Theatre Gossip #448: PATTI LUPONE’S TOILET & BERNADETTE’S BIDET WALK INTO A BAR Edition

Link to #447

So are any shows on tonight? Or is everyone dark?

I have house seats for Company tomorrow night and reservations at Becco. Fingers crossed.

Get ready for some closing announcements next week....

When is the Sondheim estate sale?

OP doesn't know how to search.

Actually, r6, this thread is 1 minute different from yours so yours wasn’t searchable. And this one has the better title.

Actually, R7, you're wrong. Mine was first (and better).

I think whomever came up with the "where did Leonard Soloway touch you doll" deserves an honorary Tony.

It's whoever, not whomever.

Come From Away in Toronto has posted closing.

No one denied yours was first. But with one minute difference, that means this one was being posted at almost the same time. Yours wouldn’t have been searchable yet. And no, you’d title isn’t better. You’re a petulant little thing, aren’t you? Are you really so ungenerous that you can’t let someone else have a go? You don’t have a lock on it, you know.

Sweetheart, the "walk into a bar joke" is so old, it's possible you invented it. It's also so unfunny that I'm certain you invented it.

[quote] Come From Away in Toronto has posted closing.

So I guess that cast member who was loaned to the NY company won’t have a job to go back to.

I'm sure he or she will be needed in NYC for a while.

Where is Plaza Suite?

I’m the poster who was going to Come meant last night. To reschedule in two weeks in nearly the exact seats would cost me an extra $250 for two tickets, which were already over $400. Plus added travel costs and time and no reason to believe two weeks or a month from now will be any better.

I’ll wait until spring and try to be patient after trying to see this for four years (after missing it by a week in London). However, unlike Patti, I don’t throw floor lamps and phones when things don’t work out as planned.

^ Go to *Company* ^

[quote] I’m the poster who was going to Come meant last night

What? After “was going to come” I don’t know what you mean.

R17 How ridiculous, it's like they want to kill off Broadway.

Thanks r9. I had a title ready for this one but these two clowns beat me to it. (Mine was better)

I put a cease-and-desist on the other one, linking here

Adding to the Anything Goes discussion from the previous thread--I only watched the title number of the pro-shot, because I don't really care for the show overall, and I found it surprisingly low-energy and lifeless. I've watched the Tony performance from a decade ago numerous times, so I'm probably biased, but it just seems so much better than the pro-shot. Or maybe the filming technique gave the effect of flattening it a bit, not capturing the energy as well?

Y’all sound so fancy when you say “pro shot.” Especially as a noun.

I don't really think many of the English "get" the American musical theatre. Their performances of the Broadway classics always lacks a certain pizazz or something like that. The pacing feels off or the performances or either too intense or too bland.

I saw the last Brit Anything Goes, the one with the now-canceled John Barrowman, and it was quite fun & energetic.

[quote]had a title ready for this one but these two clowns beat me to it. (Mine was better)

Why are they clowns just because they beat you to it? This will teach you not to drag your heels. Get it up (and linked in the previous thread) before the old one ends. And there are enough threads that everyone can have a go.

What was your title? If it’s specific to now, let us know, but if you can adapt it later, save it.

Has John Barrowman been cancelled? What's the story behind that?

Those costumes were fabulous...

I'm sure we're all looking forward to some more stunningly original takes from R24

r26 it's definitely not a masterpiece, but "walk into a bar" doesn't set a very high...bar. But here goes:

[quote] [bold]THEATRE GOSSIP #448: Patti’s Toilet, Charlotte’s Web, and Sutton’s Four Previews Edition[/bold]

[quote] Call Rotavirus, that’s the name, and away go Patti’s shipoopis, dolls, down the drain.

So you meant better in an ironic sense then?

I am enjoying the low-grade bickering over who started the thread.

But then I got scolded earlier for starting a separate thread asking about "Theatre Gossip" threads, and that was a pleasant surprise.

We're turning the Great White Way brown!

R32 But you fucked up the search! Now that poor poster will never be able to find another theatre thread, thanks to your "phony thread"! I guess we'll have to learn to live without their high-IQ contributions.

That was the general gist of the comment. I shamefully fucked up the search results.

I have heard conflicting answers about this so maybe somebody here knows for sure – is the above the title star refund policy actually a true thing? Is that stated anywhere or just generally accommodated? Can you get a refund if someone else you’re interested in is out?

So are two shows posting closing tom'w night? I keep hearing this.

John Barrowman was hit with several complaints about him exposing himself backstage etc. he owned up to it and said he was sorry his “exuberant high spirits” may have offended some people. He was fired from Doctor Who and also from his other TV gig, hosting one of those Brit dancing shows.

R36 Ken Davenport says above the title is a real policy, and no to anyone else.

Thanks. You found that fast. Are you Ken?

[post redacted because linking to dailymail.co.uk clearly indicates that the poster is either a troll or an idiot (probably both, honestly.) Our advice is that you just ignore this poster but whatever you do, don't click on any link to this putrid rag.]

More on Barrowman. This may be it for his career, at least for a while.

In his day, John Barrowman was a really hot piece of ass.

John Barrowman split his pants during Putting it Together and I swear he did it on purpose.

[quote]To reschedule in two weeks in nearly the exact seats would cost me an extra $250 for two tickets, which were already over $400. Plus added travel costs and time and no reason to believe two weeks or a month from now will be any better.

Under the circumstances, I can't believe they won't give you equivalent tickets without charging you any more than you have already paid. If that's true, it's all about greed at a ridiculous level, and I hope the show closes.

Hamilton is ovah - no longer cool.

Barrow man must be hung

[Quote] during one scene in the original Broadway production of “Sunset Boulevard” Barrowman exposed himself on stage and used his penis to play the piano.

[Quote] “Do you remember the time he put it on your shoulder in the make-up truck?” She replied in the affirmative.

Barrowman .

I found my rotavirus in the rotogravure.

I'm glad insaw Company last week before this closure. Lupone was terrific and got a standing ovation after singing The Ladies Who Lunch.

Also there is a half-naked stud playing the role of the flight attendant. Huge package and great physique.

r50 did you see Clyborne Elder before he got vomited on or did you see his understudy?

RIP Harevy Evans. I heard about this. I can not believe it. Iam still greiving over Sallyann Hows/ A beautiful man and friend to everyone als0 me. RIP

[quote]Actually, [R6], this thread is 1 minute different from yours so yours wasn’t searchable. And this one has the better title.

Actually, Patti's Potty or Lupone's Loo would've been waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay better.

[quote]Sallyann Hows

Oh, dear.

Sutton goes plucky...

R54, "Sallyann Hows"

Oh, bloody dear!

And hows, r56!

Someone on ATC is claiming a "hit" show is announcing their closing tomorrow. Hmmm. They said hit show, but they didn't say if it was a long-running show.

We are not British, r53. We do not call a toilet a “loo.”

Maybe it’s Hamilton, r58!

David Byrne approaching the situation with creativity:

[quote] I have heard conflicting answers about this so maybe somebody here knows for sure – is the above the title star refund policy actually a true thing? Is that stated anywhere or just generally accommodated? Can you get a refund if someone else you’re interested in is out?

It's an unspoken policy, yes. I've done it twice in thirty some years of theatergoing. Once was when Stockard Channing was out of Six Degrees of Separation, and they exchanged our tickets for a later date right then and there. The other was for Chicago (the revival), for which I had house seats to take my mom, when three of the four leads were out (I believe the only one in was one of the women, and this was the original cast.) We got a refund, went around the block and were walked into a show in another house by a friend of mine who was on the door.

Had I known Kelly Bishop was the understudy in Six Degrees, I would have considered staying, because I adore her and rarely get to see her play such a meaty role. I would have happily paid to see the show again with Stockard.

Guesses include Chicago and Aladdin. I haven’t heard anything about Chicago missing a lot performances, but Aladdin has had a tough time.

R60 - that seems unlikely, doesn't it?

R63 - Aladdin seems more likely, doesn't it? I could imagine Chicago shutting down and reopening, but closing permanently seems unlikely.

Wait. They made a TV film of Applause? Seems kind of progressive, at the time, to have a scene set in a gay bar.

It depends. Are Asian tourists allowed to come to NYC?

What about Phantom? Has it had a particularly hard time? I don't think I've heard a lot about it, at least compared to some others.

R66 must be new here. And by here I mean Earth.

These are my guesses: Aladdin, Chicago, Come From Away or Tina.

We're not ALL caftan-wearing showtune queens, R69.

Sweetheart, look where you are. Yes we are.

[quote]Sweetheart, look where you are. Yes we are.

Speak for yourself, Blanche.

To be fair, I am a caftan-wearing showtune queen, but I was born in the 80s and Applause is not one of those shows from the 70s I've paid much attention to.

Wow, Phantom would be huge if that’s the closer.

Come From Away makes sense, considering all the trouble they’ve had.

Let's see if Datalounge theatre queens can guess correctly....

r68, I don't believe Phantom has missed any performances due to Covid.

R22, the choreography for the Brit Anything Goes was exactly the same as the Broadway.

The problem is not the British performers. It is ill-conceived choreography. If you want to embody a world that has gone mad and anything can happen, you do not have three levels of dancers all dancing in unison for the most of the number. That is a unified world where people stand together to make sure that anything does NOT go.

r79, yes, I'm aware the choreography is the same, which is why it seemed fair to compare the two performances. The Broadway version was fun and exciting (I saw the show twice in person, and, as I said, have watched that video numerous times), so I don't have any issues with the choreography. But in the British version, the tempo is slower, the music more muted, and the performers lack energy in a way their original Broadway counterparts didn't. That's not a choreography issue.

Chicago ain’t going anywhere. Neither is Phantom. My guess is Evan Hansen.

R81, With all the recent media hype for Jordan Fisher?

My bet would be on Come From Away. The Toronto company just had the rug pulled from underneath them and it was a bonafide "hit" in New York. Aladdin has Disney's cash reserves to plough thru this rough spot and it was never a "hit".

Chicago and Phantom aren't going anywhere -- particularly the former, as its weekly nut is fairly minor compared to many of the others.

Is Waymon Wong still obsessed with Chad Kimball’s weekly nut?

[quote] Unfortunately, Reno and Marian aren't...plucky roles.

Reno is a broad, but I think Marian is pretty plucky.

Or would that be Chad Kimball’s wing-nut nut?

Oh mlop troll, you have been sorely missed.

The show that is going to announce is Ain't Too Proud.

As someone who worked with Barrowman in the past, let me confirm that, yes, he whipped that thing out every five seconds. He thought it was hilarious. And yup, it was big. I remember it being very, very red. Maybe that was the Scot in him.

Or chafing.

R89, Rex Smith would often do the same, present his big cock at the drop of a hat.

I have always liked that trait in big-cocked men.

Happy Holidays from Patti Lupone's basement.

R40 Nope, just know how to use Google, you should try it some time.

[quote]We are not British, [R53]. We do not call a toilet a “loo.”

And how many American homes have a bidet, R59?

Arsehole.

When is Sutton expected back to MM?

r94 I prefer DuckDuckGo. You should try it.

Sutton has said she’ll be out until January 2nd.

Sutton said that before the CDC changed its policy from 10 days to 5 days.

Maybe she isn't entirely well yet, regardless of the CDC directives. Try to imagine singing and dancing in a show like that with compromised lung capacity.

"Aint Too Proud" is closing.

"It's JERSEY BOYS in blackface."

it's true

I can't feel bad for any show closing if it's run for more than 2 years and made back its investment. Make room for new blood.

That said, I'd love to hear that a piece of worthless tinselly trash like Moulin Rouge is closing.

Frankly, I won't be surprised if all the musicals except MUSIC MAN and HAMILTON announce closings in the next couple of weeks.

Wicked, Phantom, Chicago and Lion King will not be closing anytime soon.

It's Ain't Too Proud. Closing 1/16

It's not even 10 am. Do you really think another closing or 2 won't be announced before the day is over?

[quote]I can't feel bad for any show closing if it's run for more than 2 years and made back its investment

Right? Fuck all those people suddenly put out of work, at least the investors made their money back.

I watched Anything Goes with Sutton and I really thought it was lacking on so many levels. All of the leads were lacking especially Sutton. Are hats Robert Lindsay’s trademark? Do they have to be incorporated in every show he’s in? It was nice to see Felicity Kendall and she was the standout for me. Sutton was just miscast and gave a community theatre level performance.

The fuck kind of community theatre are you going to?

r93 - that guy's Patti impression is really good. He gets her vocal mannerisms down so well.

Ain't too proud pre-pandemic was close to recouping

R112 The moustache is spot on too

Only naive fools go into the theater as a career expecting to stay with a successful project for more than 2 years or so, and that includes those working onstage and backstage. Sure, closings are difficult but truly talented people always move on and most don't even wait 2 years.

As for the few that remain in long-running hits for years on end like Phantom, Chicago and Lion King......well, great for them if that's what they want out of their work but I'm sure they realize they are the exception and quite lucky.

The all-revealing truth is that you're a cunt. You want a show to close, and people to lose their jobs, just because you don't like it. As if you're somehow forced to see it. And on top of that, your over-riding priority is that investors see their money returned to them. Modern Broadway is because of people like you.

[quote]great for them if that's what they want out of their work but I'm sure they realize they are the exception and quite lucky

In other words, you think they are hacks.

Gossip is two more shows are going to announce closing dates today. Ugh...

My guess is DEH has had it, not because of the pandemic, but because that POS movie version killed all its likability. Ain't Too Proud ain't too surprising. Aladdin has been skating on the edge for quite some time. Close it. Come From Away, after the closing up north, looks likely to bite the big one too.

[quote] Gossip is two more shows are going to announce closing dates today.

r104 can barely contain her excitement. Or her shipoopi.

I'm betting Tina.

After those reviews, is there any hope for Doubtfire?

The WOKE cast of Hamilton in LA refused to perform even after everyone had tested negative. This could get interesting.

Speculating about a show closing is a lot different than actively hoping it closes.

Is Sutton still banging Roger?

We saw Tina a few weeks back and it was packed on a Sunday matinee - no empty seats. Is it really that hard to make a profit that a show would have to close even if it can fill all seats for a Sunday matinee?

Does anyone know when Broadway had the fewest number of shows running? I think there were periods in the 70s when there were only six or seven shows running.

R123 Got a link about that? Because the IG announcement says there were covid cases

Dominique Morriseau wasn't too concerned about ending people's jobs when she chose to pull her show at the Geffen early because of some perceived slight, so I'd say this was karma biting her in the cunt.

All those Hamilton kids are about to learn how a business actually works.

R129, Morriseau was not concerned about ending people's jobs, because she was more concerned with their working conditions.

But saying is was a "perceived slight" is a nice touch. I am guessing you have no idea what this was about.

Ain't Too Proud closing January 16th.

yes that was reported 25 posts ago

What people don't understand is that with a one week/10 day shut down, a show can burn through $500,000-$1 million in cash, and most shows don't have that. And with January sales plummeting, there's no point in risking losing more. It's that simple.

[quote] [R129], Morriseau was not concerned about ending people's jobs, because she was more concerned with their working conditions. But saying is was a "perceived slight" is a nice touch. I am guessing you have no idea what this was about.

Horseshit. Ask any member of that company if they'd rather be working or have the playwright shut down a production because someone didn't use the correct pronoun or whatever WSYWAT bullshit was conjured up and I think they'll take the former.

R129, my understanding is that the actors and technicians still got their salaries paid out by the Geffin. So financially, they came out okay.

Bring back Rain.

Music Man canceled through Jan 2

Hugh has Covid and will be back Jan 6

Hugh Jackman just announced he has tested positive.

like when you get an STD and try to figure out which trick gave it to you.. . . . Who, Hugh?

Assuming Sutton will be back Jan 2 opposite Hugh’s standby until Hugh recovers. Geez. What a mess.

Hugh's stand by is the incredibly hot Max Clayton. I'm there...

R143 = Matt Doyle

NO, r137!

R145 = Reverend Davidson

Are they really going to proceed without Hugh? Will anyone stay there? If the understudy really is that hot, they better get his naked pictures around ASAP

No one will stand for paying crazy money just to see Hugh’s standby.

Sutton looks really old in the London Anything Goes Pro-shot.

Why would anyone pay money to see Hamilton, Come From Away, Diana when they are all on Netflix? Hamilton even has the original cast!

Playbill says MM will resume on Jan 2 with Sutton and Hugh's standby. I guess they're counting on audiences happy with just seeing Sutton.

I'm going to bet the MM producers were kind of forced to put on Jackman's understudy because of the recent Charlotte St. Martin flap and would not want to look like they don't value their US and swings. They'll take a bath on exchanges if they allow them.

This whole situation is such a mess. I really feel for all those actors and tech people. In October, things seemed so hopeful.

No, things weren’t hopeful in Oct. Producers were just greedy

The producers are greedy trope is really boring. They’re running businesses and keeping people employed if they can, to everyone’s benefit. What is it you want?

Their $

R155, I want to go to a Bway that isn’t filled with movie-stage bull shit shows and idiotic jukebox musicals. A Bway where tickets aren’t astronomical.

Fuck the producers—they took a local art form and made it into tourist crap

R143, This is what you call incredibly hot?

he looks better here

You would think they would have gone with someone more established to standby for Hugh. Max is a chorus boy who's understudied but never a role like Harold Hill.

Post your shirtless pic and then we’ll see

good thighs though

I just looked on telecharge. Available seats seem to be $269-$279 for Jan 2 but still $699 and $599 on Jan 4. $699 in row M. Insanity.

R160, Paging Matthew Risch!

Sutton Foster has dragged community theater into every Broadway house she's ever been in.

The understudy is cute but not worth $600/ticket

It will be interesting to check Telecharge in a couple of days, 1 to see how many cancellations they're getting and 2 to see if they've changed the prices.

r154 in this case, you're right

Hugh Jackman Tests Positive for COVID-19, Cancels Performances Through Jan. 1:

Do people even read the threads anymore?

yes r168 see posts r138-r140 and all the conversation on this thread since than

^ than? Oh, dear.

My apologies -- I did not see R140.

That Patti’s Basement guy is AWFUL! Talk about bad community theatre.

Anyone in my basement is knee-deep in shit. Ask my toilet.

so if Sutton got it and made out with Hugh, and then Hugh got it and made out with Kathy V, now is she gonna get it? And Charlotte says understudies are inefficient

Just imagine if you have paid almost $700 and you get to see the understudy..... I think they should just close it down until everybody is negative.

Are there any shows that haven’t had to cancel performances?

I think Mormon, North Country and Phantom have not had to cancel.

I’m intrigued. Anybody know why the cast of the current West End Cabaret are dressed in suits for the curtain call?

Is it a retrospective foreshadowing of the corporate suits controlling the arts? Or something.

R179

[quote]At the end, sadly, everyone ends up wearing the same suit, shirt and tie, hunched over and marching in a circle directed by Redmayne’s MC. The game is over, and the wild, spontaneous “Be yourself, it’s Berlin” culture has been rubbed out entirely.

Looks like typical regietheater shit.

Max Clayton has covid too.

Matt Doyle posted an IG story (yep, he's back on there) that he's repeatedly tested negative, and claims he's been in a hotel since before Max tested positive. Which sounds....odd.

So no new cases at Company.

So if Max is out with Covid then MM can't come back before Hugh is ready on Jan. 6?

Too bad, I'd be happy to see Max in the role though only at a reasonable price - under $150 - and I'd on buying a ticket on the (late afternoon) of the performance as who knows if there would even be a show? And if Max isn't performing but HIS understudy is, I guess you couldn't claim a refund?

What a mess!

He said he'll be back on the 6th too. Going to guess they'll cancel 2nd-5th.

Sean Montgomery is the understudy Hill (and Marcellus, Jacey Squires and Constable Locke - bet they're going to regret the decision to quadruple down on the tracks for him now)

Great - Max Clayton and Matt Doyle both got Covid in March of 2020. So much for natural immunity.

Matt Doyle should have stayed in the personal trainer business and not come back crawling to broadWAY!

You heard it here first: Hamilton LA cancelling 4 weeks of shows starting immediately. The producers will use COVID as an excuse to close it early as it is not selling.

It’s the end times!

R188 So they've cancelled four weeks and then they're going to announce it's closed?

Jeffrey Seller's statement: "With COVID-19 cases still rising in Los Angeles each day, the Omicron variant has yet to peak, and we expect many refunds and suppressed sales for the next several weeks," says Producer Jeffrey Seller. "In consultation with our epidemiologist, we are proactively and immediately cancelling performances thru January 23. We look forward to resuming performances at the Hollywood Pantages Theatre with a complete and healthy company in 2022."

Proactively and immediately. What a mensch.

It's now 7 p.m. EST. I guess the next closure announcement(s) will come tomorrow?

and NY City Ballet just canceled the rest of the Nutcracker

R191 So where's that idiot poster claiming there were no positive Covid tests and this was all due to 'wokeness'?

R190, The LA sit down was a bust- before and after COVID. It was a bad idea and Jeffrey Seller believes his own hype machine. I don't think it will be reopening.

Clayton appears to have deleted his Instagram post where he said he tested positive. Interesting.

Close it all down. No way any theatre can pretend we’re not in a pandemic

Music Man is pretending. Looks like way more seats available on Jan 4 and they're still mostly 599 and 699

So with both Sutton and Hugh out, we’ll probably never see a cast album of The Music Man.

[quote]Close it all down. No way any theatre can pretend we’re not in a pandemic

Disagree.

I've been seeing quite a few shows lately. It's not easy to keep operating like this, but it seems like cast infections are NOT happening in the theatre. As an audience member I feel quite safe.

NYers are getting infected going to parties unmasked, not in theatres.

MM should just stay closed until Hugh is well enough to return. Nobody wants to see an understudy. They’re not scheduled to open until Feb 10 unless they postpone.

The Hamilton LA temporary closing is a front for the chaos that is happening backstage there. The cast was refusing to perform even when everyone was negative. And they will not be paid for the 4 weeks. And if it extends another 2 weeks beyond that, they have to right to recast any part. Which they plan on doing. It's a den of fools out there.

[quote]Great - Max Clayton and Matt Doyle both got Covid in March of 2020. So much for natural immunity.

No one ever said that natural immunity lasts forever, you cretin.

Wait till they find out that everyone's replaceable, R202. What a shock that'll be.

Why were they refusing to perform ?

R202 That's just bullshit though, isn't it? Given every time they've cancelled it's been due to Covid.

There are legendary stories of Broadway performers powering through illness and injury.

Anyone testing positive now almost certainly has the Omicron variant, which is similar to a cold.

Everyone needs to stop being unnecessarily cautious and carry on.

[quote]Anyone testing positive now almost certainly has the Omicron variant, which is similar to a cold.

Absolute, 100%, weapon's-grade horseshit, but you know that. Also, Omicron now accounts for roughly 53% of new infections.

[quote]Everyone needs to stop being unnecessarily cautious and carry on.

"Carry on" as in put COVID positive performers onstage with other people unmasked? Infecting the rest of the cast?

Fortunately Broadway producers aren't quite as stupid as you and are using swings and understudies to fill in for infected cast.

And still one death from Omicron. The sky is indeed falling.

R208, MARY!!!

R208 = Chicken Little

Let’s talk about something fun. FOLLIES anyone?

It will have to do 'til something better comes along.

I love that song, r213

[Quote] weapon's-grade

Oh, dear

Miss Lynch...

I wish Jane Lynch would come back to broadway.

I know....let's bring Broadway to Jane Lynch!

Jane Lynch is coming back to Broadway as Mrs. Brice, mother to Fanny "Beanie Feldstein" Brice.

Does anyone think Funny Girl may get "indefinitely postponed" now? Better to cut their losses before a lot of expensive scenery and costumes are built.

Isn't this good news for Music Man? When Sutton and Hugh come back, they'll be resistant to Covid, so they can continue with their run with no Covid worries.

r202 why would people refuse to perform if everyone is negative?

What chaos is happening backstage at LA Hamilton?

[quote]Does anyone think Funny Girl may get "indefinitely postponed" now?

Why would Funny Girl get postponed? Omicron is only deadly if you have a serious health issue or if you're morbidly obese or something. And Beanie is... Oh, I get it now.

Maybe Beanie will get norovirus and puke on Ramin Karimloo during “You Are Woman”?

[Quote] NYers are getting infected going to parties unmasked, not in theatres.

You have absolutely no way of knowing that and pulled it straight out of your ass. That said, it’s not just the audiences but the performers susceptible. Performers are getting it performing

As of this morning, the Music Man matinee on Jan. 2 has a now nearly-half-empty orchestra section - so a good number of people have canceled - but seats from row H and closer are still $599 and $699, the rest seem to be $279. The back row of the orch is $229.

(Understudy) Harold Hill to Public: Fuck You for the Holidays.

Music Man will not reopen until Jan. 6th with Hugh. Look for an announcement today.

Understudies and standbys will scream bloody murder. Look for a backlash shortly thereafter.

Lol I see this thread has brought out the masks prevent COVID neurotics - how’s that working out with Omicron?

r229 what to do with you? That's your only contribution to this thread, so you probably don't belong here. Engage? Block? So many possibilities.

[quote]Lol I see this thread has brought out the masks prevent COVID neurotics - how’s that working out with Omicron?

Quite well, actually, since the people catching Omicron going out to Xmas parties unmasked.

THE MUSIC MAN also has to contend with the expense and labor of creating costumes for all these understudies (costume shops are also feeling the punch of Omicron) and Santo Loquasto is an old and impatient man,

I've been to Company, The Lehman Trilogy, and Ain't Too Proud in the past 2 weeks. Masking policies are being enforced before the shows and during intermission, but during the show? There are way too many assholes pulling down their masks or taking them off completely. The system is crashing.

R233, I imagine many feel that, once the lights go down, they are able to break the rules under the cover of darkness. You're right, it's a shame.

[quote] Understudies and standbys will scream bloody murder.

Newsflash: Understudies and standbys are not as good and no one is buying tickets to see you. You always bring disappointment

The mask pullers are always the incredibly entitled assholes sitting in House Seats. Up in the mezzanine, people are following the rules.

My perception was the opposite, R233. At the four shows I've been to lately, there was lots of verbal and visual warning before the show and at intermission, and house staff were subtly but pretty constantly patroling. It was enforced to such a degree that there was a general feeling of safety and a pretty high level of compliance from what I could see.

One has to wonder if these infections spreading through casts and crews are more likely being brought into the theatre from their personal lives of the personnel, then spread through the company via the nature of their work and the close quarters backstage, as opposed to the performers and crew catching virus from masked and vaccinated audience members.

There is a higher level of danger for casts and crews at work right now, and not everyone in the workplace is taking the same precautions in daily life with everyone they see (how can they?). People have kids who are in school, or they have to get on public transport to get to work. There's no way to bubble the entirety of all the people who work in the theatre at a show.

Is there any other industry besides live theatrical performance that is having shutdowns? Or is most everything back to business as usual?

"Is there any other industry besides live theatrical performance that is having shutdowns? Or is most everything back to business as usual?"

Is your google broken? How stupid are you? All businesses are being affected right now. Duh...

Let’s be honest: none of those theaters have good air circulation systems. The unmaskers are probably trying to breathe.

And yet, some shows have yet to shut down once. Caroline, Or Change, Slave Play, Book Of Mormon, Girl From The North Country, Phantom, Flying Over Sunset, Trouble In Mind....so, why is that? Do some theatre have stricter protocols backstage? Are other producers dropping the ball? Does each theatre make its own Covid policy?

how does an air circulation system help one breathe?

it can help filter out particles, including viruses if upgraded enough, but doesn't help you BREATHE

[quote]One has to wonder if these infections spreading through casts and crews are more likely being brought into the theatre from their personal lives of the personnel, then spread through the company via the nature of their work and the close quarters backstage, as opposed to the performers and crew catching virus from masked and vaccinated audience members.

I know a dresser on a show, and cast and crew are in masks in the theatre at all times. The only people unmasked are performers while onstage. Hell, pit orchestra wind players are asked to put their mask back on if they have a long rest during a performance.

but who's being careless or careful outside the theater? stagehands, musicians, actors?

Apparently Hugh and Sutton.

R242 That's what I've heard too, that backstage and the pit are pretty strict. So are these performers catching the virus from being in the room with the audience?

[quote] how does an air circulation system help one breathe?

It’s difficult for some people to breathe in a hot, enclosed space. Cooling and circulating the air properly helps people to breathe easier.

Also, when it’s too warm in an enclosed space, people tend to get drowsy, no matter how good the show is.

STOP SLEEPING! DON'T YOU DARE SLEEP! WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?

Producers are evil! It is all the producers fault there is a pandemic! Blame the producers for everyone getting sick. Blame the theatre owners for owning old buildings! There is ALWAYS someone at fault, and I, as an artist, am never at fault, and never to be questioned on my sanity or work ethic. And I gotta union to back me up on that!

R248 We're still waiting for you to expand on your claims that the LA cast of Hamilton tested negative and still refused to work.

The Roundabout on 42nd is the warmest of all theatres. I’ve fallen asleep during every show I’ve seen there - even the good ones.

[quote] The Roundabout on 42nd is the warmest of all theatres.

That’s because the average age of their subscribers is 105 and the Roundabout wants them to feel like they are still in the nursing home.

Is there anyone sadder than Jim Caruso and his daily "chats" on IG?

R252. Yes. Richie Ridge.

R252, Yes, Billy Masters.

Who's Jim Caruso and why are his IG chats sad?

Richie Ridge is the worst.

Richie Ridge is one of those people who I am not sure what they do or how they do it but he's always on red carpets and for a while was interviewing a lot of those SAG/AFTRA career introspectives in New York. I don't think he's a journalist so how does he luck into these gigs? I think the same thing about Frank DiLella but I believe he comes from money.

Frank DiLella makes me long for Roma Torre.

... and I'm not even a lesbian!

R257, I don't understand your point about Richie Ridge. He's not a journalist in the sense of being a theater critic or writing a column for anyone, but he's been interviewing celebrities for many years. I believe he first started with a cable show called "Broadway Beat" and then moved on from there.

Frank DiLella apparently does come from money, and that plus his good looks (in some people's opinion) has helped him get where he is despite the fact that he has very little talent and the most unbearable speaking voice of any host or interviewer I can think of.

I’ve met Richie Ridge. He takes annoying to a whole other level.

I think he hopes people will confuse him with Richie Rich.

R261 how do you mean? Is that the one who looks like a turtle?

He looks like the butt of a joke.

Wow R260, I had completely forgotten about BROADWAY BEAT... it's placed on a shelf in the back of my brain with Fynsworth Alley and That's Kentertainment.

Is DiLella's father some executive at whoever owns NY1 these days or otherwise a big donor? Frank had gotten a little better (just a little) in his interviewing, what with all that apparently purchased experience.

Actually, the really forgotten character is Barry Z.

Fuck Barry Z. I prefer his wife, Ginger.

I stopped watching because DiLella is so monotone. No charisma at all.

Barry Z!!!

Whatever happened to that bearded guy who used to host "Interludes After Midnight", the naked talk show on Manhattan Cable years ago? Anyone know his name or have any links to him? I thought he was kind of hot letting it all hang out years ago. More of a daddy, but that was cool.

Slave Dale was very cute and seemed like a nice guy, too. Ah, memories! And they still apparently keep repeating all those old Robin Bryd shows ad infiniti if you flip by those channels!

So please, don't fart.

There's very little air and this is Art.

Are you sure his first name was Slave, r272? Seems odd.

R274 the other day an Italian told me that 'schiavo' means 'slave' (pronounced skee-a-vo) and that was Terri Schiavo's surname (though they pronounced it shy-vo).

I was in NYC for a couple of months recently (left just as Omicron was exploding in mid-December), and while there I went to the theater a handful of times. Mostly attended Broadway shows, one off-Broadway, and a dance piece at City Center. I never once saw anyone around me in the audience with their mask off or down (and I was keeping an eye out here and there, and all through pre-show and intermission). The only place I had an issue was City Center. I was seated in the back right of the orchestra in the big theater. There were some empty seats around me, and I noticed a lot of people pull their masks down when the lights went down. Also, an older couple moved into the row and sat themselves right next to me and pulled their masks down. I snapped at them and motioned for them to put their masks up and when they ignored me I went to motion for an usher and they pulled them up. But no one was actively patrolling to check for mask compliance.

Each dance piece was followed by a short break and every time that would happen, more and more people would be sitting in the few empty seats around me. By intermission, I'd hd enough and went to sit in the back row, which was almost completely empty.

I decided that would be my final show while I was there. However, I felt generally safe in the theater otherwise.

[quote] Frank DiLella makes me long for Roma Torre.

Roma Torre makes me long for Sharon Diezenhaus.

The quality of Broadway theater offerings is so low right now it's very easy to give it up for a couple of months. I won't miss it.

And it won't miss you toots

Caroline, Lehman, hadestown, Trouble in Mind, Harry Potter. It’s been way worse than this

R227 nailed it. Music Man not returning until Jan 6

Were they waiting to see how bad the cancellations would be?

Is this what’s been going on all along under Bobby Conte’s shirt?

This looks awful.

There really should be some kind of conflict of interest rule preventing artistic directors from staging stuff they've written themselves.

That's a terrible song, that one from "Hex." Is that supposed to sell the show? Or are we just supposed to be beguiled by all the colorful costumes and wigs?

Barry Z

I’m a fan of the National Theatre (usually), but going by that promo “Hex” looks awful (or perhaps just not for me). “I’m gonna make my life go wow”? Do better.

Or Pat Collins and her broadway videos on Channel 9!

Harry Potter fans beware! A friend went to see the show tonight and found a slow-moving line around the block due to Covid card inspections. So slow that he and many others found the show had already started before they reached the lobby and they were told to remain there and watch it on the TV screen. They were eventually admitted in without an usher's escort and had to grope their way to their seats in the dark.

Well they just don't come any better than Bette Rogge...

I just feel like listening to this again.

[quote]Harry Potter fans beware! A friend went to see the show tonight and found a slow-moving line around the block due to Covid card inspections. So slow that he and many others found the show had already started before they reached the lobby and they were told to remain there and watch it on the TV screen. They were eventually admitted in without an usher's escort and had to grope their way to their seats in the dark.

Incredible that they would star the show before everyone was admitted, and I think all the audience members who were not seated when the show started should have demanded their money back.

a Broadway medley

R292 They would seem deluded to even go to see that 'play'.

R290 - gosh, George was attractive!

Karen Morrow is at the top of the list of performers who deserved much better careers than they got.

Dorothy Loudon.

If Bette Legge wasn't an influence/inspiration for Sue Ann Nivens, I'll be mightily surprised.

Yes, Maharis was divine. And seems smart! My late friend John had a longish relationship with him, but I never got to ask him the details.

Maharis was naked in Playgirl

George looks like he had a nice cut one. Nice bod, too. Fit but not overdone. And he's classically handsome. Whoever's had him was very lucky indeed!

If I'm doing my math right, he's 45 in those photos. Considering that it wasn't in the gym-culture times of today, that's very impressive

What the hell does the phrase "On a clear day, you can see forever" [italic]mean[/italic]?

R292-That's been the Lyric's policy as far back as Ragtime. The first time I saw that show, A group of us were held in the lobby and forced to watch the big opening number on that tv screen. That's when it was the Ford's Center For The Performing Arts. So, it's an owner decision.

Actors ought to be entitled to walk downstage and stop the show if people have taken their masks down, and refuse to start it again until they fix them. They've done it for pesky mobile phones, and this is way worse than that.

If it got round that that was happening people would soon start complying. Nobody wants to get yelled at from the stage and have everyone surrounding them openly dissing them for spoiling the play.

#whereisjamessnyder

He’s still listed on the understudy board as “usually played by”

I've been to several NY shows over the past 3 months (3 bway), and it seems like NY audiences have been quite compliant with masks.

Rogge, r298, it's Rogge.

R292, the play is long so I am guessing that cannot hold the curtain without risking going into overtime.

I do not like it, but that is the logic. Plays that run longer that two hours and forty minutes are a lot stricter on curtain times.

R304, your comment is misinformed. First of all, the ownership of that theater has changed at least two or three times since it opened with RAGTIME, so I very much doubt it's a theater "policy" to have people wait to be seated if the show has already started. But more importantly, there's a HUGE difference between (1) making actual latecomers to the theater wait to be seated and making them watch the show on a lobby screen in the meantime, and (2) punishing people who got to the theater in plenty of time but were unable to get to their seats by curtain time because the theater staff can't properly manage the COVID protocols.

R310-Thanks for the lesson.

r308, is the beaming boy over Paul's shoulder, his bf?

I did a play at The Peoducers Club in NYC recently and we always had maskless audience members. The actors were about 3 feet away from the first row. The guy who runs the theatre and a few employees were usually roaming around without masks and the air quality in that shithole is pretty bad to begin with. It was a joke.

Possibly for a minute or two r312.

Paul Lynde is rather cute there

R313, that sounds awful. Did you or any of the other actors complain to the management? Or did you just decide to ride it out and hope for the best?

[quote] Did you or any of the other actors complain to the management?

Management couldn't care less. They are likely just as bad with the rules.

Actors ought to be entitled to walk downstage and shoot people who have taken their masks down. After all masks are proving so effective at stopping the spread of Omicron.

You think masked people are getting Omicron from other masked people, r318?

Is actors spot unmasked people in the house they should be able to track down R318 and tase him repeatedly for being a dumbfuck idiot.

Incidentally, how are things on the West End?

David Benedict, a Brit theater writer who is supposedly Sondheim's "official biographer," was said to be publishing said biography in 2017. Anyone know what's going on with that?

I hear it now has a sad ending, r322.

'Madame, all stories, if continued far enough, end in death, and he is no true-story teller who would keep that from you.'

R322 Last summer Benedict said he's still working on the Sondheim bio (7 years and counting). No date of publication has been announced...

The CDC just announced "stay off of cruise ships." Are theaters next?

You should train for the Olympics with leaps like that

For no reason...

Just got an email for the Taylor Mac show at Prototype Festival in January - they'll require proof of vaccination *and* a negative PCR or rapid test before entering the theatre.

Trying to figure out how the logistics of showing an honest negative test go. Do I have to find a testing site hours before the curtain and tramp through scores of potentially infected people to see a show now?? Oy.

Thanks, r325. Maybe if he didn't spend his days on Twitter....

[quote] Just got an email for the Taylor Mac show at Prototype Festival in January - they'll require proof of vaccination *and* a negative PCR or rapid test before entering the theatre.

Did they indicate a time-frame for the test result?

Does having sat through Taylor Mac's "Gary" count for anything?

[quote]Did they indicate a time-frame for the test result?

Nope. More than a bit confusing. Bring results of a negative PCR or rapid test, no time frame indicated.

Which seems like an open door for fake test results, frankly.

Here’s a little Civil War ditty I used to sing at talent shows when I thought I could be the next Donny Osmond.

I'm fond of...

MJ is back!!

MJ is canceled!!

It’s COVID!!

No it’s not !!

Wait is MJ closing? Won't someone think of the children?

Not closing. But another perf canceled. I think it was supposed to be their first night back.

the reviews

with experts predicting the Omicron surge to be short-lived, would Broadway possibly announce a very specific closure of 3 weeks or so during January when business is usually bad anyway? Maybe akin to what Ham is doing in LA (unless what r188 etc is dangling has credence).

A temporary closing of a few weeks or even a couple of months would seem to make sense, r340, but I think there's great fear in the business that it could turn into something much longer (as it did the first time, but this time it would be without any government $$$$$$ help) and tourists and even local fans will simply break the habit and never return.

Interesting dilemma. It feels like disorganized random last-minute cancellations would take longer to recover from than a unified, "We're back February 15."

Except, what if, "We're NOT back February 15" ??

That's entirely possible, ya know?

Yes, but if things are that bad, no one would be going to the shows anyway

Let’s think this through. Will the actors and crew be paid? Will the theaters forego rent? What will the rehearsal period look like to set up again? And, who is going to pay for all of this? Budget several million per show.

[Quote] The CDC just announced "stay off of cruise ships."

That’s up there with CDC’s recommendation to “not eat crayons.”

I’ve discover with this pandemic that, no, all theatre is not essential

R347 how do you mean?

R347 Are you lost?

A performance of Moulin Rouge in Australia was cancelled halfway through act two due to a positive covid test. 30 minutes left of the show.

“This show is over”

Old school. Old...old...school...

Jesus, a half hour to go? At that point, just finish the damn thing. Unless there's a new scene where the characters walk into the audience and cough on them, whoever is infected has already passed it on.

The League has met with the unions and they have said they are not interested in discussing any shut down accommodations. This should get interesting...

I think the only thing that would bring about a shut down is if and when audiences no longer buy tickets. That simple.

Public Theater Cancels Entire Under The Radar Festival:

No one is buying tickets for January.

Well "Under the Radar" has lived up to its name, I suppose.

RE: HEX the Musical at the National Theatre

No one does bad musicals like the Brits! Back in the 90s and 2000s. I loved getting half-price tickets to bad musicals. The seats were always center stalls and the theatre would be dressed like Covid distancing. In most cases the actors would give it there all, in spite of knowing they were in a clunker. And sometimes, I actually liked the show.

The worst musical I ever saw was called BEHIND THE IRON MASK, based on the Dumas story The Man In The Iron Mask. The actor in the mask was not miked properly, and you couldn't understand a word he said or sang. The entire show was really bad.

The best of the bad musicals was MARTIN GUERRE by the Les Miz team. Went back twice to see it after changes were made. Unfortunately, it got worse, not better, but there were some great songs and great moments. The actor who played the real Martin Guerre (during the first half of Act One) also appeared in Les Miserable as Marius... at the same time! The double casting was a Cameron Macintosh stunt, probably to save money.

James Corden was in the ensemble of MARTIN GUERRE.

[quote]Went back twice to see it after changes were made. Unfortunately, it got worse, not better

Like Dr. Jazz in previews. Still love Lola Falana.

Ah yes, Martin Guerre...

Martin Guerre Medley

I saw an entirely different musical version of Martin Guerre at Hartford Stage in the early 90s that starred Patrick Cassidy and Malcolm Gets as the 2 Martins with Judy Kuhn as the wife, also with Beth Fowler, Cris Groenwald (sp?) and Walter Charles. Great cast and I remember loving it but it went nowhere. I think there was even a 3rd version of Martin Guerre at the Goodman in Chicago not long after that. All with different composers and writers. Crazy!

The latest bad new British musical is & JULIET which imagines (unimaginatively) what would have happened if Juliet had lived and Romeo didn't (or is he in it, too? I can't remember.....I've erased most of it from my memory). I saw it just a few months pre-Covid, don't know how it's doing now that they've reopened, but hope it doesn't sully these shores.

WEHT Lola Falana? She had a lot of press and tv appearances back in the day. I recall she actually was quite good, too.

The West End version of Martin Guerre was a dinosaur, and an awful one at that. But compared to the so-called "good" British musicals of today - Six, &Juliet, etc - it’s freaking My Fair Lady.

& Juliet is coming to the Broadway soon

In 1987, Falana was struck with multiple sclerosis. The disease paralyzed the left side of her body, partially blinded her and temporarily impaired her voice and her hearing. She was forced to cancel all Las Vegas concerts and began her recovery for the next year and a half

Miss Friedman...

Cameron Mackintosh please/I am down on my knees/Not another reprise

Speaking of FB, someone in the last thread said they were disappointed upon meeting Gerard Alessandrini to find he was a putz - any more details?

Eldergay here remembering what a big deal it was to see a broadway show on New Years Eve. Most if not all shows raised their top ticket price to as much as $100 for the special event and would hand out complimentary party hats and horns on the way out. And that was just the start of the evening. Those were the days. Thanks for reading this. Happy New Year.

[quote] Eldergay here remembering what a big deal it was to see a broadway show on New Years Eve.

Yes, it was. In more recent years, Broadway shows quit doing NYE shows.

[quote] Eldergay here remembering what a big deal it was to see a broadway show on New Years Eve. Most if not all shows raised their top ticket price to as much as $100 for the special event and would hand out complimentary party hats and horns on the way out. And that was just the start of the evening. Those were the days. Thanks for reading this. Happy New Year.

When was that?

I saw The Tap Dance Kid on New Year's Eve.

The NYE performance of “Floradora” was really divine!

They sure was something, r375!

With all of the understudy love out there has Nathan Lane commented on how much he adores working with understudies?

R370, thanks for the Forbidden Broadway version of Martin Guerre. I had never heard it before, but the tale they tell is true, true, true.

Here's Broadway favorite Hugh Panaro sweating and hamming his way through big Martin Guerre solo.

Damn, R378! Watching and listening to just a minute or so of that clip gives you a good idea that the music in the show is crap.

Sorry to get all soft on y'all, but as we round the corner to 2022, I wanted to thank the regulars (and... irregulars) of the theatre threads for being one of the bright spots of the past couple of years. Whether sharing legit backstage gossip, offering insights that put professional dramaturgs to shame or talking about God Damn Follies again, we've kept each other engaged, connected and entertained throughout multiple waves of this pandemic.

Happy New Year, everybody.

R380 Indeed. Much love to all.

Did Patti’s toilet make it to 2022? Or have they taken to pissing and shitting in the ALW memorial pool?

Happy new year, darling

Poor Malcolm.

[quote]Whether sharing legit backstage gossip, offering insights that put professional dramaturgs to shame or talking about God Damn Follies again, we've kept each other engaged, connected and entertained throughout multiple waves of this pandemic.

I think "God Damn FOLLIES" should definitely be the title of the next thread :-)

God Damn Follies, The Fucking Visit…

It’s like Patti Lupone's bucket list.

a lot of shows play tonight don't they? Which will cancel first? Isn't this fun?

I celebrated Nee Years Day by cancelling a trip to see Caroline and Flying Over Sunday, both which I bought tickets for two years ago and will not see. Amtrak remains the worst, charging 25% of the value of the ticket.

Allan Larson Dies: Father Of Playwright Jonathan Larson And Caretaker Of Legacy:

Tick, tick…buh-bye

Why was this man's death announced by Miranda? Why does he center every possible event on himself

Because we are all Lin's children.

Because we are all living in the Mirandaverse.

[quote]Why was this man's death announced by Miranda? Why does he center every possible event on himself

Because he knew how much it would piss you off.

[quote]Your irrational hatred of LMM is amusing

Amusing from one perspective, pathetic from another.

Never mind the tragedy of someone’s death and the pain his family and friends are feeling right now LETS CRUCIFY LIN FOR HAVING THE AUDACITY TO ANNOUNCE IT. HOW DARE HE!

I don’t get why Lin Manuel Miranda’s success pisses someone off.

[quote]I don’t get why Lin Manuel Miranda’s success pisses someone off.

Mostly due to jealousy and that person's own insecurities, I think.

No...I get the Lin-Man Hate. To a degree.

I don't personally hate him but he is unctiously annoying...even swarmy in how he presents himself.

Unlike the real haters, I think he is a talented theater creator though I think he's better at writing shows than acting in them.

But, he's a smug little dick.

Cameron Mackintosh has done himself a hagiography in the form of a documentary. He even narrates it himself. It's where You'reGonnaLoveTomorrow got those segments about Side by Side, the West End Follies and Putting It Together. The interviews with Sondheim were done ten days before his death.

The one amusing moment - aside from him declaring Alfie Boe as an "unknown" until he cast him in the Les Misérables O2 production - is saying Hal Prince sent Elaine Stritch to see a preview of Cats and report back; Cameron says he overheard her on the phone in the lobby yelling "Hal, I'm here, it's a cat-astrophe".

Also quite interesting that it had a section about Charlie Stemp - the only actor to have a segment about him alone.

It is not his success , but rather his endless self-promotion that pisses people off. And it has pissed people off even before the first off-Broadway In the Heights.

There's a moment during the 2009 Tony Awards - I think it's after the Next to Normal performance - where the camera cuts to someone linked to the production for a reaction shot, and LMM is sat behind them. As soon as he realises he can be seen, he starts making gestures to the camera. That pretty much sums him up, and also explains people's distaste for him.

Isn’t all of Broadway self promotion, the Tony’s being the apex?

R404, so you know how over-the-top Miranada is if he stands out.

R401 is this Cameron M doc available for viewing anywhere on line?

It can be downloaded here

Is it this?

[quote]That pretty much sums him up, and also explains people's distaste for him.

Please. That does not begin to explain or justify the psychotic hatred that one poster in particular has for him.

R408 No, that was an earlier one done by Alan Yentob at the BBC, more worth a watch than Cameron's self-produced thing.

R409 I wasn't trying to explain that one poster, but why the feeling exists in general.

r400: "annoying . . .even swarmy."

Oh, dear!!

THanks for that link, r407. It was great. Though it might be interesting to see a contrary version that was more critical.

Ah, just read r410's post. I'll have to have a look at the doc now.

[quote]It is not his success , but rather his endless self-promotion that pisses people off. And it has pissed people off even before the first off-Broadway In the Heights.

I think very little of it is "self-promotion." He doesn't really need to do much of that, certainly not anymore, as so many others are understandably willing to promote him as an exceptionally talented musical theater writer who happens to not be a white Jewish and/or gay male.

Also -- we're talking show business, so it amuses me that self-promotion strikes you as such a horribly annoying thing. You are really quite funny.

Lin Manuel is the quintessence of smarminess.

You mean swarminess, r415!

R414, Miranda's self-promotion does not annoy me at all. The question was if people were bother by his success. I was just pointing out that the same people have been annoyed with him even before he was a name. The people in NY theater who dislike him generally do because he is so aggressive in self-promotion. And yes, while he does have publicists and producers backing him, he still does a lot to put himself center stage and he takes a strong hand in crafting the narrative of how he is marketed.

I am no longer in that world and do not have a dog in that hunt. Personally I always liked him. However, I do think the self promotion has not always been great for his work. While starring in shows he wrote is great for media attention, his performance was weaker than any of the other Broadway Hamiltons because he does not have the voice of acting chops they do. But they said the same thing about Coward playing leads in his shows, so this is an age old problem.

Patti was out of Company tonight. Hope she's okay and neither her toilet nor COVID are involved.

Ethel wouldn't have missed. Nor Mary.

[quote]Ethel wouldn't have missed. Nor Mary.

Ethel Barrymore and Mary Astor?

Mary Schwartz and Ethel Hotchkiss.

R403 that reminds me of Roberto Benigni at the 1999 Oscars. He acted the clown whenever the cameras were on him, especially when he won Best Actor. The camera caught him being normal a few times, but as soon as he noticed it, he clowned it up.

Still hoping Klein's makes a comback!

R419, Nor Betty Bacall, who reportedly never missed a Cactus Flower, Applause or Woman of the Year performance, all long runs.

Lenny!

I didn't know Leonard Bernstein had a buttcrack.

Most bottoms do r426.

r426 - he had a spleen, too, Rose

R425, 39-year-old Lenny was quite fuckable.

why, because he was alive?

That's a very odd photo, considering the times. Lenny had to know Arthur had a camera. It's the kind of photo a lover would take, but never heard they were ever fucking.

R412/R413 I wouldn't say the BBC one is more critical, but it's at least not made by Cameron. The hints during the doc at his tyrannical attitude does make it sound like a critical doc would be a good watch.

It was interesting to note that in the latter doc, Cameron seems to have dropped a few of the 'origin myths' that he'd stuck to for so long. Like missing Side by Side due to driving down the wrong motorway - now we're told he was going to New York so asked Christopher Biggins to see it for him. Likewise, the idea Les Mis was a huge ticket seller at the Barbican is replaced with an admission that when it moved to the Palace it didn't have any advance, etc.

I do like his spin on him doing the West End Hamilton as Seller just asking him if he fancied doing it.

Did any of the WSS creators ever fuck? It’s hard to conceive of any of them being a match rather than competitors, but 1957 was a different time for the gays.

That is not Bernstein in the photo.

R434, Photoshopped?

R434 so he didn't really have a buttcrack?

If that was Bernstein, there would have been a 16 year old boy underneath him.

Director Sam Gold on how he's going to fuck up Macbeth:

[quote] Gold, who suffers from insomnia, thinks "the torture of not sleeping" offers important insight into Macbeth's behavior. "More than anything, I'm looking for clues to contextualize the experience so I can best help Daniel tackle one of the hardest roles in dramatic literature- and to me 'NO SLEEP' is the key."

Well, how very innovative!

It looks like a former Elphaba standby who hasn’t played the role since 2015 when she left the cast went on last night. WTF is going on? Actors are dropping like flies.

That's why it's called a pandemic.

Singing spreads aerosols more effectively than almost any other activity. So no wonder appearing in a musical is a high risk endeavor.

R440 They flew four former cast members to fill in for the tour with three hours of rehearsals

Based on Gold's King Lear, this Macbeth is guaranteed to put you to sleep, so there's always that.

R443, that's astounding to me. How can cast members from years ago step into a role with only three hours of rehearsal? How in the world do they recall the words to all of the songs in that short a period of time? I imagine there are some passages or verses one never forgets but the entire score? People who can do that in my opinion are nothing short of amazing.

You clearly don't know any actors, r445.

I don't, R446, which is why I think that kind of talent is amazing and to be admired.

I imagine some of the long running shows had, at a minimum, already put out feelers to former Broadway and national tour cast members in recent weeks for this very possibility. Not that it's any less impressive.

If you do a long running show for, say, a year or more--for many actors--it becomes something where you can just flip a switch and do it, for quite a long time after that. The little bit of rehearsal is usually as much for the meshing of the actor with the support personnel, the conductor, and other artists as anything else, not for memorization/recall purposes.

[quote]Nor Betty Bacall, who reportedly never missed a Cactus Flower, Applause or Woman of the Year performance, all long runs.

And yet she still had time to enjoy a cup of High Point on the way to the theater. She loved that deep-brewed flava!

NY theatre has always had a small company of actors who specialize in filling in roles at the absolute last minute. They are a wonder to behold.

I watched one placed in a regional show I was working on when they fired the lead 3 days before tech. He was off book and performing in a day.

The really big musicals like Wicked and Jersey Boys that have had multiple companies and toured for ages have extra swings who have a suitcase filled with costumes and are ready to be summoned wherever needed.

I love you guys and these theatre threads - happy new year!

Thanks a million for that link to Anything Goes. Really wanted to see it. It seems the UK company, like Sutton's remade costumes, are merely a pale imitation. And why didn't they pad her bra again? I miss the juggs....and the taught butts of the swarthy Broadway chorus MEN. These sailor boys looked flat, with saggy pants and no testosterone. Sad. Sutton had to carry all the vocals and the sex appeal too. Bless her for pulling it off a decade later though.

LMM is effusive all the damn time. He speaks like the ugly kid who learned at a young age no one would look at him unless he stated things dramatically, as if they have great importance.

He's got talent, sure, but he's only being propped as our answer to the greats because he's Latin at a time when visibility is being pushed. Frankly, I'd love to see someone else - Black, Chinese, Indian, whatever - come on in with better tunes and a stronger voice and take his spot and hobnob with Patti and the A List.

Him leading the Sunday memorial singalong to SS was annoying as fuck. Bernadette should have been the one. He's been given all the keys to the kingdom almost by default it seems.

I'm really stunned they pushed ahead with previews for MM. All the shows should wait a month or two. The government should step in. Why should Patti and Sutton have to get sick?

Was Lillias' departure from Chicago due to covid, or the fear of getting it? Or was her contract just up?

Did anyone see her in it this time around?

My god, LMM is so easy to avoid. Some of you don't really want to.

[quote]He's got talent, sure, but he's only being propped as our answer to the greats because he's Latin at a time when visibility is being pushed.

So I guess his relentless "self-promotion" isn't the real reason so many people dislike him.

R455, I guess not. All these people are so obviously envious, they should form a society of little green haters

Lillas’s contract was up. I think she has a new show coming up.

R455

I'm not racist. Don't act like he isn't getting a ton of support for being Latin and bringing that perspective to theatre. He is. There also aren't any other showmakers getting his level of exposure. He's practically getting deified and put next to Sondheim and Rodgers and Hammerstein....because there's a dirth of other creators getting this kind of recognition.

I have no issue with anyone bringing more diversity to the theatre. I just want them to be more talented and attractive and subtle in positioning themselves as a pillar of the community. Let that be decided in time...not in a decade.

Sutton, by contrast, is beloved for her work but she's rarely doing interviews or making sure she's standing next to the right people. She isn't waltzing around like the New Queen or something....but she IS arguably the biggest Broadway star of the last 20 years. Yet folks here downplay her star status. She's not everywhere you look. She's not trying to be. She just works and keeps it lowkey.

R454, I don't seek out LMM but he really is everywhere pertaining to Broadway these days. I didn't want to see him front and centre at the memorial...or involved in every big screen musical that hits theatres, Disney or otherwise. And yet.....

And why the fuck was he Bert in Mary Poppins 2...?!?

It was Erich Bergen who organized that Sondheim tribute in Times Square, but who was front and center doing a "reading" from Finishing the Hat--just as though he was the driving force behind this tribute?

Guess.

Patti wants to perform not to stay in her basement.

R431, I questioned if the Hamilton Hotel even existed in 1957, turns out it opened in 1922.

R450 It's not like Betty Bacall had to worry about her voice not sounding good for a performance. It never really did sound more than passable. But it was Callas compared to Katharine Hepburn's, another one who rarely if ever canceled. Real singers do tend care how they are going to sound and do fret over allergies, colds, etc.

MIranda keeps accepting invites (or perhaps invites himself) to be part of some of these things, but WTF is he being interviewed for say "Fiddler on the Roof" making documentary on PBS, when he wasn't even born. So he used some of the songs for his weddings -- so have bar mitzvahs and weddings since the show was first a hit. It's overkill and overexposure and over-praise for someone who is talented, but has come to believe his own press, and that, usually doesn't end that well, especially if he has a flop down the road.

The Lopezes are also Latin and David Yazbek is of Lebanese descent, and I think they write better scores, but they haven't been shoved down our throats by the press and pr people. I'm not saying they should, but I'd rather see them sometimes rather than Miranda, who is swarmy and overbearing in how he comes across. Yes, it does seem rather insincere now because he accepts all these honors, plus he accepts acting and singing roles. No one apparently has told he that he's lacking in those. They're all looking to be in or produce his next show I guess.

Yes, exactly. Despite the poster's claim upthread that one can always just ignore LMM, he pops up in fairly unexpected places. You don't have to follow him to get ambushed by his presence.

PS r464, PLEASE stop with the "swarmy."

Exactly. He's become the Hot Ticket and it's frustrating because there are probably others who deserve more praise and/or opportunities. And everyone will continue to push him down our throats because, hey guess what, the optics of supporting him work really well. I wonder how much he's leaning into that. (Again, I get that he does have talent, but....this is a bit much.)

Lillias White gave an interview recently where she said she has always been brought in to deliver the rousing crowd-pleasing showstopping number...but she and her fellow women of color who have been doing that for years don't get the same status as Bernadette, Patti, etc. She's probably right and it sucks. She's amazing and has earned her icon status...you couldn't show me too much of Lillias these days. But does she get above title credit? Did she get invited to play Dolly? Is she always presenting at the Tony's?

So no, don't even start with saying I'm racist. The fact is that LMM is getting propped in ways other more deserving POC aren't. Show biz ain't fair.

[quote] the taught butts

oh, dear.

[quote] MIranda keeps accepting invites (or perhaps invites himself) to be part of some of these things, but WTF is he being interviewed for say "Fiddler on the Roof" making documentary on PBS, when he wasn't even born.

His presence gets viewers and clicks. You're blaming him, when everyone is [italic]scrambling[/italic] over themselves hoping he'll participate.

[quote]The really big musicals like Wicked and Jersey Boys that have had multiple companies and toured for ages have extra swings who have a suitcase filled with costumes and are ready to be summoned wherever needed.

That doesn't sound even remotely believable. So who pays for the storage of all these costumes? Because a set of Wicked costumes would fill half the average NY apartment. How about maintaining them? How about alterations as bodies change? How about the cost of transporting them?

I don't think it's necessarily true, r468, that Miranda is accepting invitations. I think in at least some situations he is elbowing his way in. He completely eclipsed Erich Bergen (who's entitled to accolades for arranging that Sondheim tribute). And I can't imagine that the Fiddler documentarians sought him out.

Ever heard him speak about how he "wrote" "Maria" after the hurricane?

He is very talented. I don't think anyone would deny that. But he has an ego the size of Argentina, and some people find that obnoxious.

His Mary Poppins 2 was bad.

No one dares tell him that he hasn't gotten much better as an actor and singer since those high school or college musical productions which ended up on the internet. Yikes!

[quote] He completely eclipsed Erich Bergen (who's entitled to accolades for arranging that Sondheim tribute).

...and how much publicity would the event have gotten with Erich Bergen as the headliner?

What might be scarier is that he probably thinks he was wonderful in those, too, like that of him in "Jesus Christ Superstar".

R473 Sondheim was the headliner.

OK, smarmy then!

Would be a shame if we lost the Theatre 80. But something sounds "off" here: "he had taken out a $6.1 million mortgage against the properties to settle an inheritance dispute, pay legal fees and finance needed renovations."

Mrs. Doubtfire “pausing” production for nine weeks

Nine weeks seems like a long time...I wonder if it'll be back and if other shows will follow?

If Sutton Foster is the biggest Broadway star of the last 20 years, we're in big trouble.

Oh, yeah. Broadway IS in big trouble.

[quote]the taught butts

You’ve got to be carefully taught how to have a taut butt

Doubtfire thinking they can make it 9 weeks from now is insane. It's a flop.

Why are they closing?

and even more laughable- they have tickets on sale through Nov 20, 2022

Doubtfire would be closing in January without the pandemic. Don't blame Covid.

Doubtfire shutting down until March 15. Guessing more will follow.

Oops. Sport. Thread didn’t reload properly and I thought I was delivering breaking news :)

[quote]I'm not racist. Don't act like he isn't getting a ton of support for being Latin and bringing that perspective to theatre.

I stopped reading after "I'm not racist."

"dirth"?? r458? Oh, dear!

That's a fine way to looose a man!

Gloria...

I don't give a god damn about Tony Yazbeck's ethnicity as long as he will sit on my face. There. I said it. And I am not ashamed.

From The Times:

In a startling illustration of the financial damage a resurgent pandemic is causing on Broadway, the producer of a new musical adaptation of “Mrs. Doubtfire” has decided to close down his show for nine weeks, saying he sees no other way to save the production.

Kevin McCollum, a veteran Broadway producer whose previous credits include “Rent” and “Avenue Q,” said he would close the musical comedy beginning Jan. 10, with a plan to reopen on March 14. The move will cost 115 people their jobs for that period; McCollum said he is committed to rehiring those who want to return.

[quote] The Lopezes are also Latin

Robert Lopez is Filipino.

[quote] Lillas’s contract was up. I think she has a new show coming up.

She's in the new Off-Broadway musical Black No More.

[quote] Sutton, by contrast, is beloved for her work but she's rarely doing interviews or making sure she's standing next to the right people. She isn't waltzing around like the New Queen or something....but she IS arguably the biggest Broadway star of the last 20 years.

Kristin Chenoweth?

It's unbelievable the number of Marys on All That Chat and BroadwayWorld who are incensed that the producers of DOUBTFIRE aren't going to be paying the company/crew something during this time. WTF are they thinking? Are people really that thick now that they can't understand basic economics? Dollars in to dollars out? If there was money to spare, the show wouldn't forced into this 'hiatus' (a very carefully chosen term). But you'd think McCollum was the devil here, instead of being seen as WISE: making a preemptive, proactive move that might actually keep people more gainfully employed for many months, rather than calling it quits altogether next week. Which would you prefer, a 2 month hiatus followed by 4-6 months on a production contract, or 2 more piss poor weeks and back to unemployment?

The theatre boards are being overrun with woke, socialist simpletons who expect handouts and charity. This is a BUSINESS. And a rough old one at that even without COVID. I have no horse in this race, but I commend McCollum for making the tough decision in the hopes of the show (and cast) bouncing back when this surge has passed.

Which broadway musicals Sallyann how’s was in? She was grate in the movies I seen her in. Sad she died

[quote] I'm not racist.

Says racist r453, too blind to even recognize it in himself.

And there is no “Bert” in Mary Poppins Returns. LMM played a different character.

And we see that you are either a Brit or a Canadian, R453.

[quote]Which broadway musicals Sallyann how’s was in? She was grate in the movies I seen her in. Sad she died.

Also sad: Your English skills.

[quote] Which broadway musicals Sallyann how’s was in? She was grate in the movies I seen her in. Sad she died

mlop?

R488

Oh Whatever. You're a moron.

You accuse someone of being a racist in order to prompt them ro reply with "Im not a racist" just so you can point your finger and say I'm being defensive. What are you, 5 years old?

Did YOU see Lillias White in Chicago, Mr Non Racist?

Anyway, if the shows were smart they'd all close until March. We're in for at least 8 weeks of people being scared and isolating.

This just in: Singapore/Fling is STILL a moron.

That is all. Carry on, bitches.

r499, if that had been mlop, she would have regaled us with the many times she had met Sally Ann, the annual Christmas cards she received from her, and how Sally Ann loved the story about Chita lifting her leg.

[quote] The theatre boards are being overrun with woke, socialist simpletons who expect handouts and charity. This is a BUSINESS. And a rough old one at that even without COVID.

Aren't the chat board filled with children, fanboys, and theatre fanatics who make DL-ers look like rational adults by comparison?

If they close "Doubtfire" for three months, I wonder what rules Equity has in place for the contracts. Are they null and void, and does the producer get to "renegotiate" contract terms for everyone that weren't getting the minimum?

[quote]Aren't the chat board filled with children, fanboys, and theatre fanatics who make DL-ers look like rational adults by comparison?

As if that were even fucking possible.

Muriel, is that you? Can you fix the damn saving and loading of sites and settings? Thanks.

Sorry r506 - mani-pedi today.

Check back next year.

that's what you said [italic]last[/italic] year, and those talons still look like shit.

R495 And yet I bet Roundabout continues to get paid over the next 9 weeks.

(In a roundabout way.)

I can barely tolerate L. White rifting and overacting just one number in a show, I couldn't imagine sitting through a musical where she's the star and has multiple numbers - ugh. Yes, I'm way over LMM tireless self promotion. However, even worse than him is "Mr. Broadway" himself the "AMAZIN" SR. This egomaniac needs to be checked into a rehab facility ASAP. His constant need for attention and praise along with self promoting everything he does is exhausting!!!

Please, r511, what is "rifting."

And who is The AMAZIN SR?

Seth Rudetsky - who is A LOT to take. I also have trouble with grown men who speak in the sing-song cadence of a 12 year old girl.

I thought Lin was charming in Poppins. His accent wasn’t great but neither was Dick Van Dyke’s.

Lord, yes. The AMAAAAAAAAAAAAzing SR.

[quote]I also have trouble with grown men who speak in the sing-song cadence of a 12 year old girl.

R513 how come?

Do you think Bernadette will ever do another Broadway show? I love her, but I don't think she has the vocal stamina for a lead role anymore, but I can't think of many marquee supporting roles in the musical theatre for such an idiosyncratic performer, either.

HELLO, DOLLY! was perfect for Bernadette because there's actually not that much singing involved for that role, and what's there isn't difficult at all, so her voice wasn't taxed. I thought she sounded great the night I attended.

R518 - that's a good point. There are, I suppose, some lead roles that aren't vocally taxing. She already did one of them -- Desiree in Night Music -- prior to Dolly.

The Gin Game...the Musical

BP could easily do Madame Armfeldt, but doubt she would play anyone over 35.

We saw A STRANGE LOOP at Playwrights Horizons and disliked it. But the new artwork for it a WOOLLY MAMMOTH sums it up quite nicely - intense navel-gazing. Good luck on Broadway, fellas!

Strange Loop's Broadway run will make "Dana H's" look like PHANTOM. Who wants to pay $150 bucks to hear a writer bitch about his life?

Maybe Bernadette will do a play. Her appearances don't always just have to be in musicals.

THIS DAY IN BROADWAY HISTORY: In 1952, a revival of "Pal Joey" opened at the Broadhurst Theatre.

I agree that Bernie would make a great Mdme Armfeldt. Perfect role for her. And, at her age, does she really want to carry a show?

Hell she could do it via zoom. Just prop an iPad in the wheelchair

Oh Elaine, will you for chrissake go to New Haven and sing the fucking song!

Theatre Conversations with Judith Ivey

R509 -- I don't understand why people are taking issue with the notion of McCollum paying the Roundabout rent. If they hope to reopen in 2 months, they NEED to pay the theatre owner rent to allow the physical production to stay put in the interim. There isn't any scandal here.

The problem is your definition of the word "people." These "people" are whiny high school kids and unemployed actors in their basements with nothing to do, who post constantly and know nothing about how this business -- or any business -- really works.

But you post like their comments matter. That's the problem with the age we live in. The LOUDEST gets the attention -- no matter what is being said.

Hello President Trump.

For once ryhog is the voice of sanity. And I just love how he always puts that pompous twat NewtonUK in his place.

R530 So it's okay to expect actors and crew to make sacrifices for the greater good, but theatre owners are off the table, got it.

r533, producers and actors (and stagehands, etc.) are NOT created equal.

Bernie should consider Tennessee Williams' "Night Of The Iguana". A perfect Maxene.

The other issue about casting Bernadette is that she looks and moves far from the traditional grandma roles women her age usually get.

r535...

She's Italian, born Bernadette Lazzara -- she could play one of the woman in "Nine", maybe Guido's mother if she can still get into head voice or one of the other roles. Or the French producers, since Bernie played a French lady (san accent) in "Sunday in the Park with George. "Dear World" might be too much trouble in carrying a show at this point. She could do Princess Puffer in "Drood" also. She could drop down to supporting doing "Broadway Baby" in another "Follies"or Carlotta's "I'm Still Here". Some really nice supporting roles if Bernadette wants to do them.

She was part of the reading in October of the Sondheim-Ives Bunuel musical, and presumably would have had a major role had it been produced (along with Nathan Lane and, I've heard, Mia)

Under the Radar and Prototype festivals cancelled; Exponential festival going online! Happy 2022!

That would make them Apres-garde (sorry no accent on keyboard)

R539-Which Mia? Farrow?

I never miss a Mia Farrow musical.

But has anyone ever heard Ronan warble? (with a full mouth?) Of course, he swallows...his notes.

Maybe the mean one of the Mamma Mias?

they, that is

Maxene in IGUANA?? Bette Davis, Ava Gardner . . . Bernadette Peters? What's wrong with this picture?

How about the father in Fences, you trans-hating racists!

Yeah...Bette Davis. Who was 53. Bernadette is an actress who can look 53. There is no age designated to the character of Maxine. Sylvia Miles looked like she was 75 when she played the role in '76/'77. She was 52 and stunk up the joint. She was reported by her cast-mates to the Dramatists Guild for attempting to make Tennessee"s dialogue dirtier. Cherry Jones was only 40 when she played it in '96. Nobody said she was too young. Ms. Peters is an actress. I'd pay to see Bernie.

[quote]Cherry Jones was only 40 when she played it in '96

In no way is/was Bernadette a Maxene, r547...and neither was Cherry Jones, ya putz.

R462, Bacall blew out a knee during the gay disco number early on in the run of Applause and wore a bandage for a month and still never missed a performance.

What else did she blow?

Tell us, Len!

When I saw Eleanor, r549, she was sporting an ankle bandage.

R549. GRETCHEN WYLER ISN’T GOING TO SING MY SONGS

Margo!

R548-I take it you'll never be a casting director.

How so, r555?

I think what will finally kill NY theater in the coming months are people who don't live in Manhattan, us Bridge and Tunnelers, who will be unwilling to buy tickets in advance with NO guarantee of the performance actually happening. I had a ticket for Assassins a couple of weeks ago, got an email from CSC that morning about their Covid protocols and then another email 2 hours before curtain that the performance was canceled. And the news that they couldn't exchange the tickets because the rest of the run was sold out (they did grant an immediate online reimbursement).

Living an hour and a half from NYC, I won't want to take the chance (and expense) of coming into the city until things are back to normal, especially in these nasty winter months, no matter how long that takes. And I think that will be a common feeling among most non-Manhattanites. Sad times....

R533 -- Is that really what you're taking away from this? SMH. It's real simple: Actors and crew can be sent home and costs saved. Sets, lighting and costumes cannot.

As a result, the theatre MUST be paid for. These landlords have bills to pay and unless McCollum is gonna haul out the physical production, there's no other option.

This isn't about some tyrannical hierarchy. It's legitimately the only thing they can't remove from the theatre in a cost-saving measure. I mean, they theoretically COULD but that would be the end of that production. It's cost-prohibitive to unload now and load-in 2 months from now. So he's paying to keep HIS physical production on THEIR property in the hopes his cast and crew can return and get a 4-6 month (or more) run out of it.

The outrage over this move is beyond mind boggling. They're trying to paint him as some oppressor when he's actually attempting to be the savior of this dreck of a show!

Singapore/Fuckin'Fling and the others don't realize that for example, to make the math real simple: in a 1000 seat house charging $5 a seat equals $5000 total per performance x 8/ perfs. a week - $40,000. But if no one is buying, your take is $0 and there's no money for actors and tech crew. The theatre wants money for rental and as Judge Judy says, if your stuff (the sets, costumes backstage, etc.) is there, you're there and you owe rent. There may, may be a couple of weeks salaries that the unions have made it mandatory to set aside for the actors --- which started from when non union actors before the union existed, used to be stranded in places and didn't have money to get back home. (Watch nearly any Ann Sothern "Maisie" movie and that's usually where she starts out). But the unions can't force producers to pay money that isn't coming in from the production to the actors if they cancel the shows. If the shows were being kept open and performers were performing, then they would be forced or sued into paying. But here, the producers are in a tough spot with the pandemic and performers out and audiences afraid to come, and they are saying, we'll suspend production, you have a job if you want when we start up again. But we can't pay you until you perform when we get the show up and running again. Also, we have expenses now like rent and we're taking a loss, because we hope to run the show again when hopefully things are looking better in a few months. Jerks like Singapore/FuckingFling can't accept this or see past his binary/non-binary/who the fuck knows at this point, POC's penis in their bum.

I'm not defending S/F but what he/she seems to find objectionable is making McCollum out to be a hero or noble in his actions. But IMHO McCollum is doing the right thing. He could so easily close the show forever and be done with it.

I'm surprises S/F isn't objecting to the pronouns on top of whether it should be hero/heroine/hero-x. He usually puts all that in every thread. But then again, life is nicer by mostly skipping over his/her/its posts since it's the same bs agenda.

R552 - How was Eleanor Parker's singing voice?

Eliner parkers dint sing half as glorowsly as sallyann how’s. nobody said her productions of broadway yet like I ask

[quote]that reminds me of Roberto Benigni at the 1999 Oscars. He acted the clown whenever the cameras were on him, especially when he won Best Actor. The camera caught him being normal a few times, but as soon as he noticed it, he clowned it up.

Leading to perhaps my favourite Oscars speech. Tom Stoppard, immaculate in his British tuxedo, accepted his Best Screenplay Oscar for Shakespeare in Love shortly after Benigni won Best Foreign Film and infamously ran towards the stage across the backs of the seats.

Stoppard reached the stage in a stately manner and announced drily: "I am behaving like Roberto Benigni -- inside."

Who can actually read R559’s post without paragraphs, especially on a phone?

Who knew Singapore/Fling could hijack a thread?

R547, no one said it because Cherry jones was playing a different character.

Oh SNAP

RIP Joan Copeland at 99

THIS DAY IN BROADWAY HISTORY: In 1977, "The Trip Back Down" opened at the Longacre Theatre.

Patti LuPone shows off the Company bar, La Culotte Rouge, at the Jacobs Theatre and tells audiences it is safe to return to Broadway:

[quote]These landlords have bills to pay

Silly me, I forgot that actors and crew don't have any bills to pay for the next 8 weeks.

[quote]It's cost-prohibitive to unload now and load-in 2 months from now.

You do realise how stupid you sound when you say stuff like this, right? But anything for a desperate argument to defend those at the top from having to sacrifice too.

Joan Copeland is one of those nyc mainstays who was chockfull of stories she was happy to share but never obnoxious about it. Sorry to see her go, may she RIP.

Yes, sad about dear Joan Copeland. I worked with her a couple of times many years ago and though she could be very grand, she was quite lovely and gracious with the most amazing blue eyes and great stories about her former sister-in-law Marilyn Monroe.

R574, Aunt by marriage to Daniel Day-Lewis.

[quote] You do realise how stupid you sound

Do you realise how you lose all credibility when you resort to insults? Trashy. Rubbish.

And co-star, by sad coincidence, to Danny Kaye.

I recall my first night in London at the National Theatre prior to a performance, watching Joan C. go into a hissy fit because the concession guy wouldn't take American money and Joan bellowing "DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM?"

Welcome, Walter W. to Datalounge. I do not know a day I did not love you!

There are 5 shows sitting in theatres right now ready to be loaded out, but they're still sitting there: West Side Story, Jagged, Colored Man, Waitress, FreeStyle, and Doubtfire/not Doubtfire.

R580, so does that mean you think it's a lite that they're going to try to reopen DOUBTFIRE in the spring?

Of course it's a lie. They were barely hanging on in the first place.

It's Singapore/FuckingFling now, like Lens Dunham

Joan Copeland obituary.

Joan Copeland and Marilyn Monroe were both born on June 1st albeit four years apart. Joan was older.

So do we use the other #448 or start a #449?

Start a 449

R580 Rather undermining the claim theatres HAVE to be paid to stay available. McCollum could call Roundabout's bluff. And Roundabout could use some of the $23 million it has in cash/equivalents on hand to cover 9 weeks of bills. Wonder if McCollum himself is even sacrificing his producer's fee during this period.

Actually, r588, do you actually know what actual deal McCollum actually has with Roundabout?

R589 No, and neither do the people upthread defending the idea of theatre owners being paid while actors and crew get told to sacrifice. Funny how you weren't asking if they knew the details of the deal, isn't it? Only when their arguments are shown up for their ridiculousness are you now saying we can't comment because we don't know the terms of the deal. How transparent.

New thread before we say bonjour to Bajour. Be kind. (Bwah-hahahahahahaha.)

Funny how angry you are r590. I wonder if anyone knows of what they speak.

I'll lick Covid.

MARY!

Jesus, I don't usually complain about thread titles, but....really?

On one of those old Working in the Theatre seminars Joan told the story of the first time she went on for Eleanor Parker in PAL JOEY with script in hand wearing jeans because she didn’t have costumes. Parker locked herself in her dressing room and wouldn’t come out.

Bajour!!!!

You're very early r597

oh shit I have diarrhea again....................

BAJOUR!

Who's...?