THEATRE GOSSIP #593: The "Last Summer at Datalounge Cove" Edition

The previous thread.

No, no. All theater thread R1 posts are supposed to be: "OP, your title sucks. Can someone else come up with a better title and post a new thread?"

POS title. And the old one still isn’t full yet. You really jumped the gun, OP.

Kudos to Real Women Have Curves for chugging along. I guess it's cheap to run. Dead Outlaw's Youtube videos have less than 4K viewers and yet they're chugging along too.

Boop hasn't thrown in the towel, either.

Gypsy is also being stubborn. I guess they're hoping to just limp through July and August.

Cabaret is not long for this world.

Regarding the post on the last thread about performers dropping like flies. These people really are athletes and what sport requires players to play eight times a week? What opera singer does eight performances a week?

RWHC was expensive to produce (reported $16.5M capitalization), according to its paperwork, when you look at what's on stage, a fairly simple mid-size musical without a bunch of effects or elevators. Maybe a lot of that is a big reserve. Before the pandemic something like that could've been capitalized a bit over/under $10M. That's five or more years ago, but also everything is different now.

RWHC is enjoyable, the actors are engaging and excellent, and the piece will have a decent regional theatre life, but it's doesn't score in the way a show has to these days to be a must-see smash in NYC.

Is it touring?

I think that's why these shows try and run as long as they can, in hopes of a tour and also being able to promote themselves as more successful than they really are. If you can establish a name, then you can sell more production rights to every Pepper Pot Playhouse in the world.

Culkin was out of GGR last night.

Peck and Eva are leaving Cabaret on July 20 and no replacements have been announced.

Elaine Paige is now Dane Elaine to you, courtesy of the King's Birthday Honours.

This doesn't necessarily mean anything, but you can still buy tickets to Cabaret through Sunday, Jan. 4.

Does Dane Elaine stay mainly on the plain?

[quote]Elaine Paige is now Dane Elaine to you, courtesy of the King's Birthday Honours

Get 'em while you can, kids!

Rama Lama Dane Elaine

[quote] had not thought of the Bluefish Cove title in 45 years

Oh - as soon as I saw Jean Smart in the last thread I thought, “Didn’t she start out in that off broadway lezzie drama?”

It was the first thing that came to mind!

[quote]What opera singer does eight performances a week?

Correct, opera singers have never been required to sing eight performances a week, rarely if ever more than two or three performances a week. But actors and musical theater performers have been required and expected to perform eight a week for well over a hundred years. with rare exceptions for roles that were considered exceptionally demanding vocally or in other ways. So the question now is: Was it unreasonable to expect that kind of performance schedule for all those decades? Or are so many current performers lacking in that they can't or won't keep to such a schedule?

Stop trying to make the Bluefish Cove thing happen and let’s just get on with filling up this thread.

Where are all those racist Audra haterz when you really need ‘em?

Even though her attendance has been on par with Megan Hilary, Eva was quite good in the part and the production will suffer unless they get a good replacement!

If you look at the ranges and tessituras of Broadway scores from the golden age and pre amplification, they're fairly easily sung without strain and doing eight performances a week if you have training and decent vocal technique isn't so hard. The current scores, which often call for very wide ranges and a tessitura that's very high in order to cut through amplified orchestras will blow out a voice in just a few years.

[quote]Was it unreasonable to expect that kind of performance schedule for all those decades? Or are so many current performers lacking in that they can't or won't keep to such a schedule?

Does Eva Peron put more demands on the performer than Miss Adelaide, r19?

Wasn't someone threatening a Broadway production of BLUEFISH COVE pre-covid? Haven't heard a lick about it recently.

[quote]R20 Stop trying to make the Bluefish Cove thing happen and let’s just get on with filling up this thread.

What do you have against BLUEFISH COOZE?

Eliza Doolittle’s tessitura is a voice killer, always was. Julie Andrews often went on not knowing what would come out.

Please tell me that at least once, Julie accidentally burped instead of singing "I Could Have Danced All Night."

Could you get away with a production of Bluefish Cove today?

I'd love to see a hip new cast...Ryan Murphy get going!

Sarah Paulsen, Miley Cyrus, Lindsay Mendez.......help me out here

Is Beanie hip?

The role of Eliza Doolittle, however demanding, doesn't seem to have damaged the voices of Sally Ann Howes or Melissa Errico or Lauren Ambrose or Christine Andreas or, well, anyone else of note besides Julie Andrews.

It's interesting that Lerner & Loewe's score for CAMELOT placed minimal demands of range or register on her.

Did any of them do it for three years, r30?

Stand by for sour complaints about Julie Andrews' talk-singing her way through "My Fair Lady" . . .

[quote]Did any of them do it for three years, R30?

I think Lauren Ambrose did it for about three months.

And thar ya go, r33.

I'm calling it now:

Once these Broadway box office flops start their tours, they will be promoted as : 'The Broadway Smash Hit Musical critics were raving about is coming to [insert theater name] so get your tickets now !'

I remember a few years ago when our local performing arts center (which hosts all the Broadway tours each season) stuck the musical 'The Bodyguard' in there, even though it never played on Broadway. That didn't stop the endless commercials on TV falsely saying, 'Direct from Broadway - the smash hit musical 'The Bodyguard'...' Those poor bastards who believed it.

Melissa Errico suffered from vocal problems during the pre Broadway tour of MFL. Her understudy was on quite a bit.

R33 - Diana Rigg

[quote] Elaine Paige is now Dane Elaine to you

Something's rotten in the state of Denmark.

And thar ya go, r36.

I just looked it up. Sally Ann played for 11 months.

And thar ya go.

And wasn't the last Eliza notable because she wasn't English and she was on To Tell the Truth.

Yes, R41. Margot Moser.

[quote] The current scores, which often call for very wide ranges and a tessitura that's very high in order to cut through amplified orchestras will blow out a voice in just a few years.

I certainly wouldn't say it's necessarily harder for present-day Broadway singers, performing in the age of super amplification and body mics, to "cut through" amplified orchestras. The reality is that the sound engineers can largely address this by simply turning up the volume on the singers' mics. I think the issue mostly comes down to the skill of being able to write a singable role, which apparently people like ALW and other modern-day composers do not possess.

[quote]Eliza Doolittle’s tessitura is a voice killer, always was.

It's not the tessitura of the songs that's the problem, it's the fact that whoever plays Eliza is required to do a lot of shouting and caterwauling during during the first half of the show, in the Cockney scenes. Anyway, that's what Julie has always said was the problem, and I think she knows what she's talking about.

And thar ya go, r44.

Anyone catch that Tik Tok video of Rachel Zegler performing “Don’t Cry for Me, Argentina” in full Evita drag on a balcony of the London Palladium? I guess they were filming it for use in the show. Interesting that she uses a hard g when singing “Argentina.” Anyway she sounds absolutely gorgeous.

This Bway season was so fucking boring. Only Gypsy and Sunset had any life to them. I can’t believe it’s one of the most attended Bway seasons ever—why? I assume it’s because of high attendance to anything with some sort of TV or movie star.

That solidifies the new Bway model or producing shit starring a Tv/movie actor

From the Tonys thread -

Cygnet FOLLIES

I saw "Bye Bye Birdie" here in Seattle tonight.

I now understand why we haven't had a B'way revival in decades. It has a stupid book and it's a clunky, dated show.

How surprising, R49, that a show that premiered on Broadway 65 years ago now seems clunky and dated. As for its not having had a Broadway revival in decades, the most recent revival ran from Oct. 15, 2009, to Jan. 24, 2010, and starred John Stamos and Gina Gershon.

Maybe Happy Ending is sort of a rip-off of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.

Will Jean Smart's play make it through July? June?

I think we have legendary sharpshooter Miss Annie Oakley herself at R34, R39 & R40!

R50, if they’d just put John Stamos on stage stroking himself it would’ve run longer.

OP, those nipple clamps should still be in place.

R52: I just checked Telecharge and there's a shit ton of seats available in BOTH the orchestra and mezzanine for BOTH of today's performances.

Ambrose was an interesting choice in My Fair Lady, even if the performance wasn’t fully successful. She sang surprisingly well, and showed a good sense of the character. She was a wounded bird, but she was fighting hard. Unfortunately, she couldn’t really sing and act at the time. It was like the acting just stopped while she tried to make notes.

Benanti was better, but I was surprised that she made me appreciate Ambrose more. Both made it clear that Eliza, not Higgins, was driving the action. Lots of people hated that, and the logical connection to her final exit, but I found it engaging.

[quote]So the question now is: Was it unreasonable to expect that kind of performance schedule for all those decades? Or are so many current performers lacking in that they can't or won't keep to such a schedule?

R19 it's because woke Broadway has adopted socialism, which encourages laziness and equates hard work with capitalism, which they despise with a passion.

[quote]Will Jean Smart's play make it through July? June?

I haven't seen it, but dental surgery sounds more appealing.

They also equate hard work with the patriarchy, because men are generally more industrious than women, who often make up excuses not to go into work.

In short, productivity usually goes down when women are hired or in charge.

Bullshit. An actor who doesn’t work hard is extremely rare.

Those who actually observe the patriarchy and capitalism know that the hardest workers tend to be poor people and women.

Harvey Fierstein sings Rose’s Turn!

For R48

[quote]After a decade in Old Town, Cygnet Theatre has outgrown its space and is excited to create a permanent home at Arts District Liberty Station. In partnership with the NTC Foundation, we’re transforming historic Building 178 into The Joan and Irwin Jacobs Performing Arts Center, or “The Joan.”

"The Joan?" Clearly you, as a DL Theatre Gossip veteran, were a key a factor in the adoption of a nickname.

In mentioning other Elizas, I was responding to R26's remark "Eliza Doolittle’s tessitura is a voice killer, always was."

Anyone have any sense of how often Andrews called out of MFL, either on Broadway or in London? I've always wondered -- maybe it wasn't that often, but maybe this was an early case of a role that should have had a matinee alternate?

Andrews plowed through Victor/Victoria, resulting in nodes. The subsequent surgery destroyed her voice.

Yes but victor Victoria WAS Julie Andrews.

If you were buying a ticket, would you pay to see Julie, or an alternate?

Would you pay to see Julie or Miss Susan Anton?

So, she ruined her voice so that ticket holders and cretins like r58 don’t get upset.

[quote]If you were buying a ticket, would you pay to see Julie, or an alternate?

I'd pay to see this alternate............

Lauren Ambrose had a pretty singing voice but it was a very small voice and the other actors scaled down to accommodate her lack of confidence and poor projection. The result was a MY FAIR LADY that never caught fire or quite came together. It was weirdly rudderless.

Laura Benanti was 100 times better than Ambrose, and her confidence and power in the role allowed Harry Hadden-Paton to scale up his Henry Higgins to its proper proportions. I couldn’t believe how much better he was opposite Benanti. The other cast changes also improved the show immeasurably — Danny Burstein was a better, warmer, funnier Doolittle than Norbert Leo Butz, and though I worship and adore Diana Rigg as Mrs Emma Peel, Rosemary Harris was a wittier, more elegant Mrs. Higgins. It was finally a propulsive, entertaining, full-blooded production rather than the peculiar misfire it was with the original cast.

And since Barlett Sher had originally announced Lauren Ambrose for “Funny Girl” (which had no takers) I assume they were having an affair and that ‘s why he was fixated on getting her a Broadway musical to star in.

She was great in “Six Feet Under,” but has her career ever recovered from the MFL debacle?

Maureen McCormick for the next GYPSY revival!*

R69 is doing the classic DL move of "How I feel about this IS REALITY." Ambrose was Tony-nominated for that "debacle" and has continued to work. (It was never an enormous TV or, God knows, movie career. But she quite recently "resurfaced" in the latest season of YELLOWJACKETS.)

I just Googled through a half-dozen reviews of the production, and though not all of them are sold on Ambrose (check out VARIETY and HOLLYWOOD REPORTER), most of them are:

Jesse Green (NYT): "So is Lauren Ambrose as a feral and then luminous Eliza. At first, Ms. Ambrose concentrates, perhaps too hard, on Eliza’s unlikeliness as the subject of a bet between Higgins and his friend Colonel Pickering . . . But she is also laying the groundwork for our understanding that Eliza is as powerful a woman as her circumstances permit . . . We understand this not only from the ferocity of her interactions with him but also from the way she sings. The big revelation of this production is that Ms. Ambrose has a stirring voice: lustrous and rich if without the bright ping of most Elizas. That turns out to be an advantage . . . The question quickly becomes not whether Eliza will succeed — of course she will — but whether Higgins can accept her success. Will he join her in it, or get out of the way?"

Alexis Soloski (GUARDIAN): "Before previews began there was some doubt as to whether Lauren Ambrose, best known for her work as a sardonic daughter on Six Feet Under, could handle the vocal duties. Turns out, Ambrose has a cherry-ripe soprano and if there is any justice those people are now at home eating their sheet music . . . Ambrose’s Eliza is immensely moving, yowling and cringing and ready to play the victim until she discovers her own great integrity."

Greg Evans (DEADLINE): ". . . Ambrose’s performance, a portrayal at times almost feral in its presentation of Eliza’s ambition and fighting spirit. The actress from Six Feet Under – and, yes, she can sing – gives the production the counterweight it needs to present a Higgins as undiluted as the one offered up by Hadden-Paton."

Rex Reed (OBSERVER): "First, there’s a career-transforming centerpiece by the spectacular Lauren Ambrose as Eliza Doolittle . . . I’ve been a fan ever since she exploded on the screen in the riveting HBO TV series Six Feet Under, but who knew she could sing with so much power, beauty and clarity? As a Cockney toadstool growing into a savory truffle, she is the discovery of the year."

In other words . . . not what anyone could reasonably call a "debacle" that somehow destroyed her career.

R51, that was really a sort of a spoiler that you should not have posted.

[quote]The current scores, which often call for very wide ranges and a tessitura that's very high in order to cut through amplified orchestras will blow out a voice in just a few years.

Just ask all the ladies who have sung the role of Elphaba in Wicked. None of them have escaped without some form of vocal strain or injury. Stephanie J Block said that quite a few Elphabas needed throat surgery following their Broadway runs. Idina blew out her voice. Lindsay Mendez started the trend of only doing 7 shows a week.

The role of Christine in Phantom of the Opera uses pre-recorded vocals to save the singer's voices. I guess Stephen Schwartz requires the witches of OZ to always sing live.

[quote] Lindsay Mendez started the trend of only doing 7 shows a week.

Before she started the trend of only doing four or five shows a week.

[quote]Just ask all the ladies who have sung the role of Elphaba in Wicked. None of them have escaped without some form of vocal strain or injury.

I'm very surprised to hear that, because other than "Defying Gravity," which is only one song that comes right at the end of the first act and can be followed by a 15-20 minutes of vocal rest, I wouldn't say Elphaba is notably difficult to sing. I think maybe you're exaggerating the vocal challenges of the role.

Here's the extended interview with Jean Smart from last weekend's 'CBS Sunday Morning'. At the start, she talks about why she was drawn to 'Call Me Izzy' after being away from the stage for so long.

R75, as a (male) singer, I find your idea that Elphaba is not “notably difficult to sing” extremely strange. It is one of the first roles that comes to my mind. Which roles would you consider notably difficult?

R71, I get the “feral, luminous” thing and don’t disagree with it, as a thought-through performamce it was valid. But despite her small, pretty voice, there was nothing truly musical about her performance. I think this aligns with Sher’s focus on acting and surface realism in trying to bring something new and darker to his musical revivals. His joyless “Camelot” was probably the nadir of this trend and a dead end (I hope). Odd, considering how joyful and exciting his “South Pacific” was, and this after I’d seen a horrible Trevor Nunn production of it in London.

I think the critics were bending over backwardsfor him, frankly, and giving Ambrose and Sher the benefit of the doubt. As for her Tony nomination —sure, but did anyone think her interpretation had a chance in hell of winning that year? And let’s not forget that Bernadette Peters actually won a Tony for “Annie Get Your Gun,” a show in which she was completely miscast and ill-suited, only to be subsequently upstaged by her replacement Reba McIntyre of all people. So yeah, weird shit happens. And Lauren Ambrose is no musical comedy star. So let’s just get real and admit she never shoukd have been expected to carry that great musical. And she didn’t.

Smart's "Call Me Izzy" opened last night to help kick off the 2025-26 Broadways season. It got mostly mixed reviews from theater critics - most praised Smart's performance, but were bored with the play itself.

R78, people weren’t challenging your opinion on the show. I disagree, but whatever.

You said it was a career-ending debacle (it wasn’t) and suggested (without evidence) that she and Sher were having an affair.

Lauren left MFL to make a movie or tv series. I forget. She seems to work pretty consistently.

R77, I thought I explained clearly, if briefly, why I don't consider Elphaba all that difficult a role to sing: Again, the only time the singer is really required to shriek near the top of her range is in one song, "Defying Gravity," and even then, it's only toward the end of that number. Some of the most vocally difficult musical theater roles that come to mind are Evita, Aldonza, Cunegonde in CANDIDE, and Bess in PORGY AND BESS if that counts.

As for vocally challenging male roles in musical theater: Of course Porgy in PORGY AND BESS (if that counts), also Sweeney Todd

R80 : I speculated that Sher and Ambrose were fucking because I couldn’t understand why else he would push her to star in two big musicals with splashy, starring roles for an actress who was neither splashy nor a star. I wasn’t defaming them. Sex is often a great motivation for both art and commerce and it always has been. But she was in over her head and beyond her small talents and he did her no favors by pushing her.

What do you think his motivation was?

Sher seems to become obsessed with some performers, both male and female, to the point of sometimes casting them in roles they don't fit all that well. Two other examples, besides Lauren Ambrose, are Matthew Morrison and Kelli O'Hara.

Predicting that Tom Francis is out of SB this afternoon. Saw him wheeling a grocery cart in a West Village supermarket at 1:30. Know it was him because I tossed a compliment across the cereal aisle and he said smiled and said "Cheers." Gorgeous up close.

Was he shopping for peaches or eggplant?

R79: Will this thing even make it to its August 17th closing date?

[Quote] Lindsay Mendez started the trend of only doing 7 shows a week.

And no shows a week

Matthew Morrison got both those parts, R85, because Steven Pasquale couldn't work around his shooting schedule for RESCUE ME.

Which of Kelli O'Hara's performances for Sher were "roles they don't fit all that well"? I thought that she was terrific in SOUTH PACIFIC, KING AND I and BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY.

Just my humble opinion, but I thought R62's clip of Harvey Fierstein singing Rose's Turn was excellent! Even with a comic wink to Fiddler, the key, tempo, emotional range, and stage presence all worked. And admit it. How many of you guys have sung your male version of Rose's Turn in the shower? We all know how the song is supposed to be done.

Thanks, R90. I think Kelli fit all of those roles quite well, with the possible exception of BRIDGES, which she sang beautifully but she looked about as Italian as a leprechaun. I wrote that Sher SOMETIMES cast people in roles they didn't fit all that well.

As for Morrison, there were certainly other options for Fabrizio and Lieutenant Cable than Morrison. David Burnham, who understudied Fabrizio and went on several times and later did the tour of PIAZZA, would have been a much better choice to originate the role on Broadway.

There are curtain call pics from Evita's first preview up on Instagram. Che is in his underwear covered in, what looks like, splattered paint. Peron looks to be about 25. And Rachel is wearing the signature white gown.

[quote]How many of you guys have sung your male version of Rose's Turn in the shower?

The shower? I sing it in the living room and am seriously considering singing it in the lobby of my condo.

R93 Thanks for the link !

R95. Go upstairs and ask your mom to help you do a search.

R50 Not all old shows grow to feel dated.

"How To Succeed In Business..." is about the same age as "Birdie" and it's still a charmer because it has a clever, witty book.

Gypsy, West Side Story, South Pacific all still play well. They're all specific to their time period but again...well written.

R96 I'd rather thank the cunt for not posting the link. This is the DL community - we post links. We don't ask moms for help.

I don't sing Rose's Turn in my living room, but as a teen I lip-synched Merman's version for my parents' guests. Imagine their delight!

I'm trying, r99. I'm trying really, really hard.

I once pranced about the living room to "Magical Mister Mestophelees." On Easter, no less. My parents HAD to have known what the future held.

[quote]How many of you guys have sung your male version of Rose's Turn in the shower?

Amateur, r91, I strut down the street singing it.

Bye Bye Birdie is one of those shows that isn't as good as people remember. Once Upon A Mattress is another.

Lauren Ambrose and that entire conceit of a production of MFL sucked ass. ASS. Even Diana Rigg sucked. And the freak playing Kaparthy was playing it as an offensive gay stereotype. It was SHIT.

SHIT!

Don't forget Eliza exiting the theater at the end, R105. I guess she had nowhere else to go after already walking out on him and then returning just so can could pointlessly walk out on him again.

R90. Not only was Kelli O’Hara good in the three roles you mentioned, but she knocked me out in The Hours at the Metropolitan Opera. Imagine the guts it took for a B’way singer to appear on stage with Joyce DiDonato and Renee Fleming. No matter what you think oh Ms. Fleming’s past-her-prime voice, she was/is a world renowned diva. And let me tell you, Ms O’Hara was great.

O'Hara was also vocally outstanding in Days of Wine and Roses

The movie version of "Birdie" changed quite a few parts of the story, and threw out some songs as well.

All the struggling shows are waiting to see if they got a boost this week from the Tonys and/or hoping to capitalize on the July 4th weekend.

July 4th is actually a notoriously BAD weekend at the box office - discounts abound!

[quote]Bye Bye Birdie is one of those shows that isn't as good as people remember. Once Upon A Mattress is another.

I agree with you about BIRDIE but strongly disagree about MATTRESS. The original book of BIRDIE, by Michael Stewart, is quite horrendously bad, whereas MATTRESS has a sweet, clever, very funny book to go along with the wonderful score.

Kelli O'Hara was horrible in Roundabout's Kiss Me Kate. She should have switched roles with Laura Benanti in Roundabout's She Loves Me.

Roundabout - get it together!!

Raves for EVITA after the first preview performance.

When I was 13 years old, I would go up to my room after dinner, close the door and full out sing and perform the entirety of Bette Midler’s Divine Madness record.

Looking back, I must’ve absolutely terrified my parents.

C'mon Theater Queens, not one post about the new "Wicked, For Good", trailer on ATC? Something happened, spill it.

Sadly, there's a new book for Mattress, that is not anywhere near as good as the original.

As to Birdie, when I saw the television version, I thought that it's time had passed, but when I saw the Encores version a few years later, it was great. They had just honored the style of the original (which I saw, yes I'm that old) and it worked perfectly.

R115

MARY!

MARY!

MAAAAARRRRRYYYY!

R117, the "new book" for MATTRESS is basically the old one with some relatively minor changes. I don't like most of the changes, but I don't find them very harmful. And while I'm glad you liked the Encores! version of BIRDIE, I think it also revealed the show's original book as from hunger, despite the fact that there were significant cuts.

Speaking of Bartlett Sher misfires, we had the misfortune to attend one of the final performances of a new musical he directed in Atlanta. It's called MILLIONS, based on a Danny Boyle movie, with a score by Adam Guettel and book by Bob Martin. Actually, we only saw the first half because we thought it was so bad that we fled at intermission. I assume it's heading to LCT or Broadway, but I don't think it can be saved without a total overhaul. The score and book are both weak. There are six or so kids in the cast, and while none of them is as bad as "Young Tom" in Sher's CAMELOT, they are not very good either. Ruthie Ann Miles and Shuler Hensley have their moments, but they are defeated by the weak songs and script. And poor Steven Pasquale has a thankless role as a widowed parent who has a job he hates. His first act song bemoaning his job was god-awful and received some of the most tepid audience applause that I've ever seen.

Other than THE LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA, has Sher ever directed a successful new musical? According to his Playbill bio he's working on three others: a stage adaptation of LA-LA LAND, DOLLY: AN ORIGINAL MUSICAL based on Dolly Parton's life, and THE AMAZING ADVENTURES OF KAVALIER AND CLAY for the Met.

[quote]Other than THE LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA, has Sher ever directed a successful new musical?

No.

Given the debacles of DAYS OF WINE AND ROSES, SMASH and (to a somewhat lesser extent) BOOP!, I wish both Guettel and Martin would take very long breaks from musical theater. Interesting but sad that Guettel seems to be far more active in recent years, after apparently losing his talent, as compared to his youth.

Sher's MFL had its problems, but Hadden-Paton's Higgins was not one of them. He was terrific.

Agreed, R122.

I don’t find Tom Francis to be attractive at all.

He never liked you either

Tom Francis isn't conventionally handsome but he's sexy as hell.

Which is really what it is all about, r126.

I fins Francis tries too hard in being 'sexy' and 'handsome', especially when he knows the cameras are on him. He needs to let down his guard and just be himself.

WHET Rob Ashford?

Audra out today.

Oh, who the fuck even cares at this point, r130?

The London Evita looks a lot like Sunset with the Che in tight black underwear splattered with stuff for the curtain bows

I blame Audra and always have!

Has Sher ever even directed a new hit play in NY? It's really astounding how many resounding duds he's directed and yet keeps working.

Where is Claudia Shear?

American ice dancers Green and Pardon skate to music from Sunset Boulevard (Michael is kind of hunky).

Here is the proper link.

PARSONS, SORRY

Not sure if the info is true or not but...

I recently found an archived article from when the original 'Sunset Blvd' musicals all closed down within days of each other in 1997, no matter who the leading lady was in each production. According to the article, the major reason each production was losing money was because of the exorbitant cost of electricity back then in each city to run the production. On Broadway alone, one of the accountants said that the show was using as much electricity in one month as a small town in America had used at the same time. The team on The West End said the same thing, as did Vancouver - the electirc bills each month killed them, far greater than what they ever imagined in their budget.

Once the show hit the road in '99 after the original B'way tour (which ended quickly in '96), the production was scaled way back to save on electric costs for the theaters.

[quote]Where is Claudia Shear?

She ran out for a pack of cigs, r134. She'll be right back.

My Seattle production of "Bye Bye Birdie" had "Book Revisions by Robert Cary annd Jonathan Tollins" who are apparently a gay couple who write for the theater.

Not sure what they revised...maybe some of the more terrible lines of Mae, the awful mother character who is pretty racist?

Regardless, the show is clunky and doesn't flow at all...one stupid scene after another.

[quote] David Burnham, who understudied Fabrizio and went on several times and later did the tour of PIAZZA, would have been a much better choice to originate the role on Broadway.

David Burnham has a tough time playing straight.

Part of Birdie's success was due to its topicality. Now it just plays as a period piece. The star it's making fun of isn't at the top of his career, he's *long* dead.

[quote]David Burnham has a tough time playing straight.

Not in that role, he didn't. I saw him in it, twice.

Robert Cary and Jon Tolins have done "brush-ups" of other classic musical librettos, including the On the Town revival about 10 years ago. Tolins is the head writer of the TV series Elsbeth and wrote the play Buyer and Cellar.

Streisand thinks she still looks young enough to do a film version of Gypsy.

I think if they’re to do it, she and Glenn should synch their respective film releases so they can at least create a trend.

Wow. E. Faye Butler is a knockout Madam Rose. And, ahem, she’s got the proper voice for that score. My god. I’d love to have seen this mostly African-American production.

I was lucky enough to see E. Faye as Rose. She was incredible and the production was brilliantly cast and directed

E. Faye hit me in the head with a fondue pot...

Isn't anybody going to review the hideous "My Son's A Queer..."? Not one review?

It’s terrible.

OLD FRIENDS: Beth Leavel's "The Ladies Who Lunch" is the best I've ever heard. Bernadette's "Send In The Clowns" is awfully good. "Hello, Little Girl" was unusually icky. Everything else reliably good, though at times I felt bombarded by one song after another after another after another . . . .

I thought what made “Bye Bye Birdie” a hit, apart from Dick Van Dyke’s performance, was the direction by Gower Champion. The way he staged the “Bell Telephone Hour,” with kids on multi-leveled platforms, and the swift scene changes, etc., I’ve always heard his staging and direction stole a lot from the movies, making the show seem fast-moving and modern (for 1960). Not like the traditional musical of the period, anyway.

Oh, I agree, R152. I mean, I didn't see the original B'way production, but we've all seen photos.

Clever staging and terrific performers can override a weak book. And, the OBC was great: DVD, Chita, Paul Lynde, Dick Gautier.

[quote]Isn't anybody going to review the hideous "My Son's A Queer..."? Not one review?

Is it a revival of a laff-riot off-Broadway comedy from 1971?

The problem with Eliza Doolittle's part is that she has to yell throughout the first part of the show, and then sing pretty, and then do comedy and drama, and then sing yelling *and* pretty song (Show Me) that crosses the passagio numerous times and ends on a high G. It was a voice killer, and everyone who has had to do it 8 times a week has trouble, including Sally Ann Howes, who got through it by not belting at all. Julie herself learned to speak-sing it, and it kind of ruined her natural singing style.

Maria Callas told Julie "I don't know how you do it with all that talking."

Cheryl Kennedy was Eliza in the Rex revival tour of 1981. She lost her voice, was fired by the production, and basically never worked again.

Kennedy took the role of Eliza Doolittle opposite Rex Harrison in a 1980 revival of the 1950s Broadway production of My Fair Lady.[9] Her casting was initially challenged by Actor's Equity because she had been chosen ahead of more than 50 American actress finalists but Rex Harrison insisted that a British-born actress should take the part;[10] additionally, Mike Merrick, the show's producer, maintained her singing ability, her experience in musicals in London's West End and the authenticity she would bring as a result of her and her parents' lives in the London area made her uniquely qualified for the role.[11] From the show's opening in New Orleans in September 1980, she continued in the role for nearly a year as it toured American cities. Shortly before it began a run on Broadway at the Uris Theater on 18 August 1981, she was forced to withdraw after a physician diagnosed nodes on her vocal cords;[10] Nancy Ringham, an American singer and Kennedy's understudy, assumed the role in her Broadway debut.[12]

[quote]Streisand thinks she still looks young enough to do a film version of Gypsy.

Ummmmmm, no she doesn't. She gave up on 'Gypsy' around 9-10 years ago when Universal and STX Entertainment both dropped their financial support for the movie.

Well, I guess you didn’t listen to her interview this week with David Remnick on The New Yorker Radio Hour.

Nancy Ringham was dating one of the producers and Harrison loathed her. He would mutter obscenities under his breath during their scenes together.

Rex Harrison, it must be noted, could be a major asshole, and I rather doubt that he mellowed with age.

[quote]Tolins is the head writer of the TV series Elsbeth and wrote the play Buyer and Cellar.

He was also one of the good writers who left Queer as Folk after Season 1.

[quote]Well, I guess you didn’t listen to her interview this week with David Remnick on The New Yorker Radio Hour.

I didn't see the interview, but IF Barbra is still hinting or implying that a movie of GYPSY with her as Rose might ever happen, she should be immediately committed to a mental institution.

“ IF Barbra is still hinting or implying that a movie of GYPSY with her as Rose might ever happen, she should be immediately committed to a mental institution.”

Or it can be repurposed as a bit for the 2026 Airplane reboot

Tolins also wrote for The Good Fight and his husband co-wrote the Donna Summer musical.

There’s a story (most probably not true) that Rex Harrison made an appearance at a social event, attended by some of his admirers. Harrison got a little handsy with one of the female attendees. She slapped him, and it was later reported as the first known incidence of the fan hitting the shit.

[quote]Wouldn't it be wisest at this point for Glenn Close to sell her controlling option on a movie version of SUNSET BOULEVARD and just let it develop without her? With a YOUNGER STAR??

Like Chenoweth and Manzel in "Wicked", she could do a cameo. She could play Hog-Eye the spotlight operator!

Billy Porter will play Glenn Close’s character’s estranged husband in the next Hunger Games film. Ahhhh…OK.

Not to take anything away from Gower Champion's staging of Bye Bye Birdie but he really perfected those "cinematic" techniques the following year in 1961's Carnival!, which began with a bare stage as the audience watched the cast as roustabouts and circus performers "create" the set in front of their eyes, unheard of in those days.

And credit to set designer Will Steven Armstrong (sadly, forgotten today) as well as wife Marge Champion, who many old timers insist gave Gower some of his best ideas.

And, of course, Gower made Sugar! a sparkling entertainment!

If only Diahann was still around.

Barbra Streisand says there is a big running offer from Scott Rudin and Barry Diller for her to do Gypsy on Broadway. She says, "Why would I ever do anything like that on the stage again?"

She says that her one time squabbling with Sondheim was over the film version of Gypsy. He told her that she can either direct it, or star in it, but she couldn't do both. She says that Sondheim and Laurents hated the original film version because Rosalind Russell couldn't sing. Barbra says that she could still do a new Gypsy film because she looks young for her age.

[quote] Barbra says that she could still do a new Gypsy film because she looks young for her age.

Sure, Jan

[quote]Sure, Methuselah

Fixed it for you, r173.

And I can still cum 5 times a day at the age of 70.

The funniest part of that Barbra interview is when she tries to remember her night with Warren Beatty: "I know I slept in the bed with him, but I can’t remember if we actually had penetration. I swear to God, I can’t. There are certain things I block out."

Bitch is crazy. Always has been.

She must be a DLer.

"I easily pass for 40..."

Uh, no...no, you don't.

Just wasted a 1/2 hour listening to that annoying and frustrating Streisand interview.

Talk about deluded!

You have to admit that Barbra looks younger than Patti and Audra.

Put togither!

Barbra could present an entirely new interpretation of Mama Rose, by having her in a wheelchair at a retirement facility. Guaranteed Tony.

Demi Moore could play Louise with Blake Lively as BABY June.

It would never happen, but imagine Glenn, Patti, and either Betty Buckley or Petula Clark as Norma's bridge partners in the Sunset Boulevard movie.

[quote]Tolins also wrote for The Good Fight and his husband co-wrote the Donna Summer musical.

So his husband is to blame for that jukebox fiasco ?

Speaking of Summer, the rumor out there is that her family is putting feelers out to producers about finally getting HER musical up on the stage. The musical (which she wrote back in the 1990s while on hiatus from recording) is called 'Ordinary Girl', and has mostly all new songs written by Summer (with a few of her hits thrown in). It is NOT a jukebox musical (like the one which was on B'way a few seasons ago).

She tried to get it onstage in 2001-02 season, but 9-11 stopped it. Summer was not going to star in it, just write it and produce it, and handpick the cast. Not sure how far it will go, but it would be refreshing to see this.

[quote]She says that her one time squabbling with Sondheim was over the film version of Gypsy. He told her that she can either direct it, or star in it, but she couldn't do both.

Back in 2003, she said the same thing about 'Mame', only the squabble was with Jerry Herman. He gave her the choice to direct or star, but not both. She chose to direct, and suggested Cher to star. The project never happened.

I had completely forgotten that there was a Donna Summer musical not too long ago. I remember seeing it....

[quote]It would never happen, but imagine Glenn, Patti, and either Betty Buckley or Petula Clark as Norma's bridge partners in the Sunset Boulevard movie.

I'd rather see them in " Mamma Mia!," geriatric reboot.

Heaven Help Us, Lord ALW is Hot Again.

[quote]imagine Glenn, Patti, and either Betty Buckley or Petula Clark as Norma's bridge partners in the Sunset Boulevard movie.

That list would make for a good fantasy dinner party guest list too.

R186 The actress I was least impressed with in the musical was Ariana DeBose playing 'disco Donna' (Summer in her 20s - 40s). However, IIRC, she was nominated for a Tony. LaChanze (older Donna) was much more believable.

Being a big fan, I actually loved Summer, mainly because the Bway singers were so good. The choreography was great too.

[quote]Back in 2003, she said the same thing about 'Mame', only the squabble was with Jerry Herman. He gave her the choice to direct or star, but not both. She chose to direct, and suggested Cher to star. The project never happened.

Source, r185?

Barbra clearly doesn't have any patience for interviews anymore (if she ever did).

OP the thread title got me thinking of another Last Summer from long ago, the Evan Hunter book from the 60s that became one of the allegedly great lost movies: Frank Perry's Last Summer in 1969.

Some musical theatre composer and lyricist geniuses should turn it into a small musical that could have hot stars in swimwear in the first act in the principal roles. When it needs to be a small show that can play a big theatre and tour, it can be that. But then at heart it should be something that can be produced for not much money in any regional, stock, and community theatre that does small, cool, and a little edgy.

The book Last Summer would be the story of Act 1 and its sequel Come Winter from 1973 would be the story for Act 2, when it's five years later, and each act would have the "groove" of its respective year in its songs. It's all about the interaction of the small cast of characters, their coming of age, and the nihilistic, sociopathic things they do...not unlike some folks today.

Yeah, r194...no.

I do so enjoy a toe tapping musical about teen rape!

We’ll call it “RapeRape?”, and I’ll produce!

Finally some delayed news (it was supposed to happen at the Tonys) on 'A Chorus Line 50th Anniversary Revival'.

A benefit concert will take place with most of the original cast (including Kelly Bishop) will happen on B'way at the Schubert Theater on July 27. Tickets go on sale June 30. Producers Christopher Ketner and Hunter Regian are involved with the current 'Sunset Blvd' revival.

It is strongly believed they are gauging response to this concert to see if there's enough interest to go ahead with their plans in launching a 50th Anniversary revival in the Fall. As many theatergoers pointed out - it sounds like they're going the 'Chess' route to bring the revival forward; a concert first, analyze the response, launch a full blow limited-engagement revival.

And the ticket prices for ACL will be astronomical.

[Quote] A benefit concert will take place with most of the original cast (including Kelly Bishop) will happen on B'way at the Schubert Theater on July 27.

Will they be performing with their walkers?

[quote]It is strongly believed they are gauging response to this concert to see if there's enough interest to go ahead with their plans in launching a 50th Anniversary revival in the Fall. As many theatergoers pointed out - it sounds like they're going the 'Chess' route to bring the revival forward; a concert first, analyze the response, launch a full blow limited-engagement revival.

Really? It seems to me that a one-night benefit concert of A CHORUS LINE featuring several prominent members of the original cast is apples and oranges with a Broadway revival, and even if the benefit event is a quick sell-out at very high ticket prices, that certainly does not necessarily mean a revival with no-names would do well.

The more they try to revive ACL, the more they reveal it as a show of its time whose magic does not easily translate to today.

Broadway doesn’t go for chorus lines and dope these days.

[quote]The more they try to revive ACL, the more they reveal it as a show of its time whose magic does not easily translate to today.

And here, I think, is the reason why: Although the concept and plot of A CHORUS LINE are very compelling, and the music by Marvin Hamlisch is pretty great, much of the actual material in terms of the book and lyrics are not very good at all.

I'm just now listening to the Streisand interview linked to above, and while there are some interesting things in it, there are also so many things she has said over and over and OVER again in previous interviews. Very tiresome.

What were the interesting things, r205? I must have missed them.

She’s eighty-eleven at this point. Does anyone think she has something new or original to say.

“It’s overcast this morning.”

Well, I for one was unaware of Streisand's history with Bob Dylan, so that interested me. (I have not read or listened to Streisand's memoir.)

It was also interesting and telling that, during the interview, she comes right out and says that she has always hated performing live -- she loves the rehearsal process but not the actual experience. I know she has previously made some statements along these lines, but I don't believe she has ever been so blunt about it. And it certainly explains why she turned her back on Broadway at such a young age, why she stopped doing live concerts for decades, etc.

A Chorus Line needs to be SEXY. People forget how sexy the original was, just athletic dancers hanging out in skimpy, tight Lycra costumes talking about their sexual awakenings.

Any revival needs to reinterpret that for the current day. It needs to be sexy.

The show is horribly dated because what was in 1974 is not in 2025, where as Chicago is timely. This is why the Tony awards fucked up, as usual.

I think I missed the concert that clamoured for a fully-staged revival of Chess.

If anyone watched the recent YouTube documentary from Waiting in the Wings on the making of and history of Chess, they should be terrified that it’s being revived.

Isn’t this just a case of someone asking Lea Michelle, “What do you want to do next?” She wants to sing Florence. Frankly, I would’ve thought she’d want to do something original. But I can’t imagine anyone was otherwise dying to revive Chess, one of the biggest financial disasters in Broadway history. The only good thing that happened to Chess was that the musical version of Carrie opened a few weeks later in the same month and kind of eclipsed it’s complete failure.

That's rather an incoherent post, Patti. Care to explain?

R211, the short version of the story of CHESS is that many people absolutely love the score despite the fact that every version of the "book" has been mediocre at best or downright lousy at worst. That's why it keeps being revived in one form or another, and also why the most successful presentations/productions have minimized the "book" and focused on the songs, of which there are several great ones: "Where I Want to Be," the Arbiter's song, "A Model of Decorum and Tranquility," "Nobody's Side," "Mountain Duet," "Anthem," "One Night in Bangkok," "I Know Him so Well," "Heaven Help My Heart," and more.

Then just sing the damn songs and move on. Is that so hard🤷🏻‍♂️

It's not so hard, R214, and as I noted, the most successful presentations/productions of CHESS have done just that. Unfortunately, some people keep trying to write a new book around the great songs, and the results so far have not been very successful. Here's a review of the Kennedy Center production that presumably featured the same book that will be used for the upcoming Broadway production.

“there are also so many things she has said over and over and OVER again in previous interviews. Very tiresome.”

😉

Barbra, Bette and Cher need to finally bring Over Here! to the big screen.

Who gets the supporting role, r217?

[quote]The show is horribly dated because what was in 1974 is not in 2025, where as Chicago is timely. This is why the Tony awards fucked up, as usual.

Horse shit. There is nothing in the the two and half hours, 2 act "Chicago"combined that is as thrilling as the first five minutes of "A Chorus Line"...a 5...6...7...8.....

"Real Women Have Curves" closing on the 29th.

Fucking close already: Boop, Cabaret, Dead Outlaw, and Smash.

I meant Gypsy not Smash.

As long as the Bennett estate insists on doing everything the same, including the dismal choreography of Music and the Mirror, then the show will forever be a museum piece. Bennett's staging was and remains amazing but it needs some new blood.

Can the Jean Smart play even make it to its pre-planned August 17 closing date?

Looks like Sunset Boulevard got a nice boost and that's with Nicole only playing 7 performances.

The Tony performances rarely help with anything. Only the Best and Best rival winners got a boost. Just in Time is an exception because it was already selling out prior to the Tony’s.

R219. Chita rising on the elevator for “All That Jazz” is more exciting than all the narcissistic navel-gazing of A Boring Line

What is thrilling to me about the original Chorus line is how expertly it shifts between showing their humanity and showing them as precisely moving parts of a machine. Most people can relate to that in their jobs, their communities, their schools.

A sassy dancer rising from below the stage? Well, we’re on Datalounge, where this is as universal and primal as dialing the phone with a pencil.

ACL is a show where every single character whines about something. It's boring and trite.

R229 And, yet, here you are on DL where every single poster is bitching and whining about something...

Fare thee well, 'Real Women Have Curves'. It was nice briefly knowing ya.

So that's 2 down, and 2 more to go ("Boop!" and "Dead Outlaw" from the list I provided last week (from the anonymous source online).

You’re a genius

Wow that Chess concert at Kennedy Center had a much more exciting cast than what’s set so far for the revival. Except for Karen Olivo. But it was seven years ago. Is it really connected?

That revelatory “whining” may seem boring and trite because it has been imitated ever since. In 1975, audiences were not accustomed to seeing that on a Broadway stage. Other shows hinted at it (including a Datalounge favorite from 1971), but Chorus Line doubled down on it. Most importantly, it popularized artistry in a way that headier shows had not. It was a massive hit.

I had my Chorus Line epiphany a few years ago, thanks to this line from Al.

" ... But I'm straight. I'm not too bright, but I'm not too dumb. And, uh, I'm not too talented. But you know me, Zach. You show me what to do, and I'm gonna do the exact same way, eight shows a week forever."

Zach looking to fill a chorus with people who can be themselves shouldn't be jarring, but it is when you consider how many shows are revivals or based on existing properties. Imagine that for a moment: "Okay, I want you to show me yourself. You'll be playing a role that a good portion of the audience expects you to do exactly the way someone else did it."

Well, that and A Chorus Line isn't boring or trite. If it's well directed and cast, it's still a terrific show.

That hasn’t succeeded since the OBC. Zzzz

R237 shrugs. Then, go enjoy yourself at Boop.

R228. Chita wasn’t “sassy”—she was a GODDESS!!!

A Chorus Line: a Follies or a Gypsy?

Please discuss. 100 words or less only.

The only way ACL will ever be a hit again is when some young hotshot director (a Brit, no doubt) mercilessly deconstructs and reinvents the whole thing in a Jamie Lloyd/Ivo von Hove style. And I can see that happening in the foreseeable future if the estates allow it.

It's tricky because for those who saw the original production, as much as they might want to see a new version, they're afraid of major changes.

This will only be a hit revival if the cast comes out at the end dressed just in their underwear, covered in blood, and sing "One". Critics will deem this 'genius'.

There was a somewhat recent production of ACL at CityCenter and it was very well-received, I believe. With a very strong cast, it still can work. I loved it when I saw it for the first time in the late '80s.

That production at City Center was indeed wonderful. Leagues better than the last Broadway revival.

How dare you!

Deconstruction is not going to work here. The point is the individuality of the people. Bennett’s very restrained flourishes were just a picture frame.

The problem with the show is that there are many hurdles to making it feel fresh. There are the ghosts of previous Cassies, Sheilas, Pauls, and Dianas. Imitating them is fake, but actors need to match their impact. Also, while performers are extremely skillful now, most of their individuality has been either trained away or commodified. The actors who could open themselves up to make it work are either not part of the Broadway talent machine or lack some of the dancing or singing skills.

The 70s look so much better in retrospect.

The Bway revival of ACL, which was a moment by moment copy of the original was boring. I don’t need to see it again

Tony broadcasts don’t help because no one watches the Tonys

I was actually at the first preview of Chicago in May 1975. The elevator which lifted Rivera from below the stage wasn’t able to function so we got sent home. My mother asked me when we should exchange our tickets for and I said maybe on my birthday in August? And we went in August and of course at that time Liza Minnelli was playing Roxie. And I noticed the male ensemble were no longer wearing stockings and garter belts.

If the critics were really on their toes that season, they would have given the top awards to Pacific Overtures.

All ACL needs is Ross Lynch.

I think for the revival they need to cast Patti LuPone as Zach instead of Robert LuPone. That’ll shake things up.

And if she’s on a headset, she can shout at the niggers next door to keep it down!

Patti should be Sheila

This reminds me of several threads ago, when we learned about a high school production of A Chorus Line. "Dance 10, Looks 3" was censored, with "Tits and ass" being replaced by "This and that."

[quote]Patti should be Sheila

Because grannies so often audition for chorus spots.

You never saw The Producers?

Patti would have died 39 years ago but Satan doesn’t want the competition.

Patti to Satan: “WHO do you think you ARE?”

[quote]Wow that Chess concert at Kennedy Center had a much more exciting cast than what’s set so far for the revival. Except for Karen Olivo. But it was seven years ago. Is it really connected?

I think it's very much connected in the sense that the upcoming revival has the same director and book writer, in case you didn't pick that up from the review.

Deconstruction is not going to work here, r246?

Have you not been paying attention to the scores of plays and musicals that have been deconstructed to the critics and audiences delight (ok, maybe not yours or mine, lol) in the past 10-20 years? Everything from sacred cows like Sunset Boulevard, The Little Foxes and All About Eve, material that no one would have thought could be deconstructed to anyone's idea of entertainment..

ACL is almost 50 years old. When it premiered, shows that were 50 years old were being performed in 1926, so to think that young audiences won't want to see a post-modern ACL for their generation is rather blindsided.

I want to see Chess but every time I've seen a production or concert on TV, i get bored in 30 minutes. It's stuck in the 1980s and the plot is just so stupid

I don't think there's anything inherently stupid about the basic plot of CHESS. There are two world class chess champions, one Russian and the other American, in competition with each other during the Cold War, and they eventually end up in a love triangle when the American's girlfriend falls for the Russian. One thing that makes the plot interesting is that the character of the American chess master is quite an asshole, whereas the Russian has a lot of dignity as he defects. Nothing wrong with the overall plot, it's just that the several attempts to write dialogue scenes to tie the songs together have been unsuccessful, to say the least.

[quote]r246 The 70s look so much better in retrospect.

I saw the second act of a CHORUS LINE tour at the Geary Street Theater in the summer of 1981. I was going to the A.C.T. theater school and (sort of) dating a handsome fellow student.

I remember the plump usher with her flashlight was dancing at the back of the aisle at one point. I thought that was cute, because I was more inhibbited in public.

A.C.T. had rehearsal rooms for off hours, and the building had one entrance open at night with a security guard. I think he wasn't at his station and we went up to a rehearsal room with a six pack, locked the door, and made out on a chaise for two hours. We fell asleep and the watchman found us (clothed) when he did his rounds in the early morning. I said we'd fallen asleep rehearsing and that we had to rush off - he didn't ask any questions - maybe it would have made him look bad if he reported us.

I think that was the most romantic night of my life.

ACL has no intermission.

R264 -:Addison DeWitt

Well, I remember we saw the second half of the show. We must have snuck in after coming out of dinner somewhere.

This was forty years ago, if you MUST remind me

‘Oh, Mary!’ Breaks House Record As Cole Escola’s Starring Run Nears End:

[quote]Nothing wrong with the overall plot, it's just that the several attempts to write dialogue scenes to tie the songs together have been unsuccessful, to say the least.

Tim Rice always wanted it to be sung through (with some adjustments to the current score, obviously).

[quote]ACL has no intermission.

That was a stupid lie, easy to expose, not worthy of you!

R261. they should stick to a concert. Sing out the songs, hit those notes. 90 mn. of the best songs and that is it. Nobody needs that plot. Boring, useless. They have all tried and they all have failed. And I have seen all the versions and all the concerts. I love the original London score so much.

"Chess" gave us this great moment in musical theater history............

Maybe instead of a book revision, CHESS needs a book reduction? Just a few lines here and there to connect the songs?

Yup, r271, it makes me burst into tears every time I hear it.

[Quote] Nothing wrong with the overall plot, it's just that the several attempts to write dialogue scenes to tie the songs together have been unsuccessful, to say the least.

You’re saying there is nothing wrong with the idea that is the plot but they can’t create a script that reflects the idea.

Sad last days^

As soon as someone sings a solo early on in ACL, you know they're gonna get cut.

[quote]You’re saying there is nothing wrong with the idea that is the plot but they can’t create a script that reflects the idea.

Right. At least, no one who has tried to do so thus far has succeeded. Certainly not Richard Nelson, whose awful book for the Broadway production is generally considered to have been the main reason why that show failed.

[quote]Maybe instead of a book revision, CHESS needs a book reduction? Just a few lines here and there to connect the songs?

Yes, yes, yes. As I commented above, the most successful presentations of CHESS have been staged concerts with just a few lines of dialogue. Here's one example at the link, and I'll post another shortly. But to clarify: These were not "reductions" of the book, because of course CHESS first appeared as a concert album with very little dialogue, just a few lines here and there.

And here's the other really good concert version of CHESS. I like one I posted above better because the song stack there more closely resembles the concept album, but this one does have Idina Menzel, for those who consider that a positive :-)

Just the two, dear?

Darling R279, I don't understand the point of your snark. There may have been other successful concert productions of CHESS, but these two are the ones I've seen.

Think. HARD

According to R276’s insights, maybe they need to make the cut in ACL more like a Willy Wonka thing where bit by bit the characters are thoroughly and memorably disposed of.

I like the score for Chess but the instrumentation is so dated to the 1980’s. It needs to be modernized

[quote]I like the score for Chess but the instrumentation is so dated to the 1980’s. It needs to be modernized

But then in 45 years it will sound so 2020s.

So that’s like watching a Depression show in the 70s. Yuck—been there, seen that.

Nanette is *not* set during the Depression, r285.

Jinkx Monsoon taking over in Oh Mary! starting in August.

I know that.

My mom’s name is Nanette. Thank you for your service.

Cunt

Jinkx Monsoon in Oh, Mary! seems a bit on the nose.

Bleech!

[quote]Jinkx Monsoon taking over in Oh Mary! starting in August.

Damn, this person seems determined to have a great, constantly busy theater career, probably based on the fact that they did so well in CHICAGO and LITTLE SHOP, and despite the fact that their performance in PIRATES was pretty much a bust. I think they'd better be very careful in choosing their future projects, and this one sounds questionable.

Mary is a lame role. Let’s see her pull off Abe or JWB. How well can she fake getting a blowjob??

Because of the finale, it might be impossible to do, but one way to change ACL for the better, IMO, is to change who gets hired every night. Have it based on performance and audience reaction. And all the performers would want to be hired because it would give them more time to do the quick change for the One finish.

R294. Love that idea!

Is it really more time? There is a scene after the unselected actors exit. The first ones on are the actors who were eliminated at the top of the show. They’re the ones who have all the time in the world, but no one is dreaming of playing those roles.

And Paul has like half an hour after he is injured.

Boring….

R294, I don't think the finale would necessarily be the problem, but there's the issue that has become part of ACL lore: If Cassie is NOT chosen for the show, as was the original plan, the audience just can't accept a joyful finale. As I'm sure many people here know, the story is that Marsha Mason saw an early run-through or presentation of the show and explained this to Bennett et al., who to their credit realized she was absolutely right.

The new desperate-to-be-edgy play PRINCE FAGGOT managed a critic's pick from clout-chasing Jesse Green today in the Times. As for myself, I didn't mind all the pissing and fisting, and I certainly couldn't give less of a shit about the pearl-clutching they're trying to induce ("won't somebody PLEASE think of the children!?") — I just thought the play fucking sucked. Endless bickering about colonialism like that's something we're supposed to give a shit about. At least David Greenspan is making a paycheck off of it.

When I was in college, I was listening to Murray Head's "One Night In Bangkok" on the radio when the speedometer passed 100,000. Ahhhh memmmreeeeeeies.....

Yes Mrs. Neil Simon (one of three?) was the genius behind it all.

Green was not the only critic to like PF. So did Jackson McHenry of Vulture, one of the better young writers today. And so did whoever covered it for ATC. Looking forward to seeing it on Saturday.

Auf Whatever

I thought CABARET was circling the drain as we speak. Wonder if this will supercharge the BO.

R305 if Billy Porter doesn’t put asses in seats, NOTHING will!

R306. Well, he's no Orville Redenbacher.

Finally, Cats can move into the Kit Kat Club!

[Quote] But then in 45 years it will sound so 2020s.

When Encores! does it

Evita starts with the twanging electric guitars—very 80’s. They were muted in the movie. I believe they’re gone altogether in the West End Revival

With Marisha Wallace as Sally, they should let her do Take Back Your Mink!

Not much talk here about Rachel Zegler. I’m thinking of going over to Argyll Street outside the Palladium within the next few weeks to see the second act opener.

Also, who’s had this Diego guy?

All the photos from the Evita revival look very High School Musical.

The only thing that made the original work was the staging and it looks pretty amateurish in this production.

R312 we have all seen it. Why bother?

Tom Francis is leaving Sunset on July 6th.

Cabaret closing on October 19th. When are Boop and Dead Outlaw gonna throw in the towel?

Sunrise, Sunset.

I agree with the poster on BlueSky who suggested Cole Escola as Mary Todd Lincoln playing Sally Bowles before the closing of Cabaret on October 19th.

So the rumor is the James (heh heh) will house Evita next spring. But does it have a balcony like the London Palladium? And what about the cool nights?

What about no one will care?

It’s looks like the same Evita production that was done in Regent’s Park in 2019.

I saw that—it was a great reimagining. No need to see it again

Handsome Moutet gives flower to young man. Sweet.

Sorry, meant this for tennis thread.

R320, it’s nothing at all like the Regent’s Park production.

[quote]Evita starts with the twanging electric guitars—very 80’s. They were muted in the movie.

Wrong. Those twanging guitars, which were first heard on the concept album of EVITA (with Julie Covington and Colm Wilkinson), were eliminated for Hal Prince's original London stage production and the Broadway transfer of that but were definitely reinstated for the movie soundtrack, which sounds more like the concept album than the Broadway or London stage cast recordings.

I think at this point the producers of Boop are just fucking with Chess.

Chess wants to announce dates badly to get tickets selling but they can’t announce until Boop closes.

I blame Jerry and Jasmine

What if ticket sales for Cabaret go down after Billy Porter goes into the show?

Audra needs to take a day off from the diner, come over to the shade of DL , and teach a master class in the proper voice and key for Evita.

What if Cabaret has to close before Billy Porter arrives?

What if Billy Porter arrives and no one cares.

I guess Billy Porter has a very brief shooting schedule on that Hunger Games film in Germany. I assume he’ll try out “Wilkommen” on the locals and they’ll be absolutely charmed by that.

"Billy Porter goose steps his way into our hearts!"

Evita going to the St. James? Does that mean that The Queen of Versailles is already doomed, or will change venues?

Audiences never cared if Paul couldn't dance again, why should they care if Cassie didn't get this job? The finale is a rebuke to all of that. I think the lore is also old fashioned. Cassie will move on. Her confrontation with Zach certainly shows she's a fighter. She will survive. But a lot of this is also McKechnie's portrayal. I don't think audiences were that intensely involved with Charlotte D'Amboise, or in the original, even Vicki Frederick or Cheryl Clark.

R333, try to imagine the show exactly as it is except that Cassie doesn't get the job after baring her heart and soul to Zach in their scene together and in "The Music and the Mirror." Now imagine an audience trying to enjoy the finale anyway. Your point about Paul is a good one, but he's eliminated because he gets injured. It's a completely different situation from Cassie and Zach.

God, I’m a dancer! A dancer dances!

So no one has managed to get a shot of Orville Peck with out the mask? Its such a dumb gimmick that no one is going to care at all when he finally takes it off. And why does he say he's almost naked?

He'll take the mask off when he stops looking like this underneath.

[quote]So no one has managed to get a shot of Orville Peck with out the mask? Its such a dumb gimmick that no one is going to care at all when he finally takes it off.

It worked for Gene Simmons and his 'Kiss' bandmates in the 70s. It was a big publicity stunt when they revealed themselves by taking their make-up off ('unmasking themselves'). But then again, we're talking nearly fifty years ago.

[quote]r333 I think the lore is also old fashioned. Cassie will move on. Her confrontation with Zach certainly shows she's a fighter. She will survive.

Cassie is a STRONG WOMYN.

R334, why not? Sheila doesn't get the job either and audiences are emotionally tied to her. Of course, there's hackneyed logic because Zach wants dancers who can recite some lines and even though Cassie said she can't act, she at least has experience doing it so it would absolutely be best for him to hire her.

I don't post at ATC, but do read it occasionally. And, I have to assume that Chromolume is a Datalounger. He comes off SO cunty. Hi Chromo!

Chromolume has never struck me as cunty.

[quote]it’s nothing at all like the Regent’s Park production.

It looks almost exactly the same. The same stepped set, the same wet-bloodied Che in his underwear at the end, same Evita costumes.

Chromolume is no MikeR. Now THAT was a man. I swear he must have worked on his hip flexors every day.

I mean, the power and control in those thrusts. You think you've been fucked, but then you find yourself backstage at the San Jose Center for the Performing Arts as MikeR's Ben Nye stained sweat drips onto your own nubile flesh, pressed against the supple Corinthian leather of his dressing room davenport.

[quote]Wrong. Those twanging guitars, which were first heard on the concept album of EVITA (with Julie Covington and Colm Wilkinson), were eliminated for Hal Prince's original London stage production and the Broadway transfer of that but were definitely reinstated for the movie soundtrack, which sounds more like the concept album than the Broadway or London stage cast recordings.

The twanging guitars are on the Evita OBC. you mean they were way worse on the concept album???

I love the concept album.

The concept album of Evita has an early-70s rock sound, and that’s how Julie Covington sings it.

Hal Prince requested that the orchestrations lean more toward “Broadway” which was a smart move.

I would think it will be hard for Gen Z to understand and sympathize for Cassie wanting to go back into the chorus.

Anytime Chromolume says anything even close to snarky he follows it with a smile or wink emoji which is not exactly snarky.

Yeah, I spend way too much time on ATC.

Peck wears a mask only at the curtain call.

[quote]Hal Prince requested that the orchestrations lean more toward “Broadway” which was a smart move.

It was, r347, but I was obsessed with the concept album.

Oops, sorry, of course I meant The Madge is where Evita is supposedly going (heh heh).

[quote]The twanging guitars are on the Evita OBC. you mean they were way worse on the concept album???

I assume we are all discussing the music that occurs at the very beginning of the show, right after the announcement of Eva's death. And no, the twanging guitars at that point are absolutely NOT on the OBC of EVITA, they were replaced by horns. Why are you insisting on something that's just not true, when anyone can immediately check out the truth on YouTube or wherever? Come, I'll make it easier for you. Listen:

That stupid mask gimmick wore out its welcome several years ago.

It's so stupid.

Just saw this:

"Broadway star Sara Porkalob returns to the Geffen Playhouse for the second installment of “The Dragon Cycle.” In this next chapter, Maria Porkalob, Jr. dreams of a bigger, gayer life beyond Bremerton, WA. But when an unexpected chance to escape arises, she faces an impossible choice—stay with her struggling family or chase freedom in the wilds of Alaska. Packed with ghosts, Filipino gangsters, and a killer ’90s R&B soundtrack, this award-winning, high-octane solo show is a raw, hilarious, and deeply moving story of resilience, queer love, and what it takes to break free and find home."

BROADWAY STAR?!?!!? GURL, YOU WERE RUN OUT OF TOWN! BROADWAY DOESN'T GO FOR BOOZE OR DOPE OR 75% EFFORT!!!!

[italic]We love PORKALOB!

We love PORKALOB!

Finally saw SMASH. (I don’t live in NY)

It really is (was).

Usher said it’s the fullest the theatre’s been in months

sigh

[quote]I mean, the power and control in those thrusts. You think you've been fucked, but then you find yourself backstage at the San Jose Center for the Performing Arts as MikeR's Ben Nye stained sweat drips onto your own nubile flesh, pressed against the supple Corinthian leather of his dressing room davenport.

How in the world did this page fall out of Blanche Devereaux's diary from 1988 ?

[quote]I would think it will be hard for Gen Z to understand and sympathize for Cassie wanting to go back into the chorus.

Then she needs a an extra minute or so to explain it to them, so they understand:

"Like, the chorus is my 'safe space'. so like I'm going back in. It's creepy not being in the amazing chorus. In this moment, I've set my boundaries. Please don't oppress my feelings."

GEN Z will understand fully.

Usher? He’s a theater critic these days?!

I imagine they are going to make a film version of The Outsiders musical, especially with Angelina Jolie as producer.

The Don't Cry Argentina balcony outside scene makes perfect sense and wood actually be thrilling if that idiot director didn't blow his wad having the guy traipse all over Shubert Alley for nothing.

Wood, R362? That guy happens to be hunky Tom Francis, thank you very much.

I don't know, the idea of having Evita sing "Don't Cry for Me Argentina" on an actual outdoor balcony while the audience in the theater sees and hears her do so via live video does not sound very exciting to me, because I assume she remains pretty much stationary through the whole song, and I'm also guessing there are no shots of people watching and listening to her (as it would be so difficult to control the behavior of whatever crowd assembles.) So, what's the point? The gimmick for the title song of SUNSET BOULEVARD was more exciting if only because of all the movement involved as the camera first followed Tom Francis maneuvering backstage and then, with other members in tow, exiting the theater and walking down 44th Street to Shubert Alley and back.

How much wood would it take you to get a hard woody?

The Zeg

That’s your guiding light ? Nyp?

Have we discussed the idiocy of City Center doing the small-scale and quite mediocre musical Bat Boy for their gala presentation in the fall?

I think it brave of Cole Escola to hire Jinkx for "Oh, Mary".

I mean, she IS funnier than he is...

I'm surprised that Cole didn't get Amy Sedaris for Oh, Mary. She would be perfect for it.

R357 what was Usher doing there?

There's still a chance for Amy Sedaris to do Oh, Mary! Jinkx's run ends at the end of September. The show's been extended to Jan. 4.

She’s too Smart to do dumb shit like that

No one asked Lily Tino to take over the role of Mary ? No one ?

I fear a social media post brewing...

Is Audra off tonight, in observance of the holiday ?

Erika Jayne IS Mary Todd Lincoln!

Are you —r375—a professional asshole, or a part-time amateur? ,

R376 funnily enough I would pay thousands to see Kim Richards play the role

Teri Klausner IS Matinee Mary Todd Lincoln!

Loni Ackerman IS Mary Todd Lincoln!

Loni ZOE Ackerman

Bernadette was out of Old Friends tonite. Her tracks were covered by Bonnie Langford, Beth Leavel and Kate Jennings Grant.

Have they announced if "Oh, Mary" will open in London?

It would seem a natural fit...the Brits love men in skirts.

[quote]Bernadette was out of Old Friends tonite. Her tracks were covered by Bonnie Langford, Beth Leavel and Kate Jennings Grant.

Her tracks? Were they lip-syncing to her recordings?

R393 they won’t love it when they see Cole is making fun of Mark Rylance’s Olivia in Twelfth Night.

R383^

Bernadettemania! Not Bernadette Peters, but an incredible simulation!

[quote] they won’t love it when they see Cole is making fun of Mark Rylance’s Olivia in Twelfth Night.

But how can that be? Mark Rylance's Olivia in Twelfth Night was funny.

Audra was in last night. Reminded me of Midler’s Rose, dialed up to eleven from the start. The second act was much better than the first but Audra and Danny aside, the actors seem like they’re in the senior play.

I saw 42 Balloons, at Chicago Shakespeare. This clearly has its eye on Broadway. Be forewarned, and save yourself from a repetitive tune about “what makes want fly in a lawn chair?” that never answers the question. Lisa Howard looks embarrasssed to be in this.

It’s the standard Dear Evan Hamilton Come from Normal mix that Broadway producers think that people want to see. Populated with quirky sassy BFA kids who sing through their nose and look into the distance pretending to see things.

R389 It will be very interesting to see if this revival continues after Audra's vacation next week. I have a feeling the producers will take advantage of that and announce the show's closing while her sub is in the role.

Amy Sedaris is 64. Don't think she'd be up for a pretty strenuous role.

That wouldn’t make much sense. The producers have to give weeks notice. Even Cabaret, which has done far worse than Gypsy, announced a closing in October. Gypsy is still making over a million a week, so it’s unlikely they close before Labor Day.

R393 'Smash' and 'Real Women' each gave less than two weeks notice since the Tonys.

No, they did not. Smash annnounced on Tuesday, June 10, to close on Sunday June 22. Real Women announced on Tuesday June 17 to close on Sunday June 29. That gives performers two weeks of performances. Which is only one reason why your idea that Gypsy will close while Audra is on vacation doesn’t make any sense.

I also think once Gypsy announces a closing date it will boost ticket sales in its final weeks but, of course, only if Audra is performing.

I think when Audra returns they'll announce Montego will start covering for her once a week.

DL just can't quit talking about Audra in "Gypsy." Audra was out! Audra was in! Montego will cover for Audra once a week!

R398. Well, this is a theatre thread. What should we be discussing?

[quote] Well, this is a theatre thread. What should we be discussing?

The fact that r384 doesn’t know what a “track” is in a musical

Or maybe he was just making fun of r382 for putting an “s” on the end of it

Both!

[quote]Have we discussed the idiocy of City Center doing the small-scale and quite mediocre musical Bat Boy for their gala presentation in the fall?

It does seem an odd choice at first reaction, BUT I would not be at all surprised if they picked that show because they've got a major name to play the title role and will announce that person's name when he's officially signed. Because yes, really, why else would they choose a show like that for their gala fundraiser?

[quote]The fact that [R384] doesn’t know what a “track” is in a musical.

Well to be honest I was a Broadway fan from birth with the NY times on Sunday morning spread across the floor and I never heard that phrase until maybe ten years ago.

It’s Millennial talk

I'm not Jamie Lloyd defender, but it's amazing the people shitting on the outdoor balcony thing they have not seen yet and have no idea how it works.

* a Jamie Lloyd defender

so do we think Audra rejected all the replacement Roses with talent?

Seems so!

[quote]I'm not Jamie Lloyd defender, but it's amazing the people shitting on the outdoor balcony thing they have not seen yet and have no idea how it works.

Really? It seems to me that how it works has been very well described. PLUS there is at least one video of the balcony performance on YouTube, though admittedly that's not exactly how the audience in the theater sees it.

I also saw that Balloons thing in Chicago. It did not work for me at all. First, if a musical needs to be 90 mn., this is it. The songs are generic but the story should be more interesting than what is on stage at the moment. The musical made me appreciate Cromer's work on Dead Outlaw even more, the way he shaped a story that is a one joke into a full fledged, rich musical about American capitalism. 42 Balloons tells a similar crazy story but, if the singers tell me, "you can wikipedia it later".... Also, the lyrics "Carol sees that" and "Carol thinks that...." Please. Exhausting.

Yeah, we have no clue what the audience sees.

R405 we’ve ALL seen it. JHC

Do people think Patti is actually canceled or feel like the whole thing is subsiding

It doesn’t matter —she is THAT old.

It doesn’t matter —she has THAT many fucks to give.

I just looked up Michelle Williams (the one who's going to be starring in ANNA CHRISTIE) and found two pieces of information of which I wasn't fully aware: (1) although she was partnered with Heath Ledger for about four years (2004-2007), they never married; and (2) she married musician/songwriter Phil Elverum in 2018 but they were divorced in 2019, presumably while she was working on FOSSE/VERSON with director Thomas Kail, whom she married in 2020.

Every last person in hipster Brooklyn knows this….

I am not A Jamie Lloyd defender. I am THE Jamie Lloyd defender!

I think Patti will continue to do concerts and film work.

Allegedly she has a show in the works with Bridgett Everett

As far as major broadway appearances…I think that might have passed. And she’s been talking about quitting broadway anyway for years.

Sometimes when you constantly tell people “you’ll miss me, when I’m gone” they don’t miss you!

Do you mean like a cabaret performance? I can’t imagine Patti AND Bridget sharing a cabaret stage. That would be A LOT.

Oh, I bet Patti will pop back to B'way eventually.

Someone will mount a revival of "A Little Night Music" or "Blithe Spirit" and cast Patti as Armfeldt or Arcati and she'll get a 4th Tony and a standing ovation for her "comeback".

Sure, Jan.

Patti and Mia in an "Arsenic And Old Lace" revival!

I wouldn't care if I never saw Patti again and that has nothing to do with the recent controversy. She's never behaved like a pro and she's a mediocre actress despite her training.

Baz Bamigboye says in Deadline's breaking Bad Rachel Zeglar won't be on Broadway with Evita until 2027, but there's an "intense Rumor" she'll be playing Maria in The Sound Of Music at Lincoln Center first. So that would be next Spring?

^ Breaking Baz

We can wait.

Really.

Patti's not a star because no one outside of New York knows who she is.

[quote]Baz Bamigboye says in Deadline's breaking Bad Rachel Zeglar won't be on Broadway with Evita until 2027, but there's an "intense Rumor" she'll be playing Maria in The Sound Of Music at Lincoln Center first. So that would be next Spring?

When he wrote "at Lincoln Center," did he specify if it would be a Lincoln Center Theater production, or maybe one of those NY Philharmonic concerts?

Can they get Gal Gadot to play the Baroness?

She’s playin’ the sidewalk on Amsterdam Ave.

What's with the intense effort to try and make her a big star?

Snow White bombed. She's not particularly photogenic. She's not that interesting.

Enough with Rachel Zegler.

And, enough with the idiotic "no one outside NY knows Patti LuPone".

Yet she manages to tour with her cabaret act to venues all over the country.

There is a plethora of gay men all over the country, r433.

How may are a plethora. More than 10? Less than a hundred?

I was assured there would NOT be math on the Datalounge, r435.

So many misconceptions about theater goers.

1) All gay men adore theater. No...they don't. The younger ones mostly do not give a fuck. But, there are lots of older gays who didn't get the theater bug either.

2) The backbone of theater subscribers are old white straight couples who grew up on theater as a major artistic/cultural institution that you enjoyed and supported. There are some Boomers who held on to that but it was the Depression/War generation that was the last one to really support theater. They're now either dead or soon to be and all the arts are suffering.

I used to adore theater. The last show I saw on Broadway was Into the Woods a couple weeks after it opened. I loved it. It cost me $65 for a front row, center mezzanine seat.

So, you gave up on theater 45 years ago because.....?

Because I decided that $65 for a front row, center mezzanine seat was the most I was willing to pay.

Wasn’t the “Romeo and Juliet” with Ziegler a box office success? And she seems to be wowing them in a blond wig in “Evita” so why not Maria in “The Sound of Music”?

As the theater manager says in “Gypsy” when Mama Rose suggests that Louise so the strip: “She’s YOUNG. Have you got a better idea?”

[quote]R441 As the theater manager says in “Gypsy” when Mama Rose suggests that Louise do the strip: “She’s YOUNG. Have you got a better idea?”

Hey! Ziegler Can do a GYPSY revival!

[quote]No, they did not. Smash annnounced on Tuesday, June 10, to close on Sunday June 22. Real Women announced on Tuesday June 17 to close on Sunday June 29. That gives performers two weeks of performances. Which is only one reason why your idea that Gypsy will close while Audra is on vacation doesn’t make any sense.

By all calculations, 12 days is less than two weeks on any calendar. If they were going by number of performances, then they would give notice by performances, not by weeks. Try harder next time.

BTW I didn't say it will close while Audra is on vacation, I said "It will be very interesting to see if this revival continues after Audra's vacation next week. I have a feeling the producers will take advantage of that and announce the show's closing while her sub is in the role."

'Announce a closing' of a Broadway musical is different from 'will close'. If they announce a closing during Audra's vacation (while her sub is in the role) will give them until the middle of July, if they go by the minimum two week's notice.

Seriously R433, how many cabarets are there around the country? And how many people would LuPone draw? 100 a night? In the 70s, Jane Olivor and Helen Schneider could draw more than that.

Rachael as Maria and Paul Mescal as Von Trapp?

Dead Outlaw closing Sunday 6/29. I'm an investor. Not getting that money back.

I was told that Darren Criss and Helen Shin have not missed any performances of Maybe Happy Ending since it began playing at the Belasco. While I'm not surprised at all, can anyone confirm this? A Google search brought up nothing.

Billy Boy/R447, I can confirm that that is not the case. Helen Shin was out for the performance I saw a month or so ago and can say that her understudy was fantastic.

R395 'Dead Outlaw' just gave a nine day notice of closing. That's less than two weeks of performances. You must feel like an idiot. If you don't, you should.

Patti is only exciting in musicals and she was fantastic especially in Evita, Anything Goes, and Gypsy.

Now that she’s old and grumpy and her voice diminished, she’s not so useful

I wish Audra’s GYPSY gets filmed. She’s truly extraordinary—it should be captured for posterity

Just waiting on Boop! to pack it up.

R447. Darren was out for both shows this past Wednesday.

[quote]What's with the intense effort to try and make her a big star? Snow White bombed. She's not particularly photogenic. She's not that interesting. Enough with Rachel Zegler.

She's the greatest star!

Dead Outlaw is DEAD to me.

Dead Outlaw will play its final performance at the Longacre Theatre on June 29.

[quote]'Dead Outlaw' just gave a nine day notice of closing. That's less than two weeks of performances. You must feel like an idiot. If you don't, you should.

As has been pointed out here and elsewhere many times in the past, sometimes a closing notice for a show goes up at the theater before the closing is announced to the public, thereby fulfilling the union requirements.

Your daddy’s dead, your momma’s dead, and so are you Dead Outlaw.

[quote]I wish Audra’s GYPSY gets filmed. She’s truly extraordinary—it should be captured for posterity

Her horrifically uncontrolled performance of "Rose's Turn" as part of the Tony Awards ceremony was thankfully captured for posterity and for the record.

Audra’s Tony performance was like one long extended version of the “woo woo woo love me oww oww oww” part of Jennifer Holliday’s AND I AM TELLING YOU

Audra’s Tony performance was amazing. She played Rose as an unabashedly black woman, not just color blind casting but a full rethinking.

She’s angry, frustrated, explosive. Stunning

Maybe so dear.

[Quote] Her horrifically uncontrolled performance of "Rose's Turn" as part of the Tony Awards ceremony was thankfully captured for posterity and for the record.

Rose’s Turn should be a raise the roof, chew the scenery moment. All the overly controlled performances of this were used to seem so cold in comparison to the earthquake Audra produced.

So Zegler gets to play BOTH iconic musical "Maria" roles?

[quote]She’s angry, frustrated, explosive. Stunning.

There's definitely anger in the number. But there's also reflection and self-realization. It shouldn't come off as a drunken rage.

The fact that the right wing is still trying to get Zegler cancelled is enough for me to root for her.

[Quote] It shouldn't come off as a drunken rage.

It’s a rage of black woman who has been overlooked and ignored all her life. She’s not drunk; she’s had it

[quote]It’s a rage of black woman who has been overlooked and ignored all her life. She’s not drunk; she’s had it

Ah, so Rose is a victim of (unfavourable) circumstance rather than a monster who has finally run out of people to exploit in her mania for success at any cost?

R449, sorry that I understand the business and that you understand that most actors are paid based on a 6 day performance week. Two weeks is not mandatory, but the producers have to pay two weeks salary to everybody. If they want to eat that, they can. But they usually don’t for obvious reasons. Do you need those spelled out?

R467, it is more complex - which you might understand if you see the production. Audra’s Rose genuinely tries to protect her children, but in doing so, makes decisions that repel them. She sees the world these kids are in, and both fights and actively perpetuates the racism. The production is not 100% melodrama (monster??) or 100% psychological or 100% racial critique.

I finally watched Audra's Tony performance doing Rose's Turn.

Sweet Jesus, I don't know what to say, it's more bizarre than I ever thought! Vocally, the song sits in her soprano voice in the worst way possible. When she gets to the end "Everything's coming up roses, this time for me! For me! For ME!" it is right at her chest voice/head voice break so she has to just YELL the lyrics! NOT GOOD!

In all seriousness, WHAT in the name of Miss Hannigan is she doing! The rest of her choices and delivery are 55% Lady MacBeth and 45% Nell Carter during a coke binge! All she had to do was sing the number with feeling! It is all in the lyrics as well as the show we've all just seen. Such histrionics! None of that was necessary.

I image everyone shrieked "It was AMAZING!", right?

Sorry to shift off Audra's Gypsy for a moment, but where is the idea coming from upthread that the end of A Chorus Line is "happy" and "enjoyable"? I can see where audiences rejected Cassie not getting a chance, and it's good Bennett rectified that.

But "One" is not supposed to be a "settle back and enjoy your popcorn" moment. It is showing that after all those individual childhood traumas, all that dedication to dance lifelong, all the money struggles, all the different personalities we have watched all the way through, the high point of a chorus dancer's life is to be packed into a glitzy, not terribly difficult number where they have to lose any semblance of individuality and work as a unified tribute to some unseen leading lady or man. The whole point of the show is the banal reality of what all that effort gets them. And that's the winners.

R44 Oh, my stars...do you really think Patti is performing "cabaret" at smoky little basement joints? Those all disappeared decades ago.

Patti, and Audra, and Bernadette, and Mandy, and every Broadway star with a following does their solo concert shows at theaters and performance art centers around the country. They tend to vary in size from 500 to 2500 seats depending on the venue and location.

Cheyenne Jackson was here tonight in Seattle performing at Benaroya Hall.

Patti filled the Chandler, LA’s opera house, last year