THEATRE GOSSIP #546: The "Sara Porkalob in MONAURAL" Edition

Still trying to start this new thread.....

Michael Blakemore RIP

His Long Day's production with Larry, Constance Cummings, Ronald Pickup and Denis Quilley was brilliant, brilliant, brilliant with Larry minding the Tyrone role for comedy, making him more than the one dimensional dour, sourpuss, complainer he is on paper.

mining, not minding. Typo

Don't be so hard on yourself Ralphie....you had moments.....but nothing like what Larry created. While the video of the production, preserves at least a record of his performance, it pales in comparison to the stage mounting. All the actors were sublime. First time I got hipped to Denis Quilley. Totally unknown here, a treasure in the UK

Did this thread title kill him, R2?

To answer the poster in the last thread:

Margaret = Maggie = Meg = Peg = Peggy

Though I can't remember why it was being asked.

I thought for sure Gussie would be mentioned in the new title.

Maybe the "Gussie wants to be Mary" Edition?

Quilley was the first Sweeney Todd in London.

[quote]Let's get back to Sondheim, shall we?

We left him?

Is it time to get back to Follies? I was reading a book on Hal Prince and it had this amusing story about Yvonne DeCarlo:

Dorothy Collins remembers that "Yvonne did things the character would do. It was appropriate - in character - that she often forgot or got mixed up on the lyrics of the song, and one night, when she didn't feel like doing the Who's That Woman? number she just sat on the edge of the stage - again, exactly in character."

Lots of footage of Quilley as Sweeney. Wished I’d seen him. Seems Greek-tragedy forceful. Still surprised it flopped originally. Has anyone ever found original London reviews online. I haven’t been able to.

R8. Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio’s much less talented younger sister is named Gussie, so your “Gussie wants to be Mary” lyric is more on the nose than you could have known.

R13 Does Augusta Mastrantonio have a middle name?

What is the word on Matt Doyle‘s show about Frank Sinatra that has been playing in the West End?

He performed in Fort Lauderdale this week and mentioned the show which I’d never heard about before. Tina Sinatra is involved because he said she let the cat out of the bag sooner than she should have that he’d gotten the part.

He finished his show with That’s Life” which he delivered in character as FS. It was fine.

Did he lead a class in aerobics for the encore?

R14. Probably but who cares? MEM uses her middle name because her mother’s name was also Mary.

Plus it's much more euphonious than Mary Mastrantonio.

New footage of Evita at Curve. No set, a rolling staircase, zippity doo dah lights, and contemporary clothes. What a concept!

Would Mary Tyler Moore have been as beloved and revered had she called herself merely May Moore?

r15 The only thing I know is it's opening in the West End in the autumn of 2024

Cynthia Erivo on To Tell the Truth!! She’s a giant star.

So what is everyone’s theatre reviews lately? Any shows worth seeing?

Max Clayton’s narcissism here. Ask ME anything!

There was probably another Mary Moore in SAG or AFTRA, r20.

R23 I liked Appropriate a lot. Great cast and a bit of an August Osage County vibe.

For a season packed with shows coming in none of them seem all that interesting. Any sleeper hits maybe ? Is The Notebook going to work?

I got an invitation to a staged reading of this new musical ... about a Civil War soldier who turned out to be a woman.

r27 - as far as upcoming shows, I think Cabaret will be a big hit in NY -- even after Redmayne departs.

R28. How inventive

[quote]I got an invitation to a staged reading of this new musical ... about a Civil War soldier who turned out to be a woman.

It's the white version of Mulan.

I can’t remember, have they announced Redmayne’s Sally? I can’t remember. Is she an actress who can sing or a singer who can act?

r32 Gayle Rankin

"Gayle Rankin" is *not* a Star name.

CABARET may be a tough sell given what's happening in the world right now. Not sure people will pay $200 to be reminded about Antisemitism, and didn't that last revival just close?

Cabaret is the only one friends have asked me about. Or it’s the only one they’ve heard of so far

Cabaret is the new Cats. Now and forever it seems…

I saw a casting notice for DEAR ENGLAND on Broadway. I loved this play when I saw it at the National. I did grow up in a soccer household but I think even people who know nothing about it will like it. Such a contrast to all these dreary, nihilistic plays writers are churning out these days.

Any buzz on Hell's Kitchen at the Public?

[quote]I think Cabaret will be a big hit in NY -- even after Redmayne departs.

I hope not. Enough is enough

[quote]Any buzz on Hell's Kitchen at the Public?

Well, all the reviews are out, and you're free to read them. I have no idea how well or poorly the show is doing in terms of word-of-mouth, or if people don't care about word-of-mouth in this case and will buy tix just because it's an Alicia Keys musical.

Reviews seemed to be it needs work. Director Michael Greif also has Wine & Roses and The Notebook this spring. You do the math

Wherever Michael Greif's talents lie, he has never been known as the kind of director who can identify what's wrong with a show structurally or textually and help fix it.

I thought he did that with next to normal

What’s also interesting is by the time Cabaret opens in the spring, Trump will officially be the Republican nominee for President.

Farewell to Berlin, indeed!

We just paid $70 to stream The Vineyard's SCENE PARTNERS with Dianne Wiest tonight. It was supposed to begin at 7:30 and we watched a roomful of middle aged audience and elderly members wait with us for the play to begin until there was an announcement at 7:50 that one of the actors had suddenly not been able to appear and her role would be taken by another actor in the play with script in hand. Finally, at 8:10 the play began.

Well, we lasted about 45 minutes. What utterly incomprehensible and unfunny tripe! Impossible to imagine a theater reading that script and thinking - "Yes! We want to produce this." Or thinking poor Dianne Wiest saw anything in this character she'd want to play (and for so little money). Why is she not being offered better work after her long impressive stage and screen resume and 2 Oscars?

I just don't get it. This is the best that theater can find to put on their stage? Has anyone else seen the play? Did it finally redeem itself by the end?

I was listening to the new DAYS OF WINE AND ROSES recording and pondering the fact that neither Kelli nor Audra has starred in a hit new musical, instead making their (considerable) reputations in revivals. Are Patti and Bernie the last of an era?

The big hit original musicals on Broadway no longer feature stars, though they sometimes create them.

At least since Wicked. Am I wrong? Am I forgetting something?

R45: I saw it. No, it did not redeem itself. It got worse. The only mildly interesting thing about it was the clear disconnect where the writer and director thought they were doing something avant-garde, but underneath all the broken bells and rusty whistles, it was conventional to the point of cliche.

[quote]I can’t remember, have they announced Redmayne’s Sally? I can’t remember. Is she an actress who can sing or a singer who can act?

It's going to be Billy Porter -- so you tell me which description fits.

Speaking of "Cabaret," Jake Shears looking mighty fine these days....

I entered the Gutenberg lottery six times last week with no success. How many lottery tickets do they offer each week?

I hear the Producers of Cabaret want to replace Gayle and Eddie with Alan Dershowitz and Claudine Gay

This thread needs some Barbara Cook, to bring us a dream!

Thank you R45. I've been really jonesing for some NYC theater and considered buying a ticket to the livestream, but I thought the price was astronomical. Glad to hear I missed nothing. I thought Wiest had hit the nadir with "Rasheeda Speaking." Sorry to hear she still can't pick 'em.

Sadly, the great Dianne Wiest has admitted to being almost totally broke and taking any job she can get around the time she was on In Treatment. Very sad for such a wonderful and unique performer.

R55 I remember that story where she said she was afraid she couldn’t afford her rent.

She really needed to do a cheesy sitcom for 5 years in the early 2000s. It maybe have been dumb work but at least she’d have a little money stocked away.

She just DID a cheesy sitcom for four years starting in 2015, so she should be just fine.

Wow, R57 was right. I had never heard of this but the trailer alone is everything I would never want to watch… the quintessence of bad CBS sitcom garbage. Poor Dianne (and Mr. Streisand, as well).

Good interview with Blakemore about his early career; he's refreshingly straightforward and articulate.

Tina Sinatra praises Matt Doyle @ 5:38.

But will anyone praise that brillo pad she has on her head?

R46, Audra was in the original Broadway cast of Ragtime. They wrote "You Have Your Daddy's Hands" only after they knew they'd got her.

Thanks, R60. You’d think a show about Frank Sinatra, if it includes his music, would be a huge success ala Jersey Boys.

There are no theatah stars anymore... Just commoners.

Wow! Tina Sinatra looks like SHIT!

Girls how have you not made a bigger deal about Ben R interviewing Nancy [italic] Bajour [/italic] Dussault?

[quote]I thought he did that with next to normal

Although I have no idea how much if at all Greif improved that show from its earlier version, I think the final version has one or two major issues that could easily have been spotted and fixed by a director with more talent as a dramatug than Greif possesses.

[quote]I was listening to the new DAYS OF WINE AND ROSES recording and pondering the fact that neither Kelli nor Audra has starred in a hit new musical, instead making their (considerable) reputations in revivals.

Do you not count either RAGTIME or THE LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA, for some reason? If that's the case, can you tell us why?

Kelli also had hits with Pajama Game and Kiss Me, Kate.

And both Kelli and Audra have devoted much of their careers to new musicals even if those musicals were not financial hits. I don't think either one could be blamed for their respective misfires.

Btw, no one has responded to my question upthread asking for the name of a star driven new Broadway musical since WICKED that was actually a big hit. Big original hits and stars no longer seem to go together.

Sutton has had more hits than both of them together....Speaking of Sutton and Kelli, I keep hearing their Carnegie show is going to tour. Anyone else hear this?

Where is Sherie Rene Scott?

She stepped out on the lanai, r72.

[quote]Kelli also had hits with Pajama Game and Kiss Me, Kate.

But those were revivals. Pay attention.

I suppose one could say Idina Menzel had a hit with If/Then. I don't know if it recouped, but it certainly sold well while she was in it, and then she later took it on tour.

Idina Menzel is to If/Then

as

Ethel Merman is to Happy Hunting

Who gives a shit if you've never seen them?

Dear Evan Hansen, regrettably, cemented Ben Platt as a theatre star.

And "Parade" didn't hurt, R78.

R78 The film of Dear Evan Hansen hurt him.

Night of the Iguana opens tonite. I didn't realize it had even started previews

R45-I did a hard pass as soon as I saw it was written by the same hack who had his piece of shit produced at Playwrights last season, which was incomprehensible garbage. Let's hope Netflix hires him really soon.

What's even more inconceivable about the writer of SCENE PARTNERS and the show he had produced at last season at Playwrights Horizons is he's A WHITE MAN with no talent.

What are they thinking??

Is he non-binary? That might be what's getting him over.

In both professional and amateur situations, are actors switching over

to pdfs on tablets...or eScripts...

as opposed to a hard paper copy.... say a Sam French edition?

He's every non-profit's token white hack.

R85, you can write on an iPad or tablet these days like if you were using a pen.

Scene Partners was the worst thing I've seen since KPOP.

[quote]Who gives a shit if you've never seen them?

You missed my point which was these shows were tepidly to poorly reviewed clunkers/star vehicles that would never have run without a particular star as the lead.

Do try to keep up!

Remember her?

[quote]r8 I thought for sure Gussie would be mentioned in the new title. Maybe the "Gussie wants to be Mary" Edition?

My head whipped around yesterday when “Finding Your Roots” was playing in the background. Robert Downey Jr.’s great grandmother was a Gussie!

[quote] You missed my point which was these shows were tepidly to poorly reviewed clunkers/star vehicles that would never have run without a particular star as the lead. Do try to keep up!

No, sweetheart, you missed the point. Ther question asked was if there had been a NEW musical that was a hit SINCE WICKED that sold mainly on the strength of its star. And I said what I said. Your comment made no fucking sense. Maybe you're the one who should try to keep up. After all, you are approaching old crone status.

The titles of our threads lately have been worse than the shows on Broadway.

First Phyllis was passed over, now Gussie.

So tell us all what the title should have been, r93.

Perhaps R93 didn't have anything clever to say as a thread title so he wisely refrained. Unlike our past three title thread starters (who I suspect are all the same person).

Thank you, r95.

The only thing I’m guilty of is putting “Phyllis” instead of “Cloris.” And for that, I apologize.

[quote]Perhaps [R93] didn't have anything clever to say as a thread title

Then maybe he shouldn't criticise OP

Ben Platt in Parade qualifies… a brilliant performance in a breathtaking production of a very serious, adult show. I saw the second preview with the KKK out front and also later in the run again and truly one of the great productions of this century (and I saw the boring Hal Prince original too with the horrible set/staging, btw).

The Parade revival of course does not qualify as a “star driven new Broadway musical since WICKED that was actually a big hit.”

I enjoyed the production, but missed the striking images and cinematic sweep of the Hal Prince version. The huge platform created problems with sightlines and staging that Arden couldn’t solve. And Ben Platt just doesn’t have the technical skill to pull off challenges like the imaginary guilty Leo in Come Up to my Office. But I was great to see the show get the reception it always deserved.

Speaking of which, it’s been a rough go for Hal Prince’s legacy. Phantom finally closing, but two hugely successful revivals of his unsuccessful shows.

[quote]missed the striking images and cinematic sweep of the Hal Prince version

The exact same thing could be said about every non-Prince version of EVITA. When Prince was “on” (more often than not), he was brilliant. There’s been no one to equal him since.

I think Prince's legacy is safe for anyone who knows anything about Broadway history.

Hal Prince cruised me in the lobby of the Shubert Theatre in Boston in 1976 at a production of Rex.

I remember reading one of these threads YEARS ago. It was the best thread because it had all the dish about Betty Buckley and her troubled Papermill Gypsy.

One of the posters started talking about the KC Merrily and said Skinner was the standout and someone else said, “If the highlight of a production is Gussie, then you are in trouble” and that always stuck with me.

The success of the current Merrily is a big black mark against the legacy of Prince, who argued so strenuously for doing it the way that totally didn't work.

Merrily almost qualifies as a new, star-driven musical, in the sense that nobody's done it that way before and all of a sudden the show itself pops.

Merrily is still fatally flawed. It's working now because of three expert performers.

R105, It’s working now because Sondheim died.

Has anyone seen the Gavin Creel musical about art in the Metropolitan Museum?

If I had lived in New York for 20 years before ever stepping foot in the Met, I would keep that information to myself.

And here you are, r108 with no show of your own.

STOP THE PRESSES

[quote] BROADWAY NEWS EXCLUSIVE: "Exclusive: ‘My Son’s a Queer’ adds new co-producers for Broadway run" by Broadway News’ Michael Abourizk - "Several co-producers have joined the team behind the Broadway mounting of “My Son’s a Queer (But What Can You Do?).” Meena Harris & Phenomenal Media, JJ Maley and George Strus join the producing team of the solo piece written by and starring Rob Madge." https

r92 will soon be the lead in the star vehicle "How to SHRIEK in Ohio", about a hissing, acid spitting queer, run out of NYC for they's undiagnosed BPD trying to stage an original musical with his disinterested and much younger fellow Chi Chi's staffers.

Sammi Cannold has not responded to urgent entreaties to direct.

[quote]The success of the current Merrily is a big black mark against the legacy of Prince, who argued so strenuously for doing it the way that totally didn't work.

Prince subsequently admitted many times that he made a mistake with Merrily.

R86 - his bio opens with "is a queer, Mexican-American playwright." Methinks that if your bio starts with your identity, you probably aren't a very good writer. Can you imagine Kushner writing a bio that says he's a gay, Jewish, Upper West Sider? How do you take someone like this seriously? And yes, that's a rhetorical question because we know the theaters are thirsty for anyone who isn't a white man right now.

Too much Gussie!

[quote] will soon be the lead in the star vehicle "How to SHRIEK in Ohio", about a hissing, acid spitting queer, run out of NYC for they's undiagnosed BPD trying to stage an original musical with his disinterested and much younger fellow Chi Chi's staffers.

Based on the wit of your post, I'm guessing you started the last three thread titles.

[quote]What's even more inconceivable about the writer of SCENE PARTNERS and the show he had produced at last season at Playwrights Horizons is he's A WHITE MAN with no talent. What are they thinking??

[quote]Is he non-binary? That might be what's getting him over.

Here's the answer:

[R86] - his bio opens with "is a queer, Mexican-American playwright."

But if you're making that your main public identity, then why go by 'John J. Caswell, Jr.'?

“I hope I don’t have a heart attack in the pit because they’ll let me die,” the musician said.

Used to be the greatest backstage danger was Mandy Patinkin.

Correct, R95, I started this thread and the last two. Now you can go walk your dog and then eat the contents of the poop bag :-)

[quote]Prince subsequently admitted many times that he made a mistake with Merrily.

Exactly. One of the many things that made him such an extraordinary director and producer was the fact that he could admit it when he was wrong, even spectacularly so.

[quote]Merrily is still fatally flawed. It's working now because of three expert performers.

[quote]It’s working now because Sondheim died.

I agree that those are two of the three main reasons why this production has been so well received. The third reason is that, over the decades, people have become more and more comfortable with the show's reverse-chronological structure.

[quote]R119 Correct, I started this thread and the last two. Now you can go walk your dog and then eat the contents of the poop bag :-)

Will you listen to that?! Filth. Filth and debauchery!

It’s as if the monstrous creature’s the vile reincarnation of… Elisabeth Báthory, or someone!

Boop-Boop-a-Poop, indeed.

Don't encourage the thread starter, R124. He'll be back with another lame Boop title.

Is it a-pro-pree-ut or a-pro-pree-ate?

Deadline reviews "Appropriate":

NYT:

Are the reviews appropriate?

"Merrily" releases music video:

Did he rewrite the play (Appropriate) entirely, because when I saw it in 2014, it was a turgid bore.

From Jesse Green's review

[quote] I have to admit that when I first saw it, at the Signature Theater in 2014, neither understanding nor enjoyment were forthcoming. Rereading my scathing review in light of what is obviously a rave today, I am forced to grapple with my own past, and the play’s. It would be easy to say that the difference between then and now is the heavy rewriting Jacobs-Jenkins has done in the interim. And certainly, comparing the two scripts, I see the clearer dramatic architecture and sharper point-of-view that a playwright in his prime, at 38, can impose.

In other words- it's 10 years later and I'm not allowed to give a bad review to a black artist if I want to keep my job.

Theatre Critic Peter Marks to Leave Washington Post:

R133, Gay face extraordinaire.

[quote]Don't encourage the thread starter, [R124]. He'll be back with another lame Boop title.

No, sweetheart. The next thread is up to you or someone of your ilk to start and title it. Assuming, of course, that any of you aren't cheap bastards who can't start new threads because you don't contribute any money to the DL. Anyway, the new thread won't be started by me even if this one reaches 600 and then days go by without someone else starting a new one.

Famous last words, dear. You're too compulsive to live up to that promise. If only you were as clever.

Oh, do shut up r136.

You first, hon.

Don't think Marks is gay, despite the face.

[quote]One of the many things that made him such an extraordinary director and producer was the fact that he could admit it when he was wrong, even spectacularly so.

Maybe so, but in the case of Merrily he could hardly deny it, could he?

Doesn’t every straight man have gay face?!

If you’re still talking about the thread title after post 75, you need to take your Metamucil and go to sleep. Maybe you will be better in the morning

What a strange comment, R140. Of course Prince could have denied that MERRILY's failure was his responsibility. He could have stuck to his guns and said, "I still think having the show played by very young people was a great idea, and I'm only sorry that the audiences and the critics didn't get it." Others have said similar things.

The proof will be in the pudding, R136. Whoever ends up starting the new thread, we KNOW it won't be you, because you don't have the ability to do so as you are surely a non-paying member of the DL (because you can't afford it on your salary as a towel boy at a bath house).

Brandon Uranowitz as Jonathan in tick...tick...BOOM? Isn't he nearly 40. That ticking is his pacemaker. Directed by NPH

Encores will have a guest (read, Black) conductor for Jelly's Last Jam.

[quote] . Directed by Robert O’Hara with choreography by Edgar Godineaux and tap choreography by Dormeshia, Jelly’s Last Jam features Guest Music Director Jason Michael Webb leading The Encores! Orchestra.

[quote]Don't think Marks is gay, despite the face.

He's not, which explains why he was often clueless about musicals.

R147, Only his face is gay, but for some that’s enough.

Peter Marks was in the school of Isherwood and a few others -- into the "game" of Broadway and constantly gossiping and handicapping and talking to producers.

Harmony down $50K last week. They're doomed.

I hadn't read about Appropriate before. That's a stacked cast. Anyone HERE seen the production?

[quote]Harmony down $50K last week. They're doomed.

And yet they still grossed $180k more than How to Dance in Ohio.

Doom for Ohio goes without saying. Not because it's about autism but because the show sounds like it's [italic] only [/italic] about autism.

[quote]I hadn't read about Appropriate before. That's a stacked cast. Anyone HERE seen the production?

I saw it. Great cast and production, and the audience loved it.

I am the poster that raving honey badger above accused of being a serial theater thread starter. He may not find me funny, but I can admit in all my years here, I've never attempted to start a theater thread. I like everyone else's attempts just fine!

‘Appropriate’, ‘Merrily We Roll Along’, ‘I Need That’ Draw Holiday Crowds – Broadway Box Office:

Good, good, good.

[quote]R142 If you’re still talking about the thread title after post 75, you need to take your Metamucil and go to sleep. Maybe you will be better in the morning

It was THREE lame thread titles in a row! We tried to be understanding, we tried to be gracious… but the avalanche broke us.

r119’s the devil’s wife! Oh, beware her, sir. She with no pity in her heart... or in her awful thread titles.

Well r158 you can create the next thread then, and I'm sure your title will be absolutely hilarious. So no-one else create a thread, we're all going to wait and see what r158 comes up with.

[quote] So no-one else create a thread, we're all going to wait and see what [R158] comes up with.

Stop trying to drag the rest of us into your petty squabble.

Silly r160! EVERYONE knows complaining about the thread title has to last until at least the 200th post.

Girls, GIRLS!!!

Can't we just have some fun for once?

"How to Dance in Ohio" is a very special episode of an ABC After School Special, Broadway musical edition. It's hard to knock because it's SO sincere, but drastically and musically it's a big nothing burger.

^ Sorry, throuple, not throttle. Although there may be a bit of that going on.

^ Meant for the sex thread.

Wrong thread, R164. But I read your post in the sex thread and I'm still trying to figure out what "Sweeney Todd squealer" means.

r165 please link to the sex thread, thanks.

I'm not R165, but here's the link.

Why is every new theater thread missing the headline and reply #s? I have to do a search to find it. Is someone unhappy with the thread title so they mess with it??

You have OP on Ignore, r169?

I think the entire world has OP on ignore, hence his need to start thread titles.

...Michael Urie, Gideon Glick, Brad, Miriam Shor, Scott Ellis and Zachary Booth

Moat of those people are in it so briefly if you blink, you'll miss them. And all Glick does is flounce around in the background of three or four scenes. For someone who once complained publicly about always playing a stereotypical gay, he certainly seems to do only that.

Thanks r168

[quote]I think the entire world has OP on ignore, hence his need to start thread titles.

I don't see what one has to do with the other, but anyway, I will not be "starting any more thread titles."

Please tell me Scott Ellis had nothing to do with MAESTRO.

And who is Zachary Booth?

Ellis is in it

[quote]And all Glick does is flounce around in the background of three or four scenes. For someone who once complained publicly about always playing a stereotypical gay, he certainly seems to do only that.

Plus, in my opinion, he's miscast in this film, because presumably his character is supposed to be extremely attractive. One of the oddest things about MAESTRO is that Bernstein's boyfriend in the first part of the film is the gorgeous Matt Bomer, and his boyfriend much later in the action is......Gideon Glick.

Christmas must be near, this thread is grinding to a halt.

Christmas must be near, this *website* is grinding to a halt.

Zachary Booth is a wonderful actor. He's good in everything I've seen him in on stage and screen.

[quote]Christmas must be near, this thread is grinding to a halt.

No, we're just tired of reading posts from jerks who have nothing better to do than criticize thread titles. They are a cancer and should be excised. But, they appear like clockwork to condemn every title. Who fucking cares what the title is? If you want to post theater discussion, do it. If you just want to judge titles, then go fuck yourself and try to enjoy your miserable life.

BRAVO, r182!

r178 - perhaps I have odd taste, but I think Gideon Glick is quite sexy. Not conventionally attractive, no, but I don't think those are always the exact same thing.

Gideon Glick is Broadway’s Adam Driver.

I also find Gideon Glick enormously appealing and possess the imagination to believe a middle aged Lenny Bernstein could have easily been attracted to him.

Gideon is someone who I think has grown into his looks. I remember seeing him in Spring Awakening and thinking he was really unattractive, but the older he's gotten, the better looking he's gotten. And I've seen him with long hair several times before this and it becomes him.

However, he really didn't look very good in Maestro. I don't know if it was the hairstyle, or if he was photographed unflatteringly, but I thought it was a big step back. Not his fault, of course.

Thanks, R182. A cancer, indeed. Let's see what these bitches come up with for the next thread title. Except -- oops, I forgot! They probably can't start new threads because they're too tight with a penny to contribute any money at all to DL. Understandable, I guess, because they need to spend all of their available funds on Viagra and such.

[quote] Thanks, [R182]. A cancer, indeed. Let's see what these bitches come up with for the next thread title. Except -- oops, I forgot! They probably can't start new threads because they're too tight with a penny to contribute any money at all to DL. Understandable, I guess, because they need to spend all of their available funds on Viagra and such.

We've all moved on. You should, too. You're the one who keeps beating this dead horse. And you should especially stop making the same joke in hopes someone will finally laugh at it.

[quote]Gideon is someone who I think has grown into his looks. I remember seeing him in Spring Awakening and thinking he was really unattractive

Agreed, although I think maybe one of the reasons you found him so unattractive in that show was because his performance was so cartoonishly awful.

[quote]But the older he's gotten, the better looking he's gotten.

Disagreed.

[quote]However, he really didn't look very good in Maestro. I don't know if it was the hairstyle, or if he was photographed unflatteringly, but I thought it was a big step back.

Agreed.

[quote]Not his fault, of course.

Disagreed.

What "joke" are you referring to, R189? I honestly think it's very likely that the people who are criticizing thread titles created by me and others cannot create threads of their own, because they are not paid members of this board. We will find out when this thread approaches 600 comments.

Well, I'm a subscriber, and I'd pay double if it gave me the ability to ban you for life.

Back to "Follies"... A new book by artist David Edward Byrd, who designed the peerless poster.

[quote]r193 Back to "Follies"... A new book by artist David Edward Byrd, who designed the peerless poster.

He also crafted this beloved DL classic!

I really want to get that book.

David Edward Byrd on the poster for "Godspell," which was produced by Edgar Lansbury (Angela's brother):

Lansbury called me to his office, which was near the Winter Garden Theatre where "Follies" was then in previews. He said, 'I want you to go to the window, stick your head out, and turn to the left.' So I did that and there was my giant Follies on the marquee of the Winter Garden. And he said, 'I want that poster. But I want it to be Jesus.' I drew the poster and Lansbury loved it. However, he only had $100 budgeted to pay for it. I was getting $100 for everything I touched, and not any more! But we struck a deal—$50 a month for as long as the show ran. It ran for eight years, so I ended up with a good bargain there.

Dominic Fumusa, Annie Parisse in A View from the Bridge at Long Wharf. Great casting.

Dominic Fumusa naked.

West End Look Ahead:

R197, I agree that Fumusa is good casting for that role, but they have cast a woman as the lawyer Alfieri, which makes zero sense for the time period and location of the story.

Saw the new Sunset Boulevard last night.

And as somebody who loves European deconstructed directors’ theatre nonsense, I thought it was pretty underwhelming. Dramatically inert, and dragged whenever they weren’t using the screen and cameras. It’s been directed within an inch of its life to hide the fact that its leading lady can’t act, and so every one of Norma’s spoken lines has a hand gesture or some ironic vocal inflection. It’s amusing line to line, perhaps, but never coheres into an actual performance. Scherzinger can belt and look hot while doing it, but little else.

I want David Thaxton in me quite deeply, though. And the staging of Every Movie’s a Circus is great.

I used to have a signed Byrd Long Beach window card.

Okay. Let’s settle this. There are currently 6 monster hits on Broadway right now: Chicago, The Lion King, Wicked, Aladdin, Book of Mormon, and Hamilton, Chicago opened with big stars as did Wicked. TLK, Aladdin, and Mormon did not. The only one since Wicked would be Hamilton. Was LMM a big star when it opened?

Platt wasn’t a big star when DEH opened and Parade wasn’t a new musical.

There. Question answered,

Chicago wasn’t a new musical. My bad.

r202 I went to that Long Beach "Follies" and I still have my program. That's a GREAT poster.

Dorothy Lamour [italic] below [italic] title?

It's the bookend to his Broadway version, r205...in profile.

I always liked the Paper Mill art. A bit on the dark side...but elegant.

Speaking of the late lamented Long Beach CLO, it's too bad Juliet Prowse didn't live long enough to do Chicago on Broadway. She did Chicago with Bebe who replaced Ann and also did Phyllis in Follies. I remember everyone being disappointed when she didn't come out in a showgirl outfit that showed off the legs for Lucy and Jessie, but when she did Chicago, the audiences left amazed at how this woman who was 20 years older than Bebe could have a better body.

It's surprising that Juliet Prowse never did a Broadway show but lots of stock tours and Charity and Mame in the West End. I'm guessing it was her choice.

Juliet Prowse slept with Sinatra for years. Wisely never married him,.

[quote]R200 they have cast a woman as the lawyer Alfieri, which makes zero sense for the time period and location of the story.

Waaaaa! I don’t like new experiences! Waaaaa!

The % of posts slamming one another has increased so dramatically. Rarely fun here anymore.

R213, New York theater queens trying to reclaim their post as the sole arbiters of what is good and bad in theater. If you dare express an opinion contrary to their highly-educated missives, be prepared to be mercilessly destroyed by these insecure cultists, very much like one would expect from Trump. They are cut from the same cloth.

Yes. They will be storming the Long Wharf Theater next as a mob, to drag the black actor from the stage.

R215, we are not discussing a black actor. Re-read the post in question.

[quote] very much like one would expect from Trump

That was kind of my point. Bitchery is fine and can be amusing, but just back and forth carping and insulting feels like the rest of the world these days. I just expected it to be, at least, more clever here.

Cleverness has been subsumed by snark and arrogance.

[quote]R216 we are not discussing a black actor. Re-read the post in question.

Oh, right. Thank you. The performer r200 has singled out is named [bold]Patricia Black[/bold]. She is not herself black.

So to clarify, r200 is ruffled that 1950s lawyer characters should be depicted as females?

I'm not the poster who initially brought up the casting of a woman as Alfieri (the lawyer) in A View from the Bridge, but I do question that choice.

The play, set amongst longshoremen in working class Red Hook, Brooklyn in the 1950s, I think, should feel like a very male-dominated world, and a society of strictly binary sex roles between men and women, where the characters of Eddie and Rodolpho are both plagued in different ways by a strong ethos of maschismo.

Alfieri is the moral conscience of the play and kind of a Greek chorus to the action, IIRC. Does casting a woman help or hurt the themes of the play?

Lee Roy Reams was one of Juliet's best friends and he said that her story was that she was a virgin until she met Sinatra at 19. He was a lousy lay and had a little dick. She then had good sex with a straight chorus boy and never looked back.

"straight chorus boy"? Where did she find a unicorn?

[quote]and had a little dick

Yeah, r221...no.

[quote]the audiences left amazed at how this woman who was 20 years older than Bebe could have a better body.

And voice!

Didn't Ava Gardner, who was actually married to Frank Sinatra, state that he was hung and a good lover?

If you’re on 19-year-old virgin how do you know who is a lousy lay and aren’t you grateful for a little dick

R211, Actually, they were only engaged for six weeks. Frank insisted Juliet give up her career and she refused.

[quote]So to clarify, [R200] is ruffled that 1950s lawyer characters should be depicted as females?

That's correct, at least as applies to this particular play and its setting. If you don't understand why, read R220's excellent explanation.

Excerpts of the LBCLO Chicago. Kaye Ballard played Mama, Michael O'Haughey the original Mary Sunshine was in it as was the original Amos Barney Martin. Gary Sandy played Billy Flynn. Go To Hell kitty is Jennifer Nairn Smith, one of the most gorgeous show dancers of the era. Directed by Rob Marshall. Ann was going to play Velma until Bebe expressed an interest and Reinking told her to let her play the part. Annie choreographed. The problem with the video is that the videographer was obviously a lover of one of the chorus boys because he often shoots him instead of the action. But look how precise Juliet's movements are in the Me and My Baby number. Prowse was 22 years older than Neuwirth but watch them in Nowadays/Keep It Hot and see if you can believe it.

Ann was right to go back to Fosse’s original choreography for Hot Honey Rag. Her modified version for Long Beach is inferior.

Think it was Ava Gardner who said something like, "Frank weighed 110 pounds and 90 pounds was cock."

The memoir of his valet also confirmed he was dramatically hung.

R231, Frank’s longtime valet, George Jacobs, wrote in his book that Frank wore special underwear to house his large package.

Were any of you fortunate enough to catch Chicago at Encores? I imagine the atmosphere was pretty electric.

All I know is Judy complained about Frank always wanting blowjobs.

R233. By the time I saw it on Saturday night word was out that this was something very special. Ann Reinking was incredible. Part Roxie Hart/Part Jessica Rabbit. It's too bad she altered her performance drastically for Broadway and went way way waaaay over the top although her dancing was still magical. Still the best thing I've ever seen at Encores.

r233, yes, electric it was. Mostly because it came out of left field; it was at that time the most fully realized Encores! production, and those of us at opening night had no idea what we were in for. But I doubt if anyone there would have guessed it would still be running today.

All this talk upthread about Gideon Glick playing Leonard Bernstein’s boyfriend in “Maestro” and not one of you mentioned — or managed to figure out — that “Tommy” is meant to be Michael Tilson Thomas, who Glick is fashioned to resemble? Thomas was known to be Bernstein’s boyfriend/protege and yet he is given a phony character name in the credits. Did they even need to get his permission to portray him? He’s been a public figure for decades . . .

Re the movie: despite some very splashy and effectives setpieces, “Maestro” is a big cold fish of a movie, a portrait of a gay artist that canonizes his deluded wife and suggests that the closet helped enabled his genius. No thanks.

I see on Wikipedia that Leonard Bernstein lived with a boyfriend names Thomas Cothran before he learned about his wife’s cancer. So “Tommy” is probably a composite character.

Oh, and those endless conducting sessions with Cooper imitating Bernstein at the podium! Ugh. So self indulgent.

R237 I had the opposite reaction to Maestro. I found it incredibly moving and thought Carey Mulligan was phenomenal. I have no idea how conflicted Bernstein was in real life about his sexuality, but his options were certainly more limited in the 1940s and 1950s if he wanted to have children. The movie certainly didn't whitewash his attractions to men. And who knows...maybe Felicia was the real love of his life.

Felicia must have been something else. Sondheim speaks glowingly of her in an interview about LB for PBS. As do many people. Back in the 60s, before LB's bisexuality was public knowledge, a friend who was a Chicago music critic told me that she had recounted to him a tale of a trip to Spain. "I had a wonderful bullfighter in Madrid," she exclaimed, . . . and so did Lenny!"

My FB feed is pretty evenly divided by friends who loved MAESTRO and friends who hated it. All very passionate. I have a feeling I'll be in the later camp. I know I should get my ass to a real theater to see it but will probably opt for watching on my TV screen tonight.

[quote]“Maestro” is a big cold fish of a movie, a portrait of a gay artist that canonizes his deluded wife and suggests that the closet helped enabled his genius.

One of the many reasons I feel so negative about the movie is that I don't even think it was successful on its own terms of portraying a troubled marriage between a gay or bisexual man and a heterosexual woman, rather than giving us a satisfying portrait of a genius.

Early on in the movie, before they are married, Felicia says to Lenny something like "I know exactly who you are" -- a reference to the fact that she is already very much aware of his attraction to men and her knowledge that he has had at least one male lover. We're led to believe that she marries him with full knowledge of this, but we're never told what sort of deal or "rules" (if any) Lenny and Felicia had as to whether Lenny would be allowed to continue having sex with men, how often, whether he would be forbidden to spend the night with any of them, etc. So I for one found it hard to understand exactly why, years later, Felicia flies into a rage because Lenny is still dallying with men. I mean, did she really expect him to ever stop doing that?

I was surprised at how much I didn't like Maestro. I had been so looking forward to it. It was so indulgent acting and directorially, and the ample use of the family life scenes showed me how much Bernstein's heirs were involved. It was never about the artist, the musician or the leader -- just the closet case, and Cooper found a character whose ego matches his. Such a missed opportunity. Not even a mention of the Young People's Concerts? Really?

R237 could not be more wrong. Tommy Cothran was indeed Bernstein’s most sustained boyfriend and not at all a composite. In the mid-1970s, Bernstein left his wife and family in NYC and spent the summer shacked up with Tommy on a California beach. That was the last straw for Felicia, who told Lenny not to return to the Dakota in the fall. It took her cancer diagnosis to reconcile them. Bernstein and Cothran did eventually part company, with Cothran dying of the AIDS virus.

OK, holiday weeks are here. Which shows announce closing first in 2024 in 2 weeks? Harmony? Ohio? Neil Diamond? Akimbo? Purlie early?

“Not even a mention of the Young People's Concerts? Really?“

You must have dozed off, of course they were mentioned.

[quote] I know I should get my ass to a real theater to see it but will probably opt for watching on my TV screen tonight.

The film is shot in 4:3. And there's nothing all that spectacular about the cinematography. Pretentious is more like it. It's not worth seeing on a big screen.

NPH and Burtka were the double guest stars at Gutenberg and kissed

[quote]In the mid-1970s, Bernstein left his wife and family in NYC and spent the summer shacked up with Tommy on a California beach. That was the last straw for Felicia, who told Lenny not to return to the Dakota in the fall. It took her cancer diagnosis to reconcile them.

Does anyone feel this was made clear in the movie? Because I did not, and as per my post above, I couldn't figure out exactly why Felicia became so furious with Lenny for his affairs with men when she had told him "I know who you are" even before they got married. If it's true that Lenny left Felicia and family to shack up with a guy for an entire summer, that would certainly explain it, but if this was stated in the movie, I missed it.

[quote]The film is shot in 4:3. And there's nothing all that spectacular about the cinematography. Pretentious is more like it. It's not worth seeing on a big screen.

For the most part, I agree. And while it's true that the Young People's Concerts were mentioned, they were given no more than a mention in passing. Just as there was only a one-line reference to WEST SIDE STORY in the entire movie, and only about two minutes worth of music from the Prologue of that show heard as background music at a very inappropriate moment.

....a beer or sandwich.....

I think it’s pretty obvious that Gideon Glick ruined Maestro…and he knows why!

Very intriguing, R252. Anything more to say?

...ain't nothin' for a girl, r251.

“In the mid-1970s, Bernstein left his wife and family in NYC and spent the summer shacked up with Tommy on a California beach. That was the last straw for Felicia, who told Lenny not to return to the Dakota in the fall. It took her cancer diagnosis to reconcile them.

Does anyone feel this was made clear in the movie? Because I did not, and as per my post above, I couldn't figure out exactly why Felicia became so furious with Lenny for his affairs with men when she had told him "I know who you are" even before they got married. If it's true that Lenny left Felicia and family to shack up with a guy for an entire summer, that would certainly explain it, but if this was stated in the movie, I missed it.“

The above was clearly depicted in the movie, as others can confirm.

Try taking a nap before you watch a movie so you’re more alert.

[quote]The above was clearly depicted in the movie, as others can confirm.

I also understood that.

[quote]Try taking a nap before you watch a movie so you’re more alert.

You feel the need to be a cunt 3 days before the birthday of our dear lord baby jesus?

R256 . . .

“Dec. 25 is not the date mentioned in the Bible as the day of Jesus’s birth; the Bible is actually silent on the day or the time of year when Mary was said to have given birth to him in Bethlehem.”

Sorry, r255, but I didn't get it either, and there seems to be others on here as well who didn't. I found the movie very disjointed and self-indulgent, though I thought Mulligan was great, and Cooper had wonderful moments.

R258, You really should pause the movie when you need to urinate, so you don’t miss anything.

R255, I remained wide awake through all of MAESTRO. But I think it would have been forgivable if I'd dozed off, considering how boring it became after a while with its incessant focus on the Lenny/Felicia relationship at the expensive of Bernstein's great artistic accomplishments.

Anyway, yes of course, the movie made it clear that Bernstein was having an affair with that Tommy character, but do you honestly think it made it clear that he left his family to live with the guy on a California beach for an entire summer? Was that perhaps mentioned in a line of overlapping dialogue that I missed? (The overlapping dialogue was yet another annoyance of this movie.)

[quote]“Dec. 25 is not the date mentioned in the Bible as the day of Jesus’s birth; the Bible is actually silent on the day or the time of year when Mary was said to have given birth to him in Bethlehem.”

According to Luke 2:21 "And when eight days completed for his circumcision, he was called Jesus, the name given him by the angel before he was conceived in the womb."

Jesus Brit milah is traditionally observed on January 1.

*Jesus' Brit milah

R260 must have been texting when Lenny told Felicia that he would be taking Tommy to California with him for the summer and Felicia told him if he did that, then not to return to the family.

In "Maestro," does anyone get to say "Bye, Felicia!"?

I think the Felicia character mentions in passing that “Lenny” has been living in Hollywood, etc. But it isn’t spelled out, and I still think “Tommy” is a composite because the actor’s nose and hair suggested Michael Tilson Thomas, who had a protracted “ mentee” relationship with Bernstein at around the same time.

That scene of the vicious argument Bernstein and Felicia have while the Thanksgiving Day parade floats go by is a prime example of why this film doesn’t work. The visuals are certainly striking, but Cooper keeps his camera at that remove for the whole scene so that we remain outside of it — he never brings us close to either character, so though the words are passionate and cutting the whole thing comes across as completely cold and bloodless.

You’re incredibly stupid, R265.

“When Felicia agrees to take the plunge with Leonard, she's already met David Oppenheim (Matt Bomer, one of the many openly queer actors cast here to play a queer character, alongside Michael Urie as Jerome Robbins and Gideon Glick as Tommy Cothran).“

Gatsby (no, the other one) to take the Broadway Theater?

(I love their websites: broadwaygatsby.com and gatsbybway.com); no, that won't confused anyone.)

R237 and R238

Glick does not play a composite. He plays Thomas Cothran.

Cothran was a serious relationship, spent a lot of time with the family, and had a rivalry with Felicia. There was no need to combine him with anyone else.

[quote] You’re incredibly stupid, [R265].

I don't find his observations stupid at all. What's up your ass?

Not you, R270.

You really are just a massive piece of garbage, R271. I see how you talk to everyone in every thread you pollute, and when you're called on it, when someone throws the shit you've flung back in your face, you deflect and call them names. You need to sit down and really figure out why you're the way you are.

Might as well chime in with my Bernstein story. In 1989 I had an aisle seat in the orchestra at the Promenade Theatre for a matinee of Terrence McNally's "The Lisbon Traviata." And down the aisle comes an imposing white-haired man in a floor-length fur coat. With him was a much younger buff man in very tight, dark brown leather pants and a matching leather shirt (not Folsom St. leather, fashion leather). It was Bernstein and his, um, escort. I don't remember heads turning in the audience or anyone bothering him. I don't remember much about the play either, other than Nathan Lane was hilarious (also in the cast: Dan Butler, John Slattery and Anthony Heald).

Bernstein would be dead within a year. I'd seen him conduct a couple of times and loved his Young People's Concerts on TV. But I'll always think of Bernstein in that coat.

If you really want to make it disappear, the ignore button is far more effective a tool than feeding the troll is.

I know, R274, but the ignore button comes with issues of its own. It always tells me there's new posts when there aren't. But I'm getting to the point of taking the lesser of two evils.

R272, You repeatedly hammer away with your misinformation and absurd comments, and when the truth is made blatantly aware to you, you refuse to accept it.

R273, given the play’s subject matter, it would have been fascinating to watch Bernstein react. But you don’t remember John Slattery going full frontal???

Well, yes, I *do*, now that you mention it, R277. He may have been a bit fluffed, but who cares?

I always thought Bernstein was a towering figure but was astonished to learn he was 5'8".

[quote]By the time I saw it on Saturday night word was out that this was something very special. Ann Reinking was incredible. Part Roxie Hart/Part Jessica Rabbit. It's too bad she altered her performance drastically for Broadway and went way way waaaay over the top although her dancing was still magical. Still the best thing I've ever seen at Encores.

R235 - that sounds amazing. I wish I could have seen Ann on stage. I was still in high school the last time she performed on Broadway and hadn't made my first trip to NY yet.

For all the Lenny and Tommy talk here's a first-hand recollection from Peter Napolitano. Quite moving.

[quote]I always thought Bernstein was a towering figure but was astonished to learn he was 5'8".

Jews are normally short, no?

Evidently Encores! was hoping against hope that Liza would be their Roxie -- they held out long enough that Reinking didn't actually officially take the part until quite late in the game.

How was Liza at that time. When she did Victor Victoria only two years later, she was a disaster. Juliet Prowse was dying so they couldn't ask her.

I wasn't dying!

[quote]I wasn't dying!—Lorna

Fuck!

Has anyone with a functioning womb ever played Roxie onstage?

R287. I had one when I first played Roxie in 1997

Does new mom Rumer Willis count?

R288 - all this Chicago talk had me randomly visit their website. And, holy shit, Charlotte is STILL playing Roxie? She was "my" Roxie on the first national tour in the late 90s. Kind of astonishing that she's still occasionally playing the role more than twenty years later. Good for her.

Charlotte is now doing Melanie Griffith's choreography.

I saw Charlotte play it on Broadway (with Jasmine Guy as Velma) and both were terrific.

Charlotte was also terrific in the Pippin revival. I think she was sleeping with another member of the cast, but I guess that's for the Broadway sex thread.

R293. Yes. She was.

Charlotte is like Karen Ziemba. Zero charisma.

OK, I just watched Maestro (very carefully and with the closed captions on!) and there was no scene in which Felicia told Lenny that if he went off for the summer with Tommy he shouldn't ever return. After reading these comments I was looking for it.

I quite enjoyed the film, really appreciated Cooper's fresh and unconventional and at times dream-like approach. I don't know how anyone could criticize it for whitewashing over Lenny's passion for sex with men. It was there constantly, from the first moment in bed with Bomer to the last, dancing and grinding sensuously with the young Black conductor. I also appreciated that Cooper didn't recreate scenes of Lenny's Broadway hits or the creation of them. I really think that would have come off cheesy. Just hearing those (sometimes) brief clips of the glorious music did it for me.

And Gideon Glick is billed as Tommy Cothran in the credits. No composite, no doubt who he's portraying.

[quote]I quite enjoyed the film, really appreciated Cooper's fresh and unconventional and at times dream-like approach.

Didn't it strike you as odd that the "dream-like approach" was only taken during the first few scenes. There was the fantasy moment of Lenny running from his bed directly to Carnegie Hall in his bathrobe, then a scene or two later there was the fantasy of Lenny and Felicia leaving that party and magically going to an empty theater to watch guys playing sailors dance to music from FANCY FREE and ON THE TOWN -- and then, as far as I can recall, there were no more fantasy sequences at all for the rest of film. Is it right to begin a film with two non-realistic, dreamlike sequences and then just stop with that? Or would that be called bad filmmaking because it leads the audience to expect one kind of film and then morphs into something else?

Anyway, thanks for confirming that there's NO scene where Felicia gives Lenny an ultimatum about Tommy Cochran. Maybe that other poster fantasized it while playing with himself.

There may not have been dialogue where she gives him a specific ultimatum, but she voice her displeasure about it as though it's come as a shock to her, and she does leave him because of it.

I saw it, but I can understand where some may have glossed over it.

[quote]Charlotte is now doing Melanie Griffith's choreography.

Hi, Melanie. You're special.

R299 - you're nuts.

Anyone think they're going to (quietly) reduce the size of the Sweeney orchestra once Groban departs to help improve running costs and the impact of a presumed drop in box office? I doubt the box office is going to fall off a cliff -- Tveit and Foster obviously have fans -- but I imagine they won't be as much of a drawer as Groban was.

[quote]I doubt the box office is going to fall off a cliff -- Tveit and Foster obviously have fans -- but I imagine they won't be as much of a drawer as Groban was.

Perhaps not individually, but I think Tveit and Foster together will bring in similar grosses or close to it.

R301, Hopefully, Aaron will not miss as many performances as Josh.

I think the musicians’ union would get loud if they quietly tried to reduce the size of the orchestra.

R301. I see Aaron as more of a chiffonrobe than a drawer. And Sutton is strictly IKEA.

Still with the Aaron Tveit is gay shtick?

The man's been in the business for nearly 20 years, fresh out of college, and there has been no evidence other than "A friend of a friend saw him walk off with a twink, who met him at the stage door after the show." 😂

He's had a girlfriend for years now.

“He's had a girlfriend for years now.“

Who he keeps hidden like a bad tattoo.

[Quote] I think the musicians’ union would get loud if they quietly tried to reduce the size of the orchestra.

Interesting question and I hope somebody keeps an eye or ear on it. If they are over the house minimum now, can they reduce without getting into trouble? I certainly know of shows over the years that have cut back on Costumes, even going so far as to get to the point where they had no changes for the ensemble throughout the show.

[Quote] Who he keeps hidden like a bad tattoo.

Hidden from you, perhaps, because you’re creepy. Otherwise, she was in Moulin Rouge with him. And everyone knew they were a couple.

r297, I didn't feel that the "dream-like approach" was abandoned. It was just expressed in different, perhaps more subtle and changing ways, including the sudden move into color photography, and all kinds of different shots, like the way the Thanksgiving parade floats went by the Dakota windows, the occasional lack of expected close-ups, the feverishly dreamy way in which Lenny conducted and the stylized shot of the family running out of the country house after Felicia died (without the inevitable scene or even dialogue of her death).

I appreciated that the unconventional ways the camera was used kept changing, always surprising us, never predictable.

This conversation is reminiscent of the previous Cabaret revival arguments. As an audience member, if you go into a show or film with precise expectations of what you think it "should" be, you're closing yourself off to experiencing something new and different.

And yet, R309 cannot name her.

If Aaron was gay pretending to be straight he wouldn't hide a girlfriend. Instead she would be paraded around for multiple photo ops. Perhaps they just enjoy their privacy.

R310, a lot of what you call "dreamlike" was realistic.

That is indeed what the parade looks like from a Central Park West apartment.

That is indeed how Bernstein conducted, not some dreamy interpretation. In fact, there is video of the performance Cooper recreates that looks even more "dreamy" since there are many close ups. Cooper de-dreamifies it a bit but setting the camera at a distance for most of that scene.

I worked with Aaron years ago, I think it was 2007. He had a girlfriend then, someone not in the business, I believe (and maybe a couple of years older). I would see them walking to the theater but she'd never come in with him, always departed at the stage door only to return when the performance was over to walk home together.

He was a sweet boy, great attitude and a total pro. He had the sexiest legs, surprisingly hairy like many hot young guys.

r313, it's not the parade itself or the conducting itself that was "dream-like" but the choices in the ways they were shot.

R314, Are you sure that wasn’t his agent, who he often credits in interviews?

r316, well, I'd see them walking down the street with their arms entwined around each other so.......

You just have to have it your way, don't you, r316?

R313, I cannot imagine what would be a less dreamlike way to shoot a balloon going by a window than a long static shot.

And as I said, the long moving shot of Bernstein conducting is less dream like that the actual documentary footage which cuts and juxtaposes more freely.

But hey, backpedaling can be a bitch.

I have read and heard of several Broadway shows reducing the size of their orchestras during their runs. As someone else here stated, I'm sure the musician's union would not fight the producers about that as long as the reduced number still meets the minimum number of required musicians for that theater.

Tveit is a golfer, let the straights have him

[quote]This conversation is reminiscent of the previous Cabaret revival arguments. As an audience member, if you go into a show or film with precise expectations of what you think it "should" be, you're closing yourself off to experiencing something new and different.

Whatever kind of film I may have expected going into MAESTRO, those two dreamlike fantasy sequences at the beginning led to believe it was going to be one kind of film, but then the fantasy sequences stopped and it became another kind of film thereafter. To me, it's not creative or "new" or "different" when the style of a movie changes in midstream, it's just bad filmmaking.

And I wouldn't describe the abrupt shift from black and white to color as in any way dreamlike or consistent with those fantasy sequences at the beginning. I'd just call it silly and pointless.

r322 we get it. You’ve made your point. Now aren’t there some carolers you can boil in their own pudding?

R323, I'm sure there have been movies, shows, etc. that you have vociferously criticized during your lifetime. That doesn't make you a Scrooge, and it doesn't make me one, either.

Vociferously, yes. Incessantly and relentlessly, no. And that’s what makes you a cunt.

Tveit should have changed his last name. I always think of that joke on MTM: Arnold looks exactly like a Tvedt.

Aaron Tveit is doing just fine with his original name, r326.

Those of you protesting that Tveit may actually be straight would do well to remember where you are. You are on a fool’s errand. On DL everyone we say is gay is 100% gay - whether IRL they are straight, gay, or somewhere in between is immaterial. If not out and proud then the only other option is tortured closet case. That’s it - those are your two options.

[quote]Aaron Tveit is doing just fine with his original name, [R326].

Except that many people don't know how to pronounce it correctly. Don't you think that's a bit of a problem?

I would love to make a trip to NYC to see Appropriate. I’ve liked Michael Esper in the tv roles I’ve seen, and would be interested to see him on stage. Is he of the gay?

[quote]Don't you think that's a bit of a problem?

It obviously isn't a problem to him, r329.

Here, being gay is the default position, unless proved otherwise.

Doggy is the default position

R329, StreiSAND . . . like sand on the beach.

Aaron Tveit’s girlfriend is Ericka Hunter. They’ve been together for years, she was indeed in Moulin Rouge with him, and he mentioned her in his Tony speech.

If you google them, there are all sorts of pix of them together at various events.

Nonsense. They were shot as realistic duplications—both examples.

R336, would you care to let us know what you're referring to?

Might be time to revisit Little Shop,,,,

Too many good looking guys who spend all their energy on stage acting “nerdy,” rather than regular guys who can just act the story. That’s why Lee Wilkof was so good, and from what I saw (only on video, I know!) Rob McClure as well.

Rewinding back to Charlotte d'Amboise, and forgive me if I told this story, but I was at Jinkx Monsoon's last performance at Chicago. It seemed to be that Charlotte was a bit more reserved or not as openly warm towards Jinkx as Bianca Marroquin was. To be fair, Bianca and Jinkx shared more time onstage together, and for all I know, the three of them were thick as thieves, but it was something that registered with me. Also, that performance had just about every kept boy and daddy in the tri-state area.

r340, actors are just people, after all, and there's no sinister reason why one in a cast will become closer with another and not a third. I wouldn't necessarily look for anything underhanded in Charlotte's coolness towards Jinkx. Do you love all of your colleagues in your work place?

[quote]Do you love all of your colleagues in your work place?

Everyone except Ginny in Billing. She's a bitch.

In all honesty, R341, I have a theory that as nice as a workplace can be, there's usually at least one person each employee is indifferent at best to.

there's usually at least a majority that each employee is indifferent at best to.

FIFY—signed, Reality

[Quote] actors are just people

Did you ever see one eat? (or is it, did you ever try to have lunch with one?)

Maybe Charlotte had a bout of diarrhea or wasn’t feeling fresh “down there,” and wasn’t able to be her usual charming self with Jinkx Monsoon. Her only thought at that point was her need to get offstage.

That would explain it.

I doubt it was anything. Charlotte must be used to talentless stunt casting in that show by now.

Chicago sold out when Jinx was on it so I would imagine everyone in the cast was grateful to have them in the show.

Jinx Falkenburg?

Short and sweet. Just like Darren himself.

Jinx Falkenberg was one of the those leading ladies of 1950s game and talk show TV, like Fay Emerson, Jayne Meadows, Betsy Palmer, Bess Myerson, Kitty Carlisle and DL Fave and Goddess of the Legitimate Theatre Arlene Francis, who were charming personalities, mostly famous for being famous.

Don't actors do long runs anymore?

I sure don’t!

Nope.

r351, Don't forget Betty Furness, Barbara Britton, Julia Meade, Laraine Day!

Oh, I've managed to, r355.

With surprisingly little effort!

Can any Datalounge sleuth find a photo of Tommy Cothran? I've tried, but there don't seem to be any.

He's not in this powerpoint.

Jake Gyllenhaal Lost Out on the Rights to a Leonard Bernstein Biopic

Before Bradley Cooper’s ‘Maestro,’ Jake Gyllenhaal had other plans.

Can I just say the obvious? It didn’t matter who played him or what the movie was, it was a tedious film no matter who filmed it because the story isn’t that interesting. It would work better as a documentary.

So he was mostly gay and married a woman in the 1950s and had kids but still slept with men on the side. This is the plot to nearly every gay movie circa before 2006.

His career was also not very interesting. If you want behind the scenes dish on West Side Story, film a movie about notorious cunt Arthur Laurents.

R560. I agree—just watched it on Netflix. Never got a sense of the inner lives of the characters. (And I generally enjoy their work.). Why this was such a passion project for Cooper is beyond me.

They were all cunts!

Interesting that Jake and Bradley each had a passion to depict a bi-guy.

You're welcome...

Could we get back to talking about theater?

If there’s any theater worth talking about

*

holiday Fosse

[quote]R351 Jinx Falkenberg was one of the those leading ladies of 1950s game and talk show TV

EXCUSE me, but I was also a FORMER MODEL!

Her Hollywood Star is next to Janet Jackson's.

Oh, so she's on one of the skid row blocks, then.

[quote]r365 Could we get back to talking about theater?

Did you know Constance Forslund, who replaced Tina Louise as Ginger in “Rescue from Gilligan’s Island,” was also in the 1971 Broadway revival of “The Women” with Rhonda Fleming, Kim Hunter, and Myrna Loy?

Discuss.

Excuse me, r372, ex-c-u-s-e me. Aren't you forgetting somebody? By the way, it was '73. I was doing something else in '71.

So is Jordan Roth tearing out his tresses now that other "Gatsby" is beating his to Broadway. Guess he no longer has the power position(s) to stop this travesty...

I should think he'd be relieved to not have wasted the money when he sees the other Gatsby fail miserably, as it inevitably will.

One failing doesn’t mean the other will

[quote]r373 Excuse me, [R372], ex-c-u-s-e me. Aren't you forgetting somebody? By the way, it was '73.

Oh yes, I’m sorry, Miss Smith. You were a GREAT Sylvia, I’m sure!

Can someone identify who these players from the 1973 revival are? Is that Connie Forslund near the bottom? (I know it’s Myrna Loy at the top.)

‘73 cast list

Lainie Kazan was fired from The Women out of town. Too bad because Crystal seemed like a great role for her. And, no, Michele Lee did not replace her.

I don't remember Crystal being a big fat pig.

She was a fat, hairy pig.

Lainie Kazan is such a sad case.

Funny Girl understudy…but then got fired from Seesaw, fired from the Women. She should have had a Broadway career.

She could have done Carlotta in Follies. Good times and bum times…she saw them all.

MYRNA LOY, KIM HUNTER, ALEXIS SMITH, MARIE WALLACE, DOROTHY LOUDON, RHONDA FLEMING, AND JAN MINER

Okey dokey now. Reading r378, mention must be made of Jan Miner in the role of the Countess.

In the Hirschfeld caricature are Myrna Loy, Kim Hunter, Marie Wallace (who replaced Lainie - don't know why they couldn't get a bigger name for Crystal), Dorothy Loudon, Rhonda Fleming and Jan (You're soaking in it!) Miner.

It was a fun revival if a little underpowered. Alexis Smith definitely stole the show.

Polly (Vera Charles) Rowles as Miss Curtis and Lucy.

And the great Mary Louise Wilson as lady authoress Nancy Blake, I heard from a friend of hers at the time of the revival that she was pissed that Rhonda Fleming insisted on stealing some of her best lines in the group scenes they were in together.

And with Bobo Lewis as Olga the Manicurist and Marian Hailey in the Joan Fontaine role.

Marian Hailey...

[quote]r387 Mary Louise Wilson was pissed that Rhonda Fleming insisted on stealing some of her best lines in the group scenes they were in together.

That thoroughgoing CUNT!

And Fleming always seemed so gracious…

[quote]His career was also not very interesting.

Bernstein's career was not very interesting? Please step away from the hallucinogens.

*

[quote] Jan Miner

CUNT!

[quote]R380 I don't remember Crystal being a big fat pig.

Now, here here! I think Ms. Kazan might have been good as Crystal.

How could we find out why, and HOW, she was fired?? Did Elaine Joyce drop off a note?

Sylvia and Miriam (or is it Lainie getting sacked?)

[quote]I don't remember Crystal being a big fat pig.

Obviously you never saw the MGM original.

FOLLIES lives in the hearts of young theatre queens!

It's as sure as Christmas, as long as there are those who love showtunes and have an imagination it will live!

You’re the a-hole who brought it up.

One of the most interesting anecdotes regarding the original FUNNY GIRL was Lainie's stepping in for Barbra. But in 900+ pages, Barbra can't bring herself to mention it.

R398, I’m waiting for an article that states who and what she omitted.

R398, Her story of Johnny Desmond’s first performance after replacing Sydney Chaplin applauding her like he was an audience member after she sang “People” is hilarious.

Is there a problem with the proposed Follies in Vegas? I can't access their website anymore.

What, r401? It *isn't*...still here?

We don't discuss the fabulous life and career of Bobo Lewis anywhere near enough.

I have sufficient.

Marian Hailey replaced Beth Howland in Company when Beth left to start the National tour (along with Ralston, Myers, McKechnie, Stritch, Braswell). After the first two stops (3 1/2 months in LA and seven weeks in SF), most of the Broadway cast went back to NY, and Hailey took Howland’s place in the tour and Howland rejoined the Broadway company.

Is Howland a Phyllis or a Sally?

And why were we denied this?

I see Howland as more of a Buddy.

Beth Howland tap dancing in Sweeney Todd was *the* highlight of the Burt Reynolds Dinner Theatre's 1987-88 season!

Meh! A more discerning group of us know Beth stole it from Bonnie Franklin's acclaimed Kenley Players performance in '82.

The producer of "Gatsby" has a track record that includes "Holla if you Hear Me" and "Dr. Zhivago." Sic transit gloria Mundi...

[quote]Sic transit gloria Mundi

Is there a discount code for that one?

Did Gloria Mundy sue the MTA?

Gloria Mundi is a Phyllis.

Did Beth Howland illegally sublet her apartment while on tour with Company? Inquiring minds want to know,

Merry Christmas!

Beth Howland was an Emily Whitman, and everyone knows it!

Beth Howland definitely had Follies on her resume. She was listed as “audience member”

I'm confused. Is the GATSBY that's moving to Broadway the production that played Paper Mill and got those mixed reviews? And is it moving to the enormous Broadway Theatre? Are they crazy?

[quote]R335 Aaron Tveit’s girlfriend is Ericka Hunter. They’ve been together for years… he mentioned her in his Tony speech.

My god. The naked [italic]desperation.

[quote]The naked desperation.

Pics of Aaron’s naked desperation please.

r405, I saw the Company national tour in SF, but know I didn't see Stritch or Myers.

Tour cast

My family always said Sic transit Gloria Swanson.

Sic Transit Gloria in Excelsis Deo

The obvious answer is "sic transit Gloria Grahame."

"sic transit Gloria Upson."

That was ghastly - just GHASTLY!

Gloria Holden

a different Gloria Holden...

The inmates are running things here. Let’s wrap it up fast so we can fight about a new thread title STAT

Did the Little Shop producers also hire an AutoTune for Darren Criss's run? He's cute and all (despite the cooler-than-thou hipster vibes), but the man cannot sing in tune for more than five notes.

It doesn’t matter if Darren Criss can sing…he will sell out his run. Girls LOVE him. He’s the perfect mix of gay acting straight man.

Hetero women love that best.

Sure, they are fun to hag with…but at the end of the day they come home to pussy, just as God intended

Those closing announcements have GOT to be coming for Purlie Victorious, Harmony and How to Dance in Ohio. I'm also still amazed that A Beautiful Noise has lasted as long as it has.

R433 Good times never felt good.

Purlie should never have extended.

Sad about PURLIE because I've only heard raves from so many friends who've seen it. Yet I can't get myself from NJ to NY (an hour away) to see it. It's just not worth the schlep and expense any more.

At this point in my life I prefer to go to London once or twice a year and see theatre there. The best stuff, of which there's so much over there, all comes to NY eventually. The West End is the new Broadway.

DL just does t care anymore. Does anyone? Is this papi’s next chance to vibrate and bray and lose another Tony?

The man in the moon is A HOT PAPI!

Sounds like a real toe tapper.

Who the fuck wants to see a musical about Galileo? Directed by Michael Mayer!

[quote]Who the fuck wants to see a musical about Galileo?

Raises hand.

Will they be interpolating "Bohemian Rhapsody?"

I love Raul but that Galileo show has HUGE FLOP written all over it.

I wonder if he was asked to replace Groban as Sweeney. Now that I'd pay to see.

Raul will never win a Tony. Some of us don’t!

How to Dance in Ohio drops even further, down to $323,468 last week—how low can she go?

How to Limbo in Lima.

When Matt Doyle has a Tony and Papa Raul does not....

[quote]At this point in my life I prefer to go to London once or twice a year and see theatre there. The best stuff, of which there's so much over there, all comes to NY eventually. The West End is the new Broadway.

I think you're blinded by your Anglophilia.

Both Broadway and the West End have gotten 'woke' in recent years and both suck as a result.

Having seen a more than a dozen shows in both NYC and London this year, it’s clear that the West End is blowing away Broadway with the content/creativity/acting. That said, the talent on Broadway insofar as the singing and general chorus remains unsurpassed (even in shitty shows). It’s sad Broadway is so bad with so much talent, whereas London has performers doing their best in excellent productions.

I think you're blinded by your anti-woke mania. In any given week the West End has two or three times the number of nonmusical plays that Broadway offers, and that's not counting the three stages at the National, the Almeida, Menier Chocolate Factory, The Bridge, the Old Vic, The Young Vic, Hampstead Theatre, Royal Court, The Globe . . . . generally it costs half what it would cost in New York. Not anglophilia, just the facts.

The thing is Raul was never the front runner for the Tony except once, despite many nominations. Him losing for Company was a real shock….but DHP is beloved in the community, and at that time, Raul was…well…not.

He had a reputation for being difficult for battling with Rosie during Taboo. That hurt his chances during that award season as well.

The nomination for Company truly was a then or never situation and the American Theatre Wing chose never

[quote]but DHP is beloved in the community

And people act like a lack of taste and good judgement amongst the Broadway community is a recent thing

A Twitter account which purports to be run by his representative says David Kernan died yesterday. Google News shows no news site picking it up

[quote]The thing is Raul was never the front runner for the Tony except once, despite many nominations. Him losing for Company was a real shock….but DHP is beloved in the community, and at that time, Raul was…well…not. He had a reputation for being difficult for battling with Rosie during Taboo

I don't think Raul's battles with Rosie specifically hurt him at all by giving him a reputation for being "difficult," as SHE was so notoriously difficult and obviously made some epic mistakes in producing TABOO. So if Raul is not liked in the community, I really don't think it's for that reason.

R451, Raúl‘s performance in Company was nothing special. He acted as if he were semicomatose.

With all those syndicated seasons of SVU, he’s vibrato-ing all the way to [italic] el banque. [/Italic]

[Quote] He acted as if he were semicomatose

And as if he was scaling [Italic] Medea [/italic] at least.

[quote]He acted as if he were semicomatose

[quote]And as if he was scaling Medea at least.

Those two statements sound quite contradictory to me.

r448, I'll readily admit to some Anglophilia but, also, I mostly tend to see plays in London, not musicals, and the acting (and directing and design!) talent on those stages is way ahead of anything I've seen on Broadway in the last several years. Broadway has nothing like The National, the Old and Young Vic, the Almeida, etc.

Though as far as musical talent goes, the Sondheim revue Old Friends and the revivals of Cabaret and Guys & Dolls were also still far more fun and exciting than any recent Broadway fare.

I still can't believe Sutton is learning Mattress and Sweeney at the same time. Mattress runs Jan 24-Feb 4 and she starts as Lovett on Feb 9

Mrs. Lovett is...SHYYYYYYYY!!!

[quote] Those two statements sound quite contradictory to me.

Not at all, his stupor was all so serious and tragic

[quote]I still can't believe Sutton is learning Mattress and Sweeney at the same time. Mattress runs Jan 24-Feb 4 and she starts as Lovett on Feb 9.

She does seem to have become something of a pig, doesn't she? We'll see how all of this turns out for her -- although, like many other people, I still can't believe she was actually cast as Mrs. L.

R460. Well it's not like she has to run home after work and cook dinner.

Tommy Smothers has died. Saw him and brother Dick in I Love My Wife and they were hilarious. RIP

[Quote] She does seem to have become something of a pig

WTF??!? What a trash thing to say. You’re mad at her for accepting jobs?

R466, in this case I'm "mad" at her for accepting a major role (Mrs. Lovett in SWEENEY) for which she's ridiculously unsuited, and even more so because she will need to begin performing it about a week after finishing up a two-week run in another major role that she will need to rehearse from scratch. Has it ever before in the history of show business happened that anyone has done something like this?

Also, in my opinion, this is not the first time Foster has accepted a role for which she was seriously miscast -- see also Reno Sweeney in ANYTHING GOES.

The one for which she won a Tony?

See also the damage to my eardrums after Sutton “sang” in Music Man.

Lol, r467, She was cast...which didn't involve theft, blackmail or breaking the ankle of the star so that she could go on. Your issue should be with the powers that cast her and not Sutton.

[quote]Has it ever before in the history of show business happened that anyone has done something like this?

MARY!

R470, Exactly.

[quote]Lol, [R467], She was cast...which didn't involve theft, blackmail or breaking the ankle of the star so that she could go on. Your issue should be with the powers that cast her and not Sutton.

Good point, but my issue is with both. Foster should have enough self-knowledge to know that, ultimately, it's not a good idea to accept roles one is all wrong for. And yes, she was arguably even more wrong for Marian in THE MUSIC MAN than for Reno in ANYTHING GOES, and my only explanation for not mentioning THE MUSIC MAN is that I guess I temporarily blocked that performance from my mind.

R471, that was a serious question on my part. Can you imagine Ethel Merman or Marty Martin or Angela Lansbury or whomever agreeing to learn a huge starring role in a show they had never done before for a two-week run, and then to begin performing ANOTHER huge starring role in another show she had never done before less than a week later?

R473, The Tveit/Foster casting was announced weeks ago. You don’t think there have been rehearsals in the interim?

[quote]ultimately, it's not a good idea to accept roles one is all wrong for.

Yeah, r473, you end up with a Tony nomination...or even a Tony!

[quote]The Tveit/Foster casting was announced weeks ago. You don’t think there have been rehearsals in the interim?

I'm sure there have been, and I myself have mentioned that to others as a sort of devil's advocate thing. I still think this kind of a rehearsal/performance schedule for two different shows is probably unprecedented.

Oh sure, R475. As if no one ever won an undeserved Tony Award.

R476 Indeed.

I didn't say they were deserved or undeserved, r476. But the performer *is* rewarded either way. Sutton is in her performing prime and she isn't going to turn down a role because *you're* in a snit about her being miscast.

R478, I'm far from the only person who has been very vocal about her miscasting in THE MUSIC MAN and SWEENEY TODD. But no point in my arguing with you,, because I'm sure you're right that it would never have occurred to Foster not to accept these roles.

[Quote] But no point in my arguing with you

And yet…

Who cares, Kail's production is bland piece of shit anyway.

Since it's basically just Hamilton Todd I'm sure Foster's straight tones won't be any worse than Ashford climbing the set like a spider monkey.

[quote][R478], I'm far from the only person who has been very vocal about her miscasting in THE MUSIC MAN and SWEENEY TODD.

I never said you were, r479. I myself said she was miscast in Anything Goes and Music Man. I'm not going to judge her Lovett until I've seen it. I do *not* fault Sutton, however, for striking while the iron is hot. What did you expect her to do...turn down the roles? That's asinine.

Who said "spider monkey"?

From what I've heard, Kail did precious little in guiding his actors in Sweeney.

Purlie Victorious is scheduled to close in February -- would it close earlier or tough it out? (Friends saw it and loved it.)

I don’t know what to make of this

R486 I don’t disagree with him….but his complaining gets old when it’s every interview

R486 He was free to leave the show. It's called artistic differences. That entire production was a cartoon so Teen Angel didn't really look out of place.

As I remember that Tommy Tune version of GREASE, it was all made into a big silly cartoon so his Teen Angel fit right in. No one in the cast portrayed a human being.

We can think of Sutton doing Mattress and Sweeney a sort of repertory, which, yes in the history of show business, has been done before.

R488

Exactly he could’ve left whenever he wanted, and he also could not have taken the role if he thought it was so offensive

[Quote] Exactly he could’ve left whenever he wanted

Do contracts work that way? Also I’m sure he needed the check.

I'm no big Sutton Foster fan, but she solidly held her own opposite Hugh Jackman, and good casting or not she was a lot of fun in The Music Man. I was surprised after being underwhelmed by her in other shows. I thought she had gotten better.

Also Teen Angel is not a person. A fantasy- played later in this production by Chubby Checker, Jennifer Holliday, and Mary Bond Davis.

And that Teen Angel costume was designed by the brilliant Willa Kim!

Well, r493, I think the main complaint was her not being a legit soprano.

[Quote] Grease" was on hiatus from 2/23/1997 through 4/7/1997.

And on the old straw hat circuit, the cast would rehearse next week’s show during the day while performing the current one at night. Neither Winnifred nor Mrs. Lovett are that demanding from a musicianship standpoint. If you were trying to do the role of Sweeney and, say, Cervantes/Quixote or Emile de Becque in Rep, it would be different. Whether Foster can create both characters as an actress is more open to dispute.

Mrs. Lovett and Winnifred may not be much on the musical notes but both are extremely demanding and difficult roles in that neither stands still ever. There's gotta be a lot of blocking to learn both.

I can see her being fine in Mattress. It's a spunky role. She does spunky well. I know some of you are not fond of spunk.

I hate spunk.

Yes, Lou, that was directed to you.

[quote]There's gotta be a lot of blocking to learn both.

She's a dancer, so I think that would help. How is she with accents?

[quote]I never said you were, [R479]. I myself said she was miscast in Anything Goes and Music Man. I'm not going to judge her Lovett until I've seen it. I do *not* fault Sutton, however, for striking while the iron is hot. What did you expect her to do...turn down the roles? That's asinine.

Although I guess it's relatively rare, over the years there have been some stars who were smart enough to be able to look at the big picture and turn down plum roles in which they would have been terribly miscast. One that comes to mind is Carol Burnett telling the FUNNY GIRL powers that be that she didn't feel she was right for the role of Fanny Brice, and that she thought they should get a Jewish girl..

But Winnifred is not merely "spunky." That was the mistake in casting Sarah Jessica Parker. Winnifred was conceived to be a loud-mouthed man eater. THat's where the comedy is though I doubt they'll go there and I doubt a new iteration will really work.

[quote]And on the old straw hat circuit, the cast would rehearse next week’s show during the day while performing the current one at night. Neither Winnifred nor Mrs. Lovett are that demanding from a musicianship standpoint.

I was not talking about "the straw hat circuit" or summer stock or whatever. I really don't think it has ever happened in history that a major Broadway star has opened in a huge, new starring role in a major New York production and then in another huge, new starring role in another major New York production less than one week after the first one closed.

[quote]Mrs. Lovett and Winnifred may not be much on the musical notes but both are extremely demanding and difficult roles in that neither stands still ever.

Thank you. And actually, Mrs. Lovett is quite a challenging vocal role, as anyone who knows anything about music and singing can attest.

[quote]r490 We can think of Sutton doing Mattress and Sweeney as a sort of repertory, which, yes in the history of show business, has been done before.

Not to mention she could have been practicing the two scores with her voice teacher over the years, if the parts have always appealed to her. Some performers do that with their dream roles.

She's an athlete, r506, she's trained for this.

Didn't Barbra Streisand do at least one of her TV specials while she was still performing on Broadway in Funny Girl?

And wasn't Mary Martin performing in Sound of Music on Broadway when she shot Peter Pan for TV in 1960?

R509 Don't feed the troll.

I just finished the Patrick Stewart autobiography. Utterly charming, and did the talk of English rep, Jesus they worked hard. And then the RSC stepped it up a notch.

It's not the work, it's the stairs.

My big question is what Amy SP will do to the book of MATRESS, which has always seemed pretty full proof over the years to me.

Sarah Jessica Parker was horrible casting and everyone knows it. Even reticent cunt Mary Rodgers bashed her in her memoir.

LaChanze:

[quote]I am getting a lot of DM’s and posts about why I’ve been left out of the press as the original Celie in the @TheColorPurple (musical). I am thrilled for the movie’s success! Happy for all involved. However, I do want my royalty fee for the lyrics I added to “I’M HERE”.

Has it ever before in the history of show business?

Please let it be the title of the next thread...

LaChanze takes LaChance.

Fool proof.

[quote]Didn't Barbra Streisand do at least one of her TV specials while she was still performing on Broadway in Funny Girl? And wasn't Mary Martin performing in Sound of Music on Broadway when she shot Peter Pan for TV in 1960?

Both true, but not quite the same situations. Streisand had already opened and was into the run of FUNNY GIRL, so she wasn't basically rehearsing two things at the same time. And Martin had already done three live telecasts of PETER PAN before the 1960 version was recorded on videotape.

[Quote] My big question is what Amy SP will do to the book of MATRESS, which has always seemed pretty full proof over the years to me.

First, she will run it through spellcheck

Has LaChanze ever asked for a royalty before or is she just trying to get some of that Oprah money now.

Why the fuck would LaChanze be part of the publicity for the film version? No one knows (or cares) who she is, and considering Fantasia replaced her in the show and actually turned it into a hit, you would think she wouldn't want that reminder out there.

And yes, if she'd never been paid before, she's shit out of luck. If she had, then she knows she has to be paid. I'm so sick of has-beens looking for their next publicity fix.

Didn't Fantasia miss most of her Broadway CP performances? In all the press for the film, she keeps alluding how hard the Broadway show was for her, and what bad shape she was in. Any one remember?

Her attendance was fine.

*

I don't know about "most of her performances," but apparently Fantasia was frequently out of COLOR PURPLE on Broadway. Seems she just wasn't used to and/or up for eight performances a week, at least not then and not in that difficult role.

I don't think Fantasia was frequently out on Broadway but she began missing shows on tour because of throat problems.

Now Jennifer Holliday in Dreamgirls is a whole other story.

[quote] I am getting a lot of DM’s and posts

Sure, Jan.

Pertinent to our interests.

Annaleigh has been out of ST all week (so far).

Sutton and Aaron have good attendance records

Didn't Ronald Dennis basically rewrite Richie's solo in A CHORUS LINE? I remember him talking about it on SiriusXM years ago, can't remember if he gets royalties for it though.

Come see Purlie because. Ben Platt liked it

Sutton Foster never misses a performance. She never gives one either. (With apologies to the wag who originally said that about Marian Seldes in Deathtrap).

[quote]And Martin had already done three live telecasts of PETER PAN before the 1960 version was recorded on videotape.

Martin had done only two live telecasts prior to the 1960 videotaped version. The first, in March 1955, was so successful that it was remounted for a second live broadcast less than a year later, in January 1956.

Mentioning Sutton Foster and Marian Seldes in the same sentence should get you banned permanently from DataLounge.

At least when I call out of a show, I tweet about how I destroyed my toilet as proof!

When I saw The Color Purple on Broadway, Fantasia left after the first act. She didn’t look great - flushed and sweaty. That said, I was exceptionally disappointed. I am a huge fan and couldn’t get into the understudy, even though she was perfectly good.

I do think Fantasia was out a lot. She admitted she was going through a very rough time personally during the run.

I only saw Fantasia in AFTER MIDNIGHT but she was fabulous! The entire show was and should have run much longer.

[quote]When I saw The Color Purple on Broadway, Fantasia left after the first act.

Jeez .... not even 75%.

Not to put too fine a point on it but IMHO Erivo wiped the floor with Fantasia - I saw them both. And from what I’ve seen and heard from the movie Erivo will continue to own Celie.

Cynthia Erivo sings "Alfie" in tribute to DL icon Dionne Warwick during the Kennedy Center Honors.

But Barrino is nice

Enrivo doing the blandest Midnight Train to Georgia possible.

Cynthia will be to The Color Purple what Jennifer Holliday is to Dreamgirls. Only Theatre Queens will insist they own the role.

Huh?

I love Erivo’s voice (remarkable onstage in TCP) but she just doesn’t have the kind of voice that make Dionne and Gladys so iconic. In one note you know who is singing with Gladys or Dionne - completely and utterly unique. Even though Erivo is a great singer she’s not instantly identifiable.

I’m glad I know Jennifer Holliday owns Effie and Erivo owns Celie. If you are trying to say theater doesn’t matter you might be in the wrong thread.

What about ME?

Sutton owns Millie. Nathan owns Max. Donna owns Fosca. Kelli owns vanilla.

You were mean to me back in '74, Helen. It still wounds.

R547, oh, I'm on the right thread because it's so obvious theater queens can't accept that others have opinions that are just as valid. The fact that someone insist that one "owns" a role is the height of theatrical arrogance.

[quote]Even though Erivo is a great singer she’s not instantly identifiable.

Like me, she doesn't have a sound.

I may be in the minority, but I thought LaChanse was wonderful in The Color Purple. Then again, the show wasn't very good.

Barbra owns Fanny. Channing owns Dolly. Merman owns Gypsy. Patti owns Evita. But you probably think Madonna owns Evita because she did it on film. That somehow negates the stage performance - is that what you are on a theater thread positing? I might be arrogant to say Barbra owns Fanny Brice but there won’t be a lot of disagreement on this board at least. There also won’t be a lot of disagreeing over whether or not you are an imbecilic cunt.

R550 she was mean to me too, that buck toothed bitch.

[quote]I only saw Fantasia in AFTER MIDNIGHT but she was fabulous! The entire show was and should have run much longer.

R538 - same! Loved that revue. One of the most joyous nights I've had in the theatre. That incredible band, those brilliant dancers, those sublime vocalists, beautifully choregraphed, staged and costumed! MARY!

Sutton may own Millie, but it's pretty shoddy real estate.

R554, oooooh, touched a nerve. Go back and finger yourself to Dorothy Collins singing "Losing My Mind" so you can remember she owns the role.

[quote] I don't think Fantasia was frequently out on Broadway but she began missing shows on tour because of throat problems.

Nope. Fantasia was out of TCP on Broadway for a large number of shows. It was widely discussed both in here and in the press.

[quote]considering Fantasia replaced her in the show and actually turned it into a hit, you would think she wouldn't want that reminder out there.

Cynthia Errivo turned it into a hit. She got raves and a Tony Award.

And La Chanze is referring to the new movie ad which features "the three original Celies." Whoopi, Fantasia, Cynthia Errivo. But it ignores ORIGINAL stage Celie, also a Tony winner, La Chanze.

Who own Lorelei Lee?

[quote] Cynthia Errivo turned it into a hit. She got raves and a Tony Award.

Cynthia Erivo wasn't even in that production, dumb ass.

[quote]Who own Lorelei Lee?

Ironically, the blonde who did the movie version.

Hey, what about us men? We own a few roles.

Who “owns” the MC in Cabaret? Joel or Alan?

[Quote] Cynthia Errivo turned it into a hit

John Doyle whipped that show into shape

I’ll never forgive Cynthia for fucking up the lyrics on “ Someone Else’s Story” on the BBC some years ago. And neither will Tim Rice.

Bajour?

Hey, remember when the URINETOWN creative team thought they had created a great musical? What happened to them?

Tim Rice never forgives and never forgets

Warner Bros’ musical The Color Purple, which was brilliant out of the gate on Christmas Day with an $18.15M gross, boosted by group sales, continues to fall, with Wednesday down 45% from Tuesday to $3.9M at 3,152. Running total through three days stands at $29M, about $10M behind Les Miserables at the same point in time in 2012. That movie ended its domestic run at $148.8M.

Cynthia has a great voice but she's not a great actress. She's always been strangely wooden/one note in every film she's been in. That Harriet Tubman film required nuance and some comedic timing and she had none.

"Comedic timing" in Harriet Tubman? Put down the bong, please...

[quote]That Harriet Tubman film required nuance and some comedic timing and she had none.

Big mistake. HUGE.

R573 You are right, perhaps comedic timing is the wrong word. It was meant to be a superhero movie and treat her like comic book action figure, per the director. There were moments that required a bit of a punchline or ironic delivery and her face was just...blank.

Cynthia has dead eyes like Madonna.

Who will be brave enough to start a new thread?

Only Julia Roberts has the emotion AND comedic timing required to bring Harriet Tubman to life on screen.

[quote] Who will be brave enough to start a new thread?

Hopefully not R578

Erivo was disappointingly terrible in the TV Aretha series

I get the point about Erivo. There's just something very humorless about her persona. I'll be very curious to see how she scores with WICKED. Seems like major miscasting to me.

Only R579 has the emotion AND comedic timing required to start a new thread...

[quote]Cynthia Erivo wasn't even in that production, dumb ass.

She opened it! Fantasia took over when she left.

Sorry, no. Fantasia took over in the original production. Erivo opened the revival in London and then came her to open on Broadway.

Fantasia took over for LaChanze in the original production of the musical. Erivo played Celie in the revival - two very different productions.

There were eight different women who followed La Chanze in TCP, and Fantasia was well down on the list, chronologically. She got good reviews for herself, but she hardly turned it into a hit.

Cynthia Erivo got raves for herself and for the show itself.

R586, that's complete revisionist history. Fantasia got some of the best reviews I've ever seen. Clive Barnes and John Simon gave the kind of raves performers dream of. Even Barbara Cook said her performance was the most thrilling she'd ever seen. The reviews alone were enough to turn the show into a sold out hit and that was not the case before.

The reviews for Fantasia's Celie are reproduced in their entirety starting on Page 6 of the Broadway World forums. Saying "she got good reviews for herself" is a ridiculous understatement. And virtually every review says she elevated the material.

I still wish Fantasia had been cast as Effie in the "Dreamgirls" movie.

[quote]I get the point about Erivo. There's just something very humorless about her persona. I'll be very curious to see how she scores with WICKED. Seems like major miscasting to me.

I like Idina Menzel, but it's not as if she's a paragon of humor herself.

New thread:

SUFFS!

O.K., r591, that's pretty good.

Cynthia is a cunt.

You're one to spit.

Girls, GIRLS! You're all cunts!

Oh god…the thread’s walls are closing in!

almost

midnight

BAJOUR!!!