THEATRE GOSSIP #531: Don't Cry for Me, R2D2

To answer the question about Ken Howard in the former thread, I'm sure he left SEESAW for lots of lucrative TV work. By the time of 1978's THE WHITE SHADOW he was lost to Broadway. In the late 60s and early 70s he was a truly hot unique commodity in NY theater, a tall blonde STRAIGHT handsome leading man who was equally adept at comedy, drama and musical theatre. He went right from PROMISES, PROMISES to 1776 to CHILD'S PLAY to SEESAW in 5 years.

Ken Howard was attractive but I always found him devoid of sex appeal. I grew up with his TV series, WHITE SHADOW.

I wonder if he and Blythe Danner stayed friends after the 1776 movie.

No *Edition*, OP?

Ken Howard made me feel like a lady.

Will we ever find out who is playing your Joanne or will just find out at the first stop playbill?

Horrid title, OP. Just horrid.

It's no "The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Snatch," R7.

Thank God, r8.

Thanks for starting a new thread, OP!

Do Danny Torres, Tim Hughes, and Gaten have threesomes between performances? There's a triple decker I could bite into.

[quote] It's no "The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Snatch,"

You're right, dear. And you probably thought of yours sober, too.

Ken Howard and Blythe Danner briefly starred in a TV sitcom in the early 80s called Tattinger's. IIRC they were a married couple who ran an elegant NY restaurant. It was shot in NY with lots of great theater actors in the cast.

And Blythe and Ken would occasionally continue to act together up at the Williamstown Theatre Festival where they both met each other and 1776 director Peter Hunt (who I think also directed/produced Tattinger's) in the early 1970s.

r13, you ignorant slut. You're thinking of Adam's Rib. Stephen Collins was in Tattinger's.

Also, and I'm surprised no one else has yet mentioned this, Blythe Danner and Ken Howard starred in a very short-lived TV sitcom version of ADAM'S RIB. That was in 1973, so it would have been right after the film of 1776. And that show was also created by Peter H. Hunt.

If Blythe dinner was 15 years younger she would have made a great Joanne. More so than Phyllis.

The best Joanne that never was would have been Stockard Channing.

You know r16, I can still slap you from the grave.

I went skinny dipping once with Ken Howard’s brother, Don Howard. Big, long, thick cock.

I went to school with Don Howard. Very nice guy. He died young, of liver disease. He was also an actor and worked mostly on stage. He had a small role in the legendary flop "Legends!" starring Carol Channing and Mary Martin. He was also in "A Matter of Gravity" with Katharine Hepburn, again in a small part.

Well, Bernadette's lost it.

r20

wha????

Hi Patti! Welcome to DL!! R20

[quote]Bernadette Peters Makes an Entrance

What the hell WAS that?

R20, When host Kelly Ripa asked Bern which celebrities will be attending Broadway Barks this weekend, she listed several, but failed to mention that Randy Rainbow will be co-hosting with her.

[quote]failed to mention that Randy Rainbow will be co-hosting

Because the question was about celebrities.

Randy's output and quality have been dropping with his increasing recognition

RR was fine in small doses during Covid but enough already.

It's the Mandy Patinkin post-COVID Overdose Effect.

R27, His podcast is borderline unlistenable.

He seems needy.

R29, Last week, his special guest was the “iconic” Lucie Arnaz.

Looks like the Funny Girl tour is going to be playing mostly one week engagements. Sounds like one of those old bus and truck tours.

Saw the BP clip and thought it was from 30 years ago. She is 75!!

I disliked Seesaw so much that one of my great theater going regrets was not returning to see John Gavin in it.

[quote] You know [R16], I can still slap you from the grave.—Elaine

Relax, Elaine. He said the best Joanne that NEVER was. You know, like you never was sober.

Well, I loved SEESAW and saw it more than once on Broadway with Michele Lee and Ken Howard and then John Gavin and then a couple of times on tour with Lucie Jr. and John. And Tommy Tune always terrific back in his delightful days! On Broadway I even loved those numbers Spanglish and Ride Out the Storm which were cut for the tour.

Fascinating at the time to see the young Michael Bennett become a full-fledged director and carve that show out of a dismal tryout flop into a big joyous Broadway hit at the huge new Uris Theatre. Was it a financial hit? I don't know, but it sure felt like it at the time. Oh the 1970s in NYC!

The OBC score is still a guilty pleasure.

Jack Goldstein, a Savior of Broadway Theaters, Dies at 74:

Shoot me down in flames if this has already been much discussed (and I'm sure you will), but is everyone aware that there is an icon on YouTube that gives you every complete Tony Awards from 1960 to 2016?

I just found it and what a fabulous and gigantic rabbit-hole it is. (Type Complete Tony Awards and look for the icon with the Tony medallion.) BTW, 1971 has pretty clear colour footage of Jill Howarth singing part of Cabaret. It's much better quality than the clip you'll get if you type her name into YouTube.

Thanks, R38. I for one have never seen this mentioned.

Interesting that the COMPLETE Tony Awards is missing 1962 through 1966. So, incomplete.

What was the Tony Awards year that Barbra Streisand was given a special non-competitive Tony? Was that 1971? 1972? Did she show up to collect it?

R41, 1970 and yes she was there.

R28 what's the Mandy Patinkin post-COVID Overdose Effect?

R38 are you talking about the collection of “pooch smooch”? That’s all I can find

[quote]Interesting that the COMPLETE Tony Awards is missing 1962 through 1966. So, incomplete.

That’s because the Tonys were originally broadcast in New York only. 1967, with Mary Martin & Bob Preston hosting, was the first national telecast.

I have never recovered from no footage or photographs of Bea Arthur with her Tony award from Mame.

R32 we used to call them BJ and Fuck tours.

Tell me if I'm wrong but I believe the first televised Tonys were in 1960, though only telecast locally in the NY area. This is the year Mary Martin's Maria von Trapp beat Ethel Merman's Mama Rose. Everyone is seated at large tables and it's very crowded so you can't see Ethel's reaction to losing.

We know, r48. '67 was the first year they were *nationally* televised.

R50 he looks sloppy. I remember he used to look so dapper in the '90s.

The '90s were 30 years ago, dear one.

Are actors still getting tested for Covid at the theatre before performances?

How would I know, R53?

R52 I meant that I was a kid back then, but I stopped following Disney movies once I grew up, so I hadn't seen him in like 20 years.

You twit.

[quote]Well, Bernadette's lost it.

Kelly Ripa show has for years had a contest for best celebrity entrance.

For r53

R57. Thanks!

So nice the gay Sweeney Todd cast members came out in their ripped t-shirts and flip flops to find those adorable doggies a home. When does the sex slave auction begin?

Here's a link to the Youtube Tony Awards Playlist...

Sweeney barks.

*2* GIRLS *2*

[quote] So nice the gay Sweeney Todd cast members came out in their ripped t-shirts and flip flops to find those adorable doggies a home. When does the sex slave auction begin?

Oh, DL. The clip above has what looks like at least as many women as men, no flip flops or rippled t-shirts in sight.

It sure ain't the " Hello Dolly" song with the adorable Charlie Stemp.

Look I'm not much of a Kelli O'Hara fan, but the way some of you bitches tried to denigrate her in the last thread was beyond the pale. Yes she doesn't project much personality but she would've been fabulous in light soprano roles like Magnolia or Rosabella, but now she's too old and those shows never get produced anymore. I'd much rather have Kelli–who least gives off warmth–than human block of wood/proven cunt Laura Osnes in classic soprano roles.

What is Charlie Stemp doing in NYC?

He was in "Hello, Dolly." This video is from a few years ago.

Has anyone seen the London Crazy for You with Charlie Stemp? Or, frankly, anything in London worth mentioning beyond the Cabaret and Guys & Dolls revivals?

Very sad news. It's being reported on Facebook by his friends that the actor Jeffrey Carlson has passed away. He was only 48, no details as yet.

I worked with him a couple of times, early in his career when he had just graduated from Juilliard. He was a beautiful young man, truly soulful. DLers might remember him from TABOO as Marilyn and as the son in Edward Albee's THE GOAT. I believe he also played a trans person on a soap in the early 2000s. I remember he left NY and returned home to Chicago 10-15 years ago, even though his career seemed to be soaring. I don't know if he continued to act there.

RIP

R69, Any relation to Mrs. Richard Carlson?

I saw THE MOTIVE AND THE CUE at the National Theatre a few days ago -- about Gielgud directing Burton in HAMLET. Wonderful acting, especially by the actors playing Gielgud and E-Taylor. West End transfer in progress. Also PATRIOTS, by Peter Morgan, about Boris Berezhovsky. Both highly recommended.

[quote]Any relation to Mrs. Richard Carlson?

I'm hoping she made an appearance at Broadway Barks.

Jeffrey Carlson was also excellent in an Off-Broadway play called LAST EASTER, which had Veanne Cox in the central role. I am very sorry to hear of his passing.

Jeffrey Carlson was absolutely sex on a stick in THE GOAT.

One of the worst thread titles in some time.

He wasn’t very well-known or regarded…he’s dead, but his Wiki page still describes him as being alive. Someone get with with the program!

The best thing I saw in London recently was a musical version of Benjamin Button. Amazing. 100 times better than the movie. Hope it has a future life.

[quote]Born and raised in Rochester, New York, he studied at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. In 1978, when auditioning for the Richard Rodgers and Martin Charnin musical I Remember Mama, Charnin decided to instead cast him in the original Broadway production of Annie.

Interesting, I wasn't aware that Martin Charnin had to audition for I REMEMBER MAMA.

Jeffrey Carlson's own Facebook page has not been updated by anyone to reflect his death, but no one else may have access, and I see that Jeffrey's last post was in 2021.

As of yesterday, many of Jeffrey's friends posted poignant goodbyes to him on his Facebook page. He was beloved and very well-regarded amongst his colleagues. I saw a lot of his classical work - Romeo at McCarter Theater, Hamlet at the Shakespeare Theatre in DC and Richard II at Yale Rep - he was always brilliant. An unforgettable actor.

The whole "what happens to a FB account after death" is its own conversation. But someone can send FB a link to his obit and they will change it to a "Remembering" page. Which freezes any and all changes, except it allows people to still post on his page with remembrances/comments.

R74, Seriously?

[quote]Interesting, I wasn't aware that Martin Charnin had to audition for I REMEMBER MAMA.

And yet he was hired anyway?

R84, He was a prick.

Charnin was weirdly proud of his long flowing hair.

I mean, it's a nice head of a hair for an older man. But perhaps a mullet's not the most flattering style to make your signature look.

Obit on Carlson:

Oh THAT was who Jeffrey Carlson was? I had no idea. I remember his AMC role and that it was not well received.

Martin Charnin never misses a Liv Ullmann musical audition.

From the Signs You Know You Are Getting Old thread:

You wear your hair like Martin Charnin.

r90 Or you know who Martin Charnin is.

Martin Charnin has BDF.

Well, he sure had ME heading off to work on One Life to Live with a limp.

I forgive the hack Charnin much for his great line about leaving I REMEMBER MAMA -- "There's no longer a fjord in my future."

[quote]I forgive the hack Charnin much for his great line about leaving I REMEMBER MAMA -- "There's no longer a fjord in my future."

That's the interesting thing: He could occasionally be very witty, and he somehow pulled himself together and apparently channeled all of his talent into writing the lyrics to ANNIE, which are very good overall. But so much of the rest of his work.......

r95, even a stopped clock is right twice a day.

Annie ended up with all of the right ingredients at the exact right time. Also working for it - it had kids, an animal and a Christmas number.

Thanks for the Complete Tonys youtube link upthread!

Tonight I watched the 1970 program. Honorary Tonys to Barbra Streisand, Lunt & Fontanne, Noel Coward, Tony winners Lauren Bacall, Cleavon Little, Ken Howard, Blythe Danner, Tammy Grimes, Melba Moore, Fritz Weaver, presented by Julie Andrews, Cary Grant, Maggie Smith, James Stewart, Walter Matthau, Claire Bloom, George C Scott, Patricia Neal, Shirley MacLaine, among others. Katharine Hepburn in a 15 minute segment of Coco. DL Fave Bonnie Franklin and the gypsies singing Applause!

Now we get Julianne Hough, Skylar Astin, Ariana duBose, J Harrison Ghee, Bonnie Milligan, Sean Hayes and Colton Ryan and musical numbers that will only convince audiences to stay home.

... for those who may need th evisual

Ya want fjords? Fine...

R98, Hepburn called Bacall a day or two before the Tony Awards and asked Bacall if she would accept for her if she won.

Bacall thought it awkward, since they were both nominated in the same category, but she agreed to do it, actually thinking Hepburn would win.

Bacall was honestly surprised that she won, as you can tell by viewing her reaction on the recording.

I love Grieg's music. I had no idea his music had been turned into a Broadway musical (or operetta?)

Has Encores! ever done it?

I think Here Lies Love is not gonna find it’s audience on Bway.

its!

But, on the other hand, it has been reported that BACK TO THE FUTURE took in more than $1 million at the box office in it first week with only FOUR performances.

I'm looking forward to seeing HERE LIES LOVE on Bway. I've seen some discounted ticket offers and plan on grabbing a few soon.

But it does seem like a case of bad marketing. They should be pushing the immersive experience and the pop-inflected score harder. I don't think "it's about the Marcos family!" means much to potential ticket buyers.

Anyone seen a play at the Minack Theatre? Quite a setting.

PS, and the only diehard showqueens remember how well it was received at the Public a few years back, pre-Covid. They may as well be marketing a brand new show.

R66. That's from a couple of years ago (pre-pandemic, maybe?). Currently, Mr. Stemp is doing "Crazy for You" in London. And he is great in it, too.

Song of Norway was a big Broadway hit choreographed by Balanchine. The movie is supposed to be terrible. One of the musicals of the period that all the critics hated though I don't think it did too badly with audiences. I got the bluray for the scenery yet I haven't gotten the courage to watch it yet. The second female lead is very very pretty. I was never a fan of Flo's.

[quote]Song of Norway was a big Broadway hit choreographed by Balanchine. The movie is supposed to be terrible.

Florence Henderson, never a movie star, hoped that "Song of Norway" would do for her what "The Sound of Music" did for Julie Andrews. Unfortunately for Flo, "Song of Norway" stank.

and a rose for you DL!

R112. Sally Murphy, younger than springtime and twice as exciting. Didn't she play Tzeitel when she was 40?

Pauline Kael said the Song of Norway film looked like it was made by trolls. It's a good movie to watch with friends while getting high. The leading man, Toralv Maustad, made a bid for stardom. He died last year.

" Song of Norway" as sung by Mrs. Brady.

[quote]I'm looking forward to seeing HERE LIES LOVE on Bway. I've seen some discounted ticket offers and plan on grabbing a few soon. But it does seem like a case of bad marketing. They should be pushing the immersive experience and the pop-inflected score harder. I don't think "it's about the Marcos family!" means much to potential ticket buyers.

It seems to me that the marketing of the Broadway production is very, very much focusing on the reconfiguration of the Broadway Theater and the immersive experience. The fact that you may have read one or two pieces focusing on the Marcos family doesn't change that.

Why wasn't Michael Hayden on the cover of that 1994 THEATRE WEEK? Or Marin Mazzie?

This is what you could get in 1977 if you gave someone an Honorary Award.

Nice to be reminded of how thrilling it was to see Tomlin live.

Ah, she was wasting her talents!

[quote] Sally Murphy, younger than springtime and twice as exciting. Didn't she play Tzeitel when she was 40?

Not to mention that by 1994 she was a Broadway veteran, having bared her breasts four years prior to feed a starving man in the Tony winning production of The Grapes of Wrath.

I think they're making a mistake extending Merrily, and certainly announcing so early. Broadway producers never learn.

R123 yeah, didn't they extend TAKE ME OUT last year because the leaked nude footage initially created some buzz but then it quickly died down so the extension was for naught?

Maybe if they'd offered stage door time up close and personal with Jesse's dong, it would have sold out every night!

r125 It worked for me!

Surprised that the Tiny Vanya didn't get a "Critics Pick" in the Times - hey seem to give them to almost anything these days...

My friend is a huge Camelot fan (no idea why) and took her mom (who loves everything) to the matinee yesterday. Hated it. Not one good thing to say. Mom hated it, too.

The CAMELOT revival is profoundly disappointing all around. Poorly cast, poorly directed, poorly designed.

Most damaging was Sorkin's revised book. I cannot imagine his version will have a future life onstage anywhere.

The Bway musical you didn't know you needed!

I feel bad for Jordan Donica.

Was sick with Covid during most of his Into the Woods run and didn’t transfer to Broadway so he could play Raul again for no good reason in Phantom and he didn’t even close the show.

THEN he gets a plum role in a huge show, only for it to go up in flames with bad reviews and close early.

Yes, he was nominated…but does that even matter at this point?

I was also at the CAMELOT matinee yesterday. Understudy for Arthur - meh. Soo and Donica sounded nice. The orchestra was good. The projections were cool but soulless and the production was lit very dark. But Jesus Christ - that BOOK was embarrassing.

Jordan Donica's performance is one of the problems with this production, though I will say that Sorkin's book did not help him.

Donica missed a number of CAMELOT performances. While I was underwhelmed by his singing in MY FAIR LADY, seeing his understudy in CAMELOT made me wish I were seeing him -- though what I heard on the Tonys didn't overwhelm me either.

Donica got COVID again when Camelot was in previews and he's been out quite a bit since the opening. Burnap has been MIA a lot in the past month or so.

[quote]While I was underwhelmed by his singing in MY FAIR LADY...

Personally not the least bit underwhelmed by his singing in My Fair Lady.

I've heard all sorts of good justifications for Burnap and Donica missing so many CAMELOT performances -- back troubles due to the raked stage, COVID -- but I still wonder either of them would have been out so frequently if they and the show had received rave reviews and it was a big hit, rather than a bitter disappointment.

[quote]Maybe if they'd offered stage door time up close and personal with Jesse's dong, it would have sold out every night!

I finally caught up with the rest of the world on that surreptitiously acquired video and I want to give Jessie an honorary Tony . When the water starts dripping off of it in that heavy stream? I ascended!

R139, I'm sure only part of you ascended....

[quote]Burnap has been MIA a lot in the past month or so.

Actors on Broadway get paid weekly, correct? So when they miss performances, do they get docked? I've always wondered how that works, particularly if it's the star and they appear to be just skipping out, not sick or anything.

Anyone seen The Cottage?

Do you ever take a seat in one of these old, creaky Broadway theatres and wonder if everything is truly up to code?

Which of these did you see, Eldergays?

Shari Lewis (and Lambchop?) in Funny Girl?

Mickey Rooney, Dom De Luise and Joan Rivers in 'LUV'?

Beloved gay icon Anita Bryant in Do I Hear a Waltz?

I actually saw Gene Barry and Totie Fields in Birdie. He was bad, but she stole the show as Mae Peterson.

Andrew Rannells: How I Stood Up to Broadway Sexual Harassment:

R107 - an old friend of mine is in the cast of Measure for Measure currently at the Minack. Her rehearsal/backstage photos are stunning. If I was in the UK now, I'd make the trek down to Cornwall to see her, but I'm currently in the US

R147 - how cool! That whole part of England looks so lovely. I hope to visit one day. I've only really done London and the immediate surrounding areas.

R146 - For some reason, I feel like Datalounge doesn't care for Andrew. I've only seen him in Mormon and Girls. Loved him in both.

'Elijah' on GIRLS was annoying as fuck!

R144, you neglected to mention Janis Paige in 'Sweet Charity'!

That would have been great to see.

Bernadette and Patricia Arquette's Apple TV show, High Desert, has been canceled after one season. Anyone see it? It seemed to get mixed reviews, though, Bernadette's performance got what look like universal raves. Maybe she can get another Emmy nomination.

Who would harass Rannells. Even Weinstein had good taste.

I was too young but I would have gone to everyone of those shows. Even Bryant in Waltz.

The OBC of Camelot is one of the great Broadway albums. It's too bad Loewe came back for the dreadful Little Prince.

'Praise I don't need. Criticism I don't want.'

Re the article attached to the post by r146 - Aaron Tveit is straight? Color me surprised.

R153 - I dunno... ? Rannells isn't classically handsome, but I actually think he's quite sexy. He has a really nice (but not overly sculpted build), he's very tall, has long muscular legs and has this 'is probably fun in bed' energy. I'm sure he had zero trouble getting laid in his single days.

I wish these people would name names. If it’s true, you won’t lose a lawsuit and if it’s true you are helping the next person not be victimized by bad behavior.

R144, I was too busy blowing George Maharis in the back parking lot to see any of those other shows

I actually like the score for The Little Prince. The title song is lovely. The movie is pretty bad, though.

I too would have seen all of those shows. Some fun casting, and some ghastly casting.

Virginia Graham! Holy cow…

That's the summer of '66, correct?

Too bad the summer stock tour packages no longer exist. Imagine Deb Messing in 40 Carats!!!!! Matthew Broderick in Harvey! Pam Anderson in Gypsy!! Mario Cantone in Fiddler!!!!

We recently had Pam Anderson in CHICAGO *on* Broadway!

I've posted this on other threads over the years but in 1970 I was a teenaged apprentice at the Ogunquit Playhouse and worked with:

George Gobel in Play It Again, Sam

John Gavin in The Fantasticks

Noel Harrison and Elizabeth Hubbard in Blithe Spirit

Joan Fontaine in Relatively Speaking

Carousel with no star names

Shirley Booth in a new play whose name I've forgotten

Van Johnson in Boeing, Boeing

William Shatner in The Tender Trap

Edward Mulhare and Inga Swenson in another sex farce

Patrice Munsel and Kerwin Matthews (he was billed below the title) in I Do! I Do!

No nasty tales to tell about any of them, they were all quite gracious backstage. Well, actually, the Carousel cast was kinda bitchy with each other. Van Johnson really did wear red socks every day and gently flirted with me and Joan Fontaine would wink at me every night as she'd make her first entrance onstage. Shirley Booth could make even the most mundane dialogue hilarious.

Cabaret is going into the August Wilson next Spring.

At Northland Playhouse outside. of Detroit, I saw Shelly Winters in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf. She was great.

I wonder who's going to do Sally. Broadway Journal already reported that Redmayne was coming to Broadway. I mentioned this in the last thread, but I think Elle Fanning COULD be an incredible Sally if -- big if -- she can hold a tune. Her English accent is pretty flawless and she's great with comedy and tragedy.

Here we go again. Sally B. does not have to sing all that well.

No, but she has to be able to deliver the song. Michelle Williams didn’t have a terrible voice, but she undercut herself in the role because she couldn’t do them justice.

Would it even be possible to create a summer stock theater again? The Burt Reynolds' Dinner Theater was one of the last and he was really able to attract the names. I mean, could it even work on Broadway with shows doing a summer rep? I know there are union problems, but the entire concept is so much more appealing than Encores.

Redmayne’s vocal take on the Emcee is odd - it becomes grating very quickly. I suppose there is pressure to find something new in the role but it failed spectacularly for me.

Well, Redmayne himself becomes grating after five minutes in anything, so are you surprised?

God, I could not stand Redmayne's singing in the LES MISERABLES movie.

He sounded like Kermit the frog and struggled through his songs.

It was cringeworthy.

The whole movie was.

I wonder what happened with Jessie Buckley? She was phenomenal in the role, but one got a sense that she wasn't having the best time.

The Rannells article has a few interesting bits.

Is he implying that when he was propositioned by men in power, he put out? That was my take.

Seems like he and Tuc are in the lesbian bed death part of their relationship - still together but open, of course.

The only entertaining thing about that utter shitfest "Welcome to Chippendales" was seeing a porky Rannells getting buttfucked byt a greasy, very unattractive Murray whatshisname. I don't know why, but it was the first time I ever found Rannells attractive. He actually looked decent with some heft.

I thought Rannels was totally miscast in both Falsettos and Boys in the Band when each was announced. But I have to say he was great in both, and I thought he was the best one in Boys, which is quite an achievement playing "Larry."

Jessie Buckley is probably tied up with other projects. Too bad.

I know it's a hit in London, but I wonder if New York will have a different reaction. I saw it in London and although its exciting, the take and results are less satisfying than the Rob Marshall version that ran forever...

Matt Doyle as Frank Sinatra has to be the strangest bit of casting news I’ve heard in a long time. Not hating on it. Hope he nails it. Just never would have imagined it. They seem so very, very different.

R177, When he referred to online speculation about his relationship with Tuc, was he referring to DL?

R181, this doesn’t appear to be a Cabaret I would like, but the Mendes one changed considerably between Donmar and Broadway. This could also. The video of Donmar is available, but this article explains a lot of the differences.

Was Noel Harrison known for anything except being Rex‘s son?

Mark Slate, r185.

R185, at that time, he also released some record albums with some definite success. So he wasn't a huge star but certainly big enough to draw fans to summer stock.

I would have loved seeing Totie Fields in BBB but I also think she would have made a brilliant Mama Morton in Chicago or even Stella in Follies. See, we always come back to that.

Melissa Manchester IS Mrs Brice

And Fanny is Cuban American

Who the fuck are those people?

[quote]I thought Rannels was totally miscast in both Falsettos and Boys in the Band when each was announced. But I have to say he was great in both, and I thought he was the best one in Boys, which is quite an achievement playing "Larry."

I also felt he was miscast in both of those things, because both of those characters are supposed to be stereotypically masculine guys who have no trouble staying in the closet. I thought Rannells' performance in BOYS IN THE BAND was fine despite that, but he was so wrong for Whizzer in FALSETTOS that he didn't really work in that role.

Yup. Whizzer was supposed to be more like what Armie was playing at in CMBYN. Not a neurotic queen. He was the balance to Marvin.

Who says Whizzer was in the closet?

All about the FUNNY GiRL tour cast.

Holy crap. Melissa Manchester as Mrs Brice in the FG tour!

Baby cried the day FUNNY GIRL came to town.....

[quote]Who says Whizzer was in the closet?

I don't think anyone is saying that, but Whizzer should be a more stereotypically "masculine" character, rather than a guy who is obviously gay in terms of voice, body language, etc.. And, of course, he should also be very good looking. All of that is written into the role.

I am R192 and no, I wasn't suggesting Whizzer was in the closet. But in the various productions I've seen or worked on, Whizzer had the appearance of someone like Oliver in CMBYN - tall, handsome, athletic - very much the typical jock of the era. The tennis player in high tops, and so on.

Sorry if my meaning was a bit unclear. I had the character of Oliver in mind because he really had that early 80s athletic look down. He was all the things Marvin wasn't - easy going, confident in his masculinity, etc.

R185, there was a lot more to Noel Harrison than being the son of Rex Harrison. He appeared onstage in Blithe Spirit and My Fair Lady.

Why does everyone keep bringing up his father?

Because he does.

[quote]He appeared onstage in Blithe Spirit and My Fair Lady.

[quote]Why does everyone keep bringing up his father?

Maybe because his father did both of those roles, r199.

The tour Nicky Arnstein is cute…married…but cute

Does he have a name, R202?

Thank you, R201, for killing the joke.

[quote] Baby cried the day FUNNY GIRL came to town.....

Baby must have had a shit fit when she saw that underwhelming touring cast.

Baby Noel can't be broken cause you see, he had the finest teacher: that was me.

R206 You should hear how he talks about you!

[quote]Here we go again. Sally B. does not have to sing all that well.

Jesus. Could we just not?

R205 how do you think the tour will do with that cast?

The FG tour is playing one week engagements and LA isn't listed as a stop as of right now. Melissa and the show itself might be enough to sell tickets.

RE: Summer Stock, I've shared before about my time as the Assistant Manager at the Falmouth Playhouse on Cape Cod. Here's a list of the shows in those years:

Falmouth Playhouse 1975

THE HOT L BALTIMORE with Jan Sterling

THE GOOD DOCTOR with Theodore Bikel

YOU NEVER KNOW with Kitty Carlisle, Bob Wright, Joe Masiell, Bernice Massi, Peter Bartlett

THE TWO OF US with Lynn Redgrave, John Tillinger

A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC with Patrice Munsel

FOR MY LAST NUMBER with Paul Sorvino

MY FAT FRIEND with John Astin, Patty Duke Astin

SABRINA FAIR with Robert Horton, Katherine Houghton, Sam Levene, Russell Nype, Maureen O'Sullivan

IN PRAISE OF LOVE with Kim Hunter, Edward Mulhare, Walter Abel

Falmouth Playhouse 1976

ZORBA with Theodore Bikel, Taina Elg, Jana Robbins

THE MOUSETRAP with David McCallum, Carole Shelley, Kurt Kasznar

JACQUES BREL with Elly Stone, Joe Masiell

BUS STOP with John Travolta, Anita Gillette, Ellen Travolta, Ann Travolta, Brian Dennehy

CHARLE'S AUNT with Donald O'Connor

THE ECCENTRICITIES OF A NIGHTINGALE with Betsy Palmer, David Selby

SEND ME NO FLOWERS with Van Johnson

GODSPELL with Catherine Cox

HOUSE OF BLUE LEAVES with Eli Wallach, Anne Jackson

I had a good friend who worked down the road at the Cape Cod Melody Tent in Hyannis. It was theater-in-the-round, and they did much bigger shows with more prominent "stars." We certainly had fun comparing notes.

r211 - Thanks, Billy Boy.

[quote]THE HOT L BALTIMORE with Jan Sterling

Was she April???

[quote]HOUSE OF BLUE LEAVES with Eli Wallach, Anne Jackson

Anne as Bananas? Who was Bunny?

Billy Boy, please tell us stories about Robert Horton, Maureen O'Sullivan, John Travolta and Kitty Carlisle.

R212, at the end of each season, we would put together a booklet of all the Playbills that we would give to the apprentices and staff as a gift. I have them somewhere in my home but would need to find them, to answer your question, because I honestly can't remember...

R213, all those stories were in the old **OFFICIAL** SUMMER STOCK THEATER MEMORIES /GOSSIP/DISH THREAD!!! from 2008. I'm not going to rehash them here. I'm Sur the thread is archived somewhere...

r214 - What kind of character did Jan Sterling play?

My Fat Friend was a delightful play. Lynn was luminous and George Rose was hilarious. Also featured youngish John Lithgow. Plot was simple: fat girl meets a handsome guy who goes away for six months. While he's gone she loses weight to impress him. Turns out he liked her because she was fat. Curtain.

I think Beanie should have toured with Funny Girl. She couldn't have sold worse than the unknown meeskite they cast.

What’s sad is remember when tours had names?

Whatever happened to that? Carol Channing always toured and she said it was because they came to NY to see you…so you go to see them!

At least ITW has Stephanie Block and Gavin Creel.

Beanie is touring with "My Fat Friend."

To be fair, producers put as much thought into casting the Funny Girl tour as they did in casting the OBC.

[quote]The FG tour is playing one week engagements and LA isn't listed as a stop as of right now. Melissa and the show itself might be enough to sell tickets.

Call me skeptical that the casting of Melissa Manchester as Mrs. Rosie Brice is going to make any significant difference in ticket sales for the tour. First of all, most people know FUNNY GIRL from the movie, in which the role is VERY small, and they may not be aware that it was larger in the original show and has been beefed up for this revisal. Plus, Melissa Manchester became famous for her singing, not her acting, and Mrs. B. has never been a role that shows off the pipes. Anyway, I think it scarcely needs to be said that, in this show, star casting only really matters for the role of Fanny.

Yeah, one would think they would have learnt their lesson R221. Apparently not.

Some Jew girl actresses are OUTRAGED that the tour Fanny ain’t Hebrew…

R222, Nobody called me.

Hell, I'd go see Sally Struthers as Mrs. Brice before Melissa Manchester. Who even remembers who she is (enough that it would entice them to buy a ticket)?

Actually, I'd go see Sally Struthers as Fanny before I'd go see that 3rd understudy they cast instead.

But, would you rather see Beanie, R226?

R224 - I mean, I don't blame them. This isn't Fiddler, exactly, but it's one of the biggest explicitly Jewish roles in the musical theatre. By the way, I don't begrudge anyone's right to be proud of their heritage or where they grew up, but is it weird that the new Fanny's bio starts with the fact that she's proud to be a Cuban from Miami?

[quote]KATERINA McCRIMMON (Fanny Brice) is a proud Cuban-American from Miami, and she’s thrilled to be playing Fanny in this dazzling production. Hmm. Wonder if she's Republican.

I love hearing all these random stories from Summer Stock. I grew up in San Diego in the 90s so it's not really something I experienced. Does anyone have any of the early threads R211 / R215 is referencing? I did a search, but didn't find them.

Bus Stop -- with the entire fucking Travolta family! Amazing!

R229. If you can ever find a copy of NO PICKLE, NO PERFORMANCE you will devour it. I think there's an entire chapter on JT and Bus Stop. By all accounts he was lovely but insisted that they cast his sisters. And Anita Gillette was not feeling the love.

Thanks, R230. Will keep an eye out. It's on Amazon, but I'm not paying $90!!

[quote] Mrs. B. has never been a role that shows off the pipes.

A good thing, since Melissa's voice is shot.

I'm right here to answer all your questions about Joan Fontaine, John Gavin, Shirley Booth, Van Johnson, Inga Swenson, Kerwin Matthews and William Shatner!

Noel Harrison was still coasting off his fame from The Girl From UNCLE in 1970.

R231. Check ebay for a cheaper used copy. Or your local library.

Why was Inga slumming in a non-musical, r233?

Lehman Trilogy coming to LCT to fill the gap from the early Camelot closing. No word on casting. I missed the original NY transfer. If well cast, is it worth seeing?

[quote]‘Lehman Trilogy’ planning to return to Broadway this fall

This strikes me as an absolute terrible idea, and I think it will be a huge flop unless they get at least one MAJOR star to be in it -- and I'm not including anyone from the original cast, as almost anyone who wanted to see those three in the show has already done so. Couldn't they think of ANY better choice to fill the gap at the Beaumont?

According to IBDB it only played about 2 ½ months ha, after its ‘false start’ in March 2020. Seemed like it ran longer

‘ha’ was a typo

That's interesting, R238. I also thought LEHMAN had run considerably longer. But I STILL think most people who wanted to see it probably saw it back then, and I can't imagine it will have any kind of an audience at Lincoln Center unless maybe they get a MAJOR star in it. I mean, someone like Ralph Fiennes or Daniel Day Lewis, or an American equivalent.

R211, I would love to have seen Donald O'Connor playing in Charley's Aunt.

R240, I missed and will definitely try to fit it in this time. Lincoln Center’s subscribers will likely go this, especially since there hasn’t been a success at the Beaumont for quite some time. Three out of the last four closed early.

THE LEHMAN TRILOGY is an American story and it would be mice to seethose3roles played by American actors.

It's sad that LCT can no longer seem to produce great productions of classic plays in the Beaumont like THE CHERRY ORCHARD, THE THREEPENNY OPERA, DINNER AT EIGHT, ABE LINCOLN IN ILLINOIS, Ah, WILDERNESS, 12TH NIGHT, HENRY IV, THE RIVALS, etc. which were their bread and butter in the old days and seemed to sell out even without big stars, and even if they didn't extend forever. It's like someone said on the Death of Regional Theatre thread, no one wants to see classic plays anymore unless they're starring the likes of Al Pacino.

And I suspect that most Lincoln Center subscribers have already seen THE LEHMAN TRILOGY.

r235, Inga Swenson was lovely, as beautiful and graceful in person as Audrey Hepburn, and very kind to all of us backstage. Her co-star Edward Mulhare, who was hot off of The Ghost & Mrs. Muir, probably had the most fans of all the stars that summer at the stage door but he was kind of cold and grumpy. I was his dresser and he smelled of gin and lime.

.......

No Pickle No Performance also available on archive.org / see link below

Call me weird but I think Bonnie Milligan would be a fascinating Sally in the Eddie Redmayne Cabaret

R243, THE CHERRY ORCHARD and THE THREEPENNY OPERA were not LCT. They were the Public at the Beaumont.

LCT was started in 1985.

R247 - she would EAT!

FLABARET!

Lea for Sally.

[quote]Lincoln Center’s subscribers will likely go this, especially since there hasn’t been a success at the Beaumont for quite some time.

Well, if they are subscribers, they will almost certainly attend LEHMAN TRILOGY if only because it's part of the subscription. But, like R243, I suspect that a great many of them will have already seen it on Broadway and won't be very excited by it. Unless maybe, as I said, LCT gets one or more major stars to be in it.

I saw the Lehman Trilogy at the Armory and I thought it was too long. The original actors and the staging was great but it got very tedious.

R251 - was wondering about that. She did recently say her next Broadway gig was already confirmed. Some folks on here speculated she was talking about Chess, but... you'd think she'd want another big hit after her Funny Girl triumph. Does anyone really think Chess is going to succeed in the U.S. this time?

Listing for Sondheim's Turtle Bay townhouse

I see you, American Ballet Theater. And I can see Russia from my house, when I take the time to gaze up from my navel.

God, this makes me feel old. TWENTIETH anniversary celebration (or gathering?) for the Bernadette Gypsy company this week. Bernadette perhaps went a little on the nose with her dress. ;)

I wonder how she looks back on that production. I hope with pride. She went through hell in the early weeks of that production with the infection that wouldn't go away, the endless speculation about her suitability for the role, Michael Riedel's pretty vicious "reporting"...

Admittedly, I saw her a little later in the run, but found her magnificent. Still can't believe she lost the Tony to that heifer from Hairspray.

Don't think her Herbie or Louise made it. Nor Mister Mendes, though he'd probably leave that all in the past even if he were available.

Sondheim's residence (@R255) deserves its own Tasteful Friends thread.

I think it's stunning but it will cost a bomb (the maintenance fees alone are insane).

^ where’s Tammy?

R259 if you mean as that term is used in NY real estate, there are no maintenance fees on a single-family townhouse.

R259 - Good news! it already has a dedicated thread.

My mistake, R261. I should have said taxes (the listing states taxes are $5,896 / month)

That’s not unreasonable for a $7,000,000. It’s a lot higher in the burbs and in NJ

I think I spotted Maureen Moore in that Gypsy cast pic. Lovely, lovely lady.

One week only...

[quote] Don't think her Herbie or Louise made it.

Tammy Blanchard and John Dossett? What did they have going on that they were too busy,

Dossett is in Wicked, right at the moment. I don't know about Blanchard.

Maybe Tammy just doesn't like Bernadette.

Blanchard is a little on the cuckoo side.

That editorial at R256 is insane! My favorite quote: “But if there’s one thing I know from being a dancer, it’s how to spot who has soul and who is phoning it in.”

John Dossett was there--he can be seen in one of the photos at Playbill.com. Tammy Blanchard was apparently not in attendance.

I think I spotted Mrs Neil Patrick Harris in one of those Gypsy pics.

I think she was standing next to Mrs. Richard Carlson, r273.

Was Mrs Richard Carlson on a leash?

[quote]But if there’s one thing I know from being a dancer, it’s how to spot who has soul and who is phoning it in.

So true.

David Burtka is definitely in the GYPSY photo, second from right in the back row. Is that Jerry Mitchell on the extreme right? Did he choreograph it? Or supervise the Robbins choreography?

John Dossett is definitely not in the photo. The only other actors there I could name, besides Bernadette, would be Brooks Ashmanskas and Julie Halston. Maybe Kate Reinders, who was Dainty June, is there amongst all those petite blondes. Who were the other strippers in that cast?

New York, New York couldn't make it in New York, New York

What effect will this have on Lin's credibility?

none

Operating costs of $1.2 million a week means that no one ever said "no" to Stroman or any member of her creative team. These are insane producers.

I love Tom Kirdahy, dear sweet kind man and certainly not stupid. Yet he's a terribly weak producer to have allowed NY NY to go into rehearsals, much less previews, in that pathetic state.

WTF did they spend 27 million dollars on, a show with NO star names? It sure doesn't come through onstage.

[quote]WTF did they spend 27 million dollars on, a show with NO star names?

Wasn't Lin Manuel Miranda the selling point?

I remember people saying he was going to bring in his many loyal fans.

Are you suggesting LMM was paid a few of those millions, r284?

I very much doubt it. But even so, that still leaves 24 million dollars to account for.

Speaking of the Burtka-Harris household…

Just imagine the phone calls emails and generally pointless scurrying around that the Press and Marketing serfs of New York New York are doing because of that stupid New York Post article.

ATCers think the Post article might boost sales for NY NY because it will push those who were on the fence to buy their tix now.

I don't agree btw. I think everyone but a few deluded out-of-towners who want to see the show have seen it by now.

I think we'll only continue to see box office sales on most shows plunge as the summer muddles on. The extreme heat and ugliness of post-pandemic NY are keeping everyone away.

Not only were they non names, but they weren’t “stars to be either.”

The New York, New York cast is better suited for a cruise ship entertainment.

Poor Colton Ryan. I didn't see NEW YORK NEW YORK but I've enjoyed him in other projects. He was prominently featured in the DEAR EVAN HANSEN movie, and that tanked as well.

I don't see the failure of NYNY hurting LMM at all. He was smart enough to let John Kander stand front and center as the musical talent. The new songs aren't especially good, but I don't think the public knows/cares enough to fault Lin-Manuel for that.

I do think it's another compelling case against throwing millions of dollars at a musical based on "brand recognition" alone. And against repurposing old songs in a new Frankenstein of a book.

Goes to show how important the writing is.

John Dosset was at the Gypsy reunion

Melissa will join the "Funny Girl" tour and never say goodbye.

[Quote] According to a source with knowledge of its finances, “New York, New York” was capitalized at $27 million and costs a hefty $1.2 million per week to run.

Those are crazy numbers, especially for a show that opened cold. I can’t imagine there was ever a viable business model where this show recouped.

r293 - which one is John Dossett?

R296, The one between my legs.

Very funny and surprisingly moving story of how Betty Buckley found her Grizabella and got 'Memory' right. She's a very good storyteller. I'll have to find this full interview later.

Are any So Cal DL'ers going to the Sondheim concert at the Hollywood Bowl? Guest vocalists are Patti LuPone, Sutton Foster, Skylar Astin, Sierra Boggess, Norm Lewis, Brian Stokes Mitchell.

Summer concerts at the Bowl are one of the things I really miss about LA.

Are there any good film or TV adaptations of Chekhov? I'm embarrassed to say I've never seen any of his plays.

R300, your first stop should probably be VANYA ON 42ND STREET, a wonderful film adaptation of UNCLE VANYA that's widely held to be the finest attempt to put Chekhov onscreen.

Additionally, a (mostly) marvelous SEAGULL was filmed for television in the mid-'70s, and it's on YouTube (link below). You may not recognize the young Frank Langella and Blythe Danner, who are both outstanding in this.

I wish some boyfriend of a chorus boy was really paying attention during the making of NY NY and will be writing an expose on the show.

Is the entire NYNY set welded of metal 3 stories high as it appears? What did they think they were doing, creating Sweeney Todd

I’m surprised Betty Lynn never wrote a memoir. There would be interest, she is a good storyteller, she could use the cash and she could settle scores!

The scenic drops in NY NY were all hand-painted, instead of using projections, a HUGE expense. And yet, they were all painted to look like.....projections!

R141, if no one else answered your question, actors earn one sick day per month and they accumulate if you don't use them and any unused days are paid out at the end of their contract.

R306, I never missed a performance during my three long runs, Cactus Flower, Applause and Woman of the Year.

Three long, long, long, long, long runs Ms. Bacall

In the Broadway Golden Years documentary, it was noted by Kaye Ballard that people just don't have the same work ethic. She never missed a performance but today, it's almost a joke how many people are out and how often they're out.

R307. Fuck you, Betty

So, apparently, there's a production of MISS SAIGON opening in London with a woman playing the Engineer and a black guy playing Chris, regardless of the fact that both pieces of casting work against many of the points of the show and those characters.

[quote]The scenic drops in NY NY were all hand-painted, instead of using projections, a HUGE expense. And yet, they were all painted to look like.....projections!

I guess they succeeded, because those things sure looked like projections -- especially that Manhattanhenge drop, if it is indeed a drop. What a needless, foolish expense.

So, London's gone woke too. Hope that dreck doesn't come to the US. It was bad enough with a Brit playing the Engineer the first time.

R309 I think a lot of that has to do with the industry shifting far left, because ultra-liberalism equates having a strong work ethic with 'capitalism' and 'white supremacy' and thus they encourage laziness.

R311 and R313 last year, there was a London production of LEGALLY BLONDE with a black, fat Elle Woods that made no sense, either.

Like no American fraternity/sorority I've known.

R315. Well I think we found the next big role for Alex Newell!

This revival of Miss Saigon is at the Sheffield Crucible, not in London. Photos linked below.

Incidentally, I saw Untitled Fuck Miss Saigon Play at the Manchester International Festival last week. Like a lobotomised Brecht play, it’s a hot mess about identity politics for those who can’t read a book or who have little understanding of historical context. Its title is the most interesting and provocative thing about it. The writer is American, so I’m sure it’ll end up in New York at some point and be hailed as a masterpiece.

I'm waiting for Billy Porter to play Kim in a re-imagined " Miss Saigon" for contemporary audiences.

Billy Porter *IS* Kim

Hear Billy slay “I’d Give My Life For you” for 7 weeks at the Music Box Theatre starting August 9th!

billy is more kimchi

[quote]This revival of Miss Saigon is at the Sheffield Crucible, not in London.

According to what I read, it's at the Gielgud Theatre on Shaftesbury Avenue in London. Is that incorrect?

New York, New York is a flop, flop.

That is incorrect, R321. The Gielgud is currently home to the NT revival of The Crucible.

DL fave Timothy Hughes and his abs are in this week's episode of And Just Like That.

R305 / you nailed it on the head / on a television screen with the few bits i've seen ... it looked like an industrial.

R300, I would agree that Vanya on 42nd Street is the best screen Chekhov. Also, NTLive at Home has a great production of The Seagull with Emilia Clark. It was so immediate that I had to go back to the script to make sure it was not an adaptation. And it is indeed a translation (with some cuts--notably the first scene!)

Is Back to the Future as shitty as I fear? It sure is doing good business.

Well, I'm looking forward to the New York, New York Jr. Version....from MTI

if it clocks in at 60 minutes that could only improve things.

Back to the Future has impressive scenery. But as a musical it's a turgid pile of shit with no redeeming features whatsoever. Like a lot of recent screen to stage adaptations, it's a dumb, unsophisticated mnemonic for source material that was infinitely superior. The film was perfectly cast, had charm to spare, and here all you have is Roger Bart doing an imitation of Christopher Lloyd as Doc Brown.

It's a depressing state of affairs.

I always thought Flashdance was a natural for a Broadway run but the creators could never figure out how to bring it to life. The title number must be sung by Alex but that never happened in the attempts I saw.

BTTF sounds like another case where marketing is driving the DeLorean, so to speak. They're using the jukebox songs in promotion, so its new score doesn't even matter.

What’s next at The James is all I wanna know! And will it have forced diversity?

r324

Is he the guy Anthony hooked with at the gym who has a wife?

R333. That's him!

" Flashdance" was another movie made into a musical with a horrible score, soulless script, and clumsy direction. Other than that, it was mediocre.

I love "Vanya on 42nd St." too, except for Wallace Shawn as Vanya. He should stick to writing plays, not acting in them.

The weird thing about Vanya on 42nd St is that they use the David Mamet translation, with is not very good. Yet, even so the production is magically wonderful.

Go figure.

Oh please, like Anthony would be able to get Timothy Hughes.

[quote]That is incorrect, [R321]. The Gielgud is currently home to the NT revival of The Crucible.

Thanks for the correction. Someone misinformed me that MISS SAIGON was at the Gielgud.

[quote]Is he the guy Anthony hooked with at the gym who has a wife?

[quote]Oh please, like Anthony would be able to get Timothy Hughes.

Who the f#*ck is Anthony?

Newley, Rose!

Social media is blowing up over the casting of Fanny Brice for the FUNNY GIRL tour. Outrage over not only a non-Jew being cast as Fanny in "an explicitly Jewish role" but even over non-Jewish actresses auditioning for the part.

A couple of things: no one has ascertained that Katerina McCrimmon is in fact not Jewish, Reddit to the contrary.

You're not legally permitted to ask an actor's religious background when they audition.

r338

well it was dark and steamy and a mouth is a mouth

[quote]Outrage over not only a non-Jew being cast as Fanny in "an explicitly Jewish role"

So they'd have been OK with Sammy Davis, Jr. as Fanny?

He *was* a pretty great star, r345.

[quote]So they'd have been OK with Sammy Davis, Jr. as Fanny?

Ha! Actually, that's what makes the FUNNY GIRL controversy more complicated than most. I think the people who are upset by the casting are more concerned that whoever is cast should be culturally Jewish rather than religiously Jewish. My personal opinion is that anyone who looks like she could be Jewish AND can handle that kind of old-school, New York Jewish humor would be fine for the part, even if she were Italian or Latina or whatever.

How do they feel about the Asian Mrs Strakosh for the tour? Or the black irish Eddie Ryan and black Ziegfeld.

[quote]How do they feel about the Asian Mrs Strakosh for the tour? Or the black irish Eddie Ryan and black Ziegfeld.

My guess is that, honestly, no one cares about the casting of any role other than Fanny Brice, because all of the other roles are relatively insignificant -- even including Nick Arnstein. Of course, that character is also supposed to be Jewish, based on the real-life figure. But most people care very little if at all about the casting of Nick, to the extent that, in the movie, he was played by an Arab.

Anthony is big Broadway star Mario Cantone, who's about half the size of Hughes.

"All those auditioning for the role of Fanny must bring a Ancestry DNA test, which will be carefully reviewed before the audition proceeds."

Many years ago, I saw a high school production of FIDDLER ON THER ROOF with a black Tevye. This was long before wokeness was a consideration. The kid was absolutely terrific and actually did a Yiddish accent. He reminded me of Eddie Murphy.

Oy vey or O-Tay?

Only on SATC/AJLT could a nelly fuggo like Mario Cantone land in bed with scorchingly hot Timothy Hughes.

[quote]I love "Vanya on 42nd St." too, except for Wallace Shawn as Vanya. He should stick to writing plays, not acting in them.

I couldn't agree more. It's not just his physical repugnance. He's also a bad actor. People actually once thought that "My Dinner With Andre" was improvised, I knew it was scripted because Wallace Shawn couldn't make a scripted line sound believable if his life depended on it.

R354. It wasn't a romance. They jerked off in the steam room where any mouth will do.

Shawn's voice is a also very weak instrument for any actor to work with (or overcome).

We're always meant to believe that Anthony is irresistible to any hot man in NYC.

It used to be fun to watch actors portray different races. I miss it.

Anthony gave him a handjob in the steam room. That is all.

R359, Is that all you miss, Mickey?

r360

I think Anthony blew him

RE: that UK Miss Saigon production. I believe the Engineer is being played by one of the original Kims who took over after Lea Salonga. I'm not a huge fan of stunt casting, but that's an interesting idea. I wonder if Cameron will try to get Lea Salonga to do the Engineer when she's done with the Sondheim show.

Back to the future keeps promoting its merchandise store on Instagram. That’s how you know it’s a good musical

Merchandise for Funny Girl:

Get Fanny's wig, after Lea's shit in it! Limited supply, get yours today!

Well, I guess we can all look forward to Michelle fucking Yeoh being The Engineer in the film version of Miss Saigon. With (insert Black actor’s name) as Chris.

[quote]I believe the Engineer is being played by one of the original Kims who took over after Lea Salonga. I'm not a huge fan of stunt casting, but that's an interesting idea.

Well, it would also be an "interesting" idea to cast Julie Andrews as Henry Higgins in a revival of MY FAIR LADY, or Brian Stokes Mitchell as Sarah in RAGTIME, but "interesting" doesn't necessarily equal "good," now does it?

I saw Back to the Future in London. It's terrible Muriel.

The best thing in the show was the last moment when the DeLorean flies out of the proscenium over the orchestra, does a 360 barrel roll, and then does a 180 and flies back into the proscenium. I'm still not sure how they pulled that one off.

The best music are the bits from the original film (Power of Love, Johnny B Goode). Only one of the new songs has any real gusto, the first act finale.

It has some of the clunkiest lyrics I've ever heard sung on a professional stage.

Just saw THE DOCTOR with Juliet Stevenson at The Armory. Well, Act I, anyway. Don't even know where to begin with this nonsense but let me just say the physical enormity of The Armory is all wrong for the play and forces the actors to yell constantly. And as the play is mostly a 3 hour intellectual debate. we took off for an early dinner in Chelsea.

Brilliant take, R369, especially since the play goes in a couple of very different directions after intermission, including several major plot twists/reveals.

Ah, my favorite moment in the Armory was what would now be called an “immersive” production of a play called Tamara where we’d follow certain characters around. And I was tipped off that after the intermission (where we were served delicious chicken curry salad and creme brulee catered by Le Cirque) I was to go straight to a particular room where Jack Wetherall (as the randy chauffeur) would be sponging off his stark naked Greek god of a bod. This was back in the 1980’s by the way.

I'll never forget seeing TAMARA at The Armory starring Elke Sommer who took over the lead late in the run. Late 1980s? She looked beautiful but she was shaking visibly, poor thing. We also followed the chauffeur but it was a different actor by then, r371.....spacing on his name but I do remember his bath. And the buffet dinner was mostly delicious.

R372, I just remembered who played the lushly beautiful young maid. Her name was Roma Downey. I always wondered what happened to her. I assumed she’d marry some millionaire and live happily ever after in Malibu.

R367 - those are silly examples that are not analogous to The Engineer in Miss Saigon. A much better comparison would be The Emcee in Cabaret, the Leading Player in Pippin. Honestly, seeing a new take on The Engineer COULD be interesting. And, it's Miss Saigon, for goodness sake. It's not some sacred part of the canon that can never be touched. Your over the top reaction is unwarranted. You're acting like they're proposing a King & I revival in which Ruthie Ann plays The King.

Tamara played in L.A. before it came to New York. Angelica Huston played the title role—it was the year before her big Oscar win for Prizzi’s Honor. The food was catered by Ma Maison.

I saw Tamara in LA. The American Legion Hall was an old mansion which really suited it. Anjelica Huston was gone by that point. The only actor I specifically remember was Michele Marsh, who had played Hodel in the movie of Fiddler on the Roof years earlier. She was the maid, but I think she cycled through several different roles during the run.

[quote]I just remembered who played the lushly beautiful young maid. Her name was Roma Downey. I always wondered what happened to her. I assumed she’d marry some millionaire and live happily ever after in Malibu.

She was touched by an angel.

R374, I sat through a different take on the Emcee in Cabaret at Barrington Stage. An African American actor (who listed in the playbill preferred pronouns of "any/all'). I did not understand any's interpretation of the Emcee at all.

But I'm an eldergay... I didn't think the Kit Kat Ensemble made much sense either.

However, the Sally Bowles interpretation/performance was excellent and so were some of the other performances.

Don’t forget that Bob Fosse initially didn’t want to cast Joel Gray as the Emcee in the movie of Cabaret. His choice? Ruth Gordon.

Sam Mendes tried to have Mary Louise Wilson come back into the show as the Emcee after Alan Cumming left. The producers low-balled her agent and she said no.

That’s really wild, r380. I thought Wilson was the only weak link in that original cast.

/j

Sorry

Sorry, but the Ruth Gordon idea could never have been a serious one. Gordon could never at her age (she was 75 when Cabaret was released) handled those rapid-fire songs and Fosse-designed dances.

[quote]Ah, my favorite moment in the Armory was what would now be called an “immersive” production of a play called Tamara where we’d follow certain characters around. And I was tipped off that after the intermission (where we were served delicious chicken curry salad and creme brulee catered by Le Cirque) I was to go straight to a particular room where Jack Wetherall (as the randy chauffeur) would be sponging off his stark naked Greek god of a bod. This was back in the 1980’s by the way.

AND.....Wetherall was replaced in that role by John Wesley Shipp, whose body was equally Greek god-like if not even more so :-)

Is that really true about Mary Louise Wilson as the Emcee? That seems so out of left field.

I simply don't agree with you, R374. In order for the Engineer character to make any sense, I think the character HAS to be male and MUST appear to be Asian, rather than European. Jonathan Pryce was wrong for the role because he didn't fulfill the second requirement, and ANY woman would be wrong for the role because she wouldn't fit the first one. However, I'm with you in the opinion that MISS SAIGON is certainly no classic, so in that sense, this miscasting bothers me a lot less than if the show was THE KING AND I or WEST SIDE STORY or whatever.

Absolutely agree, R386. although I still don't know why anyone would want to revive that racist piece of crap today.

R386 - Admittedly, I haven't seen Miss Saigon since I saw the U.S. national tour sometime in the mid 90s. What specifically about the character requires him to be male? I'm not being facetious... it's been so long that really all I remember about him was that he was this conniving, hustler who ran the brothel/night club who then helped Kim and her kid escape Vietnam by pretending to be the kid's uncle? I mean, couldn't a strong-willed, conniving woman run a brothel and then help Kim escape by pretending to be the kid's aunt? Maybe I'm missing something.

Fortunately nobody wants to do Pacific Overtures again, even though lots of DLers want to see it, but can you imagine the travesty it would become if done today? Pacific Overtures meets Roger Debris. I hope Sondheim left a caveat on it in his Will that says it has to be done in the style of Kabuki, as written, but we all know he wouldn't.

I don't think it would provide even a smidge of intellectual interest to cast a piece deliberately written to mimic Kabuki with women and people of ethnicities other than Japanese. It would say, "I am an idiotic millennial, have never heard of Kabuki, have no idea what all these men are doing playing women and I don't GAF what the Japanese think." It might, however, be one where [Japanese] trans actors could fit in seamlessly, so there's a silver lining.

r389 - Signature Theatre did an excellent production of Pacific Overtures earlier this season. They had some female cast members. I think all of the female roles (big and small) were played by women except for, of course, the Shogun's mother. I'd say it was staged with a blending of more traditional Kabuki style performance with more naturalistic western style performance. It stuck a lovely balance that made it a more moving experience than perhaps the original was. The score was sung and performed beautifully, but the lovely 12-piece band couldn't compete with those original orchestrations!

[quote]She was touched by an angel.

I was inappropriately touched.

[quote]I still don't know why anyone would want to revive that racist piece of crap today.

Me neither.

R388, I just think everything about the way the Engineer relates to the other characters, especially the women in the brothel, screams "desperate, toxic male." And of course, that's how the show's writers saw the character, or they would have made the Engineer female in the first place.

I'm glad you liked it, R390, but it is contrary to the aim of the piece. The traditional style emphasises the insularity of Japan to demonstrate what a catastrophe the invasion was, the full weight of which is revealed in Next!, which draws part of its power from introducing women and being done in the style of a western musical. We are not meant to find it moving, we are meant to find it horrifying. We are watching a culture being gutted.

But of course, now that we're watching our own being gutted maybe it doesn't have the same power.

R383 should have been a spry 70

R385. See R382

r395 - yes, of course, I understand all of that and very much enjoyed getting to see the original production from that Japanese TV broadcast. That said, Signature's approach was able to convey everything you're describing while adding some more human touches. It wasn't wholly naturalistic, it just loosened up the Kabuki presentational constraints to a degree and it worked beautifully, especially in a fairly intimate in the round production. FWIW, John Weidman was apparently consulted on the production and seemed to approve of it.

I could well imagine someone with the gigantic ego of Bob Fosse, wanting to create a new Emcee nothing like that of Hal Prince's character. He did completely gut Lotte Lenya and Jack Gilford from the story, after all. Perhaps it was only an idea that lasted for an instant, but totally believable to me.

Yikes.

[quote]especially in a fairly intimate in the round production

Which is pretty much the antithesis of Kabuki.

The Public Theater has gone so mega-woke that it has alienated most normal theatergoers. There was nothing there this past season I wanted to see.

And nothing in the upcoming season, either. Oskar needs to go.

R401, there isn’t a choice between a production from 50 years ago and Signature’s version. The original production closed, and now Back to the Future occupies its home, I didn’t love this production, but it respected the piece. Signature isn’t physically or financially big enough to do a replica of the original. Are you seriously suggesting it’s better not to do the piece at all?

The Public Theater has gone through so many ups and downs but this seems to be a truly low point. Does anyone remember when Papp left a triumvirate of disparate artistic directors who couldn't agree on anything? Joanne Akalitis' very brief tenure? And then in George Wolfes's last years when they ran out of funds again and it was like a ghost town in that building?

But yes, the biggest current issue is the utter and willful lack of decent programming.

It's too bad. I love the Public's space: the theatres, the lobby, Joe's Pub, etc.

But I agree. Their programming SUCKS.

Does the Public get any HAMILTON royalties, as it originated there? Didn't they get money from the original Bway run of A CHORUS LINE?

What scheduling conflicts could Holliday have had? Bitch hasn't worked steadily since Dreamgirls and she knew Pal Joey's dates months in advance.

She's a definite has-been, but this sort of cements that she's flaky and unprofessional.

[quote]but this sort of cements that she's flaky and unprofessional.

Remind me to never use your flimsy cement, r408.

Schneider and Schultz were replaced in Cabaret by younger characters from I Am A Camera who pretty much had the same storyline but didn't sing songs about pineapples.

19 years ago, I worked with Miss Holliday in conjunction with a Pops concert. She showed up having not learned a major piece of material that had been programmed and clearly expected to get away with it. She didn't -- somebody drummed it into her, and she delivered (very well, as it turns out). But "flaky and unprofessional" fits.

[quote]As the Public has struggled since the pandemic—this round of layoffs follows earlier layoffs in 2021—Eustis' compensation has come under fire, but he tells the Times that he will be "taking a significant reduction in salary," and that "nobody else would or should" have similar measures taken. Eustis did not reveal the amount of the reduction.

This is one of the most interesting parts of the article. He probably felt he HAD to take a cut in his ridiculous salary, or else he would have been drummed out of the theater. And I'm sure the only reason he's been able to keep his position, despite being an old white man, is the insane, woker-than-woke programming he has been responsible for over the past several years.

Oskar is certainly an improvement over George Wolfe, but has a long way to go before he could be compared to Joe Papp.

Not sure I agree, R413, based on his roster of productions.

According to tax records, Eustis' salary in 2021: $888,676.00

Nice work if you can get it.

I think just being flat-out lazy and arrogant fits even better, R411.

There was John Doyle’s off-Broadway Pacific Overtures from five or six years ago. Ann Harada was in it. And Menire Chocolate Factory is doing a new production in November.

Stage Actors Urged To “Proactively And Aggressively” Avoid Breaking SAG-AFTRA Strike: Equity President Says “The Other Side Will Try To Pit Us Against Each Other”:

7 1/2

THIS DAY IN BROADWAY HISTORY: In 1926, "The Blonde Sinner" opened at the Cort Theatre.

r419...

Enid Markey^

Howard St. John? I remember him from Li’l Abner.

I am sooooooo old I'm just going to put this out there to see if anyone responds:

When I was a kid in the early 1960s there was a very sweet sitcom called (I think) BRINGING UP BUDDY that starred the aforementioned Enid Markey and the adorably batty Doro Merande as the two ditzy and mischief-making maiden aunts of handsome bachelor-about-town Buddy, played by the very cute Frank Aletter. I guess it was sort of a riff on ARSENIC & OLD LACE, without the murders, and probably didn't last more than a season or two.

Any other eldergays who remember that one?

Ohhhh, *him*!

^

Any relation to Betta?

According to the SEC The Public got at least $1million in royalties from Hamilton. In another interview, the president claimed only a portion of that is used for current programs, rest goes to reserves.

I wish there was better musical shows at the Public, I assumed it would have a mix of 54 below stuff or a little more mainstream music at the Pub. Seems like a lot of people working out their issues in musical form, but not in an entertaining way.

Yes, most of the Joe's Pub programming is hideous. It feels very "our friends only."

I used to go hear new music there years ago and saw/heard some terrific stuff. But that was 8-10 years back.

r423...

Let's give a shout out to Doro Merande!

R420, No Mrs. Richard Carlson?

R431, Here she is.

Where do you look for the union label on an actor?

r432 Pet Sematary

I love Doro Merande. She was a total hoot in "The Russians Are Coming x2".

Aren't we overdue for a revival of "The Blonde Sinner"?

[quote]Where do you look for the union label on an actor?

Hail, you oldster! Be sure to sing starting at :20. I once auditioned for a musical by singing it. I told them my grandmother taught it to me when I was just a small child. I got the part.

In the book someone recommended upthread, "No Pickle, No Performance," Harold J. Kennedy talks about working with Doro in the revival of "The Front Page" he directed. He said she "marvelous in the play" (and was constantly mistaken for Margaret Hamilton), but was so eccentric off-stage that rather than share a dressing room with her, Peggy Cass said she would dress on the roof with the pigeons.

Yes, r423! My mother and I loved that series!

Muriel...

Doro, Enid, and I'm Gonna Sit Right Down and Write to Frank Aletter.

Fun fact: Frank was married to actress and Miss America Lee Meriwether for 16 years.

the marriage license

I worry about many of you.

Oskar Eustis is just so repulsive to look at

[quote]I worry about many of you.

Why, r443, because we have excellent memories?

[quote]Let's give a shout out to Doro Merande!

Doro Merande originated the role of Mrs. Soames in "Our Town" ("I just love weddings, don't you?") and repeated the role in the 1940 movie version, which is quite faithful to the original and has a lovely Aaron Copland score but tacks on a stupid happy ending that upends the brilliant third act, the act that really won the play the Pulitzer Prize.

Someone open a window. This thread has developed musty "old man smell."

I love R420. That is all.

[quote]Someone open a window. This thread has developed musty "old man smell."

You're on the wrong thread to be making that complaint, Beavis.

[quote]Are there any good film or TV adaptations of Chekhov? I'm embarrassed to say I've never seen any of his plays.

I didn't know the guy from STAR TREK wrote plays.

[quote]Where do you look for the union label on an actor?

They print it on the taint, Rose.

[quote]Where do you look for the union label on an actor

Depends on if they're a coat, dress or blouse.

Will the SAG-AFTRA strike result in hot young actors making their Broadeay debuts? Or at least someone like Angela Bassett?Asking for a friend.

Doro Merande was also hilarious as the housekeeper in the film THE GAZEBO with Glenn Ford and Debbie Reynolds.

Thank you! I'm so delighted my little remembrance of BRINGING UP BUDDY as brought so many sweet posts about the series and Doro, Enid and Frank.

r400 there are 246 PUBLIC employees remaining, what do they all do? I always wondered what they’re up to in that office across the street.

One of the reasons I love DL: A theater gossip thread can suddenly turn into a thread about Doro Merande.

Jesus, The Cottage was the unfunniest comedy I have ever seen. A totally witless farce set in England, cast with American actors in Broadway’s smallest theater who are all shouting their lines, like they are playing to the third or fourth balcony at Radio City Music Hall. The playwright is best known for her stage adaptation of the movie Clue.

Too bad Eric, McCormick deserves better

R459 Does He?

he was quite good in the Stroman music man

Who did he play?

Dueling Mid-Atlantic productions of Bridges of Madison County. Bucks County Playhouse has Kate Baldwin and Nicholas Rodriguez. Signature in VA has Erin Davie and Mark Evans. Two gay men - has Robert Kincaid become the new Dream Curly?

Laura Bell Bundy? Forgot about her.

I saw the Hunter Foster production of Bridges of Madison County with Kate Baldwin and Aaron Lazar last year that's now headed to Bucks County and IMHO it was better than the Broadway production with far more heat from its 2 leads. I wonder why Aaron is not continuing with it and hope Nick will not disappoint.

You really need an Italian girl for that role in Bridges of Madison County.

R466. Agreed. Too bad Mamie Gummer wasn't available.

R463, Nicholas Rodriguez played Joe Gillis opposite Alice Ripley as Norma Desmond in the NSMT/Beverly, MA production of Sunset Boulevard in 2019.

And a sexy girl, r466.

More on BRIDGES

More on THE COTTAGE

[quote]I saw the Hunter Foster production of Bridges of Madison County with Kate Baldwin and Aaron Lazar last year that's now headed to Bucks County and IMHO it was better than the Broadway production with far more heat from its 2 leads. I wonder why Aaron is not continuing with it and hope Nick will not disappoint.

Rodriguez is, or at least used to be, one of the most physically beautiful men in musical theater, but I've always thought he's a C-level talent at best, in both his singing and acting. Real acting and an exceptionally good singing voice are both required for that role in BRIDGES, so this casting seems way off to me. Plus, Rodriguez is the wrong kind of sexy for the role -- too pretty and too soft, not stereotypically masculine. He was probably better as Curly in OKLAHOMA!, though I didn't see him in that.

[quote]Who did he play?

Ethel Toffelmier, Rose!

[quote]Rodriguez is, or at least used to be, one of the most physically beautiful men in musical theater...

Was he as pretty as Derek Klena?

R472, I agree. He was a much better Curly than Billy Bigelow. For me. Robert needs to be a loner and a little rough around the edges. Aaron Lazar sounds perfect, and Stephen Pasquale was.

Aaron Lazar also did the national tour of Bridges (post-Broadway), opposite Elizabeth Stanley IIRC.

Deluded audience gave whoops and cheers and huge entrance applause for the five principal Cottage actors. Eric McCormack I can sort of understand. But Laura Bell Bundy? Lilli Cooper? Alex Moffat? Dana Steingold?

What is the deal with Aaron Lazar? Very handsome and a good voice. Plus straight, good looking men usually always succeed in the theatre…but eh never really quite “made” it

[quote]Deluded audience gave whoops and cheers and huge entrance applause for the five principal Cottage actors. Eric McCormack I can sort of understand. But Laura Bell Bundy? Lilli Cooper? Alex Moffat? Dana Steingold?

It's dangerous 'woke' groupthink that has gripped the arts.

Treat everyone exactly the same. Literally. No exceptions. Regardless of quality. Or else.

All it does is discourage critical thinking/individual analysis and causes fear of dissent.

They probably thought Lilli Cooper was Solea Pfeiffer. Or did they think Solea Pfeiffer was Lilli Cooper?

Aaron Lazar didn’t do the tour, it was Andrew Samonsky, who played Cable on the broadcast of Lincoln Center’s South Pacific. He was ok, but I really liked Elizabeth Stanley.

If Curly married Jud instead of Laurie - he would be Curly Fry.

What have you liked post-Covid? I find everything just awful lately, but from the way the NYT doles out Critics Picks you'd think everything was the was it was. Entrance applause for Lilli Cooper? Everything is now on performative autopilot - including the audience!

Post Covid has had some great productions, even though there were a lot of duds. The Sondheim revivals, Cyrano at BAM, Caroline or Change, Girl from the North Country, Leopoldstadt, Ohio State Murders, Take Me Out, most of The Minutes. Plus a DC production of English that I loved.

It baffles me why so many people loved OHIO STATE MURDERS. It was fine for what it was, and as a vehicle for Audra McDonald, but despite the tragic subject matter, I found it somehow very slight and forgettable.

I'm equally baffled that R484 loved GIRL FROM THE NORTH COUNTRY.

A lot of critics did too. Audiences stayed away.

The question was “liked”, r485. I didn’t love all of these, but found something unique and worthwhile. Audra was compelling in Ohio State Murders, and the story was at least engaging even if it seemed about a very particular set of events rather than resonant.

I saw Girl from the North Country at the Public before Covid, and then on Broadway after. I loved it both times, but I understand why people didn’t. It hit home for me because I am from the Midwest. These people, especially Mare Winningham, felt like neighbors. People who faces one shitty thing after another and still kept moving forward. Lots of people aren’t going to enjoy that, but I was very moved. I also thought the music and arrangement and singing was some of the best son Broadway.

Personally, I have moved away from focusing on what I don’t like. It doesn’t reveal a whole lot about you to dislike something. What you love says a lot more.

Oskar's kid committed suicide. Let's be kinder.

Come ON! Paul Tate de Poo III is a real person? Sounds straight out of Patrick Dennis.

It's no Pixie Portnoy.

[quote]I saw Girl from the North Country at the Public before Covid, and then on Broadway after. I loved it both times, but I understand why people didn’t. It hit home for me because I am from the Midwest. These people, especially Mare Winningham, felt like neighbors. People who faces one shitty thing after another and still kept moving forward. Lots of people aren’t going to enjoy that, but I was very moved. I also thought the music and arrangement and singing was some of the best son Broadway.

Totally agree with this. I loved it and wasn't expecting to at all (a friend bought the tickets). One of the best shows I've seen on Broadway in years.

I first saw GIRL FROM THE NORTH COUNTRY in London where it was good but not great, mostly because it never believably felt like Minnesota (or anywhere in the northern Midwest) in the The Depression. It looked and sounded like northern England in the 1960s-70s; I couldn't see why they didn't just set it there.

It was much improved with American actors at The Public.

[quote]Personally, I have moved away from focusing on what I don’t like. It doesn’t reveal a whole lot about you to dislike something. What you love says a lot more.

I don't agree with that. I think it's important that both positive and negative reactions to a show, etc. be well supported, and the degree to which a person does that is what really tells us most about them and whether or not we should pay attention to their opinions.

I only have three criteria:

Did it make me laugh?

Did it make me cry?

Is it better than CATS?

Lilli Cooper is AWFUL.

Lilli Cooper is Inexplicable.

Another fan of "Girl From the North Country". Bleak and gorgeous.

Seriously, what do all those people DO at the public. I guess even less since they are only producing 5 shows this season...

Odds and ends for those keeping track:

Passion remains the Best Musical Tony winner with the lowest number of performances. Kimberly Akimbo will end this week with 284, compared to Passion's 280. Next up: beating A Strange Loop's 193.

A Beautiful Noise wouldn't be eligible for a new edition of Not Since Carrie, since it's had more than 250 performances. Some Like It Hot is nearing that cutoff. Currently opened non-revivals that could still be included: Shucked, New York, New York and Once Upon a One More Time.

Moulin Rouge! will cross the 1,000 and more performances line at the end of next week. Six has about eight more months until it gets there. MJ has about a year to go.

Andrew Samonsky. Haven't thought of him since that LCT South Pacific. He was hot.

[Quote] Next up: beating A Strange Loop's 193.

Correcting r499, ASL’s [italic] 293 [/italic]

Crossing 1000 performances isn't that big of a milestone considering it takes a year to play 416 of them. 1000 is under two and a half years.

And R499, your 2nd paragraph was murder to get through. You made it sound like KA was closing this week (not to mention your gigantic typo).

God bless Lili St. Cyr

Love what Andy Mientus posted on Instagram.

His IG post for those can't see it....

[quote]Once again, regional theater has saved my soul. I’ve been lucky to do theater on Broadway, off Broadway, in London, but when I think of my best, most daring, most special theater memories, I think about the regionals. And yet, many in our industry treat regional theater like Broadway’s wannabe kid sister; a shameful purgatory to endure when you have no other options. Meanwhile, so many storied and beloved regionals like the Taper are pausing programming or shutting down altogether due to dwindling support. Which brings me to something else that’s been on my mind lately:

[quote]It’s super weird that Broadway has to be a place for droves of tourists to pay top dollar for broad appeal commercial juggernauts AND the final destination of the boundary pushing best of our art form at the same time. It’s just not sustainable. Unless all associated Broadway unions want to take a pay cut (and they shouldn’t), I believe the costs of production will continue to make Broadway into a totally inhospitable environment for anything that isn’t hugely commercial. And that would be okay IF we can let go of the belief that the REAL shows are on Broadway and everything else isn’t good enough to be there yet. Like, maybe that weirdo downtown darling show shouldn’t be expected to attract 10,000 people who will pay $150 to see it every week, indefinitely? And maybe If we really want theater to be accessible, daring, and directly in conversation with communities, we have to treat regional theaters with the same respect we treat those in midtown west. Personally, I am super proud of my regional credits, and I’m proud of yours too.

[quote]Go support your local theaters, wherever you are. Talented, passionate people are pouring just as much effort into the work there as on Broadway and they desperately need your support right now.

I still love those bills from summer stock tours. Tab Hunter and Alice Ghostly in Sunset Boulevard, Marty Feldman and Steve Allen in Take Me Out, Don Porter and Sheila Macrae in The Goat, Moms Mabley in Caroline or Change, Steve Larwence in Sunday in the Park with George, Anne Southern and Zsa Zsa Gabor in Grey Gardens, Don Knotts and Betty White in Parade. You knew you would be entertained.

Um, you know those were all fake posters, don't you, R506? Your last sentence makes me think you might not.

In those Andy Mientus Insta photos, what show is that he's in? Or is it several shows?

How does he pronounce his last name?

r506

where do these fake posters appear? I missed it

R507 doesn't realize that summer stock really had productions like that. Too young.

R508, I think it's pronounced MIN-TUSS but I'm not 100% sure.

[quote]R507 doesn't realize that summer stock really had productions like that. Too young.

Productions like that, yes. But not the productions in the fake ads.

My dog wept when his character croaked on Smash but not I.

Apparently Patti was on Wait Wait Don't Tell Me this weekend. Will have to listen on my evening walk tonight.

I guess this video is well shot and edited, but watching two hours of this live in a theater, while standing seems like torture. Other than a couple of earnest faces they show in this, it looks like two hours of jumping around. No real choreography, and too loud for this old.

Yes r514 and she was great. Funny, Sharp and cool.

What are you talking about, r515? HLL?

When does Patti Lu play Cherry Grove this summer? Or has that already happened?

That was/will be the Ground Zero of Gay, 2023.

Was Urinetown the biggest surprise hit on Broadway? I mean... on paper, that is. A musical called Urinetown. Would anyone have predicted the show would run for nearly three years and tour the country?

URINETOWN is such a curiosity to me. 965 performances on Bway, Tony awards for Book, Score, Direction. (Was the tour successful?)

It's rarely spoken about much these days. I almost never hear songs from it performed. I know the writers have done other projects, but none of them as successful as UT.

Does it get done a lot regionally? I would think colleges/universities might be a good fit.

r508 Most people pronounce it the same as they do his first name - "cunt"

For anyone dismayed/offended by the success of URINETOWN, the 4 Tony wins for CONTACT the previous year are much more offensive. A series of banal music videos posing as musical theatre.

Just my two cents.

r506

where can we see these?

I saw the original Broadway Urinetown when a now-ex dragged me to it. I thought it was one of the weirdest, funniest shows I had ever seen. I haven’t seen it again, except for with lesser shows’ feeble attempts to replicate its humor.

The daughter of a friend did a high school production of Urinetown last year. I asked her about Run, Freedom, Run! since it is my favorite song in the show. She told me it was cut because it was appropriating Black musical styles and their cast was mostly white. I think I mumbled something about “parody” and “Broadway cliches” and changed the subject.

[quote]She told me it was cut because it was appropriating Black musical styles

Well, there goes most of 20th century American popular music, then.

The original Urinetown was strange, and a hell of a lot of fun and it was perfect for the wreck that was the Henry Miller at that time. I loved it. I saw the tour a couple years later in one of those soulless civic barns and hated it. The original environment was part of what made the show work. It seems to pop up every five years or so at one of the colleges around here.

Agreed, r526. I think Cabaret was also better in that dump.

Urinetown, like Avenue Q, both Off-Broadway transfers, had a little-engine-that-could energy. Urinetown was the biggest thing to come out of the NY Fringe Festival (R.I.P.).

I saw URINETOWN in previews of its original off-Broadway run when we had no idea at all of what we were about to see, so it was even more of an exciting surprise. I seem to remember that it was performed then in some odd found space, not a theater, like an abandoned school or post office or police station.....am I crazy?

Sad that none of the creators except for director John Rando has ever gone on to much commercial success. Wasn't there eventually some kind of scandal where the actors sued the creators or vice versa, though I can't remember the details.

[quote]I saw URINETOWN in previews of its original off-Broadway run when we had no idea at all of what we were about to see, so it was even more of an exciting surprise. I seem to remember that it was performed then in some odd found space, not a theater, like an abandoned school or post office or police station.....am I crazy?

The theater was called the American Theatre for Actors on 54th Street, which was located in the same building as a police station. I'm not sure if it's still there, and/or if it still has the same name.

Is Andy Mientus the bottom for his two husbands?

[quote]I seem to remember that it was performed then in some odd found space, not a theater, like an abandoned school or post office or police station.....am I crazy?

I am not sure what those two comments have to do with each other, but yes to the question.

The American Theatre of Actors had regular theater seats, and I'm pretty sure I had seem some shows in that space before URINETOWN, so it wasn't a "found space" in that sense.

R531-Does an ex-twink shit in the woods?

I'm not a fan of audience participation and enforced merriment, but is this still worth seeing?

I think it looks interesting...as long as I could sit. At least it looks cohesive.

Is it okay to throw shoes onto the stage at " Here Lies Love" if you really like it?

[quote]In those Andy Mientus Insta photos, what show is that he's in? Or is it several shows?

Photo #1 - [bold]Tick, Tick... Boom![/bold] at Bucks County Playhouse

Photos #2 & 3 - [bold]Bent[/bold] at the Mark Taper Forum, Los Angeles

Photo #4 - [bold]Rent[/bold] at Pioneer Theatre Company, Salt Lake City

Photo #5 - [bold]Spring Awakening[/bold] at Wallis Annenberg Center, Beverly Hills

Photos #6, 7 & 8 - [bold]Tommy[/bold] at Denver Center

Did Moulin Rouge announce recoupment? And Beautiful Noise had some solid weeks, is it close?

[quote]She told me it was cut because it was appropriating Black musical styles.

I guess nobody knows what "homage" means anymore.

Valerie Bertinelli and Bonnie Franklin in ' NIGHT, MOTHER

Joan Rivers and Johnny Carson in HEDDA GABLER, with Ed McMahon as Judge Brack

Edith Massey in SHIRLEY VALENTINE

Yes r517 totally forgot the link. I meant the video posted at r535

I assume this is the cause of the falling out between the Widow Sondheim and Randy Rainbow

Thank god Steve's already dead, as this may have killed him

Shockingly, American Theatre of Actors is still there.

Am I the only one who finds that promo video of Here Lies Love excruciating? I didn't even find the visuals to be particularly striking or innovative. What would be the attraction for any intelligent theatergoer?

R545. I saw on segment about the show on CBS Sunday morning. It gave me a headache. Too busy. I can't imagine seeing it in person. Jose Llana is aging very well though.

Andy Reynolds needs someone new to do his hair color. He looks like Bela Lugosi.

Andy Rannels

I thought the widow Sondheim and Randy Rainbow had a falling out prior to Sondheim’s death.

Why would you think that, r549? Hmmmmm?

Jerry Mitchell’s hubby is now a pop star

I won the lottery and saw Back to the Future: The Musical on Friday. It was a lot fun. It’s gonna be a Wicked-level hit.

R552 Thank you Roger. We here you have a big cock.

[quote]Jerry Mitchell’s hubby is now a pop star

I guess he's using a stage name so as not to be confused with the other Ricky Schroeder?

Ok - I know I’m not supposed to ask, but my mom with Alzheimer’s thinks that I am HER mom today, I have to give my 15 year old cat subcutaneous fluids on the bathroom counter, it is 103 outside. Tues is my birthday and I think I will only be getting my annual Bday postcard from my insurance company. SO I am going to ask - is there a video / slime tutorial around of the full King Arthur play soon to be closing?

R555, I feel for you and would love to send you a birthday card. I can’t help with a bootleg, but will give you this “gift”: don’t worry about it, Trust everyone - this is an uninspiring production. I am a very forgiving audience member, and it was a long three hours at the Beaumont. There were a few stunning visuals that wouldn’t work as well on video because they relied on the depth of the stage. The cast recording will give you a much better experience.

Does anyone know where the term slime tutorial came from?

R557 Google says - Named for a popular genre of YouTube videos in the late 2010s that instructed viewers on how to make slime; by sharing a name with a popular search term, illicit videos of copyrighted productions were less likely to be flagged for copyright infringement or otherwise removed from video-sharing sites.

Molly, starring Kaye Ballard, began rehearsals fifty years ago today prior to its pre-Broadway try-out in Boston. Oh, they had such high hopes for it then.

R556 Thank you - your very quick and kind response was better than a real card!! I wasn’t sure if there was a clever title out there - “Merlin Sent Us…” Ha, ha that would unlock the mystery. I’ll live without it. I hear so many people were disappointed and I’m sure that I would be, too. My favorite is still Burton, Julie , Goulet , Roddy MacDowell on the OBC an album and my imagination. ….. Thanks again for the response! Have a good night!

Yeah...a '70s musical of The Goldbergs competing with Company and Follies. Sorry Kaye.

[quote]Named for a popular genre of YouTube videos in the late 2010s that instructed viewers on how to make slime;

How to make slime? What does that mean?

R555 I had a search at the usual traps but found only clips. But will keep an eye out. Take care.

I actually liked a lot about the new CAMELOT but I'd still agree that anything good would not come across in an online viewing.

I'm always trying to keep up here yet I somehow missed what Randy Rainbow and the Widow Sondheim would have ever had to do with each other to cause a riff (rift?) or otherwise. Can anyone briefly enlighten me to the origins of this gossip, please? TIA!

I saw the Boston tryout of MOLLY and it was just so dull I hardly remember a thing about it except Kaye Ballard leaning out of a tenement window and caterwauling.

Did a concept musical ever work before Company?

[quote] Molly, starring Kaye Ballard

It was KAY at the time, and don't you forget it!

Ballard did a song(s) from Molly on The Carol Burnett Show which was thought to be something of a fundraiser for the show. I thought Carol really hated her and they upped the fat jokes at her expense. She was later on a Merv Griffin Broadway Ladies show with Barbara Cook, Ethel Merman and Bernadette Peters. She sang a song from Molly that was one of the stupidest songs I've ever heard. The punchline was seeing some actor in Playgirl and saying she didn't know he was Jewish. But what was most obvious was that Cook and Merman seemed to hate her and the Merm even told her to shut up.

I thought Molly took place in some time in the 40s or 50s. Why would there be a lyric mentioning Playgirl?

Perhaps the musical was set in the '70s, when it was created, R570. The radio and television versions took place in the '40s and '50s.

r565, all I know is that Jeff Romley had some professional relationship with RR—producing RR's live shows, maybe as his manager? Didn't know that there was a rift though.

The Playgirl line was added for the tv show. It wasn’t actually in “Molly.”

I remember that show. Bernadette did “I Can Cook,Too” from her On The Town a couple of years earlier. Merman was very blasé about the fact that she didn’t have a warm-up routine. “I don’t want to tire my voice.”

R567, some people consider CABARET a concept musical, though obviously not in quite the same way as COMPANY.

r572 Romley was a producer on Rainbow's videos

TUNEABOMBER!

Who says there are no more original ideas?

I think 1949's LOVE LIFE which starred Nanette Fabray was considered a concept musical, perhaps the first. Or for that matter, wouldn't ALLEGRO, which preceded it by a year, also be considered a concept musical?

But I'll bet there even earlier ones.

R573, I wish that episode were on YT. Cook sang Til There Was You. One of Kaye's many obnoxious moments was when Cook said she was in "Flahooley" and Kaye laughed like a hyena. After Kaye said she was in Molly, she noted that there were so few people in the audience that they had them outnumbered on stage.

Yes, but my question was the first one that *worked*. The original Cabaret may have had some daring elements, but I thought it still played like a traditional book musical.

Lady in the Dark is a concept musical.

Indeed, LADY IN THE DARK is an excellent example of a concept musical that worked before COMPANY. As for CABARET, yes, I would say it's sort of half-way between a traditional musical and a concept musical

Lady in the Dark worked *then*, but now has a dated book. I guess same thing with Company.

The rift between the Widow Sondheim and Randy Rainbow was only alerted to us when it was discovered that Jeff was no longer an EP on Randy’s show.

When I saw Molly, Kay(e) made a curtain speech joking about how few people there were in the audience. She said 'if you had a good time, tell your friends. If you had a rotten time tell them anyway. Why shouldn't they suffer the way you just did.'. I'll never forget it. And I felt really bad for Kay(e). And the show wasn't horrible. I've seen worse.

What is the definition of a concept musical?

Doesn't Lady in the Dark have a traditional book, even if there are fantasy sequences?

Deluded fans crash Lea Salonga's dressing room at HERE LIES LOVE.

Yikes.

R561, Molly was an attempt to cash in on the “nostalgia craze” on Broadway which had started with No, No, Nanette and continued with Irene. Molly took place in the 1930s, though.

Someone named Lisa Rochelle played Molly’s daughter Rosalie. She was the Lea Michele of her day but unlike Lea was apparently not a cunt. Danny Fortus had a sweet song called “In Your Eyes.” I remember Kay Ballard singing “Go in the Best of Health” on the Jerry Lewis Telethon. Well, it made a nice change from the normal theme which wad “Look At Us, We’re Walking.”

[quote]What is the definition of a concept musical? Doesn't Lady in the Dark have a traditional book, even if there are fantasy sequences?

The concept of LADY IN THE DARK is that all of the musical numbers are dream sequences (Liza finally sings "My Ship" at the end), and the rest of the show is a straight play. The concept of ALLEGRO is that the hero's life is narrated and commented upon by a Greek-style chorus. The concept of CABARET is that the Kit Kat Club is a microcosm of what's happening in Berlin at the time, and the diegetic numbers performed in the club reflect and comment on what's happening in the real world. Also, I guess it's also part of the concept that the audience in the theater is supposed to double as the audience in the club. The concept of COMPANY is that the plot is episodic and non-linear, and again the ensemble often functions as a Greek chorus.

[quote]Or for that matter, wouldn't ALLEGRO, which preceded it by a year, also be considered a concept musical?

"Allegro" always struck me as Rodgers and Hammerstein's attempt to piggyback on the enormous success of Thornton Wilder's "Our Town," a play with a very presentational style that echoed classical theater.

"Flex" at the Newhouse is another nail in LCT's coffin.

HEY ANDRE, GIVE IT UP, YOU OLD FUCK!

Full casting is set for Here We Are, the final musical by Stephen Sondheim, which premieres this fall at the Shed.

Dates announced, but, of course, thanks to the widow Kirdahy, no ticket prices until you log on tomorrow.

Here We Are features a score by Sondheim, a book by David Ives, and direction by Joe Mantello. It is inspired by two films, The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie and The Exterminating Angel, by Luis Buñuel.

The cast will include Francois Battiste, Tracie Bennett, Bobby Cannavale, Micaela Diamond, Amber Gray, Jin Ha, Rachel Bay Jones, Denis O’Hare, Steven Pasquale, David Hyde Pierce, and Jeremy Shamos. The understudies for Here We Are are Bradley Dean, Adam Harrington, Bligh Voth, Adante Carter, Mehry Eslaminia, and Lindsay Nicole Chambers.

Interesting cast.

Wanna bet they'll ask $250 a pop?

classy, r590, very classy you are.

If only LCT was. They used to be classy, but no more.

I will def buy a ticket, no matter how pricey. But have we all discussed the title?

HERE WE ARE is a genuinely terrible name for a show. It's not even a good title for a song.

but hey, it might be a good title for the next TG thread....

Hint.

Hint.

Hint.

Bajour, Bajour, toujours, Bajour!

[quote]HERE WE ARE is a genuinely terrible name for a show. It's not even a good title for a song.

I guess you mean that you think the title is terrible because it's so generic, but if the show is good, that won't be a problem. Think of SHE LOVES ME, for example.

Fair enough, R599. But yes, it's generic and unmemorable.

Unlike this new TG thread!