THEATRE GOSSIP #460 - Jesse Williams Swings His Bat (and Beanie's Fanned Out?)

Previous thread:

I just watched "Funny Girl" on Amazon.

I had never realized how Wilder used the "Lucy Mame Lens" on Streisand on ALL of her close-ups.

She was in her 20s, but the frame goes fuzzy every time it is just her.

Wilder? William Wyler, surely.

I'm happy the reviews are positive, but a revival of Take Me Out? Really? That's interesting to someone?

[quote]I had never realized how Wilder used the "Lucy Mame Lens" on Streisand on ALL of her close-ups.

Using a soft-focus lens for huge close-ups is a time-honored practice in film, and is a completely different matter from what was done in MAME, in which the camera literally went out of focus for all of Lucy's close-ups.

Jesus, give this girl a man!

It is very distracting when you feel as if you've lost a contact lens every time the camera zooms in on Barbra.

Here ya go…

What Broadway legend is in baaaaaad shape? Industry friends are keeping protective and mum, but sadly, the triple threat is up to his ninth life. Tragic.

What leading performer is having so many backstage meltdowns that even Marissa Jarret Winokur would role her thighs, I mean eyes?

Is it a good thing that a featured performer walked away with the Some Like It Hot workshops? Still, it’s feeling very solid, so far…

What comedy legend refused to alter a second from his mega hit, causing the dreamed of limited revival to end before it flaunted itself back onstage?

What leading man in a meh movie to stage adaptation plays mr. nice guy, but is really a cheating phony offstage?

What current warhorse isn’t happy with it’s very impressed with herself leading lady? But the production wouldn’t dare dismiss her!

All the fuss about Encores has only made a certain Tony winning “genius” even more supportive of its disastrous course?

These two Broadway hosts absolutely hate each other, the one is desperate to be a star and the other has marbles in his mouth, except when he’s got cock…

Which Tony nominated Broadway diva had her credit card declined at a fancy dinner? Unfortunately none of her friends acted like they had their wallets, thank God for that round robin Uber!

This legendary Broadway songbird is so cheap she took home all the leftovers from her recent local gig.

r4, based on the box office numbers, no. But the emphasis on the nudity in most of the reviews may change that.

What comedy legend refused to alter a second from his mega hit, causing the dreamed of limited revival to end before it flaunted itself back onstage?

Oh Mel. I wonder what they wanted him to change.

"Funny Boy" which might be more castable these days

Hosts - Julie James and Seth Rudetsky?

I hope the broadway legend in bad shape isn’t Joel Grey. Isn’t he the only male broadway legend left?

"What leading man in a meh movie to stage adaptation plays mr. nice guy, but is really a cheating phony offstage?"

Tveit and Brightman are the only possibilities that come to mind, and since the latter's show doesn't start running again for a few days...

Could be Rob McClure

What leading man in a meh movie to stage adaptation plays mr. nice guy, but is really a cheating phony offstage?

Aaron Tveit. He's an self-absorbed asshole who cannot act. His Tony Award is a joke.

Who is Tveit cheating on? Isn't he unattached?

[quote] What leading performer is having so many backstage meltdowns that even Marissa Jarret Winokur would roll her thighs, I mean eyes?

The Beanster?

What about Billy Crystal in Mr. Saturday Night?

Is "Mr. Saturday Night" what closes on Saturday night?

[quote] What current warhorse isn’t happy with it’s very impressed with herself leading lady? But the production wouldn’t dare dismiss her!

Gotta be Pam Anderson in Chicago

Warhorse with impressed with herself leading lady. Phantom? Wicked?

I hope it's not Phantom, because I was/am rooting for her, but she's definitely someone they wouldn't dare dismiss, so that part fits...

Oh, I forgot Wicked also has a lead they wouldn't dare dismiss, for the same reason. So that's still an option.

Aaron Tveit always gave off major asshole vibes. Not sure how he even got a nice guy reputation. And sorry, but his Tony win was embarrassing.

Where are these blind items even from? They feel like something Michael Musto would have done, back at THE VILLAGE VOICE.

[quote]All the fuss about Encores has only made a certain Tony winning “genius” even more supportive of its disastrous course?

This is clearly Billy Porter, but it's unclear what the blind item is trying to say. So Billy Porter wants to end Encores?

My great aunt was a germaphobe and before she boiled her vegetables into oblivion she would scrub them all with a toothbrush and dish washing liquid. Even heads of lettuce and cabbage. We never ate her salads.

^ Sorry, obviously wrong thread.

No, R26, Billy Porter considers himself such a genius that he disregards the criticism of his re-imagining and is more determined to look at critics as idiots. The musical version of Jeremy O. Harris.

R28 I dunno. It sounds like something noted vegetarian Carol Channing would do.

Will "Take Me Out" get a HBO production with Jesse Williams?

[quote]you have no taste. Not a Day Goes By is a fantastic song.

Begone Sondheimite. They think every note he wrote was genius. He wrote some duds too.

[quote] Will "Take Me Out" get a HBO production with Jesse Williams?

He certainly should want to show off his impressive dick on HBO, but I bet he won’t.

[quote]What Broadway legend is in baaaaaad shape? Industry friends are keeping protective and mum, but sadly, the triple threat is up to his ninth life. Tragic.

Ken Page? "Ninth life" suggests CATS.

[quote]What leading performer is having so many backstage meltdowns that even Marissa Jarret Winokur would role her thighs, I mean eyes?

Clearly, that's Beanie.

Ugh,,, really, complaining about "Not a Day Goes By"? The song is amazing, but like "Send in the Clowns", only works within the context of the show.

"Not a Day Goes By" is sung twice in Merrily We Roll Along. The first time outside a courthouse where Frank's ex-wife Beth pours out her pain about the end of their marriage. Then late in act 2 the song is heard again with different lyrics... Frank and Beth profess their love for each other when getting married (and a third voice for the character Mary was added in subsequent re-writes - I think).

Since it's so specific to the action on stage, it's not a song you just pluck out to sing... it just doesn't work.

Not A Day Goes By is a terrific song, inarguably and objectively. Find literally any other recording of it. Platt ruins it with his usual tics and register-shifting shtick.

BTW, good title, OP!

[quote] The song is amazing, but like "Send in the Clowns", only works within the context of the show.

Really? Send in the Clowns worked fine for me.

Who’s credit card got declined? A Tony nominated diva?? Is it Sherie Rene?

The War Horse who hates the leading lady sounds like Ms. LuPone.

War horse doesn't refer to a person, but a long running show. Pam Anderson is a good guess. Who's in Wicked and Phantom?

[quote] Then late in act 2 the song is heard again with different lyrics... Frank and Beth profess their love for each other when getting married (and a third voice for the character Mary was added in subsequent re-writes - I think).

Mary joining in on the Act 2 "Not a Day Goes By" was in the original.

[quote]Mary joining in on the Act 2 "Not a Day Goes By" was in the original.

Yes, but all the DL queens shouting out "Mary!" from the back row when she does it started with the revival.

R34 Ken Page just booked a convention at the end of September so probably not him

That's wonderful news!

I think the diva is LuPone. "Warhorse" is a clue to the show', whose director, Marianne Whatever, d also directed War Horse.

"Not a Day Goes By" is a really powerful and effective song in the context of Merrily, as the poster above explained. Although it's gorgeous, it's absolutely a ridiculous choice for an in memoriam feature, as was "Somewhere" which of course was not composed by Sondheim and which he didn't especially like.

Of course the warhorse is LuPone and not the entire cast of Phantom or WIcked.

It's definitely black Elphaba. Cynthia Erivo will come down on them and destroy them like she did The Great Comet

The warhorse who isn't impressed with her leading lady is Marianne Elliot, the director of Company and also of War Horse. The question is which leading lady--LuPone (most likely as she's a giant pain in the ass) or Lenk (who's just not very good in this role but Sondheim loved her so she got it). Of the two, LuPone's the only one who seems un-fireable. I don't think anyone would object if Lenk left.

Once a show opens, isn't the director basically done ? They are not involved in day to day production so I doubt it's referring to Elliott.

I'm really curious which Broadway songbird took home the leftovers from her last gig. That sounds like Patti, but the context doesn't fit. Errico?

You have a point, r49, but that clue is right on the nose. Maybe it refers to Company itself, not a particular person.

What's all this about Not a Dago's Pie?

What's wrong with pizza?

r8's clue definitely refers to the warhorse being the show, not the director or star.

"What current warhorse isn’t happy with it’s very impressed with herself leading lady? But the production wouldn’t dare dismiss her!"

Patti does seem to fit, and based on how the box office plummeted the week she was out (over $200k less than its next lowest grossing week), they definitely can't dismiss her.

I love that whenever there is a blind item about any Broadway related actress the obvious answer to EVERY blind item no matter the context is always Patti LuPone

And for those who don't know, the Broadway Phantom reopened with its first black Christine. Lots of local press about it. She's mediocre but serviceable I guess.

R47 I meant black Glinda

I think you guys are missing the whole point of the warhorse clue.

R49 Though Elliott is also a producer on Company

Christine and Glinda were my guesses at r23/r24.

Enlighten us, r57

[quote]Once a show opens, isn't the director basically done ?

Usually, but it varies. Prince was famous for keeping a regular eye on his shows. He once did his usual six month check on Phantom and said it had gotten so sloppy he fired half the cast and made them re-audition if they wanted to keep their parts, even George Lee Andrews who had been there for years I don't think he came back.

That is not true about Prince and George Lee Andrews.

If the warhorse clue isn't a reference to Company (theproduction) and/or Marianne Elliot, then what does it refer to? r57?

And sometimes a director will come back briefly if there is a major name replacement. After the stage managers had rehearsed Bernadette and Elaine for A Little Night Music, Trevor Nunn came over and spent a day working with them before they opened.

Again, it varies but you're right generally it's pretty much the stage managers after a production has opened.

r60 Look who signed it

I know for a fact that Lupone has been demanding new costumes since Company opened. And every time they're replaced, she starts complaining again about still more new costumes. Right now she's on about a "summer weight" fur coat.

[ quote] If the warhorse clue isn't a reference to Company (theproduction) and/or Marianne Elliot, then what does it refer to? [R57]?

Sarah Jessica Parker?

Former CATS star Ken Page is talented but could never be considered a triple-threat. That would be Terrence Mann.

But does anyone really care about the whereabouts of Terrence Mann?

She's getting big as a house, r66. Probably she needs new costumes. Although in any fur coat, she's bound to look like a groundhog.

I hope it isn’t Terrence Mann but it’s strange that Charlotte went back into Chicago then left for a few weeks then came back for a few shows then left for good and was replaced by an understudy til Pam comes in. Based on her instagram postings she looks great and is very active.

Re aging triple threat: Tommy Tune?

Yes, it's Tommy. "Ninth life" is a reference to Nine.

Sad face emoji.

[quote]Begone Sondheimite. They think every note he wrote was genius. He wrote some duds too.

He did indeed write some duds -- VERY few -- over the course of his career, but "Not a Day Goes By" is certainly not one of them.

R35, I'm glad you like the song, but I don't understand why you keep repeating that it doesn't work out of context. I think if someone hears the version of "Not a Day Goes By" that's normally performed as a solo out of context, it's clear that the singer is expressing great sorrow and regret over a lost love. No more specific context is needed to make the song very moving and beautiful.

[quote]Ugh,,, really, complaining about "Not a Day Goes By"? The song is amazing, but like "Send in the Clowns", only works within the context of the show.

I don't think that is true. The first time I heard "Not a Day Goes By" was on a Carly Simon record released before the show. I thought it was a lovely song.

And most people only know "Send in the Clowns" because of Judy Collins (and other singers), not the show.

Writing duds? Cole Porter wrote Bianca.

But that's long story.

[Quote] but I bet he won’t.

Why? It would help him make a splash post that primetime soap opera. It could put him in a different league.

[quote][R8]'s clue definitely refers to the warhorse being the show, not the director or star. "What current warhorse isn’t happy with it’s very impressed with herself leading lady? But the production wouldn’t dare dismiss her!"

Thank you. Really, the incredibly low level of reading comprehension evidenced by some people who post here is shocking.

P.S. Seems to me the word "warhorse" must refer to a show that has been running a long time, and/or one that has been revived frequently. COMPANY doesn't fit that description, but CHICAGO, PHANTOM, and WICKED do.

I still love that Tommy Tune who is the gayest gay who ever gayed, wrote in his memoir that the most exciting and full-filling sexual relationship he ever had was with a woman, Twiggy. Maybe HE was the inspiration for the hit play “Cock”

I've heard many people say that they didn't get the lyrics of of "Send In The Clowns" - people who knew the song, not the show. People were moved by ths music. The lyrics don't matter to many people.

It's funny that Grover Dale married Anita Morris, the sexpot. Was she as lusty in real life?

I think the "baaaaad" shape is Jackman. Saw the show over the weekend. He looks emaciated.

Ben Platt on if he ever met Sondheim:

[quote]He came to see "Dear Evan Hansen" but he didn’t come backstage. I auditioned for him once for a revival of "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum" that James Corden was going to do that never came together. I got to sing "Love, I Hear" for him. Of course, I hated the audition. It wasn't nearly good enough for me because it was for Sondheim. But I did get to look him in the face and wave and say hello.

Dear god, imagine Corden and Platt in the same show.

[quote]We were meant to sit down and have dinner with Rick Linklater, Beanie [Feldstein] and Jonathan Mark Sherman to talk about our Merrily We Roll Along project. But we didn’t get it together in time before we lost him.

Good timing, Steve.

And apparently they've shot the first sequence for the Merrily We Roll Along film, which is a shame as that means they won't be recasting.

Except, r78, that warhorse is also a clue for Company, since Elliot directed War Horse as well as Company.

Those Platt comments about Sondheim and his very tenuous connection to him are as self-serving as the girl's.

Could the "genius" tag refer to a MacArthur Fellow? Does anyone fit that bill?

[Quote] We were meant to sit down and have dinner with Rick Linklater, Beanie [Feldstein] and Jonathan Mark Sherman to talk about our Merrily We Roll Along project. But we didn’t get it together in time before we lost him.

Has Blake Jenner been quietly let go?

That's such a bullshit statement^^^ from Platt.

I've heard many people say that they didn't get the lyrics of of "Send In The Clowns." I hear this, men, big strong men, tears running down their faces, come up to me and say, "Sir, I don't understand the lyrics to that Clowns song!"

[quote] Seems to me the word "warhorse" must refer to a show that has been running a long time, and/or one that has been revived frequently. COMPANY doesn't fit that description, but CHICAGO, PHANTOM, and WICKED do.

Company has been revived numerous times

I think it’s very telling that Sondheim saw Dear Evan Hansen but didn’t go backstage

He went back stage even to see ME and tell me to my face to stop fucking up his music!

[quote]Will "Take Me Out" get a HBO production with Jesse Williams?

Hollywood Reporter: It was reported late last summer that [director Scott] Ellis — also a seasoned TV hand, whose work includes episodes of 30 Rock, Modern Family and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel — would direct a limited television series adapted by Greenberg from the play, with Williams attached to star.

DL should start a GoFundMe for a cash reward for a clear vivid pic of Jesse's massive cock.

r8 LOVE the blind items to get this thread going on real GOSSIP. Thank you.

[quote] What current warhorse isn’t happy with it’s very impressed with herself leading lady? But the production wouldn’t dare dismiss her!

I think you're reading too much into "warhorse," or it's a red herring. The "wouldn't dare dismiss her" means she's BIPOC and a dismissal would be a PR nightmare, so it's Wicked or Phantom.

[quote] What comedy legend refused to alter a second from his mega hit, causing the dreamed of limited revival to end before it flaunted itself back onstage?

Has to be The Producers, "if you got it, flaunt it" because the word choice is otherwise odd.

About "Send in the Clowns," I was a kid when it was a hit for Judy Collins, and I could never stand her. Personally, I think she has a terrible voice and sings off key. So I thought the song was insipid and dreary all my life... until I saw Judi Dench do it for the National Theatre 50th anniversary special. Suddenly the meaning and pathos were revealed. It doesn't need a sentimental treatment, it needs the touch of someone who knows how to play rueful, conflicted, self-mocking. It can be very moving, but *in context.*

I took "genius" to mean Lear deBesonupherownass.

If the rest of ALNM is done well, Desiree just needs to sit on the edge of her bed and sing that song and I’m in tears.

Out of context, it leaves me cold.

[quote]It can be very moving, but *in context.*

I think that's fair. Some people need more help to understand a song.

Judy Collins' version doesn't really put any meaning into the words at all. They're all sung pretty much the same with no nuance or acting of the lyrics. Glynis Johns was really something special on stage doing it; her "Glamourous Life" was quite energetic and joyful, and she was so delightfully dismissive and hilariously bitchy during "You Must Meet My Wife" that even this pre-teenager got where she was coming from as Fredric is going on and on about his wife.

Glynis

R8’s mutually loathing Broadway hosts: Seth Rudetsky, who is probably off book and waiting for the Funny Girl producers to call, and listless shark-eyed Paul Wontorek, who I expect is making up for lost dick-sucking now that he’s lost all that weight.

[quote] I took "genius" to mean Lear deBesonupherownass.

No r96 because of the whole phrase:

[quote] a certain Tony winning “genius”

No Tony for Lear

Send in the Clowns doesn't have one literal meaning. Its ambiguity is part of its appeal. Unfortunately, that wasn't good enough for Barbra, who demanded a rewrite. And got it.

Send in the Clowns is one of those songs that's so often misinterpreted that it's lost a lot of its meaning. You know in the first line if the singer understands it or not. If they hold the "rich" in that first line, I tune out immediately, because it's clear they're just worried about trying to make a pretty sound instead of acting the song. If done correctly, it can still be incredibly moving.

[quote] You know in the first line if the singer understands it or not. If they hold the "rich" in that first line, I tune out immediately

That's absurd.

[quote] No Tony for Lear

Ah, then it must be Billy Porter and the word "genius" must have about eighteen sets of quotation marks around it.

How is Betty Lynn's health these days?

Fine and she's far from a triple threat.

So what's all the fuss over the dog face ego maniac Seth Rudetsky? His constant boasting and self promoting is beyond insane. And why do so many B level Broadway actors feed into his ego?

Because Seth knows where all the skeletons are hidden. He should. He sucked them off first.

No one would allow him to suck them off. That's just gross.

Besides Hugh Jackman, who seems like he is doing fine - if somewhat ill-moored as Harold Hill, the only male tripe threat that could be called a Broadway legend is Ben Vereen. Has he been seen lately?

r71 and r72 must be correct. The "ninth" is a good clue, and he's certainly a singer/dancer/director triple, and he's survived many decades and dodged HIV, substance abuse, etc.

[quote] Unfortunately, that wasn't good enough for Barbra, who demanded a rewrite. And got it.

Barbra got Sondheim to end on the stronger lyric. She was right.

Patti LuPone really needs to stop doing podcast interviews. The last one she did, Sondheim told her to her face that she wasn’t a star and the one that dropped today wasn’t much better.

Firstly, the interviewer didn’t know the Sunset Blvd saga and asked her how it was like to be fired from “The Evita revival in the West End” and “fired by Glenn Close.”

But the REAL coup de interview was two seconds before it ended when he said to her face “Isn’t it wonderful how much raving press Jennifer Simard got when she replaced you while you had Covid-19?”

There were literal crickets on the other line.

Who in their right mind would say to Patti, “Isnt great your understudy got better reviews than you while you were sick?”

Ugh. It may be all the Streisand and Kazan discussion in the previous thread that made me think this, but I hope the above doesn't lead to trouble for Simard.

[quote]Who in their right mind would say to Patti, “Isnt great your understudy got better reviews than you while you were sick?”

Who in their right mind would say that to ANYBODY?

Re "Send In the Clowns": the song only works out of context if the last verse isn't sung. It should end with "Don't bother, they're here." I don't know why people often include the final verse.

R114, she also got him to add a new, second bridge

“What a surprise

Who could foresee

I’d come to feel about you like you felt about me

Why only now when I see that you’ve drifted away

What a surprise

What a cliché”

He didn't at all say "“Isn't great your understudy got better reviews than you while you were sick?” . He said that she got a lot of attention when she went on in the role. Still not a brilliant thing to say, but it wasn't what you claimed.

Julie Benko will be on for Beanie April 29 through May 1st.

The Spring Awakening reunion documentary is coming to HBO next month.

Groff produced it, and the last part of the log line says it will examine “the unconventional love story of breakout stars Jonathan Groff and Lea Michele.”

He’s really going to mount her comeback for her, isn’t he…

The Spring Awakening reunion documentary is coming to HBO next month.

Groff produced it, and the last part of the log line says it will examine “the unconventional love story of breakout stars Jonathan Groff and Lea Michele.”

He’s really going to mount her comeback for her, isn’t he…

Simard seems very humble and wisely did not make any I’M ON FOR PATTI posts on social media during her time on so it’s not another Lainie situation.

Don’t know why that double posted, sorry.

I want to see James Snyder in Take Me Out

[quote]Groff produced it, and the last part of the log line says it will examine “the unconventional love story of breakout stars Jonathan Groff and Lea Michele.” He’s really going to mount her

Pics please.

R115 How is it conceivable that someone who hosts a theatre podcast and claims to be a Broadway producer isn't aware of the Sunset Boulevard debacle? And that's without even getting into the lack of research on your guest.

I remember the 2004 LA production of TAKE ME OUT featured Bryce Johnson whom I had crushed on in the Ryan Murphy teen drama POPULAR in the late '90s/early 2000s. According to the reports, he was pretty hung and had a nice set of low-hangers. Needless to say, I desperately wanted to go! Alas, I was still in college with limited funds on the other side of the country.

R122 He's really going to risk his reputation for her. I hope this at least results in some good stories about Groff being a cunt, because there's no way Lea's best friend isn't a cunt. And I don't think it all went via Lea.

I've always heard that Groff is a sweetheart. It's hard to imagine that if he were like Lea that it wouldn't have come out by now (unless he has the best PR team in the business).

Patti doesn't like to talk about understudies or other people playing roles she is doing or has done (unless it's to criticize them).

Groff has done full-frontal in movies, so maybe he'll be a replacement in TAKE ME OUT?

Broadway Box Office Blossoms As Spring Arrives; ‘Plaza Suite’, ‘Funny Girl’, ‘Macbeth’ Among Full Houses:

R130 He is producing the documentary. Why would he allow any footage that makes him look like a cunt?

The poor guy probably had to sit in the editing room to make sure they removed all of the thousands of instances of Lea being a cunt.

[quote]Except, [R78], that warhorse is also a clue for Company, since Elliot directed War Horse as well as Company.

If that's what the clue was hinting at, it's a bad clue, because again, the show COMPANY is not considered a "war horse" by anyone. And it would be stupid to refer to that show as a "war horse" just because it was directed by Marianne Elliot, who also directed WAR HORSE.

Assuming the clue was well written, I think it probably refers to PHANTOM, CHICAGO, or WICKED.

Well, my goodness! From an administrator of the Broadway Remembered Facebook group:

"Your admins are deeply disappointed and incredibly frustrated. Despite multiple warnings and pleas for respect, we just had to shut down comments on a master post for the first time ever. This means that, at least for now, there will be no conversation on the new revival of Funny Girl in this group. We have removed people for flaming Beanie. She is incredibly talented and deserves respect. Whether or not you like her, you will show her respect if you want to stay in this group. This is not negotiable."

[quote]I think you're reading too much into "warhorse," or it's a red herring. The "wouldn't dare dismiss her" means she's BIPOC and a dismissal would be a PR nightmare, so it's Wicked or Phantom.

A "red herring" should not be something that intentionally throws people off because it's inaccurate. But both WICKED or PHANTOM could accurately be described as "war horses" because they have been running so long," whereas I don't think anyone would ever describe COMPANY as a "war horse" even though it has been revived several times (though only twice on Broadway).

R95, Judi Dench's performance of "Send in the Clowns" is indeed great, but that's certainly not the only way to interpret the song. And I think it works just fine out of context, whether one sings it with a lot of anger or just wistful sadness for a lost love, as Judy Collins sang it.

Is it possible the triple threat that is ill is Ben Vereen?

r129 I did a little digging and found this about the balls.

and this image of your boy

About five years ago I sat next to Groff and Lea at Bar Centrale. They were three or four other people in a booth. She literally hung around his neck the entire evening. She wasn’t married at that point but it would have driven any other man on the planet nuts. He seemed fine with it and she never let go of him.

[quote]She was so delightfully dismissive and hilariously bitchy during "You Must Meet My Wife" that even this pre-teenager got where she was coming from as Fredric is going on and on about his wife.

Then why are Johns' readings of those lines so terribly flat on the original cast album? It sounds like she's just reading the words, with no emotion behind them whatsoever. I don't know why, because there's certainly lots of emotion in her "Send in the Clowns."

In case anyone's been wondering what Matthew Morrison is up to these days. (A dance-show judge? Well, OK... He's really an actor who can move/dance, not a dancer who can act.)

you are far too literal in reading clues, r136.

Fuck Barbra and whatever changes she made to any song.

A greedy, obnoxious 🐖.

R141/R142 Thanks! I wish the article was more descriptive. He sounds beautiful all over.

Also, why were there no photos/bootlegs taken of the LA production like the Broadway one? You'd think it would be easier to sneak in a camera.

Yes it’s true [r120] that he didn’t say she got better reviews than Patti, the poster was making a joke of what he did say, which you admit, that was that he was excited that Simard got so much good press/excitement playing her role while she was out sick, which was still bizarre and tactless to say to a performer and the absolute wrong thing to say to someone who ten minutes ago in the interview talked about how traumatizing competing with Glenn Close for a role was.

R145 I sat next to Matthew Morrison at a dinner for some dance retreat company in 2019 (I think his wife is a dancer). Absolutely no one knew who he was (except me) and he kept saying “I’m an actor” when people asked him what he did. He didn’t seem bothered or upset at all by no one recognizing him, though, which was a pleasant surprise, as I assumed the entire cast of Glee would be insufferable cunts.

[quote] Then why are Johns' readings of those lines so terribly flat on the original cast album? It sounds like she's just reading the words, with no emotion behind them whatsoever.

Because she's not overacting r144

What does this mean from link at R141, particularly the last part?

[quote]He alone, however, looked to be man enough to resist the urge for minor league fluffing that seemed to have gripped the rest of the cast, the consistency of whose semi-semis wrecked the curve of every locker room I've ever been in.

R61’s story is true, but it was Martin Charnin and “Annie,” not Prince and Phantom.

Triple-threat means actor-singer-dancer. So definitely not Ken Page. I hope it’s not Terrance Mann.

which part don't you understand r152? I'll translate

His dick was big enough without the need for manually partially aroused for cosmetic purposes in advance

That preparatory stimulation made everyone have bigger dicks than one would generally see in a room of average, non erect naked men.

What about those two who are perpetually rumored to be experiencing “sad last days,” Malcolm Gets and Boyd Gaines?

I guess I was thrown off by the phrase "wrecked the curve." I have not heard it before. But rereading after your explanation, it makes sense now. Thanks.

[quote]you are far too literal in reading clues

Excuse me, but I think anyone who would guess that "war horse" refers to COMPANY just because it was directed by Marianne Elliot, who also directed WAR HORSE, is the person who's being "too literal." Not me.

You've never heard of things being graded on a curve, r157?

[quote]Because she's not overacting [R144]

Sorry, in that one cut on the album, I don't think Glynis Johns is acting at all. Listen to it again, she literally just speaks the words -- most of them, anyway -- with no inflection, no affect, no emotion whatsoever. And I'm not saying I like Elizabeth Taylor's performance of that number, which I do think is overacted.

"She is incredibly talented and deserves respect. " -- Are they out of their fucking minds?

R159 I have, but didn't think that 'wreck the curve' was the same thing. I should point out that English is my second language.

At any rate, I initially read the passage to mean that, with the exception of Bryce, the rest of the cast were in various states of arousal, with some of their dicks even curving. I was like 😲

Now I love Sondheim even more if he really said all that stuff to possum face Patti. Lmao. Love it. FUCK Groff right in the pussy. He's average in every way. There is no comeback for Lea Michele unless she gets a total personality transplant. I used to have a big crush on Bryce Johnson too. That LA cast sounds hot AF. Damn. Where is the footage?! Sisto is uncut? YUM. I always liked him. As for Matthew Morrison, he could have a big career but he is too uncomfortable with his sexuality. And I don't mean anything homosexual.

Groff alone can't revive Lea's career. He's just trying to give her a leg up because he's a really nice guy. Nothing wrong with that.

R160 I don’t agree at all. I just listened to that song and I think Glynis’s acting choices are just fine. She doesn’t over-emote, but that’s because she is baffled or bored by Frederick’s effusive praise….until she finds out that Ann is still a virgin. Then Desiree becomes angry/exasperated. I like that she builds to that emotional climax. I presume Sondheim and Prince also approved of her acting choices. .

Guys I know rushed go see TAKE ME OUT not to see a prize-winning Bradway play, but to see dick. Dick impressive enough to be seen from afar. Maybe they had too-old eyes …. center seats, row G, but is Jessie Williams cut or not?

Re Jeremy Sisto, there was a lot of debate as to whether he was cut or uncut. That one article is saying all that “cut-or-not” brouhaha was a smokescreen to deflect from BJ’s gigantic balls.

Glynis Johns is terrific in “You Must Meet My Wife.” No one has done it wittier.

r135 I meant people being disgusted at Groff for trying to rehab her image with the doc, and then sharing stories that may have once been kept private.

She has the timing, r168, but she also has that wonderfully distinctive Glynis voice. I imagine Tammy would have been wonderful as well. The character loses something without an idiosyncratic actress with a character voice...I'm looking at you Sally Ann.

The Sondheim Letters account posted this one - anyone have a clue what this might be about, what would appal Hirschfeld so?

STRANGE LOOP canceling first preview -- unlike COMPANY they don't have 10 understudies.

Al Hirschfeld or Al Hershfeld, r171?

Definitely better optics when they actually look like twins...

‘A Strange Loop’ Postpones First Broadway Preview Due To Covid Cases:

Matthew Morrison and Brad Oscar were neighbors for a number of years (I’m not sure if Morrison is in the same apartment - if he is, then they still are). If I recall correctly, Morrison was next door.

Has anyone seen How I Learned to Drive?

[quote]Enlighten us, [R57]

Bless R60's heart.

Matthew Broderick tested positive for Covid and is out of tonight's show, and presumably longer. Will audiences stick around for just SJP if she stays negative? Seems like she might be the bigger draw these days.

Macbeth also extended their cancellations through the 9th. Now scheduled to start again on the 11th.

SJP is definitely a bigger draw. Outside of the theatre queens, the fans flocking to this shitshow are flyover SATC fraud who are convinced THEY are the Samantha!

I can't imagine why any of The Producers would need to be trimmed or tucked -- it was an equal opportunity offender 20 years ago. Delightfully so! That's Mel Brooks brand.

Fuck em if they can't take a joke!

Company may not be in quite as much trouble--Terence Archie and Etai Benson are back in tonight, so their absences on Sunday must not have been Covid-related. So the show still has a bit of breathing room with male actors. (Not with the women though.)

[r183] could u imagine the heads that would explode if Jennifer Simard covered for Patti and Patti went on one evening as BOBBIE!

Her Being Alive would make sense at 73!

They’d have to at least cut the black CPA in I Want To Be A Producer ("Oh, I debits all da mornin'/And I credits all da ebenin'…"). There’s no no way in hell you could get away with that now.

R185 that is why R182 said the show was an equal-opportunity offender. To cut that and leave everything else is hypocritical, as if everyone else is fair game just don't make fun of the sacred black people. 🙄

Matthew Broderick's US is Tony winner (and all-around nice guy) Michael McGrath who has brilliant comic timing. SJP is no doubt thrilled!

Call it gossip or call it news but this Friday afternoon at 5 pm April 8 there will be an event called THE BROADWAY ME TOO MARCH which will begin at the Ambassador Theater (home of Chicago) and continue on down to the Marquis Theater (home of Beetlejuice) to protest the continued employment of serial sexual harasser (and worse) William Ivey Long.

Speakers will include two young men who have come forward in the past with their stories and accusations about WIL and all other victims of WIL and any other abusers are being encouraged to speak put. Stay tuned.

#MeToo Broadway

metoobroadway.com

Will they dunk William Ivey Long in water to see if he drowns?

Is anyone at all worried about the Tonys again? With all these Covid closures will there be enough time for nominations to see stuff in time?

If SJP is out when Matthew is back it will be interesting to see how the grosses compare. Could be fun times in the Broderick-Parker household if there's a big difference in cancellations.

It is indicative of where we are as a society and an industry that no one ever asks about or reports on HOW THESE PEOPLE ARE when they test positive, just whether the show is going on.

[quote What current warhorse isn’t happy with it’s very impressed with herself leading lady? But the production wouldn’t dare dismiss her!... Gotta be Pam Anderson in Chicago

Pam Anderson doesn't even step foot on stage for another week.

[quote]I've heard many people say that they didn't get the lyrics of of "Send In The Clowns" - people who knew the song, not the show. People were moved by ths music. The lyrics don't matter to many people.

Well, I sat thru that whole God damn show and there wasn't one God damn clown, God damn it.

[quote]Judy Collins' version doesn't really put any meaning into the words at all. They're all sung pretty much the same with no nuance or acting of the lyrics.

Because Judy Collins was singing the Pop version of it. Like Streisand's "Memory". They weren't singing as the character the song was written for.

She could have given it some emotion. Babs builds her "Memory" at least to the big finish.

Jesse Williams' bat is THAT spectacular?

Two very different voices/styles, r195. Collins ain't a belter.

I like Collins' voice, but she sang that song sounding quite pretty, but without much emotion.

Jesus, Broadway is falling apart around us, and we're arguing over Judy Collins? Where's the genius with the blind items?

Matthew Broderick out with Covid.

[quote]Will audiences stick around for just SJP if she stays negative?

Has she been vaccinated for hoof-and-mouth disease?

Do you think Mr. Blind Item made them all up, and that’s why he’s not coming back?

[quote]She is incredibly talented and deserves respect. Whether or not you like her, you will show her respect if you want to stay in this group. This is not negotiable."

"Incredibly talented"! And if you don't agree with me, you WILL be banned! Who's the administrator of this Facebook group? Putin?

Ben Platt, her bff r203

[quote]And if you don't agree with me, you WILL be banned! Who's the administrator of this Facebook group? Putin?

Apparently there's more than one administrator, r203. I'd gotten an invitation to join it so I did. But it didn't occur to me that if I posted on it I wouldn't be anonymous, so I never really go to it.

I am Laz'rus, risen from the grave! Quite alive you find me, the blinds you’ll mind me, is where our Beanie is to blame!

You girls are all doing great, and I’m proud, I tried to bring actual dish, but a couple are raw, and I don’t want to be exposed, but I LOVE you all, so keep thinking, but here’s some stronger clues, the “ninth” IS the hint, but another number that fits, but THAT one is the saddest so can’t say it, really a heartbreak.

The warhorse is a long runner, the Princess just doesn’t like her blocking…mmm hmmm…

Hosts are on local networks, each clutching and desperate.

The cheat should watch her “wig”

All for now, work on the others. Oh, here’s another cut, this leading man has fallen HARD for a chorus something, and they are ready to explode their complacent calm…

[quote] What current warhorse isn’t happy with it’s very impressed with herself leading lady? But the production wouldn’t dare dismiss her!... Gotta be Pam Anderson in Chicago

[quote] Pam Anderson doesn't even step foot on stage for another week.

I know this might be an odd concept to grasp, but actors don't just show up from home on the first day they're due to appear in front of an audience. There's a little thing called rehearsal.

cunt

Cantrell break!

I saw the excruciating and awful Paradise Square tonight. Dull, preachy, humorless, simplistic and SHRILL AS FUCK.

Kill it with a knife.

Judy Carne and Lana Cantrell?!

All this discussion of “Send in the Clown” and no mention of Miss Sarah Vaughan?

Her version is unequalled.

R206 I want to fuck you.

[quote]As for Matthew Morrison, he could have a big career but he is too uncomfortable with his sexuality.

He played a "phantom" in the ROCKY HORROR revival at Circle in the Square, and he was very much in touch with his sexuality then - on the stage, anyway.

[quote]Matthew Broderick tested positive for Covid and is out of tonight's show, and presumably longer.

4 out of 12 actors in Come From Away were out last night. No idea id the absences were Covid related, though.

[quote]They’d have to at least cut the black CPA in I Want To Be A Producer ("Oh, I debits all da mornin'/And I credits all da ebenin'…"). There’s no no way in hell you could get away with that now.

"I've heard of Black Irish, but this is ridiculous!"

[quote]Matthew Broderick out with Covid.

He was on Kelly & Ryan live yesterday morning and must not have felt well, he only stayed for one segment when the lead guest always gets two.

R215, He looked pale, pasty and bloated.

Dear Laz'rus, thank you for rising and coming back to us.

Question: the Broadway legend who is not doing well. TT has two connections to the number Nine (the musical and Cloud Nine) - and if that's correct, perhaps the other number, the "heartbreaking" one is 54?

I'm weepy already.

[r216] he’s looked that way since 2002

R214 Well, that was in the beginning of Morrison's career. He did that, Hairspray, Broadway Bares, and South Pacific. Sexual in those roles somewhat but then he quickly backed away from it. And he wasn't very good at it then either. And if you saw him at BB, he was sooooo uncomfortable. He's embarrassed about Broadway Bares and rightly so. His Humpty Dumpty number was goofy, not sexy in the slightest bit. He should've jumped to primo leading man status after South Pacific. He had the attention of so many people who were lusting after him and then he did Glee where we was made to be the old geek wimpy teacher. Horrible choice. And then the Grinch live? Awful role choices. He became a joke. His body was beautiful (still might be) from head to toe but he's not comfortable with it in a sexual way. And then once he married the Asian and became super Christian it was really over. Which, by the way, all screams closet case to me.

[quote]then he did Glee where we was made to be the old geek wimpy teacher.

Uh huh.

R220 And that was it. That was played for comedy and to be silly when really he should've been in the tight gold shorts playing Rocky. No jokes intended.

*r16- Tveit never smiles when he acts. He takes everything so seriously. Even Grease and Schmigadoon. John Travolta and John Raitt smiled and we’re all charm.

*re: Spring Awakening’s development, I played Moritz in one of the workshops co-starring Gavin Creel, Lea Michele, Frank Wood, and Michael McElroy (whose character was cut). At one point, I clarified what the show was and how we were presenting it and Michael Mayer said “Someone! Write that down!” Feels cool to have had that kind of impact on the development of a show even though I don’t get a dime for it because it was an “expiramental production” contract.” I liked working with Lea, by the way, and had another pleasant encounter with her right before she got Glee.

*I don’t think of POTO and Wicked as warhorses. We’ve only seen one production of them. I think of shows like Oklahoma and South Pacific as warhorses. There have been thousands of productions.

*Didn’t Ken Page sing, act, and dance in Ain’t Misbehavin?

*r160- “not acting at all” is actually a good thing when performing great material imo.

*I saw The Producers many times from the rehearsal room to Chicago tryout to Broadway and LOVED every second of it. That said, I’m not sure “Keep It Gay” would land well today.

The following video belongs in this thread. Despite what I said about acting, I kind of like this. Going in the complete opposite direction lol.

Hopefully in the Spring Awakening Doc they discuss how Lea refused to speak to Jonathan after he got a Tony nom and she didn't.

[quote] What leading man in a meh movie to stage adaptation plays mr. nice guy, but is really a cheating phony offstage?

Is "Mr Nice Guy" a clue? That would lead one toward Billy Crystal, Mr Saturday Night although I've heard he's nice and I don't think he cheats, that is a long marriage

R219, What about Piazza?

R224, Rob McClure?

That was my thought, r226.

I'm still leaning toward Tveit or Brightman (because their shows fit the "meh" description a lot better. While McClure seems like a nice guy, the consensus is that Doubtfire is downright awful).

Morrison seemed fine posing shirtless for Details cover

But are there any other clues in the item?

[Quote] His body was beautiful (still might be) from head to toe

You must be referring to his cock head. The man looks like Quagmire.

I think the leading man in the meh musical based on a film is Santino Fontana. Worked with at The Guthrie when he was still a grad student at U of M and that boy got around and knew how to werk a room.

Any reports on Plaza Suite with SJP and Michael McGrath? It was probably so much better

[quote] I've heard many people say that they didn't get the lyrics of of "Send In The Clowns" - people who knew the song, not the show. People were moved by the music. The lyrics don't matter to many people.

They should have asked me to sing it. I know all of the words.

Even if McGrath is great ((and I’m sure he is) audiences want to see Parker with Broderick who will be out until the 15th. Imagine back in the day when audiences at Over Here found out they would be seeing one Andrew Sister and an understudy. I’d ask for a refund.

Doubtfire is hardly awful. Jerry Zaks(‘s associate) does a nice job with it. I’d say “meh” is a good descriptor. Tootsie, now that was awful.

With Broderick out can you get tickets at TKTS? Or is it sold out so that you could only get canceled tickets at box office for full price?

r237

[quote] Hopefully in the Spring Awakening Doc they discuss how Lea refused to speak to Jonathan after he got a Tony nom and she didn't.

Go look up the Jamie Lee Curtis podcast with the two of them (“Good Friend”) from last fall. Lea not only stopped speaking to him, she ignored him and refused to interact with him off-stage for over a week before he finally started crying in her dressing room and had to APOLOGIZE to her for being nominated when she wasn’t. Then she forgave him.

She’s a ghoul but he also seems mentally unstable to accept that sort of treatment from someone. Then again he dated Zach Quinto for years so he obviously has a thing for assholes.

Groff has spoken about his family's relationship to his homosexuality. Conditional love is probably all he's ever known.

Groff made his boyfriend sit in the nosebleeds at the Tonys. He's no victim.

[QUOTE] Go look up the Jamie Lee Curtis podcast with the two of them (“Good Friend”) from last fall. Lea not only stopped speaking to him, she ignored him and refused to interact with him off-stage for over a week before he finally started crying in her dressing room and had to APOLOGIZE to her for being nominated when she wasn’t. Then she forgave him.

WOW. She really is just beyond. Did she have a mini-breakdown when Geoff was nominated for Hamilton?

You’ll never get a nomination, Lea. NEVER.

[quote]because it was an “expiramental production”

And they say actors are dumb

R239 Just listened to it, it lasted a day, not a week. And they said it's because she left him a voicemail congratulating him which he didn't return, and that's what he was apologising for.

Don't get me wrong, the fact she tells this story with no regrets or shame shows she's still a cunt, but you're twisting it to make it sound worse than it was. From 35m03s at the link if anyone wants to listen for themselves.

Oh, she does describe herself and Groff as Wendla/Melchior as an "iconic theatre couple". The delusion.

I want to hear more about Santino Fontana getting around and working a room.

Aaron Tveit is asexual.

The best moment of all time was Jessica Lange ignoring Lea Michele on the red carpet. No matter how many times she shits in a wig, snubs her best friend because of his success, bullies a co-star, sings Barbra Streisand songs in an angry tone on seldom watched award shows, or makes an ex-boyfriend’s death all about herself, that will always be the BEST way to remember her.

[quote]*I saw The Producers many times from the rehearsal room to Chicago tryout to Broadway and LOVED every second of it. That said, I’m not sure “Keep It Gay” would land well today.

Well, certainly not in the Tallahassee Elementary school production.

Wow, I would have sworn on my life that Lea Michele had been nominated for Spring Awakening. They must have really hated her if they chose both Audra (for a flop revival no one liked) and Debra Monk (who was hardly a lead) over her.

[QUOTE] Wow, I would have sworn on my life that Lea Michele had been nominated for Spring Awakening. They must have really hated her if they chose both Audra (for a flop revival no one liked) and Debra Monk (who was hardly a lead) over her.

What year was this? I assume Audra won?

It was 2007. Christine Ebersole won for GG.

[quote] What year was this? I assume Audra won?

Whatever year it was, you can assume Audra won.

Dah dah da da-daaaaah

R222 You know, let’s be real. Those who criticize CZJ’s Desiree don’t take into account just how severely handicapped she was by her age at the time.

You can’t push a barely pubescent ingenue into that role and expect fireworks! They should have kept her as Fredrika, as she was originally cast.

Still can't believe there was ever a year Audra lost a Tony.

Lea claims she left a voicemail. She's lying. She said she didn't want to call each other after the nominations. Bitch thought she was a lock on one. When she didn't get one, she expected Jonathan to call and console her. He respected her wishes and she decided to make it all about her and ruin his big moment.

Groff was a Mennonite. They learn from a very early age to be passive. Lea probably knew that and used it to her advantage.

Groff has a small penis.

Why did she think she was a lock for a lead nomination that year? She was almost a complete nobody.

I bet there were some racist ravings about Audra getting one that day (her former co-star).

Matthew Broderick has tested positive for COVID

Wasn't "Spring Awakening" the hottest musical at the time? It doesn't surprise me that she expected a nod.

R261 see R179.

[quote] Still can't believe there was ever a year Audra lost a Tony.

That bitch wins sometimes when she isn't even nominated!

yes r261 we know

see r179 and r200 et al

Is it true that Broderick has COVID???

An old post from Broadway World:

*

Now that Ms. Chenoweth has joined the mix, we have quite a bunch of leading lady possibilities for this category.

Leading Actress in a Musical Tony Nominee Contenders:

Kristin Chenoweth, THE APPLE TREE

Christine Ebersole, GREY GARDENS

Charlotte D'Amboise, A CHORUS LINE

Laura Bell Bundy, LEGALLY BLONDE

Ashley Brown, MARY POPPINS

Jenn Colella, HIGH FIDELITY

Lea Michele, SPRING AWAKENING

Debra Monk, CURTAINS

Audra McDonald, 110 IN THE SHADE

Stephanie J. Block, THE PIRATE QUEEN

(Daphne Rubin-Vega, LES MISERABLES?)

Wait. Broderick appeared on Seth Meyers last night and that tapes late in the afternoon. Did he get tested after that appearance, and, if so, will Seth be out for the rest of the week, too. So he was tested at the theatre immediately after?

Even with Charlotte’s Cassie going to Featured, there still wasn’t enough room for FLea.

Would Tony winner and standby Michael McGrath be better known if his name wasn't pronounced Michael McGraw (which it is)?

[quote] An old post from Broadway World

Get a life.

[QUOTE] Get a life.

What is your problem, you old whore? I’m glad that person posted that.

I'd forgotten that Kristin wasn't nominated for Apple Tree. And the list doesn't include nominee Donna Murphy for Love Musik.

r272 I take it back. It was meant to be a slam on BWW not the poster.

You’re forgiven, dear at R274.

R225 I didn't mention PIAZZA because he was only a legit romantic lead in that. Adorable and everyone loved him. Beautiful voice but not sexy. That's why South Pacific was the perfect combo. He was a legit romantic lead but was also playing a soldier, shirtless, and he has the shower scene. My sisters were practically drooling when that show was over. However when he showed up on GLEE later they didn't even recognize him. He didn't keep that same vibe. Even when he showed up looking absolutely fuckable years later in FINDING NEVERLAND with the beard, his hairy chest, some more muscle, I thought daddy is here. But nope. He followed that up with that stupid Ryan Murphy camp show making him into a joke again and then "The Grinch Live". R229 That details cover is akin to a candid on the beach. That's not sexual. I would say nice bod and not even remember his face. R231 haha. I get it. Sometimes his face doesn't look as good sometimes as other times but I like it. Especially with a beard.

[quote] I take it back. It was meant to be a slam on BWW not the poster.

But why? It's nothing different than any of us would do on here.

[quote]That's why South Pacific was the perfect combo. He was a legit romantic lead but was also playing a soldier, shirtless, and he has the shower scene.

Lt. Cable does not have a "shower scene" in SOUTH PACIFIC, though he is shirtless in the "Younger Than Springtime" scene.

I've always thought Morrison would have had much less of a career if he hadn't built up his body into something really beautiful for a while there, because that was the only thing that made him stand out -- not his singing voice, his acting ability, or even his face, all of which are unexceptional.

The guy who played Cable in the TV broadcast was so dour.

Morrison was dour through most of SP also. Apparently this was due to Bartlett Sher's extremely weird conception of the character, because yes, Andrew Samonsky played it the same way.

R278 He did have a brief shower scene in that production. Along with some other guys who were a little more nude. You could barely see anything but it was the suggestion. What are you talking about? Were you even there?

I just listened to that podcast and I agree with R257. I find it hard to believe Groff would lie about her not calling him. She obviously never did and she wanted him to call her immediately to console her. He didn’t call her because he was too busy celebrating, so she decided to punish him for it.

R278 And so what if his bangin bod was the only thing that made him stand out (even though that's not true at all) it's still one of his attributes. Along with his very beautiful voice. Probably the best American Male Pop/Musical Theatre voice today that we know of. He's miles better than ugly ass mouse face Aaron Tveit. That's the career he should have. Who is better? Jeremy Jordan? Aaron Tveit? Please.

I’m sure Lea hates Donna Murphy to this day for taking “her” spot. You can tell she’s a cunt who can hold and nurture a grudge.

At reply 83 in the thread below, I posted a link to a late 1980s benefit performance of Glynis Johns. The first part of the video featured "You Must Meet My Wife" and Glynis' line readings were great. Unfortunately, the video has since been made private. I should have saved the damn video from the site when I had the chance.

If anyone should have bitched about a snub that year it was Kristin who was quite good in Apple Tree

Matthew Morrison is as vanilla as they come. You forget him on your way out of the theater. Plus, he doesn’t fit neatly into a specific category. He’s not really romantic lead and he’s not character actor.

Jeremy Jordan and Aaron Tveit and all these other guys aren't vanilla? Lmao. FOH.

No, 281, Matthew Morrison as Cable was NOT one of the guys in the shower scene in SOUTH PACIFIC. Were YOU even there? I guess you and your "sisters" fantasized that moment.

[quote]I saw The Producers many times from the rehearsal room to Chicago tryout to Broadway and LOVED every second of it.

There's no accounting for taste.

R283 must be Bart Sher. Matthew Morrison sings fine within his limitations (the climax of "Younger Than Springtime" was beyond his limitations), but his voice isn't exceptional in any way. I'm not a Tveit fan, but yes, Jeremy Jordan is far more talented as a singer, and his voice is vastly superior to MM's in terms of range, beauty, and power.

[quote]If anyone should have bitched about a snub that year it was Kristin who was quite good in Apple Tree

Everyone had already seen her play the part at Encores the year before. Plus the Broadway production was a Roundabout production filled mostly with subscription audiences. Plus people were pissed off that she was abandoning Broadway for Hollywood.

[quote]Jeremy Jordan and Aaron Tveit and all these other guys aren't vanilla? Lmao. FOH.

Keep on laughing your ass off, but Jeremy Jordan is not remotely "vanilla." He has loads of energy and charismat in all of his shows, apparently even the ones that didn't work (BONNIE AND CLYDE, FINDING NEVERLAND). I didn't see him in LITTLE SHOP recently, but I've heard reliable reports that he was great in that, as well. Comparing him to Tveit is ridiculous, IMHO.

I saw the original production and the revival of Take Me Out, and I still remember nothing about the play. It's all about the shower scenes.

Out of those three, Jeremy Jordan is the most memorable to me, but not by much. Gone are the days of the Jerry Orbachs and Robert Prestons. They were memorable and you left the theater remembering their performances. The last few crops of Broadway leading men have been competent. I know people hate on Andrew Rannells around here, but I think he's one of the more interesting musical theatre actors these days even if he's more known for other types of performances. Raul Esparza is excellent as well.

Not that it's much better for the women of Broadway. Chenoweth is probably the last woman of Broadway that I've thought had any personality whatsoever.

[quote] Jeremy Jordan and Aaron Tveit and all these other guys aren't vanilla?

Jeremy Jordan has a working class vibe about him and stands out because of that.

People keep getting Aaron Tveit mixed up with Gavin Creel and that’s why he continues to get work.

[quote]Aaron Tveit is asexual.

I sometimes think asexuals exist only on DL.

Gavin's OK. Not outstanding, not bad. Nice voice. Thank God he reportedly uses deodorant these days.

Take Me Out is porn. At least the original admitted it. For some reason, Second Stage insists they’re reviving a serious play. If there wasn’t so much dick, nobody would care about all that blather.

I need a good closeup of Jesse's swinging bat.

Gavin has a beautiful voice but not the cutest thing. R293 I will. Lmao. Because you are out of your mind. Jeremy Jordan not vanilla? And ketchup is a very very spicy food, right? R291 R295 Get your hearing checked. Awful choices. It's people like you that keep them in business. Awful taste. R289 But you do remember there was a shower scene. I rest my case. And you think I'm lying about having sisters? Haha. You weirdos accuse people of the oddest things.

Doesn't Jeremy Jordan fart a lot?

Jeremy Jordan definitely has the best voice of any of the “new-ish crop” of leading men mentioned here, though Josh Young is quite remarkable in that department, as well. It’s a shame there aren’t any decent roles for them in new musicals since they could definitely soar with the right material, especially if tailor-made to their strengths.

Brilliant character actress RAE ALLEN has died. A true working actor with hundreds of credits in all media, she most famously created the role of girl reporter Gloria Thorpe in Damn Yankees ("Shoeless Joe from Hannibal, MO") on Broadway (and recreated her role in the film) and won a Tony Award for ...and Miss Reardon Drinks a Little. RIP

Agree about Jeremy Jordan!

I happened to see a workshop of the often work-shopped musical of EVER AFTER in which Jeremy played the Prince and he brought out so much charm and comedy that wasn't there in the writing. And then a few years later I saw DL Fave James Snyder in the same role at Paper Mill and, though Snyder might have been more classically handsome, he had none of Jeremy's charisma.

I you go to the ballet regularly, you get used to performers farting onstage. Ever tried to hold one in while performing a grand jeté ?

Wow, Allen was 95! She was great, and among her many achievements was dying just in time to break the monotony of the truly boring Jordan-Creel-Morrison-Tveit chat.

See for yourself.

If Matthew Morrison hadn’t starred in Glee, we would never be discussing him now. He’s only a name because of that TV show.

MM and Lea both got Emmy nominations Glee’s first year. I remember her swanning across E’s red carpet.

Is Jeremy Jordan even a decent actor? Crap like "Supergirl" seems his rightful lane.

Is Jeremy Jordan even a decent actor? Crap like "Supergirl" seems his rightful lane.

Some things are simply not discussed, r306!

Rae Allen was among those interviewed for "Tab Hunter Confidential."

I loathed Jeremy Jordan on SMASH. Part of it was his truly obnoxious character and the absurd storyline (remember "HITLIST" at Manhattan Theatre Workshop?) I thought his voice was okay but he failed to impress me with either his looks or his ability as an actor.

I've since come around to liking him very much as an actor and a singer. He seems both serious and down-to-earth.

Very few were shown to advantage on SMASH.

Please. He sucks and that's why no one cares about him. He yells and yodels. That's not beauty. Neither is that scrunched up face.

[quote] Rae Allen was among those interviewed for "Tab Hunter Confidential."

Poor thing was bored to death. Oh, no, that was the audience.

R299, I really don't think the original production of TAKE ME OUT admitted that the play was "porn" any more than the current one. What makes you say that?

I do think the original production would have had a far shorter run if it wasn't for the full-frontal nudity, and I've always said the same about L!V!C!

Six understudies on at Company today. They’re moving in the right direction.

Understudies are usually just fine. And then there's Nancy Hess.

[quote] I've always said the same about L!V!C!

LVC was an off-Broadway play pushed onto a Broadway stage. It should have played the Lortel.

How much do you think Bebe LOVED working with Nancy.

I saw DL's beloved Lenora Nemetz go on for both Gwen and Chita in the original Chicago and never wanted my money back.

I saw Hess go on for Bebe and I did want my money back but the box office was closed at intermission.

[quote]But you do remember there was a shower scene.

I remember there was a shower scene in SOUTH PACIFIC, and I also remember that Lt. Cable IS NOT in it, as he has never been in any production of that show. You are insane and delusional in addition to the fact that you have no taste when it comes to talent.

I still think they should dig Tony Walton's scenery and Poison Ivey Long's costumes out of storage and put on a limited revival of Jerry Zak's 'Guys and Dolls'.

They did this sort of thing all the time in the 60s, 70s, even 80s... Would be the ultimate in nostalgia! And boost tourism.

Stunt cast it and bolster it with Nathan Lane, maybe try Ewan McGregor as Sky. Cast Lady Gaga as Adelaide! Kelli O'Hara as Sister Sarah.

Is Nancy Hess a gasoline heiress?

[quote]If Matthew Morrison hadn’t starred in Glee, we would never be discussing him now. He’s only a name because of that TV show.

Agreed, although B. Sher tried to make Morrison a stage star, to the point of casting him in two roles for which he wasn't the best choice in PIAZZA and SOUTH PACIFIC.

Jeremy Jordan is a real talent with an exceptionally good singing voice, and TAB HUNTER CONFIDENTIAL was an excellent documentary film. Is R315 and R316 the same person with his taste in his ass, or two different people with their taste in their asses.

R326. No but I saw her go up in flames in Chicago.

Can someone explain what is happening in the photo at R308, please? Thank you.

Haha R324 Wrong. R327 Wrong. R328 Wrong.

Are there Nancy Hess bootlegs out there? She's open named as stinking up the joint. I'm curious if I'd agree.

*often named

Did anyone see Leonora Nemetz go on for LuPone in GYPSY? Nemetz was no longer the understudy afterwards.

R331 = deranged.

So why hasn’t Jeremy Jordan had a breakout moment yet?

[quote] Can someone explain what is happening in the photo at [R308], please? Thank you.

Jonathan Groff's frontal from the film " Twelve Thirty."

Rae

In a day and age when people call Ben Platt a star, Jeremy Jordan is Robert freakin' Preston.

[quote]So why hasn’t Jeremy Jordan had a breakout moment yet?

I guess you missed it, but he had a breakout moment when he was in NEWSIES at Paper Mill, then in BONNIE AND CLYDE on Broadway, and it looked like he wouldn't be able to do the Broadway NEWSIES but then BONNIE AND CLYDE closed. He got a lot of attention for that, and NEWSIES would probably have been even bigger for him if Disney hadn't fucked up in the way they handled that show.

I feel bad for Lenora. I know she had the life she wanted but she could have easily had a good career in the 80s-90s. She would have done well replacing Beechmam in Joseph, Buckley in Cats and would have made a great Witch in Into the Woods after Bernadette left.

Lenora was great as Rose. I found out she was going on at the last minute and bought a ticket. Very nervous at first but once she relaxed she was great. Story is she went to Laurents after that performance and asked him to find someone else to cover Patti so they hired Linda Balgord as standby. She went on twice. Didn’t see her but based on the bootleg audio I have she wasn’t very good. Lenora is the star that should have been. I can’t believe they cast Nancy Opel over her for Mazzeppa at Encores.

[quote] DL's beloved Lenora Nemetz

Is she really beloved, lovingly teased (like Karen Ziemba) or was that sarcasm?

HELLO LENORA!

and...

Speaking of Matthew and Kristen, a true highlight from "Glee".

Jesse Williams ‘terrified’ of showing his big bat.

Oh dear that curtain call bit is still in the show.

Anyone else getting a little sick of Take Me Out and/or Williams being so "Golly gee!" about the nudity?

Playwrights Horizons doing the play Catch as Catch Can (3 actors play all the characters of two working class Irish and Italian families. And, get this - the cast will be entirely Asian in this production because appropriation is a-ok if it's done to people who (in 2022) are considered "white". BRAVE!!!

[quote] The actor — who has nothing to be shy about down below, as Page Six saw a performance of “Take Me Out”

How fucking tacky

[quote] Jeremy Jordan is a real talent with an exceptionally good singing voice, and TAB HUNTER CONFIDENTIAL was an excellent documentary film. Is [R315] and [R316] the same person with his taste in his ass, or two different people with their taste in their asses.

It's nice that you're so easily pleased. How fun for you!

Lenora Nemetz didn't have a sound. You need a sound.

[quote] Playwrights Horizons doing the play Catch as Catch Can (3 actors play all the characters of two working class Irish and Italian families. And, get this - the cast will be entirely Asian in this production because appropriation is a-ok if it's done to people who (in 2022) are considered "white". BRAVE!!!

Well, how many Asian actors and performers were not hired because their characters were played by whites? I guess it's okay for whites to appropriate Asian parts.

Not okay, either, R354. We are talking about now. That would absolutely be unacceptable now and you know it.

Can anyone link to pics of deceased cabaret singer Andy Garcia? It's tricky to search for him when the Hollywood star takes up all the results.

How long has it been unacceptable?

Wow, Matt the Loon is really stinking up this thread.

Exactly, R355. And also, umm, two wrongs don't make a right, even if we weren't talking about then and now.

I see they are starting with the sympathy PR for Beanie..."she was made to feel ashamed for her weight". It has to be a direct response to some of her critics about her performance in FG.

Has she been reviewed yet?

I can see the headline now- Two Tons of Fun!

I think its still in previews...but those that have seen it have not been kind.

Lenora has a sound...

[quote] Not okay, either, [R354]. We are talking about now. That would absolutely be unacceptable now and you know it.

Oh, really?

Oh, really?

In the comic books, Ancient One is an elderly Asian man, so how did Tilda Swinton, a non-Asian, non-male-identified actor land the role in Marvel’s live-action film? In a statement to Mashable, the studio defended Swinton’s casting by saying "'Ancient One' is a title that is not exclusively held by any one character" — similar to James Bond. Nevertheless, Swinton and the movie itself were called out for whitewashing and continue to defend their casting decisions.

Oh, really?

M. Night Shyamalan’s "The Last Airbender" was a live-action film based on the anime show "Avatar: The Last Airbender." Although the TV series was not based on a particular culture, it was heavily influenced by East Asian culture and inspired by Japanese anime.

Shyamalan’s movie cast white actors as Asian and Native American characters. In fact, the only Asian in a main role in the film is Dev Patel, who was cast as the villain, a choice that many have called racist.

Shyamalan has defended his casting decisions, but claims of "yellowface" and whitewashing continue to follow the film to this day.

Damn. David Byrd was campy as hell. Was he as exhausting when a camera wasn't around?

Amsel!

Speaking of Bette, wasn't Rachael Lily Rosenbloom written for her?

It was at least offered to her and she turned it down.

r365 r366 r367 all of your examples are at least 5 years old. THIS IS 2022. Catch up.

Poor Ellen...

Did Anita Morris get second billing in Rachel Lilly etc.?

It looks like that in the youtube clip.

She had a large role?

(was she always so busty and sex kittenish as she was in Nine and films? She was in the chorus of Jesus Christ Superstar. You'd think with the bright red hair and huge figure she'd stand out too much of the chorus. I read she was up for a replacement Cassie in ACL. Hard to see that unless her demeanor was different.)

[quote]and huge figure

I...can't.

[quote]"she was made to feel ashamed for her weight"

This probably has something to do with her being big as a HOUSE.

Ellen looks like Mario Cantone in drag in R373's pic.

Paul Ford tells a funny story about Ellen Greene in his new book about auditioning to replace Bernadette in Sunday, Sondheim loved her but asked her to “drop the accent” which she wasn’t aware even existed. Patti and Betty also auditioned. None of them got the gig.

[quote] (and Beanie's Fanned Out?)

I'm not American and I haven't read this thread.

I've seen the movie Funny Girl but I don't know what 'Fanned Out' means. I realise it rhymes with 'band out' but I've googled for idioms and can find no sensible meaning for 'fan out' other than for army manoeuvres.

In baseball, "fanned out" means to get three strikes, R379.

Thank you, R380

Three Wongs Don't Make It White

[quote]Speaking of Bette, wasn't Rachael Lily Rosenbloom written for her?

She turned it down and in fact was selling out the Palace the same week Rachael Lily Rosenbloom opened and closed.

[quote]Did Anita Morris get second billing in Rachel Lilly etc.?

Yes, billed right under Ellen. Hard to see but I saved and enlarged it to read. Third billed was Marion Ramsey of "Police Academy" fame.

So Maryann Plunkett beat out Patti, Betty and Ellen Greene for Sunday? That’s amazing. She was great but you would think they would have gone with a bigger name.

Can we please have more information about the glorious, sexy, charismatic, charming SANTINO FONTANA?

Thank you.

Patti is very open about how Sondheim wasn’t a big fan of hers until much later in her career. He told Betty Buckley to her face that he hated her music. Elaine Stritch wasn’t his bestie and Sondheim also wasn’t a big fan of Barbra Streisand until the 1980s. He didn’t like her voice when Arthur Laurent’s took him to see her at the Bon Sair.

He also said MANY times he only watched a Star Is Born for James Mason, not Judy Garland.

He wasn’t a big fan of the brassy dame. I think a lot of it stemmed with internalized homophobia and his awful relationship with his mother. Or he was just a prick.

He liked Lee Remick, Barbara Cook and Bernadette Peters.

I think it was just personal taste on the type of voice he responded to.

He also seemed to like Liz Callaway - now there's one who never had the breakout role.

The only two brassy dames in the Sondheim canon (Rose and the Mayoress) are both villains, FWIW

I think you're conflating voices and personalities, r387. I don't think he liked Lee Remick for her voice, for instance, and I don't think he disliked Stritch because of hers.

Sondheim was not a fan of great singers. He preferred actors with small voices who could sing well enough. Like Bernadette.

Oh no, at one of her Cafe Carlyle performances, Barbara talked glowingly about Stephen Sondheim, and with that perennial ingenue voice and face said to him "Stephen, I'm so glad I know you!"

To which Stephen snapped back "Barbara, you don't know me at all."

Cue the audience gasp while clutching their very real, very expensive pearls.

True story, r382?

Don't believe r392 for a second.

If you mean me, and not r 382, then yes. 100 % true.

Re: the R392 post, Barbara told that story in public but the exchange took place in private, not during a performance at the Cafe Carlyle.

r396's version seems more credible. I don't think he'd have done that in public.

I can see going with Maryann Plunkett if Sondheim and Lapine wanted to stick close to the Bernadette interpretation of the role. With the other ladies, that would not have been the case at all. And Plunkett was a rising Broadway star at the time with starring roles in Me and My Girl and with Tony Randall's rep company.

Barbara told the story at the Carlyle. The exchange did not happen there..I thought I was quite clear.

R392, your writing was anything but clear.

I don't see anything outrageous or rude about Sondheim's response....wherever he said it.

Stephen Sondheim and Barbara Cook had a very friendly personal and professional relationship. I think Sondheim made that comment in the sense that nobody really knows another person. He sometimes said strange and startling things--I think he enjoyed the shocked reactions.

Not buying it.

This was pre Me and My Girl and Randall’s rep, wasn’t it? At that point Plunkett was known for Agnes of God.

Which begs the question: is Beanie a Phyllis or a Sally? Or a Hattie or a Stella? Or a Petra? Or a Commodore Perry's warship?

To be fair to everyone the only person who really knew Barbara Cook was Barbara Cook. Even Wally Harper only got so far into that situation

I'm sure that's true, r406, but the question was whether Sondheim really said she does't know him, not the other way round.

Did Wally Harper get far into Sondheim's "situation"?

Wow, r408, you really had to reach for that one.

I'm going to use that curtain call for our Pepper Pot Players production of MAME this summer.....it'll be just perfect for Conni Su Metcalf who will be playing the lead - shhhhhhhhhhh, we haven't had auditions yet.

[quote]Stephen Sondheim and Barbara Cook had a very friendly personal and professional relationship. I think Sondheim made that comment in the sense that nobody really knows another person. He sometimes said strange and startling things--I think he enjoyed the shocked reactions.

I believe you're right about that. Knowing that so many people viewed him as God, I think Sondheim would sometimes make very odd pronouncements just to get a kick out of people's reactions. Also, on a related note, it seems to me that he contradicted himself many times over the years.

PARADISE SQUARE last night: the leading lady was out as well as the featured actor playing the runaway slave (one of two featured dance leads).

The standby/understudy both did heroic jobs. Aisha Jackson (in for Joaquino Kalukango) in particular was lovely.

But... WTF? The show opened on Sunday.

And yes, PARADISE is a mess. But it's mostly on a writing level. A bad book. A not great score.

Good effort, anyway, with an original musical that features dance so heavily. Some wonderful moments there.

Have I seen Paradise Square? Might I replace the leading lady and shoehorn a 7th Tony?

[Quote] Sondheim was not a fan of great singers. He preferred actors with small voices

Julia McKenzie rather confounds that assertion.

Didn't Sondheim write for Yvonne De Carlo with the intent of showing off her wide vocal range?

I don't think Sondheim liked great singers either. He even said he prefers a character voice over a pretty voice.

Was he forced to use George Hearn?

[quote]Was he forced to use George Hearn?

Umm, of course, a lot depends on the role. For example, I'm sure Sondheim liked having a legit voice for SWEENEY TODD but would not have wanted one for Desiree.

[quote]Third billed was Marion Ramsey of "Police Academy" fame.

Don't forget GWTW...the Musical, r384!

[quote]So Maryann Plunkett beat out Patti, Betty and Ellen Greene for Sunday? That’s amazing. She was great but you would think they would have gone with a bigger name.

She really is the only Dot out of those four, r385. And Greene wasn't really a *name*.

Love her, r388, but I think the problem is she doesn't have a strong, distinct persona. A diva needs that. She just seems...really, really nice. But she definitely has the pipes.

[Quote] would not have wanted one for Desiree.

Why? Did he not often write for the voices he had?

Liz never looked like an ingenue. She looked like an ingenue's friend.

Liz Callaway does seem like a sweetheart. Lovely voice.

But she doesn't have a look.

I think Sondheim would have been particularly careful of Barbara's feelings. The story's just off somehow, but whatever.

[quote]Did he not often write for the voices he had?

I have no idea what you mean by "the voices he had." To repeat, I don't think Sondheim would have wanted to have someone with a legit voice cast as Desiree. I know that Sally Ann Howes eventually did the role, and I don't know how Sondheim really felt about that.

Here's an interesting P.S. I remember reading that Glynis Johns said she did have a soprano register and could have sung all of "Send in the Clowns" in that register if the key had been raised a bit, but Sondheim and/or Prince did not want that.

[Quote] I have no idea what you mean by "the voices he had."

Well, there's a quote from Sondheim about how Mandy sings "up there" and Bernadette sings "down there." He was talking about writing for them.

[Quote] To repeat, I don't think Sondheim would have wanted to have someone with a legit voice cast as Desiree.

You've stated it, yes, with scarcely anything about why you think that.

It's terrible that Sondheim had to put up with Doroth Collins. What he really needed was someone with the vocal range and beauty of Debbie Reynolds. Or Shirley MacLaine.

*Dorothy

*Dorcas

[quote]There's a quote from Sondheim about how Mandy sings "up there" and Bernadette sings "down there." He was talking about writing for them.

But, of course, he didn't have to agree to their casting to begin with if their voices were not what he wanted for those roles. Understand?

As for Desiree, if he wanted someone with a legit voice for that role, obviously he could have and would have insisted that someone with a voice like that should be cast.

'I am not a commodity!!'

Well Steve you kind of are. Like Rodgers and Hammerstein.

Yeah isnt it well known Sondheim preferred actors who could sing? Acting came first.

[r432] I don’t know what you are talking about!

Is the thinking really that a nostalgic documentary about Spring Awakening would really jump start Lea's career? Seems like a big leap and let's be honest her career was stalled well before all the Glee folk ran out and talked about her cuntitude.

Let's be honest, Sondheim though a genius... could also be a massive dick.

but did he HAVE a massive dick?

He was a very cute Jewish boy. Had he been a classmate I would have been smitten.

Meanwhile, here in the present tense...

Shock all over the Rialto (and at The Public) for the complete dismissal of SUFFS by the critics. The NYTimes is particularly sharp. So much for selling the brand instead of creating a good show.

And hopefully Leigh will now be kept far away from new musicals. Between this and "Soft Power"...

But didn't Sondheim write "Losing My Mind" for Phyllis but Alexis Smith was cast...

I don't think you've made a good case for your assertion about voices when it comes to Sondheim's work.

My take is that Sondheim was adaptable. He wasn't pro or anti any particular voice type or style.

What is SUFFS?

You don't cast Bernadette Peters if you prize acting above all else.

[r441] wow. That was fucking low. I’ll have you know I surprised both the audience and myself NIGHTLY at Gypsy.

[quote] What is SUFFS?

Someone should create a site where you could search the interwebs for information. They could call it... google. But since you're unaware:

A musical event one hundred years in the making, SUFFS brings to life a complicated chapter in the ongoing battle for the right to vote: the American women’s suffrage movement. Written by and featuring one of the most exciting new voices in theater, Shaina Taub, this epic new musical takes an unflinching look at these unsung trailblazers. In the seven years leading up to the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920, an impassioned group of suffragists—“Suffs” as they called themselves—took to the streets, pioneering protest tactics that transformed the country. They risked their lives as they clashed with the president, the public, and each other. A thrilling story of brilliant, flawed women working against and across generational, racial, and class divides, SUFFS boldly explores the victories and failures of a fight for equality that is still far from over.

I Have Sufficient...the Musical, r440?

Like most people, Sondheim got fixes on people (both pro and con) and like most, that fix could tip the balance, regardless of voice or acting ability.

Apparently the critics didn't buy The Public's hype.

I thought Sondheim tried to be especially nice to people after his bitchy bitter inner queen exploded in that Newsweek cover story.

[quote]What is SUFFS?

The worst title of a musical since Grind.

maybe the worst title since "Goldilocks" -- which sounded like a kid's show and actually had a great score and cast

r423 Sondheim liked Liz C. as a singer and said as much at a party I attended. She isn't much of a presence onstage, better actors would blow her away, although she may have made a decent Petra at one time.

It's well, well known and has been often mentioned here that Losing My Mind was written to be Alexis Smith's 11 o'clock number but she went to Prince, Sondheim and Bennett during rehearsals and said something like "This is Dorothy's number, not mine Give me something else."

And she was absolutely right, it was The Hit Parade girl's song.

Give Alexis props. And she was rewarded with the "The Story of Lucy and Jessie" eventually, which she performed and hit out of the park!

Liz Callaway was terrific in "Baby", which has a really good score. But she hadn't really a good followup. Her role in "Miss Saigon" wasn't showy and she did Grizabella in "Cats" years after people who could help her career wouldn't dare go so it.

Sondheim preferred voices that sounded like the singer had been flayed alive while being forced to eat ground glass.

Come on , Fifi D'Orsay wasn't that bad.

I never heard or read that he'd complained about the quality of anyone's voice. He dragged Betty Lynn because her "stylings" fucked with his music, which is fair comment even if he was harsh with her. I'm sure if he had any idea that she was going to cobble together a new album from her old recordings of his stuff he'd come back and haunt her.

Some of the SUFFS reviews are quite positive. My bet is they keep going.

[Quote] A musical event one hundred years in the making

Jenna Elfman's Broadway debut?

Sondheim only told Betty Lynn that after she pressed him over not getting feeback on the CDs she sent him.

[Quote] Give Alexis props. And she was rewarded with the "The Story of Lucy and Jessie" eventually, which she performed and hit out of the park!

Alexis knew what she had.

Why did Dolores Gray drop out of Goldilocks? Hollywood commitments?

[Quote] Like most people, Sondheim got fixes on people (both pro and con) and like most, that fix could tip the balance, regardless of voice or acting ability.

Some people even had to leave the country over it.

I think it's amusing reading the Sondheim Letters IG and reconciling that he'd be happy to photocopy that song and send it off to a fan in Peoria with the supposedly awful things he said to divas.

[quote]I can see going with Maryann Plunkett if Sondheim and Lapine wanted to stick close to the Bernadette interpretation of the role. With the other ladies, that would not have been the case at all. And Plunkett was a rising Broadway star at the time with starring roles in Me and My Girl and with Tony Randall's rep company.

Maryann Plunkett did "Me and My Girl" (and won the Tony as best actress in a musical for it) after she replaced Bernadette in "Sunday in the Park."

[quote]It's well, well known and has been often mentioned here that Losing My Mind was written to be Alexis Smith's 11 o'clock number but she went to Prince, Sondheim and Bennett during rehearsals and said something like "This is Dorothy's number, not mine Give me something else." And she was absolutely right, it was The Hit Parade girl's song.

I'm sure that story is completely accurate, but I've always been amazed that Sondheim initially intended that song for Phyllis. To me, it seems all wrong for the character and what's going on with her in the show. I mean, she's presumably singing about Ben, but those lyrics have almost nothing to do with their relationship as it's depicted in the show.

I saw Plunkett at the Public Theater in one of those Apple plays they did there, having seen her years ago in "Me and My Girl". She's a fantastic actress.

R465, When did she last work?

I’ve read the Kim Criswell story on here before. Did they ever patch things up?

[quote]I saw Plunkett at the Public Theater in one of those Apple plays they did there, having seen her years ago in "Me and My Girl". She's a fantastic actress.

Agreed. She is really, really great in this obscure gem of a TV movie. Well worth watching, trust me.

Plunkett works all the time. She did all those Richard Nelson plays, she pops up on various tv shows and films and she gets the Jay Sanders dick 24/7

Well, was it written for Phyllis before Alexis was cast? Sondheim would have been quite aware of the vocal limitations of the singer he was writing for.

[quote]Ben, but those lyrics have almost nothing to do with their relationship as it's depicted in the show.

You mean as it's depicted in the finished show, r464. Who knows where the characters started out and how they changed during development?

Can someone remind me the Kim Criswell Sondheim story.

Plunkett's Dot...

I'm always happy to see Plunkett pop up as a guest or supporting player in old L&O or subsidiary show episodes.

[quote]Who knows where the characters started out and how they changed during development?

Interesting point, but it's hard to believe the initial conception of Phyllis would have been SO different that it would have made sense for her to sing a torch song like that. And if Phyllis had kept "Losing My Mind," I can't imagine what other kind of song Sondheim would have written for Sally.

R462, please consider the possibility that the person to whom Sondheim offered his pick of unpublished songs was not a schmo from Ohio but instead one of a small handful of Sondheim patrons who underwrote galas, tributes, theater purchases, etc. in the 80s, 90s and onward.

In Rob Ford's new book, he praises Plunkett's Dot extravagantly.

Kim Criswell had a callback for Gussie in a Merrily production, I think the Arena Stage one. As she was about to read, Sondheim made some comment about thd fact that they were rewriting the book. Criswell said something to the effect “Ov, I’m so glad, because I saw this and it was awful!” She probably thought she was being funny, but not one laughed, least of all Sondheim.

Supposedly Sondheim told her agent he would not see Kim again for anything in the future, & that he’d think twice about seeing someone else from an agent of Kim’s. ie, he was blacklisting her.

I have no doubt that he refused to ever see her again, but I don’t believe that he tried to keep anyone else from seeing her, or blacklisted her or whatever.

Sondheim has contradicted himself over the years? Who the hell hasn't, especially over 70 years in public life.

Sondheim was especially prickly about MERRILY. The story goes that he abruptly cut off a blossoming friendship with Ricky Ian Gordon when Gordon told him he knew how to fix that show. Could be apocryphal.

Well, Kim Criswell has often been part of the BBC Proms but she was absent from the Sondheim Birthday celebration.

[quote]Sondheim has contradicted himself over the years? Who the hell hasn't, especially over 70 years in public life.

Of course, but some people honestly seem to feel he could never and would never contradict himself, because he was God. Also, he didn't always stick to his own dictum that one should never criticize another person's artistic output while they are still alive and creating....

Kim's Still Here!

Sondheim merely wrote the lyrics to "Gypsy." Jule Styne was the composer, so don't go off on the whole Sondheim's " Gypsy," as some people think of Sondheim's " West Side Story."

"Sloppy. Naïve."

-Sondheim's quote on composer William Finn's work back in the 80s. Both were very much alive at the time.

r483: huh?

Didn't Merrily's original choreographer Ron Field find himself cut off from Prince's inner circle when he came in one day and announced he'd figured out how to fix the show but no one else thought it needed fixing?

Yes and then it opened.

There's a story than Ron Field was banished by Prince, but I don't recall why.

The Ricky Ian Gordon story is true, I think. It's common knowledge that Sondheim was really devastated by Merrily's failure. Maybe because he put his heart into it.

Not quite, r486. They knew it needed fixing from the time dress rehearsals started. Prince and Field hadn’t worked together in years, and it just wasn’t working, Prince totally lost confidence in Field. Thd cast members were all relieved when Field was fired.

I saw Maryann Plunkett at the Irish Rep a few years before Covid. She was excellent in a very compelling production of Sean O’Casey’s The Plough and the Stars.

[quote]Thd cast members were all relieved when Field was fired.

And then it opened.

Mary Ann Plunkett retired from acting for at least a decade to raise her children with Jay Sanders.

I worked with Plunkett for two seasons at National Actors Theatre in the early 90s. She pretty much was the backbone of that company and Randall was damn lucky to have her. She gave incredibly good performances in some shitty productions. She and Lynn Redgrave were fantastic, but Lynn left after the first season, annoyed by Tony's incompetence and hubris. Plunkett stuck around and got rewarded with a well deserved nomination for Saint Joan.

She and Redgrave were fantastic in The Master Builder, even though it was not a successful production, critically or commercially. And Plunkett was the only good thing in their production of The Seagull.

R493, A little of Tony Randall went a long way.

KINKY BOOTS!

I had forgotten that Ron Field was the original choreographer of MERRILY, but at any rate, he was replaced by Larry Fuller -- and I believe it's well known that Prince and Fuller were romantically/sexually involved for several years. For whatever that's worth.

I saw Plukett’s Dot. She was great. She seemed to understand the character more than Bernadette did.

I'll give Tony credit for the idea and desire behind NAT and his passion for keeping it going, but he really had no idea what he was doing and pretty much shot himself in the foot from Day One.

[quote]I'll give Tony credit for the idea and desire behind NAT and his passion for keeping it going, but he really had no idea what he was doing and pretty much shot himself in the foot from Day One.

Sadly, I must agree.

sacrilege, but I agree with r497. All props to Bernadette for creating the role - and who knows what it would have been had someone else been there to create the mold - but Plunkett's natural melancholy moved me more than Bernadette ever did. I think I saw her once with an unfortunate Harry Groener - who was not a match with the role - and then with Mandy when he returned at the end of the run.

Was Sondheim's opinion of Finn aired publicly, or something he said to a friend? I'd be surprised if he said the former.

Sarah Jessica Parker tested positive for Covid. Plaza Suite has been canceled for the time being.

R482 that Kim Criswell rendition of I'M STILL HERE is terrific!

"Sarah Jessica Parker tested positive for Covid. Plaza Suite has been canceled for the time being."

Does this mean they're fucking?

Doubtful

Sarah left her strap-on in LA

This country is so stupid! They do away with protocols and masks and vaccine mandates and what the fuck did they think would happen? This is going to be the Broadway reality for the next couple years and probably every 5- 6 months or so, shows will be shut down for weeks at a time.

I was in London last week and saw 6 shows - most of the audiences at each were unmasked, maybe only 1/4 of them (and noticeably older patrons). And that was true everywhere in London, including the tube, only about 1/4 of people masked. And I'll admit, I rarely wore a mask for a week. The sunny weather was gorgeous, upper 60s, flowers blooming everywhere. It was easy to forget the pandemic ever happened.

So I consider myself VERY lucky that I tested negative for the mandatory Covid test required to return to the US the day before I flew. There are testing places all over the city but they're not outdoor pop up stands as in NYC, you have to know where to find them, though info is easily googleable. Test cost for 3 hour results was 39 pounds.

Who's the a-hole on ATC called shocktheatre? He posts constantly and is always obnoxious.

How can you distinguish him from the other a-holes on ATC?

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

If ALW had an ounce of sense he would fire her immediately. But of course then she'd sue for mental distress....

Blow...

What a pussy!

[quote]The star f ALW's Cinderella says the bullying her character gets from the Ugly Sisters is causing her real-life mental harm

Can you imagine if this stupid bitch ever played Lavinia in TITUS ANDRONICUS? Perhaps she should explore another career, like basket weaving.

Ok - way back in the thread - one of the last Blind Items - it hinted that the leading man in a musical had strong chemistry with a chorus person ( didn’t say male or female). In the late 1950s when Van Johnson played Harold Hill in London - he had an affair/relationship with one of the young male dancers. Is history repeating itself?

Wynn Murray from r512 was dynamite. When she did Babes in Arms and Boys from Syracuse in the late 30s, she was a talented but obese little teenage butter ball. Somehow she managed to lose the weight by 41 or so. (No lap band procedures then.). She wound up dying at about 35-36, but have no idea if it was related to her weight issues.

Odd to read all these posts about "Losing My Mind" that assert that the song was conceived from the get-go as Phyllis' solo. Not so.

EVERYTHING WAS POSSIBLE, p 14: "'Losing My Mind' . . .was one of the first songs finished for the Follies sequence. Sondheim's original idea was that it would be a double torch song, sung by both Sally and Phyllis, who would start at either end of a chorus line, slowly working their way toward the middle. Everyone in the chorus would have masks of Ben, since he was the object of both women's affection. That idea was discarded in favor of a[n ultimately unwritten] Jerome Kern-like song for Sally to sing while seated on a swing that would swing out over the audience. That left 'Losing My Mind' for Phyllis alone, but another song -- 'The World Is Full of Girls' -- was being played around with for her as well. Giving 'Losing My Mind' to the character of Phyllis was to emerge as a mistake before too long . . ."

Little Ricky Ian Gordon goes a long way. (And why does a man in his late 60s go by “Ricky?!”)

[quote] If ALW had an ounce of sense he would fire her immediately. But of course then she'd sue for mental distress....

Luckily he doesn’t have to; she’s leaving soon. Not that she’ll be missed. She’s one of those social media darlings who miss more performances than they show up for. When are producers going to realize that instagram followers don’t translate into ticket sales?

The show is shite anyway. I seriously hope they’re not serious about bringing it over here.

Merrily is unfixable because for the musical to work at the end, and it has one of the greatest endings in all of musical theater with Our Time on the rooftop, the cast to be at the oldest in their early 20s. You have to believe these are really kids singing. This is a major problem because for the rest of the musical especially the first half they have to have the gravitas at least physically of experience, age and disillusionment. You can't feign it and for much of the evening you're watching a bunch of kids putting on a show. It only really starts working with such a cast about 3/4s of the way through and by then it's too late. It seems from what I've read every time they try to improve it the show gets worse and the Encore's production was terrible.

I think really the only hope Prince might have had was to have worked with Aronson to give him a better handle on the physical look of the show. Not saying it would have worked but you wouldn't have felt like you were watching a high school show on the stage of a Broadway theater. When you listen to the obc you realize it was anything but.

It's nice to hear someone singing Bow Gabriel Blow without thinking this person is committing a crime against humanity and her vocal cords.

I noticed today that Paradise Square wasn't included in that "art installation" of giant Playbills. Closing notice Monday?

[quote] I don't think Sondheim liked great singers either.

He didn't need a singer who could carry a melody because he never provided a song which had a melody!

Does SJP have an understudy/standby?

Broderick and Horseface are CARRIERS.

I’m going to see How I Learned to Drive on Saturday night. Please stay healthy, MLP!

Erin Dilly r524

I never realized that Plunkett was basically the only other Dot. Joslyn only did a week

Bernie stayed almost a year but Mandy left after only a few months and then came back to close it My memory was that she left sooner. 🤷‍♀️

Sondheim included a William Finn song in his list of "Songs I Wish I'd Written," which is more than you can say for Jerry Herman or Frederick Loewe or Marvin Hamlisch or Jonathan Larson.

Betsy Joslyn played Dot long enough for production photos of her to be posted outside the theatre. She was Dot for at least a month. I saw her and she was terrific. When Plunkett came in Betsy went back to her ensemble roles.

Erin Dilly went on for SJP for one performance in Boston.

Boris Aronson was a genius but he would have been no help on MERRILY. His sensibilities were really too sophisticated. The show needed a lighter touch and would have benefited from a designer with more wit and whimsy like Tony Walton or perhaps Robin Wagner.

R531 IBDB says Joslyn did Feb 26, 1985 - Mar 10, 1985

When is Greg Kinnear coming back

[quote]But, of course, he didn't have to agree to their casting to begin with if their voices were not what he wanted for those roles. Understand?

Uh huh.

I've known Ricky Ian Gordon for years and he's a sweetheart. Yes the Sondheim story is true. If you want an interesting read, try Home Fires by Donald R. Katz. Ricky and his three older sisters were everywhere and knew everyone in post war America.

I don't care what they called themselves, but anyone spending years on a musical and then names it "Suffs" deserve to lose everything.

Sorry, r530, just checked Sondheim's 50. No Finn.

I'd rather have seen it on the FOLLIES set, r533...

"Home Fires" is a fascinating book; it really captures the excitement of the 60s for young people, and the fractures the "generation gap" caused among some familes. One of Ricky's sisters, the late Susan Lydon, wrote an equally good book, a memoir about her journalism career and heroin addiction, "Take the Long Way Home".

Paradise Square cancelled tonite. Thanks Covid!

Gee Whiz you bitter queens who trashed me for months. Who’s still playing every night? You betcha! It’s the Beanster. I’m single handedly saving Broadway by actually showing up when all these other shows close, but do I get an ounce of credit? Nope! All I get is back talk about how I can’t sing the score and a production of Funny Girl would be best served by cutting “People”

Beans.

Merrily is also preachy as fuck.

This is fascinating -- I could absolutely have sworn that Finn's song "All Fall Down" was on Sondheim's list, but I just checked the original NEW YORK TIMES article (at least as preserved on their website!), and sure enough, it's not there. Huh. Mea culpa, I guess.

I'm gonna be an asshole and ask: how many of these COVID cancellations do we think are legit? I'm suspecting some are because a show is doomed anyway (Paradise Square, A Strange Loop) and some are to build up hype for a limited run (Plaza Suite, Macbeth).

R547, Isn't Plaza Suite sold out?

Sondheim said that My Fair Lady was the most entertaining evening he ever had in the theater so it surprises me there isn't a Lerner and Loewe song. It does surprise there is a Rodgers and Hart song because he disliked Hart's work so much.

[quote]How many of these COVID cancellations do we think are legit? I'm suspecting some are because a show is doomed anyway (Paradise Square, A Strange Loop)

Even if a show is doomed, what's to be gained by canceling a performance with no good reason? Did you think about your question for even a moment before you typed it?

Oh, honey, look! Macbeth was canceled tonight due to Covid!

Ooooh, that means it's gotta be great! Let's buy tickets!!

This production of Funny Girl would be best served by closing it in previews.

Maxima maxima culpa r546

Now inadvertently climax please

[quote]Now inadvertently climax please

And pics please.

I saw the original production of Merrily with the new Frank during the final week of previews and it was dire despite having one of Sondheim's best scores. I can understand why he was crushed by its failure.

I've listened to the original and the later released versions of the score for Merrily and have seen it performed. For me, the biggest problem with the book for the show is that Frank never does anything to warrant Charlie's wrath; wanting to be successful, creating works that are more commercial (Frank's desire) should not destroy the relationship. End it, sure - but Charlie's behavior makes no sense to me.

If, for example, Frank made a successful film or produced a play which was Charlie's idea (but Charlie had put aside as not being meaningful) without Charlie, bingo! we've got a play., conflict, anger, etc...

Also, it's way too expensive, but the show needs older actors at the opening and they need to replaced with a younger cast. Show Charlie, Mary, Frank, Gussie, Joe in later middle-age and then swap them out late in act I or early in act II.

Also, I really like some of the music in the original production, especially the opening.

Unfortunately I can't fix doormat Mary...

If ever a good score was destroyed by its book, it was Merrily. Usually it's the other way around.

Wish that Sondheim had annotated his top 50 songs to explain his fondness for them. In the DC concert dedicated to the 50, he said there was to be a Nonesuch recording of the concert for which he would write the liner notes. Never happened, so we may never know. His admiration for many of the songs is understandable, and at the concert he explains a few: Can't Get a Man With a Gun, Silverware, Mu Man's Gone Now, etc. But Porter's Let's Be Buddies? That one baffles me.

I don't suppose "My Favorite Things" was on the list?

Why does this thread seem as if it should be on ATC?

R560 you are more than welcome to contribute gossip if you have any.

I saw the original Merrily on the Friday before Saturday's final performance: an amazing score in an absolutely bewildering production. I wish they had found a way to fix it; I don't think any of the subsequent attempts has helped much, and I hate that they've jettisoned the commencement opening, which really helped set up the premise and included The Hills of Tomorrow, which is pivotal to the score/plot.

Sondheim wasn't well served by Prince.

I've seen at least five versions of Merrily over the years. The original still worked the best. But that's not saying much. Go back to that and create a production that will support the book and score as originally written and you might have something.

I think the London version of Merrily worked the best. They cut commencement and Hills of Tomorrow, but I saw for the first time how this show could actually work.

Thoughts on the Lortel Awards cutting gender from its nominations so that male, female and trans actors are all in the same categories? I'm for it.

Am I insane that Merrily works for me and I don’t think it’s a bad book? I must be the only one. People are extremely thin skinned and jealous. Look at Lea Michele? She refused to talk to Groff when he was nominated for a Tony and she wasn’t until he apologized. So it’s a big stretch for people to see Charlie upset at Franklin for being successful?? And that Mary was bitter because her life didn’t work out? Um…hello…isn’t that half of DL and most of the gay community? Maybe the cheese stands alone… but I like Merrily and find it moving.

I saw the London/Maria Friedman production of Merrily when it transferred to the Huntington in Boston in 2017 and it was excellent.

It was a very hot and humid evening, but Maria Friedman stood outside the theatre and greeted arriving audience members.

I saw the *definitive" Maria Friedman production in Massachusetts a few years ago. It was fine. As already mentioned, the book is the problem. The story is just not captivating enough and there is no clear message in the story. And like others have said, the older actors never really capture that nostalgic feeling of innocent youth pining for their dreams in OUR TIME the way the song itself evokes. The actors are too old now usually. If you just listen to the score itself it is very moving and beautiful.

I've seen the London Merrily as well as the Arena Stage (1990ish) production and the original, and I think the story really needs the commencement scene. Opening with a "typical Hollywood" party just doesn't do it without that hint in the opening number of who Franklin Shepard might have been. The book isn't necessarily the problem; I think Hal Prince got it right when he conceded that he never understood how the show should look. And I think he and Sondheim were clearly not making the same show.

I am not R568.

[quote]Well, there's a quote from Sondheim about how Mandy sings "up there" and Bernadette sings "down there." He was talking about writing for them.

The Lapine book reveals that before Peters and Patinkin were cast for the workshop, Sondheim was writing George as a baritone and Dot as a soprano. True, he had only completed a small number songs by that time, but he felt strongly enough about having them in the cast to change his approach to the score. He had not worked with either of them before.

[quote]I am not [R568].

Neither am I.

We are all r568

Are Broadway shows (on the average costing $12-14 million to get to opening night for a play, more for musicals) arbitrarily cancelling performances to hype the show?

I'm gonna go out on a limb and say "no".

Every time the public hears about a show cancelling for Covid, more and more people make the decision to stay away from Broadway.

Merrily is being made into a movie...I think Ben Platt is involved...

IT IS !....and his co-star is...wait for it...Beanie Feldstein !

Platt is just odious.

This comes as a surprise to some here?

I've seen Merrily a couple of times in Australia. One issue is production teams with too much respect for Sondheim. The director and actors spend a lot of time being jazzed about the score and playing Being in a Musical, (it is probably Sondheim's most pizzazzy score so this is an easy trap to fall into), whereas they should be letting the score excel on its own and focussing on acting. There are myriad cues in the book that, properly played, explain the characters' developing behaviour, but most of them get ignored. Every time I see it I think, why didn't Mary receive that remark with an ironic look, or later a why-am-I-not-surprised look, or later a why-do-I-still care-what-he-says look. Charlie the same. Why are Mary and Charlie not meeting eyes above Franklin's head a whole lot more than they do?

It's clear from comments on here, which are from people who are quite invested in this kind of theatre, that the book isn't clear enough about what the great betrayal is. Successive directors don't seem to have pointed it up either.

The betrayal is not that Frank has misused Charlie or Mary, it's that he betrayed the dreams they all enunciate in the rooftop scene, while Charlie and Mary made those dreams the cornerstone of their lives from that moment. It feels to them as though it was a sacred oath, but it obviously never felt that way to Frank, even though he feels the romantic pull of the idea long after he abandons it. Charlie and Frank were going to make exceptional, adventurous theatre, Mary was going to write great novels, and of course, Mary was going to marry Frank. He doesn't even realise, in that first scene, that his light remark is exactly what she's already thinking.

Their inability to attain those dreams without Frank corrodes in Mary and Charlie, while Frank abandons his youthful seriousness with maturity, like most of the world, and barely looks back. Indeed, he barely looks closely at Mary and Charlie even when they're a team. Sure, he feels he's a bit of a sellout, but he absolutely doesn't get the extent of it in their eyes. (For one thing, he's never understood that Mary's whole emotional life is a fixation with him.) The two groups are thus constantly at cross purposes from at least the point where Beth is introduced, and as the story goes on Frank is so unable to understand the depth of the others' bitterness that he's trying to work out which of his faults to attribute it to. Or at least, that's how I reckon it would look if a really good director tackled it with really good actors. I agree the Valedictorian scene at the start is another useful pointer to the real problem.

The rooftop scene could be solved just by having actual young actors do it. The characters call each other by name in that scene anyway, so the audience wouldn't be confused. You could even have the older actors appear in the shadows at the rear of the stage singing harmonies in Our Time, and of course coming forward for the curtain call immediately after, to round out the arc of the show.

[quote]Sondheim said that My Fair Lady was the most entertaining evening he ever had in the theater

That was stated as his surprise that he found such an otherwise inferior show so entertaining.

What exactly is "an ironic look", r580?

R581, Didn't he also say that about South Pacific?

[quote]Sondheim said that My Fair Lady was the most entertaining evening he ever had in the theater

Words, words, words...

When Franklin Shepherd sings, "I saw My Fair Lady. I sort of enjoyed it," its SS at his most autobiographical.

R582, Frank and Charley should give each other an ironic look when the producer who wants a hummable song hums "Some Enchanted Evening" at them. It would convey a combination of "Yeah, sure we're gonna write Some Enchanted Evening", "Does he even know that song's already been written?" and "I told you this was gonna be hard."

In Mary's case it might just be an eyeroll at Charley when Frank thanks someone from the bottom of his shallow little heart.

[quote] [R560] you are more than welcome to contribute gossip if you have any.

How's this?

Tony nominations to be held on May 3. Announced on the YouTube channel.

[quote]It would convey a combination of "Yeah, sure we're gonna write Some Enchanted Evening", "Does he even know that song's already been written?" and "I told you this was gonna be hard."

I would expect those looks, r586. How would they be ironic?

Is Merrily the new Follies? No matter how posters try to bring us into the present we'd rather talk about a 40 year old failure. But at least we're becoming more contemporary not obsessing about a 50 year old failure.

[quote]I've listened to the original and the later released versions of the score for Merrily and have seen it performed. For me, the biggest problem with the book for the show is that Frank never does anything to warrant Charlie's wrath; wanting to be successful, creating works that are more commercial (Frank's desire) should not destroy the relationship. End it, sure - but Charlie's behavior makes no sense to me. If, for example, Frank made a successful film or produced a play which was Charlie's idea (but Charlie had put aside as not being meaningful) without Charlie, bingo! we've got a play., conflict, anger, etc...

Exactly. And on that note: "Franklin Shepard, Inc." is a great song in itself, but really, when you think about it, the song paints Charley as a borderline deranged hot-head. Okay, so just before his TV talk show appearance with Frank begins, he learns that Frank is shelving their pet project to focus on movie making -- and THIS is enough for Charley to launch into a furious, insulting rant against Frank ON NATIONAL TELEVISION? Sorry to say, that defies all credibility.

[quote]Sondheim said that My Fair Lady was the most entertaining evening he ever had in the theater

For some reason I'm reminded of a line from Frasier:

[quote]What is the one thing better than an exquisite meal? An exquisite meal with one tiny flaw we can pick at all night.

Oh Jesus....Does she even understand what "acting" means?

R588

Follies is not a failure, you pedant!

There are a handful of shows which will never achieve a definitive version. Candide is one, Merrily We Go Along is another. Every time you see one of these shows, you don't know when you're sitting down to a new production what will be in it, or what songs will be used.

The best Merrily for me was the Encores version, with Lin-Manuel Miranda and Celia Keenan-Bolger. I really loved it, and thought, "this is it, we don't need to continue revising!" Then a few years later there was the Fiasco Theater's version, which made terrible choices. It was like a bone healed perfectly, and then was re-broken.

[quote]The rooftop scene could be solved just by having actual young actors do it. The characters call each other by name in that scene anyway, so the audience wouldn't be confused. You could even have the older actors appear in the shadows at the rear of the stage singing harmonies in Our Time, and of course coming forward for the curtain call immediately after, to round out the arc of the show.

So, in the scene just before that (chronologically just after it), in which the characters are supposed to be in their very early 20s, you would have actors in their 30s or early 40s playing Frank, Charley, and Mary, and then for the final scene only you would suddenly switch to actors in their late teens or very early 20s? I really don't think that would work....

Lynn Trans-Smell Esmeralda and Sondheim go together like…Justin Bieber and Proust.

[quote]I've seen the London Merrily as well as the Arena Stage (1990ish) production and the original, and I think the story really needs the commencement scene. Opening with a "typical Hollywood" party just doesn't do it without that hint in the opening number of who Franklin Shepard might have been.

I agree completely. Without the commencement scene, the title song has no context at all. Having it sung at a "Hollywood party" turns the song into a generic opening number that does nothing to draw audiences into the story. It's not even a good opening number. And "That Frank" is even worse.

[qiote]Lynn Trans-Smell Esmeralda

So hilarious, even after seeing it on DL for the 2,000th time!

"Merrily We Go Along"

Jesus, fucking dear!

BAJOUR!

No it would not work. The actors would be strangers to us and we'd be thinking even if we knew they were playing the characters' younger selves who the hell are these people. We would emotionally disconnect from the story.

On stage Lonny Price was so electrifying in Franklin Shepard Inc. and it is such a good number it was one of those things where even if you thought the character's motivation was unjustified to behave in such a way on TV you went along with it because it was such a tremendous moment of musical theater. Not everything in a musical has to make perfect sense if the spirit of the story is kept and the performer stops the show.

That Frank or whatever that terrible song was told you everything that was wrong with the Encores' production. Having see the original 3 times in its final week(yes I paid for my tickets at TKTS) I wish I had never gone.

I agree with [R 597]. Using the.commencement as the frame for the story not only helps the audience understand the moving backward storyline, but also makes the return to the commencement heartrending, when we realize how sad is his outcome.