Theatre Gossip #500: The Untitled Edition.

AKA The Uncapitalized Edition.

Like Beanie Feldstein, OP was given a once-in-a-generation opportunity, and fucking blew it.

There's two certainties in these threads: Nobody likes the title and we spend 100 posts bitching about it.

It's still early enough for someone else to start a better thread elsewhere.

Thread #499...

Here's another thread

I'm with that one, but thank you for your effort, OP.

I'm sticking with this one.

This one should be the official thread.

The other thread can be used for suggested titles for Thread #501.

The other thread had some imagination, but this one best describes the current Broadway situation.

OP you fucking blew it and you ought to be banned from the DL.

I see Almost Famous will perform Tuesday on The Tonight Show. I wonder if it'll make any mark on the show's success.

The girl they cast to play Penny Lane in Almost Famous is a younger, even more bland and unremarkable version of Lili Cooper.

Meh. People would bitch with whatever title happened.

At least this one is clean and simple.

The other one is a stupid sloppy mess.

I'm staying here.

I can't say that I'd mix them up.

R4 is an idiot. A thread with a lame title is better than two simultaneous threads. Sheez . It’s like having two Wild Partys

And neither of those Wild Partys cut the mustard.

But they both cut the cheese.

Is that still a saying for anyone under 60?

Back to Leopoldstadt (well, at least it's a hit, an original play, and not artificially woke).

[quote]I've heard several people say, "You have to go into this telling yourself not to worry about keeping all of the family relationships straight." To which I respond, if a huge disclaimer like that is necessary, then I'm sorry, but the playwriting is severely flawed.

The people you are talking to are correct. If you understand nothing else from the play, the main message is embodied in the fact that when the play opens there are so many people bustling around the stage you can't figure out where to look, and when it closes there are three, talking quietly in the dark. The more detail you can follow the more richness you can get out of it, but that huge change, that hollowing out of the world on the stage, is what Stoppard wants to you see and feel.

How many threads are there?

R21, I do understand and agree with you as far as that goes. But I still think the play could have been written in a much clearer way, and we didn't need all of that lengthy theoretical debating Stoppard always indulges in. In my opinion, the first and third scenes of the play contained far too much of that, along with some other superfluous material, which is how they somehow managed to be both confusing and a bit boring even in the context of this tragedy.

Every Stoppardophile will tell you to relax and just go with it, like bottoming.

Robert O'Hara has managed to make A Raisin In The Sun as offensive as possible in order to suit his agenda. Ghost Daddy? Really? Three hours and 20 minutes? Really? Walter's meltdown directed at the audience in a bright spotlight? Pulling the playbill cover out of his back pocket during the scene, crumpling it, and then flinging it at the audience? Lena Younger having a stroke after the money is lost? The neighborhood association rep, Lindner, played as a snarling racist from the get-go and unintelligible as well? Changing lines, words, phrases and completely disrespecting Lorraine Hansberry's text throughout the piece? The author, Joe Papp, and Sidney Poitier must be spinning in their graves. Another example of how a director thinks he has the right to re-write a classic and make it as palatable to his target audience as possible. The Billy Porter school of Directing.

It's time for a new artistic director at The Public.

Just don't see their shows and encourage all of your theater friends to do the same.

Agree, r25, and wondering where the character of Mrs. Johnson come from? An earlier addition of the play, or a total fabrication?

In any event, it's not Hansberry's play on stage at the Public.

[quote]Another example of how a director thinks he has the right to re-write a classic and make it as palatable to his target audience as possible.

Fully agreed. And what makes the situation even more galling here is that, in interviews, O'Hara has claimed to have the greatest respect for Hansberry's work, which is obviously a lie.

R27, I am told that scene is included in the published text of the play with a note that it was dropped from the Broadway production. I don't know whether Hansberry ever went on record as approving or deploring the cut, but really, given the length of the play, I think everyone -- with the exception of the damn fool Robert O'Hara -- would agree that it should not be reinstated.

Robert O'Hara has a play about Raisin in the Sun called The Etiquette of Vigilance that played Steppenwolf in 2010. Here's the blurb:

Over 50 years have passed since Travis and his parents became the first black family to integrate Chicago’s segregated Clybourne Park neighborhood. Now Lorraine, Travis’ only daughter and the first in her family to attend college, is buckling under the pressure of her family’s long deferred dream. In this contemporary reconsideration of Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun, O’Hara’s poignant new play imagines what might have happened to the beleaguered Younger family - and asks us to consider the wounds still healing from the days of city-sanctioned segregation.

Based on the synopsis, it sounds like it was overshadowed by Clybourne Park the same year. Certainly I would rather see that than O'Hara's insult to one of the best American plays currently running at the Public.

The theatre’s greatest strength is to harness a metaphor that can resonate on multiple levels, offering layers of meaning and interpretation to a play--even ambiguity--and, perhaps, a smidgen of hope or potential for happiness. But that requires a trust in the material and the audience. Instead, our theatre has been reduced, neutered and rendered prosaic, pedestrian and literal. The power and potency of metaphor have diminished value today on either side of the footlights. In fact, it’s nearly dead--Long live television!

[quote] Another example of how a director thinks he has the right to re-write a classic and make it as palatable to his target audience as possible.

Make it palatable- or just pull focus to him or herself rather than the playwright? "Look what I did to this play! Aren't I clever and bold!'

That's the way to keep an audience coming back. Spit on them, lie to them, insult them, alienate them, and cheat them out of the work as intended by the playwright. God save us from these directors who continue to desecrate modern classics by believing they know more than the creators of those classics.

Not to mention rewriting those works.

And what's wrong with rewriting?

Save yourself the anguish of the WOKE era in the arts, and plays in NYC in particular trying to be inclusive to minorities at the expense of throwing the play's original intent out of sync (Death of A Salesman), and rejuvenate the once extraordinary Wooster Group whose innovative deconstruction of the cannon of classics was extremely funny, bold and innovative. And the actors involved were of all mixed races back in the 80s, 90s, and the aughts. Their productions have gone downhill in the past 10 years. Time to get them back on the map. Too bad their production of The Emporer Jones will never see the light of day again. Wonder if the tapes have been burned and destroyed.

I saw LEOPOLDSTADT yesterday and found it a deeply moving experience. I always read the play first before seeing it onstage so I already knew all the relationships. There are several inside jokes about the convoluted family tree (“She’s my sister-in-law’s sister-in-law’s new baby”) so I think, like R24 said above, you need to just go with it. Like someone previously mentioned, once you’re left with just three people on the stage, it’s such a stark contrast to the earlier scenes of the play that are brimming with lots and lots of characters. This is one large extended family standing in for all the Jews who perished during the Holocaust. And you really feel that loss after getting to know these characters.

The final scene of the play is devastating.

David Krumholz (Hermann), Brandon Uranowitz (Ludwig) Faye Castelow (Gretl), and Eden Epstein (Mina) are my guesses for Tony nods, but there could be others. Jenna Augen (Rosa) and the *very hot* Arty Froushan (Fritz/Leo) could also sneak in.

I saw Raisin over the weekend. I couldn't understand the standing ovation until I realized they were applauding the actors for their bravery under fire.

[quote] the once extraordinary Wooster Group whose innovative deconstruction of the cannon of classics was extremely funny, bold and innovative.

r35 also cites something missing from all of this. Funny. You can make your point better through humor than through slamming folks heads against he wall with your heavy-handed 'ideas.' But it takes more skill

Love the thread title.

Some Like it Hot dress tonight. Who's going? Parade dress tonight also...

Almost Famous will close in January.

What about Funny Girl?

Just curious: is the entire cast of LEOPOLDSTADT Jewish?

Because casting Jewish roles appropriately on stage and screen has become a major thing over the past year or so. (Remember Sarah Silverman's public discussion of this?)

And if so--the issues are similar to casting LGBT roles, aren't they? You cannot ask an actor if he/she is Jewish, anymore than you can ask if they're LGBT. But if they identify as such, it's a different matter.

One of the characters plays a Gentile AND a Jewish person.

One of the actors, rather. Not characters.

Are any trans?

No, there are no trans in LEOPOLDSTADT. It’s traditionally cast.

Don't tell Peppermint.

Love Tonya, but hers was the weakest Lena I've seen. Anyone know if she was padded? Or has gained a lot of weight?

[quote]Anyone know if she was padded? Or has gained a lot of weight?

I was wondering about that, too, and though I have no idea, I'm going to guess the latter.

Liz Truss for Mama Morton

I wonder if the staging of 'Raisin' in NJ will be as wo... er, as "current" as the revival in NYC.

[quote]The theatre’s greatest strength is to harness a metaphor that can resonate on multiple levels, offering layers of meaning and interpretation to a play--even ambiguity--and, perhaps, a smidgen of hope or potential for happiness. But that requires a trust in the material and the audience.

Exactly.

Today's theater "creators" are generally literal-minded, young fascists who know everything about everything, and have contempt about the vast landscape of ideas they don't approve of. The theater they create is NOT open to interpretation of ANY kind, that is not why they toil! Instead it is to petulantly INFORM the audience how to feel and what conclusions they are commanded to absorb from the irritated and didactic "creators".

[quote] wondering where the character of Mrs. Johnson come from? An earlier addition of the play, or a total fabrication?

The Mrs. Johnson scene was included in the 1989 PBS American Playhouse TV version of "A Raisin in the Sun," starring Esther Rolle and Danny Glover. The great Helen Martin played Mrs. Johnson. This production can be found on YouTube.

They're trying to make "A Raisin in the Sun" palatable to today's audiences?

That's BULLSHIT! The play is a hugely popular one and has been enormously palatable to audiences for sixty years already!

So why did Epatha M not continue with the production in the first place?

If the new scenes in Raisin were deleted the first time around, then they were done so with Hansberry's approval. O'Hara should have respected THAT.

Everyone who's anyone in show biz in NYC was at HULAWEEN on Friday! Quel hoot!

Were YOU invited?

If Alan was there, I'm sure everyone left with Monkeypox.

Super A-Listy!

Is that Jordan Roth?

I will never eat a lime again, r60.

About to watch this. Hope it is as camp as it sounds.

It's probably not

It's all talk, talk, talk, r63.

Thanks, r54. I didn't object to the scene per se, but it wasn't necessary and added unwanted length to an already overlong evening.

"Because casting Jewish roles appropriately on stage and screen has become a major thing over the past year or so."

Neither Anthony Hopkins nor Anne Hathaway are Jewish and both are superbly credible as members of a Jewish family in ARMAGEDDON TIME.

One of the actors in Downstate at Playwrights Horizon is playing disabled in a wheelchair. I guess that's okay?

Do you know who wasn't Jewish? Kay Medford!

In the PLAYBILL interview, both Ms. Platt and Micaela Diamond take direct shots at the original production for the not casting Jewish leads for Leo and Lucille. Diamond is particularly strident about it. Wonder what Hal Prince would have to say to them?

He would ignore them, like everybody today should do.

Soooo, only Jews get to play Jews but they also get to play non-Jews?

Almost Famous is selling well. Good advance. Good word of mouth. It will not close in January.

R72 Ben for matinee Fanny!

THIS is good word of mouth?

I wanted a Non-Jew for "On The Twentieth Century"!

[quote]Do you know who wasn't Jewish? Kay Medford!

Nor were Nancy Walker, Valerie Harper, David Birney, and much of the cast of "The Goldbergs."

[Quote] Soooo, only Jews get to play Jews but they also get to play non-Jews?

We now see how well the “Only gays get to play gays” worked out. Now, they ONLY play gays

Oh, please. The gay debate involves OUT gays, not closeted/"discreet" ones...

OMG! We're actually having grown up discussions about current plays on Broadway and mostly not resorting to petty bitching!!??!?!!!!!

IT'S A THEATRE GOSSIP POST #500 MIRACLE!!!!!!

The Porkalob thing didn't really have legs, did it.

[quote]The Porkalob thing didn't really have legs, did it.

I think they're called "trotters."

The correct term is "hooves"

I just finished the LuPone memoir, which really once a once over lightly, but was surprised she made no mention of OZ. Not only was it created by her cousin, Tom Fontana, but she was excellent as Stella. Seemed to me, a glaring omission.

I'm guessing people are also flocking to see Leopoldstadt because they realize they're not going to get that many chances to see a fully professional production of it. You know all the regional theaters are annoyed it has such a huge cast...so expensive to produce that. But, all their theater savy subscribers are gonna whine for it.

Same thing with Jez Butterworth...highly acclaimed plays like Jerusalem and The Ferryman but with big casts and the need to cast actors who can do those difficult regional English/Irish accents.

If you don't see these plays on Broadway, you might not ever see them done professionally.

R83 but trotters is much funnier.

R85 NTLive filmed Leopoldstadt, the London cast.

R87 Which is lovely but not the same as seeing it LIVE.

I don't recall Lupone in OZ. I recall Betty Lynn.

R89 She played the Librarian in the final season, who got involved with Rebadoe. Betty Lynn was amazing as the missing Mum.

R88 Yes obviously, but for those not in New York, or America, is the best we have.

Is the Follies movie dead in the water?

I believe you mean "in the rubble", r91.

If they don't hurry up, Chris Pine may have to play Dmitri Weissman.

Any way to see the NTLive version?

[quote]Same thing with Jez Butterworth...highly acclaimed plays like Jerusalem and The Ferryman but with big casts and the need to cast actors who can do those difficult regional English/Irish accents.

I could handle it!

Wayback win, how did the show like West side story switch theaters in a matter of a day or two?

Theatres Winter Garden Theatre (Sep 26, 1957 - Feb 28, 1959) Broadway Theatre (Mar 02, 1959 - May 10, 1959) Winter Garden Theatre (May 11, 1959 - Jun 27, 1959)

I imagine the set was relatively simple, but still only one or two days to move, tech, etc?

Way back when

[Quote] the need to cast actors who can do those difficult regional English/Irish accents.

Not really.

R94 I think it available now on NT for poms and Irishy. Presume will be worldwide after the NY run ends. If it pops up at the usual places, shall post x

In the previous thread, a poster wrote: "I think what Leopoldstadt is saying that is new, or at least pitched at our time, is in the contrast between the confidence of the family, and especially its intellectuals, in the first scene and what actually happens."

But haven't we've seen this innocence-before-the storm scenario played out many, many times before: The Pianist, Cabaret, The Garden of the Finzi-Continis, Ship of Fools, to name just a few? The redundancy is what I found so disappointing about the Stoppard play.

[quote]So why did Epatha M not continue with the production in the first place?

My guess is because Patha has an extremely low tolerance for bullshit. She's funny and smart and has seen enough to know better.

R100 Isn't it based on his family?

Did CCH Pounder pass?

Miss Claudia McNeil

LEOPOLDSTADT also has at least 6 children in it which means tutors and child minders need to be on the payroll. Not to mention Stage Mothers.

HERCULES at the Paper Mill!

Director Lear deBessonet is having a magical year, between this and INTO THE WOODS. Should we start calling her Queen Lear?

I guess Harem pants aren't quite the right styles for Hercules but they'd help Bradley out...

Yikes, r107!

[quote]Director Lear deBessonet is having a magical year, between this and INTO THE WOODS. Should we start calling her Queen Lear?

Well, since HERCULES hasn't happened yet and we have no idea how it will go over, maybe we should wait a bit with the "Queen Lear" title.

Let's hope Bobby Goldman doesn't stop it transferring.

Is every lead now going to be black? Ridiculous.

Pendulum, r111...

The Hercules after this one will be a str8 homophobe?

Black trans Hercules is next.

Lear is an awful director. Awful.

Thoughts on the best plays (not musicals) running in NY right now? Unexpectedly have to stay an extra day in town this week for work and will have Saturday free to see one show. I haven't had a chance to see a lot from this past season, but my favorite thing I saw in the past year -- by far -- was Fat Ham.

I've somehow never seen a Tom Stoppard play before and by the sheer size of the cast Leopoldstad seems like something that won't come along again.

I've also never seen a production of Raisin in the Sun (and have always wanted to.) Perhaps not having any expectations for the show would allow me to enjoy what appears to be a poorly received production by DL.

Downstate sounds like it could be challenging and interesting in the right way?

A Little Life's torture porn feels like something I'd roll my eyes at -- I'm not remotely afraid of something dark, but this just seems so over the top.

Any word on My Broken Language at Signature?

Peerless at 59E59? Is it an entertaining black comedy?

Oh, forgot to ask about The Piano Lesson. I've never seen a production, so, no particular expectations there.

I'm having a hard time getting interested in Death of a Salesman; probably because I've seen fine productions in the past, including the revival with Brian Dennehy.

Cheers!

R116, the current production of RAISIN betrays or at least disrespects the play in some key ways, so I would strongly advise you against choosing that one.

Best fucking Willie Loman was Geo. C. Scott. 1975. Circle In The Square.

This thread reeks of untitlement!

[R116] Do not forget "Cost of Living." It is a short play but I found it very moving and effective. "Death of a Salesman" is longer than I remember but it is good. At BAM, you have Ostermeier's adaptation of "Hamlet." I think it is. a great production if you have never seen it.

Topdog

Pretty sure that A LITTLE LIFE is no longer playing.

no longer playing? I think they're still doing Act 1.

Cost of Living is wonderful. And those who have accused of being woke for having two disabled actors clearly have not seen it. Their disabilities are an important part of the plot. I found it very moving. And it completely deserved its Pulitzer win of a few years ago.

Completely agree R125, and the ending just shattered me.

I found PEERLESS a chore, R116. The cast is decent and they work hard, but the material is dark and mean-spirited but largely devoid of humor.

Dark comedy should be funny, shouldn't it?

The best production of Death Of a Salesman in my lifetime was the George C. Scott production in 1975, but the best Linda was Elizabeth Franz opposite Brian Dennehy. The current production was the worst, mainly because of poor acting and that damned director and a close second was the Michael Rudman-directed one with Dustin Hoffman, channeling Tim Conway's little old man character, in 1984.

Oh, and John Malkovich playing Biff as a flaming limp-wristed fool. I remember how surprised everyone was by Malkovich's portrayal, because he was the new critical golden boy of film and theater for the ages. Of course he descended into well-deserved obscurity after audiences, directors and critics realized there was no "there" there.

I wish I had seen the last revival with Phillip Seymour Hoffman. I heard it was great.

Nah, not so great. Wish Larry did it in his prime, not after he got sick. Example: his embarrassing Big Daddy.

R129, I sadly have to agree about Malkovich.

My point. . . and I do have one.

Larry, r131?? I'm not sure what you are talking about. I was talking about the Salesman revival directed by Mike Nichols, with PS Hoffman.

Though you are right about Olivier in Cat. (Although he did a perfect imitation of the Kentucky Colonel in it.)

Larry got even more hammy as he got older. Ever see "A Little Romance" or "The Betsy"?

No I but I do remember reading re-reading and re-reading a sex scene in my parents' paperback of The Betsy when i was a young teen

I saw A LITTLE LIFE on Saturday (yes, it’s pretty much interminable torture porn). There is some seating that is behind the stage and those people are on display for the rest of the audience in the main part of BAM’s seating. About 40 minutes into the performance, afte the first cutting scene (so there is already a small pool of blood on the floor), a woman came onto the stage who was dressed like an adult version of Punky Brewster. At first, I thought she was a patient of the main character’s doctor because she was all of a sudden standing in that section of the stage. However, it quickly became apparent that she was having some sort of medical event. Why she decided to wander onto the stage during the live performance, I have no idea. I’ve never seen an audience member leave their seat and join the actors on stage before.

The actors stopped their performance and the actor who was playing “JB” literally asked if there was a doctor in the audience. There were a bunch of murmurings amongst all of us in the audience. Eventually, they got the woman out of there and resumed the performance, but it was quite a dramatic turn of events.

Yeah, that Nichols SALESMAN wasn't so hot. Andrew Garfield? Please. But it was nice to see the original Mielziner set design and hear the Alex North score live.

Is Happy written as the stronger and more mature of the two sons in "Death of a Salesman"? The Willy and Linda in the new production were fine, but the two sons were kind of wimpy, especially the guy playing Happy. Is it in the text that way?

Correction: I meant the guy playing Biff was very wimpy. The younger brother Happy appeared to be acting more like an older brother, more mature in this production. Or is it written that way?

Read it yourself.

Nah, I'll just go with their acting wasn't as good as the parents.

Sounds like a mess that Disney is trying to sweep under a Dutch rug.

[quote] Director Schele Williams' reimagined take on Elton John and Tim Rice's Aida has set a world premiere engagement in the Netherlands, with performances beginning April 23, 2023 at AFAS Circustheater in Scheveningen. It is produced by Disney Theatrical.

[quote] Williams' production was originally announced to play New Jersey's Paper Mill Playhouse before embarking on a U.S. tour and an engagement in Germany. But those plans were postponed due to the spread of COVID-19 and the accompanying shutdown of most live theatre. The new version will leave the score and the original plot intact. As for tone, Williams, who played Nehebka in the work's original Broadway production, has given the musical "a contemporary feel without compromising its original quality."

[quote] The previously announced U.S. tour production was to feature choreography by Camille A. Brown, sets and costumes by Bob Crowley, and lighting by Natasha Katz, with Jason Michael Webb serving as musical supervisor, Michael McElroy as arranger, Jim Abbott as orchestrator, and Zane Mark as dance arranger. Only Crowley, who also designed the original production's sets and costumes, has been confirmed so far for the Netherlands bow.

I just have never understood the appeal of "Salesman". It is such a dreary, mopey play which makes some obvious points obviously.

I think "All My Sons" and "The Crucible" are far superior Miller plays, but "Death of a Salesman" seems far more iconic. After seeing a couple decent productions I'm convinced it just isn't a play I'm ever going to love.

Oh, and Malkovich, while certainly watchable at times, was and is a huge ham.

So there are actually losers trying to keep the other two 500 threads going because they don't like the title of this one.

[quote]The best production of Death Of a Salesman in my lifetime was the George C. Scott production in 1975, but the best Linda was Elizabeth Franz opposite Brian Dennehy. The current production was the worst, mainly because of poor acting and that damned director and a close second was the Michael Rudman-directed one with Dustin Hoffman, channeling Tim Conway's little old man character, in 1984.

Excuse me?

Sorry...accidentally hit "enter."

That last post was signed ...

Bobbi Adler as Milly Loman.

[quote] the other two 500 threads going

There are TWO other ones?

[quote]The current production was the worst, mainly because of poor acting and that damned director and a close second was the Michael Rudman-directed one with Dustin Hoffman, channeling Tim Conway's little old man character, in 1984.

I have a DVD of the (somewhat abridged) 1966 television production of "Death of a Salesman" in which Lee. J. Cobb and Mildred Dunnock re-created their original roles of Willy and Linda Loman. Cobb simply was Willy Loman. Hoffman was just shmacting all over the place. I got especially pissed off when publicity for the Hoffman production emphasized that Willy wasn't intended to be overweight, like Cobb, but was intended by Miller to be skinny and wiry, like Hoffman. I hate it when a new production tries to build itself up by comparing itself favorably to a beloved original. Lee J. Cobb's performance was brilliant, so let's make it sound as though he somehow doesn't measure up to Dustin fucking Hoffman.

any of you going to Some Like It Hot tonight? I think Casey is a hack and Neil Meron is a perv so i think I'm probably not rooting for them

I saw the O'Hara production of RAISIN in Williamstown back in 2019, and it's obvious that the director has gone full sledgehammer with this latest iteration. I'm pretty sure that the additional scene and Walter Lee doing his big speech to the audience holding up the playbill was not done in Williamstown.

Platt and Diamond should keep their traps shut about Carolee Carmello and the late, wonderful Brent Carver who are their betters as singing actors.

The only theater productions I’ve ever attended were cats (broadway), starlight Xpress (broadway), and run for your wife (London) because I’m a STEM nerd/geek

Was anyone from those productions hot? Some of the people in cats could’ve been hot but I was afraid to look because I was 16 at the time and found their costumes rather off putting

[quote]Correction: I meant the guy playing Biff was very wimpy. The younger brother Happy appeared to be acting more like an older brother, more mature in this production. Or is it written that way?

No, it's not written that way. The guy who plays Biff in the current production gives a very weak performance, though he's got a pretty face. The guy who plays Happy seems to be a far better actor, and I'm sure that plus the fact that his body is hot as fuck contributed to your feeling that Happy was the stronger, more mature character.

[quote]Was anyone from those productions hot?

Well, slim pickings there, but the late Peter Blake was in "Run for Your Wife" and I always thought he was quite dashing back then...

A first reading of Moriarty, A New Sherlock Holmes Adventure by Ken Ludwig will take place at the Cleveland Play House on Thursday, Nov. 3. Directed by Mark Brokaw, the reading will feature Santino Fontana as Sherlock Holmes, Pun Bandhu as Dr. Watson, Andy Grotelueschen as Professor Moritarty, Alexandra Silber and Jill Abramovitz. September Stanton will read stage directions.

From the website design Salesman looks like Bubblin Brown sugar

if i looked like this I'd be Happy too

Isn't Moriarty a villain who matches wits with Holmes? Why would they cast fat schlub Andy Grotelueschen?

[quote]Bubblin Brown Sugar

Do NOT go there.

[quote]A first reading of Moriarty, A New Sherlock Holmes Adventure by Ken Ludwig will take place at the Cleveland Play House on Thursday, Nov. 3. Directed by Mark Brokaw, the reading will feature Santino Fontana as Sherlock Holmes, Pun Bandhu as Dr. Watson, Andy Grotelueschen as Professor Moritarty, Alexandra Silber and Jill Abramovitz. September Stanton will read stage directions.

Good cast, but you could not pay me to see another show written by Ludwig, the ultimate hack.

R134....I was making a side observation....at one time in the late 60s, when Larry had his mojo, he was contemplating doing either Salesman or Long Day's.....He opted for the Mick

I saw that Scott Salesman. And I hated Scott and Arthur Miller but it was a school trip.

And I was thrown for a loop. Tremendous. And then that drunken POS(look what he did to Ava!) was wonderful doing Noel Coward in Enter Laughing!

A friend was ushering for Hot last night. She usually is at Almost Famous. She was relieved that it was a traditional musical and said it was terrific.

Kinky Boots closing Nov 20

[quote]Directed by Mark Brokaw.

For such a long CV, Brokaw doesn't really have commercial hits, his Broadway efforts have all been flops. I'm wary of people who are supposed to be so amazing, but all of their "hits" are in non-profit venues. Is he known to be a talented guy, or does he just get the job done, you know Yale Drama background and all that? Maybe I'm just bitter because Brokaw wouldn't even see me for jobs that didn't pay more than car fare in the 80s, lol.

Yes, I remember these things.

[Quote] A friend was ushering for Hot last night. She usually is at Almost Famous. She was relieved that it was a traditional musical and said it was terrific.

Nice to see positive word of mouth.

If only they'd reduced Beanie to "surprise performances."

Daniel Radcliffe had some of the cast of the Merrily revival join him on the red carpet at the film premiere for his Al Yankovic movie tonight. He truly seems like one of the nicest guys in the biz.

I felt sorry for him having to work so hard in H2$.

[quote]Thoughts on the best plays (not musicals) running in NY right now? Unexpectedly have to stay an extra day in town this week for work and will have Saturday free to see one show. I haven't had a chance to see a lot from this past season, but my favorite thing I saw in the past year -- by far -- was Fat Ham.

FWIW there's a German production of "Hamlet" playing this weekend at BAM that was the hit of Berlin's theatre season in 2018. Thomas Ostermeier, big superstar director. Not sure if tkts are available, but I've quite enjoyed the work of his I've seen previously.

The Secret Garden will be at LA's Ahmanson Theatre Feb 19 - March 26.

I was waiting to hear about a revival of this now that Lucy has died.

Is The Secret Garden done much in the regions?

[quote] Daniel Radcliffe had some of the cast of the Merrily revival join him on the red carpet at the film premiere for his Al Yankovic movie tonight. He truly seems like one of the nicest guys in the biz.

Except for when he's throwing JK Rowling under the bus and won't shut the fuck up about it.

SOME LIKE MY TWAT!

Tony...Tony...

From Reddit Broadway sub on Some Like It Hot

Just walked out the first preview for this one and I was FLOORED. I loved it!! They don't make them like this anymore and I felt like I was transported back to Broadway 10 years ago!!

The show was so fresh and fun and an absolute delight to sit through! The show was impressively clean after the last few previews I've sat through (though J Harrison Ghee did take a bit of a nasty spill near the end unfortunately—after a well deserved partial standing ovations because WOW!!!)

I LOVED BORLE and Adrianna in their roles, they did so well!! There were so many subtle jokes at Borle's age and I was laughing my head off. Adrianna was absolutely stunning and I loved her voice!!

All the other mains and the ensemble each stood out in their own little way and I'd be standing here forever if I wrote about each of them :)

Overall, I truly loved the show. It was such a fun little world and it held my attention the whole way through.

Shout-out to the choreographer because it was FANTASTIC (especially that chase scene)

I laughed...I cried...

I would like to see SOME LIKE IT HOT succeed.

I would also like to see an end to "man in dress=laff riot" shows.

Can both things be true?

It’s really hard to imagine that it is actually good.

Wowie! SOME LIKE IT HOT is good, a beautiful kind of good! Not great, but so above the shit we’ve been shoveled recently! And there’s a STAR in Kevin Del Aguila, he’s an old school treasure, I wept at his effortless charm. The show will be a HIT!!!

Who does Kevin play?

R180, he plays Osgood and is a delight!

Does Osgood get the last line?

I've seen other raves from people on social media.

Some Like It Hot sounds like a hit!

[quote]Except for when he's throwing JK Rowling under the bus and won't shut the fuck up about it.

She did it to herself. Free speech has consequences.

[quote] I was transported back to Broadway 10 years ago!!

Talk about damning with faint praise...

Oh, for the days of Leap Of Faith and Lysistrata Jones!

Radcliffe supports confused heterosexuals in drag.

Jesus Christ, did the fucking PR twunk for Some Like It Hot stumble onto DL after a meth binge? Take a Xanax and go to bed, freak.

CAMELOT at LCT casting finalized, after a lot of back and forth: what sayeth the DL?

I'm sure they will all be good. But I'm not overly excited, either.

Don't forget to program your VCRs, and pick up a fresh tape from Blockbuster!

The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade is a-comin'.

So this is the rationale the OP of the THIRD 500th thread gave for creating it:

[quote]For me it only matters because people spent almost a day pitching titles for #500 in the previous thread--some of them good, some of them dreadful--which largely took over the thread and got pretty boring. Only to have some snide clown rush to post ThE uNtItLeD tHrEaD!!! , not even bothering to follow the format of past threads in their haste. I don't care what the actual title is. I do care if we went through all that for nothing.

MARY! And yes, a few suggested post titles apparently counts as "all that".

The OP of that thread is also responsible for half the posts in it, which should tell you how successful it is.

[quote]"Lea Michele and ‘Funny Girl’ to open 2022 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade; more Broadway performances announced" by Broadway News' Ruthie Fierberg - "The broadcast will open with Lea Michele and the cast of “Funny Girl,” followed by numbers from “A Beautiful Noise,” “Some Like It Hot” and “The Lion King,” which celebrates its 25th anniversary on Broadway this month."

We are at 192 posts r191. Discussion of the title approaches rudeness at this point.

r193 I wasn't discussing the title, I was discussing the prissy cunt who created another thread because he didn't like it. If it gets rid of people like that, I say keep the Untitled trend going.

Pyrrhic victory r194.

r195 Eh? I don't think you know what the word 'pyrrhic' actually means. I guess that lines up with your lack of reading comprehension displayed in r193. Go on, make yourself look foolish again, go for the triple.

Andrew Burnap, Phillipa Soo and Jordan Donica... Talk about a Who's Who of Who Cares?

I understood what r195 meant. He used the term correctly.

Are you going to see it twice more, r175?

Does your husband work in the area?

I have R193/R195 on block (unsurprisingly).

At least Andrew Burnap is a Tony winner.

Why is King Arthur being played by a white cis-male?

Because Lancelot and Guinevere are not?

I think Burnap is potentially a fine choice. Probably auditioned well.

Maybe I'm hallucinating, but I thought I had read or heard somewhere that, while Matthew Rhys had originally been announced for the workshop of this "Camelot" some time ago, it actually wound up going forward recently with Soo and Donica in place but with a POC as Arthur. Can anyone confirm this? If it's true, I'm even more surprised that Burnap got in.

WTF is a POC? You mean " black."

Could the OP not have capitalized “THEATRE GOSSIP”? Are you new here?

I purposely wrote POC because I don't think the name I read was that of a black actor, or at least not an African America. Anybody?

Saw A Little Life last week. We were handed a postcard with a QR code to scan for program info. Seriously, can't we get real paper programs? I get going green, but it's not like a Starbucks coffee cup that you throw away, some people like to have programs to remember shows we liked, or have forgotten.

Theaters that don't hand out programs should be burnt to the ground.

I'd see Camelot if it starred Andrew Rannells as Arthur.

[quote] Kinky Boots closing Nov 20

I've heard so little about this off-Bway transfer. Does it even have an advertising budget? No wonder it's closing/

If you read Rowling's essay there isn't an offensive thing in it. To go after her the way he has after she made him so fabulously wealthy he can do anything he goddamn pleases shows him to be a piece of garbage.

Andrew Burnap? Who the hell is he? Richard Burton? Lawrence Harvey? Richard Harris? I guess they don't make King Arthurs anymore.

r196 are you the continual reading comprehension troll?

[quote]Kinky Boots closing Nov 20

I had heard anecdotally that this production was doing well at the box-office, but obviously, that wasn't true.

[quote]If you read Rowling's essay there isn't an offensive thing in it. To go after her the way he has after she made him so fabulously wealthy he can do anything he goddamn pleases shows him to be a piece of garbage.

And/or that he's just not very bright and has decided to join the mindless mob that's trying to cancel Rowling even though they don't understand or, in many cases, even know what she has actually said and written on this subject.

I hope Vulva Toadstool flashes her panties at Al Roker.

She's going commando to give Al an extra special treat, r217.

Haha, R218. I’m told the “twirl up” lost her the Golda Meir gig in Spielberg’s film Munich.

Is Mimi Hines retired?

Saw PARADE last night. So pleasantly surprised because I have mixed memories of the original. It felt a little like discovering an long, lost gem and might be a minor masterpiece. The musicians sounded great, and the cast was fantastic. Exciting.

Burnap is also 30 yo (younger than Soo) which is certainly a different way to go

Asian don't raisin, though.

Either SOME LIKE IT HOT is the biggest surprise Broadway has seen since the original SWEENEY or the propaganda team deserves a major kudos. Every website and twitter is screaming how good it is and that its going to run forever.

Jordan Donics is what passes for a legit Broadway baritone sound these days?

Damn, you all ate screwed. ☠️☠️

[quote]Damn, you all ate screwed

I just picked, r225.

ALL of social media today is abuzz praising PARADE and SOME LIKE IT HOT.

And LEOPOLDSTADT.

I saw PARADE. It's worth the buzz.

Parade and especially SLIH both smack of major PR shilling.

Does Sugar have new songs or is the old Elaine Joyce score.

oh god please stop whomever from trying to transfer Parade to Broadway with Splatt. You know someone will try.

That someone being Ben Platt

I think Jason Robert Brown has been trying strenuously to get people to "rediscover" PARADE since 1998.

He may get his wish at last.

Well good for JRB. But please not with SPlatt.

R209, most people toss their program in the garbage on the way home.

I saw the 1st preview of Some Like It Hot last night and was pleasantly surprised. I didn’t have high expectations going in but it was on TDF and I figured why not? The performances were uniformly pretty strong, especially for an 1st preview, with very good chemistry between the cast and while there are only a few memorable songs, the tap dancing was great and the show held together well. It was also legitimately funny, which has been rare for musical comedies in the last few seasons.

Is it an amazing work of art? Nah, but I think you’d be a fool to walk in expecting that. It’s a fun adaptation that exceeded my expectations and was worth seeing.

Is yet another man wearing a dress going to win a Tony?

[quote]most people toss their program in the garbage on the way home.

People? I ain't PEOPLE!

[quote]Does Sugar have new songs or is the old Elaine Joyce score.

I didn't realize Elaine wrote music! What a talent!

It sounds like a genuinely good old fashioned musical comedy so people are stunned.

I act, sing, write scores, AND deliver letters of criticism to recalcitrant Broadway stars!

I would definitely think that's a part of it, r241.

PARADE will be transferring for a limited engagement, just like Into The Woods.

I think Carol Burnett‘s version of I’m still here is just fine

Mmmm...no, r245.

I noticed in a screen shot of the SLIH Playbill credits that Christian Borle now has an "additional material" credit. Is that a recent development and what exactly does it mean?

Carol would have been more successful with Broadway Baby

Agreed, r248, I'm Still Here is not a one size fits all song.

Parade is such a preachy downer. Who is the audience?

Well, with all that we've been going through the last however many years, who wants a downer? That's probably why Some Like it Hot can be a hit. It doesn't have to be great, it just needs to be good.

With forgettable music?

Like I said, r252, it doesn't have to be great.

Saw PARADE tonight.

The City Center cast is simply stellar. The ensemble is strong. Michaela Diamond, who didn't make much of an impression on me in THE CHER SHOW, is the real star of the evening, IMHO, singing and acting the role beautifully and with a lot of warmth. And while it may make DL unhappy, Ben Platt is also terrific. The full size orchestra is onstage and breathtaking (with Jason Robert Brown conducting).

But it's still... PARADE, even with some tweaks to the book and score. And it is, in fact, a downer of a story, and messy. focusing on the courtroom proceeding and the politics surrounding the Frank case and not enough on core characters.

So no, I don't see this having an open run on Bway anytime soon. But it will certainly garner some interest from regional theatres, I think.

Isn't Shaiman one of those composers who writes successful forgettable music? The title song sounds competently derivative. Like you hear half the song and you don't have to hear anymore of it.

Shaiman is entirely derivative as a composer. He’s really an arranger.

Vincent Canby in the Times in 1998, eviscerating PARADE appropriately:

PARADE is a big complex musical that looks as if it were just starting a long out-of-town tour designed to get things right before opening on Broadway. The cast is able, the staging is smooth and the scenery moves on and off without threatening the actors. Yet 'Parade' is without life. It plays as if it were still a collection of notes for a show that has yet to be discovered.

Unfortunately, 'Parade' isn't in New Haven, Minneapolis, Baltimore or Toronto. The production, presented by Lincoln Center Theater in association with the now-bankrupt Livent Inc., is at the end of the line: in New York, onstage at the Vivian Beaumont Theater.

What went wrong, and at what point did that happen?

The show's provenance is impressive. The director is Harold Prince, who has directed more innovative Broadway musicals than anybody except maybe his mentor, George Abbott. Alfred Uhry ('Driving Miss Daisy') wrote the book, and though Jason Robert Brown, the composer and lyricist, is here making his Broadway debut, he was picked by Mr. Prince, who should recognize talent when he hears it.

The idea is also promising: the true and terrible story of Leo Frank, the Brooklyn-born, middle-class Jewish businessman, the supervisor of a pencil factory in Atlanta, who in 1913 was tried and convicted for the murder of one of his employees, a 13-year-old girl.

The trial was so dubiously conducted, and brought into the open so much virulent anti-Semitism, that it became something of a cause celebre in the rest of the country. In 1915, shortly after Frank's death sentence had been commuted to life imprisonment, he was hauled out of a Georgia jail and lynched by a mob whose members were never identified. Though there were persuasive theories as to the identity of some killer other than Frank, the case was not pursued and no one else ever charged.

The story of Frank's arrest, conviction and murder is clearly a very big subject, with all sorts of social and political associations, but 'Parade' goes through them as if checking off the information for items listed in a curriculum vitae. Because the show has no real doubt about Leo's innocence, or about the identity of the probable killer (a roguish black man), the audience has little to do except consider the show's stern cues. That is, to try to weep for the innocent and to feel loathing for the opportunists and bigots who rule the world.

The publicity for the production would have you believe that 'Parade' is really a tragic love story about Leo, an uptight fellow, initially as chilly and finicky in his personal life as he is in business, and his wife, Lucille, who is vaguely characterized as a Southern Jewish belle. Having been brought together in an arranged marriage, she longs for romantic love, while he works long hours to support a woman whom he wishes were more serious and would recognize her Jewishness.

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According to 'Parade,' disaster so transforms Leo and Lucille that at last he is able to express his feelings and she can mature into proud, assertive womanhood, becoming her husband's most effective defender. It is typical of 'Parade,' however, that they seem to fall in love only late in the show and offstage. This leads to the couple's having one idyllic, somewhat unlikely picnic and conjugal visit at the jail (onstage), before he is kidnapped and hanged.

Mr. Uhry is Georgia-born and bred, as well as Jewish. He knows the territory. Yet his book possesses none of the subtleties of character and event that make 'Driving Miss Daisy' such a wise and substantial entertainment. Except for Leo and Lucille, 'Parade' is populated by characters who could have been ordered from a catalogue.

Among them: the drunken newspaper reporter who rides the murder story to fame and fortune; the governor who says, 'We gotta get to the bottom of this one fast'; a fundamentalist newspaper publisher who denies Jesus was a Jew, and the district attorney who coaches perjured testimony from witnesses, including the black man who he suspects is guilty. The D.A.'s excuse for going after Leo: 'We don't need another negra hanging from a tree.' Suddenly, Jews take precedence over blacks as lynching material.

As if to acknowledge this new perspective on race relations in the South, where, in spite of the fate of Leo Frank, the status of Jews has never been comparable to that of blacks, the show inserts a most peculiar number, 'A Rumblin' and a Rollin'.' A small group of blacks, including the probable murderer, sing bitterly of white folks coming down South to protest Leo's trial and conviction (though there is no evidence of any such invasion on the stage). The point of the song: if the victim had been a black girl, nobody would have cared.

The number purposely evokes the freedom marches and voter registration drives that would not come until the 1960's, when hundreds of activists, many of them Jewish, invaded the South to fight the good fight, some losing their lives in the process. Yet the effect of the song in the context of 'Parade' is simply to reinforce the skepticism, held by some whites today but seldom openly expressed, that blacks have never fully appreciated the help they received from their kindly white Northern brothers.

'Parade' has one short, splendid sequence ('Come Up to My Office') during the extended trial scene. As three young woman are testifying how Leo would spy on them, make them indecent proposals and fondle them, the shy, tautly strung Leo suddenly jumps up from his place at the defense table. He becomes the lewd, sweaty-palmed pervert the girls have described, as he sings, dances and proudly exults in the licentiousness they have talked about in such polite euphemisms.

This burst of theatrical fantasy comes like a flash of lightning. It briefly lights up the show's murky landscape to allow you to see all that 'Parade' hasn't achieved so far, and won't achieve again. Among other things, it also permits the audience to acknowledge for the first time the dimensions of Brent Carver's fine performance as Leo.

You should remember Mr. Carver for his Tony-winning work as the window dresser in Mr. Prince's 'Kiss of the Spider Woman.' In 'Parade' he is so disciplined, so effective as the buttoned-up Leo that this glimpse into the character's raging psyche has the force of a coup de theatre.

After that, the musical slips back into narrative conventions and social confusion. The first act ends with Patricia Birch's prettily choreographed hoedown in which the citizens of Atlanta merrily celebrate Leo's conviction. If the show were working, the end of the act would be ironic. As it is now, all that dancing just looks ill-timed.

Mr. Brown's score has some pleasing melodies but his lyrics are banal (I assume) by design in the way of commonplace speech. They aren't easy to listen to. Mull over this plaint, sung by the newspaper reporter before he comes upon Leo's story: 'You got a kitten up a tree?/ Well, come to me and I'll see/ It makes it on the front page!/ The mayor's mother broke her toe?/They gotta know!/ It's the scandal of the age!' And so on.

In addition to Mr. Carver, the only actors to register with distinctively realized performances are Carolee Carmello, who plays Lucille and has a lovely voice, and Rufus Bonds Jr., who plays Jim Conley, the janitor at the pencil factory, the man thought to be the true killer. Mr. Bonds even survives one of the silliest chain gang scenes ever put on a stage. The material holds everybody else in check. The physical production is adequate.

What was Mr. Prince thinking of in allowing 'Parade' to be produced in this condition? He believed in it, certainly, but something happens in the course of long pre-production work, readings, workshops and rehearsals, even to the pros. Collaborators have a way of psyching one another up, as they should. At the same time, they can become so isolated, so self-absorbed, so removed from reality and so mired in tiny details that they begin to see results not visible to the outsider.

The show then opens, but it's too late. That mysterious, pulsating entity they have been assembling turns out to be a corpse.

[quote]You should remember Mr. Carver for his Tony-winning work as the window dresser in Mr. Prince's 'Kiss of the Spider Woman.' In 'Parade' he is so disciplined, so effective as the buttoned-up Leo that this glimpse into the character's raging psyche has the force of a coup de theatre.

Well, there ya go.

Canby is mostly correct, I fear, about Uhry's book for PARADE. And the race-related content is still problematic, to put it mildly.

But I think the score is richer and more effective than he gives it credit for.

Were Leo's pencils suitable for phone-dialing?

I wonder if Michaela Diamond considered recusing herself from playing Cher because she's not Armenian.

Uh oh if this transfers Vicki Clark’s second Tony may be in danger gurl

Cher's parts have been mostly replaced. A tenth of her might still be Armenian.

"The title song sounds competently derivative."

Watch Huckleberry Hound ever?

"But I think the score is richer and more effective than he gives it credit for.:

One attractive ballad does not a score make.

[quote]Huckleberry Hound

Is that from the Victorian era?

He’s from the Eisenhower era.

Wait a minute, the show blames the Leo Frank murder on a “roguish black man”?

lol, this show is DOA.

If this show is a success, it has to give some credit to Kanye and Kyrie.

I hope Kanye plays the rogue when the Parade transfers to Broadway.

I actually loved the original production of PARADE. I was looking forward to this version, but, by the time I got around to looking for tickets, the ticket prices of the leftover seats were through the roof.

A limited run on Bway would be welcomed.

Maltby and Shire are back with another musical revue, featuring DL fave Miss Karen Ziemba and a constellation of stars!

Fuel, meet fire.

NY Times gave Parade a great review today. The reader comments, however, are strangely bitchy

Did they hire Juan A. Ramirez straight from his high school newspaper's drama club beat?

Besides Jesse Green and Maya, the Times seems to rotate a pool of over a dozen theatre critics, mostly freelancers, each one worse than the others.

I can't keep up.

[quote]the factory’s janitor Jim Conley (a phenomenally voiced Alex Joseph Grayson)

This is the "roguish black man" Canby spoke of. And the character remains deeply problematic.

But Grayson is terrific, almost stopping the show in Act 1. So I hope this leads to greater things for him.

I don’t understand how the Times full time paid theater and film critics are so busy that they can’t even write all the major reviews - wtf else are they doing

Beats me!

No, that would be your first husband, Mary.

Perhaps DL is not the ideal place to mention it, but PARADE is really abominably racist towards its black characters (that chain gang song!!), and spectacularly ignorant of the relationship between anti-black and antisemitic hatred. "We don't need another negra hanging from a tree"? Really!?

Maybe they need to do a "Parade"/"Scottsboro Boys" mashup musical.

Brent Carver creates a role which is then played by Benjamin Brat.

What a world. What a world.

All I remember about Parade is the big tree onstage, and that girl caterwauling "I SAW HIS FACE"...

I hated PARADE when I saw it originally. I heard they did some fixing of it on the road, but I still didn't want to see it again, no matter how good the cast is. The cast was great the first time and it still sucked.

The biggest surprise off-Broadway this Fall will be Bruce Norris's Downstate at Playwrights. Great ensemble, surprisingly great direction by Pam McKinnon, and the play is killer. Genuine gasp that shook the entire theatre, and a career-high performance from K Todd Freeman. Going to be impossible to get into once it opens.

[quote]In June of 2020, the actor and Harry Potter star published an open letter on The Trevor Project's website, stating that "trans women are women" and that “Any statement to the contrary erases the identity and dignity of transgender people and goes against all advice given by professional health care associations who have far more expertise on this subject matter than either [J.K.] or I."

The thing is, I REALLY don't think it's true that "all advice given by professional health care associations" is that "trans women are women." It's just that the doctors and other health care people who DON'T feel that way are reluctant to share their feelings for fear of being shouted down or canceled or worse.

[quote]The biggest surprise off-Broadway this Fall will be Bruce Norris's Downstate at Playwrights. Great ensemble, surprisingly great direction by Pam McKinnon, and the play is killer. Genuine gasp that shook the entire theatre, and a career-high performance from K Todd Freeman. Going to be impossible to get into once it opens.

Well...."Clybourne Park" had one or two gasp-inducing moments in it, as well, but most of that play was bullshit IMHO. So we shall see.

I saw Downstate at the NT years ago. It’s a bit obvious. You’d have to blind not to see that “killer” thing you mention coming from a mile away.

Sienna Miller:

[quote]She recounts how, several years ago, she was “offered less than half” of what a male costar was going to earn a week for a play on Broadway. “I said to the producer, who was extremely powerful, it’s not about money – it’s about fairness and respect, thinking they’d come back and say, ‘Of course, of course.’ But they didn’t. They just said, ‘Well f**k off then,’” she snorts. (The play happened, but she won’t name it – “I don’t want to be mean.”)

So this is either someone at Roundabout or Sonia Friedman. And given she went back and did a couple of weeks of Cabaret for Roundabout, seems unlikely it was them.

It's not about being a woman, Sienna, it's about being a draw- which you are NOT. No one goes to see Sienna Miller in a play, or in a movie. She was supposed to happen 15 years ago and didn't. Now she's lucky if anyone thinks about her at all.

Jonny Lee Miller was her co-star, it's not like he's some huge draw

R293, I believe she's talking about a play she ultimately did not do.

Even if that's the case, I'm still going to guess Friedman, given the way Miller says they, rather than he

Wow, I had no idea Jonny Lee Miller was married to Michele Hicks for 10 years. A celebrity marriage that was under the radar? How refreshing.

I saw it coming, but was surprised nonetheless HOW it came. Norris achieves the impossible here. Makes you feel for all those men.

Roundabout operates under a favored nations contract, at least in their initial runs, paying all actors the same shitty salary. There would have been nothing to negotiate there.

Sienna Miller was actually a pretty good Sally in CABARET.

I've never been a big fan of hers, but her brittle glamour worked very well for her in that production.

How many actors do more than one show with Roundabout? That should tell you everything you need to know about this POS theatre company.

Miller barely registered in Cabaret to me. For the first time, Sally felt like a minor supporting character. She had little sparkle or charisma. Emma Stone was superb and the best since Natasha Richardson, but Michelle Williams was a sad bore. She played Sally just like all of her depressive movie roles.

I wish Jane Horrocks had been reined in by Mendes. I love much of her performance.

I saw the CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF with Miller via NT Live. She was, uh, underwhelming as Maggie.

I think Sienna is one of those actors who’s magnetic on screen but blah on stage.

When has Sienna been magnetic onscreen??

Does anyone remember when someone tossed a screenplay on stage during a performance of whatever play Sienna was doing? I remember hearing about it but never saw anything in the press.

Sienna brought down News of The World. I admire her for that. Nobody cared when she said her phone was being hacked, they just thought “silly actress”. But she pursued it in the courts, taking on Murdoch. And then it was discovered that they’d hacked the phone of an abducted teen girl and were obstructing the investigation to find her, etc. Then people took it seriously. All because of Sienna Miller standing up for her rights. She’s a legend.

[quote]In June of 2020, the actor and Harry Potter star published an open letter on The Trevor Project's website, stating that "trans women are women"...

Except...clearly they're not!

I'm being Captain Obvious here, but it seems everyone who keeps instructing us that "trans women are women" has (or had) a penis! That means your fucking vote doesn't count! The last thing women will ever need is someone with a penis deciding who and what a woman is!

But we live in a patriarchy...

The Trevor Project, another resource for gay kids now co-opted by the trans.

I know this is the theatre gossip thread, but I'm sure some of you enjoy other performing arts. I'm visiting NY this week and noticed Paul Taylor Dance Company is in residency at Lincoln Center this month. I've never seen them perform before, but have to imagine they're worth catching?

Modern dance is insufferable.

Paul Taylor is *no* June Taylor, r311...

Whatever happened to Brian Stokes Mitchell’s career?

[quote]I wish Jane Horrocks had been reined in by Mendes.

She's the anti-Liza

[quote]Whatever happened to Brian Stokes Mitchell’s career?

He's been doing more television popping up in a lot of shows shooting in NYC. He was in my scene in my very first scripted tv job ever some years back, and he was very nice and a total "no drama" pro. Everyone likes working with him, he has a very good reputation.

"Much better than Liza?" An obviously insane woman shrieking into a microphone?

Thanks, but I'm sticking with Liza. I've seen a few "darker" productions of "Cabaret" and each new one is worse than the last.

[quote]Whatever happened to Brian Stokes Mitchell’s career?

[quote]He's been doing more television popping up in a lot of shows shooting in NYC. He was in my scene in my very first scripted tv job ever some years back, and he was very nice and a total "no drama" pro. Everyone likes working with him, he has a very good reputation.

Stokes! Yes, a lovely man, r316. He's getting as much work as he wants.

Stokes is on the road performing right now... I considered seeing him in Worcester, MA in the beautiful Mechanics' Hall, but already have plans.

Well June is a hell of a lot more entertaining than Paul Tayor or god forbid Merce Cunningham. These men rob you of your life.

NT says they're putting LEOPOLDSTADT on their streaming service, NT at Home, sometime over the winter. I imagine they'll wait for it to close on Broadway first, but you'll be able to watch the London production on TV sometime in the next couple of years.

When you do, I suggest you freeze-frame, or even screenshot, the family tree they show at the start of each Act if you're worried about keeping up with who's who.

The Almost Famous producer has only herself to blame for letting Cameron Crowe be in charge. He was never going to change anything to make it stageworthy or musical-worthy. Just ask the folks who did Diner. Barry Levenson didn’t change a word.

I know we're only @333, but the thread's going fast enough that we need a plan. When this fills, do we brugrudingly join one of the other two 500's to fill up and close them out (as fast as we can), or are we doomed to contemporaneous threads forever?

I love when the cute violinist in r313 helps the dancer who falls toward the end of the number.

The Paul Taylor Dance Co. has not been doing great work since Paul's death a few years ago. All of the principal dancers left after he died.

R325 is pretty accurate.

They used to be one of my favorite companies, though. Taylor and his wonderful dancers managed to make contemporary work that was beautiful, joyous, even sexy. (You don't always see "joyous or sexy" in a lot of modern dance, IMHO.)

Is this closing production of Kinky Boots much different from the Broadway one, in terms of sets? I didn't care much for the original physical production.

Was Betty Lynn kept off of the Broadway stage for 8 years following Carrie because of her involvement in Carrie? She has stated she taught during that time and did concerts, and then finally Sunset Boulevard came through for her....but I don't understand if the stench of the show damaged her reputation or something....or if there were just no roles suited to her in during that period. She was the best thing in Carrie and did wonders with her material. I don't understand what the lengthy career setback was about...maybe it had nothing to do with that show?

How long are Lillias, Reeve and Patrick Page in Hadestown? Are any of their contracts wrapping up?

There is no way Carrie damaged Buckley's reputation. She was seen as one of the unsung heroes of that show and everyone knew she and Hateley were not to blame and were also the only quality onstage (though none of the performers were blamed, only pitied).

Had it been a hit, and Buckley and Hateley (deservedly) been up for awards that year, then Buckley might have had more opportunities, but no one blamed her for the failure of Carrie.

Wasn't it that the show didn't run long enough to be considered for Tony nominations? That sounds ridiculous to me, since it ought to be up to the nominating committee to see everything that opens in a season. Of course the voters wouldn't have gotten to see it, so there's no way it could have won anything, but the 88-89 season was so bereft of viable shows to nominate that the stellar performances of Buckley and Hateley should have been in the mix, especially when you consider that they had to scrape the bottom of the barrel and nominate Starmites and all those performances. They could have easily cut Sharon McKnight and Charlotte D'amboise in the lead categories in favor of the two Carrie actresses.

Betty Buckley has, or at least had at one time, a reputation for very erratic behavior, to put it mildly. I'm guessing that might be the main reason why she was "kept off" the Broadway stage for so many years, as you put it. But also, didn't she go back to live in Texas with her horses for awhile?

I thought Charlotte was in Carrie, r328.

She was in Carrie, but she was nominated for lead actress for Jerome Robbins' Broadway that season.

Carrie started previews later than intended because of a shipping screwup when things were being brought over from the UK. So they knew at that point they were missing the deadline for Tony eligibility that year. Why Buckley and Hateley weren't nominated the following year, I don't know. Wouldnt 5 official performances have qualified them? Or was everyone desperate to put it all in the past? You have to push or campaign to some degree for nominations don't you? And with the show dead for good, maybe no one was going to do the pushing.

It would have been good to see them invited the following year as presenters or something at least....

What kind of bad behavior did Betty display to get herself blacklisted for 8 years..??

[quote]Whatever happened to Brian Stokes Mitchell’s career?

I wonder if he'll show up in the "Frasier" reboot.

501

Not happening, r334. Check your ego at the door.

R335 it’s made, it done

It special and kind

How does Tom Kitt keep getting hired? Dave, Superhero, The Visitor, Flying Over Sunset & Almost Famous were panned.

It do be.

Let’s

Close

This

Thread

Down

Now

Quick, someone post Bajour 254 times.

Driving through the NYC suburbs, I see political signs about the apparent rise in crime.

Ironically, these suburbs literally don't have any violent crime. yet, the GOP is trying to scare everyone into thinking crime is everywhere. It's the newest boogieman now that anti-CRT screeching didn't get anywhere

And what exactly is the GOP doing to do about the crime?

....crickets...

YIKES!

FOLLIES

FOLLIES

FOLLIES

FOLLIES

FOLLIES

Poor Doug McGrath.

I mean, the reviews weren't THAT bad.

Simply BARBRA.

[quote]Why Buckley and Hateley weren't nominated the following year, I don't know. Wouldnt 5 official performances have qualified them?

Similar questions have been asked and answered many times before, but here we go again. In order for a show and the people involved to be nominated, the nominators AND voters have to have been invited, and a certain percentage of them have to have seen the show. But it's almost impossible to fulfill that requirement when the show only runs a week after its official opening.

[quote]What kind of bad behavior did Betty display to get herself blacklisted for 8 years..??

I didn't say she was "blacklisted," though the person to whom I was responding implied that she was. I had the impression that her behavior was common knowledge, but I guess not.

Patti should do a live Barbra Bon Soir set and Barbra should do a live Patti Les Mouches set.

What was going on in those eight years that Betty would have been right for?

R357 what was her behavior?

(Sorry if I'm asking for old info here - I only recently became aware of her 8 year career lull and it really saddens me. Those were still her prime singing years...and now her voice is all but gone.)

It wasn't just Betty's crazy behavior but also ridiculous demands she would make on her contracts that producers were unwilling to fulfill. She only moved to Texas when the NY work dried up.

Based on my viewing, I predict that SOME LIKE IT HOT will be somewhat of a hit but more in line with SOMETHING ROTTEN than THE PRODUCERS. It'll eke out a year or so and struggle to repay its investors. Tour to follow.

Betty Lynn was indeed erratic. She just behaved like a crazy person, but not all the time which made it worse.

Betty went through a period where she dated and seduced much younger men which isn't a crime, but was strange. She was an established theater actress in her 40s dating twenty-two year-olds. She was known to be an almost abusive weirdo in the acting classes she taught.

Like the above poster said, I thought everyone knew all of this.

I saw a photo of her with former Another World hottie Grayson McCouch and wondered if they were an item. They seemed cozy.

...so what if she dated younger guys? Big deal. Men do it all the time.

Can you give an example of her "crazy" or "weird" behavior? That can take many forms.

And what makes it "seducing" rather than just "dating" ??

Like, what if they liked older women? Or she was just a really pretty gal in her 40s (and she was) who these guys asked out?

[Quote] I know we're only @333, but the thread's going fast enough that we need a plan. When this fills, do we brugrudingly join one of the other two 500's to fill up and close them out (as fast as we can), or are we doomed to contemporaneous threads forever?

What we should agree on is that if you don't like the thread title, say so, if you wish. But don't start alternate threads. You're not punishing the OP, you're fucking up the conversation.

Detailing Betty Lynn's behavior might be fun but the bottom line is that she never ascended to "Box Office." You're fucked if you're deemed troublesome AND you don't put butts on seats.

Saw Kimberly Akimbo last night and can’t stop thinking about Victoria Clark’s performance. One of the best I’ve seen.

Victoria Clark pretty much has the TONY wrapped up this year, IMHO. Her big competition might be Adrianna Hicks, who sounds like she's marvelous in SOME LIKE IT HOT.

Whether KIMBERLY has a good run and pays back... who knows. I hope it does.

More and better new musicals, please.

It might also be fun to just SAY what her behaviors were rather than hint and make me ask over and over.

So far she sounds like an artist fartsy type who dated younger men. Big whoop! Hardly a reason to avoid working with her when she can stop a show like no other.

Betty excelled at playing unbalanced passionate types - Griz, Rose, Margaret, Norma - so I always assumed she was eccentric but...what else?

R368 is the material too weird though? Playing a young girl with an old body isnt exactly appealing to the public (see other "medical condition" shows, ie, Side Show).

Betty was fabulous in a brief role in Woody Allen’s Another Woman around the time of Carrie.

She slapped me across the face viciously and told me I was fat.

[Quote] It might also be fun to just SAY what her behaviors were rather than hint and make me ask over and over.

You might do a search. Betty Lynn has been discussed here throughout the years. Have you ever heard of an actor wanting to come to the theatre later than everyone else in the company?

Betty Buckley was the real Son of Sam.

Apparently Betty got catshit crazy during Cats. The misery of the character affected her. I think that reputation stuck

Betty hit me in the head with a fondue pot.

They considered not renewing Betty Lynn's contract for CATS after it ran out.

Has anyone heard of this musical: The Man Who Laughed, based on a story by Victor Hugo with music by Frank Wildhorn.

How was the man who laughs disfigured?

His father was a nobleman. Orphaned as a child, he is captured by outlaws who use a knife to carve his face into a hideous grin.

Disfigured, alone, he rescues a baby girl, and together they are raised by a fatherly vaudeville producer.

Pray tell who wants one?

I hadn't heard of the musical "The Man Who Laughs." Conrad Veidt in the silent movie had the original joker face.

How very Julia Roberts.

Betty showing up late caused much confusion backstage. When she wasn’t there at half hour the stage manager would tell the understudy to get ready and then Betty would walk in 10 minutes before curtain. Story goes that one night when she showed up late for Cats the stage manager sent her home and she was never late again after that.

[quote]You might do a search

Because DL has such a marvellous search function?

You queens will endlessly repeat yourselves over certain shows, but asked to repeat a bit of gossip and you suddenly act like it's such a fucking effort?

Anyone else think that Billy Porter is a bit...mentally ill?

The wokesterism of Hot will hurt it. What does one of the guys at the end decide he's gay? Idiocy. Wilder leaves it open ended. You can see it either way because Jack Lemmon is very confused by the whole situation.

And of course the music of Shaiman will make the Sugar score sound like golden age(which it wasn't. But at least it was genuinely tuneful.) That title song sounds like it was written in high school.

*

[Quote] You queens will endlessly repeat yourselves over certain shows, but asked to repeat a bit of gossip and you suddenly act like it's such a fucking effort?

I did give you a certain piece of gossip. I referenced Betty Lynn's tardy for the performance tendency. It's not up to me to build a case against Betty Lynn. (And it's quite clear you're a fan who would like the narrative that she has been wronged by TPTB.)

[Quote] What does one of the guys at the end decide he's gay? Idiocy. Wilder leaves it open ended. You can see it either way because Jack Lemmon is very confused by the whole situation.

It’s really not so open ended in the movie

My favorite tardy story is when Pearlie Mae turned up way late and Thelma Carpenter was already on stage as Dolly Gallagher L'Evi. Bailey was frantically signalling Carpenter from the wings. Carpenter turned her head and mouthed "Fuck. You."

It's so annoying that there are multiple #500 threads. And confusing: there are actual nuggets of interest in each of them (and a lot of filler, as always).

Let's NOT do that again ever, please?

[Quote] Let's NOT do that again ever, please?

I wouldn't bank on that. Some people here have control issues.

R391 only in two of them, that third one is a POS

only because there aren't that many posts in it. It's still a better title than this one.

Why anyone would second-guess Billy Wilder...

"That title song..."

Perhaps it's an hommage to that other Some Like It Hot?

The other #500 :

[quote]My favorite tardy story is when Pearlie Mae turned up way late and Thelma Carpenter was already on stage as Dolly Gallagher L'Evi.

Was the character French when Thelma played her?

Is there a public domain novel Frank Wilhorn HASN'T thrown some ballads at?

And seriously, Buckley teaser r374, are you the "Do A Search Troll?" Its fucking annoying. In ONE post you could have said what you know, easy peasy, and been done with it, instead of playing infantile games.

You'd probably tell a choking old lady in a restaurant "why don't you just ASK for help hmmm....?" as she reaches for your cell phone turning blue.

I pity any person in your life who asks you a direct question.

[Quote] Its fucking annoying. In ONE post you could have said what you know, easy peasy, and been done with it, instead of playing infantile games.

Where was the game? I asked it as a question... You would do better to prove people wrong about Betty Lynn, but you can't. Seethe.

[quote]You'd probably tell a choking old lady in a restaurant "why don't you just ASK for help hmmm....?" as she reaches for your cell phone turning blue

Yes, r398, that's *so* equivalent, r398.

[quote]Was the character French when Thelma played her?

They should've gotten Josephine Baker.

R388 I am the one who asked about Betty.

R384 must be someone else who also thinks you're annoying as fuck and idiotic playing games rather than just saying what you know in ONE POST.

Life advice: don't be the "Use The Search Function Troll". They suck.

[quote]Has anyone heard of this musical: The Man Who Laughed

How about "La Vache Qui Rit," with Beanie Feldstein?

I don't have Betty Lynn's nonsense catalogued. That's why I suggested you do a search. You can use Google to search DL. In the search box, type - site:datalounge.com Betty Buckley

Who will replace Doug McGrath in his one-person show?

Just asking for a friend.

Here's a fun tidbit from a movie with Betty Lynn:

[Quote] She was also escorted off the soundstage and fired during production of SIMPLY IRRESISTIBLE, starring Sarah Michelle Gellar. Her role was curtailed with most of her dialogue assigned to another character. And in the footage she does appear in she looks like shit because the dp, the make-up and hair departments loathed her.

The story goes is that SMG and Betty Lynn did a take, after which the latter asked the former "Is that how you're going to do it?" Her escort arrived fairly soon after.

LOL!

[Quote] Thank you! I had a friend who was a company manager at a regional arts center. She said her most bizarre encounter with a star was Buckley. She apparently was insistent on being driven to a local CVS so she could buy some makeup before her evening gig. Standing in one aisle was a Sarah Michelle Gellar cutout, and when Buckley saw it, she took a Sharpie out of her purse and drew a mustache on it! I never could figure out what their connection was but now I know.

[quote](And it's quite clear you're a fan who would like the narrative that she has been wronged by TPTB.)

Given I'm not even the person who asked for the examples, it's hard to see how that's clear.

[quote]You can use Google to search DL. In the search box, type - site:datalounge.com Betty Buckley

Yeah, just trawl through the hundreds of posts in each thread in the vain hope of some gossip. That's as tedious a response as those people who link to an hour long YouTube video claiming it contains the proof of their claim somewhere in it. You may well have the time to spare, the rest of us have lives.

You wouldn't sound so pissed, if that were true.

[Quote] She's plain mean, in that psychological, find-the-other-person's-vulner - able-spot (or make one up) and stick a knife into it, turning it every chance you get. I've known more than one person who's been in shows with her. She is universally reviled by theater coworkers.

[Quote] articulates it perfectly-she's a nasty piece of work. As a make-up friend of mine put it when she faced the option of working on Faye Dunaway in The Yards or Betty Buckley in Vanilla Fog (later retitled Simply Irresistible): "I found myself having to choose between a psycho (Dunaway) or a cunt (Buckley). After careful consideration I chose the cunt."

Yes. The little homosexual boys have always favored Miss Buckley.

It takes a real man to manage Dorothy Faye.

I'd take Dunaway abuse any day. She sounds like a hoot.

Are there male actors who have the same crazy reputations that have circulated so wildly?

Nathan Lane? Refusing to go on with understudies, refusing to speak to Vicki Clark when she was Faith Prince's understudy

SOME LIKE MY TWAT!

The late Nicol Williamson - from a Playbill article in 2012 after his death. These are just a couple of examples:

"In the 1976 Broadway production of Rex, he struck an actor during a curtain call because he had spoken to someone next to him during Mr. Williamson's bow.

Fifteen years later, Mr. Williamson played the ghost of another self-destructive actor, John Barrymore, in the Broadway premiere of Paul Rudnick's comedy I Hate Hamlet. The production became notorious for the actor's erratic behavior. He frequently broke character and talked to the audience, often deriding the play and his co-stars. During one performance, in the middle of a sword fight, he swatted fellow actor Evan Handler across the backside with his weapon. Mr. Williamson later said he did it to get Handler to "put some life into it! Use your head! Give it more life!" Handler reacted by storming off the stage, leaving the theatre and never returning. Left onstage alone, the actor turned to the audience and said, "Well, should I sing?"

I recall reading in Helen Mirren's memoir that Williamson treated her horribly when they did MACBETH together in London. When Williamson did his MACBETH in the early 80s at the Circle In The Square theater, he went through three Lady Macbeths (including Sigourney Weaver) before the opening. Clearly Weaver didn't feel she needed to put up with his nastiness though, much as I like her, I don't know how much of a classical actress she was.

[Quote] Nathan Lane? Refusing to go on with understudies, refusing to speak to Vicki Clark when she was Faith Prince's understudy

He refused to speak to Clark but how could he refuse to go on with understudies?

Mandy Patinkin during Wild Party.

Topol in Fiddler, especially to Marcia Lewis

Does anyone marketing these shows do anything fun or interesting anymore

Rex Harrison had a reputation for being a nasty cunt and made poor Nancy Ringham miserable when she played opposite him in MFL.

r417 Those are stories I read on here, I think mostly or entirely from the run of The Producers. The most memorable story was Broderick had booked the day off for a birthday or anniversary or something, and they ended up having to beg him to come in because Nathan was refusing to go on

Well Nathan really comes off as a total asshole in theatrical anecdotes. Surely he must have shown a drop of generosity to somebody somewhere? Or does he simply go through life hating everybody and everything because he looks like as The New York times put it a cross between The Hunchback of Notre Dame and ET?

And he works constantly

Close

This

Thread

Forget it, r427, we aren't going to your Come Back Little Reba thread.

Nathan can be supportive to an understudy if they are giving a hundred percent and ready to play in the big game with him, unfortunately most of the understudy bench in The Producers were duds, especially the Bloom tracks. Vicki Clark was also a massive cunt back in the Guys and Dolls days, massive.

R428 if you don’t we’ll make thirty-seven 501 threads.

It’ll be the end of the theatre threads

Bully for you, Reba.

What about the poor orchestra player whose "Nice to finally meet you" was met with a "... Is that what we're doing?"

Unpopular opinion, and perhaps it's coddling, but I think that when this thread is done, we finish the other one AND the other one and then finally go to 501. By that point, we should all hopefully have learned some manners and stop thinking that superfluous threads are the answer.

Nathan Lane could be quite the A-hole, especially back in his hard-drinking days (allegedly). But he's mellowed, he's in a relationship, he's gotten older. He thinks more about his rep and his legacy.

I'm sure he's still a challenge to work with. But he's a anxious-depressive sort with huge control issues. Not a crazy or unstable person, like Betty Buckley or Faye Dunaway. Or Mandy Patinkin, IMHO a few more loathsome entity.

And refusing to go on with understudies is pretty diva-type behavior, but even our beloved Audra McDonald (allegedly) pulled that a number of times during PORGY & BESS.

Tough work being a diva.

Any update on the Harper from the West End/Broadway Angels In America? There were mutterings about her professionalism.

^Or Mandy Patinkin, IMHO a FAR more loathsome entity.

[quote]Well Nathan really comes off as a total asshole in theatrical anecdotes. Surely he must have shown a drop of generosity to somebody somewhere? Or does he simply go through life hating everybody and everything because he looks like as The New York times put it a cross between The Hunchback of Notre Dame and ET?

I worked with him years ago. Total asshole who cares only for himself and what's good for Nathan. I won't see anything he's in.

April release date for Chita's memoir.

Surprised with Parade buzz that no one has mentioned M*ch**l Ard*n's predatory behavior, every twink I know has stories on stories about him targeting barely legal kids to goon for or piss on at work or elsewhere. Did the metoo movement skip broadway?

I've always been curious how audio books are recorded. How long do they take and how many pages they record at a time.

All I can say about the Harper in the recent Angels revival is that she's the only one who gave a worse performance than Andrew Garfield.

[quote]Unpopular opinion, and perhaps it's coddling, but I think that when this thread is done, we finish the other one AND the other one and then finally go to 501. By that point, we should all hopefully have learned some manners and stop thinking that superfluous threads are the answer.

That won't solve the problems, because the theater queens always think that they are more clever than any OP of a theater thread and will post an alternative thread to show off how utterly hysterical and droll they are. It's all about ego, which is the hallmark of many of the theater queens, and has nothing to do with the material contained on the thread. Don't acknowledge the threads that attempted to do this by filling them out and post on the first #501 only, no matter how unacceptable the title is to the queens.

[quote]April release date for Chita's memoir.

A review of Chita's body of work should be staged. Either Fantasia or Lillias White could be cast as Chita.

Chita did that herself....

[Quote] or piss on

Makes sense. God knows they wouldn't feel anything if he put that little thing inside them.

[Quote] Did the metoo movement skip broadway?

Maybe.

[quote]A review of Chita's body of work should be staged. Either Fantasia or Lillias White could be cast as Chita.

Such biting wit.

The thing about some of those targets of the Broadway #metoo expose is a few of them, like Mr. M, are simply too beloved by too many people who work on Broadway. And many who might have been considered victims, all too readily accepted the advances.

What about me?

R429 -- you seem to have the inside track. I would agree that the Bloom understudies (Denman, LaVerdiere) weren't particularly strong sparring partners. Word at the time was that Stro and Co weren't thrilled with Denman's memoir and the self-important picture it painted.

I was NOT aware of Clark's rep back in the early 90s. Nathan can definitely be prickly. Even prone to throwing chairs backstage. But interesting to hear that Clark was no picnic (allegedly) either.

[quote]Betty showing up late caused much confusion backstage. When she wasn’t there at half hour the stage manager would tell the understudy to get ready and then Betty would walk in 10 minutes before curtain. Story goes that one night when she showed up late for Cats the stage manager sent her home and she was never late again after that.

And on that note, the story has been told that, for one performance of GYPSY at Paper Mill, Betty was so late that the understudy went on. Then Betty showed up and some people swear she walked onstage in mid performance, so briefly there were two Roses on stage. I don't remember what I was told happened after that, i.e., who finished the performance.

Also, years ago, Betty infamously gave an interview wherein she said she felt that anyone who doesn't have a successful career in show business doesn't really want one. This DID NOT go over well, especially not from someone who's an acting teacher (!!!!) as well as a performer herself.

Also, Betty has repeated ad nauseum the story about how she was cast in a major featured role in 1776 within a week after she first arrived in NYC, and every time she has told the story, she has given the impression that this happened because she is SO INCREDIBLY TALENTED, not mostly due to incredible good luck.

Also, according to some reports, Betty was pretty much unhinged during TRIUMPH OF LOVE. "Erratic behavior" doesn't even begin to cover it.

I hope those are enough examples of her craziness for the annoying gnat who keeps asking for them.

'He thinks more about his rep and his legacy.'

Even the rep and legacy of Olivier is quickly fading. Just about everyone is forgotten. What matters is how you treat people during the course of your life.

Yeah we can all be shits but Lane seems to revel in it. I've never heard anything good about him as a colleague or as an individual. At least Buckley and Kathleen Battle are kind to their fans. Lane holds his fans in complete contempt. I even saw it once. Who knows maybe this was an obnoxious fan or he was having a bad day but you will look in vain for any examples of his being grateful for the career he has had.

I've always found Betty cold. Not unpleasant, but a very cold performer. She seems more gregarious in interviews than in her roles. You can always tell she's taking everything a little too seriously.

Thats all those years spent on Eight is Enough

Jamie's married to Christiane Noll, r451.

R451, Clark was more “mean girl” and would “gently” gossip in a way that always ostracized a certain actor, she was probably just incredibly insecure, but the energy had the potential to be really unpleasant. Regarding The Producers anxieties about Denman’s book, he wasn’t necessarily “clear” about it was all about, so when it suddenly revealed itself to be A REAL BOOK, people were understandably surprised. Since Mel loved anything that would stroke HIS ego, it ultimately was given the blessing from the boss. Shockingly Lane was the most comfortable WITH Denman as the Bloom understudy, mostly because he was extremely prepared and the height difference allowed for some extra riffs from Nathan. Overall the Leo Bloom track was badly handled during the early days of the show, they never had the right fit and the performances didn’t really even register a chuckle, which infuriated Lane.

OP is still the DUMBEST person who ever lived.

The #501 thread can be the Lea of threads......clean up the prior thread's mess and give 'em what they came for, dolls!

[quote]Overall the Leo Bloom track was badly handled during the early days of the show, they never had the right fit and the performances didn’t really even register a chuckle, which infuriated Lane.

I certainly don't blame him.

Apologies if this was posted upthread....I couldn't see it.

R457 -- that's some excellent dish. That show was so fascinating to see unfold in its early days. The real achilles heal of that entire enterprise was Stro's insistence to carbon copy the OBC's performance on every subsequent company, from the first and second national tours, to the LA company with Jason and Marty, to the Toronto and London productions. They even had issues down under in Australia with Reg Livermore and Tony Sheldon (in Gary Beach's part). Sheldon was deeply unhappy. They made him dye his white hair brown to better resemble Beach!

The stage management who really got these companies on their feet were unforgiving if these (talented) casts didn't do "comedy by the numbers". Lewis Stadlen was none too pleased when he discovered this in rehearsal (I believe he finally got Nathan to step in and tell the powers that be to trust his instincts). Even Jason Alexander and Marty Short were ready to walk when they weren't letting them do their thing. According to Lee Roy Reams, once they opened at the Pantages, Short turned to the cast and said "this is OUR show now...let's have some fun!" The show infinitely improved in LA thereafter.

[Quote] The #501 thread can be the Lea of threads......clean up the prior thread's mess and give 'em what they came for, dolls!

Bless you!

[quote]I was NOT aware of Clark's rep back in the early 90s. Nathan can definitely be prickly. Even prone to throwing chairs backstage. But interesting to hear that Clark was no picnic (allegedly) either.

I've worked with her on many shows, r451, going back to her first show on Broadway. She was unfailingly lovely. I never even saw a whiff of the behavior r457 mentions (I'm not saying they're wrong - I just never saw it. She was kind and generous. A genuinely sweet woman. Always greeted me with a smile.

I also did a few shows with Lane. Yep. Straight up asshole. Cast and crew on more than one production were told not to speak to him or look him in the eye. I had not once spoken to him prior to that but bet your ass I made a point of sunnily greeting him every single time I saw him after that. What are you going to do, fire me?

Screw you, Joey. I'm union.

[quote]The #501 thread can be the Lea of threads......clean up the prior thread's mess and give 'em what they came for, dolls!

Hell no. It was obnoxious enough to start #501 so early, with FOUR existing #500 threads, but then to spam all of those, and threaten to spam all future threads? F&F that thread to hell and gone.

My mind still slightly boggles at the idea of Richard Dreyfuss in The Producers. I feel like that was a mutual dodged bullet.

[Quote] She was unfailingly lovely. I never even saw a whiff of the behavior [R457] mentions (I'm not saying they're wrong - I just never saw it. She was kind and generous. A genuinely sweet woman. Always greeted me with a smile.

You were the one she'd gossip about.

I was unaware some asshole had already started a 501 when I posted at R458. My apologies.

Yes, Dreyfuss exiting and having Lane come in opposite Lee Evans (who was a SPECTACULAR Bloom) truly saved the day there. It could've been a real Springtime For Hitler disaster with Dreyfuss in the part. Hell, Henry Goodman would've looked like a comedic genius by comparison!

[quote]I was unaware some asshole had already started a 501 when I posted at [R458]. My apologies.

Accepted, thank you, r465/r466. Yeah, the premature #501 poster spammed threads and threatened to spam future ones. Fuck 'em.

Re: Clark and mean girl gossip? It's hard for me to imagine. She was pleasant and gave thoughtful gifts. Often hosted brunches between shows on matinee days.

[quote]Yes, Dreyfuss exiting and having Lane come in opposite Lee Evans (who was a SPECTACULAR Bloom) truly saved the day there. It could've been a real Springtime For Hitler disaster with Dreyfuss in the part. Hell, Henry Goodman would've looked like a comedic genius by comparison!

I have never understood the Goodman hate. He was actually quite good. His crime was that he wasn't a carbon copy of Nathan's Max. Lane even undercut Goodman during a performance one night, shortly before he left the show. He didn't get laughs during one of his usual surefire bits one night. He turned to the audience and spat "Wait til that British guy gets here and see how funny he is".

He is a talented performer but was a nasty piece of work. I do hope the rumors are true and he's a decent human being now.

[Quote] Often hosted brunches between shows on matinee days.

Did she bring the paper plates?

Goodman theatre.

I actually think that Goodman could've evolved in the part and brought something quite fresh and really funny to it. But the producers wobbled and replaced him with a 2nd rate Lane in Brad Oscar (a sweet, talented guy in his own right to be sure) and set up a bad precedent for every replacement that followed. Not just for Bialystock, but Bloom, DeBris, etc etc....

Thanks r452 - It's a start!

[quote]I've always been curious how audio books are recorded. How long do they take and how many pages they record at a time.

I've done a handful, all recorded at Audible in Newark, which is a bit of an assembly line, but very pleasant. Two shifts a day, early, or late I got to pick. I'd arrive at 4pm, and be in the booth working with an audio engineer by 4:30. The engineer was not a director, he'd just stop me when I made a mistake and would play me into where we'd pick it up. I think it's called "Cut & Roll" as far as the editing style. I can read for a long while without flubbing, so I always beat my schedule which is two hours to get one "finished hour" of copy. A half hour break for dinner and then back at it until 10pm, then hop on the train back to Penn Station. Each book took about four days to complete give or take. I did a series of four books back to back.

It is tedious and lonely and the books they assigned me were awfully written tripe, but I gave it my all. The thing is you have to read the book in advance and research EVERY WORD you are not 100% sure how to pronounce- even if you know what the word means, you'd be surprised how many words you know that you've never said out loud. Plus the endless place names and words of foreign derivation. Then you've got to devise subtle character voices and try to keep them consistent over four hundred pages! I was reading and researching all day to just stay ahead of my evening recording sessions, of course.

The union scale pay was $150/finished hour which generally took about two hours, it's $210/hr now or a bit more. The hours spent reading and preparing are unpaid, of course. For a very full week of reading, researching and commuting to NJ to narrate for $1500 or so, I decided the job wasn't really a fit for me. I don't know how people do more than a book a month without going mad. These days you have to record AND EDIT the book yourself in your own home studio (with no engineer) included in the same pay! They can fuck off!

I listened to the Broadway cast recording of Canterbury Tales (1969). A bit of a stinker, although it does feature Sandy Duncan and Hermione Baddeley.

R473, thanks for that post, a nice description of what is probably one of many "side gigs" a NYC-based actor takes to make a living. I guess the amount of prep is partly determined by what you're reading for Audible. Novels with foreign place names or characters would require prep than reading a Murder She Wrote tome.

Actually, I wonder if the reader (is that the right term?) of the MSW books can make a living from that or if the money is just supplemental.

see, r452? That wasn't so hard, now was it? Nice sharing of some interesting gossip on a [italic] gossip thread [/italic]. Well done. Or, at least, you were doing so well, until you had to resort to your prior cuntitude with your snarky sign-off.

GO WOKE, GO BROKE.

From R60

[quote]"White is the first female-identifying actor to play Hermes"

🙄

I listened to Groff's audio book of the Ted Chapin FOLLIES book, Everything Was Possible. Pleasant enough, but he kept mispronouncing Ethel Shutta's last name. Drove me crazy and I wondered why the producer didn't know enough to correct him.

r477 are you one who likes to randomly post that, Tourette's-like, in all the threads. If so, please stop. And if you're not that troll but another one, please stop.

[quote]A review of Chita's body of work should be staged. Either Fantasia or Lillias White could be cast as Chita.

What about me?

Poor Malcolm and Boyd.

[quote]What about me?—Ali Stroker

You can make cornbread.

R474, and Ed Evanko's noble cock.

What I'm jot getting about all The Producers/Nathan stuff is: was Matthew Broderick's performance really that definitive/consistent/hilarious that any deviation from it could really drive Nathan and Stro so crazy?

Matthew played himself, which seems to be his only character.

Nathan’s just an insecure asshole.

Happy birthday to Huge Howard McGillin!

I heard in London that the costumes for the guys in"Canterbury Tales" featured very skimpy clothing, something akin to g-strings. Any photos? It was a hit there years ago, and I think it was considered kind of racy.

R486, BINGO! The thing with that OBC of The Producers was, it was a MASSIVE hit, it was one of those once in a few decades explosion, but only because of each specific piece fitting perfectly. Matthew was a huge part of that alchemy, both onstage and off, his perplexed nebbish man boy take hadn’t been made stale yet, as he’d go on to do it again and again and again…! But with his Leo, Lane’s Max had the exact fit to make a true musical comedy dream team, they loved each other, intensely, so any deviation would cause panic amongst the creative team and cast. Matthew was also having a blast off stage with the cast, that original bunch would still be partying when the sun came up on the third floor of the late Angus McIndoe, they were all very bonded by the experience. Part of the mix with Nathan and Matthew was that sometimes they’d be struggling through the show with rough hangovers, but it made it all the more fun…for them at least. They both were much more responsible during their first run in the show, when they came back the fourth wall was pretty much nonexistent, but they were box office magic.

It is tragic how they treated the gifted Goodman, if they had only let him find his laughs, the show still might be running, but Mel and Stro were so obsessed with the way Matthew and Nathan did it, there was so chance of another inspired spin on the characters. Mel actually disliked a few of the later leading trios, at the final performance he basically blamed the closing on that “kinda adequate” cast. The Producers just doesn’t work as well without that original Broadway bunch, unless it’s a local community theater version where the hometown gang adores the friends and family in the cast, it doesn’t lend itself to “talent”, it needs messy clowns and that isn’t being taught in the musical theater factory programs that dull down the art form today.

As for Ms. Clark, look, even Mother Teresa was known to have a bad day, maybe during that period she let her unhappiness with her production unbalance her usual kind spirit, it’s Broadway, sweet and nice ain’t the usual default.

Y'all forget Betty Buckley had a radical hysterectomy during the run of Triumph Of Love, which really knocked the crazy out of the park. "She's been miserable since".

[quote]It is tragic how they treated the gifted Goodman, if they had only let him find his laughs, the show still might be running, but Mel and Stro were so obsessed with the way Matthew and Nathan did it, there was so chance of another inspired spin on the characters.

I'm sure you're absolutely right about all that, but my question is: If they wanted someone to ape Lane's performance as closely as possible, why didn't they hire someone who was at least a lot closer to him in type and comedic style? Which is what they wound up getting when Brad Oscar replaced Goodman.

They missed the boat in not having Larry David take his Bialystock to Broadway.

r440 Share some of the stories.

He's not a big enough name for an exposé in a major outlet, and he and Andy are friends with the kind of people who would do a social media exposé, so they're pretty safe. Same way they avoided criticism for hosting sex parties at their home during lockdown - even creating a theatre company as an excuse for people to travel to them.

I saw both the OBC of "The Producers" (in previews), then a couple years later I saw the national tour. The original cast was indeed lightning in a bottle, especially when they were playing the show tightly and as written. On the tour Brad Oscar from the original Broadway cast now playing Max was very, very good and the audience loved him. The surprise was Andy Taylor as Leo. I'd seen him before trapped in bad shows, so I wasn't expecting much, but he was brilliant in the role and it made me think less of Broderick's performance which truth be told wasn't nearly as good as I thought, and certainly not as good as Taylor's in the tour.

r494

I saw the OBC in Dec of 01 so right after 9/11 and they were great. I saw the LA company with Alexander and Short and they were great as well but those are quite high standards to live up to

What's playin' at the Rialto?

[quote]The surprise was Andy Taylor as Leo.

Were Barney, Gomer, and Aunt Bee in featured roles?

I would have taken Andy out after the show, gotten him drunk and then asked him to tell all the stories about Moon Over Buffalo that D.A. Pennebaker left out.

r497 - You're dead, Crump.

Did anyone see Broderick and Lane in The Odd Couple? Thoughts? Mem'ries?

I saw The Odd Couple. It was pretty terrible. They are both Felixes.

R491 you know, it was sort of they didn’t necessarily think they needed to copy Nathan so much, until Mel watched a performance with Goodman where there wasn’t much laughter, he went bananas and poof, there went another take, especially on Broadway.

R494, that leg of the tour was very good, unfortunately those performances wouldn’t strike magic on Broadway, Oscar was merely “ok” to the crowds during his Max run, meaning they laughed, but didn’t go insane with convulsions as with the OBC, there was never that kind of tear the house down reactions after Nathan and Matthew left. Hunter Foster was a beloved member of the company during his run, but he never really was funny, he was just solid. Richard Kind was a hoot, but they didn’t extend him, Tony Danza was game, but actually closer to Goodman’s spin. John Treacy Egan, a former Franz and the final Max is a fantastic talent, powerful singer, probably the best “sung” Bialystock ever, but they forced him into a Nathan clone, which was unfortunate. Alexander and Short in LA were the closest to the originals Mostel and Wilder, after they made it their own, I wish Broadway saw that team, it was pretty fantastic. If the show opened with the original pairing of Lane and Short I wonder what would have happened, definitely a different energy with those two, Nathan would have been overshadowed with Marty, their egos would have unleashed a very different show.

R480 GO WOKE, GO BROKE.

No R480. Go tone police somewhere else.

With those reviews, can't imagine "Almost Famous" will make it into January. They had no advance to begin with.

Was it unusual for The Producers to have major cast changes before they created other companies? It seems odd that there wouldn't have been a tour or an LA company with different leads before they realized that Henry Goodman wasn't going to deliver what they wanted.

If so, why did the show wait so long to tour? It seems like most of the mega-musicals send out a tour after the Broadway company has run a year, no?

r504 I’m not the tone police. I’m the BOREDOM police. And you’re GUILTY

R154 thank you so much for mentioning Peter Blake. I remember him well, but I couldn’t think of his name but that is definitely the guy that I saw in the play. It was 1985. Yes I’m old. Haha

Interesting..... at the curtain call for the first preview of SLIH Borle got the last bow but someone posted a vid of the curtain call from today’s matinee at Ghee got the last bow. Maybe they alternate?

Someone posted it where, R509?

[quote]Any update on the Harper from the West End/Broadway Angels In America? There were mutterings about her professionalism.

She’s doing STAR WARS on Disney+ I can’t imagine Disney and Lucasfilm have the patience for divas with no name value.

R510. Instagram

R502 - You really nailed the various replacement Max and Leos. Though I thought Tony Danza was miscast and out of his depths in the part (he'd go on to do a brief stint in the Vegas company as well). Richard Kind probably got the closest to doing 'his own thing' than any other Max before or after him. Larry David in the role would've been a real coup...and certainly would've shaken up how the role could be performed outside the Lane mold.

On tour, Stadlen was doing his typical Groucho Meets David Burns take on the part (similar to his Nathan Detroit in the '92 Guys and Dolls tour) It worked quite well when I saw him on Broadway (though he was only briefly in the part due to an injury). The internal memo that went around in the months leading up to Lane and Broderick's departure (both in 2002 and 2004) was that Kelsey Grammer and David Hyde Pierce were strongly wooed for the parts. I think this could've been a HOT ticket and great duo to refresh the show. Pierce would've been a brilliant Leo, but unfortunately those talks never materialized.

R506 - The first national tour launched 15 months after the show opened on Broadway (September 2002) with Stadlen and Don Stephenson (who really channeled Wilder in the best way possible). Lee Roy Reams was in the Gary Beach part... A fine bit of casting but had NOTHING on Beach whose performance (particularly in Springtime) was full of "fire and music". Lee Roy played it very one note (gay!) whereas Gary channeled every aging musical comedy and showbiz star from Jolson to Judy to Jimmy Cagney. Such an inspired, Brooksian performance. Gary's first replacement, Jonathan Freeman always looked a bit lost at sea during that number.

Also R502 - I agree that the original intended pairing of Lane and Short would've been pretty sensational. Lane had electric chemistry with Lee Evans in London and I'm sure that would've been the case with Marty. Short really carried the LA company (along with Gary Beach who helped open it) as Jason Alexander admittedly struggled to get a toehold in that part.

Interestingly, Don Rickles said around this time that he would've LOVED to have done Bialystock if he was 20 years younger. He would've been sublime!

From listening to Don Rickles over the years it is clear he loved legit acting opportunities and it seemed he wished he had had a steadier supply of them.

We haven't touched on the Leos as much, but Steven Weber (as Matthew's first replacement) was actually worse than Goodman. Very underwhelming, but didn't take the heat as Henry was in the crosshairs. Roger Bart followed, who was actually a GREAT Leo (especially opposite Kind).

Don Stephenson briefly came in with Stadlen in 2003. Alan Ruck was quite excellent on the road, as was Andy Taylor (opposite Bob Amaral). Hunter Foster was probably the longest serving Bloom. He entered the company in 2004 and played it on and off thru its closing in April 2007.

That said, one of the BEST Blooms in any company was Michael Therriault in Toronto. That production was a hot mess but Therriault was superb and unlike any Bloom before or after. Played it very honestly...sweet and naive but VERY funny.

I accidentally read that too fast, as "Alan Tudyk." Any thoughts on how he would have done as Bloom?

Michael Therriault was terrific! Absolutely perfection in the role. Roger Bart was also a very well cast Leo, but never enjoyed playing the part. The interesting story is why the hoped for “pandemic Producers” never happened, it wasn’t just because Mel wouldn’t allow any tweaks, there were egos and money problems as far as casting, sadly it all imploded before it could flap its way to glory…

[quote]I love when the cute violinist in [R313] helps the dancer who falls toward the end of the number.

I was surprised to hear the announcer say that the violinist was Charles Castleman. Castleman, now at the University of Miami, was a professor at the Eastman School of Music for years. He has run an excellent chamber music summer program for strings called the Castleman Quartet Program since the 70s. It used to be called simply The Quartet Program, but it looks as though he felt the need to add his name to the program.

What's the scoop on Mitchell, R447?

Why didn't I know that Iain Armitage , who plays Young Sheldon, was the son of "Taboo" star Euan Morton?

Because Euan is a huge gay who donated his sperm to a rich woman who takes care of him financially?

It's not whatcha know...

It’s who you blow. But no one gets pregnant that way

R518 - That's very interesting. I also heard Bart much preferred slinking back into his Carmen Ghia role when Nathan and Matthew returned in 2004. Brooks Ashmanskas should get an honorable mention for his Carmen...totally broke the mold on how that role was played and was very funny. And while he didn't understudy Bloom during his run, he would've made for an interesting one I think!

A shame about the planned revival falling through. Do you have any other dish relating to that? Casting rumors? I'm sure Mel would've paid Lane a handsome sum to do it again (even just for 3-4 months) but I hear Nathan is firmly finished with that role. I also just remembered that Brad Garrett's name was volleyed around for Bialystock at one point during the original run. I think he could've been quite good...channeling that Gleason energy. He was quite good in The Odd Couple with Lane and Broderick (who weren't particularly good!)

Iain doesn't look anything like his dad

[quote]Why didn't I know that Iain Armitage , who plays Young Sheldon, was the son of "Taboo" star Euan Morton?

I remember hearing that his father was British, so this whole time I thought his dad was Richard Armitage from THE HOBBIT movies. 😂 I don't know who Evan Morton is.

I just saw Some like it Hot, terrific first act, dragging and preachy second act.

I think the Jerry goes trans storyline is so tiresome and anachronistic, and it takes away the final punchline, which just sort of mewls away.

Nobody’s perfect, indeed.

The problem with The Producers is not replacement casts. It’s the poor quality of the writing.

Euan has a lovely voice. I wonder if he had Luke Evans.

[quote]Euan has a lovely voice. I wonder if he had Luke Evans.

You mean sexually?

Yes.

I can do "Everything's Fine!"

Why did Lane and Short not happen?!

R534 - Short was eager to do it but ultimately decided against it because it would mean being away from his wife and kids (or alternatively, having to uproot them from LA) for upwards of a year, and didn't want to thrust that upon them.

So I went back to see the entire June Taylor video to see the dancer stumble and I had thought Castleman was actually playing but he was just miming to a prerecording! When he helps her the violin starts playing! It reminds me of when I was a kid and was watching a Dick Clark type of show with a group of guy singers. I thought they were really singing but then the needle got stuck like in The Tapioca and I was mortified for them.

Was Short's wife ill at that time? (And then she died, Kathie Lee!)

[Quote] Because Euan is a huge gay who donated his sperm to a rich woman who takes care of him financially?

Jealous, r522? Has your sperm ever been put to such good use?

Is Iain Armitage the little boy who would review Broadway shows on YouTube?

Yes, R538, it has. It hasn't created the male Pamelyn Ferdin like Euan's.

Yes. Am I correct in thinking that his mother is an heiress?

Lee Armitage: [quote]Her father Richard Armitage was a deputy secretary of state during George W. Bush’s presidency.

From George Bush to Lee Pace. Quite a trajectory.

Iain watching old Tony performances.

The return of PARADE has me wondering: What even happened to Rufus Bonds Jr.?

He was electric in that show. Looking him up at IBDb and IMDb, very little appears. Did he just up and leave showbiz after PARADE?

Saw DOWNSTATE tonight at PH.

This might possibly be Bruce Norris's best play. It's a tragedy that makes you constantly volley your thinking from both sides, performed by a near-flawless cast, with top honors going to K. Todd Freeman as Dee and Frances Guinan as Fred. Its subject matter will turn a lot of people off (the two rich elderly women beside me left at intermission), so this will never transfer to Broadway, but it is definitely going to be one of the top shows of the season and a hard ticket to get once the reviews come out.

On the other end of the spectrum, there is EVANSTON SALT COSTS CLIMBING, which is clearly being done because The New Group is trying to capitalize on Will Arbery's name, which will be smudged by the end of this work's run. It starts off all right but derails in the last third, and magnificently so. I was actually glad to be wearing a mask because I started smiling uncontrollably, then shaking silently with laughter, as the two grandiose matrons in front of me lost their patience and started dissing the show as it marched on. They were far more entertaining than the actual play.

Which part of the casting prevented it from being flawless?

Is Young Sheldon worth watching?

r548

yes

Euan Morton was an extraordinary Leo Frank at Fords Theatre. The production was inert, but he was spot on. Somehow both prickly and angelic. I couldn’t get around how poor a choice Ben Platt is for the role, so I didn’t go even though I try to see Parade any time it is produced.

YOUNG SHELDON is wonderfully written, directed, acted, and filmed.

Is Young Iain gay yet?

R525, loving your information filled posts, fond memories of that show and those years of the industry. You know Brooks A would have been an impossibly hilarious Leo Bloom, it’s a darn shame he was never given more options during his time, they really hamstrung him, I think he was just giving such strong energy they were nervous he’d overwhelm the somewhat lesser level leads. He is a tremendous guy, sweet and a hoot to hang out with here and there.

What I heard about that “save Broadway” idea of The Producers, and this was when the darkest days of the Covid shutdown looked like it would be eternal, and the campus wouldn’t open with much assembly of shows, was that if there was ONE show to bring back audiences and get them laughing when able, was The Producers, as a very limited presentation, with big names, of course the dream was Matthew and Nathan, but I don’t believe there was ever a chance for that, unless it was a one night only kind of thing, definitely not for a few months, sadly. Everything just got mired down with too many cooks and a fear of the material in then, 2021, and Mel wasn’t going to allow one snip, “it’s funny, let’s not fuck with funny” and that, with the eventual stumbles by the league with planning doomed it all. Once it became clear all the shows would open again, in a staggered manner, especially Wicked, Phantom and The Lion King, it wasn’t really necessary to bring back any favorite shows.

The Producers is a mega successful property as far as regional and amateur productions, so that’s where it most likely will continue to ride. Mel is more focused on Young Frankenstein these days, he’s never really gotten over that not being a Broadway smash and continues to tweak it out there in the wild.

[quote] Jason Alexander admittedly struggled to get a toehold in that part.

Jason Alexander is not a good actor, just a lucky person. His work in the movie version of L!V!C! is hideous. And he was also out of his depth in the tv version of Bye Bye Birdie, which needed the charm of a song and dance man.

I thought my opinion of him would change when I saw him in The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. His first scene showed promise, but by the second scene he was falling back to his default position.

Euan is fantastically talented but he's a bit of a mess as a human being, which is why his career never took off the way it should have.

Wasn't Euan's marriage also his ticket to US citizenship?

1776 has been papering some performances.

Who else, DLers?

Jason Alexander was superb in Broadway Bound. That’s the first time I ever saw him and he was excellent. And I loved him on Seinfeld. But that’s about it.

It was sad to watch how the humor of The Producers landed differently as the audience became less New York and more and more tourist and how the actors compensated by fishing for broader dumber laughs.

"Mouthwash" from MCC Theater's ONLY GOLD. Who has seen this?

r559 Because the writing in The Producers is oh-so-sophisticated?

Is the movie version of The Producers a good representation of the stage version?

The history in this thread has been a lot of fun! Is someone an expert on Hairspray and could do the same throughout "Come Back, Little Reba"?

[quote] Is the movie version of The Producers a good representation of the stage version?

Yes, except it was fun on stage

Euan Morton even today looks a whole lot like Boy George. That was good casting.

Two observations from the pretty amazing new release of the 1962 Streisand set at the Bon Soir-- no one today is close to having that combo of unique style and awesome prowess at that young an age, and it sounds like a huge collection of whooping Marys in the audience.

[quote] Because the writing in The Producers is oh-so-sophisticated?

No, smartass at r561, but because Brooks' old school NY Jewish still played here especially for frontline theatergoers, and folks from the suburbs and the midwest and the rest of the country aren't familiar with it. His jokes had a lot of Broadway spoofery and Borscht Belt humor and. both of those things weren't a good fit for less local audiences.

Iain's mother is the heiress to the Samford fortune out of Birmingham, Alabama. I believe the original money was made in insurance. His great grandmother, Virginia Samford Donavan, was a local actress and arts patroness. One of the theaters in town is named for her.

r567 And yet you were in those less local audiences to witness it all, eh?

But sure, keep telling yourself that only New Yorkers could possibly understand the comedy of Mel Brooks. That's why all of his films flopped, of course. Oh, wait...

r560, I saw ONLY GOLD at MCC a few weeks ago in one of its first previews. I imagine they've made lots of changes since then but the very concept and story are so baked in, I'm not sure the show would really be much improved now. There's an improbable fairy tale premise, set vaguely in Paris in the 1920s, though nothing in the writing, music or design really quite supports that.

And there's lots of beautiful and intense and CONSTANT dancing but it all wore thin after a half hour or so as it became very repetitive. The show was almost 3 hours long back then. Well, actually cutting an hour out would only improve it. Maybe the critics will be respectful as it's kind of a bold attempt to do something new and original, albeit horribly pretentious.

Nobody mentions the fact that our put-upon little Patti appears the end of the Chuck Schumer/Lin-Manuel Miranda political ad spot, shushing him from the row in front of him. She's not very well-disguised, but it's definitely her.

May she enjoy the obscurity she so richly deserves, R 571

Next thread 501

[quote]No, smartass at [R561], but because Brooks' old school NY Jewish still played here especially for frontline theatergoers

Mel Brooks is JEWISH?

Don’t you think we should fill up the other 500 thread first?

Was Aaron Carter able to cut it during the Fantasticks stinit in 2009? Anyone know?

Yes, R575, and I think we should ignore that POS 501 thread that was created and move on.

R577 let’s make 500.1 etc and never go to 501

Fuck that old cocksucker that made 501! Are you all with me? Let’s fill up all three of the 500s and then rename this entire chain. That old geezer who made that thread can die of the aides!!!!

R575 which one? There are three…

THIS THREAD CHAIN IS ONLY FOR GLEE ERA MUSICAL THEATRE NON-BINARY KWEENS AND THEIR AGING FRAU HAGS! HIT THE ROAD TRANSPHOBIC BOOMER HOMOS!

WELCOME TO THE LEA MICHELE FAN CLUB!!!

YASSSSSSSSS!!!!!

[quote]Don’t you think we should fill up the other 500 thread first?

Absolutely not. If it were to happen then fools will start multiple threads for every theater thread with a title they think is clever. Let it die.

Agreed R584 not sure why the Aspies are so in an uproar about finishing all three 500s and the new 501

Out of 500 threads this title was the worst. Also, just a bad thread how did the 500s get so botched?

Almost Famous reviews say it’s no good

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