THEATRE GOSSIP #553- "You've Left a Void In My Heart Bigger than Lindsay Mendez's Absences" Edition

The previous thread

New York Mag or Vulture or whatever it's called goes after generic Broadway singers

[quote] These days, it seems like everyone is a belter with a healthy mix à la Casey Likes or Taylor Louderman — talented, of course, but lacking personality. ... Now, casts can happily consist of highly trained musical-theater robots designed to view Broadway as a place for technical ability without vocal storytelling, and audiences who seek technical virtuosity rather than individualized star-power are all the happier for it.

I'm sure we can disagree about the list of voices they find more interesting (which is why I jumped the gun and put that here instead of the not-quite-done #552).

From that Vulture piece....

[quote] Foster’s upper register wasn’t working in a viral bootleg of “The Worst Pies in London” from the first show

That's being generous.

It's been this way since the late 90's. I can't believe it's taken so long for this to have this pointed out like Vulture has.

Ah yes, Audra in SOM. Who could ever forget: Maria, what is it you cunt face.

Also from the Vulture piece…

[quote]Kelli O’Hara is a soaring soprano in the lineage of Mary Martin and Barbara Cook.

I know Martin was a soprano, but I would never compare her to Barbara Cook. Rebecca Luker could be compared to Cook.

There was also the UK 2015 "Sound of Music-Live" with DL fave Julian Ovenden as the Captain.

I thought Mary Martin was an alto.

Are Patti and Bernadette considered sopranos?

Mary Martin sang in a warm lower alto register, especially in her later roles, but also possessed a pretty swell soprano range, including coloratura work in "Mysterious Lady" from Peter Pan.

I thought Mary Martin was delicious.

I don't know her.

[quote]Mary Martin sang in a warm lower alto register, especially in her later roles, but also possessed a pretty swell soprano range, including coloratura work in "Mysterious Lady" from Peter Pan.

Yes, but she only very rarely used her soprano register in her professional career. That number in PETER PAN was a highly unusual exception, done pretty much as a stunt, and that also goes for the very few places where Martin sang in a soprano register in THE SOUND OF MUSIC. To refer to Mary Martin as a soaring soprano is incredibly ignorant, and the fact that a professional writer would make that statement in any article published by a reputable media outlet is pretty shocking.

I'd categorize Mary and Bernadette as character sopranos.

Again, Mary Martin did have a soprano register, at least in her younger years, but since she almost never used it throughout her career and instead generally sang in a low alto register, it's ridiculous to think of her as any type of soprano.

I can just tell the Is Mary Martin A Soprano or Not? debate will end in tears before bedtime.

My aunt used to make fun of Mary's "soaring soprano": in An Ordinary Couple: "In the FAAAADING sun." It does sound a bit fake.

Didn't Angela Lansbury also sing in a lower register but had a soprano extension? She does pretty good climbing the scale in "Worst Pies" from Sweeney Todd.

Mary Martin had some soprano range. Try and argue with that.

Is “Best Worst Thing That Ever Could Have Happened” still hidden on YouTube somewhere… of do I have to pay a goddamn $2.99 to rent it somewhere?

R2 - yeah, some of those capsule reviews of singers are a little... off... but I certainly agree with the general sentiment that the musical theatre now much more rarely values unique, idiosyncratic vocalists with true character voices. One wonders if so many massive Broadway stars like Elaine Stritch, Dorothy Loudon, Carol Channing -- hell, even Bernadette and Patti -- would have been stars if they'd started out in the 2000s.

Mary used her soprano range for that horrible Noel Coward musical she did in London in 1946. They didn't get along then, but made up later and did a TV show together.

Kit Harington has been cast in the West End Slave Play, and to mark the announcement, Jeremy O Harris has criticised celebs being cast in plays.

[quote]“It’s something that takes away from great theatre because people treat it like a Disney World attraction, where the play is background to the amusement of seeing their favourite celebrity in front of them.”

This is the guy who held the curtain for a late Rihanna and then defended her texting during the show

Didn't he declare he'd retired from theatre?

Kit Harington, a star? Hahahahahahaha.

That must make Kit Harrington feel terrific.

[quote]Harris said he would not have agreed to his casting if Harington had wanted to “make it the Jon Snow Experience” and he had been impressed with the actor after he was recommended by another Game of Thrones star, Gwendoline Christie.

So he decided it was okay to cast a celebrity because another celebrity said so.

Harris is pathetically shallow.

Netflix getting in the theatre game.

[quote]My aunt used to make fun of Mary's "soaring soprano": in An Ordinary Couple: "In the FAAAADING sun." It does sound a bit fake.

Whenever Mary sings in her soprano register on the SOUND OF MUSIC album -- a little bit in "My Favorite Things," "Do-Re-Mi," "An Ordinary Couple" and elsewhere -- it sounds very affected and fake, because by that point in her life and career, what was left of her soprano voice had become totally separate from her lower register.

[quote]Mary Martin had some soprano range. Try and argue with that.

No one is arguing with that, but referring to Mary Martin as a "soaring soprano" (period) is equivalent to labeling Kelli O'Hara's voice an alto belt because she did THE PAJAMA GAME.

Netflix Becomes Broadway Producer:

Sorry, R27, did not see your post in time!

At least we can all agree that Mary Martin never guest-starred on "The Sopranos."

How's that new Petula Clark musical doing?

Besides Cabaret and Sound of Music, are there other musicals that would benefit from all-Nazi casting?

R33 -- FIDDLER? THE ROTHSCHILDS? THE EDUCATION OF HYMAN KAPLAN?

[quote]Besides Cabaret and Sound of Music, are there other musicals that would benefit from all-Nazi casting?

Parade

Down Argentine Way

South Pacific

Jeremy O. Harris is the gift in assholeishness that never stops giving.

I've always wanted to see an all Nazi Flower Drum Song.

A Nazi “The Wiz” seems like a crowd pleaser.

r33 The Producers?

Nah—that would totally flop^

[quote]Besides Cabaret and Sound of Music, are there other musicals that would benefit from all-Nazi casting?

Judgment at Nuremberg - the Musical!

[quote]At least we can all agree that Mary Martin never guest-starred on "The Sopranos."

I could always get her to hit a few high notes.

Not really finding the Nazi stuff very amusing

Who cares?

SJ Perelman has returned.

I care, r44.

The banality of DL

Plagiarist

J Harris is exhausting and so damn ugly.

Another performer who wasn't cookie cutter...

[quote]r45 SJ Perelman has returned.

This name oddly reminded me of the lead character[bold] Judy Ann Pearlman [/bold]from the Bob Booker & George Foster comedy album “The Jewish American Princess” (1971)

The reason it came to mind was we’d been discussing Second Stage Theater and one of its artistic directors, Robyn Goodman, was in the cast… along with Lou Jacobi, Beatrice Arthur, Judy Graubart, Frank Gallop, Anthony Holland, Phoebe Dorin, Robert King, and Bob McFadden.

Anyway - -

Julian Ovenden was way too short to play Captain Von Trapp. He looked more like Rolf’s older brother Dolf.

He was too short for those gestures.

Non -sequitur of the week at R51.

R52 I love Julian. Adored his George in Paris.

I was looking at a (computer generated?) transcript of that r51 album cover…. does anyone spot anything odd, and know why THAT may be there??

[quote]1. THE JEWISH AMERICAN PRINCESS.........-.-.-. (1:50) eee es Bee ils ol ee a, pea eee jude Ann Pearman... ag JUDY GRAUBART CUNT ECE FO eee ieee ei eager

???

Rumors that Jinkx is going to play Audrey in Little Shop.

Shouldn't Audrey be younger than Mr. Mushnik?

Re "The Sound of Music" and "Peter Pan":

The kid who played Friedrich in "The Sound of Music Live!" is currently playing Clyde Barrow in a regional production of Frank Wildhorn's "Bonnie & Clyde" in Salt Lake City.

His Bonnie was Tiger Lily in "Peter Pan Live!"

Kit Harington was really good in the title role in Henry V, which is on NT at Home. It's very 1960s to reject him just because he had a big role in a famous TV series.

Truly R36, he’s so obnoxious.

Nice to see “Sunday” done on a huge stage where those last moments can really have overwhelming impact. Although I thought Ovenden was only okay. His ass looked bubbly though.

It's official

Nazis: not the banality of DL but the banality of evil.

Jinx is too fuckin' old. There, I said it.

Um. Good luck trying to sing LS score 8x a week after massacring When You're Good to Mama.

Is Kit going to be showing dick?

r57 more than a rumor

Maybe it's a typo. She might actually be playing Audrey II.

[bold] KAREN Z [/bold] as "Rita's Mom" (the Deb Monk role?) in [italic] Prelude to a Kiss [/italic] at South Coast Rep

Sorry meant to include link

How about an all Nazi CANDIDE?

"Whatz da uze?"

^^^ The Auto-da-fe scene would be a real showstopper!

R71 hi gang! Thanks for giving your favorite gal some press! I’m already off book and ready to twirl!

Karen, I hate to break it to you, but you're going into a real dud.

Orson Bean walked into traffic to get out of it.

[quote]It's very 1960s to reject him just because he had a big role in a famous TV series.

And incredibly stupid, which certainly fits as a description of Jeremy O. Harris.

[quote]Um. Good luck trying to sing LS score 8x a week after massacring When You're Good to Mama.

I think Jinkx sounded fine in that audio clip from CHICAGO, but yes, Audrey is a MUCH more difficult role vocally, with a much wider range. So this casting does sound very questionable, aside from the age factor.

Wow, I like the idea of Jinkx in Little Shop, but it’s too high for her. Are they going to lower it? She was at her vocal limit with Chicago, and Mama Morton is substantially lower. I love her though, and might go.

[quote] Rumors that Jinkx is going to play Audrey in Little Shop.

I guess they felt Madame was too young for the role.

so now the fact that the dentist hits her will be about anti-trans violence instead of good old fashioned violence against women.

I love that the photo they're using of Jinx for the Little Shop press release is 20 years old.

Aside from the age question and the vocal question, will Jinkx Monsoon be able to play the vulnerability necessary for Audrey? This sounds like stunt casting to me, with the LS producers taking their cue from the Weisslers, although Jinkx was much better suited for Mama in CHICAGO.

Isn't he going back into Chicago as well?

R82, I agree, even though the show is a comic book, if the audiences don't care about Audrey, the show starts to fall apart.

Ashman wrote about playing the characters in Little Shop with absolute authenticity in his introduction to the script. It’s not always enough, as Tammy Blanchard showed how to be both authentic and bad. But they are clearly going for box office stunts at this point.

If they really want power at the box offfice then they need to hire a real star like Betty Buckley!

I do *not* want to see Betty Lynn in anything low cut.

I would like to see Betty Buckley play the Dentist in LS.

Does anyone know why there has been a proliferation of "original concept by" credits in recent years? I was looking at the Lempicka poster and it has the credits as "Book, Lyrics and Original Concept by Carson Kreitzer; Book and Music by Matt Gould."

I can see validity in the credit if the person doing the conceiving wasn't also one of the book writers, but if they are then it just feels redundant. Is it just a way to wrangle a few more points of the gross?

Lempicka is a shite sammich. And Matt Gould’s social media promos (“It’s like the Real Housewives”) are vomit-inducing.

Broadway could certainly use some original concepts, regardless of who gets the credit, R89.

I can actually get on board with r88, come to think of it.

[quote] Broadway could certainly use some original concepts

I can still bring Hazel to Broadway.

Well, let's see...what film director hasn't been musicalized? Bergman's been done. Fellini at least three times that I can think of. I don't think Hitchcock films sing.

I love Betty Buckley but I think the Dolly tour nearly killed her so I doubt we'll be seeing her back on Broadway. Though a limited run as Madame Armfeldt would be nice.

Frank Capra's ouevre (sp?) would be a natural for musicalization. I know they've done It's a Wonderful Life.

And Howard Hawks' His Girl Friday and Bringing Up Baby (with Julie Taymor designing the leopard puppet)!

It’s done to distinguish the most recent original concept from the last original concept produced that copied from the original origin story, just like the latest does .😵‍💫 a piece of pie for everyone.

[quote]I don't think Hitchcock films sing.

Maybe not sing and maybe not originally his material, but both Rebecca and The 39 Steps have been on Broadway. And he directed a movie version of Juno and the Paycock, which story was later a musical.

I never miss a Tarkovsky musical.

Paycock?

Are non- standing ovations just a thing of the past? I’ve been at 2 mediocre productions in the last 2 weeks and both audiences somewhat reluctantly stood. Eldergay here (natch) but remember when a standing O was the exception rather than the rule?

It's about a new idea for a musical, r98. We know how Rebecca ended up. Also, Hitchcock's movies weren't as much about the material as what he did with it cinematically.

[quote]And he directed a movie version of Juno and the Paycock, which story was later a musical.

With Kate Lawrence in the chorus!

Excuse, ME!! MARNIE, anyone?

I may go, just to see Corbin Bleu. I never even heard of him until he recently started playing 25 Words or Less, and now I'm a fan.

Such a nice smile...

Get up, Marnie, yer achin' my leg.

I meant, to Little Shop

"Little Shop" casting: Chrissy Metz IS the total eclipse of the sun.

"Strangers On a Train - The Musical!"

The merry-go-round scene will be the ultimate coup de théâtre!

[quote]I can see validity in the credit if the person doing the conceiving wasn't also one of the book writers, but if they are then it just feels redundant.

I agree with you, and I don't understand it, either.

Can Hitchcock’s work produce a freewheeling patio number? Maybe The Birds?

[quote]I love Betty Buckley but I think the Dolly tour nearly killed her so I doubt we'll be seeing her back on Broadway. Though a limited run as Madame Armfeldt would be nice.

It's amazing to me that anyone wants to see Betty in anything anymore. Her voice is completely gone, she looks like hell, and as anyone who saw her in the HELLO, DOLLY! tour will tell you, she has very limited comic skills, to put it mildly.

[quote] I can see validity in the credit if the person doing the conceiving wasn't also one of the book writers, but if they are then it just feels redundant.

It may be like on a screenplay credit where a writer gets story credit, then that writer, along with another writer or writers, gets a screenplay credit. It seems silly to me, too, but a lot of times writers who are forced to have another writer on board (or are not writing partners with another writer) want to make sure people know- hey, I came up with this idea. This other guy is just along for the ride.

R112. Anyone who saw Betty in Sunset Boulevard will also tell you she has limited comic skills.

r114=Barbara Thorndyke

RIP freewheeling patio joke

Monsoon is only going to be in Little Shop for just less than two months as well

So it's safe to go back in two months? Gotcha.

An Anne Frank musical in Amsterdam. Sounds crazy, no?

R119, that appears to be a Dutch translation of the American musical “Yours, Anne.” Same music, Dutch lyrics.

The funny thing is, a Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (movie) musical is the project that Chris is working on in the novel of The Exorcist.

[quote]The merry-go-round scene will be the ultimate coup de théâtre!

Been done.

Maria, in The Sound of Music, as performed by Mary Martin, has the widest range of any character in a musical, and most operas too. Mary Martin had to deliver a low D3 (barely whispered on the album, in "Do Re Mi") to a high B5, the top note in "Lonely Goatherd." It's two octaves and a sixth, astounding and quite punishing.

I don't care how good it is, I don't need to see CABARET again

r119 r120 Another musical that can be retold from the Nazi point of view.

r122 Unless Jigger gets crushed under the merry-go-round -- not the same thing.

[quote] Maria, in The Sound of Music, as performed by Mary Martin, has the widest range of any character in a musical… astounding and quite punishing.

Was it written by Andrew Lloyd Webber?

I recall reading (in the book Something Wonderful by Todd S. Purdum) that at some point during the original production of The Sound of Music, Richard Halliday had Mary Martin wear a pedometer. Martin walked about 2 miles during each performance (I'll have to check the chapter on SOM to verify).

Julie Andrews seems effortless in the film, but Maria is not an easy part.

R128. but Maria is not an easy part

Tell me about it.

[quote]Julie Andrews seems effortless in the film, but Maria is not an easy part.

I don't think Julie Andrews' singing was effortless in THE SOUND OF MUSIC,

She talk-sings a lot in that movie/soundtrack.

It;s the "Julie Andrews talk-sings" troll!

We've it all before. Over an over again, It's musical comedy, not "Madame Butterfly."

[quote]She talk-sings a lot in that movie / soundtrack.

Julie made a career out of talk singing. You can hear it as far back as My Fair Lady. But in her defense, My Fair Lady is a tough sing as well.

Well, to be fair, Julie sang the score in SOM over several weeks of filming. Mary sang all the songs 8 times a week!

Julie sang those songs over several days in a recording studio

The Notebook is actually fantastic. It is going to be a big hit. Saw a preview last week. Michael Grief is having quite a year with Days of Wine and Roses, Hell's Kitchen and The Notebook. Of the three I think the Notebook is the one to win Best Musical.

[quote]Julie Andrews seems effortless in the film, but Maria is not an easy part.

At least her boyfriend and her brother didn't get killed.

Julie Andrews is the reason I became a theatre queen: Mary Poppins led me to My Fair Lady, Camelot, The Boy Friend, and so much more. So what if she talk sings a bit?

Can someone please cite a couple of instances of Julie Andrews talk-singing in one of her musicals?

For you doubters, the next guest on the Into the Woods Podcast (Episode 50) is Bernadette Peters.

In her early career, Julie Andrews did some talk-singing as a definite, conscious choice. She always said she recognized the importance of acting the lyrics, and I guess she didn't want to be thought of as having a very pretty, near-operatic soprano voice but little or no acting ability. In later years, as her voice began to deteriorate, the talk-singing increased and the actual singing became more problematic.

For R138, on the SOUND OF MUSIC soundtrack, Julie talk sings the first line or two of "My Favorite Things" and then much of the second chorus, she also talk-sings the first part of the last chorus of "Do-Re Mi." On the London cast recording of MY FAIR LADY, she talk sings a lot of "Show Me," and unfortunately it sounds awful compared to the way she sings that song on the Broadway cast album. There are many other examples of talk-singing in her recorded repertoire, even a tiny bit of it on the cast album for THE BOY FRIEND.

For 130: I would still describe Julie's singing on the SOUND OF MUSIC recording as effortless, and she only talk-sings a very small percentage of that score.

Start at the 0:40 mark.

Somehow Keats will survive without you.

The words “will survive” are spoken. She’s doing it for dramatic effect, but there are notes there that are not being sung.

[quote]On the London cast recording of MY FAIR LADY, she talk sings a lot of "Show Me," and unfortunately it sounds awful

Isn’t it interesting that they went to the expense of re-recording the show when they opened it in London? I guess when they realized parts of it sounded like crap, they couldn’t substitute the Broadway version (specifically on a song where Julie was doing a solo like Show Me).

R141, but that's an example of a very smart and effective choice to talk-sing two words for emphasis. As opposed to the really egregious talk-singing and scooping throughout the following. Compare it to the far superior performance on the original recording, which I will post next.

R142, the reason is that the Broadway cast album is in mono. They recorded the London in stereo.

[quote]Isn’t it interesting that they went to the expense of re-recording the show when they opened it in London?

They did a stereo recording, r142. The OBCR was mono.

I think Julie's walk-singing is tremendous!

Julie Andrews, like every other Eliza, had real vocal troubles during her long run in My Fair Lady. She actually learned to "talk-sing" as a safety measure, just to get through. If she had tried to purely sing like what she does on the OBCR, she would have lost her voice, very often. But the talk-singing brought with it the stylistic problems, one of which is her tendency to scoop *downward* which was unusual.

r137

what's the podcast called again?

Well if she had mono then it’s no surprise she had to talk-sing in some places. Give her a break!

R148, it’s called “Giants in the Sky” and is hosted by Ben Rimalower. It has uneven technical production and the content sometimes meanders, but it is still something I look forward to each week. He may have run out of interviewees, so maybe this is the final episode. Though I’m sure he would love to interview Betty Lynn.

[quote]The reason is that the Broadway cast album is in mono. They recorded the London in stereo.

Yes, but ironically, the sound quality of the original Broadway recording is superior to the London version, because even though the London album is in stereo, it was very poorly engineered. So the London recording is inferior in terms of the quality of both the performances and the sound.

[quote]Julie Andrews, like every other Eliza, had real vocal troubles during her long run in My Fair Lady. She actually learned to "talk-sing" as a safety measure, just to get through. If she had tried to purely sing like what she does on the OBCR, she would have lost her voice, very often.

Everyone agrees about the vocal difficulty of the role of Eliza, mostly because there's all that screaming and caterwauling required in addition to all that pure soprano singing. But I think you're dead wrong in what you wrote about Julie's talk-singing, because I believe that can cause greater wear-and-tear on the voice than actually singing the notes -- assuming that all of the notes are well within the singer's range, which was certainly the case with Julie Andrews.

[quote]Everyone agrees about the vocal difficulty of the role of Eliza, mostly because there's all that screaming and caterwauling required in addition to all that pure soprano singing.

Now that we’ve accepted regular alternates with Evita, Miss Saigon and Midler Dolly, I wonder if future My Fair Lady revivals would consider going to an alternative Eliza model?

[quote]The words “will survive” are spoken. She’s doing it for dramatic effect, but there are notes there that are not being sung.

OMG!!! Her career should have ended right there!!!

[quote]For you doubters, the next guest on the Into the Woods Podcast (Episode 50) is Bernadette Peters.

I am actually surprised he landed Bernadette. I'm actually shocked the podcast is STILL going. I stopped listening long ago when the tea got... lukewarm and the awful sound production / engineering got on my last nerve. I hope the host asks some insightful and juicy questions and doesn't just ask those dull open-ended ones like "tell us what working with Sondheim was like" and "did you know it was special?"

When is the Bernadette episode being released? I see he recently interviewed Phylicia Rashad. Did she talk about how she didn't find any of the female characters' stories believable? Ahem.

Patricia Michael, who was Melanie in the West End Gone with the Wind, found that her vocal challenge with Eliza is you start the show with a husky, back of the throat sound (characteristic of a cockney dialect) then transition (without a break at all, really) into a traditional soprano sound with “I Could Have Danced All Night”. And there’s a very physically active number, “The Rain in Spain,” between the two points, making the singer out of breath.

So the trick was to not hit the harsh cockney sound too strictly… which is of course a conundrum as the whole concept of the show is the contrast between the two sounds.

Next Wednesday, r156.

The Rashad interview was very respectful of the creators, though she seems annoyed even now that they asked her to audition.

There was a very interesting discussion of how casting was dealing with race in the Terry Burrell episode. Some of the most interesting interviews were with lesser known participants, probably because the stars and creators have given many interviews and told the same stories before.

There was an alternate Eliza in the last MFL revival. First for Ambrose midway through her run (much to the displeasure of Dame Diana) then for Benanti (not surprising). Late in the run there was also an alternate Higgins.

Four songs from Suffs!

75% too many songs

I truly do not understand this self-important meeskite Shaina Taub. She makes my skin crawl.

The plan to have Black Out nights for the London run of Slave Play has caused quite the fuss in the UK, with a majority seeming opposed to the idea, and even the Prime Minister's spokesperson criticising it.

Or, as I prefer to think of it, JOH is such a cunt that people would rather side with the Tories than him.

Can you please elaborate, r163?

Don’t be dense…stealth white troll

Jeremy O Harris is a cunt.

r164 Not sure what part you want me to elaborate on, but here

[italic]I post and post 'til I'm half-dead, and I hear people say, "R157 doesn’t look like they’re thirty-five anymore." And what do I get? A Broadway board... who cares as much about the beautiful Eliza Doolittle vocal analysis I give them... as they care about SUFFS! I give you beautiful links, and you treat them like they were some dishrag! You do!

I hadn't heard of black out nights

Not a NY thing…it’s some woke Brit shit.

True story: my company’s staff affinity group for African-American employees had to change its designation to African Heritage, due to multiple complaints from our comparatively small London office.

[quote]Not a NY thing…it’s some woke Brit shit

Bullshit, it's a concept created by JOH and first applied to Slave Play on Broadway

[quote]A concept birthed by Slave Play playwright Jeremy O. Harris, the inaugural BLACK OUT night took place on September 18, 2019. For the first time in history, all 804 seats of Broadway’s Golden Theatre were occupied by Black-identifying audience members in communion, celebration, and recognition of Broadway’s rich, diverse, and fraught history of Black work.

Once in over a hundred years. Thank you.

Ok 3 times for 2 plays in over a hundred years. Thank you.

As if that has anything to do with your claim that it's "Not a NY thing…it’s some woke Brit shit."

Simmer down.

There’s little or no coverage here at the time. “Special” performances happen. They don’t blow up in that Brit way…

The "Black Out Night" thing never quite worked in NY did it?

I remember they were desperate to get black audiences in.

What's the word on the "Water for Elephants" musical? Trying to plan my NY theater week, and so far I have "Merrily" "The Wiz" "Appropriate" "Stereophonic" and "The Notebook." I have two slots left. Is Elephants going to be good? What about "Outsiders"?

No elephant dick—you can skip it.

[quote]Four songs from Suffs!

And yet no songs from "Lempicka"?

Liza likes Suffs, but not Lempicka.

We’ve heard a terrible caterwauling number from Limpdicka called “Woman is.”

It’s godawful.

Every time I see the word Lempicka, all I can think of is Limp Dick.

Sadly, the chatter over at BWW on Water For Elephants is not good. In fact, it's dire, r177.

[quote]We’ve heard a terrible caterwauling number from Limpdicka called “Woman is.” It’s godawful.

Is it the musical equivalent of those cloying "Love is" cartoons?

Suffs sounds like a powdered detergent found only at Dollar General.

It may be the worst title of a musical since Starmites.

And Suffs doesn’t have Brian Lane Green prancing around onstage in a pair of Keds sneakers.

[quote]For the first time in history, all 804 seats of Broadway’s Golden Theatre were occupied by BLACK-IDENTIFYING AUDIENCE MEMBERS in communion, celebration, and recognition of Broadway’s rich, diverse, and fraught history of Black work.

R171 was Rachel Dolezal invited?

[quote] For the first time in history, all 804 seats of Broadway’s Golden Theatre were occupied by BLACK-IDENTIFYING AUDIENCE MEMBERS in communion, celebration, and recognition of Broadway’s rich, diverse, and fraught history of Black work.

Which means 803 of them were comped.

[quote]Suffs sounds like a powdered detergent found only at Dollar General.

And Lempicka sounds like the name of an ungainly machine that sifts through trash.

Lempicka may cause serious side effects. Consult your doctor if complications arise.

Ask your doctor if Lempicka is right for you.

Please get this woman a role on the London stage…she’s lightning in a bottle! A great interview of what a real actor lives through.

Jeremy O Harris is certainly great at getting press attention. Having the Prime Minister comment on your production is a PR coup, no matter the content of the remarks.

Watching the Ovendon Sunday as I type. Ovendon is indeed wonderful, but the rest the cast is dreadful.

From that [italic] Guardian [/italic] article

[quote] Slave Play, which opens on 29 June in London, starring Kit Harington, best known from Game of Thrones, was a huge Broadway hit when it debuted in 2019, nominated for 12 Tony awards, but was also disputed.

The grosses:

Forbidden Broadway finally makes it to Broadway.

But this poster wonders if it will get lost in a large theater.

Good planning, since the Helen Hayes is the smallest house on Broadway.

I have an opening for a show in early March. I’ve seen most of the (slightly) older shows from this season, but the timing won’t work for Appropriate, Cabaret. Outsiders, Stereophonic, and Enemy of the People (dynamic pricing). I’m looking at Spamalot, Sweeney (saw it with Groban), Tommy, or Days of Wine and Roses (saw it at Atlantic). Any ideas?

Stay away until you time & money for a decent show.

Has anyone noticed that Lindsey Mendez is slowly being removed from the Merrily We Roll Along advertising?

The ads are now reading “See Daniel Radcliffe and Jonathan Groff in Stephen Sondheim’s revival…”

There is only ONE Jinx!

^Her Hollywood Walk of Fame star is next to Janet Jackson's.

[quote]Lindsey Mendez is slowly being removed from the Merrily We Roll Along advertising?

When you think about how aggressively the PR was about the THREE of them when it started, this is really a surprise. I wonder if this is all still due to her crazy ex?

Whatever her attendance record, Lindsey Mendez is fantastic in the show. I finally saw it last night and fortunately all three leads were in. I put it in my all time top ten. And it’s moved up to at least second place of my favorite Sondheim shows. My only issue was the actress playing Gussie, who was so aggressively rotten I wanted to get out of my seat and go onstage and slap her.

Once Suffs closes, I’m looking forward to seeing Shaina Taub’s other musicals: Muffs and Kikes.

Lindsay likely will not be coming back to Merrily. And it has nothing to do with the ex.

Sondheim probably would have demanded Mendez be fired and replaced.

odds & ends

R205 Thank you, Lindsay.

I wish to view Lindsays' insane ex husband, who for some reason, compels her not to go on stage every night, like this.

[quote]r210 I wish to view Lindsays' insane ex husband, who for some reason, compels her not to go on stage every night

Yeah, she doesn’t exactly sound “empowered.”

I was watching a discussion on MERRILY earlier, and the director Marcia Milgrom Dodge says that after doing several productions she’s come to see the character of Mary as “a kvetch” who needs to “get over it.”

Lindsay should take note. Or get out of gdamn character when she leaves the theater!

[quote]Whatever her attendance record, Lindsey Mendez is fantastic in the show.

But she's not fantastic to ALL THOSE AUDIENCE MEMBERS who haven't seen her because she was out when she was scheduled to perform.

[quote]My only issue was the actress playing Gussie, who was so aggressively rotten I wanted to get out of my seat and go onstage and slap her.

Of course, the direction must have a lot to do with that horrendous performance. Yet another example of how Maria Friedman's work on MERRILY is nowhere near as good as so many people insist it is.

Sutton professes her love for Patti LuPone.

Marcia M Dodge is no genius.

R199

See what's playing at St Ann's Warehouse, TFANA, or BAM. The shows there are always interesting and often great.

There’s a terrible show with Tobias Menzies out in the badlands somewhere.

I saw O'Hara in Bells Are Ringing. You know the one where the lead has to have a boatload of charm and charisma? She couldn't fill a paper boat. The worst performance I've seen in a star role in a major professionally done musical. The musical itself carries no one. You need a character cast that Broadway used to have by the dozens. Now there is no one. Not that anyone is clamoring to see the show revived as proven by the Faith Prince production. The show has a couple of standards that people many decades ago would sing on TV. But today's audiences don't give a shit about Just in Time or The Party's Over except a few ancient gays and people in nursing homes.

I so agree that Gussie is a total drag and have long wondered why the character is supposed to be a star, especially in the second act opener. Or is it a satire on stardom, showing that Frank is a superficial git who only loves her because she flashy. Either way, I cringe when she's onstage.

Wow, 217, You had me until the last sentence, when you turned into a total asshole.

[quote]You need a character cast that Broadway used to have by the dozens. Now there is no one. Not that anyone is clamoring to see the show revived as proven by the Faith Prince production.

In all fairness, that entire production was poorly conceived. Faith Prince is an over the top clown (in the Lucille Ball/Carol Burnett mold). The role needs a charming actress, not an outright comic. The beauty of the show is lost when the actress pushes.

Gussie's role was so small in the original. Why did they make her a major character? There's nothing there.

The charm that Bells Are Ringing has can be found in the Minnelli movie. And that is Judy Holliday. I have to admit Martin makes an appealing leading man. At least when he feels like it which isn't all the time.

Gussie’s role is not significantly smaller in the original script. She just doesn’t sing very much. The revisions gave her three songs that are not on the 1981 recording.

R208, Garn Stephens wasn't fired for unprofessionalism but because she couldn't sing "The Miller's Son." Apples and oranges. I'm not aware of any time when Sondheim demanded that an actor be fired for missing a lot of shows or anything of the kind.

Emily Skinner made a lot out of Gussie at the Kennedy Center in 2002 -- much more than anyone had a right to expect, and yet not imbalancing the show. (I felt -- and obviously still feel -- about that production the way so many feel about the current one [which I really liked], i.e., that it delivered the material superbly because one believed in the central trio as people with a real history together. (Michael Hayden, Miriam Shor and DL fave Raúl Esparza, all of them in peak form, worked beautifully together.)

[quote]But today's audiences don't give a shit about Just in Time or The Party's Over except a few ancient gays and people in nursing homes.

I'd love to see the Venn diagram overlap of those last two categories.

Was The Miller's Son already written when Garn Stephens was originally cast as Petra?

r207 and r205 seem contradictory. R205 says she was in the show as of last night; r207 says she's not coming back. Which is it?

Miriam Shor! I wish she did more theater. She found the intellect in Mary that Mendez doesn’t play, which balanced the trio. And Skinner was funny and self-aware while Brown is humorless. (Shor also great on American Fiction.)

Miriam Shor has a good ( if small) role in the Oscar-nominated AMERICAN FICTION as a pretentious book publisher.

[quote]Gussie's role was so small in the original. Why did they make her a major character?

I have the same question. I guess "they" felt there needed to be clearer motivation for Frank's downfall, but to me, Gussie comes across as a cartoon villainess. Especially in the godawful performance the character is getting in the current production.

[quote]Gussie’s role is not significantly smaller in the original script. She just doesn’t sing very much. The revisions gave her three songs that are not on the 1981 recording.

Umm, MERRILY is a musical, and Gussie's role was significantly smaller in the original version of the show BECAUSE she had nothing to sing. But I'm also pretty sure that she has more lines of dialogue in the current version.

[quote]Emily Skinner made a lot out of Gussie at the Kennedy Center in 2002 -- much more than anyone had a right to expect, and yet not imbalancing the show. (I felt -- and obviously still feel -- about that production the way so many feel about the current one [which I really liked], i.e., that it delivered the material superbly because one believed in the central trio as people with a real history together. (Michael Hayden, Miriam Shor and DL fave Raúl Esparza, all of them in peak form, worked beautifully together.)

Agreed 100 percent, and guess what? The whole KC production is on YouTube., and though watching it of course is not the same as experiencing it live, I think many people who do watch it will concede that the production itself is far superior to the current one in terms of concept, direction, sets, costumes, etc., even if one prefers one or more of the leads of the current production.

So far, four of the new Broadway musicals of this season have already closed: Hit Me Baby One More Time; Here Lies Love; Harmony and How to Dance in Ohio. My guess is that Wine and Roses will soon join them. Have we ever had a season before where so many new musicals closed before awards season?

R233 these shows closed because they didn’t have the pizazz of Karen Ziemba and her cartwheels!

Days of Wine and Roses is a limited run. It is already set to close on April 28.

Are you thinking it won't stick out these next two months?

I mean, look at those grosses ...

This one's pushing it, but 2014-2015? Holler If Ya Hear Me (June-July 2014), The Last Ship (October 2014-January 2015), Honeymoon in Vegas (January-April 2015) and Doctor Zhivago (April-May 2015, so it did barely make it into awards season).

[Quote] Umm

Always a clue that the poster is a cunt.

[Quote] Hit Me Baby One More Time

Oh, dear.

Vintage Broadway gays.

Sorry, R238, but I thought the very weird statement "Gussie’s role is not significantly smaller in the original script, she just doesn’t sing very much" definitely deserved an "Ummm."

Want something new for dinner? Mrs. Damon Runyon suggests frankfurters.

They’re a delightful change and really taste wonderful.

Disclaimer: Then her husband died, she sold his stories to Broadway for the musical “Guys & Dolls” and started eating filet mignon.

[quote]Hit Me Baby One More Time

They made a musical about the Vivian Vance - Phil Ober marriage?

Emily Skinner ain’t a winner. Watch out, Suffs— box office poison!

R241, chill out. You may find it “very weird” to suggest that the size character’s role is not determined by the amount of singing they do. But the character registers because of her function in the plot, which is much the same for Gussie across the versions. Ask Tony Shalhoub, who won Best Actor in a musical despite barely singing at all.

The role was never “so small” as the poster I responded to at r221 suggests. Likely, this impression comes from listening to the cast album.

[quote] [R207] and [R205] seem contradictory. [R205] says she was in the show as of last night; [R207] says she's not coming back. Which is it?

Here is what I was told by someone connected to the production. Mendez has a broken vocal cord and was advised to stay out for an extended period of time until it healed. I was surprised to hear she was back in when I read R207's post. Some say it's better to exercise the vocal cord as opposed to rest, but I don't think exercise means performing in a show.

If I've been given incorrect information, I apologize for posting, but this person would be in the know.

How do you exercise a "broken" vocal cord?

R246/247. Sounds fishy

[quote] How do you exercise a "broken" vocal cord?

Well, I'm pretty sure they don't just put it in a plaster cast and have all the chorus boys sign it. It's likely some form of vocal therapy.

I saw the original. I just remember Gussie in a couple of scenes. It was not a big role and I don't believe she had any songs. When I saw the Encores production they had expanded the role and I couldn't figure out why. Not at all an interesting character. By the way everyone who saw the original and subsequent revivals says the original book is the best. Not surprising. I loved the original show and saw it 3 times. Had I gotten to see it earlier I would have seen it many more. But sadly word was so bad I wasn't going to go. And then in its final week I said how can I miss a Sondheim/Prince musical? The badmouthers and critics were complete idiots. It was a great show. I went to the final performance and it was so sad. The problem was the show was better than it looked. Now it is revived fairly often and is being made into a movie. How could those dimwits have been so wrong? Of course this was more than 40 years ago so the thing I remember most was how much I loved it. Encores stunk and I'll never see Merrily again. Prince shows cannot be repeated.

Thanks for stating the obvious and totally not answering my question, r249.

Your question was- How do you exercise a broken vocal cord? Am I an ENT? No. I'm not sure what sort of answer you expected.

r252 - My question was directed to:

[quote]Some say it's better to exercise the vocal cord as opposed to rest, but I don't think exercise means performing in a show.

I should add they can't be repeated for me. People who never saw the original productions don't care they just want to see the show. But for me his stagings were perfection and all I can think of is how much he knew of the possibilities of the stage. The only other productions I've seen that can compare are the Ingmar Bergman productions in Brooklyn. You feel I never want to see anybody else do it.

[Quote] Well, I'm pretty sure they don't just put it in a plaster cast and have all the chorus boys sign it.

Or have a backstage carpenter paint it with splooj.

I don't by the vocal cord story. If that were true, the show would readily announce that to dispel all the rumors. That's a perfectly understandable situation, so why are they hiding it?

Would it have been so much trouble for the Frankfurter folks to give Mrs, Runyon a first name?

[quote]You may find it “very weird” to suggest that the size character’s role is not determined by the amount of singing they do.

I think, in a musical, the size of a role is largely (though, of course, not solely) determined by the amount of singing the character does. Which is why, even for people like me who actually saw the original production of MERRILY, the role of Gussie came across in that production as quite small, although arguably pivotal because of her function in the plot.

[quote]Would it have been so much trouble for the Frankfurter folks to give Mrs, Runyon a first name?

That was not done for married women up until the '60s.

If a "broken" or damaged vocal cord is what's going on with Mendez, are we supposed to think this has been the reason for her absences over the past several months? Very unlikely, because if that really was/is the problem, complete vocal rest is the only solution, and she should have exited the show entirely rather than showing up to perform occasionally.

Come to think of it, the damaged/broken vocal cord story sounds very similar to the explanation that was finally given for Donna Murphy's many absences from WONDERFUL TOWN, whether either or both of them are true or not.

Ray Bulger

I so miss Melissa Errico's blog post about vocal damage and being essentially fired from Passion, it was perfectly unhinged. I think she didn't talk or sing for a year before working with a vocal coach.

Patrice was a sharpie right out of a Runyon story. There's an entertaining account of her life, loves, and insurance scams under the heading "Amati Diamond" partway down the linked page.

[quote]But today's audiences don't give a shit about Just in Time or The Party's Over except a few ancient gays and people in nursing homes.

You sound like a complete asshole, so I wouldn't take your word for anything.

Gurls, gurls you’re both lazy whores. You can watch the original Merrily and determine Gussie’s involvement for yourselves. And how poorly designed the show was.

[quote]Or have a backstage carpenter paint it with splooj.

Leave Betty Buckley’s backstage antics out of this.

Is anyone familiar with the original play of MERRILY by Kaufman and Hart? I wonder if anyone has ever tried to get the rights to revise it so it doesn't need a huge cast? Seems like the kind of play directing majors in college drama departments would be trying to conquer all the time. Is the script readily available?

There is one moment with Gussie in the current version of MERRILY that surprised me, and I really enjoyed it. It's near the end of the show when the three leads go in to audition for Producer Joe Josephson (There's not a tune you can hum). We're all thinking how Sondheim uses this moment to mimic his real-life experience when we realize that the dowdy milquetoast secretary in the background - Joe Jefferson's 'girl' - is... Gussie! It's another one of those "How did they get there from here" surprises that makes MERRILY so interesting.

I'm Dolly Tree, faithfully designing the costumes for all those films that Adrian didn't want to deal with. Myrna Loy preferred me.

And I'm Irene, the one-named MGM costume designer who was not to be confused with Irene Sharaff who got to design all the fun stuff. I eventually through myself out of a window at Bullock's department store.

Unless your name is Gussie, r269/ r270 - we don't give a shit.

This thread is now too gussied-up. Let’s just stick with what we had earlier.

Someone is lost, on the wrong thread.

eventually through myself out of a window at

OK -

The new shows - The Notebook - good Water for Elephants - bad. Any advance word on the Tommy revival?

They made a musical about Alice's son?

[quote]R217 today's audiences don't give a shit about Just in Time or The Party's Over except a few ancient gays and people in nursing homes.

Maybe Bells Are Ringing is perfect for spring musicals in retirement communities? It could live on.

Is there a lot of dancing?

[quote]They made a musical about Alice's son?

It's Tommy not Tuammy.

'You sound like a complete asshole, so I wouldn't take your word for anything.'

An ancient gay in a nursing home listening to Vic Damone singing The Party's Over.

Oh dear, I was lost. Please forgive....

Though perhaps it was a proper jolt to this boring thread.

America's Got Talent contestants sing songs from Bells Are Ringing all the time asshole.

Thanks Mr Obvious r266

[quote]r280 Oh dear, I was lost. Please forgive.... Though perhaps it was a proper jolt to this boring thread.

You cunt!

Well, here’s a funny quote from Jim Walton about the dismaying number of people who were walking out during MERRILY:

———-

[italic]I also recall empty balconies at many preview performances, especially during the second act. As Act II began, Lonny, Ann and I spun slowly around on a turn-table through which we could peak at the audience. I remember one night we saw there were a few people in the balcony, and we jumped up and down in hushed celebration that people were coming back after intermission! That’s a sweet, sad and funny memory.

[quote]I eventually through myself out of a window at Bullock's department store.

And then you were through.

[quote]An ancient gay in a nursing home listening to Vic Damone singing The Party's Over.

You've already shown us your skills as a comedy writer. No need for further samples.

I hope it wasn't Bullocks Wilshire.

Thanks R281 now all I can think about is an AGT episode dedicated to the score of Bells Are Ringing

"Up next: the 'Salzburg' showdown!"

"The 'Better Than a Dream' Riff-Off"

R268, Gussie turned up as Joe's secretary in "Opening Doors" 22 years ago at the Kennedy Center (which may not even have been Christopher Ashley's invention either).

[quote]r288 which may not even have been Christopher Ashley's invention either

The actress may have just waltzed back there in her street clothes, thinking, “My role’s too goddamn small… out’a my way!”

I saw TOMMY at The Goodman. it's Des doing basically the same thing he did last time -- lots of flash, no substance, and good voices.

[quote]r258 I think, in a musical, the size of a role is largely (though, of course, not solely) determined by the amount of singing the character does.

That’s what I was initially told.

The biggest problem with Bells Are Ringing is the fact it’s centered around a technology that was cutting edge at the time, but now is not only obsolete, it’s almost completely forgotten

Saw The Wiz in LA

The score remains great, and the performances are excellent

The projected backdrops are very uncanny valley, the rewritten book into too cringey, but the choreography is hideous. Bland and counterproductive. They managed to make the Tornado boring

That becomes part of its charm, r292, the answering service isn't the problem. It's just a star vehicle tailored so much around a single star's charm and strengths that it never fits anyone else quite as well. Funny Girl, Wonderful Town, etc.

I was cast as Grizabella in the original cast of cats. After I was molested.

"Tailored around a single star's charm" , , , and that single star would be Judy Holiday. So much of the material was written precisely for her. Kelli O'Hara at Encores didn't have a clue.

Sutton Foster could do Bells Are Ringing…playing the Jean Stapleton role.

Kelli was just miscast, r296. The only one that could have made a Bells revival a hit was Bernadette. She has enough of her own signature charm to make the role work. I'm assuming she wouldn't have been interested in stepping into Judy's shoes, but it's easy to imagine her Party's Over.

“This is a night that we are specifically inviting Black people to fill up the space, to feel safe with a lot of other Black people in a place where they often do not feel safe.” JOH

[quote]Oh dear, I was lost

But were the losing dice tossed?

[quote]The biggest problem with Bells Are Ringing is the fact it’s centered around a technology that was cutting edge at the time, but now is not only obsolete, it’s almost completely forgotten

Well, it made it as far as the '70s.

R299. I don't feel safe on the subway. I wish JOH would do something about that next.

I don’t feel safe at baaaaaaad plays that got undeserved attention and should be barely a memory by now

[quote]The biggest problem with Bells Are Ringing is the fact it’s centered around a technology that was cutting edge at the time, but now is not only obsolete, it’s almost completely forgotten.

Which just means it's a period piece. The "technology" is pretty much explained at the top of the show. It's hardly rocket science. And for those who think the score has only two good numbers -- "Just in Time" and "The Party's Over: -- "Long Before I Met You" (not used in the movie) is a gorgeous song.

[quote]The only one that could have made a Bells revival a hit was Bernadette. She has enough of her own signature charm to make the role work. I'm assuming she wouldn't have been interested in stepping into Judy's shoes, but it's easy to imagine her Party's Over.

It would have been the weepiest, self indulgent version ever performed.

I think Annaleigh could have done well by it.

Yes, Annaleigh could have gone "Nyuk, Nyuk, Nyuk" to her supervisor at the answering service and then poked him in the eyes with two fingers.

Wasn't Annaleigh cast in a Judy Holliday biopic not too long after she did Sunday, whatever became of that? I think the title was the delightfully vapid "Smart Blonde."

There was a bad play about Judy Holliday with a remarkably miscast Andrea Burns as Judy. Was that Smart Blonde?

[quote]It would have been the weepiest, self indulgent version ever performed.

Those tears used to sell lots of tickets, r305. She's still selling them.

R307, take me.

[quote]Yes, Annaleigh could have gone "Nyuk, Nyuk, Nyuk" to her supervisor at the answering service and then poked him in the eyes with two fingers.

And it would be even funnier because her supervisor was her cousin Sue!

I dim, you dim, we all dim for . . .

Damn straight, R313. Pretty sad the landlords had to be shamed into honoring a 3-time Tony winner.

Jinx Monsoon IS Bells are Ringing

Why wouldn’t Broadway dim the lights for Hinton Battle? I don’t understand the reluctance of some theaters to not honor him. He has the Broadway credibility.

Why is it even a choice? Does it require additional manpower or overtime for a theater to dim the lights?

It was a stupid move on the theater owners part, but there have been times in the past when not all the marquees were dimmed. Pretty common actually...But the guy had 3 Tonys; he deserves them all.

I’m sure the lawyers and idiots at the league are concerned about “Precedent”. I am sure they were not going to, and I am sure it was because he was black. Not intentionally, but he just didn’t seem that important to them

You bet your ass they all dimmed for me.

R316, you’re white, aren’t you?

[quote]But the guy had 3 Tonys; he deserves them all.

Not only that, but he’s been in the original cast of some very high profile shows: The Wiz, Dreamgirls, Miss Saigon. These are not flops and he is not a one hit wonder.

R321 you’re pathetic! That’s a conclusion, not a question.

Include me amongst those who hate Gussie in the new MERRILY revival.

But I'm not sure the actor is totally to blame. Or even mostly. The director, on the other hand...

The highlight for me of the City Center MERRILY was Gussie, so it's not always the part. Elizabeth Stanley was wonderful as Gussie, so I was stunned at how much I disliked Gussie in the revival.

That said, I heard from someone in Sondheim's inner circle at the time that he didn't think Stanley was right for the part, so maybe he saw her the way Friedman has conceived and directed her.

Those who've seen WATER FOR ELEPHANTS:

Why's it so bad?

The elephants stink!

Elephants isn't bad. It's just never great at this point. But they are still in previews, and there's a very good show in there, but it's hard to assess if there's a great musical. The score is the downfall, I thought. Just never grabs you...

I thought that generic Americana died about a decade ago, but clearly the Water for Elephants score wants to reanimate the corpse. Sadly for them, everyone else has moved on.

[quote]Those who've seen WATER FOR ELEPHANTS: Why's it so bad?

It's filled with trunk songs.

OMG, r329, I howled!

😜

[quote]It's filled with trunk songs.

If only.

*

Maybe This Time...

Sounds like a Republican show.

[quote]Why is it even a choice? Does it require additional manpower or overtime for a theater to dim the lights?

It isn't as simple as flipping a switch, r317, but no, no additional manpower or overtime is involved. It does not cost anything. It always used to be all theaters or no theaters. I have no idea at all why that changed.

When Miss Porkalob goes, it should only be 75% of the theaters.

[quote]It always used to be all theaters or no theaters. I have no idea at all why that changed.

The first kerfuffle I noticed was when Joan Rivers died. I believe the requirement was that someone had to have three Broadway credits (which she did) but Broadway Leagur didn’t think she was Broadway enough, yet just a month before there was no argument for dimming for Robin Williams.

I'll bet the ridiculous Charlotte Martin is breathing a sigh of relief that she no longer has to be the spokesperson for the League on such matters.

R196 wow, they downright lied.

[quote]Sutton Foster could do Bells Are Ringing…playing the Jean Stapleton role.

😂

She performed some of "Bells Are Ringing" on her old series BUNHEADS.

Anyone seen "Teeth" at Playwrights Horizons? Or the new David Yazbek musical "Dead Outlaw"?

The League doesn't make the decisions on the marquis dimming. It's the theater owners.

I saw THE WIZ at the matinee today. I loved it. The voices are insanely good, it's often funny, and unlike the above, I thought the Choreography was great. Act two opens with an amazing 3 part number for the Emerald City. Gay heartthrob Andrew Rannells was there with his kids.

He spending some of that Gutenberg money

How are the visuals, r344?

I thought the sets and costumes were great, particularly in the second act. The pay tribute to the original film by doing the first scene in a sepia black and white that was cool, and then Munchinkin Land is a New Orleans like explosion of color. The forest stuff is what it is, but once they get to Oz it all explodes. The Wicked Witch's castle is amazing and 'No Bad News" brings down the house. It made sense it was the Black Panther film designer; it all had a contemporary Black vibe to it.

Thanks, r347, that's good to hear. It has to compete with Wicked's scale as they're both basically set in the same locale.

Encores! chose Bells Are Ringing for Kristin Chenoweth.

[quote]Encores! chose Bells Are Ringing for Kristin Chenoweth.

She would have been miscast too.

What did she do instead?

Anybody know who’s playing the two male leads in Bill Condon’s film of Kiss of the Spuder Woman with JLo? A friend of mine has been hired as crew for when they shoot on soundstages in New Jersey (yes, NEW JERSEY) starting in May. After that they go on location to Uruguay.

Kristin would have been a *much* better fit.

[quote]Kristin would have been a *much* better fit.

Too chirpy. Would have made The Party’s Over sound like a high school cheerleader singing at Parent’s Night.

Kristin was wonderful in Encores' ON A CLEAR DAY and THE APPLE TREE and would have been perfect for BELLS ARE RINGING.

Somewhere along the way she really fucked up her career and, sadly, her looks (and I don't mean aging).

[quote]Kristin was wonderful in Encores' ON A CLEAR DAY and THE APPLE TREE and would have been perfect for BELLS ARE RINGING. Somewhere along the way she really fucked up her career and, sadly, her looks (and I don't mean aging).

I agree with all of that, including (sadly) your last sentence.

Yes, she was so great in the Broadway transfer of APPLE TREE that it lasted a rousing 99 performances.

Saw Oh, Mary! and while it isn't the funniest play ever, it's a spirited, bubbly event that turns the theater into a party. (Today we had Marc Shaiman, Wesley Taylor, Michael Cumpsty, Cherry Jones, and I'm sure a number I didn't spot.) I've never been convinced of the Cole Escola thing, but they'e something to behold, a tour de force as a writer and a comic. As I passed Cole and Jones talking afterwards, she was saying, "Your a genius. I want to come back to learn." If I return, I'll get high first.

I hope she said "you're a genius."

R344, Those would be Tuc Watkins’ kids.

Yes Bells has some other nice songs but those two became standards that most people knew if they had never even heard of Bells are Ringing. They were often done on TV shows. The others weren't. Of course the ancient gay sitting in a wheelchair in a nursing home knows the entire obc by heart. Wasn't he in that musical The Dirty Chaperone or whatever it was called?

My favorite is I'm Going Back but the person who could do it justice outside of Holliday has not been seen on a stage yet. She really hits it out of the park leaving Broadway audiences on a high when they left the theater. Anyway at auditions today I guess you have to scream Andrew Lloyd Weber or something from Les Miz. At least they want today's rock voices. If you can do classic Broadway that's nice too but is it a necessity? Maybe somebody who goes to auditions for professionally staged musicals they can let me know if they also want I Love Paris or You've Got to Have Heart.

[quote]The League doesn't make the decisions on the marquis dimming.

Leave me out of it, s'il vous plait.

You are aware that New Jersey was where filmmaking as an industry began R351? It was the original Hollywood.

The artistic director of NYTW responds to the NYTW-affiliated playwright who has been on an HIV medication strike (not taking their HIV medication) until NYTW calls for a ceasefire in Gaza.

The statement ends with—

[quote]As a theatre, the most impactful statement we make is to empower visionary artists doing the deep work of challenging our assumptions, expanding our understanding, and reviving conversation in the body politic. Theatre is a rare civic space that does more than affirm; it transforms. The work we produce helps individuals and collectives build empathy and catalyze the liberation and love that is possible.

—so I don't think they will be meeting his demands.

Tell him to take his meds! Or he won’t be around to see much of anything, much less a free Gaza.

Send him to the Public to see The Ally. That should put him back on his meds.

Hillary Clinton explains Suffs to you—

OMG, is that Shaina Taub in the thumbnail at R366?

Meeskite is an understatement!

Saw Water for Elephants yesterday. I was pleasantly surprised. Nothing groundbreaking, but nice performances, the music was pleasant if forgettable, and the circus was charming. I doubt the critics will rave, but word of mouth (except for the naysayers in this thread) will be pretty good, especially if looking for a family-ish show.

Damn! Could your praise be any fainter?

R369 at least they are getting faint praise! My reviews were always in the shitter!

Not faint praise exactly. WFE was a pleasant way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

I think many people would consider "a pleasant way to spend a Sunday afternoon" faint praise indeed for a Broadway show charging Broadway prices. Maybe not for high school, college, or community theater production.

Another pleasant way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

R372. That's what I said about SARAVA!

[quote]My favorite is I'm Going Back but the person who could do it justice outside of Holliday has not been seen on a stage yet.

I love that song too. And I’m having a hard time thinking who could do it.

Judy Holliday in the role had charm mixed with demure and a bit of lack of self confidence. The lack of self confidence kicks in during The Party’s Over and I’m Going Back. I don’t know of any actress today who can play that hesitancy.

Fun fact: The original Bells Are Ringing was directed by Jerome Robbins and choreographed by Robbins and Bob Fosse. Can you imagine those rehearsals?

Robbins: Why the hell are the women wearing bowler hats and jabbing at the air with their elbows and knees?

Fosse: Why are the men plié-ing across the stage while snapping their fingers?

For many years, my nominee for Ella Peterson was Molly Shannon. Too late now (not that it was ever likely).

Sandy Dennis made an entire career based on hesitancy.

[quote]Sandy Dennis made an entire career based on hesitancy.

Uta Hagen always raved about Sandy Dennis. I never saw it. She always seemed to be playing an extension of her real self, a crazy cat lady.

Molly Shannon had far too large a FUPA and sideburns to ever be considered for a romantic lead. Maybe you mean Ana Gasteyer?

[Quote] The lack of self confidence kicks in during The Party’s Over and I’m Going Back. I don’t know of any actress today who can play that hesitancy.

Cue Beanie troll.

As others have stated, Kristin Chenoweth would have been perfect for Ella in BELLS ARE RINGING when she was age appropriate for the part AND if she had had a good director whom she trusted.

AND if she had bigger tits.

It is amazing how spectacularly Chenoweth fucked up her career. How did it all go so horribly wrong?

[quote]How did it all go so horribly wrong?

Back during one of the Encores talkback sessions, someone asked Kristin why she was leaving theater for tv. She blabbed on about how she loved live theater and would always return. Fact is, theater has always been kinder to her than tv or movies.

Interestingly, both Judy Holliday and Sandy Dennis enjoyed the amorous favors of jazz musician (and cutie) Gerry Mulligan.

They even made an album together.

He and Judy even made an album together.

Does anyone know if Judy and Gerry ever made an album together?

[quote]Judy Holliday in the role had charm mixed with demure and a bit of lack of self confidence. The lack of self confidence kicks in during The Party’s Over and I’m Going Back. I don’t know of any actress today who can play that hesitancy.

I'm available!

Charm, not smarm, Billy.

Gerry never recorded with Judy, but he and Lorna Luft made an acclaimed and emotional album together in 1985.

Sandy Dennis certainly had a shtick on which she all too often coasted. But she has a scene in Woody Allen's underrated ANOTHER WOMAN in which she shows real strength and bite.

Chenoweth "spectacularly fucked up her career"? News to me.

Since WICKED, she's starred in 3 other Broadway shows (winning raves for 2 of them and a Tony nomination for the last one) and done 2 concerts on Broadway. She has a major career as a concert performer, and she continues to make regular TV and film appearances.

If that's a spectacularly fucked up career, give me several.

Now, if you're saying that it's a shame that she hasn't appeared as regularly on B'way as Sutton Foster or Kelli O'Hara, I'm with you. If you're saying that it's horrifying what she's done to her face, I agree 100%. But she works a LOT. Most actresses would kill for that career.

Has the film “Up the Down Staircase” gone MIA?

. . .

R395, there's a DVD collection called LEADING LADIES COLLECTION, VOL. 2, which houses: -- A BIG HAND FOR THE LITTLE LADY -- I'LL CRY TOMORROW -- RICH AND FAMOUS -- SHOOT THE MOON -- UP THE DOWN STAIRCASE

R394, seriously?

Yes, she works regularly. But has not done a long run since Wicked or a memorable role in film/televsion. She is a working performer. She is doing better than most members of Equity or SAG. But if you go back 20 years, everyone was expecting a bigger career for her.

She has had a respectable career. Not a spectacular one.

[quote]Has the film “Up the Down Staircase” gone MIA?

It was on TCM not too long ago.

Up the Down Staircase is awful. Sandy Dennis was miscast. The book was much, much better.

My point, R398, is that saying that she "spectacularly fucked up" her career is hyperbolic. Again, I too wish that she'd made a bigger career on the stage. But she's undeniably a bigger name to the general public than Foster, O'Hara or most of her other theatrical contemporaries.

I saw "Up the Down Staircase" last year for the first time. It's pretty good, somewhat grittier than "To Sir with Love" (which I also enjoyed), and I thought Sandy was quite charming as a newbie teacher (and relatively restrained). Good supporting cast: Eileen Heckart, Ruth White, Jean Stapleton, Frances Sternhagen, etc..

Sandy Dennie could be good on screen, and sometimes annoying, but on stage, she was truly brilliant.

Ryan Murphy wrote Cheno a GLEE spin-off as her April Rhodes character that never got off the ground… it seems like a good idea, but apparently they each were battling personal demons at the time and it didn’t work out. Nowadays, it seems that she is best known to most audiences for Wicked and GLEE whereas Idina got a much shittier role on GLEE and managed to even top her RENT, Wicked and GLEE fame with the Disney FROZEN franchise. It will be interesting to see if both new original musical Queen of Versailles starring Cheno and Redwood starring Idina come to Broadway next season and they will face off… in the interim between the two Wicked films being released in cinemas, no less.

^^Dennis^^

Sandy Denny did Late November, while Sandy Dennis did Sweet November.

And Sandy Posey did...

One Month Only! November 1968!

Sandy Dennis! Sandy Denny!! Sandy Posey!!! Live at the Sands!!!!

With Evie Sands?

No one speaks of Tommy Sands anymore...

Towards what turned out to be the end of her life, Sandy was touring in The Female Odd Couple and taking whatever work she could get to keep up her health insurance. She admitted in an interview that she was very lazy about her career and passed on some great opportunities when she was younger. As mentioned above she was great in Another Woman and passed away much too soon.

They were eccentrics...Sandy, Geraldine and Kim.

R411, what she said was that she had to keep working to pay for those 37 cats.

[quote]R379 Sandy Dennis always seemed to be playing an extension of her real self, a crazy cat lady.

Don’t most stars create a persona that’s close to their own personality? I mean, Katharine Hepburn doesn’t seem to have been that different offscreen than on, for instance.

R414, Lauren Bacall cringed when critics wrote that she was once again “playing herself”, but . . .

Sandy Dennis and Dick Cavett attended high school together in Nebraska.

He has said she was so shy she was nearly invisible.

R398 most Broadway performers don't get an eponymous sitcom on NBC.

Not for lack of trying: LuPone did her damnedest to get her ABC sitcom's name changed to "Patti's Life Goes On."

Went down a YT rabbit hole of John Wilson conducting classic film and theatre music. Love the feel he has for that lush cinematic sound. But then I came across this on Wikipedia. Surely this isn't true???

[quote]The John Wilson Orchestra was formed by British orchestral conductor John Wilson in 1994. It is a symphony orchestra comprising exclusively the siblings and extended family of John Wilson

R419, In his early years, he was billed as Johnny Williams.

Are you all not aware that Chenoweth had a serious neck and head injury on the set of The Good Wife when a lighting rig fell on her head and nearly killed her? It took years of rehab for her to recover. There was a period when she thought she may never perform again. She’s talked about this in her book and in interviews. She mostly does small projects now that don’t require long lengths of time. She’s still in pain.

You queens are such cunts demanding that she have a better career fitting to your exact fucking specifications. She’s had an extraordinary career that all actors envy. Dumb cunts.

R419, I wish Williams would branch out a bit and continue where John McGlinn left off. He must have experience reconstructing orchestrations, since the MGM charts have been rotting under a golf course since the 1950s.

Oh dear, Wilson not Williams.

R421 that isn’t the whole story. At the height of her fame she went on the 700 club. That is what killed her career. She tried to fix it by saying she was a liberal Christian and was totally pro gay and that it was a mistake. She claimed ignorance to the damage that the 700 club did to the majority of her fans over the years. She might as well had met with Fred Phelps and God Hates Fags and THEN say, “oh I had not idea he was that kind of person!”

Everyone knew what the 700 club was.

She knew.

The Apple Tree gave her the best reviews of her career and she wasn’t nominated for the Tony.

Supporting parts in bad comedy films came and a went.

Then she got into a huge fight with Ryan Murphy and was cut out of the rest of Glee.

Then she had the accident.

To say that everything was fine until the accident is not true and does a disservice to the posters on this thread that know better.

R424, Her height is a career liability.

R425. Yup

Roles for 4’11” leading ladies on Broadway are few and far between.

I watched an interview with Sandy Dennis on the terrible Bob Braun show years ago......he asked her if she ever got any bad reviews.

Sandy said that she had been in London doing Three Sisters directed by Lee Strasberg. One reviewer wrote that "Miss Dennis goes after her part like a monkey looking for a banana....."

The “huge fight with Ryan Murphy” is supposition. You don’t “know better” R424. You have no idea if that’s true or not. Period. She was a guest on Glee, not a main character. She was never intended to be a main character. She’s not a fucking teenager.

You’re making shit up to try to fit your ridiculous agenda of how some diva needs to adhere to your retarded ancient ideal of what a successful career is. Who cares about a stupid 700 club misstep. It didn’t stop her career. No one cares about The Apple Tree, which was not a financial success, and it was not a surprise she wasn’t nominated.

She’s worked in tv and film as much as any other actress on Broadway, if not more so. Sutton doesn’t have half her fucking career, nor does Kelli, or any of these other middle brow dumbasses currently working on Broadway that no one buys tickets for.

I’m not going to waste my time arguing with some dumb queen who doesn’t have a clue how the business actually works or any clue about the trajectory of actor’s careers, I don’t care what pathetic agreement you get from the mommy’s basement bound gen Z losers you find here. Moron.

[quote][R398] most Broadway performers don't get an eponymous sitcom on NBC.

Sitcoms featuring Broadway stars aren't typically successful.

Shirley Booth was a rare exception.

Coming soon: Idina and Cheno in a revival of "War Paint!"

R411-Maintaining a fabricated "romance" with bisexual Eric Roberts didn't help her either.

r424 And then Aaron Sorkin played out their relationship (well, his version of it) as a plotline on Studio 60

Can't we agree that Cheno is basically a second banana? Not effective as a lead, but better in small doses.

r432, what is your evidence that the romance was fabricated?

R430, Excuse me?

r436 I said Broadway STARS, Bea.

R432 . . .

“Dennis' sexual orientation was subjected to public discussion as early as 1968, when the scandal magazine Uncensored ran a story that labeled her a lesbian. In an article published less than four years after Dennis' death, Eric Roberts identified her as bisexual. According to Roberts, Dennis told him she had many lesbian relationships and that she "appreciated the beauty of women. But she also liked and appreciated what a very, very young man could do to a woman, I suppose."“

R429 Hi Kristin! Welcome to DL! I know you think nobody cared about the 700 club. I can assure you we did.

Tell God, Dottie say hey!

[quote]I can assure you we did.

You don't speak for the rest of us, r439.

Are we ready to reboot CRAZY FOR YOU?

I'm already off book!

r434 yes!

Hissssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss`

I remember in the 2000s Kristin Chenoweth was the original choice for Pixar's TANGLED, when it was still called RAPUNZEL UNBRAIDED, but some people complained that she sounded too much like a sidekick animal than a Disney princess, so Mandy Moore was ultimately hired instead.

Sandy Dennis played gay in The Fox (and the character paid for it with her life.)

She played horny straight in That Cold Day in the Park. (I don't remember how that ended lol.)

Thank you all very much...

The Kristin Chenoweth loon make me feel fremdschämen.

That cold day...

TCM is showing "Sweeney Todd" on March 14. When I saw the listing, I was afraid it was going to be the Depp/Bonham-Carter version, but apparently it's the 1982 Hearn/Lansbury filmed stage performance.

What other actress could do Mrs. Lovett, Rose *and*...Mame???

Wow. The Kristen Chenowith fan club is triggered HARD. What a rant.

[quote]Roles for 4’11” leading ladies on Broadway are few and far between.

I was 4'11" and had no such problem in movies.

The latest ads for the Redmayne Cabaret don't have a director credited. Wtf?

Rebecca Frecknall is a genius (saw Cabaret and her Streetcar with Paul Mescal). Can't imagine what this is about.

John Simon's review was "Thank You All Very Much" but no thanks.

R452, Movies are not Broadway, my little hunchback.

R450, Beth Leavel

R450, Christine Baranski has already done Mrs. Lovett and Mame.

[quote] At the height of her fame she went on the 700 club. That is what killed her career

That’s bullshit. The 700 Club “scandal” was a tempest in a teapot. Chenoweth got in front of it immediately. In fact, the church involved blacklisted her because of her pro-gay stance. It all faded away in a couple of months. No one cares about it anymore.

R458 you can be a fan of someone and still aknowledge that they fucked up.

Everyone is entitled to their beliefs. No one is saying she shouldn’t be proud of her Christina beliefs. They have served her well.

What we are saying though is it was viewed as a betrayal to her gay fans when the 700 club had caused actual harm to gay men for years and by going on their platform, she was giving them space. You don’t magically show up on the 700 club. You book the booking.

Would you feel the same way if Patti LuPone went on Tucker Carlson’s Twitter show and said she had been a fan of his? Would you just say, “oh well?”

You can be a fan of someone. I’m guessing you are a friend of hers and it’s nice that she has someone defending her online.

But to say that she was a hapless bystander in a deliberate choice that negatively impacted her career is simply not true no matter how many times you say it.

Just because you say it, doesn’t make it true.

What's Gavin Creel up to? Surely his I've Never Been to the Metropolitan Museum Before show didn't get even a limited tour.

Yes, r457, and wasn't successful in either.

Let me rephrase my post, r457. How many *succeeded* in those three roles?

[quote] What's Gavin Creel up to?

Showering once a week, like always?

Crazy for YOU, R441!

[quote]Beth Leavel

Doesn't have the glamour for Mame.

The thing that Cheno has going against her the most is that FACE!

But Her Face

She's going on the road, dolls!

[Quote] I’m not going to waste my time arguing with some dumb queen who doesn’t have a clue how the business actually works

And yet.

Kristin did fuck up her face, whether it was through anorexia or plastic surgery and all for no reason. Probably trying to be a TV or film star was to blame. She was adorable looking until about 2006-07. And I say that as a big (if disappointed) fan.

Thanks for the warning, r468.

Kristin is a very sweet and loving person but has never struck me as especially smart or knowledgeable, so I have no problem believing that she was unaware of the 700 Club's anti-gay stance when she appeared for them. And as someone else noted, she did reconfirm her support and love for gay people after her appearance, and apparently she was then blacklisted by the 700 Club. So count me as someone else who doesn't think that whole experience harmed her career.

Spamalot closes April 7. Between an overcrowded but lackluster Broadway season, the Israel-Gaza war, and a Trump/Biden rematch? Suddenly New Zealand seems quite appealing.

Cheno’s face is so spooky to look at!

It’s sad that the original launched Sara Ramirez to fame, a Tony award and her pick of any ABC show (she chose Greys)

And yet Leslie Kritzer got none of those things and may not even get a drama desk nomination at this point.

She couldn’t even win Miss Oklahoma…

r476=Anita Bryant

DAYS OF WINE AND ROSES closing March 31.

Broadway in distress!

And Sara got to play Che (when her luck ran out).

With a stopover at "Madam Secretary."

Very very sad

When Kristin was fired by the Women of Faith

And also announced that Spamalot is closing April 7. So, what is going into the St. James for Tony season?

Sunset Boulevard for 24-25.

Well, R484, I think it's highly unlikely that the St. James will have a new tenant open before the Tony cutoff.

Days of Wine and Halitosis also shuttering early. Didn’t belong on Broadway in the first place.

R487, Has Adam Guettel been placed on suicide watch?

[quote] It’s sad that the original launched Sara Ramirez to fame

Oh, thaaaat's who we can blame for their career

Where did NYC’s indie theater scene go? Backyards, basements and rooftops:

r422: This is just for you. Williams completely recreated the charts for Harry Warren's "This Heart of Mine" from ZIEGFELD FOLLIES which were lost. It's absolutely glorious.

Linda Balgord's Sunset Tour Norma covered in this episode of The Sunset Project podcast, which is a decent series that's worth a listen.

[quote]Sitcoms featuring Broadway stars aren't typically successful. Shirley Booth was a rare exception.

Shirley Booth had also starred in movies and won an Oscar as Best Actress for re-creating her stage role in "Come Back, Little Sheba." Her other movie roles included playing Dolly in the movie version of "The Matchmaker," which Ruth Gordon had done on stage.

Thanks for the link, R490. Loft theatre wasn't on my radar at all.

After dropping $44K to produce a small show in 2016 this looks promising.

Denzel Washington and Jake Gyllenhaal to Lead Broadway ‘Othello’

Kenny Leon will direct a starry revival of Shakespeare’s tragedy in the spring of 2025.

I would rather see Denzel and Jake in SPERMALOT.

Bernadette Peters was finally the guest on Ben Rimalower’s into the woods podcast.

As predicted, Bernadette did not mention Betty Buckley, acted liked she had never seen the show prior to joining despite other cast members saying she attended the show in San Diego and the pre-Broadway workshop, was hazy on how she got involved, was hazy on why she left (she said she did Slaves Of New York movie but didn’t mention if they asked her to stay to work out an arrangement of some kind) was hazy on an update on Old Friends, and was hazy as to why she never did Mrs Lovett.

Ben did a mostly good job, but it was obvious Bernadette was only interested in providing her usual stock answers.

I say this as a fan of hers too.

DOUBT extended to April 21 "by popular demand." These fake, built-in "extensions" are so freaking obvious.

R498 why do you say that?

If sales weren't good they wouldn't have extended r498. non-profits often have the [italic] possibility [/italic] in the contracts but only pull the trigger if it's a hit

Because they're not really "extensions." They always plan to go through the later date and only close earlier if ticket sales are really dire, which rarely happens with subscription houses.

Listened to Bernadette and Ben too. Wish I had a quarter for every time she said she didn't remember something. (Understandably in some circumstances; it was 4 decades ago.) Wish he had asked her to talk about working with the cast, although maybe he was tiptoeing around the Gleason/Tony issue. And he really put her in a corner about his wanting her to play Lovett; both had to be thinking that she's been too old for the role for many years now. Plus, let's face it, she's no Rhodes scholar. Sweet though.

[quote]although maybe he was tiptoeing around the Gleason/Tony issue

What "issue", r502? Bernadette was thrilled that Joanna won.

R503 Bernadette was thrilled that another nominee DIDN’T win. Bernadette was thrilled again when she announced the 2006 winner.

In Patti's memoir, she mentions what a disappointment Joanna Gleason's win was for her, because everyone had assured her that she would definitely win. She felt so deflated at that moment.

Patti often feels deflated.

Look, I love Patti, but Joanna did something in that role that was unforgettable. She was just totally human throughout. Every second of that performance was warm and lovely. No, she’s not the theatrical legend that Patti is, but she deserved that Tony.

There was definitely an issue that Bernadette wasn't even nominated for ITW. Most people expected her to be included over Kuhn, Fraser, etc.

[quote]There was definitely an issue that Bernadette wasn't even nominated for ITW

Maybe some people had an issue with it, r508, but it was understandable under the circumstances. Bernadette certainly didn't have an issue with it.

She definitely should have been in over dour, dull Alison Fraser.

[quote]In Patti's memoir, she mentions what a disappointment Joanna Gleason's win was for her, because everyone had assured her that she would definitely win. She felt so deflated at that moment.

The poor thing!

Some of the kids on BroadwayWorld are talking about how there are 6 new musicals this season so far, and only 1 has survived. And now, 6 more to open!

And so many of the new musicals are still raising money....Get ready for a shitshow.

[quote]Get ready for a shitshow.

Why should this season be any different?

The ever-gracious Miss LuPone has been known to remark that the Baker's Wife "is NOT a leading lady."

Someday (soon, I hope) producers are going to wake up to the fact that few people are willing to shell out $300 and make the effort to go to the theater for mediocre material. People are risk-averse and have many other less costly entertainment options these days.

Everyone revolves around the baker and his wife.

The Baker's Wife dies halfway through Act II.

So, r518?

Patti’s ass should be deflated.

Tony voters have never been great to Patti or Bernadette.

Audra has 6 Tonys

Bernadette wasn’t even nominated for Into the Woods or Follies and lost for Sunday in the Park and Gypsy.

Patti lost for both Anything Goes and Sweeney Todd when she was favored to win both, and was not nominated for The Old Neighborhood even though she was favored to be nominated and was nominated for the Drama Desk.

r521 Clearly anti-Italian bias.

Kenny Leon directing Othello on broadway?

Oh fuck no.

No no no no no no

NO.

Didn't anybody responsible for this see his abortion attempt at Hamlet??

Apropos of nothing, I am vexed that SOME posters dump on dear Betty here.

Her “Meadowlark” is the best.

[quote]Audra has 6 Tonys

Because she's black and female.

TPTB desperately wanted her to surpass Julie Harris and Angela Lansbury, who are tied with 5.

Except all of Julie's 5 wins were in Lead Actress.

Angela has 4 Leads and 1 Featured.

Audra has 2 Leads and 4 Featured.

In my opinion, Audra did not deserve two of her Tonys, for MASTER CLASS and PORGY AND BESS.

She's back! All 75% of her!

R527, that's somewhat surprising, as I didn't think any reputable producers or theater companies would touch her ever again. But a lot of bad stuff has been happening at Williamstown, so I guess they can't be too picky. With Porkalob AND David Ives AND Walter Bobbie announced for this summer, that will make three artists of very limited talent working there.

When will the folks at Williamstown understand that what made the theater great and exciting and UNIQUE (and fun!) were big period classic plays with huge casts and stars in the leads. And with gorgeous period costumes and beautiful massive sets (even if it was all built by unpaid apprentices)? No one wants to schlep up to the Berkshires to see these cheap 2 and 3 character modern dress plays that no one has ever heard of starring actors they've barely heard of.

They'd be better off taking 5 or 6 years off and raising some money to then finally put on a star-studded season of even just 2 great productions like they did in olden days. This new season announcement is only turning the old audiences (those still alive) away for good.

It is all rather dire. And rather dour.

R529 nails it. When theater companies in dire straits try to claw onto survival by producing tiny productions with very limited audience appeal, that's a very sad situation. See also, the Transport Group.

[quote] There was definitely an issue that Bernadette wasn't even nominated for ITW.

Not there wasn’t. Not to those who knew. She was able to do ITW, but had a strict out in March. She took a week off in Feb, then came back and played through the third week in March. Then left for good (except for the taping). That was part of her contract. She did not want to be submitted for a Tony for the Witch. By the time nominations were made, two other women (Betsy Joslyn and Rashad) had played the role as well. The whole point of her doing the Tony presentation was to prove she was fine with it, that the Tonys had not “screwed” her.

Joanna referred to Bernadette as a 'gift to the production' during her acceptance speech which was lovely.

Thank you, r532, yes.

Jeremy Jordan Corey Cott Gavin Creel. These are our leading men?

R535. Ummmmmm

Don't forget me!!!

You know you bitches all crave Andy Karl!

Uh, hi?

Don't forget Will Swenson

Not a Jerry Lanning in the bunch!

Jordan, Cott, Creel, Tveit. Who has the bigger dick?

I mean why even bother producing a Williamstown show if you don't kill off 2-3 unpaid interns in the process?

R542. Creel looks like he's got the biggest dick but he never washes it.

When you were talking about Patti and the Baker's wife not being a lead role, of course my mind went to her lead role in...

The Baker's Wife.

Where is the warmth, Patti?

"Tony voters have never been great to Patti or Bernadette," R521? Please.

LuPone has been nominated 8 times and won 3.

Peters has been nominated 7 times and won 2, plus a special Tony.

I agree. Kenny doing Othello feels like disaster. I did admire his work in PURLIE but overall, it's not that interesting. They should have gotten a Brit.

Has JG ever done Shakespeare—or any classics?

Jake G. is a Cassio, not an Iago.

I see him as more of a Desdemona.

I don't think Jake can actually sustain a stage run for more than a few weeks.

I got to see him twice in Sunday in the Park with George: first in an early preview, then at the final performance. At the final performance his voice was so ragged that he shout-sang (to coin a phrase) most of the high notes.

I think Jake and Denzel should just go on ONLYFANS....Who needs Shakespeare?

[quote]I agree. Kenny doing Othello feels like disaster. I did admire his work in PURLIE but overall, it's not that interesting.

I think both Leon and Washington may be out of their league with OTHELLO. Jake, I have no idea, though I would never have thought of him for the role of Iago.

I posted a poll on the new musical productions

Have the male leads been announced for Kiss of the Spiderwoman starring JHo? They start shooting soon.

Just booked tickets to see my pretend boy friend Andrew (Sky Masterson) Richardson as Astrov in Trevor Nunn's UNCLE VANYA at Richmond's intimate Orange Tree Theatre outside London on my spring trip!

R554 why would you say that? Washington, for one, has great experience doing Shakespeare.

Denzel Washington is one of the most overrated actors of the past 50 years.

"Great" experience, r558?

If you want to see an *excellent* Othello stream the National Theatre's 2013 production with Adrian Lester as Othello and Rory Kinnear as Iago (and DL fave Jonathan Bailey as Cassio, which, I agree with the above poster, should have been JG's role). The three hours fly by.

Mags...

R560 Richard III, Coriolanus, JC, MacBeth, Much Ado About Nothing….the American canon—of August Wilson, at the same level

Speaking of Andrew Richardson, any sign of the Bridge Theatre's Guys and Dolls transferring to Broadway?

Steve Lawrence is dead to me. Can we have a final freewheeling patio number to send him off?

He hadda be him but he couldn't live forever.

Agreed R561 / superb

Tomorrow is The Who's Tommy's first preview. Is anyone going?

Idina’s Redwood has curious credits, apparently Idina is a big part of the writing team in addition to being the star. Idina is billed with “Conceived by,” along with director Tina Landau, as well as, “With additional contributions by Idina Menzel.” Has anyone seen it yet? It seems dreary and ponderous based on the scant clips/previews available, but one never knows.

Ponderous is a word I find I'm using often these days.

Apparently, Redwood is a very small-scale show with Idina and Michael Parks along with three people of color, so it perhaps ticks woke boxes with 3/5 being POC…

Please, more people vote!

Desperation is a turn off, dear R572.

So is that thread.

R564 where would it go? I feel like the Park Ave Armory is the only venue that could accommodate it.

R429- huh? Sutton has arguably had a better career than Kristin. She has created more roles on Broadway, won more Tonys, and starred in more TV series.

Low bar—a very low bar to exceed.

I shouldn't have slept on getting tickets to Illinoise. Hope it extends.

Would Illinoise be a hit if it moved to a Broadway house?

has anyone seen Illinoise?

Illinose tickets start around $700 online.

I saw Illinoise last summer. It’s…fine.

Illinoise should play the Beaumont once Vanya shutters.

Sutton has never been on a real tv show, wtf are you talking about? Her tv “career” has largely been cartoon voiceover work. She has 30 projects on IMDB. Kristin has three roles that many. Kristin objectively has a much larger and broader tv and film career, appearing in much bigger and more prestigious projects. Sutton is known only on Broadway. The general public does not know her at all. Buns and Younger were garbage streaming shows with zero viewers.

Three roles = three times at R584.

R584, you're pretty stupid, aren't you.

R586= Trumpist who can’t deal with reality or facts.

How are you such a fucking moron, R587?

Lolol cry about it R588 you fucking idiot.

Oh, you're the asshole who thinks he knows everything about show business while living in moms basement, R589. I thought I blocked you before but I guess you got another account.

I'm very curious as to whether Illinoise has commercial potential. I honestly think it might: he music is great and you could put together a nice TV promo. I saw it at Bard last summer and was underwhelmed, but I'd invest in a commercial run if given the opportunity.

I’m not going to argue with the slow. And I work in the business. Sorry you’re a loser. I know stage door losers like you (worshipping Sutton? Gurl, get a life) don’t like facts about their weird obsessions. Sutton will never have Kristin’s career. She’s never had a Wicked. She’s never had a Pushing Daisies or Glee. I don’t give a shit about Sutton’s two Tonys in shows no one gave a shit about. And the thing is, I don’t really give a shit about Chenoweth. I couldn’t care less about what happens to her. She objectively has a better career than Sutton. Period. So go fuck yourself and fuck off. Fucking Datalounge moron.

[quote] And I work in the business.

Sure you do, hon. And you thought "Younger" was on a streamer. We believe you.

New thread:

Thank god, r594.

Christ, if you girls are going to argue that much at least choose some real fucking divas to fight over

And btw, who the fuck has multiple accounts?? 🤭🤭🤭 Only freaks like you do shit like that.

Why does every Theatre Gossip thread seem to trail out in a cat fight?

Because the same asshole riles things up with everyone.

BAJOUR!