THEATRE GOSSIP #461 - And Just Like That...Covid Came to the Plaza Suite (and Paradise Square)

Previous thread:

Great thread title, OP.

Sorry--I swear I did a search, but it looks like someone started another 461 (also with Merrily on the mind) a few minutes before me if everyone prefers that one.

The other thread did not correctly capitalize “THEATRE GOSSIP.” Abandon it.

To follow up on the last thread's Jesse Williams theme, Second Stage has extended Take Me Out's run to give people more time to see it. "It" being his bat, of course.

I like this one. Great Title.

Would someone mind posting a link to the full video of Maria Friedman’s Merrily?

[quote]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.

Le the other thread get bogged down in Merrily, Sondheim, and Follies crap and let this one be for anything but.

So you want to perform on Broadway? How much will you make?

What a shitty article. It doesn't start to answer the question until halfway through and even then it gives the wrong answer because the website it gets the info from is using info from 2011.

Finally allowed to post, so here's all the old news from hours ago. Plaza Suite canceled through April 10, but also extended for a week. Will they let the standbys go on next week?

Paradise Square also canceled through the 10th

Also found these of the Company understudies:

trailer

MMAL:

(Sorry to bring it back to Sondheim)

Couldn't find any Lenk to compare, besides this

Well, I see ART is going off the principle of "the show is the star" with its upcoming run of 1776.

Just saw The Minutes. Started out fine but the end was bizarre and absurd. Noah Reid was passable but nothing to write home about. Looked like a dentist who would live in a small town and be on the city council. Funny that Armie was slated to play that role.

Austin Pendleton made me laugh. I thought he was the best part of the whole show.

Only worth seeing if you get cheap tickets.

Was there any coverage of the Broadway MeToo March against the employment of William Ivey Long? I can't find a thing? Did it even happen? Is he still working?

For me, one of the things that is often terribly wrong about MERRILY revivals is too much emphasis placed on making the earlier time periods look outlandish and ugly with the costume design. I suspect this has, at least in recent productions like that Fiasco fiasco at the Roundabout, been an instance of hiring designers who were born after the 1970s and so view 50s, 60s and 70s clothes like bad Bob Mackie Carol Burnett skit costumes.

The show needs much more sincerity and simplicity. It really can't take (and doesn't need) that kind of vulgar approach to the characters (who have enough of a job becoming sympathetic) via their costuming. If the year needs to be emphasized, I say just bring a projection with the year written out.

Fuck Sondheim, fuck Merrily, fuck Follies.

I would agree that MERRILY is a wonderful score trapped in an unworkable book -- had I not seen the 2002 Kennedy Center production, in which truly splendid performances by the 3 leads (Michael Hayden, Miriam Shor and DL fave Raúl Esparza, plus an unforgettable supporting turn by Emily Skinner) took hold of the thing and brought it snugly into port.

Beginning with projections onto the curtain -- a "slideshow" illustrating the 3 leads' friendship over the years -- and then continuing with nuanced acting and interacting throughout, for once I bought the relationships every step of the way. I walked out thinking that it really was a masterwork of its own special kind.

But no subsequent production (CCM around 2005, Cincinnati's Playhouse in the Park in 2012, the Fiasco one already mentioned, plus the Friedman as seen in a movie theater) has shown any of that magic. Lightning in a bottle, I guess. So glad to have the memories of 2002.

How did the Fiasco people get Sondheim to approve the reinstatement of “Rich and Happy”? Supposedly he’s nixed that idea many times, although it’s definitely the right choice. “That Frank” is Sondheim’s stinker of stinkers.

Megan...

"The Alto's Lament" has to be one of the unfunniest "funny" songs I've ever heard. Among other things -- it consists largely of MADE UP ALTO LINES. Yawn.

Lighten up on the opiates, Ortrud.

[quote]New York Theater Covid Updates: A Strange Loop, Suffs, and More Cancel Performances

NO!!!! Not "Suffs"!!!

Suffs also extended its run to make up for it. They're not letting either the middling reviews or a virus keep them down!

[quote]Suffs also extended its run to make up for it. They're not letting either the middling reviews or a virus keep them down!

Or a putrid title.

Really? No gossip or any more reports from Funny Fat Girl Who Can't Sing That Well?

Why didn't they just adapt the movie IRON JAWED ANGELS, which covered the same story/period? Plus, IRON JAWED ANGELS is a much cooler/intriguing title than the cutesy SUFFS.

[quote]took hold of the thing and brought it snugly into port.

Open me gate but dock it straight, I see it lists to starboard.

Fuck you fags and your horse jokes. I'm rich and fucked John Jr, RD Jr and Matthew when he was hot.

Lick my pussy....neigh.

I find the mixed to negative reviews for SUFFS to be a delicious comeuppance. They were so convinced they had a blockbuster.

I've heard some really good word of mouth for SUFFS. I suspect the team behind it though they had a HAMILTON-sized hit on their hands. Maybe they still do. But I just cannot bring myself to buy tickets to a show with that title. I'm serious. It brings me physical pain.

I've got tickets to see A Little Night Music this summer in Massachusetts.

Crossing my fingers that Barrington Stage chooses to revel in the loveliness of the show and score... please, no re-imagining of the cast, location, or message.

Please, please, please...

More from Paul Ford’s new, no holds barred autobiography: Tim Burton saw five auditions in one day (filmed for Sondheim and the execs) for Mrs. Lovett in his film adaptation of Sweeney Todd, with Johnny Depp having already been cast. The auditionees? Geena Davis, Bernadette Peters, Toni Collette, Cyndi Lauper and Reese Witherspoon. All sang “Worst Pies” except Davis (who Ford says was weak) who did “Wait” and Lauper who also did “Poor Thing” (who Ford abhorred). Ah, well…

I wish for the sake of the bitter Queens and the hags who loved them, that Paul would “accidentally” release the audition audio of Bernadette and Toni’s auditions just so they could hear their queens sing that song.

[quote] I've got tickets to see A Little Night Music this summer in Massachusetts. Crossing my fingers that Barrington Stage chooses to revel in the loveliness of the show and score... please, no re-imagining of the cast, location, or message. Please, please, please...

It’s artistic director Julianne Boyd’s favorite show. And it’s her final season. I think she’ll pull out the stops on the talent and the production.

If she were pulling out all the stops, Julianne would hire a decent director. Not herself.

Ford makes it clear many many times in that book that he loathes Sweeney Todd. Loves most of Sondheim, but not ST. Can't understand his antipathy.

Would " SUFFS" have been better received if it had been titles " MUFFS"?

Introducing baseball to the cast of " Take Me Out."

TMO Review

Tony Nomination for Jesse Tyler Ferguson? From Variety:

But it’s the arrival of Darren’s new, nebbishy money manager, Mason Marzac (Jesse Tyler Ferguson) — a lonely, sports-averse, older gay man who gets swept up in the glory of the game — that elevates the play to a league of its own, giving it both heart and soul.

Mason is a stand-in not only for Greenberg but for any outsider who discovers a particular passion that brings them into a kind of clubhouse. As Mason movingly tells his new sports hero, “Life is so tiny, so daily and you take me out of it.”

Ferguson hysterically taps into the thrill of it all with his trademark comic flutters. But he also gives Mason a tender earnestness that makes the transformation into Number One Fan both real and profound. The character’s rhapsodic soliloquies on why baseball is better than democracy and on the poetry of the home run trot are odes in which Ferguson exults.

Amy excitement building for the ALL FEMALE, TRANS & ENBY "1776"??

Good Lord the inmates have taken over the asylum!

Love Sweeney Todd. Merrily not so much.

RE: 1776.

Can NO ONE stop this idiocy?

R48 that's Broadway-bound? Do they really think it's going to be a hit? It has turkey written all over it. It has limited appeal.

SLOUGHS...the Musical

r48 here, sorry for my reliable ONE TYPO PER POST!

Of course I meant "Any excitement..." not Amy...but, TODAY is for Amy!

Jesse Williams’ child support payments reduced following ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ exit

[quote] Tim Burton saw five auditions in one day (filmed for Sondheim and the execs) for Mrs. Lovett in his film adaptation of Sweeney Todd

Why?

I’m almost done with the Ford book, which is a gossipy mess. He just confused Jose Carreras with Franco Corelli, who Ford says sang Emile on the Kiri Te Kanawa recording. Sloppy throughout, but amusing nonetheless.

Why did Burton waste everyone's time when he was always going to put his tone deaf wife in the role? Couldn't they just let him ruin the movie faster?

Was Bernadette's Lovett a hat designer before she went into pies?

What happened to the reviews for "To My Girls" at Second Stage? It's only a limited run. Could it be that bad?

I'm holding out for an all non-binary trans production of Take Me Out

To My Girls opens on Apr 12, which is odd, considering it closes only a week later.

Read this shit about 1776. I swear, the fucking woke are going to be a real detriment to Broadway business:

The new staging will be co-directed by Jeffrey L. Page and Diane Paulus (with Page choreographing). In a Playbill interview posted on the A.R.T. website, Paulus, who directed Broadway hit Waitress, said, “Jeffrey and I are fascinated by the idea that history isn’t the clear or linear story we read in our textbooks, but instead, a predicament that we must grapple with in order to understand our past so that we can move forward together.”

WTF is she talking about??? Now there's a word salad from the bullshit buffet!?!?!

Words, words, words...

If Diane is so woke, why aren't Abigail and Martha played by Black trans men?

[quote]Would " SUFFS" have been better received if it had been titled " MUFFS"?

Well, we know "PUFFS" was already taken.

[quote]Amy excitement building for the ALL FEMALE, TRANS & ENBY "1776"??

Among some of the cast, maybe.

[quote]It’s artistic director Julianne Boyd’s favorite show. And it’s her final season. I think she’ll pull out the stops on the talent and the production.

Leave us not forget that this is the woman who, believe it or not, decided to cut the character-establishing song "Someone is Waiting" from a production of COMPANY that she directed years ago, and reinstated it only when she got a letter from Sondheim or the licensing house (I forget which) forcing her to do so. I wonder what she would cut from ALNM if she thought she could get away with it?

[quote]Well, I see ART is going off the principle of "the show is the star" with its upcoming run of 1776.

Or, in this particular case, the principle that "the gimmick is the star."

[quote]To My Girls opens on Apr 12, which is odd, considering it closes only a week later.

And what does that tell us? Hmmm.

[quote]Or, in this particular case, the principle that "the gimmick is the star."

As gimmicks go, I would prefer having the actors play their own instruments. And I hated that gimmick.

[quote]“Jeffrey and I are fascinated by the idea that history isn’t the clear or linear story we read in our textbooks, but instead, a predicament that we must grapple with in order to understand our past so that we can move forward together.”

Aside from everything else that's insufferable about that statement, Paulus doesn't seem to realize that 1776 is not "history" from a textbook. It's fiction based on historical fact, but with some significant departures from same.

1) Paulus is a hack AND a twat.

2) Imagine next season with both MUFFS and 1776 stealing the other’s limited audience

We're waiting for the flop, flop, flop of a turkey being born

R54

[quote]He claimed in the documents that he is now making $1,668 per week

Assuming that's after tax, that means he's only getting Equity minimum?

Paul Ford badly needed an editor. It's clearly self-published and has a lot of excess fat. One late chapter details his and his mother's love of Hitchcock movies. Why?

Mother knows why

Praying to all the theatre gods that that 1776 will be the start of the death throes of woke theatre. (Tangent: Ken Burns' recent PBS documentary on Benjamin Franklin was quite interesting/educational. I hadn't known he'd owned two slaves and was not particularly fond of people of color or immigrants, although he completely changed his mind over the years. He also permanently fell out with his [illegitimate] loyalist son who was the Crown's governor of NJ and a total pill.)

[quote] Sara Porkalob as Edward Rutledge

Imagine. In one season we will have a Beanie Feldstein and a Sara Pokalob dazzling Broadway!

Truthfully, Porkalob would be a better last name for Beanie.

Because all of the historical accounts were written by cis-male whites, we cannot be sure that there is an ounce of truth in anything they wrote, since they were solely interested in staying in power and denying it to women, blacks, and trans. So, what Director Paulus is explaining is that history is not linear ( the truth is rarely the way we are told to believe it is), but a predicament with which we must deal ( trusting the word of cis-male whites. Who is to say that the Continental Congress was not comprised of women, blacks, and trans? We only have the white male agenda to consider.

R80 are you seriously suggesting that transwomen of color founded the USA but it's only remembered s a white event because historians were cis white males?

Woke Broadway says," Yes." Diane Paulus has already explained it.

Saltpeter, John!

No, Diane, history is not linear, but it is also not composed of trans and non-binaries but actual real, live, men and women who were men and women.

Billy Porter as Juwan Adams.

Kevin Hart as George Jefferson

Laverne Cox as Weezie Jefferson

Beanie Feldstein as Beanie Franklin

Raven Symone as Herbie Hancock.

The brilliant and forward thinking concept conceived by Paulus will allow theater-goers the opportunity to juxtapose the fictional words of the so-called Founding Fathers with the cast composed of those who became the chief victims of those same individuals. It is another in a series of thought-provoking Broadway shows such as the Award-winning " Slave Play" and the recently produced " The Life." Theater exists to open the eyes and minds of the audience. This will do it and, along with the two aforementioned works of art, heralds a new Broadway, one which pursues truth instead of fantasy, and exposes the tyranny of the ruling white male minority. While old, stagnant anti-intellectuals sit around and argue about Follies casts, the true movers are taking over, so get out of the way and welcome a new, truthful Broadway.

Seems ironic that Paulus is driving this woke version, given the rumours about her seem to be that she's an awful and abusive boss

At this point, I can't stand white liberal women. They are the worst SJWs and the ones spearheading all of this.

Anyone seen this in London? From the team that did King Charles III. Sounds fascinating. (The actor in the picture is Bertie Carvel who played Trunchball in Matilda, btw. Jesus, but that’s a frightening resemblance.)

Bertie Carvel is fantastic. He’d be a better Fanny than Fatso.

I read R85’s post as ‘“Beanie Feldstein as BONNIE Franklin”.

Bonnie Franklin sang " Applause" after the Declaration was signed and led the Founding Wimmin in a kickline at the end. There were never any accounts of the historic event, since history was written by white men who can't dance.

I need clarification...who the fuck is "Paul Ford" who wrote an autobiography that concerns the filmming of Sweeney Todd?

The only Paul Ford in show biz that I'm aware of, is character actor Paul Ford who has been dead since 1976.

Jeffrey Page, co-director of 1776:

“This new production of 1776 is giving me the opportunity to not only see, but also contextualize, myself in a history that has historically occluded me and people who look like me—to realize history in a new way, and to find it in our country,” says Page. “As I’ve worked with Diane, we’ve explored the unsaid, unspoken, and unwritten history, and as a result I have found myself inside of the important piece of art, inside of American history, and I have learned something new about both.”

East coast intellectuals and SJW college professors and women's and gender studies students are going to love this production, as will the wiser-than-anyone New York theater media, who will dub it " courageous," forward-thinking," and " A new standard for progressive American theater." " The most important production since the Broadway musical began in 1866."

1) 1776 has been in the works since 2019. It was supposed to happen in 2020 during the election year but...Covid.

2) It's a "special" project and has always been designed to consist of a limited run at ART, then a limited run on Broadway, then a national tour.

3) Sara Porkalob is actually very talented. She's also super woke to the point she's rather annoying about it but unlike many young woke millennial types in the theater, she's actually good and she's a hard worker. Her claim to fame in Seattle is her three part "Dragon" theater series with each part about the women in her family. Part one was her Filipino grandma who was a showgirl mixed up with gangsters back in the Phillippines, then the 2nd play is about her lesbian mother and the final play will be about her (the final play is still in development).

Good luck on a national tour. It had better stick to woke cities on the coasts.

Regarding "1776" and upcoming, super-duper exciting ultra-woke version... I saw the show at Encores! a number years ago. It included a number of African-American actors. their performances were fine, the overall production/performance very, very good.

BUT - it highlighted for me how, what's the word?, complex or complicated adding AA actors to a show like this can be. For instance, Nikki Renee Daniels played Martha Jefferson... given Thomas' record for sleeping with black slave Sally Hemmings (who in real-life was Martha's half-sister) this was just icky - a black woman in love with Tom and his love-making.

Also, I think it was Andre de Shields who played a representative from one of the Carolinas and he kept taking orders from a rabid racist representative from another Carolina - a-w-k-w-a-r-d.

On the plus side, it Santino Fontana (who was mentioned in the previous theatre thread) was terrific, I enjoyed Larroquette as Franklin and William Daniels was in the audience - he spoke from the stage after the show during talk back.

"As I’ve worked with Diane, we’ve explored the unsaid, unspoken, and unwritten history, and as a result I have found myself inside of the important piece of art, inside of American history, and I have learned something new about both.”

A funny thing happened on the way to making a coherent point. "Unsaid, unspoken, unwritten"?? So what exactly are you exploring? Your own feelings on what's been said, spoken and written? Because what you've just described is a whole lot of nothing.

What a woke word salad of absolute bullshit. How they get funding for these half baked excesses of academia is beyond me... Good luck peddling this 3rd year liberal arts project to the masses!

You know, I was about to say that the other thread #461 was really boring with all of its talk about Merrily, but actually it is much more interesting than this snooze fest.

They can't even sell tickets to Tootsie on tour. (It's about to park itself at the Pantages in LA and tickets are $39 for orchestra seats and no one wants them.) I don't see how a Wokeistan production of 1776 is gonna fly.

Who in earth did they find to star in Tootsie?

[r58] I love you! I’m pretty sure she will also try and sell her Florida vacation home as well after “God that’s Good”

[quote] Who in earth did they find to star in Tootsie?

No one. I believe it's a non-union tour.

R96 The tour is only 17 cities...so, I'm guessing it's going to be all leftier than rightier stops.

I think the producers are well aware it's probably not going to be a cash cow...why theyr're doing a monthish long run in Boston and a limited run on B'way and a shorter national tour.

Can we get back to Santino Fontana's womanizing ways?

"I hear the turkey's great at the Bunch O'Twats!"

So, talking about current and upcoming shows is boring and talking about old shows is boring....

Y'all are hard to please.

Oh...the joy.

I can't wait to see what that critic who tore apart the touring Wokelahoma has to say about this when it tours.

Paul Ford has a SCATHING chapter in his autobiography about a “production meeting” he was hired to accompany on piano at when The Gershwins’ (sic) Porgy & Bess was being developed and pointedly does not refer to Paulus, Susan Lori-Parks or the other team member (I’m assuming it’s either Diedre Murray or Constantine Kitsopolis) by name, instead referring to them as “the hippie female director” for Paulus, “It” for Parks and “That” for the other one. I assume he was advised to not call them by name for fear of legal action since they are painted in the worst possible light as absolutely clueless, offensively crude and bafflingly stupid.

Oh, dear.

Tickets tomorrow for To My Girls, that is.

Paul Ford, for the poster above, is a long-time rehearsal pianist and musical director for scads of Broadway shows, concerts, and recordings since the 70s. Most everything SS did from SUNDAY on. (He can be seen in the FOLLIES IN CONCERT video at the piano in rehearsal. ) Plus all of Mandy's concerts and many assorted performances. Very dishy and gossipy, but bloated with repetitions and digressions. Finally walked away from it all when he thought himself underpaid and overworked.

THR reviews "The 47th":

[quote]East coast intellectuals and SJW college professors and women's and gender studies students are going to love this production, as will the wiser-than-anyone New York theater media, who will dub it " courageous," forward-thinking," and " A new standard for progressive American theater." " The most important production since the Broadway musical began in 1866."

Assuming anyone buys tickets to see it in the first place.

Is Jeffrey Page not a cis-male?

I hate the non-gendered acting nominations the Lortels just came out with. Victoria Clark is now competing with her teenage male co-star from KIMBERLY AKIMBO. The merged-gender categories just mean fewer actors get nominated and recognized.

Not a fan.

Saw The Skin of Our Teeth and Paradise Square this past week.

Wow.

How long is Woke Theatre going to be with us? Cause it is fucking exhausting and is not creating better art. Paradise Square screws itself trying to be all things for all people. You can tell it's been written by committee. Way too many cooks in that smelly kitchen. But kudos to Bill T. Jones; his choreography is outstanding.

At intermission for Skin of our Teeth, I looked out at the entire audience and counted, at most, eight black people. The rest of us theatergoers were all white. The cast was almost entirely people of color, and many of the supporting actors and the ensemble were not Broadway quality. The two lead actresses are superb and I'm thrilled they are getting opportunity to play parts like these, but this racial gap between the entertainers and the entertained is so massive that the whole enterprise feels fraudulent in many ways. And a fair number of people left at the seven-minute pause after the first act and at the intermission after the second.

Skin of our Teeth might get its act together. I was thrilled to finally get to see the play (the text of which is pretty incredible), and the sets are stunning. But it's clear that even the overly liberal Upper West Siders are sick of being hit over the head with Woke theatre, so upcoming productions like sweet Diane P's 1776 might find it tough to bring in audiences.

Patience, r118, patience...

Gee, why isn’t Kamala Harris in The 47th being played by Eve Best and not Tamara Tunie? I guess woke casting doesn’t work in reverse.

[quote]Paradise Square screws itself trying to be all things for all people. You can tell it's been written by committee. Way too many cooks in that smelly kitchen. But kudos to Bill T. Jones; his choreography is outstanding.

I totally agree. The script in particular, and some of the song lyrics, had the stink of a committee earnestly "explaining" the historical past and big themes rather than dramatizing actual lives.

I hear a revival of Mame is coming but it’s going to be woke and set in Detroit. Rumors are Tonya Pinkins is in talks

Tony Award Info. No host has been named yet. Any bets on Billy Porter being one of them? This has the potential to be the wokest of the woke award ceremonies, especially since no one but theater lovers will watch. And woke theater lovers are the primary demographic of current Broadway.

A friend (with very commercial taste) liked To My Girls. He said it was “excellent - sharper and funnier than expected.”

Show-score for " To My Girls."

Beanie is one of the cover stories on this week's CBS Sunday Morning.

Link attached

R127, Notice how she perched herself on the edge of the chair so she'd appear slimmer than if she sat all the way back.

POTUS.

R120, and you are going to pretend there is no reason why the reverse does not work.

This bullshit is got too exhausting way too long ago.

Bravo (brava?) to the publicist who put that CBS This Morning piece about Funny Girl together. They made it look good.

Must be the same person who put together the Trump campaign in 2016.

[quote]And you are going to pretend there is no reason why the reverse does not work.

Agreed that the reverse does not work -- for the same reasons that casting POC in roles not originally conceived for people of color very often does not work, depending on the specific role. The point being that the criteria for whether or not such casting works in one direction don't suddenly change when the direction is switched.

R133, that's because, to the woke, doing it one way is revolutionary and courageous, while doing it the other way is merely an expression of white privilege and an another attempt to hijack the black experience.

If we don't love the FUNNY GIRL revival...

We will have killed Beanie's childhood dream!

R135-Good. Maybe it will go away.

R133, nice try. But first you have to confuse the issues and make us forget our experience of the real world.

Then this approach might work.

But really good try.

Beanie definitely looked heavy, but sounded great.

Was Jake auditioning for Camelot or Merrily last night on SNL? They gave him every opportunity to sing in 90 minutes just to remind people he could do it is my guess.

[quote]First you have to confuse the issues and make us forget our experience of the real world.

More meaningless blather. Bottom line: To cast a white performers as the family in A RAISIN IN THE SUN (for example) would be ridiculous and make no sense because the experience of those characters at that time has NOTHING to do with white people -- just as to cast a POC in CAROUSEL or THE MUSIC MAN or dozens of other shows we could name is ridiculous and makes no sense because POC would not be a part of those communities. And, of course, the most ridiculous thing of all is to cast POC and non-POC as members of the same family and pretend that this shouldn't be at all distracting or confusing to the audience, as in that revival of 110 IN THE SHADE, for example.

"Mention Broadway's 'Funny Gir' and people think of Barbra Streisand, even though she appeared in the show decades ago."

Umm, maybe that's primarily because she also starred in the movie, which is easily accessible, and has continued to sing songs from that score throughout her career.

On a related note, I must say that Beanie's singing in those clips of FG that were shown on CBS Sunday Morning was considerably better than I thought it would be. But it still remains to be seen whether she can carry the show well enough to give it a decent run.

Am I the only one NOT impressed by Beanie's singing in those Sunday Morning clips?

It's just more high school spring musical/talent show caliber singing to me. (And rather nasal.)

[quote] More meaningless blather

Blather is the official language of the woke. Trying to sound profound and intellectual, they merely show what empty, trivial people they really are. The main issues have standing, but their solutions are ridiculous manifestations of the " intellectual" east coast liberal arts professors who have no life experience outside the world of fake academia. To have an entire theater industry kowtow to them is suicide.

R143, exactly. These people look at real, serious, long-standing problems and can only come up with ill-thought-out, reactionary, ultimately harmful "solutions" to them.

[quote]Am I the only one NOT impressed by Beanie's singing in those Sunday Morning clips? It's just more high school spring musical/talent show caliber singing to me. (And rather nasal.)

Everything is relative. To me, her vocal tone sounded less nasal, more rounded, than I expected. But I'm not saying it's to the extent that I would pay big bucks to hear her sing those songs on Broadway.

Watched the CBS Sunday morning segment. Beanie seems like a nice person but it’s still outrageous she’s headlining this. It seems like they were extremely careful what little snippets they showed of her singing. We’ve heard the extended audio from the show - her voice is mediocre at best.

Matthew Rhys, Ashley Park and Jordan Donica will headline LCT's Camelot, as I mentioned two threads ago.

Please try to keep up, bitches!

[quote]Matthew Rhys, Ashley Park and Jordan Donica will headline LCT's Camelot, as I mentioned two threads ago. Please try to keep up, bitches!

I believe you mentioned that those three did the workshop, but that didn't necessarily mean they would be cast in the production.

[quote]What happened to the reviews for "To My Girls" at Second Stage? It's only a limited run. Could it be that bad?

I auditioned for it and read the whole play...it's really awful.

Basically an ultra woke "Boys in the Band" which of course makes NO SENSE!

[quote]At this point, I can't stand white liberal women. They are the worst SJWs and the ones spearheading all of this.

And when the whole Trans Agenda swallows them whole and replaces them with stunning & brave penised persons they'll be be out on their asses before they even know what hit them!

Morons!

[quote]-- for the same reasons that casting POC in roles not originally conceived for people of color very often does not work...

-- for the same reasons that casting POC in roles not originally conceived for people of color never works...

Beanie sounds very good in those carefully-chosen & edited CBS clips. But audios from performances tell a different story. I will say that she has indeed thrown herself into it and looks good dancing. She’s still the wrong choice.

Jane Lynch is apparently terrific as Rose, but c’mon. They made such a fuss about having a Jew as Fanny, and then cast a gentile Mama?

[quote]....for the same reasons that casting POC in roles not originally conceived for people of color never works...

Not true, it sometimes works when it so happens that the character in question might have been a person of color in those circumstances during that time period. For example, the role of Marta ("Another Hundred People") in COMPANY has often been cast with a POC at least since the first Broadway revival, and I don't see any reason why she shouldn't be. But a POC as Carrie or Mr. Snow in CAROUSEL, for example, makes zero sense. Unless you twist your mind to believe that the character is not supposed to be a person of color even though the actor is a person of color.

I hate the whole POC thing. Just say " black," because everyone knows that it's not referring to anyone yellow, brown, or any other color other than black.

POC is, and always will be, beer.

It's ludicrous how racists rush to disguise their prejudices under the guise of kitchen-sink realism. Salzburg Festival audiences somehow managed to accept Leontyne Price as Donna Anna over 60 years ago, but today's audiences, confronted with the horror of race-blind casting, can't surrender to the idea of Audra McDonald as John Cullum's daughter? Please. Find some other pearls to clutch, ladies.

[quote]I hate the whole POC thing. Just say " black," because everyone knows that it's not referring to anyone yellow, brown, or any other color other than black.

It usually means black, but not always :-)

[quote]Salzburg Festival audiences somehow managed to accept Leontyne Price as Donna Anna over 60 years ago, but today's audiences, confronted with the horror of race-blind casting, can't surrender to the idea of Audra McDonald as John Cullum's daughter?

Interesting point, but that's because (1) opera is much more stylized and non-realistic than theater, even musical theater, and also (2) in opera, voice trumps EVERYTHING else. That's why opera singers with great voices have great careers even if their acting is barely adequate, and and why in opera you'll frequently see a 20-year-old character being played by a 50-year-old singer.

That’s because opera audiences are sophisticated enough not to care.

No, it's because opera companies don't have an agenda when doing it.

[quote]"Mention Broadway's 'Funny Gir' and people think of Barbra Streisand, even though she appeared in the show decades ago."

What?

Why the fuck did Keala Settle present the Olivier Award to Eddie Redmayne in an English accent? She was born and raised in fucking Hawaii. She isn’t even in a Gillian Anderson/John Barrowman situation. She’s an American through and through. So fucking pretentious.

I want my Onward Victoria revival with Billy Porter in his career defining performance as Victoria Woodhull AND I WANT IT NOW. Did you know there is a memorial clock devoted to her in Ohio?

It takes me right out of the story that characters keep breaking into song. Where's that orchestra coming from? IT MAKES NO SENSE.

I can't invest in the story of CAMELOT or 1776 or PASSION when the music doesn't fit the period. OUTRAGEOUS.

Ancient Greek audiences walked out en masse when forced to endure all-male casts, as did those of Shakespeare's day, AND I AGREE.

NOBODY IN THE BENANTI "SHE LOVES ME" LOOKED OR SOUNDED MIDDLE-EUROPEAN, AND I WANT TO DIE.

In other words -- ALL theater is stylized, and ALL theater has conventions. You're just fine with the ones you grew up with, and you're pissed off about the ones that try a new direction.

Grow up. The new choices will work . . . or they won't. New conventions will develop, as others fall away. You don't want to see new attempts? Don't go. You don't like what you see? Say so, and move on.

I, for one, could not bear that rendition of "Cabaret" sung by Jessie Buckley's replacement on the Oliviers.

So we've now gotten to the point where Sally Bowles can't hit the notes at all? And that's what everyone in London is paying all those shillings to see?? And I also found it ironic how the lovely actor who plays Herr Schultz went on and on and on and on in his acceptance speech about welcoming immigrants to London when a single ticket to Cabaret would pay for a month's worth of food for any new immigrant to London.

Deadline reviews "Birthday Candles":

[quote]No, it's because opera companies don't have an agenda when doing it.

This is also true, and an important distinction.

Is Deb in the running for a Tony? I need to know so I’m sure to fast forward lead actress.

The Met no longer lets singers black up to sing Otello. Which kind of defeats the text of the libretto.

[quote]ALL theater is stylized, and ALL theater has conventions. You're just fine with the ones you grew up with, and you're pissed off about the ones that try a new direction.

There's some truth in that, but to follow through with your argument, it would be fine to have a young romantic male lead in a show played by an70-year-old or by a guy who's 5'1" and weighs 250 pounds. Like it or not, there ARE some conventions that most people gladly accept and others that they do not.

Good for Messing.

The NY Times review of Deb Messing's show is a thorough pan, even for Deb. Oh, well.

The Birthday Candles reviews are definitely leaning mixed to negative.

Looks like the reviews weren't the scariest thing to happen to Birthday Candles tonight.

R174 You’re welcome.

[quote]The Met no longer lets singers black up to sing Otello. Which kind of defeats the text of the libretto.

This isn't Shakespeare's "Othello." Librettos are just a framing device in most operas.

Yes, Otello sings about being black and now he's white.

[quote] You don't want to see new attempts? Don't go. You don't like what you see? Say so, and move on.

And if we do, do you and the producers of these " re-thinkings" promise that, if it should flop, the absent audience won't be accused of racism, sexism, or anything contrary to the agenda?

There are never many men in a given generation who can sing that role. What are you going to do? Usually less than a a handful. It's written for a heroic tenor, which is very rare.

A herioc tenor and a heldentenor are not the same thing, despite what Wikipedia will tell you.

This is the Theater Gossip thread. Cam we stop talking about big voiced tenors?

Can we? Whatever.

I love The Student Prince. It takes a big voiced tenor.

Can we talk about big-dicked tenors instead?

Jason Danieley, perhaps?

Ah, yes, alas.

R184, He's got a new lady friend who is enjoying every inch.

I feel bad for Deb. She sat on that play for three years because of the pandemic and she finally does it and it’s a skunk.

Pity

[quote]And I also found it ironic how the lovely actor who plays Herr Schultz went on and on and on and on in his acceptance speech about welcoming immigrants to London when a single ticket to Cabaret would pay for a month's worth of food for any new immigrant to London.

How is that ironic? What a stupid reach

1776 is the perfect vehicle to bring NeNe Leakes back to Broadway.

[quote] 1776 is the perfect vehicle to bring NeNe Leakes back to Broadway.

I love people whose name is a simple declarative sentence.

Beanie on GMA at 8:30.

The Olivier Awards, "Frozen" and "The Drifter's Girl" performances were sensational.

I saw Music Man yesterday. Apart from Marion, Marcellus, and Harold - it was quite good. But Sutton just doesn’t have this in her as a singer or actor, despite all the rewriting and literal tap dancing done to cover it up. Her voice is loud but shaky and shrill. She seems inspired by Mary Tyler Moore, which is great for a spunky associate producer. Not for this show.

Jackman is such a natural onstage, but sings in a really strange way and looks haggard. Plus, he holds on to his unpleasant tones as if that helps. His connection to Winthrop (who is fantastic) was quite moving.

But none of it matters. This is such an expensive ticket that people want to enjoy their investment. There’s plenty to enjoy.

As a sign of our Gilded Age, the Broadway Cares speech included an auction for Jackman and Foster’s used, signed white gloves. The bids kept escalating, winding up at $20,000 before Jackman offered them to two bidders and his whistle to a third bidder also at $20k.

[quote]Messing, charming in both the younger and middle-aged iterations of Ernestine, adopts (or is encouraged to adopt by director Vivienne Benesch) the halting, fussy speech pattern that Hollywood in particular has so often used as a sort of old age denotation (see Julianne Moore, The Hours). As her character ages, Messing seems to morph from recognizably Ernestine into a sort of EveryGranny.

EveryGranny, hee.

Well, I've found my favourite headline, ever

[quote]Manhole fire causes panic at Broadway opening night

Isn't that every night on Broadway?

[quote]HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL: "‘Be More Chill’? Nope — Turlock High cancels musical after one night due to ‘mature content’" by The Modesto Bee's Emily Isaacman and Lydia Gerike - "Turlock High School canceled performances of a student musical this weekend because of “concerns that the content was too mature for a general audience that includes all age levels,” according to Turlock Unified School District spokeswoman Marie Russell. The musical, a high school adaptation of the Broadway show “Be More Chill,” was scheduled to run Thursday through Sunday ..."

Surely the first time Be More Chill and the word "mature" appeared in the same sentence

Paradise Square now closed until the 16th.

[quote]Paradise Square now closed until the 16th.

Or, ya know, permanently. Anyone wanna buy a ticket?

I saw To My Girls yesterday and had no idea what the fuck any of them were talking about. I don't think the actors knew either. Some strange woke horseshit for the post-Boys In The Band crowd.

Remember when the really awful shows would close on Opening Night or during previews because the producers knew they had no chance of running. That rarely happens anymore. It’s like no one wants to admit their show is a flop.

[quote]Librettos are just a framing device in most operas.

One of the most idiotic comments ever posted on DL.

BIRTHDAY CANDLES is very dumb. I saw it. Very, very dumb. And she's not that good of an actress, frankly, to play 17 to 107 or whatever it is.

Very slick, New York-y playwrighting. Gimmicky and thin. Just yuck, for me.

They don’t show any pubic hair down at Paradise Square.

I didn't read the Times review for "Birthday Candles" because of the paywall, but the other reviews I read seemed more mixed than negative. The Chicago Tribune was quite glowing.

R195, Is Nick Adams a person of interest?

Looks like all of the OBC Spring Awakening boys will be rotating into the Seymour role at Little Shop.

[quote]Remember when the really awful shows would close on Opening Night or during previews because the producers knew they had no chance of running. That rarely happens anymore. It’s like no one wants to admit their show is a flop.

I am told that a Broadway show needs to run a certain number of performances (I don't know the number) in order for the producers to retain a percentage of the rights of future productions. I don't quite get this rule, but apparently it does exist.

Skylar Austin is a great fit in LITTLE SHOP: I may go back and see him in it. He straddles that gap between Geeky Seymour and Sexy Seymour, and he's a really good singer.

R207, Didn't Sondheim's Bounce close during previews in DC?

[quote]Didn't Sondheim's Bounce close during previews in DC?

Yes, but many shows that expect Broadway runs close out of town.

Beanie WHO?

This red-hot temptress is about to set CHICAGO on fire.... all over again!

SIZZLE.

What's next for woke Broadway? How about Trans, the musical starring Alexandra Billings and Alex Newell, and introducing Sis as they, featuring a chorus of 23 trans and non binary performers.

[quote]Didn't Sondheim's Bounce close during previews in DC?

What are you talking about, and what do you mean by "in DC?"

as opposed to "AC"?

R213, Go back to bed, Rose.

Already in the works, R212. I'm bringing my genius to the directorial process.

I enjoyed the revival of Little Shop, but I wished they'd had a knockout Audrey. No mention of who's playing her these days. Now that's a role for Anneligh Ashford.

Not sure why you bitches are insulting me. Sondheim's BOUNCE did play in D.C. but it did not "close in previews" there. It later played New York, Off-Broadway, but that was a different production.

In other words, R218, the production of "Bounce" that played in D.C. closed in previews.

I saw Dear Evan Hansen last week and did not catch covid! Hooray!

[quote]In other words, [R218], the production of "Bounce" that played in D.C. closed in previews.

No, dimwit, because regular performances of a pre-Broadway run of a show in another city are not considered "previews."

Bounce played its entire run in Chicago and then DC. It never announced a Broadway run. It didn't close early.

R219, Yes, exactly!

R221, Of course they are, you moron.

R222, The producers had every intention to advance Bounce to Broadway, had the reviews not been terrible, as noted in this excerpt from a WaPo article.

Neither John Weidman, who wrote the book for the musical, nor Berlind returned phone calls yesterday afternoon. Berlind's producing partner on "Bounce," Arielle Tepper, was traveling and unreachable.

In the Variety article, Berlind cited the lack of a suitable New York theater for the production among his reasons for pulling out. He didn't mention the reviews, but presumably the producer's plans would be different had "Bounce" been wildly acclaimed here. Weidman, for his part, told Variety after Berlind's decision was announced that he, Prince and Sondheim are "quite satisfied with this cast, this production and the design. We'll be inventive and creative about what happens next with this production."

Sondheim spent nearly six weeks in Washington during the show's recent run -- two weeks in rehearsals and four for performances -- according to a Kennedy Center spokeswoman. The composer's next project may well be a musicalization of the movie "Groundhog Day," an idea he has spoken of with enthusiasm.

Sandra Bernhard claims she was approached to play BILLIE Flynn in Chicago on broadway. And I don’t doubt that will happen at some point during the run if not with her then with someone else.

[quote]The composer's next project may well be a musicalization of the movie "Groundhog Day," an idea he has spoken of with enthusiasm.

Yes, because that worked out so well for everyone involved.

[quote] Sandra Bernhard claims she was approached to play BILLIE Flynn in Chicago on broadway.

This would get me back there to see it. But only if Bernhard did it. I'm not going back if they try and shoehorn Bebe into a fourth role.

Even more relevant to the endless Beanie discussion, she was cast in a 1990 version of Funny Girl that obviously never happened. (Funny enough, also for the Weisslers.)

Did Albee’s estate prevent this from airing on Saturday night?

Thanks, R225. That production was definitely planned for Broadway, but it's still incorrect to say that it closed during "previews" in D.C., no matter how vehemently the numbskull above argues otherwise. I saw BOUNCE in D.C., and it was not a "preview," it was a regular performance of a production that was then supposed to head to Broadway but did not.

Exactly, r231. They are called "out of town try outs".

Sandra B still has that arch bitch-wit of hers.

But she has always massively overestimated her popular appeal with more mainstream audiences. Outside of her loyal LGBT cult following, no one really has any idea who she is... or cares. Her recurring role on ROSEANNE remains her biggest claim to fame, and that was 25 years ago.

(Yes, I liked KING OF COMEDY, too. About 11 people saw KING OF COMEDY.)

I always wondered if Jane Powell was cast by Prince and Sondheim in BOUNCE because they fondly remembered her audition for Sally in the original FOLLIES. Not that I know that she even auditioned - that's simply my imagination at work.

I can't imagine Sandra Bernhard could ever have been sold to general audiences as Fanny Brice, no matter how well she might have sung the score. She simply has NO vulnerability.

Beanie, of course, has too much. It really is an impossible role to cast as brilliantly as the original.

Did Laurie Beechman play Fanny anywhere?

American Dad did it much better, r230.

On the Little Shop website, Tammy B gets first billing ahead of Conrad, did they do that because he's BIPOC or was she always first? I can't picture her gettng billed ahead of Jordan or Groff

[quote]I can't imagine Sandra Bernhard could ever have been sold to general audiences as Fanny Brice, no matter how well she might have sung the score. She simply has NO vulnerability.

Interesting point, Of course, Bernhard might have been able to "act" vulnerability, the way Streisand did. But I'm not sure if she's that good an actress, and also, there's something about her face alone that works against any sense of vulnerability.

People aren't going to shell out top dollar to see a leading lady as hideous as Bernhard.... except the gays.

I'd rather watch Bernhard than fat, ugly Beanie

She woulda looked great in the costumes!

Yes, r239, Sandra Bernhard is the personification of "resting bitch face."

R230 -- what a weird sketch. What on Earth got them to imagine that now was the time for a WAOVW sketch . . . and/or that anyone in the audience would recognize it as such?

[quote]They are called "out of town try outs".

And never forget, "Bounce" was the greatest show to never make it Broadway. Every note, every word Sondheim wrote was pure genius! Never in the history of musical flops will there ever a flop as great as "Bounce"!

R245, seriously? I've never seen anyone go to the mat for BOUNCE in the way you claim -- quite the contrary, in fact.

I saw it in Chicago and D.C., and both times it just lay there. But there are a few superb songs in it -- most notably "Talent" and "You."

Local CBS news here in NYC just showed Joel Grey surrounded by Bebe and Bernie to celebrate his 90th birthday in Times Square. They've been doing so much to celebrate Broadway the past few months and I appreciate it. Shows such a nice spirit, as my friend Mark used to say.

Corelli sang Tony on Bernstein's studio WSS recording. I hope he got that right.

Happy 90th Joel Grey. God bless him.

I don’t think Tammy has played an 8 show week since the show came back after the pandemic. She has two understudies and, yes, one is black.

It was Carreras, not Corelli who sang on that WSS album. and he constantly couldn't get the tempi right and Bernstein constantly had to correct him, as the documentary shows.

R251, Wasn't Carreras a last minute replacement and wasn't his English very limited?

A Spaniard singing the role of Tony? SUCH a smart move by Bernstein. Jesus.

Bernstein thought he was hiring a different singer who was more appropriate for the role.

R254. I thought I was hiring Bernadette Peters and got Madeline Kahn instead. Look how that turned out.

It turned out well for Judy Kaye.

I wonder what the score would have sounded like had it been Bernadette.

Annaleigh was scheduled to do LITTLE SHOP, but had to turn it down because of a scheduling problem. As it turns out, she would have been available but by then they were stuck with Tammy Blanchard.

The Bernstein recording of WSS was an abomination of musical theater. Absolutely the wrong voices. Pathetic.

An adolescent girl sounds like this. He didn't have to get voices literal to the story, but, please.

So, do we think Mamet's comments will have any impact on American Buffalo's box office? (If there's much interest to begin with. Seems like it's doing fine, but not terrific.)

R257 and Judy now also has a Razzie for Worst Supporting Actress.

Donna Murphy looks awful in those photos with Joel Grey. Like her face was frozen like a pea bag

We flash-freeze Donna Murphy to retain goodness and pea-ness.

Always good to retain penis.

Orson Welles knew all about green pea-ness......

How interesting that Joel Grey's ANYTHING GOES co-star Sutton Foster didn't join in the birthday celebration!

So I have tickets to see SUFFS later this week and it looks like Shaina Taub still has COVID. Is it worth trying to exchange for a later date (the entire run is sold out) or does it not really matter?

Just go. The show isn't gonna be any better with her, and maybe her understudy won't be such a meeskite.

Plaza Suite has cancelled tomorrow’s performance (which is when they were scheduled to resume). Stay tuned.

Stick with the OBCR for West Side Story. The soundtrack is interesting for slightly more music and and a bigger orchestra. That Bernstein concert recording isn't actually very good.

[Quote] The Bernstein recording of WSS was an abomination of musical theater. Absolutely the wrong voices. Pathetic.

That because he was trying an operatic version of it

R263, No one ever accused Donna Murphy of being attractive.

^ Very miscast.

What is Donna Murphy's relationship to Joel Grey?

I'd never heard that about Sandra as Fanny Brice. I can't imagine it ever working, but she might be a good Vera Charles in an edgy "Mame" revival.

Shaina Taub is just not good…at anything she’s supposed to be good at.

[quote] That because he was trying an operatic version of it

That's fine, but cast the right people.

Casting any operatic voices for WSS is miscasting

THIS DAY IN BROADWAY HISTORY: In 1991, "Miss Saigon" opened at the Broadway Theatre.

Beanie on Colbert's show tonight. She's really making the rounds today!

And I'm sure she's eating them all, too.

I thought for the longest time that Anna Maria Alberghetti was the original Maria. I read that although she was a finalist, the creators felt her voice was too operatic. As for Carreras, his own accent was so pronounced it defeated the storyline. However, that note he holds in Maria is great.

Although Pia Zadora was as wrong as can be, she at least sang the score well at the Long Beach CLO.

Pia was in Funny Girl not WSS

R268-SUFFS has been extended 2 more weeks to accommodate those who still have any interest. Call the Public box office.

I have SUFFicient, r285.

STFU about SUFFS

Haven't we SUFFered enough?

People are falling all over themselves on TikTok over someone called Amy Lennox singing Cabaret and she’s god awful?

R289 She replaced Jessie Buckley as Sally, Fra Fee replaced Redmayne

That West End production of Cabaret looks like everything people here didn't like about the Sam Mendes/Rob Marshall Cabaret turned up to about 1,000. (Bear in mind, London never really got that production, just the proto-version of it at the Donmar.)

Man, what happened to David Mamet? He was an interesting man years (as in decades) ago and then he went over the deep-end into the world of very-conservative.

I scrolled through his Wiki page and even there, it points out how "In a 2008 essay at The Village Voice titled "Why I Am No Longer a 'Brain-Dead Liberal'"[23] he discussed how his political views had shifted from liberalism to conservatism."

I don't mind conservative people, but Mamet represents that turn that is so far to the right that I'm left shaking my head... i just don't get it.

[quote]I don't mind conservative people

I do.

I saw the clip of the new Sally singing a bit in a highlights reel from the Oliviers and she's mostly [italic] screaming [/italic]. Directors of revivals seem to want to compete with the original material rather than honor it. The song always worked before because it's so well written. Now every time it's done it's with more histrionics and over the top nonsense to beat it into. the ground and train the audience that subtlety has no home in theater. With "Cabaret" a little desperation to hang on to her spirit has a lot more impact - although not on the surface - than a full out hysterical explosion. Yawn.

sorry here's the link (I know my DL etiquette)

Lol you don’t need a clip reel - the full screaming performance and the full ceremony are on YT. I don’t get how she can do that eight times a week and not lose her voice

I wonder if Gina Lollobrigida called Joel on his 90th birthday. But then did he call her on hers?

It's funny, movie acting has gotten more subtle and theater acting has gotten more broad

I love how people claim not to be racist, but come up with a phrase like "black up." to describe playing Othello at the Met.

It is like they think that the opera singers were strutting like a 70s pimp from a cheap cop show.

[quote] I don’t get how she can do that eight times a week and not lose her voice

I would prefer to see her after she has lost her voice.

Have you never seen Al Pacino in a movie? He plays to the back row of the third mezzanine of Radio City.

It saddens me that the original Hal Prince staging and Joe Masteroff book for CABARET will likely never be seen again on Broadway. I saw that production 4 times when I was in college and it was absolutely dazzling. The opening number "Wilkommen" was truly unforgettable. But then there will never be performers like Lotte Lenya, Jack Gilford. Joel Grey and yes.....Jill Haworth, on Broadway again. And the Boris Aronson sets and Patricia Zipprodt costumes.....I'm so lucky I got to see them in that production.

Only since Godfather II, R301. I agree with you, but in the first two Godfather movies the performances are all in his stillness.

[Quote] I don’t get how she can do that eight times a week and not lose her voice

From the sound of it, she already has

[quote]I saw the clip of the new Sally singing a bit in a highlights reel from the Oliviers and she's mostly screaming . Directors of revivals seem to want to compete with the original material rather than honor it. The song always worked before because it's so well written. Now every time it's done it's with more histrionics and over the top nonsense to beat it into. the ground and train the audience that subtlety has no home in theater. With "Cabaret" a little desperation to hang on to her spirit has a lot more impact - although not on the surface - than a full out hysterical explosion. Yawn.

Agreed 100 percent. This is the result of decades of dumbing-down in theater, and the more direct result of the dumbing-down of CABARET for the Mendes-Marshall production.

[quote]It saddens me that the original Hal Prince staging and Joe Masteroff book for CABARET will likely never be seen again on Broadway.

Same here, but if indeed a new movie version directed by Bradley Cooper and starring Lady Gaga comes to fruition I'm thinking and hoping it might be closer to the original as far as the script is concerned.

The Joel Grey revival of Cabaret was torture to sit through and beefing up the role of the Emcee didn’t help. The rest of the cast was meh and the pacing was deadly slow.

R307, I didn't love that production, and I really didn't like that new song for Cliff, but I'm surprised you hated the production so much. I thought it was fine if uninspired.

Laurie beechman played Fanny at the Sacramento music circus in 1992. And was wonderful. Marcia Lewis played mama Brice

Marcia was born to play Mrs. Brice.

No, Marcia was born to play Mrs. Strakosh.

[quote] Have you never seen Al Pacino in a movie? He plays to the back row of the third mezzanine of Radio City.

r301 you can't really counter my point by picking the hammiest ham in all of Hollywood.

If I saw her screaming Cabaret like that in the theater, I would start laughing. The screaming and the sweating and makeup running and in a big man's suit. HOW EDGY!!!!

I don't want to spoil "The Minutes" for anyone, but also found the ending of that laughable.

Sandra Bernhard would actually be good replacement casting for Joanne in Company.

Will be interesting to see if Mamet shows up at the curtain call for the American Buffalo opening Thursday night. And don'y forget, Tuesday nights are special 2 for 1 Pederast Educator nights!

Saw How I Learned to Drive on Saturday night. Mary-Louise Parker was as incredible as you’ve always heard she was in this. I found her final scenes in that play breathtaking. David Morse was very good as well.

Johanna Day (who plays different members of Lil Bit’s family) was one of the surprises of the night for me. She was very memorable and had a fantastic monologue towards the end of the play that should put her in the Tony conversation.

Sandra has not one scintilla of the sophistication that Joanne requires. Just like PL.

I don't thnik Joanne is sophisticated at all. She's an Upper East Side broad with some pretense.

I WAS FUCKING SOPHISTICATED!

Take a note, stupid producers, casting directors, marketers and publicists. Beanie is in the perfect spot career-wise to get all these bookings, just known enough to be a story and not exposed enough to get a yawn from bookers. I think there aren't a lot of other working actresses who could get this many interviews and features before critics have spoken. the show may regret the choice if she truly sucks but otherwise the media is gobbling her up as hungrily as she gobbles up a Fribble on a Saturday afternoon.

Now here's a guy who needs to be canceled.

R321 I wonder like someone previously commented if it'll affect sales for the current production of American Buffalo.

Was Mamet as handsome as I remember when he was a young man?

The hammiest ham in all of Hollywood? How about the hammiest ham in the history of Hollywood. And yes when very young he was great.

Manoel Felciano is maturing nicely

Is the Debra Messing thing a one-woman show?

Saw Mamet on Bill Maher Friday night and he seemed off. Like he had dementia or something.

no r326

Rob Ashford is back

[quote] "When we identified that the setting of our production wasn't necessarily a place, but perhaps an emotion, with characters driven by their souls and desires, I realized we had a project that demanded being brought to life on the stage. Wagstaff and Abel have created a new, sweeping Sherlock Holmes with modern versions of the classic characters fighting hidden demons in a visceral, emotional, sensual thrill ride that could derail at any moment"

Zombie Fritz Weaver is available!

He can play "Dream Watson."

Get Inga on the phone!

And Taina Elg!

[quote] So, do we think Mamet's comments will have any impact on American Buffalo's box office?

Well, I’m just one person, but I’m going to avoid it.

I was going to avoid it anyway.

Some of us knew Mamet was a wingnut basket case years ago.

[quote]Rob Ashford is back

Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the theater....

More of Jill Perryman's...interpretation.

Please pray for me! I finally broke down and got tickets to see Funny Girl. At 34, I’m kinda an eldergay at this point and this might be my only chance to see Funny Girl on Broadway so Beanster, here I come!

THIS DAY IN BROADWAY HISTORY: In 1992, a revival of "A Streetcar Named Desire" starring Jessica Lange and Alec Baldwin opened at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre.

I must admit I'll be very curious to hear how Pamela Anderson does in her "Chicago" debut tonight. I wish her well.

Pam could surprise everyone just like Melanie did. I hope she does.

[quote] Please pray for me! I finally broke down and got tickets to see Funny Girl. At 34, I’m kinda an eldergay at this point and this might be my only chance to see Funny Girl on Broadway so Beanster, here I come!

Wow, you're 34? Can you get to the theater okay or do you need a walker? Besides, you will be around for the Encores revival, directed by and starring Billy Porter as Fanny.

R48 Will that "1776" finally show that the casting of "Hamilton" started this gimmick casting?

When Baldwin made his entrance in that Streetcar production, he ripped off his T shirt, swabbed his pits with it and then starting sniffing it. It got quite the audience reaction.

He and Lange did a TV movie of it a couple of years later but with a different director and it wasn't nearly as good as it had been onstage.

I saw that production of STREETCAR with Baldwin and Lange. He was fine. Her, you couldn't hear. In the eighth row of the orchestra. No surprise it was better on TV.

Beanie might be acceptable as Miss Marmelstein. That is all. But she still might not stop the show.

"Congratulations, Pam, that was really great. You got through it with flying colors."

"Thank you so much. I was scared but it was also really fun."

"So we'll see you tomorrow at 1:30. and 7:30"

"Wait, what?"

Pam was on the local afternoon news today bragging she's doing all the original choreography. But apart from Nowadays and The Hot Honey Rag, the Reinking/Bobbie revival doesn't use the original choreography.

Pedant alert.

She's not an old theater queen like you r349, I'm sure she meant the original from [italic] this [/italic] production, since many of the revolving door stars have used reduced versions.

Finish your sherry and go to bed.

NYT review of To My Girls. Sounds dire, about the kind of people I wouldn't want to hang out with in real life, let alone spend money to do so.

"Lee, whose play “Luce,” from 2013, is as tightly wound as this one is aimless, seems to want it all ways. Social media and conformity may be killing gay culture, but everyone participates joyfully in the music video Curtis is making to attract more followers. It’s the jolliest thing in the show: a synchronized dance to the Pussycat Dolls song “When I Grow Up,” performed in heels, wigs and diaphanous floral-print caftans. (The costumes, and lack thereof, are by Sarafina Bush.)

“I wanna be famous/I wanna be a star,” they lip-sync with no irony.

That the routine must pass as one of the play’s high points is part of the problem, indicating how little is happening otherwise. Yes, one character sleeps with another, upsetting a third, but nothing much comes of it. The political and generational arguments, not exactly fresh in the first place, change no one’s mind, perhaps because, as in “The Boys in the Band,” everyone’s blitzed within minutes of arrival. (The play’s title is a toast.) What the high-octane margaritas do for the characters, the quick-sketch rhythms of the writing do for the drama: delink action from reaction. Expediency is all."

Just watched Pam’s first curtain call on Instagram. She looks gorgeous and the audience went wild. I would go back and see it with her.

Curtain call

Jessica Lange was DREADFUL in that Streetcar. She made her first entranced exhausted and had nowhere to go from there. I think I might have even left at Intermission.

Lange’s was the best Blanche I’ve seen (in the TV version.) She was especially good in the monologue about her husband.

I wish I could have seen Cate Blanchett’s. And Faye’s.

Isn’t Netflix going to show a docuseries about Pamela Anderson in Chicago. She’s going to milk this stunt as much as she can

Best (by far!) Blanche I ever saw was Rosemary Harris in Ellis Rabb's brilliant production at the Beaumont back in 1973. With a red hot James Farentino as Stanley, who Ellis graciously granted a brief nude scene.

How come there were two revivals of STREETCAR only four years apart? The '92 one with Lange/Baldwin, and the '88 Blythe Danner/Aidann Quinn production. Incidentally, did anyone watch the latter?

Danner's was the only nod for her revival; Baldwin's was the only one for his. That probably means the rest of the respective casts stunk.

Pam Anderson did "Dancing With The tars" so she learned choreography and she has been working on this since February, so you can't call her lazy.

Farentino wouldn’t have convinced me that he was a dumb Polack like Stanley.

My friend's relative worked behind the scenes of "Streetcar" and gave us a backstage tour before a performance. Then we got to the stage and says go head check out the set. As we are walking through the set Jessica Lange and Alec Baldwin are in the orchestra with the director going over things. She sees up on on the set and starts waving at us which I thought was really sweet. I thought she was great. I heard every word. Beside Lange and Baldwin, the cast included Amy Madigan and James Gandolffini.

I saw the Lange/Baldwin Streetcar several times, once as an audience member, and then later in the run, I worked on it. I thought Lange was decent (and I don't love her), but the absolute standout was Amy Madigan as Stella. She should have won the Tony that year for Featured Actress. She was devastating. Baldwin was fine. Aida Turturro and James Gandolfini stood out more.

[quote]When Baldwin made his entrance in that Streetcar production, he ripped off his T shirt, swabbed his pits with it and then starting sniffing it. It got quite the audience reaction.

He and Lange did a TV movie of it a couple of years later but with a different director and it wasn't nearly as good as it had been onstage.

in the film versions, baldwin's pits appear at 21:25, but alas, no sniffing

R382 how come Baldwin was the only one in his production to get a Tony nomination?

The production was roundly panned, but Baldwin was still, in 1992, seen as the hot new thing and Broadway was obsessed with him. They hated Jessica. But between the two of them, the theater and backstage door entrance was a madhouse at every show. It was like the Beatles.

Streetcar is one of those plays like Salesman, Long Day’s Journey and Virginia Woolf if you don’t get nominated someone has seriously screwed up.

Amy Madigan’s redneck Stella would have been right at home on Mama’s Family. Gandolfinii was understudy for Mitch.

Anderson was dancing with the tars? When did she do Pinafore?

The production had a return engagement at the St. James with Lois, who I wish I could have seen, r357.

R338, to be fair to Jill Perryman, Funny Girl made her a star in the 1960s and that was filmed in 1980. Also to be fair, Australia suffered right up into the 1980s from commercial theatre bringing B-grade "stars" from the US to star in musicals here. Toni Lamond's Pajama Game, Perryman's Funny Girl and Nancye Hayes's Sweet Charity were landmark performances largely because this was the first time Australians got to play the leads in major Broadway shows in their own country. I'm not old enough to remember, but the leading man in each case was probably imported even so.

TO MY GIRLS may suck, by Jay Armstrong Johnson has a nice dick and fucks like a champ.

[quote]Jessica Lange was DREADFUL in that Streetcar. She made her first entranced exhausted and had nowhere to go from there. I think I might have even left at Intermission.

My memory of her performance was that she was indeed dreadful during the first half of the play but improved greatly in the latter scenes. I expect her performance was very variable from night to night, due to her inexperience with stage acting.

Wasn't the male lead in the London SWEET CHARITY from Australia? Did he do it in his homeland as well?

[Quote] I saw the clip of the new Sally singing a bit in a highlights reel from the Oliviers and she's mostly screaming

If you tell me she takes a leak on stage...

R14 what an absolutely perfect rendition of one of my favorite musicals. I wish I could go see that. Thank you for enlightening me to that!

Oops. That was meant for R18, Company/but R14 has another one I will have to listen to.

R371, And the leaked video of him with his boyfriend and another guy confirmed that.

You're right, R373, he was Australian. But Charity was on simultaneously in London and Australia from what I can gather, and it looks like McLennan was already working overseas before being cast in London. I couldn't find information on the leading men in any of those shows, though I did find a claim that the Pajama Game cast was all Australian because it was put together hurriedly when Fonteyn cancelled a tour and the theatre would have been dark.

[quote]Just watched Pam’s first curtain call on Instagram. She looks gorgeous and the audience went wild.

Perhaps this is just the beginning. Imagine if you will: Pamela Anderson IS Sally Bowles!

Is Pam a Sally or a Phyllis?!

R358. Frances McDormand and Danner were both nominated for a best actress Tony that year. Not sure why McDormand wasn’t in the featured category.

Maybe she'll be Fanny Brice next!

R382, Or Joanne!

Pam is a Fraulein Kost.

But NOT a Vera.

I highly doubt Pam is any good whatsoever. Then again, some of you tasteless queens thought Melanie Griffith was good, and that mattress pad can't act or sing for shit.

Maybe Lange got better as the show went along and so it depended on when you saw her. Certainly Bernie did in Gypsy and Patti in London in Evita.

Melanie Griffith didn't have to act. She was herself and she walked off with the Roxie monologue. Now if she could only sing and dance...

I meant Patti in London in Sunset Boulevard. Whatever. Supposedly the closing performances were far superior to what the critics saw at the opening and it cost her Broadway.

I thought Melanie Griffith’s Roxie monologue was okay, but no better than that. She’s not completely untalented, so there was a bit of “look at the trained chimpanzee dancing in toe shoes!” to her performance. With Pam Anderson, it’ll be more like “look at the orangutan playing in its poo!”

If you've ever heard the OLC of Sunset, there's no doubt who sang the part better.

[quote] If you've ever heard the OLC of Sunset, there's no doubt who sang the part better.

If you ever heard your great aunt Hortense perform it in the shower, there's no doubt who sang it better.

.,.,

I was listening to a radio show yesterday and the show’s producer said she had just seen Funny Girl and that Beanie was amazing.

[quote]But between the two of them, the theater and backstage door entrance was a madhouse at every show. It was like the Beatles.

Lange went out a completely different exit into a waiting car while Baldwin deflected and entertained the masses down the alley..

R395 what alley?

[Quote] . Supposedly the closing performances were far superior to what the critics saw

Yeah, Yeah. Same with See Me On A Monday in GYPSY.

The only STREETCAR I abandoned at intermission was Gillian Anderson's.

I was lucky enough to see the Lois Nettleton STREETCAR and she was wonderful in it.

So where is this fabled Jay Armstrong Johnson's sex tape?

It's not up to much. I don't even recall any assholes, just his mole.

R400, It was available for a while after it was leaked. I downloaded it just in time.

It was a three-way right?

Yes. No Jay face. KDM getting blown was better.

I feel bad for all these guys. I’ve seen Cheyenne Jackson masturbating, Kyle Dean Massey getting a blowjob, Charlie Williams giving a blowjob and Wesley Taylor and Andrew Keegan Bolger naked. I agree of all the above, the hottest was KDM getting the blowjob. But it’s still all sad

It is an invasion of privacy that these things get leaked.

Oh, please. Film yourself, then deal with the consequences. That's why I send other people's nudes.

I want to see Joshua Buscher get railed.

R407 in the butt?

[quote] I feel bad for all these guys. I’ve seen Cheyenne Jackson masturbating, Kyle Dean Massey getting a blowjob, Charlie Williams giving a blowjob and Wesley Taylor and Andrew Keegan Bolger naked....But it’s still all sad. It is an invasion of privacy that these things get leaked.

If someone is filming you [italic] on their phone [/italic] be sure it's someone you trust or have them do it on [italic] your [/italic] phone. Problem precluded. Otherwise, your dick has once again made you stupid. I've had so much great sex without anyone filming it, so it is possible.

I trusted me.

Your phone can be hacked, files synced to the cloud/other devices etc.

if anyone just happened to feel like posting any of the above...

We're actually posting about theatre gossip and sex tapes? It's only taken hundreds of threads.

They're used to be Broadway sex threads, hon.

Please don't repost Michael Arden's nudes. Let the memories stay golden.

Jessica Lange was passable in Streetcar. In 2005 she was Amanda in The Glass Menagerie. The less said about her performance that production the better. Josh Lucas and Sarah Paulson were a bit better and Christian Slater came off the best IMHO but I always had a bit of a thing for him.

Thankfully Lange eventually redeemed herself and triumphed with Long Day’s Journey…

What were the Broadway sex threads like, grandpapa? And why were they discontinued?

Who wins lead actress in a play this year? MLP again?

R404, You can see enough of JAJ's head to identify him when he leans forward to kiss the guy who was sucking his boyfriend's cock.

I actually liked Jessica Lange in both STREETCAR and MENAGERIE, but I was sitting close for both shows. I feel like maybe her performance didn't read past row J.

I can't believe we've gone....how many years?.......without a Broadway revival of Streetcar, Menagerie or Cat on a Hot Tin Roof!

Thank you, Covid!

Isn't Broadway due for another FOLLIES revival?

It should never have closed in the first place r422.

R423 I liked my tagline better.

[quote] Yes, but many shows that expect Broadway runs close out of town.

Are you referring to me?

Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Whistle Down the Wind”?

Pam on Broadway

Pam is *barely* a Christine Crane.

R415 Apparently his latest thing is gooning. Sitting there for hours, mindlessly stroking to porn. Oh and that Forest of Arden bullshit was just an excuse for him and the husband - who apparently rarely fuck alone - to have orgies in their upstate converted church.

R417 Because the insiders stopped posting here. Its why these threads have become...what they are now.

TO My Girls got exactly the reviews it deserved. It's a badly written attempt to make young gay men appear relevant. Virtue signaling, my ass. I'd rather see JAJ's three-way tape.

Will we ever get to see Audra’s Blanche DuBois at Williamstown or maybe even BROADWAY?????

Despite what the British critics wrote at the time, Rachel Weisz was the worst, hammiest Blanche I've yet to see. She played the entire second act as if her character was shitfaced. And who directed it? Rob Ashford, the man who will absolutely destroy any future for anything Sherlock Holmes. He even threw in Blanche's ghost husband committing suicide.

405: Sharing is caring... Please.

Wait, there are videos out there of Andy Mientus getting plowed? How did I miss that?

R433-There's got to be at least one in every state.

Neil Patrick Harris is replacing Christian Borle in Into The Woods at NYCC. I wasn't going anyway, so...eh?

Is Borle getting an early start on rehearsals for Some Like It Hot? I wasn't going anyway, so..eh?

Broderick returns to Plaza tomorrow opposite Erin Dilly. SJP back for Saturday matinee.

David Burka IS Milky White!

NPH/CB as the Baker? It’s nice to know the woke crowd is including senior citizens in roles intended for early 30 something. Is Hugh Jackman going to play Jack?

Isn’t NPH a bit old for Jack?

R439, Chip Zien was 40 in the OBC of Into the Woods.

[quote] Chip Zien was 40 in the OBC of Into the Woods.

CB and NPH are both 49 but look a good decade older.

r401/r403, there was a lot more than the 3-way. r409 is right. He seemed to have trusted the wrong person, likely his ex since that's the one who was filming the threeway, and filmed J bottoming for him. There were also solos that seemed to be intended for the ex--jerking off and moaning the ex's name while cumming, bending over the showing the camera his hole and briefly fingering himself.... I felt bad for the guy. But at the same time, when you're taking that many videos, you're really tempting fate, aren't you?

FUNNY GIRL '64-'65 Barbra Onstage and Off

Paradise Square pushed its reopening yet again to next Tuesday.

NPH is not playing Jack, he's playing The Baker.

Can someone direct me to Michael Arden's nudes? I thought he was cute back in the day.

How can Paradise Square have any money to do anything?

Can someone direct me to Michael Arden's cum stains?

Is it possible that Borle excused himself from ITW because of its director not having talent?

R440-Aren't you too young to be posting without a permission slip?

R451 on his way to smack the shit out of Gideon now

[quote]what alley?

The double doors on the right side of the Barrymore front doors. You walked down the ally and Alec came out and signed off the loading dock while Jessica exited the empty stage door left of the front doors right into her car.

[quote]Jessica exited the empty stage door left of the front doors right into her car.

Where a hot steaming cup of High Point awaited her!

Lange was transcendent in Long Day’s Journey into Night. I’m so glad I got to see that.

Well, I'm pleased to hear Jessica Lange is still learning and improving her craft.

R456-Sarah Paulson helped with that.

Is Pamela Anderson doing Chicago with Mel B. or is that just a Mel B. impersonator?

Isn’t it a Braxton?

Thank God that Funny Girl video includes the entire Chick Chicken Scramble sequence. In color, yet!

Jess 1

Jess 2

Doesn't compare to the brilliant Vanessa Redgrave/Brian Dennehy version.

So with the critics actually re-re-re-re-re-re review CHICAGO?

r464, the Post sort of did.

I do not understand this revisionist look at Pamela Anderson. Are we actually going to pretend that all these years this vapid cumdump was actually a misunderstood talent? Are there really no other people to make documentaries or miniseries about or careers to re-ignite?

It's called "CHICAGO's been running for 26 years...who the hell *haven't* we cast?", r466.

You haven't seen Pam's Hedda Gabler, R466. It's revelatory.

I don’t like this one. Eponine was all alone at this point. Heart broken alone lost her love for Cosette.

Carol was the OG hipster back in the day.

R466 Yes, she may have fought the limited series Pam & Tom, but it’s going to be one of the biggest and most sympathetic career boosts that anyone has ever had and people are seeing her now in a new light. Pam needs to get down on her knees and thank Lily James for the depiction and probably using her Hollywood power to take what should have been a complete trashing of character to elevating her stature to new unseen levels.

We've found our MAME!

[quote]Carol was the OG hipster back in the day.

Carol was always hip.

[quote]CB and NPH are both 49 but look a good decade older.

No, they don't. Don't be an idiot. Oh, too late...

[quote][R401]/[R403], there was a lot more than the 3-way. [R409] is right. He seemed to have trusted the wrong person, likely his ex since that's the one who was filming the threeway, and filmed J bottoming for him.

Why is everyone assuming that the videos were posted without JAJ's knowledge or consent? Isn't it possible that he was fine with them being posted, or even did so himself? I can't imagine that he has made a statement along the lines of "Oh, yeah, that's me in those vids, and I DID NOT agree to them being posted."

The videos achieved their purpose. People are more aware of and are actively discussing a competent but very average, not particularly interesting, performer.

People forget that Carol was the half time star at the original Superbowl with a marching band and she was so popular they brought her back just a few years later.

I’m going to ITW with my parents and they are frankly thrilled to see Doogie Howser live…so there’s that.

What concerns me is Patti LuPone always talks about how unprepared he was for Company so hopefully he’s learned his lesson .

I thought Giants in the Sky is a NPH signature song that he would want to sing so demanding to play Jack, or will he somehow work it that the Baker gets to sing the song instead?

[quote]The videos achieved their purpose. People are more aware of and are actively discussing a competent but very average, not particularly interesting, performer.

Also, I think it's fair to say he's only average or slightly above as an actor and singer, and he probably realizes that he needs to trade on his sex appeal -- which is well above average, IMHO -- to boost his career.

I would like this edition of INTO THE WOODS to be a wonderful, heartfelt tribute to Sondheim's passing.

But I strongly suspect that despite all these names, names, names that it's going to just suck. Like so much else this theatre season.

[quote]The videos achieved their purpose. People are more aware of and are actively discussing a competent but very average, not particularly interesting, performer.

Maybe he's going to use the videos to MeToo somebody.

R471-Wouldn't be the first time Pam got down on her knees to thank somebody in the business.

Lenora

I still don't understand why Encores is doing Into the Woods, the most frequently done of all Sondheim's shows. Wasn't their mission to rediscover old scores?

Is it unkind to ask how old the character of Roxy is supposed to be? I mean - she’s not a grandma, right?

Roxie is supposed to be around 30, which was considered over the hill in the 1920s, particularly for a woman desiring a career in showbiz. She should be old enough to start becoming disillusioned with life but still be convincingly optimistic. Also, the audience must believe she can easily get pregnant.

[quote]I still don't understand why Encores is doing Into the Woods, the most frequently done of all Sondheim's shows. Wasn't their mission to rediscover old scores?

Many years ago, they started throwing in a crowd pleaser to earn $$$. Like when they did "Bye Bye Birdie". Every high school, college, community theater and senior center was doing BBB (it was the farthest thing from a lost score) so Encores didn't need to do it. But they did and they've been doing that ever since.

[quote]I still don't understand why Encores is doing Into the Woods, the most frequently done of all Sondheim's shows. Wasn't their mission to rediscover old scores?

About 25,462 people before you have pointed out that Encores! began straying from its original mission long ago, and has now basically abandoned it. So you seem a bit slow to react.

r475, because whenever they were posted on LPSG back in the day, he always got them taken down within a day, if not hours, and he was on their Do Not Post list before they got rid of it (and finally shut down their Broadway thread altogether because the owners were no doubt sick of dealing with what a pain in the ass that thread must have been. It was good for gossip, but the people who insisted on posting people's nudes got it shut down).

[quote]Also, the audience must believe she can easily get pregnant.

They suspended that belief when Bebe Neuwirth took the role. No man was desperate enough to have sexual relations with her.

I saw Heather Headley in The Muny's INTO THE WOODS a few years ago, and she was brilliant in the part. She's worth the price of the ticket.

Encores is still looking for another Chicago revival that will transfer to Broadway and run for 25 years to keep filling their coffers.

I did a search for r475. The DNP list was removed, but here's an archived version. If he wanted the videos shared, no reason to ask to be on it.

The Encores site has Lear's statement about the series' new mission

"Looking ahead, Producing Creative Director Clint Ramos and I believe it is essential for Encores! to preserve this mission and weave an ever-deepening portrait of the history of American musicals. In our discussions, Clint and I kept coming back to the dictionary definition of “revive:” to make live again; to breathe life into; to wake up; to shake up. Thus we believe that the future of a thriving Encores! has three prongs: revivals of hidden gems, productions where artists reclaim work for our time through their own personal lens, and celebrations that look at the ways musical theater connects us. Our 2022 Encores! Series holds seeds of all three of these tenets."

And her justification for ITW:

"Directed by Encores! Artistic Director Lear deBessonet, this production ushers in a new Encores! tradition, celebrating the community-building potential of iconic American musicals. A multigenerational community chorus of New York City seniors and public school students rounds out the ensemble for a finale that highlights the many ways theater connects us across time."

Sounds like they're just doing what Public Works is doing (like with Shakespeare in the Park).

Let's pray this is Lear's first and last year as artistic director.

[quote]People forget that Carol was the half time star at the original Superbowl with a marching band and she was so popular they brought her back just a few years later.

The very first Superbowl was also the very first time I masturbated. So, while my family was watching Carol march with her band, I was trying to figure out what to do with that white sticky stuff that came out of my dick.

r497 you rock!

[quote] What concerns me is Patti LuPone always talks about how unprepared he was for Company so hopefully he’s learned his lesson .

Where did she talk about that?

R497 you remember THAT, but you don't know that M*A*S*H is off the air.

[quote] They suspended that belief when Bebe Neuwirth took the role. No man was desperate enough to have sexual relations with her.

Doll, they suspended that belief the very first time Gwen tottered out onstage with her desiccated uterus to sing Roxie

The buzz on LCT’s Skin of Our Teeth has been non-existent.

r501 I was going where you just went

[quote] Roxie is supposed to be around 30, which was considered over the hill in the 1920s, particularly for a woman desiring a career in showbiz. She should be old enough to start becoming disillusioned with life but still be convincingly optimistic. Also, the audience must believe she can easily get pregnant.

r487 You are gaysplaining and of course totally wrong. That may have been true in the original story and the Ginger Rogers movie but definitely not the stage musical. STFU

People sometimes act as if Encores! is supposed to stick to shows that belong in NOT SINCE CARRIE. That's never been the case, and anyway it wouldn't be sustainable (however fun it might be to imagine a season of KELLY, PORTOFINO and CARNIVAL IN FLANDERS). They've always programmed shows that were big hits the first time around: FIORELLO! in 1994, CALL ME MADAM in 1995, CHICAGO in 1996, PROMISES PROMISES in 1997, etc.

I'm thrilled to have seen BYE BYE BIRDIE and FOLLIES there, just to name 2; though both shows have been revived on Broadway since (though BIRDIE hadn't been at the time of its Encores! production), their Encores! hearings were vastly superior to the "full-out" revivals.

To me their mission is best understood and executed as reviving Broadway musicals that are unlikely to see a proper revival (1) at all or (2) with their original orchestrations.

The original production of Chicago improved so, so much when Annie and Lenora took over. So much more dancing and so much meaner, snarkier and funnier.

[quote] To me their mission is best understood and executed as reviving Broadway musicals that are unlikely to see a proper revival (1) at all or (2) with their original orchestrations.

And how does Into the Woods fit that description?

And then it closed.

It doesn't, R506. I didn't say a thing about INTO THE WOODS in my post. The 2021-22 Encores! season looks like a total wash to me (though I wouldn't have objected to a revival of THE LIFE as originally written -- musically, anyway).

I'm calling back to earlier in the thread but the operatic WEST SIDE STORY was, as I recall, because Lenny wanted a really good recording with him conducting it. I don't think he's conducting on the original Broadway album--but someone here might know and correct me. He really wanted HIS tempos recorded--for example, I FEEL PRETTY is usually too fast in the theater, he said.

The first choice for Tony was the late, great Jerry Hadley, who had sung Tony many times in concert and had also sung the title role in CANDIDE. Jerry was an operatic tenor but had the right voice for Tony--not on stage, but in concert or on an album.

I also think Deutsche Gramophon pushed it hard--Lenny was a DG artist. And Carreras may have been, too.

I agree it's weird, but Tatiana Troyanos as Anita is kind of awesome.

No, Lenny did not conduct the original Broadway album--in fact, he wasn't even at the recording session.

Shouldn't NPH be playing The Old Man? Or A Very, Very Old Prince? He's not right for The Baker.

Is he right for the Burtka?

Don't forget -- the misconceived DG recording of WEST SIDE STORY was also a hit. Otherwise we would have been spared the Carreras/Te Kanawa SOUTH PACIFIC (you know you're in trouble with Mandy Patinkin is the best of your principals) and the Domingo MAN OF LA MANCHA and on and on.

There's much to enjoy in that WSS, as long as you skip Tony and Maria's numbers. That sounds like a joke, but it's pretty thrilling to hear Bernstein and that excellent pick-up orchestra play the dance music and the (Tony-less) Jet numbers. Over half the recording is well worth the listen.

Thanks, R510

From ATC:

Kieran:

On the night before the first preview, “a really beautiful, touching note” arrived in the mail, she revealed tonight on “Colbert”. (Yes, it’s been framed.)

peter3053:

[quote]A really beautiful, touching note

I wonder: from which song?

Macbeth started up again last night and released this cast photo...which really doesn't make it look at all appealing (though I'm sure Craig is enough of a draw for most).

The photo the NYT used at least makes the costumes look less terrible.

Is anyone still going back to the theater, even if masked? I won't for at least another six months. Or the subway.

Does Jesse William's cock receive billing?

There aren't any photos of that wonderful William's cock took out there yet? Those Google eyeglasses that took photos are still out there even if Google doesn't make them anymore.

[quote] It doesn't, [R506]. I didn't say a thing about INTO THE WOODS in my post. The 2021-22 Encores! season looks like a total wash to me (though I wouldn't have objected to a revival of THE LIFE as originally written -- musically, anyway).

Except that was the exact conversation that was being had- Why are they doing Into the Woods when the initial goal of Encores was what you stated it was and which is EXACTLY what you were responding to, so don't pretend like mention of ITW just magically manifested itself.

So why was Hadley not on the WSS recording and why did DG and Bernstein pick a decidedly non english native singer who has to sing the very American tricky lyrics for the Polish American Tony? They might as well have used Domingo or Pavarotti just for name value alone. Big Lucy would have fucked up the tempos just as badly and sold more copies. And it would have been a helluva lot more entertaining.

[quote]Is anyone still going back to the theater, even if masked?

Seen 3-4 shows per month since September. Entire audience vaccinated and masked, so quite safe for them. (performers not so much)

[quote]I won't for at least another six months. Or the subway.

Your loss. Enjoy the Uber terrorist surge pricing!

I didn't like Hadley's version of Maria at all.

[quote]I don’t like this one. Eponine was all alone at this point. Heart broken alone lost her love for Cosette

Streisand, Bassey, Gorme , Susan Boyle and the like sing the pop versions of show tunes. Like Judy Collins "Send In The Clowns', they are not singing in the character the song was written for.

Encores "always" did shows that were big hits? Nonsense. JUNO, MACK AND MABEL, ANYONE CAN WHISTLE, TENDERLOIN, CLEAR DAY, HOUSE OF FLOWERS, etc.——all beg to differ.

"The Giant is a TERF!!!!"

When Josh Colley was a kid touring in "Les Miz" as Gavroche he had to go on as Eponine in drag and Gavroche in the same show. I'm sure he sang the hell out of but people had to have noticed he was literally a little kid.

at 1:05

R521, check your dosage. The question "Wasn't their mission to rediscover old scores?" reminded me of a larger trend I've noticed in conversations about Encores!.

R526, learn to read. I didn't say that Encores! ONLY did hits. I demonstrated that their programming has always included big hits.

How was the Encores Juno?

R528 I think he meant Little Eponine, who is seen briefly when Little Cosette is introduced in Act I. She has no dialog.

I don't think character or not had any bearing on Streisand's "On My Own." She vocally rearranged it, to dreadful effect. She was wise to leave it on the cutting room floor.

Lenora is the best Velma I’ve ever seen and I’m sorry I never got to see her as Roxie. The revival should bring her back to play Mama.

I think in some of the newer productions the Little Eponine track might involve a couple of additional appearances in ensemble scenes - maybe with the women in Turning?

But I believe it’s fairly common occurrence in Les Mis production history for one of the boys who alternate Gavroche to go on as Little Eponine after Castle on a Cloud if one of the girls who alternate Little Cosette/Little Eponine is out sick.

R530 Boring and depressing.

I did some online digging and found this comment, which rings a bell--that Beverly Sills wouldn't let Hadley do the WSS because he was committed to NYC Opera.

"Jerry Hadley was committed to the Bernstein WSS, someone named Sills objected, and wouldn't let him out of performances that conflicted with the night recording Bernstein required. My understanding at the time was that Angelina Reaux, who like Hadley had recorded for DG (Boheme with Bernstein) was the chosen Maria. There was some intrigue that delivered Kiri, who was sick for the sessions."

[quote]someone named Sills objected,.

Someone named Sills?

I am incredulous that Sills would have refused to let Hadley perform on such a historic recording. What was it out of spite? And they had to have him record in the evening?

Bubbles was a grade A cunt.

Paradise Square now delayed another 3 days. WTF is going on?

I'm willing to bet that the "someone named Sills" line is the late Albert Innaurato's.

Not *our* Bubbles, r539!

Garth is trying to raise money for the load out.

Beverly Sills revealed her true dark soul when she turned her back on the organization that had given her a career -- City Opera -- and joined the Board of The Met. Grade A awful.

Clearly Otrud-Maxwell needs to take a massive shit. You're backed up, honey. And we're all paying for it.

The Juno was pretty good, but could have benefitted from a better lead. Victoria Clark is no Shirley Booth.

[quote]Encores is still looking for another Chicago revival that will transfer to Broadway and run for 25 years to keep filling their coffers.

Well, with the new direction of the series, that will happen sometime around the 12th of Never.

The lead in Juno really should have been Tyne Daly. She was born to play it.

Speaking of Tyne Daly, it might be of interest to some here that about 12 years ago there was a reading of LOOK HOMEWARD, ANGEL with John Gallagher, Jr. as the lead (the Tony Perkins role) and Blythe Danner as the mother (the Jo Van Fleet role), though they tried to get Tyne Daly, who would have been far better casting than Tyne. Obviously, they (I think Jeffrey Richards and Dan Sullivan were involved ) didn't go further with their plans for the revival.

I love Tyne Daly, I wish she would come back to Broadway in a great new play.

You can't get casting more diametrically opposed than Tyne Daly and Blythe Danner.

[quote]You are gaysplaining and of course totally wrong. That may have been true in the original story and the Ginger Rogers movie but definitely not the stage musical. STFU

So tell us, you know-it-all bitch a.k.a. R503, how old do YOU think Roxie is supposed to be in the "stage musical?"

OF COURSE, the story only makes sense if she's not much older than 30. She is supposed to be a chorine, and she is supposed to be young enough that it's credible she could become pregnant. Aso, the story makes NO SENSE if she's over 40 -- let alone over 50 -- and still hungry to "make it" in show business. The fact that Gwen was SO old when she originated the role doesn't change this fact. As you may or may not know, she and Fosse had been trying to get that show on the boards for decades, and obviously she wasn't going to give up just because she was at least 25 years too old for the part.

I have always thought (for the stage musical) that the joke is there was no way Roxie could be pregnant, but that everyone is so dazzled by her that they ignore that fact. Doesn't Velma pretty much allude to that when talking with Mama Morton?

It’s a vaudeville of the story not a documentary.

PS The reporter isn’t really a girl too.

[quote]I have always thought (for the stage musical) that the joke is there was no way Roxie could be pregnant, but that everyone is so dazzled by her that they ignore that fact. Doesn't Velma pretty much allude to that when talking with Mama Morton?

I never got that at all, and it really doesn't make any sense. Also, as I said, pregnancy aside, the plot of the show becomes ridiculous if she's a 45-year-old still trying to make it big in show biz -- especially in the 1920s, when people in their forties were considered elderly.

[quote] I never got that at all, and it really doesn't make any sense.

And yet....

Of course, R556, ALL of those women are actually way too old for the part, but they were cast because they're stars. That happens frequently in the theater, in case you haven't noticed. Doesn't change the fact that the CHARACTER of Roxie should not be much older than around 30, regardless of who's playing her. And that's why, in the more realistic medium of film, Roxie and Velma were cast much closer to the ages that those characters should be.

The show was built for Gwen...and Gwen's age. That's why Velma does the heavy lifting. For Reinking and Penny Worth, more dancing was added.

"I'm older than I ever intended to be."

Exactly, r559.

[quote]"I'm older than I ever intended to be."

But she doesn't mean 50. And that line probably wouldn't be in there at all if Gwen hadn't been the age she was when she played the part.

Keep fucking that chicken, hon.

How was more dancing added? I saw the show with Verdon, then Reinking and then Verdon on tour. The only difference was Roxie with tambourines but it wasn't more dancing. Verdon did the revised number on tour. Verdon did the strut on Broadway and Reinking did the same. No change in Hot Honey Rag.

[quote]Paradise Square now delayed another 3 days. WTF is going on?

Massive covid outbreak, r540.

Isn't Pam with the show through June? If so, I wonder if CBS will want her to perform on the Tony Awards? I'm sure they'll figure the curiosity factor might be good for ratings.

r565, her last date is a week before the Tonys.

Will they award Pam a special Tony Award like they did for Mary Tyler Moore in 1980 for having the "courage" to take on Broadway in Whose Life Is It Anyway??

Why hasn’t Suzanne Somers done “Chicago”? She’s proven herself in theater!

And who’s been the oldest Roxy yet?

Yes, but it will be shaped like a 10 inch dick.

I don't see how Roxie's dream of making it in showbiz has to be related to a "young" age.

Wasn't Nancy Reagan Roxy 20 years ago? And before her it was Loretta Young?

Pamela Anderson in a revival of Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?.

Jay Armstrong Johnson should be more proud of his sex tape than of the shitty career decisions he’s been making lately.

He can obviously fuck and would be way more successful doing porn than doing trash like TO MY GIRLS.

[quote]r570 I read that Liz Renay’s forced-into-stripperdom daughter Brenda killed herself at age 39.

Which is unfortunate.

[italic] Brenda Renay was born in 1943. She was married to a Medlock and lastly a Pruett at the time of her death. Brenda was an actress, known for The Thrill Killers (1964). With mother Liz Renay, they performed the very first mother/daughter strip act. Brenda killed herself on her 39th birthday. She had a brother, John Mclain (DOD 2012)

[quote] The original production of Chicago improved so, so much when Annie and Lenora took over. So much more dancing and so much meaner, snarkier and funnier.

Not even close to the truth. Reinking and Nemetz did *exactly* the same show Verdon and Rivera did. In fact, Verdon was still playing Roxie for the first six months of Lenora Nemetz’s run. Nothing was changed then, nor when Reinking took over as Roxie. Reinking did “The Strut,” which was created to give Gwen a bigger dance showcase (Liza, however, did do the cut Eddie Cantor version of Me & My Baby, which The Strut had replaced.). Reinking and especially Nemetz were great, but they didn’t have that “frisson” of seeing two Broadway legends doing Fosse choreography that was built on their bodies.

Oldest Roxie has got to be Chita.

And faintly villainous.

It’s true. I was barely 17 when I made the film.

This is why I love Tyne Daly, she had her own table at the Broadway Cares Equity Fights AIDS Annual Flea Market and only left the table for an hour to signs autographs at the celebrity autograph table. I have "Cagney & Lacey" Season One signed.

[quote]Why hasn’t Suzanne Somers done “Chicago”? She’s proven herself in theater!

Maybe they didn't want to deal with the husband. The last weekend of her Broadway show after the Saturday matinee she had get together with her home shopping fans. She had a big following then. It wasn't really a meet and great as she only came back onstage after the house cleared. No pictures, no autographs. About a hundred stayed and you had to have a ticket. After about fifteen minutes her husband came on stage walked over to her and said, we have go now, I'm hungry and off she went.

Is her husband ESL?

When Gracie Fields wanted to end a fan encounter, she'd pull on her ear lobe to let her handler know to intervene and call her away.

Gracie Fields?? Any updates on Duse or Bernhardt?

Having seen CHICAGO in its original form, I can say with total certitude that I'd rather have seen a 50-year-old Verdon than any 30-year-old you can name.

I must say I'm impressed by you bitches who saw the original pre-Civil War production of "Sweet Charity". Damn.

^^ and that you can use the interweb and can still type

Speaking of Wes Tay Tay, didn’t he literally shit the bed hooking up with someone when he was performing as the Emcee in Cabaret at Signature in Arlington?

I want to see a Chicago with Suzanne Sommer AND Joyce DeWitt starring!

too bad the others are dead. John Ritter or Richard Kline as Billy. Norman Fell is Mr Cellophane. Audra as Mama. Genius.

This can never be posted often enough.

Norman Fell IS Mr. Cellophane could have been a huge marketing scheme!

Mary Tyler Moore and Valerie Harper as Roxie and Velma. Ed Asner as Billy. Gavin McCleod as Amos. Betty White as Mama.

New thread for when the time comes:

Although the other 461 still has a long way to go

[quote]Having seen CHICAGO in its original form, I can say with total certitude that I'd rather have seen a 50-year-old Verdon than any 30-year-old you can name.

Me too, but that also has absolutely nothing to do with how old the character of Roxie is supposed to be.

[quote]Me too, but that also has absolutely nothing to do with how old the character of Roxie is supposed to be.

But it has everything to do with how old the character of Roxie *can* be, r596.

[quote] Beverly Sills revealed her true dark soul when she turned her back on the organization that had given her a career -- City Opera -- and joined the Board of The Met. Grade A awful.

A girl’s gotta eat. The Met was more prestigious.

[Quote] I want to see a Chicago with Suzanne Sommer AND Joyce DeWitt starring!

I want to see it with Elke Sommer and Zsa Zsa Gabor!

Not really. Your mind must be blown thar Mary Sunshine is not female.

MacLaine & Moreno!

[quote]But it has everything to do with how old the character of Roxie *can* be, [R596].

NO, it has everything to do with how old the PERFORMER playing the role of Roxie can be. The CHARACTER is supposed to be somewhere around 30 years of age, regardless. Sorry if your mind can't wrap itself around that distinction, but I can't explain it any better.