THEATRE GOSSIP #453: The theatre illiterate starts another thread in the vain hope we will see nudes

As long as you're hung, illiteracy is not a problem.

You are hung, aren't you?

From the previous thread

[quote] Las Vegas style musical reviews

Oh dear

From my utter failure of a Johnny come lately THEATRE GOSSIP #453

I was lucky enough to see R3's Macbeth in Stratford upon Avon. It was thrilling from the front bench in that tiny black-box theater. (I still have one of the prop letters a character dropped, which landed at my feet.) After it was over I said to myself, Now I never need to see another production of Macbeth." And I haven't, at least not on stage.

Anyone see Encores' Tap Dance Kid?

Oh, the other 453 has a much better title. Let’s use that one.

Yes. Go there, says this thread’s OP.

Thread prematurely closed. Do not use.

But I left my purse in this thread! I'm not leaving until I find it.

Was it widely known that Ragni and Rado were romantically involved?

How long will Broadway succumb to wokeness. The new lyric for " Shipoopi":

("Shipoopi/Shipoopi/Shipoopi/the boy who's seen the light/ Shipoopi/Shipoopi/Shipoopi/to treat a woman right").

With the original lyrics or the revised ones, "Shipoopi" is still one sucky song.

R11 Are you there Jesse? It’s me, God. “Same with the show’s treatment of men’s casual harassment of women. You can’t really remove it from the main story; Hill’s modus operandi involves seducing piano teachers and leaving them flat. (At one point he refers to Marian as his “commission.”) In light of that, it seems foolish merely to change a lyric here or there; in the dopey dance tune “Shipoopi,” the couplet “the girl who’s hard to get … but you can win her yet” has become suddenly enlightened as “the boy who’s seen the light … to treat a woman right.”

One gentleman's comment in one of the Broadway discussion groups on Facebook:

"I weep for all the theater kids who won't get to see The Music Man - for $700 a ticket - and therefore won't be inspired to memorize every word and to dream about it every night."

MARY! I think that's the gayest sentence I've ever read.

Posted here so you don't have to spend money on it.

Goddamn, you could drive a Mack truck thru that 'Trouble' tempo. And it feels so labored by Hugh too.

This isn't talked about nearly enough, but Harold Hill actually demands someone with a gorgeous *speaking* voice. What was so effective about Preston, and later Bierko (who admittedly aped much of Preston) is that they had rich, resonant, commanding speaking voices, that segued into their singing voices effortlessly. I imagine Forrest Tucker had a similar effect with his distinctive baritone.

It's the definition of speech-level-singing -- where your singing voice is an extension of your speaking voice, so it feels more grounded and conversational. Sinatra and a lot of those pop crooners of the 40s/50s had this quality. Robert Alda in Guys in Dolls, Dick Van Dyke in Bye Bye Birdie. Jack Cassidy even. Their speaking and singing timbres were interchangeable. Unfortunately, Hugh doesn't have this quality to his voice and as a result, it pulls you right out of the moment.

Are we using this thread instead of creating a 454?

I don't think this is worth starting a new thread for, so I'll ask here. Who are well known actors who started as song and dance men?

James Cagney

Christopher Walken (he actually started as a child actor on TV but spent several years as a Broadway chorus boy)

Jerry Orbach

Jesse Martin

Who else?

Helen Lawson.

I've always loved Helen's deep throaty voice with that lush vibrato and now you're telling me she's just a lyric baritone with a belt?

Cary Grant was a music hall performer before he went into the movies. And William Frawley was a vaudeville performer who supposedly was the first to sing two famous songs, the names of which I’ve forgotten.

From Frawley's Wikipedia article:

"During his vaudeville career, Frawley introduced and helped popularize the songs "My Mammy",[3] "My Melancholy Baby", and "Carolina in the Morning."

I’m sure that this has been discussed on a million threads and I am late too the party BUT - I have always thought that a PRE-scandal - if we didn’t know he was a creep - Kevin Spacey (younger) would have made a wonderful Harold Hill.

Sorry - to NOT too!

To continue the talk about Broadway prices, in the olden days, there was a different price structure. Many Broadway shows had 6-8 prices depending on where you sat and what day of the week it was. For example, side orchestra was not the same price as center orchestra.

People talking about the prices of Broadway shows think Broadway = All Theater. I rarely go to Broadway, but I see tons of theater: Playwrights Horizons, Soho Rep, NYTW, Atlantic Theater, Bushwick Star, as well as hundreds of itinerant companies. More interesting work, lower prices, fewer tourists.

[quote] During his vaudeville career, Frawley introduced and helped popularize the songs "My Mammy",[3] "My Melancholy Baby", and "Carolina in the Morning."

Damn right

[[quote] Kevin Spacey (younger) would have made a wonderful Harold Hill.

Look out, Winthrop!!!! That's NOT a cornet.

[quote] I don't think this is worth starting a new thread for, so I'll ask here. Who are well known actors who started as song and dance men?

I first saw J. K. Simmons in the chorus of “Guys and Dolls” on Broadway. You can see him clearly in this Tony clip when Nicely starts to sing.

JK would be. GREAT Harold Hill. Dangerous, masculine as all fuck, and yet there's a warmth.

What about DL fave Josh Groban? I've never listened to his music but he's been surprisingly charming and humorous on talk shows.

So him in [italic] Natasha etc [/italic] . Strong voice, kind of bland and amateurish on stage. Could be good in a mostly singing role but not a major character part.

Will Swenson is sexy and a little dark. Not sure about the voice.

JK Simmons played Benny Southstreet in "Guys and Dolls."

Josh Groban has a voice that makes it impossible to enunciate English words properly.

Daniel Radcliffe could do " Music Man" in a few years.

UGH. Talk about over-choreographed

[Quote] Josh Groban has a voice that makes it impossible to enunciate English words properly.

People say that about LuPone or Ariana Grande. They can clean up their diction when they want to do so.

LuPone isn't being talked about for " Music Man," ( where clear diction is paramount) although she would probably be more sinister than Jackman.

[quote] Daniel Radcliffe could do " Music Man" in a few years.

Too short for the role.

Obnoxious Gen-Zer drones on in a most annoying voice about the marquee. This is what hell will be - spending eternity listening to her voice going on about anything.

If there's a #454 thread, will someone kindly link it here? It's not showing up on my browser. Or are we just continuing with this thread?

[quote]Obnoxious Gen-Zer drones on in a most annoying voice about the marquee.

Some of her comments are somewhat reasonable, but what she says about Meredith Willson is kind of stupid.

Anyone else notice Jackman does not look well? His face is strained and thin. Maybe it's just me, but I've seen this in every clip.

Jackman has been looking "older" fro several years now. The face/ass thing after 40 is true.

From AMNewYork:

It’s a question we’re going to be pondering for a very, very long time: How did the starry, big-budget, eagerly-anticipated Broadway revival of “The Music Man” turn into such a bloated, boring, uninspired, absolutely maddening letdown?

Jackman, who has not appeared in a Broadway musical since “The Boy from Oz” back in 2003, is a superb, triple-threat musical theater performer. But as the consummate con artist and showman Harold Hill, Jackman, Jackman displays little more than peppy cheer and easy charm. You get the sense that he is too busy bearing the weight of the production’s physical demands and the audience’s oversized expectations to be able to fully immerse himself in the character.

Sutton Foster is plainly miscast. She is about two decades too mature to play Marian the Librarian, an ingenue role, and she does not have the soprano voice for the character’s three romantic ballads, which sound inferior when altered to suit her lower vocal range. In completely reinterpreting the role to suit her comic abilities, she ends up giving a performance that is wired, occasionally captivating, and out of place.

[Quote] Jackman, Jackman

What are you doing here?

Maybe this is to Jackman what Mame '83 was to Lansbury.

Bierko and Luker.

Poor visual quality, but good number.

Eric McCormack on Broadway

Seth, a replacement for Hugh?

Conan?

Thanks for the Guys & Dolls clip - when I first moved to New York, I think I second acted G&D many times so I could see that number, and it's exactly as I remembered. The other show I would second act was The Who's Tommy, which was a sensation.

Zach Levi would be a good Harold Hill.

Something about Sutton's performance just occurred to me. By making her more mature and stronger and as much of a comic foil, she in fact usually has the upper hand on Jackman's too cowed Hill. Yes it turns out that he's a challenge to her resolve - but they play it more as she's a challenge to him, and he backs off with a weak smile and more of that boring hat stuff. His Hill is a bit of a loser from the start so the whole thing isn't interesting

I'm so conflicted about my schadenfreude

[quote] “Slave Play” grossed $77,152 across seven performances during Christmas Week and played to a capacity of 22%.

NPH could play Harold Hill. And David could play Mrs. Paroo.

[quote] Zach Levi would be a good Harold Hill.

No we wouldn't no he wouldn't no he wouldn't. Too nice, too nebbishy.

from these pictures it looks like Lindsay Pearce the current Elphaba is really nice

She's actually the new Glinda, and the first African-American (or is it still okay to say black) one.

Jerry Orbach started in musicals but more as a song man, not so much dance.

No r61 I was talking about Pearce's face in all these photos, and how sweet she seems towards Johnson. But thanks for your help. Actually.

R57 I'm not, I laughed out loud when I read that

Kimberley Akimbo wouldn't stand a chance against A Strange Loop this year, so its award for Best Musical and Best Actress In A Musical will have to wait until next season.

I think we might have a clue as to why Sondheim's estate was 'only' $75 million

WHET Stephen Lynch?

[quote]I have always thought that a PRE-scandal - if we didn’t know he was a creep - Kevin Spacey (younger) would have made a wonderful Harold Hill.

Because of his natural warmth and charm?

[quote]Daniel Radcliffe could do " Music Man" in a few years.

[quote]Too short for the role.

R40 = Addison DeWitt.

Radcliffe is whispered to be doing a major musical revival next season.

Prettybelle?

Peter Pan?

Boq in a John Doyle revival of wicked where all the witches will play their own cauldrons

La muette de Portici?

[quote] Radcliffe is whispered to be doing a major musical revival next season.

We already saw his manhood in Equus, so it won’t be Oh! Calcutta!

Rachael Lily Rosenbloom!

R74 His boyhood.

Longish Sondheim Q&A

My guess for Radcliffe would be one of the Brent Carver musicals, so possibly Parade or Kiss of the Spider Woman.

Lady Gaga as Aurora

Ernest in Love ?

R18 Buddy Ebsen

[quote]Radcliffe is whispered to be doing a major musical revival next season.

I hope it's "Bajour!"

r81 Brilliant!

Daniel's competition will be Matthew Broderick in I had a Ball. Sarah Jessica Parker will be playing the horse. Kim Catrall in the Karen Morrow role.

Radcliffe will be playing Lucille Ball’s role in Wildcat.

R83 The only person in the Karen Morrow role is me, baby!

[quote]Radcliffe will be playing Lucille Ball’s role in Wildcat.

Is Daniel Radcliffe's voice deep enough for him to sing Lucille Ball's songs in their original keys?

I don’t know how to link the reply (could someone tell me?) BUT -to the comment in the upthread - YES - Hugh looks odd - not getting old odd - but maybe medication like prednisone? He looks thin yet puffy.

That must be the most unguarded interview Sondheim ever gave. Great read.

Hugh Jackman just had a breakthrough case of COVID, so he could still be recovering from that.

r87 Great description...

to reply: rand # to which you are replying r87

Daniel Radcliffe in Shenandoah!

Daniel Radcliffe in Candide!

Daniel Radcliffe in Doctor Jazz!

Daniel Radcliffe in A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum!

Daniel Radcliffe in The Will Rogers Follies!

Daniel Radcliffe in Barnum!

Barnum would actually be a good choice.

[quote]“Slave Play” grossed $77,152 across seven performances during Christmas Week and played to a capacity of 22%.

HaHaHaHaHa! Suck it, Jeremy O Harris!

Wasn't there some talk of Bryan Cranston playing Harold Hill on Broadway? I seem to recall that being a topic of discussion a couple of years ago. Lord knows he could play the danger and charm in the role. No idea if he can sing (or speak-sing).

I was listening to the original cast album, and Robert Preston has a surprisingly strong singing voice. He usually gets lumped in with the other famous talk/singer Rex Harrison, but Preston is actually a fine singer.

[quote]Well, God knows the history of musical theatre is filled with tunes that went from one place to another. But to do that you’re admitting that your well is running dry, which I think is psychologically not good.

Is that the closest Sondheim has come to criticising Andrew Lloyd Webber?

I found his comments about the gay male Bobby version of Company being forced rather odd, given how everything he said applies to the gender-swapped version too.

Can Daniel Radcliffe still sell tickets on Broadway? What has he done in the last 10 years that anyone has seen or cared about?

Is the new revival of CABARET already set to cross the Atlantic?

Daniel Radcliffe in a remounting of Maggie Flynn would be swell and his rendition of “Mr. Clown” would be grand.

r94, Cranston doesn't have the strongest voice. Definitely would need to speak-sing.

He’s a back-stabbing little cunt r96.

[quote]He usually gets lumped in with the other famous talk/singer Rex Harrison,

Not really, r94. At least I've never encountered anybody doing that.

[Quote] it’s a ship of fools. We’re hoping the audience gets involved with their tribulations.

FOLLIES!

Daniel Radcliffe and Charlie Stemp in Follies! But which of them will be Sally and which will be Phyllis?

Interesting that John McMartin was thought of for a nonmusical version of Company. Did he ever do a production of the musical version?

The new London CABARET is mediocre at best. The London critics went nuts for it, but the NY critics will not. London never saw the Broadway revival that ran forever, and then came back. There' s no "news" to the environmental take and its not as good.

R104, McMartin was and looked a little too old for Bobby in COMPANY even at the time of the original production. He was about 41.

Cranston was supposed to do Damn Yankees, are you sure you heard Music Man?

I could see Radcliffe as Candide. The director would have to be someone more inventive than Marianne Elliot or Sam Gold, though. NOT Jerry Zaks, Casey Nicholaw, or Jack O'Brien either. bMaybe Alex Timbers. Better yet, Joe Mantello.

Clearly, based on that clip, it’s for the good of all that Bryan Cranston never ascended to the musical stage.

Dan Radcliffe doesn’t have the singing chops for Candide, but he’d actually be a fun very young Dr. Pangloss.

Has Robert Lindsay ever played Harold Hill?

Maybe Dan Radcliffe will do a revival of The Boy From Oz. I'd see that.

R94 I'll give you Robert Preston had a good voice and was a superb singing actor and an electric performer; even as a fan, I do find his next to last phrase on the "Mack and Mabel" OCR of his first song "Movies were Movies were MOOOOOOO-OO-VIES" a bit too much.

Rand#90 - testing

The title role of "Candide" isn't that showy vocally or even acting-wise, though I do recall the late David Eisler, who died oh so young and early in the AIDS crises was adorable at NY City Opera, later broadcast on PBS. It does sometimes feature staging where the Candide is shirtless sometimes. Pangloss is actually the showier role for the guy (when not talking about physique).

The woman who brought up complaints agains the Harry Potter actor announced she's not coming back to the show.

It could have been Lloyd Webber, r95, or it could have been Jule Styne (who raided his trunk pretty frequently, or Bernstein, who borrowed from Candide for WSS, and from both (plus A Pray By Blecht) for Mass. Or probably any number.

Erm, pobably any number of other composers.

Daniel Radcliffe can play Pangloss. Or Guido in Nine. Or Mame Dennis in Mame. Or Dr. Frank N Furter. Or Barnum. Or Joey in Pal Joey.

Here's a photo of David Eisler back around the time of "Candide". He also was in NY City Opera's production of "La Rondine".

[quote]The woman who brought up complaints agains the Harry Potter actor announced she's not coming back to the show.

Wonder if we'll ever find out exactly what happened? Does anyone who posts here know? The reported info was all very vague, other than identifying the supposed perpetrator.

Are you suggesting that she misidentified the perpetrator?

I doubt we'll ever hear what happened with James Snyder but I hope he gets a great film or TV gig soon.

Some in the biz claim she instigated the whole mess. And is psychotic.

Daniel can play a smaller version of Teeny Todd.

R124 Well that sounds made up

[Quote] Some in the biz claim she instigated the whole mess. And is psychotic.

Sure, sure. The producers just rolled over for her, a nobody.

R127 Not just them, but the outside lawyers, and Snyder himself. He decided he was just going to accept punishment for something he didn't do without any protest at all.

Uh, why are we using this fake #453 thread?

Someone should have started a #454.

Well, Blake Jenner waited about a year to protest his cancellation, so we'll see if Snyder does something similar.

[Quote] Uh, why are we using this fake #453 thread? Someone should have started a #454.

Cry me a river.

R129 Go on then

Radcliffe could play the baseball in the upcoming Damn Yankees

Is Madonna gonna try to be Lola? Or Jennifer Lopez? EEEEK either way.

Candide is written for a legit tenor or high baritone. Robert Rounseville, who originated it, was an opera singer. David Eisler was a legit singer, likewise Chris Groenendaal. Jason Daniely was in a production in the 90s, too. Daniel Radcliffe has a very adept musical theatre voice, but not on the level of a Candide. However, he'd be a great Pangloss when he's older.

Wasn't there a rumor recently about Andrew Garfield and Daniel Radcliffe in a Merrily revival as Frank and Charlie?

I wish someone would recreate Hal Prince's staging of Candide (Bway, not the City Opera one). I saw it twice -- it was a treat.

Company posted its entire opening number, 'pro shot' as I think some of you would say

It's crap. Sorry - but it's crap. [italic] This [/italic] is musical staging? Yes we get it, you take selfies. Next.

[quote] Company posted its entire opening number, 'pro shot' as I think some of you would say. It's crap.

LuPone looks really uncomfortable. And I’m surprised she agreed to those shoes. Wasn’t she wearing Birkenstocks in Gypsy because her feet were messed up?

For whatever reason, the first show that came to mind when I heard Daniel Radcliffe in a revival was Forum (although he's really more of a Hysterium than a Pseudolus).

[quote]Wasn’t she wearing Birkenstocks in Gypsy because her feet were messed up?

Actually, r139, she wore herring boxes without topses.

At best, he’s second Protean from the left.

Maybe he’s doing the Maria Friedman Merrily. Or the Half A Sixpence revival.

Oh, sad r138. I'm going to see Company on Saturday night.

This Fake Jan of Theatre Gossip threads really is the worst.

Where was it announced that Radcliffe was going to do a musical revival?

Does anyone have any idea why Music Man cut Hill’s “I don’t believe I dropped it” after “I don’t believe I caught your name” in the opening scene? It sets up Hill right from the get-go.

Probably to give Jackman some time for another timestep.

Are Jackman and Foster still trying to break each other up in Act II?

That'll be a constant during their entire run.

Keep in mind Radcliffe did a musical number in dominatrix drag on "Miracle Workers". That could mean "Cabaret" is going to transfer or there could be a Rocky Horror revival. Or maybe he's doing "Harold And Maude" with Glenn Close.

[quote] Or maybe he's doing "Harold And Maude" with Glenn Close.

Glenn still trying to get awards by playing men, I see.

Nathan Lane and Daniel Radcliffe in the new Broadway musical “Torch Song Trilogy” based on Harvey Fierstein’s smash Broadway play.

Will Daniel play Ed or David?

[quote] Can Daniel Radcliffe still sell tickets on Broadway? What has he done in the last 10 years that anyone has seen or cared about?

Wasn't The Lifespan of a Fact fairly successful, even outside Roundabout's subscription base? I remember the show never being on TDF, rarely having any discounts (and none after opening) and even when I looked for full price tickets, they were pretty full. Contrast that with the previous show he did (The Cripple of Inishmaan) where you could have played soccer in the orchestra, it was so empty.

[quote] Does anyone have any idea why Music Man cut Hill’s “I don’t believe I dropped it” after “I don’t believe I caught your name” in the opening scene? It sets up Hill right from the get-go.

"I don't believe I dropped it" is not in the stage script. He just flashes the suitcase.

Radcliffe's EQUUS was also a huge financial flop in spite of showing peen. But at least it finally exposed that ridiculous play for the claptrap it is..

[quote]Are you suggesting that she misidentified the perpetrator?

No, R122. Are you reading at a second-grade level?

[quote] Does anyone have any idea why Music Man cut Hill’s “I don’t believe I dropped it”

If you can’t see the sexism, racism, and anti-trans sentiment inherent in that line, I’m certainly not going to explain it to you.

I love Daniel Radcliffe. He may not be the best choice for a role but you just know he will give it his all.

John McWhorter offered up a brilliant op-ed on the current state of Encores in the NYT today. Well worth a read. I think he's articulating what so many are too afraid to say. It's a very reasoned, critical look at the new mission statements, and the broader notion of great art needing to provide some great social justice with it.

Thanks r154. They did it in the 2000 production It would help Hugh

R159 is there a way to read that isn’t behind a paywall?

Agreed R160. It caps the scene so well. I’m also partial to the screenplay’s lines: “Where can I find a good hotel?” “Try the Palmer House in Chicago.” I think the 2000 production also incorporated that dialogue.

That’s in this production

R161 here you go (in multiple parts):

The Encores! series at New York City Center has, a program for the new season reads, “staged weeklong revivals of rarely seen musicals from the Broadway canon” for nearly three decades. It does such a great job that a revival can jump the rails back to Broadway: The current run of “Chicago” started as an Encores! revival and has been going (minus the pandemic break) for around a quarter century. The three Encores! shows each year have become a kind of ritual for many New York theatergoers, and the appeal is obvious: Every now and then, it’s both entertaining and edifying to dust off an old show and give it another look.

But the artistic director of Encores!, Lear deBessonet, named to that role shortly before the pandemic, appears to have something a bit different in mind. Quoted in the program, she said Encores!:

had been this gorgeous archaeological site that had been perfectly excavated. So, what’s next? The question that had always been there but became the most urgent was, “How do we decide when we give audiences a second look at a show?” Almost zero shows written before the 21st century have a worldview and politics that sit well with a contemporary viewer, so what is the criteria? I love that question.

I’m not sure I do.

Part 2

Nor what the producing creative director Clint Ramos had to say: “I’m excited to be bringing a practitioner’s point of view as well as a social justice approach,” adding, “History is written by the powerful, so it’s not just about looking back, but how we look back. With ‘The Tap Dance Kid’” — this season’s first production — “we are expanding the definition of a hidden gem.” Its director, Kenny Leon, added, “You have to speak to the audience sitting in the seats today” because “we’re not creating museum pieces.”

As if a museum piece is inherently a mistake. Even though museum pieces are pretty much what Encores! has been pulling out of the proverbial crates all these years — indeed, “museum pieces” is what “Encores!” implies. But per deBessonet, “We knew that the mission was going to grow into its next stage of evolution.” In other words, apparently, Encores! hasn’t been woke enough, and the job is to correct this supposed flaw.

In “The Tap Dance Kid” — based on Louise Fitzhugh’s novel “Nobody’s Family Is Going to Change” and staged on Broadway in 1983 — about an upper-middle-class Black family, one of the leads is a nerdy and heavier-set teenage daughter who wants to be a lawyer. The problems that the character, Emma, encounters because of her size were inherent to the plot and woven into the lyrics of her songs. In “Four Strikes Against Me,” she sings: “Four strikes against me/Why don’t they open their eyes?/It’s the worst rotten luck being hopelessly stuck/with my gender, my color, my age and my size.” Her challenges aren’t identical to those I had growing up, but the Emma of the novel was the closest literary analog that I had as a nerdy, awkward Black teenager myself. Legions of Black kids in the 1970s and ’80s could relate.

Part 3

But Encores! cast a thinner actress. I can think of reasons they might have made that decision, and it might be understandable to a degree, but it dilutes part of the character’s raison d’être and sidesteps one of the issues presented in the original (and might have denied another actress an opportunity to play the part). Why not just revise the script a bit, if needed, but otherwise leave the role intact?

Another example is “The Life,” about Times Square sex workers in the 1980s, which had its debut on Broadway in 1997, not all that long ago. Encores! has brought in Billy Porter — of “Pose” and “Kinky Boots” fame — to adapt and direct its revival of “The Life” that opens next month. Asked about his insistence on having the right, creatively, to rewrite portions of the show’s book, and if, specifically, he was “creating radical empathy,” Porter said:

Yes. I had to ask myself, “Who is our audience?” They are very often progressive, rich and white. They have empathy, but do they understand the infrastructure that creates pimps, prostitutes and drug addicts? Probably not. But after seeing this show, the smart ones will understand that these characters are trying to get better, but they have nowhere to go. Hopefully that will crack open the space for the audience to have empathy for everybody around them. But why does this show, to be worthy of an Encores! reprise, have to operate on the literary level of David Simon’s HBO series about this setting, “The Deuce”? How would it harm us to see the show staged according to the script that Broadway audiences enjoyed 25 years ago? Why doesn’t it suffice to make clear, perhaps with a disclaimer in the program, that the Encores! team does not endorse certain attitudes of earlier times, but still thinks that the revived piece is worthy of a revival that hews as closely as possible to the original?

Apparently, that’s not enough anymore. The goal seems to be moving toward tailoring these old shows to connect with the concerns and assumptions of today’s theatergoers. But Encores! should be about actually looking at aspects of the artistic past, including imperfections, regardless of their utility or contemporaneity, and if that mission is jettisoned, I, for one, will regret it.

Part 4:

Especially because the guiding light of the revisions, one senses, will be a special commitment to upending dominant narratives; battling size discrimination or highlighting the structural inequalities that can lead someone to become a sex worker. These are important concerns, and New York is bursting with theater that contests dominant narratives, as it should be. But must this also be the mission of one of the rare companies with the resources to annually mount multiple full-scale presentations of older, perhaps forgotten yet valuable works of American musical theater?

Jed Perl’s “Authority and Freedom: A Defense of the Arts” is useful in showing the problems with thinking of social justice as inherent to serious art rather than one of many forms it may take. As he explains, artistic works are properly “the products of a process that stands apart from so much of our social, economic and political life” because “they move us and excite us unlike anything else in our lives.” If, he argues, we approach them as conservative, L.G.B.T., Black or feminist, we have “failed to account for their free-standing value.”

And in any case, Encores! has not been entirely unwoke before now. As Playbill reported in 1999, its revival of 1937’s “Babes in Arms,” included “a lyrically revised version of a song called ‘All Dark People,’ now listed as ‘Light on Our Feet,’” which originally had the line “‘All dark people is light on their feet.’” Even a museum must adjust to incontestable advances in intellectual and moral development. But does Encores! have to be overhauled in order to make old musicals relevant to today’s progressive sensibilities?

Of course, the world will keep spinning if New Yorkers like me don’t get to have their Encores! fix a few times a year — I won’t be attending re-examinations, as opposed to reproductions, of old musicals. But this regime change is symptomatic of something that has acquired ever stronger purchase in the arts in recent years. There is a growing mood that seems to see almost anything created longer than about 10 minutes ago as a suspicious token of a noninclusive past.

It’s bad enough that on the political right, a degree of comfort with book-banning seems to be taking hold. An idea from the left that good art must seek social justice strikes me as a not entirely different quest to erase the past.

Some might think I’m overreacting, but this is a pattern: If old musicals are problematic, if the mechanics of European music theory are tagged as intrinsically white, if several Dr. Seuss books have to be withdrawn from publication, how long will it be before we’re encouraged to reject almost any movie from before, say, 1960 as irredeemable in its reflection of a society in which white hegemony was unquestioned?

There is a short step from this to evaluating art more for its effectiveness in questioning abuses of power than its aesthetic value. Even to an idea — that perhaps has taken hold already — of challenging straight white male power as a kind of artistic beauty in itself. The idea that we acknowledge backwardnesses of the past while still engaging what was valuable about it becomes obsolete. Increasingly, we’re told that the smart take is to simply junk that which doesn’t speak to contemporaneity.

That’s too simplistic, though, and teaches us to ignore so much that remains valuable despite the sins of the past and many of the people in it. To question society’s biases and structural inequalities is enlightened. To make this questioning the central focus of artistic endeavor is blinkered — not to mention suspiciously easy, offering reasons to wave things away without having done the work of engaging with or thinking about them. Humanity is so very much richer, and so very much more challenging, than disproportions in power and the ills they can lead to. To go narrow makes us smaller.

Bravo John McWhorter.

Seriously. I hope this piece gets some traction.

As a white guy, John McWhorter makes sense. But my Black friends despise him.

details, r170? what do they say?

I think it's simply marvelous that r170 has Black friends...

It's a compelling argument. And the idiotic notion that anyone goes to a weekend run of an old Broadway musical to have their "contemporary" values reviewed/seen/challenged/celebrated is ludicrous. Some times a show is just a show.

r170 They see him as a sell out to the Black population, as an appeaser to white sensibilities. Thet find him not responsive to institutional racism, and too forgiving of white oppression. Again, as a white man, I can only see this from my perspective, which is that rewriting history is destroying history.

r172 I'd be surprised if you have any friends.

I get the feeling The Life will turn out to be an even bigger fiasco than The Tap Dance Kid.

Ms. deBessonet doesn't seem to understand what makes a musical work for an audience. She seems to care about some other entity. TAP DANCE was so poorly produced and executed. There were moments that I felt like I was in a community theater -- in terms of the acting and the staging and the production. The cast was talented but lost. And who creates a production of "The Tap Dance Kid" with a Kid who can barely tap dance? What is that thinking?

[quote]What is that thinking?

It's lack of, r177

When subscribers start dropping like flocks of sparrows from the sky, maybe someone will pay heed.

[quote]When subscribers start dropping like flocks of sparrows from the sky

Pics please.

The bigger problem is that most young people under 35 simply don't like musicals of the classic era. I taught at one of the best theater grad schools in the country and I couldn't get most of them interested in anything pre-2000 except (maybe) Into the Woods. They're not interested in the period settings of those musicals or the music and find most of the characters hopelessly old-fashioned.

However, many of them loved the Fish Oklahoma because they reveled in its transgressions to traditional ideas of that musical (and most of them had never even seen a traditional production of Oklahoma). I think the lack of interest in Spielberg's West Side Story speaks to this same issue.

R181, your former students sound like idiots. If they were high school students with that mindset, they might be forgiven, but for theater grad students to feel that way is deplorable.

Maybe part of the problem was that you as a teacher lacked the ability to explain to them why, for example, characters like Nellie Forbush and Joe Cable in SOUTH PACIFIC aren't "old-fashioned" in any way?

No one with any taste liked Fish's OKLAHOMA! No one. And the current national tour is a presenter's nightmare. Audiences are walking out, and they're getting flooded with "WTF" calls from their subscribers.

R181-Every student is like a sponge. I fault you as a teacher if you can't teach a course and get them interested in classic scores and performances. Visuals might help.

[quote] The bigger problem is that most young people under 35 simply don't like musicals of the classic era

The bigger bigger problem is that contemporary culture has totally voided young people's interest - and in fact built a foundation of disdain - for anything from more than 15 years old.

[quote]No one with any taste liked Fish's OKLAHOMA! No one.

And no one with even the slightest knowledge of and appreciation for golden-age musicals.

[quote]And the current national tour is a presenter's nightmare. Audiences are walking out, and they're getting flooded with "WTF" calls from their subscribers.

I've read some things to support that, and I do hope it's true. It would give me SOME hope for humanity :_)

Thanks for posting that, R164.

I was a vocal major at LaGuardia (Fame) H.S.; first semester they started teaching us old Italian songs and myself from the Bronx and my new friends from Bed-Sty and Harlem and UES and elsewhere enjoyed learning and singing the wonderful melodies that were all new to us. Same when they taught us Schubert lied in German next semester, French sophomore year, opera as a junior, gospel musical, musical theater, etc. People recognize and enjoy quality -- even if it's not what's being played on the radio. Once school was over, we'd listen to that too. But being exposed to new (old music) was enriching and life-altering to many. Folks at Encores would be serious diminishing the series if they didn't include great scores from the 20th Century that may have been in problematic and/or shows that didn't have much of a run.

gospel music (but they did do stuff from "Purlie", too)

I didn't know anything about this revival until I saw Egerton on The Graham Norton Show. I would have LOVED to have seen Scott and Whishaw in the original production, but I wouldn't turn down a ticket to this one.

Bailey stole Chris New's career.

Jonty stole my heart.

I hope ENCORES! hosts a town hall or some event open to the public/subscribers to talk about that article. Could be amazing...

[quote]I hope ENCORES! hosts a town hall or some event open to the public/subscribers to talk about that article. Could be amazing...

An open forum would defeat the purpose of what they are trying to do. They don't think Encores is woke enough and they don't want to hear any dissent from blue haired ladies who have supported Encores since inception.

I saw The Life when it was first on Broadway. I don't realize what Encores is trying to get at. Queen talks all through the show about how she's trying to get out of the life. As opposed to Sonja, who at the end gets the chance to leave and says at the end something to the effect of "I understand how this life is played. I can't live in a normal world."

The pandering continues... She is a terrible writer.

[quote] they don't want to hear any dissent from blue haired ladies who have supported Encores since inception.

Well, John McWhirter is hardly a blue haired lady. It will be interesting to see if there’s any blowback at all from this.

DeBessonet made a huge mistake planning her first season by not including Love Life, which was in rehearsal and ready to go when the pandemic curtain came down. It really was a slap in the face to those who have loved & supported Encores all these years. Sh Ed coil Dec my throw them just one bone? No, she had to pick a season most guaranteed to say “fuck you” to Encores audiences.

WHET Pamela Isaacs?

[quote]Love Life, which was in rehearsal and ready to go

Really? I hadn't heard that. Who was starring?

r199

Nanette with a Love Life tune...

Thanks, r200. I don't know how I missed all that.

I’ll bet it was the minstrel show aspects of Love Life that scared Lear and caused her to cancel it.

I don't think the original minstrel part of "Love Life" was done in black face though. It's also one of the first concept musicals, along with "Allegro" and probably very influential in many of Sondheim's later concept musicals like "Company" and "Follies". It's one of the shows I was most upset about missing once the pandemic started.

R196 - Unbelievable. Her writing, both grammatically and critically, is absolutely horrible. No style and no cogency to any of reviews. And listen, Brantley was no Brooks Atkinson but Phillips is NOT good.

Phillips wrote the stupidest piece ever today about how RENT taught her so much about musical and their construction. Bitch, please. RENT is shite dross.

Not. that it matters, but is McWhorter gay? I've heard him speak of daughters, but not a wife.

PS McWhorter participated in one of the Sondheim. appreciation streaming panels I've heard, with Cornell West, Joanna Gleason, Donna Murphy, and Jamie Bernstein. Five people who really knew what they were. talking about.

I doubt he has drag daughters.

I saw that too r208, it was cool. It's online now

Pam Isaacs left the business and is a very successful realtor (aren't they all?). She does occasional concerts still, I think...

Perhaps Lear will soon announce LOVE LIFE for next season to calm everyone down?

The Maya Philips thing is also bullshit because it's only reinforcing that they perceive the Times to be the center of the universe. If they're going for diversity recognition, it's redundant, she was already recognized by the Times giving her the job in the first place. Why not do your damn homework and elevate a publication or writer who isn't on the radar? If it's quality based as we've already noted here ([italic] why didn't they ask DL first?[/italic]) it's bullshit because she sucks.

^^ PS I'm sorry for that first sentence ^^

As charming and engaging as Nanette Fabray is in that Ed Sullivan clip at r201, it's further damning proof that she could never have summoned the sophistication to play Mame Dennis. Or if she could, she needed to audition to prove it.

As I said, r215. She's not Beekman Place.

Neither was Kaye Ballard.

Melissa Erico looks like Lindsay Lohan on her new album cover.

Don't post a pic whatever you do.

Here's the portrait, dear r219.

[quote]Melissa Erico looks like Lindsay Lohan on her new album cover.

Or Lindsay Lohan playing Elizabeth Taylor, poorly.

What about Mamie Eisenhower in MAME?

Looks like LCT's Skin of Our Teeth is now starting previews on Friday, April 1.... Opening night is Monday, April 25.

No cast yet for Skin of Our Teeth?

I suspect that all of the experienced actors are getting freaked out in the audition process.

The cast of nobodies is listed at the LCT link on the right side in the black box. I smell FIASCO!!!!!!

I smell a SONG!!!!!

Those are the designer nobodies, not the cast nobodies, r225.

So, LCT is going for the new Encores crowd?

While I'll cop to Hilton Als being the much better writer, both he and Maya Philips always seem to make their reviews about themselves. Not wholly, of course, but I'd like to read less about them and more about what they were paid to, you know, review. (Thankfully, The New Yorker has taken Als off the theater beat.)

Eric McCormick was quite good and definltely better than Hugh I'm sorry to say. He's slick and a little up to no good

[Quote] He looks thin yet puffy.

Fillers.

THIS DAY IN BROADWAY HISTORY: In 2002, "Bea Arthur on Broadway" opened at the Booth Theatre.

The Soup Ladle...

[quote]No one with any taste liked Fish's OKLAHOMA! No one.

Said the plus-size showtune queen, smashing his martini glass against the fireplace and tripping over his muu-muu on his exit.

Except he’s right, r234. It was the most hated woke revival so far.

[quote]Except he’s right, [R234]. It was the most hated woke revival so far.

Not in NY it wasn't. I can imagine how East Bumfuck received it.

Yep, r234, hated. And I'm svelte.

[quote]Yep, [R234], hated. And I'm svelte.

So you hated it so you're "right". Got it.

I love how for the tour of Wokelahoma they replaced wheelchair shouty girl with a fat shouty tranny....as if they are comparable 'conditions'.

Hilton Als lost all credibility after his review of THE ICEMAN COMETH -- the one where he essentially masturbated all over Austin Butler . . .

That OKLASHITHOMA was a Broadway flop. It lost all its money and for most of the time played to 1/2 houses in the tiny Circle in the Square. I think it only ran like 6 months, maybe? It was hardly embraced by New York. Most everyone I knew who saw it thought it was ridiculous.

I was seeing both parts of The Inheritance on the day Oklahoma closed. I was seated next to a group of college aged theater students who had driven down from Canada for the weekend to see shows. They had tickets for the final performance of Oklahoma that evening, but loved the first part of The Inheritance so much that they decided to dump their OK tix and buy tickets for the 2nd part of The Inheritance so they could see how it turned out.

I mean, if you've got people throwing away tickets to your show in order to see the 2nd part of The Inheritance (which I loved, but I understand the criticism of it), then you know you've done something wrong.

[quote]That OKLASHITHOMA was a Broadway flop. It lost all its money and for most of the time played to 1/2 houses in the tiny Circle in the Square. I think it only ran like 6 months, maybe?

It ran about 10 months, which was nine and half months longer than it would have run if all of the critics had done their jobs properly. But you're quite right that it didn't sell well even in that small theater. Thankfully, SOME theatergoers still have good taste and know a turd when they smell it.

Again, I have to laugh that Oklahoma!, of all shows, is the sacred cow. Clearly we need a Daniel Fish take on Follies to really get some hearts racing.

No one is calling Oklahoma a sacred cow. We just know a load of horseshit when we see it.

Muy FOLLIES!

And feel the need to repeatedly say how you weren't taken in by the horseshit ...

Why do these Follies costumers in other countries keep putting Sally in green?!

And I like all the near-nudity for the Loveland number!

Is the actor playing Buddy in his 80s?

There's a reason why Sian Phillips never appeared in "Follies'. She's never seen green before. Plus, producers were afraid she'd walk by the buffet table and say, "Don't touch the figs." Too bad she never played Joanne in "Company", choosing instead to play both Desiree and Madame Armfeldt.

Hilton Als may be a terrific writer, but most of the time he's examining his own navel. His reviews are biased, his opinions are often racist (yeah, I know), and he has personal vendettas. He also likes 'em young.

Bless his heart for doing this but is Antonio the oldest Bobby ever?

Here is [italic] más. [/Italic] Design looks good

Jordan Fisher ends run as Evan the day after tomorrow. Did people know this was so imminent? On the chat boards the kids are saying he’s been out practically as much as he’s been in. And they seem to be rotating under studies for the next month. As opposed to actually replacing him. Sounds like something sudden happened.

[quote]It was hardly embraced by New York.

It was sold out for the run at St. Ann's Warehouse. Broadway is for tourists and aging homosexuals.

[quote] Jeremy O. Harris is dressed in head-to-toe Gucci and surrounded by a production crew on the tented patio of Abernathy’s in Downtown Los Angeles. There’s a camera pointed at him and a boom mic overhead as the Slave Play sensation does a quick set of junket-style interviews before doors close to Mark Taper Forum for a special opening night presentation on Wednesday. Though the crew seems to be under his employ, Harris won’t say what or whom the filming is for, and with showtime in 10 minutes, he is not only unbothered, he’s beaming.

O shut up, Jeremy O Harris

Jeremy O. Harris is even more tired than lard-ass Hilton Als. Although they are both hugely challenged in the looks dept.

what a fucking asshole at the - of course - NY Post.

he keeps talking about not putting his mask up fast enough after sipping his beer but you just know that actually means he didn't put his mask up at all after sipping his beer

I would pay good money to see Daniel Fish's "Follies". Watching Dl's showtune queens have a collective stroke over it would be icing on the cake.

You're a nice lady r259. With bad taste also.

I wouldn't mind seeing a Toti Fields style amputee as Stella in a Fish FOLLIES. Mary McCarty didn't do that much dancing in the original anyway.

[quote]Mary McCarty didn't do that much dancing in the original anyway

She did enough.

She did sufficient.

In the Daniel Fish FOLLIES, it’ll be Young Sal and Young Philip who will then transition to Sally and Phyllis.

R264 In other words, everything was possible but nothing made sense.

Ella todavía está aquí...

R259= Matt the Loon

[quote] It was sold out for the run at St. Ann's Warehouse. Broadway is for tourists and aging homosexuals.

And how many of those sold out tickets were given over to the papering services or TDF?

[quote]But you're quite right that it didn't sell well even in that small theater.

The lowest weekly capacity it did was 82%. Maybe stop pretending your opinion is fact.

[quote]On the chat boards the kids are saying he’s been out practically as much as he’s been in

Not even that, apparently. Some weeks he only did one show, and months where his performances were in the single digits.

Doubtfire's reopening postponed a month.

r26 I used to go to Theater for the New City and La Mama in the 70's and 80's. I miss those days.

r16 i wish producers would pay attention to things like this. Do they even ask themselves "What was it about the iconic performances that made them so great?"

I understand why they think in terms of names but word of mouth has never failed, if enough people love something word will spread. Maybe the answer to getting them to take chances is to try things out in concert production before committing to a fully staged version? We need them to branch out talent wise, the biggest names are getting too old.

[quote] I used to go to Theater for the New City and La Mama in the 70's and 80's. I miss those days.

They are both still around, unlike whatever PS122 has become. And Dixon Place has a nice new permanent space that's not the AD's living room.

I did a show at Theatre for the New City in the 70s and it was a nightmare. Producers George Bartenieff and Crystal Field were so cheap and weird.

[quote]And feel the need to repeatedly say how you weren't taken in by the horseshit ...

Only when others post to say they actually LIKED that POS production. Now, be a good boy and go sleep with the Fish.

I'd love to say that's clever r276.

Really? I was quite pleased with my pun :-) I think it's funny because of the double meaning -- I'm sure you know what "sleeps with the fish" means, but also, you might as well be in bed with Daniel Fish if you like his work so much.

The mentally deficient are quite inexplicably amused by themselves, aren't they?

Oh dear. If you have to explain your cleverness, well. . .

I would say that if anyone posting here is mentally deficient, it's the person who enjoyed the Daniel Fish production of OKLAHOMA! Or, rather, the show directed by Daniel Fish that bore the title RODGERS AND HAMMERSTEIN'S OKLAHOMA! but was actually nothing of the sort.

Is Patti being so small because of the camera?

Did anyone see Daniel Fish’s concert of “Most Happy,” which was Frank Loesser’s Most Happy Fella done with seven female and non-binary singers? It sounded perfectly dreadful in Jesse Green’s NYT review, but I don’t know anyone who actually saw it.

R283 I think (and hope) that died at Bard. It sounded godawful. Did Emily Loesser really sign off on that POS?

I thought I'd read that the concert was so poorly received that Fish decided not to go on with it. But I could be making that up.

I didn't much like his take on Oklahoma (and I'm sorry but I thought the Ado Annie's caterwauling was unforgiveable), but I was surprised that the R&H organization gave permission for the major plot change in which Curly murdered Jud in cold blood

It's true, R285. Even if you liked that version of Oklahoma! (no judgement), that was straight-up a new ending. Then again, they got away with it with My Fair Lady ...

[quote]Then again, they got away with it with My Fair Lady ...

I know! Pickering murdering Eliza because she was interrupting the homosexual relationship between he and Higgins was jaw dropping and probably not what George Bernard Shaw had in mind!

I don't know about you all, but I won't be satisfied if Funny Girl doesn't end with Fanny saying, "Nah, fuck him. The dick was good, but I'm gonna be alright."

Jordan Fisher gonna be a daddy and spends all is time playing Switch or Twitch or whatever that thing is. Don't have no time for eight shows a week.

[quote]Did anyone see Daniel Fish’s concert of “Most Happy,” which was Frank Loesser’s Most Happy Fella done with seven female and non-binary singers?

There wasn't enough money in the world to get me to see that. "The Most Happy Fella" is one of my favorite Broadway scores, and I can play the original cast recording whenever I want to hear it again.

[quote]Did anyone see Daniel Fish’s concert of “Most Happy,” which was Frank Loesser’s Most Happy Fella done with seven female and non-binary singers? It sounded perfectly dreadful in Jesse Green’s NYT review, but I don’t know anyone who actually saw it.

Maybe this a good sign, that none of your friends are stupid enough to waste their time and money on such bullshit.

Daniel Fish's 'The Sound of Music' is going to be from the Nazi point of view with an Ilsa the She-Wolf aesthetic and at the end the family escapes under a gate emblazoned 'arbeit macht frei'

That Fish debacle was so bad, even the chili gave me the runs. So I missed the second act because I was locked in a stall.

Pity you got out r293.

[quote]That Fish debacle was so bad, even the chili gave me the runs. So I missed the second act because I was locked in a stall.

You certainly have a fast-acting digestive system.

The alternative to Fish’s production was the Ashland, Oregon one, which was traditional Re book and score, but Curley and Laurie were two women, and Will Parker and Ado Andy were men. And Aunt Eller was trans. It got rave reviews, and Ted Chapin was trying to decide which to allow for NYC, finally choosing Fish’s.

Pity. But why was Chapin so hell bent on getting a radically different interp of Oklahoma produced?

[quote]and Ted Chapin was trying to decide which to allow for NYC, finally choosing Fish’s.

And Adam Guettel was seething. SEETHING.

Oh, Guettel gets royalties regardless.

But he looks so cute when he seethes!

Adam Guettle and his big dick can seethe for me whenever he wants.

[Quote] Guettle

Oh dear

[Quote] his big dick

Oh DEAR

Eh, money is money, R296

For anyone who knows the source material, is the phrase “defying gravity” from the book or is that something original from Stephen Schwartz?

Wasn't there a play called Defying Gravity off-Broadway around 1992? I think by playwright Jane Anderson, with a young Philip Seymour Hoffman and maybe at The Roundabout? Which is not to say Anderson invented the phrase......I think it's been around since the Space Race 1950s.

Defying Gravity was at The American Place Theatre (now the Laura Pels) in 1997. I saw it but don't remember anything about it except Jonathan Hadary.

I see, but I didn't mean did Schwartz invent the expression ,but was it in the Wicked novel?

It's been an expression for ages. I dare say it's a cliche.

Still not an answer, r307. Is it used in the novel.

Since you did not want to look yourself, I went to Amazon and did a search for the word "gravity" in the novel Wicked.

The word "defy" is used once. The word "defying" does not appear. The word 'gravity" appears four times. Three can be seen, and one cannot.

The phrase "defying gravity" or even "defy gravity" does not appear in the novel.

If you were willing to take three minutes to look for yourself, R308, you would have had your answer hours ago.

NINE replacements...

I tried to get in the replacement cast of Nine, but they told me they were over their quota of dressing room thieves.

Too bad about Jenna.

WHET Sara Gettelfinger?

Have you seen Orange is the New Black, R313?

She lived it.

Eartha is 75 there...

Leveaux’s Nine revival production was simply wonderful… Carla’s entrance (and exit) alone was more than worth the price of admission. I always thought it was spectacularly lame that Harvey beat Antonio for the Tony, ditto Marissa Jaret Winokur over Bernadette’s Rose in Gypsy. Hairspray was a smash hit with a spectacular score and production, but the Tony Awards could have spread the wealth around a bit. Has Leveaux done any musicals since Nine and his less successful Fiddler revival a few years later?

R313 from what I remember she got caught stealing to support a drug habit, was sentenced to 5 years in jail and is out of the business.

Leveaux created two spectacularly bad musicals (Amour and the goy 'Fiddler') and he hasn't been heard from since.

QUITTER!

"Amour" was directed by DL favorite James Lapine.

SPACE DOGS OF THE COSMODROME!

"Amour" has a very pretty score by Michel Legrand.

Jane's number was really good and exciting, but I still rank Anita Morris' performance of "A Call from the Vatican" as one of the sexiest numbers ever. Her "Simple" in act 2 was pretty hearftfelt, well-sung and wonderful too.

Leveaux is an astoundingly uneven director but he did do a fabulous job helming the TV version of JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR with John Legend, Brandon Victor Dixon and Sarah Bareilles. I think it was by far the best of recent TV Broadway musicals.

R323, agreed. And the main reason it was BY FAR the best of those shows is that it was the only one that was presented as a staged concert with a live audience, rather than as some ersatz live TV production with full sets and costumes and no idea how to incorporate the live audience into the proceedings.

If I remember right, it was also only two hours rather than three. Bloat has really been the real villain of those live TV musicals.

r309 personally I had no idea a person could do that, not everyone is familiar with these things.

Instead of getting shitty about it, why didn't you post about how a person can search through a novel on Amazon online so we all could learn something instead of using it as an opportunity to be an asshole.

Ultimately you did educate those of us who didn't know, so thanks for that you cunt.

Sopranos vs Belters

[Quote] thanks for that you cunt.

You were fairly cunty yourself.

R309 was cuntier

Pissed off but helpful.

The only problem with JCS was the audience screaming and clapping and drowning out the cast. Btw, it seems to have disappeared after the initial broadcast and isn’t available on dvd or digitally. Odd.

It's the modern day "Granny Get Your Gun."

Nice article about the original Miss Adelaide, Vivian Blaine, and her early AIDS activism.

On Friday Plaza Suite opens on Broadway, did anyone see it in Boston?

If so, what did you think?

Viv in London

Seeing as how PLAZA SUITE sales are basically critic-proof, I'm hoping the reviews are just merciless.

Was it really necessary to refer to them as "aging" actresses?

Word of mouth out of Boston on PLAZA SUITE was euphoric. Or, at least, that's what friends on the production told me, lol. But I do believe there was enormous excitement because it was like the old days of Boston tryouts with a new Neil Simon play and, pre-pandemic, SJP wasn't so overexposed.

Looking at the little trailers and production photos, it's frankly hard to imagine it's any good - it looks like some awful straining1970s sitcom trying too hard to be funny. And I can't imagine Broderick as the comedic engine behind the 3 skits, which is what he needs to be a la George C Scott or Walter Matthau. He's barely been a decent supporting player in any of his latest stage ventures. I suspect SJP is more game and will get better reviews than Matthew.

Plaza Suite will be a disaster for Broderick. He's the wrong actor for Act One, which can be deadly, and he won't be able to handle the smarmy stuff in Act Two. Act Three will be the saving grace for the production, but it's so dated by now, and most of the audience will have departed by then. I'm sure JB Hickey is the perfect director/best friend for those two.

Look at all the productions David Leveaux destroyed.

Romeo and Juliet That awful Arcadia revival. The Glass Menagerie with the shower curtains. Cyrano de Bergerac Jumpers

Plaza Suite has been a durable vehicle through the decades for all kinds of likely and unlikely couples, from serious actors like the original stars to comedians to personality actors. What other set of roles have been played by both George C. Scott and Paul Lynde? By Maureen Stapleton and Carol Burnett?

The play is exceptionally well crafted, so well written and such an audience pleaser that even an unlikely combination of actors can "just do it" and be successful. If you don't get in the play's way, it's hard to screw up.

Audiences love it more than critics because it's about timeless things in their lives they really relate to, instead of a sweeping societal issue. The first play is adultery and recapturing the magic. The second is adultery too but also the chance to take the road not taken, for both the man and the woman. The third play is a pending wedding, the long-married couple teaming up to get Mimsy out of the bathroom, and the young people vowing not to become their parents.

And Simon knew what he was doing making the third play the funniest. A less skilled playwright would have put something with lots of laughs up front and put the serious stuff in the middle; the way it is now the whole evening is a long, steady crescendo that builds to more and more laughs and ends on a high note.

My opinion is it's only the one-act structure and the mediocre film version that keeps Plaza Suite from being as perennially beloved as Barefoot and Odd Couple.

People who go see it who don't already have their minds made up about the writing and the stars will probably have a really good, or even really great, time. A much better evening out than a lot of plays that have received critical hosannas but audiences have stayed away because they're unsatisfying and no one wants to see them. It's certainly got more laughs than Oslo or Copenhagen or The Coast of Utopia.

[Quote] most of the audience will have departed by then

Are you nuts? The people who choose to see this will lap it up

Smart r341 exactly

Leveaux also destroyed that revival of PLENTY at The Public a few years ago. Or was that Rachel Weisz who starred in it?

IIRC Leveaux originally came to prominence in the early 80s with a revival of MOON FOR THE MISBEGOTTEN with Kate Nelligan and I think they were romantically involved at the time.

[quote] Btw, it seems to have disappeared after the initial broadcast and isn’t available on dvd or digitally. Odd.

Not sure why you'd say that. A quick search shows it's still in print on DVD and being sold by Amazon, and it's also streaming on Peacock.

For the James Snyder fans -

He posted some very sweet photos today on FB of his wife and kids on vacation in some snowy location. They all looked adorable and happy, and almost 300 friends have liked and loved the photos so far, including many well-known theater names. Lots and lots of exuberant good wishes.

That Public Theatre production was execrable. Weisz is a shitty stage actress, (as she proved in Betrayal on Broadway and Streetcar in London), and she was completely miscast in the role. The only memorable moment was the play opening on Corey Stoll's huge naked fat ass mooning the audience, but memorable for all the wrong reasons.

I was first row center for Plenty and couldn’t take my eyes off that big hunky ass. Unfortunately I was also close enough to see Weisz try to express emotion through her overly botoxed face. The next night I rewatched the movie with Meryl who was brilliant.

Pffffffft, r348.

I smell a "WEHT Kate Nelligan" comment on its way

Last time I saw Miss Nelligan, she was shopping at Zabars and could barely speak. I couldn't tell if it was a cold, or a permanent kind of thing. I asked if she'd ever appear on stage again, and she rasped, "Afraid not".

Corey Stoll is hot for days.

He’s a mediocrity, will work a lot but will never be a star.

I'd rather work a lot than be a star.

Emily Bergl was the best thing in Plenty.

[Quote] Last time I saw Miss Nelligan, she was shopping at Zabars and could barely speak. I couldn't tell if it was a cold, or a permanent kind of thing. I asked if she'd ever appear on stage again, and she rasped, "Afraid not".

The Big C?

Kate Nelligan hasn’t worked on camera in over 11 years. I wonder why?

She's playing gin rummy with Boyd Gaines and Malcolm Getz.

it doesn't look like Scott Rudin is in charge of Music Man advertising, he wouldn't run crappy ads like this

I laughed, I cried...

I vomited.

I find Corey Stoll sexy and unconventionally handsome. But he should join a gym.

Some of these straight actor boys get awfully lazy about body maintenance, particularly after 35-40. The world has changed. Audiences expect almost all actors to have a fit gym body now.

Clean-up on aisle r361!

[quote]Audiences expect almost all actors to have a fit gym body now.

"Audiences" being r362.

If Ally Stoker (sp?) replaces Sutton, they better have her whizz about in her wheelchair via moving hydraulic platforms or I'll demand a refund.

She’d play the Wells Fargo Wagon

Did Ali Stroker ever Shipoopi in her chair during a performance?

Sutton's hair looks great in that ad.

Aw, it was kinda nice to see a double-page ad for a new production in the Times. (All those cherry-picked quotes!). It was like Before Times. Maybe they'll resurrect Al Hirschfeld next.

Make sure you get a shot of Sutton without her wig for the ad or those Suttontots and Bunheads will never recognize her and buy those $700 tickets!!!

Corey Stoll should have gotten an Oscar nomination for his Ernest Hemingway in "Midnight in Paris". Was he full-frontal in "Plenty"?

Just his butt. It was so big it should have gotten its own bio in the playbill.

He was nude in PLENTY in the first scene, lying center stage on the floor, turned away from the audience. He was playing dead (a flash back, no pun intended) so he never rose in the scene.

Nothing could ever match the beauty of Maxwell Caulfield’s sculpted butt in the entire first act of Salonika at the Public. Jessica Tandy and Elizabeth Wilson were downstaged like nothing in theatrical history.

An actor friend, who was a huge fan of Corey Stoll but then saw him at a post-show talk back of WEST SIDE STORY, said he was so obnoxious and pretentious talking about how he "created" the role of Lt. Shrank that he lost his hard-on for Stoll forever.

Worked with Stoll, utterly humorless though a strapping presence.

I read the play PLENTY. (I had seen the not-very-good Meryl movie years ago.) The script/story was really, really underwhelming. Does it play much better onstage than it reads?

Stoll appears much in love with his actress wife, who is also pretty hot (her name escapes me).

[quote]Stoll appears much in love with his actress wife, who is also pretty hot (her name escapes me).

Nadia Bowers. A fierce actress in her own right. (fun fact, also a descendant of the Romanovs.)

My stepdaughter was in a production of Man of La Mancha with Pamela Isaacs as Aldonza in Austin ten or fifteen years ago. She liked Isaacs very much--also Ken Page as Sancho, and Kevin Gray as Cervantes/Quixote (she loved him).

PLENTY is very hard to pull of on stage as it consists of about a dozen different scenes, each in a different location and time period but not in chronological order. With many characters who only appear in one or 2 scenes. And most scenes are written so one feels one has been plunged down in the middle of the action. And with lots of post WWII British politics thrown in (the Suez Crisis is a major plot point in one scene).

So, audience friendly it's not. Nevertheless, Leveaux and Weisz made it even more impenetrable.

I don't think either of them are hot, as themselves anyway.

I want to know why Streep and Ullman hated Charles Dance on the set of Plenty. Maybe becaause he wasn’t interested in banging them?

Friend just got back from London Gypsy concert with five Roses. She told me Keala Settle did a great “Everything’s Coming Up Roses” but Tracie Bennett butchered “Rose’s Turn.”

Who were the other three? Hopefully not Ruthie Henshall.

You men Keala didn't play all five Roses?

Sheridan Smith will be the next London Rose.

oh, here you all are...

Did Paul Lynde ever play Willy Loman?

Paul Lynde played Mack the Knife in the premiere of Blitzstein's translation.

[quote]but Tracie Bennett butchered “Rose’s Turn.”

Of course she did.

Stoll and his wife did a pretty good Macbeth in NYC before the pandemic. They were both good, she was better

[quote] Does it play much better onstage than it reads?

I saw the original at the Public (it later moved to Broadway). Kate Nelligan was so brilliant that it colored the whole play for me. And it ended with a simple but dazzling coup-de-theatre, against which she was equally dazzling playing the character as a hopeful young woman, that I thought it was one of the best shows I’d ever seen.

Keala Settle—isn’t she a great big fat person?

shut up r394 or I’ll give you a great big fat something you can put in your mouth

Kurt Weill didn't want Todd Duncan for Lost in the Stars. He was adamant he didn't want Gershwin's Porgy. But after numerous auditions he was grateful to settle for Todd Duncan.

Keala Settle should play the lead in the revival of PLENTY.

I am the opposite of PC but straight-up 'you're fat' comments - not even jokes - like r394 and r397 are lamer than Aly Stroker

Daniel Fish's Lost in the Stars to star Billy Porter

Agreed, R393. That was an unforgettable moment in the theater.

So two unforgettable Public moments cited perennially here: Kate Nelligan and Maxwell Caulfield’s ass.

I see what you did there r398

Plenty was one of the worst things I'd ever seen on Broadway. And it only ran 92 performances. The recent Public Theatre production was just making the case for what a piece of shit is really is.

If there was any doubt if Rudin has left the building, the terrible, cheesy MM ad last Sunday proved Mr. Rudin is sitting on a beach somewhere laughing his ass off.

Someone said that already. Are you repeating yourself?

The wait is over

r405, r404 isn't r359

R406 - I just came to post the cast announcement. Love Priscilla Lopez! And I've heard of Roslyn Ruff. The rest....???

R401 Max Caulfield did get up at one point (in a flashback scene I think) and you saw his frontal; but it wasn't quite as memorable as his backside, which was on display throughout almost the whole rest of the play. He also went full-frontal in "My Night With Reg", but again not as memorable as that other actor who made a point of getting naked in quite a few shows and movies especially when he was a twink, Sam Trammell.

Thanks r409

People talk about Caulfield's ass so much, it must have been really something. Can you recall as much as possible and describe what was so amazing in as much rich, vivid detail as you can muster? Feel free to make up aspects you don't remember perfectly.

Well, there were 327 IDENTICALLY curled hairs nestled around the hole.

R406-Well, that cast should have the tourists breaking down the doors!!

Other than Priscilla Lopez, I haven’t heard of any of those people. Sabina is traditionally a “star” part. I want a star!

Seattle.

[quote] I haven’t heard of any of those people

That's not a measure of anything. Is that a reflection of their talent, or your lack of knowledge? Too bad for you that Alexis Smith and Dotty Collins can't be in it.

As long as it's multi-racial and gender. diverse, I don't care.

Okay, asshole at r415, give us the rundown on the new cast. Which ones have you seen, in which parts? Tell us all about it.

I didn't make your stupid comment,

Keala Settle was the best Tracie Turnblad I saw in Hairspray. She was really great.

But she does not sound good on the Gypsy tape.

Never thought I'd say this but a Black Antrobus family with a Black Sabina (which this apparently has) could actually be very fun, not unlike a late episode of The Jeffersons.

Broadway is back baby

This is actually the most interesting/disturbing part of the skin of Our Teeth announcement-

[quote] Playwright Branden Jacobs-Jenkins will contribute additional material for the production

Who's playing Lulu in the Neil Diamond musical?

THIS DAY IN BROADWAY HISTORY: In 1983, "Moose Murders" opened and closed at the Eugene O’Neill Theatre.

The reviews are in!!!

"By William Shakespaere. Additional dialog by Samuel Taylor."

Yikes! That Skin of Our Teeth is a no wattage cast.

Who the fuck is paying B'way prices to see that cast in that specific show?

And, I say this who as someone who LIKES The Skin of our Teeth.

I've heard of exactly three people in that cast, and two of them are nobodies.

And, the biggest name was a minor somebody from 40 years ago.

If Beanie Feldstein married Gabby Beans.....well, you get the idea.

If Beanie Feldstein married Colm Meaney...

If Donna or Sarah Rice married Beanie....

If Beanie married Shirley Feeney..

The recent Under Milkwood at the National had much new 'additions'. A huge front, back, and middle story. Not sure Thomas, or the piece , needed the help.

People magazine did a story on Salonika and ran a photo of Maxwell Caulfield's butt. I was a closeted teenager, and that ass was sublime. I must have jacked off to it at least half a dozen times.

But they’re people of color! That’s all that matters.

And that’s probably why you’ve never heard of them

HUGE article about Beanie's FANNY in the Times:

[quote]But Fanny turns the joke inside out, secretly stuffing her bridal gown so that when the audience and the dancers see her, she’s hugely pregnant.

How will the audience be able to tell she's pregnant? Oy.

Who's her understudy?

Julie Benko is the Fanny standby. Skinny.

Thanks, r440.

This will be the Bway season of "meh." Prepare to be underwhelmed by Beanie's FUNNY GIRL and by Broderick and SJP in PLAZA SUITE at least as much as Hugh and Sutton in TMM. Beanie will sell some tickets, at least at first. Broderick and SJP will sell plenty. But no one will care.

Everyone's hopes and expectations were (artificially) high that post-pandemic Bway was going to be a glorious thing. But bad theatre is always with us. And Bway producers in particular are every bit as craven and stupid as they were before CV-19.

R442-Actually, they're worse. Add "desperate" to the mix.

BAM is charging $245 for Orchestra seats to that hideous hip-hop Cyrano de Bergerac with James McAvoy. Are they out of their minds?

James McAvoy raps?

Everyone in that shit show production of Cyrano raps.

I cannot wait to see that zaftig meskite Feldstein try to carry an entire show on her hairy, undistinguished back.

I promise not to cut any numbers.

Does McAvoy take his shirt off?

Just his dignity r449.

McAvoy kisses Christian (well, the latter kisses him, and McAvoy doesn't run him through with a rapier).

[quote] I promise not to cut any numbers.—Beanie

Just worry about cutting calories.

Did any of you see the musical version of GIANT? At the Public about a decade ago.

I missed it. I'm fascinated by this project. Listening to the OCR now.

I saw GIANT, it was well-produced and acted but the writing was undistinguished. The problem with GIANT, the film as well as the original novel, is there really isn't much of a plot.

Except that the movie is wonderful, one of the best of the 50s. As for the musical, I left after the first act.

Who saw Johnny Guitar?

i did but don't remember anything about it

I predict "The Skin of Our Teeth" will be an epic disaster, so much so that it will severely damage the reputation of LCT going forward, and it might even be the end of that company if they weren't so entrenched and so well-funded.

In "Funny Girl," there are a couple of lines referring to Fanny's "skinny legs." Those can be cut easily enough, but what about the lyric "when a girl's incidentals are no bigger than two lentils?" I guess that will require a rewrite.

For that matter, what about "Is a nose with deviation such a crime against the nation?" and "with an American beauty nose?" Beanie is no looker, but a large or ugly nose is not an issue with her. More rewrites due?

[quote] A huge front, back, and middle

Just like me!

Just watched Beanie sing for the Bette Midler tribute at The Kennedy Center. Her singing make's Katrina Lenks's sound like LuPone's.

Wasn’t there going to be a musical based on that John Sayles film Baby, It’s You? I think that one could actually be good in the right hands.

Anything could be good in the right hands. Mostly Broadway has mediocre hands.

R462 Passion Fish - The Musical!

With Rosie O. & Queen Latifah.

I know when I think of Mary McDonnell, I think of Rosie O.

Kelly and Lillias!

Woo-hoo, June Havoc's on the Dick Cavett Show in 20 minutes.

r459, i submitted the following on another thread:

"If she has a great big bra size And her act can't even draw flies Then to ne that doesn't spell success."

(Sounds better if you imagine Jean Stapleton singing it.)

Can't wait till the royalties pour in.

*me

When a girl’s incidentals

Are like two big bags of lentils

Then to me that doesn’t spell success.

Watched r310, does John Stamos think that keeping his eyes closed is acting or that it will make us think he’s being kind of Italian even though he has no Italian accent?

I don't know, r472, but again Eartha is 75 there.

Ruthie Henshall better get out the Astroglide for her Giorgio in the new west end Passion… will he do full frontal? He certainly likes to show off on his Insta. Great voice and body.

Passion is really the pits. I’ll never forget the audience howling during previews of the original Broadway production, whenever Donna appeared Marty Feldman-style…

yes r474 and there's that time he had to carry all that rope

Pits, you say, R475?

Holy fuck that guy in the new Passion is indeed gorgeous. Is he of the homosexual persuasion? Forget Ruthie.. I’ll use the astroglide myself.

Body is really perfect - and in the post at r474 it looks like he's coated in syrup.

Do we think the face is gorgeous though?

He used to be with Cynthia Erivo but they broke up

not buying it

Everything JOH says is self aggrandizing and obnoxious

[quote] Harris says he’s been approached several times about adapting the work as a feature film, but “I don’t know that I’m interested in having ‘Slave Play’ be anything but a play. I don’t plan on ever making a ‘Doubt’ or an ‘August: Osage County’ of ‘Slave Play,’ even though there have been many actors and producers who have wanted to.”

I'm not getting what all the fuss is about on that Passion actor other than some nice abs. Is that all we really need any more to turn us on?

Times is hard, R484.

you can be as low-key as you wanna be r484 but that body is rocking more than 'some nice abs'

R483 His lies are so over the top it's almost Trumpian. It couldn't fill a theatre and yet he wants to try and convince people multiple people wanted to make a film of it?

Sounds like there's some documentary about him coming too, there was a snippet about the LA opening and he was being followed by cameras. Apparently he wouldn't tell anyone who they were with, which makes me wonder if it's self-funded.

Let's hope Hollywood gets very tired of JOH's attitude and output real quick. Who the fuck would want see slave play on the screen?

HE'S not interested? Honey, no one is interested.

Sad about Miss Kellerman...

A good reason to re-watch LOST HORIZON.

That’s on the list of the things I will not miss, r490!

Fine, I just posted this on the SK thread, but you asked for it...

R488 Let's hope so, but it seems he's pretty well connected. Got himself added as a producer of the second season of Euphoria, friends with Lens Dunham. And got some kind of sweetheart HBO deal that has them providing microfinancing for theatre he wants to produce.

Listen to r493, bitches!

I'm no fan of Jeremy O Harris but you all have NO idea how well-connected he is right now, with all kinds of big film and tv production companies, publishers, fashion designers, et. al. throwing things his way just to connect with him. Granted, they're all tasteless twats themselves, and you know it won't last (Emperor's new clothes rarely do), but right now, JOH is super hot.

Andre de Shields as Mme. Armfeldt

Vanessa Redgrave back on stage!

As we approach May does anyone have any ideas on Tony front runners?

Best Actress in a Musical seems to be:

Katrina Lenk Company

Sutton Foster Music Man

Beanie Feldstein Funny Girl (assuming she isn’t a total flop)

Sharon Clarke. Caroline or Change

Featured actress seems to be the SIX women and Patti LuPone

Lead actor will be Hugh or the MJ musical lead

What else are locks for nominations/wins?

I wonder if the Six ladies will share one nomination.

I remember back before Covid, Mare Winningham was thought to be a lock for Featured Actress in a Musical for The Girl From North Country, and was even predicted to be the front runner. I think she's still got a good shot for a nomination, but I doubt she'll win over LuPone.

Redgrave just turned 85. Cathleen Nesbitt, another fine actress, turned 93 while playing Mrs. Higgins on Broadway.

So she had him at 45, r500.

[quote]Cathleen Nesbitt, another fine actress, turned 93 while playing Mrs. Higgins on Broadway.

Rex Harrison played Higgins in that revival. Cathleen Nesbitt was the only living actress old enough to play his mother at that point.

Yes, Nesbitt had played Harrison's mother in the original Broadway production too; and she was the exact same age as Gladys Cooper, who played Harrison's mother in the movie.

[quote]Yes, Nesbitt had played Harrison's mother in the original Broadway production too; and she was the exact same age as Gladys Cooper, who played Harrison's mother in the movie.

The 1958 movie "Separate Tables," for which David Niven won an Oscar as best actor, features both Cathleen Nesbitt and Gladys Cooper in supporting roles.

The 1964 movie "Dear Heart," starring Geraldine Page and Glenn Ford, has both Alice Pearce and Sandra Gould in small roles.

[bold] Everything You Alway Wanted to Know About DataLounge* [/bold] *But Were Afraid To Ask (Large Type Edition)

r497 helpfully tries to bring up the current season, but folks would rather talk about Cathleen Nesbitt, David Niven and Gladys Fucking Cooper.

r497 Joaquina Kalukango from [italic] Paradise Square [/italic] is a strong contender and considering the timing of the season and the push for diversity, possibly the late-entry front runner.

R505, we've considered the current season, and decided Cathleen, David and Gladys are more interesting. Then again, I've had wallpaper that was more interesting.

r504, in DEAR HEART, don't forget DL fave Barbara Nichols.

What is sad about the whole thing is Hugh will win only because the Tonys are obsessed with him. They even gave him a special Tony a few years back for a concert that was the quality of Vegas and had his wife present it to him on the show. If another actor was giving the same performance and received the same mixed to negative reviews that Hugh got, he wouldn’t win and probably wouldn’t be nominated.

Aren't all the SIX performers eligible for lead actress?

Rob McClure will ba Best Actor nominee. It's not a dense category, while the females are

Actors in a play will be well populated: Daniel Craig, The Lehman men, maybe the American Buffalo men, Ruben Santiago, David Morse etc . Females, La Chanze, Negga, Phylicia, SJP, the Dana H woman, Debra Messing, Mary Louise, etc

What a dreary bunch of nominees in all the categories. I wonder if Deirdre McConnell will be remembered for DANA H and if she'll be eligible since it wasn't her own voice that was heard?

Hugh and Sutton should co host the Tonys.

Whoever thought the chick from Paradise Square was gonna take it might want to think again.

Or maybe so.

Is that her mugshot?

She will always be unforgotten, r508.

My question is why Betty Buckley hasn’t been on Broadway since 1998? I heard rumor she was a finalist for Billy Elliot. I know Laurent’s tore her a new asshole and shat on her Gypsy dream. I also know she was let go from Into the Woods during rehearsals.

What other roles did she “almost get?”

I wouldn't count out Mr. Saturday Night just yet, but will Billy be Leading or Featured? Will JRB be ignored? Will A Strange Loop nab the big one? Will all of the actors in Strange Loop be in the Featured category? Will Patti implode when she doesn't win Featured?

And, does anyone really thing Greg Kinnear will return as Atticus?

I can't believe that the Cursed Child people haven't been attacked yet for the fact that the show wasn't written by an actual wizard.

Honestly, I thought this was a fake with bad audio plugged in to an official show clip… but, no, it’s the real thing. Hugh seriously sucks. What an embarrassment. Why would the promotional/marketing team release this clip? It would be almost impossible for him to sound worse.

It really makes me mad that because people love him it doesn’t matter how good or bad he is he will be rewarded with awards and charging $700 for tickets will be the new normal because he did it.

wow that sure is bad. Vocally strained, misguided musically, and just dumb looking. How did that team - music director, Zaks, Carlyle - not only let that happen but [italic] make [/italic] it happen? that clueless?

Zaks is a tired old hack.

What's going on with STRANGE LOOP? I've had two calls from co-producers still trying to raise money. Are they not fully capitalized?

most shows aren't fully capitalized when they're at that point, crazy but true

There is no audience for A Strange Loop. As they will soon discover.

But it's "the Pulitzer prize winning big, Black & queer-ass American musical!"

Anyone else trying to log in to LCT with their member ID before tix go on sale for Skin Of Our Teeth on Monday? Website is completely fucked up/

Skin Of Our Teeth also describes how Andre and his friends are hanging on.

[quote] Anyone else trying to log in to LCT with their member ID before tix go on sale for Skin Of Our Teeth on Monday?

No.

[quote] What's going on with STRANGE LOOP? I've had two calls from co-producers still trying to raise money. Are they not fully capitalized?

If you don't mind me asking, do you ever get approached to invest in documentaries about theater? Not that I'm pitching to you or anything, I was just curious if investors or angels for theater ever get asked to invest in such projects.

I'm not r525 but as someone who's invested in Broadway shows I can say that I've been approached about investing in all sorts of commercial projects, including film documentaries. Money is money.

And do you, R532? I just remember seeing several Kickstarter-esque campaigns for theater docs and I always wondered why go that route (when it doesn't usually seem to work), and if show investors were inclined to invest in theater docs. I remember the Gwen Verdon doc did a crowdfund, as did the Terrence McNally doc (which really surprised me). And there have been others.

Still no comments on Betty Lynn. Is she really that forgotten here?

What is there to say, r534? She's an established Broadway star, but not at the level of Patti or Bernadette. Her one Tony is in the featured category and her other signature role was in a notorious flop.

What was her other signature role, r535? Don't forget about Drood, which wasn't a flop.

I think she means The Baker’s Wife

Grizabella and Margaret, r536. I don't consider Drood/Alice Nutting to be a signature role for her, although she was great in it.

The Baker's Wife, r537? Do you mean the character in ITW, or do you mean the Stephen Schwartz musical? If the latter, the only person who can claim that as a signature role is Patti LuPone, who got "Meadowlark" out of it.

Betty on SVU this week

I know negotiations fell apart on Into the Woods and Tales of the City. What other roles did she almost play?

[quote]What was her other signature role, R535? Don't forget about Drood, which wasn't a flop.

Betty Buckley had a signature role in "1776," which certainly wasn't a flop, although she's one of the few original cast members not in the movie version.

Joan in Goodtime Charley. It was between her and Ann Reinking.

I don't know that I'd consider Martha J. a signature role for her, r542. Granted it was her first, but did anyone rush to see 1776 because of her in the role?

Someone said Betty Lynn was first choice for Chess when it came to Broadway.

Betty works regularly in tv and film. She’s also a very good film actress and it’s easier than doing 8 shows a week. I follow her on Instagram and she seems to have a very happy life spending time with her mom and her horses. Good for her.

She’s a little young to be discussed here, isn’t she? And not dead

Veanne Cox on SVU and Maisel at the same time.

Veanne Cox is cra-cra-zy!

Did you all know that she had a big affair with Warren Beatty just before he met Annette?

Of course no one rushed to see Betty Buckley in "1776," R544, but it was a big hit and she created the role of Martha Jefferson. I guess we have different ideas of what "signature role" means, so let's just leave it at that. But to talk about Betty Buckley's few hits and to omit "1776" is just stupid.

Oohhh more Veanne Cox dish

Betty Lynn is no Cathleen Nesbitt or Gladys Cooper.

No love for Betty’s amazing performance in Carrie the musical?

For lord's sake, if Grizabella in CATS wasn't her signature role, how do you define the term?

[quote]Honestly, I thought this was a fake with bad audio plugged in to an official show clip… but, no, it’s the real thing. Hugh seriously sucks. What an embarrassment. Why would the promotional/marketing team release this clip? It would be almost impossible for him to sound worse.

R521, don't be ridiculous. There's hardly any "singing" in that clip, maybe two notes at most held for more than one beat, so literally no opportunity for Hugh to sound as bad as you're fantasizing. What's your damage?

Betty Buckley is generally acknowledged to be extremely neurotic, apparently often making her very difficult to work with, plus her singing voice has been deteriorating for a long time now. I would say those are reasons enough to explain why she hasn't been on Broadway in many years.

I have a tin ear but even I can tell that Hugh hits some very sour notes in those couple of minutes. I can only compare with the Robert Preston recording but nevertheless, Hugh is way off.

[quote] I don't consider Drood/Alice Nutting to be a signature role for her

No, but stagehands nutting WAS a signature role for me.

R557, if you acknowledge that you have a tin ear, how can you tell that Hugh hits some "sour notes" in that clip? For the most part, the role of Harold Hill isn't about sounding pretty, it's about acting and selling the lyrics.

If you really want to hear some sour notes, listen to the last section of this recording -- especially the very last note from Preston, which is so painful that I'm surprised they didn't do a retake. And NO, I am NOT saying that Jackman sings the role better than Preston, I'm just making a point about individual notes.

THIS DAY IN BROADWAY HISTORY: In 1973, "A Little Night Music" opened at the Shubert Theatre.

Did the Beatty-Cox affair happen before or after Madonna?

Veanne Cox is not crazy. I've worked with her several times. She's very talented and professional and savvy.

It is true that she did have that affair with Warren Beatty before he met Annette Bening.

JOH has had that film crew following him around for years. Literally years. I was at the original closing night of SLAVE PLAY on Broadway in early 2020 (before the shutdown), and it was a scene cause so many people had waited last minute to see the show (I'd been out of town all fall), and JOH had a film crew capturing him and everything before and after the show. It felt like a circus. And it great an excited energy that dissipated the minute the play started, cause the play ain't all that. Not even close.

Well, as a documentary filmmaker, I wouldn't necessarily say that because JOH had a crew following him pre-pandemic and still does now that he's had them following him for years. I can tell you that many of us were in the middle of projects at that time and had to shut down for more than a year because of Covid before we could resume.

[quote]But to talk about Betty Buckley's few hits and to omit "1776" is just stupid.

Well, r550, had I thought it through and defined signature role as having put one's mark on the role, Martha should be included. She was the original and the first voice to sing that song and her rendition of that song was the first many of us heard.

Anyway, Veanne was the only good thing in that Roundabout COMPANY.

so back to present times, if we may, is there anything to that story at r514? The story sounds mostly like a nothingburger, except for the line "“There were some administrative issues that the cast wanted their union to address, and they used the Presidents’ Day holiday on Monday, February 21 to do so." Otherwise it's rumors there were "payment issues," and rebuttals that "no salaries have been missed throughout the nine years of its development,"

It IS a nothingburger, R566. What I heard is this: there were contracts for some of the actors that needed additional paperwork (I don't know what the paperwork was, or why it hadn't been filed in time). I think 15 members of the company were affected. A grievance was filed. The actors were told not to come in because, due to the holiday, Equity offices were closed and the officers needed time to gather to discuss. That happened at 2:00 pm and all was resolved. The cast had lost the day of rehearsal already, so the actors came back in Tuesday morning. I don't blame anyone. Given Garth's history, all the unions are watching closely for bad behavior. But this was really a minor issue blown up by the NY Post into a pretty grotesque article.

Good info r567, thanks. It read like the NY Post trying to insinuate something without really having anything, and leaving out mitigating info on purpose. Now

Coincidentally, Betty and Veanne are very good friends.

Betty was involved in the original workshops of Carrie, then dumped and replaced by Babs Cook for the London run. It cost producers A LOT of money rehire Betty when Cook abruptly dropped out before New York.

Betty was also completely unhinged during the run of Cats. Cast members would recall hearing screeching arguments coming from her dressing room when Betty was in there by herself. And there was no phone in said dressing room. She was often heard arguing with God.

God knew better than to argue back with Betty, r570.

Dee Hoty also says she was a last-minute replacement for Buckley for workshops of Whorehouse Goes Public, and then they gave Hoty the role after that because they liked her work.

[quote]She was often heard arguing with God.

Arms too short for boxing?

That was nothing compared to the night Betty found out her brother was gay AND dating a member of the Cats cast.

^she ate her feelings?

And then she ate pussy!

Why, r576?

Actually the brother was the one swallowing pussy.

pussy or bussy?

But her “He Plays the Violin” has been a classic almost immediately since the OBCR first dropped..

Who says it wasn't, r580?

[quote]But her “He Plays the Violin” has been a classic almost immediately since the OBCR first dropped..

Original cast recordings didn't "drop" in those days. They were released.

Is Buckley the closest to a living person we can discuss?

[quote]Is Buckley the closest to a living person we can discuss?

Pretty much. Sadly, Minnie Maddern Fiske is no longer with us.

[quote]Is Buckley the closest to a living person we can discuss?

Yes, enough talk about ancient history. Let's get back to the fascinating "Paradise Square" nothingburger.

Let's stop using the term "nothingburger."

I'd prefer to discuss Buttrio Square, r585.

That’s my kind of show, r587!

“Nothingburger” is a term most often used by the Repugnicans.

Minnie Maddern Fiske was a cunt-lapping whore, and I’m the dame who can prove it!

[quote]I'd prefer to discuss Buttrio Square, [R585].

Poor Susan Johnson. So good in "The Most Happy Fella," but her later shows didn't quite measure up. In addition to "Buttrio Square," she as in "Whoop-Up!"

^^ she was in "Whoop-Up!" ^^

Belters like Susan Johnson and Karen Morrow never become leading ladies.

So, r591, Donnybrook! is chopped liver?

The next theater thread should actually be #455, because we had two #453's, but I suppose it would be less confusing for it to be 454.

We still have this thread, r595...

Thanks, R596. Forgot all about that one.

Susan Johnson was a lead in stock.

To turn the thread to talk of contemporary artists, why hasn't Helen Gallagher been working much lately? How about Portofino in concert?

It's been over 15 years since Frances Sternhagen appeared on Broadway. Who's her agent?

What have Barbara Feldon and Joyce Randolph got on the books this season?

Is the Gigi revival with Lilo as Aunt Alicia really happening? Leslie Caron is in callbacks to play Madame Alvarez this time.

June Lockhart has been calling producers trying to sell the idea of a revival of her in Sorry, Wrong Number.

Could Bernadette still play Elaine in Arsenic and Old Lace?

you so old though

Bajour