THEATRE GOSSIP #539: The "Four Dataloungers in a Thread Bitching" Edition

Old thread:

So, OP...a continuation?

[quote] I have almost no interest in Marvel movies, so I almost never see them -- but I am not a filmmaker. If I WERE a filmmaker, I would make it a point to see at least some Marvel movies if only to try to understand what it is about them that appeals to so many people. And if I couldn't understand that even after seeing several of those movies, that in itself would be a learning experience that would be extremely valuable to me as a filmmaker.

Do you ever get tired of trying to be Little Miss Perfect? The people in your life must find you exhausting to be around. I've only read a handful of your posts and I'm ready to push you off the top of a building.

So typical, R3, The immaturity of your response is astounding. You were probably one of those kids who yelled out things like "So's your mother!" in grade school.

If you feel comfortable arguing that a filmmaker doesn't need to see one of THE most popular films of all time -- or that a musical theater writer doesn't need to see THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, even if they're sure they're going to hate it -- or etc., etc., then that's for you to say.

No bootleg audios of Nicole's Norma yet?

[quote]I'm honestly surprised some of you people can enjoy anything, the way you carry on here.

This is a Datalounge Theatre Gossip thread. We are not allowed to enjoy anything.

From Scherzinger: This is our interpretation of the story. We’re telling it anew. It’s a modern-day setting not a period piece.

So when will the new Sunset be reviewed? It's been in performance for a week or so and unless it transfers it must close to make way for the Sarah Jessica Parkers turn in the saddle as their Plaza Suite opens at the Savoy Theatre mid Jan.

Were you already familiar with the story?

I knew that Glenn Close had won a Tony for it. I listened to her recording of it and also Patti LuPone’s, because I’m a massive fan of hers too. And then I watched the film and was like: “Yo Jamie, we’ve got to have a talk because I don’t know if I can do this!” He said: “Don’t watch the film! It has nothing to do with what we’re doing!” This is our interpretation of the story. We’re telling it anew. It’s a modern-day setting not a period piece. I’m working my ass off. I have bruises on my body in places I’ve never had them before.

How come you’re bruised?

This Norma’s dancing, darling. I’m bringing Scherzinger to the table. We’re going full Scherzy on this.

I don’t want to weigh in on whether one should or should not see The Sound of Music, other than to note it is purposefully avoiding work that is a part of American culture. I had an ex who refused to watch Star Wars and another who wouldn’t watch Disney, and I knew they were just begging me to argue with them on it.

But The Sound of Music is one of the smartest adaptations of a Broadway show, one that is far from a classic onstage. The scenery is beautiful, Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer are great, and there is genuine sly humor throughout. It’s still The Sound of Music, but it’s about the best version of it there could have been.

It also helps immeasurably to see it on the BIG screen, r8.

I’ve seen the new Sunset Boulevard. I loved it, however, I like new interpretations and I also hadn’t seen Glenn, Betty, Patti or Elaine, so I don’t have a reference point

R10, can you explain the modern day setting? Does it work? Why did you love it?

[quote] It’s a modern-day setting not a period piece

So, what, they've dropped the entire silent-to-sound aspect?

[quote] I had an ex who refused to watch Star Wars and another who wouldn’t watch Disney, and I knew they were just begging me to argue with them on it.

Or they just weren't interested in SW/Disney, but you're such an egotist that you had to make it about you

Wouldn't someone serious about the art of making films watch The Sound of Music if only as part of their learning about the films of Robert Wise? Along with West Side Story, The Day the Earth Stood Still, and so many others.

Not a good start to this thread.......

So, completely related to theater, but a variety that does not include Patti, ALW, or Sondheim, I wish I were in NYC and could have attended the "Love Letters" performances down at Irish Repertory Theatre.

What fun to spend a couple of hours in the company of the actors and that AR Gurney script.

R15 I can rekindle that near-thread killing tit-for-tat from late in #538. Is that a yes?

Love the play R16, but haven't you seen it many, many times? What kept me from the Irish Rep was what kept me from returning to the recent Broadway production after I'd seen it once. Irish Rep's pairings were one actor I wanted to see with one actor I could care less about.

Was there ever another playwright greater than Gurney at writing subscriber-friendly, season-slot-filling plays that were completely benign, but made them feel like they'd seen something they could talk about at cocktails after or on the way home?

[quote]I don’t want to weigh in on whether one should or should not see The Sound of Music, other than to note it is purposefully avoiding work that is a part of American culture. I had an ex who refused to watch Star Wars and another who wouldn’t watch Disney, and I knew they were just begging me to argue with them on it.

[quote]Wouldn't someone serious about the art of making films watch The Sound of Music if only as part of their learning about the films of Robert Wise? Along with West Side Story, The Day the Earth Stood Still, and so many others.

Exactly. If a general population person has no interest in seeing the opera CARMEN, that's fine. But if an opera critic or composer or anyone who claims to be interested in opera were to avoid seeing CARMEN, that would be pretentious and willfully ignorant.

I thought his DOLL's HOUSE was silly and tedious. I can't imagine the same technique on SUNSET.

The problem with the Brit musical theater directors lately is that they seem fully determined to take any joy or fun out of anything. They seem to think that a brick wall and shadowy lighting is more "cool" and "truthful." It's just dull. The one exception lately was Hytner's Guys & Dolls. Totally contemporary and completely wonderful. Give me more of that!

Hytner...

The Bridge's Guys & Dolls is the very opposite of those other British musicals. It's entirely engaging, exuberant and joyous and thrilling to watched with an utterly enthralled audience.

And Andrew Richardson as Sky Masterson is to die for. A real man. He will be the next Hugh Jackman, only bigger, better and hotter. And younger.

The only way it could be better is if it were GUYS & GUYS.

*

[quote]From Scherzinger: This is our interpretation of the story. We’re telling it anew. It’s a modern-day setting not a period piece.

A modern-day setting for a musical about washed up silent movie actress?

"Our interpretation of the story" = twerking and and splits.

Nothin' wrong with splits!

I'm trying to remember the non-Norma stuff. I think that would translate to contemporary all right.

Anyone know what high school or college is performing this performance of TITANIC? Someone spent a lot of money on the video recording.

Eldergay here. While I don't want to get into the controversy over whether one should see THE SOUND OF MUSIC film, I want to share how popular it actually was. When I arrived at college in September of 1965, TSOM was playing at the local downtown cinema. When I graduated and left college in 1969, TSOM was still playing uninterrupted at the same cinema. Now that's a run!

I'm the filmmaker poster from the previous thread and I can assure you that I am not willfully or stubbornly refusing to see the film. I simply have no interest in it. And I didn't bring it up to start an argument, as was suggested. I understand that the film is a classic and was very popular then and now. I'm not even criticizing it as a piece of filmmaking. (How could I?) I only brought it up as an example pertaining to the conversation going on.

Fun fact: The Baroness launched the first incendiary at Dresden.

Thank you for sharing, r31, now moving on...

I regret to inform you...

One more thing, R33

Fuck you.

Jesus Christ, OP! Nice job on starting the thread in the proper format in a timely manner, but you flung the door wide open for keeping the monkey shit-slinging from the last thread to resume.

R17 and r35 need to excuse themselves for the remainder of the thread.

Hi just listened to the new Guys & Dolls recording. It does sound like everybody in. It is having a ball and yet still being faithful to the material. the sky Masterson sounds like Bobby Cannavale if he could sing. (Yes, I know he is in here we are)

Has there ever been a better 11 o’clock number than Sit Down, You’re Rockin’ the Boat?

Geez,, r35, just trying to help.

Gayster did an On The Twentieth Century Reunion. He also did a Follies reunion. Me and my big mouth......

Saw GOLDEN RAINBOW. The true takeaway is indeed the Pasak boy. Hope he can maintain a career without parents or management screwing him up. Not only can he sing, he can act at the sane time. So even if puberty takes his voice, he'll be ok.

same time

That’s a Broadway unicorn…haven’t seen one who could do both for a couple of decades.

Four more weeks left of The Cottage. Seven more weeks left of The Shark Is Broken.

I really want to see TSIB, thanks for the reminder, r43.

I don't know how pieces of shit like The Cottage and The Shark Is Broken managed to run this long. WTF?

[quote]Not having any desire (or need) to sit through The Sound of Music doesn't make me close-minded at all. I just have no interest in it. I don't care for the music, and the clips I've seen don't engage me.

Somehow pretending that TSoM is some niche hard-to-enjoy curiosity of a film is bizarre to me. Nobody has to love it, but is a charming, tuneful, well-crafted blockbuster, perhaps the biggest Hollywood hit between Ben Hur and Jaws. It's certainly worth a peek if not just to see what drew everyone in!

I do marvel at how joyless many young people are and how any sort of charm repels them.

[Quote] I don't know how pieces of shit like The Cottage and The Shark Is Broken managed to run this long. WTF?

They will probably both do gangbusters in stock amateur and college

[quote]I do marvel at how joyless many young people are and how any sort of charm repels them.

Because nothing is so joyful and charming as carrying on and ON about whether or not one poster wants to watch a movie.

Sunset Boulevard is a derivative yet still dopey musical. It was never any good and I've seen it numerous times. I'm happy people enjoy it so much and find freshness in it because it certainly can use some!

When I saw the London G&D "Sit Down..." got 3 justified encores! The audience went wild. I was sobbing from the first trumpet blast of the overture.

When will Here Lies Love post a closing notice so that G&D can announce their Broadway transfer?

I'm surprised not to see from chat about Ja Ja's Hair Braiding, a very fun show at MTC's Broadway theater. My only problem with it was deciphering half of the dialogue through the thick African accents though I saw a very early preview and hopefully, they've straightened that issue out a bit. I expect it will get some rave reviews.

R51, someone I work with was also telling me last week how great it is. I may try to get a ticket.

Tickets are probably relatively cheap still, r52, so I'd buy before it opens. And don't sit too far back.

r46 sticking with the strawmen then

[quote]Sunset Boulevard is a derivative yet still dopey musical. It was never any good and I've seen it numerous times.

Flesh that out a little, R49.

Ok, r55.

It's overly melodramatic rather than sharp and clever. It takes itself so seriously that it encouraged me to snicker...a lot. The music is repetitive and bombastic, and even the two pretty good songs have lousy lyrics. The book and score are not strong enough.

Norma is played like she was on The Carol Burnett Show as some semi-decrepit gargoyle, which of course Norma is not. Norma is barely fifty, not seventy. The original was overproduced yet still lacking in stagecraft - those car chase videos were sad and laughable. Everything seems like it is in bold AND italics and wears you out. It also makes the good source story just seem dopey, which it isn't.

[quote]The one exception lately was Hytner's Guys & Dolls. Totally contemporary and completely wonderful. Give me more of that!

When you say "contemporary," what do you mean by that?

R53, thanks.

[quote]I don't know how pieces of shit like The Cottage and The Shark Is Broken managed to run this long. WTF?

[quote]They will probably both do gangbusters in stock amateur and college

r47 is correct, r45. In the case of TSiB, it's a combo of a well-being niche product in a small theater that is limited in the kinds of productions it can house. It's a pretty perfect fit, and its nut can't be very high (call it useless without 'em, but alas, I have no pics to offer).

It was worthwhile for the bragging rights, employed a bunch of people for a little longer than they expected it to. I'd say that it will run just the right amount of time. Also, as r47 said, business rights. It's now a Broadway show and can be marketed as such.

I mean, look at [titleofshow]. They were the little show that could. A very weird little show that pulled out all the stops on social media. They had a web show and I think they even rang the bell at the stock market. They'd go to the opening of an envelope it it got them press. Theater-nerdy, sappy stuff. It worked.

They likely did better than they expected to. Fulfilled their dreams of performing their little skit on Broadway. Got a Tony nomination. Rights to Mad-libs, high schools, college and regional theaters. Not enough to pay a mortgage, maybe, but probably enough to pay the electricity bill.

Call me cynical - or maybe naive, but sometimes that's all there is to it. It's a short term tax write-off bomb on Broadway, but a long-term low payoff in some form later.

Or it's a vanity project with deep pockets.

Think Soul Doctor.

[quote]I'm trying to remember the non-Norma stuff. I think that would translate to contemporary all right.

Of course it wouldn't. Do you think Hollywood hasn't changed vastly between 1950 and 2023?

Well, thanks for the visual of young adult actors from coast to coast getting to emulate The Shark Is Broken's speedo scene.

Thanks for explaining further, R 31, but can you explain WHY you as a filmmaker have no interest in seeing a film that's a cultural icon, if only for historical interest?

[quote]Saw GOLDEN RAINBOW. The true takeaway is indeed the Pasak boy. Hope he can maintain a career without parents or management screwing him up. Not only can he sing, he can act at the sane time. So even if puberty takes his voice, he'll be ok.

I agree, but his name is Pajak. Remember that name :-)

[quote] Thanks for explaining further, R 31, but can you explain WHY you as a filmmaker have no interest in seeing a film that's a cultural icon, if only for historical interest?

I wish I could give you a concrete reason, something that would justify it to those who can't understand why. If I had to come up with a reason, perhaps it would be Julie Andrews? I've seen other musicals she's done and I've disliked nearly all of them. I can't believe she got an Oscar for Mary Poppins, which was interminable. But I don't actually dislike Julie Andrews. I thought she was great fun in S.O.B. and Victor/Victoria, and the movies of hers I didn't like were not necessarily because of her.

All I can say is it just doesn't interest me at all. And I can't even say it's the genre, because I've seen many musicals. Haven't liked them all, but have watched dozens. Maybe one of these days I'll get around to it.

I think this would make an interesting separate thread- what classic film have you never seen for no reason?

That "Titanic" is no high school. It is an amazing production. Never saw the passengers enter thru the orchestra before, cool. The opening will never not be thrilling.

[quote]I don't know how pieces of shit like The Cottage and The Shark Is Broken managed to run this long. WTF?

What, are such a sociopath that nobody can like something you don't?

[quote]From Scherzinger: This is our interpretation of the story. We’re telling it anew. It’s a modern-day setting not a period piece.

So the great line "We taught the world new ways to dream" is meaningless now.

R18... man, I think you're right. Gurney's work really did fill-out many a local equity season with a show that satisfied the subscriber base and entertained the single-ticket buyer.

Decades ago I know I enjoyed productions of The Dining Room and The Cocktail Hour. And later Sylvia (a clever premise) and then Love Letters.

He was prolific and I think he tried to write "weightier" works later in his career, but did any of them really click with audiences? I don't think so.

BTW - I love The Dining Room.

For those who have seen the bridge Guys & Dolls, what is the point of the standing seats?

The standees in some ways become part of the show and the crowds on the streets of NYC. You can still see as the scenes are played on platforms that elevate up a few feet.

Thanks R34! I had read that before on here, but you gave me a chance to bookmark it. While I was wandering around the site I also found this:

[quote]For those who have seen the bridge Guys & Dolls, what is the point of the standing seats?

Squueze in as many as possible at Premium Prices.

So is "Merrily We Roll Along" a bona fide Broadway flop legend now a masterpiece?

Oh for corn's sake, r31, in the time it's taken you to argue about TSOM, you could have watched it while folding the laundry or clipping your toenails. Then you could give a credible response to its value or lack thereof.

[quote]For those who have seen the bridge Guys & Dolls, what is the point of the standing seats?

To accommodate any pantsless theatergoers. You never know when that lady from the Spirit Airlines flight might show up.

[quote] Oh for corn's sake, [R31], in the time it's taken you to argue about TSOM, you could have watched it while folding the laundry or clipping your toenails. Then you could give a credible response to its value or lack thereof.

So the movie is only 15 minutes? I was under the impression it was closer to three hours.

I went to London and saw

Old Friends

Sunset BLVD

Cabaret

I saw the NYTW Merrily in January.

I think the only thing I’m really missing out on right now is the Sweeney and I saw it 2006 with LuPone.

That and apparently the rapturous Guys & Dolls

[quote]It was never any good and I've seen it numerous times.

The food there is terrible. Every mouthful is poison...and they give you such small portions!

Nobody goes there anymore, it's too crowded.

Sobbing from the first trumpet blast, R50? I’m sorry but even on here that deserves a Mary!

Sondheimites: you can see MWRA for $77.00.

I saw OLD FRIENDS, the Sondheim revue in London last week and was really surprised by how much I loved it. We had a free slot and went to the Leicester Square TKTS booth in the hope of getting seats for the new Twiggy musical CLOSEUP at the Menier but it wasn't on offer and just kind of settled on OLD FRIENDS because nothing else interested us.

It was like watching a one night only starry benefit, very fresh and spontaneous and truly emotional performances, beautifully produced with minimal sets and costumes that are just the right touch. Bernadette was a little croaky hitting all her notes on her ballads but showed off great comedy chops as Mazeppa and then with all the other ladies doing a chorus line of Broadway Baby. Impossible to believe this woman is 75!

Lea Salonga was fabulous, stopping the show with A Little Priest and Everything's Coming Up Roses. Actually, all the women shine, especially Bonnie Langford and Janie Dee. And then there's the very hot Bradley Jaden as the sexiest (and bare chested) Wolf I've ever seen.

If you're in London, do catch it. Sadly, I don't think it's selling as well as Cameron thought it would.

[quote] What, are such a sociopath that nobody can like something you don't?

I don't think the poster was commenting on TSIB and The Cottage being bad plays (even though both were universally panned) as much as the fact that neither show has been selling at all and he was wondering how they managed to run so long because of it.

I'm not quite sure how that translates to sociopathic behavior. But then the DL loves nothing more than hyperbole.

[quote]Impossible to believe this woman is 75!

I know, r82, I saw her in June.

R77 how many times are you going to post about your London trip? Asking for a friend.

[Quote] Asking for a friend

Unlikely.

[quote]And then there's the very hot Bradley Jaden as the sexiest (and bare chested) Wolf I've ever seen.

"Bradley Jaden" sounds like porn name.

Jaden Bradley has a better flow.

For whatever reason I found myself on Charles Strouse's Wikipedia page, and I had no idea he wrote so many flops!

R89 - I know! I did the same thing a few weeks ago. It's a shame he hasn't really had a success since the 70s.

Well, Strouse had one mega-hit (Annie) and two big hits (Bye Bye Birdie and Applause). Kander and Ebb’s record isn’t that much better (two mega-hits and one big hit).

"Bradley Jaden" sounds like a porn name.

Well. that's good because he looks like a porn star.

Kander and Ebb

Cabaret Chicago The Rink Kiss of the Spiderwoman Flora, the Red Menace Funny Lady 70 Girls, 70 Curtains

And Steel Pier

Comparing Kander & Ebb's Broadway credits to Strouse's is really an apples and oranges situation.

Strouse has had 3 big hits (BYE BYE BIRDIE, APPLAUSE and ANNIE) and 1 semi-hit (GOLDEN BOY), but no long Broadway runs -- originals or revivals -- since ANNIE, and any number of very short-running flops: ALL AMERICAN . . . IT'S A BIRD IT'S A PLANE IT'S SUPERMAN . . . A BROADWAY MUSICAL . . . CHARLEY AND ALGERNON . . . BRING BACK BIRDIE . . . DANCE A LITTLE CLOSER . . . MAYOR . . . RAGS . . . NICK AND NORA. No new Strouse score has been heard on Broadway since 1991.

Kander & Ebb, by contrast, have had fewer really short-running flops, and they've been spread out over a far longer span of time (FLORA THE RED MENACE . . . THE HAPPY TIME . . . 70 GIRLS 70 . . . THE RINK . . . STEEL PIER . . . THE SCOTTSBORO BOYS . . . THE VISIT). They've had more longer-running shows (CABARET . . . CHICAGO . . . WOMAN OF THE YEAR . . . KISS OF THE SPIDER WOMAN . . . CURTAINS), especially if you count their big revivals of CABARET and CHICAGO. Perhaps most significantly, Broadway has heard new Kander and Ebb scores every decade from the '60s through the 2010s, and Kander himself had new music on Broadway just this past season.

[quote]That "Titanic" is no high school. It is an amazing production.

R65, I just found out that it is indeed a high school production. It was done by the King's Academy's Conservatory of the Arts, a private, Christian, coeducational, pre-kindergarten through grade twelve college-preparatory school located in West Palm Beach, Florida. This production ran from Feb 28 - March 9, 2019.

All of those good Christian thespians.

That school has a weak school profile—not the best college matriculation. There’s a King’s Academy in the San Jose area that does much, much better.

R29, that school doing Titanic is the King’s Academy, a Christian college prep school in West Palm Beach, FL

2019? I wonder how many of those fine Xtian boys have come out by now?

Of Charles Strouse’s hits, Annie was massive - and still is. Bye Bye Birdie isn’t quite as huge, but it’s still popular 60 years later. Applause is pretty much forgotten. Three of his flops, Superman, Rags, and Nick & Nora, are admired for their scores. (Superman was a hit at Encores). Golden Boy is admired but not done much.

But Strouse has TV money from his work on scores and theme songs.

SUPERMAN was hotly anticipated at Encores, but I think once people actually got a chance to see and hear the whole show, many of them realized the score is very spotty and the book is quite lousy.

Who admires Nick & Nora's score, r101?

All American? I and Albert? Bring Back Birdie?

[quote]SUPERMAN was hotly anticipated at Encores, but I think once people actually got a chance to see and hear the whole show, many of them realized the score is very spotty and the book is quite lousy.

I saw the Encores production and was surprised how great the Superman score was and how kooky the plot was. I think since the big star of the original production, Jack Cassidy, was NOT playing Superman, the balance was off. Everyone still very much enjoyed the show and the production was excellent. I'm surprised the show isn't done more, it is a lot of fun.

Bye Bye Birdie is actually now dead. High Schools have the Disney stuff now, and all the "Spanish Rose" jokes and the fact that kids no idea who Ed Sullivan, a phone with a chord, and network television is have left it in the dust.

"a phone with a chord"

Oh, dear.

The chord is A flat minor, otherwise known as Kim McAfee

[quote]SUPERMAN was hotly anticipated at Encores, but I think once people actually got a chance to see and hear the whole show, many of them realized the score is very spotty and the book is quite lousy.

It's nothing without me.

Some of you recent posters need to learn:

1. How to use the quote function

2. How to double space between paragraphs

[quote] Bye Bye Birdie is actually now dead. High Schools have the Disney stuff now, and all the "Spanish Rose" jokes and the fact that kids no idea who Ed Sullivan, a phone with a chord, and network television is have left it in the dust.

Also, there’s the whole creepiness factor of the basic premise.

R105, I saw the Encores! production of "Superman" and completely agree... the score was terrific and the kooky plot fit the era.

Unfortunately, I don't think the economics/politics of B'way allow for a relatively small show - without a lot of special effects - or giant, moving set pieces - doesn't make a political point or focuses on past justices - and has a score that excludes a giant big-belt, 11 o'clock number can work.

For those who know the show, any insight on why Superman and Lois Lane were sidelined for other characters?

My guess is that the scoundrel reporter Jack Cassidy and the horny Linda Lavin (not to mention the mad scientest) were much more interesting than Clark/Superman and Lois. They certainly have the best songs.

I saw some concert version years ago with Cheyenne as Superman. It was great.

[quote]I saw the Encores! production of "Superman" and completely agree... the score was terrific and the kooky plot fit the era.

I think there are a few great songs and lots of mediocre ones. And most of the plot is a silly bore, especially the part where the people of Metropolis turn on Superman for no reason that makes any sense. When Encores! did the show, there were all these high hopes for a Broadway transfer -- and then, as I noted, people actually saw the show and were rightly underwhelmed by it.

In 2010, I saw a "revisal" of Superman in Dallas starring Matt Cavenaugh and Patrick Cassidy. It was mostly just boring.

The OBCR of Superman is a prime example of a mediocre show leaving behind a great recording, thanks in large measure to the terrific orchestrations of Eddie Sauter. I can listen to the album much more often than many of the shows that are considered "hits."

Did someone mention me?

[quote]The OBCR of Superman is a prime example of a mediocre show leaving behind a great recording...

Hold my beer!

Don't forget about us!!!

[quote]Bye Bye Birdie is actually now dead. High Schools have the Disney stuff now, and all the "Spanish Rose" jokes and the fact that kids no idea who Ed Sullivan, a phone with a chord, and network television is have left it in the dust.

[quote]Also, there’s the whole creepiness factor of the basic premise.

Um, BYE BYE BIRDIE is currently popular with high schools. There are several productions annually across the country. Kids love the early '60s fashions/aesthetics and sound/music. Plus, it's a fun show.

Speaking of King's Academy, they just did a production of Singin' in the Rain.

When they did Hunchback of Notre Dame a few years ago, the kid who played 'Frollo' was very good.

[quote] Some of you recent posters need to learn:

[quote] 1. How to use the quote function

[quote] 2. How to double space between paragraphs

3. How stop arguing back and forth

4 .STFU once you've made your (alleged) point.

Wow Kimberly Akimbo outgrossed Here Lies Love Again.

5. How to stop school-marming the thread like you're in charge, which is the most irritating of all.

[quote]Bye Bye Birdie is actually now dead. High Schools have the Disney stuff now, and all the "Spanish Rose" jokes and the fact that kids no idea who Ed Sullivan, a phone with a chord, and network television is have left it in the dust. Also, there’s the whole creepiness factor of the basic premise.

What are you referring to in that last sentence? Do you mean the idea that Conrad Birdie is supposed to kiss Kim on national TV? It's only supposed to be a kiss, to be done as a publicity stunt. Where's the creepiness?

R122 that’s supposed to be good? Her voice was terrible.

" Bye Bye Bird-he" will NEVER be irrelevant, but a source of great joy and purpose in life.

Going to see The Bridge Guys & Dolls again on Thursday. Don’t know who is currently playing Sky.

Mufti needs to do The Rink next.

I'm still available!

Tonight is the opening of Old Friends!

In Palm Springs, every night is the opening of old friends

R129-Actually, that whole clip is "irrelevant" in any discussion of the actual BBB musical, since that song doesn't appear in the show and was written especially for the movie (unless I'm mistaken and it was cut from the original show).

In regard to SUPERMAN, I've never actually seen a performance of the show, but I do enjoy the OBCR. I did see the original Superman Bob Holliday on an old episode of "I've Got a Secret" where he was plugging the show (I think it's on YouTube). He came out in Superman drag and taught Steve Allen to fly.

He was the very definition of bland and boring. Wasn't there anyone else around with a little more pizzazz they could have cast? Also, leading lady Patricia Marand was another giant sleeping pill. So it would seem the leads were indeed overshadowed by the secondary characters.

Regarding DL super fave Ms. Lavin, I was never a fan of hers on "Alice". Thought she was totally miscast. Actually, on some other thread someone mentioned that she and other DL fave Bonnie Franklin should have switched roles. Not a bad idea.

Don't know if Bonnie would have done anything for "Alice", but I do believe Linda would have been more convincing as the more difficult, overbearing and slightly bitchy Ann Romano.

Getting back to Linda. I never tire of hearing her do "Possibilities" on the SUPERMAN album- I honestly don't think anyone else could even come close to doing it as brilliantly as she does it on that album.

Has she written her autobiography yet? If she ever does, she needs to call it "You've Got Possibilities".

Dammit, Tommy just doesn't have the same ring to it.

R130: Per the Bridge Theatre website Andrew Richardson is still playing Sky in G&D. Take notes and report back!

Linda also owns Sondheim's "The Boy From . . ." from The Mad Show.

R139-Actually Millicent Martin runs a pretty close second on the "Side by Side by Sondheim" album.

Excuse me...

Will SLIH beat Sugar’s B’way run of 505 performances?

Looks like SLIH will only have run for about 433 performances by the time it closes so, no.

[quote][R129]-Actually, that whole clip is "irrelevant" in any discussion of the actual BBB musical, since that song doesn't appear in the show and was written especially for the movie (unless I'm mistaken and it was cut from the original show).

Fuck you, Broadway pedant! " Bye Bye Bird-he" is the greatest song ever written, better than any Sondheim garbage, and interpreted by the greatest showperson to ever grace the stage and screen. No wonder you have no friends.

[quote]Wow Kimberly Akimbo outgrossed Here Lies Love Again.

$521,690 for Here Lies Love! And an eternity until Tony time.

I just learned that Melissa Etheridge has a one-woman show on Broadway and it only grossed $179k last week?

I guess she's no Bruce Springsteen.

[quote]In partnership with Gold House and The Asian American Foundation, Here Lies Love is aiming to raise $1 million in tax deductible donations to subsidize tickets to David Byrne and Fatboy Slim-penned Broadway musical through the month of October.

[quote]The initiative, honoring Filipino American Heritage Month, would grant ticket access to high school and college students, healthcare workers, service and municipal workers, community centers, and other non-profits.

So now we're posting and comparing videos of high school musicals?

Where is the Theatre Gossip the thread title promises?

Here Lies Love is now literally non-profit.

Here Lies Love withers and dies on January 5th.

Fuck. Even Gutenberg made $200,00 more than Here Lies Love.

Mufti should do Over & Over/Skin of Our Teeth along with The Rink and maybe Flora or one of the others too. Leslie Kritzer as Liza in The Act.

Didn't they do Happy Time, Zorba, and 70 Girls previously?

Zorba and 70 Girls were done by Encores! Not sure about Mufti. But Mufti did do the classic Bajour.

Mariand Torres and DL fave Ramin Karimloo do "You've Got Possibilities." When I saw "Prince of Broadway," Michael Xavier played Clark/Superman, but I don't remember who played the Lavin part.

I still hear about productions of Bye Bye Birdie every year. This is the LA area.

Isn't Leslie Kritzer closer to the mother's age in The Rink. I'd like to see her play that. Lili Cooper IS Angel!

*

[quote] Also, leading lady Patricia Marand was another giant sleeping pill.

And she was the second one! She took over in Philadelphia when they fired Joan Hotchkis.

Chita could still do The Rink!

Why didn't they just cast Anita Gillette as Lois Lane?

[quote] I just learned that Melissa Etheridge has a one-woman show on Broadway and it only grossed $179k last week?

You would think with all the pussy Melissa turned lez in her lifetime, they could at least fill the theater for a week.

Here Lies Love may not make it until November with those grosses.

NYT reviews "Jaja’s African Hair Braiding":

This has been available to Datalounge since 2016, and we're just discussing it now?

Who’s the best bottom on Broadway these days?

Benjamin, Timothy, Joseph or Sam?

black

[quote]Who’s the best bottom on Broadway these days?

Is there a revival of "A Midsummer Night's Dream" in the offing?

You DL "Theatah" cunts are exhausting.

Oh, I dunno, I think we're a little better behaved right now. It's usually after the 300-post mark, when it seems like fights break out in an effort to speed things along to the next thread.

[quote]You DL "Theatah" cunts are exhausting.

Uhhh, Ma'am...this is a Theatre Gossip thread.

[quote]Where is the Theatre Gossip the thread title promises?

Where it always is: in the thread title.

R158 didn’t Chita recently fall off the stage during a concert and not really been heard of since?

If she’s not available, gang, then I am!

I’m already off book!

But this thread at least delivers remnants of the pointless bitchery of old... there's a very little brainpower behind the bawls and clawing, compared to gen pop out there. Still, most of it is unnecessary and a cry for help. Angry old people, hissing over obscure Golden Girls.

R160 Melissa can’t even sell out 54 Below at 150 seats so it’s a real mystery as to why they thought she’d do well on Broadway.

Chita also recently got Covid.

Saw Here We Are.

It's unfinished, and uneven, but probably as beautifully realized as this show will ever be. Elderly Sondheim is still better than everyone else.

One standout performance from David Hyde Pierce, who also has the best song. A nod to Rachel Bay Jones.

The 2024 Tony Awards will be held at David H. Koch Theater in Lincoln Center.

They still do those?

Excerpts from an almost unbelievable NYT story about her car accident that killed a pedestrian and the subsequent quest to get her a replacement vehicle.

A 2018 fatal car crash in Bogota, N.J., drew no media attention and resulted in no charges. Nadine Arslanian, who would soon marry Senator Robert Menendez, told a Bogota, N.J., police officer that the man she fatally struck with her car “jumped on my windshield.” It was a cold evening in December 2018, and Nadine Arslanian, the soon-to-be wife of Senator Robert Menendez, was zipping through the darkened streets of suburban New Jersey in a black Mercedes-Benz sedan. She would later tell the police she did not see the man stepping out in front of her to cross a busy thoroughfare.

The crash that ensued just after 7:30 p.m. killed the man, Richard Koop, 49, almost instantly. His body was thrown to the curb just steps from his home and badly mangled, according to the Bergen County medical examiner.After brief questioning, the police concluded that Ms. Menendez, who was alone in the vehicle, was “not at fault.” She was released without a summons. What happened that night in the borough of Bogota outside New York City was not reported for years, leaving witnesses and Mr. Koop’s family to wonder if the fatal collision was deliberately kept quiet. But now, nearly five years later, the episode adds a startling dimension to a scandal that has shaken American politics, and raised new questions about the senator at its center.

The revelation helps fill in an important narrative gap around one of the most blatant bribes alleged in a 39-page federal indictment unveiled last month against Ms. Menendez, her powerful husband and three businessmen. Prosecutors said in those charging papers that Ms. Menendez needed a car so badly after a December 2018 “accident” that the senator, a Democrat, was willing to try to suppress an unrelated criminal prosecution for a New Jersey businessman in exchange for a $60,000 Mercedes convertible. According to the indictment, Mr. Menendez agreed to call a senior prosecutor at the New Jersey attorney general’s office in late January to try to pressure him to go easy on an associate of New Jersey businessman Jose Uribe, in return, Uribe agreed to finance a car, prosecutors said.

“All is GREAT! I’m so excited to get a car next week. !!” Ms. Menendez texted a few days after the senator placed the call. In April, four months after Mr. Koop’s death, Ms. Menendez signed paperwork to purchase a new $60,000 Mercedes-Benz C-300 convertible. She told Mr. Uribe by text that she would “never forget this” and messaged Mr. Menendez to celebrate, too. “Congratulations mon amour de la vie,” Ms. Menendez wrote to Mr. Menendez, according to the indictment. “We are the proud owners of a 2019 Mercedes.”

Are you lost, dear?

At first glance, I thought Lindsay Mendez had gotten into a bit of trouble.

Sorry!

[quote]R179 being ushered out of the thread

AND DON'T COME BACK UNTIL YOU'RE A VIRGIN!

So Chita:

Promoted a memoir

fell off a stage

Had Covid

And STILL makes more sense than Liza when speaking

Has it ever come out why the Tonys moved from Radio City?

That’s show biz!

Because no one wants to attend them anymore.

Muriel, can R179 please be banned for life? Thank you.

Re: the movie of SOUND OF MUSIC

What I always thought of as R&H’s weakest stage show, with singing nuns and Nazi villains, not to mention a score derivative of their better work, shocked me in 1965 with just how skillful a movie was made from it.

Gone were the middle-aged leads. Stage sets gave way to postcard vistas. Excellent camera work and editing brought verve to simplistic songs, like “Doe a Deer.” The nuns still sang, but were less cutesy, with “My Favorite Things” transferred from a duet between the Mother Abbess and Maria to the way Maria calms the children. The Nazis were still villainous, but the movie was able to show more of them, a lot more.

The movie doesn’t try to be high art, but unpretentiously aims to be very entertaining, and it succeeds. In fact, it’s hard to visualize it as the stage show it originally was. I personally miss “No Way to Stop It” and “How Can Love Survive,” but can understand how neither song is really needed. And “An Ordinary Couple” is sweet, but stodgy, while “Something Good” is much more romantic.

The movie takes a stage show with limitations and creates the best film version of the material. I actually saw it a few times as a roadshow, and it held up very well.

What’s interesting about it is that Robert Wise only agreed to direct it for Fox, as long as they would agree to finance his pet project, the roadshow film version of “The Sand Pebbles” (1967), which was far more serious and thought-provoking, though hardly as successful financially.

The Sound of Music? That's the one where the father fucks the babysitter? Is that right?

THE SAND PEBBLES was the 4th highest-grossing film of 1966 and was nominated for 8 Oscars, including Best Picture.

Great post, r189! You almost make me want to watch SOM again.

[quote]The movie takes a stage show with limitations and creates the best film version of the material.

Yes, I suppose so R189.

But the star of the show, onstage or in the film, is usually Rolf's ass.

Yeah, why do they always cast a Rolf with a nice ass?

[quote]What I always thought of as R&H’s weakest stage show

Um, excuse me?

There you are - now Rolf's ass is a great topic for the Theatre Thread.

And of course Rolf - Jon Voight - married Liesl - Lauri Peters.......she was obviously ass -ified.

"Telegram for Baron Von Trapp........."

Just the tip.

Groban was out this afternoon.

Lauri & Jon as Juliet and Romeo at the Old Globe in San Diego (1966). Sadly, no ass shots of Jon in his tights.

[quote]What I always thought of as R&H’s weakest stage show

[quote]Um, excuse me?

Ahem.

[quote]Has it ever come out why the Tonys moved from Radio City?

The answer to all of those types of questions, including this one, is probably MONEY.

[quote] What I always thought of as R&H’s weakest stage show, with singing nuns

And what's WRONG with singing nuns?

r190=Maxwell Sheffield

I saw a production of Allegro in Queens that really clarified that troubled show. It’s got a terrific score, and the complete studio recording with Audra is great. Pipe Dream’s book is a mess, but the score is pretty wonderful. Me & Juliet? There’s a reason why Encores never bothered with it, even when they were presenting Golden Age musicals. One memorable song that Rodgers recycled from Victory at Sea with awkward lyrics added by Hammerstein. “No other love have I” indeed.

I had to look Lauri Peters up to see what she looked like because I would have sworn that photo at R198 was of Jon Voight and Genevieve Bujold. Peters is a dead ringer for her.

Ben Rimalower’s newest episode of Into the Woods just dropped today with the stage manager. I think Betty Buckley turned him down to speak because he alluded to the fact that “unfortunately I haven’t spoken with her”

It’s surprising because she has spoken about her experience in the past…and he’s a diva worshipper…so it would be a generous audience.

It would be nice to have the final piece of the puzzle as to what happened with her in detail.

I heard the stagehands were late with their cues for moving the scenery when Betty wasn't onstage. if you know what I mean.

Say what you want about the TV version as a whole, this was perfect…

[quote]Actually, that whole clip is "irrelevant" in any discussion of the actual BBB musical, since that song doesn't appear in the show and was written especially for the movie (unless I'm mistaken and it was cut from the original show).

In the Broadway revival with Stamos they did the curtain call to "Bye Bye Birdie". It's too iconic now not to have it.

Doesn't Rimalower have to nab Bernadette, too?

[quote]What’s interesting about it is that Robert Wise only agreed to direct it for Fox, as long as they would agree to finance his pet project, the roadshow film version of “The Sand Pebbles” (1967), which was far more serious and thought-provoking, though hardly as successful financially.

Hollywood trivia, The Sand Pebbles” replaced "the Sound Of Music" Roadshow Engagement at The Rivoli Theatre on Broadway after 2 years and Wise wasn't happy and wanted Fox to open TSP somewhere else to continue TSOM.

R209, considering Bernadette barely even speaks on the Sunday in the Park with George DVD commentary (most of it is Mandy Patinkin being an asshole), I doubt she'd be interested in a podcast episode.

The podcast was clearly recorded outside of the release sequence and many months ago. There are references to the “current” Broadway production that closed in January. Some of the best interviews are from people you wouldn’t expect to be as interesting, like Pamela Winslow (Rapunzel) or Lauren Mitchell (Lucinda). Rimalower’s dorky fan-gay personality is growing on me. Kudos to him for taking this on.

"theatuh" cunts? Is that what we're calling geriatric showtune queens catfighting over original cast albums?

I think it’s funny that the stories he is most interested in are:

Patti’s audition and failed negotiations to play the Witch

Betty’s hire and fire

Bernadette being cast

And he has talked to 300 people and no one has said anything about those…and the 3 people who have the answers, won’t talk to him.

R214, I believe both Betty and Patti have gone on record as to what happened with INTO THE WOODS, and as I recall, their stories aren't contradictory. I don't think Bernadette has spoken about it, but I could be wrong.

[quote]Pipe Dream’s book is a mess, but the score is pretty wonderful.

Seriously? I think that score is about as close to shite as R&H ever came, with the possible exception of a few songs in ME & JULIET.

[quote]I don't think Bernadette has spoken about it,

What's there to say? "Steve called me, asked if I could do it. I checked my schedule and told him sure, but for only this long."

I think Bernadette stays away from drama. I don't think she has publicly ever said a negative thing about anyone.

If nothing else, Pipe Dream has "The Next Time It Happens," but I'll admit that I prefer the interpolated version from the '96 State Fair. Me and Juliet at least has the fun of the '50s version of bitching about the current Broadway scene.

Maybe it's just Andrea's performance ...

These people ALL would be Dataloungers.

Shirley was in the chorus.

[quote]I think Bernadette stays away from drama. I don't think she has publicly ever said a negative thing about anyone.

A refreshing attitude to balance that of Ms. LuPone, who does pretty much the opposite.

R223 Hi Sherie Rene! Welcome to Datalounge! We loved you in Everyday Rapture!

Anyone read Charles Busch's memoir yet?

[quote]Actually, that whole clip is "irrelevant" in any discussion of the actual BBB musical, since that song doesn't appear in the show and was written especially for the movie (unless I'm mistaken and it was cut from the original show).

3:36

Just think. If PIPE DREAM had run longer, Shirley MacLaine might not have auditioned for THE PAJAMA GAME and the entire trajectory of her career would have changed.

That TV version of the Bye Bye Birdie is illegitimate, they actually enunciate the d in BIRHIE.

So did you, Ann.

R226 now that is a great curtain call.

I read the Busch memoir. Very entertaining, gossipy and well-written. Lots of great stories on Rivers, Rosie, Channing, etc. Who knew he had been a stripper and a call boy? But it raises a question for me of his legacy. His plays were effective for their time, but none has any longevity. Does his biggest hit, ALLERGIST'S WIFE, stand up to a revival? He made an impact by breaking barriers, no question, but his influence over the passage of time seems negligible.

They've got a replacement lined up for A Beautiful Noise. I'm skeptical that it will last past Martin Luther King Day, but ...

I'm glad they gave the role to the alternate instead of bringing someone else in.

[quote]Hi Sherie Rene! Welcome to Datalounge! We loved you in Everyday Rapture!

Ha! As if Sheri Rene Scott is the only person to call out Patti LuPone for publicly talking or writing trash about a huge percentage of the people she has worked with over her entire career.

I have no idea why this is true, but people are saying that A BEAUTIFUL NOISE has actually had an uptick in its box-office recently.

Thanks R198 that's a nice picture.

LOVE Charles Busch and his plays but I actually think VAMPIRE LESBIANS OF SODOM and PSYCHO BEACH PARTY are more revivable than the more commercially-minded THE ALLERGIST'S WIFE. Sadly though, I feel like young theatre people are not very aware of him or any of his plays. Or are they aware but just not into them? I don't think they're done much in colleges. Like Charles Ludlam, he's not getting much appreciation in his old age.

Nevertheless, I'm very eager to read his memoir.

Busch played Marjorie on one of those Stars in the House readings during the pandemic with Linda Lavin as the mother. Very enjoyable but it's not one of his better plays.

Angela and George's Sweeney Todd will be shown on TCM October 28th.

I'm about halfway through Charles' memoir. It's a fun read- dishy and conversational. Not sure younger folk "get" him but I do think he will be remembered for being a groundbreaker as a performer and less so as a playwright, though I loved his earlier plays. I loved the drag queens of old - the gritty, somewhat tragic ones - they knew how to tell a story. The RuPaul ones are not to my taste. They feel overdone, way too commercial, and rather inauthentic.

Has it ever come out why the Tonys moved from Radio City?

Yes. James Dolan is tearing it down to build a giant orb.

Unfortunately, Busch's best acting work (on the stage) has disappeared. In the book, he talks of his long-term friendship with Lypsinka, another highly enjoyable performer whose best work is lost to history. He also credits Charles Ludlam as an inspiration, but his work was largely of its time, especially without Everett Quinton to carry on the tradition.

[quote]Has it ever come out why the Tonys moved from Radio City?

[quote]The Tony Awards did not give a reason for the move, but it brings the awards show to a smaller venue. The United Palace, which hosts concerts, movie premieres and film shoots, has close to 3,400 seats to Radio City Music Hall’s more than 6,000. The theater opened in 1930 as one of Loew’s Wonder Theatres, showing movies and vaudeville performances.

I was unaware that Miss Joey Heatherton was in the OBC of The Sound of Music.

Why were the Tonys uptown a "disaster?" Because of the car situation?

The theater was sweltering, and the stage was small.

And I wasn't nominated.

[quote]The Tony Awards administration committee did not give a reason for the change in venue, but the Upper West Side location places the performing cast members closer to their theaters, which makes transportation for rehearsals and the broadcast easier than it was traveling to Washington Heights (which had been a source of frustration in June). It also gives attendees easier access to the after parties, which typically take place in midtown.

I just moved and while I was packing, I went through some old Playbills. I realized I had an autographed Three Tall Women Playbill with only one signature, and it’s Allison Pill’s. Apparently she WAS signing Playbills that day. I immediately thought of these theater threads.

I don’t see why it matters where the Tonys are held, since pretty much everybody just watches them from home. They can hold them at Don’t Tell Mama for all I care.

One of my self-imposed pandemic-lockdown tasks was to wade through my two big boxes of Playbills (almost none autographed) and weed out the ones I didn't want. I probably got rid of half of them, mostly random symphony, ballet and opera programs. I was surprised by all the plays I'd completely forgotten I'd seen (I saw Jenny Agutter in a Pinter play in London? Really?). Of course, I kept things like original-cast Over Here!, Sweeney Todd, Dreamgirls, Ain't Misbehavin', Nicholas Nickleby, etc., etc., and Baryshnikov, Pavarotti, Itzhak Perlman, etc., etc. But the best part of going through the programs? The ads. Jeez, people smoked and drank a lot back then.

In 2038 the Tony Awards ceremony will be held in Muriel's basement.

If Rimalower says Into the Woods was a gateway drug one more time, I'm going to jump from my tower.

From R243:

"The CBS show will be broadcast on June 16th, 2024, and is shaping up nicely this far in advance. Some of the featured shows will be “Here Lies Love,” a huge hit right now . . . "

Debate over trigger warnings in theater. More " wokeism."

Neil Simon isn't all that revivable anymore, r231.

[quote]another highly enjoyable performer whose best work is lost to history.

Hardly, r242.

Happy 100th birthday to Glynis Johns.

[quote] If Rimalower says Into the Woods was a gateway drug one more time, I'm going to jump from my tower.

Just try to avoid the patch of thorns this time, princeboy.

Decades ago I was a member of The Fireside Theatre book club and purchased Four Plays by Charles Busch.

I read Psycho Beach Party and fell in love with the script and that the author's note stated the play could be performed without cross-gender casting (doubt he wrote "cross-gender").

I managed to put together a production of the show, ended up playing Star Cat (actor dropped out).

The show's a delight on stage, but would actors in their 20s understand how it's a cross between Gidget movies and the Sybil multiple personality story? I doubt it... and I doubt actors in their 20s would understand he reverance for actresses from the 1940s and his riff on "women's pictures." Unfortunate, but really just the passage of time.

R251 you kept half of them?! Ugg

I think better access to the post Tony fucking - I mean parties - would be a great ASSet. Thanks for cumming back downtown.

Um —no any chorus boy worth his asscherks would prefer Dominican dick from WH over limp dick adjacent to Lincoln Center.

cheeks 🤠

Glynis Johns starred in a short-lived murder-mystery sitcom in 1963 called "Glynis." Her husband was played by hunky Keith Andes, Lucy's co-star in "Wildcat."

Brief as it is, that Showbiz911 article on the Tonys is a piece of crap, especially the line about how HERE LIES LOVE is "a huge hit right now." In what universe???

It's the way people in NY speak. Haven' you heard Trump, R266?

Nope, r267. Trump speaks that way.

Not New Yorkers.

[quote]post Tony fucking

This just reminds me of the fact that one year after the Tonys (the one he wore a skirt to) someone created a fake Andy Mientus profile on Grindr offering his hole to all comers and finishing with the line "yes I'm still wearing the dress"

It was only the fact it said dress and not skirt that made it sound fake

[quote]Um —no any chorus boy worth his asscherks would prefer Dominican dick from WH over limp dick adjacent to Lincoln Center.

What does any of that mean?

I think he means the big Dominican dicks at Mickey D’s in Washington Heights are far more appetizing than the ones at PJ Clark’s near Lincoln Center.

Thank you R271

R270 needs to learn how to read a map of gay Manhattan.

Leslie out of Purlie tonite.

Any recommendations for a great theater autobiography or bio or history? Just finished Not Since Carrie, The Season, Act One, the Mary Rodgers book, Hello Gorgeous blah blah blah…. How is Original Story By? Any thoughts would be much appreciated.

R273

Wouldn’t you?

The Busch memoir is delightful -- as a die-hard fan I was a bit worried that it would be largely retellings of stories I knew all too well, but there was new-to-me stuff throughout, and I loved the way that he structured it.

As for his plays, I'd say that the best-written of his movie send-ups is THE LADY IN QUESTION, and I'd put my money on it as most likely to be successfully revived without him -- it's really well constructed.

His follow-up to ALLERGIST'S WIFE (which was delicious in its original production but is hard to imagine being quite as wonderful without the amazing original cast) was a fascinating play mostly shrugged off by the critics -- OUR LEADING LADY, which imagines life backstage with Laura Keene right before and right after the Lincoln assassination. I thought it was terrific, and I'd love to see it again.

R274 try Broadway in a Barn, No Pickle No Performance, Diary of a Mad Playwright, The Making of No No Nanette, Son of Any Wednesday, The Seesaw Log, About Those Roses, or Making It Big if you want an oldie but goodie backstage gossip book.

For theatre actor biographies and autobiographies, Brian Kellow's Merman book, Stevie Phillips' autobiography. There's a new Noel Coward bio called Masquerade, also John Lahr's Tennessee Williams bio, if you only ever read one of him, that'll do it.

For critical analysis, Ethan Mordden's musical theatre decades series 1920s-80s, the recent Meredith Willson analysis book The Big Parade, or Steven Suskin's Opening NIghts on Broadway (2 volumes) or Sound of Broadway orchestrations book. The best recent Rodgers and Hammerstein book is called Something Wonderful, Mordden's coffee table style R&H book has great text too.

Just a few that I return to again and again.

R277 🙏🏼

[quote]Glynis Johns starred in a short-lived murder-mystery sitcom in 1963 called "Glynis." Her husband was played by hunky Keith Andes, Lucy's co-star in "Wildcat."

Created by Jess Oppenheimer and produced by Desilu.

[quote]As for his plays, I'd say that the best-written of his movie send-ups is THE LADY IN QUESTION,

That's the only one I saw with him in it, r276. I *loved* it. I still vividly remember Julie Halston hanged in the closet and the wonderful Andy Halliday.

Official opening night for Sunset Boulevard was tonight. So would press night have been last night, with reviews embargoed? Or media tonight?

I loved The Lady in Question but wouldn't an audience need to be somewhat familiar with those late Norma Shearer and Joan Crawford WWII films from MGM to appreciate the satire?

The London "Sunset Boulevard" opens Oct. 12.

Originally said Oct 5.

[quote]Originally said Oct 5.

Maybe they needed more time to finish the sets.

A *lot* of shows are of their time, r282.

R274, the Broadway Nation podcast.

[quote]How is Original Story By?

I just finished it today R274 and really liked it. I know Laurents is hated here on DL, but he had a very interesting life/career and seems pretty honest in recounting it. He doesn't pull many punches and there is lots of dish, along with a somewhat surprising focus on his life as a gay man.

My takeaway from seeing Guys & Dolls again today is: never return to a show via a matinée performance.

I wanted to go to the evening performance but my friend, who is visiting from Oz, said she had dinner plans, etc. and asked if we could go to the matinee.

As I’m sure the folks at Here Lies Love are well aware of, on their box office death spiral: an immersively staged show needs an audience on the floor to make it immersive. It’s not like there’s an alternative staging available for when, like today at the Bridge, there was probably less than 20% of the floor filled and that was mostly with zombie-eyed tourists, school boys and stage hands. The cast did a good job of playing to these people, coaxing them out of their shells, but it takes what in the best of circumstances is an inventive, dynamic staging and makes it seem more like something in the tradition of panto. The cast made the best of it - I’m sure, not for the 1st time - but there was a certain shrillness to some performances as they tried to go full throttle to make up for the deficit of an actual audience, out for a good time and loosened up by drinks, pre-show. They also seemed to cut a lot of the encores, understandably.

The big difference for me this time was seeing Andrew Richardson as Sky, since I saw his understudy (1st cover), George (Yorgos) Ioannides in July. (Because of the press Richardson received when the show opened in March, I was vaguely aware that he was out and Ioannides had, at that time, been covering him for weeks.) I wasn’t impressed. While Richardson is a strapping specimen of a man, it’s kind of like watching the high school jock join the drama club. He’s only a passable singer with an airiness to his voice that never quite locates a rich, resonant centre which makes his tone seem kind of thin. And since he mostly seems to be in love with himself, his delivery lacks any of the romanticism the role requires - not just in his feelings for Sarah but in the romantic notion that, through love, a gambler can be transformed into a missionary. He also plays Sky as a “character”, thick with a “Sopranos”-type goombah-ism that, of course, seems completely put on and unappealing both as the character and an actor. It’s like he’s playing somebody on top of playing somebody, commenting on a character rather than playing one. He never embodies Sky Masterson in any way, like he’s holding the character away from himself, very much like how a closet case does, but not in a knowing way.

I don’t mean to suggest that Mr. Richardson himself is closeted - I know nothing about him - but there’s an unease and limitation to what he seems capable of giving of himself to the role that just suggests he’s performing on top of a performance, and neither one feels very authentic, and authenticity is primarily what is required for Sky Masterson, who stands above all of the other gamblers with not only his ease and charm but with his sense of self and capacity to love. You can’t play Sky, you have to be him.

By contrast, his cover, Ioannides, while tight and smaller in stature (like a young DeNiro) and appealingly swarthy, was all ease and self-confidence with a beautiful voice who invested himself in the songs as if they were dramatic, revealing performances particularly My Time of Day which, in his hands, seemed like an invitation to real intimacy and in Richardson’s hands just seemed like a song he’s supposed to sing at the end of Act 1 of Guys and Dolls. With Ioannides, you knew Sarah Brown didn’t stand a chance when Sky first walks into the mission - and the actress’ performance acknowledged that. With Richardson, you kind of felt she could do better and she knew it too.

(cont.)

The biggest contrast was in the Havana scene where it’s now well known that Sky takes Sarah to a gay nightclub. With Ioannides, Sky was all confidence and at complete ease with himself, like he knew the best place to be and knew a good time (and maybe, on his own time, would allow himself to get carried away a bit). With Richardson, Sky seems gay like he’s kind of hoping Sarah won’t realise they’re at a gay bar and he can get what he really wants. This doesn’t exactly fuel the romance between Sarah and Sky, like it does with Ioannides when it’s all a big misunderstanding, and further deflates the romantic flourishes throughout the 2nd act (Sky paying Nathan, Sky departing the mission, etc., even his brief exchange with Miss Adelaide, the musical’s two protagonists who wear their hearts on their sleeves). Ioannides is a terrific actor and also a better dancer. Richardson brings brawn to the role, which is enough to get some people excited, but little else. (And who ever heard of a brawny, jock gambler anyway?)

I also saw Cedric Neal, this revival’s original Nicely-Nicely, who was terrific, of course; I hadn’t realised I’d seen his cover before. Since Clive Rowe delivered his Olivier award-winning performance in 1997 (and maybe even prior to that), it’s been the tradition in British revivals that Nicely-Nicely is played by a black actor, which is great. But there is something about a skinny, unassuming white guy getting up on a desk and bringing down the house - and I mean the ceiling - with a revival-house worthy delivery of this Shaker classic. Sometimes the unexpected thing is just more joyous and satisfying.

What is uncontested is that Marisha Wallace as Miss Adelaide is an ABSOLUTE STAR - she can play to ANY audience - and any NY transfer should absolutely include her. Bushel and a Peck is just the right side of sleazy, in this milieu, and the 2nd act opener, Take Back Your Mink, is an absolute showstopper. I almost wish I could return a 3rd time as Daniel Mays returns to the role of Nathan Detroit on the 16th and I suspect there is more fire in their pairing than with his replacement, who accounts for a lot of the shrillness alluded to earlier.

The thing about Guys and Dolls is that its 2nd act is as great as its 1st - a rarity in musical theatre, certainly as of late - so the Bridge cast ultimately delivers even on a matinee day with a nearly empty floor. Hytner should really do something before NY about the staging of Luck Be a Lady though which is restricted by the narrow platforms and is more blocked than choreographed. It’s a letdown. I remember in Michael Grandage’s production, with Ewan McGregor as Sky, it was much more of a Michael Kidd staging that seemed musical and in motion the whole time, as I recall it, complete with acrobatic gamblers. Hytner’s version is only lukewarm and lacks urgency and momentum. It’s like a bunch of guys standing around waiting for a dance rehearsal. If the platforms are restrictive, he needs to find a space in NY where he can open it out onto the floor. As is typical of British musical performers, the male dancing could use improvement before NY.

[quote]Excellent camera work and editing brought verve to simplistic songs, like “Doe a Deer.”

Oh, DEER!

R280, I forgot about "The Lady in Question"! Oh man, I read that years ago and laughed... and thanks for the photos from the production (those costumes are marvelous). Richard Kind was in the cast? That's just delicious to think about; he's so funny and I bet he was wonderful as a Nazi .

I know what you mean, R282, but I don't think that that's necessary. Plenty of the humor derives from lines and situations that are funny in their own right. Recognizing the links to the movies you mention (don't forget NOTORIOUS) deepens the fun, of course.

I'd say the same about Charles Ludlam's brilliant THE MYSTERY OF IRMA VEP, which is uproarious even for an audience that hasn't seen (say) REBECCA.

R292, the pictures on that page aren't all from the original production. Richard Kind was in the 2007 Sag Harbor revival whose credits appear at the bottom of the page; Busch and Halston recreated their roles with an otherwise new cast. Everyone was good in that production, but first among equals was Matt McGrath -- bone-chillingly brilliant as Lotte.

I wonder whether we'll ever find out what happened to McGrath vis-à-vis the Broadway BOYS IN THE BAND. (He stood by for Jim Parsons, then went on in previews when Parsons was injured, then disappeared from the cast. (IIRC, he even disappeared from the show's IBDB page for a while.)

R294. I remember Parsons was injured at a Sat matinee and McGrath wasn't prepared to go on for the evening performance so it was cancelled. He went on Monday Eve and had to call for line several times. He understudied three roles and was replaced soon after that.

Wondering if Busch's plays in which he played the female lead would work with a biological woman. Is it mandated that these roles must be played by a man?

One of my favorite theater books is the little-known THE BIRTH OF SHYLOCK AND THE DEATH OF ZERO MOSTEL by Arnold Wesker. It's the first-hand account of the author's attempts to get his 1977 play (a reconstruction of Merchant of Venice) to Broadway after the death of its lead, Mostel. It's a gritty, gripping behind-the-scenes analysis of the glories and horrors of writing a play and seeing it to completion—including dealing with John Dexter. Wesker is a great writer and I devoured this book.

R296. Well, the film of Psycho Beach Party starred Lauren Ambrose as Chicklet, the Busch role. It took some adjusting for me (I loved it onstage with Busch), but Ambrose brought a charm and ability to move into the alternate personalities that proved winning.

For the grand dame roles, someone like Kathleen Turner, who, in middle age SEEMED like a drag queen (didn’t she play Chandler’s father on Friends?), might have worked—her Beverly in Serial Mom showed her ability to walk the fine line between camp and “seriousness.” Are there others who could have done it?

[quote]Brief as it is, that Showbiz911 article on the Tonys is a piece of crap, especially the line about how HERE LIES LOVE is "a huge hit right now." In what universe???

The same universe where 2500 seats is half of Radio City’s 6000 capacity.

I have the "Die, Mommie, Die!" DVD signed by Mr Busch when I met him at the Broadway Cares Equity Fights AIDS Annual Flea Market celebrity table.

r290, I really appreciate your analysis and mostly agree with everything you said about the Bridge G&D and why I know not to return to see it again. The show is so joyous and exuberant but, for me anyway, not technically all that, and would be all the clearer on a second viewing. There's something about that Bridge space that contributes immeasurably to the viewing experience, which I first had watching their Julius Caesar (with Ben Whishaw as Brutus), which had a similar rising platform and moving audience concept. I also saw Ralph Fiennes in the Robert Moses play which had a conventional staging and it (and Fiennes) severely disappointed, though much of that was the play itself.

As for Andrew Richardson, who I adored, I also will admit to his various musical comedy shortcomings but his sex appeal and manly presence made up for any lack of singing talent. To be fair, I think you may have just caught him on a bad day (which you admit as far as the rest of the show) and perhaps he's too young and inexperienced (I think this is his first musical) to have the technique to sail through a lackluster audience. I thought the Sarah was dreadful, btw, and wigged and costumed very unflatteringly. What did you think of her?

I think Richardson will have a huge career in film with the occasional return to the stage, very much like Hugh Jackman. I can't imagine he's not being deluged with offers already and probably counting down the days before he can move on. That said, I hope he, at least, opens the show when it transfers to Broadway. I'll be content saying I saw him when he was first discovered.

[quote]As I’m sure the folks at Here Lies Love are well aware of, on their box office death spiral: an immersively staged show needs an audience on the floor to make it immersive. It’s not like there’s an alternative staging available for when, like today at the Bridge, there was probably less than 20% of the floor filled and that was mostly with zombie-eyed tourists, school boys and stage hands. The cast did a good job of playing to these people, coaxing them out of their shells, but it takes what in the best of circumstances is an inventive, dynamic staging and makes it seem more like something in the tradition of panto. The cast made the best of it - I’m sure, not for the 1st time - but there was a certain shrillness to some performances as they tried to go full throttle to make up for the deficit of an actual audience, out for a good time and loosened up by drinks, pre-show.

To me, this sounds like good news. I have read and observed that there is a more and more of a trend lately towards "immersive" stagings of shows, with some form of "audience participation," and I pretty much hate that shit. Do your job, actors, and please let me just sit there and enjoy and respond WITHOUT participating and/or having to keep moving around as different scenes of the show are played in different spaces.

[quote]The big difference for me this time was seeing Andrew Richardson as Sky, since I saw his understudy (1st cover), George (Yorgos) Ioannides in July. (Because of the press Richardson received when the show opened in March, I was vaguely aware that he was out and Ioannides had, at that time, been covering him for weeks.) I wasn’t impressed. While Richardson is a strapping specimen of a man, it’s kind of like watching the high school jock join the drama club. He’s only a passable singer with an airiness to his voice that never quite locates a rich, resonant centre which makes his tone seem kind of thin. And since he mostly seems to be in love with himself, his delivery lacks any of the romanticism the role requires - not just in his feelings for Sarah but in the romantic notion that, through love, a gambler can be transformed into a missionary. He also plays Sky as a “character”, thick with a “Sopranos”-type goombah-ism that, of course, seems completely put on and unappealing both as the character and an actor. It’s like he’s playing somebody on top of playing somebody, commenting on a character rather than playing one......There’s an unease and limitation to what he seems capable of giving of himself to the role that just suggests he’s performing on top of a performance, and neither one feels very authentic, and authenticity is primarily what is required for Sky Masterson, who stands above all of the other gamblers with not only his ease and charm but with his sense of self and capacity to love. You can’t play Sky, you have to be him.

Maybe the unease comes solely from the fact that Richardson knows he's not doing a very good job with the Runyonesque New York accent, and also because he's aware that some people (you included) feel that he doesn't sing very well. On that note, should we all assume this is another case (see also Michael Hayden) where Nicholas Hytner has become enamored of an actor due to his "sex appeal" and "manly prescence" (in R300's words) and cast him in a role for which he's not really suited?

[quote]What is uncontested is that Marisha Wallace as Miss Adelaide is an ABSOLUTE STAR - she can play to ANY audience - and any NY transfer should absolutely include her. Bushel and a Peck is just the right side of sleazy, in this milieu, and the 2nd act opener, Take Back Your Mink, is an absolute showstopper. I almost wish I could return a 3rd time as Daniel Mays returns to the role of Nathan Detroit on the 16th and I suspect there is more fire in their pairing than with his replacement, who accounts for a lot of the shrillness alluded to earlier.

Not "uncontested." A friend of mine who saw the show found her performance extremely vulgar and overdone, and I think a lot of that comes across on the cast album.

[quote]I also saw Cedric Neal, this revival’s original Nicely-Nicely, who was terrific, of course

I wonder if he'll come over with the show if it moves to New York, considering he's an American and already a member of Actor's Equity.

[quote]What is uncontested is that Marisha Wallace as Miss Adelaide is an ABSOLUTE STAR

She's been one since The Bob Newhart Show.

Is everything transferring from London?

I’ve heard rumors of

Old Friends

Sunset Blvd

La Cage Aux Folles

Guys & Dolls

I enjoyed the staging for the Bridge G&D very much. But the rest of the show was not all that great for me. Maybe I've seen too many other better productions. Unfortunately, I saw the Adelaide understudy, who was good, but not a star. I loved Andrew Richardson until he opened his mouth to sing. Very disappointing. The Sarah was competent. But it was Daniel Mays who I absolutely detested. He was doing all this stuff, all these annoying mannerisms - it was the busiest fucking performance I've seen in eons. Dreadful.

Thanks R305 for mentioning Daniel Mays. I won’t be returning to see him then.

I felt the same way about Sarah, she’s competent, at times inspired. She doesn’t exactly yearn for something more.

I think Adelaide really benefits from that staging because those Hot Box numbers are exactly what the immersive staging were made for, it’s when it really comes to life. And Marisha Wallace really is wonderful.

Oh god, not another production of La Cage. Enough already.

R3O4

Yes Andrew and Fergie are relocating to East 72nd street.

The last thing we need is another revival of La Cage. Why? So Nick Westrate can hang out backstage with his bf and try to get noticed?

Thanks for the reminder about The Making of No No Nanette - I just snagged a copy for $20. They usually go for upwards of $70.

^^ there’s DL in a nutshell, right there at R310 ;)

Here Lies Love is now selling value packs.

[quote]Here Lies Love has partnered with The Broadway Exchange for a first-of-its-kind digital ticketing loyalty program to reward fans who experience the show multiple times at the Broadway Theatre (1681 Broadway at 53rd Street), offering buyers unparalleled flexibility on dates, times, and seating options.

[quote]Beginning today, ticket buyers can purchase four-ticket packs which can be redeemed for any performance(s), within 48 hours of showtime, for either Dance Floor tickets or Mezzanine seating. Unlike traditional ticketing options, ticket buyers don't need to select their seats or dates when they buy these packs. They can choose when they want to go and where they want to be any time up to 48 hours before a show. The packs can be used any time until Tuesday, December 19 (excluding performances November 20-26).

R296 and R298, in the book of scripts I won, Busch is explicit that for Psycho BB, it's perfectly acceptable to cast women for women. In the original NYC production, Busch's understudy was a woman.

... crap! I meant, "in the book of scripts I own," My proofing skills are not once they once were.

Die...

Someone put HERE LIES LOVE out of its misery.

As much as Busch says it's fine to cast women, something is missing when you cast true to gender (if that is even allowed to be said any more). I've seen it done. MAYBE if the women are outstanding - like Julie Halston - it would work. But those kind of dames are few and far between.

David Byrne was promoting it on Late Night with Seth Meyers last night, so they're not ready to give up yet

I’m sad for Here Lies Love. I thought it was absolutely fantastic at the Public.

Can't imagine what could possibly cause the BO of Here Lies Love to catch fire at this stage.

General non-theater audiences have no idea what Here Lies Love is about and the name Imelda Marcos really isn't an incentive. Who would want to "immerse" in that? And I don't think even David Byrne lovers can reconcile him to this all-Filipino project.

So who is really going to be Sally in Cabaret in the Spring?

Anita Gillette

[quote]Yes Andrew and Fergie are relocating to East 72nd street.

We have a vacancy in our lovely brownstone at the bottom of the East River.

The best part of " Die, Mommie, Die!" is Stark Sands' ass.

R325

R322. Lili Cooper will be Sally, of course!

[Quote] should we all assume this is another case (see also Michael Hayden) where Nicholas Hytner has become enamored of an actor due to his "sex appeal" and "manly prescence"…and cast him in a role for which he's not really suited?

Whatever do you mean?

My mom and I used to sing this together. Just out of nowhere.

If you start watching this, you'll watch it until the end. A performer of true brilliance.

You were right, r330. My heart aches that she stopped acting so young (relatively). I had no idea that she had such an extensive and far-reaching body of film and tv work.

I think it was Barbara Harris who said that she only liked the process of putting on a play (i.e., rehearsals) because she loved discovering her character, but once the show was frozen she would lose all interest in the piece.

Streisand said that too, R332. Apparently Streisand‘s lack of interest showed on stage during the long run of funny Girl. I wonder if Harris ever gave a bored performance on stage.

And I'm here to defend NIck Hytner's casting couches,,,,er, I mean....choices!

As a teen I had the great good fortune to see Streisand in FUNNY GIRL and Barbara Harris in ON A CLEAR DAY.... and THE APPLE TREE. Barbra walked through most of Act 1 until she got to "People" and then finally came alive for the rest of the show. My first witnessing of an actor "walking through" a performance before I even had a name for it.

But Barbara was a thorough delight and utterly spectacular in both of her Broadway appearances. Nothing bored pr tired about her. She had a whimsy and charm that BS could never achieve onstage or on film.

Here Lies Love is unfortunately a bunch of empty calories. You are engaged as you watch, but you walk out carrying nothing. Gone in Jan....There's no reason to see this...You just don't connect.

[quote]You are engaged as you watch

Unless you are in the rear mezzanine. The show does not land up there at all, in my opinion.

Audiences aren't paying to see you be bored on stage and without 'em you're just some bitch sitting at home getting your calls screened.

Yes, Willy at R328, but I've always heard it was another member of the creative team of MISS SAIGON who pushed for your casting, and Hytner wasn't responsible for that one.

[Quote] I've always heard it was another member of the creative team

Tease

Actually, R340, I don't mean to tease, because I've heard from different sources that different people were responsible for that casting. Some say it was indeed the director, but some say it was the producer, and some say it was someone involved with the production in another capacity. So I really don't know :-)

Cameron seems like too much of a control freak to allow anyone else to get away with that on one of his shows

Good point, R342. But one of the other higher-ups on SAIGON had a rep for that sort of thing, whereas I'm not sure that Cameron ever did.

"For my audition, I will be singing 'Doe A Deer' from 'Sound of Music.'"

"Next!"

Tea with Janet Bread

r343 *cough* Charlie Stemp *cough*

Guessing by higher ups we're talking about Richard Jay-Alexander? Cameron wasted no time sacking him once he realised what was going on at Les Mis, which is what makes me doubt he would've let him get away with it at Miss Saigon. At least, not for an opening cast anyway.

[quote]Tea with Janet Bread

Maybe a friend of Sam and Janet Evening?

Actually, I think her name is Jamin Bread, as in D. Jamin...

Lots and lots of TDF dates for PURLIE.

Glynis Johns interviewed about turning 100.

Alan Alda, who was in the OBC of "Purlie Victorious" and is a producer of the revival, visits the show.

Alda looks good.

I applaud the producers for giving us a production of Purlie Victorious, because it really is a lost play that rarely gets produced. We always complain about the same five play revivals happening in NYC (mostly all Tennessee Williams), so I wish people would go to support it. I'd love to see it if I was in NYC.

I read an interview somewhere with Olivia Colman who also said she very much enjoyed rehearsing a play and far less so performing it nightly. (I don't know her, of course, but she doesn't seem like the type to walk through a performance even if she's not loving being there.)

Is Coleman officially in Heartstopper or does she just wander onto the set every now and then to make herself a sandwich?

I wonder if the top MISS SAIGON creative with the Willy hard-on could have been lyricist Richard Maltby? I worked with him decades ago, and though ostensibly straight, he definitely seemed more invested in the boys than the girls.

Why the suspicion that Willy was hired for his looks and not his talent? Falk was quite good in MISS SAIGON. I wish he had done more Broadway.

[quote] I applaud the producers for giving us a production of Purlie Victorious, because it really is a lost play that rarely gets produced.

Purlie Victorious should have been done at one of the non-profits. It never had a chance commercially.

Willy is perfectly fine. Doesn't need casting couch to get a part.

[quote]Glynis Johns interviewed about turning 100.

So young.

Re MISS SAIGON: My favorite 'Chris' is Will Chase. He was hot and masculine and believable as a US Marine. Also, great actor and singer.

I saw him and Lea Salonga on Broadway around 1999.

I'm glad they recorded the Manila production they did in 2000 (clip below).

I think they also closed the show on Broadway in 2001.

Frankly, I wouldn't be surprised if they had an affair after spending so much time being intimate with each other on that show. They had a lot of chemistry.

[quote]The last thing we need is another revival of La Cage. Why? So Nick Westrate can hang out backstage with his bf and try to get noticed?

I'd take revival of La Cage over another "Into the Woods", or any Sondheim dirge.

[quote] I applaud the producers for giving us a production of Purlie Victorious, because it really is a lost play that rarely gets produced.

I'd applaud more if they had done "Purlie Victorious", in tandem with "Purlie" also with Leslie Odom Jr.

I'm seeing Patti LuPone in Toronto in November. I hope she goes on the attack!

R364 take a picture of her during the show or talk on your phone. That will be enough to get her to attack you.

Zombie Jerry Herman chimes in at rr362.

[quote]I'm seeing Patti LuPone in Toronto in November.

Toronto in November is a lousy play.

R365, I'm sitting close to stage so I'm starting with my Glenn Close t-shirt, but that's good advice.

[quote]Toronto in November is a lousy play.

It's also a lousy song.

Where is Will Chase

[quote]Toronto in November is a lousy play.

Is it a sequel to "April in Paris" or "Sunday in New York"?

Will Chase looks like he would throw a good, hard fuck.

R372. Looks can be deceiving

I think "La Cage" is a pretty awful show. Everyone involved acted like they were really doing something far more important than a fluffy rather threadbare Jerry Herman show and the casting of George Hearn was a puzzling blunder. I have no idea what he was doing, or why.

Oh, it's also maudlin and unfunny, in case you wanted a second opinion!

There was *nothing* threadbare about it, r374.

I really disliked La Cage the first time I saw it. I thought it was stodgy and ill directed, and George Hearn was definitely miscast. I had a wonderful time at the first revival, which I saw at the Actors Fund Benefit. Gary Beach was wonderful and Robert Goulet was hilarious, even though he kept breaking. The audience didn't care and loved it. The 2nd revival was just okay, but still better than the original.

[quote]Robert Goulet was hilarious, even though he kept breaking

Old bones do that.

I had thought Will Chase was hot until I finally actually saw him onstage in that godawful Roundabout revival of Kiss Me Kate in which he looked rather scrawny and inept.

[quote]There was *nothing* threadbare about it, [R374].

I guess you've never heard the score?

It's a fine Jerry Herman score, r379. It might rank third in his big lady musicals, but it's certainly more tuneful than Sunday/Park/George.

Dolly, Mame , Mack & Mabel are all far superior to La Cage. Hell, Milk & Honey is even more tuneful.

Not sure where Dear World figures in tho....

You're entitled to your opinion, r381, but how many Broadway revivals have there been of Mame, Mack & Mabel, Dear World or Milk & Honey?

[Quote] Sunday/Park/George

Honestly?

In my opinion, r383.

By the way, r383, I said "more tuneful" not "better.

My favorite part of the original La Cage was Gene Barry's bio in the Playbill which mentioned his wife around 10 times. Got it, Gene, you're straight.

Me too!

R386, FUN FACT . . . Gene Barry’s wife of many years was the former Betty Kalb, a childhood and lifelong friend of Lauren Bacall.

The story Bacall told many times of an arranged meeting by her uncle with her idol Bette Davis in a NYC hotel when she was just a teenager accompanied by a girlfriend who was overcome with meeting Bette and fainted in the hallway, that girlfriend was Betty Kalb.

Sounds like something a "Betty Kalb" would do.

Gene had a small pecker.

I attended the original La Cage with Hermione Gingold (really!) and she said Gene Barry was one of the dumbest men she'd ever met.

Gene Barry was kind of an anomaly in his first starring role as Bat Masterson, a hugely popular 1950s TV Western. He played the character as almost effete, certainly not a lawman who'd ever get into a bar room brawl. And then in his next starring TV role as a private eye on Burke's Law he also never broke a sweat. Don't think he ever did a shirtless scene in either which was pretty de rigeur back in those days for hunks on the westerns and private eye shows. I guess that was his thing and he stuck to it.

Gene Barry returned to La Cage later in the run (maybe when Bob Stack didn't work out), played one performance, had a heart attack and never returned. But he was in the audience for the final performance.

Gene Barry starred in one of the early “Columbo” movies for television before it became a series.

It’s called a pilot.

Excuse me...ex-c-u-u-u-s-e me. *I'm* the victim here.

And you’re called a cunt, R395.

[quote]Why the suspicion that Willy was hired for his looks and not his talent? Falk was quite good in MISS SAIGON. I wish he had done more Broadway.

No one said he was hired for his looks, but there was a rumor that he was cast because he was involved on some level with one of the producers or creatives, which is not the same thing. Also, we're not questioning his talent, but when the show opened, it seemed almost everyone felt he was miscast in terms of type. And indeed, all of the subsequent Broadway Chrises that I know of were very different in type from Willy Falk. For example, Sean McDermott, Matt Bogart, and that scorching hot if not very talented guy who played the part in the revival.

Regarding Purlie, I know he won the Tony but I don't think Leslie Odom, Jr. is a box office draw. I read an interview about the film of HAMILTON that got sold to Disney and he talked about the fact that he held it up until he got paid what Aaron Tveit got for the live GREASE. He said something like "pay me what that white boy got for GREASE." But GREASE was network TV and Aaron (I think) is a much bigger box office draw. I have friends who lose their mind to see him in anything- in Moulin Rouge, in a cabaret show, in an out-of-town regional theater show, etc. I don't think Leslie has that kind of following, even if he is doing a lot of TV lately. I guess good for him for asking and getting a much bigger paycheck than they were offering him but I don't know anyone who was rushing to see Purlie because he was in it.

“that scorching hot if not very talented guy who played the part in the revival.“

Who?

[quote]Regarding Purlie, I know he won the Tony but I don't think Leslie Odom, Jr. is a box office draw. I read an interview about the film of HAMILTON that got sold to Disney and he talked about the fact that he held it up until he got paid what Aaron Tveit got for the live GREASE. He said something like "pay me what that white boy got for GREASE."

Why on earth would he have compared his role in HAMILTON to Aaron Tveit's role in GREASE specifically, of all roles?

R400, Google is your friend. Also ibdb.com. Anyway, he's a Brit named Alistar Brammer.

Leslie Odom has a misshapen scrotum.

Leslie Scrodom Jr.

I'm sure it's been talked about before, but how was Van Johnson in La Cage aux Folles? And if we had to have a new revival, who would you cast?

Josh Gad & Andrew Rannells, R405.

R405, Hugh Jackman and Ryan Reynolds

Sunday/Park/George sounds like a title for a shitty new play with 3 actors and a chair.

I saw Van Johnson in La Cage. He was quite charming but his singing was so bad he had audience members giggling. He massacred Song on the Sand. Keith Michel was perfection as Georges.

Hi, Felicia...

R409, Van must have butchered “Trouble” when he starred in The Music Man in London.

[quote] Van must have butchered “Trouble” when he starred in The Music Man in London.

Judge for yourself. He's more effortful than Robert Preston, but it's not a washout either.

I didn’t get the memo that Karen Olivo now goes by KO?

Insufferable and exhausting.

R413, It’s short for Kaopectate.

R413. Seriously?

How many times has Ms. KO retired and forsaken the stage, only to return? I thought she said she was happy making pottery in Michigan or some such nonsense.

Anyone eager for How/Dance/Ohio, Prayer/French/Republic or Water/Elephants?

(r380, that was for you, ya douchebag)

Does Miss Olivo fancy herself a KNOCKOUT?

[quote]I didn’t get the memo that Karen Olivo now goes by KO?

[quote]Insufferable and exhausting.

Many actors are insufferable and pretentious and histrionic and self-absorbed.

I could never be friends with one.

Actors everywhere let out a sigh of relief

You choose to get upset over the most trivial things, r418. Go out and get some fresh air.

Speaking of La Cage, whatever happened to the talentless kid (unless fucking Arthur Laurents counts) who played Jean-Michel? He did one Broadway show and disappeared? He's going to be 70. Is he selling used cars with Matt Canenaugh somewhere?

Calling John Weiner.....

^Cavenaugh

R423, I have no idea what he's doing now, assuming he's still living. I've always assumed that, immediately after LA CAGE, he slipped back into the obscurity he so richly deserved.

R423. Peter Reardon who played JM on tour and later on Broadway was a hottie. Weiner was meh.

"KO" is talented enough but why anyone keeps hiring them is a mystery to me. All they do is complain afterwards about how racist/micro-aggressive/abusive/INSERT RANDOM COMPLAINT HERE everyone was to them and how bad every single theater experience was for their mental health. The cast at Moulin Rouge, who were working equally as hard as KO, were so sick of it.

I don't agree with your phrasing, R427. "KO" is nowhere near "talented enough" to make it worthwhile for any producers, directors, et al. to overlook her rage-filled, mentally and emotionally unstable behavior.

and everyone at Moulin Rouge was actually working [Italic] harder [/italic] than KO, because she’s the only one who didn’t have to lift her.

OK, probably should have been “they’re only one who didn’t have to lift them,” but that makes no sense.

[quote]...but how many Broadway revivals have there been of Mame, Mack & Mabel, Dear World or Milk & Honey?

Both revivals of "La Cage" lost their shirts. One ran a bit, but both were financial failures.

So, r431?

It's interesting to read that Goulet kept cracking up during La Cage because he did the same thing when I saw Moon Over Buffalo. Poor Lynn Redgrave looked mortified and the audience was not laughing along with him.

Does "KO" mean to indicate "non-binary" for her?

If so...INSUFFERABLE!

I blame the people for hiring her.

That’s interesting??

The cracking up is planned; it always is.

R433, Raquel Welch cracked up several times when I saw her on Broadway in Woman of the Year.

She also stopped a song and had the orchestra start over when she screwed up the lyrics,

Goulet definitely didn't plan breaking up in La Cage. He just looked like he was a bit lost at times, but still having a great time. (and it was a very receptive Actors Fund audience) Now, the recent Music Man... that's another story.

And Mr. Goulet drank a little

Gavyn Creel stops himself from telling “times when Bob went up” stories in some interview with that creepy dude from broadway.com.

R439. I'll say

Where is Gavin these days, now that the Into the Woods tour is over? Is he still going to do his Met Museum show?

Yes, it begins performances next month.

In the other black girl, Eric, McCormack is a villain who changes his very overdone eyeglasses in every episode. I wonder if it is a spoof of Tom Schumacher

What is the other black girl, Eric, McCormack is a villain?

Every Single Day from the Barry Manilow musical HARMONY.

Nice song. Reminds me a bit of the Sondheim tune Take Me To The World.

╱▔▔▔▔▔╲⠀⠀⠀ ⠀╱⠀⠀╱▔╲╲╲▏⠀⠀⠀ ╱⠀⠀╱━╱▔▔▔▔▔╲━╮⠀⠀ ▏⠀▕┃▕╱▔╲╱▔╲▕╮┃⠀⠀ ▏⠀▕╰━▏▊▕▕▋▕▕━╯⠀⠀ ╲⠀⠀╲╱▔╭╮▔▔┳╲╲⠀⠀⠀ ⠀╲⠀⠀▏╭━━━━╯▕▕⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀╲⠀╲▂▂▂▂▂▂╱╱⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀▏⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀╲⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀▏⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀▕╲⠀⠀╲ ⠀╱▔╲▏⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀▕╱▔╲▕ ⠀▏ ⠀⠀⠀╰⠀⠀⠀⠀╯⠀⠀⠀▕▕ ⠀╲⠀⠀⠀╲⠀⠀⠀⠀╱⠀⠀⠀╱⠀╲ ⠀⠀╲⠀⠀▕▔▔▔▔▏⠀⠀╱╲╲╲▏ ⠀╱▔⠀⠀▕⠀⠀⠀⠀▏⠀⠀▔╲▔▔ ⠀╲▂▂▂╱⠀⠀⠀⠀╲▂▂▂╱

Gavin's show looks dreary.

R448 Didn't he used to date, or at least bang, someone who used to work there? That's probably how the show came about.

Over at Here We Are, they've endeavored to ugly up Bobby Cannavale for comedy with glasses, put him in a track suit to make him look slightly dumpy, and wardrobe can effort in vain to fully flatten out that bulge, but IYKYK: there's a Grade-A hottie in there! He had his shirt off for a little bit and even though he's in his 50s now most every gay guy in the audience would still totally let him hit it from sunset to sunrise. He's wonderful in the show too.

I've never seen Bobby Cannavale be wonderful in anything, so this would be a first.

The only sad thing about the shelved Funny Girl revival starring Lauren Ambrose is we were robbed of the fabulous Nicky Arnstein Cannavale would have been.

I think the oft – maligned sky Masterson from London sounds like a singing, Bobby Cannavale on the album

Leslie Odom Jr obviously has a somewhat inflated sense of his value. He ain’t ever gonna be a movie star no matter how many chances he gets. He lacks the IT Factor.

That Harmony song is

B. A. D.

[quote]Leslie Odom Jr obviously has a somewhat inflated sense of his value. He ain’t ever gonna be a movie star no matter how many chances he gets. He lacks the IT Factor.

But he does have an Academy Award nomination for acting and well, you don't.

All the nominations for that film ought to be revoked. It was a borefest.

Harmony played LA about a decade ago, and it was not good.

If you’re going to call your show “Harmony”, you’d better make sure your performers can actually harmonize.

[quote]But he does have an Academy Award nomination for acting and well, you don't.

R455 That's hardly impressive in recent years, when they give Oscar nominations to black actors for merely breathing.

Plus, his movie was released in 2020, so he definitely benefited from the George Floyd riots fallout, because Hollywood got even more 'woke' after that year.

R458 take that shit somewhere else, bigot.

Charles West was physically the best male lead in Miss Saigon.

Leslie Odom Jr. Has RBF.

I’ve heard of BDF but not RBF. What’s that?

Resting Bitch Face

What film got Leslie the Oscar Nomination? I've forgotten already.

[quote]The Oscar nominations for the 93rd annual Academy Awards include the first two of Leslie Odom Jr.'s career.

[quote]The Philly native was nominated for best supporting actor for his portrayal of singer Sam Cooke in "One Night in Miami." The film's main song, "Speak Now," which was co-written and performed by Odom, was nominated for best original song.

Gene Barry, shirtless

PUT YOUR SHIRT ON GENE!

I really should have been nominated for Split. I really should have. Or Tender Mercies.

Christ even my performance in Another Woman stands out!

Listen, Betty Lynn really should have been nominated for Tender Mercies. She was amazing. She and Sandy Dennis walked off with Another Woman.

R469, Excuse me?

r469, EXCUSE ME?

I loved Betty’s performances in Carrie (the movie) and Carrie (the musical)..

[quote]Charles West was physically the best male lead in Miss Saigon.

I'd never heard of him before, but he does look and sound great in the clips I found on YouTube of him as Chris in SAIGON. When and where did he play that role?

I thought Carrie was a documentary.

Gene Barry looks like Corky, the dummy from the film "Magic," in that shirtless pic.

Gene’s greatest role

Sarah Brightman will play Norma Desmond in Australia in 2024.

A *wide-eyed* Norma.

[quote]Sarah Brightman will play Norma Desmond in Australia in 2024.

"With one note, I can break your ears...."

Sarah Brightman will play Madonna as Norma Desmond in Australia in 2024 by the look of it.

With one more I'll have you in tears.

A high-pitched Norma?

Ok but who is that ion the photo at r480??

Start with the overbite and go from there, r483.

NOW everyone is great casting for Norma??

It's nothing but melodramatic claptrap with two power arias sung by a woman that couldn't make it in the talkies.

Hugh Jackman, of course, played Joe in the Australian premiere of Sunset Boulevard. There was a great behind-the-scenes special about it,

Maybe Hugh can play Max when it comes to Broadway.

Hugh's...bald! *That's* the bombshell he'll be dropping.

Or Norma

Brightman, ironicalky, looks like she could have been a sikent film star. Unlike Patti, Diahann, Rita, Betty etc.

Helen looked like one, r491.

I thought Betty's bone structure was more suited to a star from the '30s/'40s.

Billy Porter

*IS*

Norm Desmond

With One Look I’ll Be THEY!!!!

Any photos out there of Hugh in his Joe Gillis speedo?

[quote]Hugh Jackman, of course, played Joe in the Australian premiere of Sunset Boulevard. There was a great behind-the-scenes special about it.

Ha! I read that quickly and thought you typed, "Hugh Jackman, of course, played Joe in the Australian premiere of Sunset Boulevard. There was a great behind!"

[Quote] Brightman, ironicalky, looks like she could have been a sikent film star. Unlike Patti, Diahann, Rita, Betty etc.

What are you even talking about? I mean, I know you were there and you (barely) remember, but still.

[Quote] I thought Betty's bone structure was more suited to a star from the '30s/'40s.

Again, WTF. I believe in evolution but have none structures changed?

R495 = Taron

Billy Porter's Norma will be complaining about the advent of talkies, code switching, and microaggressions!

R495, Hugh played that Act II opening scene by the pool fully dressed in a white business suit.

Why, r500?

Is this the same person at r480v

She looks so...so...Margaret White.

r501 The Speedo wasn't a thing until the Glenn revival

*

R500, In the 2019 NSMT/Beverly, MA production, with Alice Ripley as Norma, Nicholas Rodriguez played the Act II opening scene fully dressed, as well.

R504. Nope. Lewis Cleale wore them in the 2nd US tour with Pet Clark.

R507, Indeed he did.

Surely, Rex Smith must have worn a SPEEDO in the Canadian production with Diahann Carroll.

Rex has always loved to show off his ample package.

R509... saw him... the white suit.

I wouldn't want to be around when Patti reads the Brightman press release:

"Based on the Billy Wilder film, the musical version of SUNSET BOULEVARD had its world premiere at London’s Adelphi Theatre on July 12th 1993. The show received its American premiere in December 1993 at the Shubert Theatre in Los Angeles starring Glenn Close as Norma Desmond. "

THIS WOULD HAVE BEEN MORE EFFECTIVE...

, the musical version of SUNSET BOULEVARD had its world premiere at London’s Adelphi Theatre on July 12th 1993 FEATURING PATTY LuPONE.

R512, Not to be confused with PATTI LuPONE.

Those aren’t speedos. Jeez

[bold][italic]STARRING[/bold][/italic] Patti LuPone!

Fuck!

I misspelled Patti's name on purpose because PATTY would have pissed her off. But now I realize it's not very funny and I should probably go to bed. Goodnight.

*I* got it, r517.

Oh why the hell not.

I just purchased a used CD via Amazon (only "used" seemed to be available but it's in perfect condition) that features that Whip-Poor-Will number, based on a link I saw on DL. It's an extraordinary concert of Kern's music so thanks to you, r519, or whoever posted something about it a few weeks ago. I listen to it constantly.

Referring to the fracas above, surely it should be Sunday...Park...George...?

Anyone have any discount codes for Days/Wine/Roses?

Yes, r522. Word/of/Mouth.

Pretty sure TDF will take care of your discount issues for DAYS, r522.

R523 is why I still come to Datalounge after 15 years of pointless bitchery

Another wave of raves for MERRILY. Groff must be very happy.

R514, Close enough.

That's what I always say!

R520, I probably posted the link you saw a few weeks ago. I adore Kern's music, John McGlinn's 3 CD recording of Show Boat is another essential for any fan.

Maybe I should call myself "The Kern Troll."

I love you, Kern Troll!

I think I have most of the other McGlinn recordings, including SHOW BOAT. He was just the best, though I hear he was a troubled soul.

If I by troubled soul, you mean gave me great work, then yes, he was a troubled soul!

It's still backwards.

Bells/Are/Ringing

No one seems to be saying that about this production r532.

[quote]Friedman understands something crucial about Merrily, one of those elusive things that seems so simple when we actually, at last, see it happen: We need to love the three aspiring hearts who begin the play middle-age — suffering, compromised, hating each other — and end it as 20-year-old music-makers and dreamers of dreams. I mean, really love them — enough that, as we watch their story reassemble itself, like a rewound film of a shattered vase, our hearts can’t help cracking, in an inverse relationship to the thing we’re seeing be repaired, the thing we know, in real time, is still broken. Love them enough that our knowing — the structural inevitability of the play — is neither a flaw nor, in fact, the point.

WHET Rory O'Malley? ("Turn It Off" from BoM popped up randomly on a playlist yesterday.)

You mean Word/Mouth and Bells/Ringing

r522 got it right.

Is that really what everyone does? Blames the way it is in the way it was?

None of the reviews seem to mention the relentless preachy/scolding lyrics in Merrily.

[quote]Is that really what everyone does? Blames the way it is in the way it was?

The way it never...ever...was.

Here Lies Love at $620,892 last week. Is there a hope and a prayer?

[quote]None of the reviews seem to mention the relentless preachy/scolding lyrics in Merrily.

Maybe that's because your comment is not true, or at least is a ridiculous exaggeration. I would say only a very small percentage of the lyrics in MERRILY could be classified as "preachy/scolding." Not even most of "Franklin Shepard, Inc." could accurately be described that way. If you think there are many more examples, please list them, otherwise it might be best if you just apologized and admitted you don't really know what you're talking about.

[quote]WHET Rory O'Malley? ("Turn It Off" from BoM popped up randomly on a playlist yesterday.)

he's living in LA and is on strike currently.

Saw GUTENBERG over the weekend. Hilarious and fun and exactly what I needed.

Geez, R541 obviously got out of the wrong side of the bed this morning. There ARE preachy/scolding lyrics in Merrily and not just in “ Franklin Shepard Inc.”

Glynis at 100.

[quote]There ARE preachy/scolding lyrics in Merrily and not just in “ Franklin Shepard Inc.”

The poster in question -- maybe it was you? -- wrote that the "preachy/scolding" lyrics in MERRILY are "relentless." Again, please provide even a few examples of all these supposedly preachy/scolding lyrics, and if you can't, SHUT UP.

Preachy and scolding to whom? The characters? The audience?

R547, I don't think the lyrics are preachy or scolding to anyone, because they largely don't exist. Only a very few lyrics in the show could be classified that way, and as far as I can see, they include just a few lyrics in "Franklin Shepard, Inc." and a few more in the center section of "Old Friends."

...and Margot Fonteyn to dance Giselle!

R545 give us a warning - that broad was hard enough to look at when she was young.

Steven Lutvak passed away. Gentleman’s Guide was fun, but his other music had no equal. What a loss.

I’d hate to be Daniel reading that Times review…the performance of his lifetime is still an afterthought to bossypigbotton Groff.

Groffy is neat.

I feel sure that Radcliffe is quite proud of the accolades Groff is receiving, r552.

[quote]Glynis at 100.

She let herself go.

R552 - Addison DeWitt

Coming over from the I, Claudius thread, is Sir Derek Jacobi still working, on stage, TV, radio, etc.? I saw him play Benedict and Cyrano on the same day when the RSC brought the plays to Broadway back when that sort of thing used to happen regularly. (And why doesn't it still? Yeah, I know, money.) He was terrific in both.

R551, I hadn't heard that. *sad face*

R5559, it’s a beautiful song to remember him. I worked with him a few times. He was a little prickly, but music just opened his soul.

It’s such a trade off role because Charlie has the best song in the score “Good Thing Going” and then he also has the hardest song “Franklin Shepherd Inc”

It’s a tough role

It wasn’t a trade off or tough role when Raul Esparza played it. One of the most electric performances I’ve ever seen.

Agreed, R561. In fact, I found that whole production deeply satisfying -- reading the reviews of the current one, in which everyone's blown away by the believability of the central trio's friendship, just reminds me of how deeply I felt that about the 2002 Kennedy Center rendition. I'm excited to see the new production, but for me they'll be hard-pressed to match Michael Hayden, Miriam Shor and Raúl Esparza. (Emily Skinner's Gussie was also wonderful in ways I don't expect any other performer to match.)

Radcliffe stinks in musicals. He's always trying so hard to keep up. It's no fun if we're witnessing the effort.

Yeah we really need this, Babs.

^how about putting MY scenes back in!

Regarding that Playbill article linked to at R564, how terribly embarrassing. It seems (according to other sources) that Brolin misspoke, and the movie for which Streisand is apparently planning to recut the ending is THE WAY WE WERE. Perhaps Brolin is becoming senile or just doesn't pay too much attention to what his wife says/ And P.S., this year is the 50th anniversary of THE WAY WE WERE -- not of FUNNY GIRL, which was released five years earlier. So he was also wrong about that.

Also, there is no explanation of how Streisand would have the right or the power to recut THE WAY WE WERE, a film she did not direct and does not own. Really, just when you think this woman's ego has reached its absolute limit, she surprises you.

Well, according to ATC, Playbill got it wrong.....or Jim Brolin got it wrong, but, anyway, she's actually re-cutting the ending of THE WAY WE WERE.

How about cutting a few chapters from your memoir, Barbra. Your 992 pages is heavy lifting for this EG.

No it's Funny Girl and she's cutting My Man and replacing it with the newly filmed and recorded The Music That Makes Me Dance with a reprise of Don't Rain on My Parade. .

And there will be an epilogue in which a young actress (played by Lea Michele) is shown lip-synching "My Man" in front of a mirror.

Is it possible that all three parties are idiots?

Playbill is known trash.

James Brolin doesn’t have an encyclopedic memory of his wife’s films

Barbra always thinks she has a better way and a better cut!

P.S. And Brolin is 83.

Barbra must be forgiven - 'Funny Girl' is the first movie she ever directed.

Do we think Babs will be at all self-critical in those 993 pages?

Hands off MY MAN!

It's remarkable how Sondheim's biggest flop is now a masterpiece that will run longer than Phantom. Who knew all it took was for him to drop dead.

Let us know what you achieve when you finally drop dead r576.

[quote]Sondheim's biggest flop

Hardly

R576, in what world will Merrily run as long as Phantom? This production is succeeding not because of Sondheim’s death, since it succeeded in London while he was still alive.

It doesn’t really matter anyway, but the reason Merrily flopped and Phantom was a mega hit comes down to one person: Hal Prince.

Derek Jacobi's Cyrano, for me, is still the best performance of that role I've yet to see.

West End Sunset Blvd cancelled tonite due to illness. Isn't it opening tomorrow?

Sondheim's biggest flop.

Would that be Bounce/Road Show/Wise Guys?

Or is it Anyone/Whistle?

“Saturday Night” flopped before it even made it to Broadway

[quote]Do we think Babs will be at all self-critical in those 993 pages?

I would be shocked if she could bring herself to self critical in even one sentence of one paragraph of those 993 pages. So my answer to your question is: NO!!!

How many of those pages did she actually write?

Supposedly, she did not use a ghost writer.

Let's see if she uses the phrase "The sun spit morning...".

Marry me, R588, and we can spend many wonderful hours watching "Cycle Sluts."

Too damn enervating, r589.

Speaking of which, did anyone actually see the Cycle Sluts perform in the 70s?

No, but I saw Manhattan Transfer.

r590 Not even if I give you permission to read my underwear?

J Harrison Ghee back in SLIH tonight

Any chat on I Can Get It for You Wholesale at CSC yet? I have tix for next week and I'm already wondering why I rushed in and paid a lot of money for them.

I’m not seeing it until November, but yeah. Over $200 for top tickets, which were not discounted with membership.

[quote]Any chat on I Can Get It for You Wholesale at CSC yet? I have tix for next week and I'm already wondering why I rushed in and paid a lot of money for them.

What has changed since you bought the tickets that now makes you question your decision?

R591-I saw Gotham many, many times.

I listened to the OBC album, r597.

So what are lurid tales about James Patrick Daley of the odd Bway Dracula. He gives off major slut vibes. pre-show Andy BJ?