Theatre Gossip #449: OMICRON GATHERUM, EUPHENEGENIA EUTHANASIA, AND WHAT THE HELL IS GREG KINNEAR DOING HERE?

Old thread still finishing.

Which will be the next Broadway musical to close? I'm betting on MOULIN ROUGE. I can't believe that shit can survive without tourists.

So many candidates though. Tina? North Country? How will they survive any January, let alone [italic] this [/italic] January?

Is Hadestown still riding high on its Tony? Is Evan Hansen going to overcome that movie debacle?

If I were Kimberley Akimbo, I'd wait to open in the fall.

Is Kimberly Akimbo opening in the Spring? I can't find that anywhere...

What's winning best musical this year, R5?

I think KIMBERLY AKIMBO was definitely shooting for Broadway in the spring, but with the Omicron surge continuing, who knows?

Anything announcing closing today?

It has to be said. This is a TERRIBLE thread title. What happened to all those clever chappies who did the titles back in the 200s and 300s?

The last title was shit, too.

R9 Coincidentally those were the days when actual insiders used to post too

I'm not sure why certain parties are so convinced that KIMBERLY AKIMBO will ever move to Bway, let alone anytime soon.

I saw it. I liked it. But despite the NYT rave, it's not a Broadway musical. It would die miserably in the current Bway climate of SIX et al.

Isn't Voldemort behind KimAkim?

Agreed, r12! As great as it is (and I had a few issues), how the hell do you sell a Broadway musical about a teenaged girl suffering from progeria (google it!) starring Victoria Clark as the teenager?

Girl from the North Country is exquisite, but there is a limited audience right now for something this dark no matter how skillfully performed. Even with no health risks, it would have a struggle to find an audience. Unfortunate, because it was extremely resonant in the middle of the Trump years.

Kimberly Akimbo? I just don’t see how to justify a transfer now. It doesn’t speak to current environment, the story doesn’t do much, and the appeals are gentle at best. One of the ultimate “why?” musicals, with the only answer being because people liked the original play.

[quote]The last title was shit, too.

Recent titles have all been pretty bad, but I think some of us are just expecting bad titles now and really don't pay much attention to any of them.

[quote]Kimberly Akimbo? I just don’t see how to justify a transfer now. It doesn’t speak to current environment, the story doesn’t do much, and the appeals are gentle at best. One of the ultimate “why?” musicals, with the only answer being because people liked the original play.

The whole concept of a "why?" musical is specious, but especially your concept of what that means.

As for why some of us are "so convinced" that the show would move to Broadway, maybe it's because we had heard from reliable sources that such a transfer was in the works, regardless of how wise that would or would not be from a commercial standpoint. Anyway, some shows with limited commercial appeal move to Broadway at least for limited runs so they can be eligible for Tony Awards and have the cachet of being able to advertise that they were on Broadway, and also, there's always the chance that they will find an audience for a decent run in a small theater.

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

This summarizes my experience with Joan Copeland as well. She may have been a grand dame with lots of stories, but her sense of entitlement and her (arguable) lack of talent certainly didn't put her on any of my sponge-worthy lists.

On, Joan Copeland was talented, no denying that. She may have been an entitled bitch but she was a talented entitled bitch.

R12-R17-That's what they all said about "Once" before it moved.

Broadway Box Office Rises With Ticket Prices After A Joyless Christmas:

[quote] Recent titles have all been pretty bad

I'll confess I did a couple of recent ones and they're my first ever. (But I can't claim "credit" for "a bidet walks into a bar" or whatever.) But it's an unpleasant job so I'll retire and leave it to someone else (although I thought Eupenegenia Euthanasia" wasn't bad.)

Go check out some of the titles from the glory days of the past. They were really fun.

OP/R22, I liked your title.

Every time I see that annoying informercial on Power Swabs, I keep thinking "Is David Burtka really that desperate that he needs to do this?" Of course, it's just a look-alike, but am I the only one who sees the resemblance?

Anyone see the Michael Jackson musical?

Don't worry, OP. If any of these clowns who constantly complain about the titles had any talent or intelligence, they would have started a thread. But, their only talents are: eating, farting, complaining, and hallucinating that they know anything about theater, evidenced by the temerity to refer to performers by their first names or initials.

R25 - yep I also thought it was him!

Someone's gotta shoehorn Lisa Cron to one of these thread titles if only so we get:

"I showed up for Lisa Kron and all I got was this lousy Omicron!"

Oh yeah, r19? Where's *her* "...is DEAD to me!" thread?

Chicago leads the way . Yay.

Flying Over Sunset closing a month early on 1/16

Shocked...

And don’t forget Paradise Square is coming

ONCE could be sold as a romance between two sexy young leads.

KIMBERLY/AKIMBO is a romance between a dying teenager who looks like ***SPOILER ALERT*** a 70 year old woman and a geeky teenaged boy. Try selling that to the bus & tunnel theatre parties.

The pearl clutching over Kimberly is hilarious. The same sorts of small minded thinking was written about Fun Home and Band's Visit and Dear Evan Hanson. The days of Golden Rainbow are long gone, ladies.

Garth's musical isn't delaying because of Covid, believe me...

And next to normal also produced by valdemort

Speaking of Doubtfire, what happens to the IATSE requirement that once you officially close, you have to load out the set. Even if you are re-opening. Does that apply here?

Who is pushing for Golden Rainbows? I saw The Band’s Visit three times and Fun Home four times , but for me Evan Hanson and Kimberly Akimbo seemed calculated and amateurish. Just because people don’t like the same shows doesn’t mean they are stuck in the past.

Btw, you couldn’t have a more reliable marker for Eldergay status than using the phrase “pearl clutching.”

Doubtfire ISN'T closing, it's on a hiatus. Try to keep up, r39. Shows used to go on a summer hiatus a lot as recently as the 1950s.

More recently than *70 years ago*, shows have announced delays and temporary closings never to re-open. Try to keep up.

There is no such thing as hiatus as far as the unions are concerned. If your show is not closed, you have to keep paying your employees. That's Black & White. The show's statement was clear that in order to do this, they closed the show, and they will re-open in 9 weeks. Try to read r41.

It's unclear from the publicity. They're saying closing and not closing.

The Times article said:

[quote] 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.

But the headline was:

[quote] ‘Mrs. Doubtfire’ on Broadway Is Pausing to Avoid Closing

PS r41, r42 and r43, you're all being very rude. Try to be nice.

"Rehiring those who want to return" means they are no longer hired and can take other work. So it's not a hiatus.

So do they have to load out and then load back in?

That's IATSE for you....

Always looking for loads...

Greg Kinnear's creepy acting. Rolls eyes. Did he ever host a game show?

Sorry, "acting".

Is Greg creepy as Atticus Finch? Or just in general, r48? I think he's kinda cute.

Miss Kellerman...

I like Sally Kellerman. What's she like to work with?

[quote]For me Evan Hanson and Kimberly Akimbo seemed calculated and amateurish.

Thanks for sharing, but that has nothing to do with the discussion of the commercial viability on Broadway of shows like DEAR EVAN HANSEN and KIMBERLY AKIMBO. The point being made was that DEH and THE BAND'S VISIT and FUN HOME were hits despite the fact that they're not typical Broadway shows (whatever that means anymore).

has anyone heard from Merle Louise recently? She seems to have dropped off the industry radar. I hope that wonderful woman is off somewhere climbing a pyramid, trekking a jungle, or exploring a new horizon

[quote]I hope that wonderful woman is off somewhere climbing a pyramid, trekking a jungle, or exploring a new horizon.

"The head monk there is a very good friend of Auntie Mame's, and perhaps he'll let you ring the temple bells that bring the monks to prayer."

[quote] Who is pushing for Golden Rainbows?

Is that like Golden Showers? I think there’s an Off-Broadway director who might be interested.

[quote]Greg Kinnear's creepy acting. Rolls eyes. Did he ever host a game show?

He hosted TALK SOUP* on E! in the early '90s. I was in middle school then and thought he was so hot! Adorable personality, too.

*In the 2000s, it was revamped as THE SOUP with Joel McHale.

Why would ANY show want to come to Broadway right now? I get that sometimes, once the button's been pushed, there's no un-pushing it. But even if Kimberly Akimbo was a guaranteed hit, I would think they'd want to wait for 2023 at the very earliest.

Greg kinnear? Did anyone say Gregg kinnear?

Is Derek Hough still looking for an available theater for Singing In The Rain?

I wish Richard Thomas was playing Atticus on broadway instead of the upcoming tour.

R61 how come?

I'm not r61 but I'm guessing because he's a better actor.

R50 I couldn't stand his performance in As Good as it Gets with his puppy dog eyes and smirky mouth movements. I don't know what that was supposed to be. Still a good movie mostly thanks to the rest of the cast.

[quote]I couldn't stand his performance in As Good as it Gets with his puppy dog eyes and smirky mouth movements. I don't know what that was supposed to be.

Endearing.

Kinnear’s bio only gives tv and movie credits so I’m wondering if he’s ever been on stage before. I know the show shutdown on Tuesday and Wed afternoon probably to give him more time onstage before they put him in front of an audience.

r58, I agree. I can't imagine a producer or investor wanting to attempt a new Broadway show in these times. It wouldn't surprise me if an expensive and risky project like FUNNY GIRL isn't postponed. But I guess they're all waiting a few weeks to see where we are with Omicron.

I think we’re all hoping that after this surge things calm down and we get back on track by mid Feb. At least we have the vaccines and, for most, Omicron is no worse than a bad cold.

But a lot of deplorable tourists can't get in if they don't have the vaccine.

So how will "A Strange Loop" fare?

[quote]But a lot of deplorable tourists can't get in if they don't have the vaccine.

And New Yorkers wonder why they are despised by much of the country. They are so elitist!

I recently watched Jeremy O. Harris in Emily in Paris on Netflix. I hope he’s a better playwright than actor.

What other major and/or middling movies are set to become middling musicals?

We've got Back to the Future on its way, Devil Wears Prada, Some Like It Hot, Flamingo Kid, Like Water for Chocolate, Trading Places, 13 Going on 30 [italic] and [/italic] 17 Again (same songwriters for those last two!), Broadway Vacation (based all those Vacation movies), Water for Elephants (book by Rick Elice), Mr. Holland's Opus (book, lyrics and direction by BD Wong), along with War of the Roses (as a comedy, not a musical, and directed by Jason Alexander)

Oh, Broadway

It seems like we should all read this

Mr Holland’s Opus might actually make a good musical.

What about The Turning Point with Katrina Lenk in the Anne Bancroft role?

Mary Poppins and Phantom are cutting two performances a week in London for the time being. Could Broadway shows afford to do this?

R72-He's pretty bad at both professions.

"Company" Actor Is Reunited with Stranger Who Bought Him Tickets to See Patti LuPone 15 Years Ago:

After the holidays, Broadway looks ahead to a challenging winter:

Is Katrina Lenk so good that producers would want to build more musicals around her?

Tony Yazbeck and Atticus Ware tap dance in a new clip from "Flying Over Sunset":

THIS DAY IN BROADWAY HISTORY: In 1975, "The Wiz" opened at the Majestic Theatre.

Who ever thought that the proper dance form to express Cary Grant's character would be tap?

[quote]And New Yorkers wonder why they are despised by much of the country. They are so elitist!

мой член, твой мудак.

R76. Great idea. I would believe Lenk as a washed up ballerina.

Was the tap dancing element for the Cary character there before Tony Yazbeck was cast?

I don't know the current status but The Turning Point has been optioned for the stage before. I think there was even talk way back when of Patti as Bancroft and Bernadette as MacLaine. And yes, I said way back when.

R88. Let’s go back even earlier when Ann Reinking and Donna McKechnie were mentioned.

[quote]Is Katrina Lenk so good that producers would want to build more musicals around her?

No,

Maybe it's all the flop collectors inciting this, but there seems to be a rising sentiment that Flying Over Sunset is some underrated masterpiece. It is - to be generous - a beautiful-looking misfire. I didn't regret seeing it, but for all of the emotional points in the characters' lives that are explored, it's a chilly and bloodless show. At least you do get to see Robert Sella bury his face in Tony Yazbeck's ass at one point, so it's not a total loss.

73: You forgot Mr. Saturday Night.

Is Tony’s ass naked at that point, r91?

[quote] even talk way back when of Patti as Bancroft

The thought of Klutzi LuPone playing a ballet dancer is hilarious.

My head is spinning at the thought of Patti and Bernie working together. Who would get top billing?

There's also "The Princess Bride".

Isn't "The Princess Bride" dead and buried? And speaking of Adam Guettel, is he writing these days? A shame if he's not.

Well this got a chuckle from me

[quote] Is Tony’s ass naked at that point, [R91]?

Alas, no. It's some chaotic stage business that results in that moment. But Tony is shirtless in a swim suit later on. I still can't say it's enough to recommend the show.

I thought I read somewhere that David Yazbek was going to now do the score for "The Princess Bride". He at least has a sense of humor, unlike works of Guettel.

Are Tony and David Yazbeck related?

Their last names are spelled differently.

You're probably right about Guettel's lack of humor, r100, but I really love the music he writes and I'm sorry the Goldman collaboration didn't work out --and that he seems to have fallen off the face of the earth. I don't know enough of Yazbeck's work to have an opinion.

David Yazbek (no "c" like Tony Yazbeck) wrote "Full Monty", "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels" (probably his best), "Women on the Verger of a Nervous Breakdown" (good score, misguided production), "The Band's Visit" and "Tootsie" (probably his weakest).

"Verge" not "Verger"

The Turning Point done as an open air site specific work in the piazza at Lincoln Center could be very cool. Imagine like a ten minute battle/ballet scene of them going at each other.

Bernadette Peters in The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas.

Call Telecharge today!

That is my show!

I always thought it was funny that Best Little Whorehouse did the Tonys without any women. It looked like an average night at a 70s gay bar.

And the advertising for the show was heavily censored. On the side of buses, it read The Best Little *house in Texas.

You can also hear some censorship going on in the below clip at 2:10 and 2:23.

Encores should explore THE BEST LITTLE WHOREHOUSE GOES PUBLIC.

In a season that includes ANNIE WARBUCKS and BRING BACK BIRDIE.

It can't be worse than some of their recent seasons. HEY LOOK ME OVER!, I'm looking at you.

That’s a great fun idea. I bet people would go.

Imagine all those bitter cackling queens. (Oh wait it would be just like here.)

[quote]You're probably right about Guettel's lack of humor, [R100], but I really love the music he writes and I'm sorry the Goldman collaboration didn't work out --and that he seems to have fallen off the face of the earth.

Wasn't Guettel fairly recently reported to be seriously working on one or two new projects? Sorry I can't remember any details.

Speaking of WEHT . . . Norbert Leo Butz?

Or Matt Morrison (keeping in the Guettel lane)?

[quote] Speaking of WEHT . . . Norbert Leo Butz?

He’s doing tv. In 2019, he had a good role in the miniseries about Fosse and Verdon. And he’s now in the tv series “Debris.”

R113, Norbert was most recently a regular on that NBC sci-fi show, "Debris," that got canceled last spring.

I loved LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA. But I was underwhelmed by Adam Guettel's MYTHS AND HYMNS, which Master Voices did last year. Meh.

He wrote the score for TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD on Bway, which I haven't seen. He's also making a musical based on DAYS OF WINE AND ROSES, at least per Wiki.

He's still a lot more interesting to me than Jeanine Tesori, the NYT Musical It Girl of the moment. (Sorry, Jeanine.)

[quote]He's also making a musical based on DAYS OF WINE AND ROSES

Broadway could use a laugh riot

Remember when we all wanted Tony Yazbeck to jizz in our holes…?

Adam Guettel has written four (!) full-length musical scores since Piazza, none of which have been presented the public.

The Princess Bride (rip), Days of Wine and Roses, Billions and the Washington Irving project (which he personally invented new instruments for, no less).

It says a lot about the state of the art that that’s the case.

How is it then that someone like Tom Kitt has had two (quite bad) new musical scores in NYC this past fall?

I liked NEXT TO NORMAL, but that's about it. FLYING OVER SUNSET and THE VISITOR... what's left to say?

MAKE KITT’S CLIT QUIT DAT SHIT! —Variety

I'm assuming BILLIONS is based on West's A Cool Million. I thought he was doing that with a grant from Signature (VA) and Ted Shen. I love his work (including Myths and Hymns, although not the Master Voices version) and wish we could see more of it.

I can only guess that Guettel himself isn't pushing hard for these projects to go further for now, perhaps knowing that they need more work. I think he's known to be something of a perfectionist about his music. And he's never struck me as especially ambitious (not a criticism) and lord knows he doesn't need the money, what with grandpa's royalties flooding in daily, even divided amongst all the grandkids.

It's interesting that there's a musical based on FREAKY FRIDAY, the much-loved children's book by Guettel's mother, Mary Rodgers....

The score is by Tom Kitt.

Wasn't that TheaterWorksUSA, r125?

Didn't see FREAKY FRIDAY. I'm sure you're right. It's not the worst idea for a musical.

Why is Guettel accepting grant money when he has steady income from grandaddy Richard Rodgers, also from his Mom's "Once Upon a Mattress" and other things?

Mary Rodgers wrote the original novel of Freaky Friday.

[quote] Remember when we all wanted Tony Yazbeck to jizz in our holes…?

Yes. I call that “yesterday.”

r79, I love that story--it's great to hear stories of people simply being nice and generous these days--but that People article is really poorly written. The other guy shared the story on Twitter and Instagram, and it's a much clearer read.

I've never wanted Yazbeck to jizz anywhere near me. He's so leaden. Now that guy who played Carl-Magnus opposite CZJ... Yes, please.

Aaron Lazar. Yes, please.

Indeed.

Yes.

I am afraid William Goldman lost his writing skills at some point late in his life. I read a screenplay he wrote for a Shazam movie that never happened. The script was just godawful.

On another note, has anyone heard of Covid transmission in Broadway audiences? It seems to be mostly the actors, but do we know that audiences have been safe? Obviously, the industry would prefer not to discuss the risks and the effectiveness of masking and vaccines.

Audiences are getting infected.

DAYS OF WINE AND ROSES seems to be a terrible idea for a musical. The movie (which I love) is endlessly depressing and the lead characters spend most of the plot drunk. I won't say it's a Why musical and open that can of worms, but it certainly is a head scratcher. Nonetheless, I can see O'Hara and Pasquale having a go at the leads.

Re Guettel, "grant money" may be a slight misnomer. Ted Shen and Signature commissioned three new works; Guettel got one of the commissions, and I don't recall who got the other two, but I think those bore fruit. In any case, why shouldn't he be paid for his work?

Sondheim accepted prize money on several occasions, and he didn't need it either.

The things I would do to Adam Guettel! 😛

Wine and Roses is/was a Rudin project, wasn't it? I imagine it could be mired in a legal mess now.

New to these threads—just came in to ask if anyone knows of a PPV streaming service (not requiring subscription) that is playing current Broadway/West End shows? Asking because I want to screen my show-loving Mom something for her birthday tomorrow, and the restrictions where we live don’t allow us to go out.

Broadway On Demand on streaming for one, R143.

[quote] Wine and Roses is/was a Rudin project, wasn't it? I imagine it could be mired in a legal mess now.

Avoid legal messes by just changing the title and a few minor details.

Henry Mancini's theme song from The Days of Wine and Roses was so memorable (to us eldergays, at least), I wonder if it will be included in the score? The film never seems to be shown on TV.....as a matter of fact, I've never seen it, only remember the song from my childhood......could there be some legal issues?

I saw the movie on TV (this century).

[quote] On another note, has anyone heard of Covid transmission in Broadway audiences? It seems to be mostly the actors, but do we know that audiences have been safe? Obviously, the industry would prefer not to discuss the risks and the effectiveness of masking and vaccines.

I think it would be very hard to imagine that all of these casts and crews are getting infected and no one in the audience is leaving with Covid.

It's a good thing Jonathan Groff isn't in a show. The audience might be covered in Covid spittle.

[quote] Avoid legal messes by just changing the title and a few minor details.

Good thing Rudin isn't litigious

[quote]We've got Back to the Future on its way, Devil Wears Prada, Some Like It Hot, Flamingo Kid, Like Water for Chocolate, Trading Places, 13 Going on 30 and 17 Again (same songwriters for those last two!), Broadway Vacation (based all those Vacation movies), Water for Elephants (book by Rick Elice), Mr. Holland's Opus (book, lyrics and direction by BD Wong)

Can someone explain the producers/creative teams' thinking here? Some of these titles are over 30 years old (but I'm not sure they all qualify as "classics"). Some were not particularly successful at the box office or critically acclaimed (Water for Elephants--why?)

The notion that recognizability translates into Bway success keeps being disproved over and over again, and yet.... here we go again.

Days of Wine and Roses is shown on tcm a few times a year.

They just interviewed producer Ken Davenport on the local news. Gotta say the man is hot.

Signature Theatre Campaigns for “Jim Houghton Way” on W42nd St:

Welcoming Back Live Theater Doesn’t Mean Agreeing About All of It:

THIS DAY IN BROADWAY HISTORY: In 1974, "Liza" opened at the Winter Garden Theatre.

[quote] Can someone explain the producers/creative teams' thinking here? Some of these titles are over 30 years old (but I'm not sure they all qualify as "classics"). Some were not particularly successful at the box office or critically acclaimed (Water for Elephants--why?)

r151 I'll give it a shot. Happily, they're not [italic] all [/italic] trading on familiarity and the fan-base. Perhaps some writers and producers here feel there is actually a good story worth musicalizing. The cash-grab titles often fail but the cult-film and art-house properties (like [italic] Onceiii and [italic] Hairspray [/italic] can yield good results.

Water for Elephants intrigues me far more than any of the other titles.

r146, why in the world would you imagine that Guettel (or any other composer) would include Mancini's theme in his score?

Becaus the Chocolate Factory musical added in songs from the movie.

But Guettel would never, ever allow the Mancini theme to be part of his show. I was shocked when a couple of those far superior songs from the CHOCOLATE FACTORY movie were added to the stage score. I imagine the producers probably had to put a gun to Marc Shaiman's head to make it happen, and he only agreed because it was phrased as an ultimatum -- either we add those songs or we don't produce the show on Broadway. Given the same choice, I would bet good money that Guettel would say, "Fine, then we won't do the show on Broadway."

Would Guettel oppose some R&H trunk songs?

They used up Rodgers' trunk songs on Rex and Mama. He was in pretty bad shape at the end.

[Quote] He was in pretty bad shape at the end.

I bet many an ingenue heaved a sigh of relief.

Is anyone going to Slave Play this time around? It's almost over already.

Kanye West.

My old buddy Malcolm Gets just posted some photos of he and his long-time bf on Insta (under a handle I won't reveal). I haven't seen him in awhile but he looks very healthy and happy to me.

His long time love isn't Boyd Gaines, is he?

Here's how bad the NYTimes arts coverage has become. They're reviewing musical theatre in Paris. Yes, you read that right. Theatre in that renown international musical theater center....WTF? Seriously -- there's a HUGE story right in front of them throughout the US, but they waste space on this? How out of it are they? If that article with Jesse and Maya talking about the Fall shows wasn't navel-gazing enough...

Saw WINE AND ROSES recently and it holds up beautifully, except for some DT scenes that Lemmon overacts with ghastly relish. But Remick is exquisite. But as a musical? Nah . . .

Malcolm's issue wouldn't be apparent in photos, especially those specifically curated for social media.

Mrs. Doubtfire....Tick....Tick....

Rob McClure has been out of Doubtfire. I hope he makes it back for what might be the last performances.

Maybe Rob can be the stand-by for Billy Crystal in the Spring. Billy surely won't do 8 performance a week.

r169 that is embarrassing. The NYT is leaning in to its PC watchdog role harder and harder and it's a big turnoff. Protecting us from French clichés? [italic] Mon dieu! [/italic]

That Best Little Whorehouse clip at R109 just reminds of us all of the brilliance of Tommy Tune in his heyday. Not sure exactly what derailed him, but I suspect drugs.

And I wonder how many of those whorehouse chorus boys lived to see the mid-1990s...

[quote]Billy surely won't do 8 performance a week.

As he gets points as an author and also, presumably, as a producer, he'll definitely show up for all eight performances.

[quote]just reminds of us all of the brilliance of Tommy Tune in his heyday. Not sure exactly what derailed him, but I suspect drugs.

I have it on good authority that Goodtime Charlie/Busker Alley/Buskers or whatever they ended up calling it, was derailed because he had a "lover" as an understudy who couldn't dance. Tune broke his foot and the understudy had to go on, book in hand, with one of the chorus boys doing the lead character choreography.

Also, Tune was supposed to bring Dr. Doolittle to Broadway. He even sang a song in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Whatever happened to that?

Goodtime Charley is a separate show from the 70s that has nothing to do with Busker Alley or Tommy Tune.

There was even a big sign for a while outside the St. James Theatre where "Busker Alley" was supposed to open not too long thereafter.

Mr Saturday night isn't doing Wednesday matinees at all, only 7 shows a week, it looks like.

and the last row of the orchestra is $199

Did anyone see the Harry Chapin jukebox musical "The Night That Made America Famous?" Chapin himself was in it but there were giant video screens and the concept itself was probably ahead of its time. It did have three of the best singers I remembered hearing on Broadway, Carson favorite Kelly Garrett, super dreamy Gilbert Price and Delores Hall who was something of a Jennifer Holliday lite., Most critics rightfully complained about how bad the songs were but I was a young kid and I really enjoyed it.

^^ 2 producers. ^^ the amazing Lynne Thigpen ^^ $11 for a ticket

Even though Harry was the top draw, I couldn't take my eyes off his brother, Tom, who was the star of the ABC kids show Make a Wish.

[quote]Goodtime Charley is a separate show from the 70s that has nothing to do with Busker Alley or Tommy Tune.

My error. It was called Stage Door Charley.

Management regrets the error.

Busker Alley

David Warren Gibson was Tune’s understudy and he’s a dancer so..........?

Coming up on "Talk Soup"

David Warren Gibson. That’s a lean drink of water. Anyone had him?

Goodtime Charley was about Charles, the Dauphin of France, and his relationship with Joan of Arc. I had friends who thought it was great, and it did have a few half decent numbers, but I never got past Joel Grey as the crown prince of France and Ann Reinking as Joan. That's right. Ann Reinking as Joan of Arc. Tapping her way into war and your heart.

To be fair, the show had a difficult development and preview period. But I liked Dr. Jazz in previews much better.

I saw Goodtime Charlie when it tried out in Boston. Totally forgettable except for the gorgeous sets by Ruben Ter-Artunian and costumes by Willa Kim, all based on Maxfield Parrish.

WHET Tom Chapin? What a gorgeous hunk of man he was.

I saw Busker Alley in Akron (or maybe it was Cleveland). It was something between very concepty (all I remember of the set is rows of lampposts and nothing else) and a very standard book musical. There was a dog puppet that the audience adored and very little else that landed.

What about the Tommy Tune edition of Bye Bye Birdie? Was it ever intended to get to Broadway? Was Tommy believable as a straight man?

Aurora Spiderwoman to the rescue (including footage of the dog puppet and a mini Tommy Tune).

[quote]I saw Goodtime Charlie when it tried out in Boston. Totally forgettable except for the gorgeous sets by Ruben Ter-Artunian and costumes by Willa Kim, all based on Maxfield Parrish.

Yeah, beautiful sets - circular with lots of columns and steps: perfect for a dancing Joan of Arc. NOT.

Why would anyone waste money on that piece of shit Slave Play?

Are we sure Tommy Tune didn't actually shoot himself in the foot during Busker Alley because he knew what a POS it was?

Was that the horrible Marcia Lewis in that clip?

I always felt Tune looks like he knows Busker Alley is a disaster in that footage. There is a glazed, sort of dead look in his eyes, like he's wishing to be anywhere else.

And yes, it's Marcia Lewis, getting upstaged by a puppet.

That 1990 tour of Birdie co-starred Reinking, Marcia Lewis, Susan Egan and Marc Kudisch among others. Of course it was intended for Broadway. I used to know all the dirt about why it closed out of town but I'm old now and I forget.

Didn't that tour go on and on, R200 and Rosie was eventually Lucie Arnaz and then Lenore Nemetz? Of course it was intended for Broadway as what it was, a tour coming in, like the Goulet Camelot tour and the La Mancha with Sheena Easton was intended to be the same thing. Who are the stars we have now who would do a musical revival tour, and what would sell?

The rumor was that Tune faked his injury so that the Weisslers could cash the insurance check and close the show out of town. Sort of a real life version of the show in All That Jazz.

[quote]Was Tommy believable as a straight man?

Oh fuck no!

Tommy Tune wasn't believable as a human being.

Reinking then Lenora. No Lucie. Lucie did My One and Only on tour opposite Tommy.

r196, despite the casting Ann Reinking as Joan of Arc, there was very little actual dancing in GOODTIME CHARLEY except for the occasional quadrille and pavan.

When the curtain went up on GT the audience gasped ((MARY!)). The set really was that beautiful. Reinking had one dance number but the set got in her way. Grey was very pixie-ish. It wasn’t a bad show but there was just something missing that would have made it great.

Goodtime Charlie also had superb orchestrations by Jonathan Tunick. Made the songs sound SO much better.

Those Busker Alley costumes were dreadful; who did them?

Was that DL fave Michael Baresse in the chorus?

And why all the hate for Marcia Lewis? One of the loveliest women. Not her fault her material here was shite.

It's Goodtime Charley, not Charlie. I have restrained myself from shouting.

Was her voice ever this strong again?

R211. Nope. She sounded great in the theatre and on the album.

[quote] She sounded great in the theatre and on the album.

Then she became Fosse’s mistress and it all went to hell.

Wish I could find color photos...

How does it...end?

[quote]Was that DL fave Michael Baresse in the chorus?

Berresse, yes.

[quote]And why all the hate for Marcia Lewis? One of the loveliest women. Not her fault her material here was shite.

Beats me, r209. Marcia was a doll

Marcia was a replacement Miss Hannigan in the original Annie and she was the only one nearly as good as Alice Ghostley, the first and best replacement. She was also great as Mama Morton in the original cast of the Chicago revival and numerous other shows, either as original cast or a replacement. Long and respected career. She was always great. Don't understand the disrespect.

the clips at r195 trigger so many thoughts, mostly why do set designer like streetlamp so much when none of them has ever figured out how to make one that doesn't wiggle?

Also Tommy can do straight better than he can do British. Why did they make Darcie dress like Eliza Doolittle, is that the only cockney woman any costume designer has ever seen?

Marcia was in Tommy's Grease, Tommy's Birdie and Tommy's Alley.

DL is the only place in the world where you can find disrespect for people like the wonderful Marcia Lewis. We do have some freakin' sickos posting here.

Tommy Tune was at the top of the showbiz heap during the period of THE BEST LITTLE WHOREHOUSE IN TEXAS, MY ONE AND ONLY, NINE, GRAND HOTEL, and THE WILL ROGERS FOLLIES. Then came the disaster of THE BEST LITTLE WHOREHOUSE GOES PUBLIC, rumored to have been caused partly by a major drug problem, followed (not necessarily in order ) by the BYE, BYE BIRDIE tour which aimed for Broadway but never made it, BUSKER ALLEY (he was rumored to have faked that injury for insurance purposes), the horrible Broadway revisal of GREASE that he "supervised" but didn't director or choreograph, the DOCTOR DOLITTLE tour (he wasn't the original star but he took over the show), that Off-Broadway one-man show for which he got terrible publicity because he had a plant in the audience every night pretending to be his old dance teacher or some such nonsense.....and so on. Seems like there was some sort of major problem with everything he tried to do after WILL ROGERS. I remember that he even canceled, at VERY short notice, a one-man show he was supposed to do on Fire Island sometime in the early 2000s. Who knows what was going on with him during all that time, but there were lots of rumors.

[quote]Reinking had one dance number but the set got in her way.

I think she was originally intended to dance more but she wasn't fully recovered from breaking her back in Over Here! As it was they delayed the production for six months to give her time to heal. As I posted above, the show had numerous problems early on.

Grey was very pixie-ish.

Just what everyone wants to see. A pixie king of France.

Didn't Tune direct/choreograph some disco musical (I think the set was a runway) that never made it out of workshops even though it was reportedly terrific?

Reinking broke her back?!

[quote]Reinking broke her back?!

Late in the run of Over Here! Her dance partner was supposed to lift her over his head and he dropped her. She broke/fractured several vertabrae. They weren't sure initially if she would walk again but fortunately there was no spinal cord involvement.

Here's a Tommy Tune show that few recall, seen only in Chicago, starring Jeff Daniels and Rachel York, and a jukebox musical to boot.

[quote] Who knows what was going on with him (Tommy Tune) during all that time, but there were lots of rumors.

Relapses. Stress followed by relapses into a decades-old drug problem.

Wasn’t Tommy Tune going to direct the Barbara Cook show where she performed in a wheelchair on moving platforms?

But then she died.

GOODTIME CHARLIE sounds like a Disney Channel sitcom that my niece used to watch.

[quote] Marcia was in Tommy's Grease, Tommy's Birdie and Tommy's Alley.

Marcia wasn’t the only one in Tommy’s alley.

Playbill article about Tweet above.

I really can't imagine what sort of dancing I'd want to see Joan of Arc doing. Don't blame the sets!

Tommy Tune always seems frozen in time with that awful 70s shag hairdo he's had for years. And the leathery fake tan. He really looked his best with short hair in The Boyfriend and My One and Only.

As for Marcia Lewis, she was a lovely performer and dear lady (I worked with her once), but if you'd never heard of her and only ever saw her in that horrifying Busker Alley clip upthread, how could you possibly say anything complimentary?

Wasn't Marcia Lewis the original Mamma Morton in the revived CHICAGO at Encores and on Bway?

She was fabulous.

Marcia said Topol treated her like shit when they did Fiddler together. But I’m sure that had little to do with her and everything to do with him.

And, regarding the Fosse/Reinking post above, they were involved long before Goodtime Charley. Ann went into ACL and the original Chicago after GT.

I too used to remember the backstage chatter surrounding Tune's Birdie tour that Gene Saks directed. Marc Kudisch I think spilled some tea in a Chatterbox once upon a time. It was his first breakout role (before he knew how to really sing properly, he admitted). Said there was a lot of drama on that tour interpersonally in the cast. Very clique-y. He also wildly overspent on leather jackets and boots...only to ship them home to his apartment where they were stolen. You can't make this shit up!

You can see a lot of pro-shot and bootleg clips of the tour online. Marilyn Cooper I believe began the tour as Mrs. Peterson, followed by Marcia Lewis. The physical production was a take-off of the original set designs from 1960...unfortunately, it wound up just looking cheap and erector-set-y.

The last good thing I saw Tune do (other than his stint on Arrested Development as Liza's brother) was a staged workshop of Easter Parade opposite Sandy Duncan at the Little Shubert in the late 90s. It was really wonderful despite some second act issues, but I guess the Berlin estate wouldn’t let it move forward.

And I'll add to the chorus of Marcia Lewis supporters. She was a marvelous performer and a very sweet woman. Really elevated any production she was in (that unfortunate Busker Alley clip notwithstanding...!)

I saw “Goodtime Charley.” It had several good elements, but they never gelled together. The sets were lovely, but they kept contrasting with the dour plot going on in front of them. Grey was a Catskills Dauphin, a jarring contrast to the drama around him. Reinking upstaged him every chance she got, and was the best thing in it. And the supporting Richard B. Shull and Susan Browning were both fun.

Originally, Broadway poster artist David Byrd, famous for his “Follies” poster, did art of Grey as Old King Cole, from the famous Maxfield Parrish mural in the St. Regis bar. It was used in a full-page ad in the Times one Sunday, then was mysteriously replaced by the figure with the trailing cloak. Too bad.

But then, how do you make a show fun, whose chief character ends up being burnt at the stake? Those pesky disparate elements just never did gel.

[quote m]Tapping her way into war and your heart.

That didn’t happen. Reinking barely danced at all in Goodtime Charley, and certainly didn’t tap. Partly because Joan wasn’t intended to be a dancing role (though Charley was), and mainly because Reinking was still recovering from the injuries she got when she got dropped on her back during her final performance of “Over Here.”

Marcia Lewis was also very good in "Rags", but you had to be quick to see it in previews, since it closed in like 4 regular performances. She had a nice duet with, I think, Dick Latessa, another Broadway honey.

A question for Broadway gossip mavens: why didn't Tommy ever work with William Ivey Long again after William designed NINE?

She could have tapped It's Too Darn Hot, r232.

Revive Pills A-Poppin'!

Oh what I'd pay to see Anne Miller and that highly-flammable bouffant tap her troubles away as Joan of Arc.

Hi Liza r244!

Shit! ANN Miller. Take away my card, fellas!

Now I've seen everything- A Marcia Lewis Troll.

Marcia! Marcia! Marcia!

Reinking had a great other-worldly quality in Goodtime Charley. She worked beautifully with Grey. Supposedly the show closed because Grey had a film commitment and needed a few months off but they couldn’t find a suitable replacement.

I saw the Tune Birdie in SF on tour many years ago. The cast was terrific (other than Reinking who seemed a bit overwhelmed) and Spanish Rose was dreadfully staged. Tune was charming and the number they added for him was great as it showed off his long legs and strides as a dancer. I have a friend who was a chorus boy on that tour. I'll see if he has any dirt. Steve Zahn was also in it as Hugo.

I'd love some dirt on Steve Zahn and/or Marc Kudisch, r251's friend.

Osnes wiki

[quote] GOODTIME CHARLIE sounds like a Disney Channel sitcom that my niece used to watch.

Good Luck Charlie

[quote]Supposedly the show closed because Grey had a film commitment and needed a few months off but they couldn’t find a suitable replacement.

That's what WP says but I think the producers didn't want to put any more money in it to keep it running. How hard is it to replace Joel Grey?

Remember the production was delayed several times, as mentioned above, so Grey's film commitment was real. The film was Buffalo Bill and the Indians, directed by Robert Altman and based on a play by Arthur Kopit, if anyone remember who he is.

[quote]As for Marcia Lewis, she was a lovely performer and dear lady (I worked with her once), but if you'd never heard of her and only ever saw her in that horrifying Busker Alley clip upthread, how could you possibly say anything complimentary?

I guess I was assuming that no one would be foolish enough to judge her talent based on that one clip if they had never seen her in anything else.

In addition to Marcia Lewis's stage performances, she had an absolutely great cabaret act that she performed at all the major venues in New York and around the country.

[Quote] the Barbara Cook show where she performed in a wheelchair on moving platforms?

Is it mean that I wish this had gone ahead and been bootlegged?

[quote]the Barbara Cook show where she performed in a wheelchair on moving platforms?

Not only was that show going to be directed by Tommy Tune, who has been involved with nothing but disappointments and disasters for the past 30 years or so, but it was "conceived" by one of Broadway's biggest frauds. And that's man's name is.....James Lapine. If you believe in God, thank Him that the show never happened.

Didn’t Marcia song ‘No one Loves a Fairy when she’s 40’ in her cabaret act?

Yes

Marcia had a face that was best seen at The Muny.

Whoever is out there stanning for Marcia, these clips being posted are not helping your case.

Actually, the Barbara Cook show started rehearsals but they found out Barbara couldn’t remember the lyrics and was often disoriented. They quietly put the show to rest.

Marcia! Marcia! Marcia!

the dancer who dropped Annie was the late Johnny Mineo. It didn't come between them and they worked together again through the years.

Marcia Lewis was a great performer, but beyond that she was a good, kind, loving person. She died young, at 72. Deserved many more wonderful years. She was also a prolific letter writer and card sender, always with loving, generous words. She has a great solo called Nowadays...it's hard to find but worth it.

Many, many people on Broadway deserve our snark and bitchiness, but Marcia was a beautiful soul, missed by those of us who knew her.

[quote]Actually, the Barbara Cook show started rehearsals but they found out Barbara couldn’t remember the lyrics and was often disoriented. They quietly put the show to rest.

I bought tickets for it.

I would have been disoriented too being driven around on a motorized wheelchair on moving circular spinning platforms. Lapine always fucks everything up even when he has good ideas initially, which he didn't here.

Surely they could have given Babs an ear piece.

Oh R239, that David Byrd poster sounds terrific. Have you ever been able to find an image of it online?

They should revive the wheelchair/moving platform idea with Liza!

John Mineo was one of those wonderful character type dancers who always seemed to go from show to show. Dancers today are so generic and devoid of any personality.

Shows today are so generic and devoid of any personality.

It was Barbara Cook for Chrissakes! No concept needed! Just park her front and center and let her sing.

I'm looking forward to the Sarah Silverman musical "The Bedwetter". I don't know of a single playwright or lyricist capable of doing standup, even badly. So this might be at least amusing. Or weird. But I have little hope for the musical score. Anyone humming anything from, say, Tootsie lately? Or ever?

Two swings on at Music Man tonite. Everyone else was on. There seem to be fewer performance cancellations this week. I hope that’s a good sign.

Rachelle Rak is devoid of personality!?

R253

Do you think Osnes is cancelled?

I suspect she's too pretty, talented and well-liked to not get a second chance later on....but who knows.

I don't see why her career would be over. Musical theatre performers don't exist on publicity in the same way that screen stars do.

If Chad Kimball is cancelled then Laura Osnes should be cancelled.

She's not permanently cancelled for now. But at this point she has nearly aged out of her niche as a young ingenue and will not be seen very often in the future unless she can reinvent herself. Let's see how creative she actually is.

Did Becky Luker reinvent herself?

Karen Olivo should have been canceled 5 times by now, but she's headlining another reading....so why not Osnes?

I don’t think it was John Mineo who dropped Reinking, I seem to recall Jim Borsetelmann telling me (circa CHICAGO ) it was someone who was on for Mineo and the story that it was Mineo was not true ( kind of an urban myth along the lines that Irene Ryan had a stroke onstage during PIPPIN). Mineo was always very dour whenever I saw him offstage. I seem to recall that Mineo had been driving a cab when he was cast in CHICAGO at Encores . I can’t remember how long Mineo was in the revival but I know he was in it for a couple of years. The last time I saw the show was 2002 or 2003 (after a bit of a gap) when I went back specifically to see Caroline O’Connor as Velma. Honestly I can not remember if he had left. Mineo would have been 60 or 61 by then.

It was interesting to watch the male cast replacements became more about muscular chorus boys and moved away from dancers who actually worked with Fosse.

That guy with 70s/early 80s hair always distracted me. I know the revival didn't strictly recreate the 1920s at all but he looked so out of time.

Wasn't Barbara Cook physically assisted when she did the SONDHEIM ON SONDHEIM revue a decade ago? I think I recall a friend who saw it say that she was carried around the stage or something.

I think someone said that Babs wore sneakers onstage.

Osnes is not well-liked. At all,.

R277. Rak comes off horribly in Every Little Step and her audition for Sheila was laughable. Not that Deirdre Goodwin was any better.

But Rak has ENERGY! Lotss, lotsa ENERGY.

I also worked with Marcia Lewis, and agree that she was not only talented, but one of the nicest people in Show Biz. During the run of the play, I went to see her do a reading of Wendy Wasserstein's musical, "Miami." Just sitting in a chair, she gave one of the most extraordinary performances ever. She eventually did the show, though I never got to see it, but I've never forgotten how amazing she was in that reading.

[quote] Rak comes off horribly in Every Little Step

Was she the one where they liked her first audition, but when they called her back awhile later, she couldn’t remember how she played it?

It's worth noting that Marcia retired at some point after meeting a lovely gentleman and settling in some southern state (KY? TN?) Presumably she found happiness and love late in life. Hope so.

[quote]Osnes is not well-liked. At all,.

Maybe nowadays, but I never heard anything bad about her prior to Covid or even before last summer when it was revealed that she was unvaccinated.

Say what you will about GOODTIME CHARLEY, the show is one of those flops that produced a cast album that's lots of sparkling good fun.

I always thought Marcia was a lesbian

No, Laura Osnes was never well-liked. I know many people who worked with her over the past ten years.

Any updates on the guy who was on that reality show with Osnes? I don't remember his name. I think it's Max something.

Patti has written that Michael lived with her while she was in the cast. They have lovely memories.

Patti is best known for another song but I so prefer this one.

What's up with her hair?

The character sells her hair.

Song by Les Miz

Hair by Cats

R301 read the book

First photos of Greg Kinnear in "Mockingbird":

THIS DAY IN BROADWAY HISTORY: In 1985, a revival of "The King and I" opened at the Broadway Theatre.

Hugh Jackman prepares for his return to the stage in "The Music Man" after testing positive for COVID-19:

Osnes' Grease co star was Max Crumm and he put some IG posts about wanting her to get vaxxed.

There were more occasions when Reinking was injured. The entire dance is lifts and flips. One has her being held above the dancers shoulders and she does a back flip while Mineo is still holding her but the back flip where she lands in a sitting position is where she broke her back.

Can someone clarify for me. Is Doubtfire technically "closed" -- meaning the actors and everyone can find other work if they wish to? The producers are assuming/hoping/planning they won't do that, so then they rehire them? What about the stagehands and tech crews. Are they officially out of work too, or do they get some sort of retainer?

I don't understand these posts about Laura Osnes not being well liked. I know for a fact she's as popular with her co-workers as Melissa Errico.

R310 that's what I said above. I have never heard anything bad about her, especially pre-Covid.

That was a joke r311.

K&I 1985

Why did the Fates take Luker and Mazzie from us and leave Osnes and Errico?

[quote] First photos of Greg Kinnear in "Mockingbird":

"First" if you don't count my post 20 hours ago. ; )

There used to be a clip on YT of Mazzie doing "My Heart Belongs to Daddy" without an ounce of humor. And that giant mouth of hers had its own gravitational pull.

The Easter Parade mention above made me remember that I saw recently in a performer bio that they'd recently been in a workshop of a stage version of Summer Stock, a second tier MGM title if there ever was one, though it has first tier talent in it. Is it really that beloved? Who are the creative team?

None of these regurgitated MGM musical titles have ever been big box office on Broadway. Must be the tour appeal and later licensing makes it worth doing. That there is both a White Christmas and a Holiday Inn (both Paramount films) would make a case for that argument.

Singin' In The Rain, The Band Wagon/Dancing in the Dark, An American in Paris (did it get the closest to hit status on Broadway out of all of them? reporting on its recoupment was never clear), Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, Gigi (twice). Lili/Carnival doesn't quite count as it was from a different era and clearly not intended as the-film-on-stage, it has an original score.

Stage versions of Easter Parade and The Pirate died out of town. Are The Harvey Girls, Yolanda and the Thief, and The Kissing Bandit next? The Barkleys of Broadway, Love Me or Leave Me, Les Girls?

Are they augmenting the Summer Stock score with other Harry Warren (or even Harold Arlen) songs? Five songs in the film are Warren/Gordon, two are Saul Chaplin plus he and Jack Brooks wrote lyrics for "You Wonderful You" to Warren's tune, and "Get Happy" was a pre-existing Arlen/Koehler song.

What will the storyline of that film be like turned "woke" and stretched out to 2.5 hours?

Rumor has it Tune was high throughout rehearsals for Nine. That must have been fun.

I wonder if he and Kathleen Turner also made frequent trips to Bolivia.

I think Seven Brides had a healthy life regionally and on tours and in amateur productions. I know Keel and Powell did it several times onstage together. It only played Broadway once though and closed the week it opened.

What about "It's Always Fair Weather"? Emily Skinner could essay Dolores Gray!

[quote] Any updates on the guy who was on that reality show with Osnes? I don't remember his name. I think it's Max something.

Max Crumm has decided his pronouns are now They/Them. I don't know what that means in terms of him still being gay.

He's just gettin' fat and sassy.

[R270]: Google Goodtime Charley poster art, and there it is, in color, for sale even!

Maybe he just wants to play Rose some day, r321.

And it would have killed you to link it, r323?

R309 They're all out of work, and yes McCollum is likely betting on them not being able to find any other work between now and the alleged reopening. There may be a couple of exceptions if the set needs maintenance to avoid expensive work after 9 weeks sitting idle, but the NYT article said cast and crew are all out of work and not being paid.

Did the Maxfield Parrish estate sue over that poster? IMHO it doesn't come close to Parrish's brilliance nor any of David Byrd's other theater posters.

[R325]: I don’t know how, you ungrateful cunt.

God forbid, you should say thank you.

I find Max Crumm adorable and sexy

R329 They/them thank you.

Oh puhleeze, r327. It's a graphic nod to Parrish, not a color xerox.

But I will agree it's not particularly compelling.

It looks like a children's coloring book version of Parrish to me, r331. Misses all the whimsy and beauty of the original.

Perhaps, r333, but again, you want a cleaner, simpler graphic that works from further away.

It is easy to see why they got rid of that poster. It looks like a kid's show about two guys in red suits.

[quote]Actually, the Barbara Cook show started rehearsals but they found out Barbara couldn’t remember the lyrics and was often disoriented. They quietly put the show to rest.

That may be true, or partly true, but with Tune and Lapine involved, it probably wouldn't have happened anyway. And if it had happened, it probably would have been a mess and/or an embarrassment, like Lapine's FLYING OVER SUNSET or any of TT's endeavors over the past few decades.

Here you get the star and...movement. A bit more eye-catching.

So did Lapine steal the title Flying Over Sunset from the aborted Barbara Cook levitating wheelchair show?

I'm reminded of the art for KING OF HEARTS.

^ Another that was Boffo at the BO

R340: Ha! exactly.

This is how crazy it's getting. Haven't done it in 5 years, and now I'm starring on Broadway! Bravo to her...

K of H...side 1

Carla...

Errico famously fucked Howard Davies during My Fair Lady, but did she also fuck Michel Legrand? Presumably, Lapine was one she skipped…

Tune did an Encores Gershwin show a few years ago and was very good. He sang and danced in two songs, I seem to recall. One of them was Fascinating Rhythm.

[quote]Tune did an Encores Gershwin show a few years ago and was very good. He sang and danced in two songs, I seem to recall. One of them was Fascinating Rhythm.

He did manage to get through that one fine, though his performance seemed a little tentative and fragile to me. I heard he was very unsure about making any kind of comeback, even with just a number of two, and the creative team was very solicitous of him.

Not sure "fascinatin" is the right word.

He's 76 there, r348.

[quote]Max Crumm has decided his pronouns are now They/Them. I don't know what that means in terms of him still being gay.

That he was looking for some attention?

This They/Them bullshit is nothing more than an attention grab by a very specific kind of millennial/Gen Zer. It's no surprise that actors/creative types are the ones most likely to adopt it.

Make no mistake, I'm an advocate and ally of the Trans movement but this non-binary pronoun nonsense is a lot of attention grabbing horseshit. I can't wait to see it flame out for the fad it clearly is.

Wow, what a totally original take that is.

I especially like the part where you point out it's an attention grab, and so decide to give them attention for it.

I recently worked on a production with trans and non binary artists and on the first day of rehearsals we were asked to give our names and pronouns. I thought that was a bit much. If people want to volunteer that info that’s great but pronouns aren’t something I think about on a daily basis. One person didn’t give their pronouns and director asked for them. I barely spoke during the entire production because I was afraid of offending anyone.

I wonder if Wicked put out a call to Willemijn Verkaik in The Netherlands. She’s not doing Come from Away because the country is in a month-long lockdown. But I guess it would have been too complicated logistically.

Thd Copk show wasn’t a wheelchair show. She was just going to be in a regular chair, which would move around all over the stage.

The stories and songs hadn't been chosen for the Cook show. There were too many decisions yet to be made and there wasn't time to structure and stage a show let alone learn the material. It would have been a disaster and all concerned were wise not to proceed.

Barbara’s Chair

[quote]I barely spoke during the entire production because I was afraid of offending anyone.

R353 reminds me of something Anne Frank wrote in her diary, shortly before her family went into hiding: "You're afraid to do anything lest it be forbidden."

R357, that was one of a set of chairs in her dining room.

[quote]I recently worked on a production with trans and non binary artists and on the first day of rehearsals we were asked to give our names and pronouns. I thought that was a bit much.

You find that difficult? Seems pretty innocuous to me.

R298, I believe it was Max Crumm. I guess he did Grease on Broadway and I remember seeing him in Disaster! on Broadway. I think he’s done more off-Bway stuff than on.

Max Crumm??

Hardly the name for a Broadway leading man.

did you see r308 and the posts thereafter? Jeez, you're all home sitting on your fat asses and listening to [italic] The Black Crook [/italic] on wax cylinder, and you don't have time to read through a thread?

Ann Reinking and John Mineo dancing in Over Here. (The dancer in the yellow dress is Marilu Henner.

By the by, I always heard that it was Mineo’s understudy who dropped Reinking.

Just watched Ed Dixon's play "Georgie" and found it very affecting. Having really enjoyed George Rose on stage thru the years, I was shocked by the tale (that I had only ever heard whispers about prior to this play).

Did anyone on here ever work with or socialize with Rose? His performances in Pirates and Drood remain two of my favorite theatre-going experiences ever.

What was it that shocked you about it, r365?

R357, all I can think is "foil cupcake wrappers."

Where does the money from Barbara Cook’s estate go now that her son’s dead?

R360 But forcing people to play the pronoun game is shitty, too.

All to appease the .001 of the population who feel the need to make pronouns a thing.

If you think you need to share personal pronoun choices because they might differ from how you present or it's ambiguous, then great! Do so!

If you pronouns match your appearance (most of the planet), then why do we need to say anything?

If you have "special" pronouns like Xhe or zhe or zir or hir, then go the fuck away.

I think people should announce their pronouns, sexual orientation, mental disorders and any medications at meet and greets.

Dick size, too, for the men, r370.

Can you imagine how much time that would save? Next!

or just tell them to just a first name rather than a pronoun -- heck, was it Jimmy character on "Seinfeld" who referred to himself in the third person. Or like Willie Mays, call them "say, hey" over there just said...

just "use" a first name, that is

I say that my pronounce are "cous" and "yip."

[quote]The stories and songs hadn't been chosen for the Cook show. There were too many decisions yet to be made and there wasn't time to structure and stage a show let alone learn the material. It would have been a disaster and all concerned were wise not to proceed.

That was the other thing -- the timeline of that production didn't make any sense, which makes me think it was just a stupid ploy on the part of Tune and Lapine to hitch their wagons to Cook's good name even though the whole idea of the show was totally unrealistic.

[quote]If you have "special" pronouns like Xhe or zhe or zir or hir, then go the fuck away.

Like the ridiculous Justin Vivian Bond. How and why that insufferable, untalented individual still has any sort of a career is beyond me.

I worked on a show at a major regional where the they did the first day circle thing, and about a third of the people -- mostly the theater administrators -- LOUDLY and PROUDLY declared their pronouns, and everyone else just said their names. It was awkward, painful, and subtly divided everyone at a moment that was meant to bring everyone together.

[quote] That was the other thing -- the timeline of that production didn't make any sense, which makes me think it was just a stupid ploy on the part of Tune and Lapine to hitch their wagons to Cook's good name

But for what purpose?

They were going to do the show in Worldwide Plaza which was formerly a cineplex. Those theaters have no stage because they were designed as movie theaters.

R377 Well, you lost me there because Justin Vivian Bond is great!

Like I said above, it was Barbara Cook, for chissakes. Just park her down front and let her sing. No concept necessary. She already had a huge damn repertoire.

Did anyone see the recent Tony Bennett concert on CBS with Gaga? He's in his 90s with advanced Alzheimers but they put him in front of an audience with a microphone in his hand and a big band behind him and out it all came just fine.

Music is therapy.

I think Justin Bond is one of the great overrated mysteries of our time. Kiki & Herb is about as amusing as the gout.

R380 They/Them/Chair is so tiresome.

I, too, have no tolerance of she/they.

I bought this t-shirt. Maybe everyone should.

r365 I thought I heard that was available online but now I can't remember where

[quote]That was the other thing -- the timeline of that production didn't make any sense, which makes me think it was just a stupid ploy on the part of Tune and Lapine to hitch their wagons to Cook's good name

[quote]But for what purpose?

Excellent question. Perhaps Tune and Lapine just wanted to get their names in the press. But they're both so deluded that, in their minds, maybe they really thought they could bring this misbegotten idea to fruition.

So how much longer are we going to argue over a theoretical production that never happened? Meanwhile, as Broadway collapses around us, and the only shows left will be Wicked, Lion King, Hamilton, and Phantom. Fun!

Given the state of affairs, I guess Amber Riley will never get to do Dreamgirls on Broadway now huh?

I don't think it was even officially happening yet before covid...now if they wanted to, it wouldnt be for 2 more years most likely. How old would Amber be then?

She's black. It doesn't matter.

[quote] Perhaps Tune and Lapine just wanted to get their names in the press. But they're both so deluded that, in their minds, maybe they really thought they could bring this misbegotten idea to fruition.

Seriously. Conspiracy theory about Barbara Fucking Cook.

You'd start thinking about conspiracy theories too if your set almost beheaded you.

CAR-REEE....always RE-MEM-ber that I LOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE Yooooooo.

OK so there's a pandemic and theater is struggling and people aren't sure it's safe.

How about AN AMERICAN MASTERPIECE REIMAGINED FOR OUR TIME?

Long Day's Journey:

[quote] a vibrant and timely update in this interpretation by prolific Tony Award®-nominated director Robert O’Hara (Slave Play). At the heart of O’Neill’s masterwork is the Tyrone family, living together again under lockdown. As the pressure builds, each family member retreats to their own destructive vices. Starring Emmy® Award nominee Bill Camp (The Crucible, The Queen’s Gambit), three-time Obie Award® winner Elizabeth Marvel (Hedda Gabler, Homeland), Tony Award nominee Ato Blankson-Wood (Slave Play) and Jason Bowen (The Play That Goes Wrong), this must-see production inspired by the events of 2020 is a visceral and provocative exploration of addiction and mental health speaking to our present moment. O’Hara's contemporary reimagining of LONG DAY’S JOURNEY INTO NIGHT runs approximately 1 hour and 40 minutes with no intermission and includes themes of drug/alcohol addiction and domestic violence.

Slave Play's return is the TOAST of New York....The are pictures circulating of barely 50 people sitting in the audience.

I enjoyed Kiki & Herb in the 90s. But…Viv’s voice is really bad, and the fact that they are concertizing in opera houses and with symphony orchestras is laughable. They’re a man in a dress with a god awful nasal baritone. 🤷🏻‍♂️

[quote] They/Them/Chair is so tiresome.

I will not have a word said against Chair!

[quote] They’re a man in a dress with a god awful nasal baritone.

And what’s wrong with that? Judgmental bitch!

What was the concept behind the Lapine/Tune show? I believe it was some kind of review but not sure what the theme was. Did I miss that somewhere upthread? Or am I mixing it up with another review that starred Barbara Cook and Vanessa Williams, among others, which I believe did open?

R399, I think you're thinking of Sondheim on Sondheim, which did open.

[quote] I believe it was some kind of review

Oh, dear.

There seem to be fewer and fewer performance cancellations over the past 2 weeks. Lots of understudies on but that’s ok. It’s encouraging. I’m staying hopeful.

Sonny & chair

r402 maybe because isolation (supposedly asymptomatic only) is now 5 days instead of 10?

[quote]I enjoyed Kiki & Herb in the 90s. But…Viv’s voice is really bad, and the fact that they are concertizing in opera houses and with symphony orchestras is laughable. They’re a man in a dress with a god awful nasal baritone.

Do "Kiki and Herb" still perform together, or has the micro-talented Justin Vivian Bond now gone out on that person's own and to perform with others? I avoided using a pronoun there because I don't remember, and don't care to remember, the special, made-up one that JVB prefers.

Babs with her son Adam LeGrant. She actually look like she’d lost some weight here.

They recently (and I do mean the two of them) appeared at BAM several weeks ago for a series of concerts. I didn't go, having long wearied of her act.

Justin Vivian Bond is now doing a double act with legit operatic countertenor, thd big-dicked Anthony Roth Costanzo.

Justin and Viv

[quote]What was the concept behind the Lapine/Tune show? I believe it was some kind of review but not sure what the theme was.

The show, [italic]Barbara Cook: Then and Now[/italic], was tied to her upcoming autobiography, which was being published that year. Apparently it was supposed to be more along the lines of something like [italic]Sondheim on Sondheim[/italic] than just a concert. Lapine was actually writing a script based on incidents from her life, combined with songs from her career.

A big-dicked countertenor?

I really was not a fan of Kiki and Herb, now or then.

I remember back in the mid-90s when they were downtown darlings, just too cool for school. Friends raved about them until I finally saw them. JV Bond was falling down drunk that night and screaming, not singing. It wasn't merely his "Kiki" persona, he was truly impaired, and painful to listen to. I found Herb funnier, at least. Others assured me that it was merely an "off night" and that I shouldn't take it so seriously. In other words, I didn't "get" Kiki and Herb.

There was some really good, offbeat downtown theatre and cabaret at that time. It's ironic that Bond is still around. I cannot believe K&H ever played Carnegie Hall and other serious venues. I still don't "get" them. Sophomoric, tuneless, one-trick ponies.

Jonathan and Darlene Edwards did it much better than Kiki and Herb

R 412, I'm with you. I brought a friend to see Kiki and Herb's Broadway show. We got comps through connections, which was a good thing, because my friend said it was the worst Broadway show he'd ever seen in his life.

Another friend tried to explain the Kiki and Herb phenomenon to me by saying they could be amusing when doing a 20-minute set in a downtown drag club, but how either of them ever got any further than that -- and how they EVER got to Broadway, even though the show was a huge flop -- is inexplicable.

Let’s all go see this

Does Saturday standby for Wednesday?

Only on Thursday, r416.

I'd love for Tuesday to step in...

R393

No joke....hearing Cook sing that before (inexplicably and almost invisibly, in the video) stabbing her daughter broke my heart.

Carrie was a campy mess, but holy shit the mother loving/destroying her daughter stuff was so moving. Even though it wasn't brilliantly written. The horror of that relationship stayed and was real....

Betty's "CAAAAAAAAAN yyyyyyou forgive...what I've doooooooooooooonnee....I was wrooooooooooooooong....and it Huuuuurts Meeeeee to have to huuuuurt yoooouuuu....I'd rather DIIIIIIIIIIIEEE Than See You SUUUUUUUFerrrrr...." makes my eyes well up.

I wonder if it'll ever return to Broadway. Even without it's reputation, it's bleak material.

[Quote] in a dress with a god awful nasal baritone

So, modern day Streisand?

Ok MARY MARY who’s ever MARY-ED that is so [bold] MARY!

Someone needs to do a version of Carrie that's just the Carrie/Margaret material. In between a narrator can come out and describe the scenes with the other kids, then bring us back to the White home..

Thank goodness this was recorded for the press real. I think this might be Betty’s finest moment.

The show was a hot mess, but Betty was brilliant.

This moment is one of Betty Buckley’s finest. There are moments of brilliance in the show and this is one of them.

^^Before I get an “oh dear,” I of course meant press reel.

[quote][R353] reminds me of something Anne Frank wrote in her diary, shortly before her family went into hiding: "You're afraid to do anything lest it be forbidden."

Ah yes. That deadly "asking for your pronouns = six million dead Jews" pipeline.

People are always complaining about Lloyd Webber stealing from other composers. Here is Leonard Bernstein ripping off three composers to create “Somewhere.” It’s a long video, but I thought it was fascinating.

There are only seven notes on the scale. Some overlap is inevitable.

Is Diane Paulus ok to work with or a nightmare. I have heard both and I have a chance to work with someone on a show with her. Anyone here know?

She hit me in the head with a fondue pot.

Paulus was one of the "entitled white gatekeepers" called out by BIPOC for racist behavior--and then absolutely nothing came of it.

I was a huge fan of her work but have become less impressed over time, for reasons unrelated to the charges of racism.

r427 Lloyd Webber has made a very successful and profitable career ripping off better composers. Those bits he does compose are poor in comparison. Like his father before him he is not a first rate composer - undoubtedly successful but that is a different thing.

There’s a wonderful parody song by Brit duo Kit and the Widow called “Someone Else”. You’ll find it on youtube. Lloyd Webber never sued.

Make that Somebody Else

Sue a parody?

On behalf of R432 - and if you follow through the related videos you should also find Julia McKenzie from the same show singing The Boy From...

Was Anthony Roth Costanzo's naughty bits censored when they did the opera telecast of "Aknaten" ? I heard he had to shave all his body hair for the role, but did appear nude at one point. Asking in relation to the "big-dicked" comment above for confirmation.

Paulus can do decent work on revivals (Hair, Pippin), but all her work on new musicals has been either average (Waitress) or disastrous (Finding Neverland, that controversial Africa musical at 2nd stage whose title I have forgotten/never learned.).

[quote]that controversial Africa musical at 2nd stage whose title I have forgotten/never learned.

That was the show on which that the writers/performers accused Paulus of racist behavior (including telling the writer, "I don't work for YOU!" and treating black performers badly). Second Stage also came off poorly.

Easy to call someone a racist if she dare give you any negative feedback. That way, you never have to take responsibility for your performance.

Speaking of which, what’s Tonya Pinkins up to these days? Trying to convince people Jocasta was black?

[quote]Thank goodness this was recorded for the press real.

Bringing press realness.

R429 here I should have been clearer, I’m not looking for a critique of her work but if anyone has worked with her or knows anyone who has and how was the environment? I have heard unpleasant stories but there’s never anyway to know if theyr’e grudges or if she’s the monster some people seem to think she is one.

Beware. There are LOTS of "unpleasant" stories.

She's gotten in "bed" with two Broadway producers: Harvey Weinstein and Barry Weissler. Do the math.

R438, Paulus has been mistreating actors since the Donkey Show. She was a nightmare then and is still one. She made her name off a production created by the cast, and then treated them like crap.

The secret of her success is that she does the minimum. She lets people in authority tell her what they want to see on stage and she executes it. When she is in authority the work goes to pieces. But if she has a strong producer over her, the results are much better.

Let's not even get into the sleazy financial arrangements with her husband at Oberon. The Boston Globe did great reporting on this, but no other outlet picked up on it.

I would stop to think twice about working with any director who antagonizes a playwright and (allegedly) tells him that she "doesn't work for him" in front of the entire company. Just my two cents.

R442, I went to school with her. She was not very bright, but very entitled.

The Donkey Show was staged by the cast. Hair was staged by James Rado and Karole Armatage.

I do not know, but I am guessing Pipin was largely created by circus choreographers, since Paulus has never created anything of that complexity on her own.

[quote]Paulus can do decent work on revivals (Hair, Pippin)

....but also sometimes horrific work on revivals, like Porgy and Bess -- excuse me, The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess. Although that wasn't really a revival, more a Frankenstein monster version of of what used to be a great piece of musical theater.

Pinkins is in the new ABC anthology series WOMEN OF THE MOVEMENT, at least in the first episode, about Emmett Till. Didn't watch it yet.

I know I'm in the minority, but I saw the Paulus revival of PIPPIN late in the run. And I was underwhelmed. It was just... fine. Nothing revelatory about it.

Why did they bring Slave Play back? It had a respectable run. I don't remember it being a difficult ticket to get during that initial run. It did not win the Tony. It did not win the Pulitzer. It is not a show that appeals to tourists and there are no tourists in NYC right now. Most of the potential NYC audience had the chance to see it pre-Covid and made their decision. Not to mention with the failures of: Pass Over, Chicken & Eggs, Clyde's, etc. hasn't Broadway audiences essentially passed on woke people of color plays?

[quote]Nothing revelatory about it.

I don't think Pippin contains much to make revelatory

The brought back Slave Play so they could get email addresses to sell STRANGE LOOP.

[quote]I know I'm in the minority, but I saw the Paulus revival of PIPPIN late in the run. And I was underwhelmed. It was just... fine. Nothing revelatory about it.

Agreed, but the circus concept was fun even if it didn't make complete sense for the show. And there were some really good performances throughout the run. Oh, and the ensemble featured one of the most beautiful men ever to set foot on a Broadway stage :-)

They brought back Slave Play because they were convinced it was going to win the Tony, and when it didn't, they had to follow through with it, lest they be called out for racism.

I can't argue with that...but also, Jeremy O. Harris's ego. That's why they brought it back.

Wouldn't a Tony loss -- 12 out of 12 -- signify something that the theater community didn't really think it was all that?

Yes, but it was in the cards before the Tonys. Jeremy O and Jordan Tranny thought it was going to clean up.

R455 is correct. Everyone was convinced it would win the Tony, especially Jeremy O. Harris. But, it sucked.

I saw a poster in NYC today for Slave Play that said “the most Tony nominations for a play ever.” I wish I had had a pen with me so I could add “And it won none of them.”

I do wonder if those Medium articles knocking Jordan Roth played a part in the decision. A way for him to say "see, I AM serious". And also an excuse for him to buy another opening night outfit.

Slave Play - the biggest loser ever.

Isn't Jordan Roth's father still a significant Trump supporter?

[quote]I saw a poster in NYC today for Slave Play that said “the most Tony nominations for a play ever.” I wish I had had a pen with me so I could add “And it won none of them.”

You go girl! Telling the man like it is!

Truly you are the Martin Luther King of antiwoke showtune queens.

r464 made me lol.

[quote]Pass Over, Chicken & Eggs, Clyde's, etc.

Chicken & Eggs - bwhahahahah...

[quote] I saw a poster in NYC today for Slave Play that said “the most Tony nominations for a play ever.”

Turn them in to the Tony Admin people. It's against the rules to talk about your nominations like a month or something after the actual awards themselves.

Emily Skinner's response to being raked for getting the name of her show wrong.

Designer friends of mine who have worked for Paulus complain because she brings everyone from the producer to the head usher into every artistic decision that has to be made, mostly ignoring the designer. And she won't listen to actors about anything unless they're stars like Audra, Andrea Martin, Sara Bareilles, etc.

R469, that behavior sounds very inconsistent.

Has the usher at Roundabout who reads bitches for filth before the show to instill fear if they so much as cough during the proceedings been discussed here?

Jeez, we get it, people on DL don't like the new Black-centric plays.

Oh, be fair, R472.

People on TG on DL don't like new Black-centric anything.

R473, Well, seemingly neither did the NY audiences.

Starlight Express!

I picture a circle of obese 70yos in caftans, small dogs and martinis on these threads complaining about the coloreds.

R476 So bitter Jeremy. Your play was shit. Now fuck off and marry a white man.

Hit a nerve, did we R477? Have another martini.

Hey, produce my plays -- I was able to get Hunter Foster naked on stage and have serious actors like Laura Esterman and Daniel Gerroll in the cast. I'm black also, but my sensationalistic plays are better written, and I'm apparently a lot easier to take than that other playwright you've been discussing.

Arthur Sullivan (of Gilbert & Sullivan) was often accused of ripping off other composers' work, sometimes with justification. His reply was that "we only have the same twelve notes to work with."

[quote] but my sensationalistic plays are better written

No, Thomas, they really aren't.

Aunt Clara...

[quote]Has the usher at Roundabout who reads bitches for filth before the show to instill fear if they so much as cough during the proceedings been discussed here?

When you say Roundabout, which theater are you referring to?

R478 Call me Boris, ya drongo.

Singapore/Fling is in rare form schooling ATC on why the Globes weren't telecast. And by schooling, I mean patronizingly suggesting they "educate" themselves before posting such questions.

THIS. This bratty, petulant, USELESS attitude epitomizes everything wrong with the radical left. They think they're doing God's work but they wind up sounding like an angry teenager.

I worked with Paulus briefly. She is a cunt of the highest order, a pox on her house. Although the writers of Witness Uganda are, in fact, twats as well.

A director does not work for the writer, so what's the problem with her saying that?

We do not work for YOU, R487. It is not our job to answer your questions.

[quote] People on TG on DL don't like new Black-centric anything

Correction : people on DL don't like ANYTHING.......except Sondheim.

Slave Play is the kind of pretentious mess only a Yale graduate could write & get produced. Now it's returning to cannibalize the limited audience for other plays by black authors. I cannot imagine anyone going to see it.

Have we discussed Jeremy O. Harris fleeing the US (and his aging Mother) for London at the beginning of the pandemic?

The puppet dog in that Aurora Spiderwoman clip of Busker Alley is adorable genius. Poor Marcia. Never work with children or animals. Or puppets. The rest of it is execrable trash.

What exactly IS Tommy Tune? I’ve never gotten it. At all. He’s always been creepily asexual and weird both onstage and on film. He’s an okay dancer. Tall. But that hair and face and bland personality and zero singing voice. And he’s got that bizarre 70s/80s/90s closet thing going on like Barry Manilow. Clearly gay, but terrified. He’s just… off.

I have memories that must be quite wrong about Busker Alley and Best Little Whorehouse Goes Public. That was my first year in NY (1994) and I distinctly remember walking down W 44th which was basically deserted because one hadn’t opened and the other had flopped. I remember there was chatter that Tune had been running back and forth between theaters trying to save both shows and then “broke” his ankle.

Obviously, this can’t be true because BA was at the St. James which is across from the Majestic which has Phantom, and BLWGP was at the Lunt Fontanne which is on 46th. And didn’t Whorehouse flop before Busker tried to come in a little later? Anyway, what I do remember clearly was that both theaters had been done up very garishly on the outside, (I think Whorehouse was neon pink or something) and both seemed to cover half the street. And both theaters seemed to sit empty forever all painted and ready to go once Busker never opened and Whorehouse flopped.

I remember the Birdie debacle, and it struck me as weird that Tune would have ever gotten the backing to star in one show and direct and choreograph another at the same time after that mess. It was a fairly big Broadway scandal at the time that he lost millions for both shows, and it was pretty much the end of his career. I saw him about a decade later shopping for antiques with, I’m assuming, his boyfriend on the UWS, who was also overly tall and skinny and weirdly unattractive.

R483 Not sure, might have been Studio 54 - I think they were talking about Caroline.

Tommy is very charming and charismatic on stage in addition to being a wonderful dancer. Birdie was never intended for broadway. It was a tour. I have no idea what he’s like offstage and I don’t care because it’s none of my business. He’s always come off as a very private person. Good for him.

R471 and R483 I know exactly the usher you mean! In addition to the show where she works giving 8 performances a week (actually, it just closed), she was giving 8 performances a week of her own in the aisles before the show with her dramatic enacting of the mask regulations and consequences. The only thing missing were the snaps...but hey, with today's audiences, and especially the flyovers from places where COVID is either imaginary or an overreaction, the rich but-I'm-a-donors who can't be bothered, and the generation that resents anyone telling them they have to do anything--I get where the usher was coming from. Management probably wants to be able to say they run a tight ship without having to do the dirty work in the trenches.

Tommy Tune seemed like the savior of the Broadway musical during the 80s and early 90s when musicals, particularly American musicals, were having a VERY hard time. He understood the old school ways, having worked with so many of the troupers on the way up. But he was doing new work that was commercially and artistically successful and that's the magic formula: the theatre dotes on people who win the Tonys AND make the money, and it helps even more if they are on the young side, as Tune was. He has something like 9? Tony Awards, including one for Lifetime Achievement.

WHOREHOUSE was a big hit that toured with multiple companies, HOLLYWOOD/UKRAINE as odd as it was ran over a year, NINE made it almost two years and toured, he salvaged MY ONE AND ONLY and suddenly there was one of these reconstituted catalog shows that was a hit and wasn't a revue, then the Tonys and commercial success of GRAND HOTEL and WILL ROGERS FOLLIES in back to back years. Sure, WHOREHOUSE GOES PUBLIC was a bomb, but that same year that GREASE revival opened and was the longest running musical revival in history till CHICAGO came along. And by the time that GREASE revival wrapped up, Tune was one of the only healthy heirs apparent to the American musical director-choreographer titans who had died in the 80s and 90s, though he still had a younger person's vitality...Fosse, Bennett, Champion, Robbins, and Joe Layton had all died by then, and Ron Field would die in 1989.

Tune also wasn't afraid to tour as a headline performer, between his concert shows and the MO&O and BIRDIE tours he'd built himself a name on the road. As the 90s wound down he did a year in EFX in Vegas, which had to be for no other reason but money.

What has happened since, in terms of Tune not staying busy busy busy with high profile work, well, who can say.

That whole BUSKER ALLEY thing was so weird. I got the impression that almost no one believed Tune really broke his ankle, or if he did, that it would have necessitated closing the show for good. But since no one could prove it wasn't true, it's understandable that no one wanted to come right out and call him and the producers liars.

R494, you left SO MUCH out of your roundup of Tune's career, including ALL of the flops and misfires and cancellations since WHOREHOUSE GOES PUBLIC. Seems like the only things Tune has done over the past 30 years or so that weren't disappointments or disasters were EFX and that Encores show, and of course, in both of those he was just performing talent for hire and wasn't calling the shots.

Tommy Tune is in his 80s. I wouldn't expect him to be working busily at this point.

[quote]Tommy Tune is in his 80s. I wouldn't expect him to be working busily at this point.

We're not talking about now, we're talking about what he has and hasn't done since 1994, which was almost 30 years ago.

R495, I didn't leave it out, I just stopped it at a certain point, more or less after the 90s wave of success wound down, which I would put as milestone cap at the end of the run of GREASE. You're right, it's strange to go from his 80s-90s level of success to the "flops and misfires and cancellations" and "disappointments and disasters" that followed. Even in EFX he was a replacement. Can you make a list of the stuff I left out?

I saw that DOLITTLE tour and the most mystifying thing was why he would take on salvaging that project. Directing it was one thing, but headlining a 6-month tour of one and two week stands...there's no other reason for a 60-something man to take that on but $$$. Same with the cruise ship show.

As for working busily in your 80s, R496: James Earl Jones, Angela Lansbury, Chits Rivera a/k/a Chita Rivers, Marilyn Maye, Estelle Parsons, Rita Moreno, and George Abbott all disagree.

Here is the new Ike Turner.

[quote]I saw that DOLITTLE tour and the most mystifying thing was why he would take on salvaging that project.

Yes, mystifying indeed. Just one example of the many strange decisions he made during his late career. How he ever thought it wouldn't bite him in the ass to have a plant in the audience pretending to be his old dance teacher (or whatever) for that Off-Broadway show at that flophouse the Little Shubert defies explanation. He might have gotten away with it if the show was a one-nighter, but for a show with a regular schedule of seven or eight performances a week, with the plant popping up out of the audience at every performance????

Once again, Datalounge is consumed arguing over musicals from the 80s and 90s. Yawn.

Ask Jeremy Pope what Paulus was like during Invisible Thread at Second Stage. Or just ask any BIPOC who's had the misery of working with her.

I just read on his wiki that Tune lost a long time partner to AIDS in 1994. Having two massive shows flop and being shown the door after being the toast of Broadway and losing a partner must have been a very difficult time.

[quote] both theaters had been done up very garishly on the outside, (I think Whorehouse was neon pink or something)

The Lunt wasn't especially garish on the outside for Whorehouse/Public, although I think that is when the inside of the Lunt was painted Milk of Magnesia bottle blue. Before that, it was a sort of powder blue with murals of cherubs flying around.

The theatre facade that was painted pink was the Eugene O'Neill for the Grease revival.

[Quote] As for working busily in your 80s, [R496]: James Earl Jones, Angela Lansbury, Chits Rivera a/k/a Chita Rivers, Marilyn Maye, Estelle Parsons, Rita Moreno, and George Abbott all disagree.

Apart from Mr. Abbott at the nd, weren't most of those guns for hire? It sounds like someone just wants to take a shit on Tommy Tune.

As for artists who lose their magic over time, look at Meredith Willson, Neil Simon, etc. And Kander and Ebb wrote some lovely tunes late in life, but their shows generally bombed after CHICAGO. (Did SPIDER WOMAN recoup?)

The horrendous facade for Grease at the O'Neill.

[quote]Once again, Datalounge is consumed arguing over musicals from the 80s and 90s. Yawn.

Not much new stuff to talk about, other than continually speculating about and bemoaning the COVID situation.

[quote]It sounds like someone just wants to take a shit on Tommy Tune.

Not sure what's wrong with telling the facts about his career since the mid '90s, as long as we acknowledge his great successes before that time. And people probably wouldn't be prone to "take a shit" on him if he just had a string of flops and misfires, but it's all the bad faith stuff -- the BUSKER ALLEY thing, the plant in the audience for that Off-Broadway show, the plastering of his name all over that GREASE revival even though he didn't direct or choreograph it -- that have marred his legacy.

Playwright here who's worked with Paulus.

She and her husband Randy are two of the biggest users I've ever met. Not just in show business, but in life. So know that first.

Paulus does carry a sense of entitlement with her everywhere she goes (she and Randy met at Harvard), and it's been fascinating to watch her go from hot thing (with "The Donkey Show") to persona non grata (for years) to being a Tony-winning director. (You can thank Oskar Eustis for that undeserved career renaissance, which subsequently led to her being hired at ART.)

She has some talent and ability, but she's terrible with new material. (I don't remember getting a single useful note from her, and I like notes.) I'm surprised "Waitress" turned out as good as it did, but it was based upon a film, so there was source material to work with, and a very talented composer. When "Jagged Little Pill" worked it was because it was based upon an iconic album, but putting Paulus with a neophyte book writer was not a good idea, which was why that show feels overly stuffed and artistically starved simultaneously, Book Tony Award be damned. (When your main competition is "Moulin Rouge," you better win.)

I refused to see "Finding Neverland" so will not comment on that.

Because of her recent track record she now gets some great people to work with her, so that might be reason enough to join whatever project she's doing. But you've been warned.

[quote] plastering of his name all over that GREASE revival

Probably the Weisslers [italic] begged [/italic] him for his name when former standby and possible bf Jeff Calhoun was the director/chreographer.

[quote] Can you make a list of the stuff I left out?

Please don't.

This is very sweet.....

Charlotte d'Amboise Honors Ann Reinking at CHICAGO's 25 Anniversary Performance.

Re: Tommy Tune

From what I hear he's rather embittered by how the industry now treats him. Won't even discuss accepting lifetime honorary awards from various orgs as a result.

thanks r510 that's really interesting stuff.

[quote] Let's not even get into the sleazy financial arrangements with her husband at Oberon. The Boston Globe did great reporting on this, but no other outlet picked up on it.

r445 I'm not having luck finding the article, any chance you can? So much other coverage of her in Boston.

Estelle parsons lost her husband/partner a few months ago, and has been in a steady decline since. Sutton Foster lives in her building next door to an ex. He says Estelle now has someone coming in to help her.

Britney did the same to my K-Mart, r504.

[quote] Jeez, we get it, people on DL don't like the new Black-centric plays.

It's an interesting conundrum that producers (such as Jordan Roth) have gotten themselves into. They ran out and joined the bandwagon regarding more diverse theater, but audiences clearly did not join that bandwagon. How much money are they willing to lose for their statement? When they do pull the plug how quickly will artists like Jeremy Harris run out and call them racist for not losing money on shitty plays that the audiences are not interested in?

Also, it seems to me very phony to have the Daryl Roth Theater papered over in BLM slogans (not sure if it still is, it was a few months ago), when Daryl Roth went to Trump's inaugural and they still support him.

[Quote] the plastering of his name all over that GREASE revival even though he didn't direct or choreograph it -- that have marred his legacy.

Has Martin Charnin's legacy been marred?

[quote] Sutton Foster lives in her building next door to an ex. He says Estelle now has someone coming in to help her.

Why is Sutton gossiping about Estelle Parsons.

[Quote] Why is Sutton gossiping about Estelle Parsons.

The ex is gossiping, not Sutton.

R494 gave us a very concise synopsis of what made Tommy Tune so influential.

Let me just add that I've met him (a long time ago) and he's quite pleasant. Artistic but down to earth.

Singapore/Fling's now got 2 wingmen on ATC -- the previously exposed ryhog (incensed that someone is referring to him and S/F regarding the Golden Globes thread) and Sam890, starting to reveal his nutsy affiliation with the chief agenda nutcase over there.

Remember the pukey green for Footloose?

Remember the puking the restrooms during intermission of Footloose?

I didn't see it, r524. I was pissed Side Show closed.

[quote]From what I hear he's rather embittered by how the industry now treats him. Won't even discuss accepting lifetime honorary awards from various orgs as a result.

The way "the industry now treats him" is based on his own behavior and his apparent loss of motivation and/or talent as a director/choreographer since the mid 1990s. I'm told he really had to be talked into making that appearance in that Encores show, they had to treat him with kid gloves, and many people suspected he would drop out of the show at the last minute. That's how neurotic he has become, but you might be right that there's a lot of bitterness involved as well.

[quote]Why is Sutton gossiping about Estelle Parsons.

[quote]The ex is gossiping, not Sutton.

Why is Christian Borle gossiping about Estelle Parsons?

I wish Stockard Channing would write an autobiography. I bet she has a lot to say: Original Broadway cast "Two Gentlemen of Verona," replacing Liza in "The Rink" working with Joan Rivers on that ugly girl tv movie, Grease, two failed sitcoms, Six Degrees, The West Wing, etc.

Spill it gurl! Spill it all!

Didn't The Rink last about a month with Susan in it?

[quote]I'm told he really had to be talked into making that appearance in that Encores show, they had to treat him with kid gloves, and many people suspected he would drop out of the show at the last minute. That's how neurotic he has become...

I'm pretty sure, r526, it had more to do with him being 76 than neurosis.

R522 If we cared about ATC, we'd be on ATC

[quote[Didn't The Rink last about a month with Susan in it?

The show was already on its way out. Liza left and Stockard came in just to put the nails in the coffin. But Chita was still working it!

Speak for yourself, r531. Who do ya think ya are, Queen fuckin' Victoria?

Stockard...

Ah, Ma!

r522 is annoying. r531 is right. r533 is wrong.

R494, you forgot one of Tommy Tune’s hits. In 1981, he directed Caryl Churchill’s Cloud 9 at the Theatre De Lys. It was a huge hit and ran for years. It was a straight play, not a musical.

Charlotte will be back in Chicago tonite celebrating 25 years with the production. Go girl!

I wonder if ATC's Singapore/Fling = Chris Peterson of On Stage Blog?

I don’t think so, r539. Isn’t Chris Peterson “married” to a woman?

S/F is supposedly a teacher, possibly of theate, with a black bf, both described as non-cis recently by themself -- can't keep track of S/F's pronouns. Probably the most noxious poster on ATC, yet Ann won't bANN him/her/it.

theater, oops

I guess Chita thought her stage make up would look good on camera for that Liz Smith interview.

[quote]Won't even discuss accepting lifetime honorary awards from various orgs as a result.

I initially read this as "awards from various orgies."

[quote]Correction : people on DL don't like ANYTHING.......except Sondheim.

And mostly just "Follies."

And in 1976, before CLOUD NINE, Tommy directed the very successful off-Broadway musical THE CLUB at Circle in the Square Downtown, which ran for almost 2 years and won numerous Obies. He really began his directing career with a couple of very interesting and quirky credits.

Anyone else watch Gavin Creel's cabaret show from the Westport Country Playhouse on PBS? It was... fine? I thought the best part was his interpolating Another Hundred People with the story about the first time he came to New York. I didn't think his dyed hair did him any favors, but I'm not the boss of him. Interestingly, every time they showed the audience it was the back of their heads, so they appeared maskless (in one brief shot from the side of the house you could see masks). Shoshana Bean up this week.

No...I'm not, r536, you judgmental putz.

Understood, R530, but either decide you can still do it or you can't, don't leave everybody guessing as to whether you're going to drop out at the last minute. Like he did when he canceled that show he was going to do at the community house in Cherry Grove on Fire Island a few days beforehand, even though it wasn't exactly going to be a high-profile event with critics in attendance.

R529 Susan who?

I'm willing to cut him more slack than you are, r549.

Gavin Creel did quite a nice acoustic EP about ten years ago. Did he perform any of his own songs on PBS?

[quote][R529] Susan who?

Stockard Channing's real first name is Susan.

Susan Stockard Channing Schmidt Debin Rawle (4 marriages, 4 divorces!)

One, R552, from a piece commissioned by the Metropolitan Museum of Art (about an Albrecht Durer painting).

Yeah, I think an unauthorized bio of Stockard would be more interesting than a memoir, if you know what I mean. I sure would like to eventually learn the details of Christian Hoff's departure from PAL JOEY.

She was born Susan Williams Antonia Stockard.

What does Stockard look like nowadays? Those pics on morning (I think, UK) television were horrific.

R554 Despite the fact he'd lived in New York for decades and yet only visited The Met for the first time in 2019.

Well R558 didn't he used to date (or at least FWB) someone who works at the Met?

R557, in her last Broadway stage appearance, she was almost unrecognizable due to extensive and aggressive work on her face. That was seven years ago.

And yet, ahem, here's the photo on her ibdb page......

[quote]Stockard Channing's real first name is Susan.

We have that in common, then.

This looks like an exploitation movie. Have any of you seen it?

I've seen it. it's not really an exploitation film. It's rather offbeat and quite interesting if not wholly successful. It feels like a hybrid of a 90s indie and a 70s drive in film. I enjoyed it, even though I can't say it's a good movie.

Stockard had such a strange movie career.

Does anyone remember the story Tommy Tune told (I forget where, could be his bio but i know I read it elsewhere) about him being seriously considered for film stardom in some big role in the early/mid 70s. He went to see Josephine Baker do a show on NYE and she invited people to come up on stage with her and dance towards the end and Tommy joined in. His claim was that someone saw him onstage, thought he looked less than masculine and the next week, the offer mysteriously disappeared.

I remember rolling my eyes at that because Tune never looked like anything but a freakishly tall effeminate queen, and was not the stuff movie stars were made of, especially not back in the 70s.

When they were casting Dirty Harry, it came down between Clint Eastwood and Tommy Eastwood. Same thing with Death Wish; Charles Bronson and Tommy Tune. Poor Tommy, always the bridesmaid.

Who is Tommy Eastwood?

Tommy was supposed to play Jaws in "The Spy Who Loved Me."

Ugh. I should never try to be clever when I’m a.) high and b.) not really clever.

Stanley Kauffmann said that Channing was like Hepburn in that you knew she was from the upper crust. I never saw it or maybe I just don't know what high society is like. I know she has an elite background but I don't know how it shows up in her performances.

She often said that people can call her Stock, Stockard or Susan but when they try to be cute and. call her stocky or stockyard, they're going to be slapped.

Tommy Tune was in the movies “Hello Dolly” and “The Boyfriend.” Maybe Barbra and Twiggy had him blacklisted.

Maybe if Lucille Ball had invited him to be in the movie “Mame” he would have had a career in movie musicals. But, Gary talked her out of using him.

Well, I always thought Elaine Stritch seemed like a fish wife, but apparently she wasn't.

[quote]Has the usher at Roundabout who reads bitches for filth before the show to instill fear if they so much as cough during the proceedings been discussed here?

R471 years ago there was an usher in the mezzanine of the Cort Theater who would read the riot act to patrons before the show. She was concerned about folks who change their seats during the performance, because the theater was half empty. During the show, she would patrol the aisles like a Nazi Mistress to make sure no one dared violate her edict. During the late 80s and 90s, lots of poorly attended shows played the Cort, but she was adamant in making sure that you sat in the seats you paid for (mostly TDF seats.) Quite a performance. I kinda miss her.

[quote] Stanley Kauffmann said that Channing was like Hepburn in that you knew she was from the upper crust. I never saw it or maybe I just don't know what high society is like. I know she has an elite background but I don't know how it shows up in her performances.

I think it sort of shows up in Grease. She’s just not as earthy as Rizzo should be.

Her replacement in The House of Blue Leaves, Christine Baranski, was better at switching between classes. She was the perfect Bunny, yet later went on to play upper class women.

"Well he sounds like a drag."

To be fair to that usher, that was pretty much the rule. I worked front of the house when I was a teenager and through college and we were told to make sure no one moved seats until late seating was done. And actually, I am still seeing it happen. I went to see My Fair Lady in early 2019. I had a TDF ticket and I was jammed into one of the awful raked rows, which I loathe because my knees start hurting after 45 min if I can't stretch my legs out. I wanted to go sit in the back row of the mezz where no one was and made the mistake of asking the usher if I could move (to a worse seat) and she made such a fuss. Of course no one wound up there so I moved during intermission and was able to spread my legs out and stretch them.

I'm so glad your legs are okay.

And spread.

I'm enjoying the stories about Tommy Tune, but I wish there were nicer things being said. When he was at his peak, he directed some of the most iconic shows on Broadway (and a insanely good "9" Off Broadway). Not only that but he's a gentleman and very gracious person. But of course, people love to be nasty.

Stockard was better than Liza in The Rink. Liza was too distracting. Stockard pulled of the hippie aspect better and she worked well with Chita. Vocally, she was no powerhouse but she was fine.

As a director, dancer. and choreographer, Tune is the last of that generation (Fosse, Michael Bennett) who really understood musicals: great, surprising, unforgettable staging of songs. THAT is what many of us come to musicals for.

Most newer directors don't have it and they can't bring it like those 3 could.

Tune was fun in "The Boy Friend", but he was playing a second lead, which is mostly likely the most he might have been in the 70s films, plus musicals were on their way out for quite a while. Twiggy and he later were romantically involved during "My One and Only" when he tried being bi or straight. But usn't that the show where Bette Midler infamously made a statement at an awards ceremony about his co-winner/sometime lover on the order of "How does he fit?"

"wasn't" that

Let's add Robbins and Champion to that list, r582.

Add Onna White and Joe Layton to the choreographers. Their dances are usually so much fun to watch.

TT and Twig weren’t on speaking terms towards the end of their run. They’ve since kissed and made up

Susan Strohman tried for a while, but she used a lot of gimmicky staging involving props, which worked for a while, but not endlessly.

Two switching seats stories:

R577, that was awful of that usher to treat you that way. I guess I lucked out because when I went to see Kevin Kline in "Present Laughter," my seat in orchestra center was in a very tight row and my knees were all jammed up against the seat in front of me and I was so uncomfortable during all of act one. In fact, at a certain point I decided it just wasn't worth it and would leave at intermission and go home. Well, at intermission I got up, put my coat on and was heading through the lobby out of the theater when the theater manager spotted me and asked me why I was leaving. I told him the show was fine but my seat was just too cramped and that my legs couldn't go another hour like that, so I decided to skip the second act and go home. He told me to wait, don't go anywhere. He went away for about a minute, then came back and told me to follow him. He took me to a seat at the end of an aisle closer to the stage where I could stretch out my legs and asked me if that would get me to stay. I told him sure and thank you very much. Again, just a stroke of luck.

My second switching-seats story happened on the night a friend and I went to see "Wicked." There was a bad storm in NYC that evening but we made it to the theater anyway and, lo and behold, it was only a little over half full. Tons of empty seats everywhere. We were in the left orchestra far against the wall, so the seats weren't the best. My friend, looking out at all the empty seats in the center section, was wondering if we could move over but I told him we probably shouldn't try it since there was an usher standing right next to our row. Well, first act goes by, then at intermission, we notice other people starting to move over into those still-empty seats. My friend said hell, if everyone else is doing it, why shouldn't we, so I went over to ask the usher if it would be okay and she said sure, go ahead. She said all of those seats were empty likely because a large group that had bought tickets for that night didn't show up due to the storm, and since it was highly unlikely she said that they'd be showing up for the second act, we were free to take them. So I said thanks and my friend and I switched to much better seats for the second act of the show.

Actually, that reminds me that my friend and I switched to better seats for "Cinderella," too. We were in the mezzanine and since it wasn't sold out, we just took the liberty of moving without permission for that one (also during intermission). Memories!!

Susan Strohman seems like a genuinely nice person, and she has her loyal fans.

But IMHO, she is nowhere near the league of Tune, Fosse, Robbins, or Bennett. Not even close.

But Tune is by most reports retired, and the others are dead. Musical theater fans hope for someone great to continue the tradition. For a while, it seemed Stroman, with "Crazy for You" and "The Producers", might be one of them.

Stro's successors: Christopher Gattelli, Andy Blankenbeuhler, Sergio Trujillo, Joshua Bergasse and certainly Kathleen Marshall and Rob Ashford, all began as choreographers (and all the men were Broadway chorus dancers) who had some brief great success but then ultimately failed as directors.

And now we're stuck with the likes of Alex Timbers directing "hit" musicals.

Warren Carlyle, who was one of Stro's original assistants/associates has gone on to do some very inspired work on his own. Far more inventive and in service of the material than what can be said of Rob Ashford (ugh) and Kathleen Marshall's work.

That said, I hear Carlyle's choreo for 'The Music Man', while quite excellent, is in excess and needing significant chopping. Hopefully Zaks will take an exacto knife to it (like he did with Guys & Dolls) and leave only the best on display.

Talk about gimmicky staging. Alex Timbers is all about sets and busy eye candy. The actors often feel like an afterthought to me. Why do so many think he's all that as a director?

I loved AMERICAN UTOPIA, but the wonderful choreographer Annie-B Parson deserves most of the credit for that, if you ask me (and the cast, of course).

Shouldn’t Hal Prince be on that list of directors who understood musicals?

I thought the reason Tommy Tune fell out of favor rather quickly was due to the fact that the chorus boys and male understudies he worked with over the decades became middle aged men in various positions of power at arts and entertainment organizations......and they remembered him.

After "Chicago", Fosse forgot everything he learned about musicals.

If, back in the day, Judy Kuhn had married Tommy Tune, she's be Mrs. Judy Kuhn Tune.

Discuss.

Oh my, and if Judy had then divorced Tommy and married Mickey she could have billed herself as Judy Kuhn Tune Rooney.

Now that's got rhythm!

I loved AMERICAN UTOPIA, but the wonderful choreographer Annie-B Parson deserves ALL of the credit for that, if you ask me (and the cast, of course).

Fixed that for you R594 :-)