who I happened to work with in the late 1970s. A hugely talented, sweet and considerate guy, gone way too soon, who regularly had men and women falling all over him. Peter Weller and John Heard, OTOH, had careers that were riddled with scores of stories about the difficulties of working with both of them.

Personally, I wouldn't trust your acting teacher's stories, r339.

It's hard to believe that a hot head lke Heard would scurry away from a production because of unwanted advances.

Oh god, is Stephen singing again in that, spare us please.

Sonia Henning would probably be more interested in a revival of "The Magic Show."

Either that or a musical version of "The Beverly Hillbillies."

r293 I'd like to see Amy and Nicole do Streetcar as Stella and Blanche.

Not sure who I'd want as Stanley.

Colin Farrell!

Shuler Hensley as Stanley.

Shia LaBoeuf!

THIS DAY IN BROADWAY HISTORY: In 1976, "for colored girls who have considered suicide / when the rainbow is enuf" opened at the Booth Theatre.

That production of FOR COLORED GIRLS... was fantastic. It moved uptown from the Public Theater, and was really edgy for Broadway. The Booth Theater was the perfect home for it. I'm so glad I got to see it way back then.

The Paul Davis art...

^ Well goodness and oh dear!

Agreed, R352. It was so beautiful.

Good Lord, can’t anyone make the insufferable Lin-Manuel shut the fuck up? Has there ever been anyone so needy, with his thin, whiny voice end greasy theatre-kid-from-hell appearance and affect?

GO AWAY!

Bad news for R356 as Lin has declared 2022/23 will see him do his next Broadway show.

[quote] That's a load of crap. Heard asked to be let go after the New Haven run because he was being sexually harassed by Peter Evans. When Peter tried to do it to Peter Weller, Weller pushed back and threatened him with a complaint to Equity. Peter took every opportunity after that to badmouth Weller as much as he could. But he never had nice things to say about Heard either. And by the way, I know this to be true because one of the drunken sergeants was my acting teacher. Oh, the stories.

And it couldn't possibly be that your acting teacher was a homophobic asshole who knew Peter Evans was gay (and playing an effeminate gay character who flirts with several of the male characters) and assumed that he must be hitting on and harassing all the actors.

Also, Peter Weller and Peter Evans don't appear to have been in the show at the same time. Evans left and Mark Metcalf took over as Richie and Paul Rudd left and Peter Weller took over as Billy.

R343, Peter Evans regularly had men and women falling all over him?

Please try again.

He appears at 2:05 on this "9 to 5" clip. The man was hardly swoon material.

[quote]When I was going to matinees back in the 70s audiences were serious and attentive. They wanted to be there. I don't know what happened.

Sondheim has a theory that the miking of actors caused a really big, undesirable shift. He said before that audiences craned forward and paid close attention, because if they didn't they really would miss important points, whereas since everyone has been miked it all sounds like the movies or TV to people and they become similarly inattentive. I'd like to know how many people seeing Hamilton for the first time and standing up screaming at the end have heard more than 40% of the lyrics.

The whooping and hollering is, I can tell you, an exclusively American thing that British and Australian people really dislike. It's starting to invade our theatres via all those stupid reality TV shows that encourage audiences to be hysterical over nothing which, when they are made here, still follow that mindless pattern.

I also agree with the poster who said tourists are impressed by any old crap. My experience is that most people when they first go to the theatre love, or claim to love, everything they see. It's only after they've seen something genuinely outstanding - and paid attention to it - that they start to acquire standards. But if you only go to the latest ALW jukebox musical, you're never going to see that show.

Wait, did I just hear right? Michael Urie in "Chicken & Biscuits"?

[quote] Peter Evans regularly had men and women falling all over him? Please try again. He appears at 2:05 on this "9 to 5" clip. The man was hardly swoon material.

You do understand that show was from about a year before he died of AIDS related circumstances, asshole.

[quote]and [R312] it's WEHT (whatever happened to). What would WHET stand for?

[quote]You're new to DL, aren't you, [R313]? *Proper DL form is WHET

I tried so hard to be nice, r314

[quote]RIP John.

None of that surprises me, r331, except that I didn't know he was dead. I'm with Bette Davis on this one. That worksite was toxic. because of Heard. His demons ran deeper than alcoholism. MARY! me all you want, I would have gladly spent my entire life never having met him.

I can't imagine anybody getting rid of Evans in that play. He was crucial. I also ran into him in the plaza at Lincoln Center and told him how much I loved the play and he said it was the greatest professional experience of his life. Yes I can imagine everyone falling all over him.

I recently watched the 1985 TRIP TO BOUNTIFUL and I must say, John Heard was one hot daddy in that.

R362, Though Evans died in 1989, he does not look the least bit ill on that show, you fool. In comparison to how Rock Hudson looked on his last television appearance with Doris Day, Evans appeared to be the picture of health.

John Heard has had a messy personal life. His first wife was Margot Kidder and they separated after being married for only six days. His third wife only lasted seven months. He also had some arrests when he dated Melissa Leo.

I knew a lot of Peter Evans' friends in the early 80s and they all adored him. Someone being swoonworthy can have a lot to do with charm and a sense of humor than being classically handsome.

[quote]Sondheim has a theory that the miking of actors caused a really big, undesirable shift. He said before that audiences craned forward and paid close attention, because if they didn't they really would miss important points, whereas since everyone has been miked it all sounds like the movies or TV to people and they become similarly inattentive.

I doubt the miking of actors had more impact than the fact that television and movies turn audiences into passive viewers rather than active ones. If people went to the theater as much as they watch tv or movies you'd see another shift. Microphones have little to do with it.

R368, Whose friends don't adore them? No one's talking classically handsome, but the man on that clip was minimally attractive. Charm and a sense of humor are definite plusses, but they don't make an average looking man swoonworthy.

r369, I'm going to bet that you didn't attend many Broadway shows before the 1980s when miking wasn't prevalent? Believe me, in the old days (saw my first Broadway show in 1965), one had to pay close attention because an actor's voice actually emanated from the actor, not a disembodied sound system.

No comments about Sondheim's appearance on Colbert last night? (I went to bed early)

Peter Evans was beautiful and utterly charming on stage during the 1970's and 80's. Not in that dead common stand-and-pose-and-glower fashion model cliche of being attractive so popular at Data Lounge.

Perhaps you just had to be there. Those of us who saw his work in New York are the lucky ones. He had that thing that cannot be taught and was incandescent on stage. I'm so grateful to have seen the Lincoln Center production of STREAMERS. It was splendid and Peter Evans was unforgettable in it.

Sondheim looked pretty rough last night on Colbert, even for 91. He sounds great, but it's almost to the point where both eyes are closed.

Colbert gave him the last ten minutes and Sondheim was already seated for his introduction.

He praised Company and the upcoming WSS film and confirmed that he's got a new musical in the works.

R373, Spoken like an agent with one client.

[quote] I'd like to know how many people seeing Hamilton for the first time and standing up screaming at the end have heard more than 40% of the lyrics.

40% of the lyrics is still like 3X the number of lyrics in any normal musical

about the leaning forward and being engaged- when Patrick Stewart did his 1-man Christmas Carol - at the last the first time, in the smaller of the theaters he played, it wasn't miked. At the beginning you could sense audience was a little tetchy but then they just leaned in and connected and the real theater [italic]feeling[/italic] enveloped the whole audience and we were one with him. Sounds like I'm being all [italic]MARY![/italic] about it but it's true and I miss the feeling every time the sound blares out and pushes us back in our seats.

Given the amount of repetition in Hamilton you don't really need to hear more than 40%

Sondheim was pretty heavily made up last night, so if you think he looked rough that's probably not the half of it. It was very odd that he was already seatedbefore the introduction. I wonder if he's having difficulty walking. On the plus side, his clothes were clean and pressed and his beard was (almost) well trimmed.

He's 91, fer chrissakes. There was nothing odd about him being seated when the segment started. Old eyes don't do well with dark backstage areas, nor with bright stage lights. There's nothing gained by watching the old guy stumble and fall during an entrance.

Of course, you help him navigate safely across the stage and get seated.

For those who missed it.

I wonder how Ted Chapin feels about that introduction.

Why did Sondheim do Colbert at all? It's so odd

R382 Stephen did Company at Lincoln Center a few years back, I assume that gives him an in over others.

He was promoting his work. Just watch the interview.

Because he's still here!

[quote] Why did Sondheim do Colbert at all? It's so odd

r382 why do you sound annoyed? I give Colbert and his team huge props for a non-ratings-grabbing booking that actually puts something smart and a bit 'intellectual' on a pop culture show. In the old days (before my time) late night hosts like Tom Snyder, Cavett, even Carson used to feature more serious writers and topics. I haven't watched yet but I'm thrilled it happened, and Colbert's stock went up in my book.

All of Colbert's shows this week are featuring numbers from Broadway and off-Broadway shows that are reopening so how wonderful and appropriate that Broadway's most famous composer would appear on the show as well.

Not getting it, r381: what did Colbert say in his intro that might cause Chapin to react?

[quote]give Colbert and his team huge props for a non-ratings-grabbing booking that actually puts something smart and a bit 'intellectual' on a pop culture show.

Oh the ramblings of the insufferable Sondheimite.

Yeah, there was nothing intellectual about that spot with Sondheim. He unabashedly hyped his new work that is in development, Lapine's book, the COMPANY revival, the new WEST SIDE STORY film, and listened to Colbert talk about Colbert, all in less than seven minutes.

Did Sondheim poop in his Depends during the show?

He should have gotten eye lid surgery long long ago

Yup. He's the one person in show biz who really should have gotten an eye lift.

Love this ad for a 2014 production of Jesus Christ Superstar in Verona that starred three of the actors from the movie. Ted and Barry are using headshots from the 1970s, and Yvonne looks she is using one from the 1980s or 1990s at the latest.

R391 celebrities don't fart or poop. I lost respect for them if they do.

wow a hat trick of assholes: r389, r390 and r391. (BTW you three: 'trifecta' is a sports term)

r389: I wasn't talking about Sondheim with any reverence, just ackhowledgement that he's a non-pandering type of guest

r390: I didn't mean the segment was intellectual, you schmuck. Just the fact of is was smarter than the usual late-night fare

r391: You're unworthy of reply

I meant 'hat trick' is a sports term. ['Trifecta' was my first choice but 'hat trick' seemed better. I mean, does anyone...?]

[quote]Broadway's most famous composer

No doubt Colbert had Sondheim on as part of the celebration of Broadway's reopening, but calling him "Broadway's most famous composer" is as inadequate as calling Einstein "gravity's second-most famous proponent".

I thought he said "greatest" composer....

[quote]I doubt the miking of actors had more impact than the fact that television and movies turn audiences into passive viewers rather than active ones.

That can't be the explanation, because talking pictures have existed since 1927, and widespread TV since the 1950s, but the phenomenon of largely-disengaged audiences who nevertheless whoop like idiots has only happened in the lifetime of a person who is currently middle-aged.

[quote]Just the fact of is was smarter than the usual late-night fare

What part of that seven minutes was smarter than the usual late-night fare?

The only thing I can identify as smart was how adroitly Sondheim pushed a new musical, an old musical, and even older musical, and a book in about as much time as it took me to type this.

It took you seven minutes to type that?

I cut and pasted, R399.

Colbert has always had a reverence for Sondheim; hence the blurb he read from the Lapine book. Why shouldn't he have one of his heroes on his own show, and why not ask him about his take on current projects? Some of you seem to live to be cranky about his very existence.

[quote]I doubt the miking of actors had more impact than the fact that television and movies turn audiences into passive viewers rather than active ones. If people went to the theater as much as they watch tv or movies you'd see another shift. Microphones have little to do with it.

You must be one of those poor people whose brains aren't sufficiently developed to hold two separate ideas and understand that they don't have to be mutually exclusive. There is some truth in what you say, but ALSO a LOT of truth in what Sondheim said. Get it now?

[quote]What part of that seven minutes was smarter than the usual late-night fare?

There was some very articulate and interesting discussion of musical theater and the creative process between Colbert and Sondheim. I guess you missed it. Maybe you have ADD.

By the way, Colber's exact phrasing in his intro of Sondheim was "the greatest composer and lyricist in the history of the American theater," which was probably not the most precise way to word it. If he meant and had said "the greatest composer/lyricist," then people would have only had to decide if they agreed that Sondheim is greater than Frank Loesser, Irving Berlin, Cole Porter, etc. But Colbert's phrasing implies that he thinks Sondheim is a greater than everyone who ever wrote music, lyrics, or both for the American theater.

r394 Why is the title of the show nowhere to be seen? Do they assume most people will know what it is based on the composers, the characters, and the stars?

[quote]There was some very articulate and interesting discussion of musical theater and the creative process...

That happened when Cavett interviewed an artist for 20 minutes, or even an entire hour. But not in 7 minutes, minus the pitches. Not really.

As an eldergay, I miss the days when the Tonight Show ran 90 minutes, with the last half hour devoted to an author or some other intellectual.

When Sondheim complimented Tony Kushner, he was no doubt trying to piss off Arthur Laurents in the afterlife.

Deadline links SQUARE ONE, the new Sondheim show, to a reading with Nathan Lane and Bernadette. Interesting.

I hope there's not a trace of Bunuel left in this project. I was not sorry to see SS abandon that idea.

[quote] Whose friends don't adore them? No one's talking classically handsome, but the man on that clip was minimally attractive. Charm and a sense of humor are definite plusses, but they don't make an average looking man swoonworthy.

You are an idiot. There's really nothing more to say.

Yup, Nathan confirmed he did the reading.

Nathan did the FORUM revival and FROGS. Has he ever done other Sondheim?

He did one of the iterations of the Mizner Brothers thing (whatever they're calling it these days, a flop is a flop).

I'm dying to know who was the director of the Sondheim reading. Does anyone know? I don't see it mentioned anywhere. I would imagine there's a very short list of directors with whom Nathan will work. But my guess is Sondheim would be very open to collaborating with someone young and with less Broadway experience.

Who would you like to see the new Sondheim musical?

Of course, there may be no director officially attached yet.

[quote]Has he ever done other Sondheim?

You just KNOW he wants to play Carlotta Campion.

For anyone interested, Ben Platt will be on "The View" today.

R416-Who gives a rat's ass?

R401 you seem to have - or want to have - Persistent Asshole Syndrome. Again it’s not that the 7 minutes (you pedant) was intellectual; it’s that Sondheim was probably unknown or barely known to a large percentage of that audience and they broadened their exposure. But you knew that. Please pause and think for 7 minutes (probably your limit) before responding

Thanks, R418, for putting R401 in his or her place. I never said that Sondheim and Colbert had a lengthy intellectual discussion, but what relatively little was there was certainly at a higher level than so much of the usual pop-culture bullshit.

R401was already in his or her place, which is a decidedly stupider, more insufferable place than where you and I reside r419

You people have the attention span of a gnat.

First of all, the post said, John Heard asked to be released. And Peter Evans was a terrific actor, but was always on the prowl, looking for fresh meat. And trust me, neither Ken McMillan nor Dolph Sweet were homophobes.

Secondly, it's Fallon who's having musical numbers all this week to promote Broadway, but having Platterpuss on last night to promote Dear Evan Hansen really doesn't count.

Also, Sondheim was given 7 lousy minutes and if that's what Colbert does to laud "broadway's greatest composer" at 12:30 in the morning, there ain't no reverence there to be had. Sondheim did mention Bunuel, but it went by so quickly, it was easy to miss.

And last, Nathan Lane was on Seth Meyers' show last night and brought up the new Sondheim musical as well, so Deadline linking the two was a natural.

Do try to pay attention.

[quote]By the way, Colber's exact phrasing in his intro of Sondheim was "the greatest composer and lyricist in the history of the American theater," which was probably not the most precise way to word it. If he meant and had said "the greatest composer/lyricist," then people would have only had to decide if they agreed that Sondheim is greater than Frank Loesser, Irving Berlin, Cole Porter, etc. But Colbert's phrasing implies that he thinks Sondheim is a greater than everyone who ever wrote music, lyrics, or both for the American theater.

Maybe he should've just said "ONE OF the greatest composers and lyricists in the history of the American theater" and not many people probably would have quibbled with that.

John Heard was a (barely) functioning alcoholic. Ask David Chase. Or Jeff Goldblum. Or Bruce Davison and Amanda Plummer. Jessica Tandy might even come back from the dead to bad mouth him.

R421 doesn't like to be challenged, even though half his posts are pulled straight from his prolapsed asshole.

Watching Ben Platt on the View now. He's sporting his "I look so young" curly hair and, for some odd reason, long nails with blue nail polish, WTF?!

I'm a pretty girl, Mama!

I'm not 28, I've come out as 18!

So, do we think the new musical that Sondheim announced he's working on with David Ives is the Bunuel project they have or had been writing for some time, or could it possibly be a completely new one, and is that why it's now called SQUARE ONE? I'm pretty sure that, at one point not too long ago, Sondheim announced he was no longer working on the Bunuel project.

Walked past Circle in the Square and postings are up for that Chitlins Circuit play. So I’m guessing Michael Urie and Norm Lewis play newlyweds in something which might as well be called Guess Who’s Coming for Chicken & Biscuits?

I doubt these plays find an audience, and I'm certain Norm Lewis and Michael Urie won't draw the crowds. Just another in a series of tax write-offs.

You can quibble with Sondheim being called the greatest composer/lyricist in Broadway history, but it's hardly a controversial statement.

Greatest lyricist, sure--he's got my vote. Certainly, no one living comes close.

Greatest Broadway composer? Doubtful.

Very, very doubtful...

R432, agreed that no one alive comes close to Sondheim as a Broadway lyricist, but Colbert said he is "the greatest composer and lyricist in the history of the American theater.." Speaking as someone who worships Sondheim, I would still say that's a fairly controversial statement, regardless of R431's opinion.....although far less controversial if Colbert was referring specifically to people who wrote both music AND lyrics.

According to know-it-alls on Twitter, it's the Bunuel.

I think it is time for a jello wrestling contest between the know-it-alls on Twitter and the know-it-alls on the Datalounge.

Can the flavor be grape?

It sure the fuck won't be cherry r436!

PASS OVER to close 2 weeks earlier than the planned "limited run."

Bernadette and Nathan...are we sure it isn't The Gin Game?

When Barbara Cook did her solo concerts, she would always sing one song without a microphone.

I blame rock musicals for increased mic usage. Having to sing-scream over scores like “Jesus Christ Superstar” “Evita” and “Phantom” made it necessary to use mics.

Patti LuPone once said that old fashioned musicals had the string section playing when an actor was singing and the horn section came in when there was a pause in the singing or a dance number.

I blame Streisand.

[quote] PASS OVER to close 2 weeks earlier than the planned "limited run."

I don't see anything announced.

But who will be directing SQUARE ONE/BUNUEL?

R388, Ted Chapin was the president of the Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization for years and even though he and Sondheim are friends, Ted might object to Colbert introducing Sondheim using the words he did.

Ted Chapin wrote a book about his thrilling experience with the original production of Follies. I think he'd survive Colbert's introduction.

I don't think Ted Chapin is losing any sleep over it.

R411, Look at the chicken shit coward run away like a little girl.

Admit it, your idolatry of some obscure performer who dazzled you decades ago was challenged and since you're unable to defend your lame opinion, you flee.

You're the idiot, sweetie.

This is DL. Obscure isn't a pejorative here.

I have it on good authority that Bernadette and Nathan are doing Morning’s At Seven. Nathan is playing the bitchy sister.

[quote] Admit it, your idolatry of some obscure performer who dazzled you decades ago was challenged and since you're unable to defend your lame opinion, you flee.

Actually, I never saw Peter Evans perform onstage. He was before my time. But yes, let's listen to you, who's judging someone from 75 seconds of a sitcom shot a year before he died of AIDS instead of the several people on here who have posted about seeing him in Streamers and other plays a decade before that.

See, you're a total fucking idiot. It's why I didn't bother taking the time to slap you down, but you begged for it.

Speaking of Streamers (which I was lucky enough to see with the original cast), is it ever revived? Should it be? The original production was incredibly gripping.

R450, Your responses are ridiculous. I pity you.

[quote] Speaking of Streamers (which I was lucky enough to see with the original cast), is it ever revived? Should it be? The original production was incredibly gripping.

It was revived in 2008 at Laura Pels.

Thanks, r444. I'm afraid I still don't see what could possibly have offended Chapin.

I always wanted this Paul Davis poster...

[quote]agreed that no one alive comes close to Sondheim as a Broadway lyricist, but Colbert said he is "the greatest composer and lyricist in the history of the American theater.." Speaking as someone who worships Sondheim, I would still say that's a fairly controversial statement, regardless of [R431]'s opinion.....although far less controversial if Colbert was referring specifically to people who wrote both music AND lyrics.

I'm sure Stephen Schwartz is crying all the way to the bank.

R456, As is the Jerry Herman Estate.

And the Irving Berlin and Cole Porter estates.

Has any Sondheim show where he was composer/lyricist ever shown a profit?

I would like an interviewer to dare ask Sondheim about his legendary battles with Turtle Bay neighbor Katharine Hepburn.

They got along about as well as Lauren Bacall and Yoko Ono.

Olympia.

Who'd have thought that Peter Evans of all people would cause a minor tempest among strangers so many years after his death?

R462, Tomorrow's running topic will be: Larry Blyden - Accident or murder?

A Funny Thing, Company and Night Music showed profits.

I'm not the biggest Nichols' fan. He's done some superb stuff but he comes for the most part for me as overrated. However that Streamers production was so taught that it was almost unbearable. I can't imagine any director today coming close. And yes Evans as somebody said was incandescent. And that nude back of his! Like a renaissance statue.

Oh, no. He's back!

Farewell, Jane...

r461, thank you so much for the link to the Olympia Dukakis doc! I thought I'd have a look and, of course, wound up happily watching the whole thing. What a woman!

Georgie - My Life With George Rose.

[quote] Has any Sondheim show where he was composer/lyricist ever shown a profit?

Are you asking in terms of measuring his "greatest" status, r459? Because we all know that quality and profit are in direct relation.

You wait just gosh darn minute there!

Jane was the last great star from MGM's golden era unless you count Margaret O'Brian.

Back to Colbert & Sondheim: Did I mishear or did Colbert say the new Putting it Together book was by both Lapine & Sondheim? It is actually just written by Lapine.

Yes, r471, Colbert did misspeak and Steve didn't correct him. Or most probably didn't hear him.

[quote]Has any Sondheim show where he was composer/lyricist ever shown a profit?

The Sondheimites are outraged, of course. They often are. But it's a legitimate question, and R464 answered it. Sondheim is a Bway composer (regardless of where his shows originate) and Bway is a profit-making enterprise.

How many other theatre artists have been produced commercially, so consistently, over 4 or 5 decades, with such a dubious batting average?

Is that Sir Andy feeling peevish and threatened?

Soon you'll all be debating if Mozart was more talented than Salieri.

The money doesn't just come from the Broadway run, r474.

I can't think of another Broadway creative who has been celebrated more in his lifetime (and in his 90s!) than Sondheim. Just the sheer number of his shows being produced in NYC this year......that's gotta be so satisfying for him,

"40% of the lyrics is still like 3X the number of lyrics in any normal musical"

And 10x as banal.

Leslie Caron, too, R471.

and Marsha Hunt, Janis Paige and Arlene Dahl are still living as well.

For those of you who never miss a Donny Most/Loretta Swit show....

[quote]Middletown follows the story of two couples who endure the roller coaster of life together, including the highs, the lows, and everything in between. Staged without a set or props, the stars read directly from scripts, as if reading from the book of their own lives — and ours.

Featuring DL spirit animal, Didi Conn, and an apparently unrecognizable Adrian Zmed.

[Quote] the stars read directly from scripts, as if reading from the book of their own lives

"When did I eat corn?"

Swit is still treading the boards at 83! Is she a future EGOT??

Parts of her are much younger.

[quote]and Marsha Hunt, Janis Paige and Arlene Dahl are still living as well.

Arlene even currently has her own thread on DL.

Is she peddling make up?

[quote]Jane was the last great star from MGM's golden era unless you count Margaret O'Brian.

Two of Jane's co-stars from "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers" are still with us: Ruta Lee and Julie Newmar.

Sondheim Fan Boys can be annoying but not any more so than the Anti-Sondheim Haters who love to trot out the tired old wheezes "He can't write a good tune!" and "He's never had a profitable hit!"

Both of which are idiotic because...well, how many Sondheim songs are part of musical theater canon? How many productions of Sondheim shows are there in the world at any given moment? How many Broadway productions and revivals has he had?

Yeah. Sondheim is a terrible, talent free flop.

[Quote] Sondheim is a terrible, talent free flop.

And I will play him in the biopic!

[quote]1866 The Broadway musical is born. The Black Crook, a musical extravaganza featuring a melodramatic plot and scantily-dressed ballerinas who serve as chorus girls, opens at Niblo's Garden, .

How many of us still have our Playbills?

Sondheim himself talks about his reputation all the time. In the Costco magazine interview he did when they released a series of his recorded plays, he noted, quite sadly, I thought that Gilbert and Sullivan were Gods in their time and are forgotten today. He also said he felt the works he would be most remembered for would be Gypsy and WSS.

It definitely made it sound like he longs for a huge popular hit like Hamilton or Wicked.

[Quote] However that Streamers production was so taught that it was almost unbearable.

Yes, you've got to be carefully taut.

Especially if you're on a rack.

Except Gilbert & Sullivan isn't forgotten and is still performed all over the world.

As for having a "hit" like Hamilton or Wicked, the jury is still out if those shows will last. Hamilton is a huge hit but will it have legs? Will rap be popular in 50 years? As for Wicked, it's a show that has relied a lot on its design and effects...it's a clunky show, book wise and really only has two hit songs. Will it endure?

West Side Story and to a smaller degree, Gypsy, are canon shows. They're not disappearing any time soon.

But, Sweeney Todd is 40 years old and still highly regarded and frequently performed. In my opinion, it's a canon show, too.

Maybe not as regarded but still very popular and frequently produced, Into the Woods will be around for a very long time. It's a timeless show with great songs and it's a perfect show for so many different kinds of theater but especially for schools and community theaters.

And, yes, the dreaded Follies is, whether you like it or not, great Art. It's never going to make anyone a profit but it's going to be around AS great art for a very long time.

Sheryl sure can still serve glamor.

R490, And we will savage your performance.

[quote]Except Gilbert & Sullivan isn't forgotten and is still performed all over the world.

Their work is way more famous then they are.

Bravo, r490. And of course SS would like a monster hit. Who wouldn't? He'll just have to be content with being the major force in American musical theater for more than 50 years. Monster hits aren't everything. None of Albee's plays except for VIRGINIA WOOLF were huge successes, and even that play was no MARY MARY or LIFE WITH FATHER. And who wants to revive those trivialities? Sondheim's reputation is as safe as houses, despite all the pointless bitchery here.

If Sondheim had wanted to write a monster hit, he certainly took few to no significant steps to write it. Just look at the projects he chose to develop into musicals. Almost all of them look like long shots.

The only one that could possibly have been written to be a commercial hit is COMPANY. Trendy, edgy, contemporary look at modern relationships with a book by a popular writer with deep roots in the theater and great comedy credentials. Even then, he avoided plenty of opportunities to make COMPANY the 'feel good comedy hit of the year!'

I think he's achieved everything he aspired to, and maybe more. Still, I wish he'd get the Nobel--and while he's still here to enjoy it.

R501, He told Diane Sawyer on "60 Minutes" years ago that he regretted not having had children.

Barbara Cook in The Black Crook

R471 why wouldn't you count Margaret O'Brien? She was a genuine movie star in the '40s, not just a child actress. In fact, she was a bigger child star than Elizabeth Taylor. O'Brien even made Quigley's annual list of Top 10 Movie Stars twice before she turned 10. No small feat for a child. Taylor never did until she was an adult.

O'Brien also won a Juvenile Oscar.

Does anyone know if Jane Powell (RIP) was considered for Sally in the original FOLLIES? The role could almost have been based on the sort of women she played in MGM films in the 1950s. Or would she have been too young in 1970 (she was 41 then).

And apparently, she had a tempestuous affair with Gene Nelson during one of her early marriages so perhaps someone felt bringing them together again was not a good idea.

Jane did mention in a recent interview that she only auditioned for Sondheim's BOUNCE to meet Sondheim and was unsure about accepting the role when it was offered to her. She must have seen FOLLIES and envied Dorothy Collins' performance as Sally.

Anyway, just musing about silly stuff like this today....

She was, and looked, too young for Follies in 1970.

[quote]If Sondheim had wanted to write a monster hit, he certainly took few to no significant steps to write it. Just look at the projects he chose to develop into musicals. Almost all of them look like long shots.

Yes, and at one point he decided to write a musical based on SUNSET BLVD., with Angela Lansbury as Norma Desmond, but then decided to drop the project. And the reason he gave for dropping it made no sense at all, in my opinion. Maybe, subconsciously, he has avoided having a big commercial hit because he felt that would somehow cheapen his art?

I remember all the teasing about that project, R508. The film is well nigh perfect, so it's not a property that needs to be remade. But Sondheim's gifts are considerable, so I was intrigued. And in 1980, it would have been a perfect role for Lansbury.

Ah, well.

There's no mystery why he dropped Sunset, it's a famous story. He ran into Billy Wilder at a party, mentioned his latest project and Wilder told him it would have to be an opera because it's the story of a fallen Queen. Sondheim thought it over and decided he agreed with him.

R506, Gene Nelson lived with Maureen Reagan for several years.

I wonder if Sondheim doesn't really like legit voices is that he (and quite a lot of people) can't make out a good percentage of what the hell sopranos are singing once they start singing high notes, even in English? He's really picky especially about his lyrics being understood -- and for good reason.

[quote]He's really picky especially about his lyrics being understood -- and for good reason.

And yet Sondheim has worked with Mandy P. And Patti....

They're not sopranos -- though sometimes Mandy aspires to be one -- with very questionable results.

[quote]Ethel M, who was always understood in the back row

Oh Ethel pipe down!

Hey, that's DL meg-fave Vivian Vance you're trying to silence!

R490-Special appearance by Ben Platt as "boy tied up in dungeon".

"Still, I wish he'd get the Nobel--and while he's still here to enjoy it."

Sondheim? I'm getting the Nobel next. If I don't, it will because all whites are inherently racist, which is the theme of my multi-Tony winning play," Slave Play," which is the vanguard for a flood of black experience plays that will be dominating the theater lexicon.

Wish they could find something to give him an Emmy for so he could PEGOT and join Rodgers and Hamlisch

I wish someone would get Jeremy Harris a big Hollywood deal, so he'd get the fuck out of the theatre. It's easier to ignore him that way.

Jeremy O Harris wrote indie film ZOLA, produced another, and has made cameo acting appearances (in the GOSSIP GIRL reboot and elsewhere). He's been quite busy.

I'm not his biggest fan but I do believe he's in the game for the long run. He's more serious than some people think. Whether he has another play on Bway or not remains to be seen.

Don't

Sondheim has always preferred actors who sing over singers who think they can act. He's always written more for actors than singers and most of his shows aren't dance heavy, so it's a good opportunity for singing actors to do a musical and not fall flat on their faces.

You can usually tell if someone's an actor who sings or a singer who's trying to act when they hold out "rich" on the first line of Send in the Clowns. If they hold the note, they have no idea what the fuck they're singing about and the rest of the performance is going to be an unmemorable dud. It might sound pretty, but you won't remember it.

When I think of the most memorable and moving performances I've seen in the musical theatre, they're not usually the most beautifully sung ones, but the ones that were full of feeling and raw emotion.

Send in the Clowns needs a beat...

R520 You might be in luck. When he had his little bitchfest over Playwrights Horizons not moving ahead with his pedoy project, he said he was done with theatre and focussing on film and television

[quote]If anyone wonders why the next few years I focus on writing lit tv and film projects instead of theatrical vehicles for young black & brown queer boys/non-binary performers just remember this moment…Bc at least when u get fucked in film/tv you’re paid well b4 they pull out.

And in case anyone wants to question my description of it being pedoy:

[quote]Written in verse, the play is set “Before, During, and Hopefully After Heartbreak.” It follows the meeting of two young, Black men, Vinnie and Baby Boy, which prompts “an erotic dream-journey that begins with a rush of passion—and ends, inevitably, soaked in blood.”

[quote]From day one, Jeremy and Jack and I felt it was really necessary that we got very young people. He didn’t want a bunch of 28-year-olds trying to play 16-year-olds, because I think there’s a fine line between that intense but fragile vulnerability and something else that becomes a Hell’s Kitchen naval-gazing fantasia. So Jeremy and Jack and I were really scouring people’s Instagrams, and I was getting recommendations from people working at various high schools, and Jack was reaching out to his dance community. We got a great group, and ended up casting many of them.

[quote]The stage directions are completely impossible. Like, the play calls for actors that feel 13

[quote]Almost all the actors were in high school...And I realized that I might have accidentally written a play that was less for me, and more for a group of people who were younger than me, who were really exhilarated to see this version of their love story told with bodies that looked like theirs.

[quote]There's no mystery why he dropped Sunset, it's a famous story. He ran into Billy Wilder at a party, mentioned his latest project and Wilder told him it would have to be an opera because it's the story of a fallen Queen. Sondheim thought it over and decided he agreed with him.

I didn't say there was any mystery about it. I said that I thought the reason why Sondheim dropped the project, which you accurately explained here, didn't make any sense. And I stand by that. "The show would have to be an opera because it's the story of a fallen Queen?" What bullshit. My guess is that Sondheim decided he didn't want to write a SUNSET BLVD. musical for other reasons, whatever they might have been, so he seized on what Wilder said as a silly excuse for abandoning the project.

I think it may be a long time before the Nobel committee gives a prize to a songwriter after the flack they received in some corners for the Dylan choice. I do think that if they had considered lyricists earlier in the century, they might well have tapped Hammerstein. Or R&H as a team.

Sorry, I mean flak.

Back to the Future performances in London have been cancelled this weekend. Well, that’s what happens when one of your leading man is sick with Covid right before opening night.

I wonder which Broadway show will be the first to have to cancel performances.

R525 Jeremy O. Harris refers to himself as Most Tony Nominated One?

R531 "Most Tony Nominated Onehit Wonder Jeremy O Harris" is his name on Twitter, yes

I think Mr. Onehit is a legitimate talent, but jesus christ he is tedious.

I was personally appalled by Stephen Colbert's ludicrous introduction of Stephen Sondheim.

Oh shut up, Ted, and make like Susan Dey.

I have yet to see any evidence of Jeremy O. Harris' rumored talent. His plays are awful.

But anyone who says he's done with theater, you've been misled. I happen to know he's working on another piece currently.

Someone up above tried to imply that Stephen Schwartz was a superior song writer than Sondheim yet how many Stephen Schwartz songs can you name?

He had three hit shows: Pippin, Godspell and Wicked.

Pippin was largely a hit because of Fosse. And, while it still gets produced by schools and community theater, it's not exactly a super beloved "classic".

Same with the treacly Christian-y Godspell which was HUGELY popular for decades, produced by schools/community theater but....I haven't heard of it being done much for many years.

Wicked is, of course, still a major hit with legions of fans but...it's also an awkward show. The book isn't very good. It coasts along because people love Oz and it has a couple of good songs. It will have a life for quite a long time but...it's not really a canon show.

As for Schwartz's other work, mainly cartoon movie musicals for Disney. Meh.

R495, you can argue whatever you wish. The point is that Sondheim himself doesn't believe it. As he's grown older, he's definitely reexamined his role in the theater and his legacy. With the exception of Into the Woods, and of course Gypsy and WSS, his shows might start being produced less and less on any level because audiences have problems relating to them although his fanbase, including producers and directors, keep putting them on.

Speaking of Stephen Schwartz, I seem to recall years ago that he had a song in some movie and I think Lionel Richie did another version of the song or something like that. Anyway, when the Oscars came around, it was suggested that, if nominated for best song, they share a songwriting credit. I think Richie said it was okay with him but Schwartz refused. Does anyone else remember that story?

I think Sweeney and Night Music are safe, r539..

R538 LOL...it doesnt really matter what Sondheim thinks. Many great artists worry their work isn't good enough or won't last. They always want it to be BETTER. That's what makes them great artists.

I don't think the Sondheim Estate is going to be hurting for cash in the next few decades. The great operas are all still being performed decades/centuries after they were written. The same thing will happen to the great, classic musicals.

Poo poo Sondheim all you want but if you think Forum, Company, Follies, Night Music, Sweeney Todd, Into the Woods, Assassins are all just going to vanish from stages/pubic consciousness anytime soon, then you're quite stupid. Especially if you think it's because "well, he never had a super long running monster hit on Broadway like 'Wicked'!!!!"

[quote] Someone up above tried to imply that Stephen Schwartz was a superior song writer than Sondheim yet how many Stephen Schwartz songs can you name? He had three hit shows: Pippin, Godspell and Wicked.

"The Magic Show" ran for almost as many performances as "Pippin" and is just behind "South Pacific" on the list of longest-running Broadway shows. There is not a single Sondheim show in the list of 121 Broadway shows that have run for more than 1,000 performances. ("Godspell" was originally off-Broadway, so is not on the list.)

I am not in any way suggesting that Schwartz is a better composer than Sondheim -- just that he is much more successful when measured by the Broadway runs of his shows.

THIS DAY IN BROADWAY HISTORY: In 1959, a revival of "Much Ado About Nothing" opened at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre.

They were already have catalogue shows of Sondheim going all the way back to "Side by Side by Sondheim" around 1977. He had yet to even write "Sweeney Todd" and many of his other big shows.

"[R525] Jeremy O. Harris refers to himself as Most Tony Nominated One?"

Not in public, although I suspect that he is anticipating sweeping the Tonys this year, given the short season and the totally woke atmosphere of current Broadway. The white voters will feel better about themselves if they vote for a play which accuses of them of being fundamentally racist. It will make them feel as if they atoned for their wrongdoings.

Oh, I don't know. I think Twitter's pretty public.

As a Latino, I don't get white liberals and their white guilt. The more radical ones take it to the extreme, too.

I'm sure it helps that he's said if he doesn't win it'd be like the Tony voters giving the Tony to David Mamet.

Well, latinos often look down on blacks.

John & Maggie

Leighton must have been Fanny Craddock's beauty inspiration.

Sam & Kathleen

Did any of you really dress like this back then?

Sondheim once said he didn't care much about his legacy, but I think it's safe to say his shows will be around for awhile, especially stuff like Into the Woods and Sweeney Todd. Into the Woods has probably become as popular as Annie in regional and community theaters. The cast always has a good time doing it and the audiences seem to enjoy it, except for a few who find act 2 too dark or too much of a slog.

The protypical Bobbi?

Thanks for those MUCH ADO photos. I saw both of those productions. Was more impressed by the first but maybe that's because it was my first MUCH ADO.

Sondheim may have turned down Sunset Boulevard, but he certainly could have written an operatic score. I argue that PASSION is actually an opera, even with spoken dialogue, and that many of the songs are actually arias. And he's dipped his toe in the operatic pool before. For instance, Epiphany from SWEENEY TODD also qualifies as an aria. A Weekend In The Country is a classic operetta first act finale. There are lots of other examples as well. I suspect that Sondheim has been trying to bring his version of opera to the masses for most of his career.

imho

[quote]The cast always has a good time doing it and the audiences seem to enjoy it, except for a few who find act 2 too dark or too much of a slog.

Don't forget the inevitable audience members who think it's over after Act 1.

So is it true none of the Broadway shows are doing intermissions now? Does this appear to be permanent or just temporary?

Wow, r555. Thank you! I love Lana, and this is on none of her albums. Had no idea this existed.

Into the Woods Jr., the performing edition licensed to schools, does end at the conclusion to the first act.

Years ago, someone at one of theater forums suggested a Sondheim evening consisting of Act I of Woods, followed by an intermission and then Act I of Sunday.

[Quote] Thank you! I love Lana, and this is on none of her albums. Had no idea this existed.

You're welcome.

Some dolt in the comments is already bitching that she "overpowers" the lyrics. What a maroon.

Ugh. The orchestration for that Lana Cantrell is sooooooo 70's. But not in a very good way. The rhythm section is relentless.

Who would Sondheim have had children with? Mary?

Sondheim was a very cute as a teen to the point of handsome by middle age. Platt has never been cute and will never be handsome. He's already heading into middle aged gargoyle with the speed of light. How does a man of 27 look 37?

Lee Remick!

The young pics of Sondheim are so blown out by light that it's hard to get a handle on his looks... The photographers probably knew what they were doing.

R561 A lot of people would love that!

Billy Wilder's remark about Sunset being about the death of a queen is clever enough, but it has nothing to do with whether or not the story could be adapted as a musical just as easily as an opera. Musicals have long been about any number of offbeat things, especially Sondheim's.

I think the poster who suggested that Sondheim just lost interest in the subject is right. If someone asks, you could say, I just lost interest. But isn't it more colorful and grandiose to quote Billy Wilder on the matter?

Besides, it isn't the sort of thing Sondheim would be interested in. Sunset is almost like a dark Hello, Dolly!, complete with a Vandergelder who used to be Erich von Stroheim.

Rodgers despised Sondheim and called him a beautiful boy so that's something to go on.

Follies is Sondheim's Sunset Boulevard with the rubble of a great theater as its star.

R541, like all Sondheimites, you're in your own weird world. Sondheim will never have a popular hit like Wicked or Hamilton and that's just a fact. In speaking of his own work, he noted that no one knows what will happen in the future and current success is probably better. Speaking of G&S, they were way more popular than Sondheim and even though they are in the public domain, have been absent from Broadway for over 40 years. Realistically, there is not a tremendous amount of appeal to today's audiences, especially if you're interested in turning even a modest profit. While I don't doubt many of Sondheim's works will continue to be produced, a suggestion that they will somehow be popular when most of them were marginally successful is bizarre. Sondheim's estate will absolutely be in good shape but will still be minor compared to Schwartz. Sondheim's one major foray into commercialism was Dick Tracy and even that is now forgotten, even with a movie.

This is a relatively young Sondheim. I know this is the Theatre Gossip thread, where Christian Borle is a beauty but...

What about those people buying up copyrights and then having a bunch of writers get together to sample the works to create new "hits"? That could happen to Sondheim.

If Lana is your prototype for Bobbi, r555, there's a reason she hasn't found the right guy.

Visa problems, r574?

[Quote] Into the Woods Jr., the performing edition licensed to schools, does end at the conclusion to the first act.

Because, like most Sondheims, Into the Woods falls apart in the second act

Uh...yeah, r575.

More Millicent...

[quote]Sondheim may have turned down Sunset Boulevard, but he certainly could have written an operatic score. I argue that PASSION is actually an opera, even with spoken dialogue, and that many of the songs are actually arias. And he's dipped his toe in the operatic pool before. For instance, Epiphany from SWEENEY TODD also qualifies as an aria. A Weekend In The Country is a classic operetta first act finale. There are lots of other examples as well. I suspect that Sondheim has been trying to bring his version of opera to the masses for most of his career.

I would say that a huge percentage of the SWEENEY TODD score could qualify as opera, so I'm surprised you focused only on "Epiphany."

Dotty Loudon sang opera?!

Dotty Loudon sang?!

[quote]Dotty Loudon sang opera?!

Mrs. Lovett's songs are the least operatic ones in the score, but some of them do lean towards opera as well. That was the big problem with Loudon's performance. Unlike Lansbury, Loudon had no soprano extension. She belted everything, even the high notes. And some of them she spoke rather than sang, like the seagull calls in "By the Sea."

Dot Gray had a face only a motherfucker could love.

I cannot recall the interviewer, but Sondheim was asked some years ago if it bothered him that none of his shows had become major financial successes like several of those of Andrew Lloyd Webber.

Sondheim replied, "Well, I would prefer to have written shows I could be proud of . . ." .

Ouch!

Miss Stritch will see you now...

Sondheim haaaaates opera.

Yes, let's stick to mothers and make no mention of other women's husbands, Dodo.

Patti does opera...

[quote] Yes, let's stick to mothers and make no mention of other women's husbands, Dodo.

Listen to the high and mighty Sylvia Finkelstein. It's easy to be prim with a face like yours.

Yeah, I'd like to see Gray try and get through *this* number...

Regina Giddens

[quote] Rodgers despised Sondheim and called him a beautiful boy so that's something to go on.

Who are you talking about? Mary was one of his best friends. Richard or Dorothy Rodgers maybe?

Richard. He grew to despise Sondheim. How Mary's relationship with Sondheim changed in later years I don't know but they didn't seem to be very close as they got older. You never saw them together.

That clip at R590 is a lot of fun.

"You never saw them together." I hope that's a joke. They remained friends, and Sondheim thought a great deal of Mary's son and his work.

Should be "thinks a lot of Mary's son."

The comparison to G&S is beyond ludicrous. Those show aren't revived in major productions because they're hopelessly tied to Victorian mores, politics, and culture. Doesn't mean that there isn't still a lot of universal humor there, but the staging has to be gussied up with a lot of comic shtick, as in the Linda Rondstadt/Kevin Kline version. And the glorious music will endure forever.

It still amuses me that Aaron Sorkin is such a nerd that he thought a G&S spoof would be exactly the big hit needed for his fake SNL show on Studio 60

The Mikado has been cancelled.

The Mikado has been cancelled.