THEATRE GOSSIP #590: Hey ho, Let's Go! The Blitzkreig BOOP Edition!

589 linked below

Thanks OP!

Behind a paywall (and not yet archived), but this is exactly why many think Audra deserves a seventh Tony.

[quote]Do you call your Black friend “Blackie”?

Yes, but only because he's from Boston and resembles Chester Morris.

[quote]How do we find out when Audra's vacation is?

Call her travel agent.

r3, behind the paywall link below

Cynthia Erivo in a one-woman Dracula? Guess producers have found they can mint money when they only have to hire one actor.

I love you, OP!

You're in danger: Boop, Smash, Dead Outlaw, Stranger Things, and Curves.

Audra's vacation is June 30-July 6. Nothing against Tryphena, but how about bringing in a star to play that week?

I don't do stage

I wouldn't sit through another stunt like Dorian Gray if you paid me, especially a stunt by Cynthia.

Also, isn't it time we said good bye to Chicago, Hadestown, Harry Potter, Six and even The Book of Mormon?

[quote]I don't do stage

Or stairs.

R14: Who does?

Look for a big fare increase in Just In Time as it's become the hottest new ticket on Broadway. Even without the Best Musical Tony nomination. I bet they get a number on the Tonys anyway.

I loved it. And I really wouldn't dismiss another Tony for Groff by any means.

[quote]Behind a paywall (and not yet archived), but this is exactly why many think Audra deserves a seventh Tony.

I can see her lace front! I can see her lace front!

Broadway Box Office Has Finally Recovered, Overtaking Pre-Pandemic Returns for First Time:

A wig? On Broadway?

You’ve uncovered the greatest mystery of the 21st c. Pat yourself on the back.

Given Jodie Comer's Best Actress win in 2023 and Sarah Snook's likely Best Actress win this year, look for these 1-person gimmick shows to keep coming.

[quote]look for these 1-person gimmick shows to keep coming.

Not if the audience stops going.

The next gimmick show will be based on a relatively modern classic ... Jinkx Monsoon plays every role in Valley of the Dolls.

Broadway doesn't go for booze and dope!

I’m not sure Cynthia Erivo being cast as Dracula is the win she thinks it is.

R20 and R21, we do apologise. Both ours.

Of Dorian Gray, the less said the better. You would probably have equally enjoyed the same director's Macbeth, in which the action took place in the auditorium while the audience sat in clip-together fold-up seats on the stage. (You only know a fraction of our suffering.)

For budgetary reasons it is not unusual to have a one-actor play at the 100-seat theatre in which Prima Facie premiered. The NT production was overacted and over-directed to the point where it began to sound like Homer, instead of a professional, if traumatised, lawyer putting her case to the court of an intimate audience. Sheridan Harbridge played it here without the subtext Give Me the Olivier and the Tony or Give Me Death and it was fine.

I suppose at least the overseas productions are sending some money home to the inadequately subsidised Sydney theatres from which they sprang, so your trials are not in vain.

All our trials are in vain...It's DATALOUNGE!

Forget it Jake...

…it’s Broadway!

Andrew Lloyd Webber will be playing Noah Cross in tonight’s performance, with Patti Lupone as Evelyn.

The amount announced La Cage Aux Folles cast.

Norm Lewis *IS* Georges

Michael James Scott *IS* Alvin

^

The Muny

Sorry for autocorrect

What was the amount?

And it’s Albin, not Alvin. Sorry for autocorrect

[quote]A wig? On Broadway?

Someone say, " Wig"?

Nice piece in the NY Times about Tom Francis, so the Tony press campaigns are in fuull swing.

Hunky Tom loves New York and his new life. It seems pretty clear he won’t be sticking with stage acting when his “Sunset Boulevard” commitment is up.

Dracula or Nosferatu?

[quote]Michael James Scott *IS* Alvin

Who did they get for Simon and Theodore?

[quote]Hey ho, Let's Go! The Blitzkreig BOOP Edition!

Oh, dear.

This Cynthia Erivo news is funny because all throughout the most recent Oscar season, my friend and I were referring to Cynthia as “Nosferatu” because of those bejeweled talons. So you can blame us for manifesting this production into existence, however it may turn out!

I HATED Dorian Gray. I’m hoping for a major upset. Particularly, Mia. She hasn’t a shot, even though she has a shot.

I think Mia is a very possible dark horse candidate in that category. I would not count her out.

I'm really hoping Mia wins. Also wouldn't count her out.

I never get tired of posting this: both leads out of Death Becomes Her this afternoon

Does Ben Brantley’s rave for Audra help or hurt her Tony chances?

One can only think DBH must be a very tiresome show to perform.

R44 it is! It’s why I’m out 2-3 times a week!

R44, do you mean "tiresome" or "tiring?" There's a big difference :-)

Sorry, OP. Meant to post this earlier: you suck.

Tom Francis waltzing around at Marie's Crisis singing Sunset BLVD was clearly a Tony ploy. He might have won were it not for the Minxemeat guy.

No way Mia is winning the Tony.

[quote]He might have won were it not for the Minxemeat guy.

They are competing in different categories.

Will Boop or Curves be able to limp to the Tonys?

Chris Sieber also out of DBH this afternoon.

It's just weird to call out during Tony voting season if you are nominated.

And while scheduled, Nicole S. is also out of a bunch of performances in addition to her regular Tuesdays off.

They know in advance when Tony voters will be in the audience. If a nominee is out, they will reschedule the voters.

The OG Matlock just started. I don't usually watch it but i caught the opening credits and...

Maryann Plunkett *and* Alyson Reed

R39. I also hated Dorian Grey and it made me start hating Sarah Snook.

Apparently, many people who see DORIAN GRAY are so impressed by the energy of Sarah Snook's performance and the innovative use of video that they don't care that the show is a complete bastardization of THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY as conceived by Oscar Wilde. Oh, well, after all, how much does the OG author really know about his own work?

Seeing Sarah Snook running around the stage and sweating on big screens didn’t make for a fun night. It was ridiculous to cast a chubby middled aged woman in the part. Just stupid.

I completely agree, R58, but it seems this tremendous, fatal flaw of the show is just not at all an issue for many audience members. Probably those who have no knowledge of what THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY was meant to be by its author.

And the pauses?

They're the pauses that refresh

Uh...Mrs. Steele?

She was stoned that day!

Okay, I'm headed to The Muny for that cast. Hearing Norm Lewis sing "Song on The Sand" would be amazing. Do we know if they're using the original or revival orchestrations?

Do we care?

Has La Cage ever been done before with two Black men as George/Albin?

Last two notes of Audra's ROSE'S TURN:

"For" = Chest voice

"Me" = Head voice

Sorry, but link is only good for 2 days...

So what?

[quote]So what?

"So"= Chest voice

"What" = Head voice

Not what the composer intended.

How many dead horses have you gone through, r69? The rest of us have lost count.

[quote]The amount announced La Cage Aux Folles cast.

I hope you're joking.

La Cage Aux Folles is a TERRIBLE show and always has been.

BOOP? Really?

Does anyone under sixty-five know who Betty Boop even is?

Does anyone of any age care or think there's a musical in this material? I'm guessing the answer is "no". Jerry Mitchell is riding a string of flops, huh?

No.

Yes.

No.

Yes.

Only a bit over 500 posts to go...

A composer writes notes, not vocal techniques.

Styne write popular music, and was no purist. He was worried that Small World wouldn’t sell enough sheet music if it could only be sung by a woman. And the idea that Styne “wrote” Rose’s Turn is certainly a novel idea, since he was out fucking Sandra Church while it Sondheim and Laurents and Robbins put it together.

Jasmine out of both BOOP shows today.

Don't know that Sondheim ever said Laurents was there when he and Robbins put it together.

[quote]Does anyone under sixty-five know who Betty Boop even is?

This tiresome question again. This is DL. We don't give a fuck what the ignorant masses do and do not know.

Um, er…ignorant masses are right here, under your nose.

[quote]Does anyone under sixty-five know who Betty Boop even is?

About as many who knew who Little Orphan Annie was in 1977, r72.

About as many who knew who Pippin was in 1072…er 1972.

Are Bernadette Peters and Lea Salonga going to present a Tony award together? That’s a natural, no, especially as neither was nominated?

It would be a lovely opening to the Tony Awards to have Bernie auditioning with a rehearsal pianist, tentatively singing “Broadway Baby,” soon joined by Lea and eventually the complete female cast of “Old Friends” who form a kick line for the big finish. It’s a great crowd pleaser in the second act of the show.

Of course since everyone in that show is middle-aged or older, the Tony’s will probably start with Cynthia Erivo singing some mediocre ‘special’ material where she’ll start big and get even bigger as the anthem ends in an all out screechfest, all to appeal to a ‘younger’ viewing audience that wouldn’t be caught dead watching the Tony’s and rarely goes to the theater anyway. Whereas the packed house at the Samuel Friedman which is the reliable audience for theater in NY, will be slighted.

I saw “Old Friends” at the matinee today, good, rousing fun, done with more precision and energy than in London. It’s a fine ensemble, Salonga is confident and swell though somehow generic, but Bernie is a marvel and looks terrific.

Multi-generational flirting...

R82 - cute idea, but of course they're going to have Cynthia open the show. It would be bizarre for them not to. Honestly, your idea is adorable, though, for an Old Friends performance during the telecast.

R92 I’d hate to hear what goes on in your head when jacking off.

Shivers!

R82^

"Rose must ONLY be sung in chest voice FOREVER!!"

[quote]Does Ben Brantley’s rave for Audra help or hurt her Tony chances?

I think it helps. Everyone knows Audra is doing a spectacular job. The ONLY question is does she have "to many Tonys?"

The article reminds everyone of the great artistry on that stage and how it's the artistry that should be awarded.

The NY Times article about Audra as Rose quotes Audra about her vocal choices:

“I realize that I don’t sing it like everybody else sings it, that people don’t think I’m a belter,” she said. “Whatever. I don’t care. I’m singing it with my voice, and in a way that keeps my stamina up so I can do it eight times a week.” Yet McDonald’s soprano is unleashed in “Rose’s Turn” only in its last section. That’s where the one modulation occurs, and it is, Einhorn said, “a good third higher than the original.” That allows an “emotional lift,” he said, that wasn’t happening with the score as written, and that the audience is hungry for.

McDonald sometimes deploys a guttural, almost raunchy voice in “Rose’s Turn,” summoning the great blues singers of the early 20th century. And she said part of what Rose has been “holding down” is the fury and frustration she can’t reveal because “Black women are supposed to behave in a certain way.”

And those infamous pauses:

Einhorn and Wolfe encouraged McDonald to make “Rose’s Turn” slower than is customary. She now freezes and takes her time when Rose first asks the big questions: “Why did I do it? What did it get me?” McDonald said “the first time I stood still and did it, I was like” — she inhales convulsively — “everything came up.”

Her artistic choice. Ok by me.

Audra's artistic choices create a completely original Rose. It's amazing to see.

Betty Boop merch for sale at Hot Topic.

[quote]About as many who knew who Little Orphan Annie was in 1977

Nonsense!

[quote]Does anyone under sixty-five know who Betty Boop even is?

There's a wonderful new invention called "the Internet" that allows anyone who is even mildly interested to get the answer to that question very quickly. With pictures! And original cartoons!

Now retired.

Nicole will be out of Sunset Blvd next Friday and Saturday.

[quote]Nicole will be out of Sunset Blvd next Friday and Saturday.

Betty can do it!

R80, I was 10 y.o. in 1977 and I knew who Little Orphan Annie and her dog Sandy were, and Daddy Warbucks and Punjab because the comic strip was in the paper.

Then I knew who Andrea McArdle and Dorothy Loudon were because I was a little fag.

How nice, r99. How nice for us all.

Ben's recent contributions to the Times remind me how little I miss his gelatinous prose. He probably needed a bib when writing that article.

R100, are you okay?

I was in college when ANNIE opened and I knew who Little Orphan Annie was but, like everyone else of my generation, I had never had any interest whatsoever in reading the comic strip.

And yet, I loved the musical ANNIE because it was a perfectly produced Broadway show (maybe the last of the Golden Age musicals), unlike the trash known as BOOP! Familiarization with the comic strip character really had very little to do with ANNIE's success.

[quote] McDonald said “the first time I stood still and did it, I was like” — she inhales convulsively — “everything came up.”

That’s more or less how I’d describe it as well.

[quote]About as many who knew who Pippin was in 1072…er 1972.

I went to high school with him.

I wasn't aware Betty Boop was a syndicated comic strip for forty years!

If R67 or anyone else wants to keep what's on that link, be it known that the Snipping Tool in Windows now gives you the choice of snipping either a photo or a video, just by clicking on the still camera or movie camera icons that come up when you open it.

It will copy anything that's on your screen, and after you press Start it gives you a countdown for starting the video. (Tip: Make sure the sound is on when you play the video, or it will record silence.) I don't know how long a video it will capture, but I've used it for up to a few minutes.

As the producer Mike Nichols shrewdly knew, ANNIE was essentially a Cinderella story...

Exactly, R108. If the show had told another story about Little Orphan Annie -- for example, some episode or episodes that happened AFTER she was adopted by Daddy Warbucks -- it might not have been a hit, even with all of the same people involved.

Ya think?

Not so much Cinderella. ANNIE employed exactly the same formula as a Shirley Temple movie.

I’m here for the Shirley Temple Grandin musical. Singing GOOD SHIP LOLLIPOP from inside the squeeze box.

Annie author Tom Meehan said that his inspiration was Oliver Twist, and the plot similarities are striking. Evil head of an orphanage. Rich benefactor. A locket. Comic baddies pose as someone they are not to reap a reward.

My cousin who has never seen a Bway show is visiting.

I want to take her to something glitzy and traditional. I’m thinking Boop or Smash. Which one is good enough?

For your cousin, literally anything is good enough. That side is not that picky.

DL fave Betty Buckley returns to Joe’s Pub this evening.

Are any of you bitches going?

I went last year and she did Send In the Clowns and Not a Day Goes By…but that was it on showtunes

Very interesting, R113. I didn't know that, but it makes perfect sense.

Of course, ANNIE also is a Cinderella story in the rags-to-riches sense, though she makes that journey by finding a new daddy rather than a handsome prince :-)

[quote]she makes that journey by finding a new daddy rather than a handsome prince

Tomato/Tomahto

Stay away from SMASH. Head-scratcher waste of money.

Boop! is not a world beater, but it's vastly better than Smash.

I’m thinking of seeing “Gypsy” the evening of June 12th. Can any of the devout Audra trackers tell me if they think she’ll go on that night? Perhaps use your divining rod?

Agreed, R119 and R120.

R121 - Turn on push notifications for the Chipotle app on your phone. If there's a Free Guac special that night, I'd keep your plans flexible.

Your cousin will have a much better time at Just in Time, far better than Smash and Boop!