The devil in the sleeveless dress shines; others seethe. Plus straight guy arm moves and hoochie hips.
Continue here.
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The devil in the sleeveless dress shines; others seethe. Plus straight guy arm moves and hoochie hips.
Continue here.
by Anonymous | reply 603 | September 15, 2022 5:17 PM |
Who got to keep the sleeves? They should go to the Broadway Museum (if there is such a thing.)
by Anonymous | reply 2 | September 10, 2022 3:41 PM |
"Previus"? I'll "Oh dear" myself.
by Anonymous | reply 4 | September 10, 2022 3:43 PM |
I heard they don't make Julie wear spanks anymore either.
by Anonymous | reply 5 | September 10, 2022 3:51 PM |
All this "fat girl" maligned because of the dress is ridiculous. If you shop at Chico's, there's a reason.
by Anonymous | reply 6 | September 10, 2022 3:53 PM |
Would be interesting to know what Sondheim really thought of her. Oh well...
by Anonymous | reply 7 | September 10, 2022 3:54 PM |
I'd like Timothy Hughes deep inside me. I'll wager he shows up in the cast for Sweeney Todd.
by Anonymous | reply 8 | September 10, 2022 4:03 PM |
Lea to King Charles: Don't Reign on My Parade!
by Anonymous | reply 9 | September 10, 2022 4:10 PM |
Lousy title, OP. And someone pretty much handed you an idea for a good one towards the end of the last thread. (No, it wasn't me.)
by Anonymous | reply 10 | September 10, 2022 4:43 PM |
Is it true there's gonna be an all-Black revival of Follies in 2024?
by Anonymous | reply 11 | September 10, 2022 4:45 PM |
Yes, they're going to call it Fo'llies.
by Anonymous | reply 12 | September 10, 2022 4:46 PM |
No, R11, black people have had enough oppression.
by Anonymous | reply 13 | September 10, 2022 4:53 PM |
Lea is out of both Saturday shows today! Just announced on Instagram.
Now it starts.....
by Anonymous | reply 14 | September 10, 2022 4:57 PM |
[quote]Would be interesting to know what Sondheim really thought of her. Oh well...
To whom are you referring?
by Anonymous | reply 15 | September 10, 2022 4:57 PM |
Maybe she has Covid, dear.
by Anonymous | reply 16 | September 10, 2022 4:58 PM |
If she had Covid, she'd be out for more than 2 performances, dear.
by Anonymous | reply 17 | September 10, 2022 5:02 PM |
Adelaide Hall sounds like the name of a college dorm in Australia.
by Anonymous | reply 20 | September 10, 2022 5:06 PM |
Now folks we bring you live and in person
Direct from Phoenix
Lea Michele
Here she is at last
Twinkle in her eye
Hot off the press, strictly a mess, nevertheless
by Anonymous | reply 21 | September 10, 2022 5:09 PM |
Why did that hot mess from "Strange Loop" take off after "Some Like It Hot" in the Times?
by Anonymous | reply 22 | September 10, 2022 5:11 PM |
Nude Isaac Cole Powell as standby for Lea Michele
by Anonymous | reply 23 | September 10, 2022 5:17 PM |
A link would have been helpful, R22. I don't get why so many posters here are being so annoyingly enigmatic lately. Or maybe you're just lazy.
by Anonymous | reply 24 | September 10, 2022 5:22 PM |
Things were going way too smoothly over at FG this week. Of course something had to happen to fuck it up.
by Anonymous | reply 25 | September 10, 2022 5:29 PM |
Was LM known for absences in Spring Awakening? Or did no one care?
by Anonymous | reply 26 | September 10, 2022 5:31 PM |
Possible/Probable Covid is keeping Lea out of the show. It’s not like she took off to go to a wedding.
by Anonymous | reply 27 | September 10, 2022 5:33 PM |
Here's the comment to which R22 was referring but didn't bother to quote or provide a link:
[quote]L MORGAN LEE I was invited to one of the open dress rehearsals for “Some Like It Hot” and remember sitting there thinking, “They are going to get celebrated for this, when what’s happening here is actually really irresponsible.” I remember leaving the theater feeling like they invited a few trans people to be in the space, but they didn’t ask our opinions. Even with “Doubtfire” and “Tootsie,” the big question just keeps coming up: Why do we need these stories today? I do have serious concern and question with how much our business seems to insist on using this trope, and my show [“A Strange Loop”] does not get a pass in any way.
by Anonymous | reply 28 | September 10, 2022 5:36 PM |
There’s been an outbreak of Covid at FG this week so everyone is behaving responsibly by keeping Lea out of the show.
by Anonymous | reply 30 | September 10, 2022 5:45 PM |
[quote] If she had Covid, she'd be out for more than 2 performances, dear.
Oh gosh, DEAR, I guess this didn't go well for you.
by Anonymous | reply 31 | September 10, 2022 5:51 PM |
I don't have sleeves OR symptoms!
by Anonymous | reply 32 | September 10, 2022 6:02 PM |
Hi Gang!! I’m always off book and happen to be free tonight if you need me at Funny Girl
by Anonymous | reply 33 | September 10, 2022 6:25 PM |
Does Vulva Toadstool have the ‘Rona, too? I’m still traumatized over that video of her in Gypsy where we can see her panties.
by Anonymous | reply 34 | September 10, 2022 6:30 PM |
Her dress twirled up
by Anonymous | reply 35 | September 10, 2022 6:36 PM |
[quote]R14 Lea is out of both Saturday shows today! Just announced on Instagram. Now it starts.....
Jebus. Can someone hire some actual professionals, please?
by Anonymous | reply 36 | September 10, 2022 6:37 PM |
[quote]Previus
"o" dear.
by Anonymous | reply 38 | September 10, 2022 6:59 PM |
A bit late, r38.
by Anonymous | reply 39 | September 10, 2022 7:02 PM |
Aurora Spiderwoman deleted and turned off comments on that ICP video. The bitchiest comment I saw on there before I posted the link was along the lines of 'the jacket should be mustard, that's all I'll say'. So what did you bitches post?
by Anonymous | reply 40 | September 10, 2022 7:04 PM |
Some Like My Twat
by Anonymous | reply 41 | September 10, 2022 7:09 PM |
ICP?
by Anonymous | reply 42 | September 10, 2022 7:09 PM |
R42 Isaac Cole Powell singing Maria from west side story
I still see it
by Anonymous | reply 43 | September 10, 2022 7:27 PM |
Just turned off the comments, R43. Not deleted the video.
by Anonymous | reply 44 | September 10, 2022 7:41 PM |
If I was J. Harrison Ghee, I'd be heading over to Strange Loop ready to for some wig pulling.
by Anonymous | reply 45 | September 10, 2022 7:42 PM |
I was going to leave a comment earlier, but refrained, and came here instead.
by Anonymous | reply 47 | September 10, 2022 7:54 PM |
Lea is the Rami Malek of the theater world. She may get accolades for this, but she will never, ever be A list.
by Anonymous | reply 49 | September 10, 2022 8:18 PM |
R45. How about wig shitting
by Anonymous | reply 50 | September 10, 2022 8:22 PM |
[quote]A bit late, [R38].
Not necessarily, R39/R4/OP
by Anonymous | reply 51 | September 10, 2022 8:26 PM |
"Everybody's comin' down with Covid? Don't close down the show! Just throw Julie out there!"
by Anonymous | reply 52 | September 10, 2022 8:32 PM |
My god, the chemistry between Bob and Vulva was completely non-existent. Didn’t he also do it with his former Guiding Light co-star Kim Zimmer? Well, he was probably one of the hunkier Herbies .
by Anonymous | reply 53 | September 10, 2022 8:56 PM |
Did people pay thousands of dollars for Funny Girl seats this weekend?
by Anonymous | reply 54 | September 10, 2022 8:59 PM |
Josh Lewis has always been so fucking sexy.
by Anonymous | reply 55 | September 10, 2022 9:01 PM |
OK, who gave Beanie the Lea Michele voodoo doll?
by Anonymous | reply 56 | September 10, 2022 9:17 PM |
r48 Singing a third of the song with his hands in his pockets is a good idea for him
by Anonymous | reply 57 | September 10, 2022 9:43 PM |
It's fine to sacrifice me to COVID! That's why I'm here!
by Anonymous | reply 58 | September 10, 2022 9:45 PM |
Broadway.com has replaced Lea with Julie on their ticket sales page
by Anonymous | reply 59 | September 10, 2022 9:50 PM |
Shouldn't Julie get some sort of Tony Award?
by Anonymous | reply 60 | September 10, 2022 9:58 PM |
I want Julie nominated against Lea. Just throw everyone for a total loop.
by Anonymous | reply 61 | September 10, 2022 10:02 PM |
Broadway's Best Fanny
by Anonymous | reply 62 | September 10, 2022 10:07 PM |
I like Julie, but shes not all that. Shes a trooper, thats all. Miles above Beanie, but still not leading lady material.
by Anonymous | reply 63 | September 10, 2022 10:17 PM |
Why is Fanny dressed like a the ringmaster of a 3 ring circus?
by Anonymous | reply 64 | September 10, 2022 10:18 PM |
R64, it's been well established that nothing about this production makes any sense whatsoever. It's been like an episode of Smash.
by Anonymous | reply 65 | September 10, 2022 10:25 PM |
r10, if there was a better title, someone else was welcome to start the thread. I waited until r595 in the old thread to start this one, pretty much the last possible moment to get a new thread started and cross-posted, in hopes someone else would first. No one did. (Though, given the response to Lea's Covid news, it seems people are indeed clamoring for her drama, so this is at least relevant.)
by Anonymous | reply 66 | September 10, 2022 10:27 PM |
[quote]Shes a trooper
Only as Private Schwartz, r63.
by Anonymous | reply 67 | September 10, 2022 10:29 PM |
[quote]Why is Fanny dressed like a the ringmaster of a 3 ring circus?
She needs to lose the skirt, r64.
by Anonymous | reply 68 | September 10, 2022 10:34 PM |
The London Nicky Arnstein died due to inhalation of Chloroethane... Some articles say that it is used in pain treatment, others have said it's like Super Poppers. He died in Minnesota, near a renowned clinic, The Mayo Clinic. He'd apparently had chronic pain since a 2010 car accident. But he died in his rented apartment, situated near the clinic. Would this Chlorethane have been something prescribed for him by The Mayo Clinic?
by Anonymous | reply 69 | September 10, 2022 10:37 PM |
I gave Beanie the Lea Michele voodoo doll, but even I didn’t think it would work this well this quickly!
by Anonymous | reply 70 | September 10, 2022 10:44 PM |
Voodoo is extra effective when done from a lighthouse, Jane.
by Anonymous | reply 71 | September 10, 2022 10:53 PM |
Jane L is so tall and Tovah F is so short... I'd love to see a cage match between them... the size difference would be hysterical.
by Anonymous | reply 72 | September 10, 2022 11:12 PM |
We found our next Phyllis and Sally, r72!
by Anonymous | reply 73 | September 10, 2022 11:14 PM |
R66 - you quoted me in your thread-starter, so I'm delighted!
by Anonymous | reply 76 | September 11, 2022 1:31 AM |
A couple things about that NYT drag article:
1) Geesh, even the extraordinarily progressive STRANGE LOOP is not progressive enough for L. Morgan Lee. Truly there is no limit to complaint.
2) This section here gives me agita:
[quote] The musical adaptation of “Some Like It Hot,” a 1959 movie starring Jack Lemmon, Tony Curtis and Marilyn Monroe, promises that the film’s plot and characters “have been updated for a modern audience,” and one of its lead actors is nonbinary.
Ho boy, "updates for a modern audience" really means "updates for a statistically minuscule percent but disproportionately vocal faction of far left elites." 99.9% of the paying audience doesn't need woke updates to anything. The original film still works like a charm.
by Anonymous | reply 77 | September 11, 2022 1:40 AM |
r75
the wigs are safe until the 20th!
by Anonymous | reply 78 | September 11, 2022 1:43 AM |
I hope photos from that Bar Mitzvah party Lea attended don't go viral.
by Anonymous | reply 79 | September 11, 2022 1:55 AM |
God bless Julie Benko. She really does deserve a special Tony for her service. Or at least a starring role of her own in something.
by Anonymous | reply 80 | September 11, 2022 1:58 AM |
Man the wig shit “jokes” are tired. You’re like a toddler saying “poo” and cracking himself (and no one else) up
by Anonymous | reply 81 | September 11, 2022 2:00 AM |
The trolls here are like jackals. Once they get something in there teeth, they shake it until it’s well beyond dead.
by Anonymous | reply 82 | September 11, 2022 2:01 AM |
“Their”
by Anonymous | reply 83 | September 11, 2022 2:02 AM |
R69 Who lives, let alone dies, in Minnesota?
by Anonymous | reply 84 | September 11, 2022 2:09 AM |
Prince
by Anonymous | reply 85 | September 11, 2022 2:42 AM |
Dylan
by Anonymous | reply 86 | September 11, 2022 2:42 AM |
Rose
by Anonymous | reply 87 | September 11, 2022 2:44 AM |
by Anonymous | reply 88 | September 11, 2022 2:48 AM |
[quote]r81 Man, the wig shit “jokes” are tired.
Not in comparison to the whining about “woke” casting.
by Anonymous | reply 89 | September 11, 2022 2:48 AM |
I have a question. Because Lea is over the title, I’m assuming everyone gets a refund, however the grosses would have already been posted. So this week will look normal. The grosses will dip when people get their refunded ticket correct? So we won’t know how the grosses are affected for several weeks?
by Anonymous | reply 91 | September 11, 2022 2:59 AM |
R89 Jesus, sweet baby jesus, don't even mention it, whore.
by Anonymous | reply 92 | September 11, 2022 3:00 AM |
Everyone working on Broadway knows the cast of "Strange Loop" have been and continue to be unhappy about everything. The show will be lucky to make it to January...
by Anonymous | reply 94 | September 11, 2022 3:44 AM |
💃 [italic] If She Can Make It There
She'll Make It Any Where 🎶
by Anonymous | reply 95 | September 11, 2022 3:50 AM |
R94 Why are they unhappy?
by Anonymous | reply 96 | September 11, 2022 4:13 AM |
That’s kind of a borderline awful song @ r93. Is it from a show?
by Anonymous | reply 97 | September 11, 2022 4:25 AM |
Yes, we know.
by Anonymous | reply 100 | September 11, 2022 5:00 AM |
This isn't about a musical but today I saw the play Prima Facie, a proshot National Theatre production starring Jodie Comer from Killing Eve. The theater was full.
If you want to see a great one woman performance go see it. Check National Theatre website or this spring catch it on Broadway. Truly outstanding.
by Anonymous | reply 101 | September 11, 2022 5:10 AM |
Funny Girl, the issues keep coming.
Curse of Barbra?
by Anonymous | reply 102 | September 11, 2022 5:12 AM |
Maybe they should hire Laura Benanti as an alternate Fanny.
by Anonymous | reply 103 | September 11, 2022 5:28 AM |
Josh Groban has such dead, vacant eyes when he acts. Maybe that will actually work for ST? I would think something like The Phantom would be a better fit for him, he’s a stilted energy in theater.
by Anonymous | reply 104 | September 11, 2022 5:43 AM |
[quote]Funny Girl, the issues keep coming. Curse of Barbra?
Yes! Let's go with that!
by Anonymous | reply 105 | September 11, 2022 6:47 AM |
I don't understand. Is the character of Jerry in Some Like It Hot now non-binary or is the non-binary actor playing the role as a heterosexual man? Why would Joe be friends with a non-binary person in the 1930s? Seems like they'd be in very different cliques.
The one thing I appreciated about that article was the idea that it is now passe to make fun of men in dresses - I agree with that and understand how that could present danger to trans people and is, just generally, transgressive and coarse. But these men are running for their lives. Their disguise is keeping them alive. The humour rises out of the mistaken identities, like all good farce, and in Jerry's case, getting lost in his new identity. That seems a much shorter and more difficult arc to navigate if the character is non-binary.
by Anonymous | reply 106 | September 11, 2022 12:27 PM |
[quote] This isn't about a musical but today I saw the play Prima Facie, a proshot National Theatre production starring Jodie Comer from Killing Eve. The theater was full. If you want to see a great one woman performance go see it. Check National Theatre website or this spring catch it on Broadway. Truly outstanding.
It's part of the National Theatre's cinema series but is otherwise not a National Theatre production. Agreed that it is fantastic and Jodie Comer is remarkable in it.
by Anonymous | reply 107 | September 11, 2022 12:29 PM |
But why the fuck should it matter that one of the leads is non-binary? It’s as relevant as knowing they’re vegetarian or their favourite genre of music. What does the character and narrative require? That’s what’s important.
And secondly, audiences won’t know a performer’s pronouns, and if they do they won’t remember, or rather probably won’t care. Irrespective of how an actor may self-identify, if their character is gendered, if the narrative denotes a gender, if the costume and make-up and choreography denote a gender, the audience will read them as being of that gender.
Does nobody know anymore how theatre works? How theatre generates meaning? No wonder everything is so shit.
by Anonymous | reply 109 | September 11, 2022 12:40 PM |
[quote]Is the character of Jerry in Some Like It Hot now non-binary or is the non-binary actor playing the role as a heterosexual man? Why would Joe be friends with a non-binary person in the 1930s? Seems like they'd be in very different cliques.
My understanding is that the character now discovers that he’s non-binary (or trans or what have you) over the course of the story. He puts on women's clothing and something clicks.
That’s what I’ve been told anyway; not sure how accurate it is.
by Anonymous | reply 110 | September 11, 2022 12:44 PM |
R109, theater is another casualty of the woke.
by Anonymous | reply 111 | September 11, 2022 12:44 PM |
Well R110, that seems plausible but not something they'd be shouting from the rooftops in 1929. I don't think. Could be interesting.
by Anonymous | reply 112 | September 11, 2022 12:49 PM |
Nothing is allowed to be fun
by Anonymous | reply 113 | September 11, 2022 12:54 PM |
If Josh Groban is playing everything now, can he play Fanny too?
by Anonymous | reply 114 | September 11, 2022 1:02 PM |
Jerry (Daphne-Jack Lemmon) is obviously a starring role in Some Like it Hot so I wonder if the show will now be obligated to always cast the role with non-binary actors/understudies and how that will work out? Then again, it's Broadway so maybe there are many more non-binary actors out there on the street than I realize.
by Anonymous | reply 115 | September 11, 2022 1:23 PM |
Oh so they're making SLIH into shitty trans propaganda.
by Anonymous | reply 116 | September 11, 2022 1:30 PM |
Josh Groban is not really an actor
by Anonymous | reply 117 | September 11, 2022 1:31 PM |
[Quote] no, just another shitty movie to stage musical
by Anonymous | reply 118 | September 11, 2022 1:31 PM |
[Quote] Oh so they're making SLIH into shitty trans propaganda.
No, just another shitty movie to stage musical
by Anonymous | reply 119 | September 11, 2022 1:32 PM |
True, R119, but Some Like it Hot is a classic film, not some junk from the 80s or 90s.
by Anonymous | reply 120 | September 11, 2022 1:42 PM |
We need a non binary MAME and we need it now!!!!!!
by Anonymous | reply 121 | September 11, 2022 1:47 PM |
All the harder IMHO to make it great, r120. How do you cast roles created by Marilyn Monroe, Jack Lemmon, Joe E. Brown and even Tony Curtis, not to mention Billy Wilder's brilliant script and direction?
by Anonymous | reply 122 | September 11, 2022 1:48 PM |
Billy Porter as Mame, Ben Platt as Little Patrick
by Anonymous | reply 123 | September 11, 2022 1:51 PM |
[quote]Josh Groban is not really an actor
Well, he did attend Carnegie-Mellon in Musical Theater, so he must have some ability. Of course, he did drop out when he got the recording contract. His class at C-M also included Josh Gad, Leslie Odom, Jr., and Rory O'Malley.
by Anonymous | reply 124 | September 11, 2022 1:51 PM |
Julie Benko IS Gooch!!!!!
by Anonymous | reply 125 | September 11, 2022 1:54 PM |
[Quote] True, [R119], but Some Like it Hot is a classic film, not some junk from the 80s or 90s.
That makes it worse
by Anonymous | reply 126 | September 11, 2022 2:06 PM |
[quote]All the harder IMHO to make it great, [R120]. How do you cast roles created by Marilyn Monroe, Jack Lemmon, Joe E. Brown and even Tony Curtis, not to mention Billy Wilder's brilliant script and direction?
With Tony Roberts, Robert Morse, Cyril Ritchard, and Elaine Joyce?
by Anonymous | reply 127 | September 11, 2022 2:06 PM |
[quote] Rita Moreno will serve as the night’s narrator.
Because she’s too fucking old to sing and dance.
by Anonymous | reply 128 | September 11, 2022 2:24 PM |
Here we go: Some Like It Hot "promises that the film’s plot and characters “have been updated for a modern audience,” and one of its lead actors is nonbinary." Another bland musical version of a delightful film that has had its comedic guts removed to placate Broadway's woke very vocal minority. "Highly anticipated," now a likely "sure to miss."
by Anonymous | reply 129 | September 11, 2022 2:26 PM |
Osgood: Do you use a bow or do you pluck it?
Jerry/Daphne: Neither....I just slap it!
by Anonymous | reply 130 | September 11, 2022 2:50 PM |
I cannot read a Michael “Lunesta” Paulson sentence without falling asleep
by Anonymous | reply 131 | September 11, 2022 2:56 PM |
I laughed at r130 and know he’s being facetious. But is the dialogue at r130 lost on today’s generation? Do they have familiarity with the culture that produced jokes like that?
by Anonymous | reply 132 | September 11, 2022 3:11 PM |
R110 is correct. The Jerry character realizes through the course of the show that s/he likes the dress and can finally be his true herself. Because SOME LIKE IT HOT must really now be about trans empowerment. They are also now bringing in elements of racial struggle, which I applaud in the right piece. But in SOME LIKE IT HOT?
This is a sad modern attempt to apologize for or "fix" the original perfect film. As the elites of contemporary New York theater have declared, nothing written before 2010 is palatable to today's audiences and MUST be fixed and MUST address hot-button social issues.
So what do we get? London's LEGALLY BLONDE and Chicago's THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA. SOME LIKE IT HOT will face the same fate.
by Anonymous | reply 133 | September 11, 2022 3:13 PM |
Why must everything be updated for " modern audiences"? Are the new theater goers that obtuse that they can't relate to a classic work? Of course, they probably have never seen a movie made before 2000. It must be code for " woke."
by Anonymous | reply 134 | September 11, 2022 3:14 PM |
I always felt there should have been a Gay New Mame
Thomas Roberts is Mame
Don Lemon is a bitchy Vera
Anderson Cooper is Gooch
Gio Benitez is Sally Cato
Vaughn Hillyard is Patrick
Sam Champion is Mother Burnside
by Anonymous | reply 135 | September 11, 2022 3:36 PM |
I used to work with a guy who refused to watch black and white movies. He wanted to be a film director.
by Anonymous | reply 136 | September 11, 2022 3:36 PM |
FG has to hire an extra cover for Mrs Brice and her buddies. She was hired on Friday and went on yesterday afternoon with the script. There were something like 12 cast members out including the Fanny understudy. It will be a miracle if they don’t end up canceling performances. And, God, please protect Tovah. No one hug her!!!!!
by Anonymous | reply 137 | September 11, 2022 4:07 PM |
Tovah is ovah!
by Anonymous | reply 138 | September 11, 2022 4:11 PM |
Maybe it's for the best that Tovah eats off paper plates.
by Anonymous | reply 139 | September 11, 2022 4:22 PM |
Lea Michele is literally a disease ridden whore.
by Anonymous | reply 140 | September 11, 2022 4:22 PM |
Why isn’t Beanie joining Ben Platt on his America Stadium Tour? They could do a few duets.
by Anonymous | reply 141 | September 11, 2022 4:27 PM |
[quote] Jerry (Daphne-Jack Lemmon) is obviously a starring role in Some Like it Hot so I wonder if the show will now be obligated to always cast the role with non-binary actors/understudies and how that will work out? Then again, it's Broadway so maybe there are many more non-binary actors out there on the street than I realize.
I'm pretty sure this will be the first and last time we see this particular musical.
by Anonymous | reply 142 | September 11, 2022 4:46 PM |
[quote] My understanding is that the character now discovers that he’s non-binary (or trans or what have you) over the course of the story. He puts on women's clothing and something clicks.
[quote] [R110] is correct. The Jerry character realizes through the course of the show that s/he likes the dress and can finally be his true herself. Because SOME LIKE IT HOT must really now be about trans empowerment. They are also now bringing in elements of racial struggle, which I applaud in the right piece. But in SOME LIKE IT HOT?
How did the idea of another musicalization of [italic] Some Like It Hot [/italic] first come about? Did they have this trans-identity idea first ("Hey this story could actually about a trans awakening!"), or did they simply want to take on the material, for some reason, and then found they needed these STUPID plot and character points to avoid getting flamed or canceled?
by Anonymous | reply 143 | September 11, 2022 5:02 PM |
And here's another thought: If the Jerry character looks beautiful in their (!) female drag (instead of outrageously funny) where's the humor? Where's the fun?
by Anonymous | reply 144 | September 11, 2022 5:05 PM |
Oh silly r144. It's not about humor or fun, it's about [italic] empowerment [/italic] and [italic] reimagining [/italic] - two words I never need to hear again.
by Anonymous | reply 145 | September 11, 2022 5:19 PM |
By the way, speaking of reimagning, do we know for sure which is playing which in the Groban / Ashford [italic] Sweeney [/italic] ?
Surprise!!
by Anonymous | reply 146 | September 11, 2022 5:20 PM |
The REAL Fanny Brice will be on TCM shortly.
by Anonymous | reply 147 | September 11, 2022 5:34 PM |
Flo Pugh >>> Flo Ziegeld
by Anonymous | reply 148 | September 11, 2022 5:36 PM |
>>> Flo Ballard?
>>> Flo Henderson?
>>> Flo-Jo?
>>> Flo Foster Jenkins?
by Anonymous | reply 149 | September 11, 2022 5:38 PM |
Peter Francis-James (Flo Ziegfeld in FG) must be protected at all costs. He must spend the rest of his life playing President Obama in all media.
by Anonymous | reply 150 | September 11, 2022 5:56 PM |
>>>Flo Nightingale?
>>>Flo Lacey?
>>>Flo Italy?
by Anonymous | reply 151 | September 11, 2022 5:59 PM |
Heavy flo.
by Anonymous | reply 152 | September 11, 2022 6:12 PM |
Flo from Progressive
by Anonymous | reply 153 | September 11, 2022 6:17 PM |
Orinoco Flo
by Anonymous | reply 154 | September 11, 2022 6:54 PM |
Flo's Yellow Toes
by Anonymous | reply 155 | September 11, 2022 6:55 PM |
>>> "Kiss My Grits" Flo?
by Anonymous | reply 156 | September 11, 2022 6:56 PM |
You bitches claim to love FOLLIES, but you forgot about ME!
by Anonymous | reply 157 | September 11, 2022 7:58 PM |
You were a Flossie, not a Flo, r157.
by Anonymous | reply 159 | September 11, 2022 8:00 PM |
[quote]What About Transphobia?
[quote]ROSS In “Chicago” there’s Mary Sunshine. I will not steer away from saying that the role of Mary Sunshine is definitely deeply problematic. I haven’t fully processed it, because I understand where it sits in the show, but it’s jarring for me — it actually makes me flinch. I clap, because his voice is beautiful. But it’s almost as if I am vicariously experiencing that moment, and thinking that today that could happen to me — that someone would want to try to disrobe me.
I'm sorry. WTF? The role of Mary Sunshine is deeply problematic? Pulling the wig off Mary Sunshine is not about you and your fears that "someone would want to try to disrobe [you]." It's about theater and artifice. I have never read Mary Sunshine as transgender. Isn't the entire part based on the idea that nothing is as it seems? Am I hopelessly passé? Are Kander & Ebb too?
by Anonymous | reply 160 | September 11, 2022 8:13 PM |
R160 Is the guy in the photo having a stomach cramp?
by Anonymous | reply 161 | September 11, 2022 8:18 PM |
I find the character of Velma Kelly deeply problematic.
by Anonymous | reply 162 | September 11, 2022 8:26 PM |
I find getting up in the morning deeply troubling. Breathing and the act of existence triggers me.
by Anonymous | reply 163 | September 11, 2022 8:29 PM |
I can understand why someone might be disturbed by the character of Mary Sunshine. Someone who reports on untoward happenings happens to be the most untoward of all.
by Anonymous | reply 164 | September 11, 2022 8:31 PM |
The act of existence? You're dumb.
by Anonymous | reply 165 | September 11, 2022 8:32 PM |
[quote]I understand where it sits in the show, but it’s jarring for me — it actually makes me flinch. I clap, because his voice is beautiful. But it’s almost as if I am vicariously experiencing that moment, and thinking that today that could happen to me — that someone would want to try to disrobe me.
MARY!
by Anonymous | reply 166 | September 11, 2022 9:10 PM |
[quote]someone would want to try to disrobe me
I feel absolutely confident this will never, ever happen.
by Anonymous | reply 167 | September 11, 2022 9:11 PM |
L. Morgan Lee knows the only reason he has a Tony nomination is because he's a tranny, not for any particular talent he thinks he possesses, yes?
by Anonymous | reply 168 | September 11, 2022 9:13 PM |
"And Audra McDonald only has all those Tonys because she's black."
by Anonymous | reply 169 | September 11, 2022 9:15 PM |
The cretins in that NYT should be thrown in the trash.
by Anonymous | reply 170 | September 11, 2022 9:38 PM |
I'm sorry, but anyone who thinks Mary Sunshine is transphobic is a complete moron. What a complete crock. "Chicago" is a musical VAUDEVILLE. Or at least was originally conceived as one in 1975. Mary Sunshine plays up the Julian Eltinge / Female Impersonator archetype (he was one of many). Yes, at its most simplified it amounts to a drag act, but it's also celebrating/playing up an entire theatrical convention!
How anyone can paint it as transphobic is beyond insane. It's a complete misreading of history and centuries old theatrical tropes. If the "Some Like It Hot" plot rumors above are remotely true, it sounds like they're gone and ruined a classic. The whole thing will come across as a big, wokey anachronism. And that's a shame, as I love Shaiman, Wittman and Nicholaw.
by Anonymous | reply 171 | September 11, 2022 9:40 PM |
[quote] "And Audra McDonald only has all those Tonys because she's black."—Same ol' DL shit.
Careful straining yourself with that reach, hon.
by Anonymous | reply 172 | September 11, 2022 9:43 PM |
Dont worry. When the Furries get their due, nobody will pay attention to trans.
by Anonymous | reply 173 | September 11, 2022 9:44 PM |
Honey r171 everything is transphobic.
by Anonymous | reply 174 | September 11, 2022 9:45 PM |
[quote]If the "Some Like It Hot" plot rumors above are remotely true, it sounds like they're gone and ruined a classic. The whole thing will come across as a big, wokey anachronism.
And taking a classic comedy and trying to update it so as not to offend modern sensibilities worked SO well for the musical version of "Tootsie."
by Anonymous | reply 175 | September 11, 2022 9:45 PM |
"Agreed that it is fantastic and Jodie Comer is remarkable in it."
Unfortunately, the play disintegrates into a Hallmark problem drama by its conclusion. Statistics are not metaphor. Which is too bad, because it's such a great vehicle for an actress.
by Anonymous | reply 176 | September 11, 2022 9:52 PM |
[quote] And that's a shame, as I love Shaiman, Wittman and Nicholaw.
I was with you up to here.
by Anonymous | reply 177 | September 11, 2022 10:41 PM |
R160 - You're 100% correct.
by Anonymous | reply 178 | September 11, 2022 10:44 PM |
Oh dear - Tovah can't sing in the clip of Gypsy - but I'm sure she acted the shite out of it. She studied voice with the Callaway's mother, who presumably was able to teach her something. But, her own kids didn't study with her, so maybe not.
by Anonymous | reply 179 | September 11, 2022 10:57 PM |
FB post from the Funny Girl cover who went on yesterday on book as mentioned above. Such a great theatre/"the show must go on" story.
by Anonymous | reply 180 | September 11, 2022 11:16 PM |
Facebook links? Really?
by Anonymous | reply 181 | September 11, 2022 11:18 PM |
Well, this sounds... odd.
But at least it's 2 biological women as leads, presenting as biological women.
by Anonymous | reply 183 | September 11, 2022 11:26 PM |
Angel, Angel, Down We Go
by Anonymous | reply 184 | September 11, 2022 11:44 PM |
R183 And what sweet relief it is!
by Anonymous | reply 185 | September 11, 2022 11:46 PM |
Is there any audio of Tovah singing Who Taught Her Everything?
by Anonymous | reply 186 | September 11, 2022 11:54 PM |
The Song of Bernadette as a Broadway musical? Written by Frank Wildhorn?!
Oh sweet Jesus, leave her alone. That film was only successful because it was 1944, the darkest year of WWII, and audiences needed something to get through the night.
by Anonymous | reply 187 | September 11, 2022 11:57 PM |
No worries. In a couple of weeks there'll be videos of Tovah in FG that will be reposted here for years to come.
by Anonymous | reply 188 | September 11, 2022 11:58 PM |
Though my corpse rots in the grave, my song^ lives on!
by Anonymous | reply 189 | September 12, 2022 12:13 AM |
[quote]But at least it's 2 biological women as leads, presenting as biological women.
It's a workshop. By the time it is cast, a black trans woman will be St. Bernadette.
by Anonymous | reply 190 | September 12, 2022 12:20 AM |
Have to make the show updated for modern audiences.
by Anonymous | reply 191 | September 12, 2022 12:20 AM |
Fine. Set A Little Night Music in 1970s Oklahoma
Let Reba play the one who sings Clowns
Is that “updated”?
by Anonymous | reply 192 | September 12, 2022 12:26 AM |
Is The Song of Bernadette in public domain? The original German novel might be, because Werfel has been dead 70+ years. Same question about The Ghost and Mrs. Muir, is the original book public domain, because there are multiple musical versions.
Walter and Jean Kerr wrote a Broadway bomb play version of The Song of Bernadette years ago.
by Anonymous | reply 193 | September 12, 2022 1:01 AM |
MARY, MARY, r193!
by Anonymous | reply 194 | September 12, 2022 1:11 AM |
"The Song of Bernadette" should be the title of a Bernie Peters jukebox musical.
by Anonymous | reply 195 | September 12, 2022 1:26 AM |
I'm certain there will be hordes of flyover tourists at the TKTS Booth thinking that it is, r195.
I can still remember that lovely old tourist lady requesting tickets for The Scarlet Pumpernickel all those years ago. God knows what she thought she'd be seeing.
by Anonymous | reply 196 | September 12, 2022 2:00 AM |
R194, Jean Kerr is beaming from heaven.
by Anonymous | reply 197 | September 12, 2022 2:02 AM |
I heard someone at the TKTS booth ask for Barefoot in the Park with George. (I've posted this here and elsewhere before.)
by Anonymous | reply 198 | September 12, 2022 3:26 AM |
Is there a cast album r198?
by Anonymous | reply 199 | September 12, 2022 3:42 AM |
I was in line at TKTS in the 80s. Behind me was a middle-aged, conservatively dressed couple, presumably husband and wife. They were perusing the titles available, and when something struck them of interest, the woman referred to a brochure which contained a synopsis for each show. Noticing that La Cage Aux Folles was on the board and that it was playing right across the street at the Palace, the husband asked, "What's that about?" The wife riffed through her guide, gave it a quick read, paused, and said in a calm and steady manner, "It's about these two lumberjacks."
by Anonymous | reply 200 | September 12, 2022 4:19 AM |
"Kiss My Grits", Flo!
by Anonymous | reply 201 | September 12, 2022 5:02 AM |
They’re making The Ghost & Mrs. Muir into a musical?
by Anonymous | reply 202 | September 12, 2022 6:06 AM |
The Ghost and Mrs. Muir won't be in the public domain until 2049. Song of Bernadette is in the public domain.
by Anonymous | reply 203 | September 12, 2022 12:05 PM |
Song of Bernadette could be the best religious musical since the Shroud of Turin.
by Anonymous | reply 204 | September 12, 2022 12:06 PM |
Into the Light.
by Anonymous | reply 205 | September 12, 2022 12:39 PM |
A Jennifer Warnes musical?
by Anonymous | reply 206 | September 12, 2022 12:40 PM |
Linda Eder IS The Blessed Virgin
by Anonymous | reply 207 | September 12, 2022 1:01 PM |
[quote] FB post from the Funny Girl cover who went on yesterday on book as mentioned above. Such a great theatre/"the show must go on" story.
And the refund they gave to the audience because they had to have an actor on book was...?
by Anonymous | reply 208 | September 12, 2022 1:10 PM |
Hush, r208. We must fangurl over "cute" stories.
by Anonymous | reply 209 | September 12, 2022 1:12 PM |
(quote)I heard someone at the TKTS booth ask for Barefoot in the Park with George. (I've posted this here and elsewhere before.)
And those people pay for tickets, which support Broadway, which brings money to your city, which allows your city to " function" ( if that's what you call it.)
by Anonymous | reply 210 | September 12, 2022 1:33 PM |
r210 = Triggered
by Anonymous | reply 211 | September 12, 2022 1:38 PM |
There was a flop West End musical about St. Bernadette but it was just called Bernadette. Without a punctuation mark, unfortunately. Future Love, Actually/My Fair Lady actress Martine McCutcheon was in it when she was a kid.
by Anonymous | reply 212 | September 12, 2022 1:58 PM |
Someone should musicalize 'Black Narcissus' instead.
by Anonymous | reply 213 | September 12, 2022 2:08 PM |
Black Narcissus would be more appropriate for an opera.
by Anonymous | reply 214 | September 12, 2022 2:14 PM |
I thought Black Narcissus is Billy Porter's nickname.
by Anonymous | reply 215 | September 12, 2022 2:48 PM |
[quote][R210] = Triggered
Yep. In your city's dire situation, you should be thankful that anyone would want to come there and spend money, rather than make fun of them. You're not superior anymore ( if you ever were).
by Anonymous | reply 216 | September 12, 2022 3:02 PM |
[quote]There was a flop West End musical about St. Bernadette but it was just called Bernadette. Without a punctuation mark, unfortunately.
Yes, didn't the Four Tops have a hit with the big opening number?
by Anonymous | reply 217 | September 12, 2022 3:17 PM |
[quote]They’re making The Ghost & Mrs. Muir into a musical?
The title is too similar to my new book, "Ghosted By David Tyler Muir."
by Anonymous | reply 218 | September 12, 2022 3:18 PM |
I don't know R160, that was the one thing I agreed with in that NYT article: I can see where the "unmasking" of Mary Sunshine and what it implies would be problematic in this day and age. Unless we saw prior to that the character was intentionally masking themselves to deceive and persecute others - the intentions would almost have to be darker than they currently are to warrant that unmasking. It's not so much the context in the original piece but what it means today: transgender people - even gay people when they come out - are perceived in some corners as being duplicitous, deceptive and dishonest. The unmasking of Mary Sunshine probably reads much more cruel these days than originally intended and by ignoring the larger social context, the show could unwittingly be encouraging and advocating that kind of treatment as well as the displaced notion that a trans person is being deceptive when asserting their true self. I can see the complications there and the would encourage a re-positioning/re-imaging of that role. Y'know, it's been done that way for decades. Violence against other people, trans or gay or otherwise, is not worth one sight gag in a show that still has plenty to offer beyond that.
The non-binary Jerry thing...I guess we'll wait and see. Could be a miraculous reinvention. Or not.
by Anonymous | reply 219 | September 12, 2022 3:21 PM |
Why are the cast members of "A Strange Loop" unhappy?
by Anonymous | reply 220 | September 12, 2022 3:36 PM |
Wouldn't you be if you played to an audience of 7 every night?
by Anonymous | reply 221 | September 12, 2022 3:40 PM |
Unlike many Broadway musicals, there's nothing joyous (for want of a better word) being celebrated in A Strange Loop. I can see how that would be a drag to perform 8 times a week, especially for Black performers playing to a mostly White audience. And, even compared to something like Fun Home, depressing material for sure, there's not really much emotional release at the end.
by Anonymous | reply 222 | September 12, 2022 3:47 PM |
It's a big stretch to think that audiences are so easily persuaded that seeing Mary Sunshine unmasked would cause "violence" against trans people.
by Anonymous | reply 223 | September 12, 2022 4:14 PM |
The only thing that causes violence against trans people are the stories trans people make up about violence against them.
by Anonymous | reply 224 | September 12, 2022 4:18 PM |
Strange Loop is a sophomoric chore.
by Anonymous | reply 225 | September 12, 2022 4:32 PM |
Lena Hall as the new Audrey in LITTLE SHOP.
I like her.
by Anonymous | reply 226 | September 12, 2022 4:33 PM |
I would call it a *humongous* stretch, r223.
by Anonymous | reply 227 | September 12, 2022 4:35 PM |
ALMOST FAMOUS is doing a promo ticket giveaway--with NYC record stores!
What's a "record store," beloved elders?
by Anonymous | reply 228 | September 12, 2022 4:44 PM |
Kids like vinyl these days. The records look like big pieces of colorful candy.
by Anonymous | reply 229 | September 12, 2022 4:47 PM |
[r226] she has Katrina Lenk disease, where she sings with a foreign sounding accent of unknown origin.
by Anonymous | reply 230 | September 12, 2022 4:49 PM |
Almost Famous isn't worth sitting through even for free.
by Anonymous | reply 231 | September 12, 2022 4:50 PM |
"The Song of Bernie Sanders" could be the best political musical since "Fiorello!"
by Anonymous | reply 232 | September 12, 2022 5:17 PM |
Almost Famous is a guaranteed flop. Why did I even bother to spend the energy to write that?
by Anonymous | reply 234 | September 12, 2022 6:35 PM |
Tom Kitt has flop after flop: Superhero, The Visitor, Flying over Sunset and perhaps Almost Famous. Why do people keep hiring him?
by Anonymous | reply 235 | September 12, 2022 6:45 PM |
R219, while I appreciate the thought you put in into your post, I have to say I find your argument very odd and convoluted. Of course, it all depends largely on how one interprets the Mary Sunshine reveal, and THAT depends partly on exactly how it's played. I've always felt that it's played as a vaudeville bit and is completely inoffensive for that reason.
Also, silly as the whole idea may be, Mary Sunshine is supposed to be a man pretending to be a woman, for whatever reasons. I don't think trans or non-binary people think of themselves as "pretending" to be another gender.
by Anonymous | reply 236 | September 12, 2022 6:50 PM |
Flying Over Sunset has got to be one of the weirdest Broadway musicals, and not in a good way. Who was that show for?
by Anonymous | reply 237 | September 12, 2022 6:51 PM |
[quote]Almost Famous is a guaranteed flop. Why did I even bother to spend the energy to write that?
For the write-off?
by Anonymous | reply 238 | September 12, 2022 7:14 PM |
What is all this unmasking shit? Mary Sunshine is part of the vaudeville. The “unmasking” isn’t against her/his will. She’s part of the razzle dazzle world. “Things are not always what they seem” - that’s what she’s there for.
by Anonymous | reply 239 | September 12, 2022 7:17 PM |
Mary Sunshine is based on Julian Eltinge, who was a huge drag star in the 1910s and 20s. Just another vaudeville trope like Bert Williams etc.
by Anonymous | reply 240 | September 12, 2022 7:22 PM |
Maybe they ought to include info about the inspirations for all the characters in the Playbill. How many people really know what vaudeville is/was?
by Anonymous | reply 241 | September 12, 2022 7:24 PM |
R241, how many people are concerned about the Mary Sunshine reveal? No one. It's a shocking and fun moment. Let it be.
by Anonymous | reply 242 | September 12, 2022 7:26 PM |
The "Strange Loop" cast is unhappy about a lot: Having to perform 8 shows a week, winning a Tony but not selling any more tickets, the lack of Black audience members, understudies. .
by Anonymous | reply 243 | September 12, 2022 7:30 PM |
Why do you suppose a real woman (well......Christine Baranski) was cast as Mary Sunshine in the film of CHICAGO?
by Anonymous | reply 244 | September 12, 2022 7:31 PM |
[quote] The "Strange Loop" cast is unhappy about a lot: Having to perform 8 shows a week
Did they think they'd somehow only have to do four shows a week?
by Anonymous | reply 245 | September 12, 2022 7:44 PM |
Rr44, the musical numbers were changed from literal vaudeville turns into Roxie imagining them. The Mary Sunshine reveal wouldn't have worked as well with that format.
by Anonymous | reply 246 | September 12, 2022 7:49 PM |
^r44
by Anonymous | reply 247 | September 12, 2022 7:49 PM |
The film Chicago wasn't presented as a vaudeville. The musical numbers were in Roxie's head, so it'd be kinda odd for a female gossip columnist to suddenly be a drag queen in Roxie's fantasy sequences.
by Anonymous | reply 248 | September 12, 2022 7:49 PM |
Well, r240, they *did* cancel the Eltinge...
by Anonymous | reply 249 | September 12, 2022 7:52 PM |
Here's the new James Earl Jones Theatre, with its most distinctive feature restored - the illuminated blue glass proscenium arch. It is the only active Broadway theatre designed by Thomas W. Lamb. (His other Broadway theatre is the gorgeous Mark Hellinger Theatre, lost to the idiocies of religion).
by Anonymous | reply 250 | September 12, 2022 9:06 PM |
Wow. That was the first theater I ever worked in. I cannot believe how different it looks. That mezzanine bar area, especially. It looks both stunning and somehow sacrilegious. I wonder if they tore out my old dressing room.
by Anonymous | reply 251 | September 12, 2022 9:13 PM |
That mezzanine bar is in the new modern annex that was built next door.
by Anonymous | reply 252 | September 12, 2022 9:15 PM |
[quote] I wonder if they tore out my old dressing room.
You mean the one that you mopped nightly?
by Anonymous | reply 253 | September 12, 2022 9:18 PM |
Modern annex? If you're facing the front of the theater on the street, is it to the left or the right? (I don't live in NYC anymore and have not been to the Cort since The Cripple of Inishmaan, and haven't worked a show there since An American Daughter, which was 25 years ago!
by Anonymous | reply 254 | September 12, 2022 9:18 PM |
Interesting. So they built into the alley of the theater? Odd. I will definitely take a peek next time I'm in town. Thanks.
by Anonymous | reply 256 | September 12, 2022 9:40 PM |
The neighbouring building was redeveloped, this was built as part of that development it seems
by Anonymous | reply 257 | September 12, 2022 9:43 PM |
R226, I never noticed that Lena sings out of the side of her mouth before. I like her and the guitarist.
by Anonymous | reply 258 | September 12, 2022 10:26 PM |
Awwww, that alley next to The Cort was where Papi Raul would always go off to smoke when we did The Homecoming in 2007.
by Anonymous | reply 259 | September 12, 2022 10:41 PM |
[quote] Violence against other people, trans or gay or otherwise, is not worth one sight gag in a show that still has plenty to offer beyond that.
How ludicrous. The character of Mary Fucking Sunshine has never led to trans violence by any degree of separation. It's the equivalent of a RuPaul queen taking off her wig at the end of a set. The moment does not need to be rethought because one real-life tranny was triggered.
by Anonymous | reply 260 | September 13, 2022 2:15 AM |
I think a tranny is now playing Mary Sunshine.
by Anonymous | reply 262 | September 13, 2022 3:21 AM |
Julian Eltinge. What would he think of today's gender politics. Ridiculous or liberating? Would he go by he, she, or they?
by Anonymous | reply 264 | September 13, 2022 3:47 AM |
R264 Sir.
by Anonymous | reply 265 | September 13, 2022 4:23 AM |
Hadestown now has its first female-identifying Hermes, Playbill.com tells us.
I find the use of this turn of phrase fascinating and a little odd, not least because the director uses ‘woman’, and also effaces White’s own gender agency. I‘m unaware of any other instances where she has defines herself as ‘female-identifying’.
by Anonymous | reply 266 | September 13, 2022 9:38 AM |
no one know what the fuck is ok to fucking say.
by Anonymous | reply 267 | September 13, 2022 11:24 AM |
Brilliant analysis, R67. 🙄
by Anonymous | reply 268 | September 13, 2022 11:27 AM |
^Thanks!
by Anonymous | reply 269 | September 13, 2022 11:29 AM |
I feel bad for Lilias White. She has the voice and the drama to be a star…but she didn’t quite get there. I wonder why Audra succeeded but Lilias didn’t
by Anonymous | reply 270 | September 13, 2022 12:09 PM |
Ho w about her for Hadestown. She really needs a Tony.
by Anonymous | reply 271 | September 13, 2022 12:32 PM |
I think Lizzo is a great rep for the Glutton-America Community.
by Anonymous | reply 272 | September 13, 2022 12:40 PM |
Lizzo for St. Bernadette!!!
by Anonymous | reply 273 | September 13, 2022 12:46 PM |
Love the pic.😆
by Anonymous | reply 275 | September 13, 2022 12:56 PM |
[quote] I feel bad for Lilias White. She has the voice and the drama to be a star…but she didn’t quite get there. I wonder why Audra succeeded but Lilias didn’t
Audra is a deeper actress and has a more expressive, versatile voice.
Although White looks and acts like she has a huge voice, it's not that big. She riffs up a storm, but when you expect a huge black lady voice to come out, a smaller black lady voice comes out. It's somewhat disapointing actually
by Anonymous | reply 276 | September 13, 2022 12:58 PM |
So, Music Man, despite breaking records for months, is a flop. Ooooookkkaaayyyy.
by Anonymous | reply 277 | September 13, 2022 1:04 PM |
[quote]My understanding is that the character now discovers that he’s non-binary (or trans or what have you) over the course of the story. He puts on women's clothing and something clicks.
Um, but, didn't the movie itself hint at that? Jerry in the movie gets very excited about all the girlie gifts Osgood gives him right from the start, he loves staying out late dancing with Osgood and he loves being engaged, and by the time we get to the end I thought it was by no means clear that after "Nobody's perfect" he was going to get off that boat and never see Osgood again. I didn't get the impression it was about Osgood's wealth, but about being treated like a lady. Osgood was making Jerry HAPPY. By contrast, the totally straight romance of the other two is pretty nasty, really. What I'm saying is, the only change you'd need to make to the movie to make it clear Jerry has made the discoveries suggested by the quote above, is have Jerry smile in relief and delight after the famous last line. Wilder's ending is better, because it does leave us in suspense about the outcome, but it's all about being literal today.
Am I the only one who read the original like that?
by Anonymous | reply 278 | September 13, 2022 1:12 PM |
I suppose the difference is that the movie plays Jerry enjoying being a girl as a source of (some will say homophonic and/or transphobic) humor. No doubt the musical will play it as meaningful and semi-weighty.
by Anonymous | reply 279 | September 13, 2022 1:22 PM |
Did anyone see trans Roxie’s debut last night?
by Anonymous | reply 280 | September 13, 2022 1:27 PM |
R279, I'm sure audiences read it that way, but when you compare the two romances, even from today's point of view, it really is the queer one that comes off far the best. Maybe Wilder is laughing at the audience's laughter.
by Anonymous | reply 281 | September 13, 2022 1:49 PM |
[quote] Wouldn't you be if you played to an audience of 7 every night?
Hey, at least it will make a great story for cabaret shows later in life.
—Patti LuPone, star of The Baker’s Wife, playing Washington DC in a blizzard
by Anonymous | reply 282 | September 13, 2022 2:08 PM |
No star replacement for Hugh? Wonder if they tried very hard.
by Anonymous | reply 283 | September 13, 2022 2:15 PM |
[quote] how many people are concerned about the Mary Sunshine reveal? No one. It's a shocking and fun moment.
It’s no longer shocking. Everyone knows it’s a dude.
by Anonymous | reply 284 | September 13, 2022 2:19 PM |
Has Dame Edna been canceled? How is her (his, their) career doing?
by Anonymous | reply 285 | September 13, 2022 2:28 PM |
R277-It's the new Broadway formula. Charge obscene amounts for tickets, have the greed and audacity to charge $76 for Standing Room, then close in a year or less, claiming nobody made any money. Always worked for Rudin!
by Anonymous | reply 286 | September 13, 2022 2:57 PM |
There's more story behind MUSIC MAN closing than this article contains. (Hugh out to campaign for an Oscar? Okay. And absolutely no mention of Sutton Foster as a box office draw, even miscast.)
If the article is to be trusted, Scott Rudin has some very odd notions of stardom: apparently, only Jeff Daniels and Hugh are irreplaceable, unstoppable box office draws.
[quote]“The Music Man” will have played a paltry 358 performances, making it one of the shortest runs ever for a totally sold out show.
I'm okay with that.
by Anonymous | reply 287 | September 13, 2022 3:07 PM |
I don't know if Dame Edna was ever officially canceled, but her last Bway engagement tanked. And Barry Humphries joined the anti-trans bandwagon early on.
by Anonymous | reply 288 | September 13, 2022 3:10 PM |
The sad part about Humphries comments ?....Hes right.
by Anonymous | reply 289 | September 13, 2022 3:25 PM |
[quote] “The Music Man” will have played a paltry 358 performances, making it one of the shortest runs ever for a totally sold out show.
The Bierko/Luker/McCormick/Leonard ran for 699
by Anonymous | reply 291 | September 13, 2022 3:28 PM |
And was a hell of a lot better!!!!
by Anonymous | reply 292 | September 13, 2022 3:31 PM |
It’s a ridiculously ill-conceived production. Recasting and rehearsing is expensive. They made a shit ton of money. Better to pocket their huge profits and call it a day.
It’s Boy From Oz, Part Deux.
by Anonymous | reply 293 | September 13, 2022 3:39 PM |
[quote][R277]-It's the new Broadway formula. Charge obscene amounts for tickets, have the greed and audacity to charge $76 for Standing Room, then close in a year or less, claiming nobody made any money. Always worked for Rudin!
Where has it been claimed that "nobody made any money" on this show? Has there be an announcement that it will not have recouped by the time of its closing? Maybe I missed it, but there's no such statement in the brief article linked to above.
by Anonymous | reply 294 | September 13, 2022 3:46 PM |
The article says every producer outside of Rudin stands to lose money R294.
by Anonymous | reply 295 | September 13, 2022 4:11 PM |
Ben Platt for Harold Hill! Beanie Feldstein for Marian! Julie Benko for Mrs. Shinn!
by Anonymous | reply 296 | September 13, 2022 4:15 PM |
Aaron Tveit and Laura Osnes could have replaced Hugh and Sutton.
by Anonymous | reply 297 | September 13, 2022 4:23 PM |
Or Andy Karl and Orhef
by Anonymous | reply 298 | September 13, 2022 4:27 PM |
R298, Typo or fat shaming?
by Anonymous | reply 299 | September 13, 2022 4:29 PM |
oh shit! Orfeh.
by Anonymous | reply 300 | September 13, 2022 4:30 PM |
Can Channing Tatum sing?
by Anonymous | reply 301 | September 13, 2022 4:32 PM |
[quote]The article says every producer outside of Rudin stands to lose money [R294].
What the article linked to at R274 says is, "Some investors may lose their shirts." That sounds pretty vague to me.
by Anonymous | reply 302 | September 13, 2022 4:32 PM |
It's pretty specific if you're no longer have a shirt.
by Anonymous | reply 303 | September 13, 2022 4:33 PM |
[quote]The article says every producer outside of Rudin stands to lose money
Stepping back sounds pretty profitable.
by Anonymous | reply 304 | September 13, 2022 4:37 PM |
Aaron Tveit and Laura Osnes = SNORE
by Anonymous | reply 305 | September 13, 2022 4:43 PM |
The Music Man was grossing $3.5 million/week.
by Anonymous | reply 306 | September 13, 2022 4:44 PM |
Ben Platt FLOPS at the Hollywood Bowl. Largely empty, heavily papered house. Didn't stop them from pulling out the fireworks at the end of the show. This is nepotism at its finest. He's not untalented, but the mass appeal he believes (and his "team" believes) he has is GROSSLY overblown. He should've played the Greek or the Ace Hotel DTLA.
by Anonymous | reply 307 | September 13, 2022 4:45 PM |
^^but on the other hand, he's not talented, either.
by Anonymous | reply 308 | September 13, 2022 4:48 PM |
Were these dates booked before the Evan Hansen movie came out?
by Anonymous | reply 309 | September 13, 2022 4:49 PM |
The dates were probably booked when he was in utero.
by Anonymous | reply 310 | September 13, 2022 4:52 PM |
That Kelly Clarkson cover is not great. The number of people claiming ownership of Sondheim now that he can't hear them is pretty astonishing.
by Anonymous | reply 311 | September 13, 2022 4:53 PM |
Good thing Steve is dead! He tore me a new asshole for playing around with his songs, I don’t think he’d be too kind to Miss American Idol!
by Anonymous | reply 312 | September 13, 2022 5:08 PM |
The irony of The Music Man closing is that Hugh Jackman isn't likely to be nominated for an Oscar for The Son, which already received tepid reviews wherever it premiered recently (Telluride? Venice?). I never liked Florian Zeller's The Father but you couldn't fault the performances. Apparently, given the narrative construction of The Son (and it's inane superficiality and poor treatment of mental illness) Jackman's performance doesn't really work.
They're obviously thinking that Hugh is going to have the same prospects as Anthony Hopkins did - but these are totally different things. Firstly, Hugh is NOT Anthony Hopkins. Also, The Son is even worse than The Father - and whereas Hopkins was able to wring empathy from audiences despite the hoary conceit of the enterprise, Hugh's character doesn't present the same opportunity. But, of course, people are thinking Florian Zeller = Oscar. What a joke.
Who knows? Audiences are so stupid, maybe it will catch on. More likely another failed Oscar bid from Jackman like 2018's The Front Runner when poor Hugh thought two years into the Trump administration, someone would care about, erm, Gary Hart. Oh, Hugh. All those people are going to lose their jobs for nothing. It's probably killing him to do TMM anyway.
by Anonymous | reply 313 | September 13, 2022 5:12 PM |
I'll always love Steve for writing "Meadowlark" for me, though.
by Anonymous | reply 314 | September 13, 2022 5:13 PM |
I'm ashamed to say that 2 friends on my FB over the weekend posted about going to see Ben Platt in concert. Good gawd. Immediately unfriended them, of course.
by Anonymous | reply 315 | September 13, 2022 5:13 PM |
R314, you fucking bitch.
by Anonymous | reply 316 | September 13, 2022 5:13 PM |
They finally made a movie of The Front Runner?
by Anonymous | reply 317 | September 13, 2022 5:14 PM |
Platt's concert sounds pretty full and the audience sounds receptive.
by Anonymous | reply 318 | September 13, 2022 5:16 PM |
R317, not the classic gay novel. It was a re-telling of Gary Hart's ill-fated Presidential campaign which no one was interested in during the Trump years. Must seem quite quaint.
by Anonymous | reply 319 | September 13, 2022 5:19 PM |
Kelly Clarkson for Sally! Laura Benanti for Phyllis! Follies 2032!
by Anonymous | reply 320 | September 13, 2022 5:38 PM |
Damn, the weekly grosses for Into the Woods dropped more than $800,000. It looks like Sara Bareilles was the big draw, after all. (And maybe also Phillipa Soo.)
by Anonymous | reply 321 | September 13, 2022 5:43 PM |
Put Jewel into it!
by Anonymous | reply 322 | September 13, 2022 5:44 PM |
Kelly Clarkson ought to find out from her American Idol/movie partner Justin Guarini how to sing Broadway music properly. He was extremely impressive when I saw him at Encores in "Paint Your Wagon". Very much in the proper style too. Really good.
by Anonymous | reply 323 | September 13, 2022 5:48 PM |
Clarkson is a pop star.
by Anonymous | reply 324 | September 13, 2022 5:53 PM |
r288 Not anti anything. He is correct.
by Anonymous | reply 325 | September 13, 2022 5:54 PM |
What an absolute nightmare R296.
by Anonymous | reply 326 | September 13, 2022 5:56 PM |
I'd prefer Jane Lynch for Harold Hill. Melissa Benoist for Marian.
by Anonymous | reply 327 | September 13, 2022 5:57 PM |
Philippa Soo??? Ahhahahhahahahhahahhahahahah
by Anonymous | reply 328 | September 13, 2022 5:58 PM |
BAWL SACK!
by Anonymous | reply 329 | September 13, 2022 6:00 PM |
I think it was a big mistake to put ONLY X MORE WEEKS TO SEE THE ORIGINAL CAST in the ITW ads. Made some people think they had to see the originals because the show wouldn’t be as good with replacements.
by Anonymous | reply 330 | September 13, 2022 6:02 PM |
How quickly they forget that a replacement can tranform a show, far exceeding the the fiasco it was before...
by Anonymous | reply 331 | September 13, 2022 6:05 PM |
Is there very little scenery in this production of ITW? At Broadway prices? The original had quite a bit, starting with the giant leg outside the theater.
by Anonymous | reply 332 | September 13, 2022 6:05 PM |
Dont forget about me...
by Anonymous | reply 333 | September 13, 2022 6:06 PM |
[quote]It's pretty specific if you're no longer have a shirt.
I'm sure you think that's hilarious (despite your typo), but I till say that the statement "SOME investors MAY lose their shirts" is pretty vague. In fact, very vague.
[quote]The Music Man was grossing $3.5 million/week.
Exactly. If any of the investors "lose their shirts," they should call for an investigation of Rudin, whom we all know is still running the show.
by Anonymous | reply 334 | September 13, 2022 6:08 PM |
Did Donna Murphy do number$ for her Dolly performances?
by Anonymous | reply 335 | September 13, 2022 6:08 PM |
What - 4 performances so far, Lea? Yes, we know you're covid positive, but still... wait till you're opening to announce you've saved Broadway.
by Anonymous | reply 336 | September 13, 2022 6:08 PM |
"your" that is
by Anonymous | reply 337 | September 13, 2022 6:08 PM |
Honey, with sold out shows and climbing ticket prices, you can bet your ass I saved this shitshow...elevating it from a High School musical to a true Broadway event. Fuck off hater
by Anonymous | reply 338 | September 13, 2022 6:12 PM |
[quote]I till say that the statement "SOME investors MAY lose their shirts" is pretty vague.
Still say. Sorry.
by Anonymous | reply 339 | September 13, 2022 6:17 PM |
Benko kept it running until you came along, and she's still keeping it running until you return. Not a Lea hater, just telling the truth. Lea sounds really good in the clips released. Get a grip.
by Anonymous | reply 340 | September 13, 2022 6:18 PM |
I'd wager Hello, Dolly! could still be running with any number of perfectly well-qualified women in the lead role instead of shutting it down once Bette, Bernadette and Donna left. It certainly worked for the original production. I saw the tour in San Francisco, and while Betty Buckley left something to be desired as Dolly, the rest of the production was a treat, one that had nothing on its mind but to entertain. (Fine, I might have toned down some of the day-glo sorbet costumes for the chorus.) But I do think The Music Man is a harder show to cast (or re-cast) correctly.
by Anonymous | reply 341 | September 13, 2022 6:19 PM |
Benko kept it running until Lea came along, and she's still keeping it running until you return. Not a Lea hater, just telling the truth. Lea sounds really good in the clips released. Get a grip.
by Anonymous | reply 342 | September 13, 2022 6:19 PM |
Wasn't Rudin sued by some Dolly investors, saying they barely made back their investments which was totally at odds with attendance and financial reports they saw during the run?
by Anonymous | reply 343 | September 13, 2022 6:19 PM |
Put Nathan Lane in as Harold. Hill is really a character part anyway (Robert Preston started as a movie villain). Take out some of the dancing, and he'd still be entertaining as hell.
by Anonymous | reply 344 | September 13, 2022 6:21 PM |
sorry for the repeat post - system acting funny.
by Anonymous | reply 345 | September 13, 2022 6:23 PM |
Matthew Broderick and SJP could take over the leads.
by Anonymous | reply 346 | September 13, 2022 6:23 PM |
Familiar names like Sean Hayes and Kristin Chenoweth would've been decent draws for MM.
by Anonymous | reply 347 | September 13, 2022 6:24 PM |
Kristin's been there/done that, r347...
by Anonymous | reply 348 | September 13, 2022 6:25 PM |
Oh yeah, R348. But would she have said no?
by Anonymous | reply 349 | September 13, 2022 6:27 PM |
Taye Diggs and Adele Dazeem might have been fun.
by Anonymous | reply 350 | September 13, 2022 6:30 PM |
R331, You betcha.
by Anonymous | reply 351 | September 13, 2022 6:32 PM |
Hopefully they'd put the keys back for Kristin (though they lowered them for her on tv for some reason). Folks at the network must think the general public isn't used to, or are scared, by sopranos! Matthew was not good as Harold Hill.
by Anonymous | reply 352 | September 13, 2022 6:33 PM |
Speaking of Ms. Dazeem, anyone else see her flogging her clothing line on QVC last month? I believe it was called Encore.
by Anonymous | reply 353 | September 13, 2022 6:33 PM |
Speaking of replacements, Aurora has Susan Lucci, Cheryl Ladd, and Marilu Henner on their channel. They each perform "You Can't Get A Man With A Gun" and each of them is terrible. Susan Lucci's singing is especially dreadful.
by Anonymous | reply 354 | September 13, 2022 6:34 PM |
Benko didn’t keep anything open R340. She’s an understudy. She’s not selling tickets. Period.
by Anonymous | reply 355 | September 13, 2022 6:35 PM |
Remember that Roger Friedman author of that "article" knows very little and is writing only bitchy opinion. It's not like he did research or got fact.
[quote] So hundreds of people lose their jobs. Some investors may lose their shirts. But someone’s got to pay for those 76 trombones.
Hundreds of people also GOT jobs from the show happening at all.
by Anonymous | reply 356 | September 13, 2022 6:36 PM |
r343 I don't think they actually sued, but they kicked up a fuss, and all of a sudden Rudin was able to increase the return to investors
[quote]But for a hit that grossed $128.19 million (more than any revival in Broadway history not called Chicago), some investors have been grumbling. While the production recouped its $15.9 million investment last winter, a detailed report of its finances disclosed that backers only made 5% on their buy-in as of last week.
[quote]Possibly in response to the report, the show's LLC distributed additional checks over the weekend. Several investors confirmed today that another 5% had come in, with a note saying more was on the way. This makes the musical's financial picture a bit more rosy than initially disclosed.
by Anonymous | reply 357 | September 13, 2022 6:39 PM |
Was Joy Behar seriously asked to take over when Midler left? Or was she only joking?
by Anonymous | reply 358 | September 13, 2022 6:41 PM |
[quote]Hopefully they'd put the keys back for Kristin (though they lowered them for her on tv for some reason). Folks at the network must think the general public isn't used to, or are scared, by sopranos!
There's a general feeling that high soprano and tenor keys in Broadway scores need to be lowered at least somewhat for the film versions, to make them sound more natural. This is nothing new. Even some of Shirley Jones' keys in THE MUSIC MAN were somewhat lower than Barbara Cook's.
by Anonymous | reply 359 | September 13, 2022 6:45 PM |
They should have asked Verdi soprano Aprile Millo to take over from Bette Midler. The are dead ringers for each other, and Millo could have gotten a few months of business from Met Opera fans.
by Anonymous | reply 360 | September 13, 2022 6:46 PM |
[quote]Aaron Tveit and Laura Osnes could have replaced Hugh and Sutton.
Laura is busy these days singing at a rodeo.
by Anonymous | reply 361 | September 13, 2022 6:48 PM |
A well to do ugly bootlegger?
by Anonymous | reply 363 | September 13, 2022 6:57 PM |
[quote] Has Dame Edna been canceled? How is her (his, their) career doing?
Dame Edna is at least a zillion years old.
That said, I don't care for the drag queen schtick but Every Dame Edna Bway show was absolutely hilarious
by Anonymous | reply 364 | September 13, 2022 6:59 PM |
[quote] They should have asked Verdi soprano Aprile Millo to take over from Bette Midler.
Millo is up to around 300 lbs at this point
by Anonymous | reply 365 | September 13, 2022 7:00 PM |
There was a rumor that Nathan was asked whether he'd be interested in replacing Bette (he wasn't). It wasn't without precedent. Merrick asked Jack Benny and his good friend George Burns whether they'd be interested in being replacement Dolly and Vandergelder (they weren't).
by Anonymous | reply 366 | September 13, 2022 7:11 PM |
Danny LaRue played Dolly successfully in the regions, and less successfully in the West End.
by Anonymous | reply 367 | September 13, 2022 7:12 PM |
How about Harvey Fierstein as Dolly
by Anonymous | reply 368 | September 13, 2022 7:13 PM |
They should have asked RuPaul to play Dolly. They could have raised the Pearl Bailey keys.
by Anonymous | reply 369 | September 13, 2022 7:17 PM |
RuPaul is made for the cameras, not live performance.
by Anonymous | reply 370 | September 13, 2022 7:18 PM |
Tell me about it, Reebs!
by Anonymous | reply 371 | September 13, 2022 7:22 PM |
I wonder what the Streisand recording was that Sondheim didn't care for. He said lovely things about her in the past including something about how, when he saw Funny Girl, it was the first time he saw someone able to sing and act at the same time.
by Anonymous | reply 372 | September 13, 2022 7:29 PM |
Back To Broadway.
by Anonymous | reply 373 | September 13, 2022 7:33 PM |
I honestly think some of the issue with The Music Man and finding Hugh's replacement is how the whole role was re-conceived (arguably ill-conceived) as a tap-dancing song and dance vehicle. While impressive, I think the whole show leaned too heavily into the choreography and Hugh leading the charge. It would have to be radically reshaped with another star, especially if they went with a non-dancer.
I honestly think the excessive hoofing aspect undercuts the character of Harold Hill. While he might be a little long in the tooth, a Bryan Cranston would make for a fantastic HH. In fact, any number of Hollywood leading men, and leading character actors might have made for a fascinating HH. A Tom Hanks or Ryan Reynolds would absolutely destroy in the part. They need basic musicality voice-wise -- it's really more an acting part, as evidenced by Preston's magical turn.
by Anonymous | reply 374 | September 13, 2022 7:33 PM |
[Quote] it was the first time he saw someone able to sing and act at the same time.
!
by Anonymous | reply 375 | September 13, 2022 7:34 PM |
Could Zac Efron pull off Harold Hill?
by Anonymous | reply 376 | September 13, 2022 7:35 PM |
Stritch @r375, you could never sing. And your only acting choice was “loud”.
by Anonymous | reply 377 | September 13, 2022 7:38 PM |
Nope.
by Anonymous | reply 378 | September 13, 2022 7:40 PM |
Oh, please. Streisand in A Delicate Balance (Of Off White)? I think not.
by Anonymous | reply 379 | September 13, 2022 7:40 PM |
I would agree with R341 that they could've left 'Dolly' running another couple of years with a revolving door of ladies. It would've continued to follow the 'ethos' of the original Merrick production (which Rudin was DEFINITELY trying to pay off), wherein they brought beloved stars of the past (and present) into the role and tailored it around their unique shtick.
The Music Man, as conceived by Zaks/Carlyle, doesn't allow this flexibility at ALL. The Stroman revival, which was far superior in every way, really allowed for different Harold Hills to be dropped into the existing fabric of the show. I'm actually surprised they didn't consider this from the outset. The production was way too Hugh-dependent.
by Anonymous | reply 380 | September 13, 2022 7:41 PM |
I thought Sondheim was referring to the amateurish tape when he wrote ‘I hope you enjoy THIS more than I did.’ and it was just awkwardly placed after the thank you for Streisand.
by Anonymous | reply 381 | September 13, 2022 7:44 PM |
Marin Mazzie passed away four years ago today. What a loss.
by Anonymous | reply 382 | September 13, 2022 7:45 PM |
r381 He says "...than I did that." so he's obviously referring to the Streisand record. The 'that' pretty much rules out your interpretation.
by Anonymous | reply 383 | September 13, 2022 7:51 PM |
[quote]I hope you enjoy THIS more than I did.
r381, He wrote...
[quote]I hope you enjoy THIS more than I did THAT
by Anonymous | reply 384 | September 13, 2022 7:51 PM |
She was wonderful. Such a strange thing that she has no Tony wins either. But she was beloved -- her memorial filled the Gershwin theater with some of the biggest names in theater.
by Anonymous | reply 385 | September 13, 2022 7:52 PM |
They should've got Barbra to do Hello, Dolly! for a bit after Bette. At least she would've been the right age for it. She could've done like 8 weeks?
by Anonymous | reply 386 | September 13, 2022 8:15 PM |
Roz Kind *is* Tuesday night Dolly.
by Anonymous | reply 387 | September 13, 2022 8:18 PM |
Someone on Insta refers to a Streisand version of Shall We Dance? Anyone know what they were referring to?
by Anonymous | reply 389 | September 13, 2022 8:34 PM |
[quote] her memorial filled the Gershwin theater with some of the biggest names in theater.
ALL the biggest names in theater couldn't fill the Booth Theater
by Anonymous | reply 391 | September 13, 2022 9:36 PM |
[quote] Millo could have gotten a few months of business from Met Opera fans.
ALL the Met Opera fans couldn't fill the Booth Theater
by Anonymous | reply 392 | September 13, 2022 9:44 PM |
Yes Dame Edna is hilarious.
We saw her do her show in Indy and a group of folks came in about 15 minutes late. She stopped the show and had us all watch them take their seats. She asked them where they were from and they said they were from Carmel - which is just north of town.
She paused and then said: "I came here all the way from Australia and I got here on time....."
by Anonymous | reply 393 | September 13, 2022 9:49 PM |
The funniest thing is it was Doris Day's retirement group.
by Anonymous | reply 394 | September 13, 2022 9:51 PM |
Sorry, but I think it's foolish to think that a show like DOLLY could have the long-lasting appeal on Broadway now that it had in the 1960s. In spite of Bette's great success with the revival, times (and ticket prices) have simply changed too much.
And while 60s audiences might have thrilled to the likes of Ginger Rogers, Betty Grable and even Martha Raye and Phyllis Diller, we just don't have older actresses with that kind of nostalgic appeal that would kill in the role and endlessly put butts in seats nowadays. I mean who seriously could have succeeded Bette on Broadway for longer than a month or 2? Was Bernadette really financially successful as a replacement? Betty Buckley? Carolee Carmello? Hah! Could someone like Jean Smart, for instance, sell premium tix for more than a few weeks?
That production had huge running costs and needed to make well over a million and a half a week to be profitable. And audiences now have too many other streamable options to watch their old favorites......if the very notion of "old favorites" even exists any more.
by Anonymous | reply 395 | September 13, 2022 9:57 PM |
R393 That's the best part of an Edna show. S/he is unparalleled at riffing on whatever's happening in the room. And so brilliant at poking fun at people, mostly without them even knowing it.
by Anonymous | reply 396 | September 13, 2022 9:58 PM |
Goldie Hawn!
by Anonymous | reply 397 | September 13, 2022 9:58 PM |
Reunite Brian Stokes Mitchell and Audra McDonald to replace Hugh and Sutton
by Anonymous | reply 398 | September 13, 2022 9:59 PM |
[quote]Has Dame Edna been canceled? How is her (his, their) career doing?
Barry Humphries is 88 years old and is essentially retired. I don't think he's focusing on his career these days.
by Anonymous | reply 399 | September 13, 2022 10:47 PM |
He's currently focusing on a fruit cup.
by Anonymous | reply 400 | September 13, 2022 10:49 PM |
I thought Kelly sounded great, actually! Lovely pop voice and good for her singing Sondheim.
I'm confused about Music Man-- Hugh is out promoting THE SON and is not going to return at all? I couldn't quite tell from that 411 article. That's can't be right--he'd come back and do the very end, no? Or is he already back?
by Anonymous | reply 401 | September 13, 2022 11:27 PM |
Someone needs to tell Hugh he’s not getting the Oscar
by Anonymous | reply 402 | September 13, 2022 11:39 PM |
R395 Cyndi Lauper could have been a fun Dolly Levi.
by Anonymous | reply 403 | September 13, 2022 11:50 PM |
Dame Edna was hilarious when playing at the Booth and Sandy Duncan was doing Chicago at the Shubert.
S/he said: "Don't be too noisy! The possums next door at Chicago will hear what a real audience sounds like. Little Sandy Duncan will have a glass pressed up against the wall listening."
by Anonymous | reply 404 | September 13, 2022 11:58 PM |
I would have gone with "will have her glass eye pressed ug against the wall listening."
by Anonymous | reply 405 | September 14, 2022 12:00 AM |
That would be difficult since Sandy doesn't have a glass eye.
by Anonymous | reply 406 | September 14, 2022 12:03 AM |
That would be difficult since Sandy doesn't have a glass eye.
by Anonymous | reply 407 | September 14, 2022 12:03 AM |
"The Stroman revival, which was far superior in every way," Which is damning with faint praise. That production didn't have an original idea in its head (down to the casting of the Preston sound-alike leading man), didn't understand the comedy, but when Harold Hill revealed the marbles to be marshmallows BEFORE the chaos in the library, well....there's nothing more to say.
"Am I the only one who read the original like that?" Of course not. It's a sly, subtle and subversive notion about a straight man in a dress who discovers he enjoys being a girl. Which is why it's hilarious. A literal, sledgehammer and agenda-driven approach would only destroy it.
by Anonymous | reply 408 | September 14, 2022 12:21 AM |
[quote]R377 Stritch, you could never sing. And your only acting choice was “loud”.
[italic]LINE ! !
by Anonymous | reply 409 | September 14, 2022 12:36 AM |
Ben & Benie aren't having a good year
by Anonymous | reply 410 | September 14, 2022 12:41 AM |
Yeah, that Stro MM revival was really just OK, nothing special, except for the beautiful and gorgeous-voiced Rebecca Luker.
by Anonymous | reply 411 | September 14, 2022 1:19 AM |
Susan Stroman is a nice, super-professional lady. And a fun choreographer.
But a brilliant director of musicals? No.
by Anonymous | reply 412 | September 14, 2022 1:22 AM |
Stroman did good work on THE SCOTTSBORO BOYS.
by Anonymous | reply 413 | September 14, 2022 1:27 AM |
Who had the glass eye? I, too, thought it was Duncan.
by Anonymous | reply 414 | September 14, 2022 1:31 AM |
She has no sight in one eye but is her own eye.
by Anonymous | reply 415 | September 14, 2022 1:34 AM |
[quote]Kelly Clarkson for Sally!
Justin Guarini for Ben!
Clay Aiken for Buddy!
Katharine McPhee for Phyllis!
Ruben Studdard for Roscoe!
Fantasia for Hattie!
Ace Young and Diana DeGarmo for Vincent and Vanessa!
Presented by Simon Cowell Productions
by Anonymous | reply 416 | September 14, 2022 1:34 AM |
Dame Edna/Barry Humphries has Parkinsons...has for a few years now...thats why hes retired and we never see him.
by Anonymous | reply 417 | September 14, 2022 1:37 AM |
Did he have many wives?
by Anonymous | reply 418 | September 14, 2022 1:38 AM |
Right or wrong, you could have gotten some pop singers of a certain age with musical comedy experience to play Dolly ... Maureen McGovern, Toni Tennille ... hell, Pia Zadora!
by Anonymous | reply 419 | September 14, 2022 1:48 AM |
Not on Broadway. The big enough names wouldn't want Bette's leftovers. And the one who would do it would underperform at the box office.
by Anonymous | reply 420 | September 14, 2022 1:53 AM |
*ones who would do it
by Anonymous | reply 421 | September 14, 2022 1:53 AM |
R372, Sondheim's comment about Streisand in FUNNY GIRL was the opposite of what you recall. He said that it was very striking how she acted in the scenes but then became a singer in the songs -- i.e., the acting stopped.
by Anonymous | reply 422 | September 14, 2022 1:55 AM |
[quote]Millo is up to around 300 lbs at this point
So, just change the lyrics to "find me some other laps, fellas!"
by Anonymous | reply 423 | September 14, 2022 1:58 AM |
Barry Humphries aka Dame Edna was the undertaker Mr. Sowerberry in the original production of Oliver! He sings That's Your Funeral on the OLCR. The song was either cut for the US or not recorded for the OBCR, I forget which.
by Anonymous | reply 424 | September 14, 2022 2:31 AM |
Did he play Fagin in the '90s?
by Anonymous | reply 425 | September 14, 2022 2:33 AM |
Could Bernadette still play the Witch in ITW?
by Anonymous | reply 426 | September 14, 2022 2:37 AM |
Isn't her voice close to shot?
by Anonymous | reply 427 | September 14, 2022 2:44 AM |
I believe he did, R425.
Just to be clear, Dame Edna is not a "trans" or "drag" thing and never was. There has never been any suggestion that Humphries was gay or enjoyed cross-dressing in life, or that there was any confusion in his own mind between his dapper, highly cultured, three-times-married self and Edna. Edna has always owed more to pantomime Dames than to drag queens.
In the early 1960s Humphries used to have whole shows full of monologues in which he played different characters. From memory all of these apart from Edna were male. But Edna was such a hit she gradually took over the second halves of the shows, and eventually took on a life of her own. She was originally developed on a regional tour of Twelfth Night, in which Humphries played Orsino, to entertain the rest of the cast on the bus. Humphries did just the voice, and in it he would "predict" what the ladies in the next country town would have to say to the cast, eg explaining what treats they would have provided for the after-party. One of the cast was the author of Summer of the Seventeenth Doll, who suggested Edna take the stage in the company's Christmas revue. Humphries said, "But who would play her?" He had to be persuaded he could do it himself. He continued to play a couple of other (male) characters, at least in Australia, for most of his career.
Edna then developed as a stinging send-up of Humphries's middle-class mother and her complacent set. (If she is an alter ego, it is his mother's voice in his head that comes out.) Her clothes were originally very drab (cardigans and shapeless straight skirts, etc.) The "superstar" thing developed during the 70s as Humphries's international career took off. By then Edna had already been in existence nearly 20 years.
And yes, Humphries is now well into his 80s and, as far as I know, retired. Very much not cancelled in Australia, where he is regarded as a national treasure. He would probably enjoy being cancelled, though, having always been politically and socially conservative.
by Anonymous | reply 428 | September 14, 2022 3:12 AM |
R428 I interviewed Humphries years ago and there were 'interesting' conditions. I could not ask questions about Edna, Les Patterson as characters he played, but rather as separate identities and their own people. It made for an interesting time. We had fun discussing the lonely death of Sandy Shaw. and his Kiwi bridesmaid.
i do remember I made him laugh over how the Queen would send her congratulations for his 100th Birthday. He was classy and funny.
by Anonymous | reply 429 | September 14, 2022 3:25 AM |
Benny and Barry, two of a kind---and hilarious. And here's Benny!
by Anonymous | reply 430 | September 14, 2022 3:28 AM |
[Quote] the lonely death of Sandy Shaw.
Do you mean Kathy Kirby?
by Anonymous | reply 431 | September 14, 2022 3:36 AM |
R431 Oh shit, Sandy Stone, one of his early characters.
by Anonymous | reply 432 | September 14, 2022 3:38 AM |
[quote][R372], Sondheim's comment about Streisand in FUNNY GIRL was the opposite of what you recall. He said that it was very striking how she acted in the scenes but then became a singer in the songs -- i.e., the acting stopped.
Thanks. The other version of the comment that someone attributed to Sondheim was ridiculous. As if anyone would think Streisand (or anyone else) was the first person they had ever seen who sang and acted at the same time.
by Anonymous | reply 433 | September 14, 2022 4:30 AM |
Saw Oklahoma in LA tonight
They apparently cut the boots from the dream ballet. And no cornbread.
by Anonymous | reply 434 | September 14, 2022 7:24 AM |
[quote]I interviewed Humphries years ago and there were 'interesting' conditions. I could not ask questions about Edna, Les Patterson as characters he played, but rather as separate identities and their own people. It made for an interesting time.
I interviewed Humphries about 20 years ago when he was on tour with one of the shows he had done on Broadway. The publicist for the show gave me the choice of interviewing Barry Humphries or Dame Edna. I chose Dame Edna, figuring the results would be a lot more fun.
by Anonymous | reply 435 | September 14, 2022 7:34 AM |
[quote]They apparently cut the boots from the dream ballet. And no cornbread.
They should have cut the ballet. It stinks anyway.
by Anonymous | reply 436 | September 14, 2022 7:37 AM |
[quote] She has no sight in one eye but is her own eye.
Sandy Duncan in
"I AM MY OWN EYE"
by Anonymous | reply 437 | September 14, 2022 7:38 AM |
Dame Edna was on an episode of Donahue and I actually by some miracle got through to the studio operator (they asked for callers) - I asked what Edna would say to Madonna. (A dumb enough question to get asked, and it did.)
Edna responded: "Why?"
Whether it was to Madonna or me, not sure.
by Anonymous | reply 438 | September 14, 2022 7:40 AM |
And to continue the story at r404, Sandy Duncan had a picture made and interrupted Dame Edna’s show one night to present it.
by Anonymous | reply 439 | September 14, 2022 11:24 AM |
Zac Efron for Harold Hill!
by Anonymous | reply 440 | September 14, 2022 1:03 PM |
[quote] Susan Stroman is a nice, super-professional lady. And a fun choreographer. But a brilliant director of musicals? No.
I've pretty much hated every show she's directed, and, at this point, actively try to avoid her shows.
People always bring up The Scottsboro Boys (which I didn't see). But it were so good, why was it a gigantic flop? Except for The Producers, which was a success mainly because of its cast, have her shows even been big hits?
by Anonymous | reply 441 | September 14, 2022 1:23 PM |
[quote] People always bring up The Scottsboro Boys (which I didn't see). But it were so good, why was it a gigantic flop?
Because Americans do not want to be told how racist they are.
It was her best show, post-Producers, by far. I had some issues with it (the book took a while to really get into gear, and a few songs were not as sharp as they might have been if Fred Ebb had lived to see it produced), but it was audacious, smart, and beautifully staged, designed and performed. It received chilly reviews from both NY Times critics, which killed it in its crib. A serious, challenging musical like that really needed the NY Times behind it. But audiences truly failed it even more.
by Anonymous | reply 442 | September 14, 2022 1:34 PM |
I pretty much gave up hope for Broadway when the excellent and powerful productions of JOURNEY'S END and THE SCOTTSBORO BOYS failed to run.
by Anonymous | reply 443 | September 14, 2022 1:50 PM |
[quote] Damn, the weekly grosses for Into the Woods dropped more than $800,000. It looks like Sara Bareilles was the big draw, after all. (And maybe also Phillipa Soo.)
wow even worse than it seems. Gross dropped $823K; next biggest drop was Potter at $269K. And Woods had the lowest % capacity at just under 68% (just below Kite Runner), a 30% drop from the prior week; No other show dropped more than 4%.
It looks like it was all Sara
by Anonymous | reply 444 | September 14, 2022 2:01 PM |
It looks like it was all the Sondheim queens have already seen it.
by Anonymous | reply 445 | September 14, 2022 2:04 PM |
And kids are back in school now, so less families seeing shows.
by Anonymous | reply 446 | September 14, 2022 2:05 PM |
" Fewer families..."
by Anonymous | reply 447 | September 14, 2022 2:23 PM |
Sara was the draw and the magic of the Encores cast
by Anonymous | reply 448 | September 14, 2022 2:31 PM |
Tony winner Aaron Tveit would kill as Harold Hill.
He's now 40 and this would propel him into adult roles, once and for all.
He also has a huge fan base.
Team Aaron!
by Anonymous | reply 449 | September 14, 2022 3:13 PM |
Aaron? Is that you?
by Anonymous | reply 450 | September 14, 2022 3:25 PM |
[quote]I pretty much gave up hope for Broadway when the excellent and powerful productions of JOURNEY'S END and THE SCOTTSBORO BOYS failed to run.
I understand your feeling, and I too loved both of those productions, but the truth is that there are not nearly enough people willing to pay current Broadway prices for a show that's very disturbing, upsetting, and/or sad in some way, no matter how excellent that show is. Which is why if DEATH OF A SALESMAN (for example) opened today, it would probably run only a few months at most.
by Anonymous | reply 451 | September 14, 2022 3:28 PM |
I’m sorry but Aaron Tveit won’t sell tickets if Stephanie J Block can’t
by Anonymous | reply 452 | September 14, 2022 3:50 PM |
Are Block fans called Blockheads?
by Anonymous | reply 453 | September 14, 2022 4:38 PM |
I saw "Scottsboro" in LA (with Hal Linden) and thought it was outstanding. I too couldn't figure out why it hadn't been more successful.
by Anonymous | reply 454 | September 14, 2022 4:49 PM |
Oh Jesus, the TIMES is writing about HAMILTON again. Because the translation to German is something we're all supposed to care about?
by Anonymous | reply 455 | September 14, 2022 4:59 PM |
The craziness continues at FG. New Mr Ziegfeld stepped into the show last night with just a few hours of rehearsal. It’s a miracle they haven’t had to cancel any performances.
by Anonymous | reply 456 | September 14, 2022 4:59 PM |
Aaron Tveit is a charisma vaccuum.
by Anonymous | reply 457 | September 14, 2022 5:12 PM |
Dat cock tho, R457
by Anonymous | reply 458 | September 14, 2022 5:15 PM |
Pic?
by Anonymous | reply 459 | September 14, 2022 5:16 PM |
[quote] Oh Jesus, the TIMES is writing about HAMILTON again. Because the translation to German is something we're all supposed to care about?
But no show ever has ever been translated into another language EVER.
It is amazing how everyone at the NY Times lines up to suck LMM's cock in a hungry attempt at clicks.
by Anonymous | reply 460 | September 14, 2022 5:22 PM |
Like they never did it for Sondheim.
by Anonymous | reply 461 | September 14, 2022 5:24 PM |
Sure, after he was dead.
by Anonymous | reply 462 | September 14, 2022 5:34 PM |
[quote]I saw "Scottsboro" in LA (with Hal Linden) and thought it was outstanding. I too couldn't figure out why it hadn't been more successful
Again, not counting revivals of classics with major stars, there simply aren't enough people willing to pay today's ticket prices for any show that's very disturbing or depressing. The last hit show I can think of that fit that category was SPRING AWAKENING, and even that one only ran for two years.
by Anonymous | reply 463 | September 14, 2022 5:35 PM |
From the posts of the DL theater queens, you'd never know he was dead.
by Anonymous | reply 464 | September 14, 2022 5:36 PM |
I would like to see the foreign translations for A Weekend In the Country, A Little Priest and Please Hello!, bitte y s'il vous plait.
by Anonymous | reply 465 | September 14, 2022 5:55 PM |
Do tell us more, r457. Be as graphic as you can.
by Anonymous | reply 466 | September 14, 2022 6:05 PM |
I need to see the Tveit tcock.
by Anonymous | reply 467 | September 14, 2022 6:06 PM |
You have silly needs, r467.
by Anonymous | reply 468 | September 14, 2022 6:10 PM |
Der Yiddisher Pinafore is a special treat.
by Anonymous | reply 469 | September 14, 2022 6:14 PM |
A lot of the best shows aren't usually financial hits due to darker subject matter. Even something like Gypsy rarely makes any money no matter who plays Rose. One of the greatest scores and books of any musical, but the story itself leaves a bad taste in people's mouths because what it has to say is fairly depressing and it ends on a downer.
More people probably see themselves in Rose than they'd like to admit and don't like to be reminded of their own failed dreams and ambitions when they go to the theater. Instead of using it as a learning experience or seeing it as a cautionary tale, they'd rather have chorus girls, spectacle, pop songs shoehorned in, and chandeliers falling in front of them than be challenged. It's always been this way, but it got a hell of a lot worse starting in the 80's and it's become harder and harder to present these kinds of stories.
by Anonymous | reply 470 | September 14, 2022 6:35 PM |
Aaron Tveit would be the WORST fucking Harold Hill imaginable. Great voice but zero warmth, zero charm, zero funny. I'm amazed he's had the career he's had.
by Anonymous | reply 471 | September 14, 2022 6:47 PM |
Tveit was a passably attractive blank onscreen in SCHMIGADOON, as he usually is. I don't get the fandom.
by Anonymous | reply 472 | September 14, 2022 6:50 PM |
Gypsy doesn't make a profit because it doesn't speak to modern audiences. It, like Dolly, is an old fashioned musical shaped around a powerhouse lead. That's not enough UNLESS that lead is a star in her own right.
Midler is that level a star. So far, the women who can handle Mama Rose are not.
by Anonymous | reply 473 | September 14, 2022 6:54 PM |
Bette Midler made an unholy mess of Rose in the GYPSY TV version. Just saying.
by Anonymous | reply 474 | September 14, 2022 6:57 PM |
R474, yes, she overacted her heart out, but it was a hit.
by Anonymous | reply 475 | September 14, 2022 7:01 PM |
Dolly is a charm part. Rose is not. I don't think Gypsy is really an old fashioned musical. Even the June & Boys number isn't straight up old fashioned entertainment, its function is to show up Rose's lack of taste and talent.
by Anonymous | reply 476 | September 14, 2022 7:02 PM |
That lack of taste and talent explains why Rose's kids' act never got anywhere. Her failure genes is a theme that runs through the show in many ways. One comes up as early as Some People, when she speaks of getting the act on the Orpheum Circuit, and that she dreamed she was "in Mr. Orpheum's office."
But there was no Mr. Orpheum. It's not a name, it's a buzz term, like Majestic Theatre or the Palace. There was no Mr. Palace, either. It's Sondheim's clever joke to use "Mr. Orpheum" to show how clueless Rose is.
And I have to admit that after all these years, i never got the joke till it came up in Ethan Mordden's Broadway Musicals on CD book, like just a few days ago. It made me wonder how many other Easter eggs Sondheim or Laurents might have included in the show. The whole thing is that Rose is shrewd and pushy, so she can get something out of life. But she doesn't have the gift, the wisdom, or whatever it is. She's a failure, and that's why Gypsy is a downer, however brilliant.
Did Sondheim ever write a really feel-good musical?
by Anonymous | reply 477 | September 14, 2022 7:45 PM |
[quote]yes, she overacted her heart out, but it was a hit
...and no Emmy to show for it!
by Anonymous | reply 478 | September 14, 2022 7:53 PM |
[quote]Dolly is a charm part. Rose is not.
Rose *has* to have a modicum of charm, r476. Wiley charm was part of the real Rose Hovick's arsenal. You shouldn't see a shift until Roses.
by Anonymous | reply 479 | September 14, 2022 7:57 PM |
Rose rips into people like her father in her first solo. She can't be a pill, but...
by Anonymous | reply 480 | September 14, 2022 8:02 PM |
[quote]Rose rips into people like her father
Her father would be well used to Rose's ways by then, r480. Charm wasn't going to work with him.
by Anonymous | reply 481 | September 14, 2022 8:05 PM |
Tell me people think you’re getting old without telling me people think you’re getting old. Lili Cooper was just cast in the Estelle Parsons/Angela Lansbury role in The Pirates of Penzance.
by Anonymous | reply 482 | September 14, 2022 8:05 PM |
I believe you mean the Patricia Routledge role, r482.
by Anonymous | reply 483 | September 14, 2022 8:14 PM |
Yes, but I wasn't sure if everyone on here would know who she was and how old she was back then. You say Estelle parsons and Angela Lansbury in the context of "old" and everyone gets it.
by Anonymous | reply 484 | September 14, 2022 8:15 PM |
A charm part isn’t about charming the other characters
It’s about charming the audience.
The audience sees Rose use her charm to manipulate.
by Anonymous | reply 485 | September 14, 2022 8:16 PM |
FFS,,,,theyre changing the location to New Orleans ? Why cant people just leave well enough alone ?
by Anonymous | reply 486 | September 14, 2022 8:17 PM |
This is the Theatre Gossip thread, r484, I think we know who Patricia Routledge is.
Fair enough, r485, but if Rose doesn't charm the audience in parts, you're going to end up with a Betty Buckley performance.
by Anonymous | reply 487 | September 14, 2022 8:26 PM |
Sad/difficult shows sell if the music is palatable. Les Miz is a 3 hour and 20 minute downer. But we all get a good cry at the end (when Patti LuPone decides to show up for her final song).
by Anonymous | reply 488 | September 14, 2022 8:28 PM |
Rosie O’Donnell would make an interesting Rose. Something tells me she could easily scream at a teenage daughter for two hours.
by Anonymous | reply 489 | September 14, 2022 8:31 PM |
[quote]Did Sondheim ever write a really feel-good musical?
Harumph.
by Anonymous | reply 490 | September 14, 2022 8:33 PM |
[quote]Dolly is a charm part. Rose is not.
And yet three actresses have won Tony Awards for playing Rose: Angela Lansbury, Tyne Daly and Patti LuPone.
by Anonymous | reply 491 | September 14, 2022 8:36 PM |
Lilli Cooper is one of the most pedestrian talents ever to trod the boards.
by Anonymous | reply 492 | September 14, 2022 8:36 PM |
[quote]Did Sondheim ever write a really feel-good musical?
You want Jerry Herman, r490? Get Jerry Herman.
by Anonymous | reply 493 | September 14, 2022 8:37 PM |
A little distance has shown us all that every one of the many seconds we spent with Rosie O'Donnell were a total waste of our precious lives. Life has been so much better since she disappeared into her pot hazed craft basement.
by Anonymous | reply 494 | September 14, 2022 8:55 PM |
[quote]But there was no Mr. Orpheum.
WHAT? Next you'll be telling us there was no Mr. Radio!
by Anonymous | reply 495 | September 14, 2022 9:02 PM |
I never knew what RKO stood for.
by Anonymous | reply 496 | September 14, 2022 9:03 PM |
Lilli Cooper is still quite a young woman, about 31. Ruth in PIRATES OF PENZANCE is supposed to be considerably older, but I'm guessing the Roundabout didn't think it was important to cast the part that way in a one-night-only benefit concert. That said, aside from her age, I think Lilli is terribly miscast in the part in terms of the style of performance and comedy that are required.
by Anonymous | reply 497 | September 14, 2022 9:14 PM |
Is Mr. Rialto still alive?
by Anonymous | reply 498 | September 14, 2022 9:23 PM |
[quote] Did Sondheim ever write a really feel-good musical?
Forum and Night Music?
by Anonymous | reply 499 | September 14, 2022 9:26 PM |
I wish Scott Ellis would stick with hack TV direction.
by Anonymous | reply 500 | September 14, 2022 9:39 PM |
[quote] yes, she overacted her heart out, but it was a hit.
Applicable to her Gypsy AND her Dolly......
by Anonymous | reply 501 | September 14, 2022 9:42 PM |
I’d rather see Rosie play Ruth in POP.
by Anonymous | reply 502 | September 14, 2022 9:56 PM |
;quote]Did Sondheim ever write a really feel-good musical?
Assassins?
by Anonymous | reply 503 | September 14, 2022 9:57 PM |
[quote] Lilli Cooper is still quite a young woman, about 31. Ruth in PIRATES OF PENZANCE is supposed to be considerably older,
Ruth is 47 years old. It’s in the lyrics.
by Anonymous | reply 504 | September 14, 2022 11:34 PM |
How old is her sister, Eileen, r504?
by Anonymous | reply 505 | September 14, 2022 11:39 PM |
[quote]Did Sondheim ever write a really feel-good musical?
[quote]Forum and Night Music?
Umm, I would say you're half right. NIGHT MUSIC ends happily for most of the characters, but there's quite a bit of sadness in it, and one of the main characters dies just before the final curtain.
by Anonymous | reply 506 | September 14, 2022 11:59 PM |
I saw the Pirates casting news last week but had no memory of Cooper being announced as Ruth, so I thought you all must have been talking about a new announcement and she replaced the originally cast Ruth. But no...it really was her all along. Forget the age discrepancy; couldn't they have found an actress in New York who isn't completely forgettable?
by Anonymous | reply 507 | September 15, 2022 12:39 AM |
I never knew Aaron Tveit has a girlfriend. Was this their first public appearance together?
by Anonymous | reply 508 | September 15, 2022 12:40 AM |
One of Aaron's better performances. With Gavin Creel.
by Anonymous | reply 509 | September 15, 2022 12:43 AM |
Idk people seem to be missing Lili Cooper’s key qualification
by Anonymous | reply 510 | September 15, 2022 12:46 AM |
Better? The NPH/Burtka one was better.
by Anonymous | reply 511 | September 15, 2022 12:47 AM |
Why did I think Lili Cooper was out?
by Anonymous | reply 512 | September 15, 2022 12:47 AM |
The happy endings are probably why Forum and Night Music were two of Sondheim's most profitable shows. You could say Company and Into the Woods have somewhat happy, if bittersweet, endings.
Audiences tend to remember the endings as they walk out and that's what most people base their initial opinions on. How did they feel when they walked out? They like that sense of closure even if it's a tad depressing. It probably doesn't help that productions of Gypsy in particular tend to make the final scene more and more bleak with each production. It's such a far cry from the ending in the original production and '62 film where Rose and Louise walk away laughing and on good terms. Then again, that ending never felt 100% earned to me either. They've tried to make the ending of Follies less bleak as well with not-so-great results. I'm not so sure most audiences like those kinds of fake happy endings where they feel unearned and tacked on either.
by Anonymous | reply 513 | September 15, 2022 12:57 AM |
Another hundred people just walked out of the show.....
by Anonymous | reply 514 | September 15, 2022 1:05 AM |
And yet they've managed to keep Cabaret going by making it darker...
by Anonymous | reply 515 | September 15, 2022 1:11 AM |
[quote] Umm, I would say you're half right. NIGHT MUSIC ends happily for most of the characters, but there's quite a bit of sadness in it, and one of the main characters dies just before the final curtain.
Madame Armfeldt doesn't die in a hail of AK47 gunfire. It's a musical comedy death, in between swelling music cues. Night Music is an elegant puffball. Despite some of the characters expressing their various regrets along the way, I think you may be stretching to remove it from a "feel good" classification.
by Anonymous | reply 516 | September 15, 2022 1:12 AM |
[quote] Yes, but I wasn't sure if everyone on here would know who she was and how old she was back then.
MARY! Look at that! A theater qween who fancies herself MORE superior to the royalty on this board!
by Anonymous | reply 517 | September 15, 2022 1:13 AM |
And HARMONY, which has been in development since WW2, will close after 2 months.
by Anonymous | reply 519 | September 15, 2022 1:27 AM |
[quote]Madame Armfeldt doesn't die in a hail of AK47 gunfire. It's a musical comedy death, in between swelling music cues. Night Music is an elegant puffball. Despite some of the characters expressing their various regrets along the way, I think you may be stretching to remove it from a "feel good" classification.
Sorry, I think YOU are the one who's stretching. Despite the fact that, as I noted, NIGHT MUSIC has a happy ending for most of the characters, I think it's far too angsty and bittersweet to ever classify it as a "feel good musical," though I will happily agree that the ending leaves audiences feeling a lot better than they do at the end of most of Sondheim's other shows.
by Anonymous | reply 520 | September 15, 2022 1:30 AM |
When is my darling Lea back on the boards?
by Anonymous | reply 521 | September 15, 2022 1:30 AM |
R521. Next Tuesday.
by Anonymous | reply 522 | September 15, 2022 1:39 AM |
Re: Night Music
Any musical described by its creators as “whipped cream with knives” is not a feel-good musical.
by Anonymous | reply 523 | September 15, 2022 1:41 AM |
[quote]Any musical described by its creators as “whipped cream with knives” is not a feel-good musical.
Ha! Exactly. I really don't think we can expect that the marriage of the Malcolms has been fully healed by the events of the show, nor should we necessarily expect that Ann and Henrik will have a happy marriage, even if she is obviously a much better match for him than for his father.
by Anonymous | reply 524 | September 15, 2022 1:44 AM |
Sunday In The Park With George is not miserable...
I find the end uplifting, and beautiful. I adored the paris production, and the moment during Sunday, (Act I1One Finale), and George, played by Julian Ovenden, (who I would like anal with), actually enters his painting, and revels and luxuriates in it...and it is utterly gracious and a beautiful moment. A total coup de theater.
it always makes me cry, with joy.
by Anonymous | reply 525 | September 15, 2022 1:52 AM |
The original question was, "Did Sondheim ever write a really feel-good musical?" I think the only two that fit that classification are ....FORUM and, I suppose, maybe SATURDAY NIGHT. Oh, and maybe THE FROGS?
NONE of the others could seriously be called "feel-good musicals," even if the endings of some of them are cathartic and even uplifting.
by Anonymous | reply 526 | September 15, 2022 1:56 AM |
Any musical that leaves me feeling thrilled by what I've just seen I consider "feel good." Gypsy, Night Music Sunday, Into the Woods, Company, even FOLLIES qualify for me. Conventional "happy endings" are often boring.
by Anonymous | reply 527 | September 15, 2022 2:19 AM |
[quote]Madame Armfeldt doesn't die in a hail of AK47 gunfire.
Not yet she doesn't.
by Anonymous | reply 528 | September 15, 2022 2:27 AM |
Sondheim didn’t write Meadowlark for Betty Buckley. He didn’t write it at all.
R393- Dame Edna didn’t stop the show. That was the show. She did it every night.
Susan Stroman is absolutely a brilliant director. THE SCOTTSBORO BOYS was arguably the best directed musical of the last 20 years. (THOU SHALT NOT was an experiment that just didn’t work out. Another director couldn’t have made it better. ) And the music is MORE than “palatable.” No hyperbole, it’s also has the best score in the last 20 years though you could make arguments for Ave Q and Hamilton.
Yes, BP could still play the witch in ITW.
Ruth is supposed to be an old maid. 47 years old. (An OLD 47). Cooper is basically the worst possible casting here. Do they not know the story? Lillias White would be a better choice.
by Anonymous | reply 529 | September 15, 2022 3:33 AM |
This thread could use some Fred and Mrs. Steele...
by Anonymous | reply 530 | September 15, 2022 3:54 AM |
Someone clever should do a little research and post the 10-15 longest running Broadway musicals of all time. How many would you bet are "feel good" musicals?
by Anonymous | reply 531 | September 15, 2022 4:09 AM |
Fiddler must be on there, r531, and it isn't "feel good".
by Anonymous | reply 532 | September 15, 2022 4:12 AM |
[quote]Any musical that leaves me feeling thrilled by what I've just seen I consider "feel good."
If you want to use that as your definition, so be it, but that's not the generally accepted definition. No one other than you would ever seriously classify FOLLIES as a "feel-good musical." The very thought is laughable.
by Anonymous | reply 534 | September 15, 2022 4:15 AM |
Personally, I think the number (r530) is great fun, but is it any wonder why Fred Astaire high-tailed it over to RKO when he got a look at how he was presented and photographed in MGM's Dancing Lady? He didn't return to Metro for 7 years.
by Anonymous | reply 535 | September 15, 2022 4:16 AM |
Actually, very few of those longest-running musicals could be strictly classified as "feel good" in the standard old-fashioned sense of the term, like Mama Mia, for instance.
by Anonymous | reply 536 | September 15, 2022 4:19 AM |
How is FIDDLER not feel good? Does it make you feel bad?
by Anonymous | reply 537 | September 15, 2022 4:20 AM |
[quote]How is FIDDLER not feel good? Does it make you feel bad?
No, Captain Literal. That's not what the phrase means.
by Anonymous | reply 538 | September 15, 2022 4:22 AM |
They certainly don't have the insouciance of...say...Ankles Aweigh, r536. Not many *gam* shows on that list.
by Anonymous | reply 539 | September 15, 2022 4:22 AM |
There's a lot of poignancy in Fiddler, r537. The ending isn't exactly a laugh riot.
by Anonymous | reply 540 | September 15, 2022 4:26 AM |
R534 THANK YOU for saying exactly what I was thinking. I typed it out, then deleted it. R527's Orwellian re-definition of "feel good" is idiotic.
by Anonymous | reply 541 | September 15, 2022 4:30 AM |
Some long-running "feel-good" musicals are NEVER revived. I give you "The Magic Show." Similarly (although it's too soon, perhaps) "Hairspray," "The Producers," "Avenue Q," "Jersey Boys.""
by Anonymous | reply 542 | September 15, 2022 4:31 AM |
Eh, I don't so much care about "feel good" so much as I care about "trapped -- but happy -- which isn't too bad for the end of a musical."
by Anonymous | reply 543 | September 15, 2022 4:32 AM |
Hairspray has been revived a couple of times in the West End, no? That's probably mostly down to Michael Ball, though.
by Anonymous | reply 544 | September 15, 2022 4:33 AM |
[quote] No hyperbole, it’s also has the best score in the last 20 years though you could make arguments for Ave Q and Hamilton.
[italic]Avenue?!?![/italic] Stop. Just stop.
by Anonymous | reply 545 | September 15, 2022 4:33 AM |
^Q!
by Anonymous | reply 546 | September 15, 2022 4:34 AM |
I don't think it's a question of feel-good or not, I think it's a question of how hard it is to come to terms with a show. The Epidemic of Stupid is the main problem for musical theatre at the moment. Sondheim's shows are predicated on the idea that an audience which likes Shakespeare and Shaw will come to a musical if it has the dramatic interest of a play. It would be hard to find an ardent Sondheim fan, certainly before 1990, who wasn't also someone who went to theatre in general. Likewise, he was heavily rejected in those early years by some (not all) musical theatre lovers who couldn't "get" him at all and thought the music was nondescript and the lyrics confusing. You can't make musical theatre money off the number of trad theatregoers who exist, even on Broadway.
The Epidemic of Stupid, as reflected in audiences since the 80s, has been supported by shows like Lloyd-Webber's post-Rice hits, the jukebox shows and the likes of Six. The people who go to them go "to a show", not to the theatre. They want to be "taken out of themselves". They want big and loud or romantic and sugary. Les Miz is essentially a melodrama with music, very grand and sweeping and about a world the audience can't relate to at all, so it also suits this type of showgoer.
Meanwhile, devoted theatregoers are being slapped in the face repeatedly with the wet fish of Woke, so it remains to be seen whether they will rally and still be there when the pendulum swings back to somewhere tolerable for the average thinking person, or whether they will flee to other forms of the arts. If they don't stay, Sondheim's shows might have to be redisovered in 100 years.
by Anonymous | reply 547 | September 15, 2022 4:36 AM |
Let it burrrrrrnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn
by Anonymous | reply 548 | September 15, 2022 4:38 AM |
Hairspray just followed Moulin Rouge! into a mainstream theatre in Melbourne. It's still running now.
Jersey Boys has been done two or three times in Australia by commercial companies.
The Magic Show depends on a lead who can do magic tricks.
by Anonymous | reply 549 | September 15, 2022 4:40 AM |
[quote]r521 When is my darling Lea back on the boards?
[quote]r522 Next Tuesday.
I thought people with covid quarantined for 2 weeks?
by Anonymous | reply 550 | September 15, 2022 5:05 AM |
[quote]Dame Edna didn’t stop the show. That was the show. She did it every night
Pull the rolled up Playbill outta your ass.
by Anonymous | reply 551 | September 15, 2022 5:16 AM |
I had no idea "Mary Poppins" lasted 6.5 years. And I'm amazed "Newsies" lasted even 2.5.
by Anonymous | reply 552 | September 15, 2022 6:11 AM |
R522, as in C U Next Tuesday, Lea?
by Anonymous | reply 553 | September 15, 2022 8:20 AM |
R550, it's 10 days. The general Covid protocol is to isolate for 5 days after a positive test and wear a mask for 5 more after that to avoid infecting others. Most Broadway performers can't go on wearing a mask, so a positive test has generally become an automatic 10 days out.
by Anonymous | reply 554 | September 15, 2022 8:25 AM |
I wish Beanie could have worn a mask onstage.
by Anonymous | reply 555 | September 15, 2022 8:28 AM |
Any mask.
by Anonymous | reply 556 | September 15, 2022 8:28 AM |
Aaron Tveit was born to play Harold Hill.
by Anonymous | reply 557 | September 15, 2022 8:51 AM |
R508, the gossip (scandal?) is that Ericka Hunter was newly married when she was in the ensemble of Moulin Rouge and met Aaron Tveit. She had an affair with him, got caught and quickly dumped/divorced her husband. The crazy Aaron stans hate her as though she's the only woman to ever do this and he's not also at fault.
by Anonymous | reply 558 | September 15, 2022 9:36 AM |
But I thought Aaron played for OUR TEAM?!?!?! This is crushing news.
by Anonymous | reply 559 | September 15, 2022 11:36 AM |
Aaron is a lot like Matthew Morrison. Typical attractive Str8 guy in musical theatre that exclusively dates women, but is queeny enough to have gay rumors.
See also Jeremy Jordan and Derek Kelena
Very few leading men on Broadway are actually gay
by Anonymous | reply 560 | September 15, 2022 11:44 AM |
Aaron Tveit ain't no fag.
by Anonymous | reply 561 | September 15, 2022 11:58 AM |
Very true R560. And those straight guys LOOOOOVVEEE to gay bait all the flaming and stupid producers and queens in the industry that just eat that embarrassing shit up with a spoon. Same thing happens in the classical arts world.
by Anonymous | reply 562 | September 15, 2022 12:31 PM |
I’m going to say Company has a happy ending given the smugness of Being Alive as if there aren’t plenty of people without partners or spouses who are perfectly happy with their situation. Being Alive flatters the very couples and institution that the musical skewers for two hours - an unhappy ending would illustrate how much marriage is like a prison from which most couples plan Shawshank-like escapes.
by Anonymous | reply 563 | September 15, 2022 12:56 PM |
Sondheim’s original song for the ending of Company, “Happily Ever After”, might have made you happier, r563.
Company doesn’t “skewer” marriage, it presents it as complicated. But “Being Alive” also recognizes the human need to love and be loved, and the contradictions of human connections.
by Anonymous | reply 564 | September 15, 2022 1:09 PM |
What R564 said. R563 is wrong.
by Anonymous | reply 565 | September 15, 2022 1:15 PM |
Why does minimally talented / charisma free Lili Cooper keep getting cast in prime roles on Broadway ? I've heard Lillias White is up to her same bag of tricks by rifting her way through her songs in Hadestown. Ugh, just sing the fuckin song Lillias!!!!!!!
by Anonymous | reply 566 | September 15, 2022 1:27 PM |
[quote]no one know what the fuck is ok to fucking say.
Reminds me of what Anne Frank wrote in her diary before her family went into hiding from the Nazis: "You are scared to do anything because it may be forbidden."
by Anonymous | reply 567 | September 15, 2022 1:53 PM |
r553 you beat me to it! i wanted to post the same but was locked out.
i know it's an obvious joke, but i liked it! Thank you!
by Anonymous | reply 568 | September 15, 2022 1:56 PM |
[quote]Very few leading men on Broadway are actually gay.
Worth discussing, I think. Just read A WONDERFUL GUY, a recent collection of interviews with some of the leading men of Bway, which included old vets like Joel Gray, John Collum, and Len Carious, etc. as well as these younger/middle-aged guys:
Brian Stokes Mitchell
Marc Kudisch
Michael Cerveris
Norm Lewis
Will Chase
Christopher Sieber
Norbert Leo Butz
Christian Borle
Raul Esparza
Gavin Creel
Cheyenne Jackson
Jonathan Groff
Fewer than half of those I've listed are openly gay/bisexual.
by Anonymous | reply 569 | September 15, 2022 2:31 PM |
[quote] They're Cheering Each Toot
Farting on stage was MY thing!
by Anonymous | reply 570 | September 15, 2022 2:33 PM |
How many are secretly gay/bisexual?
by Anonymous | reply 571 | September 15, 2022 2:33 PM |
by Anonymous | reply 572 | September 15, 2022 2:34 PM |
[quote] How many are secretly gay/bisexual?
Actors have a very fluid sexuality. The DL's 1950s era understanding of sexuality does not apply.
I've been involved in theater for decades and I know several men who are happily married in het relationships and have been for years. But they've embarked on occasional gay flings almost as a vacation of sorts. And some of those guys access that portal, so to speak, through the roles they play.
Some are truly bi and certainly being out and gay isn't going to really kill your career options on stage, but most theater actors try to keep personal lives a mystery so that they aren't identified with one thing or another.
by Anonymous | reply 574 | September 15, 2022 2:41 PM |
Tveit, Klena, and Jordan are really, really pretty though. Prettier than anyone in that book.
by Anonymous | reply 575 | September 15, 2022 2:43 PM |
r568, I was surprised no one had made it yet. Great minds, etc.!
by Anonymous | reply 576 | September 15, 2022 2:53 PM |
Yes, I assumed Dame Edna welcomed latecomers the same way every evening - there are always latecomers - but she did stop what she was doing to talk to them....
Sally Struthers did the same thing in GREASE when as Miss Lynch she lectured latecomers about how they were supposed to be there when the little hand was on the eight and the big hand was on the twelve.....
by Anonymous | reply 577 | September 15, 2022 3:04 PM |
[quote]Farting on stage was MY thing!
Beanie Feldstein in "The Le Pétomane Story"!
by Anonymous | reply 578 | September 15, 2022 3:41 PM |
She's in the attic, r567.
by Anonymous | reply 579 | September 15, 2022 3:45 PM |
[Quote] Aaron is a lot like Matthew Morrison. Typical attractive Str8 guy in musical theatre that exclusively dates women, but is queeny enough to have gay rumors. See also Jeremy Jordan and Derek Kelena
And Howard McGillin!
by Anonymous | reply 581 | September 15, 2022 3:49 PM |
R580 Wow, Derek Klena could have been a runway/magazine model if he'd wanted.
by Anonymous | reply 582 | September 15, 2022 4:04 PM |
[quote] Susan Stroman is absolutely a brilliant director. THE SCOTTSBORO BOYS was arguably the best directed musical of the last 20 years. (THOU SHALT NOT was an experiment that just didn’t work out. Another director couldn’t have made it better. ) And the music is MORE than “palatable.” No hyperbole, it’s also has the best score in the last 20 years though you could make arguments for Ave Q and Hamilton.
Thanks for your input, Susan
by Anonymous | reply 584 | September 15, 2022 4:06 PM |
Many a head was turned when they were introduced to Derek during " We Are the World" Broadway version at 2:03
by Anonymous | reply 585 | September 15, 2022 4:07 PM |
Did you notice how r581 signed his post, r583?
by Anonymous | reply 586 | September 15, 2022 4:15 PM |
[quote]Aaron is a lot like Matthew Morrison. Typical attractive Str8 guy in musical theatre that exclusively dates women, but is queeny enough to have gay rumors. See also Jeremy Jordan and Derek Klena
I personally see nothing "queeny" about Morrison, Jordan, or Klena. And though I guess Tveit has a nice trim and wiry body, I've always thought his face is below average on the attractiveness meter.
by Anonymous | reply 588 | September 15, 2022 4:21 PM |
I was going to say you jumped the gun, but that title is worth it!
by Anonymous | reply 589 | September 15, 2022 4:22 PM |
Signs I've spent too much time on DL: after reading all the reports of Tveit hooking up with twinks during previous shows, the Hunter news made me think of the Van Johnson/Evie Abbott/Keenan Wynn story, where Johnson broke up the Wynns' marriage to get himself a beard (since she was the only person he would marry, so MGM made the Wynns divorce so he could marry her). Obviously not comparable here, since I doubt Tveit has that much power (or a studio behind him), but that's what came to mind.
by Anonymous | reply 590 | September 15, 2022 4:24 PM |
Tveit has gotten the most TV work
by Anonymous | reply 592 | September 15, 2022 4:44 PM |
Matthew Morrison straight ? Aaron Tveit straight ?
Stop...just stop....youre going to make me wet myself
by Anonymous | reply 593 | September 15, 2022 4:45 PM |
[Quote] after reading all the reports of Tveit hooking up with twinks during previous shows
?
My recollection of Tveit mention in these threads is that he keeps his relationships/flings to himself. There was no consensus on his sexuality. Unlike, say, Matthew Morrison, who was very busy running through Broadway chorus girls.
by Anonymous | reply 594 | September 15, 2022 4:46 PM |
I'm guessing at your age, everything can make you wet yourself.
by Anonymous | reply 595 | September 15, 2022 4:46 PM |
[Quote] I had MM
Details? How many inches (you and him)?
by Anonymous | reply 596 | September 15, 2022 4:48 PM |
The next thread should have a Feel Good Fiddler Edition title thing going on. Just sayin’.
by Anonymous | reply 597 | September 15, 2022 4:49 PM |
It already exists r597. check r587, learn to read, and shut up
by Anonymous | reply 598 | September 15, 2022 4:51 PM |
[quote]Aaron is a lot like Matthew Morrison. Typical attractive Str8 guy in musical theatre that exclusively dates women, but is queeny enough to have gay rumors.
Only if you overlook the fact that Morrison is gay and closeted.
by Anonymous | reply 599 | September 15, 2022 4:58 PM |
Bajour?
by Anonymous | reply 601 | September 15, 2022 4:59 PM |
BAJOUR!
by Anonymous | reply 602 | September 15, 2022 4:59 PM |
[quote]I had no idea "Mary Poppins" lasted 6.5 years. And I'm amazed "Newsies" lasted even 2.5.
"Newsies" was never meant to play Broadway, that was a bonus. It was designed to be a touring show but was such as success at Paper Mill they decided to move it. The only reason it closed was the set was so expensive and designed for travel they didn't want to have to build a new one to tour.
by Anonymous | reply 603 | September 15, 2022 5:17 PM |
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