THEATRE GOSSIP #477: No More Stars, No More Masks Edition

Yeah, it sucks, but I tried. Previous thread:

There, there, OP.

Keep at it!

You'll stumble upon an amusing title someday, probably when you least expect it.

Actors’ Equity Not Consulted By Broadway League In Setting Mask-Optional Policy:

r2, I kept waiting for someone else to start it since you thought the last one was too early. And here we are.

Why would they consult with Equity, or an other union, for that matter. No other theater in the country did when their audiences went maskless. The union, its members may be surprised to learn, have no jurisdiction over the audience.

Hasn't the tour cast been debated?

[quote]The first national tour started in St. Louis August 29, 1977 with Ann Reinking, Elaine Cancilla and Jerry Orbach. Penny Worth and Carolyn Kirsch took over from Sep 12, 1977 and were replaced by Gwen and Chita Apr 04, 1978 when Chicago was in Chicago (Mary McCarty also rejoined) the papers reviewed the show twice as a result of most of the original broadway cast returning mid way through their Chicago run. The first tour ended Aug 05, 1978. The next tour started Jan 23, 1979 and starred Don Murray (from Bus Stop) Kirsten Childs and Susan Streater. Don got terrible reviews but illness took him out for an extended period of time and the tour (which had traded off his name) was cancelled when he left Feb 18, 1979. Six months later July 05, 1979 Kirsten Childs, Melody (or Melanie in some articles) Adams and Bill McCauley continued the tour. This video is most likely from that leg of the tour. Kirsten left around April 1980.

I saw Fontana in Paint Your Wagon where he sang better than Clint Eastwood.

I actually liked him quite a lot and more than Tony Bavaar on the obc. But he made no impression in ACW. But then it was dreadful.

Why would Frank Mills be so poorly done in the film of Hair that it was cut? It's one of the best songs in the score.

[quote]...where he sang better than Clint Eastwood

Imagine that.

What is ACW?

“A Cohwus Wine”

I don’t think we’ve sufficiently covered Beanie’s engagement. Should we start imagining the impending nuptial ceremony?

Where did Santino do Paint Your Wagon? Not at Encores. That's a truly fab CD, btw, with gorgeous vocals by Justin Guarini believe it or not.

I have a sneaking suspicion none of her Funny Girl cast mates will be attending her wedding. Just a hunch.

I think TV/film stars who haven't done Broadway may be reluctant now that the Tonys humiliated Hugh, SJP and Deb Messing.

Santino had that same "nose-thinning" nose job that Stephen Pasquale did. They both looked hotter with their original bulbous noses.

I’m reading an interesting book about Broadway‘s longest running plays. In the chapter about Life With Father, it says that Rodgers and Hammerstein considered musicalizing it in 1956. And then Jerry Herman thought he might do it with Robert Preston and Mary Martin in 1975. Neither version, of course, ever happened.

What would happen if Bobby Conte Thornton and Andrew Keenan-Bolger were in the same room together?

SONS OF THE PROPHET was one of the best thing I saw onstage in that time period, but not because of Santino. Joanna Gleason and Chris Perfetti were the highlights.

Was anyone asking for a Transparent musical? I didn't even know the show was that fondly remembered.

In what world have the Tonys humiliated Jackman. He has two Tonys, one competitive, one special! Chita had to wait more than twenty years to get her first. Ethel only got one. Our Mary list to Barbara Harris , Vhita to Kelli O’Hara, and Angela to Katie Ginneran,

BCT and AKB would find the hottest girls available and murder their vaginas, those two are packin’ and noted pussy hounds. No chick is safe around those brutes!

Cheryl Barnes was Michael Bennett's first choice for Effie in Dreamgirls and she did a later tour. She also won Star Search and never seemed to have much of a drive for stardom.

Bares

Why was Cheryl Barnes on Star Search? I thought it was for complete unknowns.

'Where did Santino do Paint Your Wagon? Not at Encores. That's a truly fab CD, btw, with gorgeous vocals by Justin Guarini believe it or not.'

Oh shit. Sorry. It was Justin Guarini. Yes he was wonderful in PYW. So I guess I saw Fontana in ACW. But nobody should be judged on how that turned out except Ted Sperling.

R25, just like the current talent shows, the contestants are early career professionals.

I guess because Barnes had done little other than Hair, she fit the bill. She was unknown in the sense that few if anyone in the audience would have heard her name before.

Ah, okay. I never really watched Star Search, so I thought they were looking for only amateurs looking for their first break.

Boy, I would have loved to see her play Effie. As much as I love Jennifer Holliday and have never seen anyone come close to playing Effie correctly (especially that block of melisma wood JHud), Barnes could have knocked it out of the park and acted it better than Holliday.

Reality shows usually down play the professional status of contestants. The professional singer with the day job as a house painter will go on the show and say they are a house painter.

Our Mary won for Sound of Music.

Has anyone told us what ACW is yet?

Anyone Can Whistle.

I too am curious to know what ACW is in reference to Santino Fontana. And, more generally, I wish people could understand how annoying it is to use acronyms for titles, especially when the title is not an obvious one.

Okay, now that we've established that ACW is ANYONE CAN WHISTLE -- up yours, R7, for doing that. Or I could say ES rather than take the time to type out "eat shit."

[quote]Why would they consult with Equity, or an other union, for that matter. No other theater in the country did when their audiences went maskless. The union, its members may be surprised to learn, have no jurisdiction over the audience.

This has got to be one of the most lame-brained, utterly ignorant posts ever on DL. And THAT is saying something.

My favorite moment of Santino Fontana was the way Sally Field pronounced his name during his first Tony nomination when she presented.

R36, I don't remember, what did she say? And what's difficult to pronounce about "Santino Fontana?" It's pronounced exactly how it's spelled.

Were the missing numbers from the movie version of Hair actually filmed (Frank Mills, My Opinion, Abie Baby, Air etc). I had the double LP original soundtrack when the film came out and they're all there. I'd love to see them restored if they actually exist. I quite like the movie.

For r37. (Sounds more like Santana Fontah-na to me than r36's interpretation. Also sounds like she says Billy Porter was in Kicky Boots.)

Already answered, but since I pulled the link to the photos and wasn't able to post at the time, here's Fontana (and Vanessa Williams, Elizabeth Stanley, and co.) in the Anyone Can Whistle concert.

Yes! Santino became Santana!

I can't believe how much thinner Matthew Broderick was in 2013!

In reply to the former thread...

A musical can have not. one. word. of spoken dialogue...and still be considered to have a "book." For "those" who didn't know.

And a musical can have not. one. note. of spoken dialogue or any. singing....and still be considered a musical.

And these are the days of our lives.

Rupert Holmes did a song about soap operas. I wonder how he would have done doing a full musical version.

Why did all the witches after Bernadette peters have Bernadette peters hair?

The wigs are part of the original design concept, r47.

PYW

Why didn't tell me about the glory that is Romeo and Bernadette? The actor playing Romeo is adorable.

WHET Kenley Players favorite Arlene Fontana? Is Santino related to her?

R21, it is shocking to think Ethel has only one (competitive) Tony, but keep in mind all of her shows of the 30s and 40s pre-dated the Tonys. She would have likely won for Anything Goes, Annie Get Your Gun and probably some of her others. But no Tony for Gypsy? Come on.

Anybody on a gay theater site who cannot figure out ACW should indeed be mortified by their staggering ignorance.

Ted Sperlng will be doing Iolanthe next year for you G and S fans(that's Gilbert and Sullivan for Miss Stupid.)

[quote]But no Tony for Gypsy? Come on.

You can't buck a nun.

[quote]Anybody on a gay theater site who cannot figure out ACW should indeed be mortified by their staggering ignorance.

You're delusional. There is nothing intuitive about immediately recognizing what ACW stands for, on a gay theater site or anywhere else.

Interesting.

Reddit is guessing it's Amber Ardolino (never heard of her).

Mandy Patinkin & Kathryn Grody To Star In ‘Seasoned’ Showtime Comedy Pilot:

R56, it has to be Patti LuPone.

[quote] Anybody on a gay theater site who cannot figure out ACW should indeed be mortified by their staggering ignorance.

When a show is as big a flop as " ACW," one tends to ignore it and tries to forget that it even existed.

So SF in ACW would be BOP.

[quote]Anybody on a gay theater site who cannot figure out ACW should indeed be mortified by their staggering ignorance.

Oh, please. As if ANYONE CAN WHISTLE is that well known a show and comes up in conversation so often that everyone should know what ACW refers to. Not to mention the fact that Santino Fontana was in a ONE-NIGHT concert presentation of the show, so not many people associate him with it.

R 62, It is a memorable show. Memorable for its long Broadway run.

After multiple revisions, the show opened on Broadway on April 4, 1964, at the Majestic Theatre, where it closed after 9 performances and 12 previews, unable to overcome negative notices from major papers such as the New York Times and the New York Herald Tribune.

Who cares about some second string Broadway chorine? No one cares if she has TikTok followers. If you’re going to post something like that on Twitter, name names you stupid pussy.

R21, Hugh was definitely humiliated at this year's Tonys. His lackluster musical number was widely criticized, an extremely unflattering closeup shot of his face had everyone commenting and he did not win the Tony that he was predicted and expected to win.

And then he announced he'd tested positive for COVID, with his understudy receiving rave reviews.

Jackman may not be the best example since he just had it, but that brings us back to him being the only real star on Broadway.

The text: Last month, in a much-celebrated moment of public disciplining during a talk back with the cast of “Company,” a woman in the audience who was told to please put her mask back on refused and then, mocking the directive, waved it in the air and placed it over her eyes. Up onstage, Patti LuPone was not having it and told her to get out. As if incubated in a lab manufacturing legend-resistant organisms — and unlike almost anyone else on the west side of Manhattan — this was a person immune to the ire of Patti LuPone. Yelling back defiantly, she proclaimed, “I pay your salary.” A member of the theater’s Covid safety staff proceeded to escort her out of the building.

In the actress’s view, the woman should have been ejected as soon as it was clear that she was not going to wear a mask. “It shouldn’t have been up to me,” Ms. LuPone said. I called her earlier this week to gauge her feelings on the theater world’s changing Covid protocols. On Tuesday, the Broadway League, a trade association, announced that owners and operators of all Broadway’s 41 theaters would put a mask-optional policy into effect beginning on July 1, just as the 2022-23 season was kicking off.

In a written statement, the League’s president, Charlotte St. Martin, did not even pretend to ground the decision in statistics. “Millions of people enjoyed the unique magic of Broadway by watching the 75th Tony Award Ceremony recently,” she began, overlooking the fact that “watching” typically takes place at home.

“Are they afraid that they’re losing audiences?” Ms. LuPone wondered, pointing out that masks were still required of casts and crew backstage. “I don’t know.” Unions, nearly a dozen of which are involved in governing the theater industry, have pushed for strict safety rules since the beginning of the pandemic.

After rising steadily for a decade, Broadway earnings have taken an obvious beating over the past two years. Grosses for the week ending June 19 fell to $29 million from a prepandemic peak late in 2019 of nearly twice that. Covid outbreaks among performers have stymied productions, further complicating things. A few weeks ago, Hugh Jackman, currently starring in “The Music Man’,’ tested positive for Covid for a second time, leaving the role of professor Harold Hill to Max Clayton.

Even though case rates have fallen recently after a late spring surge, the seven-day average in New York City is still more than 10 times what it was last June. Regardless, Broadway theaters — old, windowless and often poorly ventilated — present particular vulnerabilities to those working in them, especially actors who are communicating intimately with one another onstage, unmasked.

Sam Rockwell, who is starring in “American Buffalo” at Circle in the Square, is one of several actors I spoke with who is unnerved by the change in policy. “We’re doing theater in the round,” he told me. “The other day I had a guy cough four feet in front of me.” He and the rest of the cast and crew test constantly. “We test in order to have the privilege to take the mask off. We earn the privilege to take the mask off and spit saliva on the stage,” he said. “I don’t know if it occurs to the audience that they’re protecting the actors onstage. If someone is mad because they have to wear a mask, they have to know that we are testing everyday.”

(continued) It is hard to see who benefits from removal, given that people who go to the theater tend to skew older and have traveled to New York from somewhere else. Moreover, anyone who has held back from seeing shows out of a fear of Covid is unlikely to spend hundreds of dollars to do so now that strictures have loosened. “Just looking at it pragmatically, this is not serving the audience,” Mr. Rockwell said. “It’s about, Do you want to see Hugh Jackman in the show? Do you want to go see that show without Patti? Because let me tell you, if she gets Covid, she’s not in the show for 10 days.”

Last week, six out of the 11 cast members of the acclaimed Tracy Letts play, “The Minutes,” were out sick. One of them, Blair Brown, now in her 70s, has been especially cautious over the past two years, staying away from restaurants and public transportation. She did not understand how the League would periodically reassess the need for masks — which it has committed to doing — considering that there is no system for tracking transmission in theaters.

While it might be hard for the public to feel sympathetic toward actors, who seem in every way swimming in privilege, most who appear on the New York stage do not make up the ranks of the wealthy and well known. At the same time, according to the League’s own demographic study three years ago, the average annual household income of the Broadway theatergoer is $261,000. If you don’t want to wear a mask for Hugh Jackman, you might want to do it for the actor in the chorus who is making a lot less than that — the one with two lines, who is headed to bed early to teach a barre class at Equinox the next morning.

I don't think Jackman was predicted or expected to win Best Actor, given the generally muted reaction to The Music Man. Over at Goldderby, no one had him in first position. In fact they all predicted Jaquel Spivey. (And they should have revised those predictions once Spivey missed so many performances during the voting period).

Yeah, I don't even think Hugh thought he was the front runner.

The point isn't whether or not Hugh was predicted to win the Tony.

The point is that film and TV stars (and their management) may now think twice about committing to doing a Broadway show when there seems to be less rapturous adulation in reviews (I'm talking to you Ben Brantley!) and Tony awards coming their way just for appearing on Broadway (hello, Scarlett Johanssen!).

The point is we were responding to the direct comment at R65 that says Hugh was humiliated because he was expected and predicted to win. He was neither.

Jaquel Spivey is quite skeevy. But not as much as blowsy affirmative action mediocrity Michael R Jackson.

Broadway is only for a very small niche of Hollywood actors who crave verification of actual talent, otherwise it really doesn’t matter to or exist for 99.9% of them.

[quote]If you don’t want to wear a mask for Hugh Jackman, you might want to do it for the actor in the chorus who is making a lot less than that

The absurdity of this is stunning. Do people really think an audience member with Covid is more of a risk to Hugh Jackman than performing next to chorus boys who go unmasked to bars every night? He's performing in the fucking Winter Garden, for God's sake.

[quote]Do people really think an audience member with Covid is more of a risk to Hugh Jackman than performing next to chorus boys who get tested every day

Fixed that for you. And the answer is yes.

R72, From GOLD DERBY

"While we all think the “remarkable” Jaquel Spivey has the edge in Best Actor, his scheduled absences from the show during these final weeks of voting have us wondering if Myles Frost (“MJ the Musical”) or past winner Hugh Jackman (“The Music Man”) might surprise."

R72, From Deadline

"BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE/MUSICAL Another category ripe with the possibility of upset. Billy Crystal, star of Mr. Saturday Night, could well be the sentimental favorite – and he’s consistently terrific in a show that’s inconsistently terrific – and Hugh Jackman is the type of bona fide superstar that has audiences lining up down the block for The Music Man and screaming approval with his every tap."

R72, From Vulture

"Hugh Jackman feels inevitable for The Music Man even though he’s miscast — his voice isn’t in the right range, but he’s just such a movie star. Sutton Foster won the Drama League performance prize, which made me think that Oh no, maybe Sutton Foster will also win."

[quote] And then he announced he'd tested positive for COVID, with his understudy receiving rave reviews.

Where?

Hugh would never win with Broadway now being so woke.

r83

why not?

R79, R80, R81, I am not R72, but, of course, you can find backup for any prediction for any award that you want to find on the Internet. It doesn’t change the fact that this was always a Myles vs. Jaquel award. No one was legitimately expecting Hugh to win for a performance for which he wasn’t even getting the most raves in his own cast.

There’s no need to keep bombarding us with your “proof.”

R85, Why don't you take your condescending attitude and shove it up your shit crusted ass?

[quote]Hasn't the tour cast been debated?

Yes, but the truth is quirky. The show closed in NY 8/27/77. Two days later, the closing Broadway cast (including Reinking & Orbach) opened the show for a week’s run at the MUNY. (Just like Follies did a few years earlier). This was NOT the national tour, it was a one-off by the Broadway production.

The actual tour opened two weeks later in Boston, with Orbach, Penny Worth, Kirsch and the new tour cast.

[quote]The actual tour opened two weeks later in Boston, with Orbach, Penny Worth, Kirsch and the new tour cast

Including a certain Miss Susan Stroman if I recall correctly.

[quote]Hugh Jackman feels inevitable for The Music Man even though he’s miscast — his voice isn’t in the right range

Amazing that a professional theater journalist thinks Hugh Jackman's singing in THE MUSIC MAN is bad because "his voice isn't in the right range." Ummm, no, that is NOT the reason....

At least one review actually dared to criticize Hugh's voice. I mean, this is years after him singing in "Les Miz", which is a really hard sing normally for a good singer with a good technique.

That is to say, it's about time someone called him out on it -- in print.

R90 / R91, I seem to remember that several reviewers called out Hugh for how poorly he sang in "Les Miz," and several others for how poorly he's singing in THE MUSIC MAN.

Now this is something to look forward to

[quote] Pose star Billy Porter has signed a first-look deal with FX Productions. Under the agreement, he will develop content for FX through his new production company Incognegro with producing partner D.J. Gugenheim.

[quote]Showtime has given a green light to Seasoned, a half-hour comedy pilot starring real-life husband and wife Mandy Patinkin (Homeland) and Kathryn Grody (The Lemon Sisters).

This certainly sounds like a barrel of laffs.

Speaking of Billy Porter, the awful Moises Kaufman is trying to revive his Oscar Wilde play, this time on Broadway, with Billy playing Oscar......believe it or not.

Now there's some genuine gossip for you.

R86: Never, ever speak to anyone like that again here or anywhere for that matter. No one comes here to read your bitter hate. Our world sucks enough.

R95 now that is really gross indecency.

Moises Kaufman can hardly be called a director.

[quote] Moises Kaufman can hardly be called a director.

Did you see what he did “Bent”?

r96 is my favorite poster on the site today.

(Seriously, r86, r85's comment wasn't that harsh or condescending, especially by DL's standards.)

Thank goodness the Mandy sitcom is scripted. If it were a reality show it would be up there with Liza and David.

And he sang it exceedingly poorly R90.

I'm not buying Mandy's late-in-life efforts to reinvent himself as some adorable idiosyncratic old elf on social media or anywhere else.

He's spent his career being an insanely neurotic prima donna and a thorn in the side of many castmates, directors, and writers.

He hasn't earned the good will to turn all Goofy Grandpa.

T95. Wrong on so many levels—not because he’s Black (the play is presentational enough that historical resemblance doesn’t matter), but because Wilde was witty, smart, and compassionate. Michael Emerson was brilliant in it decades ago.

Is Gideon Patinkin a gay?

[quote]Speaking of Billy Porter, the awful Moises Kaufman is trying to revive his Oscar Wilde play,

You didn't go far enough, R95. Let's say the awful, pretentious, talent-free star fucker Moises Kaufman. How this asshole continues to get hired is beyond me. His ONLY hit was the original GROSS INDECENCY, which was Off-Broadway, and also, it was created by a theater collective as a group effort. His Broadway track record in quite pitiful, including a terrible, flop production of THE HEIRESS, a play that's very difficult to fuck up.

P.S. Moises is indeed a star-fucker supreme, which is why he wants Billy Porter for the Oscar Wilde play -- not because he or anyone else thinks Billy will be any good in it.

Billy is SO WRONG for Oscar Wilde.

Broadway’s ‘American Buffalo’ Will Require Audience Masking Until July 10 Closing:

And don't forget Kaufman also totally fucked up the Torch Song revival with Michael Urie.

Burn him down

It’s a shame Mandy never got to play Tevye at some point. He must have been considered for the recent revivals.

His Tevye would be insufferable.

Tevye is another character they cast too old (like Dolly and Rose). In “Do You Love Me” his wife sings they’ve been married for 25 years. Conceivably, he can be as young as 43, but no older than 50. His parents would have demanded he be married by 25, but more likely he would be married by 18.

There was a time at the Tony awards that he even had the beard. I’m sure it’s one of the “roles that got away”

[quote]Speaking of Billy Porter, the awful Moises Kaufman is trying to revive his Oscar Wilde play,

No one has forgotten that. As I said, Kaufman's Broadway track record is pretty pathetic with the single exception of I AM MY OWN WIFE, and I can only imagine he contributed very little to that one.

[quote]He's spent his career being an insanely neurotic prima donna and a thorn in the side of many castmates, directors, and writers.

Not just his co-workers but even his family

[quote]For one thing, there is Patinkin’s self-proclaimed moodiness. Once, he related, he was so unpleasant in the car en route to visit a relative that Gideon, then a teenager, said, ‘Dad, if you can’t get it together, don’t come in.” (He didn’t come in.) Another time, he felt so trapped and sulky before Thanksgiving — a difficult time of the year for him — that he decided to fly to New Orleans to spare his family, only to change his mind and demand, successfully, to exit the plane before it took off.

But maybe it's their own fault for being enablers:

[quote]“Everyone in the family knows I’m a (synonym for jerk),” Patinkin said. “But they know me and they love me and they forgive me, and that’s why I feel safe. The word ‘safe’ is such an operative word at this moment.”

It's really odd to me that he admitted all this himself, as it proves he's an utter asshole, and he's aware he's an asshole. It's not like it's unintentional, it's not like he's trying and failing to change, and it's not like he just goes method and gets deep into character. He's just an unrelenting cunt.

Wasn't Mandy's name mentioned when there was talk of a TV production of FIDDLER? Perish the thought!

How did he and Patti LuPone ever get along? Did they bond over being mean girls?

Mandy’s naked ass was the best think in Yentl.

Could a Mandy and Patti show be insured? What would the underwriting be?

[quote]How did he and Patti LuPone ever get along? Did they bond over being mean girls?

Sometimes, two extremely volatile people can get along if each of them is volatile in a way that doesn't push the other one's buttons.

[quote]It's really odd to me that he admitted all this himself, as it proves he's an utter asshole, and he's aware he's an asshole. It's not like it's unintentional, it's not like he's trying and failing to change, and it's not like he just goes method and gets deep into character. He's just an unrelenting cunt.

I'm not sure how much it really matters to make the distinction, but it might be more accurate to say that he's certifiably mentally ill. Certainly, some of his behavior seems more in line with that than with simply being an asshole.

He's not as terrible as he once was.

I saw Barbara Cook and Mandy Patinkin in concert at Symphony Hall in Boston in 1989.

Walking by the stage door afterwards, they both emerged together. A group of people swarmed around Barbara, while Mandy just stood there alone and ignored.

That should be the title of his memoirs.

Mandy, Alone And Ignored.

r122 But it's widely claimed he's mellowed as he's gotten older. What mental illness gets better with age?

[quote]What mental illness gets better with age?

The ones that finally get proper treatment.

R127 Nope

[quote]But he has been open through the years about his depression, his attempts at therapy and his bad experiences treating his symptoms with medication, which he no longer takes.

Besides, if it was mental illness rather than just being an asshole, he'd have said so for sympathy.

I do like the humblebrag he slips in while he admits he acted like a prick:

[quote]I behaved abominably. I don’t care if my work was good or if I got an award for it. I’m not proud of how I was then, and it pained me.

Mandy's still pissed that Babs wouldn't let him sing in "Yentl".

Mandy should be pissed that he screwed around and was replaced on Heartburn. He could have had a better career.

Mandy's career wouldn't be any different had he stayed in Heartburn. It was a massive flop that is all but forgotten today and did nothing for anyone at the time. Mandy had leads in other films that were hits and flops around the same time, and they did nothing for his career. He was not a film star.

"Heartburn" probably got him cut off from working with people who Meryl and Mike Nichols worked with, which were a massive web, since they did so many films.

R130-Hoever difficult Mandy may be, Mike Nichols had a thing for torturing actors he didn't like. He got off on it. For instance, firing George Grizzard the night before his Primary Colors shoot and replacing him with Larry Hagman. Mike could be an evil bitch.

How did Mandy get fired from Heartburn?

R134 By singing telegram, Rose!

Apparently during one of the first (if not the first) table read, there was a direction for Mandy's character to start singing some of the Soliloquoy from "Carousel"; he started singing and wouldn't stop, singing the whole thing, while Meryl signaled to Mike Nichols to axe him.

Mandy was also giving Meryl and other actors line readings.

Meryl just hated him.

His craziness actually might have made him better for the Kevin Kline role, who was not good in it, in "Sophie's Choice", but he probably would have given her line readings a few years earlier, too.

Mandy needed a G not an M to ignite his flaming passion on screen.

Ha!

Thanks for reminding us of the mere existence of MAXIE! Speaking of massive flops all but forgotten.

Still, I'm weirdly fascinated. I have never been able to locate a copy of this movie anywhere!

I saw Maxie in the movies. I was a kid and I knew it was a piece of shit.

Maxie is available from Amazon, but the dvd costs $43.50.

Mandy's bare back in Yentl was a thing of great beauty.

Thanks, R142.

I'll wait until it's streaming on Tubi or Crackle, where it probably belongs.

Don't forget that Mandy was quite do-able there, for about 10 minutes.

At least we both thought so.

Maxie is actually a charming little film.

I had quite the crush on Mandy back when he was in Michael Cristofer's The Shadow Box on Broadway. Would often wait for him at the stage door.

“Ask a Star”

Mandy was fired after one, two, or three days of shooting, according to which account you read. Not only was he giving Meryl line readings but he was giving her and other cast members notes between takes. Actors just don't do that. Meanwhile, Nichols always rehearsed and carefully blocked his cast members in consultation with with his DP. Once Action was called, Mandy would totally disregard his blocking and sometimes walk out of the frame while the camera was rolling. NOBODY was having this from a barely known second tier actor.

Mandy probably didn't know that Nichols had an ace up his sleeve. Nicholson had always been everyone's first choice for the part and he wanted to do it but he was signed for another project. Nichols knew the financing for that project had fallen apart and it had been cancelled. Jack was now free. Mandy was out and Jack was in immediately.

I thought he was very hot until the stories started coming out saying what a mean jerk he was. Disappointing.

Is Heartburn worth watching? I love Meryl and Jack

Heartburn is a fun watch.

Heartburn is fair, neither bad nor the best work of some very talented people. But I enjoyed it.

[quote]It’s a shame Mandy never got to play Tevye at some point. He must have been considered for the recent revivals.

You call it a shame. I call it a mazel.

Nichols made Mandy come back to the set and beg for his job back in front of the whole crew. Nichols still said NO after humiliating him. That's why Mike was crying the last time he won a Tony. The pair had just had an emotion reconciliation right before the award was announced.

I find Meryl mopey and rather dull in HEARTBURN. She's basically a young-ish Nora Ephron, and it could have been more fun had she been more tart-tongued and snarky like Nora. Instead, we get her suffering and pining onscreen--in some of the worst hair and wardrobe of her career.

Not only was Meryl well connected in the movie world, but she was also well connected in the New York theater scene. Joe Papp had at one point asked her to replace him as Artistic Director of The Public Theater.

Plus, if Mandy had gotten through Heartburn, he would have a reputation of gracefully working with difficult women: Streisand, Streep. He coulda been a contender!

Heartburn is fun for spotting such newcomers as Kevin Spacey, Joanna Gleason, Dana Ivey, Stockard Channing, Mercedes Ruehl, Catharine O'Hara ...

Stockard, Dana and Catherine were hardly newcomers in 1986. Even Joanna Gleason had been around the block a few times.

I loved Heartburn. One of my favorite movies.

The best thing about Heartburn

I rewatched Heartburn after reading the Nichols bio because there was so much about the film in it and I thought I remembered it fondly, It did not hold up at all. Very dull and pointless.

Can't remember if it was discussed in the bio but I wonder if Dustin Hoffman was considered opposite Meryl as he had famously played Carl Bernstein earlier. But perhaps that was the very reason i didn't happen in Heartburn. But how nice for Bernstein that he's been prtrayed by Hoffman, Nicholson and (almost) Mandy.

I think Mandy only seems to have improved in his ornery behavior because he's working so much less in high stress situations like network tv series and features films and Broadway.

Dustin Hoffman and Streep had a very difficult relationship during the filming of Kramer v. Kramer--mostly his doing, as I recall. I think he slapped her without warning when they were filming some scene. I doubt she would have welcomed working with him again.

r163 Yep, slapped her, groped her, threw a wine glass without warning, insulted her and taunted her about the death of John Calzale. All in aid of getting a 'better performance' out of her.

Remembering all that makes the Olivier story more delicious at least.

This is the first I've heard of Meryl being difficult in the same league as Streisand. Certainly that can't be true.

So what we're saying about Mandy is that he comes and he takes without giving?

I saw Mandy in “Shadow Box,” and thought he was terrible. He looked loutish and overweight, kind of reciting his lines, just awkwardly standing there, arms hanging down, not interacting with anyone else. One of the worst performances I’ve ever seen.

Weird, because I saw him in the obc of “Evita” several years later, and he was brilliant. He must have done a lot of studying with someone in between. He was good in SITPWG, too, though I later found Gyllenhaal was better.

(And BTW, I was the hospice nurse for his mother in a fancy place in La Jolla when she passed, and, for whatever reason, he was nowhere to be seen. So much for “Mamaloschen.”).

Only on DL, with its legions of Streep haters, can one routinely find claims like "[HEARTBURN] was a massive flop" (it made $52.6 million on a $15 million budget -- no, not a super-smash, but come on) and attempts to number Streep alongside Streisand as a "difficult woman."

I’ve worked w both Streep and Streisand. There is no comparison in the difficulty department…

R169, you have any good (bitchy) Streisand stories?

Just to pile on about Mandy's unprofessionalism, there is the way he left Criminal Minds. He decided he hated the show due to all the ultra violence but did he go to the producers to discuss his concerns or ask for an exit? No, he simply didn't show up for the filming of the third season opening. They finally couldn't shoot any more without him nor could he be reached. His agent couldn't contact him. He finally contacted someone to say he wasn't coming back. Do you have any idea how much it costs to keep a a full cast and crew and rented locations on standby when someone just doesn't show up? He finally agreed to come back to shoot a hastily written two part exit episode and eventually Joe Montagna replaced him. I don't understand why the producers didn't sue the shit out of him. Maybe they did.

[quote]I’ve worked w both Streep and Streisand. There is no comparison in the difficulty department…

Meryl has always been a nightmare for cast and crews. All take and no give. A know it all with a bad attitude and a very slack work ethic. She owns the difficulty department in our industry: there really is no one to compare her to.

Oh and she has terrible personal hygiene. You left that part out, Babs.

Singing live is never easy, but even Donna Murphy would call this 'pitchy.' And I never thought I would need to stand up for the integrity of Legally Blonde, but...

Why isn't it okay to hate Meryl?

Plenty of others are the beneficiaries of pointless bitchery and snark here, why not her.

I saw Shadow Box during its regional tryout at the Taper in LA. Mark, the character Mandy played, was a male hustler who settles in with a terminally ill middle-aged man in a hostage center.

In LA, the part was played by David Huffman, a gorgeous tv actor was was sadly murdered a few years later.

R174, actually sounds better than I expectd

Hostage center, r176?

Brake Fluid????

What could be sadder than hospice hostages?

Wh-what?

Mandy and Meryl were in a production of the 1890s British play Trelawney of the Wells for Joseph Papp at Lincoln Center in the fall of 1975. It was Meryl’s first Equity job (she’d been in some play in NY a year earlier as part of her theater department training). I went to the first preview (a friend of mine was also in the cast) and Streep was wonderful as a gossipy young actress. I remember Mandy was in a dinner party scene where his character had to make a speech but was painfully slow and halting when delivering it. It was very funny and the audience loved it. Meryl and Mandy knew each other for years before Heartburn and they no doubt met up often via mutual actor friends in NY at that time.

All the affectionate memories of Shenandoah reminded me of when I was in a production back when I was a teen. One of the cast members noted that all the songs were rip-offs/homages to great songs from other musicals.

He made a chart. All I remember is the soliloquys that were knock-off of the one in Carousel.

Anyone want to reconstruct the chart?

You want us to actually think about Shenandoah? Why, God, why?

Cuz next to lovin' I like fightin'. I like fightin' it's excitin'.

r181, that looks really stupid.

Trelawny

Good ol' Shenandoah...

Mamie Gummer and Gideon Grody-Patinkin should reboot "Maxie" as a stage musical. It's what the world needs now.

Shenandoah was one of the very worst musicals I have ever seen and I saw the original cast. But it seems to have been a popular show. Is it still?

Shenandoah was my first Broadway musical and I loved it.

More Donna Theodore...

Donna/Freedom

Shenandoah had the hottest male cast since Seven Brides for Seven Brothers.

I guess out of the original cast John Cullum, Joel Higgins and Craig Lucas had the most success.

Dear God, that Legally Blonde clip at r174!!!

Where to start? Elle Woods, a character obsessed with superficial appearances, but played by an actress who clearly isn’t. That "dog". That trans actress who can’t begin to sing the part.

I’m embarrassed for the London critics. Are they that afraid of looking out of touch?

Meryl Streep played a character named Imogen Parrott in Trelawney of the Wells.

I was just abbreviating, r196.

OMG I would love to see Meryl star in The Imogene Coca Story....."Not Funny Girl"......

Meryl for Mrs. Primrose in next "On the 20th Century"?

Beanie was out tonight again. She was probably at a Pride party, instead.

“Maxie” might actually make a cute musical, but the original book, “Marion’s Wall,” is so much better than the movie. I remember one scene, vividly written, where the leading guy meets someone who lives in Vilma Banky’s old house, and discovers all the missing reels of “Greed.”

"Maxie" has already been a musical. It was a West End flop in 1997, under the title "Maddie."

R195 well there *was* this

[quote]Beanie was out tonight again. She was probably at a Pride party, instead.

Maybe her galpals threw her a bridal shower.

Maybe Beanie was at a bean feast?

Fisting mishap.

Poor sad souls. Itching to be switching roles.

Don't these theater producers realize that all of this woke casting is turning off audiences? Just do the fucking show the way it was supposed to be done and, if there is a social statement in the show, let that be the central message, not your pandering casting. Besides, how big of a woke audience do you have as opposed to the vast majority of regular theater goers who go to the theater to escape the lecture series?

Broadway has never been smart.

[quote]Besides, how big of a woke audience do you have as opposed to the vast majority of regular theater goers who go to the theater to escape the lecture series?

Especially when members of the cast are telling older white people not to come to their show, as happened with Legally Blonde.

[Quote] Don't these theater producers realize that all of this woke casting is turning off audiences?

Um, it sold out

Just saying: there are some theatrical producers (and directors and regional theatres etc.) in the US and the UK that would risk canceling their older, more conservative audiences for the possibility of younger, more diverse audiences AND the media buzz that goes with looking relevant, socially conscious, and hip. Some see their older audiences aging out (ie, dying off) anyway.

I'm not saying they're correct, but I do see this happening.

Will Beanie even last until September at this point?

Bu the younger, more diverse crowd doesn't have the capital that the older folk do, so patrons and contributors to any endowment will not come from the hip crowd, but the crowd that wants to see " My Fair Lady" with a real woman, not some transsexual attempt at luring in the wokesters. The elderly will come to a season of theater; wokesters will come to one at the most.

Julie posted on Instagram that last night was her 22nd Fanny. I hope Beanie holds on long enough to take her vacation in August.

Theater has never been for the young. Myth.

r211 Because it only has a run of seven weeks. If they transferred it to the West End how much success do you think they'd have then?

From South Korea: Member of K-Pop group Super Junior, Cho Kyu-Hyun sings the title role in the musical " Mozart."

Sorry to be late to the party, but can I go back to R75? If you wanted to do a gay-themed prequel to a Tennessee Williams classic, why oh why would you not choose Cat on a Hot Tin Roof?

If that is correct, R215, and Funny Girl has played 30 previews and 72 performances as of last night (June 26) and Benko has done 22 of them, it means that up to now she has performed 21.5% of the run, or slightly more than one performance out of every five.

At least they don't have to do the "Ginger Rogers cue"......on Broadway when they announced "At tonight's performance, Mrs. Levi will be played by Inge Swenson" - the conductor gave the downbeat and the box office window closed.....

Inga......oh dear. And I guess they counted on most of the audience not knowing that Mrs. Levi was Dolly.

Final Curtains: Broadway Shows About To Close – A Photo Gallery:

R221, How often was Ginger out? Given her Christian Science lifestyle, I should think she'd be healthy as a horse.

r2221/r222, either way, it was Bibi Osterwald.

Time for the infamous Ann Miller story. Miller claimed to have supernatural powers and would go out onstage before the curtain came up on Sugar Babies. If she felt there was bad energy, she had a bit worked out with the stage manager. He would get on the PA and announce Ann Miller was ill and would not perform tonight. The audience groaned, and Miller audibly grabbed the mic and said no way was she sick and she's going on. The audiences always went wild and it was a great show.

Here's the quote from r225 if the link doesn't work:

"Expectations were high when Ginger Rogers took over the role, but her swanking and attitude soon turned many in the company off, and she began missing several performances, in contrast to the very professional Channing. At that time, Actors' Equity required posting a notice in the lobby or making a pre-performance announcement if a performer was not going on. Merrick opted for the latter, with the announcer welcoming the audience and stating that the role of Mrs. Levi--the word "Dolly" was not used--would tonight be performed by Bibi Osterwald. Just as Bibi's last name was starting to be said, the conductor gave the downbeat and the box-office window slammed shut.

This became known as The Ginger Rogers Cue."

Were it not for Covid, I think Patti could have had fun with that Ann Miller Schtick with Company. The audience would have gone wild when she did it as well.

Unfortunately, Patti really had been out several times during this run, so I’m sure it would be less fun.

Beanie is scheduled to appear on Seth Meyers' show this week. Either she doesn't show or it will be the softest, cutest interview you've ever witnessed.

Thank you R225 and R227 - chemo brain here......

Anyone seen Richard III at Shakespeare in the Park yet? I'm not that interested in the play or cast, but wouldn't mind being back at the Delacorte. But the few reviews on BWW make it sound dire.

[Quote] Elle Woods, a character obsessed with superficial appearances, but played by an actress who clearly isn’t.

Seriously? A chubby Asian girl couldn’t possibly be pretty enough to be narcissistic….

[Quote] The elderly will come to a season of theater; wokesters will come to one at the most.

Basically you’re saying that rich white patrons will only come if the shows are filled with white actors

[Quote] Because it only has a run of seven weeks. If they transferred it to the West End how much success do you think they'd have then?

It’s a summer show in Regent Park. There was no discussion of transferring it. They made the show the way they wanted and it sold out. Why must every show have to plan for a transfer?

The only issue I had with the London Legally Blonde is they could have found a tranny who sang better—other than that, it was totally fine

r234 You're the one who declared it sold out as if that fact invalidated r208's point, whereas the only reason it did sell out was a very short run.

There are lots of shows with limited runs that do not sell out.

But nice try!

Hellloooooo, r237!

[quote] Basically you’re saying that rich white patrons will only come if the shows are filled with white actors

No, moron. Sorry that your race-baiting didn't work. Older people don't go to the theater to get a lecture. Not everything is about race, wokester.

Sutton has the Covid.

bitch... that's my excuse

[quote]I saw Mandy in “Shadow Box,” and thought he was terrible. He looked loutish and overweight, kind of reciting his lines, just awkwardly standing there, arms hanging down, not interacting with anyone else. One of the worst performances I’ve ever seen. Weird, because I saw him in the obc of “Evita” several years later, and he was brilliant. He must have done a lot of studying with someone in between.

Maybe he learned a lot and improved in between, or maybe it's just that he's wildly inconsistent on stage, depending on how deeply he is in the grip of his mental illness for any particular performance. I'm going to go with theory #2.

[quote]Sorry to be late to the party, but can I go back to [R75]? If you wanted to do a gay-themed prequel to a Tennessee Williams classic, why oh why would you not choose Cat on a Hot Tin Roof?

How well do you know "Streetcar"? The "young husband" that Blanche talks about was gay.

The soliloquys in SHENANDOAH -- I believe they're called "meditations" -- are similar to the "Soliloquy" in CAROUSEL only in that all are soliloquys. But the SHENANDOAH songs are otherwise very dissimilar to the CAROUSEL song in terms of subject matter and style.

In fact, it could even be argued that the meditations in SHENANDOAH are not soliloquys, as the character who delivers them is supposed to be addressing his dead wife, not just singing to himself or to the audience.

R240, She just wanted some time off. "I tested positive for COVID" is another "The dog ate my homework" excuse.

[Quote] Older people don't go to the theater to get a lecture. Not everything is about race, wokester.

Lectured about what then? It’s just people on a stage performing a show.

Beanie is just SO unprofessional. The entitlement is unbelievable. I also see her losing interest before September.

Losing interest in what r247?

[quote]The soliloquys in SHENANDOAH -- I believe they're called "meditations" -- are similar to the "Soliloquy" in CAROUSEL only in that all are soliloquys. But the SHENANDOAH songs are otherwise very dissimilar to the CAROUSEL song in terms of subject matter and style.

Sure they are. So very different when John Cullum keeps singing the joyous refrain "It's a boy!" Then someone appears and announces that, no, it's a girl. Suddenly, the music changes . . .

"Shenadoah" is derivative kitsch.

If there were a “Legends!” revival in 2022, who should we cast as Leatrice and Sylvia?

R250, We tried, it bombed.

It needed a Liza and a Lorna.

I would have given anything to see Lucy and Viv do it.

[quote]If there were a “Legends!” revival in 2022, who should we cast as Leatrice and Sylvia?

It wouldn't matter whom you cast, because that play blows. I saw the original with Mary and Carol. I saw the Joan and Linda version in D.C. I saw another version in D.C. with Lypsinka in the Mary Martin role. That last one had a few laughs in it, because Lypsinka. But it's a wretched play.

R254 I’ve been dying to see it since reading James Kirkwood’s book, even if it is a disaster. The whole show isn’t on YouTube but I may just buy a bootleg for sale at Footlight Records ..

Why, M & G, of course!

Madonna & Gaga?

I guess it's time to trot out the ancient but true story that Mary was so old during the Legends tour that she couldn't remember her lines, so they gave her an ear wig to feed her her dialog. It worked out OK until the tour reached Dallas and the ear piece was on the same frequency as a local taxi dispatcher. Mary would start blurting out local addresses during performances.

Carol’s brown wig for Legends! cracks me up

That's actually a great wig.

I put this up on broadwayworld but this might be a better place for it...

I have a sunset question... some versions of the lady's paying has Norma saying shut up I'm rich not a platinum blond bitch, I own so many apartments I've forgotten which is which but did the Broadway version ever have the version from London that has I'm sick to death of that same old filling station shirt and boring baggy jacket stained with yesterday's dessert? I know that version is on the OLC but it seems to be changed by the time Betty assumed the role in London... was it just used on the OLC

I think Beanie will be gone by August.

Barbra…a barrel of laughs she ain’t

R208, I couldn’t agree more with all you wrote.

Beanie is now stuck inside of her “dream role” which has become a nightmare.

R265 so true. You just know she wants it to stop ASAP

Skylar Astin is as bad as Beanie. Joined LS for a limited run, took Tony weekend off then skipped shows to attend a wedding, cut his run short because he landed a tv series and is out for 10 days with Covid.

What's this 'real live BOY' bullshit?

Is Beanie diddling her clit currently?

[quote]That's actually a great wig.

And Larry's isn't bad either.

Those pics of Beanie’s engagement party looked like California. Did Beanie go home for the party and take a couple of “personal days” as well?

"personal MONTHS"

The above anecdote about Skylar Astin is hilarious. Young performers have NO standards!

Sunday night viewing pleasure

What the hell is Seth going to ask Beanie? "What's it like being a Funny Girl who can't sing and isn't that Funny? What's that like 8 times a week."?

"What's that like 8 times a week?"

"What's that like 8 times a *year*?"

WTF was Playwrights Horizons thinking when it decided to produce a piece of shit like "Corsicana"? The only saving grace was Deidre.

Finally saw PLAZA SUITE today. Yes, it was old fashioned, but I loved every minute of it. She should have had a Tony nomination.

R249, that may be true, but "It's a Boy" in SHENANDOAH is still very different in tone and style from the "Soliloquy" in CAROUSEL. And also, "It's a Boy" is not a soliloquy. Of course there are some songs in SHENANDOAH that have similarities to songs in other musicals, but there are also many that don't.

That UK Legally Blonde garbage is utterly baffling. The tone-deaf woke culture would be hilarious if it weren't so dangerously validated by loud, clout-chasing morons on social media

Pic at r259 makes Carole look like a colored woman.

R281 Carol (not Carole) Channing was biracial.

What rhymes with ‘shvartze’?

Heartburn is one of my go-to movies when I want to get out of the 2020's. It's not great, but it's so enjoyable. Falling in Love, on the other hand, is a mess.

The problem with Heartburn is that it’s rich lady problems. There’s no real tension in the story. Living in a fancy Upper West Side building and shopping at Zabar’s is not that interesting. It’s the soundtrack that saves this movie.

The movie didn’t have a hook in. Look at other rich people stories that had a hook and were more interesting: Six Degrees of Separation, Reversal of Fortune.

That British Legally Blonde.

As an exercise, fine, whatever. But totally misguided right from the first moment. As soon as we see the trans/non-binary sorority sister/person, singular-they pull focus the entire time. It becomes about singular-them for the whole song. Then Elle Woods comes on, and we have to mentally adjust, because, frankly, the body type is not the character. Then the trans/non-binary sales clerk comes on and we're fully into some alternative universe where nothing makes sense, but boy, every "identity" is represented. It becomes about a concept, not about the material. It's not grounded in reality and, yes, even a fluff musical like LEGALLY BLONDE needs some basis in reality.

Sadly, this will be the future of casting: color-gender-disability-weightblind casting, disconnected from any reality except the fantasy minds of the ultra-woke.

[quote]As soon as we see the trans/non-binary sorority sister/person, singular-they pull focus the entire time. It becomes about singular-them for the whole song.

Imagine that.

DL fave Gavin Creel and Joshua Henry mash it up!

SQUEE.

I remain squee free.

[quote]As an exercise, fine, whatever. But totally misguided right from the first moment. As soon as we see the trans/non-binary sorority sister/person, singular-they pull focus the entire time. It becomes about singular-them for the whole song. Then Elle Woods comes on, and we have to mentally adjust, because, frankly, the body type is not the character. Then the trans/non-binary sales clerk comes on and we're fully into some alternative universe where nothing makes sense, but boy, every "identity" is represented. It becomes about a concept, not about the material. It's not grounded in reality and, yes, even a fluff musical like LEGALLY BLONDE needs some basis in reality.

Exactly. It just occurred to me, if people want to do shows with total diversity in terms of body type, race and ethnicity, trans and non-binary actors, etc., why not just pick a show like GODSPELL where it matters not at all what types play the characters? And there are lots of other shows in that category, including many of the revue shows.

‘Ozark’ Actor McKinley Belcher III Joins Broadway’s ‘Death Of A Salesman’ Revival:

I apologize for a Sondheim related post but the Sondheim tribuescrabble album popped up on my phone and I listened to the overture again. Gemignani conducts the shit out of that overture.

There's also a terrific entr'acte.

Reading Paul Ford's memoir. The fat slob/alcholic/addict hates Stephen Schwartz, "Sweeney Todd", Jason Robert Brown, British musicals, Andrew Lloyd Weber, James Lapine's choices for choreographers, Suzanne Somers, and adores Mandy Patinkin.

Poor, damaged soul.

I've been trying to find the London Cast Recording of Company from 1972, the one where they just scrubbed Dean Jones from it and put in Larry Kert over him. There's only one copy on Ebay (and it's $60) and only one track on YouTube. Amazon doesn't have any used copies. Any ideas?

It’s interesting that Streep and Nicholson did Ironweed together just the year after Heartburn. Great performances in the former by both.

[quote]The fat slob/alcholic/addict

He's no longer fat, and he has been sober for years.

For some reason I'm more drawn to that ad for The Changing Room...

R295, good luck in your search, but have you ever heard the album? It's not well done -- at certain points, you can still hear Dean Jones singing faintly in the background, and also, Kert wasn't in great voice for this, and the sound quality of the recording of his voice is not equal to the rest of the recording. Here's a link to "Being Alive" on YouTube, and as I recall, some of the other tracks sound even worse.

Meryl

Actors express concern over Broadway 'mask optional' announcement:

Hugh looks old. It wasn’t the Covid.

THIS DAY IN BROADWAY HISTORY: In 1982, "Play Me a Country Song" opened at the Virginia Theatre.

On this day in 1994, Vanessa Williams made her Broadway debut replacing Chita Rivera in Kander & Ebb’s Kiss Of The Spider Woman

I saw Straight Line Crazy at London's Bridge Theatre and didn't think much of it or star Ralph Fiennes. Interesting that it and he are coming to NY in the fall but to The Shed and not Broadway.

A definitive play on Robert Moses still needs to be written.

PMACS

Vanessa

r306, I worked with both Mary Gordon Murray and Louisa Flaningham back in the day. Two fabulously talented ladies who never got the breaks.

Someone posted the London recording of Company on the Cast Recordings subreddit. That forum has been a wealth of free downloads. It was posted with Stritch’s other recordings. Here’s a link to the download page with Company and Stritch’s other stuff

Vanessa just didn't have the Chita *snap*.

Why didn't hot Anthony Crivello have a bigger career?

Someone please block the wifi in the basement of the THIS DAY IN BROADWAY HISTORY troll.

My god, Chita was just magnificent! We really just don't have Broadway stars any more.

People on All That Chat seem to feel that unmasked audiences will lead to more Covid in the casts. They’re saying, “ Sutton has Covid, now is the WORST time to make audience masking optional.” Considering how big a barn the Winter Garden is, the entire audience could have plague and the cast would remain safe.

Louisa Flaningam as Cleo...

[quote]Considering how big a barn the Winter Garden is, the entire audience could have plague and the cast would remain safe.

Tell me you know jackshit about infectious diseases without telling me you know jackshit about infectious diseases.

[quote] It just occurred to me, if people want to do shows with total diversity in terms of body type, race and ethnicity, trans and non-binary actors, etc., why not just pick a show like GODSPELL where it matters not at all what types play the characters?

That's a great idea. Unfortunately, the producers/directors of the shows in question aren't doing what they do in order to open up to a more diverse cast. They are doing it to seem " edgy," to " push the boundaries," and seem innovative so they can be hailed as a visionary. Their self-indulgence has nothing to do with the final product, only their own self- aggrandizement. " I'm a genius at the vanguard of a major theatrical movement. People will be remembering my bold leap into the future." It's all bullshit and the public should speak with their feet.....to another show.

Anyone see Corsicana? Is the female Corky in the show any good? Or is it just awkward?

You people need to get a clue. The road houses and London theatres have been without masks for months, and there is no higher incidences of COVID in those companies. The hysteria can stop.

^Go back to Florida, Ron DeSantis.

Mary Gordon Murray

R312, some people like it, some people find it annoying, which is why I try not to post them every day. They are featured each day in my Broadway Briefing.

Post them whenever you want, r322. r312 is why we can't have nice things.

Thank you, Doris.

r312 is also r86, speaking of trolls. Hateful.

You're welcome, r324.

R309, thank you so much for that link to the Company London cast album. Much appreciated!!

The London Legally Blonde doesn't bother me one bit. As long as they can sing and act, go for it.

I went to The Witches of Eastwick concert held in London last Monday evening - I’ve been going to the theatre since they reopened post-pandemic, but this was the first time I’d been in a West End venue for over two years. I’d estimate that me and my husband were amongst the 5% of the audience that were masked.

I had Covid by Friday.

[quote]I’d estimate that me and my husband

Oh dear

Oh 329, too bad you're some Creeper who lives in Manchester, but thanks for the tale.

So what ur saying is … everyone is getting COVID with the audience wearing masks … and that’s the proof of how necessary it is to wear masks ??? ???

R290, umm, they have. They have done it for decades with those shows.

[quote] [R312] is also [R86]

Incorrect! But thanks for playing.

R333, not with "trans" and "non-binary" people, they haven't. Anyway, the bottom line is that doing LEGALLY BLONDE with a plus-size woman of color in the lead in attempt to prove some stupid point is beyond ridiculous.

Nice try, but Godspell is the first show I ever saw a non-binary actor in back in the 80s.

Also, actors like Alexandra Billings and Kate Borstein have been acting at least since the 80s. Billings especially has had a really interesting career playing a number of roles in conventional works about binary characters.

I saw Billings in Gypsy. Not terrible but kind of humorless.

Did she walking up the aisle yelling "Dilate, Louise!"

[quote]As long as they can sing

And that's where the problem is. Watch that Legally Blonde clip from West End Live, the first one singing just can't sing it. But hey, he's the first trans to play Margot so I guess we're meant to ignore it?

[quote] Nice try, but Godspell is the first show I ever saw a non-binary actor in back in the 80s.

Nice try, but no you did not. Perhaps you saw an androgynous actor, but the concept of "non-binary," specifically going by "they," only started within the last 5 years.

[quote]So what ur saying is … everyone is getting COVID with the audience wearing masks … and that’s the proof of how necessary it is to wear masks ??? ???

America really started to go downhill after schools stopped teaching formal logic.

r341

I am a teacher and I had a student freak out on me when we did a logic exercise and she couldn't do it. She shouted I don't want to have to think! BTW she was in a stem program(which is a joke anyway)

I like "This Day in Broadway History". It's always mildly informative and interesting. And, a nice breather from posts from the "Why Don't We Have More Posts About Chorus Boys Dicks?" Troll or the "Sondheim Is A Flop And Will Vanish From History In Two Years, Mark My Words!" Troll.

If you don't like it, then fucking scroll on.

[quote]Nice try, but Godspell is the first show I ever saw a non-binary actor in back in the 80s. Also, actors like Alexandra Billings and Kate Borstein have been acting at least since the 80s. Billings especially has had a really interesting career playing a number of roles in conventional works about binary characters.

That's not what I meant. And nothing you wrote contradicts my point, which is that there are lots of shows that can be cast with trans or non-binary or racially diverse or disabled performers without making hash of the plot. And LEGALLY BLONDE is NOT on the list of those shows.

R340, the use of the term non-binary and the pronoun "they" may have come into increased usage more recently. But non-binary people are not some new invention.

We may have understood them as trans people who did not have the operation. We may not have called them non-binary, but they claimed not to identify with gender.

It was a lot harder for them. them back then. But theater was a head of the rest of the world. So you may not have seen them on television and in magazines, but they were there onstage. A friend of mine who was "intergender" (their word--not mine), found their consciousness explode at a performance of Bornstein's The Opposite Sex Is Neither. (Described as a show for "men, women, and the rest of us.") Theater went there before the rest of the culture.

When I saw that first non-binary performance, I described them as pre-op. But I met them five years later at an event where Borstein and others spoke. They explained that they had no intention of having an operation, because they did not feel they were either gender. My friend who wanted the operation a few years later realized they did not want it. Today they probably would have understood themselves as non-binary sooner because the language to describe it was harder to find. But yes, Virginia, there were non-binary people throughout history--even if they did not realize it.

What are these "lots of shows" r344, other than Godspell and non-book revues? I don't think there are really as many as you may think. At least if we're talking about leads in musicals and not the ensembles. Most would likely be set after 1970, I guess.

Wow, with so many posts to skip, scrolling through the thread is a breeze!

I have seen non-binary actors in Godspell, numerous Shakespeares, some Brecht, Tartuffe, Hair, The Fantastics, The Wizard of Oz, and The Adding Machine. All of these were pre-2010.

More recently, I have seen Annie with a non-binary actor. A lot of others, it is hard to tell if the actor is non-binary or if an actor was cast in a role not of their own gender.

I happened upon the OBC recording of FLYING OVER SUNSET this afternoon , and while enjoying it as background music, it made me wonder why and how show tunes are recognizable as such even when you’re not paying attention to the lyrics. Are there particular keys or time signatures or something else that says “show tune here!” even very early in a song? Why do show tunes (often) sound like show tunes?

It is that the singers sing pretty relentlessly on the beat and use a narrower dynamic range than other singer.'

Some singers just have show tune voices.

Regent's Park production of Carousel last summer featured a trans performer in the role of Mrs Mullin. She was not very good, but that was not necessarily her fault - it was a poorly directed production. But, as a performer, she possessed a voice that was deeper than what one would expect of a female character, and also - from a distance, unprompted - possessed the physicality and the physiognomy that could easily have been mistaken for male.

The production was relocated to the north of England (in the 1950s?), and so it made little sense to have a Mrs Mullin that ostensibly presented as trans within the social milieu in which the production was set, openly without it being an issue considering her exchanges with Billy, or without the script making reference to it. As it was a summer of Covid cancellations, I had initially assumed that a male ensemble member was covering the role at the last minute so that show could go on, rather than it being an intentional casting choice.

Had the whole production been cast gender-blind, then it wouldn't have mattered at all. But the inclusion of a single performer whose gender did not appear to conform to the anticipated or assumed gender of a character creates a dramaturgical problem, especially in revivals. And unfortunately, how a character appears to an audience is key - that's how we make sense of what's going on and who these characters are because that's all we have to go on. The pronouns of a performer is of no relevance if the script, costume and narrative all suggest something else.

And it is disingenuous and lazy to say that pointing this out is transphobic. Rather, it's just ineffective casting.

Maybe she was a deep contralto a voice type which I thought had gone the way of the dodo.

[quote]What are these "lots of shows" [R344], other than Godspell and non-book revues? I don't think there are really as many as you may think. At least if we're talking about leads in musicals and not the ensembles. Most would likely be set after 1970, I guess.

As I said, most of the shows I'm thinking of are revues -- but there have been a lot of revues of one type or another over the years. And there are at least a small but significant percnetage of book shows that could be cast very diversely without making hash of the plot. Also, for example, there are lots of roles that could be cast with disabled actors even though they haven't been in the past -- the grandmother in BILLY ELLIOT, for one. So I stand with my statement that there are lots of shows that could be cast diversely.

[quote]But, as a performer, she possessed a voice that was deeper than what one would expect of a female character, and also - from a distance, unprompted - possessed the physicality and the physiognomy that could easily have been mistaken for male.

That's just what women are like in the north of England

I saw a trans performer play Eulalie Mackechnie Shinn in the Music Man in Florida four years ago. She extinguished nearly every laugh and towered above all the other performers, but the rest of show was so ineptly cast and performed it didn’t really matter except for the novelty.

It’s puzzling how this show has become so difficult to pull off. The movie is practically a blueprint, so maybe directors just try too hard to distinguish their productions.

Dear r353. I don't like a deep contralto, or a man whose voice is alto. Zip!

54 Below is playing her song!

Maybe there's no interest in Bares from last night, but here's Ramin anyway.

R359, Is her vibrato receiving co-star billing?

R360, Nice bulge.

Wikipedia on "Straight Line Crazy":

"Critical reception for the play has been near universal in particular for the leading performance of Robert Moses by Ralph Fiennes."

How much monkeypox at Broadway Bares? How much COVID?

R357 I'm a heterosexual!

Dixie's...

I have read only two reviews of the London production of STRAIGHT LINE CRAZY, but both were mixed to negative. I saw the play at its last Saturday matinee (9 days ago) and thought the play was meh, Fiennes miscast and/or enervated, the Jane Jacobs part badly written and acted. Bringing it to New York is a mistake. Are the publicists editing the Wikipedia article?

But all this talk of trans performers - and most described here seem to be playing roles written as cis-women - were they simply not costumed and wigged properly?

I saw STRAIGHT LINE CRAZY. It's a really interesting, if not perfect, play. Well worth seeing...

I disagree, r369. I thought the play was nothing more than a glossy Wiki entry with no depth or insight and no particular understanding of the historic American periods and characters it covers. And Fiennes harrumphed his way through it like Booth (yes, I'm that old!).

But, yes, it is a really interesting subject. I do hope the NY critics are more discerning about this very NY character and story than the London critics were.

Reno Sweeney is a part that could be non-binary. Might help the plot make actual psycho-sexual sense.

As long as they are a proper brassy belting Reno, r371, and not a tap dancing one.

Hear hear, R352!

Now, some puzzlements:

Must Miss Trunchbull now be played only by a non-binary or transwoman actor?

Is Frank N. Furter now non-binary, or transgender? Must the actor identify as such? Should "Sweet Transvestite" be changed to "Sweet Transwoman"?

Is the Emcee non-binary? Can only a non-actor play "them"?

Should Peter Pan, in the musical stage version, now be played exclusively by a transman?

[quote]Is her vibrato receiving co-star billing?

Either you're joking or you don't know what you're talking about, because Lucie Arnaz's singing voice is close to vibrato-free. Unless it has changed greatly over the years.

Hello, Ramin's bulge!

^I mean "Can only a non-binary actor play the Emcee?" Erp!

I want to fuck Ramin and his noodle.

Laverne Cox was so dismal as the non-binary Dr. Frank-n-Furter in that made-for-TV ROCKY HORROR that it might be a while before anyone casts the role similarly. (It also didn't make logical sense: the character is written clearly as bisexual male who wears both men's and women's clothes.)

You can't blame it all on Laverne, though. Every single element of that production was a bad idea gone wrong.

Broadway's essential workers get wage increases, benefit boost with new contract:

5 dream roles that could win Broadway star Matt Doyle another Tony:

What are the 5 dream roles that could win Broadway star Patti another Tony?

Someone in the Miscast Actors thread pointed out that Marie Mullen is way too old to be Winthrop's mother. So is Marian actually Winthrop's mother? Is Old Man Madison his father? Is Marian his mother and she was a slut all along?

Marian is his mother and Junior Samples was his father. She was a chaser.

My husband just watched The Music Man movie last night for the first time and he expressed surprise that Pert Kelton was supposed to be little Ronnie Howard’s mother.

Winthrop was a change of life baby, R384.

So what did he think of the film otherwise, r384?

[quote]I saw STRAIGHT LINE CRAZY. It's a really interesting, if not perfect, play. Well worth seeing...

I agree, though I wouldn't downplay that "not perfect" part. It's just so nice to see an old school British failure of a play versus what passes for a play in the US these days (three people sitting on a couch, contemplating their bellybutton lint). It had scope, it had ambition, it had poetry. It was also a mess, but I still appreciated it.

[ quote] What are the 5 dream roles that could win Broadway star Patti another Tony?

1. Mr. Lundie

2. Grandmother in Anastasia

3. Mrs Carrie Watts in " Trip to Bountiful."

4. Aunt Eller

5. Lancelot du Lac

Front row center for number 5 please.

Some of those "dream roles" for Doyle are in shows that wouldn't last a month on Broadway. Lucky Stiff? And he's hardly a big enough name to carry Barnum.

How does Straight Line Fever compare to Boozy, a play about Moses from about 20 years ago?

I never saw Boozy, but everyone seemed to love it.

There was also a rock musical about Robert Moses called Bulldozer.

Alex Timbers was only known for the Scientology Pageant. Boozy was really the foundation of his career.

What are some dream roles that could win Beanie a Tony?

Had Beanie opened the Lincoln Center MFL as Eliza, she would have gotten the Tony and I bet the show would still be running.

Alex Timbers seemed to show so much promise. Was Moulin Rouge really where it all led?

Beanie in Oh! Calcutta!

While she does favor straight tones, on sustained notes, Lucie Arnaz's voice often shows a tight "hummingbird" vibrato, R374. Not only is it evident on various recordings, but I heard it live for myself when she replaced in DIRTY ROTTEN SCOUNDRELS.

#6 - CrossFit trainer starting 8/1

Beanie in " The Color Purple." Why not? That would be woke casting for woke Broadway.

I don't think even Ahrens & Flaherty think LUCKY STIFF is worth a Broadway revival.

I'm hoping those 5 misguided dream roles were the pick of the QUEERTY editor, not Matt Doyle (who I hope has better and broader taste).

ASPECTS OF LOVE? Cheese on rice.

A more timely play would be that NYU is doing to the Village what Moses wanted to do in the 60s. Back then activists won. Today NYU is winning.

Beanie was such a yammering cunt on Seth's show last night, I doubt that appearance sold a single ticket. But she wasn't there to promote Funny Girl, she was there to promote Beanie.

Apparently the engagement happened ages ago when she was making American Crime Story, but she only just decided to announce it, which seems odd

Let me guess, r403......she didn't sing?

Beanie is clearly attempting to distance herself from her non-triumph on Broadway.

She's doing a great job.

Hmmm.

Matt Doyle didn't deserve one Tony, never mind a 2nd.

Matt Doyle will disappear on July 31st. He was seconds from falling into obscurity before Company was luckily saved to return during Covid. He’s certainly no Jonathan Bailey, who has looks and sex appeal, and he will not be booking any massive Netflix shows, or small Hulu ones for that matter. He’s basically Max Von Essen, minus the tight slutty ass that managed to snag him a few extra gigs before he dropped into obscurity. Doyle’s marginally talented boyfriend, despite being somewhat hotter, is smart enough to keep his real estate license. He seems to know his sell by date is soon arriving, a quality many chorus boys should learn. Tony or not, Doyle would be wise to pick up on his cue.

Fucking Telecharge won't exchange tickets to The Music Man because Sutton's name isn't above the title. ASSHOLES!!!!

[quote]My husband just watched The Music Man movie last night for the first time and he expressed surprise that Pert Kelton was supposed to be little Ronnie Howard’s mother.

The original Broadway production of THE MUSIC MAN opened about five years before the movie, with Pert Kelton in the same role. One can only imagine that, five years earlier and with the benefit of the distance of the stage, she was far more credible as Winthrop's mother, but obviously, Morton DaCosta wanted to keep her for the movie regardless of the fact that she might appear too old.

[quote]While she does favor straight tones, on sustained notes, Lucie Arnaz's voice often shows a tight "hummingbird" vibrato, [R374]. Not only is it evident on various recordings, but I heard it live for myself when she replaced in DIRTY ROTTEN SCOUNDRELS.

Whatever. If I were to comment on her voice, the last thing I would mention -- rather than the first thing -- is her vibrato, since it's far less noticeable than other singers'.

[quote]Quick, somebody throw a pail of water on R410 so she'll melt away. What a witch, and what a bitch!

Sorry, that wasn't a quote:

Quick, somebody throw a pail of water on [R410] so she'll melt away. What a witch, and what a bitch!

[quote]Tony or not, Doyle would be wise to pick up on his cue.

Hmm, will the guy who described himself as a "leading man" type actually get a sense of realism...

R411

What the fuck

But would an actress who looked younger than Pert Kelton have been believable as Shirley Jones' mother? And I guess the same could be said about Marie Mullen and Sutton Foster.

Speaking of Ahrens & Flaherty musicals (even if EW thinks of it as Terrence McNally musical)....

Keenan looking all pec-tastic!

R386 he enjoyed it. It’s certainly MUCH better than what’s at the Winter Garden right now. What impressed me watching it again is the movie’s charm and that it doesn’t strain and push to make its points. Unlike the current Broadway production. And I don’t think anyone will be better than Preston. I didn’t even mind the song that replaced My White Knight too much.

Bell bottoms are back!

I wonder how they look on a full-size adult?

[quote]But would an actress who looked younger than Pert Kelton have been believable as Shirley Jones' mother? And I guess the same could be said about Marie Mullen and Sutton Foster.

Ideally, the actress playing Mrs. Paroo should look about 45. That would make it entirely credible that she would have daughter in her early to mid 20s and a son about age 10. Pert Kelton was 50 when she originated the part in THE MUSIC MAN on Broadway, and about four or five years older when she filmed the movie.

Shirley Jones was about 27 when she filmed the movie, so maybe just a bit too old for the role in terms of her actual age, though I think she's certainly believable as being a few years younger, which would be just right.

Marion Paroo should be early to mid 20s, her mom could hve had her when she herself was 18, then 10 years later have Winthrop. It's the casting of the film and various stage versions that throw people off. Winthrop is Not Marion's son.

And let's start a discussion on how Jennifer Holliday was soooo bad in DREAMGIRLS. She was 'acting' and 'self-promoting'. That air gasp at the end of the song just got bigger and bigger and more phony every single time she sang it. One of the biggest disappointments in a major Broadway musical.

I despised Holliday's performance in Dreamgirls. It was like watching a trained seal balancing a ball.

I love that the issue of Mrs. Paroo's age is an evergreen kerfuffle on DL. For god's sake, it's a friggin' musical where nothing is real. Why get hung up on this all the time?

[quote] That air gasp at the end of the song just got bigger and bigger and more phony every single time she sang it. One of the biggest disappointments in a major Broadway musical.

One of the things I love about DL. There's never any hyperbole.

I was disappointed because she called out sick the night I was there. Heard that happened fairly often.

Who did, r428? Pert Kelton?

[quote] And let's start a discussion on how Jennifer Holliday was soooo bad in DREAMGIRLS. She was 'acting' and 'self-promoting'.

Let's not.

Breaking: This show will not extend. In fact it closed last week but no one knew it

Mrs. Paroo had a surrogate.

Marian got COVID from old miser Madison.

You think that's bad? I danced the Shipoopi with Ethel Toffelmier and she gave me Giardia.

{quote]I don't think even Ahrens & Flaherty think LUCKY STIFF is worth a Broadway revival.

Well, it certainly wasn't worth a movie version. Has anyone ever watched that movie from beginning to end?

No more masks? I kept getting reminders to put mine on correctly the other day when I saw The Minutes at Studio 54. I was just surprised that they were still strict about it.

Timing is everything in the theater.

"The question now, Dr. Varma said, is whether boosters that worked against the BA.1 subvariant six months ago will have any effect against BA.5."

And, yet J-Holl is still far better in the role than fucking blank eyed dimwit J-Hud.

Is there a way to block COVID hysterics from posting in a theatre gossip thread

[quote]Is there a way to block COVID hysterics from posting in a theatre gossip thread

Bitch you have a block button.

Broadway is about to go through a massive COVID wave. It's relevant.

Bring on the Men

[quote]Is there a way to block COVID hysterics from posting in a theatre gossip thread

Sure, you can block posters, the way I block annoying hall monitors like you.

For R442

The pre-Broadway tour of Jekyll and Hyde was a lot better than the Broadway production. The improvements weren't...

I just watched Beanie on Seth Meyers. She has too many teeth.

[quote] She has too many teeth.

In her cunt.

Was there even a mention of Funny Girl?

These pitiful wokesters are "inverted empaths..." meaning everybody else's problems are about THEM. They can scream, kick, wail and make a stink like a baby in a bassinet, but once this mass-steria has passed and people come back to their senses, they'll be ridiculed by society in direct proportion to the scorn they once heaped on everyone around them.

"I happened upon the OBC recording of FLYING OVER SUNSET this afternoon , and while enjoying it as background music, it made me wonder why and how show tunes are recognizable as such even when you’re not paying attention to the lyrics. Are there particular keys or time signatures or something else that says “show tune here!” even very early in a song? Why do show tunes (often) sound like show tunes?"

Well, FOS is a poor example of show music (you nailed it as "background"), but musical theatre scores are elevated and composed, they are characterful and require a register, scope and energy to succeed as dramatic material. But above all, the very BEST songs have distinct melodies that evoke FEELING (virtually absent from contemporary musicals), which serve to chart the emotional progress of the story. Issues of talent aside, trite stories only result in trite scores.

"I worked with both Mary Gordon Murray and Louisa Flaningham back in the day"

So did I! But both of them did alright for themselves, with Broadway, National Tours, et al under their belts.

TL;DR

You cannot be serious, R374.

Lucie Arnaz has never been able to sustain a note without sounding like a carburetor in need of repair.

Wow, that London version of Legally Blonde--just ouch. I see an MtF trans performer in pink and it just reads drag queen and I start to view it through that lens.

And, yeah, dumpy corn-rowed Asian chick does not cut it as a sorority queen.

But what really bugs me is that you know much better performers weren't cast because there had to be a statement made. It's not a case of ignoring type casting because the most talented auditioners don't fit a type--it was about casting against type (and gender and race) to MAKE A POINT no matter how weak or unbelievable the performers were as a result. The trans sorority girl was truly awful (as in wouldn't cut it in a high school performance), but no one was actually good.

It's so self-indulgent. On the plus side, it keeps me from missing live theatre.

R451, you'd better get your hearing checked. Seriously. Because judging from Lucie Arnaz's performance on the original cast recording of THEY'RE PLAYING OUR SONG, which as far as I know is one of very few recorded examples of her singing (and maybe the only one), her vibrato is barely detectable and certainly sounds nothing like "a carburetor in need of repair."

[quote[What really bugs me is that you know much better performers weren't cast because there had to be a statement made. It's not a case of ignoring type casting because the most talented auditioners don't fit a type--it was about casting against type (and gender and race) to MAKE A POINT no matter how weak or unbelievable the performers were as a result. T

Exactly. This is a truly horrendous state of affairs, and LEGALLY BLONDE is by no means the only deplorable example of it that we have seen.

r446

barely spoke about FG. I am confused about when she got engaged though... Did she get engaged while she was out on covid? She was in CA so how was she in CA if she was performing?

Lucie has two solo albums, one a live performance and the other with songs based on her Cuban roots. Only heard the latter and it's quite good.

R453 is either a family member or on her payroll . . . or both.

R456, If you like a voice that quivers like a fish out of water.

Perhaps a pronounced vibrato is a Cuban trait, since Raul Esparza's is even more annoying.

Again, I'm judging Lucie Arnaz's singing only from the cast album of THEY'RE PLAYING OUR SONG and the one or two times I've seen her in live performance. Based on this recording (for example), I would say her vibrato is not very noticeable at all, and what's there is a tight, "hummingbird" vibrato (as someone else here described it) rather than a wide vibrato that sounds like a wobble or like "a carburetor in need of repair."

R457, I'm neither a family member or on Lucie's payroll, but you are definitely a bitch who doesn't know what she's talking about.

[quote] And, yeah, dumpy corn-rowed Asian chick does not cut it as a sorority queen.

It actually does in California

Why are people so obsessed by the London Legally Blonde. One, time-limited production. Let it go.

OMG two queens actually fighting about [italic] Lucie Arnav's vibrato [/italic]. In public, no less.

The expressions "get a life" and "for fuck's sake" were invented for these two.

I understand why this thread often turns to Follies, but it baffles me why They’re Playing Our Song comes up so often. That show was the definition of mediocrity. And Robert Klein‘s singing? Oy!

R463, And yet, he was Tony nominated while Lucie Arnaz and her quivering vibrato were not.

[quote]I understand why this thread often turns to Follies, but it baffles me why They’re Playing Our Song comes up so often

Maybe because it had over twice as many performances as Follies.

Follies:

It was never much of a financial success. Produced by Harold Prince for the huge sum of $800,000 in 1971, it never recouped its investment, despite seven Tony Awards and a run of more than 500 performances. It was a success d'estime and a cult hit, but it did not attract a big enough mainstream audience to make it a real hit.

They're Playing Our Song:

The musical opened on Broadway at the Imperial Theatre on February 11, 1979, where it ran for 1,082 performances and 11 previews. Directed by Robert Moore and choreographed by Patricia Birch, the cast starred Robert Klein and Lucie Arnaz (in her Broadway debut). Douglas W. Schmidt designed the scenery and projections, Ann Roth designed the costumes and lighting was by Tharon Musser. Notable cast replacements included Tony Roberts, Stockard Channing, Victor Garber, Anita Gillette, John Hillner, Diana Canova and Ted Wass. An original cast recording was released by Casablanca Records.

[quote] Notable cast replacements included Tony Roberts, Stockard Channing, Victor Garber, Anita Gillette, John Hillner, Diana Canova and Ted Wass.

Forever redefining the meaning of the word "notable."

I never miss a John Hillner performance.

So you're saying that TPOS's longer run than FIOLLIES proves it was a better musical? Wow.

Couldn't we talk about who were the cutest guys in replacement casts of "Oh! Calcutta!" instead?

B.J. DeSimone

r455 She said it was during a break from filming American Crime Story, which was from November 2020 to August 2021 - but that doesn't really make much sense - why keep it a secret for almost a year? I think it was during her covid absence, but she can't admit that as it proves she didn't really have covid. So they made up that story about it being during ACS instead.

Diana Canova played Phyllis at LACC in 1974. If that isn't a direct connection from FOLLIES to TPOS....

R466. Back in the early 80s they were considered notable replacements. And John Hillner never played the lead on broadway. He was in the chorus. The not so notable John HAMMIL was standby and played Vernon for a few longish stretches.

Every time I see TPOS, I read it as That Piece of Shit. And I liked it when I saw it with notable replacements: Tony Roberts and Anita Gillette (who read a little too old even back then, it made Sonia seem pathetic).

I saw TPOS in May of 1981 when Ted Wass and Diana Canova were heading the cast. They were great - the show not so much. However, their energy made the evening not a waste of time. After the show we waited at the stage door and when Wass came out we chatted and arranged to connect at my hotel later, which we did. He was amazing in bed and although I had always heard he was straight, that night he definitely wasn't.

Finally some gossip.

[quote]So you're saying that TPOS's longer run than FIOLLIES proves it was a better musical? Wow.

You have serious comprehension problems. The poster wondered why there was attention paid to TPOS. The poster could understand " Follies." Maybe people talked about it was because it lasted over 1,000 shows. Nowhere was there an assertion that one was a better musical, just that one lasted twice as long as the one that gets the most attention of any show discussed here.

[quote]Every time I see TPOS, I read it as That Piece of Shit.

Therein lies its charm, r474.

[Quote] You have serious comprehension problems

Why be a dick?

The title number of TPOS was fun and generated some excitement, even though it wasn't particularly well sung by Klein. Arnaz moving around was fun. The number with Klein and his toy piano was kind of a cute novelty at the end. I also remember Arnaz's character going on and on about some guy who is never seen throughout the show. Sort of a running joke that got annoying. Fun show, but hardly one for the ages.

Her costumes...

"And 40 years later the costumes still fit, bitches!"

Doesn't anyone wonder why LCT has moved their new "Camelot" from this Fall to next Spring?

Better tie-in promos using "The Lusty Month of May"?

Yep

Fear of Covid?

Great story, r475. Lucky you. Thank you for sharing.

Yeah, thanks for making up a story that some gullible people will believe.

Wass up?

[quote] Why be a dick?

This is DL, sweetheart. Toughen up.

I dread a new production of Camelot. The score is one of the greats, but the book is always a chore to get through and I doubt any rewrites will help. Why is it that no one is able to fix the problems of the book when they rewrite it? They can cut scenes, move them around, combine characters, add in trunk songs, and change the ending, but they never really do much to fix the root of a show's issues. Did Funny Girl's revisions help all that much? What about the 40 different versions of Follies?

It's the same thing with having previews and out of town tryouts for shows where nothing is ever improved upon by opening night. Why even bother if you're only going to tweak a few lines? Is it that audiences give everything a standing ovation these days and that confuses the creative team into thinking they're on the right path?

Ted told me he was meeting his agent for a late meeting! If I weren't dead, this might kill me.

Ted was a regular customer at Regent East a gay club/piano bar on the upper east side, while doing the show. I used to see him there frequently. Very affable.

An obviously miscast Jason Alexander starred in a Los Angeles revival of TPOS about ten years ago, with Stephanie J. Block.

[quote] Better tie-in promos using "The Lusty Month of May"?

CAMELOT will now begin performances on Thursday, March 9, 2023 and open on Thursday, April 13, 2023

I attended Lucie Arnaz's final TPOS performance on Broadway, with Robert Klein, who had already left the cast and was replaced by Tony Roberts, sitting right behind me.

Klein was totally undisturbed throughout the evening, not one audience member approached him or acknowledged his presence.

I remember being enthralled by the Camelot OBC as a gayling. When I saw a touring production, I was bored to tears.

That's a sweet video with Lucie discussing her TPOS costumes but I find it odd that she doesn't mention the "concept" behind some of them, that her character Sonia had re-fashioned them from costumes she'd worn over the years in shows. I specifically remember the peach dress with the long fringe that she wore to sing the title song was supposed to look like it came from a production of Pippin.

Yeah, it wasn't a very clever concept. Don't blame Ann Roth.

Seth Rudetsky *starred* opposite Sutton Foster in a one night (benefit?) performance of TPOS about 15 years ago. Unprecedented level of hubris even for him, which is saying something. (He was terrible.)

Peach? It's deep red.

Well, the deep red on the skin of a peach.

Ted Wass back in the day

Sonia wasn’t an actress and didn’t wear the costumes in shows. Her friend wore The Cherry Orchard outfit and she had her eye in a dress in Dracula. Her drab recording studio outfit was from a friend who does Geritol commercials.

John Hillner was a very hot young actor back in the 1970s and actually looks pretty damn hot even now in 2022.

Where did she get the Pippin RED dress from, r503?

Not peach...

R505. Not sure. She just says I can finally wear my RED/PEACH outfit from Pippin.

I should have worn green…

. . . I wore green the last time.

R503, You don't get out much, do you?

The time I was happy

I distinctly remember, r509. Last time you wore plum.

I think most people prefer Fiollies to That Piece of Shit.

At least ones with any kind of taste.

It's also kind of sad that Lucie Arnaz's big career "brag" is being in the OBC of That Piece of Shit.

And, doing Big Lucy's TV Show.

But, not Grease because Gary talked her out of it.

Also being Desi Jr.'s big sister -- though don't know if that's much of a brag at this point.

Lucie and her vibrato should work their magic on "Mame"!

Why sad, r513? She has a respectable career independent of her famous parents and a more balanced family life than they did.

Desi Jr peaked very early. Minor teen idol then Love Boat guest star then...autograph shows.

Luci actually had a show business career of some substance.

Too bad she never got a hit TV show of her own.

I'm surprised after her success in "They're Playing Our Song" that it took her so long to get back to Broadway, replacing in "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels". She could have been one of the ladies in the original "Nine".

[quote]I distinctly remember, R509. Last time you wore plum.

I was all in blue.

Lucie also played the Cher role in musical of The Witches of Eastwick, which opened in London in 2000.

Her unconventional and dry vibrato has been preserved on the original cast recording.

R510. I don’t. Unfortunately, I’m mostly housebound for medical reasons.

Some of us DID wear green, fuck the text!

Lucie's vibrato makes my dog bark.

I wore green to the Tonys and I lost.

[quote]I think most people prefer Fiollies to That Piece of Shit.

I would suggest that TPOS succeeded completely as the very light piece of entertainment it was trying to be, whereas FOLLIES did not quite succeed completely (though it came close) as the masterpiece it was trying to be, because of book problems. Funny that some people can't seem to understand this disctinction.

Will anyone ever be able to fix Follies?

Maybe they can substitute some of the book for "Romy & Michele's High School Reunion" for most of what James Goldman wrote. It would liven up the books scenes. Leave what Sondheim wrote otherwise.

The original production of Follies despite the problems with the book which were clear even when the show was new was riveting. I walked out of TPOS during the second act. It was like a TV show you zone out of but you realize you can't change the channel. You suddenly realize you have free will and aren't in prison.

Who would you cast in FOLLIES?

Omg how did this happen?

Difficult color green. Very tricky.

Has anyone tried to compare Fillies and TPOS artistically? You Follies queens are just in another world.

Yes! Yes! More talk about Follies! More, I say!!!

Fillies would require a younger crowd.

[quote]Fillies would require a younger crowd.

And would probably star Sarah Jessica Parker.

FUCK FOLLIES.

[quote]The original production of Follies despite the problems with the book which were clear even when the show was new was riveting. I walked out of TPOS during the second act. It was like a TV show you zone out of but you realize you can't change the channel. You suddenly realize you have free will and aren't in prison.

I'm surprised you hated it that much. I think the songs are very enjoyable and some of the humor in Neil Simon's book is quite funny even if the plot is inconsequential.

I'd like to see "The Happiest Girl in the World", perhaps with Nathan Lane in the Cyril Ritchard role at Encores. Great Offenbach music (the orchestrations on the OCR are terrific) and fun, witty E.Y. Harburg lyrics.

It's time to stop Sam Gold from directing anything anymore. What he did to "Macbeth" was bad enough, but his "Corsicana" is staged so badly, there are blocked nightlines no matter where you sit. Worst direction of a play at PH in quite some time. and that's really saying something.

How is "Corsicana" otherwise?

Blocked nightlines are NOT acceptable.

HAPPIEST GIRL is one of those cast albums that's always a delight to listen to. And a great cast. Maybe it's better left on the turntable, although a concert version isn't a bad idea.

Do HAPPIEST GIRL and add some nudity (guys) this time.

R473 the "John Hammil" you mention as the U/S for the "Vernon Gersch" role in TPOS actually went on in the role for about 3 months between replacements. A very handsome actor, he was in the original cast of the Broadway revival of OH! CALCUTTA!. He's shown in the attached top photograph, fourth from the left.

He married dancer Pamela Pilkenton, fifth from the right in the top photo. She's the person whose face, leg and white OH! CALCUTTA! bathrobe was the iconic poster for the show and appeared for years in a larger-than-life ad in Times Square, above the Palace Theater and right across from the TKTS Booth.

The other interesting person in that photograph was actor Cress Darwin, second from the left in the top photo. He is currently the Senior Pastor at the Second Presbyterian Church of Charleston, SC.

Broadway Cast Announced For Tom Stoppard’s ‘Leopoldstadt’:

In Austrian German, "Leopoldstadt" means "huge cast in densely obtuse play no one will understand but will pretend they do"

R546, it will be the snob hit of the season!

Speaking of Sam Gold, WEHT Annie Baker ?

You can always count on Stoppard for a Snob Hit.

[quote]Set in Vienna, Leopoldstadt begins in the last days of 1899 and follows one extended family well into the 20th Century. The title takes its name from Vienna’s Jewish quarter, and the play is described by the production as “a passionate drama of love and endurance.”

I didn't hate it but I was bored. Nothing against Arnez or Klein. In fact watching the title song on youtube I thought it would be more entertaining. It's so lame.

Has anybody seen "Richard III" yet, or are you showtune bitches going to spend another 3-4 threads debating Lucie Arnez' vibrato?

No photos of Broadway Bares?

The Leopoldstadt cast doesn't look very diverse.

R554 Fuck off, Singapore/FuckingFling and your ilk.

Has Stoppard explored his roots and written about Jews before?

That's pretty diverse for him.

[quote] “a passionate drama of love and endurance.”

Emphasis on "endurance."

r553, see r360. Also below.

More

Is there anything less appealing than a needy, sweaty chorus boy?

“There is nothing in the other plays which is actually something that happened to me,” he acknowledges. “I went into this play knowing that that is why I am doing it.” --

Tom Stoppard

Are any of the characters binary? How can we relate to a non-inclusive cast let alone non-inclusive characters? The audiences will leave feeling marginalized.

For all of you feeling triggered at Stoppard's all white cast, this should help. The creatives of the new musical "The Notebook." have cast actors of different races to play the same character at different ages.

Isn't Fillies the musical version of Equus? Perhaps a revival with Nathan Lane as Martin Dysart and Andrew Barth Feldman as Alan Strang?

Welcome back Maryann!

[quote]In Austrian German, "Leopoldstadt" means "huge cast in densely obtuse play no one will understand but will pretend they do"

No one will understand it OR like it, but yes, they will pretend that they do. As soon as I read the announcement of this show, I pegged it as Broadway's next snob hit. Except these shows are rarely hits in financial terms, only in the sense of getting good reviews from critics who are afraid to say that the Emperor has no clothes, and also getting a decent audience of snobbish, pretentious New Yorkers for a few months.

By the way, I believe there is one actor of color in this show. I wonder if he'll be playing a character of color, or if it's just color-blind casting.

Well, I saw LEOPOLDSTADT in London pre-pandemic and absolutely loved it. Quite unforgettable.

It was a little difficult to keep up with as the story unfolds, a family saga with different actors portraying the same characters as they age, but it all came together brilliantly and quite emotionally in the end. And it's gorgeous to look at, beautifully staged and designed. I hope the new cast is up to it. I don't recognize a name that would play the family's grandfather, created by the wonderful Adrian Scarborough in London.

Leopoldstadt is the easiest of all Stoppard plays to understand.

It comes down to this: it opens in 1899, in the huge, lavish drawing-room of a family so big your eye doesn't know where to look and your ear doesn't know what to hear. It ends around 50 years later in the same space, only now there is no furniture and only three people.

That is what he wants you to understand. There is more richness if you want to go for it, but that's the meaning of the play in a nutshell.

If you are confused by the cultured babble of the first two Acts, just let it wash over you. It only matters that you understand it IS the lively babble of cultured minds.

I think the only potential stumbling block with it is there is a huge family tree to try to keep track of. Otherwise, it's a pretty straightforward piece. I liked it in London and agree with R567 that it is beautifully performed and designed, if a little chilly.

Is it better than that borefest The Invention of Love?

Love Maryann Plunkett!!

[quote] If you are confused by the cultured babble of the first two Acts, just let it wash over you.

That's what people always tell me to do with Stoppard stuff - in other words, ignore the dialogue - but call me crazy I prefer to listen and understand.

[quote] Perhaps a revival with Nathan Lane as Martin Dysart and Andrew Barth Feldman as Alan Strang?

If Feldman gets naked, I'll come to see it.

Is there a part in Fillies for me?

They're dillies, they're dollies

Those fillies from the Follies!

You just must love those beautiful girls.

Is The Real Thing the most accessible of Stoppard's plays?

R572, I would never tell you to ignore the dialogue, but you won't be able to understand all of it on a first viewing. You never can in a Stoppard. You will, however, be able to understand and get the impact of this play very well without understanding every word of dialogue -- unlike, for example, Arcadia.

R569, the impact of the Nazis WAS pretty chilly.

Does anyone know this hot Broadway Gay?

[quote]Baby’s first BROADWAY BARES! Had such a blast raising money for @BCEFA 😍😍

Stoppard, like a lot of great British writers, will give you information in a scene before you have the context to understand it. As if you've joined in in the middle of the scene. Eventually, if you keep reading or listening, you'll be given the answers.

Such a shame Timothy Hughes is such a queen! Also, I've heard from a dresser that sexy Ramin is "rather small down there".

It amuses me no end that it's inevitably the theatrically illiterate who want to "fix" something (FOLLIES) that not only has never been broken, but, like URINETOWN, is one of the most audaciously conceived and successfully executed shows in the canon.

"Is it better than that borefest The Invention of Love?"

TIOL is very moving. It's THE COAST OF UTOPIA that's the dreary bore. But I'm really looking forward to the historical LEOPOLDSTADT and its (appropriately) non-diverse cast.

I could not believe the hot mess that is FAT HAM at The Public.

Some interesting (very unfinished) ideas and certainly lots of Chittlin Circuit laughs, but that play desperately needed a couple more drafts and a work shop. And an ending. I can't believe it was awarded the Pulitzer, even in a very weak year. Was the decision controversial? How does that script read on the page? How is that ending written?

r581

Maybe he's a grower not a shower(he is in my head at least)

Ar Last!!!! A play we can all get behind, and it's by a British legend!

You lost me with "in the first two acts."

Will there be an obese Trans actress dressed in neon pink in the new Stoppard play? Otherwise, why bother?

R578, um...the guy who tweeted it

R427 = Jennifer Holliday. Jen, your time was up years ago. There's a new bitch on Broadway in that musical PARADISE SQUARE who even blew You off the stage with her screaming and screeching at The Tony Awards for her so-called 'big number". You girls never learn.

And when are they gonna rewrite BAJOUR and bring it back? That was a superb musical!

FIRST MIDNIGHT!

Did you know Sandy was the first Peter ever to fly out over the audience?

On The Gay White Way, with Miss Susan Hayward, theatre lovers!

Good ol' Jane Froman...

Get Happy: A Judy Garland Centennial Celebration!

Created by John Kinsner and adapted for the concert stage by Thiago Tiberio, Get Happy celebrates the life and artistry of the legendary Judy Garland. Her Carnegie Hall debut in 1961 has become one of the most storied evenings in the Hall’s history, the live recording going on to win five Grammy Awards, making Garland the first solo woman to win the coveted Album of the Year. On the heels of her sold-out Carnegie Hall concert last season, Broadway’s Jessica Vosk brings Garland’s unforgettable songbook back to life at the Hall, accompanied by rare performance footage and interviews in this one-night-only celebration of an artist whose legacy continues to inspire fans around the world.

New Thread is up

R593, nope. Eva LeGallienne did it first.

and....

BAJOUR

[quote]It amuses me no end that it's inevitably the theatrically illiterate who want to "fix" something (FOLLIES) that not only has never been broken, but, like URINETOWN, is one of the most audaciously conceived and successfully executed shows in the canon.

From day one, lots of people have justly criticized the book of FOLLIES as problematic -- including many people who could not remotely be described as "theatrically illiterate," not even by a bitchy queen like you.