Zachary Quinto and Calista Flockhart to lead WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF

How can you star in play for over 3 hours with a stick insect?

She engineered marriage at 8 minutes.

George is supposed to be 50-60 something and ZQ is what? 40?

Martha is supposed to be a bully.

How can you bullied by someone who looks like they just got out of Belsen?

Quinto is older than both Arthur Hill when he played George on Broadway and Richard Burton when he did the film. Both men had just turned forty, while Quinto is already 44.

What a boring cast

most recent pics of Quinto

Sad, sad, sad, as Martha says in the play.

Quinto would have made a fabu Martha.

It’s not boring casting. Quite the opposite! Quinta is easily butch enough and I’m sure Calista will be able to do something interesting.

Wait, isn’t there some George and Martha reference tossed off by his character in Boys in the Band?

Many people don’t know, especially when they are kids, that the George and Martha books by the very gay James Marshall were named from WAoVW.

[quote] I’m sure Calista will be able to do something interesting.

She will do a Nautch Dance in the second act and demonstrate that her two teats can fit into the one thimble.

Quinto is too calculating an actor. Never any sense of spontaneity. Every moment looks like it’s thought out too much

Which is pretty much perfect for George r14.

Have either of these people been on stage before? Should they start off with something easy and mindless like Neil Simon?

They are exactly the right age. Martha is supposed to be older than George (which wasn't true with Taylor and Burton).

Uh, George and Martha were named after the Washingtons.

Bonnie Franklin played Martha in a touring production in the 90's.

Mike Nichols wanted to remake the movie, with Marlo Thomas playing Martha. Marlo toured with a production in the early 90's and won raves. Mike felt he was too young at the time to do the play justice.

Martha is 45 and George is 37

Martha is 108 years old she weighs somewhat more than that.

Who wants to listen to a full evening of shouting?

There is no nuance and no point. And I have to pay to get to and from the theatre and endure crowds in the foyer!

Didn’t Taylor gain weight to play the part? Will Calista (nothing past the lips, or it might give me hips) do the same?

[quote]and I’m sure Calista will be able to do something interesting.

Will the imaginary dancing baby be playing the son?

What was Edward Albee trying to say with all that ranting?

Who's playing which role?

Does Calista...bray?

I guess this is a step up from Supergirl.

This Flockheart woman has all the vigor of this caricature—

Zachary Quinto is an experienced stage actor. He did lots of plays and musicals in high school and college.

He's done Angels in America and Smokefall off-Broadway, and The Boys in the Band and The Glass Menagerie on Broadway.

Calista Flockhart has also done a couple of off-broadway shows, as well as The Glass Menagerie on Broadway (not the same one Quinto did)

[quote] Calista Flockhart has also done a couple of off-broadway shows, as well as The Glass Menagerie

She perfect to play a lame female.

Calista Flockhart is a Honey twenty-five years later.

A stage play in Los Angeles is like a Canadian tv show. Who cares? Nobody is going to see it.

Theater gives you covid. Wait for the streaming version.

What? Were Chrissy Metz and Scott Baio unavailable?

This is going to be a flop. A great, big flop.

The Geffen is mostly a subscription house. Sort of an insulated business. The pandemic probably caused a lot of cancellations though.

Calista is actually (or WAS) a fantastic theater actress. I got to see her very early on, pre-Ally McBeal, before anyone knew who she was, do a shit ton of Off-Bway, and then Bway. I noticed her in the early 90s in a play called Sophistry at Playwrights Horizons, and she did a Howard Korder play, and a Caryl Churchill play, then she hit Broadway and was amazing in The Glass Menagerie, and two years later she completely stole the entire production of Three Sisters from a totally star studded cast (not that there was much to steal; the production was a disaster, but Flockhart was miles above it). And after that production, she got Ally McBeal, and was rarely seen onstage again. She did the Neil LaBute play Bash, which was later filmed for Showtime (and she was damn good in it), and I saw her do a very miscast all star benefit reading of All About Eve at the Ahmanson in early 2001 where she played the titular character (opposite an even more miscast Stockard Channing as Margo, and a completely addled and miscast/underrehearsed Angela Lansbury as Birdie).

I'd love to see her back on stage, and though I likely will attend this production, I think it's a huge mistake.

Why do that play again? Do something less familiar or something new. Do plays about gay men who are not disguised as straight couples. Or the kind of comedy that doesn't leave you contemplating suicide.

I think it's interesting casting-- it will probably just be boring (like Kathleen Turner and Bill Irving) but it could be either quite good or hilariously awful.

If George were straight, they would have real babies.

Uta Hagen was scrawny but she's the Martha I would most like to have seen, other than Bonnie Franklin, of course.

[quote] Calista… a shit ton

OK, R39

Quinto is so damn fine in his prime.

They're both wrong for those roles.

Martha is a battle axe..she needs some gravitas. An anorexic stick insect does NOT have the power needed to carry off this part. As has already been stated, she's a classic Honey but now 30 years too old for that role.

His casting isn't quite as bad but he's not really right either....frankly, he's too ethnic looking. This play is about VERY white, starchy Ivy League types circa 1963. Martha's father would never have allowed her to marry a swarthy gigolo type like Quinto who has a hard time playing anyone very sympathetic. He always seems like he's ready to turn back into Sylar.

And, before anyone goes off on me, you can do "Virginia Woolf" with non-white casts but you need very classic/classy actors for those roles. Honey can be a bit off; after all, her name is "Honey"...she isn't supposed to fit in. But, George, Martha and Nick all need to be a certain type of affluent looking, well groomed upper middle class type. If you do the play with a black cast, they all need to look like Barack and Michelle, who actually would be terrific casting for George and Martha..she's big and a bit dangerous and he's smaller and quieter.

And, Martha really should be....attractive-ish but not pretty or classicly beautiful. She was practically a spinster when George married her because no one wanted her which was probably partly due to her personality but she's also not anyone's first choice for belle of the ball.

This show is really hard to cast. You need exceptional actors capable of playing the material but you need the actors to be physically correct for the roles as well. And, now it's hard to cast George and Martha because middle aged people in 2021 don't look like middle aged people in the 60s. Especially actors who are all now very buff and toned with Botox and tend to look (or try and look) like they're all perpetually 32. George and Martha need to read as early middle age (and ravaged a bit by their alcoholism) but they still need to need to project some desirablity so there's a hint of sexual attraction in the air. Nick needs to be able to be repulsed but also attracted to Martha. The balance needs to be right in order for it to all really work.

[quote] Zachary Quinto is an experienced stage actor. He did lots of plays and musicals in high school and college.

And in elementary school, he stole the show as a camel in the Christmas pageant!

[quote]... Barack and Michelle ... would be terrific casting for George and Martha

Are you a casting director? Because this is brilliant.

I would prefer Donald and Melania as George and Martha.

"I am de earff muffer, an' jou are a flop!"

To be fair, when that was written 46 was the emotional equivalent of 66.

Bravo to the few who have mentioned that Calista has actual bonafides on the stage, so she is not a newbie to performing live or to performing well on stage. The same to those who know Quinto's CV and his work in front of an audience 8 times a week. I can't envision them as G&M, but I've been wrong before.

And R43, you're right about so much of what is needed to cast a successful Woolf. It's not simple.

I didn't see the Kathleen turner/Bill Irwin production, but they do seem well-suited to the roles. Was the show really "boring" as described above?

I saw the Marlo Thomas production of Woolf in Hartford (Robert Foxworth was George). I've never raved about her performance. She never transformed into Martha. She was Ann Marie on stage. Honestly, even her hairstyle was what you expect... brown, parted in the iddle, shoulder length, slight flip at the end... she just never seemed to be anything but Marlo performing...

I don't care what these DL queens say, Mr. Quinto is HOT.

Elizabeth Taylor put on 30 pounds to become blowsy. What will Calista do?

And ZQ in the definitive Burton role?

Like I opined about Guy Pearce's "The Time Machine---some movies shouldn't be made twice.

Apologies. I skipped over reading that it's only a local stage production.

Carry on!

R5, Men looked different then. Not kidding.

[quote]he can dress as George and spit on me

Not again r49.

Teddy Geiger and Gabourey Sidibe should play Nick and Honey.

R54 Teddy Geiger is a woman now.

R43 Actually, according to Albee, you cannot do Virginia Woolfe with a Black cast. He and his estate are very protective of professional productions of his play. One company tried to do a production a few years back with a Black Nick, and they were refused. He did allow one Black woman to play Martha, but she passed for White, especially on stage.

I tend to agree with him. We cannot act like all plays with White characters have the ability to be race neutral.

Where IS the all Trans production of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolf?

The most interesting potential idea here is that George and Martha *are* Nick and Honey later on.

Laura Linney can do Martha. She's 57 but still looks good and has the chops.

Even Jason Bateman could play George. But I think Laura would only do it on Broadway first.

[quote]We cannot act like all plays with White characters have the ability to be race neutral.

I suppose we cannot in a post-Hamilton world, because why would the theatre be a place to play with ideas and words and challenge preconceptions and history. So silly.

R56 actually you CAN do Woolf with an all black cast. Albee even wrote some alternate lines for a black production.

The Albee (and his estate) object to a mixed race Woolf.

Oy Vey, no. Ugh.

Oh well, America is used to disasters by now.

Quinto will be fine and Calista may be a revelation. Now which POC will be cast as Nick and Honey?

[quote]This play is about VERY white, starchy Ivy League types circa 1963.

The play is obviously not about that or it would not still be alive today. And it never would have been revered as a classic of the American theater. With the rapid and sweeping cultural changes in the US during the 60's, if the play was about "...VERY white, starchy Ivy League types circa 1963...", it would have been dead by 1964, or maybe 1965.

The play is about a large number of things, all bigger than the quote above. Including, but not limited to, Ambition. Failure. Integrity. Betrayal. Disappointment. Marriage. Secrecy. Love. Dependency. Take your pick.

I hope they give animated performances.

R39 has reminded me I saw Calista do a play in Chicago. It wasn't Three Sisters, which she did in NY, but it had three women (not the Albee, either) and I believe it was more of a workshop/tryout sort of thing. A dumb but smoking hot guy who I was fucking around with worked at the Goodman and got me in to see it.

The play was a block of wood but she was the most interesting thing about it.

Stop it, Martha!

Beanie Feldstein IS Martha. And her fat brother IS the husband!

TBH, it's all about names these days, and Calista and Quinto don't have it. DOA.

I didn't know that she is actually married to Harrison Ford. Here they are in 2021. Does she share a plastic surgeon with legendary actress Faye Dunaway?

The Raytown Pepperpot Players

present

Calista Flockhart and Zachary Quinto

in roles that will surprise you.

WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF?

A Play by Edward Albee.

Special discounts for seniors, veterans, and VA Hospital workers.

Thursday nights: After-show talkback with the actors, and Celebrity Bingo.

I have listened to the LA Theatre Works production of Doll’s House on Audible. Calista plays Nora and is excellent.

I've seen all Calista's NYC stage work and I've worked with her. She's a terrific actress. I'd see this.

Flockhart was exceptionally good in Neil LaBute's evening of three monologues, "Bash: Latter-Day Plays" at the Douglas Fairbanks Theatre some years ago. Calista Flockhard, Paul Rudd, Ron Eldard. All were very good, but I recall Eldard being the best of the lot. Unfortunately, the business is all about the camera these days. And his career has not taken off like those of colleagues in BASH.

I thought Ron Eldard's lack of career momentum was due to backstage/on set craziness, not lack of looks or talent.

Calista studied at Rutgers with Kristin Davis and Roger Bart, not that that's exactly a stellar roster.

Calista Flockhart is 56.

I think Calista might surprise here. Quinto will be fine and serviceable but cold as ice like usual. The man has all the warmth of an iceberg.

Definitely not as warm and cuddly as Richard Burton or even Arthur Hill, r78.

Calista Flockhart can act anything she's given to act. But how will Honey be cast when the quintessential Honey is standing there next to her, but playing Martha. Some Freudian angle here for Nick to play?

Despite being able to act the role of Martha, Flockhart still seems an awkward choice for this play.

God I have no idea Calista Flockhart is 56. She doesn't even look as close.

She's OLD!

Still young enough to be Harrison's daughter.

r81 = Harrison

At first I was upset, but it's just L.A. after all. Doesn't matter.

Ally McBeal is an ancient series that was on the teevee before the 33% of earth's inhabitants were born.

Hope it’s planned as a limited run.

Martha weighs 47 pounds. She is considerably older than that.

It's probably already been said but Calista is a Honey.

Recently Quinto made a joke while doing FanExpo that "I know, I don't look a day over 15 years ago". Agreed?

That's kind of sad.

Of course it's been said, r89.

This is going to be disastrous. Saw a Broadway revival with Bill Irwin and Kathleen Turner and after 45 mins it becomes repetitious and one note and it's almost 3 hours long with 2 intermissions. The play doesn't hold up.

Amy Schumer looks like a Martha.

The last revival at the Booth on Broadway with Tracy Letts, Amy Morton, and Carrie Coon as Honey, will be hard to beat.

Noooooo. Whyyyyyy? No.

I could see Ben Hardy as Nick.

Their dream cast was Leah Remini and Jim Parsons.

Leah Remini should do The Female Odd Couple.

I'd had no interest in seeing the play again but I was really eager for the revival that was shut down with Laurie Metcalf, Rupert Everett (who'd replaced Eddie Izzard) and Russell Tovey. Can't remember who was playing Honey but I think a hot Brit theater actress. Joe Mantello was directing but it was permanently canceled. Shame.

When Flockhart did Bash she was a couple years into the run of Ally McBeal, so she hadn't been ruined by tv yet, but she hasn't really done much theater since then and has subsequently gone on to long runs finishing Ally McBeal, then Brothers & Sisters and then Supergirl. I'[m hoping she knows how to disappear into a character again and doesn't coast on her TV personality.

I remember being a huge fan of Edie Falco's throughout the 90s. She did a bunch of little indie films and every time she'd pop up in one, I would think- wow, who is this actress? She's really terrific. And when the credits rolled, I was always shocked to see it was Falco. She so disappeared into each character so differently, I never recognized her. Then she did The Sopranos (in which she was fantastic) but everything she's done since, whether it be Nurse Jackie or 'Night Mother onstage, she brings Carmela Soprano into the performance, even unconsciously. I truly believe long runs on television ruin even the best actors.

Cybill might have been a fun Martha.

Quinto has always skeeved me out. Something creepy about him.

He was very good in AHS: Asylum.

I've said it before, I say it again: Denzel and Viola. I don't care if they're too old...Viola as Martha? LOOK OUT.

Viola is too Auntie-ish.

I still think it's a goddamn shame that Bette Davis never got to play Martha. She essentially WAS Martha in her private life.

No one was looking to hump Bette Davis in the 1960s.

Albee himself wanted Davis for the movie version, with Henry Fonda.

No, r71. She shares a makeup artist with Jack Nicholson as the Joker.

[quote] the all Trans production of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolf?

R57 Virginia Woolf.

[quote]Calista is actually (or WAS) a fantastic theater actress.

You should see her pretend to eat!

Now Dan Levy I can see as Martha:

"Who changed my goddamned airline seat? I want names! I will fucking destroy you!"

Candace Cameron Bure and Jonathan Bennett have been cast in the Hallmark version, "Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf For Christmas?"

"Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles."

Thankfully, no one will see this trainwreck.

As long as Calista doesn't bring back that stupid 3D dancing baby with her.

She may be 56 (which isn't too old), but she still looks like she's 30-something. Totally wrong for the part.

She has a relaxed noisy quality about her.

Holy shit, she looks like shit. Why is she still trying to sport that same look from 30 years ago?

R119, she looks great considering she's not wearing any makeup and isn't lit to the hills like everyone in a studio setting.

Yeah, the Albee Estate is fine with casts not being all white but Albee was opposed to having casts being mixed and he's right...well, because he IS the writer and it's his story but also defined by what he wrote.

If Nick or god forbid Honey were cast with actors not the same race as Martha, she would go on the attack. That's her personality. She already attacks them now within the context of the play but she looks for any way to get under the skin of the people she goes after...she's certainly not going to let skin color slide when it comes to her attacks. If Martha is played by a white woman and Honey is not white, there is no way it's believable that Martha isn't going to make some nasty comment about Honey's ethnicity. And, the same thing if Martha is played by a Latinx actress or a Black actress...if those other characters don't match her, it makes no logical sense. Martha, as written, isn't the type of personality who would be suddenly PC when it came to something like that. And, certainly not within the confines of the play's setting.

Someone up above tried to make an argument for the play being timeless, or at least its themes and yeah, that's true to a degree (though, isn't that really true of many well written works of literature?) but it's also a play OF ITS TIME AND PLACE. Maybe it's "fun" to go see Romeo & Juliet set in the 1960s or MacBeth done steampunk and while that may work for Shakespeare it doesn't mean it works for every play. I think some plays are very much set in a time and place for a reason and they don't necessarily work very well outside of that. I don't think "Virginia Woolf" as a play, really works very well outside of it being set in the early 60s, in a time when the Sexual Revolution is just starting to happen. That era as the straight laced uptight 50s gave way to the liberations of the less rigid 60s is integral to the story.

A Virginia Woolf set today would make zero sense.

[quote] A Virginia Woolf set today would make zero sense.

"“I am made and remade continually. Different people draw different words from me.”

If "Who's Afraid..." took place in the present day, Martha would curate her mothering life via found pics posted to Instagram.

I’ve always called her Calista Fuckfart.

And that's something you boast about r124.

[quote] George, Martha and Nick all need to be a certain type of affluent looking, well groomed upper middle class type.

Uh huh.

What? Did you actually read the play? They are not supposed to be "affluent".

This should be an interesting combination…

Two intermissions for drinks will be needed.

Did Yvonne De Carlo play Martha in the regions?

She might have. She did career from career to career.

Well?

Quinto and Flockhart are a mistake.

This should have been Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick.

That's only half in jest. I can see them staggering drunk. I can see them bitter enemies, but co-dependent. I can see her flirting with a young man in front of him. I can see her speaking derisively about him to his face. And I can see him wanting to kill her. However, being George and Martha is different than acting George and Martha. But, hey. Who knows?

If Broderick were a stronger actor, he'd be a perfect George.

Sarah Paulson would be a good Martha.

R134 Totally agree. But then it's Paulson and Quinto again just like Lana and Thredson in AHS.

Why, r124?

SJP? No. Elizabeth Perkins, maybe.

When I think Martha, small college president's blowsy daughter, I think of contemporary urban skinny jewess SJP.

curious, Martha in my imagination would be a bit plump and grumpy.

Yes, Martha is "the Earth Mother." But a good and skillful actress can find another way bring that idea to life.

Has all the outrage managed to get this cancelled yet?

"Really? Quinto as George???"

I have more of a problem with Flockhart

i'd go see it.

why does every dl-er think they are casting directors?

R144 Not every, especially those using the word “casted.”

i'm sure you have the best ideas and grammar, r145.

They should of casted Sarah Paulson as Martha, maybe they couldn't of gotten her because of her tv schedule.

Zachary Quinto and Calista Flockhart to lead WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA SLIM

R146 It’s one thing to use the word “ain’t” it’s quite another to make up a complete new word never heard of or written before to conjugate the past tense of cast. I just don’t even know where that could have come from, it makes zero sense.

George: Chaz Bono

Martha: Caitlyn Jenner

Nick: Jacob Tobia

Honey: Alok Vaid-Menon

“…casted doesn’t even register a blip on the radar in over 200 years.”

I love how "casted" makes the Golden Girls crowd take to their fainting couches. LOLZ!!

r150 the horrifying thing is that I can actually see that happening, and it being praised as "stunning and brave."

[quote]They should of casted

Oh, dear. OH, DEAR!

r154 who do you think they should of casted?

lmfao love this bitches

A few years ago I learned from Curbed and other websites that Flockhart and Ford were moving out of their Chelsea penthouse. I was mildly interested when I realized that the building was directly across the street from mine. But although I was fascinated at the time that they had been living across the street from me for 10 or 15 years and I had never known it -- I didn't really care then and I couldn't care less now.

Couldn't care less or could care less?

I don’t think Chaz Bono, based on his childhood appearance on his parent’s show, and Caitlyn based on her film debut Can’t Stop the Music, are strong enough actors to handle the play.

[quote]It’s one thing to use the word “ain’t” it’s quite another to make up a complete new word never heard of or written before to conjugate the past tense of cast. I just don’t even know where that could have come from, it makes zero sense.

When was the last time your sphincter was able to breathe? Just ballpark about what decade for us.

[quote] Couldn't care less or could care less?

Do you really care about that?

No, actually.

it's "couldn't care less"

Someone should make a film about Audrey Hepburn in her later years and cast Calista in the lead.

Some of you queens are insufferable. Give them a chance. It's not a big multimillionaire dollar show charging $450 a seat. It's just a regional limited production.

Big multimillionaire dollar shows, those are the worst.

I assume they are paying people to sit through this.

Who the fuck would pay?

Y'all are acting like it's Gary Clayton and Emma Roberts.

How about Gary Coleman and Julia Roberts?

Gary Sinise and Doris Roberts?

Robert Klein and Olivia Colman?

Gary Sandy and Emma Samms.

The all prison production starring GaryGilmore and Aileen Wuornos.

The first time I visited NYC, I saw that production of THREE SISTERS. It was *terrible* but Calista was superb. Actually, Jeanne Tripplehorn was pretty good as well, but everyone else was awful. And it was my first ever Broadway show!

Here is the undoctored pic.

So r174, is that Zachary or Calista in that pic?

I could do the role of Martha in my sleep. Hell, I did at the Cape Coral Dinner Theater in 1999. I even did it drunk most nights at the Ottumwa Theatre in the Round and Squared Circle Entertainment Center in 2018.

Whelp, in a time-honored DL tradition, this thread can now be officially declared dead with the addition of a stupid, unfunny MISS Helen Lawson post.

We won't miss YOU, r177.

R177 is correct. If you're going to try a Helen Lawson post, you've got to bring your A game to the effort. If your little creation does not sizzle, don't post it. The post at R176 is amatoor garbage. Not funny. Not witty. Not even creative.

Well, you seem to think "amatoor" is amusing, so I wouldn't hold your taste in high esteem.

Zachary Quinto and Calista Flockhart.

Oh dear.

Dark Comedy? And isn't ZQ too young?

Somehow I find Zachary Flockhart and Calista Quinto a more interesting combination in my mind.

I just know they are going to wipe the floor with the memory of Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor in these roles.

Who?

r185 = Lucille Ball

Your last three sentences apply to any Lawson post, r179.

Good lord. I'll give them NO chances.

Calista should have won the Emmy over Helen Hunt

Quinto isn't a bad pick and I bet Albee would be fine with that choice but Calista is no bitch Earth Mother.

Quinto is too young. It's not about the number but rather his personality and his face. That's not it.

Can you even imagine sitting through this mess?

Who the hell would ever think of Calista as Martha? Has she even ever had a whole drumstick of fried chicken without vomiting it up afterward?

I'm exhausted just thinking of this.

[quote]Can you even imagine sitting through this mess?

Yes and if it comes to Broadway, I will.