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THEATRE GOSSIP #475: The Post-Tony Call Out Edition

Who has Covid (Hugh)? Who just can't be bothered anymore? And which shows are going to call it quits?

by Anonymousreply 603June 19, 2022 8:58 PM

It's not great, but it's something. Previous thread:

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by Anonymousreply 1June 14, 2022 11:10 PM

I think it's amusing ushers are repeatedly telling people Hugh's not in, like they're worried people still haven't heard by the time they get inside and are going to leap to their feet and rush the exits when they see Max.

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by Anonymousreply 2June 14, 2022 11:12 PM

All of the absences prove how utterly exhausting the Tonys can be, especially for musical star performers of a certain age who are nominated. The pressures of keeping up a good face and also performing at Radio City Music Hall can be overwhelming and not for the faint-hearted (looking at you, Beanie!).

by Anonymousreply 3June 14, 2022 11:13 PM

From the last thread what is going on with Patti LuPone?

by Anonymousreply 4June 15, 2022 12:10 AM

Just for fun: it's the opening of HAMILTON.... in German!

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by Anonymousreply 5June 15, 2022 12:30 AM

Jesus, how did the OP get grayed out already??

by Anonymousreply 6June 15, 2022 12:40 AM

Dammit, OP, while it's not the cleverest title I've ever read, it's pretty perfect. No complaints from me (for once).

by Anonymousreply 7June 15, 2022 12:41 AM

OP should have linked Hugh's TONY pix.

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by Anonymousreply 8June 15, 2022 12:41 AM
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by Anonymousreply 9June 15, 2022 12:43 AM

r6, I really think these threads are disliked enough that people automatically downvote them when they appear...or the system automatically recognizes them as unpopular. Because they're greyed out even when I don't start them, so it's not about me (I think).

by Anonymousreply 10June 15, 2022 12:48 AM

No, I'm sure it isn't about any one OP. I've started threads, also, and they all get grayed out. I think you might be correct that they're automatically flagged.

by Anonymousreply 11June 15, 2022 12:51 AM

There was an even tighter close-up at one point -- like a Garbo-esque / Maria Falconetti closeup of Hugh where he really looked like he'd frighten young children or Tony voters.

by Anonymousreply 12June 15, 2022 1:16 AM

Didn't Chita lead the last big Dear World reading? In preparation for a Roundabout production? What happened to that, I wonder

by Anonymousreply 13June 15, 2022 1:23 AM

HAMILTON in German? Well, it's no COMPANY doc.

by Anonymousreply 14June 15, 2022 1:25 AM

There was a full London production of Dear World with Betty Buckley not too many years ago that was a big flop. Maybe it was her fault but I can't imagine the show speaking to audiences today.

by Anonymousreply 15June 15, 2022 1:32 AM

On another thread, someone saw Hugh's sickly look, said he has aged and they did mot want to suck him anymore.

by Anonymousreply 16June 15, 2022 1:36 AM

Was the cast of THE MINUTES at the Tonys?

by Anonymousreply 17June 15, 2022 1:44 AM

Only nominee Tracy Letts (with his wife DL Fave Carrie Coons).

by Anonymousreply 18June 15, 2022 1:55 AM

I wonder how Sutton’s doing health-wise?

by Anonymousreply 19June 15, 2022 2:01 AM

R19, a lot better than us.

by Anonymousreply 20June 15, 2022 2:10 AM

^COV(a)ID(s)

by Anonymousreply 21June 15, 2022 2:15 AM

I'm hearing horrible things about tech rehearsals of the new musical BETWEEN THE LINES at 2nd Stage. Lots of crew people quitting and threatening to quit over dangerous and careless conditions onstage and backstage. Overly-ambitious without proper support.

They were supposed to begin previews last week but postponed until tonight.

by Anonymousreply 22June 15, 2022 2:18 AM

Sorry, but the TOPDOG/UNDERDOG revival needs bigger names.

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by Anonymousreply 23June 15, 2022 2:19 AM

Topdog/Underdog has now had 4 NYC productions in 20 years. This is bordering on Glass Menagerie territory.

by Anonymousreply 24June 15, 2022 2:20 AM

Matt Doyle posted a curtain call vid and tribute to Max at MM tonite so wondering if both Patti and Matt were out of Company tonite.

by Anonymousreply 25June 15, 2022 2:21 AM

R22 was the first I've ever heard. of BETWEEN THE LINES. If you go to the Second Stage site, this appears at the top in red:

"Please note, Between The Lines is a rental at the Tony Kiser Theater. This is not a Second Stage production nor a part of Second Stage’s subscription season."

LOL

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by Anonymousreply 26June 15, 2022 2:24 AM

I have to admit - the backstage trouble at BETWEEN THE LINES was the first I'd heard of the show, too. But there are some good people involved.

by Anonymousreply 27June 15, 2022 2:28 AM

[quote]I think it's amusing ushers are repeatedly telling people Hugh's not in, like they're worried people still haven't heard by the time they get inside and are going to leap to their feet and rush the exits when they see Max.

I guarantee you there are plenty of people showing up at the Winter Garden who have no idea Hugh is out.

by Anonymousreply 28June 15, 2022 2:45 AM

What's Between the Lines about? The Studio 54 basement back in the day?

by Anonymousreply 29June 15, 2022 2:48 AM

Between the Lines was supposed to come in during the Spring of 2020 but of course got canceled along with everything else. Daryl Roth is producing. It looks to be a female driven Harry Potter-esque musical based on a book by Jodi Picoult.

Cast includes Julia Murney, Vicki Lewis, Jason Gotay and a bunch of kids.

by Anonymousreply 30June 15, 2022 2:58 AM

Yikes! Murney and Lewis backstage could be very troublesome. No wonder they postponed.

by Anonymousreply 31June 15, 2022 3:16 AM

And I have no doubt there are plenty of people who saw The Music Man tonight who assumed they saw Hugh.

by Anonymousreply 32June 15, 2022 3:18 AM

Oh, is Vicki Lewis trouble? I've heard Murney can be a pain, but nothing about Lewis.

by Anonymousreply 33June 15, 2022 3:22 AM

I wondered what Murney’s rep was. Seemed odd she hadn’t had a better career

by Anonymousreply 34June 15, 2022 3:36 AM

I made my first return to the theatre tonight in over two years and it was so nice to be back! I really didn't realize how much I had missed it.

We went to see "Girl from the North Country" and it was pretty awesome. The "Like A Rolling Stone" number works SO much better in the context of the show than it did at the Tonys on Sunday night. I don't know why they didn't choose to do the "Pressing On" number instead, which I think would have had a much better impact on TV. And no disrespect to Patti but Jeanette Bayardelle (sp?) was really amazing and would have been a very deserving winner had she taken home the Tony. I hope there is another nomination and win in her future.

by Anonymousreply 35June 15, 2022 3:43 AM

John Stamos “Disappointed” At Bob Saget Omission From Tony Awards In Memoriam:

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by Anonymousreply 36June 15, 2022 3:45 AM

Broadway understudies describe playing backup for a living, from replacing famous actors to ad-libbing lines:

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by Anonymousreply 37June 15, 2022 3:47 AM

[quote]There was a full London production of Dear World with Betty Buckley not too many years ago that was a big flop. Maybe it was her fault but I can't imagine the show speaking to audiences today.

The original Broadway production flopped because it didn't even speak to the audiences of 1969. Its source material, "The Madwoman of Chaillot," is a gentle fantasy that had not aged well. Katharine Hepburn starred in a movie version of the straight play that was also a flop in 1969.

by Anonymousreply 38June 15, 2022 5:09 AM

[quote]On another thread, someone saw Hugh's sickly look, said he has aged and they did not want to suck him anymore.

Too late anyway. By the look of him in those close-ups, he's been sucked completely dry.

by Anonymousreply 39June 15, 2022 5:14 AM

Was Patti out Tuesday evening due to COVID or for some other reason?

by Anonymousreply 40June 15, 2022 6:02 AM

The Take Me Out producers must be pissed they did not extend again after winning Best Revival of a Play.

by Anonymousreply 41June 15, 2022 6:04 AM

[quote]Matt Doyle posted a curtain call vid and tribute to Max at MM tonite so wondering if both Patti and Matt were out of Company tonite.

I saw that post and noticed that Matt referred to Max as "he" and "him." Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought that Max Clayton came out as nonbinary and said his pronouns are "they" and them."

by Anonymousreply 42June 15, 2022 6:28 AM

R28, I'm sure plenty of people showed up at the theater not knowing Hugh was out. But after the posted signs, people talking about it in line, ticket takers/scanners informing them when taking their tickets, and ushers telling people before seating them, I figured everyone still would have heard long before they were in their seats. That's why I wrote "they're worried people still haven't heard by the time they get inside". The tweeter posted that after posting photos of herself in her seat, so it sounded like ushers still kept telling her multiple times after that, which seemed over-the-top. But maybe it really was necessary.

by Anonymousreply 43June 15, 2022 8:45 AM

Sorry, r43 was from r2.

by Anonymousreply 44June 15, 2022 8:46 AM

R25, Doyle was in at Company. Apparently got a standing o before and after the song. (He also posted a screenshot in his stories of a chat with Bonnie Milligan, who was at Music Man, saying Aaah, you're there, Bonnie! which made it clear he was not.)

by Anonymousreply 45June 15, 2022 8:56 AM

R41, they couldn't since 2nd Stage rented the theater to the Kite Runner back in January. Previews start in three weeks, so TMO had to end.

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by Anonymousreply 46June 15, 2022 9:02 AM

That MM curtain call made me like Sutton quite a bit, but I still don't want to see her perform.

by Anonymousreply 47June 15, 2022 11:58 AM

R46 2nd Stage should have had a better plan. You don't close right before the Tony's especially when you have a great shot at winning. Plus you could bring in more hot actors who want to show their acting chops. Michael Ealy would have been a great replacement for Williams.

by Anonymousreply 48June 15, 2022 12:08 PM

The best revival Tony does not really affect business

by Anonymousreply 49June 15, 2022 12:10 PM

True, r49. They say the only Tony that actually moves the needle is Best Musical and we're going to be getting a real test of that this summer.

by Anonymousreply 50June 15, 2022 12:13 PM

Really, there are no rules. TMO with all that hot nudity plus the Tony could have certainly managed a few more months with the proper publicist.

by Anonymousreply 51June 15, 2022 12:43 PM

I want to see a Matt Doyle-Max Clayton sex tape, a la Jay Armstrong Johnson's.

You just know they've made at least one.

by Anonymousreply 52June 15, 2022 12:51 PM

Anyone know if the Matt Doyle/Wesley Taylor breakup was amicable?

by Anonymousreply 53June 15, 2022 12:54 PM

Wesley who?

by Anonymousreply 54June 15, 2022 12:57 PM

Watching the MM cast jump up and down and cheer Max was very sweet. It looks like a happy company led by two good people.

by Anonymousreply 55June 15, 2022 1:05 PM

R55, I'm still glad both Hugh and Sutton lost Sunday evening.

by Anonymousreply 56June 15, 2022 1:09 PM

Now that Hugh has lost the Tony (and sees how little he was missed at MM) will he wrap up his run in the early fall?

by Anonymousreply 57June 15, 2022 1:18 PM

Hugh, whatever one makes of his Cryptkeeper face, is a real pro. He’ll stick to his contract and do 8 shows a week, Covid permitting. And Max may have been wonderful last night, but watch the grosses. Unlike the Beanie/Benko situation, Hugh's absence will put a massive dent in the box office.

by Anonymousreply 58June 15, 2022 1:23 PM

Yeah, the idea that Hugh wasn't missed is a weird take. The show was on TKTS for the first time, they were lowering ticket prices on Telecharge throughout the day (to almost sane prices), and they had an online lottery they were drawing from hourly to try to get rid of tickets. A nice curtain call speech from the remaining principal to the standby (like he gave to Kathy Voytko in December when Sutton was out) isn't proof the lead wasn't missed.

by Anonymousreply 59June 15, 2022 1:30 PM

R59, It seemed like Sutton was thanking the audience for not leaving in droves.

by Anonymousreply 60June 15, 2022 1:33 PM

Anyone can see the Music Man at community theater or their local high school. They are paying outrageous prices to see Hugh Jackman. Period. A few will want to see Sutton, but that appeal is limited. No, they are fans of Hugh. There is no other reason to see this show on Broadway.

by Anonymousreply 61June 15, 2022 1:41 PM

The tap dancing though

by Anonymousreply 62June 15, 2022 1:44 PM

[Quote] with the proper publicist.

Does today’s broadway have such a thing?

by Anonymousreply 63June 15, 2022 1:46 PM

I wonder what Gerard Allessandrini in his heyday would have done with strange loop and gender switched company

by Anonymousreply 64June 15, 2022 2:10 PM

Vicki Lewis is a delight work with. She can't be the problem...

by Anonymousreply 65June 15, 2022 2:52 PM

Vicki!

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by Anonymousreply 66June 15, 2022 2:59 PM

People dismayed at the cluelessness of Bway theatregoers (not realizing that Hugh is out of MM for now) should remember the days of THE CHER SHOW....

When patrons would show up, only to be disappointed that Cher was, in fact, not in the stage musical ABOUT her.

Never underestimate the stupidity of the current Bway audiences.

by Anonymousreply 67June 15, 2022 3:33 PM

Audiences are stupid. But that’s the dumbing down of Americans in general. Most Americans barely graduate highschool and do menial jobs that don’t require thought or context.

by Anonymousreply 68June 15, 2022 3:34 PM

Do they really think STRANGE LOOP will have a life outside of NY. I don’t see that big of an audience for it even there but if they are walking out in droves at WOKLAHOMA! in the fly over states….

by Anonymousreply 69June 15, 2022 3:58 PM

Vicki Lewis was an incredible Velma Kelly.

by Anonymousreply 70June 15, 2022 4:14 PM

Some of the Broadway cluelessness is from international tourists.

by Anonymousreply 71June 15, 2022 4:19 PM

[quote]Vicki Lewis is a delight work with. She can't be the problem...

I second that, r65. I worked with her on Chicago, and yes, she was a great Velma. Speaking of, Chicago would be the second time she and Michael Berresse worked together. I spotted him as the acrobatic player #7 in the link that r66 provided.

by Anonymousreply 72June 15, 2022 4:20 PM

Summer's here, and the time is ripe....

For lotsa Bway and off-Bway shows to CLOSE....

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by Anonymousreply 73June 15, 2022 4:21 PM

I hope the Raisin In The Sun revival at The Public has an all-White cast. Except for Mr. Lindner, David Hyde Pierce can play him.

by Anonymousreply 74June 15, 2022 4:23 PM

I have no idea how good or not Max Clayton is as Harold Hill, but does anyone agree with me that he looks all wrong for the part in terms of manscaping, with that very modern-day hairstyle and trim beard?

by Anonymousreply 75June 15, 2022 4:23 PM

[QUOTE] Anyone know if the Matt Doyle/Wesley Taylor breakup was amicable?

If there was no Chipotle incident on white sheets, I’m sure it was.

by Anonymousreply 76June 15, 2022 4:25 PM

Mr. Saturday Night must not have much longer since Billy's already planning his next gig.

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by Anonymousreply 77June 15, 2022 4:28 PM

NOTHING R4. She’s old.

by Anonymousreply 78June 15, 2022 4:30 PM

I think everyone associated with MR. SATURDAY NIGHT is quietly acknowledging that it was a big mistake. Not an epic embarrassment like FUNNY GIRL, but almost as unnecessary.

by Anonymousreply 79June 15, 2022 4:30 PM

no closings announced yet! Far cry from the gory days of 2001....

by Anonymousreply 80June 15, 2022 4:35 PM

Strange Loop will be gone in three to six months and any plans for a tour (lol) will be quietly kiboshed.

by Anonymousreply 81June 15, 2022 4:37 PM

R79, I think the show might have been more welcome in another season, or even if it has opened earlier this season. As it is now, SO MANY SHOWS opened within the span of a few weeks in the spring, and audiences are still being more selective than ever before as to what shows they are willing to pay good money to see.

by Anonymousreply 82June 15, 2022 4:38 PM

WHET Vicki Lewis' career if she's so hot?

by Anonymousreply 83June 15, 2022 4:39 PM

Me Saturday night would have worked better off broadway in a limited run. I can’t imagine anyone would expect Crystal to last a year and who on earth could/would replace him.

by Anonymousreply 84June 15, 2022 4:40 PM

Vicki Lewis would make a fine Mrs Bryce. But since FG will probably never be produced again she’ll never get the chance.

by Anonymousreply 85June 15, 2022 4:41 PM

Hugh Jackman is 53, and THE MUSIC MAN is a strenuous show. Harold Hill is in practically every scene, and those production numbers are big, with all that dancing. He's had covid once and is at risk for it again. Not sure I'd blame him if he packed up his tent and went home. He has one of those "special" Tonys, so there's that...

What a dismal, DISMAL season. When you think Broadway can't get any worse, think again....trying to breathe life into old chestnuts like FUNNY GIRL, COMPANY, SKIN OF OUR TEETH and THE MUSIC MAN, while tripping over a multitude of didactic, boring, woke ass material in order to facilitate "inclusion" for "POC" - FAT HAM, anyone?

by Anonymousreply 86June 15, 2022 4:44 PM

I'd like to see Will Smith as Carl Lindner. This way, when the Youngers insist on moving in, he can slap the shit out of them.

by Anonymousreply 87June 15, 2022 4:46 PM

Vicki/Fanny

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by Anonymousreply 88June 15, 2022 4:50 PM

[quote] Do they really think STRANGE LOOP will have a life outside of NY. I don’t see that big of an audience for it even there but if they are walking out in droves at WOKLAHOMA! in the fly over states….

I didn't see raves for Wokelahoma coming from the mouths of sophisticated New York DL posters either. Strange Loop will not have a life outside, unless Denzel is starring. NYC theater critics are the biggest fans; DL posters, not so much.

by Anonymousreply 89June 15, 2022 5:04 PM

" He has one of those "special" Tonys, so there's that..."

What do you mean, "special" Tonys? He won fair and square for the Boy from Oz.

by Anonymousreply 90June 15, 2022 5:10 PM

Special? Like a spaz?

by Anonymousreply 91June 15, 2022 5:13 PM

How old is Max Clayton anyway? I don’t think he’s even 40 yet. I imagine he kept the beard because it ages him slightly. He needs all the help he can get to look age appropriate for Old Lady Foster.

by Anonymousreply 92June 15, 2022 5:14 PM

He's 30.

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by Anonymousreply 93June 15, 2022 5:17 PM

[quote]How old is Max Clayton anyway? I don’t think he’s even 40 yet. I imagine he kept the beard because it ages him slightly. He needs all the help he can get to look age appropriate for Old Lady Foster.

That did occur to me, but it still looks ALL WRONG for the period and the character. Not that this production is very concerned about things like that in general.

by Anonymousreply 94June 15, 2022 5:23 PM

Didn’t most men have some form of facial hair at the turn of the century?

by Anonymousreply 95June 15, 2022 5:25 PM

He still looks older than his age (not in a bad way) without the beard.

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by Anonymousreply 96June 15, 2022 5:26 PM

Another

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by Anonymousreply 97June 15, 2022 5:27 PM

[quote]Didn’t most men have some form of facial hair at the turn of the century?

But, as I noted, not in that very modern-day, manscaped style.

by Anonymousreply 98June 15, 2022 5:28 PM

r42 You're wrong. And seems odd to me you wouldn't take a second to google that before posting it.

by Anonymousreply 99June 15, 2022 5:29 PM

Sweet story from Claybourne Elder's IG. Surprisingly you can hear Patti laughing and not yelling at them for being unprofessional

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by Anonymousreply 100June 15, 2022 5:31 PM

That's pretty funny.

by Anonymousreply 101June 15, 2022 5:34 PM

Max also understudies Marcellus and Charlie Cowell.

by Anonymousreply 102June 15, 2022 5:39 PM

I have to hand it to Hugh--he's got the EG and T in his EGOT, all competitive wins, all in his primary profession of performing (and the Emmy isn't for performing on a morning show either). I hope he gets the O for an acting performance (maybe the new Florian Zeller film he has coming out in the fall?).

by Anonymousreply 103June 15, 2022 5:43 PM

Vicki Lewis is very talented, and nice (I worked with her early in her career.) but I can't believe how much she's imitating Streisand in those clips. Even her hair and costumes are mid-sixties Babs. I saw her years ago in the Streisand role in I CAN GET IT FOR YOU WHOLESALE and I thought she was fine but came off as a sort of pale imititation of the original.

by Anonymousreply 104June 15, 2022 6:16 PM

Did anyone see and like the score of Americano! ?

by Anonymousreply 105June 15, 2022 6:43 PM

This production of Funny Girl could use a little imitating of Streisand.

by Anonymousreply 106June 15, 2022 7:01 PM

[Quote] but it still looks ALL WRONG for the period

I’m sure there’s someone here who recalls

by Anonymousreply 107June 15, 2022 7:08 PM

Jackman got his BOY FROM OZ Tony in 2004, and the "special Tony" for his body of work in 2012. So he has two.

by Anonymousreply 108June 15, 2022 7:43 PM

So wonderfully gay.

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by Anonymousreply 109June 15, 2022 7:54 PM

Teaser trailer for the Matilda movie

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by Anonymousreply 110June 15, 2022 8:03 PM

" Young Charlie Stemp" auditions for AGT.

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by Anonymousreply 111June 15, 2022 8:29 PM

Barbara Cook adored Hugh Jackman, but I believe even she would be disappointed in this current revival.

by Anonymousreply 112June 15, 2022 8:30 PM

Paul Rudnick is no longer involved in The Devil Wears Prada musical.

by Anonymousreply 113June 15, 2022 8:35 PM

ummm... I kinda like Vicki Lewis' singing!

by Anonymousreply 114June 15, 2022 8:38 PM

Pre-Tony Broadway Box Office Up 7% To $32M; ‘Strange Loop’ Fills 98% Of Seats:

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by Anonymousreply 115June 15, 2022 8:40 PM

Oh, have they been giving tickets away to A Strange Loop?

by Anonymousreply 116June 15, 2022 8:43 PM

‘Plaza Suite’ breaks Broadway box office record as grosses increase:

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by Anonymousreply 117June 15, 2022 8:43 PM

SJP sells tickets. The largest ticket buyers for theatre are white women and gay men. Her target audience

by Anonymousreply 118June 15, 2022 9:10 PM

How was Sharon's Velma?

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by Anonymousreply 119June 15, 2022 9:26 PM

Breaking News: Beanie and Lynch departing Funny Girl this Fall. Bet the bitch still takes her vacation in August.

by Anonymousreply 120June 15, 2022 10:02 PM

Here's the story:

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by Anonymousreply 121June 15, 2022 10:03 PM

Surely no-one saw this coming!

by Anonymousreply 122June 15, 2022 10:15 PM

So who replaces the Beanster?

Is it Lea Michele?

Is it Leslie Kritzer?

Is it Patina Miller?

by Anonymousreply 123June 15, 2022 10:19 PM

Next up: Beanie will not perform on Wednesday and Saturday matinee performances.

by Anonymousreply 124June 15, 2022 10:21 PM

Stop calling me Surely, r122.

by Anonymousreply 125June 15, 2022 10:22 PM

Already seeing people say they should let Benko take over - those people need to look at the 10% drop at the box office that happened when Beanie was out

by Anonymousreply 126June 15, 2022 10:22 PM

[quote] Surprisingly you can hear Patti laughing and not yelling at them for being unprofessional

You know nothing. Patti has a great sense of humor and I know lots of folks who've worked with her who adored working with her.

by Anonymousreply 127June 15, 2022 10:44 PM

[quote] So who replaces the Beanster?

You have GOT to be kidding.

by Anonymousreply 128June 15, 2022 10:45 PM

Is there really a name performer who could play Fanny, would want to replace Beanie and fill seats? I don't think so. Just give Julie Benko the role and close the show at the end of the summer. Or perhaps after July 4th.

by Anonymousreply 129June 15, 2022 10:46 PM

From the Deadline story at r121

[quote] Sources tell Deadline that Lynch always planned to leave the production in September, but Feldstein was expected to stay on possibly through the end of the year.

She really is something. They built the damn show on her, there are folks depending on the paycheck. I do hope she never returns to theater. She really does give millennials their bad name.

by Anonymousreply 130June 15, 2022 10:48 PM

Ben Platt IS Fanny Brice!

by Anonymousreply 131June 15, 2022 10:53 PM

I said, let's give the fat girl a chance.

by Anonymousreply 132June 15, 2022 11:00 PM

Honestly, it's dumb to bring her back for that long. Rip the fucking Band Aid off and kick her out now!

by Anonymousreply 133June 15, 2022 11:01 PM

[r132] that was seriously the best response to this news and why I still come to DL after 16 years

by Anonymousreply 134June 15, 2022 11:03 PM

Beanie has accepted the job as Rex Reed's caregiver, beginning September 1st.

by Anonymousreply 135June 15, 2022 11:05 PM

Vicki Lewis still has the best I’m Breaking Down

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by Anonymousreply 136June 15, 2022 11:10 PM

[Quote] and I thought she was fine but came off as a sort of pale imitation of the original

Turns out, we’d [italic] kill [/Italic] for a pale imitation (I know you’re talking about Wholesale, r104, and not Funny Girl, but still.)

by Anonymousreply 137June 15, 2022 11:25 PM

Lizzo IS Fannie Brics

by Anonymousreply 138June 15, 2022 11:28 PM

Pamela Anderson *IS* Fanny Brice

by Anonymousreply 139June 15, 2022 11:33 PM

Bryce Ryness is Fanny's Brice

by Anonymousreply 140June 15, 2022 11:39 PM

I’m clearing my calendar and ordering my wig…

by Anonymousreply 141June 15, 2022 11:44 PM

Close it. Just close it.

by Anonymousreply 142June 15, 2022 11:48 PM

Seriously, would Lea do it? Might be her only chance and it’s not like Beanie is a tough act to follow.

by Anonymousreply 143June 15, 2022 11:48 PM

Smart money is that Beanie won't last past July 4. The meltdown is real. She just wants to go home and eat.

by Anonymousreply 144June 15, 2022 11:50 PM

Jill Haworth was supposedly great in "Cabaret" and she played after Walter Kerr's unwarranted bad review. But Beanie seems more to be truth in advertising -- that is, by most of the critics.

by Anonymousreply 145June 15, 2022 11:58 PM

Lea would do it on the condition that the press is invited to review her.

by Anonymousreply 146June 16, 2022 12:05 AM

Can Lea do "funny"?

by Anonymousreply 147June 16, 2022 12:06 AM

Lea would be a fool to step into the role. It wouldn't save the show, which is going to die a slow death, and the critics might roast her. Let Julie have her day.

by Anonymousreply 148June 16, 2022 12:08 AM

R136, she does do a good job with a song that has never really worked.

Of all the material they could have pulled from In Trousers, that is probably the last song I would have used. I understand why they did it, but it’s out of place.

I think Alison Fraser gives the best interpretation of the song, even though she never performed it in production as the song was added for the In Trousers revival. Her recorded version was done in a studio for her solo album so maybe she wouldn’t be able to capture all the nuances on stage that she does on the recording.

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by Anonymousreply 149June 16, 2022 12:09 AM

I never got the love for "I'm Breaking Down" either. Barbara Walsh did a great job and turned it into a winning moment (for herself and for Trina, the character) on Broadway.

But it's just not a great song, musically or lyrically (and I like a lot of Finn's other work).

by Anonymousreply 150June 16, 2022 12:19 AM

I am personally a fan of Barbara Walsh's interpretation. It's a shame the original Falsettos never received a proper recording.

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by Anonymousreply 151June 16, 2022 12:21 AM

[quote]She just wants to go home and eat.

No change then?

by Anonymousreply 152June 16, 2022 12:21 AM

The TIMES is working on a story about how many people are in arbitration with Garth over Paradise Square. He's not been paying the bills again. And let's be clear -- the show is a mess.

by Anonymousreply 153June 16, 2022 12:22 AM

He should take out an ad with them, that'll keep them quiet

by Anonymousreply 154June 16, 2022 12:23 AM

Burn it down

by Anonymousreply 155June 16, 2022 12:25 AM

Speaking of not-great songs.... "Burn It Down" is a giant piece of ham left burning on the stove. No disrespect to Joaquina Kalukango, who sells the shit out of it.

But it's just a bad, underwritten song.

by Anonymousreply 156June 16, 2022 12:30 AM

Don't you know you're not allowed to say that about "Burn It Down'?

by Anonymousreply 157June 16, 2022 12:46 AM

The cold never bothered me anyway.

by Anonymousreply 158June 16, 2022 12:47 AM

WTF?! Paradise Square didn't post closing tonight? Where the hell are they getting all this money?

by Anonymousreply 159June 16, 2022 12:57 AM

Burn It Down doesn’t really need to make sense in the eyes of the it’s target audience. It’s a buzzword phrase, and it’s sung by a black woman. It’s good for a hashtag. That’s enough for them. Whether it’s well written or fits in the context of the show is irrelevant to them. Fucking Hello Dolly has more pathos in it.

by Anonymousreply 160June 16, 2022 1:05 AM

Burn it Down is indeed a shrill, screech-fest, better suited for The Voice

by Anonymousreply 161June 16, 2022 1:14 AM

Is it not called Let It Burn?

by Anonymousreply 162June 16, 2022 1:46 AM

Don’t let the door hit you on your way out. It would probably bust anyway.

I bet Harvey wants to kick your fat ass

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by Anonymousreply 163June 16, 2022 1:48 AM

[quote]How was Sharon [Lawrence]'s Velma?

She was quite good, r119. Another surprisingly good Velma was Jasmine Guy.

by Anonymousreply 164June 16, 2022 1:52 AM

Beanie disabled comments on her heartfelt post. Smart.

by Anonymousreply 165June 16, 2022 2:19 AM

"End of Quarantbean"

I may vomit.

by Anonymousreply 166June 16, 2022 2:23 AM

[quote] She really is something. They built the damn show on her, there are folks depending on the paycheck. I do hope she never returns to theater. She really does give millennials their bad name.

Maybe (probably) there was a mutual agreement between producers and her agent.

by Anonymousreply 167June 16, 2022 2:36 AM

[quote]Don't you know you're not allowed to say that about "Burn It Down'?

Nor are you allowed to say it about "Let It Burn," which is the actual title of the fucking song.

by Anonymousreply 168June 16, 2022 4:48 AM

[quote]I’ll never be able to find the words that could even begin to explain what the experience has been to me.

I'm sure that's true, but not in the way she meant it, or rather, not in the way she wanted everyone to think she meant it.

by Anonymousreply 169June 16, 2022 4:50 AM

Beanie's departure = Fanny interruptus

by Anonymousreply 170June 16, 2022 4:55 AM

What's the name of that song? Oh yeah, in lieu of lyrics she repeats it 22 fucking times.

Joaquina Kalukango is amazing but that song is shit.

by Anonymousreply 171June 16, 2022 4:56 AM

R171, Audience members aren't exactly humming it on the way out.

by Anonymousreply 172June 16, 2022 4:59 AM

[quote]What a dismal, DISMAL season. When you think Broadway can't get any worse, think again....trying to breathe life into old chestnuts like FUNNY GIRL, COMPANY, SKIN OF OUR TEETH and THE MUSIC MAN

You left out PLAZA SUITE.

by Anonymousreply 173June 16, 2022 6:24 AM

[quote]I have no idea how good or not Max Clayton is as Harold Hill, but does anyone agree with me that he looks all wrong for the part in terms of manscaping, with that very modern-day hairstyle and trim beard?

Tap dancing wasn't a thing in 1912, either, so I doubt that the facial hair of Hugh's standby was given much consideration.

by Anonymousreply 174June 16, 2022 6:30 AM

Bill "Bojangles" Robinson was famously tap dancing before 1912.

by Anonymousreply 175June 16, 2022 10:51 AM

It really is hysterical that they built a multimillion dollar revival around a woefully miscast vanity project, only to have her lose interest and leave after only 4 months of work. On top of that the producers were rewarded for that decision by having her miss multiple performances, shiteous reviews, no cast album, and no award nominations except for a featured actor who was recognized for a tap routine.

Michael Mayer deserves all of this though. He really does.

by Anonymousreply 176June 16, 2022 10:59 AM

mlop is not surprised

by Anonymousreply 177June 16, 2022 11:03 AM

“Let It Burn” is no “City On Fire” that’s for sure.

by Anonymousreply 178June 16, 2022 11:24 AM

I don’t think Lea Michelle stepping in would be a terrible career move at all. It would show tremendous good will, and she could sell it as she loved the show so much she’d do anything to come back, including replacing. It makes her look generous. She’s a bigger star than Beanie Feldstein. People would be to just to see her and they could basically reopen the show with the person who could actually do it. That is, if she actually CAN do it. Who knows.

by Anonymousreply 179June 16, 2022 11:37 AM

[Quote] —Beggar Woman, Sweeney Todd

The first half would be been sufficient

by Anonymousreply 180June 16, 2022 11:46 AM

Catherine Cox was the first to do "I'm Breaking Down" in the revival of IN TROUSERS. It was the highlight of a show that wasn't all that great. She should have had a bigger career.

by Anonymousreply 181June 16, 2022 11:46 AM

They don’t have any money R159. Word is Drabinsky isn’t paying anyone again.

by Anonymousreply 182June 16, 2022 11:51 AM

[quote] It really is hysterical that they built a multimillion dollar revival around a woefully miscast vanity project, only to have her lose interest and leave after only 4 months of work.

And do you think producers will learn anything from this debacle? Like, cast someone with actual talent in a role that requires actual talent?

by Anonymousreply 183June 16, 2022 11:54 AM

R176, Harvey deserves some blame, as well.

by Anonymousreply 184June 16, 2022 12:05 PM

Lea Michele can sing the songs but she has zero comedy ability.

by Anonymousreply 185June 16, 2022 12:06 PM

And no warmth either.

by Anonymousreply 186June 16, 2022 12:10 PM

Everything r176 said—all of it—was predictable and predicted. It was so easy to see that they were cooking up a debacle. If only they read DataLounge.

by Anonymousreply 187June 16, 2022 12:13 PM

r184 Why? He played no part in casting

by Anonymousreply 188June 16, 2022 1:15 PM

Hopefully, whoever they cast, they can get rid of that horrible logo and art work they been using featuring Beanie on her cellphone plotting to show up at the theater.

by Anonymousreply 189June 16, 2022 1:16 PM

R111, Charlie Stemp would suck Andrew Lloyd Webber’s wrinkled dick if he could have even half the moves of Max Ostler. How does he do those falls without hurting himself?

by Anonymousreply 190June 16, 2022 1:28 PM

And tonight......Beanie's back!

Maybe, We'll see how she's feeling later this afternoon and get back to you.

by Anonymousreply 191June 16, 2022 1:28 PM

I'll be very surprised fi Beanie really makes it to the end of September.

by Anonymousreply 192June 16, 2022 1:29 PM

I'll be surprised if Jane makes it to the end of July.

by Anonymousreply 193June 16, 2022 1:35 PM

Jonah Hill can replace Beanie. Unfortunately if there’s not a cast album, he can’t lip sync to his sister’s vocals. But he’ll put butts in seats.

by Anonymousreply 194June 16, 2022 1:37 PM

They wouldn’t be having these issues if they had cast me. Jane Lynch- pfffffftftttt!

by Anonymousreply 195June 16, 2022 1:38 PM

I guess they never released a cast recording of Beanie and Funny Girl?

by Anonymousreply 196June 16, 2022 1:41 PM

I hope whatever big name they get to replace the Beanster demands a HUGE salary and fucks those producers in their tiny, wrinkled assholes.

by Anonymousreply 197June 16, 2022 1:50 PM

[quote]And do you think producers will learn anything from this debacle? Like, cast someone with actual talent in a role that requires actual talent?

Well, in fairness, "Funny Girl" is an EXTREMELY unusual situation. I can't really think of a previous example of a show in which the star was cast for vanity even though he or she clearly did not have the talent for the role and/or was terribly miscast, and I think it will be a long time before it happens again.

by Anonymousreply 198June 16, 2022 1:58 PM

Let's face it, a standing ovation on Broadway means NOTHING. Usually the only reason I stand is so I can put on my coat and get out of the theater faster than the tourists.

by Anonymousreply 199June 16, 2022 2:00 PM

[quote]Everything [R176] said—all of it—was predictable and predicted. It was so easy to see that they were cooking up a debacle.

I'm not always right about these things, but about a month or so before FG opened, I told a friend in these exact words that I predicted a debacle of epic proportions.

And speaking of "Epic Proportions," even that show as not as big a debacle as this one :-)

by Anonymousreply 200June 16, 2022 2:00 PM

For what it’s worth, I was just in London, and saw about 12 plays and musicals. Every single one had a standing ovation.

by Anonymousreply 201June 16, 2022 2:11 PM

If Lea Michelle came into Funny Girl, it would be a sensation.She might be lousy, but I don’t know that that would make a big difference. At the very least, it would be a Pam Anderson sort of thing.

by Anonymousreply 202June 16, 2022 2:14 PM

Harvey can't be blamed exactly, but surely he is savvy enough to know that BF would be a terrible Fanny and that nothing he could write would make her better. Didn't help Sheridan Smith, and she was far more talented than Beanie.

Of course, maybe it was ALL about the paycheck.

by Anonymousreply 203June 16, 2022 2:15 PM

At this point, they should just cast Funny Girl by lottery.

by Anonymousreply 204June 16, 2022 2:16 PM

[quote] I can't really think of a previous example of a show in which the star was cast for vanity even though he or she clearly did not have the talent for the role

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by Anonymousreply 205June 16, 2022 2:50 PM

[quote] Lea Michele can sing the songs but she has zero comedy ability.

Yeah, and the Beanster is knockin' 'em in the aisles with her comic timing.

by Anonymousreply 206June 16, 2022 3:02 PM

Exactly. And look where that got her: departing early.

by Anonymousreply 207June 16, 2022 3:11 PM

Are performers like Beanie so enshrouded in their bubble that they don’t realize what a bad decision this was? Then when reality smacks them in the face, they get huffy and leave?

by Anonymousreply 208June 16, 2022 3:15 PM

I suppose "Funny Girl" will not get a recording but what about "Music Man"? Does "Company" have a recording planned?

by Anonymousreply 209June 16, 2022 3:15 PM

Company already recorded in England

by Anonymousreply 210June 16, 2022 3:21 PM

Lea as Fanny and Jonathan Groff as Nick.

A guaranteed sell out through Christmas.

You’re welcome.

by Anonymousreply 211June 16, 2022 3:22 PM

Carol Burnett turned down Funny Girl the first time around. Maybe now is the time for a rethink?

by Anonymousreply 212June 16, 2022 3:22 PM

I hope Beanie doesn’t pull any fake shit like fainting on stage to get out even earlier than September.

by Anonymousreply 213June 16, 2022 3:24 PM

R213 Lea is literally mailing anthrax to her apartment as we speak.

by Anonymousreply 214June 16, 2022 3:26 PM

Do folks really want to hear Hugh Jackman without visually looking at Hugh Jackman? He has had a big career in spite of some really questionable singing. At the same time, Barbara Cook, Shirley Jones and Rebecca Luker's vocals are already available to listen to. Does Sutton Foster have such a big recording following that need to hear her in this role without seeing her dance?

by Anonymousreply 215June 16, 2022 3:55 PM

Well, there is always "Buy Me Blue Ribbons" produced by Jay Robinson (Caligula in THE ROBE) and starring Jay Robinson that lasted all of 13 performances.

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by Anonymousreply 216June 16, 2022 4:06 PM

Good example, R205, but of course, Jenna never did go into the show. P.S., she had initially been rumored to star in the SWEET CHARITY revival that ended up being led by Christina Applegate.

by Anonymousreply 217June 16, 2022 4:09 PM

The only review I can find not behind a paywall......perhaps it should be revived with Jonah Hill.

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by Anonymousreply 218June 16, 2022 4:10 PM

r218

this site helps getting around paywalls

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by Anonymousreply 219June 16, 2022 4:19 PM

Groff is as much a Nicky Arnstein as Ben Platt is.

by Anonymousreply 220June 16, 2022 4:53 PM

R212, Carol Burnett is 89 years old.

by Anonymousreply 221June 16, 2022 4:54 PM

Per the gossip site Deux Moi - the cast of Funny Girl has been told that Lea Michele will be taking over rom Beanie in September.

by Anonymousreply 222June 16, 2022 4:55 PM

Neither number is too darn hot, r178...

by Anonymousreply 223June 16, 2022 4:57 PM

I also wonder if Beanie knows what a disaster this was.

by Anonymousreply 224June 16, 2022 4:58 PM

Not rumored, r217, she was actually supposed to do it until they found out she couldn't sing. I don't know why they thought things had changed between that and NINE. After Elfman and before Applegate, it was supposed to be....Marisa.

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by Anonymousreply 225June 16, 2022 5:05 PM

How could she not, r244? Now where's she's placing the blame, who knows?

by Anonymousreply 226June 16, 2022 5:08 PM

^ r224

by Anonymousreply 227June 16, 2022 5:08 PM

I imagine Beanie throwing up at home now knowing she has to return to the theater tonight. Poor girl, she'll never get to July, much less September. Especially if the box office takes a downward spin in the coming weeks.

by Anonymousreply 228June 16, 2022 5:37 PM

[quote]Lea Michele can sing the songs but she has zero comedy ability.

Lea is about as camp as a modern diva can be. Everything about her is laugh out loud delusional, including the fact that she really thinks she’s this generation’s Barbra, and her deeply misguided, semi-terrifying lifelong campaign to fuck Jonathan Groff has earned her at least a little bit of sympathy from gays around the world.

This comeback would be perfect timing for her.

by Anonymousreply 229June 16, 2022 5:37 PM

I hope Lea will have new costume designs written into her contract.

by Anonymousreply 230June 16, 2022 5:39 PM

Why would Lea want to join this shit production?

by Anonymousreply 231June 16, 2022 5:40 PM

They’re going to make her gain 100 lbs and wear Beanie's old rags to help keep the budget down.

by Anonymousreply 232June 16, 2022 5:41 PM

People give Groff a lot of shit for propping up Lea’s career, but I find his Michael Mayer ass kissing to be far more vile.

by Anonymousreply 233June 16, 2022 5:42 PM

[quote]If Lea Michelle came into Funny Girl, it would be a sensation.

No it wouldn’t. As has been noted, she’s seriously lacking in comic chops and warmth. They’re better off just seeing what can happen by giving Julie a big PR push if Lea’s the best they can come up with to replace.

by Anonymousreply 234June 16, 2022 6:12 PM

Broadway loves a rags to riches, understudy becomes a star story and Julie B fills it perfectly. The producers are being handed a gold mine. They'd be foolish not to cash in on this angle. And replacing Julie would only cause even more ill will.

by Anonymousreply 235June 16, 2022 6:17 PM

They aren't replacing Julie. She doesn't have the role. They would be replacing Beanie.

by Anonymousreply 236June 16, 2022 6:18 PM

I would go see Lea do Funny Girl. I'm not paying to see some no name understudy, when her bootleg recordings aren't even that good. Beanie is so terrible that the understudy sounds better in comparison, but not good enough that she should take over the part.

by Anonymousreply 237June 16, 2022 6:19 PM

But Julie would be a fool to stay on as standby/understudy of they don't give her the role.

by Anonymousreply 238June 16, 2022 6:20 PM

Wasn’t Bette Midler’s Hello Dolly a vanity project where the star wasn’t up to the task?

Nobody was demanding a new production of Hello Dolly. Bette Midler couldn’t handle eight shows per week. It seemed to be designed to get Bette a competitive Tony Award after it didn’t happen with “I’ll Eat You Last.” Bette was not vocally in shape to handle the score.

by Anonymousreply 239June 16, 2022 6:28 PM

What?? Bette didn't hit the golden tones of Carol Channing?

by Anonymousreply 240June 16, 2022 6:29 PM

R238, I don't know the politics of theater, so forgive me for asking this, but Julie is just a standby and isn't this her broadway debut? Why the fuck would she be GIVEN the lead role after Beanie leaves? She's not a Broadway actress who has been working for years and years paying her dues. Didn't she just graduate from NYU?

by Anonymousreply 241June 16, 2022 6:30 PM

R241 because SHIRLEY MACLAINE and SUTTON FOSTER

Every understudy hopes to become the star.

by Anonymousreply 242June 16, 2022 6:32 PM

She'll have Lainie's career, r241.

by Anonymousreply 243June 16, 2022 6:32 PM

[quote] But Julie would be a fool to stay on as standby/understudy of they don't give her the role.

This is a ridiculous take. R241 has it correct.

by Anonymousreply 244June 16, 2022 6:34 PM

I didn't realize she's in her 30s. Sorry. I thought she was just a kid. She certainly looks young.

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by Anonymousreply 245June 16, 2022 6:36 PM

I wouldn't be surprised if they close Funny Girl completely and hope people forget it ever happened.

by Anonymousreply 246June 16, 2022 6:44 PM

r222 DM posts any old shit sent in. I think the cast will be the last to find out who's replacing, if indeed anyone does.

by Anonymousreply 247June 16, 2022 6:47 PM

There is absolutely no way that the cast has been informed who will be playing the role three months from now.

by Anonymousreply 248June 16, 2022 7:44 PM

Then BYE, R238. No one cares what some minor talent standby wants or doesn’t want. And she most certainly will not be a “goldmine.” Ridiculous. Benko can barely sing it any better than Beanie. She can go right along with Beanie when she exits. This is not Sutton Foster. There’s not going to be some star is born moment with Julie Benko. Just stop.

by Anonymousreply 249June 16, 2022 7:46 PM

Omg look at her little gay husband. Lol.

by Anonymousreply 250June 16, 2022 7:47 PM

Chrissy Metz IS Fanny Brice!

by Anonymousreply 251June 16, 2022 7:48 PM

[quote] Didn't she just graduate from NYU?

Why would any producer be stupid enough to cast someone right out of college?

by Anonymousreply 252June 16, 2022 8:00 PM

[quote] Wasn’t Bette Midler’s Hello Dolly a vanity project where the star wasn’t up to the task? Nobody was demanding a new production of Hello Dolly. Bette Midler couldn’t handle eight shows per week. It seemed to be designed to get Bette a competitive Tony Award after it didn’t happen with “I’ll Eat You Last.” Bette was not vocally in shape to handle the score.

r339 what are you talking about? Bette was star through and through and delivered a complete Broadway star performance, whether or not you personally liked it. She got laughs, she delivered the songs, she filled the theatre--both with presence and with butts in seats. She also had a great performance record and by all accounts delivered at every performance,

The only thing getting delivered at Beanie's show is Domino's.

by Anonymousreply 253June 16, 2022 8:14 PM

Standbys and understudies have never gotten accolades like they are now. Julie Benko has already gotten a lot of publicity and raves from audiences (whether you believe them or not). Producers might be wise to give her the star is born treatment. The show isn’t going to have a long run anyway so if audiences stay away after Julie takes over just close it.

by Anonymousreply 254June 16, 2022 8:34 PM

Lea speculation true?

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by Anonymousreply 255June 16, 2022 9:00 PM

[quote]Ridiculous. Benko can barely sing it any better than Beanie.

Did you actually see and hear her in the role, or are you just judging from a bootleg recording? Because what you wrote is simply not true.

by Anonymousreply 256June 16, 2022 9:02 PM

Damn, you could scratch your name in the makeup on her forehead in that photo!

by Anonymousreply 257June 16, 2022 9:03 PM

Jonathan Groff first worked with Michael Mayer in SPRING AWAKENING, which established Jonathan's career, and years later in LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS which was a big success. And Mayer's work on both of those shows was excellent overall, certainly far, far better than on several of his other shows. So it's not at all surprising that Groff should have very positive feelings about Mayer.

by Anonymousreply 258June 16, 2022 9:07 PM

Lea Michele could at least sing People.

She may not be a comedian - though she was certainly in on the joke in Glee - but at least has some charm.

by Anonymousreply 259June 16, 2022 9:10 PM

I agree that Lea Michele isn't naturally funny as the role or Fanny requires, but she could work on that if she puts her mind to it and gets someone to help her. I agree that, if she does go into FUNNY GIRL, it might create quite the sensation even if she's not perfect for the part in all respects.

by Anonymousreply 260June 16, 2022 9:18 PM

Lea is not naturally funny. But at the same time, the humor in Funny Girl is pretty lame. If they can have someone doing a little justice to the songs, at least the audience experience will be less torturous and amateurish. That still won't make up for the missteps in the direction and design work, but anything else is an improvement at this point.

by Anonymousreply 261June 16, 2022 9:32 PM

Is Patti out of Company due to testing positive for COVID?

by Anonymousreply 262June 16, 2022 9:38 PM

Funny Girl and Lea Michelle are a done deal. Bye bye Beanie and Benko.

by Anonymousreply 263June 16, 2022 9:51 PM

Look....

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by Anonymousreply 264June 16, 2022 10:04 PM

Isn't it amusing that one of the most hated DL personalities is now being hailed? When she didn't get the job, people were mocking her and ridiculing her for unsuccessfully campaigning for the job . Now, the target has changed to Beanie, and Lea is the messiah.

by Anonymousreply 265June 16, 2022 10:11 PM

How many people on DL are *hailing* her, r265?

by Anonymousreply 266June 16, 2022 10:17 PM

Lea is hardly the messiah. Look for all the old stories to resurface about Lea’s nastiness.

As for Michelle Lee as Mama? She’s 80. I doubt she’d want it.

by Anonymousreply 267June 16, 2022 11:11 PM

Was it on ATC that someone suggested Fran Drescher as Mama Brice. She'd be more than believable as Lea's mother.

by Anonymousreply 268June 16, 2022 11:29 PM

Michael Mayer is currently overwhelmed directing that Neil Diamond musical for Broadway and unavailable to "help" any new Fanny. Best to go with Julie B.

by Anonymousreply 269June 16, 2022 11:31 PM

Lea’s antics have turned me off to her, but I actually think she’d be good for the FG show.

Can’t say if she can deliver a home run (a triple may be the more realistic goal) but the talent plus ambition would combine to create something worth seeing.

by Anonymousreply 270June 16, 2022 11:45 PM

Will the Times give Lea the Reba treatment?

by Anonymousreply 271June 17, 2022 12:00 AM

The thread needs some Newmar...

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by Anonymousreply 272June 17, 2022 12:32 AM

This is so weird. A B Minus production of a B minus show is going to be turned into a hit by a B minus performer?

by Anonymousreply 273June 17, 2022 1:19 AM

Instead of Turbocunt Lea Michele, since Mr Saturday night is turning into a dismal failure, they should recast the role of Fanny with Shoshana Bean

by Anonymousreply 274June 17, 2022 1:33 AM

Isn't it amusing that one of the most hated DL personalities is now being hailed? When she didn't get the job, people were mocking her and ridiculing her for unsuccessfully campaigning for the job . Now, the target has changed to Beanie, and Lea is the messiah.

When the job came up she was either pregnant or just had a baby and didn't want to work.

by Anonymousreply 275June 17, 2022 1:57 AM

How many times are you going to post that comment, r275?

by Anonymousreply 276June 17, 2022 2:20 AM

Would really be something if Lea takes over, does an amazing job with it and gets fantastic reviews - adding insult to injury for Beanie.

I was one of the Lea haters but after hearing those horrific bootlegs of Beanie and seeing her total lack of a work ethic (heading off to to California for a friend’s wedding), not to mention the nepotism and rich parents and fancy childhood friends like Ben Platt… at least Lea can sing and she started working on Broadway as a little kid with no connections. And she might even reform her cunt behavior if she’s smart.

by Anonymousreply 277June 17, 2022 3:19 AM

Tell her on a Sunday...

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by Anonymousreply 278June 17, 2022 3:32 AM

[quote]Vicki Lewis was an incredible Velma Kelly.

I knew Vicki Lewis before she was at all known, and she is not the warmest person. As a matter of fact she is a bit prickly. You don't want to be on her bad side, as she is pretty dismissive on a good day. She's a professional and all, just not fun, or cuddly or anything.

by Anonymousreply 279June 17, 2022 5:33 AM

[quote]The thread needs some Newmar...

Something wrong with the Oldmar?

by Anonymousreply 280June 17, 2022 9:41 AM

She's one of the Seven Brides in that wonderful film and billed as Julie Newmeyer.

by Anonymousreply 281June 17, 2022 9:55 AM

R264- that article is from 2013

by Anonymousreply 282June 17, 2022 10:07 AM

R252, I'm not sure if yours is a joke post, considering how many people have been cast while still IN college (for example, Benanti was a freshman at NYU when she got the understudy gig that launched her career.) But to be clear, Benko graduated from the graduate acting program last year, not the undergrad program. So she's just out of grad school, not just out of college.

by Anonymousreply 283June 17, 2022 10:26 AM

I've been bitching about a possible Michele comeback for several threads (I posted the Rolling Stone article that seemed to be calling for/threatening a comeback a few threads back). So I'm definitely not celebrating her possible casting or considering her a savior.

The only possible upside to her getting the role is that it's further proof that cancel culture doesn't exist since all these supposedly canceled people are coming right back.

by Anonymousreply 284June 17, 2022 10:31 AM

[r284] Roseanne Barr as Rosie Brice! Cancel culture over, she’s Jewish, she can land jokes!

by Anonymousreply 285June 17, 2022 11:04 AM

Let’s kill both birds and bring in Rosie as Mrs Brice

by Anonymousreply 286June 17, 2022 11:21 AM

Correct me if I'm wrong but hasn't any positive publicity regarding Julie Benko been entirely through social media, mostly hers (at least so far), and not via the show's own publicity machine?

by Anonymousreply 287June 17, 2022 12:01 PM

Correct me if I'm wrong but hasn't any positive publicity regarding Julie Benko been entirely through social media, mostly hers (at least so far), and not via the show's own publicity machine?

by Anonymousreply 288June 17, 2022 12:01 PM

Yes R287.

by Anonymousreply 289June 17, 2022 12:04 PM

No r288.

by Anonymousreply 290June 17, 2022 12:06 PM

love r289

by Anonymousreply 291June 17, 2022 12:14 PM

hate r290

by Anonymousreply 292June 17, 2022 12:14 PM

Thanks R219 - that's useful!

by Anonymousreply 293June 17, 2022 12:39 PM

[quote] Benko has already gotten a lot of publicity and raves from audiences (whether you believe them or not).

You have no way of measuring this. 99.999999% of the population, and that includes all of NY and Broadway, has never heard of nor cares about a standby for failed Beanie. The Benko fan (singular) is deranged. She’s not getting the rest of the run, so stop. It’s annoying, and embarrassing for you that you support this total mediocrity. She’s no better than Beanie.

by Anonymousreply 294June 17, 2022 12:40 PM

She's better than Beanie.

by Anonymousreply 295June 17, 2022 12:42 PM

"Better than Beanie" is fast becoming a popular new catch phrase, replacing "Better than CATS."

by Anonymousreply 296June 17, 2022 1:29 PM

Did anyone else see "Romeo & Bernadette"? Off-Bway musical.

I wanted to love it but I could not. And did not.

Mostly, I'm astonished what constitutes "A Critic's Pick" at the Times. I'm not convinced we saw the same show at all. Has the Times started grading on a curve?

by Anonymousreply 297June 17, 2022 1:38 PM

Time for a new Country Music Musical!

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by Anonymousreply 298June 17, 2022 1:45 PM

While I would welcome a new country musical, the music of May We All sounds very generic.

by Anonymousreply 299June 17, 2022 1:49 PM

Isn't that other country musical coming in this season? The one that used to be "Hee-Haw"? It now has a new name.

by Anonymousreply 300June 17, 2022 1:52 PM

R273 The FG production is not a B-. It's a solid F.

The claims of Lea coming in and "saving" this show are laughable. She will still be saddled with Mayer's horridly misguided production.

Again, why is FUNNY GIRL set entirely in a grim industrial back alley?

Why are they wearing Jetsons space suits for Rat-Tat-Tat?

Why is the only set change confided to that monotonous brick silo?

Why is Fanny staged to enter her home and sit on the floor like 3-year-old?

Why is the glamorous wedding Follies number staged to look like the 3rd-tier burlesque house in GYPSY?

by Anonymousreply 301June 17, 2022 4:33 PM

She sits on the floor??? Jesus Christ

by Anonymousreply 302June 17, 2022 4:37 PM

[quote]Isn't that other country musical coming in this season? The one that used to be "Hee-Haw"? It now has a new name.

I believe it's called Shucks, r300.

by Anonymousreply 303June 17, 2022 4:41 PM

Sorry. Meant to write "shits on the floor".

by Anonymousreply 304June 17, 2022 4:48 PM

Shucked.

by Anonymousreply 305June 17, 2022 4:49 PM

[quote] Sorry. Meant to write "shits on the floor".

Figuratively, you're correct. Literally, this would have at the least woken the audience from their stupor.

by Anonymousreply 306June 17, 2022 5:06 PM

Are you serious?

"Shucked on Broadway"?

by Anonymousreply 307June 17, 2022 5:08 PM

[quote] While I would welcome a new country musical, the music of May We All sounds very generic.

It's a jukebox musical, not an original score.

by Anonymousreply 308June 17, 2022 5:08 PM

Speaking of incoming shows, just listened to the second song from "Lempicka". Um....Thoughts? Anyone see this at Williamstown pre-Covid?

by Anonymousreply 309June 17, 2022 5:10 PM

It’s actually called Mothershucker With The Hat.

by Anonymousreply 310June 17, 2022 5:14 PM

[quote]She's one of the Seven Brides in that wonderful film and billed as Julie Newmeyer.

Along with the still-fabulous Ruta Lee, who's billed as Ruta Kilmonis.

by Anonymousreply 311June 17, 2022 5:29 PM

[quote] Benko has already gotten a lot of publicity and raves from audiences (whether you believe them or not).

Julie Benko went out there an understudy and she came back an understudy!

by Anonymousreply 312June 17, 2022 5:46 PM

I can’t imagine Lea has a ton of offers so stepping into FG isn’t that far fetched. Unless she wants to play Roxie Hart.

by Anonymousreply 313June 17, 2022 5:50 PM

One night something happened! Dame Fortune showed her face!

The star got sick, and I was told to go on in her place!

But.....she recovered. Oh well!

by Anonymousreply 314June 17, 2022 5:51 PM

R308, sorry. I thought those songs sounded familiar. I’m off to take my dementia pills.

by Anonymousreply 315June 17, 2022 5:54 PM

R297, in the case of Romeo & Bernadette I think it was graded on the cute guy curve.

by Anonymousreply 316June 17, 2022 6:24 PM

r301, that is not a monotonous brick silo. It's a light house!! On.........Henry Street.

And I'm the light house keeper.

by Anonymousreply 317June 17, 2022 6:30 PM

[quote]I can’t imagine Lea has a ton of offers so stepping into FG isn’t that far fetched. Unless she wants to play Roxie Hart.

And risk being compared unfavorably to Pamela Anderson?

by Anonymousreply 318June 17, 2022 6:41 PM

What's the buzz on the Neil Diamond musical?

by Anonymousreply 319June 17, 2022 6:48 PM

It's going to be really badly directed, that part is for sure.

by Anonymousreply 320June 17, 2022 6:50 PM

Cracklin' Rose! It's gonna be GREAT!

by Anonymousreply 321June 17, 2022 6:51 PM

The anti-Benko person is welcome to its opinion, but that’s all it is, one opinion. I’ve read two reports in the last couple of days from older guys who loved Julie Benko. These aren’t “stan” types at all. She has met with a lot of positive reactions. Some of this is that Beanie was such a disappointment that Benko looks even better in comparison. There is no reason to believe that fan-induced gossip that Lea Michelle is coming on board. She lives in LA and has a small child. It’s not likely.

by Anonymousreply 322June 17, 2022 6:53 PM

Leah and her husband and baby have moved to NYC. That is common knowledge. She is doing the show. Sorry Benko groupies...

by Anonymousreply 323June 17, 2022 6:54 PM

Lea would Medea her small child to play Fanny.

by Anonymousreply 324June 17, 2022 6:54 PM

If Lea and hubs were going to move anywhere, it would be up to Napa, where they spent a couple of weeks just before coming East for the Tonys & SA events.

There’s no way she would accept going into a show staged for Beanie, wearing costumes that were designed for Beanie’s miscast body. And there’s no way the show could afford to have new designs done for its new star, other than perhaps a curtain call gown.

by Anonymousreply 325June 17, 2022 7:05 PM

Lea will do the Funny Girl replacement. A girl's gotta eat. And she has to outrun the Glee Grim Reaper.

by Anonymousreply 326June 17, 2022 7:18 PM

She’s doing it. It’s confirmed. First performance Sep 26th.

by Anonymousreply 327June 17, 2022 7:22 PM

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

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by Anonymousreply 328June 17, 2022 7:25 PM

When did Lea Michele become a glamourous woman of color?

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by Anonymousreply 329June 17, 2022 7:26 PM

If Lea pulls this off, dark magic is afoot.

Cynthia and Ariana better start burning sage.

by Anonymousreply 330June 17, 2022 7:26 PM

Little Shop cancelled tonite due to illness in company. I believe Skylar is scheduled to be out this weekend and Borle’s u/s has been on so who knows what’s happening. Scheduled to resume tomorrow.

by Anonymousreply 331June 17, 2022 7:31 PM

[quote] Borle’s u/s

Borle's uncut slab?

by Anonymousreply 332June 17, 2022 7:36 PM

Meanwhile, in CeLesbian news...

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by Anonymousreply 333June 17, 2022 7:41 PM

R317 - Jane, that's no lighthouse. And you're no Helen Reddy.

by Anonymousreply 334June 17, 2022 7:50 PM

I'm all for colorblind casting, but I stop at Lea Michele

by Anonymousreply 335June 17, 2022 7:53 PM

R33 Fuck, that is lots of ugly.

by Anonymousreply 336June 17, 2022 7:53 PM

She Won a Tony. But Deirdre O’Connell ‘Can’t Think About That’:

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by Anonymousreply 337June 17, 2022 7:57 PM

Jesus God, Lena Waithe is ugly on HGH.

by Anonymousreply 338June 17, 2022 8:15 PM

Lea, or for that matter ShoBe or any of the Wicked women who have made a bit of a name for themselves, would be solid as FB. She's flashing back at the beginning anyway, so even someone in their 40s who looked youthful from stage distance would be fine.

Rosie O or Drescher would be fun for the audience as Mrs. Brice. Has Liz McCartney gone on in the role yet? Bet she's wonderful.

Did Tyne Daly ever play Mrs. Brice anywhere? It's too late for that to happen now but once upon a time she'd have been a perfect match for that role.

Hope the new Fanny has chemistry with her Nick, and her Eddie. The unrequited love that keeps Eddie hanging around Fanny even though she puts him in the friend zone can be poignant when the actors in the roles choose to bring it out.

by Anonymousreply 339June 17, 2022 8:19 PM

R329, Bitch stole my Light Egyptian.

by Anonymousreply 340June 17, 2022 8:27 PM

Matt Manuel, featured in May We All at R298, is slightly fit.

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by Anonymousreply 341June 17, 2022 8:50 PM

[quote]She sits on the floor??? Jesus Christ

And, immediately after her first entrance, she takes off her expensive-looking coat and THROWS IT ON THE FLOOR. I'm not making this up, you know.

by Anonymousreply 342June 17, 2022 8:58 PM

Slightly?

by Anonymousreply 343June 17, 2022 8:58 PM

Is he playing Charley Pride?

by Anonymousreply 344June 17, 2022 9:06 PM

For the deluded r325, the below verified she now lives in New York. It's happening.

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by Anonymousreply 345June 17, 2022 9:08 PM

What? Chris Colfer isn't available to take over from the Beanster?

by Anonymousreply 346June 17, 2022 9:29 PM

Children's books do NOT write themselves r346.

by Anonymousreply 347June 17, 2022 9:31 PM

I would like to live stream beanie‘s face when Lea‘s reviews come out.

by Anonymousreply 348June 17, 2022 9:31 PM

I will never in my life want to live stream beanie's face.

by Anonymousreply 349June 17, 2022 9:34 PM

Funny there’s still no source other than “industry insiders.”

by Anonymousreply 350June 17, 2022 9:43 PM

Things that would give Lea pause about accepting:

Cheap-looking sets

Cheap costumes designed to feature a whale

Lousy direction

Perception that it’s a huge turkey

Embarrassingly small cast

Embarrassingly small orchestra

by Anonymousreply 351June 17, 2022 9:47 PM

[quote]Funny there’s still no source other than “industry insiders.”

Well, we, the Datalounge, are probably the most influential "industry outsiders".

That HAS to count for something.

by Anonymousreply 352June 17, 2022 9:50 PM

R322 my god. Benko is no Sutton Foster and no Laura Benanti. In what world would the producers say yes - let’s have this no name understudy who is FINE (compared to our shitty fat lazy) lead take over if Lea Michele, who has name recognition and an established fan base (she has 7 million Instagram followers compared to Benko’s 7,000 followers) is willing to do it? It makes zero sense. If Benko is as amazing as you and your friends say she is, she will get a lead in another show down the line. This was a great opportunity for her and it sounds like she ran with it. Doesn’t mean she should take over the show.

by Anonymousreply 353June 17, 2022 9:55 PM

I can’t wait for the announcement of Lea Michele just to watch the BeanBenkostans heads explode en masse.

by Anonymousreply 354June 17, 2022 10:37 PM

The Lea Stan = Matt the Loon

by Anonymousreply 355June 17, 2022 11:00 PM

What R353 said. Benko is no Shirley MacLaine.

by Anonymousreply 356June 17, 2022 11:30 PM

But now, here's the thing: if you believe the FG revival was funded by Beanie's family, wouldn't it be unlikely that they would allow Lea to come in and upstage their little girl?

by Anonymousreply 357June 17, 2022 11:35 PM

R357. Do investors have a say in casting replacements? Maybe they’re as fed up with Beanie as we are :)

by Anonymousreply 358June 17, 2022 11:37 PM

I would think if Beanie's family put up more than 50% of the money (silently, of course) for the revival they would have quite a lot of power.

by Anonymousreply 359June 17, 2022 11:40 PM

Investors...having power? Hahahahahaha

by Anonymousreply 360June 18, 2022 12:12 AM

Investors have no power. Lead producers merely give them the illusion of a grain of power.

by Anonymousreply 361June 18, 2022 12:15 AM

I'm loving the desperate Benko family member/friend/agent who keeps posting here on all the reasons why LM can't/won't do it. Can we do this every day until the announcement?

by Anonymousreply 362June 18, 2022 12:45 AM

They can't afford to announce Lea too soon, because if they do, the grosses while Beanie is still in the show will tank and everybody will want tickets for Michelle instead. Please, though, don't put Rosie in the fucking show, put somewhere in that role with talent!

by Anonymousreply 363June 18, 2022 1:01 AM

Anyone know who DeuxMoi is talking about here? The title is obviously a Glee reference.

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by Anonymousreply 364June 18, 2022 1:42 AM

Maybe the show being referenced in R364 is the new season of SCHMIGADOON which apparently is going to be called SCHMICAGO. That fits with the '70s description. But I can't offhand think of a Broadway golden boy with luscious locks.

by Anonymousreply 365June 18, 2022 1:59 AM

“Could We Start Again Please” is a song from Jesus Christ Superstar, who is, apparently, whom Aaron Tviet (returning to Schmiga…, has luscious locks)

by Anonymousreply 366June 18, 2022 2:06 AM

Christian from Moulin Rouge is from Lima, Ohio so guessing it's a Tveit fangirl who sent that in and thinks he counts as Broadway's golden boy (as long as there no other contenders). It's not even gossip, he's already been confirmed for the second season

by Anonymousreply 367June 18, 2022 2:06 AM

DL fav Linda Lavin shared this email from Sondheim after the 90th birthday celebration. Mainly posting it to annoy all those who insisted Sondheim could never possibly make a typo

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by Anonymousreply 368June 18, 2022 2:10 AM

Is Aaron Tviet related to Arnold Tviet?

by Anonymousreply 369June 18, 2022 2:10 AM

Limo, Ohio is Glee. And its Groff who will be in "Merrily" with the Potter kid.

by Anonymousreply 370June 18, 2022 2:29 AM

More importantly, is Aaron Tveit a descendant of Twinks Tveit?

by Anonymousreply 371June 18, 2022 2:32 AM

That episode was on today.

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by Anonymousreply 372June 18, 2022 2:43 AM

ROZ

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by Anonymousreply 373June 18, 2022 3:25 AM

Reba McEntire IS Fanny Brice!

by Anonymousreply 374June 18, 2022 3:41 AM

"You haven't lost your girlishness."

Lavin is the eternally girlish new girl in town.

by Anonymousreply 375June 18, 2022 3:46 AM

It’s clearly talking about Aaron Tveit. SCHMICAGO spoofs the 60s and 70s (not just 70s). The JCS clues indicate he’ll be playing a character like that in the new one.

by Anonymousreply 376June 18, 2022 3:56 AM

[quote]Can we do this every day until the announcement?

Oh I’m sure you will, Matt. After all, your Aspie insanity leaves you repeating yourself constantly. You can’t control yourself. Yawn and yawn and yawn.

by Anonymousreply 377June 18, 2022 3:58 AM

R376, That's Tony winner Aaron Tveit.

by Anonymousreply 378June 18, 2022 6:12 AM

r364 yes it's Tveit and r367 did a good job solving

by Anonymousreply 379June 18, 2022 10:38 AM

and r370 is bad at this. "the next season of this sleeper pandemic hit"

by Anonymousreply 380June 18, 2022 10:39 AM

They are going to have to re-do the logo/art work.

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by Anonymousreply 381June 18, 2022 11:10 AM

If Lea Michele does Funny Girl they should get Peter Friedman to play Mrs. Brice. (Theater nerds will understand this statement).

by Anonymousreply 382June 18, 2022 11:29 AM

The BeanBenkostan is trying to claim some troll of its own making is the only one talking about Lea Michele? Guuurrrllll. The entire industry is talking about it. It’s huge gossip. That will most likely come true.

You psychos here that obsess over people like “Greg” and “Matt” and “pooshoes.” Who the fuck are you? No once cares about you’re shit. I’ve been here for over twenty years, and you contribute nothing will all of your supposed troll spotting except clog up threads with your stupidity.

Shut up. You’re beyond annoying. Block the people you think are trolls and stop fucking responding to them. It’s literally why the tool was created. Go read the guidelines of this site and shut up.

by Anonymousreply 383June 18, 2022 12:17 PM

Give me a second to adjust my tin hat, but hear me out:

If Lea does replace Beanie, am I crazy in thinking that this perhaps was planned all along? Lea’s acting range is pretty limited, but she can undoubtedly sing and does a pretty persuasive imitation Barbra.

There are a very few actresses who can sing the role, who also have name recognition and who will sell tickets. Lea fits the bill, and I’m sure she’ll do a fine job. But opening with Lea would have led to criticisms that she’s nothing more than an imitation Barbra, and that the first Broadway revival does nothing but prove the suspicion that nobody else can play it but Barbra. (Sheridan Smith doesn’t count.) It all would have been underwhelming and a bit pointless, the faults of the book all the more glaring, and the show would have perhaps limped along for a few months.

So casting somebody who can’t sing it at all, who then leaves the show after what is a very brief run for a star, lets Lea come in with her Barbra imitation and for that to be hailed as revelatory and wonderful by sheer virtue of her predecessor being so shit.

Beanie gets to live her Broadway dream without staying long enough to entirely shipwreck the production, and then Lea gets hers while the producers can also make an even bigger splash than they otherwise would have been done had Lea been cast from the outset.

At least it would explain that ridiculous cast-via-Zoom Beanie story, and why the role was given to somebody so evidently ill-suited.

by Anonymousreply 384June 18, 2022 12:21 PM

R384. A too elaborate and far too expensive scenario. Broadway is about money and what you describe is too Byzantine for the crude economics of producers.

by Anonymousreply 385June 18, 2022 12:32 PM

R384, your scenario is interesting, but it pretty much falls apart when you think about it. I'm sure that, in Beanie's mind, "living her Broadway dream" did not include getting mediocre to terrible reviews and no Tony nomination. I'm pretty sure SHE thought she would have a great success, and I can only imagine the producers and director thought so as well. What R385 wrote is correct even if some of the money from the show came from Beanie's family, which I believe still has not been proven.

by Anonymousreply 386June 18, 2022 12:33 PM

Beanie’s good at launching ping pong balls from her cooter

by Anonymousreply 387June 18, 2022 12:44 PM

[quote]Christian from Moulin Rouge is from Lima, Ohio so guessing it's a Tveit fangirl who sent that in and thinks he counts as Broadway's golden boy (as long as there no other contenders). It's not even gossip, he's already been confirmed for the second season

I never realized that Christian was supposed to be from Lima, Ohio.

So random.

I didn't even know there was a Lima, Ohio, until GLEE.

by Anonymousreply 388June 18, 2022 12:55 PM

[quote]Beanie’s good at launching ping pong balls from her cooter

Ping-pong balls? You could fit an NCAA-season worth of regulation Wilson basketballs up that wind tunnel.

by Anonymousreply 389June 18, 2022 1:00 PM

Sorry^^^^. Wrong thread.

I always had contempt for people who posted to the wrong thread.

Now I am one of them

by Anonymousreply 390June 18, 2022 1:09 PM

Whoa! I was not in the wrong thread---but my computer showed my post from another thread here. Now it is gone.

by Anonymousreply 391June 18, 2022 1:10 PM

R389/R390R391 Go to bed!

by Anonymousreply 392June 18, 2022 1:16 PM

I'm no Lea Michele fan. I only watched Glee when there was a guest-star I wanted to see. But to the repeated accusation that she doesn't have the warmth -- are you going to tell me Streisand is some snuggly teddy-bear? If you seriously tried to hug her you'd bounce off the forcefield of her ego into the next county.

I think if she gets to replace Beanie it's a great look for Michele. R351's list is full of reasons why if she's any good at all it's going to be a triumph for her. Even the bad director may not hold her back if this is a role she's always wanted to play, especially if she's got the sense to do some line and comedy rehearsal on the side with a good director before she starts. (That's how Vivien Leigh and Olivia de Havilland did it.) She goes in as the underdog, valiantly trying to save a show whose star has caused it to flounder. If she stuffs it up it puts her not much further behind the 8-ball than she is now. How many Broadway shows has she declined recently, after all?

by Anonymousreply 393June 18, 2022 1:49 PM

[quote]Even the bad director may not hold her back if this is a role she's always wanted to play, especially if she's got the sense to do some line and comedy rehearsal on the side with a good director before she starts.

My thoughts about this are very similar to yours.

by Anonymousreply 394June 18, 2022 1:51 PM

My dad gave me this bit of advice when I was looking for a job : Never replace a legend, because you will always be compared. Replace an incompetent; that way anything you do will be better. Lea should have great critical success.

by Anonymousreply 395June 18, 2022 1:53 PM

No Streisand is personally no snuggly teddy bear. But there is warmth and intimacy when she sings People. She knows how to connect with her audience. She owns the song and nobody has done it better.

by Anonymousreply 396June 18, 2022 1:57 PM

R395 what happened to your father?

by Anonymousreply 397June 18, 2022 1:57 PM

It'll be interesting to see if Fanny's costumes are redesigned for Lea and I won't be surprised if they are closer to those worn by Barbra Streisand (which would be a HUGE improvement).

by Anonymousreply 398June 18, 2022 2:08 PM

Back to Strange Loop... Two things have surprised me: There were maybe six people of color in the audience when I saw this lamentable show, which seemed odd. (Yes, I know, the world is shifting, and it will take time to convince black audiences to attend Broadway, unless it's something they want to see. Ergo, why there were almost no black audience members.) And also: Why has there been no talk about how viciously, and hysterically, the show takes on Tyler Perry. I hear there's an ongoing bet as to when he'll come see the show (or maybe he has and left in disgust). Those were the funniest parts of the show. The entire second act is a head scratcher...)

by Anonymousreply 399June 18, 2022 2:33 PM

Speaking of oversized, stuffed creatures....

WINNIE is back. Hooray!

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by Anonymousreply 400June 18, 2022 2:35 PM

Let's talk Queer Theatre!

I feel like some titles fell off this list. Anyone?

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by Anonymousreply 401June 18, 2022 2:37 PM

But can Lea make the songs her own, or will she give us more third-rate Barbra, as she's done in the past? Maybe critics won't be so quick to praise a mere imitator? (Bring back Julie Budd!)

And most importantly, will Rex Reed write, "Move over, Beanie!"

by Anonymousreply 402June 18, 2022 2:50 PM

Yes r401, that list was written by an intern.

Rent - the drag queen Angel was the best character in the show

Falsettoland- yes Falsettos is on the list, but Falsettoland was a musical that featured AIDS. I saw it at the Lortel and I can’t tell you the impact of seeing it right in the middle of NYC’s gay Mecca, in a time when AIDS was still a very present danger.

Love! Valor! Compassion! - I don’t really like the play, but I do give it credit for examining the lives of gay men.

The Only Thing Worse I Could Have Told You - Dan Butler, who was playing a hetro horndog on a top rated sitcom, turned in a bravura one man show performance.

Many of the off-Broadway contributions have been forgotten: Bent, As Is, Jerkers as well as the artists who created gay subculture: Charles Ludlam, Howard Crabtree, Charles Busch.

by Anonymousreply 403June 18, 2022 2:54 PM

Thanks for that thoughtful list, R403.

by Anonymousreply 404June 18, 2022 3:00 PM

Also forgot “Jeffrey” which really helped to mainstream gay men.

by Anonymousreply 405June 18, 2022 3:01 PM

[quote]Back to Strange Loop... Two things have surprised me: There were maybe six people of color in the audience when I saw this lamentable show, which seemed odd. (Yes, I know, the world is shifting, and it will take time to convince black audiences to attend Broadway, unless it's something they want to see.

FWIW: My black boyfriend (a former musical theatre singer/dancer) saw the clip on the Tonys and expressed an absolute, 250% non-interest in ever seeing the show.

Same problem with "Slave Play" - totally white audiences.

by Anonymousreply 406June 18, 2022 3:02 PM

Sorry I keep remembering other shows.

Anne Meara’s completely forgotten “After Play.” While the show is not about gay life, there is a brief appearance by a couple whose son has died of AIDS.

It’s too bad Meara didn’t write an entire play about this couple. Rochelle Oliver played the mother and she was brilliant. In one stunning moment, she said, “I never thought my son would die at the end of a poison penis.” Meara was really on to something in capturing the anger and confusion of parents of gay children.

by Anonymousreply 407June 18, 2022 3:12 PM

From what I can see from photos Benko and Beanie wear the same costumes but Benko’s is 1/4 of the size and they look good on her.

by Anonymousreply 408June 18, 2022 3:15 PM

[quote]She owns the song and nobody has done it better.

Lea doesn't have to do it better than Streisand. She only has to do it better than Beanie or Benko and she's golden.

by Anonymousreply 409June 18, 2022 3:18 PM

So r406 your black boyfriend who is a musical theater person doesn't want to see to a Pulitzer Prize, Tony Winning new musical by a black writer, with an all black cast, and with a largely black creative team?

Get a new boyfriend. Perhaps one who is curious about the world.

by Anonymousreply 410June 18, 2022 3:49 PM

"B-b-but it won awards, it has to be good"

by Anonymousreply 411June 18, 2022 3:56 PM

I'm not saying because it won awards its necessarily good, r411. We all know that game (PASSION). What I'm saying is at the very least to be a part of the current musical theater conversation its worth checking out, particularly if you're curious at all about the shows impact.

But I do understand if your boyfriend just wants to look at Instagram. I do.

by Anonymousreply 412June 18, 2022 4:05 PM

I would just like to point out that since Glee, Lea Michele has HAD A BABY. Her acting ability and ability to access genuine emotion may have improved as she has matured.

I think she would be smashing as Fanny Brice - particularly in the 2nd Act which is when Streisand REALLY had to carry the show.

by Anonymousreply 413June 18, 2022 4:12 PM

[quote]are you going to tell me Streisand is some snuggly teddy-bear? If you seriously tried to hug her you'd bounce off the forcefield of her ego into the next county.

That made me laugh out loud

by Anonymousreply 414June 18, 2022 4:29 PM

I think to add insult to injury they should cast Idina as the mother.

by Anonymousreply 415June 18, 2022 4:40 PM

[quote]Get a new boyfriend. Perhaps one who is curious about the world.

I'm good, thanks. He's quite curious about the world but like most black people he knows when he's being sold total horseshit.

by Anonymousreply 416June 18, 2022 4:44 PM

r416 But it was written by a black person, and he's black so he HAS to go see it

by Anonymousreply 417June 18, 2022 5:00 PM

[quote]He's quite curious about the world but like most black people he knows when he's being sold total horseshit.

Is he really comfortable deciding that A STRANGE LOOP is "total horseshit" based on that very brief performance on the Tonys?

by Anonymousreply 418June 18, 2022 5:13 PM

Although Matt the Asp is pushing the Lea scenario, it’s still just gossip. Wiser heads in the media are noticing that.

Queerly has an article today listing “Five Favorites to Replace Beanie.” (Lea is Number Two). All of them make a kind of sense but only Lea and one or two others are actually likely.

What it points up without saying so is that Beanie is fucked. This has turned into a huge debacle for her. The Lea Michele thing is ubiquitous and now people are playing guessing games of who they’d like to see as Fanny. Beanie as Fanny has become a joke and, even worse, an afterthought. I can’t imagine she’s going to last till September.

by Anonymousreply 419June 18, 2022 5:22 PM

Is Beanie's the most disastrous Broadway debut of all time?

by Anonymousreply 420June 18, 2022 5:26 PM

To be COMPLETELY fair: as a gay white dude I support what "Strange Loop" is doing to shake up Broadway 100%. And I have a number of (white) theatre friends who love love love the show.

I also saw the reaction coming from my black boyfriend seeing the clip on the Tonys.

Following the rule of "never critique a show you haven't seen" I plan to see it this summer, but won't be bringing the BF.

by Anonymousreply 421June 18, 2022 5:33 PM

LOL wiser heads in the media … are Queerly

by Anonymousreply 422June 18, 2022 5:53 PM

The most disastrous Broadway debut of all time was Suzanne Somers.

by Anonymousreply 423June 18, 2022 5:55 PM

I think that Farrah Fawcett has her beat, R423.

by Anonymousreply 424June 18, 2022 5:57 PM

I guess Madonna’s Broadway debut in Speed the Plow wasn’t the worst. But it was pretty awful.

by Anonymousreply 425June 18, 2022 6:09 PM

[quote]Is Beanie's the most disastrous Broadway debut of all time?

It wasn't Beanie's Broadway debut. She was Minnie Fay (I accidentally typed Minnie Fat the first time; well. the T is next to the Y) in Bette Midler's "Dolly."

by Anonymousreply 426June 18, 2022 6:10 PM

Yeah, I'm not sure a Black former musical theater performer not being interested in a musical about a Black musical theater writer shows a lack of curiosity about the world. If it's subject matter one is close to, what do they need to be curious about: their own lives and experiences?

by Anonymousreply 427June 18, 2022 6:42 PM

Farrah never opened on Broadway, but had a big personal success Off-Broadway.

by Anonymousreply 428June 18, 2022 6:50 PM

There is no way the producers of Funny Girl would want word out that Lea Michele is going to be playing Fanny in three months. Many people would put off buying tickets for those three months.

by Anonymousreply 429June 18, 2022 6:51 PM

FG isn’t Beanie’s broadway debut. That was Hello, Dolly!

by Anonymousreply 430June 18, 2022 7:08 PM

Did Elaine dial that phone with a pencil?

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by Anonymousreply 431June 18, 2022 7:13 PM

Party…line!

by Anonymousreply 432June 18, 2022 7:21 PM

[quote]What it points up without saying so is that Beanie is fucked. This has turned into a huge debacle for her.

I agree, certainly as far as the theater community is concerned. But a friend of mine thinks the whole thing will be pretty much forgotten by the fall. He also thinks that Beanie's fans from movies and TV won't really care that FG was a disaster for her, and I think he MIGHT be right about that, depending of course on how her movie and TV career proceeds. I'm pretty sure she's absolutely finished on Broadway, but I guess that goes without saying.

by Anonymousreply 433June 18, 2022 7:47 PM

Beanie, David Burtka and Jeremy Piven will star in a new musical: Quitters of 2024

by Anonymousreply 434June 18, 2022 7:58 PM

Ok - a couple of thoughts here. I was looking for a boot audio or video of Benko. Couldn’t find them. But I did stumble on a recording of about 3/4 of the show with Beanie & Ramin. Her singing voice is - fine - she can’t do tricks or colors with it but she hits the notes. But in listening to her speak and sing - especially with Ramin - NO SEX - no yearning - no conflict. She is a total girl scout. With Fanny the emotional and physical tug towards Nick is the big conflict and she sounds like she works at Baskin Robbins. …. Plus I don’t want to cause trouble - the weight. She might be “Woke” but Fanny wasn’t. If she was struggling with her weight and had a lush voice like Judy Garland or Adele it might be different. ….. Like I said - the vocals weren’t BAD - but I thought that I wouldn’t have had such a problem with her voice if a young Gilda Radner was the one singing. She would have been a wonderful Fanny.

by Anonymousreply 435June 18, 2022 8:01 PM

[r435] any way you would be a theatre deity and pass along the link of said Beanie Audio? I’ve been dying to hear more than just the Dont Rain ON My Parade that’s easy to find

by Anonymousreply 436June 18, 2022 8:05 PM

Yeah, Burtka's behavior on that show was appalling. Come to think of it, that was a similar situation to Beanie/FG -- as soon as the show opened and Burtka was either ignored or criticized in the reviews, he completely lost interest and departed.

by Anonymousreply 437June 18, 2022 8:10 PM

What show with David Burtka?

by Anonymousreply 438June 18, 2022 8:34 PM

Nina Leaks can play Mama Bric

by Anonymousreply 439June 18, 2022 8:35 PM

Some bad show about a wedding.

I think Burtka thought it was going to be a grand return to Broadway, be in a hit, and get a Tony. None of that happened.

by Anonymousreply 440June 18, 2022 8:36 PM

What show did Burtka quit?

by Anonymousreply 441June 18, 2022 8:38 PM

For the mentally impaired r338 and r441

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by Anonymousreply 442June 18, 2022 8:48 PM

There is nothing wrong with quitting a play of its best for everyone!

by Anonymousreply 443June 18, 2022 8:48 PM

Won't it chap Beanie's ass if Lea does join the show and they end up doing a cast recording?

by Anonymousreply 444June 18, 2022 9:07 PM

Beanstein is a disaster on par with LucyMame or the Cats movie.

by Anonymousreply 445June 18, 2022 9:15 PM

It's like if Faye Dunaway had actually opened in Sunset Blvd.

by Anonymousreply 446June 18, 2022 9:16 PM

The problem with David Burtka’s exit is that almost everyone else in the cast had a higher profile than he did and they all stayed. Tyne Daly, Chip Zein, Harriet Harris, etc.

Also, he left in the Summer. It looked like Neil Patrick Harris said, “I’m heading for the beach. You coming?”

by Anonymousreply 447June 18, 2022 9:17 PM

R477 why couldn't he go to the beach on his days off?

by Anonymousreply 448June 18, 2022 9:19 PM

Who is this Nene Leakes troll we’ve got on here?

by Anonymousreply 449June 18, 2022 9:19 PM

Burka has a meal ticket. Beanie just has a lot of meals.

by Anonymousreply 450June 18, 2022 9:21 PM

r441 the show Burtka quit was It Shoulda Been You.

by Anonymousreply 451June 18, 2022 9:22 PM

That exit ended Burtka’s Broadway career, which had a short shelf life anyway. Nobody will cast a 50 year old “Best Boy In All The World.”

by Anonymousreply 452June 18, 2022 9:25 PM

Didn’t Mary Tyler Moore leave a show? Just packed her stuff up and left? Was it a Neil Simon show?

by Anonymousreply 453June 18, 2022 9:28 PM

Neil Simon sent a note backstage via his hateful wife to MTM that said: "Learn your fucking lines or get out of my show." So she left. And it only made him look like a bigger asshole than he already was.

by Anonymousreply 454June 18, 2022 9:38 PM

Jasmine Guy left The Violet Hour under suspicious circumstances.

“I leave a piece of my heart on the stage.”

MARY!!!!

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by Anonymousreply 455June 18, 2022 9:46 PM

And then there's me.

by Anonymousreply 456June 18, 2022 10:00 PM

The whole "Woke Theater" movement is supposedly all about telling non-white stories and hiring non-white people both on and off stage AND to give non-white audiences shows they can relate to and all of those things are good things but...

The third thing isn't really happening that much. And, it's not going to change over night. It seems like theater companies and producers think "well, if we give them non-white stories with non-white casts then huge numbers of non-white audience members will just automatically show up!" And, that's not necessarily the case. If a cultural sub-group hasn't been welcomed in the past or it's just not part of that sub-group's culture to go to shows in general (which is partly related to economics) then why would anyone think that's going to quickly change?

So, Wokeism is causing this huge change in how theater is produced but at what cost? Are non-white audiences going to eventually start turning up in droves to see shows? And, will that be enough to compensate for white audiences leaving in droves because they're tired of seeing most shows be about non-white topics? Or, be actively anti-white.

by Anonymousreply 457June 18, 2022 10:17 PM

R457, or whites may realize that diversity theater is just not very good as the creatives may have been chosen for skin color over ability.

by Anonymousreply 458June 18, 2022 10:23 PM

Wokeism is not the problem with theater these days.

The ridiculous cost to see a show is the problem.

Sat center first row mezzanine for original Into the Woods. For $65.

by Anonymousreply 459June 18, 2022 10:24 PM

Have they finally stuck a fork in To Kill a Mockingbird?

by Anonymousreply 460June 18, 2022 10:28 PM

No, David Alan Grier (with his new silver teeth) will be playing Atticus Finch. With Lori Tan Chinn as Calpurnia.

by Anonymousreply 461June 18, 2022 10:34 PM

[quote] Sat center first row mezzanine for original Into the Woods. For $65.

My full price orchestra ticket for the original Sweeney Todd was $22.50. Adjusting for inflation, that is the equivalent of $92.66 today.

by Anonymousreply 462June 18, 2022 10:36 PM

R406 R416 - Your boyfriend is a closed-minded stubborn idiot. STRANGE LOOP is infinitely more nuanced and insightful than SLAVE PLAY. To dismiss one, he'll dismiss all Black Queer Theater?

Perhaps now that he has you, his light-skinned presumably White boyfriend, he thinks he's above watching and experiencing original Black gay stories in the theater. Perhaps the subject matter hits too close to home for him, so he's afraid of his "story" being told, that it reveals too much. Or perhaps he's the Enrique Tarrio of New York Theater, siding with the White haters.

But if he's any sort of real lover of theater and musicals, he best get his ass to STRANGE LOOP instead of dismissing it outright.

by Anonymousreply 463June 18, 2022 10:37 PM

My black boyfriend's name is... George.

George, um.... Glass.

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by Anonymousreply 464June 18, 2022 10:41 PM

Hi 436 - it is 435 here - I am not sure what the protocol is but I’ll do it like riddle - I got it on my iPad - the sight is a Chinese sight. Google the sight - it is the FIRST name of our Carousel hero (Mr. Bigelow) twice in a row - NO space in between. And instead of illy it is ili. ….. once you are inside search Ramin and the show name. One of the options says show name & first time Back on bway in 58 years. I think it starts with “I Want to Be Seen, Be Seen with You” Let me know if you find it! So much stuff get’s taken down. It is really clear, though.

by Anonymousreply 465June 18, 2022 10:46 PM

In other words, No One's Seeing You, Non-White Theatre.

by Anonymousreply 466June 18, 2022 10:50 PM

R463 Black Queer Theatre. It seems audiences have already had sufficient.

by Anonymousreply 467June 18, 2022 10:52 PM

R467 - What's the point you're trying to make by asking about Black gay and lesbian playwrights? Is it about the term "queer"?

by Anonymousreply 468June 18, 2022 10:59 PM

The problem with the more diverse options on Broadway is that they're catering to audience that doesn't always attend theater. It's expensive as hell these days, so who can blame them? A part of me thinks they're doing this now so that they can say "well, in 2021 and 2022 we tried to do diverse shows, but no one came, so we're back to reviving Annie for the 438th time." There's also the fact that many of these shows are on the shrill and preachy side and people of color aren't exactly wanting to pay $100+ to be the choir that's getting preached at. White people also don't usually want to do see a show like that unless they're the academic big city types who want woke points for saying they went and have been thinking about the play's message for weeks afterwards.

These preachier shows are why off-Broadway needs to make a major comeback. These aren't commercially viable shows, but they do deserve to be seen. There's just no way they're ever going to catch on being performed in a big Broadway house. And also, no one ever workshops or tries out a show as long as they should these days. You'll see a show in previews and, by opening, they've changed 4 lines of dialogue and not fixed any of the lags in act 2 at all and it makes you wonder why they even bothered having previews at all.

by Anonymousreply 469June 18, 2022 11:01 PM

^ This. Which is why FAT HAM and AIN'T NO MO' should stay off Broadway. Audiences are/WERE coming to see it there. Shows worthy of being produced and seen. But they are not commercial.

by Anonymousreply 470June 18, 2022 11:07 PM

We liked Dreamgirls.

by Anonymousreply 471June 18, 2022 11:16 PM

The idiot with the $65 dollar Into The Woods ticket doesn't understand present value nor inflation. The equivalent value today is $167.25. Learn to think idiot.

by Anonymousreply 472June 18, 2022 11:19 PM

Someone up thread asked if Beanie’s family and friend are the ones putting the real money into FG, why would they hire Lea? They were just “silent inventors”, the actual producers can, most likely furiously happening as we dish, but then out now, and try and salvage this mess with a name that they believe can continue to keep it running. I think whatever fragile marriage was put together to get this on the boards exploded apart the second it became clear Beanie had NO concern for the production and only for her spoiled, selfish whims. That’s the real story here, she gives no fucks about the cast and crew, she was never accepting of the role of “leader” and the entire FG was aware of that fact. She wanted to play “Broadway Star” and reap the benefits of that charmed elevation, one she saw her BFF Ben squeeze dry, as well as her Hello Dolly cast mate Bette Midler. It was I wanna go to Star Camp and win my Tony and feel I’m the best. That’s why hack Mayer pulled the trigger on her, he thought she’d be given the accolades because it was figured into the price tag, WRONG! Beanie never tried, watch her early PR appearances, all about “my dream”, never about the actual theatrical endeavor, the tv editors did that. Sad stuff.

by Anonymousreply 473June 18, 2022 11:22 PM

^ *buy them out

by Anonymousreply 474June 18, 2022 11:23 PM

R465

You're really funny, girl! I hear you, but I can't see you...

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by Anonymousreply 475June 18, 2022 11:29 PM

R472 - Then by all means justify $299 non-premium orchestra seats for THE MUSIC MAN, you cunt.

by Anonymousreply 476June 18, 2022 11:30 PM

Ok.

****JUSTIFIED!****

TaDa!

by Anonymousreply 477June 18, 2022 11:32 PM

R475. Thanks! Damn, can’t an audience politely listen to an overture without screaming like assholes.

by Anonymousreply 478June 18, 2022 11:35 PM

Wanting.

Needing.

Waiting.

For you to justify my price.

My price.

by Anonymousreply 479June 18, 2022 11:36 PM

Hugh looks like he’s got hair plugs in the front.

by Anonymousreply 480June 18, 2022 11:37 PM

We’ll call her no-EGOT Beanie.

by Anonymousreply 481June 18, 2022 11:41 PM

She don't EGOT it!

by Anonymousreply 482June 18, 2022 11:43 PM

I can't stand the morons who don't understand the expenses and value of Broadway. It's expensive. Deal with it. So are nice dinners, nice cars, nice everything. That's life. It's why we have Target and we have Nordstrom's. And sometimes there are sales at both. But any common sense tells you that there are hundreds of people involved in making a Broadway musical, and if you're going to pay them decently, ticket prices aren't going to be cheap. And that's life kids. Grow up. And when people really want to see something, they will pay more. So good for Music Man for getting $299 a seat.

by Anonymousreply 483June 18, 2022 11:46 PM

Is bilibili a pay site?

by Anonymousreply 484June 18, 2022 11:50 PM

If they announce a replacement now - Lea or anyone else - it’s a potential disaster for the show if people start ordering tickets for the fall and it goes dry this summer.

They really do want to keep it quiet till early August. The Lea leak didn’t do them any favors.

by Anonymousreply 485June 18, 2022 11:54 PM

Every time someone complains about Lea Michele not being able to do "Funny Girl" because she's not FUNNY, I can't help but think, "Well, neither was Beanie!" And yes, I did see Beanie in the part.

by Anonymousreply 486June 18, 2022 11:55 PM

R483 Spoken like a true greedy producer.

by Anonymousreply 487June 18, 2022 11:57 PM

[quote] No, David Alan Grier (with his new silver teeth) will be playing Atticus Finch. With Lori Tan Chinn as Calpurnia.

I heard it was RuPaul playing Atticus Finch with Richard Simmons as Calpurnia.

by Anonymousreply 488June 19, 2022 12:13 AM

Why didn’t Hugh Jackman shave for his number on the Tonys?

by Anonymousreply 489June 19, 2022 12:29 AM

Maybe 406 is the infamous Singapore/Fling?

by Anonymousreply 490June 19, 2022 12:41 AM

I saw A Strange Loop this afternoon and absolutely love it! It’s complex and really makes you think.

Anyone who a black and gay will absolutely identify. I can see white people not totally getting it because it plays with black archetypes and traditions. I understood much of it because of black gay friends.

In the end, it’s a universal story of wanting to be accepted in a world that shuns you.

by Anonymousreply 491June 19, 2022 1:37 AM

[Quote] Back to Strange Loop... Two things have surprised me: There were maybe six people of color in the audience when I saw this lamentable show, which seemed odd.

At its root, Bway is white entertainment. You can’t stick a few black people on a stage and suddenly have tons of black people show up. I do expect as word gets out, blacks will go to A Strange Loop, but without cultivating them as an audience for a generation, it doesn’t just magically happen

by Anonymousreply 492June 19, 2022 1:40 AM

All the naysayers who keep saying A Strange Loop can’t tour—you’re wrong.

It is a very NYC story with tons of NYC references but it’ll play fine in most American cities.

by Anonymousreply 493June 19, 2022 1:41 AM

R493, what about all the extreme vulgarity and sexual content in the show? Kind of amazing that you didn't even mention that and focused completely on the NYC-centric aspects of the story.

by Anonymousreply 494June 19, 2022 1:45 AM

Hi 484 - I’ve never paid for Bilibili - they have Lauren Ambrose MFL and South Pacific with Kelli and Matthew Morrison - lots of shows that unless you have access it is hard to find.

by Anonymousreply 495June 19, 2022 1:49 AM

[r465] thank you so much!!

by Anonymousreply 496June 19, 2022 2:00 AM

R494, I was wary before I walked into A Strange Loop, but the vulgarity and sexual content made complete sense in the context of the show. And it honestly wasn’t that vulgar and sexual—there is a fucking scene, but, again, it was pivotal to the plot and handled very well.

by Anonymousreply 497June 19, 2022 2:09 AM

Right now can only find the audio for FG.

by Anonymousreply 498June 19, 2022 2:33 AM

[Quote] I can't stand the morons who don't understand the expenses and value of Broadway. It's expensive.

In London, the exact same show with just as expert a cast is about 1/3 rd the cost of a Bway ticket (plus NO extra fees when buying on the internet!)

Whenever I go, I see a ton shows there. In fact, you could fly to London and see Hamilton for less than the price of a Bway ticket to Hamilton

by Anonymousreply 499June 19, 2022 2:46 AM

[Quote] Why didn’t Hugh Jackman shave for his number on the Tonys?

He was sick with COVID, even at the Tonys

by Anonymousreply 500June 19, 2022 2:47 AM

[Quote] Then by all means justify $299 non-premium orchestra seats for THE MUSIC MAN, you cunt.

It’s the market. Tourists will pay crazy prices. Bway isn’t for middle class NYers anymore

by Anonymousreply 501June 19, 2022 2:48 AM

hence the tragedy. it's a luxury elite "brand."

bye bye to all the 2020 Covid talk about accessibility.

by Anonymousreply 502June 19, 2022 2:54 AM

When I first arrived in NY in the mid-1970s and I was in my 20s my friends and I would think nothing of walking over to Times Square after work and seeing what was available. Most shows, even the big hits, had available tickets with good seats for under $15. Dinner at a burger joint or pizza so the whole evening was well under $25. We'd see shows like Pippin, Night Music, Grease, Applause, Over Here, Irene, Chicago and Chorus Line multiple times to check out new casts and just because we loved the shows. Like going to the movies. It was all very casual and easy and spontaneous and fun, and it's not just the great difference in expense that's changed.

Going to the theater now is usually a drudge that's rarely rewarded with anything that deeply affects me.

by Anonymousreply 503June 19, 2022 3:08 AM

[quote]You can’t stick a few black people on a stage and suddenly have tons of black people show up. I do expect as word gets out, blacks will go to A Strange Loop, but without cultivating them as an audience for a generation, it doesn’t just magically happen

Good point, black audiences have been ignored for a generation. Except for The Me Nobody Knows, Ain't Supposed To Die A Natural Death, Don't Bother Me, I Can't Cope, Don't Play Us Cheap, An Evening With Josephine Baker, Sizwe Banzi Is Dead, The Wiz, Treemonisha, for colored girls..., Porgy And Bess, Your Arms Too Short To Box With God, Ipi-Tombi, A Broadway Musical, Paul Robeson, Sammy Stops The World, Timbuktu, It's So Nice To Be Civilized, Reggae, Dreamgirls, Lean Horne, The Lady And Her Music, Sophisticated Ladies, Master Harold And The Boys, Amen Corner, Harlem Nocturne, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, Whoopi Goldberg, Grind, Big Deal, Honky Tonk Nights, Uptown...It's Hot!, A Celebration Of Paul Robeson, Joe Turner's Come And Gone, The Gospel At Colonus, Black And Blue, The Piano Lesson, Mule Bone, Two Trains Running, The Song Of Jacob Zulu, Bring In 'Da Noise, It Ain'tNothin' But The Blues, Kat And The Kings, Patti LuPone: Matters Of The Heart, King Hedley II, One Mo' Time, Def Poetry Jam, Topdog/Underdog, A Raisin In The Sun, Caroline, Or Change, The Color Purple, Hot Feet, Radio Golf, Passing Strange, Thurgood, Fela!, Joe Turner's Come And Gone, Memphis, A Free Man Of Color, The Scottsboro Boys, Stick Fly, The Motherfucker With The Hat, Clybourne Park, After Midnight, Bronx Bombers, Holler If Ya Hear Me, Lady Day At Emerson's Bar And Grill, Amazing Grace, Shuffle Along, Jitney, Once On This Island, Six Degrees Of Separation, Summer, The Donna Summer Musical, Choir Boy, Slave Play, Tina: The Tina Turner Musical, A Soldier's Play, Freestyle Love Supreme...

Not an exhaustive list, and no off-Broadway on this list, but you're right, blacks have been ignored on Broadway for a generation.

by Anonymousreply 504June 19, 2022 3:14 AM

Oh, R504 believes he's making a such a salient point by doing a quick Google search. Such impressive dedication to the cause, typing out all those titles!

I challenge him to find the time to type out such an list of the "White" plays and musicals produced on Broadway in the past 60 years. How long would that list be in comparison, I wonder, before his quaking little fingers get tired?

by Anonymousreply 505June 19, 2022 3:26 AM

R497, my question is how the extreme vulgarity in A STRANGE LOOP will go over in middle America. I wasn't arguing whether or not the vulgarity is justified.

by Anonymousreply 506June 19, 2022 3:27 AM

What's "extremely vulgar" in STRANGE LOOP?

by Anonymousreply 507June 19, 2022 3:28 AM

[quote]Oh, [R504] believes he's making a such a salient point by doing a quick Google search. Such impressive dedication to the cause, typing out all those titles! I challenge him to find the time to type out such an list of the "White" plays and musicals produced on Broadway in the past 60 years. How long would that list be in comparison, I wonder, before his quaking little fingers get tired?

That's a stupid way of looking at it, but I'm sure you can't understand why. Save your sarcasm, because you don't know what you're talking about.

by Anonymousreply 508June 19, 2022 3:29 AM

Triggered, R505?

by Anonymousreply 509June 19, 2022 3:30 AM

The “Extreme vulgarity” just consists of the use of the N-word, a song that has “Black cock-sucking guy” in the refrain, and the anal sex scene.

Book of Mormon is way worse

by Anonymousreply 510June 19, 2022 3:36 AM

R504 R508 R509 oooh, does being called out hit a nerve? Please take your klanhoods elsewhere. Byeiiiie!

by Anonymousreply 511June 19, 2022 3:37 AM

R504, I’m guessing that’s about 1% of Bway shows

by Anonymousreply 512June 19, 2022 3:38 AM

[Quote] Not an exhaustive list, and no off-Broadway on this list, but you're right, blacks have been ignored on Broadway for a generation.

Um, no one said that Blacks have been ignored. I said they were never cultivated as an audience.

To cultivate a black audience , you have to constantly expose that audience to that artform. Tickets have to be available at affordable prices. Producers should partner with black churches and organizations that work with black clients to distribute tickets and having showcases. And on and on and on.

Producers don’t feel they have to do any work f that because they know mainly white tourists will come and fill seats. Why bother cultivating NYC audiences?

by Anonymousreply 513June 19, 2022 3:43 AM

It’s like listing all the operas that have characters below the age of 40 and automatically younger audiences will come because of that.

by Anonymousreply 514June 19, 2022 3:45 AM

The point of that list is that there have been a LOT of shows that might have been expected to appeal to black audiences over the decades. Even if it's true that they represent only a small percentage of all shows, one would have thought there were enough to at least start building a black audience, especially since the late 1960s. But that never really happened, for whatever reasons.

by Anonymousreply 515June 19, 2022 3:45 AM

How about having black audiences for the shows that were about blacks ? Bring in Da Noise? Topdog/Underdog? Whatever. You can offer them, but if the demographic doesn't show up, why should any producer cater to that market? It's not the job of a producer to cultivate an audience. Broadway is a business, not a social service agency.

by Anonymousreply 516June 19, 2022 3:56 AM

R516, because some black people do go and, more importantly for producers, lots of white people go to shows with and about blacks

by Anonymousreply 517June 19, 2022 3:57 AM

[Quote] You can offer them, but if the demographic doesn't show up, why should any producer cater to that market? It's not the job of a producer to cultivate an audience. Broadway is a business, not a social service agency.

Nearly every Sondheim show has been a flop yet producers keep producing

by Anonymousreply 518June 19, 2022 3:58 AM

I find it racist to suggest that black people need to be somehow taught what theater is. Black people know what’s on Broadway, and they’re deciding not to go, at least in large numbers. And suggesting it’s white producers job to bring them to Broadway to “teach” them about the wonders of theater is condescending and insulting.

by Anonymousreply 519June 19, 2022 3:59 AM

Fiddler on the Roof and other shows about Jews didn’t attract just Jewish audiences.

by Anonymousreply 520June 19, 2022 3:59 AM

[Quote] I find it racist to suggest that black people need to be somehow taught what theater is. Black people know what’s on Broadway, and they’re deciding not to go, at least in large numbers. And suggesting it’s white producers job to bring them to Broadway to “teach” them about the wonders of theater is condescending and insulting.

Oh please. This discussion is not about theater in general, it’s about specifically the Broadway culture

by Anonymousreply 521June 19, 2022 4:00 AM

[Quote] And suggesting it’s white producers job to bring them to Broadway to “teach” them about the wonders of theater is condescending and insulting.

Where did you get that bullshit?

Cultivating an audience is not about teaching them it’s about making it easier for them

by Anonymousreply 522June 19, 2022 4:01 AM

Damn, did someone here really summon that pile of shit, Singapore/Fling?

by Anonymousreply 523June 19, 2022 4:02 AM

[quote]This discussion is not about theater in general, it’s about specifically the Broadway culture

Who said it wasn't? That's EXACTLY what R519 was discussing. What are you talking about?

by Anonymousreply 524June 19, 2022 4:03 AM

I have this sudden urge to discuss Follies.

by Anonymousreply 525June 19, 2022 4:11 AM

R524, the first line of R519’s post is “I find it racist to suggest that black people need to be somehow taught what theater is. ”

Not about Broadway but about theater in general

by Anonymousreply 526June 19, 2022 4:14 AM

The sad thing is, I'm certain that we've spent more time discussing black people among Broadway's audience than some producers and theater owners have.

by Anonymousreply 527June 19, 2022 4:16 AM

I'm having trouble with the bilibili recording of My Fair Lady. The video keeps stopping. Is it anywhere else on line? Ideas to make it play TIA.

by Anonymousreply 528June 19, 2022 4:17 AM

Black people attend concerts and sporting events en masse, so suggesting they’re not attending theater because of the price of tickets is unconvincing.

I think a lot of black people avoid serious theater because they find it preachy and condescending, and they have a point.

by Anonymousreply 529June 19, 2022 4:21 AM

R529, no one said it was only about price. The fact that people on DL don’t know what it means to cultivate an audience shows how foreign the concept is.

They won’t come just because you build it.

by Anonymousreply 530June 19, 2022 4:28 AM

The problem is that producers want "diverse" audiences to find a show with "diverse" marketing.

A full page ad in the Times and posters on platforms of some commuter station in Poukipsee may work to get an audience for The Music Man, but black and hispanic audiences are not going to respond.

You cannot get something different unless you do something different. Different audiences require different marketing.

by Anonymousreply 531June 19, 2022 4:32 AM

[quote] They won’t come just because you build it.

Why?

by Anonymousreply 532June 19, 2022 4:34 AM

Black people and live theater don’t mix because black people talk back to the characters.

Maggie, gurl, don’t you know that Brick is gay? Gurl, get outta that house!

Kate, did he just call you a shrew? Uh-Uhn girl, he better not come near me cause I’ll slap him into next week!

John Proctor, forgot the adultery commandment? Chile, he in trouble now. Mmm-hmmmm.

by Anonymousreply 533June 19, 2022 4:36 AM

My friend just bought 4 tickets to see the upcoming Into the Woods. He, his husband, how two kids.

It was $800. That’s ridiculous whether you’re black, white, green, red

by Anonymousreply 534June 19, 2022 4:41 AM

I actually don’t see any ethnic minority much at Bway shows. That’s a failure of marketing, but the producers don’t care.

by Anonymousreply 535June 19, 2022 4:42 AM

I was in a production of Arms and the Man in Syracuse in 1984 and there was a special morning performance for one high school class made up primarily of high school students. There was a talkback following the performance. My favorite comment was from one female student-“That Raina, she be SPOILED.” She hit the nail on the head.

by Anonymousreply 536June 19, 2022 4:43 AM

R532, how many shows on the Chit-Lin circuit have you seen?

Why?

by Anonymousreply 537June 19, 2022 4:43 AM

r533 fell off the turnip truck and landed right on his head.

by Anonymousreply 538June 19, 2022 4:44 AM

Not sure black audiences want to see a show about a black gay man who gets buttfucked on stage and who has to deal with how the black church treats him.

by Anonymousreply 539June 19, 2022 4:45 AM

The NY theatre scene was built by and for whites.

The “we need a more diverse audience” is BS virtue signaling. They don’t give a shit that their audiences are mainly white. As long as people are buying tickets, producers don’t care that they’re of one ethnicity.

by Anonymousreply 540June 19, 2022 4:47 AM

How does A Strange Loop trash Tyler Perry?

by Anonymousreply 541June 19, 2022 7:03 AM

[quote]But if he's any sort of real lover of theater and musicals, he best get his ass to STRANGE LOOP instead of dismissing it outright.

Thanks doll. Post your credit card number, expiration date and security code and I'll be sure to buy him a ticket.

by Anonymousreply 542June 19, 2022 7:38 AM

"When Michael R. Jackson became the first Black musical theater writer to win the Pulitzer Prize for drama in May 2020 for “A Strange Loop,” his metatheatrical mediation on race, sexuality and American artistry, that honor reverberated with aftershocks: a jolt of prestige, a cash prize and, more jarringly, a call from Tyler Perry.

As the self-referential story of a Broadway usher — like Jackson, Black and queer — who is working on a self-referential musical of his own when he gets an offer to ghostwrite Perry’s next gospel play, “A Strange Loop” does not look kindly on the Madea mastermind’s work. One example: During the scathing song “Tyler Perry Writes Real Life,” the protagonist refers to Perry’s productions as “simple-minded hack buffoonery.”

“He told me that he was going to beat my ass,” Jackson says of Perry with deadpan amusement. “But he congratulated me on the Pulitzer and the historical significance of that. It was a brief chat, and then he texted me later to show me that he had purchased the cast album and had listened to ‘Tyler Perry Writes Real Life.’

“He did not say what he thought of it or anything of that nature,” Jackson adds, noting that he never had any qualms with Perry the person — just his art. “But we touched base, and every once in a while I’ll text him.”"

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by Anonymousreply 543June 19, 2022 7:40 AM

Why does theater/Broadway have to cultivate 12 % of the population as an audience? To appease people on Twitter? As charity? Why???

by Anonymousreply 544June 19, 2022 7:46 AM

[quote]I find it racist to suggest that black people need to be somehow taught what theater is. Black people know what’s on Broadway, and they’re deciding not to go, at least in large numbers. And suggesting it’s white producers job to bring them to Broadway to “teach” them about the wonders of theater is condescending and insulting.

[quote]Black people attend concerts and sporting events en masse, so suggesting they’re not attending theater because of the price of tickets is unconvincing.

Elitist, White, East Coast Liberals need to realize that African-Americans, for the most part, prefer lowbrow entertainment.

White liberals have been trying to do a Pygmalion-like makeover on them to no avail, like R519 said.

Just let them be.

Those blacks who are interested in Broadway will eventually find their way there.

But it may not be a mass of them.

That doesn't mean that black people are being excluded from Broadway.

Many choose not to be/go there.

by Anonymousreply 545June 19, 2022 8:56 AM

[quote] [R533] fell off the turnip truck and landed right on his head.

I know R533 was making a joke, but I worked with NAT back in the 90s and Tony Randall would have a special morning show during each production that he would make available to kids from (mostly) inner city high schools. No matter how their teachers would tell them how to behave in a theater, when the curtain went up, it was bedlam. Not in a negative way, but not in a way one behaves in a theater. Yelling, ooohing, talking, talking back, everything but sitting and watching silently.

Now the actors said they didn't mind it because they felt they were somehow reaching these kids. And it was fun to see them engaged, no matter what. And there's a possibility that by having these performances, the company maybe reached .07% of the kids who came and awakened in them a love of theater which they were able to keep alive even though the economics were against them. But for the majority of the kids it was a one time interesting experiment that they saw no need to go back to, especially not at those prices.

Bless Tony for trying, but the "theater gene" is not something that can be easily cultivated. And that's not a racial thing (though I think because of economics, it becomes one by default). I knew plenty of white people when I was growing up who wouldn't even think about going to see a play. And even a musical, it would have to be something with a very specific element, but even then it was a hard sell. The only reason that crowd has embraced theater is because of the dumbing down of Broadway. Wicked, The Lion King, Phantom, etc. They have become the NYC extension of Disney World- something you come back and visit over and over because of the feeling it gives you. It's not culture, it's comfort food. These shows may have helped cultivate a love of some kind of theater in them, but they are not going to spend their money on anything complicated.

by Anonymousreply 546June 19, 2022 10:17 AM

A Strange Loop is a pile of poop.

by Anonymousreply 547June 19, 2022 10:25 AM

I'm staying at an Airbnb in NYC right now while I'm working and there are a bunch of framed show posters autographed (likely for BC/EFA) and one of them is Hairspray. Marissa Jaret Winokur's signature on it is big as life and she drew an arrow pointing to the Hairspray model on the poster. Bitch, that ain't you. They hired someone people could stand to look at for 8 years.

by Anonymousreply 548June 19, 2022 10:40 AM

[quote] he Chit-Lin circuit

oh, dear, you've made that vaguely Asian or Lin-Manuel related

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by Anonymousreply 549June 19, 2022 11:20 AM

Black audiences also don't love coming to Broadway because they now they might be the only Blacks in the audience and that whites like (like r504 perhaps) will look at them funny.

by Anonymousreply 550June 19, 2022 11:21 AM

Michelle Obama and her female posse attended the A Strange Loop matinee the day before the Tony Awards.

by Anonymousreply 551June 19, 2022 12:13 PM

I have Black friends and colleagues who are often ambivalent about attending cultural events as white audience members will look at them and make remarks as if they didn't belong there. This is particularly true of my Black friends in the opera world when they attend opera or other classical music performances.

by Anonymousreply 552June 19, 2022 12:42 PM

Lol even this is the fault of white people

by Anonymousreply 553June 19, 2022 12:45 PM

I’m not proud of this but when I went to see the new Downton Abbey movie a few weeks ago and noticed two black women in the audience my first thought was ‘black people watch Downton Abbey?’

by Anonymousreply 554June 19, 2022 12:49 PM

You can always draw a black audience if Denzel is on the marquee.

by Anonymousreply 555June 19, 2022 12:52 PM

I remember seeing BLUE in 2001 at Roundabout's now defunct Gramercy space. It starred Phylicia Rashad and had been extended about a thousand times. There was a massive black middle class audience that was turning out for that play and people were taking note. What struck me was that it was decidedly middle-brow. It wasn’t an important and preachy "message play" that you’d find at Playwrights Horizons or the Public, nor was it some embarrassing Tyler Perry sitcom onstage. It was the black equivalent of a boulevard comedy; nothing earthshaking but wholly entertaining and professional.

Of course the not-for-profits won’t fund playwrights aiming for a congenial two hour family comedy anymore. Everything has to make AN IMPORTANT POLITICAL STATEMENT. The biggest difference between black audiences and white audiences is that black audiences (for financial reasons or otherwise) won’t pay exorbitant prices to sit in a theatre and have unneeded medicine shoved down their throats.

by Anonymousreply 556June 19, 2022 12:53 PM

R504, yes there were shows with black actors and black playwrights, but who was the target audience.

I cannot believe it was about 25 years ago, when an article looked at how two "black" musicals were sold. Play On with a Duke Ellington score bombed and Bring in Da Noise not only had a long run, but drew black audiences.

They pointed out how Play On sold itself to white audiences and Noise sold itself to black audiences. The article was almost like a checklist of how Broadway marketing works and even now you can see the exact same forces at work. And you see shows rise and fall for the same reasons.

One of the key points is that marketers do best using the existing institutions in a community to market their shows. Broadway tends to ignore black institutions favoring those that are more effective with white audiences.

Also, Donna Walker-Kuhne's book Invitation to the Party is all about minority audience development The marketing office where I work took that book as a Bible and over the last 10 years significantly increased not just minority audience but audience overall. A lot of what she says is common sense, but who follows common sense unless an expert tells them to?

by Anonymousreply 557June 19, 2022 1:19 PM

[Quote] How does A Strange Loop trash Tyler Perry?

Hilariously, actually

by Anonymousreply 558June 19, 2022 1:28 PM

[Quote] Elitist, White, East Coast Liberals need to realize that African-Americans, for the most part, prefer lowbrow entertainment.

Unlike such “high brow” enterainment as Mrs Doubtfire the Musical, Tootsie the Musical, Beetlejuice the Musical, MJ the Musical, and dreck after dreck after dreck?

by Anonymousreply 559June 19, 2022 1:30 PM

[Quote] Lol even this is the fault of white people

No r553, but it’s just like you feeling uncomfortable in an audience of intelligent people. Understand now?

by Anonymousreply 560June 19, 2022 1:30 PM

Sadly, the producers not only have no interest in cultivating minority audiences, they no longer cultivate NYC-based audiences.

The only NYers I know who go to Bway regularly now are some gay men. No one else I know, white or black, even goes at all.

by Anonymousreply 561June 19, 2022 1:34 PM

Well this thread has gone off the rails........

by Anonymousreply 562June 19, 2022 2:03 PM

[R504] Patti LuPone: Matters of the Heart?

by Anonymousreply 563June 19, 2022 2:07 PM

Yes r562 but not as bad as the supposed To my Awards thread.

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by Anonymousreply 564June 19, 2022 2:11 PM

Tony not to my

by Anonymousreply 565June 19, 2022 2:11 PM

Why don't gay men attend NBA basketball games?

Is the reason comparable to why Black people don't attend Broadway shows?

by Anonymousreply 566June 19, 2022 2:31 PM

If anyone runs into a Benko Boot or Hugh and Sutton I’d love to hear …

by Anonymousreply 567June 19, 2022 3:03 PM

Theatre is irrelevant to most people, whatever their color, and has been since the invention of movies over a hundred years ago.

The pandemic revealed to me that virtually all of my friends who used to regularly attend theatre only really saw it as a social event. If they couldn't go with friends and have a nice dinner and chat beforehand, the play by itself was no longer desirable.

Most of the tourists who are paying big bucks for Broadway shows probably go to one musical a year at home and haven't seen a straight play since their senior year schoolteacher made them go to a dodgy Shakespeare.

They are seeing a Broadway show in the same spirit that they go to the top of the Empire State or visit the World Trade Centre memorial, and they'll enjoy it in the same indiscriminate way, because they have nothing to compare it with. It's not relevant to them as theatre, it's a tourist item you're supposed to tick off and skite about when you get home. They've already paid thousands to get there and stay there, so the ridiculous prices don't seem so bad by comparison. (BTW, the ridiculous prices I encountered on my last visit to New York were a lot more ridiculous than those being quoted here, and that was booking well in advance and through the theatres' own websites.)

by Anonymousreply 568June 19, 2022 3:16 PM

[quote]since their senior year schoolteacher made them go to a dodgy Shakespeare

Now here's a good point. You want to cultivate new theatre audiences, stop sending them to awful theatre when they're at school

by Anonymousreply 569June 19, 2022 3:41 PM

r539 how long will it be before the white audience is tired of navel gazing before they become interested in seeing portrayals of how life is for everyone else? Or are white people so self absorbed and incurious they will forever be stuck gazing at their own reflections?

by Anonymousreply 570June 19, 2022 3:56 PM

Also r539 white audiences didn't seem to have a problem watching Angels In America or other gay themed theater pieces, but then, the objects were all white.

by Anonymousreply 571June 19, 2022 3:58 PM

r554 I suppose you would also be shocked to learn that Korean soap operas also have a large Black female audience.

You white people really need to get rid of the brainwashing you've been fed for 400 years and understand that there is plenty of Black life that does not include ghetto or ratchet.

by Anonymousreply 572June 19, 2022 4:03 PM

r568 I am going to go out on a limb and say that I think that might change. I was an early fan of the show Killing Eve and learned about the actress Jodie Comer. She just finished a two month run on the West End of a one woman show, she sold out months before opening night. Many young women love her and went to see Jodie in that play, now the play is coming to Broadway. If it catches the same fire Jodie Comer just might get young audiences interested in theater. You have to admit, there is nothing more thrilling than live theater and these days there is not much other entertainment out in there that really gets anyone very excited.

by Anonymousreply 573June 19, 2022 4:11 PM

You tiresome queens are SO woke. When it suits you.

by Anonymousreply 574June 19, 2022 4:20 PM

And YOU tiresome queens are SUCH preservationalists when it suits you.

by Anonymousreply 575June 19, 2022 4:26 PM

You shouldn’t be proud of that R554.

I’d be scared to see what some of the right wing message boards look like if this is the kind of thread you get among theater fans on an LGBT message board.

by Anonymousreply 576June 19, 2022 4:26 PM

Where theatre and the super hero universe meet.

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by Anonymousreply 577June 19, 2022 4:42 PM

Happy Juneteenth to those who recognize the significance of the day!

And for all the racists lurking on this thread, here's an opportunity to educate yourselves!

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by Anonymousreply 578June 19, 2022 4:48 PM

r573, Comer's supposed to be amazing in it and is seemingly already the frontrunner for the Tony (premature as that is--but at least they scheduled it to maximize the possibility). Did anyone here see it? I'd wonder if the dark subject matter might hurt its box office potential, but as we covered early in the thread, star power is what matters and most Broadway audiences today aren't paying attention to much else.

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by Anonymousreply 579June 19, 2022 4:49 PM

I didn't realize Gidget Goes Hawaiian was so dance-y.

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by Anonymousreply 580June 19, 2022 6:55 PM

Comer will lose the Tony to Viola Davis, who will be starring in a revival of Robert Bolt’s play Vivat! Vivat! Regina! (about Elizabeth I and Mary Queen of Scots).

by Anonymousreply 581June 19, 2022 7:02 PM

r573 That's a very optimistic view. Did Fleabag lead to any sustained increase in theatre-goers? Cumberbatch in Hamlet/Frankenstein both saw sell outs with his fangirls, likewise Tennant with the RSC, but I doubt any of them stuck around either.

by Anonymousreply 582June 19, 2022 7:45 PM

Why did Alfie Allen get a portrait at Sardis? Is it like a Hollywood star, you just need to pay enough?

by Anonymousreply 583June 19, 2022 7:52 PM

Stephen Sondheim introduces COMPANY (1972, London)

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by Anonymousreply 584June 19, 2022 7:52 PM

Here's something I was trying to explain to a friend with only casual interest in theatre: there's an entire species of actor, well thought of within the industry, who always does the reading or the lab, and people look forward to seeing them there. But then when the actual show comes around they don't get the role, even though it has nothing to do with talent and they were great in the reading. They might replace.

There are actors who, one knows, if they're in the cast as a principal, they weren't the first choice. The producers and creatives couldn't get or couldn't afford who they wanted.

DL theatre fans, who epitomizes on this list?

by Anonymousreply 585June 19, 2022 7:53 PM

R582, if the increase was not sustained, that is on the producers.

You cannot take the young audience you built with one show and expect to keep them if you produce Driving Miss Daisy.

If you want an audience, you may begin with something big but it has to be sustained.

One artistic director was asked how they managed to get younger audiences than other regional houses. She said, that what they did was make sure there was at least one character under the age of 30 in everything they produced.

For them, it was that simple.

by Anonymousreply 586June 19, 2022 7:56 PM

r582 The difference is that Phoebe Waller Bridge doesn't have a large number of fans following her wherever she goes like Comer does. Jodie's fans are younger than Cumberbatch's and PWB, they follow wherever she goes. This goes for young women, and oddly, middle aged men that make up her most enthusiastic fans.

by Anonymousreply 587June 19, 2022 8:02 PM

Thanks r584!

by Anonymousreply 588June 19, 2022 8:02 PM

[quote]I'd wonder if the dark subject matter might hurt its box office potential

It might here in America where we love to ignore all the horrible things until the tabloid news cycle decides it needs to profit from them.

by Anonymousreply 589June 19, 2022 8:05 PM

Coke, anyone?

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by Anonymousreply 590June 19, 2022 8:07 PM

New thread:

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by Anonymousreply 591June 19, 2022 8:30 PM

Black people and live theater don’t mix because black people show up 20 - 40 mins. late for EVERYTHING.

by Anonymousreply 592June 19, 2022 8:31 PM

If it hasn't been mentioned yet, and to go with the title of this thread, Doyle announced yesterday he'll be out of Company on Tuesday and his understudy will be on. Presumably he's going to see Max in his last Music Man performance before Jackman returns.

by Anonymousreply 593June 19, 2022 8:34 PM

FIRST MIDNIGHT!

by Anonymousreply 594June 19, 2022 8:34 PM

DO BLACK PATENT LEATHER SHOES REALLY REFLECT UP?!

by Anonymousreply 595June 19, 2022 8:36 PM

THE HUMAN COMEDY!

by Anonymousreply 596June 19, 2022 8:36 PM

QUILTERS!

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by Anonymousreply 597June 19, 2022 8:38 PM

CHARLIE AND ALGERNON!

by Anonymousreply 598June 19, 2022 8:39 PM

SECOND MIDNIGHT!

by Anonymousreply 599June 19, 2022 8:40 PM

THE FAGGOT!

by Anonymousreply 600June 19, 2022 8:49 PM

Last midnight

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by Anonymousreply 601June 19, 2022 8:52 PM

BAJOUR!!

by Anonymousreply 602June 19, 2022 8:52 PM

It isn't BAJOUR until Chita and Nancy say so...

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by Anonymousreply 603June 19, 2022 8:58 PM
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